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

[Acacia Sgt]

1 minute ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

They had serious discomfort at seeing the Fabrications created, and then fighting against them. I assumed this was pointing to either something sinister about the magic Lumera used to fabricate them, or to a bad experience Alear had with Fabrications before their slumber. But it sounds like the game's not gonna try to explain it...

Oh, it will. It's just that

Spoiler

it's still specific to Corrupted, not Fabrications. Alear only got wary of Fabrications as a reaction due to their similarities to Corrupted and they not remembering things, but it was only the one time.

As it stands, Corrupted are reanimated corpses. Fabrications are things like rocks transformed to look like humans.

 

[Seazas]

On 2/13/2023 at 2:51 PM, Alastor15243 said:

I do not like that they both exist in the same reality with the same character with the same personality and motivations.

 

They feel fundamentally contradictory to me.

 

Okay so the only reason Alcryst is harsher on Ivy is because she (unwillingly) played a hand in them failing to save Morion. Hortensia didn't get in the way so Alcryst saw an easy target for blame.

[Alastor15243]

42 minutes ago, Seazas said:

Okay so the only reason Alcryst is harsher on Ivy is because she (unwillingly) played a hand in them failing to save Morion. Hortensia didn't get in the way so Alcryst saw an easy target for blame.

I don't buy this. It's not just that he's not as harsh on Hortensia, but he even unquestioningly accepts her implicit accusation that Brodia was in the wrong in the war that killed his father, and that she's entirely morally justified in holding a grudge against him. It's a complete 180.

[Acacia Sgt]

4 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

I don't buy this. It's not just that he's not as harsh on Hortensia, but he even unquestioningly accepts her implicit accusation that Brodia was in the wrong in the war that killed his father, and that she's entirely morally justified in holding a grudge against him. It's a complete 180.

I still think it goes back to their ages in relation to him (he is 17, to Ivy's 20 and Hortensia's 14), plus the fact that he saw Hortensia try but fail to attack Veyle after her own father got killed. Plus the brainwashed thing. So he finds it acceptable if she were to lash out, as he feels that if it wasn't for Brodia attacking so much, Hyacinth wouldn't be driven to bring back Sombron and use Morion to do so.

Granted, this wouldn't explain why then he lashes out to Ivy, but perhaps he still needs to blame someone, so Ivy is the one who gets it by default, as the only other royal of Elusia around. Plus the whole "she was in the way to rescue Morion during Chapter 9" bit.

[Jotari]

You do get a new recruit in the next chapter. And he feels like one of those late game characters that no one will ever bother to use. So I kind of hope you do use him as a replacement for Merrin. Though his stat line probably won't be remotely the same.

[Acacia Sgt]

7 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Told ya. I'll admit I didn't went for Sigurd. I went for Tome Precision (once you get Celica back, naturally) because while its max version only gives 15 Hit, it also gives 15 Avoid. Now that I got Soren, the Avoid isn't that big of a deal anymore. Hit +30 might be more appealing now. Hmm...

Making an amendment to this.

I can't believe I overlooked it, but you can make use of Lucina's Engraving. +30 Hit and even -1 to Wt. At this point you should have a Bolganone, which Ivy can put to good use with the Engraving. With it, you can forgo Sigurd's Hit boosting skill and free up the slot. Or use both I guess for further Hit boost. Only downside is the -1 Mt, but it's quite negligible.

Edited February 16, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[Alastor15243]

6 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

I can't believe I overlooked it, but you can make use of Lucina's Engraving. +30 Hit and even -1 to Wt. At this point you should have a Bolganone, which Ivy can put to good use with the Engraving. With it, you can forgo Sigurd's Hit boosting skill and free up the slot. Or use both I guess for further Hit boost. Only downside is the -1 Mt, but it's quite negligible.

I'm already using it on Yunaka's steel dagger for the +30 avoid and the accuracy to reliably hit enemies who come into her fog.

[Jotari]

It's kind of crazy how much more effective some Engravings are over others.

