Romance! Intrigue! Honor! And WAR!! Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4!!

Fionordequester · Sat Aug 29, 2020 3:47 am

In an age beyond living memory

A devil's shade cast upon our world

Plunging it into the deepest darkness

And condemning us to endless grief.

In vain we prayed to the bleak heavens.

Twelve gods descended from above

To lead the charge against the great evil.

Invoking holy light, the gods smote the devil,

And granted us our lost hope once more.

We and our world were thus reborn.

And so,

As time flows endlessly on,

The nightmare has faded into legend...

And title drop! Yes, like I was saying, the Fire Emblem series is not JUST about the gameplay. Each one also puts a heavy emphasis on having an extensive plotline, on having lots of dialogue, on having many unique and colorful characters, on having an interesting backstory...basically, on having an actual plot.

Unfortunately, this particular game in the series was never released in America. In fact, NONE of them were until the 7th game, shortly after a certain character called Roy appeared in Super Smash Bros. Unfortunately, Roy was the main character of the 6th game, so we never actually got his game. But oh well...

Anyways, I AM using an English patch for this game. But, while it is actually pretty well done (as far as translation patches go), it did not translate ALL of the dialogue, only most of it. There is someone named "BookofHolsety" doing another translation patch, but for now, I'll have to settle for using his script for whatever parts weren't translated.

Now then, let's start our game!

Oh, wait, nvm, another opening crawl. Gotta have that backstory

!

Boy...wonder why this never made it into America...

Yeah, some of the middle part of that timeline was alluded to in the opening we watched. You don't really need to know it, but it's a neat little thing to keep in mind, just because it adds some flavor to the story

.

Now then, after that, we get a nice isometric map of the world of Fire Emblem 4. Every time you complete a map, you're going to be treated to one of these segments, accompanied with text to inform you of the current situation, being faced by both the world, and by your main character (who is always some sort of military commander in these games).

Unfortunately, the text itself consists of a long string of sentences scrawled across many, many text boxes. And considering each of them can only contain two short lines of text...I'm not going to try to catch all the text in screenshots. Instead, we're just going to transcribe it, and include the occasional screenshot so that you don't get lost. Now then...

Grandbell rests in the centre of the Jugdral continent and was founded by Saint Heim, one of the 12 Crusaders.

Heim’s descendants, the Royal Family, were joined by six additional duchies, each with their own Crusader lineage. Each duchy possessed large territory and military holdings, and exercised partial autonomy while serving under the Royal Family.

Assisting the prince was his confidant Lord Bryon of Chalphy, and Lord Ring of Jungby.

Prime Minister Reptor of Freege felt his position was being undermined. Calling on the avaricious Lord Langbart of Dozel, the two formed a coalition opposing the prince’s authority.

Actually, this screenshot contains a small error in the English patch script. See, Reptor's loathing wasn't something that just started recently. According to BookofHolsety's shiny new script, Reptor had been hating Kurth for a good while before finally starting stuff with Langbart at his side. Anyways, mugshots.

And now for the next person on our list...Alvis!

The young Lord Alvis of Velthomer, commander of the Royal Guard, had little involvement in governmental affairs.

"So all those other important guys? He's not one of them, he just some guy. Some guy who does...stuff, I guess....Yeah. Don't know why we even mentioned him really."

Okay but seriously, what the game is SUPPOSED to tell you is that Alvis is extremely busy with his duties as Commander of the Royal Guard, and THAT'S why he isn't involving himself in the current situation with Kurth vs. Reptor & Langbart. The original translation patch just missed that tidbit.

And unfortunately for us, HE'S not going to be in the plot for another 10 hours, so that...doesn't really help us much

. So that's it for all the Dukes and Duchies. But wait, there's more!

Just as this drama was beginning to unfold, news of calamity arrived from the east.

We then scroll northeast.

The peaceful town of Darna, located in the Yied Desert, came under siege by Isaacian barbarians. Reports told of a massive slaughter taking place.

We then we scroll back to Grandbell.

Back in Grandbell, public outcry began to grow, and before long the decision was made to subdue Isaac. Acting on his father’s behalf, Prince Kurth departed for the front commanding the lords from each duchy. There at his side, a warrior in his own right revered for his heroism and bravery, was none other than Lord Bryon. Only a handful of soldiers remained in Grandbell. Owing to a diplomatic alliance with Agustria to the west...

...and the Verdane Kingdom to the southwest...

...fear of any kind of aggression was virtually non-existent. However, that trust was betrayed all too soon. Verdane Kingdom’s massive army, spearheaded by Prince Gandolf...

...crossed into Grandbell territory unnoticed and laid siege to Jungby Castle.

Entrusted with the protection of the kingdom by his father, Lord Bryon, Sigurd...

...stayed behind at Chalphy Castle. With only a few soldiers at his disposal, he was rightfully terrified when news of the invasion reached Chalphy. Sigurd cried, ‘Those barbarians aren’t laying a hand on Aideen!’

Creative Liberty #1: The original text just has the narrator speaking the entire time, while this one quotes something Sigurd said.

So yeah, unlike most other fan translations, this one actually has had some creative liberties taken with it! And a lot of them actually work out pretty well! This one, for example, brings some much needed spice into what is otherwise a long info-dump about Grandbell and it's politics. Pretty neat eh?

Having known Aideen since childhood, he was left with no other alternative. Sigurd promptly made the decision to take up arms.

Gran calender – 757. It was this very turn of events that cracked open the door of fate. No one at the time could have recognised this forewarning to the disastrous events to follow.

Oooh, that sounds ominous.

Birth of a Crusader

Here's the Chapter title screen, written in lots of complicated looking Kanji! I've taken beginning Japanese, but I can't even HOPE to translate that myself! Not without a dictionary!

So here's that massive army the game was talking about. Man, looks like it's in deep trouble doesn't it?

And here's a look at the conversation going on in Jungby. You're going to be seeing this kind of thing very often in Fire Emblem 4, with every different faction talking about what's going on, and how they feel about the proceedings, and things like that. Quite neat, that.

Aideen: Please save yourself. I want as many of you to get out of this alive as possible!

Midir: None of us are going anywhere, my lady. We’re here for you till the very end. Even if it means our lives.

Aideen: Oh… thank you, Midir. I’m so sorry to put you through all this.

Pretty nice woman, huh? You can really see why everyone's so concerned about her

.

Meanwhile, at Castle Chalphy...

Here's Sigurd!

Sigurd: Aideen is in trouble. Gandolf’s army has laid siege to Jungby Castle. Noish, I’m going to go and see if I can do something. You’re in charge while I’m gone.

Noish: Sir… You’re not planning on going alone, are you!?

Sigurd: Grandbell’s military is already en route to Isaac. There really is no one left to call on. Verdane’s army may be full of barbarians, but it’s huge. There are bound to be casualties. I can’t get you involved.

...uh, yeah, isn't that EXACTLY WHY THEY SHOULD get involved?! Sentiment is nice and all, but how are you going to save Aideen and everyone else if you're fricken DEAD

?!

Noish: Excuse me, sir!?

Yeah, excuse me? Noish and Alec may stink at fighting (as we will see soon), but...surely they don't stink THAT badly...right?

Noish: We were born into the knighthood and are prepared to die fighting! We’d be a disgrace to let our master perish out there all alone. We’re going with you. Alec, you’re with me on this, aren’t you?

You tell him Alec!

Alec: But we’d better swing by the villages before going to Jungby Castle. Those barbarians’ll loot the place, kill everybody in sight, then burn it all to the ground. We’ve got to beat them there and get the villages to strengthen their defenses.

Sigurd: Point well taken, Alec. We mustn’t overlook our duty as knights to protect the people.

Alec: Actually, Oifaye takes credit for that one. I tell ya, that kid’s a strategist in the making. Takes right after that famous grandfather of his, Lord Sesar.

In some ways, it does seem a little strange to take such a detour when Jungby, one of the six major duchies of Grandbell, is in danger of being conquered...but actually, this is pretty smart if you think about it. One, you really do need the support of the common people if you want them to fund your war as willingly as you'll want them to, and secondly, Verdane's army is kind of all over the place. So if you just try and charge straight toward Jungby, like Sigurd may have otherwise done, there's a very real risk that he and his men would have just gotten themselves surrounded, flanked, and then killed.

But by doing this first, they're not only eliminating that risk, but they're also taking out a good chunk of Verdane's army while it's still scattered, unorganized, and not as adequately prepared to deal with Sigurd's army. So good on ya Oifaye.

Sigurd: I don’t know, Oifaye…You’re still pretty young. You think you’ll be okay out there?

Oifaye: I’m already 14, sir.

Whoa fourteen! That's like, all the way into your tweens :cheeky:!

Oifaye: I know I’m not ready to fight yet, but I can still help out. Please… let me go with you.

Sigurd: Well, it has been a good two years since you began training for your knighthood under me. You’re probably ready for some battlefield action. But no fighting… not just yet anyway. Why don’t you come along as my personal advisor?

Oifaye: You bet! Thanks, sir!

So Fire Emblem 7 had Mark the Tactician, and now we have Oifaye. Quite a bit younger than Mark, but hey, at least he talks

!

Noish: Sir, have you considered leaving someone behind to defend the castle? It would be too risky not to. We would be finished if we lost our base here to the enemy.

Alec: Hey Noish… you KNOW who’d be perfect for that job! Isn’t that right, Arden?

Ardan: Why me, Alec?

Ok, so I've given the Translation patch some grief in regards to a few mistranslations and some untranslated dialogue. And trust me, there's going to be more issues as time goes along...

But do not be fooled. In terms of reading well, reading like it was written by an actual human being, this is BY FAR one of the best patches I've ever seen. It's not (usually) overly literal, it's easily to understand what the characters are saying, the names were localized faithfully while still sounding like actual names, the characters personalities are still mostly retained (though the translators DID take liberties with some of them...like Trabant and Ardan, and it's really obvious that whoever the translators were, they had a very good sense of humor.

Seriously, it's very rare that you'll find an English patch like this. Obviously the localization isn't quite as good as the kind you'd find in any of the FE games that actually came out in America...but it's still head and shoulders above almost every other fan translation I've ever seen (exceeded only by the excellent FE12 translation). Heck, it even reminds me of Woosley's FF6 translation in some ways, though BookofHolsety certainly doesn't think it's anywhere near comparable in quality...

But still, it's an extremely nice change of pace after fan translation after fan translation containing dialogue so stiff and natural, it hardly even feels like a human wrote it. So I like it at least. Anyways, let's see some more of that dialogue, shall we?

Sigurd: Ardan, can we count on you? You’re the only who can aptly handle the castle’s defense.

Ardan: Alright, I’ll do it. But you gotta promise to take me to battle with you sometimes.

Sigurd: Will do. Alright, let’s make our way to the villages, and then we’re off to Jungby!

And there we go. All of Sigurd's forces are assembled, and we are ready to kick some butt! But first, let's use the R Button to scan one of the enemies...

Alright, so we're seeing a whole lot of numbers and stuff. But if you're new to the Fire Emblem series, I'm guessing you're not too familiar with any of this stuff, so let's go over it real quickly, alright? Now then...

HP: This here is the most important stat of all. This represents your health, and the number on the right represents the maximum amount of health any unit can have. The number on the left represents how much health you have currently, and this number will start to go down if the unit starts taking hits from an opposing unit. And if it goes all the way to zero...well, I'm...sure you can imagine what happens then :nervous:. So do NOT let that happen to your own units!

Lev: We'll get more into this later...but for now, just realize that this plays a crucial role in how many of the other stats you have.

Atk: This here represents how much "Damage" your unit can do to another unit's HP. See, like Chess, each faction in this game takes turns. But unlike Chess, each and every unit on your side gets to move before the Computer gets a chance to move it's unit. Then you have to wait till IT moves all of it's units before finally getting to take your next turn.

In addition, unlike Chess, you can't just attack a "piece" and expect to just instantly K.O. it no matter what. No, in order to "kill" a unit, you have to take off ALL of it's HP, and the "Atk" rating represents just how much HP you can take off at any one time, assuming that your opponent has 0 Defense/Resistance. If your opponent DOES have Defense and Resistance however, then your Atk will be subtracted by however much Defense or Resistance your opponent has. "But wait', you might ask. 'Why do you keep saying Defense OR Resistance as opposed to both?" Well...you'll see, but for now, let's move on...

Hit and Evd (Evade): Represents how accurate a unit's attack is, and how likely it is to "dodge" an attack. Yes, not only can you NOT kill a unit in one blow, but you're attack may not even do ANY Damage at all! Basically, take the "Hit" of your unit, and subtract it by the "Evade" of whatever enemy unit you want to attack, and you'll have your percentage of how likely you are to hit.

So if one of your units has 80 Hit, and you subtract it by this guy's -20 Evade, that means you have a 100% chance of hitting this guy! But if your unit has only 10 Hit, and you subtract it by this guy's -20 Evade, then that means you only have a 30% chance of hitting this guy. So you're going to want to have REALLY high Hit and Evade ratings in this game if you want to do well!

Str (Strength), Mgt (Might) and Def (Defense): So now we know that "Attack" determines how much damage you can do...but what determines how much Attack your unit has? Well, actually, it's quite easy to find out. Just add this unit's "Strength" rating to the "Might" of it's weapon, and there you go! 5 Str + 14 Mgt = 19 Damage! As for those two stats, a unit has a fixed amount of Strength that it just naturally possesses, but it's Might depends on what exact weapon it's using. Right now, this enemy only has a weak Iron Axe, but later enemies have multiple Weapons that it can use depending on what they feel like doing. So keep that in mind for later...

As for "Defense", this is the stat that protects you against your opponent's attack. So if this guy attacks your unit, and your unit has 14 Defense, then that means this guy will only do 5 HP worth of damage rather than his full 19. So that's pretty simple I think...

Mgc & Res: Now these stats are like Str and Def, except, they only into play if you or your enemy decides to use a book of magic, like a Fire Tome or a Thunder Tome. Yes, in addition to knights and bandits, there are also wizards and sorcerers here too! And if one of those guys decide to attack you with magic rather than a weapon...

Then these stats will determine how much damage you take from their magic spells. So if your opponent has 4 Mgc and their Thunder tome has 14 Mgt, then that means that they have 18 Atk. Then if your unit has 5 Res, then that means your opponent does 13 Damage to you. Because 18 - 5 = 13. So that'll add a bit of a new dimension to things, once we actually get magic using units and stuff.

Skl & Acc: Now then, these two stats are what are used to determine your Hit rating. The formula is Skl x 2 + Weapon Acc = Hit. This guy's Skl is 0, and the Acc of his Iron Axe is 70. So, 0 Skl x 2 + 70 Acc = 70 Hit.

Spd, Wgt and Lck: These three stats are what determine your Evd. The formula for this is (Spd-Wgt) x 2 + Lck = Evd. This guy's Spd is 7, the weight of his weapon is 18, and his Lck is 0. So, (7 Spd - 18 Wgt) x 2 + Lck = -22 Evd.

That said though, Spd actually has an EXTREMELY important second function, which we will get to...now!

See this screen here? This is the second part of each unit's stat screen. So first, let's start with...

Personal Data: "Move" represents how many squares a unit can move per turn, Gold allows you to buy stuff on later maps, and "Lead" is a passive bonus Hit and Evd bonus that some units can give to others if they happen to be within 3 square of them. 2 Star units give 10+ Hit/Evd, 3 star units give 20+ Hit/Evd, 4 star units give 30+ Hit/Evd, and finally, 5 star units give 40+ Hit/Evd. So if you have the opportunity, it can sometimes be REALLY helpful to have your other units fight within three squares of wherever Sigurd is. As for the rest of the Personal data, those are all only situationally relevant, so we'll save those for later. For now, let's move on to...

Weapon Level: Here we have every kind of weapon in the game represented, both regular and magical. And there are 4 Ranks you can get within each category. You can have either a C Rank, a B Rank, an A Rank, or an "*" Rank. Each one is better than the one before it, to the point where having an * in, say, Axes, allows you to wield each and every single Axe in the entire game, including the very best ones to exist. But if you only have a C Rank, then that means you can only use extremely weak, extremely ineffective axes. And obviously THAT'S no good! And finally...

Special Skills: Oh boy. This here is one of the simplest, yet probably THE most important mechanic in the game. Remember what I was saying at the beginning, when I said that each character had their own unique attributes and traits? Well, this here is a large part of that!

See, "Special Skills" represent abilities that only certain characters have. Some, like Sigurd, only have one, but others can have as many as FIVE Special Skills! And there are as many Special Skills in this game as there are Pokemon in the Pokemon series! Some can sometimes allow a unit to hit an enemy up to 10 times in a single fight, some can sometimes allow a unit to have DOUBLE the amount of Atk they would normally have, some allow you to take an enemy unit's Gold from there...you get the point.

Unfortunately, Sigurd here only has one Special Skill. But the one he DOES have is probably the very best one in the game. If you click the R Button in order to check it out...

Whoa! Look at that! This baby allows Sigurd to attack an enemy unit not just once, but TWICE so long as he is faster than them! How can you tell if he's faster? Well, take his Spd...

...subtract it by the Weight of his weapon...

And you'll see that the resulting number (or Attack Speed/"AS", as we Fire Emblem 4 players call it) is 9. On the other hand, the Iron Axe guy has 7 Speed, and wields a weapon that has 18 Wgt, so 7 Spd - 18 Wgt = -11 AS. So yeah, Sigurd is DEFINITELY fast enough to hit the other guy twice when he attacks with his Steel Sword! And since Sigurd has 24 Atk compared to the other guy's 5 Def, he'll not only do 19 Damage per hit, but he'll deal TWO hits instead of just one during a round of combat. And since the Axe guy only has 36 HP...

...

Yeah

. Clearly you see see just how amazing skills are. And best of all, each and every single unit you have, and will ever get, will ALWAYS have at least one skill, while the enemy units usually have none. Pretty AMAZING eh?

So I know this all sounds pretty tedious, and it sounds like it involves a LOT more number crunching than is actually fun to do...but actually, it's not as bad as it sounds becaaaaaaause...

Because of this. Don't be fooled by the "Acc" rating here. Unlike the "Accuracy" rating we already talked about (the one that belongs to individual weapons), this number is generated AFTER the game subtracts the enemy's Evade from however much Hit you have. So actually, the game already does a lot of the math FOR you. Because if you decide to have your unit attack an enemy, but then decide that you don't like the numbers displayed her, you can actually CANCEL your decision instead of actually going through with it.

As for why the enemy's hit is so much higher when Sigurd uses a lance, even though Sigurd didn't suffer that sharp an Evasion drop...that's because there's a little something called the "Weapon Triangle" mechanic in this game. Basically, if you attack an Axe-Wielder with someone using a sword, you get a 20+ bonus to your Accuracy and Evade. But if you attack said Axe-Wielder with a lance, then you get a 20 point penalty on your Accuracy and Evade. Same bonus applies for if you attack a Lance-Wielder with an axe, and the same penalty applies for if you attack said Lance-Wielder with a sword. And then of course, I think you can guess what happens if you use a lance or an axe against someone using a sword...

But man, that is a HECK of a lot of words I just threw at you, isn't it? This game must sound like some boring board game or something, huh? Well, actually it's not. In fact, before I end this update, let me show you just a little taste of just how exciting it can be...

Yeah, LOOK at those awesome animations! Look at how fast that went! Yeah, that's part of what makes the Fire Emblem series so great. Because of the story, the unique characters, the (usually) well done graphics, and the animations, the series itself is FAR more dynamic than a lot of other Strategy RPG's. Because of this, the games are able to be appealing even if you're not the kind of guy who'd be willing to, say, sit down at a Dungeons and Dragons game for 3 hours. Or something nerdy like that. So once you get the mechanics down, these games are seriously a ton of fun to play, so don't be intimidated by the epic mechanics-dump I just gave, alright?

So, anyways, I think I'll call this a day. We've went over a LOT of ground today, and I've already given the mother of all info-dumps. So then, how will Sigurd save the fair lady of Jungby? What will be done about Gandolf? Will he have to stop the Verdane army all alone? When am I going to start talking about what a "Max Rank Run" looks like? And...just what does the game mean about "cracking open the door of fate"? Find out, on the next EXCITING episode, of Let's Play Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War! Have a nice day...and God bless you

!

Fionordequester · Sat Aug 29, 2020 3:59 am

Hello everyone, and welcome to Let's Play Fire Emblem 4: Genealogy of the Holy War! Today we have two co-commentators joining us today! We have MartyTheDemonSlayer, who has done numerous AAAA Ranked Runs and other kinds of special runs...

Yeah, mostly what he said. Check out my FE4 0% Growths playthrough if you want to see more efficient Fire Emblem Play.

...And we have Grandmaster Arcturus, who is new to the Fire Emblem series, and will be here to give a fresh perspective on everything that's going on. Marty's text up there will be bolded, and GM's text will be...

Italicized like this.

And in case you're wondering who GMActurus is, he's [or, "was"] the one in charge of the ongoing Kingdom Hearts thread. So then, with that all said...

Prologue: Prologue: Birth of a Holy Knight

Why the heck am I getting vibes of Final Fantasy Tactics from this song? - GMArcturus

Alright then, let's get started! First, I have to introduce our new units!

Level 2 Social Knight
As opposed to the Unsocial Knight that spends all his time alone playing MMOs when he isn't on the field of battle - GMArcturus
HP: 32 (70%) Spd: 10 (30%)
Str: 9 (30%) Lck: 4 (30%)
Mag: 0 (5%) Def: 7 (30%)
Skl: 9 (40%) Res: 0 (5%)

Move: 8
Weapon Ranks: Sword (B), Lance (C)
Items: Iron Sword, Iron Lance
Skill: Pursuit, Awareness

First of all, those percentages that are listed in parenthesis are what you call a characters "Growth Rates". What are those you ask? Well, remember last update when Sigurd killed that Axe guy, and got 22 "Exp."? Well, that "Exp." ties back into a unit's "Level". Basically, once a character gets 100 Exp. or more, they receive what is called a "Level Up". And during that level up, all of their combat stats have a chance of increasing according to the percentages listed. So Alec here has a 30% chance of getting an extra point in Strength once he gets a level up.

In addition to that, your character's Level also increases by 1. That's good in one way since most characters get something very special when they get to Level 20, but it's also bad because the higher your level is, the less Experience enemies give you. And if you want the exact formulas for how that all works, here they are!

Experience from doing damage = 10 + (enemy’s Level – Level)

Experience from defeating enemy = 30 + [(enemy's Level - Level) x 2]

So basically, you get more Damage from defeating an enemy rather than just damaging one. And the lower the level of your unit, the more Experience you get from enemies. Finally, the enemies themselves also have levels, and the higher THOSE are, the more Exp. they will give your units when they are damaged or defeated. Pretty simple, right?

Now onto Alec. First of all, Awareness is...something I guess. Basically it nullfies “sword skills” (we'll be seeing those), the Critical skill, and even “Effective Weapons” (weapons specifically designed to double your Attack Power against certain enemies). So that's nice, but...we don't really fight a lot of those enemies anyway, so it's one of those skills that just doesn't really do anything for us, for the most part.

So really Alec is just kind of unimpressive. You see, in addition to having a weapon triangle, this game also tends to give different types of attributes to each weapons. So swords are really light and have a lot of Accuracy, but they're also lacking in power. Axes, on the other hand, are exactly the opposite. They pack LOTS of Might, but are also extremely heavy, and don't have much Accuracy. And then lances are like axes, except they trade a little bit of Might in exchange for being much lighter and a bit more accurate.

So since Alec is stuck with only a C Rank in lances, he can't really use any strong weapons until much later. Combine that with his middling Strength growth, and the fact that he already has lower Strength than anyone else in the group, and you've got someone who kind of hits a wall once Chapter 2 starts.

Furthermore, his Defense and HP growths are merely decent, not great. So he also falls behind the others in terms of durability. So the only thing that stands out about him is his Speed. And actually, that will be handy in this run, but it's not going to make him amazing or anything...

But for now, the enemies here have almost no Defense, the ones next Chapter aren't much better, and Alec has the almighty Pursuit. So in spite of his later problems, Alec can still kill most enemies in two rounds, and is still strong enough that he can take 3 hits before dying.

So at the end of the day, the guy's kind of like Yamcha from Dragon Ball Z. He starts off decently...but then starts to taper off, to the point where he's just about worthless by the time all is said and done. That said though, we still have to train him anyway for the sake of max rankings, so he will be getting some use if you're doing such a run. Otherwise though, use the guy a bit for the Prologue and Chapter 1, but DON'T focus too heavily on giving him too much Exp.

For reference, please see any of Yamcha's scenes in Dragonball Z Abridged. For example, see this scene.

Alec is pretty much mediocre. The one thing worth mentioning is that upon promotion he gets a +5 boost to magic, which in conjunction with the magic ring [item that grants 5+ to Magic] and a sword you get later allows him to one round a fair number of enemies at one to two range. Since having a promoted unit soak up a bunch of kills in a ranked run this is useless for the purposes of this playthrough, but Alec can find some niche uses in other types of runs.

Level 3 Social Knight

HP: 33 (80%) Spd: 8 (20%)
Str: 11 (40%) Lck: 4 (20%)
Mag: 0 (5%) Def: 8 (40%)
Skl: 7 (30%) Res: 0 (5%)

Move: 8
Weapon Ranks: Sword (B), Lance (C)
Items: Steel Sword
Skill: Critical (sometimes doubles Attack Power), Charge (Can activate 4-19 extra rounds of combat)

So obviously I didn't give a very flattering review to Alec. So maybe this guy is a little better, right? Well...unfortunately, the answer is no.

First of all, Noish doesn't have Pursuit, which means he doesn't have the ability to double attack like Sigurd and Alec. Oh sure, he has the Critical skill, but that doesn't activate every time like Pursuit does. In fact, the formula for it is (skill + weapons kill bonus)%. And Noish doesn't have a weapons kill bonus yet, and he's not going to get that without a lot of help. So really, Critical only has a 9% chance of activating for him at any one time. So despite starting with more Strength, and having a higher growth in it, he is actually weaker and slower than Alec under most circumstances, which is bad enough already. But compounding that problem even further is Charge.

The reason for this is that, by activating another round of combat, Noish also allows the enemy to attack again. So, say Noish has like, 25 HP left, and he attacks someone who does 13 or more HP of damage back to him, but doesn't have Pursuit (so basically, most boss fights). Normally, he'd be able to safely attack that person, and then maybe face another enemy without fear of death. BUT, because Charge activates another round of combat, his enemy might very easily KILL him anyway, even though he normally wouldn't attack twice!

Now, fortunately, the chance of Charge activating is pretty low because it's activation rate relies partially on your current HP. In fact, it won't even work period if Noish's HP is below 25...But still, the problem itself is still there. I simply cannot use Noish against anyone really strong without risking his demise. So that's a problem!

Even without that issue though, Noish simply isn't that good. He's basically Alec with slightly more Strength and Defense, but no Pursuit. So if Alec is Yamcha, then Noish is Chiatzu, a character who doesn't really have ANY time to shine... [Ha ha ha. this is so perfect here. - GMArcturus[/i]

That said though, there ARE ways to get around Noish's weaknesses. In fact, there's even a way to give him Pursuit. And once you do that, his decent HP and Defense growths will help to make him a far better combat unit. Of course...we have to do quite a bit to make that happen, things that would never be worth it in a regular playthrough. But since this is a Max Ranked run...well, I suppose you'll have to wait and see what I have in mind

!

Yeah... he's pretty bad... He can be very good with certain resources, but those resources are all better used elsewhere.

Level 3 Sword Armour
Does this mean there is a Shield Armour class? - GMArcturus

HP: 36 (90%) Spd: 4 (20%)
Str: 13 (50%) Lck: 3 (10%)
Mag: 0 (5%) Def: 13 (40%)
Skl: 5 (10%) Res: 0 (5%)

Move: 5
Weapon Ranks: Sword (B)
Items: Iron Sword
Skill: Ambush (Attack before enemy even when enemy attacks first, as long as you have less than half HP)

Hoooo boy...you wouldn't think there'd be a character worse than Noish, but...here he is

. Or at least, he's useless for most of the game. See, as I said earlier, most characters get something special when they get to Level 20. Once that happens, they get the option to undergo a ceremony called "Promotion" as long as they are inside their home castle. And when they "Promote", they'll gain some stat bonuses when they do. Some units only get those bonuses, but OTHER units also get new Skills, and even receive a significant upgrade to what kinds of weapons they can use...

And Ardan is one of those units. In addition to getting some extra stats, his promotion also DRASTICALLY improves his weapon selection. Instead of only have B Swords, he'll have A Sword, A Lances, B Axes, and B Bows. So yeah, he goes from being stuck with swords, to being able to use like half of the weapons in the game. PLUS, he also gets Big Guard, a skill that has a chance of completely nullifying an attack. And it activates pretty often, since it's activation rate is (User’s Level)%. So that's neat...but, does that actually make him good?

Once again, the answer is a resounding no, because even WITH those bonuses, he still has two major problems. One, no Pursuit, and that's bad enough already. But secondly, he only has 5 Move! 5 Move! And to give you an idea of how much of a hindrance that is...here's the map we're on right now (thank you NomadicGirl for making these maps for Serenes Forest)...

Yeah, good luck getting him across that! Alec wasn't kidding when he was talking about how slow he is! He can't even keep up with you half the time! And even if he could, his combat is still subpar! He's got high defenses, and his Strength is good...but he's locked to swords and he doesn't have Pursuit. As for Ambush, it's neat, but still doesn't do much without good offense to back it up.

So if Alec is Yamcha, and Noish is Chiatzu, this guy here would be Yajirobe. He's literally so weak, that he never even bothers to show up for any of the fights, ever. Hey, at least Yajirobe fought off one of Piccolo's minions in Dragonball. - GMArcturus

Level 5 Lord Knight

HP: 35 (110%) Spd: 12 (30%)
Str: 14 (50%) Lck: 7 (40%)
Mag: 0 (5%) Def: 9 (40%)
Skl: 11 (50%) Res: 3 (5%)

Move: 9
Weapon Ranks: Sword (*), Lance (B)
Items: Steel Sword, Iron Lance
Skill: Pursuit

Alright, so here is our main character, Sigurd himself! How good is he? Is he any better than his men? Well, actually, he is pretty good. No, great actually! Superb even! Wait, even that's not good enough...so how do I put this...? Oh, wait...I know. How about this?

Sigurd is, without a doubt, the absolute best unit in the entire game. I mean, first of all, just look at that Strength! It isso high, that Alec can literally gain 16 Levels, and STILL be one point weaker than Sigurd is...AT LEVEL FIIIVE!! HIS STARTING LEVEL!! And units can only go up to Level 30, so even counting promotion bonuses, there's no way Alec is ever passing him up. In addition, Sigurd has Pursuit as well, so neither of those two even come close to him. Oh, and he's got a B Rank in Lances, and a * Rank in swords. So even if we don't count his 50% Strength growth, he's already way better at hitting things than his three buddies will ever be.

And then finally, we have those growths...those beautiful, beautiful growths. First of all, that 110% growth is amazing. Basically, if you have a growth rate of over 100% in any area, you are not only guaranteed a 1 point boost in that stat every level, but you could even get a 2+ boost there! That's right, Sigurd can actually get 2+ HP per level if he gets lucky!

Furthermore, the rest of his growths are also amazing. They're like if you took all of the best qualities from Alec, Noish, and Ardan, and then put them all on one character, with none of their weaknesses!

Because of that, if Noish, Alec, and Ardan are Chiaotzu, Yamcha, and Yajirobe...this guy would be Goku. So he doesn't care about his kid and dies a lot? - GMArcturus He's always way ahead of everyone else, useful in literally ever possible situation, is always getting stronger and stronger...and he even inspires others! No really, he's got two leadership stars, so he even gives a 10+ Hit and Evade boost to anyone who's within 3 spaces of him! So use him, love him, and never leave the castle without him!

Undoubtedly the second best unit in the series after Robin in FE13. He obviously has great stats, growths, and movement, and with b lances and * swords he can use pretty much any weapon you would ever want him to use (axes are bad.) To give a bit more detail on how amazing his stats, with no growths Sigurd remains a powerful cavalry unit until the end of chapter 3. Yes, his bases only start to fail him two thirds through his part of the game. And he has amazing growths. What a guy.

So all that gushing aside...let's talk about the Rankings for a bit, in a little section that I'm blatantly stealing "homaging" from Melth's LPs of FE6 and 7...

The War Room, Part 1 (What Is Max Ranking About?)

Yeah, about time I talked about this. Can't very well get invested in a "Max Rank" run if you don't even know what that looks like, right? So then, when you play all the way through to the end of the game, there's going to be a scoreboard where the game basically tells you how well it thinks you did based on these four items...

Survival: This one is pretty simple. Get every single playable character (not everyone is gotten automatically like Sigurd and his gang are), and then have every single one of them alive by the end of the game. Do that, and you'll get an A Rank, the highest rank you can get! Otherwise, if 1 dies, it's a B Rank. If 2 die, it's a C Rank, and etc. etc.

Tactics: So remember how I said that you and the A.I. take turns attacking each other? Well this judges you on just how many turns you took to beat the entire game. So if it took you 399 Turns or less to beat it, great! You get an A Rank! But if you took 400-549 turns, then you get a B Rank, and if you took even more than that...well, you get the idea.

Honestly, this is a really easy category to do well in, because even the A Rank requirement is pretty lenient. It's so lenient in fact, that I've even seen people exceed it by more than 120 turns!

I watched a nicovideo playthrough where someone exceeded the requirement by 239 turns (but with A LOT of rng abuse.) Needless to say, this is pretty lenient.

Indeed. The next one however...

Experience: Now here's where it starts to get tricky. This ranking judges you based on how many Level Ups you got by the end of the game for all the different characters. If you got 1000 or more level ups, you get an A Rank.

The problem with that though is that you actually don't really have that many levels available to gain to begin with. In fact, between all of the characters in the game, they only have 1165 total levels. Not unreasonable at all, certainly, but it still doesn't leave that much wiggle room for being lazy, even if it means...*gulp*...training Noish

...

That there is one of the biggest challenges in a Maxed Rank run. I don't have to use absolutely everyone...but I do have to use many of the worst characters in the game, so I have to somehow find ways to make them usable despite all their problems.

Eww we have to train Arden?

And then there's a second problem. This is getting into slight spoiler territory, but this game is actually divided into two distinct halves in terms of plot. Right now we're in the first half, with Sigurd and friends, but after Chapter 5, there's going to be a time skip of about 17 years. So at the start of Chapter 6, we're going to have a whole new cast of characters. And the only Generation 1 character who's actually going to join the Generation 2 cast is a guy called Fin. So if you don't get at least 487 non-Fin levels by the end of Chapter 5, you'll have already failed the Exp. rank, even if you get everyone in Generation 2 to Level 30.

And actually, for all intents and purposes, the cut-off point for a good Exp. Rank is Chapter 2, because there's a LOT of important stuff that happens there, like getting a ton of optional items you won't get anywhere else, getting tons of Gold, and even leveling up a character that's only fully usable for that one chapter. So you really CAN'T just take a "learn-as-you-go" approach to Max Ranking this game. No, you have to have things fully figured out by the time you get to Chapter 2, otherwise you're at a real risk of never recovering from a disastrous Chapter 2 run.

That said, there is some good news. If you DO get past Chapter 5 with all the levels you need, and in a decent amount of turns, you're already going to be in a pretty great position to A Rank Exp. Because for reasons I won't get into just yet, the Gen 2 cast are WAY stronger than the Gen 1 cast! Plus, you have a lot of valuable, overpowered items at the start that you don't have right now, and enemies are much more numerous, and much higher leveled! So it's not like the Exp. Rank is that grueling, you just have to be careful, that's all.

Combat: Oh boy...here's the most jerkish rank of them all. So, the Exp. Rank is tough but manageable. But this is just unfair. Basically, you can't have more than three deaths by the end of the playthrough.

At first that sounds redundant since there's already a Survival rank, but there's more to it than that. Suppose you saved your game (you can save at the beginning of every Turn in this game), and one of your units die. "No big deal' you may think. 'I'll just reset the game, and then my character won't be dead! Problem solved!" Except no, that's not the case. Because in this game, each character has their own personal score for how often they've "won" a fight (meaning they killed someone) and how often they've "lost" (how often they've been killed). And even if you reset the game, the game will still remember that your character lost, and will keep penalizing you for that until you restart the Chapter itself.

"Ok, that sounds annoying...' you think in response to this. 'But hey, I have a clever idea! How about, every time I save, I keep using a different file each time! That way, if someone gets killed on Turn 11, on File 3, I'll just switch to File 2, where I saved on Turn 10! That oughtta work, right?" Well, let's see how that works...

...

........

Yes, that's right. The game designers were so cruel, that they actually made the game track deaths that you suffered on other files!! Or at least, other files you saved on within the same Chapter. So the only way you can erase those Losses is by restarting the entire chapter, no getting around it.

At this point, you're probably getting desperate...you're just SO angry at this requirement, that then you have one more hare-brained idea. "Suppose I get into combat with someone who will kill me...but I reset, BEFORE that person actually lands the finishing blow? Like, if I redid that fight between Noish and that flying thing, but then reset the game right at...'

'...this point here. Might that work?" Again, the answer is no. Because apparently, all of the battle calculations and all that are done BEFORE any of the animations ever play, so the only way to avoid a "loss" is to avoid that fight altogether.

Trust me. When the game tells you "do not ever die"...it REALLY means, "do not ever die"! And that's part of why I created this specific route to make getting the maximum ranks as easy and efficient as possible. This route isn't going to involve many of the fancy tricks found in all the other completed AAAA Rank runs, but it WILL be easily replicable AND quick!

So that's our first little "War Room" session over. But of course, there will be more, as these will be the segments where I explain how to more effectively play the game, just like in Melth's Max Rank runs! So back to the game...

Playing Through

If you press the A button on any space with no unit on it, you'll get these menus. Most of these aren't too important, but you'll note the "Save" option. As I alluded to earlier, you can save your game at the beginning of your turn as long as you don't actually move any of your units. Once that happens, you have to wait until your next turn to save again.

Then here's the Configuration menu. Message speed decides how fast text boxes go, Enemy Speed determines how quickly the A.I. moves it's own units when it's turn comes (so don't worry, the enemies themselves don't get any stronger), and then Auto Cursor makes it so that the cursor starts on Sigurd every time your turn begins. Otherwise, it just starts at whatever spot it was at when you ended your previous turn.

As for Auto-Save, this is pretty important. Turning this on means that at the beginning of every turn, you'll get a prompt that asks if you want to save on the specified file (in this case, File 4). As you're going through this game, you're always going to want to be saving every turn, that way if you slip up, or decide you want to redo something, you can just load up your turn, and try it again. But at the same time, you don't want to mess yourself up by not giving yourself a chance to go back to an earlier turn as well. So here's what I do...

Basically, I keep a save at the very beginning of the chapter. Then every time I conquer a castle before the end of the map, I create a save point at that specific spot. And then File 4 is the one I'm saving on every turn. This system here will allow you to reset if you incur a "Loss" while still giving you some flexibility to fix whatever mistakes you made without having to restart the chapter.

As for Normal vs. Hard A.I., Hard A.I. Is a setting that you unlock after beating the game at least once. It's supposed to make the game more challenging...but really, all it does is make the enemy more predictable. To give you an example, suppose you're fighting 8 enemies, and all of your units are at full health, except for Alec. On Normal Mode, the enemies will choose who they attack more or less at random, with some guys attacking Sigurd, some guys attacking Noish, and etc. But on Hard Mode, every one of those guys will immediately dog pile on Alec until he's dead. Sounds bad...

Except, you really shouldn't be risking low health units like that anyway, especially on a Max Ranked playthrough. So because of stuff like that (there are other A.I. changes), all that happens is that the enemies become easier to manipulate, because now you know exactly who they're going to attack, rather than having to guess at it. Because of that, I actually think Normal mode is the harder mode, at least for me. So that's what I'm sticking with.

So let's like, actually play the game, shall we?

Turn 1:

Now then, normally you'd want to put Sigurd on the forest tile (the tree) near him, because those give you a 20+ boost to Avoid. But not me! Every move I make from now until Turn 4 is one specifically designed to take advantage of the Random Number Generator (that's what handles "random" occurences in this game) in order to give Sigurd awesome level ups! So if you want to follow along with me, follow the pics to the letter. Otherwise, just head to Jungby with Sigurd, save the villages with Alec and Noish, and remember that Forests are awesome!

FionordeQuester doesn't like to manipulate the random number generator so it won't be too important for this play through, but I'll explain a little bit more about how it's "random." The RNG is deterministic, meaning that if you play the game the exact same way multiple times the same random numbers will be generated and the output will be identical. The AI uses random numbers sometimes to decide who to attack, seeing whether attacks hit or not uses random numbers, as does checking if skills activate, and level ups use RN's to see which stats are gained. In every chapter with an arena (ie any chapter other than the prologue and 6) you can abuse the arena to rig whatever outcomes you want, but you won't see any of that here.

Well, you might see teensy, tinsy fragments of it, since winning Arena fights is so important to A Ranking experience. But yeah, if it is there at all, it's going to be EXTREMELY minimal, to the point where half of the Gen 1 route is me going out of my way to make it unnecessary. Now then...

There we go. Remember, the colored arrows are color coded to each character. Since Alec is the green knight, he gets a green arrow, and since Noish is the red knight, he gets a red arrow!

So now it's the enemy's turn.

And hey, more story!

Gandolf: Never mind, I’ll do it meself!

Miniboss

Gandolf: But I've gotcha now. Die!

Yeah, dude never really had a chance, did he? I mean yeesh, did you see the Defense Gandolf had? I mean, yikes! Sigurd is literally the only guy on our time who actually has a fair chance against Gandolf right now! Craziness I tell you!

Enemy Message 1 (Verdane's theme)

Uh oh.

Gandolf: Hell, we may even press on to Barhara. There’d be no one to stop us if we did! Make yourselves at home here, boys. Anything goes!

DiMaggio: Heh… you can count on us for that.

You know, I always have to question Gandolf's intelligence here. The whole reason he's attacking Grandbell in the first place is because most of it's military is currently stationed in Isaac. And that's fine for right now...but, just WHAT does he plan on doing when said military gets back? The game hasn't really made this clear yet, but Grandbell is basically the local super power on the continent. It is to the world of Jugdral what the United States is to the rest of our world. It is so strong in fact, that Sigurd and his men, alone though they are, are still going to be strong enough to drive them back. And the game literally just got through saying that they're only a tiny fragment of Grandbell's army...

So who cares how far Gandolf and his men go right now? Yeah, they're doing good NOW, but they're doomed the moment Lord Bryon and the rest of the military gets back! These guys are going to get slaughtered so hard, they're practically going to be scraping blood n' guts off the walls by the time Grandbell is done with them! And once that's done, WHOOP, there goes Verdane! Because if the people were SO upset at Isaac just for attacking an Isaacian town they felt some kinship with, there's NO WAY they're going to let THIS incident go!

Methinks these guys didn't think very far ahead -_- ...

Yes there's a point to the above image.

Well, that's a very Gandolf thing to do isn't it? Dude's living up to his name :cheeky:.

Gandolf: She’s my booty! I’m takin’ her back to be my wife. She’s a keeper, wouldn’t ya say?

Gerrard: Yeah, she’s makin’ my mouth water.

Gandolf: You wipe that grin off your face! You’ll get your needs met once Grandbell is ours. Show a little self-control till then.

Not technically a mis-translation, but this patch actually downplays the horrors of what Gandolf and Co. plan on doing. BookofHolsety's script? That one has Gandolf saying that Gerrard would "get his pick of all Grannvale" once they're done conquering it...

Aideen: You’re all animals… Dear Lord, please instill these people with a little decency.

Gandolf: What’re you mumblin’ about!? We’re goin’! No fallin’ behind this time!

Yeah, the game doesn't flat out tell you this right now, but Genoa is where Kinbois and his men are, and...it looks like it should be pretty far away, right? Yet Gandolf's just casually strolling there in just a few seconds?

Really, that's one of the most hilarious things about this game. Just about EVERYONE in it has this inexplicable ability to just haul rear from one end of a kingdom, all the way to the other, and then to another corner of it, and then RIGHT back to where they started, all in less than a minute. Heck, that's what Gandolf and Aideen just did, going from Jungby all the way to Evans in like what, 10 seconds?

I can only imagine that if Gandolf were ever to wake up one day, and decide "you know what? I feel like jogging to the opposite fricken end of the continent, where Ganeshire is. Because that sounds like fun"...it might take him like, 5 minutes, tops. And if he were to then decide to run a lap around Jugdral? 25 minutes, maybe 30 if he decided to take Aideen along, and she felt like taking a water break at some point. Funny stuff man.

Verdane Army

So time to deal with these lovely human beings...

There's one now!

Dang, 10 Damage? At 25% hit rate? That's too bad! Except not really, because that's actually exactly what's supposed to happen if I want those three awesome levels for Sigurd :cheeky: .

The RNG is configured at the beginning so that someone is almost guaranteed to get hit despite the barbarians' low hit rates. This can be seriously annoying in drafts.

Now if ALEC had been hit, well, THEN that would've been bad. But he wasn't, so that's good. It's just too bad he can't do more damage to that Axefighter. Yeah, he two-rounds him, but these are literally the weakest enemies in the game right here

...

Now in addition to regular Axefighters, there are also enemies called "MBandits", whose sprites look a bit different than the other Axe dudes. THESE guys won't ever actually attack your units. No, instead, they go to Villages, and then start torching them the way this guy is doing.

As for what Villages do, each one you visit can give you a Maximum of 5,000 Gold if you visit them. But unfortunately, you lose 500 Gold off of that amount for every time a village gets attacked by an MBandit. So we'd best kill that MBandit quick!

Prologue: Prologue: Birth of a Holy Knight

So it is now the start of our second turn and...

Recruitment

Ah, look who's here! More blue guys!

Lex: He’ll sure be happy to see us. You just can’t stay out of these things, can you, Azel…

Azel: Yeah, but with the military on engagement to Isaac, Grandbell’s completely strapped! Sigurd and the few soldiers left in Chalphy are out here fighting for their lives! I can’t just leave them hanging…

Lex: Oh really… I’m not quite buying your story, Azel. What aren’t you telling me?

Azel: Wh…what’re you talking about!?

Lex: I’d surmise that you’re all worked up about Lady Adean of Jungby. I know you like her.

Azel: Y…you’re nuts!

Lex: A-ha! Face is getting red there, buddy! You little player you.

Creative Liberty #2: Original script is more like "Ha! You're so cute" on that second sentence

Azel: Lex, knock it off! Now come on, let’s get going.

Lex: Hahahaa… Alright, let’s do this. Finally, a chance to kick some ass.

And kick butt we shall

! But first, let's cover our new characters!

Level 1 Mage

HP: 30 (70%) Spd: 9 (50%)
Str: 0 (10%) Lck: 2 (20%)
Mag: 10 (40%) Def: 2 (20%)
Skl: 7 (20%) Res: 6 (10%)

Move: 5
Weapon Ranks: Fire (B), Thunder (C), Wind (C)
Items: Fire Tome
Skill: Pursuit

Well, he's certainly...specialized, isn't he? Gets a ton of Magic and Speed but not a whole lot of anything else. Combine that with his low HP and Defense, and you've got yourself what we RPG gamers like to call a "glass cannon". Someone who can dish out a lot of punishment, but can't take much back...

Or at least, that's what Azel would be if Fire Magic didn't STINK! Yeah, just like the Weapon Triangle I mentioned last update, there's also a Magic Triangle. Thunder beat Fire, Wind beats Thunder, and Fire beats Wind. But the problem is, unlike the Weapon triangle, where each type of weapon had it's own pros and cons, Fire magic has NO advantages over Thunder or Wind. Each kind of magic has the EXACT same Might, and the EXACT same Accuracy. The only difference between the types is that Wind Tomes have a weight of 2, Thunder Tomes have a weight of 7, and Fire Tomes have a weight of 12.

That is literally the ONLY difference between them. So basically, despite having high starting Speed and a nice Speed growth, Azel actually ends up being even slower than Ardan because of how heavy Fire Magic is! So while he can still double a lot of these beginning enemies (they're pretty slow after all), he can't Dodge very well at all. So in addition to having the Ardan problem of having only 5 Move, you can't really even use him without constantly having to protect him! So I guess that would make him like Tien. He'll slam you with one or two really, REALLY good attacks...but then drop like a fly the moment his foe actually gets to attack. Because he's so fragile, he may as well be made of styrofoam...

Things do eventually get better for him though. As you can see, he's got some mastery in Thunder and Wind magic as well, AND his offense is actually really good, so he DOES actually have a niche. Plus, he even gets a horse upon promotion! So eventually he'll get better...at like, Chapter 4. Till then, he's...not gonna get a lot of use

...

Yeah. If he started mounted he'd be great but... yeah... Azel is actually good when promoted because not many physical units have strong 1-2 range in this game, but getting him there is an ordeal. And fire magic is just bad.

Level 4 Axe Knight

HP: 33 (90%) Spd: 11 (20%)
Str: 10 (40%) Lck: 8 (20%)
Mag: 0 (5%) Def: 9 (50%)
Skl: 10 (20%) Res: 0 (5%)

Move: 5
Weapon Ranks: Axe (A)
Items: Iron Axe
Skill: Ambush (Always attack before enemy when less than half HP), Elite (Doubles Exp. Gained)

This guy right here is the exact opposite of Azel in terms of growths, and he's got Ambush. In fact, he's basically Ardan, but on a horse, and with powerful axes rather than weak swords. And that's not a bad way to be actually. Already that makes him at least kind of decent, since it solves one of Ardan's main problems, and makes the other one a little more bearable.

What REALLY makes him though is Elite. Yes, when I say it doubles Exp. gained, I mean ALL Exp. gained! This guy actually grows TWICE as fast as everyone else on your team, which is exactly as amazing as it sounds. So if he gets lucky on his Defense growth, you're going to have someone who's as durable as Sigurd, if not more so!

Only thing is though, he doesn't have Pursuit. He's one of the few units in the game who still manages to be useful despite that weakness, but that still cuts into his offense a lot. But that's ok. He's going to be getting a very special weapon very soon, one that allows him to execute TWO attacks! And unlike Pursuit, this weapon allows him to attack consecutively, so if he's strong enough to kill someone in two hits, they won't even get a chance to attack! And once he combines that weapon with his high Strength and Durability...dude's gonna rock your socks off! At least until Chapter 5, where his offense starts tapering off slightly, but Gen 1 is basically over at that point.

So I guess I'd compare the guy to Piccolo. He starts off just good, but then becomes AMAZING the instant he gets the power up that he needs. And then after that, he pretty much always remains strong. Definitely use him, immediately!

Very good, and Elite means you essentially don't have to worry about his experience. Essentially a mounted and spiked brick wall.

Oh, and save first of course

!

So if you did exactly what I did on Turn 1, you'll want to have Noish attack this MBandit from this spot here before you do ANYTHING else, because...

Player Attack

He'll activate Charge and kill him outright! Seems a bit contradictory considering I dissed it so badly, but trust me, there ARE quite a few ways to make it useful on units who don't have Noish's weaknesses.

Fionordequester · Sat Aug 29, 2020 4:22 am

Now then, one amazing thing about Social Knights and other mounted units is that in addition to their high Move, they can also move AGAIN after attacking an enemy! But they can only move by the amount of unused movement squares they have. So if Noish here had traveled just one square to attack the MBandit, he'd be able to move 7 more squares after attacking. But if he has to use 7 squares just to reach the MBandit in the first place, he'd only be able to move 1 more square after attacking.

Even still though, it is perhaps one of the most useful abilities in the game. In fact, it may even be TOO good. Because combine this with the giant maps, and the high Movement that mounted units have, and you're creating a situation where foot units like Ardan and Azel pretty much HAVE to have awesome stats and skills just to justify their usage. Rather unfortunate, that...

Fortunately though, Azel already starts really close to the action, so let's use him a bit, shall we? One neat thing about Magic is that it's a 1-2 Range weapon, meaning that it can attack from either 1 square away, or 2 squares away. And if you attack an enemy from 2 squares away, and that enemy only has a 1 Range weapon...

You can pretty much kill them without risk of harm! Of course, that only works out if he's not in range of a ton of other enemies as well. If he is, he'll probably die due to everyone doing like, 20+ Damage per hit to him. Still, he IS relatively useful for this small part of the Prologue.

Still setting up for those awesome level ups, hence this seemingly nonsense move.

Alright, now it's time to defeat the archer! Speaking of archers, they are another physical class, except they use bows and arrows rather than the other three weapons. These weapons can shoot from 2 squares away, but unfortunately, they CANNOT shoot from 1 square away. So if someone like Sigurd attacks them from 1 square away like so...

They have the exact same problem as the MBandit did against Azel. They can't counter-attack at all!

Also, another benefit to being a mounted unit. You can also do THIS!

Yeah, you can actually change weapons on the fly! Technically, foot units can do this as well, but they can't do it immediately after attacking someone like mounted units can. The minute they attack someone, they're stuck with whatever they attacked with until your next turn. But if you're, say, Sigurd, you can use the Iron Lance on archers to conserve Steel Sword uses...

And then switch right back to swords, making it so that the Axefighters still can't easily hit him! Pretty neat, and part of what makes Sigurd so insane actually. Dude is just so useful

.

So that's the turn. I didn't do anything with Alec or Ardan because they would mess up the awesome level ups.

Enemy Attack

Fortunately, the Axefighter is dumb, so he all but throws himself upon Alec's blade. In fact, almost ALL enemies will fight to the death, no matter HOW hopelessly outmatched they are, which is...kind of odd, to say the least. Speaking of suicidal enemies...

Two more enemies get themselves killed trying to take on Sigurd, and gives him just enough Exp. to finally reach Level 6! So here's the first of three awesome level ups I've been hyping so much. What will it look like?

It looks awesome of course! Would've been nice to get Defense of course, but Speed and Strength (especially Strength!) are especially great things to get this early in the game. In fact, part of the reason I'm manipulating the game like this is because I want Sigurd to get at least 2 points of Strength before he takes on DiMaggio and his gang. And of course, since we don't have very many units right now, and since this is right in the beginning of the game (the Random Number Generator will ALWAYS generate the same string of random numbers every time you start a new game), manipulating level ups like this is much simply than it would otherwise be later on.

That said though, if I really wanted to, I could have just literally made a turn-by-turn guide for literally the ENTIRE game. After all, why not? Like I said, the string of random numbers generated by the game when you start a new file is exactly the same every time, so I could theoretically do that. But obviously that wouldn't be a lot of fun, so we're going to stop doing this once Sigurd gets to Level 8. But for now, this will help to make the Prologue go a little more smoothly, for reasons you will see later on.

If you don't get two points of strength on Sigurd you can work around it by having him use the iron lance instead at one point. It has two higher might than the steel sword which makes strength procs unnecessary, but then it's a bit of headache to manage Sigurd's health, so doing it this way is better.

Back to the game, one thing you will find here is that Magic Tomes and Bows aren't the ONLY way to attack from range. No, there are actually weapons called Hand Axes and Javelins that can attack from 1 square away AND from 2 squares away, which also means that when you equip them, NO one will be able to attack them without getting hit themselves. There is one weakness to them however...

For however useful they can be at times, they have TERRIBLE stats! For reference, the Iron Axe, the second weakest axein the game, has 70 Hit, 14 Might, and 18 Weight. Even with just those stats, it is fairly inaccurate and very heavy compared to other weapons. But the Hand Axe? That has 50 Hit, 10 Might, and 20 Weight! And the Javelin is even worse compared to the regular Iron Lance. That doesn't suffer a Might drop, but it makes up for that by having 18 Weight as opposed to the regular 12 Weight.

So if it weren't for their 1-2 Range capabilities, they would be the worst weapons in the game, by far.

Now then, Azel dispatches an Axe Fighter that tries to attack him.

And then the Sigurd pain train continues as two more Axefighters pointlessly kill themselves! Then at the end of the enemy phase...

Recruitment

Three more new playable characters show up! Awesome!

Ooooh, we're getting more magic are we

?

Ethlin: I’m sure I can put my Live Staff to some use around here. I’m sorry to pull you into this, Cuan. I know I’m no longer a Chalphy, but I can’t just sit back and do nothing. On my brother’s behalf, thank you so much for coming.

I'm bolding this particular point because this part expresses an...interesting thing about Japanese culture that kind of gets lost in translation when translated literally. You see, Japan is definitely a wonderful culture in many ways. I love the messages that are always being touted by their anime, I love their culture, I was inspired to become a martial artist because of them...heck, I'm even planning on learning their language, and have already taken Japanese 1!

But, every culture has their warts, and in Japan's case, it is...more than...a little sexist. Or at least, sexism has been a problem in the past for them, don't know if that's already gotten better for them or not. But the way it relates to this is that, when you're a woman, and you marry into your husband's family...you're apparently supposed to kind of cut ties with your original family. It's like you get assimilated into your husband's family, to the point where they're supposed to be a bigger priority than the family you came from. As expressed by an anecdote that I once read from one of BookofHolsety's proofreaders...

Amellion wrote:The literal meaning behind Ethlyn's words is a pretty big deal if you're familiar with Asian sexism. When my aunt (dad's brother's wife) brought back treats from America for her siblings' children, her husband said, "Why are you still thinking of them? You're not a Zhou anymore, you're part of the [my last name] family now."

So yeah, I'm pretty sure Ethlyn's line is ... that thing.

So that's pretty messed up I think. Count that in with Gandolf's plans for the Grandbellian women, all the stuff that happens with a very important, plot critical female later on, and some other stuff we'll see in the future, and the story makes it pretty clear that Jugdral is not a safe place for the women who live on it. I mean, nothing really bad happens on screen (nothing M-rated anyway), but there's plenty that happens off-screen.

Which is actually the case for MOST of the world even today...but I digress. Don't worry, the game doesn't dwell on it too much, and in fact, most Fire Emblem games are a little more child friendly as far as that goes. This one just happens to be a little more mature than most of them. So anyways, back to our plot.

Cuan: You don’t need to thank me, Ethlin. You know Sigurd and I go way back. Not to mention that he’s my brother-in-law now. Besides, I can’t have you fighting alone.

Ethlin: I sure appreciate it, dear.

Fortunately, Cuan is a total bro about the whole thing, so none of the stuff I mentioned ends up being a problem

.

???: Forgive me for interrupting, but we should hurry. The battle is just up ahead.

Yes it is, blue-haired guy. Yes it is. Actually, what's your name again?

Level 1 Lance Knight

HP: 32 (70%) Spd: 10 (30%)
Str: 9 (30%) Lck: 8 (50%)
Mag: 0 (5%) Def: 7 (30%)
Skl: 8 (40%) Res: 0 (5%)

Move: 8
Weapon Ranks: Lance (B)
Items: Iron Lance
Skill: Pursuit, Prayer (When under 11 HP, Evade rises by [(11 - HP) x 10] for one turn)

Oh yeah, that's right! Fin! Anyways, Fin is basically Alec, but with Prayer instead of Nihil, and access to stronger weapons. No, seriously, look at his growths! They are literally the exact same, aside from Fin having 20% higher Luck!

In spite of that though, Fin actually is a lot more helpful than Alec is, partially due to having access to stronger weapons earlier on (before the really powerful swords start showing up), partially due to getting free gifts that Alec doesn't get (you'll see later), but mainly due to the fact that Prayer is absolutely AMAZING if you know how to use it right.

You see, since Lances have a lot more oomph to them than Swords (at least for now), Fin actually does pretty good damage to people in spite of his weaknesses. And if you can get him in a situation where he's dropped to say, 1 HP, while he's surrounded by enemies, he will literally gain a 100 point boost in Evade, dodge every single attack, and then kill every single enemy. And this is something that is EXTREMELY useful to have as you go through the game, especially in Chapter 2. And what's more, this guy actually WILL show up for Generation 2, which means you're going to get more use out of him than most of the other characters.

So, I guess the guy's kind of like Gohan. Pretty young, but also pretty good at fighting. Not AS good at it as some of the other hitters...but still better than a lot of the others. Plus, he's got one HECK of a second wind, one that he WILL unleash on you if you push him into a corner (though it only lasts for a short time).

Absolutely amazing. Prayer is ridiculous if you plan things right. Seriously. Even DEIDRE [a later playable unit] can be made useful with prayer.

Level 5 Duke Knight

HP: 32 (110%) Spd: 10 (40%)
Str: 16 (50%) Lck: 5 (10%)
Mag: 0 (5%) Def: 10 (50%)
Skl: 10 (30%) Res: 0 (5%)

Move: 9
Weapon Ranks: Lance (*)
Items: Steel Lance, Javelin
Skill: Continue (Sometimes allows a consecutive attack. Activation Rate = (Attack Speed +20)%

So, you may have thought that Sigurd was the best character in the game. You may have thought that nobody was as broken as him. You may have thought that no one as strong as him...And you'd be right, but this guy definitely takes second place (yeah, I know there's Holsety!Levin, but he really only gets to flex his muscles in Chapter 5 if you're moving at a decent clip).

I mean look at that Strength! Even Sigurd doesn't start with as much! Plus, he has access to almost every single lance in the game. What this means is that his attack is so absurdly high, that he's one of the few units in this game who can not only survive, but thrive, even WITHOUT Pursuit. But if he DOES get it...oh baby!

Plus, the guy's Defensive growth is also through the roof. So essentially, this guy actually manages to be an even stronger version of Lex, the same guy who is already one of the strongest Generation 1 units you will get. Oh, and Continue is awesome of course. I mean, check it out.

BAM! Instant death upon activation! Basically, Continue is like Pursuit, except, it actually allows you to attack twice BEFORE the enemy ever gets a chance to hit you. Of course, as you can see, it doesn't activate nearly as often as Pursuit (which is 100%), so of course you can't build strategies that rely upon it. But when it DOES activate for Cuan, you can pretty much say goodbye to whoever he's fighting.

So really, Cuan's only issue is that he's exclusively a lance user, when almost every enemy here and in Chapter 1 use axes. But he's tough enough to take the hits, he has enough Move to get out of danger, and he's already got a Javelin to snipe with, so it's all good. All in all, this guy is Vegeta, except without the attitude. He's not quite as good as Sigurd, he' never that far behind him, and he is the ONLY guy in all Gen 1 that can actually say that.

Beast.

Level 1 Troubador

HP: 28 (60%) Spd: 12 (30%)
Str: 5 (30%) Lck: 8 (20%)
Mag: 8 (5%) Def: 4 (20%)
Skl: 11 (30%) Res: 6 (10%)

Move: 8
Weapon Ranks: Sword (A), Staves (C)
Items: Slim Sword, Live Staff
Skill: Critical (sometimes doubles Attack Power)

So Ethlin...yeah, she has swords, but she's definitely not made to be a front-line unit

. But that's ok though, because she can do this!

"Whoa! You can actually heal people in this game?" Why yes you can! You see, staves are magic items that can actually heal people by varying amounts depending on what kind you use. For example, the basic Live staff heals units by Restores ally’s HP by [10 + caster's Mag], but later healing staves will be even better than that. And then OTHER staves will have some offensive purposes, like nullifying enemy magic, or putting enemies to sleep, or even reviving dead units (without removing their recorded "Losses" of course)!

There are other ways to heal people, but staves are far and away the most convenient and effective way of doing so, ESPECIALLY when the one using them is on a horse, like Ethlin! And really, that's all she needs to make her one of the most useful Generation 1 units you can have. So basically, she's Bulma. She can't scrap the way Sigurd and Cuan can, but she is SO insanely useful as a support unit, that she's still one of the best people you have anyways, so you will ALWAYS want to be using her...

No but seriously, Bulma probably contributed way more to saving the world than most of the Z fighters ever have. Seriously, she invented the Dragon Radar to help get the Dragon Balls, she made the ship that allowed everyone to go to Namek and revive their friends, she found Dr. Gero's lab, she and Trunks were one of the main reasons why Vegeta eventually became a good guy, she invented the remote that would've instantly shut down #17 and #18, and INVENTED A FRICKEN TIME MACHINE (the ONLY reason why the Cell Saga had a happy ending)!! When you really stop and think about it, Earth probably would've been destroyed like 17 times over if it weren't for her.

Another perk of Ethlin is that she gives Sigurd and Cuan +10% to evade and hit rates due to sibling/lover supports. Essentially, if you are within three squares of a sibling/lover you gain a +10% bonus to evade/hit, and this stacks with leadership/other bonuses. A unit also temporarily gains the critical skill if they attack while adjacent to their lover/sibling. Anyways, if Ethlin, Sigurd, and Cuan are all within 3 squares of each other Sigurd and Cuan get a +20% boost to hit/evade and Ethlin gets a +30% boost, which is ridiculous. Furthermore, the AI likes to attack Ethlin way too much, which can be incredibly helpful to sheild more vulnerable units. She is weak defensively, but with weapon triangle advantage, high evade to begin with, and a +30% boost Ethlin is extremely dodgy. Definitely one of the best units in the game, she has so many uses.

Prologue: Birth of a Holy Knight

So back to the game. First, let's put Noish back here so he doesn't get in the way of Sigurd's level ups. Like so. And then we come to yet another mechanic in Fire Emblem 4 (don't worry, I promise this will be short).

WHOOA!! LOOK AT THAT MOVEMENT RANGE!! But, isn't Cuan only supposed to have 9 Move? So what in the world is this

?

Well, in addition to Forest terrain, which I covered earlier, there are also Road terrain, Village Terrain, Mountain Terrain, and other kinds. And Road Terrain is peculiar in that it can actually BOOST your movement depending on how many Road squares you can step across with your natural movement. Basically, if you can manage to step across 3-4 Road tiles total, you'll get a 1-Square boost to your movement. If you step across 5-6 Road tiles, that will give you a 2-Square boost instead of just 1. If you step across 7-9 Road tiles, that gives you a 3-Square boost. And then finally, if you step across 10+ Road tiles, that will give you a 4-Square boost. After that, no more movement boosts are available, no matter how high you pump your Move.

Note when I say "step across the tiles", I'm not counting any Road tiles your unit is already standing on. Those won't do anything for you. But fortunately, you don't have to go through the tiles in order. If you have a 6 Move unit who steps across a Plains tile, then a Road tile, then a Plains tile, then another Road tile, and etc., they'll still the 1-square boost to their movement...

At least, I firmly believe that this is how it works. I know it's not a purely linear formula due to the fact that the boost caps off at 4 squares, but I don't have the official (Japan only) strategy guide or anything like that. I worked this out purely based on trial-and-error. So then...

I put Cuan right here, and then equip him with a Javelin so he can fight a nearby Hand Axe guy. And then...

I move the rest of my units like so! I'm not having Lex or Azel pick up any of the villages, partially because they don't need it, and partially because they've still got more villages to save. Now as for Sigurd...

He moves right here and equips the Steel Sword immediately after bumping off the archer in his way. Now let's see how the next enemy phase goes!

Enemy Attack

Well, seems everyone has things well in hand. Let's see what level up we get this time!

2+ HP! 1+ Skl! 1+ Str! 1+ Spd! 1+ Lck! 1+ Def!

Ha! Now THAT'S a level up! And that Strength boost right there is the last one we really need in order to make the rest of the Prologue a joke for Sigurd, because now, this guy literally kills EVERYONE! Well, except the Hand Axe guys. Technically DiMaggio as well, but, now we can kill him in just 3 hits instead of 4. So as long as Sigurd dodges just one of his attacks, he'll be essentially in the clear!

In other news, these three MBandits have reached the villages, and are now putting them to the torch! I sure hope we can make it there in time

. Maybe if we got some more allies next turn?

Prologue: Birth of a Holy Knight

Nope! Looks like the game's finally done giving us new units for now. Looks like we'll just have to push on through!

Now then, as I said earlier, the last Sigurd level up we got was the last perfect one we really needed. In fact, it's the last one you're going to be able to get if you're playing on Hard A.I., since the A.I. moves it's units a little differently in that mode.

That said though...we're going to go ahead and get one last perfect level up, just because it's easy, so why not? To that end, we'll want Azel to go where he is now, and then NOT ATTACK. Repeat, move him 2 squares west of this guy, and DO NOT ATTACK!

And then move Lex exactly one square west. I repeat, move him exactly. One. Square. West :cheeky:.

Then move Fin here after he kills the Axefighter...

Then Alec and Ethlin move like this, with Ethlin healing Fin...

Sigurd kills one of the three guys guarding DiMaggio (they don't ever move just so you know), then parks himself right in front of him...

And then Noish heads on over to the nearest village. Because you know, we're KIND OF supposed to have started visiting them a while ago? Guess we kind of forgot about that

.

Now then...here we go...

Azel dodges...

Gets a one point level up to exactly the stat he needs most...

And finally, he narrowly avoids death as he turns the Axefighter into a crusty cinder.

Cuan shows another Axefighter how long ranged combat is done...

And then two more Axefighters are kill by Sigurd. And that's all the small fry out of the way.

Yeah, Sigurd can also use an iron lance here to kill this barbarian at base strength, but unless you plan very carefully he will probably get hit, and there are so many enemies near Dimmagio that as good as Sigurd is things can get dicey.

Miniboss

AND NOW! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WELCOME TO THE FIRST, ANNUAL FIRE EMBLEM DEATH MATCH!! IN THE BLUE CORNER, WE HAVE SIGURD, COMING IN WITH 13 WINS AND 0 LOSSES! AND IN THE RED CORNER, WE HAVE...DiiiMAAAAAGIO!!

Oooh, and the trash talk has started ALREEEADY! Sigurd doesn't say a word, but you can practically feel the tension in the air! He looks like he could pounce at any minute!

Who will win this fight? Does Sigurd have a chance? He's made an explosive entry into the Jungby scene, but can he procure his first win here in the Holy War division? Let's find out in 3...2....1...

GOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Oh, Lord DiMaggio is starting off with his patented crab-walking technique!

And he follows that up with a VICIOUS barrage of haymakers! If Sigurd doesn't start hitting back, it looks like he could start getting into a LOT of trouble here!

Oh, wait, looks like DiMaggio's stopping to catch his breath, and it looks like Sigurd is going for a feint. He's going to have to be VERY careful here, because if he miss-steps...

WHOA!! Look at that transition! Sigurd has rushed in on the back swing, right as the axe was at it's lowest point! That's the problem with axes! They've got a lot of power behind em', but once you choose a direction, it's hard to have to redirect yourself, and...

OOOH! THERE HE GOES, SIGURD, SWINGING FOR THE FENCES, AND WOW! He keeps going, just TEARING into DiMaggio with every shot he makes! Looks like going on the offense was a bad move for DiMaggio, Sigurd, using his speed and form to dominate this match! It looks like we may have a winner here!

2+ HP! 1+ Skl! 1+ Str! 1+ Lck! 1+ Def!

Ha ha, and another awesome level up! So back to being serious for a moment, this here's the end of my RNG shenanigans, as I think this is about as far as I think I can actually remember. Like I said, I want the route to be easily replicable, that way you don't need a spreadsheet or a word document just to figure out what you're supposed to do. Plus, we're about to get yet another companion, there's going to be a ton of new enemies after facing DiMaggio, and things are just generally going to be getting a bit messier.

Sigurd is love, Sigurd is life.

So now, as of this turn, we're doing things fair and square.

First order of business, kill DiMaggio here. I made him look like a chump, but this guy is actually pretty scary if you're doing things "legitimately", and are trying to kill him by Turn 5 or so. I mean he hits like a truck AND you're getting bombarded by his minions while trying to stand up to him. So if you decide not to follow the RNG manipulation route I took for the first 4 turns, then be careful not to wait too long before pressing Reset, alright

?

Alright then, DiMaggio is killed, and the castle is ours!

Recruitment

Sigurd: Hey, isn’t that Midir!? Come on, Midir… pull it together!

Midir: Uahhh… Sir Sigurd??

Sigurd: Midir, are you okay!? Where’s Aideen?

Midir: I don’t know. Gandolf was here though…

Sigurd: Is that right… Well, don’t worry. I’ll get her back. Give yourself some time to heal up.

Midir: No, Sigurd. I must join you. I can’t begin to tell you how worried I am about her!

And for good reason!

So there's that...rather abrupt end to the conversation. And Jungby is captured! But what about Aideen? Has she managed to keep herself out of harm? Can she find a way to hold out until Sigurd gets there? And what of Gerrard and his men? Can Sigurd and Co. find a way to ford the river without a working bridge? And even if they do, CAN THEY DEFEAT Gerrard? Or will he prove to be too powerful? And when is the rest of Grandbell going to get back? FIND OUT, on the next explosive episode, of Fire Emblem 4: Genealogy of the Holy War! Have a nice day, and God bless you all!

Fionordequester · Sat Aug 29, 2020 5:55 am

Prologue: Birth of a Holy Knight

Hello everyone, and welcome to Let's Play Fire Emblem 4: Genealogy of the Holy War! Last time, we won our first boss fight, got a ton of extra allies, and even managed to recruit Midir, whom we thought had died against Gandolf! So, let's start off by talking about the guy, shall we?

Level 2 Archer Knight

HP: 32 (60%) Spd: 9 (40%)
Str: 9 (30%) Lck: 3 (10%)
Mag: 0 (5%) Def: 7 (30%)
Skl: 7 (30%) Res: 0 (5%)

Move: 8
Weapon Ranks: Bows (B)
Items: Iron Bow
Skill: Pursuit, Charge

So, remember when I was talking about Alec? How his middling Strength and Defense growths and weak weapons severely limit him? Well, this guy has that exact same problem. In fact, he IS basically Alec, except he uses bows rather than swords and lances...

And yet...he's still a teensy bit more usable. In fact, Midir is actually kind of interesting character. See, I dissed Charge last update for the fact that it was a double-edged sword, but for guys like Midir...that's actually not necessarily a problem. After all, activating more rounds of combat is not a bad thing when you're attacking in a way that the enemy CAN'T counter-attack you, like Midir can to anyone who doesn't have 2 Range. So Charge actually works to his advantage in a way that it doesn't for Noish.

Plus, there's a weapon called a Killer Bow that weighs only 3 Weight (compared to 8 Weight for most other bows), automatically gives the Critical skill (yes, items can actually grant you skills when you have them equipped), and has a pretty good amount of Might! Granted, it's something that technically belongs to a future ally, but said ally is only a 6 Move foot unit. So in a normal playthrough, the Killer Bow is better used for Midir...

In a ranked playthrough however, that 6 move foot unit is good enough to greatly contribute to the Exp. Score, so he actually wants that Killer Bow until Chapter 4. And unfortunately, the Killer Bow is EXTREMELY expensive, so I can't just have the two toss it back and forth between each other. So until then, Midir is kind of in the same boat as Azel, but for opposite reasons. Whereas Azel is strong but slow, Midir is speedy but weak, to the point where feeding him kills is pretty tough. Still, just like Azel, there's also a great opportunity to train him later on, so he'll still be gaining levels. Just not right now.

So...I guess this guy is basically Krillin! He can occasionally do some neat stuff, and catch you by surprise by pulling out a cool trick or two out of his hat...but he's still too weak and fragile to actually DO much of anything to his opponents. And as a result, his crush gets taken away by some ugly monster, and there's nothing he can do about it. Quite sad, that.

With the killer bow and his high movement he has some nice contributions to a low turn count playthrough, but in a ranked run he's just another middling unit who requires a bit of investment to get levels. He also sometimes has accuracy problems later on (made worse by the one RN system), which can be annnoying. However, he's still a solid unit. One of his more surprising uses is for AI manipulation, as the enemy has an unhealthy obsession with attacking him, sometimes over better targets. Also, for some reason the hand axe enemies in the prologue and chapter one often attack him at two range even though they can attack him at one and avoid a counter attack, so sometimes Midir can help with AI manipulation.

...Wow, really? I...actually didn't know that! Thanks Marty!

Alright, let's start Turn 6! Now seeing as how Midir is so fragile, we'll want to position him so that he won't get killed. So to check where enemies can and can't attack, you'll want to press the A button on them. The green squares are how far they can move, and the orange squares represent the edge of their attack range.

Also, remember what I said about roads last update? Well, it does seem to apply for if you make your full movement on roads, but, according to my calculations, this guy SHOULD be able to go 3 east and 5 north (8 spaces) since 5 Road tiles should give him a flat 2+ movement rate, and he's got 6 Move to start with. And yet, he's only able to go 3 east and 4 north instead (7 spaces). So perhaps the moment you step off the road, the movement bonus kicks in, and does NOT stack linearly with whatever available movement you already had? Hence why this archer can only wander 2 spaces away from road rather than 3?

In addition, it turns out that moving across 3 Road tiles is not enough to gain ANY boost to your movement. No, you have to walk across 4 tiles for 1 space, and then 5-6 tiles for 2 spaces...so, there you go. I guess the take away is that even I don't fully understand the mystery of Road terrain...but oh well. What I said earlier should still be enough to keep yourself out of dangerous situations

. Anyway...

This is about as far away from the action as I can get Midir. If I'm unlucky, he'll still be reduced to 10 HP, but, at least he'll be safe till Ethlin can get in there and heal him. As for Cuan's group...

Alec helps to damage the Hand Axe fighter near Cuan himself...

And then Cuan kills him before going west, along with everyone else.

And then Azel and Lex go west to liberate the next village...

And finally, Noish visits one of the villages, at long last! What happens when you do that? Well, let's check it out!

Here’s a small sum of money we all pooled together. Use it how you see fit. Please help out the other villages if you can. They’re sure to appreciate it.

Whooo! Not only do we get some neat flavor text, but we even get some Gold as well :whoop: ! Actually, you know, what, I DO believe that this calls for another Waaaaar Roooooom!!

Grandbell Castle Town

The War Room, Part 2 (The Elite Ring, the Arena, and Why We've GOT to Have, Moneyyy...)

So let's talk about money, shall we? In all Fire Emblem games except the 2nd one, you always had Gold that you would get more and more of as you went throughout the game, whether it was given to you in a story event, whether you got it from a chest, or just got it through some other way. And in most games, all the Gold was stored in one place, meaning that you could visit a shop with ANY character, and still have the same amount of Gold to throw around.

THIS game however (and maybe FE5) is different. Instead of the money all being pooled in one place, each character has their own stash of cash. For example, Cuan, Lex, Azel and Sigurd start with 5000G, Ethlin starts with 4000G, and all of Cuan and Sigurd's cronies start with 2000G...

So here's where things get tricky. In fact, we're going to be jumping ahead a bit in order to talk about a lot of nuanced things that aren't going to become relevant until Chapter 2. So if you're new to this LP, and you don't fully understand everything I am about to say, that's ok for right now. In fact, you can skip all of this until Chapter 2 if you want. As long as you follow the LP until then, you won't miss anything at all! But, if you HAVE played this game before, but have not done an AAAA Ranked Log, then this War Room here will be perhaps the most important one you can possibly read before trying to do one on your own.

Now then, for the purposes of this playthrough, we need to make sure that almost all of our guys can raise up to 40,000G or more in order to level them up effectively. Why 40,000G exactly? Well, it's because there's one specific item, the Elite Ring, that happens to cost that much. And this item is SO critically important, that your Exp. Rank will be all but determined by how well you use it, and how often you are able to pass it around for everyone to use. Why is that?

Well, whoever has this in their inventory will gain the Elite Skill for as long as they have it, doubling their experience gain. However, the Elite Ring is also VERY expensive, costing 40,000G in a game where the Gold cap for each unit is 50,000G. So passing it around isn't something you can do just like that. No, you have to plan things EXTREMELY carefully, so that everyone can have a turn with it while still making sure that they have enough money for it in the next chapter. And considering that most characters will start with just 5000G (at best)...well, getting everyone that kind of money will be very tricky.

So let's go over all of our options, shall we?

1) Every chapter besides the Prologue and Chapter 6 has something called the Arena, a fighting pit with 7 opponents in it. Each time you beat an opponent, you get a progressively larger sum of money, getting 1000G from the 1st opponent, 1500G from the 2nd opponent, 2000G from the 3rd opponent, 2500G from the 4th opponent, and so on and so forth. But you can only beat these guys up once for each character you have. So what this means is that each character can win up to 17500G from each Arena they fight in...

Not only is this by far the most lucrative way of gaining money, but Arena enemies also tend to be extremely high leveled. In fact, they are SO high leveled, that most units can literally gain five whole levels just by beating every enemy with the Elite Ring on! So THAT'S pretty cool...

Except, clearing the Arena is much easier said than done. Because the thing with higher level opponents, is that they ALSO tend to have much higher stats, especially once you start getting to the later opponents. And while units like Sigurd will still be beating them with ease, units like Noish and Alec will spend pretty much the entire game struggling just getting past the 4th opponent if we try to make them fight as they are!

So due to their limitations, we also need to make sure they're properly geared up with awesome weapons and everything. But that in itself costs even MORE money! So if our weaker units are ever going to have any hope of consistently clearing Arena's, they will have to resort to alternative means of raising money, like...

2) Visiting villages the way Noish just did. Villages give a maximum of 5000G to whoever saves it, but will give 500 less for each and every turn that it's attacked by an MBandit. For example, that village Noish could only give 4500G since we couldn't stop the MBandit from attacking it at least once. What this also means is that a village can be attacked 10 times before it's finally just reduced to rubble, so you don't actually HAVE to rescue them immediately. It'd just be preferably to rescue them sooner, that's all.

Anyways, I'd consider this one of the easiest and most profitable ways of gaining cash...but Villages don't exactly grow on trees. In fact, Noish here will literally visit almost every single one of them this Chapter, and STILL only get 15,000G! So villages alone will not be enough for us.

3) Our characters can sell their weapons and items for half of their buying price. Not very lucrative, and the penalties are obvious. BUT, it also means that each character will get back 20,000G for every time they have to sell the ring to someone else, so that's pretty nice!

4) Each and every character will get 1000G for every castle we're able to protect from the enemies. For example, we liberated Jungby by "Conquering" it with Sigurd (which only he can do). Therefore, if we end the Prologue with it intact, each character will get an extra 1000G at the start of the next map. However, if an enemy manages to get to Jungby's entrance, they will level it to the ground just like this...

And, one thing I forgot to mention, your Tactics rank will automatically drop for each and every castle that's destroyed. Plus, if they do this to your starting castle (Chalphy in this case), then that's an automatic game over. So that's bad

!

Fortunately, as Ardan and DiMaggio have already demonstrated, you can choose to have someone Guard the castle, meaning that no one can capture or destroy anything until said unit is defeated. What's more, whosoever guards the castle will get a 30+ boost to their Evade, and will ALSO get to gain back 20% of their maximum HP per turn.

So this here is the easiest way of gaining Gold. But the downside is that the Gold it does give is minimal at best, and therefore, nowhere near enough to solve all of our money problems. Still helps though

!

5) Later in the game, your male units can become married to one of your female units in a purely monogamous relationship. THAT is something we will get into later, but for now, just know that when they tie the knot, they gain the ability to use the "Give" command on each other, which allows one of them to give the other all of their Gold. However, even if you manage to pair the right units with each other (which is in itself an exercise in planning), they'll still only have the ability to Give to each other, and not to other units.

6) There's also a unit class called a thief that can use the "Give" command on anyone (though no one but their Lover can "Give" back to them), and can also steal whatever Gold an enemy unit has just by attacking it once. Plus, there's a C Rank weapon called the "Thief Sword" that allows anyone who can wield it (like Alec) to do the same. However, we're only getting one thief for each Generation, and both of them are very weak and fragile. So actually GETTING them money without them dying can be a problem.

The method I used to get thieves money in my 0% growths playthrough (where they're even more pitiful than usual) was to have them attack bandits, who all have a rather hefty 5000 gold. Axes are so bad that no matter how strong they become your thieves should be safe.

Well...as long as they can't one-shot them. That's not generally a problem anyway due to the save system, but considering the Combat Rank, I still end up having to do some fancy stuff to cut that risk out of leveling Dew in Chapter 1.

So anyway, there's all our options. And despite the problems that come with each one, we'll still be using every single one of them to use the Elite Ring the way we want to. For example, when you combine the 17,500G that comes with Method 1, the 20,000G that comes from selling the Elite Ring in Method 3, and the free Gold that comes from Method 4, that's enough for units like Cuan to buy the Elite Ring every Chapter, WITHOUT any help...But not everyone is Cuan. In fact, Generation 1 specifically has seven different units that struggle to accomplish anything in the Arena, and they are as follows...

Alec (Needs a Speed Ring in Chapters 1 and 2, and wants a Defense Ring in Chapter 3. Benefits from an amazing weapon we'll be getting.)

Noish (Needs the Speed and Pursuit Rings, and wants the Defense Ring in Chapter 3. Benefits from an amazing weapon we'll be getting.)

Ardan (Needs an amazing weapon we'll be getting, and a ton of kills in Chapter 3 or 5)

Azel (Needs a Wind Tome from Chapter 4, and a ton of kills in Chapter 3)

Midir (Needs a Killer Bow and a ton of kills in Chapter 4)

Dew (Needs an amazing weapon we'll be getting.)

Beowulf (Needs to rig two points of Speed in Chapter 2, and wants the Defense Ring in Chapter 3. Benefits from an amazing weapon we'll be getting.)

So out of those seven, we need to pick at least 5 of them that we want to train. Me personally though, I'm going to invest in all of them instead, but only because I think it's faster to do that rather than grinding Sylvia (a later character) up to Level 30, or getting EVERYONE in Gen 2 up to Level 30, or doing something like that. So that's our plan as far as they go.

Playing Through:

Verdane Army

Now, back to the game...

Gerrard: Prince Gandolf won’t be pleased. Damn it all! Go put th’ bridge back up over Jun River. Let’s get it right this time!

Wait wait wait, Gandolf specifically told you NOT to do that. Not only that, but you're literally giving up one of the greatest advantages you have in this fight, BEFORE Gandalf has even gotten back with Kinbois and his men? And you're insulting DiMaggio for his worthlessness? Methinks you ought to be looking at yourself first

.

Anyways, Gerrard spawns a huge army to attack you with...but the enemies are just as weak as before, so really they're just more fodder for Sigurd's blade.

As for the rest of DiMaggio's men, they try, but they only succeed in chipping Alec's HP before getting more of themselves killed by Sigurd.

Sadly though, even Sigurd can't stop yet more 500G chunks from going down the drain...

Alvis' Theme

But wait! Is that...is that a green unit? What is HE here for? What could this possibly mean?

So wait, are you talking to Lex and Azel, or are you talking to yourself

?

Alvis: His majesty wants me to check on things... The savages sure aren’t going down easy. Sheesh...Sigurd, you don’t impress me much.

...

...

Ok, so I like this translation patch...but this particular line here? This is a really weak translation for what's actually supposed to be a pretty powerful line. Instead, it really should be more like "So, this is all you ever amounted to." Or, "It truly is sad, witnessing just how worthless you really are." Or maybe even "Well now, it seems we have found your ceiling...and it is the exact width and size of a pack of empty-headed mongrels. How sad."

Combine this with the fact that he's standing around trash talking, all while Sigurd and co. are still fighting for their lives as we speak, and...yeah. He's...kind of a jerk, to put it lightly :reject: . I mean, I don't know what what he was expecting, but soloing almost the entire army by himself seems like a pretty big point in Sigurd's favor to me. So unless he's got like the greatest stats ever, I don't think he's in any positi-

Alvis: You were saying?

....heh...HEH...HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!! WELL! That's uh...um...yeah, so this guy is pretty much immortal. And he's got 70 Attack in Magic Power, an amount so high, that he can literally one-hit K.O. GANDOLF of all people! GANDOLF!! And that is absolutely insane!

And fortunately, he's on our side, so just in case there was ANY doubt that you could complete this Prologue...yeah. The moment you beat DiMaggio, you've basically won.

Prologue: Birth of a Holy Knight

So, now that we've conquered our first castle, I take a moment to make a save on File 1, that way if we make a mistake while auto-saving on File 4, I can still go back and fix it without having to start the chapter over (though I'll have to do that anyway if one of my guys gets killed).

Now then, when we Enter a castle...

Grandbell Castle Town

We get access to some cool options here! The Fortune Teller will tell you how many Wins and Losses a character has (Wins being how many enemies a character kills), the Pawn Shop (where a character can sell their junk for another character to buy), Storage (where a character can clear inventory space by storing one of their items), and also the Weapon Repair shop (where you can fix your weapons). As for the two blank slots, the left one is where the Arena will be once you get to Chapter 1, and the right one will be where you can access the Item Shop, where you can buy ALL NEW items that you didn't have before!

So for now, the only thing we need to do is visit the Weapon Repair shop, and get our Steel Sword fixed up. You see, when a character has a weapon or staff, they can't just use those as many times as they want. No, almost every weapon has just 50 "Uses" that you can get out of it, which means that when you hit an enemy with it 50 times, it will break. And when THAT happens, it will become a "Broken Sword/Lance/Axe/whatever", and have 0 Might, 30 Hit, and 30 Weight. So basically, it becomes completely worthless, killing your Attack Power, Attack Speed, and Accuracy all at the same time.

Fortunately we can fix that! Just have this guy look at it, and then restore all of it's uses! Of course, the flip side is that you have to pay 2% of it's buying price for every use that has to be restored. So if this Steel Sword has 40 uses left, you have to pay 600G (20% of it's buying price) to give it 50 uses again. But if it only has 1 use left, then you'll have to pay 2940G (98% of it's buying price) to give it it's 50 uses.

Prologue: Birth of a Holy Knight

Anyways, Sigurd starts off with 5000G, so he's got more than enough to fix up his sword, meaning that now he can go and solo the rest of the map

!

So after he moves out, Ethlin heals Alec up...

Midir and Alec take care of their respective enemies, with Alec going to protect the castle from the lone Axefighter...

Fin goes and kicks the Axefighter around a little...

And then Lex, Azel, Noish and Cuan go further west before closing off our turn.

That said, nothing much happens. An axefighter futilely attacks Alec, the MBandits keep trashing the villages, and people just move around a little.

So basically we just spend our next turn mopping up the remainders of DiMaggio's men while killing two MBandits and getting ready for the next wave. Also, we get a level up for Alec!

1+ Strength!

Ok, so it's not a very GOOD level up...but at least Alec got a point in one of the areas he struggles in

.

Due to the terrible balance of the weapon triangle in this game sword users actually don't need a huge amount of speed relative to other games to double lots of enemies. Lances and Axes are so heavy that unless a sword user is really bad they will always double lance and axe users.

Yeah. To be fair, it still does kind of work in this game, since a lot of the weaker sword users have trouble doing good damage...but yeah, Pursuit + Axe Weight really tends to mess up axe users, ESPECIALLY as you get further into the game. Lances are still pretty decent though.

Anyways, this Village has got something particularly special for Alec, so this will be the only one I'll be feeding him this Chapter. So let's see what it is!

I KNOW RIGHT?! Oifaye tells us we gotta save you, and then it only takes us like, 4 Turns of running around to actually do it! Crazy huh

?

I thought we were doomed! I’ve got a ring for you in appreciation. It’s called the Speed Ring. Slip her on for a little boost in speed. Go ahead… put her on! Your enemy’ll have a tough time hitting you now!

And there we go! This baby gives you 5+ extra points to Speed for as long as you wear it, which for Alec, means that I won't have to rig points of Speed in order to have him clear Chapter 1's Arena! Quite nice that!

Rings in this game are ridiculous. Stat boosters that just give +2 to a stat already can make a huge difference in other titles, and these not only give a +5 bonus but can also be moved around your units.

Oh, and we've got more Gold, and that's always nice.

Speaking of Gold, here's a Church tile. When you have a unit stay on it for a turn, they'll automatically get back ALL of their HP as long as they 5 Gold for each point of HP restored (trust me, that's more than a reasonable price).

Also, more Gold for Noish! And some flavor text of course.

Swords are stronger than axes, axes are stronger than lances, and lances are stronger than swords. Keep that in mind when you’re in combat. And if you find yourself hurting, the church is your one stop to full recovery. But it ain’t free, mind you. The going rate is 5 gold for each hitpoint.

And there you go. Just some review about stuff we already learned, but oh well, it's still a good refresher

!

Verdane Army

One more turn village. One more turn, just make it through this Enemy Phase, and you'll finally be free

.

Alright, time for some fun!!

Yeah, look at THIS awesomeness! Sigurd literally soloing the ENTIRE mob, all by himself! It looks risky, but Sigurd's Defense has literally gotten so high, that these guys only do 6-8 Damage to him, so they would have had to have hit him three times, at just 8% accuracy (28% for the archers) in order to do him in.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Sigurd is a complete monster. He's not just "decent", he's not just "adequate". No, he's completely broken, and he's about to get even MORE overpowered very shortly

!

So then, now it's our turn, Ethlin heals Sigurd...

And now we get a new Command, the Talk command! Like villages, you'll get some flavor text, but UNLIKE villages, you won't always get anything from it. Sometimes you'll get a new item for someone, sometimes someone will get a permanent boost to some of their stats, but mostly the Talk command is just there for flavor text. So let's check it out, shall we?

A New Advance

Ethlin: I was so worried when I heard about Verdane’s invasion. I’m just glad you’re okay.

Sigurd: You didn’t think I’d lose to Verdane, did you?

Ethlin: Yeah, but I heard you only had a few soldiers in Chalphy. And I know you, Sigurd. You are always jumping into this kind of stuff without thinking. Especially with Father being away...I knew I had to come.

Yeah that's the truth. We all saw how suicidal "self-sacrificial" Sigurd was feeling when we started this Prologue. Though to be fair, it's not as though Noish and Alec are that great anyway :cheeky:.

Sigurd: Heh heh...you’ve always had your head on straight, haven’t you...You know you did a great job filling mum’s shoes after she passed away. When you married into Lenster’s royal family, I swore we had a lady on our hands. But you’re still the same old Ethlin. Poor Cuan! Hahaha!

Ethlin: Sigurd! If I’m a nag, it’s because of you and dad! If both of you weren’t such slobs!

Sigurd: ...Yeah, you might have us there. But we still appreciate everything you’ve done. Ethlin, I’m sorry you had to come all this way. I can’t thank you enough.

Ethlin: Sigurd...

So yeah, that's all pretty neat. Every Chapter you go into, you will have units who can talk to other units in order to have conversations like this. In order to find out who can talk to who, just bring up the menu...

