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

[Saint Rubenio]

Say @ping is the game you were playing Mardek? I just found it five minutes in a completely unrelated corner of the internet and the artstyle immediately jumped out to me. I had never heard of or seen it before, and then today I find it twice somehow. Small world.

2 minutes ago, Jotari said:

There are some other Mystery changes on terms of map designs. Though I don't think the DS has the south door to the treasury featured in this map, which is a shame as it's a pretty good add to the map. Though, bizarrely, it seems only this chapter as that south exit. It was removed from the Book 2 version and still gone in New Mystery...yeah, they repeated the same map in the same game and just removed a door. That feels like an oversight.

Sheema realized what a key weakness to the fortress's defense it was and had it removed in the interim.

[Jotari]

5 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Say @ping is the game you were playing Mardek? I just found it five minutes in a completely unrelated corner of the internet and the artstyle immediately jumped out to me. I had never heard of or seen it before, and then today I find it twice somehow. Small world.

Sheema realized what a key weakness to the fortress's defense it was and had it removed in the interim.

And she's such a good leader she even managed to have it removed in alternate dimensions XD It only persists her because Jiol mentions Sheema by name, thus establishing her as not the ruler of the country yet and allowing the flawed door to exist to avoid a paradox.

[ping]

37 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I only now Brazil. It has the best music and Pedro II's a pretty cool dude. And I get to win with jeans.

Blue jeans and pop music. We need both.

I could also start talking about jungle biases and why that's bad and annoying, but I don't think you're in the target group for Civ rants.

Personally, I'm partial to Civ5's true main theme - the song that you're likely to hear the most when playing. Pedro's jam is good, too, though.

37 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

A year later, receiving the news that Prince Marth murdered him to steal his sword:

To be fair, I'd also keep some distance from a partner that keeps talking about rolling heads.

37 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

She does have really massive speed and fine strength. Her problem is that she's made of wet tissue paper.

Her Str is lower than Rody's, so it is a bit on the low side compared to her peers. Same base, but at a higher base level (by 2, so effectively about -1 compared to Rody at the same level) and very slightly lower growth. Still decent offensive stats, of course, but it doesn't stand out, unless her massive Spd has some specific uses on the highest difficulty. And, as you said, wet tissue paper.

When I started an FE12 playthough a few weeks/months ago, I was thinking about using Archer!Cecille, but Catria probably does even that meme better than her because FE12!Catria does almost everything better than almost everybody else. Curious to see if you can cross out the "almost"s for Book 2.

3 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Say @ping is the game you were playing Mardek? I just found it five minutes in a completely unrelated corner of the internet and the artstyle immediately jumped out to me. I had never heard of or seen it before, and then today I find it twice somehow. Small world.

Yup. Thought it was amazing like 11 or 12 years ago (first found it after the 3rd part was published, but before hope was lost that a 4th would eventually follow), got the Steam version some time ago and started a completionist run that I continued this past week. I might make a post about it in Integrity's thread over in General Gaming, in the hope that "completionist" is good enough even though there are no Steam achievements for the game.

Not sure if it's your cup of tea, though. Basically a Final Fantasy clone, as far as gameplay goes.

[BrightBow]

30 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Sheema realized what a key weakness to the fortress's defense it was and had it removed in the interim.

If the door was still there in book 2, you could not possibly catch the thief without Warp.
 

18 minutes ago, ping said:

Her Str is lower than Rody's, so it is a bit on the low side compared to her peers. Same base, but at a higher base level (by 2, so effectively about -1 compared to Rody at the same level) and very slightly lower growth. Still decent offensive stats, of course, but it doesn't stand out, unless her massive Spd has some specific uses on the highest difficulty. And, as you said, wet tissue paper.

When I started an FE12 playthough a few weeks/months ago, I was thinking about using Archer!Cecille, but Catria probably does even that meme better than her because FE12!Catria does almost everything better than almost everybody else. Curious to see if you can cross out the "almost"s for Book 2.

New Mystery lowered Cecil's strength by 1 and her defense by 2 points. Rody meanwhile gets +1 strength. Luke's are the same, but he is 1 level lower.
And of course Cecil now comes in much later than Rody and Luke, giving them time to take advantage of New Mystery's insane growths.

Since all growths have been buffed, this does technically buff Cecil too. But like, Cecil and Luke both had 30% strength. They gave Cecil 45%. Luke's went all the way up to 60%.

Edited November 19, 2023 by BrightBow

[Jotari]

3 hours ago, BrightBow said:

If the door was still there in book 2, you could not possibly catch the thief without Warp.

Only because that's where they decided to put the thief.

[BrightBow]

9 hours ago, ping said:

I'll fast forward from here, since the map is honestly not that complex. The resets I had came from a mixture of RNG and me enabling it to screw me over (not quite used to supports, i.e. crit bonuses are a thing again, so that might've been a thing at least for Katua's death), not because the map is terribly difficult.

Worth noting that support bonuses protect you from critical hits too.
Really handy against all those Snipers with their high everything.

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

22 hours ago, ping said:

(I hope I didn't not notice any obvious tell when censorinig map colour etc.)

Sinai and Kilimanjaro, nice! Production might be an issue for the Sinai city, but you've one real good Desert Folklore religion here, or One With Nature if you want more Faith sooner.

As for who, hmmm... well, it's a coastal start. -But it's perfectly possible for a non-coastal bias to get one. I wouldn't be able to guess who it was if you hiding attempt was imperfect. It's not Spain b/c they're a light red, this is a purple, which says to me... Rome?

20 hours ago, ping said:

I could also start talking about jungle biases and why that's bad and annoying, but I don't think you're in the target group for Civ rants.

There's some irony that jungle becomes arguably the best start in Civ6. A Bananas Rainforest on a Hill is 3 Food 2 Production, an incredible starting tile.

But yeah, Civ5, lack of Production and no decency to provide any Production for clearing despite the longarse time it takes to do so makes a jungle beginning bad. Nice later with Trading Posts and Universities, but a good starting position is extremely important unfortunately.

Now I'm thinking of trying a match where I set up Celts, Iroquois, Brazil, Aztecs, Morocco, Arabia, Russia, Sweden.😆 The two with Rainforest bias, the two with Forest bias, the two with Desert bias, and the two with Tundra bias. Which terrain shall emerge supreme? -Not sure who I'd pick though. I've done Brazil and Russia, I feel like I'd want to save Celts and Iroquois for Boreal maps, Arabia I could do anytime, Sweden I would try setting up a "maximum inclined towards Friendly" AI map for.

22 hours ago, ping said:

:

Camus looks so... not knightly here in this profile portrait. He looks too fancily dressed, maybe the collar is too high, maybe the shirt too puffy. A handsome gentleman in a suit who just so happens to be a knight with an aura of mystique who regularly saves the young lady he loves before dashing away yet again. Shojo material for sure.

[ping]

FE3 Book 1 Chapter 12: Magical Khadein

Spoiler

Khadein, the land of magic. It is ruled by the Demon King, Garnef, and is a sanctuary for mages. As soon as the mages begin chanting, no warrior can defend themselves. One... and onother one... Brave warriors come and fall, one by one. Khadein... A cursed town of darkness...

A similar, if not the same opening just translated differently, compared to FE1. As I said back then, I find this opening a bit weird not only because of the sudden flowery language, but also because it sounds more like Khadein is this Evil McEvilplace and not Garnef turning it into one. Speaking of...

