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

[Jotari]

12 minutes ago, Samz707 said:

I am glad 3H brought back Ballista as well as the Catapult thing that launches rocks, sniping dudes from the otherside of the map is fun. 

It is fun, which is why I think it a major shame that Shadow Dragon, and by that I mean the DS game, is the only game in the series to give it to you as a fully playable class that you can utilize anywhere.

Quote

Since it's as good time as any, what's everyone's opinion on Gauntlets? (I Kinda like the punching but they honestly seem OP so far and a friend of mine who's interested in ye olde weaponry says they look more like fancy gladiator stuff than anything actual soldiers would use.)

They certainly feel OP, but I'm not sure they actually are. Like I've never been compelled to make a team that's nothing but Brawlers because it seemed like the most optimal choice. Making it so they can't be used by mounts and mages was a pretty good call for nerfing them I think. They're the best weapon, but they can't be used in the best classes (well sans dismounting, but then your packing a weapon you're only using half the time). And given how the game is designed around giving you every weapon, but encouraging you to only train one or two on a unit for class goals, Gauntlets actually come out pretty well in terms of usage. They're the best weapon to use for killing things, but I've already invested loads into Unit G's lance rank because I want them to promote to pegasus knight, so I've given them a bunch of lances to use, and since they're using lances already, I've gotten the skills that make using lances which further encourages their use. So yeah, Gauntlets are on paper the best weapon when looked at objectively, but the game does a good job of discouraging their over use via its other mechanics. So maybe over powered but not over played?

6 minutes ago, Samz707 said:

They do make me kinda realize why most FE games don't give you many weapons with brave effects as they're kinda powerful but also aren't heavy so they don't negatively effect dodge. (I can only imagine the chaos if Killer Gauntlets existed.)

Killer Gauntlets do exist. They're called Killer Knuckles.

https://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Killer_Knuckles

Edited August 17, 2021 by Jotari

[Interdimensional Observer]

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...That almost feels like the infamous Shin Megami Tensei Law Hero's “Try not to feel too bad” line to me.

After what event? I take it on gut instinct to be the "Killing the monster that ate the Hero's mom and pretended to be her so as to kill the Hero" scene?

 

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Also, the Church's physical territory seems pretty tiny. How exactly do they secure their authority? Is there just a ton of religious fanaticism, so they don't need large numbers to make everyone else do as they say? But it still doesn't feel like the Church should have all that impressive of a military compared to literally any other Fodlan territory.

Ripped from Wikipedia:

The Papal States. A sizable chunk of northern and central Italy with two tiny enclaves in the Kingdom of Naples/Sicily. 

It was stated in a book I have readily on hand that the label "States" is appropriate, because the laws governing them weren't coherent over the entirety of it. It was a conglomeration of fifteen provinces, ruled nominally by the Sacred College of Cardinals, but the cardinals were too lazy to govern it, and the Pope via three powerful ministers with a confusing division of responsibilities did so instead. Also, Rome in this post-Medieval period had ~100 ministries that served as the central bodies of Catholicism across the world, the staff with their dependents totaled 80000 people, about half of Rome's total population, with 1 lawyer per 140 inhabitants. 

You also had the city of Avignon and the surrounding Comtat Venaissin in France, where the Popes lived for nearly 70 years, but that's it.

Now, the Roman Catholic Church had extensive land holdings throughout Catholic Europe, Although I lack an exact idea of how much in the Medieval period, so I'll refrain from saying anything on the period. However, that Early Modern history I like reciting states the following.:

• The Catholic Church in France owned 10% of cultivable land, half of which belonged specifically to the monasteries. The French Church farmland included much of the country's most fertile.
• Possibly 20-40% of the Papal States depending on the specific belonged to the Church.
• 40% of Lower Austria'a farmland belonged to the Church, half of which was owned by the monasteries. The Church owned 56% of arable land in Bavaria, and 28% of Bavarian peasants had larger monasteries as their landlords.
• In Spain's greatest subdivision, the Kingdom of Castile, the Church owned ~1/7th of all arable and pastoral land.
• Said book also says it seems that compared to secular landlords, the Church was relatively benevolent and that a tenant peasant couldn't go wrong given the choice to pick the Church.
• Critics of the Church in the Early Modern period tended to grossly exaggerate how much land in their countries the Church owned. Some Catholic rulers in this period felt compelled to try shutting down smaller monasteries and nunneries because "monks and nuns contribute nothing useful to society and don't productively use the land they own", so it was thought.
  • Adding in what I've learned from elsewhere on a slight tangent. The first wave of Protestant rulers, namely Henry VIII of England, were known for dissolving monasteries and confiscating Church lands. But, since the monarchs flipped from Catholicism to Protestantism, not to atheism, a sizable quantity of the Church lands remained in Church hands- the Lutheran or Anglican Church instead. 
    • Not to say the wealth gained from abolishing monasteries and getting rid of sinfully extravagant decorations made of silver and gold in the cathedrals wasn't significant. But the financial gains were short-lived, you can can abolish the monasteries only once, just as you can only sell your brother's rare Pokemon card collection behind his back to purchase a PS5 at scalper prices but once. Henry VIII died leaving England nearing bankruptcy.

You also have things like the Knights of St. John -the Knights Hospitallers- establishing themselves as the rulers of the island of Malta. And the Teutonic Order in the Middle Ages established its own country in the Baltic region, containing large portions of modern Estonia, Latvia, Lithuanian, as well as slices of Poland and Germany. Within the Holy Roman Empire, you had the Archbishops of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne were endowed with the status of Electors of the emperor, which only 4-6 secular princes shared. 2 non-elector archbishops, 21 bishops, and ~50 abbots were also represented in the Imperial Parliament- the Reichstag, all of these politically-ruling over territories mostly on the smaller side.

When you add all the lands across Europe together, with all the priests and monks, and the property on those lands, it does look rather heavenly on paper. However, scattered bits and pieces of land aren't defensible, and it's not like the Church could formally conscript soldiers to fight outside of the Papal States. The Crusades relied on volunteer forces from across Europe, the Pope couldn't force anyone to go. To say nothing of prelates likely needing to stay on the good side of the monarchs whose kingdoms they live in, their loyalties are not solely owed to the Vicar of Christ in practice. Sure, the Pope could threaten excommunication, but the threat might not be enough to stop a king from firing an archbishop in their realm who they really really really don't get along with. 

The Catholic Church had land, wealth, souls, some political and great cultural influence, but not a true empire. The Pope, whose day-to-day influence over local Church decisions across Europe was very limited by modern standards due to waaaay inferior means of travel and communication, and contrary to his proclamations to absolute authority, was no god-emperor.

