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

[Acacia Sgt]

They're trying to set-us up for when the remake inevitably goes IkexMicaiah... because that could be a thing they might do...

Yes, I know there's Soren, but still...

Edited March 6, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[joeygreedy]

Pepsiman is probably the most generalist Emblem that ever Emblemed. But hey, all 3 engage weapons are solid, target the most common endgame enemy type in Corrupted, has free hit/avoid boosts, gives a chunky stat boost via Attuned if you get 1 kill ( Which is easy to setup ) and technically is a 2-for-1 Engage. Lategame, all units except like... Seadall or Hortensia would have an emblem, so it's just free dex, basically. Since Pepsiman only needs AN emblem, anything works. It's sure as hell a direct upgrade to some Emblem's engaged states, like Leif or Roy.

 

Side note, but does anyone have any luck getting Leif to actually work on a unit in a way that's isn't just being a stat backpack? The Killer Axe has shit hit and you can't engrave it, the Master Lance has shit hit, shit might and shit weight for a weapon that can't be engraved ( Brave effect, too bad you're using it on EP due to Leif's switching ), and Light Brand inexplicably uses Magic and is ironically, the best weapon statwise but you won't know that since you aren't putting Leif on a mage. Are there any classes that could use the Flame Lance and Hurricane Axe at once, with decent magic bases so you can have a magic-attack Leif user? Closest I can think of is Griffin Rider. 

[Jotari]

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

I might, once I see firsthand what you're talking about. Are you saying when you Engage+, you only have the Emblem Pepsiman abilities and not whatever ring you put on him?

Oh how I wish it stacked Emblem abilities. That would be awesome. I made the thread about Emblem tier lists and for Alear I just left them out entirely because I honestly have no idea how good they are. As I've said, I put Corrin, AKA God Emperor of Emblems, on Alear and that was always so much better than anything Alear's own abilities could add.

1 hour ago, Ether said:

Actually, can you use engage+ on a unit that doesn't have an emblem ring? I played with the DLC so I had 14 rings by the time it became applicable so it never came up. If you can pop it onto someone who just has a bond ring equipped and saddle Alear with Leif(I'm assuming that Alear themselves still need an emblem ring?) while keeping the better emblems on the rest of your units, it's certainly better than the S rank bond rings at the right moment.

You don't need an Emblem for Alear or the adjacent party member to use Engage+. If you field Alear without an Emblem they still have an Engage meter, but there's no face in the middle of it.

Another really useful thing is that you can move, use Engage+ and then finish your movement, so it's actually not that restrictive in terms of positioning to initate the Engagement.

[joeygreedy]

Huh, neat, so that's exactly 14 deployment slots and exactly ( Not counting DLC ) 12 Emblems + 1 "Double Engage", so by endgame, you could theoretically have every character be Engaged at once except for Leif

 

Anyhow, now that it's closing in on endgame, any maps that you found particularly enjoyable, or even a contender for current favorite map? I quite liked 5, 10, 11, 14, 17, 19 more than the others. But I have a special hatred of chapter 16 making me relive the Water Temple from Zelda in an entirely different gaming genre. I still can quite distinctly recall elements of every map in this game, which is quite an impressive feat for the map design. 

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, joeygreedy said:

Anyhow, now that it's closing in on endgame, any maps that you found particularly enjoyable, or even a contender for current favorite map? I quite liked 5, 10, 11, 14, 17, 19 more than the others. But I have a special hatred of chapter 16 making me relive the Water Temple from Zelda in an entirely different gaming genre. I still can quite distinctly recall elements of every map in this game, which is quite an impressive feat for the map design. 

8 was a fun defense map, 10 and 11 are pretty fantastic, 12 is probably my favorite desert map in the whole series due to the brilliance of the quicksand (FRIENDLY WARNING! IT NEGATES CANTER! My Clanne nearly died finding that out on my Maddening run), 14 had some issues with how easy yet tedious it is to cheese the bosses even on Maddening but is a pretty satisfying first map to get full control of Ike for, 17 was a great time and a pretty epic showdown, and honestly 20 was pretty dang fun once I figured out how to make full use of Micaiah and Illume.

 

13 is probably my least favorite of the mainline chapters so far. Not in the sense of me thinking it's inherently bad, more in the sense of "this is where one of my favorite characters is at her most vulnerable and it's also the only fog of war map that you don't get Micaiah for". I dread it and want it to be over as soon as possible. I am so glad to be past it on my Maddening ironman and to have Merrin back.

[joeygreedy]

 

23 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

honestly 20 was pretty dang fun once I figured out how to make full use of Micaiah and Illume.

