Alastor plays and ranks the whole series! Mission Complete! ...For now.

[Alastor15243]

Awakening Day 6: Paralogue 2

Well I'm in a good mood today!

Remember when I said I would be checking the game over the weekend for any merchant spawns? I got plenty, and one of them had a master seal, and another a second seal! Which means I've now got everything I need to get Alexandria into dark flier!

As the title says, we'll be tackling Paralogue 2 today. I think I've got a plan worked out for how to deal with this without getting anyone killed, so let's just jump right into it.

...After doing the support that I unlocked on the weekend through barracks viewing. Miriel and Alexandria. I actually don't remember this one. Hope that's not a bad sign.

Ooh, so this mentions the book Miriel's mother wrote, the one that factors so much into Gregor's support with her! She seems pretty cheesed for a moment that Alexandria touched it without her permission, though she stops herself and questions why. I'm gonna have to see how she reacts in the Gregor support.

...Okay, this wasn't too interesting. But I'm probably gonna see the rest of this eventually. Though then again... it took a barracks bonus to get Miriel and Alexandria to C even after all that time Miriel spent training right behind Alexandria in Chapter 3...

...Speaking of which, Miriel's still a good bit higher level than Sumia, so I'm gonna see if I can get Sumia to catch up.

...Hold the phone... that's... that's got to be a huge lake that the river is opening up into, right? We're not anywhere near the coastline. So why does the “terrain info” box change to say “sea” instead of “water” when I go from the river to the open water?

Ugh. Anyway...

...In all honesty you guys? I'm having fun with this game right now. A weird sort of fun. This sort of giddy stupid triumph at abusing the shit out of broken game mechanics to conquer what would normally be insurmountable odds. ...Probably doesn't hurt that we haven't gotten to a chapter where I can't remember if there are ambush spawns.

Oh, we'll be getting to those.

Anyway, Alexandria's gonna run up ahead because she's Alexandria. Sumia and Miriel are going to take care of the enemies up north, with Lissa and Maribelle on healing duty and Panne+Gaius here as some backup doubling chip damage if things go south with how quickly the enemies arrive. We may need a biiiiit more help given those archers. Depending on where the enemies move and who they chase after, I may need to have everyone but Alexandria evacuate north and then have Panne and Sumia ferry units over the northern river, but we'll... pardon the pun... cross that when we come to it.

Oh man, Vincent and Victor. We're fighting Vincent today I'm pretty sure.

...Weird that they're talking about “coming across” a village when the location is titled “The Twins' Turf”. Did the writers not get the memo of what the map was called? Localization error? General not-give-a-shittery? I could believe any of the three, and countless others.

Oh no it's Victor we face this time.

Also, honestly, I think what I love the most about Vincent and Victor is how polite and well-spoken they are in their rapport with each other despite being bloodthirsty criminal bandits. It's quite an amusing contrast. And as I've said before, if they ever decide that having a pair of incestuous gay bandits as villains is no longer in acceptable taste, they really should try to capture this sort of feel, maybe by having them act like posh British gentlemen.

Anna: Careful, love. Us traders are known to make some very deep cuts.

Honestly, I prefer her one-liner with Vincent, but this one is pretty good too.

Anyway, we're starting.

I'm probably gonna be going for bowbreaker after all. I forgot that you can't reclass from a promoted class to another promoted class until you hit level 10 promoted, and at that point it's just 5 more levels. If the extra experience load of training up Sumia makes it look like I might not make it, then I'll just do some DLC, because I've definitely reached the point where Alexandria at least can handle it, and soon I'll be at the point where the others can too. But at any rate, one more level and I'll promote Alexandria to bow knight.

This Anna's survival is gonna be a crapshoot, but thankfully you don't need her undefeated to recruit her sister later. She doesn't die here so you still “helped” her.

I decided to give Sumia the Ephraim's Lnce (sic) to help her with kills until she gains some more good level ups. Like the one she just got! Everything but magic and res!

Unfortunately she's gotta back out. Like I feared, the movements of the enemies got more unfortunate than my calculations, and now I've got two enemies, a barbarian and a mage, covered by an archer. I have to have Miriel take out the barbarian at range and tank the mage and archer on enemy phase.

Meanwhile Alexandria just keeps walking forward because she's Alexandria. Anna's looking like she might die, depending on whether or not the axe fighters get lucky.

Honestly, I'm glad Fates changed the miss sound effect to something more cool and less goofy. More of an emphasis on the dodger being badass and less on the attacker being incompetent.

Aaaand Alexandria just promoted to bow knight after gaining a level from enemy phase attacks. Hopefully this will let her protect the village once Anna's been killed, because Anna neglected her opportunity to heal in order to stop a bandit from reaching the village. What an absolute Stacy.

...Yep, she's down. But the remaining enemies are going over to commit suicide by Alexandria.

...Fuck, no they aren't. The barbarians are prioritizing the village. And even if the archer didn't block my way, even Alexandria's new 8 mov wouldn't be enough to get there in time.

Thankfully I don't even remember what I'm missing from that village since it's been ages since I've played a mode where it's remotely feasible to get it. But that does mean that the rest of the army is gonna start moving soon, so I have to be on my guard.

Shame they don't have a cool “village destroyed” animation though. The village just fades to its “messed up” look as the village gates close. Not even a sound effect.

I do like the puns they do with the characters' names. Pity Vincent has to spell out the fact that his name originally came from the word for “conquer”, whereas Victor here can just say “I was born a Victor, and victory will be mine!”

