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

[ping]

FE3 Book 1 Chapter 15: Mamkute Princess

Spoiler

To obtain the Light and Star Orb for Gato, Marth and the others headed for Cashmere's Raman Temple. At Cashmere strait, they entered a fierce battle with the Grunian Black Knights, who attempted to prevent them passing. But once known as the world's finest, the Grunian Black Knights had lost their former glory and were defeated. Now, at Raman... The temple of Narga, where the jewels are hidden. A new story is about to unfold...

From a gameplay perspective, I kinda understand skipping the bridge map, which I described as "forgettable without Mr Turban hanging around" during FE1. But it's an odd decision to then include a big "JUST SO YOU KNOW WE SKIPPED A MAJOR BATTLE" in the opening sequence. Surely, it would have been possible to rewrite things a bit so that the upcoming map is the confrontation with the Black Knights, considering that it's always been the big confrontation with them and their general.

: "Your highness, please be careful inside Raman temple. The goddess of this temple possesses fearful might. She will incinerate any and all intruders."
: "Hmm... I suppose we shouldn't be intruding this sanctuary... But this temple holds the objects that I must seek. We must try not to provoke the temple's guardians. I will only bring in a couple of soldiers with me."

I have played HHM, so I really appreciate that "couple of soldiers" translates to twelve, not two, characters for this map.

: "Chiki... The great princess of the Narga tribe, which fell into ruin long ago. Use your power to burn the intruders of this holy Raman temple. Haha... You mustn't forget it was I who rescued Banutu from Mediuth's grasp."

____

Like the very memorable boss who ate Marth's mum and split the Red Sea, Chiki transforms before the start of the fight. Into a DivineDr, but using IceBrth as a weapon, it should be noted. Apparently, this is a Book 1 quirk that will persist when Chiki is recruited - maybe so that she doesn't deal effective damage vs. Mediuth so that getting Falchion is more important in terms of gameplay? According to the main site, Mist Breath is effective against "dragon units", which I assume includes the man dragon himself.

The principal change to this map is our inability to peek through closed doors. Of course, FEWoD can help with the issue, but it isn't possible to fight the three Hunters and one Sniper hidden in some of the rooms through the wall without opening the door, which makes the job for Julian and Ricardo more awkward.

But by and large, the map plays pretty similar. The closest enemies aren't much of a problem, what with all of them being physical 1-range in a 2-tile corridor, but enemies around Chiki are more numerous and dangerous.

__

So yeah. Punch enemies, push forward. Biraku strong. Well, strong enough to one-round enemies with low Def and zero AS.

Mishelan... lucky and increasingly able to use complicated weaponry.

Progress.

____

...and, er, Ruben? Can I interest you in a bearded, eye-patched replacement?

Because to be honest, I'm not that interesting in replaying the map.

__

Another small change to the map: In FE1, one of the enemy thieves already grabbed the LiteOrb, while in FE3, with its innovation of thieves dropping their robbed goods, both chests are still unopened.

You may have noticed the lack of Chikis on the throne in the second screenshot..:

: "Oh!! Chiki, I was looking all over for you. It seems you've fallen under Garnef's spell... Please wake up..."
: "...Uh. Ah...! Banutu... Why... What's going on?"
: "Ah, good, you've awakened. Are you alright?"
: "Uh... What happened to me...? It was so scary... It was like I was in a bad dream..."
: "I'm really sorry... For letting you be frightened like that... But everything is fine now. From now on, I will always be by your side."
: "Ah! Do you promise? You mustn't leave me alone ever again..."

Gotoh:

__
[HP 80% | Str 50% | Skl 90% | Spd 90% | Lck 90% | WLv 0 | Def 0]

These are effectively the same, excellent growths Chiki had in FE1 - she technically lost her WLv growth, but, well... Other irrelevant growths are her excellent Spd (she'll always be weighed down to zero) and Def (as Def/Res is fixed after transformation, I believe), although I guess they matter if Chiki ever sees combat while untransformed.

Considering that Banutu still is relavant, thanks to his fixed 1-2-range damage and good bulk, I expect that Chiki will be quite decent as well. She isn't as physically tanky (especially with Banutu's +14 HP), but 32 HP / 12 Def is still very good, and she hits a tiny bit harder (+1 dmg...) and a lot more accurately than him. And unlike Banutu, who has managed six level-ups without any stat gains at this point, Chiki does benefit from gaining XP a decent amount. Her HP growth is equivalent to 160% and she's likely to become even more hard-hitting and almost guaranteed to become even more reliable than she is now.

Overall, probably not a LTC-efficient-optimal unit, but quite nice for a more realistic playstyle.

__

As a small note - since this is another indoor map, Kashim and Biraku both got some more XP in their unpromoted forms during the map. I really should promote them immediately next chapter, though.

Who does use this map's Bishop Ring immediately is Rena, changing class at Lv.15, as Linda still sits at Lv.9. The stat gains are nice, although she still only sits at 3 Str / 10 Spd offensively and 20 HP / 5 Def defensively.

Sheeda also got another two levels on this map, overshooting her Spd cap (18 unmounted; her Pegasus provides a +3 bonus). Curious if the game will remember that or if she might go back to 17 Spd if she dismounts on a later map.

So yeah, despite Mishelan's untimely demise because he couldn't throw a Javelin, not the most dramatic map in the game. It's pretty easy to clean house before grabbing all the treasure, despite fielding both thieves and Marth grabbing the two Orbs in the northernmost room.

: "Marth, I am currently at a village north of Macedonia castle. That's right, it is already very close. If you have both the Star and Light Orbs, please come and visit me. Without Starlight you will be unable to take back the Falchion from Garnef. Garnef has escaped to the illusion city of Thebes. Your sister, Ellis, should also be there. I have been protecting her with my power, but I won't be able to hold out for much longer. Please hurry and rescue Ellis."

Thank you, Exposition Man.

The Team:

	Lv. 	   HP Str Skl Spd Lck WLv Def Res  +XP
Marth	14.26	   30  15  10  14  14  16   8   0  +156
Biraku	14.09	   27   8   5   8   2  14   8   0  +109
Sheeda	13.02	   23   6  16  21* 20* 17  10   6  +145
Navarre	12/4.00	   30  15  15  19  16  13   9   3  +117

Kashim	16.52	   32  15   6  13   5   9   9   1  +120
Banutu	7.22	   25   2   3   4   1   2   3   1  +82	(+14 HP)
Chiki	5.00	   16   3   3   4  12   9   3  10  --	(base)
Julian	4.08	   17   5   7  12   8   2   4   0  --

Ricardo	1.00	   16   5   2   9   0   2   3   0  --	(base)
Wendel	7.15	   26   3   2  13   2  13   5   6  +33
Rena	15/1.06	   20   3  18  10  19  12   5   8  +70
Linda	9.10	   23   4  10  12  12  12   4   4  +73

Misheln	5.__	   21   8   5   4   5   6  12   0  RIP

 

Sorry about the slow pace these past weeks. Bit of a stressful time IRL.

On 11/27/2023 at 11:33 PM, Jotari said:

All this effort going in to getting Starlight. We know how Imhullu works, it uses magic to stop people having the ability to attack Gharnef. That does not make him invincible. He still has a pretty major weakness. Spiked pitfall traps! Team Rocket and the Viet Cong could take Gharnef out no problem!

Reminds me of Baldur's Gate, where thieves setting traps can absolutely break the game asunder, with very few (if any; I never really made use of this, so I'm not sure) bosses immune to the basic spike trap. If you know where a boss spawns, you can just put a dozen spike traps under their arse before triggering the fight. Very anticlimactic and cheesy, which is why I'm not interested in playing this way.

On 11/28/2023 at 3:35 AM, BrightBow said:

Sea Dragon

Interesting, I never knew that was a thing. I wonder why the concept was canned and never brought up again (although I wouldn't be surprised if this does come back somewhere in Kaga Saga...).

[BrightBow]

34 minutes ago, ping said:

From a gameplay perspective, I kinda understand skipping the bridge map, which I described as "forgettable without Mr Turban hanging around" during FE1. But it's an odd decision to then include a big "JUST SO YOU KNOW WE SKIPPED A MAJOR BATTLE" in the opening sequence. Surely, it would have been possible to rewrite things a bit so that the upcoming map is the confrontation with the Black Knights, considering that it's always been the big confrontation with them and their general.

