ping
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2 hours ago, BrightBow said:
Well, he has survived for more than a year. Wouldn't bet on him suddenly dropping over dead right before the finish line.
Ah, but consider this: If it is very unlikely for Byron to survive for one year, how unlikely is it for him to survive for one year and 45 minutes?2 hours ago, BrightBow said:If a character inherits more items than they can carry, they will simply be placed in their personal item storage. Nothing will get lost.
That's good to know.
I swear I didn't plan to overstack Erin->Fee, I just underestimated the power of the initial money + Bargain injection for Erin.
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FE4 Chapter 5: Threshold of Fate
Zaxon (turn 0)
Spoiler
Zaxon Castle has barely fallen, yet before Sigurd can so much as rest, the hordes of Grannvale stand before him at the captured Lubeck Castle. The Grannvale commander, Duke Langbalt, is a longtime enemy of Sigurd's father. For Sigurd, to challenge Langbalt is an opportunity to avenge his father, Byron, framed by Langbalt for his crimes.
Beyond Lubeck, in the desert town Phinora, Lord Arvis's elite warriors stand guard under the command of the war-mage Vaha. Velthomer Castle, on Grannvale's border with the Yied Desert, is defended by Lord Arvis's trusted aide, General Aida. And in Belhalla, the royal capital of Grannvale, Lord Arvis serves to aid the bedridden King Azmur, while Chancellor Reptor of Freege maintains peace and order in the city. A long road to Belhalla awaits Sigurd... A clash with Grannvale en route is inevitable. Sigurd refuses to endanger the people of Silesse any further in this conflict. He is determined to fight to the end. The year is Grann 760, early spring. The fields of Silesse rest beneath a deep blanket of snow...
A few thoughts:
- If Ruben's favourite translator ever gets around to Genealogy, and doesn't use "Lübeck" instead of "Lubeck", I will very disappointed. Heck, I'm slightly miffed that Project Naga finds an accent aigu for André and is about to find a trema for "naïve, but couldn't manage to properly umlautify the Hansestadt Lübeck.
- The game's determination to keep Arvis off-screen is honestly getting pretty jarring. He doesn't even get his mug into the opening narration. I have to wonder if a blind player would even still connect the name with that mysterious hot stranger chatting with Sigurd during the prologue.
- "Lango" would make a nice stupid punny name for a bard, if I end up rolling one for some RPG.
- For some more consistency between the Jugdral names, we should use the shorthand "G760" alongside "T776".
A green unit rides past Lübeck, slowing down and eventually halting shortly thereafter...:
: "Nngh... Sigurd... ...No, I mustn't die yet... No... Not until the exalted blade is in your hands..."
: "My ambush may have put an end to Chalphy's paladin brigade, the Grünenritter, but the survival of Byron alone leaves that utterly meaningless!"
: "Y-yes, sir... But you see, milord, Byron is still gravely wounded. Surely, he has very little time left..."
: "I've never heard such naïve drivel! Byron may not be long for this world, but he's determined to get that sword, Tyrfing, to his son with the very last of his strength. Do you not understand the threat that Sigurd would pose to us, should he get his hands on that damnamble [sic] sword? Move out and kill Byron, immediately!"
: "Y-yes, sir! Consider it done!"
Dangit, "ü" is even in the typeset already! #JusticeForLübeck
: "For that matter, where in the blazes is Dannan with those reinforcements?! For the gods's sakes, he's leading the elite Grauenritter brigade! How could it take him so long to put down that Isaachian resistance? First Lex, and now Dannan... Why must both of my sons be so worthless?"
: "Come now, Lord Langbalt, sir! Don't worry about a thing. After all, you've still got the Beigenritter and I on your side."
: "I suppose you're right, André. Be sure that your men are ready to join the fray at a moment's notice."
: "Heh. It would be my pleasure, sir..."
: "Damn that insolent worm. To think, he isn't even the slightest bit remorseful for slaying his own father! Duke Ring... May you be at peace."
Honestly, I like André, as far as minor villains (...with major connections to a handful of playable characters) go. Very smug. Very punchable.
One minor complaint, maybe - with the usual caveat that I wouldn't be able to read how his dialogue reads in Japanese: Calling Langbalt "sir" seems too deferential for André. From what little we've seen of him, he seems to take his newly and very legitimately acquired title very seriously, and I would imagine that, as Duke Jungby, he would very smugly insist on addressing Langbalt as a peer, not as his superior.
And even if André's Japanese dialogue doesn't offer that reading, this is something where I would welcome some creative liberties in a localisation. I mean, Langbalt even calls him "insolent", even though André is talking to him in more Grima Wormtongue-like tones.
: "Sire! We've sighted a lone knight to our east, who appears to be headed our way."
: "Hm? Is he an enemy?"
: "I don't believe so. The Lubeck occupation seems to be pursuing him, so they're most likely not with them."
: "I see. Let's give them a hand. We'll be clashing with Langbalt's army sooner or later, so why not make the first move? Move out! Our target is their front lines. Today's victory hinges on this first strike!"
The map! With desert tiles coloured grey, so despite appearances, that is not a gigantic mountain range in the eastern segment of the map. The sequence you're supposed to follow seems pretty clear - Lübeck, then Phinora, then Velthomer, then Belhalla, with the only immediately obvious question being how constricted Erin is going to be by the invisible walls around her.
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To the west of Sachsen/"Zaxon", a squad of axe fighters, led by a faceless commander. An identical group of enemies stands between Sigurd and his dad to the east, with the symmetry on the map ruined by a Brigand posing as a member of the group.
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Guarding Lübeck, we have André and the Beigenreitter (all armed with Brave Bows!), as well as Slayder (a knight of House *Dozel*, in case you weren't sure if this was a Gaiden reference) and his Axe Knights.
Langbalt himself is a rather thwompy guy, with his Holy Weapon granting him enormous Def and excellent Res, not to mention his Pavise skill with 30% activation rate. And because Helswath is a throwing axe, Mages don't particularly enjoy pelting him, either - although even Taillte manages to avoid being one-shot with her 48 HP | 6 Def.
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The Iron Ballistae behind Lübeck don't seem terribly oppressive in their zoning, although they do a fine job of discouraging non-Canto characters from attacking Langbalt.
Finally, Byron himself. Definitely not in a position to fend for himself, with his gutted HP stat and the broken Tyrfing tanking his Avoid.
Now, because I want to decide on the details of item inheritance first, I only did a fraction of the usual turn-0 arenaing before posting this. Only Ayra already went through it all because she starts the map with the Paragon band (and Lex didn't because he has terrible odds against the last two enemies) - Midir and Lewyn technically beat it, too, but without Paragon and without me saving the game after their runs. I just wanted to check the stats of the ranged gauntlet, and the Res stat on the melee opponents. Here's the results:
(1) Jackal - Lv.17 Myrmidon - Skill: Pursuit 47 HP | 10 Def | 1 Res [Steel Sword] - 22 Atk | 110 Hit | 24 Avo | 12 AS (1R) Lipton - Lv.17 Archer - Skill: Pursuit 47 HP | 10 Def [Silver Bow] - 30 Atk | 100 Hit | 14 Avo | 7 AS (2) Glaith - Lv.20 Warrior 60 HP | 16 Def | 5 Res [Steel Axe] - 35 Atk | 92 Hit | 0 Avo | 0 AS [Hand Axe] - 27 Atk | 92 Hit | 0 Avo | [-2 AS] (3) Geice - Lv.23 General - Skill: Pavise 63 HP | 18 Def | 5 Res [Steel Blade] - 32 Atk | 84 Hit | 10 Avo | 5 AS [Steel Bow] - 30 Atk | 84 Hit | 10 Avo | [3 AS] (4) Leigh - Lv.26 Hero - Skill: Pursuit - Item: Speed Ring 66 HP | 14 Def | 5 Res [Bolt Sword, melee] - 31 Atk | 108 Hit | 38 Avo | 19 AS [Bolt Sword, range] - 19 Atk | 108 Hit | 38 Avo | [17 AS] (5) Cithiel - Lv.29 Dracoknight 69 HP | 19 Def | 2 Res [Horseslayer] - 28 Atk | 90 Hit | -4 Avo | -2 AS (5R) Hawker - Lv.29 Sniper - Skill: Pursuit 69 HP | 20 Def [Killer Bow] - 34 Atk | 140 Hit | 34 Avo | 17 AS | 20 crit (6) Nazarre - Lv.30 Swordmaster - Skills: Pursuit, Adept - Item: Shield Ring 70 HP | 16+5 Def | 6 Res [Wind Sword, melee] - 33 Atk | 118 Hit | 38 Avo | 19 AS [Wind Sword, range] - 17 Atk | 118 Hit | 38 Avo | [22 AS] (7) Klepper - Lv.30 Rogue - Skill: Pursuit - Item: Speed Ring 60 HP | 14 Def | 6 Res [Earth Sword, melee] - 28 Atk | 102 Hit | 42 Avo | 21 AS [Earth Sword, range] - 20 Atk | 102 Hit | 42 Avo | [14 AS]I have to appreciate that the ultimate arena challenge of the first generation is a Rogue, of all classes. But between his high avoid and Earth Sword healing, he *is* a pretty annoying opponent to beat - although I feel like characters that can beat Nazarre (more references to Fire Emblems past!) probably have decent odds against Klepper, too.
The AS values in brackets are something I'll be able to test once I open up the game again: It's well-established at this point that an enemy that can swap to a ranged weapon (or has a magic sword for that effect) will retain the hit/avoid of their melee attack. But the numbers on display don't show if their AS is still 0.5x their avoid or if those two stats are "de-coupled". It would need a ranged character with an AS between the two possible values on a given opponent (like Nazarre or Klepper), and Midir with his 23 Spd ( -> 20 with the Killer Bow) fits that bill. For science!
Anyway, my plans for inheritance are as follows:
(1st row are items the parent already carries, 2nd row they still need to grab)
( (numbers) are the kill counts at the start of ch.5. Ayra's getting kills on her Iron Blade instead of the second Silver Sword is a little silly in retrospect.)Sigurd -> Seliph [default: Slim Sword] Silver Sword (51), Knight Ring Leg Ring, ?Paragon Band? Aideen -> Lana [Heal] Warp, Restore, Physic Recover (store), Sleep Midir -> Lester [Iron Bow] Killer Bow (25), Brave Bow (0), Silver Bow (0; shop) Ayra -> Larcei [Iron Blade] [Iron Blade (27)], Slim Sword (0) Silver Sword (0, fresh from the shop) Lex -> Scathach [Iron Blade] -- Return Band (from the shop, not like Lex is hurting for money) Lachesis -> Nanna [Iron Sword, Mend] Return, Earth Sword (0), Steel Sword (10), Miracle Sword (3) Steel Blade (shop), Return Band (from Ayra) Beowulf -> Diarmuid [Iron Sword] Steel Sword (8), Power Ring Brave Sword (10) Erin -> Fee [Slim Lance, Berserk Sword] [Slim Lance (1)], Light Brand (9), Brave Lance (29), Def band, Res band Thief Sword (8) Claude -> Ced [Light] Fortify, Valkyria, Mend Brigid -> Febail [Silver Bow] Steel Bow (13), Yewfelle (3) Midir's Iron Bow, lol (11) Azel -> Patty [Sleep Sword] Magic Ring, Bargain Band Slim Sword, Shield Sw (both from Sylvia; 0), Bolt Sword (0) Taillte -> Tine [Elthunder] Thunder (0) -- can't pass Thoron, it seems Elwind (18) Lewyn -> Arthur [Wind] Forseti (0)-
Unaccounted for:
- Armorslayer - ...Seliph? Nanna? Too late to give this to Leif.
- Wingslayer - ...Seliph? Fee, who might be an air-vs-air candidate, is already overloaded.
- Horseslayer - I guess I'll have to get it via drop in gen 2. Or maybe I could give this to Fee and leave the Thief Sword for Seliph, since Fee already gets so much value in items.
- Speed Ring - Honestly, no idea who would need the +5 Spd the most. Could default to Azel/Patty, since she'd at least be able to pass the money from selling it to somebody more needy.
- Renewal Band - Beo->Diarmuid? It's currently on Erin, but, as I said, Fee is already overloaded.
- Paragon Band - if Sigurd can't scrape together the money for it and the Leg Ring and for repairing Tyrfing at least a little... Arthur, maybe? He also gets a lot (read: a horse) out of his promotion.
There's a few minor options - for example, Claude could pass Fire and/or Wind to Ced as a weaker option in case I want him to set up a kill for somebody else - but I think the major options are all there. I don't think anybody will be severely hampered without Arden's Iron Sword in their inventory.
I think I read that if a parent tries to pass a weapon to a child that already has that same weapon by default, the gen 1 weapon will simply not be inherited and has to be rebought or taken from an enemy. Because of that, Erin can drop her Slim Lance (with nobody available to inherit it) and I guess I should decide on somebody to pick up Ayra's Iron Blade...
18 hours ago, BrightBow said:The kids' growths are 100% of the same-gender parent + 50% of the opposite-gender parent. They don't have any innate growths independent from their parents.
Ah. I thought otherwise because the wiki has "default growths" for the children listed, but looking a bit closer, those are just 50% (for boys) or 100% (for girls) of the mothers' growths.
7 hours ago, Jotari said:Actually yeah, that could have worked really well. Would have given Orgahil more interesting gameplay and developed it slightly better as an actual place for the world building. Because as is it's basically just pirate island. Lewyn mentions going there in Thracia, which I think was meant to be a "soz guys I'm busy with [random name drop]" but it comes across more as a big fat "why? There is nothing of relevance there." Although, speculating now, perhaps that's exactly the reason. Maybe he raised Julia in Orgahil because there is nothing of worth there and he has to go there during Thracia so he could pick her up and bring her to Isaach. Still, pirate island doesn't seem like the best place to raise a young lady, especially if you're away inciting rebellions half the time.
Agreed with this conclusion to the Rescue discussion. Your explaination why Daccar is killing his future subjects makes sense, and so does Ruben's idea that moving the whole tutorial to Orgahil would've made more sense.
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11 minutes ago, BrightBow said:
What confuses me are the Cross Knights. Like, were they really named that or was this a liberty taken by the translation, considering every other group of knights has a German name?
It's not limited to Grandbell either. Like, Lenster has their Lanzenritter. So I don't see why Augustria would be different.
Not to mention "Cross Knights" are not really a thing in English. It's just what you get if you translate the two individual words that the word "Kreuzritter" is made out of. But "Kreuzritter" is just the German term for Crusader.I do wonder about that name, too. Unfortunately, the .org wiki (which usually has some ethymology on names) doesn't have a page for the Cross Knights specifically, and I can't find how their name in Japanese is pronounced. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Kreuzritter, but changed to Cross Knights in the translation to avoid (or at least somewhat cover) the obvious religious connotation, but "Cross Knights" still seems like an odd name in a world without christianity.
20 minutes ago, BrightBow said:Hand Axe Lachesis is most certainly a new one. Never really seen the need for it, considering she can use bows now. But considering she actually has Pursuit, I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised that it can be quite effective.
She has a blazing 0 AS with the Hand Axe, too!
Honestly, it simply was the easiest 1-2 range available to her that isn't really expensive. And since the Pegasi weigh themselves down to negative AS with their Javelins (barely - they have 17 Spd and Javelins have 18 weight), Raquesis even doubled and one-rounds them.
25 minutes ago, BrightBow said:I can't believe they used the portrait of an Verdanian prince for some generic brute. How unfitting.
Well, apparently, the portrait of the king of Agustria is going to be reused for some generic boss, too, so Kinbaith is in good company.
25 minutes ago, BrightBow said:Status swords function differently from Status staffs. Status staffs always work, assuming you have more magic than the target has resistance.
But status swords only have an activation rate of 30%. Minus the Res of the target. So they don't always succeed in inflicting status.
...unless the target happens to have more than 30 Res. Because if the activation rate is lower than 0, it loops around to 255.Always funny to have an underflow bug in the wild. And I guess Dew was a lot more unlucky than I thought. I assumed that they always proc, since I'm pretty sure that's how it goes in Thracia - I remember that this is a central piece in recruiting Xavier. Something that I definitely won't make any promises towards.
28 minutes ago, BrightBow said:Sigurd with capped speed. What the heck?
10 procs / 22 level-ups = 45%. Yeah, that's pretty speedy.
28 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:So the best Silessian knights are Mahnya, Pamela, Deetvar, and Erinys? Out of everyone in the country, they have the most talent and experience? Why aren't old Pegasus Knights allowed to exist? Of course, that would get into FE's scant track record with older ladies in general, so...
I assume Erin's the fourth, considering that we don't have a fourth named Pegasus rider. ...and yeah, the wiki confirms that. Honestly, since she's pretty low-level when she joins Sigurd, she really does feel a bit out of place in that line-up.
34 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:It really bugs me how they all realize this immediately. Do they see her die? Hear her cry out in agony? Either way, it screws with the scale. I'd rather have Rahna realize it when Castle Silesse gets stormed. Something like "The castle is under attack? Then that means Mahnya... oh, gods...".
On 3/12/2024 at 9:54 AM, ping said:Oh look, another example of Genealogy being very fucky about the
passage of timescale of both time and space.--
35 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:Kinda funny to think that Paragon and Bargain, as different as they sound, kind of have the same endpoint in "optimal" play. I'm still not sure which skill I appreciate more.
My impression is that for the real elitist elitist, every resource has the same endpoint. His name is "Seliph".
But no, I get what you mean, Paragon ultimately being a financial skill.
38 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:I wonder - as useless as Strength is for Edain, maybe they gave her a growth so Lester wouldn't be totally up a creek? Since her growths partially determine his, and we're still over a decade from magical Bows happening.
The kids still have their innate growths, right? I don't want to look up right now how exactly growth inheritance works (it's getting rather late
), but in theory, it should've been possible to just crank up his innate Str growth by another 10% or so. Your explaination is still entirely possible, too, of course, although I would like to think that Aideen and Bridget's high stats in the respective useless Atk stat is supposed to show that they both would've had the capabilities to be in their twin sister's class.
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In Turkey, a turkey is called a 'hindi'.
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31 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:
"She's a really useful hostage, you see. That's why I'm going to do absolutely nothing to use her to keep her allies from murdering us all."
To be fair, it's quite in line with Daccar's general characterisation (he is not very smart).
I think this could've been used better if Silesse had indeed been behind Zaxon, as I suggested in the update. Daccar moves to Silesse after André conquers it and actually threatens to kill Rahna when you come near. Or Daccar remains in Zaxon and, after you conquer it, turns out to be alive and bargains to be exchanged for Rahna, just to flee to Grannvale and appear as a minor boss in ch.5 - basically a shorter version of those traiterous Etrurian nobles in BinBla.
38 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:Eyy it's my girl.
[...]
tl;dr: Lamia cool.
Ruben's waifu (no worries, I'm not going to accuse you of liking an anime girl):
Spoiler
But yeah, I agree with what you say about Lamia. It's consistently rare to find a woman in Fire Emblem that is allowed to be a villain instead of being vaguely Camüh-shaped. Petrine in PoR comes to mind, if you remember her. She even has some flirtatous lines with Greil as an additional parallel to Lamia, although Petrine of course has a much bigger role in her game, and is more brutish in her behaviour.
54 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:"Dragons are truly fearsome beasts. I can't believe we survived this battle. How can we ever win against beasts such as these?!"
"Lord Roy, he didn't have a ranged weapon. Even Damas was harder than him."
"But, Elphin... Dragons!"
"His name was Ein, Lord Roy."
Clearly, that is foreshadowing for just how disappointing Jahn's Long March is going to be as the last (real) map.
And since I was just thinking about PoR - the Defend map right after Greil's death is another example, unless you're playing on Lunatic. On Hard, the challenge is to rout the map, ideally with non-Titania characters getting good XP. Staying alive is a simple matter. But still, the fight is followed by a cutscene of Ike almost fainting from exhaustion before Lethe and Mordecai arrive to save the day.
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FE4 Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies
[Thove/Sailane] --> Silesse --> Zaxon
SpoilerApologies for the unannounced break. Mixture of annoyance at myself for accidentally deleting the Wind Sword, at the game because this map is a slog, and some annoyance unrelated to Genealogy, which killed my FE motivation for a little while. On the plus side, we will leave this map already.
