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

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

10 hours ago, ping said:

: "We WERE. Now go get me a crown and then keep, I dunno, milking the chickens or whatever peasants do all day."

: "Help, help, I'm being repressed! Now you see the violence inherent in the system!"

5 hours ago, Jotari said:

Probably. Armoured knights actually have Res in Radiant Dawn.

And Speed, don't forget Speed! Without Resolve, or else being insanely blessed, Micaiah isn't doubling Armors.

5 hours ago, Jotari said:

If we are designing non rapier weapons for lord though, then I suggest Mickey get a tome that has built in vantage. You then take Wrath of Edward, put her down to 1hp via sacrifice and then let her go to town on enemies. Coming to think of it, Wrath Miciaha might be a decent build for her even without vantage tome. She'll die on one hit anyway, might as well make her a Crit machine with a near certain HP lost mechanic.

Conversely, what about a tome with built-in Renewal? This would let Micaiah "Sacrifice", even if just for 2 or 3 HP, every single turn. Thus making her more effective at her signature gimmick. And hey, 10 exp is 10 exp.

4 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Like how he addresses Eliwood and Hector that one time as "children of Roland" and Lyn as "daughter of Hanon and Roland".
I mean, do you talk like that? When a friend gets a kid, do you address them as "child of Steve" instead of addressing them by their given name?

No, because I'm not 1000 years old. If I'd been relatively secluded for several centuries, then found myself talking to hyper-zoomers, I'd probably come across as archaic at best.

Anyway, I enjoy this turn of phrase. Like how Aslan calls the Pevensies "Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve". Except, Athos isn't trying to win my soul.

The remainder of the critique against Athos, though, is solid. He makes the three Lords flit about Bern because it "builds character". Which leads to Ninian's recapture, and subsequent death. Had he visited the Shrine of Seals immediately, Athos and crew probably could've acquired all the Legendary Weapons before Nergal was back to full power.

5 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Meanwhile Nergal had to lick his wounds after being stabbed by Elbert's knife.

Which only happened because Nergal had dismissed Jaffar prematurely. God, the amount of idiot-ball-holding that happened in this game...

13 hours ago, Jotari said:

That's some serious shade your throwing on all 20 of the BS: Archanea Saga portraits right there.

Sorry, I was only counting games that exist in a still-playable state.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

August passes for a generic bossman that gets recolored two or three times. I like it too - blurs the line a bit on the good ol' "everyone on the player's side is handsome" effect which is much too prevalent, and it really fits the guy just in general.

Honestly, I could imagine an August recolor as a one-time boss later in the game. That'd be pretty funny, especially if nobody comments on the obvious resemblance.

[Shaky Jones]

10 hours ago, ping said:

Ironman no-Arena Ranked Sub Run with no Holy Weapons. Can't allow any scrubs to pollute the discussion with their bad opinions.

You know what? After experiencing 3 Houses fans, this fandom could do more with some extreme gatekeeping.

10 hours ago, ping said:

So he's the anti-Jamke: Awful combat, but good mobility - in particular once indoor maps become a thing

Unlike Jamke, Ronan's in a game where he'll actually reach the enemy and play the game.

10 hours ago, ping said:

Oh, that's OK. I'll just keep in mind that your opinions on Genealogy aren't really informed.

Fair. I'm convinced 2/3rds of all FE4 fans haven't actually played the game themselves anyways, so I never count their opinions.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I didn't even realize, but... yeah, this does go well in line with the guy who capped minimum and maximum hit to 1% and 99% respectively.

22 hours ago, ping said:

I'm not allowed to criticize the hit rate mechanic because old school Fallout caps hit at 95%.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I mean, Athos never made Eliwood and company hike through deserts, volcanoes, glaciars and houses full of thieves and dragons for no reason while the world was at stake.

There it is. I just keep winning.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Ehhh incorrect. Hector is very different as both a character and a unit. Not that I'm particularly a fan of him, mind, but Marth clone he is not. The only thing remotely Marthish about him is the axe, which is admittedly a shame, but that's something every post-Kaga lord is shackled with until Fates.

With Fates, lords are now stuck with the new trend of "lord with the same weapon that transforms over time". Usually, this is for the avatar, but at least with Chrom, it was a nice little touch with the falchion, which isn't really a rapier, but that's probably because he has an actual rapier besides it. I won't bash it for that though, because it's based in Archanea, so it's only natural, and the game is 75% reference emblem anyways.

But now I'm already bored of the "here's your sword. Now the sword is slightly stronger". I dunno, the moment it becomes the super sword never hits as hard for me as when you just get it as it is in the older games. I suppose it's suppose to be fresh, but it's not even like it necessarily replaces the rapier trope. It's just often a slightly better iron sword which is boring, and then people like Alear essentially still are the rapier trope through Marth references anyways.

Guess it's just too ingrained as the staple now to even think about letting go of. Hard to even blame them nowadays. Fuck FE7.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I, on the other hand, like them precisely because of that. Less colorful and more grounded is my cup of tea. But well, you know what they say, all toasters to each their own.

I'll say the same thing, but in a more "my opinion is correct form". Thracia easily has the best portraits, hands down. It's perfect for the setting, and everything is just so sharp looking, which goes perfectly with them beards. 

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I like Selfina more.

Why do you choose to become cringe every time I'm about to call you based?

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

What would you know, yankee?

Schlatt reference.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Oh yeah, BSFE had the best portrait art in all of Kaga's era of FE. I so wish they'd kept that artist for FE5. I like FE5's portraits but BSFE was built different.

We don't deserve BSFE

6 hours ago, Jotari said:

Is that sarcasm? Because he kind of did. Well, except the glaciers part. Sure he gets warp happy at the end, but there's a whole bunch of walking around before then. And for crying out loud the dude must know where the shrine of seals is. He was probably there when it was built. He could have cut out half the game by fetching a mountain based map of Bern and saying "somewhere around here. South central east."

Athos is a poopy head redeemed by having stats and animations that will stick forever to the hearts of brand new FE fans.

Gotoh's the guy you laugh at for having 11 magic and then proceeds to have you prove yourself AGAIN after basically admitting he desperately needs the shards for the world to be saved. 

5 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Not to mention Athos also had the option of just teleporting straight to the weakened Nergal and finish him off. Maybe aided by Eliwood in order to keep his morph army busy.

So they're both shitheads.

I get it now! Athos is bad because FE7 writing, and Gotoh feels like a shitty character because he brings FE7 vibes! It makes so much sense.

Moral is: Never write a character who can warp around the world. Otherwise you'll have people asking "Why can't I have Hubert use warp" or "What the fuck is warp powder?".

4 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Only arguing in favor relative to Athos.

Gotoh is bad, sure. But Athos is a special kind of awful. Gotoh's actions generally at least make sense on a conceptual level. Like, sending Marth across Anri's way to see the forgotten corners of the continent with his own eyes and give him a history lesson along the way is not a bad concept and makes sense for his character.
But it runs into all kinds of problems, like being part of the plot of Book 2 instead of Book 1, where the dragons were actually an important part of the plot. But Book 2 has Hardin as a fellow human being the main villain. Not to mention him acknowledging at the end of Book 1 that Marth has proven himself to him, so why sending him through hoops in Book 2?

It's just hard to not get over just how stupid going through a seemingly arduous trial AGAIN sounds given that it's a sequel. Athos is shitty sure, but how can anything top "I fucked up, get the same things you already got a 2ND time, and you get no help from me". Bro sent Wendell alone. Doesn't Athos at least give you Pent the game breaker? I haven't played FE7 in ages, but as far as shitty tropes go, at least you know the devs were going for the typical "prove yourself" nonsense, which simply is too stupid to do in a sequel game with the same guy.  Hell, he's just doing nothing except chilling with Tiki whose fate is literally dependent on whether you get the shards or not so I can't imagine any conversation between them during all that time he's not helping out just going "Yeah, if Marth doesn't make it here with all the shards, you're fucked lmao". Maybe do something about it!? It's not like you were guarding her. The place is overrun with thieves and druids when Marth makes it here, and Tiki has to hide in some dingy corner alone. 

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

4 hours ago, Jotari said:

Gotoh, in a way not much unlike Athos, kind of fails on this point because Marth is the one cleaning up Gotoh's shit. It's Gotoh's fault things are this way. It was his apprentice that stole his dark sphere and revived his enemy because he sucked as a teacher. But he just expects Marth to go around the world collecting orbs so Marth can defeat Gharnef. Dude, you have the power to warp entire armies. Bring Marth to you and help him collect the orbs yourself. You don't even personally take to the battlefield until Gharnef is dead and Medeus is cornered. Maybe if you showed up to fight Gharnef yourself then he wouldn't have cheated death and caused all the problems in Book 2.  Not to mention the world is literally at stake in Book 2 because of the shattered Starsphere and the most he could do is sent Wendell off to collect the shards. Is drinking tea at the ice temple really more important than searching for these things yourself?

The whole idea of the wise oracle testing the hero only works if the tester has no stake in the conflict. If they're just an outside for charged with arbitration and stopping the quest reward from falling into the wrong hands. But Gotoh not only has an invested interest in seeing Marth's side win, it's his fault this is all happening in the first place by training the guy running about the place mucking things up. A character should either have the capacity to help, but no desire to do so; or the desire to help, but no capacity to do so. Gotoh has both the desire to help and the evident capacity to do so, but just doesn't, which makes him look kind of lazy at best and an asshole at worst.

Phew, didn't realize I had that much pent up hatred for Gotoh. Still, what a cool head piece he wears. 7/10, decent character.

I've been saying this for years

Yes you have, and you're being rewarded now.

[Saint Rubenio]

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

Honestly, I could imagine an August recolor as a one-time boss later in the game. That'd be pretty funny, especially if nobody comments on the obvious resemblance.

Purple August. We call him, Waugust.

24 minutes ago, Shaky Jones said:

With Fates, lords are now stuck with the new trend of "lord with the same weapon that transforms over time". Usually, this is for the avatar, but at least with Chrom, it was a nice little touch with the falchion, which isn't really a rapier, but that's probably because he has an actual rapier besides it. I won't bash it for that though, because it's based in Archanea, so it's only natural, and the game is 75% reference emblem anyways.

But now I'm already bored of the "here's your sword. Now the sword is slightly stronger". I dunno, the moment it becomes the super sword never hits as hard for me as when you just get it as it is in the older games. I suppose it's suppose to be fresh, but it's not even like it necessarily replaces the rapier trope. It's just often a slightly better iron sword which is boring, and then people like Alear essentially still are the rapier trope through Marth references anyways.

Guess it's just too ingrained as the staple now to even think about letting go of. Hard to even blame them nowadays. Fuck FE7.

It didn't really happen in Engage, did it? Liberation is just... a thing that's there. They don't really do much with it. I'll give it credit for not being just another rapier, but on the other hand the effect is just kinda... bleh? It's certainly no Leif light brand.

27 minutes ago, Shaky Jones said:

Why do you choose to become cringe every time I'm about to call you based?

She's basically the prototype of the badass sniper stereotype Kaga perfect starting with Raquel TRS. Also known as my favorite stereotype in all these games. So.

27 minutes ago, Shaky Jones said:

Athos is a poopy head redeemed by having stats and animations that will stick forever to the hearts of brand new FE fans.

Gotoh's the guy you laugh at for having 11 magic and then proceeds to have you prove yourself AGAIN after basically admitting he desperately needs the shards for the world to be saved. 

"He who laughs last, laughs hardest."

- Gotoh probably

28 minutes ago, Shaky Jones said:

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

 

Yes you have, and you're being rewarded now.

Imma happy camper right now, lemme tell ya.

