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

[Saint Rubenio]

23 hours ago, Punished Dayni said:

I'd joke about FE ever having subtle villainy, but I know I'd get examples if I did. God forbit it indeed.

Er...

...I mean, I guess FE8 showed restraint by not showing Orson's wife? That's some subtlety. Though when it comes to Camus, they all tend to drop the ball on that front. The game just beats you over the head with the fact that you're supposed to feel sad. Maybe Selena? She never outright goes "I loved the Emperor, and now that he's no more, I no longer have any wish to live - let me commit suicide by Ephraim", but it can be inferred from her conversation with Myrrh, her scenes with Vigardead and a pinch of mental gymnastics. But then the game goes "wow her death sure was a tragedy huh" and beats you over the head anyway.

No, FE's game has never really been subtlety lol

44 minutes ago, gnip said:

...which reminds me, I skipped the Lion Head fountains in Liberation HQ, didn't I? I suspect Pickings have never been Easier, but I'm open to suggestions, if anybody is willing to fight Ruben over it. Those last fountains were Str/Def - stacking even more of the latter on Cliff would be funny, but also rather overkill, I'm pretty sure.

Easy pickings.

...I wish I had more to say about the rest of the action here. Marla has a pretty baller design in Echoes?

15 minutes ago, Shaky Jones said:

Okay now do my thing.

Shouldn't you do that?

16 minutes ago, Shaky Jones said:

Ruben deserves happiness every now and then. Have you seen how pissy hacking fe6 has gotten him?

Not without reason! Fucking broken-ass game.

16 minutes ago, Shaky Jones said:

Cliff rhymes with Riff.

Checks out.

Riff should've been the recurring character, and not the whitewings.

[ping]

10 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Riff should've been the recurring character, and not the whitewings.

Triangle Attack between Wryf, Jenny, and Silk. That is the content we need.

10 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Not without reason! Fucking broken-ass game.

They just didn't expect anybody to try and mess with perfection.

10 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

You're in Kaga's realm. The Force was never with us.

"Is the post-Kaga side stronger?" - "No! No. No. Quicker. Easier. More seductive." - "But how am I to tell the good Fire Emblem from the bad?" - "You will know."

 

[Saint Rubenio]

4 hours ago, gnip said:

Triangle Attack between Wryf, Jenny, and Silk. That is the content we need.

The series would've been so much perfect if trio of healers with an old guy had taken off instead of forgettable peggy sisters.

4 hours ago, gnip said:

hey just didn't expect anybody to try and mess with perfection.

Pish-posh. I made it more perfect.

4 hours ago, gnip said:

"Is the post-Kaga side stronger?" - "No! No. No. Quicker. Easier. More seductive." - "But how am I to tell the good Fire Emblem from the bad?" - "You will know."

Did you ever hear the tragedy of Shouzou Kaga the Wise?

I thought not. It's not tale IntSys would tell you.

[ping]

FE2 Chapter 4: Dismal Nation

Fear Shrine

Spoiler

Would you look at that, only the, what, sixth dungeon that we venture into, and already we have one with an actual map layout. There's even two paths!

The combat maps are back to the same old, though. No more second rooms with poison swamps, for now.

This first fight might be the toughest one in this entire dungeon, too, because of the high magic damage output overall. The Witches are just the basic Lv.1 variety throwing Fire spells around, but the Wizards have a respectable 19 Atk with their Slime spell.

____

What ended up happening is a bit of a pendulum movement, firest to the left, then to the right, trying not to give the Wizards any opportunity to gang up on a low-HP/Res character. Worked out fine, with no deaths/resets/lucky dodges, although every fight against multiple Witches is going to be a bit luck-dependant.

The mostly magical squad was guarding the exit to the north, towards the Revival fountains - back Jesse and Force come. Both of them are Lv.7, but Jesse is one promotion tier below Force, of course.

__

So, back to the entrance we go. Ryuto picks his Speed boosts, and Jesse gets the signal to hopefully start catching up with everybody else in levels. There might be a good opportunity in this dungeon. (Promo bonuses: +1 Skl, +2 Spd, +2 Def)

__

Going to the right, you run into a bunch of Gargoyles. Theres are Lv.5, with appropriately higher stats than the ones we've fought thus far (at least I think we've only seen Lv.1 Gargoyles), but this is still a pretty easy fight.

__

It helps that Claire one-shots a handful of them on enemy phase.

But yeah, the most remarkable thing about this fight is Ryuto reaching Lv.12. I still want him to primarily be a combat unit, but having a second Recover spell is very nice, since it makes it easier for Silk to throw out Warp spells, without needing an item with regen effect.

Third fight is braindead easy, but also the opportunity to train up Jesse that I mentioned above.

__

Three of the Zombies (Lv.1 Zombies, no less) are Mummies, which means that they're just as weak, but give a ton of XP. Jesse gets all three Mummy kills, with a crit depriving him of 34 chip XP, gaining a ton of Lck and Spd in the progress.

Next, ten Bonewalkers. Boring.

With that, the path to Force's personal ring is free! Fun fact: The darker blue tile below the chest is a hole that drops you back to the start of the dungeon. And the fact is fun rather than annoying because Mesen has that nifty rewind feature.

Going in the other direction at a previous fork, we get this incredible fight: A Lv.1 Canter summoning Lv.1 Zombies. This is literally the same as a fight Celica had in chapter 2, except that this Canter isn't even standing on a healing tile.

Claire was supposed to set up a kill for Dyute, who probably would've gotten an Angel Ring level out of it (after being warped forward by Silk). But seriously, every fight after the first one is rather trivial.

This path leads to a total of three chests. First one: The "Cliff is completely broken now" chest. Not just because of the effective damage vs. monsters, or because of the regeneration it provides, making Cliff even more unkillable... No, arguably the most important trait that the Holy Bow has is a base 100 hit. 100. Instead of the 70 on the Steel Bow. Also 5 Mt instead of 3, zero weight, and 10% base crit for good measure, but mostly an extra +30% hit.

And lastly (well, not quite lastly, there's another piece of treasure remaining), we are given a choice:

• Holy Shield (5 HP/turn regen; +13 Def only against monsters)
• Silver Shield (+7 Def, unconditionally)

Any opinions? I know that Alm fights more humans than Celica does, so that would suggest that the consistent bonus of the Silver Shield is preferable. However, another regen item wouldn't hurt, either, in order to put on a Mage who can then occasionally be a super-tank, too.

The Team:

	Lv.	   HP  Pow Skl Spd Lck Def Res  +XP   Item
Alm	10.26	   34   13* 13   9  10  10   4  + 28  Regal Sw (+7 Atk, +10 Hit, +20 Crit)
Force	8/7.51	   42   22   5   8*  5  12   5  + 51  Speed Ring (40 Spd, +5 Move)
Luka	7/1.88	   34   16   6   4   3  12   2  

Claire	13/1.99	   40   16* 10  15* 21  12   8  + 99  Steel Ln (+4 Atk, -10 Hit, -1 Spd)
Matilda	6.08	   28   13* 15  14  13  11  10  + 72  Holy Ln (+3 Atk, +10 Crit)
Cleive	7/2.42	   28   12*  7   8*  9   8   1  + 36  Knight Ln (+3 Atk, -5 Hit, -1 Spd)

Cliff	4/11/9.70  39   23*  9  13  11  24   8  + 49  Holy Bow (+5 Atk, +30 Hit, +10 Crit)
Python	5.41	   24   11   3   4   2   6   4
Jesse	7/5.47	   30   13* 13  22* 13   7   7  +447  Bolt Sw (15 Atk, -10 hit, -3 Spd)
Gray	5/8/4.39   32   13  11  14   2   8   2  + 18

Dyute	8.80	   22   13   8  14  19*  5  15  + 84  Angel Ring (40 Lck)
Silk	10.35	   18   11   5  12   9   2  11  + 36  Prayer Ring
Robin	4/9.35	   29    9  10  12   6   5*  4  + 55  Leather Sh (+3 Def)
Ryuto	12.14	   32   14   9  14   6   7   8  + 56

• So that's the whole +8 Spd for Jesse after promotion. Otherwise, he's +4 Lck from his base stat, and +2 Str/Skl compared to Myrmidon bases. Now all he needs is a regular ol' physical sword, since the Bolt Sword is getting a bit situational, with all the Witches teleporting around. This is probably something Celica can spare - Alm's side only has the Bolt Sword and Alm's Regal Sword for that weapon type, it seems, while Celica gets the whole rest of the selection.

