Oshimos

Here’s chapter 11! This one was the second chapter I had to restart, and I had to do it twice. Getting all three promotion items at the end plus Echidna was quite possibly more trouble than it was worth. Turns out that optimal strats don’t really work when you’ve only got 1 unit with more than 11 Spd and no mounted units. [spoiler=Chapter 11] Roy does not accept Lalum’s solution to the mystery Not gonna lie, I know he’s supposed to be an evil monster bishop, but he’s kinda cute Apparently that’s Echidna. Milady cameo Y’all had better hurry up, then “Let’s interrupt them unpleasantly!” Okay, so I had to do this three times to figure out a way to make things work, AI manipulation wise, and that was to send my shitty units south and Wade, Barth, Lalum, and Saul north. I need Lalum north to make it to the boss to kill him before he can summon brigands to take out the villages, and I need enough units south to be able to make it far enough to aggro Klain’s squad to the south group, otherwise they move up on top of Echidna when she spawns. "Hi, I'm Gale, I'm not a unit but here's my backstory, please care about me for some reason" This is a devil axe shot. I’m honestly a little disappointed I didn’t get to see it backfire. Wendy procs strength. I don’t care that it’s pretty much the shittiest Str level possible, this level is great. I went hyper aggressive on the south enemies because I was scared Klain was gonna foil all of my plans again. Lalum had to make a few clutch dodges. I also totally forgot that she gets special combat music, it’s a nice touch, though not as cool as the FE4 version. These Shamans are a huge pain in the ass, jsyk Wendy still needs tons of help to hurt anything at all Barth gets the same level every time. He got Spd at least once in one of my failed attempts, too. :S *Edward joke* I feel like all his growths tanked when Bors promoted This guy was in the way of the boss and I had one more turn to make it to him, so I had to pull out the big guns since you can’t double anything with 11 Spd. Ffffffff I don’t think I ever really acknowledged before that units grow from the spot that they were on the map when they transition into combat. It’s kinda neat. Killer bows everywhere SPEED Geese also had way better levels in my first attempts. He honestly feels more like a second Wendy than a useful unit. Last turn to take him out before Brigands Also: Klain spawns now. Alsoalso: I suck at positioning. Fortunately, it’s FE6 and he’s got an axe. First village, and it’s a good one Okay, so he's kind of a jerk. Don't blame me, blame yourself or God. At first, Klain was my least favourite name change in the patch, but then I looked up the kana and saw that his name is actually pronounced “Klane” instead of “Kline” and now I just think he has a stupid name in general. <_< The enemies are pretty much gone now, so Wolt chips away at the guy by the southern villages while the others try and break down the wall to get at him I’m glad you don’t actually miss out on this by going the girl route Something about generic peg girl seems… off, and I can’t put my finger on what it is. Bors best tank Echidna spawns. These fighters wreck her on hard mode, though she has 1 HP left if she dodges one of them. Or if they attack the Klain squad Here’re the other two’s attacks Not taking chances when I’m this close Walls are the best target practice Objective 3: complete Roy is apparently the most attractive target Hero of the West, liberating people of their valuables And that’s Tate down Monies Gooses whyyyy All of these are going to Sophia Nifty Yussss So, it turns out that killing Orlo doesn’t actually stop the brigand reinforcements, it just cancels out the first batch Don’t need this My archers have fallen off really hard at this point, so this’ll really help. They’re both close to leveling, though, so I’m gonna wait until next chapter Wendy barely got into this guy’s range to stop him from taking out the last village. I’d have raged. That’s Hugh right there. That one’s Douglas. Now to seize before Wendy bites the dust I like how he’s kinda creeping outside the frame GASP I feel so blindsided. What a plot twist. “We can’t go back without Cath!” And by join, he means sit around as an NPC with a role that I completely forget about within a chapter of him existing. Booyaka

I played on Normal thinking it was like PoR where Normal was just Easy without the tutorials being thrown at you, so I was expecting the game to be a lot easier than it was and got really discouraged more than once, since I was like 16 and terrible at everything. I also refused to use Volug because I hated Wolf animations.

