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

[Alastor15243]

If Nergal is secretly a dragon, that makes Ninian and Nils pure dragons, which means that Roy would, in the Ninian pairing ending, be half dragon. Which would mean he'd age as slowly as Sophia, which would DEFINITELY make all of his endings in FE6 complete and utter nonsense for not mentioning how long he lived.

[Jotari]

13 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

If Nergal is secretly a dragon, that makes Ninian and Nils pure dragons, which means that Roy would, in the Ninian pairing ending, be half dragon. Which would mean he'd age as slowly as Sophia, which would DEFINITELY make all of his endings in FE6 complete and utter nonsense for not mentioning how long he lived.

The options are either A) He's a quarter dragon and half dragons can transform, or B) He's a half dragon and half dragons can't transform. For A we run into the issue of Sophia not being able to transform with absolutely no explanation, for B) we have Roy aging at a presumably normal rate after the events of the game for no explained reason. So in either scenario we have something of a plot hole. One that will probably never be addressed as Roy's mother, while pushed to be Ninian, is an undetermined variable character. That is unless Heroes ever decides to give us dragon Sophia, which won't lie, would be pretty awesome.

[Espurrhoodie]

20 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Of course, when it comes to having a legendary weapon and refusing to use it... I mean, Hector and Eliwood have nothing on a certain other lord in the series.

Aight. I'm dumb. Who are you referring to?

[Alastor15243]

10 minutes ago, Espurrhoodie said:

Aight. I'm dumb. Who are you referring to?

Spoiler

The Chad blue-haired mercenary himself, Ike. He had Ragnell in his possession since the end of chapter 7. He first uses it in chapter 27 part 2.

 

Edited April 23, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Espurrhoodie]

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

  Hide contents

The Chad blue-haired mercenary himself, Ike. He had Ragnell in his possession since the end of chapter 7. He first uses it in chapter 27 part 2.

 

Ah.

No wonder I didn't get who you were referring to. I haven't played those games.

[Alastor15243]

Blazing Blade Day 32: Chapter 31x to Chapter 32

Alright! Let's go shopping!

One thing that annoys me is that this is a side chapter, when it really shouldn't be. It's an objective net gain for the party with no risk, and not even any requirements to get it. Imagine the agony someone must have felt skipping this gaiden, assuming it might be too dangerous at this late stage, only to realize later that he basically said no to the last shopping opportunity he'd have for the rest of the game?

This talk about Ostia being some kind of frugal, anti-extravagance, Sparta-like country kind of seems like a complete non-sequitur and arguably a contradiction when it's brought up in response to someone saying “wow, look at all the shit you can buy here!”

Alright, so the game explains that that last letter really was from Uther, and that it was to make Oswin promise not to tell Hector if he dies, which he expected would happen soon.

Yeah, no, I don't like this explanation of why Uther refused to let Hector know he died. First off, if the “rushing to my side” thing he was talking about was after his death, then the thing he predicted happening decidedly did not happen. He's steadfastly determined to go with his friends and save the world, even if it means missing his brother's funeral, if that's indeed what he's talking about.

If he's talking about Hector needing to be at Uther's side at his deathbed, then why was Oswin told to hide his death, and not just the fact that he's dying?

...Moving on...

...This chapter has 10 deployment slots.

A 5 turn chapter where the objective is to visit a bunch of shops, and now you decide to let me deploy way more than I need?

Alright, anyway, I went through my inventory and cleared out a good 40+ storage slots, sold any excess promotion items (though not the fell contract, since I'm hoping to at least get an ending as a passable tactician), and got rid of everything in my storage that's mostly broken. Time to go shopping.

And on turn one, just as I was promised...

Karla shows up!

I have Bartre talk to her, making sure to let him borrow the iron rune just in case, and...

Wow, Bartre is... this is kinda hilarious how rash and bullheaded he was in his youth. This actually makes Fir's stupidity in FE6... kind of adorable. I never even recruited Bartre in FE6 and I can still picture him hearing about Fir's misadventures and going “Aw, you remind me of when I was your age!”

So now we get Karla, and... she's not as terrible as I was assuming when I heard about her, but she's still a swordlocked fragile speedster, and... okay, I compared her stats to Lyn's, and they're basically identical, with Karla having a bit more bulk and Lyn being a bit stronger and faster (though if it weren't for the energy ring, Karla would be stronger too, though on the other hand she's 4 levels higher). And I already struggle to justify using Lyn. No way I'm using Karla. Still... I'm glad I saw that scene. It was worth the minimal effort I put into training Bartre.

Ooh! I don't think I've heard this song in-game before! I just had Hector talk to Lyn. I heard they got a bonus conversation here if they were A rank.

Oh wow, this is cute. Seeing Lyn ridiculously tell Hector to hit her (and I could've sworn I saw her portrait do that tiny little hop the GBA portraits sometimes do) because she's frustrated at how she lashed out at Hector for reminding herself of how she was years before the story began...

“You think I can smack a woman?”

“It's okay, just don't think of me as a woman!”

I was hoping Hector's next line would've been something like “We are well past the point where I can do that” to indicate he's fallen in love with her, but no, he just flat-out says he's in love with her. A little disappointing, but I really like the writing here. Really, for 90% of the time, the actual character interactions and scenes like this are the best in the entire marathon so far, by a long shot. It's just that the actual story they're put in is confusing and poorly-mapped as all hell.

The village tells you “weapons and items can help build your fortune, so you should search every chest you come across”, and I'm like... “the fuck is the point of this?” Even if this weren't blatantly obvious advice, why the hell am I being told this now, a point where I don't know if there are even any chests left?

Anyway, I spent the chapter buying as much as I could of silvers, killers, thunders, elfires, heals, restores, hand axes, javelins, and a couple lancereavers for Lyn.

Both of my body rings went to Nino, because she's easily the one in most need of them. This literally doubles her constitution, while still leaving her petite enough to reasonably be rescued.

I wound up selling most of Bartre's mostly-broken inventory since I'm never using him again, and that plus using the body rings let me get two more hand axes and javelins each.

One quick thing before we finish up here: I actually really like the concept of this chapter. Having an entire chapter devoted to doing shopping isn't just a fun change of pace and a nice way to make sure the player actually has a full opportunity to prepare for the endgame: it also helps to really make the battles to follow feel more epic. The game gives you 30,000 gold and lets you go nuts. It really gives you a sense of “why are they being so generous? Just what the hell am I about to deal with?”.

Of course, the actual game has a serious problem with nothing being hard enough to make good on that tacit promise, but still, I'd love it if games with in-map shops did this more often.

And at the end, we get a bonus scene with Hector in the throne room, mourning his brother.

...This would be a lot better if he didn't bring up the politics we only just learned about at the very beginning of this chapter, shit that, may I remind you, was delivered via an incredibly clumsy borderline subject change.

