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

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 minute ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Ahhhhhhh, now I know which one you're referring to... That one's quite popular, though I didn't think he was all that. The man the myth the legend, August definitely has him beat.

Popular b/c formerly playable with a whole five minutes of not-too-useful brokenness? Popular because he seems to have committed identity theft?

...Actually I don't recall him ever giving battlefield advice, exposition and morality tongue lashings perhaps, but nothing about combat?

[Saint Rubenio]

18 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Popular b/c formerly playable with a whole five minutes of not-too-useful brokenness? Popular because he seems to have committed identity theft?

...Actually I don't recall him ever giving battlefield advice, exposition and morality tongue lashings perhaps, but nothing about combat?

Yeah, you can call him advisorman basically because he checks the "NPC that talks to the MC when he has nobody else to talk to" box, but he doesn't really give much in the way of military advice. He's as much an advisor as Oifey is an Oifey.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Just now, Saint Rubenio said:

Yeah, you can call him advisorman basically because he checks the "NPC that talks to the MC when he has nobody else to talk to" box, but he doesn't really give much in the way of military advice. He's as much an advisor as Oifey is an Oifey.

Clearly, we should have an advisor that knows nothing of war, and instead is some kind of licensed therapist. Between battles, our protagonist reclines on a bench lined with a few nice cushions in a small war tent nobody but him and his psyche is allowed to enter, and so he begins rambling off about losing his parents and homeland at such a young age and his utterly milquetoast-yet-he-insists-are-intense feelings towards some young lady. -I know, I ain't really selling the idea very well.

[Saint Rubenio]

9 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Clearly, we should have an advisor that knows nothing of war, and instead is some kind of licensed therapist.

Well... The advisor of VS2 checks the first box. Except instead of a licensed therapist, he's just a thief.

10 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Between battles, our protagonist reclines on a bench lined with a few nice cushions in a small war tent nobody but him and his psyche is allowed to enter, and so he begins rambling off about losing his parents and homeland at such a young age and his utterly milquetoast-yet-he-insists-are-intense feelings towards some young lady. -I know, I ain't really selling the idea very well.

No no, you're cooking something. The therapist can help him look inside himself, discover why his "intense feelings" are so milquetoast, and why he oftentimes fantasizes about the naked body of the allied country's dashing blonde prince.

[Interdimensional Observer]

18 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

No no, you're cooking something. The therapist can help him look inside himself, discover why his "intense feelings" are so milquetoast, and why he oftentimes fantasizes about the naked body of the allied country's dashing blonde prince.

I'm aware of who/what you mean. And I did not intend to refer to that.😆

TBF, some people to this day have spiritual advisors. And for most of human history, if one wanted counseling for the mind, a cleric of some kind was probably the only or most available option. A nice nun or monk could fulfill that role in FE-styled game, or perhaps a philosopher as sometimes would've existed IRL.

-The issue is I have no idea how one would write well such a situation.😅 All three aspects of it: the counseling-wanting/needing lord & their issues, the counselor, and the act of counseling itself.

Edited December 22, 2023 by Interdimensional Observer

[Saint Rubenio]

16 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I'm aware of who/what you mean. And I did not intend to refer to that.😆

Perhaps not, but I drew my own conclusions.

17 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

TBF, some people to this day have spiritual advisors. And for most of human history, if one wanted counseling for the mind, a cleric of some kind was probably the only or most available option. A nice nun or monk could fulfill that role in FE-styled game, or perhaps a philosopher as sometimes would've existed IRL.

-The issue is I have no idea how one would write well such a situation.😅 All three aspects of it: the counseling-wanting/needing lord & their issues, the counselor, and the act of counseling itself.

It'd be up to the execution, of course, but I find it an interesting idea, personally.

[ping]

19 hours ago, Jotari said:

While we're here, I wonder what Gotoh was doing in that Macedonian village. Like, does he live there? Does he have an actual house with idk a butter churn and stuff with neighbours who know of him as the wise and powerful sage with locals bothering him all the time to ask him to bless their chickens? Or has he only been there recently, as a sort of refugee from Dolhr after Medeus return, with Macedon being the closest nation (even if they're aligned Michalis seems whiley enough to hold onto the great sage rather than let Dolhr have him).

I'm not sure how detailled the timeline is, but since Gato was the head honcho of Khadein before, a possible scenario is that he fled the city after Garnef murdered Linda's dad. I know that he named Linda's dad his successor before that (as that is what triggered Garnef to create the Maph spell to begin with), but I don't think it's explicitly said that he already handed over the keys.

15 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Gotoh still drops the f*** bomb, just after Michalis leaves his presence. Pity and a scolding. I'm sure ala a Japanese(?) old wives' tale, Gotoh's talk of Michalis behind his back caused the Usurper King to sneeze so loudly, that his wyvern was shocked and made a little "drop off" midair, landing on an unassuming Macedonian civilian Frost.

True, but at least it's only while monologuing, and Gotoh uses "fool" in a tone that's more compassionate than Gato's, and than what Michalis honestly deserves.

15 hours ago, BrightBow said:

He does it in FE1 too. Why the DS remake felt the need to change that, I have no idea.

In FE1, he doesn't move on turn 1, only when you walk into his range, so he isn't in a position to gang up on anybody with his buddies. I remember that Shiida could've just one-rounded him with Gradivus, and that it was also perfectly safe to set up the kill for Minerva, since he has literally no support in that game.

15 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Funnily enough in FE1 Michalis actually starts out on the gate, but swaps positions with another dragonrider on the first turn. It's quite fun missing that and to only notice Michalis once he is right up your face.

This does happen in FE3, too!

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

TBF, some people to this day have spiritual advisors. And for most of human history, if one wanted counseling for the mind, a cleric of some kind was probably the only or most available option. A nice nun or monk could fulfill that role in FE-styled game, or perhaps a philosopher as sometimes would've existed IRL.

-The issue is I have no idea how one would write well such a situation.😅 All three aspects of it: the counseling-wanting/needing lord & their issues, the counselor, and the act of counseling itself.

TNG does this, actually:

(starting at 3:10, if the timestamp doesn't work)

Don't ask for details, though, I'm really not a Trekkie, I've just seen this scene (or rather the "THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS" beforehand) referenced a lot among nerds. And I am quite aware that Fire Emblem and Star Trek are two rather different franchises.

[ping]

 

FE3 Book 1 Chapter 18: Evil Priest

Spoiler

Marth and the others were transported, by Archsage Gato's great Warp magic, to the ancient city of Thebes. At one time it was a proud town, possessing advanced civilisation, but now it is desolate and lifeless... At the central Thebes Tower... is where the Dark Bishop, Garnef, is situated. Marth and the others must recover the lost divine Falchion sword... And they must rescue Princess Ellis, who was captured by Garnef...

This map swooshes quite differently because of Gato's Warp spell. I was actually worried for a moment that my legitimate Nintendo PC copy of the game might be faulty.

: "Marth. You've finally come. I, Archbishop Garnef, have been waiting for a long time... It is a shame, but to secure my grasp upon this world you must die. Haha... Mediuth is under my control, there is nothing to fear. As long as I have the Falchion and Maph, even he cannot oppose me. Well, Marth, you must do battle with my images. The Falchion will be yours only if you can defeat the real me."

Strangely, this map is the first one that is completely new instead of the FE1 map with varying numbers of tweaks. The old version had a lot of dead space - namely, the two treasure chests were located in a room off the main path with zero enemies guarding them - so it's not like I think they threw out the greatest map of the original, but it's still odd that this seems to be the one map that they thought needed replacement.

