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

[Saint Rubenio]

15 minutes ago, ping said:

Ruben's waifu (no worries, I'm not going to accuse you of liking an anime girl):

Er...

15 minutes ago, ping said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Okay, look, listen to me--

Nah but for real the smoking's a real turn off

14 minutes ago, ping said:

But yeah, I agree with what you say about Lamia. It's consistently rare to find a woman in Fire Emblem that is allowed to be a villain instead of being vaguely Camüh-shaped. Petrine in PoR comes to mind, if you remember her. She even has some flirtatous lines with Greil as an additional parallel to Lamia, although Petrine of course has a much bigger role in her game, and is more brutish in her behaviour.

There's also Daniela, with her whole two lines, Candace who's just kind of a jerk, Catalena from RD who's a zealot like the rest of Ashera's faithful, Mitan from Engage who's a generic brigand minus the "ugly as sin" part, Nuibaba after her HRT, and uh...

Yeah, there tends to be at least some slight Camus undertones for female enemies. A subtle manner of sexism, perhaps. Women are too pure and delicate to be an ugly evil dumbass like every other bossman, or some shit.

15 minutes ago, ping said:

And since I was just thinking about PoR - the Defend map right after Greil's death is another example, unless you're playing on Lunatic. On Hard, the challenge is to rout the map, ideally with non-Titania characters getting good XP. Staying alive is a simple matter. But still, the fight is followed by a cutscene of Ike almost fainting from exhaustion before Lethe and Mordecai arrive to save the day.

That's more PoR being incapable of challenge in general. FE6 has a few really brutal maps and yet decides to hype up the rather mundane map, and specifically, its shitty-ass boss that just gets killed by a mage unable to do anything about it.

[BrightBow]

1 hour ago, ping said:

Also, I can't help but chuckle at the name "Beigenritter". I know, the theme is "colour-knights, but in German", but I find a slightly funny to name a squad after a colour famous for being kinda boring. That said, considering Kaga's track record, I probably need to credit him for not calling them "brownshirts".

What confuses me are the Cross Knights. Like, were they really named that or was this a liberty taken by the translation, considering every other group of knights has a German name?
It's not limited to Grandbell either. Like, Lenster has their Lanzenritter. So I don't see why Augustria would be different.
Not to mention "Cross Knights" are not really a thing in English. It's just what you get if you translate the two individual words that the word "Kreuzritter" is made out of. But "Kreuzritter" is just the German term for Crusader.
 

1 hour ago, ping said:

: "I'm sorry. I know you're not to blame, but this must be done..."

What kind of lame quote is that?
What about "Die! With magnificence!" or "Rest in Pieces"? How can you be a good guy if you don't tell a random drafted schmuck how much you will enjoy murdering them?
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

: "Mahnya has been killed?! Ahh... How could this happen... I'm so sorry, Mahnya... Forgive me..."
: "What? Mahnya's dead?! ...Y-you're joking!!"
: "Huh? Mahnya was... No! Th... this can't be happening! How... how could anyone have killed her? This can't be..."

And with that, Mahnya already has had more of an acknowledgement of her death than Philia had when she got one-shot by teleporting zombie archers.
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

Present company excluded?
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

New plan! Raquesis. 1-2 range. Weapon triangle advantage. She has 22 Def, 23 after her level-up from warping Aideen back home. Pamela's generics have 24 Atk with their Javelins. The Hand Axe is slightly less expensive 1-2 range than the Earth Sword. I see no flaw in this plan.

(no, really, Raquesis shuts Pamela's squad down hard)

Hand Axe Lachesis is most certainly a new one. Never really seen the need for it, considering she can use bows now. But considering she actually has Pursuit, I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised that it can be quite effective.
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

: "I-impossible..."

Nothing personel, kid.

She got quotes with Levin and Fury too, btw.
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

Little AI surprise of the day: Raquesis got another Def proc right before the last remaining winged pony's turn, who then still suicides into her. Doesn't make much of a difference - I suppose I would've preferred the kill on the Brave Sword - but I still wonder why this is. Does the AI not check for a counterattack if a unit attacks from range? Or did the def proc somehow not register?

Maybe the AI simply gets dumber once their leader dies.

Or alternatively if they retreat to get reinforcements. I think Pamela is one of the leaders who can do that.
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

: "Heh... At long last. The capital is mine, and mine alone! Now, I want a wind mage unit deployed south of Silesse River. Fortify our defensive line there. Furthermore... Donovan! You and your axemen are to occupy the capital and maintain its defenses. But don't even think about killing the queen. We can't waste a hostage of such high value."

Hostage against who, exactly? Look, if you don't want to kill your brother's wife, you can just say so. Not everything has to be part of some evil ploy.
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

: "Boys, get off yer sorry hinds! Guard the castle no matter what. Don't let 'em get anywhere near it!"

Ohhhh, this is recoloured Kimbaith, Jamke's middle (iirc) brother. I recognised that way too late - after finishing typing up the update and while uploading the pictures/copying the text into the forums. It kept bugging me that he looks really familiar, but I couldn't pinpoint it. The green hair made me not consider Verdane.

I can't believe they used the portrait of an Verdanian prince for some generic brute. How unfitting.
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

____

That said, Lamia's little band (and it is fairly small, by FE4's standards) has some mean tricks up their sleeves. Definitely something that'll catch an unsuspecting player off-guard.

Only time in the game you are seeing the female Bow Fighter.

Everyone in that army has Pursuit as a class skill, just to screw you over if you actually bothered teleporting Arden across the mountains.

Status swords function differently from Status staffs. Status staffs always work, assuming you have more magic than the target has resistance.
But status swords only have an activation rate of 30%. Minus the Res of the target. So they don't always succeed in inflicting status.
...unless the target happens to have more than 30 Res. Because if the activation rate is lower than 0, it loops around to 255.
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

: "Actually, I'm an orphan. When I was really little, my master took me in and helped me become a dancer. But he... he was an awful, awful man. He'd always beat me outta nowhere. 'Bout a year ago I couldn't stand any more of it all, so I ran away."

And you really enjoy dancing because... it reminds you of the good old days of getting beaten up? Wut?
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

Needless to say, three stationary Generals plus one long-ranged boss with middling attack strength isn't really a threatening formation.

Good thing Blizzard does not inflict Sleep in this game.
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

Very nice of Kaga to give this many reminders to the player to go pick up Forseti. Which Lewyn already did, in this timeline, but hey:

Yet for some reason people still keep not doing that. It's weird.
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

: "Dear, compared to the likes of Lord Sigurd, you may as well still be a screaming infant. You've still much to learn from him, and quickly. Nothing would be more reassuring than having a son as fine as he by my side.

Which considering Sigurd's shortsightedness is really saying something. But I suppose no one can accuse him of not trying his best to live up to his responsibilities.

God, I hate how Ismaire is basically the same character as Rahna, but someone figured she apparently really needed to repent for being a less-than-ideal mother to Joshua.
Needless to say I appreciate Rahna remaining steadfast about Levin's juvenile attitude being the problem.
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

As the Greek philosopher Vicky Leandros once sang: Geh mit Gott, aber geh.

The Lord gave you 7 movement for a reason.
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

	  Lv.	  HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Res  Funds  XP    Arn  W/L
Sigurd	  27.47	  58  25   0  22  22  15  19   4  25000  +310  [*]  73/1

Sigurd with capped speed. What the heck?

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

2 hours ago, ping said:

Mixture of annoyance at myself for accidentally deleting the Wind Sword

RIP Wind Sword.

Gone, but never forgotten.

2 hours ago, ping said:

- Aideen hasn't gone through the arena yet, and there's no reason to leave that money on the table for her, so it really should've been Raquesis (who's gone through the arena and shouldn't have had trouble hitting Lv.30 next map even without any combat in ch.4) remaining at Thove instead, even disregarding the "defenseless" part

Can't wait for one of Pamela's squad to "pull a Thracia", kidnapping Edain and robbing her of all staves.

For my part, I like having Lex sit on the castle. He tends to be so defensive that the generic enemy Pegasi don't even try to attack. And with Paragon, getting him to the level cap is trivial. But I could see a promoted Lachesis working as well.