...And then Nergal reveals... that all he needs to open the dragon's gate is Ninian's dragonstone and her quintessence. He didn't need the children themselves.

...I have to assume he only learned this now, but how? It doesn't seem like something he found out by accident, it was something he seemed confident would work. Did he not want to risk killing one of them to try it? Or did residual, instinctual memories of who he used to be make him incapable of killing his children or even ordering their death?

...Yeah, this is dumb. In fairness, the whole “we don't need you for the ritual anymore” thing is always frustrating and difficult to execute properly, and yet many plots almost demand it in order for the heroes to have any semblance of a victory along the way without invalidating the enemy's whole evil plan. But still... this feels... pointless.

Also, the heroes, who have no way of knowing this, are bringing Nils with them anyway despite assuming he needs Nils in order to carry out his plan, making that same mistake again as far as they know. But in fairness, when Nergal can basically teleport wherever he likes, is there really any safer place for him than with the heroes? I mean maybe Athos could come up with something, but yeah...

That said, the justification for why he isn't calling the dragons immediately is... decent enough. Wanting to have as much quintessence as he can before dealing with something as unpredictable and dangerous as a dragon is understandable.

This is also a safety precaution for controlling them, not a requirement in order to summon them at all, which is actually a surprisingly clever way to explain why he can still summon the dragon's forth as a last-breath “fuck you” to the party despite him failing in what he set out to do.

Oh shit, that reminds me, seeing Fargus's sprite. Something I forgot to point out before:

I like how this game actually made Dart's character design match the spritework of the pirate class, unlike Geese. Of course, Fargus himself is still completely different than the berserker, but it was nice. Now, giving the pirate class Geese's badass coat would have been cool too, especially since that'd also work for Fargus.

Damn it, Fargus was even willing to help! Even though we got Dart killed!

Why couldn't he be an optional character!?

...Oh. So they aren't bringing Nils. Or they didn't plan to. I mean, actually, I take back my concerns, that is the unwise action. If they weren't going to bring him with them, why did they bring him with them?

But anyway, Fargus... seems to use “forgetting” an item to give the group as an excuse to give Nils an opportunity to go with them, and as a result he saves their asses from a bolting blast.

And now I get to bring a whopping fifteen units, which is more than I think I've ever been allowed to bring so far, which naturally means there's going to be filler.

Also, I have 20 turns to clear this, and since Hector has 5 move and can only be rescued by Heath, I'd better step on it and clear this place fast.

Farina wound up falling off somewhere along the way. She and Heath were neck and neck for a while, but Heath's superior attack speed and power wound up being way more useful, and somehow in the chapters since Pale Flower of Darkness, Heath's gotten like 8 more levels than Farina. Thankfully, I've got silver lances to buff her damage output.

And of course the game gives us an Earth Seal at the start of the battle, which... okay, I was about to say “what the fuck good is anyone promoted this late going to do now?”, but... we all know that rhetorical question really doesn't work with this game.

We're near the end of the game, and there are still unpromoted units amongst the enemies. If I remember correctly, not even Sacred Stones did that.

I thought it was insane that most max rank runs barely promote anyone in order to maximize HP spread, but now... now I kinda believe it.

One issue though is the abundance of status staff users on this map, and there are three routes I have to head through. Thankfully, I now have three restorers, now what Canas reached C rank near the end of last chapter. Honestly, he's been disappointing basically the whole time, so I get why people say he should be promoted right away if you can spare the guiding ring. You have to be able to either dodgetank or facetank in order to function in this game. Player-phase combat is basically all but entirely useless if you can't do either, and Canas... can't do either. Promoting him early and training up his staff rank early definitely sounds like the best way to make him useful.

Honestly, while this isn't quite the same subject, it's made me think about stuff that eventually led to this subject, so I just wanna point this out now:

I don't like the funds rank. As a matter of fact, I kinda hate a lot of categories that Fire Emblem games rank you on. A lot of them, but funds especially, aren't measures of how much you kicked the game's ass, but how much you handicapped yourself and still won. It's clear that this game gives you a lot of stuff that, at max rank, it expects you to just deliberately not use, and how does that make you a good strategist? Why the fuck would historians think less of you for using everything at your disposal to save the world?

Honestly, I don't like doing ranked runs in general, and I'm glad that the series stopped trying to rank you. Mostly because in nearly every game that had them, it felt like the developers didn't want to make an actual, genuinely difficult game mode, and just decided to say “here, go handicap yourself a bunch instead”. I like challenge runs as much as the next guy, at least when they're interesting, but I like difficulty best when the game's satisfyingly difficult even when I use every tool the game gives me.

Alright, anyway, Pent and Louise, who are going with Marcus and Lowen to the east, have their talk. Apparently Athos is performing some kind of ceremony in Arcadia. Extra protection? I hope it's a magical ceremony, like synonymous with the word “ritual”, and not just some pointless social/cultural practice.

I dunno why, but I like this conversation between them.

...No, I do know why: it's just a wholesome, functional married relationship, which... given that support conversations largely deal with the building of relationships... is really rare. Yeah, this is one of very few times in the series where we get to see “support conversations” between people who are actually already in a committed relationship, and it's pretty nice.

I've decided that Hector's getting the speedwings. Giving 2 more speed to Marcus just doesn't seem like it'd be doing much. It wouldn't even let him double everything in his path on this map.

I always loved this map as a kid. It was this massive epic showdown with a ton of places to go, giving nearly everyone in your army a chance to kick some serious ass. And I do like the fact that there's lots of stuff to do and multiple places you need to go. These temples-

...These temples...

...Something just occurred to me.

Something horrible.

But lemme get back to that when the time comes. I'll give this game a chance to prove I'm remembering wrong.

...But as I was saying, as long-time readers may remember, one of my biggest complaints about FE4 was that despite this massive army you had, and despite the massive maps you had to travel across, there was almost never more than one thing to do at a time. It was actually kinda ridiculous how little there was to do on those maps. This chapter has a big map, but there's also tons of shit you have to do on it, and you have to do it at the same time. So if you want all of the rewards, you've gotta split your party instead of just rushing headlong towards the goal down one path.

This map has tripwire reinforcements, as in reinforcements that spontaneously appear, ready to act next enemy phase, when you move somewhere on the map. I... these have been horribly done in a few games I could name, but at least here they spawn far, far away from your units, so far that I don't think it's possible for your units to ever be in range of them by the time you trigger them. So I'll let this slide.

I gotta say, I'm impressed by the stats of some of these enemies. Anyone who isn't Priscilla is struggling to one-round a lot of them.

The time limit to get to the middle temple is really strict. I wound up having to rush in with Vaida, into the range of a berserk staff user, just to stop him. Which meant I had to rescue her out, since a berserk wyvern in the mountains where no restore staff can reach her is never a good thing. And due to the small timeframe, I had to use the last use of my rescue staff, since I hadn't hammerne'd it yet. Hopefully there isn't some super-important use of the rescue staff I'm gonna be missing now. I've still got a 5 use warp staff at any rate.