[Sunwoo]

So, as someone who didn't play Engage but read through some supports, could it be that the reason Alcryst is harder on Ivy than Hortensia is because of timing? You recruit both Alcryst and Ivy significantly earlier than Hortensia, I believe, so maybe the implication is that you're supposed to unlock Alcryst and Ivy's support first, and by the time he approaches Hortensia he's ... uh, less salty? Along with what Acacia said about their relative ages.

[Acacia Sgt]

8 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

I'm already using it on Yunaka's steel dagger for the +30 avoid and the accuracy to reliably hit enemies who come into her fog.

Ah, I see.

Not a thing I've done. Outside putting Corrin with Alear and call the fog for my units to stand at the edge, so no need for the Hit boost.

5 minutes ago, Sunwoo said:

So, as someone who didn't play Engage but read through some supports, could it be that the reason Alcryst is harder on Ivy than Hortensia is because of timing? You recruit both Alcryst and Ivy significantly earlier than Hortensia, I believe, so maybe the implication is that you're supposed to unlock Alcryst and Ivy's support first, and by the time he approaches Hortensia he's ... uh, less salty? Along with what Acacia said about their relative ages.

There's that too.

I'd also bring up that, even if the game drops him off from the plot, Alcryst had to have witnessed the whole thing at Chapter 14. With Hortensia breaking down, wishing to have her father back, and all that. So it resonated with him too.

[Eltosian Kadath]

43 minutes ago, Jotari said:

You do get a new recruit in the next chapter. And he feels like one of those late game characters that no one will ever bother to use. So I kind of hope you do use him as a replacement for Merrin. Though his stat line probably won't be remotely the same.

Someone needs to watch @Saint Rubenio's video of them clowning on the final boss with that character.

 

[Anathaco]

22 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Someone needs to watch @Saint Rubenio's video of them clowning on the final boss with that character.

 

I am intrigued 

[Saint Rubenio]

Since I have been summoned.

Spoiler

 

 

Do not let me hear any of you slander Lindpa again.

Edited February 16, 2023 by Saint Rubenio

[Anathaco]

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Since I have been summoned.

  Hide contents

 

 

Do not let me hear any of you slander Lindpa again.

That ending got me ngl.

[Alastor15243]

Engage Day 24: Chapter 18

New character ahoy, apparently? Let’s check this out.

Oh hey, cool detail! Mainline maps have circular markers, paralogues have diamond-shaped ones.

Alright, we’ve got those two boats I saw and briefly thought were Eirika’s paralogue, so let’s check this out.

…You know how I initially had very poor impressions of Engage’s facial expressions in dialogue scenes, and completely did a 180 and decided it was a marked improvement over Three Houses very shortly after?

I’ve just figured out why.

It was literally just Sombron. Sombron’s face is, like, creepily, robotically unexpressive. His mouth looks like a fucking ventriloquist’s dummy flapping up and down in this opening shot.

Looking further into the scene, it’s better when he doesn’t have his eyes open, but like, in a lot of shots, he looks so unnatural.

Weirdly, Sombron isn’t mentioning Leif being among the lost rings. He says “twice my hounds have failed me”, referring explicitly to the rings of Sigurd and Eirika. Not Sigurd and Leif, the more recent and explicit failures of the Hounds. Or I guess those two separate instances could be the two failures, but it’s still weird that he makes no mention of losing Leif.

…Oh shit, I just noticed that Sombron’s third eye is just looking around the room in creepy little twitches.

So Veyle’s refusing to wake up her dark side, so Sombron hands Zephia something that… looks an awful lot like Zephia’s horns. It’s apparently an enchanted helmet to amplify Zephia’s power. So then, are her original horns just headgear too? I was starting to think they were literal dragon horns.

…But they’re not using it right away. She’s supposed to “use it when the time is right”, which of course means “when the heroes can arrive in time to stop it”.

Oooooh! Zephia asks Sombron about the whole “there is another” thing.

…Sombron is either lying, or even he can’t recognize Pepsiman after the incredible disguise of half a bottle of hair dye and a contact lens. Like, seriously?

…

…

Zephia: I remember one who stood above the rest, with hair and eyes like fire.

ARE YOU FUCKING SHITTING ME.

ARE YOU SERIOUS.

SHE REMEMBERS PEPSIMAN?

…Okay.

