LP Beach

Music: Act 1 - Where the Wind Rustles | YT KHin NES

Alright, so it's time to promote our villagers into real soldiers. On what was a pretty close set of votes, we've ended up with sticking each character into their default classes. I'll be expecting more shenanigans in the future, however.





When a unit promotes, they do this kneeling animation in front of the shrine, then the screen goes white while the fanfare plays. The fanfare's nice enough, but it's not important enough for me to link, let alone search for links to.



Then wham-bam, we've got ourself a promoted unit. Gray ends up gaining a huge boost to his SPD and a much appreciated one to his SKL as a Mercenary. He'll just be swinging a sword a bit fancier though.



Tobin was overwhelmingly voted into Archer which will let us poke enemies from afar just like our enemies already do to us. Whether or not his SKL and SPD will keep up is a question.



Because my memory is exceptional, I figured I ought to show this little bit off again. The big change with archers in Gaiden/SoV is that they regularly get much farther attack range than anyone else.



Faye trades in her sword for a staff, and gains almost nothing stat-wise as a Cleric to gain something a bit more exceptional:



Magical spells! I'll cover these in time, but this is the default kit for every Cleric- our basic healing spell and a life-drain spell that seems very un-priestly. The choice to make Faye a cleric is mostly based on the spells she will learn later, though these two will be helpful for now.



Kliff drops the sword and turns into a Mage, gaining a huge health boost as result.



He also gets the ability to cast a basic fire spell, but his spell list will be quite impressive given some time. As to why he's got so much HP now, I'll explain that as well.



Before we head on out of the Thieves' Shrine, I drop on downstairs to get our free stat boosts from the shrine. Based on percentage vote, Gray gets 1 SPD and Lukas gets 2 SPD because the thread really wants to see god-unit Lukas I guess.

I'm cool with that if it happens. It seems like that's the way he's aiming already.

Now we leave the shrine and head on to go do battle at



Actually, no, we've got sidequests to do back in Ram Village.



Music: Serenity | YT KHin

Ah, Lukas wants to chat.



Have you grown accustomed to all the fighting yet? ...Ah, of course. I suppose I needn't even have asked. No matter how quiet a village you hail from, in the hands of a capable teacher, one can become every bit as strong as a royal knight.



I grew up in the borderlands as well, though not the same as yours. Some in the Deliverance ridicule me for this, calling me a "backwater noble". But unlike them, I rose above my origins on my own merits, and as a result, here I stand today.



Aw, Lukas. He's not that bad a guy, I just wish he'd take the heroic stance a little more than the pragmatic one. I really don't have much of an issue with him, but there is someone else I do that we'll meet in time.

Oh, and Kliff's also here.



The school in town that I went to was closed because of the war.



...but then I remembered how little there is to learn inside a small village. I never hated learning, per se...


The other students would hound me from sun's rise to set. Just a bunch of lonely little children desperate for friends...



I feel ya, Kliff, some things never change. Though, I don't think the game ever covers precisely what he was going to school for, we can assume that if one person can read on our team, it's him and probably Silque.

Right, back to the sidequests. You may remember the old guy who asked us for a bottle of Ram Wine. It's not particularly useful for us, sells for 20 silver marks, but giving it to him should probably be a nice trade.

That, and what's the loss for taking a second to help somebody?



Greedy Old Man: Thank you. You’ve made an old man very happy this day, so you have. …Here. I was saving this to go with the wine, but I want you to have it.




thx for the chz



Renown in SoV isn't like the renown currency from Awakening, it's mostly just a completion tracker. As such, I probably won't note us getting it that often.



Greedy Old Man: If you follow the left-hand wall in the Thieves’ Shrine, you’ll find a tunnel. Hidden back there is a treasure chest— but also check the jars around it!




Greedy Old Man: If it’s still there and you can find it, it’s all yours. Thank you again for bringing me that Ram wine.


Well, we already knew about the alcove, but doing this also make a a new item appear there that wasn't around before.

If we refused to give it to the old man he would've said this:

Greedy Old Man: Oh, the callow rudeness of youth! You whippersnappers have no manners!


But, honestly, what else were we going to do with that bottle of wine?

Oh, and there's also another person here now, let's talk to her.



Indignant Woman: I ran from those brigands until my sides were ready to split. So undignified! And while I’m happy to be alive, those thugs stole everything I bought. Oh, I never should have gone at all! You MUST go teach those ruffians some manners. I’ll make it worth your while!




Indignant Woman: That will teach them to mess with the likes of me. Hmph! They’re holed up in the awful Thieves’ Shrine. As if they’d be anywhere else!


Well, somebody's particularly bloodthirsty. I suppose we might as well do it, but I'm not going back to the shrine and grinding out exp on bandits. We'll complete it whenever we complete it.

If we talk to her again:


Indignant Woman: Get going already! Those 20 brigands aren’t going to thrash themselves!


I'm not sure what the trigger for this lady is. I've tried re-entering the town at the beginning of the game, but that doesn't make her show. Regardless, that means a third trip back to the town and I'd rather just make that two and pick it up when I turn in the wine.

You can complete this quest in the next act, which is a little bit odd, but I think I'll go ahead and do the grinding some other time. The reward is a +2 Max HP booster though, so it's kinda worth it.

Music: Act 1 - Where the Wind Rustles | YT KHin NES

Before we get into the main event for the update, we've got to go find that elderly man's trinket, which means another trip to the Shrine. On a second thought, I should've probably just went ahead and did that other sidequest now, but eh, there's progress to be made.



Ah, there it is-



-Aw, darn it all to heck





I suppose this is a good as time as any to explain Valentian magic.

So, unlike other FE games, the spells in this game also don't have a limited number of uses. Instead, they each have a specific HP cost to cast, and an individual weight. The early spells aren't much, but given that they hit the hard-to-get RES stat instead of DEF, they maintain usefulness quite well. Most spells hit at 1-2 range, but they get a bit larger over time- in fact healing spells even follow these rules.

This being said, mages need large HP pools to keep up the magic casting. They still use up HP on counterattacks, which makes putting them in melee still a bit dangerous, and the spell weight often has them slower than average.

Got that? Cool. Meanwhile our units are fighting-



...what even

Lukas doesn't seem to be taking the slow approach when it comes to leveling-





guys please



Agh, I suppose I may as well show off Nosferatu while I'm here.

Those of you who have played other FE games may recognize that name as the spell that absorbs health from the target, and is usually rather overpowered given the game dynamics.



It's a holy spell for some reason now, though still classified under Black Magic, and still does what it says on the tin, but its a decent bit weaker.

The other thing to mention about spells is that they entirely ignore terrain bonuses, but their hit chances are a little more static, (and often a decent bit lower).



When the battle is over, I toss the Mila Carving to Kliff. Though it has no initially stated effect in the description, equipping it gives a +5 LCK. That's not as amazing as some items we'll see later, but adding +5 to Kliff's already high natural luck should be a decent bonus.





With that out of the way, we progress onto the real meat of the update.



Music: Uprising | YT KHin NES







Alm. Look up there.





That uniform…!



That looks like a Zofian soldier. Is he one of Desaix’s men?



We’ll see more of them, now that we’re nearing the Southern Outpost.



This will be a tricky fight.

…I’m ready.



They're not kidding about hiring bandits on us.

...Unfortunately for Desaix, Alm could solo everything on this map but the one mercenary without even needing to heal.



Player Turn Music: The March to Deliverance (Prologue)| YT KHin NES

Enemy Turn Music: The Air of Brutality (Prologue)| YT KHin

Let's get to this, shall we?



He’s armed with a leather shield. It’ll be difficult to land blows on him.



C'mon, Lukas, don't be such a bummer. Even in real world tactics this man is screwed given it's one against eight.