Anyway, Victor goes down like a bitch in a single round of combat, and we get a goddess icon. Leaving us with the remaining enemies we can easily feed to Miriel and Sumia.

Sumia gets yet another amazing level up, this time everything but HP and Defense. Meaning she's finally strong enough to one-round these barbarians without using “Ephraim's Lnce”.

I've always wondered whether you were supposed to put the emphasis on “secret” or “seller” in Anna's title of “The secret seller”. It flows better if you call her “the secret seller”, but that makes it sound like she literally sells secrets, when technically as a secret shop owner, she's more of a “seller” who is secret, and that would be “the secret seller”. But anyway, we've finished the map, and it's waaaaaay too early in the day to stop here. Let's do another!

[Alastor15243]

Day 6 Bonus: Chapter 7

Huh. Weird. Skirmish enemies still don't have exceedingly ridiculous stats yet. My Alexandria can still take these guys.

...I'd do one, but I wanna avoid extra grinding. I will make sure I have some opportunity to listen to the amazing track that is “Conquest” though!

Anyway, it looks like all of my pairs got supports! ...Yeah, I think I'm gonna abandon the idea of pairing Sumia up with Gaius. Frederick is a way better support partner for her, and he'll probably lend Cynthia more bulk too in terms of inheritance.

...Like I said, I will not be saying anything more about the Alexandria-Chrom support. It sucks. Moving on.

...The B support with Sumia and Frederick is basically just a big long gag about her incompetence, which... is kind of annoying... but I do appreciate the efforts they went to to convey all the offscreen nonsense without just having characters repeat shit they just saw. Like, the audience learns that Sumia accidentally burned Frederick's tent down not by her actually directly saying that she burned Frederick's tent down, but by having her, in her disjointed rant about all the trouble she accidentally caused, say something about “the fire” and then ask “You have a spare tent, right?”

Overall the support is a pretty uninspired joke, but pretty dang competent execution of said uninspired joke.

And now we get to Miriel and Lon'qu. At this rate they might even reach A support before Gregor comes along! I'm still gonna switch to Gregor though, since armsthrift nosferatu Laurent would be just that good, and the defense bonus from mercenary/hero is gonna be a plus.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Oh man, Miriel is just hysterical. She wants to test this weird hypothesis she's obsessed with about why her pulse was racing in the events of support C, so she's been deliberately putting herself into danger around Lon'qu to repeat the circumstances for more data. And when Lon'qu asks what would've happened if he hadn't made it in time on any of those occasions where she put herself in mortal peril, she's basically just like: “Fair point! That's is definitely a flaw with my methodology!”

I just love how weird she is.

And then when she hears about Lon'qu's gynophobia, she's instantly curious and wonders how far it extends.

Miriel: A categorial aversion to women? Curious. Does this extend to, say, a female cat?

Lon'qu: What? No. Cats all look the same to me.

Miriel: What about primates? Statues of women? Perhaps a female cadaver?

Lon'qu: I'm pretending you stopped at statues.

Honestly, this is less funny once you discover what Lon'qu's deal is, but I still love how ridiculous Miriel's priorities are.

Alright, time to actually get to Chapter 7.

...Ah yes. The Hierarch. A character who is introduced literally so he can be revealed as a traitor a few lines later.

Anyway, enemies show up immediately, and it's time to prepare for battle. I decided to use some more of my stat boosters. The seraph robe and energy drop went on Sumia, and a talisman and two goddess icons went on Alexandria.

Thankfully I noticed the wyverns hiding in the mountains, not just in the ravine to the south. That would've been nasty depending on how daring I decided to get with Miriel. Though I'm sure I would've noticed it once I turned on global enemy ranges.

This is gonna be pretty straightforward... save for the reinforcements. I'm gonna try to beat it before the ambush spawns come from behind, unless it becomes manageable to get my units to escape to the east. I'll be getting Cordelia here, another unit that I might be using, depending on what her bases are.

I've got Sumia tackling the wyverns from the south, Alexandria rushing the front, and then... Miriel will just pick off whatever she can. She hasn't got much more she can gain right now before she needs a seal (preferably a second seal for nosferatu).

Alright, let's go.

Right, then “The Hierarch” shows up, outs himself as a traitor, and is then swiftly slain because Plegians have no respect for dirty traitors once they've outlived their usefulness.

This man was a close advisor to Emmeryn during the most traumatic and tumultuous time in her entire life.

He dies right in front of her immediately after revealing himself willing to sell her out to save his own skin.

We will never hear about him again.

Moving on...

Yet another “everything but two stats” level for Sumia, this time everything but def and res. And she gains the ability to heal herself when she's alone, which is a really useful skill for fliers off doing flier things. Especially since your pair up partner doesn't count.

After a panic attack where I suddenly realized I put Sumia into the range of two enemies without checking if either one had a silver axe, Sumia kicked two wyvern riders' asses for a second turn in a row. This time she got an “everything but 3” level up, but she got HP, strength, skill, luck and defense, so I'm really not complaining.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

So I just saw the hugeass eagle flying across the screen... backwards. I know this game makes that mistake on another map, but I didn't realize it made the mistake multiple times.

...Okay, I think my army will be home free from the rear reinforcements. I can safely get Alexandria over to take them in time, and we can milk this map for a bit more experience. Really, we're only in trouble if they show up immediately after Cordelia spawns (which she just did), which would be ridiculous given that Cordelia's supposed to have enough time to escape.

Lissa can finally use the catharsis staff, which is gonna be great for extreme emergencies, though at the moment her range isn't too fantastic.

