To Become an Elitist [Playlogs FE1-5] [currently playing: Thracia 776]

[Sidereal Wraith]

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

My condolences.

I don't know you anymore Rubenio.

[ping]

FE2 Chapter 3: Liberty War

Dozer's Fortress --> Forest Shrine

Spoiler

The next fight is very much the opposite of Dozer's Fortress - instead of the chokiest chokepoint that ever choked, this one's a bunch of horsies in almost entirely open terrain. Yes, there's forest aplenty in the center, but the only way you realistically can make use of it is to warp somebody (probably Matilda with the Horseslayer or something).

And all the horsies do indeed charge at your characters from the very beginning, making the map somewhat tricky. My general plan was to put four tanky characters to the right, so that they can maybe hold out until the left side overwhelms their share of cavaliers, and then have Silk warp Matilda with the Horseslayer over to help clean up the rest.

This map's boss is, surprise surprise, a Paladin. Nothing particularly outstanding about him, although Paladins are still a pretty threatening foe for Alm's group to go up against. He's part of the right squad, with another (Lv.1) Paladin in the left one, too. The unpromoted Cavs are Lv.1 and Lv.5.

As expected, the left group (well, mostly Matilda, with everybody else picking up some scrabs) is pretty quick with cleaning up their side of the map...

...but the right group is also pretty successful. Alm doubles the Lv.1 Cavs and easily one-rounds with the Royal Sword.

Overall, an easier map than I first thought. It's a great first impression for Matilda, too, who doubles everything with the Horseslayer.

After that, the Paladin squad that spawned at the Floodgate some time ago attacks. Since only 10 characters take part in these ambushes, Matilda isn't fielded here, but this is the same three Palas that we fought before, and this time, the group isn't split up. Easy fight.

And then, in the Forest Shrine, a lot of Gargoyles.

__

And a dead Claire. Sigh.

...I'll do this one again. Unfortunately, there's no revival fountains in this shrine, and Alm has to wait all the way until chapter 4 to get access to one (whoops, sorry Jesse), so I'm afraid I'll have to face everybody's scorn for resetting for Claire and not for Valbo. But unlike Sonia, these things don't one-round anybody on the team, so I'm hopeful that the next attempt another day will be better. Plus, Valbo got revived the very next update, if I remember correctly. Clair would've had to wait a while.

Shame, though, Ryuto had a +2 Spd level near the start of the fight.

The Team:

	Lv.	   HP  Pow Skl Spd Lck Def Res  +XP   Item
Alm	6.91	   31   12* 10   7   8   9   4  + 93  Regal Sw (+7 Atk, +10 hit, +20 Crit)
Force	8.27	   30   13   5   7   5   7   5  +116
Luca	6.89	   23   13   4   4   3   9   2  + 50
Gray	5/7.80	   30   10*  9  10*  2   5   2  + 19  Bolt Sw (15 Atk, -3 Spd)

Claire	9.08	   25   16*  8   8* 15   5   8  + 74  Steel Ln (+4 Atk, -1 Spd)
Matilda 1.62	   26   12* 14  12* 13   7  10  + 62  Knight Ln (+3 Atk, -1 Spd)
Cleive	7.19	   26   12   7   7   8   7   1	+ 26

Cliff	4/10.59	   32   18*  5   8* 11  16   8  + 24  Steel Bow (+3 At, -1 Spd)
Python	4.92	   24   10   3   4   2   6   4  + 26

Ryuto	8.90	   30   14   9   7   4*  5   8  + 60  Angel Ring
Robin	4/6.84	   28    9   6   9   6   5   4  + 35
Silk	7.62	   18    9   5  10   5   2* 11  + 24  Leather Sh (+3 Def)

 

 

Edited October 4, 2023 by gnip

[Saint Rubenio]

On 10/3/2023 at 8:35 PM, Sidereal Wraith said:

I don't know you anymore Rubenio.

That was entirely consistent with my character, Wraith.

7 minutes ago, gnip said:

The next fight is very much the opposite of Dozer's Fortress - instead of the chokiest chokepoint that ever choked, this one's a bunch of horsies in almost entirely open terrain. Yes, there's forest aplenty in the center, but the only way you realistically can make use of it is to warp somebody (probably Matilda with the Horseslayer or something).

This is the map where I left my Gaiden run off. Accidentally reset without saving and lost this map and the next. I tried doing it again, but... it was just too fucking boring lol

8 minutes ago, gnip said:

Loso lol. Funnily enough, the Meißenslation calls him Lawson, like SoV. Probably because Lawson is a name while Loso sounds like the name of a packaging company.

9 minutes ago, gnip said:

I'm afraid I'll have to face everybody's scorn for resetting for Claire and not for Valbo.

The things one's got to do when playing Gaiden.

[ping]

FE2 Chapter 3: Liberty War

Forest Shrine --> ...well, in front of the Forest Shrine

We do some backtracking

Spoiler

Well then, second attempt.

This fight is pretty much a grindfest - the only one dealing big damage to the Gargoyles is Cliff (and he doesn't have the greatest hit rate...), since doubling is pretty much out of the question. Well, Matilda would be able to if she dropped the Horseslayer for a while, but that would change her damage output from 1x6 damage to 2x3.

And since the Gargoyles all hit fairly hard while doubling everything that isn't a Matilda, "battle of attrition" might be an even more fitting description.

It's one of those Gaiden fights in which you try to bodyblock at much as possible, since there's no points to choke, hoping that nobody too squishy gets crit. Didn't work last time, did work this time, with only Alm getting crit - for 3+1 instead of 1+1 damage. Since he also hits back with 10 dmg, he's doing a lot of work here.

I do manage to get a few Angel Ring levels in - Alm also got one, even though he had to reduce his damage output to 3 for a while in order to do so. But Ryuto's +2 Spd is obviously more important than any Alm gains.

Uuunfortunately, the XP bars are rather unsatisfactory at the end of the fight. Luka one XP away from promoting? Cliff and Gray very close to another level? Yeahh...

...that's reason enough to go through this wonderful fight again. Huzzah and all that.

After rescuing the girl from Grove Town, of course. Hindsight says that not getting the Holy Lance, which deals effective damage against monsters and helps with HP management, before reentering the Shrine sure was a smart choice.

All three of the targets manage to get Angel Ring levels out of the rematch, with Cliff's being the most important one, given that he's the one I've been using the most. And he finally gets some Skl/Spd, which is also rather important.

So then, promotion time!

• Force: Lv.8 Soldier --> Knight (+3 Str, +5 Def, +4 HP)
• Luka: Lv.7 Soldier --> Knight (+3 Str, +3 Def, +9 HP)
• Cliff: Lv.11 Archer --> Sniper (+1 HP)
• Gray: Lv.8 Mercenary --> Myrmidon (+2 Skl, +4 Spd)
• Cleive: Lv.7 Cavalier --> Paladin (+1 Spd, +1 Def, +2 HP)

__

And, of course, there's a pair of Lion Head Fountains, too. The choice here is pretty easy - XP, XP, and XP. I allowed myself to just make a choice here that I think should be acceptable to most people who have been commenting: Force, Cliff, and Ryuto. Two of them freshly promoted, so that's full value right there, and Ryuto also went out of the last fight with fairly low XP. Plus his XP gain is relatively low, so that's some extra value, too. I would've considered Silk, but she's too close to Lv.8 already for that to be worthwhile.

Next stop: What should've been the previous stop. The Holy Lance is a bit worse than its swordy equivalent - no hit bonus and only +10 instead of +15 crit - but it's still very valuable, especially with Alm having a bunch of lance users in his group.

Going back to Grove Town allowed another group of enemies to spawn - I'd be surprised if it wasn't seven Wizards, with one of them a bit stronger than the others, since 144 isn't divisible by 7.

And also, the Bowknight group that spawned earlier attacks on the same map as the three Paladins previously.

__

Kaga does show some mercy here and only sics a single Bowknight on you, accompanied by two Paladins. A bit stronger sqad than 3x Paladin, but still nothing too fightening.

