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

[lenticular]

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

While it was definitely a "nasty surprise", I think I'm okay with this. On the first playthrough, I'm not necessarily playing "optimally", because I don't know enough about the game yet to know what's good and what's bad, in the long run. I'm fine taking a "roll with the punches" approach - like if I lose a key item on one of the Leonster units, after chapter 3 of Genealogy. Next time, I'll know better, and plan around that. But I get that approach is not for everyone. 

For me at least, it's not so much that I was trying to play optimally as that I wanted to experiement.I was looking to try out different things, see what worked, what didn't work, what I liked and didn't, and really try to get a feel for the game and its systems by engaging with them as much as I could. And it felt like I got shut down pretty hard on that. It was definitely a very deflating moment for me.

12 hours ago, Jotari said:

But...but...I love Thracia T.T

For the avoidance of all doubt, I'm not saying that literally nobody likes Thracia 776 or that it's wrong to like Thracia 776. I'm just saying that the vast majority of their playerbase has never played it. Despite having never played the game myself, I'm glad that Leif is included in Engage, and I do hope that his fans got something out of his inclusion and his portrayal. But I don't think it would have been the right choice for IS to have prioritised the experience of this small minority of players over the large majority for whom Leif is a guy they don't care about from a game they've never played.

13 hours ago, Jotari said:

Have they ever been queer coded? They've certainly been effeminate, but I never got any suggestion they were actually lovers, or even gay.

I mean, that's kind of the point of queer coding, no? It's that they aren't explicitly gay; it's just somewhat suggested that they might be. And having effeminate male characters is definitely a trait that is commonly used to suggest it. I mean, I'll just quote directly from Wikipedia's page on queer coding: "The only characters in fiction that could be perceived as homosexuals had evil roles and were punished throughout the work. Thus, villains became noted in particular to have effeminate characteristics, behaviors or gestures that could be perceived as LGBTI." And then subsequently: "However, queer coding may have a negative impact on perceptions of queerness in media; villains are often queer-coded, leading to the pejorative perception of queer traits."

[joevar]

14 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

That and they got black voice actors.

NGL, Fogado way of talking at the introductory chapter makes me think of my time playing in early GTA San Andreas areas, and the early part of GTA V where the characters that talks are black gangster.. this may sound racist (which i assure everybody here, im not) but, thats where that kind of way of talking appear most famously in games. altho in the later part of the game its more or less like Claude at times but way more flamboyant

Also i would say Egypt more appropriate if the retainers are natives despite being white since Egypt has very mixed skin color. or Solm is actually African nature since majority of generic NPC / the natives are black. so it leans more on the latter imo

[Acacia Sgt]

29 minutes ago, lenticular said:

But I don't think it would have been the right choice for IS to have prioritised the experience of this small minority of players over the large majority for whom Leif is a guy they don't care about from a game they've never played.

I mean, that just creates a negative feedback loop. They aren't popular because they don't get enough exposure... but they don't get enough exposure because they aren't popular.

Even FE itself was in this position, once. Marth and Roy were almost cut from the international versions of Smash Melee, because... outside Japan, they were guys the majority didn't cared about from games they've never played (well, even in Japan people couldn't play Roy's game yet, admittedly). But thanks to being given the chance to be exposed to the international community, people warmed up to them, and thanks to other factors like Advance Wars success (which is also an example as Nintendo Wars had also been Japan only... until they dared to give AW exposure to the international market), we got Fire Emblem to come over too.

So no, a character being unpopular is no excuse to not give them the chance to shine and gain popularity. If it doesn't work, then that's that. But if they do...

2 minutes ago, joevar said:

Also i would say Egypt more appropriate if the retainers are natives despite being white since Egypt has very mixed skin color. or Solm is actually African nature since majority of generic NPC / the natives are black. so it leans more on the latter imo

Or Mexico too. We got the cacti, we got Day of the Dead Panette...

I still say it's a mix of various locales. It's a fantasy desert anyway...

Edited February 7, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[Alastor15243]

Engage Day 15: Chapter 13

Yeah, as if I could possibly stay away right now. When I’m about to get Ike.

This is gonna take a good chunk of my time today and I may not be able to complete the chapter, but damn it, I’m still gonna play.

So, I decided I’m gonna reclass Bunet to wyvern knight after all. While Kagetsu would make a better one, and I am in fact going to do that immediately after this chapter, Bunet can be one now, and I both want and need one now. I need it because I have absolutely no goddamned clue what those fliers are going to do when the battle starts (worst case scenario being douse the torches and swarm our landlocked units en masse) and I do not want my only flier to be one who can’t take a hit. And I want it because I want to see how this game animates aerial battles. The Fates games I remember all too well had a tendency to cheat and hated animating fights over water even between flying classes. I wanna see if Engage finally lets us have purely aerial dogfights, and I’ve got this great opportunity to test it. I’m gonna reclass Bunet, tonic him to the nines, and have him help Ivy deal with these fliers while my landlocked units deal with the main issue.

Besides, it’ll be nice having another flier if I can fit one in even with Kagetsu and Ivy.

Also, I’m promoting some characters, because they’re really close, all signs seem to indicate there’s no consequences, and the last time I stubbornly held off on promoting high level units on a fog of war desert map, I lost Erk.

Never again.

So Louis is a general now.

PFFFFFF

Louis talks about “carefully fold[ing] the old outfit before returning it”, which is a hilarious thing for him to say when his default “outfit” is fucking plate metal.

And I’m making Ivy a Lindwurm.

Ooh, I like the roses she added to her weird face-net thing!

Okay, I have complaints about using tonics. Waaaaaaay too many button presses. If you wanna tonic the whole party with every tonic or something for the final battle, hoooooly shit is it gonna take a while. Because not only are all of the individual iterations of each tonic given a separate space in the menu, but the use button is two down from default, and then there’s an “are you sure” prompt, and then there’s a completely pointless and needless message telling you what the effect is.

Every. Single. Time.

Not only that, but the tonics don’t gray out after you use them, just the use option when you click on them, so it’s way harder to tell at a glance whether or not you’ve used them all.

I could train myself to use tonics at pretty remarkable speed once I got into a rhythm of it in Fates. Here? Not remotely any such luck. It’s better than what Three Houses would make you do, since at least you don’t have to transfer them into your inventory before you use them, but still, this is disappointing.

Also, uh…

…It’s hard to tell… but comparing the details of stats on characters I’ve given tonics and characters I haven’t… I thiiiiiiink tonics override meal bonuses. You can’t stack them. That is… profoundly disappointing, but I guess I just have to live with that.

Alright, I think I’ve taken care of everything. I’m still more than a little worried about how Ivy and Bunet will fare, but I’m pretty damned confident in the strength of my ground troops, and I’ve got a pure water for Louis so I don’t think he’s in too much trouble here.

Begin.

So Timerra and co immediately move deeper into the map before turning blue, which, uh, well I’d have liked to know their location while prepping. But at least it’s something I have time to react to, mostly.

Only problem is now I can’t pass a lance of reasonable weight onto Timerra, which she sorely needs to take advantage of her pretty damned good speed.

…So, weirdly, out of nowhere, one of Tetchie’s lines is only pseudo voice-acted. Just a “Let’s go!” instead of the full line. Weird. But anyway, it seems one of the villages is impossible to save, since it’s all the way towards the enemy, we have almost no mobility tech, and it’s demolished on enemy phase turn 1.

YES! DOGFIGHTS ARE, IN FACT, A THING! MY FLIERS ARE FIGHTING OTHER FLIERS OVER WATER!

So I got a seraph robe from the village after taking out a very frustrating Corrupted swordmaster camping on a forest. The fact that Yunaka could still reliably hit the guy was a huge boon. But needless to say Panette was not a help in that situation. Well, okay, her chain attacks helped, but he would have died way sooner if he had to attack someone who could fight back on enemy phase. I like her aesthetics, incidentally, though I don’t yet have anywhere near a concrete impression of her personality.

