Regarding Ike

[Baldrick]

Wow read the script why don't you

"Micaiah

How could you, Almedha? How could you not tell us? You knew all along--

Almedha

Because I was terrified! I knew that once you found out the truth, you would butcher my dear son to save your doomed country! I would have done anything to save my Pelleas... That's why I didn't say anything... How could I? In the end, though...it wasn't enough."

I forgot about that part. But even so, I'm not exactly satisfied. Couldn't she have withheld the part about Pelleas needing to die? Until they got their hands on the blood pact, Pelleas would've been safe.

[Anouleth]

I forgot about that part. But even so, I'm not exactly satisfied. Couldn't she have withheld the part about Pelleas needing to die? Until they got their hands on the blood pact, Pelleas would've been safe.

Almedha isn't known for her cool, logical nature.

Where's that brought up? I don't recall Pelleas being particularly one way or the other. Then again, I haven't payed attention to the specifics of the script in forever. As for the conflict, that would work as well, though I still doubt Micaiah would support it if it started.

"Micaiah: What are the "Branded"?

Pelleas: I'm pretty sure it refers to beorc who have laguz blood in their veins. I know, it's hard to imagine someone with the blood of a sub-human running through their veins."

Pelleas ends up being a bit more comfortable with laguz by the end of Part 1, but who knows how he would react to Micaiah being Branded.

[FionordeQuester]

So basically it would be exactly like a conventional FE? You'd be throwing out every difficult moral choice and decision that Micaiah has to make, in the favour of "all the good guys just team up to defeat the obviously evil bad guys"? Essentially, you'd be removing literally everything that makes FE10's plot unique and interesting.

So put some of those moral choices and everything in Part 1, leave the ones in Part 2, and maybe have some moral decisions in Part 3 where maybe the Laguz Alliance is getting kicked around, and they have their backs pressed against the wall. In fact, all the writers really need to do is describe war more realistically than they have in the past, as war is pretty nasty no matter how you go about it, and requires a lot of moral decisions on it's own, like World War II, where we had to decide whether to drop the bomb on Hiroshima and the other city (Nagasaki?) to end the war quicker at the cost of many Japanese civilians, or invade the city with troops at the cost of many American soldiers, and not quite as many Japanese civilians.

Things like that. You can still have those moments while having Daein still join the Laguz Alliance.

Edited August 10, 2012 by FionordeQuester

[bottlegnomes]

"Micaiah: What are the "Branded"?

Pelleas: I'm pretty sure it refers to beorc who have laguz blood in their veins. I know, it's hard to imagine someone with the blood of a sub-human running through their veins."

Pelleas ends up being a bit more comfortable with laguz by the end of Part 1, but who knows how he would react to Micaiah being Branded.

Ah, thank you. So he dislikes them but not as violently as it seems most of Daein does.

[Florete]

Pelleas can't be that fucking stupid to not at leasr skim the deal he made and noticed the whole we can destroy your nation section. Then there's the issue that the blood pact would take a drastically long time to have an effect that would be greater than the deaths due to war. After 100 days 5050 people total would have died. How many do you think would have died after 100 days of war?

Pelleas

That document stated that the empire would grant a loan of a billion gold to Daein with no interest rate and an unspecified payback date. At the time, you said that although it was technically a loan, we could treat the gold as compensation for the occupation army's misgivings and so did not have to pay it back.

He read it, and somehow I have a feeling the Blood Pact didn't say anything like "If you disobey us, all your base are belong to us." In the scene where the pact is explained, Lekain doesn't point out any fine print, just that the pact was signed in blood (thus, Blood Pact). And I assume they were hoping to get the war ended before it caused more deaths than the Blood Pact eventually would; which is everyone.

It does work, and it's not nearly as bad as people make it out to be. It's just kinda eh.

This is kind of how I see it, just to be clear. I don't think it's some sort of ingenious story telling, I just think it works and is fine. Not great, but not bad, and I have no problem with it.