Okay.

Another thing.

Something I’m gonna have to look into when I play the Zephia introduction on my Maddening file.

…Was Pepsiman’s name ever introduced in Zephia’s presence? Like, textually, of course. Verbally it wouldn’t be.

Because if it was, then either Pepsiman changed his name in the time between becoming good and becoming comatose…

…or everyone in this entire story is a fucking idiot.

Zephia: What was the name again? Something like…

But Sombron stops her.

Sombron: I do not remember all my children’s names or faces.

Okay, alright, so they’re addressing thi-

Sombron: But that one I killed myself.

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, GAME.

But Sombron asks Zephia if she collected the body, because he was imprisoned shortly after killing this child of his. She says no. So Sombron immediately realizes he could still be alive.

Oh, what’s this? All five main royals in one cutscene? Nice!

…But we’re taking a ship to Elusia. Despite having the ability to teleport there.

…

…Okay game. Let’s just get on with the gameplay.

…

…Nope, got more to say. Apparently only now has Alfred warned Éve that the bad guys are after “sovereign blood”, but it’s okay because lucky there haven’t been any further attacks. Against the largely-pacifist nation they invaded with such ease before.

…Yeah, the teleportation ability just seems to not exist as far as the story is concerned. Same with time travel whenever the bad guys aren’t using it.

…Honestly, we really should have gotten another scene with Queen Éve. It feels super weird having Alfred just recount his conversation he had with her offscreen.

…Okay, question: what was Evil Veyle’s intention when she ordered the burning of Florra Port? Specifically the burning of it? What did it accomplish? Why didn’t they just charge straight for the castle again like they did last time? Hell, taking the time to destroy and sack the port town didn’t seem to have even made it any harder for Firene to get them a ship to sail to Elusia with!

Amusingly, Timerra, the only person on this ship that hasn’t even slightly been affected by the machinations of Evil Veyle (no dead parents, not even any memories of the terror that was Chapter 11), is the one who’s suggests that maybe the “Good Veyle” thing was part of an elaborate, calculated ruse to backstab us again, using Sigurd as part of a long game to betray us for an even greater prize.

Two ships approaching? But there were only two ships on the icon. How does our ship factor into this map then?

…Ah, so the two ships wasn’t really accurate. It’s a three-ship water map.

…No, wait, we bring our own ship to the icon, now that I think of it. Fair enough!

Honestly, I rather like ocean maps in concept. I especially like it when they give my fliers something to do over the water. Tragically, however, this map’s boat-to-ocean ratio is comically high.

…Found the recruitable character.

And it’s a boss.

Now, so far, I haven’t encountered a single multi-health-bar enemy who was in that moment recruitable. Still, the people likely to recruit her if this is different are with me, so fine.

I’m guessing her stats are going to be different once she’s recruited, which is a shame, because her HP is crazy high.

We’ve got two treasure chests to collect, and while the enemies don’t seem quite as terrifying as last map, I’m also not nearly as ballsy as last map. So I’m a bit nervous.

First off, let’s see what kinds of good meals I can cook for my army today.

Str, mag, spd and def +1, res +2 for men. Not fantastic, but better than I was working with before.

Oh, also, I decided while I can’t spare Lucina’s engraving for Ivy, I can spare Lyn’s, since Alcryst barely even uses that killer bow I made for him. He’s always using the longbow, or in certain situations the silver. So now Bolganone is a bit weaker, but also a bit lighter and waaaaaaaaay more accurate. I don’t think Ivy will be missing any time soon.

Also I swapped around some engravings and gave Clanne a Sigurd-engraved elfire rather than the fire tome he’s still using. He’s been in need of an upgrade for a while. I gave the Liberation+2 Leif’s instead, since it’s just as good or better in all the ways Pepsiman cares about.

Hmmm… speaking of… Leif boosts HP, build and defense…

Rosado could actually use all of that. But then who would have Eirika…

…Man this is getting frustrating.

…Okay, back to the original plan. Seadall gets Lucina. And then Goldmary gets Eirika, and Rosado gets Leif.

…No what am I thinking? Rosado has speedtaker now. He doesn’t need to worry about heavy weapons! Okay, I’ll give Leif to Goldmary then, and Rosado gets Eirika again.

