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

[Saint Rubenio]

24 minutes ago, ping said:

Wait, Hannibal only joins in ch.9, and Hawke doesn't exist for me. Or did I miss you being a huge Faval fanboy?

Uhhh...

See, something funny just happened. I uh, completely forgot there's a map between this and Thracia proper. I had a feeling I was forgetting something, so I went to the wiki to check, saw the next map is called "The Wyvern Knights of Thracia" and just sort of assumed "yeah, next up is Thracia then."

Sheesh.

[ping]

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Uhhh...

See, something funny just happened. I uh, completely forgot there's a map between this and Thracia proper. I had a feeling I was forgetting something, so I went to the wiki to check, saw the next map is called "The Wyvern Knights of Thracia" and just sort of assumed "yeah, next up is Thracia then."

Sheesh.

Beginner's mistake, Ruben. A chapter featuring Hannibal would never be called "The Wyvern Knights of Thracia", now would it? Meanwhile, "For Whose Sake" is clearly a rhetorical question with only one sensible answer.

2 hours ago, Jotari said:

Related to the above, Fanore is my personal localization of Phinora, so that's what I was referencing in my previous comment, in case that was unclear.

Whoops... Yeah, should've deduced that myself.

Thinking about the "King Quan" thing... I still think it's odd to just give him that title without further comment, but I suppose there are scenarios where he would be called such, even if he isn't officially named king in absentia. Even if it's just the Leonster population murmering that "the real king" might still be somewhere out there and will clobber that bastard Blume one of these days.

[Saint Rubenio]

8 minutes ago, ping said:

Beginner's mistake, Ruben. A chapter featuring Hannibal would never be called "The Wyvern Knights of Thracia", now would it? Meanwhile, "For Whose Sake" is clearly a rhetorical question with only one sensible answer.

Oh but you're so right, though.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

On 4/3/2024 at 6:43 PM, Jotari said:

wonder why Ring wasn't using it out in Isaach though. Was he just not in the right class or something? Is Ring a mage? Cleric? Unpromoted Armoured Knight?

Maybe Duke Knight? His parents always wanted him to go into the family business of Bows, but the Lances were a' callin'.

On 4/3/2024 at 6:43 PM, Jotari said:

There is the break between Chapters 1 and 2 where she's staying at Evans and Jungby is just a stone's throw away across the river. The possibility of finding Briggid is the specific reason she doesn't just go home at that point, so it makes sense she'd organize its delivery at that point.

Yeah, not really a plot hole, as there are a thousand and one ways to fill it. "Maybe she took it off of Gandolf's corpse." "Maybe she sent Midir ro pick it up between chapters." "Maybe it never left her side to begin with."

9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Fine youths, yes. I'm sure this claim won't be put into question by Ishtar's actions later on.

Oh boy, I can't wait for her writing to be consistent, and not vacillate wildly between and within chapters!

9 hours ago, ping said:

: "The Yied Desert... It's a treacherous place. Very few lone travellers survive it..."

...Wait, didn't this very chapter confirm that you don't actually have to cross the Yied Desert, to get from Leonster to Tirnanog? You can skirt it to the southeast, and avoid having to cross any sand tiles. Unless that portion is also treated as "desert", in spite of appearances.

9 hours ago, ping said:

This one... Yeah, I guess you're supposed to visit this one before seizing Melgen, too.

Kinda funny, in a meta sense, that Leif's small force is receiving information that would be far more beneficial to Seliph's army. How is Nanna learning about Ishtore, while the armies are still divided, supposed to help Seliph and company defeat him?

9 hours ago, ping said:

To nitpick a little - Seliph is calling Tinni "ma'am" and the older-looking Leylia "miss". I know, Leylia shares her dialogue with Lene, but surely, "miss" would've been more appropriate for Tinni, too?

Maybe he refers to commoners as "miss" and nobles as "ma'am"? Boom, Seliph is classist.

Alternatively, it can be seen as reflective. Laylea address him as "Mister", so Seliph responds with "Miss". Tinne calls him "Sir", so Seliph calls her "Ma'am".

9 hours ago, ping said:

Obviously, Fee isn't the character most in need of even more Spd,

If she ain't doubling sword cavalry with the Horseslayer, then she's still not fast enough, dammit!

10 hours ago, ping said:

And with stacking even more hit from her newly-wed husband and from Leylia (who wasn't quite in time to help Fee), she even reaches a pretty reasonable chance to hit.

Wait, does marriage provide a Hit boost? I know it provides +20 Crit when adjacent, but I hadn't heard of a Hit boost until just now.

10 hours ago, ping said:

: "Nngh... How? How could I lose... I've no choice... For now, I must retreat to Connaught..."

This is actually really absurd. A gravely wounded Bloom, stumbling his way to Connaught in a full suit of armor. Seliph's army... inexplicably letting it happen. Leaving him plenty of time for the journey. Or what, is there an underground tunnel between these two castles?

10 hours ago, ping said:

Speed is a stat that is much more swingy - both in how much its own importance varies and in just how much it can flip a character's combat performance on its head - than any other stat.

Insofar as that goes, I agree. I've played enough RD to recall no blessing greater than a Speed-blessed Micaiah. And no curse more foul than a Speed-cursed one.

10 hours ago, ping said:

I don't think we'll be meeting Jake in this run - I believe he's only there for some secret substitute scenes, starring subs sadly absent from the team.

Yeah, Ethnia's children - the substitutes for Arthur and Tinne - can meet Jake in chapter 8, improving their Resistance. Unfortunately, his portrait is

10 hours ago, ping said:

 with brown hair

Unlike Anna's unique one.

10 hours ago, ping said:

That would be amazing. Because surely, they would all drop their Leg Rings, right? Right?!

I mean, if you can find anyone in your army brave and vulgar enough to pry it from a Mage Girl corpse's leg, then by all means...

8 hours ago, Jotari said:

Marth also seemed to be just really attached to that prince title. Like, sure, during Shadow Dragon we have some justification about exile and not having your land and stuff...but then there's a three year gap between Book 1 and Book 2. Is it really that hard to organize a coronation over a span of three years? Give the people an excuse to celebrate, they deserve it after the occupation and winning the war.

