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

[Interdimensional Observer]

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

And now in the big “talking with the Gemstone Generals” cutscene, Vigarde apparently is under the impression that Ephraim is commander of the Frelian army, which is... I mean... if he's commander, what's Innes? How do military ranks work here? The game surely isn't suggesting that Ephraim is Innes's equal or even superior in authority, right?

Innes is busy going off to Jehanna, he doesn't need his nation's military for that and I would think he can see that. I'm sure that if he were joining in the invasion of Grado, he and Ephraim would have to split the leadership, and Innes would be very standoffish bickering to Ephraim about whats the right course of action.

 

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

So by the sound of things in the narration, despite Hayden saying he can't provide troops, Ephraim, a non-Frelian, seems to have been given some authority over the Frelian army. Isn't that... a problem? That sounds like it would be a problem.

Maybe IRL, but not by FE standards.:

• In the War of Shadows Marth took over Nyna & Hardin's forces and formed the Archanean League. Altea was barely present in the League, probably just the few playable retainers from Chapter 1 and maybe a few invisibles. The rest would've been: some mercs hired by Talys, some rebellious souls from all over the continent willing to serve Nyna, and lots of Aurelians since it was based in the undefeated Aurelis. Marth commanding the coalition wasn't a problem, retroactively ala FE11 the only minor issue was who of Marth and Hardin would claim the majority of the fame in posterity.
• Seliph's Liberation Army's invisible masses could've been mostly Issachan. Because Prince Shannan was like a brother to Seliph, he could command its authority without any problems.
• Roy commanded the Etrurian Army in FE6 after Chapter 16. Merlinus expressed concern at the end of Chapter 7 that Lycia relying on Etruria for protection be humiliating- but Merlinus is always wrong. And despite Etruria sending the Lycian Army on a campaign of distraction and attempted destruction in the Western Isles, when the time came to invade Ilia/Sacae and Bern, there were no issues labeling the Etrurian-Lycian combined force solely "the Etrurian Army".
• Runan in TearRing Saga (released before FE6) used soldiers from the island kingdom of Welt to return to the mainland for his war with the Canaan Empire. He helped the kingdom with internal conspiracy and his dad was friends with the now-dead King of Welt, so no probs with borrowing its military.
• And, Ike would later command Begnion battalions to reclaim Crimea. It is here and here alone that there is significant discussion of leadership and national pride, since Crimea relying on Begnion with additional support from the Laguz nations for liberation, while in practice necessary, is considered to be problematic, if not as severely so as Soren once argues it would be. Come RD, Ike the glorious hero becomes commander of the Crimean-Apostle-Laguz army because everyone from the assembled nations respects him, but he continues to have war councils with Skrimir, Ranulf, and Tibarn.

Ephraim would not be the first nor the last foreigner all but once a prince in FE to lead an army not of his own country. A friendly neighbor is never not willing to loan its manpower against a common enemy and pass on the leadership to the man in exile.

[Shadow Mir]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

I'm happy people enjoy my observations.

Speaking of observations, how much of a surprise was it for you to learn that Louise was pregnant all that time? And this isn't the only instance this series has of that...

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Oh dear lord.

This is a bittersweet feeling.

After all the grief it gave me...

Jesus Christ, luna tome, what have they done to you?

The thing's been nerfed by 5 uses, 45% hit, and 10 crit. It was frustrating before, true, but now... now it's just... pointless. Before, it was put on enemies capable of one-shotting anyone with insufficient crit evade. Now it's just another attack, and one you'll almost never get hit by.

Yeah. Makes dark magic pretty much pointless, as if the dark Sacred twin being absolute shit wasn't enough. And to add insult to injury, the only dark mages are the two worst mages in the game (admittedly, in spite of all this, Knoll is surprisingly useful, since he can be insta-promoted to Summoner). I have trouble deciding if this or Radiant Dawn was the worst showing for dark magic.