Kilvas is easy. Keep Naesala the same as he was in PoR, a man so dedicated to helping his nation grow he was willing to screw over others and come off as an asshole if he thought it could help, kind of like Trabant.

How does constantly betraying everyone help his nation? It becomes clear when they finally destroy the pact that he never actually wanted to do that stuff, so there's no way it helped his nation while being what the Senators wanted from him.

[Momo]

I always just assumed the blood pact did not have any words on it, it was just a piece of paper some dickhead just magically decided was one. Considering the arbitrary nature of it, it seems more believable than Pellas just signing something without looking at it at all.

[Loki Laufeyson]

And now I remember my problem with this argument: Why do we need to change the story? What is really wrong with it as it is other than some of you "I just don't like it?" I don't see any plot holes or inconsistencies, at least.

I actually dont have a beef with the blood pact thing. My beef with the story is how part 4 was written and all the junk about Micaiah being the real Apostle. (oh yeah...and the horribad reveal about the BK) It was just badly written. One with the skill could rewrite that without changing anything too much. Just adding more coherent plot connection to Micaiah's being the Apostle and junk. That whole little bit at the end with Sanaki going "Sister! You are my older sister!" and Micaiah goes "Yes, in the tower...i just knew." i was all "DA FUCK?!" that doesnt make any sense!

I always just assumed the blood pact did not have any words on it, it was just a piece of paper some dickhead just magically decided was one. Considering the arbitrary nature of it, it seems more believable than Pellas just signing something without looking at it at all.

Uhh. Nah. It was disguised as a peace treaty.

Edited August 11, 2012 by Jon Snow

[-Cynthia-]

I don't think the Micaiah is the true apostle! bit was really intended to be a huge revelation, it should be fairly obvious to the player at the end of 3-E anyway. Part 4 is more about Sanaki knowing she isn't the true apostle and finally coming to terms with it IMO. They probably could have made the revelation a little more dramatic though.

[Loki Laufeyson]

While its pretty clear to the audience whats going on, the character of Micaiah shouldnt just "know" shit, ya know? its lazy writing.

[HeroMystic]

And what is this retcon? I don't remember anything like that, but it's been a while since I've gone through these game's story lines.

From FE9:

Nasir

It begins with the assasination of the previous Begnion apostle. It was twenty years ago... One year after the declaration of emancipation was made. The leader at the time was the Apostle Misaha, who was more adored by the public than any apostle before...or since. When she was assassinated, the citizenry was wracked with grief. All of Begnion despaired. And then, a rumor began to circulate that the assassination was the work of the Serenes herons. In the twinkling of an eye, the rumor spread throughout the Begnion capital. One night shortly thereafter, it happened. The citizens grew violent. They massed at the edge of Serenes Forest, home of their supposed enemy, and set it to burn. The crowd raged on for three nights, and in the end, the heron clan was lost.

Elincia

But their involvement was just a rumor...Wasn't it? Why, why did they...

Sanaki

Oh, the shame of it...

Nasir

Apostle? The remainder of the tale is yours. You stand as the empress of Begnion. You are responsible for the acts of your citizens, are you not?

Sanaki

...False. The accusation was completely false.

Ike

The assassination of the apostle was not the work of the Serenes clan?

Sanaki

That is correct.

Nasir

The heron clan possess no fighting skills. Their tribe survived by living a life of peace and piety within their forest. Unlike other laguz, they never focused on developing their strength for the purposes of combat. Anyone with any knowledge of laguz would have known such a thing. At the very least, the citizens of Begnion would have known this. However, they had lost their leader, and in their grief, they cared little for the truth. They were merely looking for some way to vent their rage and despair. Isn't that true...Apostle?

Nasir

Please, Lord Nasir! Your tone of voice...

Sanaki

It's all right, Princess Elincia. He speaks the truth, be it with a sharpened tongue or no.

Nasir

Ike, the bird tribes of Phoenicis target only Begnion ships with their piracy. The ravens of Kilvas are after cargo, and so they attack everyone with equal vigor. The hawk clans, however, hold the heron clan as brethren...and still remember the false accusations. And their brutal murder.