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Slight spoiler, I guess - this is where I stopped playing on thursday. Pictured: Everybody being ready to protect the queen... except for Aideen, who was the last warper remaining at Thove, with no weapon and no money to buy one. This one was a silly mistake on my part, too - Aideen hasn't gone through the arena yet, and there's no reason to leave that money on the table for her, so it really should've been Raquesis (who's gone through the arena and shouldn't have had trouble hitting Lv.30 next map even without any combat in ch.4) remaining at Thove instead, even disregarding the "defenseless" part.
But I'm getting ahead of myself...
: "Ah. Duke André, I presume? You certainly took your time getting here... And... Oh! How magnificent! So this is Jungby's renowned bow knight legion!"
: "Hmhmhm... Alas, my father is dead, and my sister is a fugitive among the traitors. This leaves me, and me alone, as the Duke of Jungby and leader of our legion! Against the might of the Beigenritter, these winged ponies stand no chance at all! Now, sit back and watch them drop like flies!"
Very non-suspicious, that man. I would trust anybody who told me, unprompted, how legitimate and irrefutable his claim to his position is.
Also, I can't help but chuckle at the name "Beigenritter". I know, the theme is "colour-knights, but in German", but I find a slightly funny to name a squad after a colour famous for being kinda boring. That said, considering Kaga's track record, I probably need to credit him for not calling them "brownshirts".
Meanwhile, dogfighting, but with horses. Or ponies, to take a cue from André.
: "I'm sorry. I know you're not to blame, but this must be done..."
: "But not once did I ever suspect we would someday find ourselves as enemies."
: "Mahnya... Only you would be so fooish as to insist on following your queen to her inevitable grave! Why should I complain, though? After all, once you're out of the way, that leaves me as the greatest knight of Silesse!"
: "The only fool here is you, Pamela! No... It's too late to change your mind. You're so set on your fate... Very well. All I can do for you now is give you a last honorable duel befitting a Silessian knight."
: "Heh... Saccharine as ever, aren't you?"
(Side note: Project Naga calls the four named Pegasi the four Falcoknights of Silesse. Very immersion-ruining. Erin is just an unpromoted Pegasus Knight when she joins.)
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: "Aah... Erin... Prince... Lewyn..."
The next turn, still with the Silessian mage blocking access, the Beigenritter start getting involved, which obviously doesn't just tip the scales, but smashes any semblence of balance.
I have to admit that this does a good job in translating the story into... well, not exactly "gameplay", since we're just standing on the sidelines, but into the game engine, if you will. Without André's arrival, my impression is that this is a somewhat even fight (although I don't know how Zaxon's 1-2 range and Silesse's higher hit/avoid would eventually weigh up), which fits the picture of Daccar not daring an assault on the capital without Jungby's support.
However, the translation into gameplay really is hamstrung by the blocked bridge. Instead of a feeling of coming too late, I'm annoyed that an already rather boring map is slowed down to a halt in order to make this in-engine cutscene happen without interference. Looking at this, I have to agree with Ruben that this probably would've worked better if the four castles were more in a linear configuration: Sailane -> Thove -> Zaxon -> Silesse. Or maybe the last two swapped, but I like the idea that Daccar might feel pressured in acting immediately because he's worried that, if his brother falls against Sigurd, he himself is put into a pincer by Sigurd and Rahna's forces.
Anyway, Mahnya's death causes some reactions:
: "Mahnya has been killed?! Ahh... How could this happen... I'm so sorry, Mahnya... Forgive me..."
: "What? Mahnya's dead?! ...Y-you're joking!!"
: "Huh? Mahnya was... No! Th... this can't be happening! How... how could anyone have killed her? This can't be..."
"We have to go avenge her! And protect Queen Rahna! Right now!"
: "No matter. I suppose we might as well bring down the capital while we're here. Pamela, your unit will cross the mountains. Beseige [sic] and capture Thove immediately."
: "Very well."
So yeah, this is when I restarted. Or rather, quite playing for a few days and then restarted from the save at the end of the last update. I don't blame Kaga for this move specifically (I mean, it shouldn't have been a surprise to me that pegasi can fly over mountains), but it really annoyed me that this comes to pass after going through this multi-turn cutscene, when you've had plenty time to evacuate Thove. I guess I'm lucky that I keep the saves at end of an update around at least until the next update, so I didn't have to do the whole trip to Thove again. Then again, if my save rotation was wider, I might still have had a late ch.3 save...
New plan! Raquesis. 1-2 range. Weapon triangle advantage. She has 22 Def, 23 after her level-up from warping Aideen back home. Pamela's generics have 24 Atk with their Javelins. The Hand Axe is slightly less expensive 1-2 range than the Earth Sword. I see no flaw in this plan.
(no, really, Raquesis shuts Pamela's squad down hard)
: "Heh... Begone, weakling!"
: "I-impossible..."
Nothing personel, kid.
Of course, I'm juming ahead a fair bit in my list of screenshots here, but since Raquesis is just going to chill for the rest of the chapter, I thought I might as well get this out of the way.
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Little AI surprise of the day: Raquesis got another Def proc right before the last remaining winged pony's turn, who then still suicides into her. Doesn't make much of a difference - I suppose I would've preferred the kill on the Brave Sword - but I still wonder why this is. Does the AI not check for a counterattack if a unit attacks from range? Or did the def proc somehow not register?
But back to the main figh-- er, main wait. After waiting for the Beigenritter to kill the last Silessian Peg Knight, we wait for the Beigenritter to seize Silesse.
: "The capital is under our control? Good. Mission accomplished. We ride for Grannvale at once!"
And off they go. For a while, I thought that my initial prediction (that André would function as an Evil Uncle to Aideen and Bridget's four kids) would be correct after all, but since I will be (er, would be? Was going to? That one sounds correct. I'm not good with tenses) copying character stats from next chapter's home castle, I noticed that he's going to be a boss next chapter. Missed opportunity, maybe? Although I might be able to have Bridget and/or Aideen fight him.
: "Heh... At long last. The capital is mine, and mine alone! Now, I want a wind mage unit deployed south of Silesse River. Fortify our defensive line there. Furthermore... Donovan! You and your axemen are to occupy the capital and maintain its defenses. But don't even think about killing the queen. We can't waste a hostage of such high value."
: "Got it, sir!"
: "Hurry! You need to flee as fast as you can!"
: "But, Your Highness..."
: "I'll be okay! Look after yourselves, please!"
: "People, please! The queen wants us to run, so come on! Run!"
: "Huh? Where the hell are all the townsfolk? Ugh... they scarpered, didn't they? Damn it! They took all the fun outta this! Boys, it's up to you now! Get out there and butcher those little pigs! No survivors! Understand?"
: "No! Please, stop! My citizens are as innocent as they come! It matters not what happens to me, but please, don't harm my people!"
: "I don't think so. You've been screwin' up Lord Daccar's will long enough, missy. 'Bout time you learned your lesson!"
: "Ahh..."
I get the intent - present Rahna as selfless and Daccar('s men) as evil and bloodthirsty... But it seems rather counterproductive, if not straight up idiotic, for one side in a civil war to murder civilians for no good reason, no? This isn't even looting and pillaging, it's just killing folks who already left their belongings behind.
That said, Daccar didn't come across as particularly cunning before this, either, so it might as well be in-character for him not to think ahead about after he takes the throne.
: "Coming from someone like you, willing to kill anyone, anywhere, anytime so long as you're handsomely paid, that's quite a claim. High praise indeed, if it's from the lips of the infamous 'Lamia the Infernal'."
: "Ohoho! Quite the flatterer, aren't you? Now, where do we begin with our mayhem?"
: "For now, your group will guard the castle. Be ready to roll out your traditional welcome in case Sigurd's thugs try causing us grief."
: "Guard duty? Really? Where's the fun in that? Eh, no matter. It's your money. Oi, ladies! Listen up! We're on guard duty. Stick to the castle, and pick off the enemy's leftovers if they come!"
It's shocking to me that neither Daccar nor Lamia have a moustache to twirl during these villainous speeches.
(While I'm making fun of them a lot here, I don't actually mind the pair of them. They're minor villains, so I don't mind that they prioritise being memorable over being competent and consistent with their own goals)
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Now, finally, the Silessian mage disappears, with not even as much as a goodbye to Taillte and Lewyn, who have been picknicking right next to him for the last I don't know how long. Erin takes the opportunity and kills one of the two Blizzard mages spawning near the bridge, but she's slightly short of reaching the other one with a dance.
At the end of Sigurd's phase, the six civilians run towards us and away from the axemen, who try to catch up to them.
: "Boys, get off yer sorry hinds! Guard the castle no matter what. Don't let 'em get anywhere near it!"
Ohhhh, this is recoloured Kimbaith, Jamke's middle (iirc) brother. I recognised that way too late - after finishing typing up the update and while uploading the pictures/copying the text into the forums. It kept bugging me that he looks really familiar, but I couldn't pinpoint it. The green hair made me not consider Verdane.
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And there's the occupier of Silesse himself.
He's boring. And has Pavise, although he really isn't strong enough for that to matter all that much. I guess it's a small oddity that he is using a sword and bow and not an axe? ...yeah, I think that's the most interesting thing about him that I can come up with.
With everybody already queueing the bridge, it's not a bit problem to reach the civilians well before they receive an axe in their head. "Rescueing" them will just make them disappear from the map, giving their rescuer a full 100 XP - the beneficiaries from this being Lewyn, Taillte (x2), Ayra, Beowulf, and Dew.
: "Ah! Are you here to help me? I couldn't possibly thank you enough!"
: "Oh! You're here to save me? Thank you so, so much!"
(only those two unique responses from the civilians)
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After that, re-sieging Silesse is really, really easy. Most notable event is Taillte hitting Lv.20, although she doesn't get her promotion before next chapter.
__
: "Hahaha! Time for ya to die!"
: "Gah... You're... You're too strong..."
Done. Next!
: "Your Highness! I'm so glad you're unharmed. My sincerest apologies for not coming to your aid sooner."
: "It's fine, Lord Sigurd. That you've made it here is more than enough. I... I'm sorry I couldn't do more. Too many people have died, and I could only stand by and watch... I can't bear it. And... and Mahnya..."
: "Don't worry, Your Highness. Mahnya's killers will die this day by my hand. Daccar's crimes are beyond forgiveness. I promise you: he will not escape me. With this in mind, I humbly request your authorization to assault Zaxon Castle."
: "Lord Daccar's petty greed has condemned my people to utter agony long enough. He is a murderer. Nothing more, nothing less. You may visit justice upon him, Lord Sigurd."
: "Understood. I'll mobilize my army to capture Zaxon immediately. For now, Your Highness, please get some rest."
: "Do take care of yourself, Lord Sigurd. As soon as Zaxon is under your control, I'll be coming by for a word with you."
With how much I (well, We) have been making fun of Sigurd's if-all-you-have-is-a-seize-button attitude... I really do have to compliment him for becoming more reluctant to just grab all castles he lays an eye on... although he'll have a bit of a backslide at the end of the chapter.
: "What in blazes is Donovan even doing out there? Blast... We've no choice. Instruct Lamia to move out and attack at once! They mustn't be allowed near my castle!"
: "Wow, even something so tiny gets Daccar panicking... No matter. Let's go, ladies! We've got quite the feast ahead of us!"
Good luck with that.
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That said, Lamia's little band (and it is fairly small, by FE4's standards) has some mean tricks up their sleeves. Definitely something that'll catch an unsuspecting player off-guard.
Lamia herself can be quite dangerous, too. As a Swordmaster, she has both Pursuit and Adept (and she has exactly enough Atk to one-round even Lex with two Adept procs), and she carries three Authority stars for +20 hit/avo.
However, because they're moving away from Zaxon Castle, they also move away from Daccar's Blizzard range, making that part of the fight a lot less dangerous.
To get it out of the way - a convo that will never have happened because it gives love points to a pairing that isn't meant to be...:
: "Hello there, mister Father!"
: "Hm? And who are you?"
: "I'm Sylviiiiiiiia!"
: "Well then, Miss Sylvia, how can I help you? Have you, perchance, recently run afoul of bandits?"
: "What's that?"
: "Well, er... I'm not sure how to put this... You're wearing nothing but smallclothes."
: "Eh?! Watch your mouth, mister Father! Haven't you seen dancers like me before? This is just a dancer's clothes. It's just like you wearin' your churchy cloak!"
: "Is that so... Hm. Surely you're chilled to the bone, wearing as little as you are, though?"
: "Oh, no! Even 'round here I'm never cold, 'cause my heart's ablaze!"
: "Is dancing truly so fun for you?"
: "Yeah! I just love it!"
: "Is that so... What of your parents? Do they agree with this career of yours?"
: "Actually, I'm an orphan. When I was really little, my master took me in and helped me become a dancer. But he... he was an awful, awful man. He'd always beat me outta nowhere. 'Bout a year ago I couldn't stand any more of it all, so I ran away."
: "I see... What a horrible tale. I believe I know your pain. I once had a sister, who would likely be around your age if she's still alive."
: "A sister?"
: "Yes. Alas, she was abducted while she was still an infant. I've searched for her ever since, but to this day I've yet to find any sign of her."
: "Ohh... I bet she's just like a princess! She's gotta be all pretty and classy... And nothin' like me..."
: "I disagree. I assure you, I do find you to be utterly charming. In your own way, you possess a unique grace and beauty."
: "Oh... mister Father... really?"
: "Of course. I could never lie."
: "Th-thank you... Nobody's ever told me somethin' like that... This feels kinda funny somehow... Oh... Oh, g-great, now I'm cryin'... What is this...?"
*sigh*
On the plus side, "mister Father" is a funny bit of irreverence, although with how Sylvia is sylviing, it might just be her parsing "Father Claude" as a name because she is a childish child. The convo confirms something I had been speculating about earlier - that Sylvia is supposed to be a tragic character behind her oh-so-quirky façade - but I don' think I have it in me to discuss the implications of the "girl is flirty and promiscuous because of daddy issues" trope right now.
__
So, let's never talk of that again. Back to killin' folks. Midir has enough HP/Def to survive a crit (i.e. 54 effective Atk), so he starts by baiting first on archer...
__
...and then another.
: "Hah! What a clumsy mistake, trying to fight me!"
To avoid any risk fighting Lamia, Azel chips her down, hitting one of his two attacks...
: "N-no... How..."
...and Bridget gets the kill.
Lamia is just the henchwoman of a minor villain, so she really doesn't have much of an impact in the grand scheme of the story, but I think she's the first actual villainess of the series? I know Gaiden had Sonia's sisters, but... actually, I'm not sure what characterisation, if any, they had in OG Gaiden. In Echoes, I think they're more tragic than evil.
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Anyway, Lamia's crew is quickly cleaned up (with Dew getting payed 1000 gold for taking a nap). Onwards to Daccar.
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: "The throne of Silesse is mine, and mine alone! It is my birthright! Stand aside, loathsome gnats!"
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Needless to say, three stationary Generals plus one long-ranged boss with middling attack strength isn't really a threatening formation.
__
And done.
Sigurd got a crit+miss there (oh yeah, Silver Sword has 50 kills now!), allowing an easy Ayra kill. If I recall, she even got Astra and then killed Daccar with the first hit.
While this is going on, some last-minute arenaing takes place - Aideen, who only fails to defeat the final Baron, Azel (full clear, although I forgot to get him the Paragon band for the first three rounds or so), Bridget (same, minus the forgotten Paragon).
And after she got the boss kill, I notice that Ayra also didn't get through the arena yet, so she's the last one to do so. Not the most efficient character to carry the Paragon Band into ch.5, since she and Lex are filthy rich already, but it'll do.
And finally, there are two conversations left - one important, one less so. For narrative reasons, I'll show the one which I technically only got right before seizing first:
: "I had no idea Jungby's bow knights would get involved in this mess."
: "No, it's not your fault. Just mine... I just haven't been thinking right lately. I should've been here all along, looking after Mother and the country. But nope, I just ran away! That's why Mahnya died... She just took my place in all this."
: "There's no need to blame yourself. The best you can do now is care for the queen, and ensure that Mahnya didn't die in vain."
: "Yeah, I know. No use pointing out the obvious, huh?"
: "Very well. Oh, Lewyn, before I forget... Don't forget to go see your mother at the capital as soon as possible. She said it's of the utmost importance!"
Very nice of Kaga to give this many reminders to the player to go pick up Forseti. Which Lewyn already did, in this timeline, but hey:
: "Perhaps Lord Sigurd has had quite the positive influence on you after all."
: "Oh, come on, Mother! You don't need to act like I'm still a child. Besides, Sigurd is hardly all that much older than I am."
: "Dear, compared to the likes of Lord Sigurd, you may as well still be a screaming infant. You've still much to learn from him, and quickly. Nothing would be more reassuring than having a son as fine as he by my side. Especially now that Mahnya is... Oh..."
: "Mahnya... I should've been the one to die out there. Not her. If only I'd gotten here sooner! Mother, I'll be here to protect you from now on. I won't let Mahnya's death go to waste. I swear, I will never, ever leave you again."
: "Oh, Lewyn... I never thought you were capable of saying anything so kind. But your word is more than enough. For now, at least, I believe you should remain at Lord Sigurd's side. He has a greater need of your strength."
: "But if I do that, what about you...?"
: "There's nothing to worry about, Lewyn. You are the heir of the wind crusader. Your place is with the rest of the world, to lead and guide it on its true path. The time has come for me to confer upon you your true birthright... The exalted wind tome, Forseti. Here, Lewyn. It's yours."
: "This... So this is the royal family's ancestral tome... The Book of Forseti... Oh! This power... What's this... warmth?"
: "Lewyn, never forget: the Wind Crusader flows as the gentlest breeze. His way is to guide all peoples of the world on the path of peace. Hate and violence is never his answer."
: "Yes, of course. I don't think I could live my life any other way."
: "Indeed. Perhaps you truly are a child of the wind... Lewyn... It's time for you to go. Take care out there, and... And don't do anything too rash."
: "Mother..."
: "Go on! ...For heaven's sake, go..."
As the Greek philosopher Vicky Leandros once sang: Geh mit Gott, aber geh.
(I didn't know of that song - absolutely not my genre of music - but it came out when I was googling if there's a known origin of that "polite" goodbye. But it's certainly older than Vicky's song.)
Forseti is, of course, OP. It technically doesn't hit quite as hard as Yewfelle or Gáe Bolg (I hope I remember the accent placement correctly), but it hits Res, it's insanely accurate (effectively 110 base hit), it makes Lewyn hecking dodgy, and it significantly boosts the proc chance of both Adept and Critical.
But there we go. Bad map. Very boring. Glad we're done.
Really, the design is just incredibly generic - go to this castle, then return (preferrably by magic means) to your home castle, be annoyed at several turns of inaction while a long cutscene plays out, then move straight to Zaxon (with Silesse being a small detour along the way). Enemy formations are placed on the map without much purpose - they never synergise in any form to create an interesting challenge; apart from Pamela going for Thove, they just come at you one by one, making them really easy to defeat, especially because there's not much time pressure once the villages are saved. The rescuable villagers are cute, but since you have so much time positioning at the bridge, it's really trivial to grab those 600 XP, too.
Story-wise, it's also not the most interesting chapter. Compared to the Agustrian conflict, the Silessian civil war isn't given much time, so there isn't much to it that goes beyond "two dickheads are trying to ursurp the throne". But this aspect of the map I'm fine with - it's a retarding moment before the big catastrophe, Sigurd has a bit of time of relative peace, and he can even partake in his favourite hobby without anybody being mad at him for it. I like Rahna, too - again, she didn't have as much time to establish herself in the story as, say, Eldigan, and her role is less interesting than his, too, but she's nice. It's nice to have somebody in the story who is nice. And she has one last opportunity to be nice in the closing cutscene of the chapter - I don't think she'll have another appearance, at least not in the first generation.
: "Sire, Queen Rahna has arrived."
: "Lord Sigurd, that was quite the fierce battle, wasn't it? Are you unharmed?"
: "Yeah. Somehow, I'm okay."
Always a bit awkward when Fire Emblem tries to play up the wrong battle as this big epic fierce showdown.
: "I know I've asked so much of you already, Lord Sigurd, but would you and your army please station yourselves here at Zaxon? Grannvale's Lord Langbalt has already swept in with an immense army and conquered Lubeck Castle, to our east. The people of Silesse are terrified that this will prove to be but a prelude to a full-scale war with Grannvale."
: "Your Highness, I believe Langbalt's army is here only for me. I've no desire to needlessley endanger you or your citizens, after all you've done for us. My men and I are leaving. Now. I have a score to settle with Langbalt."
: "What recklessness! How could you possibly prevail like this?"