Weirdly, even when a destructible piece of terrain is multiple tiles long, if one of the tiles is in melee range of you, then you can only destroy it with melee weapons. Doesn’t matter if the other one isn’t. Dunno what would’ve happened if Alcryst didn’t have a mini bow. Would he have just not been able to attack the thing at all?

I used astra storm to take out a troublesome flier so that Ivy and Bunet could heal and torch up. 20 range anti-air attacks are a huge godsend, and this map in particular highlights it.

Damn it, a chain guard would really come in handy now. There’s a greataxe user hiding in the dark that I just accidentally exposed, but Framme can’t shore up Merrin’s defenses because of a fucking HP level up. If they didn’t want HP level ups activating buffs, why didn’t they make it so that they didn’t disable chain guard?

OH THANK FUCKING GOODNESS SHE DODGED. She killed the first one just barely, leaving room for her to be killed, but she dodged a 47% and she’s golden. Damn, that would’ve been a depressing and anticlimactic first death.

…Oooookay, and I’m back from errands. I had a couple of assorted “shower thoughts” while I was out, so, first things first:

I formally retract my objection to the “disconnect” between Fogado’s voice and his hair. This is fucking anime, where everyone has hugeass fucking candy eyes, there’s literally no way to distinguish Asians from Europeans, and hair can be any color, multi-color, sharp enough to slice bagels, and impossible to accurately cosplay with actual hair. Honestly, saying his hair “looks off” is a rather inane observation to make in a medium where everybody’s hair “looks off”. And having seen more of Solm since first meeting Fogado, in hindsight I suspect it may very well have actually been the devs’ intentions for the royal family to be black, especially given that they have a particularly dark skin tone even by the standards of the general populace of Solm.

Let’s continue.

…I just made a grievous, foolish, nearly-Louis-costing error. While charging into a herd of enemies as usual, I left him in melee range of two sword fighters, one of whom I didn’t notice had an armor slayer, and watched in horror as their dual five-damage chain attacks nearly whittled his health down to nothing when a mage and a longbow-using thief popped out to attack him. He just barely survived. I nearly pulled another Sedgar and forgot that there were things other than magic that make this guy mortal. Will not repeat.

…Timerra just said “I fight for my friends”.

God, this game just knows exactly what to do, doesn’t it?

Pepsiman: I’ll change the future into hope!

…Do… do victory lines change when you’re engaged based on whose Emblem you have equipped? That… that is awesome.

So I just used Great Aether. Pretty useful, I gotta say, even if the fact that it’s useless for emergency player-phase damage is something I have to get used to. Also, good to know it still works when you use it on your last turn engaged. I was a bit miffed Timerra had to use a fucking hammer for it because it’s sword and axe only, but fun fact: This is the first time Aether has ever been 1-2 range!

…Okay, technically this is Great Aether, which like fighting for his friends, is a canon immigrant from Brawl.

…Louis just did a leaping tackle to attack an opponent.

I never noticed before, but they really got rid of a lot of the “slowness” around armor knights’ attacks, haven’t they?

And we have a rescue staff! Oh that’s gonna be handy. Especially once I get Micaiah again. Which I hope is soon. I imagine the ones that got stolen from me are going to be on the hounds, and I’ll be getting them back one at a time.

…This feels like a game that’s likely to be longer than 20 chapters. It does not remotely feel like I’m anywhere near the end. Maybe 30’s a better bet?

By the looks of things, I’m going to have to fight two bosses at once, both with two health bars. Big ask, but I think opening it with a Great Aether will help a ton. So I’m backing up to use a refill, and then I’m gonna do just that.

Uh… fuck. They just started moving on their own because I got too close in preparation of jumping them. And Timerra’s still all the way on the southwest side of the map, having just grabbed the refill.

…Well, looks like I’ve gotta buckle up.

Hopefully they’ll split up like my army has. But if I put Yunaka on an avoid tile, there isn’t a damned thing any physical unit will be able to do to touch her.

…Yep, I split them up. One’s going after Louis, and is therefore fucked, and the other is going after Yunaka, and is therefore fucked. We’ve got this in the bag.

…Yeah, okay, so seeing their combat and death quotes… uh… look, I get that what they used to be was rather insensitive, but these two iterations of the concept have been neutered into something boring, to the point that I question why they even brought the convention back if they couldn’t think of anything fun to do with it. Like maybe they could be absurdly eloquent and posh while still talking about brutal, bloody, violent banditry, or you could give them some sort of “Straight Man and Wise Guy” comedy routine, or something. Something to make these people memorable. Something to make these people something you couldn’t do with just one of these two lookalike bandits getting both of their lines. If you can’t do that, then honestly, it should just be retired entirely.

But yeah, with that, we’re done here.

Dialogue time.

…So they have been keeping a secret from us. They have known the Fell Dragon has returned. I mean, okay, that makes a lot more sense. But why lie about it?

…So they were testing us? They’re talking about having scouts everywhere and learning about Sombron early on, but their Emblem ring was useless without Pepsiman to awaken it, so they were forced onto the defensive.

Okay, so, Fogado talking about seeing if someone “claimed” to be the Divine Dragon… that reminds me…

…Didn’t they say that the royalty of the various kingdoms regularly visited the Somniel while Pepsiman was asleep? So why is it that Brodia and Solm’s royal families didn’t immediately recognize Pepsiman on sight? It’s not like he’s easy to forget, or to confuse.

Okay, so they’re the other country with two Emblem rings. I figured it’d have to be them since the other countries didn’t. Okay, which is it? Is it Corrin? I’m hoping it’s Corrin!

Crux of Fate sure sounds like Corrin! YAY!

Oh, and apparently Hortensia’s invaded Solm Palace. I wonder how, if at all, they’re going to justify why she’s going to fight us anyway after finding out Ivy is in fact alive and on our side.

Why the fuck do they give us a free exploration event right after urgently telling us the palace is under attack? Of all the times to skip it, this would be a pretty damned good one.

PFFFFF

Merrin’s reaction to finding out we’re the Divine Dragon is essentially akin to us telling her we’re fuckmothering Anubis and her saying “Oh, I love dogs!”

She’s great.

…Oh, also, just remembered, something else I thought of while doing my errands:

…What the hell were those destructible things we were smashing? Was that just random junk strewn about recklessly in an oasis town, or were we destroying important shit like villagers’ merchant stalls, or construction scaffolding, or something? Why was there just this massive amount of stuff we were morally free to destroy here?

Alright, hey, so this new map that opened up is just slightly outside of the palace, I wonder IS THAT AN EXACT FUCKING REPLICA OF THE GREIL MERCENARIES BASE JUST LYING THERE ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF BRODIA THAT JUST OPENED UP!?

 …No, it looks more like it’s an exact replica of the Laguz Castle where Ike was staying when his father died. Still, like, when I actually start doing these, I have a feeling they’re going to be identical to maps from characters’ original games, and like… why would these things exist, in-universe?

Anyway, I’m gonna check out what I can get from Ike at the Somniel and then call it.

Also, it’s pretty fitting that Ike was last seen wandering off into the desert, and now he’s in the care of a desert nation.

…Is Kagetsu bi? He opens his arena battles with “Will you go out with me?”.

…Hilariously, when fighting Ike, who people have heavily argued is either ace or gay. So either he struck out hard or maybe he has a chance.

…Is Kagetsu’s bond dialogue with Ike a reference to Ike’s dialogue with Homasa?

 

Kagetsu: I studied you in our last battle, Ike. Your sword technique is unusual, but it has great power.

Ike: Thanks. My father taught me everything I know.

 

Homasa: Your fighting style is… unique. It is rough and awkward, yet terribly strong. Who was your teacher?

