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

[ping]

8 hours ago, Emperor Hardin said:

I'll do a comparison picture later, but Marth's outfit in his book 1 portrait appears to be the Toga he wore in the NES artwork and his SNES battle sprites, conversely his Book 2 portrait appears to be wearing his modern outfit.

8 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Considering Marth's FE3 artwork has him with pants and Marth's battle sprite clearly does not, I get the impression that they wanted him to change from his FE1 outfit to his proper FE3 outfit between books.
Those portraits seem in line with that. In FE1 he had his cape tucked under his shoulder pads, while in FE3 it's covering his shoulder pads.

Ah, that would make sense. Glad to see some Pantsless Marth representation.

8 hours ago, Emperor Hardin said:

They also have some support bonuses if you want to hear. I feel if you use Rody or Cecille, you should use the other.

Good advice, but with Matthis already on the list of unit requests, I don't want to fill up too many slots with Cavs.

8 hours ago, Emperor Hardin said:

Apparently the novelization says he used gunpowder from a Ballista.

First thought: "That's silly, ballistae aren't gunpowder weapons." But of course, Akaneia builds them differently.

Still a bit funny how the novelisation feels the need to explain such a small detail.

8 hours ago, BrightBow said:

I am most certainly in favor of Cecil, seeing how dirty the remake did her. What did the poor girl do to deserve a negative defense base, honestly.

Rody has a negative Def base, too! ...which, of course, only highlights that Cecil's base is a negative two, despite joining two levels above Rody, and despite having a higher Def base than him in Old Mystery.

3 hours ago, Jotari said:

It is possible the villains got up off their asses and actually attacked Talys while Marth was on the other side of the continent. Goodness knows the villains are passive enough, some off screen battles for them would go a long way.

To be honest, Talys always struck me as so backwater and unimportant that any kind of commitment to fighting them would seem like a waste of resources when the Akaneian Army is gathering steam elsewhere. Kinda like sending the majority of your army over to fight Serbia when at the same time, an ever-increasing amount of angry Russians is mobilising at your northern borders. Very unrealistic.

[Emperor Hardin]

4 minutes ago, ping said:

First thought: "That's silly, ballistae aren't gunpowder weapons." But of course, Akaneia builds them differently.

Still a bit funny how the novelisation feels the need to explain such a small detail.

By Ballista gunpowder, I think it specifically said the "Elephant/Pachyderm", which is a type of cannon and so would no doubt have gunpowder to make the gunpowder fire. I read this on a Japanese site.

4 minutes ago, ping said:

Good advice, but with Matthis already on the list of unit requests, I don't want to fill up too many slots with Cavs.

Fair enough.

 

Edited December 30, 2023 by Emperor Hardin

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Emperor Hardin said:

Female Kris can get a pair of theatre glasses after the Legion paralogue in the DS version.

Is there actually any glass in them? They look, and I believe are described as, a mask.

[Emperor Hardin]

42 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Is there actually any glass in them? They look, and I believe are described as, a mask.

Whilst they are a mask, there appear to be lenses in them so they're at least sunglasses.

[ping]

FE3 Book 2 Chapter 2: Rebellion at Macedon

Spoiler

After the war of Darkness, Macedon was ruled by Minerva, who removed the generals, who had caused suffering to her people, and renovated the army. However, the powerful General Lykke opposed Minerva's actions. He gathered the removed soldiers to overthrow her in a coup. The unprepared Minerva was captured by Lykke's followers and Macedon fell into the control of the rebels. They then dispatched powerful dracoknights to sternly guard the country's bordering forests.

(I assume that the title card can't be any bigger, so there's no room for the -on.)

: "Lord Marth!! Great, so you are here."
: "Catria!? I heard a rebellion broke out in Macedon. Are you alright?"
: "Yes. My sister, Palla, and I managed to escape, but Minerva was captured by the rebels... Marth, please rescue Minerva! If this continues, her life will be in danger!"
: "Of course I will. Catria, please take me to where the princess is."
: "Yes! But we must break through the bordering forests in front of us... These forests are full of General Lykke's dracoknights. If we approach head on, we'll be discovered by them."
: "Is that so...? Then we will march through the left or right side. I understand, Catria, leave everything to us!"

(This structure is used consistently in Vincent's translation, but I still feel like "My sister, Palla, and I" is two commas too many)

Compared to Ch.1, this map has been changed in a more obvious fashion by the DS remake. There, the fortress and the boss are located at the very top of the map, with the cavaliers arching below them.

And like in Ch.1, I think I prefer the New Mystery version, although maybe it's the lack of QoL still plaguing FE3. With the three Wyverns covering that much more of the map, it's really annoying to move in to recruit Warren (the top left Hunter) and to kill the Thief before he escapes to the northwest of the map - but maybe this would've been much less of an issue if only FE3 had the option to view enemy ranges. But as is, I constantly had to recount the 11-tile reach of the boss and his flunkies, since you really don't want to aggro them without your bow users in position.

Speaking of "bow users in position"... Yeah, actually, let's reshuffle.

Better.

Oh, and I mustn't forget to offer the funny Knochenamerikaner my condolences for the lack of a village just east of Marth's starting location.

And here's the boss. He tanky. Since we don't have any magic users on our team at this point, the only characters that deal any meaningful damage to him are Gordin and Ryan (so there's a possible answer to the question why we needed smol Gordin). Arran, too, I guess, but he obviously wouldn't like to be ridersbaned. At least he can tango with the other two Wyverns reasonably well.

[HP 70% | Str 40% | Skl 80% | Spd 80% | Lck 40% | WLv 70% | Def 20%]
Our own nucleus for an air force might be hilariously bad vs. the Wyverns, but she still outclasses the rest of our team by a pretty large margin. Compared to Book 1, she gained 3 levels, despite joining a *tad* earlier, with stat increases equivalent to three good level-ups (like +2 Str/Spd and +3 HP).

But just to compare her to the Cav squad - Catria has the same base Str as Luke and Cecille, about twice as much Spd, and more HP/Def than all three of them, too. The only stat in which she doesn't have the highest growth rate between the four is HP - 70% vs. Luke's 90%. Otherwise, she is at worst tied for best in every single stat, even though she lost -10% Def growth compared to Book 1. Oh, and when I said that she's "hilariously bad vs. the Wyverns"... I lied. Like Sheeda, she can just grab this book's Jeigan's Silver Lance, and unlike Sheeda, she only trails Arran's Str base by a single point.

But at least for now, Arran holds on to the Silver Lance and goes on a bit of a solo tour along the West Coast. He stays as far away from the enemies as possible without losing movement, to make sure that most of them go east to the main group, but he is tasked with killing the Thief and 1v1-ing one of the Wyverns along the way.

Because Rumel's two flunkies fly to the two forts left and right of the big fortress, taking a position more similar to (non-Lunatic) FE12 (and making my Wyvern reach marking on the map obsolete).

Overall, enemy movement worked out fine, with only one Cav moving towards Arran. And careful counting reveals that Warren is just outside of the boss's range, so..:

: "Warren!? Even you've joined the rebels...?"
: "Whitewing, Catria, it's been a long time. I am just a hunter. I'll do anything as long as I get paid."
: "Warren, listen to me! Princess Minerva worked hard to create a country where everybody can live and work in peace. That was the reason why she removed those worthless generals and soldiers. But, even knowing this, General Lykke provoked the soldiers into joining the coup. His only reason being because he wanted to take this country for himself. So do you think what he's doing is right?"
: "...Is that true? I don't like the army doing as they please. I understand. If you're going to rescue the princess, let me help as well."