: "They're coming for me no matter what. If we remain here, then they'll just invade. We can't afford to waste time debating this."
: "Is that so... How sad..."
: "Your Highness... Thank you so much. You've given me the most wonderful year here, and you've done some much to put my mind at ease. My mother died when I was still very young, so as I grew up, I never knew the unconditional love of a mother. But thanks to you, here in Silesse, I've come to know that very same warmth. You're like a second mother to me now... Take care of yourself, Your Highness. I hope that someday, once this is all over, we'll have a chance to meet again."
: "As do I, Lord Sigurd. Please, stay vigilant out there, and keep yourself safe. From the bottom of my heart, I pray that you and Deirdre will soon be reunited."
You say "unconditional love", Sigurd, but Lewyn has been testing the limits of that concept... But, of course, to be fair, we're talking Lewyn here.
Anyway, because Silesse has only been the scene for one (fairly short) chapter, the "second mother" part feels a little bit unearned. Not terribly so, but it still sticks out a bit to me. Apart from that, I think I've said all I wanted about this chapter, so let's get to
The Team
with one added promotion:
Minus a horse, plus a Staff rank, compared to Azel. Great for ranked runners, I assume, since Taillte would be able to just staff-spam herself to Lv.30, but not as great if you want to use Taillte in actual combat.
You can also see that she hooked up with Lewyn at the tail end of the chapter. The same is true for Azel and Bridget, which means that only Erin and Claude need to step up their game...
...which it seems they will soon enough. This message indicates that there's at most 100 love points left for our last marriage, which with Erin and Claude's love growth of +3 equals at most 13 rounds of adjacency. Shouldn't be much of a problem, even if Erin ends up flying around saving villages 'n stuff.
Finally, Project Bachelorette will hopefully be successful for Sylvia. It's possible that Holyn is only 101 love points (=34 rounds without adjacency) away from proposing, but since he never left the home castle, I hope that he's further away than that. But enough about love 'n junk, I was going to present
The Team
Lv. HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Res Funds XP Arn W/L Sigurd 27.47 58 25 0 22 22 15 19 4 25000 +310 [*] 73/1 Lex 28.46 56 27 2 18 14 12 25 4 36720 +334 [*] 30/0 Azel 26.80 44 7 25 14 22 8 12 13 40470 +302 [*] 48/1 Midir 27.52 47 21 1 16 23 9 14 4 2000 +573 [*] 36/0 Raquesis 27.24 41 27 8 22 20 11 24 10 24500 +1133 [*] 21/1 Beowulf 25.85 51 22 0 29 19 4 18 3 50000 +733 [*] 14/0 Erin 26.28 45 15 9 19 28 11 19 15 42640 +664 [*] 30/0 Ayra 28.66 51 24 2 30 30 9 13 4 27500 +626 [*] 34/1 Bridget 23.70 49 24 2 25 21 14 16 9 35500 +600 [*] 16/0 Dew 10.13 31 8 0 10 18 14 4 1 3000 +186 [1] 3/2 Lewyn 25.03 51 3 29 25 30 8 9 15 50000 +706 [*] 18/0 Taillte 22.02 48 4 22 24 22 18 6 16 41000 +1298 [*] 15/0 Aideen 29.87 48 9 25 16 19 27 9 11 37520 +725 [7] 0/0 Claude 30.00 41 2 24 19 17 14 5 23 18700 +460 [*] 0/0 Sylvia 11.10 34 4 3 4 14 10 1 9 18000 +310 [1] 0/0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Arden 8.41 39 16 0 6 5 3 15 0 49040 -- [1] 4/0 Noish 7.68 35 12 0 10 10 4 9 0 13360 -- [1] 6/1 Alec 9.21 37 12 0 12 11 6 12 0 22815 +40 [2] 2/1 Holyn 16.40 44 16 0 21 17 3 11 1 43060 +140 [5] 0/0 Jamke 18.21 47 15 0 16 17 11 12 1 45915 +176 [6] 4/0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Quan 17.05 47 21 0 16 17 7 13 4 10200 17/4 Ethlyn 30.00 43 15 13 20 24 14 18 8 180 9/0 Finn 23.80 46 22 0 16 20 17 17 4 34030 43/1 Deirdre 7.82 29 0 16 10 13 6 4 18 21500 3/0 Quan: Gáe Bolg, Silver Lance, Iron Lance, Javelin Finn: Silver Lance, Steel Lance, Skill Ring Ethlyn: Slim Sword, Silver Blade, Pursuit Band Deirdre: Silence, Aura, Circlet- I hope Beowulf isn't the kind of husband that feels humilated by a more successful wife. The girl he was trying to impress by offering weapon training is now thoroughly kicking his ass.
- And it's not as funny as Azura vs. Ike's Str growths, since Dew is just a kid himself, but I still like that Aideen has bigger guns than our thievy boy. Reaching 9 Str (with a base of 0 and no promo gains) is equivalent to a 35% growth, which is almost as good as Bridget (4/11 => 36%) has been growing.
-
9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:
I've talked about it elsewhere, but I would've prefered if they designed the map to more naturally allow for this. Like, a more linear map with Sailane at the top and Thove between you and the capital.
For the narrative, the general layout of the map does make sense. Not-Bordeaux (I should call him Marseille) starts attacking once he gets word that Sigurd has beaten Maios, since that means that Sigurd is now much further away from the capital. It's nice that the villains are on the receiving end of some teleport bullshit for a change, too.
I dunno, I find that ch.2 made a similar concept work much better. The long distances Sigurd has to travel are much less annoying when you can move your horsies a full screen worth of tiles every turn, as opposed to the frustrated movement in the Silessian forests, and I don't think it had ch.4's problem where there's literally zero pressure on you while you're only halfway to your destination.
8 hours ago, Jotari said:Like, she was blocked off from Orgahil, wasn't she? Even though having here there to help Briggid, Claude and Tailtu right away wouldn't have been game breaking at all.
There are forcefields preventing her to actually move onto the land tiles, but the game is very charitable when it comes to Erin helping Claude and Taillte. This is right when they spawn, so Erin is able to immediately act as a frontline tank for them.
Broadly agree with your points. I think the forcefield are particularly annoying in ch.4 because they linger for at least one extra turn (I haven't continued playing yet, so I don't know how this will work exactly) and I obviously can't say anything about the rest of the game, but I don't have a fundamental problem with them existing.
8 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:Admittedly, I generally like how Genealogy handles crits - both in the "most units can't do it", and "it doubles attack power" senses. So, giving the enemies Luck, and having it mitigate Crit, would make the Critical skill nigh-useless. Unless they reconfigure the formula, so that the skill (and Killer Bow) give an automatic 20 Crit, with the Skill-Luck margin determining any modifiers from there.
I'm in two minds about the Critical skill - I do enjoy that you don't have the constant low% crit chances potentially screwing you over, like in the Akaneia games, but I don't like the multiple proc-based damage-increasing skills like Accost, Adept, Astra, which Critical in practise becomes one of. They add to the variance in Genealogy's combat, where almost every fight has like five potential outcomes with non-marginal probabilities, which I think is a weakness of the game.
8 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:Epic Dew gaming moment.
Wait a second... Why did I have Dew attack in melee-- Oh fuck, I'm an idiot.
Turns out that when I reloaded the last turn of ch.3 to sell Ethlyn's Mend staff, I forgot that I had also picked up the Wind Sword on that same last turn.
...welp, minus one magic sword. That's annoying. The Wind Sword will only be available in ch.10, too.
Good thing I didn't let Ethlyn take a magic sword with her, I suppose.
8 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:I really like the Shield Sword on anyone using Miracle strats, since being able to control how much damage you take in that regard is a huge boon. Or you can just use it to make someone uncharacteristically bulky.
It's pretty insane just how much micromanagement one can do with the arena
Sigurd, Beowulf, and Erin could all go to 30-ish Def with the Shield Sword plus Shield Band. Definitely impressive, although I suspect that there's too many enemies that would ignore them to make that a good play.
8 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:Okay but like
If Mahnya and Rahna got together
Then like
Erinys would be Lewyn's aunt.
...So any other day in Jugdral.
To be fair, christmas dinner can't really get much more awkward than Lewyn already makes it by being Lewyn.
5 hours ago, RPGuy96 said:Chapters 2 and 4 annoy me for basically the same reason - the branching path means you have to track back all the way (or Warp/Return, but you have to go all the way back to Evans in 2, right?). Chapter 4 also has the cool scripted battle you're about to see, though obviously we are less attached to Mahnya than friends and relatives from the southeast that you might be seeing soon.
Nordion not being a warp spot is a bit annoying, yes. But as I said, moving units about is much less of a hassle if their movement isn't slowed down as much. If I recall, even Quan riding all the way from Anphony and Azel walking from Heirhein both managed to contribute vs. Mackily and Agusty.
3 hours ago, BrightBow said:I mean, there isn't really a practical reason to lay siege to that castle. Everyone can just go home.
Of course we are talking about Sigurd. Doesn't matter if it's impractical. He sees a castle, he's gotta have it.
Seriously. He's making progress, evidenced by his realisation that some people might not enjoy being invaded, but he still can't overcome his instincts.
But it really is a running theme that Sigurd achieves what he set out to do... and then just keeps on a-conquerin' for no good reason. Happened in Verdane, happened in Agustria, and now it's happening in Silesse.
1 hour ago, Jotari said:Yeah, but...why though. It's not that mechanism to control a draw bridge from the other side is impossible to design (though with pre modern tech it'd probably be pretty challenging and involve a lot of rope), it's that such a design defeats the purpose of a drawbridge, which is to defend a moat from one side. The only sensible conclusion is that it's not a draw bridge at all and is actually one of those double sided lifting bridges designed for letting large boats to pass under, and despite it's cold climate, Thove is some kind of manufacturing area for tall ships... though even in such a scenario being able to physically work it from both sides as opposed to just telling the guy on the other side to open it at the same time as you is going to be a tonne of redundant effort for the tech they're working with.
Dew is just a very fast swimmer -
17 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:
From what I've gathered, the common sentiment is that chapter 2 is, or at least was at some point, the majority's least favorite in this game.
Not me, though, I agree with you. Chapter 4 is godawful. And you've not even gotten to the really asinine part yet.
You can trust on Fire Emblem fans to always have the worst possible opinions.But seriously, that's wild. I found ch.2 to be the best map thus far, with ch.3 falling behind because of the Orgahil sequence. Ch.2's back-and-forth movement might look bad on paper, but with all the castles connected by roads, it really isn't, and I very much enjoyed how there was stuff happening all over the map. The only bad parts, as far as I'm concerned were Raquesis's body guards (specifically that they prioritise attacking enemies in their range over keeping close to her) and the Mackily ballistae on a cliff.
Meanwhile, ch.4 is just a big nothingburger thus far. Move people east. Move/warp them back west. Presumably, move them next across the bridge (and a few mountain tiles, it seems, to make the movement extra annoying).
26 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:And of course, if Dew is dead, you're fucked and have to spend 30 turns walking through an entirely empty mountain. It's just incredibly weird. Why punish the player like that for losing this one (really squishy and bad at combat) unit? There's no reason for this stupidity that I can imagine. It adds nothing to narrative or gameplay both.
Holy shit, I didn't even consider this. The southern path towards Thove is literally all mountain, what the hell.
28 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:No seriously, but why did they use the exact same face for eveyone except this one guy? Where's all the women? Are they all pegasus knights here? Maybe that's the intent, actually...
I think it's because the old beardmen (or the one old beardman with a Rewarp staff. I think I might prefer that headcanon) are providing some background in mythology, which obviously has to be done by an old wise man.
And there are no old wise women because women tend to die young, while serving as pegasus knights. That arrow weakness is brutal.
32 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:Two separate avoid rolls? Sure, sounds reasonable!
Thracia's 99 hit cap might come as a relief, compared to the effective 70-80ish hit cap against enemy barons.
34 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:Ismaired lol. Ismaire deserved so much better. Her sword arm was nothing to sneeze at if the CC is anything to go by, and... God she was beautiful. No wonder she had a designated bossman whose entirely character is that he was way too into her. Legit one of the series's prettiest women. Such godlike design gone to waste. I would've rather had her than her son. I'd sell her son's soul to have her.
This is not intended to be a clue to anything Also fuck I sound like CarlyleVery merciful of you that you don't have to sacrifice Joshua to recruit Ismaire in The Sacred Rubens.
(wait, Joshua was playable as normal, right? Now that I'm typing this, I'm suddenly not sure, since I don't remember using him at all)
37 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:Plenty of conversations have been had about this by the community as a whole. Suffice to say: Nobody likes the forcefields. They're very stupid.
Honestly, I get why they're there. It's more annoying here because they didn't vanish right the next turn after seizing Thove, but I can understand that they're a (somewhat brute-force) way to prevent the player from sequence-skipping with Erin. It's just a cost of having big, multi-seize map.
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To be honest, the argument that you don't get your money's worth for the three Fates titles never had a leg to stand on, as far as quantity goes. Quality always has room to argue, of course.
But if you compare Fates gameplay to the GBA games (plus PoR, arguably), Fates 1-3 seem at least as distinct from one another, even though they're all identical in their fundamental game mechanics. Birthright is overall the most simple game, Conquest has the most tight map design (also in the sense that it's more punishing if the player makes mistakes), Revelation maps tends to be more gimmicky. Obligatory disclaimer that this is just my observation from watching LPs. FE6-9 do have their little differences in their mechanics (SacSto's branched promotions and world map; PoR's much improved support growth system), but I would say that the biggest differences in "game-feel" come from their different difficulty and map/enemy design, not from the ability to promote Joshua into an Assassin.
And as far as the story goes... I'm saying this as somebody who really dislikes most aspects of Fates's story (and the very concept of the golden Rev route), but despite the main villains being the same, the three routes still have very different structures. Certainly not a "Hector vs Eliwood mode" situation, where the same story is told just from a different point of view. And with CQ and BR mostly having their own casts of playable characters, you can't really complain about the overlap in supports, either. Not sure how the situation with Rev is in that regard, but I think it has at the very least a ton of romantic supports between Hoshidans and Nohrians? Again, not commenting on the quality, but I wouldn't be surprised if these alone would be larger in volume than the supports of any given GBA game (+PoR).
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FE4 Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies
Sailane --> Thove
Spoiler
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Ah. Turns out that this conversation also fires if Sylvia takes an action adjacent to Erin, not just if she waits. During this entire segment (maybe minus a turn or two), Taillte and Lewyn stay next to each other, so I'm hopeful that this won't make a difference, though.
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This entire segment is also a bit boring. Very one-dimensional, since you're really just walking from Sailane towards Thove, hopefully relieving the villages on your way.
: "Hmhmhm... I'm surprised you've made it this far."
: "Dithorba... The rest... is up to you..."
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Wind Mage squad: Fairly harmless.
Five of them attack Erin over the course of two turns, who gets an Adept proc for four of them. I'll admit that I am glad that wind magic doesn't have its anti-flyer effect in Genealogy.
One nice thing about this segment is Taillte getting a few kills despite her low movement. She gains another 250 XP in combat, thanks to the Paragon Band, in addition to the ~600 that she gained in the arena. Only this one Wind Mage, but she's going to zap a few flying horses, too, before turning around together with Lewyn, moving towards the bridge leading to Silesse Castle.
Of course, villages are collected along the way. I'll pool the dialogue and who gets the rewards later (well, this particular one just goes to Erin because it's rather out of the way otherwise).
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One turn after murdering the Wind Mages, Dithorba's squad approaches. Not the most sophisticated defensive formation I've ever devised, but there's precisely one clever thing about it: Dew is in range of exactly one Pegasus Knight, netting him 3000 gold at no chance of death.
One big mistake I make: Beowulf did not give money to Raquesis. He gets attacked by quite a few Pegasi and hits 50k gold quite easily, while poor Raquesis is sitting on a paltry 30k.
: "Behold: you now face Dithorba, one of the Four Falcon Knights of Silesse! This is where your journey ends!"
Dithorba made the interesting choice of hitting Lex for 2 points of damage. He still had his Iron Axe equipped from setting up the kill for Taillte earlier, so he only deals modest chip damage...
...but 'tis still useful. Midir's 70 Atk with a crit would've left Dithorba at a very annoying 3 HP or 116 Avoid, thanks to her Miracle Band.
: "N-no... What have I..."
Actually, even worse: With only Dew's chip damage, Midir would've brought Dithorba to 1 HP. Of course, since Dithorba is a promoted Falcoknight with the Adept skill, this is not an action I would recommend in a ranked run. Here, Dithorba even does get a proc, but misses one of her attacks. Good job, Dew, for not getting that third L on your record.
Bzzt!
So, er, there's the result. Hardly halfway towards whatshisface, Not-Elliot, and all mobile enemies are already dead. Honestly, this map is the one with the worst design thus far, I would say.
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Minus one Blizzard mage...
...and on to the next three. I missed at first that all of those three Mages have that spell, but this is still not a particularly difficult position to break through, despite the forest slowing everybody's approach down.
And because the map isn't tedious enough already...:
: "Hm? I'd say those traitors are drawing perhaps a bit too close for comfort. You there! Raise the Thove River drawbridge! Without this key, there's no way they'll ever get over here. Heh heh... I almost wish I could see the looks on their faces!"
...ugh.
To make things worse - at this point in time, I assumed that there would be another event telling me to do to lower the bridge again. Which is actually true - the village closest to the bridge will tell me that Dew is the man for the job, which to be honest I should've figured out myself.
However, I didn't, and I had sent Dew to collect some of the villages to delay the decision of who to eventually give that money to, adding a number of turns of waiting.
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To make things even worse: Maios's guardsmen all have 1-2 range, so you can just engage most of them across the river anyway. If anything, this stunt with the bridge makes this easier. And slower, of course.
But before we deal with the boss, let's go over the villages:
: "Divine heirs can wield even the most advanced weapons with ease, and'll have an easier time growin' stronger. 'Course, it's not every day you meet someone blessed with that sorta blood.
[3500 gold -> Bridget]
: "Should Prince Kurth's daughter bear a son, that son would be heir to Grannvale's throne. I daresay this makes Lord Arvis, husband to the princess, quite the infuential figure."
[3500 gold -> Erin] - this is the more out-of-the-way village south of the path towards Maios.
: "Only a direct holy descendant can inherit the full breadth of the power of the gods. And only they'll be able to wield their family's divine heirlooms. However, if kin intersect, their offspring'll have their exalted blood enriched and'll reap almighty powers. Needless to say, mind, doin' that is condemned and forbidden..."
[3500 gold -> Bridget]
In Holyn and Ayra's defense (but not Claude and Sylvia's, if I recall), after a few generations, you would potentially have people with the same Holy Blood that aren't related so close to make it weird.
: "House Velthomer wields the power of fire, as bestowed by the fire goddess, Vala. And House Freege wields thunder powers, as bestowed by the thunder god, Tordo."
[5000 gold -> Dew]
People in Silesse sure are old. Ruben should look forward to a Genealogy remake just so that they can give all of these identical old beardmen new, unique old beardman portraits.
: "Only Grannvale's House Belhalla, the heirs to Sain Heim, inherit Naga's power."
[3000 gold -> Dew]
: "Y'know how there's a drawbridge over the Thove River? Yeah, that's under the control of Duke Maios, too. If it's still drawn and you don't have the key, you're not getting across. Mind you, if you have a thief's sticky fingers, at your service, that might not be a problem..."
[1500 gold -> Midir]
Thank you for your advise, non-old villager.
: "Magic is governed by a hierarchy of power, just like weapons. Fire magic bests wind, wind bests thunder, and thunder bests fire. However, dark and light magic have an advantage over all of the others. Think your strategies through with care."
[4000 gold -> Bridget]
With the three villages that she collected, Bridget is now sitting at 38580 gold, i.e. enough that she can grab the Paragon Band for the arena rounds #3 through (hopefully) #7.
As an aside, Azel just kept keeping her company during all of this, partially to make sure that the two will get together in the not-too-far future, and partially because I'm sometimes a little stupid and had never repaired Azel's Fire tome because it slipped my mind that he passed Thunder to Aideen and Claude for last chapter's arena.
: "Oh! Lord Sigurd's army is here to save us all! Hang on... Aren't you a dancer, miss? If you don't mind, perhaps you could do a little dance for us? It's been so long since we've had time for respite or fun..."
: "Yep, not a problem! If you think it'll help everyone cheer up a bit, then I'm gonna dance my feet off! ...Okay! Heeeere we go!
