Book VIII Discussion Thread

[Etrurian emperor]

36 minutes ago, DefyingFates said:

Wait, what?

[DefyingFates]

42 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Wow, that is a mess up of incredible proportions. At least the Ratatoskr typo was just someone getting the wrong subject and even that kinda makes sense now we know she has an older brother too.

[Mercakete]

Going through the story now!

Okay, cool! Looks like there's going to be a ceremony to make official the new peace between Embla and Askr! Wow, this really feels like the end of the first main arc. ( The Embla vs Askr arc started in Book 1, not the battle between gods and mortals which has been going on for generations and became more involved with the main characters in fuller force in Book 3.)

Glad they're being realistic about there still being Emblian nobles who oppose a lasting peace, too. They set that up pretty hard in Book 6 after all.

Pff. "We need to make sure nothing occurs which could jeopardize the ceremony." IMMEDIATELY AFTER THAT: "Your Majesty, apologies for the interruption, but there is an urgent matter in need of attention. We must dispatch members of the Order on a mission immediately." And then she specifically asks 2 of the 3 Askran royals if they can personally involve themselves in this, even though those two maybe should be more focused on matters of state right now. Anna, I have over 700 heroes and these two are among the weakest of them. Do you really need to call them away? (Though this last bit is more "per summoner" it's still kind of funny to me. Have to wonder how good Anna really is at organizing military resources.)

Oh great. So, the armed forces coming into Askr uninvited is composed of members of the Emblian Army. Glad for the consistency, but dang, that timing is akin to "What could possibly go wrong?" Aaaand Sharena doesn't seem to get it. "What are they doing?! We're about to make our alliance official!" That's the point, child.

Yeah, though the reasoning seems kind of obvious, I'm glad they're explaining it for younger players. Veronica didn't send these guys. It was a third party (but if we knew less than we already did, then the reasoning to discard the chance of the Emblian nobles would be beneficial, too.) Though, have to say, Sharena being "the dumb, sensitive one" is a bit annoying... She should have gotten enough experience by now to not be so baffled by this.

Okay, Hraesvelgr has a warped idea of what it means to be family. Obeying orders no matter what, eh?

In answer to Alfonse's question of what I think is happening: Someone's trying to frame Embla for attacking Askr, the same thing is probably happening over there with imposter Askrans, and we should send a trusted envoy to enquire about it. The foes retreated quickly and weren't that strong, despite their boldness in their invasion, and they had legitimate weapons and armor from Embla. Seems obvious to me that this was for the sake of sowing mistrust. Given all the warring goimg on, it wouldn't have been hard to acquire Askran and Emblian equipment from dead soldiers, either (especially during Book 6's first half.)

XD Okay, Rat's appearance happening just then with the serious music cutting off got a wheeze out of me. XD That face! And hugging her tail! And just an ellipsis for text! Okay, that's great humor. XD

Ah. Good for you, Rat, not being able to kill someone like that. Aww. And trying to help her sisters too, so they won't have to kill anyone they weren't already ordered to. Good for her. I like her.

XD Yeah, I get Alfonse's response. Confused, but this is still an intruder when we've already had invaders. He's handling it right by demanding answers. Oh. And she's being honest, which is good, but explaining it poorly, which is bad... Introductions and expressions of goodwill first, Rat. It's bad to open up with "Prince Alfonse of Askr, you're our target" (I edited out the stutters, in this case.) XD And now Anna's catching up and Rat's still not said anything helpful. It's really cool that the map for this one is just the Order of Heroes main screen, too. 🙂

XD Oh man I love her sprite's nervous fidgeting just before she transforms when she's attacked.

Ah. Well, at least she's explaining things honestly. She's being good about the whole "I understand if you have to kill me" thing, too. She did have attempted regicide there, after all. Poorly attempted regicide, sure, but that just leaves more room for the royals to decide what to do about it.

Oh. So, contrary to the book's opening movie, she snuck right up to Alfonse without him noticing. Good job, Rat. Pff. Alfonse is giving her a chance to explain herself and she's just freaking out about not wanting to do. XD Understandable, but come on. You are not handling this well, girl. XD Ah, and there we go. Glad she said something to improve her situation there: "But I still...I can't bring myself to kill someone who has done nothing wrong!" This expresses not only her desire not to kill Alfonse, but also that she doesn't even think he's done anything wrong. It also points strongly toward someone else pulling the strings, and even expresses that she might not be opposed to killing someone if the need arises/that person has done something wrong enough to warrant it. Really liking Rat.

Aw. And then Alfonse just smiles at her. That calms her down a bit which helps her to speak more clearly, too. This little exchange is so good and has so much in it already. Very nice.

Interesting how Rat details out how her assassination group works, too. Their study period sounds right for the work they do. "You are always seeking out tactical approaches, and you do not fear making choices some may think cold. But you are a gentle person at heart, and you do everything you can for your people..." I am so glad this gets stated straight up. It's been shown consistently, but some people take their perceptions to extremes. I hate it when that happens. "If you were to die now, the people of your country would suffer... And so, that's why I...can't do it." Man, Rat's perceptive. Seriously, I like her. So astute.

"...What's your name?" Yeah, there's that. XD I kept being all "That's great, but I think you're forgetting that these people don't know things that you consider old news. Stop only sharing the stuff that's new to you." I know someone like this irl, too. I keep having to remind her to share the context that only exists in her head with everyone else. XD

"That is the name my father gave me." Interesting that she would state it like this. This could either be meaning that she has (or could receive) another name, or just be a cultural way to say it, again pointing to the absolute rule her father has over her and those like her.

 

Man, all that in just Chapter 1! Of course, Chapter 1 in FEH tends to have a good amount of writing in it. I think it was really well done. A lot was set up, and the subtlety in the characterization was handled deftly. Time to move on to Chapter 2!

Cute music. It's nice to have a friendly chat with Rat after all that. And now Alfonse and Sharena can just explore their curiosity about their new friend. As expected, the great tree connects to all the worlds, like a gateway (and since Askr (deity) was born from it, that explains his gate powers and love of exploration and meeting others.) The Healing Hands are also explained. XD And thank you, Commander, for calling out how assassination is not healing. Sharena just wants to befriend everyone and Alfonse likely would rather not bring it up and make Rat feel threatened again, so Anna's the perfect one to speak up here. Part of her job is (or should be) protecting the royals, after all. "It felt like we were helping people protect their joy... That's what it felt like to me, at least." Awww I really like Rat! She's nice in a realistic way. 🙂 "Is your father the leader of your group? What's his name?" Good on you, Anna, driving the plot forward while actually doing your job for a change.

And Alfonse is making the connection between the fake Emblians and the assassination attempt. Yep; astute as always. Good for you. Man, I am loving how in character everyone is, not that they're usually not.

"How did you know?! Amazing..." Hahaha! Rat's cute. "Alfonse is quick when it comes to figuring things like this out!" Yup; Sharena has the right of it. Again, glad this is spelled out for some players.

"I suspect I'm not the only target. There must be others - on both sides." Yep. Like I said: send an envoy. The sooner, the better. "Who are the other targets?" Glad his priorities are straight. "The queen? Sharena?" Though it makes sense that he would worry about his family first. "Or..." Veronica seems obvious to me, yeah. He must've already been thinking this if he said "on both sides" before.

"I-I'm just one piece of the plan! I don't know all the details!" Okay, but why are you freaking out again? This feels a bit inaccurate to the character here. She has an intense focus on saving lives and the threat to her has already died down, to the point of having friendly conversation.

"Ratatoskr, you'll be joining us as our hostage." (Anna.) XD I kind of get it, but it also feels a bit hurried and unnecessary. I'd personally let her be under a sort of house arrest in the castle while AN ENVOY IS SENT TO EMBLA so that she could come to grips with herself and join of her own volition. "Don't try anything rash, alright?" At least there's that.

Hmm yeah. The enemy covered their tracks and got away. This is obviously a ruse. They don't want people to find out where they're really coming from. Glad Anna thought to ask where their base of operations was. Aaaand Rat's not great with giving straight answers. You need to share the context in your head, girl. XD "Give us serious answers or I'll have no choice but to interrogate you." I get it, and this is a Commander-ly thing to say, but you should have picked up on her patterns well enough by now to understand that that's not necessary.

As expected, the short answer to the actual question was "the world tree." XD And good on Anna for actually shifting gears and being nicer while still commanding authority and cooperation, telling Rat to lead the way.

"Mortals are unable to see the pathways we use - and you can't pass through them either." Ah. Inconvenient. Also, sounds like some Shinto spirit stuff got tied in heavily here. Neat. But you know what leads into the Shinto spirit world? Torii gates! And you know who can open gates? Askran royalty! Will we actually see Alfonse/Sharena FINALLY use their bloodline's ability that's been talked about but never used thus far?!

"Special permission, hm? Your father sounds like a powerful person." Sharena, stop changing the subject and open a gate.

"Born from Yggdrasill... Hmm... That sounds familiar..." No kidding, Sharena. Askr was too, remember? Open a gate! With Askr's power! I wonder if Rat's dad's "special permission" is just opening a gate, actually... I wonder if he has gate powers like Askr did. What if they were twins? At this point, I'm convinced they're at least brothers. It could even be that Askr was protecting Askr (country) from his bro all this time, which is why said bro is only moving now: because Askr is out of the way.

