Tyranogre Posted October 13, 2019 Author Share Posted October 13, 2019 Chapter 22: Magic is Everything! This is where the game really turns up the diarrhea dial. Our party for this chapter. What are Azel and his kids, chopped liver? No idea if this conversation changes if Olwen died or was never recruited. "Earth Mother Ethniu"? I don't recall that name ever coming up in Genealogy. Is she related to Mila and Duma? Our inventories for this chapter. We're bringing along a shitload of Restore Staffs, Blizzard tomes, and anything else that can inflict or cure status ailments. Let the music play! On the east side of the river is Saias, whom we technically haven't fought yet in this timeline. Just like in Chapter 17a, his ten leadership stars make him a dire threat, even moreso than his Sleep and Silence Staffs. Amusingly, despite inheriting major Fjalar blood, he would be unable to wield Valflame due to his class. Guarding the castle directly above Saias is his maternal grandfather, Cohen. He's sort of the opposite of his grandson in that his leadership stars aren't as dangerous as the weapons he wields, especially the rarely-seen Berserk Staff. Last, but definitely not least: You know him. You fear him. You're sick of seeing him in Aether Raids. He went from nothing more than the boss of this chapter to one of the most infamous characters in the entire series, solely due to his appearance in Heroes. The only Jugdral character to have more than one alt. Ladies and gentlemen: The one, the only: Reinhardt! If you thought his Heroes incarnation was overpowered, hoo boy, you sweet summer child! You ain't seen nothing yet! Here, he's able to wield both Dire Thunder and the Master Sword at the same time, has five leadership stars to boost the morale of the other Mage Knights, five movement stars to activate the music note whenever the RNG feels like it, Adept and Accost which stack with both of his weapons' brave effects, Vantage to always attack first, and Pavise to randomly block your attacks, even though he's neither a General nor a Baron! Think you can just cheese him with Sleep or Silence Staffs? Think again: his Mag is capped; those only work if the target's Mag is lower than the user's! In loving memory of the Hammerne Staff: Chapter 3 - Chapter 22. May it rest in peace. Out of all the status ailments at our enemies' disposal, Berserk is by far the most dangerous, so I prioritize removing it from their arsenal with Tina's Thief Staff. There are two Michael Bolting clones near the southwestern corner of the map, one of which is Silenced by Salem. Borrowing a Silence Staff from Safiya, Linoan does the same. After measuring the Ballistician's attack range, I move the entirety of my army down south... ...except for Shanam, who will spend most of this chapter standing in the corner. He's in time-out. What are those Soldiers doing? Why are they running away from us? Callion becomes the first victim of a Sleep Staff, and he more than likely won't be the last. After waking up from his nap, Callion visits this house and gets a Pure Water. Olwen passes the Warp Staff from Tina to Linoan... ...allowing Linoan to Warp Xavier down south to kill one of the Ballisticians. She then gets danced and Warps Karin down to kill another Ballistician... ...and then Canto onto the spot where he once stood, putting herself completely out of harm's way! Finn and Dean kill two of the Soldiers, while staying out of range of the other three Ballisticians. Everyone else continues to move south. The two remaining Soldiers continue to run away. Just what are they up to? Xavier gets crat by a Hero, only to counter with a crit of his own. That Paragon Sword would've been nice to steal, but the only member of our team who has yet to hit the level cap is a Sage, so we really don't need it. Xavier then gets hit by two Ballista shots, putting him near death... ...and then gets hit for exactly one damage by a Sniper wielding a Master Bow. I can do this all day, you know. You'll get tired of this a lot sooner than I will. After waking Callion up for the second time, Tina activates the music note and heals Xavier with her Physic Staff. Xavier, Karin, and Dean then take out the three Ballisticians in the southwest corner, which is now safe from long-ranged hazards. However, this leaves Dean at the mercy of the Master Bow Sniper. Therefore, I have Linoan Warp Lithis down, aaaannnnd... WHADDAYA MEAN, HE CAN'T STEAL IT? ITS WEIGHT IS EXACTLY THE SAME AS HIS CON! Assblaster Asbel uses one of his Blizzard Tomes to put the Sniper to sleep. Not so tough now, are ya? Finn takes out the second-to-last Soldier. Everyone else prepares to cross the bridge. A General near where the Ballisticians were goes after Karin, but neither manages to land a hit on the other. DAMNIT, SAIAS, STOP PICKING ON CALLION! Dean and Karin capture the silenced Michael Bolting clones. Conveniently, there's a convoy right next to us where we can deposit our prisoners' belongings after stealing them. Finn kills the final Soldier. Whatever their plan was, it's foiled now. Now it's Safiya's turn to wake Callion up. As we move toward the bridge, we'll want to equip weapons that are strong against horses and armor. With Saias having broken his Sleep Staff, Tina steals Cohen's Blizzard Tome to prevent anymore shenanigans. Sarah tops off Xavier's HP, earning a level-up. After almost getting killed by an Armor Knight wielding a Poleaxe, Finn manages to survive four more rounds of combat, taking off half of a Bow Knight's HP in the process. The two remaining Bow Knights go after Leif instead. After releasing one of the prisoners, Sarah moves down to kill the General, earning a level-up. Running gags aside, this house here is basically the game's way of saying, "Hey, there are a bunch of really strong enemies up ahead, so if you wanna Warp-skip this chapter, we won't hold it against you." I, however, am above such cheap tactics. I'm going to clear this chapter like a real man! After Leif takes out the Poleaxe Armor Knight, Finn kills the Bow Knight and Cantos onto the fort on the right. Even though there are two forts, only one of them will spawn enemy reinforcements. Olwen and Asbel kill and tranquilize the remaining Poleaxe Armor Knights, respectively. As Xavier moves in front of Asbel to protect him, Salem rearranges his inventory so that Asbel no longer has a Blizzard Tome equipped, and can thus counter if he gets attacked by Bow Knights. Salem then gives Finn a much-needed and well-deserved heal. So does Safiya, for good measure. Leif gets hit by an arrow and a Ballista shot, but shrugs it off. The Bow Knights ignore Asbel, meaning that Salem fucking with his inventory was pointless. After restoring Asbel's inventory to normal, Salem tops off Leif's HP. Asbel then kills a Bow Knight at melee range. Finn and Leif kill the two Armor Knights that are still awake. For the next several turns, we're going to place our bulkiest units within the attack range of the three Ballisticians on the east side of the map, and wait for them to run out of ammo. While that's going on, there's still one last Priest for us to rob. A bunch of cavalry spawn at the start of enemy phase, so I have Finn prepare accordingly. But what's this? They're ignoring him! Maybe they're going after Xavier? No, they're horny for Finn, too. This is the first time I've ever managed to capture Pavise in a screenshot. Good, that's one down. Finn briefly steps off the fort to kill a Bow Knight, then Cantos back onto it. Xavier soon follows. Two down, one more to go! Xavier kills a Bow Knight, and gets healed. The next few turns are going to be a bit repetitive, so I'll just cut ahead to when the reinforcements stop