Hah! Yeah! Hyaaaah!
: "Whew... Well, how 'bout that? Everyone feelin' a little better?"
: "Oh! What fantastic dancin'! I dunno how, but now I feel like I'M ready to give life my all! I can't thank you enough, miss. Here, perhaps this magic sword'll help ya out. It oughta do a fine job of keeping ya safe."
[5000 gold; Shield Sword -> Sylvia]
Very useful, indeed. To be honest, I've pretty much given up on Sylvia buying the Leg Ring (and she's certainly not buying the Knight Ring), so I don't care as much for her own arena ambitions with this, but this just seems like a universally strong sword for anybody who can use it.
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But speaking of arenas, Claude got through it! With a bit of start-of-turn RNG abuse, but still impressive.
...I think I might have overdone Fortify spam a little bit.
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With most of the castle guards killed from across the river, Aideen and Raquesis start warping people back to Sailane, from where the go gather around the bridge.
To be honest, I never really looked too closely at the jealousy mechanic/bug. I think this formation avoids it? If I recall, you have to have girls standing adjacent to each other, with a man at one end of the formation, to set it up, with some additional rules about who can be jealous of whom.
But back to the castle at hand...
: "Come on, traitors! Grannvale's bounty on your heads is mine for the plucking!"
The fight against Maios is kinda annoying, since he adds high avoid to the already infuriating Pavise skill.
I end up RNG abusing a bit again to find a string that would allow Midir and Sigurd to kill Maios...
...and end up getting one where Midir just kills him by himself. Doesn't really matter that much either way, since Maois doesn't drop anything. (what does matter is Midir gaining an empty level-up from this...)
: "Oof! This can't... be..."
: "Sire, the Thove village elder would like a word with you."
: "Of course. Actually, I'd imagine we need to talk this situation over. Bring him in."
: "Lord Sigurd, I presume? We can't thank you enough for getting rid of Lord Maios. The entire population of Thove is rejoicing as his downfall!"
: "Hm? Are you sure? I mean, I just conquered you. Am I not the enemy here?"
: "Lord Maios was nothing but a tyrant. All he ever did was bleed us dry. You fight in the name of Queen Rahna, and there isn't a Silessian alive who doesn't bear the utmost adoration for our queen."
: "Is that so? Thank you. Anyway, in the interim I think I'll leave governing Thove to you, sir. Once the crisis is settled, the queen will be in touch to arrange a proper successor. Until then, I'm sure you'll be a just governor to help heal Thove's wounds."
: "Very well. Please, Lord Sigurd, do all you can to protect the queen. She is a treasure to us, and a beacon of peace and kindness."
: "Rest assured, my good man. So long as I live, I swear that I'll let no harm come to Queen Rahna. You have my word."
Foreshadowing...? To be honest, I don't remember if Rahna gets ismaired soon, but this dialoge signals very loudly that Yes. With extreme prejudice. In any case, I have to commend Sigurd for his growing self-reflection.
After ending the turn, the next objective is not quite set up:
: "I almost feel bad for my brother: little more than a pawn in my dreams who'd outlived his usefulness. Pamela, it's your turn. Lead your pegasus knights into battle at once! Sigurd is well clear of the capital. Seize it while he has no chance of aiding them!"
: "Yes, sir!"
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: "Be at ease, milady. My squad will keep Pamela's at bay."
: "Mahnya, are you sure you can do this? I've heard stories of the sheer terror of Pamela's might as a warrior."
: "Of course... I know better than to take lightly such a formidable foe. But remember, I am one of the Four Falcon Knights of Silesse. I never enter a battle ill prepared."
: "Ah... I'm so sorry, Mahnya. I already know well how you feel about all this, but... I..."
: "To fight in your name is the only life I know... Milady, please. Don't worry about me so much. If that's all, then, I'll be going. Knights, to me! Move out!"
The next pair of secondary characters (after Azel and Lex) that seem gaily shippable to me. Certain Elincia/Lucia vibes, although I doubt that the game will pull a younger brother of Mahnya out of the hat with a more explictly shown attraction to Rahna, just to make sure things don't become too gay.
I said that the next objective is not quite set up here, because the game doesn't allow us to rush to Silesse's aid just yet. The mage blocking the bridge is just as yellow and immovable as before. We'll see what happens next. For now, I'll only show the named characters that showed up:
Daccar is very much like his little brother, just with slightly better defensive stats, including a 4% higher chance to proc Pavice. And of course with a Blizzard tome. Since he's guarded by three Generals, he might be able to make use of that once we get to him, but since the three units guarding a boss in a castle tend to be immobile, I'm not too worried.
By contrast, Pamela has a harder-hitting weapon than Dithorba, but seems easier to kill. +5 Def, sure, but no Miracle to worry about, and lower AS/avo because she is using a lance, too.
Mahnya is, pointedly, two levels higher than Pamela, with slightly higher stats to match, but also at a weapon triangle disadvantage. If this was a fair fight, I'd say it's a close fight, but I'm pretty sure Aideen and Bridget are about to have a family reunion.
But I'll stick to the "one castle per update" for now, so I'll leave this on a cliffhanger. As I said, Thove was probably the weakest castle in terms of map design, which is doubly a shame because it directly follows Orgahil, which probably was the weakest castle in terms of map design before this one. To be honest, just looking at this chapter's map as a whole, I'm not too optimistic that Kaga will turn this around with Silesse and Zaxon, but I hope that Ch.5 is going to be a nice finale for the first generation.
The Team:
Lv. HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Res Funds XP Arn Sigurd 27.15 58 25 0 22 22 15 19 4 23000 +278 [*] Lex 28.42 56 27 2 18 14 12 25 4 34720 +330 [*] Midir 27.05 47 21 1 16 23 9 14 4 34160 +526 [*] Beowulf 24.16 50 22 0 28 18 4 18 3 50000 +564 [*] Erin 25.98 44 15 9 19 27 10 19 15 40640 +634 [*] Raquesis 24.53 39 27 8 22 20 10 22 10 30535 +862 [*] Ayra 23.36 49 23 2 30 29 7 12 4 50000 +96 [1] Bridget 18.06 45 22 1 25 21 12 16 9 38580 +36 [1] Dew 8.80 31 8 0 10 18 14 4 1 16000 +53 [1] Azel 23.78 42 7 23 13 22 6 10 13 4980 -- [1] Lewyn 23.39 49 3 28 24 30 8 9 15 50000 +542 [*] Tailte 17.60 44 0 15 24 13 15 1 11 19000 +854 [*] Aideen 27.72 48 9 24 16 18 25 8 11 2180 +510 [1] Claude 30.00 41 2 24 19 17 14 5 23 16700 +460 [*] Sylvia 9.30 33 4 3 4 13 10 1 8 16000 +130 [1] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noish 7.68 35 12 0 10 10 4 9 0 11360 -- [1] Alec 9.21 37 12 0 12 11 6 12 0 20920 +40 [2] Arden 8.41 39 16 0 6 5 3 15 0 47040 -- [1] Holyn 15.96 43 15 0 20 17 3 11 1 38680 +96 [4] Jamke 18.21 47 15 0 16 17 11 12 1 44050 +176 [6] Quan [17.05] - Ethlyn [30.00] - Finn [23.80] - Deirdre [7.82]8 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:Must be Blazing then, no? Some Nergal scenes spring to mind.
A couple scenes with the Black Fang, too. Brendan and Sonia sending the brothers after Eliwood is an example, unless I misremember. But I also don't think BinBla has any instances of this, so (outside of non-FE Kaga), BlaBla should be the first.
8 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:+1 Hit & Avoid in Thracia through Radiant Dawn.
Shadow Dragon nerfed Luck to its current 0.5 Hit/Avoid values. And Fates halved the Crit negation too.
Welp, RIP Lck in Genealogy.
Weird that the devs still found the stat to be too powerful in and after DSFE. I guess the crit negation nerf in Fates makes sense because, if I recall, you also get this from pair-up? Just to make sure that you can't get out of crit risks too easily.
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Further proof that BinBla is the Fire Emblem's peak. Even its apparent faults are for our own good.
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6 hours ago, BrightBow said:
This seems so awkward. If he made it all the way to Grandbell, why would he flee all the way here instead of his own territory? This also makes it much less believable that Tiltyu is still sticking around.
Not to mention it's also contrived that it was apparently specifically Reptor who stopped Claude from reaching the king. Alvis is the guy who acts as the king's right hand. Keeping letters or visitors away from the king would be his job. But of course Sigurd can't know yet that Alvis is part of the conspiracy, or he would toss out the invite to his BBQ.I would say that it's much easier to imagine that Claude simply recognized the writing at the wall and realized that with Reptor and Langobalt in Augustria, he was not going to make it back to the capital, so he joined the trip to Silesia. For Tiltyu being suddenly confronted by a huge army lead by her dad must have been scary too. So I could see her sticking around for the time being.
Claude's entire trip to Grannvale is very "Tell, not Show". He tells Sigurd during Ch.3 that he will now return to Grannvale, but he (or Taillte) never leave the team. It makes sense for the gameplay (the two of them have the least amount of playtime already, alongside Bridget), and with there being a year of time between Ch.3 and 4, it's not a plot hole, either, but I think it would've flowed better if Reptor and Langbalt's assault on Sigurd in Agustria would've cancelled Claude's trip.
6 hours ago, BrightBow said:Maybe it's done that way since Sylvia already has a convo with Claude listed.
In any case it's interesting how despite the story pushing Levin and Fury so hard, in gameplay Sylvia is heavily favored. Almost as if that couple is meant to be your punishment if you don't keep Sylvia away from Levin.
Well, Lewyn and Erin have an instant-lovemaking-just-add-water conversation later this chapter, so I'd say it had already been Kaga's favoured pairing during Genealogy's development. For a blind playthough, I don't think Sylvia/Lewyn's head start is all that big, either. Yes, they spawn together as an isolated duo in Ch.2, but it's in the nature of a Dancer that she allows the people she refreshes to then leave her behind.
Poetic, really.Silvia will still be a bit ahead of Erin when the latter joins, since it only takes 5 turns of non-adjacency for her to catch up, but likely not by too much.About the convo - that is possible, actually. Looking through the gen 1 chapters, there's never a blue unit that can initiate a conversation with more than one other blue unit. They might be able to be talked to by multiple characters (Sigurd in the prologue, for example), or have a blue-on-blue talk plus a talk to a differently-coloured character (Sigurd recruiting Ayra and Raquesis), but never a second blue-on-blue talk, not even one that is gated by a seized castle.
6 hours ago, Jotari said:As I said when Cigyun was mentioned in two different context months or years apart, it's entirely believable that two people could have the same name and not be related. In fact, we have an example of the one Steve Limit being violated in Jugdral for no plot reason or reference of anything like that, with the Cross Knight Alva and the Leinster knight Alva having the same name for no specific reason. That being said...I actually like the idea of Manfroy giving Deirdre another name. It would make his plan more robust and it would be crueller on Deirdre as even more of her identity is stolen from her. And for stuff like Cipher and Heroes we would have two specific identifiers for Deirdre in her pre and post amnesiac state. I don't think it would be too confusing for the player either. Give the common man some credit, we can tell it's Deirdre from the same portrait, even with portrait reuse her vanishing in one chapter and showing up in another as someone who was mysteriously refound is enough to understand that she's the same person even if everyone is walking around calling her Lady Kurthina or something.
It's not just the name - what Sigurd and his group know about the two Sigyns lines up nicely, too. Deirdre's mum? Fled the village, then returned 18-19 years ago (*) while pregnant, without telling anybody anything about what happened. Arvis's mum? After her affair with Kurth was made public "some twenty years ago" (**), she fled Grannvale never to be seen again. I think I can still maintain that if Sigurd, at any point, had remembered both these stories at the same time, it should at the very least have given him some pause.
(*) Old village in Ch.1 says that Sigyn's daughter would be 17-18 years old at this point.
(**) Quote from Filat when he visits Sigurd in Ch.23 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:Luck continues to be such a garbage stat. Especially in Genealogy. The devs realized it didn't matter, and couldn't be bothered to give any Luck to the enemies.
In most games, it at least has crit mitigation, so that a character with abysmal Lck at least has this constant threat of low% crits looming above their head. At least Genealogy's +1 avo is generally more valuable than the +.5 hit / +.5 avo that I think Lck usually provides.
3 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:: "Oh, Sigurd, it's most assuredly a delight to speak with you. Why, you're like the son I never had!"
Dangit, I wanted to make that joke when I read about Rahna's maternal vibes.
3 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:I meant before Rango and Reptar pulled their UNO reverse treason card. From the invasion of Verdane, to the total conquest of Augustria. Was Chalphy just left unguarded?
I wonder because - as great as it is to have them along for the ride - it might've made narrative sense for Ethlyn to watch the place once Sigurd absconded. She is, after all, Byron's daughter. Or just leave Arden behind, giving him more time to train everyday. That way, he can repel every conceivable threat to House Chalphy from Arvis, Manfroy, and random Brigands for the next twenty years.
Well, Sigurd only took three soldiers with him, so there should be plenty leftI would imagine that Chalphy only has a minimal garrison left - same as Jungby and I assume the other duchies. The prologue unfolds as it does because everybody is blindsided by Verdane's raid and Jungby didn't have adequade defenses to stop it. Azel even says that Sigurd's effort to drive back Verdane is the last line of defense that Grannvale has, because the Isaach war is demanding all its attention, although he of course has ulterior motives (namely, he wants to go on an adventure with that hunk Lex).
4 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:Valflame-hot take, but I think it'd be better if Claud had spoken to Arvis about it. Arvis would take his allegations seriously, of course, and respond that he's suspected as much. However, he doesn't have enough evidence yet, and needs more time to sway the king. Until then, one of his underlings will keep Claud's seat warm in Edda, while our High Priest keeps on aiding Lord Sigurd in Silesse - until this whole mess can be sorted out, that is! What a swell guy that Arvis is! As an added bonus, Claud briefly caught a glimpse of his bride-to-be: a woman of serene beauty, and striking white hair. Too bad he never caught her name...
Actually, I like that one, contrary to what I said earlier in this post. Maybe even have Claude disappear if you talk to him with Sigurd - if the two are meeting up, the road is clear all the way to Grannvale, so he could even leave Taillte behind because she wants to zap some evildoers, and it's not like Claude needs the extra five turns between Sigurd talking to him and Sigurd seizing Orgahil to gain XP.
Sending Claude to Belhalla would be a nice way of giving Arvis a little bit of screentime, too, by showing their interactions. I think I complained already that Arvis's role in the story is almost entirely developed in absentia, so one could add this (and maybe subtract Reptor revealing him as a villain to the audience) to present Arvis as a harsh and severe, but reasonable character, who agrees to relay Claude's revelations to the king who, how very unfortunate, currently isn't in a state to receive visitors because he's still in shock about the very unfortunate passing of his son, you see.
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5 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:
Senghor is cheating, buuut your calculations are slightly off, because you failed to account for the Luck stat. Remember, Avoid = AS * 2 + Luck. So, if he has 22 Avoid, that doesn't necessarly mean 11 AS. He could have, say, 5 AS and 12 Luck. You can only really know his AS by which units with Pursuit succeed, and fail, at doubling him.
(Non-recruitable) Enemies have zero Lck
Of course, I technically can't tell if that is true for arena opponents (other than Holyn), too, but Serenesforest explicitly says that it is the case. Now, I can't quite trust the numbers on that page, since I have found a few mistakes already, but because it's true for enemies on the field, and because I don't think I've seen an arena opponent (other than Holyn) with an odd avoid stat, I think it's pretty safe to assume that Serenes is correct about this.
10 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:Alec and Noish, still in the single digits? That's a bruh moment. They're only, like, the second-worst Christmas cavs out there. Ya gotta love 'em!
Nobody cares about bachelors.
...that's basically it. They're victims of my eugenics program, and specifically of my insistence on giving Patty, Fee, and Ced magical dads.
17 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:It's kinda crazy to think that Sigurd and co get a whole-ass castle to themselves. Like, what happened to the previous "Duke of Silaine"? Did he get thrown out on his ass?
It would be feasible (although most likely 100% headcanon) that Rahna herself is the Duchess of Sailane. It's likely that the king of Silesse would've married a noblewoman, so why not a duchess?
19 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:Hm... maybe the Gold and the Pursuit Band? Plenty of kills on their weaoons, too. It's been a nice spot of training, these past couple years.
"Thank you for letting us slaughter your enemies and plunder their riches" - Finn
20 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:...Wait, who's running Chalphy while all this is going on? Byron's at war and/or dying, Sigurd's leading this campaign, and Ethlyn just follows Quan wherever he goes. Do they have a mother who's still alive? I'm just thinking, if not, then it creates a power vacuum at home.
Well, the enemies of House Chalphy are also busy fighting a war in Isaach. And after Kurth's death, Reptor and Langbalt have an excuse to go kill Byron and Sigurd as a permanent solution, instead of occupying Chalphy's lands. But unless stated otherwise, it would seem likely that during the year that Sigurd spent in Silesse, either of the evil dukes would take it over. They control the king, so they would have the means to do so.
26 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:Speaking of secret events with Sylvia, don't forget the Shield Sword event in one if the northeastern villages! It's widely usable, and a great tool for anyone to inherit.
Oo, and you don't even get a replacement in gen 2 if you don't grab it here. That does seem rather important.
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1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:
I mean, who was the one that left, though? Way to give the handsome, non-recolor one a pass, game.
Honestly, Rahna's the only one who's actually giving a crap here. While everyone else is too busy going off on their own for their selfish ideas and plans, this poor woman's had to handle the country basically on her own.
(Also nice typo)
Lewyn's excuse is rather thin, too. He ran away because his uncles would start a civil war about the succession... but why would the two of them not start a fight between each other, if both of them are willing to do so to grab the throne from Lewyn? So now there's still two pretenders, both of the with shaky legitimacy, and the third one who actually has a claim to the throne is awol. Good job, Lewyn. You didn't solve any problems, you just dumped them onto your mum.
(the apostrophe is shift+"#" on the German keyboard layout. I'm only surprised that I don't make that typo more often)
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FE4 Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies
Sailane (Turn 0-1)
Spoiler
The unthinkable has come to pass. Sigurd is now a traitor in the eyes of his beloved Grannvale. In desparation, his army flees to find refuge in the northern Kingdom of Silesse.
It lies under the watchful guard of the valiant pegasus knights and wind mages, and so for over a century since its foundation, Silesse has maintained itself as a neutral nation and resisted all invaders. However, ever since the death of its king several years ago, the royal family has been plagued with strife over its inheritance, and shades of war creep over the peaceful land.
The late king and his wife, Queen Rahna, hada single son, Prince Lewyn. The king's greedy younger brother, Duke Daccar, objects to Lewyn being heir to the throne and has confined himself to Zaxon Castle in protest. As if acting in concert, the king's youngest brother, Duke Maios, has set to work raising an army for himself at Thove Castle.
Out of disgust at his uncles, Prince Lewyn left Silesse to travel the world years ago. Is there no end to the dukes' avarice? Their lust for power will condemn Silesse, a beautiful and majestic land, to the searing ravages of a brutal war.
From the allied castle of Silesse, two Pegasi take flight towards "our" castle, Sailane:
: "Sire, Queen Rahna is here to see you."
: "Queen Rahna?"
: "Good evening, Lord Sigurd. Are you comfortably settled into Sailane yet? Is there anything at all that you need?"
: "As much as I appreciate the offer, we're fine. I can't thank you enough for your hospitality, Your Highness."
: "I know Sailane is perhaps too small to house all of you adequately, and I'm sorry, but please, bear with me for a while longer. I'm doing all I can to hasten your liberty. I've sent letter after letter to Belhalla to advocate for your innocence. As of yet, however, I've still heard nothing at all from King Azmur."
: "This... This has to be Reptor's doing! First he betrays my father, and now he's stopping all of your letters! He must be!"
: "Calm yourself, Lord Sigurd! I know well the pain you're feeling, but you cannot let your grudges rule you. Your anger will not save your father. Hatred will only destroy you from within. I swear to you, I can and I will find a way to set this to rights, but you must be patient."
: "You're right... I'm sorry, Your Highness. I really appreciate all you've done for me."
: "It's alright, Lord Sigurd. Oh, before I forget... There actually has been some good news from Grannvale of late."
: "Good news, you say?"
: "Mm. A previouisly unknown daughter of Prince Kurth has been discovered. All of Grannvale is rejoicing at the news."
: "Huh?! Is that even possible?"