"The Divine Dragon Askr was born from Yggdrasill as well..." Yep. Thank you, Alfonse. Still weird that you call him a dragon, though. "Laeradr must be a godlike being akin to our Askr." Safe assumption. Also, I suspect that they're brothers. Same roots, you know? Same family tree. Askr just branched out and decided to leaf. (Puns intended, though I admit that last one wasn't great.)

"Everything proceeded as planned." Oh dear. Though, the does make sense. Poor Rat's being used, perhaps. They really used Alfonse's kindness against him. "Oh, uh, hey...how about the kid?" Interesting how Nidhoggr refers to Rat as "the kid." I wonder if there's dissociation going on there, since these ladies are supposed to be sisters. "I heard Ratatoskr went missing..." I guess she either didn't realize Rat was supposed to be taken hostage, or that really wasn't part of the plan.

Also, I keep forgetting to say this, but I noticed that Nidhoggr seems to always be drunk. (I'm guessing the fruit she's always eating is somewhat fermented, or just poisonous in general, but results in intoxication of a different variety for her.) If she really is dissociating, perhaps these are tied together. Like, she hates killing instead of saving lives so much that she's doing everything short of disobeying in order to escape that reality. That seems like the sort of thing IS likes to do with characters like this.

"She disappeared mid-mission." Oh. So, not part of the plan. At least they're not using her and were legitimately giving her a job. "She was likely captured. Potentially killed..." Hraesvelgr is either manipulating Nidhoggr's feelings (under orders) right now, or really isn't sure what happened. "Ah! And you're sad! So you do care about her after all! I knew it." This either is more dissociation, reflection, or she really doesn't care (unlikely) and is just calling out Hraesvelgr. "My only concern is the mission." You're not fooling anyone, "cool beauty" type gal. Ah, and indeed, the fruit makes Nidhoggr drunk.

Oh heck! Okay, didn't expect Hraesvelgr to just...appear like that and start commentating. We knew she could warp, but... Yeah. Big plot stuff incoming. (I'm excited.) ... Ah, she sounds more like she's directing the enemy from behind her own forces' lines. That makes more sense. "This need not be a battle. Battle will give them an advantage." Well, yes. Okay, she's calm under pressure (good for a surgeon) and tactical. Nice. I can just imagine her focused monotone here, too. Dang, she really sounds surgeon-esque. The writers/localization team did a good job here. "All we need is for one of them to die. That should be sufficient." If that was sufficient for a retreat, that would be one pathetic army. The wording makes it sound like "any one of them" rather than a specific target. Buuut knowing her, this will be a rather literal surgical strike.

"If Embla tries to deny these attacks, the Askran people will see it as a tacit approval..." Then inform them of what's really going on and send an envoy already. "What's more is that it seems key figures are being targeted, but we don't know who the targets are..." Well, you know one. I have a bad feeling that they're going to try using Alfonse as bait...

"I will release you. You are no longer our captive. I want you to return home to your group." Ohhh so his "request" is, perhaps for her to spy for them? Maybe the opening movie showing her running down the tree was to deliver important information to the Askrans as a spy, but she was knocked off the tree by Hraesvelgr, which delayed her so that the tree side could act before the Askrans could react. Hmmm... Do they succeed in killing Henriette? Is that why Rat's crying as she hugs Alfonse -- because she's sad that she couldn't deliver that or other news in time? "If you would, I want you to bring us information about any plans for assassination." Yep. Spy. "We need you to be a spy for us. Or more accurately, a double agent." Uh, Anna, why are you talking like you already discussed this with Alfonse when he clearly just had the idea? "But can we trust her?" Okay, now at least she's actually engaging in discourse. "We've captured her, so even if we play it off as if she found an opportunity to escape..." What? That's exactly how it should go. She was able to sneak up on Alfonse without him noticing. This is reasonably within her capabilities. "Will she be able to lie convincingly enough to her own group?" Okay, good point. She's very honest, after all. "I believe in her. She can tell them most of the truth about what actually happened to her." True. And she's good at not giving full context, though that's done on accident... She'll have to be a lot more intentional about it. "She can even tell them I asked her to get us more information on the assassination plot." Uhhh that's a risky move. Technically, it could work, but it's still very risky to tip your hand THAT much when Rat's already known and trusted over there. "It's a gamble on our part, but if our enemy thinks like I do...they will see a similar opportunity in front of them." So he IS aiming for a triple agent scenario! Dude, you do not have enough info on your foes to make that kind of call reliably. Besides, if the foe's smart, they'll be watching Rat's movements even more closely if she tells them THAT. "They will try to use you to get more information on us..." Except that they don't need that if they already had as much as Rat said they did -- down to your habits and routines. True, that could only apply to Alfonse, but it's fairly safe to say that they at least have a good idea of it since Alfonse's actions are intertwined with the Order's and Rat was able to break into the castle unnoticed. "So, what, she'll be a...triple agent?" Wow Anna. Never heard of one? "I'll do it. I...I have one favor to ask of you in return." Interesting. I wonder what it is. "Just, please...save my sisters." Uhhhhh right... No biggie, eh? I hope you realize what you're asking for. I get that this is the outcome you want the most, but... That's unlikely, at least realistically. Alfonse could agree to try, but promising to achieve it makes it a promise he may not be able to keep.

"Your sisters?" Uhhh have you not been paying attention to that at all, Alfonse? "But there was something else I overheard..." Ohhh? I'm intrigued. "Father is planning to have them all dead after this..." I wondered as much. Well, at least we have some info which may help us win them over. They won't believe us, of course, but having something factual that could make someone question their orders is useful. "He told them that, once their missions were completed, they were to end their lives." OH so they know already. And they're still following orders. Dang, that is some blind loyalty right there. Yep; okay. Saving them by defeating them sounds good to me now. "My sisters cannot defy an order from Father..." but you can? Is this a "will not" or "can not" thing? "No matter what, I don't want them to die. I want my family to live." Rat's good. I like her. "So...whatever you ask of me, if you can save them, I'll do anything." Man, I like this character. She's not over the top, but she's honest and resolved. The caring aspect of her isn't overdone, either -- she has exceptions she can make if it's reasonable. Very nice.

 

Okay! This book is off to a good start! Really looking forward to more. ^_^

[Mercakete]

9 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Intern-kun did an oopsie. What Sharena meant to say was that Ratatoskr came to assassinate Alfonse, her own brother rather than a sibling of Ratatoskr himself. Kinda like Murarim being Ike's little sister.

I did not know about that Muarim thing. XD Or I forgot. Now it seems familiar, actually. But yeah, I was more suspicious because of the mom vs aunt thing for Nerpuz.

9 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

Anyway, I like the gameplay and story integration in Chapter 1:

  Reveal hidden contents

just as Alfonse says all the enemies are Emblian and really weak even in Lunatic (they only have one skill apiece) and the final part is against Ratatoskr on her own.

I like how everything was set up and the Askr acknowledgment, but I think FEH's always done a decent job of establishing the stakes: it's everything else that it messes up. It seems the mystery guy and lady from the poster are Ratatoskr's siblings too... so yeah, the guy is doubly dead unless Hrid blesses him.

Yeah, that was neat.

Oh my gosh I love the Hrid blessing thing, too. XD Nice joke. (Even Alfonse technically died back in Book 3, so Hrid is seriously the only male character in Heroes to have not died at all. He got close to it, but he toughed it out, and then he met the Askrans after that. His reward? He's rebuilding Nifl and will probably rule over it if Fjorm doesn't be all "I got a direct power-up from our founding goddess, so thanks for patching up the kingdom but I'm taking over.")

 

Edit: I got curious, so here's a list I compiled for my own sake about how many male characters FEH introduced. I'll not count Kiran, even though I think his canon gender is male. I'll also not count characters that are only referred to but do not actually appear.

Book 1: Alfonse, Bruno (2)

Book 2: Surtr, Helbindi, Hrid (3)

Book 3: Gustav, Lif (Lif acts as a separate entity from Alfonse even though they are the same person, so I'm counting him here.) (2)

Book 4: Freyr (1)

Book 5: Otr, Fafnir (2)

Book 6: Askr, Elm (2)

Book 7: Njordr (1)

Book 8: Laeradr (1 or 2, depending on if he's the guy depicted on the left side of the key art or not. Also, more dudes COULD be introduced. Since only one guy has been mentioned by name here so far, though, I'll count him as 1, and this is a special exception to the restrictions I put up earlier since this book is only just starting.)

Extra: Muspell (he wasn't introduced in a book, but he's still a Heroes character)

So, in total, we have 15 dudes, 4 of which (since I counted Lif and Alfonse as separate and Lif is still technically dead) are (currently) living (Elm died a few times but he's currently alive. The others are Hrid (the chosen one), Alfonse (not dead yet in this timeline) and Laeradr (who isn't dead yet but will probably die by the end of this book.)) Also, Alfador is coming but hasn't arrived yet, and a previous male emperor of Embla was mentioned. Also, the first king of Nidavellir was an important plot point at the end of Book 5. There's also the first king of Askr, Lif (not undead Alfonse, but the guy whose name he took.)

