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

[Eltosian Kadath]

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Not just that, it had cities

The Sacae only has one city, the city of Bulgar a free city on the border with Bern. The first map of the Sacae route of FE6 takes place at an Etrurian border castle, and once you cross the border and until you leave the Sacae all the thrones are those large yurts (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yurt) and there are no standard Fire Emblem villages. Even Lyn's tutorial seize map has a Yurt version before she move on to Bulgar city and meets Sain and Kent, and the walled Mani Katti shrine is described as on the outskirts of that singular city of Bulgar.

 

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...What I'm getting here is that it's a reasonably high rank, “above an earl and below a duke”, in medieval European nobility..

That is a little deceptive, as its a lot closer to an Earl than a Duke. A Marquis is basically an Earl with some extra power and authority to help them defend the border.

 

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Lowen was he “I never fucking used him as a kid” one.

Lowen is the defense one. Really he has higher growths in all of the bulky stats than the other Cavs (Defense, HP, Luck, and Res)

 

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

And why is it special that Lyn can take it out of the sheath?

I thought it was that the sword started glowing/flashing that indicated the sword was Lyn's, not that she could unsheathe it.

[Alastor15243]

3 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I thought it was that the sword started glowing/flashing that indicated the sword was Lyn's, not that she could unsheathe it.

Yeah, but then the priest says "if you need more proof, draw the sword." And she's all "it came out... EFFORTLESSLY."

Bulgar is the only city though? That explains my concerns. And Bulgar was the one we saw in 19B too, right?

[Shadow Mir]

5 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Bulgar is the only city though? That explains my concerns. And Bulgar was the one we saw in 19B too, right?

That it is.

[Jotari]

On 3/14/2020 at 2:02 AM, Shadow Mir said:

See, this is why I think Zephiel is a steaming pile of shit as a villain. I agree that what he went through is unfortunate, but still, genocide is rather over-the-top when you're blaming ONE person. And it's not like he's the only FE character who had an asshole parent either. Look at Bernadetta, Nino, and some others that aren't coming to me at the moment. Long story short, I think the misanthrope trope was done much better, both within this series and in other series.

Yes, unlike Bernadette and Mini's actions, Zephiel's reactions are not good or commendable. Not liking Zephiel is fine, but you're reasoning suggests you're not aware that he's meant to be the villain. Genocide is bad, the guy trying to do it is bad. Being a bad person doesn't make him a bad person. In fact it's almost a prerequisite of a villain (almost). He is not mea to be Nino or Bernadetta. Those are not villainous characters.

[Boomhauer007]

Lowen is solid if you don't do Lyn mode, he's a bit redundant if you've trained Sain. Tbh 3 or even 4 cavs isn't bad at all, just not particularly interesting. Paladins are pretty busted in 7, full weapon triangle access was a bit much. 

[Alastor15243]

2 minutes ago, Boomhauer007 said:

Lowen is solid if you don't do Lyn mode, he's a bit redundant if you've trained Sain. Tbh 3 or even 4 cavs isn't bad at all, just not particularly interesting. Paladins are pretty busted in 7, full weapon triangle access was a bit much. 

Yeah, that whole "I already have two from Lyn mode" thing was why I never used him as a kid. But his awesome defensive stats are insanely tempting this time.

[Boomhauer007]

He happens to have exactly enough con on promotion on use hand axes without a speed loss, and for some reason hand axes are E weapons in blazing sword so he's golden there too. I could never get Kent to level strength so I always dropped him. 

Talking about it is making me want to fire it up again, my work is out for a month minimum so I've got plenty of free time lol. 

[Alastor15243]

Blazing Blade Day 2: Chapter 4 to Chapter 6

Ah, this chapter. This was one of my favorite Lyn mode chapters as a kid, mostly because it was my introduction to defense chapters, and I loved the setting and concept. It's simple, but something about having a defense chapter that was super simple to defend was really fun for young me. Also, in hindsight, I think another thing that did it for me was the fact that, of all the chapters in Lyn mode, this one was peak “road trip” for me. They've been on a long journey, and now they're gonna camp out for the night in an old abandoned ruin. Plus, I like the sunset mood lighting and the music that plays when they arrive.