...In hindsight, I wish I used part of last chapter to hammerne shit.

Also in hindsight, I wish I bought fewer hand axes and javelins, and bought more silver weapons instead. A lot of these enemies can only reliably be one-rounded with powerful units with silver weapons, and... I mean yeah, ideally that's the point, there should be enemies you actually need silver weapons for, but I just kind of stopped thinking the game was capable of throwing shit like that at me, and assumed hand axes and javelins would be more useful, as they've been for 95% of the game so far.

A bolting sage nearly killed Farina because I forgot she was injured. Thankfully she dodged a 45ish percent chance.

These magic users are so terrible that...

...No, wait, Hector actually has surprisingly high resistance for a knight-like unit. He's got 12 at level 20/4. But still, these monks are really bad, if 12 resistance is enough to completely be immune to their attacks.

I nearly let the southeastern bandits get too close, but I managed to stop them in time by rushing in and finishing off the remaining enemies down there with a tag-team player phase attack from Pent, Louise, Marcus and Lowen.

Priscilla, amazingly, manages to beat Lowen to level 20/20. Her ability to use magic pretty much brings her over the top as my MVP of the endgame, despite Lowen being my overall MVP by a country mile.

Alright, time to seize the southeastern ruin, and...

...Yep. It's this conversation.

...Okay.

So.

I just finished speaking with Sophia.

Cute cameo.

Gave me a talisman.

Told me she wanted to talk to Athos.

This is, uh...

...This is that... thing I realized earlier about those temples/ruins.

I would just like to point out, for anyone who hasn't already noticed the glaring problem with this...

...that Sophia... a half dragon girl... is on Valor.

Someone with just as much dragon DNA as Nils and Ninian is just fucking hanging out in a temple, surrounded by elite soldiers who are loyal to a man who's been turning the fucking earth over for the past several years minimum trying to find someone with enough dragon blood to open the dragon's gate.

What the fuck is she doing in any Not-Arcadia, let alone this Not-Arcadia!?

How did she get here!? How did this small child, this child who canonically never approached martial competence in any conceivable timeline until 15 years later, wind up chilling in the ruins of the most dangerous fucking place on the continent for anyone with dragon blood!?

Also, these bandits are morphs. Makes sense, not a lot of people to steal from on the Dread Isle, but that means that whatever person was responsible for helping her get here did not have the means to protect her hiding spot from even the most basic of morphs.

Absolute best-case scenario: Some idiot helped her teleport to the Dread Isle for fuck knows why, Nergal found out and sent morphs to get her, and I just saved her from falling into the hands of Nergal.

Worst-case scenario: She's been living here for the past several years, in what's basically the big bad's goddamned backyard, and the game expects me to believe that fucking Sophia has eluded location and capture by a man who is enough steps towards omniscience that he can teleport across the continent at will and know where he's going, and seemingly knows where the heroes are at all times, and that all this time he's been hunting down Nils and Ninian, there's been a perfectly suitable replacement for those two practically within his fucking fingertips.

This is...

This is outrageously stupid.

I can't even conceive of an acceptable explanation for what's going on here.

This doesn't even feel like something the developers were even thinking about.

...Let's move on.

We've got Renault! His magic is terrible, but goodness his other stats are pretty awesome.

You know, before I knew about the frankly irresponsibly epic scope of Renault's backstory, I loved how this guy apparently only joined you because he wanted some peace and quiet and just wanted to get this battle over with.

I have an excuse to use one of the fortify uses right away, since all three units I sent that way wound up wounded at the same time and couldn't heal due to the rush to save the ruins.

Lyn actually became useful to dodgetank two extremely dangerous enemies (one with a killer bow, the other with fenrir) from a fort.

Apparently with a Hector support, Lyn is completely immune to crit, even on some enemies with killer weapons! So that's cool.

And now I've got Set's Litany, so I've got everything sorted out with the ruin-visiting.

But anyway, with the killer bow warrior and Fenrir druid baited, I can safely player-phase them. It's a shockingly basic bit of strategy, and the fact that the game's rewarding it now is... pretty damning of the rest of the game.

I'm very nearly in Limstella's bolting range, and I haven't even gotten to the end of turn 9 yet. Now I just need to deal with the sudden final onslaught of reinforcements.

Lowen's just finished up dealing with the corner valkyrie reinforcements, and Priscilla and Heath are just starting to deal with theirs. Meanwhile the rest of my army is in the middle, dealing with their massive wave of reinforcements until one of these sets of heavy hitters can arrive to help end this.

The number of reinforcements they're throwing at me here is...

...I mean I think it's everything wrong with FE7 kinda crystalized.

How long would this be taking me to do if I weren't fast-forwarding? Holy shit! This is just enemy phase city!

But the reinforcements seem to have stopped, and now I have 7 turns left to clear through what's left and seize.

…

…

…

…

FUCK.

HECTOR'S DEAD.

I GOT SO FUCKING CLOSE, BUT THEN I FORGOT HOW FUCKING POWERFUL LIMSTELLA IS, AND A BUNCH OF MAGES RUSHED RIGHT INTO HIS FACE TO FINISH HIM OFF AFTER SHE WOUNDED HIM, AND HE FAILED TO DODGE ANY OF THE 50% CHANCES.

Look, I know that I'm supposed to say that was my fault, because nothing hit me I couldn't have seen coming...

...But seriously, fuck this game for making combat so utterly mindless and then throwing in the very occasional punishment for not paying attention!

And I actually have to start this map over.

Just when I got to the end.

Damn it.

DAMN IT.

...Alright guys... I guess I'll see you all tomorrow.

Stay safe, everyone.

[Shadow Mir]

34 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

We're near the end of the game, and there are still unpromoted units amongst the enemies. If I remember correctly, not even Sacred Stones did that.

Actually, Sacred Stones does this as well.

37 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

And now I've got Set's Litany, so I've got everything sorted out with the ruin-visiting.

Speaking of which, Filla's Might, Thor's Ire, and Set's Litany all are callbacks to Genealogy.

[Interdimensional Observer]

With Nergal, there is a major rift between the Glimpse in Time flashback and the Athos spiel about their past together.

If Nergal had a family, why doesn't Athos know of it? They seem to have been very close friends, so why wouldn't Nergal have told Athos? It'd be extremely weird if Nergal had the family post-Athos meeting.

What I presume fills the rift is that Nergal went to get Aenir his wife, but obviously, he didn't get her. What exactly happened, why was she apart from her husband and two kids in the first place, who really knows? But, I presume she died, Nergal never returned to his children, and they crossed the Dragon's Gate on their own. Why didn't Nergal return? Was it grief to the point he couldn't drag himself to Valor before they would as he told them cross over?