[HP 70% | Str 50% | Skl 50% | Spd 10% | Lck 20% | Wlv 20% | Def 20%]

Seeing Katua and Warren's growths side by side is kinda funny. Although hey, he beats her Str growth by 10%! Wow!

Of course, what ruins him is his abysmal Spd. He starts with 2 AS with an Iron Bow, i.e. literally incapable of doubling anything, and that is unlikely to ever change unless he gets some help, as he is tied with Arran and Nyna (lol) for the second-worst Spd growth. Out of all the requested characters, including Arran, he's easily the one most desperately waiting for the +Spd starshard (Libra, iirc?).

Because of the second Hunter (the third running right and getting murdered by Marth and Cecille), Catria has to dismount before recruiting Warren. Unfortunately, it's not possible to talk and then attack; I believe she then would've one-rounded with her Slim Lance.

__

First Wyvernrider: Chipped by Ryan and killed by Gordin. It's nice that Gordin still has perfect accuracy with the Steel bow.

Second Wyvernrider: Starting his duel with Arran. Arran's at a disadvantage, but with a single Vulnerary application, he can win this as long as he doesn't eat a crit.

The overall positioning here is a little dumb, with multiple bow users in range of the enemy, but that's to make up for the low HP on Rody and Luke, who are standing at the front.

Arran's the guy your girlfriend told you not to worry about.

No casualties. Hurray!

And enough firepower to dispose of all the remaining enemies. Marth is in range to pull the boss here, and because I'm a bit of an idiot and forget to have Luke swap him to an Iron Sword, he's about to waste two Rapier charges.

__

DOGA stays behind and talks to the locals, just in case there's any interesting dialogue. In general, the answer is "no", but I thought this one was a little odd. Wasn't Archanea occupied and the royal family murderised? Is this Macedonian propaganda at work?

____

Anyway, this is Altean-Macedonian bowmanship at work. Gordin and Warren deal precisely enough damage to kill Rumel without any additional help.

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

And with that, the map is beaten. Not terribly difficult to figure out, but I still had to reset three times - once because I miscounted and pulled Rumel without any archers in range; then once because I hadn't saved after giving Arran a Vuln and he would've lost the 1v1 against the Wyvern; and then another time because of miscounting. Maths is hard.

But wait, post-chapter events!

: "Huh? ...Linde! What are you doing here?"
: "Lord Marth! It's great to finally see you. IN order to find you, I looked all over for your news. Then Macedonian soldiers captured me, and took me to this fortress..."
: "I see. It's good to see that you're safe. Coming here by yourself was a dangerous thing to do. But, why were you looking for me? Shouldn't you be at Nyna's side?"
: "Princess Nina wanted me to give this to you."
: "? ...!! That's the Fire Emblem! Isn't that the Archanea royal family's treasured Emblem shield?! But why give it to me? Right now, shouldn't Archanea be prospering under Emperor Hardin's mighty rule...?

"He invested the 90% of the royal budget into the military. That's how one creates a prospering realm, isn't it?"

: "In this peaceful age, why has Nyna given the 'Conqueror's Proof' to somebody like me...?"
: "I don't know either. Nyna didn't say anything and just told me to give it to you... I don't know why, but her eyes seemed so sad... As if she had been crying very hard..."
: "Nyna!? Why... Linde, regardless. It's dangerous for you to go alone."

"Take this Pokemon to defend yourself!"

: "After this battle is over, we will return to Nyna. Before that time comes, you will travel together with us."
: "Understood, Lord Marth!"

Hurray! ...or not, considering the circumstances.

The Team:

	Lv. 	   HP Str Skl Spd Lck WLv Def Res  +XP
Marth	4.48	   23   6   9   9   9   7   7   0  +74
Arran	4.44	   22   8   9  11   4  10  10   6  +144
Luke	4.78	   22   7   6   7   5   6   7   0  +20
Rody	3.47	   22   6   5   8   5   6   6   0  +71

Cecille	4.70	   20   8   7   9   6   7   7   0  +96
DOGA	6.00	   22   8   4   4   2   6  11   0  --	(base)
Gordin	6.57	   21   7   7   6   5   8   8   0  +65
Ryan	1.42	   18   5   4   4   3   5   6   0  +17	(base)

Marisha	1.42	   16   1   1   4  12   5   1   5  +14	(base)
Catria	6.42	   22   7   8  14   9  10   8   6  +42	(base)
Warren	3.14	   23   8   5   6   1   6   4   0  +114

• Immediate Str/Spd level-up for Cecille, too, so that's a nice start.

   

 

[Saint Rubenio]

17 minutes ago, ping said:

My favorite FE country, Maced. Ruled by Miner. Full name Crypto Miner.

20 minutes ago, ping said:

Compared to Ch.1, this map has been changed in a more obvious fashion by the DS remake. There, the fortress and the boss are located at the very top of the map, with the cavaliers arching below them.

And like in Ch.1, I think I prefer the New Mystery version, although maybe it's the lack of QoL still plaguing FE3. With the three Wyverns covering that much more of the map, it's really annoying to move in to recruit Warren (the top left Hunter) and to kill the Thief before he escapes to the northwest of the map - but maybe this would've been much less of an issue if only FE3 had the option to view enemy ranges. But as is, I constantly had to recount the 11-tile reach of the boss and his flunkies, since you really don't want to aggro them without your bow users in position.

Yeaaaah I think I do prefer the wyverns being further away.

20 minutes ago, ping said:

Knochenamerikaner

I was a bit baffled for a bit, then I saw "amerikaner" in there. Yeah, now I get what you're saying.

20 minutes ago, ping said:

But just to compare her to the Cav squad - Catria has the same base Str as Luke and Cecille, about twice as much Spd, and more HP/Def than all three of them, too. The only stat in which she doesn't have the highest growth rate between the four is HP - 70% vs. Luke's 90%. Otherwise, she is at worst tied for best in every single stat, even though she lost -10% Def growth compared to Book 1. Oh, and when I said that she's "hilariously bad vs. the Wyverns"... I lied. Like Sheeda, she can just grab this book's Jeigan's Silver Lance, and unlike Sheeda, she only trails Arran's Str base by a single point.

Good balance.

21 minutes ago, ping said:

Of course, what ruins him is his abysmal Spd. He starts with 2 AS with an Iron Bow, i.e. literally incapable of doubling anything, and that is unlikely to ever change unless he gets some help, as he is tied with Arran and Nyna (lol) for the second-worst Spd growth. Out of all the requested characters, including Arran, he's easily the one most desperately waiting for the +Spd starshard (Libra, iirc?).

Good balance.

I mean, not that FE12 is the pinnacle of balance either, but Jay-sus.

21 minutes ago, ping said:

Ahh, nice to see the silliness factor isn't entirely lost with this version of the translation.

22 minutes ago, ping said:

"He invested the 90% of the royal budget into the military. That's how one creates a prospering realm, isn't it?"

Kempf would agree.

 

On 12/29/2023 at 11:18 PM, Interdimensional Observer said:

FE has no such magic.

Not with that attitude

On 12/29/2023 at 11:24 PM, ping said:

OK, but "Julia" would've been right there for his sister if the Freemason reference is that central to his character. And FE has been doubling up on names decently often at this point, so that's not an excuse, either.

Very true. I was just being pedantic - I myself prefer Yumina and Yubello over Yuliya and Jubelo. I've brought it up regarding Jeorge, but Jubelo does not look good when you're Spanish.