And honestly, the story with Dorcas and Natalie is a great way to introduce the concept of recruiting enemies. Really, I didn't appreciate until this replay just how well this game uses story to make this ridiculously extended tutorial as engaging as possible. It has great character writing for all the stuff people say for the tutorial, a lot of it pretty dang funny... honestly, they did a really good job making a tutorial for newcomers to the series. It actually kinda makes me wish I chose normal, but I don't know if you can do that and then pick Hector Hard Mode. Plus, having more control is a plus, even if you lose the free crits.

Sain got an HPsauce level up, which is... not what I wanted.

Not to be outdone, Kent only gets HP and skill.

Also, Dorcas is terrible. I think he helped cement GBA fighters as my least favorite class in those games, on top of the fact that the sprite just doesn't look cool. He has a bad speed base and an even worse speed growth, meaning the odds that he'll ever double anything are slim to none, even if you train him. I do, however, like his design, personality and story.

I managed to get Florina some kills, though being the only one on my team who's forced to use lances, it wasn't pretty. Maybe I should have had her guard the east entrance in hindsight, after recruiting Dorcas, now that I know nothing but mercenaries spawn there. But at any rate, I'm done.

And now we move on to the chapter where we get Serra and Erk. Oh, these two are priceless.

“Even the most hardened criminal would flee in terror after five minutes in your company.” Erk, my man, you are fantastic.

And I love how Serra mostly just recruited Erk for show, and had the good luck to accidentally hire a professional. Unfortunately, she still hired a mage. Good thing he knows how to keep out of trouble to make up for how frail he is. I guess you don't need a guy who can wrestle a jaguar to guide you through a rainforest. You need a guy who can keep you out of danger.

...Pity she doesn't take his advice. Wow. Erk is just so snarky and yet resigned to all the trouble she gets them into.

I found out this armory sells javelins, making me regret spending all of my money on the first shop. I forgot there were other shops before the next time we get more money. Thankfully I still managed to buy a javelin by selling an almost-used-up iron sword (we just got a replacement anyway from one of the enemies).

I love how the house that tells you to save your money doesn't show up until after you've already been given an opportunity to spend it all first chance you get, while here, you get plenty of money between now and the next time you can shop.

Florina has not been getting good level ups. She hasn't been gaining any strength, and honestly not even that much speed. What a shame. Hopefully it doesn't stay that way, because pegasus knights are gonna be my only fliers until after chapter 20.

…

…

Serra on healing staves: “Only those in the service of good can use them.”

BULL.

FUCKING.

SHIT.

So it's not just light magic that's allegedly under the purview of the gods, but HEALING STAVES TOO? The ones that are nearly omnipresent among late-game enemy armies!?

I wouldn't be surprised if the gods of Elibe literally, canonically do not exist. Whatever power holy magic users are channeling, it seems to A: not be any stronger than what people can learn from non-divine magic books, and B: not give a shit about your morality or even who you worship. Because not only do evil bishops use staves, but even people who aren't bishops at all. I wouldn't be surprised if this is like those things where there's that evil religious cult that hates magic, but the holy power their disciples are channeling turns out to just be another brand of magic.

I'm really curious to see more from that Kenneth boss guy later in the game. Maybe he'll shed some more light on this that I forgot about. Thankfully, I'll almost certainly be getting his map, given how it's guiding ring users versus hero crest users. I'm frankly amazed I wound up getting Jerme the first time as a kid.

Anyway, last chapter for the day: let's move on to Chapter 6.

Ooh! Looks like this game does have one ambush-spawn! In a cutscene! Thankfully, Rath ambush-spawned first with a rigged crit!

Ah yes, Matthew. I love his introduction, but I have to ask... I get pretending to be a thief to disguise the fact that he's really an Ostian spy, but... he's still stealing stuff that doesn't belong to him. In fairness, the game is fully aware of this. I remember in the tutorial, Matthew will react to the player silently calling him out on how morally dubious this is, just taking shit from chests, even the chests of allies, without asking. He justifies it with words to the effect of “think of it as an advance on our reward” or something. Yet another instance of the game having a bit of fun with the parts of gameplay that make no sense, without going into full-blown parody mode.