...Looks like I underestimated how long it would take for the reinforcements to arrive. I just enemy-phased the boss with Sumia and the remaining archer with Miriel. Well, better than everyone dying I suppose. Now let's finish up this map, check out Cordelia's stats, and decide what to do from here.

...Ah yes, so, the border's been breached completely offscreen, and... man, that just feels weird from a narrative perspective, to have such a huge and impactful thing happen offscreen. Granted, there's only so much that the protagonists can be direct witnesses to, but I mean... the scene we were direct witnesses to was complete trash. What the fuck was the point of the Hierarch? I think I could count his lines on one hand!

And also... so, did Phila tell, like, everyone in her pegasus corps where Emmeryn was going? How did Cordelia know where to find Emmeryn, so that her comrades begged her to flee to warn her? And why was the Hierarch the only noble traveling with us?

Anyway, Emmeryn decides to be a complete and titanic dumbass and return to the capital, advancing into unsure territory and tons of enemy forces. She justifies it with words about keeping the people calm with their leader nearby, but seriously, if you want to keep their morale up, do shit that will let you reclaim the lost territory!

And she's so tacitly confident that this could end with her capture that she entrusts the Fire Emblem to Chrom to flee to Ferox with.

Flee to Ferox.

Yeah, it's like Ylisse just barely has a military anymore, while Plegia, despite losing the last war that devastated both of their countries, has an army so superior to theirs that everyone just accepts it as an undisputed fact that the smartest course of action right now is to flee the country entirely.

Yeah, Emmeryn... she knows this is a terrible idea, and yet she insists on doing it anyway. And Phila isn't even protesting anymore.

Emmeryn: As for the peace I seek... you cannot see who it is for.

Oh for fuck's sake. Such arrogant, self-righteous twaddle. Is this some part of your effort to save the Plegians' souls or something? YOU ARE NOT A MARTYR, EMMERYN. YOU ARE THE RULER OF A FUCKING COUNTRY, AND THE LIFE AND LIBERTY OF YOUR COUNTRYMEN IS PARAMOUNT.

That line makes it sound like she thinks she's doing 4D Chess: Jesus Christ edition. I was not prepared to be set off by the profound, patronizing arrogance of that line.

And then of course, literally the next scene, the next fucking scene, Basilio arrives with news that Ylisse has fallen, which just raises... all kinds of questions about the timescale of messengers, but like, that's a problem with damned near every game, and only Sacred Stones really managed to push the envelope for messenger travel time stupidity.

...Oh no, right, it's not the same scene. First there's the infamous scene where Sumia tries to slap Chrom to snap him out of his near-comatose state of worry... only to accidentally punch him in the face because apparently she doesn't know how a slap works.

...This is absolutely hilarious, especially since she doesn't change from her neutral portrait the whole time, but the abrupt change from drama to comedy and then right back to drama is just infuriating.

Okay, so now we get to see a genuine instance of Chrom acting rashly out of understandable fear and anger. Whereas Emmeryn acted rashly out of what I can only read as outrageous naivete and overconfidence, given how calm she is when she makes the decision.

But Chrom, to his credit, actually listens to the voices of sanity around him, so he trusts Alexandria to come up with a plan.

Okay, so, one thing I like about the avatar of this game is that they're the only one we actually get to see being intelligent and clever outside of gameplay. Even so, we haven't actually gotten any of those moments yet, which is a bit weird when she's basically tacitly been promoted in this exact moment to commander of the entire war effort. We're gonna get multiple instances of Alexandria performing badass gambits later, so would it have really hurt to give us one before now, so that it feels, both in story and out, like she's earned this tacit promotion?

...Oh well, let's move on.

...Ugh. A merchant just showed up with a second seal and a master seal, but she's occupied by a Risen skirmish. Also, I'm kinda short on funds at the moment, so maybe it is best I keep my 5000 gold from the medium bullion last chapter.

Oh hey! It's Paralogue 3! Let's try that!

Edited March 13, 2021 by Alastor15243

[Alastor15243]

Day 6 Bonus Bonus: Paralogue 3

...I almost forgot about their infamous decision to make villagers other than Donnel have this bizarre fashion sense choice to put pots on their heads.

Anyway, this game tries to tell a dark story about the human capacity to ignore the suffering of those around them in times of crisis, but it's really too minimalistic and heavy-handed for my liking.

...Okay, I could definitely do this, but I think I'll need a little more training before I'm comfortable doing what would need to be done to save the villagers. Let's try another one: Chapter 8.

 

Day 6 Bonus Bonus New Plan: Chapter 8

Frederick very kindly warns us that only mages and fliers can handle the sands.

Good thing that's what Miriel, Sumia and Cordelia are!

...But woooooow. My Sumia is leagues better than Cordelia at this point. Namely the vastly superior speed, but she also has 6 more strength and 4 more defense despite only being 4 levels higher. And this is ignoring the pair up bonuses from Frederick.

Should I even try to use her at this point?

...Well with a strength tonic and a Vaike pair-up, I should be able to make her at least strong enough to take out these dark mages, who she can just barely still double.

...Wait, I still have a speedwing, and nobody else really needs that, right? Okay, she'll get it. That brings her up to 16 speed, allowing her to double the dark mages and fighters, but not the cavaliers and myrmidons. Curious how cavalry are so fast. With her improved maneuverability, I think this should be enough to get her some momentum. Again, the point of using DLC is to actually have something resembling a proper army, and not the Chrom-Alexandria royal family curb stomp parade. So I'll give training her a shot, and use the DLC if necessary.