 

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Pish-posh. I made it more perfect.

Unless there are two playable Gonzaleses, I don't believe you.

[Saint Rubenio]

26 minutes ago, gnip said:

Would you look at that, only the, what, sixth dungeon that we venture into, and already we have one with an actual map layout. There's even two paths!

Holy shit, look at that NES exploration!

27 minutes ago, gnip said:

But yeah, the most remarkable thing about this fight is Ryuto reaching Lv.12. I still want him to primarily be a combat unit, but having a second Recover spell is very nice, since it makes it easier for Silk to throw out Warp spells, without needing an item with regen effect.

I feel like I've been driving the one line into the ground, so let me try and go one whole reply without saying it.

Ryuto can truly be

28 minutes ago, gnip said:

With that, the path to Force's personal ring is free!

28 minutes ago, gnip said:

Fun fact: The darker blue tile below the chest is a hole that drops you back to the start of the dungeon. And the fact is fun rather than annoying because Mesen has that nifty rewind feature.

Ahahahaha!

30 minutes ago, gnip said:

This path leads to a total of three chests. First one: The "Cliff is completely broken now" chest. Not just because of the effective damage vs. monsters, or because of the regeneration it provides, making Cliff even more unkillable... No, arguably the most important trait that the Holy Bow has is a base 100 hit. 100. Instead of the 70 on the Steel Bow. Also 5 Mt instead of 3, zero weight, and 10% base crit for good measure, but mostly an extra +30% hit.

Ahh, accuracy. A true commodity.

Play Berwick Saga.

30 minutes ago, gnip said:

And lastly (well, not quite lastly, there's another piece of treasure remaining), we are given a choice:

• Holy Shield (5 HP/turn regen; +13 Def only against monsters)
• Silver Shield (+7 Def, unconditionally)

Any opinions? I know that Alm fights more humans than Celica does, so that would suggest that the consistent bonus of the Silver Shield is preferable. However, another regen item wouldn't hurt, either, in order to put on a Mage who can then occasionally be a super-tank, too.

Ehhhhhh I'd say 5 HP regen would be nice. You can throw it on Silk or something, to let her use her good spells without the hassle of getting her HP back through nosferatu.

31 minutes ago, gnip said:

Unless there are two playable Gonzaleses, I don't believe you.

Well, there's the bandit twins. And Gonzalez is there, his role is just... slightly different from vanilla.

[Interdimensional Observer]

20 hours ago, gnip said:

The boss is... was this already Sonia's sister in Gaiden? I think I remember this being a thing in Echoes, but I don't know if the devs just extrapolated from Mara's "purple Sonia" portrait.

-Mara. 

Which can be a perfectly innocent name/word.🙂 Although it can also refer to a Buddhist demon king who tried keeping the Buddha from attaining enlightenment. And, in Japanese going back like a thousand years, it can be a euphemism.🍆

SoV went with "Marla".

20 hours ago, gnip said:

And with that, we're at the Mila Shrine. Claire is the only promotion, but it's a seriously powerful one.

A thing of old-school beauty.😄

1 hour ago, gnip said:

Jesse	7/5.47	   30   13* 13  22* 13   7   7  +447  Bolt Sw (15 Atk, -10 hit, -3 Spd)
Gray	5/8/4.39   32   13  11  14   2   8   2  + 18

The Lck difference. And the Res isn't irrelevant either.

Looks like Jesse will actually be useful here after all.

1 hour ago, gnip said:

Any opinions? I know that Alm fights more humans than Celica does, so that would suggest that the consistent bonus of the Silver Shield is preferable. However, another regen item wouldn't hurt, either, in order to put on a Mage who can then occasionally be a super-tank, too.

You ARE about to get some more traders, while triple-Peg says to me Celica ought to not need the Holy/Blessed Shield, you could send it to her, if you wanted to.

Who would use the Silver Shield if you went for it? A warped Forsythe (but then you'd have to ditch the Speed Ring)? A much less accurate no-HP regen Kliff? A promoted Alm? Claire?

If you can't think of anyone who'd actually put the Silver to serious use, get the Holy.

Edited October 10, 2023 by Interdimensional Observer

[Shaky Jones]

18 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Shouldn't you do that?

Do my thing Ruben.

18 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Not without reason! Fucking broken-ass game.

Typical of the elderly to yell about technology they don't understand.

18 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Riff should've been the recurring character, and not the whitewings.

For all the great characters Kaga made, he sure likes getting rid of the best ones and hyping up the worst.

8 hours ago, gnip said:

Triangle Attack between Wryf, Jenny, and Silk. That is the content we need.

I'm sure a universe where FE Warriors was good did a Wryf/Moulder/Saul triangle attack.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

8 hours ago, gnip said:

"Is the post-Kaga side stronger?" - "No! No. No. Quicker. Easier. More seductive." - "But how am I to tell the good Fire Emblem from the bad?" - "You will know."

Did you ever hear the tragedy of Shouzou Kaga the Wise?

I thought not. It's not tale IntSys would tell you.

Hey, with the plague of 3 Houses fans, I'd be happy to execute order 66.

55 minutes ago, gnip said:

Would you look at that, only the, what, sixth dungeon that we venture into, and already we have one with an actual map layout. There's even two paths!

Man, Gaiden dungeons woulda been great if they had actual design.

57 minutes ago, gnip said:

Next, ten Bonewalkers. Boring.

We were having a crazy time, until you showed up.

58 minutes ago, gnip said:

With that, the path to Force's personal ring is free! Fun fact: The darker blue tile below the chest is a hole that drops you back to the start of the dungeon. And the fact is fun rather than annoying because Mesen has that nifty rewind feature.

This was the only reason Kaga made Gaiden.

58 minutes ago, gnip said:

This path leads to a total of three chests. First one: The "Cliff is completely broken now" chest. Not just because of the effective damage vs. monsters, or because of the regeneration it provides, making Cliff even more unkillable... No, arguably the most important trait that the Holy Bow has is a base 100 hit. 100. Instead of the 70 on the Steel Bow. Also 5 Mt instead of 3, zero weight, and 10% base crit for good measure, but mostly an extra +30% hit.

I love the comical element of hit rate being the best stat for Kaga games, and Binding Blade. Swords and fire were always the best weapons just because you rarely miss. I remember playing FE6 for the first time and praising the Lord upon learning that wyverns and pegs learn swords on promotion. "Finally, my fliers can hit!".  

No, I don't support this kind of game design. I just find it funny as hell. Although I often hear mega FE6 fans defend bad hits in the game by saying it gives sword locked units more purpose. Guess what? I WANT to use nothing but axes!

1 hour ago, gnip said:

Any opinions?

Well of course I do! FE4 is one of the worst SNES games I have ever pla-

Oh you mean about the shields. No.

29 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Play Berwick Saga

Ruben, I will make a tally chart everytime I miss in Berwick the day I play it. If it exceeds a certain number, you can kiss Spain goodbye.

[Saint Rubenio]

1 hour ago, Shaky Jones said:

Do my thing Ruben.

Why?

1 hour ago, Shaky Jones said:

Typical of the elderly to yell about technology they don't understand

I understand it more than you, you dork.

1 hour ago, Shaky Jones said:

For all the great characters Kaga made, he sure likes getting rid of the best ones and hyping up the worst.

Basically.

1 hour ago, Shaky Jones said:

No, I don't support this kind of game design. I just find it funny as hell. Although I often hear mega FE6 fans defend bad hits in the game by saying it gives sword locked units more purpose. Guess what? I WANT to use nothing but axes!