2 hours ago, ping said:

Side note: Project Naga calls the four named Pegasi the four Falcoknights of Silesse. Very immersion-ruining. Erin is just an unpromoted Pegasus Knight when she joins.)

So the best Silessian knights are Mahnya, Pamela, Deetvar, and Erinys? Out of everyone in the country, they have the most talent and experience? Why aren't old Pegasus Knights allowed to exist? Of course, that would get into FE's scant track record with older ladies in general, so...

2 hours ago, ping said:

unsuspecting player off-guard.

Lamia herself can be quite dangerous

...Y'know, she's not older-looking, but she's a woman and a villain. Thank you, Kaga, very cool.

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

There's also the fact that she has an all-girls band, which is a pretty unique tidbit.

It's neat to see, when all the way through the DS era, female generics in non-female-exclusive classes were practically nonexistent. Heck, Genealogy is probably better in this aspect than any of the GBA titles. If only barely.

2 hours ago, ping said:

Anyway, Mahnya's death causes some reactions:

It really bugs me how they all realize this immediately. Do they see her die? Hear her cry out in agony? Either way, it screws with the scale. I'd rather have Rahna realize it when Castle Silesse gets stormed. Something like "The castle is under attack? Then that means Mahnya... oh, gods...".

2 hours ago, ping said:

And after she got the boss kill, I notice that Ayra also didn't get through the arena yet, so she's the last one to do so. Not the most efficient character to carry the Paragon Band into ch.5, since she and Lex are filthy rich already, but it'll do.

Casual players: "Paragon is a great skill, because it doubles Lex's experience gain!"

Me, an elitist: "Paragon is a great skill, because it means Lex doesn't have to buy the Paragon Band."

Kinda funny to think that Paragon and Bargain, as different as they sound, kind of have the same endpoint in "optimal" play. I'm still not sure which skill I appreciate more.

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Oh right, and I forgot the stupid fucking forcefields don't even lift immediately after Mahnya's death. You just have to keep on waiting for the game to see fit to let you do things.

At first I thought Genealogy was the original Strand-type FE title. But then chapter 4 came around, and I discovered it was ahead of its time as a thumb-twiddling simulator.

2 hours ago, ping said:

I hope Beowulf isn't the kind of husband that feels humilated by a more successful wife. The girl he was trying to impress by offering weapon training is now thoroughly kicking his ass.

Nah, I think Beowulf would be into it. He couldn't be prouder of his hypercompetent uber-Paladin wife.

2 hours ago, ping said:

And it's not as funny as Azura vs. Ike's Str growths, since Dew is just a kid himself, but I still like that Aideen has bigger guns than our thievy boy. Reaching 9 Str (with a base of 0 and no promo gains) is equivalent to a 35% growth, which is almost as good as Bridget (4/11 => 36%) has been growing.

I wonder - as useless as Strength is for Edain, maybe they gave her a growth so Lester wouldn't be totally up a creek? Since her growths partially determine his, and we're still over a decade from magical Bows happening.

[BrightBow]

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Oh right, and I forgot the stupid fucking forcefields don't even lift immediately after Mahnya's death. You just have to keep on waiting for the game to see fit to let you do things.

 

1 hour ago, ping said:

But yeah, I agree with what you say about Lamia. It's consistently rare to find a woman in Fire Emblem that is allowed to be a villain instead of being vaguely Camüh-shaped. Petrine in PoR comes to mind, if you remember her. She even has some flirtatous lines with Greil as an additional parallel to Lamia, although Petrine of course has a much bigger role in her game, and is more brutish in her behaviour.

In Petrine's case it's just that the game does not beat you over the head with the tragic aspect of her character. If you have Soren fight her and find out that she is a Branded, it very much recontextualizes her whole relationship with Ashnard and general behavior.
 

45 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

There's also Daniela, with her whole two lines, Candace who's just kind of a jerk, Catalena from RD who's a zealot like the rest of Ashera's faithful, Mitan from Engage who's a generic brigand minus the "ugly as sin" part, Nuibaba after her HRT, and uh...

Yeah, there tends to be at least some slight Camus undertones for female enemies. A subtle manner of sexism, perhaps. Women are too pure and delicate to be an ugly evil dumbass like every other bossman, or some shit.

I mean, I am firmly of the opinion that the likes of Tharja, Camilla and Peri are only different from your average evil dumbass bossman in that they happen to really want to fuck the player self-insert, which the games seem to think is a redeeming character trait somehow.

[ping]

11 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

What confuses me are the Cross Knights. Like, were they really named that or was this a liberty taken by the translation, considering every other group of knights has a German name?
It's not limited to Grandbell either. Like, Lenster has their Lanzenritter. So I don't see why Augustria would be different.
Not to mention "Cross Knights" are not really a thing in English. It's just what you get if you translate the two individual words that the word "Kreuzritter" is made out of. But "Kreuzritter" is just the German term for Crusader.

I do wonder about that name, too. Unfortunately, the .org wiki (which usually has some ethymology on names) doesn't have a page for the Cross Knights specifically, and I can't find how their name in Japanese is pronounced. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Kreuzritter, but changed to Cross Knights in the translation to avoid (or at least somewhat cover) the obvious religious connotation, but "Cross Knights" still seems like an odd name in a world without christianity.

20 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

Hand Axe Lachesis is most certainly a new one. Never really seen the need for it, considering she can use bows now. But considering she actually has Pursuit, I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised that it can be quite effective.

She has a blazing 0 AS with the Hand Axe, too!

Honestly, it simply was the easiest 1-2 range available to her that isn't really expensive. And since the Pegasi weigh themselves down to negative AS with their Javelins (barely - they have 17 Spd and Javelins have 18 weight), Raquesis even doubled and one-rounds them.

25 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

I can't believe they used the portrait of an Verdanian prince for some generic brute. How unfitting.

Well, apparently, the portrait of the king of Agustria is going to be reused for some generic boss, too, so Kinbaith is in good company.

25 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

Status swords function differently from Status staffs. Status staffs always work, assuming you have more magic than the target has resistance.
But status swords only have an activation rate of 30%. Minus the Res of the target. So they don't always succeed in inflicting status.
...unless the target happens to have more than 30 Res. Because if the activation rate is lower than 0, it loops around to 255.

Always funny to have an underflow bug in the wild. And I guess Dew was a lot more unlucky than I thought. I assumed that they always proc, since I'm pretty sure that's how it goes in Thracia - I remember that this is a central piece in recruiting Xavier. Something that I definitely won't make any promises towards.

28 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

Sigurd with capped speed. What the heck?

10 procs / 22 level-ups = 45%. Yeah, that's pretty speedy.

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

So the best Silessian knights are Mahnya, Pamela, Deetvar, and Erinys? Out of everyone in the country, they have the most talent and experience? Why aren't old Pegasus Knights allowed to exist? Of course, that would get into FE's scant track record with older ladies in general, so...

I assume Erin's the fourth, considering that we don't have a fourth named Pegasus rider. ...and yeah, the wiki confirms that. Honestly, since she's pretty low-level when she joins Sigurd, she really does feel a bit out of place in that line-up.

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

It really bugs me how they all realize this immediately. Do they see her die? Hear her cry out in agony? Either way, it screws with the scale. I'd rather have Rahna realize it when Castle Silesse gets stormed. Something like "The castle is under attack? Then that means Mahnya... oh, gods...".

On 3/12/2024 at 9:54 AM, ping said:

Oh look, another example of Genealogy being very fucky about the passage of time scale of both time and space.

--

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

Kinda funny to think that Paragon and Bargain, as different as they sound, kind of have the same endpoint in "optimal" play. I'm still not sure which skill I appreciate more.

My impression is that for the real elitist elitist, every resource has the same endpoint. His name is "Seliph".

But no, I get what you mean, Paragon ultimately being a financial skill.

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

I wonder - as useless as Strength is for Edain, maybe they gave her a growth so Lester wouldn't be totally up a creek? Since her growths partially determine his, and we're still over a decade from magical Bows happening.