Click on the Unit option...

Then press left until you get to this screen, and there you go! And it turns out, Azel, Lex, and Cuan can ALSO talk to Sigurd, though none of them actually give you anything but flavor text. Oh well though, we'll still go through em' anyway

.

Player Attack

So anyway, Cuan weakens this Axefighter here for Midir to kill.

And then Midir gets a level up!

...Uh...I got nothing.

...SUNNOVAGUN!!! He didn't get ANYTHING! And considering how weak Midir already is...yeah, this isn't helping him.

Alright, so Midir totally bombed that one...

So let's see how you do Sigurd!

1+ HP! 1+ Skl!

...

. Alright, so there's the downside to having all of your level up bonuses operate on percentages rather than fixed amounts. Sometimes you will get really awesome level ups...and then some level ups will be complete garbage, even for Sigurd.

Oh well though, at least he'll get to do some more killing by moving to this exact spot. You see, this one Hand Axe fighter to the left will never move off of that spot. But that specific spot is the only place where archers and Hand Axe fighters can attack Sigurd from 2 Range! As a result, Sigurd WILL be able to kill the Iron Axe fighters without having to risk getting hit by archers, or having to wait until the next turn to beat them!

And to top it all off, we FINALLY get to kill the last MBandit, which means that all the villages are safe now! Absolute NO ONE will be looting them now!

So after doing all that, and then moving Lex, Alec, and Fin closer to the main group, we end the turn.

Enemy Attack: Enemy Attack

Once again the enemies all but attempt to swallow Sigurd's sword (to no avail)...

And then the computer, not knowing what else to do, just kind of throws an archer in front of Sigurd, even though it cannot actually attack Sigurd from 1-range.

Units in a squad have a very specific order that they move which is always the same. This can be useful in situations where you want a unit to be hit by some enemies but not others.

Prologue: Birth of a Holy Knight

So in return, Sigurd takes advantage of this monumental display of stupidity...

And then Lex and Cuan do their best to kill the Hand Axe fighter in Sigurd's way, to no avail (Cuan didn't activate Continue like I was hoping).

But Cuan gets a level up! Let's see what he gets

...

1+ HP! 1+ Skl! 1+ Spd!

Okay, kind of decent I suppose. Hey, at least it helps him activate Continue!

Anyways, more healing is done (from now on, just assume that I'm doing this off-screen, for the sake of brevity)...

Noish keeps moving to get the other villages...

And here I have a decision to make. "Do I put Midir in range of the archers and the Hand Axe guys, and risk getting him killed via the Charge skill? Or do I keep him away, and pass up a chance at some experience?" Ultimately, I choose the latter, as the Combat rank is FAR too unforgiving to take risks like that, and really, this bit of lost experience won't make such a big difference anyways...

Verdane Army

Anyways, Sigurd gets yet another level up on the Enemy Phase...

1+ HP! 1+ Str! 1+ Luck! 1+ Def!

An AWESOME one btw

…

Prologue: Birth of a Holy Knight

And then Alvis moves a bit closer, no doubt intending to insult Sigurd for "only" getting up to 18 Strength as opposed to like, 29 or something crazy like that.

That said though, he's also got something very valuable to give us, and will automatically use the Talk command on us when he gets next to Sigurd. So I make sure that he can reach him at the end of the next Enemy Phase.

Now, I'm going to skip over the rest of the enemies on this turn and the other ones, just because the commentary is getting slightly repetitious now. So just know that from now until the end of the Prologue, I...

1) Keep healing people with Ethlin

2) Visit both of the remaining villages with Noish.

3) Try to give the most Exp. I can to Cuan while also trying to snag some for Midir and Lex.

So there you go. Now let's talk to Alvis, shall we?

Alvis' Theme

Just LISTEN to that music! Alvis may be a dork, but he's got a great song playing on his iPad!

Alvis: His Majesty was worried, so he sent me to assess the state of the conflict. He also sent this with me. It’s for you.

Sigurd: Whoa...a silver sword! He wanted me to have this? What an honour! Lord Alvis, please express my sincerest gratitude to His Majesty.

Alvis: Will do. By the way, I heard my brother Azel has joined your army.

Sigurd: Yeah...sorry. It sounds like he came behind your back. I couldn’t just turn him away. If at all possible I’d like him to stay with us for a bit longer.

Alvis: Well, keep him safe. Azel’s my only brother. We may have different mothers, but he still means the world to me. I wish he and I got along better, but that’s the way these things go. Sigurd, I’m leaving him with you in good faith. Show him the ropes, okay?

Sigurd: I’ll do that. I’ll see if I can get him to return home once we finish up here.

Alvis: I appreciate it. Well, I need to get back to Barhara to watch over His Majesty. Don’t let me down, Sigurd.

So, I slammed the patch writers earlier for their weak translation of what should have been a pretty powerful line from Alvis...but putting that aside, they actually did a really good job of writing Alvis here, aside from making him just a touch more plainspoken than perhaps he should be.

I mean, look at his dialogue. Notice how terse and to-the-point he is. Notice how he's never actually asking anything from Sigurd so much as he's commanding things from him ("Don't let me down" as opposed to "Please watch over Azel". Or "Well, keep him safe" as opposed to "Could you please make sure to look out for him?"). He's not necessarily impolite, but he's very direct, and doesn't waste much time with social niceties, which is exactly how he is in the original script.

Combine that with the high and mighty music that plays for him, and you get the impression of someone very regal. Very stoic. He comes off very cold, and sort of arrogant...but he CAN actually back it up, as seen by his stats, and his position as Commander of the Royal Guard. Also, this is the dialogue you get when Azel is alive...but what happens if you got him killed before Alvis arrived?

Alvis: Sir Sigurd, how’ve you been?

Sigurd: Lord Alvis!? What’re you doing here?

Alvis: His Majesty was worried, so he sent me to assess the state of the conflict. He also sent this with me. It’s for you.

Sigurd: Whoa...a silver sword! He wanted me to have this? What an honour! Lord Alvis, please express my sincerest gratitude to His Majesty.

Alvis: I will. By the way, I heard my brother Azel has joined your army. Is he alright?

Uh....

Sigurd: Well...Actually Azel was...

Alvis: He got himself killed, didn’t he...

Sigurd: I’m so sorry. There was nothing I could do...

Alvis: Azel...you fool...

Still more of that steely stoicness...I think we can guess just what character archetype Alvis is.

Prologue: Birth of a Holy Knight

And then he just...leaves...yeah...I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, and say that he wants to be at Barhara, just in case Agustria decides to invade as well. Still, he couldn't have at least stuck around to help us with the rest of the Verdane army? I mean we don't really need the help now, but still, as long as he's here...

So just in case Sigurd wasn't broken enough...

Yeah. He gets a Silver Sword. Which only he and Ethlin can use (and Ethlin won't be using it). It's just like the Steel Sword, except it has 4 more Might, without ANY downsides whatsoever. Because you know, Sigurd clearly needed the boost, right?...

...

Did I mention that this game might have some slight balancing issues? Anyways, Gerrard's men are basically dead now, and Noish is about to snag the last village...so how about those other conversations? Might Azel have something to say about Alvis?

A New Advance

Azel Talks to Sigurd

Now obviously the game expects you to have had this conversation BEFORE Alvis had talked with Sigurd, hence why he just walked right by Azel on the turn he arrived, despite supposedly being worried about him :cheeky:.

Azel: Lex and I came to help you fight Verdane. We came as quick as we could. Please, let us fight with you.

Sigurd: Geez, I could never ask you to fight. Does your brother, Lord Alvis, know that you’re here?

Azel: Er...no, I doubt it. He’s back in Barhara commanding the Royal Guard. Actually, he specifically forbade me from stepping outside the capital.

Sigurd: I bet he did! Have you considered the consequences of leaving like you did?

Azel: Yeah, but...I shouldn’t say this, but Alvis scares the living hell out of me!

Azel: I don’t think I live up to his expectations. I...I feel like I’m just a burden on him.

Sigurd: Well, you have your reasons. I’m glad you came, Azel. You stay as long as you want.

Azel: Thank you, sir!

(Sigurd leaves)

Azel: Wow, he’s just like everyone said he was! I wish Alvis could be more like him...

...Wow. Alvis. You know you're cold when even your own brother is scared of you. Yikes.

A New Advance

Lex Talks to Sigurd

Lex: Actually, Azel, that little punk...he dragged me here.

Sigurd: You’re too much, Lex...haha. Does Lord Langbart know you’re here?

Lex: Hell no! No offense, sir, but my father can’t stand yours. No way in hell he’d consent to me helping the Chalphys. I’m here by my own reckoning. Sir, just so you know...I’m not here for your little mission. Azel’s just a good bud of mine.

Sigurd: Er...I see. Well, all the same, I appreciate you guys coming.

Lex: Well, we’ll do what we can. Those barbarians have had their way long enough.

Langbart, in case you forgot, is this guy on the right...

The opening narration describes him as the "avaricious" (it's words, not mine) Lord of the Dozel Duchy. He's formed an alliance with Prime Minister Reptor, resents the righteous and good Lord Bryon, and has the angriest looking set of eyebrows on the meanest looking face you can have...

But fortunately, it looks like Lex is a different sort of person. Which is good, because otherwise we would be out one VERY valuable unit!

A New Advance

Cuan Talks to Sigurd

Cuan: We heard about your skirmish with Verdane. We’re here to fight.

Sigurd: How about Lenster? Don’t you have Thracia to keep an eye on?

Cuan: We do. That’s why I only brought Fin. My father took command of the Lance Ritter.

Sigurd: I see...Geez, sorry to drag you in to all of this, Cuan.

Cuan: Sigurd! Did you already forget about our pact?

Sigurd: Huh?

Cuan: Remember the academy? We all met at the military academy back in Barhara. It was the three of us. You, me, and Eltshan. We were talking late that one night. And we took a vow to help each other out if one of us was ever in a bind.

Sigurd: That’s right. No...I haven’t forgotten.

Cuan: Ok, then. Let’s get to work and rid yourself of this little nuisance. Don’t forget, Sigurd. I’m always here for you. Especially in times like these.

And finally, we have an unused conversation between Midir and Azel. I'm not entirely sure why the game designers cut it out (or if they even meant to), but, I think it's kind of neat myself. So let's check it out!

A New Advance

Midir Talks to Azel

Midir: Azel...

Azel: Hey, Midir. How are you doing?

Midir: Azel, I’m so sorry about Lady Aideen. I really blew it this time.

Azel: Naw, it’s not your fault. Don’t let it bother you.

Midir: Yeah, but I know that she means a lot to you.

Azel: Yeah, but that goes for you too, right?

Midir: How’s that?

Azel: ...look, we’re both hurting. Let’s work together to get her back.

Midir: Yeah, let’s do that.

Hmmm, that's interesting. So, Midir has some feelings for Aideen as well? Guess that's part of the reason why he fought so vehemently to protect her.

Fionordequester · Sat Aug 29, 2020 2:37 pm

Prologue: Birth of a Holy Knight

Now, lest we forget, Noish still has two more villages to visit, so let's see the flavor text for this one too!

It’s no surprise as the Chalphys are all descended from Baldo, the God of Light. If we just had Lord Bryon’s Holy Tyrfing, those barbarians wouldn’t have a prayer!

Yeah, that's the truth! The Tyrfing is a sword that has 30 Might, 7 Weight, and 80 Hit, but also gives a free Prayer skill, and ALSO boosts your Skl and Spd by 10+, and raises your MDef by 20+! So when she says that these barbarians wouldn't have a prayer...trust me, that's no hyperbole.

Now then, there's just one more village, and Gerrard's day has come! Technically I could just end it all with Sigurd on the next turn, and clear this Prologue by Turn 12...but, Noish isn't going to reach his last village until Turn 13, so instead, I'm going to have my weaker troops grind Exp. by tinking Gerrard a bunch of times. To that end, Lex is parked in front of him, and Sigurd is in a spot where he'll be giving everyone his Leadership Bonus. Now let's see how this goes!

Miniboss

Owch. Not only did Gerrard take off more than 75% of Lex's health, but he even managed to dodge the counter! Yeah, it's easy to miss but, Gerrard is actually really tough for this point in the game. I mean, we were all amazed by Gandolf's 60 HP, 17 Strength, 18 Speed, and 16 Defense...but Gerrard actually isn't much weaker than that. Dude's got 55 HP, 14 Strength, 16 Speed, and 14 Defense...and he even manages to make up for his weaker Strength by having a Steel Axe in addition to a Hand Axe. So actually, just in terms of raw attack power, he's actually stronger than Gandolf!

I mean, obviously he's still no match for Sigurd and his Silver Sword, and Azel can still chump him and his lack of Res...but even so, Gerrard's actually pretty impressive, especially when we count in his castle's 20% HP Regen and 30+ boost to Evade. That said though...

He's also has an EXTREMELY high level, coming in at Level 20 at a point where most enemy units are only Level 1. What that means is that all of our units get 25-30 Exp. just for hitting the guy! They don't even need to kill him, they just need to hit him! Combine that with Lex's Elite skill, and the guy actually gets 54 Exp per hit!

1 Str! 1 Def! 1 Res!

And a pretty nice level up to boot

! Oh, and the others get some as well...

1 HP! 1 Def!

1 Str! 1 Luck!

Why yes, Ethlin DOES get Exp. for healing people, in case I didn't mention that before! Right now she's only using the basic Live Staff, so she only gets 15 Exp. per heal. But later on, we're going to be getting staves that give WAY more than just that!

Also, Midir has a special conversation with Gerrard if he attacks him...

Yeah...I actually kind of wonder if Midir was originally supposed to be recruited at the beginning of the Prologue rather than after Jungby's capture. For one thing, there's that unused conversation between him and Azel, and plus, DiMaggio does NOT have any ranged options like Gerrard does, so his whole "WHAT, YOU'RE ARROWS?! YOUR A CHEATER!" comment would make a lot more sense. But oh well.

Now then, Noish will be getting the last village next turn, and Gerrard, for however strong he is otherwise, has a crippling weakness to magic attacks, so he's definitely not long for this world. So after some further weakening...

Azel finally put him down once and for all!

Like so!

Gerrard: Prince Gandolf's got her.

Yeah yeah, whatever you say. Let's check out Azel's level up.

1 HP! 1 Skl!

Victory is Near

And now with all the enemies dead, we get the "you've almost won!" theme, which will play until either you've conquered the last castle, or until more enemies show up. Now then, once last village, and then we're done!

Duke Ring had himself twin daughters and a son. However, Lady Adean’s twin was abducted by pirates as a youngster. The son, Sir Andrei, joined his father on the campaign to Isaac. You didn’t hear it from me, but there seems to be quite a bit of friction between the two.

Yeah, in addition to Lord Bryon, Prince Kurth also has Lord Ring as his other trusted advisor, as the intro said. These two aren't relevant now, but, they will be later. So after finally conquering Evans...we've got more story!

Victory 1

Oifaye: Verdane must have taken her away before we arrived. I hope she’s alright.

Sigurd: Grr! I’m hunting those bastards down! We’re getting her back!

And then more green units arrive!

Finally, Sigurd gettin' some respect around here! Stupid Alvis, he don't know WHAT he's talkin' about!

Filat: His Majesty is exceedingly pleased and has ordained you a Holy Knight of the Kingdom.

Sigurd: I hardly deserve such a great honour! I pledge my allegiance to His Majesty.

Hey don't let Alvis get you down Sigurd, you did fine. Trust me

!

Filat: We gravely need your help in protecting these castles. You will be duly compensated. Of course the sum will go down if the castles incur any damages. Please continue to be vigilant in the ensuing battle.

Will do! Like I said, Castle funds may not be very much, but they're still valuable!

And now we have reached the end of this update, at long last. And yet, our princess is still in another castle...so then, can we get her back? Can we find Aideen before something awful happens to her? Are we going to be able to make peace with Verdane? Or will we have no choice but to level it to the ground? And what of Alvis? What role will he end up playing in the events to follow? Just what DID the Prologue mean when it talked about an "oncoming storm" coming as a result of our actions here? And CAN I get all of my guys through the Arena next Chapter? Find out, on the next EXCITING EPISODE, of Let's Play Fire Emblem 4! This is Fionordequester, signing out. Have a nice day, and God bless you all!

Turns Taken: 13 Turns (A pretty good amount. A good Prologue clear should never be any longer than 15 turns, but trying to get under 11 is a little much).

Turn Surplus: +20 (This game has 12 maps, and the A Rank requirement for Tactics is 399 Turns, so you need to get an average of 33 Turns on each map. And on this one, I beat it in 13 Turns, so I've got 20 turns to spare

!)

Time Taken: ~36 minutes and 25 seconds. The animations were on, however, from testing a fight, I've found that No Animations vs. Animations only saves about 1 second, so I don't think that should matter much.

Things I Regret: The fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd. Had it not been for that, I might've been able to get some more money from some of the villages

.

Translation Tidbits:

Mistranslation #2: When Azel's telling Sigurd about why he came, Sigurd is...actually pretty happy about this in the original script. Instead of saying "Geez, I could never ask you to fight", his line is actually more like "Huh, awesome! More people to help me out! But wait, does your bro know about this?" And THAT'S when Azel's all "Well, uh...actually, my brother...kinda...sort of, in no uncertain terms, forbade me from coming...(embellishment of course)". Then Sigurd's all "Dude, big bro is gonna yell at you..."And then when Azel tells him how much Alvis scares him, Sigurd's basically all "Alright, alright, I'm sure you've got your reasons! So if you think you're ready, I'd be REALLY glad to accept your help!".

So basically, Sigurd's kind of curious about why Azel's here...but at the same time, he's really just kind of happy to have more help, so to imply that he has any misgivings about the whole thing goes against the point of the original script. To be fair though...BookofHolsety made that exact same mistake before one of his proofreaders corrected him :cheeky:.

Mistranslation #3 (or at least, I think it's one given that BookofHolsety's script differs, and none of his proofreaders contradicted him): When Filat is saying why defending the castles is important, he's not actually saying that we need to protect the castles in general. He's saying that Evans specifically needs to be protected because it's a valuable foothold into Verdane territory. That said though...I do actually prefer the "mistranslation" just because it's more valuable from a gameplay perspective. It's clearer about the fact that you'll get paid for protecting ALL of the castles, not just Evans. Plus, there's always the possibility that the patch translation is more correct, just because the Japanese language can sometimes be somewhat vague about whether someone is referring to one object, or many objects.

Fionordequester · Sat Aug 29, 2020 2:42 pm

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War! Last episode, Verdane tried to conquer Grandbell while most of it's military was away, but then we beat them back! But we still have to rescue Aideen, so how will we accomplish that? Hop on in and find out!

Glorious Grandbell

"In other words, your princess is in another castle"

In the past, Verdane’s frequent encroachment of the border earned them the label of barbarians by the people of Grandbell.

And yet Grandbell still trusted them enough to send their entire military away

.

Under the reign of King Batou, Verdane witnessed a cessation of all fighting along the border. The amiable monarch succeeded in maintaining the peace with Grandbell, while pacifying his zealous sons.

Just HOW he managed to do that is entirely beyond me, given that he's an old man, and Kinbois and Gandalf are as savage as they come. In fact, how does he even stay in power anyway?

However, that very peace was ultimately violated by none other than King Batou.

As opposed to King Batou rising up, grabbing his sons by the neck, and choke slamming them into the ground? Yeah, I'm sure things would've been WAY different if Batou had kept on being all for love and peace

.

There was Kinbois of Genoa [to the upper right], the eldest son, Gandolf of Marpha [to the lower left], and Jamka, the youngest of the three [in the middle].

Where had Aideen been swept off to? And what incited King Batou to invade Grandbell without warning?

Chapter 1 - The Spirit Forest's Maiden

Agustria Palace (Eltshan's theme)

Well now. Could we possibly be getting a new, female character? Let's find out!

Huh...I don't remember this character. For that matter, I don't remember Nodion either. Where was that supposed to...

OH! So Nodion is an Augustrian Duchy! And it looks like it's RIGHT on Verdane's border, near Evans. So it seems this blonde-haired dude seems to want to watch what's happening between Grandbell and Verdane. Interesting.

Anyways, blondy goes to Evans, and he and Sigurd have a little talk...

???: You're not formally attacking Verdane, are you?

Sigurd: Eltshan, thanks for coming! Verdane has taken Lady Aideen of Jungby hostage.

Eltshan: So that’s what’s going on...I wouldn’t leave this castle unattended if I were you. There’s no telling what the lords of Agustria may do...I’ll watch your back, Sigurd.

Oh wonderful. So now we may have Agustria on our butts too

...

Sigurd: I sure appreciate it, Eltshan. Let’s you and I meet up when this is all over. We’ll find a cozy little spot, have a little wine...just like old times.

Eltshan: That sounds nice. May you be victorious, Sigurd!

Eltshan, if you don't remember, is the other person Cuan mentioned last chapter, when he talked about how he, Sigurd, and Eltshan all made a pledge to support each other in their time of need. Pretty nice that they already set that up before introducing him, isn't it

?

Strangely enough, you never see the often mentioned friendship between Cuan and Eltshan. They have no on screen conversations.

Oh yeah, huh... that's too bad isn't it

?

Enemy Message 2

Anyway, bad guy time...

Hmm...this wouldn't happen to be our "Maiden of the Spirit Forest", would it?

Kinbois: Heh... Look, he’s all yours once we’ve gotten Evans Castle back.

Aira: You better not double-cross me, Kinbois. Because I’ll hunt you down...and put your head on a stick! Even if it takes me to the ends of hell! Got it!?

Kinbois: Whoa-woa!! Fer such a pretty face, you sure can spew some filth! Just relax. I’ve no plans of making an enemy with someone of your swordsmanship.

Aira: Shanan, stay strong. It’ll only be for a little while.

And then with all that said...

Kinbois bellows a war cry...

And then summons a sizable group with him leading from behind. Interestingly enough, Kinbois is NOT the one guarding the castle. The guy who IS guarding it is just a generic Warrior, while the Warrior on the top-left is actually Kinbois himself. And that makes for a rather interesting fight, as you'll soon see.

Chapter 1: Girl of the Spirit Forest

And now it's our turn! Now, if you move your cursor over to the entrance like this, and then press A...

That will take us INSIDE our own castle, where all of our units wait for the call of duty. If you want them to join the fray...

You will want to select the Sortie command here. Now, all of you Fire Emblem afficionados may be wondering this. "How many playable units can you have out of your castle at once?" And the answer?

EEEVERY OOOONE!!! Yes, that's right, there is NO limit whatsoever in this Fire Emblem. You can use as many, or as few units as you want, without fear of any kind of penalty. And that's the case for ALL the Chapters, not just some of them. Not only that, but if you decide you don't want them fighting anymore, you can actually move them back inside! And once inside, they will recover 1/5 of their HP per turn...at a cost...

HP recovery from castles x 5 [gold]

Yeah. You may get healing for every turn spent guarding or resting inside a castle, but it's NOT free! You spend 5 Gold for every point of HP recovered. So, say Azel is inside the castle, has a max of 32 HP, but has been reduced to 1. He has 15,000G to start with, but every turn, he's going to recover 6 HP, which means he'll lose 30 Gold per turn. Which really isn't that bad. It's so minimal in fact, that I never even knew that mechanic existed until now. But still, do be careful

!

Yeah... even when I was aiming for super precise item management in my 0% growth run, the cost of castle healing never really ruined my plans. I don't even know why it costs anything, it's such an insignificant amount of money.

So let's check out the Arena!

Arena Entrance

In other Fire Emblem games, you're forced to use an Iron Sword/Lance/Axe/what have you, but in THIS game, you can go ahead and use whatever you want. And as for me, I'll want to go ahead and use my Iron Lance, since that's the cheapest. Plus, I'll want Sigurd to have lots of money for later on in the game.

Arena Match

TIME TO DIIIIIIE!!

1000G, on the house. And that number increases by 500G for each Rank in the Arena you get to, and it doesn't even need to be done all at once either. Again, unlike other Fire Emblems, if you leave the castle and come back, you'll still get to fight the next guy after Gazak, and get 1500G from beating him.

So let's fight the second guy now.

Second verse, same as the first...

And if you feel like switching the Weapon you're using at any point, you can simply select "Weapon" and switch to a different one.

Level up achieved...

1+ HP! 1+ Luck!

.......

Don't worry, Sigurd hardly even needs level ups to be a monster.

I suppose

...

Anyways, another thing you can do in the Arena. If it looks like a fight is going south, you can press the B Button in the middle of it, interrupt the match, and get this screen...So not only do you NOT have to pay to use the Arena, and not only can you use whatever weapon you want, but you can actually give up AND change weapons on the fly! Of course, you have to wait until the current round of combat resolves before the B Button will take effect, but still! Plus, even if you DO die in the Arena...your character doesn't actually die. You'll just get this screen...

And then get dumped right back inside the castle, at 1 HP. In fact, losing in the Arena doesn't even affect your Combat Ranking, so really, the Arena is actually a FREE source of Exp. and Gold that you can visit each and every Chapter! And of course, it only has seven guys that you can beat per chapter, so it's not unlimited...but still, it's pretty neat!

There IS just one downside the Arena though. For some reason, the level ups you get here tend to be much worse than the level ups you get outside of the Arena. It was theorized that this was because fights tend to last a while in the Arena both due to how much tougher the enemies are, and due to the flat 20+ Avoid boost that both combatants get. Because of that, we thought, the game could actually run out of random numbers to use when calculating, say, how many stats you get per level up. As a result, it was possible to get 0 stat bonuses even in areas where you have a growth rate of more than 100%! And that's the theory I always accepted...but, it seems Marty has this to say...

I'm not actually sure if this is the reason or not. In my 0% growth run of FE4 I went through some long fights (such as a thief killinga final general with a broken sword) and my RNG display script never stopped showing new numbers. I guess it's possible that this was a flaw of the script I used (which worked perfectly otherwise), or maybe there's some other cause for this.

So, there you go. I don't know what's up. But, what I DO know, is that there is a way around this! If you press the B Button and go to the resulting screen, that will allow the game to refresh it's string of random numbers. So essentially, if you know you're about to get a level up, you'll always want to press the B Button before actually landing the finishing blow. If you do that, you'll actually get BETTER level ups than if you don't do that. And that I DO know for sure, because I tested that myself numerous times.

So after that run, we buy these two weapons for Sigurd. I'll bet it's obvious what the Javelin is for, but as for the Slim Sword, well...see these stars here? Let us talk about that, now, in our next War Room section.

Verdane Castle Town

The War Room Part 3: (The Kill Counter, the Critical Skill, and Powering Up Your Weapons)

Those represent a kill counter. For each enemy you kill, 1 point is added to the star. But, it's NOT just for show. Once you get past 50 Kills on a weapon (ANY weapon, even the ultimate ones), that weapon will automatically grant you the Critical skill for as long as you have it equipped. Plus, you'll actually gain a 1% increase in your chance to activate Critical for EVERY further kill the weapon gains, up until the counter caps at 100. Then it won't increase anymore.

So yes, not only can you gain the ability to sometimes DOUBLE your Attack Power, but you'll also get up to a 50% Increase in your ability to do so just by using the same weapon over and over! But of course, the flipside to this is that getting that many kills on any weapon requires a bit of planning, especially since enemies are usually finite. Plus, it often forces you to not use as many characters, unless you want to hemorrhage money playing patty cake with the weapon you're using.

Because of that, you'll want to figure on only being able to get three weapons up to 100 kills by the end of the game. And if we're that limited, we need to spend some time figuring out the weapons we want to super-charge. And as far as I can figure, you'll generally want to create these three weapons...

1# - A super-charged version of something that can be used by almost everyone, like the Slim, Iron, or Steel Swords. This way, you can give a much needed boost to characters who otherwise do not have much in the way of attack power, like Ardan. And by doing that, I can help them to defeat enemies (like the Rank 6 and 7 guys in the Arena) that they would NEVER otherwise be able to beat on their own without lots of resets. So this weapon is first on my list.

2# - A good ranged weapon. The Javelin and Hand Axe are obviously flawed due to their extreme weight, but later on you'll get a variety of magical swords that use your Magic stat to attack from range, and your Strength stat to attack from close-up. Of course, physical units like Sigurd get almost no stat boosts to their Magic stat, but once you get 100 kills on one of those swords, and then throw on a Magic Ring (5+ to Magic)...well then you're really in business! Sigurd's not just soloing Brigands, but also Javelin users, Hand Axe users, basically EVERYONE except mages. And because swords don't weigh a whole lot, Sigurd's not even sacrificing much in the way of speed or accuracy while using one of those weapons. So after forging that Uber Slim Sword, I'll be forging this one along with...

3# - An Uber Hero Sword. What is the Hero Sword? It is a weapon that allows you two consecutive hits per attack, allowing you to hit your opponent FOUR times with Pursuit, rather than just twice. Not only that, but it already has 2 more Might and 20 more Hit than a Steel Sword, so once you plop on an extra 50% chance to activate Critical...owch. This one is the lowest priority one, just because most regular enemies aren't nearly strong enough to warrant such an obscene weapon...but many of the bosses are in a league of their own, so this weapon is meant mainly for them. Plus, Weapons 1 and 2 aren't always going to cut it for killing some particularly stubborn enemies.

So there you go. There's my master plan for accomplishing much of the stuff that I would normally need to RNG Abuse for. And if we want those weapons in time, we'll need to start building them up right away.

As for which weapon I'm forging to be Weapon #1, I'm going to be taking this Slim Sword, and turning it into an Uber Slim Sword! The reason for this is because it's flat out better than the Iron Sword, and it has several important advantages over the Steel Sword despite having 2 less Might. To start with, it's a Rank C weapon rather than a Rank B weapon, which means that ANYONE who can use swords can use it.

This is very significant because there is a thief we're recruiting in this Chapter that otherwise can't accomplish anything in the Arena. But, as stated in the previous War Room, thieves have the ability to give money out to anyone, not just their lovers. And this particular thief ALSO has the added ability of being able to buy everything at half price, which is exactly as abusive as it sounds. But I can't take full advantage of all of that unless I can fetch him 17500G per chapter in Arena gold. So the Uber Slim Sword will be great for him...

But even disregarding that, it also has a Weight of 1 rather than a Weight of 3. This may not SOUND significant at first, but guys like Noish, Alec, Ardan, and Beowulf have a real problem trying to outspeed some of the Arena fighters. For example, Rank 4 of this Chapter has this guy, Shark...

And he is a jerk. In fact, you get the impression that the designers custom made him to be the wall that none of your weaker units can get past on their own. The dude has 13 Speed and wields a Steel Sword, effectively giving him 10 AS. And since Alec and Noish only start with 8 Speed and 10 Speed even WITHOUT weapons...that's going to be an issue. To top that off, Shark has Pursuit and an Attack Power of 20, so the guy will wreck a lot of our men.

There's always that one sword fighter in the arena who very few people can get past... Swords OP.

But that all changes the moment, say, Alec, gets a Speed proc. When he has that and a Slim Sword, that makes it so that his AS is also 10, meaning that he nullifies Shark's Pursuit. And both Noish and Beowulf run into a similar case in Chapter 2 where they literally NEED to exceed 12 AS in order to compete with Bachnin and Keimos (Rank 4 and Rank 7). So just for situations like that, the Slim Sword's lesser Weight makes all the difference in the world. Plus, it's more accurate, so battles won't be quite as luck based either. All in all, I just think it's the superior choice for training your scrubs up to a decent level.

The EXP rank in this game is extremely stringent, and if you're playing for reliability it can be very hard to train units. Essentially, not doing well in early arenas can start a vicious cycle, where once a unit is finally powerful enough to do well in the arena, their poor early performances means they don't have enough money to buy the elite ring, making it very difficult to reach the EXP requirement. Normally this issue can be worked around by RNG abusing or just having your units fight in different orders. In a run where neither of these options are allowed, I think a high kill slim sword might be one of the best ways to let chumps like Arden and Dew get far in the arena.

Indeed. And while I will sometimes use the two other options, they're really slow in terms of real time, while forging an Uber Slim Sword will only take about 40 minutes and 22 Turns the way I'm doing it. That may sound like quite a bit, but because it's so early in the game, the Uber Slim Sword more than justifies the time spent making it over the long haul.

Playing Through:

Anyways, Sigurd now has the Slim Sword for training and the Silver Sword for sheer power, so, the Steel Sword is now redundant enough to sell to this weird looking man. So let's check the Unit menu now, see if there are any conversations available!

Ah, what do you know? Seems Cuan wants to talk to Fin about something!

Manster Palace

Cuan: I appreciate it.

Fin: Of course, I am still only an apprentice. I doubt I’ll be of much help to you.

Cuan: Yeah? Then let’s use this opportunity to teach you a bit about the art of war. Here, Fin. Take this lance.

Fin: Thank you very much, Your Highness!

And contrary to what was implied, Fin does NOT get a new weapon, but instead gets a single point boost to Strength, Skill, and Defense. Which is still pretty awesome!

The Lenster theme is beautiful.

Chapter 1: Girl of the Spirit Forest

Anyways, we're going to be using every mounted unit except Midir to push through Kinbois's men, so Lexy here is gonna get...

The Steel Axe! With 18 Might! WHOOOOO

!!!

Still an axe 3/10.

So here's our formation at the end of our turn. Actually, Midir would have been good to have as well, just in case someone needed more help killing something...but whatever. Anyways, Sigurd and Cuan are there to kill stuff, Ethlin is there to heal, Noish and Alec are there to train, Lex wants a Hand Axe from Kinbois, and Fin is gonna help Lex get it. Because you see...

Some boss units will have weapons or items that have this bag icon next to them. When you see that, that means that whoever kills the boss unit will get that item! But Kinbois is no slouch. With 50 HP, 14 Strength, 13 Defense, a Hand Axe, and a Silver Axe, the guy is a 1-2 Range unit who hits even harder than Gerrard, is almost as durable, and can actually move around instead of being stuck to a castle. And while that's bad enough...there's also a rather unfair advantage that the A.I. has that you'll see in this GIF...

Yeah, that's right. Unlike your units, enemy units can switch their weapons on the fly. It doesn't matter what weapons they have equipped when you attack them. If you execute a ranged attack, they'll automatically switch to whatever ranged weapon they have. But if you attack them from close-up, they'll automatically switch back to the most powerful weapon they have, ranged or otherwise.

So with all that stuff going for him, Kinbois is quite the speed-bump on a Chapter that is otherwise little more than a one-sided butt stomp in favor of your forces. And we still want that Hand Axe of course. So getting that for Lex while still surviving and getting to Genoa is going to take some co-ordination, and all of our mounted units except Midir (although, as I said, it would've been a good idea to bring him).

Verdane Army

So watch this now. Pay attention to how our enemies move...

See this? Notice how the A.I. moves all (or almost all) of one unit type before moving any of the other unit types. And then it moved Kinbois himself last? Well, the A.I. will always do that, because it has a pre-selected list of what order it will move it's units in. And most importantly, Enemy Commanders will always move last. So if we are aware of this, we can do strategic maneuvers we wouldn't otherwise be able to do.

Enemy Message 1 (Verdane's theme)

"Meanwhile, at the Fortress of Evil..."

We have two blue units and a red unit marching out of Marpha. Please don't tell me this is going to be an execution

...

OH! So it's a prison break instead

!

Jamka: Gandolf is going to find you guys. Now move it!

Aideen: Prince Jamka, you’re not joining us?

Jamka: No. I can’t go against my father… even with all the mayhem my brothers are causing. I’m going to Verdane to see my father. I have to get him to see the wrong in all this.

Aideen: Yes, indeed. This war has gone on long enough. Prince Jamka, you’re our only hope. Do your best to persuade the king to end this war.

Aw c,mon! Don't you mean "persuade the king to 'end this destructive conflict'”? You guys missed a perfectly good reference there!

Dew: Aideen, we gotta move now! It’s gettin’ too hairy ’round here. Gandolf’ll rip out my tongue next time they find me!

Jamka: Dew, you were just asking to get locked up, you little thief. You’re just lucky Aideen pleaded for your release. No more stealing, am I correct?

Dew: Look, I promised Aideen, too. I’m finished with the thievin’ business, OK?

Jamka: I’ll take your word, Dew. Now you two get going!

And then Aideen and Dew run away while Jamka heads back. But before he leaves...

His heart really isn't in this, is it? Unfortunately, there is naught we can do for him now...

Gandolf: You bring the woman an’ that litlle thief back here. If they resist ya, do ’em in.

And here is...one of the most idiotic plot points in this Chapter. Frankly, out of all the Chapters in the game, I think this one is one of the most nonsensical if you really think about it, and here's one of the reasons why. Last chapter, Gandalf made this big deal about how he was going to go back and "get Kinbois and his men" before returning to lay further seige to Grandbell. In fact, that was the whole reason why he didn't stick around...

Well, here he is back in Marpha, not doing a blasted thing to help, despite having this MASSIVE concentration of guys with him. So really there's only two ways to spin this scenario. Either Gandalf doesn't know that Grandbell's arrived, and he's decided to just lay around and let Kinbois do all the work against the most powerful country on the continent. Or, he DOES know Grandbell's invading, but is choosing to be an indecisive dolt rather than either choosing to surrender, or combining his forces with Kinbois's in order to defeat Grandbell.

So either way, he's being an idiot! Either way, he's pointlessly spreading their forces thin at a time when they really need every man they can spare! And either way, this drastically undercuts all that time spent in the Prologue building him up to be this really scary customer! It's frankly quite ridiculous I tell you.

Anyways, Gandalf's men are divided into two groups. The first group consists of the men near the castle. They won't move until you get in range of their attacks, so they're harmless for now. The right group however is going to go after Dew and Aideen for the whole map, so that's a problem.

Chapter 1: Girl of the Spirit Forest

But fortunately, they don't move till the next turn, so we've got a chance to breath a little. Anyways, now that Aideen is on the field, let's see how many guys she can talk t-

Whoa! Check out Ms. Personality here

! Yeah, it's very important to check this screen every time you either liberate a castle, or get new party members, because these Talk opportunities WILL slip by if you don't get them quickly. In fact, this Chapter alone will be having us recruit two new units by using Talk, so...yeah, pretty important I'd say.

But as for Aideen and Dew, they're already on our side. So let's cover them real quickly!

Level 3 Priest

HP: 28 (70%) Spd: 9 (30%)
Str: 0 (20%) Lck: 11 (60%)
Mag: 13 (30%) Def: 1 (20%)
Skl: 8 (20%) Res: 10 (5%)

Move: 5
Weapon Ranks: Staves (B)
Items: Relive Staff
Skill: (Empty)

Ah, our second healer. And while she loses to Ethlin in movement, she has more magic power to heal with, and can use far more potent staves. In terms of a normal playthrough, that's not so critical, but in an AAAA Ranked run, it means that she can use staffs that give up to 100 Exp. rather than the 15 Exp that Ethlin receives from her Live Staff. Because of that, Aideen is what we like to call a Staff Bot.

Yes, the staff bot. This unit is one of the most important kinds of units you can have. With staves that give tons of Exp per use, they can effortlessly get up to Level 30 without using the Elite Ring or the Arena. And once they hit Level 20, all staff bots will gain magic on top of their talents with the staff, so money is hardly ever a problem for them once they get going. Of course, combat does not tend to be something staff bots do well, given their inferior offensive stats and lack of Pursuit. But that's ok, because their contributions to the Exp rank are more than enough to make up for that.

So, I'd compare Aideen here to Dende. Can't do much fighting, but she can heal people instantly and immediately, which more than justifies her presence.

Staffbots gonna staff.

Level 1 Thief

HP: 28 (50%) Spd: 15 (40%)
Str: 3 (40%) Lck: 12 (40%)
Mag: 0 (10%) Def: 1 (40%)
Skl: 6 (40%) Res: 0 (10%)

Move: 6
Weapon Ranks: Swords (C)
Items: Iron Sword
Skill: Steal (User takes enemy's gold), Solar Sword (Skill%=Chance to Restore HP equal to damage done to enemy), Bargain (Buy and Repair things for half price!)

And here we have another of the most important characters, and well as one of the most interesting. At first, he looks like complete trash, packing the SAME Defense and HP as Aideen, and Strength so low that even Alec and Midir are laughing at him. And though his growths are otherwise solid, his HP growth means that he's going to be struggling with durability for a while...

So what if I were to tell you that this guy probably has an easier chance of clearing Arena's than almost anyone else on our team? Once he gets going I mean? Really though, the Bargain Skill alone allows him to trivialize much of what he faces by getting awesome stuff like the Elite Ring, the Speed Ring, and other such things. And he doesn't even need to really pay anything for those either, because he can sell items at the SAME price as he can buy them.

But what REALLY puts him over the top is the Uber Slim Sword that I'm fixing to make. With that and the Pursuit Ring on him, he goes from someone who can't hurt people at all, to a ridiculously dodgy murder machine who can generally kill things MUCH faster than they can kill him. With all that going for him, and the Thief's innate ability to Give away all their gold, he's practically a walking, talking ATM machine that doubles as a death machine! And if giving away ALL of his Gold seems counter-productive, remember, units can store their items.

So, suppose Dew has 50,000 Gold, and we need to give 10,000 Gold to, say, Midir. He doesn't have to give up ALL of his money. Instead, all he has to do is buy 40,000 Gold worth of stuff, Give the remaining 10,000 Gold to Midir, and then sell all the stuff he just bought to get his 40,000 back. Plus, with all these Axefighters and Bandits around, Dew can get to Level 8 even without the Arena, allowing him to put his awesome growths to use. And of course, he's got an awesome promotion so...yeah.

The guy is a little like Gotenks then. He's a goofy, impulsive, air-headed little kid who's always getting himself in trouble and is...frankly not a whole lot of good to anyone. Not at first anyway. But given a little time, he goes from zero to hero and becomes one of the most helpful allies you can possibly have...as long as you aren't relying on him to be saving any worlds

.

A very underrated unit. Though he never becomes too much of a fighter, bargain on a theif is so useful. In an AAAA rank playthrough everyone needs a lot of money to afford the elite ring, and no matter how judicious you are with village allocation, units can slip through the cracks, and in these situations, Dew does a lot. Plus, some units need a cash dump to get going.

So here's what I do with them for now. Aideen can't fight, and Dew actually gets OHKOed by the Captain of the squad, so they're going to be spending some time on the run. But right now, I'm still putting Dew in a spot where he would be targeted by two of the goons. This decision may cause me to Reset if one of the two hurt him, but on the other hand, Dew needs a level as soon as possible if he wants to be able to survive a hit from the Captain. So I think that's worth the potential time lost in resets.

So here's the current situation. Cuan has attacked the Mbandit, Sigurd has killed the topmost Brigand with the Slim Sword, and everyone else has gotten into preparation on the outside of the enemy's unit range. Now, Sigurd will solo the Brigands, and the Axefighters...

And Kinbois is forced to attack Sigurd from close-up, in addition to the three Axefighters who would've otherwise used their Hand Axe. Normally, if given the chance between attacking a melee character from 1 or 2 ranged, enemies will attack from 2 range so long as they have a 1% chance or more of hitting. However, knowing the order that the computer moves it's units, and the fact that Kinbois and the Axefighters would go after the archers, I've moved Sigurd in such a way that they had no choice but to get in his face...

Miniboss

Still, things don't go perfectly. Kinbois takes off more than half of Sigurd's HP in one blow, so both me and him are sent reeling from this round of combat...

Enemy Attack

Other than that though, things went off without a hitch for Sigurd and Co. Will Dew and Aideen manage the same luck?

Yes, c,mon...

Yeah, there we go!! Got 28 Exp, didn't get hit...

And now Dew is 2,000 Gold richer than we were before! Now I just hope Aideen and Jamka don't get too mad

.

In case you're wondering, the reason I couldn't get Dew onto either a Town or Forest tile is because the Brigands only have a 16% chance of hitting him on Plains. Stack a 20% Evade boost on top of that, and the Brigands will literally just walk right by Dew, knowing that they have no chance of hitting him. But the Captain will still be on his butt. And he'll still be strong enough to kill Dew in one hit, so it's actually more dangerous to stick Dew on a Forest than it is to do what I'm doing. So...

Chapter 1: Girl of the Spirit Forest

Next turn, Aideen and Dew the same thing as last turn...

Cuan kills the Mbandit attacking the northern village...

1+ HP! 1+ Str! 1+ Mag! 1+ Def!

And he actually gets Magic, and also the REST of the left side of the screen!

After that, Ethlin kills a heavily injured Bandit, though she might not have been able to if she or Cuan had ended up any weaker than they were. And THAT'S why I say that having Midir along might've been a good idea, just in case that happened. Oh well though, no biggie.

Player Attack

Now, we have to take care of Kinbois, but there are still archers blocking him off. So, Alec weakens one of them...

And then Noish finishes that one off!

Alright Fin, let's see what you can do!

Miniboss

...Yeah he beat up Kinbois pretty bad, but look at that Damage! Whatever is he to do now?!

1+ Luck!

Well, first of all, I think that is just about the unluckiest Luck level I have ever seen.

But anyways, it LOOKS like Fin is in danger here...but remember, he has the Prayer skill, which raises his Evade by 10 for every point of HP under 11 he's at for one turn. Now let's see how much Hit the archers have...

Ah, only 70! So as long as Fin stays off the Roads, he's invincible! And yes, this was all precisely arranged so that that would happen. Because now the archers will most likely attack him since he's technically got one foot in the grave, distracting them from everyone else.

And then Lex kills Kinbois! And for that, he gets...

1+ HP! 1+ Skl! 1+ Str! 1+ Spd! 1+ Def!

An amazing level...

And a shiny new 1-2 Range weapon, just as planned!

Chapter 1: Girl of the Spirit Forest

Alright, time to get dangerous.

See this? Aira and the three Axefighters will normally stay frozen in place, but once you get in their range, all bets are off. And while the three Axefighters are as pathetic as always...

Aira is kind of in a league of her own. First of all, she's a sword user who uses an Iron Blade, which is basically an Iron Lance, but with half the weight and 20 less Hit. But more importantly...

She's got this skill here, perhaps one of the most overpowered offensive skills in the entire game. Seriously though, that thing there is almost always an instant reset if it she hits someone with it. Not only that, but it's activation formula is equal to how much Skill the user has, so this thing has a 16% chance of activating per attack. So actually, since she has Pursuit, Aira's hitting her opponent ten times, not just five! That said though, she's a little on the fragile side, and Sigurd's got the Slim Sword, so Sigurd COULD actually reliably kill her as long as he's at full health...

But here's the thing. You don't have to do that. In fact, you can actually get her, and other enemy units, to switch sides as long as you fulfill certain conditions. Usually it's as simple as talking to them with the right person, but in Aira's case, (and only in Aira's case), it's more complicated then that. You not only have to conquer Genoa without killing her, but then you ALSO have to talk to her with Sigurd, and only Sigurd. Otherwise, she'll just head back to Genoa, destroy it (along with anyone else who gets in her way), and then come running back to you, screaming bloody murder the whole way through...

And what makes it worse is that there's almost nothing in either the game OR the Japanese instruction manual that actually tells you that you can convert enemies to your side with the Talk command. The game doesn't tell you that you can do this until Chapter 6 (at which point you've already permanently missed four characters), and the Japanese instruction manual just has this...

The circled section talks about the "Talk" command. But even there, all it really says is something along the lines of "Under certain conditions, your units can talk to other Allied units. Also, you can use the Talk command to convert enemy units to your side, and also get some items from some of your other Allied units."

...

And that is it. That is literally... It. Those are the ONLY places in either the game OR the manual where it tells you how to recruit enemy units. Of course, there are at least subtle hints that Aira's supposed to join you at some point, like that whole thing about her not wanting to serve Kinbois, as well as this portrait of her on the lower right...

But even then, the game tells you almost nothing about HOW you're supposed to recruit her, or anyone else. For all you know, she'll just automatically join you at the end of the Chapter, regardless of whether you kill her or not. Or maybe you have to find a way to keep her alive for the whole Chapter while you go knock down Kinbois, Gandolf, and whatever other bosses you fight. Or maybe recruiting her is something that happens after you kill every enemy unit but her?

It's just one of those things that's not quite a Guide Dang It moment, but is still needlessly obscure. After all, this could be someone's very first Fire Emblem game! And there's always that chance, where by the time you realize your mistake, you'll have already saved your file in a way that forces you to restart your game just to get her. Pre-tty unfortunate game design, if you ask me...but oh well, I still love this game

.

Now then, Aira has two exact ways she can move when you move Sigurd into aggro range, depending on whether or not you have ANY units other than him past those red lines. If you do, she'll move like this...

But if you make sure NOT to have anyone but Sigurd past those red lines...

She'll move like this. So now we can capture Genoa without having to fight her!

Verdane Army

Now let's see how this goes!

Alright! Nice dodging by Fin (and no, the battle screen does NOT show the results of Prayer)...

This axefighter suicides himself on Sigurd since he's too dodgy for a Hand Axe...

Dew continues to run circles around Gandolf's men...

And here comes Aira!

Chapter 1: Girl of the Spirit Forest

Or...not. The A.I. can be funny sometimes, can't it

?

So Sigurd gets started on the Warrior guarding the castle...

And then he scampers off JUST outside Aira's attack range

!

Cuan continues his journey to the next village in need of rescue...

And then I help Noish kill an archer before sending him to save one of the other ones!

He has attacked our village on numerous occasions. It's been dreadful. And things had been so peaceful under the reign of King Batou... Anyway, were all so glad that you've come!

Shucks...well, we're all here to help

.

So Alec gets another level...

1+ Str! 1+ Skl! 1 Luck!

And WHOOO! Strength on Alec! Now that's what I want to see!

Anyways, Dew retreats to another point where he'll fight two Brigands, Aideen goes as far as she can go without getting attacked by Aira...

And then the rest of the units finish off their turn by following Cuan as best they can. Nothing much happens on the enemy's turn...

So let's skip to ours! Aira is dangerously close, but don't worry, that will not be a problem because...

Sigurd kills the one guarding the castle...

And then conquers it, thereby freeing Shanan from Verdane's clutches! Now let's see what they have to say!

Victory 1

Shanan: .....

Sigurd: What's up? Why aren't you talking? Who locked you up in there?

Shanan: ...Aren't you Kinbois men?

Sigurd: We took care of Kinbois. You're safe with us.

Shanan: Really? Then Aira doesnt have to fight anymore! They're makin' my auntie fight against her will! Please, you gotta help her!!

Sigurd: That swordfighter out there? I thought something was different about her. I'll go let her know you're alright. So what's your name?

Ah, so there's one of your clues about how to recruit her. Of course, that assumes that you didn't already kill her first...though actually, you're supposed to get the hint even if you HAVE already chopped off her head. But due to some English patch shenanigans...well, let's just see how the rest of this plays out first.

Shanan: Shanan. I'm... er.. prince of the Kingdom of Isaac.

Sigurd: YOU are the prince of Isaac? You're serious, aren't you? I bet you've been through a lot. You're best to stay with our troops for now. Just be patient for the time being. You'll make it back to your country someday.

And then Shanan leaves, and Oifaye pops up again.

Sigurd: Oifaye, that war has nothing to do with this child. I don't care where he's from. We'll find a way to get him home. For now I just want to keep him safe.

Oifaye: Understood.

For reference, back in medieval times, times were a bit...rougher back then. When your kingdom had defeated another in war, it was common practice to not only execute the enemy king, but also his entire FAMILY, including granddaughters, grandsons, uncles, grandfathers, mothers, cousins, pretty much EVERYONE who had even a drop of the enemy king's blood inside them. And according to at least one FE4 guidebook, that was the case in this game's universe as well. And obviously Sigurd and Oifaye know this, hence that brief exchange between them at the end...

So really, what Sigurd's doing here isn't just a random act of generosity. It's yet another defining moment of him as someone who truly is every bit as kind-hearted and self-sacrificial as you'd expect a Holy Knight to be. Sigurd is not just a bro (though he certainly is that

), he truly is a good person, and someone who obviously has a lot of sympathy for the weak and helpless. So that was all pretty cool, and there's of course, nothing obviously wrong with the script there...

But, what if things had gone...not so well? How would Shanan react if Aira was dead? THAT, my friends is when things take a sort of...interesting turn, in a conversation that has to be seen...to be believed. Though at least we've got one of my favorite themes in the game to go with it.

Victory 2

Wait for it...

I'm sorry, but, Jay and Boo...just when exactly did you decide to turn FE4 into a black comedy? Out of ALL the things you could have had Sigurd say, you choose "Geez, I'm sorry! I had no idea!"?! Because...not only does that line completely kill the scene, and make Sigurd look like a heartless dastard...but it's also, completely, and utterly, NOT correct!

See this screen here? It's the exact screen as the "Geez, I had no idea!" line...except wait, there are no exclamation marks in what Sigurd says, is there? Because what Sigurd is actually actually supposed to say is something along the lines of...

"I'm sorry Shanan, if I had had any idea, ANY idea at all, I promise you that I would've done EVERYTHING in my power to save her..."

So this line is completely incorrect, hilariously out of place, AND gets rid of one of the ONLY HINTS YOU HAVE THAT SIGURD IS SUPPOSED TO RECRUIT AIRA!!. And it's not even like the sentence was something really hard to translate or anything, it's clear as night and day what Sigurd's supposed to be saying...

So I don't know what happened here. Maybe Jay and Boo were just clowning around with this scene, and were intending to go back and fix it later when they got the rest of the patch done? Or maybe they thought the original dialogue was boring? Perhaps they got a bad translation from someone who wasn't as competent as them? I don't know. But holy cow...holy cow is this a stinker. A turd. Or, perhaps it is, what one might call an...

Epic Fail - #1 (Because unfortunately, there WILL be more of them...)

So, Genoa's captured. Let's check the ol' Talk screen again...

Ah, look at that! Dew's got something to say to Aideen!

Here's a nice spot. Technically any spot will do, but Dew's already got 84 Exp, I want to conserve his sword uses for the Captain, and forests reduce Brigand hit chances to 0, so, there you go.

Dew & Patty's theme

Dew: I can't get it t'do nothin, so there's no point in me keepin' it.

Aideen: Oh, this is a Warp Staff, Dew.

Aideen: Where'd you find it?

Dew: Umm... It was... over there! Yeah, that's where I found it. I betcha one of the gods dropped er outta the sky just for you!

Aideen: Yeah right, Dew. Well, it will help out around here to have it. Thanks.

So see this Warp Staff? It'll warp you to ANY castle you happen to own, as well as give the user 60 Exp per use, and it even has 10 uses on it! And yes, it can be repaired, so as long as you have 1,000 Gold per use, you can spam it for as long as you want! So this here is helpful both for zipping around entire maps, and ALSO for grinding to Level 30, so it's quite lovely really! Thanks Dew!

And speaking of neat gifts, Aideen's got one too!

Aideen & Lana's theme

Aideen: Thank you so much. I'm ever so grateful. Here, please have this staff. I'm sure you'll get more use out of it than I.

Ethlin: This a Return Staff, isn't it? Thank you, Aideen! I'll put it to good use.

And now we've got the Return Staff, which is...basically a worse version of the Warp Staff. Instead of being able to choose any Player controlled castle, it can only warp you to your starting castle. And instead of giving 60 Exp, it only gives you 35. So Ethlin will be wanting the Elite Ring before she does any Staff Spamming with this...

That said though, at least it's C Rank! And it's only worth 5000G instead of 10000G, so it's easier to repair than the Warp Staff. Because of those things, it's still pretty helpful for Exp grinding some people who can only use C Staves (which there are actually quite a few of).

The best part about the return staff is that troubadours can use it, meaning that you have at least some mounted warpeen. Aideen is too slow.

I agree completely Marty. So then, I suppose that's enough for now. Genoa has been conquered, Kinbois has been done n' dusted, Aideen has gotten out with Dew and Jamka's help, and things are looking good. But can we recruit Aira on time, before anyone else gets hurt? Will she listen to us? Or will we have to beat her down in combat first? Will we be able to defeat Gandalf while he's still in his stupor of stupidity? Or will he get his act together and pull out some nasty surprises? And what about that Slim Sword? How am I going to get 100 kills on it in time? Find out, on the next exciting episode of Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4! Have a nice day, and God bless you!

Translation Tidbits:

Epic Fail #1 - I cut the explanation of what's wrong with "Geez, I'm sorry! I had no idea!" a little short, since it seemed like it broke the flow of the update a little too much. But I've got more to say on this. Because there's one more thing about how Sigurd talks to Shanan that's important to get across. See, he not only states that he would've done everything in his power to help Aira if he had known she was innocent, but also talks to Shanan in an unusually tender way that's normally reserved for close friends...

I say that, because instead of saying "I'm sorry" as in "すみません" (the formal way of saying usually used by the Japanese), he says it as "すまない" (the informal way of saying it, normally reserved for friends). If that seems confusing, the Japanese language has sort of a "ranking" system attached to it. So instead of just calling someone "Thomas" or something like that, you usually address them with some sort of honorific. Like...

"Thomas-san" - (what equals say to each other)

"Thomas-sama" - (basically the equivalent of calling him "Mr. Thomas" instead)

"Thomas-chan" - (a cutesy way of saying someone's name, like calling the guy "Lil' Tom Tom" instead of just "Thomas". Can be either affectionate or derogative, depending on whether you're talking to your kid, or stealing someone's lunch money)...

And you get the idea. So, it's a little like the way we call some people "Mr." and stuff, but the rules are far more complicated in Japanese. Instead of just attaching said honorifics to proper nouns, you have to attach them even to your verbs when talking to people. So "すみません" (I'm sorry) becomes "すみませんございます" instead when, say, apologizing to your Japanese 1 teacher. So Sigurd could speak to Shanan in a diminutive, demeaning, or even just distant manner, since he's not only a kid, but the prince of the very country Grandbell is at war with...

But he doesn't. Not only does he not do that, but he even talks to him in a way that implies that he considers Shanan a friend. In fact, Sigurd does that with almost everyone in the story, always acting warm and friendly to people, even when they're complete strangers. That's a big part of why Azel was so enamored by the guy, and why he wished Alvis was more like him. So IMO, this scene may not be THAT important in the grand scheme of things, but it's still a real shame that Jay and Boo stuffed it up here. Oh well though. Aside from these kinds of moments (which there ARE more of in this patch), I still consider their patch to be at least the best FE fan-translation we have. Heck, I might even go as far as to say it's the BEST fan-translation we have, since even FE12's English patch struggles a little with being overly literal.

Fionordequester · Sat Aug 29, 2020 2:44 pm

Hello everyone! Last time we covered the Arena, defeated Kinbois, and dodged the deadly blade of Aira herself! And it seems Aideen has managed to escape from Gandolf's clutches. But Aideen is still being chased by a mob of Gandolf's men, and Aira still does not know that we have rescued Shanan! Can we save these wonderful, pure-hearted women before they're made to shuffle off the mortal coil? Can we end this destructive conflict once and for all? Find out, TODAY, on Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4: Genealogy of the Holy War!

Verdane Army

Alright, let's see what our enemies do!

Well, nothing from the Captain or his men. With Dew in the forest, nobody even TRIES to hit him. The Captain WOULD attempt something, but, well, he's only got 6 Move.

Then Aira gets her turn, and is she mad!

So much so, in fact, that she'll actually ignore anyone who's not either directly in her path, or right next to her, and instead just sprint right back to Genoa. And if she captures it before we've recruited her...

Aira: They’re dead!!

She'll into the Incredible fricken Hulk, and SMASH that castle

! And then she'll attack anyone and EVERYONE in her path! So obviously don't let that happen...actually, speaking of Aira, it turns out I made an incredible mistake last episode. You see, I railed against how obscure the enemy recruitment mechanic seemed...but, it turns out that while the game does not FLAT OUT tell you how to recruit people...it DOES give some very strong auditory hints as to who can and cannot be recruited.

To begin with, whenever one of your units dies, the game will play either a male death cry, or a female death cry depending on the gender. But as this video shows...

FE4 Female Death Cry

That sound byte will play for recruitable ENEMY units as well! And Aira is one such unit! And no, NO other kind of adversary will ever do that, no matter how sympathetic they may be in the story. ONLY the enemy units that can be recruited! In addition, if you happen to have animations on, this unique theme plays...

Recruitable Enemy

Aira: Feel my Meteor Sword!

Yes, Aira actually says that. But yeah, all that critiquing I did? Turns out I was dead wrong. If anything, the game might even be just a little TOO obvious...or maybe not. Despite all these strong visual and audio cues, I still found quite a few posts from FE4 newbies claiming that they accidentally killed Aira, not knowing that they could recruit her, and wondering if they should restart the game because of that. Plus, the game STILL doesn't tell you that the Talk mechanic can be used to recruit enemies so...maybe it's a wash?

But the point is, the game actually does a better job of explaining itself than I thought it did...it just took an unusually roundabout way of doing so. But I digress. Anyways, we pass the turn...

Agustria Army

AND THEN MORE ENEMIES!!

Elliot: Ok, here’s our chance. First we take Evans, then we’ll shoot straight for the border!

NOOO!! I already sent my main force away from Evans! WHADAREWEGONNADOOO?!?

Yellow NPC! Help me!

Or Eltshan, sure, why not? ANYONE'll do at this point!

Well now...this is quite unfortunate, isn't it? Look how close they are to the castle! However will I defend myself from all those guys? Ardan, Azel, and Midir certainly can't hack it. I guess I could put the Return and Warp Staves to use, and try to send back Sigurd and some other guys, but are they even strong enough?

Well, their stats are definitely lower than ours, but...

They're still packing some serious heat! I can still double them easily enough, but Sigurd doesn't have WTA (Weapon Triangle Advantage) over them, so he's facing approximately 44% hit rates against guys who not only have 23 Attack, but can also move out of the way after attacking. Even Sigurd can't survive EVERY hit...

Chapter 1: Girl of the Spirit Forest

So how am I going to beat these guys? And why in the world would I still send off almost all of my army, despite knowing that this would happen? Well that's because I've still got...

FIIIIIIINN!!

White Magic

That's right! The day will be saved by none other than our blue-haired boy wonder! He's got Pursuit and 22 Attack with his Iron Lance, but MORE importantly, he's also got Prayer, the 30+ Castle Evade bonus, and 8 Defense. And by the time Elliot gets to Evans, Fin will have already regenerated 12 HP, and will have 16 HP as a result.

So, if two of Elliot's men, with their 23 Attack, hit Fin...that'll reduce him to 1 HP, and THEREFORE, grant him a 100+ boost to Evade. Mix that all together with the 5 Evade that Fin already has, and he effectively has 135 Evade for one enemy phase! So he has NO risk of death, and a 100% chance of killing everything but Elliot himself. And even Elliot'll be so weak, that I can just feed him to Azel afterwards.

Quite nice eh? The best part is, I don't even need to raise him at all! Just make sure he stays at base level till he already talks to Cuan, get him slapped around by Kinbois, and that's it! Nothing to it!

Chapter 1: Girl of the Spirit Forest

So then, moving on...

Our Slim Sword's getting a bit rusty, so we got get some fixin' done on 'er...

And I guess Aira would be good to have, so let's see how this goes.

Recruitment

Sigurd: Prince Shanan told me that you’re the younger sister to the King of Isaac. He also said that you’d be hostile towards us since we’re from Grandbell. But consider the facts. You have a young prince to protect. Is this war really worth risking your life over!?

Aira: My brother, the king, was prepared for death when he entrusted Shanan with me. We’ve come this far... But you’re right. I can’t risk my life for Verdane! I must see Shanan through until he’s old enough to become a respectable king.

Sigurd: Then put down your sword. As a descendant of Baldo, the Crusader of Light, I will not betray you.

Aira: ...Consider your trust reciprocated then. That’s the way of the Isaacian warrior. For now I consecrate my sword to thee. But I still view Grandbell as my sworn enemy. Just so you’re prepared for the day when that enemy may include you.

Sigurd: War sure can be cruel. Aira, warrior of Isaac... I pray that day never comes.

Yay! Meteor Swo-, er...Aira, is one of us now! So, let's see how she stacks up...

Verdane Castle Town

Level 4 Swordfighter

HP: 32 (70%) Spd: 17 (30%)
Str: 11 (30%) Lck: 3 (20%)
Mag: 0 (5%) Def: 7 (20%)
Skl: 16 (60%) Res: 1 (5%)

Move: 6
Weapon Ranks: Swords (A)
Items: Iron Blade
Skill: Pursuit, Awareness, Meteor Sword (Skill%= Activates 5 continuous attacks (10 with a Hero weapon), can not activate Continue or another sword skill simultaneously)

Ah, Aira. Or Ayra, or Ira, whatever you want to call her. She is...a very hyped up unit. That's mainly due to Meteor Sword, but also because she has pretty good bases, A Swords, and a very offensive stat spread. Because of these advantages, she can probably kill just about anything in the game with enough luck. And there's no denying the worth of someone like that...

But here's the thing. Having a walking murder machine sounds amazing...but we already have galloping murder machines like Sigurd, Lex, Fin, and Cuan. And those guys not only have excellent offense, but also have excellent Defense, excellent Move, early 1-2 Range, AND the ability to move again after attacking, while Aira really just has the excellent offense.

First of all, if you haven't picked up on this by now...

This game's maps are absolutely GIGANTIC, and Road tiles benefit mounted units more than they do foot units. So even just GETTING to the battlefield before the fighting is over is a real challenge for any foot unit. So Aira's got that against her. But even if she could, you'd still have to be careful with her because her durability is simply "decent", not great. She can survive about 3 hits in Chapter 2, but her lack of Canto (the term we use for the ability to move again after attacking) prevents her from being able to be too aggressive without exposing herself to heavy enemy fire.

Like I said though...she's still not too shabby either. If you're willing, you can also get her the Steel Blade from Chapter 2's item shop, which gives her 16 Might instead of just 12. So even if she doesn't get any Strength procs, she's STILL strong enough to kill just all but one unit type in Chapter 2 with just her raw stats. And for the more stubborn enemies? Well then she's essentially got a 34% or higher chance of instantly killing THOSE enemies with Meteor Sword! Plus, you CAN always give her the Prayer Sword, a female-only sword that grants the Prayer Skill. And Fin's already proven how awesome THAT is, right?

So if nothing else, she's a darn sight better than Alec or Noish will ever be. And her extreme offensive abilities help her to clear the Arenas easier than just about anyone. But even still, she's kind of like a high school Quarterback trying to compete in the Olympics. She's good...but she's just not good enough to stand out. She's neat to have...but she's not really NECESSARY, if you get my drift.

And as far as DBZ goes? I'd say she's basically Android #18, a female fighter who's very strong, and absolutely ruthless in battle. She starts off as an antagonist, but ultimately, she's too good of a person to stay a bad guy for long. In addition, in a show where almost everyone is either completely amazing, or completely worthless, she's one of the few people who manage to be somewhere in-between. As a result, she's far above all the scrubs...but she's still just not good enough to compete with the other heavy-weights.

Astra seems really cool, but against pretty much anything but armor knights it's huge overkill, which is really just as good as normally killing. Her defense is kinda an issue, but by the time she promotes she's dodgy enough to be ok as long as there are other units to also soak up some hits. She is always limited by being a foot unit in FE4, but in situations where foot units are useful, [since knights sometimes have to backstrack], she's a valuable contributor.

Chapter 1: Girl of the Spirit Forest

Anyways, her and Alec are just going to chill near Marpha. We don't need to use her this Chapter, and Alec's guarding Marpha for a reason. See, unlike with your home castle, your units can't inside Marpha. They can enter, fix their weapons, visit the fortune teller, go to the pawn shop, and all that, but they can't rest inside of it. No, instead, the castle just spits you right back out the minute you're done navigating the menus. And eventually, Sigurd's going to want to sell the Slim Sword to Alec, so if I move Alec from the top of the castle, he doesn't waste a movement square when he otherwise would.

As for Dew, one attack against the Captain will get him the level he needs, but, I need to make sure he procs Defense on that level. So, I set things up so that next turn, Dew can safely fight the Captain via Forest Tile and Leadership Bonus. Then I can reset with minimal time loss if I don't proc the point of Defense I want.

Also, Cuan gets prepared to attack the southern Mbandit next turn (he's razing the village right now)...

And then everyone else moves out of the way of enemy fire before the start of the next Enemy phase.

Enemy Attack

Wherein yet MORE Brigands run into Sigurd's sword, and feed him level ups the way they always do.

1+ HP! 1+ Skl! 1+ Lck! 1+ Def!

And hey, it's a pretty good one this time!

Again, no one can really hit Dew, so none of the remaining enemies really know what to do with themselves.

Except for that annoying Mbandit, who's stealing OUR Gold even as we speak

! And then...

Agustria Palace (Eltshan's theme)

Back at Nodion...

Turns out Eltshan is aware of the situation!

Eltshan: Hmm... Elliot just couldn’t stay out of this, could he... Lachesis, watch the castle. I’m going to backup Sigurd.

Eltshan: His troops shouldn’t pose much of a problem, but do stay alert.

Aw yeah, Eltshan's laying down the gauntlet!

Eltshan: Just pull out right now. I know you’re not ready to face me either.

Elliot: Eltshan, are you mad!? Don’t tell me you’ve sided with Grandbell!

Eltshan: Don’t you realize you’re running in direct violation to our superior’s orders? The reverent King Agusty has no desire to wage war against Grandbell.

Elliot: Only you would be foolish enough to take that old man seriously anymore. Besides, all the lords of the dominion have already unified against Grandbell.

Eltshan: Not all of them! Anyway, a war now would incur huge sacrifices on both sides! Our past is a testament to that. The noble class aren’t the ones who suffer in the end. It’s the powerless citizens who suffer, and I’m not about to let it happen!

Elliot: As always your head is in the clouds, Eltshan. I knew it’d come to this sooner or later. Let’s settle this once and for all. Men, Nodion is now the enemy! I want Eltshan dead!!

Allied Army

Goodness. Elliot must be pretty brutal if he's just going to kill off one of his fellow Dukes, just like that...so let's see how Eltshan and his men d-

How...HOW in the holy HECK do Eltshan and his men have THAT much HP?! And, if that's how much they have...just...just how many other stats do they have?!

Ok...and Eltshan himself?

Oh, OK, so Eltshan...is not quite as amazing as Alvis...but he's still REALLY good! Compared to Sigurd, he's a bit lower in Strength, but ahead everywhere else! So needless to say...

Things don't exactly go as planned for Elliot.

Agustria Army

So in case you haven't guessed by now, that whole plan I described, with Fin killing everyone and Azel getting the finishing blow on Elliot? I was just kidding around with you all for the sake of avoiding spoilers. Oh, don't get me wrong, Fin would've destroyed them all if he'd been given the chance, but unfortunately, he was not. I just warped him back to Evans because I didn't have any further jobs for him to do.

SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE

Chapter 1: Girl of the Spirit Forest

So, nothing to worry about but these guys here.

Sigurd kills one of the Brigands, and Dew gets on a Forest within three spaces of Sigurd to get both the Forest and Leadership Evasion boost. With that, the Captain will not have any chance of hitting him, but he'll still THINK he does since the computer doesn't take Leadership bonuses into it's calculations.

Finally, Cuan tries to hit the Mbandit...

Player Attack

...Aaand then whiffs his attack. Cripes!

Oh well. As long as Aideen and the others are staying out of range, she can get 20 Exp per pop just by healing. In fact, she'll have to use the Relive staff a few times since I'm plan on promoting her in Chapter 2. Then she can start clearing Arena's as well

!

Enemy Attack

Now how many resets will it take for Dew to get what he needs?

1+ HP! 1+ Str! 1+ Spd! 1+ Def!

Huh...none at all...and that's like, all of the most important stats right there!

And then the Captain's men all convert themselves into rust on Sigurd's blade. Speaking of which...

Eltshan and his knights clean up the rest of Elliot's squad. But as for Elliot himself...

He still lives. Not only that...

But he then breaks the rules of the game in order to go past the Cross Knights. C,MON ELTSHAN! I know you're all honorable and everything, but you couldn't at least take Elliot prisoner? Maybe have him tried for trying to incite a war with Grandbell, against the King's express wishes? Honestly now...

Oh, and before I forget, you actually CAN have your own units attack Elliot and his men, though they're not really worth it. They're only at Level 1, and they tend to prioritize attacking Eltshan's group rather than your guys, so you're still not getting much Exp from them. Still, if you DO attack Elliot, he actually does have a battle quote...

Elliot: Damn it, Eltshan! Always have to play the good guy! I’ll end this grudge today!

...Exactly why DID he think he had any chance again Eltshan anyway? The guy has a legendary weapon for pete's sake! Yeah, any time we see a 30 Might weapon, like Alvis's FFlame (Fala Flame), or Eltshan's Mistoltein, you can always assume that those are one of the 12 Legendary weapons. Speaking of which...

War Room Part 4 (Holy Blood is Thicker Than Iron)

You see this Holy Blood wheel right here? This is a third screen accessible by heading down to this screen...

And then pressing the A Button. Now, for most units, the wheel will look like this due to a lack of Holy Blood. But for those who ARE descended from one of the 12 Legendary Heroes, and therefore DO have some Holy Blood in them, their wheels will look like this instead...

See that blue dot on each of their screens? That signifies that, while they don't have a TON of Holy Blood in them, they do have SOME. Or, as we FE4 vets say, they have "Minor Holy Blood", which means they have higher growths, and they're better at wielding a specific weapon type. So without their minor Holy Blood, Lex would only be able to use B Ranked axes, Azel would only be able to use C Ranked Fire Tomes, and Aira would only be able to use B Ranked swords. Plus, these units also get a slight boost to a few of their growths. Which growths are boosted? That depends on what kind of Holy Blood they have, so here's a table for your convenience...

https://serenesforest.net/genealogy-of- ... oly-blood/

So that's minor Holy Blood...now here's MAJOR Holy Blood!

Now MAJOR Holy Blood works the same way, except it's boosts are much higher. First of all, whosoever gets it will get an * Rank in their respective weapon, meaning that they can use the Legendary Weapon related to their ancestor (for example, Sigurd can use Tyrfing since he has Baldo blood). In addition to that, they can use whatever OTHER weapon they happen to have an * Rank in, except for other Holy Weapons (so Sigurd cannot wield the Balmung or the Mistoltein, the ones related to Odo and Hezul blood). And in terms of growth rates, people with Major Blood get DOUBLE the bonuses of their Minor Blood counterparts...

Which is actually part of the reason why guys like Sigurd and Cuan are so overpowered. WITHOUT those bonuses, Sigurd would lose a lot of HP and some Str. And then Cuan would be hamstrung by a loss of HP, Str, Spd, AND Def!

So there's your lesson for today. Holy Blood = Awesomeness, in most cases, and Elliot is absolutely stupid for even ATTEMPTING to do anything to Eltshan.

Chapter 1: Girl of the Spirit Forest

Now then...

Normally I'd chump this Captain here...but there'ssomething I'm planning on abusing, and I'm not going to be able to do that if this Captain dies. So for now, I'm just going to use Dew to pull him to the left, that way he doesn't get in our way.

Also, since Cuan failed to hit the Mbandit last turn, and since he wasn't able to activate Continue on this turn, the Mbandit's going to live for a bit longer. On the plus side though, at least Sigurd can feed the Slim Sword yet another kill.

Now after some more unit positioning, it's Marpha's Turn!

Enemy Attack

And as you can see, Dew now has NO chance of dying! Before, he could get one-shotted by the Captain, but now he'll survive one blow, which then allows me to simply reset if he gets hit. In addition, units will ALWAYS do at least 1 Damage per hit to those they attack, even if their opponent's defense is higher than their Attack. Combine that with the Captain's high level, and Dew is actually getting 18 Exp per round of combat, which is quite nice!

I once used a Celice with 10 Str to kill a late game boss (name removed to avoid spoilers, what a dastard though) with 40 defense. This mechanic can be fun to play around with.

Allied Army

Also, Eltshan's done for the day. Now that we've had our tutorial on why we should always have someone guarding the castle, they're just going to chill at Nodion. Which I don't mind. They'd just steal the Exp anyways.

Verdane Army

Turn 9: Now then, at this point, there's a lot of dead air that I'm skipping through, So next turn, Sigurd goes to aggro all the stationary enemies at Marpha...

And the rest of our units do the same as they did last turn. With that out of the way, Gandolf FINALLY gets off his duff, at long last.

Gandolf: Don't let them near the castle!!

WARNING: Next GIF is two minutes long

And here we see what I like to call, the “Conga Line of Death”, where every one of Gandalf's men decide that they're just tired of life. But no worries, they'll be back! Because these aren't just normal enemies, they're infinitely respawning enemies

!

Heh, seriously though, all nine of these guys will crawl their way out of H.F.I.L over and over again, as long as their dear Captain is alive. And in fact, the same thing would've happened with Kinbois and his men had I allowed him to live (though in his case, he'd need to go inside Genoa first). Quite a useful mechanic really, because this is how I'm going to turn my Slim Sword into an Uber Slim Sword! A few rounds of this, and Alec, Noish, Dew, and Ardan will be all set to kick some bacon!

Also, the rest of Gandolf's men also aggro onto us, and do not have any more luck than the others did. Well ok, one of the archers manage to do 6 Damage, but that's it. And unfortunately, these guys won't be re-spawning

.

It's just as well though. The Slim Sword's almost broken anyway, so Sigurd's gonna have to head back to Genoa to get it fixed.

Player Attack

Turn 10: Now, Dew's succeeded in drawing the Captain to some place safe, so Aideen can Warp Sigurd back and forth without any interference.

Then Gandolf's dudes head back to Marpha now that there aren't any more people in their range. Unfortunately it takes 3 Turns for enemies to start re-spawning, so that adds even more dead air.

Chapter 1: Girl of the Spirit Forest

Turns 11: Alright, so on this turn, we run into an issue.

Dew got hit! Oh noes! What are we to do?!

Well, just reset, load your file...

Then have someone (I don't care who) enter the Arena...

Burn some RNs...

And there you go! Now Dew has dodged the strike this time!

Now then, Sigurd's only got one use on his Slim Sword, so it's time to Warp back to Genoa!

And we get this cool menu as we do so...

Chapter 1: Girl of the Spirit Forest

And this cool animation! Look at that Exp gain!

Enemy Attack

After ending our turn, Dew gets a level up and...

1+ Str! 1+ Lck! 1+ Def!

Hey, it's a pretty good one isn't it? Actually, we're going to get quite a few level ups, so that's something to look forward to.

This dew is ridiculous.

Chapter 1: Girl of the Spirit Forest

Turn 12: So next turn, Sigurd fixes the sword...

Aideen gets a level up...

1 HP! 1 Mag!

Verdane Army

And then more reinforcements...

1+ HP!

Turns 13-15: And then more Sigurd killing (and now I'll be skipping the rest of the levels until the end of this grinding segment)...

More reinforcements...

More Sigurd killing...

Turns 16-40: And with 56 kills on it, our Slim Sword has finally gotten the Critical skill, and has become an Uber Slim Sword! Guess it's high time for someone else to train with it. But first, a conversation with Aideen.

Recruitment

Aideen: Oh, I’m terribly sorry to bring all of you from Chalphy into this.

Sigurd: No worries there. Everyone will just be glad to know that you’re alright. We have things under control here, Aideen. Why don’t you head on back to Grandbell?

Aideen: No, I’m staying. There’s bound to be more injuries further along. I want to help others in the service of the Lord.

Sigurd: Aideen... Didn’t you leave the knighthood to become a nun? I think it suits you perfectly. I’d do well to learn a thing or two from you myself.

I think you already did. Harboring the son of the country you're currently at war with? That's a pretty "Aideen" thing to do in itself! Then again, since this Talk option came up before we rescued Shanan...heck, maybe Aideen was the one who gave Sigurd the idea.

Aideen: Actually, the sole reason I joined the nunnery is... Well, it’s to aid the chances of finding my sister.

Sigurd: You must mean Briggid. She’s been missing since your childhood, hasn’t she... You still believe you can find her, do you?

Aideen: That’s correct. And when I do, I must give the Holy Bow Ichival to her!

...Ok, so that wasn't one of the more subtle exposition dumps we got in this game, though it IS a rather helpful thing to remember for the future. But yeah, for as good as this game's story is, it DOES have a real problem with handling exposition smoothly. Like, this occasion wasn't TOO bad, but oooh it gets worse

.

Chapter 1: Girl of the Spirit Forest

So after getting Warped back to Genoa, Sigurd fixes and then sells the Uber Slim Sword for Alec to use...

But before racking up more kills, Alec decides to put his Speed Ring in storage. This way, his Avoid with the Slim Sword will be 29. Put him on a Forest tile, and count in his triangle advantage against Brigands, that drops their hit chances to just 3%. But then add Sigurd's Leadership bonus on top of that, and they're now unable to hit him at all! But again, the computer doesn't factor in Leadership bonuses, so they'll still TRY!

Because of that, grinding up the rest of the kills is as easy as pie. So I'm going to skip the rest of the grinding segment, but, if you're playing along with me, I want you to do these two things.

Alec won't always be able to get back from Genoa that quickly, so sometimes you'll have to put Alec on this Forest all the way back here. And since that is the case, Dew will want to move to where he's at now, that way you don't risk the Captain running off somewhere else instead of playing Tom and Jerry with Dew. And one another thing...

Make sure you visit this village with Noish, cuz he still needs money.

That sorcerer, Sandima, is behind all of this. Everything began going downhill the moment he showed up. Aside from the youngest prince, Jamka, Sandima has them all wrapped around his finger. Please, I beg of you... save our kingdom!

Sandima eh? I'll have to investigate that...but for now, one thing I want to say. Alec wasn't the only person who killed respawning Brigands. If he gets unlucky with the Critical skill, he's not always able to kill all the Brigands before the next wave spawns, so for just a few of those cases, Noish picked off some of the stragglers. As a result...

1+ HP!

Noish got a level up. A TERRIBLE level up, but, what can you do

? He needs all the stats he can get.

Anyways, that all takes 27 Turns and about 50 minutes. If 50 minutes seems like a lot, trust me, it saves SO much than that in the long term. In fact, just with the Rank 7 Arena foe alone, it allows Dew to kill him in just 1 minute and 20 seconds, instead of the 4 minutes and 4 seconds it would've otherwise taken (you'll see...).

Needless to say, a 100 kill slim sword is practically a holy weapon.

Indeed. And Alec gets like, 11 Levels from that whole thing.

7+ HP! 4+ Str! 4+ Skl! 2+ Spd! 3+ Lck! 4+ Def!

Could've used a bit more Speed, but on the other hand, Alec's doing wonderfully on Strength!

Ehhh, he doesn't need speed anyways, swords OP!

Miniboss

Turn 37: So now it's Gandolf's turn!

Gandolf: First my girl escapes, and now my castle’s under attack! Why am I so unlucky!?

And yeah, after all that time in the Prologue, Gandolf is...frankly kind of a let down when you finally do get to him.

I mean even besides Alec's 64% chance of taking off half his health with each hit...he's still only got his 27 Attack, which at this point is just not enough to be a threat. And from a story perspective, he basically spends this entire Chapter just freaking out at every little thing. But at least he's got some slightly amusing battle quotes with Azel and Midir...

Gandolf vs. Azel

Gandolf: Who’re you? Ya got a lot of nerve to attack me, ya little brat!

Azel: So you’re Gandolf... How dare you take Aideen!

Gandolf vs. Midir

Gandolf: What? You’re that arch knight from before!? Man, I blew it! I can’t believe you’re still alive!

Midir: Prepare yourself, Gandolf! I’ll never forgive someone like you!!

I'm guessing "Arch knight" is the result of replacing every instance of the original class name with one that had to be abbreviated in order to fit the menu text boxes. But that's just my guess :cheeky:.

Turn 38: So Dew kills the Captain, with just one use of his Iron Sword to spare...

And obviously Gandolf doesn't last too long...

1+ Skl!

Shucks...

Oh well, we conquered Marpha, and that's all that matters. So let's see what happens now!

Deirdre's theme

DiMaggio!! IS THAT YOU

?!?

???: Please... just let me be on my way!

DiMaggio's Twin?: Grr! Sweetie, you best just shut your trap!

Sigurd: That’s right, so get moving! Nothing gets under my skin more than scum like you! You apologize to the girl and then get out of my sight!

DiMaggio's Twin?: Alright already. Er... Sorry, miss. I’s just havin’ a little fun.

Sigurd: Er? You know who I am?

???: Yes, I met a woman here in the castle a little while ago named Aideen.

Sigurd: Aideen said something about me?

???: She did. You’re just how I imagined you to be.

Sigurd: What’s ah... your name?

???: I’m sorry. I... I must go!

Sigurd: Hey... hold on! I just wanted to talk...

???: I’m sorry. I’m glad we were able to meet.

Sigurd: Wha- what’s the problem? Wait! Sheesh!

Ah Sigurd. Once again you've proven what a master wordsmith you are.

Sigurd = Shakespeare

But sadly, after looking back just once...he mysterious woman retreats off the northwest corner of the map, just as Jamka did previously.

And Sigurd is still there, reeling from the conversation.

Old Man: Ahh, yes. That’d be Deirdre. She’s a shaman of the Spirit Forest.

Sigurd: Deirdre... She’s so beautiful.

Old Man: A-ha! Even a man of your caliber falls readily fer a pretty woman. Perhaps it’s love at first sight!

Sigurd: Sir, please. I’m serious. There was something about her... I hope to meet her again.

Old Man: That might be a tad difficult. You see, the villagers of the Spirit Forest do not involve themselves with the outside world. Moreover, that girl you’re so fond of is strictly forbidden from associating with men. The villagers believe a great catastrophe will befall us if that were ever violated. I’ll get right to the point, Sigurd. Resign yourself of that girl.

Sigurd: That sounds like superstitious nonsense to me. No one should be forced to live like that. Deirdre... we must meet again.

Sigurd, resigning herself of the beautiful, mysterious woman? Pfft, as if we don't know how THIS always turns out

! Although, you do kind of have to wonder how she managed to live in this village without, I dunno, getting forced into Gandolf's harem or something. I mean she WAS in contact with Aideen and everything, so...

Anyways, that's Marpha done n' dusted. Just one more castle left to go...

Enemy Message 2

Man, look at all those Forest tiles

...

This is the worst designed castle in all of FE4 in my opinion, but I will save that tirade for the next update!

Jamka: Gandolf and Kinbois have failed, and the enemy’ll be striking here before you know it. Commander Sigurd of Grandbell is by no means a bad person. Please, withdraw the troops!

King Batou: Originally, Grandbell was preparing to strike us! That’s why I allowed Gandolf’s raid. I never intended for it to get this out of hand.

Minor mistranslation here...but we'll get into that.

Jamka: That sorceror Sandima is behind all of this, isn’t he... You, Gandolf and Kinbois have trusted him far too much. He has deceived all of you!

Ah, so Sandima's behind it all! HE'S the one who's been pulling the string!. Alright then, let's see this Sandima dude! Let's see for ourselves who could possibly be so charismatic...so trustworthy...so eloquent, that he could possibly charm his way into the King's-

...You know what? I give up. Let's...let's just hear what this, puppy-dog looking man has to say.

Sandima: I believe you, as prince, have an obligation to command an attack on the enemy. Your negligence to do so could have grave consequences on the kingdom’s future.

Jamka: Father!! There’s just no convincing you, is there... Alright, I’ll do it. But if I make it back alive, Sandima, I’m taking you out!!

And so Jamka, the red bow and arrow guy, joins up with the rest of the pack. But as for Batou...

King Batou: It was you who said that Grandbell was conspiring to take my kingdom.

Sandima: What’s that? Here I thought Verdane would workout somehow... You’re just a bunch of savages. I’ve no longer any use for you. I’ll be taking command of the troops from here on out.

King Batou: What’re you doing!? Guh! Uuaaaaahhh...!

Sandima: Hrmph... wretched old fool.

And then...someone else shows up.

Loputousu Sect

Sandima: I can just tell them the king has fallen ill.

Manfloy: So be it. How are things otherwise? Is everything running as planned?

Sandima: My humblest apologies. Our invasion of Grandbell has met with unexpected difficulties. A nuisance by the name of Sigurd keeps stirring up trouble.

Manfloy: Well, how about the Loptian blood link? Have you located Sigyn’s daughter yet?

Sandima: Well, as of yet nothing, but I...

Manfloy: You imbecile! Well, the boy... Sigyn’s son is in Barhara at the moment. But he’s of no use to us without the girl... Allow me to explain. Sigyn was a descendant of Prince Maira, the Loputo Emperor’s younger brother. In short, Sigyn was the only surviving descendant of the Lopt Clan. Now Sigyn broke the Maira Decree by bearing two children. You follow me, Sandima?

Sandima: Yes. By uniting the blood of her offspring, the Dark Lord Loputousu shall be revived!

...Are...are you serious game? Did I really just hear Sandima correctly? Am I to understand, that the whole plot of this game LITERALLY revolves around a bunch of cultists trying to find a woman, kidnap her, and then have her sleep with her brother so that he can sire Satan...is that seriously what you're saying?

Manfloy: Precisely. Now in order for us, the remnants of the Lopt Empire, to once again enter the world stage, we must awaken the Dark Lord at any cost. Sandima, you know as well as I what we’ve been through. We’ve spent the last hundred years in hiding deep within the Yied Desert, suffering extreme hardships, dreaming the day would come for us to rebuild the Empire. Well, that day is now upon us!

"Also, as your good and faithful friend, I am pleased to see that you are doing well in your duties involving the manipulation of King Batou. That is very good, a far cry from a month ago, when you were found cheating on your last girlfriend, with a woman, named Gomer, who then dumped you for that other young man, a Mr. 'Henry Beavis', if I recall? Anyways, go and get that girl, will you?"

Sandima: Understood. I will see my mission through, even if it takes my last breath!

Now then, what will happen now? Who exactly ARE these new, insidious characters who've shown their ugly mugs? What exactly do their plans involve? And was King Batou their only puppet? Or does their long, shadowy hand extend elsewhere? Can we defeat them? Can we even defeat Jamka? Or will Sigurd and friends finally meet their demise? Find out, on the next EXPLOSIVE episode of Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4! Have a nice day, and God bless you all!

Translation Tidbits:

Mistranslation #4: When Eltshan denies that all of Agustria had joined against Grandbell, what he's actually saying is that HE has not turned heel on Grandbell, and THAT'S why Agustria isn't ENTIRELY against it. So actually his line is more like "You're wrong Elliot! Not everyone in Agustria has turned against Grandbell, because they still have ME!"

Mistranslation #5: When King Batou says that he didn't expect things to "get so out of hand", what he really means by that is that he didn't expect Grandbell to do as well as they did. He any delusions that war would NOT bring a whole bunch of chaos. Instead his line is more like "I didn't expect Grandbell to come this far".

Mistranslation #6: When Sandima says "Hmmph, and here I thought Verdane would work out somehow", what he's actually saying is more like "Oh, so now you're finally questioning me? Huh, whatever, no need to keep you around then."

Fionordequester · Sat Aug 29, 2020 2:46 pm

NOTE: I changed my mind as to who I'm pairing with who. Instead of pairing Aira (17 years old) with Dew (13 years old according to the manga), I decided to pair Aira with Ardan instead, to make things not so creepy. However, I believe that Dew X Aira actually IS the best pairing her children could possibly ask for, for reasons that I'll get into later. Don't worry, this won't significantly change anything. In fact, it may even work out better this way since Ardan gets more support, and because I can set up a rather cool strategy in Chapter 7 and the Epilogue with Ambush...but anyways, if you wish to pair Ardan and Aira...

You can set this up by Turn 7 or 8, and gain a ton of lover points, enough that they'll fall in love by Chapter 3. But if you wish to go for Dew X Aira, then you can put the two together by about Turn 40 or so, and then get THEM to become lovers by Chapter 3 by abusing something called the Jealousy system. And for those who are nervous about this decision, don't worry. I promise that this is the one and ONLY time where I'll ever sacrifice efficiency for my own personal tastes. Everything else you will read from now on is still as efficient as I could make it. So, that all being said...

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4: Genealogy of the Holy War! Last time, we found the woman of Sigurd's dreams, a lovely woman named Deirdre, whom he rescued from DiMaggio's reanimated corpse. But afterwards, we happened upon a disturbing plot being enacted not just by Sandima, but by a man named Manfloy, and a whole other sect made up of the remnants of the Lopt Empire. And they are all dedicated to reviving Satan by any means necessary, including...incest. Yes, it seems that though the graphics are bright and colorful, and the characters charming, there are some dark, insidious forces at work behind the scenes...

Oh, and we have to fight Jamka too. So then, can we defeat the last of the Verdanian forces? Will we be able to find Deirdre before Sandima does? Can we defeat him? Find out, TODAY, on Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4!

Chapter 1: Girl of the Spirit Forest

Alright then, let's see what'll happen this turn!

So, Alec had plenty of time with the Uber Slim Sword, so now everyone else wants a turn with it. But first, a little trip into the Arena, as well as an abject lesson into the sheer POWER of the Uber Slim Sword!

Alec Time Chapter 1!

Now, yes, obviously Alec had more than just the Uber Slim Sword on his side. He also had the Speed and Skill Rings as well as a TON of extra levels he wouldn't usually have achieved...but trust me, this Uber Slim Sword is practically a gift from above in an AAAA Rank run. And the further we get into the game, the more you will realize that. So here's what he got there...

Arena Completed, 1 Level gained, +1 HP, +1 Skl!

Yeah, I'm going to be changing the format of the levels to this, just because it seems easier on the eyes to me.

Well... I guess he has an easier time critting now? Not that he needs it...

Alright, so now Alec's sold all the sweet swag he had, giving the Uber Slim Sword back to the cause, and getting a nice 20,000G for selling the Skill and Speed Rings. Don't worry, he's got the stats he needs for Chapter 2's Arena, and he's going to promote on that Chapter anyway so...

.

Everyone in the main group moves west, with Aideen healing whomever she can with Relive for Exp (again, assume that I'm doing that every opportunity I get from now on).

Aideen is so easy to train with staff exp, that once I did an AAAA run where I almost completely forgot to train her until chapter four and still got her to level thirty no problem.

After that, Dew heads back to Genoa, where he'll eventually clear the Arena, and that ends my turn.

