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

[ping]

1 minute ago, Saint Rubenio said:

...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.

I shall make a mental note of that. I only played on hard once and abandoned that run... either on Geoffrey's Charge or early in pt3. In either case, since I got through Pt.1 well enough, I think I can confidently say that it was the dumb removal of enemy range display that made me stop, not the difficulty. It's so dumb.

(and so is the removal of the weapon triangle, tbh, although it isn't nearly as obnoxious. Yes, the player can easily use it to their advantage, but it's a good thing that it every melee unit that little bit more specialised with regards to what enemies they like to face)

[Interdimensional Observer]

2 hours ago, ping said:

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.

Welcome back!😃

...And you may or may not be approaching the Turbo Tunnel of Thracia.:

By which I mean "16-bit early difficulty spike level which filters out the less insane/masochistic/persistent gamers".

2 hours ago, ping said:

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.

It did not miss. The staff's auto-targeting mistook an injured flower for an axeman.🥀

...There was one game (Etrian Odyssey V, modern old-fashioned first-person dungeon crawler) I played which actually had a random multi-hit heal skill. Medicinal Lick- your Rover (archer's) hound summon will randomly lick any party member (including itself) a number of times (5-9 depending on skill level), with each ally capable of being licked up to 2 times per skill use (an EO team consists of 5 units, the hound in this case is a special exception 6th). -I mention this b/c it's entirely possible the skill might end up not hitting an ally you wanted healed, but that's an inherent risk of using it, which makes it a case where I'm okay with heals missing, unlike Thracia's questionable use of the idea.

2 hours ago, ping said:

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

At least it makes it an easy choice to give to whomever you feel needs crit-immunity in a given moment.

2 hours ago, ping said:

__

...oh.

Raydrik does have 20 Con, only makes sense he could capture Leif.😛

2 hours ago, ping said:

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.

Nice!😀

I haven't played any Civ as of late (might be in the mood again when CiVII gets its true reveal in August). -Though I did fall victim to the 4X "one more turn" bug with Endless Legend, which is high fantasy 4X. Some fun there ...and frustration from trying to win on that game's equivalent of Deity (Endless) b/c the AI gets such big cheaty bonuses.😆

2 hours ago, ping said:

First one doesn't seem too insane - four salt tiles in total, yes, but no mountains at all for the cap

Not a huge loss. Farming mountainless dry hills is still a nice little boost for the Inca. Food = Science = king in CiV!🍏⚗️

2 hours ago, ping said:

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.

The "blood in the water" opportunist AI!😛 I've seen it before.

2 hours ago, ping said:

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.

Annoying, if better than CiVI where they don't use them at all (at least if you play quickly enough). 

And yeah, air units take damage real easily in CiV, since they aren't the strongest units and can be counterattacked by anything. Though in CivVI, IIRC, only fighters/anti-air units can damage aircraft, which makes them much more invincible.

2 hours ago, ping said:

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 forget how often CiVI gives city-states Strategics, but I do like CiV giving each city-state one, and if you don't one on a state early, you know it's getting a later strategic. Makes for a nice avenue to invaluable late strategics when you discover you have none.

2 hours ago, ping said:

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.

Coastal cities in both V and VI are something I find iffy. Resourceless water tiles are poor tiles, especially in V! And VI has the issue of districts and wonders killing tiles. But, I suppose that if you're looking for more cities and aren't so obsessed with quality, coastal cities do let you pack more into the same amount of land. And the ideal CiV tall city does have a 3-tile inlet b/c maritime trade routes are great.

2 hours ago, ping said:

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.

It is a great excuse to go Exploration, and it is fun messing around with the "inferior" Social Policy trees.⚓

2 hours ago, ping said:

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,

Freedom is associated by players with tall play. But is it also a fact that you get more specialists with more cities. So even for wide, Freedom isn't bad if you've enough population in all your cities.

2 hours ago, ping said:

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.

The franchise gradually evolved to play by the rules Super Famicom Wars- nope! Advance Wars 1&2- the AI cheats, except they can't see your land units in forests/naval units in Reefs. Dual Strike is where the AI lost its cheatvision, though I think it might still have some sense of where your units are? Days of Ruin- no more cheating at all. I forget about Re-Boot Camp, the old AI's stupidity flaws were kept intact from the originals, yet I can't recall if the fog-cheating was.😅

 

34 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

It's been enough years since I played RD, and I want to know if hard mode can make Ike's maps more enjoyable.

Ehhhh... The Hard/Maniac mode bonuses are too small in RD to stop Part 3 from being easy. This was the last FE before Shadow Dragon sent FE's highest difficulties into the realm of stat absurdity.

[BrightBow]

 

2 hours ago, ping said:

: "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."

"Captivity". Come on, those are basically summer camps. Fox News said so.
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

: "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."

And there goes Leaf's first leadership star already.

You know, the fact that Leaf's Stars actually change over the course of the game does highlight how awkward it is that years later Micaiah spends a whole game at 0 Leadership, despite the massive influence she is shown to have over her zealots.
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

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

One of the few units with a PCC of 0 as well. Guy flatout cannot crit on a 2nd hit.
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

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.

Yeah, but as you've seen, enemies will generally go for the capture if they can. And an unarmed cleric can be captured without a fight. That's why you might want even non-combat units to carry a weapon.

Safy has some funny growths. Pure magic units normally have a strength growth between 0 and 5%. Safy has 30%.
Meanwhile her Luck growth is only 5%, despite staffers usually having fairly high luck growths.
Did they accidentally swap her Strength and Luck growths? Or maybe they swapped her growths with Ronan's? Neither would surprise me.
She is also the only playable unit with a 0% movement growth.
None of that really matters, but it's interesting.
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

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

And they all block critical hits.

Btw, thieves can not only steal from enemies, they can also place items into an enemy's inventory.
So if you are worried that an enemy you want to capture might get crit to death, you can place a scroll into their inventory.
 

2 hours ago, ping said:

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

Yup. Meteor on the 4th map. Or the 3rd, if you hadn't done the Gaiden for some reason.

[Saint Rubenio]

53 minutes ago, ping said:

I shall make a mental note of that. I only played on hard once and abandoned that run... either on Geoffrey's Charge or early in pt3. In either case, since I got through Pt.1 well enough, I think I can confidently say that it was the dumb removal of enemy range display that made me stop, not the difficulty. It's so dumb.

(and so is the removal of the weapon triangle, tbh, although it isn't nearly as obnoxious. Yes, the player can easily use it to their advantage, but it's a good thing that it every melee unit that little bit more specialised with regards to what enemies they like to face)

Well, if ever you wish to give it another shot, take a look at the randomizer. There's even a lite version of the randomizer that just lets you do the hard mode changes without touching anything else, though I went with the normal one for the aforementioned rout objective changes.