Here’s chapter 10! Things go a lot faster than last time. [spoiler=Chapter 10] Roy should have learned long ago that literally nothing is going to go his way and that every castle is out to kill him. The crew for this chapter. Guess who forgot Lilina the first time and had to redo half the chapter? These are pretty hard to caption, honestly, but I feel like there’s some unwritten screenshot LP rule that states you’ve always gotta include them. Return of the generic shaman boss creeplord This is Merlinus’ character development. You heard the kid Bors starts things off well. Turtling is pretty much all this army’s good at Well, turtling and missing. At least everyone’s got decent poke damage Chipping with the Light Brand because I’ve just been holding on to it. It’s a shame that by the time you get it in the other games it’s essentially useless. Wolt renders the chip useless Wade and Bors are pretty much carrying this whole army No enemy can resist the allure of an exposed bow user Axes to the face Finally breaking into some double digit stats at promotable level. Note how she missed the three stats she wanted. Barth, on the other hand, knows how to get a 4 stat level. Barth has enough def that enemies ignore him now, so I can just stick him in the fray and he’s always fine. Speed and Resistance is a fantastic level The top’s cleared up just in time for Geese. The first time I tried the chapter I was too slow and he blew Brave Axe uses on a fighter that Roy was trying to injure. Please, this army could desperately use some more muscle This is not muscle. His stat total is only two higher than Wendy’s. 5 Res Bors is my anti-mage. Siege tomes are going to be a party. Dick. Bors holds off the entire enemy force while Geesus walks over to the village before Gonzales can get there. They don’t last long Enter the ballista I like that the pirates in this chapter are “Robbers” Nope I feel like Geese should have gotten unique dialogue out of this village, seeing as he just had a sad farewell like, three turns ago. Wade just kinda chills up here working on his bow rank for the rest of the chapter Bors gets more Spd. The Skl will be nice now that he’s an axeman, too. There were like, three other targets in his range who would have taken damage, so I have no idea what went on here. And… exit ballista. Barth’s regular level. Who needs speed when you’ve got 16 Str and 18 Def? Wendy’s level is less justifiable. I’m almost wishing I’d taken the B route; the Energy Ring is probably more useful than slightly earlier Geese. Dorothy baits Gonzales up Wade hits D bows. Bye bye, Wyverns. Poor Gonzales T_T Poor me, for not getting to use Gonzales. Geese only wins in Skill and Luck, and only minorly. This chapter doesn’t really put up much of a fight, enemy-wise. Geese gets his first kill Fighters spawn down at the bottom of the map; Bors tanks while Geese chips for exp This is not a flattering angle Supports! I’ve been trying to get Barth-Bors, but apparently Wendy wasn’t going to wait. I want Bors-Wendy A for the attack, so this is gonna be the last these two get to talk. Not gonna lie, it’s a pretty shitty convo anyway. Wolt would like to remind everybody that he is both still here and still underwhelming Welp. Bors got C axes out of this one, but I missed the cap. At this rate, he’ll get double S ranks. Wendy’s only saving grace is triangle attacks Finishing off the last of the mooks (I haven’t been showing healer levels, but my Saul is getting way nicer levels than my actual units) Bors is not taking this guy out any time soon Therefore: bosskiller Wade I wanted to feed the last hit to an unpromoted unit, but he got a 3% crit. It was nice playing a chapter that didn’t feel like it took twenty turns more than it should have STILL A MYSTERY jk, Lalum explains everything Maybe Roy can actually do something with this? With regards to the poll, I don’t know whether I’m more surprised that it’s so even or that Wendy doesn’t have any votes. Also, I’ve got family in town from across the country this week, so I might not be able to keep up with doing an update a day.

The only two who fail me every playthrough I try and use them are Guy and Forde. There's only so much you can do with no strength.

It’s off to the Western Isles, hooray! [spoiler=Chapter 9] This was his goal all along The “Lycian Army” being the guys I already had with me and literally no one else Scene change I might possibly have completely forgotten I need Sue the first time I tried this chapter More like ‘The Fog of War-y Isles’ You are the wrong generic bandit You’re both the princess of the enemy and a non-combatant, why the hell would you be allowed to come along? This chapter is pretty much just a ton of chokepoints The Western Isles are like, six times more fun when your only sword unit is 7 Str Roy. What’s the point in telling me which character to deploy for the chapter if it happens on turn 2? Silly Scott, enemies don’t drop items in FE6. Time to move off the starting island Triangle attack on a mook. You can see the Hand Axe that Bors threw and I think that’s fantastic. Wendy level. She needs all these stats, but I’d kinda like it if she could break double digits in something. Chokepoint number 2. Time to bait Fir. Bait successful I’m assuming there’s supposed to be emphasis on the ‘is’, but it’s more fun to pretend that he just runs up and starts spouting off broken English at her. I couldn’t get her far enough away, so she ended up taking Shin’s shot Barth getting a Bors level “Please, come join me on the bench” Apparently Generals have a unique close range axe animation during Triangle Attacks. Neat! Only 2 stats, but both good ones, so I’m cool with this Skill’s nice for axes, but still… I was trying to send Bors down there, but he’s kinda only got 5 move, so if didn’t go so well. It was only a Silver Sword anyway, so it’s no big loss, especially with this team. The Pirates have discovered that they can go around the island. Thus begins my twenty turn crusade against pirate reinforcements. (Seriously, I’ve got over 100 screenshots of just fighting pirates, so I’m just gonna show the levels because nobody wants to look at the same shot of Wendy missing a pirate with a Hand Axe fifteen times) At least there’s Res this time Guh Not guh! The Dorothy level The everyone level Beautiful Wow, that went so smoothly and fast, it’s definitely not turn 26 now! Roy takes down the abomination guarding the castle Oh gee, never saw that level before Meanwhile, the Archers take out the guys by the villages. I’m always super paranoid that I mixed up the villages somehow and end up checking 5 times to make sure I always expect Scott to talk like the other guys with his haircut. It’s kind of disappointing. I’m so glad Wade’s finally got a Weapon that can actually hit bosses I never want to see another pirate that isn’t named after birds again. They’re making this out like it’s a mystery, but the plot’s been force feeding us the answer in like, every line of dialogue. It goes King isn’t working > Advisor’s calling the shots > Advisor sends Lycia to Islands > Pirates expecting Lycia > Overworked miners > Advisor owns mines > MYSTERY WHAT’S GOING ON Also, it looks like the majority is fine with Lalum being around, so I’ll be deploying her with my army. She’ll mostly just be giving the armours a chance to not be stuck in the back all the time, and I won’t deploy her over an actual unit in chapters with low recruitment slots, but she’ll be nice to have around every now and then. Also, since the desert’s coming up fairly soon, new poll!

I've seen other people use her in challenge runs, and since she doesn't actually fight, she won't improve my combat by a ton. Plus, I'm always really lax with dancers and forget about them, so she'd mostly just be a little boost rather than a run changer. If you don't think that I should use her, just vote no.