Verdane Army

Not that much really happens on the enemy phase. Out of every part of this Chapter, this last assault on Verdane is definitely the most irritating of all. It's not really hard, because you've got a whole bunch of sword users, in a forest, fighting against a bunch of slow, pathetic axe users. They're SO pathetic in fact, that they won't even try to attack Sigurd if he has a sword on. I end up having to equip him Sigurd with his Iron Lance in order to clear them out in a timely manner. And even then, Sigurd STILL ORKOes them at 100% Hit rates, and STILL takes minimal damage from them! All I have to do is occasionally heal him with Ethlin, and he's all good to go!

And yet, in spite of that, it just takes so long to accomplish anything. Because every square is a forest, even Sigurd and Cuan can't move more than 3 squares. And I need to get Aideen up there to recruit Jamka (oh c,mon, as if that's a spoiler), so that's even MORE time wasted trying to drag her all the way up here...sigh. Oh well, at least Sigurd gets a level out of it...

+2 HP, +1 Str, +1 Skl, +1 Spd, +1 Lck!

I was going to complain about this, but you beat me to it. But on second thought I would like to take back a comment I made in the last update. This is only the second worst castle in the game. This castle is badly designed at the right time, whereas a future castle is badly designed at the wrong time. I still love this game though, even if sometimes I have no idea what the designers were thinking.

I see. I wonder what castle you're referring to? Anyways though, as for Jamka, he's pretty strong, but, it's also pretty obvious that we can recruit him. I mean, the game like, told us that he had reservations about the war and everything! And as we all know, the best way to tell if someone can be recruited, is to use this simple, but time-tested method...

Work every time

! So let's check out ol' Jammy real quickly...

Hmm...ok, so he's got pretty decent stats, but he doesn't look THAT bad. I mean, 25 Attack is good, but it's still...

Oh whoa, hold up now! This thing grants the CRITICAL skill?! Shoot man, that means his Attack Power has a 14% chance of spiking up to 50 instead! So, obviously we don't want to get careless...but still, Sigurd's faster than him, and the Forest Tiles + Cuan and Ethlin Bonus + Leadership Bonus (yes he gets it too) pushes Jamka's accuracy to a mere 39% per attack...

Plus, the thing's got 3 Weight instead of 8 Weight, like most other bows. So if this guy's got Pursuit, we probably won't want Sigurd getting attac-

...ked...

...

Oh. Oh my. Look at those skills. This guy seriously has Pursuit, Continue, Charge, AND Critical all rolled into one?! So...so basically he's got...

1) A 14% chance to double his Attack Power to 50 per attack.

2) A 31% chance to activate Continue, during any given attack. And that gives him ANOTHER ATTACK.

3) A 100% chance to activate Pursuit, and get a guaranteed extra attack against anyone who has less than 11 AS.

4) Around a 19% chance of activating up to 2-20 extra rounds of combat, thereby making him all that much more likely to activate both of the OTHER skills mentioned above! And since none of my units have good ranged attacks right now, there's not a darn thing we can do to fight back!

So, the guy sounds pretty tough, right? Well, he is...but he's also completely locked to 2 Range, which means if he get up in his face, there's absolutely nothing he can do about that. And considering how dumb the A.I. can be...

Setting up the kill is actually pretty trivial. But of course, we don't actually want to do that. We want to recruit him, like so!

It's pretty easy really. And that's because he will NEVER attack Aideen, even if she's at 1 HP, and is directly in his range. And as for the Brigands, they're as pathetic as always. Again, just equip Sigurd with his Iron Lance, maybe set Cuan and Lex up in a way that they can get some action too, and the enemies will quite literally take care of themselves.

So, just remember that Jamka can move 3 Squares in this terrain, and that he can attack from 2 Squares away...

Recruitment

And there we go, Jamka has been recruited!

Aideen: I thought you went to talk to your father! Now you're fighting? What is going on!?

Jamka: I don't know. Something was real odd about him. He just wouldn't listen to me. Everything's been upside-down since that Sandima showed up. My father and brothers have done anything he has asked them to.

Aideen: So why does that bring you into battle? Please Jamka, don't do this! Lets return to Verdane and speak with the king once more. We're stopping this war! Sir Sigurd did not come here to invade your country. He was merely fighting to rescue me. Please, Jamka, listen to reason!

Jamka: Alright, let's give it one more try. And I'm exposing that traitor once and for all. But no one lays a finger on my father. That's my one condition.

Aideen: I'll see to it no one does. Thank you, Jamka. You really are a good person.

And whooo! There we go. And for reference, here's the quote when you're fighting him...

Jamka: You don't have to die. Just leave the country at once!

And here's the quote for when he dies...

Jamka: Father...

And for completions sake...

FE4 Male Death Cry

Yeah. Fortunately, we did not had to kill Jamka. Instead, he's now doing THIS!

Hehehehehe

...

LTC runs used to always butcher Jamka without mercy. General Horace actually discovered a while ago that you can get the minimum turncount in this chapter while still recruiting Jamka, so I apologize for all the times you died.

White Magic

So anyways, Aideen's now done her job, and Jamka isn't really needed for anything, so Ethlin sends the both of them back to the castle. This way Aideen can start Warping outside Evans for 60 Exp a pop while Jamka Waits right next to her. Why would I have Jamka do that? And why have Aideen Warp Staff spam outside, when I can easily have her spam inside with less time and effort?

Chapter 1: Girl of the Spirit Forest

Because in this game, you can get your male units to marry some of your female units, and their children will make up most of your army in Generation 2. Not only that, but the husband's and wives will pass actually pass down all their unique skills, their weapons and items, some of their growth rates, and whatever Holy Blood they happen to have, so pairing your females with the right husbands is an extremely important part of Gen 1.

I'll get into the specifics of how all of this works next update, but for now, just know that until Turn 50 comes around, males and females will make more progress towards getting hitched if they spend their Turns right next to each other rather than apart. And they can't do that inside Evans, even if both of them are in there. So that's why I'm setting things up like that.

Speaking of marriage, maybe we could try finding the lovely Deirdre while we're working on Sandima. Maybe Alec could go and ask the locals how to do all this?

Huh, that's interesting. Please, go o-

I used t'live there once upon a time in a village hidden deep within th' forest. Th legend goes that Saint Maira was exiled by his fellow Lopt clansmen for allying with us humans. That village is where all of Maira's descendants holed up t'avoid persecution. While I was there, a beautiful girl named Sigyn was living under th' villages custody. That was due t'her bein' th' last remaining descendant of th' Lopt prince. But Sigyn grew tired of th' forest life. She up and left thus breaking village law. She returned several years later expectin' a child. She gave birth to a little girl, but tragically didn't survive. Apparently, the village fortune-teller took after raising the child. I wonder where the child is now. If she's livin' she'd be around 17 or 18 I imagine.

...ok, clearly that was a bad choice of words on my part. And despite all that exposition, we're still no closer to killing Sandima OR finding Deirdre...

Not only that, but this guy also dodges me since I've trying to attack him from those orange Forest tiles (40+ boost to Evade instead of 20+ Evade)...

And on top of all that, we're trudging through all Forest terrain, where even Sigurd is moving like a snail. Man, some days really are the worst, aren't th-

Deirdre's theme

. DEIRDRE!!!

Sigurd: Deirdre, is that you!? Ah, so this is the Spirit Forest! I'm so happy to see you! I thought we'd never meet again.

Deirdre: Sigurd, listen to me. There's an evil priest at Verdane Castle named Sandima. His black magic is deadly, so don't even think of approaching him...Please!

Sigurd: I've put everybody in enough danger as it is... I'll go this one alone.

Deirdre: ...Then I'm going with you.

Sigurd: You're what!?

Deirdre: I have a Silence Staff with me. I can block magic with it as long as my magic power can overcome his resistance. I'll silence that Sandima... you'll see!

Sigurd: Whoa! Sounds like you could take him yourself! Wh... why are you helping me?

Deirdre: I tried putting you out of my mind, Sigurd but I just couldn't. Oh, I don't know what I should do...

Sigurd: I don't know why you're so afraid. If we both feel the same for each other we've nothing to fear. I... I believe I've fallen for you, Deirdre.

WHOO!! Deirdre has joined our party now! Now see that red dot? If Sigurd goes either on that dot, or anywhere past it, Deirdre automatically comes onto the map and will either go on the space directly north of the red dot, or will go 2 spaces north of it if Sigurd's already sitting there.

One interesting implication of that is that if you really wanted to, you could actually kill Sandima before getting Deirdre as long as you don't send Sigurd onto or above that dot. And if you decide to do that, the conversation will be like this instead...

Deirdre: Sigurd... wait.

Sigurd: Deirdre, is that you!? Ah, so this is the Spirit Forest! I'm so happy to see you! I thought wed never meet again.

Deirdre: Sigurd, I heard of Sandima's death. I was so worried he'd find me. He was a black priest sent by an underground religious sect to find me.

Sigurd: Underground religious sect? What's this all about?

Deirdre: Well, all I know is what the woman who raised me told me on her deathbed. She said there exists in this world a religious sect who follow the Dark Lord Loputousu. The Dark Lord was presumed dead, but they've been secretly planning his resurrection.

Sigurd: I've heard something about that, too. So why are they after you?

Deirdre: The Dark Lord lies dormant within my blood, and through me they can resurrect him. I was told they must never find me. I am also forbidden to be with a man.

Sigurd: Geez... you must always be on the run. You were avoiding me earlier, weren't you?

Deirdre: I was afraid I'd fall for you, Sigurd. I tried putting you out of my mind, but I... I just don't want to lose you. Oh, what am I to do...

Sigurd: Deirdre, I can understand why you're scared. But there's no reason to let this ruin your whole life for you. Deirdre, I vow to keep you out of harms way. I won't let anyone hurt you. If we both feel the same for each other, then we've nothing to fear. Dear Lord, if you deem our love for each other to be a sin, I beg of you... punish me! I wont regret it... even if it means a thousand slashes upon my heart! I only ask that you watch over my beloved Deirdre... unto all eternity!

Deirdre: Sigurd...

Oooh Sigurd. I really do love your character

.

After playing through this game at least fifteen times, I have never seen this conversation. While on the one hand I think so much exposition so early is bad, this develops Sigurd quite well... no idea why they designed it so that practically nobody would ever see this.

Well, I guess killing Sandima without Sigurd is just such an accomplishment for that point in the game, that the game designers felt you deserved a cool little conversation like this? Anyways, let's get to covering our two new characters, shall we?

Verdane Castle Town

Level 6 Bow Fighter

HP: 36 (90%) Spd: 14 (30%)
Str: 11 (50%) Lck: 4 (40%)
Mag: 0 (0%) Def: 9 (30%)
Skl: 14 (10%) Res: 0 (5%)

Move: 6
Weapon Ranks: Bows (A)
Items: Killer Bow
Skill: Pursuit, Continue, Charge
Holy Blood: None

So, here's the thing with Jamka. Obviously his offense is amazing, right? I mean, Pursuit, Continue, Charge, AND Critical are guaranteed to kill just about anything...and yet, in-spite of all of that...Jamka's still not a very good unit.

This is because he's got all of Aira's problems, but also has the great misfortune of being in the game's very worst class, the Bow Fighter. Why is it the worst? Because it is literally one of the only classes in the game that has no 1-Range options whatsoever. It's locked to 2 Range, in a game where most of the enemies you fight not only can attack from 1 Range, but travel in very large packs of like, 7-10 or so.

So yeah, Jamka can most likely kill just one enemy on his Player Phase, but then he's helpless! It will be open season for his enemies! I mean heck, just look at how easy it was for me to set up the kill with Sigurd and Cuan! And they were just two guys!

So at best, Jamka will kill an enemy, and then be safe as you form a protective wall around him. More likely, you'll be too busy protecting him to actually get much out of him. And at worst? He won't be able to even get to any of the battles because he's still a foot unit with only 6 Move! I mean sure, Midir isn't doing much better, but at least he's got 8 Move and Canto! He can at least outmaneuver a lot of your enemies, even if he can't actually drop them!

Which is a bummer, because were it not for that one problem, he'd probably be a really, really good unit. Because unlike Aira, he's actually got pretty good defensive growths. I mean he's not Lex, Sigurd, or Cuan, but then who is? And I will also say that he IS pretty helpful on an AAAA Ranked run on account of how good he is in the Arena. This makes it extremely easy for him to get money. But otherwise, he's even more redundant than Aira is.

And as far as DBZ goes, I'd compare him to Android #16. He's part of a trio of villains, and yet, despite being the most powerful of them, he is by far the kindest, calmest, and most peaceful one in the gang, to the point where he's the first one to join the good guys. Perhaps because of that, he is the ONLY one in that group who has any common sense, the only one who isn't constantly making stupid decisions. But unfortunately for him, in-spite of all those advantages, he still fails to save the other two from their own idiocy.

! Heck, the only reason she even has those 70%'s is because of all the Holy Blood she's got in her! Without those, she would literally have just 40% HP, 20% Skl, and 10% everywhere else! YEEESH!! So she's got horrible growths, does not have good skills, has only 5 movement, and probably THE worst availability in the game (more on that later). Oh, and she's loaded down by this stupid thing...

Yeah. That's right. Her Tome has 20 WEIGHT ON IT, making it even heavier than most axes! She actually has -6 Attack Speed, and only 10% on her Speed growth! Looking at all this, she practically looks like a joke character at first glance! Most FE4 players you talk to will probably refer to her as the worst character in the entire game...

But I won't. Because for however glaring her faults are, Deirdre actually CAN be really useful, even aside from Silencing Sandima (though believe me, that's good enough as it is). And of course, she's another Staff bot, meaning that she can pull down an instant 27 Levels for the Exp Rank. Plus...

You can win this li'l beauty from Sandima. Of course, I'm not going to be giving it to her, but if you DO decide to go that route, you can very easily get Deirdre up to 48 Attack Power and OHKO EVERYONE in Chapter 2. Or at least, everyone who is not either an Armour unit, a promoted enemy, or a boss. So that's a nice niche right there...but more importantly, she's got this...

See that Circlet? That is a unit that cannot be sold or broken, and will automatically give not just the Prayer skill, but also Live (5-10 HP automatically restored per turn). Live is pretty convenient, but Prayer is the real hero here. So in spite of her normally horrible Evade, she can literally OHKO an entire squad of enemies near one of the castles in Chapter 2. Again, neat...but as Marty says...

The issue is that even with prayer unless you get her knocked down into the really low bounds of HP she'll still get hit a fair bit. I did manage to use it in my 0% growths playthrough, but in a ranked run there's no reason to do this as you should never waste combat experience on a staffer.

Indeed. And what pulls her even further down into mediocrity is the fact that she's only got one Chapter to really do anything. After Chapter 2, Sigurd just asks her to stop coming to anymore maps...so yeah, kind of hard to make any real impact there. Again, to her credit, she can easily clear Arena's with Prayer, give Sigurd some free gold, and can also fetch you 27 free Levels...but otherwise, you're just not going to get much use out of her. And it's not because she's actually worse than, say, Noish or Ardan, it's because she doesn't really have the opportunity to do anything. Rather a shame, that...

So, I suppose she'd be Chi-Chi. She's the main character's wife...and that's about it. Cooking him a nice sandwich is about all she usually ever does to help him save the world, because she REALLY does not do a whole lot elses.

Now then, Cuan's got no further jobs here, so he gets Returned to Evans, where he...

Arena Match

Kicks the crud out of Ranks 1-5 in the Arena...

But then gets stymied by this windbag here. This woman...Aye aye aye. First of all, LOOK at these stats...

HP: 42
Mag: 11
Skl: 10
Spd: 13 (18 w/Speed Ring)
Def: 2
Res: 9

And Elwind has 14 Might and only 2 Wt. First of all, this give Emmile an AS of 16. For reference, that is so ridiculously high for this point in the game...

That fricken Aira is getting outsped! AIRA! The very woman who's supposed to be our resident speed-demon! But even SHE can only manage 14-15 AS if she uses anything but a Slim Sword! And 25 Damage per hit, when your units barely have any Res at all? Yikes! Even Sigurd has trouble with this woman! And the only reason Alec managed to beat her was because he had two different stat rings, the Uber Slim Sword, AND had gained 11 Levels before facing her!

So needless to say, even Cuan's gonna have to bow out of this one. But even if he didn't...

Dulles, the last opponent, would still give him a good challenge, not due to high stats, but due to Big Guard, which MORE than makes up for his inaccurate Steel Blade. Basically, Big Guard activates at a rate equal to the level of the user. So since Dulles is Level 19, has a 19% rate of activating per hit. Furthermore, it doesn't just activate once per round, it has a chance of activating EVERY time someone tries to hit Dulles.

And yes, Big Guard will completely nullify EVERY attack, no matter how much damage it would've done otherwise. So you could literally get Alvis in here, with his 70 Attack Power and everything, and Big Guard would STILL completely negate whatever damage Alvis would've done.

That said, Dulles still isn't QUITE as bad as Emmile. Anyone who has a chance of beating Emmile definitely has a chance of beating him too...but again, I don't think it's really worth trying to fight him for most weaker characters. Yeah, most of them will win eventually, but the rewards aren't THAT worth it for most characters.

So, here's what Cuan got from the Arena, and his time outside...

Arena up to Rank 6, 2 Levels gained, +2 HP, +1 Spd, +1 Def!

And after that, Cuan sells his Steel Lance...

So that way Fin can buy it. After that, he goes through Ranks 1-3...

And then gets kicked around by Shark, who's basically a much weaker Emmile who has Pursuit. So...

Fin has to beat a brave retreat for now. But that's ok, because...

Whatever damage you take in the Arena carries over unless you win your match (in which case, all your HP is restored). Because of that, Prayer allows just about everyone who has it to trivialize the Arena completely, provided that they can survive at least survive the first round before quitting. So Fin's actually doing just fine

.

As for the main group...

Chapter 1: Girl of the Spirit Forest

Well...frankly this part is just so boring. I've only got four units here now, the enemies are so weak, and Sandima's going to be trivialized soon, so...here's the cliff notes version of everything that happens.

Lex gets a level...

+1 HP, +1 Str!

Fin abuses Prayer to beat Shark...

Then prepares to do the same to Bacchus in a few turns time...

And then comes the big moment, where Deirdre prepares to Silence Sandima with her 10 Range staff. Why is that necessary? Well, just LOOK at the guy...

Yeah, the guy seriously has a 3-10 Range Tome that gives him 32 Might. And then if you try to attack him, he'll just switch to Jormung, giving him 38 Might instead! For reference, that's actually enough to OHKO ALL of our 15 units except Sigurd, Alec, Cuan, Aideen, and Deirdre. Yes, he can literally one-shot almost 75% of our army! But fortunately, Deirdre puts a stop to all that with an animation that's simply too good to cover with just GIF...

Silence Staff Animation

Yep, when you Silence someone, the soundtrack itself suddenly gets muted! Nice touch Intelligence Systems

:!

+1 HP, +1 Mag, +1 Res!

And Deidre gets a typical "Deidre Level", no shocker there.

Now then, Sigurd himself will now get started on the last enemies. The archers are pathetic, only doing 4 Damage to Sigurd at horrible hit rates in return for getting 2HKOed by him. But the Axefighters can be a problem. They've got 29 Attack Power, and while they only have 10% Hit rates on Silver Sword!Sigurd (Sigurd equipped with Silver Sword), they'll do 15 Damage to him if they hit. So that spot where Sigurd's at is where he's going to rest for the turn.

Because with the Silver Sword, the Forest tile, and his own Leadership Bonus (yes, he gets to enjoy it too), the archers will whiff every attack while one of the Axefighters will just march up to him without even TRYING to hit him, the perfect set up for killing him next turn. Also...

And then Sigurd kills the Axefighter...

Before going out of range of the next one (they move 3 squares in this large forest) and switching to the Javelin. Now, Sigurd will be 2HKOing archers while dodging approximately 67% of their attacks

.

Chapter 1: Girl of the Spirit Forest

Anyways, Deirdre is done silencing Sandima, so off to Evans she goes! And Ethlin gets another level...

+1 HP, +1 Skl!

And then she and Lex start heading east towards this point here...

You'd never know this unless you read a strategy guide, but if you have Lex wait on this exact spot, some random person will give him something called a "Hero Axe". In case you don't remember, Hero weapons allow their wielders at least twice before their opponent, four times if they also have Pursuit. And it's the only Hero Axe you will ever get in Gen 1, so needless to say, Lex REALLY wants this weapon! And then Ethlin can Return him after he's gotten that.

Now then, Turn 50 has arrived, which means no more Lover points can be gained, so, Jamka goes here...

And then Aideen warps him from the castle entrance, THAT way she can enter the castle itself on the same turn! Not really necessary here, but it's a very handy maneuver to remember for the future.

Arena Match

Fin pulls out his strongest Prayer against Bacchus...

Gets EXTREMELY lucky against Emmile (normally I have to wait a few turns, then abuse Prayer again)...

But then is finally chased out of the Arena again by Dulles, the last opponent.

Next time Dulles...next time...

Enemy Attack

So next enemy phase, Sigurd starts beating up all the archers. And then...

Sigurd finally destroys the 2nd Axefighter, getting a level up in the process!

+1 HP, +1 Str, +1 Skl!

And with those two swept aside...

The rest of the archers will all be joining them soon!

So after Ethlin and Lex travel further on eastward...

Fin finally defeats the last opponent...

Arena Completed, 3 Levels gained, +3 HP, +2 Spd, +2 Lck!

And then Deirdre gets to beating up some guys in the Arena, but gets stymied by Weissman, who outspeeds her...

Verdane Castle Town

So, she's gonna have to wait two turns for her HP to go up enough. So, in the mean time, let's get her some help.

Aideen's already gotten to use the Warp Staff seven times...

So now it's Deirdre's turn to use it...

Inside the castle! Neat!

And now we got the Hero Axe, and the following conversation!

Gold Axe, Silver Axe

Holy Woman: You are very honest! As a reward for your honesty I present you with the Hero Axe. Farewell, Lex...

Lex: ...?!

Chapter 1: Girl of the Spirit Forest

And YES! Sigurd's FINALLY taken care of the last archer!

Now all that's left is Sandima himself. Better hurry though...

See what his "State" says? This here means that you've only got 2 more turns until Silence wears off, and if that happens, Sigurd's not going to be able to safely kill Sandima. But fortunately...

Sigurd cleanly ORKOes Sandima at 90% hit odds. And even if he whiffs one of those attacks, you can simply reset and burn some RN's via the Arena. So if you've been following this guide up till now, you have nothing to worry about

:!

So then, Ethlin returns Lex to Evans...

And look! Deidre's got 19 HP now, which is JUST enough...

Darn shame then that Shark kills her afterwards

.

Now for Deirdre, staying at Evans only heals 5 HP per turn. HOWEVER, if she spends her turns outside, then her Live skill will usually allow her to regenerate more than that. And since we're already on Turn 53, well, I do want to end this Chapter at SOME point, right?

So, she's going to be Warping people OUTSIDE instead of INSIDE Evans. That said though, she's down to just one use on her Warp staff, so first...

She sells the Silence Staff for money, since there aren't anymore opportunities where it's handy...

And yikes, pretty expensive huh? For reference, that's why I had Aideen use her Relive Staff every chance I got. But now Deirdre's "Live"ing it up outside, and Warping people left and right, so while I'm waiting...

Miniboss

I go and FINALLY put an end to Sandima. For reference, here are his other quotes...

Vs. Most Units (His quotes won't activate if he's either silenced already, or if Deidre is Silencing him as opposed to actually fighting him)

Sandima: Heheheh... Feel the horror of my dark magic!

Vs. Deirdre

Sandima: What? You’re a shaman...? You must be Dierdre... The cursed maiden...

Vs. Jamka

Sandima: Heheheh... You’re too late, Jamka. Your father is already dead.

Jamka: W, what!? Sandima! You...!

Well Jamka, if it's any consolation, he's dead now. Plus...

We get a Magic Ring off of him! And yes, that actually WILL be helpful to have on Sigurd, you'll see why next chapter.

Victory is Near

But for now, let's finish our business on this one.

So then, after getting up to 14 HP outside, Deirdre's gotten to the point where a turn inside Evans will allow her to survive an attack from Shark, SO, I use this trick again.

Arena Match

And then Shark is forced to fight a valiant, but ultimately fruitless battle against someone who 2HKOes him while facing what are effectively 6% hit rates from him (still dangerous enough to warrant a save mind you, but still). After that, everyone else goes down like so...

Yeah Emmile has no chance against Deidre's insane Res, and Bacchus and Dulles actually doom themselves by taking off almost all of Deirdre's health in just one attack

.

Verdane Castle Town

And now look at all that Exp and Gold Deirdre's won! Quite a bit eh? And of course, her Lover is Sigurd. No need to build up Love Points there. So now here are the total amount stats she gained!

Arena Completed, 5 Levels! 4+ HP! 3+ Mag! 2+ Skl! 1+ Spd! 1+ Lck! 5+ Res!

No, we're not counting the level we got from Sandima. If we do, Deirdre's actually gotten six levels since joining us! Now let's see what the rest can manage, with an icon yoinked from Miacis's Binary LP!

Arena up to Rank 7, gained 2 Levels, +1 HP, +2 Str, +1 Skl, +1 Def!

Yeah, Ardan was lucky to have gotten a point in Strength before fighting Emmile. Because of that, he could literally OHKO Emmile with an Uber Slim Sword crit. Throw Ambush on top of that, and he was guaranteed to win eventually, even if it did mean getting beat like 7 times first. Had that not been the case however, I would've just left him at Rank 6. Which is ok, because he would still have the money needed to thrive.

I think this is the first time I've heard "Arden" and "thrive" in the same sentence.

Arena up to Rank 4, gained 1 Level, +1 HP, +1 Str, +1 Skl, +1 Def!

Now don't misinterpret these results, Noish could've easily defeated Shark if I was willing to potentially spend 10 minutes on resets. I mean, he has just enough durability to survive 4 hits...but I just didn't think it was really worth the trouble. We don't have the Elite Ring, so Exp gain is still pretty minimal in this Arena, and there are enough villages next Chapter that Noish is still going to be able to buy everything he needs anyway.

So, I didn't feel like getting him further was really necessary. In fact, I didn't even bother giving him the Uber Slim Sword. I just gave him the Iron Lance for Weissman, and then sold that and his Steel Sword to give him ~27,000G (which becomes 30,000G when starting the next Chapter).

Arena up to Rank 7, gained 4 Levels, +4 HP, +2 Str, +1 Skl, +1 Spd, +3 Def!

Man Elite is awesome! And Lex actually got a lot of Def procs, so he actually had enough power and durability to take down Shark in-spite of his 40% hit odds. And of course, Emmile was easy pickings for him, same as she was for Ardan.

Arena up to Rank 4, gained 1 Level, +1 Str!

...No comment.

Arena Completed, gained 2 Levels, +2 HP, +2 Str, +2 Lck, +1 Def!

Pursuit + Continue + Charge + Killer Bow absolutely destroys

!

Arena up to Rank 4, gained 1 Level, +1 HP!

And Midir is as weak as I said he was. Dat level...

Arena Completed, gained 2 Levels, +1 HP, +1 Skl!

Bad levels, but it doesn't matter. Just LOOK at how thoroughly she destroys things with the Uber Slim Sword!

Aira Time Chapter 1

Look at that offense! Yeah, her levels are different from what was recorded, but that's because I re-recorded this Chapter run-through a few times, and this was recorded before the final version of it. Anyways though, Emmile is the only one who could kill Aira, but even then, you just have to keep trying until Aira either gets lucky with dodges, or procs Meteor Sword. And now, one of my favorite performances, and a perfect demonstration of why the Uber Slim Sword is so good...

Arena Completed, gained 2 Levels, +1 Str, +1 Mag, +1 Skl, +1 Spd, +1 Def, +1 Res!

Dew Time Chapter 1

You see how the Dulles fight only took 1 minute and 20 seconds? Well without that Uber Slim Sword, Dew would've taken 4 minutes and 6 seconds instead, so even on that one fight, we gained almost three minutes back from the 50 minutes it took creating it. And we've still got a LOT of game left, so I definitely think it was worth it!

No Arena fighting, gained 4 Levels, +1 HP, +1 Str, +1 Mag, +2 Skl, +1 Spd, +3 Lck!

And of course, here are Aideen's levels. Like I said, I'm just going to record all of her levels at the END of the update rather than throughout, because staffbots get a LOT of levels REALLY quickly, so it'd get redundant recording all their levels as they come. Plus...

Her levels don't really matter. She can still staff no matter what.

Indeed...speaking of Aideen, I still haven't recorded her talks with Midir and Azel, so here they are!

Midir Talks to Aideen

Conversation 1

Midir: My lady! You're alright! Ahh... What a relief! My humblest apologies for all you had to go through!

Aideen: Midir, I'm just happy that you're not hurt. Lets put this all behind us. You did your very best, and that's all I could ever ask for. Do me a favour, Midir, and stay with Sir Sigurd's troops.

Midir: I'd be more than happy to. I am greatly indebted to him for rescuing Jungby Castle for us, and you as well!

Azel Talks to Aideen

Lover 3

Azel: Lady Aideen! You're not hurt, are you?

Aideen: Azel of Velthomer? You've been helping out as well, have you?

Azel: Yeah, when I heard that you had been kidnapped, I couldn't concentrate on anything! I came as fast as I could.

Aideen: Your brother is Lord Alvis, isn't he? Did you get his permission before coming?

Azel: Nope... And hes not going to be happy with me either.

Aideen: Then why did you do such a silly thing? Besides, I thought you hated fighting.

Azel: Well, I, uh...

Aideen: What's that, Azel?

Azel: Er... nevermind.

The interesting thing about both of these conversations is that unlike other conversations, they will actually boost the amount of progress made towards making your men and women fall in love with each other. So in this situation, having Aideen talk to Midir makes it more likely for them to marry each other, and the same goes for her talk with Azel. Note that this does not apply to every conversation between males and females, only some of them.

For example, this next one doesn't have that at all!

Aira Talks to Cuan

]Isaac Palace (Isaacian theme)

Cuan: Hello, Im Cuan of Lenster. Sigurd tells me that you're Princess Aira from Isaac.

Aira: ...Nice to meet you.

Cuan: I'm sorry, but I just have to ask you. Why did Isaac attack Darna? You had to have known Grandbell would get involved. I just can't fathom why King Mananan would do something like that.

Aira: You actually know my father, Cuan!?

Cuan: No. Not personally. But my father did. He had a very high opinion of your father. He also thought your brother, Prince Maricle, was a fine young man.

Aira: He said that, did he... That makes me proud. They were both highly respected soldiers. Neither would ever condone an attack on a defenseless people. The leader of Rivough... Hes the one who besieged Darna, not my father.

Cuan: You're kidding! Why hasn't Grandbell been informed of that? Prince Kurth would surely reconsider his offensive if he knew that.

Aira: My father thought so as well. After executing Rivough's leader, he left for Grandbells frontline, head and all, to explain everything. However...

Uh oh

...

Cuan: What?

Aira: My father was assassinated at the Grandbellian front. When Isaac heard word of the kings death, the people went into a rage! Maricle thus proceeded to launch a full-scale attack against Grandbell.

Whoa, what happened THERE I wonder?

Cuan: Whew... I just cant imagine Prince Kurth acting so rashly. Does Sigurd know about all of this?

Aira: No. Sigurd has his hands full here as it is. Besides, I don't think Maricle...

Cuan: ...survived? Prince Maricle knew he would perish in battle, huh...

Aira: He believed the future of Isaac rests in Shanan's survival. My job is to make sure Shanan grows up safe and sound.

Cuan: I see... Well, don't lose hope, Aira. Someday the truth will come to light. In the meantime, Ill try to help you out however I can.

Aira: Thats very kind of you, Cuan.

Pretty unique conversation there...and pretty disturbing. I mean, we already know that the Loputousu clansmen have been manipulating everything here in Verdane...so who's to say they're not doing that everywhere else as well? We'd best get some more info on them...

Victory is Near

Anyways though, we've completed every objective on this map now, so at long last, this map is finished! Now, one thing that's unique about Deirdre. She's a very important character to the plot, so if she dies on any of the maps...well, she doesn't actually die, she just gets captured. And if that happens, you'll get this additional screen when you finish the map...

Victory 2

No other dialogue, that's all they say to each other. Note that Deirdre's "death" still counts as a Loss as far as the Combat ranking goes, and you can only afford 3 "Losses", so we still need to keep her alive. Anyways...

Oifaye: He has sustained heavy injuries. He's very likely beyond our help.

Sigurd, don't even bother, Sandima killed him long ago, and Manfloy himself confirmed him dead, so there's no chance that he's going to-

King Batou: Urgh... Sigurd, my apologies for all you had to go through.

Ok, WHAT THE HECK SANDIMA?!? Are you seriously SO incompetent, that you can't even kill an old man?! Then again, Manfloy also thought he was dead, so...what, was Batou playing dead or something? I guess...I mean, that's most likely not too hard when you almost ARE dead already...

King Batou: This was all Sandima's doing. He deceived me while conning my two sons in an attempt to take control of the country.

Sigurd: Yes, I'm aware of that. Please, don't overexert yourself. You just need some rest.

And now things really get dumb.

] King Batou: No, I'm already done for. But before I die, I have one last thing I must tell you. The evil that's rearing its head across the continent is all the work of the Dark Sect. They're out to destroy all that's good and hasten the revival of the Dark Lord Loputousu. Sandima incited our attack on Grandbell solely to further their cause. They have infested the world, Sigurd. You must stay sharp and not be led astray! Please absolve my failure to keep my citizens from harms way. S... Sigurd, I beg of you...

I bold these lines here, because this pretty much destroys ANY wiggle room there may have been for Batou NOT being a naive dummy. I mean c,mon man, you invade a country, let your sons run wild, cause all this mayhem, do all this bad stuff...and you did it all on account of a man, who you KNEW was part of a group called THE FRICKEN DARK SECT!!, who you KNEW was specifically dedicated to REVIVING SATAN!! YOU KNEW THIS!! Obviously you knew this, or you wouldn't be telling us this!

And yet, you still honestly thought he was working for the good of your country? WHY?! HOW ARE YOU THIS NAIVE?!?

I think he was drawn in by Sandima's hip fashion sense.

Man...I guess so

...

I guess this statement here renders Deirdre's alternate conversation with Sigurd non-canon. That, or she talked to him about it afterwards. Actually that'd make the most considering that Deirdre is most likely looking to Sigurd for protection. Heck, now that I think about it, the Dark Sect is probably one of the biggest reasons why she's doing this. She KNOWS Sigurd can protect her, and she KNOWS that she's just going to continue being hunted, and eventually caught, by the Dark Sect if she remains in the Spirit Forest. Never thought of that before...

So then, on that somber note, we now close out on this update. We have now completely subdued Isaac, Aideen has been rescued, and we have finally found Deirdre. But, will this be the end of Sigurd's troubles? Or will we run into more problems with the Dark Sect? And just how far does their reach extend to? Will Isaac start to become a problem for Sigurd soon? And what of Elliot? Has Eltshan put an end to his antics? Or will be find ourselves haunted by him again in the future? Find out, on the next exhilarating episode of Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4! Have a nice night, and God bless you all!

Turns Taken: 56 Turns (Could've done it much faster were it not for Uber Slim Sword grinding and getting Deirdre through the Arena, but whatever. I've got everything under control

).

Turn Deficit: -3 (Be prepared, we're going to be running deficits for a while until about the mid-game. Then turn counts will start getting exponentially lower)

Time Taken: ~2 hours and 42 minutes. Funny thing is, this is STILL below what I estimated it would take, even accounting for Uber Slim Sword grinding.

Things I Regret: The fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue. And in Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue. In addition, I would've had Ardan standing next to Aira for 42 turns or so, except, I didn't change my mind on Dew X Aira till it was too late (no gameplay reason for that, just decided not to pair a 13 year old for anyone, and Aira's children won't find it to be any big deal). So I had to cheat their love points.

Translation Tidbits

Creative Liberty #7: When Sigurd calls for God to put "1000 slashes upon his heart" if he's sinning, that's not actually in the original script. In the original script, he just calls for God to "visit unbearable agony and pain" upon him or something like that. He doesn't specify WHAT kind of agony.

Creative Liberty #8: The first half of Sigurd's ending line of "King Batou...No...What IS the Dark Sect anyway...?" is a bit different in the original script, and somehow even sillier. In the original script, Sigurd literally says something along the lines of "King Batou...What sorrow..." or "King Batou...What a pity." Either way, it's still evident that the writers weren't even trying with this scene :cheeky: .

Fionordequester · Sat Aug 29, 2020 2:48 pm

Alright guys, War Room time! And this time it's so big and important, that I figured I'd put it in it's own separate update. But before we get into that, I've got some good news. First of all, I managed to work out how I wanted to change my pairings, with Dew getting hitched with Sylvia (she's like 14 at the start of the game), and Aira getting Lex (rather than Ardan), so that's all good. And secondly, with all the new ideas I've been finding (aside from changing the pairings), I did another "test" run-through up until Chapter 5, and it turns out, my strategies gave me enough levels so that I don't even NEED to train either Midir or Azel, like I thought I would. So THAT'S pretty awesome. But most importantly, I have my strategies all locked down for sure now, so there won't be anymore sudden changes.

So then, sorry for that bit of inconvenience. Anyways, let's get started!

The War Room Part 5: My Pairings, The X's and Y's of Romance, Inheritance, and the Jealousy System

Alright, so as I've alluded to, you can pair your females up with whatever strapping men you want to. But the results of this aren't merely cosmetic. No, whichever male you pair up with your female units will pass down not just their DNA, but also some of their growths, all of their weapons, all of their "Civilian Skills" (more on that later), and even whatever Holy Blood they happen to have.

Furthermore, every you have will give birth to TWO children, not just one, so if a pairing is well made, you greatly benefit TWO of your future units in Gen 2, not just one. And of course, the flip-side of that is that a badly made pairings will mess up two Gen 2 units instead of just one. And on top of all that, almost your entire Gen 2 army is made up of children characters, so if you somehow mess ALL of them up...hooo boy is your AAAA rank run going to suffer.

So then, in order to figure out HOW to make good pairings, let's first talk about the...

INHERITANCE OF SKILLS:

First of all, look at the first screenshot here...

See how Pursuit is listed as a "Soldier" skill? Now compare it to Jamka's two other "Civilian" skills...

What is the difference between the two you may ask? Well, basically, "Soldier" skills are skills that just naturally belong to every unit of a certain class. So for example, Sword Fighter and Bow Fighter units will ALWAYS have the Pursuit skill, and Thief units like Dew will ALWAYS have the Steal skill, even if said units are generic red enemy units. But civilians skills, on the other hand, are skills that are NOT naturally occurring for those who have it. So for example, for Jamka, Pursuit is a Soldier skill since he's a Bow Fighter who naturally gets it. But for Alec, Pursuit is a Civilian skill, because Social Knights like him do not normally have Pursuit.

Most importantly though, Civilians skills will be passed down to the children characters, but Soldier skills will NOT be passed down! So, say Jamka marries Aideen. Aideen gives birth to someone named Lester, who is an Archer Knight like Midir, and someone named Lana, who is a Priest like Aideen. But unfortunately, Archer Knights like Lester do NOT naturally have the Pursuit skill, and unlike our Gen 1 characters, Gen 2 characters have skill sets that are ENTIRELY defined by their parents. So basically, Lester will NOT get Pursuit if Jamka is his father! He will only get Charge and Continue instead.

But if Midir marries Aideen, then Lester WILL get Pursuit, because for Midir, Pursuit is a Civilian skill, not a Soldier skill like it is for Jamka. So that's the difference between those two kinds of skills. As for how the skills are inherited...well, take a look at this...

See the six stars? What this means is that any given unit can have up to SIX skills at once, even though none of the units on out team now have more than three. So basically, when I say that children characters get all of their parent's Civilians skills, I really do mean they get ALL of them. The only exception to that rule are the Meteor Sword and Lunar Sword skills (we haven't seen the second one yet), which can only be passed down to children characters that can use swords. In most cases, this doesn't really matter, since most classes CAN use swords...just, don't try to be pairing Holyn with Aideen.

So, essentially, if you were to say, pair Lex up with Aira, who gives birth to two Sword Fighters (Lakche and Skahasa), you would get these skills...

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Lex!Lakche & Skahasa: Pursuit (Soldier), Meteor Sword, Awareness, Ambush, Elite

But if you were to pair her with Dew instead, they would get...

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Dew!Lakche & Skahasa: Pursuit (Soldier), Meteor Sword, Awareness, Solar Sword, Bargain

Or heck, what about Noish? THAT guy would give...

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Noish!Lakche & Skahasa: Pursuit (Soldier), Meteor Sword, Awareness, Charge, Critical

But the flipside to this is if you pair her with, say, Alec, who only has skills that Aira herself already has...then you'd just get this instead...

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Alec!Lakche & Skahasa: Pursuit (Soldier), Meteor Sword, Awareness

And obviously that's bad. Of course, Skahasa and Lakche won't be affected that much on account of having both Meteor Sword AND Pursuit, but some of the other, weaker children practically live or die based on what they get from their father.

INHERITANCE OF GROWTHS:

Again, most Gen 2 children do not come with their own set of growths. Instead, theirs are entirely defined by their parents, and are determined by this formula here...

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Growths of parent w/same gender + (Growths of  parent w/opposite gender / 2) + Holy blood bonus

Again, going back to Lester (who is a man), suppose he still has Jamka as his pops, and we're trying to figure out what his Strength growth would be as a result. Well, Jamka has a Strength growth of 50%, and Aideen has a Strength growth of 20%. Plug those numbers into the formula, like so, and you have...

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Jamka!Lester - 50 + (20/ 2) + Minor Ulir Blood (no Strength growth bonus) = 60% Strength growth for Lester

Then if we're trying to figure out Lana's Strength growth (who is a woman), we'd come out with this instead...

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Jamka!Lana - 20 + (50/ 2) + Minor Ulir and Fala Blood (no Strength growth bonus) = 45% Strength growth for Lana

So all in all, it looks like Jamka gives pretty nice Strength growths for his kids, even if it IS kind of wasted on Lana (she's purely a magic user). But what if Azel were to marry Aideen instead? Azel only has a measly 10% Strength growth, so with HIM married to Aideen, the results would be this instead...

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Azel!Lester - 10 + (20/ 2) + Minor Ulir and Fala Blood (no Strength growth bonus) = 20% Strength growth for Lester

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Azel!Lana - 20 + (10/ 2) + Minor Ulir and Fala Blood (no Strength growth bonus) = 25% Strength growth for Lana

Owch...Lester really gets messed up in that pairing, doesn't he? Though to Azel's credit, he DOES at least give him this...

So that's...something. Doesn't make up for only having a 25% Strength growth though. So the take away from this is, be careful about marrying your women to men whose talents are not suited to their children. Of course, the game manual itself doesn't actually tell you about any of the children besides Celice, Sigurd's future son, but fortunately, that's what I'm here for, so, here's a handy dandy chart, complete with the females we haven't recruited yet!

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Ethlin = Leaf (Prince), Altenna (Dragon Knight)

Aideen =  Lana (Priest), Lester (Archer Knight)

Aira = Lakche (Sword Fighter w/Innate Pursuit), Skahasa (Sword Fighter w/Innate Pursuit)

Deirdre = Celice (Junior Lord), Julia (Shaman)

Lachesis = Nanna (Troubador), Delmud (Free Knight)

Sylvia = Leen (Dancer w/Innate Dance), Corple (Priest)

Fury = Fee (Pegasus Knight), Sety (Sage (promoted class w/Innate Continue))

Briggid = Patty (Thief w/Innate Steal and Give), Faval (Bow Fighter w/Innate Pursuit)

Tiltyu = Tinny (Mage), Arthur (Mage)

Yeah, odd thing about the rest of Gen 1? We're going to be getting a lot more female units than male units from now on :mmmhmm:. So anyway, that's it for growths. And if you don't know which character has what growth rates, here's a nice chart for who has what. So then, next item on our list...

INHERITANCE OF WEAPONS AND ITEMS:

So then, see all this neat stuff that Aira's got?

Yeah? Well, Lakche's going to be getting absolutely ALL of it the moment you get her, while Skahasa isn't going to be getting a darned thing. Why? Because generally, children characters will only inherit items from whichever parent shares their gender. So Skahasa will be getting all his weapons and items from his pops, and Lakche's getting all her weapons and items from her mother. The only exceptions to this are Leaf & Altenna and also Patty & Faval. Those two pairs only get items from whichever parents do NOT share their gender. So Leaf is getting all his weapons and items from Ethlin, and Patty is getting all her items from her father.

That said though, what if Aira has MORE than those seven swords displayed above? What if she ALSO has the Speed and Skill Rings stored in the vault? Well, in that case, Lakche will just START with those two rings stored in her vault the moment you get her. Which is good, because Lakche starts with a Slim Sword regardless of how many items she gets, meaning that the Earth Sword would otherwise be lost if Aira tried to pass it down.

Oh, but one more important thing. Children can usually only inherit weapons that they can actually use. So suppose Ardan has promoted, and he's gained the ability to use A Swords, A Lances, B Axes, and B Bows. But, then he marries Aira, whose children can only use A Swords. Skahasa will get whatever swords Ardan had at the end of Chapter 5, but he will NOT get ANY of Ardan's bows, axes, or lances. No, those will either be gone forever, or simply respawn on certain enemy commanders in Gen 2 (for example, the Hero Axe will always spawn on one of the mini-bosses in Chapter 6, as long as Lex doesn't sell it to the Pawn Shop).

The only exception to the above rule is in regards to Holy Weapons (which you will get later on). There are about two of them that can be passed down to people who can't use them. These are the wind tome Holsety, and the Valkyrie Staff. These items cannot be sold, so they actually CAN be passed down even to children who will never be able to use them...you're just not going to be able to actually do anything with them. So if Levin marries Aira, Lakche will get Holsety, but she won't be able to sell it or use it, so it'll just end up being a waste of space.

INHERITANCE OF GOLD:

This is simple. The amount of Gold that children start with is determined by this formula...

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Starting Gold - [(Father’s Gold + Mother’s Gold) / 10] + 2000

One interesting implication of this is that buying as many items as you can before the end of Chapter 5 will give your children WAY more Gold than if you bought absolute nothing. For example, if I paired Ardan with Aira, and both have 50,000 Gold (the max amount), their children would get...

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Starting Gold - [(50,000G + 50,000G) / 10] + 2000G = 12,000G

So only 12,000G total. BUT, if I used all of Ardan's money to buy 50,000G worth of stuff, and then did the same with Aira, then their children would be able to sell all of that in order to get 25,000G gold in exchange. Plop on their starting 2000G, and they'd both have 27,000G instead! Not bad eh?

INHERITANCE OF BASE STATS:

Um...actually, I'm not going to go into detail here because one, the formulas used here are excessively complicated, but more importantly, base stats aren't really influenced all THAT much by the children's fathers. So going back to the "Jamka vs. Azel" section, Jamka!Lester may have a 60% Strength growth compared to Azel!Lester's 20% Strength growth...but he only starts with 10 Strength compared to Azel!Lester's 8 Strength, even assuming that you got Jamka, Azel, and Aideen all up to Level 30 before Gen 2.

So really, all you need to know is that how many points parents have in a certain stat have a very slight influence on the starting stats of the kids. But the difference is so negligible, that it's not really worth thinking about. I just covered it for the sake of completeness.

Now, that's everything in regards to inheritance. Now let's talk about how to actually MAKE these pairings via...

LOVE GROWTH:

Basically, to make two character fall in love with each other, they need to earn 500 "Love Points" with each other. This can be done in four ways...

1) Doing nothing – Deirdre will always fall in love with Sigurd, and Ethlin will always start the game married to Cuan.

2) All couples come with a pre-determined amount of love points, and until Turn 50 on each map, they'll gain a certain amount per turn no matter what. So every turn, Ardan will get a set amount of love points with Aideen and Aira, even if he's inside the castle, and they're outside.

3) Have a male and female unit Wait next to each other when you end your turn. When you do this, the amount of love points they gain is boosted by +5. So if Ardan waits next to Aira, he will get +7 love points with her instead of just +2.

4) Making certain characters talk – these may give a large fixed boost to love points. For example, there was the aforementioned conversations that Azel and Midir could have with Aideen last Chapter. If you have them talk to Aideen, they'll automatically gain 100 love points with her. And in addition, Dew's conversation with Aideen in Chapter 1 actually gives him 50 love points with her! So that there's a fabulous, and very convenient way of getting love points for whichever pairs have that option.

Now then, what about the default love growths mentioned in Option 2? After all, some pairs can actually gain as many as +10 love points with each other, even WITHOUT waiting next to each other! Well, here's another chart, this time yoinked straight from Serenes Forest! If you look at it, you will find that Gen 2 characters can ALSO fall in love with each other, though in their case, the benefits aren't nearly as extreme. They merely gain the ability to lend each other money, and the ability to get Hit, Evade, and Critical bonuses from each other.

But wait, that page also mentions a Jealousy System! So what is THAT all about you ask? Well, I'm glad you asked!

JEALOUSY:

This here is a hidden, and may I say somewhat sexist mechanic that exists within the game. I'm not sure if there's any mention of it in the instruction manual, but either way, Serenes Forest provides a nice, concise explanation for it, so I'll be quoting it verbatim for this section. To quote the section...

"The Jealousy system comes into play whenever a second female waits adjacent to the female in a male-female pair."

If the second female (B) has a higher priority for the male than the original female (A), then the second female will snatch the adjacent lover’s bonus from the original (the uniform +5 bonus).

Jealousy stacks for multiple “secondary” females and even for multiple males. I’ll just describe the two simplest formations that utilise stacking."

T-Shaped Formation

"In this case, Tiltyu (the Thunder Mage) has the highest priority for Claude (the High Priest) and will snatch the adjacent bonus from Sylvia (the Dancer) first. Since Sylvia no longer has a bonus, Fury (the Pegasus Knight) will not be able to snatch anything. Putting Fury there is basically fairly useless."

Square Shaped Formation

"In this formation, Tiltyu (the Thunder Mage) will get both Sylvia (the Dancer) and Fury’s (the Pegasus Knight) adjacent lover bonus (gaining a total bonus of +10). This is a method of greatly speeding up love growth (since instead of the normal +5 bonus, you can get +10), which may be useful in ranked playthroughs or simply just to get couples earlier."

So there you go. Obviously we're going to be using this Jealousy mechanic to get our dudes and dudettes to tie the knot as quickly as possible, not just for Gen 2, but also for the sake of being able to buy stuff like the Elite Ring much easier. But of course, nothing's ever that simple. You see, as alluded to in the two "Formations" described above, certain females have priority over other females in regards to who steals what love points from whichever men they're going green-eyed over. And strangely enough, there are actually TWO different charts that come into play depending on whether you've reset the game at least once or not. So if you've NEVER reset the game at all (a stupid decision in any situation), the chart is as follows...

No Resets:

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Lex/Azel/Jamka/Holyn  - Aira > Lachesis > Briggid > Other girls
Midir                 - Ethlin > Aideen > Fury > Aira > Lachesis > Briggid > Other girls
Fin/Dew/Beowolf/Levin - Aideen > Fury > Aira > Lachesis > Briggid > Other girls
Claude                - Tiltyu > Sylvia > Deirdre > Ethlin > Aideen > Fury > Aira > Lachesis > Briggid
Other Males           - All girls equal

Yes, you're reading that right. Ethlin and Deirdre actually WILL steal love points from some of the other females, despite the fact that they're already married! I have NO idea why the game designers made it that way...but then, I suppose that's the same as asking them why they even HAVE two separate charts to begin with. Because if you HAVE reset the game at least once, the chart goes like this instead...

1+ Resets:

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Midir               - Ethlin > Other girls (so why even program this in at all...?)
Dew/Jamka           - Aideen > Aira > Ethlin > Other girls
Holyn/Beowolf/Levin - Lachesis > Dierdre > Aideen > Aira > Ethlin > Other girls
Claude              - Tiltyu > Briggid > Fury > Sylvia > Lachesis > Deirdre > Aideen > Aira > Ethlin
Other Males         - All girls equal

Weird...so, with all this in mind, what exactly ARE my pairings and why? Well, here you are! They are as follows...

PAIRINGS:

AIDEEN X JAMKA: This is, admittedly, a slightly weaker pairing than Aideen X Midir as far as Lester goes. Continue will be nice to have, but he'll suffer greatly if he doesn't have the Pursuit Ring (which I may or may not give to him). However, Jamka and Aideen get WAY more benefit out of pairing with each other than Midir and Aideen do. Jamka, Midir, and Aideen all use large amounts of money in repairing their stuff, and none of them have access to the Uber Slim Sword, meaning that getting the Gold needed for the Elite Ring is a constant struggle for them.

Jamka, however, is almost guaranteed to clear every Arena, and get 17,500G, while Midir is so weak, that even Ranks 3 and 4 are a challenge for him! So Midir's only getting like, 4,000G at most without RNG abuse. Plus, Lester is extraordinarily easy to train due to Chapter 9, which is almost exclusively a flyer map. We haven't been introduced to those kinds of units yet, but suffice it to say, bow weapons will automatically activate Critical on flying units. And considering that we'll already have 3 Holy Weapons by then...yeah, babying Lester won't be any problem at all.

Oh yeah, and Jamka X Aideen can abuse the Jealousy system to become partners by the end of Chapter 2, while Midir X Aideen does not have that luxury. So they can get much more done in Chapter 2 than Midir X Aideen can.

There's a fair bit of debate over whether Jamka or Midir is a better father for Lana and Lester. Lana is practically impossible to screw up because she inherits all the staffs she'll ever need and her stats don't matter, and the father only matters if you want her to fulfill some niche role. Claude x Aideen is the best pairing for pure LTC runs, Azel x Aideen is probably the best if you want Lana to fight, but why would you ever want to go to that trouble? If you plan on using both the children, as you must in an AAAA run, Jamka or Midir are your only real choices. In my eyes, it comes down to whether or not you need the pursuit ring on a different child, since Jamka doesn't pass pursuit down to Lester.

AIRA X LEX: Aira's children will be showing up in the very first Chapter of Gen 2, where money will be very scarce for a while. Plus, we don't have a Thief to make donations either, so it's very important that we get either Bargain or Elite on Skahasa and Lakche. Originally I was going to give Dew to Aira, but because of that aforementioned reason, and a new strategy I discovered for how to abuse Ambush + Elite + Meteor Sword + Uber Hero Sword in Chapter 7 (against Jabarro and co.) and the Epilogue (against Burian and co.), I decided to give Lex to Aira instead. So now, not only will the sword twins never have to worry about money, but leveling them will also now be a cinch! So that's pretty grand I think, more than worth giving up Bargain.

I've never been a huge fan of this pairing because I feel that the sword twins have plenty of time to level up anyways and trounce arenas. I prefer Lex on Briggid or Sylvia (to help Patty/Leen respectively), but there are lots of ways to A rank this game, and Lex x Aira is still a great pairing.

Yeah. Personally, I still think Ambush + Elite is a great and convenient way to level up, and Skahasa and Lakche are the only ones who are really able to easily take advantage of that. But we'll see.

LACHESIS X BEOWULF: Unlike Aira, Lachesis's children do not get that much of a benefit out of having Lex or Dew as partners. Delmud and Nanna do NOT start out with Pursuit,and Beo's JUST the guy to fix that! Fin is a close second due to having Pursuit & Prayer, but he can't pass anything down to Delmud. Combine that with Beowulf X Lachesis's ability to exploit the Jealousy system, and a Talk conversation that gives them 100 love points, and there you go. Beowulf X Lachesis is just the way to go

!

Fin x Lachesis is pretty good, and if you want to get fancy Azel x Lachesis can be useful for magic sword use, but this pairing is so much easier. Lachesis' children will never be amazing combatants, but with Beowful they can chip in occasionally while charisma botting.

SYLVIA X DEW: Good news Dew! Turns out there IS someone young enough for you to marry! Her name is Sylvia, the 14 year old dancer! Hehehe...he...he...

...

Well anyways, it's good that things worked out that way; Bargain is just too good NOT give to someone. And who better than Leen, one of the weakest Gen 2 characters? Dancers tend to have that problem, but Bargain will help her by giving her essentially unlimited money; she can buy Elite whenever she wants, she can buy and sell the Defense Ring + Defense Sword (+7 to Defense) to easily manipulate Prayer (because yeah, she gets that), she can more easily repair the Sleep Sword (more on that later)...Bargain's quite nice on her.

But, Lex X Sylvia does give Leen Ambush, which is amazing when combined with the Sleep Sword in the Arena. On the other hand, Leen can also eventually get the Pursuit Ring, and any other stat rings she wants, so...it remains to be seen whether Dew!Leen is better than Lex!Leen or not. Either way, Leen needs one of those two fathers if you want her to level up efficiently. Otherwise, she just takes forever to get anywhere quickly. As for her brother, he's a staff bot, so he's good regardless.

Unfortunately, this pairing is one of the few that cannot abuse the Jealousy system...but oh well, they don't really need each other that urgently anyway.

A good pairing for the aforementioned reasons. I don't have anything more to say.

FURY X CLAUDE: Three words. "Fricken Valkyrie Staff"! It can revive dead units! Of course, it breaks after one use, and costs 30,000G to repair; but still! Plus, Claude has Blaggi blood, which increases the potency of the staves that can be used by Sety and Fee. Both of them will be Staff Botting, and with Blaggi blood, Fee will be able to spam the Warp Staff rather than the Return Staff. And who knows what fun death warping tactics we can pull off with this? I already know of at least one...

This pairing can also abuse the Jealousy system. So that's fun, though not really necessary.

Fury's second best pairing, but Levin is already taken for good reasons so...good choice.

Aw, thank you Marty :3.

BRIGGID X HOLYN: This seems like a weird pairing due to how slow it is to make; but this is THE best pairing for Patty, especially with the way I'll be playing. Holyn has minor Odo blood, which gives Patty B Swords. Supplement that with a Bargain Ring, and whatever other gifts Holyn feels like giving her (perhaps I might even throw in a Pursuit Ring), and Patty will come right out of the gates as someone who can clear the Arena's via the Uber Hero Sword! She can even dispense large sums of cash to all the other paupers who can't afford the Elite Ring! And Faval's got Ichival, so he's set no matter what.

Unfortunately, no Jealousy system exploits are possible with these two, but whatever.

Faval gets ridiculous amounts of HP in this pairing. B swords is useful to use magic weapons to safely nab gold from enemies. In unreliable runs b swords isn't really a necessity because the sleep sword can be abused so easily, but for the purposes of this run I can see why it would be useful.

TILTYU X LEVIN: Arthur immediately gets Holsety, on CHAPTER 6 no less; so there's that! Plus, Levin's Holsety blood makes both children better with the best magic type in the game, and increases their AS to ludicrous levels. Oh, and since Tiltyu gives Wrath, nothing should ever live past two attacks anyway. So if anything, Continue is actually BETTER for them than Pursuit, since that gives them the chance to just kill an opponent outright with Wrath.

But again, no Jealousy system

…

Why not pass down Holsety, and Arthur has more trouble in the arena than Sety. This is the right pairing.

Indeed. Anyways, that all was a whole lot of

...but one more thing. Some of you may be wondering "what happens if your female characters die before falling in love?" Well, if they don't manage to have some kids before Gen 1 ends, their children will instead be replaced by "Substitute Characters", who are basically just inferior versions of their counterparts. So instead of having the amazing Lakche and Skahasa, you will instead have the lackluster Radney and Roddlevan, who don't get either Meteor Sword or Awareness. Oh, and their growth rates are lower, and they don't inherit any weapons or items from anyone. So in other words, pair ALL of your females up! There are technically a few substitute characters that can be worth something...but none of them can ever make up for the lack of Inheritance.

Fionordequester · Sat Aug 29, 2020 2:50 pm

OP NOTE: Turns out Marty was on Vacation and wasn't available for commentary. Sorry about that.

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4: Genealogy of the Holy War! Last time we rescued Aideen and took Deirdre along with us after trashing the country of Verdane. But we still have the long shadow of the Dark Sect looming over us. And furthermore, it seems that the country of Agusty may ALSO be thinking of attacking us. So what's going to happen now? Find out TODAY!

Glorious Grandbell

Upon gaining control of the Verdane Kingdom, Sigurd received orders from Barhara to preside over Evans Castle along the border. He soon thereafter took Deirdre to be his wife.

Grandbell’s subjugation of Verdane caused quite a stir in neighbouring Agustria. The lords of Agustria expressed strong anti-Grandbell sentiment. The great King Imuka, who prized peace more than anything, was killed by an assassin.

Grandbell’s military was still far away to the east in Isaac.

And none too soon did the new king command the lords of Agustria to invade Verdane. Under orders to hold Evans Castle, Sigurd once again found himself in the midst of conflict.

Great

...

Agustria Palace (Eltshan's theme)

Crisis in Agustria

Oh well. At least the music starts off happy.

Lachesis: You’re putting your life in peril!

Eltshan: Nonsense. Look… I’ve heard all about Shagaal supposedly killing his father. But there’s no proof! If I can just speak with him, I know I’ll get through to him.

Um...you do realize that he's king, don't you Eltshan? I imagine that if there is any "proof", he'd be pretty good at burying it.

Lachesis: But…

Eltshan: Lachesis, enough already. I’m leaving three of my best men behind for your protection just to be on the safe side. Lachesis, don’t be so down! I promise I’ll make it back. I’ve no intention of dying out there!

Lachesis: Eltshan…

And then Eltshan goes off to the northeast...

And even phases through the wall while he's at it! Man that Mistoltein is OP, isn't it?

Eltshan: Your father always strived for a peaceful coexistence with Grandbell. Besides, war is very hard on the people. You’re risking your reputation with these actions. You must not let this war happen!

Shagaal: My father always had a soft spot for you, Eltshan. And all the while you had it in for me. Well, he’s gone… and now I rule Agustria! You’re going to pay fully for making me the fool. Throw this trash in the dungeon!

Eltshan: Wait, Your Majesty… NO!!!

Whoa, just like that eh? Can you really just...do that, to someone who's lord over an entire Duchy? I guess so.

Enemy Message 2

Shagaal: Once we’re through there, I’m taking the whole show to Grandbell!

Boy...Eltshan really blew that one, didn't he? I mean, he KNEW there was some strong anti-Grandbell sentiment going on, he had to have known that Shagaal doesn't like him very much, he made a big show of attacking Elliot last Chapter, and then he just marches right up to Shagaal and openly challenges him...

I mean not to defend Shagaal, but what did Eltshan think was going to happen

?

Oh, and look who's back? Manfloy, doing the SAME shtick Sandima did in Verdane

!!

Shagaal: There’s no going back. I just wonder if we really have a chance here…

Manfloy: Well, Grandbell still honours the Anti-War Pact with Agustria. Their entire military is still in Isaac. If we strike now we cannot lose!

Shagaal: Hmm… If we can just overthrow Grandbell, Agustria will become the new world leader. And I’ll be emperor of the world!

Manfloy: Hmhm… Yes, consider that a possibility.

Of course, there's still that same problem of "what will we do when Grandbell gets back"...but the game makes it pretty clear that Shagaal isn't any brighter than Eltshan, so his plan isn't supposed to make any sense.

Crisis 2

And now back to Nodion, this time with the awesome Crisis 2 theme playing...

Eve: There’s more. We’ll need to keep a close eye on Heirhein. If they learn of the king’s disappearance, they’ll attack without a moment’s notice. I’m sure they’re not pleased with what happened in Verdane, especially Prince Elliot.

Lachesis: That Elliot just can’t handle the fact that I’ll have nothing to do with him. God, I can’t stand conceited men like him. I need a man the calibre of my dear brother. That’s why I’ll never marry.

Eve: His Majesty’s Cross Knights are stationed well north at Fort Silvail. There are just the few of us soldiers left here. But my brothers and I will do our best to hold the castle. Just be ready for the worst.

Lachesis: Understood. Eve, thank you so much. Now don’t you overdo it, or worse, get yourself killed! Please let Eva and Alva know how sorry I am for all this.

Eve: Uh, no need to apologise, Your Highness. King Eltshan left us behind for your protection in good conscious. We, as Holy Knights of Nodion, shall protect you to our dying breath!

But hey, at least they're both good people.

And out they go, fortifying their defenses as best they can.

“Meanwhile, at the Fortress of Evil...”

Boldo: Brilliant! Elliot, here’s your chance to even the score. Go take Nodion by storm!

Elliot: Yes, father.

Crisis 1

Oifaye: We’ve received a request for backup from Princess Lachesis.

Sigurd: Why would they seize Eltshan of all people!? Well, let’s gear up. We’re heading for Nodion. I’d put my life on the line for Lachesis if it came to it. Eltshan would never admit it, but he cares for that sister of his more than anything. If he ever lost her, there’s no telling what he’d do.

Sigurd: Lachesis must be pretty shook up as well. I’ve got to help her out if I can.

Deirdre: I understand. It looks like I’ll be joining you then, Sigurd.

Sigurd: What? Forget it, Deirdre! I can’t get you involved it this.

Deirdre: Sigurd, you promised you’d never leave my side. I’m… I’m scared. If you leave me now, I… I fear I’ll never see you again. Please… let me go with you.

Sigurd: Er… I did say that, didn’t I… Alright, we’ll go together, but don’t you dare leave my side!

Deirdre: You can count on that!

Oh Sigurd

...

Alright then, we're in the middle of a political fire storm here! We've got our romance! We've got our intrigue! We've got our honor! AND WE'VE GOT OUT WAR! Now let's see what masterfully done, THRILLING action music Yuka Tsujiyoko's got cooked up for us-

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

...now?

.......

Ok then...? Rather odd choice of music. But oh well. I still like it. Anyways, here's our situation.

Ok, it's not as bad as it looks, because all of the non-horse units are going to stay put for now. But that still leaves us with 10 enemies coming at Nodion, and Alva, Eva, and Eve aren't quite strong enough to beat them back without dying. Furthermore, as you can see...

Elliot and his boys have gotten a bit stronger since the last time we met them, getting buffs to almost all of their stats. Plus, there are also three of these guys in the mix...

So Cuan and Fin'll have to watch out. However, Lachesis's guards are pretty strong too...

Actually no, they're REALLY strong! If it weren't for Mistletein, they'd almost be as deadly as Eltshan himself! So technically they could kill a good chunk of Elliot's forces by themselves...

But that's just not good enough, because this game actually has a hidden reward for keeping them all alive. After beating the map, the knights will give Lachesis something called the Knight Ring, a Ring that grant foot units Canto! But more importantly, it sells for 20,000G, making it EXTREMELY useful for some quick cash! So obviously we'll really want to get to Nodion as fast as possible...

But, then you run into another problem. Nodion is so far away that only cavalry units like Sigurd, Noish, and Midir are the only ones fast enough to get there on time. And out of all of them, only Sigurd, Cuan, and Lex are durable enough to reliably survive a round of combat. Guys like Midir, Noish, and even Alec are too fragile to throw into that mosh pit, and Fin's HP and Defense values aren't set up to where he can activate a strong enough Prayer against them.

This then leaves us with only three guys strong enough to protect Eve, Eva, and Alva on Turn 4, where they are most at risk of dying. Needless to say, we need an edge...

So if Fin can't get a good enough Prayer from Elliot's men...

Arena Match

Then he'll just need to use the Arena to "adjust" his HP values a little. Basically, just look at how much Defense Fin has, calculate how much damage can be inflicted on him by Elliot's Lance or Axe Knights, and then try to get his HP reduced to where one of said knights can put him down to 1-2 HP (or 3 if you don't mind being a little risky). Actually calculating all that though can be tricky since Fin's stats will obviously differ from playthrough to playthrough. So, here's what stats and weapons each opponent has in the Arena.

Use that to help you out. Or, if you'd prefer to figure things out without using external sources, then just know that Hertzog (Rank 5) is almost guaranteed to get Fin down to where he needs to go, but Bachnin (Rank 4) is highly likely to kill Fin before he gets that far. So if you can help it, you'll want to try to avoid going past Lovin (Rank 3). Otherwise, you may have to have Ethlin heal Fin to help him out, which is minorly inconvenient...but oh well.

Also, don't go charging out of Evans without repairing your weapons. In my case, Fin has enough uses on his Iron and Steel Lances here to kill all of Elliot's men, but that won't necessarily be the case for, say, Lex and his Hero Axe. So make sure everyone's weapons are ready for heavy duty fighting. Also...

Make sure Deirdre at least makes it up to Lovin before going any further. The higher she pumps up her levels with Warp, the less Exp. she gets from her foes in the Arena. And we're going to be clearing the Arena with her just for the Gold anyway, so there's no sense in wasting good Exp.

Verdane Castle Town

So if you get to someone Deirdre can't beat, just fight them, give up before they kill her, let her recover her HP, and then beat that guy down the moment she's got enough HP to activate Prayer! Rinse and repeat till Deirdre's defeated everyone!

After that, have Sigurd head to the pawn shop, and buy him the Uber Slim Sword, in all it's glory! And of course, be sure to "fix er' up", as the good man says.

Then have him beat up everyone up till Bachnin. Why're we stopping there? Because as I mentioned before, your HP will refill every time you defeat someone in the Arena...and almost every castle in the game allows you to enter it, even the ones that you had to conquer first...

So you starting to catch my drift? After we take care of Elliot, we're gunning for Boldo next. And then after THAT, when Sigurd and Lex are all dinged up, I can go and trash the next guy in the Arena, and get their HP all up to max! And then when I conquer the next two castles before the final one, I can go and DO THAT AGAIN!! Awesome eh

?

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Anyways, out Sigurd goes. And then after that...

Midir gets a new weapon and gets extremely unlucky against Lovin. Not a big deal though, I'm not going to let any of Elliot's men get to him anyway. Midir's just there to help clean up in case my main fighters can't mop up Elliot's forces on Turn 5.

Now, Midir, Sigurd, Deirdre, and Fin were the only ones I wanted fighting in the Arena, because almost everyone else is going to be waiting until I get the Elite Ring. Because yes, that's coming this chapter! So...

Cuan buys a Steel Lance for himself...

And then he, Alec, Fin, Lex, and Midir all join Sigurd, forming everyone in our Nodion rescue team! But ah, we're not done yet!

Turns out Deirdre can talk to Ethlin! Let's see what she has to say!

Deirdre's theme

Deirdre: I’ll be fine… as long as I have Sigurd at my side.

Ethlin: I still can’t get over how much he’s changed since meeting you, Deirdre.

Deirdre: Ethlin… I have something I’d like you to have.

Ethlin: Isn’t this… the Light Sword!? You sure you want me to have this?

Deirdre: Yes. I know you’ll put it to good use.

Ethlin: Thank you so much, Deirdre! I’ll treasure it!

Oh no you don't, because that's going right to Sigurd

.

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Now then, having talked to Ethlin right in front of Evans, Deirdre gets to enter it, and then...

Aira, Aideen, and Jamka ALL go and form that brand-spankin' Jealousy formation I told you about last update. With this on, Jamka and Aideen will be getting 12 Love Points instead of just the 7 they'd get if they simply sat next to each other! As for Ardan, ignore him. He's simply a holdover from when I was still going to pair Aira with Ardan.

Allied Army

Anyways, I then end my turn here, dragging my cursor here so that the game doesn't slowly auto-scroll back to where it was after the enemy ends their turn. For reference, if you hold down the Y Button, your cursor will go much faster than it would otherwise, but you don't get to do that during enemy phases so...this saves a bit of time.

Agustria Army

Elliot: Her days of jerking me around are over. Just wait and see! What could she possibly do surrounded by a military of this force!? She’s coming back to Heirhein with me whether she likes it OR NOT!

Aaand he's a creep.

But unfortunately, he's a creep that starts about a Turn closer to Heirhein than we do.

Philip: Defend to the death!

Good thing then that these guys are staying put for now.

Neutral Army

But there is someone else we DO need to worry about, and that's this guy here...

Macbeth: Brilliant, we’re right on schedule. Let the bandits loose on the villages. We pretty much have free reign now that Shagaal has taken the throne. Strip the villages of all valuables and return them to the castle!

You know, just in case there was ANY confusion about which side we should be rooting for .

Yeesh, LOOK at all those villages!

Those poor, poor villages! All that lost gold! AND THAT BARGAIN RING!! That's in the village closest to Anphony, so that's going to be the first one on the chopping block if we don't get there fa-

Gyah, MORE enemies?! How much more are we going to-

Clement: I’m not lifting a finger till the dust settles. Keep our soldiers put for the moment.

Ah, ok. Whew...now then.

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

We spend the next turn moving people forward. It doesn't matter what order you move Sigurd and Cuan in, but you'll want Fin and Lex to be in front of Alec and Midir.

After that, Deirdre Warps Ethlin back so that she can sell the Light Sword to Sigurd, along with everything else but her Return Staff.

So to make up for Ethlin's loss, we get her Aideen's Relive staff, and fix up her Return Staff! Yeah we're not having Ethlin join the main group right now, since they're going to be under some pretty heavy fire, but she WILL be warping her to Heirhein after we've knocked off Boldo. And once she does, she's going to want all the charges of Return she can get, for reasons we'll get to next episode. Now then...

We put Ethlin back into the Jealousy formation, and then we end our turn.

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

The Lachesis trio can take care of the regular noobs easily enough, but they're going to be dropping like flies the moment Elliot gets in there. As for why that one soldier moved so far ahead of the main group, that's just a quirk of the A.I. In general, if there's a large pack of enemies, but they don't have anybody to hit on that turn, they'll often move just a little bit slower than they would otherwise. So that's good for us, but we still gotta hurry.

C,mon, c,mon...

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Alright then, time for Operation Rescue!

First Lex kills a Lance Knight, body blocks for Eva and Alva, and gets a level...

+1 HP, +1 Spd, +1 Def!

Next up, Fin activates his strongest Prayer, equips the Steel Lance, and then body blocks for Alva. Note though, that I made a strategic error here. I'm not going to re-record the entire video to fix it, but just know that what I SHOULD have done was move Fin right below Lex. Not only would it have allowed him to stay on a Plains tile rather than a Road tile (meaning 2 HP Prayer + Leadership would've still guaranteed his safety), but it also has an added advantage that I will explain later.

Anyways, here's one of the most important parts. Sigurd gets in front of Lachesis, kills the Lance Knight...

Buys that coveted Light Sword, and then has a little chat with Lachesis.

Victory 2

Lachesis: No, he’s still being held in Agusty. It seems all of Agustria has turned against us. Sir Sigurd, please… I need your help. I must free my brother!

Sigurd: I usually try to keep our troops off foreign soil, but this time it’s unavoidable. I’ve already received King Azmur’s approval to engage the enemy. His Majesty is aware of King Imuka’s assassination by Shagaal’s hand, as well as Shagaal’s plans to invade Grandbell. His Majesty has also stressed the importance of Eltshan’s rescue for future peace negotiations. Don’t worry, Lachesis. I promise we’ll get Eltshan out.

W-wait, so Grandbell is AWARE of the fact that Shagaal killed Imuka? And that's common knowledge? Well, no, actually, they are still rumors...it's just that they're rumors that almost everyone believes (and they're right of course :cheeky:).

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Anyways though, Lachesis is now recruited. What that means, however, is that the Cross Knights will actually move now, which can result in very bad things. This then is what made my earlier move with Fin a blunder.

See, Eve, the left-most knight, is more heavily injured than the other guys, so we want him to try and keep him from just running out into the open. Right now he's got four options on who to attack. He could attack the knights to the west or south of Cuan with the Javelin, then stay where he is or retreat...

Or he could choose to be a complete moron, rush out, attack this guy here, and then get swarmed by Elliot's men. Unfortunately, this is something that could potentially happen no matter what. But, he could also go and attack the guy directly southwest of Lex. And if Fin happens to be right below where Lex is...

Fin will force Eve to head into the Forest east of him. This then eats up enough of Eve's movement squares for him to just stop right there. And because of that, Elliot is too far away from him to actually attack him next turn, which almost guaranteeing his survival.

This by the way, means that you also don't want Cuan hitting anyone. Otherwise, this could happen...

:reject:

This of course is also why Sigurd took out the knight west of Eve rather than the one below him. That way, Eve is still somewhat boxed in by the remaining enemies.

So, I didn't move Fin in the exact optimal way, but oh well. At the very least, I can move Alec here, and try to pull two of the knights off of Nodion. The A.I. is pretty random after all.

Anyways, right before ending our turn, Deirdre goes and punches out Lovin with Prayer...

But then gets blicked by Bachnin immediately afterwards.

Allied Army

Now, will the Lachesis trio act intelligently?

YES, THEY DID IT! They actually managed to set up, *gasp*, an actually reasonable defensive formation

!! So on the next turn...

Agustria Army

Elliot and his men fight a futile battle, dashing themselves upon the unfeeling shoals of our MIGHT!

+1 HP, +1 Str, +1 Spd, +1 Lck

Heck, even Elliot can't do much. He's got 42 Attack, but Eva's so buff that he just takes it straight to the face!

In addition, most of Elliot's men are now dead, with only 4 units left, because like I said, the Lachesis trio does a pretty good job of softening them up. So then,

Lex kills a man before charging ahead...

Miniboss

And then Sigurd kicks Elliot around a little so that Cuan...

Can finish him off for a level...

+1 HP, +1 Def!

And a free Silver Lance! Now Cuan's got even higher Attack Power than Sigurd!

But yeah, that Light Sword is pretty awesome. It's basically a 1-2 weapon that acts as a regular 12 Might, 70 Hit sword that targets Defense from 1 Range, but then changes into a 14 Might, 90 Hit Lightning tome that targets Resistance when attacking from 2 Range. So essentially, Sigurd's a physical unit from 1 Range, but turns into a mage unit from 2 Range, which is why I got him Sandima's Magic Ring!

Player Attack

Anyways, Midir kills the last enemy, and gets this level up...

+1 HP!

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

So everyone but Midir's going to be charging Philip's group next, so I have to recharge some of Fin's HP first. Cuan's going to Talk to him and give him a pretty valuable item after Boldo's done n' dusted.

So now Eve, Eva, and Alva start grouping around Lachesis every turn, but be careful not to let them near any of Philip's men. If they do, they'll go running after them instead and get themselves killed. So because of that, and the fact that Beowulf's going to be recruited soon, I'm having Lachesis head back to Evans. In fact, speaking of Lachesis, let's go over her real quickly, shall we?

Agustria Castle Town

Level 2 Princess

HP: 26 (60%) Spd: 13 (20%)
Str: 6 (50%) Lck: 5 (40%)
Mag: 8 (5%) Def: 7 (20%)
Skl: 9 (10%) Res: 9 (10%)

Move: (before Promotion): 6
Move: (after Promotion): 9
Weapon Ranks (before Promotion): Swords (A), Staves (C)
Weapon Ranks (after Promotion): Swords (A), Lances (A), Axes (A), Bows (A), Fire (A), Thunder (A), Wind (A), Light (C)
Promotion Bonuses: +7 Str, +7 Skl, +4 Spd, +7 Def, Canto, Pursuit
Items: Prayer Sword, Live Staff
Skill: Charisma (grants +10 Hit & Evade to those within 3 squares of her)
Holy Blood: Minor Hezul

In a word, Lachesis is...amazing. First of all, she is incredibly EASY to raise! The Prayer Sword does exactly what it sounds like it does, so Arenas are no problem. And she uses staves, so she can just get the Elite Ring and spam Return for free experience. But most importantly, she gets the Knight Ring, which she can sell for an automatic 20,000G in Chapter 3. So basically, she's one of the most easily promoted units the the game

And then once she does promote...WOW! Look at those stat bonuses! Look at those weapon ranks! And look! She actually gets a horse! And she gets to have Pursuit on TOP of all that?! Holy cow, she get pretty much EVERYTHING, doesn't she?! You want her to be a healer who spams staves and warps people everywhere? She can do that! You want her to be a physical attacker AND a magical attacker rolled into one? She can do that too! You want her to be a Charisma bot, helping to train weaker units? You've got it! You want her to act as "Sugah Momma" for her dear husband, giving him all the Gold he wants? Oh she can definitely do that

!

Post-Promotion Lachesis just amazing. There is absolutely NOTHING that she cannot do! Heck, if it weren't for Sigurd and Holsety!Levin, she'd probably be the strongest unit in Gen 1! I'm not going to work on promoting her RIGHT this second, since there are other staff bots I want to train first...but wow! My word!

So, if I had to compare her to any DBZ character? I'd compare her to Frieza. She looks like a woman, happens to be royalty, and is more than a little arrogant and spoiled. But she makes up for these weaknesses by having the inexplicable ability to get thousands upon thousands of times stronger than almost every existing person to ever exist...just by like, doing some push-ups and sit-ups, drinking plenty of juice, and making she's eating a healthy and nutritious diet for a few months.

Seriously though, anyone see that new "Revival of F" movie? Frieza spends the entire Namek saga freaking out about the Super Saiyan, blows up a planet to stop one from coming, gets killed by one any way, comes back to life, then gets cut in half by Trunks...

And all that, time, literally ALL he ever had to do was pop in a few exercise videos every day, lift some weights with the Ginyu Force, maybe do some cardio in the mornings... I'm just saying, if he had JUST done some power-walking before fighting Goku & friends, that saga MIGHT not have ended so happily

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Alright, let's see just how strong Philip's group is...

Oh, wow. Those are some pretty strong enemies! And that Defense and HP! Even Sigurd can't reliably kill them without the Uber Slim Sword! And Philip himself is often the cause of many resets because of Big Guard (a skill that EVERY General has). I could technically skip him, because I'm not going to be using his ring as an item. However, I can still sell it for 10,000G, which is not the kind of money you want to just casually throw away. So, we're going to have to find a way to kill him.

And as for the other two unit types...

These guys are just plain annoying. The "LongArch's" can't move, and they're too weak to be TOO much of a threat against Sigurd, Cuan, and Lex...but they still do enough that I can't safely bring Ethlin or Midir through this minefield. And every bit of damage they do starts to add up when I also have everyone else to deal with.

And then the Priest is the most annoying snot ever. He moves after everyone else but Philip, which means that he's constantly going to be healing enemies to full health. So that's nice

.

So needless to say, these guys are an enormous step up from the enemies we've been fighting last Chapter. Elliot and his men weren't so bad if you weren't concerned about keeping the Lachesis trio alive, but NOW the gloves are coming off. This is pretty much where the game starts expecting you to learn how to use actual strategy. Because if you try to fight these guys straight up, in a knock down, drag out fight...you're going to die, and you're going to die horribly. But you can't just go "slow and steady" either, because then the Bargain Ring village gets destroyed. So what's a man to do? Well, first of all, let's check their range shadows...

Now, I want Sigurd to try and kill Philip with the Uber Slim Sword on enemy phase, so I want to put him in a spot where Philip will attack him. But then I also want to put him and the rest of the guys in a position where they're not getting attacked by anyone from the north half of his group. By doing that, we'll be able to potentially kill Philip while minimizing the damage we take. To that end...

I have Cuan attack this guy from afar before resting right outside of Philip's range shadow...

Then Sigurd finishes the guy off (note how the Light Sword cheeses these guys)...

And then parks himself west of Cuan, equipping himself with the Uber Slim Sword while he's at it. Now, not only will he have a shot at killing Philip on Enemy Phase, but now he's also serving as a shield for Cuan.

Hmm, but wait, Cuan could still get swarmed...

So let's put Lex next to him too.

Now nobody but Sigurd will be fighting more than two guys at once, and Sigurd can handle that.

As for Fin, he's still injured, and he's the one with the least Defense, so he goes right outside the enemy's range shadow, with Alec right behind him.

Now again, be ABSOLUTELY SURE that the Lachesis trio is not close enough to these guys to fight them. If they are, Philip and his men will end them! Now let's see how this goes.

Agustria Army

Whoa! Sigurd dodged the guy AND critted him to death!

+1 HP, +1 Str, +1 Spd!

Good start!

And hey, Cuan dodged despite a 79% hit chance! Neat!! Note how Cuan barely did half his health despite having the Silver Lance equipped.

And of course, the enemies are still pretty tough to kill...

We've got these two guys chipping away at Cuan...

And we've got THIS puny gnat restoring everyone's health. And all this on just Chapter 2!

Oh, and here's Philip now.

Miniboss

Philip: So long as I live, you will not reach Heirhein!

Can Sigurd defeat him without taking too much damage?!

YES!! That's the spirit Sigurd! Rather too bad that Philip had to die, but, that's war.

And now we're looting his corpse. Poor guy. Here's to hoping we can put that ring to some good use

.

Neutral Army

And there's the Bargain Ring village. We can't even DO anything about it right now either, we've got to wait another 6-7 turns!

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Guess all we can do is focus on what's in front of us then. So, we got EXTREMELY lucky next turn. Sigurd dodged an attack, Cuan didn't get hurt by anyone but the LongArchers, and then Sigurd killed Philip in one round...so basically we lucked out in almost every possible way. I mean Philip has Great Shield, so technically, we could have ended up doing no damage at all. If THAT had happened, I might've actually had to redo the entire preceding turn. But fortunately, that didn't happen, so...

We're now just going to bypass them entirely! That's right, the best way to deal with Philip's men is to just not fight them at all. So, Sigurd adds another kill to the Light Sword before killing one of those pesky Long Archers...

Lex kills the other one for a level...

+1 HP, +1 Spd!

Cuan TRIES to hit the Recover Priest before going below Sigurd, but misses him.

As for Cuan and Alec, they just run past whoever they can while hiding from the north half of Philip's brigade. Also, some other things of note happen on this turn.

Arena Match

Midir gets fully healed then gets his revenge on Lovin, because every bit of Exp. helps.

Deirdre gets a bit further in the Arena...

And is also still Warping people, ALWAYS make sure you do that every turn. So next Enemy Phase!

Agustria Army

...Nothing of note happens. Cool. Now then, we're just about to kill Boldo, so let's take a look at his stats...

Hmm, not bad. But not as good as Philip. And as for his three guards,

They're pretty weak, no question about it. In fact, Sigurd could get hit by them AND Boldo, and still live through it. So then...

Lex kills another guy and heads up...

So here's a mistake. All I needed to do to have Sigurd kill Boldo next turn was have him wait 2 squares east of him, equip the Light Sword, and then Cuan and Lex someplace where they wouldn't get hit at all. Then, Sigurd would pound Boldo with magic on enemy phase, and then next turn, Lex and Cuan would get rid of the guy blocking him. Then Sigurd swoops in, and BAM, there goes Heirhein.

But instead, I got greedy, wanted another kill on my Light Sword, and attacked this guard on Player Phase. He's only got a 24% chance of hitting Sigurd back, but if he had managed to hit him on both Phases, that would've dropped him to where could've killed him in one hit. So I would've had to reset, and waste a few minutes of time! Course, that wouldn't be too bad, but still, gotta save those frames!

As a result of that mistake, Cuan parks next to Boldo instead, with a radically inferior weapon equipped. And no, I didn't have him attack.

So that's the main group done. Now we just gotta take care of some miscellaneous stuff, so...

Lachesis heads back to Evans to do some other side jobs later...

Deirdre repairs the staff so we don't have to waste frames looking at the "Weapon Broke!" message. So next enemy phase, Cuan starts the first fight with Boldo, but was not able to do anything but listen to his spiel...

Miniboss

Boldo: What, the Grandbell army is here?! Bah! You're all useless!! I'll do this myself!

Yeah keep telling yourself that

.

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Anyways, next player phase, Cuan kills another guy with Lex's help...

Then parks himself as close as he can to Heirhein's entrance, as does Fin. Yes, that'll be important later.

Alright Sigurd, do your thing!

Miniboss

Sigurd: 4
Bosses: 0

Now let's get some story!

Victory 1

Sigurd: But Eltshan is still being held in Agusty. And that’s not all…

Oifaye: Yes?

Sigurd: Bandits are laying seige to the pioneer villages in the central forest. We’ve got to intervene.

Oifaye: Agreed. That’ll help convice the citizens of Agustria that we are not the aggressor here. If that’s your decision, then we’d better get moving. We’ve no time to waste!

Victory is Near

Alright then, and there we go! Now before ending the turn, let's get some other stuff out of the way.

There we go.

So with Heirhein acquired, we've got a convenient, safe way of getting Ethlin up to the main group, so to that end, we're going to warp her there next turn. Because of that, I moved everyone one space to the east, that way, they could move back to where they were next turn, with Deirdre filling in for Ethlin like so.

Cool. Now let's see what happens.

Enemy Message 2

Shagaal: How do you explain this carelessness, Macbeth!?

Macbeth: M… My humblest apologies, Your Majesty! I’ll dispatch Voltz and his mercenaries immediately!

And then Voltz and someone else ride out.

Voltz: Hey! Why’re we first to go in? I’m staying put. I wanna see how this unfolds first. Yo, Beowulf… Whaddya think?

BEOWULF!

Beowulf: I’m not buyin’ any of this. I’m ’bout ready to walk on that Macbeth sleaze.

Voltz: Well, do as you see fit. As a mercenary you’re free to work for whomever you please. Strange how one day we’re fighting side by side… the next day who knows.

Beowulf: Sure is. I just hope I don’t gotta face you ever. I wouldn’t stand a chance.

Voltz: Heh heh heh… Ain’t a soul alive who can take me!

They then scamper up off the screen...

Agustria Army

Macbeth summons up a mass of those annoying Armour Knights...

And yeah, we didn't see them, but these three guys were neutral units near Heirhein before we conquered it. Now, for some reason, they ride AWAY from us rather than to us, unless someone happens to be in their range.

And then we continue with Macbeth's rampage against his own villages. When are we finally going to be able to take care of those guys?

Crisis 1

Well, right NOW actually, after watching this cutscene!

Levin: Bandits? Where’s the Agustrian army at a time like this?

Man: There’s mutiny in th’ streets, m’boy. Ain’t no-one got time t’worry about us! T’tell th’ truth, there’s a bit more to th’ story… Rumour has it Lord Macbeth himself set them bandits loose on our villages.

Levin: Whoa… he’s gotta go. Look, I’ll see what I can do. I’ll take care of that scumbag. And you can all whip up a nice reward for me when I get back.

Man: There you go again with that big talk of yours. You best just get a move on. We ain’t got time to be gettin’ cosy with ya.

Supporting Dancer

Levin: (Crap..) Sylvia! Er… you found me, huh?

Sylvia: You’ve had your fun with me so you just up and leave, huh?

Levin: Hey now… Be nice. We’ve only been out like what… 2 or 3 times together!? I mean come on! Besides you’re a traveling dancer, and I’m a bard. Doesn’t that about sum it up?

Sylvia: But you said you thought I was cute. That meant something to me.

Levin: Yeah, sometimes I say that. It don’t mean anything. No no! Don’t cry! I… I… Damn, now look. Everyone’s starin’ at us. Alright, you can come with me if you want. But things might get a little rough. You okay with that?

Sylvia: Yeah! I like it rough!

Levin: Sheesh… You were cryin’ like a baby a minute ago, now you’re all smiles.

Sylvia: What’s that?

Levin: Nevermind! Let’s go.

Goodness...

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Well, here they are. So then, that's the end of this episode. Can we save the Anphony villages? Can we rescue Eltshan? And CAN we recruit Beowulf without getting killed by Voltz? If so, how? And can we resolve this peacefully just by taking Anphony? Or will we have to subdue the whole country before we're through? Find out, NEXT TIME, on Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4! This is Fionordequester signing out. Have a nice day, and God bless you!

AAAA RANKED RUN STATS (Changing the Format a Bit)

Turns Taken This Update: 9 Turns

Total Time Taken This Update: ~37 minutes and 48 seconds

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 78 Turns

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: ~3 hours, 18 minutes and 21 seconds.

Things I Regret on This Section: I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out).

Total Things I Regret: The fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue. And in Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue. On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out).

TRANSLATION TIDBITS:

Creative Liberty #9: When Boldo tells Elliot "Go take Nodion by storm!", there's actually a deliciously hammy line that was clipped from the patch. In the Original script, Boldo tells Elliot this, then literally tells Elliot to "Get Eltshan to break down into tears!". So essentially his line is something like...

Eltshan angered the king and got himself jailed did he? Brilliant! Elliot, here's your chance to even the score! Go take Nodion by storm! MAKE ELTSHAN SUFFER!!

I'm not sure whether the translators dropped that extra bit because of textbox limitations (even what we got was already approaching the maximum space allowed), or because they wanted to make the dialogue a bit less hammy, but there you go.

Mistranslation #6: When Lachesis is having her conversation with Eve, and is talking about how she'll never marry because no one's as awesome as her darling Elty, Eve is supposed to have a rather amusing reaction to that. I kid you not, he literally goes "Umm...that's nice but...". And THEN he talks about how bad their situation is and all that. But sadly, that amusing little reaction is missing for whatever reason .

Mistranslation #7: "When Macbeth says "Brilliant, we're right on schedule.", that's actually not correct. Instead, he's supposed to be saying like "So Heirhein's finally starting their invasion. Took them long enough."

Mistranslation #8: "We pretty much have free reign now that Shagaal is on the throne" is also kind of misleading. Instead, what he's saying is more like "Man, cheating Imuka was so hard, but with Shagaal on the throne? It's like taking candy from a baby!" Because remember, Agustria is still the sovereign kingdom, so technically, all of Anphony's villages, and all their assets, belong to Shagaal, not to Macbeth. Macbeth is simply Shagaal's appointed official. But now he believes that the Heirhein vs. Nodion conflict is providing the perfect smokescreen for his illegal actions, though he turns out to be incorrect on this.

Mistranslation #9: Voltz's opening line is mistranslated, and also pretty awkward. Instead of saying "Were to attack, are we? Hmph as fate'll have it.", he's supposed to say something like "Were to attack, are we? Hmph, guess it can't be helped." Because obviously, Voltz isn't stupid. He KNOWS it's going to be a tough fight, he KNOWS that Macbeth is an untrustworthy scumbag, and is expressing that in what's actually quite a lovably annoyed tone. In fact, he actually shows off a pretty unique personality even just from the few lines he gets.

Fionordequester · Sat Aug 29, 2020 3:00 pm

NOTE: Due to some further unexpected stuff, Marty was unable to add in his commentary for this, though he may write some up later. If he does, I'll insert that into the update, but for now, I think you've all waited long enough, so...