spawning. All right, good! All three Ballisticians are out of ammo! Now lets clean up the remaining reinforcements and bring the rest of our party across the bridge. Finn and Karin kill the last two reinforcements. Now we're going to sit here doing absolutely nothing for about nineteen more turns. At the end of turn 40, Saias will get teleported away, taking his leadership stars with him. After carefully measuring Reinhardt's movement range, we take a deep breath and move our army to this little peninsula above the bridge. The bridge to the far west disappears, trapping us between Reinhardt's men and the river! Ready or not, here they come! After surviving the previous turn, I have Olwen talk to Reinhardt. As someone whose baby sister recently left for college, this scene actually got to me quite a bit. The bittersweet music certainly didn't help. We'll take a look at what the Blessed Sword does later. For now, Olwen discards the broken Thoron and Cantos onto this tree. ASBEL! NOW! GET HIM, DEAN! KILL AS MANY AS YOU CAN! TAKE NO PRISONERS! ...except Reinhardt, of course. A Master Sword and an extra copy of Dire Thunder? Gawd dayum! We then perform a series of trade-chains to put all but two of the Gelbenritter out of commission, culminating in a level-up for Sarah. GOD FUCKING DAMNIT! RE-LOAD! This time, Olwen activates the music note after talking to Reinhardt, setting off a chain-reaction that results in no Mage Knights being left alive... or with their vocal cords intact. Same difference. Sarah's level-up comes from Fortify instead of Silence. *sigh* Here we go again... re-load. New plan: once Reinhardt is asleep, kill these two Mage Knights and run! Only Olwen is left within the Gelbenritter's attack range. Despite taking quite a beating, she survives! After our fliers kill two of the Mage Knights, we Silence the other three. This level-up to 7 for Sarah is her best one yet, as this time she actually increased her Defense. Now the only one left in the range of those Ridersbane-wielding Paladins is Dean, who proceeds to snap one of their spines over his knee like a twig. For the next dozen turns or so, Sarah is going to heal any stray wounds and beat up the defanged Ballisticians and Mage Knights for EXP. Two down, one to go. After capturing and stripping Reinhardt of his possessions, we release him. If you only knew. Victory is near! But we still have a few errands to run before we deal with Cohen. By visiting the house to the south, we can get a continuation of the "crushin' crusaders" running gag, leaving only two left. More importantly, we get a Rescue Staff. After reflecting on what a bad boy he's been, Shanam is released from time-out. Karin carries Sarah all the way back across the map and withdraws the Sleep Edge from the convoy. It's now time for one last round of Arena abuse. Once Sarah hits the level cap, it's finally time for Shanam to put his Bargain skill to use. We finally have a shop that sells Master Seals, right when we no longer have any use for them. Instead, we're going to stock up on Light Tomes, the rarest element in the game. Once Karin passes the Sleep Edge to Leif, it's finally time to fight the boss. Wait, what?! Why is he still awake?! Don't tell me I broke the Sleep Edge for nothing?! Fine, no Master Lance for us. I'll just take that Restore Staff as a consolation prize. Cohen then meets his end via a pair of Vantage-crits from Lithis's Rapier. Kind of a disappointingly short cutscene considering how long and difficult the chapter was. Quote Link to comment
Tyranogre Posted October 19, 2019 Author Share Posted October 19, 2019 Chapter 23: No, Seriously, Fuck You Ced Before we begin, let's take a look at the final stats of our endgame party: Leif was born with glass bones and paper skin. Every morning, he broke his arms, and every afternoon, he broke his legs. At night, he would lie awake in agony until his heart attacks would put him to sleep. However, through vigorous training, a few stat rings, and liberal usage of the Crusader Scrolls, he eventually became the unit you see here, almost equal to his bootleg counterpart. While it kinda sucks that his Light Brand is powered by his abysmal Mag stat, it's almost broken anyway. Besides, he'll soon be getting an even better personal weapon. Finn the Human has somehow managed to avoid breaking his Brave Lance for all this time, but as this is the last outdoor map in the game, that time is about to come to an end. Since he never bothered to train his Sword Rank, this may be the last hurrah for not only the Brave Lance, but also for Finn himself. Despite numerous name changes, Orsin is every bit as awesome as my old friend from NS2 hyped him up to be. His Bhuj has exactly half of its uses remaining, which I will try to conserve for the final chapters. Safiya's Hammerne Staff may no longer be with us, but our first healslut is still one of our best. However, her below-average Luck necessitated putting a Crusader Scroll in her inventory to prevent enemy crits. Whether it be opening doors and chests during the prison arc, or being our Dancer, it's hard to argue that any unit in our entire army contributed as much to our cause as Lara did. She may not have the best Strength, but in the rare cases that she does find herself in combat, her Speed is sure to keep her enemies at bay. Another MVP from the prison arc, Fergus's class has allowed him to remain useful even during indoor maps. I haven't yet had a chance to see what he can do with the Beo Blade, but at only two uses short of brand new, he'll have plenty of time to show it off. Assblaster Asbel still has a few uses of Grafcalibur leftover from the prison arc, and also has a decent stock of Blizzard Tomes to put enemies to sleep. His only downside is that his Staff Rank isn't as high as our other healsluts, so he can't use as many of the game-breaking ones like Warp or Silence. Similar to Fergus, Nanna's combat ability is also unhindered by indoor maps. She may not have as much Mag as our other healsluts, but she doesn't need it to use Warp, Rescue, and Restore effectively. Perfect 20s across the board in everything but Mag, this will be Callion's last chance to use lances. Despite being at the level cap, he can still take advantage of the Paragon Sword's secondary effect of providing +5 Defense. Pan lacks the Dancer utility of Lara and the raw strength of Lithis, but makes up for it with decent stats all-around. After that encounter with her brother, Olwen is more than prepared to take on whatever challenges the rest of the game may throw at her. In addition to the Dire Thunders and Boltings you see here, we also have plenty of Thorons in the convoy. We'll go over what the Blessed Sword does soon. Looking back, it may have been a mistake to abuse the stealing EXP so early in the game, as Lithis didn't yet have access to the Crusader Scrolls, and his overall stats suffered for it. However, he still capped his Strength and Speed, and has the highest Con among all our Thieves, which will enable him to disarm a good deal of enemies that he can't kill. Much like Finn, this is also the last map where we'll get to use our fliers. Karin has better stats overall, but Dean still has a few uses of his Dragonpike remaining, which I might as well use now since the rest of the game takes place indoors. MageKnight404's waifu has a below-average number of uses of her Nosferatu tome, but has better overall stats than Safiya. Not like it really matters, since her primary purpose is to be a healslut. Salem is the odd-one-out among our A-rank staff users in that he traded their capped Luck for above-average Defense. I tried to raise up his Dark Rank so he could wield Fenrir, but it didn't