See, Kaga actually planned a Book 3, where Marth went on an intercontinental fetch quest collecting the various trinkets and baubles that would be required for his coronation. But it wasn't in the budget.

Alternatively, Altea operates under "Shrek 1" rules, and Marth can't become King until he gets married.

9 hours ago, Jotari said:

Thr thing about Sylvia's survival is that they designed Coirpre to look about fourteen for some strange reason. So she and whatever variable husband she had kind of had to survive for at least a bit afterwards.

That, or zombie shenanigans.

[Jotari]

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

...Wait, didn't this very chapter confirm that you don't actually have to cross the Yied Desert, to get from Leonster to Tirnanog? You can skirt it to the southeast, and avoid having to cross any sand tiles. Unless that portion is also treated as "desert", in spite of appearances.

The route Seliph took would necessitate traveling through the entirety of occupied Isacch. Maybe she went due north to reach Tir Na NOg from the west.

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

Kinda funny, in a meta sense, that Leif's small force is receiving information that would be far more beneficial to Seliph's army. How is Nanna learning about Ishtore, while the armies are still divided, supposed to help Seliph and company defeat him?

You can visit these villages with Fee (or Hermina) who could relay the information to Seliph.

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

This is actually really absurd. A gravely wounded Bloom, stumbling his way to Connaught in a full suit of armor. Seliph's army... inexplicably letting it happen. Leaving him plenty of time for the journey. Or what, is there an underground tunnel between these two castles?

He visibly warps away on screen (turns out Kaga made Thracia entirely to canonize the existence of Rewarp staves).

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

You can visit these villages with Fee (or Hermina) who could relay the information to Seliph.

Not wrong. You could also do the ol' "mass Return" strat to get the Leonster squad back to Rivough, after getting all the relevant information. Of course, neither is what the average player might be expected to do.

...Interestingly, this is actually a scenario where a Xane would be super useful. I like to send Fee westward, to help out Shannan and Patty. But it's also desirable for her to go south to Leonster. Getting one of each would be huge.

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

The route Seliph took would necessitate traveling through the entirety of occupied Isacch. Maybe she went due north to reach Tir Na NOg from the west.

You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous of which is, never start a land war in Jugdral. But only slightly less famous: never cross sand tiles as a cavalry unit!

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

He visibly warps away on screen (turns out Kaga made Thracia entirely to canonize the existence of Rewarp staves).

Oh huh, I forgot about this. My despise for Rewarp, as a narrative feature, must have obfuscated the memory.

...At least it wasn't Julius ex machina this time...

[Jotari]

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

Not wrong. You could also do the ol' "mass Return" strat to get the Leonster squad back to Rivough, after getting all the relevant information. Of course, neither is what the average player might be expected to do.

...Interestingly, this is actually a scenario where a Xane would be super useful. I like to send Fee westward, to help out Shannan and Patty. But it's also desirable for her to go south to Leonster. Getting one of each would be huge.

I think a lot of players would naturally send their flier down to help Leif. They just naturally seem more like the characters in trouble (even though depending on how you do inheritance they probably aren't) and saving the villages seems like something you need more free units to maximize efficiency at. Meanwhile the instinct for Shannan and thiefgirl would be to run away, rather than turn around and just annihilate the place they were just escaping in the narrative. I have tossed around the idea of making a thread where I recommend players new to the series to play Genealogy as their second or third game, because the gameplay really is a lot better and a lot more fun when you're...bad at Fire Emblem.

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

Oh huh, I forgot about this. My despise for Rewarp, as a narrative feature, must have obfuscated the memory.

...At least it wasn't Julius ex machina this time...

That's the funny thing, I think they explicitly say that Julius isn't using a staff to warp around and using his own powers...and then Bloom also earlier warped away without explanation as to how. I guess we should conclude he was using a staff because Julius is specifically stated not to, but when no self warping staff exists in the game then it's a bit of a weird...I don't know if gameplay story segregation or integration is the right term here. A weird thing. Let's just say that. Or, just that he had a secret return ring in his inventory and Connacht was actually his home castle.

[ping]

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

...Wait, didn't this very chapter confirm that you don't actually have to cross the Yied Desert, to get from Leonster to Tirnanog? You can skirt it to the southeast, and avoid having to cross any sand tiles. Unless that portion is also treated as "desert", in spite of appearances.

You can go all the way from Leonster to Tirnanog and only ever cross Plain and Road tiles. Although going right past a desert filled with evil wizards sounds like a risky proposition for a lone traveler, too. I wanted to refute that because Raquesis is still a Lv.30 Master Knight, but even with her 27 Str, she'd still need a Brave weapon to avoid getting counter-chipped to death. With a Silver Axe (22 Mt), she'd still only one-shot the Lv.1 Dark Mages (41 HP | 7 Def).

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

Maybe he refers to commoners as "miss" and nobles as "ma'am"? Boom, Seliph is classist.

Alternatively, it can be seen as reflective. Laylea address him as "Mister", so Seliph responds with "Miss". Tinne calls him "Sir", so Seliph calls her "Ma'am".

Surely, a classist wouldn't use any honorific at all for common folk.

I like the reflective reasoning, though. Maybe it's just that "Ma'am" sounds like Seliph thinks he's talking to a middle-aged woman and not a girl that's roughly 15-16 years old.

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

Wait, does marriage provide a Hit boost? I know it provides +20 Crit when adjacent, but I hadn't heard of a Hit boost until just now.

Yup. One's lover (but not sibling) is always Charming enough to give the same +10 hit as the skill, in addition to the lover/sibling crit.

(https://serenesforest.net/genealogy-of-the-holy-war/miscellaneous/calculations/ <-- under "Accuracy")

6 hours ago, Shanty Pete&#x27;s 1st Mate said:

I mean, if you can find anyone in your army brave and vulgar enough to pry it from a Mage Girl corpse's leg, then by all means...

Ayra pried it from a pirate corpse's leg back in chapter 3.

4 hours ago, Shanty Pete&#x27;s 1st Mate said:

You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous of which is, never start a land war in Jugdral. But only slightly less famous: never cross sand tiles as a cavalry unit!