20 was also a pretty unique map yeah, and Griss just jumpscaring you makes the map quite rough in an ironman playthrough, an entrap staff user perfectly placed to drag you into a deathtrap of multiple enemies, both physical and magical so you can't aggressively push in, and Griss continuing to annoy you unless you thwack him or let him wear himself out. 

 

24 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

13 is probably my least favorite of the mainline chapters so far. Not in the sense of me thinking it's inherently bad, more in the sense of "this is where one of my favorite characters is at her most vulnerable and it's also the only fog of war map that you don't get Micaiah for"

Ah boy, Wyverns across a massive ocean area, with no visibility unless you send a squishy flier armed with a torch... No thanks.

The amount of debris you are forced to clear before you can move in to even more darkness also feels like an action tax, I often just give up on the villages except for the Seraph Robe and just have my squishies huddle up near the back while having a + shaped Lucina Bonded Shield brick wall to let Wyverns careen into and die on PP to archer counterattack, then advance through the rest of the stage slowly once I've stopped getting divebombed from the darkness. Timerra and Panette also have utterly insane starting inventories with weapons that cause them to get doubled with the speed loss, so that's another bit of time eaten up by convoying, hope you brought backup weapons lol. 

Its funny that Timerra underperforms in her join chapter even with a good emblem on her, since the map is almost perfectly suitable to making her seem BAD, with being footlocked, slowed to "doubled by everything" by her silver lance and Ike's hammer ( With minimal armor units IIRC ) and lack of sword enemies(?) for her to break. It's a rough introduction for her. Ditto Panette, but at least she's promoted and still hits like a truck. 

33 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

14 had some issues with how easy yet tedious it is to cheese the bosses even on Maddening but is a pretty satisfying first map to get full control of Ike for

At least 12 and 14 are good breather levels, 14 I just like even if it's half trash mobs with the odd promoted enemy that just wrecks you, I just like the map and the layout, even if it isn't even that tough, but the massive pile of Engage energy means you can pretty much just call in all the bosses one-by-one to the slaughterhouse. I just really like the center pool for some reason. 

It's notable the best maps (IMO) usually have either enemy emblems, or placement of staff users to specifically screw you over. Hell, I remember the Leif paralogue the most due to the sheer nightmarish nature of it, and honestly Leif you aren't worth it. 

Chapters 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 17, 19, 20 feature use of enemy emblems, with 8 making Ivy particularly hard to kill with Leif, 10 giving Hyacinth a pretty annoying ( in a fun way ) set of abilities, and Hortensia the Luin jumpscare. 11 being 11, 14... Ok fine, it's just Hortensia with Byleth again, but I just like the map. 17 being the Emblem clash, 19 featuring Marni the unkillable hold out++ cockroach and Mauvier the Thracia Player, 20 with murder hide and seek.

7 is the only chapter that's a bit underwhelming, but it's kinda nice they didn't start you off fighting an Emblem with one of the scarier abilities that would let them completely murder you. Still didn't stop Hortensia from fucking up someone with Rapier having anti-armor and anti-cav.

Honorable mention to chapter 2, where Lumera and Sigurd try to murder your Jagen immediately, showing you enemy emblems are NOT messing around. I've seen some people actually get Vandar defeated here, and only barely scrape by this chapter with Lodestar Rush and using Clanne to chip Lumera. At least it's a mock battle so Vandar doesn't stay dead, because imagine Lumera pulling an Emblem Paralogue and psuedo-softlocking you by killing Vandar before chapter 3. 

As to staff users, 10, 11 ( Starting you in range of an AoE freeze user on an escape map is cruel ), 19 ( OR I COULD USE THE WARP STAFF ), 20, 21, the Corrin, Eirika, Leif paralogues have application of enemy staves to make you regret not having siege tomes or ballisticians. With silence, freeze, entrap AND WARP staves being something to watch out for. 

[Acacia Sgt]

If I were to give my own testimony, 11 was probably the only one I didn't enjoyed.

[joeygreedy]

2 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

If I were to give my own testimony, 11 was probably the only one I didn't enjoyed.

Understandable TBH, I think the normal enemies are slightly nerfed and more sparse to account for the multiple emblems assaulting you and the rest of the map is just uninteresting forest, but the impact of having your own emblems turned against you was a pretty neat gimmick, but since regular enemies are weakened enough, you can just attack without much risk if you keep an eye out for Micaiah, Celica and Sigurd from the back, and the weapon proficiency thing is mostly a meta issue I still blame the devs for not accounting for.

It's also a bit punishing (Possibly too punishing) for blind playthroughs since you very well could have 0 staff users in this battle, if your only healer was a Micaiah holder and afterwards you lose out of weapon/skill inheritance.

