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

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

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.

Shit, they drop recruitment slots on hard too? Damn, that's annoying...

[Interdimensional Observer]

Just now, Alastor15243 said:

Shit, they drop recruitment slots on hard too? Damn, that's annoying...

Elibe's duology are the only games to do so I think. SS didn't have the reduction going on memory, and I know Tellius didn't. EXP curtailment (and stronger enemies demanding more levels whoever you use) seems more effective to me as a way to avoid using too many units, although reducing unit slots works against prepromotes too, lower EXP not mattering for them so much.

[Shadow Mir]

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

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.

That sounds about right. I honestly have to wonder what the hell the developers were thinking... I mean, having stats that are not much better than Guy and Lyn, who aren't that good themselves, would have when freshly promoted is inexcusable that late. And of course, FE7 is Lancespam: The Game, which doesn't help her case.

[Alastor15243]

Blazing Blade Day 3: Chapter 7 to 7x

Now then... where were we...?

Ah yes. Another part of why Sain is my favorite shameless flirt: note that all he needs to hear to immediately want to help Nils out is hear that his sister is in trouble. He doesn't even need to know what she looks like, and he also doesn't even have any reason to believe she's his older sister. He doesn't even ask. This isn't Sain hoping to impress some hot chick in order to get into her pants. This is Sain having a Don-Quixote-esque obsession with being a gallant, romantic hero of myth and legend.

Kent calls himself Lyn's retainer. That... isn't official, is it? Was he told before he went out on his mission that once he found Lyn, he'd be her retainer? Or is this an unofficial thing they (mostly he, probably) decided on during the journey? I got the impression that this was a more weighty decision than this. But then, I got most of that impression from Fates, so, the hell do I know?

Ah yes, the preparation screen. And now we finally get to see the full context of the fight before it begins! I can't believe it took us 7 games to get to this point. Well, in fairness, due to FE4's weird deploy-everyone system and its certain-actions-are-unlimited castles, FE4 basically had it too in its own weird way.

Obviously I'm dropping Wil and Dorcas for Rath and Matthew. Rath is really good right now for player phase, so there's no reason not to bring him. Granted, this is Lyn mode, and there's almost certainly not gonna be anything dangerous that demands a player-phase nuke, but still, this is a time-sensitive chapter if I want the gaiden, and I have no retries here, so best not take any chances.

I'm gonna be giving the angel robe to Matthew, btw. He's basically a lord until halfway through Chapter 19 as far as this ironman run is concerned, and even afterward he'll be an invaluable asset I'll want to keep alive. Might as well keep him sturdy.

Oh wow. That bandit is scarily close. I'll have to rush in and kill him as soon as possible, because holy cow, if he actually makes a beeline for the village...

Ooh! Here we get Lucius! Fun thing I just noticed: Sain doesn't hit on him, despite how girly he looks. This means one of either two things:

1: Sain is insanely good at knowing when someone's actually a lady,

or

2: Lucius, unlike Libra, has a voice that's significantly less feminine than his face.

Meanwhile I genuinely thought this was a chick as a kid. I thought “her” name was pronounced lu-SEE-us, and I thought it was a variation on “Lucy” or something.

Anyway, looks like those bandits aren't interested in the village. At least the first two aren't. Curious. That would've been a fun way to spice up hard mode, since it's still entirely reasonable to get to them in time with Florina. Actually... had they introduced bandits destroying villages yet by this point in the tutorial? I can't remember any opportunity for a practical demonstration, but maybe the tutorial said it in passing when we saw one of the destroyed villages.

I love the creepy scene where you talk to the innkeeper again and he starts talking all “not that I have anything to do with them, but...” about the Black Fang, implying he's either a member of a sympathizer (which makes sense, since they were a bunch of well-intentioned vigilantes until very recently).

Man, honestly, as much as I love the story, I really wish this mode had, like, any gameplay merit at all on hard. They weren't really even trying here, it feels like. They just put Hard Mode in here if you wanted the goodies of Lyn Mode but without the handholding tutorial. But again, now that I'm actually playing it again as an adult, I honestly think the handholding tutorial would have been more engaging.

Ah, and here I get the bonus secret conversation where you can talk to Hector with Matthew! Awesome. I wonder if you can talk to him with Serra...

...HAHAHAHAHAHA! HE FUCKING AVOIDS HER! OH MY GOD THAT IS JUST PERFECT!

But at any rate, I like this curious characterization with Hector where you can tell he's both high-born but also rather “rough” for his station. Like, there's a clear difference between people like him people like Eliwood, but there's an equally clear difference between people like him and people like Ike, even if they share certain qualities.

There appears to be a graphical glitch on this rom where during the combat scenes, a few individual glowing green hit point lines are showing up horizontally between the red combat info for the enemy and the blue combat info for my units, like the two are being attached together by radioactive staples. I'm not sure if that just happened now of if I only just noticed it, but I hope that won't be an issue.

Restarting the emulation (after saving data, of course) seems to have fixed it.

Well, the chapter's over, with plenty of time to spare, and I managed to feed the boss kill to Florina again.

And now we meet Eliwood. Honestly, while he's not the most interesting lord in the series, I like how... just generally likable he is. He has this weird quality that Roy, Marth and Leif didn't have, that I can't quite describe. Not saying he's a better character than Leif, just that he has some quality to him that sets him apart from that general mold.

Of course, it never occurred to me as a kid why they had Ninian twist her ankle so she can't dance right now. The “bard train” just didn't cross my mind at the time.

Curious how Ninian says they'd repay Lyn using their “special talents”, but Lyn repeats back questioningly, “special abilities?”. I don't think I've ever seen that “repeated part of a sentence as a question” thing done while not quoting something verbatim.

