Interdimensional Observer Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 5 hours ago, Jotari said: nother interesting note here is that Alvis promised Agustria to House Friege after the war which just never happens. House Friege instead gets all of Munster. We have no idea what happens to Agustria in Gen II expect for some off hand remarks about rebellion, but it seems like House Friege were given the better prize of Munster instead once that became realistically within the Empire's grasp. Freige is on the Agustrian border, though the maps work out such that we never see it looks like. Geography would have Friege rule in Agustria. However, Genealogy wants us to see the world!🌍 Gen 1 is Grannvale, Silesse, and the west. So Gen 2 has to give us the east, Miletos, and Grannvale. We can't have the Freigian bad guys off in Agustria then. 5 hours ago, Jotari said: We have no idea what happens to Agustria in Gen II expect for some off hand remarks about rebellion, On this, I would like a remake to add a line to C10 mentioning these rebellions -while they were still manageable. For the final chapter, I'd like an imperial line saying something like "We've gathered our remnant forces from Agustria and Silesse! We'll throw them into the fray Your Dark Majesty! Once the Chalphy brat is dead we'll reconquer the provinces in a twinkling!". 5 hours ago, Jotari said: Nevertheless it would give me reason to believe that Munster District is more powerful than Agustria, I'd like to envision Munster District as the "jewel" of Jugdral. Smaller than Agustria and Grannvale, but so rich and fertile that its demographics and economy can punch above its reduced size. Agustria is bigger, but so is Mongolia than Singapore. 5 hours ago, Jotari said: and I find it a far stranger case of "one holy blood family+others" given that, unlike Agustria, the separate houses of Munster do seem to be semi independent kingdoms unto themselves. For this, I resort to headcanon.😆 The Tragedy of the Gae Bolg, Dainn, Nova, and Nova's husband all die. Question- how old was Nova & husband's child who then became their successor? -We don't know. Let's imagine this happened while the heir, let's go with a son, was still a child. He'd need regents (perhaps we headcanon a big family for Nova's husband, and every man needs a title & territory). It was the Tragedy that then split the Thracian peninsula into two polities, no? I'm sure Dainn's heir or their advisors would not tolerate being confined to the wastelands, and would immediately launch invasions of the north. Forcing Munster District to respond. The result? The Nova's heir regency and the immediate crisis weakens any central authority might've had during these early days before the political form of the Munster District had congealed. The regents use a pliant young monarch and their fortunate success in repelling the Thracians to strengthen their autonomy, and split the natural wealth of the Munster District amongst themselves. (Meanwhile, Kingdom Thracia goes in an autocratic, militaristic direction, with a weak aristocracy. There isn't enough excess wealth to afford letting decadent nobles waste it. His Majesty needs every kilogram of materiel he can muster, to wage the undying battle against the intentional starvation of Thracia, to fight to save the people and unify the peninsula!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jotari Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 (edited) 24 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said: Freige is on the Agustrian border, though the maps work out such that we never see it looks like. Geography would have Friege rule in Agustria. However, Genealogy wants us to see the world!🌍 Gen 1 is Grannvale, Silesse, and the west. So Gen 2 has to give us the east, Miletos, and Grannvale. We can't have the Freigian bad guys off in Agustria then. On this, I would like a remake to add a line to C10 mentioning these rebellions -while they were still manageable. For the final chapter, I'd like an imperial line saying something like "We've gathered our remnant forces from Agustria and Silesse! We'll throw them into the fray Your Dark Majesty! Once the Chalphy brat is dead we'll reconquer the provinces in a twinkling!". I'd like an entire bonus Campaign set there. Give us a look at some of the other grand heroes that helped out the Empire down. Like, Lachesis body guards and the grandson of Macbeth or someone even less noblity thant those minor characters, doing their own thing and being just as important as Seliph in their own corner of the world. Or hell, let's just dump ally the substitutes over there for them to exist somewhere in canon as little sense as it makes to metaphysics. (Also Gen 0, give me a Gen 0 campaign with Byron). 24 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said: I'd like to envision Munster District as the "jewel" of Jugdral. Smaller than Agustria and Grannvale, but so rich and fertile that its demographics and economy can punch above its reduced size. Agustria is bigger, but so is Mongolia than Singapore. For this, I resort to headcanon.😆 The Tragedy of the Gae Bolg, Dainn, Nova, and Nova's husband all die. Question- how old was Nova & husband's child who then became their successor? -We don't know. Let's imagine this happened while the heir, let's go with a son, was still a child. He'd need regents (perhaps we headcanon a big family for Nova's husband, and every man needs a title & territory). It was the Tragedy that then split the Thracian peninsula into two polities, no? I'm sure Dainn's heir or their advisors would not tolerate being confined to the wastelands, and would immediately launch invasions of the north. Forcing Munster District to respond. The result? The Nova's heir regency and the immediate crisis weakens any central authority might've had during these early days before the political form of the Munster District had congealed. The regents use a pliant young monarch and their fortunate success in repelling the Thracians to strengthen their autonomy, and split the natural wealth of the Munster District amongst themselves. (Meanwhile, Kingdom Thracia goes in an autocratic, militaristic direction, with a weak aristocracy. There isn't enough excess wealth to afford letting decadent nobles waste it. His Majesty needs every kilogram of materiel he can muster, to wage the undying battle against the intentional starvation of Thracia, to fight to save the people and unify the peninsula!) I feel like a set up to that would lead more towards a Shogun like situation where the king is largely powerless and nominal while another family actually takes control and centralizes things. Though give the existence of a holy lance of great power that gives an actual defined use to the royal family, that's likely to shake things up compared to a regular royal family. Still, for such a scenario you'd think the regents would more seek to control the royal family and via it the whole area rather than to seek autonomy themselves. So here's me headcanon! North Thracia actually had limited autonomy even under the Lopt Empire. Despite the Empire's best efforts to be worst than the Nazis, the wealth of North Thracia just made it too valuable a region to constantly have to put rebellions down in, so the nobles of the empire there managed to wrest a lot of control by holding the breadbasket of the empire as a metaphorical hostage. This lead to the former Duchies or North Thracia becoming the independent Kingdoms of Munster and them having a stronger sense of national identity and an older aristocracy compared to the rest of the empire (and the reason Grannvale goes so heavy on the child hunts in Leinster during the game is that they don't want to make the same mistake twice). When Nova showed up, all of the aristocrats of the region naturally married into the royal children she produced, so all of them have Nova Blood (Leif and Quan are the only royalty of Thracia we actually see in Genealogy, I believe, and even in Thracia 776 only Miranda is added to that list and we can't check her blood status). Leif's house only has access to Gae Bolg because they happen to be the ones who trace the line of major holy blood, but who gets to possess Game Bolg is hotly debated in Munster politics. Furthermore, the houses of Connacht and Ulster have recently inter married, giving rise to an heir with Major Nova Blood and also giving the knowledge to the world that two minors = major, which spurs the Lopt Sect to find two Lopt Heirs to inter marry (said rival for Gaebolg was younger than Quan and killed when all of Munster is taken by Grannvale). Edited March 5 by Jotari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shanty Pete's 1st Mate Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 On 3/4/2024 at 9:01 AM, ping said: Yeahh, the Reinheitsgebot is quite the anachronism at this point. While I have a fondness for Kraftbier, in all their funky flavors, I do think there's value to keeping up the classics as well. With a motlre refined palate, perhaps I could distinguish a Kölsch from a Weißbier. 16 hours ago, BrightBow said: It might not start out this way, but the arena takes longer the more units you have. It adds up after a while. Especially if you're like me, and realize "huh, this General has 38 Hit, and does exactly 22 damage, to my Dancer with 29 HP and Miracle. Who, in turn, deals 1 damage out of 59 using an Iron Sword. Time to set the game down and fold laundry for 5 minutes!" 20 hours ago, Jotari said: The number 1 thing Genealogy needs to be replayable is the Tellius style orders where you can point to a specific point on the map and just move everyone who hasn't acted there automatically. It'd be cool to see tile-targeting in tandem with "aggression". Options like "never attack", "attack only if they can't damage you back", "attack as long as they can't kill you in return", and "attack recklessly". 