🤓 Actually, Sand tiles are functionally identical to standard Plain tiles. Desert tiles are a separate category 🤓

 

[Saint Rubenio]

8 hours ago, Shanty Pete&#x27;s 1st Mate said:

Oh boy, I can't wait for her writing to be consistent, and not vacillate wildly between and within chapters!

I do have to give this to Blume: Tinni notwithstanding, he is probably the most moral member of his family. It's him or Ishtore, but Ishtore amounts to a throwaway bossman and I really do not trust this "fine youths" fella when he puts Ishtar in the same sack, so who even knows there.

5 hours ago, Shanty Pete&#x27;s 1st Mate said:

Oh huh, I forgot about this. My despise for Rewarp, as a narrative feature, must have obfuscated the memory.

...At least it wasn't Julius ex machina this time...

 

5 hours ago, Jotari said:

That's the funny thing, I think they explicitly say that Julius isn't using a staff to warp around and using his own powers...and then Bloom also earlier warped away without explanation as to how. I guess we should conclude he was using a staff because Julius is specifically stated not to, but when no self warping staff exists in the game then it's a bit of a weird...I don't know if gameplay story segregation or integration is the right term here. A weird thing. Let's just say that. Or, just that he had a secret return ring in his inventory and Connacht was actually his home castle.

Ishtar was using a rescue staff. There, solved.

1 hour ago, ping said:

Actually, Sand tiles are functionally identical to standard Plain tiles. Desert tiles are a separate category 🤓

Small terminology error, Ping wins, Shanty Pete loses.

[CelestialContrail]

12 hours ago, Jotari said:

I think a lot of players would naturally send their flier down to help Leif. They just naturally seem more like the characters in trouble (even though depending on how you do inheritance they probably aren't) and saving the villages seems like something you need more free units to maximize efficiency at. Meanwhile the instinct for Shannan and thiefgirl would be to run away, rather than turn around and just annihilate the place they were just escaping in the narrative. I have tossed around the idea of making a thread where I recommend players new to the series to play Genealogy as their second or third game, because the gameplay really is a lot better and a lot more fun when you're...bad at Fire Emblem.

For what it's worth, I did actually play Genealogy as my second Fire Emblem game (first was Fates: Birthright) and I do think that playing it before my expectations of what a Fire Emblem game should be like had solidified did help me approach it on its own terms.

[ping]

FE4 Chapter 8: The Dracoknights of Thracia

Alster/Leonster (Turn 0-1)

Spoiler

__

The two faces of the Thracian Peninsula are as distinct as night and day. The peninsula's north, once ruled by several small kingdoms, is graced with rich pastures, while the south, the Kingdom of Thracia, is a harsh wasteland dominated by vast mountains. In ages past, seeking to claim the life-giving northern land as their own, Thracia's infamous dracoknights have led countless brash attempts to conquer the north, only to be repelled at every turn by the might of House Leonster. Thracia looked to have won at last following their slaughter of Leonster's army in the Yied Desert, only to be defeated in turn by Blume of Freege, who claimed the land as his own.

And so, the so-called Kingdom of North Thracia was born as yet another servant of the Empire. Over a decade has passed since then. Not even Thracia's King Travant, an ambitious man with a thirst for power and glory, dares to challenge the will of the Empire, and so a strange peace looms over the region. Or so it did, until the arrival of Seliph and his liberation army.

Blume's defeat at his own capital has abruptly tipped the balance of the Thracian stalemate. Both the Alster and Leonster territories nwo lie under the liberation army's control, forcing Blume to retreat to Connaught and muster the strength to take Alster back. The southern Manster Castle, governed by the "goddess of lightning", Princess Ishtar, braces itself for the threat of Thracian invaders. Meanwhile, across the border in Thracia itself, both King Travant and his border watchman, General Maykov of Meath Castle, remain eerily silent. The people are united in their fondest wish: for the entirety of the Thracian Peninsula to return to the rule of House Leonster. And so dawns yet another battle...

Ruben, I think your usual portrait analysis skills might fail you here.

Honestly, it's a shame that almost all of this happened off-screen. It sounds a lot more interesting than Seliph's much more straightforward the-good-guys-beat-the-bad-guys story, with Travant the backstabber's back being stabbed by a better backstabber in Blume. Somebody should make a game that takes place in that setting.

(To be honest, I don't know how much T776 makes use of this mêlée à trois. Really, I don't remember much of what actually happens in T776 - I know that for a significant portion of the game, Leif is desperately fleeing from assailants, but I don't remember what his actual endgame is.)

: "Nngh... Curses! Never did I imagine that the rebels could pose such a threat. Banba! How could the three of you let yourselves be cowed into fleeing? What a disgrace!"
: "A thousand apologies, milord. However, you've nothing to worry about anymore. Even as we speak, General Muhammad prepares his brigade to lay siege to Alster, and General Ovo's cavalry are en route to Leonster. We, too, shall rejoin the fray shortly."
: "Hrm... Don't you dare fail me this time. And what of King Travant? Why are the promised Thracian reinforcements nowhere to be seen?"
: "We've yet to receive any response to any of our messages so far."
: "Gah... What in the blazes is that snake thinking?"
: "King Travant is an ambitious man. To blindly trust him would be foolish."
: "No matter. Even without his forces, we've more than enough power to stop the rebels cold. Banba! Fotia! Eriu! Move out at once. This time, leave not a single rebel alive!"
: "Yes, milord. We will not fail."

: "Sir Ced, please! We all can't take much more of King Blume's abuses! How long... How long will it be until Manster is free from the Empire?"
: "Don't lose hope now! Even as we speak, Lord Seliph and his liberators are out there fighting for the District. They'll be here before long. Go! Tell your friends and family that your freedom is so very nearly in reach! Please, my friends, believe me. Manster's freedom is fast approaching!"

Like with Shanan for Isaach, Leif seems a bit sidelined here. I suppose that permadeath necessitates that - more than for Shanan, anyway, who hadn't even joined when Seliph was made Isaach's one big hope.