[ping]

FE5 Chapter 2x: The Corsair Isles

Spoiler

: "You could stand to give me the time of day, Safy. We both know I could get anything you want. Just go along with me, yeah?"
: "I have given my word to see Lady Linoan's hopes realized. Unless you wish to join us in fighting for Tahra, I will not falter."
: "T-Take up arms against the Empire?! May as well stand on the shore an' try to push the tide back!"
: "Perhaps it sounds impossible, but the alternative is to do nothing as innocent children are ritually slaughtered. No matter the cost, no one with a drop of humanity could stand by and allow this to continue. We're not naive. Everyone knows the risk - we know we'll likely die. But this isn't just about us! This is bigger than one city or one society - this is about resisting the grip of damnation itself. Loptous beckons, Lifis. The world hurtles ever closer towards his jaws. Tahra is the only place in Jugrdral still in dispute - where will you be when history is written?"
: "Well... I... Look, you're out to fulfill your Lady's hopes, right? If I say yes, will you fulfill one of my own hopes?"
: "If it is within my power, I will."
: "It's a deal. I'll talk to my boys, make sure everybody is on board. But don't forget our little arrangement."
: "Very well."

Move over, Lewyn and Johan, the biggest asshole in Jugdral's playable cast has arrived.

: "The timing isn't ideal, granted, but with a torch in hand, your men will be able to see a ways ahead."
: "I... don't believe we have any flint or tinder handy. What are our chances without torches?"
: "Your men won't be totally blind, but they'll barely be able to see in front of them. Still, I imagine you can find a spare torch or two lying around somewhere."
: Then let's get moving. There's no time to waste!"

Or we could press [End Turn] 99 times and then do a surprise attack at dawn. My impression last chapter was that Safy has been in the hands of the pirates for a little while already, so I don't buy that it's imperative to attack right this second.

Dunno, maybe this would work better if Leif had landed by night, made the plan to attack at dawn, but was spotted by Lifis's men before. With how FE fog works, specifically with the enemy ignoring it entirely, you can never spin it as "we should use the fog to our advantage", so that angle wouldn't have worked.

So, no map overview today.

__

Annoyingly, this map combines Thracia fog with a lot of sand tiles which, unlike in Genalogy, impede movement like desert tiles. As a result, the map becomes... annoying. I could've used rescue/drops more than I did to increase movement, yes, but because your vision is so limited, you also have to be careful not to expose anybody to too much combat while carrying somebody.

I do remember two things about the map: The objective is to the east, and there's a torch hidden on a fort in the opposite direction. So, because she has good movement, Eyvel goes into the wrong direction for a second to thin out the enemies before catching up to the main group.

: "I mean, we might as well jus' nab a knife in our necks now an' save everybody some time!"
: "I know, I know, I'm just leading her on! Gotta get my foot in the door with that lass. An' just who does Shiva think he is, talking to me like that? Did that cutthroat sellsword grow a conscience when nobody was looking?"
: "Hey Boss, we got a couple do-gooders scurryin' in from the west!"
: "What? Here? You gotta be joking! ...All right boys, let's go say hello! The sharks are gonna be well-fed tonight!"

I think I'd personally suggested "The sharks are gonna feast tonight!", but that's just a matter of opinion. "Well-fed" sounds more like the result of weeks and months of proper eating to me, is all.

(Fun Fact: The portraits of Lifis's underlings have character names on the wiki list I got them from. It seems that some bosses' portraits are being recycled even before their own appearance)

____

To be honest, while the map is a bit annoying, it's not particularly punishing. Yes, enemies come out of the fog regularly, but Dagdar locks that down without much issue. But because I don't see what's coming, a lot of the work is done by him and Eyvel, so this chapter doesn't offer as much opportunity to collect XP with the unpromoted units.

__

Annnnd here's Leaf dodging a one-round at the hands of a promoted enemy coming out of the fog. Huh. Because the Warrior missed both his attacks, I didn't even register at first that Leaf, despite +7 HP, still takes more than half his HP from him.

Now, in this situation, this is my own fault for keeping the Light Brand equipped. With an Iron Sword, Leaf would've sit at 5 AS, barely avoiding getting doubled - but I have to add that my Leaf gained +1 Spd, which is not a guarantee in two level-ups (although I don't know the precise odds), so I think we can take this as Thracia's first Fuck You hurled at the player.

Dagdar then proceeds to capture the warrior with some more RNG luck, so we now have our first torch. Exciting!

Meanwhile, Marty, Finn, and Tanya explore the western part of the map - Finn because I believe he has more problems than anybody else with the sand tiles on this map; Tanya and Marty more or less randomly selected.

__

They actually find two torches: One from the other fort on the first screenshot, the second from a fort further southeast. I did know about the first (just not which fort you find it on), but not the second - I didn't even have vision of it when I randomly sent Finn to that tile.

That's basically the story of these three - they fight a couple random pirates, with Finn setting up kills for his statistically challenged friends. Marty starts his career with an impressive +Lck level-up.

And meanwhile, the main group pushes forward - slowly. Also pictured: Me seeing that Leif has a convo with Eyvel, but selecting "wait" before registering. I'll remember to get that talk later, though.

__

Eventually, Halvan lights the torch we got from the warrior...

...close enough to see both the "boss" and a Hindu deity. (with some clumsy editing because the tooltip hides the three generic Myrms in front of him).

I'm pretty certain that Shiva will appear later, and will be recruitable by Safy. I think that you can grab his Killing Edge (and Vuln) here by capturing him and as long as you don't release him, he'll still return - but I'm not willing to test my memory on that, nor my RNG luck - in particular, because he doesn't need any luck to crit with a follow-up attack. I don't quite remember how the stat reduction from capturing works - Eyvel quite possibly would've been able to avoid getting doubled, and she out-cons him by one, but I don't want to take that risk.

Meanwhile, Lifis stands ready to teach the player that unarmed characters can be auto-captured, which I know is a very good strategy to deploy against strong enemies - as long as you take note that these will also steal your own items if you do this.

I forgot to make a screenshot, but you can find the growth modifiers of our first scroll in its item description: [+30% HP | +10% Str | -10% Lck] - not imba strong on its own, but a nice bonus for our more wimpy characters.

Behold: A Ronan kill! He only missed his first attack.

__

Leif then draws the generic enemies from across the bridge. The Myrms are also fast enough to double him, but their attack power is low enough to allow him to face two of them nevertheless.

This also sets off the other two generic enemies...

____

...but with a little luck, the Myrmidons go down and the Warrior doesn't threaten any kills.

Well, "luck".

The following enemy phase, some reinforcements appear from forts in the southeast of the map - again, sufficiently far away for me to ignore them, this time not even sending anybody to hunt for XP. The map is a dark and scary place.

And the next player phase, I realise that the tile next to Dagdar is an impassable "cliff" and not another sand tile. Hm.

Can't say that I find that obvious, even now that I know it.

Because of that, the Axe Bros have to rescue Eyvel out of the way after she set up a semi-reliable capture for Dagdar. And here I remember the convo between Leif and Eyvel:

: "The pirates seem to have greater numbers... Can we make it through this, Commander?"
: "Numbers aren't everything. We keep our heads about us, we'll make it through just fine."
: "O-Of course, Commander. Still, would you happen to know anything useful about this Lifis thug?"
: "Hah! 'Thug' is too generous for Lifis. He's small-time - ain't even worth killing. When we get our hands on him, take him alive, and don't let him go after the fighting's done. We'll bring him back to Iz and see that he gets justice for his crimes."

Tutorial hidden in an easily missable conversation. Not ideal.

Eventually, we get close enough to Lifis, and luckily I'm not proven wrong about the assumption that surely, Shiva won't come after us as long as we don't poke him.

Dagdar grabs Lifis and, just to be safe, Ronan takes his stuff, in case Lifis doesn't bring his inventory into the next chapter. I did pay enough attention not to release Lifis.

So, that's this map in 13 turns. The map itself is pretty inoffensive - the slowdown from the sand tiles is tolerable, enemies are at an appropriate power level - but Thracia fog sucks. Thracia fog without giving the player any torches beforehand suuuuuucks. And making every torch a one-use consumable, while "realistic", might mean that any used torch comes with the worry that you won't find a replacement for the  next fog map. All in all, not a good mechanic, or set of mechanics. I don't particularly enjoy fog of war in FE in general - always feels like bullshit when an enemy comes out of the fog and kills something - but later entries at least give you thieves and torches, with stackable vision boosts, before throwing the mechanic at you.

__

: "Hm? Is that...?"
: "I beg your pardon, milady. Battle is dirty business, and if I have some grime or blood on my face-"
: "Have you forgotten me already, Lord Leif? It's me, Safy - we met in Tahra."
: "Safy, you say? I knew a young woman at the monastery in Tahra by that name."
: "I only had the honor of seeing you two or three times, milord. I suppose I wasn't as memorable as I thought! Still, you left an impression on me all the same. When you departed the city, it was I who wiped Lady Linoan's face of tears."
: "Ah, now I can place you. Your father was a priest, and you were rather close with Linoan, were you not?"
: "As close as a woman of common birth can be, I suppose. The Duke of Tahra was Lady Linoan's father, and I am more her servant than peer."
: "That aside, how did you come to be here? Has something happened to Linoan?"
: "You mean to say you don't know what's happened to Tahra since you left? Ah... Let me start from the beginning. After the Duke passed away, the Empire installed their own governor. The man proved to be a walking pox, inflicting tragedy after tragedy upon us. Just this year, they even began child hunts in Tahra."
: "Child hunts...?"
: "That proved to be the breaking point. The people of Tahra revolted, installing Lady Linoan as rightful Duchess. They hired any sellsword who could stand upright, and then sent offerings of gold and gemstones to the Empire's leading noblemen. It was... an admirable effort, but King Blume of Thracia did not forgive such a slight, and summoned the Imperial Army to besiege Tahra. The sellswords proved craven and fled, and now only a handful of militiamen stand between the Empire and our city. Lady Linoan bade me leave and seek out any who would fight in Tahra's defense."
: "Are things truly that dire...? The Duke sheltered me for half a decade before the Empire learned of it and had him executed. Not a day goes by that I don't think of his generosity... You're seeking folk to aid Tahra? Look no more. I pledge to deliver Tahra from this evil. Let's be off, Safy."
: "You will be most welcome in Tahra, Lord Leif. Thank you."

So, er... Is all of this exposition only available if you visit the gaiden chapter? Because it all seems rather important to the plot. I would hope that Safy would just somehow run into Leif anyhow if you miss 2x.

: "That's up to the villagers of Iz. We're taking you back there to answer for your crimes."
: "We both know what'll happen! You handin' me over to them is as good as killin' me yourself! Safy, c'mon, we had a deal - i said I'd go to Tahra with you!"
: "...Lord Leif, Lifis is not an evil man. He's committed many foul acts as a pirate, yes, but he seemed genuinely repentant when we spoke earlier. Give him a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of the gods."
: "...All right. If Safy believes in you, I can give you a chance for the time being.

: "But come to think of it... If that boy's really the missing Leonster heir, the Empire'd pay mighty well to hear of it... It's worth mulling over, at least. Either way, it'll have to wait until after Safy has given in to my many charms!"

Ugh.

Dirtbaggery aside - while the action of this chapter was just a continuation of Ch.2, it's nice that with Safy's report, the stakes already grow past the personal (though still pressing) goal of rescuing the damsels. I have some vague memories how this'll go, generally in the "not good" category, but I think instead of typing up random, unconnected snippets from memory, I'll just go "Ah, yes" or "I don't remember this!" when it'll be appropriate.

The Team:

	  Lv.	    HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Con  XP
Leif	  3.73	    30   4   0   3   6   7   3   5  +67   [+7 HP]
Finn	  7.96	    28   8   1   8  11   5   7   9  +33
Eyvel	  */13.19   28  10   4  18  20  10   7   8  +21
Osian	  2.72	    28   6   0   7   9   4   4  11  +43

Halvan	  3.81	    29   8   0   7   7   3   5  13  +27
Marty	  2.51	    32   9   0   0   0   7   6  15  +73
Dagdar	  */6.96    43  14   1  11   9   2  10  15  +42
Tanya	  3.10	    22   3   1   7  11   8   2   4  +111

Ronan	  2.01	    20   4   0   3   7   3   2   7  +71

 

Answers!

Spoiler

 

10 hours ago, Jotari said:

Well naturally. You're not even allowed to say the words Fire Emblem if you're not currently playing an ironman run of some game.

I agree! Personally, I started a BinBla ironman six years ago. I just paused it five years, eleven months and 364 days ago after reaching chapter 2. Maybe I'll pick it up again one of these days.