__

All three XP shrine investments pay off, too - I was too slow to screenshot Force's level, but it can't be better than Cliff sitting at 20 Str/18 Def or Ryuto grabbing +4 Spd within three levels with his 15% growth rate, honestly.

Ryuto getting his 3-range spell is nice, too.

But because that's already the third fight and the two Gargoyle encounters were, honestly, a bit tiring, I've had enough of Gaiden for today, even though the actual progress is a bit sparse. I hope I'll get to the end of act 3 next time, although I shouldn't make any promises. No idea how much of a pain Delthea is going to be.

The Team:

	Lv.	   HP  Pow Skl Spd Lck Def Res  +XP   Item
Alm	7.99	   33   12* 12   9   8   9   4  +108  Regal Sw (+7 Atk, +10 hit, +20 Crit)
Force	8/2.15	   36   18*  5   6*  5  12   5  +115* Steel Ln (+4 Atk, -1 Spd)
Luka	7/1.10	   34   16   6   4   3  12   2  + 21*
Gray	5/8/1.08   30   12* 11  14*  2   7   2  + 28* Bolt Sw (15 Atk, -3 Spd)

Claire	9.97	   25   16   8   9  15*  5   8  + 89  Angel Ring
Matilda 2.66	   26   12* 14  12* 13   9  10  +104  Knight Ln (+3 Atk, -1 Spd)
Cleive  7/1.00	   28   12   7   8   8   8   1

Cliff	4/11/2.79  35   20*  7  10* 11  18   8  +220* Steel Bow (+3 Atk, -1 Spd)
Python	4.92	   24   10   3   4   2   6   4

Ryuto	10.13	   30   14   9  11   4   5*  8  +123  Leather Sh (+3 Def)
Robin	4/7.62	   28    9   7  10   6   5   4  + 78
Silk	7.96	   18    9   5  10   2   2* 11  + 34  [Holy Lance, to swap with Claire]

• It seems that Force's first level-up as a Knight was HP/Str. If he can use the Angel Ring somewhat consistently, it seems likely that he'll surpass Baron bases before promoting, so I'm not sad about those stats, either.

 

 

23 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

This is the map where I left my Gaiden run off. Accidentally reset without saving and lost this map and the next. I tried doing it again, but... it was just too fucking boring lol

Can't believe you missed the chance to "accidentally" kill Delthea. Now that is out of character.

[Saint Rubenio]

55 minutes ago, gnip said:

I allowed myself to just make a choice here that I think should be acceptable to most people who have been commenting: Force, Cliff, and Ryuto.

Easy picks.

55 minutes ago, gnip said:

Can't believe you missed the chance to "accidentally" kill Delthea. Now that is out of character.

Come now, what kind of monster do you take me for? I don't kill potential playables. I just shower their cooler siblings with favoritism so I can then point to a modest stat advantage and go "SEE, SEE HE'S BETTER, FUCK YOU BITCH HE'S BETTER THAN YOU, EASY PICKINGS" through my veil of tears.

[Interdimensional Observer]

On 10/4/2023 at 3:49 PM, gnip said:

..I'll do this one again. Unfortunately, there's no revival fountains in this shrine, and Alm has to wait all the way until chapter 4 to get access to one (whoops, sorry Jesse)

So much for getting use of out him. I suppose in practice, revival-transferring is more to Celica's benefit, at least in the short-term.

Gray as usual it's going to have to be then for the DF?

3 hours ago, gnip said:

Cliff	4/11/2.79  35   20*  7  10* 11  18   8  +220* Steel Bow (+3 Atk, -1 Spd)

Exactly the stats you expect from a bow user.😛

Also, only a tickle and two from promoting Claire. Interested in seeing how big a difference that makes, given SoV nerfed Falcon Knight a lot.

3 hours ago, gnip said:

Going back to Grove Town allowed another group of enemies to spawn - I'd be surprised if it wasn't seven Wizards, with one of them a bit stronger than the others, since 144 isn't divisible by 7.

Well that's going to be a magical experience next time, won't it?

-And you won't have SoV's Warp & Rescue strat available for taking down Tatara with ease.😛

3 hours ago, gnip said:

No idea how much of a pain Delthea is going to be.

My memory of her in SoV is *Warps to her brother, smacks him badly with Aura, he counters, on the next player phase someone hits her again, leaving her too low on HP to cast Aura again, then she tries walking over to a nearby heal tile, but gets blocked from doing so, she becomes harmless*. -No idea if original Gaiden would allow her to be as much a nonissue after the first two turns.

Edited October 5, 2023 by Interdimensional Observer

[Dayni]

On 10/2/2023 at 6:40 PM, gnip said:

Alm's first map is the copy of an earlier one, as Gaiden likes to do.

Early FE and map repetition: it's more likely than you think

Oh, 3H too, because it's not as dead and buried as it should

On 10/2/2023 at 6:40 PM, gnip said:

This fight isn't as much difficult as it is bloody annoying.

Least a bow Knight didn't show up as reinforcements.

Why yes, Gaiden reinforcements are terrible sometimes

On 10/2/2023 at 6:40 PM, gnip said:

But again, there isn't much "progress" in this map, in the sense that you don't really move towards an objective. You just keep trying to hit wizards, over and over again, so I don't have much to narrate.

Or as some would say, all rout maps.

I don't think I'm one of them.

On 10/3/2023 at 11:39 AM, gnip said:

__

We are back with silly low enemy numbers. Don't worry, that will change.

Ah yes, the map where you can solo with an armour in some shrubs.

On 10/3/2023 at 11:39 AM, gnip said:

No, this is what I like to call a "dick move".

Gaiden reinforcements.png

On 10/3/2023 at 11:39 AM, gnip said:

[HP 40% | Str 20% | Skl 20% | Spd 15% | Lck 50% | Def 15%]
[Fire (Lv.1) | Excalibur (Lv.1) | Thunder (Lv.10) | Saggitae (Lv.15) | Recover (Sage)]

Ryuto ties Est for the highest Lck growth in the game, which is not something I would've expected. I suppose it will add to Excalibur's crit chance, although his base crit is fairly unremarkable at 5%. But starting with Excalibur seems to be his main Thing, and it's a pretty cool Thing to have. With it, he has a respectable Spd base of 6 (although I think he defaults to Fire, and therefore 4 Spd, when counterattacking), great accuracy (not perfect like in FE1, though, since Spd gives magic avoid now), and good damage - 12 base Str is actually very impressive if you don't have Atlas to compare him to.

Growth-wise, he's pretty normal, apart from the surprisingly high Lck. A total of 160% is perfectly in line with all the other low-growth characters. Overall, he seems to be the best Mage that Alm can get up to this point, maybe excluding Mage!Cliff. Gray and Robin can't really compete with his combination of Str and Spd - my Robin is really Spd-blessed and outspeeds Ryuto by one point, but he's also three points weaker - and also need to combine their spell books to get the same selection as Ryuto.

I mean, he does excalbur well enough, has the bases to double armours at that point I think, so he'll make it work.

He was kinda screwed by added growths in SoV, but here he feels more akin to the others? I could be talking rubbish.

On 10/3/2023 at 11:39 AM, gnip said:

: "The rebel forces are attacking? Shit! In that case... Archers! Kill that girl in her cell as a warning!"

Killing hostages as a warning is exactly as unsympathetic villain as you'd expect.

And only at risk if the enemies actually have stats.

On 10/3/2023 at 11:39 AM, gnip said:

Which, of course, is Cliff. If I recall, he's sitting at 11 Def at this point, after getting another Angel Ring +Def level-up in the fight against the three Paladins. ...or maybe 12, I think he got an angelless level in the ambush. Point is, he only takes 1 dmg, or sometimes 2x1 dmg, from all the horsies and archers, and only 3 dmg from the wizard added by the Paladin group, too.

Like his namesake, he's rock solid apparently.

I am not sorry.