OH MY GOD IT'S A PREPUBESCENT MANAKETE!

RUN, GREGOR! RUN FOR YOUR JOLLY, FUNNY-ACCENTED LIFE! DON'T YOU KNOW THAT WITH THE BINDING SHIELD SPLIT APART ONCE MORE, EVEN IF THEY SEAL THEIR POWER IN A DRAGONSTONE, NOTHING BUT THE POWER OF ENCHANTED SLEEP CAN KEEP A JUVENILE MANAKETE FROM SPIRALING INEXORABLY INTO FERAL MADNESS!?

...Oh. Right. Awakening has about as much reverence for the lore of Archanea as Disney's Hercules has for Greek mythology. Don't get me wrong, I adore the Hercules movie. But Hercules didn't pretend to be a sequel to anything.

...Is this the first mainline chapter to have villages? Is that why they point them out and bring them up? Weird they'd put the tutorial here when most people will have already run into villages by now. You'd think they'd have put a village in an earlier chapter, like maybe Chapter 2.

...And I totally forgot to pair up Alexandria with Chrom before having her run off to save Gregor and Nowi. Thankfully this isn't Fates and that wasn't a massively costly mistake. But I did position Chrom to rectify this next turn.

I dropped Lon'qu for this map to switch to Gregor as Miriel's support partner. Looks like I won't get to see the conclusion of Miriel and Lon'qu's support set this run.

Alright, Gregor and Nowi are safe. I managed to get them to run 7 spaces a turn by clearing a space at the edge of Nowi's movement range with Alexandria and doing that trick where you move with the more mobile one, switch to the less mobile one, and then separate, putting the more mobile one in front of the path you're taking. That way next turn the less mobile one can re-pair-up with the more mobile one, the more mobile one is in front again and can move again, and you can repeat the process. After that, this map should be a piece of cake to feed to my army, because I know there aren't any ambush reinforcements here.

So let's grab this first village. Two of these three villages have my first non-merchant, non-reward seals. Sumia's getting the master seal, Miriel the second seal, since Sumia needs to become a dark flier and Miriel a dark mage.

But this one has a rescue staff. Appreciated, but we haven't had many opportunities to use them yet. We've got 14 uses of them now.

Also, speaking of item uses, honestly, I've gotta say, replacing “merge” with “restock” was a pretty good idea. While yes, in many games there's an advantage to having two half-full items as opposed to one full item (warp staves come heavily to mind), in a game where you can buy more of basically everything, having the game automatically just pool convoy'd items together into a big pool of durability so that you can repair your items from that pool whenever you want... I mean granted it's completely illogical, but it's wayyyyyy more convenient.

Cordelia's first level is HP, magic, luck, defense and resistance. Not a bad level up, though speed would have been appreciated. Also, if she had gotten strength, she would've been strong enough to one-shot these cavaliers with the beastkiller I gave her. As it stands, she needed to rely on Vaike coming in for a dual strike to finish the job.

So when I use Nowi for chip damage, completely forgetting that her true nature is a surprise to everyone else, I see the cutscene where Chrom and Alexandria express shock that Nowi's a manakete, and Chrom says he never imagined he'd see one in his life.

Pretty weird state of affairs considering they can have children again...

I found an arcwind dark mage who refused to be baited so he could attack in tandem with a barbarian, so I moved him from on top of the bones where the fighter couldn't gang up on Cordelia. When he still wouldn't attack even when he wouldn't have to move, I attacked him and then rescued Cordelia, since I have way more rescue charges than catharsis charges and I want to conserve my options.

Anyway, these random Plegian citizens are extremely grateful to see the Ylissean army due to their fear of the Grimleal. Kinda makes you wonder how much the populace really hates Ylisse and where the army's morale is coming from.

Man, while Cordelia still has some catching up to do... it is nice having another flier around. Especially when navigating this rough terrain.

...Also, I just remembered: this series has a fascinating habit of giving us mercenaries with exactly the right level to promote. Well, that'll be good for boosting the pairup bonuses, though I'll wait until seals are less precious.

I love how the last villager maiden is like “Really? You'll protect the village? ...This little dung heap?”

And so Nowi's event tile line about getting experience is talking about meeting a “new dragon friend” whose name she can't recall, but she says stuff similar to “Bantu”. Bantu is almost certainly dead at this point judging by how ancient he was in Marth's time, and also... like... it's just such a weird thing to have her off-handly talk about meeting a new friend (a “new friend” she can meet multiple times), who's part of her extremely rare race, in the middle of a battlefield.

Cordelia crits the boss thanks to Alexandria's crit boost making that possible, and that's the end of the map.

Cordelia also finally gains a really good level, gaining everything but strength and magic. And with that... we're done!

And the final dialogue is...

...Honestly, I really like Gregor's voice and his lines. “The evil people are now dead people. This is good, no?”

Nowi says she gets “nervous” around people “outside [her] age group”.

...I am very curious as to how she's going to clarify this.

Gregor cracks that he's much closer to Nowi's age than the others, and then...

Gregor: Gregor is mercenary, yes? Maybe you hire Gregor instead. True, Gregor just finish killing former employers, but still very reliable! So long as you not try to hurt little girl, Gregor will not hurt you. Also, Gregor need steady income. ...Many angry former employers.

I love this man.

...So yeah, Nowi talks about being auctioned off and sold, and I'm like...

...Are they going there?