I mean, there's the rest of the bandits, but whatever.



Realtalk, this is the game introducing us to the fact shields exist as equip items that lower a unit's SPD to jump up their DEF. This leather shield, and in general, this map are unchanged from Gaiden. It's got a small boost to DEF at no cost to the user's SPD, so it's quite good for those already high up on attack power.



Just as we're starting though, it seems Kliff and Tobin have a support for us.





Don't talk to me unless you need something.

Wow! What crawled up your armor!



Nope, you're imagining it. Now how about we get back to fighting and forget about all this small talk?



Ah, look they're friends now!

...Sort of.

Actually, that looked more like an altercation, but what do I know?



Cutting out a bit of plain movement stuff, we're slowly approaching the enemy. Compared to Gaiden, I feel you clash with the enemies a bit sooner on this map, (that, and the mountains can be crossed,) which isn't such a bad thing given so many Gaiden maps took forever.

Later on, we'll be wishing this happened a bit more often.



After 3 turns we can finally engage the enemy, and even on our own terms too!



Music: The Dauntless Blade | YT KHin NES





Alm runs up, punches a bandit's face in, and gets a bit of stronk for it.

I just came off of doing those FE8 Correspondence updates, so these stat gains are a little sad, but for SoV they're pretty good.

Remember that since everyone else is now promoted, they're on the same level as Alm currently, but he'll only ever get one promotion later in the game. Given that, we don't need him to level as hard as the other units on our team need to.

I'm hoping he picks up some more DEF though. Having him be tanky with his already exceptional health would be great.



Kliff roasts a guy, though it's not enough for a takedown. We're going to want him to trigger a lot of SPD growth from here on out as his spells presently weigh him down too much to double.



Tobin shoots a man



Whiffs the second shot though



And for whatever reason, I let Faye take a bandit out with sparkle magic. Note that Nosferatu's hit chance is abysmal by basic FE standards, which means we won't really be relying on it too much.



I'm just not used to seeing her in robes. It's usually platemail and a horse, but it doesn't seem like it's made her any less deadly.





Lukas demonstrates his awesome finishing animation, though I'm a tad unsure of how the physics work out. You'd have to draw in that halberd very fast to actually hit with the blade there.

Seriously, though, the basic hits may be kind of standard sometimes, but they've got some good ones.









Gray starts an assault to try an extricate a bandit from the trees, and all the bandits foolishly try to jump him. His response is exactly what you'd expect given he nearly outspeeds them by 10 points.



Back on my turn, I again demonstrate how spellcasting ignores terrain bonuses.



It definitely works, though he still can't double and that's a bit rough since it left this jerk alive.

I'm quite sure it was simply a balancing thing to make them ignore terrain, as otherwise you'd never hit anyone with a spell in this game.



For the heck of it, I send Faye in to get some combat support points with Alm.





For Alm!

how

...She doesn't disappoint, I guess.



Lukas moves on to wear down another bandit and-



This ends here!





Hehe, was I staring?

what

even

Okay, well everything should be--





It's been fun!

Look at that showoff.

how

what is even happening



Music: A Soothing Strain (Healing Theme) | YT KHin NES

Finally doing something normal for once, Silque heals up Gray. The healing theme is just a remix of the original, just how Gaiden's was a remix of it. I guess we've got a remixed remix here. Gaiden's is just as spooky as the original one was.



On the enemy turn, some jerk shoots Kliff.



twice

We really need to get some SPD for you, bud.



Like, soon.



Lukas pulls out some quarterstaff techniques on this bandit



Yeah, thanks.

Silque heals Kliff.





Kliff brings the fight back to the archer from the forest, letting him dodge both counterattacks.





Gray gets a stylish win...



For a tolerable level up. I'd really prefer if he picked up SPD, because he's sitting at the baseline of Level 2 enemy mercs right now, and I'd really appreciate having someone able to clown on enemy sword users.



Oh, hey, Faye and Alm finally want to talk.





I'm doing just fine now. Seeing your face is always a bright spot in my day.





(A reminder that I'm not messing around with the dialogue here. This is actually there.)



Er, I hope you're doing it for a better reason than just... me.

Oh, is THAT what you want? ...Because I'll do it.



Just promise that you'll be watching, Alm! Promise to look at me!



Oookay then

I don't know if they meant to write her on the yandere side, or if her perspective of the situation is just really wonked out, but uh...

Given the following supports, I get the idea she's just not the best at expressing her feelings, but uh, that remains up for debate.

This game's writing has a few ...questionable design decisions mixed in with it. It's got it's good moments though.



Alm just kinda laughs it off and goes and punches bandits to try and forget what he just heard



Meanwhile, Faye life-drains another band-

oh, that might've been where we went wrong

are we sure she's a cleric of Mila



whatever, it'll be fine, I'm sure

Let's take our mind off that and watch Tobin do some commando combat.



Well, I finally got to show you the neat dodge attack animations, even if it wasn't from my own team...

Anyways, Lukas and Tobin go to chase down a fleeing bandit while everyone else heads back to where we start.

Why, you ask?



That one soldier guy is getting close to being done with climbing down the mountain. Yeah, that's what he's been doing the whole time.



After some moving, Lukas corners the bandit in their little orange supply fort.



Well?





I'd complain, but Lukas getting defense is fine. Still would've rather had some SPD in that too, to keep that chain of awesome levels going.



Across the valley, Gray challenges the enemy merc to a swordfi-





hahahhahahah

_how



Unfortunately, the guy is beefy enough to take the hit outright and survive. That shield really makes this guy a threat.







oh no, are the crits sapping my level luck now



We can do this again...?

The finisher goes to Kliff, who only gets to about 2/3rds of a level. The tone on that line doesn't come across well in text, but he's basically taunting them to go for another round.





I apologize for not using Silque too much, but I didn't have much of a place to do so.



Music: Uprising | YT KHin NES





We’ll soon reach the Southern Outpost, which is under Deliverance control. Once we’ve rejoined our comrades, the fights ahead will become easier.

(Actually they're just going to get harder and the allies will only help to stave off the difficulty from spiking too hard, but you know, details)





(Two of them I'll be happy to see but there's also another two I'm not looking forward to.)



It’s good to see you made it back safely.



Has something happened? Why are you here?

Forgive us, Sir Lukas, but…



Music: Treason | YT KHin



What? Clair! Gods, how could this happen?!



This is my fault. Lady Clair is new to military command. I should have left her in more experienced hands.

Music: Uprising | YT KHin NES



Sir Clive sent you to Ram Village. right? You didn’t have a choice.



(I have a particular, somewhat unreasonable liking for this screenshot. You'll see why eventually.)

……



I assume this Clair person is still alive, right? In that case, we just have to take back the Southern Outpost and save her!

(Alm, ever the hero.)



How are WE supposed to reclaim a fortress from trained royal soldiers?!



Otherwise, our journey is already over. Here and now, we make our decision. Will we live our lives as simple villagers?



But Alm…



Gray!



Music: Serenity | YT KHin



I can’t believe you’re the same man who mocks the fact that I fight for gold.



I mean, I admit they’re…not bad?

You see? We speak the same language. So you’re in, right?

(Gray and Tobin ragging on each other never gets old.)



...except “thank you.” You’re very brave to do this. The Deliverance is lucky to have you.





But please, tread soft with him regardless. Lady Clair is his younger sister. I’m sure no one’s head is hanging lower than his own right now.

Oh. Lukas, I… I’m sorry. You’re right.





Well that was that. Next time, we assault a fortress and get a new teammate!