Wouldn't surprise me if the map was meant to be included, inconsequential as it might be. I mean, the way this works out now you end up with 2 indoor maps back to back, which is rather awkward.
 

32 minutes ago, ping said:

These are effectively the same, excellent growths Chiki had in FE1 - she technically lost her WLv growth, but, well... Other irrelevant growths are her excellent Spd (she'll always be weighed down to zero) and Def (as Def/Res is fixed after transformation, I believe), although I guess they matter if Chiki ever sees combat while untransformed.

Defense is not fixed. It's just added.

Btw, Divine Dragons can also fly. Without any vulnerability to arrows.

Bantu gets a support from Tiki, which most certainly helps his accuracy and critical hit vulnerability woes.

[Saint Rubenio]

48 minutes ago, ping said:

From a gameplay perspective, I kinda understand skipping the bridge map, which I described as "forgettable without Mr Turban hanging around" during FE1. But it's an odd decision to then include a big "JUST SO YOU KNOW WE SKIPPED A MAJOR BATTLE" in the opening sequence. Surely, it would have been possible to rewrite things a bit so that the upcoming map is the confrontation with the Black Knights, considering that it's always been the big confrontation with them and their general.

Definitely the wonkiest rewrite for the chapter removals. Mostly because it wasn't a rewrite, they just recapped the missing stuff and kept going. Lazy...

Jotari will probably want to contest that first claim.

48 minutes ago, ping said:

I have played HHM, so I really appreciate that "couple of soldiers" translates to twelve, not two, characters for this map.

Fun fact: Mar means sea in Spanish. We got the Sea Lord overhere.

Anyway, yes, unlike FE7 this game is not dumb.

50 minutes ago, ping said:

The principal change to this map is our inability to peek through closed doors. Of course, FEWoD can help with the issue, but it isn't possible to fight the three Hunters and one Sniper hidden in some of the rooms through the wall without opening the door, which makes the job for Julian and Ricardo more awkward.

But by and large, the map plays pretty similar. The closest enemies aren't much of a problem, what with all of them being physical 1-range in a 2-tile corridor, but enemies around Chiki are more numerous and dangerous.

Honestly, a change for the worse. In the original you could at least get peppered by the archers when moving through, or dispatch them ahead of time with 2 range weaponry. Here you just kill enemies one at a time until you get to the final stretch.

51 minutes ago, ping said:

...and, er, Ruben? Can I interest you in a bearded, eye-patched replacement?

Because to be honest, I'm not that interesting in replaying the map.

Deal.

51 minutes ago, ping said:

Sorry about the slow pace these past weeks. Bit of a stressful time IRL.

That's fine. I can relate ngl

14 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

Wouldn't surprise me if the map was meant to be included, inconsequential as it might be. I mean, the way this works out now you end up with 2 indoor maps back to back, which is rather awkward.

Not to mention the map exists in the game. As far as means to save cartdrige space go, this is a really useless omission. Which does beg the question as to why they did remove it...

[BrightBow]

3 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Honestly, a change for the worse. In the original you could at least get peppered by the archers when moving through, or dispatch them ahead of time with 2 range weaponry. Here you just kill enemies one at a time until you get to the final stretch.

Also a good chance that surprise Sniper is just going to one-shot Julian.

These guys are assholes with their high crit rate and bulk.

[Jotari]

2 hours ago, ping said:

FE3 Book 1 Chapter 15: Mamkute Princess

  Hide contents

To obtain the Light and Star Orb for Gato, Marth and the others headed for Cashmere's Raman Temple. At Cashmere strait, they entered a fierce battle with the Grunian Black Knights, who attempted to prevent them passing. But once known as the world's finest, the Grunian Black Knights had lost their former glory and were defeated. Now, at Raman... The temple of Narga, where the jewels are hidden. A new story is about to unfold...

From a gameplay perspective, I kinda understand skipping the bridge map, which I described as "forgettable without Mr Turban hanging around" during FE1. But it's an odd decision to then include a big "JUST SO YOU KNOW WE SKIPPED A MAJOR BATTLE" in the opening sequence. Surely, it would have been possible to rewrite things a bit so that the upcoming map is the confrontation with the Black Knights, considering that it's always been the big confrontation with them and their general.

: "Your highness, please be careful inside Raman temple. The goddess of this temple possesses fearful might. She will incinerate any and all intruders."
: "Hmm... I suppose we shouldn't be intruding this sanctuary... But this temple holds the objects that I must seek. We must try not to provoke the temple's guardians. I will only bring in a couple of soldiers with me."

I have played HHM, so I really appreciate that "couple of soldiers" translates to twelve, not two, characters for this map.

: "Chiki... The great princess of the Narga tribe, which fell into ruin long ago. Use your power to burn the intruders of this holy Raman temple. Haha... You mustn't forget it was I who rescued Banutu from Mediuth's grasp."

____

Like the very memorable boss who ate Marth's mum and split the Red Sea, Chiki transforms before the start of the fight. Into a DivineDr, but using IceBrth as a weapon, it should be noted. Apparently, this is a Book 1 quirk that will persist when Chiki is recruited - maybe so that she doesn't deal effective damage vs. Mediuth so that getting Falchion is more important in terms of gameplay? According to the main site, Mist Breath is effective against "dragon units", which I assume includes the man dragon himself.

The principal change to this map is our inability to peek through closed doors. Of course, FEWoD can help with the issue, but it isn't possible to fight the three Hunters and one Sniper hidden in some of the rooms through the wall without opening the door, which makes the job for Julian and Ricardo more awkward.

But by and large, the map plays pretty similar. The closest enemies aren't much of a problem, what with all of them being physical 1-range in a 2-tile corridor, but enemies around Chiki are more numerous and dangerous.

__

So yeah. Punch enemies, push forward. Biraku strong. Well, strong enough to one-round enemies with low Def and zero AS.

Mishelan... lucky and increasingly able to use complicated weaponry.

Progress.

____

...and, er, Ruben? Can I interest you in a bearded, eye-patched replacement?

Because to be honest, I'm not that interesting in replaying the map.

__

Another small change to the map: In FE1, one of the enemy thieves already grabbed the LiteOrb, while in FE3, with its innovation of thieves dropping their robbed goods, both chests are still unopened.

You may have noticed the lack of Chikis on the throne in the second screenshot..:

: "Oh!! Chiki, I was looking all over for you. It seems you've fallen under Garnef's spell... Please wake up..."
: "...Uh. Ah...! Banutu... Why... What's going on?"
: "Ah, good, you've awakened. Are you alright?"
: "Uh... What happened to me...? It was so scary... It was like I was in a bad dream..."
: "I'm really sorry... For letting you be frightened like that... But everything is fine now. From now on, I will always be by your side."
: "Ah! Do you promise? You mustn't leave me alone ever again..."

Gotoh:

__
[HP 80% | Str 50% | Skl 90% | Spd 90% | Lck 90% | WLv 0 | Def 0]

These are effectively the same, excellent growths Chiki had in FE1 - she technically lost her WLv growth, but, well... Other irrelevant growths are her excellent Spd (she'll always be weighed down to zero) and Def (as Def/Res is fixed after transformation, I believe), although I guess they matter if Chiki ever sees combat while untransformed.

Considering that Banutu still is relavant, thanks to his fixed 1-2-range damage and good bulk, I expect that Chiki will be quite decent as well. She isn't as physically tanky (especially with Banutu's +14 HP), but 32 HP / 12 Def is still very good, and she hits a tiny bit harder (+1 dmg...) and a lot more accurately than him. And unlike Banutu, who has managed six level-ups without any stat gains at this point, Chiki does benefit from gaining XP a decent amount. Her HP growth is equivalent to 160% and she's likely to become even more hard-hitting and almost guaranteed to become even more reliable than she is now.

Overall, probably not a LTC-efficient-optimal unit, but quite nice for a more realistic playstyle.

__

As a small note - since this is another indoor map, Kashim and Biraku both got some more XP in their unpromoted forms during the map. I really should promote them immediately next chapter, though.