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Hello fellow warriors! Last time, King Shagaal threw Eltshan in jail. And it turns out HE was the one who killed his father, at the suggestion of Manfloy no less! In the midst of all this, Heirhein attempted to lay seige to Nodion. Ultimately we defeated them in a furious battle against the cavalry of Elliot, the armoured Knights of Philip, and even Boldo himself, only barely managing to conquer Heirhein without any deaths. But, now we must save the villages of Anphony from being ransacked by their own appointed governor! Can we manage to accomplish this? Can we save Eltshan? Find out, TODAY, on Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4: Genealogy of the Holy War!

Alright, so last time we got these two new units, and it looks like they're going to be the ones saving the villages. But, who are they anyway? And how are they as units? Let's find out.

Agustria Castle Town

Level 4 Bard

HP: 34 (90%) Spd: 16 (90%)
Str: 1 (10%) Lck: 7 (20%)
Mag: 12 (30%) Def: 5 (20%)
Skl: 12 (40%) Res: 9 (10%)

Move: (before Promotion): 6
Move: (after Promotion): 6
Weapon Ranks (before Promotion): Fire (C), Thunder (C), Wind (*), Light (C)
Weapon Ranks (after Promotion): Fire (B), Thunder (B), Wind (*), Light (B), Staves (B)
Promotion Bonuses: +8 Mag, +5 Skl, +5 Spd, +5 Res
Items: Elwind
Skill: Continue, Critical
Holy Blood: Major Holsety

Wow, nice stat line. Ok, sure, his Mag growth is a little low, but almost no one has that much Res anyway. So because of that, his innate 1-2 Range, and the possession of Critical and Continue, Levin basically has a 46% chance of killing anyone he fights, and a 100% chance of reducing their HP by half. Not bad

Most importantly though (at least for a casual playthrough), he starts next to all the villages he could possibly need, AND he has easy access to the Bargain Ring. From there, he can easily snag the Elite and Defense Rings, with nothing but an occasional reset against Voltz and co. Have him solo Anphony's forces, heal him up with Ethlin, warp him back, have him fight in the Arena a bit, and there you go. Instant promotion. Instant B Staves. Instant capped Speed. Follow that up by slapping the Speed and Pursuit Rings on him, and Levin becomes... untouchable. He doesn't even need the Elite Ring from there. He becomes effectively immortal, someone who will never fail to kill anyone he fights. Why is that the case for him, and not for other units I could theoretically baby? Well, here's why.

1) Unlike say, Aira, he's got automatic 1-2 Range with strong, accurate AND incredibly light wind tomes. Plus he targets Resistance, not Defense.

2) Unlike Azel and Tiltyu, he specializes in the BEST kind of magic, and has 6 Move.

3) Most importantly, his Speed is so, absolutely, utterly, absurdly, LUDICROUSLY high, that when you get him leveled up far enough and get him a Live Ring (regenerates 5-10 HP per turn)...he's invincible. He is, for all intents and purpose, invincible. He's like Ike, except he can use staves, and doesn't even need Ragnell to become a walking death machine.

4) He's one of the few characters who gets a Holy Weapon. Not just any Holy Weapon either, but a Holy Weapon that INCREASES HIS SPEED BY +20!! So now, he has an Evade rate that goes past the 110 mark!

5) If he's Tiltyu's husband, he can pass down ALL of that awesome stuff, including the Holy Weapon that raises Speed by +20, down to Arthur, who's available in the very first Chapter of Gen 2. So he's not just a magnificent fighter. He's a magnificent Dad as well.

So, there's your reasons for why he's worth babying in every way you possibly can in a casual playthrough. He is FE6 Karel, if Karel had 26 whole levels to grow instead of 1. He is FE9 Ike, if Ike got Ragnell at Chapter 9 instead of Chapter 27. He is FE11 Wolf and Sedgar, if Wolf and Sedgar already started off strong, and could get promotion bonuses. He is Robin, if Robin starred in FE7, and had the same skills, growths, weapon levels, caps, and all of that stuff.

...

.......Aaaaaand, we're not going to be using him to fight for anything besides Macbeth's bandits and one specific boss in Chapter 5. Other than that, the only place he's ever going to see action is the Arena.

Why? Because for one thing, actually getting him all those rings and all those levels is a horribly inefficient use of Turns and resources as far as AAAA Ranking goes. But secondly, he simply doesn't need to do any of that, because B Staves means he'll easily get to Level 30 WITHOUT any babying. So basically I'm just going to treat him like a glorified staff bot. The only reason I went on that long spiel above was for the sake of any reader who just wants to know the easiest way to beat Gen 1, and trivialize a good chunk of Gen 2.

So, with all that said, this guy would definitely be Adult Gohan. He's not THAT OP compared to the others to start with, but that's only because he's not quite at his full potential yet. When he DOES get his potential unlocked, and he gets that sudden powerup, oh baby! Even GOKU can't touch him! Now let's go see our next character.

Level 1 Dancer

HP: 28 (50%) Spd: 12 (10%)
Str: 3 (10%) Lck: 6 (30%)
Mag: 0 (30%) Def: 1 (10%)
Skl: 4 (10%) Res: 5 (40%)

Move: 6
Weapon Ranks: Swords (C)
Promotion Bonuses: None (she has no promotion)
Items: Slim Sword
Skill: Continue, Prayer, Dance (Use to give another Turn to adjacent grayed out units)
Holy Blood: Minor Blaggi

Owch...those stats. Rather too bad that Sylvia likes it rough, because with these stats, she's about as fragile as they come. And even with Prayer and the Uber Slime Sword, getting her through the Arena is one of the most tedious things you can do, so I'm not even going to bother doing that. No, instead, she's to be used for her primary function, which is allowing other units to move again. Yes, that right, she has the Dance skill, which is a command that you can actually use to do THIS!

Looks pretty handy, right? But wait, there's more! As Marty here will demonstrate, dancers are good on their own...but when you add in the Rescue Staff, that's when things get REALLY crazy. Isn't that right Marty?

If you've watched any efficiency run before, you'll probably know that dancers are incredibly important. Their ability to let units move again can be useful in so many different ways, from getting extra experience to completing objectives faster. However, FE4 has the best dancers in the series. Though they're pitifully weak (why do they even have swords? at least it lets them get exp in the arena...) they refresh EVERY unit adjacent to them. Though a transformed heron/rafael can technically do this in FE9/10, in no other game do you have such a powerful ability with such huge availability. With the ability to refresh four units, Sylvia's squishiness becomes less of a drawback because if Sigurd, Cuan, Lex, and some other juggernaut can move twice...

...there probably won't be any enemies left. Even though Sylvia can't always keep pace with your leading units, there's always something useful for her to do. Dancing helps allocate kills to weak units who really need the help by letting them move twice, and can speed up side objectives immensely. Furthermore, the use of the warp staff allows Sylvia to be relevant in the few turns after a a castle has been seized. This utility coupled with the lax turn count requirements of an AAAA rank means that Sylvia can do useful dances every single turn.
However, Sylvia can [also] do some very flashy things. Later on in the game, you get an item called the rescue staff that allows the user to bring any unit within ten squares adjacent to them (the game tries to put the unit above the rescuer, then left/right, then down). So far most staff users have either been really slow (Aideen) or have a low weapon rank, but each generation gives you a master knight, [a class that has] A rank staves. There are also two items called the leg ring and the knight ring. The leg ring boosts movement by three, and the knight ring allows the user to move like mounts do. With all these items properly allocated (it seems like a lot, but it's completely worth it), a formation of a dancer, a master knight, and three other promoted mounts can move 18 squares a turn if there is no terrain in the way. 18 squares.

If you want to use rescue on a unit other than the dancer, you can boost your lord 27 squares to quickly seize a gate.

With this immense power, you can skip huge portions of the game. I doubt you'll see that in this run because rescue skipping whole squads isn't good for the exp rank, but just know that you can break the game with it. In my 0% growths play through I used the power of rescue/dancers to trivialize some of the worst parts of the game. It is incredible

Other than that, yeah, not really much to say about her, other than that I don't like her character that much. She pretty much IS your stereotypical Japanese “under-aged but promiscuously dressed” girl, and doesn't really have much of a character beyond that, so...yeah. Not as bad as Nowi... or, maybe she is. That whole thing with Claude certainly doesn't do her any favors, especially since that's pretty much the canon pairing. Here's to hoping that Kaga was telling the truth when he said that they aren't actually full siblings, and that he just set that up for the sake of comedy...

There's not really a way to connect her role in combat to DBZ. So as far as the story goes...I guess she's Maron? Maybe there is a point to her character besides fan-service, a few comedic moments, and trolling the fandom (SPOILERS HERE)...but heck if I can think of any.

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Anyways, with Sylvia's help...

Player Attack

Levin goes and OHKOes this Mbandit with a critical. Nice! We've saved ourselves 500G with that.

Now, Sigurd's a bit dinged up, so let's help him out...

White Magic

There we go!

Now, Sigurd will also need 10,000G+ for later on, so we'll want to sell the Silver Sword and the Return Ring...

There we go...

And off he goes. But before we begin our assault, we've got other things to do as well. Firstly...

Cuan's got something to tell Fin!

Manster Palace

Feh, don't need to tell me twice.

Cuan: I’d say your weapon needs a little upgrading. Here, try using this lance.

Fin: A Hero Lance… Are you sure about this?

Cuan: You’re a valuable knight of the Lenster Kingdom, Fin. We can’t afford to lose you. Giving you this lance is about all I can do to help you out now. Please have it.

Fin: Your Highness… thank you very much.

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

You're welcome Fin. But you're not keeping that lance, Cuan is. Sorry :cheeky:.

Anyways, Alec is actually going to enact some A.I. shenanigans later on by going near where Levin and Sylvia are, but he's still pretty injured right now. So make sure he's not in range of anyone but the paladin.

As for Lex, he also has HP to recover.

There we go. But they'll need even more healing later, so, here comes Ethlin!

And here comes yet more healing!

Gotta love that Relive Staff. Even with Ethlin's lower Magic stat, she still almost always manages to heal people's HP to the max. Such is it's power

!

To finish off our turn, Lachesis gets closer and closer to Evans, and that's about it. Now let's see what happens!

Agustria Army

First of all, these three cavalry guys move. Yikes, good thing Alec wasn't in range of anyone else.

And Voltz is ready to go now. Rather odd that they're starting off way over there, even if Voltz did want to hang back a bit. But on the other hand? More prep time for us!

Silesia Palace (Silesian theme)

So, here's the next turn. But before it begins, we have yet another cutscene!

Fury: Let’s hope we can get a lead in town on Prince Levin’s whereabouts.

Whoa, wait, did she just say PRINCE Levin? The SAME lazy eyed guy who has conversations like...

Sylvia: But you said you thought I was cute. That meant something to me.

Levin: Yeah, sometimes I say that. It don’t mean anything.

Really? Man, wonder what his story is...

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

So, those winged ponies? They're a new unit type that we haven't been introduced to yet. We'll go over them later, but...not right now. For now, see this map below? See the pink dot on it?

This is yet another secret spot, like the Hero Axe spot in Chapter 1. But this time, we get a Pursuit Ring, and we need Ardan instead of Lex to get it. So,

Off you go Ardan! Also,

Player Attack

Levin's still busy cleaning up. Boy am I getting lucky with those Continue and Critical procs!

Now for the main group, Fin sells his Hero Lance for Cuan,

Lex kills the paladin.

+1 HP, +1 Def!

Sigurd gets another kill on the Light Sword...

Ethlin heals up all of Alec's HP...

Alec goes as far to the northeast as he can...

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

And then Cuan gets himself the Hero Lance before going off. This is extremely important for Cuan to get, and that's because there's something about him that I haven't told you yet. See, he's NOT going to be sticking with us for all of Gen 1. For reasons we'll see later, he's going to leave at the end of Chapter 3, so we actually don't have a lot of time to pump levels into him. So he needs to spend some time with the Elite Ring to make up for that, time he'll only get if he can kill Voltz! And that can be problematic...

Cuz dang, Beo wasn't kidding about Voltz! He really IS tough! After all, Continue still allows him to almost ORKO just about anyone you fight him with, and he's pretty durable to boot.

Next enemy phase...

Agustria Army

The remaining cavalier tries to hit Ethlin...

And that's that!

Alright Lachesis...

Time to chat with Dew!

Dew & Patty's theme

Dew: It’s a Thief Sword. Now you can tear into them bad guys!

Lachesis: Er… thanks, Dew. But don’t you want it for yourself?

Dew: Nah, go ahead. No point in me keepin’ it. Let’s just say it does more than cuts and dices, heheh. See ya, Lachesis!

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Yeah, don't listen to Dew. This thing is NOT your friend if you're trying to beat up them bad guys. The point of it is that it grants it's wielder the Steal skill...but it's also horrifically weak and inaccurate to compensate for that. It's got 3 Might and 50 Hit, just to give you an idea of how bad it is.

Even still, it actually DOES come in real handy on at least two separate chapters. Being able to steal all of your enemy's gold just by hitting the is just too handy to NOT put to some use, especially when trying to raise funds for your poorer units. Speaking of which,

Noish is one of those units. But he doesn't need it because HE'S actually the one who puts the Bargain Ring to use the best. So instead, we're warping him to Heirhein too.

And don't worry, he's got plenty of time to get all the villages he needs, so there's not too much stress there. As to the main group, we don't actually need Lex or Fin for the Anphony fight anymore, so,

Ethlin warps him back like so.

And then Lex kills the last cavalier, and starts heading to the southeast in preparation for a future brawl.

Now here's a really important move right. For the sake of conquering Anphony quicker, we want Sigurd to crit most of these guys to death while we're waiting for Voltz and Co. to arrive. However, the way they move will depend on how we position Sigurd.

If he parks himself as far to the southeast as he can while still being in range of this guy, Voltz's group will move in a southwest direction. But if Sigurd parks himself really far to the west of Macbeth's personal guard, then Volt'z corp will just go straight west themselves, and THAT is actually really bad for us. For one, it brings the two forces closer together, and two, it makes it much harder to draw Voltz away from his group, and onto Cuan.

So for your sake, move Sigurd exactly to where the cursor is.

And then move Alec further towards where Levin and Sylvia started, and move Ethlin and Cuan into position to take on Voltz.

Agustria Army

And that's our player phase.

Voltz and Co. move in, and then we have another 2 minute long GIF of Sigurd destroying...pretty much everyone.

+2 Levels, +2 HP, +1 Str, +1 Lck, +1 Def!

Yeah. As you can see from the GIF, there is a SLIGHT chance that you'll have to reset if you know Sigurd's about to die...but his Defense and Avoid are still so high that that shouldn't be the case. And fortunately, that did not happen here

.

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Alright, Macbeth's forces have been almost decimated, so, that just leaves the Voltz Corp. We already went over Voltz himself, so, let's see just what we're dealing with.

Mmm, ok, so Beowulf is pretty decent too. Not nearly as threatening as Voltz, but, he can get in a few hits. So what about the-

:Stare:

Ok, THAT is embarrassing! I mean heck, just look at OUR Defensive stats!

Look at that! Even Alec is laughing at them! In fact, this is one of the biggest reasons why it's possible to get Levin promoted so early. Because these guys are just SO WEEEAK!! Which is hilariously realistic, because unlike what most video games would have us believe, most mercenaries are NOT nearly as effective or as disciplined as, say, the Greil mercenaries.

No, as Machievelli states, most of them are just like these guys. A bunch of dirty, undisciplined, unfaithful, poorly equipped, lazy, pathetic rouges who have like, one strong guy leading them. The minute THAT guy falls? Pfft, you'll be lucky if any of them even stick around to fight! And even on the off-chance that they were effective, THAT was actually bad for you too. Because they'd spend just as much time taking advantage of you as they did actually fighting your enemies.

So basically, Macbeth is an idiot, and his reliance on Voltz and Co. is only further proof of that. Nice touch Kaga

.

Now before we go sweephem up, Fin's recovered some HP. So let's take a quick foray into the Arena!

Arena Match

+1 HP, +1 Lck!

Awesome! So now Fin will recover 6 HP on the next turn, and will probably trivialize Bachnin from there. Quite nice eh?

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

And Lachesis has arrived now, so after Warping her, Deirdre's going to be headed back inside so that she can also continue where she left off in the Arena.

Because now Lachesis can take Deirdre's spot as a Jealousy bot!

As for our new two units, Sylvia is now splitting off from Levin, ithat way she can help Alec get to where he needs to go. Again, what I'm doing with Alec may not seem like it makes much sense now, but you'll see what I'm planning soon enough.

Finally, all our stragglers keep trudging alone, showcasing another aspect of what makes Chapter 2 such a large jump in difficulty. Because now we've gotten to the point where there's not just one group, or even three groups to worry about. No, there are now SEVEN distinct groups we're moving along now! We've got Sylvia and Alec trying to get together so that Alec can do his job, we've got Levin taking care of the villages so that he can eventually get warped back to Evans, we've got Ardan trying to get the Pursuit Ring, we've got Lex trying to get to where HE needs to go, we've got Noish trying to get the Bargain Ring as well as all the Gold he needs, we've got all those units we've got to train back at Evans...and then we've got the main group.

In fact, that's one of the whole reasons behind why I did my best to take as much of the RN abuse as I could out of the run, and simplify it as much as possible. Because frankly, there's already so much micromanaging that you have to do anyway, that I figured that the less of that there is, the better. Because frankly, organizational skills are not one of my strong points

.

Now back to the main group. Cuan goes to this exact spot here in order to draw Voltz away, with Ethlin's Lover Bonus helping him out there.

Player Attack

Sigurd gets a kill on that Light Sword and moves in this exact spot, so that Ethlin...

Can re-assume her place next to Cuan.

And finally, Alec keeps heading south.

Miniboss

Now let's see what Voltz can do!

Well, Cuan DOES plan on killing you, stealing your Elite Ring, and then killing anyone else who feels like trying to hurt him and his friends. Does that count as “thinking badly of you”?

But in all seriousness though, we actually got really lucky here. Voltz could have just as easily activated Continue before whacking off 34 HP off of Cuan. Rather good thing that wasn't the case.

Also, see that cavalier that's split off from the main group? That's Beowulf, and for some reason, he doesn't always stick to his group. That's ok though, because that just allows us to recruit him more easily. Yes, I know that's a spoiler, but, I already name-dropped the guy several times, so at this point, I just can't be bothered. Anyways...

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Deirdre sets up another Prayer in the Arena...

Levin FINALLY manages to clear out all of the Mbandits. Then Sylvia, Noish, Alec, Ardan and Lex all move in the same direction that they have been. Now let's see Cuan kill Voltz!

Whoo

!

Miniboss

“Wha-I took my band of ragtag, undisciplined, poorly equipped mercenaries to take on the group of one of the military leaders of Grandbell, the FE4 equivalent of the United States? The SAME military leader who single-handedly took down an entire country commanding nothing but Grandbell's fricken auxiliary forces? AND I GOT BEAT?!”

Hell's bells Voltz! I can't imagine what could've gone wrong

!!

+1 HP!

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Seriously though, for as powerful as Sigurd and his men are, we're still the fricken B-Squad! The game makes that abundantly clear that as far as military commanders go, Sigurd is actually the runt of the litter. Alvis chides him for his ineptitude, the game only gives him two Leadership stars, he doesn't wield any Holy Weapons, he only commands Grandbell's auxiliary forces...and in a rather brilliant creative liberty on the part of Jay and Boo, no one ever even calls him “Lord”, like they do for literally everyone else. Everyone just calls him “Sir Sigurd” instead, which is brilliant for a multitude of reasons, all of which I'll cover in the Translation Tidbits.

Anyways, now that Cuan's got the Elite Ring, he's now going to park himself out of range of the Bow Armours and get a ton of level ups off of Voltz's men! After all, Sigurd has too much Defense for them to even bother fighting him, and we don't need anyone but him and Cuan for further combat, so Cuan's got em' all to himself!

Speaking of Sigurd, I first use him to beat up this Bow Armour with the Light Sword...

And then I use him to Recruit Beowulf!

Recruitable Enemy

Yep, and THAT'S why we needed Sigurd to have at least 10,000G! Because otherwise, we'd just get this message...

10,000G eh? So that means you're worth as much as ten of these losers?

Yeah, sounds about right. So let's see how you measure up!

Agustria Castle Town

Level 9 Free Knight

HP: 38 (80%) Spd: 11 (30%)
Str: 14 (40%) Lck: 3 (20%)
Mag: 0 (0%) Def: 10 (30%)
Skl: 11 (40%) Res: 0 (5%)

Move (before Promotion): 8
Move (after Promotion): 9
Weapon Ranks (before Promotion): Swords (B)
Weapon Ranks (after Promotion): Swords (A)
Promotion Bonuses: +1 Str, +9 Skl, +6 Spd, +2 Def, +3 Res
Items: Steel Sword
Skill: Pursuit, Charge
Holy Blood: None

Well well well...Beowulf. If you want an impression of how useful he is, just imagine taking ALL of the best parts of Alec and Noish, fusing them into one character, and then pumping about eight levels into said character at the expense of his ability to ever wield lances. Which is fine, because unlike Alec and Noish, he gets A Swords upon promotion. And since the “Blade” series of weapons exist, Beowulf...doesn't actually lose his offensive edge over them. At all. Because “Blades” are basically lances, but with less accuracy. Not a problem when Beo's getting +9 Skill on promotion.

So, Beowulf's kind of neat, if a little redundant. Not TOO redundant, because he can help a little with clearing out Mbandits and the like, but, with monsters like Sigurd, Levin, Lachesis, and Lex running around, Beowulf doesn't really get much of an opportunity to really flex his muscles.

Which really is a problem with FE4 in general. There's a ton of OP stuff like the Live Ring and Elite Rings running around, you can't easily trade any of them between characters, there's virtually no consequences for over-leveling certain characters (due to a lack of Exp. Penalties, even when promoted), growth rates are low enough that a good chunk of your stats will come from promotion bonuses anyway...the game really encourages you to centralize all of the Exp on a select few group of characters, rather than raising everyone equally. In fact, pretty much ALL the Fire Emblems had that problem until FE5 I think.

But oh well. He's still helpful for an AAAA Ranked run, and he's a nice father to Delmud and Nanna, so, we'll be putting him to some use. Now, who's he like in regards to DBZ? Ah, right, Future Trunks! He's a pretty competent warrior who wields a sword...but he's still ultimately a jobber to all the other OP heroes in the house. Hence, he terminates Frieza and Cold, then has a long and glorious fighting career as he...

1) Gets knocked out in one hit by Android #18, despite Vegeta lasting much longer against her.

2) Completely fails to stop Semi-Perfect Cell, despite knowing that he had the Solar Flare, dwarfing him in power and speed, and having the ability to sense ki (so temporary blindness shouldn't have been that big of an issue).

3) Is apparently SO inexperienced, that he somehow fails to notice his speed getting cut in half by Grade 3 Super Saiyan, and therefore makes an utter fool of himself against Cell.

4) Cannot subdue a creature that Cell literally just farted out.

5) Is once again taken down in one hit after Cell comes back as Super Perfect Cell.

6) Finally gets to save his timeline, but only by beating villains that even Piccolo had surpassed by that point.

Don't get me wrong, I like Future Trunks...but Toriyama really didn't make him look that great as a fighter, did he?

But not right now, because I want Voltz's henchmen to attack Cuan, not him.

Same applies to Ethlin as well, though he does still have other stuff to do here.

Agustria Army

Alright, line em' up! Time for a 3 minute GIF!

+4 Levels, +5 HP, +3 Str, +2 Skl, +1 Spd, +2 Def

One neat thing about the A.I. They will avoid units whose Defense exceeds their Attack Power, but ONLY if said Defense is high enough at the beginning of their enemy phase. So in this situation, Cuan only started the enemy phase with 14 Defense to their 15 Attack Power. Because of that, the computer had already decided to send all of the free knights after him, despite the fact that he later got up to 16 Defense in the process. Rather convenient, that.

Enemy Attack

And for the cherry on top, Sigurd even gets to smack the three remaining Armour Knights around, getting another kill on that Light Sword in the process!

So yeah, Macbeth is just about finished. So before we put the kibosh on him...how's about we view an optional conversation between Sigurd and Levin? (remember, if you don't actually get any items/love points/stat boosts/whatever from the conversation, you can assume that I didn't ACTUALLY initiate that in the playthrough itself)

Recruitable Enemy

Sigurd: I also heard you’re a bard… …but one that can do magic?

Levin: Yeah, call it… a hobby of mine. I take it you’re that Sigurd guy. You must have an awful lot of free time to be runnin’ around startin’ wars all over the place!

Sigurd: Huh? I don’t follow. What’re you so angry about?

Levin: :Try putting yourself into these people’s shoes for a second! They’re just tryin’ to make a livin’ here. Then you show up, flashin’ your shiny swords around…

Sigurd: Hmm… I see your point. Geez, I feel awful about the Agustrian people.

Levin: Well, talk is cheap. If you really feel so bad, why don’t you pack up and leave?

Sigurd: Alright then. Look, I’ll go consult with my people.

Levin: W, w, whoa! You serious about pullin’ out!?

Sigurd: Yeah, I’ve been tossing the idea around myself, and you just helped me make up my mind. I’m through fighting. I’ve got to try and settle this with King Shagaal peacefully.

Levin: Ah… that’d be a complete and utter waste of your time. He wouldn’t listen to you. And if Grandbell pulls out now, all the citizens who helped you guys out’ll be tossed in jail! Doesn’t that bother you?

Sigurd: Well, um… of course it does! But… didn’t I, er…

Levin: Hahaha! You’re alright, Sigurd. Look, how about I join up with you guys?

Sigurd: Join up wi… Just who are you!?

Levin: Me? Just a traveling bard, my friend.

I like how the game actually brings this up, and mentions that Sigurd actually is making some effort to settle things peacefully. Because frankly, war is NOT something you can just wage without expecting there to be consequences. You can have all the righteous justifications in the world, but that still won't change how awful it is for everyone involved, nor the fact that you're killing innocent soldiers as well as evil ones. For example, Philip. So far as we could tell, he wasn't doing anything wrong. If anything he seemed like a good, loyal knight who just happened to be on the wrong side.

And that Levin. He's actually so crass, that he doesn't even bother calling Sigurd “sir”

. Actually, he's got an amusing conversation with Macbeth too...

Miniboss

Levin: About time you were retired...

Ha, you so serious. But you know, come to think of it, Beowulf actually has a conversation with Voltz if you choose to have the two fight each other...

And then there's one I missed from the last update

So ok, NOW it's back to the main playthrough!

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Firstly, Cuan gets yet another level from one of the two remaining Bow Armours...

+1 HP, +1 Skl, +1 Str, +1 Def!

You know what's really amazing about Cuan's Defense blessing? It's not even THAT much of a blessing! Even just going by his averages, he still gets 16 Defense by this level! That's right, he's still only 1 point ahead there! His growths are just THAT stupidly good

!

Now then, Beo kills the last regular enemy...

And now it's time for a next boss fight!

Miniboss

Macbeth: What do those mercenaries think I'm paying them for!? Ooh... It looks like I'll have to settle this myself!

Well, give him some credit. He may not have brains, but he's got heart. Or something.

Actually, he is relatively tough.

He's got 8 levels and 8 HP over Boldo while being two points higher in every other stat. But add on that Defense Ring, and he's actually got +23 Defense instead of just 16! That that will save him from Sigurd, but still, not bad!

Now, Sigurd needs to be Returned immediately after conquering Anphony, and there are still a ton of stragglers out there in need of warping, so Ethlin moves up here. After that, I do all the miscellaneous stuff with Levin, Sylvia, Alec, Noish, Ardan, Lex, and Deirdre...

And then Macbeth ultimately succumbs to Sigurd's might, like all the rest. Still put up a pretty good fight though, if Sigurd's HP bar is any indication.

But now we've got the Defense Ring!

Victory is Near

BWA HA HA!! 20 DEFENSE BABY!! Now Sigurd's REALLY trashing countries!

And it's cutscene time!

Victory 1

Oooh, Filat. That's that old guy we talked to at the end of the Prologue! Wonder what he's got to say this time?

Filat: Sir Sigurd, looks like we’ve reached full-scale war with Agustria. What’s the prognosis?

Sigurd: We seem to be holding up alright, but it’s been no easy fight.

Filat: Incidentally, I’ve come with a bit of bad news.

Sigurd: Sir?

Filat: There’s been some nasty rumours making the rounds in the Royal Court. It’s going around that Prince Cuan of Lenster, King Eltshan of Nodion, and yourself are conspiring against His Majesty. They say that explains why you’re hiding the Prince of Isaac.

Sigurd: That’s absurd! Who could’ve started such a story!?

Filat: Duke Reptor and Lord Langbart.

Sigurd: I see… Those two have had it in for my father for some time, but this has gone far enough.

Filat: I believe they’re put off by the way Prince Kurth goes to Lord Byron for everything. Once the prince ascends the throne, those two are sure to be ousted from their posts, and that has them worried. At any rate, I’d watch your back.

Sigurd: Thanks, I’ll do that. Tell me, how are we faring in the Isaacian conflict?

Filat: We expect Prince Kurth and your father’s triumphant return any day now.

Sigurd: I’m glad to hear His Highness made it through alright. My father sure worries about his safety. He fears the Royal Family’s blood would be lost forever if anything were to happen to him.

Filat: Indeed. We’ve been trying to hasten his search for a bride as of late.

Sigurd: Huh? Is there any special reason for that?

Filat: Er… Well, only a select few at the Royal Court know this but… It seems His Highness is having problems letting go of a love from his past.

Sigurd: Really? Any reason the two never married?

Filat: Oh, I may as well tell you the whole story. This all took place nearly 20 years ago.

Oh boy, here we go. This scene isn't bad, but...it has some blunders, so be prepared for some complaining.

Conversation 1

Filat: The lovely duchess of Velthomer, a married woman mind you, fell for the prince.

NOTE: Well, actually, the original script doesn't say who fell in love with who. So Jay and Boo laying the blame at Duchess Velthomer's feet might be somewhat disingenuous.

Filat: Now the duke of Velthomer was a reputed womaniser and had several lovers. The prince, however, was a straight arrow. Initially, the prince merely sympathised with the duchess, but then one day the two fell deeply in love. Now the duke lost his head. After writing a letter denouncing the two, he committed suicide. The duchess, clearly perplexed, disappeared without a trace. I believe her name was Sigyn.

Epic Fail #2: Saying that Sigyn was "perplexed" at what happened was just...no. No. That, is NOT an acceptable translation. Again, just like with the previous "Epic Fail" moment, this isn't even an overly literal translation. It is both dumb AND innaccurate, because in the original script, Filat literally says that Sigyn "could not bear to stay". Yes, Sigyn. Could not. Bear. To stay.

But oh no, "perplexed" is clearly the better choice. Clearly...

Sigurd: Geez… I never knew. The duchess would have been Lord Alvis’ mother, correct?

Actually this here might've been a rhetorical question, since Sigurd ends this sentence with an ellipses rather than a question mark in the original script. The I bring this up is because...

Filat: Precisely. Oh, what a pity… To lose both parents like that at the age of seven…

Sigurd: Poor Prince Kurth… and the duchess.

It really seems like Sigurd is completely ignoring Alvis while abruptly changing the conversation to talking about Sigyn and Kurth. But actually, he probably did express sympathy for Alvis, just did it in the form of a rhetorical question. Like "Geez...and Sigyn was Alvis's MOTHER, huh...".

Of course, I'm not necessarily sure that that's the case, but, we'll cover that more in the Translation tidbits. Either way though, it makes more sense to read it that way

Filat: Oh, I’m sorry to run on and on. Soldiers like yourself have no time for Royal Court gossip. Just forget I said anything. I’m sure this conflict is keeping you plenty busy. Sir Sigurd, we anxiously await your return to the homeland!

To be clear, this still isn't that bad. Even with these mistakes, this was still leagues above what a completely literal translation would have churned out (for example, Filat saying that Victor was “frenzied" when he found out about the affair). I'm just saying that it's kind of a shame that Jay and Boo didn't do better here, because this was a fairly critical plot point. I actually have more to say in the tidbits, but for now... oh well.

Victory is Near

Now let's finish this!

Let's warp Sigurd back...

And now it's time for Cuan to go through the Arena! Or, most of it anyway.

And yes, there we go!

+3 Levels, +3 HP, +2 Str, +2 Skl, +2 Spd, +2 Def!

Nice! Good to know that we got to 19 Defense. That's the exact amount we want for the upcoming section. So if you're about it exceed it, quit the Arena early. Otherwise, if you still don't reach it by the time you beat Chekov, just leave the last guy be. You'll want the HP recharge for when you finally start the assault on Agusty, and we've still got more more fight to go through before that happens.

And of course, you'll want to repair your Hero Lance too.

Ok so Cuan heads out to the same place Lex is going...

Which is here (don't move Lex past here, there will be ballista spawning soon).

And Noish is going for the Bargain Ring village. And as for Beo and Levin, Levin wants to get warped back to Evans, and Beowulf ALSO wants some Gold, just like Noish does.

Ardan, for his part, wants to get his Pursuit Ring (not that he's going to get to keep it)...

Alec is almost to where he needs to be thanks to Sylvia's help here.

Alright, time to see what the King of Mackily has to say about this!

“Grandbell's coming?! HOLY COW!! You'd best surrender now, that way you and all your soldiers don't get slaughte-

Clement: We’ve no choice but to fight. Get the ballistas in position. The Grandbell army must not reach Agusty!

...Or...get yourself and your army all killed uselessly for the sake of “honor” or something...

Man, he didn't even seem like that bad of a guy either

. Shagaal on the other hand...

Fury: I must find Prince Levin as soon as possible! I’m only here because I heard you knew his whereabouts.

Shagaal: Prince Levin's been captured by the Grandbell army… the very army that’s currently invading Agustria. My sources tell me they are executing anybody and everybody they run across. The prince is being held at their base in Evans and, word is, is about to be executed.

Fury: Oh no! I must rescue the prince! We’ll leave for Evans at once. Queen Lahna of Silesia warned me to keep out of combat, but this might be unavoidable. If I come across any Grandbell troops, I will engage them.

Shagaal: Uhh… Hopefully it won’t come to that. May your mission be a success.

Eh, this is another mistranslation. Shagaal IS making a sort of “Ah” sound at the beginning, but, it's not “Ah” as in “um, I'm feeling uncertain about this”, it's “Ah, you're actually going to FIGHT them?! Awesome! GO GET EM' TIGER!”. So basically, Shagaal's not being subtle in ANY way whatsoever. He just wants to sic her on Sigurd, and he's doing almost nothing to hide that.

Fury: All right. We’re off!

Which...makes Fury that much more gullible

.

So, we're going to have to find a way to deal with her next update. Hopefully with Levin on our side, we can manage something. Anyway...

Shagaal calls for yet more soldiers...

And now we've got two small squads of cavalry running towards us too, in addition to Fury and her squad.

So then, how we will handle all of these new challenges? Can Sigurd and his army still hold up under these new challenges, in-spite of all the fighting they've already had to do? And what of Fury and Levin? Will Levin be able to stop her from spilling her blood? Or will she fall by Sigurd's sword due to Shagaal's treachery? And can we find a way to dissuade the King of Mackily from fighting us? Or will he be yet another innocent victim in this war? Find out, next time, on Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4! Have a nice night, and God bless you all!

AAAA RANKED RUN STATS

Time Taken This Update: ~33 minutes, and 48 seconds.

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: ~3 hours, 56 minutes and 9 seconds.

Turns Taken This Update: 9 Turns

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 87 Turns

Levels Gained This Update: 24 Levels

Total Levels Gained: 116 Levels

Things I Regret on This Section: I regret NOTHING!!

Total Things I Regret: The fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue. And in Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue. On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out).

TRANSLATION TIDBITS:

Creative Liberty #7 (All of the game): In the original script, everyone just calls Sigurd the exact same title that they call everyone else. So if one were to use “Sir” for Sigurd, they'd use “Sir” for everyone else as well if they were doing a completely literal translation. Or if they used “Lord” for Alvis, they'd refer to Sigurd as “Lord” as well. But Jay and Boo didn't do that. They specifically singled Sigurd out as “Sir” while calling everyone else “Lord”, which to me is brilliant. It's just a great, subtle way of reinforcing Sigurd's character as a humble guy, in-spite of all he accomplishes. Quite nice if I say so myself!

Mistranslation #12 (C2): In regards to who started the affair, the original script doesn't really specify that. It just says that they both fell in love with each other, yet, Jay and Boo make it sound like Sigyn alone was the one who kick-started the whole thing.

Mistranslation #13 (C2): Well, ok, maybe not necessarily a mistranslation? Sigurd does actually ask whether or not Lady Sigyn was Alvis's mother...but, his sentence was actually supposed to trail off with an ellipses, not end with a question mark. Now, in Japanese, you CAN ask legitimate questions this way, but, in this case, it makes more sense for Sigurd to be asking this rhetorically. So really, he should probably be saying something more like...

"Geez... I never knew. And she was Alvis's mother, wasn't she..."

That way it doesn't look like he's just skipping past how awful Alvis's childhood was.

Mistranslation #14 (C2): Again, when Fury tells Shagaal that she's going to attack Sigurd and Co., Shagaal is NOT saying anything to hide his excitement at this. No, actually, he shows extreme excitement, essentially telling Fury “Ah, you're going to fight him?! Awesome, good luck girl!” before sending her off.

It seems to me like this mistranslation is pretty understandable though. Why? Because the very last part of Shagaal's sentence, ”願ってもない”, actually DOES mean something like “For you, hope it is not”. Which seems weird, unless you know that Japanese is a very context heavy language. For example, suppose someone asks you “what's your major”, and you want to answer tell them that you're majoring in the Japanese language? What would you say in Japanese? Well, you would say “日本語です”. What is the literal translation for THAT phrase, when you translate it to English? Well, it comes out to, and I quote...

“...is the Japanese language.”

Yes, that's it. If someone asks you what your major is, you don't say “My major is such and such”. All you say is “...is such and such”. Or suppose your friend is asking you to a movie, but the date he/she wants to go at is inconvenient for you. What do you say? You say “土曜日はちょっと”. What's the literal translation? It is, and I quote...

“Saturday is a little bit...”

And that's it. That's the end of the sentence. That's all you get. And that's because in the Japanese language, you don't normally NEED to be that specific. You could be more specific with the above examples...but then people would look at you funny. So then, what Jay and Boo obviously DIDN'T know is that “願ってもない” is actually a figure of speech! It's an expression, not a literal statement! And it's an expression that roughly translates as “The best one could ask for.” Or “just what one wants.” Or “Heaven-sent”...thinks like that.

So basically, Shagaal is barely even trying to be subtle about his desire to sic Fury on Sigurd, which is part of what makes the “mistranslation” so tricky. Because if this guy had any brains whatsoever, he would pretend that he's hoping they don't have to fight. But nope, he's a baboon. That seriously cannot be emphasized enough.

Epic Fail #2 (C2): One of the things that make the previous Epic Fail such a shame is that when you consider Sigyn's backstory, it makes the whole thing even more heart-wrenching than it already was. She literally grew up believing that she was cursed, and was always told not to wander outside the village, lest terrible things happen. And then, lo and behold, she's bringing disaster upon everyone around her. Kurth's become involved in an affair with her, her husband is committing suicide, Alvis is...well, we don't know whether he was definitely abused by Victor...buuuuut....

Treasure Special Column Designers Notes wrote: Alvis exiled all but one of his father Victor's mistresses. He ordered their children to be demoted to servants or exiled. The only mistress left was a girl who was his mother Shigyun's maid servant. Although she went through a tough childhood and wasn't beautiful, she had a kind heart and frequently took care of Alvis. Even Alvis could not be cruel towards her.

Although Victor got his hands on the girl from the momentum of being drunk, when he knew the girl got pregnant he yelled, cursed, used violence, and tried to drive her away. The person who scolded at this was Shigyun [yeah, this translation is kinda stiff], and the very child who this girl got pregnant with was in fact Azel. When Victor died, Azel was just born.

So yeah, Sigyn. You could say she was "perplexed" at everything that happened

.

Fionordequester · Sat Aug 29, 2020 3:03 pm

Hey hey hey! Guess who's FINALLY back! Yes, it's Fionordequester, and I've only just gotten done carrying 15 units at my 4 year university! So now I've finally got the time and energy to focus on this! Unfortunately, MartytheDemonSlayer won't be joining us today, since he never got back to me when I sent him this update, but oh well. I'm just glad to FINALLY have this back on track! So, without further adieu...

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Hello fellow warriors, and welcome back to Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4, Genealogy of the Holy War! Last time, we went and subdued like, half of the country of Agustria! We killed Lord Macbeth AND Voltz's mercenary corp., and now we're moving on to topple King Shagaal as well. After all, King Azmur commands us too! King Eltshan, whom Shagaal has captured, is vitally important to negotiating for peace in Agustria. That's why we're going to burn Agustria to the fricken ground trying to get him out :downs: !!

…

Yeah. Perhaps not the best thought out plan on Mr. Azmur's part...or maybe all this is simply a convenient opportunity for Grandbell to conquer Agusty? Nah, he's a cool guy, and so's Prince Kurth. NO WAY he'd be down with that, right? Of course not.

Anyways, we have to go through the Duchy of Mackily first. So let's see what kind of heat King Clement's packin' for us...

Huh. 53 HP, 4 Defense, 1 Leadership Star, and no Skills? This guy's actually kind of a pushover, isn't he? But he does have one trick up his sleeve...

Yep, he's got a staff, and THIS one puts someone to sleep for 5 whole turns. Which essentially means that they cannot move or do anything else until those 5 turns are up (though oddly enough, they can still dodge enemy attacks). So that's annoying.

Speaking of annoying, these guys WILL NOT MOVE until you move into Sleep Staff range. And that's a problem because that makes it impossible to move in and conquer Mackily in one turn. And what's more, when determining which unit to put to sleep, the AI looks at this list here...

And then goes from top-to-bottom, depending on who's in range. So yes, if Sigurd happens to be in range, and he's got less than 15 Resistance (highly likely), Clement will always, ALWAYS target him above every other target (which is actually how that works in FE6-8, for those who play those games). And what's more, the path to his castle is a natural chokepoint, which will be raining with Ballista bolts, and blocked by swarms of enemies. So it's very hard to not get bogged down for a significant amount of time trying to seize this castle. Unless...

BOOM!! GAME SET AND MATCH CLEMENT! YES! This here is an amazing AI trick that I discovered from a long abandoned FE4 speed run project. Yes, Alec is now in range of Clement, which means that instead of staying near him, all of Clement's men will go charging towards Nodion/Evans instead. That means that we can now kill them all much more easily, AND we can take out Bishop Clement without getting stuck in one place for 5-6 turns.

So yeah, Alec, you're my hero! And as it turns out, he's Sylvia's hero too. Why? Because they have this conversation together...

Fighting Dancer

Alec: Good thing I showed up, huh? Sure glad I found you in all this mess.

Sylvia: Me too!

Alec: You wanna hang out sometime?

Sylvia: You bet! I can show ya my special dance! I ain’t shown it to no one yet. Let’s just say it’s, ah… V-E-R-Y special!

Alec: W, whoa! That I want to see!

Aaand there she goes, our promiscuously dressed 14 year old hitting on all the older men in our army. Well, ok, maybe Alec isn't that old, maybe. But this other guy...

Fighting Dancer

Sylvia: :Sir, don’cha ya know who I am? I’m Sylvia. Call me Sylvie if ya like.

Sigurd: Look, I don’t have time for this. Now be a good little girl and run on back to the castle.

Sylvia: Good little gi… You ever see a little girl with THESE before!? Grr… what a moron.

Sigurd: Enough already!

Sylvia: Sigh… I’m just a lone flower upon the battleground. Beauty entrapped by adversity…

Sigurd: Now what’s she… Geez… I’m never going to get rid of her!

Heh, rather amusing conversation, though it has a slightly disturbing undertone in the original script, wherein Sylvia states that Sigurd is a “boring old stiff, just like everyone else.” So you really can't help but wonder if she would've tried putting the moves on him if he hadn't insulted her first. Screw your stupid focus on loli's Japan. And screw Fire Emblem If's further push into that direction. Honestly...

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Anyways, enough of that nonsense. Sylvia heads back to the west, where Ethlin can warp her back to Evans...

And then all these guys are moving around every which way. Ethlin's headed down to warp Levin and then the other people who need it, Cuan's heading down to smash some heads at Mackily, Levin wants to get warped to Evans to talk to Fury, Beowulf's out to get some more Gold, and then Noish is going to get that and the Bargain Ring.

Oh, and Ardan's finally arrived at his destination! Let's see what happens!

Foolish Soldiers

Ardan: If only I could repeated attack like Alec… that’d give me the edge I need. Maybe I could even find me a girlie then. Ahh… it’s tough being a guy! Hm? What’s this ol’ ring doing here… Looks magical or something. Let’s try ‘er on. Ooooooo! What’s going on!? …… The Power of Pursuit!

Yay, Ardan's got the Pursuit Ring! He's not going to actually KEEP it, but still, YAAAY

!!

Anyways, speaking of heavily armoured people...

Verdane Castle Town

Deirdre's still trying to get past Hertzog there. But more importantly,

She's got to fix her Warp Staff now, preferably before it breaks. Otherwise, we'll get the “Broken Weapon” textbox, and that always wastes time.

Also, Sigurd spars a bit in the Arena to restore his HP, and gets a level up for his troubles.

+1 HP, +1 Skl, +1 Spd, +1 Def!

Interesting thing about Sigurd right now. His class caps almost all of it's stats at 25 points, just like it was with Roy from FE6, and Marth from FE11-12. So even without those ridiculous promo gains, Sigurd's STILL close to capping his Strength, Skill, and Speed stats. Not so much HP, because that caps at 80 instead of 60, but still, that's pretty good isn't it? And he's not really even that blessed overall. He's got 2 more points in Speed than he usually does at this level, but his Strength really is just THAT good! And when you add in the Defense Ring on top of that, Sigurd is SO good...

That we literally have to GET RID OF the Defense Ring! Not sell it mind you, just put it into Storage. Otherwise, Sigurd's Defense is so high, that most of Clement's forces won't even try to attack him! They'll just ride up to him, and then just kind of go “please don't hurt me

”, which would waste many valuable turns. So that's kind of a funny little factoid.

So off Sigurd goes...

And then Lex moves right outside the range shadows of all the Mackily enemies (except the Ballista men). Now it's Clement's turn!

Enemy Attack

I just like to imagine Alec, sitting there in town, bobbing up and down like a little kid as she's about to start her “special” dance...and then Clement strikes, and puts him to sleep at the exact moment Sylvia actually starts. Cue the wacky, anime shenanigans as Sylvia finishes, looks, screams her head off, then beats the ever-loving tar out of him for falling asleep in the middle of her performance. Then draws a mustache on him for good measure.

Enemy Attack

Oh well. For the sake of turns, sacrifices MUST be made. Besides, Sylvie's too young for ya. I'm doing you a favor quite honestly.

Also, I'd like to take a minute to point out that Clement's Ballista are not doing ANYTHING to Lex, chipping off just 1 HP at a time.

And there we go. Everyone hates our guts, and they're not afraid to show it! So we've got to do something about that!

Now then, these sword dudes 20 Attack, and they have Pursuit. So while they're not terribly strong, they're still doing 8 Damage per round at 100% accuracy rates. Plus, there are three mages that will just eat Lex alive if we let them, so Lex can't just charge through everything like Sigurd can. He's only the “Piccolo” to Sigurd's “Goku” after all. So instead...

Enemy Attack

We're going to be using hit and run tactics, picking off weaker units, limiting the enemies to only attacking us two at a time on enemy phase...

+1 HP, +1 Str, +1 Def, +1 Res!

And also snagging some levels while he's at it. Now the sword dudes are only doing 6 Damage to him per round!

White Magic

Oh, and Ethlin's just warped Levin back to Evans while getting a level in the process. I'm not going to say what she got till the end of this Chapter though, because right now, it's largely irrelevant.

Enemy Attack

And now Ardan is going back to Heirhein to put that Pursuit Ring to use. He's gotta sell it eventually, but as long as he's got it, he might as well use it.

In addition, Levin moves here since this is the best spot for him to be when Fury and Co. arrive. And finally, Sigurd, Cuan, Beowulf, Noish, and all the other stragglers will keep on going to all the places they were headed to last turn, and will keep on doing that. Now let's see what the enemy does!

Agustria Army

+1 HP, +1 Str, +1 Def!

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

And there we go! Lex has lost a third of his health, but he's still doing great!

That said, those mages will still incinerate him, so let's see...what can we do?

Well, Lex's Defensive gains have drastically cut into these guy's damage output, so maybe we can snipe one of em' before running away again?

Yes we caaaaaaan! Go Lex!

And look at that, Beo's got his first village. About time we got some Village flavor text, innit?

I wish he were dead!

Way ahead of ya buddio. We already took care of that last update. Thanks for the 5000G though!

Fighting Dancer

And since I didn't show it off last update, here's Sylvia's dancing animation!

Also, another village!

Wouldn’t ya say King Eltshan and th’ princess are a wee bit too cosy for siblings? Oh, how I love t’gossip! Eh? I’ve too much free time, ya say? Well, I’ll shut mah mouth!

Alright, I'll uh, keep that in mind, weird, gossipy...random lady.

And congratulations Beo, you just made yet another 10,000G! Other than Voltz kicking the bucket, things really are going your way aren't they? Speaking of which, not much else really happens till next enemy phase...

Which ALSO didn't have much happen...but at least we got another level!

+1 HP, +1 Spd, +1 Def!

Man, he just keeps pumping those Defense procs out, doesn't he? He's already 4 points ahead of his average!

Not that there are that many physical attackers left to use that. Anyways, here's our next turn.

Unfortunately, Lex is going to HAVE to take a fireball to the face from the westmost Mage, but that's ok. That was still totally worth snagging the archer kill becauuuse...

SIGURD has arrived, at long last!

And so's Cuan, so next turn, he's going to be cracking some heads as well!

But for now, Sigurd's going to get the ball rolling. Which is just as well, because more kills on the Light Sword is ALWAYS a desirable outcome!

And speaking of desirable outcomes, here's the Bargain Ring village, at long last!

Nice bracelet, huh? Wear it at the shops for a little discount, ok?

YES!! About Noish! We're gonna need to get you two more villages, but after that, you'll finally be going from zero to hero.

Anyways, like I said, Noish wants some more villages, so Beo's gonna leave these two alone for Noish to snag. But the rest are his!

Also there goes Sylvia! This here is especially excellent, because...

Sylvia can dance INSIDE Evans as well as outside, meaning that Deirdre can gain 120 Experience per turn, and not just 60! Yes, she's literally gaining a free level every turn, which is why staff bots are so awesome!

Agustria Army

Now then, next enemy phase.

Uh...well, Lex takes a fireball to the face. That kind stunk.

But at least he got to take it out on the final Swordfighter!

And then Sigurd was able to avenge him by smacking one of the other mages around...

And then killing the other one, who decided to get too close. Like I said two updates ago, the Light Sword essentially functions as a Lightning tome when attacking from 2 Range, which also means that Sigurd gets +20 Hit and Evade bonuses on any mage who decides to attack him from there. So that's why you're seeing a discrepancy between the two mage's Hit chances.

Anyways, one of Shagaal's two cavalry squads have finally entered the fray.

As usual, the mooks aren't much of a threat, but the Captain...

Well, actually the Captain just ends up whiffing his attack, and therefore, is now a non-issue...but still, 32 Attack! That could've done some decent damage...if it had hit.

Now in case you're wondering about Fury's squad, don't worry, they won't arrive at Evans for a while, so let's forget about them for now.

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Anyways, our turn now.

Eltshan’s demon sword Mistoltin, along with the Tyrfing of Chalphy and Isaac’s Balmung, are the strongest swords in all creation.

Huh, neat. So, it seems there's a third legendary sword besides the Mistoltin and Balmung. Wonder if we're going to be using THAT at any point? Who knows?

Alrighty then, first Cuan kills the Captain,

Lex kills one of the last two mages...

And then Sigurd kills the very last one, thereby putting an end to every single one of Clement's men except for the five ballistamen, and the Armour blocking the chokepoint.

Oh, and Deirdre finally gets past Hertzog before smashing Chekov, even further compounding our sudden victory dance!

And now it's time for the FINAL battle against Holyn! The...Level 12...unpromoted swordfighter...with an Iron Sword? Or, maybe an Iron Blade, but still, not exactly the kind of guy you'd expect to be in the Rank 7 match. Then again, it's not as though Deirdre is much better, so, let's see how this goes-

Recruitable Enemy

W-wait, is that ALL the HP he's got?! What the heck?! Deirdre can fricken one-shot him!

I mean ok, he still one, but still, this guy's pathetic! Or at least, he is compared to the likes of Dulles from the last Chapter. In fact, now that I think about it, Chekov the Thunder Mage is ALSO a downgrade of Emmile, the Wind Mage with Elwind AND the Speed Ring!! So if anything, these guys are actually WEAKER than their Chapter 1 counterparts, not stronger! What the heck game? Were we really just not supposed to succeed in actually beating everyone last chapter?

Agustria Army

Anyways, next enemy phase! Shagaal's men...

...do nothing. Well, ok, I guess maybe they're begging for their lives, but still...

I mean yeesh, Sigurd doesn't even HAVE the Defense Ring right now, and he's still scaring the pants off everyone. Even still, I don't regret storing that ring, because Lex normally does not do quite that well at cleaning house before Sigurd and Cuan arrive. He just happened to get ridiculously blessed in Defesne.

Anyways, the Captain tries to fight Cuan, but doesn't really accomplish much of anything. Rather too bad, that.

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

So, let's go teach him the error of his ways.

First, Sigurd kills one of the henchmen in his way...

Player Attack

And then Lex TRIES to kill the Captain, but alas, no such luck.

Anyways, we don't actually need Lex anymore, so now I'm sending him back south to Evans, where he'll eventually promote after beating up some guys in the Arena.

So then, Cuan kills the Captain instead...

+1 HP, +1 Def!

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Now then...

THIS is where Cuan moves, right next to Sigurd, that way there's only ONE guy getting in Sigurd's way next turn instead of three! Just a neat little manuever there.

And finally, Deirdre's close to maxing her level at this point, so I decide to fix the Warp staff here rather than waiting till it dropped to one use. In hindsight, this was a mistake, because this made it so that she wasn't able to cap her level without fighting some risky Chapter 3 Arena fights...but, we'll get to that when we get to it. Just know that I should've fixed the staff at two uses instead.

That said, nothing really happens on enemy phase, so next turn, Cuan softens this Lance Armour so that Sigurd...

Can kill him and get started on fighting Clement himself next turn! And don't worry, if Clement has a choice between putting someone to sleep, and choosing to just fight them instead, he will always choose to just fight them instead. In fact, if I had remembered that, I actually could've had Beowulf save another village this turn, but...I didn't, so oh well.

But we can still get Noish to do so, so let's see what the guy here has to say!

Why else would King Shagall have him put away?

...Because Eltshan is basically the human embodiment of “Honor Before Reason” and “Lawful Stupid”? His heart is good, but his ethics...leave something to be desired. Also, note how Shagaal is called “Shagall” in this conversation. Different patch versions have had different spellings for various characters, and it looks like Twilkitri forgot to edit this particular instance. Whoops.

Please, I beg of you… Save King Eltshan!

But, I will indeed rescue him. Hopefully.

Speaking of which, time for another boss fight!

Miniboss

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I really, really do feel bad for this guy. Elliot was a warmonger and rapist, his father wasn't any better, Macbeth valued money over human life and Shagaal is a psychopathic baboon...and even Eltshan is kind of...extreme in his actions. But Clement? Dude's just kind of...*gasp*, NORMAL! Seriously, he is like, the ONLY sane man out of everyone in Agustria. Maybe not the most righteous man...but he never really does anything I would consider unreasonable.

I mean, ok, he didn't do anything to help Lachesis out against Elliot, but that's because he didn't fully know all the details of what was happening. He didn't want to make a decision until the “dust had settled”, and that's actually the smart thing to do when you don't know all the facts. Then when Grandbell takes Anphony, he's all “HOLY COW, are these guys gonna subdue EVERYONE?! We gotta protect the king!”, right before putting himself right in the line of fire. And then when the big confrontation with Sigurd finally happens, does he act like a coward? No, the guy girds up his loins and says “well, let's do this!”

Heck, he even comes off as a reasonably clever military tactician, doing everything he can to take advantage of the fact that we had to go through a choke-point in order to get to him. Sure, I cheesed his forces pretty bad, but that's because I took advantage of a quirk in the A.I. Otherwise, this battle would've gone on MUCH longer than it did.

Quite honestly, I have to wonder if this whole thing was a diplomatic failure on Sigurd's part. I mean, WE know that we're trying to save Eltshan, and why we kicked the crud out of Heirhein and Anphony...but Clement doesn't! Was there really no way for Sigurd to just tell him what was going on? Could he really not have just had Lachesis go tell him “hey, Heirhein kind of tried to kill me, and Anphony's leading raids on Shagaal's villages”? I'm just saying, if I saw Sigurd going on a rampage through MY home country, and I had no clue that my Lord was doing anything fishy...I honestly don't think I would've reacted much differently than Clement did. After all, Shagaal's probably spreading a bunch of Anti-Grandbell propaganda even as we speak, if his conversation with Fury is anything to go by...

But alas, we now have to put him out of his misery, using the Uber Slim Sword since the Light Sword could potentially miss...

Don't you worry Clement...you will always have a special place in my heart

...

Oh well, at least we get his Sleep Staff. We're never going to find a good place to use it, but Sigurd CAN sell it for quite a bit of money, that way Clement's death won't be a total waste.

Victory 1

Anyways, time for more story.

DARN IT SIGURD!! Didn't I JUST get done telling everyone why we should feel BAD for Clement

?!?

Oifaye: That’s right. But there still reports of a good-sized army waiting in Agusty. So take extra precaution!

Sigurd: Yeah, you’re right. Just what is our boy Shagall up to…

Oh well. Guess I can't expect him to feel bad for EVERY guy who tries to kill him, justified or not. Guy's so kindhearted already that he'd practically be a nervous wreck

.

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

And now with Clement gone, we can get the rest of the villages without getting put to sleep! But will we have the same luck with Lord Shagaal himself? Can we save Eltshan in time? Is he even still alive at this point? And, just what kind of surprises does Shagaal still have in store for us? Find out, NEXT TIME, on Let's Play Fire Emblem 4: Genealogy of the Holy War! Have a nice night, and God bless you all!

AAAA RANKED RUN STATS

Time Taken This Update: ~28 minutes and 9 seconds.

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: ~4 hours, 24 minutes and 18 seconds.

Turns Taken This Update: 7 Turns

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 94 Turns

Levels Gained This Update: 13 Levels

Total Levels Gained: 129 Levels

Things I Regret on This Section: I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2.

Total Things I Regret: The fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue. And in Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue. On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2.

Fionordequester · Sat Aug 29, 2020 3:05 pm

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Happy New Years fellow warriors! Welcome back to Let's Max Rank FE4! Last time, we had to face Clement the wizard! Though he had no ill intent, he put up a fierce defensive front, thinking that Sigurd was out to raze Agustria! He fought for his home country, and was cut down in a war with no justice. But with a heavy heart, we move on, remembering his dedication. Oh, and Shagaal is sending some girl called Fury to attack us, because apparently she's looking for Levin. Considering that Levin is among us right now though, well...we'll see just how long she can go before seeing the light.

Will we break through Shagaal's maniacal machinations? Find out, today!

But first, we have some villages to visit, and some gold to procure for our men. So let's see what we get from this one!

Each year big towns like Agusty and Mackily hold witch hunts and arrest a ton of people. Then they burn ’em at the stake for doin’ what? Absolutely nothin’! Is that nuts or what!?

Hysteria never is a good thing is it?

Oh well. At least we got some money out of the deal.

White Magic

Now then, let's get Alec and Lex back to our home base...

And let's get Noish some more money as well. He has the Bargain Ring, but he still needs just a BIT more if he wants to stand a chance of beating the Arena!

Speaking of which, here's Holyn going splat against Deirdre! Now to collect our 4000G and...

Recruitment

:wth:

Holyn: You’ve got some serious spirit in your attack. Obviously you’re not here for the money.

Actually I kind of am in this case, but go on

.

Holyn: Cash has been my motivator all these years… But after seeing you it kinda loses its meaning. You mind if I tag along? It’d be nice to fight for something real for a change.

As opposed to what, actually DOING YOUR JOB as the prince of Sophara itself? Yeah, Sophara is castle in the southern Isaacian region. So just what the heck Holyn's doing all the way out here, fighting here in an arena inside the capital of Verdane, on the exact opposite of the world, is utterly beyond me. Dude must've been a real snot in his terrible teens :mmmhmm:
Anyways, let's talk about Holyn, shall we?

Agustria Castle Town

Level 12 Swordfighter

HP: 40 (110%) Spd: 17 (30%)
Str: 14 (30%) Lck: 1 (20%)
Mag: 0 (5%) Def: 11 (30%)
Skl: 17 (80%) Res: 1 (5%)

Move (before Promotion): 6
Move (after Promotion): 6
Weapon Ranks (before Promotion): Swords (A)
Weapon Ranks (after Promotion): Swords (A)
Promotion Bonuses: +5 Str, +3 Mag, +2 Skl, +2 Spd, +2 Def, +3 Res
Items: Iron Blade
Skill: Pursuit, Moon Sword (Skl%=Halves enemy defense before strike hits)
Holy Blood: Minor Odo

So here's Holyn everyone. He's...basically Aira, but better in almost every possible way, ESPECIALLY in his growth rates. In fact, his growths are the exact same as Aira's, except he gets 20% higher Skill and 40% higher HP. There is, quite literally, not a single area where his growths are worse than Aira's. They are either the exact same, or flat out better.

Seriously, even if Aira were to join at Level 12 (and not Level 4), she would STILL only surpass him in Speed, Skill, Luck, and Res. Other than that, Holyn still ties her in Strength, and has a SIGNIFICANT advantage in HP and Defense. And, to add further insult to injury, Aira's not really even going to be leading by that much even in Speed and Skill. Both of their starting Speed and Skill stats are so high, that they're already capping them long before either of them ever hit Level 30.

Because of that, the only significant thing Aira has over Holyn is that Meteor Sword is a better skill than Luna Sword, which doesn't do much against anyone without really high defense. But, Holyn's Strength is more than enough to make up for that, and Aira's glass cannon status makes it difficult for her to actually USE her Meteor Sword anyway. Perhaps most importantly, however, is that Holyn is just capable of taking a much more vicious butt-kicking than Aira is, even at equal levels. Where base Aira is getting 3HKOed by enemies in this chapter, base Holyn is only getting 5HKOed by the same stuff, and is 8 levels closer to promoting.

So, if Aira is Android #18, I guess that'd make Holyn Android #17. He's stronger in every way, but is also much lazier, and tends to get sidetracked much more often. Oh, also, Aira and Holyn are distantly related..

White Magic

Now, time for some staff grinding...

Some dancing from everyone's favorite 14 year old dancer...

And then yet more grinding, for a grand total of 120 EXP this turn!

And that'd end our turn

!

Enemy Message 2

“Meanwhile, at the Fortress of Evil...”

Shagaal: Stop your nitpicking and go!

Yes, “nitpicking”, the BEST adverb to use for “つべこべいわず”. As opposed to, you know, “whining”.

That is definitely one oddity within this particular translation. For as much as I praise it for how liberal it is, there are also places where it is extremely LITERAL as well. As in, it's so literal, it's like Jay and Boo ran the script through Babelfish. But then you get to other lines, like Levin and his shrink, and it almost seems like they had some trouble deciding what kind of translation they wanted. Fortunately, this one still tends to err on the side of liberalism, but still.

Also, hi Manfloy.

Shagaal: You! Manfloy!! Y… You’re the one who told us what to do and it’s all backfired! How are you going to fix this!?

Manfloy: I merely advised the removal of the king. He was getting in the way. I believe the rest is your doing. Wouldn’t you agree?

Shagaal: Damn. I just never imagined Sigurd’s army would be this strong. Manfloy, help me… What should I do?

Manfloy: There’s still hope. If necessary we can make use of that rascal you’re holding in the dungeon… Eltshan. Sigurd will listen to anything Eltshan’s got to say. Now go and give him a formal apology.

Make note of Manfloy's remark right here, and remember it for later. Just saying.

Shagaal: Er… okay. Yeah. I’ll do that. Let’s put him to some use.

Loputousu Sect

Oh that's no big deal. I mean, Sandima got killed too, yet here he is, alive and kicking. Seems Loputousu isn't the only being that can be revived.

Manfloy: Only one descendant remains of our old foe Narga, and he will die before long. Then all that’s left is the revival of our Dark Lord. Then the world will be ours!

Well, at least till someone goes and revives Narga :mmmhmm:.

Dark Mage: Has Alvis consented to your proposal?

Manfloy: Of course he did.

:wth:, THAT however is not good! What the heck Alvis?!

Manfloy: He’s got Loputousu’s blood flowing in his veins. And if that ever got out, they would burn him at the stake for being of Loptian descent. I just wonder if someone as arrogant as Alvis can keep quiet.

Actually, that line is more like “could someone as proud as Alvis bear to meet such a miserable end?” Either way though, stuff just got real if Manfloy's extended his reach THIS far out

.

Dark Mage: Alright. Next we betray the king and once you become emperor…

Manfloy: There’s a bit more to it than that. To resurrect Lord Loputousu, we’ll need not only Alvis but also that woman’s daughter.

Alright, so, here's what we have so far. We were told in Chapter 1 that Deirdre had Loputousu blood in her veins, and that she was Sigyn's daughter. The Dark Sect wants to “unite their blood” (heck of a euphemism btw) and produce Satan. And now, we've just found out that Alvis has got that Lopt blood kicking around in his veins too.

Do you know what this means? That means...that Deirdre...is Alvis's sister!! Yes, it's true! Well, that or Sigyn went and had Deirdre with someone else (which would still make Alvis and Deirdre half-siblings). So yeah, here's to hoping things don't get awkward between Sigurd and Alvis at some point

.

Agustria Army

Anyways, back to the A plot. We've got Zyne to deal with, but fortunately, the guy will never move till you move a unit onto or past this line...

So we've got plenty of time to prepare.

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Other than those guys, all we've got left are Fury and her squad, as well as the two stragglers from last update.

Needless to say, Shagaal's dynamic duo is no match for ours, and Sigurd nets himself yet another kill for his Light Sword.

Now, time for some preparations.

Arena Match

First of all, here's Keimos, the REAL champion of the Chapter 2 Arena division. With 63 HP, the powerful Steel Blade, 12 AS, and 13 Defense, Keimos is a far more worthy adversary than Holyn ever was. He's durable, powerful, AND fast enough to double a good portion of your army...

Course, none of that means a blasted thing to Sigurd, who still has the Uber Slime Sword, and is as broken as he ever was...

+1 Str, +1 Spd, +1 Lck, +1 Def!

And is now yet more broken. But still, good effort

.

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Now then, the chapter's almost over, and most of our guys still haven't gotten their turn in the Arena, so Sigurd's selling his Uber Slim Sword as well as the Sleep Staff we got from Clement. It seems like a lot of money, but trust me, the Light Sword's going to burn through it REAL fast.

Now then, Cuan kills the last guy, and now he and Sigurd are getting into position. So before we move on to the next enemy phase, let's take some time to visit more villages!

First, we have Noish getting some Gold.

Smashing. Now let's see what Beowulf gets.

That son of his, Prince Shagaal, is bound t’ruin the country before too long. Ahh… if only King Eltshan could’ve succeeded Agustria’s throne somehow.

Well, he would be better than Shagaal, though I worry Eltshan might have ruined Agustria in a different way. If there's one thing the Chapter 2 opening has taught me, it's that Eltshan is not the brightest tool in the shed.

Ok Ardan, you've got your Pursuit Ring, an' you've got your Uber Slim Sword.

Now let's see how you do!

Arena Match

Actually, Bachnin is a rather scary foe for Ardan to face, so I settle for Ardan just making it past Lovin. But next turn Lovin, NEXT turn

!

Also, more miscellaneous stuff from the guys back home. Time for the next turn!

Well, actually it's not much to write home about. Like I said, Zyne stays put till you move past a certain point, so this is all that actually happens on that Enemy phase.

Alright Ardan, show us your stuff!

Arena Match

Nice! Good job Ardan!

And then Hertzog is next to fall, despite having WTA. Turns out, the ability to double attack with the Uber Slim Sword is a wonderful asset.

Anyways, that'll be that for Ardan. If he had gotten more points in Speed, I might have been able to have him beat Emmile the Thunder Mage too...but ah well. This'll do. Here are his levels for this Chapter...

Anyways, Ardan's done now. He's got more than enough cash for the next chapter, and I plan on doing something special with him in Chapter 3. So he won't be needing the Pursuit Ring. Here are his levels for this chapter btw.

+2 Levels, +2 HP, +2 Str, +1 Spd

Yep, those are some classic Ardan levels.

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Ready for another village Noish?

A thousand thanks to y’all for comin’! Here, I’ve a sword for ya. T’is called an Iron Cutter. This sword’ll pierce some of the toughest armour around. If ya can’t use it, try sellin’ it at the pawn shop. It should fetch a good price.

Yeah, the Iron Cutter is a special kind of weapon. By itself, it kind of stinks. It's got 6 Might, 70 Accuracy, and 5 Weight, making it a less effective weapon than even the Iron Sword under most circumstances.

HOWEVER, this all changes if you fight an Armoured opponent, like Philip from the 1st Chapter 2 update, or Ardan. If you use the Iron Cutter on them, all of your strikes will automatically be a critical hit! And since the critical bonus is applied to your BASE attack power in this game, rather than simply tripling whatever damage you would do normally, this means that no one will ever be safe from the Iron Cutter, even if they max out their Defense.

Of course, this sword is rendered obsolete by the Uber Slim Sword, so it probably won't be seeing any use in this run. But still, it's a good niche weapon to have on, say, Fury, assuming you're playing this game normally.

Alright, one last village Beo. Noish got everything he needs now, so now you'll be getting this one.

Not that much else to do now, so Sigurd's now gonna start the fight with Zyne.

Now, back to the home castle, I make a fairly significant mistake. Deirdre uses the Warp Staff one last time before selling it, but I really should have just gotten her to 30 right here. I thought she'd get to it easily enough from the Chapter 3 arena, but she ended up having to fight more opponents than I thought she was going to. As a result, I ended up wasting several minutes trying to get her past some tough fights.

So take note future runners. Just get her to Level 30 here, don't try and get her last level from the next Chapter's arena. You'll be more efficient that way. Also, here's what Deirdre got in this chapter...

+20 Levels, +12 HP, +2 Str, +5 Mag, +1 Skl, +2 Spd, +1 Lck, +3 Res!

Yikes, and you thought Lilina was overspecialized. Her caps aren't even that high either, so for all intents and purposes, her growth stops at Level 14, regardless of how many levels you get after that.

Anyway, now it's Aideen's turn for the Warp Staff. Hopefully she'll have better luck with her stat gains than Deirdre did

..

Player Attack

Now, back to the plot. Fury is here, and we can recruit her by having Levin talk to her. But, someone's in the way, so,

Azel takes them out real quickly...

And then Levin does his part!

Recruitment

Levin: Ah, this getup? I’m doing the wandering bard thing. Whaddya think?

Fury: Well, it’s fine. But why? I heard Your Highness was being held prisoner in Evans, so I came as fast as I could.

Levin: Me? A prisoner of Evans? Ha! Who would’ve told you that?

Fury: King Shagaal of Agusty.

Levin: Ha! Fury, m’girl… you’ve been had! It’s nice of you to be so trustin’, but you wouldn’t last a day in the city! You’d get caught up with the wrong people… end up like Sylvia.

Huh. Well, Kaga's acknowledging that the Sylvia thing is creepy. I dunno if that makes it better or worse.

Fury: Levin, who’s Sylvia?

Levin: She’s… ah… Nevermind. Anyway, what are you doin’ here again?

Fury: Obviously I’m here to take you back to Silesia! It’s been nearly 2 years since you just up and left. Queen Rahna is a complete wreck. Please come back with me.

Levin: If I go back, I have to succumb to the will of my late father and succeed the throne. But my uncles would never have it. One slip up and there’d be mutiny, like there is here. You know who suffers then? The people. Give the throne to somebody who can handle that. I like the freedom I have now. I’ve no use for the crown. Give it to one of my uncles.

Wow, that's...actually pretty heavy. And it says a lot about Levin that he was willing to sacrifice his comfy life in Silesia for everyone else's sake. Now, lets see what Fury thinks of that...

Fury: You know that Silesian royalty claims direct lineage with the Wind God Holsety. That means you are the only one capable of succession. Only you can preserve the Silesian lineage. And the people wish it of you as well. Levin, the queen was in tears when I left. Please… Sniff… just come back with me.

Levin: Fury, you’re not gonna start cryin’ on me too, are ya? Aghh! Give me a break. I’ve got a soft spot for cryin’ chicks, ya know. Okay. I’ll return once I’ve sorted some stuff out. Just let me rack my brain a bit, okay?

Fury: Okay. Then please let me stay with you until you do return. I’ll send word back to that you’re unharmed.

Levin: You just don’t take no for an answer, do ya? Well, I’m gonna hang a bit with Sir Sigurd. We hit it off. And his army’s full of babes! You should get to know the girls… polish up your style a bit.

Fury: Er… okay.

Levin: Fury! I’m jokin’! Don’t be so damn gullible. You really are a sweet girl. You put all the other girls to shame. Don’t you change a thing, okay?

Fury: Er.. okay. Ah, no I…

And that's the end of that. Just for fun, here's her dialogue if you decide to have Levin kill her.

So let's go over how Fury stacks up, shall we?

Agustria Castle Town

Level 6 Pegasus Knight

HP: 32 (50%) Spd: 18 (30%)
Str: 11 (20%) Lck: 7 (20%)
Mag: 1 (10%) Def: 9 (30%)
Skl: 12 (20%) Res: 9 (10%)

Move (before Promotion): 8
Move (after Promotion): 8
Weapon Ranks (before Promotion): Swords (B), Lances (B)
Weapon Ranks (after Promotion): Swords (A), Lances (A), Staves (C)
Promotion Bonuses: +7 Mag, +3 Skl, +3 Spd, +1 Def, +5 Res
Items: Slim Lance
Skill: Pursuit
Holy Blood: None

So Fury is, er...different. Not in a bad way mind you, quite the opposite in fact. Her growths and promotion bonuses stink, but she's got so much else going for her, that she's STILL quite handy in-spite of that. First and foremost, she can fly over all types terrain, even oceans. So she can maneuver around this game's maps in a way that most units can only dream of. For example, you remember how much of a mad dash it was trying to save all those villages in this chapter? Well just imagine how much EASIER that whole thing would have been if we had had Fury from the get-go! And now we ARE going to have her for when something like that happens again!

But in addition to that, she also just starts off really good. 18 Speed is a ridiculous amount to start with, she's got a B rank in both swords AND lances, she gets staves upon promotion, and even her Strength and Defense stats are pretty decent for her level. Yeah, eventually those are going to sag, but that won't be for a while, and she's still got the Uber Slim Sword to cover for that. Plus, with C staves + the Return Staff + the Elite Ring + Sylvia, she's not going to have any problems getting to Level 30.

Now, that being said, she's not a heavy duty fighter. Unlike some of our other units, You can't just throw her into an enemy army and expect her to survive, at least not if it has anything other than axe users. Plus, all bows in the game score automatic critical hits on her, so that's something you have to watch out for too. So if she does do any fighting, it's usually only for the sake of clearing out MBandits that no one else can reach, or for picking some stragglers off. But frankly, that's all you really need her for anyway. Because the she does with that flying horse is stuff that NO ONE else in the army can do.

In this way, I suppose I should liken Fury to Videl. She's not the strongest fighter ever, but she's still more than capable of holding her own, and she's still very resourceful. And, she's one of the only female characters who can fly! And to top it all off, Fury's canon pairing is with Levin, the guy who I already compared to Ultimate Gohan. So like with him and Videl, Fury with Levin is a story about a regular human being being married to one of the world's strongest superheroes.

Agustria Army

Guess we'll call that a turn then!

Aaand I guess Zyne's calling that a turn too. So, let's see what we're gonna do.

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

See the space right above Sigurd? The one that's NOT in this guy's range?

Well, that's the best place to put Sigurd. First of all, Shagaal's men get their turn before Zyne's men do, and Sigurd can't ORKO them the way he can with Zyne's. So if he goes up any further, the armours are going to prevent Zyne's men from being able to attack Sigurd.

But we WANT Zyne's men to attack because we want more kills on his Light Sword. Plus, Zyne's got this...

Remember the Iron Cutter? Well, this “Slayer Lance” (the Horseslayer actually), is another such weapon, and this one's super effective against all cavalry units...which includes Sigurd. So for now, we need to keep away from Zyne, take out his bodyguards, and lure him into a position where we can K.O. him before he gets a chance to use it.

Of course, that's going to have to be a team effort between Cuan and Sigurd, because Zyne actually is fairly durable. Not to worry though, I have a plan.

Now, here's the final village!

Uh, think you're a bit late to the party on this one.

He’s got a magical staff called th’ Sleep Staff. Get too close an’ he’ll put yer lights out an’ freeze every muscle in yer body!

What's really weird about hint is that it's placed all the way in the northeast corner of the villages, RIGHT INSIDE Clement's Sleep Staff range. So by the time you actually make it here, you'll have already found out about Clement's ability, rendering this advice completely useless. The map design really is weird sometimes

.

So now, after a long, hard, and tiring ride in Chapter 2, everyone's accounted for. Alec and Beowulf are now back at Evans, raring to go, Noish and Lex are going to be joining them very shortly, Ardan's done everything he needed to do, and now Fury's been recruited. At this point, the only thing left to do is defeat Zyne and his men. After that, we've got all the time in the world to focus on Arena shenanigans. Speaking of which...

Lachesis splits off from the Jealousy formation real quickly to help Fin out.

Arena Match

Yeah, Fin gets stonewalled very briefly by Chekov. But with a little help from Sylvia and Lachesis...

Fin is now exactly where he needs to be in order to activate...

To activate the strongest Prayer! For those who've forgotten, Prayer is a personal skill that increases your Evasion by 10% for every point of HP below 11. So if you have 10 HP, you get a 10% Evasion boost for the duration of the fight. But if you have only 1 HP, like Fin has here, you get a 100% Evasion boost for the fight, which means...

That Chekov had no chance against him!

Course, now we're going to have to do the same thing with Keimos, but oh well. Journey of a thousand steps n' all that.

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Actually, we'll be taking Keimos out next turn. But, we'll need Fin to go outside the castle for now.

To review, units will gain 1/5th of their HP back for every turn that they are inside the home castle. So, Fin will gain back 7 HP per turn if he's inside Evans, allowing him to get 14 HP by the time two turns pass.

However, that will only get him to exactly 26 HP, just enough for Keimos to OHKO him. And even if I wait a turn after that, Fin is going to get 33 HP, meaning that he's only going to get a 40% evasion boost against him. With Lachesis, on the other hand, I can heal him for 18 HP, putting him up to 30 HP instead. With THAT amount, Fin's going to get a 70% boost from Prayer instead, rendering him invulnerable to anything Keimos could possibly do.

Also, Deirdre's replacing Lachesis as a Jealousy bot now that Lachesis is inside. Aideen and Jamka have almost become lovers, but we haven't QUITE gotten there yet.

Agustria Army

Alright, Zyne's men are attacking now, so let's see how they...

Oh...

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Well, not good. An Arch Knight and three Lance Knights tried to attack Sigurd, but none of them survived.

Now, how are Aideen and Jamka doing I wonder?

Ah, cool! They're lovers now! Now they can freely share their Gold with each other, allowing them to purchase the Elite Ring much more easily!

So now that I've finally got that done, I'm going to return both of them to the castle and-

And...and...the heck

? The heck is THIS? Well, technically, it's a lover's conversation that activates between two people once you put em both back inside the castle, but I don't know what the deal is with all the garbage text. Seems it's just one of those things that neither Jay, Boo, nor Twilkitri ever got around to fixing. So I guess it's BookofHolsety to the rescue!

Jamka: [jamka_wife]... You waited for me?

Aideen: Indeed. I prayed for your safety in battle, and it seems the gods granted it!

Yeaaaah, turns out we weren't really missing much. Aside from fixed pairings like Sigurd X Deirdre and Cuan X Ethlin, everyone just has canned responses, much like FE10's Support conversations. The only mildly interesting thing is that these conversations very slightly depending on who returned to the home castle first. The above conversation is what happens if Jamka returned first, but if Aideen returns first...

Aideen: ...[aideen_husband]? You awaited my return home, did you?

Jamka: Yeah... Got a bit worried for your sake...

Yeah, you get that instead. Actually, now that I think of it, I think I'd best show Sigurd and Deirdre's conversations as well...

Sigurd Returns to Deirdre:

Sigurd: I’m back, Deirdre!

Deirdre: Welcome home, milord.

Deirdre Returns to Sigurd:

Deirdre: I'm home, milord.

Sigurd: Welcome back, Deirdre. I'm relieved to see you're okay.

Ah, the romance. You can just feel the passion

. Now back to the Arena...

Arena Match

It's now Fury's turn to fly through it!

And fly through it she does, mainly on account of both her absurd AS and the Uber Slim Sword. Keimos and Chekov never had a chance.

+3 Levels, +1 HP, +1 Str, +1 Skl, +3 Spd, +2 Def, +1 Res!

Well, we got our Ardan levels and we got our Deirdre levels, and now? We're getting our Fury levels too.

Alright Fin, let's see if you have better luck!

+4 Levels, +4 HP, +2 Str, +2 Skl, +3 Lck!

Nnnnope, guess not. Defense and Speed are terrible stats to get screwed on, though thankfully, Prayer's there to carry him through no matter what.

Anyways, Noish and Lex finally return to the castle...

And Sigurd takes yet another strategic maneuver.

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Wearing em down more and more...as you can see, Zyne's forces are a far cry from what they were in the beginning. Eventually, Zyne's going to have no choice but to expose himself to a full frontal assault.

Verdane Castle Town

Back at home base, I don't need Lachesis for anything right now, so I take the time to set up a Jealousy formation for her and Beo.

And then I make a bold move by selling Jamka's Killer Bow.

Yes, with all those Warp Staff shenanigans, Aideen and Jamka are strapped for cash. Even with their lover status, they're going to be cutting it close on funds for the Elite Ring. But again, we'll manage.

The most important thing is that now Aideen's getting in on that Warp Staffing action as well.

Now, Aideen's promoting soon, which will mean that she'll soon be capable of slinging spells too! So Azel's going to be going through the Arena now, that way we can turn this New copy of the Thunder Tome into a Used copy. Helps drive down the price that way.

Course, Azel's too weak to do anything to Bachnin, so he only manages to burn through 9 uses of the Tome.

+1 Level, +1 HP, +1 Mag!

Oh well. At least he got a decent level out of it.

Anyways, that's the end of our player phase...

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

And that's the start of our NEXT player phase!

Yeah, nothing much happened there, but now we're going to get somewhere.

First of all, we're gonna want the Defense Ring back, now that Sigurd's taken care of most of the low Attack Power enemies.

Then we want Cuan in this exact spot, JUST close enough that Zyne can throw a Javelin at him, but far enough that he can't use the Horseslayer. This way we can start softening him up without any risk.

Like so!

Miniboss

Zyne: I'll finish this and wipe you all out!

Yeah good luck with that, buddy. Also, Cuan got a level up.

+1 HP, +1 Str, +1 Spd, +1 Def

It really says something about FE4 that it's pre-promotes actually have BETTER growth rates than the supposed “growth units”.

Miniboss

And hoo boy, both of ours are now in prime position to eat Zyne alive.

And down goes yet another honorable warrior

.

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Yeah, we may have gotten lucky with the war against Verdane, but most wars are not going to be so cheery in regards to who lives and who dies. Even in Nazi Germany, you have your Erwin Rommels in addition to your Adolf Hitlers, and it seems that such is the case with Agustria. Here's to hoping Eltshan isn't the next one to go...

Actually, where IS Eltshan anyway? Weren't Shagaal and Manfloy talking about using him as a hostage? Seems odd that they haven't done anything with him yet.

Oh well, we've got more guys to take care of, so I'm having Cuan kill Keimos real quickly for an HP refill, 4000G, and another level.

+1 HP, +1 Skl, +1 Def!

Well, now Cuan's got a Defense blessing of +3. So now he's got 22 Defense. To put that into perspective, even Sigurd, with the Defense Ring, doesn't have that much right now. Cuan really is a tank on a horse right now :wth:.

Alas, now he must part with the Elite Ring, that some of our other poor scrubs might become more like him.

In any case, Cuan's part is now done, so,

Agustria Army

Now you see them...

Now you don't.

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

Well, guess that's that then. Other than some random weaklings here and there, all that's left is Shagaal himself, and he's...

...kind of a joke. I mean yeesh, just compare his stats to some of the other guys we fought.

Yes, Shagaal is actually less threatening than every other boss in this chapter so far!! Elliot, Philip, Voltz, and Zyne were all capable of moving, Macbeth had absurdly high defense and a Javelin, Clement had the Sleep Staff, and Boldo...

…

...Well, he was pretty pathetic too, but HE at least had 2 Range capabilities. Shagaal on the other hand?

Well, Shagaal doesn't even have that! The guy is, quite literally, a walking, talking punching bag. He is a joke boss, whose combat stats exist only to remind us of how pathetic he is. The only thing really notable about him...

Is that he happens to belong to the Baron class, an enemy-only class that can be best described as one of the "SNK Bosses" of FE4. They have Big Guard as a class skill and are proficient in absolutely everything except Light and Dark magic. In addition, their offensive and defensive stat caps are insane, with them capping out at 27 Strength, 30 Magic, and 28 Defense. As a result, their only “weaknesses” are that they only have caps of 22 in all other non-Luck areas, and they don't have innate Pursuit.

And the best part? This isn't even the game's strongest class! No, there's also another enemy-only class that's even MORE absurd than this one, and we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

For now though, we're still in Chapter 2, so Shagaal's not doing much to actually take advantage of any of the things I mentioned. The only interesting thing he's got is this staff, which is basically the Live Staff, but with 1-10 Range. So if a guy is close enough to him, Shagaal can heal him for 18 HP...whooo...

Anyways, in terms of gameplay stuff, this Chapter is basically over. The last third of this update is just going to cover Arena Shenanigans and a few miscellaneous conversations (including a conversation between Lachesis and Beo, who I'm pairing). So if just want to move on to the end of this Chapter, and are not interested in either the AAAA Ranked stuff, or in the extra Talk conversations, you can just skip to the end of the next post. Just letting you all know!

Verdane Castle Town

Alright Dew, your turn!

Arena Cleared, +5 Levels, +3 HP, +1 Str, +3 Spd, +4 Lck, +2 Def, +1 Res!

Yeah, that's about average for Dew.

Alright now here's a problem. Noish is going to want Dew's Speed Ring, but...the gold cap is only 50,000G. So if I have Dew sell it now, he's going to lose 6600G in the process. 6600G that could have easily been given to anyone struggling to buy the Elite Ring on their own.

For now, I can deal with this by having Dew buy the Return and Skill Rings, but eventually, Noish is going to be running into that same issue, since he has the Bargain Ring. In this way, characters with Bargain are a little like ATM Dispensors, in that you don't have total control over just HOW much you withdraw from their accounts. You can only withdraw in certain amounts, and that can get tricky at times.

Verdane Castle Town

But for now, let's see how Noish does with the Pursuit Ring + Elite Ring + Uber Slim Sword!

Oh cool, Noish got 9 base Speed against Lovin! That means he can actually defeat Keimos now! Especially with...

The Speed Ring, which puts him at 14 Speed instead! Count in the Slim Sword's 1 Wgt, Noish has got 13 AS. And that is JUST enough to outspeed Keimos, who has 12.

And, with Chekov defeated, Noish has now got +10,000G again, which means...

We get the Skill Ring too! So now we've also got 10% more accuracy and 65% crit chances against Keimos, in addition to our Speed advantage. So needless to say...

Keimos is doomed.

Arena Cleared, +6 Levels, +3 HP, +4 Str, +2 Skl, +1 Spd, +2 Lck, +1 Def

Well, his Spd and Skl growths aren't that great anyhow, and nobody but the Holy Paladin Trio (Lex, Sigurd, Cuan) really have good Def growth. But that Str is amazing!

Now, here's something interesting here. See how that Uber Slim Sword only has 5 Uses on it? Well, your first instinct might be to have Noish repair it, since he has the Bargain Ring, right? But, let me ask you, which is more expensive to purchase? A Slim Sword with 50 uses, or a Slim Sword with only 5? Obviously it's the one with only 5, which costs only 300G as opposed to the full 3000G of the other one.

I had Aira buy it instead. Unfortunately, I couldn't take proper advantage of this at the time (due to the aforementioned "ATM Problems" I had with Dew), but if I had, I could've had Dew give her 18,000G instead of the 22,740G he ended up giving her. That way, she would have had only just enough money to buy the Elite Ring, leaving her at 0G with 5 uses on the Slim Sword.

She then would have solved that problem by fighting just one match against Jirow (the 1st guy). She'd get the 1000G, use it on the Slime Sword, get about 16-18 uses that way, and beat the rest of the Arena that way. That way, she will have only spent 41,300G getting through the Arena w/the Elite Ring rather than 43,000G. But alas...

Verdane Castle Town

This was about as low as I could go with Dew's money, even after I had Sylvia, Alec, Lachesis, and everyone else sell their C Rank swords...or so I thought.

Looking back on it, I should have just had Dew buy the Elite Ring, and then sell one of the Slim Swords and the Thief Sword/1x Iron Sword. That'd get him to 4740G. Then I could've lended that to someone else before selling the Elite Ring. That would put Dew at 20,000G. After that, I could have re-purchased those same swords, dropping Dew's Gold back down to 18,000G. Had I done that, THEN I could have given Aira a simple 18,000G, rather than giving her an extra 4740G that she didn't need.

So, there you go. Extreme math strats with Fionordequester. But oh well.

Arena Cleared, +6 Levels, +2 Str, +4 Skl, +2 Spd, +1 Res!

At least Aira seems to have appreciated the gesture. Those actually ARE decent, considering how low her non-Skl growths actually are. Not great, but decent.

Anyways, Sylvia helps Lachesis get out there into Jealousy Formation again. And 4 turns later...

Miniboss

Behold. What you see here is one of the very few instances where a fan translation actually takes swearing OUT of the game

Shagaal: Do you really think you can defeat me!?

Well, when you put it that way...

Now, we FINALLY get to see our very first promotion in the game! Let's see what happens!

Promotion

And there we go! One of my favorite promotion animations in the series, though I sadly couldn't get it any higher than 15 frames per second. But there's always Youtube.

Arena Match

Alright Aideen, do your thing!

Looking back on it, I should've just called it quits here, and had Jamka fight a match or two without the Elite Ring. But instead, I wasted about 12 minutes rigging Aideen a victory. But crunching the numbers now, skipping Keimos would not have made a darn bit of difference in terms of what Jamka's final level would have been in Chapter 5. Sigh...

Verdane Castle Town

Promotion, Arena Cleared, +10 Levels, +5 HP, +8 Mag, +4 Spd, +4 Skl, +4 Lck, +3 Def, +1 Res!

Eh, that sounds about right. This was back in the days where even the magicians had trouble growing Res, so that Res growth is about average for her.

Anyways, Jamka gets money from Aideen and buys the Iron Bow as a temporary replacement. Then once he gets to Hertzog, he's able to buy back the Killer Bow again. After that, well, he stomps just as much as you'd expect.

+6 Levels, +5 HP, +4 Str, +1 Spd, +2 Lck, +2 Def!

Actually that's pretty good for his growths. Good Str and Def growths at any rate! Also, Lex gets his promotion as well!

Promotion

Now, let's see what everyone ELSE got this chapter!

Arena Cleared, +6 Levels, +6 HP, +3 Str (capped), +2 Mag, +3 Skl, +3 Spd, +1 Lck, +3 Def!

Arena Rank 4, +1 Level, +1 HP, +1 Mag!

Promotion, Arena Rank 7, +9 Levels, +9 HP, +7 Str, +1 Skl, +4 Spd, +10 Def, +4 Res!

Arena Cleared, +13 Levels, +6 Str, +6 Skl, +3 Spd, +1 Lck, +10 Def!

Arena Rank 1, +3 Levels, +3 HP, +1 Skl, +1 Spd, +1 Def, +1 Res!

Arena Rank 4, +1 Level, +1 HP!

N/A

Arena Cleared, +3 Levels, +3 HP, +1 Mag, +2 Skl, +2 Spd, +1 Lck, +1 Def!

Arena Rank 1, +1 Level, +1 HP!

Arena Cleared, +2 Levels, +2 HP, +1 Str, +2 Skl, +1 Spd, +2 Lck, +2 Def!

Arena Rank 7, +2 Levels, +1 HP, +1 Skl, +1 Lck, +1 Def!

Arena Rank 7, +4 Levels, +3 HP, +2 Skl, +1 Spd, +2 Def!

Yeah, unfortunately, neither Beo nor Alec could get past Keimos, and that's because...

...

.......wait.......

:wth:

SYYLLLLLLLLLLVIAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

Well it's no wonder Alec didn't get the Speed gains he needed for Keimos! Him and Beo needed at least 14 Speed to double him, but between Clement putting him to sleep and Sylvia slapping the crud outta him, the guy was doomed from the start! Dunno what Beo's excuse is though

.

Speaking of Beo, he can actually talk to Lachesis, so here's that conversation (and yes, it uses Aideen's theme).

Aideen & Lana's theme

Beowulf: Er… sorry. Beowulf’s the name. I’m just a mercenary, ma’am.

Lachesis: So what do you want?

Beowulf: Uh… I just came to tell you this is for real out here. This ain’t no fun’n games. And you inexperienced types ain’t makin’ things easy for the rest of us. Besides, this ain’t no place for a princess. Why don’t you get on back to your castle?

Lachesis: Where do you get off speaking to me like that!? What I do out here is no business of yours!

Beowulf: Heh heh… tough little cookie, ain’t ya. Remind me a bit of Eltshan.