Also, looks like this isn't a radical altering of Castle Araphen. This is just the barracks, which contain a secret tunnel into the castle. Fair enough!

Hahaha. Yeah, looks like soldiers are just as terrible in this game as they were in FE6. Shame, because they look kinda cool. I especially liked their javelin animations as a kid.

Sain.

Got strength and defense.

Again.

...He's not gained any speed so far, but that is still an insanely lucky streak there.

Erk, however, does gain speed. In fact, he gets everything from HP to speed. And then he also gets resistance. Promising level up!

Funny thing about these switches: as a kid, I always assumed you had to stay on them, so I wound up never using Rath for this map basically every time I played the game growing up.

Another map, another terrible Florina level up. HP, skill, and luck. Oh goodie.

As was the case with Lance and Lot though, her averages say she isn't actually more than 1 below average on anything. Which... isn't an encouraging sign for her future.

Anyway, I let Lyn get the kill on the knight boss with her Mani Katti. Speaking of, fun fact I forgot to mention last time: after I learned about the food “manicotti”, I can't stop associating the Mani Katti with a mental image of a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip that involves it.

Now we get to the racist marquess of Araphen. I know I missed, as I did for a while as a kid, a village that explains that his hatred of Sacae is out of some sort of crazy insecurity complex out of being rejected by Lady Madelyn, Lyn's mother, in favor of a Sacaean nomad.

…

...Wow.

Okay, uh...

Hearing that setup as a modern, tainted adult... brings some mental images to mind that never occurred to me before.

…

...#OnceYouGoSacYouNeverGoBac

So, owing to his absolute inability to get over the girl he wanted getting Sacced, he takes it out on the Sacaeans in his territory, and hires a Sacaean nomad very much like Lyn's father... essentially to keep him as some kind of... pet, or trophy of his superiority to the whole race.

...Wow. I mean, wow. That is... wow. The game went there, and I never noticed.

Okay, so, anyway, I love the contrast between Kent and Sain's behavior here. Kent is all unfailingly polite and kissing up to Marquess Araphen even after he outs himself as a racist asshole, because Kent's presumably extremely used to court politics and holding his tongue and he desperately needs to get the marquess's help to get Lyn safely to Caelin. Meanwhile, we've got Sain, who has a very Ike-esque “fuck politics, an asshole is an asshole, and I won't stand to have you talk shit about my friends” attitude here, and Kent has to repeatedly stop him from calling the bastard out. And the best part is that ultimately Kent decides that Sain was in the right. Kent actually apologizes for not thinking about Lyn's feelings (like Sain was) and instead trying to beg for favors from a racist, who insulted her, to her face. Lyn isn't mad at him at all, but I do find it very praiseworthy that they put in a situation where Kent and Sain aren't objectively a right-way-wrong-way duo. They let Sain have some points sometimes!

And then Rath resigns like a total boss, and now we've got Rath the nomad. Honestly, I wish I could get more use out of this guy. Shin was tons of fun to use, but meanwhile this guy isn't gonna show up again in Hector Hard Mode until the beginning of the second half, without hard mode bonuses. I'll give him a shot, but again, this guy is level seven. That's great now, but Canas joins at a higher level more than six chapters earlier, and even he needs some work to get off the ground.

But at any rate, that's the end of the chapter, and the end of gameplay for today. I expect we'll probably be finishing Lyn Mode tomorrow, or the day after at the latest. Man, this is going fast.

Take care, everyone!

Edited March 17, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Shadow Mir]

24 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Also, Dorcas is terrible. I think he helped cement GBA fighters as my least favorite class in those games, on top of the fact that the sprite just doesn't look cool. He has a bad speed base and an even worse speed growth, meaning the odds that he'll ever double anything are slim to none, even if you train him. I do, however, like his design, personality and story.

Bartre's even worse off - he has a 3 speed base (which prevents him from doubling even loldiers). He does have a better growth (40%), but that doesn't change the fact that that's still pretty lousy. Also, it doesn't help that fighters don't get any speed upon promotion in this game.

