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

[Miacis]

12 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

[...]

I'm not going to push this digression any further, since this really isn't the place, but I would invite you to reconsider the peculiar "Pro-Rural PE vs Anti-Rural LM " paradigm you're miring yourself into when reading my revision notes, 'cause it's sending you very off-rails. I already explained why Asbel's education is directly tied to his speech mannerisms (and it's not because of a stereotype). Ronan's thing has nothing to do with rurality or his interlocutor, but with giving the wrong impression about his bow training.

As for the rest, I'm honestly a bit surprised to find a rare combination of the gameplay purist (Guard AI is too much info) + translation rebel (Mistranslations are compelling), but I suppose we all have somewhere to place ourselves on the fanslation alignment chart.

Anything else, feel free to pass by our topic and we can chat without interrupting Sacred Stones discussions. 🙂

Edited May 19, 2020 by Miacis

[Jotari]

31 minutes ago, Miacis said:

I'm not going to push this digression any further, since this really isn't the place, but I would invite you to reconsider the peculiar "Pro-Rural PE vs Anti-Rural LM " paradigm you're miring yourself into when reading my revision notes, 'cause it's sending you very off-rails. I already explained why Asbel's education is directly tied to his speech mannerisms (and it's not because of a stereotype). Ronan's thing has nothing to do with rurality or his interlocutor, but with giving the wrong impression about his bow training.

As for the rest, I'm honestly a bit surprised to find a rare combination of the gameplay purist (Guard AI is too much info) + translation rebel (Mistranslations are compelling), but I suppose we all have somewhere to place ourselves on the fanslation alignment chart.

Anything else, feel free to pass by our topic and we can chat without interrupting Sacred Stones discussions. 🙂

Just one final curiosity, how did you discover translation talk was going on here? Have you been lurking in this thread watching the lps so far or did someone notify you that we were discussing the translation (or was it complete random happenstance?).

[Alastor15243]

2 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Just one final curiosity, how did you discover translation talk was going on here? Have you been lurking in this thread watching the lps so far or did someone notify you that we were discussing the translation (or was it complete random happenstance?).

Eltosian linked to a thread they started. That alerts you. It happened to me just recently when Eltosian linked to this thread on an FE7 ironman.

Edited May 19, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Miacis]

Yup, that's basically it.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Eltosian linked to a thread they started. That alerts you. It happened to me just recently when Eltosian linked to this thread on an FE7 ironman.

Ah. Guess I've never made a thread popular enough for someone to link to T.T

(actually I do recall that maybe happening once or twice)

Edited May 19, 2020 by Jotari

[Alastor15243]

9 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Ah. Guess I've never made a thread popular enough for someone to link to T.T

(actually I do recall that maybe happening once or twice)

It could be a new feature. The other day was the first time it happened for me.

[Alastor15243]

Sacred Stones Day 17: Chapter 12EPH

Alright. So.

Back to the timeline that hurts.

I have some pretty major priorities this chapter. Not the least of which is using everything at my disposal to make sure L'arachel gets to at least C staves as soon as possible, because she's my only good staff user now. I have Lute, who has better magic, but I need-

...Saleh is here.

...Saleh is here with Ewan.

Which means that in Ephraim Route...

...the events of Eirika's story happened... without Ewan or Saleh there to guide her.

I have to wonder why Ewan of all people was sent to fix the mix-up with Marisa. I get that Gerik and Tethys are busy and all, but surely sending a twelve year old boy, at the oldest, into the middle of the Grado Fucking Empire... surely that isn't the best solution...

...Granted, that's probably why Saleh came to guide him, but... I mean... Saleh's still one of the Eirika Route recruits who you only get in Ephraim Route after they reunite, right? So... shit, first off, he's got a long, long trip to get back home so he can be relevant to Eirika's journey. But second of all, since this cutscene confirms he's just dropping the poor kid off and leaving him, how the fuck is Ewan supposed to get back home without him!? What if he doesn't find Marisa!?

Also, that reminds me... the game seems to be implying that these routes are happening simultaneously with the others. Or, if anything, that Eirika Route is happening slightly before Ephraim Route, given how he got messages of things Eirika only did less than a chapter previously.

I'll have to see how this concludes, but were I a gambling man, I would put very, very good odds on some more spacetime fuckery being afoot when it comes to how quickly Ephraim learns of Eirika's peril and comes to her rescue.

...Why are they talking about reservists defending the supply convoy when the game all but explicitly states that protecting the convoy is the lord's job!?

...Also, this seems to be implying that after rescuing Duessel and traveling by sea, Ephraim's current army, the soldiers he brought with him, could easily fit onto a single ship.

Anyway, Caellach is the boss here, or at least the one on the map. I have to assume that he's gonna book it and leave this to one of his subordinates. I wonder how long that takes. Could it be possible to steal a second Hoplon Guard by getting to him ridiculously quickly? I have no doubt someone could do it if we had the rescue and warp staves by this point, but we'll have to see.

I'll try to train Cormag up some more. He's reached the point where he's pretty good, but he's got a lot more exp he could be gaining due to his comparatively low level.

Franz should be fine. I'm gonna see if I can get him a good deal of exp here.

I'm bringing Forde... mostly just to have another rescue bot, same reason why I'm bringing my criminally underleveled pegasi.