I realize I didn't talk about the Turnwheel in this update, and that's quite frankly because I had forgotten about it. On Normal I usually won't need it for a long time, but we'll probably need it for the final fight of this Act, and unless I need it before then, that's probably the first we'll talk of it.

Next Time: Pega Pony Princesses

Welcome back, fellow Beachgoers!

I tell you what, it's a trip actually having a backlog. It feels like I wrote this thing forever ago.



If you had found a comfy spot in your chair, I apologize because we're kicking a lot of ass to day and we've got to get right to it.




Music: Battle Preparations - Deliverance | YT KHin



So, there's seven of us and seven of them. Should be easy.



Here's the boss, woefully unchanged from his lackeys in stats.

He's not going to make it long.



Music: The Incorrigible | YT KHin



got'em



We should only send in capable—and cautious—units to deal with him.

And just before we start, Lukas interrupts us again to properly inform us that the one stand-out unit on the enemy side is quite the stand-out.

Why is this one any worse than a normal archer?



Because of this thing. Gaiden and SoV update bows by giving all of them improved attack range. This is, added onto the range boost they already get from being archers.

So, yes, you see that right, this jerk has a massive attack range.



Player Turn Music: The March to Deliverance (Alm Act 1)| YT KHin NES

Enemy Turn Music: The Air of Brutality (Alm Act 1)| YT KHin


While you were gasping in amazement, I was moving our units. I hope you don't mind.



So I move up again, leaving only Alm in attack range. His defense is lower than Lukas', but I was hoping to capitalize on damage output.





Alm wounds the first one that approaches him..





This is how it's done!

and well



at this point



who didn't see this coming



Enemies now wounded and drawn in, the rest of the army converges upon them.





Very amusing. Full marks.



This, however, is not amusing.





Gray kicks tail, as usual.



Somehow, Silque hits with a Nosferatu and nets me an awesome screenshot.



This isn't so awesome though



Tobin finishes and sends this guy flying.



I... why



Meanwhile, Faye heals her favorite person in the universe.



He then goes and baits this last soldier forward.



It was about at this point that I forgot that I left Kliff in the Archer's range.

This would've been a great time to show off the Turnwheel, but would you have guessed I entirely forgot about it again?

Apologies, but we'll probably cover it by the end of this act when I have a reason to show it off. Right now, most combat is easy enough to just shrug off minor mistakes.



Doesn't matter anyways, Kliff wasn't in any real danger and he dodged it anyhow.

That last approaching soldier makes his way to Alm and-



ahaha

_why



it's sapping all my growth luck



Hold that thought right there-

Not all is lost yet, it seems!



Meanwhile Kliff just shrugs at this guy.





He doesn't survive.

Magic ignoring terrain benefits is both awesome and horrible at the same time.



Given that the bow had a name in green text, it gets dropped when we down him. Tobin immediately picks it up, despite that weight hitting his speed a little hard.



Lukas picks up the Leather Shield that I forgot to equip to anyone. His attack power is fine presently, so I calculate that just making him nigh-immune to most attacks for now is fine enough.



Silque heals Kliff.



Faye heals Not Alm.



We approach.

Really, I have to cut a decent bit out of each update. Gaiden really liked its larger maps, as well as forcing you to walk them by foot the entire time, and SoV does accurately emulate these occasions.



Tobin displays his insane danger range with his recently aquired bow. If he actually hit and doubled, he'd be a real threat!

Another thing I forgot to mention about bow-users is that they don't have flier effectiveness by default- they only get it if they're wielding a bow weapon.

The Steel Bow also has a weapon skill it will eventually learn which will suffice for him for a long time. We probably won't double later on unless Tobin really starts drawing SPD growths.



They nerfed the range and power of Archers in general simply by not giving them the best of hit chances. Terrain gives such large boosts in this game,it's kinda rough sometimes.

Note poor Tobin's 28% chance to hit.



Wait! H-hold on!

He misses both shots.

we could have had Excalibur you bores

The real lesson here is that you don't use archers to attack enemies in covered terrain if you can help it.



redundant healer casting

Because Recover has no durability, we can farm meager amounts of XP and support points trading 1 hit point back and forth.







The boss approaches Lukas and kinda just starts having the floor mopped with him.

Also, it's worth noting that this guy and the bandit from the last map don't use the boss theme, though they still do the freeze frame on death.



All the while Kliff over here shows up Tobin easily with his magic.




Magic's big disadvantage is that it doesn't start getting large range boosts until late in the game. That, and the health cost, but right now it's indispensable.



Tobin does manage to land one hit out of four though. Woo, go Tobin.



Faye continues to leave me speechless with her hit rate thus far.



I opt to give the boss defeat to Gray given he's close enough to one at this point.



...I'll never live this down.

Somehow, that was the wrong move. All three attacks miss. C'mon Gray, everybody but Kliff and Tobin were watching, but that doesn't mean you have to let me down like this.




The boss displays the "cowardly" AI I mentioned in the second update, immediately opting to run for the oranges in the back. This time around though, I'd honestly say this guy has the right idea given that oranges provide 40 avoid.

I did mention that, didn't I? Because they do, for some reason.





Ha! Is that all?

Grey's hit chance is even lower, but he doesn't disappoint this time, getting it on the first swing.



He gets this level, which I can't really complain about, though I still would've liked to see some speed built up on him.





Yeah, bye.

Kliff closes out this battle for us, but not the update.



Music: March | YT KHin



I know that my fallen comrades would say the same.

Oh, Lukas. I’m so sorry. ...But we’ll have time to mourn later. Right now, we must find Lady Clair. She must be somewhere inside the outpost.




We might as well get ourselves a new teammate. If we tried to leave then...

Hmm? Hold a moment, Alm.

If we are to press on, we must rescue Clair from the outpost.

Nope, there's no getting away from this one either.




Music: Serenity | YT KHin

Not a bad looking little fortress.





Lots of stuff to grab here as well.



Maybe they hid a big sack of gold here! ...Rats. Nothing.

Unfortunately, no gold, but they did hide one thing in this room worth having.



This is kinda pressed up against the wall and barely visible. I don't think I even got it on my first playthrough, and I was pretty insistent on inspecting everything.

*cough cough* Gods, there's more dust than air in here!

Ain't that the truth. I'm taking it as a sign that we move on.



Enough fiddling around in the entrance, let's go loot their war room!



...And right in front of us is this little darling right here. Oh goodness will this weapon wreak some havoc on our enemies.



Yeah, there's nothing useful here.




Looting this table nets us some Cold Soup, Ale, and Wine.



There's also this Rusted Sword. It doesn't have any sort of neat poison effect, it's just a useless weapon... for now. We can do something with this later, but that might be a while.



And now, the observation image I should've put at the front.



We've seen all there is to see here, let's go see what the dungeon's up to!



Clair!



Now extricate me from this filthy and unseemly cage at once!

Eh, how about... no?

Um, pardon me? And just where exactly do you think you’re going? You simply must remove me from this rat-infested hellhole at once!

Yeah, okay. Let's do tha-



Oh, hey, stuff to inspect







Golly, that sure would suck, wouldn't it? I'm sure glad nobody's had to so far.



Alm, you're such a dork and it's great.



Oh, look, a Cell Key. I mean, I suppose we cold use it, but it's not like anyone's actually in there.



I agree.



And unfortunately there's nothing to take for ourselves it seems.



Okay, I'll stop with the joke now. Let's rescue Clair.





(She really does give the wrong impression at first, but Clair's actually pretty great.)

Who, me? …Oh, uh, sorry.

Very good. I say, it DOES feel good to move about again! I thought I might never emerge from that disgusting pigsty. You have my thanks, er…



Oh! Well, how simply lovely. Welcome!



Um… It’s a pleasure to meet you, milady.

So! From where do you hail, Alm?