20 hours ago, Jotari said: the separate houses of Munster do seem to be semi independent kingdoms unto themselves. TBH this is why I hate the term "Munster District". When I hear it, I assume "Munster and its immediate surroundings". Just like "Leinster District" would be "Leinster and its immediate surroundings". To refer to the four houses of northern Thracia - Munster, Leinster, Ulster, and Connaught - and their holdings, the game should call them "Northern Thracia". ...Or else a clumsy acronym, like... the CLUMs. On 3/4/2024 at 10:08 AM, RPGuy96 said: I forgot that Linoan has Naga blood. Tahra is not really connected with Grannvale in any way, but it does make some sense that some holy blood would spread as nobles intermarried (certainly it does in highly eugenicist gen 2 children). Given Tahra's place on the FE4 map, I'm willing to give Manfroy a pass on knowing about Tahran politics, though. Not even a castle! Assuming that Kaga, at the time of FE4, had really intended for Azmur, and his immediate descendants, to be the only remaining Naga lineage in Jugdral, that would actually make Linoan a retcon. On 3/4/2024 at 7:34 AM, Saint Rubenio said: Later in the game his full motivations are revealed and it actually shines a really different light his actions throughout the game - which is the best kind of writing. Damn you, Saint Rubenio! You've gotten my hopes up, and I will hold you personally responsible if the game fails to deliver on them. On 3/3/2024 at 11:38 PM, Jotari said: People with holy blood do have a visible mark on their body indicating it, though the games are a bit unclear as to whether that is true for minor holy blood as well. Definitely the case for Major Holy Blood though. In addition, both Azmur and Finn talk about being able to recognize an aura of holy blood someone gives off (and Finn doesn't even have Holy Blood himself but can recognize it from experience). Interesting... I wonder how widespread that power is? I was thinking that - first getting out the way that adding an Avatar to a remake of a game that didn't have one is unnecessary and cringe - I wouldn't be averse to such a character having the ability to distinguish Holy Blood. Since that knowledge is also directly available to the player. Knowing that at least some other characters can do this, to some extent, is encouraging - it means Newguy McGee wouldn't have a "super secret exclusive Mary Sue power", but an aptitude at something that already exists in-universe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Rubenio Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 2 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said: Damn you, Saint Rubenio! You've gotten my hopes up, and I will hold you personally responsible if the game fails to deliver on them. Well, I'm sorry, or I'm glad, depending on how it turns out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jotari Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 2 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said: Assuming that Kaga, at the time of FE4, had really intended for Azmur, and his immediate descendants, to be the only remaining Naga lineage in Jugdral, that would actually make Linoan a retcon. If I remember my Thracia right, Linoan herself doesn't even know she has Naha holy blood until someone tells her. It's a bit questionable how she couldn't know that with it being her ancestry and the importance people would put on such stuff, but I guess it was something of an Elincia situation with a non public heir who married into the nobility of Tara. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ping Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 FE4 Chapter 3: Eldigan the Lionheart Agusty (Turn 0) Spoiler Honoring his promise to Eldigan, Sigurd allows Chagall his freedom and does not interfere. Sigurd adopts Agusty as his headquarters, and while his troops there recuperate, he persists in negotiating Agustria's return to governance by its own king. Despite his determination to restore Chagall's rule, his orders from Belhalla never change: to remain in Agusty and to govern its citizens. Scarcely six months have passed, and yet Grannvale's ruling administrators have already grown arrogant and have taken to abusing their power over Agustria for their own gain. Day by day, the Agustrian people grow ever wearier of Grannvale's actions. Before long, as he feared, Sigurd finds himself yet again caught in a new conflict. Reports abound of Chagall raising his army anew at Madino Castle, vying to reclaim his lost capital from Sigurd. Further north beyond Madino, the reviled pirates of Orgahil prepare themselves to sweep in and profit from the land's chaos. Belhalla's orders demand that Sigurd must maintain control of Agusty above all else. Sigurd's heart lies heavy in the face of the impending crisis. The looming battle for Agustria... A trial between friendship and loyalties. Before Sigurd looms a final battle in Agustria's north: a showdown fated to shape the course of Jugdral's history. : "Is the army ready to move in? Those fools couldn't possibly see this coming. Right, as arranged. Move out! This is our final chance to return Agusty to our control. Just look at them... Lingering in my kingdom, oh-so-carefree. ...I grow weary of them. They will pay dearly for this! Jacoban! Where's that lousy sellsword gotten to this time?" : "Need me, do you?" : "I've seen just how good a fighter you are. You're in charge of the castle defenses." : "Yeah, I know... Might be a boring job, but you're payin' awfully well for it. Let's see 'em learn to fear my bolt sword." : "That's what I like to hear. Don't fail me." "Now, Eldigan's still at Silvail, is he? Hm... How will he take this? I wonder..." It's the return of the world's greatest guardsman! : "Gah... I couldn't possibly fight Sigurd. What in the world can I do now..." I do like the set-up. Yes, you can point at Chagall for restarting hostilities, but as much of a little shit he may be, it has also to be said that Grannvale acting as an occupational army (with all the abuses this entails) actually makes it understandable for Chagall to take this gamble, even if it's framed as a more petty "Grr, I am the big king man here!!" in the dialogue. In any case, this leads to both Sigurd and Eldigan being pushed into eventual conflict by their respective superior's actions, with both of them not really doing anything to prevent it, unless we count Eldigan's epic negotiation skills in the previous chapter ("pls no war" - "No, lmao. Straight to jail" - "Oh no how unexpected"). In short, I can see this upcoming fight as a Camüs-on-Camüh conflict, in which both Sigurd and Eldigan play the role of the (in theory) good man doing nothing. And finally, we go all the way up to the northern edge of the map. : "Oi, cap'n! Looks like the mainland down south's gettin' ready for 'nother war. This is gettin' interestin'... This is our chance, I recon, with nuthin' stoppin' us from fleecin' the villages. Both them armies'll be at each other's throats, so there'll be nobody interested in gettin' between us an' th' villages." : "Shut it, Duvall! I won't allow any petty thefts under my watch. I refuse to let us sink so low. Don't forget, we're heroic thieves. That's what the name of Orgahil now means to the world!" : "That wench struts aroun' like the boss, but she ain't really the ol' cap'n's sprog. The cap'n jus' found 'er lost when she was a tiny thing an' raised 'er as 'is own. She still took over when 'e died, but little she knows she ain't really his brat. She ain't the real boss, so there's nuffin' t'worry 'bout. Now, let's go 'elp ourselves to sum treasure!" There's something deeply funny about a gang of pirates so deeply respectful of the legitimacy of power passed by blood. "Aw, sorry cap'n, ev'ry single 'un o' us 'ates ev'ry single order that wench gives, but we can't have 'er walk the plank 'cuz of the divine mandate she in- inhert-- inhertert-- she GOT from t'ol' cap'n" : "Dire news, sire! King Chagall's army has struck, and they have the castle surrounded!" : "What?! That fool... We were so close to finally withdrawing from Agustria. There's no sense in attacking us now! Where in the blazes is Eldigan..." : "That isn't all, sire. It appears that pirates from Orgahil are attacking amidst the confusion." : "Is that so... I suppose we've no choice, then. Ready everyone for battle." :"My love... You're about to fight again, aren't you?" : "I'm afraid so. I'm sorry, Deirdre, but you mustn't come with me this time. Seliph is but a newborn, and he needs you." : "Yes, dear..." : "You needn't look so anxious, Deirdre. I'll be back before long, I promise. Shanan, I've a favor to ask of you. Would you look after Deirdre and Seliph, please?" : "Of course! Don't worry about a thing." : "Ha! As spirited as ever, Shanan. At the very least, Deirdre, he ought to keep you in good cheer. Don't worry about a thing, Deirdre. I'll be back for you. I promise." : "Milord..." "There is nothing to worry about. Let me reiterate: Nothing. To worry. About. Nothing. At all. Nothing bad will happen during this chapter of our story. Everything is good. Hunky-dory, even." The map! It's somewhat different in that Sigurd's initial position in Agusty is actually surrounded by five groups of enemies, each consisting of one commander and four mooks. __ Some Lance Knights to the west (3). The commander hits quite hard with a Silver Lance, while the mooks are a lot more manageable at 25 Atk. __ And Lance Armours to the east (4). Similar attacking power, with more bulk but less movement, and Javelins on the generics. __ A group of mages southest of Madion (1). Hard-hitting, since only the castle-bound Deirdre has truly excellent Res, although the generics only hit for 17 Atk. Very frail, obviously. ____ And lastly, two groups at more or less the same location. It's always difficult to prevent bow knights from teaming up on somebody, between their 2-range and Canter, but they're a bit weaker than the other enemies to compensate. __ For Madion Castle, a mixed defense force with Jacoban on top of the fort. He doesn't hit quite as hard at 2-range, with the Elthunder spell cast by his sword having 14 Mt (i.e. 19 Atk). He isn't terribly bulky, either - Sigurd hits him for 24 dmg, which should three-shot him even if he gets a turn of healing in. The unusually-looking map sprite in the center of the group is that of a Bishop. Healer only, but he's rather good at the job. Finally, the middle Ballista (more distinct-looking in the map animation) is of the Iron variety, hitting significantly harder than the regular ol' ones flanking it. Luckily, if Kaga did 15 range first, he didn't do so in Genealogy, but this still creates a significant no-fly zone for Erin. As usual, the first thing to do on a map is going into the arena. Ayra first because she is still wearing the Paragon ring and thus would like to beat the arena immediately and not wait for the Brave Sword she'll get soon... __ ...and she manages to do