1 hour ago, Shaky Jones said:

Ruben, I will make a tally chart everytime I miss in Berwick the day I play it. If it exceeds a certain number, you can kiss Spain goodbye.

One of the most reliable units in the earlygame of Berwick Saga is an axeman.

Besides, you truly expect me to do anything but laugh at that tally?

[ping]

FE2 Chapter 4: Dismal Nation

Fear Shrine -->-->--> Fear Shrine

Spoiler

Holy Shield it is.

And finally, in another room, we get a Magic Shield on top of all the treasure. This one, according to the main site, reduces the accuracy of all incoming spells to (not by!) 10%. No passive healing, but this still seems like it might potentially be of use in against a certain upcoming boss.

On the way out, Ryuto dons some new clothes, gaining 1 HP in the process.

And because I didn't remember when we first got Ryuto, the next step is a lot of backtracking, all the way back to the ch.1 area of the map. Of course, there's some danger in this:

A total of three Witch armies spawning at Nuibaba's abode before Alm is back in Rigel. How nice.

__

In the meantime, one quick battle against some monsters (very easy at this point, of course), and +3 Str for Mr Pickings.

The first Witch fight is on the map where we faced the Gold Knight with a hairdo of all time. Again, somebody gets warped in, but this time it's Dyute, who has a very easy time fighting the magic enemies with her very high Res (and good Spd/Lck, too, actually).

At this point, I'm convinced that I'm not just lucky with warping Witches, their AI just isn't as punishing and warp-happy as I feared. It seems that the chance of a teleport is well below 50%, really.

And sometimes the teleports are just a little daft. This happened in Sonia's fight before, where I thought that the AI didn't factor in the desert movement penalty, but apparently, Witches just happen to warp to a spot too far away to actually attack somebody from.

During the fight, Cliff reaches the level necessary to access his final transformation. This should explain why we're going back to the Fear Shrine - I think that Bow Knight's innate 1-5 range, even without a bow, will be very useful when facing Nuibaba.

Next fight is on the same map, but with flipped starting locations. This time, the Witches move first. It's a bit awkward, but it helps that Silk is with the group further away from the action, so she can warp them into the fray.

__

This fight also works out fine - well enough that I can waste actions on trade chains to ensure a few more Angel Ring levels.

__

Easy doubling.

(The Sage combat sprite is pretty cool, not gonna lie)

Next fight - a bit more awkward, since we're split up again, with the smaller group being much closer to the enemies. And one of them is Robin, who doesn't measure up to the enemies here: Low Mag and Res means that he doesn't like fighting Wizards and Witches, and even in his Spd-blessed state, he still gets doubled by the Myrmidons.

Obviously, Silk helps out again.

Still, this fight looks a lot more intimidating than the previous ones, despite the enemies being exactly the same.

But with another warp-in, and witches seemingly not ganging up on anybody (and generally not picking the best target available), it gets decently under control. Claire brought one Wizard down to 1 HP, so he's practically dead, and one of the Myrms is punched into coward AI, too, so this is actually a safe-ish position.

So yeah, that was a grand tour across Valentia, for the worthy goal of strengthening Ryuto. The side effect of facing Nuibaba with Bow Knight Cliff available is a nice bonus.

The Team:

	Lv.		HP  Pow Skl Spd Lck Def Res  +XP   Item
Alm	10.39		34   13* 13   9  10  10   4  + 13  Regal Sw (+7 Atk, +10 Hit, +20 Crit)
Force	8/8.87		42   24   5   8   5* 12   5  +136  Angel Ring (40 Lck)
Luka	7/1.98		34   16*  6   4*  3  12   2  + 10  Knight Ln (+3 Atk, -5 Hit, -1 Spd)

Claire	13/2.62		40   16* 12  17* 21  12   8  + 63  Steel Ln (+4 Atk, -10 Hit, -1 Spd)
Matilda	7.05		30   13* 15  16  13  11  10  + 97  Holy Ln (+3 Atk, +10 Crit)
Cleive	7/2.48		28   12   7   8   9   8   1  +  6  Magic Shield

Cliff	4/11/10.40	39   23*  9  13  11  26   8  + 70  Holy Bow (+5 Atk, +30 Hit, +10 Crit)
Python	5.51		24   11*  3   4*  2   6   4  + 10  Steel Bow (+3 Atk, -1 Spd)
Jesse	7/6.70		32   15  13  22  13   7   7  +113
Gray	5/8/4.46	32   13  11  14   2   8   2  +  7

Dyute	10.44		24   15  10  16  19   5  15  +164  Prayer Ring
Silk	10.52		18   11   5  12   9   2  11  + 17  Holy Shield
Robin	9.80		29    9  10  12   6   5*  4  + 45  Leather Sh (+3 Def)
Ryuto	12/2.40		35   17   9  16*  6   7   8  +140* Quick Ring (40 Spd, +5 Move) 

 

 

5 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Well, there's the bandit twins. And Gonzalez is there, his role is just... slightly different from vanilla.

I don't think the bandit twins have ever been presented to me as a remarkably good thing about a FE game.

5 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

-Mara. 

Which can be a perfectly innocent name/word.🙂 Although it can also refer to a Buddhist demon king who tried keeping the Buddha from attaining enlightenment. And, in Japanese going back like a thousand years, it can be a euphemism.🍆

...right, I did play through Persona 4 a long time ago (and abandoned a second palythrough less long ago). The dong-in-a-chariot. How could I forget.

5 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The Lck difference. And the Res isn't irrelevant either.

Looks like Jesse will actually be useful here after all.

Fun Fact: The only growth that Gray beats Jesse in is Strength: 30% vs. 25%. They're tied in HP; in all other stats, Jesse has better growths. Most impactful the 40% Spd as opposed to Gray's 10%, of course.

5 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

We were having a crazy time, until you showed up.

Where in this picture are you, Shaky? Or maybe are you in this one...

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Why?

At this point, I'm more confused about what "his thing" is. Although since he's American, it probably has something to do with eating burgers and shooting guns.

[Saint Rubenio]

9 minutes ago, gnip said:

On the way out, Ryuto dons some new clothes, gaining 1 HP in the process.

To be precise, a shirt that says "easy come, easy gone" on it.

9 minutes ago, gnip said:

The first Witch fight is on the map where we faced the Gold Knight with a hairdo of all time.

Mr. Epicest Glow-up Of All Time. And that's saying something, considering the bar was set at "best presentation in the series."

9 minutes ago, gnip said:

So yeah, that was a grand tour across Valentia, for the worthy goal of strengthening Ryuto.

Weaklings would've done it for Dyute. But you're not easy pickings, my friend Gnip.

9 minutes ago, gnip said:

I don't think the bandit twins have ever been presented to me as a remarkably good thing about a FE game.

No, but I tried to make something nice out of them.

9 minutes ago, gnip said:

At this point, I'm more confused about what "his thing" is. Although since he's American, it probably has something to do with eating burgers and shooting guns.

A gun burger. It's a gun between two loafs of bread. You can shoot while eating!

Edited October 10, 2023 by Saint Rubenio

[Interdimensional Observer]

15 minutes ago, gnip said:

And finally, in another room, we get a Magic Shield on top of all the treasure. This one, according to the main site, reduces the accuracy of all incoming spells to (not by!) 10%. No passive healing, but this still seems like it might potentially be of use in against a certain upcoming boss.

Considering how old games could be "DON'T FIGHT X WITHOUT MAGIC ITEM.", it wouldn't surprise me if the Magic Shield was invented specifically as Neubaebae-countermeasure. Not perfect, because still 10% chance, but still good enough.

In SoV? Not so sure. Apparently the shield (and Dread Fighters, unlike in the original) halve the fixed % damage, but the game never indicated that? I think Newbahbah was vanquished via Silque Invoke Dread Fighter spam my first time. 

21 minutes ago, gnip said:

Easy doubling.

(The Sage combat sprite is pretty cool, not gonna lie)

I didn't love it in SoV though. The inclusion of a staff isn't bad, but they needed to more with it animation-wise. FE mages are always either tome-holding and or wave their hands around (which it has to be given Staffs are a separate thing). Athos did it well, and GBA Bishop was okay, but I didn't love how SoV incorporated the staff-work.

