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

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

24 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

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).

Reason has a higher boon/talent coincidence with Swords than it does with any other skill type:

Reason/Swords: Edelgard, Dorothea, Felix, Lysithea, Ignatz, Yuri, Balthus, Constance (8)

Reason/Lance: Hubert, Sylvain, Lorenz, Flayn (4)

Reason/Axe: Edelgard, Annette, Balthus, Hapi (4)

Reason/Bow: Hubert, Felix, Mercedes, Ignatz, Hanneman, Yuri (6)

Reason/Gauntlets: Felix, Balthus, Constance (3)

Reason/Faith: Dorothea, Linhardt, Mercedes, Lysithea, Flayn, Yuri, Balthus (7)

Reason/Authority: Edelgard, Hubert, Annette, Lysithea, Ignatz, Yuri, Constance (7)

Reason/Armor: Edelgard, Balthus (2)

Reason/Riding: Sylvain, Lorenz, Hanneman, Hapi (4)

Reason/Flight: Constance, Hapi (2)

In summary, using "few units are strong in both Swords and Reason" as an argument against Mortal Savant, is literally weaker than using "few units are strong in both Reason and Faith" as an argument against Gremory.

Edited August 20, 2021 by Shanty Pete's 1st Mate
Typo. Added first line.

[AnonymousSpeed]

47 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

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).

I don't know, FE8 is about 20% Paladins and I would say that game has far too many of those.

...

I am here because somebody mentioned Saul.

[Anathaco]

11 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

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.

To be fair his faith list includes recover, which is like the quintessential “mage with no magic” spell, so he’ll get use out of that at the very least. It also has higher strength than Grappler, and Brawl Avoid will also go well with his high speed. Not his best option but actually I’d call it a decent one.

12 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?

 

They have to account for Gilbert and his 4 movement, which is why it actively takes him a month to get there while the rest of us just patiently wait for him to get a head start of like 3 weeks then get there with a few days to spare.

mild spoilers:

Spoiler

This is now my headcanon as to why he never talks with Annette during this time they’re supposedly travelling together.

 

[Jotari]

Mortal Savant is not a great class, but it's definitely not a result of its requirements. Almost anyone can certify for mortal savant if they want to without a whole lot of trouble. The issue with Mortal Savant is the issue pretty much all hybrid classes in the series have, which is that it doesn't really do anything well. It's magic potential is not as good as the other magic classes and its physical potential is in competition with the Advance level classes of Assassin and Swordmaster who have more specialized stats, namely high speed buffs which are particularly useful for reaching benchmarks on Maddening. Simply put if you want a fast physical sword unit, you can go swordmaster or assassin, and if you want a magical unit, you can go Dark Knight or Gremory (or even one of the advanced classes for more magic usage). Even the hybrid aspect for more versatility isn't a great advantage considering mages can use physical weapons anyway and physical units can use magic weapons, which are really good in this game. So Mortal Savant just doesn't really offer anything unique, and takes certain nerfs in its stats despite that.

[Alastor15243]

Just adding to this conversation: I eventually got Bernie to be a Mortal Savant in my ironman.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

19 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Just adding to this conversation: I eventually got Bernie to be a Mortal Savant in my ironman.

> Putting Bernadetta, one of literally two units in the game with a permanent Sword bane, into the only Master class that requires A-rank Swords

"They called me a madman."

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

Mortal Savant is not a great class, but it's definitely not a result of its requirements. Almost anyone can certify for mortal savant if they want to without a whole lot of trouble.

Ironically, the requirements are probably the best thing about Mortal Savant. Like, suppose I'm running a magical Ignatz build. I could go Warlock for the spell charges, but then he's stuck at 4 move. Or, I could go Dark Knight for mobility, but that requires reaching A Riding (_) and C Lances (_). Enter Mortal Savant, which instead requires reaching A Swords (>>). It has 6 move and no Canto, but it's an easier reach than Dark Knight. So I can give him more time investing in Faith and/or Authority. Same goes for Yuri, Balthus, and Felix.

For female units, it gets trickier - Dorothea was an obvious candidate for this class, but then Dark Flier had to up and exist. Edelgard and Lysithea liked the gentle requirements too, until Valkyrie reared its horsey head. Oh, and they were already losing just 1 move, relative to Gremory.

