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

[Interdimensional Observer]

35 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Do Oifey and Shannan even have a conversation together?

I went to check as I wrote that out. The answer- they don't.

They should've, obviously, since they've the aforementioned two decades of history together. Genealogy Remake would hopefully fix this, and maybe bring both of them into Seliph's new chatty entourage.

(I'd definitely want Leif in the modern entourage too. I'd like Ares in there as well because he is a Major-blooded, and then we could have Sig-Quan-Eld Jrs. as a trio. Yet Ares's inclusion would be perhaps excessive, he isn't actually important at all. And I imagine we have to find an obligatory female -or probably two since Julia eventually leaves- to throw into it, to keep it from being total holy swordfest. However, Altena is optional and late, and any other female would feel very forced.)

[Jotari]

14 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I went to check as I wrote that out. The answer- they don't.

Damn, really? Could have sworn they had one reflecting on how much Seliph had grown. But I guess I just gaslighted myself into thinking they have one because they so obviously should.

14 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

They should've, obviously, since they've the aforementioned two decades of history together. Genealogy Remake would hopefully fix this, and maybe bring both of them into Seliph's new chatty entourage.

(I'd definitely want Leif in the modern entourage too. I'd like Ares in there as well because he is a Major-blooded, and then we could have Sig-Quan-Eld Jrs. as a trio. Yet Ares's inclusion would be perhaps excessive, he isn't actually important at all. And I imagine we have to find an obligatory female -or probably two since Julia eventually leaves- to throw into it, to keep it from being total holy swordfest. However, Altena is optional and late, and any other female would feel very forced.)

Nah, we don't need any girls. Shannan's magnificent hair already fills the female quota all by itself.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

(I'd definitely want Leif in the modern entourage too. I'd like Ares in there as well because he is a Major-blooded, and then we could have Sig-Quan-Eld Jrs. as a trio. Yet Ares's inclusion would be perhaps excessive, he isn't actually important at all. And I imagine we have to find an obligatory female -or probably two since Julia eventually leaves- to throw into it, to keep it from being total holy swordfest. However, Altena is optional and late, and any other female would feel very forced.)

Wait... why not have Edain function as Seliph's advisor? She's known Sigurd for longer than anyone still living, perhaps save Oifey. And no one's clamoring for her to be playable - and thus killable - in the second generation. As it stands, she just kinda... exists offscreen... for the first five minutes of Gen II, then disappears forever. Which is a real shame. Plus, she wouldn't have the whole... thing... Lewyn has going on, that I won't get into more because spoilers. Finally, while she's likely been hardened by her years of hardship, I can't see her being Lewyn-levels of jerk-ass to Seliph.

Give us an old (not really even old, just middle-aged) lady advisor, IS!

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

Damn, really? Could have sworn they had one reflecting on how much Seliph had grown. But I guess I just gaslighted myself into thinking they have one because they so obviously should.

Even if the remake is mechanically super-faithful, I'm definitely hoping for them to add more conversations. Shannan-Oifey is an obvious one, but there's also Ares-Diarmuid, Hannibal-Leif, and... uh, IDK, Hermina-Altenna? As for Gen I, the lack of Alec-Naoise is criminal. And it'd be funny to get a Jamke-Midir "jealousy" secret conversation in chapter 2, like Sylvia-Erinys have in chapter 4.

[ping]

10 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Yeah, exactly. If they were going down this road, maybe they should've come up with a better reason for Johalvier to stick with his dad. Say... Rather than ravenously vying for the same girl that wants nothing to do with either, the brothers just despise each other on a general basis (which would be very easy to believe after reading the first three words out of Johan's mouth). Then when Johan joins the rebellion, Johalvier is disgusted that they'd take him in and decides to stick with Dannan and keep working against the child hunts from the inside. Or something like that. It's rather flimsy but it's not as idiotic as it is.

How about this: If you recruit Johalvier, things stay as they are and Johan will refuse to join because he's a fucking idiot. However, if you recruit Johan first, Johalvier will still be willing to be talked into reason by Larcei/Creidne... but if you do so, Johan will explode ("What? With my own brother?! Duplicitous Larcei, how dare you play with my heart so? But I can see through your lies, witch! I must slay her, so that my brother may come to reason again!") and don the red garbs again.

Potentially abusable, because you can basically delay fighting Johan's squad by going that route, but it retains the joke while not tainting Johalvier's character.

10 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

God, I hate them. I fucking hate them. Syrene deserved to be a wyvern knight...

Apologies for not keeping up with the Ruben lore, but what exactly separates Syrene from the other representatives of the "warm, motherly pegasus knight" (gasp! Three archetypes!) type like Palla, Yuno, or Sigrun? My first guess would've been because Syrene is a bad unit, but so is Yuno, and making her a Wyvern Knight would actually make Syrene much better, so I'm at a bit of a loss.

9 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I mean, the conversation ought to be exactly the same had you gotten Hermina. These conversations have to be a double-serving of generic to account for that.

Actually, Hermina's convo is slightly different. Fee does mention Erin fighting at Sigurd's side, which Hermina obviously cannot do.

(Also, Hermina is slightly more experienced than Fee, being a "rookie" Pegasus Knight instead of "kinda still in training")

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

Actual suggestion: Scatman x Patty. Since Scathach... er, Ulster... has Paragon, he'll never need to buy the Paragon Band. And with Astra, he can basically always clear the Arena, given enough tries. This means he'll have a money problem - getting too much of it, that is! Let that extra gold spill over onto your wife, dude. And by passing it to Patty, she can either use it for her own purposes, or give it to anyone needy. They don't have any conversations, which is a shame, but I think they make perfect gameplay sense together.

That does make sense, and is a much more flexible approach to relieving Ulster of the burden of too much money than my initial Ulster/Lana idea.

It's interesting that Ulster has no "love base" with anybody, nor any conversations giving love points. Poor guy has no game. Although to be fair, pairings with non-zero love base seem less common in the second generation just in general.

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

Their real utility is getting themselves injured, so that your healers have more opportunities to gain EXP.

Lana and Julia did get a fair bit of healing XP from them, that is true.

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

That's surprisingly a lot, until I remembered that "Schmidt" is just "Smith". And "Helmut" is... I dunno, "Harry"? "Herman"? Neither of those are super-common names in America nowadays though, so go figure.

Yeah, Helmut basically fell off a cliff in popularity as a baby name around the 1960s. So Herman might be a fitting equivalent.

5 hours ago, Jotari said:

You call the AI not very smart, but haven't they managed to kill Oifey like three times already? What does that make you?

That is cutting, sir.

And Oifey only died twice, thankyouverymuch.

[Jotari]

39 minutes ago, ping said:

That is cutting, sir.

And Oifey only died twice, thankyouverymuch.

The third death was the death to his character in the plot, now that perma death regulates him to the narrative bench.

[Saint Rubenio]

12 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Not to mention, if you talk to Johan's soldiers while they are yellow, they tell you that for all his simping, he treats his own underlings terrible.

Just a real charmer, that guy.

Hah! I didn't get that one, I don't think. Well, nobody's gonna miss him.

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

I mean, Johanlvier still kinda has dibs on the Brave Axe. He's the only one who can use it, until like chapter 9. Thinking on it now, maybe Johan isn't actually "Lex, but worse", but rather "Lex, but no better, in a world where he can't hope to keep up".

Huh. Didn't remember that, but yeah, that's right, there's basically no other axe users in this generation lol

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

Ooh, that would work pretty well. Perhaps we could've gotten a scene of them arguing beforehand - or maybe Johan waxing poetic, with Johalvier just saying "...I hate you." - to really sell the antipathy between them.

"Johan can you stop talking about Larcei for five minutes? There's more to life than her."

"Maybe to you, my dearest brother. But I live for naught but love. Perhaps this is why she thinks the world of me, while she doesn't even know your name."

"Hey, what are you two layabouts doing? Go get more children from the villages! For, uh... you know, the imperial policy!"

