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

[BrightBow]

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Lakhesis, to use the most-Greek transliteration into the Latin alphabet, was defending atop the castle? I think the knights act like bodyguard and will stay near her. Maybe taking her off the castle will fix things?

They will stay near her, but they will also charge blindly at any enemy in their attack range.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

3 hours ago, ping said:

And I have to admit that also can't think of a male name that could possibly be transcribed to "Eva" in Japanese. Maybe it's less jarring to English-speakers, but "Eva" is literally how Adam's rib is called in German bibles (and in other languages, too, of course).

Must be short for "Evan".

A shame these guys all just disappear after this chapter. It'd be neat to see them among Eldigan's Cross Knights in chapter 3. Maybe Lachesis could convince one of them to join your army? A spot just opened up, after all!

3 hours ago, ping said:

The map!

Crazy how everyone seems to live on a plateau in the forest, with no roads connecting them. You'd think there'd be at least a coastal fishing village or two.

3 hours ago, ping said:

Now, the reward...

: "The way you fought... You were brimming with spirit! Hm... I'd wager there's something you're here to fight for, right? All I've done is chase the money for all these years... But I look at you, and suddenly, it all feels so meaningless. Hey, I don't suppose you're recruiting? Maybe use my blade for something real and grander than me is just what I need.

...You know what? I ship it. Chulex for life!

(I say, as someone who may or may not have tried to pair Lex with Dew on my first playthrough).

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

This guy's probably the most forgettable character in Gen 1 for me. Between the common FE4 phenomenon of having two names that are completely different, being the lost sibling of Eldigan and Naoise design-wise, having no personality, a single cutscene to his name and being a thoroughly unremarkable unit in gameplay, dude just does not leave an impression.

What bugs me is, his design. Chulainn looks like "generic Augustrian mercenary", with his armor and blonde hair. Whuch is fine... except that he's not. He's an Isaachian noble. You know, Isaach? The country where everyone has black hair? Yet, there's no real hint to this, outside of him having minor Od blood. It doesn't even come up in his Brave Sword conversation with Ayra.

3 hours ago, ping said:

 

...and (b) it allows me to recruit Holyn, who (c) is a fair bit easier to beat than the generic replacement once Holyn is in the fold, which is especially nice for Lex and his abysmal hit rate against swordies

Wow, congrats on Lex winning this one! It was far from a given.

If I recall, on my latest playthrough (subs only), I had Sigurd beat Chulainn on the second-to-last castle, so he would spawn up there instead. Also, by getting him later, there was less chance of him romancing Ayra.

3 hours ago, ping said:

Raquesis's future husbando hasn't quite joined yet, but since I already talked about the pairing, I might as well mention it here. I was entertaining the idea of Azel/Raquesis for a while, but with my growing commitment to Magical Patty, I've returned to the super-standard Beowulf match, which the 1st Mate considers to be her best: Pursuit (and Accost), inheritable swords for the son, good physical stats. He doesn't help Nanna's staff utility, but that's what Mend/Recover are for.

For full disclosure, I actually haven't done this one before. I've done Lachesis x Alec, which makes basically the same kids, but requires a bit more effort. What can I say, I love my turban'd lad. That said, since Beowulf provides a conversation that boosts Lachesis' stats (and gives love points), safe to say that he's the best pick.

1 hour ago, BrightBow said:

Also noteable for the fact that even C-rank swordies can use it.

If I recall, most Swords are C-rank, even the weirdly specialized ones. Only the Steel Sword, Brave Sword, and effective swords (Armorslayer, Wingclipper) are B-rank, while the Silver Sword and the Blades are A-rank. Every other non-legendary sword can be used by your lowliest Thief or Dancer.

3 hours ago, ping said:

: "I can't thank you enough, Deirdre! I'll always treasure it!"

Not if Shanty Pete's 1st Mate has anything to say about that!

Avast ye, mateys! There be a fine blade for us to plunder!

Ahem! In Ethlyn's limited defense, the reasons for letting her keep the Light Brand are A) it's expensive, so it's hard for anyone else to obtain it; B) her relatively high Magic, and low Strength, means she's comparatively hard-hitting with it; and C) the Critical skill, alongside access to lover Crits via Quan, can boost her damage further. The main reason not to let her keep it, though, is... she's a Troubadour. 9 times out of 10, on player phase, she's going to be healing. It'll be rare that she gets a chance to see any combat. And on enemy phase, her frailty, plus the "only magical at range" aspect, makes for a losing proposition.

Again, my suggestion (once it becomes possible) is Dew, so that he can rob more suckers, from a safe distance. It also increases his damage output, if barely. But I've heard of players putting it onto the likes of Sigurd, Alec, or Beowulf. Characters who can make up for their non-existent Magic stat, with the mere ability to double. If you want to achieve a "50 kill Light Brand", or something goofy like that, this might be the way to go.

2 hours ago, BrightBow said:

The game does seem to lack confidence in implying that there is more to the battles then what is shown on the map. Like right at the start where Sigurd told his knights that he is heading out alone to fight Verdane. Which most certainly makes it sound as if he means that he is literally heading out there all on his own. Cuan also said it's just him, Ethlyn and Finn who came. Which considering Finn is a nobody, also suggests that it's really just those 3.

I broadly agree with the "one-to-one" interpretation here. It's worth keeping in mind that we're not in an "all-out war", like the sort that is going on in Isaach. Moreso a series of small-scale operations. ...That destabilize multiple countries.

In any case, the "fly everyone to Silesse" operation, at the end of chapter 3, wouldn't work for an entire army. And Sigurd never seems to mourn his lost troops. So either he's cold and heartless, or it really was just a couple dozen of them.

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

You know, I just realized this guy is literally just Darin from FE7. Or, rather, he's just Chagall again. Huh. FE7 is sometimes accused of ripping off TRS but it has some rather major parallels to FE4's Agustria arc as well.

I was just making the Darin connection, too! I can't believe those dastards at IS plagiarized IS.

3 hours ago, ping said:

And luckily, the enemies are both incompetent and stupid. Yved dodges a lethal attack from what I think was an Axe Knight, and every enemy after that, including Elliot, decides to attack Alva instead. Huh. Well, I'm not complaining

"That wasn't very clever mode of you, bro."