And it's also not like I think the new map is anything special. Two narrow paths left and right that then converge into a simple hallway towards four Garnefs. Pretty generic, and because every enemy (at least those that you can't engage on turn 1) only move if you step into their range, it's not very difficult, either.

The greatest threat is probably the Garnef sitting on the throne wielding the 3-10-range Meteor spell. Every Bishop on the map is a Garnef, with the one straight below the throne being the real one wielding Maph. Even the heal-only Bishops at the flanks are Garnefs.

Step one: Linda and Kashim kill a Mage each through the wall. They can both 1v1 the nearby Snipers, too, as long as Linde gets healed after the Mage fight.

__

Enemies aren't positioned particularly clever, either, with very few overlapping ranges. You know that if this was FE12, those Heroes would only move once you're also in the three Garnefs's ranges. You still have to be careful, as two Heroes use Killing Edges and the one in the middle carries a Dragonslayer, but you can just fight them one by one without stepping into any additional enemy's range.

__

: "Those that dare to wield weapons against me will die. I'll show you the horrors of my sealing magic, Maph."

So yeah, let's skip ahead a bit. Linda does the first two round of combat vs. Garnef, chipping him down to 2 HP...

...so that the kill can go to a more proper target.

: "I don't believe it! Damn Starlight... But remember this. You may have bested me, but you won't be able to defeat Mediuth with your puny strength. Haha... I will be patiently awaiting you in Hell..."

Doesn't Garnef know that when you insult the strength of somebody who just now beat you, you're also commenting on your own ability? That's shittalking 101, really.

__

Speaking of non-overlapping ranges... The Generals have 5 movement to the Snipers's 7 and no 1-2 range, so those enemies also don't properly team up on you. With the "boss"-Garnef raining Meteors on you, this can obviously still be somewhat dangerous, but an injured Wendel easily draws more attention than Navarre and Kashim standing in (respective) range of the Snipers.

So yeah, pretty easy map overall, despite some of the enemies hitting very hard. It would've been quite possible for a Garnef to ruin an attempt with a crit, but I was lucky in that regard - and if not, some Barrier spell would've solved that problem, too, I'm sure.

Finally, Linda grabs the Bishop Ring that the Meteor!Garnef dropped to get what's very likely the last promotion during Book 1. She's pretty powerful at this point, with higher Str and Spd than Wendel and Rena.

: "Marth... I've missed you so much. Look at how you've grown... Father must be very happy..."
: "Sister!! After discovering that you had been taken by Garnef, I was extremely worried. I'm glad you're safe..."
: "Garnef captured me so that he could obtain the resurrection staff, Ohm, from Gato. If this staff is used at the temple south from Durhua, it can allow any person to come back to life. Let's go, Marth... To bring back the most important people that you lost. Let's go!! To Durhua!"

The Team:

	Lv. 	   HP Str Skl Spd Lck WLv Def Res  +XP
Marth	18.85	   35  18  13  16  18  19  11   0  +170
Sheeda	13/3.33	   24   9  17  20  20  19  14   1  +10
Biraku	14/3.58	   29  11   5  12   2  16   8   1  +85
Navarre	12/6.25	   32  17  15  20  16  15   9   3  +145

Lawrenc	8.28	   35  12   6   7   4  17  19   3  +328
Kashim	16/4.56	   35  17   8  16   5  11  12   2  +172
Julian	4.47	   17   5   7  12   8   2   4   0  +39
Banutu	8.59	   25   2   3   4   1   2   3   1  +50

Chiki	9.12	   17   3   7   8  16   9   3  10  +70
Linda	12/1.27	   23   6  11  17  13  15   5   7  +107*
Wendel	10.11	   28   3   3  15   3  14   5   6  +214
Rena	15/4.56	   20   4  19  10  20  15   5   8  +100

 

(this was supposed to be one post, but I accidentally pressed Ctrl+Enter when I was typing up the answers in a separate window. Whoops.)

[Jotari]

6 hours ago, ping said:

I'm not sure how detailled the timeline is, but since Gato was the head honcho of Khadein before, a possible scenario is that he fled the city after Garnef murdered Linda's dad. I know that he named Linda's dad his successor before that (as that is what triggered Garnef to create the Maph spell to begin with), but I don't think it's explicitly said that he already handed over the keys.

There are some very strange inconsistencies with that. The opening to Chapter 9 of Book 2/New Mystery says that Khadein was founded centuries ago by a mysterious sage who people only suspect is Gotoh. Said mysterious sage left in disgust when he saw the things humans were doing with magic. But then the perfect clear timeline at the end of book 2 puts the founding of Khadein at the year 550 specifically by Gotoh, which backs up Xane's comment about Gotoh finding Khadein after interacting with Anri. . That's only fifty years before the start of the war, making magic in Archanea very recent. So which is it? Did Gotoh find Khadein centuries ago or fifty years ago? Xane's comment can be dismissed as uninformed somehow, but the centuries ago figure and the perfect clear timeline date are direct pieces of information delivered by narrative to the player. It seems to be an outright contradiction of the game's text (unless there is a mistranslation somewhere). If there is any attempt at a resolution it would probably be that Gotoh did find it centuries ago, left in disgust, but then came back in the 50s after Anri warmed him up to humans a bit. Then the stuff with Gharnef went down.

Though...there's a little bit of confusion as to where the stuff with Gharnef went down too. It certainly feels like it should be at Khadein but it's never actually referenced as such. Wendell says Gotoh gave Aura and and Khadein to Miloah, but that's the only reference connecting Miloah to Khadein. Everywhere else he's known as Miloah, Archsage of Archanea. Course we can reasonably assume it went down in Khadein, but just how people talk about Miloah, I really get the sense he's a big deal in Archanea specifically. Maybe they're just really proud of him even though he's been living in Khadein far from Archanea for most of his life? And then he fled to Archanea with Linde when Khadein fell to Gharnef. Still though, if this even is what got Gotoh out of Khadein, why would he end up fleeing to Dolhr's ally Macedon instead of going to Archanea with Mioah?

The last part of the puzzle is the timing. Gharnef revived Medeus in 597. War didn't break out immediately. There was a three year period where Medeus was alive and, presumably, preparing for war. This period is when Michalis kills his father and the Grust royals are taken hostage. When war does break out properly, it's two more years until Archanea and Altea actually fall. And then two more years until Mark embarks and the story really begins. So what I'm saying is, accounting for the year the story needs to take place, it's actually been eight years, minimum, since Gharnef stole the dark sphere over the Aura dispute. And on that note, we don't actually know when Gharnef took over Khadein. It'd be a bit strange if he got automatic control of it after reviving Medeus. It must have been taken by Dolhr forces in the first years of the war. Unless it was really all the other pontifixes who overthrew Gotoh and Miloah in the pre war years because they wanted an alliance with Medeus.

Anyway what I mean by all that is that it's been a number of years since Gharnef revived Medeus and took control of Khadein one way or the other, so Gotoh had other options to end up in besides Macedon. Specifically Archanea where we know his other pupil was. That's why my original suggestion is that he was living in the pre-Medeus Dolhr. As at least if he's fleeing from there then the distance to Macedon is very small.

6 hours ago, ping said:

 

FE3 Book 1 Chapter 18: Evil Priest

  Hide contents

Marth and the others were transported, by Archsage Gato's great Warp magic, to the ancient city of Thebes. At one time it was a proud town, possessing advanced civilisation, but now it is desolate and lifeless... At the central Thebes Tower... is where the Dark Bishop, Garnef, is situated. Marth and the others must recover the lost divine Falchion sword... And they must rescue Princess Ellis, who was captured by Garnef...