[Alastor15243]

30 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

Bartre's even worse off - he has a 3 speed base (which prevents him from doubling even loldiers). He does have a better growth (40%), but that doesn't change the fact that that's still pretty lousy. Also, it doesn't help that fighters don't get any speed upon promotion in this game.

Still gonna try. I've never gotten Karla and I want to see that. Even if it hurts.

[Shadow Mir]

2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Still gonna try. I've never gotten Karla and I want to see that. Even if it hurts.

Good luck with that. You'll need it.

Anyway, how many times have you beaten this game?

Edited March 17, 2020 by Shadow Mir

[Alastor15243]

4 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

Good luck with that. You'll need it.

Anyway, how many times have you beaten this game?

I can't even remember at this point. But Hector Hard mode I know I'll be beating for the first time here.

Edited March 17, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Eltosian Kadath]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

And honestly, the story with Dorcas and Natalie is a great way to introduce the concept of recruiting enemies. Really, I didn't appreciate until this replay just how well this game uses story to make this ridiculously extended tutorial as engaging as possible. It has great character writing for all the stuff people say for the tutorial, a lot of it pretty dang funny... honestly, they did a really good job making a tutorial for newcomers to the series. It actually kinda makes me wish I chose normal, but I don't know if you can do that and then pick Hector Hard Mode. Plus, having more control is a plus, even if you lose the free crits.

If it wasn't for 19xx I would suggest you complete Lyn Mode on normal, then start a new game on Hector Hard Mode. That's basically what I am going to suggest you do when you get to FE11 where the prologue chapters are only available on Normal Mode, to start a new game in your preferred difficulty after completing the prologue.

 

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Ooh! Looks like this game does have one ambush-spawn! In a cutscene! Thankfully, Rath ambush-spawned first with a rigged crit!

It wont be the last time it has ambush spawns. They are rare in this game but are there early on.

 

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

I can't even remember at this point. But Hector Hard mode I know I'll be beating for the first time here.

Is this your first time trying HHM, or just first time completing it ?

[Jotari]

Sacaeans having the reputation of the biggest dicks is now my headcannon. Thanks for that.

[Alastor15243]

6 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Sacaeans having the reputation of the biggest dicks is now my headcannon. Thanks for that.

Guess you could say they're... hung like their horses?

 

@Eltosian Kadath

12 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

If it wasn't for 19xx I would suggest you complete Lyn Mode on normal, then start a new game on Hector Hard Mode. That's basically what I am going to suggest you do when you get to FE11 where the prologue chapters are only available on Normal Mode, to start a new game in your preferred difficulty after completing the prologue.

For the sake of reviewing it might be faster to use the hack I have installed where you can play the prologue chapters on hard, but... nah, that wouldn't be a good idea. Wouldn't give me a good sense of the balance.

 

12 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

It wont be the last time it has ambush spawns. They are rare in this game but are there early on.

 

Ah yes, I remember now.

 

12 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Is this your first time trying HHM, or just first time completing it ?

I think it might very well be my first time trying it!

 

Edited March 17, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Espurrhoodie]

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

and Kain has to repeatedly stop him from

Did Kent merge with Sain?

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Espurrhoodie said:

Did Kent merge with Sain?

Damn it, every game, every damned game, I have to correct myself when calling someone the wrong thing.

[Espurrhoodie]

2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Damn it, every game, every damned game, I have to correct myself when calling someone the wrong thing.

It's okay we all make mistakes

[Shadow Mir]

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

I can't even remember at this point. But Hector Hard mode I know I'll be beating for the first time here.

Okay. Anyway, the whole thing about Bartre and Karla really makes me hope that they get buffed in a remake, because for how hard she is to recruit, she just isn't worth it.

[Jotari]

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Guess you could say they're... hung like their horses?

 

 

Oh stop.😂 You're killing me. This has to be integrated into the social subconscious if the wider community. Spread the word folks. Nomadic troopers launch themselves from their horse in their crit animation with their massive shlongs (not sure what Sue's doing though).

Edited March 17, 2020 by Jotari

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

Oh stop.😂 You're killing me. This has to be integrated into the social subconscious if the wider community. Spread the word folks. Nomads launch themselves from their horse in their crit animation with their massive shlongs (not sure what Sue's doing though).