On 10/3/2023 at 11:39 AM, gnip said:

...which gives Dozer a spot to attack Cliff from. No worries, he's fine, although he has to retreat to get some treatment.

: "Is this all you've got...?"

Oh no, the manga!

On 10/3/2023 at 11:39 AM, gnip said:

: "Grr..Mycen! Is  he planning to give Sofia to Rudolf's brat?! Damn traitor!"

Foreshadowing, truly a thing only SoV got wrong /s

On 10/3/2023 at 11:39 AM, gnip said:

Inside the fortress, we find a Paladin and Alm's personal weapon, both with less fanfare than I kinda expected. I guess Kaga wanted to keep at least a little subtlety about ALM BEING THE PRINCE OF RIGEL, YOU GUYS, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT.

Kaga blew the load directly and stopped, the the remake blew it and then kept blowing.

On 10/3/2023 at 11:39 AM, gnip said:

[HP 40% | Str 30% | Skl 20% | Spd 40% | Lck 10% | Def 30%]

Matilda is a little bit less physically bulky than Paladin bases (-2 HP, -1 Def), but makes up for it with excellent Skl, Spd, Lck, and Res. She's actually as fast as a Gold Knight at base. Her growths are really good, too - a bit lower than, say, Claire's if you look at the total, but Matilda has good Str/Spd/Def growths, and bad growths in generally less impactful stats (...that she has great bases in, anyway).

Her first impression is obviously helped by nobody else on the team being promoted at this point, which is probably not the "optimal" way to go. But even if you'd have 2-3 promoted units, Matilda would still be one of the best units on the team, with her own advantages: 12 Spd and access to the Horseslayer, for example? That sounds really good.

Clive good fans crying right now

With the options you have her bases will matter more and her growths maybe help a lot.

On 10/4/2023 at 8:49 PM, gnip said:

The next fight is very much the opposite of Dozer's Fortress - instead of the chokiest chokepoint that ever choked, this one's a bunch of horsies in almost entirely open terrain. Yes, there's forest aplenty in the center, but the only way you realistically can make use of it is to warp somebody (probably Matilda with the Horseslayer or something).

Not enough horseslaying to put two busted units in the woods

On 10/4/2023 at 8:49 PM, gnip said:

Shame, though, Ryuto had a +2 Spd level near the start of the fight.

I should argue we should fight on, for the laugh.

4 hours ago, gnip said:

I do manage to get a few Angel Ring levels in - Alm also got one, even though he had to reduce his damage output to 3 for a while in order to do so. But Ryuto's +2 Spd is obviously more important than any Alm gains.

Thankfully, the level returned to us.

4 hours ago, gnip said:

Ryuto	10.13	   30   14   9  11   4   5*  8  +123  Leather Sh (+3 Def)

11 Speed Ryuto, you love to see it.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Come now, what kind of monster do you take me for? I don't kill potential playables. I just shower their cooler siblings with favoritism so I can then point to a modest stat advantage and go "SEE, SEE HE'S BETTER, FUCK YOU BITCH HE'S BETTER THAN YOU, EASY PICKINGS" through my veil of tears.

I feel like you've killed at least one example before (I'd expect Elise to have died before Delthea), but I don't know for sure.

[Interdimensional Observer]

5 hours ago, Punished Dayni said:

He was kinda screwed by added growths in SoV, but here he feels more akin to the others? I could be talking rubbish.

His Atk growth was raised only to 30 (+5 from the Mage class), same as Kliff but nothing compared to his sister's 70 (Boey and Sonya got 45, Mae 60). Kliff also has 60 Spd growth to his 40 -although Kliff's terrible base Spd means he might not be lightyears ahead when Luthier joins. 75 (80 with the Mage bonus) Skl growth is the highest by 15 over the nearest competition ...but he's a Mage so it doesn't matter for accuracy. Luthier will  pull ahead of Tobin offensively, but probably not enough to compensate for Tobin's Physic use, which probably isn't excessive even with Silque and Cleric!Faye around if only Faye had real competition among her class options so it wouldn't be assumed she goes Cleric.

[Shaky Jones]

On 10/4/2023 at 12:49 PM, gnip said:

The next fight is very much the opposite of Dozer's Fortress - instead of the chokiest chokepoint that ever choked, this one's a bunch of horsies in almost entirely open terrain. Yes, there's forest aplenty in the center, but the only way you realistically can make use of it is to warp somebody (probably Matilda with the Horseslayer or something).

Now THIS is a Genealogy map!

But uh, just round those cavs to all be in one spot. 

 

I am running out of things to say.

On 10/4/2023 at 12:49 PM, gnip said:

__

And a dead Claire. Sigh.

I don't remember getting killed by criticals this often. Gaiden hates you bro.

On 10/4/2023 at 12:59 PM, Saint Rubenio said:

This is the map where I left my Gaiden run off. Accidentally reset without saving and lost this map and the next. I tried doing it again, but... it was just too fucking boring lol

You got past desert hell, but stopped here, where Force can easily force them up with the help of the 400% speed key that you've become fast friends with by now. 

Oh well, I can say I'm the real kaga fan and take your spot as a playtester for Vestaria 3.

10 hours ago, gnip said:

FE2 Chapter 3: Liberty War

Forest Shrine --> ...well, in front of the Forest Shrine

We do some backtracking

I literally have nothing to say. Ran out of shakes to Jone. Unlucky.

 

Unless Ruben finds something to rant about, I see myself being fairly quiet for these updates. There's only so many times I can keep calling FE4 bad before even getting to it and making fun of Kaga. 

9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

10 hours ago, gnip said:

Can't believe you missed the chance to "accidentally" kill Delthea. Now that is out of character.

Come now, what kind of monster do you take me for? I don't kill potential playables. I just shower their cooler siblings with favoritism so I can then point to a modest stat advantage and go "SEE, SEE HE'S BETTER, FUCK YOU BITCH HE'S BETTER THAN YOU, EASY PICKINGS" through my veil of tears.

5 hours ago, Punished Dayni said:

Clive good fans crying right now

Clive and Matilda fans when Force fans give him the speed rings:

[ping]

8 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

So much for getting use of out him. I suppose in practice, revival-transferring is more to Celica's benefit, at least in the short-term.

Gray as usual it's going to have to be then for the DF?

We'll see. For what it's worth, Jesse can still insta-promote to Myrmidon when he comes back, so Gray's lead might not be unsurmountable. But yeah, death-warp seems more of a Alm->Celica thing. Fear Shrine isn't even right at the start of chapter 4.

6 hours ago, Punished Dayni said:

I mean, he does excalbur well enough, has the bases to double armours at that point I think, so he'll make it work.

He was kinda screwed by added growths in SoV, but here he feels more akin to the others? I could be talking rubbish.

No, I think it's accurate. High Spd growth is a rarity in Gaiden, so 7 base / 15% growth is perfectly normal. Celica and Sonia are the only natural Mages with reasonable Spd growth (30%) and Mage!Cliff is the only "speedy" mage that you can get, and even he suffers from a low Spd base. Well, unless you count the Dreadfighter loop, but that seems unreasonable.

7 hours ago, Punished Dayni said:

Kaga blew the load directly and stopped, the the remake blew it and then kept blowing.

That is disturbing imagery.

1 hour ago, Shaky Jones said:

I don't remember getting killed by criticals this often. Gaiden hates you bro.

It probably knows where it will very likely go on the tier list.

1 hour ago, Shaky Jones said:

Very matthis of you.

[Saint Rubenio]

10 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

My memory of her in SoV is *Warps to her brother, smacks him badly with Aura, he counters, on the next player phase someone hits her again, leaving her too low on HP to cast Aura again, then she tries walking over to a nearby heal tile, but gets blocked from doing so, she becomes harmless*. -No idea if original Gaiden would allow her to be as much a nonissue after the first two turns.

Magic still consumes HP, so... yeah, all you'd have to do is still whack her until she can't cast anything anymore.