The kids still have their innate growths, right? I don't want to look up right now how exactly growth inheritance works (it's getting rather late ), but in theory, it should've been possible to just crank up his innate Str growth by another 10% or so. Your explaination is still entirely possible, too, of course, although I would like to think that Aideen and Bridget's high stats in the respective useless Atk stat is supposed to show that they both would've had the capabilities to be in their twin sister's class.

 

[BrightBow]

2 minutes ago, ping said:

The kids still have their innate growths, right? I don't want to look up right now how exactly growth inheritance works (it's getting rather late ), but in theory, it should've been possible to just crank up his innate Str growth by another 10% or so. Your explaination is still entirely possible, too, of course, although I would like to think that Aideen and Bridget's high stats in the respective useless Atk stat is supposed to show that they both would've had the capabilities to be in their twin sister's class.

The kids' growths are 100% of the same-gender parent + 50% of the opposite-gender parent. They don't have any innate growths independent from their parents.

[Saint Rubenio]

1 hour ago, BrightBow said:

Hostage against who, exactly? Look, if you don't want to kill your brother's wife, you can just say so. Not everything has to be part of some evil ploy.

Woulda been a nice opportunity to give him a character trait that isn't just "I'm extremely generic!"

1 hour ago, BrightBow said:

And you really enjoy dancing because... it reminds you of the good old days of getting beaten up? Wut?

Once again. Recurring plot point.

Thanks, Kaga.

1 hour ago, BrightBow said:

God, I hate how Ismaire is basically the same character as Rahna, but someone figured she apparently really needed to repent for being a less-than-ideal mother to Joshua.

Ismaire compensates by being like, the most beautiful woman in FE. I almost cannot blame Carlyle. Almost.

...That, and she's a pretty baller swordmaster in the CC with an otherwise unobtainable sword (well you can get it as a rare drop from cyclops in the two dungeons but, details). It's just a shame the main campaign relegated her to Plot Device duties. They even made a special cutscene class that cannot fight for her so she doesn't WTA Caellach's sorry ass.

What a damn shame. SS's lategame was rather lacking in prepromotes and she could've slotted right in with her rare sword. And it might've been a good opportunity for some of that coveted Magvel Worldbuilding if the two Jehannan royals could interact longer than 30 seconds.

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

It's neat to see, when all the way through the DS era, female generics in non-female-exclusive classes were practically nonexistent. Heck, Genealogy is probably better in this aspect than any of the GBA titles. If only barely.

Genealogy is better in this aspect than the entire series, pretty much, except Fates and I think that's it? Female generics are basically nonexistent for most of the games, outside of strictly female-locked classes. This little gang of femme fatales alone puts Genealogy well ahead of the pack in that regard.

[Jotari]

I reckon Daccar ordering the civilians to be killed has a lot less to do with making him evil and a lot more to do with introducing the mechanic of rescuing civilians for exp. It's the only time it shows up in the first gen, but it happens again in the second gen, so they probably wanted to squeeze it in somewhere, and this makes about as much sense as anywhere else. Rescuing your own civilians in the prologue would make the most sense narratively, but that would concentrate exp onto the starter squad in a weird way. The only other opportunity would be when Macbeth sicks the bandits on his own people, but the primary reason for that was to introduce Lewyn, which wouldn't work if there was just a bunch of auto levels for him and Sylvia to rescue. So we get this, people in a civil war inexplicably massacring their own citizens.

As for using Lahna as a hostage, it seems consistent that in both gameplay and story, Sigurd retook the capital really quickly. So Daccar just plain didn't have the chance to use her as a hostage. The layout of the map also wanted to make sure you got Forseti before finishing it, so we needed Lahna to both be in peril, but also quickly rescued from peril before the chapter ended. Honestly, the best thing they could have done would have been to put Lahna on the field with civilians, fleeing Silesse castle, with enemies pursuing her while Pamela and Mahnya have their showdown, just so you have something to do while the glorified cutscene plays out.

3 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Status swords function differently from Status staffs. Status staffs always work, assuming you have more magic than the target has resistance.
But status swords only have an activation rate of 30%. Minus the Res of the target. So they don't always succeed in inflicting status.
...unless the target happens to have more than 30 Res. Because if the activation rate is lower than 0, it loops around to 255.

That is not an overflow glitch I was aware of. So it would be trivially easy to put Julius to sleep?

6 hours ago, ping said:

: "N-no... How..."

Lamia is just the henchwoman of a minor villain, so she really doesn't have much of an impact in the grand scheme of the story, but I think she's the first actual villainess of the series? I know Gaiden had Sonia's sisters, but... actually, I'm not sure what characterisation, if any, they had in OG Gaiden. In Echoes, I think they're more tragic than evil.

 

In the games, yes, but in the wonderful world of Fire Emblem manga, we had Manali debut just before the release of Genealogy.

She's a minion of Gharnef who tries to kill Wendell and gets a face full of Merric's newly mastered Excalibur. And because all of this happens in Khadein before Merric reunites with Marth, I declare it headcanon that it happened in the games too and put her in Pyrathi Warlords.

[Saint Rubenio]

7 hours ago, Jotari said:

The only other opportunity would be when Macbeth sicks the bandits on his own people, but the primary reason for that was to introduce Lewyn, which wouldn't work if there was just a bunch of auto levels for him and Sylvia to rescue. So we get this, people in a civil war inexplicably massacring their own citizens.

Actually, it probably could've been done in Orgahill with just a bit of map redesigning. And it'd feel a lot less stupid than this.

7 hours ago, Jotari said:

Honestly, the best thing they could have done would have been to put Lahna on the field with civilians, fleeing Silesse castle, with enemies pursuing her while Pamela and Mahnya have their showdown, just so you have something to do while the glorified cutscene plays out.

That's a nice idea too. Still makes Daccar out to be the biggest dumbass but it alleviates a far bigger problem.

7 hours ago, Jotari said:

In the games, yes, but in the wonderful world of Fire Emblem manga, we had Manali debut just before the release of Genealogy.

She's a minion of Gharnef who tries to kill Wendell and gets a face full of Merric's newly mastered Excalibur. And because all of this happens in Khadein before Merric reunites with Marth, I declare it headcanon that it happened in the games too and put her in Pyrathi Warlords.

She's so fucking cool. And so is Wendell, of course. This is the kind of shit Archanea direly needed.

[Jotari]

13 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Actually, it probably could've been done in Orgahill with just a bit of map redesigning. And it'd feel a lot less stupid than this.

Actually yeah, that could have worked really well. Would have given Orgahil more interesting gameplay and developed it slightly better as an actual place for the world building. Because as is it's basically just pirate island. Lewyn mentions going there in Thracia, which I think was meant to be a "soz guys I'm busy with [random name drop]" but it comes across more as a big fat "why? There is nothing of relevance there." Although, speculating now, perhaps that's exactly the reason. Maybe he raised Julia in Orgahil because there is nothing of worth there and he has to go there during Thracia so he could pick her up and bring her to Isaach. Still, pirate island doesn't seem like the best place to raise a young lady, especially if you're away inciting rebellions half the time.

13 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

That's a nice idea too. Still makes Daccar out to be the biggest dumbass but it alleviates a far bigger problem.

Well I only suggested the citizen to merge the ideas. The principle thing is to give the player something to do during that section. If we have the civilians on Orgahil then we can have her flee with her small retinue of knights. Who look just like Eve, Eva and Alva only with green hair!

13 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

She's so fucking cool. And so is Wendell, of course. This is the kind of shit Archanea direly needed.

You're so lucky I'm on mobile right now and not at my computer. Otherwise I'd be swiftly editing that femme fatale picture above so Wendell is stepping on Manli's face.

[ping]

FE4 Chapter 5: Threshold of Fate

Zaxon (turn 0)

Spoiler

Zaxon Castle has barely fallen, yet before Sigurd can so much as rest, the hordes of Grannvale stand before him at the captured Lubeck Castle. The Grannvale commander, Duke Langbalt, is a longtime enemy of Sigurd's father. For Sigurd, to challenge Langbalt is an opportunity to avenge his father, Byron, framed by Langbalt for his crimes.