"Ahh, maybe I'll run into my beloved Larcei on the way... Servants, fetch my steed! We must away at once! I'm coming, my love! I'm comiiiiiing...!"

"I hate it here."

11 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

That's why Edain survived, to non-awkwardly care for Larcei & Lana. 

The boys -Seliph, Ulster, Lester, Diarmuid- were usually under the direct fostering of Oifey and Shannan. Two now-grown men, who have known each other since 757, and are the only two who understand what each other has gone through in the past two decades. Thus, it should be of no surprise that during that time, particularly as they've engaged in some nontraditional parenting, they've developed certain affections for one another. Although they've rarely shown explicit tenderness to each other, they've been much too busy with more important matters, and Ulster was a such a crybaby that they rarely got to sleep alone for almost a decade.

And then Kaga decided to make them both able to marry kids 20 years younger that they raised because he doesn't know what the word gay means.

Good to see "Kaga's accidental gay ships are his best" is a Kaga convention that extends all the way back to his origins.

9 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I went to check as I wrote that out. The answer- they don't.

They should've, obviously, since they've the aforementioned two decades of history together. Genealogy Remake would hopefully fix this, and maybe bring both of them into Seliph's new chatty entourage.

(I'd definitely want Leif in the modern entourage too. I'd like Ares in there as well because he is a Major-blooded, and then we could have Sig-Quan-Eld Jrs. as a trio. Yet Ares's inclusion would be perhaps excessive, he isn't actually important at all. And I imagine we have to find an obligatory female -or probably two since Julia eventually leaves- to throw into it, to keep it from being total holy swordfest. However, Altena is optional and late, and any other female would feel very forced.)

Or, you know. Maybe it's not one of his best ships because he didn't even bother.

Gen 2 fucking sucks...

10 hours ago, Jotari said:

At least we get a line from Lewyn saying neither of the brothers cooperated with the child hunt orders and spared Isaach from the brunt of that horror.

Which, if anything, is out of character for Johan lol. They wanted to badly to make him out to be a completely horrible guy that they even established he treats his men like garbage (the mirrored convo just has one of Johalvier's men being the asshole and judging his taste in women instead). He doesn't seem like someone who'd be particularly bothered by the child hunts, unless it got in the way of his obsession with Larcei.

10 hours ago, Jotari said:

I love you.

I aim to please.

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

Wait... why not have Edain function as Seliph's advisor? She's known Sigurd for longer than anyone still living, perhaps save Oifey. And no one's clamoring for her to be playable - and thus killable - in the second generation. As it stands, she just kinda... exists offscreen... for the first five minutes of Gen II, then disappears forever. Which is a real shame. Plus, she wouldn't have the whole... thing... Lewyn has going on, that I won't get into more because spoilers. Finally, while she's likely been hardened by her years of hardship, I can't see her being Lewyn-levels of jerk-ass to Seliph.

Give us an old (not really even old, just middle-aged) lady advisor, IS!

Oh I love that idea. That's a great idea.

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

Hannibal-Leif

You know, I never stopped to think about this, but... Considering it was the next game that established they know each other, I can't blame them for not having the conversation, but the remake has no such excuse.

4 hours ago, ping said:

How about this: If you recruit Johalvier, things stay as they are and Johan will refuse to join because he's a fucking idiot. However, if you recruit Johan first, Johalvier will still be willing to be talked into reason by Larcei/Creidne... but if you do so, Johan will explode ("What? With my own brother?! Duplicitous Larcei, how dare you play with my heart so? But I can see through your lies, witch! I must slay her, so that my brother may come to reason again!") and don the red garbs again.

Potentially abusable, because you can basically delay fighting Johan's squad by going that route, but it retains the joke while not tainting Johalvier's character.

That works too, yeah.

4 hours ago, ping said:

Apologies for not keeping up with the Ruben lore, but what exactly separates Syrene from the other representatives of the "warm, motherly pegasus knight" (gasp! Three archetypes!) type like Palla, Yuno, or Sigrun? My first guess would've been because Syrene is a bad unit, but so is Yuno, and making her a Wyvern Knight would actually make Syrene much better, so I'm at a bit of a loss.

1. Syrene's design is better. She has a cool headband and cool armor and a hardened expression without those annoying giant eyes every peggy sue gets.

2. She has a personality. Aside from being "warm and motherly" with Tana and Vanessa, she carries herself with the dignity and confidence of her station as one of Frelia's highest-ranking commanders, but she still has the occasional inner strife and can be a tad too reckless. She even shows a mild sassy streak in some of her supports.

3. Admittedly, she shares both these advantages with Tanith, but Tanith is, even more than Titania, that one PoR unit I just can't use because she breaks the game almost as hard as Seth does. Reinforce is so stupid.

...Also, checking her supports again made me realize they mention Hayden's wife in her support with Tana. Huh. I never knew that guy had a living wife. I might have to make a couple changes to dialogue in my current hack to reflect this...

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

...Also, checking her supports again made me realize they mention Hayden's wife in her support with Tana. Huh. I never knew that guy had a living wife. I might have to make a couple changes to dialogue in my current hack to reflect this...

Hayden's wife! I sense a potential new addition to my list of every Fire Emblem character. How specific a detail are we talking?

[Interdimensional Observer]

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

Wait... why not have Edain function as Seliph's advisor? She's known Sigurd for longer than anyone still living, perhaps save Oifey. And no one's clamoring for her to be playable - and thus killable - in the second generation. As it stands, she just kinda... exists offscreen... for the first five minutes of Gen II, then disappears forever. Which is a real shame. Plus, she wouldn't have the whole... thing... Lewyn has going on, that I won't get into more because spoilers. Finally, while she's likely been hardened by her years of hardship, I can't see her being Lewyn-levels of jerk-ass to Seliph.

Give us an old (not really even old, just middle-aged) lady advisor, IS!

-First, the chance she might be dead is a problem. And moving her alone into the "retreat when gameplay-killed" column for Gen 1 would look weird within the context of Gen 1.

Two, it's not a bad idea at all.😀 Edain being the infantry healer girl (Ethlyn at least has a horse and swords) does give the impression that she isn't one for war. However, flipping back to Chapter 1, it does say that she was given the option to become a knight (probably because she is the minor-blooded daughter of one of the six dukes). And the only reason she turned it down for the life of a cleric was to find Brigid (which would make ready sense, with the Bragi priesthood being international she could probably freely travel, pray for/heal others along the way as a job, and find free accommodations at any church she encountered).

As an advisor to Seliph, Edain could show more of the warrior's backbone she didn't necessarily portray all that much in Gen 1. Plus be a Team Mom, but a different Team Mom from Eyvel and Titania, the other two in FE who'd count for that role.

 

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

And then Kaga decided to make them both able to marry kids 20 years younger that they raised because he doesn't know what the word gay means.

Good to see "Kaga's accidental gay ships are his best" is a Kaga convention that extends all the way back to his origins.

And if I told you Oifey grew that stache because Shannan wanted some daddy?😜  -Don't take that seriously, at all. I prefer keeping things serious, subdued, and somber with these two if I'm going to ship 'em. The lives they've lived together have not been in the least conducive to silly frolicking.

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Gen 2 fucking sucks...

This instance even has total immunity from the variability of existence, since neither character is an unfixed child. It's either writing burnout from creating Gen 1 in all its elaborate detail even though we've pointed out holes in it during this playlog, or a simple mistake.

[Saint Rubenio]

40 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Hayden's wife! I sense a potential new addition to my list of every Fire Emblem character. How specific a detail are we talking?

 

Quote

Tana: I'd like you to teach me...cooking.
Syrene: I can make some traditional Frelian dishes, but I'm no gourmet chef... But if you don't mind, then I'd be happy to teach you what I know.
Tana: Thank you! When I return home to Frelia after this war is over, I hope to cook my parents a proper meal to apologize for running off.
Syrene: I'm sure they'll be surprised to see how much you've grown out here. Surprised and pleased. They'll certainly forgive you for going off on your own.
Tana: Sometimes, I wonder... I do hope that they forgive me.
Syrene: Of course they will. They're angry because they're concerned. If you return safely, they will be relieved, not upset.
Tana: You're right... Thank you, Syrene. But it can't hurt to ease their anger with some good food!
Syrene: Right you are, milady. I'll teach you everything I know about food.