IDK what you're talking about, Sue has the biggest Dieck out of that whole family.

2 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

Okay. Anyway, the whole thing about Bartre and Karla really makes me hope that they get buffed in a remake, because for how hard she is to recruit, she just isn't worth it.

Ah the perfect instance of torturing yourself, training up a bad unit, in order to have the chance to... torture yourself, training up a bad unit. Swordmasters should get their FE6 crit boost back, unironically. Also, could be neat if the Wo Dao is a "family exclusive".

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

If it wasn't for 19xx I would suggest you complete Lyn Mode on normal, then start a new game on Hector Hard Mode. That's basically what I am going to suggest you do when you get to FE11 where the prologue chapters are only available on Normal Mode, to start a new game in your preferred difficulty after completing the prologue.

Honestly, missing out on the Prologue in harder difficulties is, to me, even worse than the game's awful gaiden requirements. But maybe I say that because Frey is one of my favorite Archanea units, ahah.

6 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Anyway, I let Lyn get the kill on the knight boss with her Mani Katti. Speaking of, fun fact I forgot to mention last time: after I learned about the food “manicotti”, I can't stop associating the Mani Katti with a mental image of a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip that involves it.

TBH Spaceman Spiff is kind of an overrated unit. Like, I get that he does effective damage against alien classes, but his bulk is so much worse than Stupendous Man's. Not to mention, he's not even deployable during the Calvinball arc.

Edited March 17, 2020 by Shanty Pete's 1st Mate
Typo.

[Interdimensional Observer]

7 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Still gonna try. I've never gotten Karla and I want to see that. Even if it hurts.

Again, Bartre can survive with a Swordreaver or even a bow equipped and the bare minimum of stats he can have at that point. 

7 Def vs. 22 Atk - 2 WTD = 13*2 < 32 HP = Recruited!

Just in case you feel like dropping him early, you can promote him early to no ill effect. But, he needs to be a lvl 5 Warrior or higher regardless of pre-promotion level, don't forget that.

You could go for Geitz if you want to find a decent GBA Warrior, but that'd mean giving a whole lotta levels to HEL. And EXP gain on Hard can be a bit limiting for that.

[Alastor15243]

4 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Again, Bartre can survive with a Swordreaver or even a bow equipped and the bare minimum of stats he can have at that point. 

7 Def vs. 22 Atk - 2 WTD = 13*2 < 32 HP = Recruited!

Just in case you feel like dropping him early, you can promote him early to no ill effect. But, he needs to be a lvl 5 Warrior or higher regardless of pre-promotion level, don't forget that.

You could go for Geitz if you want to find a decent GBA Warrior, but that'd mean giving a whole lotta levels to HEL. And EXP gain on Hard can be a bit limiting for that.

Thanks for the advice. As for the bolded part though, I generally like doing that anyway. I don't like lugging around absurdly vulnerable low-mov units, especially not on ironman runs, and I'm pretty sure there are multiple points, if not continuously, where all three lords are force-deployed.

[Jotari]

46 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Thanks for the advice. As for the bolded part though, I generally like doing that anyway. I don't like lugging around absurdly vulnerable low-mov units, especially not on ironman runs, and I'm pretty sure there are multiple points, if not continuously, where all three lords are force-deployed.

I don't think there is actually. I think it might just be the last chapter. Though it's been a while and I'd always deploy all three of them anyway.

[Interdimensional Observer]

21 minutes ago, Jotari said:

I don't think there is actually. I think it might just be the last chapter. Though it's been a while and I'd always deploy all three of them anyway.

From my memory, it's the Dragon's Gate- Legault's recruitment chapter, Unfulfilled Heart- Pent & Louise's recruitment, and the final fight, and maybe Sands of Time too. But perhaps I'm missing one or two more, like Kinship's Bond.

On Hard, the reduced deployment slots mean I usually bench Eliwood and Lyn. The only reason I got to FFO Linus on Hard recently is rigging restore points at the New Resolve arena. If I want a nice sword user, Raven and the Pallies do that better.

Edited March 18, 2020 by Interdimensional Observer