9 hours ago, Punished Dayni said:

I feel like you've killed at least one example before (I'd expect Elise to have died before Delthea), but I don't know for sure.

I've never done it. You can't prove it.

On 1/4/2018 at 12:47 PM, Saint Rubenio said:

[...]

Somebody will die. It is inevitable.

Yeah... I've just given up Clarine. Why? Because I've two healers already.

Indeed, I could've sacrificed Dorothy, who is nearly useless, but I believe in her. She'll turn around.

No, you can't prove it, shut up. Dorothy did turn around, before she also died in chapter 20, remember? I made the correct choice here.

3 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

You got past desert hell, but stopped here, where Force can easily force them up with the help of the 400% speed key that you've become fast friends with by now. 

Oh well, I can say I'm the real kaga fan and take your spot as a playtester for Vestaria 3.

You wouldn't dare.

3 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

She was easy pickings, see?

[Dayni]

4 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

His Atk growth was raised only to 30 (+5 from the Mage class), same as Kliff but nothing compared to his sister's 70 (Boey and Sonya got 45, Mae 60). Kliff also has 60 Spd growth to his 40 -although Kliff's terrible base Spd means he might not be lightyears ahead when Luthier joins. 75 (80 with the Mage bonus) Skl growth is the highest by 15 over the nearest competition ...but he's a Mage so it doesn't matter for accuracy. Luthier will  pull ahead of Tobin offensively, but probably not enough to compensate for Tobin's Physic use, which probably isn't excessive even with Silque and Cleric!Faye around if only Faye had real competition among her class options so it wouldn't be assumed she goes Cleric.

In SoV he could have done with a support spell to maybe give him something you couldn't get easily, Silence seems fitting enough and least readily available (nobody on Alm's side has it). That's not even getting into bases and growths, which frankly I don't want to do at the minute.

4 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

Clive and Matilda fans when Force fans give him the speed rings:

Of course, they should be in awe of this man at his peak.

3 hours ago, gnip said:

That is disturbing imagery.

I'll admit, not my proudest comment.

In my defence I was not thinking like that at the time.

3 hours ago, gnip said:

No, I think it's accurate. High Spd growth is a rarity in Gaiden, so 7 base / 15% growth is perfectly normal. Celica and Sonia are the only natural Mages with reasonable Spd growth (30%) and Mage!Cliff is the only "speedy" mage that you can get, and even he suffers from a low Spd base. Well, unless you count the Dreadfighter loop, but that seems unreasonable.

He really got a bit of the short end of the stick with SoV.

Though his high Skl growth in SoV does add to the idea of him being something of a crit mage, his Delthea support sadly does not add crit, which would have helped too.

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I've never done it. You can't prove it.

Too lazy to prove it.

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

No, you can't prove it, shut up. Dorothy did turn around, before she also died in chapter 20, remember? I made the correct choice here.

On the one hand, she had use in Ilia right before her end, but missed her chance for Peak Wyverns.

On the other, Clarine could have Aircaliber'd her way through, so either or.

[Saint Rubenio]

1 minute ago, Punished Dayni said:

Too lazy to prove it.

Hah, I am winner.

1 minute ago, Punished Dayni said:

On the one hand, she had use in Ilia right before her end, but missed her chance for Peak Wyverns.

Dorothy was great through the entire game. Stupid fucking tragic death...

1 minute ago, Punished Dayni said:

On the other, Clarine could have Aircaliber'd her way through, so either or.

Could she have aircalibur'd her way through my hatred, though?

Oh, that's right, it killed her before she could even use aircalibur and Cecilia took her role.

...You can't prove it, though. You can't prove it.

[ping]

FE2 Chapter 3: Liberty War

Well, in front of the Forest Shrine --> Floodgate 

Spoiler

This map again. How nice.

__

Did I win?

Not quite, of course, but warping Force ahead means that I'll guaranteed be able to make use of the chokepoint. With that, enemies on this map aren't terribly dangerous, since it's easy to keep your squishies safe.

The boss sure has a haircut. He also has the same stats as the generic Bow Knight we fought last update - which is to say he's dangerous to the more squishy characters, but not so much when you can, say, block him at a one-tile chokepoint.

I still go past the choke a little for the sake of a somewhat faster clear, and also forget that Bow Knights have automatic 1-5 range even when they don't have a bow equipped. This means that Gazel can attack Robin from the forest...

...which means that Ryuto is the only one who can reliably hit him. Except that he doesn't, he missed this follow-up attack.

It's not a problem though - everybody goes past the bridge to make sure that nobody but the boss (or the Witch, I guess, but I was lucky and she didn't teleport) can attack Ryuto.

And after a bit of chipping from Force and Alm (unreliably - they could've missed all their attacks or killed Gazel if all of them had hit), Ryuto can take the boss kill.

Overall a pretty easy and straightforward fight. I suppose I was lucky that the Witches never teleported, but even then, controlling the chokepoint is already a bit ofa win condition.

__

And then, the Wizard attacked!

But honestly, it's just the same in green. Control the chokepoint, this time from the opposite direction, and the map is practically done. It's not like Lv.1 Wizards (oops, forgot to check if there was a higher-leveled one between them) are terribly threatening anymore, either.

So, let's just continue to the last fight of the chapter.

: "Hoho...You fools hope to beat me, Lord Tatara? Dyute! Kill those idiots with your Aura!"

__

This map, again, has exclusively Wizards as enemies, although Tatara and Dyute at least pose a bit of a threat. The Death spell hits quite hard (15 Mt, so 27 Atk, although it also slows Tatara down to zero), and of course, so does Dyute's Aura (13 Mt -> 24 Atk, and also 0 Spd).

Nice touch that Dyute has an EVIL portrait.

____

But the generics are, frankly, an embarrassment.

For maximum disrespect, Silk warps in an Armour Knight to face three of them (and then grabs Alm's mighty sword to regain some health).

Dyute continues the trend of witches not teleporting - at least I'm fairly certain that she has the ability? Instead, she just walks towards Alm's group, without even reaching them in time.

__

Because Silk warps in Cliff as soon as Dyute is far enough away from the boss. I... actually just could've attacked from the bottom left tile, to make sure that Tatara can't go on a healing tile to attack Cliff, but I completely missed that. Of course, I also could've attacked through the wall, but I actually wanted Tatara to attack on enemy phase to speed things up.

__

And things do work out nicely in the end.

: "May Doma's blessings--"

And Dyute out.

__

And map beaten, with a nice level on Claire to end the chapter. She got another Skl/Spd level on the previous map, so she will have some excellent stats all around once her promotion fixes her HP/Def.

: "I don't know what happened, Brother. Eh? I was under Tatara's control? So that's what it was... I'm sorry if I've been a bother."

Well, sombody gained an attitude in Echoes.

__

And talking to the other guy puts an end to chapter 3.

: "North of this floodgate is the Kingdom of Rigel. Be careful."

But we'll go there next time.

...I think? Since the Angel Ring is currently with Alm, it seems logical to keep truckin' with his half of the game, too. I know that I'll have to swap over to Celica at some point to unlock the final stretch of Alm's path, but I might as well do that when I have to. Or do you think I should go back to Celica first, and get the wonderfully swampy maps out of the system? There is a trader in Ryuto's village, so it wouldn't be a problem, and I assume that Celica would be able to send the Angel Ring back to Alm, too.