Who does use this map's Bishop Ring immediately is Rena, changing class at Lv.15, as Linda still sits at Lv.9. The stat gains are nice, although she still only sits at 3 Str / 10 Spd offensively and 20 HP / 5 Def defensively.

Sheeda also got another two levels on this map, overshooting her Spd cap (18 unmounted; her Pegasus provides a +3 bonus). Curious if the game will remember that or if she might go back to 17 Spd if she dismounts on a later map.

So yeah, despite Mishelan's untimely demise because he couldn't throw a Javelin, not the most dramatic map in the game. It's pretty easy to clean house before grabbing all the treasure, despite fielding both thieves and Marth grabbing the two Orbs in the northernmost room.

: "Marth, I am currently at a village north of Macedonia castle. That's right, it is already very close. If you have both the Star and Light Orbs, please come and visit me. Without Starlight you will be unable to take back the Falchion from Garnef. Garnef has escaped to the illusion city of Thebes. Your sister, Ellis, should also be there. I have been protecting her with my power, but I won't be able to hold out for much longer. Please hurry and rescue Ellis."

Thank you, Exposition Man.

The Team:

	Lv. 	   HP Str Skl Spd Lck WLv Def Res  +XP
Marth	14.26	   30  15  10  14  14  16   8   0  +156
Biraku	14.09	   27   8   5   8   2  14   8   0  +109
Sheeda	13.02	   23   6  16  21* 20* 17  10   6  +145
Navarre	12/4.00	   30  15  15  19  16  13   9   3  +117

Kashim	16.52	   32  15   6  13   5   9   9   1  +120
Banutu	7.22	   25   2   3   4   1   2   3   1  +82	(+14 HP)
Chiki	5.00	   16   3   3   4  12   9   3  10  --	(base)
Julian	4.08	   17   5   7  12   8   2   4   0  --

Ricardo	1.00	   16   5   2   9   0   2   3   0  --	(base)
Wendel	7.15	   26   3   2  13   2  13   5   6  +33
Rena	15/1.06	   20   3  18  10  19  12   5   8  +70
Linda	9.10	   23   4  10  12  12  12   4   4  +73

Misheln	5.__	   21   8   5   4   5   6  12   0  RIP

 

Sorry about the slow pace these past weeks. Bit of a stressful time IRL.

Reminds me of Baldur's Gate, where thieves setting traps can absolutely break the game asunder, with very few (if any; I never really made use of this, so I'm not sure) bosses immune to the basic spike trap. If you know where a boss spawns, you can just put a dozen spike traps under their arse before triggering the fight. Very anticlimactic and cheesy, which is why I'm not interested in playing this way.

Interesting, I never knew that was a thing. I wonder why the concept was canned and never brought up again (although I wouldn't be surprised if this does come back somewhere in Kaga Saga...).

*If you promote in doors from an unmounted unit to a mounted unit, they get to bring their newly created mount to the indoor map. At least that's what happened when I promoted Kashim in the Fire Dragon Graveyard map in Book 2. Probably doesn't work that way for units who are already mounted and rendered forced dismount in an indoor chapter.

*Gotoh says he isn't far away in a town north of the Macedon castle...but...uh, that actually is pretty dang far away. It's only 2 chapters (or 3 {or 4} depending on which version you're playing) but in universe Marth has to trek to the bottom of the countries in, take a sea trip to the south of another country and then march his ass up to the top of that country. All the while fighting the two strongest nations on the continent. It's like saying Trieste and Edinburgh aren't that far away. Sure, if you're comparing it to the whole world it's not that big, but it's still going to take Marth at least a few more months to get there.

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Definitely the wonkiest rewrite for the chapter removals. Mostly because it wasn't a rewrite, they just recapped the missing stuff and kept going. Lazy...

Jotari will probably want to contest that first claim.

Interloper! Barbarous filth! You dare dig your heels and hooves into this disrespectful opinion?

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Not to mention the map exists in the game. As far as means to save cartdrige space go, this is a really useless omission. Which does beg the question as to why they did remove it...

My guess, so the book had exactly twenty chapters (and they hadn't figured out they could chest that by labelling Prologue and Endgame as something else). Still Galder would probably be a better cut than this one, but we talked about that earlier.

[Interdimensional Observer]

4 hours ago, ping said:

...and, er, Ruben? Can I interest you in a bearded, eye-patched replacement?

I say yes.

As I believe I said before, I used Lorenz b/c his base stats aren't entirely unusable (just the "we (IS) overcorrect for massive Def by making their other stats a mockery" problem armor units are sometimes forced to deal with). And more importantly, it'd add a little weight to Lorenz's "tragic" demise in Book 2 if he actually pulled some weight in Book 1.

4 hours ago, ping said:

Interesting, I never knew that was a thing. I wonder why the concept was canned and never brought up again (although I wouldn't be surprised if this does come back somewhere in Kaga Saga...).

SoV actually. The little postgame has battles in the waters between V&A and some Dagons are fought there.

4 hours ago, ping said:

I have played HHM, so I really appreciate that "couple of soldiers" translates to twelve, not two, characters for this map.

The Berserker drives you mad?

I don't think any other hard mode ever curtailed unit deployment slots, which I think tells you IS realized the bad idea it was.

[Emperor Hardin]

Double post mistake.

Edited December 7, 2023 by Emperor Hardin

[Emperor Hardin]

   

On 11/25/2023 at 4:39 AM, ping said:

The goals of the map are threefold: Recruit Alan (as requested by Shaky), turn around and recruit Chainy, continue to seize the gate. So, Marth initially goes west, and ping finally remembers that he grabbed some boots two maps prior.

I don't know if its true, but I've heard Xane/Chaney was named after Lon Chaney, the man of a thousand faces?

On 11/25/2023 at 4:39 AM, ping said:

The boss still has the wonderful design decision of a Killer Lance on the final enemy you have to fight. Clearly, Kaga wants us to cheese all the bosses with 2-range attacks, specifically with Marich or Linda.

I think Hollstadt is the only boss to wield a killer weapon.

He also has an unused dark purple sprite if you wanna hear.

On 11/25/2023 at 4:39 AM, ping said:

 

There seems to be some confusion about their effect - Marth only goes from 7 Move to 11, despite the item description. Not sure if it's an error in the translation patch or if FE3 is just confused to begin with.

I think it might be an error in the translation patch, like Minerva calls Harmein, "GENERAL HAIMAN" at one point?

On 11/25/2023 at 4:39 AM, ping said:

Chainy has his own bases and growths, of course, but what do they matter when he can just transform into physical perfection? Although he can't quite reach Biraku's qualities, since he can not use the Dismount command.

Chainey definitely does benefit from the HP growth.

On 11/25/2023 at 4:39 AM, ping said:

__

The boss goes down to slow chipping from Navarre (with a Thunder Sword) and Linda, the latter of whom gets the final blow.

: "General Camus, I leave the rest to you..."

Funfact based off Hollstadt's dialogue, the sable knight near him and the next chapter's dialogue, Hollstadt was definitely a former underling of Camus and possibly a member of the Sable order!

On 11/27/2023 at 10:26 AM, ping said:

Moses then splits the Red S... I mean transforms before the map even starts. Good on him for not letting any Warp cheese get to him.

Moses also has 1-2 range now, good for him.

On 11/27/2023 at 10:26 AM, ping said:

: "YOU... DID WELL... BUT YOU CAN'T WIN... AGAINST LORD MEDIUTH..."

(not my caps lock)
(and I thought it's Garnef you can't win against)

 

Other Manakete characters do this, I believe its supposed to be speaking in Katakana, which is used to show he's speaking in a distinctly inhuman tone.

7 hours ago, ping said:

FE3 Book 1 Chapter 15: Mamkute Princess

Sorry about the slow pace these past weeks. Bit of a stressful time IRL.

I took forever to reply so all is forgiven.

7 hours ago, ping said:

Like the very memorable boss who ate Marth's mum and split the Red Sea, Chiki transforms before the start of the fight. Into a DivineDr, but using IceBrth as a weapon, it should be noted. Apparently, this is a Book 1 quirk that will persist when Chiki is recruited - maybe so that she doesn't deal effective damage vs. Mediuth so that getting Falchion is more important in terms of gameplay? According to the main site, Mist Breath is effective against "dragon units", which I assume includes the man dragon himself.