20 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Ehhhh... The Hard/Maniac mode bonuses are too small in RD to stop Part 3 from being easy. This was the last FE before Shadow Dragon sent FE's highest difficulties into the realm of stat absurdity.

Well, all the same, it's been long enough.

Really, the biggest obstacle might just be Titania again. Curse you, Titania. Why can't you be a forgettable plank of wood like Seth so I can bench you easily

[BrightBow]

2 hours ago, ping said:

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.

Also the long awaited return of the item storage building. But unlike FE1 there are no fees to worry about here. So everything goes a lot smoother.
Once you get the battle preps menu, they become a much rarer sight.

The fact that normally you cannot access the item storage mid-battle is something to consider. You cannot steal items if you have no inventory space to place them in. Or at least you would have to drop something else.

[ping]

25 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

It did not miss. The staff's auto-targeting mistook an injured flower for an axeman.🥀

Dagdar was hardly injured, so that sounds like a perfectly reasonable explaination. A flower he stepped on surely would've been more injured than he.

26 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

...There was one game (Etrian Odyssey V, modern old-fashioned first-person dungeon crawler) I played which actually had a random multi-hit heal skill. Medicinal Lick- your Rover (archer's) hound summon will randomly lick any party member (including itself) a number of times (5-9 depending on skill level), with each ally capable of being licked up to 2 times per skill use (an EO team consists of 5 units, the hound in this case is a special exception 6th). -I mention this b/c it's entirely possible the skill might end up not hitting an ally you wanted healed, but that's an inherent risk of using it, which makes it a case where I'm okay with heals missing, unlike Thracia's questionable use of the idea.

Not a multi-hit heal, but the Occultist in Darkest Dungeon (also DD2, I think, but I haven't played that one) is also infamous for his incredibly random healing spell. Most skills of that sort have fairly narrow ranges (e.g. the standard heal of the standard healer class has 8-9 at her highest level) - the Occultist's Wyrd Reconstruction has... 0-22. And it has a chance to bleed its target. It's unlikely, but entirely possible that the Occultist will kill a party member that's at Death's Door.

33 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Not a huge loss. Farming mountainless dry hills is still a nice little boost for the Inca. Food = Science = king in CiV!🍏⚗️

B-but my 6f/2p tiles 😢

44 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Coastal cities in both V and VI are something I find iffy. Resourceless water tiles are poor tiles, especially in V! And VI has the issue of districts and wonders killing tiles. But, I suppose that if you're looking for more cities and aren't so obsessed with quality, coastal cities do let you pack more into the same amount of land. And the ideal CiV tall city does have a 3-tile inlet b/c maritime trade routes are great.

I did have enough tiles to use all of my 127 pops, even though the mountain range also cut into the number of workable tiles. But what I found so remarkable about this start, apart from just how isolated it was, that there was room for six good, coastal cities. I often feel like I have to choose between four coastal cities, two of them crap, or bite the bullet and just settle inland expansions, which ruins half of the advantage that a coastal cap offers to begin with.

53 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

It is a great excuse to go Exploration, and it is fun messing around with the "inferior" Social Policy trees.⚓

It's honestly a great tree to put your tween-tradition-and-rationalism points into. The first three pips are very worthwhile. +3 prod in every city is still quite significant in the medieval era, and that happiness policy is basically as strong as an ideology happiness tenet. It's just that every non-coastal city cuts into its effectiveness, so it's very situational. Well, and the opener (+1 move and sight for your boats) is only really useful if you're warmongering, so you do need to have good culture to actually use this.

59 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The franchise gradually evolved to play by the rules Super Famicom Wars- nope! Advance Wars 1&2- the AI cheats, except they can't see your land units in forests/naval units in Reefs. Dual Strike is where the AI lost its cheatvision, though I think it might still have some sense of where your units are? Days of Ruin- no more cheating at all. I forget about Re-Boot Camp, the old AI's stupidity flaws were kept intact from the originals, yet I can't recall if the fog-cheating was.😅

Interesting. The abiltity to hide your own units in forests/reefs is already a nice touch, I'd say, since it means that you can actually use the mechanic to your advantage, while it's entirely bad for the player in FE, unless you count the potential staff grinding.

44 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

And there goes Leaf's first leadership star already.

You know, the fact that Leaf's Stars actually change over the course of the game does highlight how awkward it is that years later Micaiah spends a whole game at 0 Leadership, despite the massive influence she is shown to have over her zealots.

Yeah, Miccy's lack of leadership stars is a detail that RD really fumbles, especially with Thracia setting this precedent. But even if it wasn't possible for her to gain them over time, it's an odd choice to lock her in at zero.

Although I have to say that I don't like global leadership stars all that much in general. There's not as much you can do about it, as opposed to Genealogy-style leadership "auras", where the positioning of your leader(s) matters.

 

[Saint Rubenio]

1 hour ago, ping said:

2 hours ago, BrightBow said:

And there goes Leaf's first leadership star already.

You know, the fact that Leaf's Stars actually change over the course of the game does highlight how awkward it is that years later Micaiah spends a whole game at 0 Leadership, despite the massive influence she is shown to have over her zealots.

Yeah, Miccy's lack of leadership stars is a detail that RD really fumbles, especially with Thracia setting this precedent. But even if it wasn't possible for her to gain them over time, it's an odd choice to lock her in at zero.

No but listen, in RD it's good because it highlights that Micaiah is a loser while Ike is a very special boy that is perfect and beloved by everyone (he has 3 more stars than her). And he's not a lord! He's just a regular person with nothing special to him, other than his incredibly renowned and important dad, his fancy godkilling sword and the plot medallion his sister inherited from their mom!

...Honestly, I don't really mind. In Thracia at least the stars are a global total of the deployed team's stars, so there's some management you can do there (should I deploy these units that have stars to bolster my team?). In RD only the leader's stars matter and they never change so the mechanic might as well not even exist. It just serves to give Ike's team a passive, permanent boost, because Ike and his goons needed to be even more powerful.

Edited June 29 by Saint Rubenio

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

6 hours ago, ping said:

as Fire tomes aren't carved into stone tablets anymore

So that's what was happening! Azelle musta gotten pretty buff, carrying his Fire and Elfire around.

6 hours ago, ping said:

Enemies get stabbed. They try to stab back.

That's it, that's the thread. We've figured out Fire Emblem.

6 hours ago, ping said:

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.

I think this map was the first time I got any unit (Safy) captured. Seems to be the more common risk/nuisance than her dying. She can die, for sure (oh boy, ballistae!), but the Capture system sort of changes how you need to handle her.

6 hours ago, ping said:

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

Can't wait for the combined Jugdral sequel, where you can save Charlot in chapter 3 and meet Claud!Ced with Valkyrie later on.