This map swooshes quite differently because of Gato's Warp spell. I was actually worried for a moment that my legitimate Nintendo PC copy of the game might be faulty.

: "Marth. You've finally come. I, Archbishop Garnef, have been waiting for a long time... It is a shame, but to secure my grasp upon this world you must die. Haha... Mediuth is under my control, there is nothing to fear. As long as I have the Falchion and Maph, even he cannot oppose me. Well, Marth, you must do battle with my images. The Falchion will be yours only if you can defeat the real me."

Strangely, this map is the first one that is completely new instead of the FE1 map with varying numbers of tweaks. The old version had a lot of dead space - namely, the two treasure chests were located in a room off the main path with zero enemies guarding them - so it's not like I think they threw out the greatest map of the original, but it's still odd that this seems to be the one map that they thought needed replacement.

And it's also not like I think the new map is anything special. Two narrow paths left and right that then converge into a simple hallway towards four Garnefs. Pretty generic, and because every enemy (at least those that you can't engage on turn 1) only move if you step into their range, it's not very difficult, either.

The greatest threat is probably the Garnef sitting on the throne wielding the 3-10-range Meteor spell. Every Bishop on the map is a Garnef, with the one straight below the throne being the real one wielding Maph. Even the heal-only Bishops at the flanks are Garnefs.

Step one: Linda and Kashim kill a Mage each through the wall. They can both 1v1 the nearby Snipers, too, as long as Linde gets healed after the Mage fight.

__

Enemies aren't positioned particularly clever, either, with very few overlapping ranges. You know that if this was FE12, those Heroes would only move once you're also in the three Garnefs's ranges. You still have to be careful, as two Heroes use Killing Edges and the one in the middle carries a Dragonslayer, but you can just fight them one by one without stepping into any additional enemy's range.

__

: "Those that dare to wield weapons against me will die. I'll show you the horrors of my sealing magic, Maph."

So yeah, let's skip ahead a bit. Linda does the first two round of combat vs. Garnef, chipping him down to 2 HP...

...so that the kill can go to a more proper target.

: "I don't believe it! Damn Starlight... But remember this. You may have bested me, but you won't be able to defeat Mediuth with your puny strength. Haha... I will be patiently awaiting you in Hell..."

Doesn't Garnef know that when you insult the strength of somebody who just now beat you, you're also commenting on your own ability? That's shittalking 101, really.

__

Speaking of non-overlapping ranges... The Generals have 5 movement to the Snipers's 7 and no 1-2 range, so those enemies also don't properly team up on you. With the "boss"-Garnef raining Meteors on you, this can obviously still be somewhat dangerous, but an injured Wendel easily draws more attention than Navarre and Kashim standing in (respective) range of the Snipers.

So yeah, pretty easy map overall, despite some of the enemies hitting very hard. It would've been quite possible for a Garnef to ruin an attempt with a crit, but I was lucky in that regard - and if not, some Barrier spell would've solved that problem, too, I'm sure.

Finally, Linda grabs the Bishop Ring that the Meteor!Garnef dropped to get what's very likely the last promotion during Book 1. She's pretty powerful at this point, with higher Str and Spd than Wendel and Rena.

: "Marth... I've missed you so much. Look at how you've grown... Father must be very happy..."
: "Sister!! After discovering that you had been taken by Garnef, I was extremely worried. I'm glad you're safe..."
: "Garnef captured me so that he could obtain the resurrection staff, Ohm, from Gato. If this staff is used at the temple south from Durhua, it can allow any person to come back to life. Let's go, Marth... To bring back the most important people that you lost. Let's go!! To Durhua!"

The Team:

	Lv. 	   HP Str Skl Spd Lck WLv Def Res  +XP
Marth	18.85	   35  18  13  16  18  19  11   0  +170
Sheeda	13/3.33	   24   9  17  20  20  19  14   1  +10
Biraku	14/3.58	   29  11   5  12   2  16   8   1  +85
Navarre	12/6.25	   32  17  15  20  16  15   9   3  +145

Lawrenc	8.28	   35  12   6   7   4  17  19   3  +328
Kashim	16/4.56	   35  17   8  16   5  11  12   2  +172
Julian	4.47	   17   5   7  12   8   2   4   0  +39
Banutu	8.59	   25   2   3   4   1   2   3   1  +50

Chiki	9.12	   17   3   7   8  16   9   3  10  +70
Linda	12/1.27	   23   6  11  17  13  15   5   7  +107*
Wendel	10.11	   28   3   3  15   3  14   5   6  +214
Rena	15/4.56	   20   4  19  10  20  15   5   8  +100

 

(this was supposed to be one post, but I accidentally pressed Ctrl+Enter when I was typing up the answers in a separate window. Whoops.)

And of course the DS remake of Shadow Dragon restored the original NES map. Relegating this alternate map to a very weird place in the series' history. At least it allowed me another official map to use in Fall of Thabes.

[Saint Rubenio]

14 hours ago, ping said:

Strangely, this map is the first one that is completely new instead of the FE1 map with varying numbers of tweaks. The old version had a lot of dead space - namely, the two treasure chests were located in a room off the main path with zero enemies guarding them - so it's not like I think they threw out the greatest map of the original, but it's still odd that this seems to be the one map that they thought needed replacement.

And it's also not like I think the new map is anything special. Two narrow paths left and right that then converge into a simple hallway towards four Garnefs. Pretty generic, and because every enemy (at least those that you can't engage on turn 1) only move if you step into their range, it's not very difficult, either.

Oh wow, I never knew this. This map's... I don't know, it's certainly a bit more streamlined, but at the same time it looks even more boring?

14 hours ago, ping said:

You know that if this was FE12, those Heroes would only move once you're also in the three Garnefs's ranges.

There'd also be a ring of ambush reinforcements popping out of the sides of the map.

Ahh, FE12.

14 hours ago, ping said:

Doesn't Garnef know that when you insult the strength of somebody who just now beat you, you're also commenting on your own ability? That's shittalking 101, really.

Garnef has low self-esteem.

14 hours ago, ping said:

: "Garnef captured me so that he could obtain the resurrection staff, Ohm, from Gato. If this staff is used at the temple south from Durhua, it can allow any person to come back to life. Let's go, Marth... To bring back the most important people that you lost. Let's go!! To Durhua!"

Ahahahahahah! Yes, that is the correct answer.

[ping]

9 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Ahahahahahah! Yes, that is the correct answer.

: "B-but what about father..?"
: "Did I f***ing stutter."

 

[BrightBow]

21 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

There'd also be a ring of ambush reinforcements popping out of the sides of the map.

Ahh, FE12.

From my experience with FE12, they would probably spawn somewhere in the center.

It's been quite an experience to see how many of those bullshit spawns in FE12 were just not in the original.
Like those dragons that spawn in the final chapter right in front of those chests to one-shot your thief? Not there.
Those spawns in the middle of the Fire Dragon graveyard to punish you if you go to fast despite this being exactly what you were told to do? Not there.

There is so much bullshit in those DS remakes that back in the day I attributed to antique NES era design, but as it turns out most of it was entirely original to the remakes.

[ping]

FE3 Book 1 Chapter 19: Mamkute Kingdom

Spoiler

"Durhua" is shrouded in a veil of mystery; a kingdom of Mamkutes. Everything started with the resurrection of the Dark Earth Dragon, Mediuth, at this country. The continent of Akaneia was ruined from endless warring. Many tragic tales have been born and destroyed. But time flows fast. Mediuth's ambitions, of Mamkutes ruling the world, must finally end. And Marth's journey must also reach its final destination.