Either:

• Nergal was so sensitive about the pain of losing his wife and never seeing his children again that he dare not even tell his best friend.
• Or, Nergal after Aenir's death was so traumatized he repressed every memory of his family, and woke up one day free of all sorrow a lone scholar. 
• Or, Nergal experimented with dark magic a bit after Aenir's death to try to resurrect her, but he messed up and his family memories were lost, but he didn't become a crazed husk as he later would.

I prefer the second possibility.

 

Another inquiry- why would Ninian and Nils forget/not mention they're half-human? Did they think the dragon half, understandably, outweigh any humanity when relating to HEL? If they forgot, then how would they not notice they're not exactly like other dragons in the world beyond the Gate?

 

40 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Worst-case scenario: She's been living here for the past several years, in what's basically the big bad's goddamned backyard, and the game expects me to believe that fucking Sophia has eluded location and capture by a man who is enough steps towards omniscience that he can teleport across the continent at will and know where he's going, and seemingly knows where the heroes are at all times, and that all this time he's been hunting down Nils and Ninian, there's been a perfectly suitable replacement for those two practically within his fucking fingertips.

Perhaps she was merely an illusion? A projected hologram, as Gotoh had done in Archanea and Jahn at the Dragon Temple? She quickly disappears after giving out Set's (or Ced? or Seti?) Litany. Not sure how or why she'd do that though. Athos not being in Arcadia ATM where she was is reasonable, considering he needed Aureola.

Also, compare Sophia's FE6 and 7 profile sprites:

Almost identical, but her hair is a shade lighter.

Edited April 23, 2020 by Interdimensional Observer

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Perhaps she was merely an illusion? A projected hologram, as Gotoh had done in Archanea and Jahn at the Dragon Temple? She quickly disappears after giving out Set's (or Ced? or Seti?) Litany. Not sure how or why she'd do that though. Athos not being in Arcadia where she was is reasonable, considering he needed Aureola.

Well, she gives the talisman, not Set's Litany, but more importantly, I don't see why she of all people would be the one to conjure the illusion, or how she has the power to teleport objects across the continent.

[Eltosian Kadath]

14 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

The village tells you “weapons and items can help build your fortune, so you should search every chest you come across”, and I'm like... “the fuck is the point of this?” Even if this weren't blatantly obvious advice, why the hell am I being told this now, a point where I don't know if there are even any chests left?

I think they are trying to hint at how the wealth rank works to goad players to try for another run with a better rank. That being said there are two chests left...if you get to 32x.

 

27 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

And of course the game gives us an Earth Seal at the start of the battle, which... okay, I was about to say “what the fuck good is anyone promoted this late going to do now?”, but... we all know that rhetorical question really doesn't work with this game.

Its almost tradition at this point to give out comically late promotion items. Zephiel could literally be the final boss of Binding Blade, but you can still steal a Hero's Crest off of him in case you need to promote someone at that point (and that isn't the last promotion item available in that game, as you can steal a guiding ring from Brunnya). FE5 has a knight's proof in a chest in 24x, which is near the end of the chapter, and thus moments before starting endgame. FE3 book two has an Orion's Bolt and Knight's crest in chest in chapter 20, which again could be the end of the game if you miss the good ending. FE1 has a guiding ring in chapter 23 where you face Gharnef (and a secret shop to buy more promotion items to boot). FE2 and FE4 only avoid this by having completely different promotion systems.

 

42 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Honestly, I don't like doing ranked runs in general, and I'm glad that the series stopped trying to rank you. Mostly because in nearly every game that had them, it felt like the developers didn't want to make an actual, genuinely difficult game mode, and just decided to say “here, go handicap yourself a bunch instead”. I like challenge runs as much as the next guy, at least when they're interesting, but I like difficulty best when the game's satisfyingly difficult even when I use every tool the game gives me.

I kinda miss ranked runs. They give the player a preset challenge run, that generally requires play that is just different enough from how most people play to still be interesting.

 

46 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

This map has tripwire reinforcements, as in reinforcements that spontaneously appear, ready to act next enemy phase, when you move somewhere on the map. I... these have been horribly done in a few games I could name, but at least here they spawn far, far away from your units, so far that I don't think it's possible for your units to ever be in range of them by the time you trigger them. So I'll let this slide.

That depends a bit on where you trigger them, its entirely possible to get close enough for the nomads to attack you after they spawn if you move too far north when you triggered them, and the bolting sage in the south can hit any flier that triggered them by crossing the mountains (RIP Vaida on my ironman...).

 

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Lowen's just finished up dealing with the corner valkyrie reinforcements, and Priscilla and Heath are just starting to deal with theirs. Meanwhile the rest of my army is in the middle, dealing with their massive wave of reinforcements until one of these sets of heavy hitters can arrive to help end this.

The number of reinforcements they're throwing at me here is...

...I mean I think it's everything wrong with FE7 kinda crystalized.

Fun fact up to 150 reinforcements can show up before turn 20, and another 128 show up after that on HHM. I am in full agreement that spam of that nature is everything wrong with FE7's gameplay crystalized.

[Alastor15243]

22 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Its almost tradition at this point to give out comically late promotion items. Zephiel could literally be the final boss of Binding Blade, but you can still steal a Hero's Crest off of him in case you need to promote someone at that point (and that isn't the last promotion item available in that game, as you can steal a guiding ring from Brunnya).

I remember when Mekkah used that in his reverse recruitment run to save his Karel from being permanently de-promoted. That was hilarious how something so stupid wound up saving him like it was intended for that purpose all along.

[Jotari]

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

I remember when Mekkah used that in his reverse recruitment run to save his Karel from being permanently de-promoted. That was hilarious how something so stupid wound up saving him like it was intended for that purpose all along.

Can you provide a bit more context for this? I don't get it.

 

Also re the Sophia stuff...Nergal is a dragon and full dragons are necessary! Accept the headcannon.

Edited April 24, 2020 by Jotari

[Alastor15243]

16 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Can you provide a bit more context for this? I don't get it.

 

Also re the Sophia stuff...Nergal is a dragon and full dragons are necessary!

In reverse recruitment, Karel is the lord. He starts out terrible because his growth rates get taken out of his stats as he's wound back  to level 1 unpromoted, but he quickly snowballs into a crazy unkillable god.

But he's still taking Roy's place, and he still has a story promotion. But since he was already promoted... he depromotes. So now he has Myrmidon Karel again (still pretty awesome, with 20s in basically everything, but nothing like he was before) and no hero crests since he sold them all.

But then he realizes Zephiel has one, so he works Karel up to level 10 throughout chapter 22 and then promotes him back for the final showdown.

Also, if your "Nergal's a full dragon" theory is true, I find it utterly bizarre that he wouldn't be able to use the dragon's gate. He strikes me as the sort of person who would have tried to open it himself, even if he was told only dragons could do it, simply because there's so much he can do already that seems impossible.

