Fire Emblem 9½: Chronicles of the Sword

[Nimbostratus]

Ohh I see. That's pretty cool.

[spoiler=Chronicle 17]

Following reports of the attack upon the Grandall border garrison by the reborn rebel army, former captain of the anti-rebellion force Dervus was spotted on the plains in the south. At the same time, the Grandall army was mustered and ready for battle.

The emperor had declared Dervus an enemy. The army now marched to destroy him.

Preparations were completed quickly, and the troops organized immediately. It was almost as if they had been waiting for Dervus' revolt...







Uh... guys... this is awkward, but...



Eurydice: "It can't be..."



Meiga: "Impossible!"

Aeolos: "Kill them. If you disobey the Emperor's orders, you will be executed as well."



You tell 'em Aeneas.



Riese: "What are we supposed to do with these sword fragments?... Ow!"

Aeolos: "Death to all who oppose the Emperor."





As demonstrated here, Soul Edge is really bad news. Even just shards of it can do stuff like this.



Yuilin: "On top of that, the enemy is--"

Feofan: "You said that you'll fight and live to atone for what you've done. Did you lie to us?"

Tina: "Us?"

Oh hey, it's the map from Chronicle 4!

...what ever happened to Luna, anyway?



Anyway, after beating a handful of generics, we're then forced to fight our friends.





Thankfully they don't die. In fact, after you defeat them, they rejoin your squad. There's no dialogue, but the idea is that beating them up allowed them to shake off Soul Edge's corruption.

See? Violence does solve problems!





I gotta admit, Fallen Antler is a cool name for a weapon.



o hai Aeneas



Beaten at his own game :v:





Riese in particular has suffered a lot thanks to this war.





Meiga has, too. But now they can help us make things right.





And finally, Eurydice and her OP fighting style will rejoin our cause as well.



That's everyone. Now--
>All Unblockable
Oh.
This is gonna suck.



Bluh.



"Heh. Oh, well. We'll help you stir up some more trouble!"

Thanks Aeneas. You're a real pal. :v:

Next time: will Abelia finally see reason?

(spoiler: only after we beat the stuffing out of her)

[Nimbostratus]

[spoiler=Chronicle 18]

Who decides what is right? People merely act upon what they believe...

He could see a figure at the front of the army. There was no mistaking her. It was Abelia. Behind her, a massive force of Grandall troops awaited her command.

For an instant, the entire area seemed to fall silent. Then Abelia's mouth opened slowly, and the order that came forth shattered the silence.

"Attack!"







Strife: "The weakness and pain in everyone's hearts. All it takes is a slight push, and the rest will roll along on its own.. Now, let's see what you can do, Abelia."



Map





Tina: "Well, Commander...?"

Abelia: "..."

Tina: "Please answer!"

Yuilin: "Commander Abelia! Please say something!"



Abelia: "It's the perfect stage for our showdown, don't you think? Yes, if it weren't for you, I'd..."

Tina: "Commander..."

Abelia: "Grr... All units, move out! Destroy the traitors!"







This chapter features some characters we've fought before, like Notus here.



And this one was Ishtar, I think.







There are also some generics.





And now only Abelia is left.





Music:

Not much to say about this fight. Abelia here has the same 'juggernaut' effect as Chronicle 15 Girardot, but her AI isn't incredibly challenging.





Huzzah.





Ah yes, the time-honored Japanese tradition of converting someone to your way of thinking by beating the crap out of them.

That chapter was pretty short. Let's keep going.

[spoiler=Chronicle 19]

A darkness that consumes the hearts of men- the cursed sword, Soul Edge... there was no question that it was the sword Strife had wielded.

There was also that which could seal the dark sword, its equal and opposite, the spirit sword enshrouded in legend- Soul Calibur. He recalled the shining blue sword... what was Luna doing now, he wondered.

As he thought about the past, the capital of the Grandall Empire, the fortress city of Parousia, came into view.

Dervus shook away his idle thoughts and headed for the final battle.







How are we losing? The battle hasn't even started yet! :v:

Oh, hey, there's Luna!



Luna: "I'll lend you this sword... take it!"



Luna: "After the war ended, a troublesome old man named Girardot kept pestering me. He kept saying things like, 'If anything happens, I want you to take care of Dervus.' Honestly, why did he have to pick me, of all people? But relax, I won't hold a grudge. My unit's all okay, after all. Now, let's go!"





Ishtar: "But... they're...!"

Tina: "Commander Abelia..."

Abelia: "I don't care what anyone says. I will fight alongside you!"



Luna is basically like Athos or any other uber-powerful character who joins in the last chapter. Well... 2nd to last.



Map.



Chester: "It's time to continue what we started a year ago. Come on, Dervus. My troops will give you a warm welcome!"

What a jerk.



Say hello to the toughest character in CotS. Then quickly say goodbye because NOPE we're not fighting him.