...Well the way she describes it, it sounds like they were only “interested” in her dragon form, so... it sounds like they aren't going there... but combined with that “nervous around people outside my age group” line...

Okay, so, Nowi saying she's a “a thousand... something”, and then going “But look! No wrinkles!” is kinda funny. But... uh...

...Look, I've said my piece about how much Nowi and characters like her royally creep me out, and I will say no further on the subject. If you want to read it, I said it on Day 17 of Binding Blade. I'd link it, but if I did, I wouldn't be allowed to save my edits of this page, and I made a couple of mistakes I needed to correct.

...Okay, so by having Nowi say she's “a thousand... something” and then having Frederick shortly after exposit that the First Exalt first slew Grima “1000 years ago”... the game has just indirectly said that Nowi is older than the First Exalt.

And apparently she has spent all of that time conscious.

…

…

…

…

…

…

WHY DOES LITERALLY NOBODY ASK HER ABOUT HISTORY!?

Can you imagine how great it would be if Miriel and Nowi had a support together, where she just grills Nowi on the massive amounts of information she has to have about world history? Nowi doesn't even have to answer all of her questions! It would be hysterical if Nowi just didn't know that much because she prioritized utterly pointless stupid shit in her mind! I can just picture Miriel rambling about all the historical events she has questions about because the only existing accounts seem incredibly suspect, only for Nowi to just completely tune out due to information overload because Miriel's talking too fast and using too many big words because she has no idea how to talk to regular people! Or maybe she was at one of these crucial events, and history was happening around her, but she wasn't paying attention due to there being too many pretty butterflies around or something!

I mean, credit where it's due, the mere fact that I'm complaining about this is proof that this game created a cast of characters so likable and fleshed-out that my imagination just comes alive at the mere thought of two characters interacting, but still, this is such a missed opportunity!

...but the chapter's over now, so... let's move on.

…

...The Risen in front of the seal merchant just disappeared.

...Let's see what I can sell, shall we?

...Yep, let's buy the seals.

And with that... I think that's enough for today. Tomorrow we'll check out Chapter 9, and...

...Seriously? We're at Chapter 9 already?

The one where Emmeryn dies!?

But it feels like the war just started!

Christ, this is more rushed than Radiant Dawn Part 1.

...Stay safe, everyone.

Edited March 13, 2021 by Alastor15243

[Emperor Hardin]

7 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Also, honestly, I think what I love the most about Vincent and Victor is how polite and well-spoken they are in their rapport with each other despite being bloodthirsty criminal bandits. It's quite an amusing contrast. And as I've said before, if they ever decide that having a pair of incestuous gay bandits as villains is no longer in acceptable taste, they really should try to capture this sort of feel, maybe by having them act like posh British gentlemen.

The RD versions of the characters didn't act camp.

I think this is the first time, the bandit twins are confirmed to be related rather then just look alikes.

7 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Right, then “The Hierarch” shows up, outs himself as a traitor, and is then swiftly slain because Plegians have no respect for dirty traitors once they've outlived their usefulness.

This man was a close advisor to Emmeryn during the most traumatic and tumultuous time in her entire life.

He dies right in front of her immediately after revealing himself willing to sell her out to save his own skin.

We will never hear about him again.

One would really think the Plegian army would at least want to make the Hierarch's betrayal public.

7 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Oh for fuck's sake. Such arrogant, self-righteous twaddle. Is this some part of your effort to save the Plegians' souls or something? YOU ARE NOT A MARTYR, EMMERYN. YOU ARE THE RULER OF A FUCKING COUNTRY, AND THE LIFE AND LIBERTY OF YOUR COUNTRYMEN IS PARAMOUNT.

That line makes it sound like she thinks she's doing 4D Chess: Jesus Christ edition. I was not prepared to be set off by the profound, patronizing arrogance of that line.

Come to think of it, does Emmeryn ever directly apologize for the crusade?

7 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Oh. Right. Awakening has about as much reverence for the lore of Archanea as Disney's Hercules has for Greek mythology. Don't get me wrong, I adore the Hercules movie. But Hercules didn't pretend to be a sequel to anything.

LOL!

7 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Okay, so by having Nowi say she's “a thousand... something” and then have Frederick shortly after exposit that the First Exalt first slew Grima “1000 years ago”... the game has just indirectly said that Nowi is older than the First Exalt.

And apparently she has spent all of that time conscious.

Wow, great point! There was alot of potential for Nowi if the writers didn't just treat her as sexualized kid Tiki.

Edited December 21, 2020 by Emperor Hardin

[Samz707]

57 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

...I almost forgot about their infamous decision to make bandits other than Donnel have this bizarre fashion sense choice to put pots on their heads.

 

I mean I can kinda see it as an "Improvised Helmet" kinda thing.

Granted I have no idea how effective pots are at actually stopping a sword swing or anything.

57 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Frederick very kindly warns us that only mages and fliers can handle the sands.

I made Lissa the War Cleric and I actually found her useful as a sorta bootleg Axe DreadFighter since she could run up unobstructed to enemy mages and kill them with only a little damage taken in Desert Chapters.

57 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Huh. Weird. Skirmish enemies still don't have exceedingly ridiculous stats yet. My Alexandria can still take these guys.

Right, then “The Hierarch” shows up, outs himself as a traitor, and is then swiftly slain because Plegians have no respect for dirty traitors once they've outlived their usefulness.

This man was a close advisor to Emmeryn during the most traumatic and tumultuous time in her entire life.

He dies right in front of her immediately after revealing himself willing to sell her out to save his own skin.