so. Turns out she's rather not bad at this thing, even though she needed to fish for Astra against the Brave Axe user, of all people. And this makes her the first character to grab a promotion! Well, depending on your view point; I didn't save after showing Lex's promotion and he's technically still unpromoted as I'm taking this screenshot, but he of course reached Lv.20 before Ayra did. The opponents in the arena are as follows: Tyler (Cavalier | Steel Sword): 19 Atk | 96 Hit | 5 AS | 39 HP | 8 Def | 0 Res -or- Lipp (Bow Knight | Steel Bow): 23 Atk | 86 Hit | 0 AS | 39 HP | 8 Def | 0 Res Pelleo (Axe Knight | Steel Axe): 28 Atk | 88 Hit | -9 AS | 42 HP | 9 Def | 1 Res | Hand Axe): 20 Atk | 68 Hit | -11 AS Treville (Myrmidon | Steel Blade): 27 Atk | 88 Hit | 8 AS | 45 HP | 9 Def | 1 Res -or- Geller (Armored Bow | Brave Bow): 27 Atk | 98 Hit | -1 AS | 55 HP | 14 Def | 1 Res Pazan (Armr. Lance | Steel Lance): 30 Atk | 100 Hit | -4 AS | 58 HP | 15 Def | 1 Res | Javelin): 26 Atk | 80 Hit | -10 AS Doma (Dark Mage | Jormungand): 36 Atk | 118 Hit | 2 AS | 61 HP | 14 Def | 16 Res Keller (Duke Knight | Brave Lance): 34 Atk | 108 Hit | 2 AS | 64 HP | 15 Def | 5 Res | Javelin): 31 Atk | 88 Hit | -4 AS Thornton (Great Knight | Brave Axe): 36 Atk | 100 Hit | 3 AS | 67 HP | 18 Def | 5 Res -or- Luigi (Arch Knight | Brave Bow): 32 Atk | 110 Hit | 7 AS | 67 HP | 16 Def | 5 Res And the following characters visited the arena after Ayra's smashing success: Lv. HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Res Funds XP Arn Arden 8.41 39 16 0 6 5 3 15 0 26275 +72 [3] Lex 24.24* 52 27 2 16 14 12 25 3 42140 +320 [*] Azel 21.38* 41 7 22 13 22 6 10 13 21640 +420 [*] holds Paragon Holyn 15.00 43 15 0 20 17 3 11 1 34500 +118 [5] Ayra 20.62* 47 23 2 28 28 5 12 4 50000 +444 [*] Erin 17.28 41 14 2 13 23 8 15 9 46360 +548 [*] Alec 8.81 37 12 0 11 11 5 11 0 17920 +118 [4] Finn 22.82* 46 22 0 16 20 16 17 4 34030 +364 [*] Midir 20.30* 44 17 1 16 19 8 13 4 38280 +452 [*] Jamke 16.05 46 15 0 16 17 10 11 1 32140 +448 [7] All full runs (and Jamke's) were entirely done with Paragon. Arden, Holyn, and Alec just burned some RNG. Ethlyn (39 HP / 8 Def): gets past Pazan w/ Miracle Sword and Aideen healing her (1->26 HP). Could do so and keep the Paragon Ring for a while for some extra healing XP. Quan would have to spend his first turn gifting her money to do this. Lachesis (28 HP / 9 Def): also gets past Pazan with Aideen's help. From full HP, her Miracle isn't strong enough (7 HP). Loses to Keller, at least without further set-up. Still some ways away from 40k gold. Beowulf: Can only get up to and past Treville without Brave Sword. Also not close at all to 40k gold. I think I'll see if I can get Lewyn some money to Paragon through the arena. He's kinda low-level, actually. As you can see, Finn, Midir, and (most impactfully) Azel reached Lv.20 during their arena runs, too. This opens up some equipment options that are relevant for who will be able to bring what into the second generation - specifically, Azel's sword rank and Finn's A-rank in lances - so this might be a good point to muse over that a little bit. I do have to remember that Quan, Ethlyn, and Finn will leave Sigurd at the end of this chapter. Our strongest swords are two Silvers, the Brave Sword, and the four Magic swords. Seliph gets Sigurd's Silver Sword. Magic swords go to [Azel->Patty], [Lachesis->Nanna], [Erin->Fee], [Sigurd->Seliph] Brave Sword to Durmott, Silver Sword to Larcei. Scathach can't inherit from Lex. Miracle Sword to Nanna? I was thinking Patty, but she can't get it due to inversed inheritance. Thief Sword to Fee Lances: 2x Silver, 1x Brave. One Silver stays on Finn. I guess there isn't that much variability? Brave on Erin->Fee, 2nd Silver on Quan->Altena, or am I missing anything or anybody? Bows: ...I mean, Killer Bow from Midir to Lester. Probably Brave+Silver, as well, just out of principle. Tomes: If Tiltyu promotes, she should pass Elwind to Tine. Otherwise, Lewyn->Arthur. Apart from the invariable Forseti inheritance, I don't think the other tomes matter as much. Staves: Physic and Warp from Aideen to Lana. Nanna already starts with Mend. Return to her? Can't do anything else, she'll come with Staves (C) Ced is the only one who can get Rescue, Fortify. Silence+Sleep probably should go to Lana, just because she joins early? Oh man, all the rings... Str+5: No idea. Mag+5: Azel's been carrying this the entire time. Might actually be fine to give to Patty. Spd+5: Also on Azel right now. Can't really predict if anybody will need this, although Patty probably won't. Skl+5: On Finn right now. I might just let him keep it, or get it on Midir/Lester to make the Brave Bow more reliable. Def+5: On Erin. Also seems sensible. Bulky flyers are nice. Res+5: At the Pawnbroker right now. Seliph? Mov+3: Sylvia wants it, but won't have anybody to inherit it to, so she'll have to pawn it to somebody else eventually. Sigurd->Seliph? He does start out horseless. Pursuit: Either Lewyn->Arthur, or let Ethlyn take it away from Gen1 after this map. Life Ring: Doesn't seem like the most impactful thing. Bargain: It's still on Erin, but I think I'll put (and keep) it on Azel soon. Knight Ring: Sylvia wants this one, too. Probably best on Seliph on accord of his horselessness, since Sylvia won't procreate. Return Ring: Pawnbroker right now. Can't predict who this would be good on, either. Nanna, since she'll probably get the Return staff, too? So that's where I am right now. Arenaing really takes a lot of time compared to how much is worth writing about it. Apologies for not answering to the most recent replies. I'm reading along, of course, but I wouldn't have much to add except nodding along, saying "Hm yes. Interesting", especially when the discussion is about areas we're yet to visit. Don't let that discourage you, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPGuy96 Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 1 hour ago, ping said: Finn 22.82* 46 22 0 16 20 16 17 4 34030 +364 [*] Yay! From what I can tell, on Finn's rejoining chapter, there's some annoying mages with 34 physical bulk that he can perfectly oneshot with the Silver Lance at 22 strength. 1 hour ago, ping said: Magic swords go to [Azel->Patty], [Lachesis->Nanna], [Erin->Fee], [Sigurd->Seliph] Hm, I don't think I've ever tried a magic sword on Seliph, I generally find his dad's high kill Silver Sword to be sufficient. Could be worth trying, you could also consider passing one down to Leif, who would appreciate it against some armor knights on his join chapter. Nanna having one means she could do the job, but it's helpful to get Leif as much exp as you can. 1 hour ago, ping said: I guess there isn't that much variability? Brave on Erin->Fee, 2nd Silver on Quan->Altena, or am I missing anything or anybody? Altena doesn't really need a Silver Lance, but then nobody else does either. 1 hour ago, ping said: Str+5: No idea. Probably an early kid - Seliph, Diarmiud, Lester? I don't know that any of them need it, considering you have such good weapons planned for them, but it's nice to have sooner rather than alter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrightBow Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 (edited) 1 hour ago, ping said: : "Yeah, I know... Might be a boring job, but you're payin' awfully well for it. Let's see 'em learn to fear my bolt sword." Well, as long as we don't call it a Levin Sword. The heck is a "Levin" even supposed to be? 1 hour ago, ping said: : "Shut it, Duvall! I won't allow any petty thefts under my watch. I refuse to let us sink so low. Don't forget, we're heroic thieves. That's what the name of Orgahil now means to the world!" 1 hour ago, ping said: Negative avoid is funny. 1 hour ago, ping said: Finally, the middle Ballista (more distinct-looking in the map animation) is of the Iron variety, hitting significantly harder than the regular ol' ones flanking it. Luckily, if Kaga did 15 range first, he didn't do so in Genealogy, but this still creates a significant no-fly zone for Erin. After Thracia, standard long range is lowered to 3-7. Ballista in Vestaria Saga are 12 range. But they also have a minimum range of 8. So they still only cover a range of 4 tiles. Edited March 6 by BrightBow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ping Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 46 minutes ago, RPGuy96 said: Hm, I don't think I've ever tried a magic sword on Seliph, I generally find his dad's high kill Silver Sword to be sufficient. Could be worth trying, you could also consider passing one down to Leif, who would appreciate it against some armor knights on his join chapter. Nanna having one means she could do the job, but it's helpful to get Leif as much exp as you can. My thought process is that Seliph doesn't have a lance rank until he promotes, which would make a magic sword his only source of 1-2 range until then. But of course, the same is true for Leif, so if he faces more high Def / low Res enemies than Seliph in their respective joining spots, it would make sense to prioritise Leif. 53 minutes ago, RPGuy96 said: Altena doesn't really need a Silver Lance, but then nobody else does either. Yeah, the demand just isn't really there. Erin and Raquesis would both be able to use it post-promotion, but they can't pass it their respective daughters. I suppose it would be a good strong physical weapon for Raquesis, since Silver and Brave Swords will end up on other characters. Although she might do fine with Silver Axe and/or Silver Bow, the former being uninheritable and the latter in even lower demand than the Silver Lance. 6 minutes ago, BrightBow said: Well, as long as we don't call it a Levin Sword. The heck is a "Levin" supposed to be? Quote Archaic English term for "lightning"; from the Middle English levene, possibly descended from the Latin lumen, "light". https://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Levin_Sword#Etymology_and_other_languages That is interesting, actually. Could've kept it at "Levene Sword" to avoid the confusion with Lewyn's actual Japanese name, though. 