Beyond Lubeck, in the desert town Phinora, Lord Arvis's elite warriors stand guard under the command of the war-mage Vaha. Velthomer Castle, on Grannvale's border with the Yied Desert, is defended by Lord Arvis's trusted aide, General Aida. And in Belhalla, the royal capital of Grannvale, Lord Arvis serves to aid the bedridden King Azmur, while Chancellor Reptor of Freege maintains peace and order in the city. A long road to Belhalla awaits Sigurd... A clash with Grannvale en route is inevitable. Sigurd refuses to endanger the people of Silesse any further in this conflict. He is determined to fight to the end. The year is Grann 760, early spring. The fields of Silesse rest beneath a deep blanket of snow...

A few thoughts:

• If Ruben's favourite translator ever gets around to Genealogy, and doesn't use "Lübeck" instead of "Lubeck", I will very disappointed. Heck, I'm slightly miffed that Project Naga finds an accent aigu for André and is about to find a trema for "naïve, but couldn't manage to properly umlautify the Hansestadt Lübeck.
• The game's determination to keep Arvis off-screen is honestly getting pretty jarring. He doesn't even get his mug into the opening narration. I have to wonder if a blind player would even still connect the name with that mysterious hot stranger chatting with Sigurd during the prologue.
• "Lango" would make a nice stupid punny name for a bard, if I end up rolling one for some RPG.
• For some more consistency between the Jugdral names, we should use the shorthand "G760" alongside "T776".

A green unit rides past Lübeck, slowing down and eventually halting shortly thereafter...:

: "Nngh... Sigurd... ...No, I mustn't die yet... No... Not until the exalted blade is in your hands..."

: "My ambush may have put an end to Chalphy's paladin brigade, the Grünenritter, but the survival of Byron alone leaves that utterly meaningless!"
: "Y-yes, sir... But you see, milord, Byron is still gravely wounded. Surely, he has very little time left..."
: "I've never heard such naïve drivel! Byron may not be long for this world, but he's determined to get that sword, Tyrfing, to his son with the very last of his strength. Do you not understand the threat that Sigurd would pose to us, should he get his hands on that damnamble [sic] sword? Move out and kill Byron, immediately!"
: "Y-yes, sir! Consider it done!"

Dangit, "ü" is even in the typeset already! #JusticeForLübeck

: "For that matter, where in the blazes is Dannan with those reinforcements?! For the gods's sakes, he's leading the elite Grauenritter brigade! How could it take him so long to put down that Isaachian resistance? First Lex, and now Dannan... Why must both of my sons be so worthless?"
: "Come now, Lord Langbalt, sir! Don't worry about a thing. After all, you've still got the Beigenritter and I on your side."
: "I suppose you're right, André. Be sure that your men are ready to join the fray at a moment's notice."
: "Heh. It would be my pleasure, sir..."

: "Damn that insolent worm. To think, he isn't even the slightest bit remorseful for slaying his own father! Duke Ring... May you be at peace."

Honestly, I like André, as far as minor villains (...with major connections to a handful of playable characters) go. Very smug. Very punchable.

One minor complaint, maybe - with the usual caveat that I wouldn't be able to read how his dialogue reads in Japanese: Calling Langbalt "sir" seems too deferential for André. From what little we've seen of him, he seems to take his newly and very legitimately acquired title very seriously, and I would imagine that, as Duke Jungby, he would very smugly insist on addressing Langbalt as a peer, not as his superior.

And even if André's Japanese dialogue doesn't offer that reading, this is something where I would welcome some creative liberties in a localisation. I mean, Langbalt even calls him "insolent", even though André is talking to him in more Grima Wormtongue-like tones.

: "Sire! We've sighted a lone knight to our east, who appears to be headed our way."
: "Hm? Is he an enemy?"
: "I don't believe so. The Lubeck occupation seems to be pursuing him, so they're most likely not with them."
: "I see. Let's give them a hand. We'll be clashing with Langbalt's army sooner or later, so why not make the first move? Move out! Our target is their front lines. Today's victory hinges on this first strike!"

The map! With desert tiles coloured grey, so despite appearances, that is not a gigantic mountain range in the eastern segment of the map. The sequence you're supposed to follow seems pretty clear - Lübeck, then Phinora, then Velthomer, then Belhalla, with the only immediately obvious question being how constricted Erin is going to be by the invisible walls around her.

__

To the west of Sachsen/"Zaxon", a squad of axe fighters, led by a faceless commander. An identical group of enemies stands between Sigurd and his dad to the east, with the symmetry on the map ruined by a Brigand posing as a member of the group.

____

Guarding Lübeck, we have André and the Beigenreitter (all armed with Brave Bows!), as well as Slayder (a knight of House *Dozel*, in case you weren't sure if this was a Gaiden reference) and his Axe Knights.

Langbalt himself is a rather thwompy guy, with his Holy Weapon granting him enormous Def and excellent Res, not to mention his Pavise skill with 30% activation rate. And because Helswath is a throwing axe, Mages don't particularly enjoy pelting him, either - although even Taillte manages to avoid being one-shot with her 48 HP | 6 Def.

__

The Iron Ballistae behind Lübeck don't seem terribly oppressive in their zoning, although they do a fine job of discouraging non-Canto characters from attacking Langbalt.

Finally, Byron himself. Definitely not in a position to fend for himself, with his gutted HP stat and the broken Tyrfing tanking his Avoid.

Now, because I want to decide on the details of item inheritance first, I only did a fraction of the usual turn-0 arenaing before posting this. Only Ayra already went through it all because she starts the map with the Paragon band (and Lex didn't because he has terrible odds against the last two enemies) - Midir and Lewyn technically beat it, too, but without Paragon and without me saving the game after their runs. I just wanted to check the stats of the ranged gauntlet, and the Res stat on the melee opponents. Here's the results:

(1) Jackal - Lv.17 Myrmidon - Skill: Pursuit
	47 HP | 10 Def | 1 Res
	[Steel Sword] - 22 Atk | 110 Hit | 24 Avo | 12 AS
(1R) Lipton - Lv.17 Archer - Skill: Pursuit
	47 HP | 10 Def
	[Silver Bow] - 30 Atk | 100 Hit | 14 Avo | 7 AS

(2) Glaith - Lv.20 Warrior
	60 HP | 16 Def | 5 Res
	[Steel Axe] - 35 Atk | 92 Hit | 0 Avo | 0 AS
	[Hand Axe] -  27 Atk | 92 Hit | 0 Avo | [-2 AS]

(3) Geice - Lv.23 General - Skill: Pavise
	63 HP | 18 Def | 5 Res
	[Steel Blade] - 32 Atk | 84 Hit | 10 Avo | 5 AS
	[Steel Bow]   - 30 Atk | 84 Hit | 10 Avo | [3 AS]

(4) Leigh - Lv.26 Hero - Skill: Pursuit - Item: Speed Ring
	66 HP | 14 Def | 5 Res
	[Bolt Sword, melee] - 31 Atk | 108 Hit | 38 Avo | 19 AS
	[Bolt Sword, range] - 19 Atk | 108 Hit | 38 Avo | [17 AS]

(5) Cithiel - Lv.29 Dracoknight
	69 HP | 19 Def | 2 Res
	[Horseslayer] - 28 Atk | 90 Hit | -4 Avo | -2 AS
(5R) Hawker - Lv.29 Sniper - Skill: Pursuit
	69 HP | 20 Def
	[Killer Bow] - 34 Atk | 140 Hit | 34 Avo | 17 AS | 20 crit

(6) Nazarre - Lv.30 Swordmaster - Skills: Pursuit, Adept - Item: Shield Ring
	70 HP | 16+5 Def | 6 Res
	[Wind Sword, melee] - 33 Atk | 118 Hit | 38 Avo | 19 AS
	[Wind Sword, range] - 17 Atk | 118 Hit | 38 Avo | [22 AS]

(7) Klepper - Lv.30 Rogue - Skill: Pursuit - Item: Speed Ring
	60 HP | 14 Def | 6 Res
	[Earth Sword, melee] - 28 Atk | 102 Hit | 42 Avo | 21 AS
	[Earth Sword, range] - 20 Atk | 102 Hit | 42 Avo | [14 AS]

I have to appreciate that the ultimate arena challenge of the first generation is a Rogue, of all classes. But between his high avoid and Earth Sword healing, he *is* a pretty annoying opponent to beat - although I feel like characters that can beat Nazarre (more references to Fire Emblems past!) probably have decent odds against Klepper, too.