: "Hahaha... It seems those fools have come running here after all. They understand nothing. As long as I have my Maph spell, I am invincible. White sage, even you will be unable to stop me. As long as the Dragon Goddess remains at the ancient Raman temple no star's light can illuminate my darkness."

A shame. His darkness is darker than ours.

Like the previous map, this map has been changed a bit more than what were were used to. Well, not so much the map itself, but a few enemies have been removed (for example a mage and a Cleric near the center) and two of the four Wyverns have been replaced by Pegasi. The Thief has been moved closer to the treasure in the bottom right corner, as is the standard procedure at this point.

__

However, not everything is easier than before. Unless I'm seriously misremembering this, Garnef did not move in FE1. I don't quite know how Shadow Dragon handles this - I'm pretty sure Gharnef moved on the difficulty that I played on, but I'm not sure about him leaving, or if he moves on all difficulties, etc.

__

In this version, he leaves quite early - turn 4, I believe this is, and I was able to completely avoid fighting him. On this turn, a Barrier-boosted Sheeda would've eaten a hit.

__

To get it out of the way - another reset this map, since Biraku was victimised by his awful Lck stat. Hm.

So instead, he spends the second attempt one-shotting mages with a Silver Lance. At least his one good stat is useful for something.

I'm sure somebody is already furiously typing up their disappointment for all the wings on the team, but c'mon, it's the desert map. Plus, I did bring Maji and Mishelan. They didn't manage to see any combat because, c'mon, it's the desert map, but an attempt was made. Julian unfortunately deprived Mishelan from a Mage kill with an untimely crit.

Overall, this is still one of the better desert maps in the series, really, and I shall cherish its memory once I walk on Anri's Way. Enemies didn't really needed to be dumbed down as they did, but I'd rather have a desert map that's too easy than too annoying.

The Wyverns are obviously still a bit of a threat, but they just as obviously have their crippling weaknesses to exploit, too. Kashim one-rounds the first; Wendel and Linda team up to kill the second.

Katua reprises her FE1 role as a pack mule and goes shopping - a few basic tomes and staves, and a few Silver weapons.

And Sheeda casually one-rounds the generic boss like it's Shadow Dragon. Yeah, OK, maybe enemies are a bit too weak.

Paola and Minerva go after the Thief, who makes fielding Julian pretty superfluous. You can't send him towards the chests while Garnef is still prancing around, so the enemy Thief is going to be first to the chests anyway. The Mage reinforcements from the treasure room (one Mage every turn) is a bit of a problem here, but Minerva can at least one-shot them with Silver, while Paola hardly takes any damage from them anyway.

: "Prince Marth... I am Archsage Gato. I am currently using my magic to communicate with you. ... It is saddening to see you mocked by Garnef... Listen to me well. Garnef and Miroa were both my pupils. But Garnef stole Maph from me and disappeared. Mmm... He indeed has the Falchion as well. With Maph and the Falchion, the Durhua Empire has nothing to fear. This world will eventually be theirs. So long as Garnef has Maph, you won't be able to defeat him. ...However... There is one method. Find the Star and Light Orbs and bring them to me. With them both, then the only magic tome that can penetrate Maph, Starlight Explosion can be...

Thank you, Exposition Man.

The Team:

	Lv. 	   HP Str Skl Spd Lck WLv Def Res  +XP
Marth	11.90	   28  13   8  14  11  14   8   0  +40
Biraku	10.96	   24   7   5   7   2  11   8   0  +64
Minerva	5.43	   22  11   8  14   8  14  12   0  +144
Sheeda	10.16	   20   6  13  19  17  14   9   6  +80

Katua	3.72	   19   5   6  12   7  10   7   6  +8	(base)
Paola	9.92	   22   7   9  13   5  12   8   6  +192
Navarre	11.44	   26  10  12  15  13  12   6   0  +64
Maji	8.73	   22   7   5   9   7   7   6   0  --

Julian	4.08	   17   5   7  12   8   2   4   0  +42
Misheln	3.00	   20   8   5   3   4   5  12   0  --
Kashim	12.01	   29  13   5  12   4   8   7   1? +108
Banutu	5.15	   25   2   3   4   1   2   3   1  --

Wendel	6.06	   25   3   2  13   2  12   5   6  +84
Linda	5.75	   20   3   7  10   9  10   2   4  +77
Rena	13.24	   19   1  15   8  17   9   4   6  +118

• Navarre and Kashim should probably go ahead and promote sooner rather than later. We're past the halfway point (ch.12 out of 20), so they shouldn't have to worry about hitting Lv.20 promoted too soon, and unless my perception is way off, there is no XP reduction for high-leveled characters, just like there wasn't in FE1.
• I think I remember Kashim proccing Res... He had some residual Barrier effect still active and finished the map with 2 Res, so I'm not entirely sure, though. Could've been in the Dead Biraku timeline. We'll see next time.

Answers!

Spoiler

  

20 hours ago, BrightBow said:

New Mystery lowered Cecil's strength by 1 and her defense by 2 points. Rody meanwhile gets +1 strength. Luke's are the same, but he is 1 level lower.
And of course Cecil now comes in much later than Rody and Luke, giving them time to take advantage of New Mystery's insane growths.

Since all growths have been buffed, this does technically buff Cecil too. But like, Cecil and Luke both had 30% strength. They gave Cecil 45%. Luke's went all the way up to 60%.

Yeahh, that seems about right. I don't quite remember what level is realistic for Luke/Rody when Cecille joins in FE12, but she has a bit of a disadvantage there, for sure. One of those unfortunate characters that get overshadowed by characters joining both before and after them.

13 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Worth noting that support bonuses protect you from critical hits too.
Really handy against all those Snipers with their high everything.

It is very noticable how tough enemy snipers are. Needing three units just to kill a single one of those is really atypical for FE3, or at least for Book 1.

18 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Sinai and Kilimanjaro, nice! Production might be an issue for the Sinai city, but you've one real good Desert Folklore religion here, or One With Nature if you want more Faith sooner.

As for who, hmmm... well, it's a coastal start. -But it's perfectly possible for a non-coastal bias to get one. I wouldn't be able to guess who it was if you hiding attempt was imperfect. It's not Spain b/c they're a light red, this is a purple, which says to me... Rome?

...Venice. Of course.

I didn't notice that I left some purple on the screen - what could've betrayed them was the second available trade route on turn 17. Although I guess I could've found Sailing in a goody hut.

 

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

16 minutes ago, ping said:

..Venice. Of course.

The curse.😆 Only one city is nice because it frees you from worrying about the immediate rush to expand ...but any nice territory away from your cap simply can't be claimed.

From what I've read online -questionable ofc- Venice IRL took direct rule over its possessions. The "puppet empire" thing of Civ5 is merely a unique gameplay hook.

20 minutes ago, ping said:

However, not everything is easier than before. Unless I'm seriously misremembering this, Garnef did not move in FE1. I don't quite know how Shadow Dragon handles this - I'm pretty sure Gharnef moved on the difficulty that I played on, but I'm not sure about him leaving, or if he moves on all difficulties, etc.

Gharnef always move in Shadow Dragon, quite some distance over a few turns actually. I forget when he leaves there, but I do recall stalling him for a while with a promoted Lena.