A village? You don’t say!



Um…yeah. Something like that.

My word!



What is it like to chase cows every day? I wager they bite, the nasty creatures. Hmm… And yet, you aren’t smothered in manure. This is not what I pictured.

(Cows don't usually bite by the way. They'll just run you over or charge you if they have horns. most are docile enough though.)





His… Huh?



“The Deliverance is not like the Knights of Zofia.” “Not every soldier in our ranks is noble, but we must treat them all as equals.”



(Also, as always we're going to meet people who haven't gotten the memo about this.)



Oh, Alm! I can see you are truly kind. Might I ask you more about your village later? I’m ever so curious!

Of course.

Splendid!



Yes, they’re…they’re amazing creatures…





damnit gray

Hmm…

Hey, what are you schemin’?

Wh-what? Nothing!

Uh-huh…


Ah, well, anyways, that's that. We're free to move on now, but there's a soldier here with some useful dialogue.



You’re new to the Deliverance, right? Then you’ll want to hear this.



That’s why Rigel was able to break the Divine Accord, which was supposed to prevent them from ever invading Zofia.



Eerie... but, there's no possible way this random rumor will ever have any effect on the story, I'm sure.

(And yes, I finally got off my backside and made a portrait for Soldiers instead of just using the Archer one. I'll fix the others... like later or something.)



Meanwhile, I suppose it's about time to outfit our units. Clair is our newest member of the crew, and our first flier unit. She's a bit frail, but her stats usually turn out quite nicely in the long run. She's also got that whole "Ohoho, I'm Noble" thing going on, but she's got more to her than just that.

I hand her the Iron Lance for now because even as low as her DEf and HP are, she needs some more damage to be usable against the soldiers we're fighting all the time now.



Meanwhile, Gray picks up our new toy, the Lightning Sword. A little less busted than it's previous incarnation, but still nearly as ridiculous, this is basically an infinite use Levin Sword for those more familiar with modern FE.

With it, Gray's damage now targets RES instead of DEF, and he also has 1-2 Range attacks at his disposal. It weighs him down a bit and drops his Crit a bit as well, but it's well worth it.



The main balancing factor is this passive skill it has, Transmute. While equipped, it will ignore Gray's actual ATK value and always consider it as being 15. For a long while this sword will remain useful, but it'll fall out eventually when enemy RES starts getting better and when his ATK would be better with a real sword or something.



Oh, and before we leave here, Silque wants to chat.



She was a cleric as well. As for my father, I fear I never met him. When I was little, my mother and I went on a long pilgrimage.



I can look at the sky and read the weather. I know which plants are edible. So if you find yourself wanting for advice, simply say the word."

Silque is cool, and I wish she had more relevance to the story. She doesn't have much in the way of supports, yet her character is very interesting. We will learn more about her later as time goes on though.

Anyways, that's all for today, I know it was just one battle, but hey, next update, you get two!

Next Time: The LCK Returns

-----------------------------------------


Clair

(Bases pictured not too far up.)

->

Growths:

HP:35 ATK:40 SKL:55 SPD:70 LCK:50 DEF:30 RES:2

Changes-wise, Clair lost an "e" off the end of her name and the generic Peg Knight look for something a lot more unique. To this date, I'm not sure what's up with those two layers of straight bangs, but somehow she pulls it off. Personality-wise, she's way different than the rather casual version of herself in Gaiden, and she's no longer a Knight of Zofia apparently, just a member of the Deliverance.

Overall, I really like Clair, though she doesn't do much to help her case at the start. She has some issues with seeing things from someone else's point of view, exemplified by her intro, but unlike a lot of noble characters she's already making a point to fix that from the very beginning and isn't a narcissist. She's also kind of a dork too, and it's great.

Stat-wise, she's actually rather amazing, and it's a shame that she doesn't have a unique spell list because she would be a great candidate to reclass later. She single-handedly has the highest SPD growth in the entire game, and backs it up with an average ATK score. She's just a bit flimsy on defenses and HP, which may become a problem in the future.

Her taste in food isn't much of a surprise though. She loves sweets, likes anything rich, bitter, or refined, and hates rough foods.

Welcome back. Today, we've got two generic fights to clear up on our way to the Zofian Castle and the Deliverance Hidout.



Might as well get on with it.







As you can see, it's mostly just soldiers, as will be usual from now on. I have no need of the Preparations screen, so we're just going to go into this swords a swingin'. It'll take long enough for our units to reach theirs anyhow.

Player Turn Music: Courage in Numbers | YT KHin

Enemy Turn Music: The Approaching Menace | YT KHin

Anyhow, for a change of pace, how about we listen to the battle themes used in the intro? We've been hearing the usual two for a while now.



Clair, our newly joined Peg Knight has an absolutely amazing movement range for this point in the game. we could have had cavs or pegs, but noooo Being a flying unit, she can pass over all terrain without feeling their effects, movement cost and the evasion bonuses. We'll want to keep her away from any well-equipped bow users, though.

For the time being, she's a bit weak, but she'll catch up soon enough. If not, her amazing SPD growth makes her a fine pick for reclassing later... if she had a decent spell list. A reclass into cavalier still isn't impossible.



Tobin moves up to perform the classic starting archer duel. It's kind of like how they fire off a blank for races, but I guess the direct intent of bodily harm might muddle that simile a bit.







Tobin starts us off strong today. High-five, my dude.



Thanks to shortest path algorithims, the enemy moves like a cohesive unit for once. This would maybe be a problem if we weren't kind of outclassing them so hard already.

Oh, but what's that extra danger range in the upper left, you ask?



It's just this nerd. He starts in the corner and I guess he tries to sneak up on you or something.

Really, it's just a taste of what we'll see in the coming battles. His damage is slightly less than the soldiers, but everything else is either higher or tied.



I mean, goodness knows they need that kind of help.





Our team does some funny poses.



Lukas pulls in overtime in the posing business.



Here's the thing, enemies, you might be moving in a bunch, but you don't have support bonuses like I do when I move in a bunch.

Albeit, they could be a lot stronger, but it's the thought that counts.

(Also note how Tobin has a natural support from Clair already. This is entirely unreciprocated on her side, the likely explanation being she's not trying to show off for him like he is for her.)



This is the part where it hurts!

Doesn't stop Tobin from still trying though. He's just putting in work today.



Dude, what happened to your head?!

Actually, it's just the helmet flying off, which is something that happens to enemies on occasion.



Alm's got nothing on me!

Of course, a de-helming arrow is pretty lethal, all things considered.



My turn!



Kliff roasts a guy and gets himself a point of speed. The skill is mostly unnecessary, but I'll take it.





You want some?!

All the while, Gray demonstrates the power of the Lightning Sword.

If it's not too clear by the numbers, he's doing 15 x 2 to each of these Soldiers at range, ignoring terrain bonuses.

The LS is really quite busted this early in the game, but as I noted in the last update, Transmute causes it to fall off later. Unfortunately, (or perhaps fortunately, depending on your view,) some other items are also victim to these balancing changes.



The Mother walks with me.
'Preciate it.

healer does a heal, news at eleven





And now, we weather the rest of their assault all the while that not-so-savvy cavvy takes his time getting here.





Kliff gets hit in the face, but returns fire.



Clair's hasn't actually been hit yet, it's just my video decided to crap out at this precise moment. How nice.



Come on!

Gray dunks on a guy. As far as I know, this animation is exclusive to finishing with the LS, and it's great.



And to finish the round, some poor sap tries to fight Alm. It doesn't go well for 'em.



Faye consumes another soul takes another soldier down. I mean, Nosferatu really doesn't hit this often on a usual playthrough, but...



I think it's mostly sapping my level luck. I'm not bothered by her getting DEF, but SKL is almost beyond useless for her.