[Icelerate]

On 5/8/2020 at 4:07 PM, Alastor15243 said:

...Honestly, Eirika's last meaningful positive contribution to the plot was back in Chapter 1, when she convinced Seth they should rescue Tana and then secured a few more soldiers for them. Past that point, this story so far would have gone almost exactly the same if Eirika had died shortly afterwards and begged them all to press on to save Ephraim. Exactly the same, except the Lunar Brace wouldn't have been stolen twice.

Are you going through the same story as I am. In chapter 3, Eirika forgives Colm which gives her a useful thief in her party. Seth would have preferred not to do so. 

Spoiler

Colm:
“…Hey, wait! Let us go with you. You can’t just leave us here.”

Seth:
“Pardon?”

Colm:
“Neimi and I… We’ve got no home to return to. No matter where we go, there’s just gonna be more fighting. You’re mercenaries, right? Well, then take us with you. I’m a handy guy to have around. I know I can help you out.”

Seth:
“I would prefer not, but I’ll agree with Eirika’s decision. Our duty is a grave one however. We’ve no time to waste shepherding you.”

 

"Past that point, this story so far would have gone almost exactly the same if Eirika had died shortly afterwards and begged them all to press on to save Ephraim."

This point is very speculative as we don't know how the story would have gone if Eirika were to die. The fact you get a game-over implies the story would not be able to continue without her. Also in chapter 4, after fighting a bunch of monsters, Seth suggested they retreat but Eirika insisted on going forward.

Spoiler

Seth:
“Princess Eirika, perhaps it would be wise to return to Frelia and regroup. Pressing forward seems foolish in light of recent events. We cannot face both Grado’s forces and more of those terrible things.”

Eirika:
“Seth, I follow your point, and nothing would please me more then running for safety. But what of my brother? He and his men are still trapped in the same situation we are. I know full well that I may be leading us into even greater danger, but… Please try to understand.”

 

 

Quote

My point is that Seth has really been the one doing all of the actual work in this story. Eirika hasn't really done much of anything in a while, she's just this VIP that Seth, the real driving force of the story, has been escorting around. It's... kind of sad, really. I think this might be a big part of why people hate Eirika so much. If this continues, yeah, I can totally see her as among the worst main characters. Like with Corrin, her fuckups stand out all the more because she hasn't established herself as much of a positive influence on the plot otherwise. Just like with Corrin, aside from her compassion demonstrated in Chapter 1, nearly everything of value she contributes to the story hinges upon what she is, and not what she does.

Yes because Eirika is less experienced than Seth is, so early on, it stands to reason she'd rely on Seth before becoming a fully fledged leader. 

[Alastor15243]

16 minutes ago, Icelerate said:

Yes because Eirika is less experienced than Seth is, so early on, it stands to reason she'd rely on Seth before becoming a fully fledged leader. 

I forgot about Colm so I'll grant you that. The mention of game over stuff is... well it's getting into semantics of what the "game over" scene means. Plenty of games give you a game over simply for not following the story, even when the game later reveals that the "fail state" you reached would have actually been a happy ending. Penumbra Black Plague has a REALLY good example of this.

But I take issue with this quoted passage, because really, that's the situation every lord so far has been in, and none of them are nearly as dependent on their advisors as Eirika is. Roy, Leif, Seliph, Marth, they all take advice from their advisors, but we aren't completely inundated with cutscenes of them depending on their advisors to bail them out of sticky situations that are frequently a result of their own inexperienced foolishness. Eirika is quite clearly, above and beyond, the most "passive" lord we've had so far.

Edited May 11, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Icelerate]

11 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

I forgot about Colm so I'll grant you that. The mention of game over stuff is... well it's getting into semantics of what the "game over" scene means. Plenty of games give you a game over simply for not following the story, even when the game later reveals that the "fail state" you reached would have actually been a happy ending. Penumbra Black Plague has a REALLY good example of this.