Mia-tier levels of obscure background character, but this spells it out rather clearly - not only does she exist, she's alive. She's not even mentioned in Tana's support with her brother (where they just talk about Hayden and make him out to be a rather bad dad), she gets no name - in fact, I'm just now realizing there's no gender mentioned either. For all we know Tana and Innes were raised by a gay couple and Sacred Stones is the most revolutionary game in the series.

1 minute ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

And if I told you Oifey grew that stache because Shannan wanted some daddy?😜  -Don't take that seriously, at all. I prefer keeping things serious, subdued, and somber with these two if I'm going to ship 'em. The lives they've lived together have not been in the least conducive to silly frolicking.

Their time together in each other's arms were the precious few moments of joy they ever got in their turmoil-filled lives.

1 minute ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

This instance even has total immunity from the variability of existence, since neither character is an unfixed child. It's either writing burnout from creating Gen 1 in all its elaborate detail even though we've pointed out holes in it during this playlog, or a simple mistake.

It really is just a strange omission. They have the most history together out of any characters alive in gen 2, spending a good 2/3rds of their lives living and working together. I can't claim to know what goes on in Kaga's mind, but if I were writing this game, I know this is one conversation I wouldn't just want to write - I'd be looking forward to writing it all game long. Certainly more than a random-ass lover convo with the generic pegasus knight.

[Jotari]

8 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

 

Mia-tier levels of obscure background character, but this spells it out rather clearly - not only does she exist, she's alive. She's not even mentioned in Tana's support with her brother (where they just talk about Hayden and make him out to be a rather bad dad), she gets no name - in fact, I'm just now realizing there's no gender mentioned either. For all we know Tana and Innes were raised by a gay couple and Sacred Stones is the most revolutionary game in the series.

Unfortunately I can't count that. Characters are allowed to have parents, but for parents to be characters they must be specifically identified. This exchange only mentions "parents", not "mother". This is less than Mia. This is...Mi.

But as trivia, it's golden. Innes and Tana have a mother...how novel. Sure, like, most people do, but in Fire Emblem that's pretty cool. Good job guys.

Edited March 30 by Jotari

[ping]

FE4 Chapter 7: Beyond the Desert

Rivough (turn 0)

Spoiler

Word of the first victory of Prince Seliph and his liberation army quickly spreads far and wide, inspiring courage anew in the Empire's victims. Still more uprisings erupt acruss Jugdral, but once again, precious few are properly organized and are easily crushed, and the death toll climbs even higher...

Small mistake / ambiguous phrasing here, I think: Shouldn't the properly organised uprisings not be easily crushed? I think it probably should've been "and most are easily crushed".

__

, but they have suffered a devestating loss before King Blume's vast hordes and are stranded in hostile ground.

__

Before Seliph lies the Yied Desert, ruled by the Loptyrian Ctuzof from the Yied Shrine; the oasis city of Darna, governed by the ex-merchant Bramsel and the captain of his sellsword army, Jabarro; and Fort Meigen, guarded by Prince ishtore and the renowned General Liza. King Blume himself, the son of the late Duke Reptor, awaits at the capital city of Alster with his niece, the mage Tinni.

In Rivough, Seliph and the warriors of his liberation army now prepare themselves to embark on a journey and come to the aid of their allies in far-away Leonster. Each warrior sets aside their worries as, under Seliph's leadership, they prepare for the new battle on their horizon.

: "Finn, what's the situation? Any word from the other division yet?"
: "...We've failed, milord. Every last soldier in the Alster raid is dead. This is a crippling blow to our army. We've lost most of our might in one fell swoop."
: "This can't be happening... I thought this was our big chance... Was all of this useless all along? Damn it all! I'll strangle Blume himself with my bare hands!"

"And then I'll crush these bastards!" Curious how Alm-y Leif will be in T776, or if this only was a short outburst.

: "Please calm yourself, milord! This isn't the end quite yet. I've just had a word with King Lewyn. He's sending Prince Seliph's liberation army to back us up. Until then, no matter what, milord, we must endure the siege."
: "Prince Seliph, you say... He's the son of my father's old friend Sigurd, and of Empress Deirdre, right? I pray we can meet him soon... Perhaps if we merge our efforts with his, we'll have a better chance of protecting people from the Empire."
: "That's right, Leif! Besides, if we just let ourselves lose now, wouldn't your men's deaths all be in vain? I think we should abandon the castle for now, and seek refuge near that western church."
: "Mm, you're right... I suppose we don't have much choice now. Very well. Our priority now is to play this out defensively for the time being. Until Prince Seliph gets here, we must endure..."

I will not stand for your Ethlyn erasure, by the way, Leif.

Apologies in advance for every time I will spell Leif "Leaf", by the way. "Leif" still sounds like "life" in my head, so it's slightly difficult to keep the spelling straight.

: "What's your problem now?! Can't you capture even as worthless a castle as this? Are you worms taking this seriously?"
: "Y-yes, milord... The thing is, though, the enemy is proving to be of a resilient sort. We're struggling to breach their defenses."
: "Buffoons, all of you! Do you really think I want to hear excuses? I want Leonster seized! No more delays! If you waste any more time on this, then we'll ahve to contend with those Isaachian mongrels as well!"
: "Y-yes, milord! We will strike immediately, milord!"

The commander's portrait is the same as... I think Philip was the name? A miniboss back in ch.2, under the command of Elliot and Bordeaux.

And finally, we get to our grand saviour (I'll leave to reader's discretion which one of the two they think that moniker fits better):

: "But I can't afford to dawdle now. Still gotta get out of here, and quick..."

__

As Patty leaves towards the west, the mysterious Swordmaster actually moves faster to catch up to her. Once again, nice touch representing the story on the map.

: "Hey, excuse me! hand that sword over. You can keep everything else, but I need the sword."
: "Where do you think you get off, trying to take somebody else's hard-earned goods? Do you have any idea how tough it was to get my hands on this sword? If you want it, come get it, nincompoop!"
: "W-wait!"

Petition to add "nincompoop" to Shanan's offical royal titles. His Royal Highness, First Nincompoop of Isaach, Duke of Ganeishire...

: "What? Thieves have plundered our treasure? And they absconded with Balmung?! You fools! Go seize them! Now!"
: "Y-yess, Your Grace.... But, er, Your Grace... Surely a master of dark magics of your caliber could crush common thieves such as these with a single blow, even from here?"
: "I've misplaced my Book of Fenrir... My men are scouring the shrine to find it, but so far it has yet to emerge..."

Pfff...

Hello again to Sandima, by the way.

: "Understood, Your Grace. In that case, my clan and I will take a few mercenaries and pursue them. We swear to you, YOur Grace, that we will have the treasure back where it belongs post-haste!"

Well then, Shanan has his work cut out for him.

With that, all the pieces are on the map and we can return to Rivough to Seliph:

: "So the route to Leonster requires that we cross this vast desert, yes?"
: "Yeah... The Yied Shrine's the real problem here, as it's controlled by the Loptyrian Order. The Order's fell mages infest the desert, mercilessly assaulting anyone they find in it. People've taken to calling the region the Desert of Death... A fitting name, really."
: "I can only imagine how awfully travellers struggle here! I wonder... Perhaps it'd be possible to seize the Shrine from the Order."

Seliph might've been a much more interesting character if he had finished that sentence with "means of production". Then again, that doesn't quite have the same ring to it if it comes out of the mouth of a royal...

: "Heh, I thought you'd never ask. There's always a way, but this one won't be easy. We may need to make sacrifices."
: "So be it. At this point we've little choice. Not to mention, Shanan is likely still in the desert... For now, let's focus on taking control of Yied. All else will begin there!"