On the other side... Sharena, Anna, Henriette, Veronica, Fjorm, Gunnthra, Ylgr, Laevatein, Laegjarn, Nifl, Thorr, Loki, Ymir, Hel, Ganglot, Eir, Thrasir, Peony, Mirabilis, Plumeria, Triandra, Freyja, Eitr (if I'm counting Lif and Alfonse as separate, I'm counting Eitr and Freyja as separate), Lady Gagap (I don't feel like looking up her name), Reginn, Nott, Dagr, Eitri (may have originally been male; has switched bodies a lot over the years), Ash, Green Veronica (I forgot her name), Embla, Kvasir, Seidr, Gullveig, Heidr, Nerpuz, Ratatoskr, Hraesvelgr, and Nidhoggr (plus unknown lady in the key art.) That (not counting Book 8 key art lady) is 39 ladies. Of those, 26 are alive (I didn't count anyone living within anyone else, so Kvasir, Gullveig, and Ymir are considered dead. I also didn't count Thrasir as alive since she's dead, even though she's still an active player. However, I did count both Freyja and Eitr as alive...since they are, currently, both alive. Counting them as separate beings for now, but that'll probably change with the next TT+.)

Those mentioned but not with actual appearances: Helbindi's little sister, Veronica's mother, Bruno's mother, Eir's (birth) mother, assorted Muspellian princesses and their moms, the Nifl royal siblings' mother (and father, actually, I think, but he doesn't go in this pile and their mom was specifically mentioned), the first queen of Nifl (whose name escapes me right now), Thrasir (the first queen of Embla, not undead Veronica who took her name)... Eh, I don't really feel like listing much more.

Anyway, totals, as of the beginning of Book 8 and just before the end of the Nihility and Nightmares TT+:

4/15 males are alive. (Interestingly, 2 are mortal (Hrid and Alfonse), 2 are godlike (Elm and Laeradr))

26/39 females are alive.

Females have about a 2 in 3 shot at living. Males only have a 1 in 3 shot, which isn't great since there are so few of them to begin with (and even then, they might die before they survive.)

Those are some amazing stats. Really feels like the species (multiple, technically) won't be able to survive for long.

Edited December 7, 2023 by Mercakete

[Tybrosion]

Well, we only just started and I already have the question the intelligence of the (presumed) big bad.

Sure mate, send your pure hearted squirrel child, who previously spent her life healing people, to go assassinate someone in cold blood. She’ll definitely get that job done.

Maybe I’m the dumb one and getting Ratatoskr to work with the Order of Heroes is actually part of his plan. But until we learn his full intentions, I’m judging this at face value and it sure isn’t a great start for the antagonist.

[Lemmy]

I’m completely stumped by the purple haired girl, is she a mouse or cat, what is in her hand.

 

The man appears to be deer, and there is a reference to 4 deer being tied to ygdrasil, and he has that familiar face mask to fit in with medical theme.

[DefyingFates]

6 hours ago, Mercakete said:

Those are some amazing stats. Really feels like the species (multiple, technically) won't be able to survive for long.

When you put it like that, yeah: Alfadhor doesn't even need to do anything, he just needs to wait and humanity will wipe itself out faster than it will in our world!

6 hours ago, Mercakete said:

Laeradr (1 or 2, depending on if he's the guy depicted on the left side of the key art or not. Also, more dudes COULD be introduced. Since only one guy has been mentioned by name here so far

Ratatoskr mentions a brother in her Lv 40 conversation so I assume it's him, since as Lemmy says that mask could be a surgical one.

9 minutes ago, Lemmy said:

I’m completely stumped by the purple haired girl, is she a mouse or cat, what is in her hand.

She's holding a horn which could be a Heimdall reference, but for now I'm thinking she's a hawk - specifically Vethrfolnir who has magical sight (hence her weird eyes). She may be another of Ratatoskr's sisters, which means the translators avoided the issue with Gunnthra early on when she only mentioned having sisters.

But again, Hrid is non-existent at this point so she may have already been onto something.

Edited December 7, 2023 by DefyingFates

[Mercakete]

4 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

Ratatoskr mentions a brother in her Lv 40 conversation so I assume it's him, since as Lemmy says that mask could be a surgical one.

She also mentions him in a castle conversation, actually, but I only encountered that after typing up the thing you're quoting so, yeah. Anyway, pretty sure he's the lone brother (whom she doesn't care about saving? She only asked that her sisters be saved, so... (I'm kidding, but it's kind of funny. Could be that the Japanese used, though, was "shimeitachi," which would mean "(my) sister(s) (and company)" which could include her brother. But, usually, when a male is included, you'd use "kyo(u?)dai" even if it's a bunch of ladies and just 1 dude.))

So, at least 2 dudes this book, but I'll wait until he actually shows up to count him. But yeah, masks are common in the medical field. I have to wonder what sort of occupation in said field he's inspired by, or if they're doubling up on types of medical professionals. Maybe he's a paramedic or an emergency search and rescue medic (similar jobs, but still distinct)? Like, the sort of guy who'll pull you out of the rubble after a natural disaster and do some emergency first aid while trying to get you to a medical facility. That sort of hard core, demanding medical job would make sense for a late-game character.

Quote

She's holding a horn which could be a Heimdall reference, but for now I'm thinking she's a hawk - specifically Vethrfolnir who has magical sight (hence her weird eyes). She may be another of Ratatoskr's sisters, which means the translators avoided the issue with Gunnthra early on when she only mentioned having sisters.

I'm pretty gosh dang convinced she's Heimdall, yeah. (Also, may be good to clarify that that's either one heck of a drinking horn, or a signal horn. I kept looking on her head for a horn when it was said she had one. XD) Heimdall has special eyes too, and he (she in this case) blows a horn to signal Ragnarok once the world tree gets breached and the human forces advance into Asgard. (I got most of this info from a YouTube comment, though, so take it with a grain of salt and/or more research.) This sure looks like the direction FEH is taking too, so I'm fairly convinced that Ragnarok will happen in the next book.

Quote

But again, Hrid is non-existent at this point so she may have already been onto something.

He's in Nifl organizing its restoration, just like Leavateinn was doing in Muspell.

[Lemmy]

Purple lady does seem to be wrapped up as if in a cast or bandages which makes her seem more like a patient that a doctor

a horn is better than any medical instrument i can think of

I hope Ratatoskr's triple agent stint introduces us to everyone soon

[Etrurian emperor]

I have no faith that IS has any interest to do this but Ratatosk's mythological counterpart does lend itself for an interesting possibility. I believe that in the Myth Ratatosk is a cheeky squirrel who deliberately goes back and forth the world tree to give two giant monsters false information in order to trigger a fight between them. So based on that it would be very cool if cute little ratatosk is lying through her teeth to both team Askr's and her sisters to start a big conflict. 

[ARMADS!!!]

Cool, now they have even harder to spell names. (to be honest, I sorta like it)

I was pretty excited with the trailer, everyone's design is cool and I'm glad that Kozaki Yusuke comes back for the art (not that it needed to be specifically him, but I'd detest it if it kept being book VII's artist as I'm not a huge fan of the arstyle on OG alts, but either way I'm a sucker for Kozaki Yusuke art!), the story looks pretty cool too and I'm excited to know what happens next.

 Even though now I'd normally start to rumble about how disappointed I am that we didn't get a male freebie again, I'm actually so satisfied with Ratatoskr that I won't even start to complain (also, apparently we'll have at least 2 men on this book, right? Them being Ratatoskr's dad and her brother that is mentioned on a castle conversation and on the lv 40 conversation, It's almost 50/50 for now, good enough for me for now). I gotta admit that I wasn't expecting the reaction I've been seeing towards Ratatoskr, it seems like a bunch of people here found her too formulaic or weren't exactly fans of her, personally I instantly liked her, first because we see from the trailer that she's not on the of the army of Kiran's simps and instead seems to have some sort of feeling for Alfonse (I wasn't sure if she was in love with him or if she knew him from somewhere), and then when I first opened the game after the update it started with her saying "Hi, I just want that prince Alfonse and my sisters, well... don't die" . I liked her even more after playing the chapters, she's way more hysterical than your average freebie (that are usually a lot more composed) and I wasn't expecting that frightened sprite at all, also she's so stupidly imcopetent and gives information straight away in a way that makes me really quesion the villain too though she is competent at the same time (like in gathering information and sneaking on Alfonse), kinda reminds me of Knuckles on the older Sonic games, he was capable but would believe the first bullshit anyone told him (I know her personality has nothing to do with Knuckles' though), I don't often laugh during feh's main story (exceptions are probably some Dagr moments, specially with Alfonse, some of Anna's moments and... Maybe some Nótt moment but I'm not sure also some very corny moments in book IV but I'm pretty sure that the devs intention was not for us to be laughing during them) but Ratatoskr is being quite funny to see. Honestly, I'd have taken anything over Seidr (who for me is the worst OC, I detest her) but my expectatives were surpassed by a mile with what we got!

 

 Also, good call on Alfonse and Veronica being kidnapped, I haven't notice this when I first watched the trailer. I hope this will give more opportunity for Anna and Sharena to shine. 