: "It took King Azmur only a glance to recognize her true heritage. She bears the brand of Naga, the proof of a true heir to House Belhalla. There is no doubt. She is Kurth's child."
: "I see... Thank goodness. At the very least, this means the royal lineage won't go extinct."
: "That's not all. The princess and Duke Arvis are in a relationship. King Azmur has given his blessing, and a magnificent wedding will soon be held."
: "Arvis? Really?"
: "All who've seen the happy couple eagerly attest that this beautiful princess and Duke Arvis are perfectly matched together. To say nothing of how happy the couple is said to be! Young love is wonderful, isn't it? ...Oh. Lord Sigurd, I'm so sorry. I forgot. Your wife is still-"
: "Deirdre... My wife's still gone, yes... It's been over a year since she vanished. She's missed an entire year of watching Seliph grow up."
: "I'm so sorry, Lord Sigurd, but cheer up. I know you'll reunite someday."
: "You're right. I feel it, too. I can't give in to sorrow just yet. I can't give up on finding her."
Sure is too bad that nobody seems to know the name of Kurth's long-lost daughter.
This is a continuation of the previous topic that Sigurd technically has all the pieces available to conclude, or at the least suspect, that Arvis is about to marry Deirdre, who is also his half-sister.
I don't think Rahna provides him with any more hints about Deirdre's identity - but what Sigurd should be able to figure out here is that Arvis is likely to be about to unknowingly marry his half-sister: Sigurd knows that Arvis's mom had an affair with Prince Kurth, that Arvis's mom fled Grannvale after Arvis's dad killed himself over that affair, and that Kurth never remarried because he couldn't get over that relationship. It's not a big leap to suspect that Kurth's only child came from that affair, even though it's not impossible that Kurth would've searched comfort in casual encounters with other women.
Also, just to get it out of my system, eww.
: "Ah, of course. I'll be with you in a moment. Lord Sigurd, one last thing... Beware of Duke Maois of Thove. I regret to say that my brother-in-law has long hungered to claim Sailane for himself. It's only a matter of time till he goes so far as to attack you. I wish I could provide you with reinforcements, but..."
: "...I know. The capital is under the very same treat from Duke Daccar of Zaxon. You cannot afford to weaken your own guard. Daccar will pounce upon you given even a hint of weakness. Don't worry about it, your highness. There's nothing the Thove army can throw at us that we can't handle."
: "Ah, of course. I should be more confident in such veteran heroes as yourselves. Oh! I've been talking for so long, I lost track of the time. Take care, Lord Sigurd."
: "You too, Your Highness. Thank you."
: "You've just chatted for hours and hours with Sigurd, yet you can't even acknowledge your own son?"
: "My son? The one who abandoned me two years ago, going gods know where? How do I talk to someone who's clearly not here?"
: "Heh heh... So this is how it's going to be, is it? You're still mad at me, then?"
: "Of course I am! Do you have any idea how hard it was without you, and how worried I've been after you? That my own son could be so cold-hearted... I thought I knew you better than this."
: "Look, I know you're upset, but I had my reasons for all this. But come on, I'm home safely! Surely that counts for something and you can forgive me? I swear I'll make up for it and be the very picture of a good son. Hey, how about I give you a shoulder massage to start?"
: "Oh! What nerve! Treating me as if I'm an old crone... Look, Lewyn, there are more pressing matters which we need to talk about, and soon. Come to Silesse as soon as possible. Do not forget! Do I make myself clear?"
: "...Sigh. I thought she'd never stop."
The implication being that Lewyn never even bothered to show up at his mother's during the whole year he's been back in Silesse.
For goodness's sake, don't encourage him.
: "Indeed, she hasn't been anything as cheerful as this since before you left."
: "Thanks, Mahnya. Knowing you're at her side is a big relief. Look after her, okay?"
: "Yes, sir! Rest assured, I will protect the queen with my life, on my honor as the captain of the Silessian pegasus knights."
: "Thanks. Oh, one more thing... Are you gonna leave Erin here with Sigurd?"
: "Oh. Eavesdropping, were you, Erin?"
: "You were about to tell him too much, so..."
: "Ah. My apologies, Erin. There are things he shouldn't know just yet, of course... Erin, I'll be leaving with Queen Rahna and returning to Silesse Castle shortly. You'll stay here and keep an eye on Prince Lewyn. Best of luck."
: "Thank you, Mahnya."
Mahnya and Rahna out. And speaking of out...
: "Sigurd, we'll now be taking our leave. It's high time we returned to Leonster. Rest assured, we'll be back, this time leading the full military might of Leonster to your aid. May that day come soon, my friend."
: "I'm going with Quan, Sigurd. Don't worry, though. We'll be back before you know it! Take care of yourself."
: "By your leave, sir, I'll be departing with my lord. Thank you for all you've done for us. Don't give up, sir. One day, I know, the charges against you will be cleared and your good name restored. I know you can do this."
: "Thank you. You've got quite the journey back to Leonster ahead of you. I wish I could do more to help you on your way. may your journey be a safe one!"
Not sure what Finn was referring to with "all you've done for us". It's been entirely onesidedly Leonster helping out Sigurd, hasn't it?
And because we haven't had enough cutscenes yet...
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Greetings, Elliot with a new wardrobe.
: "Dithorba! Is the army ready to deploy yet?"
: "Yes, sir. Bishop Cuvuli's wind mage unit has infiltrated the forests near Sailane. They await your command, sir."
: "Very well. Relay my orders to Cuvuli: move in on Sailane! Dithorba, I trust your pegasus corps are already briefed on your mission?"
: "Yes, sir. Our task is clear. My squadron is to raid the enemy from above, disrupting their tactics."
: "Good. Now get to work! Grannvale will owe us a handsome reward for bringing them the heads of their infamous traitors! Heh heh heh..."
Finally!
This map starts out fairly straightforward, with a linear path from Sailane to Thove leading through some forests and across bridges acting as choke points, and with a number of villages on the way to collect. After that, it seems that we'll have to get back to Sailane and cross a few mountain tiles to get to Silesse, and from there to Zaxon. No villages on the south side means that there's probably not that much time pressure on that part of the map, though.
To nobody's surprise, the villages are under threat immediately - the three closest are even going to start burning on the very first turn.
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The closest group of enemies not preoccupied with the villages is a bunch of Wind Mages led by a status-using Bishop. Good to have Restore on Aideen to counteract him - the only character at the start of the chapter who can resist his spell is Claude, although Erin will join him after promotion, with the Res band still equipped.
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We also have two long-ranged mages with Blizzard tomes waiting; one in a good position to pelt an approaching army, the other one not as much.
The second mobile miniboss is Dithorba, who can punish unattentive players pretty hard if you bring her to single-digit HP. It's a nice touch that she gets the skill from an item, not as an innate skill, since the latter would've been much easier to miss. Although in Dithorba's case, it's also interesting to note that she carries three Authority stars / a +20 hit/avo aura.
And finally, the first "real" boss. Using wind magic, so he has fairly high AS, and a Baron, so he has the fairly annoying Pavise skill.
Now then, pre-fight preparation. First: It was indeed silly not to have Ethlyn sell her (or, technically, Aideen's) Mend staff. She even was in range of a castle to do so on the last turn of ch.3. Claude is going to pick it up from the pawnbroker.
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And then, of course, arenaing, with Arden politely moving the RN string forward a bit for Lex's advantage. Here is today's match-up:
(1) Kamahl - Lv.13 Wind Mage 39 HP | 2 Def | 8 Res [Elwind] - 24 Atk | 98 Hit | 20 Avo | 10 AS (2) Kaledin - Lv.16 Paladin 56 HP | 13 Def | 6 Res [Steel Sword] - 23 Atk | 106 Hit | 20 Avo | 10 AS (2R) Keith - Lv.16 Arch Knight 56 HP | 12 Def [Steel Bow] - 28 Atk | 94 Hit | 8 Avo | 4 AS (3) Senghor - Lv.19 Forest Knight - Skill: Adept 59 HP | 13 Def | 4 Res [Steel Blade] - 29 Atk | 100 Hit | 22 Avo | 11 AS [Flame Sword] - 15 Atk | 100 Hit | 22 Avo | 11 AS (4) Nikita - Lv.22 Pegasus Knight 57 HP | 11 Def | 9 Res [Brave Lance] - 28 Atk | 106 Hit | 12 Avo | 6 AS (4R) Nene - Lv.22 Archer - Skill: Pursuit 52 HP | 11 Def [Silver Bow] - 31 Atk | 102 Hit | 16 Avo | 8 AS (5) Kraft - Lv.25 Mage Knight - Item: Shield Ring 65 HP | 10+5 Def | 12 Res [Elthunder] - 29 Atk | 108 Hit | 14 Avo | 7 AS (6) Nikias - Lv.28 Warrior 68 HP | 18 Def | 5 Res [Brave Axe] - 35 Atk | 96 Hit | 16 Avo | 8 AS [Brave Bow] - 33 Atk | 96 Hit | 16 Avo | 8 AS (7) Atlas - Lv.30 Baron - Item: Skill Ring - Skill: Pavise 75 HP | 21 Def | 10 Res [Bolganone] - 30 Atk | 112 Hit | 8 Avo | 4 ASAs I mentioned earlier today: Yes, hit/avo on Senghor and Nikias's ranged weapons is fucky. Here is proof - also of Serenesforest and the .org wiki getting Keith's Skl wrong by one point! Gasp!
Overall, people fighting through all, or parts of, the arena were the following:
Lv. HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Res Funds XP Arn Sigurd 26.11* 57 24 0 22 22 15 18 4 23000 +174 [*] Lex 28.28* 56 27 2 18 14 12 25 4 49360 +316 [*] Midir 25.79* 47 21 1 16 23 9 13 4 32600 +400 [*] Beowulf 23.32* 49 22 0 28 18 4 18 3 35880 +480 [*] Erin 24.12* 43 15 9 19 27 10 19 14 37140 +448 [*] Raquesis 21.50* 37 24 8 22 20 9 21 10 30535 +559 [*] Lewyn 22.93* 48 3 28 23 30 8 8 15 50000 +496 [*] Taillte 15.64 43 0 15 24 13 13 1 11 19000 +660 [*] Claude 25.58* 36 1 24 17 16 12 5 23 1700 +18 [3] Holyn 15.96 43 15 0 20 17 3 11 1 39120 +96 [4] Jamke 18.21 47 15 0 16 17 11 12 1 44050 +176 [6]There was certainly some brute-forcing (Especially for Taillte! She even needed a few resets to get past the first opponent.) and RNG advancement involved...
...as well as a neat little mid-fight swap to the Miracle Sword by Raquesis.
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She still had to buy the Brave Sword from Beowulf to get through Kraft and Atlas, since they both two-shot her without activating Miracle, but that seems quite worthwhile, especially because it was enough to get her to promotion.
Beowulf, Erin, and Lewyn also reached Lv.20+ during this, but of course, the Master Knight promotion dwarfs even Lewyn's bonuses from going Sage.
You'll notice that Sigurd didn't gain nearly as much XP as the other arena winners - that's because he bought the Knight Ring ahead of time instead. It's entirely useless on him, of course, but I thought it prudent to spend the 40k on it now, since Sigurd won't be able to afford both it and the Leg Ring (and maybe even the Paragon Band) at the same time.
Not entirely sure yet how much steroids I want to pump into Seliph. I don't want to do do a lord solo, I hope that much is obvious with how I'm playing gen 1, but he is the best recipient for a lot of the inheritance resources.
After all the initial arenaing is done (with a few characters, namely Bridget, Ayra, and maybe Azel, waiting for a potential money injection for a Paragon run), there's a few convos to get out of the way:
: "I need to ask you something quick."
: "Hm? Me?"
: "Yeah. That okay? I mean, we've been friends for years. And I don't think there's anyone else who I can ask about this."
: "Huh. You look downright grim and serious... If you really think I can help, then sure. What seems to be the problem?"
: "Well... I, er... I'm only with you lot because I was just following Claude around, but I'm starting to think I shouldn't have done that..."
: "What makes you think so?"
: "It's because people are acting kinda like they're treading carefully 'round me. And when I'm around, people stop talking about my father..."
: "Ah... That certainly doesn't sound fun. But I'd say people really do like you. It's more that they honestly aren't sure how they should treat you, and that they're worried they'll cause you grief. Don't worry too much. It'll all be fine once they get to know you better."
: "Yeah... Guess you're right. Thanks, Azel. Think I might be feeling a bit better 'bout this now."
: "Hah! Glad you're back to normal, Taillte. If you're ever feeling like this again, I'll always be here to help you through it, no matter what happens."
: "Okay. Thanks!"
Gosh, this almost makes me like Taillte! Too bad about the first impression.
Anyway, this was a love conversation, adding 100 points to their affection. I hope Azel will still grow to appreciate the pirate queen, but I can't say no to +5 HP. ...I just hope that I won't have to redo the chapter just because of this.
: "I am. I bought it for you, after all. Silesse's pegasus knights are a formidable foe to face. With a bow of this caliber in hand, I know you'll be better prepared to fight them."
: "Milady... I still can't believe this isn't a dream! I can't believe we're actually married... I've dreamed of this for so long."
: "I've long dreamt of the same myself. I had wanted to act upon it for so many years, but I couldn't, even at my loneliest... But... I think by now you can just call me Aideen. I'll always look out for you Midir. I'll always pray for your safety."
As the First Mate mentioned, the Brave Bow is one of three high-end bows that all have their own advantages. Killer vs. Brave Bow seems very dependent on enemy avoid (Killer Bow has 100 hit!) and if Midir can still quadruple with the Brave Bow's higher weight.
Not much to say about the convo itself. Cute. Not quite revolutionising the field of romantic literature.
And finally, Sigurd talking to Claude. This one doesn't yield any rewards, but it still ends up being canon for this run:
: "I did return to Grannvale, and I was about to relate the truth to His Majesty. But Reptor interfered before I could do anything, and now I, too, am branded a traitor to the motherland."
: "Ugh. I've had enough of just sitting here and letting Raptor have his sorry way! I swear, I've half a mind to storm straight into Grannvale and end this once and for all!"
: "No. You know better than to rely on brute force or to risk the common folk's safety. For now, Lord Sigurd, we must endure."
: "But, Father Claude-"
"No. Bad Sigurd. No seizing Belhalla. Bad."
"Grr.... Woof! Bark! Grrrrr....": "Make no mistake. I feel your pain, too, but this crisis's end now lies in fate's hands. There's nothing any of us can do to save ourselves anymore."
Remarkably fatalistic, compared to everybody else's more encouraging speeches.
At the end of the turn, of course there's more cutscenes:
: "Move in! Teach the traitorous scum the terror of a wind mage's wrath!"
The Wind Mages do indeed move in. Very. Slowwwwlyy. Literally 1-2 tiles of movement. Not sure if intentional or if their loose formation confuses the squad AI.
And finally, at Zaxon (a pretty good approximation to the pronounciation of the German "Sachsen" = Saxony, although the a in Sachsen is more like the u in luck):
Hello Elliot's father who is now not-Elliot's big brother.
: "Heh heh... Why, this little drama is finally getting interesting. Wouldn't you say, Pamela?"
: "Indeed, sir. However, as I recall we didn't account for Sigurd's fugitives being here. Their strength poses a real risk to the plan. If Maios at least succeeds at weakening them, perhaps Silesse's fall will still go smoothly?"
: "Even if he fails, I still have my private deal with Grannvale in my favor. Their Lord André should arrive shortly with a battalion of reinforcements. Heh heh... My victory is certain, Pamela! I'll be sitting on the Silessian throne by the end of the week!"
: "Without a doubt, sir."
Ohhh, this is where Aideen and Bridget's brother appears. I had first predicted that he'll be an evil uncle for the second generation. I do remember the scene he undoubtedly will be a part of, but I didn't remember that it was him leading the enemy troops.
Anyway, there's one silly dialogue that I can show and then reset and pretend it never happened:
: "Hey! Hey, Erin! You totally like Lewyn, don't ya? Like do ya really like him?"
: "Huh?! I... that's... Er, no. Prince Lewyn is beloved and respected by all the people of Silesse, myself included."
: "Oh? Okay, then. Then I guess you'd be okay with me and Lewyn getting together, right?"
: "Er... Yes. I wouldn't really mind..."
: "Reeeeally? That wouldn't bug ya at all?"
: "No, I'm sure I'd have no issue. Why do you ask? Am I supposed to object?"
: "I dunno! But if it's all fine by ya, then I guess it's time for me to go work my magic on Lewyn..."
: "Er... The thing is, a prospective queen of Silesse ought to possess the same grace and dignity as our Queen Rahna."
: "Oh, so you're sayin' I'm not cut out of it? How rude!"
: "Er, no... That isn't-"
: "Hmph. Fine, then. I'll show you!"
What a nice way to end an update.
This is a bit of an easter egg, since it's not a Talk command and thus doesn't show up in the unit list, either. Apart from giving the player a headache, it also adds a few love points for Sylvia/Lewyn, and even fewer for Erin/Lewyn.
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On 4/27/2023 at 7:45 PM, A.G. Zhark said:
There is no option to delete posts, so I have to edit it to remove everything from it. I also was tired of most of the hate and arrogance I recieved, especially from the moderator.
I do not think that anybody here intended to hate on you or your playstyle. You had framed your initial post as a guide - and while that doesn't imply that you're telling people how they must play the game, it presents itself as advice how to beat the game more easily, or more efficiently, or "better" in any other sense of the word. People have criticised your initial post under that assumption, and stopped after you gave the clarification that you were describing your personal playthrough.
There is no hard feelings on my part, but I want to point out that it's quite rude on your part to describe the replies as "hate and arrogance" or, implied by your last reply, with a "close mind and bad attitude". You've put out your opinions, others have responded with theirs, generally in a polite tone and explaining why they disagree. I know and understand that it sucks when you put effort into something and it doesn't receive the feedback you were hoping for, but I hope you will be able to look at this thread later and see that it really didn't have much of a hostile atmosphere.
Finally - warnings from a moderator really don't have a lasting impact. They expire fairly quickly, if I recall, and nobody but the mod team and yourself will be able to see them. Again, I fully understand that it doesn't feel nice to be told what (not) to do, especially when it's a rule that doesn't seem obvious (doubleposts is just something that's always been seen as rude in forum culture), but I would advise that the only thing you should take away from the warning is to not doublepost again.
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Help! The numbers don't make any sense!
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From this fight, we can derive Senghor's hit and avoid:
- 58 + 20 (arena avoid) + 22 (Beo's avoid) = 100 hit. Steel blades have 60 innate hit, which puts Senghor at 20 Skl.
- 134 (Beo's hit) - 92 (disp. hit) - 20 (arena avoid) = 22 avo --> 11 AS. Steel blades have 6 Wt, which puts Senghor at 17 Spd.
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From this fight, we can derive Senghor's hit and avoid:
- 52 + 20 (arena avoid) + 28 (Jamke's avoid) = 100 hit. The ranged attack of the Flame Sword has the same innate hit as Elfire (80), which puts Senghor at 10 Skl.
- 102 (Jamke's hit) - 60 (disp. hit) - 20 (arena avoid) = 22 avo --> 11 AS. The ranged attack of the Flame Sword has the same weight as Elfire (12), which puts Senghor at 23 Spd.
Do I have some obvious brainfart here, or is Senghor cheating? Both duels are neutral wrt the weapon triangle, and I'm pretty sure that terrain does reduce magic accuracy in Genealogy.
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edit: I get the same result for opponent #6, Nikias, a Warrior who either uses a Brave Axe or a Brave Bow. Like Senghor, he has the same hit and AS/avo with both weapons, with the stats on the wiki confirming to the Brave Axe stats I calculated, even thouth the Bow should be lighter and more accurate.
11 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:Very impressive, getting Ethlyn to level 30! I think I've only made it to the high 20s with her. You never told us you were going for rankings! ...Or you did, and I missed it.
Forgot to respond to this -
If I recall, the XP requirement for a ranked run is very strict, so I think sending off Quan at Lv.17 easily counteracts his maxed out wife. Not to mention Deirdre at Lv.7, or the crew of Lv.7-8 (Noish, Alec, Arden, Dew - all outleveled by Taillte already) significantly hampering the effort.
And even if I managed to grind them all to Lv.30 in the last two maps - I'm sitting at 13 recorded losses.
I have been playing entirely without emulator saves, just as Kaga intended, so the deaths I have reported do stick to the save file.
