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

[Interdimensional Observer]

9 hours ago, gnip said:

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

That image reminds me of Final Fantasies III-V, invisible seemingly "whoops I glitched out of bounds" passages all there too.

9 hours ago, gnip said:

Back to the gameplay: Celica's first map looks very daunting, with a lot of poison swamp

Poison only to unbelievers!👿

Ever since Jedah became the unparalleled immaculate unquestionable patriarch of the Duma Faithful, all men who wish to wear the robes of the Most Auguste Lord Deity, must immerse themselves in the great lakes and slow-moving rivers of the divine. Initiates and lesser members of the clergy must immerse themselves in their entirety only briefly in the miraculous mires. Those of the higher ranks must see to it that they every so often, in plain yet complete clerical vestments, lay afloat in the lagoons for hours on end, their face above the surface, yet little else, meditating on the Path of True Righteousness as formulated by the Awe-Inducing Father Rigelus (an epithet for Duma).

Why do this in a place that Mila's ignorant sheep deem gross and unholy? From the earthen water rises air that sparks into flame. The marshes contain, undifferentiated, the four elements of the universe, they are pregnant with potency. To throw oneself into the marshes' embrace is to partake of this vitality, any feeling of discomfort sorts the weak from the strong who see Truth in the bog. The unblessed who fall in these holy grounds should consider themselves fortunate, for the sacred marsh shall take their essence, and if they are most lucky in return see their forms endure for ten thousand years to come!

*Cough* -Why do you think all those evil priests have abnormal skin coloration? Baptism by bog and frequent return thereto, shall eventually with a little applied ritual, do that to you. Comes with the added benefit of bogging your body while you yet live, extending your lifespan past that of a normal human.

9 hours ago, gnip said:

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

You put effort some into Boey, and yet, even if you got him another eight Angel Ring levels (bring him to 12/7), he would still likely be only somewhat better than a base Norma, not a landslide victory despite all the investment.🤨

[Shaky Jones]

20 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

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

Can't see the combat forecast, so you don't care about FE1 not having it.

20 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

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

20 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

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

You're just saying this to remove guilt for dropping your run. 

12 hours ago, gnip said:

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)

There it is.

12 hours ago, gnip said:

: "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.

12 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.

I fuckin treasure this old bastard. Just look at that portrait!

Nomah certainly has value in Gaiden. There's more silly nonsense you can pull off in SoV, but when it comes to the average team, aka the entire team, making use of Nomah in Gaiden will generally stand out more. He's nice.

12 hours ago, gnip said:

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.

Well if there's one thing FE4 can brag about, it's not having swamp maps. Yay.

12 hours ago, gnip said:

Next up, the Bog Graveyard. This fight was, honestly, not very interesting

What fight in this game is?

12 hours ago, gnip said:

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

Never say his name like that again.

12 hours ago, gnip said:

Geez, at least buy me dinner first.

8 hours ago, Punished Dayni said:

Watch him level Spd now with an angel ring on

If the FE1 playthrough is anything to go by, Nomah will cap speed by endgame.

[ping]

FE2 Chapter 4: Dismal Nation

Bog Graveyard --> Lost Woods

Spoiler

__

Well then, time to get the two older Whitewings promoted.

__

Unfortunately, Necrodragons give incredibly low XP to Lv.11 Pegasus Knights, and the Mountain Graveyard, which I tried to grind at instead, lays dorment. The result is that I have to fight the three Necrodragons twice - annoying, especially because Catria without an equipped lance (when she, say, wants to wear the Angel Ring) only deals 2x1 damage against them, but quicker than going back to the Bog Graveyard.

____

At least we do get Angel Ring levels for the Whitewings, and one for Celica for good measure. Unfortunately, Catria only gets precisely to Falcoknight Str base with this level, but some extra skill doesn't hurt. She is using the Javelin with its awful accuracy a lot.

Catria really has a stat line much better suited for the Falcoknight promotion, having much better Skl/Spd than Palla and getting her weakest areas fixed pretty nicely by the promotion. In this case, it works out so that Catria was precisely twice as far away from HP/Def class as Palla.

Considering that I just glossed over the three Necrodragons twice, I assume you'll believe me when I say that the 7 Gargoyles / 3 Bonewalker fight is just as trivial as it was the previous time. On to Dolk.

: "...Gwehehe... Oh, defiled beings who rule this foul swamp, repel these men as Master Judah ordered! May they fall to the zombie dragons that I, the Great Shaman Dolk, sumon from the dark realm!"

What a dork.

Dork's combat stats are fairly threatening, hitting with 31 Atk (although only 2 Spd), but since he doesn't attack on enemy phase, the big threat coming from him is obviously his summoning skill.

__

: "May Doma's blessings--"

Narrator's voice: "Dork would, in fact, not summon any Necrodragons at all."

As a result, the map is... I think "stupid" sums it up nicely. It doesn't have the infuriating quality of the Desert Fort, since the Whitewings can just swoop in and kick ass, but it's... stupid.

Basically, half of the group just stays home and, I dunno, plays some Skat to pass the time. A few dudes - namely those who have passive healing, plus Dean who has Noma act as his personal Prayer Ring - cross the swamp, but that's more to prove a point: Not only don't you need anybody in addition to the Whitewings to clear the fort (well, Jenny's Physic helps a little), you even have to actively slow down to have anybody else do anything.