10 hours ago, Revier said:

Also speedrun the game while rescuing all the villages. All of them.

Just as Kaga intended.

...okay, I think my predicted time of 7+ years might not quite turn up on any leaderboard.

4 hours ago, Jotari said:

Gotoh, in a way not much unlike Athos, kind of fails on this point because Marth is the one cleaning up Gotoh's shit. It's Gotoh's fault things are this way. It was his apprentice that stole his dark sphere and revived his enemy because he sucked as a teacher. But he just expects Marth to go around the world collecting orbs so Marth can defeat Gharnef. Dude, you have the power to warp entire armies. Bring Marth to you and help him collect the orbs yourself. You don't even personally take to the battlefield until Gharnef is dead and Medeus is cornered. Maybe if you showed up to fight Gharnef yourself then he wouldn't have cheated death and caused all the problems in Book 2.  Not to mention the world is literally at stake in Book 2 because of the shattered Starsphere and the most he could do is sent Wendell off to collect the shards. Is drinking tea at the ice temple really more important than searching for these things yourself?

The whole idea of the wise oracle testing the hero only works if the tester has no stake in the conflict. If they're just an outside for charged with arbitration and stopping the quest reward from falling into the wrong hands. But Gotoh not only has an invested interest in seeing Marth's side win, it's his fault this is all happening in the first place by training the guy running about the place mucking things up. A character should either have the capacity to help, but no desire to do so; or the desire to help, but no capacity to do so. Gotoh has both the desire to help and the evident capacity to do so, but just doesn't, which makes him look kind of lazy at best and an asshole at worst.

Phew, didn't realize I had that much pent up hatred for Gotoh. Still, what a cool head piece he wears. 7/10, decent character.

I'm glad you wrote this. I thought I had been gone for just a few hours and suddenly Gotoh isn't the worst anymore.

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

: "Help, help, I'm being repressed! Now you see the violence inherent in the system!"

: "You think YOU have it bad? For all our existence, we're just sent into the gold mines and to collect lumber essence, until we're literally detonated just to dispel something!"

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

Conversely, what about a tome with built-in Renewal? This would let Micaiah "Sacrifice", even if just for 2 or 3 HP, every single turn. Thus making her more effective at her signature gimmick. And hey, 10 exp is 10 exp.

tbh, Sacrifice needed to be a lot stronger to begin with. As is, the Miccy's miraculous ability on which her adoration rests... is basically a Heal spell except that Micaiah goes from getting one-shot by almost everything to getting one-shot by everything. Big whoop. If it was at least, like, Mend+Restore at a fixed HP cost of 5-ish... it would still be almost entirely obsolete once she promotes, but at least it would be a more relevant ability in part 1.

29 minutes ago, Shaky Jones said:

You know what? After experiencing 3 Houses fans, this fandom could do more with some extreme gatekeeping.

Eh, instead of focusing on gaming skill, maybe we should just throw out all anime fans.

 

[BrightBow]

33 minutes ago, ping said:

I forgot to make a screenshot, but you can find the growth modifiers of our first scroll in its item description: [+30% HP | +10% Str | -10% Lck] - not imba strong on its own, but a nice bonus for our more wimpy characters.

And everyone with low luck appreciates the crit immunity.
 

35 minutes ago, ping said:

Eventually, we get close enough to Lifis, and luckily I'm not proven wrong about the assumption that surely, Shiva won't come after us as long as we don't poke him.

Or after a set number of turns. Don't remember how long, but I remember the turn limit being quite generous.
 

38 minutes ago, ping said:

So, er... Is all of this exposition only available if you visit the gaiden chapter? Because it all seems rather important to the plot. I would hope that Safy would just somehow run into Leif anyhow if you miss 2x.

Yeah, I can see why they ditched this concept going forward.

Well, technically there is an optional map in Tear Ring Saga, but that's the result of Holmes getting to walk around on the world map freely. So I don't think it makes for a very effective point of comparison.

[Interdimensional Observer]

32 minutes ago, ping said:

tbh, Sacrifice needed to be a lot stronger to begin with. As is, the Miccy's miraculous ability on which her adoration rests... is basically a Heal spell except that Micaiah goes from getting one-shot by almost everything to getting one-shot by everything. Big whoop. If it was at least, like, Mend+Restore at a fixed HP cost of 5-ish... it would still be almost entirely obsolete once she promotes, but at least it would be a more relevant ability in part 1.

It already is.

45 minutes ago, ping said:

Annnnd here's Leaf dodging a one-round at the hands of a promoted enemy coming out of the fog. Huh. Because the Warrior missed both his attacks, I didn't even register at first that Leaf, despite +7 HP, still takes more than half his HP from him.

Ya suuuuuure you don't want to give Leif the Spd Ring?😜

42 minutes ago, ping said:

I forgot to make a screenshot, but you can find the growth modifiers of our first scroll in its item description: [+30% HP | +10% Str | -10% Lck] - not imba strong on its own, but a nice bonus for our more wimpy characters.

All Scrolls are a net gain of +30% growths.

48 minutes ago, ping said:

Move over, Lewyn and Johan, the biggest asshole in Jugdral's playable cast has arrived.

Something something totally not Julian & Lena.😛

38 minutes ago, ping said:

So, er... Is all of this exposition only available if you visit the gaiden chapter? Because it all seems rather important to the plot. I would hope that Safy would just somehow run into Leif anyhow if you miss 2x.

Looks like the gal is missable if you don't do 2x. Which means, if you miss the first gaiden chapter, you lose out on both the first thief and the first healer. -Not exactly a beginner/blind-friendly idea.😝 Missing Canas in FE7 -the only dark magic user in the game excluding Mr. Mountain- doesn't look so bad relatively speaking, no?

[Saint Rubenio]

1 hour ago, ping said:

join us

Ah, not the expected one, this time.

1 hour ago, ping said:

 

Move over, Lewyn and Johan, the biggest asshole in Jugdral's playable cast has arrived.

Except the game never validates Lifis, pretends he's some kind of great guy with a heart of gold or is anything other than a puny asshole. Refreshing.

1 hour ago, ping said:

(Fun Fact: The portraits of Lifis's underlings have character names on the wiki list I got them from. It seems that some bosses' portraits are being recycled even before their own appearance)

The only one who isn't is the eyepatch man. Everyone else gets to make an appearance later on.

1 hour ago, ping said:

They actually find two torches: One from the other fort on the first screenshot, the second from a fort further southeast. I did know about the first (just not which fort you find it on), but not the second - I didn't even have vision of it when I randomly sent Finn to that tile.

...I don't think I ever knew about these torches. I always just captured some held by enemies.

1 hour ago, ping said:

Marty starts his career with an impressive +Lck level-up.

It is one of the stats he needs, to be fair.

1 hour ago, ping said:

...close enough to see both the "boss" and a Hindu deity. (with some clumsy editing because the tooltip hides the three generic Myrms in front of him).

I was wondering why Shiva's taking a dip at the beach in the middle of a fight.

1 hour ago, ping said:

I'm pretty certain that Shiva will appear later, and will be recruitable by Safy. I think that you can grab his Killing Edge (and Vuln) here by capturing him and as long as you don't release him, he'll still return - but I'm not willing to test my memory on that, nor my RNG luck - in particular, because he doesn't need any luck to crit with a follow-up attack. I don't quite remember how the stat reduction from capturing works - Eyvel quite possibly would've been able to avoid getting doubled, and she out-cons him by one, but I don't want to take that risk.

There's conflicting reports. I can confirm I myself have stolen his edge and held on to him, and he reappeared, but I've heard some folks say that you can safely release him. I wouldn't risk it, though perhaps I should. It's not like I particularly care for Edgelord 5.

1 hour ago, ping said:

Meanwhile, Lifis stands ready to teach the player that unarmed characters can be auto-captured, which I know is a very good strategy to deploy against strong enemies - as long as you take note that these will also steal your own items if you do this.

I forgot to make a screenshot, but you can find the growth modifiers of our first scroll in its item description: [+30% HP | +10% Str | -10% Lck] - not imba strong on its own, but a nice bonus for our more wimpy characters.

Lifis is your introduction to so many mechanics. Once again, why is he missable

1 hour ago, ping said:

Well, "luck".

Ouch.

1 hour ago, ping said:

: "Hah! 'Thug' is too generous for Lifis. He's small-time - ain't even worth killing. When we get our hands on him, take him alive, and don't let him go after the fighting's done. We'll bring him back to Iz and see that he gets justice for his crimes."

Tutorial hidden in an easily missable conversation. Not ideal.

But what if Eyvel is dead-- Oh wait.

1 hour ago, ping said:

So, that's this map in 13 turns. The map itself is pretty inoffensive - the slowdown from the sand tiles is tolerable, enemies are at an appropriate power level - but Thracia fog sucks. Thracia fog without giving the player any torches beforehand suuuuuucks. And making every torch a one-use consumable, while "realistic", might mean that any used torch comes with the worry that you won't find a replacement for the  next fog map. All in all, not a good mechanic, or set of mechanics. I don't particularly enjoy fog of war in FE in general - always feels like bullshit when an enemy comes out of the fog and kills something - but later entries at least give you thieves and torches, with stackable vision boosts, before throwing the mechanic at you.

As with all recently introduced mechanics, fog could use some of the later polish it enjoyed.

...Then there's the Kaga elitists that decide it's a good idea to put Thracia fog in their hacks.

1 hour ago, ping said:

So, er... Is all of this exposition only available if you visit the gaiden chapter? Because it all seems rather important to the plot. I would hope that Safy would just somehow run into Leif anyhow if you miss 2x.

Hahaha.

I don't think you've quite been listening to my many ramblings.

1 hour ago, ping said:

Ugh.

I like this guy. He's such a unique playable character. In a series filled with noble rogues, it's cool to get a rotten criminal for a thief who's basically coerced to come along because he also happens to be a spineless idiot.

1 hour ago, ping said:

I'm glad you wrote this. I thought I had been gone for just a few hours and suddenly Gotoh isn't the worst anymore.

We've basically settled at "they're both bad."

1 hour ago, ping said:

Eh, instead of focusing on gaming skill, maybe we should just throw out all anime fans.

I agree.

Edited May 9 by Saint Rubenio

[ping]

11 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

And everyone with low luck appreciates the crit immunity.

Very merciful of Kaga that he didn't leave a 1% incoming crit chance for them.

I think I remember that Dondon still found the scrolls useful in his run for this reason. I don't recall how riggable Thracia is compared to the GBA games, but I can imagine that the added reliability is useful no matter what.

15 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

Yeah, I can see why they ditched this concept going forward.

Well, technically there is an optional map in Tear Ring Saga, but that's the result of Holmes getting to walk around on the world map freely. So I don't think it makes for a very effective point of comparison.

Too bad that BinBla kept the concept of crucial missable stuff in its gaiden maps. Arguably even worse, because you can just miss the entire ending if you forgot to move Lilina once in Ch.8 and decided not to reset because you're using Lugh anyway. Definitely my least favourite aspect of the game, even though it's not difficult to deal with if you know what's up.

17 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

It already is.

I know - but yeah, didn't phrase that accordingly.

And I don't think it really matters all that much, does it? Sure, there's poison weapons in the swamp, but LOL poison in FE, and I don't think remember the Dawn Brigade being bogged down by other status. I might just not remember, though. Really haven't played RD in a while.

22 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Something something totally not Julian & Lena.😛

Now that you mention it - they are a "dark echo" of those two, with Lifis's entirely sexual motivation contrasting with Julian's chaste admiration of Lena (as is implied by his surprise when Lena suggests upgrading their relationship when Julia de-kagas her at the end of Book 2). I do like that kind of thing. It's like poetry. It rhymes.

6 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Ah, not the expected one, this time.

I though "join me in death" was appropriate for Safy asking Lifis to join her suicide mission.

9 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Except the game never validates Lifis, pretends he's some kind of great guy with a heart of gold or is anything other than a puny asshole. Refreshing.

Yeah, the actual worst thing about Lewyn as a character was the praise heaped upon him at the end of Genealogy, especially by his son. Lifis is disgusting, but I don't complain about such a character existing - like with Narcian, whose biggest fault as a starter villain is that he might stick around a few chapters too long.