work out. Mareeta has the second-highest number of uses remaining for her personal weapon, along with almost-perfect 20s across the board. What more could you want? In addition to being able to use all the utility staffs, Tina has plenty of Unlock Staffs remaining, which will be extremely useful for opening chests and doors. Like Tina, Sarah also has an extremely valuable personal staff, which we haven't found yet. She also has slightly better Defense than some of our non-physical units, though sending her to the front lines is still a bad idea. And last, but not least, here's Xavier. As the most difficult unit in the entire series to recruit, I made him worth it. Our best bow-user also has some useful skills in the form of Accost, Pavise, and Wrath. Now that you've seen our party overall, here's who were bringing into this chapter. I must also correct myself on an error I made in the previous episode, where I said that there were still two Crusaders remaining in the "Jumpin' Jehosephat" running gag. As it turns out, all twelve of them have already been accounted for: But Lactatin' Loptous, I've gone on for too long, so let's just get the chapter started already! After that cutscene, Saias walks out of the castle, around the enemies, before finally coming to a stop next to the children. This chapter takes place simultaneously with Chapter 8 of Genealogy. For comparison, here is the entire World Map of this game. Over here, we gain control of Saias. Even though his leadership stars have been cut in half, just being on the field will provide a huge boost to our Hit and Avoid rates. One of the side-objectives of this map is to have Leif talk to him. Fortunately, the children spawn right out of Ballistician range. However, there are two Sorcerers here equipped with Sleep Staffs, which we'll want to do something about. In addition to a Silence Staff, Alphand is also equipped with a Hel tome, which reduces the target's HP to one. Even if we were to have Tina use her Thief Staff to steal it, Salem wouldn't be able to use it because it's considered Alphand's personal weapon. We also can't just Silence him because he's standing on a gate. Right off the bat, we'll use two of our own Silence Staffs to neutralize the two Sorcerers. Next, we'll have Safiya Warp Dean over to one of these houses in the northeast corner of the map. Despite what the villager says, the Physic Staff has all of its uses. The two houses that we start out by contain nothing but flavor text. Beneath the three Ballisticians, Saias crits the General to death at point-blank range, earning a level-up. This also puts him out of range for two out of three Ballisticians. Olwen tries to kill one of them with Bolting, but leaves him alive with a sliver of health instead. She then gets danced and kills the one that actually posed a threat to Saias with a crit. However, even after Cantoing away, both she and Lara are left within their attack range. Therefore, I have Karin rescue Lara, and move Fergus down to draw fire away from Olwen. Lithis then removes her from Karin's shoulders. Time to start heading south. Olwen manages to avoid one of the Ballisticians, but gets poisoned by the other. The brigade of cavalry move in a counter-clockwise pattern to go after Saias. Due to her below-average Mag, Nanna gets Silenced. The children will attempt to move south towards the same spot that we're trying to get to. Inside house number two is a Pure Water. Saias can't handle that many enemies on his own, so Safiya Warps Finn over to help him out. Olwen finishes off one of the Ballisticians, then Cantos backwards a few feet to get healed. Saias tries to kill the remaining one, but fucks it up. After measuring his attack range, I move Karin to this tree just outside of it. But right after I hit "end turn"... It then cuts to a scripted battle: Ced instantly kills Alphand with a crit from Forseti, robbing us of not only our EXP, but also our chance to steal his Silence Staff. Not that we needed the EXP since we're all at the cap, but it's the principle of the thing! Finn gets crat by one of the Duke Knights, only to counter with a crit of his own. However, after killing another Great Knight, he breaks his Brave Lance, causing him to miss the remainder of his counterattacks. Fortunately, he survives. That's two stolen boss kills in one turn! Fuck you Ced! At least he doesn't move from the castle. If he killed the Sorcerers before we could steal their Sleep Staffs, I would've been really pissed. After getting a Vulnerary from house number three, Dean Cantos as far south as he can to lend Finn and Saias a helping hand. Okay, now Saias kills the last Ballistician. After Finn kills one of the Bow Knights, it's now safe for Karin to fly over and join the orgy of violence. Salem Physics Finn. Nanna retreats a few feet to get Restored. At the start of enemy phase, a Duke Knight and a Great Knight spawn from the two forts directly above where the Ballisticians used to be, along with a bunch of Sorcerers randomly scattered around the map. One of said Sorcerers fails to poison Pan. Karin kills both the Duke and Great Knights with a Wrath-fueled Ridersbane. With his Brave Lance broken, Finn has to resort to his dinky Steel Lance, which lacks the Might needed to one-hit kill the other cavalry. I'm not entirely sure where the children are trying to get to. There doesn't seem to be any sort of escape point. Safiya uses her Rescue Staff on Saias so Leif can talk to him. And with that, we obtain Bragi's Blade, which is basically this game's equivalent of the Falchion. Don't get too excited, though: plot importance aside, it's just an Armorslayer with a built-in Miracle effect. Speaking of personal weapons, Dean uses the Dragonpike to kill the remaining Bow Knight. He then activates the music note and captures one of the silenced Sorcerers. So does Karin. As for the other Sorcerers that spawned during enemy phase, they don't even have Rewarp Staffs, so they're not worth capturing. Instead, I'll use them as a guinea pig to test out Olwen's Blessed Sword! The Brave effect and effectiveness against horses is great, but what's the point of giving her +10 Mag if it's a physical weapon? As we make our way up the hill, let's rescue any children we can reach so that way they don't get killed by same-turn reinforcements. Finn attacks of the Duke Knights, and Cantos toward the two forts. This time it's Karin's turn to get Physic'd. The cavalry that Finn didn't kill waste their turns using Vulneraries. Leif is able to dodge a Jormungand... ...but Dean and Finn both get poisoned. Dean kills a Duke Knight thanks to the Dragonpike's Brave Vantage effect. Safiya Rescues Dean so Leif can rob and release his prisoner. She then gets danced to cure Dean's poison. After swiping the Sleep Staff from her prisoner, Karin Cantos to this tree next to the castle. Finn moves onto this fort not only to plug it up, but also to cancel out the effects of being poisoned. Olwen unequips her Blessed Sword so she can counterattack during enemy phase. Dean kills a Sorcerer, then Cantos next to Ced to get Physic'd by his mistress. Nanna does the same to her dad. We can ignore this Thief. We've already visited all the houses, so there's nothing left for him to pillage. Best enemy phase we've had all game. Not a single attack hit us. Now it's time to make a decision. If Ced talks to Leif, he will join the party, but Saias will leave. We cannot recruit both in a single playthrough. Ced comes with the Forseti Tome, which is every bit as broken as it was in Genealogy, but does not have Saias's leadership stars. In other words, you're choosing between the ability to make your entire party stupidly overpowered, or