Ike

The heron at Oliver's mansion...He slapped my hand away when I tried to help him. He had such hatred in his eyes. When he leapt from the window, he spoke to me. "Remember the genocide," he said. "Twenty years have passed, but I will never forgive what you did!"

Sanaki

Such needless pain...It may sound like utter hypocrisy, but my people regret deeply the actions of that horrific night. We stole the heron clan from this world... Every time we see the blackened forest, our grave sin comes back to haunt us.

Nasir

Apostle... You are honorable. The majority of the senators have done their best to banish all memory of the Serenes and that night. Yet you have resisted. That is your intent, is it not? You are not like them... You are attempting to take responsibility for the actions of the people. To undo the wrongs of the past, you launched your own investigation into the laguz emancipation issue. You've even gone so far as to hire outsiders like Ike and his mercenaries to expose the problem, haven't you?

Then in FE10, the beginning of Part III, the Laguz goes to war against Begnion because Rafiel told them it was the Begnion Senators that started the rumor, while it was previously believed that it was Ashnard that started the rumor, which is plainly not mentioned at all during the explanation or even as pure speculation. I guess if you look at it one way, it's not a retcon, but I thought it was fairly obvious that it was Begnion and Begnion alone that started the rumor which lead to the massacre. If it weren't for the Senators killing the laguz messengers, I would've said the war shouldn't have started at all.

And now I remember my problem with this argument: Why do we need to change the story? What is really wrong with it as it is other than some of you "I just don't like it?" I don't see any plot holes or inconsistencies, at least.

I'm gonna make my stance clear on RD's story, especially since I just played both PoR and RD back-to-back for my own personal projects. RD's story is okay. I find it enjoyable if you just accept things for what they are. However, it could be a lot better, and the story in PoR is three times better than the story in the RD.

The problem I have the most about RD isn't exactly the story, but it's structure. There's too many characters to follow, too much jumping around, and the flow of the story falters because they're trying to get everyone involved. The Dawn Brigade suffers the most from this because they're the newest characters without the background of FE9 to back them, which is why I find the Blood Pact as an "easy out" (As I have stated before) to get Daein involved after being forgotten for almost half the game. Due to that, the Dawn Brigade becomes a pack of soldiers without a purpose and loses any chance of character development because they have to follow Begnion's orders, and Micaiah is showcased as a martyr for her country.

Take a game with a similar structure, such as FE7 or even FE8, and anyone can see the plot is much more organized and clear.

Pelleas can't be that fucking stupid to not at leasr skim the deal he made and noticed the whole we can destroy your nation section. Then there's the issue that the blood pact would take a drastically long time to have an effect that would be greater than the deaths due to war. After 100 days 5050 people total would have died. How many do you think would have died after 100 days of war?

Actually, there's plenty of people in reality that just sign contracts without reading it, mostly young people who simply sign paperwork without knowing just how impacting a binding contract is. It's not unbelievable that Pelleas would make a mistake like that, especially since he had strong reliance on Izuka and Almedha.

As for storytelling, it's eh. Not terrible, but not particularly good. It's basically a way of forcing Daein to help and one that came out of nowhere, a deus ex machina but kind of in reverse. If they'd even alluded to it earlier, like had the scene shown at the end of part 1 it would have been more acceptable. I will say Ashnard's use of it was quite clever.

I agree Ashnard's use of the Blood Pact is the most acceptable and perhaps even the hardest to think of an alternative of outside of the implied "I killed everyone to get to the throne", which is much shakier to just accept than the Blood Pact was. It would probably even need a bigger exposition dump than they did for the Blood Pact.

For Ashnard, poison, assassinations (Volke maybe?), Ashnard manipulating battles to get them killed (IIRC they were in some sort of conflict and Ashy was a fairly respected military figure). I'm sure there are others, but like I said, that was actually a pretty cool way of using the blood pact. Kilvas is easy. Keep Naesala the same as he was in PoR, a man so dedicated to helping his nation grow he was willing to screw over others and come off as an asshole if he thought it could help, kind of like Trabant.