12 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

It is one of the stats he needs, to be fair.

If he carries around scrolls all the time to boost his growths, he doesn't need the crit evade.

13 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I was wondering why Shiva's taking a dip at the beach in the middle of a fight.

Narratively, it makes little sense, yeah. All he did in the story was tell Lifis "don't fuck the cleric, shithead", but it's not like he broke with the pirates or anything. In gameplay, I suppose he teaches the player that they don't have to fight every enemy on the map? Although I'd guess that a blind player wouldn't even get noticed about a Navabarlbre-shaped hole in the enemy army when it is time.

18 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

As with all recently introduced mechanics, fog could use some of the later polish it enjoyed.

...Then there's the Kaga elitists that decide it's a good idea to put Thracia fog in their hacks.

Difficulty is when reset. The more resets you force as a developer, the more difficult the game. And because difficulty is fun, it follows that bullshit game-overs create fun. If you disagree, you're not a true gamer.

20 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Hahaha.

I don't think you've quite been listening to my many ramblings.

Whoops. Must have skipped past that particular point. Er, I mean... I skipped it as retribution because you didn't even notice... I think it was Valbar dying and being revived during Gaiden!

 

[Saint Rubenio]

18 minutes ago, ping said:

Narratively, it makes little sense, yeah. All he did in the story was tell Lifis "don't fuck the cleric, shithead", but it's not like he broke with the pirates or anything. In gameplay, I suppose he teaches the player that they don't have to fight every enemy on the map? Although I'd guess that a blind player wouldn't even get noticed about a Navabarlbre-shaped hole in the enemy army when it is time.

Actually, I was talking about how the cursor was on the beach but the nametag said Shiva. A witty reference to your editing shenanigans, you see.

22 minutes ago, ping said:

Difficulty is when reset. The more resets you force as a developer, the more difficult the game. And because difficulty is fun, it follows that bullshit game-overs create fun. If you disagree, you're not a true gamer.

The logic is sound.

As sound as Crazybus.

22 minutes ago, ping said:

Whoops. Must have skipped past that particular point. Er, I mean... I skipped it as retribution because you didn't even notice... I think it was Valbar dying and being revived during Gaiden!

It's okay, there's so much to unpack when it comes to what you miss from skipping 2x that I can't blame you for missing some.

You know, unlike you blamed for that other thing

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

We've basically settled at "they're both bad."

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I agree.

On both matters, I assert the liberum veto. Sisto activitatem!😝

 

50 minutes ago, ping said:

And I don't think it really matters all that much, does it? Sure, there's poison weapons in the swamp, but LOL poison in FE, and I don't think remember the Dawn Brigade being bogged down by other status. I might just not remember, though. Really haven't played RD in a while.

Helps a couple times perhaps in the P4 desert chapter- because of Elsleep and Elsilence. Might get another use or two in the Tower. But yes, it isn't very relevant.

45 minutes ago, ping said:

Now that you mention it - they are a "dark echo" of those two, with Lifis's entirely sexual motivation contrasting with Julian's chaste admiration of Lena (as is implied by his surprise when Lena suggests upgrading their relationship when Julia de-kagas her at the end of Book 2). I do like that kind of thing. It's like poetry. It rhymes.

Also the presence of a Navarre in the form of Shiva.

You could argue Jamke-Edain-Dew has a hint of this too, but not so literally so. Matthew recruiting a Killing Edge Myrm and having some bickering with Serra is probably a nod to this too. I'd say something about Joshua et Natasha -but they forgot to feature a thievish third member there.

[Jotari]

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

Conversely, what about a tome with built-in Renewal? This would let Micaiah "Sacrifice", even if just for 2 or 3 HP, every single turn. Thus making her more effective at her signature gimmick. And hey, 10 exp is 10 exp.

You do that and you nuke her combat ability completely. She'd go from our first time lord* to our first staffbot lord, which she almost is post promotion anyway. Besides, that just means Laura gains less exp by healing her.

*Celica didn't use tomes or staves.

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

No, because I'm not 1000 years old. If I'd been relatively secluded for several centuries, then found myself talking to hyper-zoomers, I'd probably come across as archaic at best.

You think he talks really weirdly to the other residents of Arcadia. Well, there are dragons there as old as him. So is happy Arcadia full of a social divide between the young and the really frigging old where they can barely understand each other.

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

Anyway, I enjoy this turn of phrase. Like how Aslan calls the Pevensies "Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve". Except, Athos isn't trying to win my soul.

Funny, my mind went to the same place, only instead of Aslan, I was thinking of the beavers. Who I think use that phrase before he ever shows up.

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

Honestly, I could imagine an August recolor as a one-time boss later in the game. That'd be pretty funny, especially if nobody comments on the obvious resemblance.

He does look a bit like a bald Oltoph viewed from another angle.

4 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

Moral is: Never write a character who can warp around the world. Otherwise you'll have people asking "Why can't I have Hubert use warp" or "What the fuck is warp powder?".

I was going to say that yes, it's absolutely the moral. Since Gotoh wouldn't have three issues without the mass warp spell, he'd just be a very knowledgeable but very limited guy, but then I read this-

4 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

It's just hard to not get over just how stupid going through a seemingly arduous trial AGAIN sounds given that it's a sequel. Athos is shitty sure, but how can anything top "I fucked up, get the same things you already got a 2ND time, and you get no help from me". Bro sent Wendell alone. Doesn't Athos at least give you Pent the game breaker? I haven't played FE7 in ages, but as far as shitty tropes go, at least you know the devs were going for the typical "prove yourself" nonsense, which simply is too stupid to do in a sequel game with the same guy.  Hell, he's just doing nothing except chilling with Tiki whose fate is literally dependent on whether you get the shards or not so I can't imagine any conversation between them during all that time he's not helping out just going "Yeah, if Marth doesn't make it here with all the shards, you're fucked lmao". Maybe do something about it!? It's not like you were guarding her. The place is overrun with thieves and druids when Marth makes it here, and Tiki has to hide in some dingy corner alone. 

Yes you have, and you're being rewarded now.

And you're right. Even if he didn't have the ability to warp across the continent, he's still shit all when you meet him at the ice dragon temple. He could have travelled to Marth and met him half way to hand over the Light Sphere.

4 hours ago, ping said:

(Fun Fact: The portraits of Lifis's underlings have character names on the wiki list I got them from. It seems that some bosses' portraits are being recycled even before their own appearance)

The wiki does lie about one portrait being a Lifis underling. The guy with the eye patch. But that guy never actually gets to be a boss. In a way, Thracia is less the game of boss portrait reuse and more the game where generic NPCs are made bosses.

4 hours ago, ping said:

Eyvel quite possibly would've been able to avoid getting doubled, and she out-cons him by one, but I don't want to take that risk.

Eyvel's invincible, so the only risk is her accidentally killing him (and honestly, no big loss, Shiva is one of the more boring Thracia characters. Nice portrait though).

4 hours ago, ping said:

I forgot to make a screenshot, but you can find the growth modifiers of our first scroll in its item description: [+30% HP | +10% Str | -10% Lck] - not imba strong on its own, but a nice bonus for our more wimpy characters.

I think that's the grace of Lil Manster. Don't think the original was so kind as to explain what these random pieces of cloth were for.

4 hours ago, ping said:

So, er... Is all of this exposition only available if you visit the gaiden chapter? Because it all seems rather important to the plot. I would hope that Safy would just somehow run into Leif anyhow if you miss 2x.

Who cares about the exposition, if you miss this Gaiden then Nanna is your only staff bot until you reach Salem! That hell no doubt outstrips a lack of context (though I did do a no staffs at all run, but I also cheesed it with save states like a filthy casual.

4 hours ago, ping said:

tbh, Sacrifice needed to be a lot stronger to begin with. As is, the Miccy's miraculous ability on which her adoration rests... is basically a Heal spell except that Micaiah goes from getting one-shot by almost everything to getting one-shot by everything. Big whoop. If it was at least, like, Mend+Restore at a fixed HP cost of 5-ish... it would still be almost entirely obsolete once she promotes, but at least it would be a more relevant ability in part 1

Sacrifice is great...for the easy exp it provides.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I like this guy. He's such a unique playable character. In a series filled with noble rogues, it's cool to get a rotten criminal for a thief who's basically coerced to come along because he also happens to be a spineless idiot.

And horny. Don't forget horny. Fucking Saphy is his motivation. If they ever do remake Thracia, I can only imagine what that cast going to look like with full supports!

2 hours ago, ping said:

And I don't think it really matters all that much, does it? Sure, there's poison weapons in the swamp, but LOL poison in FE, and I don't think remember the Dawn Brigade being bogged down by other status. I might just not remember, though.

Lekain uses mass silence in the first tower chapter. Though chances are the only mage other than Mickey you're using is Sanaki. If we do want to make Sacrifice, though, rather than removing most of its HP cost, I'd give it range. That would let you have a lot more freedom where you position your units.

2 hours ago, ping said:

Really haven't played RD in a while.

Can you really you're an elitist if you haven't replayed Tellius and posted it on Serenes for my entertainment?

Edited May 9 by Jotari

[Interdimensional Observer]

10 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Though chances are the only mage other than Mickey you're using is Sanaki.

Soren erasure! Pelleas erasure! Oliver erasure! Ilyana Rexbolting Dheg erasure!

12 minutes ago, Jotari said:

And horny. Don't forget horny. Fucking Saphy is his motivation. If they ever do remake Thracia, I can only imagine what that cast going to look like with full supports!

I can see them limiting Lifis to Safy as his lone female conversationalist. Sain had 6/7 of his supporters being women, Saul had 4/5 of his the same, Gatire 3/4. For Lifis, however... Perne, Shiva, Somebody, Somebody, Safy. Five chains sounds like enough for what would almost certainly be a remake on a budget. Do we in the year 20XX really want Lifis trying to hit on more women? Plus we've got Homer to account for too, and maybe Shannam.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Soren erasure! Pelleas erasure! Oliver erasure! Ilyana Rexbolting Dheg erasure!

I can see them limiting Lifis to Safy as his lone female conversationalist. Sain had 6/7 of his supporters being women, Saul had 4/5 of his the same, Gatire 3/4. For Lifis, however... Perne, Shiva, Somebody, Somebody, Safy. Five chains sounds like enough for what would almost certainly be a remake on a budget. Do we in the year 20XX really want Lifis trying to hit on more women? Plus we've got Homer to account for too, and maybe Shannam.

I think Lifis and Robana deserve a hashing out as well. So, Perne, Saft, Shiva, Ronan, and, if I'm to nominate his random ass choice of partner then I choose...Fred. Aka Olwen's underling. They're both sort of simps, but Fred does it right.

Edited May 10 by Jotari

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

55 minutes ago, Jotari said:

You do that and you nuke her combat ability completely. She'd go from our first time lord* to our first staffbot lord, which she almost is post promotion anyway. Besides, that just means Laura gains less exp by healing her.

*Celica didn't use tomes or staves.

If Micaiah is a Time Lord, then why can't she just regenerate whenever she is killed?

...Kidding. Obviously, Thani is the one good aspect to her combat, so I'm not especially eager to take it away. At the same time - thematically speaking - Micaiah isn't so much a fighter. She's more a healer, and an inspiring figurehead. I think a tome with a self-healing effect would synergize with this portrayal. ...She should also actually have Authority, but, okay game.

59 minutes ago, Jotari said:

You think he talks really weirdly to the other residents of Arcadia. Well, there are dragons there as old as him. So is happy Arcadia full of a social divide between the young and the really frigging old where they can barely understand each other.

I imagine that the manner of speech in the secluded village of Arcadia would likewise diverge from the "common tongue" of Elibe. Then again, Sophia talks relatively "normal", so who knows? FE as a series is reluctant to portray different languages (not like that's unique for the genre), with the most variation in Elibe being that Sacaeans have some unique sayings.

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

Funny, my mind went to the same place, only instead of Aslan, I was thinking of the beavers. Who I think use that phrase before he ever shows up.