recruit a single unit who's extremely stupidly overpowered. For me, I'm choosing quantity over quality. Dean rescues Ced and transfers him to Olwen so he can't recruit himself by talking to Leif. Finn moves from one fort to the other to kill a Great Knight. Moving up the hill, we rescue a few more kids. Leif kills a Sorcerer with a crit. Lara dances for Dean so he can fly above the castle and kill a Sorcerer. Ah, so there is an escape point. Unfortunately, due to being weighed down by Ced, Olwen gets poisoned. At least Finn and Lara are able to dodge. A Great Knight commits sudoku by attacking Dean. Can we talk for a second about what a shitty retainer Dean has been for Arion? First he fucks his fiancee, and then he breaks the Dragonpike that he entrusted him with! When Arion finds out about this, he's gonna be pissed! More dead Sorcerers. Olwen gets restored and healed. Even though all of the green units are rescued, and thus can't move, the game still informs us of the start of "NPC Phase". Yawn. After killing this Great Knight, I move Karin onto the other fort to prevent any more from spawning. These next few turns are going to consist of nothing but killing the same Sorcerers over and over, so I'll spare you guys the boredom and just cut ahead to when they stop spawning. Here's a level-up that Saias earned along the way. After wiping out the remainder of the Sorcerers... ...it's time to drop the children and rescue anyone who got hit to prevent the poison damage from killing them. Once the final child escapes, Leif continues his march toward the castle. Huh. The guide I'm following said that there was supposed to be another boss that spawned when we got close, but it looks like it didn't trigger for some reason. This is the fourth time we've been told about Raydrik's invincibility. No idea whether this scene changes if Saias gets killed before giving Bragi's Blade to Leif. What? No reward for making sure the children escape? What a rip-off! Hoping to finish this LP by the end of the weekend. If not, then by the end of next week for sure. Quote Link to comment
Tyranogre Posted October 20, 2019 Author Share Posted October 20, 2019 Chapter 24: My First Girlfriend is a Galzus Before we begin, I'm going to make an extra copy of my save file. No, not a savestate; my save file. The purpose of this is to show off something cool later. Our party for this chapter. Dean gets to come along because he actually managed to cap his Sword Rank. After this conversation with Raydrik, Veld teleports away. Cue the music! Immediately, Linoan uses her Sleep Staff on this Sorcerer, who has a Restore Staff. This will prevent him from cancelling what we're about to do to his buddies. Next, Safiya will Silence this Sorcerer, who has a Berserk Staff... ...Sarah will tranquilize this one, who has a Silence Staff... ...and then activate the music note and tranquilize this one, who has another Sleep Staff. Now all of the Sorcerers that have status staffs are neutralized (I took the screenshot on the wrong frame, so you can't see the little X and Z icons above their sprites). However, Mareeta is trapped in this side-chamber with no way to get out and talk to Galzus. Thanks a lot, Augustus! Over on the opposite side, we have eight children, each of which can have one of three portraits: a loli with pigtails, a loli with a side-tail, or a shota. While we want to keep all of them safe, we want to pay extra attention to the shotas. Tina uses her Unlock Staff on one of the doors so Lara doesn't have to waste a potential dancing turn... ...and then activates the music note and unlocks the door to the kids' room. This enables Orsin to move in, get danced, and kill one of the Sorcerers. Next, Asbel will kill one of the other Sorcerers with a critical Blizzard... ...and Salem will Silence the other one. Lithis opens the front door, but if we move in now, we risk getting Fenrir'd to death. Which is where Saias comes in: he Silences the Fenrir Sorcerer... ...then activates the music note and Silences another one above the kids' room, earning a level-up. Olwen uses Bolting on one of the Snipers on either side of Raydrik... ...then gets Warped over to the staircase above the kids' room. This ensures that the only Sorcerer with access to the kids is the one who's Silenced. Our main force charges into the central hallway... ...while our side-party moves up into the kids' room... ...and Callion moves back a bit to escape that Sorcerer's attack range. Since this is an indoor map, he can't counter with his Javelin. Olwen dodges two Jormungands, but gets poisoned by a third. Whichever Sorcerers didn't get Silenced or put to sleep start coming after Mareeta's party. One from the far northern hallway opens the door for us. That was nice of him. Another one uses an Ensorcel Staff on one of his buddies that got put to sleep. The Heroes and Snipers in front of Raydrik's throne begin to move south toward Leif's party... ...including Galzus, who activates the music note. The two Bishops guarding Raydrik use Pure Waters. Galzus defeats Saias, but Saias does not have a death quote. You realize what this means, don't you? That's right! Saias isn't dead; he's merely been captured! Perhaps Galzus spared his life as thanks for helping him back in Chapter 6? Therefore, if we have Nanna Warp Mareeta out of the dead-end zone... ...we can recruit... ...sorry, just a second... ...Galzus, a textbook example of the Gotoh archetype: shows up at the end of the game, at max level, with multiple capped-out stats, to serve as insurance for the final battle in case too many of your other units died or failed to level-up properly. What's that, Karel? You think you're the first swordsman to spend their adult life as a total edgelord, only to be recruited to the player's side by speaking to a younger female relative? Sorry, but Thracia did it first! And look at him go! Olwen, Asbel, and Pan kill and/or tranquilize three Sorcerers. Pan activates the music note and kills another one, but gets poisoned in the process. So, after Orsin kills a fifth one... ...Sarah Rewarps herself over to the kids' room so she can get danced and cure Pan's poison. See this Hero down here? He's packing a Berserk Edge, which does exactly what it says on the tin. I'm feeling like a naughty boy, so I have Tina use her own Berserk Staff on him. Callion kills one of the Sorcerers. Since getting captured reduced Saias's HP to one, Linoan Physics him. Salem beats up a Silenced Sorcerer in a last-ditch effort to increase his Dark Magic Rank. Safiya Silences another Sorcerer guarding this important-looking door at the top of the map. Leif and pals continue their charge. Two Soldiers spawn at the start of enemy phase, but they're by far the least of our worries. The Sorcerers near the northern gate start moving towards us. I have no idea what this other Sorcerer is doing to the Hero that we just Berserk'd. Another Sorcerer poisons Callion by attacking him at melee range, only to get killed for his efforts. His buddy lands another hit, but fortunately "badly poisoned" only exists in Pokemon. The Silenced Sorcerer that Salem was beating up gets whisked away by a Rescue Staff. And once again, another Sorcerer uses an Ensorcel Staff on one of his buddies that got Silenced. Yet another Sorcerer uses a Fortify Staff... ...which apparently missed, because one of his friends still had to use a Heal Staff on another. The two Soldiers that just spawned are effortlessly slaughtered by Callion. Galzus dodges a buttload of projectile attacks... ...only to get hit by one arrow, and crat by another. Fortunately, he survives. The children run around like a bunch of idiots. One of our side-objectives is to escort them