[Jotari]

6 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

In reverse recruitment, Karel is the lord. He starts out terrible because his growth rates get taken out of his stats as he's wound back  to level 1 unpromoted, but he quickly snowballs into a crazy unkillable god.

But he's still taking Roy's place, and he still has a story promotion. But since he was already promoted... he depromotes. So now he has Myrmidon Karel again (still pretty awesome, with 20s in basically everything, but nothing like he was before) and no hero crests since he sold them all.

But then he realizes Zephiel has one, so he works Karel up to level 10 throughout chapter 22 and then promotes him back for the final showdown.

Ah, so the forced story promotion depromotes a promoted unit. That's bizzare.

 

7 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Also, if your "Nergal's a full dragon" theory is true, I find it utterly bizarre that he wouldn't be able to use the dragon's gate. He strikes me as the sort of person who would have tried to open it himself, even if he was told only dragons could do it, simply because there's so much he can do already that seems impossible.

Two possible answers to this. One you have provided me

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...And then Nergal reveals... that all he needs to open the dragon's gate is Ninian's dragonstone and her quintessence. He didn't need the children themselves.

He doesn't have his own dragon stone, which is a requirement. The other answer is that he actually can open the gate, only using his own quintessence would kill him, and that's precisely what he does in his dying moments.

[Acacia Sgt]

Geez guys, don't complicate it.

Whatever Nergal did to not age before discovering the Quintessence method, it would apply to Athos as well, since he too was able to live for centuries... and kept living for centuries, since he didn't follow the same path. Brammimond too. Unless you want to theorize both of them were dragons too...

That said, Hasha no Tsurugi goes the route Athos was already old-ish back in the day.

Top-right. At least, he certainly has the look, what with the beard and all. Hard to tell with the black and white illustration...

[Alastor15243]

3 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Geez guys, don't complicate it.

Whatever Nergal did to not age before discovering the Quintessence method, it would apply to Athos as well, since he too was able to live for centuries... and kept living for centuries, since he didn't follow the same path. Brammimond too. Unless you want to theorize both of them were dragons too...

That said, Hasha no Tsurugi goes the route Athos was already old-ish back in the day.

Top-right. At least, he certainly has the look, what with the beard and all. Hard to tell with the black and white illustration...

The issue is that Nergal, Athos and Brammimond's forms of longevity are all... quite different from each other. Brammimond I get the sense doesn't age because he no longer has any real genuine form to age. Athos has lived a long while but is still clearly an old man, while Nergal's lived about as long as Athos and yet barely appears to have aged a day in all of that time.

[Acacia Sgt]

1 minute ago, Alastor15243 said:

The issue is that Nergal, Athos and Brammimond's forms of longevity are all... quite different from each other. Brammimond I get the sense doesn't age because he no longer has any real genuine form to age. Athos has lived a long while but is still clearly an old man, while Nergal's lived about as long as Athos and yet barely appears to have aged a day in all of that time.

If you take Hasha at face value, then Athos has not aged a day either. He was already old to begin with.

Think Kraden in Golden Sun Dark Dawn...

Edited April 24, 2020 by Acacia Sgt

[ping]

5 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I kinda miss ranked runs. They give the player a preset challenge run, that generally requires play that is just different enough from how most people play to still be interesting.

I agree. A challenge that makes Lv.3 Wil fielded in HHM Ch.27 a good idea has to be interesting  

--

Please ignore this if you don't want any hints:

Spoiler

You can actually avoid the Knight squad and the Heroes to your north, as well as the reinforcement zone they're in. They only move if there's something in their range. Just send a flyer with the Delphi Shield over the mountain range (maybe with another combat unit in their backpack) to get Renault and canto out of the Heroes' range when doing so.

Means that you don't have to spread yourself quite as thin and maybe seize before (or at least immediately after) the big reinforcement spam starts in turn 9)

I think I'll try and work my way through 74 pages of text over the next few... days? Weeks? I enjoy the way your narrate (and judge stupid things).

[Alastor15243]

3 hours ago, ping said:

I agree. A challenge that makes Lv.3 Wil fielded in HHM Ch.27 a good idea has to be interesting  

--

Please ignore this if you don't want any hints:

  Reveal hidden contents

You can actually avoid the Knight squad and the Heroes to your north, as well as the reinforcement zone they're in. They only move if there's something in their range. Just send a flyer with the Delphi Shield over the mountain range (maybe with another combat unit in their backpack) to get Renault and canto out of the Heroes' range when doing so.

Means that you don't have to spread yourself quite as thin and maybe seize before (or at least immediately after) the big reinforcement spam starts in turn 9)

I think I'll try and work my way through 74 pages of text over the next few... days? Weeks? I enjoy the way your narrate (and judge stupid things).

I hope you enjoy it!

[Alastor15243]

Blazing Blade Day 33: Chapter 32, Take 2

Well, at least I have the rescue staff again. I hammerne'd it with Canas, since it's apparently a C rank staff in this game. So now I can do the Vaida strat without losing the rescue staff forever. Man, I always tend to underuse the hammerne staff. I think the only time I completely used it was in my run of FE3 Book 2. And I mean, like, ever. Every other time, I'm always so scared to use the thing I completely forget about it.

Anyway, much of the same stuff happens as last time. I manage to correct a couple minor mistakes similar to the rescue-breaking thing, but nothing really worth commenting on.

I'm having Canas spam recover because it's really only good for the weapon exp, and he's the only one with a weapon rank good enough to use it but low enough to benefit from the weapon exp.

Curiously, for the second time in a row, the sniper by the fenrir druid and the killer bow warrior decided to attack Lyn with the silver bow instead of the longbow, despite her having her short bow equipped.

One thing I'm doing differently this time is rushing forward with Heath, Renault and Priscilla, instead of hanging back by the northern ruins, when the northern valkyries arrive. Trying to hold them off by the bridge to the east rather than the cliffs by the ruins, so that I can arrive to help fight Limstella sooner and have someone who can safely waste her bolting, since Hector is decidedly not up for that job when other mages are around.

Having a way to approach from the north also seems to be diverting a lot of the reinforcements, which should help me clear this out sooner.

Looks like the enemy spam got so ridiculous that the game tried to add reinforcements but hit the 50 unit limit. Seriously, what is sending the exact same wave at me turn after turn supposed to test?

Also, I got Nino and Jaffar's A support during all of this enemy-phase nonsense. It's... kind of dumb, given that it's a misunderstanding, and it doesn't make much sense why Jaffar would start saying “I want to marry you” by saying “I can't be your friend anymore” (but I guess he would be socially awkward), but I do think it's odd that Nino immediately starts yelling at him without letting him finish, assuming he's abandoned her. I mean I'd totally understand if that's what years of mistreatment as a child did to her, but she always seemed to me to be more optimistic than that, even in the face of all of her adversity. She doesn't seem very good at assuming the worst of people, given how long it took her to see her “mother” for who she really was.