Yeah, another thing I like about this story is that it changes up the “hero and his advisors do all the talking” thing that nearly every other game in the series does. Generally, up until this point, the only characters with any long-lasting speaking roles are the lord and their assorted un-killable advisors (Malledus, Jagen, Oifey, Lewyn, August, Dorias, Merlinus, Elphin, etc.) who generally talk exclusively in terms of exposition. Here, the bulk of the dialogue is from Lyn, Kent and Sain (and I think maybe Nils and Ninian from here on out too). While that's way more similar to the previous stories than I previously remembered (I remembered the other characters having more of a speaking role beyond their recruitment), Kent and Sain have a different dynamic with Lyn and with each other. While there's still a bit of a master-subject relationship going here, especially with Kent, the three have a lot more banter going on between them as a whole, mostly because Lyn isn't used to this whole “being royalty” thing. They're allowed to be more of their own people and interact more as a trio, more like that handful of moments where August and Dorias argued with each other. And this carries on even stronger in the actual story proper, where Eliwood, Hector and Lyn are the three principal speaking roles, and they all stand as equals with each other, finally throwing off the whole “lord and his advisors” dynamic entirely.

Now we're at Chapter 7x, and... it's kind of hilarious how much they're hyping up the danger of this chapter. I don't even remember this being more dangerous than usual when I was a kid.

Honestly, I didn't even feel much like commenting. There's almost nothing to say here for someone who's played more than one Fire Emblem game before. Just another miniature version of the type of maps we'll be seeing a lot more of later in the game, and a great training opportunity for the guys I actually plan to use in Hector Hard Mode.

I noticed the ominous there's-something-I'm-not-telling-you “...” Nils gave after Lyn openly wonders why such a well-organized group of villains is after Nils and Ninian. I don't think I ever picked up on that at the time as a kid though.

And now we have Ninis's Grace back. I wonder what happens if you don't get this gaiden chapter. I don't think I've ever failed to get it or refused to do it. Does Ninian not come with the thing in the main game if you play Lyn mode and don't accept it?

...At any rate, we're done for today. Given how uneventful these maps are, I don't want to risk burnout by going for too many now that they'r picking up in length a bit. It's a pretty amusing contrast. Best storytelling/presentation so far by far (even if Genealogy has a better story to tell), and yet maps that are hot garbage outside of their original purpose as a tutorial. That's not a problem with Lyn Mode so much as a problem with the failure to turn Lyn Hard mode into something with a point to it. But hopefully that'll change soon.

But with that, I'm out. Take care, guys!

[Interdimensional Observer]

37 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Kent calls himself Lyn's retainer. That... isn't official, is it? Was he told before he went out on his mission that once he found Lyn, he'd be her retainer? Or is this an unofficial thing they (mostly he, probably) decided on during the journey? I got the impression that this was a more weighty decision than this. But then, I got most of that impression from Fates, so, the hell do I know?

Fates I would guess just throws extra emphasis on the idea of retainer than other games in FE, even if some are always present.

Consider that on CQ/BR you get 41/40 units. Of these, four are royals, and each has two retainers. Corrin has two retainers in Jakob and Felicia too, right? And the princes' sons each get one retainer to boot? Thats 12 retainers and their 7 lieges, one short of half of either route. But wait! Orochi and Yukimura on are supposed to be Mikoto's former retainers? And Gunter and Flora on CQ are more retainers for Corrin? And what about Kaze? Over half of BR and CQ are made of royals and retainers. 

I do not deny the possibility of creating unique backgrounds and personalities with more retainers than a convention of dentally-challenged teenage geeks, Fates already proves this guess. Nonetheless, Fates might be considered upper class-heavy in terms of societal diversity compared to other FEs. You'll still have plenty of loyal knights, but the Fates concept of "retainer" sound to me to be a dedicated aide/servant for a single notable person. I would consider, to name some examples, Franz, Callion, Bors, and Rody, to be loyal knights, but not outright retainers. Melady I would assign the retainer label to for sure, certainly Marcus, I would say Wolt, but I wouldn't say Lance or Alan. Kent? Maybe and possibly normally, but absolutely and more if you go and A him with Lyn.

 

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

And this carries on even stronger in the actual story proper, where Eliwood, Hector and Lyn are the three principal speaking roles, and they all stand as equals with each other, finally throwing off the whole “lord and his advisors” dynamic entirely.

I must agree, casting off that limited dynamic at last was a boon to FE. Considering everyone who the lord talked to was often static in characterization, and the lord themselves could be rather static, it wasn't the most flavorful of approaches. FE7 began the process of allowing others to reap main story importance in a way they generally had not and could not before. Supports are lovely, and an entertaining intro is fine, but continued central narrative relevance, though difficult to possess, is oh so sweet a fruit.

[Jotari]

One criticism of the story here is that Ursula wanders off because she has "business elsewhere" to attend to. Ninian and Nils being vital to opening the Dragons Gate means Nergal should be absolutely desperate to get them back and that there should be absolutely nothing more important than their recapturing for his forces. So what could Ursula be doing that's more important than this that she delegates it? Certainly there's no explanation offered by the plot as the whole thing is to just give her a cameo without actually making you fight her. So we have to headcanon things. And my headcanon has always been that she absolutely should have been trying to recapture Ninan and Nils but decided to fob off work to hook up with someone. With the recent revelation in mind said person is now a Sacaean.

7 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Fates I would guess just throws extra emphasis on the idea of retainer than other games in FE, even if some are always present.

Consider that on CQ/BR you get 41/40 units. Of these, four are royals, and each has two retainers. Corrin has two retainers in Jakob and Felicia too, right? And the princes' sons each get one retainer to boot? Thats 12 retainers and their 7 lieges, one short of half of either route. But wait! Orochi and Yukimura on are supposed to be Mikoto's former retainers? And Gunter and Flora on CQ are more retainers for Corrin? And what about Kaze? Over half of BR and CQ are made of royals and retainers. 