[Jotari]

Huh, so Gotoh says Gharnef stole Imhullu (Maph is a silly name) in Book 1, I thought that was just on the NES. As I'm pretty sure Book 2 says he stole the Dark Orb and made Imhullu himself.

[Emperor Hardin]

On 11/15/2023 at 3:42 AM, Saint Rubenio said:

Huh. That feels so weird. Especially since in FE11 they let him keep the FE1 manakete boss design. I wonder if that would've changed had he been the first to get the Khozen design in FE3.

I forgot to reply to this, I imagine Khozen would like Mannu does in the DS version, but with SNES Khozen's eyes!

On 11/19/2023 at 12:19 PM, ping said:

Sheeda, Navarre, and Linda clear the enemies guarding Jiol. The Hero is quite fast and tough, but both Sheeda and Navarre avoid getting doubled, so they can trap him in his chokepoint until Linda is close enough to nuke him.

That is a Mystery of the Emblem enemy addition along with an extra sniper, looks like Jiol upped his security.

On 11/19/2023 at 12:19 PM, ping said:

 

: "The Kingdom of Gra... is done for... My daughter... Sheema... You must... for me..."

Some last-second humanising.

I think it is good foreshadowing.

Also Jiol has a pretty cool palette, Lorenz could've used it, IMO.

On 11/19/2023 at 12:19 PM, ping said:

Or maybe FE1 players didn't like it? It's what cinches my perception of Sheeda as cunning and manipulative instead of the Lilina-style "pure and innocent" girl - for me, that makes Sheeda a more interesting character than her BinBla expy, but I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of nerds weren't happy that their potentially waifu turns out to be, well, cunning and manipulative. Just look at Shaky

Maybe you are right that fans back than thought manipulating Roger wasn't Waifu material?

On 11/19/2023 at 12:19 PM, ping said:

I can believe it, considering just how awful the Ballisticians' stats are in Mystery. High-def units can shrug off their hits pretty easily, as long as you don't fly Minerva into an Arrowspate's range.

Basically just keep low level fliers away and the only real threat is the boss, Grigas. I think they went overboard in giving Ballisticians low stats in FE3.

On 11/19/2023 at 12:19 PM, ping said:

Jiol is another boss who just automatically loses to any Mage or Bishop. He hits hard, as he predecessors, two-shotting most folks, but he has low Res and no 2-range.

Most bosses weren't smart enough to carry Javelins, which are admittedly less potent than they were in FE1.

On 11/19/2023 at 12:19 PM, ping said:

Feel free to if you want! I've discussed Civilization V with the Observer, so coding stuff is far more on-topic than some of the stuff I posted myself. 

So player Manaketes use dragonstones in their "Item slot", whilst enemy Manaketes use dragonstones in their "weapon slot".

This means that enemy Manaketes can use any dragonstone they get their hands on and will never revert back to Manakete form upon transforming into a dragon!

On 11/19/2023 at 1:29 PM, Saint Rubenio said:

...You know, of all changes to revert in FE11, why this one? Why not keep something like, say, Wendell being in prison instead of among the Macedonian troops, or dragons being good?

I've actually been brainstorming on ways to fix player Manaketes in the DS games!

On 11/20/2023 at 11:15 AM, ping said:

__

However, not everything is easier than before. Unless I'm seriously misremembering this, Garnef did not move in FE1. I don't quite know how Shadow Dragon handles this - I'm pretty sure Gharnef moved on the difficulty that I played on, but I'm not sure about him leaving, or if he moves on all difficulties, etc.

He definitely moved if you got in range in the NES version and he had much higher speed, even if Imhullu weighed him down a ton.

On 11/20/2023 at 11:15 AM, ping said:

__

In this version, he leaves quite early - turn 4, I believe this is, and I was able to completely avoid fighting him. On this turn, a Barrier-boosted Sheeda would've eaten a hit.

Checking on the NES version, he leaves on Turn 8!

On 11/20/2023 at 11:15 AM, ping said:

It is very noticable how tough enemy snipers are. Needing three units just to kill a single one of those is really atypical for FE3, or at least for Book 1.

I think Sniper's base speed was actually slightly nerfed in FE3, *checking*, yeah it was 14 base speed in FE1!

[Saint Rubenio]

On 11/20/2023 at 8:15 PM, ping said:

A shame. His darkness is darker than ours.

You could say it's the darkest darkness that ever darked.

On 11/20/2023 at 8:15 PM, ping said:

I don't quite know how Shadow Dragon handles this - I'm pretty sure Gharnef moved on the difficulty that I played on, but I'm not sure about him leaving, or if he moves on all difficulties, etc.

Pretty sure he always moves and always leaves.

On 11/20/2023 at 8:15 PM, ping said:

Katua reprises her FE1 role as a pack mule and goes shopping - a few basic tomes and staves, and a few Silver weapons.

I like how they have the exact same design, pretty much.

On 11/20/2023 at 8:15 PM, ping said:

: "Prince Marth... I am Archsage Cat.

There is it, the best translation.

I've always wondered why he looks like he's trying to hold in a massive shit in this game. In the original his eyes are wide open - in fact, he looks permanently terrified in that game. He's one of the units that really benefitted from the jump to DSFE, he looks so much more dignified there than in either of his other appearances.

[ping]

FE3 Book 1 Chapter 13: Battle of Aritia

Spoiler

After being tragically defeated by Garnef's dark magic, Maph, Prince Marth finally marches his army south, in order to fulfil his hope of reclaiming his homeland of Aritia. The Kingdom of Aritia is a beautiful country, surrounded by rich water and greenery. But, after being occupied by Durhua, the country has fallen into ruin, and its citizens live in eternal suffering. Right now, they can finally welcome the days of freedom.

: "Marth, so this is your homeland, Aritia?"
: "Yes. It has already been 2 years since it was occupied by the Durhua Empire. That day... I managed to escape to Talis, thanks to my sister, Ellis's help. But she was captured by the Durhua Empire in my place. Right now, where on earth could she be? ...I must rescue her from their hands. Okay, everybody move out! For the freedom and peace of our homeland, Aritia!!"

Since it came up earlier: Marth assumes that Ellis is still only captured, not killed. I'll claim that as an argument that he should've empathised with Minerva instead of comparing her to his sister.

 

This map actually changed a fair bit, but not really in a way that changes how it plays out. The shape of the islands has been un-squared and the map as a whole is a bit stretched vertically, but the main features are more or less the same. Even the area in the top center, which used to be two separate islands, still has the same chokepoints as it did in FE1 - they're just no longer all in the shape of bridges.

Enemy placement is a bit different, too, most notably with three Cavs separated from the Genealogy block of enemies below the boss. Enemies overall downgraded their weapons - two of the Wyverns used to carry effective weapons, which has been replaced by simple Javelins.

The boss still has the wonderful design decision of a Killer Lance on the final enemy you have to fight. Clearly, Kaga wants us to cheese all the bosses with 2-range attacks, specifically with Marich or Linda.

The goals of the map are threefold: Recruit Alan (as requested by Shaky), turn around and recruit Chainy, continue to seize the gate. So, Marth initially goes west, and ping finally remembers that he grabbed some boots two maps prior.

There seems to be some confusion about their effect - Marth only goes from 7 Move to 11, despite the item description. Not sure if it's an error in the translation patch or if FE3 is just confused to begin with.