Edited August 18, 2021 by Interdimensional Observer

[Acacia Sgt]

I'd also add that Garreg Mach is more or less designated neutral land between the three nations. Hence why the academy is there, and also why it's smack-dab at the very center of the continent.

Edited August 18, 2021 by Acacia Sgt

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Weirdly, nobody's making level-up comments. I didn't change any settings, so I'm not sure why that is.

Playable characters don't comment when fighting certain "sympathetic" characters. This includes most named characters.

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Also, the Church's physical territory seems pretty tiny. How exactly do they secure their authority? Is there just a ton of religious fanaticism, so they don't need large numbers to make everyone else do as they say? But it still doesn't feel like the Church should have all that impressive of a military compared to literally any other Fodlan territory.

I mean, they did manage to convince all the nations to send their impressionable youth of great means and ability to "Vacation Bible School". What the Church lacks in territory, they make up for in soft power.

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

So before we start with this fight, can I just say how weird it is that no discussion whatsoever has been made about how the rest of the Kingdom is reacting to this? The Church isn't requesting/“requesting” assistance, and there's no talk about the Kingdom demanding the Church let them handle it rather than sending armed forces into their sovereign territory?

It's not clear that Lonato has even done anything wrong yet. He's "raised an army against the Church", yes, but... has he attacked any churches? Has he traveled through another noble's sovereign territory? They should've established this as "neighboring nobles have complained about Lonato's encroachment, and the Kingdom government isn't able to deal with it right now".

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Also, amusingly, the game doesn't introduce the concept of torches to you before this. Usually in Fire Emblem games that have torches, you're told about them explicitly and then given a free torch in some capacity right before you need it. But nope, not here. They do sell them at the shop, but they do noting to draw your attention to them, which feels... odd, by Fire Emblem standards. Not that I suspect it's likely or wise for someone to get an item shop unlocked and not check out what's in it, but still, it's out of the ordinary. At any rate, I buy two torches, one for Professr and one for Felix.

"Imagine, players being made aware of your existence on a regular basis."

THIS MEME MADE BY

PURE WATER GANG

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Oh golly gee willikers! Look at that! The game spawned a bunch of units on the map on player-phase in response to an action one of my units took! While 95% of players aren't going to suffer any consequences of this... it's going to get way worse. When I get to a concrete example, then I'll finally explain the sheer agony of the mind this inflicts if you're trying to ironman.

But for now... just on principle this still pisses me off, because it was clearly put into place to prevent people from beating the map before the fog cleared. But in doing so, that means they actually actively envisioned the situation where they'd be ambush-spawning the player (someone advancing their units past the dark mage before killing him), and put it in regardless without the slightest bit of hesitation.

Yeah, not a fan of a whole load of reinforcements showing up when you trip the right wire. Even if they're "next-turn" reinforcements. I'm fine with reinforcements, but they should be used sparingly, and provide a "tell" of where they'll show up (a la Shadow Dragon's forts).

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Dimitri finally speaking up and commenting on the dying rebels makes me realize that he really should've had a moment where, I dunno, he tries to convince them to back down, or order them as crown prince? It's weird he's just silently working in the capacity of an extension of the church's power to suppress a rebellion in his own fucking country. That is such a comically petty and grotesque assertion of dominance and authority on Rhea's part that it's almost on the level of prima nocta.

My interpretation is that, in Faerghus, the Crown Prince doesn't derive any inherent authority from that title. Like, he'll have authority once he takes the throne - but not yet. It would still make sense for him to try to get them to back down.

Oh boy, I can't wait to read your thoughts on Rhea's actual "prima nocta" scene.

6 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

What the fuck am I supposed to do with that information, game?

How “occasionally”?

“Raises Mt” by how much?

This description has given me literally nothing of substance that I can use to factor into my battle plans, game!

Presumably, they wanted to retain some air of "mystery" around the Crests, so they kept their activation rates, and effectiveness quantities, under wraps. Bad for gameplay, debatable for storytelling.

Oh, and the "how much" is always "5". The "occasionally", though, is frustratingly variable. Still, if you're relying on a Crest activation, you might just be in trouble.

6 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

We get a secret book and goddess icon, which is really disappointing. Especially since they didn't buff the stat boost of secret books to accommodate for its stat being nerfed further still, like they've come to do with, say, luck.

This is a weird one, in light of the skill-boosting meal and luck-boosting meal both giving +2. And both respective rallies giving +8.

6 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Really, skill gets a bad rap in damned near every game it's in. I have two ideas on how to to change it:

The first is to, in addition to buffing the impact a point of skill has on your hit rate, replace criticals with a series of weapon-dependent special effects that only activate if your skill exceeds the enemy's luck (renamed bravery in my game concepts) by a certain threshold. That way a single point of skill has a way higher tangible impact on your unit's performance, like with speed.

The second, far simpler solution, the one I'm actually using in the game I'm working on so I don't bite off more than I can chew, is to bring back the concept of the weapon level stat, except don't use the weapon level stat, just make it use your skill. Same result: suddenly skill has tangible thresholds a single point can help you reach.

One of my "theorycrafts" is "how few stats can I include in an FE-style game?" I'm thinking 6. HP, Defense, and Speed work normally; Magic is a hybrid Magic/Resistance (a la Thracia); Strength includes a "weight offset" effect (a la 3H); and the last stat is basically a Skill/Luck hybrid that boosts Hit, Crit, and Crit Avoid. Luck tends to be regarded as another "trash stat", so I think combining it with Skill could make it a fair stat in its own right.

Your ideas are interesting, though. I like the idea of doing deterministic (rather than chance-based) things with the Skill stat.

6 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Yeah, and now Ashe goes offscreen, to talk to the characters this game didn't have the budget to show, in a location the game didn't have a budget to show. And as soon as he's gone, Dimitri talks about his own hangups with what he just did, and frankly it's ridiculous that there wasn't any audible concern from anyone but Ashe about the prospect of fighting their own countrymen before we actually got here.

Those characters are probably off partying with Holst and Petra's grandfather.

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Interesting concept for a weapon, though I've yet to be able to get a speedy user of it. I think that's what I'm gonna do with Felix, that should be interesting.

That way, you'll get double the occasional chances to increase might by an unspecified amount!

[Alastor15243]

3 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Playable characters don't comment when fighting certain "sympathetic" characters. This includes most named characters.

So the game actually has a "serious mode"? Wow, I'm genuinely impressed, and shocked I never noticed that. I've said the series has needed that multiple times now, the last time as recently as last game! Nice! Good on them!

[Interdimensional Observer]

6 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

The second, far simpler solution, the one I'm actually using in the game I'm working on so I don't bite off more than I can chew, is to bring back the concept of the weapon level stat, except don't use the weapon level stat, just make it use your skill. Same result: suddenly skill has tangible thresholds a single point can help you reach.