And now Pepsiman gets Byleth, because those dragon rally stat boosts are insane, and I want them.

Oh, also, incidentally: Vajra-Mushti sucks on Byleth. It has an attack power of 18. It has adaptive defense targeting, so that’s a plus, but it’s really weak. As are arts in general, but I managed to find higher-damage arts even then.

Alright, now let’s look at this map again.

…Oh hey, I saw another guy who looks recruitable!

Lindon, huh? He’s a sage, but he’s dressed more like a priest. Well of course they wouldn’t dress the old man in the reverse-bunny-suit shrug, and the single thigh-high stocking, and the three quarters of a pair of yoga pants.

…I think.

…He might be wearing all that, under that thick wooly priest robe, for all I know.

…Please, game, please give me Micaiah back. I need to make Clanne a staff-wielding mage knight. For my sanity.

Anyway, looks like he can be recruited with Ivy, Hortensia or Pepsiman, so… noted.

There’s a thief hiding in the top left corner of the western boat, looking like he’s poised to take the treasure. Not sure where he plans on escaping to, if that’s the case.

Anyone seen None Piece?

“OH COME ON, WHERE ARE YOU EVEN RUNNING TO!? IT’S A BOAT!”

We seem to be poised to be attacked from all sides fairly quickly. As long as I’m careful about the backup enemies I can send Yunaka to take the left side fairly safely, but the east side is more complicated. Too many mages to have Louis do anything about it…

…meaning Kagetsu’s gotta prove his worth with Ike pretty early on.

Alright, then.

Guess I’ll have to play ball.

…I have apparently spent several hours so far on this writeup without getting past the prep screen.

…Man, I can’t remember being this scared of pressing start since, like, Conquest. So many things could happen here.

…And now I’ve gotta go do stuff.

…Y’know…

…Sorry guys, but I think I’ll be cutting it short today. I haven’t had a day without playing this game in a while, and I’m really nervous about rushing this to make sure I get a part out today. I’m gonna take a day to stew on the formation of this map, see if I’m missing anything vitally important.

Alastor, signing off.

[Acacia Sgt]

33 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

It was literally just Sombron. Sombron’s face is, like, creepily, robotically unexpressive. His mouth looks like a fucking ventriloquist’s dummy flapping up and down in this opening shot.

Looking further into the scene, it’s better when he doesn’t have his eyes open, but like, in a lot of shots, he looks so unnatural.

I guess it was intentional, since he is a Fell Dragon and all.

... I'm aware Veyle doesn't look like that, but well, a couple explanations come to mind for that.

33 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Weirdly, Sombron isn’t mentioning Leif being among the lost rings. He says “twice my hounds have failed me”, referring explicitly to the rings of Sigurd and Eirika. Not Sigurd and Leif, the more recent and explicit failures of the Hounds. Or I guess those two separate instances could be the two failures, but it’s still weird that he makes no mention of losing Leif.

I think the whole sequence of events at the port to count as one.

Or does he explicitly calls the lost Emblems by name? Because I'd have the feeling he may not have been told about Eirika's being stolen back from them.

Since then Hortensia making them lose Byleth and the Hounds failing to stop that would count as an additional failure, so they also kept mum about it.

33 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, GAME.

It does feel very weird, but it's the kind of sequence that receives pay-off later on.

Still, it's been a thousand years. Perhaps even Zephia would not remember quite well. Also since it's more than just appearance involved here...

33 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

…Nope, got more to say. Apparently only now has Alfred warned Éve that the bad guys are after “sovereign blood”, but it’s okay because lucky there haven’t been any further attacks. Against the largely-pacifist nation they invaded with such ease before.

Well, you just stopped said attack. That's why they traveled to Firene to begin with. They were meant to go after the Queen.

33 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

…Honestly, we really should have gotten another scene with Queen Éve. It feels super weird having Alfred just recount his conversation he had with her offscreen.

Or even show up at the castle during Exploration. She's only there for Chapter 5 and never again...