So, here we go! A map with what appears to be a very roundabout path from Rivough to Leonster, leading through Yied, then Darna, then Melgen, and finally Alster (which apparently now is a tributary of the Elbe instead of a province in Ireland). Leonster itself counts as an allied castle, presumably to prevent Lana from warp-skipping the map.

__

In the northwest, Shanan and Patty have to fight large numbers of Dark Mages, plus three Myrmidons. With their Jormungand tomes, the Dark Mages hit very hard and accurately, which makes the whole situation seem rather overwhelming for Shanan and Patty.

[HP 120% | Str 30% | Mag 5% | Skl 80% | Spd 20% | Def 40% | Res 5%]
Skills: Pursuit, Adept, Astra
Weapon Level: Swords (*)
Major Odo blood

Shanan's stats are honestly not as impressive as I expected them to be. They're very good, of course, but I was expecting him to be more like Stefan in PoR, with OP combat and only held back by his lower movement. ...then again, I never found Stefan to be as OP as he's sometimes described either.

Anyway, the obvious comparison for Shanan are of course the sword twins - and looking at their stat from after their arenaing, they actually both out-tank Shanan (admittedly, Lex being their dad helps) and have similar Skl. Shanan does still outdo them offensively, with his - for now - much higher Str and Spd stats, but that one comes basically completely from his promoted class bases.

Of course, I know that Shanan has one huge advantage that the sword twins cannot replicate (unless they're fathered by Holyn and you bug-abuse a little), which is access to Balmung. Looking at its stats, Shanan's avoid is going to skyrocket, so presumably, that's what gives him the OP combat I occasionally read about.

[HP 115% | Str 35% | Mag 55% | Skl 40% | Spd 45% | Lck 50% | Def 30% | Res 10%]
Skills: Pursuit, Steal
Weapon Level: Swords (C)
Minor Ullur blood; Minor Vala blood

I like how the Magic Ring immediately gives Patty a higher Mag than Str stat. Not great for arenaing, of course, but here's to hoping that stealing from range will make us all rich. For the arena... Hey, the Miracle Sword (and Bargain Band to borrow rings for free, maybe) might still give Patty a good shot.

On Leif's end of the long and winding road, the enemies start a bit further away than from Shanan and Patty. Hopefully, they can push out a bit and kills some Brigands - and hopefully, Fee can fly over and help them in the endeavour - but if necessary, the choke point in front of Leonster seems perfectly safe for Finn to block, with Nanna providing healing as needed. I can see how a magic sword would've come in handy for Leaf here, too.

[HP 130% | Str 60% | Mag 7% | Skl 50% | Spd 45% | Lck 25% | Def 50% | Res 10%]
Skills: Adept, Critical
Weapon Level: Swords (A)
Minor Baldur blood, Minor Nova blood

Leif's bases suffer a bit more from Quan leaving gen 1 with a pretty low level than Seliph suffers from Deirdre's low XP gain. Looking at the wiki, with Quan hitting Lv.30, Leif could've expected 1-2 extra point in every stat, and even +4 HP.

As a result, he seems fairly similar to Raquesis in gen 1 - rough start, unfortunately without the option to staff-spam to get out if it, but eventually the Master Knight promotion with all the goodies that entails.

[HP 70% | Str 30% | Mag 5% | Skl 40% | Spd 30% | Lck 50% | Def 30% | Res 5%]
Skills: Pursuit, Miracle
Weapon Level: Lances (A)

We all remember Finn, of course, but just to show his stats as comparison...

With his Holy Blood-less growths, I can only assume that Finn won't be able to keep up with the young 'uns indefinitely, but right now, his stats are pretty incredible: Comparable bulk to Oifey, and the same Str as Dermott if you count the latter's Str ring. I'm curious if he can do Jeigen things and set up easy kills for Leif and Nanna - he does have three tiers of lances in his inventory to help with that, so I'm hoping for the best.

[HP 100% | Str 70% | Mag 5% | Skl 30% | Spd 35% | Lck 50% | Def 35% | Res 12%]
Skills: Accost, Charm, Pursuit
Weapon Level: Swords (A), Staves (C)
Minor Hezul blood

With Beowulf as her father, Nanna skews towards physical pretty heavily - especially since her promotion also grants +6 Str but only +2 Mag. But of course, the Return staff doesn't require any Mag to use, and Mend heals a lot even when Nanna uses it (still, too bad she'll never get to Staves (B) for Recover).

Combat-wise, Nanna seems... so-so. A weaker version of Dermott, who joined with +4 Str and +3 Def at the same base level. But Nanna's Str growth is obviously still excellent, so she'll eventually be able to hit very hard, too.

__

Sent against this trio are six Knights plus a mage and a General commander. Looking at their stats, I don't think Finn will have too much trouble against them, but I really don't know if I'll be able to feed as many kills to Leaf as I would like.

On the throne sits an opponent that even Finn's Miracle cannot beat reliably. Even under ideal circumstances, with Blume reducing Finn to 1 HP, he'll still have 27 hit on him... Well, 17 with Nanna's Charm skill, so maybe... But I'd have to set that up very carefully, since Blume would reduce Finn to far less reliable 4 HP from full HP.

But to be honest, I don't even know if there's any value in taking that risk. Heck, I'm not 100% sure if the path to Blume will be open or if the Knight squad will lock the door behind them.

The enemies closest to Rivough are all dark mages - luckily not in the close formation that Genealogy so loves, and hopefully not that hard to overcome as a result.

Now, on the the obligatory arena run. Pictured: Me being stubborn. I think Johalvier had to try 10 times or so until he found a string of random numbers allowing him to beat the final opponent. The opponents as a whole are as follows:

(1) Tolstoy - Lv.1 Fighter
	36 HP | 8 Def | 0 Res
	[Iron Axe] - 22 Atk | 76 Hit | -16 Avo | -8 AS
	[Hand Axe] - 18 Atk 

(2) Bottsman - Lv.4 Mage
	30 HP | 1 Def | 6 Res
	[Thunder] - 16 Atk | 104 Hit | 0 Avo | 0 AS

(3) Kruger - Lv.7 Lance Knight
	37 HP | 8 Def | 0 Res
	[Steel Lance] - 25 Atk | 96 Hit | -8 Avo | -4 AS
	[Javelin]     - 21 Atk 

(4) Mannstein - Lv.10 Myrmidon - Skill: Pursuit
	40 HP | 8 Def | 1 Res
	[Iron Sword] - 16 Atk | 106 Hit | 20 Avo | 10 AS
(4R) Castor - Lv.10 Hunter
	45 HP | 8 Def
	[Stell bow] - 24 Atk | 76 Hit | 4 Avo | 2 AS

(5) Hoepner - Lv.13 Armr. Lance
	53 HP | 13 Def | 1 Res
	[Steel Lance] - 28 Atk | 96 Atk | -12 Avo | -6 AS
	[Javelin]     - 24 Atk

(6) Randoch - Lv.16 Warrior
	56 HP | 14 Def | 4 Res
	[Silver Axe] - 37 Atk | 88 Hit | -4 Avo | -2 AS
	[Steel Bow]  - 29 Atk
	

(7) Wolfen - Lv.19 General - Skill: Pavise
	59 HP | 17 Def | 4 Res
	[Silver Blade] - 35 Atk | 82 Hit | 8 Avo | 4 AS
	[Steel Bow]    - 29 Atk

__

...with the wiki mistakingly listing Bottsman's Def as 8, and Randoch's HP as 53.