The Team:

	Lv.	   HP  Pow Skl Spd Lck Def Res  +XP   Item
Alm	8.17	   33   12* 12   9   8  10   4  + 18  Regal Sw (+7 Atk, +10 hit, +20 Crit)
Force	8/4.61	   40   20*  5   7   5  12   5  +246  Holy Ln (
Luka	7/1.47	   34   16   6   4   3  12   2  + 37
Gray	5/8/2.16   30   12* 11  14*  2   8   2  +108  Bolt Sw (15 Atk, -3 Spd)

Claire	11.04	   25   16  10  13  17*  5   8  +107  Angel Ring
Matilda	3.40	   26   12* 14  12* 13  11  10  + 74  Steel Ln (+4 Atk, -1 Spd)
Cleive	7/1.48	   28   12   7   8   8   8   1  + 48

Cliff	4/11/5.23  36   22*  7  10* 11  21   8  +244  Steel Bow (+3 Atk, -1 Spd)
Python	4.99	   24   10   3   4   2   6   4  +  3

Ryuto	10.46	   30   14   9  11   4   5*  8  + 33  Leather Sh (+3 Def)
Robin	7.92	   28    9   7  10   6   5   4  + 30
Silk	8.57	   18    9   5  10   7   2  11  + 61
Dyute	3.00	   22   11   8  10  15   3  15

• Alm was denied an Angel Ring level (which would've given him another +1 Def) by the Bow Knight boss attacking him when he was at 99 XP. Very tragic.
• Matilda has gained +4 Def in her first two levels, and nothing else. Similarly, Force seems to go all-in on his HP/Str growths.
• I kinda need to reiterate how bonkers Claire's promo bonuses will be. A casual +15 HP and +7 Def, if she doesn't get any points in those stats before promo.

[HP 30% | Str 50% | Skl 30% | Spd 20% | Lck 30% | Def 10%]
[Fire  (Lv.1) | Aura (Lv.1) | Seraphim (Lv.11) | Ragnarök (Lv16) | Recover (Priest)]

Dyute hits very hard, and not just "for a Lv.3 character". 11 base Mag is quite strong, allowing her to hit for 24 dmg with an Aura spell. The flip side is that she won't double with it (literally; it reduces her Spd cleanly to 0), and with the basic Fire spell, she kinda loses the "hit things hard" duel with her brother, who sports 12 Mag at base and the stronger Excalibur spell.

Still, Dyute seems good, both for her big chip now, and for potentially even bigger chip later. 50% Str growth isn't just a rare feat - it's completely unique to Djute, and she doesn't really pay for it with bad growths elsewhere. And once she learns Seraphim, she can hit very hard with a non-zero Spd stat. And once she gets to Ragnarök (a spell only she and Celica can learn, with 24 Mt), she can hit stupid hard, albeit most likely with 0 Spd again. Only her physical defense is admittedly very bad, especially if she runs around spending 6 HP per Aura spell.

The one thing her offense does lack is 1-3 range - she's the only natural Mage in the game that doesn't learn Thunder.

Next up: Chapter 4 - "Dismal Nation"

 

[Saint Rubenio]

13 minutes ago, gnip said:

This map again. How nice.

Look at that moat around the 9-tile fort. Map design!

13 minutes ago, gnip said:

The boss sure has a haircut.

This guy in Echoes has the best design.

I don't know why he points to himself, but he's just so cool.

In this one he looks like a thumb with a splotch of ketchup on top. Not quite... on the same level.

13 minutes ago, gnip said:

Ahh, I get it. Ryuto and Dyute.

13 minutes ago, gnip said:

I like how she quickly changes clothes when she becomes unevil. Also dyes her hair.

13 minutes ago, gnip said:

Next up: Chapter 4 - "Dismal

Yeah, too true.

[Dayni]

9 minutes ago, gnip said:

The boss sure has a haircut.

He sure does.

11 minutes ago, gnip said:

Dyute continues the trend of witches not teleporting - at least I'm fairly certain that she has the ability? Instead, she just walks towards Alm's group, without even reaching them in time.

Dyute eschews teleporting for talking menacingly towards you.

Witch AI: Hilarious when it doesn't work.

12 minutes ago, gnip said:

: "May Doma's blessings--"

"not leave you as purple as it left me"

12 minutes ago, gnip said:

I kinda need to reiterate how bonkers Claire's promo bonuses will be. A casual +15 HP and +7 Def, if she doesn't get any points in those stats before promo.

Clair: casually just being an actual wall at this rate.

12 minutes ago, gnip said:

[HP 30% | Str 50% | Skl 30% | Spd 20% | Lck 30% | Def 10%]
[Fire  (Lv.1) | Aura (Lv.1) | Seraphim (Lv.11) | Ragnarök (Lv16) | Recover (Priest)]

Dyute hits very hard, and not just "for a Lv.3 character". 11 base Mag is quite strong, allowing her to hit for 24 dmg with an Aura spell. The flip side is that she won't double with it (literally; it reduces her Spd cleanly to 0), and with the basic Fire spell, she kinda loses the "hit things hard" duel with her brother, who sports 12 Mag at base and the stronger Excalibur spell.

Still, Dyute seems good, both for her big chip now, and for potentially even bigger chip later. 50% Str growth isn't just a rare feat - it's completely unique to Djute, and she doesn't really pay for it with bad growths elsewhere. And once she learns Seraphim, she can hit very hard with a non-zero Spd stat. And once she gets to Ragnarök (a spell only she and Celica can learn, with 24 Mt), she can hit stupid hard, albeit most likely with 0 Spd again. Only her physical defense is admittedly very bad, especially if she runs around spending 6 HP per Aura spell.

The one thing her offense does lack is 1-3 range - she's the only natural Mage in the game that doesn't learn Thunder.

The 1-3 seems like a compromise made with her stats that will rarely matter, especially with what's coming.

12 minutes ago, gnip said:

Next up: Chapter 4 - "Dismal Nation"

What a title.

I thought that was used for any country in a slumped state

1 minute ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Look at that moat around the 9-tile fort. Map design!

Imagine if there was a cantor in there!

[Interdimensional Observer]

2 hours ago, gnip said:

_

They gave her a possessed portrait. Yet the Ram Boys and Val & Kam got recolored recycles.🤨

2 hours ago, gnip said:

...I think? Since the Angel Ring is currently with Alm, it seems logical to keep truckin' with his half of the game, too. I know that I'll have to swap over to Celica at some point to unlock the final stretch of Alm's path, but I might as well do that when I have to. Or do you think I should go back to Celica first, and get the wonderfully swampy maps out of the system? There is a trader in Ryuto's village, so it wouldn't be a problem, and I assume that Celica would be able to send the Angel Ring back to Alm, too.

You should get another three traders once you conquer Nuibaba's estate, in case you wanted to send her more stuff (not sure if Celica gets as many additional traders). I'll say go ahead and do Alm's first half first.

2 hours ago, gnip said:

Dyute hits very hard, and not just "for a Lv.3 character". 11 base Mag is quite strong, allowing her to hit for 24 dmg with an Aura spell. The flip side is that she won't double with it (literally; it reduces her Spd cleanly to 0)

So FE Linde more or less.

2 hours ago, gnip said:

Still, Dyute seems good, both for her big chip now, and for potentially even bigger chip later. 50% Str growth isn't just a rare feat - it's completely unique to Djute, and she doesn't really pay for it with bad growths elsewhere. And once she learns Seraphim, she can hit very hard with a non-zero Spd stat. And once she gets to Ragnarök (a spell only she and Celica can learn, with 24 Mt), she can hit stupid hard, albeit most likely with 0 Spd again. Only her physical defense is admittedly very bad, especially if she runs around spending 6 HP per Aura spell.

Certainly a power-packed growths unit, to be loved by anyone who loves grinding levels.

And good luck getting to Ragnarok before the game is over! -She lost the spell in SoV BTW.

2 hours ago, gnip said:

Next up: Chapter 4 - "Dismal Nation"

Why did Rigel need a god to teach it how to be poor and lacking for resources?

A more sensible division would be to leave Sofia the land of plenty, and for Rigel to instead receive blessings not upon the earth and sea, but upon everyone's bodies. The people of Rigel would be more resilient to paucity and capable of struggling to obtain what does exist -until lately when the superhuman blessings have begun to wear thin.

[Dayni]

12 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

And good luck getting to Ragnarok before the game is over! -She lost the spell in SoV BTW.

Nope, she still has it, at 4 levels lower too so she can actually get it by the end of a playthrough.

But in Gaiden's case, considering you hit Level 20 for promotion anyways, you'd have to see it when training her. All I'll say is, that will not be fun.