The AS values in brackets are something I'll be able to test once I open up the game again: It's well-established at this point that an enemy that can swap to a ranged weapon (or has a magic sword for that effect) will retain the hit/avoid of their melee attack. But the numbers on display don't show if their AS is still 0.5x their avoid or if those two stats are "de-coupled". It would need a ranged character with an AS between the two possible values on a given opponent (like Nazarre or Klepper), and Midir with his 23 Spd ( -> 20 with the Killer Bow) fits that bill. For science!

Anyway, my plans for inheritance are as follows:

(1st row are items the parent already carries, 2nd row they still need to grab)
( (numbers) are the kill counts at the start of ch.5. Ayra's getting kills on her Iron Blade instead of the second Silver Sword is a little silly in retrospect.)

Sigurd -> Seliph [default: Slim Sword]
	Silver Sword (51), Knight Ring
	Leg Ring, ?Paragon Band?

Aideen -> Lana [Heal]
	Warp, Restore, Physic
	Recover (store), Sleep

Midir -> Lester [Iron Bow]
	Killer Bow (25), Brave Bow (0), Silver Bow (0; shop)

Ayra -> Larcei [Iron Blade]
	[Iron Blade (27)], Slim Sword (0)
	Silver Sword (0, fresh from the shop)

Lex -> Scathach [Iron Blade]
	--
	Return Band (from the shop, not like Lex is hurting for money)

Lachesis -> Nanna [Iron Sword, Mend]
	Return, Earth Sword (0), Steel Sword (10), Miracle Sword (3)
	Steel Blade (shop), Return Band (from Ayra)

Beowulf -> Diarmuid [Iron Sword]
	Steel Sword (8), Power Ring
	Brave Sword (10)

Erin -> Fee [Slim Lance, Berserk Sword]
	[Slim Lance (1)], Light Brand (9), Brave Lance (29), Def band, Res band
	Thief Sword (8)

Claude -> Ced [Light]
	Fortify, Valkyria, Mend

Brigid -> Febail [Silver Bow]
	Steel Bow (13), Yewfelle (3)
	Midir's Iron Bow, lol (11)

Azel -> Patty [Sleep Sword]
	Magic Ring, Bargain Band
	Slim Sword, Shield Sw (both from Sylvia; 0), Bolt Sword (0)

Taillte -> Tine [Elthunder]
	Thunder (0) -- can't pass Thoron, it seems
	Elwind (18)

Lewyn -> Arthur [Wind]
	Forseti (0)

• Unaccounted for:
  • Armorslayer - ...Seliph? Nanna? Too late to give this to Leif.
  • Wingslayer - ...Seliph? Fee, who might be an air-vs-air candidate, is already overloaded.
  • Horseslayer - I guess I'll have to get it via drop in gen 2. Or maybe I could give this to Fee and leave the Thief Sword for Seliph, since Fee already gets so much value in items.
  • Speed Ring - Honestly, no idea who would need the +5 Spd the most. Could default to Azel/Patty, since she'd at least be able to pass the money from selling it to somebody more needy.
  • Renewal Band - Beo->Diarmuid? It's currently on Erin, but, as I said, Fee is already overloaded.
  • Paragon Band - if Sigurd can't scrape together the money for it and the Leg Ring and for repairing Tyrfing at least a little... Arthur, maybe? He also gets a lot (read: a horse) out of his promotion.

There's a few minor options - for example, Claude could pass Fire and/or Wind to Ced as a weaker option in case I want him to set up a kill for somebody else - but I think the major options are all there. I don't think anybody will be severely hampered without Arden's Iron Sword in their inventory.

I think I read that if a parent tries to pass a weapon to a child that already has that same weapon by default, the gen 1 weapon will simply not be inherited and has to be rebought or taken from an enemy. Because of that, Erin can drop her Slim Lance (with nobody available to inherit it) and I guess I should decide on somebody to pick up Ayra's Iron Blade...

 

18 hours ago, BrightBow said:

The kids' growths are 100% of the same-gender parent + 50% of the opposite-gender parent. They don't have any innate growths independent from their parents.

Ah. I thought otherwise because the wiki has "default growths" for the children listed, but looking a bit closer, those are just 50% (for boys) or 100% (for girls) of the mothers' growths.

7 hours ago, Jotari said:

Actually yeah, that could have worked really well. Would have given Orgahil more interesting gameplay and developed it slightly better as an actual place for the world building. Because as is it's basically just pirate island. Lewyn mentions going there in Thracia, which I think was meant to be a "soz guys I'm busy with [random name drop]" but it comes across more as a big fat "why? There is nothing of relevance there." Although, speculating now, perhaps that's exactly the reason. Maybe he raised Julia in Orgahil because there is nothing of worth there and he has to go there during Thracia so he could pick her up and bring her to Isaach. Still, pirate island doesn't seem like the best place to raise a young lady, especially if you're away inciting rebellions half the time.

Agreed with this conclusion to the Rescue discussion. Your explaination why Daccar is killing his future subjects makes sense, and so does Ruben's idea that moving the whole tutorial to Orgahil would've made more sense.

[BrightBow]

1 hour ago, ping said:

: "Y-yes, sir... But you see, milord, Byron is still gravely wounded. Surely, he has very little time left..."

Well, he has survived for more than a year. Wouldn't bet on him suddenly dropping over dead right before the finish line.
 

1 hour ago, ping said:

Wingslayer - ...Seliph? Fee, who might be an air-vs-air candidate, is already overloaded.

If a character inherits more items than they can carry, they will simply be placed in their personal item storage. Nothing will get lost.

[ping]

2 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Well, he has survived for more than a year. Wouldn't bet on him suddenly dropping over dead right before the finish line.

Ah, but consider this: If it is very unlikely for Byron to survive for one year, how unlikely is it for him to survive for one year and 45 minutes?

2 hours ago, BrightBow said:

If a character inherits more items than they can carry, they will simply be placed in their personal item storage. Nothing will get lost.

That's good to know.

I swear I didn't plan to overstack Erin->Fee, I just underestimated the power of the initial money + Bargain injection for Erin.

[Saint Rubenio]

4 hours ago, ping said:

A few thoughts:

• If Ruben's favourite translator ever gets around to Genealogy, and doesn't use "Lübeck" instead of "Lubeck", I will very disappointed. Heck, I'm slightly miffed that Project Naga finds an accent aigu for André and is about to find a trema for "naïve, but couldn't manage to properly umlautify the Hansestadt Lübeck

Inb4 Lußeck

Meißen.

4 hours ago, ping said:

The game's determination to keep Arvis off-screen is honestly getting pretty jarring. He doesn't even get his mug into the opening narration. I have to wonder if a blind player would even still connect the name with that mysterious hot stranger chatting with Sigurd during the prologue.

Kaga was reaaaaaaaaally counting on that silver sword carrying the dude.

Honestly, yeah. Arvis probably should've showed up a couple more times. Maybe have him go to Sigurd between chapters 2 and 3 acting as a mediator or something. Have him meet Deirdre there, sow the seeds for later developments.

4 hours ago, ping said:

But you see, milord, Byron is still gravely wounded. Surely, he has very little time left..."

Brightbow already said, but it bears repeating. My guy's been hanging on to dear life for a whole fucking year.

4 hours ago, ping said:

 

: "Damn that insolent worm. To think, he isn't even the slightest bit remorseful for slaying his own father! Duke Ring... May you be at peace."

Weren't you the one that killed Ring, though?

...Oh, no, he was accused of being a co-conspirator by Reptor and Langbalt and then André murdered him. So he's just... chastising André for the killing even though his own accusation would've likely led to the same result? Weird flex, but ok

4 hours ago, ping said:

One minor complaint, maybe - with the usual caveat that I wouldn't be able to read how his dialogue reads in Japanese: Calling Langbalt "sir" seems too deferential for André. From what little we've seen of him, he seems to take his newly and very legitimately acquired title very seriously, and I would imagine that, as Duke Jungby, he would very smugly insist on addressing Langbalt as a peer, not as his superior.