Forgot to comment on this earlier.

Sounds like Berwick Saga did that already.

Accuracy =

(weapon Precision x 10) + weapon Skill + Skill bonus + Support bonus + Food bonus

Weapon Skill- you get a separate one for each weapon type minus the special subdivisions, so one for Swords, another for Spears, but Lances share one with Spears. Can be increased via typical random stat growth on leveling, and via use in battle not unlike traditional weapon ranks.

I haven't played the game yet myself, but looking at the calculations, you might be able to use weapons with a higher Weapon Skill than you have looking at the calculations page. However, doing so removes any special bonuses the weapon would normally provide, and you've a chance of what I take to mean the weapon/shield/spell just not working at all.

Edited August 18, 2021 by Interdimensional Observer

[Alastor15243]

5 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Forgot to comment on this earlier.

Sounds like Berwick Saga did that already.

Accuracy =

(weapon Precision x 10) + weapon Skill + Skill bonus + Support bonus + Food bonus

Weapon Skill- you get a separate one for each weapon type minus the special subdivisions, can increase via typical random stat growth, and via use in battle like with weapon ranks.

I haven't played the game yet myself, but looking at the calculations, you might be able to use weapons with a higher Weapon Skill than you have looking at the calculations page. However, doing so removes any special bonuses the weapon would normally provide, and you've a chance of what I take to mean the weapon/shield/spell just not working at all.

Interesting. Yeah, when and if I get around to doing those games, it's gonna be quite a trip.

[Anathaco]

6 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Weirdly, nobody's making level-up comments. I didn't change any settings, so I'm not sure why that is.

And Catherine isn't saying anything whenever she kills an opponent, she just poses silently. Is that a green unit thing, or did I accidentally turn something off? Or did the game glitch out?

On the maps where some terrible tragedy is occurring (this one, chapter 8, etc) they don’t say any victory quotes. Probably because, say Ignatz celebrating when he kills a dude (“I did it! I did!”) and then after the map being like “oh Jesus Christ what have we done” would have been a pretty weird contrast.

Honestly I’m not sure about green units- two of the maps where they appear don’t have any victory quotes at all, and the other maps it’s very unlikely to see a green unit kill anybody (Gilbert sucks, Jeralt can’t kill Kostas and he’ll struggle against the chapter 9 beasts)

[Interdimensional Observer]

4 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Interesting. Yeah, when and if I get around to doing those games, it's gonna be quite a trip.

Well, only Berwick, TearRing is very typical FE with a mishmash of ideas from FEs 1-5, I've played through it. Berwick, unlike TRS and the Vestaria Saga to follow suit, really tries mixing things up from typical FE. Hence I look forward to it once I get a computer that run PS2 emulation although I'm thinking I start with an SRPG with flashy boom booms instead.

Edited August 18, 2021 by Interdimensional Observer

[Samz707]

7 hours ago, Jotari said:

 

Killer Gauntlets do exist. They're called Killer Knuckles.

https://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Killer_Knuckles

I've not seen them in action but I know I'd be utterly terrified if I saw an enemy using those.

I'm nervous enough around enemies with decent Crit-chance, so that with a brave effect is terrifying. 

Edited August 18, 2021 by Samz707

[Jotari]

10 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Oh boy, I can't wait to read your thoughts on Rhea's actual "prima nocta" scene.

What 0.o I don't remember that scene at all.

10 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

One of my "theorycrafts" is "how few stats can I include in an FE-style game?" I'm thinking 6. HP, Defense, and Speed work normally; Magic is a hybrid Magic/Resistance (a la Thracia); Strength includes a "weight offset" effect (a la 3H); and the last stat is basically a Skill/Luck hybrid that boosts Hit, Crit, and Crit Avoid. Luck tends to be regarded as another "trash stat", so I think combining it with Skill could make it a fair stat in its own right.

Heroes manages to make do with just 5 stats, by doing away with accuracy and evasion entirely. Considering how much Fire Emblem players hate rng, it might actually be a decent experiment to bring to the main series.

10 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

So the game actually has a "serious mode"? Wow, I'm genuinely impressed, and shocked I never noticed that. I've said the series has needed that multiple times now, the last time as recently as last game! Nice! Good on them!

Apparently characters also get unique Critical quotes against certain enemies. Things along the lines of "I don't want to do this." Very nice touches. If only the actual melodrama of having to fight your classmates was really explored by actually depicting the units who aren't in your army as actual characters in Part 1.

5 hours ago, Samz707 said:

I've not seen them in action but I know I'd be utterly terrified if I saw an enemy using those.

I'm nervous enough around enemies with decent Crit-chance, so that with a brave effect is terrifying. 

I think they're only available via forging.

[Shadow Mir]

11 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

So the game actually has a "serious mode"? Wow, I'm genuinely impressed, and shocked I never noticed that. I've said the series has needed that multiple times now, the last time as recently as last game! Nice! Good on them!

Speaking of, another case where this crops up is chapter 8, because of the tragedy that goes down there.

On 8/12/2021 at 6:19 PM, Jotari said:

It would help if they were support based, which I'm pretty sure they're not. I think they're just a simple check of "Are these two units in your army and is this the right chapter" which means for of units who don't require recruitment from other houses or get their paralogue in part 2, the answer is yes.

Annette and Gilbert's paralogue requires a support between them.

14 hours ago, Samz707 said:

Since it's as good time as any, what's everyone's opinion on Gauntlets? (I Kinda like the punching but they honestly seem OP so far and a friend of mine who's interested in ye olde weaponry says they look more like fancy gladiator stuff than anything actual soldiers would use.)

Ehhh. I never really got much use out of them (special mention to the Aura Knuckles for being a complete joke of a weapon, on par with Eclipse in Binding Blade, except that had a use; breaking the ridiculously durable walls down). Dedue is about the only good user of them I've ever tried to use (out of him, Caspar and Raphael, he's the best of them... not that that's saying much).

Edited August 18, 2021 by Shadow Mir

[Alastor15243]

Three Houses Day 12: Monastery Shenanigans

Alright, I just did all the busywork for the month offscreen. It is now the day of the Rite of Rebirth, and the next thing will be to go into battle.

Time elapsed: 1 hour, 32 minutes.

Now to go over the notes I took, add more detail, and then do the supports for today.

The opening painting thing for the month said that “Every true follower of the Church of Seiros is sure to be in attendance” of the Rite of Rebirth. Fodlan can't have that many “true followers” in it then, can it?

Felix says in his support with Professr that he's never thought before about why he's so obsessed with getting stronger. I find that... odd.

Also, I notice he says “all children” learn how to fight, not “all boys”. Was that changed? It might not have been, honestly. It's weird not knowing the full picture of the original Japanese version that the localization changed so radically.