I'm also a fan of High Chancellor. Prime Minister sounds too much like the head of state to me due to being a Canadian, and, knowing very little about titles without looking them up, from the name alone High Steward sounds more like a high ranking attendant than the position that it actually is.

Deal, my title was pretty uninspired anyway. Also, here's 8x! It’s not a very exciting chapter, since it’s pretty much just plodding my army through a hallway, but a few exciting things happen along the way. [spoiler=Chapter 8x] It doesn’t matter how many legendary weapons I get, Roy’s army is never going to be equal The crew. I benched 1 Mag Elen and Merlinus because neither of them can actually do anything. Title drop for the wrong game This guy exists solely to pop in every third chapter and stutter the word ‘Boss.’ Also to look beautiful. “That’s why I’m gonna ditch and run around the continent with you.” Splittin’ up, like usual I think everyone I’ve got doubles the Steel Axers in this chapter. Barth best tank Wade’s a one man army Wendy is not The armours take the bottom. The enemies are pretty crappy in this level, so only Wendy really gains substantial experience. Therefore, operation feed Wendy everything is still a go Thank goodness that was a Halberd and not a Hammer. Fortunately, since I get no cavs, I never really have to care about Halberds These are not FE6 enemy stats. I think I must have fallen into 8. He’s fine Teamwork Damnit Wendy. She didn’t even proc her 85% HP growth. This is her punishment Only one of these stats really matters, but after that Wendy level this looks beautiful Killstolen by the terrain. Wade really wanted that 5 exp. There we go …and, Warrior. Dem promo gains. Time to start working on his bow level. I’d like to get D, at the very least. Underwhelming combat montage as I finish off the bottom path I don’t think even this makes up for her last 4 levels Supports! Marcus is about to get benched, but Wolt can’t support anyone else anyway, so I might as well let Marcus shoot his hopes and dreams down. Brought the whole group up together Also: promotion number 2! Building up his axe rank. I can think of a few enemies that I’d appreciate a Hammer triangle Attack on. :P I really hope Barth keeps having good levels. Someone’s gotta hold things together. I wanted to chip for another Wendy kill, but then he got a crit. I guess I should have expected it, what with the Rapier and Wolt’s support and all. More supports. It’s pretty generic. …And, another one. It’s nice that the armours all support each other, since they’re all going to be lumped together for pretty much the whole game. Supports forever. This one was pretty funny. Psh, crit me if you want Maybe don’t crit Wendy, though I am once again taking this chapter ludicrously slowly. It’s to feed the kills this time, though, not because things are too much for my failures It was this or have him do the same thing to Wendy Not bad, not bad. She failed her HP proc again, though, which definitely shouldn’t happen twice in a chapter. General axe attacks are the best Baiting the Fighters in the throne room with Wade. The Mage doesn’t move. He only ever crits when he’d kill them anyway. Henning is sick of his bandit brigade being so much shittier than he is. I wanted to counter him and then take him out on the next turn, but he switched to the hand axe since it let him double for 1 more damage. :S *grump grump* Not a crit, but I’ll take it. He switched back to the Steel Blade to counter Wade Dorothy finishes things off with a shitty level. Durandal time *Insert penis joke here* You’ve already proven that you deserve none of my confidence Nope It feels more like he’s inviting her to meet his friends from school. Also, I'm adding a poll. Do y'all think I should be allowed to use Lalum, or not? On one hand, she doesn't actually fight, but on the other, she's way higher tier.

The problem with a sequel with characters from Sacred Stones is that it ends up retconning a lot of the pairings. All of the other sequels go out of their way to make sure that paired endings don't cause any problems and could all potentially be canon, but since you can pair up the nobility pretty much however you like, if there's reference to who's ruling where for example, it makes it so that it could easily not flow if you play the two of them back to back.

