The Purpose of Each Shadow Dragon Paralogue

[Jotari]

Shadow Dragon's Gaidens are a weird bunch. Their infamous for requiring you to slaughter your army to reach. But, other than that, they kind of fail to do what a lot of people hoped another Archanea game would do, expound upon the lore and characters of the world. They are, to put it pretty bluntly, filler. And this is actually rare for optional Fire Emblem chapters. Usually, even if they're skippable, the side chapters are accomplishing something. The first real side chapters in the series were in Thracia where gaiden chapters fill in plot beats that weren't strictly necessary, like reuniting with Dagdar or the escape from Tara. One near the end game had a pretty useful gameplay utility of rescuing captured allies. In Binding Blade they were strictly necessary for getting the true ending. Blazing Blade followed Thracia's suit by filling in plot details that could be skipped over, like how they found a boat to the dread isle or learning more about Nergal (indeed, the Gaiden chapters in Blazing Blade are less fillerlike than Hectors numbered extra chapters, which is really annoying as those irrelevant chapters shift the whole numbering order of the game meaning you can't easily refer to something like Chapter 26 without having to specify which mode). Then Gaidens took a break for a while until we got to Shadow Dragon where they did very little to expand upon the story. It seems their only real purpose was to be easy and provide more exp and weapons to the people intended to actually play the Gaidens, ie noobs who get all their units killed. But I want to take a closer look and see if there's any more value we can find in them.

 

With the most obvious one out of the way, I'm going to analyze them individually. The first is Athena's paralogue. Honestly, I don't even remember what's happening in this one even though I played it only like a few months ago, I think it's just generic bandit attack. And Athena more than any other character feels disconnected from Archanea, being a foreigner who knows no other character. But she does bring one thing to the table. And that is being a female myrmidon. The myrmidon class didn't exist in Archanea before Shadow Dragon DS, Nabarl and Radd were sword fighters just like Caesar and Ogma.  It's a shame that they didn't use Malice though, an existing Archanea sword fighter from BS Saga who was made a myrmidon in New Mystery. But she would probably have had to bring Dice along with her too and it seems they didn't want to do that. What's interesting is that Athena could have also easily have been a mercenary. The decision to make her a myrmidon likely effected the way class changing works in Shadow Dragon as it means females could access myrmidon, but not mercenary.

The next Gaiden is Horace's one. Unlike Athena, Horace as a gameplay unit has no real necessity to exist. He's a general and we already have two knights and a general recruitable in the game. What I would have really liked was if he were a dedicated bow general, as that would have give him a pretty unique gameplay niche. But ultimately he adds nothing but his own little side story to the game. And to his credit, it's probably the best and most interesting of the Gaiden's from a narrative perspective.

The next chapter is Etzel's paralogue. And I think the reason for his existence is obvious. Like Athena, he was representing a new class to the game (and series), this time Sorcerer class, which kind of exists just because they didn't want to make Gharnef a Bishop again I reckon. Again we can look to BS Saga and see if there's a character they could have used instead, this time Frost, who later became a Bishop in New Mystery (well, he was always a bishop, but making him a Sorcerer was a possibility). But Etzel doesn't just serve to represent the new classline in the game, he also plays a pretty crucial role of being a magic recruit in a section of the game that is devoid of magic units. From Chapter 12 (Boah) until Chapter 23 (Elice) there are no magic units obtained. Aside from class balance, this is pretty important as with no magic users you can't beat Gharnef. Of course, the reclass system ensures that you can always make at least 3 (a singular Bishop, Sage and Sorcerer) magic users, but giving the player a magic user straight out for people who aren't reclassing could be a saving grace for some noob who got Merric and Linde killed. What would have made the gaidens a bit more tolerable is if you only needed to lose one magic unit to access this one (then everyone would just kill Boah).

The next gaiden is Ymir's one and, once again, we're having a new class represented...is what I wanted to say, but then I looked it up and saw Ymir is a Warrior! What? I thought he was a Berserker. Not only would that make more sense for his wildman character concept, but the game doesn't have any natural Berserkers. Only the singular pirate Darros who can promote to one (which he couldn't do in Mystery, if the wiki is to be believed, though that seems a bit strange as all the other NES classes that couldn't promote could, oh wait, was Darros even in old Mystery, yeah that would explain no promotion, if it was an enemy only class). Meanwhile we have the three axe bros who could all promote to warrior. Well, I guess it doesn't make a huge difference, but it does leave me scratching my head wondering what this chapter is meant to do. Gives Grust an extra chapter at their defeat, which is kind of nice. But it doesn't seem to crucially do anything for the plot or gameplay. And even when I played Hard 5 a few months ago I was wondering what the chapter was meant to accomplish. Oh, well I guess it gave us a lava chapter, which is something of a tradition in the series started in Binding Blade. I am also obligated to note that if another axe user was needed, BS Dice could have filled the roll. Of course what really sticks out about Grust is the two royal heirs not being mentioned at all. A Gaiden rescuing them would have been great, but would have had to go in the Khadein or Thabes sections putting the Gaiden too close to Etzels or Nagi's.