I'm going to have to pay attention more to what they say prompts a Professr support when you're on the calendar screen and they say stuff like “you're curious how X is doing” or “X would like to speak with you”. So far this moooooooostly lines up with how the supports start, but more on the level of plausible deniability. “X would like to speak with you” only really works for Dimitri if you assume that after you say yes, they then rewind to the start of the conversation where he runs into you and you don't brush him off, and that if you say no, you still canonically run into him in that same way but just say you're busy offscreen. It's odd.

But anyway, in Dimitri's support, he confirms there is an orphanage in the Monastery! Honestly, that should be something you can visit, for the reasons I stated before about making it easy to exposit stuff that only children shouldn't know about the world.

Dimitri is apparently on really good terms with Felix's father. I seem to remember Felix's father... being a bad guy. I'll have to see how this develops.

As for the scene where Dimitri talks about the ulterior purpose of the assassination threat with the other Blue Lion students, I can't help but think that it really cheapens the experience that the same thing happens in each version of White Clouds, and every house leader gets basically the same ideas.

Also, I happened by the amiibo gazebo (I love that name by the way) and found a ton of random shit lying on the ground, including an Airmid goby. While the idea of Professr finding a dead fish on the ground, staring at it with her big dumbass eyes and pocketing it is hilarious, it's also my literal worst nightmare, wandering around and just happening upon a fish corpse on the ground in the last place you'd ever expect to see one. I can't stand dead fish, they're so fucking creepy.

Anyone play What Remains of Edith Finch?

I never want to do the fucking cannery level again.

Okay, so this mandatory quest where you go around the Monastery playing amateur sleuth, trying to figure out what the ulterior motive of the “assassins” is... not gonna lie, it's pretty dang fun.

Once.

There's absolutely no justification to force anyone to do it multiple times, running around to 6 separate locations around the Monastery as tedious busywork.

I happen upon the stables and see Ferdinand, and he praises the “beauty” of the horses, which fucking reminds me... just what the fuck is up with the horses in this game? Is that even a real breed, with that wild and crazy gray hair? If not, what eldritch madness possessed the devs to make every horse in Fodlan look like that?

I ran into Petra, which reminds me that Petra is fucking weird. I can't stand the way she talks, where she speaks with a flawless American accent and yet still somehow has copious problems with English grammar. They really, really should've given her an accent to make her seem more convincingly foreign.

Students from every house, not just the one I'm in, seem to have caught on to the fact that the fact that the assassination plot is a farce. Obviously this is so they don't have to make different supports for when units are and aren't recruited each month, but it begs the question of why only the house with Professr teaching it does anything about this.

Sylvain's support with Annette is about him being really smart and knowing a lot about magic, but I remember from my Verdant Wind playthrough that his support with Lysithea implied almost the opposite, where he really, really needed Lysithea's help learning more about magic and not knowing the right way to convey that to her. What's going on here?

Also, Annette says “what is wrong with you” with a smile on her model and her portrait, but her voice actress apparently didn't get the memo and said the line fully annoyed and exasperated rather than laughing or something.

And finally, Dedue's support with Professr annoys me, in that precious little actually happens in it, and it's just setup for what's to follow. It genuinely feels similar to the “I don't want to talk” supports that plagued Shadows of Valentia.

...Whew! Alright, that's all. Now then, do I have time to go over the rest of the supports I unlocked?

...Yep, I have a full hour longer than I thought I did. Let's do this.

Time for Dedue and Felix.

Felix: Hold a moment, dog.

...Given that it's only Ingrid who gets shit for being racist, I have to assume that's not a slur, but calling Dedue basically Dimitri's lapdog. I mean, he's no stranger to giving animal insults.

...Yep, confirms as much next line he gets.

Wow, the angry look on Dimitri's face on his model is actually better than the one on his portrait in this instance.

Dedue: My father, my mother, my sibling – all were killed.

Who. The fuck. Would say “my sibling” in this situation, and not “my sister” or “my brother”? Is this because the original Japanese didn't specify the gender of the sibling? I'd be pretty surprised to learn that's the case, and yet I can't think of any other explanation for a line that awkward.

Um...

...Wow.

Okay.

Uh...

I...

Uh................

There is... so fucking much to unpack about what this reveals about Dimitri's relationship with Dedue, and frankly I don't even want to attempt to discuss it, because I don't want to be tossing those subject seeds into the thread. I will say that at least, at bare minimum, this psychotically mindless and servile relationship Dedue has with Dimitri is entirely one-sided, and Dimitri neither expects nor enjoys it and actively tries to change it. But still, uh... um...

...yeah, moving on.

Time for his support with Annette.

...Okay, this is pretty dang wholesome and adorable. Also pretty funny. Though I wish they didn't make it look like Annette had just been cooking in the middle of the dining hall, like she just lit a fire on the floor and held the pan over it. Hilarious mental image to be sure, but obviously unintentional.

Ah yes, Sylvain's infamous C support with Ingrid, where she flips out at him for all of his reckless flirting.

Okay, so, the awkwardness of Ingrid's vocal delivery really comes out when she gets angry. She is just not reading the way the lines are worded in a way that feels remotely natural for a human being.

Ah yes, and now she lists Sylvain's most infamous acts of flirting, namely hitting on her grandmother when he was eight, and hitting on a scarecrow when he was ten.

First off, these are... really young ages. Did he really become a jaded “have fun while I can” person at eight years old, or was he just always a horndog and is using his freudian backstory as an excuse?

Second off... elephant in the room...

...it wasn't a scarecrow in the Japanese version. It was a crossdressing dude. Evidently the localizers didn't like the idea of Ingrid citing finding men attractive as an instance of someone's sexual deviance being completely beyond the pale. Now, they're already willing to depict Ingrid as racist, so I don't see why they can't also depict her as homophobic, but I think the issue the localizers had was that it felt too much like this support was supposed to have Ingrid be objectively in the right and have the moral high ground on Sylvain.

A shame, because homophobia in a character who has a major character arc about the societal expectation for her to bear children (something that, obviously, two men or two women can't do together biologically) would be really interesting. It could potentially speak volumes about what she thinks the purpose of marriage is for and whether she even thinks love is a real thing. Turning this support into an argument between a stuffy, homophobic traditionalist and an amoral, jaded sex fiend is a concept I think has a lot of potential, both for comedy and for characterization.

Annette and Ingrid's B support... is already unlocked.

And it's the end to their support chain.

Frankly, when most supports develop over the course of five in-story years, no pair has any business finishing up their arc this fucking early into the game.

So Ingrid apparently has a dead fiance. And she seems like she genuinely liked him, to the point that she feels bad changing herself without him being around to see it. I'm starting to think that the impression I've gotten of her from other routes is going to change significantly now that she has actual supports with her own house. I may have assumed some things that aren't actually true. We'll see.

