Chapter 4 (Thracia 776) Statues

[Esaka]

No, this isn't a complaint on how evil that chapter is (I enjoy it a lot TBH)

This is about the four statues surrounding Julius and Beldo at the end of the chapter.

A Female swordmaster, dismounted Mage knight, a female mage, and a dismounted paladin.

Fan theories, GO, GO, GO!

[Darros]

Are the pallies male or female?

[Esaka]

Male I believe.

[Integrity]

They aren't anybody. You think Whatstheirfaces just freeze named people/Evayle once?

[Esaka]

Well, this game had a lot of cut data, so yeah.

Edited October 5, 2011 by 3-13Archer

[VincentASM]

If that female swordmaster had to be somebody, it could only have been Ira. No clue about the others (except Ethnia for the female Mage, but that's kind of stretching it).

I am interested in seeing an image of that area. I never really paid attention when those evil guys were talking >___<

[Dr. Tarrasque]

Ira as the Swordmaster

Azel as the Male MageKnight

Ethnia as the female MageKnight/Mage Fighter.

Alec or Noish as Paladain... for whatever reason >_>. Though I guess it could also be Lex since Great Knights share the same dismounted sprite as Paladins and Duke Knights.

Edited October 5, 2011 by Sirius

[Psych]

Pretty sure those are just statues. They don't look like they would be anyone, and are quite different from stoned units.

[Celice]

For as far as canon goes, I don't think any of the political prisoners that were turned to stone would just go to some nameless prison. They were sent to specific places purposely. Might have been some info posted at FESS years ago.

(Also, if those are petrified prisoners, that doesn't automatically mean they're characters we've seen before. There's a world full of characters out there, remember?)

[CT075]

Well... if anything, I'd say that, if they were petrified people, then chances are that they aren't named. Although I'm guessing they're just statues.

To be totally honest, though, I can kind of see Manfloy stashing someone like Ayra away in some no-name prison, just for kicks.

[Marthur]

They aren't anybody. You think Whatstheirfaces just freeze named people/Evayle once?

Pretty sure those are just statues. They don't look like they would be anyone, and are quite different from stoned units.

For as far as canon goes, I don't think any of the political prisoners that were turned to stone would just go to some nameless prison. They were sent to specific places purposely. Might have been some info posted at FESS years ago.

(Also, if those are petrified prisoners, that doesn't automatically mean they're characters we've seen before. There's a world full of characters out there, remember?)

Well... if anything, I'd say that, if they were petrified people, then chances are that they aren't named. Although I'm guessing they're just statues.

To be totally honest, though, I can kind of see Manfloy stashing someone like Ayra away in some no-name prison, just for kicks.

Despite August saying that people from the Grandbell war have been petrified and hidden around there?

Besides, if the statues had merely been decorative, they wouldn't have bothered making 4 different ones.

Ethnia as the female MageKnight/Mage Fighter.

Didn't Ethnia share the same fate as Tiltyu? I recall Linda having the same dialogue as Tiltyu against Blume and Hilda about them killing her mother.

It would make more sense if it was Lachesis who is confirmed to have disappeared around the Yied Desert.

Edited October 6, 2011 by MasterKnightThingy

[Dr. Tarrasque]

Didn't Ethnia share the same fate as Tiltyu? I recall Linda having the same dialogue as Tiltyu against Blume and Hilda about them killing her mother.

It would make more sense if it was Lachesis who is confirmed to have disappeared around the Yied Desert.

Perhaps. I bring up Ethnia under the assumption that the Children are the canon characters while the subs and other folks like Ethnia may have some distinct fate since generally subs dialogue is often just a carbon copy of what the Child they replace says.

Lachesis makes sense though the class sprite of the statue may disagree as you'd think a female Master Knight would share the same dismounted sprite as the Female Paladin (or Troubadour if unpromoted). I won't argue this though, just saying.

[Sartek]

Perhaps. I bring up Ethnia under the assumption that the Children are the canon characters while the subs and other folks like Ethnia may have some distinct fate since generally subs dialogue is often just a carbon copy of what the Child they replace says.

Lachesis makes sense though the class sprite of the statue may disagree as you'd think a female Master Knight would share the same dismounted sprite as the Female Paladin (or Troubadour if unpromoted). I won't argue this though, just saying.

