Interdimensional Observer

If you dropped "Monado" and tweaked it to Xenoblade Chronicles: The Beginning of the World, it'd be okay. A little wordy, but blame Nintendo of Europe for adding the "Chronicles", it's plain old "Zenobureido" in Japan, nothing else.

MONADO: Modus Operandi Navigating Artificial Destiny Obliterator ...I still don't entirely get the Japanese meaning for BLADE. Does the "Artificial Destiny Emancipator" part mean the destiny is artificial, or is the it the Emancipator that is? I guess it's the destiny, but what is the artificial destiny then and why is it fake? And what does "Beyond the Logos" refer to? A quick definition lookup says Logos is the Word/Reason/Order of God. And that it can also mean Reason and judgment in Jungian psychoanalysis- associated with the concept of animus, and which in term reminds me of anima, another Jungian concept which Xenogears (and I believe Saga) includes. Both the Christian and Jungian meanings have relevance for Xeno. To combine the two parts, I'd interpret it as a godslaying message. Emancipate oneself from the Artificial Destiny imposed by the Logos of something. But we don't have a definitive subject forcing the Logos, the best we have currently is the Ganglion trying to eradicate humanity. Or, you could say it's the trial of being exiled from Earth and forced to find somewhere new in space to survive that is the Logos. Lastly, the acronym could be foreshadowing the coming menace of XCX2, but I'd doubt that. And then, the English acronym shares no meaning with the Japanese, and should it ever become relevant again that'll be a localization problem. Builders of the Legacy After the Destruction of Earth is only a good translation if the evil Logos is meant to be the Destruction of Earth in general. "Monado: The Beginning of the World" was the original name for Xenoblade Chronicles, it was not intended to be a new start to the Xeno franchise. The change to Xenoblade was because: It was originally shown at E3 2009 with the title Monado: The Beginning of the World. But one little switcheroo and it'll probably sell twice the copies. Nintendo's not even going to bother saying that the name change is a coincidence. "We decided to call it Xenoblade to honor Mr. Tetsuya Takahashi who poured his soul into making this and who has been working on the Xeno series," said Iwata. Thank you Iwata, I hope you can hear me from the Pure Land of Amida Buddha, or wherever it is you ended up. And more: The game's director, Tetsuya Takahashi clears any sort of confusion over the "Xeno" name in a lengthy interview in this week's Famitsu. The Xeno name, he said, should be taken as just a symbol, placed there as some sort of common point with Monolith's past works. And this was the game's original 2009 trailer under the old name:

There are other name differences for the BLADE Divisions besides , but none are prior Xeno references.: - "Colpedian". As in the Collectopaedia, and filling it is the main way to get Division Points to increase your BLADE level if you're one of these. The symbol looks like a "C" too. - An appropriately gentle name for the Mediators, in the shape of a giant "C" with an unfinished "o" in the middle maybe. -The symbol looks like an "L" and a "b", albeit with one upside-down relative to the other. - I can see an "A" without the middle line to the left and an "M" to the right here too. - Why this of all names? Pathfinder and Interceptor are the same in Japanese. Neither of those use the "symbol looks like letters from the name" either. It appears they went through a one or two logo designs before choosing the official ones.: The old Interceptor logo got turned upside down and became the finalized Pathfinder one I'm noticing.

HOW DARE YOU CALL THE BLADES MERE WEAPONS! ...From a narrative/characterization perspective, thats disingenuous, since it's actually 11, which is bloated (yet, it worked out). 5 is only true in gameplay. I'd voted 7-8, but 6 is fine too. Allows for gameplay differences and the potential for everyone to be relevant and fleshed out in the story too. If the game is using a class-system like Final Fantasy V or some other highly flexible system independent of the characters themselves, then I see it as less necessary to have more characters than you can field in a single battle. You don't need multiple characters to keep it entertaining if you can easily radically retool your arsenals on everyone. For number of active characters in every battle, I prefer 4, it grants significantly more flexibility than 3. I would think 3 suddenly became popular in 64-bit generation because the fourth 3D character was too much strain on the processors. But if a game can be really busy, I'm fine with 3 combatants. 5 characters I've seen Etrian Odyssey do, and I love it there, but I'm not sure if it'd work anywhere else.