Anyway, Google en fatigue:

6 hours ago, ping said:

: "Holy Heim!

 

6 hours ago, ping said:

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

And she gets innate Nihil! Uh, best Sage for Tower?

6 hours ago, ping said:

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

Finally, peak Kaga. This is the endpoint of Fog of War.

6 hours ago, ping said:

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.

Me when I split the party: "WTF why are half my guys dying"

Me when I don't: "WTF why are half my guys doing nothing"

...Hm, I think it would be cool if remakes of the Elibe games offered visual indicators of tripwire reinforcements. Maybe include a distinct color, or flashing effect, when you turn the "danger zone" visual on.

[BrightBow]

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

...Honestly, I don't really mind. In Thracia at least the stars are a global total of the deployed team's stars, so there's some management you can do there (should I deploy these units that have stars to bolster my team?). In RD only the leader's stars matter and they never change so the mechanic might as well not even exist. It just serves to give Ike's team a passive, permanent boost, because Ike and his goons needed to be even more powerful.

Oh yeah, in Radiant Dawn Leadership Stars are a joke of a mechanic. You could remove them altogether and it would improve the game.

But the fact that they are pointless only makes this worse. If they actually mattered it could be argued that Micaiah doesn't have them purely for gameplay reason.
But of course everyone and their mother has leadership stars in that game, despite virtually none of them ever have any gameplay impact. So it comes across as if Leadership Stars mostly exist to show a character's hypothetical leadership abilities. Which means Micaiah has even more reason to have them.
Even if we only consider military experience and ignore the fact that Micaiah's followers are fanatics... well, Pelleas has 1 Star.

[Interdimensional Observer]

3 hours ago, ping said:

B-but my 6f/2p tiles 😢

They're like a salt start- get too used to it and many things that are perfectly good/winnable with, will seem like trash.😛

3 hours ago, ping said:

Not a multi-hit heal, but the Occultist in Darkest Dungeon (also DD2, I think, but I haven't played that one) is also infamous for his incredibly random healing spell. Most skills of that sort have fairly narrow ranges (e.g. the standard heal of the standard healer class has 8-9 at her highest level) - the Occultist's Wyrd Reconstruction has... 0-22. And it has a chance to bleed its target. It's unlikely, but entirely possible that the Occultist will kill a party member that's at Death's Door.

If it's an occultist, it makes total sense. Bloodletting, flagellation, feeding people to eldritch gods, invoking powers beyond their total control, all understandable things for them to do.😀

3 hours ago, ping said:

I did have enough tiles to use all of my 127 pops, even though the mountain range also cut into the number of workable tiles. But what I found so remarkable about this start, apart from just how isolated it was, that there was room for six good, coastal cities. I often feel like I have to choose between four coastal cities, two of them crap, or bite the bullet and just settle inland expansions, which ruins half of the advantage that a coastal cap offers to begin with.

True, that is a rarity.😄 Initial supplies Happiness not being great for than four cities set aside, CiV maps are usually too cramped for more than three or four good tall cities anyhow.

3 hours ago, ping said:

It's honestly a great tree to put your tween-tradition-and-rationalism points into. The first three pips are very worthwhile. +3 prod in every city is still quite significant in the medieval era, and that happiness policy is basically as strong as an ideology happiness tenet. It's just that every non-coastal city cuts into its effectiveness, so it's very situational. Well, and the opener (+1 move and sight for your boats) is only really useful if you're warmongering, so you do need to have good culture to actually use this.

The free Great Admiral is also a crappy policy if you intend to ever go back and finish the tree, since the AI is soooo bad at naval war. But the Hidden Antiquity Sites are very cool, as unlikely as you are to finish Exploration tree, with the potential to possibly pay back a good chunk or even all of the culture cost later if you luck out with enough Cultural Renaissances. It's a shame Rational triumphs the way it does.

3 hours ago, ping said:

Interesting. The abiltity to hide your own units in forests/reefs is already a nice touch, I'd say, since it means that you can actually use the mechanic to your advantage, while it's entirely bad for the player in FE, unless you count the potential staff grinding.

Keep in mind the AI can hide as well. Usually they aren't strategic with it. Though if a campaign map has fog, imagine any and all forests might have a predeployed Artillery or Rocket hiding in it with its specific unit-AI set to "stationary". Said unit waits for you to unthinkingly move one of your tanks into its range and take off half its health.😛

Days of Ruin/Dark Conflict made additional alternations.:

• Ruins and Mist were added as additional land and sea terrain respectively with the hiding property, but they offer less of a defense bonus and movement penalty than forests/reefs.
• Fire tiles were added too. These cannot be moved on, but light up all non-hiding place tiles within a 5x5 radius for both sides. The new Radar property has the same fog-busting effect -but only for whoever owns it.
• HQs, cities, and deployment facilities in all AWs would always be lit up for the player who owned them.
  • In Days of Ruin, owned properties now emitted light beyond the tile itself (unless Rain is on, the weather condition slashes all vision ranges to 1), lighting up two non-hiding tiles in the cardinal directions and one on the diagonals. And owned/neutral properties also became hiding places.
• In order to deal with the increase in hiding places, DoR add the Flare unit to land warfare. Basically a Torch Staff that can light up a 3x3 +shaped area for one turn, including hiding places (though a Flare can't pop a flare and move in the same turn). So you don't have to move a unit directly adjacent to a hiding place to see what if anything is on it.
• And, moving a unit in fog will, once it reaches its destination, temporarily light up all non-hiding place (unless it passed by adjacent to that tile) tiles that were within its vision range during the path it took to its destination tile. So a Recon with its 5 Vision moving its full 8 Move, ought to light up a nice big area -if as a consequence of moving so far ahead, possibly expose itself to danger.

6 hours ago, ping said:

as Fire tomes aren't carved into stone tablets anymore,

I forgot to comment on this before. Stone slates for Fire "tomes" makes total sense b/c rock is fireproof. But, likely because I beheld some cuneiform tablets in my reading yesterday, I also like the idea of Fire tomes being made of clay. Burnt paper is destroyed paper, but light a fire on some clay, and it hardens like ceramics, becoming durable, able to last for thousands of years.🤓

 

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

...Hm, I think it would be cool if remakes of the Elibe games offered visual indicators of tripwire reinforcements. Maybe include a distinct color, or flashing effect, when you turn the "danger zone" visual on.

Well, it is a fact that those visible laser alarm systems you see covert agents and thieves slipping through on TV & in movies are a thing of fiction. And the 3H mole people have moved FE closer to sci-fi...

[Revier]

Can't believe the hero got captured already. Kaga has truly gone above and beyond his capabilities.