Probably, but my memories of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" have forever been maimed by viewing that steaming pile of shit, "Epic Movie". I genuinely can't remember which details are authentic.

5 hours ago, ping said:

tbh, Sacrifice needed to be a lot stronger to begin with. As is, the Miccy's miraculous ability on which her adoration rests... is basically a Heal spell except that Micaiah goes from getting one-shot by almost everything to getting one-shot by everything. Big whoop. If it was at least, like, Mend+Restore at a fixed HP cost of 5-ish... it would still be almost entirely obsolete once she promotes, but at least it would be a more relevant ability in part 1.

It does have Restore by default. But I agree, a 1:1 transfer is totally insufficient. Especially for a unit whose HP is as pathetic as Micaiah. Something like 1:5, with HP loss rounded up, would be acceptable. Would be nice if it gave more than 10 EXP, but Tellius shafting Healers' EXP gains is par for the course.

5 hours ago, ping said:

Oh gods, you just made the map look twice as big! With clones of every unit. It's CQ15 all over again, for the first time.

5 hours ago, ping said:

Thracia fog without giving the player any torches beforehand suuuuuucks.

Alas, if only the previous game had a number of... locations... where the player could receive consumable items to bring to the next map.

Seriously, FE7 had the right idea here. Give the player a Torch in the Village, and lock the Foggy paralogue behind making that particular visit.

3 hours ago, ping said:

Too bad that BinBla kept the concept of crucial missable stuff in its gaiden maps. Arguably even worse, because you can just miss the entire ending if you forgot to move Lilina once in Ch.8 and decided not to reset because you're using Lugh anyway. Definitely my least favourite aspect of the game, even though it's not difficult to deal with if you know what's up.

What if you

Wanted to seize the Shrine of Seals in 30 turns?

But Bern said:

WYVERNSPAM.

4 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Or after a set number of turns. Don't remember how long, but I remember the turn limit being quite generous.

Shiva will wait patiently for his revenge, but only for 25 turns. After that, he will begin his assault.

[Revier]

Fog of War imo is a decent concept that the FEs don't know how to use well. If enemies respected fog of war and played more defensively or cautiously with it around, I imagine it would be a lot less aggravating.

Lifis definitely is an interesting character. It's not often that you see a villain who pretends to side with the protagonists for extremely personal and selfish reasons, taking advantage of their credulity. I'm certainly curious to see where they go with him.

[Jotari]

58 minutes ago, Revier said:

Fog of War imo is a decent concept that the FEs don't know how to use well. If enemies respected fog of war and played more defensively or cautiously with it around, I imagine it would be a lot less aggravating.

Lifis definitely is an interesting character. It's not often that you see a villain who pretends to side with the protagonists for extremely personal and selfish reasons, taking advantage of their credulity. I'm certainly curious to see where they go with him.

Enemies running out of the fog only to stand beside your units and not attack because they've been surprised, like how the rules apply to your units, would actually be hilarious and genuinely fun.

[Shaky Jones]

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

It didn't really happen in Engage, did it? Liberation is just... a thing that's there. They don't really do much with it. I'll give it credit for not being just another rapier, but on the other hand the effect is just kinda... bleh? It's certainly no Leif light brand.

Given that Marth gives Alear the rapier, he might as fucking well have it.

Of course I immediately gave it to Etie, but I mean, the point of "this shit's boring as balls" still stands. I don't care about Liberation.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

She's basically the prototype of the badass sniper stereotype Kaga perfect starting with Raquel TRS. Also known as my favorite stereotype in all these games. So.

I can't love a unit if they start busted, unless it's Dagdar. Man, Kaga peaked there.

Or Wendel. 

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

"He who laughs last, laughs hardest."

- Gotoh probably

6 hours ago, ping said:

Move over, Lewyn and Johan, the biggest asshole in Jugdral's playable cast has arrived.

There's a reason Naesala's the only royal in Tellius I remotely care about.

And like 25% of all TRS characters.

6 hours ago, ping said:

: "Your men won't be totally blind, but they'll barely be able to see in front of them. Still, I imagine you can find a spare torch or two lying around somewhere."

What a brilliant hint by Shazam Kaga. I can't wait for how he'll inform the player of everything else he throws at you!

6 hours ago, ping said:

Annoyingly, this map combines Thracia fog with a lot of sand tiles which, unlike in Genalogy, impede movement like desert tiles. As a result, the map becomes... annoying. I could've used rescue/drops more than I did to increase movement, yes, but because your vision is so limited, you also have to be careful not to expose anybody to too much combat while carrying somebody.

 Maybe the idea is that enemies won't be able to move much, so the range of vision is more impactful?

I mean it's incredibly dumb when the game gives you 3 sight, but fills the map with 7 move enemies.

And then FE12 gives you 2 slight.

6 hours ago, ping said:

To be honest, while the map is a bit annoying, it's not particularly punishing. Yes, enemies come out of the fog regularly, but Dagdar locks that down without much issue. But because I don't see what's coming, a lot of the work is done by him and Eyvel, so this chapter doesn't offer as much opportunity to collect XP with the unpromoted units

Yes you can solo chapter 11 of FE8 with Dussel and Seth, but how else can Amelia be good in general?

6 hours ago, ping said:

Now, in this situation, this is my own fault for keeping the Light Brand equipped. With an Iron Sword, Leaf would've sit at 5 AS, barely avoiding getting doubled - but I have to add that my Leaf gained +1 Spd, which is not a guarantee in two level-ups (although I don't know the precise odds), so I think we can take this as Thracia's first Fuck You hurled at the player.

I don't mind early game prepromote enemies, but why introduce them specifically at the fog map? Dick move game.

Also, why does 3 Houses specifically introduce gambits at the fog map. Dick move game.

6 hours ago, ping said:

Behold: A Ronan kill! He only missed his first attack

I remember it took me a few maps before my Ronan started hitting things. Good times.

6 hours ago, ping said:

Free iron swords. How nice of Kaga. It would suck if you simply killed them. 

6 hours ago, ping said:

Well, "luck".

You seem to have a habit being bad with based units.

6 hours ago, ping said:

Eh, instead of focusing on gaming skill, maybe we should just throw out all anime fans.

So we're banning Teehee?

5 hours ago, BrightBow said:

And everyone with low luck appreciates the crit immunity.

Killer weapons actually being used in a clever way? Unbelievable...

Free Marty weapons!

5 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Looks like the gal is missable if you don't do 2x. Which means, if you miss the first gaiden chapter, you lose out on both the first thief and the first healer. -Not exactly a beginner/blind-friendly idea.😝 Missing Canas in FE7 -the only dark magic user in the game excluding Mr. Mountain- doesn't look so bad relatively speaking, no?

Unit wise, nothing is worse than Thracia gaidens as far as missables go.

That said, what the actual fuck is FE7 19xx?

5 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Except the game never validates Lifis, pretends he's some kind of great guy with a heart of gold or is anything other than a puny asshole. Refreshing.

This is why you like me.

5 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

..I don't think I ever knew about these torches. I always just captured some held by enemies

This genuinely shocks me. You're the fakest of Kaga fans.

5 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

There's conflicting reports. I can confirm I myself have stolen his edge and held on to him, and he reappeared, but I've heard some folks say that you can safely release him. I wouldn't risk it, though perhaps I should. It's not like I particularly care for Edgelord 5.

I have a soft spot for Edgelord, unlike the other 4 Edgelords. Too bad they dipped with Edgelord 6 and gave them too much steroids. That's a bad message for the kids.

5 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

But what if Eyvel is dead-- Oh wait.

I hate that one boss in ch30/31 (i don't remember which) where you fight that one dark mage, but if you actually try to kill him, he'll infinitely dodge just so he can disappear. Fuck you man.

5 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I don't think you've quite been listening to my many ramblings.

I'm sure you're used to it. 

5 hours ago, ping said:

Difficulty is when reset. The more resets you force as a developer, the more difficult the game. And because difficulty is fun, it follows that bullshit game-overs create fun. If you disagree, you're not a true gamer.

But Kaga hates players resetting.

Elitists don't even understand their master.

2 hours ago, Jotari said:

And you're right. Even if he didn't have the ability to warp across the continent, he's still shit all when you meet him at the ice dragon temple. He could have travelled to Marth and met him half way to hand over the Light Sphere.

At least teleport during the Anri's Way questline and go "There's a few shards we need here. Let's help one another find the remaining ones". Man is actually doing nothing.

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Soren erasure! Pelleas erasure! Oliver erasure! Ilyana Rexbolting Dheg erasure!

Why must FE10 limit Rexbolt specifically to Ilyana? What if I want Bastian to do it?

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Shaky Jones said:

And then FE12 gives you 2 slight.

Yeah, but the map itself is like 2 squares wide.

[Shaky Jones]

41 minutes ago, Jotari said:

eah, but the map itself is like 2 squares wide.

It might be like 24 by 18 or something, but when enemies still have 7 move, snipers have longbows, and there's a fucking meteor user, 2 sight's a bit extreme, don't you think???

 

And now I shill my fe12 map design thread where I'm like 18+ chapters away from that, but ill get there....one day. Imagine doing one for fe5 though. "And here we have....nothing! Someone quote a torch for me!".

[Jotari]

On 5/10/2024 at 3:41 AM, ping said:

FE5 Chapter 2x: The Corsair Isles

  Reveal hidden contents

: "You could stand to give me the time of day, Safy. We both know I could get anything you want. Just go along with me, yeah?"
: "I have given my word to see Lady Linoan's hopes realized. Unless you wish to join us in fighting for Tahra, I will not falter."
: "T-Take up arms against the Empire?! May as well stand on the shore an' try to push the tide back!"
: "Perhaps it sounds impossible, but the alternative is to do nothing as innocent children are ritually slaughtered. No matter the cost, no one with a drop of humanity could stand by and allow this to continue. We're not naive. Everyone knows the risk - we know we'll likely die. But this isn't just about us! This is bigger than one city or one society - this is about resisting the grip of damnation itself. Loptous beckons, Lifis. The world hurtles ever closer towards his jaws. Tahra is the only place in Jugrdral still in dispute - where will you be when history is written?"
: "Well... I... Look, you're out to fulfill your Lady's hopes, right? If I say yes, will you fulfill one of my own hopes?"
: "If it is within my power, I will."
: "It's a deal. I'll talk to my boys, make sure everybody is on board. But don't forget our little arrangement."
: "Very well."

Move over, Lewyn and Johan, the biggest asshole in Jugdral's playable cast has arrived.

: "The timing isn't ideal, granted, but with a torch in hand, your men will be able to see a ways ahead."
: "I... don't believe we have any flint or tinder handy. What are our chances without torches?"
: "Your men won't be totally blind, but they'll barely be able to see in front of them. Still, I imagine you can find a spare torch or two lying around somewhere."
: Then let's get moving. There's no time to waste!"

Or we could press [End Turn] 99 times and then do a surprise attack at dawn. My impression last chapter was that Safy has been in the hands of the pirates for a little while already, so I don't buy that it's imperative to attack right this second.

Dunno, maybe this would work better if Leif had landed by night, made the plan to attack at dawn, but was spotted by Lifis's men before. With how FE fog works, specifically with the enemy ignoring it entirely, you can never spin it as "we should use the fog to our advantage", so that angle wouldn't have worked.

So, no map overview today.

__

Annoyingly, this map combines Thracia fog with a lot of sand tiles which, unlike in Genalogy, impede movement like desert tiles. As a result, the map becomes... annoying. I could've used rescue/drops more than I did to increase movement, yes, but because your vision is so limited, you also have to be careful not to expose anybody to too much combat while carrying somebody.

I do remember two things about the map: The objective is to the east, and there's a torch hidden on a fort in the opposite direction. So, because she has good movement, Eyvel goes into the wrong direction for a second to thin out the enemies before catching up to the main group.

: "I mean, we might as well jus' nab a knife in our necks now an' save everybody some time!"
: "I know, I know, I'm just leading her on! Gotta get my foot in the door with that lass. An' just who does Shiva think he is, talking to me like that? Did that cutthroat sellsword grow a conscience when nobody was looking?"
: "Hey Boss, we got a couple do-gooders scurryin' in from the west!"
: "What? Here? You gotta be joking! ...All right boys, let's go say hello! The sharks are gonna be well-fed tonight!"