25 minutes ago, gnip said:

So yeah, that was a grand tour across Valentia, for the worthy goal of strengthening Ryuto. The side effect of facing Nuibaba with Bow Knight Cliff available is a nice bonus.

I wouldn't hold this against you whatsoever. You've been doing practically zero grind, so I wouldn't consider this cheaty at all.😄

[Saint Rubenio]

8 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I didn't love it in SoV though. The inclusion of a staff isn't bad, but they needed to more with it animation-wise. FE mages are always either tome-holding and or wave their hands around (which it has to be given Staffs are a separate thing). Athos did it well, and GBA Bishop was okay, but I didn't love how SoV incorporated the staff-work.

Compensation for the insanely satisfying sagittae effect, I suppose.

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 minute ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Compensation for the insanely satisfying sagittae effect, I suppose.

Agreed, Sagittae is good. Also has the distinction of being a very unique spell in FE, 3H kept it (albeit as a pretty forgettable spell), but otherwise the spell doesn't exist in FE. A non-elemental volley of magic arrows, it's a little usual, and rare things inherently lead some to value them.

Feels like Sagittae could use something else... But I'm not sure what. Flier effectiveness? No, that's what wind magic often gets. Targeting Def? Would be of very limited use to a mage. But it's such an unusual for FE incantation that comes off as worthy of a bonus effect.

[Shaky Jones]

12 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I understand it more than you, you dork.

Thanks to your suffering, I don't want to understand it. 

12 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

One of the most reliable units in the earlygame of Berwick Saga is an axeman.

Besides, you truly expect me to do anything but laugh at that tally?

You would laugh. There is only so much patriotism a Spaniard can have when realizing their game is Thracia, Resident Evil 4, and a modern Pokémon game. It's joever. Honestly, me destroying it would be a favor.

9 hours ago, gnip said:

And finally, in another room, we get a Magic Shield on top of all the treasure. This one, according to the main site, reduces the accuracy of all incoming spells to (not by!) 10%. No passive healing, but this still seems like it might potentially be of use in against a certain upcoming boss.

Not 0%? It's over.

9 hours ago, gnip said:

Easy doubling.

(The Sage combat sprite is pretty cool, not gonna lie)

Heck yeah. Now this is what makes Gaiden enjoyable

for about 2 seconds. Thanks for letting us consume the good while you vomit the maps green from the bad.

9 hours ago, gnip said:

Where in this picture are you, Shaky?

I do be loving pirate hats.

9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Weaklings would've done it for Dyute. But you're not easy pickings, my friend Gnip.

Easy pickings is losing meaning as a sentence. 

Ruben was easy pickings for Gaiden.

9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

9 hours ago, gnip said:

At this point, I'm more confused about what "his thing" is. Although since he's American, it probably has something to do with eating burgers and shooting guns.

A gun burger. It's a gun between two loafs of bread. You can shoot while eating!

I'm hearing a lot of talking, but not a lot of my thing being done.

[Dayni]

On 10/9/2023 at 8:49 PM, gnip said:

It's also more crowded than normal, but not as bad as it could be. The Witch squad that joined the enemy consisted of 10 units, but only 5 extra units showed up. Or rather, it seems that some of the original enemies were replaced by the Witch squad. I suppose Gaiden has a cap of 20 enemies? That would also explain why the Queen Witch doesn't summon any additional Witches for the first two turns.

I suspect you're spot on on the limit, though it's funny to see the high limit be that low and match the amount a player might ever see.

Was the enemy cap that low with SDatBoL? I'd assume not.

On 10/9/2023 at 8:49 PM, gnip said:

As a result, the Force is not with us anymore.

...and honestly, I think the situation is pretty similar to the Valbo fiasco over on Celica's side. This is a fight where I expected somebody to die - to teleporting Witches and not my wrong understanding of the AI, but still, I was very lucky that enemy Witches never ganged up on a low-Res unit. Plus, we're about to enter the Fear Shrine, so... Force will have to take a little rest. Two fights, I think, glancing at FEWoD, til we get to the revival fountains.

  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

23 hours ago, gnip said:

The mostly magical squad was guarding the exit to the north, towards the Revival fountains - back Jesse and Force come. Both of them are Lv.7, but Jesse is one promotion tier below Force, of course.

Oh good, he's back.

Man, it's funny when you go away long enough for multiple updates.

23 hours ago, gnip said:

And the fact is fun rather than annoying because Mesen has that nifty rewind feature.

I think you know the meme by now.

23 hours ago, gnip said:

•  

Any opinions? I know that Alm fights more humans than Celica does, so that would suggest that the consistent bonus of the Silver Shield is preferable. However, another regen item wouldn't hurt, either, in order to put on a Mage who can then occasionally be a super-tank, too.

Regen is neat and Chapter 5 do be full of monsters.

Though I'm assuming this Silver Shield doesn't have weight? That'd be a better case for the Silver Shield.

17 hours ago, gnip said:

And finally, in another room, we get a Magic Shield on top of all the treasure. This one, according to the main site, reduces the accuracy of all incoming spells to (not by!) 10%. No passive healing, but this still seems like it might potentially be of use in against a certain upcoming boss.

It really did get nerfed in SoV, with the weight and it only adding 7 Res or something.

17 hours ago, gnip said:

Easy doubling.

(The Sage combat sprite is pretty cool, not gonna lie)

The pickings are getting easier.

[Saint Rubenio]

15 minutes ago, Punished Dayni said:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

Oh good, he's back.

Man, it's funny when you go away long enough for multiple updates.

Hey, not as funny as the fact that I straight up missed Force's death. Seriously, I must've fallen asleep while scrolling or something, because I just did not notice. I responded to Shaky's comment on the death with a meme and didn't realize it was commenting on a death. Then Gnip brought him back and... somehow I missed this too. So I didn't even realize Force died at any point.

Amazing.

[ping]

Small shock of the day: My laptop was acting up after a Windows update yesterday, not letting me log in. Luckily, it still allowed me to copy stuff on an external hard drive, so I did that and did a complete reinstall - honestly, it was time to do that anyway. I did not forget about the Gaiden save file - in fact, I even made sure that just copying the "NES" folder wholesale was enough by starting it on a second PC - but when I was setting up the laptop again, I forgot that I put the NES stuff on a USB stick and not the external hard drive that I had my main back-up on, since I didn't feel the need to make a newer back-up of my gaming-related stuff other than this and just took the months-old folder on the external hard drive.

Anyway, imagine my shock when the only "NES" folder that I found only had save files from... 2020, I think. Oof. I thought for a minute that I might have deleted the newer version alongside some other clean-up of games-related stuff I don't need anymore and already pondered if I should move on to Book 1 before maybe replaying Gaiden all the way to act 4 at a later point.

But enough horror stories, here's Nuibaba.

FE2 Chapter 4: Dismal Nation

Fear Shrine --> Nuibaba's Manor

Spoiler

But first, Cliff needs a horse. And 1-5 range without an equipped bow. Mostly 1-5 range without an equipped bow.

Dyute and Ryuto go ahead a few tiles to do a bunch of enemy phase chip damage, Force gets a nice +2 HP/Str/Skl level, Robin a less nice +2 HP level...

__

...and Matilda gets the boss kill because Claire missed a rather high percent attack. Honestly not a bad thing, since Matilda is still working for a promotion and Claire is not.

Cliff obviously (I mean, you have seen his stats) doesn't get much out of the promotion stat-wise, just +1 HP, but seriously, innate 1-5 range is great for the upcoming fight...

__

...because he's going to have a party at Nuibaba's place.

I'm feeling a bit silly right now because I forgot to make a screenshot of Nuibaba's stats, but they're nothing too special - if anything, they're kinda low for a Lv.10 Wizard.

The danger comes from the Medusa spell, which reduces the target's HP to 1 if it connects, combined with Nuibaba's Magic Ring giving it 1-5 or 1-7 range. Main site says that it increases range by 5, wiki says to 5. I'll have to check that out.