[BrightBow]

8 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

In any case, the "fly everyone to Silesse" operation, at the end of chapter 3, wouldn't work for an entire army. And Sigurd never seems to mourn his lost troops. So either he's cold and heartless, or it really was just a couple dozen of them.

Pegasus Knights do make up the majority of the Silesian military that we see.

In any case, Silesia and Augustria are also connected by water. And the last thing Sigurd's forces did was to subdue the local pirates. Taking their ships they most certainly have the means to transport a large amount of people even without Silesia going out of their way to send them any.
The important thing is ultimately only that Silesia is willing to grant them asylum.

[Jotari]

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

This guy's probably the most forgettable character in Gen 1 for me. Between the common FE4 phenomenon of having two names that are completely different, being the lost sibling of Eldigan and Naoise design-wise, having no personality, a single cutscene to his name and being a thoroughly unremarkable unit in gameplay, dude just does not leave an impression.

Holyn and Chulainn aren't actually that different. The 'lyn' and the 'lainn' are proununced the same.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

It's really rather amazing how little impact Manfroy has on this whole thing. I'm pretty sure Chagall would've done the foul deed he did without a dark cult pushing him into it. Manfroy's basically just involved here to... I guess avoid having the chapter feel disconnected from everything else? But I'd argue without Manfroy it'd still be an interesting glimpse into the sorry state of affairs in this world, which allows Manfroy to carry through his dastardly plans. You know, they call that subtlety.

Just some more inspiration for my slashfics, nothing bad at all.

If Manfroy wasn't here then the stiff with Deirdre next chapter would be way more random than it is already. And as it is, it's a bit contrived. The Lopt Sect needs to maintain some presence here, not necessarily being behind everything, but they need to exist on some level for the events to flow.

3 hours ago, BrightBow said:

The game does seem to lack confidence in implying that there is more to the battles then what is shown on the map. Like right at the start where Sigurd told his knights that he is heading out alone to fight Verdane. Which most certainly makes it sound as if he means that he is literally heading out there all on his own. Cuan also said it's just him, Ethlyn and Finn who came. Which considering Finn is a nobody, also suggests that it's really just those 3.

Most certainly very different from Berwick Saga, where Reese is always accompanied by dozens of knights whenever the Sinon Knights are shown to be on the move.

Granted, with how the last battle went, it does kinda feel like Nordion would need more of an handicap then just Eldigan being absent before Elliot would be a threat to them.

The fall of Leinster short story, I think maybe written by Kaga himself, has everyone in Leinster freaking out about Travant having a full thirty dragon knights at his command. It's kind of funny to see numbers so small thrown around when Jugdral otherwise has the most epic feel in the series with it's huge maps. And then there's Thracia 776 itself with it's infinite spawn reinforcements and multiple maps filled with enemies all taking part in a fraction of Holy War's area. If we take WYSIWYG, then it looks like Leif completely annihilated Bloom's forced before Seliph showed up, despite Leif's apparent failures.

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Must be short for "Evan".

A shame these guys all just disappear after this chapter. It'd be neat to see them among Eldigan's Cross Knights in chapter 3.

I love this idea so much and my life will be immeasurably lesser with the knowledge that it would be so easy to do yet will never happen.

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Maybe Lachesis could convince one of them to join your army? A spot just opened up, after all!

Is Eva going to stand right next to Sigurd in the castle? Someone to comfort our blue haired hero in his time of mourning. Someone with a name and design that might bring all kinds of confusing feelings to our recently widowed hero...I better stop before I go full on slash fic.

Edited February 27 by Jotari

[Saint Rubenio]

24 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Holyn and Chulainn aren't actually that different. The 'lyn' and the 'lainn' are proununced the same.

My problem is English is not my first language and I certainly don't know Irish. So I see these names and my brain goes "Ho-leen" and "Choo-layn" and then I can't even associate them.

25 minutes ago, Jotari said:

If Manfroy wasn't here then the stiff with Deirdre next chapter would be way more random than it is already. And as it is, it's a bit contrived. The Lopt Sect needs to maintain some presence here, not necessarily being behind everything, but they need to exist on some level for the events to flow.

Fair. The Deirdre thing certainly doesn't have the room to afford to feel more arbitrary.

[ping]

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Well, that could've gone better. I sure hope our dashing blonde rogue learns from this experience that Chagall cannot be reasoned with and doesn't make this same mistake again.

Eldigan is obviously playable, handsome fella that he is. And there's no way Fire Emblem has the balls to kill of a playable character. Never happened, never will.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

You know, I just realized this guy is literally just Darin from FE7. Or, rather, he's just Chagall again. Huh. FE7 is sometimes accused of ripping off TRS but it has some rather major parallels to FE4's Agustria arc as well.

I would say Darin and Eric are a bit of a conglomeration of Chagall, Bordeaux, and Elliot. I'm trying to remember who the sex pest was in Elibe, but I think they both were, kinda? Darin perving on Priscilla, and Eric offering Clarine to Narcian in BlaBla.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

What a twist. I can't believe Chagall was... Uhh, whatshisface's son all along! Oh wait I get it, Imca was gay and this guy's Chagall's second dad

Ugh, dangit. Luckily, posts have been editable consistently for a few days now. Maybe the recent update did something. Nobody even noticed that I wrote FE4 Ch.4 in the title of the Ch.1 updates. All of them, because of Ctrl C+V

I honestly didn't even notice that the Raquesis's bodyguards have "unique" portraits. And I don't think I'll bother updating another one. Yves forgot to do his laundry today and borrowed a cape from one of his brothers.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Just some more inspiration for my slashfics, nothing bad at all.

I see your next bossman hack is going to become a lot more spicy.

(Although your first one could be all spice, for all I know. Something is distracting me from starting another playthough, so I haven't checked it yet.)

3 hours ago, BrightBow said:

It's also the abrupt writing style. Like, Eldigan doesn't even greet his king. He just bursts in and delivers a grand speech about the toll of war.
Then Chagall just instantly orders his imprisonment.
Very different from how a similar scene was handled in Thracia.

You're right, the scene has certain Tommy Wiseau vibes in its flow.