I think I'd personally suggested "The sharks are gonna feast tonight!", but that's just a matter of opinion. "Well-fed" sounds more like the result of weeks and months of proper eating to me, is all.

(Fun Fact: The portraits of Lifis's underlings have character names on the wiki list I got them from. It seems that some bosses' portraits are being recycled even before their own appearance)

____

To be honest, while the map is a bit annoying, it's not particularly punishing. Yes, enemies come out of the fog regularly, but Dagdar locks that down without much issue. But because I don't see what's coming, a lot of the work is done by him and Eyvel, so this chapter doesn't offer as much opportunity to collect XP with the unpromoted units.

__

Annnnd here's Leaf dodging a one-round at the hands of a promoted enemy coming out of the fog. Huh. Because the Warrior missed both his attacks, I didn't even register at first that Leaf, despite +7 HP, still takes more than half his HP from him.

Now, in this situation, this is my own fault for keeping the Light Brand equipped. With an Iron Sword, Leaf would've sit at 5 AS, barely avoiding getting doubled - but I have to add that my Leaf gained +1 Spd, which is not a guarantee in two level-ups (although I don't know the precise odds), so I think we can take this as Thracia's first Fuck You hurled at the player.

Dagdar then proceeds to capture the warrior with some more RNG luck, so we now have our first torch. Exciting!

Meanwhile, Marty, Finn, and Tanya explore the western part of the map - Finn because I believe he has more problems than anybody else with the sand tiles on this map; Tanya and Marty more or less randomly selected.

__

They actually find two torches: One from the other fort on the first screenshot, the second from a fort further southeast. I did know about the first (just not which fort you find it on), but not the second - I didn't even have vision of it when I randomly sent Finn to that tile.

That's basically the story of these three - they fight a couple random pirates, with Finn setting up kills for his statistically challenged friends. Marty starts his career with an impressive +Lck level-up.

And meanwhile, the main group pushes forward - slowly. Also pictured: Me seeing that Leif has a convo with Eyvel, but selecting "wait" before registering. I'll remember to get that talk later, though.

__

Eventually, Halvan lights the torch we got from the warrior...

...close enough to see both the "boss" and a Hindu deity. (with some clumsy editing because the tooltip hides the three generic Myrms in front of him).

I'm pretty certain that Shiva will appear later, and will be recruitable by Safy. I think that you can grab his Killing Edge (and Vuln) here by capturing him and as long as you don't release him, he'll still return - but I'm not willing to test my memory on that, nor my RNG luck - in particular, because he doesn't need any luck to crit with a follow-up attack. I don't quite remember how the stat reduction from capturing works - Eyvel quite possibly would've been able to avoid getting doubled, and she out-cons him by one, but I don't want to take that risk.

Meanwhile, Lifis stands ready to teach the player that unarmed characters can be auto-captured, which I know is a very good strategy to deploy against strong enemies - as long as you take note that these will also steal your own items if you do this.

I forgot to make a screenshot, but you can find the growth modifiers of our first scroll in its item description: [+30% HP | +10% Str | -10% Lck] - not imba strong on its own, but a nice bonus for our more wimpy characters.

Behold: A Ronan kill! He only missed his first attack.

__

Leif then draws the generic enemies from across the bridge. The Myrms are also fast enough to double him, but their attack power is low enough to allow him to face two of them nevertheless.

This also sets off the other two generic enemies...

____

...but with a little luck, the Myrmidons go down and the Warrior doesn't threaten any kills.

Well, "luck".

The following enemy phase, some reinforcements appear from forts in the southeast of the map - again, sufficiently far away for me to ignore them, this time not even sending anybody to hunt for XP. The map is a dark and scary place.

And the next player phase, I realise that the tile next to Dagdar is an impassable "cliff" and not another sand tile. Hm.

Can't say that I find that obvious, even now that I know it.

Because of that, the Axe Bros have to rescue Eyvel out of the way after she set up a semi-reliable capture for Dagdar. And here I remember the convo between Leif and Eyvel:

: "The pirates seem to have greater numbers... Can we make it through this, Commander?"
: "Numbers aren't everything. We keep our heads about us, we'll make it through just fine."
: "O-Of course, Commander. Still, would you happen to know anything useful about this Lifis thug?"
: "Hah! 'Thug' is too generous for Lifis. He's small-time - ain't even worth killing. When we get our hands on him, take him alive, and don't let him go after the fighting's done. We'll bring him back to Iz and see that he gets justice for his crimes."

Tutorial hidden in an easily missable conversation. Not ideal.

Eventually, we get close enough to Lifis, and luckily I'm not proven wrong about the assumption that surely, Shiva won't come after us as long as we don't poke him.

Dagdar grabs Lifis and, just to be safe, Ronan takes his stuff, in case Lifis doesn't bring his inventory into the next chapter. I did pay enough attention not to release Lifis.

So, that's this map in 13 turns. The map itself is pretty inoffensive - the slowdown from the sand tiles is tolerable, enemies are at an appropriate power level - but Thracia fog sucks. Thracia fog without giving the player any torches beforehand suuuuuucks. And making every torch a one-use consumable, while "realistic", might mean that any used torch comes with the worry that you won't find a replacement for the  next fog map. All in all, not a good mechanic, or set of mechanics. I don't particularly enjoy fog of war in FE in general - always feels like bullshit when an enemy comes out of the fog and kills something - but later entries at least give you thieves and torches, with stackable vision boosts, before throwing the mechanic at you.

__

: "Hm? Is that...?"
: "I beg your pardon, milady. Battle is dirty business, and if I have some grime or blood on my face-"
: "Have you forgotten me already, Lord Leif? It's me, Safy - we met in Tahra."
: "Safy, you say? I knew a young woman at the monastery in Tahra by that name."
: "I only had the honor of seeing you two or three times, milord. I suppose I wasn't as memorable as I thought! Still, you left an impression on me all the same. When you departed the city, it was I who wiped Lady Linoan's face of tears."
: "Ah, now I can place you. Your father was a priest, and you were rather close with Linoan, were you not?"
: "As close as a woman of common birth can be, I suppose. The Duke of Tahra was Lady Linoan's father, and I am more her servant than peer."
: "That aside, how did you come to be here? Has something happened to Linoan?"
: "You mean to say you don't know what's happened to Tahra since you left? Ah... Let me start from the beginning. After the Duke passed away, the Empire installed their own governor. The man proved to be a walking pox, inflicting tragedy after tragedy upon us. Just this year, they even began child hunts in Tahra."
: "Child hunts...?"
: "That proved to be the breaking point. The people of Tahra revolted, installing Lady Linoan as rightful Duchess. They hired any sellsword who could stand upright, and then sent offerings of gold and gemstones to the Empire's leading noblemen. It was... an admirable effort, but King Blume of Thracia did not forgive such a slight, and summoned the Imperial Army to besiege Tahra. The sellswords proved craven and fled, and now only a handful of militiamen stand between the Empire and our city. Lady Linoan bade me leave and seek out any who would fight in Tahra's defense."
: "Are things truly that dire...? The Duke sheltered me for half a decade before the Empire learned of it and had him executed. Not a day goes by that I don't think of his generosity... You're seeking folk to aid Tahra? Look no more. I pledge to deliver Tahra from this evil. Let's be off, Safy."
: "You will be most welcome in Tahra, Lord Leif. Thank you."

So, er... Is all of this exposition only available if you visit the gaiden chapter? Because it all seems rather important to the plot. I would hope that Safy would just somehow run into Leif anyhow if you miss 2x.

: "That's up to the villagers of Iz. We're taking you back there to answer for your crimes."
: "We both know what'll happen! You handin' me over to them is as good as killin' me yourself! Safy, c'mon, we had a deal - i said I'd go to Tahra with you!"
: "...Lord Leif, Lifis is not an evil man. He's committed many foul acts as a pirate, yes, but he seemed genuinely repentant when we spoke earlier. Give him a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of the gods."
: "...All right. If Safy believes in you, I can give you a chance for the time being.

: "But come to think of it... If that boy's really the missing Leonster heir, the Empire'd pay mighty well to hear of it... It's worth mulling over, at least. Either way, it'll have to wait until after Safy has given in to my many charms!"

Ugh.

Dirtbaggery aside - while the action of this chapter was just a continuation of Ch.2, it's nice that with Safy's report, the stakes already grow past the personal (though still pressing) goal of rescuing the damsels. I have some vague memories how this'll go, generally in the "not good" category, but I think instead of typing up random, unconnected snippets from memory, I'll just go "Ah, yes" or "I don't remember this!" when it'll be appropriate.

The Team:

	  Lv.	    HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Con  XP
Leif	  3.73	    30   4   0   3   6   7   3   5  +67   [+7 HP]
Finn	  7.96	    28   8   1   8  11   5   7   9  +33
Eyvel	  */13.19   28  10   4  18  20  10   7   8  +21
Osian	  2.72	    28   6   0   7   9   4   4  11  +43

Halvan	  3.81	    29   8   0   7   7   3   5  13  +27
Marty	  2.51	    32   9   0   0   0   7   6  15  +73
Dagdar	  */6.96    43  14   1  11   9   2  10  15  +42
Tanya	  3.10	    22   3   1   7  11   8   2   4  +111

Ronan	  2.01	    20   4   0   3   7   3   2   7  +71

 

Answers!

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I agree! Personally, I started a BinBla ironman six years ago. I just paused it five years, eleven months and 364 days ago after reaching chapter 2. Maybe I'll pick it up again one of these days.

...okay, I think my predicted time of 7+ years might not quite turn up on any leaderboard.

I'm glad you wrote this. I thought I had been gone for just a few hours and suddenly Gotoh isn't the worst anymore.

: "You think YOU have it bad? For all our existence, we're just sent into the gold mines and to collect lumber essence, until we're literally detonated just to dispel something!"

tbh, Sacrifice needed to be a lot stronger to begin with. As is, the Miccy's miraculous ability on which her adoration rests... is basically a Heal spell except that Micaiah goes from getting one-shot by almost everything to getting one-shot by everything. Big whoop. If it was at least, like, Mend+Restore at a fixed HP cost of 5-ish... it would still be almost entirely obsolete once she promotes, but at least it would be a more relevant ability in part 1.

Eh, instead of focusing on gaming skill, maybe we should just throw out all anime fans.

 

Been two and a half weeks since an update. Has Thracia managed to defeat you or is real life just getting in the way?

[Dayni]

Man, that's a lot to catch up on. I must confess I'd read a smidge, but never the full run through and there must have been a bunch to say.

And yes, I said Marty. This was not a joke, no matter how his stats may be. I will also say I do recommend early promotion, as a person who usually does anything but.

  And being honest, I have been wanting to make shitposts in this direction for a while, so here, Marty practicing his axe swings:

On 5/9/2024 at 7:41 PM, ping said:

That's basically the story of these three - they fight a couple random pirates, with Finn setting up kills for his statistically challenged friends. Marty starts his career with an impressive +Lck level-up.

Lucky duck, could have used that last week /s

On 5/9/2024 at 7:41 PM, ping said:

Thracia fog sucks. Thracia fog without giving the player any torches beforehand suuuuuucks. And making every torch a one-use consumable, while "realistic", might mean that any used torch comes with the worry that you won't find a replacement for the  next fog map

Look, if the enemy was forced to play by it too, you'd have a bunch of stumbiling in the dark, so I can see why they avoid it for the enemy, unfortunate as that is.

The torches are buffed for the better later, no question.

On 5/9/2024 at 7:41 PM, ping said:

So, er... Is all of this exposition only available if you visit the gaiden chapter? Because it all seems rather important to the plot. I would hope that Safy would just somehow run into Leif anyhow if you miss 2x.

Not getting the current text, but it looks like no, you don't get an equivalent from skipping the chapter and considering what you get from this map gameplay wise, it feels like a map you shouldn't miss.

Poor blind ducks who did miss it.

[ping]

On 5/27/2024 at 2:51 AM, Jotari said:

Been two and a half weeks since an update. Has Thracia managed to defeat you or is real life just getting in the way?