[Jotari]

7 hours ago, ping said:

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

Would have been particularly apt if you had done this chapter before the radio silence. Then we could have imagined you thinking Leif was captured and thus the game is over.

8 hours ago, ping said:

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.

Because you weren't giving me my Fire Emblem fix, I've went and played the entirety of Tear Ring Saga since the last update. An incredibly flawed game, but I can say the stealing is even more fun in that than it is in Thracia.

7 hours ago, ping said:

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.

It is neat that the civilians have names, at least.

7 hours ago, ping said:

 

On 5/10/2024 at 7:52 AM, Jotari said:

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

 

Well why didn't you tell me you were doing that a year ago!? And where's Radiant Dawn? That's obviously what I really mean when I say Tellius.

7 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

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

I demand you post it here. Serenes has been slow this past month and a half with no play log and I'm entitled enough to want to vicariously replay Radiant Dawn through someone else.

[Jotari]

5 hours ago, BrightBow said:

You know, the fact that Leaf's Stars actually change over the course of the game does highlight how awkward it is that years later Micaiah spends a whole game at 0 Leadership, despite the massive influence she is shown to have over her zealots

They just didn't want her showing up everyone's favourite crossbow boss Goran with his epic two leadership stars.

5 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Raydrik does have 20 Con, only makes sense he could capture Leif.😛

I would have liked it if they integrated the capture into gameplay better rather than Raydrik just showing up there beside Leif. Like, what if he actually appeared with his invincible sword and then captured and released all your units until he managed to get to Leif. Eh maybe that would have been a bit too wonky. Still, I'm sure some way could have been contrived to have thinks work better mechanically. Oh well, at least we'll see the best chapter for story gameplay integration in twoish chapters.

5 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Yeah, but as you've seen, enemies will generally go for the capture if they can. And an unarmed cleric can be captured without a fight. That's why you might want even non-combat units to carry a weapon.

Enemies can't capture from range though. So she does need to watch out for those archers or hand axe enemies precisely enough distance away to only attack. And ballistae, but just don't walk into ballistae range with her (and uh, be extra careful in that one chapter whose entire gimmick is fog if war+ballistae).

5 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Also the long awaited return of the item storage building. But unlike FE1 there are no fees to worry about here. So everything goes a lot smoother.
Once you get the battle preps menu, they become a much rarer sight.

Let's be honest, Marth taxes people so much in NES Fire Emblem, the dude is rolling in money. The measley ten gold to use the item storage is never going to be a worry for anyone.

 

 

[BrightBow]

Generally staffer HP tends to be more relevant for fatigue than survival.

Staffs are handled different from other weapons in that they exhaust you more the higher their rank requirement is. E costs 1 point, D costs 2 points, etc... Pref staffs cost 5 points. So you can potentially burn through your stamina quite quickly.

But on the bright side, they also raise your weapon exp faster.

[Saint Rubenio]

11 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Oh yeah, in Radiant Dawn Leadership Stars are a joke of a mechanic. You could remove them altogether and it would improve the game.

You know, maybe I should see if that can be done with the randomizer too. I'm not sure. I know the lord characters can be swapped at will, potentially for someone who doesn't have stars, but that is a very janky way to go about that.

...though on the other hand, Greil Mercs led by Titania is a nice thought.

11 hours ago, BrightBow said:

But the fact that they are pointless only makes this worse. If they actually mattered it could be argued that Micaiah doesn't have them purely for gameplay reason.
But of course everyone and their mother has leadership stars in that game, despite virtually none of them ever have any gameplay impact. So it comes across as if Leadership Stars mostly exist to show a character's hypothetical leadership abilities. Which means Micaiah has even more reason to have them.
Even if we only consider military experience and ignore the fact that Micaiah's followers are fanatics... well, Pelleas has 1 Star.

Micaiah blatantly doesn't have any so her part of the game isn't piss easy. You know, like every other part of the game where the leader charcater has 3 stars. Just, such an asinine mechanic in that game.

Edited June 30 by Saint Rubenio

[Dayni]

18 hours ago, ping said:

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.

Any particular highlights from the runs for you?

18 hours ago, ping said:

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.

He'd be a monster keeper for puckouts, all I'm saying.

18 hours ago, ping said:

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

Shur Limerick isn't even Stab City anymore gah! /s

18 hours ago, ping said:

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.

Play again and be intentionally even more unprepared

18 hours ago, ping said:

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.

He can rob Slim Swords and Rapiers.

The real bother for me is his con growth's 10%, which sucks for trying to rob more powerful stuff. That and being a shitheel.

18 hours ago, ping said:

👀

7 levels to go!

18 hours ago, ping said:

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

Ranking this set of rescuees:

Mystery Item

Baldr (Because Crit protection)

+2 Def

Unit

18 hours ago, ping said:

: "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."

Gomez is so close to getting it, right?

Right?

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

...though on the other hand, Greil Mercs led by Titania is a nice thought.

Man, a Tellius game where Titania is leading the Greil Mercs could probably be easily done.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

You know, maybe I should see if that can be done with the randomizer too. I'm not sure. I know the lord characters can be swapped at will, potentially for someone who doesn't have stars, but that is a very janky way to go about that.

...though on the other hand, Greil Mercs led by Titania is a nice thought.

Micaiah blatantly doesn't have any so her part of the game isn't piss easy. You know, like every other part of the game where the leader charcater has 3 stars. Just, such an asinine mechanic in that game.

Micaiah getting and losing stars as her leadership confidence grows and wanes throughout would have been epic story integration. And, genuinely, if they had done that, it would have still made the hard chapters hard, since most of the more difficult chapters are when she is feeling overwhelmed.

[BrightBow]

32 minutes ago, Dayni said:

He can rob Slim Swords and Rapiers.

More importantly tomes. Guy can instantly disable a lot of common mages.

[Saint Rubenio]

Oh wait, the Paragon editor that people use for the 3DS games also works on FE10. That's convenient. I can probably use that to remove all leadership stars much easier than with the randomizer.

14 hours ago, Jotari said:

I demand you post it here. Serenes has been slow this past month and a half with no play log and I'm entitled enough to want to vicariously replay Radiant Dawn through someone else.

Hah! I don't think I'd be willing to do a full on playlog but if I do end up doing this, maybe I'll share some screencaps somewhere.

[Dayni]

On the playlog talk, I could see the possibility. My main issue is that I have a laptop with no sound and I haven't dealt with that issue at all because I've had enough on my mind.

3 hours ago, BrightBow said:

More importantly tomes. Guy can instantly disable a lot of common mages.

I was mentioning for swords specifically, but I am underrating what he can do. Must be me forgetting about being able to steal equipped items.

[ping]

Bloody hell.