...Wait...

...Lute is actually significantly closer to reaching C staves than L'arachel is. If I let her use heal and let L'arachel use mend... could I get them both to C by next chapter? That would be a massive boon, and I think I'm gonna try it.

Honestly, that's the main concern here, the lack of good staff users I have left. I've actually still got plenty of good units due to prepromotes, it's just we're back to having only two staff users, and we're probably gonna have to split our forces at that, so... we'll be spread thin.

But I'll be getting Knoll soon too, who I will be insta-promoting, because there's no way he's gonna be useful in combat. Way better to just give up on him being remotely statistically viable and focus on the two things promotion to summoner gives him that he doesn't need stats for: summoning and staff use.

I'm tempted to take this slow to milk staff training, but I may have to just find some archers to abuse and do that, because I don't know if bandits or pirates show up here if I take too long. And I want Ewan for the tower challenge, and I want his dragonshield for Lute.

Also, I'm supporting Dozla and L'arachel until I start learning shit about Dozla's backstory, because I'm really curious how they met, and I'd like to learn in-game. I suspect that once she promotes, I'll be trying to A rank her with Ephraim though. He's... still not very good, but I'm gonna try and fix that.

Wow, Caellach's speech feels like the kind of “inspiring speech” that a Drill Sergeant Nasty would make.

...And now Riev shows up, and...

...Okay, so the Grado troops are just... cooperating with the minions of darkness now.

Okay.

Okay, game.

Sure. If you're gonna make the Grado military nonsensically underdeveloped, might as well go whole hog on it. Sure! Why not!? Who needs worldbuilding!? Let's just have Grado soldiers casually consorting with the minions of Satan!

Yeah, Ephraim route seems drastically harder than Eirika route. Like, it doesn't feel like a coincidence. It feels like intentional design philosophy. Which makes it weird that the game would do that.

...Then again, they did say before the route-split that Eirika's mission was easier, and Ephraim had the much harder task. So even if it's a weird decision, at least there was warning.

...But really, does the game need to belittle and patronize Eirika any more than the story already has?

Alright. I've actually gotten fairly far into the map without explaining what I've been doing. Maybe I should've explained some more of my initial strategy. Basically, I split up into two groups: One with Cormag, L'arachel, Dozla, Duessel, Forde and Colm, going west across the less densely-manned docks, while the rest, Ephraim, Seth, Franz, Lute, Tana and Vanessa, went east to face the larger force. The main issue was lack of healing. With L'arachel only able to heal one unit a turn, I had to both mind who I send to fight, and also maximize the number of wounded units I have in order to give my healers the most staff exp. After the gargoyles were dealt with, the western group had the easier time of it. The eastern party had to retreat back to the ship's boarding planks in order to avoid getting overwhelmed and also to milk the battle for all the staff exp it was worth. There's thankfully only one village, Ewan's, and it's right by the western group that's mostly in the clear now. So I don't think we need to worry about the eastern group taking too long.

Speaking of the boarding planks... there's a bit of a visual screw going on here. The planks clearly look level, but there's no way in hell that dock is as high as the top of the ship. It barely seems to be above seal level!

Alright, I just got Ewan, so just for the hell of it, let's take a look at his...

...his...

…Oh.

...So.

While I was still correct, I think, when I said that Marty's the only playable character in the series to start with 0 speed or skill, apparently there are other units who start with 0 in other stats.

Like, say... Ewan's defense.

Man... using this guy in the tower is gonna be fascinating.

I mean, he starts with a dracoshield, so I guess if you're determined to use him, that would go on him right away, but... we're...

...gonna go ahead and...

...not do that.

Yep, it's going straight on Lute to make her even more of a badass. Just as soon as my two groups reunite. Franz is almost done with the enemy forces hounding the docks.

Ephraim finished off the last of the archers blocking the docks, and finally got a really good level. Still no defense though.

Lute's reached C staves, finally. And L'arachel is halfway there. Mend sure is great for staff training! Torch would've been better, but alas, no fog of war.

Some enemies had killer weapons and I didn't notice. Damn it. Nothing happened, but if both of them had gotten crits, that would have been nasty. I think Franz would have died.

Jackpot. Cormag's been poisoned. Between that and the mild backup of units in need of healing, L'arachel is definitely gonna be able to reach C staves without disarming someone and walling.

Yep. L'arachel made it to C rank and then some. Looks like any worries of being swarmed by status staves are over. The only real remaining hurdle is getting Franz to promotion, finally, and having Duessel bait Marisa.

Success. I promoted Franz, so... now my army is looking a bit more up to speed. Still looking pretty empty without a support partner for Lute, though. Hmmm... is Knoll really my best option...?

Hm? She can support with Vanessa? It's way too late for that now, but suddenly I'm curious what it says, lemme look up-

…

...Vanessa's pegasus's name...

...is Titania.

Sacred Stones... did the “naming mounts after famous riders” thing... backwards.

That is hilarious.

Also, apparently... the greek legend of Pegasus is actually believed in some cultures here. The one where the original Pegasus crawled out of a gorgon's neck.

...Well, I mean gorgons are actual monsters in this game, so... I mean it wouldn't be the craziest thing in the world for that to be true.

But whatever. Time to take on this ogre boss.