Lachesis: Wait! You know my brother?

Beowulf: Sure do. We go way back. Don’t mean t’be so nosy, but he asked me t’check up on ya.

Lachesis: Oh, I didn’t realise. I’m sorry.

Beowulf: S’alright. Eltshan also asked me t’teach you a bit about warfare. How ’bout it?

Lachesis: That’d be great!

Awesome! And we even got 100 Love Points out of that deal too! Evidently, "Friends w/Eltshan + Blonde Hair + Horse + Sword User = Perfect Eltshan Clone". Though if he's friends with Eltshan...then just where the heck was he when Elty was getting kidnapped? Heck, where was he when Eltshan was looking for people to guard Lachesis? Guess Holyn's not the only one with motivation issues

...

Anyways, now Fury has a conversation with Sigurd.

Recruitment

Fury with Sigurd:

Fury: I’m Fury, a Silesian knight. I’m responsible for Prince Levin’s welfare, so I’ll be joining you.

Sigurd: …Prince Levin? What are you talking about?

Fury: Prince Levin is the successor to the throne of Silesia. He has inherited special powers as he is a descendant of Sety, the Wind Crusader.

Sigurd: Levin’s the prince of Silesia? Heh… I thought there was something different about him. So why is he parading around as a bard?

Fury: Well, that’s a bit of a story, and I’m not the one to tell it. Can we let that rest for now?

Sigurd: Sure. I’ve got plenty of other things to worry about anyway. Fury, having a Pegasus Knight on our side would sure help out. You care to do a little fighting?

Fury: No problem!

Speaking of Fury and Lachesis, here's some boss convos with Shagaal...

Shagaal vs. Fury

Shagaal: Mwahaha, it's you...finally realised the truth, did you? You stupid woman.

Fury: Shagaal! You lied to me...I cannot forgive you! Prepare yourself!

Shagaal vs. Lachesis

Shagaal: Hey, aren't you Eltshan's sister? How dare you rise up against me!

Lachesis: You're not MY king! Return my brother to me this instant!

Alright Shagaal, let's put you to bed.

Chapter 2: Disturbance in Agustria

So here's something funny. Sigurd can attack from close AND long range with the Light Sword. So if you use the Charge option...

You'll attack him from close range, meaning that the Light Sword will count as a physical attack, and target Shagaal's Defense, with it's default stats (12 Might, 70 Hit, and 5 Wt if you've forgotten). But if you use the Attack option...

You'll attack from 2 spaces away, and the Lightning Sword will instead act as a Lightning Tome, and will count as a magic attack instead. Because of that, it will target Shagaal's Resistance with 14 Might, 90 Hit, and 5 Wt.

Miniboss

I dunno man, you're not looking too good. All the color's already gone out of your face.

I'll take your Libro Staff though.

Victory is Near

There we go, at long last. I have to say, when I said that this Chapter was long, I didn't expect it to take several MONTHS to complete

! Oh, and of course, the following happens if Deirdre died at any point...

Victory 2

And that's the scene. No really, that's all they say. For star-crossed lovers, these two really don't have a lot to say to each other. Moving swiftly on...

Eve: It’s a magical bracelet called the Knight Ring. It bestows repeated movement on the wearer. I’m sure it’ll come in handy. Take care of yourself!

If anyone has completed Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword, you'll recall that one of the chapters required you to keep three green NPC's alive in order to get an optional bonus chapter, as well as a cool monetary reward. Well, this is exactly like that. If you kept Eve, Eva, and Alva alive for all this time (and yes, that includes not letting Nodion get conquered, I tried), you get the Knight Ring, which allows foot units to remove, just like horsemen.

Personally, I never found it that helpful as an item, but it IS really important for one reason. You can sell this thing for 20,000G, which is more than enough to solve all of Beo and Lachesis's monetary troubles! Besides, it gives us another item to help Dew horde more gold!

Oifaye: Sir, word is that King Shagaal was badly wounded, and he’s receiving medical attention by a priest of his royal staff.

Sigurd: I heard someone pulled him from the battlefield, but who was it?

Eltshan: I don’t care what he’s done. He’s still my master, and I can’t sit back and let him die.

...AAAAAAAWKAAAAARD.

Sigurd: Eltshan!? You’re not hurt! What a relief! I heard you’d been captured. We’ve been looking for you.

Eltshan: Yeah, I managed somehow. Sigurd, what’s going on here? Your army has gained control of the capital city, and I hear that Grandbell has dispatched officials to each of our castles. You’re treating us just like we were a tributary state. Did Grandbell take occupation of Agustria while I was away!? Your answer better be good, Sigurd!

Sigurd: I know, Eltshan. It doesn’t make any sense to me either. But, you aside, all of the lords of Agustria suddenly became hostile towards Grandbell. For the time being, I’ve been ordered to stay put so as to maintain public order. Eltshan, please… Just give me one year. By then the peace should be restored as well as Grandbell’s and Agustria’s relationship. And then we’ll leave Agustria. Our king has given me his word on this.

...I...think it's a little late for that. Agustria was the nation that STARTED this thing in the first place, and Shagaal even violated the Anti-War Pact in order to make it happen. So now that WE'RE the ones who came out on top...I can't see Grandbell being content to just leave it at that. And that's not even getting into the fact that Shagaal's still in charge

.

Eltshan: Hmm… Really? Well, I’ll take your word for it. Okay. You’ve got one year. Until then, I’ll be up north at Madino Castle protecting my lord. I’ve also got the Cross Knights stationed up at Fort Silvail. If it came to it, I could take you out in a moment’s notice… Sigurd, you break your promise and you can count on that! You got me!?

Sigurd: Of course! I give you my word. Eltshan, trust me!

So here's something to think about. Sigurd keeps saying “King Azmur said this” and “King Azmur promised that”...but, what does that mean exactly? The game explicitly said, in it's very first narration section, that Azmur had left most of the governing to other people. The game said that he had grown too old to really keep up with everything, so he left the actual ruling up to Prince Kurth...

...Who is now dead, according to Manfloy and Co. He was assassinated on the way home from the war with Isaach, which we apparently won. So hopefully, that would mean that Lord Ring, Lord Bryon, and Lord Claude are also coming back, and not just Lord Reptor and Lord Langbart...

So who exactly IS holding the reigns now? Lord Alvis maybe? The guy IS commanding the Royal Guard at Barhara after all...but, Manfloy just said that Alvis has “consented to his proposal”, so...so what's going to happen there? If Prince Kurth really HAS been killed by the Dark Sect, nobody at Grandbell seems to know it yet, so how's that all going to pan out? Because if the reigns of power end up going to Alvis, Reptor, or Langbart, then...what would that mean in terms of carrying out King Azmur's promises to Agustria?

...ergh...

….uh....

WANNA SEE HOW MANY KILLS THE LIGHT SWORD HAS?! Cuz yeah, that's a lot! Sigurd got this near the start of Chapter 2, and he's already killed 38 guys with it! This is Fionordequester, signing out! Have a nice day, and God bless you all!

AAAA RANKED RUN STATS

Time Taken This Update: ~1 hour, 33 minutes, and 48 seconds.

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: ~5 hours, 58 minutes and 6 seconds.

Turns Taken This Update: 12 Turns

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 106 Turns

Levels Gained This Update: 65 Levels (Now you see the power of the Elite Ring)

Total Levels Gained: 194 Levels

Things I Regret on This Section: I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

Total Things I Regret: In the Prologue, I regret the fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue.

In Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue.

On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

Translation Tidbits (including a few I missed last update):

Creative Liberty #10 (C2): Sylvia's flirtatious dialogue was toned down slightly in her conversations with both Sigurd and Alec. Not by much, because she still promises to show Alec a dance that is "ah, V-E-R-Y special!", but a little bit.

Essentially, she keeps saying that the army's full of "borin' old stiffs", which to me implies that she's not just a promiscuously dressed 14 year old, but a promiscuously dressed 14 year old who keeps hitting on older men. Fortunately, Jay & Boo drop that line, with Sylvia just calling Sigurd a "moron" instead. And then with her talk with Alec, she doesn't even say that much. She just essentially says "Man, finally SOMEONE notices me! I tell ya!"

So, I appreciate that.

Creative Liberty #11 (C2): Speaking of Alec and Sylvia, that whole conversation in general is translated pretty liberally. The overall meaning of it is still the same (Alec's hitting on Sylvia, and Sylvia still says that he'll show him a "special" dance), but the wording differs much more than usual from the original script. For reference, the original script goes something like this...

Alec: Hey, you're Sylvia right? Excuse me for saying so, but DAAANG, you're SMOKIN'!

Sylvia: Really?! Ha! And here I was thinkin' this army was just full of nothin' but stiff n' borin' ol' military types! About time someone noticed me!

Alec: Oh really now? Guess that'd make me the only decent guy here eh? Glad I found ya!

Sylvia: Thanks! Me too!

Alec: Yeah. So uh, I'm thinking we're gonna be here a while, so you wanna grab something to eat sometime, maybe hang out?

Sylvia: Absolutely! Maybe I'll even dance for ya! I got somethin' special that ain't NO ONE'S ever seen! It's kinda embarrasing though, cuz it's VERY special. But maybe I can show you!

Alec: A-Alright! Now that I GOTTA see!

Creative Liberty #12 (C2): When Fury agress to "polish up her style a bit" by watching the other babes, Levin doesn't tell her to "stop being so damn guillable". Instead, he just tells her to "loosen up a bit", though he still tells her that she doesn't have to change anything about herself. I was originally going to chalk this up to another mistranslation...

But thinking about it further, Jay & Boo's interpretation actually makes more sense, especially since Levin JUST got done chiding her for being so easily duped by Shagaal [we're using old patch names in my LP]. It makes sense then, that he'd harp on that point even further after she took him so literally.

Creative Liberty #13 (C2): Remember how Shagaal's opening statement is "Grrr"? Turns out, that was a bowlderization of the original script, where he literally says, "S***!". No, seriously, he uses the actual, literal word for "poop". So this here is probably one of the few instances where the fan translation actually takes swearing OUT of the game, rather than cramming in as much as they can...

Which is awesome...though also kind of odd, since they were ok with Sigurd saying that he was going to go "hunting those b******s down" in the Prologue. And also Gerrard calling DiMaggio a "worthless piece of cr**" in the Prologue. Not sure then how THOSE got through, but not Shagaal saying "POO!"...

Creative Liberty #14 (C2): Sigurd's line when talking to Sylvia. Here, he says "Now what's she...Geez...I'm never going to get rid of her!" In the original script, he just says something like "Uggh, this is just great". Just a small line change that I rather liked.

Mistranslation #15 (C2): Shagaal order for Zyne to "Stop his nitpicking and go!" is obviously not correct. The word Shagaal used CAN actually mean "nitpicking", but it can also mean "whining", which is most likely what was intended...

Still, I actually do kind of find the mistranslation charming in it's own way. Like, Shagaal is basically on the edge of a nervous breakdown before Manfloy shows up again, right? Considering his personality, it makes sense then that he'd be saying something like "SHUT UP! St-stop your, your....NITPICKING, and GO ALREADY!!!"

Of course, I'm guessing that wasn't intentional so much as it was Jay & Boo being tone-deaf again, but...still, happy accidents and all that

.

Mistranslation #16 (C2): Well, ok, not TECHNICALLY a mistranslation really, more like poor wording. I'm talking about the way Shagaal reacts to Manfloy's plan to use Eltshan to save his own skin. Basically, looking at the Japanese script, you get the impression that Shagaal's not going along with it just because he HAS to. No, he actually thinks that their plan is like, the most brilliant plan in the world. Yet, in the patch, the lack of exclamation marks gives the impression that he's just kind of going like "Wha-, Eltshan? Ok sure, whatever, let's go use him."

Kind of too bad really. To paraphrase Amielleon (one of BookofHolsety's greatest proofreaders), it really says something about Shagaal that he'll through Eldie in the dungeon and laugh in his face one moment, and then so shortly after be like, "You're right!! He can save me!! Yaay!!!! Brilliant plan. I'm brilliant."

Which is why Manfloy's immediate reaction is ":stare:...Wow. You're an idiot."

Mistranslation #17 (C2): Manfloy seems awfully unsure about whether or not Alvis will keep silent about his Loptian blood, doesn't he? But, actually he's not. It's another one of those sentences that's somewhat hard to translate, but most likely what he's actually saying is something like...

"Could a man as proud as Alvis bear to meet such an end?"

So the actual statement is more like "Alvis has Loptian blood. And if that ever got out, he would be burned at the stake, and go down in history as the 'spawn' of the Dark Lord himself. Now, I ask you, could someone as proud as him ever bear to meet such a miserable end? I think not."

Mistranslation #18 (C2): Sigurd wonders who saved Shagaal's life here, but there's a bit more bite to it in the original script. Basically, there's an adverb at the beginning of one of those sentences, "いったい", that translates to something like "What the heck?", or "What in the world", or "Who in the world"...things like that. So Sigurd's line is more like "I heard someone rescue him, but who in the world would do THAT?"

Which is actually really funny, considering that Eltshan picks that EXACT moment to walk in and say "Uh, excuse me? That was me, thank you."

Fionordequester · Sat Aug 29, 2020 3:07 pm

Glorious Grandbell

Hello fellow Grandbellians, and welcome back to Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4! Last chapter, King Shagaal kidnapped Eltshan, so we rescued him by burning the whole bloody thing down to the ground! Eltshan wasn't too happy about that, so we promised him that we'd leave after a year or so, and then everything would be RIGHT back to where it was! Will things actually turn out that way? Find out, TODAY!

Keeping his word with Eltshan, Sigurd did not pursue him.

Rather too bad he didn't really. Imagine what would've happened if the U.S. went to all that trouble to beat Nazi Germany, and then just plopped Hitler right back on his throne again. That's why most countries tend to get rid of the guy who waged war on them

.

While the troops rested at Agusty Castle, Sigurd worked to fulfill his promise to Eltshan. He persisted in negotiations aimed to return administrative control back to Agusty. However, the directive from Barhara to ‘maintain a presence’, and ‘govern the people’, never changed.

Of course, most countries throughout history weren't quite as...evangelistic about things as we try to be, so "getting rid of the guy" usually involved killing his/her entire family, as well as anyone who was even distantly related to him/her. For example, this was done by the Bolsheviks when they overthrew the Russian government in 1918. Those were the guys who started the Soviet Union by the way.

In a half year’s time, the officials dispatched to Agustria became exceedingly reckless, and began to abuse the power they were entrusted with. The discontent of the Agustrian people slowly began to take root. Before long, a new conflict arose giving Sigurd great cause for concern.

That is kind of a plothole in this game though. As demonstrated above, not everyone's like Sigurd, and we only need to look as far as Lord Reptor and Lord Langbart to prove it. Plus, there was that whole situation with Shanan and Aira in Chapter 1, as well as this excerpt from the Fire Emblem: Treasure book...

At the time, in war, any men in the enemy’s royal family, even children, were to be executed. The better case for women would be slavery, and the usual case was to be raped and murdered. Maricle of course did not want his son Shannan, nor his kawaii (in this context it doesn’t suggest anything other than brotherly love) sister [so, "his beloved sister", basically], to go through such a thing. He knew that if he said to take care of Shannan, his competetive sister would not be able to say no. As Maricle thought, Ayra had no choice but to take Shannan and escape the battlefield, and her country.

So, there you go.

Shagaal had been arranging a military force at Madino poised to challenge Sigurd in an attempt to regain control of the capitol at Agusty.

With all that, I have to ask, "why the H.F.I.L. is Shagaal still being allowed to run around like this"? Obviously this is better than killing his entire family, but you'd think they'd at least deal with him in some way. Sigurd's just a soldier after all. If Mr. Azmur were to give the command, he'd have no choice but to carry it out.

Meanwhile the notorious Orgahil Pirates north of Madino positioned themselves to take advantage of the ensuing chaos.

Crud.......we're going to have to fight THOSE guys too, aren't we?

The ensuing conflict weighed heavily on Sigurd’s heart.

In addition, Eltshan had troops stationed at Silvail Fort southwest of Madino. The battle on the horizon was gearing up to be a true test of one’s friendship and loyalty. All of Sigurd’s attention was now focused on the looming threat at the northern reaches of Agustria… one that could very well change the course of history.

Pfeh, "change the course of history". They say that practically every chapter, I wouldn't pay that any mind :cheeky:.

Enemy Message 2

Eltshan the Lionheart

This is gonna be a sad chapter isn't it

?

Shagaal: Alright, prepare to advance. This is our last chance to take back Agusty! Look at them… making themselves at home in MY country! I can only be pushed so far. They’re going to pay dearly for this! Jacoban! Where’s my swordsman… Jacoban!?

And of course, Shagaal's hiring mercenaries ONCE AGAIN to help him out. Because Voltz and Co. did such a great job last time

...

:mmmhmm:

Pro tip: Anyone who goes around yelling about his "Thunder Sword" is probably not going to get better results than your entire army from last chapter.

Crisis 1

Eltshan: Now I’ll have to postpone my return to the capital! Aaah… I can’t fight Sigurd. What to do… what to do…

Well, you've got some Agustrian blood in you. Major Hezul blood in fact. If you were to take your knights and perform a coup, nobody would probably mind. No dictator can do anything without his military backing him up after all.

Pirate Army

Actually, speaking of military insurrections...

Dobarl: I reckon th’ villages’ll be ours fer th’ takin’. We couldn’t lay a hand on ’em with th’ Agustrian army always ’round, but now it’ll be a cinch!

Briggid: Dobarl, enough! I won’t allow any such nonsense! I’ve got a creed to uphold, and pilfering is no part of it. We Orgahill Pirates are known for giving to the poor, not taking from them!

Here's Beavis and Butthead again...

Pizarl: That woman? She ain’t th’ late cap’n’s daughter, I’ll have ya know. The capn picked ‘er up when she was a wee lit’le t’ing and raised ‘er here on this island. But no one ‘as told ‘er. So she t’inks she’s runnin’ t’ings. T’is nothin’ t’worry ’bout, mate. Well, ‘nough said. Let’s go a treasure huntin’!

Give the artists credit for one thing, at least they actually bothered to recolor them this time

.

Crisis 1

Sigurd: Eltshan... what in the world is going on...

Oifaye: And in the midst of all this, the Orgahill Pirates have begun to move.

Sigurd: Really? Well, we’ve no choice. Prepare to attack!

Sigurd: Someone has to stay behind with our baby boy.

Deirdre: …Yes, I know.

Sigurd: Deirdre, don’t be so down… I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can! Shanan, help me out. I need you to look after Deirdre and Celice.

Sigurd: Don’t you worry. This isn’t forever.

Deirdre: Sigurd…

Shanan's the little kid from Chapter 1 btw. The Isaachian prince that Aira had to protect. Turns out, "being kind to your enemies" can have it's own set of perks

.

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

Alright, so let's see what we're dealing with here...

UPDATE FROM AUGUST 6, 2016: Actually, no, let's not do that yet, because I want to talk about Lachesis. See these two losers below?

They're the first two Chapter 3 Arena enemies, and they are utterly trivialized by the Prayer Sword. But more importantly, beating them gives 2500G, which gives Lachesis JUST enough to do what I want to do with her in Chapter 4. I missed this step, and had to gameshark 2500G into her inventory as a result; don't repeat my mistake. You CAN still execute the Chapter 4 strat without the 2500G...but it's much messier to do so, because it involves some unneeded finnagling with the Chapter 4 Arena enemies. Just so you know!

Ok, NOW let's see what we're dealing with here...

Sigh, this Chapter...this chapter is deceptively hard, at least as far as an AAAA Ranked Run is concerned. The enemies themselves are fairly weak, scattered, and easy to deal with, but the map itself is extremely wide and open, and we have several objectives we want to achieve, all while blazing our way through the map. What this means is that we have the following objectives...

1) Seize Madino by Turn 5

2) Seize Silvail by Turn 12-13 or so (I don't remember off-hand)

3) Seize Orgahil by Turn 19 or so (don't remember off-hand)

That by itself isn't too bad, since Sigurd is so OP now. But, here's the thing. We also have to...

1) Save all the villages from the pirates, when they're scattered all over the map.

2) Decide who gets what village

3) Get Ethlin to Level 30 while moving her around the map.

4) Decide whether or not stuff like the Ichaval and Wind Sword are worth getting, and whether or not it's worth putting Claude and Tiltyu through the Arena when you recruit them.

In other words, there's just a lot to think about, especially since the map is so wide and open compared to most of the others. Admittedly, I probably didn't need to blaze through the map so fast since turn counts are so limited, but, one of the things I promised in this thread was a run that was efficient as well as easy, so I'm sticking to that. So, without further adieu, here's the gameplay.

Firstly, Ethlin's going to be hogging the Elite Ring for a bit, so we'll want to have as many people as we can to go through the Arena.

First up is Alec, who's still got the Elite Ring on. And after beating the first two opponents, we get, THIS, OUR PROMOTION!!

Promotion

Aw, no more funny faces...

Arena Match

Oh well, at least he managed to beat up Dyuma. That guy's only at Rank 5, but, well...the Rank 6 guy is kind of a monster.

Guy's name is Keller, and with 64 HP, 19 Str, 14 Skl, 14 Spd, and 15 Def, the guy's actually stronger than Zyne himself was, AND he's got the Hero Lance! I mean, I COULD win with Alec, and actually, I was originally planning on doing just that...

But after going back over Chapters 3-5, I've just discovered a fabulous new trick for leveling up all of our sword users to max, WITHOUT having to clear all of the Arenas. Because of that...

Arena Rank 6, +2 Levels, +1 HP, +1 Str, +1 Skl, +1 Spd, +1 Lck, +1 Def!

Arena Rank 6, +4 Levels, +3 HP, +2 Str, +1 Skl!

Arena Rank 6, +3 Levels, +3 HP, +2 Str, +2 Skl, +1 Res!

Arena Completed, +5 Levels, +4 HP, +1 Str, +1 Mag, +3 Skl!

I'm just not going to bother with many of the weaker sword units. Aira on the other hand, well, she's just in a league of her own

. One more thing though,

We've also got this guy to deal with. Most of our physical units can beat him, but he makes things just about impossible for our poor magic users. Even LEVIN can't beat him!

+2 Levels, +2 HP, +1 Skl, +2 Spd, +1 Lck, +2 Res!

So, that's about all he gets this chapter

. Speaking of minimal EXP. Gain...

I had Deirdre beat the first two Arena opponents, but that was only for the sake of more money to give to Sigurd. For actually getting Deirdre up to Level 30, I just had her use the Live Staff twice. She's so insanely high leveled at this point, that she literally gets nothing from some of the enemies here, so this is easier and more efficient.

Agustria Castle Town

After that, I have Deirdre give Sigurd as much as she can since she's sitting out for this Chapter. Now then, onto the next person, Fin. Unfortunately, Fin's really fallen behind at this point, so he's going to need an edge...

There we go.

Arena Match

There, now he's doing well! But, he's going to have to fight Dyuma next, so save your game...

And hope that Dyuma doesn't kill you. The way Fin's HP is, Dyuma's Hit is radically reduced, but not eliminated, so that's scary.

But you know who's scarier? Keller, and he'll most likely kill you. Hence, it's time to sell back our stuff...

And then get killed by Keller.

White Magic

After that, Lachesis heals him. Next turn, his HP will be high enough to survive a hit from Keller, but low enough that he gets a 100% Prayer boost from it. Number manipulation

!

Arena Match

Oh yeah, and Midir gets killed too, by the very first guy in the Arena...Yeah, he's not going to be doing too much for us in the future :cheeky:.

Now after buying Alec an Iron Lance, I send him off with Beo to rescue these villages here.

Yeah, there's no way we're going to get to these before those guys do, so it's important to be able to OHKO these guys for added Gold and time saving. That's why I got Alec the Iron Lance. With that, he has JUST enough Attack to ORKO both of these guys. And then Beo can collect one of them so that he can buy the Elite Ring afterwards.

Alright, your turn Jamka.

I could've had Jamka save a few uses of the Killer Bow for the weaker guys, save a bit of money repairing it...but, I don't think that's necessary. In any case, Jamka owns the Arena, as always.

+4 Levels, +4 HP, +2 Str, +1 Skl, +2 Lck, +3 Def!

Alright, I think that's everyone. Time to finally get this show on the road!

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

Right back atchya Aideen

! Now...

First, Cuan gets his Hero Lance back. It may seem odd that I threw the Hero Lance at Fin only to only have him get to Rank 6 with it, but, I think I just happened to have enough money to throw around to make it happen. Plus, without it, he might've lost to one of the earlier opponents, affecting how much time he got with the Elite Ring...still, that's a strat that could probably be examined if you wish.

Regardless, Ethlin's going to need the Elite Ring now, and THAT is NOT negotiable! After all...

It's going to be a bit of a crunch getting Ethlin to level fast enough as to not waste more than a few turns. Because of that, I decided to have her beat the first three Arena dudes while she was still at Level 9.

And then had her Repair her Return Staff to full. Seems an obvious move, but I'm forgetful enough that this caused me to have to re-record at least 27 minutes of footage >_> ...

Also, here's a new strat. Turns out, we actually ARE going to be training Azel after all! So here's Dew giving Azel the maximum amount of gold he can carry

!

Now then, Fury buys some stuff and flies to rescue the northwestern villages...

And now for a little Talk!

Conversation 2

Geez, you’re really the friendly type.

Look, I’m busy. If you don’t need me, I’m leaving.

Hold on. I got my hands on something you might be interested in.

I don’t need any souvenirs. Give it to one of the other girls.

Heheh… So you’ve no use for this either?

Whoa! Where did you get that!?

The infamous Hero Sword? So I take it you’ve heard of them before.

Ergh, Lex? I'm pretty sure you mean the famous Hero Sword? “Infamous” implies that it has a BAD reputation, not a good one

.

This is… a Hero Sword!? It’s fantastic!

You like it, huh? It’s yours. Take it.

Ah, wait a sec! Lex!

(Lex leaves)

Lex…

Hooray, new Hero Sword for Sigurd!

…

Oh c,mon, like you REALLY thought I was gonna waste it on Aira

. Oh, btw, Holyn has a convo with her too.

Conversation 2

Aaaand he starts off by immediately getting her name wrong. Smooth move buddy, smooth move.

Why me? You should be using this.

I’ve a feeling things are going to get nasty here soon. Besides, anyone who fights like you could use a couple extra swords. Keep yourself well protected. I may not always be here to defend you.

Holyn, thank you. I’ll cherish this sword!

Rather interesting dynamic there to compare to Lex x Aira. Evidently she feels more comfortable around him, a fellow Isaachian, than she does around Lex, a guy from the nation that just subdued her home country. I know he hasn't actually told her about his heritage yet, but most likely she could at least tell by his appearance that he's her same race. Just an interesting thought I had.

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

And now the plan. Snag a quick level for Ethlin,

Assemble a whole bunch of guys while leaving a space between Aira and Ethlin, which'll leave room for Sylvia...

To refresh them both. And with that done, Ethlin...

Can warp Aira back, that way she...

Can sell her Hero Sword to Sigurd, who will then turn it into yet ANOTHER 100 Kill weapon.

Agustria Army

And that's the turn. Can our interpred heroes stomp King Shagaal down before it's too late? Will we be able to avoid conflict with Eltshan? Or will fate finally succeed in tearing down their friendship once and for all? Find out, NEXT TIME, on Let's Max Rank FE4! Have a nice day, and God bless you!

AAAA RANKED RUN STATS

Time Taken This Update: ~31 minutes, and 30 seconds.

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: ~6 hours, 29 minutes and 36 seconds.

Turns Taken This Update: 1 Turn

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 107 Turns

Levels Gained This Update: 27 Levels (Ethlin gained 3, Fin gained 4)

Total Levels Gained: 221 Levels

Things I Regret on This Section: I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

Total Things I Regret: In the Prologue, I regret the fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue.

In Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue.

On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

On Chapter 3, I regret not having Lachesis beat up the first two Arena opponents. I ended up having to shark in 2500G for her in Chapter 4 to show what I wanted to show.

Fionordequester · Sat Aug 29, 2020 3:09 pm

Agustria Army

Hello fellow conquistadors. Welcome to Let's Max Rank FE4! Last time, King Shagaal waged war on us yet again, and we just got done with our first turn.

Now let's see what happens on Enemy Phase...

Pirate Army

Alright...I guess the armor knights were the only guys who felt like doing anything (no seriously, those five guys were the only ones who actually did anything).

Yes, pirates can actually walk on Oceans, as it turns out. Thing is though, they can only go 1 square per turn unless there happens to be land within 2 squares of where they started. Because of that, it honestly doesn't help them that much.

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

And there we go. Boy, that sure was a doozy of an enemy phase. I don't know HOW I'm going to respond to that!

Arena Match

No seriously, that's literal all that happened. The game gives you so much time to prepare for everything in this Chapter that AAAA Ranking really is the only way to squeeze much challenge from most of this Chapter. Also, here's a trick.

Have Aideen run through the Arena, get killed by someone, and bam, instant Live Staff EXP for Deirdre.

Agustria Castle Town
And there you have it. She's ALLL ready to do all the Warping she needs! Not that we're doing that this update, but still.

Anyways, that's it for Aideen as far as Chapter 3 combat goes. Because now, we've got to get Azel set up like so...

Yeah, you all know how I said way back when that Azel wouldn't be worth bothering with? Well, that's changed. I've found an amazing new strat in Chapter 5, one that made it so that I DON'T have to grind Ardan up in this Chapter like I thought I would. As a result, Azel is now free to be babied as much as he needs to be. Ain't that somethin' :daw:?

Now, speaking of training up the lightweights...

Arena Match

Fin's still got some unfinished business with Keller, so...

There we go. 100% Evade Boost w/Prayer = Total domination!

Course, then he just gets murdered by Torton, who's...basically just Keller with a Hero Axe. So, we're gonna have to rig a Prayer for him too.

I would've preferred it if Fin had been able to keep the Elite Ring, but, well, that's life. Besides, he'll still hit Level 30 by the time the game ends if I calculated things right, so, it's no skin off my nose.

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

More general positioning exhibited here, as well as more staff grinding for Ethlin (btw, just assume I'm doing that twice very turn. I don't like making the updates longer than they need to be).

Also, Lex heads up here in order to kill...

This guy here on Enemy Phase. Sigurd, being the manly man that he is, doesn't need to worry about these guys. However, Ethlin is not so lucky, so Lex is going to be clearing the way for her.

Back to Sigurd though, MAKE ABSOLUTE SURE that you move him to THIS EXACT SPOT on Turn 2! If you don't, you're going to lose a turn! Just letting you all know!

And this'd be the end of my Player Phase, with all of these guys heading off to rescue their respective villages.

Agustria Army

Will this Enemy Phase be more eventful than the last one?

Well, one of the Agustrians actually attacked someone this time, so that's something.

Course, then the Nomads decide to just do nothing, since they're programmed to not move until Turn 3. But hey, progess!

Pirate Army

Then the Agustrians end their turn by having the armor knights pester Beo and Alec. Fortunately, they don't really do much damage.

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

Then, after the Orgahill pirates run around a bit more, we now come back to Player Phase!

First off, both our side groups do the same thing they did last turn....

Sylvia and Ethlin keep doing their thang.

And Deirdre achieves her last level!

Level Cap Reached, +1 HP, +1 Str!

Yeah, kind of an empty level. But then, Deirdre's not seeing any combat anyway, so we still come out ahead.

Anyway, Midir's headed off to assist Ethlin in Returning some more. In fact, just assume that any mounted unit who gets Returned to the castle is going to immediately come running after Ethlin again, alright guys? Got it?

Good. Now for the most important stuff.

These nomads are going to attack now, so Lex has gotta get out of the way while still being in range of all of the armors.

And then Sigurd has to move to this EXACT spot here, with the Light Sword equipped. That'll fry everyone but the Nomad Captain, and Sigurd won't even have to waste a turn.

Now we gotta be careful about this guy's attack range. Dude has anywhere from 28 Attack to 30 depending on what weapon he's using, so he's gonna do a metric ton of damage to Ethlin and Sylvia if we let him.

So as irritating as it is, I had to hold both of the women back, just for this turn.

Agustria Army

Alright, let's see what happens.

Enemy Attack

Well, Lex manages to wipe out the two remaining Armors...

However, that Captain is going to be something of a nuisance if Lex doesn't succeed in killing him next turn. Fortunately for us though...

The nomads...

Don't have quite the same luck.

Oh, also, these guys start moving.

…

What, you didn't know they were there? Cuz yeah, they totally are

.

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

Man, this Chapter...

Player Attack

I know if I can handle this much excitement...

I mean, it's just so hard...

I don't know HOW I'm going to keep avoiding these guys!

Zyne, Philip, Voltz, Clement, and all those other, officially trained soldiers who made up the military elite of Agustria?

Pushovers, all of em'.

I mean come on, how can anyone possibly compare to these champions?

+1 HP, +1 Str, +1 Def!

It just can't be done!

Why, if I don't watch out, these guys could take me out at a moments notice!

Alright, so being serious again, Sigurd...doesn't NEED to be in this exact spot...but it's the only one where he's going to be guaranteed to reach Jacoban on the next turn.

And after he's done n' dusted, Ethlin'll want to be in this exact spot here in order to warp Sigurd back. And yes, she's safe from enemy fire.

Agustria Army

Speaking of which...

This is why it was so important to move Sigurd in all of the exact ways I moved him. If he stands in this specific spot on Turn 4, it will force the mage to expose Jacoban by doing what he did in this screenshot. The mages here are programmed to wait until the physical attackers have already taken their turn. However, they're also programmed to attack from 2 Range instead of 1 Range, and furthermore, none of the enemies in this game are allowed to Wait directly in front of their own castles. What this means, then, is that this mage was forced to abandon his post, exposing Jacoban in the process.

It's a pretty neat trick that I found in a TAS I found on Nico Nico...but, there is a caveat to it. Sigurd only BARELY has enough Move to take advantage of this by Turn 4, even provided that he uses the Roads optimally. That's why it was important for me to be so exact in how I moved him. For that matter, it's also why he needed that Hero Sword immediately. It's the only way he can be guaranteed to kill both the armors and Jacoban

Btw, here's why I needed to have Lex take out the trash earlier. Just so you know

.

OH HAI AGUSTRIANS!

Bye!

Well ok, to be fair, Cuan has to move this guy in order to move to this spot here. There's gonna be a whole squad of Javelin throwing horsemen coming out of Silvail next turn, so Cuan's gonna be there to soften em' up a little with his own ranged capabilities.

And then Alec finally gets rid of the other northeast pirate. There'll be more next update, but none of them will be able to touch anymore villages, so that's nice

.

Anyway, since ol' Beo has nothing better to do, how about we get him some social interaction?

Oh hai Filat. How are you today?

I’m much obliged to ya. Please accept this magical staff on my behalf. It’s called the Rest Staff. It can heal any bouts of Sleep or Silence. I’m sure it’ll be of use to ya.

Ergh, I'm fairly sure you meant to say “Restore Staff”...but eh, close enough. And yes, I'll take the money thank you

!

Speaking of money, Fury's already putting that Thief Sword to good use. Turns out, pirates are fricken LOADED in this game, and there's gonna be a lot more for Fury to steal from in the immediate future!

Alright Jacoban, you ready to rumble?

Miniboss

Ergh, I'd tell you off for getting my name wrong...

But something tells me that's not gonna matter all that much. Oh, by the way, what was that you said at the beginning? “Anyone that gets in my face is gettin’ my Thunder Sword”?

Welp, ya got me there. Truly your prophetic gifts were without peer.

Victory 1

Now then, let's see that dialogue.

Sigurd: Eltshan’s Cross Knights are all that’s left of Agustria’s military might… If they’d just lower their swords, this’d all be over with.

But as Sigurd says that...

Yeesh, you're gonna follow that “!?” up with a period!? Is that the way you want to write that? Interesting choice of grammar I'd say.

Music change...

Decision 1

Claude: Someone murdered Prince Kurth while he was returning from the Isaac campaign.

Sigurd: Somebody what!? Who would do such a thing?

Claude: Well, Lord Bryon was always seen at Prince Kurth’s side. But since the murder, he’s disappeared. I hate to say this, but…

Oh no, don't you dare...

Claude: There’s suspicion that your father committed the murder.

Well...shoot. That's uh, definitely a turn for the worse.

Sigurd: What!? That’s inconceivable!

Claude: There are all kinds of nasty rumours cropping up in Grandbell. The most prevalent one is that you and Lord Bryon conspired to kill the prince. His Majesty’s became so overwhelmed by it all that he’s fallen terribly ill.

Remember, this guy's old. The opening made a point of that, so he's not exactly equipped for handling both this AND the death of his son

...

Sigurd: Kurth confided in my father for everything. What could my father gain from his death!? What about the two dukes who opposed the prince, Reptor and Langbart? I’d suspect them.

Claude: I also thought so, but there’s no evidence on either one of them. And the Reptor faction currently has control of the Royal Court.

Sigurd: How about His Majesty’s aide, Lord Alvis? What does he make of all of this?

Claude: I’m not sure. I don’t think he’s bitter towards you, but I can’t say he’s on your side either.

Plus, there's the fact that Manfloy's gonna try and get him to have a son with Deirdre. That might make things awkward too.

Sigurd: Is that right? Geez… my poor father. Aagh! I wish I could go straight home, but I have orders from His Majesty to guard this area. Claude, what should I do?

Claude: I’m currently on my way to Blagi Tower. It’s on the island just northwest of here. I’m of Blagi descent. If I pray at our holy tower, the truth will be revealed to me. I plan to tell His Majesty all my findings. Sir Sigurd, you’ve nothing to worry about.

AND THEN A GIRL SHOWS UP!!

Yeah Claude, enough of your jabberin'. Let's talk about something IMPORTANT for a change

.

Sigurd: …But you’re Duke Reptor’s daughter, right?

Tiltyu: Look, all that fightin’ stuff’s beyond me. Besides, I’m in love with the priest, you see!

Oddly enough, this really isn't something that's going to be important at any time later. She's the daughter of one of the main antagonists and yet...nobody really seems to make anything of it. No suspicions of what she might be up to, no apprehension about her hanging around with us...heck, they don't even take the time to talk to her about what she may or may not know. Kind of weird, that.

Claude: I hope we can return to the homeland together.

Sigurd: Me too, Claude. Thank you so much for everything!

And there we go...boy, that sure was a lot to have happen. Anyways though, we're going to want to...

Deirdre's theme

Oh, wait, hold on. Looks like there's more.

Deirdre: That’s why I need ask you to watch over him.

Shanan: No way! I can’t look after a baby all by myself.

Deirdre: Please… I’ll be right back. Would you just do this for me, Shanan? Please?

Shanan: Yeah… alright. Whatever, I’ll do it. But you better be back quick!

Deirdre: Thank you, Shanan. Celice, I’m sorry, babe. Mummy’ll be right back, ‘k?

Well, alright. I'd tell her “it's dangerous to go alone”, but, I suppose Sigurd's gonna need the support of his loving wife if he's going to...

Loputousu Sect

….OH!! Ergh, hi Manfloy...

Deirdre: Huh? Who are you? And how do you know my mother’s name?

Manfloy: Heh heh heh… Prepare for your rebirth. Once we erase all your memories, we shall introduce you to your new husband. There’s no use fighting it. This is destined to be.

Deirdre: W, what… are you d-d-doing? St, stop it!! Aghhh… S, Sig… urd…

And that's...uh...well uh...yeah. That happened.

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

So ergh, I guess we just gotta get Sigurd warped back home so he can be ready for action.

And then we can do some item maintenance/movement with Ethlin as well. Also...

Holyn needs to money too, so I had Aideen send him on over to Madino, that way he can get some Gold at one of the villages. And finally...

Lachesis is going to have a job to do next update, so I had her go northwest as far as she can. Alright, next Enemy Phase...let's see what happens.

Crisis 2

Oh, great, it's this guy again. The guy was supposed to be at Madino, but evidently he managed to escape after we had taken out Jacoban. I don't know how, but somehow he did.

Shagaal: Aha! You are teaming up with the enemy to overthrow Agustria!

Eltshan: Your Majesty! How could you say that!?

Shagaal: You got a problem with that? My father’d be so disappointed with you. A true knight doesn’t sneak around stalling for time!

Eltshan: You’re not even listening to me! Look, I… hmph. Okay, I’ll get my men ready. I’ll let you know I’m proud to be a Holy Knight of Agustria. If I’m to die, I’ll die fighting. Your Majesty, please watch over Silvail while I’m gone.

Eltshan: I cannot begin to tell you what your years of loyalty has meant to me… This battle will determine the fate of our nation. Give it all you’ve got. Cross Knights, ATTACK!!

Come on man, we just lost Deirdre. Don't make us lose YOU too...

Agustria Army

Shagaal: I’m taking command here! The rest of you strengthen your defense of the castle!

Man, poor Sigurd just can't catch a break today, can he?

Can Sigurd find the strength to carry on in the face of the enormous cataclysms coming his way? Will Deirdre be ok? And will Alvis cast his lot in on the side of justice? Or will he turn out to be as cold and hard as he appears? Will Manfloy and Shagaal ever be punished for their atrocities? And how are we going to deal with this situation with Eltshan? Find out, on the next EXPLOSIVE episodes, of Let's Max Rank FE4!

This is Fionordequester, signing out. God bless you all, and here's to hoping you have a better day than Sigurd's having right now, because holy cow did things go downhill this update

...

AAAA RANKED RUN STATS

Time Taken This Update: ~22 minutes, and 8 seconds.

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: ~6 hours, 51 minutes and 44 seconds.

Turns Taken This Update: 4 Turns

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 111 Turns

Levels Gained This Update: 7 Levels (Ethlin gained 4, Aideen gained 1)

Total Levels Gained: 228 Levels

Things I Regret on This Section: I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

Total Things I Regret: In the Prologue, I regret the fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue.

In Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue.

On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

On Chapter 3, I regret not having Lachesis beat up the first two Arena opponents. I ended up having to shark in 2500G for her in Chapter 4 to show what I wanted to show. But most importantly, I shouldn't have sold Deirdre's Aura tome! I'll bet she TOTALLY could've kicked Manfloy's butt, if ONLY I hadn't taken that away

!!

Fionordequester · Sat Aug 29, 2020 3:10 pm

Agustria Army

Hello fellow brothers-in-arms! Welcome to Let's Max Rank FE4! Last time...well, a lot of stuff happened actually. We conquered Madino, Sigurd's wife got kidnapped, he AND his father are now being accused of murder...and now one of his very best friends, Eltshan, is throwing himself onto the chopping block. Can Sigurd's day POSSIBLY get any worse? Find out, TODAY!

Well, I dunno, but Cuan at least is doing well. But...dang, 1 Damage? How weak are these guys?! And, weren't they pretty strong in Chapter 1? Are these not the same guys, or...

Oh! Huh, they HAVE gotten weaker, haven't they? Not by a lot, sure, but now I just wonder if Eltshan himself has gotten any...

DAAAAANGG DUDE!! HOLY COW, HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING OUT?!? Man, I guess. Between getting himself kidnapped, and having his own best friend subjugate his country, the guy must've decided to start training like an ANIMAL since we saw him last. That, or he has the same Frost Demon genes that Lachesis has, I dunno. Craziness I tell ya...

Oh, and those FIVE Leadership stars he's got? That means he gives a passive 40% boost to Evasion and Hit to everyone within three squares of him, even himself. So actually, his “156 Hit” and “37 Evade” turns into “196 Hit” and “77 Evade”. And if all THAT wasn't bad enough...

You've also got a whole squad of Javelin wielding horse riders to deal with. Canto + 9 Move + Range Advantage is just about impossible for even the studliest of foot units to deal with. So, you have to wittle them down slowly but surely with guys like Alec, Levin, or whoever else you have on hand. Then, once you've done away with all of his men, then you can find a way to neutralize Eltshan (and there IS a special way of neutralizing him) once you've cleared the way. So basically, Eltshan isn't someone you're supposed to be able to beat in a head to head fight. You're expected to use strategy to beat him and his men. You have to find a way to slowly pick off his men one by one, exposing your strongest ranged fighters to as many men as they can handle without dying.

Or, you can take advantage of a quirk in their A.I., and draw them AWAY from the path to Silvail. Then, once you've done that...

You can have Sigurd and Co. sneak in like ninjas, knock Shagaal off his throne, seize his castle, and then automatically get rid of Eltshan and everyone else that way. This is what's employed in 0% growth runs because of the way the Cross Knights are programmed.

Unlike most enemy groups, who are designed to capture your castles above all else, THESE guys are programmed only to go after the nearest playable character on the map, even if they happen to be in the exact opposite direction. The only way these guys will ever try to capture your castle is if one of them just HAPPENS to be in range of it on their next phase. Other than that, you're safe.

So by either exploiting a quirk in the A.I., or by putting your masterful strategic prowess to work, you can overcome this...INCREDIBLE challenge. You can go forth into the rest of the game, wearing your victory as a badge of honor. You fought one of the game's hardest boss groups, and lived. If you are skilled, are good enough, and DETERMINED enough, you can pull all this off and more...

…

:mmmhmm: :mmmhmm: :mmmhmm:

Player Attack

Orrrrrrr you could just shove a bunch of EXP into Cuan and Sigurd, give em a 1-2 Weapon, and watch them just beat the snot out of almost everyone, all while no-selling every attack that comes there way. Cuz you know, that's an option too

.

A NOTE FROM OUR SPONSORS: Due to an undesirably high re-run/original content ratio, the network has been seeking to enhance it's productivity. To this end, we have ceased our support of the Level Up Screen channels in favor of a more streamlined experience. All total level ups will be pushed back to the END of the program instead. We apologize for the inconvenience; now back to the show.

It's rather a good thing we got Cuan to em' when we did; his Defense is now EXACTLY equal to the Cross Knights Attack w/Javelin. That would normally mean that they'd just ignore him; but since Cuan got that point of Defense in the MIDDLE of the EP (Enemy Phase), rather than before it started, the A.I hasn't really caught on yet. I love A.I exploits

...

Now let's get started

General movement Feng Shui for both Fury and Cuan. I don't want Fury to aggro the Cross Knights, and Cuan's kind of run out of things to do now that Elthan's minions are too afraid to fight him. Speaking of minions, wanna see how Cuan's apprentice is doing?

Arena Match

OH YEAH!! Now Fin has all the Gold and EXP that he's going to be needing for the future. He's going to be gone by the end of this Chapter, and he won't be returning until Chapter 7. Once he does, I intend to get him started off right!

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

In the meantime though, we got other scrubs who need a kick starter, like Azel here.

And as long as we're doing that, we may as well cover his travel expenses for him.

Do not be fooled by this screenshot; Holyn's getting both villages, not Azel. The latter's just here to cut his teeth on the roaving bandits here

.

Meanwhile, Ethlin sends Sylvia back to Agusty with this cool new visual image I just thought of!

Ethlin's ALSO leaving at the end of the Chapter, and we got more Return bots to warp back before she hits Level 30; best get a move on there I'd say. Meanwhile, back at home base...

Lachesis actually has a conversation that we can activate with Eltshan, though I won't spoil what the two say to each other. Until then, just know that this is the time where she ought to be headed toward him.

As for Sigurd, he also need to get a move on. But first:

Arena Match

A quick stint into the Arena just for this one fight. That way, we refill his HP while not giving him too much EXP; otherwise, his Defense will ALSO grow too high for the A.I to want to bother with him.

And off they go, with the help of our dear LLLAAADY SYLLLVIAAA!

Speaking of ladies, we're building up love points here. Now let's get to the...

...action...

…

Dang, “conservation of Ninjitsu” really hit the Cross Knights hard, didn't it? Now let's get started with OUR tur-....

Crisis 2

!!!

Sigurd: I still have every intention of handing over Agusty. Please, I just need a little more time!

Eltshan: ...Sigurd, I've heard enough. It's just you and I on the battlefield now. Two knights fighting with grace and honour. But I'm not about to fall with the Mistoltin at my side...'Til death!

For as much as I harp on Eltshan's stupidity and obstinancy, I do like the little ellipses at the beginning of the sentence. It's like he KNOWS that Sigurd's going to honor his word if Shagaal'd just let him, and that fighting him is stupid. It is one of those things that bothers me about what seems to be (or at least, was) the Japanese understanding of “honor”; that unswerving devotion to “honor” that seems to be present in a lot of these kinds of fictional characters. The intent is probably to make the audience go “aww, look at how wonderful this man is”...

However, TO ME, it just strikes me as a convenient way to avoid having to take responsibility for your actions, and an easy excuse for not having to question what it means to be a knight. “Because my lord told me so” seems like a pretty flimsy excuse for cutting down your own childhood friend, and I say that as someone who has made my devotion to Jesus Christ the centerpiece of my life.

Of course, that's my own limited outlook on the situation, as someone who's never even been to Japan before, and relies almost exclusively on 3rd-hand knowledge on what the beliefs of their general population are. Anyway...Cuan's got Holy Blood in him...and hey, wasn't he ALSO a part of that pact that Sigurd and Eltshan made with each other? Yeah, they were ALL best buds back in the day; I wonder if Eltshan has anything to say to him?

Eltshan’s New Battle Theme

Eltshan: If you don't wish to become it's prey, then don't come anywhere near me...

Apparently not...missed opportunity, that. Oh well, let's just see how well-

AYE BASURA!! WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?!? WWOOOWWWWW!!! HAVE MERCY, HAVE MERCY!!

No, don't go, DON'T GO! I neeed you-

Eltshan: As knights, however, this is our fate. There is nothing that either of us can do about it.

Sigurd: W, wait! Eltshan!!

Yeah, this guy...is not a pushover. Seriously, he's literally got a 38% chance of critting anyone he fights; with how this game's crits work, coupled with that 52 Attack, he basically has the touch of death. And unlike Raiden, Sigurd has not been lucky enough to get himself a super-awesome sword to counter that.

Well...actually he COULD win if he's got the Hero Sword, and has hit his Strength cap. Let Eltshan be the first one to attack him, and hope that Sigurd can survive long enough to land at least three shots on him. Then, you might, MIGHT be able to kill him on Player Phase; or, Sigurd could just whiff an attack and get counter-killed in return. That's what happens when you need to land 5 out of 6 attacks on a 77% hit chance. And if you do manage it, you get this conversation in the next turn.

Time of Sadness 2 (Game Over...)

Oifaye: We must stay focused on King Eltshan's of returning peace to Agustria.

That's the game-over theme playing, btw. That same track plays when Sigurd dies, so...yeah; you could say a part of him died right there. We don't want that so, let's try another tact...

Let's see if Lachesis can talk some sense into him, shall we?

Conversation 1

“I don't know what the heck I was doing with SIGURD'S army for 9 months, but yeah, stop this senseless violence!”

Lachesis: You can't fight Sir Sigurd! Is betraying one's friends a part of the honour of being a knight!? Eltshan, please! (sob..) Trust him! Can't you hold off your attack just a little bit longer?

Eltshan: Lachesis.....I don't want to see you cry, but I have no other way out of this! If Shagaal is defeated, Agustria will fall as well.

Lachesis: That's not true! If Shagaal withdrew his troops, Sir Sigurd would also back out of this. Please, talk with King Shagaal. He can't ignore the commander of the Cross Knights.

Eltshan: ...Okay...I'll give it one more shot. I'd rather risk my life for my friend than this crazy war. That is the way of the knight. Lachesis, this sword is for you.

Lachesis: Isn't this the Earth Sword!? Eltshan, I can't take this from you!

Eltshan: Lachesis, keep it as a memento from me...just in case. Now you be careful!

...

Yeah. Another interesting thing I'd like to note about the whole honor thing; it actually seems like Japan itself is wrestling with that exact topic. It seems to me that, as the years have gone by, there have been more and more fictional characters like Tidus, Lachesis, and Naruto; characters who's whole thing seems to be rejecting the status quo. They all seem to invariably be immature and loudmouthed; and yet, they still end up getting to be the main character.

Heck, maybe that's why a lot of JRPG's also tend to use ridiculously young teenagers to make up the bulk of their main cast, rather than guys like Kenshiro (main character of “Fist of the North Star”). I suspect that that's all a part of a larger cultural shift that's going on in Japan, just like what the U.S. had from the 50's until now...

But again, I'm no expert. So if anyone happens to know a lot about Japan, I'd be absolutely delighted to hear your thoughts on that. Now back to the game...

Crisis 2

Can Eltshan manage to make it outta this war with his life?!

Eltshan: You will get Agusty back someday. I'm certain of it.

Shagaal: Elsthan, you imbecile! Now what are you babbling about!? I knew it! You ARE in cahoots with the enemy! Somebody! Seize this traitor! Off with his head! We'll make an example out of him!

Nope, guess not

...

Eltshan: I should've known this wouldn't go well. This will mark the end of Agustria too I'm afraid...

Shagaal: You contriving little fool! Take his head off right here!

Eltshan: Lachesis...

Aaand he...Just kind of stands there and lets it happen, I guess. I mean, Eltshan's THE commander of THE most powerful military branch in the ENTIRE NATION, and even wields a holy weapon... but I guess he just wasn't feeling it this time.

Oh well. I guess Camus archetypes just don't have a lot of luck in this series

… Anyway, the Earth Sword is actually a fairly cool, if situational, weapon. It casts the Resire spell from 2 Range, a 14MT, 12 WT spell that will drain HP from whoever it hits. When you hit someone for 29 Damage, you'll be healed by that same amount! The only thing is, this sword costs 10,000G for only 10 uses; you're essentially throwing 1000G away for every time you hit someone with it.

Sadly, none of Eltshan's other cronies are doing any better, nor are they any smarter than their commander. Even that lone straggler will still attack us, so he's going down next turn.

I wonder if the Villagers have anything to say about this...

Oh yeah, the Orgahil Pirates. Those guys are certainly...a thing.

/And to think we trusted that leader of theirs, Brigid whats-her-face!

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

Some of you have probably forgot who Brigid was, so I'll help you out there. Brigid was this girl here...

Brigid: Dobarl, enough! I won’t allow any such nonsense! I’ve got a creed to uphold, and pilfering is no part of it. We Orgahill Pirates are known for giving to the poor, not taking from them!

So she's basically a female Jamka. Will she join our side at some point, or will she fall on her sword like Eltshan did? Who knows?

For now though, we're gonna help make life easier for both her and us by getting Dew over here to steal some Gold.

Beo's not taking any from the village over there by the way; we're saving that for Levin.

Alright, one last village! Let's see what they have to say!

Every war, one side always ends up hirin' 'em. They's the most ruthless killin' machine 'round...like a pack of hyenas feastin' on a fresh kill.

Wow, guess we better watch out for THOSE gu-

Thracia Army

Oh, ok. Lil' too late for THAT I guess; though I do wonder why Shagaal waited until NOW to pull this...

Shagaal: Hmph. Maybe these mercenaries I hired will do more for me than those other imbeciles. Alright. You know what to do!

Yes, “imbeciles”; like the fricken holy weapon user you had on your side, the SAME guy who ALSO happened to be the military commander of the strongest military branch in your entire country...or, you know, those OTHER TWO MERCENARIES YOU HIRED?!? Voltz and Jacoban?!?

This guy is one of THE stupidest Fire Emblem villains in the entire franchise; that's just all there is to it.

Oh well. At least Shagaal's employing another unit type; a FLYING one no less!

Papilion: Set your sights on Grandbell's army, and give it to 'em as severely as you please. Let the name of Thracia echo across the land!

And here they come; let's hope they're not as pathetic as Fury's band was in Chapter 2, NEXT TIME, on let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4: Genealogy of the Holy War! Can Sigurd and co. save Agustria from an untimely end? Or has it's fate been sealed already? Have a nice day, and God bless you all! The next update should come tomorrow!

AAAA RANKED RUN STATS

Time Taken This Update: ~14 minutes, and 10 seconds.

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: ~7 hours, 5 minutes and 54 seconds.

Turns Taken This Update: 3 Turns

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 114 Turns

Levels Gained This Update:8 Levels (Sylvia's Dancing for Ethlin, so Ethlin's getting lots of levels)

Total Levels Gained: 236 Levels

Things I Regret on This Section: I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

Total Things I Regret: In the Prologue, I regret the fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue.

In Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue.

On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

On Chapter 3, I regret not having Lachesis beat up the first two Arena opponents. I ended up having to shark in 2500G for her in Chapter 4 to show what I wanted to show. But most importantly, I shouldn't have sold Deirdre's Aura tome! I'll bet she TOTALLY could've kicked Manfloy's butt, if ONLY I hadn't taken that away

!!

Level 25-26: 58 > 59 HP, 25 Str, 2 (7) Magic, 22 Skl, 20 Spd, 15 Lck, 17 (22) Def, 4 (9) Res!

Level 21-22: 52 > 53 HP, 23 Str, 1 Mag, 17 Skl, 15 > 16 Spd, 6 Lck, 22 > 23 Def, 3 Res!

Level 13-14: 40 > 41 HP, 13 Str, 1 Mag, 14 Skl, 13 Spd, 15 Lck, 9 Def, 0 > 1 Res!

Level 15-18: 38 > 40 HP, 7 Str, 10 > 11 Mag, 15 Skl, 16 > 17 Spd, 9 > 10 Lck, 5 > 7 Def, 8 Res!

Level 21-23: 40 > 42 HP, 4 Str, 23 Mag, 14 > 15 Skl, 14 Spd, 20 Lck, 4 > 5 Def, 12 Res!

Fionordequester · Sat Aug 29, 2020 3:12 pm

Hello fellow widow makers! Welcome to another episode of Let's Play FE4! Last time, Eltshan...died...and now some long-haired nut and his boy Papilion are leading a squadron of winged dragons down upon our heads. So let's see what we can do, shall we?

Player Attack

For starters, Cuan kills the very last Cross Knight before heading back to Agusty; we won't be needing him for much else after this.

In other news, his wife has recently achieved Level 20, so she'll be promoting next turn. Wheee!

Levin's gonna go and get some gold.

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

GOLD!! GOLD FOR EVERYONE!

Whoa. Glad yeh came! I got a sword fer yeh in ‘preciation. It’s magical. We call ‘er th’ Wing Clipper. It’ll spell death fer anythin’ in th’ air. If yeh can’t use ‘er, yeh can still sell ‘er.

Nothing too useful, but it sells for a good mint.

Agustria Army

And now all our ducks are in a row. Still not a blasted thing these guys can really do...

And another one bites the dust :cheeky:.

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

Oh, and guess what! This village gives a +3 Str boost to whoever visits it! Just about any of our lower tier units would have made good use of it, but I figured that it would help Fury the most. Girl relies almost exclusively on Crits, Evade, and RNG after all.

So glad to see yeh! Why’ncha help ye’self to a sip of our village’s secret formula? Go ahead… get in. Whaddya think? Feel a little power swellin’ in yeh veins? Makes work feel like kids play!

Speaking of power swelling within the veins of women...

Check out DESE guns!

Promotion

A NOTE FROM OUR SPONSORS: Due to issues of time and money, our budget has been slashed. Transparency effects will NO LONGER BE USED in the making of Promotions; instead of two GIFs with Transparency enabled, our viewers will have one GIF without them. Thank you for your understanding; now back to the show.

Arena Match

Ethlin's much buffer now, so I had her beat up Dyuma before she could get higher higher leveled. No EXP goes to waste n' all that...

Nothing much else goes on with our side-characters, aside from more romantic smooching between our destined pairings so...

Agustria Army

Sigurd murders more people on Enemy Phase. But...

Sigurd's gotten a bit dinged up on his way to Shagaal. The guy was a pansy in Chapter 2, but now...

Well, he's gotten a lot better since his time in the world of sepia-tone.

Seriously, the guy's no joke in this Chapter; Sigurd can take a hit from him, but that won't leave him with much HP left for taking care of the other guys flying toward him.

He'll just have to content himself with a stay at the village; we'll be solving his HP woes soon, but now is not the time.

Player Attack

Dew steals more money, and Azel gains yet more EXP. As for Levin, well...

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

He is also doing quite well for himself

.

King Eltshan’s hand picked Cross Knights are second to none on the face of this continent. Actually, my boyfriend is one of ’em! Pretty cool, huh?

If you already conquered Silvail before talking to her:

(sigh…) My boyfriend was killed in this cursed war. This is all Grandbell’s… No! This is all King Shagaal’s fault!!

Credit where credit is due, she's showing an admirable amount of self-restraint. Blaming the king rather than blaming the people who actually killed him shows some real strength of character

...

Ergh, ANYWAAAAY...here's a nice Jealousy formation for those following my playthrough. Umm....

Thracia Army

Enemy Attack

Man Sigurd, just how many guys have you killed anyway? I know you're a good guy and all, but...dude.

Not that these guys would have lived long anyway. Seriously, 23 Attack? C,mon guys, what would your captain thi-

Miniboss

Oh...well, ok, guess that's not really relevant then. Don't know what all the Transparency layer is in charge of, but I didn't think turning it off would make people into Peter Pan

...

But yeah, the Live Ring is one of the most important items in the entire game! One of Deirdre's only strengths as a unit was her ability to recover 4-10 HP per turn; and now, Sigurd has that exact same ability! Because he clearly wasn't broken enough already.

Speaking of broken...

Yeah, we gotta fix that. But for now, we have more story time.

Thracia Army

Trabant: Farewell, King Shagaal...y'fool.

And when he goes...

All the other guys go bye bye as well.

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

Oh, ok then, let's go and make him even more broken; why not?

Yeh came fer us! Blessed be! Have a sip of this here potion, an’ yer defence’ll go up a bit.

Now, an exercise in money management.

I only need about 7 more Return Staff charges to get Ethlin to Level 30, if I let her have the Elite Ring the whole time. But, if I do that, that's going to waste a few turns; and I also know that she's guaranteed to need 5 charges for moving people around after I've conquered Silesia. So, instead of rigging the RNG so that Sigurd beats Shagaal immediately, I'm content with letting Sigurd recover to up to 30 HP while Ethlin gets to Level 28 and 50 EXP. 150 EXP is how much Ethlin gets from 5 Return Staff charges after selling the Elite Ring, so we want to get her up to that before knocking Shagaal down once and for all.

Fateful Showdown

For reference, the above boss theme was what was SUPPOSED to play for the fight against Eltshan and Shagaal; so it's basically the boss theme used for especially "epic" encounters. So here are his miscellaneous battle quotes...

Regular Battle Quote:

Shagaal: What… how dare you!? I am the king of Agustria, you disrespectful maggots! Crap… I’ll make you pay for this!!

Lachesis vs. Shagaal:

Shagaal: Heheheh… you’re too late. Eltshan’s already dead.

Lachesis: It’s your fault that my brother… This is unforgivable…

And now for the MAIN EVENT!!

Now I NEED to let Shagaal attack first this time; that way, Sigurd can regenerate more health on Player Phase before finishing Shagaal off.

Shagaal’s New Battle Theme

And now, the main event! The grudge match of the CENTURYYYYYYY!!

Sigurd: You're a despicable person!

Shagaal: Idiot! You don't know what you're talking about! Die, Sigurd!!

Yeah, this is why I decided to let Shagaal attack first; this is actually a surprisingly close match-up when Sigurd has been injured as badly as he has.

SIGURD! PUT EM' DOWN FOR THE COUNT!!

It's over...it's finally over...at long last. Farewell Shagaal...and farewell MG Rising OST

...

Man, rough couple a' days for Sigurd, huh?

Victory is Near

Actually, we've hit our item cap now! Can't be carrying more than 7 items, so I decided to store the Barrier Ring for now.

Now let's see if there's a light at the end of this tunnel, shall we?

Victory 2

Oifaye: Also, um… Shanan’s here. He must have had a good reason to leave Agusty. He says he needs to speak with you.

Sigurd: What’s up? You’re crying. What happened!?

Shanan: Deirdre left the castle and never came back. She said she was going to see you! I’m sorry! I promised you I’d watch out for her…

Sigurd: What? Deirdre left!? And what about Celice?

Shanan: He’s with me. See? He’s right here. But Deirdre…

Sigurd: Shanan, don’t worry. This isn’t your fault. I’m going to find her.

Shanan: But I shouldn’t have let her go. Im so sorry, Sigurd!

Mission...complete?

Yeah, that's one thing the game does really well; shifting tone. Just think back to the Prologue, at how simple things used to be. It was as stock as you could get; a beautiful damsel gets kidnapped by some filthy jungle men or something; cue a veritable parade of lords and ladies kicking butt and taking names. When Sigurd won, Sigurd well and truly won; there was not hint of doom and gloom or anything when he killed Gerrard at the end. The obvious good guys are the obvious good guys, and the obvious bad guys are the obvious bad guys.

Cue Chapter 1, and it's mostly the same...except, now the Dark Sect is a thing, and it turns out those "filthy jungle men" weren't actually the true villains. They were just pawns in a far more sinister scheme. And, get this...Sigurd's having to fight some people who DON'T deserve to die; Aira's nephew is being held hostage, and Jamka's fighting only for the sake of King Imuka. But it's all good! Sigurd worked his way around those issues, and got both those people on his side! No innocent blood was spilled by his hand THAT day! Still, it would have been nice if he had been able to rescue King Imuka, even if he DID otherwise achieve everything he set out to do.

Chapter 2...ok, so now we're not just fighting bad guys; no, we're also fighting some rather nice guys too. Philip the indomitable General...the wise and intelligent Clement...the wide-eyed woman named Fury...and who could ever forget Zyne the paladin? These are all very good soldiers, and this time, only one of them is spared the edge of the sword. All the flowers are being yanked out too, not just the weeds! B-but that's alright, right guys?! I mean, we still rescued Eltshan...that's something, right? Sure there was collateral damage...but that's not so bad; none of them were actually named NPC's or anything. They were just red shirts, not someone important like Eltshan. Most gamers probably wouldn't even notice that things are starting to get a bit darker, so long as nobody they care about di-

...

Oh, right...Chapter 3. Guess what? A named NPC DOES die here...and his name is Eltshan. And I remind you, he was the WHOLE FRICKEN REASON WE EVER WENT THROUGH CHAPTER 2 TO BEGIN WITH!! Oh sure, technically he was under orders from Grandbell to hold Verdane, but let's not kid ourselves; he was only there for Eltshan. So what have we really accomplished here? Sigurd's right; everything we did in Agusty was for nothing!

Things are slowly getting less and less innocent as the game goes on; even the number of conversions per chapter are a reflection of this. We get:

2 former enemies to join us in Chapter 1

1 former enemy to join us in Chapter 2

0 former enemies to join us in Chapter 3.

So that's depressing. But, nothing we can do about that now, so let's see how our other guys are doing.

I put Ethlin here so she could enter the castle after this Talk.

Manster Palace

Oh great; this isn't one of those "I have a bad feeling" moments, is it? Cuz if you end up jinxing us...hoo man, will you be sorry...

Ethlin: Here.

Cuan: Ah! The Gae Bolg? How did you get it!?

Ethlin: Your father gave it to me. He wanted me to give it to you if things got too out of hand.

Cuan: Boy, I’m going to clean up shop with this! So… why did you wait until now?

Ethlin: Well, your father told me a bit about its history. I’m sorry, Cuan…

Cuan: The legend of the Gae Bolg… It’s a sad story, but it’s nothing more than legend.

Ethlin: Yeah, but…

Cuan: Ethlin, trust me. Anyway, this battle’s about over with. We can soon return to Lenster. We have to get back to our little Altenna.

Ethlin: Yes, we do. Cuan, no matter what happens, we’ll never be apart, right?

Cuan: Huh? You must be worried about Deirdre. But we’ll find her soon.

Ethlin: Yeah, I want to think so, too. But…

Cuan: Ethlin? Why are you crying? You think something bad’s going to happen?

Ethlin: I’m just… It’s so sad to think those two may never see each other again. They were so much in love. How could such a horrible thing happen to them!?

Cuan: Ethlin…

Yeesh, drama queen much? Pfft, the Holy Weapon we got isn't even that great either...

I mean ok, 30 MT, +10 Str, and +10 Def is kinda cool...

But c,mon! 15 WT and 70 Hit? That's a direct downgrade from most basic lances, 12 WT and 80 Hit! I mean, it's still neat, but as far as Holy Weapons go...yeah, we got much better to look forward to.

Arena Match

Anyway, Fury's got some Arena fighting to do, and she needs to sell everything but her Steel Sword to afford the Elite Ring. It's just for wo fights though; after that, she can simply switch to the Uber Slim Sword.

But she still has to bow out after beating Dyuma (Rank 5) though; Keller is still a complete jerk with that Hero Lance of his, and other people are going to be needing that Uber Slime Sword and Elite Ring.

Fury still has her things to do though; she's lost quite a bit of money from not beating Ranks 6 & 7, so she's flying off to filch some Gold with her Thief Sword.

That's not a problem for Holyn though. Actually, the Rank 7 guy is easier than the Rank 6 guy! Torton's got slightly higher stats, but Axes pretty universally stink in this game; and almost everyone on our team can use swords; rather odd balance to be sure.

Another important money management tip: Don't be fooled by the Gold total you see after every Arena jaunt. If you go only by this, Holyn won't have enough money to buy the Elite Ring for the Chapter 4 Arena; but remember, you get 1000G from every non-home castle that remains intact. Madino and Silvail together make two, and the very last castle doesn't count because we'll never get an opportunity to defend it. So Holyn will get 2000G next chapter.

Even disregarding that, however, he's still got the Iron Blade; so he absolutely does not mind spending a bit of his Gold to fix the Uber Slim Sword.

Alright guys, ready for more story time?

Enemy Message 1 (Verdane's theme)

Haven't heard from these guys in a while, have you? Of course, that's more my fault than anything.

Dobarl: Them Grandbellians’ll attack up this way ‘fore too long. Whaddya reckon?

Briggid: Dobarl! They’re coming because you guys went behind my back and raided the villages! I won’t have this insubordination!

Dobarl: “Hey! Enough from ya! We tried lettin’ ya lead us, but ya too power hungry! I’ve got news for ya sis. Ya ain’t t’late cap’n’s real daughter anyhow. Ya’s jus’ this cryin’ lit’le girl on a ship we attacked. So th’ cap’n decided t’raise ya himself. Then ya grew up ‘n started orderin’ us around. Makes me head hurt jus’ thinkin’ ’bout it!

This whole thing's gotten me curious. I mean, Briggid is going all Robin Hood all the time, but it doesn't sound like her foster dad did things that way. So what, did he just say “eh, whatever” when Briggid started reading her Robin Hood picture books? Or did he encourage her to be a noble bandit? Or maybe he was against it at first, but then had his heart softened by Briggid's kindness? Or was Briggid just forced to tolerate his acts of recalcitrance until he finally passed away?

Either way, I'dve thought he'd be more careful about drumming those thoughts out of her head before putting her in charge of these criminals; did he really not foresee this being a problem?

Briggid: What!? That can’t be…

Dobarl: But we’ve no use fer ya now. I believe t’is dyin’ time fer ya.

Briggid: Hold on! You’re not taking me that easy, you rotten filth!

Pizarl: Aye!

Well! That could've gone better! The heck did she even stay in power for this long anyway? I mean:

1) She's a female, living in a predominantly patriarchal world.
2) Dobarl at least seems to know the truth behind her heritage.
3) By all accounts, she's been forcing the pirates to live the do-gooder's life ever since her old man died!
4) Said life seems to be different from what the previous leader was doing; I don't think the guy would've attacked a ship if he was sticking to that “noble bandit” creed.

Really, the question isn't why they overthrew her; the question is “why did they wait as long as they did”

?

Pirate Army

Oh good, Briggid's actually a strong unit! Really strong! I mean, look at the enemy's stats:

And compare them to hers:

I'll tell ya what, you'd practically have to TRY to get her killed! And in-spite of what I said in earlier updates, I'm not going to be doing that. My original plan for this chapter involved letting Briggid be killed; that way, the enemies chasing her would instead gravitate towards Madino, where the likes of Ardan/Azel would farm them for easy EXP. But, I found a much easier grinding method in Chapter 5; now I won't incur a Loss on my Combat Rank!

Now, that's how things look at the end of Enemy Phase. There are two groups of enemies here; the one with mixed unit types will chase after Briggid, and the other will be charging towards Madino. The latter is far easier to deal with; it consists solely of axe users, and Pizarl's stats and Leadership stars aren't high enough to make up for that. We don't even need Sigurd for those guys! How ARE we going to deal with them? Find out, NEXT TIME, on Let's Play Fire Emble-...

Speak of Legends

...wait, story time's STILL not over? We just beat Shagaal! How much longer IS this chapter?!

Tiltyu: We can’t be messin’ ’round here. If pirates showed up, they’d kill us fer sure.

Claude: I’m coming. By praying to Lord Blagi I’ve learned the truth behind what’s been happening. It’s just as I thought it to be. I also found our family’s Sacred Relic. It’s been missing for some time. The Valkryie Staff. Have a look.

Tiltyu: Huh? This dirty ol’ stick?

Claude: Tiltyu! You had better watch what comes out of your mouth. This staff here? It’s magical and can return life to those who have passed on already. Only one descendant of Saint Blagi can use it, and that’s me.

Tiltyu: Hmm… So can it bring back my sweet grandma?

Claude: Well, no it can’t. You see it has certain limitations, so it won’t work on everyone. You see, we’re all born with this life force. It’s called ‘Aegir’ and…

Tiltyu: Huh? You lost me. You’re (yawn…) puttin’ me t’sleep. Anyway, we don’t got time for that stuff. We gotta get movin’!

Claude: Yes, you’re right. Let’s go.

I'm not sure how easily missable this particular tidbit is, but I believe the rule is this: The Valkyrie Staff can only revive people who had been slain less than a year ago. Anyone dead longer than that will never come, no matter what. Fortunately for us, all of our PC's fall into the former category, so if they die, we can simply bring them back! That's part of why I was originally going to let Briggid get killed, but, whatever; I found a better strategy.

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

But can Claude, Tiltyu, and Briggid all get themselves out of this mess? Will Sigurd have any luck in finding Deirdre? Will his tribulations end soon? Or has he been fated to incur yet more sorrow? Find out, on the next EXPLOSIVE episode of Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4! This is Fionordequester, signing out; have a nice day, and God bless you all!

AAAA RANKED RUN STATS

Time Taken This Update: ~29 minutes and 22 seconds.

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: ~7 hours, 35 minutes and 16 seconds.

Turns Taken This Update: 7 Turns

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 121 Turns

Levels Gained This Update:19 Levels (Sylvia gets a level, because she's dancing for Ethlin)

Total Levels Gained: 255 Levels

Things I Regret on This Section: I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

Total Things I Regret: In the Prologue, I regret the fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue.

In Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue.

On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

On Chapter 3, I regret not having Lachesis beat up the first two Arena opponents. I ended up having to shark in 2500G for her in Chapter 4 to show what I wanted to show. But most importantly, I shouldn't have sold Deirdre's Aura tome! I'll bet she TOTALLY could've kicked Manfloy's butt, if ONLY I hadn't taken that away

!!

Level 5-6: 33 HP, 1 Str, 12 Mag, 7 > 8 Skl, 10 > 11 (16) Spd, 3 > 4 Lck, 2 > 3 Def, 6 Res!

Level 6-7 (fought in the Arena a bit): 35 HP, 9 Str, 0 Mag, 7 Skl, 9 > 10 Spd, 3 > 4 Lck, 8 Def, 0 Res!

Level 18-28: 40 > 48 HP, 7 > 14 Str, 11 > 13 Mag, 15 > 22 Skl, 17 > 22 Spd, 10 > 15 Lck, 7 > 14 Def, 8 > 11 Res!

Level 23-24: 42 HP, 4 Str, 23 Mag, 15 Skl, 13 > 14 Spd, 20 > 21 Lck, 5 Def, 12 Res!

Level 3-4: 30 HP, 3 Str, 1 Mag, 4 Skl, 12 Spd, 6 > 7 Lck, 1 Def, 5 > 6 Res!

Level 14-19: 42 > 47 HP, 15 > 17 Str, 0 Mag, 19 > 22 Skl, 18 > 19 Spd, 3 > 5 Lck, 13 > 14 Def, 1 Res!

Level 9-13: 33 HP, 12 > 15 Str, 1 > 2 Mag, 13 > 14 Skl, 21 > 23 Spd, 7 Lck, 11 > 12 Def, 10 Res!

Fionordequester · Sat Aug 29, 2020 3:34 pm

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

Hiya, fellow Grandbellians, and welcome to Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4! Before we really get into it, let's see how they all function as units!

Agustria Castle Town

Level 12 Sniper (promoted class)

HP: 40 (90%) Spd: 21 (20%)
Str: 20 (30%) Lck: 7 (70%)
Mag: 0 (20%) Def: 14 (20%)
Skl: 22 (30%) Res: 9 (5%)

Move: 6
Weapon Ranks: Bows (*)
Promotion Bonuses: N/A
Items: Steel Bow
Skill: Pursuit
Holy Blood: Major Ulir

Awesome; this woman is just plain awesome. It's not just that her base stats are ludicrously high; she's also going to be getting a Holy Weapon this very chapter, one that gives +10 Str, +10 Spd, and even the Live skill! Unfortunately, said Holy Weapon has 13 WT instead of 8, so Brigid's AS ends up being 18 instead of 23; but it matters not. She still probably won't be outsped by anyone she fights, and she'll be getting 60+ MT with that Holy Weapon in action.

In conclusion, she's not broken the same way Sigurd is, but she's still beats most other foot units. And if I had to compare her to a DBZ character...well, we're kind of running out of strong fighters, so she'd be Pikkon! She's not in the same league as Sigurd, Levin, and Cuan, but she's still pretty clearly above 90% of the other fighters that our heroes have come across.

Level 20 High Priest (promoted class)

HP: 34 (70%) Spd: 15 (30%)
Str: 0 (10%) Lck: 9 (50%)
Mag: 21 (40%) Def: 5 (20%)
Skl: 14 (20%) Res: 20 (50%)

Move: 5
Weapon Ranks: Staves (*), Fire (C), Thunder (C), Wind (C)
Promotion Bonuses: N/A
Items: Reserve Staff, Valkyrie Staff
Skill: None
Holy Blood: Major Blaggi

There's...actually not a whole lot to say about him. He's not great in combat, but his supremacy in staves is more than enough to make up for that. The Reserve staff, for example, is borderline broken; it restores [10 + Caster Magic] to everyone with 10 spaces of the caster! 10 Spaces! That is an absurd amount of range for someone who can restores up to 31 HP at once! The Valkyrie staff is pretty cool too; it revives dead people! It can only be used once before breaking, however; in other words, you have to pay 30,000G for every time you use it. So, it probably won't get much use, especially not in a AAAA ranked playthrough.

But yeah, this guy is an AMAZING support unit, so I guess I'd compare him to the West Supreme Kai! He's got a whole arsenal of amazingly helpful powers, he can do some light fighting, and even his usage in the plot is similar! Just as West Supreme Kai came to Earth to warn our heroes of oncoming dangers, Claude came to Agustria to warn Sigurd of the conspiracy against him and his family. Just...don't expect him to put down any real opponents; the guy's not THAT strong.

Level 3 Thunder Mage

HP: 28 (60%) Spd: 10 (40%)
Str: 0 (10%) Lck: 9 (50%)
Mag: 10 (20%) Def: 1 (10%)
Skl: 15 (60%) Res: 9 (10%)

Move (before Promotion): 5
Move (after Promotion): 6
Weapon Ranks (before Promotion): Thunder (A)
Weapon Ranks (after Promotion): Swords (C), Fire (B), Thunder (A), Wind (B), Staves (B)
Promotion Bonuses: +3 Str, +5 Mag, +6 Spd, +4 Def, +5 Res
Items: Tron, Elthunder
Skill: Wrath (100% chance of critical with every attack, provided that HP is below [(Max HP/2) + 1]) , Continue (promotion only)
Holy Blood: Minor Tordo

Tiltyu...stinks. She just stinks. She's basically just a worse version of Levin; she joins much later, her base stats aren't as high, her growths aren't as high, she has a worse weapon type (7 WT tomes instead of 2 WT), her promoted class is worse than Levin's, and she doesn't even get to use any Holy Weapons! Her only statistical "advantages" (if you can call them that) are higher growths and base stats in Luck and Skill. That's it; aside from that, Wrath is all she's got.

Speaking of Wrath, it's one of those skills that seems really good on paper...until you realize who it's stuck on. Tiltyu is one of the most fragile units in the entire game, right next to Sylvia and Dew; she has enough trouble surviving at full HP! And this game regularly sends 7-8 enemies at you at once; having her walk into Enemy Phase at only half HP is tantamount to suicide! Yes, Tron has 20 MT; yes, that means that Tiltyu can dish out 60 Damage right off the bat...but what is that worth if she can't survive long enough to use it? And how is she going to keep up with Sigurd & Co. with only 5 Move? Even Sylvia can't get her into the action fast enough!

But what really dooms her more than anything is this; Chapter 4 is custom designed to mess her up in every possible way. It is a map where about 50% of the enemies are either wind mages or pegasus knights; if you will recall, Wind has WTA over Thunder. In addition to all of Tiltyu's other problems, she also has to face a -20 Hit and Avoid penalty from many of Chapter 4's enemies. And then, when she's not deal with that, she's having to deal with squads of 8 Move Pegasus knights; ones that can fly over any terrain without penalty! Tiltyu is just about impossible to make viable in an efficiency playthrough...

...

And yet, we have to use her for this one. Why? Because for all her faults, she still gets B Staves at promotion. She can't function in combat, but she is able to Warp Staff spam to Level 30, like Deirdre did. Plus, Wrath does at least make her viable for the Arena, where death isn't permanent. Rolling the dice is all one has to do to get her through against anyone not named Dyuma.

So, I guess she would be Launch. She is a sweet, beautiful, kindhearted, but slightly absent-minded woman who gets very scary when mad; except not really, because she's still not that good compared to the main fighters. Plus, she's very over-protective of her "boyfriend", who shows no interest in her.

Main Playthrough:

I'm sending Beowulf through the Arena, so:

Arena Match

I sell everything aside from his sword; it only takes 40,000G to buy the Elite Ring, but Beo can only beat Ranks 1-5, so he wouldn't make back enough for the next Chapter's Arena without a buffer.

Lex, on the other hand, has no such difficulties! And the Rank 7 enemy isn't too hard for him either; actually, Torton is easier than Keller for most people. He's got slightly higher stats, but that -20 Hit and Avoid penalty hits him really hard against anyone who can use the Uber Slim Sword (i.e., almost every single one of our melee units).

And then you've got fringe cases like Sigurd, who just shrugs it off like it ain't no thang.

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

Now, Ethlin's going to be Returning him to the castle, so let's not have him clog the path.

Alright Cuan, let's see what the Gae Bolg can do!

Arena Match

Yeah, I may have been a bit too hard on the Gae Bolg before. It's not that great as far as HOLY WEAPONS go, but it's still more than enough for most other enemies.

Really, the main issue with the Gae Bolg is it's weight penalty; it weighs 15 WT instead of 12, so Dyuma here actually outspeeds me if I don't use the Hero Lance. Aside from that, it's just a little redundant for my tastes that it's redundant. Yes, gives one super strong hit, but the Hero Lance allows two hits; in other words, you tend to do just as much damage with the Hero Lance as you do with the Gae Bolg. And of course, the Gae Bolg costs 50,000G to repair, while the Hero Lance only costs 8,000G; so really, the Gae Bolg is just underwhelming compared to some of the other Holy Weapons.

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

Anyway, Cuan's done here; actually, he's done for the rest of the game. He's bowing out after the end of Chapter 3, so all that's left is for him to fix the Hero Lance before selling it for Fin's use.

Oh, and he'll also be giving all his money to Ethlin. I want her to buy a Return Ring so she can return after warping Sigurd back. Speaking of which, let's do that now!

There we go. Now let's get Ethlin back too!

Ready yourselves folks, because Azel's finally getting his time to shine. And let's not forget Fin!

He'll be kicking butt soon as well. After that, well:

It's just more movement feng-shui. Fury is gonna steal some gold with the Thief Sword, Brigid's still running for her life, and our two other newbies are getting ready to tackle their own pirates.

Pirate Army

Show me what ya got ya dastards!

Enemy Attack

:kingsley:

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

Ok, that MBandit's annoying me.

Ha ha, nice. But we still got Pizarl's group to deal with, so how about a hand from...

Sigurd, our main man!

Miniboss

Wow, better get out of there!

Uh… or the group of untrained, shoddily armed pirates could launch a full frontal attack on the Granbellian occupation force...who currently outnumber them almost 2 to 1...and came from the strongest military power in the world...

...

Aha! Here's something neat!

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

It really is incredible; every time you think Sigurd can't possibly get any more ridiculous, the game throws something else at him to abuse. Now he's got 12 Move on top of HP Regen and everything else we've given him

.

I...I really don't know what the game designers were thinking with these guys. Pizarl and Dobarl are the final bosses in this chapter, and yet, they're both direct downgrades from every other boss in Chapter 3! Pizarl has 2-10 less points than Shagaal in every single stat across the board, he doesn't have Big Shield, and he doesn't even castle bonuses. In fact, he's the one who has to fight YOUR castle bonus if you choose to fight him that way; just put a speedy sword user on there, and you're basically untouchable! Pizarl is barely even a thread. And then once he's out of the way...

Well, let's just put it this way. See these guys below?

Those are the two kinds of enemies that Pizarl has with him. Now see Ardan?

Remember what his gimmick is? The one that's been hammered into our head since the very beginning of the game? "Strong as an ox, sturdy as a brick wall, [and] slow as a turtle", as bookofholsety's translation put it?

Enemy Attack

Yep, can't hit him. Pizarl's Hand Axe users...cannot hit...Ardan. If Ardan is on that castle...they can't hit him...without Pizarl's 2 Star Leadership bonus. Now, the guys with the Iron Axes might be able to hit him...

...

At 15% Hit chances...for about 8 HP...most of which Ardan will just gain back on the next turn. And then if you REALLY want to be mean :downs:...

Put Sylvia on top of there! She hasn't gained a single point of Speed since we got her, but it's all good; she starts with 12 Spd and 6 Luck at Level 1! This 14 year old girl is more than enough to run circles around an entire band of grown pirates! It's like Home Alone, except more death.

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

"Oh, but Fionordequester', you might say. 'Don't you know? They're supposed to be weak, because you need to hurry up and rescue Brigid, Claude, and Tiltyu. Otherwise they'll DIE out there!" And to that, I would say...

No, no they won't. You SAW how buff Brigid was, and here she is now; choking that point like a champ. The pirates can only move 1 space when inside water, and both her and Tiltyu are more than strong enough to OHKO anyone they fight. Besides that, even the strongest enemy here, the Steel Axe pirate, can only do 13 Damage at a time to Brigid's 40 HP. There is no way that anyone should die unless you somehow forgot about Claude's Reserve staff. It only has 10 uses, but Brigid and Tiltyu would mop them up WELL before Claude ever got close to running out.

So there's no tension! There's no reason to rush unless you're on an AAAA run! The only reason I'm even sending Sigurd and Ethlin at all is for the sake of Returning them; that way, they can fight in the Arena! But otherwise, yeah, both groups are effectively immortal! You've basically already beaten the map! The only way one could lose against them is if they were tactically inept; but if that's the case, then how would they ever get past Eltshan and Shagaal?

Anyway, back to the action itself. Dew and Fury are both going to be stealing some Gold, and Dew's natural Avoid is high enough to wall these enemies. It's so high, in fact, that he needs the Bridge's Avoid penalty just so the enemies don't ignore him :cheeky:.

Pirate Army

NEXT TURN!

...Nothing happens.

Ok then, let's see what the last village has to say to us.

Another war’s broken out? Ugh, not again! We’ve got absolutely nothing to do with Grandbell OR Agustria! If they must fight, they should do it somewhere else.

Ergh...little late for that, isn't it? Sounds like this village should have swapped places with the one that complained about Brigid "betraying" them. Anyway:

Player Attack

Tiltyu kills another guy with Wrath. And then...

I put my grand plan into effect!

Duuude! Look at that EXP gain! Getting Azel up to par is going to be a cinch :rock:!

And there goes Sigurd, riding atop his 12 Move steed. And finally...

I pair Sylvia up with Dew; because remember, I want the two of them to get hitched by the time this generation ends.

Pirate Army

Oh no, whatever shall I do

?

Heh heh. Yeah, at first glance, it seems a little much to have given Azel the Speed Ring, doesn't it? But remember, Azel's also got the Arenas to deal with; we all know how much rougher they play than these guys, don't we? The Speed Ring is more for them than it is for Azel

.

Pictured here: the "Human Down Arrow".

Next Turn!

Y'all ready for dis?

Oh, did I forget to mention? It gives 85 EXP per use too! You better believe I started spamming THIS every turn!

Oh, but before I forget:

Chapter 3: Lion King Eltshan

Aideen doesn't need to warp anymore people to Madino, so she's going to help out with the Jealousy formation.

Fury gets in place, Sigurd and Ethlin charge ever closer. Normally I'd say that "ends my turn" before talking about what happened on enemy phase...

But there's really no point to doing that this time. Brigid tanked, Dew stole, Azel rocked...a lot of these turns are going to be the exact same.

Actually, there's not much to talk about on Player Phase either. Fury finally gets to steal some gold. But aside from that...

There really isn't anything to talk about. Sigurd's arrived on the scene, Ethlin's right behind him, Brigid can't be killed, and as for the kids at Madino...

They're not in the slightest bit of danger either. Dew and Azel basically can't be hit, and Sylvia will only be targetted if someone attacks Azel from his northeast, and then lives to another enemy phase. And of course, the fix to that goes without saying. So fast forward to the next turn...

And it's JUDGEMENT DAY for all our cognitively impaired friends.

Pirate Army

For those wondering what happened, Sigurd had the Hero Sword equipped, that way he could get more kills on it. The archers, however, saw that Sigurd had too much defense for them to hurt, so they went for Brigid instead. She killed them, of course, and then Sigurd...well...Sigurd did what he always does. That lone pirate had a Hand Axe, meaning that he had 0% chance to hit Sigurd. As a result, he was the only one with the good sense to run away.

Oh, and then Sigurd regenerates his HP; because that's totally necessary.

Now then. Sigurd and Fury are just about done here. But before moving on, let's go through some of Brigid's conversations!

Sigurd with Brigid

Recruitment

Sigurd: Well, one of the villagers was telling me about the leader of the Orgahil Pirates and how she’s always helping the poor. That’s you, isn’t it?

Brigid: Ah, I see. You’re Sigurd from Grandbell, right? If you must kill me, go on. Get it over with.

Sigurd: Hahaha! No, no. I merely came to talk to you! We’d like you to team up with us. What do you say?

Brigid: You want me to fight with you!?

Sigurd: Yep, we need you.

Brigid: You’re a strange one…

Uncle Sigurd wants YOU Brigid!

But yeah, 2-3 turns later, Ethlin is now Returning Brigid and Tiltyu, at long last...

The kiddies have finally defeated what was left of Pizarl's gang...

And Azel finishes up by getting his 11th level up this Chapter. Not bad, for someone who was compared to Tien, huh

?

And then Ethlin receives hers. Now, VERY IMPORTANT NOTE HERE:

She's leaving next chapter, so we need to have her sell ALL of her stuff before we finish this one. That's one of the main reasons why I bought her the Return Ring to begin with. Oh, and on ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE:

This is how Brigid gets her Holy Weapon!

Conversation 1

Brigid: How come you know my name? …Wow, you look just like me. …Aideen, you say? Actually does sound kinda familiar…

Aideen: Yes! I’m your twin sister! You were taken by pirates when you were just 5 years old! I’ve been looking for you for such a long time.

Brigid: I don’t know. You’re going to have to prove this to me somehow.

Aideen: Okay. Take this bow. Then draw.

Brigid: Hm? Wow! Now that’s a nice bow! Just draw it, right? Whoa! W, what is going on! Some strange power is bubbling up inside me. I… I have some recollection… Ah… my heart is burning… Aideen. Your are my sister, Aideen!

Ergh...

Aideen: Wonderful! You remember! That bow is the holy Ichival… It’s been handed down through our family for generations. It is said that only one direct descendant of a crusader is able to handle their divine weapon. And in our family, that appears to be you! Now is that enough proof for you?

I dunno guys...I mean, is 5 years old a high enough age for a child to start remembering that kind of stuff so instantly? I guess it is in THIS game, but...

Brigid: Aideen… Let me see your face. How’s our father? And our brother… Andre?

Aideen: Oh! I have so many things to ask you, too!

Well, whatever. In another nod to this game's writing, this actually WAS foreshadowed, quite heavily in fact! In Prologue, we had an old man tell us this:

And then Aideen told Sigurd this:

So this actually ISN'T something that comes out of nowhere; the game's been building up to this. But if you're memory was not good enough to store this away, never fear: There's always the handy dandy Unit screen!

The game's taken the subtle approach to hinting at this, just as it did with Aira's recruitment requirements. But unlike Aira, it gave you just enough hints for a player to figure it out on their own; additionally, you DON'T lose out on a playable character like you could in Aira's case. You just don't get a fancy shmancy weapon, that's all.

Arena Match

Brigid: Don't mess with THIS princess!

Oh, and Tiltyu does well too, up until Dyuma. Wrath may not be enough to carry her on the battlefield, but it IS really handy for the Arena's!

So after all that, Ethlin repairs and sells ALL of her items...

...which means Sigurd is now ready to put Dobarl out of his misery. But before we do that, let's view the REST of the optional conversations, shall we?

Midir with Brigid

Aideen & Lana's theme

Midir: My lady?

Brigid: Huh? Who the hell are you?

Midir: I’m sorry, you aren’t Lady Aideen, are you. So you must be…

Brigid: You mad? What in the world are you mumbling about?

Midir: What’s your name?

Brigid: Brigid.

Midir: Brigid… you’re beautiful!

Brigid: What did you say? You tryin’ to be funny!?

Midir: To think there’s another… one that’s even more beautiful. You’re like a dream!

Brigid: I… I’m leaving!

That's 100 free Love Points right there. But dude; I know you're on the rebound from Aideen, but c,mon, show SOME restraint :mmmhmm:

Claude with Sigurd

A New Advance

Claude: Sir Sigurd! Finally we can meet up!

Sigurd: Claude! You’re alright! You had us all worried. We heard that you two were attacked by pirates.