12 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

A more sensible division would be to leave Sofia the land of plenty, and for Rigel to instead receive blessings not upon the earth and sea, but upon everyone's bodies. The people of Rigel would be more resilient to paucity and capable of struggling to obtain what does exist -until lately when the superhuman blessings have begun to wear thin.

Gee, it's almost like the lore implications are potentially fascinating- I know, I'm kinda tired of saying it like that.

Look, I know it's not unique to this game, but still, with the execution for Gaiden/SoV, I suppose it feels all too easy to remark on.

Edited October 6, 2023 by Punished Dayni

[Shaky Jones]

14 hours ago, gnip said:

It probably knows where it will very likely go on the tier list.

Above FE7

12 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I've never done it. You can't prove it.

Please send any instances of such to me. I can show you Trachina dying again in return.

12 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

No, you can't prove it, shut up. Dorothy did turn around, before she also died in chapter 20, remember? I made the correct choice here.

I got lucky and lost nobody in chapter 7. 

I got unlucky and lost Barthe in chapter 13. Win some, lose some. Was really enjoying triangle attack. Then Wendy died shortly after, specifically because she was carried by the triangle. But using her lead to that chapter 12 moment of her getting what was basically a blank while Marcus got a nearly full level up after killing the dragon boss.

12 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

You wouldn't dare.

12 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

She was easy pickings, see?

One of the easiest recruitable kills out there, right next to this:

6 hours ago, Punished Dayni said:

Of course, they should be in awe of this man at his peak.

"Hey I just wanted to check on how your Clive and Matilda ar- oh my goodness gracious"

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

6 hours ago, Punished Dayni said:

Too lazy to prove it.

Hah, I am winner.

You better have done it. I've not been playtesting for a coward this whole time, have I?

3 hours ago, gnip said:

...which means that Ryuto is the only one who can reliably hit him. Except that he doesn't, he missed this follow-up attack.

The picking.

3 hours ago, gnip said:

: "I don't know what happened, Brother. Eh? I was under Tatara's control? So that's what it was... I'm sorry if I've been a bother."

Well, sombody gained an attitude in Echoes.

One worthy of the grave.

3 hours ago, gnip said:

Alm was denied an Angel Ring level (which would've given him another +1 Def) by the Bow Knight boss attacking him when he was at 99 XP. Very tragic.

He's one of the last people that needs it. Once he promotes, it's over.

3 hours ago, gnip said:

[HP 30% | Str 50% | Skl 30% | Spd 20% | Lck 30% | Def 10%]
[Fire  (Lv.1) | Aura (Lv.1) | Seraphim (Lv.11) | Ragnarök (Lv16) | Recover (Priest)]

Dyute hits very hard, and not just "for a Lv.3 character". 11 base Mag is quite strong, allowing her to hit for 24 dmg with an Aura spell. The flip side is that she won't double with it (literally; it reduces her Spd cleanly to 0), and with the basic Fire spell, she kinda loses the "hit things hard" duel with her brother, who sports 12 Mag at base and the stronger Excalibur spell.

Still, Dyute seems good, both for her big chip now, and for potentially even bigger chip later. 50% Str growth isn't just a rare feat - it's completely unique to Djute, and she doesn't really pay for it with bad growths elsewhere. And once she learns Seraphim, she can hit very hard with a non-zero Spd stat. And once she gets to Ragnarök (a spell only she and Celica can learn, with 24 Mt), she can hit stupid hard, albeit most likely with 0 Spd again. Only her physical defense is admittedly very bad, especially if she runs around spending 6 HP per Aura spell.

The power of being Kaga's favorite character

yes she has the same defense as my literal Baron

48 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

So FE Linde more or less.

Linde is the one you bench for Boah. Dyute is the unit you might as well use because there's no say in who to deploy.

49 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

3 hours ago, gnip said:

Next up: Chapter 4 - "Dismal Nation"

Why did Rigel need a god to teach it how to be poor and lacking for resources?

Kaga presents North Korea.

[ping]

FE2 Chapter 4: Dismal Nation

Floodgate --> Rigelian Forest (i.e. Alm first)

Spoiler

This map is very green.

Well, in its defense, there is some playing around with the terrain around the centre, but it's still a fairly boring map.

__

However, enemies are a tad stronger than they used to be. The boss is the first Gold Knight we run into, and he hits so hard that he almost deals damage to Cliff. Whom Silk warps in, for that reason, as a bit of a silly take on the "warp Horseslayer on forest tile" tactics. Cliff has the added bonus of reaching (and outranging) the one Lv.5 Wizard on the map, who'd otherwise be annoying with his Fortify magic. His hit rate isn't great, of course, between bows and the healing tile, but he'll eventually get there.

I put three high-move characters at the bottom of the deployment order so that I didn't have to do any split-group scenarios - as they tend to be, enemy Knights are actually fairly strong, so sending a Mage against them in a group too small to properly shield them from being attacked seems rather dangerous.

__

As some side notes - Python manages to safely fire an arrow to escape the annoying 99 XP no-group-XP-for-you barrier, while Robin started the map with the Angel Ring equipped. Even more Speed! He's actually rather Boey-like, in that he's much faster than expected, but has rather modest attacking power.

But yeah, Cliff can  basically tank the boss and all the enemies nearby for days. The only annoying part is that it's hard to avoid giving the boss a forest tile to attack from, so Cliff really doesn't have a lot of hit on him.

Meanwhile, Dyute approaches the Wizards in the center. Her Res is the highest on the team (even 4 more than Silk), so she has little issue facing them.

One strange decision with this enemy formation: The only enemy type that doesn't charge you are the Paladins, including the boss, who will patiently wait until you go into their range. I guess they found the map too tricky if everything charges at you at once, because they definitely had that AI behaviour on previous maps.

I don't think there were any Cool Plays beyond "send the supertank against the boss and the Res tank against the Wizards", so I'll just skip ahead to the boss kill. Silk warped in Force for some extra chances to hit the boss, and he immediately oblidged.

...hm. Here's to hoping that these won't be 10 Witches.

Speaking of Witches...

One of them is a Lv.5 Witch, who uses Lightning instead of Fire. In any case, fighting against 6 Witches is always a bit of a luck-based mission. A first attempt failed because two of them warped on Alm, which put him into kill range of the boss...

...who is identical to Geyse on Celica's side, except that (as befitting a Ninja) nobody knows what his face looks like. Well, I assume there's an official portrait in Echoes now.

One thing that makes this map a bit of a "desert light" experience: Swordies can traverse forest tiles without any movement penalty, so enemies are going to be more mobile than your own characters.

If this second attempt had failed, I might've just gone ahead and repeated the tactical masterstroke of last map, and warped in Cliff to deal with the everybody, but luckily things will work out just fine.

First turn, none of the Witches teleport. Which is a mixed blessing, because it means that more of them will still be ready to do so on a following turn.

...especially because one of the Witches puts the +Avoid from her forest tile to good use.

The first character to face Saizo is Matilda, who obviously gets doubled. But thanks to two +2 Def levels, she doesn't take too much damage.

Once again, it't not easy to avoid giving Saizo a forest tile to attack from, especially because he can traverse those tiles freely. It's extra annoying because as a Dreadfighter, he's also rather resistant to magic. Alm helps thing greatly with this crit for that reason.

__

With some nice Aura chip, that makes him Easy Pickings.

(The Son Goku school of thought: If you can't breach somebody's defenses, hit them harder)

A few Myrmidons to clear up after that, but... well, if the Witch AI decides to be merciful, this map is a lot less deadly. Saizo is very strong, but Alm's group is getting pretty powerful, too.