And here's who has gone through the arena already:

	  Lv.	  HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Res  Funds  XP    Arn
Ulster	  11.26	  45  14   1  22  15   8  15   1  30034  +488  [*]
Larcei	  10.18	  43  13   2  21  16  17  13   0  32034  +516  [*]
Dermott	  9.22	  39  17   0  12   8  12  13   2  24752  +252  [*]
Lester	  8.56	  37  12   2  10  12  12  11   0  24183  +260  [*]

Oifey	  18.98*  43  16   9  18  18   8  18   8  22500  +106  [*]
Julia	  5.58	  28   0  15   8  14   6   3  17  21500  +238  [7]
Arthur	  11.16	  43   0  14  18  20  16   5   8  26893  +488  [*]
Johalvier 14.34	  45  17   0   8  16   5  15   1  17500  +174  [*]

Basically, because the overall money supply is still pretty low, I just went ahead and had most characters in the home castle do it already. The exceptions are Fee (who will hopefully put the Thief Sword to good use) and Seliph (first priority for Patty to give money to), while Julia just has terrible odds against the last opponent:

Wolfen outspeeds, which also means that Julia doesn't double him, and because Wolfen also one-shots, she'd have to dodge him at least three times - probably more often, since her own effective hit rate through Pavise is only 55%. Julia would need 5 HP procs to avoid being one-shot, so she might be able to improve her odds by reaching that threshold. To outspeed, she'd need +3 Spd, which seems less likely with her 30% growth.

And that's the status at the start of the map. Let's see who'll add to the death counter this time.

 

 

10 hours ago, Jotari said:

The third death was the death to his character in the plot, now that perma death regulates him to the narrative bench.

And you blame that on me, huh. Sins of the Kagas, much?

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Good to see "Kaga's accidental gay ships are his best" is a Kaga convention that extends all the way back to his origins.

Hardin x Camüh - because a proper love triangle has three lines.

(I wonder, are there any excellent accidental gay ships in Akaneia? I can't think of any off the top of my head)

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

1. Syrene's design is better. She has a cool headband and cool armor and a hardened expression without those annoying giant eyes every peggy sue gets.

2. She has a personality. Aside from being "warm and motherly" with Tana and Vanessa, she carries herself with the dignity and confidence of her station as one of Frelia's highest-ranking commanders, but she still has the occasional inner strife and can be a tad too reckless. She even shows a mild sassy streak in some of her supports.

3. Admittedly, she shares both these advantages with Tanith, but Tanith is, even more than Titania, that one PoR unit I just can't use because she breaks the game almost as hard as Seth does. Reinforce is so stupid.

...Also, checking her supports again made me realize they mention Hayden's wife in her support with Tana. Huh. I never knew that guy had a living wife. I might have to make a couple changes to dialogue in my current hack to reflect this...

I see. Syrene does have lower levels of anime face than your average FE girl (although that's not a great achievement). And SacSto's characters are indeed good and less one-dimensional, generally speaking.

 

[BrightBow]

53 minutes ago, ping said:

: "I've misplaced my Book of Fenrir... My men are scouring the shrine to find it, but so far it has yet to emerge..."

Pfff...

I wonder if this will become a trend.
 

53 minutes ago, ping said:

I like how the Magic Ring immediately gives Patty a higher Mag than Str stat. Not great for arenaing, of course, but here's to hoping that stealing from range will make us all rich. For the arena... Hey, the Miracle Sword (and Bargain Band to borrow rings for free, maybe) might still give Patty a good shot.

The thing with the Sleep Sword is that it actually works in the arena. Sure, it would be too expensive to chip down armors with it, but the status actually remains even after you cancel the battle.
Which means that after inflicting sleep, you can simply cancel the battle and continue the fight with a different weapon.

Technically you could have done this the entire time. A battle is only truly reset once you either lose or leave the arena. Until then the enemy fighters won't recover the health they lost.
But there was no real way to take advantage of that until now.
 

53 minutes ago, ping said:

On Leif's end of the long and winding road, the enemies start a bit further away than from Shanan and Patty. Hopefully, they can push out a bit and kills some Brigands - and hopefully, Fee can fly over and help them in the endeavour - but if necessary, the choke point in front of Leonster seems perfectly safe for Finn to block, with Nanna providing healing as needed. I can see how a magic sword would've come in handy for Leaf here, too.

I'm afraid the deflector shields will be quite operational when your Fee arrives.

Besides, you want your sole flier to help out in the desert. You are on the clock there.
 

53 minutes ago, ping said:

No Return Ring. Guess we are not crossing the plot walls this time.
Unless the game decided to place it into the storage, which would be some bad luck. Don't remember if Lenster allows you to access the storage.
 

53 minutes ago, ping said:

Wolfen outspeeds, which also means that Julia doesn't double him, and because Wolfen also one-shots, she'd have to dodge him at least three times - probably more often, since her own effective hit rate through Pavise is only 55%. Julia would need 5 HP procs to avoid being one-shot, so she might be able to improve her odds by reaching that threshold. To outspeed, she'd need +3 Spd, which seems less likely with her 30% growth.

Actually Pavise won't trigger against Nosferatu ever.
No clue why, it just doesn't.

Edited March 30 by BrightBow

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, ping said:

I will not stand for your Ethlyn erasure, by the way, Leif.

It's weird that in a world where family ties and genealogy matters he doesn't acknowledge Seliph first thing as his first-cousin. "The son of my father's friend" is a strange dilution of a connection that's stronger than that. How much of that tiny percentage of DNA that separate individual humans from each other do they likely share?

1 hour ago, ping said:

Apologies in advance for every time I will spell Leif "Leaf", by the way. "Leif" still sounds like "life" in my head, so it's slightly difficult to keep the spelling straight.

Tomato tomato. I'll forgive you. Translations and names are a fickle thing really.😛

Either way, Leif is one of the only FE lords I actually have any real fondness for. Hector and perhaps Holmes being the other ones I'd say. I like the imperfect underdog boi.

1 hour ago, ping said:

Seliph might've been a much more interesting character if he had finished that sentence with "means of production". Then again, that doesn't quite have the same ring to it if it comes out of the mouth of a royal...

Marshal Nova disagrees. Reference to the obscure Battalion Wars, a Western-developed RTS spinoff of Advance Wars. Somehow, the son of the last tsar of Not-Russia became the leader of it when the country turned Commie.

1 hour ago, ping said:

...then again, I never found Stefan to be as OP as he's sometimes described either.

He's a sword infantry in PoR. Those two words are soooooo limiting in themselves that Stefan's stats as good/decent as they are outside of Luck (which hurts for dodgetanking as he should be expected to do), are actually fairly balanced, or even underpowered. RD Steffy is just P4-Endgame ready in case you didn't train up one of the alternative Trueblades.

1 hour ago, ping said:

With his Holy Blood-less growths, I can only assume that Finn won't be able to keep up with the young 'uns indefinitely,

Genealogy still operates with non-HP stat caps of 30 or less. Finn has 22 Str and still has seven levels to get closer to his 27 cap. Even if he never hits it, could you seriously at all say his stats are that much worse than the kiddos with such small maximal numbers?🤔

 

5 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

It really is just a strange omission. They have the most history together out of any characters alive in gen 2, spending a good 2/3rds of their lives living and working together. I can't claim to know what goes on in Kaga's mind, but if I were writing this game, I know this is one conversation I wouldn't just want to write - I'd be looking forward to writing it all game long. Certainly more than a random-ass lover convo with the generic pegasus knight.

That is weird indeed. Why did he get one with her? Or anyone really? It's more awkward acknowledging Oifey can fall in love with any Gen 2 girl than excluding him from love convos yet leaving his inclusion intact. Was this foreshadowing that one age-difference pairing you found in Vestaria?

Edited March 30 by Interdimensional Observer

[ping]

54 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

The thing with the Sleep Sword is that it actually works in the arena. Sure, it would be too expensive to chip down armors with it, but the status actually remains even after you cancel the battle.
Which means that after inflicting sleep, you can simply cancel the battle and continue the fight with a different weapon.

Technically you could have done this the entire time. A battle is only truly reset once you either lose or leave the arena. Until then the enemy fighters won't recover the health they lost.
But there was no real way to take advantage of that until now.

Yeah, I remember reading about Vantage/Sleep Sword starts in the First Mate's Matrimonial Mondays; specifically about Lex!Patty.

I experimented with the weapon-swap in the hope that you can swap away from the Miracle Sword and keep the bonus. Unfortunately not the case, be it because canceling and continuing counts as restarting the fight (in which case Miracle doesn't work in the arena, after all) or because the avoid bonus is actually tied to having the skill active (as it should, but it was worth a try).