7 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

I don't know, FE8 is about 20% Paladins and I would say that game has far too many of those.

Archanea, Elibe, and Tellius have entered the chat.

[Shadow Mir]

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

Reason has a higher boon/talent coincidence with Swords than it does with any other skill type:

Reason/Swords: Edelgard, Dorothea, Felix, Lysithea, Ignatz, Yuri, Balthus, Constance (8)

Reason/Lance: Hubert, Sylvain, Lorenz, Flayn (4)

Reason/Axe: Edelgard, Annette, Balthus, Hapi (4)

Reason/Bow: Hubert, Felix, Mercedes, Ignatz, Hanneman, Yuri (6)

Reason/Gauntlets: Felix, Balthus, Constance (3)

Reason/Faith: Dorothea, Linhardt, Mercedes, Lysithea, Flayn, Yuri, Balthus (7)

Reason/Authority: Edelgard, Hubert, Annette, Lysithea, Ignatz, Yuri, Constance (7)

Reason/Armor: Edelgard, Balthus (2)

Reason/Riding: Sylvain, Lorenz, Hanneman, Hapi (4)

Reason/Flight: Constance, Hapi (2)

In summary, using "few units are strong in both Swords and Reason" as an argument against Mortal Savant, is literally weaker than using "few units are strong in both Reason and Faith" as an argument against Gremory.

And your point is...? Or do you not have one? Anyhow, I'd consider bringing up Gremory to fall flat because if I was training a female character in Reason, odds are she's getting Faith to go with that, whereas who the hell am I going to actively train in swords and reason? Certainly not the Black Magic Crit Gang, given how underwhelming that sad excuse for a budding talent is (incidentally, I'm not sure if I brought this up, but one of my big complaints about this game is that most budding talents are, to be blunt, shit, especially the ones related to magic).

Edited August 20, 2021 by Shadow Mir

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

6 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

And your point is...? Or do you not have one? Anyhow, I'd consider bringing up Gremory to fall flat because if I was training a female character in Reason, odds are she's getting Faith to go with that, whereas who the hell am I going to actively train in swords and reason? Certainly not the Black Magic Crit Gang, given how underwhelming that sad excuse for a budding talent is (incidentally, I'm not sure if I brought this up, but one of my big complaints about this game is that most budding talents are, to be blunt, shit).

My point was that saying "few units are good in both Swords and Reason" is demonstrably untrue. Unless you also assent that "few units are good in both Faith and Reason" and "few units are good in both Reason and Authority" are both true. At which point, "few units are good in both X and Y" becomes true for just about any conceivable combination of X and Y in this game.

Also, why should I train, say, Dorothea beyond C Faith? She's not learning any new spells, and unless I'm going for a whitemagic build, Faith Prowess is irrelevant. On the flip side, Dorothea wants at least C+ Swords for Hexblade - and building it further will increase her Prowess level.

Not going to contest that most Budding Talent rewards are pretty weaksauce. But sometimes, the true reward is just getting a new boon. Claude, for instance, appreciates the quicker gain on his Axe rank for Brigand, even if Diamond Axe is pretty garbo.

[Alastor15243]

Three Houses Day 14: Holy Fuck I Forgot About These Fucking Supports

Looks like we've got a shitton of supports to look at that I totally forgot about. And since it's Friday... yeah, uh, might as well devote today to looking at them.

Eight people are lit up.

That could be as few as four, or as may as 28, if I remember my math for combinations like this.

Let's roll the dice, shall we?

OH GOODIE!

INGRID AND DEDUE!

Let's see why everyone calls Ingrid a racist shit, shall we?

…

…

Oooooof.

I... I really wish I knew the full and total story of the Tragedy of Duscur so I could see how messed up this is, but... okay, so not only does Ingrid blame Dedue personally for the Tragedy of Duscur, but Dedue doesn't blame her. Dedue's frankly being a saint here, due to a mix of being selfless and self-loathing.

Dedue: Save your breath. There were countless people like you in the capital. People who spat, threw things – insults and stones alike – wherever they pleased. Their anger was natural. I do not begrudge them. You owe me no apology. And I will keep my distance on all other occasions. But on the field of battle, allow me to aid you. If you were to fall, His Highness would grieve.