__

(obligatory comment about Nuibaba getting a... slightly different design in Echoes)

Anyway, you might have noticed that another Witch army has assembled while I was visiting the Fear Shrine. I... don't mind as much, honestly, since it gives everybody who isn't Cliff a bit to do. Except, of course, I once again have to pray that the Witch AI remains merciful, since they would easily get kills if they ganged up on anybody. Luckily, I was lucky once again, strengthening my suspicion that Witch AI is actually purposefully bad. There was at least one turn where one Witch warped and attacked Luka (doubling and bringing him into kill range) and then a second Witch warped and attacked somebody else.

But one second, I almost forgot the very dramatic opening narration... *ahem*

A ghastly face looms from the shadows. It's the ruler of Terror Mountain, whom all fear: the legendary necromancer Nuibaba... If that dark spell he traded his soul for leaves his lips just once... All living beings will surely have a quick death. Oh Alm-- why do you go? On this fearful mountain, what in the world could exist?"

FE1 had these flowery chapter openings too, once in a while, but this one is a lot more jarring because I believe Gaiden otherwise only has used dialogue at the beginning of fights, when there's any text at all.

Inside the manor, things start out  a bit discouraging, with the very first Death spell hitting Cliff for big damage. Keep in mind that Cliff has pretty good Res, so these guys really do hit very hard.

But Cliff is undeterred, sitting on a healing tile and killing Nuibaba on turn 2. I think his AI broke a bit - he neither attacked nor moved towards a healing tile (as his HP was below half), just moved to what I assume is his "standard" position - enemies sometimes do that, where they move to a specific tile on turn 1 and then stay there until something moves into their range.

In this case, Nuibaba was still in range for Cliff to attack from a healing tile, thanks to the 1-5 range, so he could basically just stay there and keep shooting stuff. Even though he was hit by a second Death spell later, he never came close to death during all this.

Something that bears mentioning in the fight against the Witch reinforcements is Python being useful, chipping enemy Witches down for others to get the kill. Both Cleive and Luka got some XP that way, although it's kinda too late for them to be too relevant in the future.

Second enemy that Cliff shoots is the Canter, which makes the Manor already much less crowded.

__

At that point, Clair and Force also poke in carefully - although they don't have that much to fear. The Dreadfighters deal more than 1 dmg against them, but it's Clair and Force who do the doubling in those fights.

Force manages to get to Lv.10 in the process.

Dyute also gets in, in the hope of getting an Angel Ring level, but she unfortunately doesn't hit the mark. Claire takes the kill instead.

And with that, the mountain is conquered. In a somewhat cheesy fashion, sure, but that map looks awful to play "properly". A boss who will reduce anybody's HP to 1, with plenty additional enemies around him? Ugh. Just the map layout to begin with, with the long loop around the manor to get to the stairs, or alternatively climing up the cliff very slowly? Also ugh. I'm glad my Cliff is stupid overpowered.

Now then, in the dungeons we find one Saint and three traders. The latter make me think that this is a good point to move over to Celica now? I haven't really thought about what I should send to her alongside the Angel Ring, if anything. The newly acquired Magic Ring would look fabulous on Atlas, I assume. And I hope that there's enough traders on her route to send both rings (and maybe a sword) back before she gets to her point of no return.

But also there is our third healer (Ryuto being the second). Hurray!

: "My love, Zeke, is a general of the Rigellan Knights. He opposed the war, however. To ensure he didn't rebel, I was taken hostage. If Zeke sees me rescued, I'm sure he'll gladly help you."

The second comma in the first sentence is a rather important one. And this Zeke fellow sounds like a guy who would be perfectly willing to switch sides if his love interest tells him to.

[HP 40% | Str 10% | Skl 15% | Spd 15% | Lck 20% | Def 40%]
[Nosferatu (Lv.1) | Seraphim (Lv.1) | Physic (Lv.1) | Fortify (Lv.4) | Invoke (Lv.7) | Warp (Lv.8)]

18 Res is actually the highest in the game. Interesting niche. Also interesting to mention is Teeta's surprisingly high Def growth, although it would've needed to be at least 140% to make up for her poor base. But overall, her stats seem fine. Nothing exciting, but not bad, either, considering her utility role.

The important part is, of course, the spell list. Teeta starts with Physic, instead of the basic Recover, and will gain Fortify somewhat soon, too. Her other spells are great too, of course (thank god she doesn't have to rely on Nosferatu's accuracy to collect XP), but these advanced healing spells alone should make her really valuable.

The Team:

	Lv.		HP  Pow Skl Spd Lck Def Res  +XP   Item
Alm	10.64		34   13* 13   9  10  10   4  + 25  Regal Sw (+7 Atk, +10 Hit, +20 Crit)
Force	8/10.11		45   26   7   8*  5  12   5  +124  Quick Ring (40 Spd, +5 Move)
Luka	7/2.59		35   16*  7   4*  3  12   2  + 61  Knight Ln (+3 Atk, -5 Hit, -1 Spd)

Claire	13/3.27		40   16* 14  19* 21  12   8  + 65  Steel Ln (+4 Atk, -10 Hit, -1 Spd)
Matilda	7.89		30   13* 15  16  13  11  10  + 84  Holy Ln (+3 Atk, +10 Crit)
Cleive	7/3.14		29   12   7   8   9   8   1  + 66

Cliff	4/11/10/2.86	41   24*  9  13  11  27   8  +186* Holy Bow (+5 Atk, +30 Hit, +10 Crit)
Python	5.97		24   11*  3   4*  2   6   4  + 46  Steel Bow (+3 Atk, -1 Spd)
Jesse	7/7.19		32   15  13  24  15   7   7  + 49  Magic Shield
Gray	5/8/4.56	32   13  11  14   2   8   2  + 10

Dyute	10.87		24   15  10  16  19*  5  15  + 43  Angel Ring (40 Lck)
Silk	10.78		18   11   5  12   9   2  11  + 26  Holy Shield
Robin	10.09		31    9  10  12   6   5   4  + 29  Prayer Ring
Ryuto	12/2.89		35   17   9  16   6   7*  8  + 59  Leather Sh (+3 Def)

Teeta	1.00		28   14  12  10   2   3  18

 

 

On 10/11/2023 at 12:09 AM, Interdimensional Observer said:

Feels like Sagittae could use something else... But I'm not sure what. Flier effectiveness? No, that's what wind magic often gets. Targeting Def? Would be of very limited use to a mage. But it's such an unusual for FE incantation that comes off as worthy of a bonus effect.

It would create a mage-killing mage, which would be something. A Def-targetting attack that isn't subject to avoid-boosting tiles would definitely have some merit against Witches or Dreadfighters, although Wizards and Canters seem to have pretty equal Def and Res.

On 10/11/2023 at 8:35 AM, Shaky Jones said:

I do be loving pirate hats.

Ohh, this you? You seem like the kind of skeleton that would call himself "harbinger of your doom".

(Might be nostalgia, but I think I like the German voice better)

On 10/11/2023 at 4:37 PM, Punished Dayni said:

Regen is neat and Chapter 5 do be full of monsters.

Though I'm assuming this Silver Shield doesn't have weight? That'd be a better case for the Silver Shield.

Too late! But yeah, none of the shields weigh you down. I was already pleasantly surprised when Celica found the Steel Shield on her route.

On 10/11/2023 at 4:37 PM, Punished Dayni said:

The pickings are getting easier.

Easiest pickings, in fact, now that he has the option for 1-5 (or 1-7, but 1-5 feels more likely) range.

On 10/11/2023 at 4:55 PM, Saint Rubenio said:

Hey, not as funny as the fact that I straight up missed Force's death. Seriously, I must've fallen asleep while scrolling or something, because I just did not notice. I responded to Shaky's comment on the death with a meme and didn't realize it was commenting on a death. Then Gnip brought him back and... somehow I missed this too. So I didn't even realize Force died at any point.

Amazing.

I'll make sure to title the update IN WHICH SOMEBODY DIES (PAY ATTENTION RUBEN) next time it's appropriate.

 

.