22 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

No but listen, in RD it's good because it highlights that Micaiah is a loser while Ike is a very special boy that is perfect and beloved by everyone (he has 3 more stars than her). And he's not a lord! He's just a regular person with nothing special to him, other than his incredibly renowned and important dad, his fancy godkilling sword and the plot medallion his sister inherited from their mom!

I mean, considering the series as a whole, I do give Ike credit for not having any "special blood" or other magic nobility powers that make him Inherently Better than the icky peasants. Just the subject of nepotism (like, Titania should have been the one taking over from Greil) in addition to be good at swinging swords and being endearing to the right kind of people.

PoR!Ike >>> RD!Ike, though.

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

So that's what was happening! Azelle musta gotten pretty buff, carrying his Fire and Elfire around.

Not to mention his horse, which has to carry around Azelle and his selection of Fire tablets. Poor thing, really.

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

Anyway, Google en fatigue:

On 6/29/2024 at 7:07 PM, ping said:

: "Holy Heim!

 

New money sink just dropped.

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

And she gets innate Nihil! Uh, best Sage for Tower?

I mean, she genuinely is, as far as combat goes. It's funny, if you think about it - her bragging about her "brawns" in PoR was really silly, considering how useless knives are in that game, but her high Str is actually what sets her apart from Sanaki for the tower. Too bad that "best sage" really doesn't say much in RD.

20 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

They're like a salt start- get too used to it and many things that are perfectly good/winnable with, will seem like trash.😛

Can confirm. Non-Inca games just aren't the same.

(I should like Civ6 with its potential excessive yield porn, but if every civ can make basically any tile they want into a mega tile, it kinda loses its magic)

20 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

If it's an occultist, it makes total sense. Bloodletting, flagellation, feeding people to eldritch gods, invoking powers beyond their total control, all understandable things for them to do.😀

To be precise, the Flagellant is its own class. Odd fella, that one.

Spoiler

 

20 hours ago, Revier said:

Can't believe the hero got captured already. Kaga has truly gone above and beyond his capabilities.

No worries, Reydrick is about to activate his "I have you now my pretties" mode for Eyvel, Nanna, and Mareete to counterbalance that our boy Leaf has been imprisoned. And is saved by a rescue mission of two women and one man. Fair's fair.

19 hours ago, Jotari said:

Well why didn't you tell me you were doing that a year ago!? And where's Radiant Dawn? That's obviously what I really mean when I say Tellius.

I'll be sure to @ you if I happen to do another playlog.

8 hours ago, Dayni said:

Any particular highlights from the runs for you?

Hmm... For FE3, Bantu was definitely the star of the show, for both books. Very cool to see him at his peak. Don't think I did anything too funky in Book 1 - and unfortunately, Lawrence missed an 84 vs. Medeus, so Marth had to take the final boss kill, too. Book 2 had Super Yubello (first time I used him as a mage, instead of his more natural Fighter/Warrior class line!) and the Medeus kill went to Sheema, but she had to do a lot of drugs to be endgame-viable.

I think this was the most important takeaway from FE3 as a whole.

Genealogy was good fun in the first generation, both story and gameplay, actually, but Gen2 was a bit of a slog. Maps are overall better in Gen1, I found. And golden boy Seliph is really boring, compared to Sigurd with his flaws that he actually gets in trouble for. Or maybe I should say "make his troubles worse", since it's not like he created Arvis et al. Unit-wise... Magic Patty, with Azelle as her dad, was pretty cool, actually. Azelle himself, whom I got to promotion fairly quickly, was probably my Gen1 favourite, too - most kills in that generation other than Sigurd, even.

 

Edited June 30 by ping

[Dayni]

2 minutes ago, ping said:

Hmm... For FE3, Bantu was definitely the star of the show, for both books. Very cool to see him at his peak. Don't think I did anything too funky in Book 1 - and unfortunately, Lawrence missed an 84 vs. Medeus, so Marth had to take the final boss kill, too. Book 2 had Super Yubello (first time I used him as a mage, instead of his more natural Fighter/Warrior class line!) and the boss kill went to Sheema, but she had to do a lot of drugs to be endgame-viable.

I think this was the most important takeaway from FE3 as a whole.

Sheema on drugs, of course she had to to make sure Marth didn't take her revenge from her by any means necessary.

Why yes, Gotoh is really stupid.

3 minutes ago, ping said:

Unit-wise... Magic Patty, with Azelle as her dad, was pretty cool, actually.

Hey look, a fun choice.

[Jotari]

5 hours ago, Dayni said:

On the playlog talk, I could see the possibility. My main issue is that I have a laptop with no sound and I haven't dealt with that issue at all because I've had enough on my mind.

I was mentioning for swords specifically, but I am underrating what he can do. Must be me forgetting about being able to steal equipped items.

Really Lifis's stealing isn't awful overall. Chances are you will proc that 10% growth once or twice of you're feeding him exp, and you don't have to wait that long to get the Neir Scroll which jumps his proc rate up to 1 in 5 levels. He also gets a point on promotion. Of we're going to rag on a Thracia Thief it has to be Lara. She can barely steal wind tomes at base, and she's going nowhere with that 5% con growth. She would be a memetastically bad unit if she didn't have the dancer option.

[Interdimensional Observer]

3 hours ago, ping said:

(like, Titania should have been the one taking over from Greil)

Beta Titania in Beta PoR did! ...Well actually she founded the Beta Mercs, because Ike's father was already dead. The story was different.

3 hours ago, ping said:

To be precise, the Flagellant is its own class. Odd fella, that one.

Nothing strange, simply a man given to Passion.

[ping]

FE5 Chapter 4: Imprisoned

Spoiler

Once, Castle Munster had been Leonster's vassal and trusted ally. Now, it was governed by the conquerors of North Thracia, House Friege, who had been installed as rulers by the Grannvale Empire.

Raydrik himself had once been a general of the Kingdom of Connaught, but colluded with the Empire during the war. For that service, he was made Baron of Munster. While still subordinate to Lord Blume, head of House Friege, Raydrik was entrusted with the day-to-day management of Munster. Leif would now see firsthand what kind of sordid affairs the man was up to...

__

: "...Aye, sire."
: "It's high time to celebrate with a visit to the arena. You, woman! You'll be accompanying me."
: "Why me...?"
: "I assumed you would want to see the other girls. But if you wish to spit on my generosity..."
: "Other girls? You mean... Mareeta and Nanna?"
: "I believe those are their names, yes. Never fear - I haven't laid a finger on them. I've been keeping them quite comfortable."
: "...Are you really gonna let me see them?"
: "You have my word."
: "...Fine. Lead the way."
: "Ah, how old-fashioned, leading the way for such a fine lady. Heh, heh, heh..."
: "....."

And there's the obligatory "villain pervs on woman to underscore his villanousness" scene. How nice.