: "You highness, look. That is Mediuth's castle."
: "...We've finally reached it. But why hasn't Mediuth left the castle to fight?"
: "According to Gato, Mediuth hasn't completely resurrected. Therefore he can only assume dragon form inside his castle, where the power of the seal does not affect..."
: "Power of the seal?"
: "Yes. I don't really understand either, but it seems it was created by the deities to protect from the evil dragon tribes. In this world there exists something known as the "Shield of Seals."
: "I have heard of that as well. It is mentioned in the legends of the Guardian God, Narga. But I thought it was all just a myth. If the Shield of Shields [sic] truly exists, then why has Mediuth appeared?"
: "Oh, that I... Anyway now is our chance, before he resurrects completely."
: "Yes. We've come all this way, and we're so close to returning peace. Okay, let's go, to Durhua!"

Sequel hook! I appreciate that the big artifact from the upcoming story is somewhat woven into this one, but it's rather funny that Advisorman goes "Um... er... Oh look, a three-headed monkey!" when Marth points out what might be a hole in the story.

The map! I unfortunately had to bench a few main characters - Maji and eventually Lawrence in favour of Minerva - to allow the Whitewings to make an appearance. It is, of course, obligatory to get at least one Triangle Attack in, and I'm not even sure if they can do one when dismounted, which I'm pretty sure they will be on the next, final map.

This map shows that Kaga was not happy with people skipping its FE1 version by triangling the boss and warping in Marth. Three Manakete surrounding the boss say no to that, so I guess we'll have to actually play the map.

Also, in order to save everybody's favourite tooth fairy, we will have to clear a path to the altar in the south. We don't really care about the treasure chest - a Firestone, and Banutu is doing fine - so there's no hurry. Although in retrospect, I think it was a bit of a wasted effort, since I warped in Ellis anyway. Depends on whether or not she can cast Ohm only from below the altar or from any direction, which I didn't check.

Speaking of Ellis...

[HP 50% | Str 10% | Skl 50% | Spd 60% | Lck 80% | Wlv 90% | Def 10%]

She has enough WLv to use Physic. I think that about sums up what she can do in addition to Ohming the dead.

__

And back to the map. It's another one of those long-walks-without-fighting Akaneia maps, which just isnt't terribly interesting. But the map makes up for that a bit by allowing some flier action early, like Sheeda nuking a poor unsuspecting dragon with the Gradivus.

____

Also, thanks to a small choke through the mountains, enemies will try to surround you if you just shove eastwards, although Chiki (with Iote's Shield; not sure if she's susceptible to arrows, but no need to risk it) can handle this pretty well with some healing support.

____

And secondary objective achieved.

____

The map honestly becomes pretty straightforward with Chiki preventing any backstab. Thanks to the Boots, Marth even gets to the throne quite early, and with the Gradivus, the Falchion, and Chiki, the boss and his three guardians really look like a bunch of chumps.

____

: "This world, and everything on it, is ours... The ones who intruded were you humans!"

__

Like, really.

At this point - turn 8, two before reinforcements come from the forts - I basically failed to stop the thief, although as I said, not really a problem. I do end up fighting the dragons and the Hero in the shrine, but because Ellis is still some ways away (that's... Linda up there, I think) and because of those reinforcements looming, Wendel still warps her in real quick.

__

He is back!

__

: "Even though you've entered my castle, I won't surrender to the likes of you! Right now, I'll show you the true might of us Earth Dragons!! Come... to me... I'll send you to the pits of Hell!"

The Team:

	Lv. 	   HP Str Skl Spd Lck WLv Def Res  +XP
Marth	19.85	   36  18  14  16  19  19  11   0  +100
Sheeda	13/9.38	   26  11  20  20  20  20  14   1  +605
Minerva	9.72	   23  12  11  16   9  17  13   1  +90
Paola	10.32	   23   7  10  13   5  12   8   6  +40

Katua	3.82	   19   5   6  12   7  10   7   6  +10	(base)
Est	6.57	   20   7   8  13  12  12   8   6  +85
Hardin	16/1.39	   28  14  15  16   7  17  10   6  --
Biraku	14/5.43	   29  11   9  12   2  18  10   7  +185

Navarre	12/6.25	   32  17  15  20  16  15   9   3  --
Kashim	16/5.16	   35  17   8  16   6  16  12   2  +60	(+5 WLv)
Banutu	8.79	   25   2   3   4   1   2   3   1  +20	(+7 HP)
Chiki	12.07	   18   6   9  10  19   9   3  10  +295

Wendel	10.83	   28   3   3  15   3  14   5   6  +72
Linda	12/1.77	   23   6  11  17  13  15   5   7  +50
Rena	15/5.36	   21   4  20  10  20  15   5   8  +80
Ellis	4.98	   18   1   5   5   3   7   4   5  +98	(base)

Mishln	5.48	   21   8   5   4   5   6  12   0  --

(Oh yeah, Kashim grabbed a Manual so that he can use the Parthia for the last stretch)

 

[Saint Rubenio]

1 minute ago, ping said:

: "Oh, that I... Anyway now is our chance

Hilarious. A more flowery script would probably handle this with more finesse, but I love it this way.

1 minute ago, ping said:

I think the most remarkable part of this chapter is that I like how the Resurrectory is pink in this game.

...Man, so good we're almost out of FE1 Again. There'll finally be things to talk about again lol

[ping]

2 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I think the most remarkable part of this chapter is that I like how the Resurrectory is pink in this game.

It does have dragons. Those are cool, I am told.

But yeah, one of the least memorable Big Epic Showdown maps of the series, even when you're actually playing it.

[Saint Rubenio]

6 minutes ago, ping said:

It does have dragons. Those are cool, I am told.

But yeah, one of the least memorable Big Epic Showdown maps of the series, even when you're actually playing it.

Friggin' generic recolor for a penultimate boss, this game. When's the next time they'd do that? Heddwyn? I mean, Heddwyn's fucking awesome, but...

[ping]

2 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Friggin' generic recolor for a penultimate boss, this game. When's the next time they'd do that? Heddwyn? I mean, Heddwyn's fucking awesome, but...

I'd count Clash! as PoR's Big Epic Showdown map, and Heddwyn's map as more of a little breather before the actual finale. Clash! has plenty problems, but it certainly is memorable.

[BrightBow]

42 minutes ago, ping said:

Sequel hook! I appreciate that the big artifact from the upcoming story is somewhat woven into this one, but it's rather funny that Advisorman goes "Um... er... Oh look, a three-headed monkey!" when Marth points out what might be a hole in the story.

Love me some Monkey Island.
 

42 minutes ago, ping said:

Also, thanks to a small choke through the mountains, enemies will try to surround you if you just shove eastwards, although Chiki (with Iote's Shield; not sure if she's susceptible to arrows, but no need to risk it) can handle this pretty well with some healing support.

She is not. Flying Dragons are the only dragons vulnerable to arrows.

Chiki completely destroys this map. All while making funny jet engine noises. It's beautiful.

Edited December 24, 2023 by BrightBow

[Jotari]

4 hours ago, ping said:

FE3 Book 1 Chapter 19: Mamkute Kingdom

  Hide contents

"Durhua" is shrouded in a veil of mystery; a kingdom of Mamkutes. Everything started with the resurrection of the Dark Earth Dragon, Mediuth, at this country. The continent of Akaneia was ruined from endless warring. Many tragic tales have been born and destroyed. But time flows fast. Mediuth's ambitions, of Mamkutes ruling the world, must finally end. And Marth's journey must also reach its final destination.