Tome access only at chapter 20? Really game...

On repeat playthroughs, I'm not too worried about the map, 10 was tougher even when I know what I'm doing with the enemy composition and the siege weapon threatening your units and Morion hitting damn hard, but 11 has IMO a pretty fun gimmick. Your mileage may vary. 

[Jotari]

Chapter 11 was hell, and probably my favourite for that reason. Certainly the most memorable chapter for me.

[Acacia Sgt]

I'll admit most of the issues lie on the story side of things.

I'll only say this, the whole thing... just doesn't sit well with me. You won't see me playing through Engage's story again, as it were.

[joeygreedy]

The almighty skip cutscene button. So we can get to funny "Emblem Engage" shenanigans and murder everything on the map for XP and satisfying "ting ting ting ting ting" level ups. 

It's not as astoundingly stupid and nonsensical as Fates CQ or Rev, but it's sometimes completely generic, though some lines are so bad or ridiculous I really can't help but watch it to laugh. Stuff like
"Everyone, Engage with Emblems" "Give them BACK! Leif, Roy, I can't do this without you" "I'm the 13th Emblem, the Fire Emblem?"

Sombron going "Om nom nom" on Hyacinth

Supports like "AHHH, YOU LOOK SO SHINY WHEN YOU SWEAT" "Headache Medicine", Panette/Ivy's B, and even some of the avatar worship. 

Combined with the vocal performance, which ranges from bad to "They're playing their hearts out for these corny ass lines", I can't help but laugh. 

Also Griss, I have already expressed my immense enjoyment of him even if he's not really that interesting of a villain or character.

Engage sure as hell isn't a good story, but damn does it make me laugh harder than anything in Fates or Three Houses. 

[Acacia Sgt]

Sure, the skip button helps, but it doesn't work on everything. Not when it seeps into the gameplay side of things too.

No, I'm content just doing Tempest Trial stuff and eventually Online stuff, for further enjoying Engage.

Though as an aside, it makes me see just how... inconsequential the Emblem characters actually are. You could remove them, and just have the Rings be powerful artifacts, and the game would not change too much. And yes, I am also taking into account things yet to be touched upon here. Won't say more until Alastor reaches that point. But, really, just how often do the Emblems actually participate in the story? Barely, as it were.

[Jotari]

10 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Sure, the skip button helps, but it doesn't work on everything. Not when it seeps into the gameplay side of things too.

No, I'm content just doing Tempest Trial stuff and eventually Online stuff, for further enjoying Engage.

Though as an aside, it makes me see just how... inconsequential the Emblem characters actually are. You could remove them, and just have the Rings be powerful artifacts, and the game would not change too much. And yes, I am also taking into account things yet to be touched upon here. Won't say more until Alastor reaches that point. But, really, just how often do the Emblems actually participate in the story? Barely, as it were.

Well the Miracle would be a whole lot more random and weird if the Emblems weren't characters.

[joeygreedy]

I'm mostly fine with the Emblems being call-backs and more like cameos of past FE games since this was meant to be an anniversary celebration, they had a pretty fine line balancing the current cast without the emblems overshadowing them, but to each their own. What this game did though, is it sure as hell makes me want to play through Thracia to see what all the fuss about THAT game is about. Considering Leif's paralogue and things like hearing you could level up MOVEMENT?

[Acacia Sgt]

18 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Well the Miracle would be a whole lot more random and weird if the Emblems weren't characters.

Could be, but word about it could come from elsewhere in that case. Lumera speaking about it. Or put Elusia's title as Kingdom of Wisdom to use and have them own records talking about the miraculous power that could happen should all Rings be gathered and harness their power. Or something like that.

Even right now we don't really get a whole lot of foreshadowing. There is, but the Miracle is only mentioned like... twice, before it actually happens. One time after Lumera dies, and the other at the end of Chapter 18. Alear wouldn't need to become an Emblem, then. Just be brought back to life, and harness the power as the Lord of the Rings (TM) or something, with their own Ring being the One Ring to Rule Them All (TM). Since it's basically what it amounts to in the game itself. Alear's Emblem power is housed in the Ring. It's even equated to a Dragonstone in that same cutscene.

It does bring up the question on what would happen once Alear finally dies of old age... if they even can anymore. Personally, I headcanon that once that happens, Alear would just become like a standard Emblem. A spirit using the Ring as a vessel, just like the rest.

Edited March 6, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[Jotari]

40 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Could be, but word about it could come from elsewhere in that case. Lumera speaking about it. Or put Elusia's title as Kingdom of Wisdom to use and have them own records talking about the miraculous power that could happen should all Rings be gathered and harness their power. Or something like that.

