Eltosian Kadath

...Do you have a cursed weapon, or are you cursed? The ghosts down there can't be hit or blocked without one of those three options. Edit: you can buy some transient curses from the female undead merchant in the sewer section of the lower undead burg, the one that sells the moss, although they are kinda expensive at 4k a pop...

Poor Doggo... Although it sounds like you got the Covenant of Artorias early enough to reach an...interesting character after ringing the two bells. After meeting with the kingseeker, I can point you in the direction of his counterpart, but do be warned you will have to side with one of them...

So far I think the thread has covered most of them. Heroes is without any debate. Awakening is very clearly geared towards growth units, with Fredrick being the only prepromote anyone would even think about, and the Robin family snowballing that game takes center stage. Three houses is in a very similar boat, there are notable prepromotes like Catherine, but growing up the students takes center stage. Shadow Dragon is less clear than the others so far, with Wendell, Jagen, and Minerva as solid early game prepromotes (note Wolf and Sedgar are clearly growth units despite being "prepromoted"), but there are a lot of big names in that game which are growth units. Time to suggest a few that are on the fence for me, but if Shadwo Dragon makes the cut then they might as well. First Binding Blade, a lot of the biggest names of that game are growth units (I mean if Ceade is carrying Shadow Dragon into this sphere, why can't Rutger carry Binding Blade into it), and the early prepromotes fall off early, although whenever one falls off they give you a new one that can take their place. Things are also muddied by the quality of units being spread out, with plenty of good and terrible growth and prepromote units spread amongst the cast. New Mystery has an entire tier dedicated to barely usable prepromotes that come with some free silver weapons. Again the big names of that game are a bit of a mix between prepromotes and growth units, making which takes prominence unclear.

You need like 5 more to use it two handed, needs 50 for one-handing... Oof...yeah that is bad. You could spend some resources upgrading another weapon to be your divine one, one less focused on its scaling perhaps... That could work, plus blunt weapons deal good damage against skeletons, which help if you are using a club strength build.

The Dragon King Greataxe. It has no scaling, and very high strength requirement, but it has an interesting special attack, and raises fire and magic defense while equipped. ...I want to comment, but I will avoid spoilers for now. Nope, just divine weapons, or killing the necromancers that revive the ones in that area. There are other ways to deal divine damage. If you get the divine ember from the back of the Darkroot Garden (past the Moonlight Butterfly boss) it will let Andre upgrade a +5 weapon into a divine weapon. It will shift some of the weapon's damage into divine damage, and reduce its normal scaling a bit to add faith scaling for the divine damage. It takes resources that might be difficult to find, but is another option...

NICE! I get the funny feeling you aren't summoning, but one interesting thing about that fight is that this fight has the sun bro Solaire as an NPC summon to help. EDIT: Did you cutoff its tail? Fair enough. The Rite of Kindling you get from killing Pinwheel is nice on paper, but being able to kindle a bonfire to give you more than 10 estus is kinda overkill.

I will add that Atlas also leaves if you head north... I generally prefer him as an archer. Good luck pulling off the loop (and getting him into the class you want), its a lot of levels to get through with 1 range infantry. I've never pulled off a loop (and getting to a class I want) before postgame, but I usually don't focus on that either. They also get the first turn, making high move enemies very dangerous... I am kinda surprised you didn't promote them at the dungeon you are about to start.

Sure this is all speculation (and I even have some counter speculation in the spoiler block below), but Alm doesn't try to avoid this fate, even while feeling conflicted on the battle's eve. There are multiple times where Alm ponders mysteries key to this conflict, and instead of seeking out the answers to them, he presses on, despite how important even he sees they are to this conflict. Beating Desaix's double is less about grinding, and more about taking advantage of that 1 damage minimum... It makes a fair bit of sense to me, Mae was talking about the transitory thoughts she had in the moment, but by now it has passed. It shows a contrast between Boey and Mae, Mae is focused on the moment, while Boey on the long term. Smart move, as those reinforcements are real dangerous if they get the chance to attack you instead of the other way around. Another alternative answer is the banditry problem that has been left to fester in Zofia, although I find the peasantry answer most likely given Fernand's hangups with them.