Other than that, people position themselves to deal with the Wyverns: Kashim in range of one Jav Wyvern, Banutu in range of both, but not the third one (because he doesn't have the Move), everybody lurks just outside of any range. The ability to check enemy ranges really would've made this a lot more convenient, but hey, I should be thankful for the QoL that Kaga did provide compared to NESFE.

__

Unfortunately, Banutu has some bad luck, both with the Wyvern and then with the Thunder Sword Hero, who basically wins the 1v1 thanks to this dodge and two crits against Banutu. Not to the point of a dead dragon, but Banutu has to pull back a bit.

Still, this isn't too much of a problem; just slows things down a bit. The two healty Wyverns still go down in a single turn, and you can just choose when to open the door to Chainy's cell.

And of course I absolutely must mention that Biraku, in his 11th attempt, managed to get a good level-up. Atta boy.

Oh, correction: Banutu didn't win the 1v2. Frigging enemy healers...

Conveniently, the Thief going after the villages is just two spaces next to Alan's village the turn that Marth arrives, and FE3 does have some Canter-esque mechanics for some actions. Marth says crit and thank you.

: "I am Alan. I used to work as the captain of a knights group. However, for certain reasons, I now reside here. I am very happy to be able to serve you. But this village and its neighbouring village haven't got on well for a long time. Once they know that your highness has visited this village, they will close their village's gate. You should give up thinking of trying to recruit Samson."

Good for Alan not to immediately reveal his medical record to a, well not exactly random, but still a stranger. Anyway, while I don't mind the gameplay aspect of choosing between two characters, the reasoning *is* kinda funny. "Our liege has returned after two years in order to save us, but because he talked to *those* guys first... fuck 'im."

(as a note, Samson's recruitment speech is the same almost verbatim, except that he used to be a famous gladiator instead of a knight captain)

[HP 50% | Str 50% | Skl 30% | Spd 40% | Lck 40% | WLv 50% | Def 10%]

I might have misspoken; those aren't the cancerous growths from Book 2 / New Mystery. In fact, his growths are hardly worse than those of Kain and Abel - same combined Str+Spd, although Alan is a bit weaker in the other areas.

Of course, his base stats are worse than what Kain and Abel would be expected to have at this point, or what Hardin actually has despite Biraku Gaming reducing his share of the XP. So the quick verdict should still be "decent filler" - nothing spectacular, but at least not as spectacularly underwhelming as Midia.

A bit later, I finally realise that Chainy is apparently kept in an outdoor cell. Horses and flyers can just go through while mounted, which means that I didn't need to dismount Hardin and Biraku, nor swap some of Navarre's swords into their inventory. Oh well.

Pictured: Some stupidity ("whoops, that is just a Plains tile, not part of the river"), but luckily, Minerva survives it without incident. She flew over to the boss island to kill the second General ahead of time, which also lured the horsies (minus the three starting further south) back.

On the plus side, Kashim can just deal with the Horsemen this way, which makes the entire group a lot less scary.

A bit annoyingly, the Physic Bishop stayed alive during all of this, since Minerva and Sheeda only now have free reign to go after him. Anyway, Marth with his new boots is getting back to the main group quite quickly:

: "Oh, Aritia's prince. Thanks to you I was able to escape. I am Chainy. I came here from a faraway country. I have the ability to transform into any person. After discovering my ability, the Durhua Empire tried to force me to join them. But I didn't want to do their evil deeds. Since you helped me, I will come and help you. Please watch over me."

Chainy has his own bases and growths, of course, but what do they matter when he can just transform into physical perfection? Although he can't quite reach Biraku's qualities, since he can not use the Dismount command.

__

Meanwhile, Mishelan does some point choking in the north. Wendel and Alan are around too, just for the two physical dudes to grab some XP. They end up farming a few of the reinforcements, too.

: "Aritia's fallen soldiers still live? But as long as I'm here, I won't let you enter this castle!"

__

The boss goes down to slow chipping from Navarre (with a Thunder Sword) and Linda, the latter of whom gets the final blow.

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

And before seizing: Hero Navarre! Er, Navarre Hero! He reached Lv.12 from chipping the boss, and while that's kinda early for a promotion, his stats very much suggest promoting him now, considering the stat cap of 20.

In the end, a 13-turns clear, which means two rounds of reinforcements. Interestingly, what comes out of the forts seems to be random - if I read FEWoD correctly, the four forts in the NW as well as the two near the boss all have specific classes attached to them, but they all have a random chance (between 20% and 50%, depending on the individual fort) of not spawning. Anyway - I blocked the forts by the gate, as some characters were already pretty bruised, and got some XP from the remaining reinforcements. Not quite enough for a level on Mishelan, unfortunately.

: "Soldiers of Aritia, and the warriors that have fought alongside us, I am truly grateful to you all. Thanks to your efforts, we have finally reclaimed our homeland of Aritia from the hands of Durhua. But, there are probably many enemies waiting for us inside the castle. Everybody, don't be careless!"

The Team:

	Lv. 	   HP Str Skl Spd Lck WLv Def Res  +XP
Marth	12.30	   28  13   9  14  12  14   8   0  +40
Alan	2.58	   24   9   8  11   5  11  10   6  +158
Hardin	14.73	   28  11  12  11   6  15   8   0  +117
Biraku	12.18	   26   8   5   8   2  12   8   0  +122

Minerva	6.28	   23  11   9  15   8  14  13   0  +85
Sheeda	11.05	   21   6  14  20* 18  15   9   6  +89
Misheln	3.92	   20   8   5   3   4   5  12   0  +92	(base)
Navarre	12/1.09	   27  13  14  18  13  13   8   3  +65*

Kashim	13.36	   30  13   5  12   4   8   8   1  +135
Julian	4.08	   17   5   7  12   8   2   4   0  --
Banutu	5.35	   25   2   3   4   1   2   3   1  +20	(+7 HP)
Wendel	6.40	   25   3   2  13   2  12   5   6  +34

Linda	7.20	   21   4   8  11  10  12   3   4  +145
Rena	13.94	   19   1  15   8  17   9   4   6  +70
Chainy	1.10	   18   2   2   8   9   2   4  10  +10	(base)

 

 

Answers!

Spoiler

  

On 11/22/2023 at 11:38 AM, Emperor Hardin said:

That is a Mystery of the Emblem enemy addition along with an extra sniper, looks like Jiol upped his security.

Presumably to guard the extra door. Maybe Sheema figured that bricking up the door is cheaper than hiring extra muscle. Then again, she did hire Samson...

On 11/22/2023 at 11:38 AM, Emperor Hardin said:

Most bosses weren't smart enough to carry Javelins, which are admittedly less potent than they were in FE1.

Just in general, it took FE a long-ass time until they figured out how to make bosses threatening. Even pricks like Henning in BinBla are more annoying than dangerous, since you can always just abuse their immobility in some way.

On 11/22/2023 at 11:38 AM, Emperor Hardin said:

He definitely moved if you got in range in the NES version and he had much higher speed, even if Imhullu weighed him down a ton.

On 11/22/2023 at 12:13 PM, Saint Rubenio said:

Pretty sure he always moves and always leaves.

On 11/20/2023 at 8:39 PM, Interdimensional Observer said:

Gharnef always move in Shadow Dragon, quite some distance over a few turns actually. I forget when he leaves there, but I do recall stalling him for a while with a promoted Lena.