I do not deny the possibility of creating unique backgrounds and personalities with more retainers than a convention of dentally-challenged teenage geeks, Fates already proves this guess. Nonetheless, Fates might be considered upper class-heavy in terms of societal diversity compared to other FEs. You'll still have plenty of loyal knights, but the Fates concept of "retainer" sound to me to be a dedicated aide/servant for a single notable person. I would consider, to name some examples, Franz, Callion, Bors, and Rody, to be loyal knights, but not outright retainers. Melady I would assign the retainer label to for sure, certainly Marcus, I would say Wolt, but I wouldn't say Lance or Alan. Kent? Maybe and possibly normally, but absolutely and more if you go and A him with Lyn.

 

I must agree, casting off that limited dynamic at last was a boon to FE. Considering everyone who the lord talked to was often static in characterization, and the lord themselves could be rather static, it wasn't the most flavorful of approaches. FE7 began the process of allowing others to reap main story importance in a way they generally had not and could not before. Supports are lovely, and an entertaining intro is fine, but continued central narrative relevance, though difficult to possess, is oh so sweet a fruit.

While I agree having other characters involved in the plot is great, I feel it might have gone overboard a bit too much in the other direction in some recent games. Specifically Shadows of Valentia where the characters are just making comments and banter without real contribution to the story. Three Houses has this a little bit too but it feels a bit more natural there, but it's still kind of present. Radiant Dawn was by far the best way of including the rest of the cast in the plot.

[Alastor15243]

28 minutes ago, Jotari said:

One criticism of the story here is that Ursula wanders off because she has "business elsewhere" to attend to. Ninian and Nils being vital to opening the Dragons Gate means Nergal should be absolutely desperate to get them back and that there should be absolutely nothing more important than their recapturing for his forces. So what could Ursula be doing that's more important than this that she delegates it? Certainly there's no explanation offered by the plot as the whole thing is to just give her a cameo without actually making you fight her. So we have to headcanon things. And my headcanon has always been that she absolutely should have been trying to recapture Ninan and Nils but decided to fob off work to hook up with someone. With the recent revelation in mind said person is now a Sacaean.

Oh god. Having you bring this up again finally convinced me to make a meme. I'm not sure if I should post it though, given that even though nothing's going on in the pic, it is a pic that's obviously from a porno. Not sure if that's crossing some kind of line.

...But yeah, that is a concern. The only other thing I can think of is that she needed to harness quintessence from someone major nearby, and mistakenly thought Beyard could handle Lyn's group. Actually, I can't remember if non-morph mages can harness quintessence at all...

Edited March 19, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Boomhauer007]

42 minutes ago, Jotari said:

While I agree having other characters involved in the plot is great, I feel it might have gone overboard a bit too much in the other direction in some recent games. Specifically Shadows of Valentia where the characters are just making comments and banter without real contribution to the story. Three Houses has this a little bit too but it feels a bit more natural there, but it's still kind of present. Radiant Dawn was by far the best way of including the rest of the cast in the plot.

It was okay the first time playing, but playing it now it feels almost too formulaic where non retainer characters all just consecutively share lines on the situation and sometimes feel really out of place. It's like they told the writers to involve them more, so in response they just threw random chunks of lines in.

I will say if you play BL white clouds it's really well done, but that's about it. 

[Icelerate]

So Alastor, are you going to be critiquing FE7's story like Mekkah did on his YT channel? 

[Alastor15243]

8 minutes ago, Icelerate said:

So Alastor, are you going to be critiquing FE7's story like Mekkah did on his YT channel? 

I'm not sure if I'm gonna notice everything Mekkah did, since I haven't watched the full video. I generally only comment on stuff I notice. I might watch it for supplementary material, but honestly, whatever criticisms I wind up having about the actual plot, the writing and storytelling of it have been great so far. Best in the marathon. This game makes a lot of narrative improvements that I'm super happy with.

[Icelerate]

2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

I'm not sure if I'm gonna notice everything Mekkah did, since I haven't watched the full video. I generally only comment on stuff I notice. I might watch it for supplementary material, but honestly, whatever criticisms I wind up having about the actual plot, the writing and storytelling of it have been great so far. Best in the marathon. This game makes a lot of narrative improvements that I'm super happy with.

I agree with you. Being able to include different characters with interesting personalities is far better than the first six games in terms of presentation. Even though I would still put FE4's overall story higher because it's plot is generally better. 

[Jotari]

11 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Oh god. Having you bring this up again finally convinced me to make a meme. I'm not sure if I should post it though, given that even though nothing's going on in the pic, it is a pic that's obviously from a porno. Not sure if that's crossing some kind of line.

...But yeah, that is a concern. The only other thing I can think of is that she needed to harness quintessence from someone major nearby, and mistakenly thought Beyard could handle Lyn's group. Actually, I can't remember if non-morph mages can harness quintessence at all...

She doesn't seem like she thinks Beyard can handle it though. Like, she gives him a very stern warning not to fail rather than display confident assurance that he won't fail. Like she obviously expects him to, but not arrogantly so. Honestly I don't think the writers put much thought into it at all as their whole intention was to put Ursula in the scene as a cameo.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Jotari

[Alastor15243]

Blazing Blade Day 4: Chapter 8 to Chapter 9

Oh! Looks like Florina gets a bit of a part in this opening! Makes sense, since ballistae are involved, she's gonna be brought up anyway for tutorial purposes. And looks like I was right: Nils and Ninian are getting significant speaking roles, at least so far.

And it looks like the ballistae have been better implemented! Those definitely aren't the stats for the iron bow the archer's carrying that I'm seeing listed for his calculated stats. Looks like you actually get to see the stats for the ballista! But since the ballista isn't a fixed terrain piece anymore, the terrain window doesn't show the ballista's remaining ammo, which is a bit of a drag, but all in all, a major net gain!