On 12/29/2023 at 11:24 PM, ping said:

I saw the fantastic FE11!Marth and then the... not fantastic FE12!Marth, and the explanation that Marth had to be made a bit of a wuss in order to make Kris look better seemed very plausible. I'm sure I wasn't alone with that assumption. It's interesting to see how FE11!Marth came from the liberties the translators took and how FE12/Book2!Marth had been a bit of a wuss all along.

Yeah, in that way I suppose 8-4 did set us up for failure. If only they'd gotten to do the sequel as well...

On 12/29/2023 at 11:58 PM, RPGuy96 said:

FE1 and Book 1 are really barebones, it makes sense for someone writing FE11 in a vacuum to give Marth a character arc that makes him into an actual hero.  Unfortunately, there's this sequel...

From what I remember, Book 2 Marthipan snaps out of his wussiness (and alleged Camusesness) quite quickly.  I suppose we'll see if that's actually true soon enough.  Perhaps he's been busy trying to propose to Caeda since Book 1 ended and that's sapped his courage.

lol I like this headcanon. During the Book 2 earlygame he's still too flustered from trying to keep up with the force of nature that is Caeda. Poor guy didn't even know what hit him when Caeda invited him to her quarters to polish his Falchion.

[Shaky Jones]

44 minutes ago, ping said:

FE3 Book 2 Chapter 2: Rebellion at Macedon

 

This one doesn't have Maji. I hate this game.

58 minutes ago, ping said:

And like in Ch.1, I think I prefer the New Mystery version, although maybe it's the lack of QoL still plaguing FE3

FE12 in general takes these maps with interesting ideas and fleshes them out to become much more strategic and demanding while remaining generally faithful to its overall simplistic appearance and allowing you the benefit of forges and reclassing to aide you and multiple difficulties to cater to your level of masochism, so the max for Ruben.

Why I almost only hear people crap on FE12 and say FE3 gameplay is superior I'll never know. Kris can't really be THAT bad in everyone's eyes, can he? Must be them being bad at the game. They're not using Cord. 

58 minutes ago, ping said:

And here's the boss. He tanky. Since we don't have any magic users on our team at this point, the only characters that deal any meaningful damage to him are Gordin and Ryan (so there's a possible answer to the question why we needed smol Gordin). Arran, too, I guess, but he obviously wouldn't like to be ridersbaned. At least he can tango with the other two Wyverns reasonably well.

Wasn't there a discussion here a while back about this guy and the chapter overall being really tough for Kaga Era FE? Maybe I'm thinking of a separate thread. I'm used to Lumel. Someone tell me which is the accurate translation. 

Imagine the remake gave him a hammer because of General Arran (maybe they knew nobody would use paladin Arran here lol, so they just got rid of his ridersbane here).

58 minutes ago, ping said:

[HP 70% | Str 50% | Skl 50% | Spd 10% | Lck 20% | Wlv 20% | Def 20%]

Seeing Katua and Warren's growths side by side is kinda funny. Although hey, he beats her Str growth by 10%! Wow!

Of course, what ruins him is his abysmal Spd. He starts with 2 AS with an Iron Bow, i.e. literally incapable of doubling anything, and that is unlikely to ever change unless he gets some help, as he is tied with Arran and Nyna (lol) for the second-worst Spd growth. Out of all the requested characters, including Arran, he's easily the one most desperately waiting for the +Spd starshard (Libra, iirc?).

Whoever asked for him, I thank you. I love this guy. Just look at him. 

He's also just super cool and fun everytime I use him. Really helped in my fe12 ironman. Why he has no support with Catria I'll also never know.

58 minutes ago, ping said:

Arran's the guy your girlfriend told you not to worry about.

Beaten by a guy with cancer. Yeah no, I'd also become a Dark Emperor.

58 minutes ago, ping said:

__

Anyway, this is Altean-Macedonian bowmanship at work. Gordin and Warren deal precisely enough damage to kill Rumel without any additional help.

At least Kaga knew how to make the seemingly crappy archers useful. Maybe feels too much like a bow tutorial, but better than being obsolete. Yummy boss xp.

28 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

My favorite FE country, Maced. Ruled by Miner. Full name Crypto Miner.

Damn it, don't bring back crypto into Archanea! I thought I escaped it!

28 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

58 minutes ago, ping said:

But just to compare her to the Cav squad - Catria has the same base Str as Luke and Cecille, about twice as much Spd, and more HP/Def than all three of them, too. The only stat in which she doesn't have the highest growth rate between the four is HP - 70% vs. Luke's 90%. Otherwise, she is at worst tied for best in every single stat, even though she lost -10% Def growth compared to Book 1. Oh, and when I said that she's "hilariously bad vs. the Wyverns"... I lied. Like Sheeda, she can just grab this book's Jeigan's Silver Lance, and unlike Sheeda, she only trails Arran's Str base by a single point.

Good balance.

I take back every single compliment I ever gave Kaga. I'm killing Catria next time I see her and sending that footage straight to his house as a vhs tape

strapped to a pipe bomb

On 12/28/2023 at 2:18 PM, ping said:

What can I say; you threaten to steal my shoelaces while the funny skeleton man's threats start with nuclear warfare. I'm already walking on thin ice because I didn't field Maji even though he easily could've taken George's role as a face-tank

What ever gave you that impression?

 

 

 

October 14th, 2025

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, ping said:

Arran's the guy your girlfriend told you not to worry about.

Better than Mercurius? Maybe? Possibly? Pass it on and see.😛

1 hour ago, ping said:

: "Nyna!? Why... Linde, regardless. It's dangerous for you to go alone."

"Take this Pokemon to defend yourself!"

YOU MEAN WOODEN SWORD.

1 hour ago, ping said:

[HP 70% | Str 50% | Skl 50% | Spd 10% | Lck 20% | Wlv 20% | Def 20%]

Seeing Katua and Warren's growths side by side is kinda funny. Although hey, he beats her Str growth by 10%! Wow

He looks like he just got isekai'ed out of the late 20th century US Army. The green tank top and headband, the blond hair, maybe just give him some shadow on his face to finish it. And he does look older than he should, maybe.

Edited January 3 by Interdimensional Observer

[Saint Rubenio]

3 minutes ago, Shaky Jones said:

I'm used to Lumel. Someone tell me which is the accurate translation. 

Knowing Kaga? Rommel lol

4 minutes ago, Shaky Jones said:

I take back every single compliment I ever gave Kaga. I'm killing Catria next time I see her and sending that footage straight to his house as a vhs tape

Good idea.

2 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

He looks like he just got isekai'ed out of the late 20th century US Army. The green tank and headband, the blond hair, maybe just him some shadow on his face; he does look older than he should, maybe.

Now that you mention it, he kinda does, doesn't he? I think it's the narrow eyes giving him that appearance.

[ping]

10 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

My favorite FE country, Maced. Ruled by Miner. Full name Crypto Miner.

New thread: Which FE character would be an NFT bro if transferred to Earth, 2022/23?

Actually, one of the Annas, probably. The black sheep of the family, maybe. Or the golden girl if she would've managed to make a killing before the bubble finally popped.

13 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Good balance.

Good balance.

I mean, not that FE12 is the pinnacle of balance either, but Jay-sus.

Considering that Warren still manages to be at least kinda useful shortterm, since he doesn't have the awful, awful movement / terrain penalties combination that plagues the Archer bros... And considering that the Wolfguard in FE12 gives Wendy and Sophia a run for their money... I mean, I'm obviously not even 10% into Book 2, but the trajectory is that FE12 might still manage to be worse in that regard.

19 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

 

On 12/29/2023 at 11:18 PM, Interdimensional Observer said:

FE has no such magic.