Thanks very much to everyone who's following this; it's more fun to do knowing that people are enjoying reading my progress. [spoiler=Chapter 8] i.e. I’m getting two lovely specimens thrown into my army very shortly This game has been hyping Lilina up so much that you’d think getting to her was endgame Nope I’m really glad that not one but two thieves just kinda show up offscreen and join your army at the start of chapters in this game. Then the third has the most complicated join condition in the game. There’s not really much to do other than to move up through the hall in orgy formation Level ups right away. Strength and Speed are both good stats, but I wish they were more substantial. Roy joins in on the leveling and fails to proc both speed and strength yet again. At least he’s Skill and Luck blessed? Shitty levels for everyone! The orgy advances Figured I might want these for later Suddenly: the rest of the armour crew, plus orange juice. Why? Just why? I’ve been skipping most of the mob shots, so here’s some archers plinking a soldier. Dorothy can’t KO even with the double because she’s kind of awful. I set Barth up so he’d counter them both with Wendy’s Javelin and then the AI does this to me Barth starts things off well. The only rigging I do this chapter is for Wendy hits because she definitely needs it Mopping up the rest of the north enemies Presents for Barth I haven’t been bothering to show most of the healer levels because they’ve mostly been this kind of thing earthboundlevelup.png A touching family reunion. You can definitely see the resemblance. She clearly hasn’t looked at her own stats I’m glad this patch uses “Use” instead of “Cnt”. I still no idea what that stood for. Count? Con…tume? It definitely didn’t stand for what I always read it as. Bait time I didn’t want to have to deal with this mage in the hall of lancers Who needs stats other than Str anyway? Maybe all of Wendy’s levels will be like this and she’ll be MVP of the run. Then who’ll be laughing? And maybe my entire army’s levels will be like this one forever and I’ll never make it past chapter 14. Slowly making progress. Phat loot in varying degrees of usefulness. I accidentally left Saul in this guy’s range, but he’s hitting Res on a priest, so… 2/3 This will make a certain archer significantly more useful Feeding Wendy forever Hugh will appreciate this someday I’m leaving Bors and Dorothy behind to take care of the reinforcements from up top, the rest of the fighters go around toward the throne room Barth knows what’s up Wendy doesn’t get doubled by this guy, so I have her back-and-forth him a few times So much for the god Wendy theory At least they’re pulling their (substantial) weight FFFFFFFFFF This guy would have killed Wendy if he cooperated with an archer, but Roy pulled off a crit for exact damage He has not missed a hammer hit yet this chapter Enemy crit for 0. Nice try, dude. Bors still walling it up in the chest room. Not that he’s really the best wall, he’s only procced Def once. He’s hella Str blessed, though. Oh hey, Armorslayers. Luckily they can’t double and only one can hit him per turn. Are you kidding me? Again? I’m cursed. It’s the only explanation. Déjà vu Good riddance I’m trying to get him to A staves eventually, so I’m spamming heals on everything Reminder that soldiers in FE6 are the literal worst enemies Have I ever mentioned how much I love 40% growths? I kinda wish I’d missed these Hammer shots; I’d like to save it for later Wade’s the only one who understands me I’m just gonna surround myself with manly blue guys and everyting’ll be okay The reinforcements are finally done, so Marcus grabs Bors and books it. Apparently he’s got just enough Aid to rescue him. Cleaning up the throne room Nothing is overkill Plinks him down to a very convenient 30 hp YES HELL YES It’s the power of friendship. (He’s got unique Bors dialogue too, but it kinda didn’t fit in with the mood up there) Before I go… That could’ve gone worse. “That’s why I’ve got a piss poor Spd growth.” Also, I figured I’d do a stats roundup, to see how my units are fairing with regards to their averages. I coloured the stats based on whether they were more than 2 from their average: blue for blessed and red for screwed. I didn't bother with the healers, thieves, or Marcus, since they don't really matter. [spoiler=Stats] Lv HP SM Sk Sd Lk Df Rs Roy 17 31 7 16 11 20 7 3 Bors 16 31 16 7 8 12 12 1 Wade 17 41 18 11 8 10 10 1 Wolt 13 30 9 9 11 8 7 2 Dorothy 11 27 10 10 9 5 4 2 Wendy 5 30 5 3 5 8 8 1 Barth 11 27 11 8 6 2 16 1 Wendy and Barth haven't levelled enough to really see a difference yet, and I didn't count Wade and Wendy as being blessed in stats I used boosters in. I'm surprised that both the archers are floating pretty close to their averages; I thought mine were just turning out particularly shitty.

I'm planning on taking Echidna's route in the Western Isles because it gives me Geese a chapter earlier, and I'm planning on going Ilia because a) Juno's the only flier elegible to be used and b) my team of axe users and slowpokes would get wrecked in Sacae.

Chapter 7! I was one image over when I went to post this, and chapters are only getting longer from here, so I'm gonna have to either cut down on screenshots or start double posting. :S [spoiler=Chapter 7] He looks trustworthy; I can see why Hector would keep this guy around. The team. I OCD-ed my units around a bit. What even is that thing in the background of the title card? I always see it as a cup, but that doesn’t really make that much sense. Elibe has the shittiest armies. Battle start. As usual, I split my army up because I’m grossly overconfident in my units’ ability to be not the worst. Plus, my other patented tactic: the clump. The first enemy phase goes surprisingly well. My friends the green guys who are actually blue guys make their appearance Having two Silver Lance users is really nice. Cavs feel really durable in this game. Good thing I don’t get any myself. And nobody was surprised He’s decently bulky, though. Oh jeez Wyverns already I’m recruiting everyone, js y’all k. Treck’s entire job is to make that as difficult as possible. Jerrot is one of those Shanna names that I’m just not going to get used to. There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just that he was Zealot for years. At least no one got Ulster-ed. Enter green-blue number three. At least he’s got a vulnerary. Things don’t really look up for him, though. :\ Damnit Dorothy Grabbing him so he can grab Jerrot so he can grab Treck. Also so that he doesn’t proceed to suicide on random mooks. I decided to just bite the bullet and feed Bors the kill. I have been rewarded for my decision. The state of things. Wade is capable of holding off his corner by himself while the healers hide in a corner. Enemies run away to use vulneraries instead of suiciding on your crippled and outnumbered units and I think that’s lovely. I only checked the range on the cav thinking that if he couldn’t hit me I’d be fine. The archer couldn’t double, though, so it all worked out. Wolt’s job in this chapter is taking out a single merc who’s just kinda dicking around in the middle of my formation More Treck Totally capable of handling himself. The first of many enemy physicians. (Physician is definitely the proper term for a psysic user. Think about it.) Green-Jerrot tries to help and fails spectacularly Thanks, Green-Jerrot. That was definitely the best target you could have picked. Support crit. Heals for the only consistently successful member of my army. This guy had just too much health for Bors to take out without blowing a Silver He’s the shittiest Roy ever and also probably my second most useful combat unit. Marcus has hit the point where he’s pretty much on par with the rest of my guys. These archers just kinda… ran away. Getting him to survive here was the only thing I had to rig this chapter. Merlinus is the best bait Finally converted these two to the blue team. This will definitely come in handy Marcus level. He’s only here for another few chapters anyway. Whoops This mage was standing in a choke point that would have left me having to dodge another Wyvern stab with Treck if I didn’t attack him with Jerrot, so I let my rule about not attacking with him slide since it was a pretty minor attack to make it so he I wouldn’t have to rig more dodges. Wyvern threat: eliminated. Yeah, this happened earlier, but the shots flow better this way This chapter has some sweet village loot The cav got sick of attacking Merlinus and moved on to Clarine, but she’s as dodgy as Roy :I That’s what I think of you. Context-less Dorothy level. Thank goodness for strength. Last Wyvern. Poor Roy can’t do shit. …Which is good, because the guy was loaded. I’m glad that I have multiple bow users in Wyvern Emblem, even if they suck I think I’m gonna let Wade get closer to 20 before popping this, but it will be greatly appreciated. Why do I even bother Stocking up My precioussssss This will also be highly appreciated Taking on the boss’ little orgy of grunts You do care! Wade got left behind to take care of the reinforcement cavs. I kinda wish I’d left the Halberd on him, but Clarine’s got it right now. *grumps audibly* *grumping redacted* I always found it weird that this was pretty much an outdoor chapter but they squished some chests in the corner. If this was any other game these’d have just been drops. Marcus, being useful This’ll come in handy; my old one was running low Huh, unique dialogue. Who’d ’a thunk it. Returned to gut you, fatty One turn more and Wade probably would’ve been toast. Okay, real talk here. Is Lilina/Relena actually a real name or is just something that Japanese people made up and for some reason think is a name that European noble girls have? ‘Cause I’ve seen three of them and can’t find evidence of it being a real name. Anyway, I was expecting this chapter to be a major pain in the ass, but honestly, compared to the hell that was chapter 5, this wasn't a big deal. The only real challenge was keeping Treck alive long enough to recruit him. Tune in next time for the joining of two more very promising units