Maybe it was to keep Tiki/Chiki like she was in FE1, a palette swap of the Fire Dragon that only has effective damage against regular manaketes?

7 hours ago, ping said:

 

: "Hmm... I suppose we shouldn't be intruding this sanctuary... But this temple holds the objects that I must seek. We must try not to provoke the temple's guardians. I will only bring in a couple of soldiers with me."

Interesting factoid, the enemies here are labeled Dolhr in FE3, but Raman in FE1.

7 hours ago, ping said:

 

 

: "Chiki... The great princess of the Narga tribe, which fell into ruin long ago. Use your power to burn the intruders of this holy Raman temple. Haha... You mustn't forget it was I who rescued Banutu from Mediuth's grasp."

You know its interesting how Garnef controls Chiki, not by changing her identity or directly controlling her, but by putting her in a false scenario.

7 hours ago, ping said:

____

...and, er, Ruben? Can I interest you in a bearded, eye-patched replacement?

Because to be honest, I'm not that interesting in replaying the map.

I didn't know you were doing ironman, well there's also the Ohm/Aum staff.

7 hours ago, ping said:

__
[HP 80% | Str 50% | Skl 90% | Spd 90% | Lck 90% | WLv 0 | Def 0]

These are effectively the same, excellent growths Chiki had in FE1 - she technically lost her WLv growth, but, well... Other irrelevant growths are her excellent Spd (she'll always be weighed down to zero) and Def (as Def/Res is fixed after transformation, I believe), although I guess they matter if Chiki ever sees combat while untransformed.

Considering that Banutu still is relavant, thanks to his fixed 1-2-range damage and good bulk, I expect that Chiki will be quite decent as well. She isn't as physically tanky (especially with Banutu's +14 HP), but 32 HP / 12 Def is still very good, and she hits a tiny bit harder (+1 dmg...) and a lot more accurately than him. And unlike Banutu, who has managed six level-ups without any stat gains at this point, Chiki does benefit from gaining XP a decent amount. Her HP growth is equivalent to 160% and she's likely to become even more hard-hitting and almost guaranteed to become even more reliable than she is now.

Chiki gives Bantu a good support too.

7 hours ago, ping said:

Sheeda also got another two levels on this map, overshooting her Spd cap (18 unmounted; her Pegasus provides a +3 bonus). Curious if the game will remember that or if she might go back to 17 Spd if she dismounts on a later map.

I think it does.

On 11/27/2023 at 6:35 PM, BrightBow said:

That sprite has to have been intended for the unused Sea Dragon. I don't see why it's tail and body would go through the ground otherwise. It would make perfect sense if it was only able to move on water terrain.
...also the map sprite looks nothing like this snake thing. It's the same as a fire dragon, but grey. And there IS a grey version of the Fire Dragon sprite for combat animations too. It's used by Tiki's Book 1 Divine Dragon form.
Meanwhile the map sprite for the Sea Dragon is fittingly snakelike.

I would guess that when they decided to cut the sea dragon, they figured it would be a shame to waste such fancy sprites and that they might as well reuse them for the other dragon tribes. Then the palette swap that was meant to be used for the Demon Dragon was moved over to Tiki and her unique sprites became a Book 2 exclusive. Maybe as a reference to FE1, where the divine dragon was also just a grey palette swap.

I think the Mage Dragon battle sprite in FE3 was meant for the Ice Dragon based off concept artwork?

[ping]

11 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Defense is not fixed. It's just added.

Just tested, you are correct. Tagging @Zapp Branniglenn because I took the fixed Def/Res from his OP in the Manakete ranking thread, although maybe I just misinterpreted his phrasing.  

11 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Bantu gets a support from Tiki, which most certainly helps his accuracy and critical hit vulnerability woes.

4 hours ago, Emperor Hardin said:

Chiki gives Bantu a good support too.

That is good to know. I'll see how much room for deployment I'll have during Book 1, but I do have both dragons in the "requested" list for Book 2, so that'll be helpful when Chiki finally joins there.

11 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Fun fact: Mar means sea in Spanish. We got the Sea Lord overhere.

Fun fact: Linde is "lime tree" in German, so if I was playing with a newer translation patch, I would deploy botanical weapons on every map.
Fun fact: Mist is "manure" (and a mild all-purpose swear) in German. Unsurprisingly, Ike's sister is renamed to Alja in our localisation. Pokemon's Misty is still Misty around here, though.

11 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Honestly, a change for the worse. In the original you could at least get peppered by the archers when moving through, or dispatch them ahead of time with 2 range weaponry. Here you just kill enemies one at a time until you get to the final stretch.

11 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Also a good chance that surprise Sniper is just going to one-shot Julian.

These guys are assholes with their high crit rate and bulk.

Yeah, I think it's still a net increase in difficulty to hide the Hunters/Sniper, even though the map as a whole is really easy in Book 1. In the FE1 version, there's still plenty space to manoeuvre around their ranges, and to bait them with a 2-range character of your own to clear the way for your thieves.

11 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Deal.

Phew.

9 hours ago, Jotari said:

*If you promote in doors from an unmounted unit to a mounted unit, they get to bring their newly created mount to the indoor map. At least that's what happened when I promoted Kashim in the Fire Dragon Graveyard map in Book 2. Probably doesn't work that way for units who are already mounted and rendered forced dismount in an indoor chapter.

That is funny. I didn't even try this, since I assumed that even if I had been able to use to use the promotion items, the stat gains would've been negated by the forced dismounting anyway.

9 hours ago, Jotari said:

It's like saying Trieste and Edinburgh aren't that far away.

If you ask a 'murican, they will probably tell you that the distance between Austin and San Antonio is at least three times that of any given Europooran cities

7 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I say yes.

As I believe I said before, I used Lorenz b/c his base stats aren't entirely unusable (just the "we (IS) overcorrect for massive Def by making their other stats a mockery" problem armor units are sometimes forced to deal with). And more importantly, it'd add a little weight to Lorenz's "tragic" demise in Book 2 if he actually pulled some weight in Book 1.

Now then, for maximum dramatic irony, everybody headcanon Lorenz and Hardin to become best buddies during their zany advantures with Marth.

7 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

SoV actually. The little postgame has battles in the waters between V&A and some Dagons are fought there.

Ah. Yeah, I never bothered watching footage of the postgame. I can't believe Kaga only considered, but did not do, this first.

7 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The Berserker drives you mad?

I don't think any other hard mode ever curtailed unit deployment slots, which I think tells you IS realized the bad idea it was.

It's genuinely a big reason why I don't enjoy HHM, to a point where I'd rather replay HNM despite its lack of difficulty.

4 hours ago, Emperor Hardin said:

I think Hollstadt is the only boss to wield a killer weapon.

And then they even gave him a second one in the DS remakes. I do believe you're right; at least Hollstadt always stuck in my brain as "that *&%$?=# with the Killer Lance+Bow" from Shadow Dragon, even though that's the FE game I played the least (...apart from what I'm playing in this very thread, of course).

4 hours ago, Emperor Hardin said:

Chainey definitely does benefit from the HP growth.

That is very true, yeah. 18 HP is not a big safety margin.

4 hours ago, Emperor Hardin said:

Interesting factoid, the enemies here are labeled Dolhr in FE3, but Raman in FE1.

Dolhr makes more sense, I'd say. You have the group of thieves trying to plunder the temple before you can plunder it yourself, so those clearly aren't part of some mystical defense force of the temple.

4 hours ago, Emperor Hardin said:

You know its interesting how Garnef controls Chiki, not by changing her identity or directly controlling her, but by putting her in a false scenario.

It's a nice touch. It ties in nicely with Chiki being asleep and dreaming.

4 hours ago, Emperor Hardin said:

I didn't know you were doing ironman, well there's also the Ohm/Aum staff.

Not an ironman, just too lazy to replay the map, especially considering that we will get not just a replacement, but a huge upgrade to Mishelan the very next map.

 

[Saint Rubenio]

2 hours ago, ping said:

Fun fact: Mist is "manure" (and a mild all-purpose swear) in German. Unsurprisingly, Ike's sister is renamed to Alja in our localisation. Pokemon's Misty is still Misty around here, though.

Oh that's great. Reminds me of how ostia is just a swear word in Spanish. And also the circular bits of bread people eat in catholic mass but that's less funny. Language is such a fun thing.