[Dayni]

20 minutes ago, gnip said:

__

...because he's going to have a party at Nuibaba's place.

Kliff commits a mass shooting in an old man's house

This map doesn't know what hit it.

20 minutes ago, gnip said:

The danger comes from the Medusa spell, which reduces the target's HP to 1 if it connects, combined with Nuibaba's Magic Ring giving it 1-5 or 1-7 range. Main site says that it increases range by 5, wiki says to 5. I'll have to check that out.

I feel like it's to 5 range, don't recall ever seeing it hit 7.

Medusa hits 7 range in SoV with the ring, Nuibooba broekn

21 minutes ago, gnip said:

FE1 had these flowery chapter openings too, once in a while, but this one is a lot more jarring because I believe Gaiden otherwise only has used dialogue at the beginning of fights, when there's any text at all.

That is indeed why this moment is funny.

But Nuibaba's a villain who could be much better than I'd argue the decent pieces we already have from her in the remake, but alas there's not enough done with that and some of it ain't in game while other things that could have been bulit upon are frankly me inferring based on what we see in game (does not worship Duma, yet clearly has a position of prominence to act freely while scheming potential is shown but all too brief and the moment it works towards is also dumb and unneeded. How is that not an avenue worth exploring?).

23 minutes ago, gnip said:

And with that, the mountain is conquered. In a somewhat cheesy fashion, sure, but that map looks awful to play "properly". A boss who will reduce anybody's HP to 1, with plenty additional enemies around him?

I'm not sure if DF res is counted for Medusa and thus it has to leave them on 11, but I'd be unsurprising if it doesn't.

It's in this moment you realise Apotrope is actually more broken, because it halves all magic damage, including Medusa. Naturally, Silque with DFs is a viable thing if you've lost all other choices.

25 minutes ago, gnip said:

Ugh. Just the map layout to begin with, with the long loop around the manor to get to the stairs, or alternatively climing up the cliff very slowly? Also ugh. I'm glad my Cliff is stupid overpowered.

Not that it's not a rough map, oh it is.

Climbing the cliff is about 4 or so turns for those on 1 mov on cliffs going up, the real pain is getting units who can't climb it up, so Warping Kliff in and being done with it I get.

25 minutes ago, gnip said:

Now then, in the dungeons we find one Saint and three traders. The latter make me think that this is a good point to move over to Celica now? I haven't really thought about what I should send to her alongside the Angel Ring, if anything. The newly acquired Magic Ring would look fabulous on Atlas, I assume. And I hope that there's enough traders on her route to send both rings (and maybe a sword) back before she gets to her point of no return.

My main issue with sending the mage ring over is how much time you'll get with it, but if you feel you can get away with it go ahead.

27 minutes ago, gnip said:

The important part is, of course, the spell list. Teeta starts with Physic, instead of the basic Recover, and will gain Fortify somewhat soon, too. Her other spells are great too, of course (thank god she doesn't have to rely on Nosferatu's accuracy to collect XP), but these advanced healing spells alone should make her really valuable.

Teeta is the kind of unit who'd love a good few HP procs with the angel ring to be more powerful, because Fortify and Warp ain't cheap.

[Saint Rubenio]

47 minutes ago, gnip said:

Small shock of the day: My laptop was acting up after a Windows update yesterday, not letting me log in. Luckily, it still allowed me to copy stuff on an external hard drive, so I did that and did a complete reinstall - honestly, it was time to do that anyway. I did not forget about the Gaiden save file - in fact, I even made sure that just copying the "NES" folder wholesale was enough by starting it on a second PC - but when I was setting up the laptop again, I forgot that I put the NES stuff on a USB stick and not the external hard drive that I had my main back-up on, since I didn't feel the need to make a newer back-up of my gaming-related stuff other than this and just took the months-old folder on the external hard drive.

Anyway, imagine my shock when the only "NES" folder that I found only had save files from... 2020, I think. Oof. I thought for a minute that I might have deleted the newer version alongside some other clean-up of games-related stuff I don't need anymore and already pondered if I should move on to Book 1 before maybe replaying Gaiden all the way to act 4 at a later point.

Jesus fucking Christ.

48 minutes ago, gnip said:

Cliff obviously (I mean, you have seen his stats) doesn't get much out of the promotion stat-wise, just +1 HP, but seriously, innate 1-5 range is great for the upcoming fight...

I mean, who cares about stats when you get a horse and extra range?

48 minutes ago, gnip said:

__

(obligatory comment about Nuibaba getting a... slightly different design in Echoes)

I mean, it's... very, very slightly less generic? Instead of generic ugly man in hood, it's now a generic demonic witch. But the mask is cool, at least. She stole it from Iago, but at least she picked a good guy to steal from. Iago's design is awesome.

50 minutes ago, gnip said:

But one second, I almost forgot the very dramatic opening narration... *ahem*

A ghastly face looms from the shadows. It's the ruler of Terror Mountain, whom all fear: the legendary necromancer Nuibaba... If that dark spell he traded his soul for leaves his lips just once... All living beings will surely have a quick death. Oh Alm-- why do you go? On this fearful mountain, what in the world could exist?"

FE1 had these flowery chapter openings too, once in a while, but this one is a lot more jarring because I believe Gaiden otherwise only has used dialogue at the beginning of fights, when there's any text at all.

That's just how sPoOoOOokY Nuibaba's manor is.

50 minutes ago, gnip said:

The virgin "I have erred" vs the chad "I am error."

51 minutes ago, gnip said:

And with that, the mountain is conquered. In a somewhat cheesy fashion, sure, but that map looks awful to play "properly".

I tried once. I dropped the game.

Yeah.

52 minutes ago, gnip said:

The second comma in the first sentence is a rather important one. And this Zeke fellow sounds like a guy who would be perfectly willing to switch sides if his love interest tells him to.

Yellow Tatiana in shambles.

52 minutes ago, gnip said:

Uh, sorry, Teeta... Eugh. What a name.

53 minutes ago, gnip said:

I'll make sure to title the update IN WHICH SOMEBODY DIES (PAY ATTENTION RUBEN) next time it's appropriate.

Thanks.

[Interdimensional Observer]

5 hours ago, gnip said:

Small shock of the day: My laptop was acting up after a Windows update yesterday, not letting me log in. Luckily, it still allowed me to copy stuff on an external hard drive, so I did that and did a complete reinstall - honestly, it was time to do that anyway. I did not forget about the Gaiden save file - in fact, I even made sure that just copying the "NES" folder wholesale was enough by starting it on a second PC - but when I was setting up the laptop again, I forgot that I put the NES stuff on a USB stick and not the external hard drive that I had my main back-up on, since I didn't feel the need to make a newer back-up of my gaming-related stuff other than this and just took the months-old folder on the external hard drive.

Anyway, imagine my shock when the only "NES" folder that I found only had save files from... 2020, I think. Oof. I thought for a minute that I might have deleted the newer version alongside some other clean-up of games-related stuff I don't need anymore and already pondered if I should move on to Book 1 before maybe replaying Gaiden all the way to act 4 at a later point.

😮

Thankfully for us spectators, nothing was lost. Otherwise I could imagine you just stopping your Gaiden experience and leaving us less entertained.😀

5 hours ago, gnip said:

__

(obligatory comment about Nuibaba getting a... slightly different design in Echoes)

Well it keeps it one-eyed. And the horns are clearly decorative, but they create a slightly monstrous appearance?

5 hours ago, gnip said:

But Cliff is undeterred, sitting on a healing tile and killing Nuibaba on turn 2.

Get an unlucky hit, deal some lucky quick hits. Overall a faster resolution. That's great.

5 hours ago, gnip said:

And with that, the mountain is conquered. In a somewhat cheesy fashion, sure, but that map looks awful to play "properly". A boss who will reduce anybody's HP to 1, with plenty additional enemies around him? Ugh. Just the map layout to begin with, with the long loop around the manor to get to the stairs, or alternatively climing up the cliff very slowly?

I don't think I ever played this one by going around the back to the stairs. Infinite-use Warp in Valentia is simply too tempting here.