to the northern gate. After taking his belongings back from Galzus, Saias Silences another of the northern Sorcerers. Fergus takes the Beo Blade for a test drive, killing a Sniper with a crit. After Callion retreats to get Restored, Linoan takes his place to kill the Sorcerer. This also puts her out of range of the Berserk'd Hero. Orsin kills another Sorcerer... ...making it safer for Sarah to Restore and Mend our wounded. Assblaster Asbel puts one of the remaining Snipers to sleep. Mareeta kills a Hero... ...clearing the way for Galzus to kill another Hero. Olwen kills a sleeping Sorcerer... ...then activates the music note and casts Bolting on another. Xavier kills the sleeping Sniper... ...clearing the path for Leif to take Bragi's Blade for a test-drive. Salem and Lara Silence two more Sorcerers. Safiya and Lithis bring up the rear. Nanna finishes off our turn with a well-deserved Fortify. Ah, now I get it! The Sorcerer attacked the Berserk'd Hero with Jormungand so that the Poison would overwrite the Berserk status. I didn't know they could do that! That does not, however, explain why this guy keeps using Ensorcel on his buddies that have been incapacitated. The Silenced Sorcerers near the north gate make a break for it. Linoan gets hit by both of the Soldiers that just spawned, only to instantly undo the damage by killing them with Nosferatu. *sigh* This might take a while... If I were to move Linoan down to kill the Sorcerer, she would be at the mercy of the Hero with the Berserk Edge, so instead, I'll leave her where she is and let the Sorcerer come to her. After Orsin kills the last Sorcerer that hasn't yet been Silenced... ...we retreat back into the kids' room to rescue the shotas, and only the shotas. With nothing better to do, Pan kills one of the Silenced Sorcerers. The two Bishops that formerly guarded Raydrick have now moved away from the throne, so let's move into position to capture them. Linoan dodges and kills all three of her attackers. One of the Sorcerers in the southern room tries to use a Rescue Staff on the poisoned Hero, but misses. Seriously, what the fuck is up with this guy's AI? After another Fortify, three of the Silenced Sorcerers make their escape. One of the Bishops uses Physic on the poisoned Hero. If we move Pan in front of the door, there's no command to unlock it. So instead, he can kill the last Silenced Sorcerer. Next, Leif and Galzus capture the two Bishops. After rescuing all the shotas, we begin to carry them over to the door that Pan couldn't unlock. Linoan moves off of her post to put the poisoned Hero out of his misery. Callion moves into position to plug up one of the spawn points for the Soldiers. Tina uses her Thief Staff to steal a Sleep Edge from another Hero... ...then activates the music note and Unlocks the door that he was guarding. Congratulations, you wasted all five uses of your Ensorcel Staff on your buddies that had already been Silenced or put to sleep! Do you feel proud of yourself? Said buddies begin to make their way toward where the Soldiers spawned from. Linoan kills one of the Soldiers, but leaves the other alive. After Callion kills the remaining Soldier... ...Linoan and Nanna move in to plug up their spawn points. Only one remaining Sorcerer is capable of attacking us. All the others are either asleep, Silenced, or only equipped with Staffs. After Leif and Galzus mug and release their prisoners... ...Saias Warps Fergus into the Sorcerers' room, earning a level-up. Fergus proceeds to kill the last armed Sorcerer. The rest of us begin to drop off the shotas near the door. Raydrik is now the only enemy on the map capable of harming us in any way. With their escape point blocked off, all the Sorcerers can do is run around in circles like a bunch of decapitated chickens. Fergus and Callion are going to spend the next several turns capturing them to steal any useful staffs they might have. Orsin moves onto this staircase to prevent reinforcements from spawning. Leif moves towards Raydrik. It's almost time. Dropping off more of the shotas. This is it! The climactic showdown between Leif and Raydrik! Let the music play! Enemy phase, a Sorcerer appears behind Raydrik and uses an Unlock Staff on the isolated door in the northeast corner of the map. Raydrik may have been hyped up to be this game's Rudolf archetype, but think about what he did for a second: he betrayed the Lord's grandfather, led him to his death, and spent the prologue of the game trying to chase Leif down with an army of overpowered foes, which required the sacrifice of an ally to escape from. Does that sound like someone else we know? Sorry, Jiol, but Thracia did it first! Well, half of it, anyway. Jiol's role in Shadow Dragon's prologue may have borrowed a bit from Raydrik, but betraying Marth's father was there since FE1. If this were any other game, Raydrik would've been dealt with at the climax of the first story arc, and then never mentioned again. However, due to his Loptian Fang and its counterpart in Bragi's Blade, it kinda makes you wonder why Leif didn't bring the latter with him in FE4, or whether there were any other dark weapons that provided their wielders with invincibility. NPC phase, one of the shotas will unlock the door that Pan couldn't. Which particular shota is able to do this seems to be randomized each time this chapter is played. The Sorcerer that appeared behind Raydrik is wielding a Jormungand and an Unlock Staff... ...the latter of which is promptly stolen by Tina. More importantly, Pan rushes over to the treasure chest and grabs his prize: the Kaia Staff! Dean gets danced by Lara, but falls just one tile short of being able to plug up that staircase. So naturally, he activates the music note right after to plug it up anyway! Sarah and Safiya then Rewarp themselves over to the other staircase, along with the space in the northeastern corner formerly occupied by a door. Just for lulz, I let Asbel kill the Sorcerer. Fergus and Callion are now free to continue robbing the Sorcerers in peace. ...or not. A pair of Sorcerers spawn from either side of the throne and attempt to ambush Lithis and Xavier. Thank Naga for dodging and Pavise! After taking them out, we move Leif and Mareeta to block their spawn points. Okay, now Fergus and Callion are free to continue robbing the Sorcerers in peace. Once the final child escapes, Leif seizes the throne. That's all fine and good, but what happens if we don't get the Kaia Staff? Resetting my emulator, I play through this chapter a second time, swapping out Mareeta for Dagdar. Dagdar, Lithis, Galzus, and Sarah have fallen! May they rest in peace. After seizing the throne, the cutscene between Leif and Augustus plays out identically, up until about this point: Don't worry, that second runthrough isn't canon. It's just to show off something cool that can happen in the endgame. Next episode will still be Chapter 24x. Quote Link to comment