But I take issue with this quoted passage, because really, that's the situation every lord so far has been in, and none of them are nearly as dependent on their advisors as Eirika is. Roy, Leif, Seliph, Marth, they all take advice from their advisors, but we aren't completely inundated with cutscenes of them depending on their advisors to bail them out of sticky situations that are frequently a result of their own inexperienced foolishness. Eirika is quite clearly, above and beyond, the most "passive" lord we've had so far.

You're the one getting into getting into what if scenarios without anything to justify them. I have not played that game nor encountered games of that nature so that's not an argument that works here in the context of Fire Emblem. More importantly, an ending being happy doesn't mean all the steps leading to the ending would be the same which is what your initial point alludes to. 

Your initial point: "Past that point, this story so far would have gone almost exactly the same if Eirika had died shortly afterwards and begged them all to press on to save Ephraim." 

Yet you counter my point by saying that the ending could still be happy even if the main character dies or you get a game over. I don't see how this point of yours defends your initial point. It seems like you've shifted the goal post from the story being virtually the same to the story having a happy ending either way. 

That means Eirika gets punished for her flaws more than the other lords. This doesn't mean she's more passive at all as she is actively making decisions in the story, for better or worse. Skrimir shits on those lords you listed IMO, as a character, except maybe Marth and/or Leif and he's even more reliant on his advisors than Eirika. 

Edited May 11, 2020 by Icelerate

[Alastor15243]

3 minutes ago, Icelerate said:

Your initial point: "Past that point, this story so far would have gone almost exactly the same if Eirika had died shortly afterwards and begged them all to press on to save Ephraim." 

And I stand by that point. You responded by saying that the mere fact that her death results in a game over means she's crucial to the plot. But that's a complete non-sequitur, and I used the Penumbra example to demonstrate the wide breadth of things a game over screen can mean. A game over screen doesn't tell you anything about what happens next. The only reason it's a game over is because canonically Eirika survives. Not necessarily because she does anything important, but because she's the main character, and she's in all of the cutscenes, and they don't want to tell a story where she can die. I made that observation by pointing out how infrequently Eirika influences the course of events compared to other lords. Yes, it is speculation, but the mere fact that we are given much less reason to doubt that speculation compared to other protagonists is what is so damning here.

[Icelerate]

Just now, Alastor15243 said:

And I stand by that point. You responded by saying that the mere fact that her death results in a game over means she's crucial to the plot. But that's a complete non-sequitur, and I used the Penumbra example to demonstrate the wide breadth of things a game over screen can mean. A game over screen doesn't tell you anything about what happens next. The only reason it's a game over is because canonically Eirika survives. Not necessarily because she does anything important, but because she's the main character, and she's in all of the cutscenes, and they don't want to tell a story where she can die. I made that observation by pointing out how infrequently Eirika influences the course of events compared to other lords. Yes, it is speculation, but the mere fact that we are given much less reason to doubt that speculation compared to other protagonists is what is so damning here.

The only thing that example showed was that a game over doesn't imply the ending is unhappy. It doesn't imply the plot would be virtually identical. If the story would be identical, there'd be no difference whether she dies or not and hence having her killed off wouldn't be a problem in the slightest. 

You didn't show Eirika influencing the events of the story less than literally any other lord. Not saying she does or doesn't compared to the other lords but I have no reason to believe she doesn't. 

Even your point that Eirika didn't influence the story in any meaningful way after chapter 1 was shown to be false and even if it were true, it still wouldn't necessarily mean anything compared to the other FE lords.  

[Alastor15243]

34 minutes ago, Icelerate said:

The only thing that example showed was that a game over doesn't imply the ending is unhappy. It doesn't imply the plot would be virtually identical. If the story would be identical, there'd be no difference whether she dies or not and hence having her killed off wouldn't be a problem in the slightest. 

I already explained my point twice. All a game over screen means is that you have turned the narrative into a story the writers do not want to tell. You are really stuck on the penumbra example, but I used that only as an extreme example to demonstrate that a game over screen doesn't even necessarily mean anything bad happened. It was an example to demonstrate just how meaningless a game over message can be in terms of the impact of what was lost on the narrative.