Claude: Yes, but thanks to Tiltyu’s efforts we made it through. That aside, my prayer at Blagi Tower proved to be quite fruitful, Sir Sigurd.

Sigurd: You found out who killed Prince Kurth!?

Claude: Yes. It was all a conspiracy of Lord Reptor. He had Lord Langbart murder the prince. And then he shrewdly placed the blame on your father.

Ergh...guy's leaving out a rather critical detail here...guess Blagi just felt like being a complete jerk today, huh

?

Sigurd: I knew it!

Claude: There’s more. The death of King Mananan also turned out to be Lord Reptor’s handiwork. He didn’t want the war with Isaac to come to a close, so he secretly killed the king.

Sigurd: Is that right? So this was Reptor right from the start.

Claude: Well, it doesn’t seem to be all his doing. Some kind of wicked force is working in his shadow. An evil presence so powerful that even Lord Blagi could not clearly discern it.

Sigurd: …Evil presence? Maybe… the Dark Sect? Claude! What about my father?

Claude: Well, he is still alive, but seems to be at death’s door…

Sigurd: Father… Oh no!

Claude: I will hurry back to the capital and inform His Majesty all that I have been revealed. Sir Sigurd, please sit tight for the moment and try to avoid any rash behaviour.

Wait, Claude! There's something else Sigurd needs to know! It's about Deirdre, Sigurd's wife! Girl suddenly went missing, so it'd be REALLY helpful if you could ask Blaggi about...

Sigurd: Of course. Claude, please, I beg of you, help my father clear himself of this horrible injustice.

Claude: It’s in the Lord’s hands now, Sir Sigurd.

Or I guess we could just completely IGNORE the free crystal ball dangling right in front of your noses...yeah, sure, that works too

. Oh well, maybe Dew can do something about that? Because...

Just like the last two chapters, there's a secret event here. Drag Dew all the way here, and you get this scene...

Dew Enters Blagi Tower

Dew: Blagi Tower! Hee hee! The life of a thief! Let’s see what’s locked inside her. Mm? Nothin’ here. How ’bout over there? Hmm, nothin’ here either. This place’s empty.

No Audio

???: …Who goes there?

Dew: Hm!?

???: …State your reason for entering Blagi Tower.

Dew: I’ll just pretend I can’t hear ’em…

???: …Trespassing on holy ground is forbidden! Leave at once!

Dew: Yikes!! Please forgive me! Ulp! What was that!? Huh? What’s this sword doin’ here? Well, it’s mine now!

And that'd be the Wind Sword. It's...just like the Thunder Sword, except it shoots Elwind spells instead. It's...neat...but not really worth wasting a whole bunch of turns for. I would recommend that you give it a miss.

And now the boss.

Miniboss

Dobarl vs. Brigid

Dobarl: Geh… You’re still alive, you stubborn woman!?

Brigid: Dobarl! I’ll never forgive you!!

Dobarl vs. Everyone Else

Dobarl: Damn it! My men are all useless cowards!

LET THEM ENJOY THE FEAR THAT IS THE ORGAHIL PIRA-

Yeah whatever man. Shut up and gimme your loot.

That's a good boy :cheeky: .

Not that he needed anymore help, mind you. Now let's wrap this up.

Victory 1

Sigurd: Oifaye, would you round up all our troops? I want to make sure everybody’s alright.

Oifaye: Right away, sir.

Well that should all be pretty easy. Now to pack up our bags, relax, and go looking for Deirdre-

Enemy Message 2

OH SWEET MERCIFUL CRAB-BASKETS!!

Langbart: They along with Bryon killed Prince Kurth in an attempt to take over the monarchy. Those are direct orders from His Majesty. Show no mercy to these traitors of the kingdom!

And now...the scene. I've been building up to this since near the very beginning, ever since Manfloy's conversation with Sandima. I told you before, and I'll tell you again; this game is NOT subtle; not in the slightest..and hooooboy does it get bad. Because if you thought THAT conversation was bad...then do I have a surprise for you. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Lord Reptor!

...

This...this is the scene, right here folks. No build-up, no attempt to weave this into an actual conversation, no ambiguity...no, Reptor just VOMITS exposition all over the player. I cannot tell you how many laughs I've had just thinking back on this moment; I've been waiting to capture this moment since the time I started the LP. I dunno about you all, but I was NEVER able to take Reptor seriously ever again; every time I see his mug, I picture him riding up to a hill somewhere, stopping right in front of his men, saying AWWWWW MAN, THAT ALVIS GUY!! HE'S A REAL DASTARD; WE'RE UP TO SOME REEEEEAL MISCHIEF HERE...I SUUUURE AM GLAD THAT NOBODY'S LISTENING! THAT'D BE REEEAL BAD, AM I RIGHT GUYS?

Actually, as long as we're riffing on the script, here's something else to consider: we just heard that Alvis "spearheaded" the entire operation, right? Spun the story, gave Reptor and Langbart the plans, did all the planning, right?

HOW COME BLAGI NEVER MENTIONED ANY OF THAT?!? I mean fine, "the Dark Sect's too powerful to fully analyze" and all that, but Alvis isn't part of the Dark Sect! He's just a regular guy, like Langbart and Reptor! I'm just saying, that was a rather important detail Blagi left out. "Hey, don't trust Alvis, guys. He's kinda got it in for you. He's involved in all this too". Woulda been reeeeeeal good to know

.

Crisis 1

Oifaye: We just finished fighting, too. You were all set to go look for Deirdre.

Sigurd: Grr! His Majesty is being fooled by Reptor and his crew. How can he believe that my father could kill Prince Kurth? Aaagh… I wish Father Claude could’ve gotten back there by now. First we lose Eltshan and now this. What have I been fighting for all this time!?

Oifaye: Sir…

AND THEN PEGASUS KNIGHTS!

Mahnya: Sir Sigurd. I’m Mahnya, a Silesian knight. I’m here on orders from Queen Rahna. Please consider retreating to Silesia until your fine name is cleared of all of this.

Sigurd: …Queen Rahna of Silesia? Silesia is willing to help out an accused traitor?

Mahnya: Sir, time is of the essence. Grandbell will be on your trail before long. The Pegasus Knights will accompany you over the ocean to Silesia.

And there we go, that's the end of all that. Can Sigurd clear his fine name? Will he ever find Deirdre?

Reptor: Oh that's an easy one. Of course he-

Find out, next time-

Reptor: No you won't.

On Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4-

Reptor: Or you could just ask m-

SHUT UP REPTOR

!! This is Fionordequester, signing out; have a nice day, and God bless you a-

Reptor: Han Solo dies.

Reptor: That Kylo Ren!

No, please!!

Reptor: He's a cunning one! He sure faked him out when he lured him onto that platform!

Y-you...MAD MAN! How could you...?!

Reptor: And to think, that was his son, Ben! What a dastard, stabbing him in the stomach like that!

S-SHUT UP! SHUT UP!!

Reptor: He even threw him down the elevator shaft! Too bad the planet he was on exploded...

N-no...no more...

Reptor: Now he'll never come back-

GRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH-

AAAA RANKED RUN STATS:

Time Taken This Update: ~54 minutes and 33 seconds.

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: ~8 hours, 29 minutes and 49 seconds.

Turns Taken This Update:10 Turns

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 131 Turns

Levels Gained This Update: 42 Levels

Total Levels Gained: 297 Levels

Things I Regret on This Section: I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

Total Things I Regret: In the Prologue, I regret the fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue.

In Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue.

On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

On Chapter 3, I regret selling Deirdre's Aura tome! I'll bet she TOTALLY could've kicked Manfloy's butt, if ONLY I hadn't taken that away

!!

Level 26-28: 59 > 61 HP, 25(30) Str, 2(7) Magic, 22 Skl, 20 Spd, 15 > 16 Lck, 17(22) > 19(24) Def, 4(9) Res!

Level 6-17: 33 > 40 HP, 1 > 2 Str, 12 > 17 Mag, 8 > 9 Skl, 11(16) > 13(18) Spd, 4 > 7 Lck, 3 > 5 Def, 6 > 8 Res!

Level 21-24: 49 > 51 HP, 23 > 26 Str, 1 Mag, 13 > 14 Skl, 17 > 18 Spd, 8 Lck, 25 Def, 5 Res!

Level 22-25: 53 > 56 HP, 23(33) > 24(34) Str, 1 Mag, 17 > 18 Skl, 16 > 17 Spd, 6 > 7 Lck, 23(33) Def, 3 > 4 Res!

Level 28-30: 48 HP, 14 Str, 13 Mag, 22 > 24 Skl, 22 > 23 Spd, 15 > 16 Lck, 14 Def, 11 Res!

Level 24-27: 42 > 45 HP, 4 > 6 Str, 23 > 24 Mag, 15 > 16 Skl, 14 > 15 Spd, 21 > 22 Lck, 5 Def, 12 Res!

Level 18-19: 39 > 40 HP, 11 Str, 2 Mag, 11 Skl, 22 Spd, 20 Lck, 8 Def, 3 Res!

Level 4-5: 30 > 31 HP, 3 Str, 1 Mag, 4 Skl, 12 Spd, 7 Lck, 1 Def, 6 Res!

Level 13-16: 41 > 42 HP, 15 Str, 0 Mag, 13 Skl, 12 > 13 Spd, 3 > 4 Lck, 12 > 14 Def, 0 Res!

Level 12-17: 40 > 44 HP, 20 > 22 Str, 0 > 1 Mag, 22 Skl, 21 Spd, 7 > 12 Lck, 14 > 15 Def, 4 > 5 Res!

Level 3-8: 28 > 32 HP, 0 Str, 10 Mag, 15 > 19 Skl, 10 > 12 Spd, 9 > 11 Lck, 1 Def, 9 > 10 Res!

Level 20-23: 34 > 36 HP, 0 Str, 21> 22 Mag, 14 Skl, 15 > 16 Spd, 9 > 11 Lck, 5 Def, 20 > 22Res!

Fionordequester · Sat Aug 29, 2020 3:38 pm

Alright guys, we got ourselves a War Room, and a video montage at once! First, the War Room; then you can use the video montage for cooling off.

The War Room Part 7: (What to do with Civilians?)

This chapter introduces a new unit type, the civilian. See these puny weaklings?

Well the enemy A.I. is going to do their absolute BEST to kill them dead. But if you can rescue them before that happens with the Help command...

BAM! You get a free 100 EXP, no matter WHAT level you were at! But be careful; you only get 6 of these guys in Gen 1, and Gen 2 isn't generous with 'em either. So, what's a gamer to do? That's why I feel that some guidelines are in order...

1) We're going to be creating an Uber Hero Sword by the time we enter Chapter 5. Sigurd's already got 33 kills on it, and it's only a matter of time before it reaches the required 50 kills. This is very significant, because Chapter 5 has unlimited reinforcements...reinforcements that use AXES! So we are literally guaranteed to level cap EVERY COMBAT UNIT with B level swords and higher! And Azel ends up being one of those people, so that rules out everyone except for...

-Midir
-Lex
-Jamka
-Sylvia
-Brigid

Now, Brigid, Lex, and Jamka hardly need OUR help gaining levels, so it would seem that Midir and Sylvia are the only ones who significantly benefit from this. But...there's also another factor to consider.

2) Civilians can also be helpful for leveling up weak units. Tiltyu, for example, still stinks; she will have an immense amount of trouble getting to her promotion without Civilians. I can get her through Chapter 4's Arena with the help of Azel's Speed Ring, but she's utterly helpless against the final two opponents in Chapter 5. She'll end up just short of Level 20 before fighting them. So I chose to give her one Civilian in this chapter, so that she could get her promotion early enough! This is in-spite of the fact that her promotion allows her to warp staff spam the rest of the way to Level 30. But, before I did that...

3) I got her up to as high a level as she could go beforehand. One gets less and less EXP from enemies as their level gets higher; so that free 100 EXP is worth more on a Level 14 Tiltyu than it is on a Level 8 Tiltyu. So keep that in mind when you run into civilians during later chapters.

4) Somewhat related to number 2 is this concern; how much do civilians really help the civilian in question? In other words, who makes better use of them; Sylvia, or Midir? The answer, of course, is Midir, for obvious reasons. Sylvia has 6 Move, and will never be anywhere near actual combat. Midir, on the other hand, has 9 move, and will be very valuable as a meatshield (more on that later). And, while I don't plan on promoting him, five civilians WILL get him that much closer to it! So, that's still important.

So with all that said...enjoy a nice, 16 minute montage of Arena shenanigans

: This is to show all of what went on before we get to the actual playthrough of Chapter 4.

8/29/2020 UPDATE: Actually, that channel was terminated... Whoops. Here's the raw footage, instead... Unedited.

Chapter 4 Arena

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

AAAA RANKED RUN STATS:

Time Taken This Update: ~1 hour, 2 minutes and 32 seconds.

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: ~9 hours, 32 minutes and 21 seconds.

Turns Taken This Update:0 Turns

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 131 Turns

Levels Gained This Update: 38 Levels

Total Levels Gained: 335 Levels

Things I Regret on This Section: I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

Total Things I Regret: In the Prologue, I regret the fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue.

In Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue.

On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

On Chapter 3, I regret selling Deirdre's Aura tome! I'll bet she TOTALLY could've kicked Manfloy's butt, if ONLY I hadn't taken that away

!!

Level 17-22: 40 > 45 HP, 2 > 7 Str, 17 > 21 Mag, 9 > 11 Skl, 13(18) > 19 Spd, 7 > 10 Lck, 5 > 11 Def, 8 > 11 Res!

Level 24-27: 51 > 53 HP, 26 > 27 Str, 1 Mag, 14 > 15 Skl, 18 > 20 Spd, 8 Lck, 25 Def, 5 Res!

Level 27-29: 45 > 46 HP, 6 > 7 Str, 24 Mag, 16 Skl, 15 Spd, 22 > 24 Lck, 5 Def, 12 Res!

Level 13-19: 33 > 37 HP, 15 > 16 Str, 2 > 3 Mag, 14 > 16 Skl, 23 > 25 Spd, 7 > 9 Lck, 12 > 14 Def, 10 > 12 Res!

Level 15-20: 41 > 45 HP, 18 > 22 Str, 1 > 6 Mag, 11 > 16 Skl, 9 > 12 Spd, 6 > 7 Lck, 10 > 16 Def, 0 > 5 Res!

Level 21-25: 42 > 44 HP, 17 Str, 5 Mag, 21 > 23 Skl, 16 > 18 Spd, 10 Lck, 16 > 18 Def, 5 Res!

Level 19-23: 40 > 44 HP, 11 > 17 Str, 2 > 5 Mag, 11 > 17 Skl, 22 > 27 Spd, 20 > 22 Lck, 8 > 14 Def, 3 > 6 Res!

Level 17-22: 40 > 44 HP, 14 > 20 Str, 1 Mag, 24 > 30 Skl, 19 > 26 Spd, 3 > 5 Lck, 7 > 9 Def, 2 > 5 Res!

Level 19-23: 47 > 51 HP, 17 > 22 Str, 0 > 3 Mag, 22 > 26 Skl, 19 > 21 Spd, 5 Lck, 14 > 16 Def, 1 > 4 Res!

Fionordequester · Sat Aug 29, 2020 3:44 pm

Hello fellow FE afficionados! Welcome back to Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4!

Glorious Grandbell

: In an unthinkable series of events, Sigurd had been denounced as a traitor by his beloved motherland. In the midst of adversity, he found refuge in the sovereign Kingdom of Silesia just north of Grandbell.

: Under the guard of the valiant Pegasus Knights and the Wind Mages, Silesia proved to be impenetrable by any force. As a result, Silesia successfully maintained its neutrality for the hundred years following its foundation.

"Yeah, the Pegasus Knights are valiant, but the Wind Mages? They're just kind of there; nothing really special about them".

: However, opposition arose within the royal family soon after the king’s death. Before long signs of war began to emerge within the once peaceful kingdom.

I don't suppose Manfloy is involved somehow, is he? Actually, I don't know if he IS involved; the game never says one way or the other. Daccar and Maios could very well be their own agents.

: Between the late king and Queen Rahna they had a son, Prince Levin. The zealous younger brother to the king, Duke Daccar, protested the idea of Levin succeeding the throne, and confined himself to Zaxon Castle.

Daccar: "♪Crawwwling iiin my skiiin...These wouuunds, they willlll not healll...Fearrr is howww I falllll; confuuusing whaaat is realll...♪"

: And almost as if acting in concert the youngest brother to the king, Duke Maios, began to amass an army at Thove Castle.

And by "youngest", they mean that the king's dad remarried like, 20 years later after siring Daccar, and gave THAT woman Duke Maios...I think? I mean, Daccar and Maios ARE recolours of these guys:

So I dunno how all THAT works out

...

: There was no indication of just how far the conspiring brothers would go. The majestic land of Silesia was about to be engulfed by the raging flames of war.

Poor Sigurd

...

Silesia Palace (Silesian theme)

Chapter 4 – Dance in the Skies

Rahna: I know it must be uncomfortable in such a small castle, but please bear it a little longer… I have been writing letters explaining your innocence to King Azmur, but he has yet to respond.

Sigurd: That’s… Prime Minister Leptor has probably been hiding them. I’m sure it’s he who tricked my father...

Rahna: Lord Sigurd… I understand how you feel, but you must not hold grudges against people like that. Hate will bring you nothing. I promise you I will think of something, so until then...

Sigurd: Yes… I really don’t know how to thank you.

Rahna: Don’t worry about it. Oh, one more thing. Something good has happened in Grandbell.

Sigurd: Something good?

"Yes Sigurd; good. As in, 'something good' happened; and it happened in Grandbell...are you feeling ok

?"

Rahna: Yes. After being missing for so long, Prince Kurth’s daughter has turned up. The entire country is bursting with joy.

Sigurd: What? …Really!?

Rahna: King Azmur recognised her at once. She has the symbol of Narga, so she is indeed part of the royal family.

Sigurd: I see… Good. The royal heritage won’t die out...

Rahna: Also, the princess is apparently in a relationship with Lord Alvis. The King has approved their marriage, and there is to be a grand wedding soon.

Sigurd: With Lord Alvis?

Ok, so this whole “ask a question by repeating what the other person just said” thing that you sometimes hear in games from Japan? That's just lazy localization; CmdrKing stated as much in Blastinus's FE8 LP...

CmdrKing wrote:At least as I understand it, the convention in japan is meant to convey both "Did I hear you right[?]" (which makes some sense in a context-sensitive language) and/or "could you elaborate on that[?]". So if we wanted [the speaker] to sound remotely natural and not like an idiot, something like "[Alvis huh? Do go on.]" would make much more sense.

And THAT'S why Rahna...

Rahna: Everyone is saying they look perfect together, Lord Sigurd. It’s nice to be young, isn’t it? You… oh… I’m sorry, Lord Sigurd. Your wife...

Doesn't respond to him as though it's a question. Because it WASN'T one.

Sigurd: Deirdre… she’s still gone… It’s already been over a year. Celice has grown so much, but I still can’t show him to her...

Rahna: Lord Sigurd, I’m sure you’ll find her. So...

Sigurd: Yes, I know… I know that I will find her some day… I just know it.

Rahna: Oh, yes. We should be going soon… One more thing, Lord Sigurd. Please be wary of Duke Maios of Thove. He has had his eye on Sailane for some time. He may go so far as to attack you. We would offer you troops, but...

Sigurd: …Silesia needs to be protected in case of attack by Duke Daccar of Zaxon. Do not concern yourself with our protection. We can deal with any attacks by Thove’s army.

Rahna: Well, you are a veteran of many battles

Ooohhhh, you don't know the half of it

....

:mmmhmm:

Rahna: It has been good speaking with you, Lord Sigurd.

Sigurd: Lady Rahna, it’s been a pleasure.

"I just hope I don't end up conquering your nation while I'm here"

Levin: You talk for hours with Sigurd, but you won’t even spare one moment for your own son?

Rahna: My son left me two years ago and ran off to some faraway place. I don’t see him anywhere.

Levin: Ah… you’re still mad?

Rahna: You have no idea how worried and saddened I was!

Levin: I had my reasons, mother. But since I’ve come home in one piece, will you please forgive me? I’ll make up for the time I was gone. I know, do you want me to massage your shoulders for you?

Rahna: Why, I never! Treating me like an old lady… Levin, I have much to tell you. Come to Silesia. Soon. Understood?

Levin: …sigh...

Ergh...you'd never know this, but...that's actually supposed to be a hint. You'd never know it was one unless you played before; fortunately, the game later gives you a much more obvious one!

Guys; I love Sigurd so much. I love how he performs as a unit, I love his design...and his dialogue! It is absolutely incredible how he rapidly cycles from being the friendliest bro you will ever meet, to being the FE4 equivalent of Bruce Lee, to being the biggest doof you will ever meet in your life. One minute he's soloing an entire army by himself; and then having trouble tying his shoelaces the next. The guy's like a hammier version of Jackie Chan; he's just so...so...quotable!!

Mahnya: She’s been so cheerful ever since you returned...

Levin: Thank you, Mahnya. You have my gratitude. Take care of mother for me, alright?

Mahnya: Yes, of course. As the flightleader of the Silesian Pegasus Knights, I will guard her with my life.

Levin: Thank you. Also… are you going to leave Fury here?

Mahnya: Oh, Fury. You were there?

Fury: Don’t tell Lord Levin any more than necessary...

Mahnya: Oh… Sorry, you’re right. I should have kept quiet.

You DO realize Levin is still there...right? At least, I think he is

...

Mahnya: Fury, I’m returning to Silesia with Lady Rahna. So make sure you protect Lord Levin, alright?

Fury: I know, Mahnya...

And off she goes. Now, this next part involves Cuan, Ethlin, and Fin, so there are some variations as to how this can play out.

Manster Palace

If Fin is ”alive”:

Cuan: I’ll round up some reinforcements and meet up with you again. Until then.

Ethlin: Sigurd, I’m leaving with Cuan too, but we will be back. Take care of yourself!

Fin: Sir, I’ll be heading back with Cuan as well. Thanks for everything! I know you’ll be cleared of that false accusation soon. Stay strong and persevere.

Sigurd: Thanks. Well, you’ve got a long trip ahead of you. I wish I could help you all out somehow… I’ll be praying for your safety.

If Fin is ”dead”:

Cuan: Sigurd, I’m going to head back to Lenster. I’ll round up some reinforcements and meet up with you again. Until then.

Ethlin: Sigurd, I’m leaving with Cuan too, but we will be back. Take care of yourself!

Sigurd: Thanks. Well, you’ve got a long trip ahead of you. I wish I could help you two out somehow… I’ll be praying for your safety.

If Fin is ”alive” and Cuan or Ethlin is ”dead”:

Fin: Sir, thank you for everything. I’m heading back to Lenster to help Cuan assemble some reinforcement troops. I know you’ll be cleared of that false accusation soon. Stay strong and persevere.

Sigurd: Thanks. You’ve got a long trip ahead of you. I wish I could help you out somehow… I’ll be praying for your safety.

Enemy Message 1 (Verdane's theme)

"Meanwhile, at the Fortress of Evil..."

Maios: Alright then. Give my order to strike Sailane! Deetva, your Pegasus squad knows what to do, don’t they?

Deetva: Yes. Our squadron is to divert the enemy.

Maios: Alright, then get going! Heheh… The heads of the Grandbell traitors should fetch us a nice little sum!

I really like Lady Rahna's character too; she's a very kind and compassionate character, but she's also a very smart one too. If you'll notice, she's not actually helping us with Maios's forces at all, but that's because she has Sigurd's assurance that he can handle it. So not only is she helping to restore Sigurd's honor, but she's also doing it in a way that allows her to concentrate on one problem at a time. By having Sigurd defend Sailane, she's able to fortify the defenses at Silesia. This way, her army won't get flanked on both sides by Maios and Daccar.

In other words, she's set things up so that BOTH parties benefit; she doesn't just throw herself into the meat-grinder like Eltshan did. I like it.

And there we have it; time to begin!

Silesia Castle Town

I could have shown Jamka going through the Arena in that video montage, and yet...I just didn't...for some reason. But yeah, he very easily goes through the Arena, especially with...

That enormous Str boost he gets; you know, on top of already having Pursuit, Continue, Charge, AND a Killer Bow on top of that. He may not have good Enemy Phase, but heaven help you if you're facing him on Player Phase.

Ah, and here's Lachesis. Let's talk about her plans for a minute.

See all that fly stuff she's got there. Well, aside from the Prayer Sword, she has to sell ALL of it.

That's the only way she can afford to get BOTH of these items. Or at least, that's the only way she can do that without fighting in the Arena...in retrospect, I probably could have just done that instead of sharking the 2500G, but, oh well.

But yeah, I want her to get to Level 30 this chapter, BEFORE Fury promotes; this way I can have Fury finish off most of her levels when she gains access to Staves. By doing that, I'll get her leveling done and out of the way, without having to worry about it in Chapter 5. Oh, and, there's also the fact that I still need to send Tiltyu and Levin through the Arena too. I won't do so yet, but I will soon enough; they will ALSO need the Elite Ring available once they do.

But enough about that. Let's get Sigurd's equipment in order.

I don't need the Defense Ring; in fact, it will actually hinder me in getting more kills on the Hero Sword. But I DO need the Barrier Ring, because there's gonna be a lot of magic flying around.

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

Whoa baby, look at that move! Sigurd can't use ALL of it until Sylvia dances for him, but man...just look at it :prepop: ...

Oh yeah, speaking of Fury, she's got herself a job to do.

Look at these jerks...

Just look at them. The game designers KNEW that the player could just trivialize everything by putting, say, Lex on top of your castle and waiting for everyone to come to you; this way you could just do this to them...

So they designed most of their maps so that you'd miss out on valuable items if you didn't hurry up. On Chapter 2, you'd miss the Knight and Bargain Rings, as well as Lachesis as a playable Unit. In this Chapter, you'll miss out on a lot of Gold, as well as two very useful items (one of which we won't be getting anyway). And then, of course, there's the "don't let your conquered castles get burned" mechanic. It's quite clever, actually.

Anyhoo, Fury gets herself the Uber Slim Sword and flies up to where Sigurd is...

And then Azel, Aira, and Lachesis does likewise, with the latter getting an instant 70 EXP (Aira was just there to act as Return Staff fodder).

Alright everyone! Let's get this SHOW on the ROOOA-

Lover 2

...D? There was no Talk command here; the game just spits out this random conversation if you happen to have Sylvia dance next to Fury this chapter. Not only that, but the event grants 50 Love Points to Levin X Sylvy 50 Love Points and 25 to Levin X Fury; this isn't a problem for me, but it could be one for YOU if you haven't been diligent about having Dew stalk her.

Sylvia: I seeee. So you don’t mind if him and I go out??

Fury: No, I don’t mind… (?)

Sylvia: Really?? You’re not pretendin’ t’not like him or somethin’ are ya?

Fury: Pretend? What ar-… why would I need to pretend??

Sylvia: I don’t know.

Sylvia: Well, then I’m goin’ after him.

Fury: Umm… whomever is to be the next queen of Silesia needs to have a little grace and dignity like our own Queen Rahna.

Ooooh, shots fired~...

Sylvia: So you’re sayin’ I’m no good somehow!? How rude!

Fury: No, I’m just...

Sylvia: Hmph, Fine! You just wait and see!

Fury: …...

Well ok then...THAT happened. Kind of a jerk move on the developer's part; FE4 players tend to have a problem with Sylvia glomping herself onto Levin; there's always at least one thread saying something to the effect of "HELP! I wanted to pair Levin with some other girl, but Sylvia got there first! What do I do?!". And there's just nothing you CAN do once they've been married; all you can do is hope you have a past save, and try to manipulate things from there. Maybe get Sylvia killed, and revive her only after you've made the pairing you want. Or, get into a Love Point race by exploiting Jealousy, I dunno.

I'm not going to lose any sleep over it though; I have everything under control.

And hey, MORE romance! And it has one of my FAVORITE tracks in the game!

Tiltyu & Tinny's theme

Tiltyu: I need to ask you something.

Azel: Me?

Tiltyu: Is that okay? It’s just that… Well, I’ve known you all my life, right? And I’ve got no one else I can talk to about this.

Oh wow, backstory. Who knew these guys were buds?

Azel: Yeah, sure. What’s the problem?

Tiltyu: Well… it’s like… I’ve just been kinda followin’ Claude around, right? But I’m startin’ to wonder if it was such a good idea.

Azel: Why?

Tiltyu: I don’t know. It’s just that everyone acts kinda funny around me. And no one ever talks about my dad when I’m around.

For reference, her dad is Reptor: Emperor of Exposition, all around bad guy, and pretty much the sole reason we're even IN this mess to start with...well, as far as Sigurd knows, anyway.

Azel: Really? Yeah, that’d suck. But I think everyone likes you, Tiltyu. Everybody’s just not sure how to act around you. That’s all. Just be yourself! People’ll come around. You’ll see.

And for the LOVE of all that is good, NO EXPOSITING! I don't know if stupendous soliliquies run in the family, but...just...don't. Just don't, and you'll be fine~.

Tiltyu: Yeah, you’re right. Thanks, I feel a bit spunkier now.

Azel: Hahaha! You’re too much, Tiltyu! Come find me anytime you need someone to talk to, okay?

Tiltyu: Will do! Thanks, Azel!

+5 HP for Azel! And they also get +100 Love points too, so be sure to get this if you're pairing the two (I'm not). And then we have one more conversation!

Decision 1

Claude: No, I’m just sorry I haven’t been of much help to you. I made it back to Grandbell and I had every intention of telling His Majesty the truth. But Reptor’s people kept me from the king… Now, I too have been branded a traitor.

Sigurd: Claude, I’ve had it with them! I tell you, I’m just about ready to storm Grandbell to expose those bastards!

Claude: Sir Sigurd, violent tactics never yield positive results. We have to stick this one out.

Sigurd: But Claude...

Claude: I know exactly how you feel. Unfortunately, I believe this one is in fate’s hands. …There is little we can do right now.

And that's that. You don't get anything from it, but it is a nice reminder that Claude has things to do as well. He was the ruler of Edda, so naturally he'd try and exert some influence. Reptor obviously had a contingency for that, but, guy gets credit for trying.

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

There's my gaggle of guys! Some of them are only there for Return Staff fodder, and some are only outside to build up Love Points with each other (like Levin X Tiltyu, Dew X Sylvia, and Holyn X Brigid). However, Claude, Alec, Azel, Lex, Fury, Brigid, and Beo all have things to do, for this is one of the only maps that I'm actually going to want multiple people for. Even Sigurd can't tank magic THAT well, much less his subordinates; so Claude's coming along to spam Reserve, Beo, Fury, & Brigid are out to collect some Gold, and the rest are there to sweep up the Villages before the pirates can do anything to them.

Silesia Army

On that note, it's time for Enemy Phase.

Cuvuli: Now to show these traitors the true ferocity of a wind mage!

"It's OUR turn to finally get the spotlight, darnit! If we can't be 'valiant', we can always be 'violent'!"

Speaking of violence...

Enemy Message 2

Daccar: Heheh. This is getting interesting. Wouldn’t you agree, Pamela?

Pamela: Indeed. The fugitive army is quite a surprise though. They may prove to be a real threat. So you think our takeover of Silesia will go smoothly if Duke Maios can just draw them in?

Daccar: I do. I’ve already reached a private agreement with Grandbell. Andre’s reinforcement troops should be arriving shortly. Heh heh… Pamela, the day I am to become Silesia’s next king is not that far off.

Pamela: Yes, it shall certainly come.

"Chapter 4: Rise of the Recolours!!"

Anyway...

Player Attack

Killing that pirate with the Light Sword was actually a mistake; I only had 49 Kills on my Light Sword before, so this allowed me to get the 50 Kills needed to put the Critical skill on it. However, I don't WANT to kill any of the mages this time, because...

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

"Fooly Culi" here has the Sleep and Libro Staves. The Sleep staff is annoying, obviously, but that's ok; there's some A.I. manipulation we can do to get around it.

Yes, he will ALWAYS choose to heal his men first! He will NEVER use the Sleep Staff until all of his men are at full health! So if Sigurd can knock them down to 17 HP without killing them (shocking, I know), we can trap him into spamming the Libro Staff over and over. We won't ever need to use the Restore Staff or anything like that! Sigurd can just punch straight through their ranks without fear!

Say what you want about her character; Sylvia is darn useful as a unit!

And speaking of useful units, we have this!

Aideen & Lana's theme

Well what is SHE gonna do with it? Go on and take it you dummy!

Aideen: I want you to have it, Jamka. Silesia’s Pegasus Knights are fierce. Now you’ll be able to properly defend yourself.

Jamka: Thank you, Aideen. I’ll take good care of this. Let’s catch up when this fighting is all over.

Aideen: Jamka… I’ll be praying for you.

Whoo! Awesome! But the only way you can get it is if Aideen is married to either Jamka or Midir. But if she's married to Azel instead, you gain access to something even MORE valuable!

Aideen and Azel:

Aideen & Lana's theme

Aideen: Azel, be careful out here, okay?

Azel: Yeah, you too, Aideen.

Aideen: This is so strange. I would never have imagined we’d end up together.

Azel: Why? Because I’m younger than you?

Aideen: No, I don’t know… It’s just strange.

Azel: Yeah, well, I’m pretty shocked myself. To think that you’d become my wife. This is like a dream!

Aideen: Really? How come? Don’t you think we were meant for each other?

"Might you even say that we were a...pre-destined pairing, as it were?"

Azel: It’s just that I always held you in such high regard. The first time I saw you my heart started beating so fast! I was just a kid, too! But ever since that day you were the only one for me.

Aideen: Oh, Azel!

Azel: Gosh, I feel so stupid. Oh, I just remembered! Here, this is for you. This is called a Rescue Staff. You can use it to bring someone to you if they need help. I’m sure you’ll find a use for it.

Aideen: Azel, I’m so happy to be with you! There’s no one in this world I’d rather be with.

And there we have it; the Rescue Staff. It is SO stupidly broken, that I actually devoted an entire War Room to this one! It takes a unit that's up to 10 spaces away, and warps them right next to the caster. This, then, allows for truly ridiculous manuevers like this...

Or this...

Or even THIS!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRF8CLt ... UkvudkzAvZ

It's...pretty absurd, isn't it? I could've used this for the run...but then it's like, "what's the point of playing then?" Like, why bother doing an AAAA rank run challenge...if it's not going to be an actual challenge?

As for using the Rescue Staff in a regular Chapter 4 and 5 run, I didn't like the idea; it slaughters the Tactics rank, sure...but that one's trivially easy anyway. EXP is the real challenge in this game, and pairing Aideen with either Azel or Claude (he gives it to her in Chapter 5) hamstrings their son's combat viability.

Aideen and Midir:

Aideen & Lana's theme

Aideen: Midir, I have something for you.

Midir: …This is a Hero Bow, right? It’s okay for me to have this?

Aideen: Yes. I bought it specifically for you. Silesia’s Pegasus Knights are fierce opponents. Now you’ll be able to properly defend yourself.

Midir: My lady… I still feel like I’m in a dream or something. Being with you is all I ever wanted in life...

Ooooook Midir, dial it back a bit

.

Aideen: I’ve also felt the same way, Midir. I had wanted to say something to you for so long. Just call me Aideen, okay? Now, don’t get yourself hurt out here. I’ll be praying for you.

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

And that's all of Aideen's conversations; goodness, this chapter has a LOT of talking in it, huh?

This here'll end my turn; again, nothing too significant in any of the details. Just be sure to stick Dew to Sylvia, and keep Brigid and Claude trucking along.

Enemy Attack

16 Damage to Sigurd...not a WHOLE lot, but not something I can just ignore either.

Ah well, at least Culio's distracted.

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

Oh, and Deetva's coming too, but I'm not really worried about her, Claude's just too good at keeping Sigurd topped off on HP.

Ah, what's this? Lachesis is running out of Return Staff charges? Guess she'd better start trekking back next turn.

Player Attack

Again, Azel's unexpectedly great here; the guy can take on three mages at once without dying, and do really good damage in return!

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

Claude is just pain awesome.

And Sigurd is Sigurd

.

I'm almost done now; these are the attack ranges of the two closest mages, so I positioned my cavalry around that.

Silesia Army

C,mon, ya pansies!

This really is perfect; I'm all but guaranteed to sweep these guys now that Azel's chipping in!

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

And there's not a blasted thing the mages can do to stop the murder train either.

So on that note, Sigurd trounces this poor guy with the Hero Sword, and then ends his turn on this SPECIFIC spot to take on Deetva and her squad!

But first, a village.

: Magic has attributes much in the same way as weapons do. Fire is stronger than Wind, Wind is stronger than Thunder, and Thunder’s stronger than Fire. However, Light and Dark magic have the upper hand on all of ’em.

"Light Magic also has the upper hand on Dark Magic, but the game's not explaining that for some reason".

Silesia Army

Alrighty then, LINE EM UP!

You know, 'valiance' stops being impressive when you can't put a scratch on one guy

. Oh, right, Deetva vs. Sigurd.

Miniboss

Deetva: It’s such a shame, but you’re going to die!

"And I, Sigurd, am an important enough character to get my own sprite. How bout you?"

Actually, let's be a little fair here. Deetva is a surprisingly competent fighter, as you can see below:

Her offense isn't that incredible, but it's still enough to kill Sigurd if he gets knocked around too much by the mages; that's part of why Claude's coming along for now. Furthermore, she's surprisingly durable thanks to her Prayer Ring and high speed.

Shame the same can't be said for her troops. They're a slight improvement over Eltshan's Cross Knights, but this is also where you start being able to mass promote your units. And you've seen how crazy the promotions in this game can get; the boosts they give you are far beyond whatever advantages these women had over Eltshan's men.

But whatever, Sigurd's got a job to do, and I don't want to waste a movement space using the Hero Sword. So,

Down she goes.

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

Now, instead of taking the obvious route to Maios, I'm going to have Sigurd ride over the southern mountains instead. Why? Because if you go onto the island just before the one Thove is on...this happens:

Maios: They can’t cross without this key. Heh heh… I can just imagine their dumbfounded faces!

He just destroys the bridge, preventing you from getting across UNLESS...

You happened to have brought Dew with you. But then I would've either had to tear him away from Sylvia (allowing her to claim Levin), or I would have had to have Sylvia go with him (which hampers Lachesis's leveling). Besides, I only lost about 8 Turns by not doing things the "optimal" way (with the Rescue Staff and everything), so it's just not worth the effort.

Anyway, Fury gets her Gold from this guy too before going off to take care of the guys that the other knights won't be able to get to. And for those wondering, yes, one of our two Silesians actually have dialogue with Deetva.

Miniboss

Deetva vs. Fury:

Deetva: Heheheh, Fury… This is a fine meeting… I’ll present your head to Duke Maios as a souvenir!

Fury: No way, Deetva! I’m not the Fury you once knew. I won’t lose.

Deetva: Heh. Fury, you crybaby. You’re all talk. Don’t make me laugh!!

So what, was Deetva a school-yard bully or something? I could see that.

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

And now for more dialogue and Gold.

: Only direct descendants inherit the full power of the gods. And they’re the only ones who can handle divine items such as the Sacred Relics. However, if the blood of immediate family members crosses, the blood becomes enriched, and their progeny’ll reap the full power of their god…

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE HAVE, AN FE4 MEEEEEEEME!!

Now back to the game; let's see if we can pop off Cuvuli, shall we?

Miniboss

Why not? This IS what generally happens when you try to take on a full squadron of horseriders with a handful of scrawny nerds...on foot...

I'll give him credit though; the guy took his death pretty well. Shame that neither he nor Deetva drop any items; the game designers kind of crammed them all in Chapters 1-3. We won't be getting any more of them till Chapter 6, so...we'll just have to make do with what we have.

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

Off Claude goes to Sailane; he's just about done here...

Brigid is sent off to another village...

And then we finish up our turn by having Lachesis break her Return Staff before going inside.

Pfeh, stupid pirate. You'll be sorry when Fury gets here...

So yeah, I think we'll call that an episode. There's been a ton of talking, we just axed off Maios's two main generals, and this update's going to end up spread across two posts if we go for much longer. So tune in next time to see how this battle unfolds! This is Fionordequester, signing out. Have a nice day, and God bless you all!

AAAA RANKED RUN STATS:

Time Taken This Update: 30 minutes, 46 seconds

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: 10 hours, 3 minutes, 7 seconds~

Turns Taken This Update: 5 Turns

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 136 Turns

Levels Gained This Update: 17 Levels

Total Levels Gained: 352 Levels

Things I Regret: In the Prologue, I regret the fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue.

In Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue.

On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

On Chapter 3, I regret selling Deirdre's Aura tome! I'll bet she TOTALLY could've kicked Manfloy's butt, if ONLY I hadn't taken that away

!!

Level 28-29: 61 > 62 HP, 25(30) Str, 2(7) Magic, 22 Skl, 20 > 21 Spd, 16 Lck, 19(24) > 20 Def, 4(9) Res!

Level 22-23: 45 > 46 HP, 7 Str, 21 Mag, 11 Skl, 19 > 20 Spd, 10 Lck, 11 Def, 11 Res!

Level 27-28: 53 > 54 HP, 27 Str, 1 Mag, 15 Skl, 20 Spd, 8 Lck, 25 Def, 5 Res!

Level 19-23: 47 > 51 HP, 19 > 26 Str, 0 Mag, 15 > 18 Skl, 15 > 20 Spd, 10 > 12 Lck, 15 > 18 Def, 0 > 3 Res!

Level 2-8: 26 > 30 HP, 8 > 12 Str, 8 Mag, 11 Skl, 13 > 14 Spd, Lck 5 > 9, Def 8, Res 9 > 10!

Level 16-17: 42 > 43 HP, 15 Str, 0 Mag, 13 > 14 Skl, 13 > 14 Spd, 4 Lck, 14 Def, 0 Res!

Level 23-26: 36 > 39 HP, 0 Str, 22 Mag, 14 Skl, 16 > 18 Spd, 11 Lck, 5 > 6 Def, 22 > 23 Res!

Fionordequester · Sun Aug 30, 2020 9:47 am

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4!

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

Last time, we beat up both of Maios's lieutenants. And now, we're gonna do to him...

...the same as we did to those guys!

Silesia’s Royal Family’s power...

Yikes, try saying THAT three times fast...

...is ‘Wind’ as is bestowed by Holsety, the God of Wind. The Velthomer’s power is ‘Fire’ as is bestowed upon them by Fala, the God of Fire. And the Freege’s power is ‘Thunder’ as is bestowed by Tordo, the God of Thunder.

NEXT!

The Dark Lord Loputousu’s power is evil. Only the divine power of Lord Narga could match it. And the only ones who inherit Narga’s power are Grandbell’s Royal Family, the Heims.

Mmm. That means that Deirdre's the only one who can use Narga's power. If she ends up giving birth to Satan, we may have to put her to some use.

So here's a mistake I made; I had Claude move east instead of west, thinking that he might still be able to keep up with Fury. It wasn't till next Turn that I figured out the futility of this.

Arena Match

Good thing I didn't do that with Beo, huh? Because looking at what his future lover's doing now, she seems a bit miffed about his absence :cheeky: .

Arena 3 does a lot of damage to her, though. So I withdraw her as soon as she's reduced to 12 HP, so I can manipulate Prayer in the next two Turns.

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

\

And in the meantime? Lachesis can use Sylvia's help...

...to snag EXP and gain back HP!

I'm skipping the next enemy turn. Absolutely NOTHING interesting happens there, trust me.

Nothing much happens here; the village is the only thing of note.

There are various advantages that come with being of divine lineage. You’ll be able to handle items of a very high class, and your innate abilities will improve quicker than others. Granted, only a few can claim to be of such divine heredity.

Waaaaaaay ahead of you there, buddy. This is an INFORMATIVE Let's Play, after all.

Then more "nothing" happened. This allowed Lachesis...

Arena Match

To get the HP boost she needed to abuse Prayer.

She now has to do this for the NEXT Arena opponent, but that's ok. She's running low on Return staff charges again, so that extra 2000G was worth it.

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

And here's our next turn; maybe something will finally happen.

Player Attack

Meh, it's a start.

Silesia Army

Now then,

Fury just attacked someone on the island closest to his, so he's finally doing something about it. Not that it DOES anything for him, mind you...but still!

And would you look at that? Sigurd's finally recovered his HP!

And then Fury gets her 20th Level!

All the villages are safe now! All the innocents are safe and sound!

The only bad news is that Lachesis fails to beat this guy. Prayer only dropped his accuracy to 10% this time, so he got to execute a lucky shot

.

Oh well; it just means that Lachesis promotes a turn later.

[url=https://serenesforest.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/109-Chapter-4-Dance-in-the-Skies.mp3]Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

Man, Thove REALLY frontloaded it's forces, didn't it? There's virtually no one left to challenge us now that Deetva and Cuvuli are gone!

There'll be more to come in the future, though, so I move Brigid and Holyn accordingly.

And then Lachesis gets...

Promotion

Silesia Castle Town

...

THE MOST FRICKEN INSANE GROWTHS EVER

!! 7 Strength! 7 Defense! 4 Speed! And then a metric TON of weapon levels, on top of gaining the Pursuit skill! Guys, I wasn't kidding when I compared Lachesis to Freeza; I cannot think of any promotion, any promotion at all, where the gains are this obscene! Lachesis may be an Est unit, but man does she play her role well!

So, needless to say, the Arena...no longer has any kind of chance against her. Some enemies might kill her a few times, but it's only a matter of time before she RNG's them all to death! No resets needed or anything!

With that out of the way, Lachy upgrades to the Warp Staff, goes to be by Beo's side, and we end our turn.

Silesia Army

Holy cow, something's finally happening!

Enemy Attack

...Ok, I didn't say ALOT happened...just...something.

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

Alright, I'd say that's good for Holyn and Brigid.

Fricken Sage commander's just wasting his time here, again. He THINKS he has a chance of hitting Sigurd, but he's not accounting for his Leadership Stars

.

Meanwhile, Lachesis gets to Level 28. We're going to stop there and sell her Elite Ring, because she's got two people to warp on this chapter anyway.

You know what that means? Tiltyu finally gets to have her turn in the Arena!

Ah, and Aideen gets her turn with the Return staff. She doesn't need anymore levels, but she DOES need to Return Sigurd and Fury in the next couple of turns.

Now let's make some noise!

Enemy Attack

Sigurd's Light Sword has long since become an Uber Light Sword; so you can pretty much just replace these two screenshots with cartoon sound effects, and still get the gist of how this went.

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

But, Sigurd still isn't immortal. And Maios is still tough enough to do a fair bit of damage to Sigurd. Things could get dicey if Sigurd is too aggressive, so,

I opt to have Sigurd soften him up on Enemy Phase instead, AWAY from those three Blizzard users.

Miniboss

Come at me, bro!

Maios vs. Levin:

Maios: Hmph. If it isn't Queen Rahna's idiot son. So you've come back.

Levin: Sorry, uncle, but for Silesia's sake, I must kill you.

Sorry Levin...

You're gonna have to leave this one up to Sigurd.

Not to worry though...

He's got things well in hand

.

Story time!

Victory 1

Old Man: All the townsfolk are rejoicing!

Sigurd: …I don’t understand. I thought for sure you all considered us the aggressor here.

Old Man: Listen here. Lord Maios was nothing but a tyrant. Plain and simple. There is not a Silesian alive who does not have the utmost of adoration for Queen Rahna.

Sigurd: Wow. You don’t say? I tell you what… I’m going to leave things in your hands. I’m sure you’ll be hearing word from Queen Rahna in a day or two. But until then, I think the people should have a hand at governing themselves.

Old Man: Understood. Queen Rahna is a veritable jewel of this great land. Please keep her from harm.

Sigurd: Yes, I will protect her to the absolute best of my ability.

Victory is Near

Mmm. And speaking of villagers, we've got some to visit. Let's see what they have to say, shall we?

Now, I'm not ACTUALLY having Sigurd visit the village; I'm just showing this screenshot for reference, because the dialogue varies depending on whether or not Dew got the bridge back up.

(If Dew has not fixed the bridge)

The drawbridge over Thove River is under the control of Lord Maios. If it’s not down, and you don’t have a key, you’re not getting across. But I bet if you had someone handy along like a thief, you might be able get it down.

So there's your hint for that; not that we needed it.

(If Dew has fixed the bridge)

The drawbridge over Thove River is under the control of Lord Maios. If it’s not down, and you don’t have a key, you’re not getting across. But I bet if you had someone handy along like a thief, you might be able get it down. Huh… The bridge is already down? How did you know how to do that?

:mmmhmm:

Now here's ANOTHER village where the dialogue varies! BE SURE YOU SAVE AND RESET BEFORE VISITING WITH SYLVIA, BECAUSE THIS CAN CRASH YOUR GAME!!

(If you enter with anyone but Sylvia)

It is said that all direct descendants of the Crusaders have a sacred marking appear somewhere on their body during infancy. Prince Kurth’s daughter was recognised as a direct descendant of Saint Heim by the mark on her forehead.

(If you enter with Sylvia)

Wow! Sir Sigurd’s troops have come t’rescue us! Hey, you’re a dancer, arn’cha? If ya don’t mine, we’d sure like t’see yer dance. Things have been pretty rough lately. We rarely ever have time fer any fun.

Sylvia: Sure! I’ll dance for ya if it’ll cheer you up a bit. …okay… here I go!

Supporting Dancer

Villager: Whoa! That was fabulous! That dancin’ energised me somehow! Thank you so much! Here’s a magic sword for ya in ‘preciation. It’ll protect ya good!

And for all that, we get...

A really good weapon! 7+ Defence is nothing to scoff at, and ANYONE can use this! So Sylvia's daughter is going to be putting this to a LOT of use!

Speaking of Sylvia, we just activated her Talk conversation with Claude! ...I dunno WHY we have to wait till after Thove, but oh well.

Sylvia & Claude: (100 Love Points Acquired)

Conversation 1

Rather somber track to play here, don't you think? I mean, that's generally reserved for like, long lost relatives reuniting or something.

Sylvia: I’m Sylvia.

Claude: Miss Sylvia? What seems to be the problem? Did you run across some bandits, perhaps?

Sylvia: …What?

Claude: Well, it’s just that… I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you’re in your underwear.

Sylvia: Huh!? Don’t tell me you’ve never seen a dancer before! This is my dancin’ outfit. It’s jus’ like you wearin’ a robe.

Claude: Is that so? But, you must be awfully cold.

Sylvia: Not at all. I’m burnin’ up in this. You see, my heart is on fire!

Claude: Dancing is that enjoyable, is it?

Sylvia: Yes! I want to do it for the rest of my life!!

Claude: Really? How do your parents feel about that?

Sylvia: I’m an orphan. This man took me in when I was real little, an’ raised me to be a dancer. But he was really mean! He would hit me when I didn’t even do anythin’. Anyway, I had enough, and I left him last year for good!

Claude: That’s horrible! I feel for you. You see, I have a younger sister. If she’s still alive, she’d be around your age.

This...raises up so many horrible implications. The fact that Sylvia was so clingy to Levin, the fact that she's a 14 year old girl who's all alone, the fact that she always walks around in her underwear...she really dodged a bullet by having us pick her up, instead of...say...Macbeth. Or Voltz. Just flip to any given page in the DSM-V, and you'd see something she'd have probably gotten

...

Sylvia: You have a sister?

Claude: Yes. But she was abducted when she was just a baby. I’ve been searching for her all these years, but still no sign of her.

Sylvia: Ohhh! I bet your sister is real elegant an’ beautiful an’ all. Nothin’ like me.

Claude: That’s not true! I find you very attractive, and you have a grace all of your own.

Sylvia: Really!?

Claude: Of course. I’d never tell a lie.

Sylvia: Wow! No one’s ever said anythin’ so nice to me! Er.. I feel funny inside… You are… so kind!

Awww...how adorable...and how sweet. Reverend Claude's sayin' ALL the right things, and it looks like Sylvia might finally know what a healthy relationship looks like. Sure, Claude's a little old for her, but...I mean, he said Sylvia would be around his sister's age. He's probably not THAT much older than her.

I don't like it as much as her and Dew (someone who's actually around her age)...but if Sylvia absolutely HAS to get pregnant by the end of Gen 1, there are probably worse ways to g-

Oh no...don't you dare...GAME.

Don't do this game, DON'T DO THIS! I get the fact that you're adult, I get the fact that you're edgy, but you DON'T HAVE TO-

...

.......

Conversation 2

Kaga Interviews (P6/Q8) wrote: – Additionally, much like the matter of Levin’s true form, there’s something else that players have talked about a lot…… There’s some dispute over whether Sylvia is really Claude’s missing sister, as you may know. You’ve denied this before in a different interview, but if you look at their conversations, there’s a scene that seems to suggest a connection, isn’t there? It seems like you’re setting players up [to make that connection]. We have to wonder, why did you include that set-up in the game?

How do I put this–I think it’s a great tool for influencing the players of Fire Emblem in a good direction. When I look at internet sites, Emblem fans are always incredibly immersed in discussion over some particular topic. I’m saying that it’s a great tool for getting for causing these discussions. When I see these discussions, naturally I’m very pleased, and I think they’re interesting too.

So when it comes to the relationship between Claude and Sylvia, even if I have a certain answer in mind, I don’t mean to go against [those discussions].

So let’s use our imaginations. Claude and Sylvia enter an intimate relationship that goes completely against traditional thought about his occupation, human nature, and the way of things. That is, for example, if they are long-lost siblings, what would Claude do? Isn’t it fun to think about stuff like that? Like, Sylvia, being who she is, wouldn’t care about any of that and just keep dragging Claude along, but I don’t think Claude could stand it. (laughs)

So when there seems to be a connection in a scene or event conversation, think of it as a question I’m posing. Don’t just come to a conclusion yourself–I’d like you to unfurl the wings of your imagination and have fun with it, and, without dominating the thoughts of others, partake in many discussions about it.

Shouzou Kaga: Trolling the fanbase since 1996. But really, I don't think Kaga quite realized what he was doing here. Ok, sure, "sister gets busy with brother, brother doesn't know till after the fact" is kind of funny in a twisted sort of way. And, while that's not MY kind of humor, it might be fine...

...

Except for the fact that Sylvia was already kind of messed up. She had no parental figures, Claude was apparently the only guy to ever make her feel very good about herself, and she's 14. Plus, we've already got this quote from Levin...

So maybe Sylvia isn't doing everything she does because "lol, that's our Sylvia!". If she DOES refuse to let Claude go (assuming they become lovers), who's to say that's not, in-itself, a sign of psychological trauma? What if she doesn't have a strong enough sense of self-worth to find someone else? What if the whole reason she's so clingy is because she's just THAT starved for positive regard?

And that's my biggest issue with FE4's story. It's not the awkward exposition, it's not the constant recolors, it's not anything like that...no, my biggest problem with this game is very similar to the problem I have with Outlander. In the same way that Outlander constantly used rape as the "go-to-answer" for creating drama, I feel like there's a similar thoughtlesness to how Kaga throws some of THIS stuff in...

Like "oooh, I have free reign; let's have someone marry her half-brother to sire Satan! THAT'LL spice things up

"! Or, "guys, guys! You know what'd be REALLY funny? Let's make Sylvia and Claude siblings; I can't WAIT to see the player's dumbfounded faces!" And how about the ever-famous "shoot, this game didn't have as many chapters as I thought. How are we going to introduce the Dark Sect...ah screw it, let's just have Manfloy belt it all out in Chapter 1

".

And it doesn't stop there either. There are also going to be times in Gen 2 where Kaga TRIES to include these lofty moral ideals (like in Chapter 7 and Chapter 10)...only to then completely undercut said ideals by having some of the heroes say and do exactly what we were told they SHOULDN'T do! It's a shame to have to say that when this world is otherwise very well crafted, but...well, that's the way it goes sometimes.

Silesia Castle Town

But enough of that nonsense; let's have a trip through the Arena. Now, this here is important...

Tiltyu COULD just blunder her way through the Arena...but the odds are NOT in her favor. Wrath does a good job of messing people up, but almost everyone outspeeds her. Heavy damage won't avail her anything if she gets killed before she can use it, so, she's going to need a Speed Ring to go along with that.

That's why it's important to know how to manipulate Dew's Gold. I know that Tiltyu only needs an additional 10,000G in order to afford that Speed Ring; so instead of giving her ALL of Dew's Gold, I made sure to have Dew spend his money ahead of time.

That way, I can sell the Return Ring, then buy the Iron Cutter to end up with 10,135G. NOW I can give Tiltyu exactly as much as she needs, without money!

Now everyone's happy!

Arena Match

Except them, of course. They'll probably kill Tiltyu a few times, but the Speed Ring allows her to outspeed all of the Arena's most dangerous people; people that would otherwise wall her.

...Her levels leave a lot to be desired, but she gains staves on promotion; we won't be dealing with that for long.

And now, she spend all her time with Levin! Yayyy!!

Now let's see how Lord Daccar tries to ruin this.

Enemy Message 2

Daccar: Pamela, it’s time to prove your worth. Now go lead your Pegasus Knights to victory! You’re to capture Silesia Castle before Sigurd can provide reinforcements.

Pamela: Yes sir!

Crisis 1

Alright Mahnya; they're JUST using the Pegasus Knights. So I think you can handle this.

Mahnya: No need to worry. My knights can handle Pamela’s squad.

Rahna: Are you sure of that, Mahnya? I’ve heard Pamela is quite a fierce warrior.

Mahnya: Yes, she is a formidable opponent. But a Falcon Knight never prepares to enter a losing battle.

Rahna: I’m sorry, Mahnya. I’m just trying to understand your feelings. I...

Mahnya: Your Highness, this is the only life I know. Please, you needn’t get so emotional. I need to get going. Pegasus Knights, get into formation!

Dang woman, you da MAN :rock: !!

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

Hrrm...any way we can help?

Nope, not gonna happen. Just gonna have to hope for the best...

...Yikes...this is a really rough match-up for Mahnya. Pamela's weapon is custom made to kill her via WTA; so while Mahnya needs six hits to win, Pamela needs only five. Where Mahnya only has a 76% chance of hitting Pamela, Pamela has a 94% chance of hitting Mahnya. And though Mahnya has a 39% chance of activating Continue, Pamela almost matches that with 29%.

So Pamela has a very noticeable advantage over Mahnya. I actually used Random.Org to run simulations for this fight; and guess what? Mahnya only succeeded in 20% of the matches! So if Silesia's going to win, it's red shirts are going to have to pick up the slack!

THAT'S the way! 1-2 Range is a powerful advantage, but so is Avoid. If we get lucky, our red shirts are going to dodge so much of THEIR redshirts, that they'll make the rest of their clothes red too! And then once THAT happens, we can overwhelm Pamela through sheer numbers!

And what's this? They're only one turn away from each other! VERY good!

The Enemy A.I. moves before the Neutral A.I., so the enemy is going to charge right in the middle of the Arena, without hitting anyone. Then when the Neutral A.I. starts it's turn, it'll be open season! All but one of Mahnya's knights are going to be able to attack! Strategy everyone!

We just need to make sure that Fury gets back to the castle for her promotion. And Sigurd's going to want to be there, of course!

Alley oop!

Errgg. Good thing Fury's not fighting anymore, because that did not do much to help ANY of her weaknesses.

And there we go; Aideen still has the Return staff, so Fury can't use that yet...But she will soon! Now let the smack down begin!

Grandbell Army 1

...GAAAAAAAME!! THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEANT!!!

Daccar: So this must be the Beige Ritter, the reputed archery knights of Jungby… Impressive!

Andre: My father is no longer with us and my older sister is being pursued for her involvement with the Grandbell traitors. So as the new lord of Jungby I now command the entire archer brigade! Those Pegasus Knights won’t pose a problem in the face of the Beige Ritter. Now watch ’em fall!

O-ok Mahnya, you can still salvage this.

Silesia Army

Pamela's walked right into your trap, so if you can just BLITZ these guys, kill all of them REAL fast, and then fly over the mountains or something, you can get back to us before Andre gets you! You'll have to abandon Silesia, but at least you'll...

Neutral Army

...survive...

...they're screwed. If their leader can't even take down an injured Pegasus Knight with Continue...they're screwed!! I just don't know what we can do for 'em!!

Crisis 1

Oh, and this happens when Mahnya gets near Pamela.

Mahnya: I never imagined we would come to this!

Pamela: Mahnya, are you still fool enough to stay loyal to the queen? She knows it’s over for her. Well, I’ll become the top ranking Falcon Knight once you’re gone. Nothing personal.

Mahnya: Pamela, you’re the one acting like a fool! Well… I guess if this is how fate’ll have it. Let’s at least fight with a little grace and dignity. We are both Knights of Silesia after all.

Pamela: Sheesh… Enough of your rhetoric!

Heh. Good one Pam.

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

Ok, is there ANYTHING we can do?!

...Nope. Not a blasted thing...not a blasted thing...

I can't even get Sigurd back home, because I didn't give the Return Staff more than one use

.

Silesia Army

Alright Mahnya...Can you survive?

...Nope. She's dead. And so are all her pals.

Neutral Army

Holy heck...I know the designers needed these knights to die, but this is overkill! They give them all Hero Bows, they give Andre and Pamela Leadership stars, they make Andre's men nigh invulnerable...and on top of ALL of that, they surround you in invisible plot walls! Like, dang man, I get that the designers needed use to stick to the script, but did they HAVE to take away the player's agency to do so?

Like, instead of having the plot walls...maybe just have there be a mass retreat from the Silesian capital?

Sigurd and Co. WANT to help, but there are so many people stampeding across the continent, that no one can get through. Fury COULD fly over the mountains, but [she's[/i] just as helpless as they are. Then make these guys yellow instead of green; make it so that you can't rescue them for levels. They'd act as roadblocks, but move in a way that you could actually start wading past them later on.

You wouldn't be able to get to Mahnya and Co. in time, but you WOULD be able to start putting your units into position; this way, there's some level of interactivity. But no, the game just screeches to a halt for 5 Turns. 5 whole turns! You can't do a blasted thing but wait for Silesia to get conquered!

...I'll give it this though; it IS pretty sad...

Time of Sadness 2 (Game Over...)

The fricken game-over music is playing, it's so sad...

:sympathy:

If there's one thing I have to praise about Fire Emblem, it's this: I can't think of another Strategy RPG that tugs on your heartstrings the way these games do...

Still not much we can do, so let's go to Enemy Phase again.

Grandbell Army 1

Actually, this whole section is scored really well. The game-over music was a nice touch, and I love how it's juxtaposed with the "Grandbell Army" theme, which plays every time Andre speaks.

Andre: Alright. My troops’ll finish up here. Then we’ll bring down Silesia Castle. Pamela, make your way north over these mountains and take Thove Castle.

Pamela: Yes sir!

Silesia Army

Don't you worry yourselves none over Pamela; Silesia's coming down, but Thove is in no danger. The reason for this will become apparent in the next update, but for now...well, let's just say that these guys made a critical error in not accounting for Sigurd.

One more turn guys...one more turn until we can move...

And then Fury can do her part in setting things right!

2 Turns later, and all our guys are in position!

These guys are finally going to-

Grandbell Army 1

OH COME ON!

Yeah, how do you all like that? You don't even get to fight them this Chapter! They just slaughter everyone right before you, and then leave before we can even DO anything! If this game is trying to make me angry at them, it's working

!!

Enemy Message 2

Urrrrgghhh...whatever. I guess getting rid of this clown will be good enough...

Daccar: Okay. We need a patrol south of Silesia River. Send some wind mages. And Donovan, I want you to take your axemen to Silesia and occupy the castle. But don’t lay a hand on Queen Rahna. She’ll be a valuable hostage for us.

Donovan: You got it.

Crisis 1

Rahna: Hurry! Get out of here as quick as you can!

But Queen Rahna...

Rahna: Don’t worry about me. Now get going!!

Everybody! Let’s do as the queen says. Let’s get outta here!

So there they all go; off running to take refuge in Sigurd's base of operations. But unfortunately...

Kinbo-...ergh, I mean, "Donovan", does not appreciate this.

Donovan: You don’t want to mess with me! You guys go out ‘n kill every one of ’em! No one gets away! You got me!?

Rahna: You can do what you want with me, but please don’t hurt them!

Donovan: Heh… right. You’re gonna learn what happens when you go against Daccar!

Rahna: Oh, please no...

I'm...not exactly sure how mass extermination helps Lord Daccar. The public's already going to hate you as-is; why add further fuel to the fire? I mean, sure, the civilians can't do anything, but I doubt everyone in the military is going to be happy about slaughtering their own countrymen

.

Enemy Message 2

...How can you guys even tell

?

Daccar: But YOU and assassins like yourself will kill anyone as long as there’s a paycheck involved. It’s no wonder they call you ‘Lamia the Wicked’. It sure suits you.

Lamia: Hehehe… I’ll take that as a compliment. So what’ll you have us do?

Daccar: For now I need you to watch the castle. Sigurd’s army just might try to attack us here.

Lamia: You gotta be kiddin’. That’s all? Well, you got it. Yo, everyone! We’ll be pickin’ off any stragglers who come this way. Stay near the castle.

It's subtle touches like this that help give some life to this game's villains. Most of them are puppy-kicking monsters, but they DO at least have their own little quirks. Gandalf was a boastful coward, Sandima was a religious fanatic, Elliot was a creeper, Macbeth was greedy, Voltz just didn't give a crud, Jacoban was bored out of his wits, Shagaal was a moron...and now these two are engaging in this...absurd conversation about how the other is just a teensy bit more evil than they are! It's great

!

And, I do have to admit...it does help the story a lot. It does a lot of stupid stuff...but it also doesn't take itself THAT seriously. It was written to entertain, and it KNOWS it. Sylvia and Claude is uncomfortable for the reasons I mentioned above, and I'm not excusing Kaga for it...but, the game's goofy enough that it's not as bad as it could have been. I can assume that Sylvia is (somehow), a fully competent person, even though that would be very unlikely in real life. The only reason I even think about the things I brought up was because I over-analyze everything; and that's not something most players are going to do.

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

And that's a wrap everyone; can Sigurd avenge the death of all the innocent Silesians? Will Levin ever be able to forgive himself? Will Rahna be able to survive this ordeal? And will those civilians find harbor within our castle? Find out, NEXT TIME, on Let's Play Fire Emblem 4! This is Fionordequester, signing out; have a nice night, and God bless you all!

AAAA RANKED RUN STATS:

Time Taken This Update: 1 hour, 7 minutes, 41 seconds~

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: 11 hours, 10 minutes, 48 seconds~

Turns Taken This Update: 16 Turns

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 152 Turns

Levels Gained This Update: 34 Levels

Total Levels Gained: 386 Levels

Things I Regret: In the Prologue, I regret the fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue.

In Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue.

On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

On Chapter 3, I regret selling Deirdre's Aura tome! I'll bet she TOTALLY could've kicked Manfloy's butt, if ONLY I hadn't taken that away

!!

On Chapter 4, I regret not having Claude turn around sooner. I also regret not repairing the Return Staff before giving it to Aideen.

Level 29-30: 62 > 63 HP, 25(30) Str, 2(7) Magic, 22 Skl, 21 Spd, 16 Lck, 20 > 25 Def, 4(9) Res!

Level 25-26: 44 > 45 HP, 17 Str, 5 > 6 Mag, 23 Skl, 18 Spd, 10 > 11 Lck, 18 > 19 Def, 5 Res!

Level 8-29: 30 > 46 HP, 12 > 27 Str, 8 > 9 Mag, 11 > 20 Skl, 14 > 19 Spd, Lck 9 > 17, Def 8 > 17, Res 10 > 12!

Level 5-6: 31 > 32 HP, 3 Str, 1 Mag, 4 Skl, 12 > 13 Spd, 7 > 8 Lck, 1 > 2 Def, 6 Res!

Level 19-22: 37 > 39 HP, 16 Str, 3 > 10 Mag, 16 > 19 Skl, 25 > 30 Spd, 9 > 11 Lck, 14 > 16 Def, 12 > 17 Res!

Level 8-14: 37 > 40 HP, 0 Str, 10 > 11 Mag, 19 > 23 Skl, 12 > 14(19) Spd, 11 > 16 Lck, 1 Def, 10 > 11 Res!

Level 26-27: 39 > 40 HP, 0 Str, 22 Mag, 14 Skl, 18 Spd, 11 > 12 Lck, 6 Def, 23 Res!

Fionordequester · Sun Aug 30, 2020 9:48 am

Hello winter soldiers! And welcome to Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4!

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

Ready to put down Daccar once and for all? I know I sure am!

And these guys are just as excited as I am!

We weren't able to get both of these Blizzard mages, but that's ok. Only the bottom one was an immediate threat to the civilians; the OTHER guy can't do nothin'!

Silesia Army

The citizens are just too far south for the guy to hit them!

The only person in range is Holyn. And this mage is no match for his electric sliiide!

Wooo, look at 'em go! THAT'S how you dodge a Blizzard :rock: !!

Enemy Message 1 (Verdane's theme)

Donovan: Hey! You guys get it together. Don’t let ’em get anywhere near the castle!

No better musical finale than that! So on to our next turn!

Player Attack

There's no red X there, but Sigurd killed someone this turn; just take my word for it

.

White Magic

Also, Sylvia's getting the Defence Sword, so Dew's the first to go. Sylvia's needs to use her dance; once that happens, she's gonna get greyed out. So she'd just block the access point if I warped her first.

Fury here is still doing some warping of her own, btw. She goes from Level 22 to Level 28 in this update!

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

Come on Sylvy! Make Holyn proud!

There you go, THAT'S the way!

Behold the Jealousy Formation! Fury gets priority over every female except Tiltyu and Brigid! So you can use anyone who isn't from Chapter 3 as a Jealousy Bot!

Silesia Army

And now, the cherry on top: Sir Sigurd!

See that? That's about all they were able to do to Goku

!

Alright Donovan! You know what I'm going to say next?!

Miniboss

.......lucky guess.

Now, is Queen Rahna still alive?

Victory 2

Ah, good.

Rahna: I feel so useless. So many people have died… I can’t tell you how horrible I feel! And poor Mahnya...

The rest of the conversation actually has two different ways it can go:

(If Daccar is still alive)

Sigurd: Queen Rahna, don’t lose heart. I will personally take it upon myself to avenge her death. And Daccar has gone way too far! I request your permission to lay siege to Zaxon Castle.

Rahna: Lord Daccar has put the innocent citizens of Silesia through enough suffering. The man’s a murderer, nothing more. He must pay for his crimes.

Sigurd: Alright. Well, we’d better start making our way to Zaxon. Please get some rest.

Rahna: Sir Sigurd, you be especially careful. Let’s meet up after you get Zaxon under control.

(If Daccar is dead)

Sigurd: Queen Rahna, don’t lose heart. We were able to avenge Mahnya’s killer. I wish to apologise for moving my soldiers without your permission.

Rahna: That’s not a problem at all. I really appreciate all you’ve done. I’ll be by Zaxon Castle later. Let’s meet up again then.

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

Hear that? Pamela and Co. are now a complete non-issue. Why? Because Daccar is going to get all freaked out, and order Pamela to come storming back to Silesia...I dunno HOW he does that, what with them being on completely opposite sides of the mountain range...But hey, I'm not complainin'.

But, there's just one thing. The Pegasus Knights will still aggro to anyone in their attack range. So Sylvy and Dew are going to have to deal with this one next turn; otherwise, they're not gonna make it to the village.

So let's re-establish the Jealousy Formation...

Here we go! Next Enemy Phase!

Enemy Message 2

Daccar: What the hell is Donovan doing out there!?

The cutscene ends there if none of the other commanders are alive. But if they ARE...

(If Lamia is alive)

Daccar: Damn, it’s inevitable. Order Lamia to attack them. We can’t let them get near the castle.

(If Pamela is alive)

Daccar: Tell Pamela’s unit to chase down Sigurd’s army. We’ll have to pull an all-out assault!

And THAT there is why we didn't need to worry about Pamela's raid on Thove. She and her units just double back the moment you conquer Silesia! So long as Sigurd is fast enough, they are a complete non-issue!

(Outside, if Lamia is alive)

Lamia: Why’s Daccar so damn freaked out? Okay, let’s go work up an appetite!

Then Lamia moves.

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

But again, that's not an issue...Oh don't get me wrong, Lamia and her units ARE formidable in their own right...

But there's just ONE li'l thing that brings them down...they're still foot units! So there's not really any complicated A.I. tactics that you need to do with them like there was with Eltshan; you can just have Sigurd go around them. And if you DID want to fight them?

You'd just use hit and run tactics. You wouldn't want to fight them all at once, but you CAN just pick them off one-by-one!

That's not relevant to us though; we're just gonna refill our HP by beating up Atlas. And repair our weapons while we're at it.

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

Ugh, LOVE that 12 Move!

This Pegasus Knight is the only one in range of our two kids, and the rest are going to be permanently out of range in the next turn.

So I take advantage of this opportunity to get 2000G for Dew!

Meanwhile, Tiltyu and Midir get themselves a free level off of a citizen.

And then Levin goes to be by her side. Now, he has a 290 Love Point conversation with Fury now. DO NOT TRIGGER THIS NEXT CONVO UNLESS YOU'RE TRYING TO PAIR THE TWO!!

Lover 3

Fury: What? Oh, about Mahnya...

Levin: …Yeah.

Fury: Ah, so you and her were… I’m sorry. I didn’t know.

Fury! You’ve got it all wrong. When I was a little kid I thought your sister was hot. But that was then. Now it’s you.

Fury: Eh!?

Levin: I love you, Fury...

And that's it; rather abrupt end to the conversation, but eh. But dang...that would've been really interesting. Imagine! Mahnya as a playable character! Mahnya as a possible 2nd option for Levin! THAT would've been pretty cool

...

That's not happening though, and neither is FuryXLevin. So she contents herself with using up the Return Staff and going back inside the castle.

Silesia Army

Next Enemy Phase...

Fighting Dancer

Sylvia dodges the Javelin throw!

Ergh...I mean, she DID...I think...?

Yeah, she did; and none of Pamela's other women are gonna bother her either.

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

Moving swiftly on...

Fury doesn't get ALL the Return charges back...

But she gets enough! I might've wanted to sell her Uber Slim Sword first, THEN repaired the staff...but whatever.

She's still got enough to easily cap in Chapter 5.

Midir's next level up will then conclude our business at Sailane. He's gonna be getting the rest of the citizens, because Tiltyu doesn't need any more of them.

Player Attack

As for the Thove group; Dew kills the Knight attacking his hubby!

YEAH, NOBODY THROWS A SPEAR THROUGH HIS GIRL'S HEAD!

...Granted, there probably wasn't much in there anyway...but still!

Silesia Army

Now back to Sigurd. This move puts Sigurd in range of one of the Killer Bow archers. But that's ok; even if it's a critical hit...

Sigurd's still fine

.

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

What a guy!

I could've put him somewhere where he wouldn't get attacked by the easternmost swordfighter; but that's alright. We'll be using the Hero Sword a lot in the future, so I'm willing to take the 10-12 second time loss. No one else can attack Sigurd, so he's in no danger.

HEYYY!! Lex and Aira are married now! Now I can use Lex as Return fodder!

Silesia Army

And then the next Enemy Phase...

...passes without incident.

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

I'm hoping that I can conquer Zaxon this turn, so...

I'm having Holyn and Brigid go back inside; I need them to go through the Arena at SOME point!

And so does Beo, which is why he's leeching off his rich spouse.

Hmm...what-say we look at some castle conversations between lovers? Bookofholsety's script's been blocked since the Beta patch came out, so I had to translate these myself. Keep in mind that these are not totally literal translations! I was aiming to preserve the spirit of what was being said more than the grammar.

Lex: [lex_wife]! ...Er, t-there you are. You're late.

Lex: Ah...You were waiting for ME, eh [lex_wife]?

Aira: Phew...You were gone for a long time, [aira_husband]; you had me worried SICK about you!

Aira: [aira_husband]...You were waiting for me?

Beowulf: Aha, thought you'd be here. Seems I was right.

Beowulf: [beowulf_wife]? You were waiting for ME?

Lachesis: Good grief...Worrying for you has caused me such consternation...

Lachesis: Oh! [lachesis_husband]! You were waiting for me, dear?

Again, nothing REALLY important; I just enjoy including these small things.

Ok! Sylvy's almost there!

And soon, Daccar will fall! Be sure to get your Hero Sword up to 50+ kills before fighting him!

Miniboss

Yeah, yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah.

Dude's not even worth a GIF...He's basically Maios, but with far fewer henchmen. It's just those three guys; and they don't even move unless he dies!

Chapter 4: Dance in the Skies

Now, before we finish up...

There's one village that we missed...

If Prince Kurth’s daughter were to bear a child, that child would become heir to the Grandbell Kingdom. That’d put the husband to be, Lord Alvis, into quite a position of power, I’d say.

Then Alvis's gonna be weeping big, salty tears into his pillow soon. Deirdre is OUR wife, not his! If he tries to resist, well...I ran some simulations on Sigurd vs. Alvis. If we assume that Sigurd reaches his Lvl 30 averages and has his best weapon equipped....Well, let's just say that things don't work out too well for him

!

VS.

Round 1: Alvis goes first (93), Alvis does 46 to Sigurd (53), Alvis uses Continue (10), Alvis kills Sigurd (83)!

Round 2: Alvis goes first (61), Alvis does 46 to Sigurd (16), Continue doesn't activate (62), Sigurd does 36 (75), Sigurd kills Alvis!

Round 3: Sigurd goes first (18), Sigurd does 36 (68), Sigurd kills Alvis (61)!

Round 4: Sigurd goes first (39), Sigurd does 36 (27), Sigurd misses (93), Alvis does 46 (96), Continue doesn't activate (70), Sigurd kills Alvis (42)!

Round 5: Sigurd goes first (16), Sigurd does 36 (27), Sigurd kills Alvis (4)!

Round 6: Alvis goes first (76), Alvis does 46 Damage (29), Alvis uses Continue (33), Alvis kills Sigurd (76)!

Round 7: Sigurd goes first (5), Sigurd misses (87), Sigurd does 36 (4), Alvis does 46 (52), Continue doesn't activate (89), Sigurd kills Alvis (63)!

Round 8: Sigurd goes first (15), Sigurd does 36 (57), Sigurd kills Alvis (58)!

Round 9: Sigurd goes first (9), Sigurd does 36 (54), Sigurd misses (87), Alvis does 46 (67), Continue doesn't activate (94), Sigurd kills Alvis (57)!

Round 10: Sigurd goes first (9), Sigurd misses (91), Sigurd does 36 (23), Alvis does 46 (77), Continue doesn't activate (71), Sigurd kills Alvis (37)!

Round 11: Alvis goes first (93), Alvis does 46 (86), Alvis uses Continue (23), Alvis kills Sigurd (27)!

Round 12: Sigurd goes first (39), Sigurd misses (96), Sigurd misses (91), Alvis does 46 (74), Alvis uses Continue (13), Alvis kills Sigurd (16)!

RESULTS: SIGURD WON 66%, ALVIS WON 33%

Alvis won a few of them, sure. But he only did so through Continue; and that's nothing some good ol' RNG manipulation can't fix

!

Now back to the home base; this here is our very last citizen! Midir gained himself 5 levels, and Tiltyu got herself 1. But before we finish up...

Arena Match

We've got three more units who need to go through the Arena. Beowulf here beats everyone up to Arena 5...

Get's himself a deceptively useful promotion (he also gets Charge from this)...

And then pwnstomps everyone else!

Brigid does the same (yes, she has the Elite Ring)...

And then Levin gets warped right on over to Silesia Castle. Why are we doing that? Because Sigurd says it's really, really, REALLY important!

Sigurd and Levin:

Conversation 1

Sigurd: I never would have imagined Jungby’s archer brigade would be here.

Levin: Yeah. Well, I was the one who screwed up. I haven’t had my head on straight lately. I should’ve been protecting the country and helping my mother. But instead, I just took off. I really think Mahnya got herself killed doing my job.

Sigurd: Well, I wouldn’t go that far, Levin. You need to care for your mother now. You must make sure Mahnya didn’t die in vain.

Levin: Yeah, I know. You don’t have to tell me that.

Sigurd: …Well, alright then. Ah! One more thing. Have you been to see Queen Rahna yet? Don’t forget to go. It’s very important!

Man Sigurd; when you put it THAT way

...

Conversation 1

Rahna: I think Sir Sigurd has had a good influence on you.

Levin: C’mon, give me a break. You’re treatin’ me like a kid or something. Sir Sigurd is NOT that much older than me, you know.

Rahna: Dear, Sir Sigurd is light-years ahead of you when it comes to responsibility. You still have much to learn from him. I need a prince who can put my mind at ease. Especially since Mahnya is no longer with us.

Levin: …That should’ve been me out there. Her death has really made me think, mum. Mother, I will protect you from here on out. I solemnly swear I will NEVER leave your side again.

Rahna: Levin… I never knew such endearing words could come out of your mouth. Well, that’s put me a bit at ease. But I want you to stay with Sir Sigurd. He needs your strength.

Levin: But what about you?

Rahna: I’ll be fine, Levin. You, as a descendant of the Wind Crusader, must guide the world onto the proper path. I believe the time has come for me to entrust you with the Sacred Wind Tome, Holsety. Here you go. It’s yours now.

Levin: So this is our family’s Book of Holsety! Eraagh… What power! Where’s this heat coming from?

Rahna: Levin, please remember the Wind Crusader flows like a cool breeze guiding all living beings to the path of peace. His way is never to be confused with violence.

Levin: Yes, I understand now. That is the only way I could hope to live my life.

Rahna: Hmm… You are without a doubt a child of the wind. Levin, you need to get going. Take care and use sound judgement out there.

Levin: But mother...

Rahna: Go! Please...

Levin: Okay. You take care.

Rahna: Levin...

YYYAAAYYYY!! It's the most awesome weapon in the game!!

Applying Justice ~ Arena Battle (Thracia 776)

Mwahahahaha...

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Pamela~...

Ohhhh Paaamela~...

HEEERE'S JOHNNY!!

Pamela: I finished off Mahnya, making me the highest ranked knight. Hahaha...

Levin: Argh, Pamela! You… you...

Pamela: Heh, you’re the bad guy in all this, Lord Levin...

Yeah, well...you're in no position to judge.

No really, you can't. Cuz you're dead.

Miniboss

And so's Daccar!

Hey, any plan that involved attacking Sigurd probably wasn't that good to start with :cheeky: .

Now let's wrap this up.

Victory 1

Rahna: If at all possible, I’d like you to station your troops here at Zaxon Castle. Duke Langbart of Grandbell brought in a large military force and overran Lubeck Castle. They’re a mere stone’s throw to the east. The citizens of Silesia are a bit uneasy right now. They don’t want a war with Grandbell.

Sigurd: Langbart’s military is here for us, not Silesia. The Silesians have been too kind to us. This my problem, and I can’t drag them into it. We need to move out of Zaxon Castle at once and settle this with Langbart.

Rahna: Wouldn’t that be a reckless move? I can’t see how you could win!

Sigurd: If we stay put, they’ll just attack us here. Queen Rahna, there’s no time to dispute this.

Rahna: You really think so? Oh, how sad this all is...

Sigurd: Queen Rahna, this year in Silesia has been wonderful for me. You’ve been like a second mother. You see, I lost my mother when I was very young. I grew up not knowing what a mother’s affection felt like. But for the first time I felt what that feels like through you. I’m sorry to leave so suddenly. I so look forward to the day we meet again. Until then...

Dang...that year in Silesia must have been one heck of a year. I wish we had gotten to see that, actually

.

Rahna: The same goes for me, Sir Sigurd. You be careful and don’t push yourself too hard. I’ll be praying for Deirdre's safe return.

Actually, Deirdre HAS returned...and that's kind of the problem. Manfloy wiped out all her memories in Chapter 3, and now he's dropped her into Alvis's lap somehow. So between him, Duke Langbart, and Duke Reptor, we've got THREE Holy Weapon users to deal with

...

So what about it, guys? CAN we defeat them? Can we finally clear Sigurd's name? Can we stop the marriage before it's too late? Can we find a way to make Manfloy pay for his crimes? Or will our dastardly villains have the last laugh? Find out, on Chapter 5 of Let's Max Rank FE4! This is Fionordequester, signing out; have a nice day, and God bless you!

AAAA RANKED RUN STATS:

Time Taken This Update: ~37 minutes and 28 seconds

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: 11 hours, 44 minutes, 23 seconds~

Turns Taken This Update: 7 Turns

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 159 Turns

Levels Gained This Update: 31 Levels

Total Levels Gained: 417 Levels

Things I Regret: In the Prologue, I regret the fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue.

In Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue.

On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

On Chapter 3, I regret selling Deirdre's Aura tome! I'll bet she TOTALLY could've kicked Manfloy's butt, if ONLY I hadn't taken that away

!!

On Chapter 4, I regret not having Claude turn around sooner. I also regret not repairing the Return Staff before giving it to Aideen.

Level 7-12: 35 > 40 HP, 9 > 12 Str, 0 > 1 Mag, 7 > 9 Skl, 10 > 14 Spd, 8 > 9 Def, 0 > 1 Res!

Level 23-24: 44 HP, 17 Str, 5 Mag, 17 Skl, 27 Spd, 22 Lck, 14 > 15 Def, 6 Res!

Level 29-30: 46 HP, 27 Str, 9 Mag, 20 Skl, 19 Spd, Lck 17, Def 17 > 18, Res 12!

Level 11-17: 39 > 44 HP, 1 > 2 Str, 13 > 15 Mag, 15 > 21 Skl, 20 > 25 Spd, 9 > 10 Lck, 6 > 7 Def, 11 Res!

Level 6-7: 32 > 33 HP, 3 Str, 1 Mag, 4 Skl, 12 > 13 Spd, 8 > 9 Lck, 2 Def, 6 > 7 Res!

Level 17-22: 43 > 48 HP, 15 > 19 Str, 0 Mag, 14 > 26 Skl, 14 Spd > 22 Spd, 4 > 7 Lck, 14 > 17 Def, 0 > 3 Res!

Level 22-28: 39 > 41 HP, 16 > 17 Str, 10 Mag, 19 Skl, 30 Spd, 11 > 13 Lck, 16 > 17 Def, 17 Res!

Level 17-22: 44 > 49 HP, 22 > 24 Str, 1 Mag, 22 > 23 Skl, 21 Spd, 12 > 17 Lck, 15 > 17 Def, 10 > 11 Res!

Level 14-15: 40 HP, 0 Str, 11 Mag, 23 Skl, 14 > 15(20) Spd, 16 > 17 Lck, 1 Def, 11 Res!

Fionordequester · Sun Aug 30, 2020 9:52 am

Hello soldiers, and welcome back to Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War! It's time to move on to the FINAL battle of Chapter 5!

Flowing of Time

: After quelling Silesia’s internal unrest, Grandbell’s great military lay waiting for Sigurd.

: He sat face to face with Grandbell’s military stationed over at Lubeck Castle. Commanding the forces was an enemy of Sigurd’s father…

: Engaging Grandbell’s military would provide Sigurd a chance to avenge his father’s entrapment at the hands of Langbart. Stationed in the desert town Phinora were Lord Alvis’ men, and the great Magefighter, Vaha.

: In Velthomer, Alvis’ most trusted confidant General Ida was entrusted with the castle’s defense.

: And in the capitol, Lord Alvis assisted the elderly bedridden King Azmur while Prime Minister Reptor maintained the public order.

: With such a great distance to the capitol, confrontation with Grandbell’s forces seemed inevitable. Sigurd also knew he mustn’t involve Silesia any further in the conflict with Grandbell.

Crisis 2

: Chapter 5: Threshold of Fate

Oh dear. That's an ominous title...

Byron: Sigurd… I must get the Holy Tyrfing to you!

“Meanwhile, at the Fortress of Evil...”

Enemy Message 2

Slaydar: He managed to get away just as I was closing in. I believe he intends to seek refuge in Silesia.

Langbart: Then what the hell’re you doing here!? Get after him!! We must finish him off now! Otherwise our entire effort spent wiping out Chalphy’s Gruenen Ritter will have been for nothing!

Slaydar: Y, yes, of course. He has sustained heavy injuries, so he shouldn’t get far.

Langbart: You gravely underestimate the situation. Byron is prepared to spill his last drop of blood to get the Holy Tyrfing to his son. Do you have any idea how much trouble we’ll face if that sword reaches Sigurd!? Depart immediately and kill him!!

Slaydar: Y, yes sir! Right away, sir!

Langbart: The axe knights of the Grauen Ritter are all elite warriors. With that much power on his side, Dannan has no excuse for taking so long to quell some little uprising in Isaac. Both my sons, Dannan and Lex, are absolutely worthless.

Andre: Don’t lose heart, sir. Those rebels won’t stand a chance against the Beige Ritter.

Langbart: I appreciate it, Lord Andre. Do lend us a hand if things get too out of control.

Andre: Heh heh… With pleasure!

Best be careful Andre; we're not a bunch of winged ponies like the troops in Chapter 4 were

.

Langbart: Lord Ring… may you rest in peace.

This here is one of my favorite bits of villain dialogue in the entire game. Most villians in this game are hilariously 2-Dimensional; they've got about as much depth to them as your random thug on The Walking Dead. This, on the other hand, actually sets Langbart apart from the other villains in some crucial ways.

He is still an utterly despicable man, don't get me wrong. But he's a despicable man with some faint touches of humanity to him. He's sensitive about the subject of patricide, it seems like; Lex and him seem to have a fairly strained relationship, so that's not a subject he likes thinking about. Plus, his anger and wrath are only targetted at Prince Kurth and the Chalphies; he didn't have any ill feelings toward Lord Ring...

And yet, it's all hilariously hypocritical. Langbart is a malignant narcissist; he'll do just about anything to maintain his own smug sense of superiority. "I may have murdered two men in cold blood, but at least I didn't kill my own FATHER! I'm not THAT bad! I don't have to change!" So his 'feelings of remorse' also serve as a convenient excuse for his own behavior.

So he's evil, yes; but he's evil in a slightly more human way than, say, Manfloy. You can actually kind of see how his mind ticks.

Crisis 2

Oifaye: I don’t think so. Lubeck Castle has put out troops in pursuit of the knight. He could be an ally.

Sigurd: Then let’s try to help him. We have to face Langbart’s army sooner or later anyhow. Okay. Let’s take the enemy’s front line in one sweep. Our first strike’ll decide this battle.

Well said Sigurd! Let's smash em all right now!

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

Boy I love that song. All dramatic and everything, you don't know if the song is a triumphant song or a tragic one; it's great! Anyway, a pit stop inside Zaxon Castle.

Arena Match

Levin's still got the Elite Ring, so I get him to Level 23 in the Arena. And naturally...

*GASP* His power level! IT'S OFF THE CHARTS!!

Urrrrggghh...need...bigger...charts...

Seriously, this guy. He's just absurd.

Anyway, Lex follows up as well. He can't beat Arena 6 and 7, but Arena's 1-5 are still more than enough to get him to Level 30.

And then it's Fury's turn. She also herself up to Level 30.

Silesia Castle Town

Also love that song; it really evokes an "eye in the middle of the storm" feeling. With all the crazy nonsense happening all around Sigurd, his home castle is the one place of rest he has left.

But wait, what? The heck am I doing?

Well, believe it or not, we're going to be using an actual team for this map! It's NOT just going to be a Sigurd Solo this time. I want to pass the Hero Sword back and forth between different people, and you'll see why later. And the Iron Lance? Well, let's just say that you'll want a full inventory before talking with Lord Byron; we can't use the Shield Ring for that, because then people won't be attacking Sigurd.

Now, the rest of our advance guard will consist of Aira, Beowulf, Brigid, Claude, Fury, Lachesis, Lex, and Holyn, so here's what they're bringing...

Both sword fighters have strong enough weapons to ORKO all of Slaydar's knights...

Beo's got himself the fabled HERO Sword...

Brigid is awesome right out the gate, and will be building love points with Holyn...

Claude got his Reserve Staff repaired, and now he'll get to Level 30 while building love points with Fury...

Dew will occasionally kill fools and steal their gold while building love points with Sylvia...

Fury will be flying around the map, Returning people and building love points with Claude while occasionally picking off enemies...

Lachesis is there for Charisma support and HP restoration...

And Lex is just there to support Aira via Lover Bonus. He COULD easily ORKO Slaydar and his entire crew, but, that wouldn't be a good use of EXP. So that's everyone in the main group. But we ALSO have some Bandits to deal with in the west, so...

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

I also get Azel, Alec, and Jamka out to deal with them...

Jamka has the Hero and Killer Bows, so he's fine there. And Alec doesn't need anything but the Iron Lance to see him through.

Sylvia dances...

Player Attack

Sigurd kills one of the thunder mages...

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

Fury goes to rescue the eastern plateau village...

Beowulf, Claude, Lachesis, Levin, and Tiltyu all move like so...

And then Dew takes his spot next to Sylvia.

Enemy Phase!

Grandbell Army 1

Sigurd already took care of one of the Thunder Mages, so Beo's at no risk here. It's just him vs. a ton of poorly prepared Axe Armours!

Nothing much happens other than that...EXCEPT THIS CUTSCENE!

Alvis' Theme

Alvis: Lord Langbart’s army has already reached Lubeck. Subjugation of the insurgents should be forthcoming.

Azmur: Yes. Well, I’m not so sure I buy all this. Lord Byron assassinating Kurth, and Sigurd causing all this ruckus… I don’t know.

Well, someone's on our side at least. I wonder though; how exactly DID Alvis spin that crazy story of his...

Alvis: Your Majesty. Please, I’ll explain once more.

...Wait...oh no...NO, NO, NONONONON-!!

Alvis: Lord Byron assassinated the prince with the help of Lord Ring of Jungby. Duke Reptor and Duke Langbart both witnessed the entire horrible spectacle!

GYAAAAARRRRGGGHHH

!!

Alvis: The prince learned of their plot to usurp the throne, and that cost him his life. Sir Sigurd is also without a doubt involved in the conspiracy. Why else would he harbour the prince of a hostile country? Isaac no less. These are clearly acts of treason against the kingdom. The late Prince Kurth is also now a father-in-law to me… And for my beloved princess, Deirdre, I must put an end to Sigurd’s path of destruction! If Lord Langbart cannot successfully subdue the rebels, Velthomer’s fire knights, the Roten Ritter, will stop Sigurd’s rebel army in their tracks!