Even right now we don't really get a whole lot of foreshadowing. There is, but the Miracle is only mentioned like... twice, before it actually happens. One time after Lumera dies, and the other at the end of Chapter 18. Alear wouldn't need to become an Emblem, then. Just be brought back to life, and harness the power as the Lord of the Rings (TM) or something, with their own Ring being the One Ring to Rule Them All (TM). Since it's basically what it amounts to in the game itself. Alear's Emblem power is housed in the Ring. It's even equated to a Dragonstone in that same cutscene.

It does bring up the question on what would happen once Alear finally dies of old age... if they even can anymore. Personally, I headcanon that once that happens, Alear would just become like a standard Emblem. A spirit using the Ring as a vessel, just like the rest.

Well you could just make it so Alear doesn't die and there is no miracle too. Course you could also make it so there's no Veyle either. And you could make it so Sombron doesn't need a revival so there's no need for Morion or the Sovereign blood. Really the story of Engage is so basic you could remove any element of it and nothing would exactly fall apart because the centreal premise of "Unrepentant evil exists and good dragon who feels obligated to stop him" still holds. That being said, I like Veyle and Morion and Corrupted Alear and Emblem's having character, so I think the story is better for them being as they are in comparison to a straight removal. It's not the highest tier and intricately crafted of plots, but virtually no one thinks of it as such to begin with. And it's not like I actually want Marth and Ike taking over the plot and being major characters.

Edited March 6, 2023 by Jotari

[Acacia Sgt]

Exactly. Even if basic, there are still things to like or dislike. The Emblem theft and corruption is the latter to me. Just about the only thing, as it were.

Edited March 6, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[Jotari]

2 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Exactly. Even if basic, there are still things to like or dislike. The Emblem theft and corruption is the latter to me. Just about the only thing, as it were.

Yes, I believe you've mentioned that several times already.

[joeygreedy]

All I can say, thank god we don't have more route-specific information and people arguing about 3 Houses, now we can have more normal drama about localization, S-supports, and incest. And of course, whether parts of the story were good or bad, or if this is worse than Fates/Awakening/Shadow Dragon.

Either way though, I can say at least the voice acting for the main characters is generally decent, and I hope future game can have voice acting of a similar calibre. 

[Jotari]

6 hours ago, joeygreedy said:

All I can say, thank god we don't have more route-specific information and people arguing about 3 Houses, now we can have more normal drama about localization, S-supports, and incest. And of course, whether parts of the story were good or bad, or if this is worse than Fates/Awakening/Shadow Dragon.

Either way though, I can say at least the voice acting for the main characters is generally decent, and I hope future game can have voice acting of a similar calibre. 

Voice acting in Fire Embelm has been pretty good for a while now.

[Alastor15243]

Engage Day 41: Marth’s Paralogue

So! Apparently I wasted a good deal of Veyle’s SP on something I don’t actually have room for! Alright… change of plans…

…I’m going to experiment on having Clanne become the ascended fanboy supreme and be Pepsiman’s Engage+ partner so we can see just how Pepsiman interacts with magic. Micaiah then goes on Framme, Byleth on Veyle, Lucina back on Seadall, and Marth on Goldmary.

Oh, and just for a refresher: Sigurd is on Louis, Corrin is on Yunaka, Lyn is on Alcryst, Celica is on Ivy, Ike is on Kagetsu, Roy is on Hortensia, Eirika is on Rosado, and Leif is on Mauvier.

We’re gonna see how this all works today, except the Marth part, because we’re doing Marth’s paralogue.

Before we go though, one last thing: I wanna see if I can put a better, non-staff skill on Clanne.

…He doesn’t have much SP to work with, so let’s just go for an upgrade to his speed boosting skill.

…Shit right, I spent all of my bond fragments on Mauvier and Veyle yesterday. Which was mostly a waste in Veyle’s case. Oh well, guess he’ll make do with Speed+2 for now.

Might as well do the normal arena battles though.

…Oh wow, I apparently got a lot more supports since last time I checked.

Either that or I didn’t actually just have 1 support last time like I remembered, and I just completely spaced out and got sidetracked after the first one.

Well, let’s get them sorted out now.

Pepsiman and Mauvier’s C.

So Pepsiman, pure cinnamon roll that he is, has decided he wants to give Mauvier a present as thanks for protecting Veyle all of this time. Which is… frankly an adorable way to look on the bright side of things.

Mauvier, however… is quite the sad sack about his past actions, and I hope we actually get into them, because I could already tell this from Emblem bonds and assorted non-support dialogue, and it threatens to get annoyingly repetitive if he doesn’t hammer home exact details of what he has to atone for aside from specifically fighting us.