3 hours ago, BrightBow said:

The game does seem to lack confidence in implying that there is more to the battles then what is shown on the map. Like right at the start where Sigurd told his knights that he is heading out alone to fight Verdane. Which most certainly makes it sound as if he means that he is literally heading out there all on his own. Cuan also said it's just him, Ethlyn and Finn who came. Which considering Finn is a nobody, also suggests that it's really just those 3.

Genealogy definitely has the usual Fire Emblem problem with scale, where it's always a bit ambiguous if we have small skirmishes or big epic battles. The maps explicitly showing whole countries, and the maps together adding up to all of Jugdral, might make it even worse than your average "fifteen teenagers conquer the world" Fire Emblem experience.

3 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Keep in mind that he and Ayra have different class changes. Ayra's class has higher gains and gets Adept as a class skill.
Nevermind that Astra is much stronger than Luna.

I didn't know about Ayra getting more bonuses, but you're right on principle, that the female characters aren't outclassed by any means. it's just an oddity that Raquesis is the first woman with a non-HP growth rate above 30% if it wasn't for Holy Blood - and it's her Lck stat. And it's going to stay like that until Tiltyu arrives to est things up.

3 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Also noteable for the fact that even C-rank swordies can use it.

And, as a result, inherit them. We'll see how good she'll actually be, but I'm looking forward to Patty joining with her planned gimmick available immediately.

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Lakhesis, to use the most-Greek transliteration into the Latin alphabet, was defending atop the castle? I think the knights act like bodyguard and will stay near her. Maybe taking her off the castle will fix things?

According to Wikipedia, the Greek Chi (Χ/χ) was pronounced as "K" in the ancient language before it evolved into sounds not really present in the English language. ...No real reason for me to say this, but I was curious about the pronunciation when I saw the inspiration for the name and it sounded like the kind of useless fact you'd also be interested in

 Anyway, BrightBow already explained their behaviour. Before recruiting Raquesis, they just sit in the initial triangle and attack when they don't need to move to do so. As a result, bringing her to the frontlines seems like a recipe for disaster. 😕 

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

...You know what? I ship it. Chulex for life!

(I say, as someone who may or may not have tried to pair Lex with Dew on my first playthrough).

To be fair, identifying the gender of anime characters can be tricky.

(unless you were hoping for gay representation, which would've been quite optimistic for a 1996 game)

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Wow, congrats on Lex winning this one! It was far from a given.

If I recall, on my latest playthrough (subs only), I had Sigurd beat Chulainn on the second-to-last castle, so he would spawn up there instead. Also, by getting him later, there was less chance of him romancing Ayra.

Lex is strong enough to two-shot Holyn, so that helped a lot. Still two 29% rolls he needs to hit, but that's an 8.4% chance - rather not good, but something you could even brute-force thanks to Lex's Vantage skill (which does work in the Arena, right?)

Against the standard boss, Lex needs 4 hits to kill him (1 Str away from a 3-shot), so that would've been much more unlikely to achieve.

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Ahem! In Ethlyn's limited defense, the reasons for letting her keep the Light Brand are A) it's expensive, so it's hard for anyone else to obtain it; B) her relatively high Magic, and low Strength, means she's comparatively hard-hitting with it; and C) the Critical skill, alongside access to lover Crits via Quan, can boost her damage further. The main reason not to let her keep it, though, is... she's a Troubadour. 9 times out of 10, on player phase, she's going to be healing. It'll be rare that she gets a chance to see any combat. And on enemy phase, her frailty, plus the "only magical at range" aspect, makes for a losing proposition.

Again, my suggestion (once it becomes possible) is Dew, so that he can rob more suckers, from a safe distance. It also increases his damage output, if barely. But I've heard of players putting it onto the likes of Sigurd, Alec, or Beowulf. Characters who can make up for their non-existent Magic stat, with the mere ability to double. If you want to achieve a "50 kill Light Brand", or something goofy like that, this might be the way to go.

Since Dew just gifted Azel with all of his cash, he's going to have to earn some money so that he can spend some money to earn some money more easily.

I'll definitely want the Light Brand on a relevant parent at the end - Sigurd, Lachesis, Azel, or Erinys - but I should be able to get all of them a magic sword by the end of gen 1.

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

I broadly agree with the "one-to-one" interpretation here. It's worth keeping in mind that we're not in an "all-out war", like the sort that is going on in Isaach. Moreso a series of small-scale operations. ...That destabilize multiple countries.

28 minutes ago, Jotari said:

The fall of Leinster short story, I think maybe written by Kaga himself, has everyone in Leinster freaking out about Travant having a full thirty dragon knights at his command. It's kind of funny to see numbers so small thrown around when Jugdral otherwise has the most epic feel in the series with it's huge maps. And then there's Thracia 776 itself with it's infinite spawn reinforcements and multiple maps filled with enemies all taking part in a fraction of Holy War's area. If we take WYSIWYG, then it looks like Leif completely annihilated Bloom's forced before Seliph showed up, despite Leif's apparent failures.

That are good arguments why the scale might not be quite as out-of-whack, after all.

I will say that even though Wyverns don't have the same oomph as actual dragons, even just thirty of them would be scary even for a large force of regular ol' humans. Not just because of the "they can strike anywhere without warning" aspect, but wild Wyverns in Akaneia can breath fire, which they just don't do after being domesticated because the humans riding them stab their enemies instead. ""Realistically"", I'd expect that 30 Wyvern Riders would be able to rain down heavy actual fire on enemy troops, too.

 

 

[Saint Rubenio]

31 minutes ago, ping said:

I would say Darin and Eric are a bit of a conglomeration of Chagall, Bordeaux, and Elliot. I'm trying to remember who the sex pest was in Elibe, but I think they both were, kinda? Darin perving on Priscilla, and Eric offering Clarine to Narcian in BlaBla.

Yeah, Erik's only accessory to sex pestism, as much as that is splitting hairs. The man himself didn't seem all that interested in all that noise, but all in the name of power. Either way, they do give that trademark Agustrian vibe. Though at least Bordeaux wasn't enough of an asshole to abandon his own child because Lamer Sandima said so lmao

32 minutes ago, ping said:

I honestly didn't even notice that the Raquesis's bodyguards have "unique" portraits. And I don't think I'll bother updating another one. Yves forgot to do his laundry today and borrowed a cape from one of his brothers.