...Ok writers. You got that out of your system? Have your fulfilled your exposition quota for the day?

Azmur: Well, you obviously have strong feelings about all this, and rightly so.

Good; now, if we can just move o-

Wait, didn't we HAVE our big exposition dump already?! Don't you-

Azmur: Ahh, Deirdre. You’re such a sweet child. I’m… wheeze… not long for this world, but you give me hope for the kingdom’s future. I don’t know when or how Kurth could have acquired himself such a wonderful daughter, but the markings on your brow clearly identify you as a direct descendant of the Royal Family. Where in heavens have you been living all this time?

DON'T DO THIS TO ME GAME! YOU'RE STRONGER THAN THIS! DON'T YOU DAR-

Deirdre: I’m sorry. I don’t know. I don’t remember anything from my past. Not a single memory I can speak of...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Alvis: Aside from her name she doesn’t remember a thing. I was simply looking after her out of sympathy, but then I fell deeply in love with her. With all due respect, I never in a million years would have suspected she was of royalty.

Azmur: The day you brought her in to the Royal Palace to announce your wedding intentions, I tell you…I could have swore my eyes were playing tricks on me! I don’t know. Call it a family’s intuition, but somehow I knew. And sure enough under her circlet were the markings of Narga. Lord Alvis, you understand what this all means, don’t you? According to the Book of Narga only descendants of Heim, like myself, can give off that kind of vibration. And Narga’s power is the only one capable of standing up to the Dark Lord Loputousu.

...I kid, but; this really does seem to be the only way this game knows how to keep the player informed on recent developments. Let's not have any BUILD up to the exposition, or have the player actually SEE anything happening; no, let's just have a bunch of talking heads spill their guts out about every relevant detail. Chapter 1 had Manfloy give Sandima a several minute long lecture on stuff he should already know, Chapter 3 had Reptor shouting at trees...and now Chapter 5 has Alvis belting out his wrestling promo like he's been rehearsing it in front of a mirror right before having Azmur say all this.

Alvis: Yes, I’m aware of that.

See? Even ALVIS is getting tired of it all!

Azmur: Lord Narga’s lineage through Saint Heim must not be allowed to perish! I want the two of you to bear a son as soon as possible! If the child inherits the power of Narga, he shall be Prince of Grandbell. And once I pass on he’ll become the King of Grandbell. Lord Alvis, until the boy is old enough to rule, you shall be the provisional king. Do raise him well. I hope you understand all of what I’ve told you. (cough.. Ah…ack..)

He'd better; I'd hate to have to listen to all that AGAIN :smugjones: .

Now back to actual gameplay.

Player Attack

Alvis, if this man looks like something that can be stopped; then just try to stop him!

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

Langbart's soldiers are all looting the villages! But we managed to sneak a little cash past them. Here, we would like you to have it.

Thank you. Now watch as Fury...

Player Attack

Shows the Mbandit HER fury!

There we go.

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

By the sounds of it, the late King Eltshan of Nodion and his queen had themselves a young boy. His name was Aless, I believe. I reckon he'd be about 3 or 4 by now. Poor thing.

Beo goes on ahead...

Dew filches some gold by killing the General...

Jamka takes care of his guy...

And then...well...Azel and Alec TRY to take care of their guy, but Alec whiffed his lance thrusts :/ .

Our main group moves, causing this giant mass of arrows (seriously, tell me if it gets confusing, ok guys?)...

Which prompts Levin to finish the Player Phase by gaining two more levels!

Grandbell Army 1

Alright Langbart, show me your best!

...Oh, ok. Or Byron could get his 2nd wind, that works too.

Conversation 1

Sigurd: Father! Hang in there!!

Byron: Son, I’m afraid I’m at death’s door, so listen up. Langbart killed Prince Kurth, not I. And just above him in the chain of command is Reptor. Please inform His Majesty of this. I’m not afraid to die, son. But I must live long enough see our good name restored!

Sigurd: I knew it! Don’t worry, father. I will restore your honour in the kingdom. Rest assured!

Byron: Son, I’m sorry. My negligence has led to all the hardships you’re currently facing. Here, take this from me. It’s the Holy Tyrfing.

Sigurd: The Holy Tyrfing! But father, you can still...

Byron: Take it! And restore our good name!

Sigurd: I’ve had it with those two! Reptor and Langbart… I’m taking you both out!!

Ready guys? You'd better be, because what we have here is the most broken sword you will ever wield. If you thought the Gae Bolg was broken...if you thought the Ichaval was broken...if you thought fricken Holsety was broken...

Well, Holsety is still the best, but this sword's a close second. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the most BROKEN sword in ALLL of FE4...the ONE...the ONLYYY...TYRFIIIIIIING!!

…

…....Yeah.

Grandbell Army 1

Look at this; look at how the game automatically equips this! This is one of the trolliest things that FE4 will ever do to you, for multiple reasons.

1) You have no time to switch before enemy phase, so Sigurd gets stuck with a 1 Range, 0 Might, 30 Hit, 30 Weight weapon, 0 Kill weapon for that turn. And heaven help you if you happened to be in Slaydar's range at that point!

2) Holy Weapons cost a full 50000G to repair if you want all 50 uses (not needed, but still).

3) This forces you to double back to your Home Castle if you want it before Langbart. And some players WILL need it before Langbart. Because surprise, surprise...

Langbart himself is an utter beast of a man! Holy Weapons and Crit Weapons are the only reliable way of going toe-to-toe with him, and not every player is going to be savvy enough to have those lying around. Ichaval and Holsety are optional weapons, and getting a 100 Kill weapon requires proper foreknowledge of the games mechanics to get.

And even in Levin's case, he might not be able to BEAT Langbart! His attack is so obscenely high, that any unraised mage gets OHKOed by him! Levin is the only one who can consistently survive a hit without promo gains, and even that's not a sure thing.

Oh, and if you're wondering just how absurd 41 Defense + Big Guard is in Gen 1? Well, fricken Lex caps out at 27 Strength, and can equip the Silver Axe for 22 Might. That's 49 Might right there, and he still only SCRATCHES the man! And good luck ever doing anything with the Hero Axe, which only gives 14 Might...

Fortunately, we don't need to deal with any of that. I intentionally filled up my inventory with stuff like the Iron Lance; that means that I had to choose which of my items I had to return to Storage. So BYE BYE broken sword, and hello 75 Kill Light Sword!

Now, it wouldn't have been so bad to deal with that anyway, seeing as how Slaydar's men are NOT attacking anyone this turn...but it still would've been annoying to have accidentally used THAT instead of the Light Sword on someone.

In other news, Alec got set on fire. That's what you get for not doing your job.

Our turn!

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

Let's get Beo fixed up by his lovely wife...

Now, we want Beo to get most of the kills here, but Dew is never one to pass up some free gold. Plus, Beo's at real risk of breaking his Hero Sword before getting all the experience he needs (Level 26 and 44 Exp before fighting in the Arena). So, I'm gonna put Dew in range of three of the knights.

And here's how everyone else got moved. As for the other guys...

Jamka gets himself some gold...

Children inherit certain traits from their parents. More often than not, boys inherit their father's traits and girls inherit their mother's.

Alec kills his bandit...and doesn't visit the village. But that's ok, we'll still cover the dialogue.

Our Silesia remained peaceful for the longest time. Just when did things get so bad...

I believe Emperor Palpatine has the answer to that question:

Darth Sidious wrote:Beings believe what you tell them. They never check, they never ask, they never think. Tell them the state is menaced by quadrillions of battle droids, and they will not count. Tell them you can save them, and they will never ask—from what, from whom? Just say tyranny, oppression, vague bogeymen that require no analysis. Never specify. Then they look the other way when reality is right in front of them. It's a conjuring trick. The key is distraction, getting them to watch your other hand. Only single-minded beings don't join in the shared illusion, and keep watching you too closely. Single-minded beings are dangerous. And they either work for me, or they don't work at all. - Darth Sidious (Order 66: A Republic Commando Novel)

In other words, it all happens while the public's attention is focused on other things. Alvis is in the perfect position to claim power. Some may raise some suspicions as to how he got there, but the citizenry won't challenge him. They'll be too shaken up by all the crazy nonsense that has been happening. Sigurd would be the only one staunch enough to not go along with everyone else; and Alvis is just about to try and axe him off, so...

I'd add on more quotes, but, these Mbandits are pretty hardy; Azel's not gonna take care of him till next turn.

Levin's almost gotten to Level 28, so...

I positioned him, Tiltyu, and his jealous stalker in a way that he could get to 29 while getting everyone back inside.

Grandbell Army 1

We then end our turn by having Fury join the main group.

Beo's got himself the perfect Avoid thanks to Sigurd and Lachesis!

Which means that none of these guys have a chance against him.

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

Sadly, I couldn't get the other two mooks; and even if I COULD, I wouldn't have wanted to. We need Slaydar to stay alive for some grinding strats this chapter.

But at least we can steal some gold from him!

Miniboss

Slaydar: Our front line's already broken!?

Guess so buddy!

In retrospect, I probably should have just had Dew sit tight after slaying that General; I didn't really accomplish much with him, so I probably wasted about a minute or so with him.

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

Besides, Slaydar's already bewildered enough, what with all those colored arrows flying around. Btw, Aira is where she is because I don't want her stealing Love Points from Brigid. She's higher than her on Holyn's Jealousy scale.

So Jamka's heading back now...

And now Azel is too. Here's more Village text.

Grandbell's military went and seized Lubeck, did they? Ahh! Silesia's days're numbered.

Now then...

Silesia Castle Town

Levin's done with the Elite Ring and Warp Staff, but he's not at Level 30 yet. So I decided to buy the Live Staff for him; I can get started on Tiltyu this turn.

May as well fix up Holsety while we're at it; his son IS going to be getting it, after all!

Now here's some advanced selling tactics for Tiltyu.

She's just outside of affording the Elite Ring. But there's another Thunder tome with only 13 uses compared to the 42 use tome she has now. So we can sell the 42 use one, buy the Elite Ring, and then BUY the 13 use one! Economics, everyone

!

Arena Match

Feh. Nothing to be done about that Arena 4 guy though. He's RNG no matter how you slice it.

So let's have Levin heal her up, let's try again...

And HA! There we go!

Now get Arena 5...

And BAM! TIME FOR PROMOTION!

Congrats Tiltyu. You can almost survive a hit from Langbart now

!

No but seriously; this promo actually is pretty awesome. She gets the fricken Continue skill from it; and the high Magic, Speed, and Defense gains also go a long way. She's actually an effective fighter now!

So with Arena 7 out of the way...

Say hello to our new staff bot (special guest starring Sylvia)!

Oh, and Levin's getting that Live Staff EXP.

Grandbell Army 1

And we start Enemy Phase with...

Slaydar running away to fetch some ~~EXP fodder~~ “reinforcements”.

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

Now, I want to grind in peace. Which means...

I need Andre out of the way, like, right now.

Don't you worry, they're exact movements don't matter in this case.

Tiltyu keeps warping, and Levin keeps using her HP gains to get more EXP...

And now Azel's headed back. Yeah, those guys're almost here, but they're no biggie; Holsety!Levin on a Castle just dodge tanks them. In fact, they happen to be good EXP for in case Beo doesn't get enough!

Grandbell Army 1

Time for some Sigurd dominance.

Andre: Okay, we’re off! Show them the sheer power of the Beige Ritter! [note that he doesn't say this unless Slaydar dies.]

Well, he doesn't get EVERY one of them, but he does get most of them. And as for Andre himself, well...

He's not worthless as a miniboss. His Hero Bow can do up to 18 Damage to us, meaning that Sigurd COULD technically die if he gets unlucky on the dodges (hence Lachesis's Charisma support)

But that never happened to us; so he goes down like a chump.

Minor spoiler; Scorpio is Andre's son. The game waits a really long time to clarify that, so I thought I'd point it out. So before we move on...

Aideen vs. Andre:

Andre: Hah, it's my treacherous big sister. Fancy meeting you here. You've tarnished the reputation of House Jungby... In return, I'll have your life.

Aideen: Andre... you're so pathetic...

Brigid vs. Andre:

Andre: What!? It can't be... big sister Brigid?!? I heard that you'd become a pirate, but allying with the traitors is another matter... In any case, you've brought shame upon my house. I'll have to kill you.

Brigid: Shut up! You killed father, you patricide [yes, Boo actually wrote that]! You're the disgrace to Jungby house, AND you've tarnished the reputation of the Crusader Ulir!!

Yikes... I think you missed a few words there, Boo.

Now then:

White Magic

Claude gives Sigurd a much needed recharge...

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

Beo and Sigurd both kill the remaining murderers-of-Silesia, and now Sigurd's working on Langbart...

And everyone marches closer to where I need them. Oh yes, and I also established a Jealousy formation for Fury X Claude.

Levin does his part as a Dodge tank...

Azel gets his butt inside...

And now our guys are outta range.

Grandbell Army 1

Afterwards, Slaydar heads back inside for a turn...

Good for him really; because everyone else just flails around uselessly.

Now; best heal Sigurd up again...

Because stuff's about to get real.

Fateful Showdown

Langbart's Regular Quote:

Langbart: Gwahaha...weaklings. As long as I have my Swanchika... No matter how many of you come, you'll all suffer the same fate! If you don't want to die, then stay away!

Lex vs. Langbart:

Langbart: You...Lex?! You traitor!! You're turning on your own father! Have you no shame!?

Lex: You say that I disgust you, but... Dad, this is fate... Please forgive me...

And now the main event.

Sigurd vs. Langbart:

Langbart: Gwahaha...the kid's made it. Hey, I'll send you to Byron. He must be getting lonely by now.

Sigurd: Langbart! I'll never forgive you for what you did to my father!!

Alright, it's the moment we've all been waiting for! Power vs. power! Might vs. might! Colossus vs. Colossus! Who will walk away from this fight?! How will Sigurd deal with such a man without his Holy Weapon? Find out, on the next EXCITING episode, of Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4-

...Oh. Or...THAT...could happen.

…....

I honestly was not expecting that.

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

Sigurd's Light Sword only had 85 kills on it (35% crit) and Sigurd only has 22 Skl (22% crit); that equals out to 57% crit. Then Langbart has a 30% chance of triggering Big Guard on every swing.

So 0.57 (chance to crit) * 0.70 (chances of not activating Big Guard) * 0.57 (chance to crit * 0.70 equals (chances of not activating Big Guard)...16%.

It's not like I won the lottery or anything, but...

The guy usually takes much longer to kill than that.

A typical fight with him tends to consist of about 3-4 turns worth of hit-and-run tactics. He'll laugh off a non-critical, block another with Big Guard on Turn 1, get hit by a critical on Turn 2 before blocking the other hit, restore something like 15 HP on the beginning of his turn, and etc., etc. There's no story and gameplay segregation here; he's a juggernaut who took down Sigurd's dad, and his stats reflect that.

Now then...I may have toppled the mighty Langbart, but can we keep up our winning streak? Can Sigurd keep his composure during the maelstrom that is still to come? And just how ARE we going to get as many levels as we need? It's almost the end of Gen 1, and yet we're still in the hole! What're we gonna do?

FIND OUT NEXT TIME, ON LET'S PLAY FIRE EMBLEM 4! This is Fionordequester, signing out. Have a nice day, and God bless you all!

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AAAA RANKED RUN STATS:

Time Taken This Update: ~51 minutes and 15 seconds

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: 12 hours, 35 minutes, 38 seconds~

Turns Taken This Update: 7 Turns

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 166 Turns

Levels Gained This Update: 38 Levels

Total Levels Gained: 455 Levels

Things I Regret: In the Prologue, I regret the fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue.

In Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue.

On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

On Chapter 3, I regret selling Deirdre's Aura tome! I'll bet she TOTALLY could've kicked Manfloy's butt, if ONLY I hadn't taken that away

!!

On Chapter 4, I regret not having Claude turn around sooner. I also regret not repairing the Return Staff before giving it to Aideen.

On Chapter 5, I regret not having Dew sit tight after slaying that General; I didn't really accomplish much by moving him around outside, so I probably wasted about a minute or so.

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Level 23-24: 46 HP, 7 Str, 21 Mag, 11 Skl, 20 > 21 Spd, 10 Lck, 11 Def, 11 Res!

Level 28-30: 54 > 55 HP, 27 Str, 1 Mag, 15 Skl, 20 Spd, 8 Lck, 25 Def, 5 Res!

Level 23-24: 51 > 52 HP, 26 > 27 Str, 0 Mag, 18 Skl, 20 Spd, 12 Lck, 18 > 19 Def, 3 Res!

Level 17-29: 44 > 53 HP, 2 > 5 Str, 15 > 25 Mag, 21 > 27 Skl, 25 > 30 Spd, 10 > 16 Lck, 7 > 10 Def, 11 > 17 Res!

Level 22-24: 48 > 49 HP, 19 > 20 Str, 0 Mag, 26 > 27 Skl, 22 Spd > 23 Spd, 7 > 9 Lck, 17 Def, 3 Res!

Level 28-30: 41 HP, 17 Str, 10 Mag, 19 > 20 Skl, 30 Spd, 13 Lck, 17 Def, 17 Res!

Level 22-23: 49 > 50 HP, 24 > 25 Str, 1 Mag, 23 Skl, 21 Spd, 17 > 18 Lck, 17 Def, 11 Res!

Level 15-30: 40 > 53 HP, 0 > 4 Str, 11 > 21 Mag, 23 > 24 Skl, 15(20) > 26(31) Spd, 17 > 25 Lck, 1 > 7 Def, 11 > 17 Res!

Level 27-29: 40 > 42 HP, 0 > 1 Str, 22 > 23 Mag, 14 Skl, 18 > 19 Spd, 12 > 13 Lck, 6 Def, 23 Res!

Fionordequester · Sun Aug 30, 2020 9:54 am

Hello everyone, and welcome back to the FINAL battle against the Grandbellian conspirators! Last time, we took down Langbart; but this time?

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

We're going to grind everyone up as high as we conveniently can; preferably up to Level 26 w/44 EXP. That's exactly how high they need to be before an Elite Ring wearer can get to Level 30 in the Arena. This is crucial to keep in mind, because we have 487 non-Fin levels to meet, and we don't want to waste time doing so!

In fact, that's also why we didn't level up earlier. Enemies were worth less EXP in the early chapters, and these Axe Knights are high level, easy to dodge, AND are locked to 1 Range! They're great EXP fodder; to the point where I thought my Real Time gains would offset the Turn costs. But we need to accomplish a few things before we can take advantage of this:

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

1) We need powerful swords. Most of our guys will be using the Uber Hero Sword; but Silver Blades, Steel Blades, and Silver Swords will also work.

2) We need to distract Slaydar. The reinforcements dry up the moment he dies, but he also has 9 Move compared to his men's 8. He'll die WITH his men if we aren't careful, so we need to bait him with a juicy target. This can be a Priest, someone locked to 2-Range, someone at low health...anyone that would be less threatening than, say, Beowulf. And said person needs to be close enough that Slaydar can get them, but also far enough to where his cronies are forced to attack the one with the Elite Ring.

3) But we can't just distract Slaydar any ol' way we want to. We ALSO need to move him in a way that robs his men of his Leadership stars. Otherwise, his men gain +10 Hit.

4) We need Sigurd and Lachesis to give Evade boosts (and Lovers, if they're available).

5) We need one or two healers on hand.

6) We need someone like Fury to Return the Elite Ring wielder. This allows them to pass the Ring to someone else, and that person will then sprint towards Lubeck.

7) Finally, we need at least one strong person WITHOUT the Elite Ring on hand. They'll kill the reinforcements while we wait for the new Elite Ring user to arrive.

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Grandbell Army 1

Back to the game; I really do love the Grandbell Army theme. It first played when Andre massacred Mahnya and her squad, so that REALLY helps it have a feeling of brutality.

'Course, they stop being impressive when they pick on someone their own size.

Case in point! Note that Beo does NOT have the Elite Ring yet; I left that with Tiltyu and Levin.

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

However, THOSE two are now at Level 39, and Beo's gotta return to the castle. So!

Turns 8-9: Beo buys the Elite Ring, gets himself to Level 26 w/44 EXP off the thugs at our castle, gets to Level 30 in the Arena, and then passes the Ring and Uber Hero Sword to Noish...

Who then runs to the fray with Bargain Ring, Speed Ring, Skill Ring, Pursuit Ring, Elite Ring, and Uber Hero Sword in hand. Meanwhile...

Tiltyu and Levin are catching up on lost time...

Grandbell Army 1

And Aira's smacking fools around like it ain't no thing. And while she waits for Noish's arrival...

Turns 10-15: Jamka gets himself some Gold. Next...

Noish gets himself to Level 27 off two more waves, and brings the Uber Hero Sword to it's full potential! This took a reset to accomplish, but oh well. No Losses were incurred.

Arena Match

Aideen was more than willing to move some numbers around in the Arena. Speaking of which...

Turns 16-19: Noish has gotten to Level 30, and now it's Alec's turn!

4 hits + 50% base crit + 12 Might = The touch of death! Even when in the hands of...

Azel. Fricken Azel, of all people, gets to ORKO an entire Axe Knight platoon!

Enemy Attack

I mean, that's not THAT impressive, considering that Aira's been doing that for several turns now...but still. Good thing that sword of hers lasted as long as it did...

That all said, Azel's still a somewhat flimsy target compared to the previous combats. So I had Fury fly here as an added distraction to Slaydar. The Hard A.I. is much less random than the Normal A.I., so feel free to switch it to Hard if you can.

Grandbell Army 1

I'll be honest guys; when I started this LP, I never thought I'd see this

. ~~Although that took a reset too.~~

Turns 20-21: Now, we get three more people up to Level 30.

Arena Match

MWAHAHA

!!

Oh, and Dew gets himself to Level 28...

Silesia Castle Town

Right before helping Ardan prepare for his grinding session!

STEP 1: Ardan purchases the Bargain Ring and Uber Hero Sword before selling his Iron Sword...

STEP 2: Sugard daddy Dew gives him about 33,500G...

STEP 3: And then Ardan sprints off to Lubeck as quick as he can. 5 Move is kind of a drag for the kind of maps FE4 has, but...he'll get there.

Dew, meanwhile, is tapped. So he liquidates his stuff and leaves the castle.

Meanwhile, our main group gets in formation so that Slaydar...

Enemy Attack

Can take another crack at em'. It...goes about as well as you'd expect.

I made a mistake in not equipping the Silver Sword; that would have granted me +10 Evade, and made it easier to cleanly ORKO these knights. Holyn managed to do so ANYWAY, but only because he procced Lunar Sword twice, and then got an extra Strength point.

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

Turns 22-23: :cheeky: .

Ah! There's Dew playing a game of Hot Potato with his new beau! No need to SPEND that Gold on anything, oh no!! Level 30's the name of the game here!

Oh, and Levin got married. That's neat I guess.

There! THAT'S the weapon Holyn SHOULD have been using!

Turn 24-30: Oh hey Ardan, good to have you. Now if you could just...

Grandbell Army 1

There you go, that's the way! Vantage + 50% crit + Hero Sword + Pursuit + High Strength = Profit!

Of course, there is some risk to life and limb present in fighting the 1st wave here; each knight has about a 44% chance of hitting Ardan, and his Defense was still relatively low at the time this GIF was made. I had no Losses on my Combat ranking, so I decided to just take a chance instead of resetting at 8 HP; but be careful if you haven't done as well as me. You're only allowed 3 Losses, and there's no way to get rid of them without restarting the chapter.

Turns 32-36: It was all worth it though! He's still 222 EXP short of the EXP threshold though, so the Uber Hero Sword's just gonna have to break till we get that done. Zaxon's just too far away for us to turn back now, and Ardan's gotten +7 Defense since the 1st wave. He'll be fine.

Now, Slaydar gives a cool 44 EXP...

Ardan breaks the Hero Sword after killing three more henchmen...

Grandbell Army 1

And then these dudes stop right here, ripe for the killing.

This guy here is an especially juicy target, because...

Ardan landed a lucky crit on him last round, and has enough to kill him on this one. That's right! Even with 0 Might, 30 Accuracy, and 30 Weight, Ardan's Broken Sword is STILL enough for him to 2HKO! Provided enough luck, of course.

As for the others, I leave only one left; and only as EXP chow for Ardan.

And Fury's more than happy to get some Gold while softening Ardan's food for him.

Still not quite enough to get Level 26 w/44 EXP for Ardan, so I also gave two Ballistae kills to him and Sigurd (Sigurd always appreciates the Light Sword kills, and Ardan can't reach em').

Here's another Village!

Grandbell did subdue Isaac, but there still is some commotion going on over there. Apparently the people of Isaac are desperate to see Prince Shanan return.

So I guess the impression we're supposed to get from what Langbart and him are saying is this; Dannan WAS able to quash their main military easily enough. However, the civilians themselves are proving to be a more difficult challenge. It's not “some little uprising”, as Langbart called it; it's a whole slew of mass uprisings that are happening all over the country. Each one isn't that bad on their own, but there's a lot of them; far too many for the Graun Ritter to get in one fell swoop. They'll win, sure...but it's gonna take them longer than they expected.

And that's not even counting the difficulties of trying to fight in a completely foreign land, where the terrain is different from back home, and where your “huge army” has to sustain itself entirely off of supplies from way back home.

Anyway, Ardan's got everything he needs now. Now how are all of our lovely bachelors and bachelorettes doing?

Yeah, there we go!

Whooooo!!!

WAIFU SIMULATOR HAS BEEN COMPLETED

!

Now let's see if we can get any closer to rescuing Sigurd's one-and-only...

Decision 3

Sigurd: Oifaye, I need a favour of you.

Oifaye: Sure. What is it?

Sigurd: Isaacian territory is just northeast of Lubeck, right? Langbart’s oldest son, Dannan, has been stationed in Isaac ever since their defeat. But I’m willing to bet his authority hasn’t reached the outskirts of Isaac. So...

Oifaye: Just a second! Are you suggesting I leave you all and head for safety!? Forget it! I’m not leaving your side, sir! I’m here till the end!

Sigurd: Oifaye, I hate to impose on you, but please understand my situation. I don’t want to lose Celice. He is not even two yet. But I can’t fight and take care of him. Oifaye, please. I want you to take Celice and go to where it’s safe. You are the only one who I can feasibly count on to do this.

Oifaye: …Alright, I’ll do it. …I’ll guard him with my life. But you have to promise me something. When this war is over you must promise to come get us. Otherwise, I’m not leaving.

Sigurd: Of course. I promise. I’ll come for you.

Oifaye: Okay.

Shanan: And I’m not handin’ him over to Oifaye or anyone until she says it’s okay!

Sigurd: Shanan, come on… I know how you feel. I’m not any happier than you are about Deirdre not being around, but this is for the best.

Shanan: Forget it! It’s my job! Besides, Isaacians hate you guys. You send Oifaye by himself and he’ll be in big trouble! I’m the prince of Isaac. I can protect him better than anyone. Besides, I promised I would.

Oifaye: I know you don’t want to get him involved in this. He is still pretty young. But he can hold his own. His presence would add a level of safety I can’t provide in Isaac.

Sigurd: Hm…

Shanan: You got it! I’m gonna get even tougher, you’ll see. No one’ll lay a hand on him! And I’ll tell him all about Deirdre, too!

Oifaye: I’ll be praying for our victory.

Sigurd: Thanks, Oifaye. Stay well.

Oifaye: Will do!

...Whoa. Well that got dramatic all of a sudden. I mean, I know Langbart wasn't exactly a pushover, but things haven't gotten THAT bad. I wouldn't be stressing out just yet...

Victory is Near

An' hey! It's Dew! Dew's always good for a laugh, right?

Dew talks to Jamka:

Conversation 1

Ha! Nothin' can rain on Dew's para-

Dew: Everyone’s been sayin’ that, and I’m sick of it! What’s up with everybody? We’re just about ready to win here, but everyone’s bein’ all weird.

Jamka: Er… Sorry, Dew. Yeah, you’re right. I am a bit on edge. I’m not sure why.

Dew: Jamka, look. I like you. You’re a nice guy. I know I caused you trouble before… Anyway, I’m sorry.

Jamka: Dew! What are you getting all mushy on me for? Now you’re the one being weird.

Dew: Yeah, I just… Never mind. I’ll see ya later.

...Okaaay?

Jamka: Hmm… Dew’s also sensing something.

Umm...ok, guess both of them are kinda out of it today. Maybe try Aira and Sigurd?

Sigurd talks to Aira (man the music in this game is good):

Towards the Light

Huh. So Shanan and Oifaye weren't the first people Sigurd's shared this with; he's been thinking on it for a while.

Sigurd: Huh? You were entrusted with Shanan’s protection, but he’s in Isaac and you’re here!

Aira: Ah, you’re talking about the promise to my late brother. My job is finished with Shanan. He’s old enough to look after himself now.

Sigurd: Yeah, but…

Aira: I will return to Isaac as soon as this war is finished. And when that day comes, Sir, you too will be able to return to your homeland.

Aira's come quite a way from Chapter 1, huh? Girl hated Sigurd's guts back then, but now...well, I guess marrying Lex has kinda softened her attitude on us Grandbellians. Kind of weird that Shanan never got a new portrait though; guy doesn't exactly scream “I can protect Celice from anybody!"

Lex talks to Azel:

Decision 1

Lex: Huh? Ah, you mean my dad?

Azel: Yeah…

Lex: Yeah… Well, I’d be lyin’ if I said I didn’t feel nothin’. But I tell you, it serves him right. He killed a lot of innocent people.

Azel: Boy, you’re strong, Lex. I start to shake just when I’m around Alvis.

Lex: I can’t figure your brother out. I never thought of him as a bad guy. He was always kind to us.

Azel: Yeah, he always meant more to me than my dad did. But sometimes I feel like I don’t even know him. He can get pretty violent.

Lex: And that’s why you left your pad. Am I right? I don’t see any problem there, Azel. You’ve got your life, and he’s got his.

Azel: Yeah, I suppose.

Wow; that was exposition there. But, it was delivered naturally! “Alvis is a violent enough guy that even Azel isn't totally sure how he feels about him”... That's clearly the main point of this conversation. But the game draws your attention to Lex first, then transitions into Azel's doubts once they can come up naturally. It's not a bunch of talking heads winking and nudging at the audience like it was in some of the OTHER scenes we covered; it felt like an actual conversation. It's short, it's subtle, and it still leaves things on an ominous note. I have to give props where props are due...

And I also have to criticize myself when self-criticisms are due. Because while that was the last NEW conversation...there was one I forgot from last update

.

Aideen talks to Brigid (available at the start of Chapter 5):

Conversation 1

Aideen: Yes, he killed our dear father, and Mahnya as well. He must have been possessed by something evil to do such unthinkable things.

Brigid: Well, that doesn’t matter ’cause I’m going to kill him! His little killing spree is over. Aideen, you’re with me on this, aren’t you?

Aideen: Brigid...

Brigid: I wish there was another way, but the crimes he has committed weigh heavily on us as well. Look, I may go down for what I’m about to do. I just wanted you to understand my reasons.

Aideen: Yes, Brigid.

I REALLY don't know how I forgot that, but...there you go. Now;

Let's get Holyn closer to the other village...

And let's see what happens.

Manster Palace

*GASP* The cavalry has arrived! Literally!

Cuan: I heard Sigurd’s troops are coming south through the Yied Desert. So if we head north, we should meet up with them at some point.

Ethlin: It was so kind of you to agree to help my brother… especially with your father being so sick. But making enemies with a major power like Grandbell… Well, it really concerns me about Lenster’s future.

Cuan: Ethlin, Lenster may be a small country, but it’s a country of warriors. My entire family is descended from the Crusader Noba. In a war of justice there is no loser. My father wants us to give this battle all we’ve got. Ethlin, don’t worry. I have the Gaebolg with me. I’m not going to fall with this at my side. Anyway, I really believe I can help Sigurd out.

Ethlin: …I know you will.

Cuan: Ethlin, we’re in enemy territory now. You better head on back. The fighting may start anytime.

Ethlin: Cuan, I’ve been thinking. I… I’m coming with you. I want to see my brother again, and I just can’t stand to leave your side!

Cuan: No way! You said you were only coming part of the way. That’s why I let you bring Altenna along. Look at her sleeping on your lap. She’s only 3 years old! What would you do if we were suddenly attacked!?

Ethlin: I’ll keep her safe with me!

Cuan: I would have never brought you along in the first place had I known your intentions!

I dunno Cuan. Look what happened when Sigurd tried to get Deirdre to stay put; at least this way, you can keep an eye on her.

Ethlin: But Altenna wouldn’t stop crying… I (sob..) had to bring her! But you’re right… You’re right. I’ll go back.

Cuan: I’m sorry, Ethlin. I know how you feel, but you just gave birth to Leaf, as well. Our children need you. Look, Fin is in charge of Lenster. Please go back and wait for me.

Ethlin: Okay, but let me stay with you a little longer… just a little. Please, Cuan.

PFAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Yeah, I think we know how that ends, don't we :mmmhmm: ?

Cuan: Well… okay, but keep it short.

Yep. He fell for it. Cuan fell for the ol' “foot-in-the-door” technique. You give an inch, you give a mile! Oh that's funn-

Enemy Message 3 (Trabant's theme)

Trabant: Let’s bid a fine farewell to Lenster’s Lance Ritter! The desert’s hinderin’ their movement. No way they can put up a fight here! Let’s move! The future of Thracia is in our grasp!

SHOOSHOOTSHOOTSHOOTSHOOTSHOOO-

Crisis 1

Ethlin: But… but what about you?

Cuan: Ethlin, they’re like a pack of hyenas. They’ll show no compassion for a child! Thracia has been after our country for quite a while. I left half of our military behind with Fin in case of a surprise attack by Thracia. But I never dreamed they’d come after us… I’ve made a grave miscalculation!

Ethlin: Cuan, don’t give up yet. We can take ’em if we fight together! Now let’s do this!

Cuan: Ethlin… thank you!

Well of course you can beat them. I mean...

Neutral Army

Ok, so Cuan's at a pretty severe Move disadvantage; but we can also see that Trabant's men don't have any ranged weapons. And we also saw how pathetic they were in Chapter 3. So Cuan's men still have a pretty decent sho-

...

...

Horseslayers...they have horseslayers...OF COURSE THEY DO! WHY NOT?! But Cuan's pretty awesome, right?! Surely he can...

Oh... Ooooooooohhh....Trabant's got a Holy Weapon too. A better one, actually.

And Pursuit...and Nihil...and enough Leadership Stars to give himself and anyone nearby +40 Avoid and Hit... Oh, but hey! Ethlin's got the Relive Staff! So even if Cuan takes a beating, he's got himself an ace in the whole! There's no WAY he can lose if he's got healing and Trabant doesn-

...have...that...

...

Ok, so I guess Alvis lent Trabant his Recover Ring for this one. But hey! It's still two-on-one! It's not as though Trabant's got anyone else-

...with him...?

Guy no-sells everyone except Cuan, 3HKOes Ethlin, cleanly ORKOes all of Cuan's men...and gives +20 Hit and Evade on top of that. So Cuan's clearly not winning this one; not without some help.

In fact, I'm not sure they could do it even if we did everything possible to baby with RNG manipulation and rings and stuff. Trabant is literally immune to critical hits, his men are more than a match for Cuan's, and he's apparently borrowed Alvis's Recover Ring. So what we need to do is get Sigurd off his laurels, and just have him bum rush; BUM RUSH himself ALL the way out...

...theeeeeere...

....

...

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AAAA RANKED RUN STATS:

Time Taken This Update: ~42 minutes and 28 seconds

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: 13 hours, 18 minutes, 6 seconds~

Turns Taken This Update: 29 Turns

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 195 Turns

Levels Gained This Update: 61 Levels

Total Levels Gained: 516 Levels

Things I Regret: In the Prologue, I regret the fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue.

In Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue.

On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

On Chapter 3, I regret selling Deirdre's Aura tome! I'll bet she TOTALLY could've kicked Manfloy's butt, if ONLY I hadn't taken that away

!!

On Chapter 4, I regret not having Claude turn around sooner. I also regret not repairing the Return Staff before giving it to Aideen.

On Chapter 5, I regret not having Dew sit tight after slaying that General; I didn't really accomplish much by moving him around outside, so I probably wasted about a minute or so.

Level 20-30: 45 > 54 HP, 22 > 24 Str, 6 > 7 Mag, 16 > 19 Skl, 12 > 14 Spd, 7 > 11 Lck, 16 > 21 Def, 5 > 6 Res!

Level 26-30: 45 > 47 HP, 17 > 18 Str, 6 Mag, 23 > 24 Skl, 18 > 20 Spd, 11 > 13 Lck, 19 > 20 Def, 5 Res!

Level 7-26: 39 > 57 HP, 17 > 24 Str, 0 > 2 Mag, 6 > 8 Skl, 5 > 8 Spd, 3 > 5 Lck, 14 > 21 Def, 0 Res!

Level 24-30: 46 > 51 HP, 7 > 9 Str, 21 > 23 Mag, 16 Skl, 15 > 16 Spd, 10 > 11 Lck, 11 Def, 11 Res!

Level 29-30: 46 HP, 7 Str, 24 > 25 Mag, 11 > 13 Skl, 21 > 22 Spd, 24 Lck, 5 Def, 12 Res!

Level 24-30: 44 > 46 HP, 17 > 20 Str, 5 Mag, 17 > 20 Skl, 27 Spd, 22 > 25 Lck, 15 > 16 Def, 6 > 7 Res!

Level 22-26: 44 > 47 HP, 20 > 23 Str, 1 Mag, 30 Skl, 26 Spd, 5 Lck, 9 Def, 5 Res!

Level 29-30: 53 > 54 HP, 5 Str, 25 Mag, 27 Skl, 30 Spd, 16 Lck, 10 Def, 17 > 18 Res!

Level 24-30: 49 > 54 HP, 19 > 23 Str, 0 Mag, 27 > 30 Skl, 23 > 24 Spd, 9 > 10 Lck, 17 > 19 Def, 3 Res!

Level 7-8: 33 HP, 3 > 4 Str, 1 Mag, 4 Skl, 13 Spd, 9 Lck, 2(9) Def, 7 Res!

Level 23-26: 51 > 54 HP, 22 > 23 Str, 3 Mag, 26 > 27 Skl, 21 Spd, 5 Lck, 16 Def, 4 Res!

Fionordequester · Sun Aug 30, 2020 9:56 am

CHAPTER 5: THE END OF GEN 1 (PART 1/2)

Alright guys, we're making this a two-parter. This here's Part 1, and the next one'll be up tomorrow. So buckle down, because things are going to get nuts...

Neutral Army

Now, Cuan's got himself in a wee bit of a predicament. This is where I ended things in the last update...

Alvis' Theme

But guess what? This game had other ideas.

Yeah, I'll be honest; I wish this and Trabant's ambush had switched places. Cuan's ambush seems like it was designed to be a really hard, really sudden gut punch to the player. So having yet ANOTHER long-winded scene of exposition with Alvis and Friends immediately after Trabant arrives. I dunno; seems like it kind of breaks the narrative flow.

Reptor: You’re the one who said Sigurd wouldn’t pose any problems! You KNEW Langbart and I sent most of our military off with our sons to subdue other areas. You’ve explicitly gone against your word!

Alvis: Lord Reptor, calm down a second. I already have Velthomer troops positioned in the Yied Desert. And Thracia’s mercenaries should be here shortly. Reptor, as long as you and I engage our armies together, the rebels WILL fall.

Reptor: Alvis, you better be right this time. You can have the throne for all I care. But you best not forget about us once you become king.

Alvis: Don’t worry. When this war is finished, your family will take Agustria. And the Dozel family will take Isaac. Rest assured. Those countries are rightfully yours.

Reptor: Well, alright then. We’ll take on the rebels with all we’ve got.

And there's the REAL reason we occupied Agustria all those years ago. Sure, it was Shagaal himself who declared a war on Grandbell; but you just know that these guys saw an easy opportunity to "pacify" Agustria and "govern" it with "all laws that are deemed necessary and proper". Hence why the Grandbellian governors became "exceedingly reckless, and began to abuse the power they were entrusted with." Why exercise caution when you know that you have no intention of actually leaving?

Loputousu Sect

Of course, indiscretions like this carry their own set of consequences. Like having to put up with this guy.

Alvis: Manfloy? How many times have I told you not to show yourself around here!? All members of your Lopt Sect must stay completely hidden until I’ve taken power!

Manfloy: Yes. You’re too weak to admit our presence, and you let that greedy Reptor and Langbart run all over you! The original plan was to dispose of those two once they proved useless and work through their sons instead!

Alvis: Hmph… Manfloy, I’ll say this once and only once, so listen good. I haven’t the slightest intention of rebuilding your Lopt Empire. I have no problem with your Lopt Sect existing, but I’m not leaving the world in the hands of the Dark Lord. You follow!? I don’t care if I have the Lopt Clan’s blood in me. I have Saint Maira’s blood and he fought for the good of the people. The Fire God Fala is also one of my ancestors. I will use my power to create a world which is free of prejudice. One where all peoples can live without fear of repression! Of course, Sigurd knows way too much. Consider him a sacrifice to the greater good.

"I will create a world where all people are free of repression! Except for anyone who threatens my rule; THEY must be REPRESSED!!"

Manfloy: Hohoho… I assume that greater good includes Deirdre as well! Lord Alvis, you’re afraid, aren’t you. Afraid her memories may be restored!

Alvis: Enough, Manfloy! We-are-in-love. And no one’s going to get in our way!

Manfloy: Hmhmhm… Well, the two of you need to get busy and bear a son. That child is certain to become a magnificent king! Heeheehee...

Ergh..."getting busy"? Was that really in the original script? I gotta know...

Original Script wrote: くくく・・・
はやくお子をもうけられることですな
きっと立派な王になられるでしょう
・・・くくくっ・・・

Basic Translation wrote: Hehehe...
I suppose you'll be having a child soon.
I'm sure he'll grow to be a WONDERFUL king!
Hehehee...

Yeah that's about what I thought. Boo just made a mistake; こと can mean about four different things when used at the end of a sentence, and he thought that Manfroy was giving a command. But, in actuality, he was using it as a way of softening a judgement or statement (otherwise, the statement would have read as "you'll be having a child soon").

Also, MAN! Alvis is being completely different here than he was in the Prologue! There, he was cool, calm, polite, and always very direct. No long-winded speeches, no speaking IN ALL CAPS, no temper tantrums about how he and another man's wife are totally BFF's...the change is stunning.

...

Except, IS it actually that stunning? One could say that he's changed since coming into contact with Manfloy...but...

Azel: I start to shake just when I’m around Alvis...[H]e always meant more to me than my dad did. But sometimes I feel like I don’t even know him. He can get pretty violent.

That's his own brother speaking right there. And then there's the guy's dad...

Treasure Special Column Designers Notes wrote: Although Victor got his hands on [Azel's mother, not Sigyn/Shigyun] from the momentum of being drunk, when he knew the girl got pregnant he yelled, cursed, used violence, and tried to drive her away. The person who scolded at this was Shigyun [yeah, this translation is kinda stiff], and the very child who this girl got pregnant with was in fact Azel. When Victor died, Azel was just born.

Who then committed suicide after finding out about the affair his wife was having with Prince Kurth. So the Alvis we saw in the Prologue? Probably a VERY different Alvis than the one his closest friends and family will see. Violence and torment seems to have a strong hold on this family.

Yied Army

But enough psycho-analysis; let's meet the Phinorans!

Vaha: This desert can be their grave!

I wouldn't go THAT far...but these guys CAN really ruin your day if you let them.

Yes, I'm incorporating Leadership Star and Castle bonuses into unit stats from now on. Now, that's the magic they'll be flinging every which way...and this is how far they can fling it:

...Owch. That's a minefield if I ever saw one. We're gonna need someone...tanky. Someone...who can resist their Sleep staves and take a magic blast to the face, like it ain't no thang. Where can we find someone like that? Let's find out!

Enemy Attack

Well, after Fury takes a hit from this guy I mean.

Not good enough Fury. I need someone 20+ Resistance to handle THIS job!

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

But we'll worry about that later. For now, I have Sigurd guard the castle; he'll want to buy some stuff before he can go to Phinora.

Fury then Returns Ardan to Zaxon, where he can finish his leveling...

And then flies toward Velthomer. Not Zaxon; Velthomer. The game WANTS you to use Fury to dispatch those Meteo users, but I have something far grander in mind.

Promotion

. Ardan...

Ok, I'll be fair here. Those promotion gains...aren't actually that bad. The stat boosts leave something to be desired, but Ardan also gets 1-2, WTA on whoever he needs it on, the ability to ORKO flying units, and even a 20%+ chance of nullifying any attack that hits him. Combine that with his absurd Defense and HP, and you've got a pretty useful unit on your hands!

...

Except, we already got that from Cuan...and Lex...and Sigurd...and that's not even mentioning his laughably bad 5 Move. It's just too little, too late for this poor dude. There's just nothing he can do that's worth the hassle of training him.

Arena Match

Ergh, let me rephrase that. There's nothing he can do outside of an AAAA Rank Run that can justify his use. In one though?

He's pretty decent! I'd prefer it if he could more reliably survive his 1st wave of Slaydar's men, but oh well. It's hard to complain about 28 free levels

.

This isn't the last time we'll be using Ardan this chapter, but it's the last time he'll ever need the Elite Ring, or any of that other swag.

Best give it to our OTHER winners!

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

Turn's almost over. But before we end things, Holyn will be wanting that Bargain Ring.

This here's the reason why Sigurd spends a turn at Lubeck. Holyn can't buy these two items AND the Elite Ring on the same turn, so he can't get to Level 30 until next Player Phase. I WANT Sigurd to give that Elite Ring to his son, so I'm not willing to move on till Sigurd's got it.

Allied Army

Speaking of moving on...

Neutral Army

Well, things aren't looking good for them. Good thing the YELLOW guys can't get us, huh?

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

Now then, we've got two more guys to train before we can blitz through the rest of the Chapter.

Arena Match

First is Jamka. He's got a rougher path to victory than the Uber Hero Sword users, so beat the first three opponents with the Hero Bow...

Save...

Switch to the Killer Bow for this guy...

Save, and hope that the next warrior...

Doesn't critkill you before you can...

Save...

And breath a sigh of relief if you can get past Nazarl, because the guy after him is significantly easier.

There we go!

Silesia Castle Town

Now, Jamka's son, Lester, is going to have a harder time leveling than Brigid's son, and those two are the only Gen 2 archers. May as well buy Jammy everything I can!

And then help Holyn do the same thing!

After getting through the Arena, of course.

Arena Match

These animations are so great. They're so over the top

!

Silesia Castle Town

But back to Holyn; I mentioned in the War Room that his daughter is going to be our next Dew. Like him, she is going to be dispensing money to EVERYONE in her Generation. But she can also get WALLED by the Arena in the same way Dew can. So we want her inheriting as much stuff from her father as possible!

So that's why I'm going out of my way to get him as much money as possible. And that's ALSO why...

I had Lachesis clear the Arena! Her daughter is a staff wielder, but her son is a melee combat unit.

Hence, we want her husband getting whatever Holyn doesn't get; gotta help our weaker Gen 2 units out!

Speaking of Inheritance...

Surprise! That Elite Ring's going to SIGURD of all people! Yes, Sigurd's son, Celice, doesn't start out quite as strong as Sigurd himself. In fact, he starts as a foot unit instead of a mounted unit; he's not gonna get a horse until Level 20! However, only he can capture castles, and he will eventually promote into the same class as his father. Therefore, Celice will save FAR more turns with the Elite and Leg Rings than anyone in Gen 2 ever could!

Now back to the game; we want to fix the Tyrfing. But each point of durability costs 1000G, and we only need two of them. So I spent all the money I had repairing the Light Sword...

Got 2500G by beating the first two Arena fighters...

And THEN fixed up the Tyrfing! It's offensive parameters are really good...

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

But it's defensive parameters are out of this world!

Look at these stats guys; look at them! +20 Resistance! And the Barrier Ring makes 25+ Resistance! That's MORE than enough for Vaha and her goons!

Neutral Army

Still won't save Cuan though

.

Yep. This is the end. No chance of survival for these two.

Yied Army

Only Sigurd can see his men through to the end.

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

In fact, he's one of the ONLY ones who's going to be doing much of anything for the rest of this update. Everything else...

Well, Holyn needs the village, and Fury's getting closer to where I need her to go, but...everything else is already done.

Grandbell used to be a peace loving country, but things have changed. They’ve been sending troops to each and every nation with the intention of overthrowing them. Prince Kurth would never have allowed any of this if he were around. Please do something! Please return to Grandbell and remove those who are responsible for all this!

Ah, and there's that to do as well.

Neutral Army

Anyways...

Farewell, Ethlin. Your Staff Spamming made the EXP rank that much easier.

Enemy Message 3 (Trabant's theme)

Trabant: You tell ‘im to hand over the Gaebolg, otherwise the little girl gets it. Heh heh… Cuan, whatcha gonna do?

Cuan: He can have the damn Gae Bolg, but he better not lay a finger on Altenna!

Another one of my favorite lines from this game

...

Neutral Army

Yep; Cuan wasn't kidding when he said they could have the Gae Bolg. The A.I. is set to always kill Ethlin first, and Cuan will literally throw down his weapon and die. Like the Thracians needed EVEN MORE of an advantage.

Enemy Message 3 (Trabant's theme)

Trabant: There’s a nice reward on their heads, so don’t let a single one slip by ya.

Magorn: Yes sir. What shall we do with the child? She won’t stop crying, and… um… none of the men know quite how to handle a child. Should I off her?

"Is THAT what you do with children? Hoo ugh, this is so confusing"

Trabant: No, give her to me. I’m takin’ her an’ the Gaebolg back to Thracia with me.

Magorn: This is unexpected. Why would you want to take her back to Thracia?

Trabant: Shut up! This ‘as got nothin’ t’do with ya! So keep yer trap shut.

Magorn: Ah, f, forgive me. I will… ah, lead the troops in pursuit of Sigurd then.

Trabant: Yeah, ya do that!

Ooooh, Trabant... wowww. He's got like, depths...and stuff

.

Alright, that's it for Trabant. We won't be hearing anymore from him for a while, so, keep that last bit of dialogue in mind.

The Meteo mages technically take more shots at Sigurd, but, they aren't a concern.

Player Attack

BOOP! There goes the first Phinoran!

Thracia Army

And these pack of idiots are now flying toward Sigurd. But we're not worrying about them right now; they aren't that big an issue.

Miniboss

'Course, Vaha ain't any big thing either.

Nothing they do can harm Sigurd now.

Now let's put them out of their misery.

See that Prayer Sword? That's why we need 2 Tyrfing uses instead of 1. Otherwise, we'd get trolled by Prayer.

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

Alright, let's put these guys out of their misery.

Sigurd: Oifaye… Celice… I wonder how they’re doing...

Welcome. You must be Sir Sigurd.

Sigurd: It’s unfortunate your town got caught up in the middle of all this.

Well, it can’t be helped. We just heard about another skirmish in the desert’s south end.

And then...silence.

No Audio

...while coming north. Word is none of Lenster’s knights survived.

Sigurd: …are you sure about that!?

Time of Sadness 2 (Game Over...)

TV Tropes wrote:Funny Aneurysm Moment: A "funny aneurysm" moment is when a scene, joke, or offhand line that was originally meant to be funny or lighthearted becomes cringeworthy due to the unfortunate and/or traumatic events in future installments/episodes of a work or in real life...A "funny aneurysm" is an oxymoron since having an aneurysm isn't funny.

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

Granted, a lot of this SEEMS like it would have happened regardless of whether or not Deirdre had come...but...holy cow man! We talk about the light of the end of the tunnel, but...can his victory possibly be worth the sacrifices he had to make? I dunno, but I guess we'll find out in Part 2, won't we?

For now though...let's slow down a bit. There's are reams and REAMS of lover conversations that are unlocked by conquering Phinora, and even a secret event that we didn't go over yet. So...here you go. Consider this the intermission before the exciting conclusion to Fire Emblem 4: Generation 1.

NOTE: For anyone wondering why this took so long...it's because I had to MANUALLY figure out the OST that plays for every single one of these! I forgot to account for that, hence...the update taking 3 hours to come even after I was supposedly "putting the finishing touches" on it.

ARDAN'S DECISION (+5 SKILL; Activates at any point in Chapter 5, but only if Ardan has lover)

Foolish Soldiers

Ardan: Heh… I got married and got a kid! My family’s gotta come first, so I best not be dyin’. What’s dis ole book sittin’ here. Hmph… Dis is all gibber gabber. Eerrrr… mmmmnugh! What da… Wow! I feel all my senses done renovated!

ALEC & NOISH (probably not triggerable in-game, according to Serenes Forest. So I'm just guessing at what the music woulda been)

Towards the Light

Alec: Noish, this is it, huh?

Noish: Mmm.

Alec: Hey, uh… I just wanna thank you for everything.

Noish: Sure thing. Same goes here, Alec.

Alec: It’s been a blast, huh?

Noish: Yep.

Alec: Well, take care then.

Noish: Yep. You too.

PHINORAN LOVER CONVERSATIONS

TILTYU WITH LEX (Wherein Lex acknowledges that the two married after like...two months):

Decision 1

Tiltyu: Lex, you just have t’fight, don’t ya.

Lex: Hey! You get to Silesia where you’ll be safe.

Tiltyu: You’re so cruel! You want me t’go all alone.

Lex: Hey, everyone in the Freege family is breakin’ their back lookin’ for you, girl. And I don’t want my kids goin’ with them or the Dozels. You understand me!?

Tiltyu: Yeah, but...

Lex: Look, we’ve both been dealt a crappy hand. I wish we could’ve been together longer. I will cherish every single moment we had.

Tiltyu: Oh, Lex...

TILTYU WITH CLAUDE:

Decision 1

Tiltyu: Claude, what should I do?

Claude: Well, you certainly can’t fight your father’s army. Go to Silesia. You’ll be safe there.

Tiltyu: But what are you going to do?

Claude: Well, it’s my duty to see this war out.

Tiltyu: How could you! Just how am I to raise our children without you!?

Claude: I know it is difficult, but please understand.

Tiltyu: …Claude!

TILTYU WITH AZEL (Azel tells a VERY insensitive joke):

Decision 1

Tiltyu: Azel, don’t go!

Azel: Tiltyu, you promised me you’d head for Silesia. I told you, I’ll come as soon as I can!

Tiltyu: But...

Azel: You can’t fight Freege’s army! What, are you going to kill your own father?

Tiltyu: Well, no, but...

Azel: Good. I’d have second thoughts about someone who’d kill their own dad. You take care of the kids, okay?

Tiltyu: …Azel!

SYLVIA WITH LEVIN (wherein Levin is still regretting his decision):

Conversation 1

Sylvia: Hey, Levin!

Levin: Hey, Sylvia. What’s up?

Sylvia: You still like me?

Levin: C’mon. Give me a break, will you?

Sylvia: Well, do ya?

Levin: Yeah, I like you. That’s why we hooked up.

Sylvia: Good! That’s all I wanted to hear! ’cause I looooooove you! You are the only one… for me… Da-la-laa… la-la-laa!

Levin: Sylvia! You mind bringin’ it down a notch?

SYLVIA WITH CLAUDE (where the conversation ends very abruptly):

Decision 1

Sylvia: Claude, you okay?

Claude: Yes, I’m fine. But you cannot stay here. Now get going!

Sylvia: But...

Claude: You can’t stay with us. It’s too dangerous!

Sylvia: …Claude, I love you.

Claude: I love you too, but...

Sylvia: No! I’m not goin’. No way I’m leavin’ your side!

Claude: Sylvia, I can’t allow that! Please understand.

SYLVIA WITH ALEC (the case of the broken condom):

Conversation 1

Sylvia: Alec, I’ve been lookin’ all over for ya.

Alec: Sylvia? You can’t be out here! Now get on back to the castle, will ya?

Sylvia: But I was gettin’ all worried ’bout you.

Alec: C’mon, Sylvia. You gotta start actin’ a bit more grown up. You are a full-blown mother now.

Sylvia: Don’t talk to me like you’re my father or somethin’! It was all your fault anyway.

Alec: Hey now! I think the, ah… willingness on both sides led to our little surprise, don’t you?

Sylvia: Yeah, right. Well, hurry back. Leen and I can’t live without ya forever. Okay? You gotta promise!

Alec: Yeah, I promise. I’ll come for you.

LACHESIS WITH NOISH (Surprise! Lachesis has a thing for blonde people):

Towards the Light

Lachesis: Noish, wait!

Noish: Lachesis? You’re still here!? I told you to leave for Lenster.

Lachesis: I sent the kids already, but I’m staying to fight.

Noish: Why are you breaking your word with me? The kids need their mother. What if something were to happen to you? And you have King Eltshan’s child to consider, too.

Lachesis: I don’t know where Aless is anymore.

Noish: Well, Sir Sigurd is very concerned about Prince Aless. That boy has lost both of his parents. Aless must mean something to you, as well.

Lachesis: No, it’s just… Ah, nevermind. Look, I am your wife.

Noish: I know you are, and I love you dearly. Don’t you ever forget it.

Lachesis: I won’t. Sorry.

LACHESIS WITH DEW (No, seriously. She REEEALLY has a thing for blond people ):

Conversation 1

Lachesis: Dew, what are you doing here!?

Dew: What gives? I can handle bein’ here now. I’m not the same Dew anymore.

Lachesis: I know. But this next battle isn’t going to be like the others! It’ll be way out of your league, Dew.

Dew: Everyone’s been sayin’ that crap. I’m not a kid anymore!

Lachesis: I can definitely vouch for that, Dew. Heheh… Especially after what we...

Dew: H, hey! You’re gettin’ red there, girl!

Lachesis: Oh, Dew!

Dew: Lachesis, it’s been great bein’ with you. You’re always nice to me.

Lachesis: Same goes to you, Dew.

LACHESIS WITH BEOWULF (Let's use the Bookofholsety script for this one. Beo's pretty vague here, so here's a fresh translation):

Towards the Light

Lachesis: Beowulf...

Beowulf: Look, Raquesis. If somethin' happens t'me, I want ya to go to Leonster fer me. Quan's kids are there with Finn. Help em' out where I can't, yeah?

Lachesis: No! You mustn't say such things! If I go to Leonster, you will come with me!

Beowulf: Raquesis...I don't think I've done right by ya.

Lachesis: W-what? Why...?

Beowulf: I knew how ya really felt all along...

Lachesis: ...Oh!

Beowulf: Look after yerself, Raquesis. This was fun while it lasted.

Lachesis: Wait! Beowolf!

FURY WITH NOISH:

Conversation 1

Fury: Oh, Noish, I’ve been looking for you!

Noish: Fury, you alright?

Fury: I’m fine.

Noish: Good. Fury, you be careful. You’re no longer caring for just yourself, you know.

Fury: I hope our kids back in Silesia are doing okay, as well. I’m dying to see them again.

Noish: Yep, me too. Let’s get this war over with quickly.

Fury: Yes, let’s do that. Noish, you be careful, too.

FURY WITH LEVIN (At least Fury's MOTHER is alive!):

Conversation 1

Fury: So this is it, Levin.

Levin: Yeah. Fury, you keep your promise to me, okay?

Fury: Yes, I’m to return immediately to Silesia. I know.

Levin: Look, I’m not gonna die out here, and you best not go doin’ so either!

Fury: Yes. I can promise that! I’ve had my childhood dream realised. It would be just horrible to die now! I will always be with you.

Levin: Mother’s very anxious to see you again… more than she is me!

Fury: Yes. Well, I just hope I can make my new mother-in-law proud.

URY WITH ARDAN (wherein Ardan done hits his head and loses a hunnerd I.Q. points):

Conversation 1

Fury: Ardan, you okay?

Ardan: I’ve had ‘nough of dis stupid desert!

Fury: Heheh! Too bad you can’t ride my pegasus with me out of here.

Ardan: Yeh. If only I’s ’bout a hunnerd pounds lighter.

Fury: Ardan, don’t you get yourself killed, okay?

Ardan: You can bet on dat! I ain’t dyin’. Not after gettin’ someone as perdy as you for my wife! When dis war’s done wit we’s headin’ back t’Silesia. We can open a little veggie stand!

Fury: Yes, that would be just fine with me.

BRIGID WITH MIDIR (Midir assures Brigid of his love):

Conversation 1

Brigid: Midir, are you alright?

Midir: Yes, I’m fine. How are you doing, Brigid?

Brigid: I’m fine as long as you’re with me.

Midir: Brigid, I’m very happy I met you and I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.

Brigid: Midir, you sound like you want to break up or something.

Midir: Ah, forgive me. Brigid, I wanted you to understand something.

Brigid: Look, Midir. I know you used to like Aideen. Do you think you’ll be happy with me?

Midir: Of course! Yes, I used to like Aideen… Like. But you are the only one I’ve ever loved.

Brigid: Midir, thanks! Don’t ever leave me.

BRIGID WITH JAMKA (Jamka tries hard to assure Brigid of his love...a little TOO hard ):

Conversation 1

Brigid: Jamka, you okay? You must be beat.

Jamka: Ah… I’m alright. How about you?

Brigid: I’m fine as long as you’re with me.

Jamka: Brigid, you know I don’t want you fighting. You won’t consider calling it quits?

Brigid: No! I will not call it quits! And it’s too late to turn back now, anyway.

Jamka: Alright… alright.

Brigid: Jamka, are you happy with me?

Jamka: Huh?

Brigid: Are you happy with me? Because I know Aideen meant something...

Jamka: Brigid! Would you quit it!? I fell in love with you! And that’ll never change!

Brigid: Ah… S, sorry, Jamka. But I’m glad I asked...

BRIGID WITH ALEC (Wherein Alec tells an insensitive joke):

Conversation 1

Brigid: Alec, we’re almost to Barhara.

Alec: Yeah. This is our grand return, huh.

Brigid: I wonder if I’ll be okay returning to the country I was born in. What is Jungby like?

Alec: Ahh… it’s a beautiful place with loads of beautiful women.

Brigid: Alec! I better not catch you cheating on me!

Alec: No way! You’d kill me if I did! Haha...

Brigid: That’s right! Besides, I want to keep you alive now. Your work with me has just begun! And for our children as well… I can’t let you die!

Alec: Don’t worry, I’ve got luck on my side. How else could I get such a beautiful bride!

Brigid: Alec...

AIRA WITH LEX:

Towards the Light

Aira: Lex, things are coming to a peak, aren’t they.

Lex:Yep, looks that way. Aira, you are being damn stubborn. Why don’t you go back to Isaac?[/i]

Aira: Why? Because I’m a girl!? Our responsibility to our children is the same in my book.

Lex: Oops… you got me. Sorry. But you had the perfect chance to get out. Our kids are only...

Aira: Yeah, and that’s why we’ll go together, after we finish this war.

Lex: Right… right. C’mon, let’s go!

Aira: Lex, I’m sorry, but this is the only way I know how to be.

Lex: Hahaha! I know. I’m just teasin’. That’s what I like about you, Aira. I don’t know how things are going to turn out, Aira, but I’m in for the long haul.

AIRA WITH HOLYN (Ok... what the heck was he doing in Agustria then?):

Towards the Light

Aira: Holyn, things are coming to a peak, aren’t they.

Holyn: Uh...

Aira: Holyn, I’ve got something I want to ask you. Is that alright?

Holyn: Yeah, what is it?

Aira: Why do you look out for me? Is there something you haven’t told me?

Holyn: Aira, I’ve known you since I was a kid. Keeping you safe means everything to me.

Aira: Eh!? Holyn… Hey, you weren’t that boy from...

Holyn: Yep. I’m the son of the lord of Sophara. You stole my heart at a tender young age, Aira.

AIRA WITH ARDAN (wherein Aira is surprised that the man who married her and knocked her up DOES, in fact, love her):

Towards the Light

Aira: Ardan, you alright?

Ardan: Whew… I’m beat. This armour’s dang heavy.

Aira: Heh! But you look very manly. I like that about you.

Ardan: Oh! That’s nice of ya t’say. I like you for bein’ all womanly like.

Aira: Me? Womanly? That’s almost funny.

Ardan: Yeah well, I think so at least. You’re the perdiest girl I can think of.

Aira: Ardan, are you sick or something?

Ardan: I might as well just blurt it out… Aira, I love you.

Aira: What’s that!?

AIDEEN WITH CLAUDE (gives the Rescue Staff to Aideen, and says a line so good that even BookofHolsety was jealous):

Decision 1

Claude: Aideen, this is to be our last battle.

Aideen: Yes, that’s what everyone’s saying.

Claude: Here, you should have this. Help our young soldiers with it.

Aideen: Oh, this is a Rescue Staff. Why me?

Claude: I have yet to speak a word of this, but you being my wife, well… I should probably tell you. This war will end in our defeat. All that is important to us will be lost.

Aideen: …What!?

Claude: I, too, had a difficult time believing the Lord’s words when I was at Blagi Tower. But this is how fate will have it. I also will not likely survive. That’s why I’m entrusting this staff to you.

Aideen: That can’t be true! I don’t believe any of what you’re saying!! Please… tell me it’s not true!

Claude: Aideen, there’s really nothing to be scared of. My death is really just a new beginning. As life embraces death, that with form is lost, yet something still remains. There’s nothing to fear in death. It is merely a transition to a more perfect form.

Aideen: But Claude…!

Claude: Just as I am to die, I shall also be reborn. Look, inside of you is a brand new life and I am a part of it. And that is why you must keep living.

Aideen: How could you! You tell me to keep living while you...

Claude: Aideen, I have been blessed to have met you. Forgive me if I have sounded insensitive.

Aideen: Claude...

Fionordequester · Sun Aug 30, 2020 10:24 am

CHAPTER 5: THE END OF GEN 1 (PART 2/2)

Enemy Message 2

Aida: Alvis just put the finishing touches on his plan of attack. You’ve nothing to worry about.

Reptor: Hm… Well, I suppose I’ll have to trust him this time.

Aida: Reptor, I have orders to assume Velthomer Castle’s defense. So you’ll excuse me.

"Hrrmm, I'm suspicious of someone. Now watch as I LOUDLY ANNOUNCE MY SUSPICIONS TO THE RIGHT HAND WOMAN OF THE MAN I'M SUSPICIOUS OF!!"

At least, I'm assuming she's fairly high up. She's being very curt with Reptor, and Alvis DID have sex with her about 10 years before all this. Fire Emblem 5 (Thracia 766) takes place about 17 years after this battle, and it introduces their 27 year old son, so...safe to say that Aida's got some clout.

If only that influence could be used for good

...

Reptor: Don’t budge an inch until the enemy is well within range.

Here that? These guys are just going to stand in one place till we get to this spot here...

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

This here is RIGHT outside the attack range of the western Meteo Mage, and is directly horizontal to the eastern Mage. Use that as a reference for remembering where I'll be putting Sigurd.

Anyways, Fury's finally returned, but Ardan's got a job to do soon. So...

Silesia Castle Town

There is not a single Gen 2 character that inherits axes. Not a one. Lex's children will, therefore, benefit more from him liquidating everything he's got for more Gold. And THAT means Ardan gets the Hero Axe!

Levin then buys all the tomes he can for his son Arthur. But...shoot. That Elfire should be a Fire tome. Arthur can't use B Fire Magic with these parents, so Elfire will only go to waste. I would normally correct this screenshot, but...I'm away with my extended family. I don't HAVE my computer now! Expect this to be edited soon...

But yeah, Tiltyu's daughter gets to use the Warp Staff upon promotion, and her son doesn't. Hence, he needs to inherit some items to sell!

Thracia Army

Next enemy phase...

...a whole lot of nothing happens!

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

Alright. this will be our last pit stop; if Sigurd doesn't have all he needs next turn, he never will.

So after cleaning out the Arena...

Arena Match

Sigurd assembles his final set of items. None of the children will inherit their parent's 7th item, for they will start with their own default weapon/staff. And as for the items in storage, children WILL receive those items in addition to what their parents had in their main inventory; they'll just have to get it out of their own Storage, that's all.

Now then, Sigurd WILL need some assistance for once, and Fury's children are among the least difficult to level up; so I had Claude buy the Warp staff in order to send...

One of the game's BEST units, and one of the game's WORST units; to the rescue!

NEXT!

Thracia Army

Oh hai Morgaaan~. Are you hear to ruin my day?

Not if Ardan can help it! For you see, these Thracians have neglected to do one very important thing...

"Always be prepared for ANYTHING!". Don't just prepare for cavalry, don't just prepare for magic users, don't just prepare for staff wielders, don't just prepare for Generals...prepare for EVERYTHING!

Look at these poor fools. They brought their horseslayers, and never thought to bring anything else! They probably attacked Sigurd, expecting his band to be yet another Cavalry only band (as it was when we started the Prologue).

Yied Army

But Sigurd's army has changed. Sigurd isn't just leading Chalphies. He's not just leading Lensterians. He's not even just leading Grandbellians! He's leading warriors from ALL across the continent! Warriors, whose countries specialized in as many different fighting styles as there are grains of sand on a beach. A they have at least one talented person to handle every challenge Sigurd can possibly imagine!

And THAT'S truly what makes Sigurd's army so great. The Thracians are over specialized; the Verdanites were over specialized, the Silesians were over specialized, the Phinorans were over specialized...almost every single one of Sigurd's foes had one answer, and ONLY one answer to all their problems. How else is ARDAN, of all people, doing so well? It's not because he's amazing, it's because there's a huge hole in the Thacian's strategy that Ardan just so happens to be able to exploit.

The only people we've fought so far who have had any kind of mixed team were the groups we fought in Chapter 2; and I don't think it's any coincidence that THAT happens to be one of the most dreaded Chapters in Gen 1. I still consider that one harder than anything we've faced here.

Miniboss

Every unit type can be easily swept aside with one tactic or another. Axefighters are helpless against sword fighters, sword fighters are walked by generals, generals can be roasted in their armor by mages, mages can be easily swept aside by Pegasus riders, Pegasus riders can be annihilated by archers, archers can be bum rushed by horse riders, and horse riders...

...

Well, we all just saw what happened to Cuan, didn't we? Even the game's most useful unit type can be trivialized under the right circumstances.

So even if our enemies do well against a fraction of our units, it doesn't matter.

Our "style" is no style. Our "strategy" is "all strategies". Our ethnic makeup includes a bit of everything. Hence...

Nothing can stand against us for long; ESPECIALLY not a country that's USED to only fighting one kind of foe. Trabant's only ever had to fight soldiers in the Manster district, and it shows.

Thracia Army

...Though, even that doesn't explain this random bit of doofiness. I'd have thought they'd target the guy that's locked to 2-Range, but...I guess not?

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

Anyways, this is all getting into fan fiction territory, but; I like to imagine that that's the REAL reason Sigurd's army is so strong. Their strength doesn't come from easily measurable factors like numbers and equipment. Instead, it comes from having highly determined, highly capable people who all believe in what Sigurd is doing, and bring a wide variety of tool sets and military experience that aren't typically found in just ONE army.

"Ephraim225" mentioned that Sigurd's army seemed to "pose a much more massive threat that they realistically would", and I think that's probably why.

Sigurd's enemies probably look at him, and see the same thing that poster saw; a puny group that is outnumbered, outgunned, and at a home field disadvantage in every land they invade. That's why they keep underestimating him and Oifaye; under MOST circumstances, such a group would be easily swept aside by an army that's bigger, stronger, better supplied, and knows the land much better than Sigurd.

Heck, Reptor HIMSELF already one-shots almost everyone in our army! But his SERVANTS can all tank a hit from him! Enemy HP growth is set at 100% for all enemies in the game, and that's starting to show. But none of that matters; because we have a plan even now.

Claude wrapped Aideen to Phinora just a little while ago, and now he's repairing the Warp Staff before selling it to her.

And there she is, with the Warp Staff for her children, and the Physic ~~Libro~~ Staff for Levin.

Grandbell Army 1

It doesn't matter if Reptor can do 42 Damage to Levin. Aideen restores 35 via Libro, Levin is as prepared to kill a Thunder Mage as a man can possibly be, and I know exactly how to manipulate the A.I.

Reptor: Now let’s crush the enemy!

It doesn't matter if Reptor has all the men the Earth can produce, and all the Holy Weapons the Heavens can bless him with.

Nothing will save a man from his own folly; not unless they have someone they're willing to listen to.

Fateful Showdown

The winds of fate have changed. And what goes around...

...comes around.

And with Reptor dead...

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

His troops are a problem no more. Sigurd's troops are strong. They are intelligent. They are as diverse as the colors of the rainbow. But most importantly, they have given Sigurd their hearts. Where Reptor's troops will surrender the moment their leader falls, Sigurd's troops would just fight THAT much harder. Sigurd's death would make the fire of their will burn that much brighter, not snuff it out.

But, even were that not the case...

Enemy Message 2

Aida: Kill every one of them. No one is to be spared!

Reptor would still be doomed.

Neutral Army

There's no helping him, and even his supposed "allies" know this.

Reptor is simply too dangerous. His ALLIES know that he will ALWAYS be grasping for power. He'll always feel entitled to get more power, and will ALWAYS be willing to kill and steal in order to get it...

Fateful Showdown

Aida: You might as well just give up.

But most important is this. He will never, ever...EVER "give up". He will die before he will ever admit that he has a problem.

REPTOR VS. TILTYU

Reptor: Ti, Tiltyu… It’s you… I knew that you were with the rebel army, but I never expected to face you like this…

Tiltyu: Father… I’m so sorry…

Reptor: Grr… Claude!! You decieved my daughter… In any case… House Freeges reputation must be defended. Tiltyu, you have to die.

Tiltyu: ! …father...

He will always, ALWAYS have an excuse for everything he does. It doesn't matter if his own daughter is on his chopping block; he'll just tell himself all about how he's "defending House Freege's reputation". He'll tell his family all about how Claude "deceived" his daughter, without acknowledging the personal failures that DROVE her into Claude's arms to start with.

Nothing is ever his fault. All of his problems are because of other people. That's probably why he STARTED this whole conspiracy to start with: "It's Prince Kurth's fault that I'm not happy with my life. It's Prince Kurth's fault that King Azmur doesn't listen to absolutely EVERYTHING I have to say. If ONLY I could get him out of the way. I'm not murdering people because I have stuff I need to change! I'm doing it because it's the only way to get the power and influence that I DESERVE!!"

REPTOR VS. SIGURD

Sigurd: Entrapping my father and Prince Kurth… You know what actually happened!

Reptor: Hmph, you idiot! Politics is all about power! Your father had no power, which is why he died. You’re a knight, that much should be obvious to you.

Sigurd: Knights respect honour and justice, and what you’ve done isn’t just. I’ve returned to restore Grandbell’s reputation!

Reptor: You’ve gone to a lot of trouble, but this is as far as you’ll get. You’ll die a traitor, just like Byron. Your strength is nothing compared to my Torhammer. Soon you’ll see how powerless you really are… Mwahaha...

Even at the end of his rope, with his back pressed against the weight of the world...Reptor will never bleed. He'll never surrender, never admit that he needs help. He will always wear his pride, like a noose around his neck.

I don't believe that "being a 'bad' person" is what truly dooms a man. "Being 'intelligent'" isn't what helps a man change his attitude. "Getting his 'just deserts'" won't automatically turn a person's life around. I believe that even the stupidest, most spoiled, downright EVIL people can be helped. Everyone in the world can change, if they truly want to...

But there's no helping a person who won't admit that they have a problem. There's no helping someone who would rather convince themselves that "up" is "down" rather than ever accept correction. Improvement is only possible for those who can handle criticism, regardless of how hurtful it may be. And so...

Reptor: Gah...

Reptor's time in the sun has come to an end; like it was always meant to. As for Sigurd and his men...

Silesia Castle Town

They breath a collective sigh of relief as they enjoy the fruits of their blood, sweat, and tears.

Their children can only prosper from all they will inherit from their parent's countless sacrifices. Of course...there is one another thing on my heart...

I wish I could wrap this update up in a neat little bow. I wish I could moralize to you all, and say "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night". But, there's one more ever present reality in our world.

Something else, besides the fact that diversity is better than conformity, and the fact that pride always precedes a fall.

The reality is this:

Chapter 5: Doors of Destiny

There is yet one more enemy that has not been slain. There is one more enemy, one that will NOT be stopped as easily as the one Levin just defeated. As long as he exists...death will always have the last word on Earth. The Heavens will always be fine of course; life will not end along with one's earthly form. But...nothing in the world can ever make up for someone's absence; not in our world, and not in Sigurd's.

Alvis' Theme

Aida: Alvis has been aware all along of your innocence. This has all been a conspiracy by Duke Reptor and Duke Langbart. Their influence was just too much for Alvis to be able to do anything.

Sigurd: Is that right? Well, good. This has all turned out for the best then. I can finally clear my father’s name.

Aida: …Yes. His Majesty and Alvis are anxiously awaiting your arrival in the capital. Please, see to it that you make your way there.

Sigurd: Really? Alright. Well, we should get going then.

Aida: Apparently, Alvis has arranged for Barhara’s Royal Guard to receive you and your troops. It sounds like they’ve planned quite a celebration for your triumphant return.

Sigurd: Wonderful! That should make for a nice closing for all we’ve been through. And I can finally get some compensation to all those who have fought with me.

Aida: Indeed...

Never neglect your family; not now, not ever. Do not ever let envy, close-mindedness, bitterness, disaster, or pride ever stop you from enjoying the people who really matter. Things can always be replaced...but people cannot. Merry Christmas everyone...and God bless you.

FE4 Gen 1 End - Death of a Hero

Fionordequester · Sun Aug 30, 2020 10:31 am

Alright guys, the Gen 1 wrap-up has begun! Every hour or two, I'm going to post something in an attempt to address ALL the Gen 1 stuff that the game itself never directly addresses. No, don't worry, there's no major spoilers for Gen 2; all we're doing is filling in the blanks for Gen 1. As Onmi said, the game designers never got the chance to include everything they wanted to include in the actual game, so that's why these mini-updates are here.

So let's start this off with a bang, shall we?

WHAT THE HECK WAS BEO TALKING ABOUT IN CHAPTER 5? (A.K.A.: Nanna's true father)

So here's the deal, just for anyone who's not in the know. Lachesis is something of a running joke within the FE4 community, for a wide variety of reasons. First and foremost, the feelings she expresses for her brother in Chapter 2 go beyond just a li'l sister having a crush on her big brother; one of the conversations in Gen 2 outright confirm that she WAS, indeed, in love with her brother. In that way. So that's one strike against her.

The OTHER main strike against her is the Beo and Lachesis convo, and it's implications. Let's take a look at it again, shall we?

LACHESIS WITH BEOWULF:

Towards the Light

Lachesis: Beowulf...

Beowulf: Look, Raquesis. If somethin' happens t'me, I want ya to go to Leonster fer me. Quan's kids are there with Finn. Help em' out where I can't, yeah?

Lachesis: No! You mustn't say such things! If I go to Leonster, you will come with me!

Beowulf: Raquesis...I don't think I've done right by ya.

Lachesis: W-what? Why...?

Beowulf: I knew how ya really felt all along...

Lachesis: ...Oh!

Beowulf: Look after yerself, Raquesis. This was fun while it lasted.

Lachesis: Wait! Beowolf!

You'll note that Beowulf explicitly mentions Fin here, for some reason. Why is he doing that? Well... maybe the intro from FE5 will shed some light on things. It covers a lot of stuff that happened between Gen 1 and Gen 2, so, here you go. Credits to Cake Attack for creating the images I use in these next two blocks of text...

Beginning

As ages passed and the 12 Crusaders became the talk of legends, a great rebellion arose and spread throughout the Land of Judgral.

While on the march through the Yied Desert, Cuan and Ethlin are suddenly attacked by the Thracian army and die far from their homeland.

Though King Lenster fights valiantly while grieving the loss of his sons he, too, meets a bitter end betrayed by his allies the Conote army.

The entire army of Thracia seizes upon this chance and assaults Lenster's castle.

As Lenster's army fights bravely in the face of merciless defeat one young knight, Fin, escapes with Prince Leaf [Leaf is the son of Cuan and Ethlin; Cuan mentioned that Ethlin had recently given birth to him in Chapter 5, right before Trabant ambushes them.]

As Leaf gazes up at the castle cradles in Fin's arms, can he even begin to understand the terrible sight that meets his eyes?[/quote]

So there we go; more bad stuff happening in the land of Jugdral. Guess Trabant wasn't satisfied just killing Cuan and Ethlin. And NOW we get to the bit about Beowulf's kids...

World Map B-A

After escaping with his life from the collapsing Lenster Castle, Leaf, together with his loyal knight Fin and his daughter Nanna, proceeded to defeat the-

WHOA HO HO THERE! So Nanna is FIN'S daughter now?! B, but...he's not even one of her pre-destined pairings! He doesn't even get a special conversation with her at any point! No conversations that boost their Love Points, no obscenely high love growths...no nothing. In fact, he and Lachesis are infamously hard to pair up due to them only sharing two chapters together...so wait, was this just something Thracia 776 invented after the fact?

Maybe...except, FE4 DOES also have a special conversation between Fin and Nanna if you DID pair him with Lachesis...

NANNA WITH FIN:

Fin: Nanna, how’re you holding up?

Nanna: I’m fine, father. You don’t need to worry about me.

Fin: Your strong determination reminds me more of Lachesis each passing day, Nanna.

Nanna: Father, if you loved mother so much, how could you have let her go all by herself!?

Fin: To Isaac? Nanna, I’ve asked you before not to bring that up. …That’s between your mother and I.

Nanna: But…

Fin: You’ll understand someday. Just wait till you’re a little older.

So there you have it. Now, does Fin get any special conversations with any of the OTHER Gen 2 children? Yes...kind of...he has talks with Aideen's daughter and Aira's daughter too. But, it's immediately evident that there wasn't nearly as much time and care put into their conversations as there was with his talk with Nanna...

LANA WITH FIN:

Fin: Who are you?

Lana: I’m Lana. You’re Fin, right?

Fin: You…

Lana: What’s the matter? Please don’t look at me like that. You’re embarrassing me!

Fin: Ah, forgive me. You just remind me so much of someone I once knew.

Lana: I do?

Fin: Yes. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you are the spitting image of a woman I once loved.

Lana: I see. Were you two a couple?

Fin: Yes, but we got separated during the war, and I haven’t seen her since.

Lana: Oh, how sad… What was the woman’s name?

Fin: Aideen… You’re the first I’ve met to parallel her beauty.

Lana: Aideen!? That’s my mother!

LAKCHE WITH FIN:

Fin: Who are you?

Lakche: Hm? I’m Lakche.

Fin: This can’t be…

Lakche: What’s the problem? Hey, don’t look at me like that. You’re embarrassing me!

Fin: Ah, forgive me. You just remind me so much of someone I once knew.

Lakche: I do?

Fin: Yes. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you are the spitting image of a woman I once loved.

Lakche: Oh. So were you two a couple?

Fin: Yes, but we got separated during the war, and I haven’t seen her since.

Lakche: Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. What was her name?

Fin: Aira… You’re the first I’ve met to parallel her beauty.

Lakche: …Aira? You sure about that!?

So really, these conversations only exist because the writers felt the need for two other Talk options for Fin. Fin and Nanna is the one they put the actual thought into; so does this mean that Fin is Nanna's biological father? IT seems like that might be the case; after all, FE5 happened. FE5 seems to have made the pairing canon. And if THAT'S the case, does that mean Lachesis was CHEATING on Beowulf?! And THAT'S why he was all "I've known yer true feelings all along"?! Well...that's how many fans took it. Lachesis doesn't just have the hots for her brother; now she's sleeping around on top of it all!

...

Or is she? Me personally, I think the above theory is wrong, for several reasons. First of all, it goes against the character of both Fin and Lachesis, who are both generally portrayed as being very good people. Secondly, Lachesis doesn't even have any Talk or Lover conversations with Fin! She talks to Dew and Beo once in Chapter 2, talks to Eltshan in Chapter 3, and then has a Lover conversation with Dew, Noish, and Beo in Chapter 5; that's it. And finally, I've done some digging around. And word-of-mouth seems pretty consistent on two points...

1) Early versions of Nintendo's official website have directly stated that Beowulf is the canon father of both Delmud and Nanna.

2) The 20th Anniversary Artbook stated that the father of Nanna is "whoever you paired Lachesis with". While that's more ambigous than the above statement, it still doesn't leave room from two fathers

Now, do I have actual links to give you? I...do not, unfortunately. It could all just be rumors and misinformation; so until someone can provide a link confirming either of those two statements, we'll never know for sure.

However, there are other points to consider. For example, FE5 has a "mother and daughter" relationship in the form of two characters named "Mareeta" and "Eveyle". However, it then reveals that Eveyle actually ADOPTED Mareeta; the two aren't actually biologically related. And yet, the game still constantly refers to Mareeta as Eveyle's "daughter"; so it could very easily be the same for Fin and Nanna. So instead, I posit an alternate theory that I found online:

Beowulf wasn't referring to any romantic feelings Lachesis had for Fin. He was ACTUALLY referring to Lachesis's incestuous feelings for her brother Eltshan. She was on the rebound after Eltshan's death, and that was why she latched onto Beowulf. Eltshan had already assigned him to be her protector, he was strong like her brother, he was blond like her brother, he was a sword-wielder like her brother, and most importantly, he was one of her brother's best friends. Remember?

LACHESIS AND BEOWULF:

Aideen & Lana's theme

Beowulf: Er… sorry. Beowulf’s the name. I’m just a mercenary, ma’am.

Lachesis: So what do you want?

Beowulf: Uh… I just came to tell you this is for real out here. This ain’t no fun’n games. And you inexperienced types ain’t makin’ things easy for the rest of us. Besides, this ain’t no place for a princess. Why don’t you get on back to your castle?

Lachesis: Where do you get off speaking to me like that!? What I do out here is no business of yours!

Beowulf: Heh heh… tough little cookie, ain’t ya. Remind me a bit of Eltshan.

Lachesis: Wait! You know my brother?

Beowulf: Sure do. We go way back. Don’t mean t’be so nosy, but he asked me t’check up on ya.

Lachesis: Oh, I didn’t realise. I’m sorry.

Beowulf: S’alright. Eltshan also asked me t’teach you a bit about warfare. How ’bout it?

Lachesis: That’d be great!

So not only are Beowulf and Eltshan old friends; Eltshan ALSO trusts Beowulf enough to look after his little sister. Know what that means? It means that Beowulf could very well be privvy to details about Eltshan's private life that may not have been as flattering as most would have liked. And again, we've seen a pattern of Lachesis glomping herself onto blonde sword-wielders in Chapter 5; and who better than the very man that Eltshan hired to protect her? The one who apparently went "way back" with him?

Plus, it also ties back into why Beowulf would want her to go to Lenster to start with. Because as we learn in Lachesis's conversation with Noish, Eltshan's son happens to be there...

LACHESIS WITH NOISH:

Towards the Light

Lachesis: Noish, wait!

Noish: Lachesis? You’re still here!? I told you to leave for Lenster.

Lachesis: I sent the kids already, but I’m staying to fight.

Noish: Why are you breaking your word with me? The kids need their mother. What if something were to happen to you? And you have King Eltshan’s child to consider, too.

Lachesis: I don’t know where Aless is anymore.

Noish: Well, Sir Sigurd is very concerned about Prince Aless. That boy has lost both of his parents [either this was a mistranslation, or it got retconned. Eltshan sent both his wife, "Grahnye", and Aless to Lenster, and Grahnye didn't end up dying till sometime after Lachesis got there]. Aless must mean something to you, as well.

Lachesis: No, it’s just… Ah, nevermind. Look, I am your wife.

Noish: I know you are, and I love you dearly. Don’t you ever forget it.

Lachesis: I won’t. Sorry.

So Prince Aless, the son of one of Beowulf's best friends, is now in Lenster; Beowulf is naturally going to be just a teensy bit concerned about him. Which raises the question: "Why did Eltshan send Aless and Grahnye there to start with?" Well, first of all, Grahnye originally came from Lenster according to the FEWiki...

Grahnye is Eldigan's wife and the mother of Ares [probably Aless's real name, but oh well], and was a citizen of Leonster before marrying her husband.

And guess who ELSE happens to be from Lenster, and is ALSO one of Eltshan's best friends? I'll give you a hint; he's also one of Sigurd's best friends, and the below quote has one bolded line that I want you to pay very close attention to!

A New Advance

CUAN AND SIGURD:

Cuan: We heard about your skirmish with Verdane. We’re here to fight.

Sigurd: How about Lenster? Don’t you have Thracia to keep an eye on?

Cuan: We do. That’s why I only brought Fin. My father took command of the Lance Ritter.

Sigurd: I see...Geez, sorry to drag you in to all of this, Cuan.

Cuan: Sigurd! Did you already forget about our pact?

Sigurd: Huh?

Cuan: Remember the academy? We all met at the military academy back in Barhara. It was the three of us. You, me, and Eltshan. We were talking late that one night. And we took a vow to help each other out if one of us was ever in a bind.

Sigurd: That’s right. No...I haven’t forgotten.

Cuan: Ok, then. Let’s get to work and rid yourself of this little nuisance. Don’t forget, Sigurd. I’m always here for you. Especially in times like these.

Did you get that audience? Cuan and Eltshan are best buds! They literally swore to help each other in times of crisis! And what better way for Cuan to honor that pledge than to have his family and soldiers look after Eltshan's wife and child? Yes, he most likely acted as Aless's babysitter; and Fin just so happened to stay behind while he and Ethlin came to aid Sigurd. In other words...

There was absolutely nothing going on between Lachesis and Fin at the time Beowulf had that conversation with her. The only reason he mentioned Fin was because he just so happened to be stationed at Lenster. Cuan and Ethlin already got butchered by the time they had this conversation, and Fin was the only one left. He sent her to Fin because he, Cuan's loyal knight, was the only remaining person in Lenster.

However, that said, Lachesis and Fin DID eventually end up together. Because as Nanna asks in their conversation...

Nanna: Father, if you loved mother so much, how could you have let her go all by herself!?

So the two did become an item. I guess Fin was awesome enough to break Lachesis out of her "blonde-haired sword users" phase. So, to sum it all up...

1) Cuan is best buds with Eltshan, and is from Lenster.

2) Grahnye is Eltshan's wife, and she ALSO comes from Lenster.

3) Eltshan asks Beowulf, one of his OTHER best buds, to protect Lachesis.

4) Eltshan sends Grahnye and Aless to live under the protection of the Lenster Royal Family during the war between Grandbell and Agustria.

5) Eltshan dies, and Lachesis ends up on the rebound. Beowulf knows this, but chooses to accept her love anyway.

6) Cuan and Ethlin die by Trabant's hand.

7) Beowulf is aware of Aless and Grahnye's current plight, and also realizes that Fin is the only one alive to care for them.

8) Beowulf tries to get Lachesis to go there as well, but Lachesis refuses. It's at this point that...

9) Beowulf admits that he knows the REAL reason why Lachesis loves him; she's on the rebound from Eltshan, and he just so happens to be similar to him in some ways.

10) Beowulf dies, Lachesis goes to Lenster, and lives under Fin's protection.

11) Sometime later, she and Fin fall in love, and Fin adopts her and Nanna as his own [Delmud got separated from Lachesis before she got to Lenster]. After that...

12) Lachesis goes by herself to Isaac, and disappears for reasons that will be covered later.

There's also something about how there's a "Beo Sword" in FE5 that only Delmud and one of Beowulf's other (likely) sons can use. Nanna can't use it, so some take that as confirmation that Nanna is not Beo's child. But...there's no in-universe reason as to why the Beo Sword can only be used by Delmud and Fergus (the name of Beo's other likely son). And if we're going to go by game mechanics logic, then the argument fails even there. For example...

1) There's also an FE5 weapon called the Blaggi Sword; and only Leaf, Nanna, Delmud, and Fergus can use it. Does that mean ETHLIN was sleeping with Beo as well?! Was ETHLIN the true mother of Nanna, Delmud, and Fergus?!

2) Holy cow, Nanna, Delmud, and Fergus can ALL use the same sword, while other units can't! Does that mean they DO have the same father?!

3) Even if we ignored the above two points, we still don't even know WHY the Beo Sword is unique to Fergus and Delmud. The item description never says anything besides "Delmud Only"; and he and Fergus also but those two also happen to be the only two playable Free Knights in FE5. Perhaps the sword is also locked to the "Free Knight" class; Nanna could have been disqualified just out of virtue of being a "Troubador"? Or maybe it's just locked to the men? And Nanna can't use it because she's a woman? Maybe she fulfilled one requirement, but didn't fulfill another one.

And that, as they say, is that. Any questions or counter-arguments

?

Fionordequester · Sun Aug 30, 2020 10:33 am

And now it's time for some dialogue in the demo that most people won't know about unless you dig around for them. First is the Demo Reel at the start of the game (translated by Bookofholsety)!

FE4 HIDDEN DEMO REEL SCENES (GEN 1):

First of all, note the brand new Title Screen in Bookofholsety's patch...

Pretty neat, eh? And if you wait on that screen long enough...

You start getting all these scenes from various parts of the game! They're all somewhat generic at first...but remember how FE6 and FE9 allowed you to unlock different Trial Map characters every time you cleared the game? Well, THIS Fire Emblem does the same thing; except, instead of unlocking characters, you unlock scenes in the demo reel. We'll see every non-spoilerific scene in a few screenshots; but for now.

We'll stick to the ones we usually get. This one plays immediately after the scene with the Pegasus Knights (who are flying around the Chapter 8 map). It is then followed by...

The very first random Battle scene you get. This is one of the two that you automatically start with; if you have NEVER beaten the game before, you will always get this one first. There are 15 others "1st Battle Scenes" that you can get, along with 16 "2nd Battle Scenes" that can play before the Demo Reel ends. You'll keep unlocking them one-at-a-time after every time you beat the game. Beat the game all 15 times, and the game will randomly select a "1st Battle Scene" and a "2nd Battle Scene" from two separate lists.

Fortunately, I don't need to beat the game 15 times, for I have discovered the Address that kept track of that number! Just bunch in the number 15 in my emulator, and viola; instant unlocks! Next up...