Ike: My father.

Homasa: Really? Then we are the same. My father taught me to wield a sword as well. Neither of us can afford to lose.

 

Okay, I’m honestly kind of impressed by how deep these guys are digging for fanservice and lore references if this isn’t an accident. Like, well fucking done. Referencing a boss conversation with a sword master in a bond conversation with a swordmaster? Really, well played.

…Nevermind he was wielding a hammer during all of this…

But anyway, time to give Kagetsu defense +2 and make him a wyvern knight.

…No, fuck, resolve is a way better skill, and I just realized he has exactly enough for that. Dibs!

…His wyvern knight armor oddly reminds me of samurai armor for reasons I can’t quite describe, but the connection is fitting and cool, so by all means!

And yep, now Kagetsu’s gonna be on my team long term. Holy shit I’m glad I noticed how awesome of a wyvern knight he’d be.

If I wind up using Merrin, I might wind up giving Ike to her to shore up her defenses, and also train her in axes. Because I’m pretty sure axe wolf knights are objectively the best version of the class, and swords the worst. Because if you’ve got knives and a melee weapon, and you want to use the melee weapon… it’s probably not going to be for lightness and accuracy. It’s going to be for power.

I might try to do an update tomorrow as well, not sure. We’ll see how things play out.

For now though, gotta go. Stuff to do.

Alastor, signing off!

[joevar]

7 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

I still say it's a mix of various locales. It's a fantasy desert anyway...

yeah, the ideal answer would be that. so no one would be offended in any way

 

32 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

regularly visited the Somniel while Pepsiman was asleep?

seems like they visited Lumera more specifically, since She can order invite the other Kingdoms to come as a guest for talk, maybe act like mediator or some sort. and only the ruling King/Queen that actually get to enter Alear's chamber. while only Alfred whos curious enough as a kid to enter Alear chamber

[Jotari]

9 hours ago, lenticular said:

For the avoidance of all doubt, I'm not saying that literally nobody likes Thracia 776 or that it's wrong to like Thracia 776. I'm just saying that the vast majority of their playerbase has never played it. Despite having never played the game myself, I'm glad that Leif is included in Engage, and I do hope that his fans got something out of his inclusion and his portrayal. But I don't think it would have been the right choice for IS to have prioritised the experience of this small minority of players over the large majority for whom Leif is a guy they don't care about from a game they've never played.

I know 😞 You're right, but it's not the kind of right that pleases me.

9 hours ago, lenticular said:

I mean, that's kind of the point of queer coding, no? It's that they aren't explicitly gay; it's just somewhat suggested that they might be. And having effeminate male characters is definitely a trait that is commonly used to suggest it. I mean, I'll just quote directly from Wikipedia's page on queer coding: "The only characters in fiction that could be perceived as homosexuals had evil roles and were punished throughout the work. Thus, villains became noted in particular to have effeminate characteristics, behaviors or gestures that could be perceived as LGBTI." And then subsequently: "However, queer coding may have a negative impact on perceptions of queerness in media; villains are often queer-coded, leading to the pejorative perception of queer traits."

Well only a certain amount can be conveyed via old GBA bouncing portraits, and my sense for such a thing aren't necessarily the sharpest, but I always took them pretty much at face value. They're effeminate. That's the joke. They're the most stereotypical rough and tumble bandits you could imagine, but they have names like Jasmine and Rose and act inexplicably feminine. It's a contrast between their expected behaviour and actual behaviour. When I think queer coded I think of villains like that guy from North by North West or the Master from the Doctor Who movie. I guess I need a bit more animation behind it so they look and are acting camp for me to see if as queer coding. If you just toss a girl's name onto a bandit and have him say dear a bit then I see that as a bandit with a female name and soft inflection. Course even if they were gay I wouldn't have much issue with it either, bandits can be gay too, and it's not like Fire Emblem hasn't created its fair share of gay characters that fight for the good guys by now. Just so long as they aren't gay with each other, because ewww, incest.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

…It’s hard to tell… but comparing the details of stats on characters I’ve given tonics and characters I haven’t… I thiiiiiiink tonics override meal bonuses. You can’t stack them. That is… profoundly disappointing, but I guess I just have to live with that.

I don't think they do. From what I remember meals are listed as "Activity" when you check the stats, while tonics are listed as "Effect". Effect is what they also use for speed taker, and fortunately tonics don't interfere with Speed Takers cap, so you can comfortably get to +12 effect on your listed stat.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

So Timerra and co immediately move deeper into the map before turning blue, which, uh, well I’d have liked to know their location while prepping. But at least it’s something I have time to react to, mostly.

It's awkward. They wanted her to stay away for gameplay reasons, and had probably designed the map to begin with with you saving her, but then, I imagine, someone on the writing staff pointed out how she couldn't use Ike until Pepsiman woke him up. So the compromise was to have her just rush off after the cutscenes. Personally I would have been okay with unlocking Ike being a mid map thing, with you needing to get the protagonist in talking range of Timerra. They did make Micaiah a mid chapter Emblem, if only barely.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

…So, weirdly, out of nowhere, one of Tetchie’s lines is only pseudo voice-acted. Just a “Let’s go!” instead of the full line. Weird. But anyway, it seems one of the villages is impossible to save, since it’s all the way towards the enemy, we have almost no mobility tech, and it’s demolished on enemy phase turn 1.

It will remain with that one village on Talys, as a mystery of what item was inside there. Only this one feels like you could actually visit via hacking in warp staves and movement range.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

So I just used Great Aether. Pretty useful, I gotta say, even if the fact that it’s useless for emergency player-phase damage is something I have to get used to. Also, good to know it still works when you use it on your last turn engaged. I was a bit miffed Timerra had to use a fucking hammer for it because it’s sword and axe only, but fun fact: This is the first time Aether has ever been 1-2 range!

It seems to just have a sol effect, however, no luna. As, at least from what I remember, it deals the same damage you'd do with a regular attack to all enemies within two squares. So you can end up doing a lot less damage with it compared to just equipping a 1-2 weapon and counter attacking on enemy phase (since it disables your counter attack), especially if you are doubling your enemies. I do like it, and have made use of it, but I think it's not as good as it appears to be, especially later on when you learn Ragnell.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

…This feels like a game that’s likely to be longer than 20 chapters. It does not remotely feel like I’m anywhere near the end. Maybe 30’s a better bet?

Of the Fire Emblem games with traditional chapter counts, none of them are as short as 20 chapters. Some might list only 20 chapters, like Mystery of the Emblem and Sacred Stones, but in reality Mystery of the Emblem is 40 chapters, just in two different stories, and even Sacred Stones, the only Fire Emblem game I'd rate as "two short" has a route split with  five chapters you don't play that are still there (plus a bunch of tower and temple chapters). Generally speaking, even games that list 25 chapters have a lot more because of paralogues (which, as you can guess, this game has, like 12 of, plus Anna and Jean). I think Awakening, which seems pretty short at base chapter number, has one paralogue for every main game chapter!

So, yeah, Fire Emblem games might appear to be only 20-25 chapters long, but they're usually a good deal longer.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

…What the hell were those destructible things we were smashing? Was that just random junk strewn about recklessly in an oasis town, or were we destroying important shit like villagers’ merchant stalls, or construction scaffolding, or something? Why was there just this massive amount of stuff we were morally free to destroy here?

Maybe they were barricades the villagers set up to defend themselves? Then again, I think when you actually visit a house, the people there are unaware of the bandit attack.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

…Hilariously, when fighting Ike, who people have heavily argued is either ace or gay. So either he struck out hard or maybe he has a chance.

That has just opened a whole can of worms in my mind about the ability for an emblem to produce sperm and thus reproduce.

 

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by Jotari

[Acacia Sgt]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

And I’m making Ivy a Lindwurm.