I really like the idea to use Volke as Ashnard's assassin. However, I think Naesala just constantly duping Tibarn for the sake of money would get stale, especially since it was done before. Naesala's love for Leanne being used against him would be stronger imo.

I always just assumed the blood pact did not have any words on it, it was just a piece of paper some dickhead just magically decided was one. Considering the arbitrary nature of it, it seems more believable than Pellas just signing something without looking at it at all.

Uhh. Nah. It was disguised as a peace treaty.

Honestly, that just makes the Blood Contract even less credible since all it takes is blood on a contract. If what is written on the paper doesn't matter, then Begnion (and Ashnard in this case) simply have plot device powers, which makes the whole ordeal even less meaningful.

However, the blood pact does have some concrete structure.

Naesala vs Lekain

Lekain: Tah ha ha... So nice to see you, King Naesala. When you can't oppose me, that is. Your blood pact means that you'll have to betray your companions... yet again.

Naesala: Not today, actually.

Lekain: What did you say?

Naesala: Sorry to break it to you, Lekain, but I have recently... been promoted, shall we say. I now take orders from over your head, Vice-Minister. From Empress Sanaki, to be exact.

Lekain: Wh-what...Whaaaat... ?!

Naesala: The curse of the blood pact applies if the master's orders aren't obeyed, but by the law of Begnion, you're overruled. So, Lekain, right here, right now... I'm going to tear you apart, as I've been wanting to do for years.

Lekain: Urk!

This means that if Micaiah and the Daein Army confessed to Sanaki during Part 3 and joined with her, the blood pact would actually not activate since Lekain is overruled. Of course, Micaiah never found out about this, so I'm not gonna hold it against her, but it only makes the blood pact even more confusing and extremely disorganized.

[Loki Laufeyson]

which is plainly not mentioned at all during the explanation or even as pure speculation.

To be fair, the narrator actually mentioned this. Something like "Blah blah Massacre was long thought to be the work of the Mad King Ashnard. Rafiel of the Heron clan tells the tale that the assassination of the previous Apostle, and the massacre that followed, was the work of none other than the Senators of Begnion." So its more or less mentioned in exposition by the narrator. While it would have been better to have a quick dialogue box between Ike and Ranulf about that, there wasnt. :/

This means that if Micaiah and the Daein Army confessed to Sanaki during Part 3 and joined with her, the blood pact would actually not activate since Lekain is overruled. Of course, Micaiah never found out about this, so I'm not gonna hold it against her, but it only makes the blood pact even more confusing and extremely disorganized.

Its a loophole that Naesala figured out. I think that has more to do with Naesala's cleverness than anything. Micaiah and co. didnt have that kind of information and not even Almedha had figured it out. I dont think its disorganized and confusing at all. Its just a case of Loophole Abuse for Naesala. If Micaiah HAD known about that loophole, i would be shouting outright MARY SUE in her direction really loudly. I kinda like the fact she and Pelleas didnt know about that.

[HeroMystic]

To be fair, the narrator actually mentioned this. Something like "Blah blah Massacre was long thought to be the work of the Mad King Ashnard. Rafiel of the Heron clan tells the tale that the assassination of the previous Apostle, and the massacre that followed, was the work of none other than the Senators of Begnion." So its more or less mentioned in exposition by the narrator. While it would have been better to have a quick dialogue box between Ike and Ranulf about that, there wasnt. :/

I mean Ashnard being involved in the massacre was never mentioned in Path of Radiance. I fully recall the narrator in FE10 explaining it, but as far as the player is concerned, this is totally out of the blue, especially when considering Sanaki and the Hawk/Heron tribe made peace in FE9.

Its a loophole that Naesala figured out. I think that has more to do with Naesala's cleverness than anything. Micaiah and co. didnt have that kind of information and not even Almedha had figured it out. I dont think its disorganized and confusing at all. Its just a case of Loophole Abuse for Naesala. If Micaiah HAD known about that loophole, i would be shouting outright MARY SUE in her direction really loudly. I kinda like the fact she and Pelleas didnt know about that.