The Team:

	Lv.	   HP  Pow Skl Spd Lck Def Res  +XP   Item
Alm	8.55	   33   12* 12   9   8  10   4  + 38  Regal Sw (+7 Atk, +10 Hit, +20 Crit)
Force	8/6.35	   42   22*  5   7*  5  12   5  +174  Knight Ln (+3 Atk, -5 Hit, -1 Spd)
Luka	7/1.77	   34   16   6   4   3  12   2  + 30
Gray	5/8/3.48   31   12* 11  14*  2   8   2  +132  Bolt Sw (15 Atk, -3 Spd)

Claire	11.68	   25   16* 10  13  17   5   8  + 64  Holy Ln (+3 Atk, +10 Crit)
Matila	4.29	   27   12* 14  12* 13  11  10  + 89  Steel Ln (+4 Atk, -10 Hit, -1 Spd)
Cleive	7/1.61	   28   12   7   8   8   8   1  + 13

Cliff	4/11/7.54  38   23*  8  10* 11  22   8  +231  Steel Bow (+3 Atk, -1 Spd)
Python	5.21	   24   11   3   4   2   6   4  + 22

Robin	4/8.56	   28    9   9  12   6   5*  4  + 64  Leather Sh (+3 Def)
Ryuto	11.14	   32   14   9  11   4   5   8  + 68  Prayer Ring
Silk	8.78	   18    9   5  10   7   2  11  + 21
Dyute	5.26	   22   11   8  12  17*  5  15  +226  Angel Ring (40 Lck)

• A +2 Spd/Lck and a +2 Def level on Dyute. No Str yet, but that's still very nice. Ryuto unfortunately only got a +2 HP level this time.
• Claire is only 32 XP away from promotion, which shouldn't be too difficult to get before reaching Fear Shrine. Ryuto is also just one level-up away from becoming a Sage, although a bit further away from it. It's not as important for him, though, since Sage bases are astonishingly low in Gaiden, considering how good the class usually is in Kaga games (as far as I know, at least, and it was rather good in FE1).

Next time, I shall hope that the Witches backing up the next Queen Witch can be overcome. I do have two Revives (in addition to Jesse's) available soon, so that's a bit of a buffer.

 

On 10/6/2023 at 9:20 PM, Saint Rubenio said:

This guy in Echoes has the best design.

That's really good, especially considering what they were working with.

On 10/6/2023 at 9:20 PM, Saint Rubenio said:

I like how she quickly changes clothes when she becomes unevil. Also dyes her hair.

On 10/6/2023 at 9:24 PM, Punished Dayni said:

"not leave you as purple as it left me"

Well, Dayni has the answer. Duma's most incredible power is to purplefy those who serve him.

On 10/6/2023 at 9:24 PM, Punished Dayni said:

The 1-3 seems like a compromise made with her stats that will rarely matter, especially with what's coming.

I don't quite know what it is that's coming (no need to spoil it, either), but... yeah, it seems fair that the Mage with the super-hard-hitting spell list has her limitations elsewhere.

On 10/6/2023 at 11:40 PM, Interdimensional Observer said:

So FE Linde more or less.

Pretty much, huh? Makes sense to have an Excalibur Mage as her brother as a nod toward Merric, then.

On 10/7/2023 at 12:33 AM, Shaky Jones said:

yes she has the same defense as my literal Baron

Squishier than a certain Archer, 4.819/10

[Shaky Jones]

16 minutes ago, gnip said:

This map is very green.

Have you gotten sick of the color yet?

18 minutes ago, gnip said:

One strange decision with this enemy formation: The only enemy type that doesn't charge you are the Paladins, including the boss, who will patiently wait until you go into their range. I guess they found the map too tricky if everything charges at you at once, because they definitely had that AI behaviour on previous maps.

Imagine playtesters going through Gaiden.

"Wow...this game is ass...... Pause the paladins, please."

They must've been getting paid in beans.

21 minutes ago, gnip said:

...hm. Here's to hoping that these won't be 10 Witches.

Speaking of Witches...

6/10.

Those are the odds of witches doing something competent.

21 minutes ago, gnip said:

...who is identical to Geyse on Celica's side, except that (as befitting a Ninja) nobody knows what his face looks like. Well, I assume there's an official portrait in Echoes now.

Ruben do your thing.

22 minutes ago, gnip said:

(The Son Goku school of thought: If you can't breach somebody's defenses, hit them harder)

I don't get this Goku thing, but I agree with the lesson.

24 minutes ago, gnip said:

Well, Dayni has the answer. Duma's most incredible power is to purplefy those who serve him.

Of course. Duma's own Unity. If everyone is purple, racism can't exist.

24 minutes ago, gnip said:

Squishier than a certain Archer, 4.819/10

I'm actually confused. What are you referring to?

[Saint Rubenio]

34 minutes ago, gnip said:

__

There he is. The epic boss that got excised from Echoes to make room for more Berkut.

He's... about as remarkable as any other Gaiden boss.

36 minutes ago, gnip said:

...who is identical to Geyse on Celica's side, except that (as befitting a Ninja) nobody knows what his face looks like. Well, I assume there's an official portrait in Echoes now.

I like how they later reused his name for a playable.

Anyway, yes.

 

Generic ninja is generic. Nowhere close to Gazelle's level.

35 minutes ago, gnip said:

Well, Dayni has the answer. Duma's most incredible power is to pGnurplefy those who serve him.

I mean, that was preserved in Echoes. Every Duma worshiper is blue for absolutely no reason, even though Mila's worshippers have human-colored skin. Because God forbit we be too subtle about who the bad guys are.

11 minutes ago, Shaky Jones said:

Ruben do your thing.

Done did it.

[Dayni]

32 minutes ago, gnip said:

I don't quite know what it is that's coming (no need to spoil it, either), but... yeah, it seems fair that the Mage with the super-hard-hitting spell list has her limitations elsewhere.

You'll find out.

7 minutes ago, Shaky Jones said:

Of course. Duma's own Unity. If everyone is purple, racism can't exist.

Duma 🤝 Anankos

Make everyone fucking purple

7 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I mean, that was preserved in Echoes. Every Duma worshiper is blue for absolutely no reason, even though Mila's worshippers have human-colored skin. Because God forbit we be too subtle about who the bad guys are.

I'd joke about FE ever having subtle villainy, but I know I'd get examples if I did. God forbit it indeed.

Cults have had any subtly once. And they didn't even use it well in game.

33 minutes ago, gnip said:

__

However, enemies are a tad stronger than they used to be. The boss is the first Gold Knight we run into, and he hits so hard that he almost deals damage to Cliff. Whom Silk warps in, for that reason, as a bit of a silly take on the "warp Horseslayer on forest tile" tactics. Cliff has the added bonus of reaching (and outranging) the one Lv.5 Wizard on the map, who'd otherwise be annoying with his Fortify magic. His hit rate isn't great, of course, between bows and the healing tile, but he'll eventually get there.

Here we see the boss removed from existence by the remake

(IMO, the DLC missed the boat to allow you to ressurect Sonya/Deen via a map where you facee him)

43 minutes ago, gnip said:

As some side notes - Python manages to safely fire an arrow to escape the annoying 99 XP no-group-XP-for-you barrier, while Robin started the map with the Angel Ring equipped. Even more Speed! He's actually rather Boey-like, in that he's much faster than expected, but has rather modest attacking power.

Fast Robin: More likely than I'd think.

44 minutes ago, gnip said:

...who is identical to Geyse on Celica's side, except that (as befitting a Ninja) nobody knows what his face looks like. Well, I assume there's an official portrait in Echoes now.

My Teehee headcanon is proven canon!

46 minutes ago, gnip said:

One thing that makes this map a bit of a "desert light" experience: Swordies can traverse forest tiles without any movement penalty, so enemies are going to be more mobile than your own characters.

I think that isn't the case in SoV, but I could be misremembering.

This map also seemed to not bother me much there, but you have more options.

[ping]

FE2 Chapter 4: Dismal Nation

Rigelian Forest --> Fear Shrine (pt.1)

Spoiler

The next map is not green. (and also not perfectly put together in paint, unfortunately)

It's also more crowded than normal, but not as bad as it could be. The Witch squad that joined the enemy consisted of 10 units, but only 5 extra units showed up. Or rather, it seems that some of the original enemies were replaced by the Witch squad. I suppose Gaiden has a cap of 20 enemies? That would also explain why the Queen Witch doesn't summon any additional Witches for the first two turns.