Thankfully, while his defense and HP are pretty damned impressive, his resistance, as usual... is not. So Lute makes quick work of him. I was gonna have her soften him up to give Franz the kill, but... she critted, so... no luck there.

I like how Ephraim lists, among his orders, nipping any potential war crimes in the bud by telling the triumphant soldiers to obey the city's laws or be severely punished. I have to wonder who he's talking to, though. How many non-named-character soldiers could have fit on that single ship? And there's nobody among the playable cast who really seems prone to committing war crimes.

Anyway, Myrrh wanders off, I have to assume because she can sense her dragonstone nearby. And now we have to go rescue her.

Which means on Thursday... we face Dame Selena.

Anyway... the beginning of this map was actually pretty fun! Pretty intense, especially with my reduced healing arsenal. Of course, once the map ran out of enemies actively gunning to kill me, it lost all steam, but... that's the case with basically every map in every Fire Emblem except Conquest. Really, void curse is such a fantastic idea that I wish more games in the series would use it. If you take too long, the game should just start slowly upping the reinforcement spam using enemies who can't actually give you exp. And just never stop. There's nothing more to be gained here. Hurry up and get out, or die screaming.

But yeah, I had some fun today. And tomorrow, I'll be taking on Chapter 12EIR, and wondering more about what the hell Eirika's adventure was like without Ewan and Saleh.

Stay safe, everyone!

Edited May 19, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Jotari]

12 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

I like how Ephraim lists, among his orders, nipping any potential war crimes in the bud by telling the triumphant soldiers to obey the city's laws or be severely punished. I have to wonder who he's talking to, though. How many non-named-character soldiers could have fit on that single ship? And there's nobody among the playable cast who really seems prone to committing war crimes.

He's definitely talking to Moulder directly. Just look at that would-not-trust-him-with-my-kids mustache. 

12 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Anyway... the beginning of this map was actually pretty fun! Pretty intense, especially with my reduced healing arsenal. Of course, once the map ran out of enemies actively gunning to kill me, it lost all steam, but... that's the case with basically every map in every Fire Emblem except Conquest. Really, void curse is such a fantastic idea that I wish more games in the series would use it. If you take too long, the game should just start slowly upping the reinforcement spam using enemies who can't actually give you exp. And just never stop. There's nothing more to be gained here. Hurry up and get out, or die screaming.

But yeah, I had some fun today. And tomorrow, I'll be taking on Chapter 12EIR, and wondering more about what the hell Eirika's adventure was like without Ewan and Saleh.

Stay safe, everyone!

Have you played New Mystery? There's a similar chapter in that which you can basically 1 turn, but the reinforcements are infinite and they do give exp. They get gradually bigger and bigger basically turning the chapter into a dare where you have to avoid getting to greedy with your exp grinding. It's a fun little idea for a Gaiden.

[Koops]

Hey don't diss my man Moulder's stache.

Ya boy has the right idea.

[Alastor15243]

Sacred Stones Day 18: Chapter 12EIR

Apparently this chapter is supposed to be us climbing up a high mountain... but it looks more like we're walking along a grassy plain in between two mountain ranges.

Anyway, Saleh's just about to explain some stuff about their religious mountain commune worshipping the great dragon... when monsters arrive. Apparently they wandered far afield from darkling woods, which...

...Hang on, where are we on the map? I just realized that this is another map that proceeds directly from the previous one.

Alright, I consulted the world map, and we're actually pretty damned close to Darkling Woods. Like, Darkling Woods looks like it's roughly at the bottom of the mountains. So I guess they're supposed to normally never leave the woods at all, if them going even this little distance is odd?

Anyway, let's get this over with. I promoted Franz because why not? This is a disposable file I won't be using long enough to reap the benefits of waiting. There's only a couple of chapters left. Alas, I can't promote Kyle too, because you get the knight crest late on this route.

Actually... fuck it! Gerik comes with a hero crest at level 10. Let's try using him as a hero for the little time we have him on this file.

Anyway, this map seems pretty straightforward. A rout enemy map with a winding path to the boss. Should be a piece of cake.

Anyway, we get Saleh, and...

...While his stats are okay, they're kinda pathetic compared to my promoted Lute, even ignoring the stat boosters I've been giving her. He doesn't even have more HP than her when you take away the angelic robes! But still, those weapon ranks mean he's pretty much guaranteed to make himself useful. I think it's time to retire Natasha in favor of him. No reason not to.

Hahahahaha! Looks like this game does know how to use the forward-and-back-stepping mugshots in this game sometimes! Ewan running away from a monster and actually trying to talk to it while constantly stepping back was pretty funny.

Anyway, as planned, my two paladins, Seth and Franz, rush ahead to fight the monsters. Lute and Kyle are a little further behind, and everyone else is picking up the rear.

Naturally, there are some reinforcements to the rear, but Kyle and Lute can take care of that, with help from Gerik. Meanwhile, I fly Saleh over to Ewan's hideaway because I want to see if he has special dialogue with him.

Kind of annoying Saleh doesn't start with a staff in his inventory, btw. Or light magic, for that matter. Given how good his weapon ranks are in both of those things... Ah well. Easily remedied.

This game decided to add a killing edge skeleton... and have him not move. Seriously, I don't like this decision to make almost everything on Eirika route easier. We already have a difficulty setting option. Why should the story routes be different difficulties?