Not with that attitude

Reminds me that Baldur's Gate had a Gender Transformation Beaaaaaam Belt all the way back in 1998, very likely intended as a funny teaching moment ("don't just equip unidentified magic items, ya dummy"), as the belt is cursed and can't be taken off unless you go to a temple and pay some money. And then BG2, in 2000, Gender Transformation Magic becomes more of a plot point in one of your companion's personal quest: He finds a magic scroll that he thinks will turn him into a powerful Lich... but it transforms him into a woman. Including voice acting for Edwin-turned-into-Edwina; although no portrait change, iirc. And since Edwin is a supremely arrogant, condescending, misogynistic shitbag, most of your other companions find his suffering to be really funny. So hey, that's trans representation in gaming two decades ago!

Anyway, now you know what the proprietor of the Gnawed Noble in DA:O is a reference from. For further very important information of this category, I'll have to find an opportunity to rant about floating skulls.

3 minutes ago, Shaky Jones said:

Wasn't there a discussion here a while back about this guy and the chapter overall being really tough for Kaga Era FE? Maybe I'm thinking of a separate thread.

I don't remember that, but on paper, Rumel (promoted, flyer that isn't glued to the throne, effective weapon) is pretty silly. But because you also go into the chapter with two Archers, plus Warren on turn 2 or 3, the real challenge is to correctly count to 11 so that you don't walk into his range prematurely.

Actually, without Warren, Ryan+Gordin don't even kill him in one round. And if you don't have Arran or DOGA's Steel Lance nearby, all your other characters will tink him. So yeah, he's probably a bit overtuned even with the Archer bros around, although just -2 HP would fix that.

9 minutes ago, Shaky Jones said:

Whoever asked for him, I thank you. I love this guy. Just look at him. 

Shaky likes the bad unit with the Maji-like hairstyle. I should've known.

10 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Better than Mercurius? Maybe? Possibly? Pass it on and see.😛

...OK, "effective against Thieves, Bandits, Pirates and Barbarians" is pretty insane

11 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

YOU MEAN WOODEN SWORD.

Can I cut down the tall grass with that?

[BrightBow]

1 hour ago, ping said:

Seeing Katua and Warren's growths side by side is kinda funny. Although hey, he beats her Str growth by 10%! Wow!

Of course, what ruins him is his abysmal Spd. He starts with 2 AS with an Iron Bow, i.e. literally incapable of doubling anything, and that is unlikely to ever change unless he gets some help, as he is tied with Arran and Nyna (lol) for the second-worst Spd growth. Out of all the requested characters, including Arran, he's easily the one most desperately waiting for the +Spd starshard (Libra, iirc?).

It really is quite funny how we have the new and improved Katua who is so much stronger than her much later joining version from Book 1 on one side, and then on the other we have basically Book 1 Kashim, but he forgot his speed growth.
And the real Kashim has been working out since Book 1 too. The returning characters have it so much easier than any of the new faces.
Well, except Est. Girl kept the same bases.

At least Warren isn't exactly useless for the time being, with all those advanced fliers around. Can't exactly entirely rely on your Silver Lances for all of those.
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

Hurray! ...or not, considering the circumstances.

Indeed. Because if you go into Book 2 from a Book 1 save, Marth already starts the game with the Fire Emblem. So he basically gets it twice.

Well, technically he has the icon on his status screen and uses it during combat. But it's not actually in his inventory until he gets it here. Really weird.
 

1 hour ago, ping said:

Reminds me that Baldur's Gate had a Gender Transformation Beaaaaaam Belt all the way back in 1998, very likely intended as a funny teaching moment ("don't just equip unidentified magic items, ya dummy"), as the belt is cursed and can't be taken off unless you go to a temple and pay some money. And then BG2, in 2000, Gender Transformation Magic becomes more of a plot point in one of your companion's personal quest: He finds a magic scroll that he thinks will turn him into a powerful Lich... but it transforms him into a woman. Including voice acting for Edwin-turned-into-Edwina; although no portrait change, iirc. And since Edwin is a supremely arrogant, condescending, misogynistic shitbag, most of your other companions find his suffering to be really funny. So hey, that's trans representation in gaming two decades ago!

Anyway, now you know what the proprietor of the Gnawed Noble in DA:O is a reference from. For further very important information of this category, I'll have to find an opportunity to rant about floating skulls.

The Girdle of Masculinity/Femininity could be much older than that. It's a 2nd edition artifact. Seems like it goes back to 1990. At least according to this wiki, which lists it as appearing in an 1990 adventure.
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Girdle_of_masculinity/femininity

[Jotari]

5 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

 I'm used to Lumel. Someone tell me which is the accurate translation. 

He, along with the other Mystery and Jugdral minor bosses is some of the few characters with no offical English name. His Japanese name is   ルーメル with the first and last katakana being "ru"/"lu" and the third katakana being "me" (pronounced "meh"). The second symbol is a consonant extender meaning there should be more stress on the first syllable (so the first sound will come across as "roo" like kangaroo rather than being blended into the "m" and coming out sounding like "rum". With all that out of the way...what is his actual name? It seems the following would all be accurate.

*Rumeru

*Rumelu

*Rumel

*Lumeru

*Lumelu

*Lumel

*Rumail

*Lumail

*Rumale

*Lumale

And if we're to go a little less exact with transliteration then I could easily see it also being

*Rumeros, not what the Katakana is going for but looks more like an actual name

*Lummel, let's double up those Ms because it looks nice in English

*Rumour, because that's a word and his name is very close to being literally that word

*Rommel, because, to extend on Ruben's point, Kaga has named quite a few characters after high ranking Nazis.

*Rummel, the name I decided on for that Rommel connection while also still being pretty accurate to the katakana. And when I say decided on, it's because I put this guy in Pyrathi 609 #shamelessplug

4 hours ago, ping said:

New thread: Which FE character would be an NFT bro if transferred to Earth, 2022/23?

This feels relevant

4 hours ago, ping said:

I don't remember that, but on paper, Rumel (promoted, flyer that isn't glued to the throne, effective weapon) is pretty silly. But because you also go into the chapter with two Archers, plus Warren on turn 2 or 3, the real challenge is to correctly count to 11 so that you don't walk into his range prematurely.

I think Rummel is a fantastic idea. So often throne bosses are basically just a kill boss chapter goal. And they kind of have to be because if they could move from the throne you could just end the chapter without killing them. Rummel manages to still manage it with a combination of factors. For one, it's early enough in the game that there's no warp. Secondly the terrain is in his favour, he will get to you before you get to the throne thanks to his high move and the forest. Thirdly, he's really quite strong, so you can't just leave him be and seize the throne without risking the loss of someone, including Arran thanks to his ridersbane. But despite being strong he can still be taken down rather easily with your three bow units. One of which you can be gauranteed to have this chapter. All in all this makes him one of my favorite bosses in the entire series. And if you really want to do it, it is actually possible to spare his life and seize the throne out from other him if you surround him on all sides with your most bulky units. But that feels like a separate challenge in itself rather than a way to cheese the map.

Edited January 4 by Jotari

[CelestialContrail]

17 hours ago, BrightBow said:

The Girdle of Masculinity/Femininity could be much older than that. It's a 2nd edition artifact. Seems like it goes back to 1990. At least according to this wiki, which lists it as appearing in an 1990 adventure.
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Girdle_of_masculinity/femininity

That magic item dates back to at least 1st edition; It's listed in the 1979 printing of the Dungeon Master's Guide I have (that originally belonged to my parents).

[RPGuy96]

19 hours ago, ping said:

(I assume that the title card can't be any bigger, so there's no room for the -on.)