I dig the headcanon.

32 minutes ago, ping said:

(Although your first one could be all spice, for all I know. Something is distracting me from starting another playthough, so I haven't checked it yet.)

Well, there's one scene where one of the gay brigand bros hits on a low self-esteem boy and he starts feeling better from it.

Alas, he can't get with the brigand bro. He's eternally committed to the other brigand bro.

Also if you give me enough time you might get to play my next bossman hack instead

33 minutes ago, ping said:

You're right, the scene has certain Tommy Wiseau vibes in its flow.

Hi~

Can I help you?

Yeah can I have a peace please?

Oh hai Eldigan I didn't know it was you. No.

That's me~ How much is it?

That'll be 6 months in jail

Here I go. Keep the Mystletainn. Hi Raquesis.

You're my favorite prisoner.

Thanks a lot. Bye.

Bye-bye.

[BrightBow]

50 minutes ago, ping said:

I didn't know about Ayra getting more bonuses, but you're right on principle, that the female characters aren't outclassed by any means. it's just an oddity that Raquesis is the first woman with a non-HP growth rate above 30% if it wasn't for Holy Blood - and it's her Lck stat. And it's going to stay like that until Tiltyu arrives to est things up.

But they don't have dump stats either. ...well, besides Sylvia who is just kinda terrible in everything for some reason.

I could most certainly imagine that the women were given more even growths so that the impact that the father has on the kids is more visible, since unlike the mothers they aren't always the same.
I do find that the kids' fathers are actually quite recognizable even without looking for unique skill combinations. Like how Azel's kids stick out for their magic. Or how Dew's kids stick out for having terrible HP while Holyn's will have HP that is frankly obscene.

[Jotari]

35 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Yeah, Erik's only accessory to sex pestism, as much as that is splitting hairs. The man himself didn't seem all that interested in all that noise, but all in the name of power. Either way, they do give that trademark Agustrian vibe. Though at least Bordeaux wasn't enough of an asshole to abandon his own child because Lamer Sandima said so lmao

Hey, now, don't do my boy Ephidel dirty. I like Genealogy more than Blazing Blade, but our pretty boy morph is way more of a character than a dude with no design and 90% "as you know" dialogue.

1 hour ago, ping said:

I will say that even though Wyverns don't have the same oomph as actual dragons, even just thirty of them would be scary even for a large force of regular ol' humans. Not just because of the "they can strike anywhere without warning" aspect, but wild Wyverns in Akaneia can breath fire, which they just don't do after being domesticated because the humans riding them stab their enemies instead. ""Realistically"", I'd expect that 30 Wyvern Riders would be able to rain down heavy actual fire on enemy troops, too.

Well I'd be pretty shit scared myself, but the next line is someone mentioning that they need to deploy their archers in dialogue that feels video gamey for a short story.

6 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

But they don't have dump stats either. ...well, besides Sylvia who is just kinda terrible in everything for some reason.

I could most certainly imagine that the women were given more even growths so that the impact that the father has on the kids is more visible, since unlike the mothers they aren't always the same.
I do find that the kids' fathers are actually quite recognizable even without looking for unique skill combinations. Like how Azel's kids stick out for their magic. Or how Dew's kids stick out for having terrible HP while Holyn's will have HP that is frankly obscene.

You beat me to this point.

[Interdimensional Observer]

3 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Crazy how everyone seems to live on a plateau in the forest, with no roads connecting them. You'd think there'd be at least a coastal fishing village or two.

I'm more curious what this says about human interaction with the environment of Agustria. Did humanity already denude the forests of the country below the "central highlands"?

...Although we shouldn't take where villages show up as the sole determinant of where humans live in Jugdral.😛 I refuse to believe almost all Silessians live in the north, when the country is the coldest on the continent.😝

As for roads... I've heard Medieval Europe wasn't exactly great when it came to public transportive infrastructure. Roads take money to construct, and more significantly, are expensive to maintain. The Roman Empire centralized enough resources to afford the Roman roads which endured for over a millennia in increasingly deteriorating, yet still "quality" condition. Once Europe broke up into statelets and decentralized feudal kingdoms, the finances for roads dried up. Leaving Europe a land of well-trodden dirt paths -nooooooo pavement of any kind- most uncomfortable for a carriage, and prone to seeing a heavy wagon carrying goods break a wheel because of a ditch or bump. With the exception perhaps of a few "royal roads", which simply wouldn't have been numerous enough to change the overall picture. Land travel in the European Middle Ages was not fun.

3 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

I broadly agree with the "one-to-one" interpretation here. It's worth keeping in mind that we're not in an "all-out war",

Actually...

Heuga: By the way, I’ve been wondering, why did Quan bring Finn with him when Finn’s still just a knight-in-training?

Kaga’s comment: Finn was orphaned after his parents passed away; basically, he and Oifey are in similar situations. He’s like a page in terms of ranking. The reason Finn is brought to battle may also partly be due to his own wishes to join in.
The size of the troops in reality would be larger than what is shown in-game; there’s no way Sigurd’s army consists only of the characters you control. Similarly, Finn would be but one of the hundreds of subordinates led by Quan.

Just say "writing inconsistency!" then.😉

 

2 hours ago, Jotari said:

has everyone in Leinster freaking out about Travant having a full thirty dragon knights at his command. It's kind of funny to see numbers so small thrown around when Jugdral otherwise has the most epic feel in the series with it's huge maps.

Before the alpine crossing killed them, Hannibal famously brought elephants with him when he invaded the Roman Republic. They purportedly numbered 38 before the started dying off, which was enough to leave a lasting impression.

Edited February 28 by Interdimensional Observer

[Jotari]

35 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I'm more curious what this says about human interaction with the environment of Agustria. Did humanity already denude the forests of the country below the "central highlands"?