33 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

…Okay, question: what was Evil Veyle’s intention when she ordered the burning of Florra Port? Specifically the burning of it? What did it accomplish? Why didn’t they just charge straight for the castle again like they did last time? Hell, taking the time to destroy and sack the port town didn’t seem to have even made it any harder for Firene to get them a ship to sail to Elusia with!

Villains acting petty and not efficiently so the good guys can stop them? Wouldn't be the first.

33 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Amusingly, Timerra, the only person on this ship that hasn’t even slightly been affected by the machinations of Evil Veyle (no dead parents, not even any memories of the terror that was Chapter 11), is the one who’s suggests that maybe the “Good Veyle” thing was part of an elaborate, calculated ruse to backstab us again, using Sigurd as part of a long game to betray us for an even greater prize.

I mean, it fits with her family's train of thought. Remember how Fogado never felt to reveal he was the prince on their first meeting because he was trying to check Alear's character beforehand? Makes sense she'd think others would also pull similar stunts of deceit.

33 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

…Found the recruitable character.

And it’s a boss.

Now, so far, I haven’t encountered a single multi-health-bar enemy who was in that moment recruitable. Still, the people likely to recruit her if this is different are with me, so fine.

... ... ... really...?

Might as well say it now. She's not.

In fact, you don't remember her? It's the Chapter 3 boss! Because surprise, even a minor boss gets to be fought twice in this game!

33 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Oh, also, I decided while I can’t spare Lucina’s engraving for Ivy, I can spare Lyn’s, since Alcryst barely even uses that killer bow I made for him. He’s always using the longbow, or in certain situations the silver. So now Bolganone is a bit weaker, but also a bit lighter and waaaaaaaaay more accurate. I don’t think Ivy will be missing any time soon.

Reminds me, are you using Leif's on someone already? I feel the -3 Mt penalty of Lyn's is more of a liability for someone like Ivy. It's meant to be put on Killer weapons, to offset the Mt penalty. As otherwise it's not a good way to handicap yourself. Because if not Lucina's, then Lief's could've been a good alternative to put on Bolganone.

33 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

There’s a thief hiding in the top left corner of the western boat, looking like he’s poised to take the treasure. Not sure where he plans on escaping to, if that’s the case.

Anyone seen None Piece?

“OH COME ON, WHERE ARE YOU EVEN RUNNING TO!? IT’S A BOAT!”

You'll see...

 

Edited February 16, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[Alastor15243]

18 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Might as well say it now. She's not.

In fact, you don't remember her? It's the Chapter 3 boss! Because surprise, even a minor boss gets to be fought twice in this game!

I could have sworn I saw a personal skill on her. Maybe it was just a class skill I didn't recognize. But yeah, I DID think she looked familiar in that regard.

 

18 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Or does he explicitly calls the lost Emblems by name? Because I'd have the feeling he may not have been told about Eirika's being stolen back from them.

Yes, explicitly. Sigurd was mentioned, Eirika was mentioned, Leif was not.

 

18 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Reminds me, are you using Leif's on someone already? I feel the -3 Mt penalty of Lyn's is more of a liability for someone like Ivy. It's meant to be put on Killer weapons, to offset the Mt penalty. As otherwise it's not a good way to handicap yourself. Because if not Lucina's, then Lief's could've been a good alternative to put on Bolganone.

Yeah like I said I just gave Leif to Liberation.

[Acacia Sgt]

3 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Yes, explicitly. Sigurd was mentioned, Eirika was mentioned, Leif was not.

Gonna guess since it refers specifically to actions people supposedly on their side did. It was Rosado and Goldmary who took the ring and fled, it was Veyle who tossed over the ring. Weird to make an exception with Lief's, but I guess he might've okayed bringing Corrupted Hyacinth over so if the heroes killed him again and took the ring... it's more on them than the Hounds.

[Sunwoo]

Honestly, now I just wish that FE games in general would go into more details about how much long-lived beings like dragons and laguz generally remember. If they may have a better-than-human memory due to their longer years, or if they just forget huge swaths of their past because 1000 years is a very long time.

There are times I barely remember people I encountered today. Who knows what you'd forget in 1000 years? Just comes down to how significant was Pepsiman and their actions in the overall memory of these people.