We will never hear about him again.

 

Do we know how Awakening's Skirmishes are generated? I swear early on (On Hard at least) they're hard because it's mostly only one enemy type (Which is REALLY FUN when it's a bunch of Wyverns/mages on your early-game party) but now that I've gotten further it's mostly a bunch of different units, actually make them easier because my low res units/anyone with low defense isn't getting bombarded with damage. (I'm wondering since Arcanum, a CRPG also had a problem with early game random encounters ironically being much harder than late-game ones, since a late-game bandit can be given money/speech-checked away, while a wild pack of wolves can't.)

 

I completely forgot the Hierarch was even a thing.

57 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

..Ah yes, so, the border's been breached completely offscreen, and... man, that just feels weird from a narrative perspective, to have such a huge and impactful thing happen offscreen. Granted, there's only so much that the protagonists can be direct witnesses to, but I mean... the scene we were direct witnesses to was complete trash. What the fuck was the point of the Hierarch? I think I could count his lines on one hand!

And also... so, did Phila tell, like, everyone in her pegasus corps where Emmeryn was going? How did Cordelia know where to find Emmeryn, so that her comrades begged her to flee to warn her? And why was the Hierarch the only noble traveling with us?

Anyway, Emmeryn decides to be a complete and titanic dumbass and return to the capital, advancing into unsure territory and tons of enemy forces. She justifies it with words about keeping the people calm with their leader nearby, but seriously, if you want to keep their morale up, do shit that will let you reclaim the lost territory!

 

Oh for fuck's sake. Such arrogant, self-righteous twaddle. Is this some part of your effort to save the Plegians' souls or something? YOU ARE NOT A MARTYR, EMMERYN. YOU ARE THE RULER OF A FUCKING COUNTRY, AND THE LIFE AND LIBERTY OF YOUR COUNTRYMEN IS PARAMOUNT.

That line makes it sound like she thinks she's doing 4D Chess: Jesus Christ edition. I was not prepared to be set off by the profound, patronizing arrogance of that line.

And then of course, literally the next scene, the next fucking scene, Basilio arrives with news that Ylisse has fallen, which just raises... all kinds of questions about the timescale of messengers, but like, that's a problem with damned near every game, and only Sacred Stones really managed to push the envelope for messenger travel time stupidity.

...Oh no, right, it's not the same scene. First there's the infamous scene where Sumia tries to slap Chrom to snap him out of his near-comatose state of worry... only to accidentally punch him in the face because apparently she doesn't know how a slap works.

 

 

Yeah Emmeryn's entire "MAH PACIFISM" is pretty awful and the same with the punch and how it's one of the most tonal whiplash I've ever seen. (more so since it turns out Chrom was completely right to worry.)

The punch was pretty much the moment that made me become apathetic to the fates of anyone.

Edited December 21, 2020 by Samz707

[Alastor15243]

5 minutes ago, Samz707 said:

Do we know how Awakening's Skirmishes are generated? I swear early on (On Hard at least) they're hard because it's mostly only one enemy type (Which is REALLY FUN when it's a bunch of Wyverns/mages on your early-game party) but now that I've gotten further it's mostly a bunch of different units, actually make them easier because my low res units/anyone with low defense isn't getting bombarded with damage. (I'm wondering since Arcanum, a CRPG also had a problem with early game random encounters ironically being much harder than late-game ones, since a late-game bandit can be given money/speech-checked away, while a wild pack of wolves can't.)

I don't know. I mistakenly thought that lunatic skirmishes started out being basically impossible because the enemies have capped stats, but... apparently not. Which means that the accusation that Lunatic was designed to sell DLC... doesn't really feel likely, since the free methods are about as practical and also the paid methods don't show up until you've beaten Chapter 4.

[Samz707]

1 minute ago, Alastor15243 said:

I don't know. I mistakenly thought that lunatic skirmishes started out being basically impossible because the enemies have capped stats, but... apparently not. Which means that the accusation that Lunatic was designed to sell DLC... doesn't really feel likely, since the free methods are about as practical and also the paid methods don't show up until you've beaten Chapter 4.

Lunatic + exists at least and I don't think they would have made the DLC if they didn't think it'd sell.

For the Free Methods you have to (apparently ) wait IRL hours like it's a mobile game since those are generated by your 3DS clock. (or mess with the clock manually.)

[Etrurian emperor]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Frederick very kindly warns us that only mages and fliers can handle the sands.

Don't most Fire Emblem games do that?

And it makes sense that most Fire Emblem units wouldn't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.

[Alastor15243]

28 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Don't most Fire Emblem games do that?

Yeah, I was just remarking that it happens.

[Samz707]

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

And with that... I think that's enough for today. Tomorrow we'll check out Chapter 9, and...

...Seriously? We're at Chapter 9 already?

The one where Emmeryn dies!?

But it feels like the war just started!

Christ, this is more rushed than Radiant Dawn Part 1.

...Stay safe, everyone.

Don't forget obtaining Tharja, the magic user who somehow has 45 defense growth so she can actually compete with Kellam, therefore making her incredibly busted since she'll get nearly 30 Defense before you even second seal in my experience.

Also Not-Lucius.

Edited December 21, 2020 by Samz707

[Ottservia]

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Yeah, it's like Ylisse just barely has a military anymore, while Plegia, despite losing the last war that devastated both of their countries, has an army so superior to theirs that everyone just accepts it as an undisputed fact that the smartest course of action right now is to flee the country entirely.