At any rate, this is pretty straightforward. Again, they're just trying to ease you into the concept of Ballistae. Though the enemy density is high enough that this is probably the first time where an inexperienced player stands a chance of losing someone.

Also, while the reduced weapon accuracy had its merits for making skill useful, I do still appreciate the fact that lances are slightly more accurate than swords now when WTA is involved. Though funny enough that means that strangely, lances are more accurate than swords against 2/3 of melee opponents, and swords are only more accurate against axes.

I nearly lost the lancereaver village because I forgot I hadn't actually visited it. Thankfully Rath was nearby to kill the bandit before he could reach it.

But Kent finally gained speed! Hurrah! Now if only Sain would...

I like how they introduce lancereavers and then in the exact same map have the player apply that knowledge by having the enemies surrounding the boss all have reaver weapons.

...That said, giving them weapons with crit bonuses before supports are even a thing, when these weapons are strong enough to one-shot anyone without sufficient defense or luck... that I must frown on.

Ah yes, and Matthew's back from his info scouting trip. Honestly, I can't really explain why, but I liked this. I liked how they justified someone gathering intel by making them un-deployable. I'm not even sure if that's introducing a mechanic or anything. Does this ever happen again in this game, where a character temporarily can't be deployed? But at any rate, fun way to add some character to the game's exposition, by giving it some setup for the payoff!

Wow. Lord Hausen has been poisoned for more than three months? That's some... slow-ass poison there. I mean, to be fair, he's trying to make absolutely sure it looks like natural causes and not murder, but shit, this man's way more patient than the writing led me to believe!

Funny thing: when I read this as a kid, I initially took the “An impostor's appeared, claiming to be Marquess Caelin's granddaughter” line to mean that Lundgren produced an impostor in order to delegitimize Lyn. But once I read it as an adult it became obvious I was just grossly mis-reading. Lundgren's just accusing Lyn of being an impostor.

And as we move into chapter 9, I've gotta say: I like this setup where they have Eliwood help Lyn out without having him actually join the game before his time: he basically persuades the neighboring countries to remain neutral in the inheritance dispute, which he obviously can't do if he then proceeds to actively fight in Lyn's side.

Wow. Interesting how huge Lycia is, and how many areas Eliwood lists that neighbor Caelin that I'm pretty sure we never even see. Tuscana and Tania in particular don't ring a bell at all. Then again, it has been a while.

Intersting how this map introduces fog mid-battle. Now, funny thing, while I suspect that is just a way to introduce the concept gently for the tutorial, I'd actually consider this an interesting twist on fog of war if they did it in a serious map, especially if you have to keep track of where those initial enemies move in the fog.

Also, I was suddenly reminded about the changes to weapon balance: it looks like aside from weight, tomes haven't been nerfed really, so much as the accuracy of everything else has been buffed. Fire only lost 5 hit in the transition from BB to... B...B.

...Why the fuck did they re-localize these titles with the exact same fucking acronym!?

...In fairness, originally Sealed Sword also matched acronyms with Sacred Stones, but honestly, I just find the new alliterative titles to be kind of tacky.

Another cool usability update this game added: you can now choose whether you want to select a unit to move its formation around, or to check how far they can move from a space. Granted, later games let you do both at once just by highlighting them, but the option is still added where it didn't exist before.

We get Wallace this chapter, but I won't be using or promoting him. I fully intend to not even see him again, so might as well train up my other units and then keep the crest to boost my funds rank and give Lyn a better gem when we see her again. A shame I can't use the crest practically, though. If it were remotely possible to get someone to level 20, or even just somewhere near that, by the end of Lyn mode, I might have picked Kent or Sain to get a bunch of early experience and make myself a supermarcus so I can get all of my cavs promoted early. But as it stands, I'd just be making another Lance. And I have enough knight crests that I should be able to promote all three cavaliers anyway, even if it won't be in a timely fashion. I plan on supporting Kent with Sain, and I'll have Eliwood and Lowen get a B support while Lowen A ranks with Marcus and Eliwood A ranks with Ninian.

I like how this game explains that thieves can see well in fog, but I wish the game did it before you've already deployed him. It's possible someone decided Dorcas or Wil was more useful than him (however crazy that sounds to us), and didn't get that important bit of information until way later, if at all.

...Oh shit. That was... an ambush spawn. I hear that they stop happening entirely once that'd be remotely dangerous, but really, there was no reason why those enemies shouldn't have been there from turn one... except maybe I guess not to freak newbies out, since they wouldn't know on the prep screen that they'd have a nigh-indestructible general to take care of this for them?

...I accidentally mis-clicked and ended my turn prematurely. I hate when that happens, but thankfully we're still at the point in the game where that isn't instantly lethal.

At any rate, I'm gonna have to stall the shit out of these next two maps in order to get that gaiden chapter. So I might as well wait this out until all the reinforcements are gone. I've got Kent and Sain alternating watch on the front bridge, Lyn dealing with the northern mountain bandits, and Florina fighting the soldiers who come from the northwest. Soldiers are basically the perfect enemies to train pegasus knights on. Partly because they don't use axes, but mostly because they suck.

Erk's been gaining a ludicrously high amount of defense. He's level 6 and his defense is 5. Also, his speed has been keeping up nicely too! He's gotten into comfortable doubling range against basically all enemies that don't use swords.

When you only have one use of a weapon left, it doesn't show that you double. But seeing Erk's hit rate against this bandit in the mountains, I can't help but wonder if you still attack twice if you miss the first attack...

And Kent gains another point of speed! Now if only Sain could catch up and match his impressive bulk with some speed!