Alcryst and Hortensia’s B.

So this confirms that Hortensia was just trying to get a rise out of Alcryst earlier with the Brodia comment, and she’s going to help him with that confidence thing. Probably not much is going to come of this due to the whole “literally every other support with him” thing, but we’ll see.

…Hortensia thinks Alcryst is cute when he cries. That’s hilarious and kind of worrying. It’s giving me FeMorgan flashbacks with Yarne.

…This is the most Alcryst that I’ve ever seen Alcryst get, and it’s kind of uncomfortable. Like he’s approaching “Day-Constance” levels of sexless masochism.

…

…And I just realized that this support is… almost like indoor and outdoor Constance talking to each other.

Rosado and Mauvier’s C.

Oh, this could be interesting! These two kind of knew each other. They were on the same side before, and now they’re on the same side again! I wonder what they’ll do with it.

…No, it just seems Rosado wants to cheer Mauvier up by making him develop his “cute sense”.

PFFFFFFFFFF

Rosado: It’s top priority! Not being able to feel cuteness is like… it’s like not being able to taste the heat in a spicy stew!

Mauvier: Hmm… I do appreciate a spicy stew… OK then. Teach me about cuteness.

Man, Mauvier sounds like he has potential as the comically serious dork.

Also, I will be outrageously surprised if the B or A support doesn’t have Veyle come up in some way. Because if we’re talking about cuteness that Mauvier would care about, Veyle’s is like #1 on the list.

Alright, paralogue time.

Altea Castle, huh? I was kind of hoping for the final battle, given that we’re approaching the endgame and this is the final main Emblem paralogue you unlock. It would’ve been crazy fighting our way through the endgame map of Shadow Dragon.

REALLY!?

THE LAST FUCKING ONE, AND THEY STILL HAVE PEPSIMAN REPEAT THE WORD “TRIAL” QUESTIONINGLY!?

Anyway, yeah, I just got the tutorial for Engage+. I really wish they explained this earlier.

…Oh no.

There’s a thief poised to run away with a secret book.

Just like there was a thief poised to run away with the geosphere.

Meaning this is based on the Book 2 version.

The one with the nasty trap.

…Okay, so, there are a lot of really, really scary enemies huddled around the treasure room.

…I think I’m gonna do something ridiculous. First, lemme put Canter on Framme now that I’ve decided she’s my Micaiah bot. Then let’s see how much I can pump up Kagetsu’s stats.

…I have the material to make Kagetsu’s silver dagger a +5, but that only boosts damage by 1… hmm… what else can I do, between that, tonics/meals and dancing…?

…Also apparently I got an A rank support with Louis from cooking. Let’s check this out.

…I really don’t have much to say about this one, sorry. It’s not bad, just… nothing sticks out at me worth commenting on.

…Damn it, Kagetsu’s just barely shy of being able to one-round these heroes, and obviously he doesn’t want to leave them alive or they’ll chain attack him into oblivion. Alright, so much for my plan of boldly group-rewarping into the mouth of evil and taking out the thieves on turn one.

Also I notice there are a ton of revival-stone generics, and I can’t put my finger on any particular pattern they’re supposed to be following. Pretty sure the guy in the vault is supposed to be Astram, but there are two heroes, two warriors, one mage (who doesn’t have Excalibur so if it’s supposed to be Merric I question that), two snipers I can see…

…Yeah I’m sorry, it’s been a while. I don’t know who they’re supposed to be referencing.

Alright, well as long as I don’t do anything monumentally stupid, this should be pretty straightforward. So let’s stop wasting time and just do this.

Louis is gonna chase after the thief in back, I’m gonna test out Pepsiman by having him and Clanne take out those warriors up the middle, and everyone else is gonna make the chase to the treasure room, with Yunaka and Kagetsu of course leading the charge.

…So the music opens up with “Trouble!”, then moves to the Book 2 “victory is near music”… then back to “Trouble!”… then… a weird creepy “Together We Ride”… not a bad medley, all considered. I’ll have to see how it goes in battle. Speaking of…

ENGAGE+!

Oh right! Engaging gives unique kill quotes, and Clanne’s appears to be fanboying about how he’s fighting alongside the Divine Dragon.

…Did I just hear the faintest trace of the Melee menu theme during the music? Maybe it’s a coincidence, but that would be an amazing call-back to where Fire Emblem got its start in the west.

Louis took out the thief with his brave lance with no issues, and now he’s heading back to catch up with the main group. Shouldn’t take him too long.