Alright, and finally, Dimitri and Felix.

This oughta be something.

...This support, with Felix talking about what Dimitri is “really like” behind the facade he puts on for everyone else... really feels like it has to have been completely inverted from the original Japanese, given that it's supposed to be the violent side of him that's a performative facade, not the sensitive, polite side of him.

...So, Felix seems to genuinely hate Dimitri and what he's become since the Tragedy of Duscur, and can't stand being around him. So... why the fuck is he still in the Blue Lion house when the game confirms he has the right to pursue his education with a different one literally any time he wants? Unless, of course, he cares more than he lets on.

...But anyway... that's it. That's all the supports for today. We'll do the battle tomorrow.

Stay safe, everyone.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

What 0.o I don't remember that scene at all.

I was referring to the scene immediately after Teach's "Awakening". Where Teach finds themself cradled in the Principal's lap.

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

Heroes manages to make do with just 5 stats, by doing away with accuracy and evasion entirely. Considering how much Fire Emblem players hate rng, it might actually be a decent experiment to bring to the main series.

Conceivably, if we were to do away with Hit/Crit rates. My model was assuming a system where those still exist.

1 hour ago, Shadow Mir said:

Ehhh. I never really got much use out of them (special mention to the Aura Knuckles for being a complete joke of a weapon, on par with Eclipse in Binding Blade, except that had a use; breaking the ridiculously durable walls down). Dedue is about the only good user of them I've ever tried to use (out of him, Caspar and Raphael, he's the best of them... not that that's saying much).

The two big problems faced by Aura Knuckles are A) requiring A-rank in Gauntlets, and B) the inexplicable prohibition against magic classes using Gauntlets. How am I supposed to train my magic-specialist up in a weapon type they can't even use?

Re: Gauntlets in general, the issue there is, Caspar and Raphael just aren't very good units. Alois can perform somewhat like Dedue (both get One-Two Punch), while Felix enjoys getting his personal, plus a chance to activate his Crest, on every strike. Teach can be good with them, too, as a Brave option before any other Brave weapons appear. Finally, Balthus is just a better Raphael.

[Shadow Mir]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Ah yes, and now she lists Sylvain's most infamous acts of flirting, namely hitting on her grandmother when he was eight, and hitting on a scarecrow when he was ten.

First off, these are... really young ages. Did he really become a jaded “have fun while I can” person at eight years old, or was he just always a horndog and is using his freudian backstory as an excuse?

Second off... elephant in the room...

...it wasn't a scarecrow in the Japanese version. It was a crossdressing dude. Evidently the localizers didn't like the idea of Ingrid citing finding men attractive as an instance of someone's sexual deviance being completely beyond the pale. Now, they're already willing to depict Ingrid as racist, so I don't see why they can't also depict her as homophobic, but I think the issue the localizers had was that it felt too much like this support was supposed to have Ingrid be objectively in the right and have the moral high ground on Sylvain.

A shame, because homophobia in a character who has a major character arc about the societal expectation for her to bear children (something that, obviously, two men or two women can't do together biologically) would be really interesting. It could potentially speak volumes about what she thinks the purpose of marriage is for and whether she even thinks love is a real thing. Turning this support into an argument between a stuffy, homophobic traditionalist and an amoral, jaded sex fiend is a concept I think has a lot of potential, both for comedy and for characterization.

As to that, fish girl's support with Sylvain pretty much implies he's bisexual. But still, this is crazy.

[Samz707]

24 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

As to that, fish girl's support with Sylvain pretty much implies he's bisexual. But still, this is crazy.

Isn't his Felix ending FE7-Tier "Gay but we're not outright saying it but instead heavily implying it in a way that borderline sounds more romantic arguably than just saying they were gay?"

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

First off, these are... really young ages. Did he really become a jaded “have fun while I can” person at eight years old, or was he just always a horndog and is using his freudian backstory as an excuse?

Second off... elephant in the room...

...it wasn't a scarecrow in the Japanese version. It was a crossdressing dude. Evidently the localizers didn't like the idea of Ingrid citing finding men attractive as an instance of someone's sexual deviance being completely beyond the pale. Now, they're already willing to depict Ingrid as racist, so I don't see why they can't also depict her as homophobic, but I think the issue the localizers had was that it felt too much like this support was supposed to have Ingrid be objectively in the right and have the moral high ground on Sylvain.

A shame, because homophobia in a character who has a major character arc about the societal expectation for her to bear children (something that, obviously, two men or two women can't do together biologically) would be really interesting. It could potentially speak volumes about what she thinks the purpose of marriage is for and whether she even thinks love is a real thing. Turning this support into an argument between a stuffy, homophobic traditionalist and an amoral, jaded sex fiend is a concept I think has a lot of potential, both for comedy and for characterization.

 

The problem is they'd have to somehow fit that into a support chain that was never written to support it. (A bit like how Echoes English tries to make Faye less one-dimensional.)

Also the serious mode is kinda undercut a bit because they don't turn it on for your first-kills chapter. (So your characters are taunting enemies after killing them THEN freaking out about it.)

Edited August 18, 2021 by Samz707

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Also, I happened by the amiibo gazebo (I love that name by the way) and found a ton of random shit lying on the ground, including an Airmid goby

 

I agree so hard I made a thread about it the moment I discovered it.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

...it wasn't a scarecrow in the Japanese version. It was a crossdressing dude. Evidently the localizers didn't like the idea of Ingrid citing finding men attractive as an instance of someone's sexual deviance being completely beyond the pale. Now, they're already willing to depict Ingrid as racist, so I don't see why they can't also depict her as homophobic, but I think the issue the localizers had was that it felt too much like this support was supposed to have Ingrid be objectively in the right and have the moral high ground on Sylvain.

 

A shame, because homophobia in a character who has a major character arc about the societal expectation for her to bear children (something that, obviously, two men or two women can't do together biologically) would be really interesting. It could potentially speak volumes about what she thinks the purpose of marriage is for and whether she even thinks love is a real thing. Turning this support into an argument between a stuffy, homophobic traditionalist and an amoral, jaded sex fiend is a concept I think has a lot of potential, both for comedy and for characterization.