Neither, I think - more of a general Anime Chess tiredness, although that might have been caused by the prospect of Thracia thracing it up in the near future.

As you can see (or deduce, since the last update is from the 9th of May), I've been sitting on doing the write-up for a good while. So, er, apologies for the long wait. I hope to avoid that in the future, especially since we're getting on the home stretch of this thread as a whole. Would be nice to finish in less than a year in total.

FE5 Chapter 3: Kerberos' Gate

 

Spoiler

It was not long until he arrived at Kerberos' Gate, a small fortress that guarded the entrance to the province of Munster...

__

: "What do you want done with them, milord?"
: "Hmm. Best keep them there until the Loptr [sic] Church arrives to claim them. The Magi may well try to free the little worms - see that your men are prepared for an incursion."
: "Magi? As in those rebels from Munster? They're still alive?"
: "To my great chagrin, yes. I thought they'd been wiped out, but they've resurfaced recently. The little swarm of flies seems to have a new man in charge..."
: "Never a moment's peace these days... And what of you, sire? Will you be returning to Munster?"

Can't even stab children in peace. What has this country come to?! #NotMyMunster

: "Not immediately. My journey has been most tiring, and I would rest here while I can. What better place to catch his breath than the impregnable Kerberos' Gate, eh, Lobos?"
: "Hah! Indeed, sire."

And with that, the enemies swarm out.

Looking back at the opening dialogue, I'm a bit disappointed in my long-past self for not recognising that this is the last chapter before the big prison arc - for some reason, I located the start of that around chapter 8-ish in my head, so you'll notice that I won't end the map with my inventory quite sorted out. I could replay the map fairly quickly, I think, I recall it being pretty easy, but going into the next part of the game unprepared is, of course, precisely what Kaga intended.

: "That fortress, Kerberos's Gate, guards the road into Munster. As strongholds go, it's rather small, but don't let its size fool you: the people of this area say it's more terrible than Hell itself."
: "Why?"
: "The soldiers here no longer watch over the road - they search for children. Lord Leif, the fortress now serves as a base for the province's child hunts."
: "Child hunts? What are you talking about, Augustus?"
: "...All across the Empire, children aged seven to thirteen are seized by Imperial soldiers. They're sent to Belhalla, the capital, and after the atrocities wrought upon them there... the ones who survive are never the same. They are children no more - they begin life anew as servants to the dark god, Loptous."
: "That's inconceivable. What manner of tall tale..."
: "I realize it sounds too horrible to be true, but this is no fable - this is the state of Jugdral. Even now, children languish in captivity within that very fortress you see."
: "...What soldier could willingly take part in such a thing? No one with a spark of humanity left, to be sure. I'm sorry, Augustus, but we must part ways here. I cannot allow this evil to go unchallenged - I must free those children from this barbarism."
: "Indeed... Allow me to give you on last piece of advice, sire. Kerberos's Gate is too small to fit horses, so have any of your soldiers that fight on horseback [Dismount] before entering. Further, after everything they've seen, I'd wager the children are too traumatized to even move. Have your men carry them back to the villages, and their families will owe you a debt they can never repay. Fortune be with you, Prince of Leonster."
: "Hold, this whole time, you've known I was the heir to House Leonster?"
: "But of course. What's more, I want to see you returned to power. Let's arrange to meet in Munster after your business is concluded."

Augustus aut.

I believe this is the first time we see his map sprite after he joined Team Leif? It seems I have been lore-inaccurate by using a green portrait frame/background for him until now.

...and now that I copy this update into the forum's editor, I remember that I used a bright background colour for blue characters. Whoops. Happens when you take a seven-week break. I suppose it fits Augustus to be somewhat "in the shadow", as it were.

The Map! ...yeah, this wasn't a particularly difficult one. Not too many enemies on the outside, and the inside is very choke-heavy, making it easy to protect the squishies, if more difficult to move efficiently towards the boss.

Lobos doesn't seem particularly strong, either. No 1-2 range, and while the Longbow does two-shot most of our unpromoted characters (Not Marty though! ...who is doubled and two-rounded instead), I assume that (but don't quite remember if) I just had Eyvel do her thing.

Weapon Level: Swords (D+30)
Skill: Steal

Worse combat stats that Tanya (22 HP | 3 Str | 10 Spd)! Wow!

Of course, I do know that Lifis has pretty amazing utility. Thracia stealing is even less restricted than Tellius stealing, since even equipped weapons aren't save from Lifis. He's mostly held back in that regard by his low-ish Con, which I believe doesn't even let him steal swords at base. The ability to effectively "kill" magic users, as Fire tomes aren't carved into stone tablets anymore, without eating a counterattack, is quite nice, though.

Weapon Level: Staves (C+40)
Skills: --

Holy frailty, batman. I'm pretty sure Safy is at least a contender for "best unit in the game" by virtue of being a staff user in T776, but she's also one mistake away from an 'orrible death at all times.

__

The masterful strategy for this map: Move forward with everybody, while Dagdar makes sure that the rear is safe. Since he's a prepromote, I assume that +1 Str is a pretty good level for him, too.

And because I'm a bit greedy that way, another Vulnerary for the road at the start of turn 2.

Next, I just had to try out Lifis's other utility of Getting Captured.

Still not enough for Marty to get a hit in, but hey. An attempt was made.

Instead, Ronan sets up an easy capture for Halvan. Another Vulnerary!

And I'm sure y'all will like this: The very first staff use of the playthrough... is a miss! Peak comedy! Kaga is probably giggling about this masterclass of game design to this day.

____

I'll speed up commentary from here. Enemies get stabbed. They try to stab back. Leaf gets what iirc is his first good level-up of the run.

Oh, and at this point, I randomly find out that Lil Manster allows me to check unit growths by pressing... some button. I don't remember which, it's been a while. I think I'll avoid using that, though, since it's not part of the original game.

👀

And here, we arrive at Chokepoint City, with a small delay because it seems I forgot to trade Lifis back his lockpick.

__

But yeah. This map simply isn't very interesting.

Although this Bishop maybe would've done something interesting had I given him the time? I do remember that there's at least one bishop in this game who will grab a chest at a certain turn into the fight and then rain down fire and brimstone on you...

...and this one does have keys to do exactly that. Well, had.

For the boss kill, it turns out that I tried to do something that doesn't begin with "Ey"...

__

...but ended up with it anyway. Oh well.

: "Ugh... You fools... This doesn't end with me..."

Lobos is correct, of course, since there's still children to rescue.

And one of them... is clearly an impostor because Sylvia never married anybody.

____

This last part is, honestly, just an annoying little exercise, as you also have to deliver the right child to the right house. There's zero strategic element to this - you just go trial and error, noting what name the villager mentions in the latter case.

: "Master Cairpre! Thank the gods you're all right! I was sick with worry... The young master is a nobleman's ward, and was coming to our village as a messenger, but got mistaken for one of our own children! You have my deepest thanks, but I've little else to give... Still, I imagine rescuing a child of Thracian nobility ought to pay off sooner or later."

Apparently, this portrait is a bloke named Cohen. We'll see if I remember when we meet the "real" one.

: "Me... Me daughter... Please, good folk! Yer armed and fit fer battle! Bring me girl, Luccia, back! I beg of ye!"
: "Luccia! Oh, me own girl, hale and hardy! Thought me heart would give out from worry, it would! I can't begin to say how grateful I am to ye, stranger. Don't have much in the way of thanks, but... Mayhap this old parchment could be of some good to you? We been puzzlin' over it fer years, but what it does is beyond our ken. All we know is that merely holdin' it fills ye with tremendous vim and vigor, amongst other things. Hope it helps ye, I surely do."

So Baldr seems to be the generic one, giving all stats except Mag and Con a tiny boost.

: "Holy Heim! Jubel, yer safe! You...gave me a real scare there... I'm so glad to see you again. Whatever yer reasons, stranger, thank you fer helpin'. Truly. Now listen, me older brother is an Imperial soldier, but if'n you ever meet him, tell him what the Empire don to our youngest kin. His name is Dalsin. Ain't a doubt in me mind he'd help you, so don't go forgettin' it!"

"I wonder if a truly blind player will remember this, what, five maps from now" - ping, May 2024, probably.

: "Hm? Oh, it can't be! Romeo, safe and sound... From the depths of me heart, I thank ye. Fer bringing me boy back single-handed, I'd like ye to have this. This here ring's been handed down in me family fer as long as I can remember. It's enchanted, it is. Take it, I insist."

And there we go. One stat booster, one crusader scroll, one future recruit, and one thing I don't remember.

And meanwhile, Lifis grabbed the two chests: Meteor (so I assume that this Bishop would have grabbed and used this eventually) and an Armorslayer.

__

So, let's get out of here!

__

...oh.

: "Otherwise, I'll have to do something very ugly to this very pretty young woman."

: "...Raydrik, you soulless parasite..."
: "Run, Lord Leif! Don't worry about me!"
: "Damn...! Fine... Fine, I said! I'm putting my weapons down, so keep your hands off Nanna!"
: "Hah! See, the young pup knows how to heel! Men, move in and chain the good Prince Leif! Then fan out and seize the rest of his forces!"

: "I'm goin' in and waving the white flag - no doubt they'll arrest me too. I'll do what I can to protect the Little Lord from the inside. The rest of you, hightail it outta here and make ready to rescue him!"
: "I suppose this was inevitable... We... have no choice but to retreat... Hold out for as long as you can, Lord Leif! On my honor, I will come for you!"
: "Dammit, Leif... Nothing to be done about it now, I guess. We're comin' after you, so don't you dare go dying first, you hear?!"
: "Well... We lasted until now. No one can say we didn't give it our all..."
: "Gods above, watch over the prince..."
: "Damn it all, the prince let 'imself be captured? Can't much stand it meself, but fer now, I've no choice but to head back to Mount Violdrake. This ain't the end though: I'll round up me whole crew and we'll storm Munster!"

"Especially my boy Gomez... Kid can probably just thrash the entire Munster forces by himself. Hope he finished reading his little red book by now."

So, there we are - without the usual bunch o' numbers, because I planned to grab them from the next chapter's prep screen / first turn, but, well... I suppose I can give everybody's Ch.3 performance as they rejoin...

 

Stuff that I played in the past weeks that might interest some people in this thread:

Spoiler

Funny DA:O pictures.

Unfortunately, I think I sold the Chantry Robes that Leliana starts with in Lothering, or to a merchant that resets their inventory. In either case, she had to make do with some random noble clothing.

Also, Wynne, because why wouldn't you. ...well, I know why Ruben wouldn't be able to have Wynne punch ogres, evildoer that he is.

--

Civ5 Deity wins #2 and #3. Both on the standard Pangaea map instead of the slightly cheesy Inca-on-Highlands set-up I did for my first Deity win, but still two extraordinary Inca spawns.

First one doesn't seem too insane - four salt tiles in total, yes, but no mountains at all for the cap - but note the El Dorado just outside of Cusco's range. Japan grabbed the tile with their first expand (so nothing I could've done about it), but I did get the 500 gold for finding it first. I still stayed on only three cities, because a fourth one would've antagonised Assyria (before the Celts ate them) and also wouldn't have been particularly defensible.

I waged a total of four defensive wars: First against Japan, which was inevitable considering their proximity, and even moreso because they were pretty boxed in. They attacked with Comp.Bows and Catapults, which wasn't too difficult to push back. Cusco's river still had forest/jungle on its left bank and I had three Comp.Bows ready myself, so they never managed to put very much damage onto Cusco.

Second war was against Boudicca, who, together with Montezuma, stabbed Japan in the back while they were busy not conquering Cusco, giving her a border with me. This one was a lot more tense, because I honestly completely forgot that Civ5 AI actually uses a lot of air units. Very incompetently (the UI is a bit fucky, but the first three lines describe enemy Great War Bombers taking 140+ damage (to their 100 max HP), which means that they just threw them into my anti-air without precautions), but because I didn't have any anti-air at the start of the war, Cusco still got reduced to 0 HP very quickly. But I managed to block any melee units from actually taking it until I was able to pump out some Mobile SAMs and Fighters.