It's a bit curious - the font here is the variable width font, which would fit Macedon, but it's displayed as fixed-width.  I am somewhat interested in figuring out what it would take to make everything variable width, but don't have the time to look into it presently.  We'll see what the future holds.

19 hours ago, ping said:

Oh, and I mustn't forget to offer the funny Knochenamerikaner my condolences for the lack of a village just east of Marth's starting location.

Ich bin dumkopfamerikaner und ich verstehe das nicht.

19 hours ago, ping said:

Our own nucleus for an air force might be hilariously bad vs. the Wyverns, but she still outclasses the rest of our team by a pretty large margin. Compared to Book 1, she gained 3 levels, despite joining a *tad* earlier, with stat increases equivalent to three good level-ups (like +2 Str/Spd and +3 HP).

Shouzou "balance is my passion" Kaga introduced dismounting because FE1 mounts are super overpowered, and it would be rude to ride horses indoors.  And then decided to supercharge flyers in Book 2 just to keep things "interesting".

19 hours ago, ping said:

[HP 70% | Str 50% | Skl 50% | Spd 10% | Lck 20% | Wlv 20% | Def 20%]

Libra is...+40% Spd!? Balance!  Although, low caps and huge bonuses - also a theme in Thracia - are kind of fun, especially if you want to use terrible units.

19 hours ago, ping said:

Wasn't Archanea occupied and the royal family murderised? Is this Macedonian propaganda at work?

If anything, it's Macedon that gets off lightly - the patricidal, murder-dragon aligned monarch is alive and gets a redemption arc for some reason.

18 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

18 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

I'm used to Lumel. Someone tell me which is the accurate translation. 

Knowing Kaga? Rommel lol

sigh  If this was a desert chapter I might change his name

[Saint Rubenio]

19 hours ago, ping said:

New thread: Which FE character would be an NFT bro if transferred to Earth, 2022/23?

Actually, one of the Annas, probably. The black sheep of the family, maybe. Or the golden girl if she would've managed to make a killing before the bubble finally popped.

Gotoh is definitely the guy to be into NFTs, AI art and any other grift. Asshole.

19 hours ago, ping said:

Considering that Warren still manages to be at least kinda useful shortterm, since he doesn't have the awful, awful movement / terrain penalties combination that plagues the Archer bros... And considering that the Wolfguard in FE12 gives Wendy and Sophia a run for their money... I mean, I'm obviously not even 10% into Book 2, but the trajectory is that FE12 might still manage to be worse in that regard.

Honestly, I can see it. Funny nonsense aside, universal 20 caps means there's only so much room to fall off. FE12 is a merciless stat race in its higher difficulties.

19 hours ago, ping said:

So hey, that's trans representation in gaming two decades ago!

19 hours ago, ping said:

supremely arrogant, condescending, misogynistic shitbag, most of your other companions find his suffering to be really funny.

Ahh, the Niles-style representation. Gotta love it...

14 hours ago, Jotari said:

Rommel, because, to extend on Ruben's point, Kaga has named quite a few characters after high ranking Nazis.

16 minutes ago, RPGuy96 said:

dumkopf

Eyyyyy I know this word!

16 minutes ago, RPGuy96 said:

sigh  If this was a desert chapter I might change his name

Change Yoder's name to Rommel and make this guy Yoder, that's totally not going to get confusing

Edited January 4 by Saint Rubenio

[Interdimensional Observer]

9 minutes ago, RPGuy96 said:

If anything, it's Macedon that gets off lightly - the patricidal, murder-dragon aligned monarch is alive and gets a redemption arc for some reason.

Travant, Julius of Canaan, Kaga liked his angsty wyvern men?

Although, Arion is kinda a Reverse-Michalis? Faithful to daddy, to a fault. Whilst retaining some matters relating to a sister.

[BrightBow]

24 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Interestingly this guy is explicitly an Imperial officer, despite the enemy on this map being the Bornian army under General Lyrac.

Being an representative of the Empire to ensure the Bornians will fight their fellow Verians most certainly doesn't suggest he is a pleasant fellow, considering the Empire would not want to send someone with scruples to oversee such a messed up affair.
He also gets automatically provoked when attacked, which doesn't exactly speak high of his character either. Not to mention his intelligence.

23 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Travant, Julius of Canaan, Kaga liked his angsty wyvern men?

Although, Arion is kinda a Reverse-Michalis? Faithful to daddy, to a fault. Whilst retaining some matters relating to a sister.

Although Julius did literally nothing wrong.

The TRS Michalis would probably be Richard.

Edited January 4 by BrightBow

[Interdimensional Observer]

7 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

Although Julius did literally nothing wrong.

He didn't have to. I was thinking more of how he gets wrapped in emotions of like... guilt or something was it? His battle for more reasons than one didn't need to/shouldn't have happened, but I recall Julius's self-loathing or whatever it was, was one of those factors. Not entirely unlike Chapter 9 of FE4 (setting aside the Imperial-Thracian alliance).

[ping]

FE3 Book 2 Chapter 3: Abducted Princess

Spoiler

100 years ago the whole continent was controlled by the dragon tribe, who sent numerous slaves to these undeveloped forests. The slaves were forced to excavate ruins and construct the country. Many people could not find food, were forced to work, and died from abuse. Amongst such tragic conditions, finally one youth stood up. His name was Iote. He and his companions escaped from the forests and fought, riding dragons, to continue the battle of liberation.

After Dolhr's fall, the slaves established their own country at these rich and newly developed lands. And the heroic Iote was encouraged to become its first king. Afterwards the Kingdom of Macedon was feared as the land of dracoknights, and that was how it was born. However, this strong country not only lost its Prince Michalis, said to be the second coming of Iote. But now, even the 'Crimson Dragoon', Princess Minerva, has been lost.

Before the map starts, Palla enters the map from the west and meets up with Julian...:

: "I will go with them to rescue Princess Minerva. Please take Lena and hurry to safety."
: "That isn't possible, Palla. Miss Lena's gone missing... I'm not leaving just by myself."
: "Huh, Lena's also... Princess Maria has also vanished. Why are the clerics the only ones missing...?"

: "Anyway, I'm staying to search the village. So, apologies, but I can't help you rescue your princess."
: "Oh, it's alright. We should be able to save Minerva by ourselves. But Julian, although I know you're worried about Lena, don't push yourself."
: "Ah... I'm sorry, Palla. Say 'hi' to Prince Marth for me."

A lot of tonal intricacies and cultural connotations that I feel are going right over my head here. Why exactly does Julian say 'Miss Lena', but uses no honorific when addressing Palla, who also doesn't use honorifics for either of them? How nonchalant is Palla's "Oh, it's alright" in Japanese? What are the implications of her "don't push yourself" that seem to make Julian a bit flustered?

I know I've been pointing out oddities with the translation, but that is not my intention here - this being a fan translation, I understand why this is attempting to more directly translate what is there. But I felt like illustrating why, in an official localisation, I wouldn't be satisfied by a purely reproductive translation, unless it was the author's intention to make the conversation needlessly cryptic. Like, I can make guesses (for example, if I had to guess, I'd read Palla's last line as "I know Lena is special to you, but take care of yourself, too"), but even if that one was accurate, the dialogue still sounds really odd (which, again, I don't blame on Vincent or anybody who retouched these lines).

The map! It's bad. So, for those unfamiliar - the Cav not standing adjacent to the boss is Matthis. You recruit him by forcing Julian to talk to him (it seems unlikely that Julian would want to if given a choice). You recruit Julian in the top right village. So, since Marth has exclusive village utility in all the Akaneia games, you have to haul his arse all the way round the map. This map doesn't quite reach Desert Fort levels of awfulness, but it's still one of Akaneia's low points. Even New Mystery, after making some improvements upon the first two maps, just threw its arms up in the air and spent its time adding Wryf's gaiden instead.