Ooh, I like the roses she added to her weird face-net thing!

It's called a fascinator. They don't always look like that. It's more of a general term for certain kinds of headwear.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

…So, weirdly, out of nowhere, one of Tetchie’s lines is only pseudo voice-acted. Just a “Let’s go!” instead of the full line. Weird. But anyway, it seems one of the villages is impossible to save, since it’s all the way towards the enemy, we have almost no mobility tech, and it’s demolished on enemy phase turn 1.

Oh, it is possible, actually. There's a video about it even.

You get an Elixir. So up to you if you think it's worth it.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

YES! DOGFIGHTS ARE, IN FACT, A THING! MY FLIERS ARE FIGHTING OTHER FLIERS OVER WATER!

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

So I got a seraph robe from the village after taking out a very frustrating Corrupted swordmaster camping on a forest. The fact that Yunaka could still reliably hit the guy was a huge boon. But needless to say Panette was not a help in that situation. Well, okay, her chain attacks helped, but he would have died way sooner if he had to attack someone who could fight back on enemy phase. I like her aesthetics, incidentally, though I don’t yet have anywhere near a concrete impression of her personality.

Doesn't matter. Day of the Dead garb is insta 10/10!

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

I used astra storm to take out a troublesome flier so that Ivy and Bunet could heal and torch up. 20 range anti-air attacks are a huge godsend, and this map in particular highlights it.

At that point it's pretty much a HIMARS. 

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Damn it, a chain guard would really come in handy now. There’s a greataxe user hiding in the dark that I just accidentally exposed, but Framme can’t shore up Merrin’s defenses because of a fucking HP level up. If they didn’t want HP level ups activating buffs, why didn’t they make it so that they didn’t disable chain guard?

OH THANK FUCKING GOODNESS SHE DODGED. She killed the first one just barely, leaving room for her to be killed, but she dodged a 47% and she’s golden. Damn, that would’ve been a depressing and anticlimactic first death.

This is where Lucina can shine, as it doesn't need the max HP requirement to guard.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

…Do… do victory lines change when you’re engaged based on whose Emblem you have equipped? That… that is awesome.

Yes indeed! They knew what they were doing.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

…Okay, technically this is Great Aether, which like fighting for his friends, is a canon immigrant from Brawl.

And not the only thing taken from Smash, even.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

…This feels like a game that’s likely to be longer than 20 chapters. It does not remotely feel like I’m anywhere near the end. Maybe 30’s a better bet?

FE has always had like mid-20's as an average, with RD as an outlier. Paralogues is what tend to make them feel longer.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

…Yeah, okay, so seeing their combat and death quotes… uh… look, I get that what they used to be was rather insensitive, but these two iterations of the concept have been neutered into something boring, to the point that I question why they even brought the convention back if they couldn’t think of anything fun to do with it. Like maybe they could be absurdly eloquent and posh while still talking about brutal, bloody, violent banditry, or you could give them some sort of “Straight Man and Wise Guy” comedy routine, or something. Something to make these people memorable. Something to make these people something you couldn’t do with just one of these two lookalike bandits getting both of their lines. If you can’t do that, then honestly, it should just be retired entirely.

Maybe it is different in Japan?

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Oh, and apparently Hortensia’s invaded Solm Palace. I wonder how, if at all, they’re going to justify why she’s going to fight us anyway after finding out Ivy is in fact alive and on our side.

Somewhere out there, Kaga is laughing.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Alright, hey, so this new map that opened up is just slightly outside of the palace, I wonder IS THAT AN EXACT FUCKING REPLICA OF THE GREIL MERCENARIES BASE JUST LYING THERE ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF BRODIA THAT JUST OPENED UP!?

 …No, it looks more like it’s an exact replica of the Laguz Castle where Ike was staying when his father died. Still, like, when I actually start doing these, I have a feeling they’re going to be identical to maps from characters’ original games, and like… why would these things exist, in-universe?

It's not outright stated, but the dialogue regarding the locations do give some kind of hint.

Short end of it: The areas are special.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Okay, I’m honestly kind of impressed by how deep these guys are digging for fanservice and lore references if this isn’t an accident. Like, well fucking done. Referencing a boss conversation with a sword master in a bond conversation with a swordmaster? Really, well played.

It's the game that keeps on giving!

[Alastor15243]

15 minutes ago, Jotari said:

I don't think they do. From what I remember meals are listed as "Activity" when you check the stats, while tonics are listed as "Effect". Effect is what they also use for speed taker, and fortunately tonics don't interfere with Speed Takers cap, so you can comfortably get to +12 effect on your listed stat.

Yes, but I noticed that the "activity" bonus vanished for everyone I used tonics on, except for magic, a stat I didn't tonic up.

[Anathaco]

5 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Yes, but I noticed that the "activity" bonus vanished for everyone I used tonics on, except for magic, a stat I didn't tonic up.

Weird thing I noticed is once when I used a tonic on a stat that a meal had boosted by 1, the tonic only boosted it by one more. So I guess the higher bonus wins out, because I believe you can get meals to give like +4 in a stat. 

[Jotari]

15 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Yes, but I noticed that the "activity" bonus vanished for everyone I used tonics on, except for magic, a stat I didn't tonic up.

Really? I thought I remembered seeing both at once. Though maybe that was meal+speed taker I'm remembering.

[Eltosian Kadath]

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

 

…So, weirdly, out of nowhere, one of Tetchie’s lines is only pseudo voice-acted. Just a “Let’s go!” instead of the full line. Weird. But anyway, it seems one of the villages is impossible to save, since it’s all the way towards the enemy, we have almost no mobility tech, and it’s demolished on enemy phase turn 1.

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

It will remain with that one village on Talys, as a mystery of what item was inside there. Only this one feels like you could actually visit via hacking in warp staves and movement range.

Someone managed it with a comically large amount of effort, and the busted power of the DLC emblems, all for an elixir...

 

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

 

Damn it, a chain guard would really come in handy now. There’s a greataxe user hiding in the dark that I just accidentally exposed, but Framme can’t shore up Merrin’s defenses because of a fucking HP level up. If they didn’t want HP level ups activating buffs, why didn’t they make it so that they didn’t disable chain guard?

 

OH THANK FUCKING GOODNESS SHE DODGED. She killed the first one just barely, leaving room for her to be killed, but she dodged a 47% and she’s golden. Damn, that would’ve been a depressing and anticlimactic first death.

Yikes, that was a close call with a solid new character.

 

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

 

…I just made a grievous, foolish, nearly-Louis-costing error. While charging into a herd of enemies as usual, I left him in melee range of two sword fighters, one of whom I didn’t notice had an armor slayer, and watched in horror as their dual five-damage chain attacks nearly whittled his health down to nothing when a mage and a longbow-using thief popped out to attack him. He just barely survived. I nearly pulled another Sedgar and forgot that there were things other than magic that make this guy mortal. Will not repeat.

Talk about a dangerous chapter with another close call like this. I think I will blame it on the Fog of War, it just makes things more dangerous.

 

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

 

…Timerra just said “I fight for my friends”.

 

God, this game just knows exactly what to do, doesn’t it?

 

Pepsiman: I’ll change the future into hope!

 

…Do… do victory lines change when you’re engaged based on whose Emblem you have equipped? That… that is awesome.

It is a really cool touch, but most people don't notice til the more recent Emblems show up.

 

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

 

So I just used Great Aether. Pretty useful, I gotta say, even if the fact that it’s useless for emergency player-phase damage is something I have to get used to. Also, good to know it still works when you use it on your last turn engaged. I was a bit miffed Timerra had to use a fucking hammer for it because it’s sword and axe only, but fun fact: This is the first time Aether has ever been 1-2 range!

Just be careful of enemies that can smash the Grand Aether user back, I certainly had an embarrassing moment of the enemy making my Great Aether use almost useless thanks to that...