 

 And speaking of Alfonse being kidnapped, maybe he was uncharacteristically imprudent by not doing anything to protect himself after learning that he is the target of a group of assassins that can sneak on him easily, didn't he even consider preparing himself in case Ratatoskr betrays him, or at the very least if one of the other assassins realized he was still alive and went after him to end Ratatoskr's unfinished task? I wonder if that's what will get him kidnapped or if he'll learn that for some reason the assassins will want to kidnap him instead of killing on the spot like Ratatoskr was supposed to do so he'll use himself as decoy to enter the Yggdrasil.

One thing that surprised me was using the Yggdrasil as sort of one of the worlds, or a connection between them (which are the 9 worlds again? Do Embla and Askr- and maybe Muspell and Nifl- count as separated worlds or are they all just Midgard? and does Vanaheimr and Asgard count? Does Dokkalfheimr and Ljosalfheimr count? Does Nidavellir count since it was just a separation of Jotunheimr? Which of  the worlds are left to see, or we've seen them all already?) because I originally thought that Askr was made to symbolize Yggdrasil as the royal family can create portals connecting every world and there's even the drawing of a tree on that stone during the summoning sections, but also Askr was said to be born from the tree so maybe that's why they're both related, which could mean that Ratatoskr's dad has powers akin to that in some way? 

 

Also, Alfonse's mom is definitively gonna die on this book.

 

On 12/5/2023 at 11:44 PM, Mercakete said:

Hmm so, while the music grew on me a little, I personally don't think it makes as much of a statement as the last three books' did (for me, anyway.) Books 3, 5, 6, and 7 had the best music, in my opinion. This one fits the theme of the book and all, but it's just not as catchy and/or make as big an impact as the others did. This is just how it affected me, though.

 I liked the music on this book as much as I liked books 3-7 (excluding for book 4) music, for me it was just as catchy.
 Speaking of the music,  I think that in this book they've done a great work with pausing the music sometimes when something important happens (like when Anna storms in to annouce the invasion or when they first see Ratatoskr), it it new or they've always done and it was me that only noticed it now?

Edited December 9, 2023 by ARMADS!!!

[Mysterique Sign]

Læraðr is a tree in Norse mythology, often associated with Yggdrassill, that's above Valhalla. A goat named Heiðrún and a stag named Eikþyrnir are said to eat its leaves, and the goat produces mead.

So the guy with the antlers is probably Eikþyrnir and the girl across from him is probably Heiðrún

[ARMADS!!!]

Oh, I watched the trailer again trying to see where the hell were this dude and this girl that everyone is talking about, and I had to go check the feh channel to see them there 😛

BUT while I was watching the trailer again, I noticed that after they show Alfonse and Veronica being attacked, the scene with Ratatoskr shows that she's travelling only with Kiran, Anna and Sharena, which means that Al e Vero surely were kidnapped (or ate the very, very least, Alfonse was separated from us) so yay, definitively more Sharena and Anna scenes! (not sure if most of you had already noticed this but anyway).

 EDIT: Serenes forest doesn't stop turning the faces made on keyboard into emojicons! 

Edited December 9, 2023 by ARMADS!!!

[Mercakete]

17 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I have no faith that IS has any interest to do this but Ratatosk's mythological counterpart does lend itself for an interesting possibility. I believe that in the Myth Ratatosk is a cheeky squirrel who deliberately goes back and forth the world tree to give two giant monsters false information in order to trigger a fight between them. So based on that it would be very cool if cute little ratatosk is lying through her teeth to both team Askr's and her sisters to start a big conflict. 

The triple agent plot is probably based on that, but I doubt they'll try to make Rat the instigator of the conflicts. Everything seems to be lining up with what she's saying so far. I'm glad for it, too; I feel like making her a mischievous liar would just be a poor move, especially since we had a similar thing with Gullveig in the last book.

9 hours ago, ARMADS!!! said:

Even though now I'd normally start to rumble about how disappointed I am that we didn't get a male freebie again, I'm actually so satisfied with Ratatoskr that I won't even start to complain (also, apparently we'll have at least 2 men on this book, right? Them being Ratatoskr's dad and her brother that is mentioned on a castle conversation and on the lv 40 conversation, It's almost 50/50 for now, good enough for me for now).

It's 2 men and at least 5 women. 3 men and 8 women (so far) if Alfonse, Sharena, Anna, and Veronica are counted. So, I'd say it's more 1/3 men and 2/3 women than 50%, which is in alignment with their general percentages so far anyway. But yeah, actually, Ratatoskr and her sisters feel right to me. Like, for some reason, them being women just makes sense to me. For some reason I can't explain, I like it in this case, even though the fem fatigue is so present for me in other books (especially Book 4.)

Quote

I gotta admit that I wasn't expecting the reaction I've been seeing towards Ratatoskr, it seems like a bunch of people here found her too formulaic or weren't exactly fans of her, personally I instantly liked her, first because we see from the trailer that she's not on the of the army of Kiran's simps and instead seems to have some sort of feeling for Alfonse (I wasn't sure if she was in love with him or if she knew him from somewhere), and then when I first opened the game after the update it started with her saying "Hi, I just want that prince Alfonse and my sisters, well... don't die" . I liked her even more after playing the chapters, she's way more hysterical than your average freebie (that are usually a lot more composed) and I wasn't expecting that frightened sprite at all, also she's so stupidly imcopetent and gives information straight away in a way that makes me really quesion the villain too though she is competent at the same time (like in gathering information and sneaking on Alfonse), kinda reminds me of Knuckles on the older Sonic games, he was capable but would believe the first bullshit anyone told him (I know her personality has nothing to do with Knuckles' though), I don't often laugh during feh's main story (exceptions are probably some Dagr moments, specially with Alfonse, some of Anna's moments and... Maybe some Nótt moment but I'm not sure also some very corny moments in book IV but I'm pretty sure that the devs intention was not for us to be laughing during them) but Ratatoskr is being quite funny to see. Honestly, I'd have taken anything over Seidr (who for me is the worst OC, I detest her) but my expectatives were surpassed by a mile with what we got!

I've said it again and again in my reaction, but I really like Ratatoskr. I don't see her as you described her, though.

Here's my assessment: she's sincere and honest, but not extreme in her views. She hopes for life and health, but understands that sometimes there need to be exceptions. She does not believe that exceptions should be made lightly, though. Specifically, she says that she can't kill someone who "has done nothing wrong." She also seems to believe in thorough investigation before casting a judgment, since she didn't refuse to kill Alfonse until she'd met him for herself, but cited all the research she'd done/read up on about him when she gave her reasons for why she couldn't bring herself to kill him. However, she didn't object to her mission until then. She seems intelligent and fair-minded to me (to the point of even understanding that she might justly be executed for attempted regicide), while also having a realistic fear of death and pain, not wanting to die, but if she had to be killed, to be killed quickly. She also has deep insight into things, and develops these insights quickly -- she's astute. That said, it doesn't often occur to her to share context or news that is old to her with others. In her mind, it's already understood information because it's already understood to her. Notice how what she usually talks about are things she just noticed or figured out herself, rather than explaining why her insights are important by giving context for them for others' sakes.

As for her crush on Alfonse? I'm not actually sure if she has a crush or not. If she does have one, it's probably only just developing, and I'm guessing she's not aware that she has a crush at all. Her admiration feels platonic to me. She certainly respects and likes him, but it could just be as a leader or friend. (Look at what leadership she's recently had to follow. She's a servant at heart, and all servants want a kind master.) Plus, as Alfonse was her target and the one she did research on, he's the one taking up her attention right now. She may think similarly of others if she took the time to focus on them, but things are a bit tense for that right now. (Plus, Anna's rough treatment of her is probably not fostering good feelings toward the commander.) She's a bit high-strung, too, but given her position, that's completely understandable.

I really like Ratatoskr. She's not a gimmick, she's a character, and dang does it feel nice to read a well-written female.

Quote

And speaking of Alfonse being kidnapped, maybe he was uncharacteristically imprudent by not doing anything to protect himself after learning that he is the target of a group of assassins that can sneak on him easily, didn't he even consider preparing himself in case Ratatoskr betrays him, or at the very least if one of the other assassins realized he was still alive and went after him to end Ratatoskr's unfinished task? I wonder if that's what will get him kidnapped or if he'll learn that for some reason the assassins will want to kidnap him instead of killing on the spot like Ratatoskr was supposed to do so he'll use himself as decoy to enter the Yggdrasil.

Eh, seems like Alfonse is fighting in his own way, and defending himself that way. He's sticking around the Order for now, and he's actively coming up with strategies to oppose these new foes. (We also don't see whether or not he has contingency plans in case Ratatoskr betrays them, but knowing Alfonse, he's considering that too, and just keeping those thoughts quiet.) So, it's not like he's doing nothing to defend himself. I'm worried that he'll use himself as bait (and I've said as much on here) but that's just me being a reader in some nice tension, hoping for the best for a character in a tight spot. So, the writers are doing their jobs. 😛

Quote

One thing that surprised me was using the Yggdrasil as sort of one of the worlds, or a connection between them (which are the 9 worlds again? Do Embla and Askr- and maybe Muspell and Nifl- count as separated worlds or are they all just Midgard? and does Vanaheimr and Asgard count? Does Dokkalfheimr and Ljosalfheimr count? Does Nidavellir count since it was just a separation of Jotunheimr? Which of  the worlds are left to see, or we've seen them all already?) because I originally thought that Askr was made to symbolize Yggdrasil as the royal family can create portals connecting every world and there's even the drawing of a tree on that stone during the summoning sections, but also Askr was said to be born from the tree so maybe that's why they're both related, which could mean that Ratatoskr's dad has powers akin to that in some way?