Eirika's death ends the game because she is a character the writers do not want to die in their story. That is all that that in and of itself means. A character meeting that description could have any or no impact on the actual plot of the story depending on the story and how good the writers are. The fact that her death is a fail state does not say anything as to whether or not she is well-integrated into the plot.

Not to put words in your mouth: are you saying you can't conceive of a character whose death is a fail state, but who is also nearly irrelevant to the general direction of the game's plot?

[Jotari]

Why they don't just take the route Eririka originally took I imagine is either down to them having a much larger force now making that route impossible, or them not wanting to get flanked by leaving undefeated Grado forces on their rear as they march deeper into Grado territory. Not sure why they'd take a boat in either situation though. Perhaps that's explained later.

[Alastor15243]

Just now, Jotari said:

Why they don't just take the route Eririka originally took I imagine is either down to them having a much larger force now making that route impossible, or them not wanting to get flanked by leaving undefeated Grado forces on their rear as they march deeper into Grado territory. Not sure why they'd take a boat in either situation though. Perhaps that's explained later.

I'll be sure to be on the lookout about that. At any rate, my bigger question is how nonsensical Rigwald is. Like I said, given the narration says there's been peace for more than 800 years, what conflict could a fortress near the edge of the continent have been pivotal enough for to gain a reputation as unconquered?

[Jotari]

4 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

I'll be sure to be on the lookout about that. At any rate, my bigger question is how nonsensical Rigwald is. Like I said, given the narration says there's been peace for more than 800 years, what conflict could a fortress near the edge of the continent have been pivotal enough for to gain a reputation as unconquered?

Uh...those undefined nameless nations Grado conquered in order to get the moniker of empire?

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Not to put words in your mouth: are you saying you can't conceive of a character whose death is a fail state, but who is also nearly irrelevant to the general direction of the game's plot?

I think we literally have an example of that later in this game with L'Archal's father. His death wouldn't actually change anything at that point yet you have to defend him for the chapter mechanics. Unless he's like literally holding the last sacred stone on his person in that chapter and the implication is that it gets destroyed then and there, but still defending someone for the purpose of the gameplay when narratively it wouldn't make a massive difference to the overall events is a conceivable scenario.

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Jotari said:

Uh...those undefined nameless nations Grado conquered in order to get the moniker of empire?

Then is it like that film Glory, where (apparently this isn't true, but in the movie) Fort Wagner was a confederate fort that never fell to union forces until after the confederacy surrendered? Judging by its position, no matter how you divide up the boundaries of the former nation states that were conquered in this theory, it's very, very unlikely that a fort in this position would ever have seen any actual battle from an enemy within modern Grado's borders.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Then is it like that film Glory, where (apparently this isn't true, but in the movie) Fort Wagner was a confederate fort that never fell to union forces until after the confederacy surrendered? Judging by its position, no matter how you divide up the boundaries of the former nation states that were conquered in this theory, it's very, very unlikely that a fort in this position would ever have seen any actual battle from an enemy within modern Grado's borders.

Well making a fort that no one has any reason to ever conquer is a sure fire way to make it unconquerable.

[Alastor15243]

2 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Well making a fort that no one has any reason to ever conquer is a sure fire way to make it unconquerable.

And another thing:

Seth:
“That is Fort Rigwald. It has stood unconquered for generations. Its defenses are legendary. It is the jewel of Grado’s fortifications, and its walls have never been breached.”

...Note the word. "Generations". That... that's either the understatement of the ever, or Grado's been to war recently enough for a sub-century-long record to be impressive. But that would imply it's seen significant war with Frelia.

[Icelerate]

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

I'll be sure to be on the lookout about that. At any rate, my bigger question is how nonsensical Rigwald is. Like I said, given the narration says there's been peace for more than 800 years, what conflict could a fortress near the edge of the continent have been pivotal enough for to gain a reputation as unconquered?

You're looking too deep into the writing. The fort was just hyped up to show how strong Grado is and when it gets conquered, to hype up Ephraim's military prowess. 