No usual E3 Nintendo Direct? Why? Afraid of digital leaks and the like? Would planning the presentation on clay tablets written in Sumerian cuneiform and sending the 1950s programming punchcards containing the presentation itself via pigeon mail be a solution? No, I don't mind at all, you can keep it up. I don't like being hyped up, but I can activate my Anti-Hype Diffusion Ventilation System for that. I do appreciate the changes they're making, it's more than a lazy remaster/port that way. Gives more reason to double dip, and it's a sign Monolith cares about the player experience. How did you not realize the reason the Monado rejected Dunban was because he was sexier than it was awesome? Shulk gets to use it because the puny nerd could never dream of being cool without it. And, Monolith deserves blame for promoting Naked Dunban as an actual battle build- albeit a bad one b/c it means you lose out on five Gem slots. I call Black Rider! Because the next time we see the Black Knight, I will outdo everyone else here at the Scream With Joy Contest. Testament was reused as the name for the Reclaimers in XCX in the Japanese just as a reminder. So, Elma (and Yelv- he even silently shows up behind Elma in the post-credits scene) is a "Testament" too. Does the Japanese version explain the name? I wonder. Reclaimer is readily understandable, and I can see Testament as meaning "a testament to humanity's existence"- referring to the Lifehold. But is it actually explained ingame in Japan? If it isn't, the name is a little awkward as anything other than a name drop. I'm keeping my eye out for reviews of the game, it sounds like it could be a fun new SRPG based on an obscure old one. But after Langrisser I&II turned out to be lukewarm in the reviews, I'll be cautious in my expectations.

If Gerik uses a Steel Axe, usable at base with 0 AS loss, gets 2 WEXP per hit. Fatal hits double that to 4. Hand Axes gives only 1 WEXP on regular hits, and he'll be using them a lot too. A fatal Devil Axe swing is 16 WEXP. Gerik's Skl is 13 base, 22.6 at 20/10 on average, thats as accurate as almost anything. So having him use an Axe means no loss in combat prowess. Gerik starts at D Axes, so he needs 221 WEXP to hit S. Thus, between 221 and 66 hits are needed using only Hand and Steel. Considering 13 Spd base and 20.7 at 20/10, he can double with some frequency, which certainly means less than 221 rounds of combat are needed. On Eirika's route, S Axes is entirely reasonable for Gerik, not so much for Ephraim route given his much reduced availability. But, thats what Duessel is for. As a Ranger, Gerik can Brave Bow for fun without AS loss, but that doesn't show up until Chapter 19.

The mysterious "dressed liked a mercenary", it'd have to be Joshua or Gerik, but I agree Joshua isn't a great character regal going off his introduction and supports. Not that difficult.: Audhumla- Every Pally would prefer the extra 5 Hit/Crit on Lances, but I guess you could go Sword with one. Vidofnir- Pally or flier. Garm- Duessel or Gerik (only fools S Swords with him- Ranger is fine, just not busted like Hero). Nidhogg- The prince of the country who owns it is investment-free and not weak. Ivaldi- Asseray, or Artur as he is known in English, provided he doesn't get stat-screwed. Just don't use it on monsters if you promote him to Bishop, the 2x effective bonus of the weapon overrides the class's 3x effectiveness. Excalibur- Lute, or Saleh as a backup. Gleipnir- Give this to Rennac and have him tie it to the enemy, the crushing weight should leave them vulnerable to being stabbed to death with a bendy straw. That should be more effective than actually using this junk. Latona- Moulder I suppose, it doesn't matter that his Mag is mediocre. I'd say the first difficult/more than a tutorial map in FE8 is Chapter 5. I kinda like it, though then comes 5x, which is tedium between Steel Lances, four units, no dedicated healer.

Hmm... wonder how big and informative the adventure is going to be then. And, they aren't limited to the Shoulder as the picture of Alcamoth indicated, they could cover a small handful of other places, even if the Shoulder is the core of this epilogue. Retooling Melia maybe could be fun, I love her current setup of blending the roles of supportive and offensive "mage", but I'm always up for something new if it's good. Instead of buffing allies, how about her elementals turn into debuffing orbs that surround the enemy? A loose borrowing from XC2 Chain Attacks. -But she can stay the same and Shulk can get changed up, or the new characters will add a whole lot of new combat gimmicks, and perhaps Chain Attacks will undergo a modification Her "fate was left open"? She lived, despite an initial assumption she didn't, she merely went her own independent way after events. Given her minor connection to Melia as a stepsister IIRC, I could see Melia bumping into her again at Alcamoth- Tyrea has reason to want to go back there- and then for shared investigative interests, and maybe a bit of survival after a nasty encounter with a new threat, she reluctantly teams up for the time being. The old artwork and ingame images Armagon posted look like oversized and excessively decorated Katars for weapons. Stabby fisticuffs (minus the inhuman flexibility of Voldo) will be different from what is in the XC1 maingame, and pleasing to the eye- if she keeps them. But Tyrea, really? She isn't the 5-letter female I'd want playable. I yearn for an iron maiden.