Askr took us to his realm in Book 6, and it's either in or connected to Yggdrasill. It's been said (I can't remember where right now -- maybe in a castle quote somewhere) that Midgard is where mortals live. So, Askr, Embla, Nifl, and Muspell are certainly part of Midgard. Jotunheimr and Nidavellir are also part of it, I'm pretty sure. However, Vanaheimr, Asgard, the dream worlds, and Yggdrasill are most definitely not. Askr (deity) came from Yggdrasill, so yeah, it could be that he got his gate powers from the tree's world-connecting nature, and why a relic of his (the summoning ruins, where Briedablik was stored before Anna summoned the summoner at the beginning of Book 1) depicts the world tree.

As to what counts as one of the realms and what doesn't, though? I have no idea. FEH is not clear on that at all except that there are 9 of them. Heck, the Bifrost might be its own world in the next book with the big bad being Heimdall (and a bunch of valkyries mixed with undead versions of big players who have died in previous books as the einheijar, which would follow with Lif and Thrasir having been recruited by Thorr already) just before Asgard and Alfador being Book 10's main focus. We're at the world tree now, so it would follow.

Quote

Also, Alfonse's mom is definitively gonna die on this book.

Queen Henriette will certainly have a role. She might die, but I'm hoping we learn more about her past. What if she's actually originally from Yggdrasill herself, and just has her animal aspects "turned off" like how Ratatoskr's ears and tail disappear when she's unconscious in the trailer? Most notably, in the FB of Rowan, she says that she shouldn't take to the battlefield, and hints that it's because she's too powerful. (This was before we gat Valentine's Henriette, but even in things she says as that unit, she could be trying very, very hard not to accidentally obliterate everyone. She also says that she used to watch the Askran Day of Devotion (it feels very "watch on from afar" to me, which works well if she's watching from a no-mortals pathway), and that it was one time when she was actually at the festival that she met Gustav and the two fell in love.) Anyway, even if she's not someone from Yggdrasill, she could very well be a goddess -- maybe even a direct descendent of Alfador's, trying to keep her identity a secret so she can keep living amid mortals.

Quote

I liked the music on this book as much as I liked books 3-7 (excluding for book 4) music, for me it was just as catchy.
 Speaking of the music,  I think that in this book they've done a great work with pausing the music sometimes when something important happens (like when Anna storms in to annouce the invasion or when they first see Ratatoskr), it it new or they've always done and it was me that only noticed it now?

They've done it before. Most notably was in Book 6 during the part where you fight Ascended Veronica. Even if you have the game set to change music when you enter a battle, the music stays the same as the map theme when you attack her/she attacks you.

8 hours ago, Mysterique Sign said:

Læraðr is a tree in Norse mythology, often associated with Yggdrassill, that's above Valhalla. A goat named Heiðrún and a stag named Eikþyrnir are said to eat its leaves, and the goat produces mead.

So the guy with the antlers is probably Eikþyrnir and the girl across from him is probably Heiðrún

Neat idea. Too much is up in the air to say yet, but it's nice getting more info from the myths.

8 hours ago, ARMADS!!! said:

Oh, I watched the trailer again trying to see where the hell were this dude and this girl that everyone is talking about, and I had to go check the feh channel to see them there 😛

BUT while I was watching the trailer again, I noticed that after they show Alfonse and Veronica being attacked, the scene with Ratatoskr shows that she's travelling only with Kiran, Anna and Sharena, which means that Al e Vero surely were kidnapped (or ate the very, very least, Alfonse was separated from us) so yay, definitively more Sharena and Anna scenes! (not sure if most of you had already noticed this but anyway).

 EDIT: Serenes forest doesn't stop turning the faces made on keyboard into emojicons! 

Yeah, it's been talked about/noticed, to answer your uncertainty.

Anna and Sharena have been getting a lot of lines already in this book, too, so it's not like they needed to kidnap Alfonse for that. Personally, I just really like high-stakes tension in stories, so for me, seeing how Alfonse tries to survive is what's making me excited about it. I'd be more excited about the Anna/Sharena focus if IS didn't refuse to grow their characters. Sharena shedding her "I can't understand why anyone would ever want to hurt another person" and becoming more "This is just how some people are. We can't change them all, even with an open hand. We should try to make peace with them if we can, but we need to have weapons ready in case they choose violence." would be such an awesome move to me, though.

 

Edit: OKAY HOLD UP. I was looking at the key art again, and the stag man's holding something in his right hand. It looks like a dumbbell with a spike on each end. Not sure if that means anything, but the thing that caught my attention is the blue haired girl. At the end of each braid is a spike that reminds me of the end of Askr's and Ash's tails, and the ends of Lady Gagap's tendrils. I wondered if there was a connection between Lady Gagap and Askr because of it, and maybe there's some connection here too.

Edited December 9, 2023 by Mercakete

[Etrurian emperor]

The trailer and first info made a kidnapping of Alfonse likely but now we have more context I think other scenarios are more likely to explain his absence in that clip.

The mission of Ratatosk and her sisters got revealed to be to kill Alfonse rather than abduct him and later Ratatosk's sister muses on the possibility of killing a team member to slow down the group without actually having to do battle. So now my main guess is that Alfonse either gets seriously wounded and the girls need to find a cure for him, or Alfonse ends up faking his death and warning Veronica in time so she can go do the same. Then later in the story the duo returns in a way akin to how the ''dead'' Basilio did in Awakening.

Edited December 9, 2023 by Etrurian emperor

[Mercakete]

36 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

The trailer and first info made a kidnapping of Alfonse likely but now we have more context I think other scenarios are more likely to explain his absence in that clip.

The mission of Ratatosk and her sisters got revealed to be to kill Alfonse rather than abduct him and later Ratatosk's sister muses on the possibility of killing a team member to slow down the group without actually having to do battle. So now my main guess is that Alfonse either gets seriously wounded and the girls need to find a cure for him, or Alfonse ends up faking his death and warning Veronica in time so she can go do the same. Then later in the story the duo returns in a way akin to how the ''dead'' Basilio did in Awakening.

Huh, nice theories! Though, I still think an abduction is possible. If it's all about a surgical strike for Hraesvegr, she might use her warping ability to take Alfonse away and make it a 1 v 1 match. Then her own people could retreat and she could fight Alfonse in more favorable circumstances (where she has a terrain advantage, and he doesn't have allies.) Just like separating one individual from a herd when hunting.

[Gommerfield]

On 12/9/2023 at 8:16 AM, ARMADS!!! said:

Cool, now they have even harder to spell names. (to be honest, I sorta like it)

I was pretty excited with the trailer, everyone's design is cool and I'm glad that Kozaki Yusuke comes back for the art (not that it needed to be specifically him, but I'd detest it if it kept being book VII's artist as I'm not a huge fan of the arstyle on OG alts, but either way I'm a sucker for Kozaki Yusuke art!), the story looks pretty cool too and I'm excited to know what happens next.

 Even though now I'd normally start to rumble about how disappointed I am that we didn't get a male freebie again, I'm actually so satisfied with Ratatoskr that I won't even start to complain (also, apparently we'll have at least 2 men on this book, right? Them being Ratatoskr's dad and her brother that is mentioned on a castle conversation and on the lv 40 conversation, It's almost 50/50 for now, good enough for me for now). I gotta admit that I wasn't expecting the reaction I've been seeing towards Ratatoskr, it seems like a bunch of people here found her too formulaic or weren't exactly fans of her, personally I instantly liked her, first because we see from the trailer that she's not on the of the army of Kiran's simps and instead seems to have some sort of feeling for Alfonse (I wasn't sure if she was in love with him or if she knew him from somewhere), and then when I first opened the game after the update it started with her saying "Hi, I just want that prince Alfonse and my sisters, well... don't die" . I liked her even more after playing the chapters, she's way more hysterical than your average freebie (that are usually a lot more composed) and I wasn't expecting that frightened sprite at all, also she's so stupidly imcopetent and gives information straight away in a way that makes me really quesion the villain too though she is competent at the same time (like in gathering information and sneaking on Alfonse), kinda reminds me of Knuckles on the older Sonic games, he was capable but would believe the first bullshit anyone told him (I know her personality has nothing to do with Knuckles' though), I don't often laugh during feh's main story (exceptions are probably some Dagr moments, specially with Alfonse, some of Anna's moments and... Maybe some Nótt moment but I'm not sure also some very corny moments in book IV but I'm pretty sure that the devs intention was not for us to be laughing during them) but Ratatoskr is being quite funny to see. Honestly, I'd have taken anything over Seidr (who for me is the worst OC, I detest her) but my expectatives were surpassed by a mile with what we got!

 

 Also, good call on Alfonse and Veronica being kidnapped, I haven't notice this when I first watched the trailer. I hope this will give more opportunity for Anna and Sharena to shine. 