As Emperor Hardin says, Garnef stays put in FE1 as long as you stay out of his range. And I remember doing similar things as the Observer in Shadow Dragon Maybe Lena with a Barrier boost instead of promotion, but same difference.

On 11/22/2023 at 12:13 PM, Saint Rubenio said:

I like how they have the exact same design, pretty much.

Lucia's visit to the barber: Kaga did it first

On 11/22/2023 at 12:13 PM, Saint Rubenio said:

There is it, the best translation.

I've always wondered why he looks like he's trying to hold in a massive shit in this game. In the original his eyes are wide open - in fact, he looks permanently terrified in that game. He's one of the units that really benefitted from the jump to DSFE, he looks so much more dignified there than in either of his other appearances.

Look, he's old, it's probably difficult for him to not go to the restroom for more than 20 minutes.

You worried me for a second there, I thought I somehow managed to type "Cat" instead of "Gotoh". And I wouldn't even have had autocorrect to blame.

 

[Saint Rubenio]

44 minutes ago, ping said:

: "I am Alan. I used to work as the captain of a knights group. However, for certain reasons, I now reside here. I am very happy to be able to serve you. But this village and its neighbouring village haven't got on well for a long time. Once they know that your highness has visited this village, they will close their village's gate. You should give up thinking of trying to recruit Samson."

Good for Alan not to immediately reveal his medical record to a, well not exactly random, but still a stranger. Anyway, while I don't mind the gameplay aspect of choosing between two characters, the reasoning *is* kinda funny. "Our liege has returned after two years in order to save us, but because he talked to *those* guys first... fuck 'im."

There he is. Best Character. He's another of the very few characters whose portraits I like better here than in other versions. In FE1 his face was all wrong and bloated, and in DSFE... well he looks fine there, but I like the pose here.

45 minutes ago, ping said:

[HP 50% | Str 50% | Skl 30% | Spd 40% | Lck 40% | WLv 50% | Def 10%]

I might have misspoken; those aren't the cancerous growths from Book 2 / New Mystery. In fact, his growths are hardly worse than those of Kain and Abel - same combined Str+Spd, although Alan is a bit weaker in the other areas.

Of course, his base stats are worse than what Kain and Abel would be expected to have at this point, or what Hardin actually has despite Biraku Gaming reducing his share of the XP. So the quick verdict should still be "decent filler" - nothing spectacular, but at least not as spectacularly underwhelming as Midia.

He was done so dirty in Shadow Dragon. On top of his bases still being horrid garbage despite the increased enemy stats, he got upped to level 10 for some undiscernible reason. Pwagh.

45 minutes ago, ping said:

I also like this guy's portrait best here. It has a lot of personality. That's really my main qualm with DSFE. I like the art itself better, generally, but everyone's got the same serious expression. In most cases it doesn't matter because FE3 portraits look like...

Well, this, but there are cases where they lucked out and got the good portraits.

48 minutes ago, ping said:

Lucia's visit to the barber: Kaga did it first

How does he do it every time?

49 minutes ago, ping said:

Look, he's old, it's probably difficult for him to not go to the restroom for more than 20 minutes.

He's a dragon though. Dragons are never old and they're never underaged. They're just dragon-aged. Have you never watched an anime before?

49 minutes ago, ping said:

You worried me for a second there, I thought I somehow managed to type "Cat" instead of "Gotoh". And I wouldn't even have had autocorrect to blame.

I mean, you did type Cat. In Spanish.

[RPGuy96]

1 hour ago, ping said:

Just in general, it took FE a long-ass time until they figured out how to make bosses threatening. Even pricks like Henning in BinBla are more annoying than dangerous, since you can always just abuse their immobility in some way.

It doesn't help that there aren't any multi-weapon classes in Old Mystery, so Killer Lance guy in this chapter could only be backed up by a crappy Javelin.  I think Kaga figured out how to make some bosses annoying in Genealogy (Pavise, and auto-weapon switching Adaptability (#KagaDidItFirst)) and Thracia (overstat Gomez in 8x, leadership stars).  And then, yeah, you get Binding Blade's throne bonuses, but that's about it until, uh, early Shadow Dragon?

Although Kaga starts doing bosses better in Tear Ring and especially Berwick, at least as far as I've played.

29 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I also like this guy's portrait best here. It has a lot of personality. That's really my main qualm with DSFE. I like the art itself better, generally, but everyone's got the same serious expression. In most cases it doesn't matter because FE3 portraits look like...

I like the goofy FE1 portraits much more than the super serious Shadow Dragon and New Mystery portraits.  But, yeah, Old Mystery lost the charm of FE1 without actually looking good which is a difficult place to be in.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, ping said:

FE3 Book 1 Chapter 13: Battle of Aritia

  Hide contents

After being tragically defeated by Garnef's dark magic, Maph, Prince Marth finally marches his army south, in order to fulfil his hope of reclaiming his homeland of Aritia. The Kingdom of Aritia is a beautiful country, surrounded by rich water and greenery. But, after being occupied by Durhua, the country has fallen into ruin, and its citizens live in eternal suffering. Right now, they can finally welcome the days of freedom.

: "Marth, so this is your homeland, Aritia?"
: "Yes. It has already been 2 years since it was occupied by the Durhua Empire. That day... I managed to escape to Talis, thanks to my sister, Ellis's help. But she was captured by the Durhua Empire in my place. Right now, where on earth could she be? ...I must rescue her from their hands. Okay, everybody move out! For the freedom and peace of our homeland, Aritia!!"

Since it came up earlier: Marth assumes that Ellis is still only captured, not killed. I'll claim that as an argument that he should've empathised with Minerva instead of comparing her to his sister.

 

This map actually changed a fair bit, but not really in a way that changes how it plays out. The shape of the islands has been un-squared and the map as a whole is a bit stretched vertically, but the main features are more or less the same. Even the area in the top center, which used to be two separate islands, still has the same chokepoints as it did in FE1 - they're just no longer all in the shape of bridges.

Enemy placement is a bit different, too, most notably with three Cavs separated from the Genealogy block of enemies below the boss. Enemies overall downgraded their weapons - two of the Wyverns used to carry effective weapons, which has been replaced by simple Javelins.

The boss still has the wonderful design decision of a Killer Lance on the final enemy you have to fight. Clearly, Kaga wants us to cheese all the bosses with 2-range attacks, specifically with Marich or Linda.

The goals of the map are threefold: Recruit Alan (as requested by Shaky), turn around and recruit Chainy, continue to seize the gate. So, Marth initially goes west, and ping finally remembers that he grabbed some boots two maps prior.

There seems to be some confusion about their effect - Marth only goes from 7 Move to 11, despite the item description. Not sure if it's an error in the translation patch or if FE3 is just confused to begin with.

Other than that, people position themselves to deal with the Wyverns: Kashim in range of one Jav Wyvern, Banutu in range of both, but not the third one (because he doesn't have the Move), everybody lurks just outside of any range. The ability to check enemy ranges really would've made this a lot more convenient, but hey, I should be thankful for the QoL that Kaga did provide compared to NESFE.

__

Unfortunately, Banutu has some bad luck, both with the Wyvern and then with the Thunder Sword Hero, who basically wins the 1v1 thanks to this dodge and two crits against Banutu. Not to the point of a dead dragon, but Banutu has to pull back a bit.

Still, this isn't too much of a problem; just slows things down a bit. The two healty Wyverns still go down in a single turn, and you can just choose when to open the door to Chainy's cell.