In more positive news: Here's Ced! ...or maybe an extramarital son of Lewyn's who pretends that he's Ced, since we all know that the real Ced's father is Claude.

: "Brighton, you're in charge."
: "Yessir! Once we've released these poor souls, we'll rendezvous with you."
: "Gods willing, we'll all meet again. Fortune be with you!"

And in more negative news, Ced and Asbel leave the map.

(Hm, Ced is running around dressed in blue - but he's not playable yet. I think I'll keep the green frame)

: "Even if someone were to get past us, you could grab their weapons, no problem."
: "Not if they're too heavy, I can't!"
: "Then be glad me an' Brighton are here, eh? C'mon, let's go!"

Fun Fact: Lara can't even steal Heal staves with her noodle arms, as I'm going to notice near the end of the map.

The map! It's honestly pretty bad.

The initial resistance against us is pretty minimal, with only the four Soldiers moving after you. However, there's random ambush reinforcements coming from the three stairways, which is just a constant headache. Sometimes, they also use Javelins instead of regular lances...

...which can really catch you off-guard. And within this annoying setting, you have to do a lot of busywork: Free the four blue units and three green brigands from their cells, collect all of Leif and Lifis's inventory from those chests, plus two new items, free the civilians, and make sure that they get to the stairs without getting stabbed by some ambush spawn.

____

It's not difficult, once you're aware of the random Javelin chuckers, but good grief is it tedious. Since there seems to be no recognisable pattern in which the reinforcements appear (I had a lot more in the early turns of the Dead Lifis attempt, I'm pretty sure), you have to be paranoidly shield the civilians from any potential harm.

It's overall quite reminiscent of Ch.6 in BinBla (the one with Wagner the Shaman boss), which also has you running in circles for far too long. This one is better (well, less bad) in some ways, like giving you two thieves and, to make up that you have to find Lifis's lockpick, a free 20-use Chest Key - but it's also worse in others: It's even more boring, since all you're fighting are soldiers, while your own units are all some type of sword fighter, at least at the moment. I honestly prefer the larger groups of reinforcements in BinBla over the constant trickle that this map offers.

__

The only larger group of (quasi-)reinforcements here is the group of enemies waiting in the concealed room between Leif and the escape point. Which means that, because this one skirmish that is actually a bit tricky, with a decent chunk of 2-range on the enemies - it's quite possible that you'll have to do the entire busiwork of freeing the prisoners, escorting the civilians, and retrieving your items a second time.

____

Didn't happen to me, luckily. Dalsin and Leif are pretty important for this skirmish - the former because he tanky and hits hard, the latter because you're kinda short on options that deal with Knights very well. You do get a Rapier that Fergus can use... but that is effective only on horses in this game, although the added crit helps Fergus (with his great FCM) to punch through anyway.

So, yeah. Bad map that wastes your time a lot. Genuinely worse than Genealogy in that regard.

But while I'm not going to play-by-play through the map, there are the new and returning characters to talk about, as well as quite a lot of dialogue during the chapter. So, back from screenshot #592 to #44...:

[HP 70% | Str 35% | Mag 10% | Skl 35% | Spd 40% | Lck 40% | Def 25% | Con 15% | Mov 3%]

Gained 84 XP in Ch.3.

Not really anything new to say about Leaf, but I changed my mind and will check/show growth rates (which for Leif seem adequade, compared to how growth rates in general appear to be in this game); plus, it is very important to note who gained how much XP in Ch.3, because of reasons.

[HP 65% | Str 35% | Mag 10% | Skl 25% | Spd 45% | Lck 5% | Def 15% | Con 10% | Mov 2%]

Gained 69 XP in Ch.3.

Worse growths than Leif - not by a ton, other than his abysmal Lck, but still. Since they already introduced themselves in the intro, let's continue with Leif's would-be rescuers:

[HP 70% | Str 30% | Mag 5% | Skl 25% | Spd 30% | Lck 15% | Def 35% | Con 20% | Mov 1%]
Weapon Levels: Swords (D), Axes (C+40)
Skill: Wrath

The Axe Knight that I'm not allowed to use, since his name doesn't sound like a hiccough. Otherwise, he would've seemed fine, with pretty good HP/Def and his Wrath skill guaranteeing crits when countering on enemy phase. Well, "guaranteed" is too strong a word, since he still needs to hit the enemy.

[HP 60& | Str 30% | Mag 10% | Skl 55% | Spd 60% | Lck 35% | Def 25% | Con 10% | Mov 2%]
Weapon Level: Swords (D+30)
Skill: Adept

Typical Myrmidon, with excellent Skl and Spd. Given that hit rates in Thracia seem consistently inconsistent, that seems quite useful, although I think I remember Macha being called remarkably unremarkable. For now, her better accuracy (and extra point of movement, actually) should make her fairly useful, though.

[HP 45% | Str 10% | Mag 10% | Skl 50% | Spd 70% | Lck 60% | Def 20% | Con 5% | Mov 3%]
Weapon Level: Swords (E)
Skill: Steal

Awful combat, obviously. And pretty awful at stealing, too, because of her miniscule Con, although that's still enough to nab Vulneraries here and there. I think it's safe to assume that we'll need thief utility to break out of prison, so she'll surely be very useful in the upcoming chapters, but I wonder how often she'll seem like a good unit to deploy afterwards.

...until she promotes, obviously. I know that she learns to dance by recruiting Better Lifis, but I don't remember how deep into the game that is going to be.

At the start of the first enemy phase, Worse Pahn is lamenting his fate...:

: "Hey, hold on... Yer that Lifis fella, ain'tcha? Weren't ya boss of a whole crew of pirates of somethin'? On the Corsair Isles, right?"
: "Hm? Oh, uh... Yeah, but..."
: "Thought so! Hah, ya look just like the guy in all them wanted posters."

: "What, did I say somethin' wrong? Ya got this look on yer face..."
: "Truth be told, I'm fixin' to bust my way outta here."
: "What?! You could pull somethin' like that off?"
: "Think about it, genius. Once my crew knows I'm locked up, whaddaya think they'll do? Not waltz up and ask nice for the Empire to let me go, that's for sure. In fact, I'll bet my boys are scopin' this place out right now. So since I'll be sayin' goodbye to the rest of you before long, let's make nice for now, eh?"
: "...Really? Th-Then you gotta take me with you, Boss!"
: "Hmm... Well, if you can pull your own weight, I'll think about it."
: "You mean it, Boss?! Leave it to me! Ain't no soldier gonna stand in our way, that's fer sure!"

: "Me three!"
: "Heheh... Played like a fiddle, all three of 'em! After we're busted out, I'll have a whole new opportunity on my hands."