Alright, chapter 6, featuring 90% less cheese. This one was ridiculously easy after the past chapters. It kind of felt like they forgot to give the enemies their hardmode bonuses. [spoiler=Chapter 6] New friends! This is definitely going to happen Yusssssss Here’s my crew Not about traps anymore Today’s episode: Roy vs the Generic Shaman Creeplord ‘Sup My strategy of doing the same thing I do in normal mode with a real team continues He is worse than Roy. What parallel dimension have I fallen into? I’m doubling things. Everything I know is a lie. At the start of the map, I was pretty worried about those mages. Feeding Dorothy some kills. EVEN BORS IS DOUBLING I’m scared. At least some things never change Or do they? *Manly tears* Okay seriously, whoever gave these soldiers 3 speed on hard mode after the capped strength barbarian king last chapter needs to get their shit together. Support bros You tried The bottom half of the map posed no threat whatsoever “Ensnared” “Girls? In my army? Yeah, what the hell, you can sit on the bench with the rest of the crew.” 1/3 Still feeding Dorothy Oh look, she fits right in already Stationing some guys down here for when the reinforcements show up Accidentally aggroed a mage. They’re the only real threat in this chapter. C’mon Wade, we had something good going before Now that Chad’s got Cath’s lockpick, it’s time for the chests Buncha reinforcements from the throne room What is strength Wade’s a big boy, he can handle it Best day I never remember about these guys, I always just get caught up on the cavs from the south There we go, I knew you could do it More presents SPEED Wolt’s the only one with >25 hit. FE6 Thrones are kind of stupid. Not as exciting as Wade’s speed, but I’ll take it. Clarine gets an actually useful level This was a crit, btdubs. The short bow’s a fun toy. This was apparently the kill shot I caught. I wanted Drothy to get it, but she had 22 hit with the steel bow and couldn’t KO him with the iron. These guys were in the unlock staff room The spoils of war No sweat Lawl Closing notes: the reinforcements from the south never spawned. I left Roy and Bors down there the whole time for nothing. I’m pretty sure I didn’t dream them up.