Such heinous slander against the best knight...I should probably get back to my own Berwick ironman... ...Wow, you didn't even get a chapter out of Niles...rip all the capturable units 😞

The talk Celica has with Imra about how Lady Liprica was and Lima IV sounds like some clear malicious tyranny from Lima IV, and not just Desaix abusing the power Lima IV gave him. Would Rudolf hold to those convictions if Alm had the knowledge to truly challenge them? If Alm leveraged his status as prince to sway the Rigelian army away from Rudolf's suicidal plans, how would Rudolf prevent Alm from simply bypassing him? Even if Alm has to use force, he could turn his efforts towards disarming, and capturing Rudolf, rather than killing him. Its not that outlandish to transition from why he fights to that time as kids that knights tried to take her away, which probably plays a part in his attitude towards fighting. Or just ask more questions in general, he asks like two, and one of them clearly rhetorical

This looks fascinating...are you and @Saint Rubenio going to try and make an LP of this beautiful madness.... or at least update us in the thread?

I may be misinterpreting your statement, but I wanted to note that there have been steps made towards peace before. The Camp David Accords was one step, and the Oslo Accords certainly marked another. Both had their flaws, but have helped move the region towards peace. There is this misconception people have that peace in the middle east is impossible, and has been that way since time immemorial, but seeing these steps emphasize that this problem isn't set in stone, and peace is closer than people think.

I have heard some talk in the Ilyana thread about Meg not being as bad as people act, so Meg for Alondite!

He could have (even should have) been in a position to actually know what he said to Celica was harmful, he even goes over the kind of questions he could have asked her to be in that position at the end of that fight. He doesn't know, but he could. Until the end of Act 3/ start of Act 4 that is, where she admits they have to invade Rigel. Much like Alm's abortive attempt at peace, she doesn't stick to this new path into Act 4 though, like him she is lured back to a more familiar, and misguided path. I will note that Valentia ties magic to faith a lot. That faith may have all the sharpness of a sword, but in magic form. Ugh...I am vicariously annoyed by just the thought of it. Honestly I was kinda expecting the burnout based hatred I have with Three Houses to have simmered down by now, but little reminders like that bring it back all the same. Sorry you will have to suffer through that... A little. From what I remember, they can only warp to the edge of their original attack range, target people on the points/outside of formations (so you can protect people, and bait the warp a bit...), and don't gang-up while warping. The Deliverance was just fine letting Lima IV reign, and from what we see of him, Desaix is a less corrupt, and more competent a ruler. If the Deliverance really wanted to remove Desaix from power, they should have a pretender ready to claim the throne when Desaix is gone, as this whole mess of a war is really putting the cart before the horse without one. Alm is in that circumstance thanks to his flaw. Just because he is flying over the edge now doesn't mean he couldn't have swerved to avoid it before. Alm had all the pieces he needed (even knew Clive had pieced some secret about him together) to figure out what his relation with Rudolph was, and knowing he was a Rigelian prince would have given him a chance to avoid this disaster. Alm helped build that circumstance as much as Rudolph did.

Against the strongest ones she can pull it off at 1 point below cap, or 2 with an attack support (~2 less on the weakest ones). You probably need some Bexp to reach that, I did to hit her necessary bulk levels to not get 1 shot by Dheginsea, and happened to get high enough magic along the way to hit one of the benchmarks for white dragon kills.