Funny thing... I pretty much always picked Eirika Route as a kid after my first playthrough, mostly because Lyon's tragic love for Eirika always got to me as a kid. I always found that the more compelling story back then. Not sure why. I mean, maybe because I was into Inuyasha at the time?

Nowadays I don't know how I didn't see all those issues with Eirika as a character. Granted, she's gotten better lately, but... only moderately. And I know the worst part is yet to come.

Oh yes. The part everyone talks shit about. I won't be playing that directly, but I will be reading the script when that moment comes in Ephraim route.

I completely forgot that spiders can climb mountains, and L'arachel got ambushed by one of them. Thankfully just one. She's fine, she's just poisoned.

Okay, it sounds like Saleh wasn't actually all that eager to be the one to teach Ewan magic. Not because he didn't like him, but because felt his mission to serve the Great Dragon would hamper his ability to teach. But Ewan just kind of insisted. Curious. That makes me wonder how the hell they met. I mean, one of them's the little brother of a Jehannan mercenary dancer, and the other is a member of a secluded village the Carcinan mountains of Caer Pelyn. Did Gerik have a mission near Caer Pelyn and Tethys had to bring Ewan along?

And on this route, Ewan shows up with an energy ring rather than a dragonshield, since we already got the dragonshield way earlier.

That's... utterly bizarre. The zombie by the vendor has... 13 luck. I kind of assumed zombies would have none.

...Anyway, I beat the boss with Franz, and... he got HPsauce. It's weird that while my Lute was absurdly blessed, I feel like I've gotten way more terrible level ups in this run than I usually do.

Yeah, I don't get why I didn't notice before as a kid, but... Caer Pelyn gives off... cultish vibes. “We have turned away from the world outside.” “The Great Dragon alone holds all our honor and esteem.” Also, the village elder insisting on being called “Grandmother” is... a little creepy.

This is... very curious.

I just realized something.

Innes is practically a main character for the duration of Eirika Route.

But apart from Myrrh, who has a little bit of prominence, no new characters in Ephraim Route have any screentime beyond the chapter they first show up in.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, it's cool that they give other characters story prominence, and I'd have loved to see Duessel take on a more prominent role in Ephraim's story. On the other... it further limits Eirika's time to shine when she desperately needs. Innes is a very take-charge kind of person, and in a lot of situations Eirika seems to be letting him do the decision-making. If they want to cement that she's a more passive character, fine, but they also do this without her really getting many scenes to herself to even just develop her character or just react to what's going on.

Also, now we learn about the historical revisionism the humans apparently committed to erase the Great Dragon's contribution to the war against the demon king. Which... man, this feels weird for the series. Not the part about humans being racist bastards, that's pretty much part and parcel as far as Fire Emblem goes. I mean the fact that instead of a good dragon and an evil dragon, there was a good dragon, and an evil... something else. Like, dragons almost feel out of place in this setting. Like they could have been the most easily written out of this game compared to any other.

But anyway, according to... ugh... “Grandmother”... the Great ragon has spent his whole life since the battle with the Demon King in the Darkling Woods, keeping watch of Fomortiis's body, keeping the minions of evil that its body still mindlessly produces from spreading out to the rest of the continent.

...Which begs the question of how the first ones we saw were so fucking far from home. I have to assume that those were created directly by Fomortiis's magic. It's kind of weird how both Fomortiis's soul and Fomortiis's body both independently house the power to summon dark creatures. Then again, Riev can do it too, so maybe it's more “conventional” evil magic?

Wait... “the Great Dragon”...

…“left Darkling Woods”?

MYRRH IS THE GREAT DRAGON!?

NOT MORVA!?

…

...I'm looking this up on the wiki, and it says that both Myrrh and Morva are known as “the great dragon”.

The fuck kind of sense does that make!?

WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!?

And apparently “manakete” is an inappropriate term for dragons, given how... ugh... “Grandmother”... reacts to Eirika's use of the word. Like, either it's an inaccurate and belittling understatement, or it's an outright slur. If it's the former, then what the fuck are manaketes if the Great Dragon isn't one? And isn't Myrrh's class “Manakete”?

Also, apparently the Great Dragon “took the form” of “Mistress Myrrh”... which makes me think these people are completely delusional and think Myrrh and Morva are the same person when they aren't even related by blood.

Anyway, L'arachel inexplicably pops up to say a line Eirika could easily have said herself, to convince Saleh to join them. This is... weird. Eirika kinda feels like Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films, and it feels like I'm seeing an adaptation of an existing work where most of her cool moments were inexplicably given to other characters.

And then... ugh... “Grandmother”... reveals that she's... actually, literally Saleh's grandmother? Curious thing, revealing that at the end of the chapter as the very last line of dialogue.

Anyway, this was a bit of mindless fun... not very difficult though.

Alright, well, that's it for today. Tomorrow, I'll be facing off against Dame Selena!

Stay safe, everyone!

...Man, I'm gonna have to come up with a new ending line once all this shit is over. I've gotten too used to signing off the same way every day.

[Jotari]

Funny thing, Grandmother actually does have a name. It's Dara. Saleh mentions her completely without context in his supports with Myrrh, but it is this character as the name's attached to her portrait in the game's data. You'd just never know as a conventional player.