: "You highness, look. That is Mediuth's castle."
: "...We've finally reached it. But why hasn't Mediuth left the castle to fight?"
: "According to Gato, Mediuth hasn't completely resurrected. Therefore he can only assume dragon form inside his castle, where the power of the seal does not affect..."
: "Power of the seal?"
: "Yes. I don't really understand either, but it seems it was created by the deities to protect from the evil dragon tribes. In this world there exists something known as the "Shield of Seals."
: "I have heard of that as well. It is mentioned in the legends of the Guardian God, Narga. But I thought it was all just a myth. If the Shield of Shields [sic] truly exists, then why has Mediuth appeared?"
: "Oh, that I... Anyway now is our chance, before he resurrects completely."
: "Yes. We've come all this way, and we're so close to returning peace. Okay, let's go, to Durhua!"

Sequel hook! I appreciate that the big artifact from the upcoming story is somewhat woven into this one, but it's rather funny that Advisorman goes "Um... er... Oh look, a three-headed monkey!" when Marth points out what might be a hole in the story.

The map! I unfortunately had to bench a few main characters - Maji and eventually Lawrence in favour of Minerva - to allow the Whitewings to make an appearance. It is, of course, obligatory to get at least one Triangle Attack in, and I'm not even sure if they can do one when dismounted, which I'm pretty sure they will be on the next, final map.

This map shows that Kaga was not happy with people skipping its FE1 version by triangling the boss and warping in Marth. Three Manakete surrounding the boss say no to that, so I guess we'll have to actually play the map.

Also, in order to save everybody's favourite tooth fairy, we will have to clear a path to the altar in the south. We don't really care about the treasure chest - a Firestone, and Banutu is doing fine - so there's no hurry. Although in retrospect, I think it was a bit of a wasted effort, since I warped in Ellis anyway. Depends on whether or not she can cast Ohm only from below the altar or from any direction, which I didn't check.

Speaking of Ellis...

[HP 50% | Str 10% | Skl 50% | Spd 60% | Lck 80% | Wlv 90% | Def 10%]

She has enough WLv to use Physic. I think that about sums up what she can do in addition to Ohming the dead.

__

And back to the map. It's another one of those long-walks-without-fighting Akaneia maps, which just isnt't terribly interesting. But the map makes up for that a bit by allowing some flier action early, like Sheeda nuking a poor unsuspecting dragon with the Gradivus.

____

Also, thanks to a small choke through the mountains, enemies will try to surround you if you just shove eastwards, although Chiki (with Iote's Shield; not sure if she's susceptible to arrows, but no need to risk it) can handle this pretty well with some healing support.

____

And secondary objective achieved.

____

The map honestly becomes pretty straightforward with Chiki preventing any backstab. Thanks to the Boots, Marth even gets to the throne quite early, and with the Gradivus, the Falchion, and Chiki, the boss and his three guardians really look like a bunch of chumps.

____

: "This world, and everything on it, is ours... The ones who intruded were you humans!"

__

Like, really.

At this point - turn 8, two before reinforcements come from the forts - I basically failed to stop the thief, although as I said, not really a problem. I do end up fighting the dragons and the Hero in the shrine, but because Ellis is still some ways away (that's... Linda up there, I think) and because of those reinforcements looming, Wendel still warps her in real quick.

__

He is back!

__

: "Even though you've entered my castle, I won't surrender to the likes of you! Right now, I'll show you the true might of us Earth Dragons!! Come... to me... I'll send you to the pits of Hell!"

The Team:

	Lv. 	   HP Str Skl Spd Lck WLv Def Res  +XP
Marth	19.85	   36  18  14  16  19  19  11   0  +100
Sheeda	13/9.38	   26  11  20  20  20  20  14   1  +605
Minerva	9.72	   23  12  11  16   9  17  13   1  +90
Paola	10.32	   23   7  10  13   5  12   8   6  +40

Katua	3.82	   19   5   6  12   7  10   7   6  +10	(base)
Est	6.57	   20   7   8  13  12  12   8   6  +85
Hardin	16/1.39	   28  14  15  16   7  17  10   6  --
Biraku	14/5.43	   29  11   9  12   2  18  10   7  +185

Navarre	12/6.25	   32  17  15  20  16  15   9   3  --
Kashim	16/5.16	   35  17   8  16   6  16  12   2  +60	(+5 WLv)
Banutu	8.79	   25   2   3   4   1   2   3   1  +20	(+7 HP)
Chiki	12.07	   18   6   9  10  19   9   3  10  +295

Wendel	10.83	   28   3   3  15   3  14   5   6  +72
Linda	12/1.77	   23   6  11  17  13  15   5   7  +50
Rena	15/5.36	   21   4  20  10  20  15   5   8  +80
Ellis	4.98	   18   1   5   5   3   7   4   5  +98	(base)

Mishln	5.48	   21   8   5   4   5   6  12   0  --

(Oh yeah, Kashim grabbed a Manual so that he can use the Parthia for the last stretch)

 

Oh wow, you actually walked around instead if going through the mountains. You might be the first one in history to do that!

[ping]

11 hours ago, BrightBow said:

She is not. Flying Dragons are the only dragons vulnerable to arrows.

Chiki completely destroys this map. All while making funny jet engine noises. It's beautiful.

*makes notes for Book 2*

She has to be a bit careful of the Snipers, who iirc dealt 2x10 damage to her, but yeah, she suddenly becomes a lot more valuable as a unit when you actually play this map. In FE1, my Chiki just straight didn't fight a single dragon, since she also spawned in a bad spot in the final map.

11 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Love me some Monkey Island.

You've got to help me! I'm a victim of society!

8 hours ago, Jotari said:

Oh wow, you actually walked around instead if going through the mountains. You might be the first one in history to do that!

Honestly, the area across the mountain range wasn't safe for any non-dragon until Chiki (with some support from Sheeda with the Gradivus) cleared it up a little. Between that and me fighting my way to the shrine, I don't think I really lost any time with Marth's little detour. He's rather quick, what with Boots giving +4 Move in this game.

[ping]

FE3 Book 1 Final Chapter: The Chosen Ones

Spoiler

After a fierce battle, the allied army finally entered Durhua castle. They had surrounded the castle, and charged inside from all four gates. But seperating Marth's army was Mediuth's trap. The final battle, which will decide life or death, has begun. The chosen heroes' destined battle...

: "Marth. You truly are a hero for being able to reach here. In the past I used to hate these stupid humans, and so I cut off communications with them. However, after seeing you, I have now realised that humans aren't a lost hope. Go forth! The deities' chosen one, Aritia's Prince of Light. Send the Dark Earth Dragon, Mediuth, back to the eternal darkness once again!!"

Stupid hoomans.

And these are those Chosen Ones - some regulars, some faces we haven't seen in a while.

And here is the big bad evil huggable dragon.

Unfortunately, he retains his human portrait instead of switching to the doofus hand puppet face.

Stat-wise, Mediuth is a big ol' tank: With the exception of the Falchion, every incoming attack only hits at half power, which is much worse than just halved damage, since you need 32 Atk to just deal a single point of damage. I don't think Chiki pierces his ability in Book 1? She only uses Ice Breath, not Mist Breath, for the time being, so...

Anyway, offensively, Mediuth's hardly stronger than a regular Fire Dragon, dealing 22 Dmg instead of their 20, with the same zero AS.