Oh man, now we're fighting Eagler. I love how he's got dialogue with Kent, Sain, Wallace and Lyn. That's a lot of bonus depth for a character most first-time players are just going to curb-stomp with Wallace. I really wish we knew exactly what Lundgren had on him, rather than a generic speculation about blackmail or hostage-taking. He's a minor character, but what little there is of him is done well. My one complaint is that his dying line where he reveals he isn't really on Lundgren's side spends a lot of time telling us stuff we didn't already know, when it could have easily been something new.

And now we finally get to see Lord Hausen for the first time, and oh my god, when Lundgren tells him that Lyn is dead... it's like watching someone kick a puppy! “Lyndis... Why did this happen? I only wanted to see her once...”

And Lundgren... I mean he's really not much more than one-dimensional, but he's also entertainingly childish and vile. I am so ready to cave this man's face in.

At any rate, we've got 20 more turns of training left for Nils, and I think we can pretty easily fit that into the next chapter, given the rain. But given that it's Thursday, why don't we save Chapter 10 for tomorrow? I love it when finales happen on Friday, after all. Take care, everyone! Stay safe and healthy!

[Interdimensional Observer]

15 hours ago, Jotari said:

While I agree having other characters involved in the plot is great, I feel it might have gone overboard a bit too much in the other direction in some recent games. Specifically Shadows of Valentia where the characters are just making comments and banter without real contribution to the story. Three Houses has this a little bit too but it feels a bit more natural there, but it's still kind of present. Radiant Dawn was by far the best way of including the rest of the cast in the plot.

I'm not familiar with the specifics of any FE's plot "ensemble-ing" after Awakening, but I do very fondly remember RD's early Part 3 war room meetings. Those felt so good.

 

24 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Wow. Interesting how huge Lycia is, and how many areas Eliwood lists that neighbor Caelin that I'm pretty sure we never even see. Tuscana and Tania in particular don't ring a bell at all. Then again, it has been a while.

According to an old SF page:

Spoiler

Visited Places

Ostia – The capital city, ruled by Uther. It is said the fortifications are so strong that none can invade it.

Pherae – Land of knights, ruled by Elbert. It shares friendly ties with Ostia.

Caelin – Ruled by Lundgren, brother of the Marquess. Lyn’s heritage has roots here.

Note: Ciaran is the Japanese name.

Laus – Ruled by Darin, a man who serves the Black Fang and aims to overthrow Ostia.

Santaruz – Eliwood passes here when he goes in search of his father.

Araphen – Lyn comes here to find help to reclaim Caelin.

Kathelet – Lyn first meets Eliwood here during her journey to Caelin.

Unvisited Places

Tania – In the Hasha no Tsurugi manga, Tiena comes from here.

Thria – Appears in Sword of Seals.

Worde – Appears in the Hasha no Tsurugi manga.

Tuscana – Mentioned in-game by Eliwood.

Ryerde – No mention in-game.

I still sorta appreciate having these unvisited places on the map, adds one sand grain's worth of world building.

A version of the RD Tellius map is also dotted with many unvisited places, knowing where Geoffrey's Delbray and Sephiran's Persis are is a nice touch, but what was the point to naming three settlements of some kind in Goldoa?

 

 

Also, random beta Chapter 10 Lyn Mode image:

A little small this pic, but notice something odd?

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Also, random beta Chapter 10 Lyn Mode image:

A little small this pic, but notice something odd?

At first I was gonna say a "someone put steroids in Dorcas's mutton" joke, but then I saw Dorcas was still there. Or at least an unpromoted fighter. Wonder what that's about...

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

3 hours ago, Jotari said:

She doesn't seem like she thinks Beyard can handle it though. Like, she gives him a very stern warning not to fail rather than display confident assurance that he won't fail. Like she obviously expects him to, but not arrogantly so. Honestly I don't think the writers put much thought into it at all as their whole intention was to put Ursula in the scene as a cameo.

Yeah, this chapter would make more sense if Ursula just... wasn't there. Have Beyard be a minor Black Fang dude, who wants to recapture the twins on his own, to gain favor with Lord Nergal. Or have Ursula there, but invent an excuse. Like "oh shit, I forgot my Bolting tome, hey Beyard hold them off for like 11 turns while I go get it". Could effectively introduce "Game Over" turn limits as a condition.

24 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Also, I was suddenly reminded about the changes to weapon balance: it looks like aside from weight, tomes haven't been nerfed really, so much as the accuracy of everything else has been buffed. Fire only lost 5 hit in the transition from BB to... B...B.

...Why the fuck did they re-localize these titles with the exact same fucking acronym!?

...In fairness, originally Sealed Sword also matched acronyms with Sacred Stones, but honestly, I just find the new alliterative titles to be kind of tacky.

Yup, that's why I obstinately refer to them as "Roy's Emblem" and "Eliwood's Emblem". Especially when you consider that Roy's personal legendary weapon is, literally, a blazing blade.

Also, wasn't FE6 originally referred to as "Sword of Seals", abbreviating to SoS? Which is just different enough from Sacred Stones (SS) for plausible deniability. 

30 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

We get Wallace this chapter, but I won't be using or promoting him. I fully intend to not even see him again, so might as well train up my other units and then keep the crest to boost my funds rank and give Lyn a better gem when we see her again. A shame I can't use the crest practically, though. If it were remotely possible to get someone to level 20, or even just somewhere near that, by the end of Lyn mode, I might have picked Kent or Sain to get a bunch of early experience and make myself a supermarcus so I can get all of my cavs promoted early. But as it stands, I'd just be making another Lance. And I have enough knight crests that I should be able to promote all three cavaliers anyway, even if it won't be in a timely fashion. I plan on supporting Kent with Sain, and I'll have Eliwood and Lowen get a B support while Lowen A ranks with Marcus and Eliwood A ranks with Ninian.