Nothing's more fun than coming into the topic and watching everyone theorycrafting my demise. :P Anyway, here’s chapter 5. I’m gonna tell you up front: I had to rig a fair number of crits to make this chapter doable with just my ludicrously bad units. Regardless, I did manage somehow, so here it is! [spoiler=Chapter Five] If only the other territories had 16 year-old kids to recruit, then maybe he could trust them. Title drop My favourite character makes a comeback I really wish Roy’d taken Merlinus’ advice for once and just ditched them A friendly reminder that this is only chapter 5 Most of these guys actually make this chapter harder because I don’t want anyone to die and there are just too many of them to herd around anymore Also I would really like the battle preparations screen, tyvm Wade holds the fort (literally) since everyone else starts too far away to be any help this turn Also, Lot apparently got a bunch of support points last chapter while hiding in the corner with the other overachievers Starting things off on a good note Roy gets the Killing Edge and the Steel Blade because there’s no way I’m taking on a legion of axemen with just his 5 Mt swords and 6 Strength This was supposed to be mid crit-swing, but I effed up, so you’ll have to imagine it The whole army heads up. I tried splitting up and got to a point where I couldn’t possibly win even with save states, not to mention the fact that Marcus, Bors, and Wolt together couldn’t take down a Brigand even attacking all together. Wade really needs to take some notes from the dodgemaster That’s what I’m telling you two. Please don’t leave me with these failures. Helping Roy is MVP this chapter, btdubs Bors is not. Oh jeez that’s a lot of enemies If you’re gonna crit, please do it on the first hit. Marcus needs a real weapon if he’s gonna be any help. Maybe if I feed Wolt enough kills, he won’t be dead weight forever I’m so proud I really wish anti-cavalry weapons worked on Nomads in this game. They’re crazy strong, so I’ve gotta take them out quickly Despite how much of a failure he is, I have absolute faith in Roy’s ability to dodge, for some reason :SSS Anyway, as I was saying… And that’s the other bow pony down. At least Wade has the strength to help finish everything off I’m sending Marcus off to take care of the Brigands who cross the mountains from the castle. Meanwhile, Bors and Wolt hide with the pubs Marcus proves that he’s a member of this team The Killing Edge is getting low, so I bust out the behemoth They’re finally thinning out I’m really gonna miss this thing Bors will really appreciate this I tried to bait, but that Merc doesn’ move Fortunately, he doesn’t even move when you start hitting him from 2 range It shouldn’t take three people to take out a fighter levelups.png Surprise enemies from the castle. They got impatient, apparently. Meanwhile: Marcus These Mercs were a pain This guy survived with like 3 HP because Roy is useless I meant to have Wolt attack this guy but moved the curser too far and supported Roy instead. It all worked out, though, since they get +1 attack and decent bonus crit at B. Blowing Killing Edge uses, no big. This guy had way lower stats for some reason and almost tricked me into thinking that Wolt was magically good. Beautiful. (Except that was his second last Killing Edge use) Marcus finally takes out the second Brigand. His job is done for this chapter. It kinda breaks the spirit of things but I was sick of reinforcements. I think they stopped next turn anyway, tbh Just because it’s 4 stats doesn’t mean it’s impressive, Wolt Unrigged iron sword crit courtesy of Wolt One day maybe one of my units will gain speed. Not today. 40% is the lowest %. Two luck crits in a row. I spent probably five minutes trying to think of how to take out these guys without blowing my Killing Edge and then the power of friendship did it for me. And that’s it for the grunts. I had to whip out the Steel Blade again, since the Rapier was only 2 damage so it was useless even if it were to crit. He hit me with the Killer Axe once, but I dodged the rest. roy.png Also he switched back to the Hand Axe for some reason? The only thing I can think of was to discourage Wolt’s 4 damage chip shots. I wanted to feed the kill to Wolt, but Roy was the only one who could hit and iron+iron was only 6 damage Just get me out of here As for the units I'm using, my potential pool is: Roy Cath Wolt Ward Dayan Juno Geese Hugh Douglas Barth Merlinus Bors Dorothy Karel Sophia Wendy And also Saul, Elen, and Clarine, but I can't promote them. At this point, I'm pretty much banking on Geese and Hugh being not-screwed and carrying me through the later chapters. Maybe one of the Generals, too. At least I've got enough bows to take care of the Wyverns. :S

Fiona's the only earlygame unit I've never been able to take to endgame. I've had success with Lyre, Meg, and Astrid; Fiona has never been anything but underwhelming for me, even as a Silver Knight on Easy mode.

Time for another chapter of “How Long Can Roy Go Without Gaining Strength?” [spoiler=Chapter 4] Yeah, there’s a war going on and all, but his real motivation is the girl The new translation chapter names are a lot more poetic sounding than the old ones were I’m pretty sure that Erik is older than Narcian Get rekt All these units and I can use like, 5 of them Meanwhile all these horses are just going to charge at me Yoink More yoinkage Swapping one effective weapon for another Unlike my other defensive formations, this one might actually result in success Successful defending And then the counterattack Allen doing what he does best I am so glad the Halberd has 55 hit. It’s only 10 more than the hammer, but it feels way more reliable Mopped up everyone but the Nomad Rutger being eloquent as usual Marcus is getting a lot more use in this chapter since there’s too many enemies in too much open space to deal with things otherwise. Also these Nomads are a huge pain. They hit Wade for 20 after the double. :\ Slowly making my way out of the starting zone 9 damage with an effective weapon. At least he can still dodge. Healer number 2 makes her entrance Meanwhile axes continue to be the worst And by axes, I mean my luck with level ups Roy has to heal up. Dodging’s a lot harder when the enemies all have lances The bros work on taking down a single enemy while the rest of my army is actually useful I am not allowed to complain about any level that includes a Spd proc. Finally cleared out the right side of the map Please no More units should join by talking to you instead of making you work your way to them. Especially if they don’t agro enemies. Roy’s just going to sit here and fight off pirates for the next hundred years while poking them for 7 damage. Fortunately, the hand axers can’t hit him but won’t go after the village if there’s a valid target in range Suddenly, the Rutger gang. Welp. Meanwhile, Roy lives up to all of my expectations. I’m really not a fan of Clarine’s colour palette. I feel like it would have been so much nicer with a darker purple. I call this ‘Operation don’t get massacred by Rutger’ Marcus is also pretty successful. Roy the overachiever Taking out Rutger’s crew. I’m really glad that hit rates didn’t dick me over this time. Please put that Killing Edge down If I saw a general with 5 strength, I wouldn’t bother learning his name either. I let Rutger block the last member of his reinforcements since Clarine would have been wrecked and losing out on a Killing Edge use is a pretty big price anyway. Roy’s gonna be occupied for a while. Bors makes his way toward the castle …Shit. I reloaded a state I had from a turn earlier and moved the reject crew as far away as I could Rip in pieces Have I mentioned I love the Halberd? Had to blow some more Silver Lance uses, unfortunately I’m not even disappointed any more; his repeated failures have just left me numb These guys are still here He was holding Chad and I was honestly not expecting to make it out of this one Can’t win ‘em all. Wade MVP Roy update: still up to his eyeballs in pirates Bors update: still couldn’t hit the broad side of a truck PRAISE ELIMINE These guys are finally gone Roy chases the last pirate into the ocean Wolt keeps up the trend of letting me down as often as possible Fortunately Wolt’s got some manly friends who don’t take kindly to bullying Well, he’s certainly a fighter. Shopping time. Bought a butt ton of everything. Yussss I’m glad they couldn’t even be bothered to make his hair colour match :I Wade continues to be the only member of this army who gets anything done rescuechains.png Boom. Have my babies And that’s a wrap. It was completely unprecedented!