...Although we shouldn't take where villages show up as the sole determinant of where humans live in Jugdral.😛 I refuse to believe almost all Silessians live in the north, when the country is the coldest on the continent.😝

As for roads... I've heard Medieval Europe wasn't exactly great when it came to public transportive infrastructure. Roads take money to construct, and more significantly, are expensive to maintain. The Roman Empire centralized enough resources to afford the Roman roads which endured for over a millennia in increasingly deteriorating, yet still "quality" condition. Once Europe broke up into statelets and decentralized feudal kingdoms, the finances for roads dried up. Leaving Europe a land of well-trodden dirt paths -nooooooo pavement of any kind- most uncomfortable for a carriage, and prone to seeing a heavy wagon carrying goods break a wheel because of a ditch or bump. With the exception perhaps of a few "royal roads", which simply wouldn't have been numerous enough to change the overall picture. Land travel in the European Middle Ages was not fun.

Actually...

Heuga: By the way, I’ve been wondering, why did Quan bring Finn with him when Finn’s still just a knight-in-training?

Kaga’s comment: Finn was orphaned after his parents passed away; basically, he and Oifey are in similar situations. He’s like a page in terms of ranking. The reason Finn is brought to battle may also partly be due to his own wishes to join in.
The size of the troops in reality would be larger than what is shown in-game; there’s no way Sigurd’s army consists only of the characters you control. Similarly, Finn would be but one of the hundreds of subordinates led by Quan.

Just say "writing inconsistency!" then.😉

 

Before the alpine crossing killed them, Hannibal famously brought elephants with him when he invaded the Roman Republic. They purportedly numbered 38 before the started dying off, which was enough to leave a lasting impression.

For people who never saw elephants before it'd certainly leave a mark. But Thracian wyvern knights are all over the place working as mercenaries. Elephants are a pretty good analogy for draco knights though, as both are suitably impressive and theoretically effective, but have some crippling weakness that makes them pretty easy to deal with against enemies prepared for them.

[ping]

8 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Hi~

Can I help you?

Yeah can I have a peace please?

Oh hai Eldigan I didn't know it was you. No.

That's me~ How much is it?

That'll be 6 months in jail

Here I go. Keep the Mystletainn. Hi Raquesis.

You're my favorite prisoner.

Thanks a lot. Bye.

Bye-bye.

You're lying, I never abducted you! You're tearring me apart, Kaga!

Not sure how to interpret that you gave Raquesis the role of the doggie

8 hours ago, BrightBow said:

I could most certainly imagine that the women were given more even growths so that the impact that the father has on the kids is more visible, since unlike the mothers they aren't always the same.
I do find that the kids' fathers are actually quite recognizable even without looking for unique skill combinations. Like how Azel's kids stick out for their magic. Or how Dew's kids stick out for having terrible HP while Holyn's will have HP that is frankly obscene.

That's a really good reason. And well done by Kaga to tweak the numbers so that it works that way without just making the female characters worse.

7 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

 

Kaga’s comment: [...] The size of the troops in reality would be larger than what is shown in-game; there’s no way Sigurd’s army consists only of the characters you control. Similarly, Finn would be but one of the hundreds of subordinates led by Quan.

Just say "writing inconsistency!" then.😉

On 2/20/2024 at 3:15 PM, ping said:

: "Hold, milord. Surely you don't intend to go alone?"

Hmmm...

But that's just an inherent problem of the Fire Emblem formula - the schizophrenia of portraying big epic battles, while having about a dozen characters fighting on the player's side at the same time. Some games manage to still create that "big battle feel", like BinBla's chapter 21, but it's always a bit of disbelief one has to suspend.

Shout-out to BlaBla for creating a scenario where these small-scale battles are a lot more appropriate... and then arguably mucking up in the opposite direction, by having the small elite assassin's guild throw dozens of mooks at you in Cog.

 

[Jotari]

15 minutes ago, ping said:

You're lying, I never abducted you! You're tearring me apart, Kaga!

Not sure how to interpret that you gave Raquesis the role of the doggie

That's a really good reason. And well done by Kaga to tweak the numbers so that it works that way without just making the female characters worse.

Hmmm...

But that's just an inherent problem of the Fire Emblem formula - the schizophrenia of portraying big epic battles, while having about a dozen characters fighting on the player's side at the same time. Some games manage to still create that "big battle feel", like BinBla's chapter 21, but it's always a bit of disbelief one has to suspend.

Shout-out to BlaBla for creating a scenario where these small-scale battles are a lot more appropriate... and then arguably mucking up in the opposite direction, by having the small elite assassin's guild throw dozens of mooks at you in Cog.

 

I find Radiant Dawn manages to have consistent scale a lot. It's always made very clear that the battles are quite large, but that what you're playing is always the vanguard or a splinter force of some sort working in a smaller area of the overall battle, with generous NPC allies thrown in to bulk up the player's numbers without sacrificing the typical formula hoards of enemies against your elites.

[Saint Rubenio]

9 hours ago, Jotari said:

Hey, now, don't do my boy Ephidel dirty. I like Genealogy more than Blazing Blade, but our pretty boy morph is way more of a character than a dude with no design and 90% "as you know" dialogue.

I just rather like how he has essentially Sandima's role and then he dies an anticlimatic cutscene death without even being fought on the battlefield. I could never hope to do him as dirty as the game itself did lol

55 minutes ago, ping said:

You're lying, I never abducted you! You're tearring me apart, Kaga!

I got the results of the test back~ I totally have major Lopto blood.

55 minutes ago, ping said:

Not sure how to interpret that you gave Raquesis the role of the doggie

I mean, she should feel flattered. Doggie is the best written, developed and acted character in the movie.

57 minutes ago, ping said:

That's a really good reason. And well done by Kaga to tweak the numbers so that it works that way without just making the female characters worse.

Gotta give him credit when it's due. Kaga does not always Kaga, just often.

[Jotari]

27 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I just rather like how he has essentially Sandima's role and then he dies an anticlimatic cutscene death without even being fought on the battlefield. I could never hope to do him as dirty as the game itself did lol

And that's what makes him a glorious character.

[Nauriam]

5 hours ago, ping said:

: "Hold, milord. Surely you don't intend to go alone?"