Edited May 12, 2020 by Icelerate

[Alastor15243]

10 minutes ago, Icelerate said:

You're looking too deep into the writing. The fort was just hyped up to show how strong Grado is and when it gets conquered, to hype up Ephraim's military prowess. 

Yeah, that's what I'm getting at. The fortress makes no in-universe sense and unless I'm missing something major, it's pretty nakedly a contrived plot device for that narrative purpose. It's just fun to over-analyze things and see if they can make sense or if we can make them even more funny.

Edited May 12, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Jotari]

39 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Yeah, that's what I'm getting at. The fortress makes no in-universe sense and unless I'm missing something major, it's pretty nakedly a contrived plot device for that narrative purpose. It's just fun to over-analyze things and see if they can make sense or if we can make them even more funny.

But I also think over analyzing like this is important for critique. I mean, some writers do go to the extra trouble to make their worlds more fleshed out and sensical. So just ignoring the errors that arise from poor world building sends a message that all that extra effort to make a good word  so writers go to is a waste. That it doesn't matter. When it kind of does. Granted it's not saying a whole lot new to say Sacred Stones has poor world building. It's kind of infamous for not even bothering to name all it's legendary figures.

Edited May 12, 2020 by Jotari

[Alastor15243]

Sacred Stones Day 12: Chapter 9 EIR

Alright, the winner of the straw poll, by a pretty wide margin, was to do it alternating. Which means we do Eirika's Chapter 9 today, Ephraim's Chapter 10 tomorrow, Eirika's Chapter 10 the day after that, etc. Looks like we finally get confirmation of what exactly Ephraim is going to be doing his grand conquest with when the party isn't with him.

Right, so yeah, Ephraim has the Frelian army with him.

Still though... from a pure cinematics standpoint, having Chapter 15 still be a rescue map, and having Ephraim show up to “rescue” my party with just himself, Duessel, and Knoll... is amazingly fucking stupid. If I had my way, Chapter 15 EIR would have been a “survive” chapter, where Eirika and company had to hold out a certain number of turns in the desert until Ephraim arrives with a shitton of green units to rout the remaining enemies and rescue Eirika.

Anyway...

All this talk about Carcino being a “young” nation makes me wonder why the hell nobody wanted the land that, if the opening narration is to be believed, Carcino did not fight to obtain.

“Carcino council leader Klimt, a staunch opponent of Grado's imperialistic actions...”

Good heavens! You mean empires in this world act like... actual empires?

And they do it often enough that the negatively connotated word to describe the shit they do actually exists in this lore?

I'm sorry, but that word choice is just so funny to me. It just screams “Good heavens! We are absolutely horrified that the Grado Empire is acting like... like an empire!”

Alright. So it seems that the thing 9EPH described about Innes pushing Grado back was a past tense thing, the stuff he mentioned he did before Chapter 9, before he left. I forgot that he always goes in Eirika's direction. So he just... fucked off to warn Jehanna and let Ephraim, fucking Ephraim, take all the glory of fending off the Grado Empire?

That's so... amazingly un-Innes-like that...

...Okay, I'm not saying that the mere fact that he did it is bad writing. It could easily demonstrate how serious things have gotten, and that he understands that he has to put aside his pride for the good of his people. But like... they don't even call attention to how unlike him it is to just fuck off and be a glorified errand boy while his archrival, the man he has striven to outshine in all things princely, defends his country, leading his army to finish his war. Because from what I understand of Innes's character, unless the situation absolutely demanded that he be somewhere else, I genuinely get the impression that Innes would slightly more readily let Ephraim fuck his wife.

Weird. Vigarde's line to Duessel is different. Thank goodness he zombie-repeated it so many times in Chapter 9EPH that it was sufficiently burned into my memory to notice. I also find it weird that Duessel's protests are entirely cut out in a way that doesn't really feel like they're merely skipping a scene.

Hahahaha. Eirika's reusing that stupid “Erina the mercenary” ruse she made up on the spot. That's... that's pretty funny, even though it feels like it wasn't supposed to be.