____

Well, Noma is able to set up a kill for Atlas. Good job, boys.

Celica gets her first random enemy spawn after this...

__

...but first, she jumps down a hole to reach the Lost Woods. I'll venture into these another day - while I didn't have much to say about the fights leading up to the Dolk encounter, that still took some time and I think I've gaidened enough for today.

The Team:

	Lv.	   HP  Pow Skl Spd Lck Def Res  +XP   Item
Celica	10/4.46	   26   14* 11  11* 13   5   7  + 78  Steel Sw (+4 Atk, -10 hit, -1 Spd)
Noma	7.29	   28   12  16   8   1   6  14  + 24  Holy Ring

Jenny	9.74	   21   11   8   7   8   3* 13  + 25  Leather Sh (+3 Def)
Boey	10.16	   26   10   2  11  10   9*  7  + 10  Steel Sh (+5 Def)
Atlas	10/9.68	   40   20  11   6   4   7   4  + 27  Magic Ring
May	6.74	   23   10   2   7   5   3  10  + 16

Kamui	8/8.87	   37   14* 17  17   3  10   2  + 23  Holy Sw (+3 Atk, +10 hit, +15 crit)
Dean	6.76	   32   13* 17  17   7   9   4  + 32  Hero Sw (+5 Atk, +10 hit, +30 crit)
Saber	5.94	   24    9* 11  10*  7   6   6  + 20  Dark Sw (+13 Atk, -20 hit, -1 Spd)
Leo	7/4.98	   33   13*  9   7*  7   7   1  + 18  Steel Bow (+3 Atk, -1 Spd)

Valbo	4.85	   32   14*  8   5*  3  12   0  + 35  Steel Ln (+4 Atk, -10 hit, -1 Spd)
Catria	12/1.37	   40   15* 20  17* 15  12   9  + 68* Javelin (+3 Atk, -20 hit, -2 Spd)
Palla	12/1.61	   40   18*  9  10*  4  12   5  + 68* Steel Ln (+4 Atk, -10 hit, -1 Spd)
Est	11.25	   28   17   9  13  14  15  12  +110  Angel Ring (40 Lck)

• Est is actually going to be the tankiest Whitewing after she gains that sweet HP from the promotion. Nay bad.

  

On 10/13/2023 at 11:34 PM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

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".

That is interesting, thank you. I've seen the ー before, but didn't know about "compound kana".

On 10/14/2023 at 12:16 AM, Punished Dayni said:

Watch him level Spd now with an angel ring on

I'm sure he will, if the maps will ever allow non-Whitewings to contribute to a significant degree. Well, the Lost Woods fights seem to be of that kind, it seems.

On 10/14/2023 at 12:16 AM, Punished Dayni said:

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

Poor Boey.

Wasn't Kamui the guy with the defining character trait "is afraid of Necrodragons"? Although if I had to guess, I'd wager that Boey will retreat if he's "killed" in combat while Kamui does not, so the game defaults to Boey to make fun of because there's no guarantee that Kamui is around...

On 10/14/2023 at 6:09 AM, Interdimensional Observer said:

That image reminds me of Final Fantasies III-V, invisible seemingly "whoops I glitched out of bounds" passages all there too.

Yeah, hidden passages are a staple in that series (with my usual "as far as I've played" qualifier). I remember even FFX using it regularly, even though given its better graphics, it has to rely on odd camera angles to conceal them. I can think of at least two instances where the "hidden" path is literally just a fork in the road, just barely out of the camera's vision.

On 10/14/2023 at 8:53 AM, Shaky Jones said:

Well if there's one thing FE4 can brag about, it's not having swamp maps. Yay.

Swamp maps > desert maps, though, silly as it may seem. At least you can throw the Whitewings at them, since there isn't some buttmunch Sniper with a Steel Bow zoning them out of the only important part of the map. Also no teleporting Boss Witch eating your Armour Knight alive.

On 10/14/2023 at 8:53 AM, Shaky Jones said:

Never say his name like that again.

C'est la manière franco-allemande.

[Saint Rubenio]

Oh dear, I fell behind.

On 10/13/2023 at 8:33 PM, gnip said:

: "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.

There he is. Old Man 2.

On 10/13/2023 at 8:33 PM, 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.

To be completely honest, as funny as the joke is, I wish he'd just set out with Celica at the start and been an actual Jeigan. Just so he'd have more screentime, he deserves it.

On 10/13/2023 at 8:33 PM, gnip said:

__

Garcie? Instead of Garcia? Sure.

On 10/13/2023 at 8:33 PM, gnip said:

Boy got a +2 Str/Def level. High time for the Str proc, really.

Very nice. Now let's see Atlas's strength.

On 10/13/2023 at 8:33 PM, 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.

Some benefit from a name tweak/change because their OG names, when transliterated, look pretty bad or not like names at all. Others are Meißen.

On 10/13/2023 at 8:33 PM, gnip said:

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.

That's so true, though.

On 10/14/2023 at 8:53 AM, Shaky Jones said:

Who the hell is that?

...Is that a young D. John Trump?

On 10/14/2023 at 8:53 AM, Shaky Jones said:

You're just saying this to remove guilt for dropping your run. 

Ye.

2 hours ago, gnip said:

Ah yes, my favorite class: Facking.