I think this could just as easily be interpreted as going alone with only his squadron or corp of soldiers. Fire emblem seems to sway between the idea that the units we have on the map are just a small part in the battle actually going on, versus the idea that each unit is a representation of a large amount of soldiers (say 1 unit represents 100 soldiers), and they are being led by that unit. Three houses definitely tries to convey the latter with the battalions, and a game like Thracia definitely communicates the former. There is also the issue of who the heck would give Ross/Donnel/Finn soldiers to lead? The more I think about it, the less any of it makes sense.

5 hours ago, ping said:

But that's just an inherent problem of the Fire Emblem formula - the schizophrenia of portraying big epic battles, while having about a dozen characters fighting on the player's side at the same time. Some games manage to still create that "big battle feel", like BinBla's chapter 21, but it's always a bit of disbelief one has to suspend.

I feel like Kaga's Vestaria Saga actually did a good job with this problem compared to most Fire Emblem games. It's not perfect of course, but it was effective for me. Especially in the first one, the amount of soldiers as well as the logistical problems of managing and marching soldiers is referenced all the time. The cognitive dissonance really only comes in when we are being lead to assume that these are large scale battles going on, but all the characters interact like they are the only people out there. Vestaria Saga's approach also fixes a problem that annoys me which is talking about how an enemy army simply has too many soldiers to attack head on, when in-game if your units are strong enough theoretically infinite soldiers could be defeated, and your units would only get stronger because of it. The idea there is that the thousands of soldiers in your army that aren't playable characters would die, even if your playable characters wouldn't, and that would still lose the war.

All that being said, Genealogy does not communicate any of that effectively at all.

[Jotari]

35 minutes ago, Nauriam said:

I think this could just as easily be interpreted as going alone with only his squadron or corp of soldiers.

No, Sigurd was fully intending to Metal Gear Solid that rescue mission. I'll make the fan art tomorrow!

[ping]

11 hours ago, Jotari said:

I find Radiant Dawn manages to have consistent scale a lot. It's always made very clear that the battles are quite large, but that what you're playing is always the vanguard or a splinter force of some sort working in a smaller area of the overall battle, with generous NPC allies thrown in to bulk up the player's numbers without sacrificing the typical formula hoards of enemies against your elites.

Yeah, I was thinking about RD too, but forgot to mention it. It also has its Climactic Big Epic Battle in 3-E, which definitely manages to convey that feel of a huge clash between armies very well.

10 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I got the results of the test back~ I totally have major Lopto blood.

How was war today?

Pretty good. We got a new soldier, he's a thief, we'll make a lot of money.

What soldier?

I cannot tell you, it's confidential. Also, he's like 12 years old.

Oh, come on, why not? And what the heck?

No, I can't. Anyway, how's your sex life?

6 hours ago, Nauriam said:

I think this could just as easily be interpreted as going alone with only his squadron or corp of soldiers. Fire emblem seems to sway between the idea that the units we have on the map are just a small part in the battle actually going on, versus the idea that each unit is a representation of a large amount of soldiers (say 1 unit represents 100 soldiers), and they are being led by that unit. Three houses definitely tries to convey the latter with the battalions, and a game like Thracia definitely communicates the former. There is also the issue of who the heck would give Ross/Donnel/Finn soldiers to lead? The more I think about it, the less any of it makes sense.

The framing in Genealogy's prologue is that Sigurd initially doesn't want to take Noish and Alec along because he doesn't want to risk their lives, so it would be rather odd if he was willing to bring a squad of his personal soldiers along on this potential suicide mission. So...

6 hours ago, Nauriam said:

All that being said, Genealogy does not communicate any of that effectively at all.

...honestly, I feel like Genealogy is up there with Sacred Stone's "let's capture a whole fucking fortress with four soldiers" as one of the most difficult FE games to accept that dissonance between tiny armies and enormous battles.

5 hours ago, Jotari said:

No, Sigurd was fully intending to Metal Gear Solid that rescue mission. I'll make the fan art tomorrow!

I'm expecting cardboard boxes.

[Interdimensional Observer]

2 hours ago, ping said:

..honestly, I feel like Genealogy is up there with Sacred Stone's "let's capture a whole fucking fortress with four soldiers" as one of the most difficult FE games to accept that dissonance between tiny armies and enormous battles.

Heeeeeeey! Ephraim admits he didn't have the power to hold the fortress in a siege. There's PLENTEE REELISM!😝

...Four medieval fantasy soldiers could take an entire fortress -in a J/A/W(?)RPG, probably. Or maybe in an SRPG -if the heroes had giant robots + the fortress was largely automated with very few sentiment lifeforms on the inside commanding the fort's AI-controlled units. But FE is a relatively down-to-earth medieval fantasy SRPG, so no such excuses.😛

Maybe we set the next FE in a netherworld, and give everyone a legion of demons or spirits to command. There, mindless minions who have no great personal lives to acknowledge when two playable characters bump into each other on the battlefield. Problem fixed -if by elevating the level of fantasy.😈

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

On 2/27/2024 at 7:46 PM, Interdimensional Observer said:

The size of the troops in reality would be larger than what is shown in-game; there’s no way Sigurd’s army consists only of the characters you control. Similarly, Finn would be but one of the hundreds of subordinates led by Quan.

Just say "writing inconsistency!" then.😉

Hm... my take is, rather than each unit representing a bunch of people, there are instead a bunch of "invisible soldiers" in your army. Like, when Quan and Ethlyn appear in chapter 5, they have a contingent of NPC Lance Knights with them. Maybe some of them came along on his earlier mission to aid Sigurd, but weren't shown, because it would make the game even more tedious? On the flip side, we have cases like Lewyn and Silvia. I'm not buying for a second that Silvia is actually leading a troupe of like a dozen dancers, while Lewyn is joined by other spell-slingers. ...Although it's funny to imagine that this random Bard, traveling incognito, has his bodyguards with him.

15 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

just rather like how he has essentially Sandima's role and then he dies an anticlimatic cutscene death without even being fought on the battlefield. I could never hope to do him as dirty as the game itself did lol

Love how Nergal teleports away in time, and Ephidel just... doesn't. Even though he's already demonstrated the ability - at the beginning of the same chapter! - to Rewarp at will. Just a "guess I'll die" moment.

4 hours ago, ping said:

No, I can't. Anyway, how's your sex life?

Lover system in a nutshell.