The map looks quite similar to the original, although the tile set works a lot better here than in FE1, in my opinion. What's quite different is the enemy distribution - partly because this is an indoor map and FE1 had a few mounted enemies present.

But there's also just a bit more stuff to deal with early in the fight. Behind the door near Marth's starting location, there were only a (2-range) Ballista and a Paladin in FE1 to threaten any honest door-opening folks, but now there's four nearby enemies, plus one Meteor Bishop next to Mediuth ready to ruin your day.

So, step one: Ruin the Meteor Bishop's day.

__

This... didn't work out that well in the following enemy phase in a first attempt, but as long as Kashim avoids the crit (which he does on a second try), he's the best option for this. He doesn't have to take an attack from Medeuth, the Demon Dragon guarding the big man has to spend a turn transforming, and the second Bishop only has a... Physic staff, I think. Maybe Fortify.

__

Without the Meteor threat, Navarre and Marth can do a bit of work - the nearby Hero and General only use a Thunder Sword and Javelin, respectively, so they can't kill either of them even if they team up.

(Which they do. Bad screenshot timing, but that's Marthipan at 2 HP)

__

In the top left, Rena restores the Gradivus after Sheeda spammed it quite a bit on the last map, so that Lawrence can go choke the point. He two-shots the Hero and the Sniper, which means that he'll eventually win this little encounter.

Behind him, Rena and Linda spam Fortify for most of the fight. It's a good spell.

__

And in the top right, George crit-kills the incoming Bishop on enemy phase. If he hadn't, well, Marich, Boa, or Minerva could've just followed up.

The rest of the fight, George then practices for his Book 2 appearance (assuming he wasn't added by New Mystery, but considering he's present in Book 1 I assume that we'll see him again), playing tank with his Iron Bow in hand. He can tank a hit, which is enough with Rena and Linda casting two Fortifies per turn.

Obligatory Biraku kill. He crits, as you can see, but 2x15 damage would've been just enough to get the kill (...as long as the Bishop wouldn't have landed a crit himself).

__

Behold: Banutu's only stat gain (outside of the Angelic Robe he ate) in all of Book 1.

Kashim may or may not have been lucky here with enemy movement - I would guess that the Demon Dragon guarding Mediuth doesn't move anyway, but the (tome-less) Bishop makes sure that it can't attack Kashim from 1-range either way.

__

And with this crit vs. the Demon Dragon, the path is clear for Marth to start a-chippin' versus Mediuth.

: "I have awakened from my sleep. Rebels! You will suffer a fiery death by the flames of Hell."

2x9 damage dealt by Marth. Not a quick boss kill, but he'll get there.

Last thing outside of the Mediuth fight worth mentioning: Kashim can one-round dragons with the Parthia. Not bad.

And he can also deal small quantities of damage to Mediuth, ideal to set up a kill, wouldn't you say? With that, we need somebody with at least 34 Atk to deal the finishing blow.

__

Perfect!

...

...I tried.

: "Urgh... I could be .... Defeated by humans... But the heart. Aritia's prince, protected by the light... There will be... one day... When peoples' hearts only have evil inside them, and that is when my manifestations will appear. The heart... As long as there is light, darkness will never fade away..."

It's been brought up in the threat but... yeah, Mediuth really is more of a vaguely defined force of nature than an antagonist.

Oddly enough, this map is Seize, not Kill Boss, even though I would think that the final Book 2 map will be the latter. But in his mercy, Kaga made sure that you won't lose anybody after killing Mediuth, by entirely disabling enemy AI at this point. I was lucky and had the means to heal everything that would've needed healing, but... yeah, allowing the enemy to kill something after this boss kill would've been a dick move.

But yeah, that's it. Evil dragon killed, day saved, three cheers for the Starlord.

The 5 year war of Akaneia was finally over. The continent of Akaneia, which was surrounded by darkness, once again welcomed the light. And so, Marth's long journey had now finally come to an end...

: "Mmm... Sheeda. You must go back to report to your father, right? But if you don't return to Aritia immediately afterwards, then..."
: "...Yes...?"
: "Uh... Well... These lands, which have been ruined by war, must be restored as soon as possible."
: "Haha, Marth, always leaving the most important things until last. If you're a hero, then don't try to beat around the bush! Go ahead and tell Sheeda about your feelings."
: "Nina... What should I... Ah, my head... Sheeda..."
: "Oh! Ye-yes!?"
: "I hope... That you and I can go back together to Aritia..."
: "! ...Yes. I would like that..."

A romance for the ages.

__

Some of these postgame screens are a bit fucky, but it looks like the turns are just multiplied by 10 (or the "turns" string replaced by a zero, idk), except that the total seems completely off. Quick calculation in the head comes out at 200 turns in total.

What works just fine are the character endings, although I'm not going to include all these here. The main site has not only *a* script, but the very script this translation patch is using.

But to give you the Top 5, hoping I didn't scroll past anybody:

1. Kashim: 46 wins
2. Marth: 43
3. Biraku: 43
4. Sheeda: 42
5. Navarre: 31

Archers OP, clearly. And also, Enemies Not Numerous. In my PoR MM playthough, decidedly the other side of the spectrum in this regard, the Top 5 ranged between 135 and 187 kills.

__

I don't understand a word, so I'm just going to nod and smile.

The technological situation has been under control for a while now and I acquired a Japanese version of FE3 in the meantime, so I'll be able to swap to a newer translation patch for Book 2. Being European, I naturally drift towards the patch that uses "Shiida" and "Nabarl", but the smart thing to do seems to be to use the new NA Names version by RPGuy96 to make the playthough a bit of a playtest, too.

So, to cap it off, The Team:

	Lv. 	   HP Str Skl Spd Lck WLv Def Res  +XP
Marth	20.--	   37  18  15  16  20  19  11   0  +15*
Biraku	14/5.83	   29  11   9  12   2  18  10   7  +40
Sheeda	13/10.28   26  11  20  22* 20  20  14   1  +90
Minerva	9.72	   23  12  11  16   9  17  13   1  --

Navarre	12/6.55	   32  17  15  20  16  15   9   3  +30
Kashim	16/8.66	   38  19   9  18   6  17  12   2  +350	(+5 WLv)
Lawrnce 11.87	   38  14   7   8   4  19  20   4  +359
George	2.10	   25   7  10  12   4  11   8   4  +40

Banutu	9.34	   25   2   3   4   1   2   3   2  +55	(+7 HP)
Chiki	13.42	   18.5 7  10  11  20   9   3  10  +135
Rena	15/7.26	   21   5  20  10  20  17   5   8  +190
Linda	12/2.97	   23   7  11  18  13  16   5   7  +120

Boa	1.30	   22   4   7  10   4  12   5   6  +30
Wendel	12.12	   29   3   4  15   4  16   5   6  +129
Marich	3.00	   21   1   4   6   5   7   5   3  --

The final boss kill may have gone to Marth again, but hey, at least the two highest-leveled characters ended up being Wendel and Lawrence, at Lv.12 and Lv.11 promoted. Old Man squad represented.

(Chiki went from 36 to 37 HP this map, which would've been rounded down to 18 again if she had untransformed before the end of the map)

Book 1 Closing Thoughts:

Spoiler

For this, I think I might need to meditate on what I finished my write-up about FE1 with: "Honestly, a re-release that just added Atk/hit/avoid to character screens, a battle forecast, and smoother item management would absolutely go into B, no questions asked."