Seeing how Tinny is referenced (during the defense of Lenster) in FE5, Tiltyu didn't died alone and was the one taken into custody by Blume and Hilda. Ethnia could perfectly have escaped this fate.

Edit: I remember dismounting a Master Knight Nanna one time (I changed her promotion with the nightmare editor if memory serves, it wasn't a downloaded hack) and she had the same sprite as a dismounted Paladin.

Edited October 6, 2011 by Sartek

[Icon of Sin]

Edit: I remember dismounting a Master Knight Nanna one time (I changed her promotion with the nightmare editor if memory serves, it wasn't a downloaded hack) and she had the same sprite as a dismounted Paladin.

Most knights have that though. If memory serves, only Mage Knights, Forrest Knights and Dragon Knights have a different sprite than other promoted knights.

[CT075]

Despite August saying that people from the Grandbell war have been petrified and hidden around there?

Besides, if the statues had merely been decorative, they wouldn't have bothered making 4 different ones.

First of all, you can't seriously convince me that there were only named units in the Battle of Barhara. As much as FE makes it sound plausible, it's just not possible. So even if they are people, they aren't necessarily named.

Secondly, this is a secret Lopt shrine (by the looks of it). There's no reason they wouldn't make four different ones just for kicks.

Although, now that I think about it, if it is a secret Lopt Shrine, then those might actually be named people. Lachesis sounds most likely to me.

Edited October 6, 2011 by 王運鈴

[Celice]

Ah, that would be something though. I always figured that scene took place in a different part of the prison. Though it's not like they didn't have a tileset for some evil Lopto shrine hiding out somewhere, that could have been used instead of that same prison tileset you see in the next two chapters (only)...

[Marthur]

Edit: I remember dismounting a Master Knight Nanna one time (I changed her promotion with the nightmare editor if memory serves, it wasn't a downloaded hack) and she had the same sprite as a dismounted Paladin.

Since the Princess and Master Knight classes aren't used, it could also be the default class.

First of all, you can't seriously convince me that there were only named units in the Battle of Barhara. As much as FE makes it sound plausible, it's just not possible. So even if they are people, they aren't necessarily named.

If the scene is meant to be a cameo, then using nameless people would be senseless.

Besides, the unnamed characters most likely died during the battle of Barhara. Only strong warriors (kept for being used as dark warriors) or people with some political significance must have been kept alive.

Secondly, this is a secret Lopt shrine (by the looks of it). There's no reason they wouldn't make four different ones just for kicks.

Sure. Game designers do things randomly and enjoy wasting time doing unnecessary things, especially for Thracia which production schedule was probably hectic.

Edited October 7, 2011 by MasterKnightThingy

[bottlegnomes]

I think he was referring to the members of the lopt sect, not the game designers. And they actually do quite enjoy doing stuff like that. That's why easter eggs exist.

[CT075]

If the scene is meant to be a cameo, then using nameless people would be senseless.

Besides, the unnamed characters most likely died during the battle of Barhara. Only strong warriors (kept for being used as dark warriors) or people with some political significance must have been kept alive.

Who says it's meant to be a cameo? Is there some stated document somewhere that says that the scene is intended to show off petrified people?

Likewise, why oh why are you assuming that only Sigurd's people are powerful/politically important? Especially in a world like Jugdral, where the entire point is that there's a bigger focus than just on the main army?

Sure. Game designers do things randomly and enjoy wasting time doing unnecessary things, especially for Thracia which production schedule was probably hectic.

Because it takes so much time to add in a single sprite. Honestly, I can do it with two lines of code, you can't tell me that the amount of time it takes to display four, immobile recolored sprites during one scene is really that significant. Hell, it could have just been thrown in as a joke during a fifteen-minute lunch break, and someone forgot to take it out. It's called an easter egg, perhaps you've heard of it?

Secondly, I was referring to the Lopt Sect when I said "they".

[Marthur]

Who says it's meant to be a cameo? Is there some stated document somewhere that says that the scene is intended to show off petrified people?

Because the game is hinting at it.

Likewise, why oh why are you assuming that only Sigurd's people are powerful/politically important? Especially in a world like Jugdral, where the entire point is that there's a bigger focus than just on the main army?