2 hours ago, gnip said:

I like how Dork overhere got an edit of the Duma Cultist portrait (not just a recolor either, his face is slightly different, he's smiling) while Secondary Villain Jedah shares his face with irrelevants Garciae and Mikhail. That's so Kaga.

[Dayni]

On 10/14/2023 at 5:09 AM, Interdimensional Observer said:

Ever since Jedah became the unparalleled immaculate unquestionable patriarch of the Duma Faithful, all men who wish to wear the robes of the Most Auguste Lord Deity, must immerse themselves in the great lakes and slow-moving rivers of the divine. Initiates and lesser members of the clergy must immerse themselves in their entirety only briefly in the miraculous mires. Those of the higher ranks must see to it that they every so often, in plain yet complete clerical vestments, lay afloat in the lagoons for hours on end, their face above the surface, yet little else, meditating on the Path of True Righteousness as formulated by the Awe-Inducing Father Rigelus (an epithet for Duma).

Why do this in a place that Mila's ignorant sheep deem gross and unholy? From the earthen water rises air that sparks into flame. The marshes contain, undifferentiated, the four elements of the universe, they are pregnant with potency. To throw oneself into the marshes' embrace is to partake of this vitality, any feeling of discomfort sorts the weak from the strong who see Truth in the bog. The unblessed who fall in these holy grounds should consider themselves fortunate, for the sacred marsh shall take their essence, and if they are most lucky in return see their forms endure for ten thousand years to come!

*Cough* -Why do you think all those evil priests have abnormal skin coloration? Baptism by bog and frequent return thereto, shall eventually with a little applied ritual, do that to you. Comes with the added benefit of bogging your body while you yet live, extending your lifespan past that of a normal human.

I like this as an explanation, I want my next evil cult to be long-lived and sagely through stuff like this. Feel like I've heard someone push this idea before.

I'd assume blessing/soul taking would be a prerequisite for this.

1 minute ago, gnip said:

Wasn't Kamui the guy with the defining character trait "is afraid of Necrodragons"? Although if I had to guess, I'd wager that Boey will retreat if he's "killed" in combat while Kamui does not, so the game defaults to Boey to make fun of because there's no guarantee that Kamui is around...

Boey got a bit of a scardey-cat moment earlier and you're probably right on having someone who would be there for it.

5 minutes ago, gnip said:

Narrator's voice: "Dork would, in fact, not summon any Necrodragons at all."

So he took too long.

Man, the annoying enemies have been too inconsistent.

3 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

...Is that a young D. John Trump?

That is indeed D-Jon Trump

He's been swindling for a long long time.

[ping]

3 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Very nice. Now let's see Atlas's strength.

Now, now, if there's an enemy with 3-6 Spd and 0-2 Res, Boey will outdamage Atlas, dealing 2x[11-13] dmg instead of 1x[21-23].

7 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

To be completely honest, as funny as the joke is, I wish he'd just set out with Celica at the start and been an actual Jeigan. Just so he'd have more screentime, he deserves it.

I'm always in favour of having two healers in Gaiden. Although, with Celica learning Recover somewhat timely, I'd rather have Noma on Alm's route. Hey, he could get hopelessly lost and end up in Ram village, that way we could still achieve comedy and have more Noma screen time and have somebody heal Silk between Warps. Honestly, Noma should just take over as main character for Alm. Minus the romance subplot, please.

11 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

That's so true, though.

We are indeed blobby chicks one wouldn't f***.

3 minutes ago, Punished Dayni said:

So he took too long.

Man, the annoying enemies have been too inconsistent.

I'm sorry to deny you your rightful dose of schadenfreude.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

5 hours ago, gnip said:

That is interesting, thank you. I've seen the ー before, but didn't know about "compound kana".

Hey, glad to share! Two semesters of college-level Japanese has to be good for something. But yeah, broadly speaking, when a kana is small, its function is to modify the sound of its preceding character. This site explains it really well.

5 hours ago, gnip said:

Wasn't Kamui the guy with the defining character trait "is afraid of Necrodragons"? Although if I had to guess, I'd wager that Boey will retreat if he's "killed" in combat while Kamui does not, so the game defaults to Boey to make fun of because there's no guarantee that Kamui is around...

In SoV, you can also totally skip out on recruiting Kamui and company, so the scene of Kamui freaking out in front of the shrine can be totally missed.

[Shaky Jones]

11 hours ago, gnip said:

Considering that I just glossed over the three Necrodragons twice, I assume you'll believe me when I say that the 7 Gargoyles / 3 Bonewalker fight is just as trivial as it was the previous time. On to Dolk.

Really, you don't have a reason to show any of these maps. We're just waiting for you to nuke Jedoofus.

11 hours ago, gnip said:

As a result, the map is... I think "stupid" sums it up nicely. It doesn't have the infuriating quality of the Desert Fort, since the Whitewings can just swoop in and kick ass, but it's... stupid.

And the rest of the game is what exactly?

11 hours ago, gnip said:

____

Well, Noma is able to set up a kill for Atlas. Good job, boys.

Truly the 3 Houses of Kaga Era FE.

11 hours ago, gnip said:

I'm sure he will, if the maps will ever allow non-Whitewings to contribute to a significant degree. Well, the Lost Woods fights seem to be of that kind, it seems.