…No, it doesn’t seem to be the melee menu theme, but the horns definitely do something that briefly sounds like it while harmonizing with “Trouble!”, and I like the effect.

…So far the treasures are an elixir and speed tonic, which are… pretty damned lackluster treasures for this part of the game.

…Clanne… with Dragon’s Fist… is fucking terrifying. Honestly, yeah, I’m actually pretty damned happy having Clanne and Pepsiman be Emblem Pepsiman battle buddies. They’re terrifying, even if this is their only Emblem.

Also, their special is stronger when they’re adjacent, which is something I heard the DLC Emblems do with their corresponding main Emblem. Though I don’t know if the mainline Emblems also get a corresponding boost.

…Also, holy shit, that attack was so badass.

Meanwhile, my army needs to take out a bunch of mildly wounded heroes Yunaka played with and ran ahead of. Alcryst managed to very nearly take out an enemy he only did 3 damage per attack to by double-proccing Luna. But alas, the guy still had 1 HP left. Thankfully Framme was nearby to do the chip damage necessary with help of Seadall to secure the kill.

Frankly I’m glad that I’m having Veyle use Pepsiman’s old Emblem. It’s kind of adorable watching her do what her big brother used to.

Alcryst gets another double-Luna, and this time it’s just barely enough to kill a thief with his longbow! Go Alcryst!

Chest three as a silver greataxe…

Embarrassingly, I tried to kill a thief by counting on one of Alcryst’s four brave bow hits to proc Luna. None of them did, and then I discovered Mulagir would have just barely done the job if I had bothered to check.

Alright, the thieves are dead and Yunaka is holding the door. Incidentally, not sure if I mentioned this, but even though enemies on Maddening ignore you if they have 0% hit on you… that’s still in itself super useful. Yunaka can basically stroll around the battlefield at her leisure as long as she has cover, and then do sneak attacks from natural cover with impunity. That wound up being how I dealt with the bosses in Chapter 13, using hit and run tactics to bait them near trees.

I was about to dive for those refill tiles near the main room, but then I remembered that getting into the treasure room was what triggered the reinforcements in the Mystery map, so I decide against it and send Pepsiman to pick up one near the treasure room instead.

Instruct apparently isn’t an ability you can Canter after using, which is weird, because Goddess Dance is.

…It would appear the trigger for the main room to become active is indeed getting into the treasure room. Thankfully though, this time at least they have someone walk up to the door to break it down. Alright, bracing for impact.

And the last treasure is… an antitoxin.

…Literally the best part of that haul was the silver greataxe, and I’m selling that. Not since that FE6 map with all the antitoxins and elixirs… and even then I think that one had a valuable gem…

Oh shit! Right! Veyle’s new class skill! She regenerates her engage meter automatically! I’ll have to keep that in mind, but right now I want her getting refilled immediately, so energy tile it is!

…Actually it’ll be refilled by the time they get here, so might as well make sure she’s where she needs to be on time and save that one for Louis.

…Man I wish Pepsiman had a viable 1-2 range option in his dragon class. That would drastically improve his teamwork with Clanne.

…Weirdly, only the axeman is charging after breaking down the doors. Aside from that it’s just rear reinforcements. Huh.

Hey, so from what I’ve heard, this game brings back fixed growths! You can select it after beating the game once, but your first Maddening playthrough is fixed by default. If so, fucking awesome. Especially if they didn’t bring back the goofy weapon growth manipulation bullshit. I love being able to play with fixed growths, and I’ve been adoring the results so far on Maddening if that’s what’s going on.

Come to think of it, Veyle’s ability is really, really useful for someone in more of a support role.

OHP! Marth’s started moving the second we got in range of anyone in the throne room! Alright. Let’s dance, you blade-dancing son of a bitch!

Alright, I successfully got Marth baited out (making sure he didn’t one-hit-kill Yunaka with Lodestar rush because apparently Yunaka’s defense is just that terrible), so now it’s time for the big mega ultra dance party player phase.

Turns out that the boss theme is triggered even if the boss is just a side-target of splash damage, like Override.

…Oh, wow, I like how Yunaka turns Corrin’s relieved “It’s over” into a yep-we’re-done-here “It’s over”, cheerful and sassy. I think this is the first time I’ve heard it because Yunaka doesn’t usually get kills while engaged. She usually gets the first hit in for the sake of debuffs, but thanks to Louis opening up with an override to get rid of a chain guarding healer, Marth was wounded enough that her debuff attack got the first HP bar kill.

…And I can finish the rest with just danced Kagetsu alone, so let’s see what other fun we can have here on this last turn.

Ivy and Clanne completely obliterate the two-bar general who had some gold, then we finish off Marth.