And of course I absolutely must mention that Biraku, in his 11th attempt, managed to get a good level-up. Atta boy.

Oh, correction: Banutu didn't win the 1v2. Frigging enemy healers...

Conveniently, the Thief going after the villages is just two spaces next to Alan's village the turn that Marth arrives, and FE3 does have some Canter-esque mechanics for some actions. Marth says crit and thank you.

: "I am Alan. I used to work as the captain of a knights group. However, for certain reasons, I now reside here. I am very happy to be able to serve you. But this village and its neighbouring village haven't got on well for a long time. Once they know that your highness has visited this village, they will close their village's gate. You should give up thinking of trying to recruit Samson."

Good for Alan not to immediately reveal his medical record to a, well not exactly random, but still a stranger. Anyway, while I don't mind the gameplay aspect of choosing between two characters, the reasoning *is* kinda funny. "Our liege has returned after two years in order to save us, but because he talked to *those* guys first... fuck 'im."

(as a note, Samson's recruitment speech is the same almost verbatim, except that he used to be a famous gladiator instead of a knight captain)

[HP 50% | Str 50% | Skl 30% | Spd 40% | Lck 40% | WLv 50% | Def 10%]

I might have misspoken; those aren't the cancerous growths from Book 2 / New Mystery. In fact, his growths are hardly worse than those of Kain and Abel - same combined Str+Spd, although Alan is a bit weaker in the other areas.

Of course, his base stats are worse than what Kain and Abel would be expected to have at this point, or what Hardin actually has despite Biraku Gaming reducing his share of the XP. So the quick verdict should still be "decent filler" - nothing spectacular, but at least not as spectacularly underwhelming as Midia.

A bit later, I finally realise that Chainy is apparently kept in an outdoor cell. Horses and flyers can just go through while mounted, which means that I didn't need to dismount Hardin and Biraku, nor swap some of Navarre's swords into their inventory. Oh well.

Pictured: Some stupidity ("whoops, that is just a Plains tile, not part of the river"), but luckily, Minerva survives it without incident. She flew over to the boss island to kill the second General ahead of time, which also lured the horsies (minus the three starting further south) back.

On the plus side, Kashim can just deal with the Horsemen this way, which makes the entire group a lot less scary.

A bit annoyingly, the Physic Bishop stayed alive during all of this, since Minerva and Sheeda only now have free reign to go after him. Anyway, Marth with his new boots is getting back to the main group quite quickly:

: "Oh, Aritia's prince. Thanks to you I was able to escape. I am Chainy. I came here from a faraway country. I have the ability to transform into any person. After discovering my ability, the Durhua Empire tried to force me to join them. But I didn't want to do their evil deeds. Since you helped me, I will come and help you. Please watch over me."

Chainy has his own bases and growths, of course, but what do they matter when he can just transform into physical perfection? Although he can't quite reach Biraku's qualities, since he can not use the Dismount command.

__

Meanwhile, Mishelan does some point choking in the north. Wendel and Alan are around too, just for the two physical dudes to grab some XP. They end up farming a few of the reinforcements, too.

: "Aritia's fallen soldiers still live? But as long as I'm here, I won't let you enter this castle!"

__

The boss goes down to slow chipping from Navarre (with a Thunder Sword) and Linda, the latter of whom gets the final blow.

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

And before seizing: Hero Navarre! Er, Navarre Hero! He reached Lv.12 from chipping the boss, and while that's kinda early for a promotion, his stats very much suggest promoting him now, considering the stat cap of 20.

In the end, a 13-turns clear, which means two rounds of reinforcements. Interestingly, what comes out of the forts seems to be random - if I read FEWoD correctly, the four forts in the NW as well as the two near the boss all have specific classes attached to them, but they all have a random chance (between 20% and 50%, depending on the individual fort) of not spawning. Anyway - I blocked the forts by the gate, as some characters were already pretty bruised, and got some XP from the remaining reinforcements. Not quite enough for a level on Mishelan, unfortunately.

: "Soldiers of Aritia, and the warriors that have fought alongside us, I am truly grateful to you all. Thanks to your efforts, we have finally reclaimed our homeland of Aritia from the hands of Durhua. But, there are probably many enemies waiting for us inside the castle. Everybody, don't be careless!"

The Team:

	Lv. 	   HP Str Skl Spd Lck WLv Def Res  +XP
Marth	12.30	   28  13   9  14  12  14   8   0  +40
Alan	2.58	   24   9   8  11   5  11  10   6  +158
Hardin	14.73	   28  11  12  11   6  15   8   0  +117
Biraku	12.18	   26   8   5   8   2  12   8   0  +122

Minerva	6.28	   23  11   9  15   8  14  13   0  +85
Sheeda	11.05	   21   6  14  20* 18  15   9   6  +89
Misheln	3.92	   20   8   5   3   4   5  12   0  +92	(base)
Navarre	12/1.09	   27  13  14  18  13  13   8   3  +65*

Kashim	13.36	   30  13   5  12   4   8   8   1  +135
Julian	4.08	   17   5   7  12   8   2   4   0  --
Banutu	5.35	   25   2   3   4   1   2   3   1  +20	(+7 HP)
Wendel	6.40	   25   3   2  13   2  12   5   6  +34

Linda	7.20	   21   4   8  11  10  12   3   4  +145
Rena	13.94	   19   1  15   8  17   9   4   6  +70
Chainy	1.10	   18   2   2   8   9   2   4  10  +10	(base)

 

 

Answers!

  Hide contents

  

Presumably to guard the extra door. Maybe Sheema figured that bricking up the door is cheaper than hiring extra muscle. Then again, she did hire Samson...

Just in general, it took FE a long-ass time until they figured out how to make bosses threatening. Even pricks like Henning in BinBla are more annoying than dangerous, since you can always just abuse their immobility in some way.

As Emperor Hardin says, Garnef stays put in FE1 as long as you stay out of his range. And I remember doing similar things as the Observer in Shadow Dragon Maybe Lena with a Barrier boost instead of promotion, but same difference.

Lucia's visit to the barber: Kaga did it first

Look, he's old, it's probably difficult for him to not go to the restroom for more than 20 minutes.

You worried me for a second there, I thought I somehow managed to type "Cat" instead of "Gotoh". And I wouldn't even have had autocorrect to blame.

 

Personally I think Engage is the first time the series has genuinely had challenging bosses that weren't just obnoxious.

[Saint Rubenio]

2 hours ago, ping said:

Just in general, it took FE a long-ass time until they figured out how to make bosses threatening. Even pricks like Henning in BinBla are more annoying than dangerous, since you can always just abuse their immobility in some way.

57 minutes ago, RPGuy96 said:

It doesn't help that there aren't any multi-weapon classes in Old Mystery, so Killer Lance guy in this chapter could only be backed up by a crappy Javelin.  I think Kaga figured out how to make some bosses annoying in Genealogy (Pavise, and auto-weapon switching Adaptability (#KagaDidItFirst)) and Thracia (overstat Gomez in 8x, leadership stars).  And then, yeah, you get Binding Blade's throne bonuses, but that's about it until, uh, early Shadow Dragon?

Although Kaga starts doing bosses better in Tear Ring and especially Berwick, at least as far as I've played.