You can easily grind a lot in one of the Lost Woods skirmishes. Surely that was put there for Valbo to do things ater 2 entire acts that explicitly harm armors.

11 hours ago, gnip said:

Swamp maps > desert maps, though, silly as it may seem. At least you can throw the Whitewings at them, since there isn't some buttmunch Sniper with a Steel Bow zoning them out of the only important part of the map. Also no teleporting Boss Witch eating your Armour Knight alive.

Yeah, you won't have to worry about that nonsense in 4. Just the fear of your wife finding out you've been accepting money from the local thief and she dumps you for being an unfaithful homo.

11 hours ago, gnip said:

C'est la manière franco-allemande.

8 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

There he is. Old Man 2.

Don't just call him Old Man 2, Old Man 3.

9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Who the hell is that?

...Is that a young D. John Trump?

They call him DJ T. He's in the house, and the house always wins.

8 hours ago, gnip said:

Now, now, if there's an enemy with 3-6 Spd and 0-2 Res, Boey will outdamage Atlas, dealing 2x[11-13] dmg instead of 1x[21-23].

I'm sure those eyeball monsters will do Boy a great service.

[Dayni]

Just now, gnip said:

I'm sorry to deny you your rightful dose of schadenfreude.

That's the AI's fault.

3 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

They call him DJ T. He's in the house, and the house always wins.

I thought he lived in the golfshack

[ping]

Laptop status: Probably fubar.

I'm not sure how quickly the playlog will continue. I'm writing this from somebody else's computer and can probably continue playing from USB stick, but I'll have to catch up a little, from the part where the ol' laptop started acting up (basically go promote Cliff and redo Nuibaba's on Alm's side, and, well, Celica's part back to the Dork fight. Plus, it's bit more awkward to make these updates on somebody else's PC. 

8 hours ago, Punished Dayni said:

That's the AI's fault.

On the plus (?) side, Dork's AI will have another opportunity to summon 85 Necrodragons.

[Interdimensional Observer]

6 hours ago, gnip said:

Laptop status: Probably fubar.

I'm not sure how quickly the playlog will continue. I'm writing this from somebody else's computer and can probably continue playing from USB stick, but I'll have to catch up a little, from the part where the ol' laptop started acting up (basically go promote Cliff and redo Nuibaba's on Alm's side, and, well, Celica's part back to the Dork fight. Plus, it's bit more awkward to make these updates on somebody else's PC. 

Oh.

Well, take your time.🙂 At least you didn't lose too much progress.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

On 10/16/2023 at 1:08 AM, Shaky Jones said:

They call him DJ T. He's in the house, and the house always wins.

Wrong, you're clearly forgetting about

23 hours ago, gnip said:

Laptop status: Probably fubar.

See, Fire Emblem Gaiden destroying your laptop is actually peak game design. It really sells the message of hopeless odds faced by Alm and Celica. The original Famicom would just spit the game cartridge back out at you, so this emulation choice adds another level. Kaga, you magnificent dastard, you've done it again!

Seriously, though, that suuucks. Hope you're able to get things figured out, however long it might take.

[Saint Rubenio]

23 hours ago, gnip said:

Laptop status: Probably fubar.

I'm not sure how quickly the playlog will continue. I'm writing this from somebody else's computer and can probably continue playing from USB stick, but I'll have to catch up a little, from the part where the ol' laptop started acting up (basically go promote Cliff and redo Nuibaba's on Alm's side, and, well, Celica's part back to the Dork fight. Plus, it's bit more awkward to make these updates on somebody else's PC. 

That's too bad... Hopefully you'll be able to repair your laptop.

On 10/16/2023 at 7:08 AM, Shaky Jones said:

Don't just call him Old Man 2, Old Man 3.

You don't tell me what to do.

On 10/16/2023 at 7:08 AM, Shaky Jones said:

They call him DJ T. He's in the house, and the house always wins.

He's not in the white house no more

[Jotari]

What, there was an old school play log and I didn't know about it...and just when I find out there are technical difficulties.

On 10/16/2023 at 5:02 AM, Saint Rubenio said:

I like how Dork overhere got an edit of the Duma Cultist portrait (not just a recolor either, his face is slightly different, he's smiling) while Secondary Villain Jedah shares his face with irrelevants Garciae and Mikhail. That's so Kaga.

I actually really like the generic Duma faithful portraits on Gaiden. Specifically how the colouring makes it look like they're being lit from below and have this sort of unholy look mixed with a kid telling ghost stories. Jeddah's portrait in Shadows of Valentia verges on almost good looking, but then swerves right off a cliff and falls into the way too goofy looking more.

 

[ping]

I did a thing!

FE2 Chapter 4: Dismal Nation

Back to, and through, the Lost Woods

Spoiler

And we back to where we were. Took a while, replaying chapters for bad reasons is always a bit tough to motivate oneself for, but there we are. Some stuff worth mentioning:

: "Arise, Medusa! Now is the time you must fulfill your contract with me!"

Nuibaba has a line when he attacks. Didn't happen last time because Cliff brought him below half HP immediately, activating Coward AI, but he missed one of his two shots this time.

The fight as a whole was easier, though, because no Witch army spawned when Alm emerged from the Fear Shrine this time.

There ya go, more malicious Canters this time.

I was a bit more concious about feeding XP to Palla and Catria this time, which meant that they both reached Lv.12 without the need of fighting the Necrodragons guarding the shrine twice.