Does Book 1 fulfil these criteria? Well... partly. We have Atk/hit/avoid on the character screen... but the displayed hit is capped at 100, so it doesn't help nearly as much as it should. There's a battle forecast of sorts, but they apparently haven't figured out how to put all the relevant numbers on a single screen, nevermind subtracting Def from Atk, or Avo from Hit, to make life easier for the player. Item management is good, with bonus points for the convoy being large enough that I never had any issues with its capacity, with the only small knock being that you have to go two layers into the menu to trade items during combat. But as a whole, this means that FE3 is firmly in the middle between FE1 and GBAFE when it comes to UI.

One thing that might be related to that: Book 1 was, overall, really easy. Sure, there's the occasional difficulty spike, like the Silver Lance Paladins charging at you at the start of Camüh's map, but... even these felt very modest and more... frustating because of crit-related RNG dependencies, rather than truly difficult to figure out. I'm not sure how much of this comes from the increase numerical clarity - it does really help that you can figure out offensive and defensive benchmarks without opening serenesforest.net - and to which degree the game just has more favourable numbers for the player, but in either case, the game just wasn't terribly interesting.

As a result, I feel justified putting this into the C tier, alongside FE1 and Gaiden, and probably ahead of the two. Honestly, I was ready to not put this into B because I simply dislike that it's an incomplete remake, removing stuff, both maps and characters, from the game. But at the same time - if I hadn't known of Darros's excellence, or Wryf's baldness, or Roger's simping... would I really have noticed a Darros- or Wryf- or Roger-shaped hole in the character roster? Well, a Wryf-shaped hole maybe, as Rena joins a bit late considering she's your first healer now, but it's hard to deny that FE1 has a bunch of unit redundancies, where some don't have too much to distingish themselves from the competition.

But what we get in the end is a very ehhhh game. I didn't have a awful time playing it, but I'd be hard-pressed to find a reason to suggest the game to somebody outside of "historical curiosity". If somebody wanted to play The Game That Has Marth In It, I'd always suggest FE11, with maybe the addition of "and ignore the Forge and Reclass features if you want a gamefeel more authentic to the original". So yeah, Top of C tier it is.

Existing requests for Book 2:

Spoiler

Warren (Dayni)
Bantu (suggested as temporary by Zapp Branniglenn; requested as a starshard target by the Observer and Ruben)
Tiki (Interdimensional Observer, and I think Ruben didn't mind the Double Dragon request)
Mathis (Ruben, approved by Shaky)
Yumina, and NOT Malliensa (Ruben)
Arran (Shaky)
	Arran could use Libra, the Spd boosting thingie, since Manaketes don't double
Yubello (Ruben, lower priority)

 

 

[Saint Rubenio]

9 minutes ago, ping said:

Dang, what an absolute shame...

10 minutes ago, ping said:

Oddly enough, this map is Seize, not Kill Boss, even though I would think that the final Book 2 map will be the latter. But in his mercy, Kaga made sure that you won't lose anybody after killing Mediuth, by entirely disabling enemy AI at this point. I was lucky and had the means to heal everything that would've needed healing, but... yeah, allowing the enemy to kill something after this boss kill would've been a dick move.

You know, I'll give it this, that's a lot cooler than just ending the game right after the kill. Since chances are you did it with Marth, you inevitably get to watch as the entire enemy army freezes in awe of your incredible might. That's so neat.

11 minutes ago, ping said:

On a different note, I love how this cutscene takes place with the ominous dark castle as the backdrop.

11 minutes ago, ping said:

: "Nina... What should I... Ah, my head... Sheeda..."

I rather prefer his FE11 speech where he tries to be pompous about it and forgets his words.

12 minutes ago, ping said:

LeHF, the little known predecessor to , TF?rururu.

12 minutes ago, ping said:

The final boss kill may have gone to Marth again, but hey, at least the two highest-leveled characters ended up being Wendel and Lawrence, at Lv.12 and Lv.11 promoted. Old Man squad represented.

Proud of ya.

14 minutes ago, ping said:

Book 1 was, overall, really easy.

Yes. Precisely my issue with it. When you don't even need to read the numbers to cruise through the game, there might be a problem.

15 minutes ago, ping said:

But at the same time - if I hadn't known of Darros's excellence, or Wryf's baldness, or Roger's simping... would I really have noticed a Darros- or Wryf- or Roger-shaped hole in the character roster? Well, a Wryf-shaped hole maybe, as Rena joins a bit late considering she's your first healer now, but it's hard to deny that FE1 has a bunch of unit redundancies, where some don't have too much to distingish themselves from the competition.

Yeah, you said it yourself, but Wrys really is a super strange removal. The game has no shortage of filler units, and they decided to remove the only hearler for the first two (two and a half, considering Rena's initial position in three?) chapters. Y'know, one of the few who's really not a filler lol. He's essentially the tutorial for recruitable characters, too, which isn't super bad since Kashim and Darros teach the same lesson, but hey. Why not remove one of the million cavaliers the game has? Or, Tomas. Who the hell cares about Tomas, except for me?

17 minutes ago, ping said:

But what we get in the end is a very ehhhh game. I didn't have a awful time playing it, but I'd be hard-pressed to find a reason to suggest the game to somebody outside of "historical curiosity". If somebody wanted to play The Game That Has Marth In It, I'd always suggest FE11, with maybe the addition of "and ignore the Forge and Reclass features if you want a gamefeel more authentic to the original".

Pretty much.

17 minutes ago, ping said:

Yubello (Ruben, lower priority)

I can't believe I'm lower priority.

...Nah I'm just kidding, I'm glad you've decided to humor my hatred for Mallieasciascacaisacia.

[Emperor Hardin]

On 12/22/2023 at 10:18 AM, ping said:

: "Garnef captured me so that he could obtain the resurrection staff, Ohm, from Gato. If this staff is used at the temple south from Durhua, it can allow any person to come back to life. Let's go, Marth... To bring back the most important people that you lost. Let's go!! To Durhua!"

Yes!

On 12/24/2023 at 12:27 PM, ping said:

The map! I unfortunately had to bench a few main characters - Maji and eventually Lawrence in favour of Minerva - to allow the Whitewings to make an appearance. It is, of course, obligatory to get at least one Triangle Attack in, and I'm not even sure if they can do one when dismounted, which I'm pretty sure they will be on the next, final map.

This map shows that Kaga was not happy with people skipping its FE1 version by triangling the boss and warping in Marth. Three Manakete surrounding the boss say no to that, so I guess we'll have to actually play the map.

I should keep that anti warp skipping measure.

Also I miss Lawrence.

On 12/24/2023 at 12:27 PM, ping said:

[HP 50% | Str 10% | Skl 50% | Spd 60% | Lck 80% | Wlv 90% | Def 10%]

She has enough WLv to use Physic. I think that about sums up what she can do in addition to Ohming the dead.

You know its a shame Elice comes in so late, she has powerful growths.

On 12/24/2023 at 12:27 PM, ping said:

____

And secondary objective achieved.

Its a cute animation with a map animation too, but was it really worth it?

On 12/24/2023 at 12:27 PM, ping said:

: "This world, and everything on it, is ours... The ones who intruded were you humans!"

__

Like, really.

Xemcel has no bos quote in FE1, I believe.

I believe the caps lock is speaking in Katakana in Japanese to convey an inhuman tone, I'll have to check later.

On 12/24/2023 at 12:27 PM, ping said:

__

He is back!

I hope you pumped him up with some stat boosters.

18 minutes ago, ping said:

And here is the big bad evil huggable dragon.

Its a nice design.