I was kind of hoping you'd actually continue the playthrough with the Eirika file too instead of just reading the script. Not only is the script different, but the enemy arrangements are actually different in the last six maps depending on which route you chose. So there is some extra gameplay content there. Though maybe you'd find it boring replaying the same maps. Still though if there's still no sight of you getting Path of Radiance, then why not? Tower of Valni has no plot write up to speak of so you'll probably blaze through those maps quick enough.

[Alastor15243]

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

I was kind of hoping you'd actually continue the playthrough with the Eirika file too instead of just reading the script. Not only is the script different, but the enemy arrangements are actually different in the last six maps depending on which route you chose. So there is some extra gameplay content there. Though maybe you'd find it boring replaying the same maps. Still though if there's still no sight of you getting Path of Radiance, then why not? Tower of Valni has no plot write up to speak of so you'll probably blaze through those maps quick enough.

True and fair for the most part... and I wouldn't mind, probably. But that's just making me realize that my plans for my eventual playthrough of Three Houses, despite already being such a colossal undertaking that I question whether my sanity will survive, are woefully insufficient to assess the game. Honestly, if I have to play log that game four times AT ALL, let alone CONSECUTIVELY, in order to properly rank it...

...I don't think that will be fun for anyone, me or my audience.

...Any thoughts on this issue?

Edited May 20, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Boomhauer007]

Imagine 48 write ups between 4 runs of white clouds, all for a couple of different scenes and some slightly different dialogue. 

Please no. 

[Alastor15243]

3 minutes ago, Boomhauer007 said:

Imagine 48 write ups between 4 runs of white clouds, all for a couple of different scenes and some slightly different dialogue. 

Please no. 

Oh you poor sweet naive child.

You assume I could do one chapter a day.

Between all the dialogue, supports and minigame padding, I have serious doubts I'd even manage to go THAT fast.

Edited May 20, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Ether]

Given how long it would take to redo white clouds over and over, if you wanted to cover more than one path the only logistically reasonable way to do it would be to run black eagles and keep a save before locking into silver snow or crimson flower. At least that way you can cover both major sides of the central conflict. If you really wanted to, you could prep two saves beforehand at the end of part 1 for two of the three houses and just jump into war phase with them to look at those stories, but it still seems like a lot to do. 

[Alastor15243]

2 minutes ago, Ether said:

Given how long it would take to redo white clouds over and over, if you wanted to cover more than one path the only logistically reasonable way to do it would be to run black eagles and keep a save before locking into silver snow or crimson flower. At least that way you can cover both major sides of the central conflict. If you really wanted to, you could prep two saves beforehand at the end of part 1 for two of the three houses and just jump into war phase with them to look at those stories, but it still seems like a lot to do. 

Yeah, any way I look at this thing, trying to examine the entirety of Three Houses feels like an unpleasant experience for everyone involved. On one hand, that means 3H is suffering a major handicap in this ranking... but on the other hand, that handicap is due to its own padding and design flaws, so... I mean I kinda feel safe in saying it deserves it?

Edited May 20, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Ether]

Yeah, replaying TH in quick succession is really hampered by part 1 being such a large part of the game. Running all four routes would surely end up with you sick of it by the end so it would likely negatively effect the rating on a game you weren't thrilled about even further. Best to just run the Eagles routes and skip a second serving of white clouds between them. Maybe do BL and GD later if you feel like coming back to this with some downtime in your pocket.

[Alastor15243]

Just now, Ether said:

Yeah, replaying TH in quick succession is really hampered by part 1 being such a large part of the game. Running all four routes would surely end up with you sick of it by the end so it would likely negatively effect the rating on a game you weren't thrilled about even further. Best to just run the Eagles routes and skip a second serving of white clouds between them. Maybe do BL and GD later if you feel like coming back to this with some downtime in your pocket.

The plan from the start of the project was to do Blue Lions for the play log after having finished the other three on my own time. Do you guys think I should do Blue Lions for downtime instead, and then do a branched Black Eagles file for the playlog?

[Ether]

I mean, it depends how you want to handle it. Branched black eagles has the advantage of covering the highest amount of the game in one go, and aside from Claude's personality and Dimitri's character arc, most of the games unique content. I've yet to play through Lions but as I recall it's considered to have the most production value. If you want to touch on things you recall from your own time playing other routes I suppose it would make up for the lack of direct playlog content.

[Jotari]

11 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

True and fair for the most part... and I wouldn't mind, probably. But that's just making me realize that my plans for my eventual playthrough of Three Houses, despite already being such a colossal undertaking that I question whether my sanity will survive, are woefully insufficient to assess the game. Honestly, if I have to play log that game four times AT ALL, let alone CONSECUTIVELY, in order to properly rank it...

...I don't think that will be fun for anyone, me or my audience.

...Any thoughts on this issue?

No, I think one playthrough of Three Houses should be enough. Even the Azure Moon playthrough will probably take up until the release of the next title in the series. Though I would be interested to see your opinions on Cindered Shadows. It's rather short and does some interesting things with it's mini campaign style of gameplay.

8 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

The plan from the start of the project was to do Blue Lions for the play log after having finished the other three on my own time. Do you guys think I should do Blue Lions for downtime instead, and then do a branched Black Eagles file for the playlog?