__

However, Dork spawned three Necrodragons, twice. One of them fought on the Bog Graveyard (where they joined up with the very harmless all-Bonewalker spawn), the other in the main fight. 

Handful of additionally summoned Necrodragons, too. 

But, I mean...

The Team, as opposed to what it was:

	Lv.	   HP  Pow Skl Spd Lck Def Res  +XP   Item
Celica	10/4.73	   26   14*  9   9  15   5   7  +145  Hero Sw (+5 Atk, +10 hit, +30 crit)
Noma	7.19	   28   12  16   8   1   6  14  + 19  Holy Ring

Jenny	9.77	   21   11   8   7   8   3* 13  + 42  Leather Sh (+3 Def)
Boey	10.10	   28    8   2  11  10   7*  7  + 20  Steel Sh (+5 Atk)
Atlas	10.14	   41   21  11   6   4   7   4  + 92  Magic Ring
May	6.74	   23   10   2   7   5   3  10  + 34

Kamui	8/9.09	   41   16* 17  16*  2  10   2  +143  Steel Sw (+4 Atk, -10 hit, -1 Spd)
Dean	6.73	   32   15* 17  17   6   9   4  + 81  Holy Sw (+3 Atk, +10 hit, +15 crit)
Saber	5.94	   24    9* 11  10*  7   6   6  + 40  Dark Sw (+13 Atk, -20 hit, -1 Spd)
Leo	7/4.99	   33   13*  9   7*  7   7   1  + 38  Steel Bow (+3 Atk, -1 Spd)

Valbo	4.99	   32   14   8   5   3  12   0  + 66
Catria	12/1.74	   40   15* 18  18* 16  12   9  +212* Javelin (+3 Atk, -20 hit, -2 Spd)
Palla	12/1.54	   40   18*  9  10*  4  12   5  +146* Steel Ln (+4 Atk, -10 hit, -1 Spd)
Est	11.04	   28   17  11  15  13* 12  12  +283  Angel Ring (40 Lck)

• Boey didn't get his +2 Str proc this time, which is obviously very unfortunate. No +2 Spd for Celica, either, and Est is still at Falcoknight's base Def instead of 3 points above it.
• Atlas got more XP this time, but he had to use the Magic Ring in order to do so. Only +1 Str as a result, very tragic.
• Some extra Str on Kamui (who didn't get a level last time) and Dean is very welcome, though.

Now, where were we? And where are we?

Honestly, I'm just using the FEWoD map here. The Lost Woods seem to be a lot more expansive than that map suggests, with plenty of paths leading nowhere, and I don't feel like a cartographer today.

First things first - there's treasure south of the starting location, guarded by a bunch of really harmless Wizards. Apart from the "boss", they're all Lv.1, which really doesn't pose much of a challenge anymore. The boss man doesn't even have any advanced magic beyond the usual Dora/Recover combo.

The treasure they guarding is... I mean, it's good. +10 hit (although that's still only 80% at base), +7 Atk, at the cost of -2 Spd. I haven't been using Leo at all lately, so I'm not particularly excited about this, but maybe it's a reminder that 1-5 range *is* good.

Next fight is a lot of XP. Eight Mummies, i.e. basic Zombies that give a lot more XP than appropriate for monsters that weak.

Celica gets an accidental non-Angel Ring level (HP/Skl, so not a lot of value was lost), giving her access to Excalibur. Honestly, I'm getting more and more convinced that Celica is the best Mage to focus on out of the initial group, what with Mae and Boey's growths being even worse than her's.

You may recognise from this picture who I'm trying to feed XP to, although the Mummies don't fully cooperate and attack Noma over Jenny, despite her lower defensive stats and him standing on a forest tile. 

Also, Est is *almost* ready to promote, as well. There's a Mila Statue in these woods that I wasn't aware of (although I think I would've backtracked to promote Catria and Palla for the Dork fight anyway), but I'll have to detour and fight the remaining fight first...

...after grabbing the second Silver weapon. Nice extra option for the trio of sword users (i.e. Celica, Dean, and Kamui; Saber is rather benched at this point).

Said fight is against three "HiKnights", or Majins, as the main page calls them. Identical to Barons, basically, and not even weak to anti-monster weapons, I think.

Since it's only three enemies, this is another easy fight. The biggest challenge is to find a way to get Est 4 XP without using a Lance over the Angel Ring.

Challenge complete. Good job, Atlas.

Worth the hassle, too - both Str and Def are above Falcoknight bases, so those gains will stick.

And third Silver weapon! I suppose the Whitewings weren't broken enough already. Like the Silver Sword, this has 8 Mt and 1 Wt, without a penalty to accuracy, making it an amazing all-purpose weapon.

As a bonus, a little translation hiccough, I assume. It seems that the patch maker interpreted a string of text as "You reconquered this area!" when it was just supposed to be "Your inventory is full". That, or Kaga felt very dramatic about filled item slots.

Huzzah!

Finally, we arrive in the appropriately named Sage Village.

: "Master Hark was the High Priest of Lord Doma. However, he lost a dispute with the shaman Judah and fled here. Judah is a vile man. If you wish to fight him, there is only one way. On turn 4, 8, 12... Ugh... I... Judah's spell has..."