Tobin takes a potshot at a soldier, but it's not enough to finish. He gets a direly needed DEF point from it.



Give it up.

Kliff does Kliff things.



I probably should've given this to Clair, but



I couldn't really resist



and neither could he





Yes, it was a bad joke, don't take it out on me, Gray.



Meanwhile, the enemy cav finally enters combat and Clair does her thing. Without the Iron Lance, she'd only 3 damage a swing, which is kind of pitiful compared to this guy's beefy HP pool.



Silque helps out.



And for some reason, I give this guy to Lukas. I guess he was closer to a level or something

listen, i don't remember every single choice



Paid off though. Lukas is quickly becoming amazingly tanky.

And that's that.



Hm, Silque ought to level soon.





And now this guy starts riding in now that we cleared all the foes. Oh boy...



Music: Borders | YT KHin



And what brings you here?

Need you even ask? When I heard you had been taken prisoner, I mounted my finest destrier and sped here at once. Sir Clive couldn’t leave the hideout without its commander, of course.







I'll repeat, Clair is a good person.

He is the grandson of Sir Mycen himself.

Mycen’s…grandson?



This man is not.

You were ordered to find the general himself, not some mewling child!



However, Alm and his friends have joined our cause in his stead.

Is this some manner of folly to you, Lukas? Am I to be amused?



The Deliverance has no place for brats with pitchforks.

Fernand, you must listen to reason.



In fact, without Alm, we might not have retaken the Southern Outpost. I can vouch for their strength.

Thank you, Lukas. I'm sorry I ever said anything bad about you.



Your entire house should be kissing the Knights of Zofia’s feet!

Ugh, I wonder who Lukas was referring to last update? Oh, I wonder...

Ngh…

I think that’s enough. You can say whatever nasty things about me you like. I’ll get over it.



I beg your pardon? Do I look like a man who listens to the opinions of peasants?



Fernand, my brother already explained this to you, did he not?

Sir Clive? What exactly did he explain?



If we do not all fight together as one, then we will never defeat Desaix. Those are wise words. Unforgettable words!



Rrr… You there! Boy!

…That’s me, I take it?



But you WILL learn your place! Now, Clair. Seeing as you are safe, you have no need for these people. Come, let us return. We must report this matter to Sir Clive at once.



…Very well. Do as you please.


*He rides off, thankfully*



I’ve never met someone so rude!



He’d nearly convinced me that swinish knights are the exception, not the rule. But…that was a swine, all right. *snort*

You poor dears must be so upset. I apologize for the way he treated you.

Don’t be silly.



Going for the harsh burns there Gray.

Oh my…



What? I have no idea what you’re talkin’ about.

Well, regardless…



He wasn’t always like this. The world…changed him.

Did…something happen to him?

We live in trying times. And some things that transpire are… difficult to put into words. In any case, we should be on our way.

We do learn Fernand's backstory, in not too long, but he is never not a gigantic asshole, pretty much. He's an entirely new character written into the story, designed to be a foil for someone we'll meet soon enough.





Anyways, let's take out our pent up frustration on this next battle.

---





There's no pre-battle story for this fight.

Player Turn Music: Courage in Numbers | YT KHin

Enemy Turn Music: The Approaching Menace | YT KHin



Nor does there seem to be any enemies...?



Oh, there you are, you nerds. All of 'em have the same stats as one another.



And guess what, there's these two on this side of the stream trying to pull off a pincer attack or something.



I don't think it's a pincer attack when your allies are too far away to, y'know, flank?



I don't think the pincer attack would've helped anyway, to be honest.



This is how it's done!

It's because of this.



I'll never yield!

RIP horse guy, had a plan, but it was a bad one



And all their work is easily denied as Faye heals the very minor wounds Alm sustained from that.



And Clair still gets her takedown.



I'm simply terrible!

(She means that as in terrifying- it's a correct application, though it's just archaic for us. It does add to the atmosphere of the game though.)



Silque heals, news at 12



And now we jam up the bridge just in time.





Lukas has become hilariously powerful compared to these people. It really is a shame that he wouldn't benefit that much from being reclassed to mercenary. He'd still make a killer cavalier though, way better than someone we're going to get eventually.



Tobin claims the power of the support chain to shoot across the river.



It works.











At the end of the day, it gets Clair an acceptable level, so I'll settle for it. She direly needs some defense or attack power though.



I move Alm for reasons I don't remember.



Kliff takes aim at cav, but he's just a little too slowed by his magic to double.



Don't push me!

Turns out doubling isn't necessary.



Crispy.



Farmin' support points :V



Farmin' chip exp :V



And slappin' bad guys-!



Tobin joins in on the fun too, mostly for all three of the above.



Because now we can do ourselves a chat.





Yeah, yeah. No small talk. Guess I forgot.

Or else you’re doing it on purpose to get under my skin.

Heh heh.

I really can’t stand when you do that.



This makes B support for the duo here. Still more of an altercation than a conversation, but there's more to this we'll see soon enough.



Clair swoops in on another guy, mostly because I'm trying desperately to get her out of her low levels.



It pays off by helping Silque level too.



I continue to leave most of it to her. Only one enemy can reach her at a time, they have no ranged attacks, and Silque is parked right behind her, so I can keep this up forever.



Just a swingin'.



And all this chain healing finally pays off so Faye and Silque can get their C support.





Yes, well, I was hoping we could get to know each other better. There are so few of us women fighting alongside Sir Alm, after all. And there are many things I wish to talk about that aren’t for the ears of men.

Well, um… I don’t think that kind of friendship is for me. Sorry.

Huh?

I’d rather spend time near Alm than stand about gossiping. No offense. Anyway… Good luck, I guess!



Unfortunately, Faye really doesn't want much to do with anything not involving Alm presently.

We'll keep trying I suppose, though I mean you could always talk to Clair about this too, y'know.





Friendship-making having failed, the battle continues as normal.



That conversation cause Silque to get this bad level, I guess. Honestly, it's not easy for her to ever really get good stats, we just want her to get her good spells.



And Clair finishes this one out for us.



Not a bad performance if I do say so myself.



Indeed it is Lukas, and thus it will be our next update. The entirety of it, actually. It's a big place. See you then.

Next Update: The War Against the Spookaroos

Update 8: Battling The Spookaroo

Music: Act 1 - Where the Wind Rustles | YT KHin NES

Welcome back, and apologies for the delay. The changing of the seasons has got me burned out of late and I've been busy with finishing up another Let's Play.

But hey, the update's here now! This is a big one by standards, and that's even after paring it down from 250 screenshots. We'll meet a few new characters and find ourselves one step away from the end of this act, and only in eight updates too.



We can try and leave, but like usual, we're being forced to follow the story. We'll get opportunities later to do stuff on our own, but that's uh... probably eleven chapters from now?


Alm, where are you going?

My brother will be most eager to meet you at the hideout. I insist we go!


But yeah, this is our "but thou must" for today.





Where do ya think yer goin’? Don’t y’know whose halls these is?





There’s no call to play at trickery with our new recruits.



I was worried Desaix’s dogs might have punched your ticket to the boneyard. So this sack of guts here must be Sir Grandson.

Meet Python. He's actually an entertaining character for the most part, but unfortunately he really won't get much story presence after this. I will say that the blue fauxhawk-like hair is a rather interesting design choice.

Yes, he’s the one. Is Sir Clive about?

Yup. Better shake your tail feathers— he’s been waiting for you.



Hm? What is it?



Music: Disquiet | YT KHin

Terrors?! What are monsters like those doing in your hideout?

Well, to be fair, they technically got here first.