Marcus is legal until I can make it without him. I'm definitely using him until 8x because there's no way I'm beating Henning without him, but i'm going to try and drop him after that if possible. Also, I'm not going to arena abuse. I might throw someone in there for a round or two if they're around one and not doing anything, but I won't draw out a chapter to grind anyone.

Here’s chapter three. This one went a lot less smoothly than I’d have liked it to, but I made it through with a lot less hassle than I could have by taking it insanely slow. [spoiler=chapter Three] …but then they all died war’s over. New translation differences Sudden Hector appearance Harsh I like how Chad just kind of shows up offscreen and then is just kinda there Chapter, start! The plan: Marcus gets Lugh, Wade gets the dudes by the house, the rest take care of the castle entrance. Oh wait this is hard mode This guy sketches me out just a little too much. I think it’s the squinting. Then he just, takes the children away and is never seen from again. New plan: move Wade back to the cluster by the gate and pray for some dodges. Marcus is still going after Lugh. Dodges happen for the most part thanks to the magic of forests, then I finally make some headway Well, it’s not the worst level I’ve seen this run I probably should have given Marcus an axe. He’s getting less invincible very quickly. I am really glad I have an axe user for all these lances. notcloseatall.png Roy’s helping. Wolt is not helping. :S Final boss shoutout If you think about it, Erik is the reason that this chapter is winnable ‘Evisceration’ is a pretty fun word This was the only dodge that I had to rig in this chapter. I’m trying to keep it to a minimum if possible. This was my flawless defensive formation, by the way Axe to the head Wolt is actually pretty decent notrisky.png This game is conspiring against me I’m finally inside the castle Also Marcus finally made it to Lugh. He had to blow a few Silver Lance uses on the soldiers, though. I sent Bors in to take care of the ponies, and he spends something like the next fifteen turns fighting them off. I let the first group go around and fed them to these two Whyyyyyy My next 22 screenshots are just Bors versus cavs so I’ll just give you this miserable one and save you the trouble. I sent the crew in to finish off the last round. Lyn confirmed for Roy’s mother You would not believe how relieved I was to be done with the ponymen. Whoever decided to give the hammer 45% hit was not my friend. Have I mentioned the game hates me yet? At least he’s got pretty good strength Roy does his thing Treasure time Roy can’t even two-hit them with the armorslayer :I Several less than effective turns later… Roy tries to take the throne room my himself, with mixed results Elen has been leveling too, not that it matters much I really wish I got another sword user before the end of the game Many dodges later This is not the most effective strategy Neither is this I thought I’d been using it pretty conservatively, but Heal heals for nothing when you’ve got 1 Mag. This was my first critical of the run. Good job Roy. BAD JOB ROY Fun fact: if my math isn’t wrong, Roy’s odds of having base strength at level 9 are around 1.7%. Last minute trading since I don’t remember which chapter you get battle preparations. Guh just get me out of here Merlinus, being useful Hector you already beat a dragon that was like 4x stronger than the Manaketes these guys have got Why is everyone just constantly foisting their leadership duties onto some kid? A Wyrmslayer? ‘Cause Durandal isn’t worth shit until Roy promotes in 100 years and can get S swords.

Chapter 2! I was gonna wait until tomorrow to post this, but I just finished it and it kinda feels like a waste to just hold on to it. Anyway, this one was a lot easier than chapter 1, imo. It didn’t really require any more strategy than throwing my units at the enemies and getting half-decent rng. [spoiler=Chapter Two] That’s what the chapter’s called Pre battle plot Merlinus’ only role in the story is to tell Roy not to do things and then to have Roy completely ignore him. If he was learning tactics from Hector, it’s probably just “Run at them with your weapons and then you win” What did I just tell you This is my first double of the run. Gotta love soldiers. End of turn one. The lump formation is by far the most effective. Attacks happen Hooray! Wade and his gang of people I’m not gonna use. Some stuff with Roy’s gang to take care of first, though First off, yoink! Time to get axin’ Shanna who is not named Thany grabs Deke and hangs out in the mountains for the remainder of the chapter. Wade boldly holds the fort all by himself. Meanwhile… Flawless strategy. Shit. Let’s try that again. One reset later… The Roy crew takes out the fighters on the left side of the map See? All gone. Having a healer makes things a lot less complicated. Operation Juggernaut Wade enters phase two. Healing up for round three. Bro time So heartwarming He’s been taking pointers from Roy Can you believe this is the first time someone leveled up this chapter? The rest of the army has finally made it to the enemies You know you’re a shit enemy when… Yeah, I had that coming. You were doing so well T__T Allen has fulfilled his purpose in this map Roy tries to stay relevant At… at least there’s speed? Wade is still king of the fort Enough sitting around, it’s axemurder time. These soldiers are just here to make me feel complacent, aren’t they? No Str, no Spd, no good. Baiting them out Dodge master Roy does the only thing he can kind of do. Bors is a master bater /canned laughter I didn’t check and was not expecting the blade. I figured Bors’d just get tinked like with the archers. why Wolt for best tank And he’s gone. I tried to bait the next fighter and then the archer, but neither move until you’re awkwardly close. Therefore blitz the fighter This archer was a pain, though Boss time You can go home now, Bors fe6axehitrates.png It took me 6 shots to finally hit him. I was not going through that again, so I hit him with Roy’s Armorslayer. The Rapier would have done 2 damage due to the fact that my Roy is anemic. (Also I totally forgot that I hadn’t healed Roy before this attack) 40% Str growth my ass. Time to save a princess. Gasp! …But that’s exactly what you did? Yeah, spoilers: that’s not gonna happen.