18 minutes ago, ping said:

__

Behold: Banutu's only stat gain (outside of the Angelic Robe he ate) in all of Book 1.

Bantu don't need stats, but its funny he got resistance.

18 minutes ago, ping said:

__

This... didn't work out that well in the following enemy phase in a first attempt, but as long as Kashim avoids the crit (which he does on a second try), he's the best option for this. He doesn't have to take an attack from Medeuth, the Demon Dragon guarding the big man has to spend a turn transforming, and the second Bishop only has a... Physic staff, I think. Maybe Fortify.

Poor Kashim. Also its funny he has a persian name for some funny reason.

18 minutes ago, ping said:

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In the top left, Rena restores the Gradivus after Sheeda spammed it quite a bit on the last map, so that Lawrence can go choke the point. He two-shots the Hero and the Sniper, which means that he'll eventually win this little encounter.

Lawrence is still a good unit.

18 minutes ago, ping said:

...

Its ok, 0% runs usually have Lorenz do the deed with Gradivus with support from the Earth Orb.

18 minutes ago, ping said:

Does Book 1 fulfil these criteria? Well... partly. We have Atk/hit/avoid on the character screen... but the displayed hit is capped at 100, so it doesn't help nearly as much as it should. There's a battle forecast of sorts, but they apparently haven't figured out how to put all the relevant numbers on a single screen, nevermind subtracting Def from Atk, or Avo from Hit, to make life easier for the player. Item management is good, with bonus points for the convoy being large enough that I never had any issues with its capacity, with the only small knock being that you have to go two layers into the menu to trade items during combat. But as a whole, this means that FE3 is firmly in the middle between FE1 and GBAFE when it comes to UI.

One thing that might be related to that: Book 1 was, overall, really easy. Sure, there's the occasional difficulty spike, like the Silver Lance Paladins charging at you at the start of Camüh's map, but... even these felt very modest and more... frustating because of crit-related RNG dependencies, rather than truly difficult to figure out. I'm not sure how much of this comes from the increase numerical clarity - it does really help that you can figure out offensive and defensive benchmarks without opening serenesforest.net - and to which degree the game just has more favourable numbers for the player, but in either case, the game just wasn't terribly interesting.

As a result, I feel justified putting this into the C tier, alongside FE1 and Gaiden, and probably ahead of the two. Honestly, I was ready to not put this into B because I simply dislike that it's an incomplete remake, removing stuff, both maps and characters, from the game. But at the same time - if I hadn't known of Darros's excellence, or Wryf's baldness, or Roger's simping... would I really have noticed a Darros- or Wryf- or Roger-shaped hole in the character roster? Well, a Wryf-shaped hole maybe, as Rena joins a bit late considering she's your first healer now, but it's hard to deny that FE1 has a bunch of unit redundancies, where some don't have too much to distingish themselves from the competition.

I've been planning a harder hack for FE3, we'll see though.

I noticed Snipers and Bishops took hits, which may have also made Book 1 easier than FE1.

18 minutes ago, ping said:

Warren (Dayni)
Bantu (suggested as temporary by Zapp Branniglenn; requested as a starshard target by the Observer and Ruben)
Tiki (Interdimensional Observer, and I think Ruben didn't mind the Double Dragon request)
Mathis (Ruben, approved by Shaky)
Yumina, and NOT Malliensa (Ruben)
Arran (Shaky)
	Arran could use Libra, the Spd boosting thingie, since Manaketes don't double
Yubello (Ruben, lower priority)

If I can add, could you do Sheena too? Also I second Bantu as a normal unit.

Sorry about the late reply.

Oh @Saint Rubenio, if I can respond to a post earlier this month, I agree that Armored units are too weak, but I don't think armor effective weapons really threaten player units outside of the DS remakes on lunatic mode where the enemy not only common uses effective weaopnry, but has it forged!

 

[BrightBow]

2 hours ago, ping said:

Stat-wise, Mediuth is a big ol' tank: With the exception of the Falchion, every incoming attack only hits at half power, which is much worse than just halved damage, since you need 32 Atk to just deal a single point of damage. I don't think Chiki pierces his ability in Book 1? She only uses Ice Breath, not Mist Breath, for the time being, so...

I suppose with the Falchion attack power is still halved. But since it deals effective damage, it results in enough attack power to overcome Medeus' defense.
Mist Breath is handled differently. It simply gets it's attack power reduced by 5. With Mist Breath being 10 might, you could reach up to 25 might against Medeus' 15 defense.
I ended up having to bank on that because my Marth could not survive a single hit from Medeus. It might be a good idea to give an Angelic Robe to Marth in Book 2. Just in case.
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

Oddly enough, this map is Seize, not Kill Boss, even though I would think that the final Book 2 map will be the latter. But in his mercy, Kaga made sure that you won't lose anybody after killing Mediuth, by entirely disabling enemy AI at this point. I was lucky and had the means to heal everything that would've needed healing, but... yeah, allowing the enemy to kill something after this boss kill would've been a dick move.

Actually Book 2's final map is Seize too. But just like here, there will be no more fighting after Medeus kicks the bucket.

In fact, it's necessary to kill Medeus before you can use the Book 2 Aum staff, because it can only be used on the tile Medeus is standing on.

It's basically like how Tear Ring Saga gives you the opportunity to revive people right before the epilogue. Except here you have to figure all this stuff out yourself.
In TRS, Holmes just gets send to the Tower of Morse automatically for the explicit purpose of using the remaining charges of the Dakroun to revive fallen allies.
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

But what we get in the end is a very ehhhh game. I didn't have a awful time playing it, but I'd be hard-pressed to find a reason to suggest the game to somebody outside of "historical curiosity". If somebody wanted to play The Game That Has Marth In It, I'd always suggest FE11, with maybe the addition of "and ignore the Forge and Reclass features if you want a gamefeel more authentic to the original". So yeah, Top of C tier it is.

It is a rather graceless remake of the original. Still better than the DS remake because it doesn't have the weapon triangle, but does have proper EXP gain for characters starting in advanced classes. It has FE3 dragons and of course much better visuals.
But it still does way too much copy & paste in a way that doesn't make sense with the mechanical changes. Some things in the same way as the DS remake did. Like replacing slow, bulky 2 range units with 10 range units.
Still, FE3 Bantu counts for a lot.
 

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Yeah, you said it yourself, but Wrys really is a super strange removal. The game has no shortage of filler units, and they decided to remove the only hearler for the first two (two and a half, considering Rena's initial position in three?) chapters. Y'know, one of the few who's really not a filler lol. He's essentially the tutorial for recruitable characters, too, which isn't super bad since Kashim and Darros teach the same lesson, but hey. Why not remove one of the million cavaliers the game has? Or, Tomas. Who the hell cares about Tomas, except for me?

Wrys is probably just a victim of the fact that male priests simply do not exist in this game. All the enemy male priests that existed in FE1 were replaced by Bishops here.

Edited December 28, 2023 by BrightBow

[Emperor Hardin]

Anyone know why I can't edit my comments most of the time, it is really odd? I wanted to add more to my post earlier, but it kept saying the post was either "too old" or "moved", even though less than ten minutes had passed?

On 12/7/2023 at 12:47 AM, ping said:

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

Woo, they're best friends and drinking buddies.

18 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

Wrys is probably just a victim of the fact that male priests simply do not exist in this game. All the enemy male priests that existed in FE1 were replaced by Bishops here.

Male priests/curates don't even exist within the game data and the game is rather stingy on what classes load on every map, even TIki's Manakete class variant didn't make the cut.