Bosses in these games tend to suffer because it's fundamentally difficult to make them a compelling challenge. In a game like this, the challenge comes from solving the "puzzle", so to speak, presented by the enemy formation and the circumstances surrounding them. A lot of strategy games don't even have bosses on most scenarios, and when there are they tend to just be "stronger mook that's at the end of the map." At most, they're just the objective - kill this one slightly special dude to end the map. But the challenge is still primarily getting to them, not fighting them. It's just a quirk of the genre.

Of course, when a SRPG does bosses well (Jotari brought up Engage and I must agree), it's a grand ol' time, but I'm fine with them just being a slightly stronger enemy put at the end of the map for flavor more than anything. It's more satisfying to cap a chapter off on killing a character with a face and getting an extra experience boost from it. Little pleasures of life, and all that.

55 minutes ago, RPGuy96 said:

I like the goofy FE1 portraits much more than the super serious Shadow Dragon and New Mystery portraits.  But, yeah, Old Mystery lost the charm of FE1 without actually looking good which is a difficult place to be in.

While I'm that rare kind of dude that actually likes DSFE's portraits, yeah, I have to agree with your second point. FE3's stuck in a really awkward position where FE1 was charmingly bad and DSFE is Just Competent, while Mystery is just sort of... ugly lol.

Not as ugly as FE4 though, in my humble opinion. Alas, if only they'd kept the BSFE artist for the rest of the SNES trilogy... Thracia looks fine but BSFE was just awesome.

[BrightBow]

2 hours ago, ping said:

Lucia's visit to the barber: Kaga did it first

Radiant Dawn did take quite a lot from Berwick Saga.

[ping]

FE3 Book 1 Chapter 14: Starlord Marth

Spoiler

After defeating Holstat's knights, the allied army swiftly conquered the whole of Aritia. All that remains is Aritia castle, guarded by the Demon Dragon, Moses's men. Moses substituted General Camus as the commander of the occupation army, and was a ruthless man guilty of killing numerous people. That dreaded Moses once again appeared before Marth.

♪♪ Go dooooown, Moseees... ♪♪

: "Hahaha... Marth, so you've returned to die. I am Emperor Mediuth's right hand man, Moses of the Basilisk. A pity though that you've returned so late. Your mother, Leeza, already died by my hands. And you sister, Princess Ellis, is now in Garnef's possession. Hahaha... Regret, for you cannot defeat me."

Moses then splits the Red S... I mean transforms before the map even starts. Good on him for not letting any Warp cheese get to him.

The castle has been ripped from the hill it had been built on and now floats in a monochrome blue void. I guess the tile set is arguably a bit easier to read than the smaller bricks in the FE1 version, with more visual clarity of the tile grid, but... it still looks just plain worse.

Once again, some changes in details have been made. A small one is that the path towards the treasure room doesn't have a one-tile chokepoint anymore, making it ever so slightly more difficult to, well, choke. As usual with maps with thieves and chests, the thieves have been moved closer to the treasure, although "closer" in this case means "literally on top of". However, it's also easier to intercept them on their way out than it was to intercept the FE1 thieves on their way in, because FE3 also removed a Manakete and a Mage from the group in the top left.

Important as well is that the Bishop next to Moses (which rather reads like an anachronism) carries a Worm tome - he always did, but now that has 3-10 range. However, compared to, say,  Bolting Sages in GBAFE, he hits a lot less hard.

First things first, 8% is admittedly starting to stretch the term "low% crit".

Still, I just reroll the same general idea - Kashim two-shots the Sniper when using Silver himself, so this is an excellent way to get him out of the way quickly. 90% of the time, anyway.

Because of the reset, Mishelan gains a HP/Spd level instead of HP/Def. We'll see if he can double something with a Slim Lance (and do more than 2x1 damage) at some point.

__

Speaking of two-shotting... Well, two-rounding: Sheeda is able to set up Linda to kill the Sniper to the left on turn 2, as well.

I'm being a bit liberal with her Aura charges, but I kinda hope that Hammerne comes in a more potent form in this game and is able to solve that problem.

__

To the right, Marth is able to reach the Worm Bishop on turn 2, which basically secures that part of the map. He'll have to eat an attack from Moses, but he can easily tank that.

: "Haha... Stupid humans. I'll show you to fear us Demon Dragons!"

On the left side, there's a bit more pressure, but Sheeda manages to tank an Elfire (after the Sniper damage) even without the +6 Res from her steed.

__

And then the boss is dead. Biraku's power cannot be contained.

...Well, it can be somewhat contained.

I only now realise that I didn't make a screenshot of Moses's stats, which honestly tells you how much of an impression they made. As a Demon Dragon, he has 20 Res, which I assume replaces the complete immunity to magic he had in FE1. But he still has 0 AS, which makes him an easy target for any Wyrmslayer wielder. Biraku isn't exactly the most reliable of the bunch, but he would've been able to survive another round of combat with a Physic from Wendel or Rena.

: "YOU... DID WELL... BUT YOU CAN'T WIN... AGAINST LORD MEDIUTH..."

(not my caps lock)
(and I thought it's Garnef you can't win against)

__

Afterwards, the clean-up to the left turns out not to be all that difficult, after all. Without Banutu's crit, somebody else could've easily gotten the Hero kill, but at least he gains enough XP to get another empty level during this map.

Unlike in FE1, reinforcements aren't infinite this time. FEWoD says "for 10 turns or until they all come out" and I'm not entirely sure what that means. The reinforcements each have a small chance to not appear, but I got all three on turn 1, two on turn 2, and then no more after that. Dunno how that matches with the FEWoD description.

Anyway, once the reinforcements are gone, the way to the Secret Shop is clear. This part of the map is actually a lot less annoying than it was in FE1: First of all, the Bishop with the Member Card doesn't seem to move away from the wall, so George and Kashim were able to kill him (and his pal who drops a Fortify) through the wall. Much less walking back and forth as a result.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take the Silver Card from Katua, so Mishelan has to pay full price. I still buy 10k worth of stuff, including a Rapier - money was so not an issue in FE1 that I feel somewhat comfortable wasting funds like this.

: "Congratulations, Prince Marth. Aritia has finally been liberated. Please listen. The citizens are all praising your highness. Eternal glory to Aritia's Prince of Light, Starlord Marth..."

On 9/14/2023 at 10:31 PM, Punished Dayni said:

Well, that's that. Next time, we will have beaten the Black Knights offscreen.

The Team:

	Lv. 	   HP Str Skl Spd Lck WLv Def Res  +XP
Marth	12.70	   28  13   9  14  12  14   8   0  +40
Hardin	15.57	   28  12  12  12   6  16   8   0  +84
Biraku	13.00	   27   8   5   8   2  13   8   0  +82
Sheeda	11.57	   21   6  14  20* 18  15   9   6  +52

Minerva	7.09	   23  11  10  15   9  15  13   0  +81
Navarre	12/2.83	   28  13  15  19  14  13   9   3  +174
Misheln	4.76	   21   8   5   4   4   5  12   0  +84
Banutu	6.40	   25   2   3   4   1   2   3   1  +105	(+7 HP)

George	1.70	   24   7  10  12   4  10   8   3  +20	(base)
Kashim	15.35	   31  15   5  13   5   9   8   1  +199
Julian	4.08	   17   5   7  12   8   2   4   0  --

Wendel	6.82	   25   3   2  13   2  12   5   6  +42
Linda	8.37	   22   4   9  12  11  12   3   4  +117
Rena	14.36	   19   1  15   8  18  10   4   6  +42

 

Answers!