To be clear, remember, this is exactly how they characterized Emmeryn. This is exactly how they described her behaving in the original days of her being ruler, with people insulting her and pelting her with rocks in the street due to blaming her for the actions of her father. And though Emmeryn was a phenomenal idiot, no one can deny that she was kindhearted and brave.

But uh... Emmeryn was already sickeningly forgiving and pacifist... and when you change the context from “sins of the father”... to “sins of the race”... uh...

...Look, I know full well that the writers don't genuinely believe that Ingrid is justified in hating Dedue for the supposed crimes of his people (something tells me we're going to find out they were framed for it), but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't uncomfortable reading this shit regardless.

Also, it's made me wonder...

...Why is it called the “Tragedy of Duscur”?

The people of Faerghus clearly don't regret their actions against the people of Duscur like the people of Begnion did towards the Herons of Serenes. Not when people like Ingrid still feel like Dedue needs to be forgiven or some shit. So when they call it the “Tragedy of Duscur”, they aren't talking about the fact that Duscur was genocided. They mean it in the sense of the assassination of the king, as in it's them saying “the tragedy that Duscur caused”.

...But isn't that a bit like reacting to 9/11 by calling it “The Tragedy of The Middle East”? Setting aside the “blaming an entire race or geographic location for the crimes of individuals” thing, that doesn't sound like what people would call it. We don't name tragedies after the source of the tragedy, real or perceived. Far, far more often we name them after the target.

In what universe would we call the Pulse Nightclub shooting “The Tragedy of Omar Mateen?”

In what universe would we call the Sandy Hook shooting “The Tragedy of Adam Lanza”?

Do you see what I'm getting at? This feels like a name that would be given to the event by people sympathetic to Duscur, not racist against it.

...I dunno, maybe it's a cultural thing? Do the Japanese name tragedies after the perpetrators more often than the victims?

...Regardless, let's move on.

Ashe and Dimitri C support.

...It's a less uncomfortable rehash of the sort of stuff in the Dimitri-Dedue C support. Ashe is basically... pardon the pun I didn't notice until I already typed it... royally uncomfortable with the idea of Dimitri doing errands for him, and Dimitri is annoyed by the degree to which everyone seems intimidated by him and scared of treating him as an equal. Dimitri rather adorably tricks Ashe into telling him the information he needs to help him out anyway, so that's something.

But yeah, not much more to say about this.

Alright, another Ashe support... with Ingrid!

So they're bonding over this old children's book they both read called the Sword of Kyphon.

...I'm pretty sure this is the book that Ashe was talking about in his support with Professr.

Soooooomething tells me, from what I've heard about Felix, that Felix is going to utterly shit on Ashe's love for this story about a devoted knight fighting valiantly in the name of his king.

But yeah, Ingrid just... does not sound convincing whenever she's... uh... feeling literally any emotion besides calm. It's partly the disconnect between the lines and how they're read, but also, it's just generally unconvincing emoting all-around. If this were between, say, Ashe and Annette, that'd probably be more convincing. Not that Annette is perfect, but she's way better at emoting than Ingrid is.

...Wait, the War of the Eagle and Lion is part of it? I thought it was fiction! Were those real characters in-universe?

…“One of the really old legends of Faerghus”... yeah, seems like I misread.

Alright, on to Mercedes's supports. First, with Dimitri.

Nothing much to comment on here so far, it's just Dimitri helping Mercedes out studying for the sword test she spaced out about and forgot was coming up.

Oh god, and like this is a fucking Pokemon game, the screen fades to black so a complicated action they're too lazy to show happens. In this case holding weapons.

Also, the pitch blackness and talk about “the proper way of handling swords” has probably prompted the obvious joke multiple times.

...Also, I just noticed upon a zoom-in to Dimitri... the resolution on his chest texture is so poor you can see the pixels when you get a close-up bust shot.

Oh my god, all the textures are hideously pixellated! I moved on to the Mercedes and Felix support and I'm seeing the pixels on their clothes everywhere.

Felix is... while he's annoyed, he's a lot kinder to Mercedes than he'd usually be with people who annoy him. Interesting. I wonder why.

In her case, she's kinda coddling him because he reminds her of her little brother who she hasn't seen in a long, long time.

...Being compared to her brother seemed to... strike a chord with him for... individualist reasons, it sounds like?