[Jotari]

5 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Love how Nergal teleports away in time, and Ephidel just... doesn't. Even though he's already demonstrated the ability - at the beginning of the same chapter! - to Rewarp at will. Just a "guess I'll die" moment.

Sounds like a skill problem.

Or, alternatively, Ephidel was the one who initiated the talk conversation and thus used up his turn.

[ping]

FE4 Chapter 2: Crisis in Agustria

Nordion --> Heirhein

Spoiler

First priority is, of course, to clean up the area around Nordion.

: "Gah... Grannvale! Don't interfere with this, unless you want me to wipe the floor with you too!"

Midir chips Elliot down to 19 HP...

...which is precisely low enough for Quan to finish. Feels "wrong" to feed a kill to the prepromote, despite Quan not actually being overleveled, but this of course gets the Silver Lance right to somebody who can use it.

: "Gah! Blast... Why must... everything... go Eldigan's..."

____

The rest of the team has enough firepower to kill the rest of the Cav squad, including a first kill for Raquesis.

Importantly, Sigurd is moving ahead as much as possible. The time pressure to save all the villages seems really severe, so I want him to basically ignore Philip's squad as much as possible and head right for southwest France.

So he tries to sneak past Philip's southern flank, just outside of Philip's range, leaving the fight to the rest of the team.

____

Ethlyn heals him up so that Bordeaux doesn't post too much of a challenge, but I make a mistake here:

__

By overestimating Quan's bulk, who was chipped down to... I think it was 21 HP at the start of the enemy phase. I can't help but assume that he's a Duessel, an Armour Knight on a horse, because of his nature as a hard-hitting, not-(reliably-)doubling character, but his HP/Def honestly isn't all that outstanding. Holyn is only behind by 1 Def (with the same max HP) compared to Quan.

So, let's do this slightly differently. This time, it works out, since apart from the Ballistae, nobody can be ganged up on, and Quan is just outside of Philip's range.

However, in the meantime, houses are burning...

And, in less dire news, Dew is chatting up Raquesis.

: "Hey! Raquesis! There y'are! Check out this little beauty of a sword! Thought I'd give it to ya."
: "Oh? I can't say I've seen a blade so peculiar before. Does it have a name?"
: "It's called a thief's sword. Wanna gut the bad guys? This thing's yer best friend."
: "Er... Thank you. Although, why are you giving it to me? I'm hardly complaining, but surely you need a decent sword?
: "Nah, I'm not bothered. There ain't any point in me keeping it. Let's just say it does a lot more than just stab. Heh. See you around!"

Since the Thief Sword's special feature is giving its wielder the Steal skill, it's indeed wasted on Dew. And because I believe that Raquesis relies a lot on staff spamming to get to promotion, it would probably be nice if she could make use of it a little, too.

The convo also gives some love points between the two, but it's only 50 out of the 450 that the two would need to fall in love, so I'm not too worried about accidental child marriage.

__

Unfortunately, Sigurd is two tiles short of throwing a Javelin at the closest Knight, and 3 Str short of one-rounding them with the Silver Sword, which will delay the fight against Bordeaux for a turn.

I wonder if the play would've been to ignore Raquesis at first - not only so that Sigurd can just charge past, but also to prevent the Paladin brothers from running around...

Because, speaking of, they're running around.

It's somewhat useful here, since it preserves HP on my own units, but it's going to cause another reset in a little bit.

__

But let's focus on nice things for now: Another boss kill for Azel, although it's only worth 50 XP. Again, my GBAFE brain insists that things should work like GBAFE, for Saint Elimine's sake! In this case: that killing a General boss with an unpromoted Mage should be worth a full level!

This also puts the Return Band on Azel, where I still have no idea in what way it can be useful on which character. Intuitively, I would've guessed "on whoever is carrying the Return staff", i.e. Ethlyn or (probably very soon) Laquesis; or maybe the option will be useful for Sigurd at some point.

____

Annoyingly, I don't quite manage to kill every enemy here. It's just the one Ballistician, so it's nothing dangerous, but this will lure the three Paladins further west...

...which is what will lead to the next reset. Thanks to the Ballistitian, they're close enough to Bordeaux's town guard in order to keep running ahead of Raquesis and attack those. A reset that won't be written down on my record, but still.

__

Luckily, it's easily fixed by changing a healing target. And luckily, Bordeaux doesn't decide to Pavise me to insanity, not even procing it a single time.

: "Gah... My... castle..."

...hm. Kinda worrying.

Well, let's see if I'm still fast enough for some mysterious reinforcements to save the day for that northern village in particular.

: "Heirhein is secure, sire. What are you thinking for our next move? Do we pull out?"
: "Hm. The imminent danger has passed. Nordion should be safe, but Eldigan is still being held in the capital. Furthermore..."
: "Yes?"
: "I'm hearing that the frontier towns in the central forests are grappling with bandit raids. We can't afford to leave them be."
: "Agreed. It is crucial that we help the locals, that we might convince them we aren't their enemy. In that case, we ust ride for the north at once. There's no time to waste. Let's go!"

The solution is always to conquer another castle. If Sigurd would run out of toilet paper in the morning, his solution would be to seize the neighboring castle.

So, there we go. I think it's possible in theory to shave off two turns here: One by not recruiting Raquesis right away, and another one by having Quan charge past Philip's force and throw a Javelin at a Knight to allow Sigurd to one-round and canter in front of Bordeaux in a single turn.

The situation. The main group is a bit split up not only because of differing movement speed, but also because I don't know what happens next - there's two castles that would make sense to be the next one to seize. I still have Holyn holding the home fort, while Arden is sitting near Nordion, just in case. He might also be able to burn some random numbers in the area, in case I have to rely on a very fast, but Pursuit-less character to proc a skill in order to kill a brigand. It's unlikely that Holyn won't be able to do the same, but just in case he actually gets through the thing, Arden might be needed as a back-up.