Like I said, I'm not holding it against Micaiah/Pelleas at all. It just makes me dislike the use of the blood pact because it seems it has some sort of structure, but has no sort of background information on how it's created or how it works (For example: does it need to be written out, or just a drop of blood to activate?). We can speculate and give our best answer, but we're left accepting how it is in the game, which loses it's value to me as it's just a plot device.

[Florete]

From FE9:

Then in FE10, the beginning of Part III, the Laguz goes to war against Begnion because Rafiel told them it was the Begnion Senators that started the rumor, while it was previously believed that it was Ashnard that started the rumor, which is plainly not mentioned at all during the explanation or even as pure speculation. I guess if you look at it one way, it's not a retcon, but I thought it was fairly obvious that it was Begnion and Begnion alone that started the rumor which lead to the massacre. If it weren't for the Senators killing the laguz messengers, I would've said the war shouldn't have started at all.

I see. I took it as not knowing who started the rumor in the first place. Maybe it was even just a story cooked up by the common people of Begnion, which would explain why Sanaki needed to apologize but not why the LA would need to start a war with them. Finding out that the Begnion Senators were behind it the whole time three years later would do it, though. The Ashnard thing, well, I don't know about that. I can see that just having been a mistake in the localization of the FE10 script.

[Samias]

I think the basis for assuming Ashnard starting the rumour is based in FE9. Ashnard had a heron princess holed up in a Daein cathedral, hoping to extract information on the galdrar of release from her. They also had the Fire Emblem, which is how it ended up in the hands of Elena and Greil. So there may have been the assumption that the Massacre was a means to remove the Emblem from the forest... but the whole reasoning is a resounding why, if Sephiran is the ringmaster because of the Serenes Massacre happening in the first place.

[aku chi]

My understanding of the Sephiran character was that the Serenes Massacre was one of the chief events that crushed his belief that beorc and laguz could live in harmony. He didn't mastermind it nor intend for it to happen. When it did, he began believing that it would be best if Ashera unleashed her judgement and the world could start over.

[Noktra]

I just want to add some thoughts about the Ashnard's Father issue.

"There was my stepmother, too. And every brother who stood to be a legitimate heir..."

I always had the impression that Ashnard was maybe the son of a concubine... His Stepmother would actually be the Queen then...

And of course her sons would stand much higher in sucessing the throne than Ashnard... And he would come far behind other "pure" royalness such as his uncles, cousins and so on.

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

Regarding the Bloodpact... I could have lived with that idea... untill the "sanaki overrules" moment.... Really... There's a magical pact, signed in blood

- so obviously some kind of very dark magic involved - and than from out of nowhere the pactsigner is overruled... because of some social standing in some country??

Sankai is not even bloodrelated to Lekain so that one could guess her blood is higher in standing because of magic-yada-something.

That's just as silly as if the boss of a spirit charmer could "overrule" the charmer and command the spirit because he's higher in rank XDDDD

Magic binds the contracters and not... someone else *lol*

I felt this was just a cheap (read: very very lame) excuse to get to play naesala for at least some chapters in part 4... Without that they could've only get naesala recruitable after beating Lekain...

In short: bloodpact with Kilvas: ok for me (as it seems to be signed a very long time ago... some kind of ancient curse? *me likes* ),

but just for oppressing Kilvas (and justifing later) unneccessary in my opinon...

bloodpact Ashnard issue: a bit strange but still ok... ( I always had the feeling about something unnatural with this whole "plague" thing, so this explanation was pretty much ok)

Bloodpact Pelleas: ... come on you senators... you're supposed to be evil, where's your creativity? Pelleas could've been crushed with pretty much anything...

As mentioned... it works... somehow... But "interesting" is something else to me...

The Sanaki thing just destroyed the last bit of anything I could've liked about the whole bloodpact thingie... really... I had a sudden urge to facepalm at that point in the story...

------

About Sephiran...

???

My apologies for the long wait.

???

Is the apostle safe?

???