I for one would like to see a blind Azure Moon playthorugh. This series has been mostly a blind affair so far as even the games you'd played before you'd played such a long time ago that a lot of it was fresh. That'll probably reduce as we head towards Awakening and Fates etc anyway, but I'd still like to see initial reactions. Especially since Azure Moon is deemed by some (myself included) to be the only route that actually functions as a stand along narrative (though I still have some huge issues with it).

Edited May 21, 2020 by Jotari

[Jingle Jangle]

I seconded for only playing  two or three of the routes plus Cindered Shadows. There quite the overlap where it comes to 3h.

[Alastor15243]

Hey guys, just a heads up... the run might, might be running into some technical issues. My laptop I do all my emulation on, well... it's kinda old, and it just did something really weird graphically. If it happens again, I may have to spend the laptop in for repairs, and during times like this... who knows how long that will take.

[Alastor15243]

Sacred Stones Day 19: Chapter 13EPH

Alright. I'm having internet issues at home, but that'll only be a problem when I want to post this, so let's just keep going.

I do a bit of preparation, mostly making sure I have restore and mend staves (I've decided mend is worth the extra gold for the increased weapon exp), and then I head in. And then the narrator says Ephraim and company find out that General Selena has kidnapped Myrrh, which... feels like something that should have been discovered in a cutscene, but... more importantly, the game says Ephraim “steels his heart” for the reality that he must fight General Selena, and I'm like... the fuck? Of the three original generals, he only ever mentioned interacting with Duessel. I get that he'd have reason to assume she's a good person, obviously, but this feels like the game thinks it built something up that it really didn't.

And Selena... is so frustrated by her loss of standing with the emperor that she's actually wishing that she hadn't been ordered to head straight back so she could kill/capture Ephraim to prove herself. Wow.

Myrrh begs Selena to give the stone back, and basically tells her whole life story to this woman, and then is surprised to learn that the woman that she's talking to, a woman in Grado, is actually from Grado.

So then Myrrh flat-out tells Selena everything she would need to know to come to the conclusion that Vigarde is being controlled by a dark force. But... she doesn't believe it. In fairness, the news is coming from a random strange little girl, even if that little girl does have obvious dragon wings on her back that would suggest she knows shit Selena doesn't. But basically she's decided she's going to continue obeying Vigarde's orders and believing it's the real Vigarde, because believing Myrrh means accepting that Vigarde is already gone, and she'd rather believe the real Vigarde is behaving this monstrously than accept that a monster is speaking through Vigarde's body, and that the real Vigarde is gone forever.

And then Myrrh uses either her dragon senses or just earthly intuition to correctly guess that Selena is in love with Vigarde, which... doesn't really make her character better for me. I mean, her story's tragic and all, but it's also... really, really pathetic. I'm basically forced to conclude that her willingness to help invade entire countries, kill her closest friends, and cooperate with obvious sociopaths, and do all of these things beyond even the lines her two fellow original gemstone generals drew in the sand... is all because of an unrequited fucking crush.

This would be far more sympathetic and tragic if Zombie Vigarde were actually trying to exploit this. If Fomortiis imbued Zombie Vigarde with enough charisma to manipulate her, her feelings, and her perception of events, creating a massive tragedy of errors culminating in her tragic death due to a massive misunderstanding, that could have potentially been amazing. But no! Zombie Vigarde isn't even trying! Selena's delusion that she's doing the right thing is entirely self-perpetuated, and I just can't sympathize with that. This is a victory that the villains are enjoying entirely due to Selena's weakness, and not Fomortiis's strength.

And now we hear Selena's sob story, which... ehhhhh. Apparently Vigarde, even before he became a zombie, had such terrible taxing methods that an entire impoverished village literally couldn't afford to pay the taxes and not starve, and I'm supposed to think he's a saint for sending these people supplies.

“He sent them to us, a poor frontier town who couldn't even afford to pay taxes.”

First off, is “who” grammatically correct here? Isn't a place a “that”, even if it's full of people?

Second off, is she trying to suggest that the morally neutral response, the one that nobody would blame him for choosing, would be to cut off an entire fucking town from the services and protections of the empire just because they literally physically can't pay their taxes?

That wasn't his fucking money he paid for those supplies with, Selena! That wasn't charity at his expense! That was money collected from the people, and it was Emperor Vigarde's responsibility to use that money to fund efforts to help the people, efforts that the people could not merely fund themselves. To keep them safe, to invest in their future, and to provide relief in times of crisis. An Emperor gains nothing by allowing an entire village to starve to death, especially not when the rest of the country appears to be thriving, and especially not in peace time.

And then she seems to be convinced that the other neighboring rulers are such shitbags that they'd think Vigarde was “mad” for performing such an act of basic decency. As if we're to believe that Hayden, Fado or Mansel would have let an entire village die or devolve into banditry because they were too poor to pay their taxes. With absolutely nothing so far to indicate that these rulers were heartless or cruel in any way.

Yes, yes, I know: Medieval times, deliberate values dissonance, etc., etc., etc. But excuse me if I find the lack of consistency rather jarring. The characters as a whole, by and large, demonstrate modern values so frequently that the odd relapse into medieval values and politics tends to just feel... wrong to me, because there are no consistent rules for when each is appropriate. It just feels like a defense to throw out to defend some things when it's convenient, but which is undermined at all other times by the general behavior of the main cast.