Well, I'll have unpromoted healers, and I can use all but three of the divine weapons (two, if I were to get Dyan, but Sacae looks like a very bad idea for this team), so I'm gonna stick it out as long as I can. If things get too hairy I can make some exceptions later, but I'd like to see how doable this is firsthand.

I've always wanted to do one of these, and since I've both never played the new translation patch yet and never played through hard mode yet, I might as well get all three things done at once. To make things more exciting, I'm only using units who're categorized as Low or Utter Shit tier in the HM Teir list (http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=18979). Some rules I've set for myself: 1) Roy counts as a crappy unit 2) Marcus is free for the first few chapters since I'd get massacred without him 3) Unpromoted healers are also okay 4) I can take anyone from Low tier to endgame, but Sophia and Wendy have to be there 5) Forced units get villages and shops, but can’t initiate an attack or tank for real units 6) I can use a thief, but once I have Cath it has to be her 7) I can use save states, but I’ll try and keep them fairly minimal 8) People voted that I can use Lalum, so she's free too Anyway, with that, here it goes! [spoiler=Chapter One] And so it begins. Obligatory expository banter Obligatory-er title card I will never get over how beautiful this man is Does anyone in the castle actually end up dying? This kinda gets glossed over. So… did Hector and Eliwood just kind of swap kids? I don’t feel like Lilina being here actually adds to the scene in any meaningful way other than to rub in your face that she exists and you can’t have her yet. The crew. Lance won’t be needing these. Yoink Perfect defensive formation. Nothing can possibly go wrong. (I apparently forgot to sreencap the first enemy turn because I’m an idiot, but Roy got attacked and the rest of the red guys moved in for the lump in the back, so I moved Marcus up to block them) Marcus is so much cooler purple than orange. Wolt finishes off the Warrior from above, netting me my first kill. Bors miraculously helps chip FLAWLESS TACTICS Roy’s first kill. He’s been pretty boss at dodging so far. Wolt, on the other hand… Bors would’ve gotten doubled, so I just sat him there to protect Wolt from more axes to the head. Ditto for Marcus, except he’s mostly just not attacking because I don’t want him hogging the exp. Tanking like a purple champ Meanwhile, Wolt tries his hardest to be helpful I figured I could risk it since Bors needs exp and I’ve got Marcus and Roy there as backup, but he comes through for me again. (Also I might have completely forgotten about that village until just now) My tactical skills remain unparalleled Much better. Bors is using up all the luck in this whole run right at the start, just you wait. Wolt chugs a vulnerary in preparation for an archer-off Meanwhile dodge master Roy takes on that brigand. Wolt is possibly a little outclassed. Roy takes down the brigand and gets the first level of the run! And… it’s the shittiest 4 stat level possible. At least Res will be kind of nice eventually. Maniacal laughter This was supposed to be the killing blow but apparently if you screencap at the wrong time you just get the flash and can’t see anything. Bors, showing Roy how it’s done. I lured one fighter out by himself and had Roy dodge tank him as long as he could. youtried.png Risked it, everything paid off. Time to vulnerary up and go for the next one. The dodge master at work. Roy plz you’re my only sword user until Juno/Dyan Last one before the guys by the castle So close …Or not Honourably sacrificing the kill to his lord Dodge master Roy finally gets hit. That’s more like it. When you get this close, the remaining grunts start charging at you. Combat montage Next fighter Roy plz T_____T Just the archer and the boss left, now. The archer couldn’t hurt Bors, so I had them dance for a while. He’s got a point; if they’d just gone around the little ledge, I’d have been SOL. This fight is pretty much just chipping forever. Roy heals up so he can help. everyborsattack.png Dodge master Roy made it like, three rounds. I had to resort to Marcus-ing him since waiting for Bors to hit the boss like 5 times without Wolt missing would have taken forever, but I didn’t want Marcus to get the kill, so I had him wait. Chip levels. Everyone’s putting Roy to shame. Ffffff If Roy’d missed and been killed, I’d have raged. That is not how I think I will ever be able to describe this army. Tears Roy’s finally home I don’t care how sick the story says Eliwood is, if he managed to hold off any of these guys he is definitely still fit enough to be leading this army, especially over base Str Roy of all people. So, this means I’m gonna get reinforcements from like, Santaruz and Kathelet and all those other places, right? Right? “Without Marquess Manly-Beard there, the people will be distressed, but if this tiny girl with no experience takes over everything will be fine!” He is talking about Merlinus. At least someone does. And that’s it! Hope you enjoyed reading, and I’ll try to update fairly frequently, though y’all know how these things work.

It's 'Army of Shadow.'

Looks like they released the 'Challenge Pack' too, with Est's map, 'Death's Embrace'.

I don't mind the weapon spread and stats, minus ranged weapons being really weak. How most weapons look, on the other hand, really irks me. I think the bronze weapons look awful, and the spear, javelin, and hand axe aren't much better. I also dislike the redesign of the killer weapons. Adding that on to generally sub-par magic animations results in pretty disappointing looking weapons, at least in my opinion.

SpotPass is up now too, for the Genealogy fans.