: "Pardon me, Father, but King Blume is requesting our aid yet again. The Empire has already lost both Alster and Leonster to the Isaach rebels. He wishes to use us to help reclaim them."
: "The Isaach rebels are led by that Seliph brat... Sigurd's spawn, correct? Heh... Poor, poor Blume. He's getting so old, even little children are a thorn in his side! Pay Blume no heed, Arion. The Empire and the rebels are best left to break themselves on each other for now. We'll mop up the leftovers once they're nice and weak."
: "I should have known, Father... All along, you've been waiting out Blume's little storm, haven't you?"
: "But of course! It'd make no sense to bend over backward for the man who snatched our hard-won north out from under our noses, would it? Leonster's downfall should have meant a peninsula unified under our rule... I'll never forgive nor forget Blume's craven conquest."
: "Even now, we still lack the power to truly match Grannvale on an even battlefield... I can only imagine your frustration, Father."
: "Thracia's fate depends on a unified peninsula. The verdant northern soils are the perfect cure for the famine and poverty wracking our south. We've been shunned and vilified for centuries, dismissed as ravenous hyenas... Yet what choice did we ever have? If not for our answer to this world's craving for sellswords, Thracia would never have had the funds to barely survive as we do. We've toiled in poverty long enough, Arion. It's high time Thracia carved itself a future! A future, I might add, which depends on the outcome of the game laid before us..."
: "Mm."

So is Hoshido vs Nohr just the worse sequel to Leonster vs Thracia? Hell, Thracia's king even kills his enemy counterpart in an ambush and kidnaps - sorry, adopts - their child afterwards.

: I have a bad feeling about this, Seliph... Is Leonster well guarded?"
: "I believe so, but then again, reinforcing it further certainly wouldn't hurt. Should I send them some support?"
: "Do it."
: "With Blume still on the loose in Connaught, there's no sense in skimping on the defenses. Oh, and also, we've received a plea for help from the people of Manster Castle. The sooner our forces reach them, the better."
: "Very well. We shall make the first move!"

So, as a result, Leif, Nanna, and Finn move a little to the north to start the map in Leonster instead of our home base.

Which sucks, because it means that they can't do their arena runs without disabling the start-of-turn save feature, which doubly sucks because Leif is carrying the Paragon Band into this chapter and thus has to do his run first (or, at least, very early).

The map! With Manster still under a red flag, although I think it will eventually turn green with Ced on its defenses.

To be honest, even disregarding the problem with the arena, I don't think that having Team Leonster start at their own castle was super necessary. Why not have it unguarded at the start and urge the player to send whoever they deem appropriate to defend it north as quickly as possible? And if it requires you to send your horsies to Leonster, that would give the remaining infantry more importance in fending off the group of enemies closing in on Alster.

____

And this is said group, led by who I believe is Chagall, and not even a simple recolour. Being able to use a Brave weapon in both melee and ranged is quite dangerous, especially paired with Pavise, although we have a number of characters that can survive two hits from Chaghammad without too much trouble.

I'm also relieved that the Bishop is just a healer, not a status staff user.

__

Ready to ride against Leonster is a group of horsies led by Izana's biggest rival for the Best Hair trophy of the year.

The generics in this group aren't terribly threatening - Jav Cavs and Troubadours with Slim Swords, so one half is inaccurate and the other half can't hit very hard at all.

Guarding the chokepoint towards Connaught is a smaller group of enemies, but they're supported by a trio of Bolting Mages.

But before we have to deal with that, the Mage sisters are back, and faster than ever. As a Binding Blade enjoyer, I'm devestated that Kaga didn't do Boots For Everyone!! first.

And finally, Blume is back, but left his Mjölnir tome somewhere. HMMMM. Instead, he's carrying the fourth Bolting tome on the map - we'll see how threatening he'll be with it.

__

In the easternmost part of the map, we have a trio of village-destroying villains - at least I assume that the Rogue is going to be part of that, too. In any case, he's probably a prick. Because the two villages nearby are in a cul-de-sac separated from the road between Manster and Meath by a mountain range, Fee is the obvious character to save them, so adding effective weaponry against her is a little mean.

That'll teach me not to find Alec a nice Peggy Sue for a girlfriend.

Well then, on to the arena. Opponents for this chapter are the following:

(1) Dewey - Lv.5 Fighter
	40 HP | 9 Def | 0 Res
	[Iron Axe] - 23 Atk | 78 Hit | -14 Avo | -7 AS
	[Hand Axe] - 19 Atk

(2) Fete - Lv.8 Thunder Mage - Item: Shield Ring
	34 HP | 1+5 Def | 7 Res
	[Elthunder] - 23 Atk | 102 Hit | 2 Avo | 1 AS

(3) Marshach - Lv.11 Paladin
	51 HP | 12 Def | 6 Res
	[Steel Lance] - 28 Atk | 104 Hit | 0 Avo | 0 AS
	[Javelin]     - 24 Atk

(4) Luis - Lv.14 Myrmidon - Skill: Pursuit
	44 HP | 9 Def | 1 Res
	[Steel Sword] - 21 Atk | 108 Hit | 22 Avo | 11 AS

(4R) Hester - Lv.14 Archer - Skill: Pursuit
	44 HP | 9 Def
	[Steel Bow] - 25 Atk | 98 Hit | 12 Avo | 6 AS

(5) Malder - Lv.17 War Mage - Item: Shield Ring - Skill: Adept
	47 HP | 12+5 Def | 10 Res
	[Elfire] - 29 Atk | 110 Hit | 6 Avo | 3 AS

(6) Gismont - Lv.20 General - Skill: Pavise
	60 HP | 18 Def | 5 Res
	[Steel Axe] - 34 Atk | 94 Hit | -14 Avo | -7 AS
	[Steel Bow] - 30 Atk

(7) Xenon - Lv.23 Swordmaster - Skills: Pursuit, Adept
	63 HP | 13 Def | 5 Res
	[Silver Blade] - 38 Atk | 102 Hit | 30 Avo | 15 AS

(7R) Jackson - Lv.23 Sniper - Skill: Pursuit
	63 HP | 13 Def
	[Silver Bow] - 36 Atk | 106 Hit | 20 Avo | 10 AS

Wiki.org lists Pursuit as Malder's skill. Not something that can be disproven by a screenshot, but I did see him proc Adept (i.e. attack twice before his opponent had a chance to counter), and that is the War Mage class skill.