Tyranogre Posted October 20, 2019 Author Share Posted October 20, 2019 Chapter 24x: Beyond Good and Eyvel This is it, the last fog of war chapter! Our party for this chapter. Anyone who can't wield a staff is carrying a Torch. Let's do this! Starting off, Sarah wastes no time at all in Rewarping herself all the way over to Eyvel's prison cell at the top of the map. She then activates the music note and uses her Kaia Staff on Eyvel. However, we can't yet take control of Eyvel because she's a green unit. Leif moves as far north as he can, and uses his Torch. This reveals a small room in the center of the map with a red arrow in it. And if we Warp Linoan and Mareeta into that room... ...we reveal the "boss" of this chapter: an generic Dark Bishop wielding a Berserk Staff. Mareeta promptly kills him. Xavier takes a step down to use his Torch, revealing a lone Berserker surrounded by treasure chests. This also clears the way for Pan to open the door. Lara dances for Salem so he can Warp Orsin into the central room. This enables Orsin to take out this Sorcerer, who has a Sleep Staff. After that, Galzus moves through the doorway to intercept that Berserker on enemy phase. Or he could activate the music note and kill him right now. That works, too. Inside the southernmost room that Augustus warned us about is a lone Sorcerer with a pair of Warp Staffs. His plan is to Warp the reinforcements that spawn during enemy phase out of that room to spread chaos amongst our party. However, with his trusty Blizzard Tome, Assblaster Asbel puts him to sleep before he can put his plan to fruition. Lithis moves down next to Asbel and uses his Torch, revealing yet another Sorcerer... ...who is then promptly tranquilized by Safiya. Now that both of the Sorcerers in the southernmost chamber have been neutralized, any reinforcements that spawn down there will be trapped. Tina activates the music note and swipes a Strength and Shield Ring from two of the treasure chests surrounding the lone Berserker. Galzus and Leif kill two and a half Berserkers. All of the Sorcerers in the central room fail to hit Mareeta... ...except for this guy, who fails to hit Linoan instead, getting disintegrated in the process. Having chugged a Pure Water on the first turn, the last Sorcerer has enough Mag to use a Silence Staff on Asbel. A Sniper that just spawned in the southernmost chamber fails to poison Lithis. Following that, a whole bunch of Sorcerers Rewarp themselves around Leif. After Orsin kills the Sorcerer with the Silence Staff... ...Tina Unlocks the door to Eyvel's room. Asbel moves back to get Restored. Galzus moves back toward his starting location... ...while Pan moves out of the way... ...for Galzus to get danced... ...and Warped over to Eyvel's chamber. Incidentally, the tile that he lands on is one of the teleport traps that Augustus warned us about, but using the Warp Staff cancels the effect. Therefore, Galzus can move down to kill one of the Berserkers... ...and Sarah can move right behind him to tranquilize one of the Sorcerers harassing Leif. Everyone else spends the remainder of our turn killing Sorcerers... ...except for Saias, who Rewarps just outside the central chamber, earns a level-up, activates the music note, and opens the door. Leif and Galzus slaughter the remaining Berserkers. Once again, Mareeta dodges both Sorcerers' attacks. The Hel spell can reduce your HP to one by throwing a naked lady at you, but isn't quite as dangerous as it could be because the Sorcerers have balls for accuracy. This time, the Rewarpers go after our friends in the central chamber. Despite being un-petrified and released from her cell, Eyvel does not move. Orsin kills the Sorcerer above Mareeta... ...clearing the way for Saias to Warp her over to Eyvel to talk to her, triggering a rather melancholy song. Note that all three of those ellipses had their own word bubble. As much as I hate to break up this family reunion... ...but I don't trust Saias's ability to not die. Therefore, I re-load my save state and Warp Leif over to Eyvel instead. No matter which character we talk to her with, we re-recruit Eyvel, with the exact same stats that she had when she got turned to stone all the way back in Chapter 5. Don't use her, she sucks. The second tile from the top of this staircase is a teleport trap. Very carefully, let's move Galzus and Sarah down. Sarah activates the music note and weakens a Sorcerer. After killing another Sorcerer, Asbel activates the music note, moves as far north as he can, and uses his Torch Staff, increasing his Staff Rank. Better late than never, I suppose. More importantly, he discovers two staircases, which the Sorcerer reinforcements have been spawning from. Therefore, if we have Salem Rewarp to the unoccupied one... ...and kill some more Sorcerers in the central chamber... ...then Nanna can Silence the Sorcerer standing on the other staircase, plugging up two spawn points for us! Inside chest number three is... ...a Master Seal that we no longer need. Tina then activates the music note and uses her Berserk Staff on one of the remaining Berserkers. Pan also activates the music note, and kills a sleeping Sorcerer. The non-Berserk Berserker gets killed by the Berserk Berserker. Mareeta dodges some more Jormungands. A Sorcerer Rewarps next to the Berserk Berserker... ...and promptly gets killed by him. Now that we've rescued Eyvel, we no longer have any reason to stick around. Once Orsin removes the Sorcerer from the escape point, it's time to start using it. No comment necessary. It's the end of the game. What else are we gonna use our Warp and Rescue Staffs on? Anyone with a Rewarp Staff can teleport themselves into the central chamber, and pass around our Rescue Staffs to bring more people in. Leif's got a long way to go from Eyvel's chamber. Sarah and Saias team up to kill the last Sorcerer inside the central chamber, earning a level-up for the latter. Even if more spawn in, using their Rewarp Staffs will consume their turn, giving us ample opportunity to take them out before they cause too much trouble. After Salem kills a Sorcerer, we get to watch a fight between another Sorcerer and the Berserk Berserker. Uh-oh, this isn't good. Both of our Rescue Staffs are broken. Luckily, I have a plan: Salem Rewarps himself off of the staircase, over by Tina and our Thieves. He then rescues Tina, the only one among the three of them with a low enough Con. Pan and Lithis move as far north as they can. I then have as many units escape as I can, but make sure to keep Saias and his leadership stars on the field. The Sorcerers are ganging up on us. Soon we'll be trapped! With a wave of his staff, Salem Rewarps himself and Tina over to the escape point. Pan puts one of the Sorcerers to sleep. One last Yoink, for old time's sake. With two uses of his Warp Staff remaining, Saias Rewarps himself over to the Sorcerer orgy. We manage to survive, but if Pan takes one more hit, he's dead. Saias Warps Lithis to safety, earning a level-up. Galzus and Sarah have the same escape quote. Pan puts yet another Sorcerer to sleep. Can he survive one more turn? Saias hits the level cap. That was too close! Fuck yeah, Saias! I take back everything I said about your ability to not die! Now Saias just needs to survive for one more turn, and then we're home free! SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT Most well-earned escape quote ever! Nanna was your sister, eh? If you're familiar with Fire Emblem, and the Jugdral saga in particular, you know what that means! What's that, Lissa? You think you're the first character to have doubts about their royal lineage due to your lack of a Brand? Sorry, but Thracia did it first! Quote Link to comment