YAY! IT'S M'GIRL L'ARACHEL!

Huh. So apparently everyone's scared of a “ghost ship”. I know I remembered (and everyone's “brace yourself” messages have confirmed) that that happens on Ephraim's route too, so either:

1: There's more than one ghost ship, and Fomortiis has lots of ships piloted by the undead,

2: This is Schrodinger's Plot Point, and the ghost ship harasses a different twin depending on which route you take for no good reason...

3: One of the non-twin party members is cursed, and the ghost ship is following them.

...Actually, it sounds like we might not actually be encountering the ghost ship. Here it might simply be a plot device to keep us on the land.

Eirika's comment that L'arachel and company are going in the wrong direction seems to imply that all in-game maps are actually canonically oriented accurately to the cardinal directions.

Wow, this chapter intro ends rather... abruptly. Did I accidentally press start?

...Nope! SF chapter script confirms it. Boss shows up, says there's a price on Eirika's head and that he needs the gold, then enemies start walking in and... poof. Preparation screen time.

Since this is a throwaway route, and I'll be doing Ephraim's route for the rest of the actual game, I see no reason not to promote Lute immediately at her current level of 19 so that I can properly stock her inventory in advance and do stuff faster out of the gate.

Alright, this map looks pretty straightforward. I like how they guarantee you have a flier (Tana) for a map that seems to all but demand a flier if you want to get all the villages. It may seem kinda pointless to try and train up Tana when anything I do on this route is expendable... but fuck it, who else is gonna get the pirate exp?

Man... I forgot how much I hate GBA pegasus knights. Like I said, they're fragile speedsters forced to use weapons way too heavy for themselves, taking away their one statistical advantage or else accentuate their gravest weakness by using really weak weapons that are often rare in shops. And they always seem to have juuuuuust barely too little speed to double average mooks with an iron lance at base.

Eirika gained defense. Again.

Holy shit, how is my Eirika getting so amazing and my Ephraim getting so terrible?

Anyway, I managed to rush in with Seth, Franz, Kyle and Lute and stop the pirates from trashing the western house, and the pirates heading to the eastern house were thwarted by Tana maneuvering around to get there first. Trying to train her is proving to be way more trouble than it's worth, but there's always a way to make a flier useful without training.

Anyway, the eastern village had a rapier, and... that's making me really scared that Chapter 9EPH had a Reginleif that I missed.

The other one has a dragonshield. Oooh... okay, I remember that Ephraim's route has a dragonshield too, just later. So maybe I get the spare Reginleif later too. Obviously that dragonshield is going onto Lute, to bolster her already abnormally high defense and combine with the first dragonshield to make her a genuine endgame frontline unit.

This is a route mission, so I just have to wait for the reinforcements to stop and for Amelia to show up.

Also, I love how you get the dragonshield. Rennac gives it to you as what's implied to be a bribe to keep you from ratting him out to L'arachel. Man, Rennac just completes that trio.

Speaking of which...

I think I just realized where I might have been subconsciously drawing influence from for one of my “how I'd fix Fates' story” ideas.

One idea I had was that when Inigo, Severa and Owain traveled over to Fateslandia through the dragon's gate... they got separated.

Owain turned up in Hoshido, wound up taking up the name Ryugiri, and proceeds to live high in the Hoshidan mountains as an eccentric bearded hermit, teaching all who will suffer him of the ways of steel and sorcery.

And his class would be basara, because I can't look at that class, its skills and its animations and not think it's insane that it wasn't made with Owain in mind.

And I always imagined that he'd show up in Birthright with his two “apprentices”: one, a Cynthia-tier-peppy teenage girl diviner who's completely on board with all of his eccentric nonsense, and the other an incredibly jaded and annoyed teenage boy spearman. And I just realized they'd have had a pretty similar dynamic there to the Rausten trio, with Dozla and L'arachel switching positions of authority.