Plus, Terrors spawn in greater numbers the closer you get to Mila’s power. Cutting ’em down only makes room for new ones, so we just let ’em be. Why the long face, stud? Don’t think you can handle a few creepie-crawlies? ‘Cause if not, I dunno how you’re planning to fight for the Deliverance.





Music: None

To be fair, it's an idea that sounds good on paper maybe. In practice it might be more than a bit dangerous.

Regardless, as we'll see soon enough, the Terrors we'll find here really don't live up to their name.

We can talk to Python again while we're here, for a possibly useful tip.

Go on. Sir Clive’s in the chamber waaay in the back.

But before we delve into our second dungeon, it's time to do some examining!







Yep, that's all there is to see here now that we've made Alm sneeze. Y'know, this place would have to be awful on the sinuses to live in as a hideout.



Right, anyways, let's go on in. There's not much to the prep menu, but it's nice to have given that when you enter dungeons you can only take up to 10 units. We'll be hitting that cap soon enough.





Music: Undercurrents | YT KHin NES



These sprawling catacombs were built as a resting place for Zofia’s most distinguished families.



I really do like the little narrations at the start of each dungeon. It reminds me of Final Fantasy: Crystal Caravans, and it adds a nice touch of worldbuilding.

Honestly, worldbuilding is one of this game's stronger suits. The more involved means by which you navigate the world gives you a far better feel for it than previous entries.

Now, for the Hideout, there's not much to say about it visually. It's very dark, and filled with lots of yellowed stone, but it does have a certain feel to it. The tight corners make it really easy for terrors to sneak up on you during your first time here.



Speaking of terrors, here's one now!



Music: The Usual Battle Themes

I got the first strike on these, so they're a bit wounded...



You can tell that they're not particularly a dangerous target aside from their massive health bar. Their low SKL, SPD, and DEF ensure that they miss often while being absolutely chewed up by our units.

Later on in the game these guys will get a hold of some better weapons that make them live up to their name a bit, but for now they're laughable.



So laughable in fact my strategy for most of these fights is this exact formation every time.





The first goes for Gray and the result is as you'd expect.



You should be ashamed.

They're so weak that even Kliff's shrugging these nerds off.



You watching?

He also just does this.



Go back to resting in peace, bud, you just got one shot.



The one that targets Alm gets absolutely wrecked and left as a nice bit of EXP popcorn.





This happens again as well.



I mean, really.



Lukas even gets in on the action, having more than double the enemy's ATK in DEF alone.



This is really only important because of this. Native to pretty much every shield in the game is our first combat art: Swap



This just lets him forcefully swap places with an ally unit. It has its uses, particularly for shield walls, but I just forget it exists most of the time.



Meanwhile these things make easy fodder for Clair to work on catching up more.



And catch up she does! You go girl!

Any level she gets with both SPD and either ATK or DEF is a good Clair level for me.



Silque joins in on the fun, mostly because I'd really like it if I could get her a few levels soon for her next spell, but I don't think we'll learn it in time.



Evidently my luck in hitting with Nosferatu has shifted back to leveling luck and crits.





Alm slices right through a Revenant for a good level.



And that's it! The bonus EXP at the end of each battle is mostly what's going to be sustaining us for today. These terrors pretty much only drop like 15 EXP for even our lower level units, so they're pretty useless on their own.



Music: Undercurrents | YT KHin NES

But it's back to more exploration now, and I'll just leave that as the theme for most of the update. I really do like Undercurrents, it really makes the proper ambiance for these early dungeons.

Scattered everywhere are plenty of pots and boxes to smash, which will occasionally give us a silver mark or two.



To start with, I just comb all the rooms, and go through the hallways clockwise, starting with the left.



But in a way, there's not much to say about the dungeon for now.



I do get into another fight and Tobin gets a chance to show off for today.



Clair gets a critical, which is fun.



You brute!

A crit from most characters here is enough to destroy a Revenant in one go.



Fast forwarding a bit, Kliff gets a level I'm quite happy with.





It also gets him the Thunder spell, which in turn for being heavier, slightly more expensive, and slightly less accurate, gets a notable power boost alongside being our first 1-3 range spell.

One Kliff gets some more SPD, this will practically be our replacement for Fire, though Kliff will always default to retaliating with Fire.



No more!



You set a strong example.

Faye gets a crit later on as well. It seems like it's been a long time since we've seen one of those.

I may not have mentioned it either, but nearby units will sometimes comment on another unit's performance, sometimes with special lines, which is another neat detail to the characters in this game.



I wish it was a long time since we'd seen one of these.



Well at least it looks like we've got a few other levels coming in.



Hey, bread. I'm sure this half eaten bread that I found in a crypt is totally safe to eat.



As I explore around, there's a rather obvious secret door. They all look like this, so it's not that secret, really.



Like, this room has to be filled with so much dust.



There's also an enemy here.



I've basically showed you all there is to show with Revenant random encounters so I'm probably just going to be showing highlights for most of this dungeon.





Tobin gives me a respectable level. Given the weight of bows in this game and a particular one we can get later, I'm really not all that worried about SPD on any of our archers, but it'll be nice to have.

Though we don't have one to demonstrate it with yet, you can't double with weapon arts, though a rare few will automatically double, (and guess what one of the bows has).



At one point, a revenant drops a Rusted Shield. Much like the other rusted stuff we have, it's basically useless right now until we can get it reforged.





Holy heck, thank you Gray. This one's one point off from basically being as a perfect level as one could expect. Finally, there's some DEF and HP for our merc here.





Silque hits level 4 and gets what I suppose is a good level. She's flimsy as all get out, but that DEF is so low it's not likely it'll reach an acceptable level until promotion minimums kick in later.

Her being a RES tank is very nice though.





Bonus EXP comes to our aid as usual.



Our reward is this fancy little 'ol chest here.



It drops a little bag that gives us a full 20 silver marks, which is times ten what we already had. Unfortunately, this still isn't very much at the end of the day.



It might be a bit hard to see, but the last unexplored hallway on this side eventually hits a dead end.



We head up the center hallway and start combing there. The northwestern room up here is another dead end that looks like it'd actually connect to the other one if the rubble wasn't all in the way.



Of more interest is this "secret" room just south of that back in the hallway.



We get into another fight inside, where Gray and Clair get their first support, and it's actually mutual this time, unlike Tobin's generic support bonus.





Still, a shame you are not Alm. A visit from him would have lifted my spirits.

Ouch. Tell me how you really feel.



And does the budding gardener think cajolery makes the flowers grow?

Cajoe… Cajoke…? I don’t know that word.

You have no shame, Gray.





Sheesh, man. What's HER problem?


Gray, that's called getting shot down. Evidently Clair doesn't appreciate getting hit on, which is a pretty reasonable reaction.

You ever notice most of these C supports are mostly arguments? :V

Anyways, it's a good thing we're working on this because between his and Alm's supports, Clair can get a full +14 Crit, which is pretty damn nice.





Clair converts her annoyance to violence and produces perhaps the most peg knight level that ever peg knighted. This is practically an empty level given her SPD growth is high enough to usually guarantee a point most levels anyways.





By Mila, Lukas, how are you so good this time around?

Like, keep it up, man- you're starting to become legendary at this rate!





Heeey, Faye, there ya go! That's an incredible level! I know you won't make too much of it being just a Cleric, but I'm not going to complain about better survivability and stronger healing. After all, Clerics are guaranteed a pretty good attack spell when they promote.

6

Well, this is just the worst case scenario: nobody's close to a level at all anymore. Oh, well, thanks anyways bonus EXP.



With that training montage risky combat encounter out of the way, we've got ourselves some loot!