Tyranogre Posted October 22, 2019 Author Share Posted October 22, 2019 Endgame: Most Pathetic Final Boss in Fire Emblem History For the opening cutscene, I'm going to load up my extra save file from when I failed to get the Kaia Staff. Cue the music! Remember Travant from Genealogy? Remember what a cool antagonist he was? How he wanted nothing more than to improve the lives of his countrymen, and didn't care if he had to do awful things to accomplish that goal? How satisfying it was to kill him with Leif or Finn? And how this game made him seem even more sympathetic by showing us first-hand what a shithole country Thracia is? Well, in just one scene, Kaga manages to completely undermine Travant's character by revealing that the Loptians were behind his actions all along! Veld does have a point here. Ishtar was hard enough in Genealogy's endgame when she had the three Pegasus Sisters backing her up. Can you imagine how much more aggravating that fight would've been if Reinhardt were there, too? Now it cuts to yet another song that truly feels like it should be the final map theme. Alas, if only it played for the entire chapter. Instead, it's replaced by this generic song that's played countless times throughout the game. Anyway, our goal is to kill each of the six Deadlords standing in each chamber, and place one of our units on the spots that they were occupying. No matter what else you do, the first one will always be Mus, created from the corpse of Raydrik. However, this is where that "cool thing" I mentioned earlier comes into play: If certain characters either died in battle, or were never recruited to begin with, then Manfroy will use their corpses to create the other five Deadlords that you fight in the final chapter, including his own granddaughter! What's that, Nergal? You think you're the first endboss to have a stage consisting of a bunch of isolated chambers, populated by familiar faces brought back to life as undead abominations? Sorry, but Thracia did it first! Also, note that the Deadlord made from Eyvel is a Sniper and not a Swordmaster. Assuming you didn't go to Chapter 24x and see that ending dialogue between Eyvel and Finn, this is your first clue about Eyvel's true identity. Tigris is supposed to be made from Dagdar, but even if you get him killed, the specific trigger to fight his Deadlord form is that Chapter 8x must have been skipped. After resetting to my "main" save file, I discover a problem: Sarah is Fatigued, and we're out of Stamina Drinks. Without access to the Kaia Staff, this chapter will be much more dangerous. To make things even worse, Salem and Saias are also Fatigued, so not only do I lose out on Saias's leadership stars, but I'm also forced to deploy Dean and Karin, who are dismounted. Starting off, Assblaster Asbel uses his Blizzard Tome to put Porcus to sleep. Safiya does the same to Bovis. Tina Unlocks the door to Canis's chamber... ...allowing Dean to kill the Sorcerer... ...Lithis to run in, aaaaaannnnnnd... ...Yoink! Orsin then charges in and takes off two-thirds of Canis's HP. I couldn't screenshot the battle screen because it went by too fast. After Pan opens the door to Mus's chamber, Galzus kills another Sorcerer. Leif then equips Bragi's Blade and parks in front of Mus without attacking him. Fergus, Karin, and Callion temporarily plug up three reinforcement spawn points. Xavier and Olwen kill two of the Sorcerers inside Porcus and Bovis's chambers. Nanna Warps Lara over to dance for Lithis... ...allowing him to steal Canis's Berserk Staff! Linoan finishes off our turn by using her Sleep Staff on one of the Generals inside Canis's chamber. Despite getting hit by two Master Axes, Leif makes it out with a decent amount of health left. Lithis takes an even bigger beating, but also manages to survive. Callion and Mareeta do a fantastic job of dodging two Fenrirs. Leif kills Mus with a counter-crit. That's one Deadlord down, and one disarmed! After Orsin kills the General in Canis's chamber that didn't get put to sleep, Dean captures her. Lara dances for Lithis so he can temporarily plug up the last reinforcement spawn point. Trading places with Fergus, Asbel tranquilizes one of the Bow Armors inside Porcus's chamber. Pan and Galzus then kill the two Generals inside Mus's chamber. Linoan puts the Sorcerer inside Tigris's chamber to sleep... ...and then passes her Sleep Staff to Tina so she can do the same to the one inside Draco's chamber. After Safiya patches us up with Fortify, Leif and Nanna set out in search of their next objective. With all the spawn points plugged up, and the Sorcerers incapacitated, we're now free to go about killing the remaining Deadlords at our own pace. After releasing Canis, Dean gets danced and takes Lithis's place plugging up the spawn point. Lithis has more important places to be. But you know what? Just moving Pan and Lithis around to open the doors to the Deadlords' chambers is going to get boring. So, why don't we have a little fun? After Berserking the Berserker, Tina uses the Shield Ring that she got last chapter... not that she'll ever need it. Orsin kills the sleeping General, while also stepping on one of the switches to open the door to Veld's room. The Berserk Berserker kills all of the non-Berserk Berserkers, while also taking heavy damage himself. After Pan opens the door to Draco's chamber, for extra irony, Mareeta kills the Deadlord that would've been created from the corpse of her adopted mother. Olwen then puts the Berserk Berserker out of his misery. Lithis gets danced and opens the door to Bovis's room... ...allowing Tina and Linoan to kill the two Generals inside. After Fergus anti-climatically captures Bovis, Lithis gets danced and heads toward Porcus's room. Mareeta and Pan kill the remaining Generals in Draco's room, with the latter staying behind to stand on the switch. Fergus releases Bovis, and Lithis opens the door to Porcus's chamber, allowing Xavier to kill the General that didn't get put to sleep. Olwen kills Tigris in one hit with a critical Bolting! Fuck yeah, Olwen! For the next several turns, she's going to continue throwing Boltings at the two Generals inside Tigris's chamber until the cost is clear. After Xavier kills Porcus, Lithis steps onto the switch. Ironically, Porcus would've been made from Lithis's corpse if this were my other save file. Once the remaining Generals are dead... ...we move our strongest fighters up against the door to Veld's chamber, and have Nanna Rewarp herself onto Tigris's switch. Cue the music! That up smash! HAPPY FEET! WOMBO COMBO! THAT AIN'T FALCO! Oh! OOOOHHH! OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! WHERE YOU AT?! GET YO ASS WHUPPED! MY DICK HURTS! After the screen turns white, another song starts to play... Ironically, in FE4, it is possible for Leif to kill King Blume. Presumably this scene is different if you picked the A-route, but fuck if I'm playing through that again. Well, considering what series this is... It then starts playing a different music track as it displays my score: See if you can tell which chapters had Arenas in them. As the credits roll by, we get to listen to a nice song and look at a cute picture of the Leonster royal family. But then it cuts to a different song as I battle against my old arch-nemesis: auto-scrolling text. AHAHAHAHAHA no. "Leif took the throne of this New Kingdom Sorry for the awkward text. I have no way of knowing whether a sentence will continue for an extra screen or not. It's rather odd when the epilogue switches between past and present tense, such as "no historical records" existing of where Finn went, only to describe Leif's marriage to Nanna as "still continuing to this day". "Geas"? The fuck is that? Is it like how Lewyn spent the second half of Genealogy possessed by the spirit of Forseti? "Still ashamed of her lack of discipline for having As of this writing, Mareeta only exists in Heroes in her "fallen" incarnation. Sorry, Halvan, but the Bhuj was just too good. Even though I didn't use Tanya that much, I'll still remember that trick she did in Chapter 1. In earlier versions of the translation patch, Marty's epithet was translated as "The Man That Dagdar Loved". But if they had that kind of relationship, then where did Tanya come from? Didn't use him, he sucked. One of the best units in the game, despite what her combat record says. Staffs are just that broken. Was it really necessary to take up three whole screenshots to basically say "history holds no record of him"? Fun fact: according to a Japan-only novelization, Lithis changed his name to Adrah, and is implied to be the same Adrah who founded the kingdom of Archanea. However, this contradicts other sources within the designer's notes, which state that Adrah lived about 400 years after the events of Genealogy. Yes, and yes. More specifically, he's the result of a one-night-stand between Beowulf and an unnamed Connaught noblewoman. Another MVP. Karin saw plenty of use as a carrier pigeon. Good ol' Assblaster Asbel. Too bad we'll probably never get to see the conclusion of the LP that gave him that nickname. Glad to see that these two got a happy ending. I couldn't have made it through the prison arc without them. Lara has quickly become one of my favorite Dancers in the series. Her utility as a Thief more than made up for her inability to refresh four units at a time. Sorry, Dalsin. By the time it would've been your turn for a Master Seal, we already had Xavier. Give it up for the losers of Choose Your Legends years 1 and 2! Thanks for the free Brave Bow. Xavier greatly appreciated it. Who the fuck are these guys? Good unit. Greatly appreciated not being fucked over by indoor maps. Poor Olwen, forever overshadowed by her brother. Now I'm running out of things to say about the people who I never used... Our worst Thief overall, but still turned out pretty good. Who the fuck are you? Kinda bummed that we never got to use any Dark Magic besides Jormungand, but at least he was a great staff user. My only regret is that she broke her Thief Staff before I recruited her. Imagine how much mileage we could've gotten out of an extra Hammerne's worth of uses? Considering it's probably canon that Arion survives the events of Genealogy and marries Altena, there's no reason why these two couldn't have hooked up. Doesn't it seem odd that Eda never mentioned the name of her liege and had Leif say "Hey, that's the same name as my older sister who was killed alongside my parents"? He later got a job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Even his Bargain skill ended up being grossly under-utilized. Guess he's not gonna wreck it after all. Zero wins, two losses. Nice 'stache. He was a pain in the ass to recruit, but I'm glad I did. Thanks for the Beo Blade. Despite being the legitimate heir of Fjalar, it looks like he passed up rulership of House Velthomer to Azel's kids instead. Regardless, I greatly appreciated his leadership stars. Basically the same ending as Shiva's. While I'm still pissed that I ran out of Stamina Drinks, Veld went down so fast that Sarah wouldn't have had the chance to use the Kaia Staff anyway. As a bonus, here are the endings for the units that we either didn't recruit, or only existed on Route A: Amalda, Retired Knight: Amalda returned to the Dukedom of Friege, and devoted herself to restoring it to its former glory. House Friege's disastrous rule of North Thracia had depleted most of their manpower and ruined their family land. However, as the years went by, Amalda's tireless work gradually returned the land to its once-beautiful state. Ced, Crusader of Wind: Upon returning to Silesse, Ced at last took the throne, as the people had longed for him to do. With his indomitable spirit and tireless work ethic, the war-torn Silesse slowly regained its former beauty. Misha, First of the New Holy Pegasus Knights: After returning home, Misha joined the Silessean Holy Pegasus Knights. She later particpated in the Silessean Liberation Wars, and after the New Kingdom of Silesse was established, she became the first commander of the new Silessean Holy Pegasus Knights. A talented and just leader, she earned deep trust from both her superiors and her subordinates. Ilios, Aspiring Knight: In the New Kingdom of Thracia, Ilios at last achieved his dream when he was granted a title of nobility. However, the mighty warrior's skills were ill-suited for peacetime, and his government post ended in disaster. He mismanaged his district into ruin, though he was spared from punishment because of his service in the war. Reassigned to a symbolic, do-nothing post, he would often corner his subordinates and force them to listen to the same stories of his bygone glory days. Schroff, Priest of Bragi: After the war, instead of returning to the Tower of Bragi, Schroff traveled around the continent spreading the teachings of Edda. Schroff inspired other priests to do the same, and the Edda Church eventually became one of the leading religions of the continent. So, final thoughts on this project: Thracia 776 is the Sonic CD of Fire Emblem: it came out for a dying system, sold terribly, and only escaped falling into obscurity thanks to the very few die-hard fans that managed to play it, who insisted that it was the best game of the franchise's "classic era". Since nobody else had actually played it, there was nobody to refute that claim. But then as the game got re-released on the PC/actually got a decent translation patch, people finally started playing it and realized "wow, this is actually kinda shit tbh; Genealogy/3 and Knuckles is way better". That's not to say that I hate the game. Far from it. There are quite a few things that I feel that Thracia handles better than a lot of other Fire Emblem games released after it (just look at how many times throughout the LP that I said "Sorry, but Thracia did it first!"). However, said innovations are bogged down by a lot of poorly-thought-out mechanics, obtuse secrets, and bullshit difficulty spikes. You saw for yourself how often I had to re-load whenever something stupid happened, but imagine how frustrating it would be for someone playing on a physical cartridge without access to save-states. And keep in mind, this was played using Elite Mode, which is supposed to make the game easier by doubling all experience gains. The capture mechanic was an interesting idea in theory, but ultimately I had the same problem with it that I have with the "steal" command in any other JRPG: why can't I just loot the rare item off of the enemy's dead body? Likewise, the Fatigue mechanic is completely counter-intuitive to one of the core fundamentals of the Fire Emblem experience: building an army of your favorite units and focusing on them. What Kaga probably meant to do was to encourage players to experiment by using different units of the same class, but that just brings up the same counter-argument that people had against breakable weapons in Breath of the Wild: forced diversity is not real diversity. Fog of war is a mechanic that I feel the series definitely would've been better off without, as it does nothing more than make things more frustrating for the player. And the way it's handled in this game in particular is especially awful, as you can't even see where you're going. The music note was useful when it activated, and may have served as the inspiration for Galeforce further down the line, but the fact that it's entirely luck-based means that it's impossible to build a strategy around it. And don't even get me started on staffs being able to miss... But that's enough negativity, let's focus on the things I liked. Well, I thought some of the maps were creatively-designed. Not as grand in scale as Genealogy's maps, but still fun to play. The story worked well enough as a supplement to Genealogy's, even if it was somewhat derivative of other games if viewed in a vaccum. And really, that's about the best thing I can say about Thracia as a whole: it's a good companion piece to Genealogy, but if you're not already a Jugdral fan, it's not going to win you over. Thanks for reading! Quote Link to comment
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