Honestly, if you can get Kent or Sain to level 10, the boost from early promotion is a benefit at a more important time than extra stats lategame from the "lost levels". Then you can free up a Knight Crest to keep Oswin relevant into lategame. Agreed that it's definitely not worth it on Wallace, assuming you're training the Lords to get the Geitz version of Four-Fanged Offense. But hey, up to you! The White Gem is nice too.

[Alastor15243]

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

Honestly, if you can get Kent or Sain to level 10, the boost from early promotion is a benefit at a more important time than extra stats lategame from the "lost levels". Then you can free up a Knight Crest to keep Oswin relevant into lategame. Agreed that it's definitely not worth it on Wallace, assuming you're training the Lords to get the Geitz version of Four-Fanged Offense. But hey, up to you! The White Gem is nice too.

Yeah, that didn't work out so well in FE6. Lance wound up garbage from his level 10 promotion, and it wasn't due to being stat screwed. I've ultimately decided that the short term gain of early promoting someone, especially someone the same class as your Jagen, is almost meaningless compared to how much they suck later on. And Marcus is now much stronger than he was before, Lance was barely better than OLD Marcus at 10/1. I doubt either of the cavs would wind up more useful than him by promoting early.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

7 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Yeah, that didn't work out so well in FE6. Lance wound up garbage from his level 10 promotion, and it wasn't due to being stat screwed. I've ultimately decided that the short term gain of early promoting someone, especially someone the same class as your Jagen, is almost meaningless compared to how much they suck later on. And Marcus is now much stronger than he was before, Lance was barely better than OLD Marcus at 10/1. I doubt either of the cavs would wind up more useful than him by promoting early.

Make no mistake, I never said early-promo Kent or Sain would be better than Marcus. But being a slightly-inferior version of the best unit in the game is no mean feat. You're losing out on stats from midgame Hector Mode onward, sure. But you get an immediate boost to movement, plus earlier access to Axes. And you don't need to expend a Knight Crest in the midgame (admittedly, at a slight funds loss in the earlygame). Again, though, it's up to you. I can see the case for wanting the Christmas Cavs to be as strong as possible going into the lategame.

[Interdimensional Observer]

15 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

And Marcus is now much stronger than he was before, Lance was barely better than OLD Marcus at 10/1. I doubt either of the cavs would wind up more useful than him by promoting early.

XX/1 Marcus: HP 31 Str 15 Skl 15 Spd 11 Lck 8 Def 10 Res 8 Con 11

10/1 Sain: HP 28 Str 14 Skl 8 Spd 11 Lck 7 Def 10 Res 3 Con 11

Decimals rounded down if < .5, up if >= .5.

Usually I hear a 13/1 Sain over a 10/1, squeezing a tiny bit more LM EXP into him. But unless you're obsessed with an extra point of Move and better Javelin performance, I agree it's best to not early promote a Cav, particularly if one Cav is already screwed and you're not wanting to take chances regarding how Lowen turns out.

[Eltosian Kadath]

20 hours ago, Jotari said:

She doesn't seem like she thinks Beyard can handle it though. Like, she gives him a very stern warning not to fail rather than display confident assurance that he won't fail. Like she obviously expects him to, but not arrogantly so. Honestly I don't think the writers put much thought into it at all as their whole intention was to put Ursula in the scene as a cameo.

Wouldn't be the last time Ursula setup another member of Black Fang to fail (and thus reduce her competition). From what I remember of her role latter she only cares about Nergal's plans when her part in it benefits her position, seeing as she actively sabotages them by giving the player a hammerne staff later. If she intervened here Beyard could claim the credit, and I find it entirely in character for her to intentionally abandon him to ensure that he fails.

 

16 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

...Oh shit. That was... an ambush spawn. I hear that they stop happening entirely once that'd be remotely dangerous, but really, there was no reason why those enemies shouldn't have been there from turn one... except maybe I guess not to freak newbies out, since they wouldn't know on the prep screen that they'd have a nigh-indestructible general to take care of this for them?

Chapter 13x is the only place where the FE7 ambush spawns are particularly relevant, and even them it depends a lot on how you play that chapter whether or not it will be relevant.

Spoiler

Of particular note it is possible for a Nomad ambush spawn to one round Merlinus for the game over if he is dropped in the wrong place, and the path is sufficiently clear.

 

17 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Fire only lost 5 hit in the transition from BB to... B...B.

...Why the fuck did they re-localize these titles with the exact same fucking acronym!?

...In fairness, originally Sealed Sword also matched acronyms with Sacred Stones, but honestly, I just find the new alliterative titles to be kind of tacky.

Its telling that both Serenes Forest, and Fire Emblem War of Dragons still call it the Blazing Sword on their main sites (and the good wiki even has a section where it talks about the prevalence of the Blazing Sword translation). Now BS does run into some issues with the old shortening of the Broadcast Satellite Fire Emblem map, but when that is used its always shortened to BSFE.

 

17 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

 

Also, random beta Chapter 10 Lyn Mode image:

A little small this pic, but notice something odd?

Is this implying Wallace was going to be a Warrior in the beta?

 

17 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Yeah, that didn't work out so well in FE6. Lance wound up garbage from his level 10 promotion, and it wasn't due to being stat screwed. I've ultimately decided that the short term gain of early promoting someone, especially someone the same class as your Jagen, is almost meaningless compared to how much they suck later on. And Marcus is now much stronger than he was before, Lance was barely better than OLD Marcus at 10/1. I doubt either of the cavs would wind up more useful than him by promoting early.

I think the logic is you need the stats more in that early game section to get you to those amazing latter game prepromotes that makes FE7's endgame so easy. Promoting him early may hamper his endgame performance, but like many Fire Emblems the endgame is the easy part of FE7.

 

[Alastor15243]

Blazing Blade Day 5: Chapter 10

Right, time to finish this so we can get started on Hector Hard Mode proper.