Man, I have to be careful about the reinforcements on the top of the map. Not that they're strong, but the way this map is designed, if you position the camera one shy of showing the top row, then it still looks like that could be where the map ends, meaning you can miss the reinforcements entirely if you aren't paying enough attention.

Also, no, it seems that units are leveling just as slowly from Eirika's route too. It really feels like the exp gain from earlier maps was cranked up for some reason.

Awww. Amelia and Franz's talk is pretty cute. I love how she awkwardly has to explain she's the enemy and “we're supposed to be fighting” when he mistakes her for a local and is so kind to her. Man... I could never decide who Amelia had the cutest support set with as a kid. I shipped her with Ewan, Ross and Franz pretty much in equal measure.

But at any rate, she's been recruited, and now will have absolutely no contribution to this run whatsoever. Not on this save, anyway. As I mentioned before, I might be using her in creature campaign for fun and to test out the tower maps.

But also, there it is again with the weird propaganda about the twins Amelia's been hearing. How exactly did this manage to spread given the two nations' previously-sterling relationship?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

“5,000 gold ain't nearly enough for this!”

ARE YOU SERIOUS!?

HE WAS PAID TO FIGHT US FOR 5,000 GOLD!?

YOU CAN BARELY BUY SIX IRON SWORDS FOR THAT MUCH!

...Actually, that reminds me. Weapon prices seem more expensive than...

...Wait... they... they aren't? No, I could've sworn I bought those heal staves for 900 earlier...

...Apparently the prices for items in the shop are hiked up by 50% if you don't buy them during the actual maps. Interesting. I'll have to keep that in mind from now on.

Too late to act on that knowledge now though. The boss is almost assuredly not going to survive long enough for me to have another turn and back out of killing him.

Wow. Seth is awesome yet again in this scene.

Mercenary: W-wait! I give up! I don't want to fight anymore! We were just doing a job.

Seth: Who hired you?

Mercenary: I may be nothing but a hired blade, but I have my honor. I won't say a word.

Seth: I admire your professionalism. I guess we have no more use for you.

And like that, the mercenary cracks.

So... about this country... I mean, its ruling body is made of powerful merchants, who don't seem to have any military, judging by the fact that apparently Pablo is in control of the council but still chose to hire mercenaries.

So the rich are the government, and they hire mercenaries to exert their will upon the people.

This... this feels like a medieval fantasy version of every cyberpunk dystopia ever.

And... that's actually a fairly fun concept. I wish we got to spend more time here.

Anyway, that's the end of the chapter. It ends with Eirika realizing that Innes was probably put into a trap... just in time for a pegasus knight to inform her that Innes has been put into a trap.

...So they went to the trouble to create a portrait for a generic pegasus knight, similar to the generic soldier and generic fighter. Interesting.

Oh shit. Rennac gave us another bribe, and it's a second angelic robe. It's chapter 9 and thanks to Rennac alone we already have the means to give Lute Chapter 8's bulk-up treatment again. That might be overkill though.

But fuck it! This is an expendable side-story, so let's just put it all on Lute and have some stupid fun!

That'll have to wait until Thursday though. Tomorrow, we save Duessel in Chapter 10EPH!

Stay safe, everyone!

[Shadow Mir]

56 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Man... I forgot how much I hate GBA pegasus knights. Like I said, they're fragile speedsters forced to use weapons way too heavy for themselves, taking away their one statistical advantage or else accentuate their gravest weakness by using really weak weapons that are often rare in shops. And they always seem to have juuuuuust barely too little speed to double average mooks with an iron lance at base.

Yeah, I'd like to think whoever thought giving Tana a frigging Heavy Spear was a good idea should have been fired then and there. At least you can buy her an Iron Lance in prep in this game, but still...

Edited May 12, 2020 by Shadow Mir

[Hello72207]

55 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Anyway, the eastern village had a rapier, and... that's making me really scared that Chapter 9EPH had a Reginleif that I missed.