Spoiler

  

On 11/25/2023 at 2:29 PM, Saint Rubenio said:

He was done so dirty in Shadow Dragon. On top of his bases still being horrid garbage despite the increased enemy stats, he got upped to level 10 for some undiscernible reason. Pwagh.

At least joining in ch.1 of New Mystery means that he has a role there, unlike like 95% of the cast that joins later than, say, Kain.

On 11/25/2023 at 2:29 PM, Saint Rubenio said:

He's a dragon though. Dragons are never old and they're never underaged. They're just dragon-aged. Have you never watched an anime before?

And here I thought we agreed that all Anime is bad, and then you come around the corner with "HaVe YoU nEvEr WaTcHeD aN AnImE bEfOrE?"

On 11/25/2023 at 3:18 PM, Jotari said:

Personally I think Engage is the first time the series has genuinely had challenging bosses that weren't just obnoxious.

I liked Ashera, tbh.

Generally speaking (as a response to everybody chiming in on this), I think it's already worth a lot if boss simply isn't stuck on the throne. Makes them more threatening because you can't just chip them down over an indefinite amount of time, but also less obnoxious because of no +30 Avoid. Doesn't have to be anything fancy like Ashera on every map. Most things Fire Emblem become better if there's at least a bit of time pressure on the player to do the thing.

On 11/25/2023 at 4:25 PM, BrightBow said:

Radiant Dawn did take quite a lot from Berwick Saga.

I'll have to take your word for it for now

 

 

[Saint Rubenio]

8 minutes ago, ping said:

At least joining in ch.1 of New Mystery means that he has a role there, unlike like 95% of the cast that joins later than, say, Kain.

New Mystery made him the best character in the series, period.

Cain... was not quite as fortunate.

9 minutes ago, ping said:

And here I thought we agreed that all Anime is bad, and then you come around the corner with "HaVe YoU nEvEr WaTcHeD aN AnImE bEfOrE?"

Sarcasm dammit, sarcasm.

9 minutes ago, ping said:

I liked Ashera, tbh.

I didn't because "hurr let's make Ike be the only one who can kill, why? No fucking reason, we love Ike!"

10 minutes ago, ping said:

: "Hahaha... Marth, so you've returned to die. I am Emperor Mediuth's right hand man, Moses of the Basilisk. A pity though that you've returned so late. Your mother, Leeza, already died by my hands. And you sister, Princess Ellis, is now in Garnef's possession. Hahaha... Regret, for you cannot defeat me."

There he is again. Important man who murdered Marth's mom. Now 2% less generic.

11 minutes ago, ping said:

This is a cool detail, I'll say. The dragon boss transformations and all. Medeus got to keep it in SD but I wish the rest did too.

12 minutes ago, ping said:

: "YOU... DID WELL... BUT YOU CAN'T WIN... AGAINST LORD MEDIUTH..."

(not my caps lock)
(and I thought it's Garnef you can't win against)

You can't win against multiple people. Why shouldn't you?

[ping]

21 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I didn't because "hurr let's make Ike be the only one who can kill, why? No fucking reason, we love Ike!"

Because they already had that sweet cutscene rendered is my hypothesis. But yeah, obligatory Ike is the worst part of her.

26 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

You can't win against multiple people. Why shouldn't you?

But if you can't win against Garnef, you wouldn't even get the opportunity to not win against Mediuth. #logic

[Jotari]

All this effort going in to getting Starlight. We know how Imhullu works, it uses magic to stop people having the ability to attack Gharnef. That does not make him invincible. He still has a pretty major weakness. Spiked pitfall traps! Team Rocket and the Viet Cong could take Gharnef out no problem!

Altea's capital is actually called Anri in one line in Book 2 and then never again. I have mixed feelings about the DS games keeping the moat and ditching the mountains. It makes sense for the SNES since they didn't want to mix indoor and outdoor tiles.

Edited November 28, 2023 by Jotari

[Saint Rubenio]

2 minutes ago, Jotari said:

All this effort going in to getting Starlight. We know how Imhullu works, it uses magic to stop people having the ability to attack Gharnef. That does not make him invincible. He still has a pretty major weakness. Spiked pitfall traps! Team Rocket and the Viet Cong could take Gharnef out no problem!

Where's Setsuna when you need her?

[BrightBow]

7 hours ago, ping said:

Moses then splits the Red S... I mean transforms before the map even starts. Good on him for not letting any Warp cheese get to him.

That sprite has to have been intended for the unused Sea Dragon. I don't see why it's tail and body would go through the ground otherwise. It would make perfect sense if it was only able to move on water terrain.
...also the map sprite looks nothing like this snake thing. It's the same as a fire dragon, but grey. And there IS a grey version of the Fire Dragon sprite for combat animations too. It's used by Tiki's Book 1 Divine Dragon form.
Meanwhile the map sprite for the Sea Dragon is fittingly snakelike.

I would guess that when they decided to cut the sea dragon, they figured it would be a shame to waste such fancy sprites and that they might as well reuse them for the other dragon tribes. Then the palette swap that was meant to be used for the Demon Dragon was moved over to Tiki and her unique sprites became a Book 2 exclusive. Maybe as a reference to FE1, where the divine dragon was also just a grey palette swap.

[Jotari]

4 hours ago, BrightBow said:

That sprite has to have been intended for the unused Sea Dragon. I don't see why it's tail and body would go through the ground otherwise. It would make perfect sense if it was only able to move on water terrain.
...also the map sprite looks nothing like this snake thing. It's the same as a fire dragon, but grey. And there IS a grey version of the Fire Dragon sprite for combat animations too. It's used by Tiki's Book 1 Divine Dragon form.
Meanwhile the map sprite for the Sea Dragon is fittingly snakelike.

I would guess that when they decided to cut the sea dragon, they figured it would be a shame to waste such fancy sprites and that they might as well reuse them for the other dragon tribes. Then the palette swap that was meant to be used for the Demon Dragon was moved over to Tiki and her unique sprites became a Book 2 exclusive. Maybe as a reference to FE1, where the divine dragon was also just a grey palette swap.

It is really weird that they decided to overhaul Tiki's divine dragon sprite between books. Your guess that it's a FE1 reference feels like grasping, as all the manakete dragon forms are palette swaps in FE1. It does beg explanation though. One idea is that it's to show the development of Tiki's power, as if the three years she spent asleep between the games would make a significant difference to someone as long lived as her, and if you wanted to show that a promotion would be much more logical. But no, we get the same name, but with a different sprite and different weapons because...*shrug*. It's lead to a lot of weirdness and confusion that probably would have been left alone if they'd just stuck to one. It feels like the yellow design is actually more iconic, but Shadow Dragon used the Silver Design and New Mystery had the good sense to maintain consistency with Shadow Dragon. I think the first time we saw the yellow design again, outside of trading cards, was in Warriors, where she uses the silver form in her base class and her gold form in her promoted class (all units promote in Warriors, so they had to use something). When Heroes came along they again maintained the silver design as Tiki's default look and then used the gold design for her later legendary incarnation (but it was so confusing, some people literally thought Tiki actually was meant to be a Fire Dragon in Heroes). So it seems like it has developed over time into Silver->Gold as some kind of power scaling, but I'd be surprised if that was ever their original intention with the whole thing.