I find it interesting that the game uses the mid-late game Eliwood Mode map theme for this cutscene here.

Yeah, wow... every single late-game map in this tutorial feels smaller and emptier than I remembered it being. This is actually kind of hilariously pathetic.

But I'm going to do my best to train up Lyn here, because I want her to kill Lundgren, and that'll be a lot easier if I can get her to survive a single strike from his silver lance. Plus, I just need her to be strong in general if I'm gonna use her.

So, this final map still uses the happy, lighthearted Lyn Mode player phase music, and after seeing a video on YouTube by MarkyJoe, I can't help but find that weird.

 

This fan-made song's not the best (though the part from 45 seconds on is gorgeous and almost sounds like something that would be in the actual game), but it does highlight how weird the lack of such a song is. This is the kind of map that feels like it should have its own map theme, even if just for mood-setting story reasons.

Lyn got a lucksauce level up, effectively killing any hopes of getting Lyn to tank a silver lance by the end of this map. But by making him use his javelin I can probably use rescue chains to have Lyn at least deal the final blow safely.

And now we're being introduced to rain. Near as I can tell, it seems to make all normally-easily-traversible terrain as difficult to cross as forests, with the exception of fliers, who obviously can fly over forests fine, in which case it's made a solid 2 cost globally. It doesn't look like it's any harder to move through rainy forests than it is through rainy plains. Mountains are still harder than forests for foot units too obviously, though I couldn't confirm how much more it costs.

Nomads, who seem to be good with rough terrain in general, have less of an issue with rain as a result, as is explained.

The villager who explains stat boosters says the items “might” vanish after using them. I don't get why they'd decide to put that word in there when they always vanish.

...No, looks like normal cavalry units have extra issues with forests after all. Not sure how I didn't notice that before. Also, by having Dorcas and Wil stand 1 and 2 spaces away from a mountain respectively, I've confirmed that mountains get harder to cross too, going from 4 to 5. So I was completely wrong. I think I was thrown off by the fact that for foot units, forests are still 2.

Alright, I've gotten to the end of the map. And now we hear the major boss theme, “Rise to the Challenge”. I love it. A remake of this would be amazing, but even now, I love it. There are a lot of seriously good songs in FE7 and FE8, and this is one of them that I never really appreciated until just recently. I love how ominous it is at the beginning, and how it then strangely shifts gears slightly, into a more “it's gonna be dangerous, but we can do this” tone.

I'm fighting Lundgren with Erk until I can weaken him enough to finish him off with Lyn. And of course, I haven't forgotten that I need to get Nils one more level before seizing.

Oh man. This is so hype. I never actually got to see this Lyn vs. Lundgren scene as a kid. I never had the balls to fight this guy with anyone but whoever I promoted with the knight crest.

“To further your own black ambitions, you've harmed my grandfather and the very land you ought to serve. I have neither pity nor mercy for you. Lundgren! Prepare yourself!”

Bad. Ass.

Also, as I checked to quote that directly (I advanced past part of it before I thought to type it down), I discovered Kent and Sain have lines with him too, and that Lundgren seems to think Sain would be able to be turned to his side. Which is absolutely hilarious, because anyone who's been around the man for more than three hours would know that that would, if anything, be even less likely with Sain than with Kent.

Honestly, it would've been fun if more people had lines to say to Lundgren. Like, here's an example:

Lundgren: A m-mage? You... You're not one of Caelin's knights. What on earth could that mongrel have scrounged up to pay you? Do you honestly think I can't pay far more!? Come, join me while you still can, and-

Erk: Begging your pardon, “marquess”, but I'm afraid I'm still reeling from the last time I was paid to protect a fool.

Lundgren: What in blazes is that supposed to mean!?

Erk: Oh, I wouldn't dream of troubling a dying man with my petty problems. Farewell.

Aaaaand he's down! I managed to kill him with Lyn using the same strats I used in FE6 to have Lugh kill Dory. I just kept him from ever switching to his more dangerous weapon by never leaving anyone in his range at the end of the turn.

Okay, SF says I have to get Nils to level 7. I'm going to be very pissed if it turns out that isn't enough. And honestly, this is probably the one of dumbest gaiden chapter requirements I've ever seen. I've used Nils literally every turn since I got him, and I'm still having to stall extensively to get him there. And given that the story is that we have to get to save Lord Hausen as soon as humanly possible, this seems utterly asinine and nonsensical.

Oh god. This scene. When replayed his a year or two ago, my thoughts literally right before this scene were disappointment that the story hadn't held up to my rosy memories of it (I look on it far more positively now, now that I've seen exactly what it improved on)...

...And then that scene where Lyn sees Lord Hausen started, in dead silence, with nothing but Hausen's voice and the sound effect of a door breaking the silence.

...And then Lyn spoke. And “Lyn's Desire” played.

And I cried.

 

This is just such a heartwarming and wholesome ending to this story. All thought of political struggles or politics or war have completely died with the last breath of the man who dared to make them relevant. And once more, the true heart and core of this story is laid bare: the tale of two people from distant and alien walks of life, wracked by grief and loss, learning that they still have family left and fighting with all they have to meet each other.

And as I watched this scene play out in all of its wholesome, tear-inducing glory...

...seeing Hausen apologize for being too prideful to give Lyn and her family the safe and happy life in the castle they deserved

...seeing Lyn comfort her grandfather by saying that until the bandits came, their life on the plains was wonderful...

...and seeing Lyn urge her grandfather to fight the poison, listing all the things they still need to do together as a family...

...I suddenly realized something:

This was the best possible era to start being a Fire Emblem fan.