And even if André's Japanese dialogue doesn't offer that reading, this is something where I would welcome some creative liberties in a localisation. I mean, Langbalt even calls him "insolent", even though André is talking to him in more Grima Wormtongue-like tones.

Yeah, I feel like he'd at least resort to "milord" for short. Though I'm willing to believe this could be a Project Naga thing.

4 hours ago, ping said:

__

To the west of Sachsen/"Zaxon", a squad of axe fighters, led by a faceless commander. An identical group of enemies stands between Sigurd and his dad to the east, with the symmetry on the map ruined by a Brigand posing as a member of the group.

Good memories of trying to have Sigurd solo this group on his way to Byron.

He died. I had to regroup and send the army together.

4 hours ago, ping said:

Hawker 

Not to be confused with hit character and beloved fan favorite, Hawke. Whom you won't be getting because you're foolishly refusing to cater this LP to my tastes. For no particular reason, may I point out that there's still time to make Erin suffer a tragic accident.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

23 hours ago, BrightBow said:

What confuses me are the Cross Knights. Like, were they really named that or was this a liberty taken by the translation, considering every other group of knights has a German name?

Ooh, I'm replaying Gen I now, so I can answer this! In the original Japanese, the Cross Knights are the クロスナイツ, or "Ku-ro-su-na-i-tsu". So, as close to the English name as possible.

23 hours ago, BrightBow said:

And with that, Mahnya already has had more of an acknowledgement of her death than Philia had when she got one-shot by teleporting zombie archers.

"Please reconsider!"

23 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Only time in the game you are seeing the female Bow Fighter.

Reminds me of a technical note: Archers don't exist in FE4. Instead, there are Hunters and "Bow Fighters". But it's weird to think of Jamke as anything other than an Archer.

22 hours ago, ping said:

assume Erin's the fourth, considering that we don't have a fourth named Pegasus rider. ...and yeah, the wiki confirms that. Honestly, since she's pretty low-level when she joins Sigurd, she really does feel a bit out of place in that line-up.

Like, I could believe that Erinys became revered, after fighting alongside Sigurd and avenging her sister's death. But before that, she's just a generic Pegasus Knight. No holy blood, just the Pursuit skill.

...Actually, scratch that. Pursuit alone makes Erinys the best flier in the entire continent.

22 hours ago, BrightBow said:

The kids' growths are 100% of the same-gender parent + 50% of the opposite-gender parent. They don't have any innate growths independent from their parents.

Incidentally, it just occurred to me that this formula isn't sustainable. In a hypothetical Gen III, each kid will have 2.25 times their grandparents' growths. In the next gen, that becomes 3.375. Give it a few more generations, and we're talking Awakening-level growths!

22 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Genealogy is better in this aspect than the entire series, pretty much, except Fates and I think that's it? Female generics are basically nonexistent for most of the games, outside of strictly female-locked classes. This little gang of femme fatales alone puts Genealogy well ahead of the pack in that regard.

Huh, I thought I remembered Awakening doing female generics, but maybe not? Anyway, we definitely got them in Three Houses and Engage. But yeah, Genealogy was well ahead of the curve here. Good to see Kaga is so-

22 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Once again. Recurring plot point.

Thanks, Kaga.

Erm, well, let's leave it at that.

20 hours ago, Jotari said:

reckon Daccar ordering the civilians to be killed has a lot less to do with making him evil and a lot more to do with introducing the mechanic of rescuing civilians for exp.

In both cases, your units get to chow down on civilians in the fifth of six chapters. It's like poetry, it rhymes.

Hm, maybe the Bragi peninsula could've had some Civilians to protect/munch on, in chapter 3? That could help Tailtiu get some early levels. Or Dew, as he goes there for his secret event. Both units I struggle with getting to promotion.

11 hours ago, Jotari said:

Maybe he raised Julia in Orgahil because there is nothing of worth there and he has to go there during Thracia so he could pick her up and bring her to Isaach. Still, pirate island doesn't seem like the best place to raise a young lady, especially if you're away inciting rebellions half the time.

Hey, it should be fine by then. Sigurd already did his pirate genocide.

20 hours ago, Jotari said:

That is not an overflow glitch I was aware of. So it would be trivially easy to put Julius to sleep?

Well, first you'd need to actually hit him with the Sleep Sword. And the status swords are not renowned for their accuracy.

...I'd be really curious as to whether this will actually work.

[Saint Rubenio]

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

"Please reconsider!"

Phila when she got the memo that her only different with the Hierarch is screentime.

Is it time for me to bring up my long-standing idea that she should've been a game-long traitor villain? As it is she just kind of has no reason to exist lol

[ping]

11 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Inb4 Lußeck

Meißen.

Don't tell me you're still saying "Meiben" in your head.

11 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Weren't you the one that killed Ring, though?

...Oh, no, he was accused of being a co-conspirator by Reptor and Langbalt and then André murdered him. So he's just... chastising André for the killing even though his own accusation would've likely led to the same result? Weird flex, but ok

To be fair, Langbalt could still be appalled by the kinslaying aspect of it, while being a-ok with murder in general. The "may you rest in peace" part is out of place, though.

...I should see if I can get Lex to kinslay him. Rough, because he only deals 2x2 dmg with Brave, and 8 with Silver, but maybe it'll work out.

16 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Not to be confused with hit character and beloved fan favorite, Hawke. Whom you won't be getting because you're foolishly refusing to cater this LP to my tastes. For no particular reason, may I point out that there's still time to make Erin suffer a tragic accident.

Hawke must be either really generic or have a really impressive beard if you like him so much. Well, come to think about it, you'd only have to find him barely tolerable in order to advocate for Pegasus Knight murder to make him exist.

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

Reminds me of a technical note: Archers don't exist in FE4. Instead, there are Hunters and "Bow Fighters". But it's weird to think of Jamke as anything other than an Archer.

Project Naga renames Jamke's class back to Archer, actually. I think it tries to be a bit more consistent with the rest of the series with its class names - the "Forrest" class (according to the wiki) is simply "Hero", too.

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

...Actually, scratch that. Pursuit alone makes Erinys the best flier in the entire continent.

"Stabbing once is good and all, but have you tried stabbing twice?" - "She's a genius! She should write a book or something!"

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

Incidentally, it just occurred to me that this formula isn't sustainable. In a hypothetical Gen III, each kid will have 2.25 times their grandparents' growths. In the next gen, that becomes 3.375. Give it a few more generations, and we're talking Awakening-level growths!

To a degree, you could rationalise the higher growths in gen 2 with their overall lower age, i.e. they still have more potential left to unlock than their parents did during their adventures. It's not universally true, of course, with the likes of Sylvia and Dew, but apart from Altenna, the kids are all at most 17 years old, right? The average gen 1 character strikes me more as in their early 20s.

 

[Saint Rubenio]

36 minutes ago, ping said:

Don't tell me you're still saying "Meiben" in your head.

I cannot help it. It's too deeply ingrained in my ßrain.

37 minutes ago, ping said:

Hawke must be either really generic or have a really impressive beard if you like him so much. Well, come to think about it, you'd only have to find him barely tolerable in order to advocate for Pegasus Knight murder to make him exist.

Well... Since there's a 97% chance you won't see him, here, I'll spoil the surprise. Open if you will.

Spoiler

...Nah, that's a joke, sadly.

He's just a little dude. Powerful enough to stand toe-to-toe with Ced, too. As I recall it's basically just the broken inheritances that put Ced ahead, otherwise Hawke is about as good. While just being a little dude.

 

[CelestialContrail]

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

Reminds me of a technical note: Archers don't exist in FE4. Instead, there are Hunters and "Bow Fighters". But it's weird to think of Jamke as anything other than an Archer.

It's because FE4 was going to have a separate Archer class at one point, with worse stats and only C rank in bows. It got scrapped at during development and isn't actually used anywhere in the final game, but data for it still exists in the game's class list.

[Jotari]

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Weren't you the one that killed Ring, though?