[HP 70% | Str 50% | Skl 80% | Spd 20% | Lck 10% | WLv 30% | Def 20%]

As compensation, we get another, even more overpowered Pegasus Knight. Palla's growths are, with the exception of a her Str, stricly worse than Catria's, but that's because she already has bases so high that I wouldn't be surprised if they're endgame-ready with an insta-promotion. A shitty Spd growth is a lot easier to reconcile with if you're only four points away from the cap, *Warren*.

Just to put it into perspective: Palla has +2 Str compared to Arran and DOGA, +2 Spd compared to Catria, and her physical bulk isn't even that much worse than DOGA's (+2 HP / -2 Def). Her WLv is high enough to use the Gradivüü at base, so the low-ish growth is literally inconsequential.

[HP 40% | Str 20% | Skl 70% | Spd 60% | Lck 80% | WLv 70% | Def 10%]

Linde looks very modest in comparison, although her big Aura nuke is really strong at this point, despite all those promoted enemies flying around this early in the game already. But her base stats mostly just got a +1 increase, which isn't a lot considering that she's three levels above her FE1 self.

That is not meant as a complaint, though. Considering how much earlier she's joining in Book 2, Linde seems much more useful even with these modest gains. If anything, it's Palla who's just a tad unreasonable.

Well then, time to walk. And then walk some more.

Meanwhile, Palla moves forward to intercept the Thief (she easily one-shots)...

...and DOGA positions himself to pull the first Dracoknight from the group east of the boss. FE12, at least on higher difficulties, has these enemies (or some of them, I don't quite remember) grouped up so that this isn't possible, but in FE3, you can just pull them one by one.

DOGA DOESN'T FEAR YOUR PUNY CRITS

____

So yeah, imagine these three screenshots, repeated another five times. I initially had the Steel Bow on Warren, the logic being that he's the long-term character, so he should get the more advanced weapon, but his accuracy is worse with it and he, of course promptly missed his second shot, which would've resulted in a dead Marisha. Yes, Ruben, I know, but I don't think I had a Vuln on the other three characters to replace her utility. (also, I still want Hammerne and Thief)

__

Gasp!

: "Ah! ...You are... How are you still...?"
: "You thought I was dead? Haha... Nevermind."

"What do you want, an explaination?"

: "Give Minerva back to me. I don't care about this country anymore. You can do what you want with it. However, I won't rest until I have dealt with 'that guy' personally."
: "Yes... But... Princess Minerva has already breathed her last... She cannot be saved..."
: "Don't waste my time. Hand her over now, or do you prefer to die by my lance?"
: "O-okay! I understand. Hey, you, bring the princess here!"

: "Losing your precious Maria, and even being abondoned by your men. Is this really the perfect country that you wanted?"
: "Mi... Michalis... How...?"

"What, you want an explaination?"

At some point, Cavaliers start spawning from the forts in the northeast. Since you're strolling across a narrow path, these pose practically no threat.

: "Your highness, thank you for rescuing this village. We don't have much to reward you with, but please take this Silver Axe. It is a very expensive item, so it should fetch a good price in the shops."

I assume that at this point, Shaky punched a hole into his display after being so cruelly reminded of the Majilessness of this book.

A few steps further, I waste some more time trying to figure out what the heck is up with the four Wyverns flying over the big mountain. Pulling them individually doesn't work. Flying into all their ranges, which I believe is what will aggro them in New Mystery, also doesn't work.

Stabbing the first one also doesn't work, although the one stabbed Wyvern flies north to heal at a fort after this.

"If you're going to visit it, be extra careful."

Ohhhhh. Welp, guess that's some XP for Catria, then, unless we can glue some wings to Cecille's horse. How silly that would be. (just kidding, mostly - I like messing with DSFE reclassing)

Well, this one is some XP for Palla instead, I guess.

And even later, the forts are secured. I don't even know if reinforcement still would've spawned at this point. In the south, you can see Catria pulling at least one of the Cavs from that island, which is the most she can do without walking into Ballista range.

(an Arrowspade, which I forgot to mention)

: "Julian!? Even though I heard you went to Macedon with Lena, I didn't expect to see you here... Is Lena well? Of course, since she is with you."
: "Well... Miss Lena suddenly disappeared... I... What should I do?"
: "Huh? Wait, Julian, what happened?"
: "Miss Lena vanished yesterday. I heard from the villagers that a nasty-looking bishop came by. It seems Miss Lena was taken by him."
: "A bishop...? Julian! I heard Princess Maria has also gone missing. I have a bad feeling about all of this. Anyway, staying here won't achieve anything. You should come with us. I am also worried about Lena. We can help you look for her."
: "Your highness... Thank you."

The plot thickens!

[HP 80% | Str 70% | Skl 50% | Spd 50% | Lck 80% | WLv 40% | Def 30%]

Another character three levels higher than before, with appropriately increased stats. Julian gained 2-3 stats in most stats, so maybe even a bit more than just "appropriate", the only stat that increased even more being his WLv, which went from 2 to 6. This puts him only one point away from Killing Edge and Wyrmslayer rank, so that's actually a pretty significant boost to his combat ability. So yeah, he seems pretty decent for that, too, although his thief utility means that he'll often have things to do other than gobbling up XP.

__

Further progress... Luckily, Matthis is carrying a Javelin, so he's rather unlikely to kill himself on anybody.

: "Hey! That was uncalled for. Why do you always keep picking on me? If you continue like this, you'll make Miss Lena sad."
: "Oh, it's Julian. Are you still clinging onto Lena? No way, I'm not handing my cute sister to a thief like you."

Ugh.

: "Don't worry... Lena and I aren't that close. I just want to help her, any little that I can."
: "Oh, I finally understand. You're really cool, Julian!"
: "Well, I... uh... never expected to hear you say that... Nevermind. If you're worried about Lena, come with us."
: "Oh, really? Thanks. I was forced to join the rebels. I didn't really want to fight. Well, 'little brother', let's join forces to find my cute Lena!"

Ugh.

Also, another example of a direct translation not really getting the point across to stupid gaijins such as myself. What exactly was so enlightening to Matthis, although I guess Julian was confused by that, too. And it gets across pretty well what a creepy loser Matthis is.

Case in (the 'loser') point.

__

In two turns, with throne healing in between, Linda chips down the boss to four XP...

__

...which is as perfect a set-up as Matthis can ask for.

...

__

: "The Altean knights... Truly impressive..."

"As opposed to that redhead we conscripted... Complete loser, that one..."

With that, we grab our first starshard; appropriately the most boring one. Taurus just increases every growth by +5%, since naturally, Kaga did Afa's Drops first.

21 turns, most of them pretty boring. Bad map. Next one should hopefully be more interesting.

: "Jagen, how is the situation at the castle? Have they found Minerva yet?"
: "Right, about that... Although the enemy has fled, there seems to be no trace of the princess."
: "Huh, why is that? Minerva should have been taken here..."
: "Ah, your highness, General Lang appears to have arrived. I wonder what kind of nonsensical request he's going to give us this time."