And thus ends the tragic story of NPC#103.

Three traders in this village, too, like in Nuibaba's abode. If I understand things correctly, I'll have to send stuff back to Alm before entering Doma's Tower - probably going to be the Silver Sword in addition to the Angel Ring. Between Holy Sword, Hero Sword, and (once we get our own Dreadfighters) Dark Sword, Celica really has an overabundance of strong swords.

The last NPC in the village is Hark, who is Hark.

: "Hmm... You have come here seeking the missing Mila? The sword that sealed Mila lies under the Tower of Doma. However... Judah will not allow you to draw near. If there is anything I can do, I will lend you my power."
: I have nothing to ask of you. Although, Alm... I'd like to help him..."
: "I understand. I shall bless him with newly awakened powers."

And now Alm is the strong. Well, kinda strong. The Regal Sword helps him a lot, of course, but his stats don't actually stand out from his peers: Claire (20 Atk/16 Spd with Steel, as well as better bulk) or Jesse (worse bulk, but 23 Atk/21 Spd once he grabs the Silver Sword, as well as another promotion incoming), not to mention Cliff, all have their advantages over the swineherd. 

Lastly, there's a Lion Head in the village, granting Def. First instinct is, of course, Atlas, but (part of) the beauty of the Magic Ring is that he doesn't really take counterdamage. Funny Def-stacking on Est is what I probably would do if playing on my own, but I don't know how well that would go with people reading along. Kamui and Dean are both still below Dreadfighter base Def, so that's a no-no...

Celica might be an option, too - she's pretty frail at this point (only 1 Def proc in 15 level-ups is rather unlucky), and I know that she's going to be one of very few fielded characters when climbing Doma's Tower. Making her a bit more survivable doesn't seem like a terrible idea. 

So, basically, Est or Celica?

The Team after the Lost Wood battles:

	Lv.	   HP  Pow Skl Spd Lck Def Res  +XP   Item
Celica	10/6.91	   27   16  10   9  15*  5   7  +218  Angel Ring (40 Lck)
Noma	8.14	   28   12  18   8   1   6  14  + 95  Holy Ring

Jenny	11.18	   23   13   8   7   8   5* 13  +141  Steel Sh (+5 Atk)
Boey	10.32	   28    8   2  11  10   7   7  + 22  [Hero Sw (+5 Atk, +10 hit, +30 crit)]
Atlas	10.57	   41   21  11   6   4   7   4  + 43  Magic Ring

Kamui	8/9.26	   41   16* 17  16*  2  10   2  + 17  Silver Sword (+8 Atk, -1 Spd)
Dean	8.35	   34   19* 17  17   6   9   4  +162  Holy Sw (+3 Atk, +10 hit, +15 crit)

Catria	12/1.80	   40   15* 18  18* 16  12   9  +  6  Javelin (+3 Atk, -20 hit, -2 Spd)
Palla	12/1.54	   40   18*  9  10*  4  12   5  +  6  Steel Ln (+4 Atk, -10 hit, -1 Spd)
Est	12/1.00	   40   19* 11  15* 13  14  12  + 96* Silver Ln (+8 Atk, -1 Spd)

• Big fan of the 141 XP on Jenny. Pretty close to promotion, and with that, Seraphim as an actually useful offensive spell.
• Big fan of Dean's big Str, too.

 

On 10/19/2023 at 11:05 AM, Jotari said:

What, there was an old school play log and I didn't know about it...and just when I find out there are technical difficulties.

I will try to persevere  And I'm sure that the "General FE" subforum would've been better for visibility, but since all the games I want to log are lumped together in this NES/SNES one, I think it would've been difficult to justify putting it there.

[Saint Rubenio]

7 minutes ago, gnip said:

The last NPC in the village is Hark, who is Hark.

I love this guy's portrait. It's so horrible. Nomah's color palette... kinda works, but this guy is ugly as sin. He looks like the kind of recolor you'd see in someone's first FE character swap.

10 minutes ago, gnip said:

So, basically, Est or Celica?

Ehh Celica, why not.

10 minutes ago, gnip said:

I will try to persevere  And I'm sure that the "General FE" subforum would've been better for visibility, but since all the games I want to log are lumped together in this NES/SNES one, I think it would've been difficult to justify putting it there.

When I did my minimum ranks Berwick playlog I just put it in Let's Plays lol

[Jotari]

I say Defense boost Est, just to cancel out Ruben's vote.

[Saint Rubenio]

How can you do this?!

[Jotari]

4 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

How can you do this?!

 

Edited October 22, 2023 by Jotari

[Dayni]

Disappear for a few days and you get somewhere with this. I wouldn't have blamed you if you just stopped after the loss of progress due to FUBAR.

Shame I'm too late to think of much to respond with here.

6 hours ago, gnip said:

As a bonus, a little translation hiccough, I assume. It seems that the patch maker interpreted a string of text as "You reconquered this area!" when it was just supposed to be "Your inventory is full". That, or Kaga felt very dramatic about filled item slots.

It's a funny little choice of words, but I couldn't say why it happened that way.

6 hours ago, gnip said:

So, basically, Est or Celica?

I'm trying to remember if a certain moment would see her needing that Def and thus leaning towards Celica.

[Shaky Jones]

On 10/18/2023 at 8:58 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Wrong, you're clearly forgetting about

He's been outta the house for a while now. These memes are what makes Biden forget he's the current president. He's probably watching this as we speak.