Our treasure this time is an Iron Bow, which is overall lighter than the Steel but trades that off for less damage. Ideally, you'd give this to your archer with a high enough speed to double enemies while using it, but in practice it mostly just gets thrown on anyone who needs a bow to get bonus range and Anti-Flier.

Tobin's just barely not fast enough to double with it actually, but I'm keeping the Steel on him anyhow because he's over halfway to unlocking it's weapon art. Given I don't expect him to double anyways, the weapon art will basically be a boosted attack for him at the cost for a minor amount of HP.



Finally, we find our way to the right hallway, which is conveniently also the correct one for progression. Amazingly, the one thing I forgot to screenshot is the giant stone door that blocks you if you try to go completely straight.

Who knows, that might be enough of an inconvenience to stop the corrupt nobles from attacking. :V



Though the jerk's a bit hard to see, we do have a battle of somewhat note here.

Why?



Spookaroos that's why.



Bonewalkers are the only enemy down here that is an actual threat in a sense because they're the only ones with actual stats.

Standing at 30 HP, 10 ATK, and 8 DEF, and 5 MOV, these guys are actually pretty tanky and hit for either hellish or just significant damage on anyone not named Alm or Lukas.

Another notable threat is the fact that they can wield actual swords, something that will be rightly terrifying when they start showing up with this game's equivalent of Devil and Killer weapons.

They however have absolutely garbage RES though, so anyone with attack spells can destroy them pretty easily. I suppose the best comparison is the Armor Knights from other games.



However, these skellies also have rather rubbish hit chances.



The Lightning Sword also makes hilariously quick work of these nerds.



Poor thing...

I have Silque finish the fight, and that's really all there is to note.



Looks like we've got more incoming levels though.



Looking around, we've got another room...



...And another battle. The claustrophobic camera and the tall coffins really do a good job of hiding these enemies, though the alert sounds they make alongside the music cue for them chasing you does give you enough time to react. Even here I was able to get the preeemptive strike.



another bone man is boned



Though Kliff disappointingly misses the the thing.



Silque misses one Nosferatu, but follows up with another one that makes the punch.



This is potentially one of the most useless levels possible, but I at least appreciate the effort. I think LCK maybe affects Crit on spells still, but the other two are basically wasted.

I mean, the DEF point may come in handy, but unless she starts rolling it every level, I don't think it's likely she'll overcome the promotion minimums.



On your knees!



Hey, stop hogging all the fun!

Clair crits a revenant that only had 1 HP left. That's some serious overkill there.



Faye's getting bit tired as Gray and Tobin approach another level again as usual.

I forget how much I went into depth on these things, but fatigue only affects you at the absolute minimum level by temporarily halving your max HP. On Normal difficulty, it's not a problem very often.

We're also near the end of this dungeon, so Faye should be able to hold out for now.



Following the rightmost hallway some more takes us to a large L-shaped hallway that isn't ruined like the other.



Conveniently it takes us right to the backside of the giant stone doors that were blocking us earlier. We can remove the bar for a far simpler point of egress, while also just kinda undoing the Deliverance's secondary means of security.

What? We're here now, so even if the Knights of Zofia had wanted to attack, they'd have us to deal with.



Bam, door open.

I don't particularly see how just putting triangular "hooks" on the sides helps keep it shut, my immediate thought is that the door would pull apart anyhow and the bar would just slide up, but eh.

(That does assume a lot of strength though.



Let's just ignore this mysterious architecture and go have some story.





Music: None (I think)

_{(It's been a while and I can't remember, okay)}

Pictured: Green Cavalier Soldier, A Guy I Don't Like, and A Guy I Really Don't Like.





It gladdens me to see you safe! I couldn’t bear to lose you on top of everything else we have sacrificed.



But I’m all right. Alm and the others arrived before true ill could befall me.

And you must be Alm. I’ve been looking forward to this meeting.

Evidently, word of our fame travels fast.



Ha ha ha. Please, be at ease. Such formalities are not required here.





Music: March | YT KHin NES

It’s good to meet you, Alm.

L-likewise, Clive.

At base, Clive starts out pretty okay, it's just that as time goes on, I can't say he'll be living up to his reputation very well.

Let's just say my brief annoyance of Lukas at the start was probably the projection of how I feel about this guy.





Tobin! I am sorely disappointed in you. Sir Clive captains the Knights of Zofia! He’s the finest knight in all the realm!

I'd be willing to argue that. There's more than a few better contenders throughout the game, personally.

I mean, have you even seen our Lukas?



Okay, okay. He’s clearly a big deal.







I can't stress how good the voice acting is with these lines.



Music: None



We lost many good men when the outpost fell. …Too many. The morale of our troops has taken an ill turn in kind.





Even if I don’t know what they are. But I promise you that I’ll fight every bit as hard as he would have. …Or harder!



Alm's a good kid.

Peace, Alm. I understand. None here would dare think your grandfather craven. That being said, I would beg a boon of you.



Please, go on. If it’s within my power, I’ll do it.

Then I shall state it plain.



Music: Uprising | YT KHin NES



I mean…um…what? I’m not a leader!



Have you taken leave of your senses?

This needs to happen, Fernand. You know it as well as I. It’s true the Deliverance began as a group of like-minded Zofian knights...



We share a cause, but little else. I know not how to speak to their hearts. Sir Mycen began as a common soldier before rising to a knight and a count. His story resonates with these people.





If some ungrateful peasant won’t heed your command, you sweep him aside!

Think, Fernand!



Ngh…



You too…?!



(-Insert jokes here about SKL and the fact that only Alm can have the Fighter class-)

Clive has done all he can to hold the Deliverance together thus far, but if our ship is astray, then we must chart a new course. Alm is that course.





Damn, Lukas, you go. I actually forgot how cool you were after being away from this game for so long.

I lost friends at the Southern Outpost. Veteran men, yet dead all the same. We MUST adapt so we might end this war as quickly as possible.






Sorry, Alm, "but thou must" calls.

I understand what you can and cannot do, Alm.



We only need you do one thing: lead. You would be inspiring the troops and revitalizing the army. You are Sir Mycen’s grandson. I know you to be capable of such.

I’m not so sure…



My brother tries to hide it, but I know the anxiety takes a toll on him. You can relieve him of at least a portion of that burden.

I want to, but…



All right. If you think me worthy, then I won't let you down.

Are you certain? Then thank you, Alm. Thank you.

Just... please, keep your expectations low.

Ha! As you wish.

This could change everything… The boy will make a splendid leader! Simply splendid!

Without a doubt.

(Fernand grabs Clive)



Music: None



I only joined this damned army because YOU were leading it! And now you want me to take orders from some wretched farmchild?



Mycen? Pah! Damn him AND his blood! They may sing of him as a hero, but no one even knows what wench the man sprang from!



You need to invoke the name of that old man to control your men? Pathetic.

Here's the thing, no matter how much sympathetic background Fernand gets, I can't find a single shred of respect for him.

Can you guess why?

Enough!



Music: Parting | YT KHin

We were supposed to be a band of noble knights. United in purpose! Upholding a tradition! Restoring the old order to Zofia! Now the Deliverance is full of baseborn serfs trying to lord over us.



Both of them have proven themselves on the battlefield time and again! Are you suggesting I deny my men fair reward for their achievements? What incentive would they have then?! The damned army wouldn’t function! Hear me, Fernand. Hear me well.



But please, for the sake of our ideals, you MUST think beyond them.

No, Clive. I will not. I would rather die than kneel to some whelp who was birthed in the hay. Today we part ways for good and all.



Fernand, wait—



*Fernand stomps off*



…No.



I cannot force him to see things as I do, so… Well, perhaps it’s better this way.

Clive… I know it’s not much in the way of comfort, but…I’ll do my best.