Alternatively, it's just bad writing and the game can't make up its mind what it wants to do about this mysteeeeeerious plot point.

Edited February 17, 2023 by Sunwoo

[Acacia Sgt]

I mean, there is a possible answer regarding that. There is another element involved beyond just actions and physical appearance that, at least with the dragons, it's brought up when it comes to recognizing other dragons.

Whether it's a good one or not, up to one's guess. But it is kinda plot important to a degree.

 

[Eltosian Kadath]

8 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

 

It was literally just Sombron. Sombron’s face is, like, creepily, robotically unexpressive. His mouth looks like a fucking ventriloquist’s dummy flapping up and down in this opening shot.

 

Looking further into the scene, it’s better when he doesn’t have his eyes open, but like, in a lot of shots, he looks so unnatural.

It kinda looks like some of his spikey bits are stabbing himself...

 

8 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

 

Weirdly, Sombron isn’t mentioning Leif being among the lost rings. He says “twice my hounds have failed me”, referring explicitly to the rings of Sigurd and Eirika. Not Sigurd and Leif, the more recent and explicit failures of the Hounds. Or I guess those two separate instances could be the two failures, but it’s still weird that he makes no mention of losing Leif.

There is a bit of a difference between the other rings, and the Lief ring. First off, Sigurd and Eirika were taken from them through trickery, and second off those rings were more directly taken from the hounds, while Lief was taken from the corrupted Hyacinth's corpse.

 

8 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

 

ARE YOU FUCKING SHITTING ME.

 

ARE YOU SERIOUS.

 

SHE REMEMBERS PEPSIMAN?

To be fair, the person she remembers is dead. If you see someone that looks similar to someone you know is dead, is your first thought that they came back to life somehow?

 

8 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

 

…Found the recruitable character.

 

And it’s a boss.

Swing and a miss, as its the Old Man. It is nice that Old people are allowed in Fire Emblem again.

 

8 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

 

There’s a thief hiding in the top left corner of the western boat, looking like he’s poised to take the treasure. Not sure where he plans on escaping to, if that’s the case.

 

Anyone seen None Piece?

 

“OH COME ON, WHERE ARE YOU EVEN RUNNING TO!? IT’S A BOAT!”

I love the explanation they have for it.

 

10 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

 

…Sorry guys, but I think I’ll be cutting it short today. I haven’t had a day without playing this game in a while, and I’m really nervous about rushing this to make sure I get a part out today. I’m gonna take a day to stew on the formation of this map, see if I’m missing anything vitally important.

 

Alastor, signing off.

A funny maps to have worries over, as I see it as a bit of a breather map.

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Swing and a miss, as its the Old Man. It is nice that Old people are allowed in Fire Emblem again.

Well at least I later found him too, I suppose. Could've sworn that girl had a personal skill!

2 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

To be fair, the person she remembers is dead. If you see someone that looks similar to someone you know is dead, is your first thought that they came back to life somehow?

If they walked around claiming to be the child of that dead person's father's sworn enemy? My alarm bells would be going off like mad.

[Acacia Sgt]

5 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Well at least I later found him too, I suppose. Could've sworn that girl had a personal skill!

Or did you confused it with her class skill?

5 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

If they walked around claiming to be the child of that dead person's father's sworn enemy? My alarm bells would be going off like mad.

I mean, she did found that weird when she first heard it. It's only now added with Veyle's search of a maybe still living sibling... and now Sombron being sure another of his children is alive...

It's a "mystery" meant to be bread crumb'ed to us throughout the entire game.

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Or did you confused it with her class skill?

Almost assuredly, but I had never seen it before and jumped the gun on what conclusion to draw due to making the opposite mistake with Mauvier before.

[Acacia Sgt]

4 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Almost assuredly, but I had never seen it before and jumped the gun on what conclusion to draw due to making the opposite mistake with Mauvier before.

I think I found the issue.

Normally Berserkers have Smash+. However, Abyme in Chapter 18 has Cornered Beast, its Maddening Skill replacement, but even on Normal she has it for this chapter. So not something you can find common enough unless you're on Maddening. Which could explain the confusion.

Edited February 17, 2023 by Acacia Sgt