So then Selena lets Myrrh go, meaning that Selena... never actually captured Myrrh, calling into question what the fuck those ridiculously fast-traveling rumors Ephraim's army apparently acted on came from. Apparently, Ephraim's army moved in response to rumors that were not only untrue, but based off of events that hadn't fucking happened yet.

And then... to top it all off...

Ephraim doesn't say a fucking word about having to fight Selena.

Seth and L'arachel just warn him about her combat prowess and abilities, and then it's straight to the preparation screen.

Ooh! Looks like one of the mages has a speedwing. Gotta keep that in mind when planning my moves. Gotta steal that thing.

Aside from refreshing javelins though, there's not much else I need to do to prepare. I'll be sending most of my army to the east, and I'll be sending Cormag, Duessel and Lute to the west.

Alright, let's go.

...So, immediately post-deployment, Tethys and Gerik show up, and Myrrh tells them which side Ephraim is on so they can help. But really, this... these Eirika-Route characters are traveling across the continent really quickly, especially through areas that are supposed to be war zones. But then Myrrh shows up at Ephraim's side and apologizes, before telling him that the soldiers aren't bad people, and Ephraim almost dismissively says he'll try to convince people to join his side.

Wow... and this isn't even a “defeat boss” map, huh? All of these soldiers must be really loyal to Selena.

Anyway, speaking of her, Selena's going to be a pain. I'm gonna have to drain her bolting tome. Her speed initially scared me, especially since Lute's barely faster than her, but that elfire tome means that I do at least have some units who can double her no matter what she's holding.

I have Gerrik fight a bit, mostly to get damaged so that L'arachel has someone to heal. I swear, the second I get access to the buyable barrier staves that are apparently at the shop by Jehanna hall, I am having L'arachel spam that shit nonstop. I want her to be a valkyrie by the end of the game so badly.

Cormag's level ups have been kind of lopsided, and his speed is still significantly lower than I'd like, but holy shit, he managed to cap strength at level 17!

I haven't yet located an opening where we can start safely draining Selena's bolting without getting in range of other enemies. And I can't afford to leave any of my strongest units behind at the start either, not when I don't know when bandits will be coming for the villages.

The reduced mov of troubadours is... confusing and annoying. I don't get it.

Riders who promote from foot units only getting 7 mov horses? That I understand, sort of. But troubadours getting shitty ponies that can't even match the movement speed of units whose horses are weighed down by standard cavalry armor? That utterly baffles me.

Thankfully, I have Tethys with me to help keep her moving forward and sometimes double-dip on the staff exp.

Man oh man, even if they can't fight, having these pegasi around to just rescue-drop anyone I like across land, mountains and sea is just so useful. Especially to keep Tethys up with the rest of the group.

I nearly had a heart attack as the time came to enter Selena's range, and I realized she was targeting Cormag and had a 1% crit chance. Thankfully, that didn't happen, but holy shit. I didn't realize I was entering her range at both ends!

The bandits start heading for the west village since I blocked the east one, and that one's not nearly as secure, so I un-block it in the hopes of luring them back to buy some more time, while I also take the opportunity to heal up Franz and Ephraim (who I had kill the mage across the river with a javelin) with Tethys's help.

...SHIT! I went a space too far! Franz is gonna kill the speedwing mage if I don't get him to back up a little!

Thankfully, with the help of Tethys, Vanessa, Tana, L'arachel and yes, even fucking Forde, I managed to rescue-drop Franz out of the way without anyone getting into enemy range. Holy shit. Yes.

A pirate arrives from the southwestern sea, but Cormag easily smites him with his axereaver, actually killing him in a single hit.

...Honestly, in hindsight, that clutch repositioning probably wouldn't have been necessary, because I could have just traded his javelin away so he wouldn't counter-attack.

...Nope, that wouldn't have been wise. Colm needs to wait until Selena's bolting is spent before he can safely approach the thief to steal anything. I suppose I can use rescue-dropping for that too, though...

...Yep. Mission accomplished. Speedwings acquired.

Just in time for Selena to finally run out of bolting. Duessel was pretty handy for making her waste it. No chance of death, but a decent chance of damage, letting Lute get some healing exp.

This villager who begs you not to kill Selena has almost the exact same color scheme as Navarre. She bribes us with a talisman, which... jeez, okay, just make whoever goes to this village a promise-breaking asshole, why don't you?

...Interdimensional Observer, I have to assume that “in two chapters' time” didn't mean this chapter, but the one after it, because the only thing I can see I'd need C staves for... is a sleep staff troubadour.

Who's refusing to move.

But on the bright side, I got the end of Seth and Franz's support chain, and that was a pretty great way to end this support. I learned a lot about both Seth and Franz from hearing about Franz's father. I wish they would give him a damned name though, if he was that amazing.

And I got a barrier staff from the western village, which L'arachel is gonna start spamming immediately.

I nearly fucked up royally by forgetting that dragonspears exist, and not even entertaining the idea that one of the cavalry by the end could have effective weaponry on Cormag. But thankfully Cormag was tough enough that he would have survived even if all three attacks hit. In some quick-thinking though, I used the “you have too many items” screen to give him a worse weapon just in case that saved him from an opening from an unseen enemy.