 

 And speaking of Alfonse being kidnapped, maybe he was uncharacteristically imprudent by not doing anything to protect himself after learning that he is the target of a group of assassins that can sneak on him easily, didn't he even consider preparing himself in case Ratatoskr betrays him, or at the very least if one of the other assassins realized he was still alive and went after him to end Ratatoskr's unfinished task? I wonder if that's what will get him kidnapped or if he'll learn that for some reason the assassins will want to kidnap him instead of killing on the spot like Ratatoskr was supposed to do so he'll use himself as decoy to enter the Yggdrasil. This is actually a very exciting plot. I think the authors can easily get on the list of Canadian top writers at https://ca.edubirdie.com/write-my-essay-for-me whom I turned to for help at school. They always wrote the best stories for me and left a great impression.One thing that surprised me was using the Yggdrasil as sort of one of the worlds, or a connection between them (which are the 9 worlds again? Do Embla and Askr- and maybe Muspell and Nifl- count as separated worlds or are they all just Midgard? and does Vanaheimr and Asgard count? Does Dokkalfheimr and Ljosalfheimr count? Does Nidavellir count since it was just a separation of Jotunheimr? Which of  the worlds are left to see, or we've seen them all already?) because I originally thought that Askr was made to symbolize Yggdrasil as the royal family can create portals connecting every world and there's even the drawing of a tree on that stone during the summoning sections, but also Askr was said to be born from the tree so maybe that's why they're both related, which could mean that Ratatoskr's dad has powers akin to that in some way? 

 

Also, Alfonse's mom is definitively gonna die on this book.

 

 I liked the music on this book as much as I liked books 3-7 (excluding for book 4) music, for me it was just as catchy.
 Speaking of the music,  I think that in this book they've done a great work with pausing the music sometimes when something important happens (like when Anna storms in to annouce the invasion or when they first see Ratatoskr), it it new or they've always done and it was me that only noticed it now?

I think Asgard will be kept for the ninth book as a pivotal separate world, and maybe we'll get to see Alfador.

And I like the music, but it seems like a variation on the main theme from the book 5. The overall atmosphere of the main theme reminds me of the sound characteristic of Book 5. Although maybe it just seems to me.

Edited December 29, 2023 by Gommerfield

[DefyingFates]

Huh, that... was actually a good chapter. It's nice to put aside really wacky stuff for a Book (at least for now) to focus on plain mind games, though we'll have to see if the story can maintain this momentum.

[Etrurian emperor]

Surprisingly good chapter yeah. The siblings openly refering Veronica as their friend is cute development too. 

[Mercakete]

Getting into the story now. Huh, that's interesting that their dad anticipated that the Askrans would try to get Ratatoskr to work with them. Hraesvelgr also mentions a "true mission." I wonder what that could be, if it's not actually to kill Alfonse and Veronica. Maybe it has to do with Henriette...but why the diversion? Are they trying to prompt Henriette into acting, or trying to get Alfonse and Veronica's people to focus elsewhere so that they won't pick up on signs toward their true goal?

"It's like Prince Alfonse said... They're keeping things from me." Interesting how Rat picked up on that just from that conversation. Yup; perceptive. Aw. And she feels so bad about lying to Hraesvelgr. Yup; honest. So far, things are consistent, despite the character trait qualities ramming up against one another. Also, I wonder if Hraesvelgr suspects that Ratatoskr isn't just playing at working with Askr. She seemed to suspect more than she was saying directly, anyway.

Ah, and yes, they're finally reaching out to Embla for assistance...though I don't know why they're not suspecting that Veronica's also going to be targeted since they already guessed (correctly) that the peace talks are being disrupted intentionally by this third party. Heck, they already mentioned that they suspect that the same sort of stuff is going on in Embla. Well, at least they're finally going to talk with Veronica...but the reasoning is cringe... "We're friends now, after all!" Oh, Sharena...you're, like, 3 years old. But seriously, Alfonse wasn't acting like he was concerned. I feel like, given all that's already been discussed, he would be taking this more seriously and cautiously, with more urgency. Like, "We'd better get in touch with Veronica. If efforts were expended to frame the Emblians for the attacks on Askr in order to disrupt the peace talks, then the same thing is likely going on there. Let's proceed with caution, and keep an eye out for more assassination attempts along the way." Instead, it's just "Veronica should be open to speaking with us. We don't know who else may be targeted, so let's be careful." Also, they seem to be going themselves. Has this country never heard of an envoy? If you're royalty and you know that assassins are actively out to get you, you find a way to throw them off and get somewhere safe. You don't go visit a neighboring kingdom with predictable travel routes along which you could be ambushed (unless you're actually trying to be a target, which could be the case, I suppose. Heck, this chapter is called "bait.")

Oh heck I just noticed the tools on Hraesvelgr's belt. Creepy.

Regarding Hraesvelgr's target being Alfonse here... "This was always Father's plan. You are not at fault." That should clue you in a bit there, Rat, that they're onto you being a triple agent. Also, it really looked like Hraesvelgr wasn't going to tell Rat who her target was. But then her drunk sister spilled the beans, so she rolled with it.

I wonder if Hraesvelgr telling Rat what false info to give was a test, even if it was just to confirm that Rat betrayed them. She knows how the Askrans would move if they had this or that info, so it would be easy to tell what information they're acting on based on their movements.

"For now, we should keep Alfonse safe inside the castle. As long as he's within those walls, he'll be safe!" Because that worked SO WELL last time... Sharena, they know how to break into the castle and how he moves within it. It's better to proceed with that plan using a body double while you move the real one to a safe location. Maybe set up an ambush or two to cover the bases of where they might strike.

Hmm I guess Alfonse is planning on prioritizing hiding Rat's involvement. I'd say that, rather than not using this info at all, it would be better to make some hidden contingency plans. "Not reacting to this information in any way" isn't good. "Not reacting to this information in an overt way" is much better. Ah, I see. Sure, the info could be fake, but are you really going to run that risk? At least have a few escape routes planned.

Yup, a test is in play. And this is where the chapter title comes from, eh?

"This is the game of intelligence and counterintelligence that we are forced to play in war." I'm really liking this book. It has the intellectual focus and serious tone that the circumstances really do demand for realism. ^_^

Oh good! Looks like they sent an envoy or a letter to Veronica instead of going to talk to her personally. Thank you. x_x "She will ally with us again. And she wants to meet to discuss some other matters as well." Uhhh that sounds vague and suspicious. Are you sure this isn't a forgery? "She hopes that those discussions can happen privately, somewhere along our shared border." Not even a specific meeting place? "It would be best to take a small group in secret, but...with the foe we face now, that has its own risks." If it's best, then why not do it? "We will meet at a location not too far from here - a location reachable within a few hours." Okay, not bad... Still, better to keep a hidden, larger or highly-mobile force relatively close to the meeting spot. "I will make the journey alone." ARE YOU STUPID? Okay, just...what? You're the next in line to become king, your mom's just being regent for now, you KNOW you're a target for assassination, and you want to go ALONE? Okay, this has "bad idea" written all over it. What the heck, Alfonse? I know it's one of those "it'll all work out in the end" things, but he's the sort to be rational hand have sound reasoning about this stuff. Like, come on. Maybe if he has a decoy taking another route, but come on.

"Now wait just a minute! Alone?!" Yeah, I'm with Anna on this one. Explain yourself. "Covert actions taken by the lone individual have the highest chance of success." No they don't! And you're, again, the crown prince! You need to be more careful with your life! "It's something I learned from you a long time ago, Commander Anna." Anna, this is your fault for teaching him wrong. At LEAST explain some nuance there! Individuals trained for covert missions are NOT THE SAME as any ol' person going about something alone. "With the proper training, someone moving by themselves can evade detection for several days." Much longer than that, actually, but again, "proper training" is a key phrase here! And the surrounding situation directly affects the success rate! It's not just a case of using a key in a lock (metaphorically speaking)! "That's not my only reasoning. But I can't say any more about that at the moment..." Hmm... Well, okay. If you really do have a sound plan, then alright. I understand how keeping things under wraps is wise here.

Oh heck the battlefield for this chapter looks just like where Alfonse was fighting Hraesvelgr in the book's opening movie.

"It was not originally pert of the plan that you would die, but...if I kill you, the future is less complicated." Oh. Interesting. So, they never actually intended to kill Alfonse (despite fielding 2 assassins to do so...? I think this book may have forgotten a little factor in war called "resource management.") And she's even letting is slip that this wasn't actually pert of the original plan. Hm. And Alfonse had a signal fire but...yeah, he may have overestimated himself. What was that intro, though? "So you actually came alone." It was like Hreasvelgr had threatened Alfonse or something to get him to come alone. She may have.

Okay, so Alfonse really did just survive for long enough that his allies could make it to him. Dang, that must have been hard. Still, I wish there was some way for us to have actually viewed the fight. This would have been nice as a full cutscene or even just written in paragraphs. What would fit best, though, is a dialogue scene somewhat depicting the battle, if a full cutscene wasn't an option. "Had I one more moment alone..." Sure, you can say that, but it's not as impactful as delivering the scene to the player. HOLY CRAP Okay, so, Hraesvelgr turns into an awesome harpy thing. Dang. That's cool. And shoot, those talons extend?! Well.

Fun thing for my playthrough personally: I killed her with Rearmed Lif. So, she was trying to kill Alfonse, and was killed by Dead Alfonse. It just feels kind of ironic in a pleasant way.