8 minutes ago, BrightBow said: Ballista in Vestaria Saga are 12 range. But they also have a minimum range of 8. So they still only cover a range of 4 tiles. That sounds both pretty cool, thanks to its uniqueness, and like a pain to keep track of. I hope they're at least immobile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Rubenio Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 2 hours ago, ping said: It's the return of the world's greatest guardsman! Oh I forgot this portrait was also here. Come to think about it, I don't think Thracia has a generic soldier at all - it just uses recolored bossmen and such for its cutscene nobodies. Then FE6 created the red soldier boy that would go on to become the series' staple generic. For a while, at least. Awakening onwards they were giving all generic classes their own portraits, so having a generic soldier for cutscenes stopped being necessary. 2 hours ago, ping said: I do like the set-up. Yes, you can point at Chagall for restarting hostilities, but as much of a little shit he may be, it has also to be said that Grannvale acting as an occupational army (with all the abuses this entails) actually makes it understandable for Chagall to take this gamble, even if it's framed as a more petty "Grr, I am the big king man here!!" in the dialogue. In any case, this leads to both Sigurd and Eldigan being pushed into eventual conflict by their respective superior's actions, with both of them not really doing anything to prevent it, unless we count Eldigan's epic negotiation skills in the previous chapter ("pls no war" - "No, lmao. Straight to jail" - "Oh no how unexpected"). In short, I can see this upcoming fight as a Camüs-on-Camüh conflict, in which both Sigurd and Eldigan play the role of the (in theory) good man doing nothing. Yeah, it's a pretty interesting situation they came up with here. Chances are even if Chagall waited out the year, Grannvale would've just gone "lol no" at Sigurd's request to let him get his kingdom back, and then basically the same thing would happen in the end. 2 hours ago, ping said: : "Shut it, Duvall! I won't allow any petty thefts under my watch. I refuse to let us sink so low. Don't forget, we're heroic thieves. That's what the name of Orgahil now means to the world!" No it doesn't, since the narration says your band's "revilled." And the narrator wouldn't lie, would they? Honestly, thinking about it, the situation with the pirates is just weird. One moment they're revilled bastards. The next Briggid is actually trying to make them into a band of Robin Hoods. Then her cronies are evil bastards, but her old father, who they had also served under, was also seemingly a good dude? So then why didn't the evil bastards try to oust that guy instead? Why do they act so surprised that his daughter, too, is not an asshole? I'm probably thinking too hard on something that probably came about from a single sentence's worth of thought process: "We need brigands to burn down villages, put Briggid there and establish she's a good gal for her recruitment." 2 hours ago, ping said: There's something deeply funny about a gang of pirates so deeply respectful of the legitimacy of power passed by blood. "Aw, sorry cap'n, ev'ry single 'un o' us 'ates ev'ry single order that wench gives, but we can't have 'er walk the plank 'cuz of the divine mandate she in- inhert-- inhertert-- she GOT from t'ol' cap'n" The ol' cap'n was Kaga, he imprinted the importance of divine right to rule upon his subjects-- I mean, his men. 2 hours ago, ping said: "There is nothing to worry about. Let me reiterate: Nothing. To worry. About. Nothing. At all. Nothing bad will happen during this chapter of our story. Everything is good. Hunky-dory, even." Of course not. Sigurd left a 10(?) year old to protect Deirdre. He'll kick the asses of any teleporting garbage bagmen that show up to kidnap her. Watch. 1 hour ago, RPGuy96 said: Yay! From what I can tell, on Finn's rejoining chapter, there's some annoying mages with 34 physical bulk that he can perfectly oneshot with the Silver Lance at 22 strength. Would you look at that. Even if Ping ends up depriving him of his precious, he might still end up being as good as he deserves to be. 16 minutes ago, BrightBow said: Well, as long as we don't call it a Levin Sword. The heck is a "Levin" even supposed to be? 3 minutes ago, ping said: https://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Levin_Sword#Etymology_and_other_languages That is interesting, actually. Could've kept it at "Levene Sword" to avoid the confusion with Lewyn's actual Japanese name, though. You ever think about the fact that they called this guy Levin even though he dabbles in wind magic, and then aptly named the thunder sword Levin even though the FE Levin has nothing to do with thunder? And then solved this conundrum by renaming Levin, the character, Lewyn? ...Jesus Christ, what a mess... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrightBow Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 (edited) 22 minutes ago, ping said: Archaic English term for "lightning"; from the Middle English levene, possibly descended from the Latin lumen, "light". I suppose there is no need for something to be straightforward when it could instead be really obscure and abstract instead. Abstract enough where the name could also work for either a fire sword or a light sword. It's like in the German translation for PoR, where Elfenlicht is a fire spell while Elfenblitz is a light spell. Also the Sonic Sword is the Donnerschwert for some reason. 22 minutes ago, ping said: That sounds both pretty cool, thanks to its uniqueness, and like a pain to keep track of. I hope they're at least immobile. They are very much immobile. Like, actually immobile. Unlike the Berwick Saga ballista that technically can move, but have to chose between moving, attacking and turning. Can't do more then one at once. 13 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said: You ever think about the fact that they called this guy Levin even though he dabbles in wind magic, and then aptly named the thunder sword Levin even though the FE Levin has nothing to do with thunder? And then solved this conundrum by renaming Levin, the character, Lewyn? ...Jesus Christ, what a mess... Levin is an actual name, so it makes perfect sense to give it to a person. Giving it to a weapon is much less self-explanatory, though. Like, not even a unique artifact but just a general weapon type. But I'm sure the literal meaning of the word is a factor in how Levin ended up with that name. Considering that whole "light inheritors" theme. Even used to be the name of the game at one point. Edited March 6 by BrightBow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ping Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said: Oh I forgot this portrait was also here. Come to think about it, I don't think Thracia has a generic soldier at all - it just uses recolored bossmen and such for its cutscene nobodies. Then FE6 created the red soldier boy that would go on to become the series' staple generic. For a while, at least. Awakening onwards they were giving all generic classes their own portraits, so having a generic soldier for cutscenes stopped being necessary. wdym, "generic soldier"? Clearly, that is the exact same man that Eldigan praised at the beginning of Ch.1 for a job well done. Or are you trying to imply that Kage did not do 3H Gatekeeper first? 4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said: Yeah, it's a pretty interesting situation they came up with here. Chances are even if Chagall waited out the year, Grannvale would've just gone "lol no" at Sigurd's request to let him get his kingdom back, and then basically the same thing would happen in the end. It's great. Nobody is looking good in this situation. Eldigan is the closest to looking good here. If I recall, when I watched an FE4 LP years ago, I found him to be pretty reasonable (and not even just reasonable "for a Camüh") basically until he made is very smart final decision. 4 hours ago, BrightBow said: It's like in the German translation for PoR, where Elfenlicht is a fire spell while Elfenblitz is a light spell. Also the Sonic Sword is the Donnerschwert for some reason. One could maybe argue that "Donner" is the rumbly part of a thunderstorm, so it is a sonic phenomenon, if you will. ...yeah, it's a stretch. And the firy Licht and light Blitz is just actively disorienting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Rubenio Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 1 minute ago, ping said: wdym, "generic soldier"? Clearly, that is the exact same man that Eldigan praised at the beginning of Ch.1 for a job well done. Or are you trying to imply that Kage did not do 3H Gatekeeper first? Well... Not in this game, he didn't. 5 minutes ago, ping said: It's great. Nobody is looking good in this situation. Eldigan is the closest to looking good here. If I recall, when I watched an FE4 LP years ago, I found him to be pretty reasonable (and not even just reasonable "for a Camüh") basically until he made is very smart final decision. Yeah, you know you've succeeded when the Camus actually seems like the reasonable one. It's a shame that his two dumbass choices are the only thing people ever remember. Though, in fairness, they are really dumbass choices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jotari Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 (edited) 7 hours ago, RPGuy96 said: Yay! From what I can tell, on Finn's rejoining chapter, there's some annoying mages with 34 physical bulk that he can perfectly oneshot with the Silver Lance at 22 strength. Hm, I don't think I've ever tried a magic sword on Seliph, I generally find his dad's high kill Silver Sword to be sufficient. Could be worth trying, you could also consider passing one down to Leif, who would appreciate it against some armor knights on his join chapter. Nanna having one means she could do the job, but it's helpful to get Leif as much exp as you can. Altena doesn't really need a Silver Lance, but then nobody else does either. Probably an early kid - Seliph, Diarmiud, Lester? I don't know that any of them need it, considering you have such good weapons planned for them, but it's nice to have sooner rather than alter. I've just finished a run where I made heavy use of Bolt Sword Seliph (along with the silver sword). It was definitely advantageous to give him the 1-2 range before promotion. It was a subs run so Seliph was pretty clutch for most of it, being one of the only reliable attackers that isn't relying on an expensive holy weapon. I thought my Seliph was inordinately good, but then I looked up his averages and saw id actually been screwed on almost every stat. Rings and how many kills you have on a weapon (and the existence of Pursuit!) tend to be a lot more important than raw stats. 