That said, having Jaffar say he swears never to leave her “on [his] heart” is a pretty great last line for this support.

Honestly, this relationship as a whole is pretty cute. The only problem is that perpetually looming issue over this entire relationship where, y'know, we don't know how old Jaffar is. Granted, he's definitely developmentally stunted in many ways due to his fucked-up upbringing, so I don't think he's really in a position to take advantage of the age difference if there is one, but... depending on how old he is, this relationship could still be pretty damnd creepy. I hope a remake does something to clear it up.

I've got six turns left to fight through this, and I'm starting to run low on weapons.

If I can't make it... oh that's gonna suck.

Alright.

The reinforcements finally stopped.

3 turns away from the turn limit, and the reinforcements finally stopped.

Thank god. For a second I thought the game was going to suddenly expect me to seize the gate while wading through perpetual reinforcements. I might have been able to manage that, given that Priscilla and Heath had finally arrived, along with Marcus and Lowen, but given they were all running very low on ranged weapon uses... I don't want to bet on it.

And of course, we get Limstella's famous last words:

“I am not human.

This body and this heart are constructs.

Yes, as is this sorrow.”

And I mean... wow.

Like I've said before, this game's writing gives me whiplash. The worldbuilding and plot at times feel like complete ill-thought-out gibberish. Meanwhile the actual writing, as in the things people say, is great, and at times fantastic.

They managed to, in a quote that is only three syllables longer than a haiku, make me feel bad for the big bad's seemingly-emotionless artificial right-hand-woman, who has had literally no character development or sympathetic moments until just at the beginning of this chapter where Nergal tells her all the magic he put into her means she's going to die in less than 24 hours.

It manages to drive home something horrifying, something that you probably didn't notice at the time it was first revealed because the person who first demonstrated it is a massive sack of shit.

Morphs... can have feelings.

They're fanatically devoted to their master and are capable of horrible things, but these are living, breathing, sentient creatures that Nergal has created for the express purpose of living as his slaves.

The game heavily implies, with that line, that Limstella isn't a cold and heartless killing machine, but that she's simply been made to believe she is because that's what her master needed of her. All her master saw was a being incapable of emotion, and so she convinced herself the emotions she did have weren't real.

...Oh wow.

I just found a fan theory that's very interesting.

Someone noticed Limstella's pointed-looking ears, noticed Nergal describing her as having “perfect beauty”, and did a recolor of her to see how she looks with Ninian's color palette...

...and suspects that Limstella was modeled after Aenir.

Created from his residual memories of his long-forgotten wife.

That would be amazing, but alas, there's very little to support it beyond those things. The pointed ears is interesting though, but I just checked, and Sonia has that slightly “pointed” look to the ears too.

...Anyway, let's move on.

I bought a few physics and a barrier with my remaining gold, so let's seize and get out of here.

Hector saying he thought the battle was going to go on forever...

You and me both, buddy.

You and me both.

...And now Nils tells his and Ninian's story at Eliwood's request, which...

Honestly, I wish they'd do this while moving, and not just make it seem like they're stopping in the middle of nowhere for storytime.

So, Nils describes the voice that called out to them from beyond the dragon's gate as “the voice of an old friend”.

Is it ever explained why they don't remember more of who it is? I mean, do dragons just not have good memories of things that happened centuries ago?

...Also, they say they found humans in the new dimension they fled to through the dragon's gate. Was that where Aenir met Nergal?

Also, while people say the dragon's gate is a bit of an ass pull when it comes to the lore, I do remember Yahn saying that the divine dragons left the world somehow, and this could very easily be the way they did that.

...However...

Why are the fire dragons who come through the gate instantly wild and mad and feral, if they're supposed to be part of an intelligent society with architecture and culture?

Hooooooold on.

So they say when they went through the gate...

They were suddenly subject to the laws of physics that keep dragons from being able to survive in their dragon forms, so they had to put their energy in a dragon stone...

...And they just happened to have one of those on them in the other world when they went through the gate, despite them not needing them there, and despite dragonstones not being necessary for damn near a thousand fucking years?

“But Alastor! They were about to go through the dragon's gate! Surely they came prepared!”

NOPE!

They explicitly describe being subjected to the Elibian laws of physics as “unexpected”, and their efforts to seal their dragon forms away as a desperate last-minute measure they undertook.

And their dragonstone was then stolen by Nergal.

How the fuck much time did they have to do all of that before Nergal captured them? Wasn't he the one who called them forth? Was Nergal lying in wait to trick them into doing that so he could steal it? Was it a psychotically unrealistic gamble that they'd even have a dragonstone to seal their forms away with in the first place, given that their society apparently remembers that they fled their homeworld, but has completely forgotten why!?

WHEN THE EXILE WAS IN LIVING FUCKING MEMORY FOR THEIR RACE!?

That said, I love this artwork of Nils and Ninian fleeing from a smoky mass of shadowy humanoids reaching out for them. Funny thing though, I always remembered there being a lantern in Nils's left hand, but apparently no, there isn't one.

Also, I love Elbert's role in this story, emotionally saving the siblings when they were at the point where they wanted to kill themselves to keep Nergal from being able to call forth any more-

...call forth any more...

any more...

call forth...

dragons.

…

...What.

WHAT.

I'm sorry, but I just realized this is bullshit.

So Nergal didn't fucking need a dragonstone or a dragon to communicate through the portal and lure Nils and Ninian through!?

Why the fuck hasn't he been trying that method again, that method of trying to trick dragons on the other side into opening it on their end, in all the time that Nils and Ninian have been missing!?

AND ALSO, WHILE I'M FUCKING AT IT...

WHY IS NERGAL IMMEDIATELY ABLE TO SUMMON VIOLENT, BLOODTHIRSTY FERAL FIRE DRAGONS BOTH TIMES HE TRIES THIS...

WHEN THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DRAGON'S GATE APPARENTLY HAD A FUCKING TEMPLE BUILT AROUND IT!?

NILS AND NINIAN WERE AT FUCKING PRAYER WHEN THEY HEARD NERGAL'S VOICE!

IS DRAGON RELIGION JUST LIKE THE WORST OR SOMETHING!?

…

…

HHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!

...Okay.

I'm calm.

That's... that's the end of the map. Tomorrow we do 32x.

So I guess I'll see you then.

Stay safe, guys.

Stay safer than this story's integrity.

[Interdimensional Observer]

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...And they just happened to have one of those on them in the other world when they went through the gate, despite them not needing them there, and despite dragonstones not being necessary for damn near a thousand fucking years?

Or, they created one. I've always assumed as basic truth that dragonstones aren't special rocks you find in nature. They're the power of dragons super-condensed and crystalized outside their bodies. The limited uses thing I've regarded as gameplay-only.