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9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:
They really, really could've saved this whole part of the chapter, could they.
Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: Yes, absolutely.
Answer with a bit more goodwill: I suppose it gives a bit of breathing room between Eldigan's death and the Grannvale legions appearing at the horizon.
9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:Hey, cut him some slack. This is the Middle Ages of Anime. News don't travel that fast.
I beg to differ. News travels instantaneous in Jugdral. If it's convenient to the plot.
Like, for example, if Mahnya had arrived to escort Prince Arsehole back to Silesse and allows Sigurd to join them out of her own initiative - that would make sense. Erin sent her subordinate to Silesse six months ago at this point, so it would be reasonable for the queen to start wondering what is keeping Lewyn this time. But instead, Lewyn's mom seems entirely informed about the situation in Grannvale/Agustria. Mahnya arrives with her orders to save Sigurd while he himself is still in shock about Reptor and Langbalt arriving.
I dunno, maybe the next chapter will reveal that the ruling houses of Jugdral all use Palantíri to keep up with global events. Otherwise, this seems to be another example of Genealogy being very fucky about the passage of time.
9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:...wait... doesn't he live for like, another...
Ah, we'll get there when we get there, I guess.
Oh look, another example of Genealogy being very fucky about the passage of time.
(I genuinely like the story thus far, some minor hiccoughs notwithstanding, but Genealogy is really loose with its sense of scale - both in time and in the scope of the land and the armies)
9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:Where did you get this sprite? It looks cool.
That is Minnie "Stroni" Goodsoup, a minor character from Curse of Monkey Island.
8 hours ago, RPGuy96 said:Specifically, you can't pawn the legendary weapons for cash. (I wonder if this is because the pawnbroker wouldn't accept it or the unit refuses to follow instructions to pawn it.) It is not otherwise locked to Shannan, but there's no way to get it to the sword twins except for the glitch Jotari mentioned which I have also never done, despite pairing Ayra and Chulainn on my first playthrough.
Ah, I see. That would've been an elegant solution, were it not for a glitch-y workaround.
7 hours ago, BrightBow said:But you also just got a new healer. You could most certainly do with more heal staffs.
I guess I'm being very lazy by keeping it on Ethlyn, aren't I?
To be honest, I don't even know how useful Claude is even going to be. Most of Aideen's staff usage was pretty much just for the XP, although I will say that now that she has Physic and Claude has Fortify, they can make up for their low movement that way.
Looking at it, Lewyn should also easily hit Lv.20 in the opening arena section, so that's another character who would appreciate a healing staff. And Raquesis wouldn't mind upgrading her Heal, too, since she'll hopefully promote on turn 0, or at least very early in the chapter, too, allowing her to basically work as Ethlyn 2.0.
7 hours ago, BrightBow said:I guess this confirms that Claude was officially kaga'd and needed the ladies to keep his 5 defense ass protected.
Not to mention that Erin is the only character who can join up with them and act as a frontliner very quickly.
(Somebody should do a Claudie's Angels poster with Erin, Tailtyu, and Bridget)
7 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:Thanks for giving me another reason to refuse to acknowledge 4 as the Best Civ Ever.Wellll, the implication isn't so much that the dudes carved into the mountains were fascist, or proto-fascist, or anything of the sorts. I see it more as criticism of the deification of political leaders alongside the glorification of a nation's past. But that is a discussion that (a) is rather off-topic and (b) can turn ugly quick, especially with the reference to fascism in place.
5 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:By the way, it's kind of wild that the Blacksmith is totally cool with repairing Holy Weapons, while the Pawnbroker refuses to touch them. Like, dude. You're ripping me off 20K gold every time I pass the Paragon Ring around. I put your kids through the Academy at Belhalla. You can afford it.
But who would the Pawnbroker sell them to? ...well, an overly rich, excentric collector. I'm not going to assume that it's not an actual in-game phenomenon that people can only buy weapons that they're proficient in. But one could argue that the Holy Weapons would be too spicy to buy and sell - imagine some random small-town art vendor having the Mona Lisa for sale. That would invite questions, even if it was properly bought from the Louvre (or whoever officially owns it).
5 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:The more I've thought about it, the more I've come around to the notion that Chagall - craven may he be, and generally awful all the time - isn't wholly in the wrong at the start of chapter 3. It's a "morally gray" moment for an otherwise "morally black" dude.
Chagall does an understandable act (the narration does state that Grannvale is exploiting Agustria) for a petty reason (Chagall's just mad that he isn't in charge). I think that's how I would put it. You could easily do most of ch.2/3 with a less awful king (although you'd have to find another trigger than Eldigan's imprisonment), with the main difference being that Sigurd would probably look a bit worse as the guy upholding the occupation.
5 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:What, am I supposed to believe that this is some "teleporting Oifey", who can travel between Sigurd's side and the home castle at will? I doubt that very much!
Wait, Finn is really that young? His portrait does not convey that very well. He looks to be the same age as Alec or Naoise.
Oh look, another example of Genealogy being very fucky about the passage of time.
I do think Finn is a bit more of a babyface than Alec and Noish. I think his portrait has a bit less shadow on the face than theirs, and his head seems to be a bit smaller.
4 hours ago, Jotari said:In terms of gameplay you can't legitimately get Balmung into Larcei or Scathach's hands, but I'm terms of lore as major holy blood bearers they absolutely should be able to use it. As for gameplay, I think it is impossible for some people to use certain weapons. Like, I vaguely remember training Coirpre to promotion because he inheritance Holsety only to be dismayed that he couldn't use it because his weapon rank still wasn't high enough...I think. Though hat might be the lone example possible by gameplay. Claude won't pass Valkyrie down to a daughter but I don't think some like Fee could use Valkyrie as a Falcon Knight.
To be honest, despite the eugenics mechanics, Holy Blood still seems more like divine providence than proper Mendel-ing. Aideen and Bridget are identical twins, so it seems "logical" that they their bloods should have the same "level" of holiness, for example. So I'd be willing to accept that major blood still isn't an automatic pass to use the appropriate holy weapon and that it still requires some dragon deity to point its finger at you to allow it.
3 hours ago, CelestialContrail said:According to some Genealogy rom hacking documents I've read, there's apparently a hard limit of 50 active enemy units at a time, which would pose difficulties for having both the pirates and the Cross Knights on the field at the same time. I do agree with the general sentiment that the chapter would flow better if the pirates were moved to be more of a mid-chapter breather between seizing Madino and facing down Eldigan.
Ah, that makes sense. In addition to the Observer's observation, the GBA games also have that hard limit. It regularly comes up in the fight against Murdock in BinBla, and I remember that somebody didn't have Vaida spawn in Cog of Destiny, most likely because of this, too.
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1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:
Isn't this basically what people say about support conversations in FE?
Well, I say that the only FE game where supports add something to the main story is PoR
Everywhere else, they're their own little world, not even necessarily a bad own little world, but they're generally very much separated from the actual plot of the game.
Bonus points for Fates having its supports literally take place in a timespace disconnected from the physical world.
(PoR also is a nice example where the main plot is a very bog standard "reconquer Good Kingdom from the Evil Guys", and most of the appeal comes from the racism subplot. You do run into that subplot in the main missions, though)
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FE4 Chapter 3: Eldigan the Lionheart
Silvail --> Orgahil
Spoiler
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Mistakes of the day: I entirely forgot to move Bridget... which ended up not mattering because I also didn't notice that some of the Pirates spawning near Madino are carrying Hand Axes. I had Dew attempt an attack so that he can go repair his Iron Sword and hopefully steal some more before going west...
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...and I do go for it again, this time without giving the Pirates a spot to attack Dew from.
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In other money-related news, Ethlyn (who was still wearing the Paragon Band from the turn 0 set-up), Beowulf, and Lewyn (who will carry the Paragon Band into Ch.4) get their arena runs in. Ethlyn's run was certainly quite lucky - she first lost against Doma, then beat him from 1 HP and continued to laugh at silly Keller and his silly Brave Lance. Beowulf, interestingly, was most threatened by Thornton, not Keller, since only the former would've two-shot him.
Sigurd also went through the arena after Raquesis warped him back to Agusty; without Paragon, but I reckon he won't have any trouble capping, with two arenas still to go.
And speaking of capping, Ethlyn eventually will, close to the end of the map. Not the most inspiring stats, but hey. Good Spd and Def, at least.
You're also seeing the inventory she will leave with, grabbing the Pursuit Band for Leif and losing the Mend staff. I don't think that one matters all that much, with Lana potentially starting with Recover and Nanna definitely starting with Mend.
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At the Tower of Bragi, Operation Taillte begins. Erin can easily set up kills for her with either the Light Brand or the Slim Lance, and Taillte manages to grab 8 kills during this chapter.
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: "D-damn..."
On enemy phase, Ayra makes quick work of the miniboss, rewarding her with the Leg Ring. Ideally, Sylvia would want to grab this (and the Knight Ring), but we'll see how her, or rather Dew's, purse will feel about that. It's not like Sylvia is the only character who would appreciate some cash. In any case, come Ch.5, those items probably should go to Sigurd for inheritance.
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Next turn, and a little bit of extra arenaing. Following a little bit of Genealogy micromanagement: With some RNG abuse, Raquesis manages to get a Def proc on the level-up from returning Quan to Agusty, which gives her a perfect Miracle set-up against Pazan. The fight vs. Doma then requires some luck, since he still has 8% hit on her, but this one works fine immediately.
To be honest, this last part of the chapter isn't much more thrilling in gameplay than it is in the added story of "And now, pirates" it provides. Bridget will eventually join up with Claude, Taillte, and Erin, getting 12 kills of her own. She strong.
There's often a little bit of optimisation to do - here, for example, Erin can weaken both Pirates on enemy phase, while Claude sits next to her for the extra love growth...
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...and then Taillte can kill one on player phase, making it safe to face the other on enemy phase.
But at the end of the day, this is probably the first segment where the game really only feels like moving units across the map - Aideen to the Rescue village and then north to meet Bridget; Azel and Lewyn west to say hi to their future wives; Dew first towards Orgahil Castle to steal money and then west to grab the Wind Sword; Raquesis and Beowulf east from Silvail to grab some villages of their own... And during all of that, the only action involves a bunch of, honestly, rather harmless pirates. So, honestly, I'll just fast forward through the rest of the "fight".
Villages!
[5000 gold; +1 Def --> Raquesis]
: "Oh? Here to help, are ya? Huzzah! The village is saved! We can't thank ya enough, but mayhap this magic staff'll help ya out. They call it a Restore staff. If yer allies've been put t'sleep or silenced, one cast of this staff'll get 'em back on their feet. This oughta be a big help for ya.
[3000 gold; Restore --> Aideen]
: "Hey, be careful out there! Rumor has it that King Chagall's got the infamous Thracian dracoknights on his payroll. Don't think there's been a war lately where someone or other didn't hire 'em. They're like a pack of hyenas descendin' on fresh prey: brutal and indiscriminate. Nothin' survives in their wake..."
LOL. LMAO, even.
[4000 gold --> Raquesis]
: "Why are you even here? We've absolutely nothin' to do with Agustria or Grannvale! Look. If you've really gotta fight, take it somewhere else, you thoughtless sod."
[4500 gold --> Azel]
Should've brought Sigurd to this one.
: "Oh, it's so nice to see visitors! How 'bout a little somethin' for yer troubles? Here, take a draught of our secret medicine. Don't be shy! Drink up! Well, how 'bout that? Feel the might swellin' in yer muscles! Oughta make yer work out there so much easier."
[5000 gold; +3 Str --> Midir]
Conversations!
: "The villagers told me of a woman who leads the pirates of Orgahil, and of her devotion to aiding the poor and weak. That would be you, correct?"
: "You must be that Grannvale man... Sigurd, right? Guess this is it. Come on. Just get it over with."
: "Ahahaha! Oh no, you're mistaken! I'm certainly not here to kill you. I just want to talk to you, Bridget. I'd like you to ally with us. We'd love to add your strangth to our own, to help us better fight the pirates. What say you?"
: "Wait. You really want me, of all people?"
: "Certainly! You'd be a tremendous asset."
: "You're a strange little man, Sigurd..."
The conversation does seem a little strange. It goes directly from "you lead the pirates" to "please help us kill pirates" with no intermediate steps - steps that the player knows, but that would realistically need to be established between Sigurd and Bridget. As is, he just assumes that she'll be on board with killing her former crewmates, without knowing of the recent mutiny, let alone the reason for it.
: "Lord Sigurd! I apologize for the wait."
: "Father Claude, you're safe! We heard about how you ended up amidst all those pirates. Everyone was so worried."
: "I'm glad Taillte was close at hand. We may not have survived, if not for her magic. More importantly, Lord Sigurd, my prayers to Saint Bragi were answered."
: "You have the truth of all this, then?"
: "That I do. As I thought, Duke Reptor is behind all of this. On his orders, it was Duke Langbalt who killed Prince Kurth. The two then successfully framed your father, Lord Byron, for the crime."
: "Just as I thought..."
: "The pair's treachery runs deeper still. The murder of Isaach's King Mananan was also the handiwork of Duke Reptor. He feared a peaceful end to the war would end the sole excuse for the conquest of Isaach, so he secretly had the king killed."
: "Is that so... Reptor's grubby hands are all over this mess..."
: "Not quite. In the shade of his avarice, there's something else at work... Something unsettling and terrifying. Not even Lord Bragi could scry this evil presence, obscured by its power as it is."
: "An evil presence? Could it be that dark priesthood... Wait! What of my father, Claude?"
: "Lord Byron yet lives, but is injured and weak. I fear he is not long for this world..."
: "Father... This can't be happening..."
: "I'll hasten back to the capital. His Majesty needs to hear the truth. Lord Sigurd, for the time being, stay here and restrain yourself from rash action."
: "Understood. I can't thank you enough, Father Claude. I beg of you, do everything you can. Save my father and his good name."
: "Our fates lie with the mercy of the gods..."
Sigurd restraining himself from rash action. Good one, Claude.
Since all these revelations will come back in the chapter's ending, I think I'll wait until then before commenting on it.
: "Surely you recall me?"
: "What? How do you know my name? Hang on... You look just like me! Aideen, huh... It sounds kinda familiar... But where from?"
: "Bridget, listen well. I am your twin sister! We lost you to pirates years ago, when you were just five years old. I've searched for you for years. I never lost hope that we would meet again."
: "This is all so sudden... No. Weird feelings like this aren't enough! I need proof!"
"There must be a hundred girls running around that look exactly like me! Surely it's a coincidence!"
: "Proof, you say? Here. Draw this bow."
: "Huh? Okay, that's a nice bow and all, but what's it gotta do with anything? Guess I'll humor you. So I draw it and- ...Whoa! W-what's going on?! The hell is this...? I... What's this weird feeling boiling within me... Are these... memories? Ah... my heart is on fire... Aideen? Yes... I remember now! You're Aideen... my sister."
: "Oh, thank the gods! You remember! That bow is your birthright, Bridget. It is Yewfelle, the sacred bow of Jungby. Legends tell that the exalted weapons of this land, such as this one, can only be wielded by a single heir per generation. For House Jungby and Yewfelle, that rightful heir is you, Bridget. I trust this proof will suffice?"
: "Oh, Aideen... Come here... Let me get a good look at you... how's our father doing? And our brother... André, right?"
: "I've so much to tell you, too... Bridget... My sister."
So I was correct about the "one Holy Weapon bearer per generation" rule after all. I assume this means that Balmung would be exclusive in Gen 2 even with a Holyn/Ayra pairing producing sword twins with major Odo blood?
Yewfelle is a bit of an odd one. It only gives a total of +20 stat points, as opposed to almost every other Holy Weapon giving +30, and while Str and Spd certainly are very good stats to get that +10 bonus on, the latter is counteracted by the Yewfelle's high weight compared to other bows. But hey, Bridget also gets Renewal! Sure is a great skill for a ranged unit to have...
So yeah, it seems to be on the weaker side as far as Holy Weapons are concerned, but it's still a bow with effectively 40 Mt. A bit inaccurate, as non-Killer bows all are, but Bridget has excellent Skl to make up for that.
One conversation that I missed is the one between Midir and Bridget, which disappeared the turn after he and Aideen got married. It's probably for the better, since according to the main page, he calls Bridgit a second, *even hotter* Aideen. Sure would've been a great start for his marriage.
Eventually, after a lot of turns just walking about (and after the final boss kill, but I'll put that one at the end for dramaturgic effect), Dew reaches the Tower of Bragi...:
: "Oh, whoa! This is that Tower of Bragi place, isn't it? Hee hee! Got a good thiefy feeling about this one! Let's see what it's got..."
: "...Aww, man! What a borin' little dump."
: "...Who... Who are you..."
: "Huh?!"
: "...State your business..."
: "Heh, maybe if I pretend I can't hear 'em..."
: "How dare you... defile this sacred ground... ...BEGONE!"
: "Kyaaa! S-sorry! Please don't hurt me!"
: "Hah... hah... What just happened?! ...Hang on. A sword? What's it doin' sitting around a place like this? Eh, who cares? Guess I'm gettin' something outta this after all!"
Stealing without body contact unlocked. Very nice. With the Earth Sword (Raquesis) and Light Brand (Erin) already on appropriate parents for inheritance, I'll probably get this one to Patty eventually, with Seliph getting the slightly worse Bolt Sword, but for now, Dew will hopefully be able to make good use out of this.
During Dew's little trip, some new contestants have arrived for the arena. Raquesis crossed paths with Aideen and promptly warped her back to Agusty for promotion, where she grabs Azel's Thunder tome...
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...which she takes to the arena until Doma ends her run, with Claude exactly copying that feat.
Taillte is a bit more successful, killing Doma with a hit + Wrath!crit (while outspeeding), but Keller survives a crit and one-shots, ending her run. Maybe it would've been possible to find a RNG seed for Taillte to dodge two 68s, but that would've been rather annoying to search for, especially outside of the easy save scumming on turn 0.
And Bridget is as successful as can be, although obviously without Paragon. She'll begin the next chapter with ~27.5k gold, so still a bit short - Dew could help her out, although I think Taillte should have priority there.
: "Ugh, me men're jus' as useless as always! Damn all y'all!"
Well then, on to the boss kill, in which Dew plays a crucial part! (this is before he starts his journey to the west, for the record)
...well, he grabbed a total of 18000 gold from Duvall and the three Pirates surrounding him. Not crucial in the fight against Duvall, but well worth the additional delay, methinks.
The actual boss kill ends up working out perfectly despite a complete lack of actual planning. First, Midir gets a crit + miss...
...then Beowulf gets the kill, and the Power Ring.
: "N-no... Damn it all..."
In defense of my lack of planning - Midir's combat is quite random, with the Accoste skill and crit from the Killer Bow, so I just had him attack at the start of a turn to see what happens. I was lucky that it worked out like this immediately on the first try, but I assume I would've found a way to feed the kill to Beowulf anyway.
Beowulf is also successful in wooing the princess. He doesn't have to worry about Eldigan telling Raquesis that he has never seen this man his entire life, either. ...too soon?
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There we go. I'm sure I wasted some time not moving some characters to where they need to be, but the most important goal is achieved: Finn is still single.
Honestly, I'm not sure if that part was ever at risk. I don't think he ever spent a turn adjacent to a girl other than Ethlyn, but I vaguely remember reading that it's possible for him to marry Bridget or Taillte without ever meeting her if you seize Silvail early and Orgahil late. ...but, looking at the .org wiki, "truly in love" means that he was less than 100 points away from marrying Bridget or Taillte. Hmmm...
...nah, skipping to turn 51, at which point love growth is halted, Finn still wouldn't have found love. He has +10 love growth with Taillte and Bridget, though, so it must've been close.
: "Good. We've subdued the pirate castle. Oifey, would you please gather our troops here? Now that this is all over, I'd like to ensure that everyone's alright."
: "At once, sire."
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: "Seize these vile allies of Byron, accomplices to his murder of Kurth and his bid to take over the kingdom! It is the will of His Majesty! No mercy for enemies of the state!"
: "Kehehe... Oh, Langbalt. Such audacity! To think, he personally put an end to that miserable prince and nearly killed Byron for putting up a fight... I've never seen such a bold ploy! And with Arvis using His Majesty's trust, it all worked flawlessly! Convincing the king of anything his hardly a challenge, but to succeed with a tale of this scale takes quite the storyteller... And here we are, with the entirety of House Chalphy framed for the crime! Heh heh... Our victory is all but assured. The throne of Grannvale shall be mine, one way or another. I'll leave no pest who dares interfere with me alive..."