“I am me – Felix Hugo Fraldarius. There is no one else. Hmph... Brother...”

Alright, now moving on to Sylvain and Felix. Yet another incarnation of the Flirt and the Edgelord. Potentially interesting, but it's gonna have to work really hard to beat this gem:

Inigo: Look, if you're afraid that I'll get all the girls, you can just say so. I mean, it's okay. Every party has a lonely guy stewing on the sidelines.

Gerome: I fear nothing but the cold hand of death!

Inigo: Great! Then let's get going!

Anyway, Sylvain tries to get Felix to join him flirting with girls, but Felix is too focused on training, insert “Sigma Male Grindset” “I Studied the Blade” “#YoloSwag420Pogchamp69”.

...But it swiftly shifts into characterization time about Felix previously being far more meek and emotional. I guess that was left more intact compared to Dimitri?

...And this causes Felix to go on a massive rant akin to the one Gerome gives Inigo in their C support, though this is played far more seriously. Sylvain apologizes, but he lies and emotionally manipulates as naturally as he breathes, so I can't really tell if he means it.

...Final support...

Felix and Annette.

Annette sings this absurdly saccharine song about today's dinner that I will bet anything was a billion times better in the Japanese version (as is the case with literally anything intended to be cute, because the Japanese seem to have perfected that to a nigh-incomprehensible art form).

...Okay, no, it's not that much cuter, though it does reveal that in the original version, she was singing it to the tune of... some song from the OST that I can't put my finger on at this moment but I know for a fact I've heard recently. Did they not notice, or did they notice and choose not to emulate it? But I mean...

...Hilariously, because she's not actually trying to fit a pre-existing melody in the dub and is just singing practically-random notes... she's under absolutely no pressure, and given no reason, to deliberately mispronounce words to fix the meter. Which means that this stupid, stupid little song she sings to herself about all the cakes and candy she wants to eat tonight is literally the only song in all of dubbed Fire Emblem history that doesn't have an instance of putting the accent on the wrong syllable somewhere.

Okay, this is actually pretty damned hilarious. She's pretty funny here. She does the “embarrassed” humor pretty well, without running it into the ground repetitively like Bernadetta does.

...And... that's the last support!

...Do I have more time today?

...Yes.

...Do I have enough to be able to do enough of the month's busywork to write much more of value today and be able to proofread it?

Hell no.

So this is where I'll leave it off for the week.

Stay safe, everyone!

[Jotari]

24 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Also, it's made me wonder...

 

...Why is it called the “Tragedy of Duscur”?

The people of Faerghus clearly don't regret their actions against the people of Duscur like the people of Begnion did towards the Herons of Serenes. Not when people like Ingrid still feel like Dedue needs to be forgiven or some shit. So when they call it the “Tragedy of Duscur”, they aren't talking about the fact that Duscur was genocided. They mean it in the sense of the assassination of the king, as in it's them saying “the tragedy that Duscur caused”.

...But isn't that a bit like reacting to 9/11 by calling it “The Tragedy of The Middle East”? Setting aside the “blaming an entire race or geographic location for the crimes of individuals” thing, that doesn't sound like what people would call it. We don't name tragedies after the source of the tragedy, real or perceived. Far, far more often we name them after the target.

 

I can't remember all the details precisely, but was the king actually killed at Duscur? Because if he was killed there, and the massacre happened immediately in response, then it could be taken to be the "Tragedy [that occured at] Duscur". It's also possible the genocide is the tragedy and that's the PC name that Dimitri's uncle enforces while the people who see it as justified call it the "Revenge on Duscur" or something. But that's pure speculation, though it would have made a nice addition.

Quote

 

In what universe would we call the Pulse Nightclub shooting “The Tragedy of Omar Mateen?”

In what universe would we call the Sandy Hook shooting “The Tragedy of Adam Lanza”?

Do you see what I'm getting at? This feels like a name that would be given to the event by people sympathetic to Duscur, not racist against it.

 

Have you heard of The tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?

Quote

…“One of the really old legends of Faerghus”... yeah, seems like I misread.

On that topic, being able to read old text, that's a wonderful feature all games should have. I like that Three Houses even lets you replay the voice acted line.

Quote

In her case, she's kinda coddling him because he reminds her of her little brother who she hasn't seen in a long, long time.