-Except Myrrh explicitly says "until its power runs out". Though it could be, for she is no Tiki with excessive internal power, that as a young Manakete- in a world where Manaketes have no real explanation- she can't generate enough power to create a new stone if she needed it, it'd take maturity and years of rest to build up the power for a Dragonstone.

As having just been in dragon form for a thousand years and Ninian being very powerful, under this idea, Nils and Ninian could've created a Dragonstone with no difficulty.

 

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Morphs... can have feelings.

They're fanatically devoted to their master and are capable of horrible things, but these are living, breathing, sentient creatures that Nergal has created for the express purpose of living as his slaves.

Don't forget the Canas-Renault support.

Canas: Bishop, I must ask you… Do you think these morphs have souls?
Renault: Souls?
Canas: Yes. I am dreadfully curious to know. The Elimineans say that all creatures possess souls… All those created by the gods, that is. But what of those created by man? And these manufactured beings… do they dream? Do they think–and suffer–as we do? Or must their emotions be…crafted…by another?

...

Renault: You asked me before… Whether or not morphs had a soul… What do you think?
Canas: …… Before…I would have said that I do not know… But now, perhaps I do… Morphs…do have souls… That is what I believe…
Renault: …That is not a bad answer. Your reply deserves another good answer…

Renault, why did they create his character but include him so late?

 

 

And, Nergal is the utterly erratic Master of Missed Opportunities. I might have counted five lost chances before, but now you've added a sixth. Manfroy might have been stupid to brainwash Julia instead of executing her, but he was otherwise extremely successful, maybe too much, since it made his failure all too sudden. And then the mastermind of Tellius wins on a combination of success, failure, and unforeseen events that amount to pure luck.

FE might love the manipulative mages trying to seize the world, but their track records are distinct, that you could say.

 

One question, did Genesis kick off with this for you?:

Kishuna:
“…………”

(Flashback)

Nergal:
“…I name you Kishuna. You are the only morph to whom I’ve given emotions. It won’t suffice simply to refer to you as a number. It is said man was sculpted by the hands of the gods. If so, then you, who were sculpted by these, my hands… And I, whose labors gave you breath and life… What are we, then? What does that make us? In your fabricated heart, which I gave unto you, what is it that you believe, Kishuna?”

(End flashback)

Kishuna:
“…………”

Or did missing a Imprisioner of Magic and A Glimpse in Time cause you to not see it?

Edited April 24, 2020 by Interdimensional Observer

[Alastor15243]

14 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

One question, did Genesis kick off with this for you?:

Kishuna:
“…………”

(Flashback)

Nergal:
“…I name you Kishuna. You are the only morph to whom I’ve given emotions. It won’t suffice simply to refer to you as a number. It is said man was sculpted by the hands of the gods. If so, then you, who were sculpted by these, my hands… And I, whose labors gave you breath and life… What are we, then? What does that make us? In your fabricated heart, which I gave unto you, what is it that you believe, Kishuna?”

(End flashback)

Kishuna:
“…………”

Or did missing a Imprisioner of Magic and A Glimpse in Time cause you to not see it?

No, I saw that. Sorry I didn't mention as much, but I didn't have much to comment on.

Can you list all of those missed opportunities for me? I'd be curious to see them.

Edited April 24, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Interdimensional Observer]

Just now, Alastor15243 said:

Can you list all six of those missed opportunities for me? I'd be curious to see them.

To copy an old post of mine, modified:

1. Tricks Ninian and Nils to crossing over the Dragon's Gate. Doesn't summon more dragons. Why? Maybe not enough quintessence to control them, which would be reasonable if he was just testing out the Gate when Ninian and Nils came over. If he couldn't lure anyone through the Gate, he couldn't open it and collecting quintessence for the task would be meaningless. -But this is a pure assumption on my part with no evidence to back it.
2. An undefined period of time when Nergal had Elbert and N&N, yet he didn't open the Gate then. This opportunity was lost when N&N tried to escape Dread Isle. And despite having Elbert, Nergal still tried to start a war in Lycia, which provided the trail of connections which led LEH to Dread Isle. So, had Nergal abandoned his Lycia plans and just offered up Elbert, who had enough Quintessence it would later turn out to open the Gate, all would have gone over well for him.
3. Hector C21- Nergal tries using Ninian to open the Dragon's Gate. Despite not having started the war he was planning to get a massive amount of quintessence from, Nergal is able to get the necessary amount just from killing Elbert. Tries to kill LEH via the Fire Dragon summoned, but Nils interrupts the summoning and the Fire Dragon dies caught between dimensions. Before Nergal can kill LEH and recapture N&N, the dying Elbert stabs Nergal with what must be a random small knife badly enough that Nergal must flee and heal his wounds to the point he can control dragons again by gathering fresh quintessence, this is until Hector C29.
4. Nergal, who must have been keeping an eye on LEH the whole time, comes to take N&N after C29, and despite having the power to take both siblings and LEH, he agrees to Ninian's begging and takes only her. Leaving a "parting gift" of a magical blast that could have killed everyone, but didn't because Athos was there. Athos for some reason doesn't attack Nergal, which could have kept him from dragon summoning. With Ninian in tow and himself in good health, Nergal could have summoned dragons, but he doesn't. Nergal shifts Ninian and lets her run off to Eliwood.
5. This brings up the Hector C30 opportunity, where Nergal shows up after Ninian is killed. Why? Probably to collect the quintessence of her mentioned before, though he does say he's there for Nils too, since Ninian refused to obey him. Needing Ninian's obedience is odd since Nergal didn't need it back in HC21 when he brainwashed her, and the Fire Dragons he planned to summon certainly wouldn't obey him of their own accord. However, in showing up to mock Eliwood in his misery and get Ninian's essence and Nils, Nergal, just as he is about to kill LEH, is attacked by Athos for 5 displayed damage, in response to which he say: Nergal:
   “The purest fire… Flame breath [mistranslation of "Forblaze"]. Very impressive, Archsage Athos. However… However, fire is no longer my foe! Look! Not even a legendary blade can cause me harm! At long last, I am impervious! Ha ha…ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!”
6. After this laugh, Nergal teleports away. And then tells Limstella the injury leaves him incapable of controlling dragons now, since he already went through the Black Fang's quintessence reserves. While it seems that Limstella's power augmentations were done shortly before LEH showed up for the final battle, I think this implies the Black Fang Super Replicas made with the BF essences of the originals were done earlier than that, unless they're cheap to make (then why didn't he make more?). Nergal fails to kill the heroes in the final battle, thus losing his final chance to control dragons and the world. 

[Jotari]

4 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Or, they created one. I've always assumed as basic truth that dragonstones aren't special rocks you find in nature. They're the power of dragons super-condensed and crystalized outside their bodies. The limited uses thing I've regarded as gameplay-only.

Xane also says the Divine Dragon Stones were used up. Though I don't see them having a limited use as contradicting the idea that they can produce one of their own. It'd made from their own power and their power is finite.