"Kehehe... Let me narrate my plan to the audience. Kehehe..."Yeahh, not the most elegant of presentations. Would've been better if Claude relaying his vision to Sigurd had been mandatory, even if that would've come at the cost of adding a game-over condition for his death. Since it seems rather impactful whether or not Sigurd is informed of the entire plan or not, that would have made sense, anyway.
I'm also not entirely happy with how Arvis is set up here. He goes from appearing slightly sus in the prologue, to potentially being a pawn in the Loptyrian game of chess, to now being reveales as a co-conspirator with Reptor and Langbalt, without ever making an on-screen appearance after that short stint in the prologue. Of course, it's still too early to call, since there's still some time between now and shit being on fire, but right at this moment, I'm a bit sceptical.
All that said, Langbalt has a good beard. I assume that Ruben loves him.
: "What in the blazes is this?! I'm a traitor now, and a Grannvale legion now waits at our doorstep to arrest me?!"
: "Sire... And to think, the war here was over at long last, and you were about to go and search for Deirdre."
: "Gah... How could His Majesty have fallen for Reptor's lies? How could he possibly believe that my father, of all people, would kill Prince Kurth?! Aah... If only Father Claude had gotten back to the capital before they struck... Why?! Why is this happening?! I fought a pointless war, I let Eldigan die, and now this! What have I been fighting for all along?!"
: "Sire..."
This I do like, though. Not because I hate Sigurd, but this is a low point well set up, as I've been talking about in and between previous updates - and then comes a sliver of hope, from where things are going to go uphill again!!
: "Queen Rahna bade my corps and I to come and retrieve you. We invite you and your subordinates to retreat with us to Silesse, until your good name has been cleared in Grannvale."
: "...Queen Rahna of Silesse, you say? Why is Silesse willing to give aid to an alleged traitor like me?"
: "Please, sir. Time is of the essence. The Grannvale assault is sure to begin at any moment now. My pegasus knights will escort you across the sea to safety in Silesse."
Saved! Time to turn this all around, clear Sigurd's name (presumably by seizing more castles), and earn a happy end!
The Team:
Lv. HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Res Funds XP Arn W/L Sigurd 24.37* 55 24 0 22 22 14 16 4 45500 +219 [*] 64/1 Lex 25.12* 53 27 2 17 14 12 25 3 44140 +408 [*] 29/0 Midir 21.79* 44 20 1 16 20 8 13 4 45280 +601 [*] 26/0 Beowulf 18.52 45 17 0 16 12 4 14 0 42780 +791 [*] 8/0 Erin 19.64 42 14 2 15 23 9 16 9 50000 +784 [*] 14/0 Ayra 22.40* 48 23 2 29 29 6 12 4 35360 +622 [*] 23/1 Bridget 17.70 44 21 1 25 21 11 16 9 27580 +570 [*] 12/0 Dew 8.27 31 8 0 10 18 14 4 1 24500 +152 [1] 3/2 Azel 23.78* 42 7 23 13 22 6 10 13 10890 +660 [*] 47/1 Lewyn 17.97 43 2 18 16 25 8 7 10 16800 +760 [*] 13/0 Taillte 9.04 33 0 12 21 12 10 1 9 17000 +604 [6] 8/0 Aideen 22.62* 44 6 23 15 15 23 7 11 2180 +802 [5] 0/0 Claude 25.40 36 1 24 17 16 12 5 23 15000 +540 [5] 0/0 Raquesis 15.91 33 14 8 13 15 7 12 9 28235 +819 [6] 6/1 Sylvia 8.00 32 4 3 4 12 9 1 8 11000 +410 [1] 0/0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noish 7.68 35 12 0 10 10 4 9 0 9000 -- [1] 6/1 Alec 8.81 37 12 0 11 11 5 11 0 19920 118 [4] 2/1 Arden 8.41 39 16 0 6 5 3 15 0 47250 +72 [3] 4/0 Holyn 15.00 43 15 0 20 17 3 11 1 36500 +118 [5] 0/0 Jamke 16.45 46 15 0 16 17 10 11 1 34050 +488 [7] 4/0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Quan 17.05* 47 21 0 16 17 7 13 4 10200 +215 [5] 17/4 Ethlyn 30.00* 43 15 13 20 24 14 18 8 180 +1152 [*] 9/0 Finn 23.80* 46 22 0 16 20 17 17 4 34030 +462 [*] 43/1 Deirdre 7.82 29 0 16 10 13 6 4 18 21500 -- [1] 3/0 Quan: Gáe Bolg, Silver Lance, Iron Lance, Javelin Finn: Silver Lance, Steel Lance, Skill Ring Ethlyn: Slim Sword, Mend, Silver Blade, Pursuit Band Deirdre: Silence, Aura, Circlet-
Dwelling On Your Mind:
- Noish->Sylvia, Arden->Sylvia, Holyn->Sylvia, Alec->Sylvia, Jamke->Sylvia, Dew->Sylvia, Azel->Bridget, Claude->Taillte
- Bridget->Azel, Taillte->Claude
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Taken Your Fancy:
- Lewyn->Sylvia,
- Erin->Lewyn, Sylvia->Lewyn
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Well And Truly In Love:
- Finn->Taillte
- Holy Matrimony: Ayra/Lex, Aideen/Midir, Raquesis/Beowulf (, Deirdre/Sigurd, Ethlyn/Quan)
Sylvia being very popular, now that Aideen isn't available anymore.
21 hours ago, Jotari said:I have genuinely made comparisons between Edelgard and US intervention policy when arguing with Edelgardstans. People are, thankfully, more hesitant to paint invading another country to foist you culture on them, killing anyone who stands in the way, as a good thing when you put it in the context of real people.
I have to admit that I'm still mostly ignorant about what actually happens in 3H, outside of things that people meme about. But I had to appreciate the extra spice in "Edelgard = USA", considering that "Edelgard = Fascist" seems to be the great flame war instigator in the more passionate parts of the fandom.
Did I ever mention that in Civ4, the requisite tech for building Mt. Rushmore is Fascism?19 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:In terms of point 1, I do think the Cross Knights are principally loyal to Eldigan, rather than Chagall. Which means they're loyal to House Nordion. Which means Grannvale, who is currently occupying House Nordion, is their sworn enemy - regardless of Eldigan's personal friendship with Sigurd. They may not dislike Sigurd - hell, they probably dislike Chagall more, since he had imprisoned their liege. But at the end of the day, it's Sigurd, not Chagall, who's standing between them and a trip back home.
Yeah, it's always worth remembering that Sigurd's actions are those of a conqueror. He always has a good reason - at least to do something, although I've been memeing on his readiness to land on "conquer yet another castle" - but somebody who doesn't know him personally is likely to assume after the fifth castle that Sigurd has been making excuses all along. Heck, Eldigan loses his faith in Sigurd at the end of ch.2.
19 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:My personal take on #2 is, there weren't really concrete plans to withdraw from Augustria. I don't believe there's any justification for Grannvale's continuing presence in the south, outside of "Sigurd conquered y'all, and we're worried about you being a counter-balancing force to Grannvale". It's not clear that Chagall - or Eldigan - or Sigurd - could've done anything to change their minds. At least, not without any sort of unilateral action. Chagall was the one to take it here, but at some point, someone was gonna have to act. It could've been Eldigan saying "screw Chagall and screw Grannvale, I'm going back to Nordion". Or it could've been Sigurd getting orders to "conquer the rest of the country LOL", and being stuck with an impossible choice.
But hey, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe in another timeline, atmonth 7, Sigurd would've gotten orders to return to Chalphy. At month 8, the rest of Grannvalean forces would withdraw. And at month 9, Azmur, Chagall, Sigurd, Eldigan, and Arvis would all sit down for a picnic together. Who's to say?
I do agree with your read being the most likely constellation. Chagall may have jumped the gun, but it's unlikely that Grannvale would've acted to defuse the situation, like, ever, considering that policy is being made by Langbalt and Reptor at the moment.
Come to think of it - with Reptor and Langbalt approaching at the end of this chapter, it's an interesting question how Eldigan and (a less rash) Chagall would've reacted to that. Would Eldigan have helped Sigurd? It seems likely that he would want to, but it seems equally likely that Chagall would try to seize the moment and launch his reconquest while Grannvale is busy fighting itself.
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Dwelling On Your Mind:
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4 hours ago, Jotari said:
More or less what Elibe is, only ye plot lines aren't really connected and they don't share the inherited gameplay. But narratively Eliwood and Hector very much are the 30 years later retired heroes.
Darn, BlaBla actually works against my point because it's a "30 years later" story that really doesn't work.
(I do think that BlaBla does a lot of things very well, better than any FE game before it, but the overall plot is not one of those things)
2 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:Possibly. I just think there's still some ambiguity in the wording. Perhaps there are different connotations in the original Japanese? I dunno.
Yeah, I admit that I'm reading stuff into the tone of her surprise, which could be wildly different in Japanese.
2 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:I mean, when Eldigan does try to extricate them from the situation, it ends with his execution. Like, could he surrender to Sigurd - sure. But it's not for granted that the Cross Knights would all follow him. And House Nordion is currently occupied by Grannvale, so Sigurd couldn't let him go reclaim his own territory. Even if he did, he'd quickly be faced by Reptor and Rango. It really feels like a no-win situation for him.
There's two important questions here that we can only speculate over:
- How do the Cross Knights feel about all this? Apart from the world's greatest guardsman, we don't see any of them on-screen, so we don't know if their prevailing attitude is "we shall die for Agustria's glory", "Fuck Chagall, we won't die in defense of that moron", or anything in between. I could argue that their loyalty seems to lie with Eldigan more than with Chagall or the central Agustrian government, but that would be purely speculative.
- How close was Sigurd actually to negotiate a settlement that would've returned Chagall to full control over Agustria? Both Sigurd and Eldigan act like they both firmly believe in the process, but the chapter's opening narration describes how Grannvale seems to entrench an abusive colonial-like rule over the parts of Agustria that it controls.
How a "What if Chagall wasn't a petty dingus" or "What if Eldigan had an agenda" hypothetical would work out really depends on these. If Grannvale never had any intention of returning soveraignty to Agustria, the entire drama could've just gone down another six months later.
2 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:Yes and no. Her decision to leave Seliph behind, irresponsible as it might seem, probably saved his life. Were she a "responsible mother", taking her son along, we wouldn't have a second generation.
Anyway the whole "Dierdre is responsible for her own kidnapping" is bullshit, because Manfroy's "villainous rewarp" powers are also bullshit. How do we know that Manny couldn't have just warped to the home castle, and plucked her there? He had no issue warping into Castle Augusty earlier, when Chagall was running it. Ultimately, this kind of rewarp BS is impossible to guard one's self against.
...That said, it was dumb for Dierdre to go out, but because she could've been skewered by a Cross Knight, not kidnapped by Dark Wizard McGee. Like, if I cross the street without looking, and get hit by a bus, yeah that's my own damn fault. But if I cross the street without looking, and fall into an interdimensional portal that pops up for mere seconds, I don't think I'm the one at fault for that particular demise.
1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:Honeslty, I really don't think you can blame Deirdre either, even. Manfroy just discovered through... Telepathy? Clairvoyance? Dark magic? Plot conveniences? That Deirdre was exactly where she was, and teleported in without delay.
Seriously, that's bugging me now. If they just established that Manfroy finds out scovers at some point that Deirdre is with Sigurd, then okay, that makes sense that he'd know her location with some degree of accuracy and was just waiting for an opportunity to nab her without Sigurd there to intervene. But as it is, it just feels like he knows because he knows all of a sudden. Am I forgetting a scene or something? There was his talk with Sandima but that's before she even gets with Sigurd lol. Maybe that's why it took him all these months, he was combing the Spirit Forest in vain all that time.
I don't think Deirdre is at fault for her kidnapping - no, she really couldn't have expected Manfroy's bullshit powers, or even just Manfroy being after her. She was just irresponsible in a general sense, leaving her son behind to reunite with Sigurd.
I do understand her action - she established earlier that she had a premonition of danger should she separate from Sigurd, so her urge to reunite with him is more than just "because she loves him so much". But she is irresponsible when she foists the responsibility for Seliph on the 10-year-old Shanan (and I don't think that the "lucky" outcome for Seliph changes that - betting all your savings on red is a bad idea even if you end up winning), and she is reckless when she runs, alone and unprotected, from one castle to another in a fucking war zone.
2 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:He's very reminiscent of Darin to me, with ambitions that outstrip his actual abilities. Not to mention, a dark wizard having his ear. And his death kinda marking the end of the "midgame". All he needs is a son to neglect, and we're good to go!
You're right, Darin is a much better comparison than Narcian, who only really matches Chagall in the "incompetent villain" checkbox.
2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:Either way, he (and she for that matter) beats the next game's Camus. That one's just kind of bad.
Honestly, I still like Eldigan. The way he goes out is disappointing, but up until this chapter, he's been quite reasonable (as long as we assume that he just didn't know about Chagall's attitude before the start of the game) and his growing tensions with Sigurd were established quite well - starting with "OK Sigurd, why are you occupying Verdane? (...) Ah, makes sense" in ch.1 and going to "what the fuck, dude" at the end of ch.2. I'd probably put the Reed brothers above him, maybe Zelgius (don't remember RD's story details well enough to make that call), but I think I'd put him above the rest of these fuckers.
2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:The BlaBla one is even funnier because FE6 gives zero indication to Armads being cursed even though you can give it to every axe user in the game. It's just thrown in there in 7 for the sake of dumb references, continuity be damned.
I'm sorry Ruben, Lot is fucking dead also.
2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:"I'm liberating this area in the name of
freedomHis Majesty forits oilits castle."I unfortunately don't remember the details, but somebody in the Teehee thread pointed out to me some time ago that an "Edelgard is representing US-American imperialism under the guise of bringing
freedommeritocracy to the world" shitpost would have some serious potential, down to one of 3H-landia's countries having oil reserves. -
2 hours ago, BrightBow said:
Anyway, shame that Cuan never gets to interact with him in any way.
It's a missed opportunity for sure. Quan introduces himself as one of the Three Amigos, but the dynamics on screen are almost entirely Sigurd <-> Eldigan, with only a little bit of Sigurd <-> Quan on the side.
2 hours ago, BrightBow said:"Wait 10 seconds until you hear the really bad news."
"What do you want to hear first, the bad news, or the really bad news?"
2 hours ago, BrightBow said:To be fair, the fact that a 2nd generation exists at all puts that flag on everyone.
It's not about if everyone dies. It's how they are gonna die.I'd say it would be quite possible to do a FE story with two generations and without
RocksMetors Falling in the middle (and also without time travel or hypothermic thyme lambers). Sigurd succeeds on the surface, but Manfroy manages to remain hidden, and when Shit goes Down, say, 20-25, or even 30 years later, most of the gen 1 characters are simply too old to return to the battlefield. A longer incubation time would also allow for a bit more age variation in gen 2, although a 30yo Seliph as a protagonist would probably go against the laws of anime.
2 hours ago, BrightBow said:It's a nice detail that with the holy blood removed, she has mostly identical growths to her twin sister. Just with the strength and magic growths swapped.
Also Luck. But having Major Ulir means Briggid has overkill Luck anyway, so this might have been why her personal luck growth is only 10%.
Right, I didn't notice that, although now I remember this being brought up in the thread earlier. Their relatively high growth in the respective useless stat of Str/Mag is a cute little hint that they both would've had the aptitude to be a priest or an archer.
1 hour ago, Jotari said:This is like, such a huge thing to just find in the tower randomly. Like, how did House Bragi lose it in the first place? How did no one check here when it's a holy place? And shouldn't finding it be major world worthy news. Even if the nebulous plot rules stop it reviving anyone useful to the story, it can still revive the dead! That's huge even in a very limited capacity. And his house just somehow lost it and now have just somehow refound it. And why is Claud the only heir to Bragi on the entire continent. What happened to his family? I'm so intensely curious about Edda and its history but the story is so frustratingly ignorant on Claude's family. The one opportunity to expand on it at all they just use for the sake of more incest bait.
It's certainly a convenient happenstance, allowing Claude to explain what that strange staff in his inventory does.
About the "only heir" thing - I don't think this has ever been outright stated in the game thus far, but my impression was that there's always only one heir with major blood per generation, who can actually use a specific holy weapon. But now that I'm writing this - the sword twins both have major Odo blood if Chulainn is their father, right? That would disprove the theory right away.
3 minutes ago, RPGuy96 said:Wyvern Riders in this game like to pretend they're in FE7 rather than FE6.
And that even though everybody knows that FE6 is the superior Elibe game, smh my head.
3 minutes ago, RPGuy96 said:I agree with the timing, and I like that setup. I like the Claude / Tailtyu and Brigid setups, but the pirates are a weird last enemy to fight. I suppose part of the plan here was to have the pirates threaten you when your strong units are down in Silvail, but if you know it's coming then just Ayra or Chulainn or even Arden up in Madino can protect Brigid. For the end of this chapter, it's narratively helpful if your army is in the north rather than by Silvail, but the game will happily ignore that if it needs to anyway.
Honestly, since the world map isn't a pre-existing setting that Genealogy takes place in... Unless it will be a plot point that Sigurd will have to go through pirate territory between chapters, the map could've been rearranged, too. Put Madino to the west, let the pirates come from that direction (with or without their own castle), put Sylvail to the north of the map.
-
FE4 Chapter 3: Eldigan the Lionheart
Madino --> Silvail
Spoiler
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There's a bit of staff spamming at the start of this segment - Aideen (getting danced and) sending Beowulf and Raquesis back to Agusty and just warping people around for no good reason other than reaching level 20, and Raquesis getting a few Returns in, as well.
I'll see if I will make use of Aideen reaching promotion level later. She has a lot of ground to cover (and I have to admit that I didn't think she'd have her convo with Bridget this map already, so I didn't move her very efficiently at all), since she also needs to pick up the Restore staff before the end of the map.
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Villages: Saved, which makes Eldigan and the Cross Knights the only moving piece on the map for now.
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And I do try to kite them a bit - specifically with Azel, who can survive three hits and isn't too likely to be hit to begin with. And who one-rounds, obviously.
However, returning Raquesis and Beowulf to Madino turned out to be a mistake, since they approach the area from an awkward angle and can't stay out of the Cross Knights' range. At least I don't have to check if Eldigan suffers from Matthis syndrome.
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As a result, Raquesis had to dodge one out of three incoming Javelins - and managed to dodge all three, which is unlikely enough that I wondered for a while if the game is cheating in her favour to make it easier to talk Eldie to death, but not so unlikely (.38³ is about 5%) that I actually believe that to be the case.
At the start of the next turn - presumably because Eldigan is in Sigurd's attack range - a conversation triggers:
: Eldigan, please! Lay down your sword! I don't want to fight you! I still have every intention of returning Agusty to Chagall! All I need is a little more time, I swear!"
: "...Sigurd. I'm sorry, but I grow weary of these excuses. We stand now as two knights on the battlefield, sworn to an honorable duel. Draw, Sigurd! So long as I wield the demon blade, Mystletainn, I won't be the one to fall this day!"
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Raquesis surviving the enemy phase was very nice, of course, but there's still a bit of a problem with all these Cross Knights on top of my units, with the added little shock of Raquesis being just short of reaching her brother.
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An extra road tile to walk on does the trick, though.
: "Brother, stop! It's me, Raquesis! This pointlessness has gone on long enough! Your actions are utterly baffling! Would you really betray Sigurd, your friend? Is this what you call a knight's pride? Please, brother! Believe in Sigurd. Give him even the tiniest amount more time to finish the job. We don't need to fight."
: "Raquesis... Look, don't cry. Fighting is my only choice. Please don't make this harder than it already is. His Majesty's death will spell the death of Agustria, too, and I cannot allow that."
: "That isn't true! Everything hinges on Chagall laying down his arms. Sigurd never had any interest in fighting, and has even less interest in continuing if you stop. Brother... Please. You lead the Cross Knights! Chagall simply cannot ignore your counsel!"
: "...You're right, Raquesis. I'll try and persuade His Majesty, one more time. If I must risk my life, I'd rather risk it to stop this blasted war than to fight my friend. Any knight would do the same. Raquesis... Here. This sword is for you."
: "Isn't this an earth sword?! ...Brother, you can't be-"
: "This is a last memento, in case I... I'm sorry, Raquesis. You must survive!"
: "W-wait! Stop! Don't go, Eldie!"