She fled to Crimea, then exposed the senate's plots to the world. Currently, she leads the apostle's army through Daein and is preparing to storm the empire.

???

I see. Very well... It's time for us to make our move.

Zelgius

As you wish, my master.

Whenever I read this... I have the bad feeling that the whole thing was very thoroughly planned... by both of them.

Sephiran never gets clear what "their" move is now... but Zelgius still seemed to know pretty well what his master had in mind, despite being seperated for... what?... months?

[RNG Princess]

If Micaiah was top tier even over Haar I don't think she would generate much hate ^^' a lot of the weaker lords like her and Roy get more hate than the stronger and bigger Gary Stu's like Ephraim or Ike.

Edited August 12, 2012 by Maiden_of_Emblem

[Sunwoo]

If Micaiah was top tier even over Haar I don't think she would generate much hate ^^' a lot of the weaker lords like her and Roy get more hate than the stronger and bigger Gary Stu's like Ephraim or Ike.

I honestly doubt tiers have much to do with it. I can't speak for everyone else, but I genuinely dislike Micaiah's personality for non-gameplay reasons and I genuinely feel that Ike avoids being a Gary Stu for non-gameplay reasons.

[Lord Raven]

She's got a point, there are a lot of little biases that factor into one's dislike for a character no matter how much one denies it... it is impossible to get a gauge for how much you'd like Micaiah if she weren't a shitty character because she is kind of a crappy character.

[Florete]

I honestly doubt tiers have much to do with it. I can't speak for everyone else, but I genuinely dislike Micaiah's personality for non-gameplay reasons and I genuinely feel that Ike avoids being a Gary Stu for non-gameplay reasons.

The connection tends to be pretty accurate, though.

FE4: Sigurd is generally well-liked and is also the best unit in the game. Celice is kind of meh in both areas.

FE5: Leaf sucks and, as far as I know, is not a very popular character.

FE6: Same as above.

FE7: Hector is generally the favorite lord and is also largely regarded as the best lord of the three. Popularity and perceived ability of the other two is more ambiguous.

FE8: Ephraim is better and, as far as I've seen, more well-liked.

FE9: People like Ike and generally perceive him as a very good unit.

FE10: Ike is the same here, though there are occasional complaints about his lack of added characterization, but generally pretty small. Micaiah is not well-liked nor do many see her as a very good unit.

Of course, you could say that a character people like they will generally try to believe is also good in game, but the reverse also works and is probably more common; if they use a character and find them good (and lords are almost always used on first runs), they're likely to like them more. On the flip side, if they find the unit bad, they probably won't like them as much.

EDIT: There's no reason this needs to be just for the Lords, either. All characters can be subject to this. Haar is a good example.

Edited August 12, 2012 by Madam Red

[Sunwoo]

She's got a point, there are a lot of little biases that factor into one's dislike for a character no matter how much one denies it... it is impossible to get a gauge for how much you'd like Micaiah if she weren't a shitty character because she is kind of a crappy character.

I suppose, but for me personally I don't think I'd care if Micaiah were the best character in the game if I didn't like her portrayal in the plot. Hector and Ephraim are generally considered "good" lords in gameplay but I don't like them much for my own reasons.

[RNG Princess]

I also think that if she didn't share spotlight with Ike she'd be more accepted ^^', her team is so weak compared to his. So everyone wants to avoid her altogether to start playing with the cool guys. Her "Mary Sue" traits don't even make her the center of attention they only serve to make Ike look even better than everyone else. She has foresight the ability that gave her advantage in some of the battles of Part 1 but she starts failing as soon as she's matched against Ike. Yune accompanying her only helped so she can bless Ike in the end and make him even stronger. At the end of the game even Yune compliments Ike over Micaiah, despite being Micaiah her chosen one.

Edited August 12, 2012 by Maiden_of_Emblem

[Sunwoo]

When I look at Ike, I look at his PoR self and not just his RD self. I agree completely that RD Ike alone is a Gary Stu. No arguments. But I see Ike as both PoR Ike and RD Ike put together. PoR Ike was believable to me and I liked his character a lot. So PoR Ike is what keeps me from thinking that Ike as a whole is a Gary Stu.