5 hours ago, gnip said:

The second comma in the first sentence is a rather important one. And this Zeke fellow sounds like a guy who would be perfectly willing to switch sides if his love interest tells him to.

...Is this a biting remark about how when someone who looks exactly like him was confronted by his lover, refused to flip?😛

Their expressions are uniquely similar among the ladies.

 

5 hours ago, Punished Dayni said:

Naturally, Silque with DFs is a viable thing if you've lost all other choices.

And as I said before, that's what I did on my first SoV run. Like a Mech Rush in AW, eventually the enemy breaks.

[Shaky Jones]

On 10/11/2023 at 7:55 AM, Saint Rubenio said:

Hey, not as funny as the fact that I straight up missed Force's death. Seriously, I must've fallen asleep while scrolling or something, because I just did not notice. I responded to Shaky's comment on the death with a meme and didn't realize it was commenting on a death. Then Gnip brought him back and... somehow I missed this too. So I didn't even realize Force died at any point.

"Beginning in the early to mid-40s, many adults may start to have problems seeing clearly at close distances, especially when reading and working on the computer. This is among the most common problems adults develop between ages 41 to 60."

-American Optometric Association-

9 hours ago, gnip said:

Small shock of the day: My laptop was acting up after a Windows update yesterday, not letting me log in. Luckily, it still allowed me to copy stuff on an external hard drive, so I did that and did a complete reinstall - honestly, it was time to do that anyway. I did not forget about the Gaiden save file - in fact, I even made sure that just copying the "NES" folder wholesale was enough by starting it on a second PC - but when I was setting up the laptop again, I forgot that I put the NES stuff on a USB stick and not the external hard drive that I had my main back-up on, since I didn't feel the need to make a newer back-up of my gaming-related stuff other than this and just took the months-old folder on the external hard drive.

Anyway, imagine my shock when the only "NES" folder that I found only had save files from... 2020, I think. Oof. I thought for a minute that I might have deleted the newer version alongside some other clean-up of games-related stuff I don't need anymore and already pondered if I should move on to Book 1 before maybe replaying Gaiden all the way to act 4 at a later point.

I would say something about this, but I honestly don't get half of these words. How my laptop hasn't exploded yet is beyond me.

9 hours ago, gnip said:

Cliff obviously (I mean, you have seen his stats) doesn't get much out of the promotion stat-wise, just +1 HP, but seriously, innate 1-5 range is great for the upcoming fight..

You know how Ruben doesn't pay attention to the living? I'm not really focusing on the stats, even though stats are what I most focus on with this damned franchise.  

9 hours ago, gnip said:

__

(obligatory comment about Nuibaba getting a... slightly different design in Echoes)

Desaix meeting his online GF in person after 25 years:

9 hours ago, gnip said:

Force manages to get to Lv.10 in the process.

This makes me slightly happy.

9 hours ago, gnip said:

And with that, the mountain is conquered. In a somewhat cheesy fashion, sure, but that map looks awful to play "properly". A boss who will reduce anybody's HP to 1, with plenty additional enemies around him? Ugh. Just the map layout to begin with, with the long loop around the manor to get to the stairs, or alternatively climing up the cliff very slowly? Also ugh.

You seem to not be enjoying yourself at all.

This also makes me slightly happy.

9 hours ago, gnip said:

Ohh, this you? You seem like the kind of skeleton that would call himself "harbinger of your doom".

Thanks, but I'm more of a

Spoiler

9 hours ago, gnip said:

Easiest pickings, in fact, now that he has the option for 1-5 (or 1-7, but 1-5 feels more likely) range.

I'm gonna start hating Luthyoto from how often I have to see this damn catchphrase.

9 hours ago, gnip said:

I'll make sure to title the update IN WHICH SOMEBODY DIES (PAY ATTENTION RUBEN) next time it's appropriate.

We stick together around here, no matter how much Ruben holds us back.

9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I mean, who cares about stats when you get a horse and extra range?

Careful there. I don't want to start calling you Mekkah's cattle.

9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I mean, it's... very, very slightly less generic? Instead of generic ugly man in hood, it's now a generic demonic witch. But the mask is cool, at least. She stole it from Iago, but at least she picked a good guy to steal from. Iago's design is awesome

Masks automatically make someone unrecognizable. Canonically, Nuibaba actually still looks like a goblin, but Nuiboobies is what everyone else sees as a result of the mask. 

9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

10 hours ago, gnip said:

And with that, the mountain is conquered. In a somewhat cheesy fashion, sure, but that map looks awful to play "properly".

I tried once. I dropped the game.

If someone says they skipped Thracia lategame, I point and laugh.

If someone says they skipped Gaiden maps, I'd say "why the fuck are you playing Gaiden?".

9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Uh, sorry, Teeta... Eugh. What a name.

I chuckled.

4 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I don't think I ever played this one by going around the back to the stairs. Infinite-use Warp in Valentia is simply too tempting here.

Nothing is more tempting than turning off the game.

[Saint Rubenio]

3 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

"Beginning in the early to mid-40s, many adults may start to have problems seeing clearly at close distances, especially when reading and working on the computer. This is among the most common problems adults develop between ages 41 to 60."

-American Optometric Association-

I can't see anything far away as it is, if this happens I might just become blind entirely.

3 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

I'm gonna start hating Luthyoto from how often I have to see this damn catchphrase.

Easy.

3 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

Careful there. I don't want to start calling you Mekkah's cattle.

 

3 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

Masks automatically make someone unrecognizable. Canonically, Nuibaba actually still looks like a goblin, but Nuiboobies is what everyone else sees as a result of the mask. 

...Wait, but then what does Iago look like in reality?

3 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

If someone says they skipped Thracia lategame, I point and laugh.

If someone says they skipped Gaiden maps, I'd say "why the fuck are you playing Gaiden?".

If someone says they skipped Conquest endgame, you say nothing. Because that's just normal.

[ping]

FE2 Chapter 4: Dismal Nation

Mountain Graveyard --> Bog Graveyard (Celica really visits the most fabulous places)

Spoiler

So, back to Celica for now. Taking a look at FEWoD, I found out that Celica gets access to a Magic Ring literally right now, so I decided to only send Catria's Angel Ring back to her. WIth 5-range Atlas, do you really need anything more? (well, maybe 5-range Atlas that doesn't get swamped down by the poison bog would've been nice)

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I wouldn't be surprised if getting to the Angel Ring will end up being the biggest dungeon exploration moment in all of Gaiden. You have to find a few hidden paths - first across the now-drained canal, with a one-tile wide path leading to the right. And then, after recruiting a certain Bishop, you have to feel your way across a path through the wall, avoiding a few dead ends in the process.

It's not quite an easter egg, though, since the chest (and the stairs leading to it) are clearly visible in the main room.

: "Bishop Noma! Why in the world are you here?"

: "I got worried and followed you. Then I accidentally fell down here. Haha, what a folly! Well, from now on, I'm coming along with you. That'll ease my mind."

Humour has been achieved.

[HP 10% | Str 10% | Skl 15% | Spd 15% | Lck 10% | Def 10%]

Noma seems like the quintessential prepromote - decent bases, awful growths (even by Gaiden's standards), and he doesn't even learn any more spells by leveling up. Although the last part should rather be, "he already has his entire spell list unlocked", since he starts with all the spells that Boey and Ryuto will eventually learn.

Speaking of - the SF main site, the .org wiki, and the wikia all don't include Lightning/Thunder in Noma's spell list. I believe the ROM I'm using was pre-translated, so I can't say for sure that the creator didn't try to give Noma a sneaky little buff (I mean, who could blame him) - does anybody happen to have a save file advanced enough to check if this is Noma as Kaga intended?

In any case, Noma seems like a perfectly fine filler unit, to replace whatever mage you didn't prioritise (whenever you have the choice to bench somebody). His Str/Spd isn't great, so he won't be an offensive powerhouse, but he certainly can throw out some nice chip damage with whatever spell seems the most appropriate for the situation.