Quick rewind. It was the time of Super Smash Brothers Melee. Nearly everyone on Earth who owns a game boy advance knows about those two cool swordfighters from some Japanese franchise called “Fire Emblem”. There was suddenly a huge amount of western interest in the series, but I'm willing to bet Intelligent Systems knew that interest didn't have anything whatsoever to do with the series' gameplay. “Are Marth and Roy in this game?” became a meme for a reason, after all. These people wanted to see more of their new favorite characters, or at least to check out the world that they came from. None of these people were checking out Fire Emblem because it was a strategy game. In fact, a great deal of them probably weren't strategy game fans at all.

...Or at least they didn't think they were.

Intelligent Systems had one shot to keep the attention of as many of these people as they could, introduce them to a genre few of them would be familiar with, and convince them that it would be fun, even if they didn't get to play as Marth or Roy.

And they did it by not only making a comprehensive tutorial, but keeping that tutorial continuously engaging by steeping it in a compelling and entertaining narrative, telling a type of story unlike anything Fire Emblem had ever told before... or since.

People like me, people whose first game was FE7? We received the warmest welcome of any generation in Fire Emblem history. And in all likelihood, the warmest welcome any generation will ever receive. It genuinely saddens me that the newcomers to the franchise of today will never experience what it was like to be a kid when this was the cutting edge of handheld gaming technology, and when the big, shiny new Fire Emblem game put this much earnest and talented effort into making them feel welcome, arming them with all the knowledge they needed to get started on their grand strategy adventure, and doing it all while being engaging and fun.

I have said a lot of unkind things about how Lyn Mode plays on hard difficulty. As someone who has at this point played and beaten nearly every game in the entire franchise, the gameplay of this has less than nothing to offer me as a gamer. And I do still very much take issue with that aspect of it, how little the difficulty improves on hard mode, when it's no longer the mode's job to teach a newcomer how to play.

But ultimately, I am still incredibly grateful for this mode's existence. As poor as the gameplay performs when it's no longer doing its actual intended job, it didn't just do that intended job, it hit it out of the damned park. This is, bar none, my favorite tutorial of all time. And honestly? I feel like an ass for ever managing to forget the role that tutorial had in shaping my love of the franchise.

Awww, and it even has its own little end-of-game credits celebration! That almost feels patronizing as a veteran, but now that I'm seeing it again, I remember that back when I was a kid, this felt entirely warranted. And storywise, the tutorial has earned this grand finale.

Oh wow, and they have an illustration of Lyn delivering the final blow to Lord Lundgren! Awesome!

...Okay, that's bizarre. I think I encountered a glitch. If you select Hector Hard Mode and then say you don't want to continue playing, before it brings you to the main menu, the game will start giving the “from here on out, Eliwood is the main character” spiel that Lyn Mode usually gives when it's over on normal. Even though Hector is the main character now. Maybe this always happens, but I never remembered his happening outside of ending Lyn Normal Mode and going to Eliwood's story for the first time.

But at any rate, that's the end of Lyn Mode! Come Monday, it'll be time to get started on some actual serious gameplay! See you guys then!

[Eltosian Kadath]

57 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

There was suddenly a huge amount of western interest in the series, but I'm willing to bet Intelligent Systems knew that interest didn't have anything whatsoever to do with the series' gameplay. “

There was a rather prominent interview that shows quite the opposite, with the Director of FE7 out right stating that the surprise success in the West of Intelligent System's other strategy series first seen on the GBA, Advanced Wars (releasing about a month before SSBM) showing them that there was a market for strategy games in the West, is the main reason Fire Emblem was localized.

https://web.archive.org/web/20120426182037/http://www.edge-online.com/features/making-advance-wars?page=2

[Jotari]

Convo with Erk was spot on. Great job.

[Interdimensional Observer]

13 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Is this implying Wallace was going to be a Warrior in the beta?

Who knows? But remember that once you get to E/H Mode, you can only recruit one of Wallace or Geitz, and Geitz is a Warrior. Is this pure coincidence? If Wallace was a Warrior, it'd leave Oswin as the lone playable Armor unit. So maybe instead you got Geitz instead of Wallace in Lyn Mode- but his backstory makes no good sense for LM. Did Geitz get a character rewrite? Was there going to be an LM choice between Wallace and Geitz? The world will never know.

 

4 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

There was a rather prominent interview that shows quite the opposite, with the Director of FE7 out right stating that the surprise success in the West of Intelligent System's other strategy series first seen on the GBA, Advanced Wars (releasing about a month before SSBM) showing them that there was a market for strategy games in the West, is the main reason Fire Emblem was localized.

https://web.archive.org/web/20120426182037/http://www.edge-online.com/features/making-advance-wars?page=2

"Nishimura, who also worked as director on Fire Emblem, makes it clear that game would never have been released in the west had AW not paved the way."

Aha! So it really is possible that the Tactician and Lyn Mode were directly copied from AW1! Same director for both games says it all.

[Alastor15243]

4 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

There was a rather prominent interview that shows quite the opposite, with the Director of FE7 out right stating that the surprise success in the West of Intelligent System's other strategy series first seen on the GBA, Advanced Wars (releasing about a month before SSBM) showing them that there was a market for strategy games in the West, is the main reason Fire Emblem was localized.

https://web.archive.org/web/20120426182037/http://www.edge-online.com/features/making-advance-wars?page=2

 

6 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

"Nishimura, who also worked as director on Fire Emblem, makes it clear that game would never have been released in the west had AW not paved the way."

Aha! So it really is possible that the Tactician and Lyn Mode were directly copied from AW1! Same director for both games says it all.

Granted. But I'm still certain that the people who would check it out due to the Smash Bros publicity were kept at least significantly in mind, and they tried to get as many fans out of that demographic as they could, and pulling out all the stops to make a compelling tutorial was a big part of that.

 

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

Convo with Erk was spot on. Great job.

Thanks! I was hoping people might like that!