The last Gaiden, Nagi's chapter, is probably the one with the most obvious "justification" for its existence. As that's the only one that actually does touch on the game's overall lore. Albeit in a very hazy and unexplaining way that just adds more questions than it answers. It also serves a pretty critical gameplay function of ensuring the player has a way to beat Medeus by giving them a replacement Tiki and a replacement Falchion. For that reason it's also the one that's accessible based on more specific criteria versus generally how much man power you have.

Anyway those are just my thoughts on why these Gaiden's exist in the form that they do. Feel free to share your speculation.

Edited July 13, 2023 by Jotari

[Aedan7479]

Unfortunately, I think their purpose is pretty clear: to give players back up options; a few extra characters, some items, some exp, and that's it. The only story in these chapters is spent giving the new characters a personality, with the exception of 24x. That Chapter is the only one with some lore because it absolutely NEEDS it to make sense.

I know that sounds rather pessimistic, but remember Shadow Dragon was always more about gameplay than story, and maintaining the original vision of the game, which also gave you a lot of back up options with units.

[Jotari]

52 minutes ago, Aedan7479 said:

Unfortunately, I think their purpose is pretty clear: to give players back up options; a few extra characters, some items, some exp, and that's it. The only story in these chapters is spent giving the new characters a personality, with the exception of 24x. That Chapter is the only one with some lore because it absolutely NEEDS it to make sense.

I know that sounds rather pessimistic, but remember Shadow Dragon was always more about gameplay than story, and maintaining the original vision of the game, which also gave you a lot of back up options with units.

Most of my analysis actually is from a gameplay perspective. Really thought I was onto something with them all having new classes until I realized Ymir was a Warrior not a Berserker.

Another class they could have given us would be a male wyvern knight. Male units can class change into it, but the only male wyvern knight in the entire game is Michalis.

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

I´m wondering if you can really call them backup in case you lose units. I mean having minimum 15 units or less by chapter 6 out of a potential 24 (1 sac and Norne doesn´t show up without further victims?), if I didn´t miscount. Kinda doubt Athena or any after her can replace the potential undefined value of them 9-x sacrifices.

Eh you can sac let´s see Gordin, Draug, Wrys, Cord, Darros, Castor, Matthis, Roshea, Vyland and Ricken and you wouldn´t lose all too much and you get a potential 10/1 Swordmaster.

Then again the recruitment for Castor, Matthis, Wendell, Navarre is kinda meh.

4 hours ago, Jotari said:

Etzel

Tbf, the game throws 3 clerics, 2 mages, 1 bishop and 1 sage at you. 

 

I thought it might have been some big brain setup to make them appear in NMotE but nope, 2/4 appear ion sidequests there too.

[Jotari]

8 minutes ago, Imuabicus der Fertige said:

I thought it might have been some big brain setup to make them appear in NMotE but nope, 2/4 appear ion sidequests there too

That would be a weird selection of characters to make important. You could definitely do something with Horace as he's a General of Archanea, and Etzel has an in on the Merric Arlen subplot or potential ties to Gharnef, but Ymir and Athena are absolute nobodies. Though, now that I'm thinking of their roles in New Mystery, you recruit Etzel in Khadein there, which makes me realize how weird it is that they decided to tie him to Altea in Shadow Dragon when Khadein is the very next chapter. Like they could have had the paralogue in the exact same chapter put placed it in Khadein, instead they put a mage in a random Altea Castle. I'm not exactly against the idea, Altea could certainly do with another chapter, it's just kind of weird they decide to give you a mage right before your visit to mage country and not during it. Oh wait, no, I'm misremembering things. You visit Khadein between Altea and Gra. Still, point sort of stands as the Khadein chapter is one of only half a dozen chapters in the game where you don't recruit someone.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

2 hours ago, Jotari said:

Most of my analysis actually is from a gameplay perspective. Really thought I was onto something with them all having new classes until I realized Ymir was a Warrior not a Berserker.