 

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

 

Alright, hey, so this new map that opened up is just slightly outside of the palace, I wonder IS THAT AN EXACT FUCKING REPLICA OF THE GREIL MERCENARIES BASE JUST LYING THERE ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF BRODIA THAT JUST OPENED UP!?

 

 …No, it looks more like it’s an exact replica of the Laguz Castle where Ike was staying when his father died. Still, like, when I actually start doing these, I have a feeling they’re going to be identical to maps from characters’ original games, and like… why would these things exist, in-universe?

Oh, are you so blind that you haven't heard about the returning maps...If you are close to the recommended level for one (it would not surprise me if you were close to the Lucina one for instance), it might be fun to check one of them out.

 

[Alastor15243]

Engage Day 16: Chapter 14 Prep

Alright, so, I’m gonna get to the prep screen of Chapter 14 and then back out before doing any more Somniel stuff. I wanna see how many slots I have to work with here, and who I’m bringing, before I invest any of my profoundly limited resources on new units.

But while I’m here… let’s play “guess the Emblem Paralogue”!

I’m guessing these two offshore ships by the Shadowy Moor are the twins. I’m pretty sure the only map with exactly two ships in that configuration was in Sacred Stones.

That Elusian harbor… I’m struggling to think of one that exactly matches that layout. Maybe that early map in Path of Radiance where you meet Marcia, if you twist it around and squint a bit with the house placements… but we already have Ike’s paralogue unlocked. Yeah, I’m guessing that’s just a normal map I haven’t unlocked yet.

That island off the coast of Firene looks like… something I might’ve seen in Three Houses? Maybe? Are the DLC paralogues on the map at base?

Cuz like my only other guess would be something from Path of Radiance, and again, that’s already taken.

…Ah, fuck it, I don’t really have time for more of this on reflection.

Let’s move on with the story. Solm Palace time.

So, hostage situation. Hortensia’s in the throne room with Queen Seforia.

…She just… they just let her waltz in… Because she pretended to be with Ivy? I mean, clever plan, but…

That means she knows Ivy is alive, and knows she sided with Pepsiman… and she’s still serving the fuckers who ate her father?

…What kind of bullshit did they feed her?

So… they told her that Hyacinth willingly fed himself to Sombron. I… see… uh… why exactly wasn’t she witness to all of the bullshit that went down… when she was fucking there?

Anyway, she demands the rings or she kills Queen Seforia.

Pepsiman’s response?

Pepsiman: No, Hortensia. Never.

He essentially just goes “No hostage negotiations. Either you surrender now, or you try to kill her, and I stop you.”

And Timerra shares the sentiment.

And… Hortensia proceeds to have an emotional breakdown.

Hortensia: What’s wrong with you!? This is your mother! You’re supposed to be scared! Cry already! Cower and beg for her life! Give me what I want! No, what I need. I need the rings. It’s the only way to bring father back.

(Weird those later lines have periods when she’s clearly in emotional distress in the voice lines)

Ivy: Hortensia, he’s gone. The Fell Dragon murdered him. You watched it happen.

So she is just in denial.

And now everyone, including Seforia, is calling her bluff.

I will say, in a less cheesy game, with better context this could honestly be a powerful moment.

Oh, and Zephia shows up, despite Hortensia saying she got in alone. Hence how we’re having a battle. So is Hortensia gonna join us now, or is Zephia gonna ruin it?

Ooooooh, so Hortensia did all of this without their orders? Thaaaaaat makes sense, actually, given what Veyle said about their strategy.

Oh fuck, Goldmary and Rosado are taken hostage.

Marni and Mauvier are here too, huh? Three of the four hounds? Including what is ostensibly the leader of them? That is an oddly specific and just-barely-incomplete number. Are we really going to be fighting this specific three, and only this specific three, at once? I somehow seriously doubt it.

…Oh dear. Does Zephia have mind control powers? This seems to be what they’re heavily implying. Actually, weirdly, this seems similar to how Good Veyle acted when seeing a ring. Which would imply that Zephia is responsible for Evil Veyle… despite on the surface taking orders from her.

Speaking of random, crack theories... something occurred to me.

Wouldn’t it be hilarious if it turned out the twist wasn’t that Pepsiman was related to Sombron… but that he was an Emblem this whole goddamned time? A ring ghost that Queen Lumera tried to turn into a real boy?

The reason this occurred to me… is that I realized that if you took Emblem Pepsiman and corrupted him… he’d look exactly like what we saw of evil Pepsiman.

This theory doesn’t really entirely fit… but I will say it would be hilarious if it were true… and it would explain the weird significance of that ring Lumera wanted to give Pepsiman at the beginning.

…Okay, so yeah, Hortensia’s been brainwashed. So we have to fight her before getting her. Good. That means I don’t have to be mocked by having to put an Emblem on a hilariously unfitting unit for an entire map.

Let’s do this.

OH SWEET! WE GET TO BRING TWELVE UNITS!

KICKASS!

Alright, let’s see what my deployment’s gonna look like here…

…Okay, so, Marni has an axe that’s magical and a smashing weapon. I uh… I question how many units are simultaneously axe-using, good with magic, and capable of withstanding one to two hits before dealing damage. At first blush this seems like the worst magical weapon in the entire series unless I’m forgetting a really, really stupid one. Like, even the shockstick was better than this.

Besides, uh, I’ve yet to see the utility of smashing weapons besides just having something really strong in your inventory to one-shot with a slow powerhouse or use with specials. They push a unit off of a tile, yeah, but only if they hit, right? And most tiles you’d want to push a unit off of… have really good evade boosts. And smashing weapons are really inaccurate.

Anyway… I’ve decided I’m going to be using Merrin. And what better Emblem to give her than the one with lots and lots of animal friends?

Awwwwww! Merrin calls Ike “Sir Ike” when you equip him on her!

Speaking of Ike… one thing I noticed is that Ike would be damned near useless when corrupted. Great Aether would be a terrible special attack to use on an enemy with the intelligence to avoid it.

Anyway, here’s my current roster of twelve: Pepsiman, Clanne, Framme, Louis, Yunaka, Alcryst, Ivy, Bunet, Merrin, Timerra, Kagetsu and Pandreo. I’m gonna give Timerra a better chance to impress me now that I can give her some more appropriate equipment. Also, she’s level 18, so fuck it, let’s just promote her.

Looks like Hortensia’s got Byleth again.

…Did… did Byleth have “diabolical dance” before? That is… fucking terrifying. A dance gambit… on a fucking boss?

…A boss accompanied by three other bosses?

…Wait, three?

Are we really fighting exactly these three of the four hounds? Immediately? In our first proper battle with any of them?

Oh yeah and I had Clanne use a seraph robe because he has the worst HP of my entire party. It’s still in the twenties, even after using the robe, if just barely.

Alright, time to head back to base and make some additional preps.

I just found the Flea Market. Nobody’s running it apparently, but I can still shop. This seems to be where you get those extra gifts I was told about. Alright. Noted.

Merrin’s training with Ike now. Seems important to get her a head start with this, even though it’s costing most of my bond fragments.

It is infuriating to me that I can’t find this arena battle theme absolutely anywhere, on any listing of any soundtrack. Either it has such an implausible name that I skimmed past it on the playlist, or it’s not actually on these YT playlists for some reason. Hell, there’s apparently a more intense version of the lobby music, implying this is a map theme somewhere, but I can’t find this battle music!

…Oh, Merrin likes meat too?

Alright, now to inherit some good skills on Merrin with her crazy initial SP base of 1,500.

I didn’t even need to use half of it to get two great skills: def+3 and reposition.

…Oh fuck, apparently she already has reposition at all times. Fuck. Ah well, it was just 200 SP.

Right then, now to cook. Hopefully something with def buffs.