Because Sigurd's army is composed of every prince(sse)s / lords of every country on the continent? And that the only reason they had to be disposed of was because they knew of Alvis' scheme.

There's no need to make people disappear when they are rallied to your cause (Leptor/Langobalt' sons/Thracia) or can easily be subjugated with military force (Verdane whose only heir was Jamuka, Agustria who has no more leader, Silesia which just came out of a civil war, and Miletos which had no strong military force.)

Because it takes so much time to add in a single sprite. Honestly, I can do it with two lines of code, you can't tell me that the amount of time it takes to display four, immobile recolored sprites during one scene is really that significant. Hell, it could have just been thrown in as a joke during a fifteen-minute lunch break, and someone forgot to take it out. It's called an easter egg, perhaps you've heard of it?

It takes at least three persons to

-make a pedestal sprite

-choose 4 different units and program them so that they act as terrain.

-design the map

and additionally, a fourth person to tell them to do it.

All of this for a scene that's 1-minute long and that had no need to be if you believe it's decorative?

Easter eggs aren't random though since they are intended as jokes or secrets. There's a gap between this and telling me that four people decided to have four statues there during a 1-minute long scene for the heck of it.

Also, employees in large companies don't do whatever they want whenever they feel like it. Games would be complete mess if everyone did that.

Secondly, I was referring to the Lopt Sect when I said "they".

I don't even really want to discuss that logic, because it's ughh. In any case, this is a shrine or a prison. The cult would most likely have representations of its god or petrified prisonners, rather than decorative statues.

Edited October 8, 2011 by MasterKnightThingy

[Anouleth]

To me, it seems more likely that they decided to make the statues correspond to existing characters rather than... didn't.

[Celice]

The statues are likely decor for the room. Like almost all JRPGs, the statues are either really similar to tilesets, or done in the style of in-game sprites.

If you're going to say it's an easter egg, you're forcing to assume all graphics of the above are also easter eggs. When they're just design choices. Which aren't necessarily easter eggs.

[Marthur]

The statues are likely decor for the room.

Why would you decorate a prison or shrine with decorative statues? If that's a design choice, then it's a bad one. And if they wanted to use them as decorations, they would have reused them in the ten or so castle chapters where they would have fitted much better. But no, they're only in this one chapter.

Like almost all JRPGs, the statues are either really similar to tilesets, or done in the style of in-game sprites.

Like? From what I can tell, most of the RPGs I know use different tilesets (Breath of Fire, Chrono Trigger, most FF, Secret of Mana, Live a Live, Illusion of Gaia, Tales of series, Terranigma, Golden Sun), or don't put statues at all.

The only exception I can think of is the original Pokémon, and even then, they didn't use a shitton of different statues (only one which was mostly noticeable at the end of the Victory road) despite having different pokémon sprites and a hundred of statues in the whole game.

Btw, here's how the sect decorates their rooms:

Engravings and sculptures, likely representing Loputousu, because for a sect, there's no place for anything else as far as decoration goes.

Edited October 9, 2011 by MasterKnightThingy

[Celice]

Why would you decorate a prison or shrine with decorative statues? If that's a design choice, then it's a bad one. And if they wanted to use them as decorations, they would have reused them in the ten or so castle chapters where they would have fitted much better. But no, they're only in this one chapter.

The castle tileset and the prison tileset are mutually exclusive. They can't just pull tiles from one tilemap into another (not with the way IS did their tilesets, at least).

The statues are likely just for part of the atmosphere of that one scene involving the big three: Manfroy, Ishtar, and Yurius. The inclusion of the statues, along with the fire pit, are meant to develop the tension of the scene. You need to separate what you think would be better use of the tiles and what the tiles are actually used for.

[Marthur]

The castle tileset and the prison tileset are mutually exclusive. They can't just pull tiles from one tilemap into another (not with the way IS did their tilesets, at least).

Yeah, right. Except that we are talking about units used as statues, which are supposed to fit anywhere.

The statues are likely just for part of the atmosphere of that one scene involving the big three: Manfroy, Ishtar, and Yurius. The inclusion of the statues, along with the fire pit, are meant to develop the tension of the scene.

Which is what you think they're used for, but not necessarily what they were meant for.