On 10/18/2023 at 9:10 AM, Saint Rubenio said:

You don't tell me what to do.

Keep playing Fates.

9 hours ago, gnip said:

The Team, as opposed to what it was:

I enjoyed watching the stats of your FE1 team and comparing them to what little I remember from FE1 enemy stats alongside FE11 averages for remake comparisons, but I can't say I'm registering anything for this team. You can mention Boy growths as much as you like, but I just see it as "it's not Atlas". The math nerd in me weeps.

9 hours ago, gnip said:

The treasure they guarding is... I mean, it's good. +10 hit (although that's still only 80% at base), +7 Atk, at the cost of -2 Spd. I haven't been using Leo at all lately, so I'm not particularly excited about this, but maybe it's a reminder that 1-5 range *is* good.

You found the holy weapon!

Alm's personal silver bow.

9 hours ago, gnip said:

Next fight is a lot of XP. Eight Mummies, i.e. basic Zombies that give a lot more XP than appropriate for monsters that weak.

This is more or less the grinding room for Celica's rout. 

9 hours ago, gnip said:

: "Master Hark was the High Priest of Lord Doma. However, he lost a dispute with the shaman Judah and fled here. Judah is a vile man. If you wish to fight him, there is only one way. On turn 4, 8, 12... Ugh... I... Judah's spell has..."

And thus ends the tragic story of NPC#103.

This will always be hilarious in SoV. His wife musta fuckin hated him dude.

9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I love this guy's portrait. It's so horrible. Nomah's color palette... kinda works, but this guy is ugly as sin. He looks like the kind of recolor you'd see in someone's first FE character swap.

Kinda? Nomah's palette is stellar!

This guy is basically middle aged dads dying their hair completely brown/black to remove the gray hairs, only realizing they look uncanny as hell now.

9 hours ago, gnip said:

So, basically, Est or Celica?

Atlas. Trust your instinct.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

How can you do this?!

Pobre Ruben.

3 hours ago, Punished Dayni said:

I'm trying to remember if a certain moment would see her needing that Def and thus leaning towards Celica.

Sounds like Celica's in the lead. Considering how Est is only being voted out of spite, I pity her. 

 

I'm still voting Atlas.

[Interdimensional Observer]

10 hours ago, gnip said:

The Lost Woods

I know, low-hanging fruit.

The Many Translations of the “Lost Woods” « Legends of Localization

Although it's actually a common Japanese phrase.

10 hours ago, gnip said:

Celica gets an accidental non-Angel Ring level (HP/Skl, so not a lot of value was lost), giving her access to Excalibur. Honestly, I'm getting more and more convinced that Celica is the best Mage to focus on out of the initial group, what with Mae and Boey's growths being even worse than her's.

Serikuh (I'm just being silly for no reason) does seem to be lacking statwise. Her lack of promo bonuses don't help no doubt. I suppose being a mage with an excellent spell selection is what salvages her. That Spd in particular has me concerned.

And I suppose she'll get the most out of the Def. So go ahead with that.

[Jotari]

2 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

He's been outta the house for a while now. These memes are what makes Biden forget he's the current president. He's probably watching this as we speak.

Ah yes, Biden was well known part of Fire Emblem's western 90s fanbase. Some say he was even the one that comissoned the anime dub. People don't talk much about him now though as he insists on calling Marth Mars.

2 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

Sounds like Celica's in the lead. Considering how Est is only being voted out of spite, I pity her. 

 

I'm still voting Atlas.

It was actually contrariansim more than spite. I've no beef with Ruben. He's a cool guy.

[Saint Rubenio]

9 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

Kinda? Nomah's palette is stellar!

Some of the flesh tones on his beard are a bit weird, but well, they only had so many colors to work with.

9 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

This guy is basically middle aged dads dying their hair completely brown/black to remove the gray hairs, only realizing they look uncanny as hell now.

It looks like he smeared crap all over his hair. It's horrible.

[ping]

FE2 Chapter 4: Dismal Nation

Lost Woods -> Doma's Bog -> Lost Woods

Spoiler

Step 1: Be pleasantly surprised that this village's Lion Head Fountain can be used five times. Celica is moderately tanky now.

Step 2: Look at nine enemy witches, pick a god, and pray.

The boss of this map seems like nothing special - Lv.10 Wizard, with the rather powerful Death spell at his fingertips, but nothing too outlandish. However, he allegedly has access to an "Earthquake" spell, which hits everybody on the field for massive, but non-lethal, damage. However (spoiler warning), he's not going to get around to using it in this fight, so I don't even know if it also hurts his own soldiers or not.

__

Unit positioning isn't ideal to fight multiple Witches immediately - Est and Palla get one in the forests, and Atlas can chip one down from the distance, but that's about it.

__

As a result, there really is a bit of praying to RNGeesus involved, and he showeth mercy, even adding a point of Spd to Valbo. Who didn't get doubled to begin with! The rather chipped down Pegasus is Palla, whose Res is pretty lackluster compared to her sisters.

__

She retreats to the main group afterwards for that reason. Est can deal with the many remaining Witches reasonably well, despite the accuracy issues in the forest.

The Canter in the back summons Gargoyles - more annoying than dangerous at this point. The regular enemies inside the fort are pretty strong, but the whole thing is also one giant choke... line, I guess, making it easy to pick your fights.