I'm honestly not entirely sure how to read this dialogue. The last line makes it sound like Raquesis did not mean to advise Eldigan to go to Chagall right now, let alone... well, alone, and more that she wanted him to team up (or at least call a truce) with Sigurd and force Chagall to surrender by refusing to have the Cross Knights fight Sigurd again. But because she talks about Eldie's "counsel" that Chagall cannot ignore, it might also just be that she did want Eldigan to do what he's about to try, and only realised that he thinks that he's getting himself killed when he gifts her with the Earth Sword.
So, basically - Raquesis: maybe an idiot. Eldie: definitely an idiot.
: "Your Majesty, please order a retreat! There's no use in continuing this fight. Agusty shall be returned to Your Majesty someday, but it must happen peacefully."
: "Eldigan! How dare you abandon the battle to spout such nonsense! You couldn't hide your true colors forever, traitor! Men! Seize this... this worm! Off with his head! Humiliate him! Parade his shame before the world!"
: "I... this was all in vain... This spells Agustria's doom-"
: "Tch, enough! Accept your death quietly, traitor! Finish him! Do it, right here, right NOW!"
: "Raquesis..."
Hurray!
This dialogue is very much a reprise of Chagall throwing Eldigan in the dungeon, with the Wiseau-style abrupt shortness of the dialogue turning this very dramatic event into a bit of a comedy skit. Off with his head! *canned laughter*
Eldigan's last memento is a strong, very expensive weapon. Its 10k price tag is in the same ballpark as other special swords - but because the Earth Sword only has 10 uses as opposed to literally every other sword's 50, it costs 1000 gold to stab an enemy with it, which is exactly as expensive as using one of the legendary swords.
The eventual result on the battlefield: Three Cross Knights remaining, which seems rather dangerous...
...but maybe you spotted the insurance at the top of the previous screenshot. Dew is taking one for the team, and nobody has to die.
But before Dew dodges that Javelin, more cutscenes happen:
: "Hmph. I suppose even these common sellswords ought to do a better job for me than all of my worthless servants... Don't you dare let me down!"
: "Pick up the pace! Agustria's right ahead! Our targets are the knights of Grannvale. Take your fill of battle! Sear the name of Thracia into the memories of this land!"
I'm sure they will serve as a very scary first impression of the mighty Wyvern Rider class. I'm shivering already.
Let us send in Erin to get an idea of their battle prowess.
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: "Heh... Allow me to teach you the terror of the Thracian dracoknights!"
Hm.
Okay, admittedly, Erin is still carrying the +5 Def ring and without it, she would've had to tread more carefully, but still. Hm.
: "Ugh... Papillon failed, did he? That does it. It's time to withdraw. I refuse to fall with this flaming wreck of a country. Heh, farewell, King Chagall... You fool."
And so does King Kilvas.
__
For the record, this is Papillon and his gang. Vewy scawwy.
(and now, Erin has all the items of surviability - +5 Def, +5 Res, and Renewal. I didn't plan this, but I really underestimated how much cash the Bargain Band would allow her to have)
__
Meanwhile, about half of the active force breaks through the line of three Knights. I avoid aggroing Chagall's guard for now although this turned out to be overly careful with Erin just murdering the flock of wyverns.
In other news, our first marriage. Sword twins confirmed to be bulky and fast-growing.
And Lewyn grabs some money to get to 40k. Or, more accurately, to get 37500 gold and the Wingslayer, which sells for 2500. A bit inefficient, but I suspect that this will end up on Erin or Ayra, who both don't have much trouble with gold.
: "No matter how much I think about it, I just don't get why the Orgahil pirates have so suddenly turned on us like this. We could've sworn that boss of theirs was a good lass... Bridget or something, was it?"
(5000 gold -> Lewyn)
: "Oho! Glad to see ya've come. I got this 'ere sword for ya in 'preciation. They call it the wingslayer. It's enchanted to be lethal to sky-riders. If it flies, this sword'll bring it down. 'Course, if ya can't use it, sell it!"
(5000 gold, Wingslayer -> Lewyn)
Missed opportunity to use "If it flies, it dies". What were the translators thinking?!
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There's not too much to be said about Chagall's guardsmen. Played a bit defensively because apart from Finn, nobody's nearby who can one-round Knights...
...then murdered all of them and have Finn face Chagall.
: "H-how dare you! I am the King of Agustria! You dare show me such disrespect?! Damn it all... I'll show you the penalty for such offense: death!"
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Finn chips down Chagall a bit...
: "Sigurd! Feel the full force of your months of humiliation of me!"
: "King Chagall, you've done naught but murder countless innocents. ...And Eldigan... You're as foul as they come!"
: "Silence, you fool! You understand nothing of me! You die, Sigurd, here and now!"
Well, Chagal doesn't manage to follow up on his words, but he does at least manage to dodge Sigurd's follow-up attack.
And then Beowulf's attempt gets Pavised. Bummer.
Ethlyn it is, then. I'm sure Leif will appreciate the Silver Blade. (well, honestly, I'm not really certain he will, no idea how his accurady looks, but it *is* a strong weapon, and Leaf comes with an A-rank, so he can inherit it)
: "My... My Agustria..."
Honestly, I enjoyed Chagall as a... let's say medium-sized villain. Minor is selling him a bit short, but you definitely wouldn't think at any point that he'd be the big bad evil guy, either. His scenes with Eldigan were rather unintentionally funny (at least I assume they weren't intended to come across like The Room), but in general, it was good fun to have a weak, petty, cruel man in a position of authority that is wayy too big for his britches. He's a bit similar to BinBla's Narcian in that regard, although he doesn't overstay his welcome as Narcian arguably does.
__
: "By the way, Shanan has just arrived from Agusty. He'd like a word with you, sire."
: "Shanan?"
: "Sigurd! I'm sorry... I'm so, so sorry!"
: "What's happening, Shanan? Why are you crying?"
: "Deirdre's gone! She left the castle and was looking to talk to you, but she never returned. I'm sorry! I failed to protect her..."
: "What?! This can't be happening! And Seliph... Shanan, what about my son?"
: "I've got Seliph with me. See? Here he is. But Deirdre..."
: "I see... Shanan, this isn't your fault. Don't worry about it. We'll find her. No matter what it takes, I'll find her."
: "B-but, I... I should've tried harder to stop her! I'm so sorry, Sigurd!"
Good on Sigurd for telling Shanan that he isn't to blame. Honestly, I can't really blame Sigurd for this, either - Deirdre should've known better. Probably. Like, you can't expect her to account for crazy cultists warping into abduct her, but she should've known better than to foist the responsibility for a baby on a 10-years-old while she is walking from one castle to another. The time it takes from A to B is incredibly vague in Genealogy, but one has to assume that it's a bigger trip than to the neighbor to ask if they can help her out with a cup of flour.
Seizing Sylvail opens up a talk between Ethlyn and Sigurd:
: "Pardon me, dear... But I think I owe you an apology."
: "Eh? What's happened, Ethlyn? By the look of it, it must be grave indeed..."
: "Here. Take this."
: "A spear? ...What?! I-isn't this Gáe Bolg?! Why do you-"
: "Your lord father entrusted it to me, Quan. He thought it prudent for you to have it at hand, in case our battles grew too fierce."
: "Even just holding it, I've seldom felt so strong! Why did you wait till now, though?"
: "With the spear, your lord father also passed onto me its tale... I'm so sorry..."
: "...Aye. Gáe Bold bears the baggage of a truly sad legend. But that is all it is: a legend."
: "But-"
: "Ethlyn, trust me. Triumph is within our grasp this day. I'll not fall victim to an old myth. I'll not let it stop me from returning home. Our dear little Altena still awaits us, and I'll not allow some fairy tale to disappoint her."
: "Yes... Quan, no matter what happens... We'll never lose each other... Right?"
: "Ah, you're concerned about Deirdre, aren't you... There's nothing to worry about. It won't be long until we find her."
: "Yes... I want to believe she'll be okay, too. I wish I could believe it. But..."
: "Ethlyn? Come now! Dry your tears. Do you truly feel so bad about this?"
: "I... Yes... Knowing th-that Sigurd and Deirdre may never meet again... Th-they love each other so... so much... Why, Quan... Why did this happen to them?!"
: "Ethlyn..."
The "vaguely cursed weapon" trope is one that I honestly don't like very much. Can't really point my finger to why that is; maybe I just don't like this very obvious "HE GONNA DIE!!!" flag (or, in BlaBla's case, "HEY REMEMBER HOW HECTOR FUCKING DIES IN BINBLA") that these weapons set.
The Gáe Bolg is, obviously, incredibly powerful, increasing Str, Skl, and Def by +10 each. It's a bit too late for Quan, at least to do much more than clear the rest of the arena with it, but it's a nice little apératif for the holy weapons yet to come.
Finally, the set-up for the last segment of the chapter...
: "S'only a matter of time b'fore them Grannvale guys're bangin' down our doors too, eh? What d'ya say?"
: "Damn it, Duvall! The only reason they're coming is because you lot all went pillaging, against my orders! You've got nobody but yourself to blame!"
: "Keh, enough! I can't take yer arrogance anymore! Shut it an' open yer ears! Ya actually ain't the daughter o' the late cap'n, y'know. Yer just some li'l girl what the boss found, cryin' alone in this ship we raided. Th'boss jus' picked ya up an' raised ya 'imself. 'Fore we knew it, ya'd all grown up an' were bossin' us all 'round, all nonsense-like!"
: "W-what?! I... that's..."
: "But yer li'l act's worn its welcome out. No point keepin' ya 'live, eh?"
: "Damn it all... You really think you clowns can take me that easy?!"
I mean, I already made fun of the inheritable divine right of pirate captains... It doesn't seem particularly necessary to explain why Bridget managed to remain the captain for a good while. If she's a strong fighter, that could've been enough to keep her authority... until now, where most, if not all of her crew is fed up with her Robin Hood act.
: "Pizare, yer in charge o' the boys. Go raise a li'l hell over 'n Agustria! I'll be waitin' back at th' castle."
: "Aye, boss!"
This whole episode feels poorly timed, too. It feels like Eldigan's death, and Sigurd finding out about it, should be the climax of the chapter, not its midpoint. I think it would've worked better if the pirate invasion would've been moved to after the capture of Madino - maybe even without having their own big castle, and just as a big scary force threatening to retake Madino just as (or slightly before or after) Eldigan listens to Chagall's orders.
: "Righ', raise the bridge! Agustria's all ours!"
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There's a bit of immediate enemy contact here - Bridget (who spawns as a blue unit and thus earns some XP immediately) counter-kills two Pirates, and Ayra is way too dodgy for the pirates to the south to even consider attacking her.
And finally, before the start of the next round, we meet Claude and Taillte again:
: "Claaaaude! C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! Aren't you done praying already? Just look around! There'll be pirates all over us if we don't get moving!"
: "Be at peace, Taillte. This was quite the fruitful journey! Lord Bragi has answered my prayers and revealed to me the truth. It is precisely as I had thought. Not to mention, I even found House Edda's long-lost sacred heirloom within the tower: the staff of Valkyria. See? This is it."
: "What, that grubby little cane?"
: "...Taillte, please. Do try to mind your manners. This is a legendary magical staff with the power to restore life to the deceased. It is usable only by the direct descendants of Saint Bragi. That is to say, me alone."
: "Huh. So what you're saying is, with this rod you could bring back my sweet old grandma back to life?"
: "Alas, most likely not. Valkyria is limited in many particular ways, and so cannot be used on just any lost soul. You see, all of mankind is born bearing a life force called quintessence, which-"
: "Yaaawn... Er, what's that? You lost me. Why're you still talking about this, anyway? We've still gotta get outta here?"
: "Ah, of course. Let us go."
There is plenty of reason to dislike anime, and the "aggressively childish girl" trope is certainly on the list. So instead of discussing that dialogue, I'll just look at some numbers instead:
[HP 90% | Str 30% | Mag 20% | Skl 30% | Spd 20% | Lck 70% | Def 20% | Res 5%]
Skills: Pursuit
Weapon Level: Bows (*)
Major Ullur bloodBridget's base stats are still respectable considering her joining time. Her combat is basically better than Midir's in every way (except that he currently holds the Killer Bow and she does not), although the other promoted characters still outdo Bridget. But considering that she joins at a pretty low level, that's still not too bad.
Of course, "no horse" plus "no 1-range" doesn't sound like a winning combination. It shouldn't be a death sentence for her viability - Ayra and pre-promotion Azelle managed to do stuff, after all - but it'll likely make her more of a filler unit, even after she'll get the Yewfelle.
The plan, as has been talked about already, is for Bridget to marry Azelle, in the hope that her Sniper son won't mind his weaker stats too much, and that Magic Pursuit Patty is going to be good. I think this might be the "least optimal" pairing that I'm going for, but Magic Pursuit Patty sounds like fun.
[HP 70% | Str 10% | Mag 40% | Skl 20% | Spd 30% | Lck 50% | Def 20% | Res 50%]
Skills: -
Weapon Level: Staves (*), Fire (C), Thunder (C), Wind (C)
Major Bragi bloodStaffbot/10, I guess? Claude has the advantage over Aideen that he joins at Lv.20 promoted, so he can try to at least beat the earlier arena enemies for money and a bit of XP. His stats seem OK, although with only 34 HP, he's really frail on the physical side.
Claude is going to marry Erin, which I expect to be to her son's advantage and to her daughter's... mixed blessing? Fee having lower Str than usual doesn't seem great, but she might be able to do stuff with magic swords, and the improved staff rank could be worth something once she promotes. It's a shame that the Rescue staff is still going to be out of reach for her.
Skills: Wrath
Weapon Level: Thunder (A)
Minor Tordo bloodHoly Esteroni, Batman. Except that Taillte's growths aren't that amazing..? Tordo blood increases HP and Skl, an Taillte ends up with pretty disappointing Mag growth as a result. I do have to credit her for a good Spd growth, though, and her promotion gives her pretty good combat bonuses - but unfortunately not a horse as Azelle's did.
Her big feature is the Wrath skill, of course, guaranteeing a crit if she's below half health and (unlike Miracle) possible to bring into the arena if you start the fight at 1 HP. 60 Atk targeting Res one-shots a lot of stuff, although in this chapter's arena, Taillte probably still struggles against the Dark Mage Doma with his 61 HP, 16 Res, and weapon triangle advantage.
Taillte is going to hook up with Lewyn, for the simple reason of Early Forseti. The downside is that she'll have two children with very high Spd but no Pursuit skill, and I'm currently leaning towards sending the Pursuit Ring to Leif. But Arthur at least should have very good chances of proccing one of Lewyn's +damage skills with Forseti, with start-of-turn RNG abuse if necessary.
The Team:
Lv. HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Res Funds XP Arn Sigurd 22.95* 53 23 0 22 22 13 16 4 34080 +77 [1] Quan 16.63* 46 21 0 16 16 7 13 4 13920 +173 [5] Finn 23.80* 46 22 0 16 20 17 17 4 34030 +462 [*] Midir 21.70* 44 17 1 16 20 8 13 4 38280 +592 [*] Lex 24.80* 52 27 2 16 14 12 25 3 42140 +376 [*] Beowulf 13.02 41 15 0 13 11 4 13 0 50000 +241 [1] Noish 7.68 35 12 0 10 10 4 9 0 9360 -- [1] Alec 8.81 37 12 0 11 11 5 11 0 17920 +118 [4] Erin 19.15 42 14 2 15 23 9 16 5 50000 +735 [*] Arden 8.41 39 16 0 6 5 3 15 0 26170 +72 [3] Ayra 21.32* 48 23 2 28 29 6 12 4 33360 +514 [*] Holyn 15.00 43 15 0 20 17 3 11 1 34500 +118 [5] Bridget 12.52* 40 20 0 22 21 7 14 9 10000 +52 [1] Jamke 16.45 46 15 0 16 17 10 11 1 32050 +488 [7] Dew 7.39 31 8 0 9 17 14 3 1 0 +64 [1] Azel 23.14 42 7 23 13 22 6 10 13 4120 +596 [*] Lewyn 11.39 38 2 15 12 21 7 5 10 37500 +102 [1] Taillte 3.00 28 0 10 15 10 9 1 9 5000 -- [1] Ethlyn 26.96* 42 15 12 19 24 13 17 8 17000 +848 [5] Raquesis 13.54 32 13 8 13 14 6 10 9 17825 +582 [4] Aideen 20.15 43 6 17 12 13 22 5 10 3800 +555 -- Claude 20.00 34 0 21 14 15 9 5 20 10000 -- [1] Sylvia 5.80 30 4 2 4 12 8 1 7 9000 +190 [1] Out: Deirdre (Lv. 7.82)9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:I like how all his growths are bad except HP, which is a clean 100%. Good unit.
4/15 = 26.7%, so that's still kinda passable by Genealogy's standards. But yeah, he's still not exactly inspiring terror in the hearts of man.
4 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:This is the kind of micromanagement I live for. Never change, FE4.
Fun fact, relevant to Jotari's answer, too: Because arenaing didn't fit into Beowulf's tight schedule of stalking Raquesis because of Eldigan's appearance, Beo hit 50k when there still were a few generic enemies available to steal from. Meanwhile, Dew is sitting at zero gold, with a broken Iron Sword, right when there's a bunch of pirates he would've been able to steal from. That kind of micromanagement - which seems great at first, but then falls flat on its face once you zoom out a notch - is what my typical gameplay looks like.
4 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:Love that Claud's master plan is "imma get some divine revelation that nobody else will be able to corroborate." No jury in Jugdral is gonna convict Reptor and Lombard on secondhand testimony from God. But hey, maybe Azmur could be more easily swayed?
Yeah, the idea must be that Azmur trusts Claude, or that Claude assumes that his reputation will make sure that he can't just be dismissed. But there could definitely be a story about a corrupt descendant of Bragi abusing the fact that nobody can ever fact-check his insights.
4 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:Now, hold on a moment. This doesn't necessarily mean that Dierdre knew Sigyn was her mother's name. If Manfroy had called her "Alice's daughter", she might've had the exact same reaction. If she takes for granted that Manfroy is correct in identifying her parentage, then of course she'd be curious in hearing how he knew her mother - even if she never knew her mother, herself.
I think I would expect a different answer from Deirdre in that case - more along the lines of "Who is Sigyn?" or "You know who my mother was?" The way Deirdre does react reads to me like she isn't surprised to be called "Sigyn's daughter" until she realises that there doesn't seem to be a reason why this complete stranger would know that.
4 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:Honestly a great antagonist speech. Like a more honorable version of Jarod's, in I-E of Radiant Dawn.
It's a bit of a knock on Eldigan that he's knowingly leading them to death. By contrast, Jarod knows that the senate would disappear all witnesses, so he tells his men that while they're going to die anyway, they might as well have their revenge first - the Cross Knights aren't in the same position, despite Chagall's pettiness, and Eldigan doesn't even stop to consider if he can somehow keep them out of this.
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1 minute ago, Saint Rubenio said:
Everybody dies, Wraith. Just this once, everybody dies!
If there won't be a Rocks Fall Everyone Dies ending for the playable villain cast, too, I'll be severely disappointed!
(I don't know what your angle for the plot is, but if the player's goal is to revive Weirdly Spelled Demon Lord, this doesn't even sound too far-fetched)
To Become an Elitist [Playlogs FE1-5] [currently playing: Thracia 776]
in NES and SNES Era
Posted
Don't tell me you're still saying "Meiben" in your head.
To be fair, Langbalt could still be appalled by the kinslaying aspect of it, while being a-ok with murder in general. The "may you rest in peace" part is out of place, though.
...I should see if I can get Lex to kinslay him. Rough, because he only deals 2x2 dmg with Brave, and 8 with Silver, but maybe it'll work out.
Hawke must be either really generic or have a really impressive beard if you like him so much. Well, come to think about it, you'd only have to find him barely tolerable in order to advocate for Pegasus Knight murder to make him exist.
Project Naga renames Jamke's class back to Archer, actually. I think it tries to be a bit more consistent with the rest of the series with its class names - the "Forrest" class (according to the wiki) is simply "Hero", too.
"Stabbing once is good and all, but have you tried stabbing twice?" - "She's a genius! She should write a book or something!"
To a degree, you could rationalise the higher growths in gen 2 with their overall lower age, i.e. they still have more potential left to unlock than their parents did during their adventures. It's not universally true, of course, with the likes of Sylvia and Dew, but apart from Altenna, the kids are all at most 17 years old, right? The average gen 1 character strikes me more as in their early 20s.