Eh, yeah, but I don't think the intent there was for Sylvain to be depicted as actually into a man. Sure he's a horn dog, but he seems to be entirely about the ladies. No S support with Male Byleth for him, uh, I think, let me check...yeah only female Byleth. So it's more so that he's so sex crazed that he didn't even notice the person he was going after was a man. I can see why it was changed, because in our societies one could easily think a cross dressing man is a transgendered woman and then derive it as some sort of condemnation. Making it a scarecrow manages to convey the same idea the original was entailing, that Sylvain is so sex crazed he doesn't even notice what he's pursuing isn't what he's actually after...if we ignore the logic as to why someone would dress a scarecrow up like a woman. It's not like dresses and things are any cheaper or effective at dissuading crows.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

...So, Felix seems to genuinely hate Dimitri and what he's become since the Tragedy of Duscur, and can't stand being around him. So... why the fuck is he still in the Blue Lion house when the game confirms he has the right to pursue his education with a different one literally any time he wants? Unless, of course, he cares more than he lets on.

Evidently they were sorted into houses by nationality to expedite things because Seteth has a lot on his plate, and Manuela's not charismatic enough to convince him to join Black Eagles.

[Samz707]

Just now, Jotari said:

I agree so hard I made a thread about it the moment I discovered it.

Eh, yeah, but I don't think the intent there was for Sylvain to be depicted as actually into a man. Sure he's a horn dog, but he seems to be entirely about the ladies. No S support with Male Byleth for him, uh, I think, let me check...yeah only female Byleth. So it's more so that he's so sex crazed that he didn't even notice the person he was going after was a man. I can see why it was changed, because in our societies one could easily think a cross dressing man is a transgendered woman and then derive it as some sort of condemnation. Making it a scarecrow manages to convey the same idea the original was entailing, that Sylvain is so sex crazed he doesn't even notice what he's pursuing isn't what he's actually after...if we ignore the logic as to why someone would dress a scarecrow up like a woman. It's not like dresses and things are any cheaper or effective at dissuading crows.

 

Amiibo Gazebo is good name.

Doesn't Sylvian have a heavily implied to-be-gay ending with Felix?

I noticed Byleth has a few weird things where they can romance a clearly Bisexual character...but only as one gender.

Ferdinand has an incredibly obviously gay ending with Hubert but neither can be romanced by a Male Byleth.

Manuela has a gay ending with Dorothea and even still flirts with you in a few scenes but can't be romanced by a Female Byleth. 

 

[Jotari]

21 minutes ago, Samz707 said:

Amiibo Gazebo is good name.

Doesn't Sylvian have a heavily implied to-be-gay ending with Felix?

I noticed Byleth has a few weird things where they can romance a clearly Bisexual character...but only as one gender.

Ferdinand has an incredibly obviously gay ending with Hubert but neither can be romanced by a Male Byleth.

Manuela has a gay ending with Dorothea and even still flirts with you in a few scenes but can't be romanced by a Female Byleth. 

 

I haven't seen Sylvain's supports with Felix so I can't really comment on that. But the game does have genuine same sex supports (albeit not between non Avatar characters, rip Dorothea x Edelgard I guess, I think Linhardt does have a paired ending with Caspar, but I'm pretty sure that's a platonic one), so if Sylvain or Felix and all that were bi then they would have given S supports to Byleth. Maybe it's people reading too much into it, or perhaps the localization theme getting to much into their yuri and yaoi. I just can't really see why they'd make a game and go "all these characters are bi and get a paired ending with the avatar regardless of gender, meanwhile all these character are bi but we're not actually going to come out and say it, we're not even going to give plausibly platonic paired endings with the avatar like we to with Alois". Like it's just sort of inconsistent and motiveless? Hubert is totally down for getting it on with female Byleth but male Byleth just isn't as pretty as Ferdinand for his type in men? Maybe they're going for a message of "not everyone who's gay/bi is necessarily into you" but that's really undermined in a game like Fire Emblem where between the two genders you can sleep with basically anyone who has a face.

I could certainly see Sylvain's type of character as up for anything bi, but he always seemed straight as a ruler to me. The way he treats men and women are completely different at any rate, so if he does have bi leaning tendacies it might be more of the biromanitc than bisexual (or perhaps even homoromantic hetrosxual given his disdain for actually having a relationship with a women pre character development, though that's clearly a hangup born from up bringing and not tendency as he can settle down with women...uh, can't he? I can't really remember if I ever paired him with anyone. I vaguely remember more high level supports striking at the heart of who he is and showing signs of change though).

Edited August 18, 2021 by Jotari

[Alastor15243]

Three Houses Day 13: Rite of Rebirth

Seteth says we “seem a mite too relaxed for [his] liking”, when we were all determinedly talking about our plans to protect the Monastery. Mistranslation, or just writers not thinking about what they previously wrote at all?

...This is... weird. Flayn just randomly spouts out some gossip about what Seteth told her in secret, y'know, like a six year old would do, and like... how fucking emotionally immature is this girl? She's centuries old, and she still has such an insanely low amount of emotional maturity at times. I always find this so uncomfortable about the “thousand year old little girl” thing, as I've said before multiple times. They just don't write these characters as if they were emotionally mature enough to be in the relationships you can put them in.

...Unless this is a deliberate act on her part to pretend to be younger than she actually is.

...In which case she revealed that “better off patrolling a coffin” line in a way that Seteth had actually previously agreed upon, at least in general principle.

...Which would imply that this was a deliberate thing they wanted Professr to hear.

...Would Rhea gain anything from making sure Professr was down there with the Sword of the Creator? Was this a deliberate plot to nudge her down there even if there weren't a plot to steal from the mausoleum?

So the plan is to hide by the Holy Mausoleum entrance and wait for anyone to enter, then follow them in and fight them.

...And not, y'know, use the element of stealth to get the drop on them before they enter the Holy Mausoleum with all the precious breakable shit it'd be extremely foolish to fight around.

But nope, it skips right from that “we'll hide outside until they enter” line straight to the battle prep screen.

Leaving us to assume that they watched the big scary motherfucking death knight walk by and didn't think to call for backup.

...Moving on, I buy some chest keys from the shop, and accidentally dump Professr's whole inventory in the convoy, so I get some stuff out for her. It's really dumb that they gray out vulneraries on the prep screen like they're weapons you can't equip, just because you can't use them specifically on the menu. I can't remember an instance of a single other FE game doing that.

...Which reminds me...

...You know that awesomely-useful feature that Awakening and Fates had where you could use stat boosters straight from the convoy by highlighting them and selecting “use”?

Three Houses doesn't have it.

It's more of a minor inconvenience since this game doesn't have tonics or anything of the like, but it's still a pain in the ass when you want to use a bunch of stat boosters on one unit at once, and it's just another instance of the game's shocking lack of polish in the most unexpected of areas.

Okay, anyway, let's get going with this fight.

So, as I get started, quick update on my plans: I intend to make Felix a war monk. He's gonna be a brawler and he's got a budding talent with magic, might as well make the best use of both.

So, apparently Death Knight was brought here... why, exactly? He apparently has no intention of stopping us from stopping the Western Church as long as we don't attack him directly, so... why'd they even send him here? To watch?