...Being compared to her brother seemed to... strike a chord with him for... individualist reasons, it sounds like?

 

Said brother can actually show up, but it requires recruiting Caspar to get her paralogue. Might be something you'd be interested in doing even if you don't intend to train him.

 

Edited August 20, 2021 by Jotari

[Anathaco]

17 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Why is it called the “Tragedy of Duscur”?

If I recall, the assassination actually took place while King Lambert was visiting Duscur. I could be wrong, it’s been a while since I’ve played this route, but I seem to remember that being the case.

oh it appears I’ve been ninja’d lol. But yeah.

4 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Have you heard of The tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?

I thought not. It’s not a story the Jedi would tell you. It’s a Sith legend.

 

4 minutes ago, Jotari said:

On that topic, being able to read old text, that's a wonderful feature all games should have. I like that Three Houses even lets you replay the voice acted line.

My personal favourite use of this feature is Ignatz’s first line in his and Raphael’s B support, which results in him just screaming over and over.

[Alastor15243]

So hey, I just wanted to check up with everyone. I wanna apologize for last week and to anyone who felt it stopped being fun to read. It feels like my criticism was pretty disjointed and I was kind of complaining about the playlogging process itself needlessly multiple times, but I think I've finally either hit my stride with this new method of playing the game, or just hit equilibrium with the shit that I had to complain about from the outset. Not sure which. Either way, hopefully you're enjoying things more. Lemme know if you have any requests or advice for stuff to or to not talk about.

Edited August 20, 2021 by Alastor15243

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

So hey, I just wanted to check up with everyone. I wanna apologize for last week and to anyone who felt it stopped being fun to read. It feels like my criticism was pretty disjointed and I was kind of complaining about the playlogging process itself needlessly multiple times, but I think I've finally either hit my stride with this new method of playing the game, or just hit equilibrium with the shit that I had to complain about from the outset. Not sure which. Either way, hopefully you're enjoying things more. Lemme know if you have any requests or advice for stuff to or to not talk about.

Glad to hear - it's a tremendously useful gambit.

For real, though, I didn't notice any kind of a dip in quality in your analysis. Or getting your points across. Maybe I was oblivious, but it might just be that the perceived problem looks larger to you than it does to anyone else (since you're closest to it). I've appreciated comparing my own vision of this pixelated behemoth to a somewhat fresher set of eyes, and becoming vehement in disagreement and accord alike. So, just keep doing what works for you!

[Anathaco]

On 8/21/2021 at 9:39 AM, Alastor15243 said:

So hey, I just wanted to check up with everyone. I wanna apologize for last week and to anyone who felt it stopped being fun to read. It feels like my criticism was pretty disjointed and I was kind of complaining about the playlogging process itself needlessly multiple times, but I think I've finally either hit my stride with this new method of playing the game, or just hit equilibrium with the shit that I had to complain about from the outset. Not sure which. Either way, hopefully you're enjoying things more. Lemme know if you have any requests or advice for stuff to or to not talk about.

I mean it’s not like I have a lot of experience with whatever the usual style of your analysis was but I for one definitely enjoyed reading through your posts last week. I think the way you’ve settled on for now is good, especially if it lets you maintain your energy throughout the play through (because I enjoy 3H and even playing the game burns me out now- playlogging it would be a nightmare for me)

Edited August 22, 2021 by Anathaco

[Alastor15243]

Three Houses Day 15: In Which Alastor Finally Unlocks The Blacksmith

Alright, mission complete. The month has been worked through.

Time elapsed: One hour, ten minutes.

And as the title says, yes, I did indeed unlock the blacksmith. Though it's a bit weird. Either I completely missed the quest for it somehow despite the fact that I know I remember checking, or the quest isn't available until you reach a certain professor level, finish at the Monastery, and then come back. Which seems really roundabout, why wouldn't the quest just unlock when you hit the next professor level mid-exploration?

Anyway, one thing about the blacksmith menu that has always infuriated me is the fact that they needlessly make you choose whether you want to forge or repair before you go in.

For buying and selling at the shops? That I can understand, even though selling should probably just have its own separate menu option rather than being a sub-option of two separate selections. I understand because you have to load up two separate sets of items to select depending on whether you're buying from the store's stock or selling from your own.