...Wait does that mean they had Wario swear originally... Nintendo, that's not so PG13 of you!

2 hours ago, ping said:

Yeah, I think it's still a net increase in difficulty to hide the Hunters/Sniper, even though the map as a whole is really easy in Book 1.

Net increase but in the worst way possible lol. SURPRISE ASSHOLE, sniper on Julian!

[Jotari]

4 hours ago, ping said:

 

If you ask a 'murican, they will probably tell you that the distance between Austin and San Antonio is at least three times that of any given Europooran cities

 

Well as I finished (because I actually knew someone would say something like this), distance is relative. Marth is not really any closer to Gotoh than he has been at any other point in the story so far.

For what it's worth, my estimate for Archaneans size based on the given size of the mountains around the ice temple is approximately the size of Ukraine.

4 hours ago, ping said:

Dolhr makes more sense, I'd say. You have the group of thieves trying to plunder the temple before you can plunder it yourself, so those clearly aren't part of some mystical defense force of the temple.

Dolhr doesn't make a whole lot of sense imo. As Gharnef is implied to be keeping Tiki there against Medeus' will or, possible even knowledge, as Medeus would much more likely want to outright kill a powerful a threat to him as Tiki (one of the few things that can kill him in both gameplay and lore). So having anything other than Dolhr soldiers there makes more sense. Labeling them just Raman makes it vague enough to be anything, but imo, they're probably Khadein forces Gharnef brought there himself.

Edited December 7, 2023 by Jotari

[ping]

__

*sigh*

I do have to credit FE3 for keeping this map more difficult than... every map leading up to this, I think. And I guess I also have to credit the DS remakes for reproducing the constant danger of your own crits screwing you over. This very enemy phase, Marth only escaped death in the same fashion because he also dodged the Paladin he then crit.

6 hours ago, Jotari said:

Dolhr doesn't make a whole lot of sense imo. As Gharnef is implied to be keeping Tiki there against Medeus' will or, possible even knowledge, as Medeus would much more likely want to outright kill a powerful a threat to him as Tiki (one of the few things that can kill him in both gameplay and lore). So having anything other than Dolhr soldiers there makes more sense. Labeling them just Raman makes it vague enough to be anything, but imo, they're probably Khadein forces Gharnef brought there himself.

True, true. In my head, Garnef is still in the "Dolhr" faction despite having and furthering his own agenda, especially with Khadein having fallen to Marth a few maps prior, so I don't mind his lackeys being labeled as such, though.

[Emperor Hardin]

On 12/6/2023 at 2:33 PM, Jotari said:

*If you promote in doors from an unmounted unit to a mounted unit, they get to bring their newly created mount to the indoor map. At least that's what happened when I promoted Kashim in the Fire Dragon Graveyard map in Book 2. Probably doesn't work that way for units who are already mounted and rendered forced dismount in an indoor chapter.

Spoiler

You can actually mount outside of the beginning portion of the Fire Dragon graveyard map. 

Promoting indoors won't let you mount indoors. Like if Cavalier Hardin or Rody promotes to Paladin in a castle map, their spirte will be mounted during the promotion sequence, but as soon as it gets back to gameplay, they'll be back on foot.

Even if you hacked a mounted unit in a indoor map, they wouldn't be able to move across the tiles.

 

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Emperor Hardin said:

  Hide contents

You can actually mount outside of the beginning portion of the Fire Dragon graveyard map. 

Promoting indoors won't let you mount indoors. Like if Cavalier Hardin or Rody promotes to Paladin in a castle map, their spirte will be mounted during the promotion sequence, but as soon as it gets back to gameplay, they'll be back on foot.

Even if you hacked a mounted unit in a indoor map, they wouldn't be able to move across the tiles.

 

Can you mount outside and then ride inside and have mounts throughout the map?

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

On 12/7/2023 at 7:45 AM, Jotari said:

Dolhr doesn't make a whole lot of sense imo. As Gharnef is implied to be keeping Tiki there against Medeus' will or, possible even knowledge, as Medeus would much more likely want to outright kill a powerful a threat to him as Tiki (one of the few things that can kill him in both gameplay and lore). So having anything other than Dolhr soldiers there makes more sense. Labeling them just Raman makes it vague enough to be anything, but imo, they're probably Khadein forces Gharnef brought there himself.

Would Medeus actually want to kill Tiki, though? What we know of him is, he's grown to hate humanity, based on how they victimized his brethren. In that light, he may view Tiki as another victim of humanity. If he could coax the young Manakete to his side, surely that would be preferable to spilling her rare, divine blood.

In that light, the notion of a human like Gharnef hypnotizing her would be doubly offensive. He's made a child of the gods into his own tool of war! So for that reason, I agree that Medeus probably doesn't know of Tiki's captivity. I just suspect it from the exact opposite direction.

[Jotari]

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

Would Medeus actually want to kill Tiki, though? What we know of him is, he's grown to hate humanity, based on how they victimized his brethren. In that light, he may view Tiki as another victim of humanity. If he could coax the young Manakete to his side, surely that would be preferable to spilling her rare, divine blood.

In that light, the notion of a human like Gharnef hypnotizing her would be doubly offensive. He's made a child of the gods into his own tool of war! So for that reason, I agree that Medeus probably doesn't know of Tiki's captivity. I just suspect it from the exact opposite direction.

I would like to answer that question one way or another, but Medeus has such a comically underdeveloped answer that basically any answer would be head canon. The closest we can get to a source on his feelings is that he displays no reluctance to kill Nagi in his battle quote with her.

Edited December 12, 2023 by Jotari

[Emperor Hardin]

On 12/10/2023 at 12:00 AM, Jotari said:

Can you mount outside and then ride inside and have mounts throughout the map?

Mounted units, even if placed on no mount tiles, cannot move.

So in other words, no.

On 12/7/2023 at 4:45 AM, Jotari said:

Dolhr doesn't make a whole lot of sense imo. As Gharnef is implied to be keeping Tiki there against Medeus' will or, possible even knowledge, as Medeus would much more likely want to outright kill a powerful a threat to him as Tiki (one of the few things that can kill him in both gameplay and lore). So having anything other than Dolhr soldiers there makes more sense. Labeling them just Raman makes it vague enough to be anything, but imo, they're probably Khadein forces Gharnef brought there himself.

We don't know Gharnef's motivation for keeping Tiki in the temple, him telling that he's protecting her from Medeus appears to be part of the false scenario he created to get her to fight the Archanean league.

[ping]

FE3 Book 1 Chapter 16: Black Knight

Spoiler

The Kingdom of Grunia is a knights' country, which was founded by one of the three heroes of the liberation wars, General Ohdwin. Since the country's formation, the neighbouring tribes were conquered by its mighty knights. And finally it became one of the strongest of Akaneia's seven kingdoms. However, the current King, Louie, was weak. He feared the power of the resurrected Mediuth, and so allied with Durhua. Also, following several consecutive defeats, he fell dangerously ill. The once brave and mighty Kingdom of Grunia has finally entered the age of ruin.

: "Prince Marth. About Grunia, there is something that I wish to tell you. You should know that Grunia's famous Black Knights are led by General Camus. 3 years ago, Akaneia was occupied by his men. I was also captured by him. Durhua wanted the entire Akaneia royal family to be killed, and they prepered to kill the sole survivor, me. But Camus didn't fear Durhua's Dark Earth Dragon, Mediuth, and he protected the young me. Once he discovered that Mediuth had sent his personal guards, he had me escape to Orleans. Afterwards, he was only held captive until recently, because he had won many victoriese for Durhua. At first I hated him... But now, now matter what, I cannot find it in myself to do so... If possible, I don't want to fight against him. ...I just want to see him one more time..."

After that big plot dump (by Akaneia standards, anyway), the map. It's one of those maps that start OK-ish and get worse towards the end, although we'll get to that later. But there's one issue at the start of the map, too: Since most enemies use Silver Lances on this map, we're in the awkward situation that our own crits can easily kill us, as most of our own units get two-shot.

After Navarre and Biraku falling into that trap, I have the draconic duo take the point - Banutu with his 50 HP can tank quite a lot, and Chiki can at least survive two hits with her lower, but still good, physical bulk.