Yeah, the Death Knight is... um... just as Jeralt is an obvious attempt to ape the greatness of Greil, Death Knight is an obvious attempt to ape the greatness of the Black Knight. And... it likewise fails. Miserably. He's just nowhere near as cool, nor does he actually have nearly as much of a personal connection to the main character and their story arc. I'm sure the fact that shortly after release he became a meme for how easily Lysithea could kill him sure as hell didn't help.

One of the major downsides of the class system of this game I'm noticing as I move people around is that everyone starts out so damned similar in what they can do. It takes ages before you even unlock different movement types. Plus, these maps are pretty dang large, and with everyone stuck at 4 movement...

...Yeah, let's just say it's taking a long time for the game to get up to speed. I mean, the beginning of nearly any Fire Emblem game tends to be my least favorite part, but this is kind of exacerbating the problem.

I've been getting a lot of unlucky 2-stat level ups, and I can't remember seeing a single-stat one. Does this game put the minimum level up number at 2 instead of 1?

...I just realized something: since the generic enemies don't have portraits above their heads, the weapon icon showing what type of weapon they're using is offset lower down.

...And that means that it almost perfectly overlaps with the portraited weapon icon of the unit directly to the south of them, such that you hilariously can't see it.

...Damn it, I keep forgetting that gambits exist, and keep getting hit by them when baiting people in for enemy phase. It's such a weird adjustment.

Dedue's been getting astonishingly lucky with his speed. How lucky? At level 8, he has 11 speed. He's faster than everyone in my army except Professr, Ingrid and Felix.

Alright, I'm up to the boss. Turn 13 out of twenty five. The time limit is clearly a story-based formality, and one that doesn't really make any sense. What's really going to happen when 25 turns pass? It's not like he can use the sword in there to slaughter us or anything. In fact, he winds up opening the casket just as we finish the battle anyway, and nothing happens. Hell, what did they think would make us “too late” if they opened it? What did he think he could do with the corpse of the goddess right here and now that it'd guarantee his escape even if all of his allies are dead?

Anyway, my mistake, here's a second in-engine action scene, where Professr knocks the Sword of the Creator out of the boss's hands and kicks his ass with it without a second thought for what the fuck it even is or whether or not she can or should use it. It's kind of like being in a sword fight in a damned museum and then dealing the finishing blow with one of the museum artifact swords when you already have a perfectly good sword on you.

...And Death Knight just teleports out. Was the Western Church provided with that tech? Is that why there was a time limit, because they'd just warp out?

...Well the one remaining reinforcement seems to have disappeared offscreen either way, so I guess we're left to assume that they did...? Could've been way better conveyed to us.

Also, the time limit could've been lower just to keep things interesting.

...No, wait, apparently the stragglers didn't warp away according to Catherine. So... uh... Death Knight's presence here seems... completely and totally pointless.

And these guys being sentenced to death now are... what, spies for the Western Church posing as members of the Central Church?

Shamir lists “attempted assassination of the archbishop” in their list of crimes, so what, was there an actual attempt to keep up the decoy ruse? Or are they just trumping up their list of crimes because this is a kangaroo court show trial and they literally do not give a single shit?

The evidence against them isn't even listed, but they crack and admit who they are anyway, which is is kind of ridiculous.

It's... kind of weird how ridiculously zealous Shamir is being here, given that she can easily be recruited to join the Empire.

There's a little disagreement between Ashe, Ingrid and Mercedes about the justice of Rhea's actions, which just reminds me yet again that both of them can be recruited to either side of the Church-versus-Empire conflict, and that none of them even have the option of fighting Rhea on this route.

...Apparently “Flame Emperor” is only now giving... what'shisname... permission to command the Death Knight, which begs the question yet again of what the fuck he was doing in that battle.

Ah yes, that reminds me: if you kill Death Knight, you get a dark seal, which is the only way to get the most ill-conceived class line in the entire damned game: the dark mage class line. For some godforsaken reason it's male-only, despite the fact that there are, like, three times the number of female dark magic users in this game as there are male dark magic users. It's frankly amazing Lysithea is as badass as she is when she got screwed over that badly and is denied dark tomefaire until level 30, if ever.

Anyway, we're given the Sword of the Creator by Rhea, much to Seteth's alarm and shock.

And now let's wait until we get to the first free time event and I'll stop for today.

...Yet again we know a month in advance what we're going to be doing at the end of the month, which really does beg the question of how much discontent there might be about how the Church handles things. I'm assuming the Kingdom, or at least Sylvain's family, came to the Church for help with the disowned son who stole the Lance of Ruin (which we're damned lucky Miklan isn't going to use even once for the entire month leading up to his confrontation). How exactly do they feel about the fact that even though the Church is capable of being there in a matter of hours, this is being scheduled to be handled a month from now, by students who aren't yet even licensed to ride a horse?

...Shit, that reminds me about something about the class system I'll want to talk about eventually, but now is decidedly not the time.

But yeah, that's assuming they even have the Kingdom's permission. This could just be something the Church is doing to steal the relic for themselves, unless I'm mis-remembering how this goes when you have Sylvain in your army. Well, I'll learn for myself soon enough.

Rhea says that those without a Crest are still capable of “merely wielding” the relics, which is... uh... the most morbid half-truth I have ever fucking heard, as we will soon see firsthand.

Ah, so Rodrigue shows up and says hi to Dimitri. He reveals that Miklan is actively pillaging villages of his territory, and he's still comfortable with them delaying a whole month to actually go into action.

Now for Hanneman. Who reveals we have the “Crest of Flames”.

Aha.

Ahaha.

Crest... of flames.

Real cute, game.

Alright, time for a support with Ingrid, then we'll finish.

The entire support is Ingrid tearing up a letter from her father and then finding every excuse she can to talk about other stuff to distract from it and keep Professr from finding out.

...Christ, I remember so little about Ingrid's relationship with her father, I mostly just remember her paralogue with Dorothea. It feels even more likely I've misinterpreted her...

...But she says that keeping her space clean and not holding on to junk is part of her upbringing from being relatively poor, but you'd think she'd try to get as much use as she can out of what she has in that case, and be less eager to throw things away.

I tell Ingrid I wanted to talk to her, and instead of going “oh, what about?” she just walks off, assuming the thing we already spoke about was what I wanted to talk about despite it being completely spontaneous.

And with that, we're done. Alright, tomorrow I'll do the calendar stuff, and on Monday we'll do the chapter.

Stay safe, everyone.

[Shadow Mir]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

I've been getting a lot of unlucky 2-stat level ups, and I can't remember seeing a single-stat one. Does this game put the minimum level up number at 2 instead of 1?