Cormag's definitely coming into his own now. He gained two speed levels and a defense level, easing my concerns about his non-strength stats a decent deal. The second he promotes, he'll be home free for the rest of the game.

And now to do something I've never done before:

Have Duessel and Selena fight. Time to see what their conversation is.

…

…

…

…

They... don't have one.

They don't have one.

SELENA.

AND DUESSEL.

HAVE NOTHING TO SAY TO EACH OTHER BEFORE THEY FIGHT TO THE DEATH.

…

...Fuck you, game.

…

...What?

The... the conversation happens... after they fight?

...Wait...

Selena... is apologizing to Duessel... for calling him a traitor.

...But... but he's fighting against Grado.

How can she not think he's a traitor unless...

...Oh.

...So she knows Vigarde is lying.

She does believe Myrrh.

She's just... doing what the corrupted Vigarde says... anyway?

...Don't tell me she's suicidal. Don't tell me this is that Xander-esque suicide-by-army bullshit.

Bitch, if you're suicidal because the man you love is irrevocably corrupted by dark magic, and if you absolutely insist on ending your own life, then just fucking kill yourself. If your honor as a general is so important to you that you'd rather kill yourself by trying to murder dozens of people you know to be noble and righteous, rather than simply kill yourself and hurt no one else, then you are a horrible, selfish piece of shit.

Your entire battalion, a good portion of which must be pretty damned loyal to you, are all dead now. No matter how this battle could have turned out, needless, completely pointless bloodshed would have happened regardless, simply because you insisted on fighting a battle you knew was wrong.

Jesus. I honestly can't tell whether I hate Selena or Eldigan more now.

...No, fuck that, of course I can tell. It's definitely Selena. At least Eldigan had some sense left, and at least his sister could still get through to him. Selena's just... completely out of her damned mind, and the story doesn't seem to want to acknowledge it.

...Moving on... I just noticed that when I went to rescue-drop Duessel... his sprite seemed to temporarily turn into... what looked like Nils's map sprite as he walked into and out of the pegasus's space. I'll have to see if that happens with other units too, or just mounted ones. Or just Duessel.

I wanted to try to have Ephraim fight her, but alas, I couldn't rescue-drop Lute out of the way, so I'll have to consult the script because she's dead now.

…

First off, apparently these talks happen when you cross the bridge to Selena, which is weird, because there's so little space there that anyone who crosses the bridge is probably going to be attacking like I did, making the order of events weird.

Second... It just confirms everything I just concluded from her talk with Duessel. She knows what she's doing is wrong, she knows the reasons she originally insisted on still doing it are completely invalid and pointless, and she's doing it anyway because she feels compelled to as a general of Grado.

Our tragic villain, ladies and gentlemen. Fuck you, Selena. You are the worst Camus of all time.

And now Myrrh's all sad because she got her dragonstone back at the cost of Selena's life, and she doesn't understand why such a “good person” had to die.

Ugh. Needless to say, this conversation completely falls flat on its face for me.

...I don't know what to say. This was a pretty okay chapter gameplaywise, but story... this is probably the worst chapter in the whole game so far.

Well... tomorrow we'll be tackling Chapter 13EIR. I'm currently thinking I will in fact be doing the rest of the game from both sides of this even once they reunite, which means I probably won't actually four-turn that chapter at Cormag's expense... but I will be checkmating the boss to prove that I can, at least.

Also, that business with my computer... so far things have been fine since restarting. I'll keep an eye out though.

Stay safe, everyone.

[Eltosian Kadath]

On 5/20/2020 at 10:32 AM, Alastor15243 said:

But that's just making me realize that my plans for my eventual playthrough of Three Houses, despite already being such a colossal undertaking that I question whether my sanity will survive, are woefully insufficient to assess the game. Honestly, if I have to play log that game four times AT ALL, let alone CONSECUTIVELY, in order to properly rank it...

...I don't think that will be fun for anyone, me or my audience.

...Any thoughts on this issue?

If there is some way of skipping white cloud by then it might be worth it to try the split route approach, but otherwise just go one route.  It seems unlikely, but you've got a long while before you get to three houses, they might update the game to make replaying it less awful, or you convince someone to play through 3 versions of white cloud so you have saves ready in the part of the game worth comparing, or a modding scene might reach the point where people can skip to the second half of the game.

 

20 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

...Interdimensional Observer, I have to assume that “in two chapters' time” didn't mean this chapter, but the one after it, because the only thing I can see I'd need C staves for... is a sleep staff troubadour.

Yeah its next chapter where you want 2 (preferably 3) people able to use restore staff on Ephraim's route.

 

24 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Also, that business with my computer... so far things have been fine since restarting. I'll keep an eye out though.

Stay safe, everyone.

Despite how dumb it sounds, turning a computer off and on fixes a lot of problems.

[Benice]

45 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Cormag's level ups have been kind of lopsided, and his speed is still significantly lower than I'd like, but holy shit, he managed to cap strength at level 17

Apparently, his growths are identical to Raven's.

And you will DEFINITELY want to bring many restore staves and cavalry units to rescure squishies out of the way; 14 EPH is hellish without a staffbot, to be perfectly frank.

It's a bit like Oliver's map in RD, actually.

Edited May 21, 2020 by Benice