I do like some classical stuff, I'm up for attending free little concerts and performances to hear it live. Recordings don't convey the full power of classical music, you have to be in the room and feel the sound coming at you, hear the little details lost through the filter of an electronic speaker you'd never otherwise know existed. Of course, lacking any education in music... theory is the term for formal instruction in the technical details of music?- I can't fully appreciate classical I think. I can't admire a composer's weaving of staccato into a 3/4s rhythm with a solid bass line if I have no idea what any of that means. And with classical music, it stands for itself, with classical composed for a video game, I can attach it to something more understandable. Pure classical (barring that found in ballets and operas) has no corporeal body, I must understand these with no physical context, only as an expression of the complex formulae that underlie all music. Though for a take on "classical" music I've heard in games recently, Civilization VI has used mostly folk music for its largely ambient soundtrack. Each civilization having a distinct theme composed of one, maybe two compositions related in some way to them, which are given an updated rendition every two world eras that pass ingame, for a total of four renditions of the same theme. For Greece, they use versions of the Seikilos Epitaph- the oldest known complete work of music to exist.: Phoenicia and Sumeria both use Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal no. 6, which predates the Seilikos Epitaph, but isn't entirely intact, only mostly. And because we don't understand ancient Near East music notation very well, there are radically different modern interpretations of what the unknown ancient composer actually wrote down. My favorite music so far, I haven't played as everyone yet, is either the Maori's theme, or Georgia's: Most out-of-place goes to this: So happy, which isn't what comes to mind when Shaka Zulu is made for making for war and nothing else. Can you envision conquering cities in rapid succession stabbing the opposition to death with your hordes of Impi to this?

Sorry if the Irish mention was offensive.😰 My sincere apologies. I'll edit it out. It originally read only "flavorless potato with some dirt on it", but my liking for history and wanting to extend the contrast later set up with the "cultured monarch" led to the inclusion of the Irish. A bit of unserious flowery prose. No harm was ever meant to the good people of the Emerald Isle, who only starved and subsisted on tubers because the English (and Welsh and Scottish I guess) elite stole the rest of the island's agricultural bounty for itself. Part of a long history of Irish oppression under the English that originated as far back as... Henry II in the 1100s? Again, I am sorry for what I wrote. I haven't interacted enough with someone Irish or of Irish heritage or interest to realize how bad that was. My education regarded it as a push factor that drove Irish to America and as evidence of why extreme monoculture is bad agrarian practice (again, not that the Irish had voluntary choice because English overlords), but not quite conveying the sheer tragedy of it from what I remember. Now that you have made that point to me, I'll never reference it in such a way ever again. It was merely to say that Ike, even if his status is non-noble, can be boring, just as I find Seliph to be boring, and Seliph is the opposite of Ike in terms of societal origin. And since Ike can be boring, seeing his quest for revenge for his father's death as not being primary is reasonable. It was italicized because I didn't mean it entirely. It's partly a reflection on me personally not exactly being in love with most FE lords, and because I've been a slightly annoyed that lords always top the popularity polls. But, I understand why people love lords- as the main characters they inherently get a lot of screentime and attempted development. And, I've realized there is no "magic strata" of characters who are superior to the rest. Not the protags, not the supporting actors, not the littlest of peons. Where you fall in the structure of importance doesn't entirely matter to a character's quality (but, particularly in the older games, it does to a degree).

I've died in SS's Prologue before. Not healing if Eirika gets hit, or having her attack, get hit, and then hit again on the enemy phase. Her dodging chances are merely coinflips here. *Chucks the S-rank staff at you* Latona says otherwise, unless "Rausten" was their family name or something else. For the bolded, Nidhogg is paired with the lance Vidofnir. Thats an easy dual-wield, you simply shoot the Vidofnir like an arrow. Only the weak complain that cannot be done. We have zero evidence of anything. The five heroes of Magvel are sorely unexplained, considering three of them have no known names. Were I to ever write an SS fanfic, I'd set it up so that every hero had a close companion who wielded the other weapon, but for some reason or another faded from being one of the main saviors of Magvel (but not entirely out of the history books like Kris, countless ballads to Latona's dearest companion Inti the Quiet would be in order). I'd make each hero & companion embody a different form of human relationship: like lover-lover, parent-child, sibling-sibling teacher-student, friend-friend, or liege/boss-servant/employee. I think one could write some interesting characters this way. SS's recruitment theme suffers from being trapped in only a GBA rendition officially, GBA is short for Garbled Bass & Acoustics. It could get a bump in popularity if a modern version freed from those portable dark purple shackles came out. Agreed that Renais gets plowed into ruin waaaaaay too fast, it feels like it all happened in three days. It isn't like Eirika's flight to safety is that dramatic. Despite the occasional clash between nations, there was enough balance of power to ensure peace in Elibe. This from FE6's opening narration. No truly great earth-shattering war has happened in 1000 years since the Scouring ended. Just as unrealistic, if with a caveat of "minor" wars existing. It's merely a fantasy trope that "all was well until the Evil Kingdom/Empire did XYZ", to make the bad guys even badder and the heroes by comparison more heroic. Archanea, Jugdral, and Tellius have had by contrast between 100 and 200 years of peace/no major war since their last one when their games begin. This can be much more realistic.