...and once Lara opens their cell:

: "What's the matter? Yer crew came for ya, don't that perk ya up?"
: "L-Lady Luck really is fickle... Somebody actually did come...! Well, let it never be said that lyin' through your teeth doesn't work!"

A good lesson for the kids to learn.

Honestly, I do like this. It's nice that Lifis is given a chance to be a scumbag in a way that doesn't involve lying to get into a woman's pants. And more importantly, it's funny.

Once freed, the three Brigands will run around the map to attack enemies, before they eventually escape from the stairs (to the west, for me). Dunno what causes that change in their AI - could be because one of them was low on HP. In the first attempt, one of them died after capturing an enemy soldier, but in the successful run, they all survived. Don't think that has any impact on anything, though.

At the start of the second player phase, so technically before Lara freed Lifis, Leif catches up with his two cellmates:

: "...And you are?"
: "Fergus the sellsword, at yer service. An' I'm this close to bein' done with Jugdral, lemme tell ya. Saw a bunch of soldiers makin' trouble fer a young lass, so I stepped in. Got arrested fer the effort. Terrible story, really."

: "Wait just a darn minute - you were the one who started it!"
: "Yeah, and they arrested me 'cause they thought I helped you nearly kill that guy! This is on you, not me! So what're you gonna do about it?!"
: "I'm gonna take a nap, that's what. Hey, you gotta learn to take the good with the bad, you know? Just wake me when it's mealtime."
: "Ugh, I don't even care anymore..."

: "Oh, uh, sorry. I'm Karin, by the way."
: "Karin? That's an unusual name for a Thracian."
: "That's 'cause I'm not Thracian - I'm from Silesse. I'd just gotten into town when I got into trouble thanks to this dimwit."
: "Silesse... That's far north of here, if memory serves. Why come all the way here from Silesse?"
: "Our prince up and left the country, that's why. The queen passed away, and the princess is too young to take the throne, so people don't know who to turn to. I came here to look for our little runaway prince."
: "I'd heard that the Kingdom of Silesse had been overthrown by the Empire. How is it the royal family is still alive?    
: "The rebels have been keeping them safe. Everyone still willing to fight has gathered in the city of Tófa, where they've rallied around the royal family. Me, I'm gonna become a pegasus knight and lend them my lance."
: "Impressive. If you become a pegasus knight, you'll be able to dance through the skies."
: "Well, I can fly already, but I won't be doin' aerial acrobatics like a knight any time soon. Still, my pegasus and I can already understand each other really well! His name's Hermes, and he's just the cutest thing you ever saw, with a brain to match! He's probably the one dancing through the skies right now - looking for me, that is."
: "So why did the prince leave Silesse in the first place?"
: "It's a long story."

Short version: Lewyn sucks.

: "The prince wanted to go look for the king, but the king's somethin' of a flake himself. He also left Silesse years ago, abondoning his kingdom and family both. Everybody feels betrayed, and nobody expects the king to come back anymore. So we want Prince Ced to come back instead and take the throne. I was sent here to find him, but ended up jailed 'cause of this muttonhead."
: "Hm? What about mutton?"
: "Is it mealtime already? ...Oh. Guess not. Can't you keep it down until then, at least? This is a prison, fer cryin' out loud! It's not like anyone can escape all yer yammerin'!"
: "And it's not like anyone can escape your loud snoring, either! Honestly, how can you sleep at a time like this? You are the most boorish, insensitive--"

: "See? Even the Empire agrees with me! Bahaha...!"
: "Tch..."
: "....."

According to the portrait list on the wiki, this prison guard's portrait belongs to a character named "Eichmann". Fucking Kaga...

Thankfully, Leaf explains himself off-screen. Obviously, his princely princeyness fills Fergus and Karin with vigor and a singular purpose, as we see once their cell is opened, too:

: "Does it matter? Save those questions fer when we're far, far away from here. Look, there's a stairway to the north that leads outta here. You go ahead - I'll give them soldiers what-for if they try to follow."
: "But what happens if I [Escape] first?"
: "Mm, I expect I'll get caught an' thrown in here again - or worse. Don't matter to me none if I can do some good 'fore I get grabbed."
: "I won't accept that! I'll only [Escape] after everyone else has!"
: "Hah! Yer gonna make me cry, junior. Suppose I can keep you company fer a time, if'n you need someone to hold yer hand that bad. ...Aw, who am I kiddin'? After hearin' yer story, I'm invested!"
: "Hmm. You're a more decent sort than you look, Fergus."
: "Fallen for me already, eh?"
: "Oh, please! If you think that, you must still be half-asleep. Haven't had your morning coffee yet, grandpa?"
: "All right, all right, lay off. But have you made up yer own mind about escapin'? The Magi's head honcho is a fella by the name of Ced. Same name as the prince yer after, right?"
: "It's probably him, yeah - but right now, Prince Leif is the one we need to worry about. And besides, that coward Raydrik is using women as hostages. That's unforgivable. Any plan that gives me the chance to smash his face in is fine by me."
: "You got the skill with a blade to back up them words, lass?"
: "I... won't pretend I'm the best, but I'll give it my all!"
: "Yeah, didn't think so. Ah, sheesh... That's two kids I gotta look out for now..."

And that's everyone for this map, until we finally get to recruit Dalvin.

I remember this dialogue about [Escape]ing being badly translated in the old patch, and often cited as an example of a translation communicating the opposite of what it's supposed to. My personal favourite example is an early boss in Final Fantasy VII:

Attack while its tail is up!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

It will counterattack with its laser!

...or something along those lines. You get the idea. Small text boxes: A lethal danger, when the fighting is in real time.

[HP 65% | Str 35% | Mag 10% | Skl 45% | Spd 35% | Lck 40% | Def 25% | Con 20% | Mov 1%]
Weapon Level: Swords (C+30)
Skills: --

I actually remember some details about this guy - in particular that he can get a guaranteed crit set-up on follow-up attacks fairly easily. I believe Karin gives him +10 crit (among other things) if she's in support range, so you only need another +10 crit on his weapon to get to 5x20% crit for his follow-up.

Just in general, he seems pretty good. Low Mov right now because he's a dismounted horse unit, but it's nice that he uses swords both indoors and outdoors, so he doesn't have bad secondary weapon rank to work with. His stats are quite good, too - here's to hoping that they get even better when he gets his horse back.

[HP 55% | Str 30% | Mag 15% | Skl 35% | Spd 70% | Lck 70% | Def 15% | Con 5% | Mov 2%]
Swords (D+20), Lances (E+40)

It's an interesting detail that Karin's better at using swords than lances, but it kinda makes sense since she's not an experienced Pegasus Rider yet. Other than that, she's a very typical Peg Knight - high Spd and Lck, but pretty bad Str and HP/Def. It's a bit of a shame that her Skl base is really bad, too.