(let's not linger too long before either of them figures out that there ought to be some civilians in the castle who might have seen and recognised Misheil)

: "Ah, I should have expected no less from you, Lord Marth. Very impressive. Good work. Leave Macedon to me. Your highness, you have a new mission."
: "General Lang, what is it this time?"
: "...Well... My castle was attacked, and the captured Grustian royal children appear have been taken. The culprit seems to have escaped to Macedon. Your highness, you will chase after them and bring back the royal children."
: "What!? Really, those children... They're safe... That's great. General Lang, I will not follow your orders. We're going back to our own country."
: "What did you say!? You're going to disobey my orders? So you were behind it, I knew it."
: "What? What do you mean?"
: "The one who escaped with the royal children was Ogma, the Talys mercenary. He once served under your highness, correct?"

: "I don't know a thing. But if I could, I would have done just that. Since that time, when I couldn't rescue the two, I have been deeply regretful. Even if I must fight you, I will still rescue them."
: "What, you! Your actions are treasonous! Do you want me to inform Emperor hardin about this!?"
: "Go ahead. We're planning on going to Pales anyway. We will inform Hardin and Nyna of the truth, and of your crimes. Jagen, I'm sorry, but I can no longer stay silent. I want to find Ogma, so we can rescue those children."
: "I understand. You've had to stay patient for so long. I have also reached my limits. Lang, you have constantly mocked our prince of Altea with your actions. Even if his highness could forgive you, I certainly could not. Come, draw your sword. Even though I, Jagen, am old, I will not lose to somebody like you."
: "Wh-what...! Damn, you... I will not forgive you for this!! I will inform the Emperor, and turn Altea into dust! Mark my words!"

It's good to see that push-over Marth seems to have been a very temporary phenomenon.

: "Ha... He fled fast despite his big words. He should be pretty faraway by now."
: "Jagen... You really surprised me. I couldn't believe you would say something like that."
: "You think I'm too old? Haha... Your highness, I won't lose to you youths just yet. That said. Even I, who persuaded your highness to stay calm, got into a dispute with Lang. I was too careless. What should we do next?"
: "Hmm. Well, we should go and find Ogma. If Lang was correct, he should have come to Macedon. I bet he's probably heading for the village of Wendell's residence. Even though I'm worried about Minerva, there's nothing we can do right now. We should go and meet Wendell as well."
: "Understood. But, I wonder about Lang... I hope nothing bad will happen."

Prioritising the pope over the beautiful princess. Atta boy, Marth.

The Team:

	Lv. 	   HP Str Skl Spd Lck WLv Def Res  +XP
Marth	6.51	   25   7   9  10  10   8   8   0  +203
Arran	5.26	   22   8   9  11   4  10  10   6  +82
Luke	4.86	   22   7   6   7   5   6   7   0  +8
Rody	4.29	   22   6   6   8   6   7   6   0  +82

Cecille	7.27	   20   8   7  12   9  10   7   0  +257
Matthis	4.32	   21   7   3   7   1   8   9   0  +32	(base)
Catria	8.38	   24   8  10  15   9  12   9   6  +196
Palla	11.15	   25  10  12  16   9  12   9   6  +115

DOGA	6.00	   22   8   4   4   2   6  11   0  --	(base)
Gordin	7.17	   22   7   7   6   5   8   8   0  +60
Ryan	1.42	   18   5   4   4   3   5   6   0  --	(base)
Warren	5.84	   25   8   6   7   1   6   4   0  +270

Julian	6.00	   20   7   8  14   7   6   6   0  --	(base)
Linde	4.94	   20   2   5   8   8   9   2   4  +94	(base)
Marisha	1.98	   16   1   1   4  12   5   1   5  +56	(base)

• Very fast Cecille (only three/four points behind the Whitewings!), but with only +1 Str/HP and no Def proc at all.
• +1 Spd on Warren!
• And an empty level on Arran. I suppose I should try to not use him too much, so that he'll have more opportunity to gain starshard levels, but he's rather useful now...

Answers!

Spoiler

 

18 hours ago, BrightBow said:

It really is quite funny how we have the new and improved Katua who is so much stronger than her much later joining version from Book 1 on one side, and then on the other we have basically Book 1 Kashim, but he forgot his speed growth.
And the real Kashim has been working out since Book 1 too. The returning characters have it so much easier than any of the new faces.

Can't say I hate it. For me, Warren falls into the "funny bad" category, if probably not quite as funny as Darros, and people who don't appreciate the funny can just not use him. The beautiful mess of old FE unit balance, where the jankiness is proudly carried as a badge.

18 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Indeed. Because if you go into Book 2 from a Book 1 save, Marth already starts the game with the Fire Emblem. So he basically gets it twice.

Well, technically he has the icon on his status screen and uses it during combat. But it's not actually in his inventory until he gets it here. Really weird.

That's a funny little detail. I didn't even try if the save files would be compatible between translation patches. I learned in the meantime (on FEWoD) that I might miss some extra text at the end of the game, but I don't expect that to be huge additions to the plot.

18 hours ago, BrightBow said:

The Girdle of Masculinity/Femininity could be much older than that. It's a 2nd edition artifact. Seems like it goes back to 1990. At least according to this wiki, which lists it as appearing in an 1990 adventure.
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Girdle_of_masculinity/femininity

1 hour ago, CelestialContrail said:

That magic item dates back to at least 1st edition; It's listed in the 1979 printing of the Dungeon Master's Guide I have (that originally belonged to my parents).

See, learning these neat little details is what the internet should be all about. Old oldschool DnD is fascinating to me, even though I only played tabletop RPG with a German system.

15 hours ago, Jotari said:

This feels relevant

So, to collect some of the Awful FE People lore thus far...

• In the Gaiden timeline, Berkut and Rinea aren't involved because they're currently playing out cottagecore tradwife fantasies. Rising stars in the Republican party.
• The Wolfguard is getting into the Alpha Male grifting business
• Anna (and Gotoh, apparently) are really big in NFTs, although I think Anna would have cashed out and entirely disappeared from the scene. If anybody managed to find her, she'd just pretend she's one of her many sisters (who all have no idea what this is all about, of course)

1 hour ago, RPGuy96 said:

Ich bin dumkopfamerikaner und ich verstehe das nicht.

Umm... Knochen-Amerikaner = bone-American, i.e. @Shaky Jones, who pretends that he's the world's biggest Maji fan even though he used him even less than me in Book 1. So I assume he's heartbroken that Maji doesn't rejoin Marth's team in Book 2. Either that, or overjoyed that New Mystery added him back, and didn't even completely gut his viability like it did with, say, the Wolfguard, since they just came up in a different context.

1 hour ago, RPGuy96 said:

Shouzou "balance is my passion" Kaga introduced dismounting because FE1 mounts are super overpowered, and it would be rude to ride horses indoors.  And then decided to supercharge flyers in Book 2 just to keep things "interesting".

A concept that Radiant Dawn would later copy. Probably the worst showing of the Cav/Pala class line in any FE game that I've played, but the two strongest characters of the two main teams are still Haar and (more arguably, I guess) Jill.

53 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Ahh, the Niles-style representation. Gotta love it...

Well, more like accidental representation. I don't think it's particularly offensive (not my place to decide, of course), but the whole Edwina sidestory is pretty much treated as a big joke. A more wholesale variant on the "man is forced to disguise himself as a woman, hilarity ensues" trope.

(The story about queer representation is that it was initially planned to be included, with one male companion being gay and another one bisexual, but because one of the writers didn't get the memo that he was supposed to write three romances and not one, the number of romances was reduced from six to four. And because at the time, the target audience was pretty decidedly "heterosexual male teenager", the ones that were cut were those two dudes, so they ended up with three romances for a male main character and one for a female one; all heterosexual.)

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Eyyyyy I know this word!

A very important word when talking about Germans.

(to be nitpicky, it's Dummkopf. We like our double letters)

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

15 minutes ago, ping said:

The map!