Thank you for this and the FE7 interviews Kirokan, your work is always appreciated. So... Positive receptiveness towards Hector allowed for Ike to take his courser tone. (Wasn't SS a filler side-project developed concurrently with PoR? That'd explain no mention of Ephraim here despite a similarly rough nature.) Titania is because IS's male staff was horny and they didn't want to ogle an at old man Jagen, duly noted. BEXP was never intended for the brokenly infamous "Marcia BEXP dump", it was all about catching your weaklings up to par. An intentional anti-Arena mechanism too. The Laguz transformation mechanics have usually been criticized (and, their 1-range lock doesn't help in Enemy Phasius), but it's slightly redeemed knowing they were trying to come up with something different from prior Manakete gameplay mechanics. And... "By the way, the concept of “constitution” which appeared on characters in The Binding Blade and The Blazing Blade includes armor and equipment. However, since this wasn’t clearly stated anywhere, there were mistaken thoughts on some of the more delicate female characters in illustrations, such as “Is she actually a gigantic woman?” (laughs). Partly for this reason, “Radiance” separately displays constitution (before factoring armor) and weight. One’s mental image is important." Definite clarification on what Con means. But this doesn't explain why female mounties have less Aid in GBA. "Better AI, but garbage enemy quality" was concurrent in IS's development at the time. Advance Wars: Dual Strike, released two months after PoR in Japan and two months before PoR in the US, had a similar issue. Whilst still much stupider than a human, the Dual Strike AI was perceptively improved compared to AW1 and Black Hole Rising, at the price of its Campaign mode even on Hard being a total joke 80% of the time. AW1's AI was formulaically horrendous, if you gave the insane troop and property edges it had in order to compensate to the Dual Strike AI, DS would've been a bit tougher than AW1. Whilst Ike might be a flavorless potato with some dirt still on it, as opposed some prior lords who were flavorless potatoes who were finely julienned and delicately layered into a casserole dish for a potatoes au gratin for the long dinner table of a cultured monarch*, Ike is still the main character of PoR. Racism doesn't relate much to Ike, other than how sheltered-ly special he is for not being racist and making fast friends across the divide. He is supposed to be the star at the center, even if he looks dim compared to the other heavenly spheres to you. Of course, what the developers intended for the main theme of a game to be and how it worked out in practice are different things. When Ike is being bland and the Black Knight that is the most personal conflict of his is not around, it's understandable how the supposedly secondary themes can override all. These developer notes paint a scrapped version of PoR that suggests a more personal tale of mystery and revenge was at work for PoR. But for the picture they provide is not complete, it's wholly possible said road not taken could've been involved racism stuff en route to discovering why Duke Persis murdered his vassal Ike's unnamed-in-these-notes father. *I eat plenty of potatoes, but they contribute nothing to taste, they're terrible by themselves. They are but starchy, sturdy vessels upon which salt, pepper, oil, butter, cheese, sour cream, chives, and many other ingredients possessing flavor but lacking substance are laid. Such are some FE lords, the potatoes upon which the ensembles of secondary and tertiary characters heap true taste. Protagonists are overrated.

The name "Three Fateful Isles" and mention of no stepping on shippings should've made that apparent I was joking. It was me lightly reflecting on the notion of fighting a war over an avatar character, it can't be looked at the same way today as it could've been back then. It's a little cringey actually when I think about about, and only partially because I've envisioned young Zephiel running cheerfully in an open field with the tactician they've come to love following close behind them, as though he were Elise. Wars should not be waged over skilled individuals. Even if real wars have been fought over less- see the War of Jenkins's Ear.

When I read the headline on CNN, I, a person who usually abides by that silly swearing off on ever speaking swear words, immediately vocalized a "What the hell?". The governor of Maryland said some information hotline of the state received a slew of calls about whether to follow Trump's advice. At least those people called first, is the Poison Control Center going to see a spike in activity? My hypothesis behind Trump's bizarre suggestion is quite simple. Some studies about Hydroxiclean (misspelling intentional) came out a few days before his insane remarks, the studies showing the anti-malarial drug did nothing to help treat COVID19 patients, it might have even been more dangerous. Trump could've just attacked the studies which disproved the product he was betting a lot on, but instead he shifted to a new snake oil. Why is he peddling serpent fat? Because he wants a CREEP- Cure for the RE-Election of the President. He wants some form of treatment for COVID19 to exist so the problem can go away and he can reopen the economy in-full tomorrow, because he isn't confident in his reelection chances without a good economy. Disinfectant or lupus medicine, Trump wants some poultice to remedy his fears.