Back to the gameplay: Celica's first map looks very daunting, with a lot of poison swamp and THREE Canters. Surprisingly, I didn't find the map as bad - far less painful than the Desert Fort, and less difficult than Geyse's Fortress, too. This time, you have three Pegasi, and neither of the Snipers has a bow to punish them, and you also have a fair number of passively healing items, which makes the swamp less awful than it would seem.

Obviously, it's still slow for the non-Pegasi to cross the swamp, but the only one of these that takes damage is Deen, who has Noma adjacent to him to heal him up before facing any enemy. And a few characters just stay put - Jenny can just use Physic as needed, while Celica can heal her up. Saber, Valbo, and Leo just stand around looking pretty.

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The boss of this map is Garcie, who summons Gargoyles, and loads of them. Only Lv.1 monsters, though, which the Pegasi, not to mention Kamui with the Holy Sword, measure up pretty well against. Kamui in particular just enemy-phased a whole bunch of Gargoyles at some point.

The other two Canters hardly summoned anything at all - one single Bonewalker, I believe, and no Zombies whatsoever.

Probably the most threatening enemy is the Dreadfighter, but he went down to a somewhat lucky Triangle Attack fairly early. After that, even though Catria took a lot of damage over the course of the fight, there wasn't really any big danger left.

Est ended up taking the boss kill, neatly putting her very close to another level. I blundered with the Angel Ring a bit - I put it on Boey before looking at the exact layout of the map, and he obviously took forever to get to the fight. As a result, Est, Catria, and Deen all ended up with an unboosted level-up each. Tragic, I tell you.

Next up, the Bog Graveyard. This fight was, honestly, not very interesting. Looking at FionordeQuester's overview, I guess I rolled the most boring enemy comp? 7 Gargoyles and 3 Bonewalkers means that the monsters are all at Lv.1, so not threatening at all. You even get some tombstones for evasion, so you don't even have to worry overly much about your squishies.

So I'll just show the very unfortunate outcome of Valbo's first round of combat in chapter 4.

And Est's less unfortunate level-up. That's the good stuff.

But yeah, not much to say about the map otherwise. Flyers fly around killing stuff. Enemy flyers fly towards us, getting killed and stuff. The end.

And The Team:

	Lv.	   HP  Pow Skl Spd Lck Def Res  +XP   Item
Celica	10/3.68	   26   14*  9   9* 13   5   7  + 40  Steel Sw (+4 Atk, -10 hit, -1 Spd)
Noma	7.05	   28   12  16   8   1   6  14  +  5  Holy Ring

Jenny	9.49	   21   11   8   7   8   3* 13  + 14  Leather Sh (+3 Def)
Boey	10.06	   26   10   2  11  10   9   7  + 16
Atlas	10/9.41	   40   20  11   6   4   7   4  + 19  Magic Ring
May	6.58	   23   10   2   7   5   3  10  + 18

Kamui	8/8.64	   37   14* 17  17   3  10   2  + 88  Holy Sw (+3 Atk, +10 hit, +15 crit)
Saber	5.74	   24    9* 11  10*  7   6   6  + 20  Dark Sw (+13 Atk, -20 hit, -1 Spd)
Dean	6.44	   32   13* 17  17   7   9   4  + 52  Hero Sw (+5 Atk, +10 hit, +30 crit)
Leo	7/4.80	   33   13*  9   7*  7   7   1  + 19  Steel Bow (+3 Atk, -1 Spd)

Valbo	4.50	   32   14*  8   5*  3  12   0  + 17  Steel Ln (+4 Atk, -10 hit, -1 Spd)
Catria	11.69	   26   13* 18  17* 15   6   9  +107  Javelin (+3 Atk, -20 hit, -2 Spd)
Palla	11.93	   32   16   9  10   4*  7   5  + 85  Angel Ring (40 Lck)
Est	10.15	   28   17   9  13  12  13* 12  +194  Steel Sh (+5 Def)

• Catria and Palla getting very close to promotion. I think I might backtrack to the Dragon Shrine right now, hoping to get both of them to Lv.12 against the three Necrodragons. I'd have to go there eventually anyway, since it seems that there aren't any Mila Shrines in these parts. Which makes sense, I guess.
• Boey got a +2 Str/Def level. High time for the Str proc, really.
• Just in general, you can really see how much these two maps made just a few characters see a lot of combat. The Whitewings, plus Kamui and a little bit of Deen on the first map. At least Celica got a bit of XP on the Graveyard map.

 

20 hours ago, Punished Dayni said:

Kliff commits a mass shooting in an old man's house

What's Fire Emblem without a few war crimes?

20 hours ago, Punished Dayni said:

I feel like it's to 5 range, don't recall ever seeing it hit 7.

Medusa hits 7 range in SoV with the ring, Nuibooba broekn

So breasts increase magic range... That would explain why Mae starts with her 1-3 range spells and Boey doesn't.

But yeah, seems like the main site is wrong about this.

21 hours ago, Punished Dayni said:

Teeta is the kind of unit who'd love a good few HP procs with the angel ring to be more powerful, because Fortify and Warp ain't cheap.

That is true. At least we have two Recover users in Ryuto and Silk who can help with that, too. I'd love to have Robin promote soon, too (he needs another 2 levels), just to have a designated back-up healer.

20 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

The virgin "I have erred" vs the chad "I am error."

vs the chadicus maximus "I am become error."

20 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Uh, sorry, Teeta... Eugh. What a name.

Apparently the most accurate transcription of the Japanese name, although I'm a little surprised that it takes four characters (ティータ) to spell out two syllables.

But yeah, not the best name in English. I concur with the name change in Echoes.

15 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Well it keeps it one-eyed. And the horns are clearly decorative, but they create a slightly monstrous appearance?

We can add a 5th panel to the first row, with "Necromancer vs Necromantrix", using Nuibaba's appearances. They'd probably be on board with killing all humans, too.

16 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

...Is this a biting remark about how when someone who looks exactly like him was confronted by his lover, refused to flip?😛

Their expressions are uniquely similar among the ladies.

I'll never be quiet about my general dislike of Camüü and the archetype he spawned.

11 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

Thanks, but I'm more of a

Geez, at least buy me dinner first.

8 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

...Wait, but then what does Iago look like in reality?

 

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

2 hours ago, gnip said:

Apparently the most accurate transcription of the Japanese name, although I'm a little surprised that it takes four characters (ティータ) to spell out two syllables.

But yeah, not the best name in English. I concur with the name change in Echoes.

So, the characters function like this:

ティ: "Ti". There's no single kana that makes this sound in Japanese, so they need to combine テ ("Te", normally pronounced "teh" or "tay") with ィ ("i" on its own, but smaller here, as a modifier).

ー: "i". This character extends the previous vowel sound, so that it's held longer than if it were missing.

タ: "Ta". This one is simple and self-explanatory.

So, they come together to make "Tiita". But that looks weird in English, and "ii" was making a "long e" sound amyway, so it becomes "Teeta".

[Dayni]

3 hours ago, gnip said:

The other two Canters hardly summoned anything at all - one single Bonewalker, I believe, and no Zombies whatsoever.

Pfft, first Witches not warping, then the cantors defected.

What's next?

3 hours ago, gnip said:

[HP 10% | Str 10% | Skl 15% | Spd 15% | Lck 10% | Def 10%]

Noma seems like the quintessential prepromote - decent bases, awful growths (even by Gaiden's standards), and he doesn't even learn any more spells by leveling up. Although the last part should rather be, "he already has his entire spell list unlocked", since he starts with all the spells that Boey and Ryuto will eventually learn.

Watch him level Spd now with an angel ring on

3 hours ago, gnip said:

Next up, the Bog Graveyard. This fight was, honestly, not very interesting. Looking at FionordeQuester's overview, I guess I rolled the most boring enemy comp? 7 Gargoyles and 3 Bonewalkers means that the monsters are all at Lv.1, so not threatening at all. You even get some tombstones for evasion, so you don't even have to worry overly much about your squishies.

In SoV, the game defaults to 5 necrodragons and nothing else in the first fight, then has Boey be afraid of them.

Poor Boey.