I really like the design of this map. It really does look like you're infiltrating a fortress-city.



Yeah, well ... you're a butt.



Nice outfit though.



But some fancy duds won't save you.



RIP

Next time: Endgame

[bottlegnomes]

I've always been partial to Rudiger, partially because I like his design way more and partially because I like having two lance users. As for Abelia vs Feofan, her availability is super wonky, but she seemed better when I used him, if for no other reason than being higher leveled. IIRC, my endgame team is generally along the lines of MC, Rudiger, Aeneas, Luna, Eurydice, and if there's a sixth (can't remember) Feofan or Abelia.

[Nimbostratus]

[spoiler=The End]

Soldiers cowering before the emperor's power, civilians suffering because of war, power that uses young people as weapons... General Girardot had seen what was happening and gave his life to stop it.

Dervus knew what he needed to do. He now knew what he truly wanted to protect.

People cling to power and numbers out of fear of being hurt, chastising that which is good as if it were evil, persecuting those who do not follow the masses. Telling themselves they cannot grow strong, they hide within their shells of denial. But Dervus would no longer run from himself.

"Strife..."

Dervus quietly stepped forward.



Dervus finally gets to use Soul of Xianghua this time. For reasons.

So, this is the last chapter of CotS and it's... a bit rushed, I think. I have no idea what the development process for Soul Calibur III was like, but this seems the kind of quick-and-dirty thing that would be pumped out by level designers with a looming deadline.

Also, there are no friendly strongholds in this chapter. So if someone dies in this chronicle, they're gone for good, because there's nowhere to respawn.







Honestly, the best thing to do on this map is make everyone Infantry and just have them dogpile the enemies one by one.

Also notable is the

for this chronicle. Whew, that's intense and creepy. Not a bad theme for the Very Definitely Final Dungeon.

Anyway, there's not much to show besides the final battle, so let's get right to it.

There were some level ups along the way, so here are everyone's stats. except Dervus, because I'm hiding something which I think is cool and climactic





Aeneas is just an all-around good character and has the best availability (besides the main character) ... for whatever that's worth in this game.





Abelia, on the other hand... I really don't like her character arc. Which is doubly sad because she's one of the few characters in CotS who actually has a character arc.





Iron Sword OP pls nerf.
Moving on.





Honestly, I just brought her along because I wanted to try out her new weapon. :v

So, let's put her up against the final boss and see how she does.



And yep, the final boss is Strife. This is probably not surprising at all.



The AI is pretty sadistic in this fight. (and yes, that is Soul Edge he's using, if you're curious)

Let's see if Abelia can put a bigger dent in him.



The one nice thing about fighting him is that Soul Edge slowly drains his health, so all you really have to do is survive for a while.



...huh. That's the first time I've seen that bit of dialogue.

And yet nothing happens. It seems even his own most loyal bodyguards won't go out of their way to defend him anymore.

Dervus gets to do the honors.









Music:

I've often wondered why the Burning Gallery stage was used for this battle. Is the castle literally burning down around us as we fight? I don't know but, all things considered, I guess it's a pretty awesome place for a climactic final duel.

Dervus is using Soul Calibur. It can be used by multiple characters in SC3, but in Soul Calibur 1 and 2, only one character could use it: Xianghua. And I knew that Soul of Xianghua was one of the Dancer's disciplines, so...

JUST AS PLANNED



Well, that's all she wrote.





He's dead Jim.





Maybe now the war can finally be over.

There's an ending, but sadly not much of one. Just a brief series of scenes with a VO narration.



Emperor died. Both the evil blade and the holy blade disappeared into darkness. The Empire collapsed, and the people were left only with devastated lands and the memories of the terrible war.



The people, however, eventually forgot the hardships. They rebuilt the razed villages and sowed new seeds upon the destroyed fields.



Then, by the fireside, they told the tales of the great ones who spilt their blood upon those lands.

So yeah, honestly pretty disappointing. In retrospect, this isn't a great game. Most of the characters ended up being pretty one-dimensional because the writers missed out on a lot of good opportunities for character development. Plus, the sadistic AI can make it rather unfun to play at times.

But even so, I still have some nostalgia about this game (against my own better judgment) and it's still indirectly responsible for helping me discover my love of Fire Emblem, so that's something. Edited January 23, 2016 by Nimbostratus

[bottlegnomes]

This made me seriously want to replay this. Also, forgot to mention last time: Ende actually isn't that bad. I found Strife and a few of the level 60 SC characters more challenging.

Also, slight nitpick, but there were multiple characters who could wield Soul Calibur in 2. Off the top of my head, I can remember Nightmare, too.

Anyway, congrats. It was a fun read.

EDIT: Just remembered Kilik could use it in 3, not 2.

Edited January 24, 2016 by bottlegnomes