1 hour ago, ping said: wdym, "generic soldier"? Clearly, that is the exact same man that Eldigan praised at the beginning of Ch.1 for a job well done. Or are you trying to imply that Kage did not do 3H Gatekeeper first? Not sure if I like the idea of meming Eldigan's love for generic soldier face, or would prefer if they replaced both these portraits with Eve/Eva/Alva with a generic soldier only showing up if you managed to get all three of them killed (speaking of which, those three should have helped deal with Elliot too, in addition to being enemies in this chapter). hours ago, Saint Rubenio said: Oh I forgot this portrait was also here. Come to think about it, I don't think Thracia has a generic soldier at all - it just uses recolored bossmen and such for its cutscene nobodies. Then FE6 created the red soldier boy that would go on to become the series' staple generic. For a while, at least. Awakening onwards they were giving all generic classes their own portraits, so having a generic soldier for cutscenes stopped being necessary. Awakening's class portraits did come back to bite us in Three Houses, and especially Three Hopes, where some really important people in universe just don't have a unique face. Things came full circle and we saw the return of palette swamped portraits. Only they didn't even bother to change the palette. hours ago, Saint Rubenio said: Yeah, it's a pretty interesting situation they came up with here. Chances are even if Chagall waited out the year, Grannvale would've just gone "lol no" at Sigurd's request to let him get his kingdom back, and then basically the same thing would happen in the end. Chagall's impatience also serves to obscure Grannvale's actions somewhat and frame him as the sole guilty party. The game never directly hides anything, but its focus and innate player centric morality bias makes a line like "btw the Grannvale people in charge were abusing their power" just sort of get lost in the shuffle. We know the story, even ping who hasn't played it, so we know where this all leads and can analyze it from that perspective, but for a first time player who knows nothing of further events, I think the perspective would be very different, and that that was done on purpose to give the twist at the end of this chapter more punch. Like imagine if at the end of the first act Nyna betrayed Marth, or Mycen betrayed Alm or Hardin betrayed Marth (oh wait that actually happened, but it just wasn't as good as this because they put evil flags everywhere...and it was still the best part of Mystery's story). Edited March 6 by Jotari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shanty Pete's 1st Mate Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 7 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said: Oh I forgot this portrait was also here. Come to think about it, I don't think Thracia has a generic soldier at all - it just uses recolored bossmen and such for its cutscene nobodies. Then FE6 created the red soldier boy that would go on to become the series' staple generic. For a while, at least. This particularly soldier portrait is really funny to me, due to the exposed shoulders. Like... dude, are you naked under that breastplate? That seems really ill-prepared... and maybe a little kinky. 7 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said: Honestly, thinking about it, the situation with the pirates is just weird. One moment they're revilled bastards. The next Briggid is actually trying to make them into a band of Robin Hoods. Then her cronies are evil bastards, but her old father, who they had also served under, was also seemingly a good dude? So then why didn't the evil bastards try to oust that guy instead? Why do they act so surprised that his daughter, too, is not an asshole? Briggid would be way more fun if Kaga just... let her be bad. Maybe she actually leads her Pirates down to Augustria, and the only way to recruit her is having Edain give her the Yewfelle. Imagine that, your healer recruiting an enemy archer. Alternatively, her crew turns on her - but because she's too greedy! She's been lining her britches with gold, to the detriment of her crew, and they've had enough. So she'd become a playable "ally of convenience", until Edain restores her memories. 8 hours ago, RPGuy96 said: Probably an early kid - Seliph, Diarmiud, Lester? I don't know that any of them need it, considering you have such good weapons planned for them, but it's nice to have sooner rather than alter. Gonna second Lester. Deimne is awesome because he has Pursuit, and gets a +5 Strength conversation in chapter 6. A Lester who is fathered by a Midir with the Strength Ring gets all the Deimne benefits, alongside actually good bows. And a far superior sister. 9 hours ago, ping said: It's the return of the world's greatest guardsman! Voiced by Kyle McCarley in the remake or else I, personally, riot. 9 hours ago, ping said: : "Ha! As spirited as ever, Shanan. RIP "You the man, Shannan." - 1996-WheneverProjectNagaCameOut 9 hours ago, ping said: For Madion Castle, a mixed defense force with Jacoban on top of the fort. He doesn't hit quite as hard at 2-range, with the Elthunder spell cast by his sword having 14 Mt (i.e. 19 Atk). He isn't terribly bulky, either - Sigurd hits him for 24 dmg, which should three-shot him even if he gets a turn of healing in. If Chagall had just put Eldigan on the Madino Gate - and cast Silence on Lachesis, so she couldn't talk to him - this map would be unwinnable. Bad strategist! 10 hours ago, ping said: Azel 21.38* 41 7 22 13 22 6 10 13 21640 +420 [*] holds Paragon Holy crow. Azelle gaming. The earliest I've gotten him to promotion is, like, the middle of chapter 4. So well done! 10 hours ago, ping said: Luigi (Arch Knight | Brave Bow): 32 Atk | 110 Hit | 7 AS | 67 HP | 16 Def | 5 Res If I recall, his name is "Mario" in the original Japanese. Strict improvement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jotari Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said: If I recall, his name is "Mario" in the original Japanese. Strict improvement. This is also the arena chapter where we get the confusing Duma enemy, which is not the same as the big monster from Gaiden, who is really Domain in Japanese. I had a whole thread going over the arena enemy names. There's some interesting stuff there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrightBow Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 23 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said: Well... Not in this game, he didn't. Of course the only reason the Gatekeeper was even noteworthy is because he is an NPC. A rare sign that modern Fire Emblem features human life outside of the avatar and his small group of worshippers. Not exactly something that makes you stick out in Berwick Saga, where Navaron is populated with dozens of green guys. Not just your usual assortment of shopkeepers, furniture merchants and Erzheimers, but quite a few don't even offer any service, like those prison guards. Or the tavern owner. You can't buy any drinks from him, but people still always come by just to insult the place because they are charming like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Rubenio Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 41 minutes ago, BrightBow said: Of course the only reason the Gatekeeper was even noteworthy is because he is an NPC. A rare sign that modern Fire Emblem features human life outside of the avatar and his small group of worshippers. Not exactly something that makes you stick out in Berwick Saga, where Navaron is populated with dozens of green guys. Not just your usual assortment of shopkeepers, furniture merchants and Erzheimers, but quite a few don't even offer any service, like those prison guards. Honestly, I wouldn't even single out modern FE there. The extent of generic citizens in FE as a whole is basically just to say some words to you before giving you an item, or to be a unit on the map you need to protect from the bad guys. Trying to make the game's universe seem like a breathing, living world with people living their lives is a KagaSaga thing. 41 minutes ago, BrightBow said: Or the tavern owner. You can't buy any drinks from him, but people still always come by just to insult the place because they are charming like that. Maybe it's the decor? He should buy some furniture. I hear there's a guy in town who sells some at some killer prices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jotari Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 (edited) 1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said: Honestly, I wouldn't even single out modern FE there. The extent of generic citizens in FE as a whole is basically just to say some words to you before giving you an item, or to be a unit on the map you need to protect from the bad guys. Trying to make the game's universe seem like a breathing, living world with people living their lives is a KagaSaga thing. Time to play "Who did it best!?" Spoiler *Shadow Dragon: Say some words, give you an item very definitely fits here. We get told things like Warren is a bustling port town or that the citizens are happy Marth is back, but we don't see it at all. And honestly the remakes are probably worse, just because I like that one villager who is smiling and smoking a pipe. The NES also had the convoy guy who charges you (honestly a laughably small amount of money) for it's use, which is saying something about the wider world. *Gaiden: Explorable towns!...There isn't much to explore, but still, explorable towns! It's an improvement and I wish the remake kept the free roaming. Reducing it to talking to jpegs removed the mask of how limited a feature it always was, but I prefer my delusional damnit. At least the remake did give us loads of quests where we are the ones saying a few words and giving stuff to the NPCs. Again, not hugely deep but a far cry better than the series usual fair and probably the best we've gotten. *Mystery: I honestly can't remember Marth talking to anyone by Marisha's Grandmother and Lena's Grandfather. Feels like every town you visit in this game just gives you another playable character, or it's the bloody king of Aurelius. Though unlike Shadow Dragon you get an item from Altea's warring villages, which I only mention now because I forgot to earlier. Hi warring villages, I like your world building even if the context