But for forge and repair?

Just let me go to the blacksmith menu, and then when I select an individual item, give me the choice of forging or repairing it. That would save a ton of back-tracking out of menus.

I also unlocked the sauna, and... is it just me, or does it feel like this conversation literally took place?

Dev 1: So who should we add as the NPC who runs the sauna?

Dev 2: I dunno, just pick a damned generic model.

Dev 1: ...Uh, hey, the grappler's shirtless! ...People usually don't wear shirts in saunas, right?

Dev 2: Fuck it, sure, whatever, just put it in.

It just feels so bizarre to use that model. Hopefully this “Sauna Boss” doesn't actually go in to the sauna, because I'm pretty sure being wrapped in metal directly in contact with your skin at those steamy temperatures would be obscenely dangerous.

Anyway, the sauna's useful, but it's really weird and seems to have no rhyme or reason to how it works. You seem to just need to be lucky with the random meter rolls if you want both people to be refreshed at once, because there appears to be no consistency whatsoever for how much each option boosts the meter for each person, just that adding steam tends to do more and staying longer tends to do less.

And... I get invited to tea time with Rhea.

I don't think any activity in any game ever has had me more readily and easily motivated to cheat at it without shame. It's the weirdest damned thing, and if the game didn't gate stat boosts behind it, I would never bother with it at all. Hell, I still probably won't.

Those final events are by far the most asinine, though I barely even need to say that. It's practically a meme how stupid the “nod, admonish, laugh” sort of answer bullshit is.

The saint statues are a picture-perfect encapsulation of the unassailable fact that this game does not give a single half-farted shit if it wastes your time. It took me a while to realize that the renown prices beyond the next one on the list are not just the price for that specific upgrade, but the cumulative price it'll take to pay for it and everything above it on the list you haven't unlocked yet either.

So, naturally, you'd assume the game would give you the option to just go straight to that one and unlock all of them simultaneously if you have that listed value of renown they felt the need to tell you it would cost, right?

Fuckin' nope!

If you try to click straight on the end goal that you want to unlock and have the renown for, it does nothing. The game makes you click on them one at a time, sitting through the obnoxious glowy animation and repeat after fucking repeat of that old man going “This one? You're all set. This one? You're all set. This one? You're all set.”

And given the game's flagrant love for making you do stupid shit in order to get to the gameplay...

...I genuinely expected that with the quest to find Jeralt, if I tried to go to the graveyard I obviously knew he was at before finding that out in-game, the place would still be blocked off until I did the quest-based wild goose chase to be explicitly told. I was utterly shocked to find out that I was wrong, and I could in fact go straight to the graveyard after talking to Seteth. So, kudos I guess.

But yeah, when I got to Jeralt, one comment I completely missed during previous playthroughs made me burst out laughing:

“Whenever I brought her an unusual flower, her face would light up.”

Why did this make me laugh? Because I realized that a certain infamous pair of images from Cindered Shadows was a reference to it:

https://twitter.com/jael_dub/status/1227846941427388416

...Buuut yeah. That's it for today. I've got the battle lined up for tomorrow, and a bunch of supports to do at some point either before or after. I'm not too concerned about doing them right away, because their gameplay benefits are individually almost meaningless.

But yeah, sorry for the rather thin update.

Stay safe, everyone.

Edited August 23, 2021 by Alastor15243

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Those final events are by far the most asinine, though I barely even need to say that. It's practically a meme how stupid the “nod, admonish, laugh” sort of answer bullshit is.

I would be more forgiving of it, if only one of the response options was "finger guns".

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Just let me go to the blacksmith menu, and then when I select an individual item, give me the choice of forging or repairing it. That would save a ton of back-tracking out of menus.

Yeah that'd be better. I like this game's Blacksmith, but she's no SoV forge mistress.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

I genuinely expected that with the quest to find Jeralt, if I tried to go to the graveyard I obviously knew he was at before finding that out in-game, the place would still be blocked off until I did the quest-based wild goose chase to be explicitly told. I was utterly shocked to find out that I was wrong, and I could in fact go straight to the graveyard after talking to Seteth. So, kudos I guess.

Me, finding out I can skip steps in certain quests: "I am speed."