I suppose you must still have many questions about the Deliverance. Feel free to ask around to any of the soldiers here.



Music: Melody of Water | YT KHin NES

Ugh, I suppose I'll take him.



Anyways, a lot of people to talk to.



We'll start with the only named guy here.



I am Forsyth, Sir Clive’s lieutenant and advisor. Together, let us take back the castle and return Zofia to her people.

In the shortest introduction ever, Forsyth will offer to join us. If we refuse...

Refusal:

Sorry? Did you say “no”? Ah. I…I see. Well then… S-so be it. I shall stay here and stand watch over the hideout with honor and…um…

Talking again after Refusal:

Yes? Have you reconsidered? It would gladden me to join you.

But I'm not doing that because Forsyth is a great guy.



He unfortunately doesn't get much rep outside of supports, a single cutscene we'll get later, and the town conversations.



Not only is the lad a general, but he’s also first in line to the Rigelian throne. That’s due to the Emperor not having children of his own, you see. Anyway, he’s said to be tough as nails. I sure hope I don’t have to face him!


This is a reference to two characters we'll meet next update. They're entirely new to the game's story, in fact.

I'm not sure if they're an improvement, personally.




The peasants living on his lands were starving ’cause of the drought. They blamed Fernand for not providing for them and stormed his manor.



Here's Fernand's backstory.

It's a story where the people on both sides suck.




She was every inch as strong as him, and clever as an old cat, to boot. But Desaix took her captive, and now keeps her locked up in his fortress. He’s made many attempts to use her as leverage to force our surrender. But still, Sir Clive refuses to submit.



Knowing this, Sir Clive grows less bold as the days pass. Who can blame him?

Mathilda is actually far stronger than Clive and better all around, pretty much. This will explain his actions for a little while, but... well, you'll see.




Uh, maybe? I don't know.



We'll see a good many of them, in fact.



Down in the corner is some Mana Herbs. They're a heal of 20 for being Rough type food, which most people don't particularly like. If you need health and not fatigue restored, these will serve you well.

But that's why you've got Clerics.

Anyways, there's almost always one of these at every Mila shrine.



Also, Lukas can promote! I wanted to keep it a surprise, I guess. Him promoting this early isn't really that unusual if you put some use into him, because he already starts as a first level class from the start of the game and not a villager.



You're not expected to have this fast of a Knight. Some folks in the thread pondered the idea of using one of our pitchforks on Lukas so we could reclass him into Mercenary after getting this promotion. The promotion minimum boosts would give us a unit with high DEF and SPD, but uh...



We already kind of have that. We're only two points off the Mercenary SPD minimum.

Now, Cavalier could be a nice reclass option though...

Also, Knight is the same idea as the Armor Knights from other games and thus have large metal shields, but presently Lukas's leather shield is overriding that model.

Music: As You Will It | YT KHin

Anyways, here's the promotion music. I previously neglected to link it, which is a bit unfair because it's actually pretty nice.



Anyways, that's about all we care about in here, but there is an extra room here.



Oh heck, more stat fountains! It's almost like these shrines are guaranteed to have them!





This one's a far more important decision than the last one. These fountains do ATK and DEF, and have a shared three uses like usual. Either of these stats are very good in the long term, and I'll be handling the votes for this like we did the last one.

For a quick recap: you get three votes in which you vote for one of our units, and which one of the stats you want to give them.

To determine who gets what, I'll do it based on the percentage values of the votes.

One last thing before I close out this update for today...



(On returning to the entrance, you can also recruit Python for a second archer.)

…Eh? Am I coming with you? Well, I COULD…but I don’t HAVE to. Howzabout I just let you decide?

Refusing:

Hey, it’s your deal, pal. Good luck…’cause you’ll need it!

Talking Again:

What? Whaaaaaat. If you want me to come, just say so. You’re making this so awkward.



Yeah, we'll go ahead and take him. Goodness knows it doesn't hurt to have more units. Anyways to quickly sum up some of the differences from Gaiden with the hideout...

Overall Differences from Gaiden:

Though the dungeon layout is similar in spirit, the real main changes here are to the story. Obviously, Fernand's scenes are not present given he's a new character to the storyline, and aside from that, there's only a few differences worth particular note.

- Clive's recruitment is a lot more straighforward, as always likely due to lack of space. There's no mention of the current state of the Deliverance, and instead apparently their plan for Mycen was to crown him the new king of Zofia. Alm just silently accepts having an entire war effort laid upon his shoulders instead of realistically protesting a bit as he does now.

- Whereas in the last update a soldier told us about the breaking of the Divine Accord, originally Forsyth tells you about it here before joining.

- Nobody is present to talk about Mathilda, and on leaving, Python is far more energetic about going to fight Desaix

And with that, that's all for today folks. Next time we'll be approaching the end of the Act, so get prepared for that.

And for those of you voting on our fountain uses, here's our present stats:




And with that, I'll see you later.

Next Time: Why I Desaix, Optional Minibosses!

---------

New Characters:

Clive
(Original: Clerbe/Cleive)

(Bases pictured above)

->

Growths:

HP:55 ATK:40 SKL:35 SPD:25 LCK:25 DEF: 30 RES:2

Clive begins being presented as an honorable, brave, and valiant rising hero of sorts, and early on into our first meeting with him, the cracks in that are already showing a bit. He's at least nice to the commonfolk, unlike Fernand. From this point on, he will almost fully take over Alm's role as his foil, and I'd rather have Lukas back the whole time.

Combat-wise he's got okay bases and a free Steel Lance, but his SPD growth will almost inevitably hold him back. Mathilda, who we'll eventually find, has all around better growths than he does, and typically better stats, so...

In a way, his old portrait is one of the most accurate ones, even if he kind of looks like Leon Kennedy. At least his and Clair's hair colors look like they match better now.

He prefers bitter or meaty foods, likes refined or rich foods, but hates sweets.


Forsyth
(Original: Fols/Force)

(Bases pictured above)

->

Growths:

HP:40 ATK:40 SKL:35 SPD:40 LCK:40 DEF:30 RES: 2

Forsyth is a great guy, but whether or not he's a great unit is mostly just on luck. He'll get some interesting conversations and character building later, but for now all you really get is his perfectly meme-worthy, heroic voice acting. You'll see it soon enough, but just know he's the kind of guy who will absolutely yell out "I'm a Forsyth to be reckoned with!"

In my previous playthrough, Forsyth's more reliable average growths had him far eclipse my Lukas in everything but defense, but we'll see how that goes this time as he, uh, he's got quite the competition this time. Good news for him though, outside of Mage, he's good in any class you felt like reclassing him to. His original portrait is pretty far off what his is now, though the overhanging bangs was sort of kept in essence.

Aside from his love for Zofia, Forsyth's other love is sweet foods, although he enjoys some bitter foods on occasion. He can't stand rich or meaty foods though.

Python
(Original: Paison)

(Bases pictured above)

->

Growths:

HP:45 ATK:40 SKL:25 SPD:55 LCK:20 DEF:25 RES:4

Python's got possibly one of the lowest SKL growths for an Archer in any FE game, really, but given how this game's accuracy works and how the promotion minimums work, it's not much of a problem. In my experience he is most definitely one of the fastest archers, and honestly, growth-wise, he's actually pretty good provided the RNG holds up for you. My first Python was definitely sub-par, but archers do always have a place in this game.

Character-wise, he's interesting enough as a good foil for Forsyth. The best way to describe him is the pure essence of the "C student". He does the work, but never aims above expectations, in this case primarily due to disillusionment with the work. Design-wise he's not too far off, though his original self looks maybe a bit younger.

Python loves bitter foods, is okay with meaty or rough foods, but hates refined foods.

---- END OF CHARACTER PROFILES ----