A minor mistranslation. He doesn't become the Sword Saint, he becomes able to rival the Sword Saint. His ending title of "Mounted Swordsman" is wrong too, a literal translation is "galloping swordsman", but non-literally means "progressing, advancing, up-and-coming". The literal doesn't make much sense here, since Guy doesn't ride a horse. Farina loves money remember. Though I see your point, any humor in character endings should be stated in a more muted tone, no exclamation points. I don't recall even Fates using any, even though it hadn't an issue with Felicia's ending among others adding a little laugh. The middle-of-the-road one is what you got. The best says Bern and Etruria went to war over over having the Tactician. You can learn more in Fire Emblem: Three Fateful Isles- the midquel of Elibe, set in the Western Isles to minimize interfering with canonizing or decanonizing any character pairing, with additional, limited visits to Ilia and Sacae- but noooooo seeing anyone from those places except Guy and Canas. Options to side with Bern for a lovely look into Zephiel's screwed up teens or Etruria to see what Elffin's father actually looked like are included. Experience the secret war over the greatest strategist since Hartmut. Also, this is the ending CG you're treated to if you went to A Glimpse in Time: I'm pretty sure it's the picture described here: Lyn: “There’s a library filled with ancient books inside. She’s been in there, staring at a picture. I can’t get her to move.” Eliwood: “What kind of picture?” Lyn: “A picture of a dragon and a human.” Hector: “From the Scouring? We’ve got a lot of those in Castle Ostia.” Lyn: “No, it’s not a picture of the actual fighting. It shows a single human and a single dragon. …It’s a very eerie picture.” Eliwood: “…It must have belonged to the dark sorcerer who used to live here.” Lyn: “I wonder what kind of person that magic user was…” Teodor said told them about the sorcerer. On a related note, I find it touching, if unexplained that Nils cries right after Nergal dies- subconscious recognition of his father. It'd be safe to imagine that he thought after hundreds of years his human father- if he even remembers he's only half-dragon and had a human dad- that his father would've been long dead. -A happy, sloppy, barbecue saucy mess might describe FE7's narrative, but personal bias says thats better than a straight and clean saltine. Although I have tastily snacked on saltines in the past. Call it an FE RomCom? Nice to Blazing Sword is done, it's a bit sad though that even Hector Hard Mode becomes too easy in time. FE obviously should've never left Japan and then they never would've watered the challenge down. Alas, eventual remake, fix this. Though current FE super-difficulties can tend to rely too much on stat inflation, so who knows if it'd be fun? Ephraim Mode should be good fun for SS. No more NPC playables to generally protect, removing one-two bellyache chapters of FE7, Phantom Ship L'Arachel exists no loss, she is so underleveled, but that aside all will be better on that front. From that, Phantom Ship is partly the worst aspect of FE7 too- too much enemy phase too easy barring death-by-thousand-cuts- though the rest of the game? You'll have to judge for yourself. Personally, the map design of Ephraim's chapters beats Eirika's for me, even if the reasons for every playable showing up are better, and I prefer Eph!Lyon much more than Eir!Lyon.

The cape does make her look more imposing. I think it works splendidly. -- My soul remains trapped in Civ VI and nothing else for the past... week? I lose track of time do I need help?. I've been trying Domination with the Ottomans on the True Start Europe map. It feels much too small for a Standard-sized map, Europe should be significantly bigger for a fun game. The randomly chosen AI opponents are Greece, Hungary, Poland, Rome, France, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Amassed Archers, Warriors, and Galleys, and took Athens. Used the same army to steal the capital and another good city from Hungary, the presence of Crossbows among the enemy then forced me to stop. So I built up my economy, built a city in the middle of nowhere for Niter access, got an army of Janissaries up and running with it, and conquered a severely undefended Poland. Four Janissaries and my one good Great General sufficed for a very exposed and unarmed Sweden, but then I went for France, which had built Renaissance Walls, conquered the Netherlands, and mustered up a decent army with Garde Imperiales. I didn't bring enough siege units, just two Bombards, and left Ibrahim in Sweden's remains for loyalty pressure negation I probably didn't need. France is gonna be a retreat and a slog now due to my miscalculations, and I might be better off amassing a navy for Rome instead. I half-inclined to scrap this game instead and learn from my mistakes on a new one. I got what I wanted- a taste of the Ottoman playstyle, which I do like, I was simply being too hasty after some easy captures. Of course, the simplest path to conquering the world is waiting for Jet Bombers or GDRs, but thats too long, too boring, and too not exclusive to any civilization. If I'm gonna do another Domination, I might try Hungary's unique approach. Build some army, but rely mostly on a push later on by levying City-State forces for a while. I'll crank their numbers up to 18 for maximum benefit.