__

Kashim and Sheeda finally promote on the first turn - he at Lv.16 and she at Lv.13. Sheeda definitely appreciates the Str/Def bonuses a lot.

__

But most impressively, Biraku acquires a white horse, which means he now has (non-WLv) stats in the double digits!

Aw yeah.

While everybody else moved towards the bridge, Minerva flew over and killed the nearest Ballistician - luckily, she's one of the other units with enough bulk to survive two enemy attacks.

Still, as there are three more Paladins approaching from the north, the prudent play is not to cross the bridge for another turn (and hope that Navarre doesn't get a lethal crit).

Phew. Meanwhile, Marth grabs the village:

: "Is my granddaughter, Rena, alright? This repair staff, Hammerne, has been passed down by my family. Please take it. Howeer it can only repair weapons, so take notice when you use it.

Visiting the village also triggers Est to spawn at the enemy castle, from where she flies directly to Marth:

: "Ah, are you Lord Marth? I am Est of Macedonia! I was captured when I tried to recover the stolen Miracle Sword from the Grunian army. But that young knight, Camus, rescued me and I was able to escape. This is the Miracle Sword, a truly impressive sword, no? But, can your highness wield it?"

(His Highness can)

[HP 50% | Str 70% | Skl 70% | Spd 70% | Lck 60% | WLv 70% | Def 20%]

Est's HP base was reduced by 2 between FE1 and now, interesting. And looking back a few chapters, Palla's HP even went down by 3, while Katua's was unchanged. I thought and think that Katua is the least remarkable of the sisters in FE1/Book 1, so I guess the devs thought so, too, which is why she dodged the nerf hammer?

Anyway, I think Est is a fair bit worse than in FE1 because of the reduced chapter count. In FE1, she joins in Ch18, but has 7 full maps to make use of her growths. Here, it's only 4 maps after this one, which isn't the best framework for a character 5 levels away from a very crucial promotion.

Nice, if unnecessary. Minerva had chipped this General well below 23 HP already.

Shaky tax paid, with another unnecessary crit. Note that Maji had to use a Steel Axe to finish a 4 HP enemy here.

It did not pay off.

The approach towards Camus is less dangerous than it looks: The three Paladins surrounding him don't move at all, so you really only have to deal with the non-recruitable General and the two Ballisticians...

...who admittedly hit quite hard.

So then, let's spell out why Camus is an idiot once more:

: "General Lawrence, I am Sheeda of Talis. I have heard much about you from my father."
: "Ah, Princess Sheeda. You have become more beautiful now. I really must thank your father, for his care in the past."
: "General, you're opposed to Grunia allying with the Durhua Empire, right? Why didn't you stop them?"
: "The current King of Grunia is a weak and cowardly man. He feared Durhua's enormous strength."
: "General. Durhua wishes to use Mamkutes to conquer humans. For Grunia, and for the innocent people of this world, we must stop Durhua's ambitions. General, please stop fighting, and please help us."
: "Uh... But... Well... I was ordered by my king to fight, but times have changed. I understand, Princess Sheeda. Even though betraying my country is wrong, I will still join your cause."

Not as wonderful as Shadow Dragon('s English localisation)'s "Ah, but what makes a country?", but I still appreciate anything that makes Camus look stupid. My personal theory: He returns to Valentia at the end of Book 3 not out of loyalty to Teeta, but because he's so embarrassed by his past idiocy.

[HP 70% | Str 50% | Skl 70% | Spd 20% | Lck 50% | WLv 50% | Def 20%]

Unlike Est, Lawrence is actually more bulky than he was, gaining +3 Def (and Res) between games. I quite appreciate that he's allowed to be a real Knight's Knight here, with great bulk... as long as enemies don't have more than 2 AS. I don't know how good he'll end up being, with that condition in place, but I of course have to use him in any case.

__

Now, since we established that Camus's entourage isn't that much of a threat, here's why the tail end of the chapter is still a pain:

The man himself is pretty overtuned. I don't even hate that he has 34 Atk (two-shotting everything that isn't named Banutu or Lawrence), or 12 AS (making sure that he still two-rounds Banutu and Lawrence), or 1-2 range. No, what really annoys me is his absurd Avoid on top of that, clocking in at 65 thanks to his terrain bonus.

__

It means that combat against him looks like this, which is to say pretty gross. I guess it's fitting that the boss of this more RNG-heavy map is quite RNG-y himself, although it's more straightforward in Camus's case compared to the "crits are bad, actually" against the Paladin charges.

On top of that, you also get a ton of reinforcements fairly early (starting on turn 7, so you actually want to kill him somewhat fast.

The most reliable character to hit Camus with is Linda - but of course, she gets doubled and one-shot (no, not one-rounded) in return one fourth of the time.

Good riddance, I say.

But, for completion's sake - Camus of course has some more dialogue, unlocked by Marth stepping adjacent to him:

: "General Camus. I don't want to fight you. You should understand that this battle is meaningless. Nina also wants to see you. Please forget about the past, and drop your sword."
: "Prince Marth... It's already too late... My homeland, Grunia, must help Durhua achieve its ambitions. It is my duty, as a member of the glorious Grunian Knights, to fight until the very end. And besides, I caused your father's death... Why don't we just end everything here?"
: "Wait, Camus... I beg of you. Your fight with Prince Marth isn't what I wish to see. Please... I beg of you, help us... No, help me.
: "I'm sorry... Nina. If possible, I would like that. But... Betraying my homeland, right as it nears ruin, is something that I cannot do. Nina... Our days together may have been short, but I was very happy. ...Farewell. I pray for your happiness."

And of course the usual boss battle quote:

: "It's such a shame. As long as I have the Gradius, I will not fall. You guys are out of luck, give it up."

(at least it's not translated to "all y'all")

And after some final self-improvement, Marth seizes. So yeah, not a big fan of the map overall. The prevalence of "suicide critting" is something that I don't really like about the DS remakes, so I'm not that thrilled to find it here, and of course, Camus's silly overtuned stats, specifically avoid, sure is a thing.

: "Nina... I'm sorry. I couldn't fulfil my promise to you..."
: "No, Marth... You have also suffered. I'm sorry. ...Really. I already knew that this would happen. Since the time I handed the Emblem to you, I knew that... The Fire Emblem must be used to restore the royal family. But there is a price to pay, which is to lose your most loved one. That is the curse of the Emblem... The fate of Artemis."

So is there any evidence against a hypothesis that Artemis's curse is actually that if you give away the Fire Emblem, you'll fall in love with an idiot?

The Team:

	Lv. 	   HP Str Skl Spd Lck WLv Def Res  +XP
Marth	14.81	   30  15  10  14  14  16   8   0  +75
Biraku	14/2.41	   28  11   8  12   2  15  10   7  +132*
Hardin	16.07	   28  12  12  13   7  17   8   0  +50
Alan	3.08	   25  10   8  12   5  12  10   6  +50

Minerva	8.00	   23  11  11  15   9  16  13   1  +91
Sheeda	13/1.72	   23   9  16  20  20  17  14   0  +70*
Est	5.72	   20   6   7  13  11  11   8   6  +72	(base)

Banutu	8.09	   25   2   3   4   1   2   3   1  +87
Chiki	6.77	   16   3   4   5  13   9   3  10  +167
Navarre	12/4.40	   30  15  15  19  16  13   9   3  +40
Maji	9.68	   22   7   6   9   8   8   6   0  +95

Kashim	16/2.07	   33  16   8  14   5  10  11   2  +155*
Lawrenc 5.00	   34  11   3   6   2  15  19   3  --	(base)
Julian	4.08	   17   5   7  12   8   2   4   0  --

Wendel	7.57	   26   3   2  13   2  13   5   6  +42
Rena	15/2.68	   20   4  18  10  19  13   5   8  +162
Linda	11.20	   23   4  10  14  13  14   4   4  +210

 

 

On 12/10/2023 at 9:00 AM, Jotari said:

Can you mount outside and then ride inside and have mounts throughout the map?

On 12/13/2023 at 11:03 AM, Emperor Hardin said:

Mounted units, even if placed on no mount tiles, cannot move.

So in other words, no.