However - note the Aluminium and Oil in the top bar. I didn't have either in my lands, so I had to get both from city states. I was lucky and there was in island CS with oil... but it was coastal, so they couldn't improve it until like 5 turns into this war, and then they quickly died when Montezuma decided to dogpile me. Luckily, for some reason, air units still repair when you're out of their respective resource, even though land (and, I believe, sea) units do not. For that last-second war against Boudicca, I could increase my air force a bit by taking her oil in the first peace deal. And as far as Aluminium goes - I did get this one faster by another city state... that also got killed by the Aztecs, so I had to make do with what little you get out of three Recycling Centers.

Oh, one thing I remember while copying this into the forums: I was quite lucky with my ideology - picked Freedom first, two free policies and all, with Aztecs and Celts going Communism/Fascism (don't remember who took what), and my good friend Harun, the only AI with any tourism to speak of, went Democracy, as well. Not that happiness should be terribly hard to manage with three cities even through loyalty pressure, but still.

The second game, I managed to luck into an even better start than instant El Dorado: Six uncontested cities, all of them strong coastal settles for amazing trade routes. And I mean "uncontested" - because I spawned on a peninsula, I only had a single neighbor - Persia - who didn't even want any of my land.

Six cities is a bit of stress on happiness, of course, and I dipped below zero on occasion, but with some lux trades, Circus Maximus, and some nice happiness from the Explo civic tree (+1 for every Lighthouse/Harbour/Seaport is pretty nuts when all your cities are coastal), that worked out just fine, too.

Bonus points to the map layout for creating a bloody mêlée à quatre between Japan, Zulu (RIP), Netherlands and the Aztecs west of Persia, who managed to stay out of it. And although the Aztecs look like the victor on the map, the end result was pretty much a stalemate between them and the Dutch, with a clear tech advantage on the side of the Dutchies.

Despite the wide-ish set-up, I still thought that Freedom was the way to go, since all my cities were large enough to support plenty of specialists, but Genoot Willem convinced me otherwise. Vooruit altijd, achteruit nooit! ...or something like that. With his loyalty pressure, happiness would have been a problem again, I'm pretty sure. And it still worked out for a pretty decently timed science victory at turn 267.

Bonus picture: POV: you make the mistake of pressing the "Found Religion" button on Deity instead of just planting the prophet. I believe all I got out of my religion before Persia said Nay was a single Mosque. Hallelujah. I was hoping that I might be able to get one of the Theology wonders (and reload in case I picked the wrong one), but that's not very Deity Player of me to assume. In the end, I only got faith for a single Engineer, instead of the 2-3 great people (usually 2x scientist and 1x engi) I tend to get if I go religious on Emperor.

 

Answers:

Spoiler

  

On 5/9/2024 at 10:45 PM, Saint Rubenio said:

Actually, I was talking about how the cursor was on the beach but the nametag said Shiva. A witty reference to your editing shenanigans, you see.

I should've assumed that you were making fun of me. Hrmph.

On 5/9/2024 at 10:45 PM, Saint Rubenio said:

The logic is sound.

As sound as Crazybus.

I managed to endure 15 seconds of that. Here is some dulcet cantabile tones to clear the palette.

On 5/10/2024 at 12:52 AM, Jotari said:

I think that's the grace of Lil Manster. Don't think the original was so kind as to explain what these random pieces of cloth were for.

Yeah, FE as a whole refuses to display anything growth rate-related ingame, I think. Pretty sure I always have to check the boni from PoR's growth bands, too.

On 5/10/2024 at 12:52 AM, Jotari said:

Can you really you're an elitist if you haven't replayed Tellius and posted it on Serenes for my entertainment?

 

On 5/10/2024 at 1:14 AM, Interdimensional Observer said:

Soren erasure! Pelleas erasure! Oliver erasure! Ilyana Rexbolting Dheg erasure!

Can't believe you're erasing Calill (aka the only mage who can conceivably double auras with dragon support) here, smh my head.

On 5/10/2024 at 2:20 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Oh gods, you just made the map look twice as big! With clones of every unit. It's CQ15 all over again, for the first time.

Behold, the last screenshot I took back on the 12th of May, except four times:

'Tis art. The Village Of Iz On A Foggy Afternoon.

On 5/10/2024 at 2:20 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

What if you

Wanted to seize the Shrine of Seals in 30 turns?

But Bern said:

WYVERNSPAM.

Well, if you know what's happening on that map, you can just not run into every reinforcement zone in existence. A prime example of why splitting your party tends to be a dangerous game.

On 5/10/2024 at 2:35 AM, Revier said:

Fog of War imo is a decent concept that the FEs don't know how to use well. If enemies respected fog of war and played more defensively or cautiously with it around, I imagine it would be a lot less aggravating.

Even then, I think that the nature of permadeath makes FoW not very suited for Fire Emblem in general. If those five Bolting mages hitting your dancer were properly getting vision from an enemy thief (although that's obviously an exaggerated scenario), I'd still call that BS. I think Advance Wars is a better fit for this mechanic - both because it actually has the AI play by the rules, and because your units aren't characters that carry on from map to map. But you'd have to ask @Interdimensional Observer for a more informed opinion on that.

On 5/10/2024 at 3:38 AM, Shaky Jones said:

There's a reason Naesala's the only royal in Tellius I remotely care about.

It's a shame he gets an excuse for... well, most of his actions in Radiant Dawn. Have I mentioned lately that I don't particularly like blood pacts?

On 5/10/2024 at 3:38 AM, Shaky Jones said:

What a brilliant hint by Shazam Kaga. I can't wait for how he'll inform the player of everything else he throws at you!

: "have any of your soldiers that fight on horseback [Dismount] before entering"

On 5/10/2024 at 3:38 AM, Shaky Jones said:

I mean it's incredibly dumb when the game gives you 3 sight, but fills the map with 7 move enemies.

Indeed. It should be flying enemies with 7-8 move. #BindingBladeCanDoNoWrong

On 5/10/2024 at 3:38 AM, Shaky Jones said:

how else can Amelia be good in general?

https://www.fireemblemwod.com/fe8/exmap/torre-valni1.htm

On 5/10/2024 at 3:38 AM, Shaky Jones said:

You seem to have a habit being bad with based units.

Darros begs to differ. Not my fault Kaga never managed to create another character nearly as epic as him.

On 5/10/2024 at 3:38 AM, Shaky Jones said:

So we're banning Teehee?

For the Greater Good.

On 6/14/2024 at 10:45 PM, Dayni said:

Man, that's a lot to catch up on. I must confess I'd read a smidge, but never the full run through and there must have been a bunch to say.

Eyy, good to see you back! You'll be happy to hear that your requests for Warren and Aideen/Midir (despite some eugenetic reshuffling, although this is an easy pairing to pick) were both followed.

On 6/14/2024 at 10:45 PM, Dayni said:

  And being honest, I have been wanting to make shitposts in this direction for a while, so here, Marty practicing his axe swings:

Very nice I imagine that it's because of this training that Marty's Skl is how it is, as he's learning to hit things with the broad side of his axe.

 

 

[Saint Rubenio]

9 minutes ago, ping said:

...well, I know why Ruben wouldn't be able to have Wynne punch ogres, evildoer that he is.

It was so worth it.

14 minutes ago, ping said:

but going into the next part of the game unprepared is, of course, precisely what Kaga intended.

Ahhh, the Kaga experience!

14 minutes ago, ping said:

...and now that I copy this update into the forum's editor, I remember that I used a bright background colour for blue characters. Whoops. Happens when you take a seven-week break. I suppose it fits Augustus to be somewhat "in the shadow", as it were.

Yeah no problem, August is just special like that.

16 minutes ago, ping said:

The masterful strategy for this map: Move forward with everybody, while Dagdar makes sure that the rear is safe. Since he's a prepromote, I assume that +1 Str is a pretty good level for him, too.

His growths are pretty awful without scrolls. He appreciates speed more, I feel, but still, it's okay. Coulda been HP, and he's endgame ready at base anyway, more or less.

16 minutes ago, ping said:

Next, I just had to try out Lifis's other utility of Getting Captured.

The funniest utility.

17 minutes ago, ping said:

Oh, and at this point, I randomly find out that Lil Manster allows me to check unit growths by pressing... some button. I don't remember which, it's been a while. I think I'll avoid using that, though, since it's not part of the original game.

Select, I believe. Nifty QoL, though knowing growths is less impactful than people tend to think.

17 minutes ago, ping said:

Although this Bishop maybe would've done something interesting had I given him the time? I do remember that there's at least one bishop in this game who will grab a chest at a certain turn into the fight and then rain down fire and brimstone on you...

To be specific, this one. If you give him the time he'll go get the meteor tome from the chest and screw with you. It happens way too late, though.

18 minutes ago, ping said:

And one of them... is clearly an impostor because Sylvia never married anybody.

He's better in this game than in FE4.

I want to say that's a meme, but like... his contribution in this game is more valuable than anything he does in FE4 as a unit, and Sharlow isn't here to do his thing better this time around lol

19 minutes ago, ping said:

Apparently, this portrait is a bloke named Cohen. We'll see if I remember when we meet the "real" one.

It gets used a couple times before being given to Cohen. There's also an unused character called Gunnar who was going to be a playable with this portrait. Unfortunately it wasn't to be, lowering the amount of playable old people. A shame.

20 minutes ago, ping said:

It's a shame he gets an excuse for... well, most of his actions in Radiant Dawn. Have I mentioned lately that I don't particularly like blood pacts?

I've actually half a mind to replay RD soon. This isn't related to anything, but hey.

[ping]

44 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

It was so worth it.

I believe it's possible to recruit Wynne and still murder the Circle: You can, ahem, fail to protect Irving in the final boss fight of the mission, in which case Gregoire should insist on the stabby option, but Wynne will still survive and join you. Following that, you can let her punch an Ogre to death and then bring her to the salting of the ashes, where she (and Leliana) will fight you if you, well, try to salt the ashes. DA:O really allows you a lot of creativity in how to murder the elderly.

(spoiler for the third game)

Spoiler

Fun Fact: I know that Leliana plays a very important role in Inquisition and, looking up general stuff about DA, I learned that in order to account for players like you, she'll turn out to be some kind of force spirit in that game.

Apparently, DA:O was expected to be a flop by EA, or at best pay for itself, so Bioware wrote DA:O with the half-assumption that there won't be any sequels. That's why some of the quests have so wildly divergent outcomes, which in turn means that it was very difficult for DA2 and DA:I to continue these story threads from Origins.

 

57 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Select, I believe. Nifty QoL, though knowing growths is less impactful than people tend to think.

With the growth scrolls and low stat caps, I suppose that's true. I might change my mind and take a look at the growth rates for this playthrough then - since team is entirely reset with only Leif and Lifis remaining, it should work fine to show growths as characters rejoin us.

We'll see if I can learn Eyvel's growths. I think I remember her eventual rescue not being as intutive or easy as unlocking 2x.

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I've actually half a mind to replay RD soon. This isn't related to anything, but hey.

I should, too, at some point. I hardly ever played that game without transfers, completionist that I am, so it would also be interesting to experience how much less broken Jill is without +2 Str/Skl/Spd/Def at base.

[Saint Rubenio]

9 minutes ago, ping said:

With the growth scrolls and low stat caps, I suppose that's true. I might change my mind and take a look at the growth rates for this playthrough then - since team is entirely reset with only Leif and Lifis remaining, it should work fine to show growths as characters rejoin us.

Oh I meant just on a general basis. We love picking our units based on growths but then anything can happen with enough luck (or lack thereof).

7 minutes ago, ping said:

I should, too, at some point. I hardly ever played that game without transfers, completionist that I am, so it would also be interesting to experience how much less broken Jill is without +2 Str/Skl/Spd/Def at base.

I'm not particularly interested in touching PoR again, but I do want to try RD's hard mode. It's been enough years since I played RD, and I want to know if hard mode can make Ike's maps more enjoyable.

...I did use the randomizer's nifty bonus features to restore the removed mechanics (primarily enemy ranges) to hard mode, as well as make the part 4 maps into kill boss/seize maps. Fuck that noise.