On Hector Normal, there is enemy variety- Generals, Snipers, Heroes, a Swordmaster, and Valkyries from the staircase near the start, not a single Berserker. HHM opted for an odd monoclass spam instead which you should you love- hi Kotaro-Kitsune-Hinoka 2!, with the Swordslayers to avoid making it entirely cake with a dodgy sword user. There is this unused CG: Could it have been intended for The Value of Life?

To copy an old post of mine, modified: Tricks Ninian and Nils to crossing over the Dragon's Gate. Doesn't summon more dragons. Why? Maybe not enough quintessence to control them, which would be reasonable if he was just testing out the Gate when Ninian and Nils came over. If he couldn't lure anyone through the Gate, he couldn't open it and collecting quintessence for the task would be meaningless. -But this is a pure assumption on my part with no evidence to back it. An undefined period of time when Nergal had Elbert and N&N, yet he didn't open the Gate then. This opportunity was lost when N&N tried to escape Dread Isle. And despite having Elbert, Nergal still tried to start a war in Lycia, which provided the trail of connections which led LEH to Dread Isle. So, had Nergal abandoned his Lycia plans and just offered up Elbert, who had enough Quintessence it would later turn out to open the Gate, all would have gone over well for him. Hector C21- Nergal tries using Ninian to open the Dragon's Gate. Despite not having started the war he was planning to get a massive amount of quintessence from, Nergal is able to get the necessary amount just from killing Elbert. Tries to kill LEH via the Fire Dragon summoned, but Nils interrupts the summoning and the Fire Dragon dies caught between dimensions. Before Nergal can kill LEH and recapture N&N, the dying Elbert stabs Nergal with what must be a random small knife badly enough that Nergal must flee and heal his wounds to the point he can control dragons again by gathering fresh quintessence, this is until Hector C29. Nergal, who must have been keeping an eye on LEH the whole time, comes to take N&N after C29, and despite having the power to take both siblings and LEH, he agrees to Ninian's begging and takes only her. Leaving a "parting gift" of a magical blast that could have killed everyone, but didn't because Athos was there. Athos for some reason doesn't attack Nergal, which could have kept him from dragon summoning. With Ninian in tow and himself in good health, Nergal could have summoned dragons, but he doesn't. Nergal shifts Ninian and lets her run off to Eliwood. This brings up the Hector C30 opportunity, where Nergal shows up after Ninian is killed. Why? Probably to collect the quintessence of her mentioned before, though he does say he's there for Nils too, since Ninian refused to obey him. Needing Ninian's obedience is odd since Nergal didn't need it back in HC21 when he brainwashed her, and the Fire Dragons he planned to summon certainly wouldn't obey him of their own accord. However, in showing up to mock Eliwood in his misery and get Ninian's essence and Nils, Nergal, just as he is about to kill LEH, is attacked by Athos for 5 displayed damage, in response to which he say: Nergal:“The purest fire… Flame breath [mistranslation of "Forblaze"]. Very impressive, Archsage Athos. However… However, fire is no longer my foe! Look! Not even a legendary blade can cause me harm! At long last, I am impervious! Ha ha…ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!” After this laugh, Nergal teleports away. And then tells Limstella the injury leaves him incapable of controlling dragons now, since he already went through the Black Fang's quintessence reserves. While it seems that Limstella's power augmentations were done shortly before LEH showed up for the final battle, I think this implies the Black Fang Super Replicas made with the BF essences of the originals were done earlier than that, unless they're cheap to make (then why didn't he make more?). Nergal fails to kill the heroes in the final battle, thus losing his final chance to control dragons and the world.