I get the feeling a lot of that Endgame Ilyana talk is a lot of theory crafting. I have taken her to endgame, and the white dragons are the only thing she does well against thanks to her terrible physical bulk. Most mages can carry a bolting at base, so the main gain to using her on that chapter is access to Rexbolt, and it isn't as impressive as it seems. She can one round the generic dragons, but she has to take a counter (or proc a crit/skill) to do so, and the Reds kill her in two hits even if she is on the cover tiles. Finding a way to deal with Dheginsea is the core of this chapter, and she doesn't do well against him due to her bulk. Against Dheginsea, she needs almost capped HP+Defense stats plus the cover tile not to be one shot, and with capped stats and extra attack from support, she matches his healing factor in damage. The need to heal her to full (as even a few points below her HP cap means death) after every attack against Dhegonsea (and his crit and skill immunity from Mantle), keeps her from really doing well against him. Giving your favorite mage a bolting would work out better in most cases...

Is she? She doesn't always share her idea, and doesn't value her life as much as she should, but thinking things through is something she does. Lets start with what she said while still at port She doesn't just want one ship to sneak her to the mainland, she wants all the ships free to sail again, and she recruits Saber to do do so. When they have the opportunity to slip by, she intentionally doesn't to accomplish a goal she set out with, to free the seas from the pirates.This comes as a surprise to Saber and the captain, as she is playing things close to the chest, and Saber points out she should value her life more, but she has thought this through. She even tries to get them to surrender and recognizes the meaning of Valabar's presence, and lays out a plan for dealing with him. A lot more thought and planning ahead went into this than Alm's battles. Seabound shrine seems contradictory with the Kamui recruited version of it but lets look at what Kamui actually said at this "little chat" He qualifies his statement by asking about Seraphim. If Celica has Seraphim magic, than her confusion here makes sense, until she finally realizes that he is afraid of necrodragons. The game gives you all the means to think this through and get Seraphim ahead of time to deal with them, and this added line show that Celica recognizes that as well. I will add that the Valibar died version makes no mention of necrodragons at all, which makes the confusion even more pronounced...

Ignorance isn't innocence. Alm ends that scene by showing how he could have known, but didn't, and the reason for that ignorance is the core of his flaw. It isn't, its just the only time so blatant that even those actively trying their best to ignore all the other times he is punished for it ,can no longer ignore it. Some may seem to occur only if you fail, but the added pressure placed upon you by avoiding it is the consequences of his flaws when you do succeed despite Alm. And yet he kills him despite that. Honestly I don't see Alm hating Rudolph would play into things, Alm's flaw has never been an emotional one, but a cerebral one. Alm's flaw isn't hatred. I have never claimed it is, its that he charges ahead without thinking through the consequences of his actions. Perhaps recklessness isn't the perfect word for it. Alm recognizes that Rudolph is sympathetic enough not to hate, but he doesn't try to find a way to solve things without bloodshed despite that. He had all the information he needed to figure out his relationship with Rudolph (and even figured out he could ask Clive for the answer), in Act 3, but he didn't follow through on it, and can't use it at this critical junction. Its this willingness to act in the face of knowing ignorance (or willingness to plan beyond attack) that jumps out to me as his flaw. So many times I see a better way for him, if he would just think things through before he acted. If they make it hard to identify his flaw it is because they always take pains to divorce it from the cliche emotional shorthand that usually goes with that. Its a cold flaw, more like the cold knowing ignorance that lets people ignore problems like global warming, and I like that about Alm's dynamic.

I think the overall weight idea is an interesting one, but as Lenticular points out, 6 armor items is way too much to manage if they are up-graded throughout the game. Shrink that down to 1-2 armor items, or limit the amount you might upgrade them (perhaps making all armor items readily available from the start), and that might work as well.