Yeah, Emmeryn... she knows this is a terrible idea, and yet she insists on doing it anyway. And Phila isn't even protesting anymore.

Emmeryn: As for the peace I seek... you cannot see who it is for.

Oh for fuck's sake. Such arrogant, self-righteous twaddle. Is this some part of your effort to save the Plegians' souls or something? YOU ARE NOT A MARTYR, EMMERYN. YOU ARE THE RULER OF A FUCKING COUNTRY, AND THE LIFE AND LIBERTY OF YOUR COUNTRYMEN IS PARAMOUNT.

That line makes it sound like she thinks she's doing 4D Chess: Jesus Christ edition. I was not prepared to be set off by the profound, patronizing arrogance of that line.

And this ladies and gentlemen is what we call the uncanny valley of analysis. Emmeryn does something stupid and well she gets captured. Yeah I dunno guys. I don’t think the story is trying to say she’s correct. If anything it’s presenting her pacifism as a flaw cause if it truly believed that Emmeryn’s pacifism was correct then 1. The game would be kind of hypocritical seeing as Chrom does kill Gangrel in the end and 2. This is a video game where people fight so yeah. Cause think about what Emmeryn’s pacifism really gets her in the end. It gets her country ransacked by plegia and Gangrel, it starts a war because her inaction forces Chrom to act in her stead, and it gets her kidnapped thus putting both her and her nation in greater danger. Now with all this into account, would you say the story says that Emmeryn’s pacifism is a virtue? I wouldn’t say so. Too many bad things come out of it for me to consider the story to say she’s in the right for being a pacifist. 
 

Hell, initially her speech in chapter 9 doesn’t garner any reaction from the plegians. Which is why she says “no reaction... was I wrong then?” It’s only after Emmeryn takes initiative and actually takes action that people listen to her. She took the action to jump off herself to save Chrom from an impossible choice. It’s only then do her ideals have any meaning because she backed them up by taking action. Peace cannot be achieved with words alone and only ideals backed up with meaningful action can truly make a difference.  So yeah the story agrees with fact that Emmeryn is wrong or at the least her pacifism is but her ideals are what’s correct.

[Samz707]

5 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

And this ladies and gentlemen is what we call the uncanny valley of analysis. Emmeryn does something stupid and well she gets captured. Yeah I dunno guys. I don’t think the story is trying to say she’s correct. If anything it’s presenting her pacifism as a flaw cause if it truly believed that Emmeryn’s pacifism was correct then 1. The game would be kind of hypocritical seeing as Chrom does kill Gangrel in the end and 2. This is a video game where people fight so yeah. Cause think about what Emmeryn’s pacifism really gets her in the end. It gets her country ransacked by plegia and Gangrel, it starts a war because her inaction forces Chrom to act in her stead, and it gets her kidnapped thus putting both her and her nation in greater danger. Now with all this into account, would you say the story says that Emmeryn’s pacifism is a virtue? I wouldn’t say so. Too many bad things come out of it for me to consider the story to say she’s in the right for being a pacifist. 
 

Hell, initially her speech in chapter 9 doesn’t garner any reaction from the plegians. Which is why she says “no reaction... was I wrong then?” It’s only after Emmeryn takes initiative and actually takes action that people listen to her. She took the action to jump off herself to save Chrom from an impossible choice. It’s only then do her ideals have any meaning because she backed them up by taking action. Peace cannot be achieved with words alone and only ideals backed up with meaningful action can truly make a difference.  So yeah the story agrees with fact that Emmeryn is wrong or at the least her pacifism is but her ideals are what’s correct.

Except no one ever calls Emmeryn wrong, hell, when Chrom takes over, there's a big bit about he how doesn't feel he can live up to her.

Her pacifism and ideals are pretty related and I don't see how they're seperated.

[Alastor15243]

2 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

And this ladies and gentlemen is what we call the uncanny valley of analysis. Emmeryn does something stupid and well she gets captured. Yeah I dunno guys. I don’t think the story is trying to say she’s correct. If anything it’s presenting her pacifism as a flaw cause if it truly believed that Emmeryn’s pacifism was correct then 1. The game would be kind of hypocritical seeing as Chrom does kill Gangrel in the end and 2. This is a video game where people fight so yeah. Cause think about what Emmeryn’s pacifism really gets her in the end. It gets her country ransacked by plegia and Gangrel, it starts a war because her inaction forces Chrom to act in her stead, and it gets her kidnapped thus putting both her and her nation in greater danger. Now with all this into account, would you say the story says that Emmeryn’s pacifism is a virtue? I wouldn’t say so. Too many bad things come out of it for me to consider the story to say she’s in the right for being a pacifist. 

The chapter right after her death says otherwise, and I'm gonna be on the lookout for how her actions are viewed by the narrative. I admittedly haven't played the game in a while, so maybe I'm mis-remembering things (I have pointed out when I notice this in the past), but from what I remember, your interpretation that the game is trying to portray Emmeryn as wrong is... suspect. Very suspect.

Honestly that's the plot element I ran into today that I was the least interested in hearing your take on, and yet it was the only one I knew for certain you were going to respond to. What do you think of the Hierarch, or Nowi's interactions with the canon of the Archanean universe?

[Etrurian emperor]

6 minutes ago, Samz707 said:

Except no one ever calls Emmeryn wrong, hell, when Chrom takes over, there's a big bit about he how doesn't feel he can live up to her.

Well Walhard did though we obviously aren't supposed to agree. 

Quote

''No, she shouted some nonsense and leapt off a rock! Such weakness!''