And this is the progress I've made:

	  Lv.	  HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Res  Funds  XP    Arn
Seliph	  16.90	  52  17   4  20  15  20  16   6  15124  +320  [7] -- holds Paragon
Ulster	  16.72	  51  20   2  22  16   8  17   1  40514  +440  [*]
Larcei	  18.64	  54  20   2  24  24  16  16   1  15660  +376  [*]
Julia	  15.33	  37   0  23  10  17  10   4  23  800    +188  [7]

Fee	  17.23   45  14   6  13  21  11  13  15  28242  +420  [*]
Arthur	  17.84	  51   0  18  21  21  21   5   7  36393  +364  [*]
Johalvier 18.71   49  17   0  11  16   7  17   3  37420  +264  [7]
Leif	  15.73	  45  20   5  17  14  13  15   4  50000  +576  [*]

Finn	  26.12	  47  22   0  16  22  20  19   4  32915  +152  [*]
Nanna	  9.95    37  11   3   9   9  13   8   4  14832  +84   [4]

And here's the first victim of the lack of RNG abuse. I'll see if Nanna can have another shot at getting further in - she doesn't really have the money for Paragon, but that only means that she really wants the money from the arena to buy/repair her staves.

__

The final opponent, as a Swordmaster, has both Pursuit and Adept (with a 35% activation rate), which makes him rather RNG-dependent even for characters more suited for the arena, not to mention poor Johalvier. Maybe Julia can find a good string later - Seliph honestly should be able to, with his crit Silver Sword.

However, Julia just barely earned enough money to buy the Silence staff that Lana really should've had inherited. With her 23 Mag, she can shut down Blume, if he turns out to be a problem (and, indeed, there might be another worthwhile target), so that's potentially quite nice.

Because I can't save during all this, I also have to play through turn 1 for this update, including some convos:

: "Lord Seliph..."
: "Oh, Julia. Is something the matter?"
: "I... I'm scared... I sense an evil presence... Something dark... And it's closing in..."
: "What do you mean?"

(this part of the dialogue only advances very slowly)

: "Julia! What's happening to you?!"
: "Ahh... I... W-what in the world just...?"
: "Julia... You're..."

[+1 Lck --> Seliph]

I hope that Julia's ability to see the future doesn't just... happen and won't be brought up again. Prophecy was supposed to be Bragi's thing, I thought, not Naga's.

: "Er... Yeah, I suppose so."
: "Hmmm! Who know you had it in you? I never would've guessed that you're even able to worry about anyone but yourself! I might have to rethink everything just a bit!"
: "Well, er, you're something of a special case..."
: "Huh?"
: "Er, never mind! Anyway, just don't do anything too rash, alright? See you..."
: "Arthur..."

[+3 HP --> Fee; +100 love points]

I do enjoy the banter between the two, although it's more one-sided here (and also not really in line with how I saw Arthur's character? The guy has been traveling the world just to find his sister, after all).

__

So, this is where we end the update: Team Leonster and a warped Patty for stealing purposes to the north; everybody else (except Ulster, who'll be warped next turn, and Lana, who will do the warping) to the south.

: "Move in on Alster Castle! We've nothing to fear from these rebels! If anyone dares to question my command, come forth and allow me to relieve your neck of your head! ...No volunteers? Good. Attack!"
: "Good, everything's ready. Men, we tear through Leonster's defenses in one fell swoop! We'll not let Muhammad's men put us to shame!"
: "It is time, then... Fotla, Eriu, shall we proceed? We'e no room for error this time."

Man, Muhammed even inherited Chagal's penchant for decapitation...

 

11 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Small terminology error, Ping wins, Shanty Pete loses.

That is how the internet works. It's unfortunate that he can still override that by portraying me as the crying wojak and himself as the chad.

[BrightBow]

35 minutes ago, ping said:

: "Thracia's fate depends on a unified peninsula. The verdant northern soils are the perfect cure for the famine and poverty wracking our south. We've been shunned and vilified for centuries, dismissed as ravenous hyenas... Yet what choice did we ever have? If not for our answer to this world's craving for sellswords, Thracia would never have had the funds to barely survive as we do. We've toiled in poverty long enough, Arion. It's high time Thracia carved itself a future! A future, I might add, which depends on the outcome of the game laid before us..."

When the issue is famine, it's hard not to wonder how much feeding a dragon needs compared to an ordinary horse. Sure, they are fictional creatures, but the general understanding of animals is that the bigger they are, the more food they need to sustain themselves.

I do wonder if Southern Thracia has wild dragons too or if they are all domesticated. Because it's hard to imagine they could survive down here when food is so scarce.

Of course narratively speaking it's convenient that the Thracian mercenaries have dragons, so that they can easily appear wherever the plot needs them to be. Plus, it's also just another take on the sibling dragon knights concept from FE1.
 

43 minutes ago, ping said:

So is Hoshido vs Nohr just the worse sequel to Leonster vs Thracia? Hell, Thracia's king even kills his enemy counterpart in an ambush and kidnaps - sorry, adopts - their child afterwards.

Then uses the kid as a bomb, which seems like a waste of effort if you ask me.

Of course, if anything looks at least mere conceptually like an idea with some promise in modern Fire Emblem, it's always already been done better either pre-Elibe or in the Saga series.
No matter how badly it was done to begin with, they will rise to the challenge and somehow find a way to do it much worse.
 

54 minutes ago, ping said:

And finally, Blume is back, but left his Mjölnir tome somewhere. HMMMM. Instead, he's carrying the fourth Bolting tome on the map - we'll see how threatening he'll be with it.

I do appreciate how after his first defeat, he doesn't come back any stronger and instead is now a mere shadow of his former self.

Also puts the power of the divine weapons into perspective.

[Saint Rubenio]

1 hour ago, ping said:

 

Ruben, I think your usual portrait analysis skills might fail you here.

Hmmm...