"It's...it's because I told them where Alfonse would be." Yeah, I figured Alfonse would use himself as bait. This might help Rat be trusted more, too...except that she showed up with the Askrans, so maybe that's moot? Anyway, that was WAY too reckless. I get what he was trying to do and I'm glad he succeeded, but seriously. Askr needs you as its next king. Don't take that lightly. "I can't believe you'd do such a thing, Alfonse." I agree with Sharena, but probably for more intellectual reasons than she's coming at this with. Still, I'm glad she's addressing the topic seriously. "I am sorry. Truly." Not if you'd do it again, and it seems to me that you would. Again, I get your perspective. That's why I'm saying you need to consider more than just what you were thinking of when you made that choice.

Also, though, Anna was all "they shouldn't have been able to find you" and I was all "was he really put through that kind of training to the point of being that effective at it?" Seems a bit unrealistic to me, given all the other stuff he'd have to have learned up till now (such as statesmanship.) It's just a matter of not having enough time to learn it to that level, even if he's a genius at it. There's also swordplay. All of these things take a lot of time and effort to learn. It's unrealistic to throw something as complicated as a whole espionage skill set on top of it.

Anyway, that's a wrap for this chapter! I liked it, but I feel like there were some things stuck in there for convenience's sake, and I could really feel the writers' limitations on how much they could say per chapter. Would've loved to actually see the fight between Alfonse and Hraesvelgr. And while it's a realistic step back, Alfonse did take a step back in the growth he'd managed after Book 3. His poor dad must be turning in his grave after trying to hard to impress upon Alfonse how he needs to treat his own life with more care and not be so reckless. Actually, it would've been nice if Sharena had brought that up. Like, "But what about what Dad said?" I guess Henriette could still give her son a talking-to the next time they meet up, but I feel like the plot would have already moved on by then and they wouldn't want to circle back on it (even if it's realistic. They just don't have the time/space, given the restrictions they've put on themselves as writers.)

Edit: Oh heck does this (Hraesvelgr being a harpy) mean that Nidhoggr is going to be some sort of awesome naga (snake person. Not Naga as in the divine dragon) thing?

Edit again: So, Alfonse survived this time...but then, why is he missing from the journey towards the end of the trailer? It could just be a misdirection, but I wonder if, when Veronica gets poisoned, the Order of Heroes bursts into the room (not shown in the trailer) to save her and Alfonse gets kidnapped at that time or something, along with Veronica. Or, maybe, he agrees to go quietly with Nidhoggr in exchange for Veronica receiving the antidote, even though they'd both be captured after that.

I may just be hoping for fun, tense scenes, but this would explain Alfonse and Veronica's absence at the end of the trailer, and Veronica seeming to have actually ingested poison. Plus, it's in alignment with what he said in this chapter about doing anything -- even risking himself -- for the sake of this peace between Askr and Embla, and safeguarding Veronica is a part if that. Plus, they're friends, but that seems more like a secondary reason for him. Rationale first, with that one (and there's nothing wrong with that; it's actually kind of refreshing since so many FE lords are all "friendship is everything!")

Edited January 11 by Mercakete

[DefyingFates]

We still haven't fallen into the trap of "only story for Part 1 and 5" yet which has me both surprised and happy. I liked the implication that Anna has done black ops missions before (unless I'm reading too deep into Part 4) but it won't mean much if she goes back to not mattering after this. Ratatoskr's sisters still doubt her and while I thought Hraesvelgr was sent for Veronica's mom she got stabbed by someone I assume was drugged by Nidhoggr (which lines up with the poisoning we see in the trailer). Either that or Hraesvelgr can shapeshift.

Despite the added story though, we didn't get any bizarre "cutscene -> random quote from Hero" situations. I wonder if IS' writing team is listening to feedback after all?

[Etrurian emperor]

A good chapter all around. Kind of weird that they don't bother showing Veronica's mom now her bond with her daughter is a focus. She'd be an interesting character particularly because I think she was opposed to Veronica's invasions. You'd think they would get closer once Veronica stopped being Askr's Bowser. 

It was also a nice showing for Sharena. IS might be very invested in the Alfonse and Veronica ship, but right now it seems Veronica and Sharena have the stronger bond. Its Sharena who's all giddy to meet Veronica, and she acts supportive when meeting her. 

[DefyingFates]

23 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

It was also a nice showing for Sharena. IS might be very invested in the Alfonse and Veronica ship, but right now it seems Veronica and Sharena have the stronger bond. Its Sharena who's all giddy to meet Veronica, and she acts supportive when meeting her. 

Probably a consequence of the Book VI ending being those two at a tea party. It is nice to see non-Alfonse Askrans do something though.

As for the ship... I hope they don't do anything blatant with that while Veronica still looks like a 10 year old. Lif + Thrasir only worked because they seemed to be a few hundred years older and what's a 6~8 age gap then?

23 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Kind of weird that they don't bother showing Veronica's mom now her bond with her daughter is a focus.

It either means she's going to die or she's being kept back for the midpoint trailer.

23 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

You'd think they would get closer once Veronica stopped being Askr's Bowser.

😄

[Mercakete]

Hmm so... I usually do a play-by-play reaction to the latest chapter as I go through it, but I don't know if anyone actually cares about it. It's fun to express what I think and I do manage to get more detailed impressions written that way, but if it's not something anyone enjoys or feels benefitted by, maybe I won't put as much effort into them as I usually do. The whole reason why I haven't played the latest chapter yet is that I haven't had the opportunity to write up my reactions (including impressions and theories) as I have them...but I really don't know if that matters or not. Do any of you even like them? 

Anyway, I don't intend to read anyone's comments on the latest chapter yet. Just trying to figure out how to go about this going forward. That said, I may still keep on writing my play-by-play reactions regardless just because I enjoy them and feel like it gives a more detailed record on things than general stuff like "huh, that was a good chapter" or "I didn't like this one." Like, what made it good? Could the writers have improved on their work? Where did they go wrong? Of course, I think critically (rather than being critical, mind you) about stories a lot, so this is just something I value and enjoy, even if no one else does (not saying no one does; just that there hasn't been enough for me to observe to say one way or the other.) So, yeah. I might even edit into this post my reactions to the latest chapter. Who knows? I was just thinking on this, so... Yep. Here's a post about me pondering stuff. XD

[ARMADS!!!]

 @Mercakete, I'll answer your latest post prior to everything to avoid making you scroll my whole post and possibly spoiling yourself (maybe you'll notice that I quoted things you said about the previous chapters here too, but don't read it yet cause I might have added remarks about the newest chapter or mentioned things I'd have said earlier on the post, which can be about the new chapter):

4 hours ago, Mercakete said:

Hmm so... I usually do a play-by-play reaction to the latest chapter as I go through it, but I don't know if anyone actually cares about it. It's fun to express what I think and I do manage to get more detailed impressions written that way, but if it's not something anyone enjoys or feels benefitted by, maybe I won't put as much effort into them as I usually do. The whole reason why I haven't played the latest chapter yet is that I haven't had the opportunity to write up my reactions (including impressions and theories) as I have them...but I really don't know if that matters or not. Do any of you even like them? 

Anyway, I don't intend to read anyone's comments on the latest chapter yet. Just trying to figure out how to go about this going forward. That said, I may still keep on writing my play-by-play reactions regardless just because I enjoy them and feel like it gives a more detailed record on things than general stuff like "huh, that was a good chapter" or "I didn't like this one." Like, what made it good? Could the writers have improved on their work? Where did they go wrong? Of course, I think critically (rather than being critical, mind you) about stories a lot, so this is just something I value and enjoy, even if no one else does (not saying no one does; just that there hasn't been enough for me to observe to say one way or the other.) So, yeah. I might even edit into this post my reactions to the latest chapter. Who knows? I was just thinking on this, so... Yep. Here's a post about me pondering stuff. XD

 I actually liked your "reaction" posts (it refreshed my mind a lot about chap 3 which allowed me to avoid having to replay it just to write my post, but mostly because I played chapter 3 a month ago and forgot to write about it...) though if you feel lazy about making them or feel like you have to delay playing the new chapters for too long cause you have no time to do them, then it's alright too, I honestly don't feel any big preference between the way you normally write posts on story book chapters vs these reaction posts, either is fine. If you go throught the work mostly because you feel there's some additional benefit in doing these instead of the sort of analysis that you normally do on the chapters, I'd say it mostly doesn't (in my opinion at least) as your comments were already pretty complete analysis of the chapters and with a good chunk of theories, but if you do it mostly because you prefer doing like that then keep doing these, they're just as fun to read. I'll read them either way cause long analysis are my cup of tea, the big difference is that we see you forming (and abandoning) the theories as the chapter goes by, keeping some of them at the end, rather than an analysis about the conclusions you had on the chapter after you already played.

 Basically, I liked the posts like this but since I don't have a preference of one way over another, I don't wanna convince you to keep doing these always, cause you said they are a lot more work to do (but don't wanna convince you to do them as you did before if you like doing it as you started to do now, either). So I'd say keep like this only if you think the extra work is worth it cause you like it better to do them this way, because the end result is not that different in terms of information, it's mostly just the format.

 

----------------------------------

 

Ok, so I kept procrastinating about making a post last month and ended up not doing it at all, so now I'll talk about both chapter 3 and 4 in general.

So about chapter 3, I loved that they started doing mind games a la book III, it's being very well impoemented.