Micaiah, on the other hand, had nothing but RD. If you don't like what you see of her in RD, you're not going to like her much. Unlike Ike, she doesn't have that additional "game" to fall back on.

[RNG Princess]

The connection tends to be pretty accurate, though.

FE4: Sigurd is generally well-liked and is also the best unit in the game. Celice is kind of meh in both areas.

FE5: Leaf sucks and, as far as I know, is not a very popular character.

FE6: Same as above.

FE7: Hector is generally the favorite lord and is also largely regarded as the best lord of the three. Popularity and perceived ability of the other two is more ambiguous.

FE8: Ephraim is better and, as far as I've seen, more well-liked.

FE9: People like Ike and generally perceive him as a very good unit.

FE10: Ike is the same here, though there are occasional complaints about his lack of added characterization, but generally pretty small. Micaiah is not well-liked nor do many see her as a very good unit.

Of course, you could say that a character people like they will generally try to believe is also good in game, but the reverse also works and is probably more common; if they use a character and find them good (and lords are almost always used on first runs), they're likely to like them more. On the flip side, if they find the unit bad, they probably won't like them as much.

EDIT: There's no reason this needs to be just for the Lords, either. All characters can be subject to this. Haar is a good example.

Haar is worshipped in RD, but did he have that much attention in PoR? I know that neither Shinnon or Elincia were fan favorites in PoR but in RD they are well liked. I do think character stats influence a lot of the character's popularity. Most of the disliked characters are crappy bottom/low tier characters ^^' but the most loved and popular consist of a lot of the top/high tier.

Edited August 12, 2012 by Maiden_of_Emblem

[bottlegnomes]

Pelleas

That document stated that the empire would grant a loan of a billion gold to Daein with no interest rate and an unspecified payback date. At the time, you said that although it was technically a loan, we could treat the gold as compensation for the occupation army's misgivings and so did not have to pay it back.

He read it, and somehow I have a feeling the Blood Pact didn't say anything like "If you disobey us, all your base are belong to us." In the scene where the pact is explained, Lekain doesn't point out any fine print, just that the pact was signed in blood (thus, Blood Pact). And I assume they were hoping to get the war ended before it caused more deaths than the Blood Pact eventually would; which is everyone.

Fair enough. Though it still seems like a weak excuse that there's no indication other than signing in blood. In an actual contract something major not being mentioned would be grounds to void the whole thing. But real world =/= Tellius.

I think one issue is how slowly it kills. Now if it were like 1% of population at signing on day 1, 2%, etc, that would be more believable. The whole country would be wiped out in 14 days.

@whoever, sorry don't remember who it was. I'm well aware people don't read contracts a lot. However, Pelleas is the ruler of a country. He'd probably read it in addition to consulting a lot of people, not just Izuka, but that's another issue.

How does constantly betraying everyone help his nation? It becomes clear when they finally destroy the pact that he never actually wanted to do that stuff, so there's no way it helped his nation while being what the Senators wanted from him.

Not in the actual story, just how I'd have it. He'd basically work for the highest bidder to get money for his country, like Trabant. Then he'd help in part 4 because he's smart enough to realize Lekain full of shit and Kilvas is screwed if they don't stop Ashera.

As for lords, you might be on to something. Personally though, it goes:

Marth - like a lot, not particularly good.

Sigurd - like him just because of how broken he is.

Celice - actually considered one of the best units in the gen. He's fine.

Leaf - like him

Roy - apathetic

Eli - like a lot

Hector - like a lot partially because he's good.

Lyn - meh

Eph - don't like

Eirika - meh

Ike - like a lot

Miccy - reminds me of Julia so I love her :P otherwise, she's fine.

I'll also take Marcus, Oifey, or Titania over Seth any day.

I'd say being good helps, but the character has to be likable in his or her own right. Haar's not as good as Seth but he's much more popular because of his personality. Miccy probably wouldn't be hated, but she probably wouldn't be popular.