...Oh, no, he was accused of being a co-conspirator by Reptor and Langbalt and then André murdered him. So he's just... chastising André for the killing even though his own accusation would've likely led to the same result? Weird flex, but ok

I think Langbolt's disgust towards André is because he killed his own father. Langbolt killed his own prince after all, so he's definitely not against some political assassination, but killing a family member seems to be beyond the pale for him (though he absolutely will knock the stuffing out of Lex if you have the two fight, at least his quote is more shock and shaming rather than an openly explicit intention to kill).

 

2 hours ago, ping said:

...I should see if I can get Lex to kinslay him. Rough, because he only deals 2x2 dmg with Brave, and 8 with Silver, but maybe it'll work out.

So, yeah, this.

2 hours ago, ping said:

To a degree, you could rationalise the higher growths in gen 2 with their overall lower age, i.e. they still have more potential left to unlock than their parents did during their adventures. It's not universally true, of course, with the likes of Sylvia and Dew, but apart from Altenna, the kids are all at most 17 years old, right? The average gen 1 character strikes me more as in their early 20s.

 

Actually it's more like 17 years old minimum, given well, it's a 17 year time skip and all the parents die before the time skip. Of course not all the parents do actually die and some kids like Coirpre seem definitely like they're designed to be younger than 17. But that seems more the exception to the rule. At the very least we know the Larcei, Scathach, Lana, Lestor, Diarmuid and Nana are all 17+ since they all fled to Isaach with Seliph (even if you can get their parents to hook up after taking Lubeck, I think). The other characters you might be able to fiddle their ages a bit, but the possibility of a sun 17 age varies with the father. Like, Tinne seems like she could be under 17, but the population Tailtyu-Lewyn pairing would require Lewyn fucking Tailtyu while she's a prisoner of the Frieges and not... actually helping her, to get a sub 17 age for Tinne.

 

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

 

Words cannot describe how much I love this. Solid A+ editing job.

[Interdimensional Observer]

2 hours ago, ping said:

...I should see if I can get Lex to kinslay him. Rough, because he only deals 2x2 dmg with Brave, and 8 with Silver, but maybe it'll work out.

If you do, you'll trigger a special after-battle conversation where Lex receives an instantaneous magical blood transfusion that ups him to Major Neir and gives him Helswath for the rest of the map.🤪

-I'm kidding. It works for the final battle of Gen 2 tho'!😜

 

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Hawke. Whom you won't be getting because you're foolishly refusing to cater this LP to my tastes.

In timelines where Ced exists, Hawke sometimes gets angsty that this other pretty boy sage dude is stealing the attention, discovers the dark magic within, and wanders off to serve a metallic dictator.😛

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Phila when she got the memo that her only different with the Hierarch is screentime.

Is it time for me to bring up my long-standing idea that she should've been a game-long traitor villain? As it is she just kind of has no reason to exist lol

And my thoughts on her have always been "if she didn't die, we could've had the triangle attack". And a prepromoted flier in a game not exactly friendly to having prepromotes.

 

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

Ooh, I'm replaying Gen I now, so I can answer this! In the original Japanese, the Cross Knights are the クロスナイツ, or "Ku-ro-su-na-i-tsu". So, as close to the English name as possible.

That "i" is a typo. It's "Kurosu Natsu", which when smoothed out becomes "Cross-Nots". Because they're supposed to be so strong that nobody on the Jugdrali continent should dare to get on their bad side. I swear this is true by the Crystal Stars.😛

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

Well, first you'd need to actually hit him with the Sleep Sword. And the status swords are not renowned for their accuracy.

...I'd be really curious as to whether this will actually work.

I hear once that this does work in Chapter 10. You can subvert "the little game" by smacking one of the two players with the Berserk Sword. Which in turn can result in the one attacking the other (you probably have to Rescue the crazy sword swinger first) and seeing one of them slain as a result, and ending said "test of skill" that way.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

58 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

He's just a little dude. Powerful enough to stand toe-to-toe with Ced, too. As I recall it's basically just the broken inheritances that put Ced ahead, otherwise Hawke is about as good. While just being a little dude.

In some regards, like Magic (base of 22) and Resistance (base of 17), Hawke outshines most variants of Ced. Oh, and he has a chapter 9 secret event that buffs each of these by 3 more points. Plus, very solid HP, Skill, and Speed, alongside Pursuit. Inheritance on Ced is great, but the number of generics who survive a round against Hawke's Light tome, I could count on both hands.

1 hour ago, ping said:

but apart from Altenna, the kids are all at most 17 years old, right?

Well, chapter 6 occurs 17 years after the Battle of Belhalla - at least, so sayeth the wiki. But some of the kids - Seliph, Leif, the Sword Twins - have already been born. Others, it's ambiguous whether or not they exist yet. It's a fair bet that they're all under 20 at the start of Gen II, at the very least.

1 hour ago, ping said:

Stabbing once is good and all, but have you tried stabbing twice?" - "She's a genius! She should write a book or something!"

"But wait!"

*Erinys pulls out the Brave Lance*

"There's more!"

1 minute ago, CelestialContrail said:

It's because FE4 was going to have a separate Archer class at one point, with worse stats and only C rank in bows. It got scrapped at during development and isn't actually used anywhere in the final game, but data for it still exists in the game's class list.

Interesting maneuver.

Come to think of it, I don't think any class is stuck with C-rank Bows. Bow Armors, Arch Knights, Generals, and Warriors all have B-rank Bows by default. Whilst all other Bow-using classes have A-rank.

Not like Jamke would struggle as an Archer, though. The Killer Bow is already at C-rank.

1 hour ago, ping said:

he only deals 2x2 dmg with Brave, and 8 with Silver

That's a funny way of writing "7x2 with Brave, or 13 with Silver, while wearing a Power Ring". C'mon, you know he can afford it...

7 hours ago, ping said:

: "Nngh... Sigurd... ...No, I mustn't die yet... No... Not until the exalted blade is in your hands..."

"Should I repair this blade for my son, or keep it at 30 weight to carry around with my dying breaths?"

7 hours ago, ping said:

Guarding Lübeck, we have André and the Beigenreitter (all armed with Brave Bows!)

I do like seeing enemies with interesting weapons. That'll come up again, later in the same chapter...

7 hours ago, ping said:

Claude -> Ced [Light]
	Fortify, Valkyria, Mend

Ced with Forseti is hilarious, because he'll spam it every turn as a green unit. Without exhausting any uses. Not even recruited, and he's already pulling his weight.

Will he be getting the Silence staff as well?

7 hours ago, ping said:

• Armorslayer - ...Seliph? Nanna? Too late to give this to Leif.
• Wingslayer - ...Seliph? Fee, who might be an air-vs-air candidate, is already overloaded.

Either of these could also go to Larcei, since she's not inheriting a ton yet. Or Diarmuid. The sooner you get a Sword, the more options you have with it. Admittedly, I'm no big fan of effective weapons in this game.

7 hours ago, ping said:

Speed Ring - Honestly, no idea who would need the +5 Spd the most. Could default to Azel/Patty, since she'd at least be able to pass the money from selling it to somebody more needy.

Patty's a great pick for it, but Lester also springs to mind. Non-Killer Bows can get kinda heavy, while Killer Bows can get kinda pricey. Really, though, anyone with Pursuit will appreciate it.

7 hours ago, ping said:

Paragon Band - if Sigurd can't scrape together the money for it and the Leg Ring and for repairing Tyrfing at least a little... Arthur, maybe? He also gets a lot (read: a horse) out of his promotion.

Get that lad a horse!

14 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Diarmuid and Nana are all 17+ since they all fled to Isaach with Seliph

Diarmuid and Nanna were canonically among that cadre, too?

...This is just reinforcing my "Let Edain go so that they have parental supervision" paradigm. No way did teemage Oifey, and tweenage Shannan, transport seven toddlers cross-country on their own.

[Jotari]

11 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

If you do, you'll trigger a special after-battle conversation where Lex receives an instantaneous magical blood transfusion that ups him to Major Neir and gives him Helswath for the rest of the map.🤪

-I'm kidding. It works for the final battle of Gen 2 tho'!😜

What would be hilarious about that is Lex still wouldn't be able to pass it down to anyone since none of his children can use axes.