I say “completely obliterate”, uh, perhaps that’s a bit of an understatement, so to be clear: That general could have had triple the HP stat and Clanne still would have one-rounded him. Dragon’s Fist is fucking amazing.

Kagetsu just hit level 20, which is apparently the max in spite of what happened with those thief brothers. Well, guess I need to second-seal him.

Marth: As I fought, I was reminded of an old friend.

…Oh shit, nice. They talking about Kris?

…Oh no, Tiki.

…And this is just reminding me that they still haven’t resolved the whole “turning into a dragon” thing. Is that going to be an even bigger eleventh-hour superpower, or is that just going to be entirely unresolved?

…This conversation is also reminding me of the horrible shit Awakening did to Tiki and Marth’s friendship.

Alright then, now let’s see what Marth has to offer, then clean up and finish!

…Marth doesn’t really offer anything new in the later stages, just upgrades on existing skills, which is a pity.

I looped Kagetsu, and I’m about to do the same to Yunaka who’s level 39. But I put Kagetsu back in a sword-using wolf knight class because he’s got a better sword rank and I’m under no delusion that I’ll be wanting to use axes on him anyway.

…Unfortunately for some reason I can’t loop Yunaka back into thief until I hit exactly level 40, which is annoying. Which means Yunaka might waste a level next map.

…Apparently something I did made the chef change from Rosado to Lindon. That’s annoying, I was hoping to see how Rosado cooks.

But man, honestly, this Pepsiman Emblem thing gives me a lot to think about for future playthroughs. I’m starting to feel Pepsiman would be better off in a class that gave him good 1-2 range, or even train a bunch in a magic class to be good with a levin sword, even if that would rob him of his dragon utility for most of the game. Honestly, it’s kind of annoying in a way, because it feels like what Pepsiman’s been good at for the whole game has been something of a trap, and he would’ve been better off building up his magic stat and only going back to being a dragon at the very end. Which means that on future playthroughs I have to think about someone else to make my dancer, which means thinking of what stat it's most important to boost. Probably strength or magic, because it’s definitely not speed. If whoever I’m sending in isn’t already doubling on the first set of attacks, that’s a problem. But then again maybe they’re ganging up on the first few enemies.

Well, as I said, stuff to ponder.

Pretty good map, honestly. Better than most of the trials on hard mode (though as I’ve seen they promise to be way, way more interesting on Maddening). So next time I’ll be talking Chapter 23.

Alastor, signing off!

[Acacia Sgt]

14 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

…I’m going to experiment on having Clanne become the ascended fanboy supreme and be Pepsiman’s Engage+ partner so we can see just how Pepsiman interacts with magic. Micaiah then goes on Framme, Byleth on Veyle, Lucina back on Seadall, and Marth on Goldmary.

Experiment, huh. I certainly already an idea who would make the most out of Engage+ long before I had reached that point, heh.

14 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Either that or I didn’t actually just have 1 support last time like I remembered, and I just completely spaced out and got sidetracked after the first one.

To be fair, late game characters like Mauvier and Veyle do earn support points faster than the rest of the cast. Since, yeah, they join so late. Apparently Lindon and Saphir also share this trait.

14 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Also I notice there are a ton of revival-stone generics, and I can’t put my finger on any particular pattern they’re supposed to be following. Pretty sure the guy in the vault is supposed to be Astram, but there are two heroes, two warriors, one mage (who doesn’t have Excalibur so if it’s supposed to be Merric I question that), two snipers I can see…

…Yeah I’m sorry, it’s been a while. I don’t know who they’re supposed to be referencing.

Gonna admit I'm also stumped. Specially the warriors. Is the mage truly a mage or like High Priest or Sage?

But yeah... hmm... would need to see again the exact list of which classes have the stones.

14 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Louis is gonna chase after the thief in back, I’m gonna test out Pepsiman by having him and Clanne take out those warriors up the middle, and everyone else is gonna make the chase to the treasure room, with Yunaka and Kagetsu of course leading the charge.

Personally, I Astra Storm'ed the lone thief, and Warp Ragnarok'ed into the vault to CHOKE THE POINT.

14 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

…Clanne… with Dragon’s Fist… is fucking terrifying. Honestly, yeah, I’m actually pretty damned happy having Clanne and Pepsiman be Emblem Pepsiman battle buddies. They’re terrifying, even if this is their only Emblem.

I also had a magic user with Emblem+. But for me it's Ivy. Specially since there's still one last thing to unlock...

14 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

…Man I wish Pepsiman had a viable 1-2 range option in his dragon class. That would drastically improve his teamwork with Clanne.

Hm? Want 1-2 range? Hehehehe, just you wait...