I do see a fairly cogent differences between them in this conversation. Celica is always asking questions, trying to discover why things are the way they are, and trying to find better solutions to things, while Alm makes it clear that he doesn't care about the why, and only thinks he can solve things with his sword. When they meet resistance, Celica gets more impassioned, while Alm calmly resolves to continue on, even over a cliff. People like to point at Celica's questioning if Alm will claim the throne as if it were out of line, but it doesn't come out of no where. Alm makes it clear with his whole "my station doesn't matter" line that he intends to break the status quo of this feudal society, and all of his leadership is my duty bit is hitting on some Noblesse Oblige territory; Alm's rhetoric is leading to that question of will he take the throne. Plus taking the throne would solve some serious issues the Deliverance has once it takes over Zophia, as they need some entity to govern it. She asks it in anger, but it is a question that needs an answer, and he hasn't answered it yet. Clive even thinks he might claim it all the way in act 4... Additionally, there is this odd thing I notice, where people act like Alm being charismatic makes him always in the right, but it doesn't. Look at what he says and does, and he isn't as perfect as so many people say. He unwittingly murders his own father when the man isn't even trying to fight back, and this isn't out of character for him, just the progression of flaws that people don't like to think of as flaws. But he isn't. Alm brushes aside Celica's comments about Rudolph without a second thought, when it shouldn't be. He thinks the arrival of the missing princess will fix everything, which she doesn't, and he is more naive than Celica for saying that she could. He insists war is the only way, with logic that holds no water. Why would soldiers fight has more answers to it than because war is the only way to solve your problems Alm...just listen to the motivations for fighting that the other villagers have already given But Desaix clearly is, he even laments Clive not agreeing to his demands for Mathilda's release, and Rigel is clearly negotiating with Desaix, so before they killed him, they could have negotiated with Rigel through Desaix. If Alm felt diplomacy was a part of his duty (like fighting apparently is) he could have gotten involved in these negotiations between Clive and Desaix, and might have reached some solution with less bloodshed...until he killed Desaix. I assume you are talking about the transition between act 3 and act 4, immediately after he realizes Celica is not only the princess, but that it was only thanks to her that he could save Zophia from drowning, where he tries to negotiate with Rigel, and stops before receiving a response, and invades while Rigel is passively holding their own border. I will note this was after killing an easier avenue for diplomacy by means of Desaix. Additionally the Deliverance has retaken Zophia, killed the ruler of Zophia that Rigel recognized, and hasn't installed a new ruler for Rigel to negotiate with. Of course Rigel didn't respond, how would Rigel expect anything Alm agreed to be held to, when he hands control over to someone else who wasn't a part of these negotiations. Alm needs a Zophian ruler to negotiate with, or at least officially agree to the negotiations with Rigel. Alm attempts to negotiate with Rigel are similar to a man attempting to drive car after flushing the keys down the drain...he needs a new set of keys, and until he gets them I wouldn't exactly call it trying.

Unfortunately the best you get are means of seeing better in the darkness, and being able to kill the giant Skeletons easier. You might already have some of the thing that help you see like the skull laturn (which requires a hand, and to be used, so it is inconvenient), thelight spell (which requires a spell slot, is time limit after castin), and the Sunlight Maggot (which is a helmet, making it one of the most convenient method). I guess there is a fall control spell, but it wont help against fatal falls, just reduce the damage of survivable falls...

That place is the worst...If you don't have the Lord Vessel, put that place off until you have to kill Nito...

I do see her "oh Alm..." line as a bit of pity that he is falling for some noble's ruse. Plus there is some truth to Celica's accusation as well, or at least was. Fernand certainly felt that was the case with the Deliverance, and Clive making Alm their figure head leader as a PR move to motivate the peasantry isn't the best of looks either. I think Clive is trying to find ways to make things less one sided, but this is a recent development, with chances for advancement, and having the Alm as their leader is all we really see of that effort. I admit, that last sentence had a lot of soft language due to her emotional state being a viable explanation for her "the princess is dead" talk. If you are thinking of how Grieth acts with Celica, I have always seen that as more the game showing her that she can't hide her nobility forever, with the end of Act 3 at the temple sluice gate showing her that trying to hide it is a selfishness she can no longer afford. I think that is a part of her reasoning, but it is not as obviously clear cut as that. If she revealed herself now, she would have options to use that new found authority to help get her safely to the Mila Temple. That would come with its own set of problems and complications, but I don't think she really comes to grips with the ways the power of Nobility can help people until the end of Act 3.

This is a purrfect time to put a pawse on this pun thread... Make a Dragon Pun 😛