…Anna’s cooking.

…I wonder how this will end.

Caramel Nut Cake…

…Anna took the basic boosts and added a +3 to magic instead of a +1! Nice!

…The shops have new stuff, which is frustrating because I have fuck-all to spend on it.

…Oh right I have some supports. Let’s get on those.

Pepsiman and Louis’s B.

…So it would appear that Louis is another closed-eyed big brother who had to raise his younger siblings when their parents died. Except he had to do it with three younger brothers, not four.

I like how when Louis suspects maybe the all-male household he grew up in was responsible for his weird people-watching habit (growing up with a limited sample size of people and desiring to learn more of what they’re like), Pepsiman’s skeptical and asks if his younger brothers do it too. And they don’t.

Oh christ, here’s one with Amber.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT NOISE AMBER JUST MADE.

…He’s… making alpaca sounds… in the hopes of it reaching all the way back to his hometown… in the middle of the night.

I am… I am so fucking glad I don’t have to watch more of this guy’s supports. Holy cow. He’s not as grating as he was initially, but still…

…So I just took a look at that ally notebook thing, and saw Lilith’s page.

Personality: gentle, spirited

Likes: Pepsiman, butterflies, soft things, warm things, trying new foods

Dislikes: how everyone it’s ever known up until now goes away eventually

…OOOOOF.

Alright, let’s look at that battle map again.

…Damn, Kagetsu’s just barely weighed down by the hand axe enough that he needs some help doubling these lance enemies across the water. Alright, let’s see if we can do anything about that…

Yep, confirmed: I used a speed tonic and the already-meal-boosted-by-1 Kagetsu only gained one speed. But at least now with a speed-boosting bond ring, he’s fast enough to double most of the lance enemies across the river with the +4 Celica hand axe.

…Unfortunately I may not be able to do this chapter properly today. As I said, busy time of the week. If I can, though, I’ll post a bonus later today.

But for now…

Alastor, signing off!

Edited February 8, 2023 by Alastor15243

[Acacia Sgt]

2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

That island off the coast of Firene looks like… something I might’ve seen in Three Houses? Maybe? Are the DLC paralogues on the map at base?

Answering this one... kinda. The DLC Paralogues are all tucked on an island off the southern coast of Firene. It gets a location node, but as you approach, you basically switch to a zoomed in version of the island with its own location nodes. So a map within a map.

2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

So, hostage situation. Hortensia’s in the throne room with Queen Seforia.

…She just… they just let her waltz in… Because she pretended to be with Ivy? I mean, clever plan, but…

I guess this is where it backfires on Solm.

2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Speaking of random, crack theories... something occurred to me.

Wouldn’t it be hilarious if it turned out the twist wasn’t that Pepsiman was related to Sombron… but that he was an Emblem this whole goddamned time? A ring ghost that Queen Lumera tried to turn into a real boy?

The reason this occurred to me… is that I realized that if you took Emblem Pepsiman and corrupted him… he’d look exactly like what we saw of evil Pepsiman.

This theory doesn’t really entirely fit… but I will say it would be hilarious if it were true… and it would explain the weird significance of that ring Lumera wanted to give Pepsiman at the beginning.

It's fascinating to read this knowing the truth, really. Suffice to say, you will get your answers in due time.

2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Besides, uh, I’ve yet to see the utility of smashing weapons besides just having something really strong in your inventory to one-shot with a slow powerhouse or use with specials. They push a unit off of a tile, yeah, but only if they hit, right? And most tiles you’d want to push a unit off of… have really good evade boosts. And smashing weapons are really inaccurate.

I'm pretty sure if the unit doesn't have a tile to get pushed into, they instead get Breaked. So there's that.

2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Are we really fighting exactly these three of the four hounds? Immediately? In our first proper battle with any of them?

Yes.

2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

I just found the Flea Market. Nobody’s running it apparently, but I can still shop. This seems to be where you get those extra gifts I was told about. Alright. Noted.

Oh, it's Timerra. Not unlike how Alfred shows up for the Exercise area and Diamant for fishing. It's not a coincidence. The crown heirs all get something. It's just that with the Flea Market, you can use it even when no one's there.

2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

I like how when Louis suspects maybe the all-male household he grew up in was responsible for his weird people-watching habit (growing up with a limited sample size of people and desiring to learn more of what they’re like), Pepsiman’s skeptical and asks if his younger brothers do it too. And they don’t.

That, and who the targets of his watching habits are, considering things

2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

…OOOOOF.

Oof indeed.

[Alastor15243]

4 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Oh, it's Timerra. Not unlike how Alfred shows up for the Exercise area and Diamant for fishing. It's not a coincidence. The crown heirs all get something. It's just that with the Flea Market, you can use it even when no one's there.

Weird, I'd have figured it was Anna's. I think they used it as a backdrop for her store in her support with Framme.

[Acacia Sgt]

Just now, Alastor15243 said:

Weird, I'd have figured it was Anna's. I think they used it as a backdrop for her store in her support with Framme.

Well, Anna is one of the characters that can show up. You know, the ones that go "I'll call X" when you want to use the facility. I've also seen Panette and Timerra herself. Only those three so far, though.

[Anathaco]

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Okay, so, Marni has an axe that’s magical and a smashing weapon. I uh… I question how many units are simultaneously axe-using, good with magic, and capable of withstanding one to two hits before dealing damage. At first blush this seems like the worst magical weapon in the entire series unless I’m forgetting a really, really stupid one. Like, even the shockstick was better than this.

 

Yeah honestly using this weapon makes her such a non threat it’s not even funny

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Oh christ, here’s one with Amber.

Amber might be the most deranged member of the cast, and that’s saying a lot for this game. His wake up interactions are absolutely the best in the game tho.

[Jotari]

So now that you're fighting Marni (unnecessarily, I might agree) I just want to rant a bit about how stupid I find her character. Like, seriously, why is she one of the four hounds? Is she just completely and ridiculously strong despite being a tiny ass 9 year old girl? Because she obviously isn't a skilled and capable commander, because they don't shy away from the fact that she has the mentality of a child. How, out of all the, presumably at least, hundreds of thousands of people in the country, she was chosen to be raised up to the status of the elite soldiers beyond even the king's authority? I could get behind it if she were a magic savant, but no, she's just really good at swinging axes that probably way the same as her for no explicit reason. No super powers, or super natural abilities. Just really good at swinging axes. They could have made her half dragon at least, we know Zephia is a dragon. Why not make her Zephia's daughter or something? Instead we just have this tiny prepubescent girl who is presumably so strong she could solo Sobran herself if you give her a few years to actually get to the other side of puberty. It's just silly.

[Acacia Sgt]

Since I still see them as "Engage's take of the Nohrian siblings", the Elise role had to be filled somehow.

[Jotari]

6 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Since I still see them as "Engage's take of the Nohrian siblings", the Elise role had to be filled somehow.

At least Elise was an actual royal. And her combat utility ammounted to holding a staff, not being a front line fighter.

[Alastor15243]

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

At least Elise was an actual royal. And her combat utility ammounted to holding a staff, not being a front line fighter.

(Laughs in Heart Seal)

Edited February 9, 2023 by Alastor15243

[Alastor15243]

Day 16 Bonus: Chapter 14

Alright, it’s 4:55 PM EST as I write this, and I know it’s mere minutes before the direct starts, but quite frankly, I’ve got all the Nintendo info I need at the moment. I’ll watch it later. For now, time to finally sit down and play some proper Engage today.

After finally getting Timerra some better weapons (namely a slim lance and a killer lance), I think I’m finally ready to start this. This map doesn’t look too complicated. Though there is treasure to get, so I’ll probably want to hustle clearing the map. Thankfully I’ve got a modest air force I can now use to cross the indoor moat and start simplifying things.