59 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

Actually Pavise won't trigger against Nosferatu ever.
No clue why, it just doesn't.

Such an odd detail. Gaiden already had the thing where Nosferatu can pierce through Doma's protection, so it's either because the added HP steal effect tends to make things a bit wonky, or because Kaga likes vampires and wanted to give the spell even more uniqueness.

But hey, I'm not complaining about reduced randomness.

29 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Genealogy still operates with non-HP stat caps of 30 or less. Finn has 22 Str and still has seven levels to get closer to his 27 cap. Even if he never hits it, could you seriously at all say his stats are that much worse than the kiddos with such small maximal numbers?🤔

That is true. Impressive for an entirely non-noble dude, then. Clearly, Finn is the Oifey of Genealogy.

30 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

He's a sword infantry in PoR. Those two words are soooooo limiting in themselves that Stefan's stats as good/decent as they are outside of Luck (which hurts for dodgetanking as he should be expected to do), are actually fairly balanced, or even underpowered. RD Steffy is just P4-Endgame ready in case you didn't train up one of the alternative Trueblades.

Yeah, but PoR!Stefan is often credited for having incredible stats for his join time, and...

Marcia	21/4.97	  40   19   7  20  23  12  20  14   (+7 HP, +2 Def)
Jill	19.81	  31   17   0  14  15   7  16   7

Boyd	21/3.72	  47   22   2  19  19  11  13   6

Stefan	*/8.00    38   19   8  27  25   5  12   9

...yeah, he can compete with the heavy-lifters and their ch.15 stats, as recorded in my Maniac run, but even ignoring movement and weapon type, he's not exactly a league of his own. His bulk in particular is fairly mediocre.

[Saint Rubenio]

7 hours ago, Jotari said:

But as trivia, it's golden. Innes and Tana have a mother...how novel. Sure, like, most people do, but in Fire Emblem that's pretty cool. Good job guys.

It sounds so weird when you put it like that, but yeah, it's a real rarity in any FEs without dedicated marriage systems.

3 hours ago, ping said:

Hey, guess what, it's time for the same joke I make every time there's one of these screenshots.

...To be fair, Ishtore isn't particularly ugly. He could kiiiinda pass off as a playable. Except he's instead probably the most forgettable asshole that gen 2 pretends is kind of important. Wah wah.

3 hours ago, ping said:

 

The commander's portrait is the same as... I think Philip was the name? A miniboss back in ch.2, under the command of Elliot and Bordeaux.

Yeah, I think he's reused maybe once more? Or maybe he's only used twice. Honestly, could've given him a couple more appearances and cut back on the constipated knights.

3 hours ago, ping said:

Petition to add "nincompoop" to Shanan's offical royal titles. His Royal Highness, First Nincompoop of Isaach, Duke of Ganeishire...

One of these is more prestigious than the others.

3 hours ago, ping said:

: "What? Thieves have plundered our treasure? And they absconded with Balmung?! You fools! Go seize them! Now!"
: "Y-yess, Your Grace.... But, er, Your Grace... Surely a master of dark magics of your caliber could crush common thieves such as these with a single blow, even from here?"
: "I've misplaced my Book of Fenrir... My men are scouring the shrine to find it, but so far it has yet to emerge..."

Pfff...

Hello again to Sandima, by the way.

Kaga loves this gag so much. Eh, can't really fault him, it's an enjoyable one and a decent way to implement an incentive to hurry up.

3 hours ago, ping said:

Seliph might've been a much more interesting character if he had finished that sentence with "means of production". Then again, that doesn't quite have the same ring to it if it comes out of the mouth of a royal...

I mean, Kaga does write "1% of the population" in Vestaria Saga 1.

...But then he frames the head honcho of the 1% as a really awesome dude, and really the problem is the one evil ugly greedy politician, not the system. So uh.

3 hours ago, ping said:

__

In the northwest, Shanan and Patty have to fight large numbers of Dark Mages, plus three Myrmidons. With their Jormungand tomes, the Dark Mages hit very hard and accurately, which makes the whole situation seem rather overwhelming for Shanan and Patty.

Genuinely curious how that guy's name is supposed to be pronounced. I googled it and it just shows the FE character, which is always a somewhat reliable sign of a name that's just gibberish they made up.

3 hours ago, ping said:

[HP 70% | Str 30% | Mag 5% | Skl 40% | Spd 30% | Lck 50% | Def 30% | Res 5%]
Skills: Pursuit, Miracle
Weapon Level: Lances (A)

We all remember Finn, of course, but just to show his stats as comparison...

With his Holy Blood-less growths, I can only assume that Finn won't be able to keep up with the young 'uns indefinitely, but right now, his stats are pretty incredible: Comparable bulk to Oifey, and the same Str as Dermott if you count the latter's Str ring. I'm curious if he can do Jeigen things and set up easy kills for Leif and Nanna - he does have three tiers of lances in his inventory to help with that, so I'm hoping for the best.

Honestly, I'm just fond of his status as the singular character to be playable in both generations. It's just a cool thing.

3 hours ago, ping said:

On the throne sits an opponent that even Finn's Miracle cannot beat reliably. Even under ideal circumstances, with Blume reducing Finn to 1 HP, he'll still have 27 hit on him... Well, 17 with Nanna's Charm skill, so maybe... But I'd have to set that up very carefully, since Blume would reduce Finn to far less reliable 4 HP from full HP.

But to be honest, I don't even know if there's any value in taking that risk. Heck, I'm not 100% sure if the path to Blume will be open or if the Knight squad will lock the door behind them.

This boss is complete garbage. I distinctly remember him. He's everything that sucks about FE4 bosses combined.

3 hours ago, ping said:

Hardin x Camüh - because a proper love triangle has three lines.

(I wonder, are there any excellent accidental gay ships in Akaneia? I can't think of any off the top of my head)

Archanea has almost no romances period. Marth/Caeda works very, very slightly if you squint really hard, Julian/Lena has like, one cool line, and that's about it.

...Also, Rickard/Julian. Not sure if I'd call that excellent, but... They do get the same amount of interactions as Julian/Lena (exactly two), and heck, in FE12 they actually get more, due to sharing a support.

3 hours ago, ping said:

I see. Syrene does have lower levels of anime face than your average FE girl (although that's not a great achievement). And SacSto's characters are indeed good and less one-dimensional, generally speaking.

There you have it. To its credit, I also find Vanessa and Tana less annoying/boring than most peggy sues. While not really enough to put them significantly above their brethren like Syrene, they're in the higher leagues.

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

That is weird indeed. Why did he get one with her? Or anyone really? It's more awkward acknowledging Oifey can fall in love with any Gen 2 girl than excluding him from love convos yet leaving his inclusion intact. Was this foreshadowing that one age-difference pairing you found in Vestaria?

...Jesus fucking Christ, don't remind me of that without warning like that...

And yeah, Oifey and Shannan being able to fall in love with, potentially, the kids they helped raise is just... I mean, there's already that one other gen 2 fixed unit who cannot fall in love despite being of the same age as the rest of gen 2's cast, not to mention the old guy with the fantastic beard. Why not just extend that courtesy so those two?

1 hour ago, ping said:

That is true. Impressive for an entirely non-noble dude, then. Clearly, Finn is the Oifey of Genealogy.

Feed Oifey some kills, would you? Don't let him get outdone by... the guy who's probably older than him, come to think of it.

[RPGuy96]

20 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

3 hours ago, ping said:

__

 

Expand  

 

Genuinely curious how that guy's name is supposed to be pronounced. I googled it and it just shows the FE character, which is always a somewhat reliable sign of a name that's just gibberish they made up.