Anyway, if it weren't for the Witches turning the map in a bit of a RNG fest, this map wouldn't have been too bad. Enemies approach from two angles - not quite a flanking manoeuvre, but more interesting than the previous Open Field maps on Alm's route.

Fortunately for me, Witch RNG was pretty merciful, with only one Witch teleporting in at a time. They easily could've taken out, like, Cleive or Python, but chose not to.

This map is the first one to feature Barons (well, other than Dozer), which are even knightier than Knights. They hit very hard, dealing one whole damage against Cliff, and have decent bulk even on the magic side.

The boss is... was this already Sonia's sister in Gaiden? I think I remember this being a thing in Echoes, but I don't know if the devs just extrapolated from Mara's "purple Sonia" portrait.

Anyway, stat-whise, she hits very hard (26 Atk, but only 1 Spd) and is still relatively frail against physical attacks, although she's sitting on a healing tile to alleviate that.

__

I sent Cliff up to deal with enemies on that front - which seemed like a smart thing to do, since he can easily do so alone, although I think he would've been far more useful at the right, with his funny big damage numbers and funny big defensive numbers. As is, the right is a bit of a retreating fight, because of all the magic enemies. The Wizards in particular deal a lot of damage with their Slime spell.

Clair gets to promotion level during this fight, unfortunately with a bit of a level-up dud.

Mara only summoned this one Witch this whole fight. I have to reiterate that I was quite lucky with the AI during this fight...

__

...which makes the following all the more tragic. See, Force went ahead and faced the first Baron (who has an interesting AI, patrolling back and forth in front of Mara's little fort) and then continued forward to lure out the second guarding Mara. Unfortunately...

...Mara doesn't follow the script that all other summoners thus far have been using: She moves. ...which, I suppose, should teach me a thing about assuming things. Specifically, instead of assuming that summoners don't move, I should've assumed that the "not move" thing is part of the class, not of the Messiah spell.

As a result, the Force is not with us anymore.

...and honestly, I think the situation is pretty similar to the Valbo fiasco over on Celica's side. This is a fight where I expected somebody to die - to teleporting Witches and not my wrong understanding of the AI, but still, I was very lucky that enemy Witches never ganged up on a low-Res unit. Plus, we're about to enter the Fear Shrine, so... Force will have to take a little rest. Two fights, I think, glancing at FEWoD, til we get to the revival fountains.

:" May Doma's blessings--"

At least we're learning some stuff: Items held by slain characters will be sent to storage. Kaga is more merciful than some of the games coming after his time!

The first fight in the Fear Shrine isn't terribly interesting - just a bunch of Wizards, none of which are using any noteworthy spells.

However, unlike the previous shrine fights, there's a second part of the map, featuring a Canter. And also some of the poison swamp tiles that will plague Celica's group later? I actually didn't check - physical characters have enough movement to cross the two tiles wide swamp behind which the Canter is hiding...

...while magical characters don't particularly want to fight a murder of Gargoyles in open terrain.

Fighting through all those summoned enemies takes a while, but it could be worse - Claire (w/ Steel) and Matilda (w/ Holy) one-round the Gargoyles without taking too much damage in return, so they can enemy-phase very aggressively. Alm also does very well, although he's one Spd shy of doubling. But he two-shots while only taking 1 dmg in return.

__

It's still a somewhat obnoxious fight, but on the plus side, it's enough for Claire to get an extra level before promotion. And this one is more valuable than the last, too.__

And with that, we're at the Mila Shrine. Claire is the only promotion, but it's a seriously powerful one.

We also have Speed. Three points of it, in fact, since the alternative (Lck) isn't worth considering.

...which reminds me, I skipped the Lion Head fountains in Liberation HQ, didn't I? I suspect Pickings have never been Easier, but I'm open to suggestions, if anybody is willing to fight Ruben over it. Those last fountains were Str/Def - stacking even more of the latter on Cliff would be funny, but also rather overkill, I'm pretty sure. Here's the stats to ponder over the question:

The Team:

	Lv.	   HP  Pow Skl Spd Lck Def Res  +XP   Item
Alm	9.98	   34   13* 13   9   8  10   4  +143  Regal Sw (+7 Atk, +10 Hit, +20 Crit)
Luka	7/1.88	   34   16   6   4   3  12   2  + 11
Gray	5/8/4.21   32   13* 11  14*  2   8   2  + 73  Bolt Sw (15 Atk, -10 hit, -3 Spd)

Matilda	5.36	   28   13* 15  12  13  11  10  +107  Holy Ln (+3 Atk, +10 Crit)
Claire  13/1.00	   40   16* 10  15* 21  12   8  +132* Steel Ln (+4 Atk, -10 Hit, -1 Spd)
Cleive	7/2.06	   28   12*  7   8*  9   8   1  + 45  Knight Ln (+3 Atk, -5 Hit, -1 Spd)

Cliff	4/11/9.21  39   23*  9  13* 11  24   8  +165  Steel Bow (+3 Atk, -1 Spd)
Python  5.41	   24   11   3   4   2   6   4  + 20

Ryuto	11.58	   32   14   9  11   4   5   8  + 44
Robin	4/8.80	   28    9   9  12   6   5*  4  + 24  Leather Sh (+3 Def)
Silk	9.99	   18   11   5  10   7   2  11  +121  Prayer Ring
Dyute	7.96	   22   13   8  14  17*  5  15  +270  Angel Ring (40 Lck)

 

22 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

Have you gotten sick of the color yet?

I suspect I'll sooner be sick of the brown maps.

22 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

I'm actually confused. What are you referring to?

Imagine thinking that Barons are the tanky Gaiden class. Dude literally has twice the Def of Luka and Force, and is already +6 compared to Baron class base.

22 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

pGnurplefy

pingniplefy is a funny word. Or would be, I guess.

22 hours ago, Punished Dayni said:

I'd joke about FE ever having subtle villainy, but I know I'd get examples if I did. God forbit it indeed.

I would be tempted to argue that Camüü could be seen as a "subtle villain", with how his brand of blind loyalty is discussed and dismissed in Sheeda and Lawrence's convo on the very same map on which you fight Camüü. But with how much Gaiden and Book 2 insist that Camüü is the super awesome guy... that's probably just coincidence and Camüü was supposed to be seen as this tragic, noble creature.

[Shaky Jones]

22 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Done did it.

Okay now do my thing.

22 minutes ago, gnip said:

Anyway, if it weren't for the Witches turning the map in a bit of a RNG fest, this map wouldn't have been too bad. Enemies approach from two angles - not quite a flanking manoeuvre, but more interesting than the previous Open Field maps on Alm's route.

Well someone at the Fates team sure seemed to have liked it.

23 minutes ago, gnip said:

The boss is... was this already Sonia's sister in Gaiden? I think I remember this being a thing in Echoes, but I don't know if the devs just extrapolated from Mara's "purple Sonia" portrait.

I believe you fight her twice in SoV. Once here, and then again in endgame, where I actually remember her being in. 

At least they ripped a decent model. Purple works.

25 minutes ago, gnip said:

As a result, the Force is not with us anymore.

You're in Kaga's realm. The Force was never with us.

26 minutes ago, gnip said:

...which reminds me, I skipped the Lion Head fountains in Liberation HQ, didn't I? I suspect Pickings have never been Easier, but I'm open to suggestions, if anybody is willing to fight Ruben over it.

Ruben deserves happiness every now and then. Have you seen how pissy hacking fe6 has gotten him?

27 minutes ago, gnip said:

I suspect I'll sooner be sick of the brown

28 minutes ago, gnip said:

Imagine thinking that Barons are the tanky Gaiden class. Dude literally has twice the Def of Luka and Force, and is already +6 compared to Baron class base.

Cliff rhymes with Riff.

Checks out.