It's the handsome man with the giant hair. He's the playable there, clearly.

2 hours ago, ping said:

So is Hoshido vs Nohr just the worse sequel to Leonster vs Thracia? Hell, Thracia's king even kills his enemy counterpart in an ambush and kidnaps - sorry, adopts - their child afterwards.

Yeah, another moment of modern FE drawing inspiration from the old and doing it worse, I guess. Though in that case, it seems like the primary inspiration were the unfulfilled ambitions of the Arran/Samson split.

2 hours ago, ping said:

: I have a bad feeling about this, Seliph... Is Leonster well guarded?"
: "I believe so, but then again, reinforcing it further certainly wouldn't hurt. Should I send them some support?"
: "Do it."

That's beautiful. No witticisms, it's just beautiful.

2 hours ago, ping said:

__

And this is said group, led by who I believe is Chagall, and not even a simple recolour. Being able to use a Brave weapon in both melee and ranged is quite dangerous, especially paired with Pavise, although we have a number of characters that can survive two hits from Chaghammad without too much trouble.

I'm also relieved that the Bishop is just a healer, not a status staff user.

Eyup, you're correct. That is indeed just Chagall. Made fun of this before, but I'll do it again because... seriously, why reuse Chagall? Macbeth was right there! He's the height of forgettableness, after the Verdane gang! I guses he looks a tad too "old noble" like for a general, but... Then just reuse the mustache guy for the 3rd time, or heck, constipated dude for the 8th time. It's better than reusing Chagall!

2 hours ago, ping said:

Ready to ride against Leonster is a group of horsies led by Izana's biggest rival for the Best Hair trophy of the year.

He'll lose.

Oh, and this guy? Another of the game's never-reused faces. Right next to Chagall 2. It's like they did it on purpose.

2 hours ago, ping said:

__

In the easternmost part of the map, we have a trio of village-destroying villains - at least I assume that the Rogue is going to be part of that, too. In any case, he's probably a prick. Because the two villages nearby are in a cul-de-sac separated from the road between Manster and Meath by a mountain range, Fee is the obvious character to save them, so adding effective weaponry against her is a little mean.

That'll teach me not to find Alec a nice Peggy Sue for a girlfriend.

Hermina would've had no problem.

2 hours ago, ping said:

Jackson 

Michael?

2 hours ago, ping said:

: "Move in on Alster Castle! We've nothing to fear from these rebels! If anyone dares to question my command, come forth and allow me to relieve your neck of your head! ...No volunteers? Good. Attack!"
: "Good, everything's ready. Men, we tear through Leonster's defenses in one fell swoop! We'll not let Muhammad's men put us to shame!"
: "It is time, then... Fotla, Eriu, shall we proceed? We'e no room for error this time."

Man, Muhammed even inherited Chagal's penchant for decapitation...

Dang, maybe it really was intentional.

...Still don't know if it was the wisest joke to make, but...

2 hours ago, ping said:

That is how the internet works. It's unfortunate that he can still override that by portraying me as the crying wojak and himself as the chad.

If he dares, simply deploy a "ur mom" on him.

1 hour ago, BrightBow said:

I do appreciate how after his first defeat, he doesn't come back any stronger and instead is now a mere shadow of his former self.

Also puts the power of the divine weapons into perspective.

To be pedantic, he's not really a "shadow of his former self", he's the exact same guy minus the legendary. Your second point stands, though.

[Jotari]

 

5 hours ago, ping said:

 

: "Sir Ced, please! We all can't take much more of King Blume's abuses! How long... How long will it be until Manster is free from the Empire?"

In my different backstories for the subs thread I suggested making this guy be Hawk in the timeline where Ced exists, to show Hawk is still there and fightinging even if he's not the acquired playable character.

4 hours ago, BrightBow said:

When the issue is famine, it's hard not to wonder how much feeding a dragon needs compared to an ordinary horse. Sure, they are fictional creatures, but the general understanding of animals is that the bigger they are, the more food they need to sustain themselves.

It's no issue, Travant feeds his wyvern population using Soylent Green methods. Keeps the peasent numbers down to better share the crops too.

 

Edited April 6 by Jotari

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

4 hours ago, ping said:

That is how the internet works. It's unfortunate that he can still override that by portraying me as the crying wojak and himself as the chad.

"You're too late, Ping!"

4 hours ago, ping said:

So is Hoshido vs Nohr just the worse sequel to Leonster vs Thracia? Hell, Thracia's king even kills his enemy counterpart in an ambush and kidnaps - sorry, adopts - their child afterwards.

I never made that connection, but it makes sense, I guess. At least Travant isn't made of goo. Probably.

4 hours ago, ping said:

Like with Shanan for Isaach, Leif seems a bit sidelined here. I suppose that permadeath necessitates that - more than for Shanan, anyway, who hadn't even joined when Seliph was made Isaach's one big hope.

TBH it'd be pretty funny if everyone hyped a Leif who died early in chapter 7. I mean, it's not like the commoners would know he's died. Except, of course, we live in a world where news travels instantaneously.

4 hours ago, ping said:

: "I should have known, Father... All along, you've been waiting out Blume's little storm, haven't you?"

I can't tell if Arion is disgusted, or impressed, with his father. Should be the latter, but his resting bitch face implies the former.

5 hours ago, ping said:

Wiki.org lists Pursuit as Malder's skill. Not something that can be disproven by a screenshot, but I did see him proc Adept (i.e. attack twice before his opponent had a chance to counter), and that is the War Mage class skill.

Literally Malding.

I don't think he'd have Pursuit, since I believe Arena enemies only haveclass skills. Adept is a class skill for War Mage, while Pursuit is not.

5 hours ago, ping said:

: "Move in on Alster Castle! We've nothing to fear from these rebels! If anyone dares to question my command, come forth and allow me to relieve your neck of your head! ...No volunteers? Good. Attack!"
: "What's this?"
: "It is time, then... Fotla, Eriu, shall we proceed? We'e no room for error this time."

Oh boy, five named enemies already? I'm sure the game will show restraint and not throw any more at you before Connaught.