Or, they created one. I've always assumed as basic truth that dragonstones aren't special rocks you find in nature. They're the power of dragons super-condensed and crystalized outside their bodies. The limited uses thing I've regarded as gameplay-only. -Except Myrrh explicitly says "until its power runs out". Though it could be, for she is no Tiki with excessive internal power, that as a young Manakete- in a world where Manaketes have no real explanation- she can't generate enough power to create a new stone if she needed it, it'd take maturity and years of rest to build up the power for a Dragonstone. As having just been in dragon form for a thousand years and Ninian being very powerful, under this idea, Nils and Ninian could've created a Dragonstone with no difficulty. Don't forget the Canas-Renault support. Canas: Bishop, I must ask you… Do you think these morphs have souls?Renault: Souls?Canas: Yes. I am dreadfully curious to know. The Elimineans say that all creatures possess souls… All those created by the gods, that is. But what of those created by man? And these manufactured beings… do they dream? Do they think–and suffer–as we do? Or must their emotions be…crafted…by another? ... Renault: You asked me before… Whether or not morphs had a soul… What do you think?Canas: …… Before…I would have said that I do not know… But now, perhaps I do… Morphs…do have souls… That is what I believe…Renault: …That is not a bad answer. Your reply deserves another good answer… Renault, why did they create his character but include him so late? And, Nergal is the utterly erratic Master of Missed Opportunities. I might have counted five lost chances before, but now you've added a sixth. Manfroy might have been stupid to brainwash Julia instead of executing her, but he was otherwise extremely successful, maybe too much, since it made his failure all too sudden. And then the mastermind of Tellius wins on a combination of success, failure, and unforeseen events that amount to pure luck. FE might love the manipulative mages trying to seize the world, but their track records are distinct, that you could say. One question, did Genesis kick off with this for you?: Kishuna: “…………” (Flashback) Nergal: “…I name you Kishuna. You are the only morph to whom I’ve given emotions. It won’t suffice simply to refer to you as a number. It is said man was sculpted by the hands of the gods. If so, then you, who were sculpted by these, my hands… And I, whose labors gave you breath and life… What are we, then? What does that make us? In your fabricated heart, which I gave unto you, what is it that you believe, Kishuna?” (End flashback) Kishuna: “…………” Or did missing a Imprisioner of Magic and A Glimpse in Time cause you to not see it?

With Nergal, there is a major rift between the Glimpse in Time flashback and the Athos spiel about their past together. If Nergal had a family, why doesn't Athos know of it? They seem to have been very close friends, so why wouldn't Nergal have told Athos? It'd be extremely weird if Nergal had the family post-Athos meeting. What I presume fills the rift is that Nergal went to get Aenir his wife, but obviously, he didn't get her. What exactly happened, why was she apart from her husband and two kids in the first place, who really knows? But, I presume she died, Nergal never returned to his children, and they crossed the Dragon's Gate on their own. Why didn't Nergal return? Was it grief to the point he couldn't drag himself to Valor before they would as he told them cross over? Either: Nergal was so sensitive about the pain of losing his wife and never seeing his children again that he dare not even tell his best friend. Or, Nergal after Aenir's death was so traumatized he repressed every memory of his family, and woke up one day free of all sorrow a lone scholar. Or, Nergal experimented with dark magic a bit after Aenir's death to try to resurrect her, but he messed up and his family memories were lost, but he didn't become a crazed husk as he later would. I prefer the second possibility. Another inquiry- why would Ninian and Nils forget/not mention they're half-human? Did they think the dragon half, understandably, outweigh any humanity when relating to HEL? If they forgot, then how would they not notice they're not exactly like other dragons in the world beyond the Gate? Perhaps she was merely an illusion? A projected hologram, as Gotoh had done in Archanea and Jahn at the Dragon Temple? She quickly disappears after giving out Set's (or Ced? or Seti?) Litany. Not sure how or why she'd do that though. Athos not being in Arcadia ATM where she was is reasonable, considering he needed Aureola. Also, compare Sophia's FE6 and 7 profile sprites: Almost identical, but her hair is a shade lighter.

Bringing a thief to The Berserker was too annoying, Pent/any other promoted magic user is better. So what if I miss out on a few items? Eliwood is he who does the start-of-battle Tactician talk for this chapter BTW. I love Durbans's dialogue, a good personality he has for what minuscule screentime he has. I think "Thunder Hammer" is a mistranslation. The boss here does finish off a weird thrice-used class pairing. Karel and Harken are Swordmaster and Hero, you only get to recruit one on any playthrough. Lloyd and Linus are Swordmaster and Hero, which dies first can vary from playthrough to playthrough. Georg and Kaim are Berserker (an Axe Swordmaster with less Skl more HP & Str) and Hero, you only get to fight one any playthrough.