makes your grudge ridiculous. *Genealogy: One of the Crossknights has a girlfriend, and he dialogue changes depending on wether you've killed him or not! That's cool!...otherwise it's very much "you saved us, here, have some money". People like Filat and Felipe at least do give us more insight into the noble circles of the like that aren't fighting but serving the king and stuff. Oh wait, I'm also forgetting some alternate village dialogue with specific characters like the dude who wants to chance his arm at having his daughter marry Seliph (Kaga did village maiden bride first!) *Thracia: It's the same world, but we see it from a different perspective, and a better one by this metric. First villages we go to show off the family of our playable characters, which is always nice. Later in Iz we have some villager outright shit talk you before his sister shows up to chew him out and then give you something. That's a hell of a lot more noticable than most civilian interactions even if it's still very basic. All the kids you save have individual names and specific parents who love them. Likewise the blackmailed Leinster generals, while lacking names, have specific family members who can convince them they're safe. The people of Tara, while having playable characters representing them, are still shown to be a collective movement and not just Linoan doing her own thing. Abandoning the city is painful for her because of the people who remain. And on Linoan, there's that random bishop who can promote her and knows about her family. Yeah, honestly, Thracia is pretty great for making the world seem like a living place outside of the scope of the player. It's mostly for the sake of showing how much everyone is suffering, but at least we see it directly with specific people unlike Genealogy's repetitive village visiting or saving a generic villager on the overworld for free exp. *Binding Blade: Hurts me to say it, but I feel like the Western Isles is the opposite of what I said about Tara. It feels like it's all about the playable characters and not about the generic common people at all. But hey, Wade and Lot have family members you can visit, which as I said before, is always nice. The church as a body also exists and feels relevant to people's lives and not just the plot and playable representatives. And Etruria's succession crisis, while plot important, feels like a concern that heavily impacts many more non-Roy people than Roy. There is some retroactive weirdness here in that a lot of the NPCs mentioned here went on to be playable characters in the prequel when originally they were just for world building. The advent of support convos at least let the characters talk about the world and other people which is a big help. *Blazing: The proverbial Thracia to Binding Blade. It's a smaller more focused conflict and...I don't think it really utilizes that to do much that the other Elibe game didn't. The Bern succession crisis is way more important both textually and meta textually than the Etruria one. Otherwise all the focus is on the blackfang family. Oh wait, the potential coup Elbert is wrapped up in that never gets explained or resolved! Poor writing? Possibly, but good for superfluous world building detail! *Stones: Honestly first thing I remember here is the village you visit where you meet no one and just take what ever Amelia left behind, essentially robbing her empty house. People talk about Magvel having poor works building and embody that in three of the legendary heroes not having names, but I think it doesn't do a great job for most other aspects either. Maybe I'm too harsh. Convince me otherwise. *Tellius: NPCs are racist dicks. That's the jist of it. And it's more of an identity than most populaces get. The merchants all have unique names and Largo runs a bar (that only playable characters ever seem to drink in). Tellius does have good world building but I think it's more in the history or politics than the NPC daily life. Like, the end game literally wipes out every (non villain) NPC in the world and I don't think there's a single individual we can point to and say "Oh not, not that guy!" Maybe Lara and Aran's abbot, if I could be convinced to care about Lara and Aran first. *Awakening: oh my god xD what can I say about Awakening. It's freaking weird man, just freaking weird, and not really in a good way. Awakening has bad world building. It's bad. But we do see a lot of it with all the absolute nonsense prologues that have no ties to where they are in the world or what's happening in the plot. That pot head (not a marijuana reference) art work though does manage to sell some of that weirdness. And Chrom marries a random NPC! Awakening's world building kind of sucks but I love it. *Fates: Also famous for having such poor world building they didn't even name the continent. And, yeah, that does kind of represent how little we really get to see of it. At least that one dancer shows up for that one scene with a name and a cute design that was enough to get her into CYL while freaking Kotaro isn't. *Fodlan: Three Houses is like the anti-Awakening. We have so much history and detail of the world and setting that does very little to nothing to really represent the actual people who live there. Even in support conversations where they need an NPC they usually just use Anna. The world feels so hugely intricate and big, but just completely devoid of flavour to me. *Engage: Engage manages to have NPCs you can freely walk around and talk to yet still have less depth than freaking Gaiden. I don't think I can think of one thing of note that any minor NPC says to me in Engage. And I love Engage, but this is not something that can it be praised for. The only exception is Jean's paralogue where we actually get to see his parents and get a sense of his village. That's not enough for me to remotely care when the Fell Xenologue plot line reveals that literally every NPC in the world has been killed, and unlike Radiant Dawn, they're not coming back. So, yeah, I think Thracia and Shadows of Valentia are the winners by a pretty big metric. And Engage probably is the worst as it doesn't even have Shadow Dragon's "here have this item". Here have this item does still occasionally result in some memorable interactions, like the Devil Axe guy. Edited March 7 by Jotari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrightBow Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 On 3/4/2024 at 12:19 AM, Saint Rubenio said: Padolf's the best, though. He's the funniest bossman in the game. Meme stat through the roof. Although thinking about it some more, my favorite might be the noble from VS2 who disguises himself as a generic Grand Guard, except he is given away by the fact that his stats are absolutely pathetic. That just adds another level to it, I'd say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ping Posted March 9 Author Share Posted March 9 FE4 Chapter 3: Eldigan the Lionheart Agusty --> Madino Spoiler For the record: One dead Raquesis. TL;DR: I had Beowulf go too far into the range of the Bowknight squad, thought, "well, maybe I get lucky if I give them more possible targets", and didn't get lucky. Spoiler warning: I didn't quite learn, although Ruben might enjoy that particular missplay as fuel for his propaganda. ____ As the first "official" action of the turn, Quan gives his money to Ethlyn so that she can afford the Paragon band. With Aideen's heal, she manages to get past Pazan, although Doma would require another HP set-up to beat. I may or may not set that up later - - since the Pazan fight gives Ethlyn enough XP to promote. Although having looked up inheritance mechanics, her promotion isn't even that important, since a character will only pass on stats relative to their class's base stats, which means that a promotion doesn't actually improve the children. And because the Leonster gang leaves after this map, Ethlyn won't have too much opportunity to actually use her improved stats. Well, maybe it'll help her get through the rest of the arena. Something that does matter greatly is this conversation: : "Ayra! Hey there." : "Sigh... What do you want, Lex?" : Sheesh! Courteous as ever, aren't you?" : "Look, get to your point, whatever it may be I've better things to do than waste time on you." : "Hold on. I've got a little gift here. I thought of you the moment I saw it." : "You can foist it on some other woman. I've no use for such trinkets." : "Heh. Not even something like this?" : "Oh? ...Wait! That's-" : "Ah, good! You're well acquainted with the famous brave sword, then." : "I never thought I'd see a real brave sword! Never have I seen a blade so beautiful..." : "Glad you like it! It's yours. I guess I'll see you around, Ayra." : "Er, Lex! Wait a moment!" And already this is a better romance than Deirdre and Sigurd. (Honestly, as far as RomCom misunderstandings go, this isn't half bad, with Ayra expecting a "You're pretty!" and getting a "You're badass!" instead.) For the record, this would've been the conversation with Holyn instead: : "Hey, Ayra! this is for you. Here." : "Isn't this a brave sword? Why me, though? Shouldn't you be wielding this yourself?" : "This thing's only gonna get harder from here, yeah? You burn through blades so fast, you could do with a spare or two. Look after yourself, okay? One day I might not be here to watch your back." : "Holyn... Thank you. I promise I'll put it to good use." Eh. More generic than Lex's one. Holyn mentioning Ayra "burning through blades so fast" is a fun little detail, though, her being the only Astra user in the first generation. __ Obviously, the first turn is just some moving about. The TL;DR: Finn goes west to solo some Cavs, while Azel goes east to solo some Knights. __ Well, Jamke follows him because Azel will then swing north to save a the eastmost village, and doesn't really want to slow himself down. Finn doesn't have that kind of time pressure, although he probably doesn't want to be too close to Silvail when Sigurd seizes Madino. __ And Erin goes straight north, mostly to kill Pirates coming from this direction, although she takes a quick stab at the Mage commander on the way. She also weakens some of the generic Mages with the Light Brand on enemy phase, but since these are really low-leveled (Lv.8, iirc), she only gets literally one XP from doing so. Lewyn, who's still only Lv.10 himself, gets these kills instead. The main group, of course goes into the