The only probable thief arrival locations are in the hallways at the top and bottom of the left and right sides. This’ll be my first race to the treasure chests that I’ll be doing without my precious fancy Emblem movement tech, so I’ll want to hustle in case they decide to be assholes about how soon the thieves spawn and where.

Pepsiman, Merrin, Louis, Framme and Clanne go east. Yunaka, Pandreo, Timerra and Alcryst go west. Kagetsu, Ivy and Bunet fly over the indoor moat to start dealing with the guys outside the boss room early. This’ll mostly be Kagetsu I suspect, though.

Alright, begin.

…Okay, personally I question the decision to have two nearly-identical versions of the same map theme for each nation. Does anyone know whether these songs are using real or midi instruments? It tends to be hard for me to tell these days now that midis have gotten really good, but if these are actual live performances, it doesn’t feel like doing barely-different variations on the same song would save all that much money. Besides, it feels like a fairly minimal budget cut. I’d have liked there to be two whole songs per kingdom. But maybe that’s me being petty.

Looks like thieves are coming right away! Okay, well, I did forget that I do have one panic button: Alcryst and his very, very, very long arm of the law.

Which I wound up using when getting the eastern thief right away became implausible. Time to advance.

And thankfully Yunaka got a crit the other thief, whom she couldn’t double.

Merrin got what I thought was a near-total dud level up… until I realized that the thing she got aside from HP was build. Okay, since I probably want her to use axes eventually, well done there.

…Not that build has any use besides reducing weapon weight penalty from what I know. So actually maybe I would’ve preferred speed.

…For a second I was incredibly confused at how I somehow left Alcryst in range of a flier strong enough to kill him while armed with a sword… and then realized, to my relief, that that was just one of the doubles I summoned for the hell of it since Alcryst couldn’t reach any enemies.

Also, I’ve put enough Emblems on enough people, and paid enough attention, to finally confirm that the appearance characters take when Engaged depends on their category. Coverts have this sort of ribbon helmet, cavalry have turbine wings, dragons have flappy dragon wings, armored units have this sort of shell, etc.

I don’t recall what flying looked like though. Something to check once I get an Emblem that’s a good fit for one of my fliers.

Alright, I’ve mostly cleared the way to the treasure room. Reinforcements showed up, but they’re no big deal for Yunaka or Louis or anyone of that caliber.

I’m gonna have Merrin try out Great Aether on the northeastern group. She’ll have 29 defense when it and resolve are active, and then any damage she takes will be further halved, so I just cannot fathom her getting hurt here.

Incidentally, the calm version of this version of the Solm map theme has this instrument that holds a note that makes me constantly feel like my phone is vibrating on my desk and I’m just barely hearing it through my headphones.

Thanks. I hate it.

…Okay.

Fun fact.

Chain attacks aren’t halved.

Thankfully it didn’t come close to killing Merrin, but that’s still unnerving.

So, there is an absurd stockpile of engage restoration tiles before the boss room. More than we could possibly need by the time we reach them. Each side has more tiles than we have Emblems. I’m not complaining, but I am curious.

As for treasure, I got a silver spirit art, boots, a magic bow, and a wyrmslayer. Honestly, magic weapons have an interesting appeal in this game: you don’t need to work up to the weapon ranks for them. You can just innately use them as soon as you can reclass. So if I wanted to make one of my mages an archer and use this radiant bow, I could totally do that.

Conveniently, reinforcements show up from the rear just in time to keep things interesting while I backtrack the units I sent to retrieve the chest contents. My air force makes relatively quick work of them.

I really, really like the boom sound effects that happen when you use wind spells. They’re incredibly satisfying.

…I can obliterate one of Hortensia’s HP bars with Alcryst’s special.

I am, uh, curious, shall we say, what that will do to the enemy AI.

So I’m gonna do it as soon as my army’s all ready.

…Why are Hortensia’s multiple revival stones purple instead of red?

Also, part of me is paranoid Ivy has to talk to her or something, so I’m not going to cheese this if she stays put afterwards.

…Actually, to play it completely safe, I’m gonna attack Zephia first. Destroy her first HP bar.

Also, just a thought… I’m going to engage in advance and have Alcryst use it on his last turn, so he can grab one of these refills and use it immediately after in case either Zephia or Hortensia is a huge problem.

Alcryst gets a pretty damned good level up from taking out that first HP bar. Now, to see what happens…

…You’re shitting me.

Zephia moves… and nobody else.

Does Astra Storm really make boss formations this easy to cheese?

I’m genuinely shocked, game!

…And… the boss music stopped? Does it just stop after a turn of not attacking the boss, even if she’s still aggro’d?

…Weird.

…How’d she recover from being broken already? I broke her with Pandreo, attacked her with Yunaka, and suddenly she can counter again? What’s up with that?

…And the boss music continues even after she’s defeated. Huh. If that happened before with multi-boss maps, I did not notice.

…Yeah this entire room’s AI is pitiful. All of the enemies seem to be aggro’d independently.

Weirdly, Mauvier’s “contemplative” skill hasn’t been activating despite him not doing anything. Does the game not even register his turn to make him use “wait” to give the def boost on the skill they explicitly gave him?

Oof.

Anyway, time to simultaneously bait in the revival-stone-free hounds with Yunaka and Merrin, from spaces not in range of Hortensia’s breaking staff. Which, happily enough, includes a column in Yunaka’s case!

…Oh.

…Oh I seeeeeee.

Ladies and gentlemen, uh…

…The game… uh…

…Did a thing.

Up until now the game has been very, very, very good about making sure that immobile bosses only gain their movement at the very beginning of player phase, so I have time to respond to the situation shift.

But when I moved Yunaka in to bait in Marni, instantly Hortensia became movable.

…That could be a problem.

But even breaking Yunaka can’t make her mortal, it just means she can’t kill. That thing only has 3 uses and it’s not even droppable. And it only has any effect on enemy phase, to boot. So let’s see.

Thankfully she used it on Merrin, who I didn’t even send into range of anyone. Yay?

…Oh, maybe because the game realized Yunaka literally can’t do shit to Marni. Because I totally forgot she’s a fucking armor knight.

…It’s frankly depressing how basic Mauvier feels. He’s not interesting in his “noble” villainy. Like, at the moment, and in fairness I’ve barely seen much of him, he’s the least interesting Camus in the entire series. It’s like his lines are specifically designed to say “I’m a Camus” and nothing else.

And now he and Marni are down. I had Clanne trade his elfire back to Ivy so she could one-round her.

Now for Hortensia, who still has expressed no interest in doing anything but spam her breaking staff until it runs out.

I’m not gonna attack her at all until she comes to me, out of extreme paranoia that talking to her might stop working after she takes damage.

…I should’ve checked to see if she even had a conversation icon with Hortensia.

She does not.

Fuck. Okay. Well then, guess we do this the old fashioned way.

And now the game tells me why Hortensia’s revival stones are purple! She’s going to enter a super form if I take too many of her stones away! Damn it. Alright, best prepare for the worst. Get the poisoning out of the way immediately, while I know I still can.

Yeah, she just randomly got the Sword of the Creator.

Hey, at least Three Houses told you what new powers were unlocked when you broke health bars on bosses.

I can’t believe I’m saying Three Houses did something better than this game.

Okay, thankfully I have more than enough firepower to deal with her.

…She’s down. Mission complete.

Aaaand we managed to convince her to stay and join us!

And she gives us the Byleth ring, which is going on Pepsiman immediately because I have a feeling the rally skill is gonna be busted on him.

Now then… let’s see what a chatterbox-y Byleth is like!

Well, that’s a brief introduction, but I already like him better than canon.

And we actually address the fact that Hortensia threatened to kill the queen! Basically she sort of redundantly press-gangs Hortensia into joining Pepsiman’s army to atone for her crimes (and weirdly seems to blame Ivy for this incident as well for some reason).