Presumably this is supposed to be Kutuzov (Кутузов in Russian), who was a real life Russian general in the Napoleonic Wars, and a reasonably important character in Tolstoy's War and Peace.  It's maybe a bit of a stretch - and 130 years before most of Kaga's historical references - but guess who shows up in the arena:

3 hours ago, ping said:

(1) Tolstoy - Lv.1 Fighter

Edited March 30 by RPGuy96

[Saint Rubenio]

1 minute ago, RPGuy96 said:

Presumably this is supposed to be Kutuzov (Кутузов in Russian), who was a real life Russian general in the Napoleonic Wars, and a reasonably important character in Tolstoy's War and Peace.  It's maybe a bit of a stretch - and 130 years before most of Kaga's historical references - but guess who shows up in the arena:

3 hours ago, ping said:

(1) Tolstoy - Lv.1 Fighter

I believe there are versions where he was translated as Kutuzov, so yeah, that's probably the intended reference. Thanks for the heads-up!

[BrightBow]

Btw, did you notice that it plays the FE1 player phase theme if you wait in the arena lobby for like 30 seconds?
And the arena battle theme theme is also the version from FE1. It lacks the additional instruments that the FE3 version overlaid.

It's nice that they used the FE1 versions instead of the FE3 ones. In particular I find the FE1 version of the player phase theme to be much more pleasant.
 

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

...To be fair, Ishtore isn't particularly ugly. He could kiiiinda pass off as a playable.

I suppose he does have that Deen hair.

Edited March 31 by BrightBow

[Interdimensional Observer]

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Feed Oifey some kills, would you? Don't let him get outdone by... the guy who's probably older than him, come to think of it.

Even if he didn't have the stache, Oifey aged quite differently from Finn. Oifey is 14 at the start of Gen 1, Finn's age is unstated, but that he was allowed to fight... probably a year or two older? Just enough to make the difference in the tumult that follows. ...Just ignore Dew. (Although he's a plain thief, not a knight, thieves aren't a profession with age-related labor laws/standards.)

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Honestly, I'm just fond of his status as the singular character to be playable in both generations. It's just a cool thing.

Which is why I was silently disappointed that he wasn't fed both of those odd stat-boosting villages in Gen 1. Finn technically gets the most mileage out of them, that's an argument. -Not sure if he needs them though, I can't even remember which two stats get the boosts.😅

[Jotari]

6 hours ago, ping said:

 

: "Y-yes, milord... The thing is, though, the enemy is proving to be of a resilient sort. We're struggling to breach their defenses."
: "Buffoons, all of you! Do you really think I want to hear excuses? I want Leonster seized! No more delays! If you waste any more time on this, then we'll ahve to contend with those Isaachian mongrels as well!"
: "Y-yes, milord! We will strike immediately, milord!"

The commander's portrait is the same as... I think Philip was the name? A miniboss back in ch.2, under the command of Elliot and Bordeaux.

He's unnamed here, but we can deduce that this guy probably is a boss (either Wolf or Barath) from Thracia given the timeline is in sync at this point.

 

5 hours ago, BrightBow said:

No Return Ring. Guess we are not crossing the plot walls this time.

Unless the game decided to place it into the storage, which would be some bad luck. Don't remember if Lenster allows you to access the storage.

I'm pretty sure Leinster only has an armoury, even if the enemy takes it and you turn it into a proper blue castle. Can you genuinely return warp all three of Leif's gang to Seliph and mess up the continuity?

5 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

It's weird that in a world where family ties and genealogy matters he doesn't acknowledge Seliph first thing as his first-cousin. "The son of my father's friend" is a strange dilution of a connection that's stronger than that. How much of that tiny percentage of DNA that separate individual humans from each other do they likely share?

They do explicitly call each other cousins in Thracia, but the fact that their fathers are besties is also highlighted as important.

5 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Marshal Nova disagrees. Reference to the obscure Battalion Wars, a Western-developed RTS spinoff of Advance Wars. Somehow, the son of the last tsar of Not-Russia became the leader of it when the country turned Commie.

Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 had a plot point like that too, where the allies restore the Romanovs to Russia only for the guy they expected to be a puppet ruler to be like "psyche, I actually believe in communism". I think. It's been a while.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Archanea has almost no romances period. Marth/Caeda works very, very slightly if you squint really hard, Julian/Lena has like, one cool line, and that's about it.

You're missing Camus and Nyna, the most plot relevant romance. There's also Samson and Sheena, and Abel and Est.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

And yeah, Oifey and Shannan being able to fall in love with, potentially, the kids they helped raise is just... I mean, there's already that one other gen 2 fixed unit who cannot fall in love despite being of the same age as the rest of gen 2's cast, not to mention the old guy with the fantastic beard. Why not just extend that courtesy so those two?

Just give them an instant marriage with each other.

 

[BrightBow]

38 minutes ago, Jotari said:

I'm pretty sure Leinster only has an armoury, even if the enemy takes it and you turn it into a proper blue castle. Can you genuinely return warp all three of Leif's gang to Seliph and mess up the continuity?

It doesn't mess up anything. You are not expected to hold Lenster, with Nanna suggesting you should retreat to the nearby church instead.
And Leaf already has Celice as a Talk listed.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

5 hours ago, ping said:

Yeah, I remember reading about Vantage/Sleep Sword starts in the First Mate's Matrimonial Mondays; specifically about Lex!Patty.

I experimented with the weapon-swap in the hope that you can swap away from the Miracle Sword and keep the bonus. Unfortunately not the case, be it because canceling and continuing counts as restarting the fight (in which case Miracle doesn't work in the arena, after all) or because the avoid bonus is actually tied to having the skill active (as it should, but it was worth a try).

Ah, I always knew that thread would get me somewhere in life.

You can actually do the reverse strat in the Arena. Start out with a cheaper weapon, then switch to the Miracle Sword once you get in-range. That way, you're not burning through as many uses. And with the Shield/Barrier Sword, you can set up Miracle strats that wouldn't otherwise be possible.

14 minutes ago, Jotari said:

You're missing Camus and Nyna, the most plot relevant romance. There's also Samson and Sheena, and Abel and Est.

Astram/Midia, anyone? It was a whole-ass archetype! ...That only came back, like, one time, but still.

16 minutes ago, Jotari said:

I'm pretty sure Leinster only has an armoury, even if the enemy takes it and you turn it into a proper blue castle. Can you genuinely return warp all three of Leif's gang to Seliph and mess up the continuity?

Yes, and yes. I've done it before. Once you've killed all the bandits, there's not much motivation to stick around. Plus, letting Leinster turn red means Seliph can turn it blue, for an extra 1K all around.

Anyone who expected the amenities of Castle Nordion is in for a real let-down. Forge or get out.

54 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

...Just ignore Dew.

"I swear, officer, I just really wanted my kids to be able to buy everything at-cost! If there's any criminal here, it's that greedy pawn shop owner."

3 hours ago, RPGuy96 said:

Presumably this is supposed to be Kutuzov (Кутузов in Russian), who was a real life Russian general in the Napoleonic Wars, and a reasonably important character in Tolstoy's War and Peace.  It's maybe a bit of a stretch - and 130 years before most of Kaga's historical references - but guess who shows up in the arena:

Explains why Lewyn shows up to tell Seliph that "The Kingdom of Naga was within you, all along."

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Hey, guess what, it's time for the same joke I make every time there's one of these screenshots.

...To be fair, Ishtore isn't particularly ugly. He could kiiiinda pass off as a playable. Except he's instead probably the most forgettable asshole that gen 2 pretends is kind of important. Wah wah.

Ishtore only exists to

Spoiler

Die, and for his death to motivate the women around him. ...Wait, did Kaga just invert a recurring sexist trope there?

Aida totally looks playable here, if not for the fact that she shares a mug with Liza in Gen I. Still, she's not ugly or cruel-looking, just serious. At worst, stern.

7 hours ago, ping said:

I will not stand for your Ethlyn erasure, by the way, Leif.

There is a "chicken-and-egg" question here. Did Ethlyn fall in love with Quan via his close friendship with Sigurd? Or did Quan and Sigurd become close friends following his romantic relationship with Ethlyn?

Either way, yeah, it's weird that he doesn't refer to Sigurd as his "Uncle", or "Mother's Brother". Just "Dad's old war buddy". Like, you share a holy blood type with this man, Leif.