direction of Madino, in which the most enemies wait. I was initially a bit confused about the groups of enemies behave - I thought they'd only move if you're in their commander's range, but then the Cavs facing Finn disproved that theory... Turns out it's a lot more simple. Every group starts moving on a certain turn. The end. And the Knights here start moving a turn before the Bow Knights, so you can fight these groups separately if you beeline right towards them. Jeigan Lex? Jeigan Lex. (I initially had him go west, but he's actually so bulky that the generic Lance Cavs don't even attack him anymore. I went all the way back to (post-Arena) turn 1 after Raquesis's unfortunate demise for that reason) ____ During all this, Beowulf is collecting a fair amount of money - when Sigurd seizes Madino, he's sitting at almost 40k gold, which with a little donation from Dew will be enough to get both the Paragon Band and the Brave Sword for an arena run. Beautiful. Well, not the part where the Pirate still managed to burn down a whole 500 gold, but it's rather satisfying that Erin can exactly reach him on this turn thanks to a turn 1 dance. ...I completely forgot about Quan until now. Whoops. And then I don't even try to have him beat Doma, which would require a lucky dodge or an Adept proc. Sorry, Quan. __ Pictured: The instance of Not Learning that I alluded to at the start of the post. __ Turns out that Sigurd isn't immortal, especially if you tank his Avoid by equipping his Javelin. You're welcome, Ruben __ There, less lethal. Meanwhile, Azel ends up wasting his time after all, since I remember that Pirates are fucking loaded. Beowulf already grabbed the money from the one to the north; Dew does the same with the one to the southeast, but doesn't quite arrive as quickly as Azel did. ____ The rest of the skirmish is pretty much just clean-up, with some more Beo-thieving on top. : "Their might is legendary, and none in Jugdral can even compare to them. Actually... My boyfriend is a Cross Knight! Hee hee... amazing, isn't it?" I'll be sure to say hi. Azel grabs the one village (while he's gotten the Bargain Band, that isn't worth much if he doesn't have *any* money). The other one has the Restore staff, so that should go to either Raquesis or Aideen. Honestly not sure which one is "correct" here - Raquesis is more likely to be close to the frontlines, but keeping it on Aideen will make sure that we'll get it back immediately for gen 2. : "Keh... Taste my bolt sword!" The boss kill is accidental. Indeed. Lex ending up with another item that he can't use. The idea was more like "Maybe Lex will hit one of those 26%s" - that chip would've allowed Sigurd the kill, and the Bolt Sword would've been on one of the potential recipients. Well, as is, I can still mull over the question if Leaf or Seliph is the better target. Leaf facing a bunch of Knights early is a good argument. __ And that is that. The two non-Iron Ballistae are all that remains from Madino's forces, with a single Pirate still roaming the seas. I'm carefully optimistic that Erin can catch him without running into any invisible barriers... If I recall, these are fairly common in Genealogy. : "His Cross Knights are the last remains of Agustria's army. At this rate, all should be well if we can subdue them, but..." Small detail, but it's interesting to note that Sigurd already assumes that he'll have to fight the Cross Knights. I mean, he isn't wrong about it, but I would've expected him to think that he'd still be able to at least talk to Eldigan. : "Sire, we have a visitor. Father Claude of Edda has just arrived." : "Father Claude?! See him in, please." : "It's been a long time, Lord Sigurd. We need to talk. I regret to say that I bring dreadful news from the fatherland." : "What is it, Your Grace? What in the world could have happened?" : "Prince Kurth is dead. Somebody murdered him en route from Isaach." : "What?! This can't be... Who could have done this?" : "Lord Byron was once constantly by His Highness's side... Yet, ever since his murder, he has been nowhere to be found. I regret to say this, but... As it stands, Lord Byron - your father - is the prime suspect." : "Wh-what?! That's impossible!" : "I regret to say that there's been naught but horrid rumors in Grannvale lately. Among them those which allege that you and your father worked in concert to assassinate the prince... Alas, His Majesty's anguish at the affair has rendered him dreadfully ill." : "My father was already the prince's closest confidant. What could he have possibly gained from the prince's demise? Surely, shouldn't Reptor, Langbalt, and the others who opposed the prince be the likely culprits?" : "I am of the same mind, but we've no evidence tying either to the crime. And Reptor and his minions currently hold a great sway over the royal court." : "What about Lord Arvis, His Majesty's aide? Do you know where he stands on this?" : "I cannot say for sure. He seems to hold no emnity toward you, but I am loath to consider him an ally..." : "Hm... I'm worried for my father. If I could, I'd head home now and do what I can to help, but my orders haven't changed. I still need to hold Agustria. Please, Your Grace... Do you have any idea what I should do?" : "I am on my way to the Tower of Bragi, on the island to the north-west of here. As an heir to the great Saint Bragi, if I pray at our sacred tower, then the truth shall be revealed to me alone. With this knowledge, I can convince His Majesty of Byron's innocence. You needn't worry, Lord Sigurd." : "Claaaaaude! C'mon, let's go! Stop chewing off the poor man's ear. I'm getting bored here." : "Hm? Aren't you Taillte of House Freege? What are you doing with Father Claude?" : "Wouldn't you worry if I left him to wander all on his lonesome? Somebody's got to protect him." : "But you're Duke Reptor's daughter, so..." : "I just can't wrap my head around Father's schemes, y'know? Besides, I love the priest!" : "Gods, give me strength to cope with this child... Anyway, I'll rendezvous with your group once I've learned the truth. I pray we'll both return home this day." : "As do I, Father Claude. As do I. I can't thank you enough." Sigurd if he didn't have explice orders to stay in Agustria: "Surely, I can prove my father's innocence by conquering Belhalla!" I didn't really remember Taillte's character, so imagine my joy to find that she's another silly childish airhead girl. Yay. : "I know. I want you to look after Seliph while I'm gone." : "No way! I'm just a kid. I can't look after a baby all by myself." : "I won't be long. I promise. Please, Shanan... I implore you..." : "Okay, fine. I'll look after him. Just be careful out there and get back here as soon as you can, okay?" : "Thank you, Shanan. I'm sorry, Seliph. I'll be back for you right away." Always a good sign if the 10-years-old is the smartest person in the room. __ : "Oh? Who are you? Wait... How do you know my mother?" : "Kehehehe... The day of your rebirth is upon us. Through my black magic, the slate of your life will be cleansed, paving the way for your true husband... Your fate was written the day you were born. There is no use in fighting destiny." : Wh-what are you doing?! Stop it! No!! ...Aaaah... Sig... u... r..." ____ I didn't think Rewarp was in this game. Anyway... Kidnapped And Given Amnesia (And I can't help but note that Deirdre did know her biological mother's name. Our heroes' ignorance really seems wilful at this point) : "And what do you think you are doing, Eldigan?! If you hadn't dawdled away your day here, then perhaps we wouldn't have lost Madino! Ah, but that's your plan, isn't it?! You're part of their plot to destroy Agustria, traitor!" : "Your Majesty... How could you say that?" : "What's this? Do you dare to be displeased? To think, you've forgotten my father's favor, all to idly stall for time... You're a disgrace to the knighthood!" : "There's nothing more I can do to convince you... Very well, Your Majesty. My men and I will move out post-haste. I am proud to be a paladin of Agustria. If I must die, it shall be with sword in hand! By your leave, Your Majesty." : "This is it, men. It's time for us to enter the fray... Perhaps for the last time. I count myself the luckiest commander there is for your years of loyalty to me. The fatherland's fate hinges on this final battle. Do not let Agustria down. Cross Knights! MOVE OUT!" : "The rest of you, fortify the defenses! I'm in command now!" __ My memory was that Eldigan was being fairly sensible until his final, fatal decision, but... Nah, he's already slipping here. I get what they're going for - Chagall is going into the dialogue with a level of paranoia and anger that Eldigan simply doesn't see a possibility to get through to him - but it's a weak look that he doesn't even mention that this entire battle started because of Chagall, and that Eldigan didn't even know of the plans until the fight started. Eldigan's Cross Knights don't seem too dangerous individually, but you can't ignore that they're a big red blob of high-movement, Cantering, 1-2-ranged units. And you can't ignore that Eldigan has a +40 hit/avo aura, either. This entire skirmish honestly seems like it'll be tricky - you'll want to remove Eldigan from the equation as quickly as possible, but that isn't easy, either, with him being at the back of his mooks, and with Raquesis not exactly being the most bulky character we have. It might be possible to kite the group a bit to whittle down their numbers, but I wouldn't be surprised if I'll struggle a bit with this part of the fight. Eldigan himself is pretty OP, of course. I'm sure it's possible to beat him without Raquesis pushing him to do really stupid things, but 52 Atk, 24 Def, and 30 Res signal very loudly that there's a non-violent solution to this mountain of stats. (I actually don't remember if talking to Eldie will despawn or de-red the Cross Knights. We'll see, although I'm going to assume that the answer is "no") Chagall clearly has been working out these past 6 months. He gained 15 levels, improving his Str/Skl/Spd/Def by +4 each and his HP by +15, as well as acquiring a rather strong 2-range option (29 Atk targetting Res). Still a stationary boss with no long-ranged options, of course. On 3/6/2024 at 10:07 PM, Saint Rubenio said: Well... Not in this game, he didn't. That guy has a face. Not the proper gatekeeping experience. On 3/6/2024 at 11:44 PM, Jotari said: Chagall's impatience also serves to obscure