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Anyway, the sauna's useful, but it's really weird and seems to have no rhyme or reason to how it works. You seem to just need to be lucky with the random meter rolls if you want both people to be refreshed at once, because there appears to be no consistency whatsoever for how much each option boosts the meter for each person, just that adding steam tends to do more and staying longer tends to do less.

I like that there's a minigame to it, but it's frustrating how random it is. At least with, say, fishing, you can see the circles as they're moving, and know the proper timing in response. Still, I usually Sauna until Teach gets boosted, so they'll get higher gains from Faculty Training.

[Jotari]

Yeah the desire to either forge or repair a weapon without going back out to a different menu would be very much appreciated. Especially when half the forging I end up doing is mostly for the repair aspect.

[Shadow Mir]

On 8/19/2021 at 6:32 PM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

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.

Which is probably why cavalry classes got nerfed in this game - all of them except Bow Knight end up with negative speed unless you dismount, and being on a horse does bad things to your speed growth in this game. As a result, I find it hard to justify being in a cavalry class with the exception of a select few (Bow Knight, Valkyrie, Paladin).

On 8/20/2021 at 5:20 AM, Jotari said:

Mortal Savant is not a great class, but it's definitely not a result of its requirements. Almost anyone can certify for mortal savant if they want to without a whole lot of trouble. The issue with Mortal Savant is the issue pretty much all hybrid classes in the series have, which is that it doesn't really do anything well. It's magic potential is not as good as the other magic classes and its physical potential is in competition with the Advance level classes of Assassin and Swordmaster who have more specialized stats, namely high speed buffs which are particularly useful for reaching benchmarks on Maddening. Simply put if you want a fast physical sword unit, you can go swordmaster or assassin, and if you want a magical unit, you can go Dark Knight or Gremory (or even one of the advanced classes for more magic usage). Even the hybrid aspect for more versatility isn't a great advantage considering mages can use physical weapons anyway and physical units can use magic weapons, which are really good in this game. So Mortal Savant just doesn't really offer anything unique, and takes certain nerfs in its stats despite that.

Exactly; it's a Master of None. Ditto for War Monk/Cleric and Holy Knight. To be frank, you'd think that IntSys would have learned their lesson with regards to hybrids by now, especially since this game encourages specialization to a greater extent than prior games did. It's hard, bordering on impossible to make a hybrid effective in this game.

[Jotari]

3 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

Which is probably why cavalry classes got nerfed in this game - all of them except Bow Knight end up with negative speed unless you dismount, and being on a horse does bad things to your speed growth in this game. As a result, I find it hard to justify being in a cavalry class with the exception of a select few (Bow Knight, Valkyrie, Paladin).

Exactly; it's a Master of None. Ditto for War Monk/Cleric and Holy Knight. To be frank, you'd think that IntSys would have learned their lesson with regards to hybrids by now, especially since this game encourages specialization to a greater extent than prior games did. It's hard, bordering on impossible to make a hybrid effective in this game.

It's less that it's particularly hard to make a hyrbid unit effective in Three Houses and more that every unit can function as a hybrid unit already. So you don't lose out on anything by specializing. Classes that are hybrids by design don't actually provide an advantage of a specialized class that can also be a hybrid. All in all this is one of the best games in the series for hybrid units, it's just it's much more effectively done by giving a physical class a magic weapon than by sticking them in a class that can spell cast with nerfed spell casting (and yeah, magic weapons are great in this game. I don't know why you have such a massive bias against them when pretty much the entirety community are in agreement that they're at their most useful here).

[Alastor15243]

5 minutes ago, Jotari said:

(and yeah, magic weapons are great in this game. I don't know why you have such a massive bias against them when pretty much the entirety community are in agreement that they're at their most useful here).

I don't remember where and if you can buy arcane crystals. Is there somewhere you can do that, or some reliable means to get them? That was the main inhibiting factor for me when I played.

[Jotari]

17 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

I don't remember where and if you can buy arcane crystals. Is there somewhere you can do that, or some reliable means to get them? That was the main inhibiting factor for me when I played.

The Dark Merchant in Part 2 sells them, but I think he(?) only shows up about half way through the second half (which isn't a whole lot of time in Crimson Flower particularly, despite that route having, virtually, exclusive access to the magic lance for no good reason). They can be gained before that from auxiliary battles and (I think) feeding animals, though it's not exactly reliable. Still you should probably accumulate enough to forge at least one + magic weapon before the Dark Merchant appears.