Warrior was a new class to Shadow Dragon, though. Fighters couldn't promote in the original Archanea games. Didn't you ever notice that, outside the Alterspire, you never see any generic enemy Warriors?

Anyway, while I agree that Berserker might be better for him aesthetically, Warrior has the advantage of letting him start with a Bow rank. Only D, but better than him starting as a Berserker and reclassing to Warrior, to work up from E-rank.

[Jotari]

5 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Warrior was a new class to Shadow Dragon, though. Fighters couldn't promote in the original Archanea games. Didn't you ever notice that, outside the Alterspire, you never see any generic enemy Warriors?

Anyway, while I agree that Berserker might be better for him aesthetically, Warrior has the advantage of letting him start with a Bow rank. Only D, but better than him starting as a Berserker and reclassing to Warrior, to work up from E-rank.

What? It is? I knew the axe bros didn't promote in NES and were mysteriously absent in Book 2, but they're in Book 1. Could they not promote there?

[Acacia Sgt]

28 minutes ago, Jotari said:

What? It is? I knew the axe bros didn't promote in NES and were mysteriously absent in Book 2, but they're in Book 1. Could they not promote there?

Nope. No promotion.

[Dr. Tarrasque]

The first instance of a playable Warrior in the series and Axe fighters promoting into that class was in FE4 with Johalvier.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Could be worse. They could be open field route maps like FE12. It does not feel right ending a map in any way other than parking Marth on the throne.

The theoretical purpose of Gaidens, given their unlock condition, is to give you great new units to carry you but honestly none of them are spectacular except for Nagi. A third ballistician would have been game changing - the trade chain with Captain Xane chugs along toward our next victim. And if quantity of units in your army is the problem, FE11 will give you filler units whose level goes up based on the average level of your remaining party. These guys are doing more to prevent a softlock than Etzel is. That idiot can't even Warp at base - and unlike Merric has no Bishop option to reclass to. Norne is a joke. Horace might prove useful - in the same way that any promoted unit that doesn't cost a master seal in mid game is useful. The very next map is Wooden Cavalry, and Generals are king there. But your other units will overtake him eventually.

As far as a narrative is concerned, the only one that had me paying attention is 12x. I like Horace as a character, and the ending where he lives is a good scene. His recruitment is also more complicated than just blasting through his troops and having Marth talk to him. You really do have to avoid him entirely. If you had me in charge of some remake or adaptation of Shadow Dragon, this chapter would be in. Because I can't think of any other moment that humanizes the enemy. Depicts a battle in which neither side wants to fight. It's too bad 99.99% of first playthroughs missed it. Because Chapter 12 feeds you Five new characters and expects you to have 15 or less by the end of it. It's the least likely Gaiden you'd encounter organically.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

1 hour ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

As far as a narrative is concerned, the only one that had me paying attention is 12x. I like Horace as a character, and the ending where he lives is a good scene. His recruitment is also more complicated than just blasting through his troops and having Marth talk to him. You really do have to avoid him entirely.

I can't believe it took me this long to realize, but Horace is essentially this game's take on Xavier. An enemy general, forced to fight for a side he dislikes, with a tricky recruit condition. And yeah, narratively I really liked him, too. His scene was great for Nyna as well, in her ongoing characterization. 

1 hour ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

A third ballistician would have been game changing - the trade chain with Captain Xane chugs along toward our next victim.

An extra ballistician would've been great! Especially if one or both went dead or unrecruited. Likewise, I think one of the paralogue recruits should've been another Thief. It's entirely plausible that a novice player would get Julian killed early on, leaving the Thief-less the rest of the run. And while you don't necessarily need one, they can still provide helpful utility that's easier for new players than juggling a bunch of Door Keys. Ve may love Athena, but ve vould be villing to see her come back as a Thief instead.

4 hours ago, Jotari said:

What? It is? I knew the axe bros didn't promote in NES and were mysteriously absent in Book 2, but they're in Book 1. Could they not promote there?

I've not played Old Mystery, but that's what the wiki says. Can't promote Fighters.

[Jotari]

3 hours ago, Dr. Tarrasque said:

The first instance of a playable Warrior in the series and Axe fighters promoting into that class was in FE4 with Johalvier.

Curse you Kaga and your hatred of axes!

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

I can't believe it took me this long to realize, but Horace is essentially this game's take on Xavier. An enemy general, forced to fight for a side he dislikes, with a tricky recruit condition. And yeah, narratively I really liked him, too. His scene was great for Nyna as well, in her ongoing characterization. 