__

Like this, for example - Atlas easily chips down Jamil so that Catria doesn't even have to worry about a counterattack, thanks to the spell's HP cost.

With that, the rest of the fight is honestly a foregone conclusion. When nothing can gang up on you, Gaiden becomes rather toothless.

I do have to mention this brilliant Witch who teleported from Est's northeast to her southwest, in order to attack her from a different angle.

So then, off to fight Judah.

...or maybe not. You know what? I don't think I *need* need a Dracoshield.

I did want to attempt a Judah kill here, by having him chip himself down with the Death spell HP cost, but...

...seventeen of that seems a bit unreasonable, especially when your main anti-monster squad is supposed to eat Death spells to make any progress on the boss. 

Because otherwise, even without the "round 4, 8, 12... Arghh, Judah's spell" silliness - 28 Def means that literally none of our phyiscal attackers can do more than scratch damage, while our magical powerhouse Atlas can deal two points of damage with his Fire spell.

So, easy way out it is. Restart the fight, poke the Bigle...

: "Heheh, cute critter, eh? I didn't expect you to kill it so soon. That brat was named Alm, yes? If you do not wish to lose him, girl... climb the Tower of Doma."

...and Judah leaves.

What remains are three HiKnights - tanky and hard-hitting, but it's only three of them.

__

Now, before climing any towers, we need to send stuff over to Alm...

...and we might as well grab some XP while we're here.

The Mummy fight leaves Atlas and the Myrmidons very close to promotion, as well as Jenny very close to an extra level-up...

...so another quick fight it is.

Jenny's level - +2 Def - ends up not mattering, unfortunately. But she finally has an accurate spell to sling.

Atlas only gets a single stat point from promotion, but it's a good one. I think, I don't know how much value going from 3 to 4 Speed really will have.

Dean and Kamui both get a little physical bulk and, of course, a ton of Res from promoting.

So then, back to Alm the Angel Ring goes. Alongside the Silver Sword, which should provide a lot of value for Jesse. I don't think there's a third item that I would want to send over? Maybe the Silver Bow for Alm, although I did enjoy Leo being kinda useful again.

The Team:

	Lv.	   HP  Pow Skl Spd Lck Def Res  +XP   Item
Celica	10/9.18	   27   16* 12  13  17  12   7  +227  Hero Sw (+5 Atk, +10 hit, +30 crit)
Noma	8.32	   28   12  18   8   1   6  14  + 18  Holy Ring

Jenny	13/1.00	   30   15  10   7   8*  8  13  +182* Angel Ring (40 Lck)
Boey	10.78	   28    8   2  11  10   7*  7  + 46  Steel Sh (+5 Def)
Atlas	12/1.00	   43   21  11   7   4   9   4  +143* Magic Ring
May	6.97	   23   10   2   7   5   3* 10  + 23  Leather Sh (+3 Def)

Dean	10/1.00	   36   19* 18  18*  8  11  19  +165* Silver Sw (+8 Atk, -1 Spd)
Kamui	8/10/1.00  41   16* 17  18   2  11  17  + 74* Holy Sw (+3 Atk, +10 hit, +15 crit)
Saber	5.99	   24    9* 11   6*  7   6   6  +  5  Dark Sw (+13 Atk, -20 hit, -1 Spd)
Leo	7/5.99	   33   14*  9   7*  7   8   1	+100  Silver Bow (+7 Atk, +10 hit, -2 Spd)

Valbo	5.14	   33   14   9   6   3  12   0  + 15
Catria	12/2.52	   40   15* 20  17* 16  12   9  + 72  Steel Ln (+4 Atk, -10 hit, -1 Spd)
Palla	12/2.16	   42   20*  9  10*  4  14   5  + 62  Javelin (+3 Atk, -20 hit, -2 Spd)
Est	12/2.92	   40   19* 12  15* 13  14  12  +192  Silver Ln (+8 Atk, -1 Spd)

• I think Celica heard you trashtalking her stats. She gained +4 Spd and +2 Def in addition to the +5 Def from the Lion Head. Somebody please remind Boey of his Str growth, too.
• Interesting to see that Dean still is the slightly better unit than Kamui, thank to a few Str procs.

 

On 10/23/2023 at 3:08 AM, Shaky Jones said:

This is more or less the grinding room for Celica's rout. 

Yeah, it seems pretty obvious what the mummy encounters on both sides are meant to accomplish. I thought it was just a programming error, but it might just be Kaga having a merciful moment.

On 10/23/2023 at 12:36 PM, Saint Rubenio said:

It looks like he smeared crap all over his hair. It's horrible.

I remember a Discworld novel with a running gag being the head wizard being very insecure about balding and trying a few rather weird methods to prevent it. One of them was smearing manure over his head, so maybe Hark is suffering from premature beard loss? A truly devestating loss for a sage. If you don't have a beard, how will people know you're smart? There's no glasses in the setting, I don't think.

On 10/23/2023 at 12:01 AM, Punished Dayni said:

It's a funny little choice of words, but I couldn't say why it happened that way.

My suspicion is that the Japanese message has the angle "Inventory full, so the treasure was put back in the chest in order to reclaim space", the translator didn't know the context of the string of words, and so they interpreted it the wrong way.