She also… seems to imply her plan in case Sombron’s forces attack again is to leave one of her relatives here as a decoy and just wander the desert. Oooooooooookay. Flagrantly irresponsible, much?

Anyway, we’re headed to the northern fortress, and got 40,000 gold! Sweet! But I have no idea when we’ll get our next batch of gold, so I’ve gotta be careful with this!

Ohhhhh! That explains why Lúin was picked as his first engage weapon, weirdly. It’s a different relic for each unit type! That explains things!

And yep! Like I thought! Borderline rally spectrum! All seven basic stats plus three! Okay, in that case, yes, that’s definitely going on Pepsiman! And what relic does he get?

…Dragons… get Aymr?

…The… artificial hero’s relic specifically created by Those Who Slither in the Dark for the express purpose of dismantling the dragons’ hold on society?

That’s the one that Byleth gives to dragons?

…Whoever made Byleth’s ring has a deliciously anti-church sense of humor, and I approve.

#NemesisDidNothingWrong

Anyway, I think that’s it for today. I’ll finish editing this, get it posted by 8 PM, and then see about doing a small update about general cleanup tomorrow.

Alastor, signing off!

[Acacia Sgt]

31 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Alright, it’s 4:55 PM EST as I write this, and I know it’s mere minutes before the direct starts, but quite frankly, I’ve got all the Nintendo info I need at the moment. I’ll watch it later. For now, time to finally sit down and play some proper Engage today.

Not gonna lie, between what the Direct showed and what the Datamine had already hinted at... I'm not as enthusiastic anymore for Wave 4, as it were.

31 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Looks like thieves are coming right away! Okay, well, I did forget that I do have one panic button: Alcryst and his very, very, very long arm of the law.

Which I wound up using when getting the eastern thief right away became implausible. Time to advance.

Hmm... not something I tried against thieves. Would've been better I guess, heh.

31 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Does Astra Storm really make boss formations this easy to cheese?

Yes.

31 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

…And… the boss music stopped? Does it just stop after a turn of not attacking the boss, even if she’s still aggro’d?

…Weird.

I've noticed that. I guess since you did stopped attacking the boss and all, it makes sense.

31 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

…How’d she recover from being broken already? I broke her with Pandreo, attacked her with Yunaka, and suddenly she can counter again? What’s up with that?

Break only lasts for one battle.

31 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Weirdly, Mauvier’s “contemplative” skill hasn’t been activating despite him not doing anything. Does the game not even register his turn to make him use “wait” to give the def boost on the skill they explicitly gave him?

Oof.

Maybe to avoid making fighting him more tougher than it is? Or maybe it works on the higher difficulties.

31 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

And we actually address the fact that Hortensia threatened to kill the queen! Basically she sort of redundantly press-gangs Hortensia into joining Pepsiman’s army to atone for her crimes (and weirdly seems to blame Ivy for this incident as well for some reason).

From what I recently read, this chapter got some rewrites in its localization. Don't know if that bit is one of them.

31 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

She also… seems to imply her plan in case Sombron’s forces attack again is to leave one of her relatives here as a decoy and just wander the desert. Oooooooooookay. Flagrantly irresponsible, much?

The perfect excuse to have her join... and it doesn't happen. I know someone who is quite upset because of that. XD

[lenticular]

54 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

…Not that build has any use besides reducing weapon weight penalty from what I know. So actually maybe I would’ve preferred speed.

It does have one other use that I know of, but that's so niche that it may as well not exist. (Discussion of bond ring effects below for anyone who is extremely spoiler-averse.)

Spoiler

Mia's S rank bond ring gives the shove ability, which can only be used on characters with a lower build. Which is of limited usefulness even if you do get the S rank ring, which you probably won't. (I did get it, but never actually used it.) I have no clue why they decided to put this skill on Mia, who is small and puny, when Gatrie, Lethe or Ranulf would have been more obvious choices.

 

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

And what relic does he get?

 

…Dragons… get Aymr?

 

…The… artificial hero’s relic specifically created by Those Who Slither in the Dark for the express purpose of dismantling the dragons’ hold on society?

Humourous irony aside, I was pretty disappointed with how they implemented Aymr. While it's probably for the best that they didn't try to reproduce the ability to take multiple turns from Three Houses, changing it from that into a slow and lumbering smash attack weapon was a weird choice. Oh well. Personally, I like putting Byleth on mages to give them Thyrsus, since +2 range to tomes is still every bit as good as it was in Three Houses.

[Alastor15243]

11 minutes ago, lenticular said:

Personally, I like putting Byleth on mages to give them Thyrsus, since +2 range to tomes is still every bit as good as it was in Three Houses.

Oh shit! Something to consider! Indeed it seems to have a lot of uses. I should probably check them all out before just assuming they'd give Pepsiman the best one.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

…How’d she recover from being broken already? I broke her with Pandreo, attacked her with Yunaka, and suddenly she can counter again? What’s up with that?

Did the game say break lasts for an entire turn? Because I spent a reasonable chunk of the game surprised by counter attacks from previously broken enemies. It seems strange we'd both land on the misconception that it lasts an entire turn and not just one counter attack. And even attacking with a unit they couldn't counter anyway removes the broken status.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

But even breaking Yunaka can’t make her mortal, it just means she can’t kill. That thing only has 3 uses and it’s not even droppable. And it only has any effect on enemy phase, to boot. So let’s see.

 

Thankfully she used it on Merrin, who I didn’t even send into range of anyone. Yay?

Having break remove all avoid would make it a lot better and make a tonne of sense imo. Also, yeah, the game seems hilariously bad at using the break staff in any practical way.

44 minutes ago, lenticular said:

It does have one other use that I know of, but that's so niche that it may as well not exist. (Discussion of bond ring effects below for anyone who is extremely spoiler-averse.)

  Hide contents

Mia's S rank bond ring gives the shove ability, which can only be used on characters with a lower build. Which is of limited usefulness even if you do get the S rank ring, which you probably won't. (I did get it, but never actually used it.) I have no clue why they decided to put this skill on Mia, who is small and puny, when Gatrie, Lethe or Ranulf would have been more obvious choices.

Yeah, that was certainly a weird choice. I mean, why not give it to Ike? Okay, sure, Reposition is better than Shove, but that wasn't in Ike's game. Give it to Byleth. Or hell let Ike have both Shove and Reposition, why not? Locking these skills to Bond Rings that you're never going to use outside some kind of No Emblem's challenge playthrough, and making them so expensive you're unlikey to invest in them in the first place and randomizing the process was just a weird way of doing things. They're still useful to throw on a unit while you're still collecting Emblems, but overall, strange choice. Especially when so few of the bond rings even get skills. They easily could have given a skill to every S ranked bond ring so even the ones you pick up by luck would have one and it could see some use somewhere, but it feels like they're almost going out of their way to make them unusable. Of course the best option would be to provide some way to inherit skills from Bond units...Can you inherit skills from bond units? I think the only bond unit I've gotten with a skill so far is Seliph.

Also, not sure if a spoiler is really warranted there. He already has the Ike Emblem, he can get the Mia bond ring whenever now.

44 minutes ago, lenticular said:

Humourous irony aside, I was pretty disappointed with how they implemented Aymr. While it's probably for the best that they didn't try to reproduce the ability to take multiple turns from Three Houses, changing it from that into a slow and lumbering smash attack weapon was a weird choice. Oh well. Personally, I like putting Byleth on mages to give them Thyrsus, since +2 range to tomes is still every bit as good as it was in Three Houses.

Yeah, Byleth is effectively a mage emblem to me. Thyrsus just seems so much more effective than temporary use of a decent weapon. Unfortunately it only works on Sages, so no Dark Knight or Lindwyrm long range magic.

Edited February 9, 2023 by Jotari