 Hraesvelg said that the actual plan was not to kill Alfonse... Then Father send Ratatoskt knowing she would fail...why? It was not to get her killed cause he could've done it himself, I assume. Was it to make her a double agent on purpouse? What did he get to win with that? The askrans only found out about the Healing Hands because of Ratatoskr, I wonder if he wanted to be approached. I mean, I'm sure it'll all be explained later, but still.

 I think that "father"s true plan might be to kill the people with royal Askr blood because Askr was born into the Yggdrasil and... it might have something to do with it (I mean, were Father and Askr enemies? Did he not like that Askr gave away his blessing to the askran royal family? Does he think that the royals are using it wrong?). Not sure how this relates to Embla, but I'm confident wants to destroy the chance of peace between Askr and Embla for some reason (maybe he was Askr's friend and dislikes Embla so he doesn't want the two kingdoms to not be enemies? Idk), Nidhoggr even says in part 1 of chapter 4 (Im paraphrasing it): "If the empress dies, the people won't accept peace with Askr! I wonder if that'd reascend Embla's hatred for Askr...", though there's a chance that that's just she getting to a conclusion and being excited about it cause she found it interesting- and not Father's real goals (since he doesn't tell them his actual goals and all). Or maybe he just wants to stop the peace deal from happening and doesn't particularly care about killing the ones with Askr Royal blood. I just hope they give him an actual good reason that makes sense to all he does, cause for now we know that, apparently, he gave up on healing people and is sending his "daughters" to risk themselves by being assassins, while completely disregarding their feelings on the matter, and plans to kill them after it! You need a good justification for this. Also, unless I'm forgetting someone (which I think I'm not), figures that Hraesvelg is our first camus in feh since like, Laegjarn, isn't she? I like her a lot for now, can't say much about Nidhoggr for now but she does have potential.

 

 More specifically about this chapter:

 I love that they finally mentioned Embla's empress in more detail, I always wanted them too (I remember times where we weren't even sure of who was supposed to be Embla's empress/emperor since they had only been mentioned back in book I or something). Wonder if she'll actually die now, I wanna see her face at least. Still we know Veronica herself is a target too, from the trailer. 

 Also liked the brief mention about how Sharena feels SOMETHING about their father's death, and Anna got to shine with her fake murder threat idea, I feel like some books ago they'd give this idea to Alfonse because "he's the smart guy and therefore the only one that can think of plans" so it's nice that Anna got it, I feel like they're really doing an effort to give her and Sharena more moments here. Not to say that Alfonse isn't having great smart moments here either, I'm glad that they didn't feel like pushing him aside in order to give Anna and Sharena cool moments.

 I gotta admit that I didn't think of the count/chief of the royal guard (or whatever similar term he's called in english, we still don't have the chapter scripts in feh wiki for me to check) as potential murderer, now I feel fooled. Wonder if Hraesvelg paid/threteaned him to do it or something, or disguised as him, or what the hell she did.

 Hraesvelg seemed convinced (and relieved) that Ratatoskr is on their side, while it seems Nidhoggr is starting to suspect she's a triple agent.

 Other thing I'm waiting for (though I know it'll very likely not be soon) is to see what's gonna be this book's CG, I loved that they started to do this.

 Think this is being one of my favorite book, only after book III for now, it might very well surpass it eventually.

 

On 1/11/2024 at 3:39 PM, Mercakete said:

"It was not originally pert of the plan that you would die, but...if I kill you, the future is less complicated." Oh. Interesting. So, they never actually intended to kill Alfonse (despite fielding 2 assassins to do so...? I think this book may have forgotten a little factor in war called "resource management.") And she's even letting is slip that this wasn't actually pert of the original plan. Hm. And Alfonse had a signal fire but...yeah, he may have overestimated himself. What was that intro, though? "So you actually came alone." It was like Hreasvelgr had threatened Alfonse or something to get him to come alone. She may have.

 

Edit again: So, Alfonse survived this time...but then, why is he missing from the journey towards the end of the trailer? It could just be a misdirection, but I wonder if, when Veronica gets poisoned, the Order of Heroes bursts into the room (not shown in the trailer) to save her and Alfonse gets kidnapped at that time or something, along with Veronica. Or, maybe, he agrees to go quietly with Nidhoggr in exchange for Veronica receiving the antidote, even though they'd both be captured after that.

I may just be hoping for fun, tense scenes, but this would explain Alfonse and Veronica's absence at the end of the trailer, and Veronica seeming to have actually ingested poison. Plus, it's in alignment with what he said in this chapter about doing anything -- even risking himself -- for the sake of this peace between Askr and Embla, and safeguarding Veronica is a part if that. Plus, they're friends, but that seems more like a secondary reason for him. Rationale first, with that one (and there's nothing wrong with that; it's actually kind of refreshing since so many FE lords are all "friendship is everything!")

 I didn't get the impression that Hraesvelg threteaned him, just that she said it outloud, but more to herself, like "oh gee, he really came alone? Just as I suspected. Seems like Ratatoskr didn't betray us, then".

 Good thought about Alfonse not being present later. I honestly think that Veronica will either pretend that she drunk the poison (and that she passed out) or that they will somehow manage to switch the poison for a less lethal one, if Nidhoggr really wants to actually kill her. Alternatively maybe Father just want them for some reason, and for this Hraesvelg and Nidhoggr (or their brother, or maybe even Ratatoskr, to prove that she's on the Healing Hands' side) would have to kidnap them since- if I remember correctly- they said that Father doesn't ever exits the tree.

 

On 2/19/2024 at 4:02 PM, DefyingFates said:

We still haven't fallen into the trap of "only story for Part 1 and 5" yet which has me both surprised and happy. I liked the implication that Anna has done black ops missions before (unless I'm reading too deep into Part 4) but it won't mean much if she goes back to not mattering after this. Ratatoskr's sisters still doubt her and while I thought Hraesvelgr was sent for Veronica's mom she got stabbed by someone I assume was drugged by Nidhoggr (which lines up with the poisoning we see in the trailer). Either that or Hraesvelgr can shapeshift.

Despite the added story though, we didn't get any bizarre "cutscene -> random quote from Hero" situations. I wonder if IS' writing team is listening to feedback after all?

I love when they don't do this "only part 1 and 5" thing, I noticed they're not doing it now too. Yeah, Hope we don't have more "nooooo! My sister died!" ---> "Hi my name is Vyland" moments.

 I too got the impression that she did work in black ops missions, don't think you're reading too much into it. And now I'm deathly curious to know what happened in that assassination, I think it was Hraesvelg that found some way.

 

On 2/19/2024 at 4:35 PM, Etrurian emperor said:

A good chapter all around. Kind of weird that they don't bother showing Veronica's mom now her bond with her daughter is a focus. She'd be an interesting character particularly because I think she was opposed to Veronica's invasions. You'd think they would get closer once Veronica stopped being Askr's Bowser. 

It was also a nice showing for Sharena. IS might be very invested in the Alfonse and Veronica ship, but right now it seems Veronica and Sharena have the stronger bond. Its Sharena who's all giddy to meet Veronica, and she acts supportive when meeting her. 

 Wasn't it Veronica's dad that was opposed to her invasions? Not sure if Im remembering it right thought. Either way, I really wanna see interactions between them too, specially after Veronica said that her mother is not fond of her.

 I too noticed that Sharena seems closer, or at least openly closer with Veronica, but honestly not sure if Veronica feels particularly closer to any of them and it's probably just that both she and Alsonse are more collected and not overly excited or affectionated, but the fact that Al and Vero didn't get any moment together after becoming friends doesn't help their case at all. What I noticed before was that, on the later books while they were still enemies, Alfonse seemed notably sympathetic in relation to Veronica and Sharena seemed notably agressive, but of course, now that they are friends they have to make Alfonse show positive feelings towards her in other way otherwise it's gonna feel rushed if and when they are actually paired. Also if they are to be together, I like that the game is having a peace deal plot way before any marriage instead of "the bad blood between Askr and Embla ended because Alfonse and Veronica married, and now the people of both of their kingdoms suddenly get along because of it".

 

On 2/20/2024 at 4:26 PM, DefyingFates said:

Probably a consequence of the Book VI ending being those two at a tea party. It is nice to see non-Alfonse Askrans do something though.

As for the ship... I hope they don't do anything blatant with that while Veronica still looks like a 10 year old. Lif + Thrasir only worked because they seemed to be a few hundred years older and what's a 6~8 age gap then?

It either means she's going to die or she's being kept back for the midpoint trailer.

😄

 Veronica doesn't look like a 10 years old anymore though. I think that in part, the new design (and the fact that they kept it in story chapters, unlike say, keeping Fjorm and Eir ascended designs in forging bonds) was exactly to make it less offputting. Also, guess that it's more a matter of personal opinion as it wasn't confirmed ir anything, but I think Alfonse and Veronica have just a 3-4 age gap (say, Veronica being around 13 in the begging and Alfonse around 16/17, I don't think Alfonse is an adult and Veronica said she was around Sanaki's age) and that it looked bad to pair them before cause since the body changes a lot from your early teens to late teens, Veronica looked like a kid and Alfonse didn't, so they made her new sprite to reflect her actual age now, to avoid make it look bad. Of course, there's still some age gap but at least it won't look like Alfonse is with a pre teen.