14 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

…And this is just reminding me that they still haven’t resolved the whole “turning into a dragon” thing. Is that going to be an even bigger eleventh-hour superpower, or is that just going to be entirely unresolved?

The dragonstone shattered, no? As the dialogue stated, the Ring is pretty much Alear's new Dragonstone, for all intents and purposes. The Emblem powers are their transformation now.

14 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

But man, honestly, this Pepsiman Emblem thing gives me a lot to think about for future playthroughs. I’m starting to feel Pepsiman would be better off in a class that gave him good 1-2 range, or even train a bunch in a magic class to be good with a levin sword, even if that would rob him of his dragon utility for most of the game. Honestly, it’s kind of annoying in a way, because it feels like what Pepsiman’s been good at for the whole game has been something of a trap, and he would’ve been better off building up his magic stat and only going back to being a dragon at the very end. Which means that on future playthroughs I have to think about someone else to make my dancer, which means thinking of what stat it's most important to boost. Probably strength or magic, because it’s definitely not speed. If whoever I’m sending in isn’t already doubling on the first set of attacks, that’s a problem. But then again maybe they’re ganging up on the first few enemies.

The range thing gets resolved... eventually, at least.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

…Unfortunately for some reason I can’t loop Yunaka back into thief until I hit exactly level 40, which is annoying. Which means Yunaka might waste a level next map.

I'm reasonably sure you can if you just use two second seals to put her in a different class first.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Pretty good map, honestly. Better than most of the trials on hard mode (though as I’ve seen they promise to be way, way more interesting on Maddening). So next time I’ll be talking Chapter 23.

The enemies in this map have capped defense on Maddening. And some have attack stats in the 50s. It's a hella of a job keeping them  under control.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Instruct apparently isn’t an ability you can Canter after using, which is weird, because Goddess Dance is.

Perhaps it's treated as an Attack, because that's what most of the "once per Engaging" techniques is? 

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Literally the best part of that haul was the silver greataxe, and I’m selling that. Not since that FE6 map with all the antitoxins and elixirs… and even then I think that one had a valuable gem…

I could be mistaken, but I don't think any chests give just... raw gold. And the game doesn't have Gems or Bullions. Beyond the big "gold dumps" by the royal families, I've only seen "loose gold" dropped by Paralogue minibosses.

But yeah, the treasure room was disappointing. Originally, I tried Warping Rosado in, and hoping he'd "Great Aether" over all the enemy Heroes. That's what introduced me to the lovely world of "Brave Assist". Next time through, I need to get Pair Up on my Ike Engager.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

OHP! Marth’s started moving the second we got in range of anyone in the throne room! Alright. Let’s dance, you blade-dancing son of a bitch!

Ah, so that's what did it. I baited one of the Longbow Snipers, leading Marth to go on the move. So I never spent any time in the throne room. I wound up using Corrin!Veyle's fog to keep my team alive. It was a pretty madcap escape.

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

And I just realized that this support is… almost like indoor and outdoor Constance talking to each other.

Oof. "Outdoor Constance" irritated the crap out of me, so I'm not sure why I'm not harsher on Alcryst. But Hortensia combines an obnoxious overconfidence with an obnoxiously squeaky voice, and honestly? I'm here for it.

1 hour ago, Acacia Sgt said:

The dragonstone shattered, no? As the dialogue stated, the Ring is pretty much Alear's new Dragonstone, for all intents and purposes. The Emblem powers are their transformation now.

Do they establish that the Dragonstone is used for transforming into a Dragon? Previous games had Dragonstones that could be used to transform, that would then break, but with no peril to the holder. As far as I can tell, it's just a magical keepsake whose intact nature is used to give Veyle hope, and later to confirm Alear's death.

TBH Engaging with Alear could've been way cooler, if it let Alear transform into a full-on Dragon.

[Acacia Sgt]

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

Do they establish that the Dragonstone is used for transforming into a Dragon? Previous games had Dragonstones that could be used to transform, that would then break, but with no peril to the holder. As far as I can tell, it's just a magical keepsake whose intact nature is used to give Veyle hope, and later to confirm Alear's death.

TBH Engaging with Alear could've been way cooler, if it let Alear transform into a full-on Dragon.

I think so, but the thing is, Alear's is the only one shown on-screen... or even shown to exist. Veyle and Zephia seem to not have, and Sombron, while able to transform... is not shown with one either. As it stands, the dragonstone mostly exists for the "Veyle's looking for her sibling but only has their dragonstone" subplot and that's it.

Make it work like the Tiki Emblem, even. Both able to transform.

Edited March 7, 2023 by Acacia Sgt