I kinda like it. The huge mountain, the plentiful water, some forests. Looks to me like it'd make a splendidly scenic wilderness preserve & resort island, take a hike and go for a swim.

Battlefield? Yeah, map bad.

15 minutes ago, ping said:

21 turns

No Iote's? Not like this game is so difficult as to need it, and dismounting exists.

Edited January 4 by Interdimensional Observer

[ping]

2 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

No Iote's? Not like this game is so difficult as to need it, and dismounting exists.

...I didn't know about any Iote's.

But I have to admit that I made a savestate before attacking the boss with Matthis (as he had to attack on PP to avoid throne healing and Marth also had very imperfect hit rates and fuck playing this whole map again), so... yes Iote's.

5 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I kinda like it. The huge mountain, the plentiful water, some forests. Looks to me like it'd make a wilderness preserve & resort, take a hike and go for a swim.

Battlefield? Yeah, map bad.

Pretty much, yeah. Aesthetically, Book 2 is definitely a step up again compared to Gaiden. As a playing field, too, but only most of the time.

[Interdimensional Observer]

2 minutes ago, ping said:

...I didn't know about any Iote's.

Not a surprise. It's very weird having hidden treasure not on a desert map. And for such a treasure to come so early and being something as unique as the lone flier protection item.

Thankfully, this is basically the only extreme hidden rarity oddity FE3 has.

I'll headcanon that... the coup generals stole it from Minerva and chucked in out a castle window, being too stupid to realize what it was.

[Saint Rubenio]

41 minutes ago, ping said:

The map! It's bad. So, for those unfamiliar - the Cav not standing adjacent to the boss is Matthis. You recruit him by forcing Julian to talk to him (it seems unlikely that Julian would want to if given a choice). You recruit Julian in the top right village. So, since Marth has exclusive village utility in all the Akaneia games, you have to haul his arse all the way round the map. This map doesn't quite reach Desert Fort levels of awfulness, but it's still one of Akaneia's low points. Even New Mystery, after making some improvements upon the first two maps, just threw its arms up in the air and spent its time adding Wryf's gaiden instead.

Kaga Walking Simulator: The original!

39 minutes ago, ping said:

[HP 70% | Str 50% | Skl 80% | Spd 20% | Lck 10% | WLv 30% | Def 20%]

As compensation, we get another, even more overpowered Pegasus Knight. Palla's growths are, with the exception of a her Str, stricly worse than Catria's, but that's because she already has bases so high that I wouldn't be surprised if they're endgame-ready with an insta-promotion. A shitty Spd growth is a lot easier to reconcile with if you're only four points away from the cap, *Warren*.

Just to put it into perspective: Palla has +2 Str compared to Arran and DOGA, +2 Spd compared to Catria, and her physical bulk isn't even that much worse than DOGA's (+2 HP / -2 Def). Her WLv is high enough to use the Gradivüü at base, so the low-ish growth is literally inconsequential.

Endgame Ready... Beard...?

41 minutes ago, ping said:

his accuracy is worse with it and he, of course promptly missed his second shot, which would've resulted in a dead Marisha.

Well--

41 minutes ago, ping said:

Yes, Ruben, I know, but I don't think I had a Vuln on the other three characters to replace her utility. (also, I still want Hammerne and Thief)

Yeees, but consider: I would've been very happy.

42 minutes ago, ping said:

: "You thought I was dead? Haha... Nevermind."

Okay I kinda love how here he just sort of can't come up with anything witty to say about his plot armor and just goes "nevermind." Amazing.

45 minutes ago, ping said:

Also, another example of a direct translation not really getting the point across to stupid gaijins such as myself. What exactly was so enlightening to Matthis, although I guess Julian was confused by that, too. And it gets across pretty well what a creepy loser Matthis is.

These points about direct translations and interpretations are so interesting considering the ongoing conversation elsewhere

Anyway, it gets across pretty well what a creepy loser Matthis is, in this version of the script. Matthis is actually way cool in the good versions, you see.

46 minutes ago, ping said:

"As opposed to that redhead we conscripted... Complete loser, that one..."

Stop.

47 minutes ago, ping said:

Pursuit theme intensifies

47 minutes ago, ping said:

: "Come, draw your sword. Even though I, Jagen, am old, I will not lose to somebody like you."

Boohoo FE12 is so bad, Kris stole Jagen's cool moment

Meanwhile FE3: Does not have the "and senile" part that sells the entire scene.

Well, that's a wrap. FE3 is inferior, go home everybody.

55 minutes ago, ping said:

(The story about queer representation is that it was initially planned to be included, with one male companion being gay and another one bisexual, but because one of the writers didn't get the memo that he was supposed to write three romances and not one, the number of romances was reduced from six to four. And because at the time, the target audience was pretty decidedly "heterosexual male teenager", the ones that were cut were those two dudes, so they ended up with three romances for a male main character and one for a female one; all heterosexual.)

Wow. Well that fucking sucks...

49 minutes ago, ping said:

A very important word when talking about Germans.

(to be nitpicky, it's Dummkopf. We like our double letters)

I know that as well. TF2 is quite the educational game.

34 minutes ago, ping said:

...I didn't know about any Iote's.

But I have to admit that I made a savestate before attacking the boss with Matthis (as he had to attack on PP to avoid throne healing and Marth also had very imperfect hit rates and fuck playing this whole map again), so... yes Iote's.

And if you think this is bad, wait till you get to FE4's secret gear that is entirely unit-defining.

[ping]

12 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

These points about direct translations and interpretations are so interesting considering the ongoing conversation elsewhere

Anyway, it gets across pretty well what a creepy loser Matthis is, in this version of the script. Matthis is actually way cool in the good versions, you see.

Not entirely a coincident

I skimmed over the FE3 and FE12 scripts, trying to find a Matthis that wasn't being weird about his sister's "cuteness" or her dating life. I failed in that, but I suspect you're talking about the Matthis that is supportive towards a F!Kris dating his sister? I wouldn't follow that argument, though, since "being supportive" for Matthis translates into "creepily tries to hook up her sister without her consent, with somebody she has never met" still falls under Creepy Loser for me.

17 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Stop.

Nevah!

If you can't handle the Matthis Slander, you don't deserve the Easy Pickings

18 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Wow. Well that fucking sucks...

It was a different time. Good on them for having a better reason than "b-but the children", I guess.

21 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

And if you think this is bad, wait till you get to FE4's secret gear that is entirely unit-defining.

Brave of you to assume that I won't aks FEWoD about those when it is time.

[RPGuy96]

1 hour ago, ping said:

A lot of tonal intricacies and cultural connotations that I feel are going right over my head here.

Yeah.  I'd like to do something about this, but without any Japanese I don't have any idea what is intended.

1 hour ago, ping said:

Umm... Knochen-Amerikaner = bone-American, i.e. @Shaky Jones, who pretends that he's the world's biggest Maji fan even though he used him even less than me in Book 1. So I assume he's heartbroken that Maji doesn't rejoin Marth's team in Book 2. Either that, or overjoyed that New Mystery added him back, and didn't even completely gut his viability like it did with, say, the Wolfguard, since they just came up in a different context.

Ah, see, I need to play FE12 again and I would've gotten it, probably.  I had no idea Cord was on this map.

1 hour ago, ping said:

A concept that Radiant Dawn would later copy. Probably the worst showing of the Cav/Pala class line in any FE game that I've played, but the two strongest characters of the two main teams are still Haar and (more arguably, I guess) Jill.

You know, I was going to bring up Radiant Dawn, but I think I've gone a little heavy on #KagaDidItFirst.  But hashtags cannot lie.