This does actually come up occasionally in vanilla gameplay - I specifically remember the Land of Sorrow map where Biraku had to dismount in order to stab some Archers because he couldn't ride onto battlement; as did Sheeda to help clear the rooms leading to the throne.

 

[Saint Rubenio]

2 hours ago, ping said:

But most impressively, Biraku acquires a white horse, which means he now has (non-WLv) stats in the double digits!

Incredible, incredible.

2 hours ago, ping said:

[HP 70% | Str 50% | Skl 70% | Spd 20% | Lck 50% | WLv 50% | Def 20%]

Unlike Est, Lawrence is actually more bulky than he was, gaining +3 Def (and Res) between games. I quite appreciate that he's allowed to be a real Knight's Knight here, with great bulk... as long as enemies don't have more than 2 AS. I don't know how good he'll end up being, with that condition in place, but I of course have to use him in any case.

Look at that cool beardman.

19 defense is 1 from the cap, which is the levels of defense generals need if FE insists on making them complete garbage at everything otherwise and also weak to a whole slew of weapons, not to mention magic. Instead, they end up almost always getting beat by any run-of-the-mill cavalier. Nice balance you got there.

2 hours ago, ping said:

The man himself is pretty overtuned. I don't even hate that he has 34 Atk (two-shotting everything that isn't named Banutu or Lawrence), or 12 AS (making sure that he still two-rounds Banutu and Lawrence), or 1-2 range. No, what really annoys me is his absurd Avoid on top of that, clocking in at 65 thanks to his terrain bonus.

In my FE1 run Riff was absolutely instrumental in beating him, as he was the only one who could double him. Thanks to his capped speed. That I managed by feeding him a statbooster.

2 hours ago, ping said:

So is there any evidence against a hypothesis that Artemis's curse is actually that if you give away the Fire Emblem, you'll fall in love with an idiot?

I mean, Marth never gave it away and he got Caeda, so... So far, no.

 

[Shaky Jones]

2 hours ago, ping said:

Shaky tax paid, with another unnecessary crit. Note that Maji had to use a Steel Axe to finish a 4 HP enemy here.

I'm really sorry about the lack of my jaw dropping presence in this lp for most of b1. I was really looking foward to saying my piece and meme-ing on ruben for the entirety of the 5/6 part lp series, but there's no way I was gonna do dozens of quoting with phone serenes, so I appreciate you still abiding by the Shaky tax. All proceeds went towards Christmas presents, aka a lotta nerdy board games.

2 hours ago, ping said:

It did not pay off.

Holy shit he's only level fucking 9? And with those growths? You're fucking ass at Maji'ing dude.

I'll definitely be able to comment regularly again cone Christmas, so def before b2. And then we can move straight to Thracia!

[BrightBow]

3 hours ago, ping said:

Est's HP base was reduced by 2 between FE1 and now, interesting. And looking back a few chapters, Palla's HP even went down by 3, while Katua's was unchanged. I thought and think that Katua is the least remarkable of the sisters in FE1/Book 1, so I guess the devs thought so, too, which is why she dodged the nerf hammer?

I think it might be because of her lower level.
The Pegasus trio clearly have generic stats in FE1. And generic growths seem to be stuff like having 100% in HP.
Palla's 25 HP at level 8 might not look high in a vacuum, but Tomas is also level 8 and he only has 20. Same with Hardin at level 6. So they might have felt that those stats were a bit higher than what they should be.
 

3 hours ago, ping said:

Anyway, I think Est is a fair bit worse than in FE1 because of the reduced chapter count. In FE1, she joins in Ch18, but has 7 full maps to make use of her growths. Here, it's only 4 maps after this one, which isn't the best framework for a character 5 levels away from a very crucial promotion.

I don't think the class change even matters to her. 4 maps, 2 of them are indoors so they render her class change useless beyond resetting her level.
Chapter 19 also revolves around mostly 3 unit types: Dragons, which ignore her improved Defense. Mages, which actually hit her harder because her class change makes her lose Res. And Snipers. Who with their Silver Bows will probably tear her to pieces no matter what.
It would no doubt be good in chapter 17 at least. But getting her 5 levels half-way through chapter 16 does not sound like fun.
 

3 hours ago, ping said:

So is there any evidence against a hypothesis that Artemis's curse is actually that if you give away the Fire Emblem, you'll fall in love with an idiot?

Depends on if you consider Anri an idiot, I suppose.

Edited December 18, 2023 by BrightBow

[Jotari]

5 hours ago, ping said:

FE3 Book 1 Chapter 16: Black Knight

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The Kingdom of Grunia is a knights' country, which was founded by one of the three heroes of the liberation wars, General Ohdwin. Since the country's formation, the neighbouring tribes were conquered by its mighty knights. And finally it became one of the strongest of Akaneia's seven kingdoms. However, the current King, Louie, was weak. He feared the power of the resurrected Mediuth, and so allied with Durhua. Also, following several consecutive defeats, he fell dangerously ill. The once brave and mighty Kingdom of Grunia has finally entered the age of ruin.

: "Prince Marth. About Grunia, there is something that I wish to tell you. You should know that Grunia's famous Black Knights are led by General Camus. 3 years ago, Akaneia was occupied by his men. I was also captured by him. Durhua wanted the entire Akaneia royal family to be killed, and they prepered to kill the sole survivor, me. But Camus didn't fear Durhua's Dark Earth Dragon, Mediuth, and he protected the young me. Once he discovered that Mediuth had sent his personal guards, he had me escape to Orleans. Afterwards, he was only held captive until recently, because he had won many victoriese for Durhua. At first I hated him... But now, now matter what, I cannot find it in myself to do so... If possible, I don't want to fight against him. ...I just want to see him one more time..."

After that big plot dump (by Akaneia standards, anyway), the map. It's one of those maps that start OK-ish and get worse towards the end, although we'll get to that later. But there's one issue at the start of the map, too: Since most enemies use Silver Lances on this map, we're in the awkward situation that our own crits can easily kill us, as most of our own units get two-shot.

After Navarre and Biraku falling into that trap, I have the draconic duo take the point - Banutu with his 50 HP can tank quite a lot, and Chiki can at least survive two hits with her lower, but still good, physical bulk.

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Kashim and Sheeda finally promote on the first turn - he at Lv.16 and she at Lv.13. Sheeda definitely appreciates the Str/Def bonuses a lot.

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But most impressively, Biraku acquires a white horse, which means he now has (non-WLv) stats in the double digits!

Aw yeah.

While everybody else moved towards the bridge, Minerva flew over and killed the nearest Ballistician - luckily, she's one of the other units with enough bulk to survive two enemy attacks.

Still, as there are three more Paladins approaching from the north, the prudent play is not to cross the bridge for another turn (and hope that Navarre doesn't get a lethal crit).

Phew. Meanwhile, Marth grabs the village:

: "Is my granddaughter, Rena, alright? This repair staff, Hammerne, has been passed down by my family. Please take it. Howeer it can only repair weapons, so take notice when you use it.

Visiting the village also triggers Est to spawn at the enemy castle, from where she flies directly to Marth:

: "Ah, are you Lord Marth? I am Est of Macedonia! I was captured when I tried to recover the stolen Miracle Sword from the Grunian army. But that young knight, Camus, rescued me and I was able to escape. This is the Miracle Sword, a truly impressive sword, no? But, can your highness wield it?"

(His Highness can)

[HP 50% | Str 70% | Skl 70% | Spd 70% | Lck 60% | WLv 70% | Def 20%]

Est's HP base was reduced by 2 between FE1 and now, interesting. And looking back a few chapters, Palla's HP even went down by 3, while Katua's was unchanged. I thought and think that Katua is the least remarkable of the sisters in FE1/Book 1, so I guess the devs thought so, too, which is why she dodged the nerf hammer?

Anyway, I think Est is a fair bit worse than in FE1 because of the reduced chapter count. In FE1, she joins in Ch18, but has 7 full maps to make use of her growths. Here, it's only 4 maps after this one, which isn't the best framework for a character 5 levels away from a very crucial promotion.

Nice, if unnecessary. Minerva had chipped this General well below 23 HP already.

Shaky tax paid, with another unnecessary crit. Note that Maji had to use a Steel Axe to finish a 4 HP enemy here.

It did not pay off.