An extra ballistician would've been great! Especially if one or both went dead or unrecruited. Likewise, I think one of the paralogue recruits should've been another Thief. It's entirely plausible that a novice player would get Julian killed early on, leaving the Thief-less the rest of the run. And while you don't necessarily need one, they can still provide helpful utility that's easier for new players than juggling a bunch of Door Keys. Ve may love Athena, but ve vould be villing to see her come back as a Thief instead.

I've not played Old Mystery, but that's what the wiki says. Can't promote Fighters.

Making the paralogues class based instead of total army based makes a lot more sense. And is basically what Nagi is. Ballistician if you don't get Jake or Beck, a Thief if Julian dies or you don't get Rickard, Etzel if you really are running out of mages for Gharnef. Maybe even a second Chameleon if Xane dies (though that would take away from it being his thing and statistically the only possible difference for a chameleon would be heir HP growth, on the other hand it'd force them to do something with the lore). Hell I'd take even a second Manakete since Banti kind of sucks in this game (or better yet, a playable mage dragon).

[X-Naut]

I'm going to ignore 24x because that's an obvious emergency measure by Gotoh, the game spells it out loud and clear.

Besides that, all the paralogues occur after a major milestone: Chapter 6 is when you liberate Aurelis, in 12 you take Archanea's palace, 17 has you retaking Altea, and 20 is where you defeat Camus and knock Grust out of the war. This is a convenient place to include them narratively as it would likely coincide in a lull in activity, with Marth's army pausing to realign themselves and plan their next move.

As Zapp and Pete's Mate said, the only one that holds much weight in the narrative is 12x, where Horace is forced to choose between kingdom and territory and it gives Nyna a great show of character. Sadly none of the others do much beyond maybe showing Marth as an open-minded leader who's willing to accept more unusual characters: Athena is a semi-literate foreigner, Etzel's discipline probably evoking discomfort and Ymir being a giant of a man who can throw his weight around. Nor do they engage their requirement, as none of them portray Marth explicitly going out of his way for new recruits; never mind the redundancy with generics.

If they had better thought-out requirements and played with the narrative more then they might be a more meaningful addition. If nothing else the character inclusions are less contrived than the sequel.

[Jotari]

7 minutes ago, X-Naut said:

I'm going to ignore 24x because that's an obvious emergency measure by Gotoh, the game spells it out loud and clear.

Besides that, all the paralogues occur after a major milestone: Chapter 6 is when you liberate Aurelis, in 12 you take Archanea's palace, 17 has you retaking Altea, and 20 is where you defeat Camus and knock Grust out of the war. This is a convenient place to include them narratively as it would likely coincide in a lull in activity, with Marth's army pausing to realign themselves and plan their next move.

This was something I was aware of but didn't mention. Now that you do mention it, though, it does make Macedon stand out a bit. All the other major countries got paralogues but we have nothing before going to Thabes. I guess Marth is in a bit of a hurry there and he just uses Gotoh's warp magic instead of walking anywhere, but it still feels a bit off. And if we were interested in expanding the original narrative then a paralogue better justifying Michalis' survival could have worked (maybe a chapter you can only get if Maria is still alive).

[JimmyBeans]

Each one has a niche, whether intended or not, that makes them an interesting pick up under certain circumstances in my opinion. 

Athena has the speed necessary to double all the chapter 9 pirates on H5, hitting that benchmark exactly. Horace has great bases despite his terrible growths and B rank lances at base, his base defense can make him extremely useful even on H5, but nobody really talks about it as Wolf and Sedgar exist. Etzel is slow, but has really high base magic, allowing him to do some really high damage. And Ymir is like the physical version of Etzel. 

These levels are easier (except Etzel's can screw you if you are not careful) than main line levels and give you unique items along side your new characters, to which Athena is really the only "growth" unit out of them, while the others all have a special stat that is higher than all their peers. Horace has 18 defense base! and like I said, Ymir and Etzel have bery high base STR/MAG for the contexts of the game.

[AnonymousSpeed]

17 hours ago, Jotari said:

He's a general and we already have two knights and a general recruitable in the game.

Dolph and Macellan in shambles right now. Those are the ones you forgot, aren't they? Draug, Roger, and Lorenz you remember, but Dolph and Macellan? You forget them, like trash, you monster.

13 hours ago, Jotari said:

Another class they could have given us would be a male wyvern knight. Male units can class change into it, but the only male wyvern knight in the entire game is Michalis.

This is the main one you really don't need, since you're using a billion wyverns and re-classing bunch of paladins into wyverns anyway.