11 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

That "i" is a typo. It's "Kurosu Natsu", which when smoothed out becomes "Cross-Nots". Because they're supposed to be so strong that nobody on the Jugdrali continent should dare to get on their bad side. I swear this is true by the Crystal Stars.😛

Natsu is Japanese for summer, so if that I were a typo they'd be the Cross Summers, which sounds like some kind of 0verflow game.

11 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I hear once that this does work in Chapter 10. You can subvert "the little game" by smacking one of the two players with the Berserk Sword. Which in turn can result in the one attacking the other (you probably have to Rescue the crazy sword swinger first) and seeing one of them slain as a result, and ending said "test of skill" that way.

I got the lovers to fight without using any glitches.

Took me way longer than it should have to pull off.

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

Diarmuid and Nanna were canonically among that cadre, too?

Yeah, Diarmuid is playable in Chapter 6, remember? Or is he so bland one forgets even that. As for Nana, she got lost at some point and ended up in Leinster.

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

...This is just reinforcing my "Let Edain go so that they have parental supervision" paradigm. No way did teemage Oifey, and tweenage Shannan, transport seven toddlers cross-country on their own.

We have discussed this, and I agree. Give us middle aged Adean. She's already seemingly reunites with her kids in Isaach as is, they just don't let us actually see middle aged Adean because middle aged women don't exist.

[ping]

8 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I cannot help it. It's too deeply ingrained in my ßrain.

Grmph. The next time I ßee a ẞpaniard type out their laughter, I shall parße it at "yayayaya" aß retribution.

8 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Well... Since there's a 97% chance you won't see him, here, I'll spoil the surprise. Open if you will.

Very nice I appreciate the commitment to beardmanliness. Possibly the second-best edit of that sort you ever did.

(Sorry, Hawke, I have to give the nod to Mr Shannar still)

6 hours ago, CelestialContrail said:

It's because FE4 was going to have a separate Archer class at one point, with worse stats and only C rank in bows. It got scrapped at during development and isn't actually used anywhere in the final game, but data for it still exists in the game's class list.

Oh, that's funny. The one time the Shitty Earlygame Archer (if we can even call Jamke that, he's the 14th unit to join out of 24) has really good combat, it's because he's technically not an Archer archer.

6 hours ago, Jotari said:

Actually it's more like 17 years old minimum, given well, it's a 17 year time skip and all the parents die before the time skip. Of course not all the parents do actually die and some kids like Coirpre seem definitely like they're designed to be younger than 17. But that seems more the exception to the rule. At the very least we know the Larcei, Scathach, Lana, Lestor, Diarmuid and Nana are all 17+ since they all fled to Isaach with Seliph (even if you can get their parents to hook up after taking Lubeck, I think). The other characters you might be able to fiddle their ages a bit, but the possibility of a sun 17 age varies with the father. Like, Tinne seems like she could be under 17, but the population Tailtyu-Lewyn pairing would require Lewyn fucking Tailtyu while she's a prisoner of the Frieges and not... actually helping her, to get a sub 17 age for Tinne.

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

Well, chapter 6 occurs 17 years after the Battle of Belhalla - at least, so sayeth the wiki. But some of the kids - Seliph, Leif, the Sword Twins - have already been born. Others, it's ambiguous whether or not they exist yet. It's a fair bet that they're all under 20 at the start of Gen II, at the very least.

Right... It feels odd to consider all these kids as already born when they aren't acknowledged at all, with the exception of Seliph, Leaf, and Altenna (i.e. the kids without variable dads). But it's not like any of the pairings will retire to a lovely country mansion after ch.5.

6 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

If you do, you'll trigger a special after-battle conversation where Lex receives an instantaneous magical blood transfusion that ups him to Major Neir and gives him Helswath for the rest of the map.🤪

-I'm kidding. It works for the final battle of Gen 2 tho'!😜

Crossover idea: Genealogy  x  Vampire: The Masquerade

Spoiler

In that setting, the powerlevel of a vampire depends on their generation - the fewer bites between them and the first vampire (the biblical Kain), the more powerful a vampire. However, if a younger vampire somehow manages to eat an older, more powerful one, they acquire their powers. Very forbidden, very dangerous, because other vampires will be able to sense if one of them has recently "diablerised" somebody.

 

6 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

That "i" is a typo. It's "Kurosu Natsu", which when smoothed out becomes "Cross-Nots". Because they're supposed to be so strong that nobody on the Jugdrali continent should dare to get on their bad side. I swear this is true by the Crystal Stars.😛

Very solid (weeb-)dad joke. Kudos.

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

"But wait!"

*Erinys pulls out the Brave Lance*

"There's more!"

Oh my god! Has science gone too far...?

*Noish!Fee procs Accost*

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

That's a funny way of writing "7x2 with Brave, or 13 with Silver, while wearing a Power Ring". C'mon, you know he can afford it...

Hmm....

(The question is more, "can Beowulf afford to buy it back? He's only Lv.25, so I'd prefer to paragon him through the arena, too." I suppose Scathach would appreciate +5 Str too, but the Power Ring would appreciate a wearer with a horse...)

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

Will he be getting the Silence staff as well?

I might have forgotten to have Deirdre sell it. *whistle*

 

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

13 hours ago, Jotari said:

We have discussed this, and I agree. Give us middle aged Adean. She's already seemingly reunites with her kids in Isaach as is, they just don't let us actually see middle aged Adean because middle aged women don't exist.

Oh yeah, I recall. Didn't mean to insinuate that this was some sort of debate between us. Just that this added detail reinforces the original point.

Would've been nice to see an aged l-up Edain, even just as an NPC. Maybe give her unique conversations with Lester and Lana, if they return to the home castle.

13 hours ago, Jotari said:

Yeah, Diarmuid is playable in Chapter 6, remember? Or is he so bland one forgets even that. As for Nana, she got lost at some point and ended up in Leinster.

Well yeah, I know that much. But my assumption was that Diarmuid joined up with the Tirnanog crew sometime after the Battle of Belhalla. Either by his own volition, or because a surviving Lachesis dropped him off there.

As for Nanna... wait... according to the wiki:

Spoiler

Nanna was born in Leonster in the year preceding its downfall, she lived most of her life on the run with her mother and Leonster's Prince Leif as they evaded capture by the Friege forces occupying the Munster District.

So Nanna must have been born after Belhalla, because Lachesis would've never been to Leonster beforehand. In that case, Nanna wouldn't have been among the squad going to Tirnanog. In fact, she may have never stepped foot (hoof?) onto Isaachian soil.

13 hours ago, Jotari said:

What would be hilarious about that is Lex still wouldn't be able to pass it down to anyone since none of his children can use axes.

He'd pass it down, it would just be unusable. Like the Valkyrie Staff on Arthur.

7 hours ago, ping said:

might have forgotten to have Deirdre sell it. *whistle*

Oops! Well, at least you can buy it back, starting in chapter 8. The bad news, Status Staves cost a fortune in this one.

7 hours ago, ping said:

The question is more, "can Beowulf afford to buy it back? He's only Lv.25, so I'd prefer to paragon him through the arena, too."

If he sells the Paragon Band, then that's 20K. Exactly enough to re-purchase the Power Ring. Even if having to sell it, then buy it back, feels sub-optimal.

7 hours ago, ping said:

Grmph. The next time I ßee a ẞpaniard type out their laughter, I shall parße it at "yayayaya" aß retribution.

I, for one, am looking forward to the impending maßacre. Even if it is a rather macaßre scene...

14 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

That "i" is a typo. It's "Kurosu Natsu", which when smoothed out becomes "Cross-Nots". Because they're supposed to be so strong that nobody on the Jugdrali continent should dare to get on their bad side. I swear this is true by the Crystal Stars.😛

Weird, I thought Eldigan's squad was pronounced "Ecks-Nights".

14 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Which in turn can result in the one attacking the other (you probably have to Rescue the crazy sword swinger first)

If you were to use a mounted unit with the Return Band, then they could self-Return immediately after attacking.