The approach towards Camus is less dangerous than it looks: The three Paladins surrounding him don't move at all, so you really only have to deal with the non-recruitable General and the two Ballisticians...

...who admittedly hit quite hard.

So then, let's spell out why Camus is an idiot once more:

: "General Lawrence, I am Sheeda of Talis. I have heard much about you from my father."
: "Ah, Princess Sheeda. You have become more beautiful now. I really must thank your father, for his care in the past."
: "General, you're opposed to Grunia allying with the Durhua Empire, right? Why didn't you stop them?"
: "The current King of Grunia is a weak and cowardly man. He feared Durhua's enormous strength."
: "General. Durhua wishes to use Mamkutes to conquer humans. For Grunia, and for the innocent people of this world, we must stop Durhua's ambitions. General, please stop fighting, and please help us."
: "Uh... But... Well... I was ordered by my king to fight, but times have changed. I understand, Princess Sheeda. Even though betraying my country is wrong, I will still join your cause."

Not as wonderful as Shadow Dragon('s English localisation)'s "Ah, but what makes a country?", but I still appreciate anything that makes Camus look stupid. My personal theory: He returns to Valentia at the end of Book 3 not out of loyalty to Teeta, but because he's so embarrassed by his past idiocy.

[HP 70% | Str 50% | Skl 70% | Spd 20% | Lck 50% | WLv 50% | Def 20%]

Unlike Est, Lawrence is actually more bulky than he was, gaining +3 Def (and Res) between games. I quite appreciate that he's allowed to be a real Knight's Knight here, with great bulk... as long as enemies don't have more than 2 AS. I don't know how good he'll end up being, with that condition in place, but I of course have to use him in any case.

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Now, since we established that Camus's entourage isn't that much of a threat, here's why the tail end of the chapter is still a pain:

The man himself is pretty overtuned. I don't even hate that he has 34 Atk (two-shotting everything that isn't named Banutu or Lawrence), or 12 AS (making sure that he still two-rounds Banutu and Lawrence), or 1-2 range. No, what really annoys me is his absurd Avoid on top of that, clocking in at 65 thanks to his terrain bonus.

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It means that combat against him looks like this, which is to say pretty gross. I guess it's fitting that the boss of this more RNG-heavy map is quite RNG-y himself, although it's more straightforward in Camus's case compared to the "crits are bad, actually" against the Paladin charges.

On top of that, you also get a ton of reinforcements fairly early (starting on turn 7, so you actually want to kill him somewhat fast.

The most reliable character to hit Camus with is Linda - but of course, she gets doubled and one-shot (no, not one-rounded) in return one fourth of the time.

Good riddance, I say.

But, for completion's sake - Camus of course has some more dialogue, unlocked by Marth stepping adjacent to him:

: "General Camus. I don't want to fight you. You should understand that this battle is meaningless. Nina also wants to see you. Please forget about the past, and drop your sword."
: "Prince Marth... It's already too late... My homeland, Grunia, must help Durhua achieve its ambitions. It is my duty, as a member of the glorious Grunian Knights, to fight until the very end. And besides, I caused your father's death... Why don't we just end everything here?"
: "Wait, Camus... I beg of you. Your fight with Prince Marth isn't what I wish to see. Please... I beg of you, help us... No, help me.
: "I'm sorry... Nina. If possible, I would like that. But... Betraying my homeland, right as it nears ruin, is something that I cannot do. Nina... Our days together may have been short, but I was very happy. ...Farewell. I pray for your happiness."

And of course the usual boss battle quote:

: "It's such a shame. As long as I have the Gradius, I will not fall. You guys are out of luck, give it up."

(at least it's not translated to "all y'all")

And after some final self-improvement, Marth seizes. So yeah, not a big fan of the map overall. The prevalence of "suicide critting" is something that I don't really like about the DS remakes, so I'm not that thrilled to find it here, and of course, Camus's silly overtuned stats, specifically avoid, sure is a thing.

: "Nina... I'm sorry. I couldn't fulfil my promise to you..."
: "No, Marth... You have also suffered. I'm sorry. ...Really. I already knew that this would happen. Since the time I handed the Emblem to you, I knew that... The Fire Emblem must be used to restore the royal family. But there is a price to pay, which is to lose your most loved one. That is the curse of the Emblem... The fate of Artemis."

So is there any evidence against a hypothesis that Artemis's curse is actually that if you give away the Fire Emblem, you'll fall in love with an idiot?

The Team:

	Lv. 	   HP Str Skl Spd Lck WLv Def Res  +XP
Marth	14.81	   30  15  10  14  14  16   8   0  +75
Biraku	14/2.41	   28  11   8  12   2  15  10   7  +132*
Hardin	16.07	   28  12  12  13   7  17   8   0  +50
Alan	3.08	   25  10   8  12   5  12  10   6  +50

Minerva	8.00	   23  11  11  15   9  16  13   1  +91
Sheeda	13/1.72	   23   9  16  20  20  17  14   0  +70*
Est	5.72	   20   6   7  13  11  11   8   6  +72	(base)

Banutu	8.09	   25   2   3   4   1   2   3   1  +87
Chiki	6.77	   16   3   4   5  13   9   3  10  +167
Navarre	12/4.40	   30  15  15  19  16  13   9   3  +40
Maji	9.68	   22   7   6   9   8   8   6   0  +95

Kashim	16/2.07	   33  16   8  14   5  10  11   2  +155*
Lawrenc 5.00	   34  11   3   6   2  15  19   3  --	(base)
Julian	4.08	   17   5   7  12   8   2   4   0  --

Wendel	7.57	   26   3   2  13   2  13   5   6  +42
Rena	15/2.68	   20   4  18  10  19  13   5   8  +162
Linda	11.20	   23   4  10  14  13  14   4   4  +210

 

 

This does actually come up occasionally in vanilla gameplay - I specifically remember the Land of Sorrow map where Biraku had to dismount in order to stab some Archers because he couldn't ride onto battlement; as did Sheeda to help clear the rooms leading to the throne.

 

Funny Marth told Camus to drop his sword when his generic battle note specifically draws attention to the fact that he uses a lance, and he can't even use swords unless dismounting.

Nyna gave away the Fire Emblem after falling in love with Camus.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Incredible, incredible.

Look at that cool beardman.

19 defense is 1 from the cap, which is the levels of defense generals need if FE insists on making them complete garbage at everything otherwise and also weak to a whole slew of weapons, not to mention magic. Instead, they end up almost always getting beat by any run-of-the-mill cavalier. Nice balance you got there.

In my FE1 run Riff was absolutely instrumental in beating him, as he was the only one who could double him. Thanks to his capped speed. That I managed by feeding him a statbooster.

I mean, Marth never gave it away and he got Caeda, so... So far, no.

 

It did end up in Archanea's hands at the start of Mystery, presumably because Marth gave it back. And then he is split up from Shiida! But he reunited with her not long after Linde returns the Fire Emblem to him. Good job Linde, saving that relationship.

[RPGuy96]

6 hours ago, ping said:

So then, let's spell out why Camus is an idiot once more:

I know you already talked about it in FE1, but since I missed it, I am very amused by the idea that Lawrence is supposed to show that Camus is a vainglorious, stubborn fool.  It is quite a contrast to have them in the same chapter.

[BrightBow]

The support from Shiida helps Marth and Ogma tearing Camus to shreds by quite a bit.

Book 1 Shiida do be good. Which surprised me a bit because I was under the impression that in FE1 Shiida was made to be weak on purpose, and her recruiting so many allies was meant to indicate how she supports Marth from behind the scenes. Like some sort of hero of shadows.

Edited December 19, 2023 by BrightBow

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

1 hour ago, BrightBow said:

Like some sort of hero of shadows.

So that's it, huh? We some kinda... Heroes of Light and Shadow?

On 12/12/2023 at 12:58 AM, Jotari said:

I would like to answer that question one way or another, but Medeus has such a comically underdeveloped answer that basically any answer would be head canon. The closest we can get to a source on his feelings is that he displays no reluctance to kill Nagi in his battle quote with her.

Too true. Admittedly, in that case, Nagi is the one bringing the fight to him. Had he met the Divine Dragon on more amicable terms, perhaps he'd have tried to create an alliance?

Medeus is undercooked regardless. Less a character, than a force of nature.