Grannvale's actions somewhat and frame him as the sole guilty party. The game never directly hides anything, but its focus and innate player centric morality bias makes a line like "btw the Grannvale people in charge were abusing their power" just sort of get lost in the shuffle. We know the story, even ping who hasn't played it, so we know where this all leads and can analyze it from that perspective, but for a first time player who knows nothing of further events, I think the perspective would be very different, and that that was done on purpose to give the twist at the end of this chapter more punch. Like imagine if at the end of the first act Nyna betrayed Marth, or Mycen betrayed Alm or Hardin betrayed Marth (oh wait that actually happened, but it just wasn't as good as this because they put evil flags everywhere...and it was still the best part of Mystery's story). It's also important that the original Bad Thing - Sigurd annexing all of Verdane and half of Agustria - is also just what a Fire Emblem player is expecting to do. It's a big part of why I like Eldigan's "What the fuck, Sigurd" moment at the end of the previous chapter: It's surprising (or would be, if I was unspoiled), but it still makes sense. It might put the player in a similar situation as Sigurd: You do the task in front of you without realising that you/Sigurd is continuously digging himself deeper into a hole of your/his own making. These first two (three, if we count the prologue) chapters are done really well narratively, I think. On 3/7/2024 at 1:36 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said: Briggid would be way more fun if Kaga just... let her be bad. Maybe she actually leads her Pirates down to Augustria, and the only way to recruit her is having Edain give her the Yewfelle. Imagine that, your healer recruiting an enemy archer. Alternatively, her crew turns on her - but because she's too greedy! She's been lining her britches with gold, to the detriment of her crew, and they've had enough. So she'd become a playable "ally of convenience", until Edain restores her memories. If I recall, Genealogy is the first FE game that allows a female antagonist to be a proper villainess, so maybe a playable proper villainess is still a step too far for Kaga On 3/7/2024 at 1:36 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said: Holy crow. Azelle gaming. The earliest I've gotten him to promotion is, like, the middle of chapter 4. So well done! Two full paragon arena runs, plus not playing at dondon speed, plus Azelle getting a fair bit of monetary babying in ch.1-2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrightBow Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 (edited) 1 hour ago, ping said: (Honestly, as far as RomCom misunderstandings go, this isn't half bad, with Ayra expecting a "You're pretty!" and getting a "You're badass!" instead.) Part of the ongoing theme that swords are the key to a woman's heart. She is like the 3rd girl that has been gifted a sword at this point. 1 hour ago, ping said: : "Their might is legendary, and none in Jugdral can even compare to them. Actually... My boyfriend is a Cross Knight! Hee hee... amazing, isn't it?" I'll be sure to say hi. Just for the record, yes this conversation does go differently if you wait to visit this village until later. It's kinda like a reverse version of the old man in the house near the start in the Ordon map in Vestaria Saga. If you visit early, he kills himself while cursing your name. But if you don't visit the house and manage to get the Ordon to stand down, he won't kill himself and even give you a Claymore. 1 hour ago, ping said: Azel grabs the one village (while he's gotten the Bargain Band, that isn't worth much if he doesn't have *any* money). The other one has the Restore staff, so that should go to either Raquesis or Aideen. Honestly not sure which one is "correct" here - Raquesis is more likely to be close to the frontlines, but keeping it on Aideen will make sure that we'll get it back immediately for gen 2. It's also B rank staff. So Nanna can't actually inherit it unless her father is Claude. Might also be worth pointing out that the staff has 10 range in this game. 1 hour ago, ping said: : "Keh... Taste my bolt sword!" Oh hey, first time we got one of those in the game. Considering no one else is doing it here, maybe this guy is the reason that bosses bragging about their Thunder Sword becomes a bit of a running gag in the Saga games. Edit: Wait, I keep forgetting the VS1 guy was shouting about his Wind Sword. 1 hour ago, ping said: And you can't ignore that Eldigan has a +40 hit/avo aura, either. This entire skirmish honestly seems like it'll be tricky - you'll want to remove Eldigan from the equation as quickly as possible, but that isn't easy, either, with him being at the back of his mooks, and with Raquesis not exactly being the most bulky character we have. It might be possible to kite the group a bit to whittle down their numbers, but I wouldn't be surprised if I'll struggle a bit with this part of the fight. I never went for this, but maybe it's possible to have Lachesis survive enemy phase by putting all her weapons into the storage before talking to Eldigan so that she automatically equips the Earth Sword. Edited March 9 by BrightBow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jotari Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 8 minutes ago, BrightBow said: Just for the record, yes this conversation does go differently if you wait to visit this village until later. Curse you! Beating to me with this trivia. At least I can post the alternate dialogue before you. Sniff... I can't believe it. My boyfriend died in this blasted war. Damn the Grannvale army... No, no... Damn King Chagall! This is all his fault! Eh, I'd rather she both sides it than blamed Chagall specifically. After all, what the hell would she know about the intricacies of what's going on and how rationale or realistic Chagall's decisions are. I can only imagine her Cross Knight boyfriend was a real Eldigan fan and constantly shit talked Chagall to her. 43 minutes ago, ping said: Sigurd if he didn't have explice orders to stay in Agustria: "Surely, I can prove my father's innocence by conquering Belhalla!" Definitely the most moral thing for Sigurd to do here would be to just abandon this war with Agustria entirely and return to Belhalla to investigate his father's death. But, unfrotunately, if he did do that Langbolt and Reptor probably would have had him arrested on the spot and accused of treason with abandoning his post being evidence of his disloyalty. He really was screwed six months from Sunday as soon as he stepped out to rescue Adean. I really should finish that Sigurd choose your own adventure story I started writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrightBow Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 (edited) 41 minutes ago, Jotari said: Eh, I'd rather she both sides it than blamed Chagall specifically. After all, what the hell would she know about the intricacies of what's going on and how rationale or realistic Chagall's decisions are. I can only imagine her Cross Knight boyfriend was a real Eldigan fan and constantly shit talked Chagall to her. The Cross Knights probably shittalk him all the time. I mean, he had their lord imprisoned for no reason. That's gotta be enough to piss them off. And I would also guess that the regular knights are less inclined to forget about the fact that this almost lead to Eliot taking over Nordion than their leader is. They might even feel a sense of gratitude for Sigurd protecting their princess when they couldn't. 1 hour ago, ping said: Eldigan himself is pretty OP, of course. I'm sure it's possible to beat him without Raquesis pushing him to do really stupid things, but 52 Atk, 24 Def, and 30 Res signal very loudly that there's a non-violent solution to this mountain of stats. His sword also gives him the Critical skill. Which means he has a 38% chance to hit you with 104 attack. Edited March 9 by BrightBow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ping Posted March 9 Author Share Posted March 9 1 hour ago, BrightBow said: Part of the ongoing theme that swords are the key to a woman's heart. She is like the 3rd girl that has been gifted a sword at this point. ...just the medieval fantasy version. 1 hour ago, BrightBow said: It's also B rank staff. So Nanna can't actually inherit it unless her father is Claude. Might also be worth pointing out that the staff has 10 range in this game. Ah. Well, that answers that question. 1 hour ago, Jotari said: Curse you! Beating to me with this trivia. At least I can post the alternate dialogue before you. To be fair, you were both beaten by somebody else already. I remember reading that little piece of trivia in this thread. (Although it's possible that it was one of you who mentioned it earler, of course) 1 hour ago, Jotari said: Definitely the most moral thing for Sigurd to do here would be to just abandon this war with Agustria entirely and return to Belhalla to investigate his father's death. But, unfrotunately, if he did do that Langbolt and Reptor probably would have had him arrested on the spot and accused of treason with abandoning his post being evidence of his disloyalty. He really was screwed six months from Sunday as soon as he stepped out to rescue Adean. I really should finish that Sigurd choose your own adventure story I started writing. It's an interesting question how fucked Sigurd is through events and plots outside of his control, and how much he is fucking himself over. Like, Langbalt and Reptor and the Young Men's Loptyrian Association have been plotting against Sigurd and Byron (or have bigger plots in which Sigurd is in the way), and it's questionable how much opportunity Sigurd would've had to defend himself against them. But at the same time, his friendship with two powerful figures outside of Grannvale (and military support from one of them) give Langbalt and Reptor's plot ample ammunition, while his "all I have is the Seize button" way of dealing with problems is alienating Eldigan. Sigurd is definitely dealt an awful hand, but he's still playing it really badly, too. 1 hour ago, BrightBow said: His sword also gives him the Critical skill. Which means he has a 38% chance to hit you with 104 attack. #FairAndBalanced Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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