What stands out the most in a postive way is her excellent Mag/Res stat, though. The only character we've had whose physical Def is higher than 7 was Dagdar, so that's pretty impressive.

---

Lastly, the imprisoned civilians also get a quick cutscene, at the start of... I believe turn 3.

: "Don't you fret about me - I don't have much time left on this earth, anyhow. It's me grandchildren I'm worried about..." *Hack! Ack! Wheeze!*
: "Hey, hey, don't overdo it, lady! Look, just lie down, all right?"
: "Sheesh, the Empire even locks up sick ol' granmas now?"
: "Looks like it... How long are they gonna get to throw their weight around, doin' whatever they please?"
: "You reckon them Magi folk have a chance of takin' the Empire down?"
: "I dunno. Maybe. I mean, they've gotta have a chance, right? An' if they've got a chance, we've gotta believe in 'em."
: "Their leader, Sir Ced... They call 'im the 'Hero on the Wind.'"
: "Yeah, an' he's earned that name. 'Fore he showed up, the Magi had been all but wiped out by the Empire... Then he showed up, an' just look at how the Magi are doin' now. The Empire keeps tryin' to grab hold of 'em, but they just keep lucking out. More'n luck, maybe. That's why Sir Ced's a man worth believin' in. Can't go wrong with a fella like that."

Maybe I'm just a bit cranky because I didn't like the chapter's gameplay, but the constant written-out accent is gettin' on me nerves a bit, ya hear? I think it's fine to quickly communicate that a character is a bit of a country bumpkin, but when everybody talks like that, it kinda loses its effect.

What I like is the following - the game kindly informing you where the civilians will evacuate to when you open their cells. Very refreshing to know what will happen, for a change.

: "If I 'member right, there's a passage to the surface just west of here!"

And for the eastern civilians, as well, of course.

Finally, before going back to the end of the chapter, we of course recruited us a brand new Axe Armour:

: "I was... I was only goin' along with 'em 'cause they promised my family would be spared! Tch...! Damn Raydrik and damn the Empire! I've no love left fer any of 'em! I defect! Me life is in yer hands!"

[HP 60% | Str 50% | Mag 5% | Skl 40% | Spd 25% | Lck 25% | Def 20% | Con 25% | Mov 2%]
Weapon Level: Axes (B)
Skills: --

A very Barth-esque Knight, for sure. Decent Str, very good Def (+1 compared to Dagdar), but his Skl/Spd/Lck/Res are all awful. I don't know how much Spd growth one can stack with scrolls, so maybe his combat is salvagable, in which case he might not be terrible in indoor maps in general. Outdoors, his lower Move is most likely a problem.

As shown earlier, Lifis was the first to escape, because that seems very much in-character for him, and here's the remaining escape quotes:

: "Ah, how times have changed... I should be the last man out, not any of y'all."
: "Damned shameful of me, goin' ahead of everybody like this..."
: *Pant... Pant* "Looks like I made it outta there, somehow... All right, I'll go ahead. Ladies first!"
: "I owe you one. I'll be just up ahead!"
: "Diana, Jubel... I'll make it back home someday. Wait fer me!"

Leif out.

Gasp! Manfroy! How very dramatic that you hold your Evil Inc. meeting in the same building that Leif was held prisoner! And I'm pretty sure that Veld is this game's final final boss, so clearly, this is where shit gets real.

: "Splendid! Then Tahra is the only city not under our influence. If they remain disagreeable, make an example of them: burn the city and its people. Show Munster that the Empire does not tolerate resistance."
: "It would be done, Your Eminence, but the generals of House Friege seem to have lost their nerve. They've surrounded the city, but have yet to act."

: "Surely you have an explanation for this lack of resolve?"
: "My father has been placed in a difficult position. Many of our own, as well as the clergy, are vehemently opposed to the practice of... child hunts. My own brother is among the dissidents - and I stand with him. Archbishop Manfroy, on behalf of my family, I must ask that you stop this savagery! Abducting children too young to lift a sword? Separating them from their families? It's simply unconscionable! But you don't stop there, do you? No... You take these innocent souls and sacrifice them to your dark god! Have you no shame?!"

: "Never would I condone the slaughter of children! Do you truly believe me capable of such a thing? I merely want them to be trained and educated - sculpted into adults worthy to inhabit the Empire. The ones who survive our rigorous training will become a new kind of ruling class - one that will govern over all others of common birth. Consider it: these children of peasants are given a chance to earn nobility, even happiness, for themselves!"
: "At what cost? They compete against each other, learn to hate each other, struggle to survive without their families... You dare call that happiness?"
: "Ah, my dear, you'll understand my wisdom - your betrothed's wisdom - one day, I'm sure. Say, there's a beautiful bed of flowers just out back. Let's take in the view together, Ishtar."
: "...Lord Julius..."

Ishtar: Not the world's most political mind. Denouncing child murder is done better when you're not the only person in the audience that isn't a child murderer. I would hazard a guess that Ishtar's dialogue is a direct response to Genealogy struggling to portrait her (or her brother) as particularly sympathetic.

Not too much else to say to that closing scene, though. It serves to introduce the big overarching villains - overarching beyond the scope of T776, even, which might be a bit of a problem with establishing Veld. His very first scene, and he's already shown to be just an underling to the second-most important member of the Loptyr gang. I suppose it shows that T776 is just a sidestory to Genealogy, but I think it help a villain if they're allowed to THE guy at least for a little while.

The Team:

	  Lv.	    HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Con  XP
Leif	  8.10	    34   5   0   4   7  10   4   8  +353
Lifis	  6.37	    21   4   1   4  11   1   2   6  +168
Fergus	  5.56	    28   5   0   7   8   6   4   8  +256
Karin	  3.96	    20   4   8   5  14  14   3   4  +296

Dalsin	  6.12	    30   9   0   3   2   0  11  15  +112
Brighton  8.31	    31   5   0   6   5   3   6  12  +331
Macha	  3.35	    24   4   1  10  11   7   5   6  +135
Lara	  2.72	    14   0   0   1  10   6   0   3  +72

• Leif and Brighton gained a lot of their XP by choking points, as being thrown at with a Javelin gives full combat XP in this game.
• All stats are as-is, as in "without horse/pegasus bonuses", assuming that these still give some extra stats in Thracia.
• Since I used the earliest Pegasus of every game thus far (Sheeda x2, Claire, Catria, Erynis, Fee), I want to keep that consistent and use Karin as a combat unit, even though I believe that she's considered to be underwhelming in that role. And in that case, I might want to focus on Fergus a little, too, because of their support (or at least Karin supporting him; not sure if it's bidirectional).

 

Edited July 1 by ping