6 minutes ago, Jotari said:

In my different backstories for the subs thread I suggested making this guy be Hawk in the timeline where Ced exists, to show Hawk is still there and fightinging even if he's not the acquired playable character.

Oh you meant this guy? Yeah, tbat works, I guess. He does sound a bit "desperate" to be Hawk, though. Hawk should be a "trusted lieutenant" to Ced, IMO. Someone just as calm, cool, and collected as his boss.

5 hours ago, ping said:

In the easternmost part of the map, we have a trio of village-destroying villains - at least I assume that the Rogue is going to be part of that, too. In any case, he's probably a prick. Because the two villages nearby are in a cul-de-sac separated from the road between Manster and Meath by a mountain range, Fee is the obvious character to save them, so adding effective weaponry against her is a little mean.

That'll teach me not to find Alec a nice Peggy Sue for a girlfriend.

Oh yeah, I briefly forgor about this one! Kinda crazy strong for a generic enemy at this point. Take note of the Rogue's "Steal" skill. It's not just for show.

...Actually, I wonder if Nihil blocks Steal as well...

[Jotari]

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

Oh boy, five named enemies already? I'm sure the game will show restraint and not throw any more at you before Connaught.

Guess how many of them are bosses in Thracia 776? (Genuinely @pingtell me your guess for how many named characters from this chapter you fight in Thracia when you're done with it, I'll give you a hint, the number is not zero and it's not nine)

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

Oh you meant this guy? Yeah, tbat works, I guess. He does sound a bit "desperate" to be Hawk, though. Hawk should be a "trusted lieutenant" to Ced, IMO. Someone just as calm, cool, and collected as his boss.

We'll actually I was specifically thinking of the one later on who Ced talks to with a village background, but it can be both. And in a "Ced-exists sideline-Hawk timeline" the rebel leader's interlocutor can be a bit more calm and pragmatic about the situation (and then a panicked generic npc in the "Ced-non-existent Hawk-leader timeline")

Edited April 6 by Jotari

[ping]

8 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

That's beautiful. No witticisms, it's just beautiful.

: "I know."

8 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Michael?

Hee-hee!

8 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Hermina would've had no problem.

I probably would never have to ask myself, "Can Hermina do this?"

8 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Dang, maybe it really was intentional.

...Still don't know if it was the wisest joke to make, but...

It's possible that Project Naga added that as a little joke, too. For all we know, Not-Chagall could've just made a more generic death threat.

6 hours ago, Jotari said:

In my different backstories for the subs thread I suggested making this guy be Hawk in the timeline where Ced exists, to show Hawk is still there and fightinging even if he's not the acquired playable character.

It definitely would make sense for some of the subs to turn up once in a while. Would make for a nice little highlight for replays if you could recognise some of the seemingly one-off NPCs.

6 hours ago, Jotari said:

It's no issue, Travant feeds his wyvern population using Soylent Green methods. Keeps the peasent numbers down to better share the crops too.

So an African elephant eats about 150-175 kg every day. Let's extrapolate that a wyvern would have to eat about two people every day - humans would have a higher calorie density than an elephant's diet, but a flying animal would have higher energy consumption, too. I think it was established earlier that 30 Dracoknights is shockingly large force in Jugdral, so let's say that Thracia has a standing flying army (...you know what I mean) of 50-70 Wyverns - maybe a bit of a lowball, but let's just go with it for now. This would put the annual number of human snacks necessary to feed the airforce at 36'500-51'100. A city with about 5000 inhabitants would have been considered fairly large in medieval times, so we can conclude that Thracia's Dracoknight squad has to eat about 7-10 entire cities every year, if not more.

6 hours ago, Shanty Pete&#x27;s 1st Mate said:

"You're too late, Ping!"

Oh, shoot! Er... er...

9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

If he dares, simply deploy a "ur mom" on him.

ur moms too late!

There, gottem.

6 hours ago, Shanty Pete&#x27;s 1st Mate said:

Oh yeah, I briefly forgor about this one! Kinda crazy strong for a generic enemy at this point. Take note of the Rogue's "Steal" skill. It's not just for show.

...oh geez. I think I might have to send somebody with the Thief Sword in that direction, just to be safe.

3 hours ago, Jotari said:

Guess how many of them are bosses in Thracia 776? (Genuinely @pingtell me your guess for how many named characters from this chapter you fight in Thracia when you're done with it, I'll give you a hint, the number is not zero and it's not nine)

Hmm...

• Blume: It would be a bit silly to give him another "curses! I have defeated, but I cannot fall!" case, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen. I'll give it 50%.
• Muhammad: Random guy with a recycled portrait. 10%.
• Ovo: Random guy with a unique portrait and big hair. 20%.
• Mage Sisters: They're more established than the previous two mooks, so I would be less surprised if they made an appearance. 40%, so that's an expected value of 1.2.
• Ishtar: I'd be very surprised if she didn't appear in T776, but if I had to guess, I'd say that the game tries to humanise her, not use her as an antagonist. Still, same as her dad: 50%
• Faval: Would be funny. I mean, he does work as a mercenary for House Freege. But using a playable character as an enemy in the prequel (to gen2)... Unlikely, I'd say. 20%
• Arion: Looks very Camühy, which would make it more likely that he'll appear in T776 to unwittingly help Leaf in some way. 30%
• Travant: He didn't have a "curses!" scene like Blume yet, but I don't see a reason to give him another value than Blume's 50%.

So that would give a total expected value of 3.5 Thracia bosses - 2.7 if we count the Mage Sisters as one three-headed monkey boss. I'll see if there will pop up any more enemies in addition to Ishtar and Faval to increase that number.

[BrightBow]

34 minutes ago, ping said:

It's possible that Project Naga added that as a little joke, too. For all we know, Not-Chagall could've just made a more generic death threat.

I would say that's unlikely, considering that the old translation was also talking about decapitations.
 

35 minutes ago, ping said:

...oh geez. I think I might have to send somebody with the Thief Sword in that direction, just to be safe.

Keep in mind, the village right there also gives you the Thief Ring.