19 hours ago, ping said:

That does make sense, and is a much more flexible approach to relieving Ulster of the burden of too much money than my initial Ulster/Lana idea.

It's interesting that Ulster has no "love base" with anybody, nor any conversations giving love points. Poor guy has no game. Although to be fair, pairings with non-zero love base seem less common in the second generation just in general.

Oh yeah, I kinda missed your Ulster/Lana idea. Not a bad idea either!

As for the zero love bases in Gen II, I see it as a combination of the pairable units showing up earlier, and the fact that the pairings don't matter as much. You're not screwing yourself out of getting great units in Gen III, because that generation doesn't exist.

7 hours ago, ping said:

Shanan's stats are honestly not as impressive as I expected them to be. They're very good, of course, but I was expecting him to be more like Stefan in PoR, with OP combat and only held back by his lower movement. ...then again, I never found Stefan to be as OP as he's sometimes described either.

Honestly, the Stefan comparison is apt. Either one absolutely destroys enemies in melee combat... but their ranged options are basically nothing. Shannan's low Magic bites him here. I once saw him Astra with the Flame Sword, and he still didn't kill the enemy. Not having horses in a game with super-canto, too.

7 hours ago, ping said:

On Leif's end of the long and winding road, the enemies start a bit further away than from Shanan and Patty. Hopefully, they can push out a bit and kills some Brigands - and hopefully, Fee can fly over and help them in the endeavour - but if necessary, the choke point in front of Leonster seems perfectly safe for Finn to block, with Nanna providing healing as needed. I can see how a magic sword would've come in handy for Leaf here, too.

Oh, since you'll be getting Laylea soon, make sure you don't let Leif, or anyone else, visit the village closest to Leonster Castle! That's where Laylea needs to go for the exclusive Barrier Blade.

8 hours ago, ping said:

Julia would need 5 HP procs to avoid being one-shot, so she might be able to improve her odds by reaching that threshold.

"Shield Ring Julia! Shield Ring Julia!"

14 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

You know, I never stopped to think about this, but... Considering it was the next game that established they know each other, I can't blame them for not having the conversation, but the remake has no such excuse.

Doesn't Leif lie about his identity, in their original encounter? That could lead to a rather humorous reunion. I could definitely imagine Hannibal giving "Lugh Faris" a thorough ribbing.

12 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

For all we know Tana and Innes were raised by a gay couple and Sacred Stones is the most revolutionary game in the series.

Hell, we can't even say for sure that there's only two of them. Maybe Tana and Innes were raised by a gay throuple.

14 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Johan can you stop talking about Larcei for five minutes? There's more to life than her."

"Maybe to you, my dearest brother. But I live for naught but love. Perhaps this is why she thinks the world of me, while she doesn't even know your name."

"Hey, what are you two layabouts doing? Go get more children from the villages! For, uh... you know, the imperial policy!"

"Ahh, maybe I'll run into my beloved Larcei on the way... Servants, fetch my steed! We must away at once! I'm coming, my love! I'm comiiiiiing...!"

"I hate it here."

Great script!

Also, I can't help reading Johan's last line in a way that's (probably) unintended. Adds an extra larf.

12 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

First, the chance she might be dead is a problem. And moving her alone into the "retreat when gameplay-killed" column for Gen 1 would look weird within the context of Gen 1.

Wait, so offscreen Edain only ecists at Tirnanog if her kids also exist? ...I mean I guess that makes sense.

Anyway, much as I'm no fan of "damn, I've been defeated! I must retreat", I feel like it would make sense for Edain's character. She's not a "fight to the death" sort of person, much more concerned with helping those around her. I could see her surrendering and getting picked back up later, as can happen to Deidre or Julia. And one way or another, I feel like the Tirnanog squad need some adult accompanying them. Especially when they're taking along an undisclosed quantity of babies.

[Jotari]

56 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

It doesn't mess up anything. You are not expected to hold Lenster, with Nanna suggesting you should retreat to the nearby church instead.

Yes, something Thracia 776 chooses to ignore completely. Of course it's not all that difficult to hold Leinster if you have the trio properly equipped. My most recent Sigurd Solo subs run I took the suggested church method though.

56 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

And Leaf already has Celice as a Talk listed.

That's what I was more wondering about. Though I suppose nothing in the Convo suggests a place or time. Still, the notion of Leif meeting Seliph in Isaach is just kind of weird to me. They're also Returning to a place they've never actually been.

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

Aida totally looks playable here, if not for the fact that she shares a mug with Liza in Gen I. Still, she's not ugly or cruel-looking, just serious. At worst, stern.

You have it backwards. Aida was in Gen 1, Liza is Gen 2.

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

Oh, since you'll be getting Laylea soon, make sure you don't let Leif, or anyone else, visit the village closest to Leonster Castle! That's where Laylea needs to go for the exclusive Barrier Blade.

Which is honestly really scummy. Like, who is ever going to find that one naturally? Any player is either going to visit those villages immediately with the Leinster trio, or they're going to purposely save them for later characters who need the cash, and said later character is not going to be your newly recruited dancer who starts on the other side of the map and will take like thirty turns walking there, by which point you've almost surely beaten Bloom already.

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

Doesn't Leif lie about his identity, in their original encounter? That could lead to a rather humorous reunion. I could definitely imagine Hannibal giving "Lugh Faris" a thorough ribbing.

I think it's implied Hannibal easily saw through Leif's identity fraud.

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

Wait, so offscreen Edain only ecists at Tirnanog if her kids also exist? ...I mean I guess that makes sense.

Anyway, much as I'm no fan of "damn, I've been defeated! I must retreat", I feel like it would make sense for Edain's character. She's not a "fight to the death" sort of person, much more concerned with helping those around her. I could see her surrendering and getting picked back up later, as can happen to Deidre or Julia. And one way or another, I feel like the Tirnanog squad need some adult accompanying them. Especially when they're taking along an undisclosed quantity of babies.

Adean being captured in Chapter 1 would make perfect sense narratively...but in terms of gameplay it'd really neuter her and Dew's escape, since she doesn't even need to run away. You'd basically just be trying to save Dew.

Edited March 31 by Jotari

[Interdimensional Observer]

27 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Yes, something Thracia 776

I only just remembered I had this image.:

Spoiler

Leif's actual army, don't believe this Genealogy nonsense.😝

[Saint Rubenio]

7 hours ago, Jotari said:

You're missing Camus and Nyna, the most plot relevant romance. There's also Samson and Sheena, and Abel and Est.

I mean decent romances.

Nah but yeah, Samson and Sheema is neat.

7 hours ago, Jotari said:

Just give them an instant marriage with each other.

FE4 remake, you know what to do.

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

Ishtore only exists to

  Hide contents

Die, and for his death to motivate the women around him. ...Wait, did Kaga just invert a recurring sexist trope there?

Aida totally looks playable here, if not for the fact that she shares a mug with Liza in Gen I. Still, she's not ugly or cruel-looking, just serious. At worst, stern.

Actually, the other way around. Aida was from Gen 1, this is Liza.

Anyway, yeah, she's kind of like Hemorrhoids Knight in that she doesn't look overtly evil, but the reuses give her away. All things considered though, this is far from the funniest screenshot of this kind. Even if it's still plainly obvious who the playable is.

And hey, I actually didn't realize that first part. Huh. Interesting.

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

Doesn't Leif lie about his identity, in their original encounter? That could lead to a rather humorous reunion. I could definitely imagine Hannibal giving "Lugh Faris" a thorough ribbing.

He does, but it's pretty heavily implied that Hannibal doesn't buy it for two seconds. He just chooses to play along.

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

Hell, we can't even say for sure that there's only two of them. Maybe Tana and Innes were raised by a gay throuple.

Dang, you're right. We must look deeper into this. Who was the Kaga of Sacred Stones...?

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

Also, I can't help reading Johan's last line in a way that's (probably) unintended. Adds an extra larf.

I may have realized the implications and paid them no mind.