4 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

 

1. After this laugh, Nergal teleports away. And then tells Limstella the injury leaves him incapable of controlling dragons now, since he already went through the Black Fang's quintessence reserves. While it seems that Limstella's power augmentations were done shortly before LEH showed up for the final battle, I think this implies the Black Fang Super Replicas made with the BF essences of the originals were done earlier than that, unless they're cheap to make (then why didn't he make more?). Nergal fails to kill the heroes in the final battle, thus losing his final chance to control dragons and the world. 

While we're at it, why did Nergal create Morphs identical to dead Black Fang members? Did he have their quintessence and making some kind of clone morph was better suited to it's use? Or is it just a bizzare sentimental streak he has? If it's the latter, then where the hell is Jaffar's morph? And if it's the former when did he get everyone but Brandon's quintessence. He wasn't exactly hanging out at the Shrine of Seals or the Black Fang hideout from what we see.

Edited April 25, 2020 by Jotari

[Alastor15243]

Blazing Blade Day 34: Chapter 32x

We haven't even finished the opening narration and the game's plot disappoints me yet again.

This side chapter apparently takes place in some old ruins the party discovers on the way to the Dragon's Gate.

Was that not the Dragon's Gate that Limstella was guarding!? The place we were already right outside!?

The reason why they take the detour (to avoid being ambushed from behind), I mean... initially I was like “fair enough”, but... no! Nergal can teleport his soldiers at will! The Denning chapter explicitly demonstrated that! If he wants to ambush you, he'll ambush you, and he wouldn't hide his soldiers in a place where they could be attacked before the ambush!

...Also, is it ever explained why Kishuna, who can't fight and can't harvest quintessence by Nergal's own confirmation, and is completely dead to his creator with no support or backing whatsoever, commands the loyalty of hundreds of morphs?

Curious. This chapter mentions the previous gaiden chapter, 23x... but not 19x, the original Kishuna one that I missed. Does the game change what Nils says here depending on which gaidens you visited, if any? I didn't see “visit 23x” as a requirement for this chapter, and it would be curious if that were the case and it didn't also require 19x.

This is... surreal. I feel like I'm playing FE3 again, where half of the endgame enemies were berserkers with devil axes. Every single enemy on this map right now, besides Kishuna, is a berserker, which... is odd, because in the cutscene it was a much more diverse variety. And what's more, most of them have devil axes.

There has to be something more complicated than this waiting for me, knowing how the last chapter went.

Anyway, this is a really small chapter with only five deployment slots, so I'm going to use the opportunity to train Hector and, why not? Let's train Lyn too, since she's his support partner. Might as well. And I'll also be taking the opportunity to train Canas's staff rank up so we have another physic user for endgame, and I'll bring Renault because I really wanna see some of his supports, and apparently he has one with Canas.

OH WOW.

I just realized, apparently Kishuna has a history with Renault, and yet we can't see a boss conversation because Renault is incapable of fighting while Kishuna is around. What a tragic missed opportunity!

Anyway, that only leaves room for Legault for the chests. Unless... no, no need to reset! I've got chest keys! I can still bring Nils.

...And literally enemy phase one, Lyn gets one-shot with a swordslayer because I didn't check the weapons these enemies were carrying. DAMN IT.

My bad, totally my bad, and yet, also, while we're on the fucking subject...

WHO THE FUCK THOUGHT THE SWORDSLAYER WAS A GOOD IDEA!?

WHY THE FUCK DO SWORDLOCKED UNITS, IN A GAME WHERE EVERYONE CAN DOUBLE, NEED A FUCKING SLAYER WEAKNESS!?

Lyn has gotten ridiculously speed-screwed post promotion. She's three speed less than she should be. She's still an amazingly good dodgetank when she has the right terrain, and of course speed isn't all that important, but due to her low con, I'd really appreciate it if she had more. She actually failed to double one of these berserkers with a lancereaver.

And Canas is at B rank staves pretty quick into the chapter, thanks to Nils helping out while Lyn and Hector fight the massive storm of berserkers.

Lyn's getting pretty great strength, though. Actually, with 20 at level 10 (thanks to that energy ring), she's on track to cap!

Meanwhile, Hector got two astonishingly terrible level ups, which isn't the worst thing in the world, since he's still really tough, but it was an annoying contrast, since Lyn's actually been turning out pretty okay with level ups so far.

Just in case berserkers start coming from the stairs by our starting position (where Canas and Renault are hanging out so they can use physic on Hector and Lyn), I have Merlinus park himself there, since if someone does show up, Canas and Renault can't do anything about it but let him come to them.

Hector makes up for his previous two level ups with a level where he gains strength and defense. In fact, he gets several such level ups, once again decidedly bringing him into absurdly blessed territory in those stats.

These enemies are absurdly high level, which makes this a shockingly good training opportunity as long as you pay attention to their axes and bring units good at fighting them.

The chests had a second fortify and a runesword. Now, this is definitely better than the light brand unless I'm missing something, because this at least heals you when you attack.

Hector's capped defense and strength at level 16. Holy cow, this chapter is just about the exact opposite of the last Kishuna chapter. Absurdly easy unless you aren't paying attention, and basically just free loot.

It's been 37 turns just waiting for the reinforcements to dry up and then navigating through the level, and Renault and Canas still haven't gotten their support. Looks like it's waiting time.

Ah, looks like it only took a few more turns.

...Canas says he's “heard” that Renault's been to the Dread Isle.

Canas, it's impossible for you to not be on the Dread Isle when having this conversation. Could you phrase that in a way that doesn't make it sound like you've never been there?

And he asks about “the creatures with the eyes of gold”, as if he hasn't already seen them up close multiple times so far.

That said, once they get into the actual philosophical meat of the conversation, this is an interesting follow-up to Limstella's death, as was mentioned earlier in the thread.

Of course, the second Lyn opens the door, two sword-slayer berserkers arrive in attacking range, as a tripwire spawn.

Pretty shitty trap, all told, especially considering that 90% of the time, people who open doors use swords. Thankfully I anticipated something like this, and I have Hector on hand to get in front of her.

Lyn's reached a B rank in bows, meaning she can actually use the brave bow. That's awesome, but I'm also gonna have to bring Pent and Louise to get their last conversation, so I don't think she'll be the one carrying it.

Kishuna was barely worth any experience at all, tragically. But no matter, the rest of the chapter sure as hell was. Especially since I got to keep milking the reinforcements that showed up after the door was opened.

Honestly, the ending where the big dramatic pre-final-battle music plays only makes it feel more obvious how out of place this chapter is before the final battle.

But before the final battle it is.

Which means (since as I've said before, I've promised to stop dropping the finale of the game on you out of nowhere as a random bonus episode) that tomorrow will be the end of Blazing Blade, and then on Monday we'll be going on to Sacred Stones!

See you tomorrow!

Stay safe, everyone!