Edited August 23, 2021 by Jotari

[Shadow Mir]

53 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

I don't remember where and if you can buy arcane crystals. Is there somewhere you can do that, or some reliable means to get them? That was the main inhibiting factor for me when I played.

Clear the Dark Merchant quest in part 2. Iirc, it comes along in chapter 16.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

4 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

Which is probably why cavalry classes got nerfed in this game - all of them except Bow Knight end up with negative speed unless you dismount, and being on a horse does bad things to your speed growth in this game. As a result, I find it hard to justify being in a cavalry class with the exception of a select few (Bow Knight, Valkyrie, Paladin).

Cavalier has the highest mobility out of any Intermediate class, but it tends to get overlooked for providing a relatively poor mastery skill. Still, a Cav with Bows and Curved Shot can hit a target as far as 10 tiles away, while an Archer can only strike 9 away. Not to mention, the only class that can use 1-range combat arts (i.e. Vengeance, Point-Blank Volley) from 8 tiles away.

Dark Knight, likewise, has the highest range for attacking with spells. ...Okay, technically it ties with Valkyrie, Dark Flier, and Holy Knight in this regard. But it packs more firepower than any of the aforementioned, two of which are female-exclusive. Even with a basic 1~2-range spell, it can hit a foe up to 9 tiles away - and that's before accounting for potential Thyrsus, Magic Range +1, or Movement +1. That's further than any magical infantry can dream of.

Great Knight... yeah, the certification requirements suck. But it is basically a tank on wheels. If you have a high-defense unit, putting them on a horse helps them keep pace with the rest of your army.

[Alastor15243]

Today's unfortunately a bad day for an update due to my schedule, sorry. I'll be back to things as normal tomorrow!

[Shadow Mir]

On 8/23/2021 at 4:46 PM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Cavalier has the highest mobility out of any Intermediate class, but it tends to get overlooked for providing a relatively poor mastery skill. Still, a Cav with Bows and Curved Shot can hit a target as far as 10 tiles away, while an Archer can only strike 9 away. Not to mention, the only class that can use 1-range combat arts (i.e. Vengeance, Point-Blank Volley) from 8 tiles away.

Dark Knight, likewise, has the highest range for attacking with spells. ...Okay, technically it ties with Valkyrie, Dark Flier, and Holy Knight in this regard. But it packs more firepower than any of the aforementioned, two of which are female-exclusive. Even with a basic 1~2-range spell, it can hit a foe up to 9 tiles away - and that's before accounting for potential Thyrsus, Magic Range +1, or Movement +1. That's further than any magical infantry can dream of.

Great Knight... yeah, the certification requirements suck. But it is basically a tank on wheels. If you have a high-defense unit, putting them on a horse helps them keep pace with the rest of your army.

Honestly, I find Dark Knight rather underwhelming for the investment needed (relative to Gremory, it'd need a much better performance to justify the extra work... and 2 extra damage just ain't enough for me to consider that worth it), and as for Great Knight... well, you said it. Only Gilbert and Ferdinand have an easy time getting into that class. Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta go - that lamb sauce won't find itself.

On 8/23/2021 at 9:48 AM, Alastor15243 said:

I also unlocked the sauna, and... is it just me, or does it feel like this conversation literally took place?

Dev 1: So who should we add as the NPC who runs the sauna?

Dev 2: I dunno, just pick a damned generic model.

Dev 1: ...Uh, hey, the grappler's shirtless! ...People usually don't wear shirts in saunas, right?

Dev 2: Fuck it, sure, whatever, just put it in.

It just feels so bizarre to use that model. Hopefully this “Sauna Boss” doesn't actually go in to the sauna, because I'm pretty sure being wrapped in metal directly in contact with your skin at those steamy temperatures would be obscenely dangerous.

XD

On 8/23/2021 at 9:48 AM, Alastor15243 said:

And... I get invited to tea time with Rhea.

I don't think any activity in any game ever has had me more readily and easily motivated to cheat at it without shame. It's the weirdest damned thing, and if the game didn't gate stat boosts behind it, I would never bother with it at all. Hell, I still probably won't.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

Edited August 24, 2021 by Shadow Mir