Nah, you only get one Reginleif, but if you go Eirka's route, you get two rapiers, which makes sense considering that Eirika is around to use her rapier for more of the game.

 

1 minute ago, Shadow Mir said:

Yeah, I'd like to think whoever thought giving Tana a frigging Heavy Spear was a good idea should have been fired then and there. At least you can buy her an Iron Lance in prep in this game, but still...

I have had Tana die in ironmans because I forgot to de-equip that fricking heavy spear. They couldn't have just had one more village with the heavy spear in it and given her a iron or slim lance? Seriously? Also you can't even buy her one in preparations because she joins after you start, I guess you could trade her one, but that is still a lot of trouble to go to when Vanessa can be promoted and whipping everyone by this point in the game.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Also, no, it seems that units are leveling just as slowly from Eirika's route too. It really feels like the exp gain from earlier maps was cranked up for some reason.

It feels like it, but I really don't know.

[Icelerate]

19 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

I already explained my point twice. All a game over screen means is that you have turned the narrative into a story the writers do not want to tell. You are really stuck on the penumbra example, but I used that only as an extreme example to demonstrate that a game over screen doesn't even necessarily mean anything bad happened. It was an example to demonstrate just how meaningless a game over message can be in terms of the impact of what was lost on the narrative.

Eirika's death ends the game because she is a character the writers do not want to die in their story. That is all that that in and of itself means. A character meeting that description could have any or no impact on the actual plot of the story depending on the story and how good the writers are. The fact that her death is a fail state does not say anything as to whether or not she is well-integrated into the plot.

Not to put words in your mouth: are you saying you can't conceive of a character whose death is a fail state, but who is also nearly irrelevant to the general direction of the game's plot?

If you don't want me to be stuck on the penumbra example, I reckon you concede that example. 

Actually, you're right about the gameover thing. Lyn herself is irrelevant despite giving a gameover. 

14 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Yeah, that's what I'm getting at. The fortress makes no in-universe sense and unless I'm missing something major, it's pretty nakedly a contrived plot device for that narrative purpose. It's just fun to over-analyze things and see if they can make sense or if we can make them even more funny.

I agree. Sacred Stones world building is not just lacking but it doesn't make sense either. 

[Alastor15243]

5 minutes ago, Icelerate said:

If you don't want me to be stuck on the penumbra example, I reckon you concede that example. 

Your inability to understand the relevance of a single example for a much larger point I made does not in any way suggest that I was wrong.

Your Lyn example was rather snarky and tongue in cheek, so I'll ask again: can you accept that just because the developers decided someone's death brings you to the game over screen does not in any way mean that character has to be relevant to the general course of the plot?

[Icelerate]

4 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Your inability to understand the relevance of a single example for a much larger point I made does not in any way suggest that I was wrong.

Your Lyn example was rather snarky and tongue in cheek, so I'll ask again: can you accept that just because the developers decided someone's death brings you to the game over screen does not in any way mean that character has to be relevant to the general course of the plot?

Why do I need to repeat myself when I already conceded? My Lyn example was a counter example to showcase why my initial opinion was incorrect. Much better than you bringing a non FE example I'm not familiar with. 

[Alastor15243]

2 minutes ago, Icelerate said:

Why do I need to repeat myself when I already conceded? My Lyn example was a counter example to showcase why my initial opinion was incorrect. Much better than you bringing a non FE example I'm not familiar with. 

I just wanted to make sure, because it was brought up in snark and I didn't want to put words in your mouth.

Edited May 12, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Shadow Mir]

1 hour ago, Hello72207 said:

I have had Tana die in ironmans because I forgot to de-equip that fricking heavy spear. They couldn't have just had one more village with the heavy spear in it and given her a iron or slim lance? Seriously? Also you can't even buy her one in preparations because she joins after you start, I guess you could trade her one, but that is still a lot of trouble to go to when Vanessa can be promoted and whipping everyone by this point in the game.

Oh. I thought she was on the prep screen. And it's not like there are any knights to consider using the Heavy Spear on at that point, or for a while afterwards.