For Byleth and the students, as well as Cyril and Flayn, yes.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

So, as I get started, quick update on my plans: I intend to make Felix a war monk. He's gonna be a brawler and he's got a budding talent with magic, might as well make the best use of both.

I'm gonna have to stop you right there; Felix has a budding talent in reason. And it's not worth bothering with, as his reason spell list is drier than Lake Hylia after Ganondorf brings ruin and devastation to Hyrule. Also, War Monk requires faith training. Besides, it's a rather terrible class for reasons stated below.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Ah yes, that reminds me: if you kill Death Knight, you get a dark seal, which is the only way to get the most ill-conceived class line in the entire damned game: the dark mage class line. For some godforsaken reason it's male-only, despite the fact that there are, like, three times the number of female dark magic users in this game as there are male dark magic users. It's frankly amazing Lysithea is as badass as she is when she got screwed over that badly and is denied dark tomefaire until level 30, if ever.

I would say War Monk/Cleric, Mortal Savant, and Holy Knight are just as ill-conceived, if not even worse. The former tries to be a hybrid between Bishop and Grappler, but does both poorly, and that's ignoring that anyone that's good in brawling has a shit spell list, while anyone with a good spell list has poor strength, and really wouldn't want to be using the weakest weapon type in the game. Oh, and it gets halved magic use like Noble and Commoner. As an extra kick in the nuts, the only characters with boons in the requirements are Balthus and Byleth, both of which have better options. Mortal Savant has requirements in Sword and Reason, which few characters have both, and it has a -10 speed growth. Holy Knight is supposed to be an offensive white magic user, as it has White Tomefaire, but the problem is that offensive white magic in this game sucks big time (you know something is wrong when the one universally available offensive white spell has 8 weight and only 1 might...). It doesn't do so well as a healer either, because it sacrifices the doubled white magic uses and extra healing from Bishop. The end result is that no one wants anything to do with it. At any rate, if you're gonna make a class this much of a pain in the butt to even access, make sure it's actually worth it...

Edited August 19, 2021 by Shadow Mir

[Jotari]

I like the double sebversion they have with the tomb and the mausoleum. It's like, "this isn't a tomb at all, they're secretly hiding weapons in here," until later you retroactively realize "oh wait, the secret weapons actually were genuine body parts. So that was a genuine tomb."

Yeah, the justification for this being a kill boss was pretty sketchy. I don't know why they didn't make it a defend map. Would have made tonne more sense.

I think Ingrid has a support with Leonie about saving and conserving things to use in unexpected ways.

Edited August 19, 2021 by Jotari

[Samz707]

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Now for Hanneman. Who reveals we have the “Crest of Flames”.

Aha.

Ahaha.

Crest... of flames.

Real cute, game.

 

Funfact: Apparently, in the Original Japanese, I hear that the Crests are called Emblems.

Byleth is truly Byleth Fire Emblem.

Edited August 19, 2021 by Samz707

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Seteth says we “seem a mite too relaxed for [his] liking”, when we were all determinedly talking about our plans to protect the Monastery. Mistranslation, or just writers not thinking about what they previously wrote at all?

Admittedly, Seteth is so uptight, that nobody takes things seriously enough for his liking.

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Would Rhea gain anything from making sure Professr was down there with the Sword of the Creator? Was this a deliberate plot to nudge her down there even if there weren't a plot to steal from the mausoleum?

This would make a lot of sense. Rhea at least suspects Teach of being the child she thought lost, so exposing them to the Sword-of-the-Creator would at least test that suspicion. But it's never made explicit, so let's chalk this up to a "happy accident".

3 hours ago, Jotari said:

Yeah, the justification for this being a kill boss was pretty sketchy. I don't know why they didn't make it a defend map. Would have made tonne more sense.

I'd say they don't have interest in making mainline chapters (i.e. non-Paralogues) have non-standard win/loss conditions... but, chapter 12 (non-CF) has a defend condition, so. Yeah, starting your army out at the north, and defending the tile with the Sword-of-the-Creator, would make a lot of sense. Maybe keep the chests and Death Knight where they are, so you can choose whether to go for them, or otherwise play more conservatively?

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...And Death Knight just teleports out. Was the Western Church provided with that tech? Is that why there was a time limit, because they'd just warp out?

It's really obnoxious that, in a world where Warp technology exists, Garreg Mach hasn't instituted any measures against it. Like the wards that prevent Apparating into or out of Hogwarts. Maybe Golems that awaken in the presence of magic foes, with access to the Silence spell? Then again, such an oversight can be chalked up to the Church's own stale hubris.

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

One of the major downsides of the class system of this game I'm noticing as I move people around is that everyone starts out so damned similar in what they can do. It takes ages before you even unlock different movement types. Plus, these maps are pretty dang large, and with everyone stuck at 4 movement...

Have you been using the Stride gambit? You should be able to buy the Seiros Holy Monks by now. It doesn't solve the core issue, but it at least alleviates it once or twice a map. Personally, I like having to work for higher-move classes. The game finally recognized that being on a horse or pegasus is a power-up in its own right. That said, I wouldn't have turned down Paladin Jeralt as a Jeigan.

6 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Crest... of flames.

Real cute, game.

"So, we're some kind of... Fire Emblem?"

6 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Yet again we know a month in advance what we're going to be doing at the end of the month, which really does beg the question of how much discontent there might be about how the Church handles things. I'm assuming the Kingdom, or at least Sylvain's family, came to the Church for help with the disowned son who stole the Lance of Ruin (which we're damned lucky Miklan isn't going to use even once for the entire month leading up to his confrontation). How exactly do they feel about the fact that even though the Church is capable of being there in a matter of hours, this is being scheduled to be handled a month from now, by students who aren't yet even licensed to ride a horse?

Don't forget, you also get the Knight of Seiros with the single-worst-movement, on the map that takes the most steps to traverse. Have fun!

4 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

Mortal Savant has requirements in Sword and Reason, which few characters have both

So, that's just not true.

Has a boon in both: Dorothea, Yuri, Constance

Has a Sword boon and Reason talent: Edelgard, Felix, Ignatz, Balthus

Has a Sword talent and Reason boon: Lysithea

There, that's like 20% of the cast. Not that this makes Mortal Savant a "good class", but its certification requirements aren't that big an issue for most prospective users.

[Shadow Mir]

3 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

So, that's just not true.

Has a boon in both: Dorothea, Yuri, Constance

Has a Sword boon and Reason talent: Edelgard, Felix, Ignatz, Balthus

Has a Sword talent and Reason boon: Lysithea

There, that's like 20% of the cast. Not that this makes Mortal Savant a "good class", but its certification requirements aren't that big an issue for most prospective users.

20% of the cast is still few in my book, considering that Three Houses has one of the smallest casts in the series (40, with the DLC).

Edited August 20, 2021 by Shadow Mir