[Saint Rubenio]

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

Oh you meant this guy? Yeah, tbat works, I guess. He does sound a bit "desperate" to be Hawk, though. Hawk should be a "trusted lieutenant" to Ced, IMO. Someone just as calm, cool, and collected as his boss.

He's sick of holding back his wondrous power. Ced insists it's important to his plans, but in reality he is just jealous that Hawke's self-made power is greater than his inherited big boy blood, so he doesn't let him do anything.

[Jotari]

3 hours ago, ping said:

• Blume: It would be a bit silly to give him another "curses! I have defeated, but I cannot fall!" case, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen. I'll give it 50%.

We'll, bare in mind it would, possibly, be the same event as in Genealogy (Thracia's timeline is in sync with Genealogy for the previous chapter and this chapter) which would soften the repetition a bit...if it does happen, I'm not saying it does or it doesn't... yet.

Edited April 6 by Jotari

[CelestialContrail]

11 hours ago, ping said:

...oh geez. I think I might have to send somebody with the Thief Sword in that direction, just to be safe.

If an enemy thief steals your cash in this game, you can't steal it back - it's just gone. I think the enemies don't have a memory location to store how much gold they have and the game just looks up how much money the class they're in has by default and uses that when you steal from them.

[Interdimensional Observer]

On 4/4/2024 at 9:53 AM, ping said:

With how adamantly these two don't call each other cousin, I have to wonder if there's some cultural context here. I vaguely remember hearing/reading that a married woman, by traditional Japanese custom, will join her husband's family and not be considered as part of her old family anymore, which is why Ethlyn is worried that it might be unproper for her to ask Quan to help her brother.

-And yet, feudal Japan's political elite still considered marital ties to be important. As Samurai Warriors has told me, Nobunaga gave his sister to the Azai samurai clan in order to make it into an ally. ...Only for Nagamasa to choose poorly and side with his clan's traditional ally the Asakura clan instead of his brother-in-law, leading to the death of him and his son with Oichi. Going back even further, during the Heian period, the Fujiwara noble clan dominated the imperial court (this is pre-rise of the bushi/samurai), a position of power derived from continually wedding their daughters to Emperors, resulting in a strong familial tie between imperial family and the Fujiwara clan.

On 4/4/2024 at 2:05 PM, ping said:

Thinking about the "King Quan" thing... I still think it's odd to just give him that title without further comment,

Should've gone with "Quan the Brown Prince". Or some other adjective instead of brown. We've no idea how he got the name, but "Edward the Black Prince" was a real person's posthumous epithet, and it sounds cool let's ignore Camus the Sable.

 

On 4/5/2024 at 8:42 PM, Jotari said:

It's no issue, Travant feeds his wyvern population using Soylent Green methods. Keeps the peasent numbers down to better share the crops too.

Is it Soylent Green if it's wyverns eating humans though? Isn't the whole shock that it's cannibalism? Soylent Green for Wyverns then would be wyverns eating wyverns.

17 hours ago, ping said:

A city with about 5000 inhabitants would have been considered fairly large in medieval times, so we can conclude that Thracia's Dracoknight squad has to eat about 7-10 entire cities every year, if not more.

Don't worry, Manster District's famed fertility applies to the farmers too. A few border raids each year won't dent the North's population.

As much as I'm liking the idea of tossing dozens of human captives in a big pit in the ground, six meters deep, no ladders, everyone helplessly awaiting the moment a wyvern swoops in and crunches into their rib cage... I don't think Jugdral -or any other currently extant place in FE, is suited for it.😛

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

On 4/6/2024 at 6:13 AM, Saint Rubenio said:

He's sick of holding back his wondrous power. Ced insists it's important to his plans, but in reality he is just jealous that Hawke's self-made power is greater than his inherited big boy blood, so he doesn't let him do anything.

Most likely, yes. Thank you for continuing to spead the Gospel of Hawke.

On 4/6/2024 at 12:00 AM, Jotari said:

We'll actually I was specifically thinking of the one later on who Ced talks to with a village background, but it can be both. And in a "Ced-exists sideline-Hawk timeline" the rebel leader's interlocutor can be a bit more calm and pragmatic about the situation (and then a panicked generic npc in the "Ced-non-existent Hawk-leader timeline")

Alternatively, Hawk appears on both sides of the conversation, if no Ced exists. It is then explained that he is talking to himself in the mirror.

On 4/6/2024 at 3:47 AM, ping said:

ur moms too late!

"I'm not owned! I'm not owned!" I insist as I gradually shrink down into a corncob.

On 4/6/2024 at 3:47 AM, ping said:

This would put the annual number of human snacks necessary to feed the airforce at 36'500-51'100.

Farmers: 3000

Merchants: 600

Knights: 300

Wyvern Chow: 45000

Craftsmen: 1200

Someone who is good at the economy help me. My people are dying.

On 4/6/2024 at 8:58 PM, Interdimensional Observer said:

As much as I'm liking the idea of tossing dozens of human captives in a big pit in the ground, six meters deep, no ladders, everyone helplessly awaiting the moment a wyvern swoops in and crunches into their rib cage...

*flashes back to Babi Yar*

[Interdimensional Observer]

11 hours ago, Shanty Pete&#x27;s 1st Mate said:

Alternatively, Hawk appears on both sides of the conversation, if no Ced exists. It is then explained that he is talking to himself in the mirror.

Or, ventriloquism with a life-sized puppet manipulated via few almost-invisible strings.

11 hours ago, Shanty Pete&#x27;s 1st Mate said:

*flashes back to Babi Yar*

That's seriously darker than I had intended to be.😐

I had this image in mind actually:

Just a insectoid bioweapon with an insatiable appetite grabbing lunch from the fridge (perhaps after marinating in a vat that dissolves them into more digestible and less combative nutrients).

[Revier]

Just chiming in to say that I've been really enjoying this retrospective and all the discussion around it. Fire Emblem as a franchise has never particularly enticed me, but I do love how ambitious Genealogy of the Holy War is, and think it could've been a truly great story with some fine editing and tuning. Ah well, perhaps one day we will get the much eluded remake that will sharpen all of its rough edges. Though it must be admitted that some of them, like simulating entire countries with ingame maps, contribute to its innate charm.