The Team:

	  Lv.	  HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Res  Funds  XP    Arn
Sigurd	  17.21*  47  20   0  19  19  12  13   3  28500  +138  [1]
Quan	  10.77*  40  19   0  13  12   7  12   3  26030  +87   [1]
Noish	  6.50	  34  12   0   9  10   4   9   0  10500  +13   [1]
Alec	  6.18	  35  11   0  11  11   5  11   0  7500   +46   [1]

Lex	  16.00	  45  18   0  11  13  10  17   0  36840  +664  [*]
Finn	  8.00	  36  13   0  11  14  10  10   0  24430  +55   [1]
Midir	  9.75	  37  10   0   9  11   5   8   1  18000  +76   [1]
Arden	  6.97	  37  15   0   6   4   3  14   0  16275  +28   [2]

Ayra	  8.96	  36  12   1  19  20   4   8   1  21740  +28   [1]
Holyn	  12.00	  40  14   0  17  17   1  11   1  10000  --    [1]
Jamke	  8.86	  38  11   0  15  14   5   9   0  25400  +30   [1]
Dew	  5.20	  30   6   0   9  16  12   2   0  2000   +24   [1]

Raquesis  3.44	  26   7   8   9  13   5   7   9  10000  +144  [1]
Azel	  8.54	  33   1  13   9  15   4   2   7  44500  +50   [1]
Deidre	  4.34	  27   0  14  10  12   6   3  17  4000   --    [1]
Ethlyn	  11.51	  33   7   9  14  15  10   6   6  3270   +167  [1]

Aideen	  8.30	  33   1  15  10   9  14   1  10  6400   +30   --

 

 

14 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

...Four medieval fantasy soldiers could take an entire fortress -in a J/A/W(?)RPG, probably. Or maybe in an SRPG -if the heroes had giant robots + the fortress was largely automated with very few sentiment lifeforms on the inside commanding the fort's AI-controlled units. But FE is a relatively down-to-earth medieval fantasy SRPG, so no such excuses.😛

I think WRPGs are generally relatively light on the god-slaying powers...? Like, Baldur's Gate 2's expansion is quite cognizant that its protagonist and their competitors are playing on DnD's Epic level scale, but you still have one of these competitors bringing an army in order to besiege a city. But I shouldn't pretend that I'm an expert on the genre as a whole.

12 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Lover system in a nutshell.

Also Fates supports between characters of opposite gender that don't have any romantic chemistry, at least as far as I'm aware. Three episodes of talking about this and that, before the writing suddenly remembers that it is very important that these characters must fuck.

Edited February 29 by ping

[Interdimensional Observer]

3 minutes ago, ping said:

This also puts the Return Band on Azel, where I still have no idea in what way it can be useful on which character. Intuitively, I would've guessed "on whoever is carrying the Return staff", i.e. Ethlyn or (probably very soon) Laquesis; or maybe the option will be useful for Sigurd at some point.

With regards to inheritance, I can't really say for sure. Although I've seen suggestions before of Nanna (paired with the Return Staff) ...and Patty actually. I don't think any child needs the band though, nobody gets stuck in a "Will die if Yumina doesn't save me NAO!" situation.

[BrightBow]

1 hour ago, ping said:

	  Lv.	  HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Res  Funds  XP    Arn
Sigurd	  17.21*  47  20   0  19  19  12  13   3  28500  +138  [1]

19 speed Sigurd? At level 17? Jesus Christ.

Edited February 29 by BrightBow

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

2 hours ago, ping said:

which is precisely low enough for Quan to finish. Feels "wrong" to feed a kill to the prepromote, despite Quan not actually being overleveled, but this of course gets the Silver Lance right to somebody who can use it.

Isn't that the "right" way to do it, at least in GBAFE? Since bosses give a fixed EXP bonus, regardless of which unit is killing them. Getting 35 EXP on Seth (when a normal kill would be 5 EXP) is a bigger deal than 100 EXP on Franz (when a normal kill would be 30 EXP). Not sure how exactly it works in FE4, to be fair.

2 hours ago, ping said:

This also puts the Return Band on Azel, where I still have no idea in what way it can be useful on which character. Intuitively, I would've guessed "on whoever is carrying the Return staff", i.e. Ethlyn or (probably very soon) Laquesis; or maybe the option will be useful for Sigurd at some point.

Yeah, I generally think the Return Band is best on your Return Staff user. Since self-Returning is a terminal action, but using the Return Staff is not, a unit can "double down" and return another unit, and themself, on the same turn. Another Return candidate is Erinys - in my experience, it's easier to get her to level 20 than Lachesis. So you can have not just a mounted Return staffer, but one who flies over the rivers and forests of Silesse as well. IMO it's not the best on Sigurd, since Seizing is also a terminal action. He can't Seize and self-return on the same turn.

As for Azelle, it's fine on him, for the time being. I'd view it, though, as a source of an additional 10K gold. If that lets him afford the Magic Ring, or the Speed Ring - maybe the Paragon Bamd for a round of Arena'ing - all the better.

2 hours ago, ping said:

The solution is always to conquer another castle. If Sigurd would run out of toilet paper in the morning, his solution would be to seize the neighboring castle.

Not the worst idea. The neighboring castle almost certainly has toilet paper, and they're a shorter drive away from the supermarket.

2 hours ago, ping said:

Also Fates supports between characters of opposite gender that don't have any romantic chemistry, at least as far as I'm aware. Three episodes of talking about this and that, before the writing suddenly remembers that it is very important that these characters must fuck.

Hey, I just met you,

And this is crazy,

But we've talked four times now,

So have my baby!

2 hours ago, ping said:

Since the Thief Sword's special feature is giving its wielder the Steal skill, it's indeed wasted on Dew. And because I believe that Raquesis relies a lot on staff spamming to get to promotion, it would probably be nice if she could make use of it a little, too.

"Thief Sword" is too confusing, since it doesn't belong on a Thief. Since it grants the Steal skill, it really ought to be called the "Steal Sword". No way that could be confusing!

Honestly, I don't get a lot of use out of the Thief Sword on Lachesis. She can't do anything this map, since approaching any enemies triggers her knights to run off and get themselves killed. In chapter 3, you could use her as a "secondary Thief", but IMO it's better on a mounted unit, since they can reach the Bandits more quickly. As for the latter phase of chapter 3, I really like it on Erinys. She can travel to the Orgahill peninsula to help fight all the Pirates, each of whom drops 5K. You wouldn't want all that pirate booty to go to waste, now, would you?