[Acacia Sgt]

Funny how it took five games to have a playable male wyvern rider.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure the Paralogues are there not because the game developers expected you to kill off your units on purpose to access them, but rather precisely in case you were truly playing that badly (without resetting of course) to need a little bit of extra help. It's just that 24x is the only one that made it too obvious since it's the stop-gag measure to ensure you can actually win the game.

[Jotari]

4 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Dolph and Macellan in shambles right now. Those are the ones you forgot, aren't they? Draug, Roger, and Lorenz you remember, but Dolph and Macellan? You forget them, like trash, you monster.

>.>    <.<      >.>       ....Yes. 😞

4 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

This is the main one you really don't need, since you're using a billion wyverns and re-classing bunch of paladins into wyverns anyway.

Actually it would help on that front quite a bit. As your reclass limit is "number of units with bas class"+1. In other words, a natural wyvern rider being added to the game means you have one more character you can class change to wyvern (though with three white wings, Shiida and Minerva making six available wyverns, being able to have a seventh might be too much wyvern...no, what am I saying. You can't have too much wyvern). This is another reason Ymir should have been a Berserker, as it means you can only ever have two berserkers even with reclassing.

 

I should also note that Norne's reason for existing was probably to give female's access to Archer too.

Edited July 14, 2023 by Jotari

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

On 7/13/2023 at 5:38 PM, Jotari said:

Curse you Kaga and your hatred of axes!

Weird how Thracia 776, the Kaga-est game that ever Kaga'd, actually has good Axe users.

On 7/14/2023 at 12:12 AM, Jotari said:

This is another reason Ymir should have been a Berserker, as it means you can only ever have two berserkers even with reclassing.

Yeah, true enough. It's either "5 Warriors, 2 Berserkers", or "4 Warriors, 3 Berserkers". That said, either way, Ymir is the first of either class that the player gets after chapter 2.

On 7/13/2023 at 5:38 PM, Jotari said:

Making the paralogues class based instead of total army based makes a lot more sense. And is basically what Nagi is. Ballistician if you don't get Jake or Beck, a Thief if Julian dies or you don't get Rickard, Etzel if you really are running out of mages for Gharnef. Maybe even a second Chameleon if Xane dies (though that would take away from it being his thing and statistically the only possible difference for a chameleon would be heir HP growth, on the other hand it'd force them to do something with the lore). Hell I'd take even a second Manakete since Banti kind of sucks in this game (or better yet, a playable mage dragon).

Only if the new Chameleon is named "Karma". They come and go, they come and go...

Hm, if Etzel is the "Starlight substitute", perhaps he should swap jointimes with Ymir? That way, there's less time to go before you actually get Starlight. Less time for the "the new guy" to get killed off.

Speaking of which, since Starlight is a C-rank tome, even the generic replacement units can use it. I can't wait to have Auffle kill Gharnef on my next playthrough.

[Jotari]

9 minutes ago, Shanty Pete&#x27;s 1st Mate said:

Hm, if Etzel is the "Starlight substitute", perhaps he should swap jointimes with Ymir? That way, there's less time to go before you actually get Starlight. Less time for the "the new guy" to get killed off.

Speaking of which, since Starlight is a C-rank tome, even the generic replacement units can use it. I can't wait to have Auffle kill Gharnef on my next playthrough.

Yeah, I could see a later game Etzel in exchange for mid game Ymir. If you lose the axe bros early on then you kind of are shit out of luck for natural axe users for a large portion of the game. I guess there's Minerva. Such class imbalance might have been one of the impetuous for creating class change as a mechanic.

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

On 7/14/2023 at 6:12 AM, Jotari said:

I should also note that Norne's reason for existing was probably to give female's access to Archer too.

Men can shoot arrows and women can ride Pegasi, balanced as all things should be.

- Kaga to Hubert, ca 1990

 

 

Considering she doesn´t even exist on non-easy difficulties and her recruitment condition is stupid as hell, her purpose is... questionable. She enters Marths army like a stray dog.

[Jotari]

On 7/14/2023 at 3:20 AM, Zapp Branniglenn said:

And if quantity of units in your army is the problem, FE11 will give you filler units whose level goes up based on the average level of your remaining party. These guys are doing more to prevent a softlock than Etzel is. 

Those replacement units also really work against getting the Gaiden's naturally too. As the replacement units are still counted towards the army count. So not only do you need to lose all of the characters the game gives you, but you need to lose enough of the replacement units the game gives you in the specific chapter before the Gaiden. It's really, really weird that they did that. It's like the two mechanics which are trying to achieve the same goal, are working completely against each other.