 

[Samz707]

1 minute ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Well Walhard did though we obviously aren't supposed to agree. 

''No, she shouted some nonsense and leapt off a rock! Such weakness!''

I haven't gotten to Walhart myself but I like him already.

 

[Alastor15243]

3 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

She shouted some nonsense and leapt off a rock

I want to see a picture of that on Emmeryn's tombstone.

 

HERE LIES EMMERYN

SHE SHOUTED SOME NONSENSE AND LEAPT OFF A ROCK

Edited December 21, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Ottservia]

2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

The chapter right after her death says otherwise, and I'm gonna be on the lookout for how her actions are viewed by the narrative.

That’s what my second point is about. Think about what truly happens before she dies. Why does she say “no reaction.... was I wrong then?” What is the meaning of those words if the story didn’t consider her wrong in some way? It has to otherwise that line has no meaning. Think about it for a second. Her big speech about the cycle of hatred prompts no reaction. Zip, zilch, nothing. It’s because her words have no meaning because she made no effort to act on her words up until this point. She took no initiative or action and it’s only when she does that she gets the reaction she was looking for.  It’s only after she takes initiative that her ideals have meaning and the game finally considers her correct. She’s not correct because of her inaction. She’s correct in chapter 10 because in her last act she finally took action to protect her people when before she didn’t. 

 

10 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

What do you think of the Hierarch, or Nowi's interactions with the canon of the Archanean universe?

The hierarch? A minor character meant to showcase a shade if gray in regards to Plegia’s ideals. Remember the boss of the map kills him because he views him as a swine who betrayed his nation. It shows that even plegians have a sense honor and morals separate from their king. Again it’s just there to add some moral gray to the situation. 
 

On Nowi and archanean continuity? I honestly couldn’t really care less because I don’t think delving into that would add anything to the story. Like yeah it would be interesting. I wouldn’t mind it but I don’t think the lack of it really matters to story being told or the core of Nowi’s character. 

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Ottservia said:

On Nowi and archanean continuity? I honestly couldn’t really care less because I don’t think delving into that would add anything to the story. Like yeah it would be interesting. I wouldn’t mind it but I don’t think the lack of it really matters to story being told or the core of Nowi’s character. 

I meant more the fact that by everything we know about Archanean lore, she shouldn't exist.

 

2 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

The hierarch? A minor character meant to showcase a shade if gray in regards to Plegia’s ideals. Remember the boss of the map kills him because he views him as a swine who betrayed his nation. It shows that even plegians have a sense honor and morals separate from their king. Again it’s just there to add some moral gray to the situation. 

Yes, that's obviously the intention, but do you think it was well-executed?

[Acacia Sgt]

1 minute ago, Alastor15243 said:

I meant more the fact that by everything we know about Archanean lore, she shouldn't exist.

I mean, Tiki was still born from a Manakete Naga...

Or you mean about who her parents could be considering her possible tribe?

Edited December 21, 2020 by Acacia Sgt

[Alastor15243]

Just now, Acacia Sgt said:

I mean, Tiki was still born from a Manakete Naga...

Or you mean about who her parents could be considering her possible tribe?

Specifically the part I mentioned where young dragons can't stay sane even when sealing their power unless the Binding Shield is intact or they're in an enchanted sleep. Neither is the case with her, and yet she's fine, without explanation.

[Acacia Sgt]

2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Specifically the part I mentioned where young dragons can't stay sane even when sealing their power unless the Binding Shield is intact or they're in an enchanted sleep. Neither is the case with her, and yet she's fine, without explanation.

Wasn't that only applied to Tiki, and only her?

I mean, she's the daughter of the most powerful dragon. That even separating her power from her into a dragonstone was not enough to prevent the madness.

A problem Anankos also had, wasn't it?

Edited December 21, 2020 by Acacia Sgt

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Wasn't that only applied to Tiki, and only her?

Nope, all they said was that she was too young to be able to resist madness without the Binding Shield, even at roughly 1000 years old. And Nowi's a divine dragon too, judging by the fact that there's no visual difference or difference in stone type between Nowi and Tiki in this game.

[Ottservia]

9 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Yes, that's obviously the intention, but do you think it was well-executed?

Well I can’t say that it was poorly executed. I mean what about that moment can I really point to as an objective flaw. Sure, it just introduces a random character only to just kill him off but it’s not like the story treats him as an important character so what’s the problem with this scene again? There’s nothing I can really point to as objectively bad because it’s just that inconsequential(I think that’s the right word) of a moment.

 

6 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Specifically the part I mentioned where young dragons can't stay sane even when sealing their power unless the Binding Shield is intact or they're in an enchanted sleep. Neither is the case with her, and yet she's fine, without explanation.

I mean maybe it has something to do with how the Fire Emblem was repurposed since marth’s games 1,000 years prior to awakening. Like I said, awakening would benefit greatly from a prequel about the first exalt and Grima’s initial rise to kind of answer these questions. They don’t have to make it a game either. I’d be perfectly content with it being an anime, manga, or even a set of light novels.

Edited December 21, 2020 by Ottservia

[Etrurian emperor]

19 minutes ago, Samz707 said:

I haven't gotten to Walhart myself but I like him already.

 

Walhart isn't implemented very well in Awakening but he sure has some sass in him. 

''What's this? Ha ha, an item! KNEEL BEFORE YOUR NEW MASTER!"

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Etrurian emperor said:

'What's this? Ha ha, an item! KNEEL BEFORE YOUR NEW MASTER!"

(Got a Stick)