*Sigh* Tried Cree, it was okay, until America sent five Warriors right at my second city on a shared continent. Of course, I pick the (Canadian) Native Americans, and the United States tries to eradicate me, Civ bein' historical for once. Tried Georgia for a Diplomatic Victory instead, I think I can get it done, but I pulled out of it early with some saves should I seek to try it again. Managing religion to maximize my City State suzerainty sounds complicated, since I don't want to eradicate other Religions to win that way. Holy Site construction slows me down too, even with Choral Music-Missionary Zeal-Mosques as my beliefs. I did land Mahabodhi Tempel and Hagia Sophia, with Potala Palace and Kilwa Kisiwani in the pipeline, rush to the Orszaghaz and Statue of Liberty afterwards and all the Diplomatic Wonders would be mine. I've only got 5 cities up at this point, and I coming to dislike deep ocean water, it's a chore and I need to expand, ideally I should make cities near the City States to keep them Eastern Orthodox- but Akkad is stuck between Poland (who I'm thinking is going to attack me eventually) and Egypt, two religion players I won't have it easy against. I'm feeling I've wasted my Renaissance Heroic Age, I've only about 30 Science and Culture at this point, and not even 100 Faith per turn either. Afterwards I swapped to China for a Cultural Victory based on early Wonder construction on a Terra Map. Roosevelt started maybe ten hexes from me. Is the Open Door Policy gonna be the prying the gates of my capital open? To avoid a repeat of the Cree attempt, I bulked up an army even as American troops gathered near, and I bribed Teddy into friendship instead of the big stick. I got a bunch of the early Wonders up to. Yet, I canceled this run entirely, because my starting location in the northeast corner of the continent permitted me to make only two good cities, and that isn't enough for an empire. Next play will be either China on a new and hopefully much better map, a return to Georgia, Kupe on an Archipelago map for an easy Culture play (I'll jump to Emperor even b/c the AI won't be able to handle a sea map so well), or America or Canada for a simpler try at a Diplomatic Victory. ...This all makes me appreciate, simpler and faster genres of games, like RPG. But the slow and peaceful logistics of Civ is fun as an alternative.

Hector Hard Mode exclusive. For every other difficulty, there is the total absence of anyone barring Linus/Lloyd who is magical in CoG. HHM made it the opposite- the near complete dearth of physical enemies. None of them are in gameplay though, except Aureola. Being thats the ultimate Light spell and a slight Gotoh-Gharnef parallel with Athos & Nergal, you could think of it in this instance as copying Starlight. I wouldn't rush to the worst possible answer. A poorly explained clairvoyant omnipresence bestowed by true mastery of the darkness for Brammy and a magic orb for Athos conferring similar on a select target, combined with the purely coincidental battle above the Shrine that was entirely the result of one insanely vengeful brother is my preferred, if not flawless writing, answer.

Took a full day of play because Standard speed, but I finished my first Gathering Storm victory as Phoenicia, a Science Victory in 300 turns. Gilgamesh and Wilhelmina almost did me in, and I was operating on only two cities for a while because I insisted on Ancestral Hall + Cothon + Magnus for maximum Settler output. Phoenicia didn't have as easy an earlygame as I thought it would, and Settlers being unable to embark in deep waters until later makes Dido more a queen of shallow seas. Yet, by the midgame things became very brisk. I was able to bring in hundreds of Gold every turn with about 10 Trade Routes, reaching 17 and 1200 Gold by the end. I almost ran out of uses for all the cash at one point, though more buildings eventually would show up to buy, and Builders were in demand too. Amenities became a minor problem due to an expansive and large empire, but Water Parks remedied that. I'm impressed by how strong well-placed coastal cities can be. Newton and Einstein were Great Scientists I managed to obtain- the very best ones of all. My Science peaked at 1000 (it had never surpassed 400 in the base game for me) and my Culture got to 450, I had multiple 80+ Production cities. Australia swiped Big Ben, Great Zimbabwe, and the Casa de Contratacion from me, the last being uniquely good for Phoenicia due to the ability to relocate the capital. The Move Capital project was too expensive for me to ever use it, so it wasn't a huge loss, and being a newbie to Loyalty, some of my cities on the main continent benefitted from staying centered in Tyre. And, I did get the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Forbidden City, the University of Sankor, a beautiful Petra city next to Uluru, and the Amundsen-Scott Research Station via Gustave Eiffel. Not a bad haul. The new final Exoplanet stage of the Science Victory didn't delay my success I was surprised to see. The high Aluminum and Power requirements were a twist I liked, and although you could use one Spaceport city for the job, multiple Spaceports cities covered in Power supplying improvements is more fun. Who to use next? Maybe that weakling I've heard of called Georgia for a Religious Victory? If it weren't for Urban Defenses coming much too soon, too strong, and everywhere at once no cost, Tamar would be better. Then again, I want to see if Cree is as weak as it looks, it has nothing to really push it towards any victory condition, so I'll try to go for my first Diplomatic Victory with them, even if Canada or America would be better at doing that.

I don't have a source on hand unfortunately, but it could have been stated in an interview that while to us the design has changed, it didn't in the universe itself. Marth used the modern design and Chrom and Lucina used the old design, and in FEW they see their blade as being visually the same. It's an excuse I'd buy, not wanting to stay stuck to old styles but reusing the same old object.