We have credits featuring the world famous SUPER ADVISOR HIMSELF!! I don't know what the heck a "super advisor" does, but it sounds awesome. And then...

Surprise! That one scene from Chapter 1! Except THIS time, Shanan's gained a habit of repeating himself, repeating himself, repeating himself...

More credits...

And then we get to another kind of random scene; the "1st Map Battle". In addition to getting one random "1st Battle Scene" and one random "2nd Battle Scene" each time you enter the Demo Reel, you'll also get a "1st Map Battle" and a "2nd Map Battle". However, I wasn't able to get all of them, as THAT entails getting an AAAA Rank, and I lost the file that had that.

Fortuntately, these ones aren't quite as interesting anyway; they just feature some occasionally nifty stuff like Sigurd vs. Langbart, Gandolf vs. Midir, Cuan vs. Eltshan...and etc., etc. No dialogue though; so we're not missing anything.

Not that the credits themselves are terribly interesting, but oh well. We got...

Eltshan and Lachesis! Hey dudes, I was just talking about you!

And now we've got our 2nd Battle Scene...

This is the generic "2nd Battle Scene" that all first time players get. Once again, the fifteen others must be unlocked by beating the game 15 times; and once again, they're all more interesting than this one (though I do wonder how that Dragonmaster's only got 16 Might with a 20 Might weapon...).

Next up, an Assistant who apparently has five different alter egos :mmmhmm: ...

One of the sixteen other "2nd Map Battles" (though I don't have a clue who the blue guy is; there are no bard units in Gen 2)...

And there's the semi-final scredits. Once that plays...

We see Alvis summoning all chefs in the Barhara BBQ.

DARN YOU, YOU STUPID DASTARD :ARGH: !!

[Oh, and there's our last credit; Gunpei Yokoi himself. He used to be a very important figure in Nintendo, but then died in a tragic accident. You can thank him for the Gameboy, among many other things. And apparently, he was also a close friend to Shozou Kaga; I don't know if his death in 1997 was one of the factors that pushed Kaga to leave the company in 1999, but, maybe Onmi can shed some light on that.

Anyway, let's look at some of the OTHER "Battle Scenes", shall we?

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

Alec and Noish! ...With far too much dialogue for textboxes that were clearly meant to only last a second or so.

Seriously, this is NOT my fault! I did not push a single button, nor did I have the game going at a faster speed!

No...I think I briefly mentioned this at some point in the thread, but I don't like Bookofholsety's script as much as I like Boo's script.

The official NoA localizations are great, it's nice to have 100% translated text for once, the font looks good, and I'm sure there were plenty of mistakes made in the 2002 patch...

But it's just too dang wordy!

Look at this! Bookofholsety crammed so much dialogue into the above scene, that you barely have time to read any of it! The guy shrunk the font size to about 75% of what we have in the Reparation patch, and it STILL almost filled up the textbox!

And not all of it is even good dialogue either; a lot of it seems like filler that would have been ironed out by an editor had he had one.

For example, "Ayra! Ayra, don't go! Don't give in to these guys! Don't let them boss you around!" should have just been "Ayra, don't go! Don't let them boss you around!". And lines like...

Ayra: I understand. But be warned, Kinbaith: if you break your promise, you'll deeply regret it. Cross me, and I will pursue you to the very depths of the inferno itself, till I take your head. Remember this well!

Would've been much better if shortened to something like...

Ayra: Ayra: Good. Because, Kinbaith: you break your promise, and I will break you. I won't stop till I've ripped off your head and fed it to the BIRDS! Do you understand?!

I've brought this up in the relevant thread on Serenes Forest; in fact, I practically rewrote all of the Prologue and Chapter 1 to be more in-line with the example I gave above. But, I'm unsure as to whether or not BookofHolsety will ever be in the mood for script editing. He's busy with University right now, so he may not even look at the patch for a while yet. But anyways...

Sigurd vs. Alvis is also featured here. I don't know why they're hiding Alvis's stats, but he's clearly weaker than he was in the Prologue; and that's inspite of being 5 levels higher.

And...yeah. There's OUR wife healing our mortal enemy...though it is nice to know that she's got her doubts about the whole thing.

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

Anyways, that's all the relevant battle scenes! All but one of the other ones from Gen 2; and the one that isn't...happens to be a massive spoiler. Sorry I was late on this; I'll be sure to have the other parts of this uploaded right quick! God bless you all!

Fionordequester · Sun Aug 30, 2020 10:37 am

Now for the minor miscellaneous dialogues. Keep in mind that some of the characters change their death quotes if they have a lover...

GEN 1 PLAYABLE CHARACTER DEATH QUOTES:

Sigurd: …Urgh… Everyone… I’m sorry…

Noish: Sir Sigurd… …I am so sorry… Stay strong…

Alec: Argh… I… May luck be on your side, Sir Sigurd…

Ardan: Sir Sigurd… I’ve served you my whole life, I have no regrets.

Azel: Sir Sigurd… …I’ll leave the rest to you.

Azel (has a lover): Sir Sigurd… …I’m leaving it up to you. [lover]…

Lex: I’m such a weakling… …Sir Sigurd, Please allow me to die in peace…

Cuan: Urgh… What have I… [a cinematic plays of Ethlin dragging him back home to Lenster][/i]

Ethlin: Aah… Cuan… …help… [a cinematic plays of Cuan dragging her back home to Lenster]

Fin: …my apologies. I cannot fight with this wound, so I shall return to Lenster at once.

Midir: Aah… Sir Sigurd, I’m so sorry.

Aideen: …gods, please protect everyone.

Aideen (has a lover): …gods, please protect everyone. [lover], I’m sorry…

Dew: How unlucky… …I’ve blundered once too much…

Aira: Shanan, be strong…

Aira (has a lover): Shanan, be strong… [lover], I want to see you again…

Jamka: Urgh… I’m already done for…?

Jamka (has a lover): Urgh… I’m already done for…? [lover]…

Deirdre: Stop! Where are you taking me?!

Holyn: Heh… I’m such a fool…

Lachesis: Aah… Elty…

Levin: Urgh… I… I still have things I must do… I can NOT die…

Sylvia: Why… why am I…

Sylvia (has a lover): Why… why am I… [lover], what are you going to do about this!?

Beowulf: Argh… Damn it! My luck has finally ran out…

Fury: Prince Levin, please forgive me…

Brigid: …is this… the end…?!

Claude: Gods… My life is yours. Please watch over theirs in return…

Tiltyu: Stop! I can’t take any more…!

Tiltyu (has a lover): Stop! I can’t take any more…! [lover], you idiot!

GEN 1 "WELCOME HOME” CONVERSATIONS (happens when a person returns to the home castle, and their lover is there waiting for them):

This is going to look like a mess if I try to transcribe it all, the conversations themselves are pretty generic, and I have other stuff I want to move on to...so here's the link to all 1st Gen Lover Conversations:

https://acenoctali.free.fr/f-fe4/fe4_fi ... etalks.htm

CHAPTER 5 QUOTES THAT I MISSED:

Trabant: Behold, the world-renowned Gungnir! Heheheh… you look so happy to see it. You will bow to me, and then you will die.

Cuan: Die! You hyenas! As long as I have the Gaebolg, I will not lose to your kind.

Alright guys, this is the last story post; there will be one more post detailing the AAAA Rank stuff that I didn't include in the last Chapter 5 updates, and then we'll continue the main playthrough tomorrow!

WHY WAS ALVIS TAUNTING SIGURD? (I'd post the link, but it contains many Gen 2 spoilers):

Q: Did Alvis know that [Deidre] was his half-sister?

A: Not in the beginning. Within the palace, there were few people who could tell him about Prince Kurth and [Sigyn's] relationship, and he was only 7 years old when his father committed suicide, so he would likely have been uninterested in the palace gossip that was occurring during that time. Afterwards, his beloved mother [Sigyn] disappeared, but because of his powerful trust in his mother he wasn’t disturbed by the rumours. Alvis always held the belief that his mother would return for him. He became the ruler of the Velthomer family in his youth and his influence frightened the nobles. Often he would quarrel with them after they disrespected his mother (even though they spoke the truth) and in extreme cases, he even killed people.

Although he had no interest at all in girls, when he first saw [Deirdre] he fell in love at first sight, which may have been influenced by his mother complex. After marrying [Deirdre], he noticed that [Deirdre] often seemed to be another person, and was afraid that one day she would leave his side like his mother did. Gripped by this thought, he lived his days with great unease (so we can see how much he loved [Deirdre]…) and heard rumours that “Sigurd’s wife had gone missing”, leading him to carefully watch Sigurd. So during Chapter 5, he progressed with his plan (to let [Deidre] meet Sigurd), which was caused by his inability to let go his endless worry. He obviously shouldn’t have checked, but he was unable to control himself; that was the extent of Alvis’s sorrow. Following that, he investigated [Deidre's] past, traveling to the Spirit Forest, and found out that she was [Sigyn's] daughter.

However, after discovering his wife was in fact his sister, his feelings still hadn’t changed. He simply tried his best to not let [Deirdre] find out the truth.

And here's our final Gen 1 wrap-up post; look forward to Chapter 6 Part 1 tomorrow! On New Years!

CURRENT AAAA RANKED RUN STATS (END OF GEN 1):

Time Taken On Final Gen 1 Updates: ~1 hour, 1 minute, and 41 seconds

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: 14 hours, 19 minutes, 49 seconds~

Turns Taken On Final Gen 1 Updates: 13 Turns

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 208 Turns

Levels Gained On Final Gen 1 Updates: 20 Levels

Total Levels Gained: 536 Levels

Things I Regret: In the Prologue, I regret the fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue.

In Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue.

On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

On Chapter 3, I regret selling Deirdre's Aura tome! I'll bet she TOTALLY could've kicked Manfloy's butt, if ONLY I hadn't taken that away

!!

On Chapter 4, I regret spending so much time disabeling the Arena bug for Fury's Arena fights; her combat stats didn't even matter once I promoted her! I also regret not having Claude turn around sooner. I also regret not repairing the Return Staff before giving it to Aideen.

On Chapter 5, I regret not having Dew sit tight after slaying that General; I didn't really accomplish much by moving him around outside, so I probably wasted about a minute or so.

Level 26-30: 57 > 60 HP, 24 > 25 Str, 0 > 2 Mag, 8 > 9 Skl, 8 > 12 Spd, 5 Lck, 21 > 24 Def, 0 > 3 Res!

Level 26-30: 47 > 50 HP, 23 Str, 1 Mag, 30 Skl, 26 > 28 Spd, 5 Lck, 9 > 11 Def, 5 Res!

Level 24-28: 52 > 56 HP, 27 Str, 0 Mag, 18 > 19 Skl, 20 > 23 Spd, 12 > 14 Lck, 19 > 20 Def, 3 Res!

Level 26-30: 54 > 58 HP, 23 > 24 Str, 3 Mag, 27 Skl, 21 > 22 Spd, 5 > 6 Lck, 16 Def, 4 Res!

Level 23-27: 50 > 53 HP, 25 > 27 Str, 1 > 2 Mag, 23 > 24 Skl, 21 Spd, 18 > 20 Lck, 17 Def, 11 Res!

Fionordequester · Sun Aug 30, 2020 10:50 am

Hello widows, widowers, and widowmakers! Welcome to the New Year!

But first...reflect on what happened last update. Imagine you're a 12 year old playing this game for the first time. You're a Japanese school-boy, and you just watched your favorite hero get demolished. You had a whole Generation to stop Manfloy and his goons, and you failed. You throw your controller down, you cry to your parents, you go to school, get home from school...and then you ignore your Super Famicom for a day or two. You take as much time as you need to process all that happened...

And then you grimace. You gird up your loins, pick the game back up, and bring those save files up. And upon hitting that START button...you get...this:

When the Rush Comes

The intense battle over control of the capitol sent most of the powerful lords to their grave.

Only Lord Alvis’ plan went without a hitch as he successfully gained full control of the kingdom.

After overthrowing the two opposing kingdoms, Silesia and Lenster, Lord Alvis unified the continent. And with the overwhelming support of the people, he became the first emperor of the Grandbell Empire.

DARN THAT DASTAAARD!!

The people who once enthusiastically welcomed Emperor Alvis were now experiencing extreme hardship under his oppresive rule.

Oh there's our typical Fire Emblem plot! Except this time, we actually got to SEE what it was like before the "big, huge military power" started getting out of control.

We, as the 10-12 year old child, feel a very palpable sense of guilt for not stopping all this. We established all the way in Chapter 1 that Isaac didn't deserve any of what happened to it; it was all a frame job by Manfloy and his Sect, and we could never do a blasted thing to stop it.

Never...until now. Alvis and co. did wrong...and there WILL be a reckoning!!

King Dannan of Isaac was a merciless ruler, taking much after his father, Duke Langbart. He dropped the social standing of the Isaacian people to that of slaves, while he himself indulged in the pleasures of the royal palace at Rivough.

Dannan’s second oldest son, Johan, presided over Isaac Castle while his youngest, Johalva, presided over Sophara. Dannan’s confidant General Harold administered the remote Ganeishire Castle. He as well relied heavily on oppressive governing tactics to control the citizens.

"Relied heavily on oppressive governing tactics" + Already angry about Chapter 5 = Dead Man Walking

Prince Shanan had organised a liberation army based in the northern isolated village of Tilnanogue.

Shanan...wait! You couldn't mean...

It is! It IS him!

Bwahahaha! AWESOME! Now we get to PLAY as him!

Among the army of young soldiers was one who the Isaacian citizens referred to as ‘the Bringer of Light’. He was also revered as the Imperial Prince of Grandbell.

Oh? And is that who I think it is

?

Yes it is~! Prince Celice, IN the flesh! Oh yeah!

Isaac Army

BOOM!! Now THAT'S how you do a time skip! THAT'S how you ride the waves of excitement and anger that every li'l kid in the world is feeling!

Dannan: Don’t tell me you haven’t done anything yet. Prince Shanan’s rebel army gets larger each year and they’re meddling with my affairs! Don’t you know they’re harbouring Sigurd the Traitor’s son? With them on the loose my position as King of Isaac is completely being undermined! You tell me how to explain this to His Majesty the Emperor!

Harold: I thoroughly understand your concerns, but I have matters under control. We’ve located the rebel army’s hideout, and I have already dispatched forces to subdue them. They have nowhere to run now, so you can sit back and relax as we eliminate the threat.

Dannan: Well, we’ll see. But listen closely, Harold. Do not underestimate them! The problem isn’t with the younger rebels, it’s with Oifey and Shanan. You overlook those two and the complications will be far reaching!

Like, "whoa, Oifaye and Shanan! Those two guys grew up on the team that we controlled in Gen 1! Better watch out for THOSE two!"

Harold: Yes, I understand, but I have information that both Oifey and Shanan are presently away from the rebel hideout in Tilnanogue.

Dannan: What? Then what are you waiting for!? Order your men to attack! The Isaacian citizens have made the rebel army out to be some kind of liberation army. They’re treating them like heroes! But I think it’s time to teach them a little lesson. Harold, kill every last one of them! I’ll be back in Rivough awaiting your good news.

Pah. Like that's gonna happen on the intro chapter

.

Crisis 1

Skasaha: Subjugation forces have left Ganeishire and are heading this way!!

Lakche: Let ’em come! At least we don’t have to waste our time going to them. We can confront the enemy and make an advance on Ganeishire all in one shot.

Skasaha: Lakche, you’re crazy! Prince Shanan is still at Yied Shrine, and Oifey hasn’t made it back either. It’s just us! How do you expect us to take them on!?

Same way Sigurd always did I guess.

Lakche: Skasaha! You’re not scared, are you? This is our chance to see a little action. Shanan still thinks of us as kids. That’s why we almost never get to fight, but we’ve had enough training!

Skasaha: But Lakche…

Lakche: I’m… I’m so sick of running! Those animals out there have killed too many of my friends! The imperial troops chased us girls… taking us out one after another. If it weren’t for Prince Shanan rescuing me, I wouldn’t be here now! I will never, ever forget what those girls had to go through!

Skasaha: Lakche, I know it was horrible, but we…

Celice: I’m sure Shanan gave him strict orders to keep me out of danger. Because if Shanan hadn’t, he would’ve been the first one out there. He is just itching to get into battle.

Lakche: Oh, that’s right. I completely forgot about you, sir.

Celice: Lakche, I’m not a kid anymore! I can fight just as well as any of you! Anyway, we can’t just turn our backs on Tilnanogue. The people here have done far too much for us already.

Lana: Sir, I’m not staying behind!

Celice: I’m not going let you get yourself killed out there. Nuns and warfare DO NOT mix!

Lana: Nuns can fight too, you know. I feel just as strongly about this as Lakche does. The imperial troops are becoming crueler with each passing day. It’s dangerous just to be a girl anymore! But I don’t plan to go down without a fight. I have my own means of warfare!

Celice: I’m sorry, Lana. You’re right. This is everyone’s battle. Alright. We should get going. It’s hard to say how this is going to turn out… But let’s give it everything we’ve got!

Lana: Sorry if I got a little outta hand, sir.

Celice: Haha! No problem… Okay. Skasaher, Lakche, Lana… Let’s move!

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

And there we are! The start of Chapter 6! Now let's see what enemies we got:

Mr. Harold here has what I like to call our first "recoverable item". He's the guy you can get the 2nd Return Ring from if you never bought the Return Ring in Gen 1, or didn't manage to pass it down. We DID pass it down though, so his Return Ring dies with him.

Anyways, we got ourselves an all new party, and rating them all at once is going to drag this update to a halt. So I put an overview of all five of them in Testposter instead of the main update. Here they are!

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

Lana Overview

Lakche Overview

Skasaha Overview

Celice Overview

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

Anyway, this is the first instance of what I like to call "Sub Exclusive Moments". I might have covered this before, but, your mothers are not guaranteed to have kids. If they get killed before marrying, their children are replaced by what we call "Substitute Characters". They're mostly carbon copies, except they miss out on Inherited Items, and also tend to have inferior base stats, growths, and skills. Also, their conversations DO differ from their respective child characters at certain points, and this here is our first example of that...

SKASAHA AND LAKCHE (+1 Luck for Lakche)

Conversation 2

Skasaha: Well, take it easy, alright? We don’t need you pulling any of your stunts out here.

Lakche: I’m not a child! You don’t have to speak to me like that.

And this is where the differences start...

Skasaha: Prince Shanan tells me you’ve got an iron will just like our mother did.

Lakche: Aira… Yeah, I have no memories of her whatsoever. How about you, Skasaha?

Skasaha: Of course I don’t remember anything! You forget we’re twins or something? We weren’t even two years old yet at the time. We fled to Isaac with Oifaye. But she never showed up. Maybe she didn’t survive the Battle of Barhara after all…

Lakche: Skasaha! You promised you’d never say that! She is alive!! Don’t you ever let me catch you saying that again!

Skasaha: …I’m sorry, Lakche. Yeah, I shouldn’t have said that.

Aaand then we have the Roddlevan and Radney conversation...

RODDLEVAN AND RADNEY (+1 Luck for Radney)

Conversation 2

Roddlevan: Radney, are you alright?

Radney: Yeah, I’m managing.

Roddlevan: Well, take it easy, alright? We don’t need you pulling any of your stunts out here.

Radney: I’m not a child! You don’t have to speak to me like that.

Roddlevan: Sorry. Hey, you know Johan and Johalva, right? Man, I can’t figure them out.

Radney: They’re driving me nuts. Geez, I can’t stand men. They make me want to puke!

Roddlevan: You just hate men because of the imperial troops. Not all men are like that.

Radney: Yeah, I know. But I still get freaked out when I’m around a guy.

...Huh. Does the man-hate also apply to Lakche, or does that not count? Since she and Skasaha talked about their mom instead

?

Roddlevan: Any guy?

Radney: Well, I can handle being around you and Sir Celice.

Roddlevan: Hmph… So how about Shanan?

Radney: Roddlevan!!

*laugh track*

Isaac Army

Also, yes; I will give an overview on all the Substitute characters as well. They're just going to be at the end of the update rather than the middle of it.

Whoo, first fight of Gen 2! And uh...

Enemy Attack

Yyyeah...remember what I said about Celice before? About how he's a guy that starts slow, but then evolves into the most awesome fighter ever?

Yeah, we're just skipping past the "slow" part. This is back in the days where "Seize" was the only objective FE games ever had; so the faster Celice goes, the more turns we save!

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

Speaking of slow, nothing much happened that Enemy Phase; but that won't be the case for us!

For example, Lakche. She's Level 1, she's got Elite, and the Silver Blade is just strong enough to ORKO almost every non-Armour unit in the Chapter.

Isaac Army

Might as well have some fun with that!

Enemy Attack

Strike 1!

Isaac Army

Strike 2!

And strrrike 3! You're out!

Granted, Celice is fragile enough to die here if you're careless; but then, that's why I put him on a Mountain. Do that, and Celice will be guaranteed to survive this next wave of axe fighters. He'll slurp up 4 Levels from the likes of them, get awesome stat ups, recover his HP with the Live Ring and Libro Staff, and then...well, that's basically the whole strategy right there. Heck, you won't even need the Libro Staff after a certain point; this Chapter was designed to accomodate even the most miserable of planners. Everyone can beat this chapter, even if they ended up with all Sub characters, and didn't give Celice anything good. So needless to say, these enemes have about as much of a chance of beating us as a one-legged man does of winning a butt kicking contest.

Speaking of which...

Recruitment

HAI OIFAYE

!

Delmud: Lana might be out here fighting for all you know.

Ha! More characters!

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

Delmud Overview

Lester Overview

Oifaye Overview

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

Moving right along...

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

The Live Ring heals what little HP Celice lost...

Lana uses the Libro Staff to get 35 EXP per pop...

And everyone but Oifaye moves in Celice's direction! Because again, he's already at a high enough level to easily cap. How do I know that? Well, let's talk about that.

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

The War Room Part 8: (Hitting 30 in Gen 2)

This one will probably be very short, but it's still worth making just for how valuable this knowledge is. Now, like I said, pure melee units tend to have the hardest time capping their level; combat is their only way of getting EXP, and this game already moves slowly enough as it is. So because of that, there are four very dangerous pitfalls that you want to avoid...

1) Obsessing over ALWAYS having the Elite Ring on someone before EVERY fight in the Arena, even when they're already high leveled.

2) Feeding too many enemies to one unit.

3) Feeding too many civilians to one unit

4) Feeding civilians to any unit that can get EXP outside of combat (staff bots, thieves, and dancers)

Now, we can avoid No. 4 easily enough; but the only way to calculate No.'s 1-3 is to figure out exactly how much EXP you get from each and every fight in the Arena WITH THE ELITE RING EQUIPPED...and then factor that in to how much EXP you already have. That's around 35 fights that I had to calculate using the following formula...

Code: Select all

30 + [(enemy’s Level – Level) x 2]

As well as keeping track of how high leveled your Arena foes are...

Code: Select all

https://serenesforest.net/genealogy-of-the-holy-war/miscellaneous/arena-data/

If that all seems long and tedious...that's because it is. Worse yet, I kept making small mistakes in my calculations, making the whole thing take even LONGER than it already was. But that's alright; I had saves from Chapters 8-Final, so I was able to work it out just by taking a Staff bot, and manipulating her EXP till I had hit the EXACT sweet spot for each Chapter! So here's EXACTLY how much EXP. you need by the time you hit the Arena in each Chapter!

Chapter 7: Level 11 (24 EXP)

Chapter 8: Level 14 (88 EXP)

Chapter 9: Level 18 (64 EXP)

Chapter 10: Level 22 (48 EXP)

Chapter Final: Level 26 (28 EXP)

So if you're in Chapter 7, you need to buy the Elite Ring and have Level 11 w/24 EXP; that's what you need before you can Level 30 off of JUST Arena fights. And if you're on Chapter 8, see six Civilians, and wondering which combat unit to give them to? Do NOT feed ANY of them to ANYONE who's cleared the Arena, and is Level 18(64) or higher. You're only wasting EXP if you do so. Now then...

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

Come at me, bros!

Isaac Army

I was hoping that this Bow Armour would target Lakche; Celice isn't killing him anyway, so that would have made him easier to leech Gold and EXP off of . But oh well.

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

And there we go. See that "blue ring of light" around Celice? That's the Live Ring healing animation, and I put it there in GIMP. That's howI put that there in GIMP, and that's how you know that the Live Ring healed Celice that turn. Otherwise, I'd have to post two screenshots at the start of every turn.

Anyway, I do wish the west Bow Armour had gone for Lakche instead. Celice will still seize Ganeishire in the same amount of turns, but the rest are going to be slowed down a turn.

Oh well; this just means that I'll have Lester bait him with his Silver Bow while having the others wait outside it's Range. Lester will probably land either 1 or 2 hits; Delmud will then rush in, steal with the Thief Sword, and Aira will finish the job in order to get buffer. It's not the ideal situation, but it's fine.

Isaac Army

Plus, this helps demonstrate what I was saying about “Normal A.I.” compared to “Hard A.I.”. This never would have happened had I switched to Hard A.I. If I had, the Bow Armour would ALWAYS have gone for the “7 Defense & 22 Evade” unit instead of the “12 Defense & 48 Evade” unit. I am, therefore, making things harder on myself by adding in more randomness; and that's precisely what I wanted.

Besides, it feels more like an actual strategy game that way! I've never played FE14, so I don't know if it's guilty of this or not, but... I don't like the direction that FE11-13 went in in terms of “difficulty”. When I start having to base all my moves on “ok, what will make the A.I. do such and such” and “ok, which turn are those reinforcements going to spawn” and “ok, which completely OP enemies are going to move, and which ones are going to stay still till I get in range”...

Can I really call it a strategy game? Or is it more like a glorified puzzle game? One where I don't even get to see all the relevant pieces till it's too late?

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

I didn't mind the enemy stat boosts, I loved the fact that they would alter enemy formations based on difficulty level, I appreciated them changing their weapons based on said difficulty levels...all of that was fine.

Player Attack

But man...some of the stuff that Lunatic!FE12 pullled...

I'm not the kind of guy who generally throws his controller across the room or anything, but...I remember how it's reinforcements would never come at a consistent time. Uber powerful Wyverns would spawn from all four corners of the map, Vyland would ambush my rearguard...and I couldn't figure on which turn they would show up! Sometimes Vyland would show up at Turn 4, sometimes Turn 3, sometimes Turn 6...and I couldn't figure out when the dracoknights would show up either!

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

Lakche finished off the Bow Armour, in case you're curious.

But yeah, I got my rear stomped over and over again just trying to figure out the logic behind their appearance. I though maybe there was some kind of invisible line that I had to not cross; so I tried having my own dracoknights go everywhere I could. I crossed into every part of the map I could think of, just trying to see what might trigger those reinforcements. But that didn't work either! I got so frustrated one day, that I look online, found a guide that told me exactly which reinforcements there were, and what caused them to appear...

https://www.fireemblemwod.com/fe12/guia ... ulo-19.htm

And just about snapped my DS in half when I saw the “Enemy Reinforcements” section.

Like...what the heck? Reinforcements come when I attacked one of the thieves?! Those generic, no-name thieves with NO unique portraits or line of dialogue? The SAME thieves that I know are going to destroy a village (they could do that in FE12) WITH a recruitable character in it?!

Isaac Army

That's the kind of difficulty I don't like; the kind you could never predict on your first try without a guide. Reinforcements that trigger when you attack a certain kind of generic unit...just when has THAT ever been a part of the series? Has there been any other Fire Emblem that did that?

Either way, that's an example of the game designers breaking their own rules. Every other game up to that point had set a standard; that reinforcements would only appear once a certain amount of Turns had passed. They MIGHT be triggered once you passed a certain point in the map too, but the games would usually make said triggers relatively obvious. FE6 had one or two moments that didn't mark those triggers well, but that's FE6. That entry was known for being rough around the edges.

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

What I just posted though? That had NEVER happened before in the series; or at least, not in any non-FE5 game. If some of FE5's maps did that, then those get the same seal of disapproval that FE12's Chapter 19 got. I didn't feel like I was struggling because I played badly; it was like I was getting my butt kicked because the designers tried too hard to make things “difficult”.

They knew that a reasonable FE player would take out the Thieves first (so they can't destroy the village) and rescue said village as quickly as possible; so they specifically designed the map to punish players for doing something that any FE veteran would naturally try to do.

Player Attack

And why do they do that? Well, I think at least part of it is precisely because of how fixed the A.I is in the later games. FE4's “Hard A.I.” makes it so that the game's enemies follow a fixed set of behaviors, and the later games all seem to model their A.I in a similarly predictable fashion. It never takes long to figure out exactly what makes it tick. So suppose you're a game designer, and you're trying to make your enemies hard, despite them being predictable in everything they do. How else are you supposed to do that...

Except by bumping up the enemies stats to unholy proportions and pulling cheap stunts like that upon the player?

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

I hate that kind of Kaizo nonsense...but at the same time, I can't imagine many other ways of working with an A.I that's completely fixed. One can always say “clever map design” and “creative situations that challenge you in new, unexpected ways”, but...that's not always easy to do when you've done 12 games, and have to design something like 25 Chapters for each one. That's why I rather like the randomness that FE4's “Normal A.I.” brings; I'd much prefer to be challenged by an A.I.'s unpredictability than by it's unfair advantages.

That's why I'm wondering if perhaps some more randomness in the A.I. would help the designers not have to rely on as much of that Kaizo nonsense. The challenge that said designers are trying to create would come partially from just having to adapt to the A.I. doing different things every time you attempted a chapter. No more nonsensical reinforcement triggers, no more enemies appearing that you couldn't see on the "Map Preparations" screen, no more having to manipulate the A.I. in all kinds of goofy ways...just a good clean fight.

Like, maybe each generic enemy would have a 35% chance of targetting the PC with the lowest amount of Defense, a 35% of targetting the PC with the 2nd lowest amount of defense, a 20% chance of targetting the PC with the 3rd lowest amount of defense, and then a 10% chance of targetting the PC with the 4th lowest amount of defense. They'd still be biased toward attacking your more vulnerable units; you just can't build your entire strategy around that assumption.

Isaac Army

It's not that I'd want the A.I. to be as dumb as the Normal A.I. in this game; I'd just want it to be random enough to where some of the challenge comes from having to adapt to it acting slightly different each time, rather than from the cheap tricks I mentioned.

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

Anyway, I could've had Lester move further, but Delmud is lagging behind. I need to lure the guy far enough west that Delmud can actually reach him next turn. In addition, I need to make sure NOT to heal Lester if he gets hit by the Armour. Why's that?

Isaac Army

Well, do you see that MBandit to the right there? He's going to start moving next turn, and he's going to start moving next turn. He's got 5000G to steal for Delmud, but I also need to weaken him to the point where Delmud can kill him with the Thief Sword; that way I can have Delmud steal his Gold AND visit the village on the same turn.

But there's a problem; Lester has Charge. If you guys recall, it has a chance of activating 2-20 extra rounds of combat if the user happens to have 25+ HP. This means that I won't usually know how many times Lester will actually attack someone.

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

Fortunately, the MBandit doesn't have any 2 Range potential; and I've never seen them attack my units.

Player Attack

So, just have Delmud steal from this guy...

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

Finish off the Armour with Lester...

And then we can move on to bigger and better things. Lester moves on to rescue the northeast village, and Lakche's going south so she can grind off these guys later...

This is Johalva and his platoon of men...

And this is Johan and HIS platoon of men. Remember? They're Lord Dannan's two sons that were mentioned in the map narration. They're neutral now, but they're going to turn red the instant we conquer Ganeishire. And, here's something odd about their soldiers...

Both platoons have a special Talk conversation with Delmud and Lester; but ONLY those two. I have no idea why the game's so picky about who can and can't talk to them, but...here you go.

If it were me, I'd go for someone a little more... Er!? Why am I telling you this!

Lester/Delmud: ......

Hehe... Anyway, Celice is gonna take care of Johan when the time comes, and Lakche's gonna pacify Johalva.

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

And I'm also skipping a turn here; nothing really happened on that one.

Let's just skip to the MAIN EVENT!!

Miniboss

Boo...thank you so much for this line

.

And Celice? Thank you so much for being awesome. You may start slow, but that doesn't matter when raising you saves turn. Even the Efficiency guys at Serenes Forest like you!

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

Now let's finish this!

Victory 1

Oh HAI Levin! You're looking very, uh...alive, today...

...

Levin: Hey, drop the ‘king’ bit, okay? Once the Battle of Barhara was over and the empire took control of Silesia, I just kinda… Well, let’s just say my shrink has had steady work for a while. My mother may have perished with Silesia, but she at least kept her dignity to the very end. While I’m just wasting away as a bard again… Celice, I don’t care what Oifaye may have told you. Don’t EVER address me as ‘King Levin’ again. Got it?

Ok, so we have a...vague idea of what he was doing. Still curious about the "survived flaming meteors" part...

Celice: Geez… Sorry, Levin.

Levin: Haha! I’m just giving you a hard time. So it looks like you guys have finally made your move. There’s no better place than Isaac to raise an army to take on the empire.

Celice: Yes, the Isaacian people are very strong. And their hatred for the empire is unparalleled. Of course, things would all be that much easier if Prince Shanan was with us.

Levin: Did Shanan take off and go to that shrine in Yied?

Celice: Yes. He got word that his royal family’s heirloom, the Divine Balmung, was there. But people say a dark bishop governs that region, so we’re all a little worried.

The "Balmung" is another Holy Weapon, just like the Mistoltein and Tyrfing. One can see how it'd be cool to have THAT on our side.

Levin: Sheesh… Right. He’ll be just fine. That reminds me, Celice. I’ve got a favour to ask.

Celice: Sure, anything! What’s up?

And now...my favorite track in the entire game...

Julia's theme

Levin: So I took her to a remote area of Silesia and have been taking care of her all this time. But things there got a little too hairy for my taste, so we made our way here. But now I have to go to Lenster and… well, she’s slowing me down a bit. Celice...

Levin: I think she’s been through quite a bit. She hasn’t a single memory of what happened to her before I picked her up.

Well, nice to know that he got to do something good while things were going to hell. People sometimes complain about his character development in Gen 1 being undone by Gen 2, but it sounds like he at least stuck it out till Silesia was overthrown. It wasn't till after that that he started "wasting away as a bard".

Celice: That poor girl! You go on ahead and leave her with me, Levin. But please, try to hurry back. She probably won’t feel right with you being gone.

Levin: Yeah, I suppose. Look, I’ll be back once you get this country under control. Good luck to you, Celice.

Celice: Levin, you too!

I am kind of iffy on him not helping us out with this though. Just what's he planning to do that's more important than THIS?!

Celice: Julia, I’m sure you’ll be sad with Levin gone, but don’t you worry. I’ll keep you safe till he gets back. Actually, I’m not all that strong yet… But you’ll see! I’ll be strong enough to protect everybody here someday! And then I can save all the people from the empire! I’ll be strong someday… just like my father was.

Julia: Celice…

Honestly though; I've seen a lot of games do the whole "innocent, fragile maiden with a heart of gold" theme, but I've never heard one knock it out of the park as thoroughly as FE4 did. I love whatever chimes Yuka Tsujiyoko used as the main instrument; and I think xylophones were what provided the percussion? Whatever those instruments were, it set the song apart from every other one in the soundtrack.

Plus, it also gets bonus points for reminding me of Gotoh's theme...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlOXcPCyNKA

Yes, the original Gotoh theme; NOT the pitched up version from every one of the remakes. I don't understand why they increased the pitch so much in all the remakes...but it didn't sound nearly as good to me as it did on the NES.

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

Anyways, Julia gets a new item from Lana, so I'm sending her west to Talk to her. But hey, wait a tic...what's Julia like as a unit?

Umm...I really don't know. Pursuit, Continue, and Awareness are all nice to have, but there's no point in really rating her till we can actually use her...huh. I wonder if she's got any Holy Blo-

...Oh...Ohhhhhhh....

...

A, anyways, here's what Lakche and Lana are doing. And hey, we got Talk conversations! I never got these in the actual playthrough, so uh...wanna see me?!

LESTER TALKS TO LANA (+1 Luck for Lana)

Recruitment

Lester: I bet you were. But you be careful out here. Mother would be a wreck if anything happened you.

Lana: Yes, but do you know what she told me? She said that we are greatly indebted to the people of Isaac and we should do whatever we can to help them.

Lester: Yeah, we wouldn’t be here now if it weren’t for them. …So where is mother now?

Lana: She’s working at the convent in Tilnanogue.

Lester: I see. Lana, we need to do our best out here for mother and our missing father. Someday we’ll be able to return with mother to her hometown of Jungby.

Lana: I hope so, Lester.

Alright, so we just outright confirmed that Aideen's alive in the Child conversation. And then we get a nice bit of character development in the Sub conversation.

DIMNA TALKS TO MANA (+1 Luck for Mana)

Recruitment

Dimna: Mana? You’re fighting too!?

Mana: Yeah, I was so worried about Sir Celice.

Dimna: Hmm… I thought so.

Mana: Thought what?

Dimna: Ah, nothin’. Just don’t get your hopes up. He’s of royal blood, you know. He’s actually a member of the Grandbell Royal Family. In all reality, we shouldn’t even be near him. Just don’t get yourself hurt. Okay, Mana?

Mana: Dimna, you have it all wrong! I’m merely trying to keep him out of danger!

Dimna: Really? Er… Sorry. I’m just trying to watch out for you.

Mana: I know, Dimna, and I appreciate it.

I never knew about these little differences between the Sub and Child character Talks until now; I just assumed they were copied and pasted for both versions. When I see them now though? The Sub conversations are actually turning out to be more interesting than the Child conversations; I'm kind of wishing the writers had just included the Sub parts into the Child parts as well, and just axed the whole "finding our mothers" bit from the Sub conversations. It's like I'm being punished for playing well!

Still, I do think I have a better idea of whether or not the Child characters have the same traits as their Subs. We'll find out later that Lana also has a thing for Celice, and I just thought of how large portions of the Sub dialogue is copy and pasted from the Child dialogue. So maybe Lakche DOES dislike men like Radney does. Who knows?

OIFAYE TALKS TO CELICE

Celice's theme

Oifaye: Things are getting worse. People all over the continent are being oppressed. As a result, there are uprisings popping up all over the place.

Celice: So it’s not just Isaac, is it… Oifaye, there’s no way we can help them, is there?

Oifaye: Well, we just don’t have the manpower to take on the empire.

Celice: But Isaac’s war of liberation is already under way. There’s no turning back now.

Oifaye: And we can’t keep you in hiding now that your whereabouts have been leaked. I just wish we were more prepared… But we have no choice now.

Celice: Sorry that I sort of got things rolling before it was time. I’m just tired of seeing the people of Isaac still suffering under Dannan’s rule. Please understand my reasoning, Oifaye.

Oifaye: I do. Anyway, we need to move now and lay in an attack on Rivough. We must move before the empire has a chance to send reinforcements!

That is one thing I'm kind of curious about, now that I look at this Chapter again; what were these guys doing before? It doesn't sound like they would have liked to do this whole all-out assault thing until later; yet it obviously works out in the end. So what were they doing BEFORE this fight started? Doing an occasional guerilla strike when the Imperial Soldiers were off-guard? Swooping to the rescue whenever Dannan tried to put down a peaceful protest? And then maybe they'd seize Ganesheire sometime later, and turn it into their military stronghold?

And, for that matter, why did Shanan and Oifaye leave the hideout unprotected? They sound like the two most capable military leaders, so you'd think they'd have left one or the other there in case of this exact scenario, but...I'm not military expert. I'm curious as to how liberation armies of their sort operate, so if we have any military historians here, feel free to talk about that.

Isaac Army

Speaking of Rivough, here it is!

Dannan: Where the hell were my sons!? Tell ’em to strike the rebel army at once!

Dannan, baby! You're gonna need more than that!

Ergh, that's Celice's army, thank you very much.

Johan: I could never fight Lakche. Argh… What am I gonna do.

Well Johan, we'll just have to find the answer to that, NEXT TIME, on let's Max Rank FE4! For now, we'll take a brief look at the Sub Characters, update the AAAA Run Stats, and then I'll see you sometime later! But can Celice and his army possibly succeed in liberating Isaac? Will Levin and Shanan return in time to aid us in our conquest? Can we defeat the combined might of Johan and Johalva's forces-

PFAHAHAHAHAHA!! Yeah, I'm sure the next update's gonna be real tough. Stalwart resistance on all sides; gonna take a miracle to make it through this one. Hehehe... God bless you everyone!

SUB CHARACTER OVERVIEWS

Mana Overview

Radney Overview

Roddlevan Overview

Tristan Overview

Dimna Overview

And here's our final Gen 1 wrap-up post; look forward to Chapter 6 Part 1 tomorrow! On New Years!

CURRENT AAAA RANKED RUN STATS (END OF GEN 1):

Time Taken This Update: ~16 minutes and 28 seconds

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: 14 hours, 36 minutes, 17 seconds~

Turns Taken This Update: 10 Turns

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 218 Turns

Levels Gained This Update: 14 Levels

Total Levels Gained: 550 Levels

Things I Regret: In the Prologue, I regret the fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue.

In Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue.

On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

On Chapter 3, I regret selling Deirdre's Aura tome! I'll bet she TOTALLY could've kicked Manfloy's butt, if ONLY I hadn't taken that away

!!

On Chapter 4, I regret spending so much time disabeling the Arena bug for Fury's Arena fights; her combat stats didn't even matter once I promoted her! I also regret not having Claude turn around sooner. I also regret not repairing the Return Staff before giving it to Aideen.

On Chapter 5, I regret not having Dew sit tight after slaying that General; I didn't really accomplish much by moving him around outside, so I probably wasted about a minute or so.

Level 1-11: 32 > 45 HP, 8(13) > 12(17) Str, 1 > 6 Mag, 8 > 14 Skl, 8 > 12 Spd, 6 > 8 Lck, 7(12) > 12(17) Def, 1 > 4 Res!

Level 1-4: 30 > 33 HP, 10 > 11 Str, 0 Mag, 13 > 16 Skl, 13 > 15 Spd, 7 > 8 Lck, 7 > 8 Def, 0 Res!

Level 1-2: 29 > 30 HP, 2 > 3 Str, 9 Mag, 8 > 9 Skl, 8 Spd, 16 > 17 Lck, 2 Def, 7 Res!

Fionordequester · Sun Aug 30, 2020 10:53 am

Last time, on Fire Emblem 4...

But then...

And THAT'S when...

And finally...

Original thread is here, so...

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

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

ANYWAY! Lord Dannan's gone on the offense, Johalva and Johan are dragging their sorry butts to the battlefield, and a bunch of villages are getting trashed by some MBandits; so we'd better hurry. But first, a cutscene!

Silesia Palace (Silesian theme)

Don't laugh Arthur; I really like that woman

...

Arthur: Heh heh... You call your pegasus Mahnya?

Fee: Arthur, would you quit already? Look, we’ve made it this far so put a lid on it!

Note that the second half of Fee's sentence was omitted in the patch. In addition to what she told Arthur here, she was ALSO supposed to say something like "Honestly! I didn't even want to GO to Isaac! [Therefore, you don't have any right to complain when YOU'RE the one that wanted this trip to start with".

Arthur: Uh... sorry, Fee. I’ve only got a bit further to go. How about I walk from here?

Fee: Where are you going anyway?

Arthur: Alster.

Fee: Alster!? Are you nuts? Alster is way down south. You gotta cross the sea to get there! You’re not walking, that’s for sure!

Arthur: I don’t mind walking. I’m not really in any hurry anyhow.

Fee: Why do you need to go to Alster anyway?

Oh, oh, oh! Is this some more of that brilliant FE4 exposition?! Why, yes it is~!

Arthur: I think my sister is there.

BAM! Character motivation!

Arthur: We were separated a long time ago.

BOOM! Tragic backstory!

Arthur: She and my mom were taken from me when I was young.

WHAM! Childhood!

Arthur: I grew up on my own in Silesia’s backwoods.

POW! Adolescence! And now...

Arthur: Once I heard my sister was seen in Alster, that’s all it took.

KER-BLAM!! The character has now been established! Everything we needed, all crammed into JUST. FIVE. LIIINES

!! Not since Gong's intro in Shining Force have I seen such masterful storytelling!

Fee: Huh, that’s just like me. You see, I haven’t seen my brother in a long time.

Arthur: Were you two also separated?

Fee: No, we were together in Silesia until he left to go look for our father.

Arthur: Your father?

Fee: Yeah, he’s missing. My mum waited for him for the longest time...

Arthur: What’s she doing now?

Fee: She got pretty sick, and, well... she passed away.

Arthur: Gosh... Sorry to ask such a dumb question.

Fee: It’s alright. I thought you were kinda dumb anyhow. Hahaha...

Arthur: Haha... Hey, I’m not such a bad guy, you know.

Fee: Yeah, maybe not. So what’re you going to do?

Arthur: Hmm... good question. Hey, what did you come here for?

Oh, is it time for an encore?

Fee: I came because I want to see if I can join Isaac’s liberation army.

BAM! CHARACTER MOTIVATION!

Fee: When I was little my mum used to tell me about Sigurd, the Holy Knight, and his brave warriors.

BOOM! CHILDHOOD!

Fee: Their story really stuck with me, and now Sigurd’s son is leading an uprising in Isaac.

BOOM! ADOLESCENE! Aaaaaaand....

Fee: I thought this was my calling, so I grabbed my stuff and shot out of Silesia.

WHAAAM!! CURRENT MISSION!!

:rock: :rock:

Arthur: Wow, that’s great. You know I appreciate the ride and all... How about I join you for a bit?

Fee: You bet! It’s been my pleasure. So I guess it’s you and me, partner!

Arthur: Yep, I’m afraid so... Hahaha!

Horribly dry exposition dumps aside...I really do like this conversation. Fire Emblem 4 tends to focus on the "big picture" way more than it does on the little things; everything's always so grand and dramatic and everything that sometimes it's nice to just have a plain, regular ol' conversation like this. I mean, yeah, they yammer on for an awfully long time, but...I like the dynamic they have here. They're just two strangers riding around, playfully taking jabs at each other while also getting in some good conversation about what their motivations are.

I REALLY don't get why the writers felt the need to rush their exposition like that though. THESE two don't even GET any more lines in the main story! This is it! The rest of their dialogue can only be found in the Talk conversations; so why not save their backstories for those? At least then, the two can develop their own characters at a reasonable pace, rather than...whatever the heck we just read up above. Aye basura...

Anyways, here's how they perform as units:

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

Arthur Overview

Fee Overview

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

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

And back to the map itself.

Player Attack

No chance of Charge activating here; I already left Lester below 25 HP last update, so that Delmud could kill the bandit instead.

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

Delmud can kill him, steal his Gold, AND visit the village all in one go!

As for our two magic users, Julia is unarmed and Lana is a healer; so Lakche's gonna need to draw the heat off of them. But Lakche herself ain't immortal either, so we still want them close enough to where Lana can use Libro from afar.

Speaking of Julia and Lana; here's their Talk conversation!

Julia's theme

Lana: Well, His Highness is pretty concerned about you. But if you have any problems, come to me. Okay?

Julia: Thank you.

Lana: I also have this for you.

Julia: This is a Relive Staff, isn’t it?

Lana: Yes, it is. You know how to use it, don’t you?

Julia: I do! Thank you so much, Lana. Now I can help out a little, too.

Lana: I hope so, Julia. Let’s you and I stick together!

Will do Lana! Not as though the battlefield's getting any LESS dangerous.

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

Now, back on the subject of Lakche...

Player Attack

Remember how Johalva and Johan were all freaking out about how they had to fight Lakche? Well THAT'S because those two have fallen head over heels for her! They're SO smitten by her, in fact, that Johan or Johalva will actually go to our side when Lakche talks to one of them! Their castle will turn green instead of red, and so will all their cohorts!

But there's a catch. You can only recruit one of them. Once you recruit one, the other will become your permanent enemy; and if we're JUST talking AAAA Rank Runs, I think Johalva is better, for reasons I will get into when I recruit him.

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

Speaking of Johalva; this is a wonderful opportunity for level grinding Lakche if she doesn't have Elite like mine does. This is because...

Code: Select all

1) Johalva will never attack Lakche, so she'll never kill him.

2) Lakche can ORKO all of Johalva's men with the Silver Blade.

3) They've got almost no chance of hitting her on a Mountain.

4) Lana's nearby to heal her with the Libro Staff.

5) Johalva will fetch ANOTHER group once the first one dies.

6) Lakche can kill the MBandit on the western village.

So one could potentially kill all the Axefighters from the Mountains, follow Johalva back to his castle, and then kill off the second group as well. I'm not going to be doing that though, because I do have Elite.

Back to Celice; he's gonna steam roll Johan, capture Isaac, get the Rezire tome for Julia (more on that later), and carve a path of destruction all the way to Rivough. However, one could also choose to recruit Johan, kill Johalva instead, capture HIS castle, and then get the Aura Tome for Julia before trekking across the mountains.

Or, if you REALLY want to, you can recruit Johan, let Schmidt and his men storm Isaac (which will have turned green), RE-capture Isaac (which will turn it green), and then march all the way back to Sophara in order to seize THAT (for it will have stayed red). Because remember; you get 1000G for every castle that YOU control at the end of the Chapter. Neutral castles (green) don't count toward that total; only player controlled ones count. So by taking both castles, you'll get an extra 1000G for each and every one of your units!

And no, this will NOT decrease your Tactics Rank; that only happens if the A.I. captures one of YOUR castles, not a neutral one. Believe me, I confirmed this by watching completed AAAA Rank Runs on Nico Nico Douga; both of the ones I watched actually take advantage of this!

Buuuuuuut... We're not going to be doing that. Johalva far better than Johan in an AAAA Rank Run; and the A.I. can't capture HIS castle without also getting one of OURS in the process! And THAT, my friends, WILL drop the Tactics Rank!

Player Attack

Oh yeah, and Fee's got the Berserk Sword. It has a [30 – enemy’s Res]% of inflicting Berserk on whosoever it hits; and also a 100% chance of working on anyone with MORE than 30 Res! That...will actually come into play WAAAY later on; but for now, it's a moot point. Berserk won't actually stop the MBandit from attacking the village. So for now...

We're focusing on Celice's rampage; and for that, we sold the Slim Sword, fixed up the Hero Sword a bit, and also got the Light Sword and Magic Ring out of storage. Johan's team doesn't have any Hand Axes, but Schmidt's team DOES; we don't want to miss out on getting THEIR EXP!

Isaac Army

Speaking of enemies; Johalva's men are now attempting to subdue Lakche.

With...less than success. In fact, they might've start ignoring her ENTIRELY had her Spd and Lck gains been higher!

And no, Johalva and Johan never attack Lakche. They WILL however attack Celice next turn.

Right after this poor fool pulls an Anakin.

Except instead of getting his arm cut off and getting hurled across the room by lightning bolts, the guy just loses his head instead. Not really sure who was better off for it.

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

Our turn!

Now let's get things started with...

Player Attack

Uhh...yeah. Holsety. This is uh... really interesting game design going on here. Man, good thing Levin couldn't pass down Pursuit as well...

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

So let's do some general movement and utility...

Let's heal up...

Let's kill some guys...

And let's go visit this village.

Johan is the lord at Isaac Castle, and Johalva is the lord at Sophara. They both have a thing for Lakche of your army. Always quarreling those two... But they’re both basically good boys. I bet they’d even join up with you all.

HA HA HA HA HA! Well, he's right about them wanting to join up with us, but...

...The game kind of throws a wrench into the "good boys" part, through questionable writing. You'll...see what I mean later.

Isaac Army

For now, let's just beat up some bad guys!

Let's let the last remaining survivor kill himself off first...

Prompting Johalva to try to retreat...

And then we'll have Johan and his men suiciding en masse

Johan: To die by my hand, you should feel flattered.

Johan: Lakche, our love is eternal...

I seriously don't know why these two have some of the lines they do. Johan flat out admitted here that the Rebel Army is in the right here... So why's he saying stuff like "you should feel flattered to die by my hand?" Johalva's lines SEEM a bit more neutral at first...

VS. JOHALVA

Johalva: I will not hand over my castle! You rebels...I'll beat the crap out of you!

JOHALVA DIES

Johalva: Argh... Lakche... I'm sorry...

But even he doesn't come off that well when you see his reaction to Johan being recruited.

Johalva: I'm gonna take him out! Men, stay alert!

And then he just goes berserk; for the REST of the chapter. There's no recruiting him, no pacifying him with Lakche...No, he's perfectly willing to just keep being a jerkwad. He won't actively target Lakche, but he'll never be recruited either. And of course, Johan's the same way...

Johan: Eiyah! Attack!!

Then when they fight each other...

Miniboss

JOHALVA VS. JOHAN

Johan: Sigh... Johalva... It makes me sad to have a little brother as foolish as you.

Johalva: You’re the foolish one, but that’s irrelevant. I knew that this day would come sometime! Now let’s finish this!

Johan: As you wish!

That happens, and it's just like; "are they really supposed to be the good guys?" They're both well aware that they're the bad guys in this! If they love Lakche so much that they'll outright ditch their homeland, then why would it MATTER if their brother has already converted first?! Doesn't Johalva realize that if he attacks the Rebel Army, he's attacking Lakche, regardless of whether or not Johan is already with her? Jeez louis...

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

And I know why the game is doing this. There's an archtype in the Fire Emblem series known as the "Samson & Arran" archtype; it involves two warriors who REALLY hate each other. They hate each other so much, in fact, that you can only have one of them at a time in your army; you give up one of them forever by recruiting the other. Kaga knows that this is a cool concept, so that's the scenario he's attempting to create hear.

But right now, he's doing it at the expense of these two characters. Both of them are supposed to be "basically good boys" who also have a number of funny moments involving Lakche; but now? They're coming off as a pair of violent idiots who care more about fulfilling their own personal vendettas than doing what's right. It might've been better if we at least knew WHY they hated each other so much...but we never will. The game seems to expect you to just forget about all this the moment you leave this chapter, and I don't know why. It makes them both look worse than Kaga probably intended.

But oh well; let's see what the villagers have to say.

We are forever indebted to his father for saving our Prince Shanan!

The ending of Chapter 5 can give the impression that Sigurd didn't accomplish anything worthwhile, despite his best intentions. So I like this dialogue as a reminder that everything you do matters, regardless of how things seem at the moment. Seemingly innocuous things will wind up having far reaching consequences, not just for you, but for people who don't even seem like they'd be affected by your actions. That's one of the things I found so fascinating about Breaking Bad, for example.

Heck, Sigurd may very well have saved the world by sparing Shanan, now that I think about it. His son now has the good will of the people, Shanan himself has grown into a really powerful warrior, and well...Shanan's survival might actually have been what kept the citizens going for all those years. What better way for an oppressed people to persevere than the promise that someone from their royal family will eventually deliver them from their oppressors?

Anyway, here's Johalva!

Foolish Soldiers

Lakche: At least, I was relieved that you never hurt any of the women or children. I wish we didn’t have to fight...

Johalva: Yeah. Well, I was never into pushin’ people around like my brothers. And I’ve had about all I can handle of the Lopt Sect. People say they’ve been sacrificing children right here in Isaac. My father just lets them walk all over him. I’ve had it with them! Lakche... just say the magic word and my squadron and I’ll join up with you.

*awkward silence as Johalva realizes his 'squadron' is already dead*

Lakche: Are you serious!? Johalva, you’re wonderful! ...I definitely had it wrong about you all this time.

Johalva: Yeah, well, I’m no angel. This is my chance to make amends. You lot! From this point forward we are an army of liberators fighting for love and justice!!

So that's Johalva's recruitment text. But if we talked to Johan instead...

Foolish Soldiers

Johan: Your words soothe like a bird’s song... You eyes sparkle like stars in the sky... The thought of being without you I cannot bear.

"Why, I'd KILL to be with you!"

...

"No, really; I would actually kill to be with you."

Lakche: Stop! You’re grossing me out! You’re on the battlefield, you know. Don’t lose it here!

Johan: My unremitting love for you is strong enough to cross the bounds of insanity! Let our troops know we’re taking sides with the liberation army! From this day forward we’ll be fighting for love, justice... and Lakche!

Yeah, he's basically a meaner version of Sain; and Lakche clearly isn't as thrilled with him as she is with Johalva. That's one of the reasons I prefer recruiting Johalva; however, the MAIN reason is because he's much better in the Arena than Johan. Why's that?

Well...I'm not going to do the overviews for MOST of the people this update (because it's already really long, and there's WAY too many of them); but we'll make an exception for Johan and Johalva. The game forces you to pick one or the other, so...let's take a look, shall we?

Isaac Castle Town

Level 12 Axe Fighter
Parents: N/A

HP: 42 (110%) Spd: 16 (10%)
Str: 16 (40%) Lck: 5 (10%)
Mag: 0 (0%) Def: 14 (60%)
Skl: 7 (50%) Res: 1 (5%)

Move: 6
Weapon Ranks: A Axes
Promotion Bonuses: +3 Str, +0 Mag, +2 Skl, +2 Spd, +2 Def, +3 Res, B Bows
Items: Steel Axe
Skill: Charge
Holy Blood: Minor Neir

Level 12 Axe Knight
Parents: N/A

HP: 40 (110%) Spd: 12 (50%)
Str: 15 (40%) Lck: 5 (10%)
Mag: 0 (5%) Def: 12 (60%)
Skl: 10 (20%) Res: 1 (5%)

Move: 8
Weapon Ranks: A Axes
Promotion Bonuses: +5 Str, +0 Mag, +1 Skl, +1 Spd, +4 Def, +3 Res, +1 Move
Items: Steel Axe
Skill: Ambush
Holy Blood: Minor Neir

Aside from Johalva having +2 extra HP, the two end up with basically the exact same stats at Level 30. Johalva will have higher growths in areas he's initially weaker in, Johan's promotion gains will make up for any disadvantages he starts with, and etc.

So the real question is "who's more useful at base level?" If all you're doing is a regular playthrough, then Johan is obviously a better choice. His base stats are actually really good compared to some of your other units, Ambush can be good in a pinch, and the Hero Axe will be attained very shortly from Schmidt. And of course; cavalry units are as valuable as they ever were.

But if you're going for an AAAA Rank playthrough, things are completely different. Having 2+ HP, 1+ STR, and +4 SPD is far better than having +3 SKL; but more importantly, Johalva gains access to Bows upon promotion. That is absolutely crucial; most Bows weigh 8 WT, while most Axes weigh 18 WT. And though the Hero Axe is lighter at 12 WT, the Killer Bow measures at 3 WT while also granting the Critical skill! So even with Johan's superior SPD gains, his offense will always trail behind Johalva's. Plus, Johalva's combat will consist entirely of Arena battles. Bows are exempt from the Weapon Triangle; so get him to LVL 20, get him a wife to share money with, and Johalva's pretty much set! No getting spanked by swordmasters for him!

So to sum it up, Johan's better for efficiency playthroughs, but Johalva's indisputably the better choice for AAAA Rank runs (unless you're using heavy RNG abuse to clear the Arena). Besides...

Look at this poor guy! The guy's so desperate, his text is actually flying off the textbox! I gotta help a brotha out!

Isaac Army

Of course, not everyone's so thrilled with that prospect...

Dannan: Schmidt, you get out there. I want our castles back!

Schmidt: Yes sir. You can count on me.

This triggers the minute you recruit one of his sons, regardless of whether the other is alive or not. And once that happens...

Schmidt and his merry band come storming towards us. That's not a concern for Celice though.

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

Anyway, next player phase.

Lakche's gonna clear out that MBandit; so I'm gonna pair her up with Johalva (no, this doesn't violate my "no squicky pairings" rule; I'll explain why later) and get Lana staff EXP while I'm at it. As for the others...

Celice's sword arm flies ever closer to Isaac...

Lester follows close behind to get the village...

Arthur heads on up to snag the village near where Lakche's at...

And Fee ends our turn by going to a rather interesting village.

Yeah! We’ll finally be able to get rid of those creeps from the empire!

It's simple enough for most people. But if you visit the village with Celice...

Dew & Patty's theme

As a little token of my appreciation I’d like ya t’take my granddaughter for yer wife.

Celice: S, stop it! Th, that’s not why I’m here!

Hahaha! It’s a joke, Sir Celice! J-O-K-E! You’re gettin’ red... How cute!

Celice: What am I going to do...

Well Celice, that depends. Does she have good Civilian skills? Good growth rates? Can she use staves? Does she have any children who can inherit your blades? Are there any Jealousy formations we can take advantage of? Does she have minor Neir blood or anything like that?

I know you think I'm kidding; but would YOU think any different?

Isaac Army

Anyway, nothing new happens on enemy phase so...

Player Attack

Lester knocks his MBandit around a bit, hoping that he would proc one of his many skills (he didn't)...

Lakche turns her bandit into roadkill...

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

While enjoying the Knight Ring's effect...

Fee flies up closer to Lakche and Johalva so that she can start pairing up with Arthur (spoiler alert; they're one of my planned couples)

Johalva walks up to Lakche again while the other two ladies get closer to help with Jealousy Formation strats...

Isaac Army

And Celice ends our turn by getting closer to Isaac. Nothing much happens on this enemy phase either, but next turn?

Things are gonna get REAL messy. Because now...

Player Attack

Now is the time to show off Celice's power

.

First we axe this guy off (get it? Cuz he uses axes

?)...

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

Lakche and friends all gather around for a grand ol' time...

And Lester kills off the very last MBandit on the map.

That would sure make things easier on us if it were the case. Here’s a Skill Ring for you. Good luck out there!

Whoo-hoo! Lester has more trouble in the Arena than others, so this is more than welcome for him. Anyway...

IIIIIIIT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME

!!

Isaac Army

Whaacha! Down go the putties...

Miniboss

And down goes the leader!

Man, we're just getting started, and Celice is ALREADY about to promote. And people say he starts slow :cheeky:

Oh yeah, and that drops too.

Anyway, Dannan is the only one left. So let's see what Isaac's folks have to say!

Victory 1

Yes, they’re all ecstatic. They all believe that you’re going to liberate the country.

Celice: Well, I couldn’t have done any of this without the support of the people. They were the ones who helped me from the start...

"Oh and uh, the other guys on my team? Yeah, they helped occasionally; every so often."

This sure is a strange twist of fate. The former king of Isaac often turned to your grandfather for advice. Then your father rescued Prince Shanan only for the prince to turn around and save you. It’s funny how fate works, isn’t it?

Celice: Well, Isaac is like a second home to me. I hope the prince and I can remain friends forever.

Sir Celice, there isn’t a soul alive who doubts that you are the rightful successor to Grandbell’s royal house. In the name of justice you must push on through to Barhara!

This all seems pretty normal at first.

But, if you were to conquer Sophara instead...

Victory 1

We get an entirely NEW conversation!

Nope, we’re all just fine. Everyone is very excited you’re here!

Celice: Just give us a little more time. We WILL defeat King Dannan and regain control of Isaac.

Those sure are reassuring words. Do take care to not overdo yourselves. Sir Celice, you’re the last hope for all the peoples of the world. You are the only one who can free the world from darkness.

Remember; you don't HAVE to pick one or the other. You can easily conquer both these castles by recruiting Johan. Isaac will turn green, Schmidt will turn it red, and then you'd just take it back from him after snagging Johalva's. You can't do the reverse though; the enemies prioritize getting Ganeishire before getting Sophara.

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

Turns 18-21: Anyways, we're just gonna zip through now.

Once he gets his hands on the Divine Balmunk those rats of the empire won’t have a prayer! We’re driving them outta here!

Pfeh; you say that like the Uber Hero Sword isn't good enough already. Now...

I need Celice to move exactly 4 spaces west...

Julia needs to be warped on over to where Celice is...

The rest of em' must ASSUME THE JEALOUSY FORMATION!!

And now Julia'll have a nice chat with Celice.

Julia's theme

Celice: Here, I’m giving you this. I picked it up at Isaac Castle.

Julia: What is it?

Celice: It’s a Book of Rezire. You can use it, can’t you?

Julia: Yes, I believe so.

Celice: Good. You should be able to protect yourself a little better out here now.

Julia: Thank you very much, sir.

That's what you get for conquering Isaac. But if you conquer Sophara instead, you get this:

Celice: Here, I’m giving you this. I picked it up at Sophara Castle.

Julia: What is it?

Celice: It’s a Book of Aura. You can use it, can’t you?

Julia: Aura... I’ve heard that somewhere before... Thank you very much, sir.

Oh the painful memories

...

Chapter 6: Light Inheritor

Now as fitting as Aura would be, Rezire is what we want. It's loses by -10 Hit and -6 Might, but makes up for it by weighing 8 WT less than the Aura Tome! Plus, it drains HP just like Nosferatu does in later games. So if you want even more of a reason to use Johalva over Johan, well, there you go.

Unfortunately, Julia doesn't get a chance to show off her new combat capabilities; so for now, we'll have to settle for this overview

...

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

Julia Overview

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

Anyway, nobody else up north is doing anything so...

Here it is! The FINAL battle of Chapter 6!

Miniboss

Dannan: My father’s grudge... I will have his revenge!

Celice: King Dannan... Under your rule, many people have suffered and died. Now you must face the consequences.

Most

thing Celice has ever said!

DANNAN VS. JOHAN

Dannan: J, Johan... That woman has turned you against me!?

Johan: Sigh... I pledged my life for her love. Forgive me, father...

Dannan: Y, you fool...

Sheesh; I know Dannan's kind of a jerk, but...THAT'S what helps you decide to kill your father

?

DANNAN VS. JOHALVA

Dannan: Johalva, you...! How dare you rise up against your father!!

Johalva: Sorry... I don’t want anything more to do with your evil deeds. It’s nothing personal.

Dannan: D, damn it...! Johalva!

DANNAN VS. EVERYONE ELSE

Dannan: Rebels! Don’t underestimate the Grandbell Empire!

Oh the Grandbell Empire is scary, don't get me wrong. But...you're not the “Grandbell Empire”, so...

Fateful Showdown

You're already dead.

Victory is Near

...Yeeeeah. We're uh...kind of out of villains here. Guess we'll just go through the rest of the optional dialogue? First we got one last Village (I don't get this in the main run)...

Thanks to you we have Isaac back. But the rest of the world still looks pretty grim. Everyone still suffering under the empire’s rule is waiting for Sir Celice to come save them. Please... you must make your way to Grandbell as soon as possible!

My, what a well informed young woman.

Now, one of the Substitute characters one could have is Dimna. He replaces Lester if Aideen never had kids; and he actually has his own special conversation in Isaac! Check THIS out!

Lover 2

Karen: Hey, I’m just glad to see you again. You look great!

Dimna: Thanks. Sir Celice set out to liberate the world from the empire’s tyranny and I’ve joined up with him. I can’t say I’ve been of much help yet.

Karen: Hmhm! That’s neat, Dimna. That’s a big change from the crybaby I once knew.

Dimna: Hahaha... Don’t you tell anyone that... I do still have a ways to go, though. I want you and the rest of the world to be able to live again in peace.

Karen: Wow. That’d be great, Dimna...

Dimna: What’s wrong? Did I say something?

Karen: No, it’s nothing. Here, I want you to have this necklace. I think you’ll find it useful.

Dimna: Where did you get it?

Karen: It’s a keepsake of my mothers. Wear it and you’ll get a little boost of power.

Dimna: I can’t take this from you!

Karen: No, my mother wants you to have it. She said the time has come to utilise its power. Please, take it.

Dimna: Thank you. I’ll be sure to bring it back when this war is over.

Karen: I’m sure you will, Dimna.

Dimna: Well, I better get going. Everyone’s waiting for me.

Karen: You take care now, Dimna!

And once Dimna leaves...

We get an INSANE STR boost!

Victory is Near

I never knew just how much effort went into FE4's minor characters until I did this LP. I was fully expecting the Substitutes to just be palette-swaps of the real children, with barely any differences in what they said and did. But no; they actually have legitimate backstories! They have their own lives! This dude Dimna's got people waiting for him at home, regardless of whether or not we recruit Lester! It's to the point where I'm actually kinda starting to wish they'd have included these scenes for the Children characters too.

I mean heck; just look at THIS one here, with Lakche's Substitute (yes, it's a hacked save). These two are EXCLUSIVE to Radney; these never happen for Lakche! Just have one of the two axe brothers use the Wait command next to her for over 10 Turns, and...

Johan with Radney (+2 STR & +3 LCK for Radney):

Yep, here we go again.

Johan: I’ll always watch over you! Please don’t forget that!

Radney: ...

And Johalva gets in on the act too.

Johalva with Radney (+2 STR & +3 LCK for Radney):

Radney: ...

Fortunately, he plays it a lot cooler than Johan, so I think his chances are good. Anyway, here's all the rest of the conversations.

Celice with Fee (and Femina, but her dialogue's pretty similar; I'll put the differences in brackets)

Recruitment

Fee: Are you Prince Celice?

Celice: Yes, I am. And who might you be?

Fee: I am Fee [or Femina]. I came here from Silesia.

Celice: Silesia? Are you a Pegasus Knight?

Fee: [Well that depends. If I'm Fee, then I'd say... "No, but my mother was. She fought alongside Sir Sigurd in the last war". Otherwise, if I'm Femina, I'd basically just say "I'm still in training"].

Celice: Really? [Because if you're Fee, I'd say..."Well, on his behalf, thanks". Otherwise, I'd just skip this line]. So what made you come here?

Fee: Well, I initially set out to find my brother. But when I heard word of you taking on the empire, I made a little change in plans. Please, let me join your liberation army.

Celice: Hey, that’s fine with me, but what about your brother?

Fee: I have a hunch that we’ll run across him eventually.

And that really is it for the differences. There are very minor differences in wording here and there; but there's nothing else worth bogging down the pace of this update.

Celice with Arthur (this one literally IS the exact same between Child and Sub)

Recruitment

Arthur: How do you do, sir.

Celice: Who are you?

Arthur: I’m Arthur. I came from Silesia.

Celice: You’re Arthur? Thanks for lending us a hand!

Arthur: Not a problem.

Celice: It’s really great how you can use magic.

Arthur: Well, my mother was a warlock. I’ve personally still got quite a way to go though.

Celice: Yeah, we all do. But as long as we stay together... We all believe we can change the world. That’s why we set out in the first place.

Arthur: Sounds great. Look, I’ll do what I can to help out, sir. Glad we could finally meet.

And here's the last one; and for some WEIRD reason, it's only available when you conquer Sophara. It will NOT activate if you conquer Isaac instead. Rather odd, that...

Celice with Lana (+100 Love Points and +3 HP for Lana)

Aideen & Lana's theme

Celice: Lana, you shouldn’t be out here. It’s too dangerous!

"Nuns and warfare DO NOT mix!"

Lana: Oh, I’ll be alright.

Celice: Please, stay back for me, will you? You’re too easy a target for them.

Lana: But...

Celice: Lana, I’m just worried about you, that’s all.

Lana: ...okay, I’ll try.

Heh; seems Dimna's worrying over nothing. If this turns out to be Mana, then Celice's just as into HER as she is in him!

IF JULIA WAS KILLED AT ANY POINT

Victory 1 (Alternate Version)

Note how the above music link is only 12 seconds long. There is complete silence after it ends.

Levin: Yeah, I just got back. Celice, the world is at a very volatile stage right now.

Celice: Huh? What do you mean?

Levin: The early days of the empire weren’t actually all that bad. Initially, Emperor Alvis applied constitutional law to govern the people. It was a bit constraining, but it was a peaceful time in Judgral’s history. But several years back the emperor did a complete about-face. He became very rigid with his rule and adopted oppressive governing tactics. Now the ominous Lopt Sect is back, and their influence has spread across the land. Sacrificial rituals have also reappeared. Children all over are being rounded up for the resurrection of the Loptian lord. And anyone who attempts to rise up is either enslaved or executed... It’s obvious now that they’re attempting to restore the Lopt Empire.

Celice: You’re serious? So the rumours I’ve heard are true after all.

Levin: Isaac is better off than most places. It sounds like Dannan’s two sons didn’t go through with any of the child hunts.

Celice: ...

Levin: Uprisings have sprung up all over the continent, but not one has gotten anywhere. None of them stand a chance against the empire.

And now; happy music.

Celice's theme

Levin: You are the only one who has the power to pull it off.

Celice: Whoa! Wait a minute! I have nothing near what it takes!

Levin: It’s your duty, Celice. You are Empress Deirdre’s firstborn son... the older brother to Prince Julius. As a direct descendant of Saint Heim, you have an obligation to lead your crusaders and rid the world of darkness.

Celice: Yeah, but...

Levin: Celice, you DO have what it takes. You just don’t realise it yet. You’re of Baldo lineage. Once you get a hold of the Holy Tyrfing, you’ll have enough power to reach the heavens.

Celice: But...

Levin: Celice, it’s the will of the gods. Your father was a victim of foul play. And now you must finish what he started. You need to stay focused, Celice. You got me?

Celice: ...Yes, I do. If this is my destiny, I shall go forth wherever the gods lead me.

Levin: You’ll come to realise that fate is susceptible to change. It doesn’t centre on one person. Sigurd left much behind for you. Most importantly his friends... I being one of them. You can credit your father’s kindness for bringing so many good people to your side.

Celice: My father was loved and trusted by so many. I just hope I can live up to that.

Levin: You’ll be just fine, Celice. Okay, we need to make Lenster our next destination. The son of your father’s good friend Cuan took a stand against the government in Manster. But he is in dire need of some backup. We can leave Isaac in the hands of the people. We’d better get moving. We’ll meet up with Prince Shanan somewhere down the line.

Celice: Gotcha!

Alright, I think we'll call that an update!

Will Celice manage to become the scion of light that Jugdral yearns to rally around? Will he survive being pitted against all of the Empire's mighty men, experiencing harrowing fights in a world of fading hope? And what of the mystery girl Julia? What mysteries lay hidden beneath her gentle grey eyes? Find out, in the second half of Let's Play Fire Emblem 4! This is Fionordequester, signing out! Have a nice night, and God bless you all!

SUB CHARACTER OVERVIEWS

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

Amid Overview

Femina Overview

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

CURRENT AAAA RANKED RUN STATS:

Time Taken This Update: ~25 minutes and 35 seconds

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: 15 hours, 1 minute, 52 seconds~

Turns Taken This Update: 12 Turns

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 230 Turns

Levels Gained This Update: 19 Levels

Total Levels Gained: 569 Levels

Things I Regret: In the Prologue, I regret the fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue.

In Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue.

On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

On Chapter 3, I regret selling Deirdre's Aura tome! I'll bet she TOTALLY could've kicked Manfloy's butt, if ONLY I hadn't taken that away

!!

On Chapter 4, I regret spending so much time disabeling the Arena bug for Fury's Arena fights; her combat stats didn't even matter once I promoted her! I also regret not having Claude turn around sooner. I also regret not repairing the Return Staff before giving it to Aideen.

On Chapter 5, I regret not having Dew sit tight after slaying that General; I didn't really accomplish much by moving him around outside, so I probably wasted about a minute or so.

Level 11-21: 45 > 59 HP, 12(17) > 20(25) Str, 6 > 13(18) Mag, 14 > 20 Skl, 12 > 16 Spd, 8 > 13 Lck, 12(17) > 16 Def, 4 > 8 Res!

Level 4-10: 33 > 42 HP, 11 > 14 Str, 0 > 1 Mag, 16 > 21 Skl, 15 > 17 Spd, 8 > 9 Lck, 8 > 12 Def, 0 > 1 Res!

Level 2-4: 30 > 32 HP, 3 > 4 Str, 9 Mag, 9 > 11 Skl, 8 Spd, 17 > 19 Lck, 2 > 3 Def, 7 > 8 Res!

Level 1-2: 30 > 31 HP, 10 > 11 Str, 1 Mag, 8 > 8(13) Skl, 9 Spd, 13 Lck, 8 Def, 0 Res!

Fionordequester · Sun Aug 30, 2020 10:54 am

Last time, on Fire Emblem 4: Genealogy of the Holy War; Celice carved a path of destruction through every part of Isaac! Generals, cavalry, bandits...NO ONE could stand up to his AWESOME power! He's even acquired a plethora of powerful allies during his efforts! Levin, Shanan, the sons and daughters of those who served Sigurd...and even one of Lord Dannan's sons! All of these and more have elected to join our cause!

And now it's time to move on to the Yied Desert! What new challenges await Sir Celice? Let's find out!

When the Rush Comes

Word spread of the liberation army under Imperial Prince Celice, instilling a sense of courage in those still suffering under the empire’s tyrannical rule.

However, many lacked solid leadership and were easily crushed by the empire. Casualities at the hands of the imperial troops were enormous.

In the Kingdom of Lenster in the Thracia Peninsula, Cuan’s son, Prince Leaf, assembled a resistance force with Fin’s assistance. But they suffered a crushing defeat before King Blume’s massive army and found themselves stranded in enemy territory.

The Yied Desert was administered by a Lopt Sectarian named Cutozov from Yied Shrine.

Hello "Cutozov from Yied Shrine"; mind if I just call ya Cutozov? Name's a bit of a mouthful

.

Stationed in the oasis town of Darna was Bramsel, a former merchant, and Jabarro, commander of a mercenary squad.

See, Boo? THAT'S how you properly grammar a sentence!

Prince Ishtor and the highly revered General Liza protected Melgen Castle...

...while Duke Reptor’s son, King Blume, was at the captal in Alster with his niece, a young mage named Tinny.

Celice was all set to depart Rivough and lead the warriors of Isaac’s liberation army on a rescue mission to distant Lenster. Each warrior put aside his and her individual concerns as they embraced the new challenge before them.

Ah yes, concerns. Concerns like "am I ever gonna get EXP? When Celice keeps hogging it all?"

Crisis 1

Chapter 7: Beyond the Desert

Whoa, spoiler alert! The game already told us that we're making it past the Desert. Now the story's RUINED

!

Also, here's our buddy, Fin.

Fin: Prince Leaf, we’ve lost our entire fighting force.

This here's part of the reason why I'm hesitant to play Thracia 776. Just look at what Fin's describing here! I'm just picturing getting to the Epilogue, only for every character's endings being some variation of "this guy I've been using the whole game got a lightning bolt shoved through their eyesocket", or "that really awesome gal, Eyvel, died after several rounds on Queen Hilda's torture wheel".

That, or the end of FE5 has a heckton of crazy retcons that completely rewrites the fate of Leaf's army; at which point I'd just be frustrated trying to make sense of how FE5 could possibly flow into FE4...

Leaf: That can’t be... All along I thought we had a chance here. Grr! I’ll take that Blume on myself if I have to!

Fin: Prince Leaf, calm down. We’re not through yet. Levin is sending Sir Celice’s liberation army our way. We must hold out till they arrive.

Leaf: The Imperial Prince Celice... They say he’s the son of my father’s good friend Sir Sigurd and Empress Deirdre.

Most people wouldn't notice this at first, but something very important just got revealed here. Leaf isn't referring to Celice as just "Deirdre's illegitimate son", or "Alvis and Deirdre's missing son" or anything like that. No, he is specifically referring to Celice as "Sigurd and Deidre's son". As in, Sigurd slept with Deidre before Alvis ever did.

Know what that means? It means Alvis's dirty secrets got out. At some point between the end of Chapter 5 and the start of Chapter 6, Alvis's treachery became common knowledge. However Alvis may have attempted to cover it up, he failed. Perhaps this is how the Empire became more oppressive? Perhaps Alvis got more heavy-handed when his people started questioning him more and more?

Or maybe...maybe this is how the Lopt Sect got such a stranglehold? Alvis may have taken a hard stance against them in Chapter 5, but...well, people have a habit of getting desperate when their livelihood is challenged. Perhaps "deals" needed to be struck in order to silence whatever rumors were around? I mean, if that DID happen, it obviously didn't work in the end, but...who knows? Anyway, back to the A plot.

Nanna: We should abandon this castle at once and go find cover west of here near the church.

Leaf: Yeah... That may just be our only option right now. Alright. We need to hold out as long as we can. At least until Prince Celice arrives...

Enemy Message 2

"Meanwhile, at the Fortress of Evil"

Ah, yes. That TERRIFYING "line of defense"; consisting of...

A young girl on a pony...

A LVL 1 prince with the 3rd weakest weapon in the game equipped...

And a Gen 1 unit whose general power level was "good, but not amazing"; even in his prime.

...

Yeeeah, gonna have to side with Blume on this one

Blume: I don’t want to hear it! You capture Lenster Castle, and you do it now! Isaac’s rebel army is going to be here before you know it!

Yes sir! We will carry out our raid immediately, sir!

I mean I get that Leaf originally had more guys; but the Philip recolour really should have finished the job. Things are just gonna be that much harder on him, now that Leaf's had a chance to regroup.

But oh well; I'm not disappointed. Because far to the north, past the sandy dunes of despair, we have a far, far more ominous threat to deal with...

Loputousu Sect

RIGHT AFTER THIS CUTE SPUNKY GIRL!

Patty: But this isn’t the time to be takin’ in the view. I’ve got to get a move on!

But as she tries to leave...

Patty: This sword wasn’t that easy to come by. If you want it, you just try and get it!

Shanan: Hey, wait!

Shanan! It's finally you

!! Better figure this out quick though...

Cuz you're gonna have company...

Cutozov: They got the Balmung!? Well, what are you doing here? Get after them!

But Cutozov... Shouldn’t you be able to stop them in their tracks with your black magic?

Cutozov: My Book of Fenrir is missing. I have some men looking for it, but it has yet to turn up.

I see... Well, I’ll take my squad and a few mercenaries to go in pursuit then. Cutozov... rest assured we will recover the stolen goods.

Just think; the fate of the whole free world was decided in just this ONE moment. If Cutozov had been just a little more thorough in guarding the Balmung, just a little more organized with his personal belongings, and had just one extra copy of Fenrir prepared for this exact situation...we MIGHT just not have had our happy ending....

Spoiler alert; Celice does not end up losing this war. I know; shocking isn't it?

A New Advance

Levin: That’s right. And with the Yied Shrine falling under the Loputo Sect’s jurisdiction, the desert is crawling with dark mages who’ll attack without any provocation. It’s no wonder people now refer to the Yied Desert as the desert of death.

Celice: That’s got to make it tough for travelers. There must be some way to capture Yied Shrine...

Levin: Hmph... I thought you’d say that. There is a way, but it’ll involve some great sacrifices.

Hey, that Survival Rank ain't earning itself, buddy. If you're not figuring anything out, you're just gonna have to get creative

.

Celice: I’m prepared for that. There’s no other way around this. And Shanan’s still out there, too. Let’s just focus on gaining control of Yied. Everything else’ll start from there!

And there we go.

Now let's see what awaits us-

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

OH, HOO HOO HOO HOOOOOO BOY...YIKES! Yeah, if you thought we were done with deserts after Chapter 5, well...you've got another thing coming. To further compound things...

We've got a whole nother front to deal with in the southeast corner; and you all SAW how weak are guys are. And while Blume's forces aren't the GREATEST in the world...

They're not exactly wimps, either.

This mage, in particular, is going to be troublesome for us. 27 Magic Attack is a lot even for Fin to take; so we're going to have some trouble dealing with him AND the rest of the knights. And if THAT weren't bad enough...

We also have THIS front to deal with! Yes, that's THREE parties we have to juggle! And unfortunately, Shanan and Patty have neither the numbers nor the stats to deal with Cutozov's men.

These two stats have decent stats and everything, but...

Dang...just LOOK at that Magic Attack! 30 Damage targetting Resistance! It doesn't even matter that there's a pack of Silver Sword users right next to em'; those mages would be tearing our two heroes apart regardless!

Oh yeah; and Shanan can't avoid fighting at least one Merc on enemy phase. So uh...how are we to even these odds? Well, first...

We have Patty move exactly 5 spaces away; no more, no less. This is VITALLY important; it allows her to go through the next Turn unharmed. And this way, Shanan...

...Well; I'll let you see for yourselves

.

The Final Challenge ~ Advance

Patty: Huh… what do you mean? Is this sword yours?

Shanan: Yes, it’s been in my family for generations. It’s the Divine Balmung. I’m the only one who can use it anyway, so there’s really no point in you keeping it.

Patty: Then what was this Holy thingamajig doing in Yied?

Shanan: It was taken off my father. He was killed during Isaac’s war with Grandbell. I just found out recently that it was being kept here, so I came to get it back.

Patty: Hey! You’re not Prince Shanan of Isaac, are ya?

Shanan: ...Yes, I am.

Patty: Whoa! Really!? Oh my gosh... I can’t believe it!

Shanan: ...

Patty: I have been an admirer for so long! I always dreamed of meeting you, but never did I...

Shanan: Ahem...

Patty: I just can’t believe it! I must be dreaming!

You have to remember, Prince Shanan is one of THE three main military leaders of our liberation army, along with Prince Celice and Commander Oifaye. The guy's also had that whole "true heir to the throne of Isaac" thing going for him for 16 years; and besides that, he was already a teenager by the time Celice was born. So with all that in mind...it's fair to say that he's made himself a fairly prominent political figure after running the Liberation Army for...what, 10-12 years? Depending on how long it was before Alvis's reign turned ugly? Anyways...

Shanan: ...Alright already. The sword, please.

Patty: Oh, sorry! Here you are.

Shanan: The Balmung... I finally have you now. This sword has... ah, woaahhh! The power!

Oh c,mon; if you're sword isn't throwing you into a loincloth while somehow removing all your other clothes, you can't complain. I mean, sheesh; no wonder He-Man got so much flak

.

Patty: ...This is all too much!

And there we have it!

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Next up, on Turn 1...

Isaac Castle Town

We got Celice fixin' up his gear and selling his Elite Ring. He's the last guy that's ever gonna need help maxing his levels, and that's because...

Promotion

He's got his promotion!

Isaac Castle Town

It always amuses me that this game has so many crazy strats, like the "Wrath + Ambush" one; and yet, the best units are always the ones that are the simplest to use. That's what Celice and Sigurd are, despite their "no frills" approach to everything. They're like Younger Toguro from Yu Yu Hakusho. No fancy tricks, no frills, no subtlety, no nothing. They just hit you...really, really hard. That's about it.

Yet, they're still about the most dangerous people you'll ever meet. They don't really NEED anything else, when all's said and done :cheeky:.

Celice WILL, however, want this +5 RES Barrier Ring, because...

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

This map is going to be yet another solo; with Celice taking up his father's mantle as "greatest FE4 unit that ever lived".

Of course, that EXP rank isn't going up by itself, so, we need other guys to join in, too.

But first, a nice chat between Delmud and Oifaye.

DELMUD & OIFAYE: (+1 Str, +1 Skl, and +1 Def to Delmud)

Conversation 2

Oifaye: Oh... Fin. I bet you can’t wait to see her
again.

Delmud: You got that right!

Oifaye: Well, you’ve got your work cut out for you. Here, I’ll give you some tips on using that sword.

Delmud: Wow, that’d be great!

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

And there we go! A nice smattering of stat boosts for one of our up and comers! And if you went with the Substitutes, you'll also get THIS!

(No Change in Music)

Rodolban vs. Tristan (+2 Str, +1 Skl, and +1 Def to Rodolban; +2 Str, +1 Spd, and +1 Def to Tristan)
[Conquer Melgen, then have them Wait next to each other. Only works if both are under LVL 10]

Rodolban: Hey, show a guy a little respect, would ya? Anyway, I was just thinking. Do you think we’re holding Sir Celice back any?

I mean, "out-of-sight, out-of-mind", so I doubt you're actively harming him...

Tristan: We? Don’t you mean YOU? I’m holding up my own out here.

Rodolban: Is that so? Alright, let me hear what you’ve done so far.

Tristan: Ah, well... You know, I’ve... um...

Sheesh, they KNEW just how bad the subs were, didn't they :mmmhmm:?

Rodolban: See there? That’s just what I’m saying. You can’t think of anything, can ya?

Tristan: Alright, alright! So what’s your point?

Rodolban: Let’s get a little dueling practice in. I want to move up to the front line! I doubt I’d learn a whole lot from you, but I’ll do anything to avoid getting castle duty!

Tristan: You know you’ve got a real crappy way of asking someone a favour? Just forget it.

Rodolban: Oh, c’mon! Look... Would you pretty please be my sparring partner with sugar on top? How about that!?

Tristan: Where the hell do you get off!? Okay, I’ll fight you... only to shut you up! You ready?

And now, I present to you...Roddlebad vs. Tristan Taylor. Battle...of the useless sidekicks. Let it begin!

And there we go; an actually REALLY useful boost for both of these guys.

Unfortunately, you're not likely to ever see it. It's available only after an arbitrary sequence trigger, they both have to be lower than LVL 10 (nevermind the promoted sprites, this was hacked), and the game never gives you any indication that they can talk to each other. Even the "Talk" section of their profiles don't give any names; you just have to find this by pure chance. "Guide Dang It" indeed...

Now, back in the MAIN timeline, Lana gets in some Warp Staff grinding.

Arena Match

Lakche uses her Elite skill, OP stats, and broken skills to clear the Arena...

Isaac Castle Town

Sells off a bunch of stuff (you'll see later)...

Then waits outside for Johalva. Speaking of...

Isaac Castle Town

Johalva spends all his money on a Hero Axe, as that's gonna be his bread and butter for the Arena...

Arena Match

Julia also gets as far as she can go...

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

And then assumes the Jealousy formation to help pair Johalva and Lakche, as Johalva REALLY needs the extra money that Lakche can bring.

Don't worry everyone; Lex and his bros. came from different mothers, according to some expanded material. So these two're far enough apart to be acceptable.

Arena Match

Anyway, after beating up Hugh Hepner and the rest of his Arena goons...

Isaac Castle Town

He now has JUST enough money to buy the Elite Ring, so long as he sells off all the rest of his gear.

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Arthur has a lot of things going for him, as far as grinding goes. He can be nigh on invulnerable with Holsety, his legendary weapon is 1-2 Range, he's got the best magic type in the game, and he also gets a horse on promotion.

Besides that, we also need him to recruit someone later on this chapter. Hence, getting him a ton of EXP here is just a good idea all around.

And while we're doing that, we can also have Fee spend some quality time with him.

I'm not doing this for the strategic value, like I am with Johalva and Lakche. Actually, none of the other pairings have much strategic value, now. Gen 1 has already come and gone, so all of the really important stuff has already been taken care of. I'm just doing this because, well...I'm nothing if not a softy :daw: .

Now before we end the turn, let's talk about what Leaf, Nanna, and Fin are doing. See, there're a lot of villages here; and they've got an entire garrison breathing down their necks.

Fortunately, Fin's got both the Hero Lance and Prayer working for him. He's got what he needs to just barely stave off the invaders, with some healing from Nanna. So while he goes and does that (while popping off the southeast MBandit), Leaf and Nanna are going to help out the other villages.

Yied Army

This isn't going to be a 2-Turn job, but...we'll get em' eventually.

And if you all remember the other straggler group (Patty & Shanan), don't worry; I already moved them last update.

As for Celice, the enemies are just as helpless against him as they always are. No problems there.

Manster Army

Castle Alster is the one ruled by King Blume.

They're the guys that're gonna try and invade Lenster.

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Now then...

Fin pops off one of the MBandits here, so he can have a nice chat with the common wealth.

Yeah...at which point, he lost 95% of his army. Does it still count as "taking a stand" when it's your last stand?

Cuan... Ethlin... You should be proud of your son.

"He got all his men killed in a battle they were not prepared for in any way. He really IS Cuan's son

!"

Here, I’d like you to have this Speed Ring.

Somebody really did not get the memo, did they? Here's to hoping they don't have to learn the hard way...

Oh well. Let's see if this one's any better informed.

He’s a horrible ruler. And to top that off, he’s now conducting child hunts!

We have had all we can take of that man!

I can imagine! We learned about the resurgence of the child hunts back in Chapter 6, but...wow.

Maybe they DO know how desperate things are for Leaf, and they're just thinking there's nowhere to go but up?

Anyway, Lana's still grinding up that EXP with Warp, everyone's still playing matchmaker with Lakche and Johalva...

And we're having Delmud and Oifaye coast outside enemy fire. Delmud IS going to be seeing some action with the trust old Thief Sword...but not yet, readers. Not yet.

For now, it's still the Celice show...

With some occasional guest appearances by Shanan and Patty.

Yied Army

Alright, your turn!

Enemy Attack

I left Celice on the Hero Sword on purpose. He's already promoted, so I want to funnel these guys into Arthur instead.

Yied Army

As for the invading team, there's...really not a lot for them to do this turn.

And the home team...

Enemy Attack

Isn't exactly winning any fights either.

Manster Palace

So that's about it for Yied. Next turn we'll...hmm?

Oh, it's this place again!

Enemy Message 2

Bramsel: There’s a nice bounty on that boy. Let’s see to it that we are the ones who bring him in. Keep the border secure for now. Their fatigue will mark the moment of opportunity! You tell Commander Jabarro to be on the alert!

Fatigue? Clearly someone doesn't know about Celice's good ol' Live Ring :cheeky: .

Lover 2

ELTSHAN?! IS THAT YOU?!? What be this talk of "the Isaac's" rebel army?!

Leen: Whew... that’s a relief. For a second there I thought you had to go to battle.

Aless: If war breaks out, I will go. All mercenaries will. Besides, I heard that Sigurd’s son is commanding the rebels. Sigurd was the sworn enemy of my father. His boy is as good as dead if I get my hands on him.

...Cripes. Am I gonna to have to break out Senator Armstrong's theme again?

Leen: Hahaha... you just don’t let up, do you? Your father and that Sigurd guy were both knights. Well, their job was killing people. Am I right? Sometimes I have to dance for disgusting men, but that’s a part of my job! We do what we do to survive! So don’t hold a grudge over someone else’s livelihood.

Aless: ...You’ve got a good point, Leen. I’m just in a difficult position, that’s all.

Well, that's how it was with your father, and...he became this game's Camus. You'd best not repeat the same mistake

...

Anyway, Alster is still a thing.

For now, this just means the MBandits are trashing the villages. But things are gonna get heated, soon...

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Anyway...

Celice got hit last turn, though that hardly matters.

Now, I had Shanan go straight south here; and it's important that Patty positions herself either right below him, or directly to his left. That way, she won't get hit by that swordfighter.

Player Attack

So that's that...

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Now back to the southern group. I would normally skip past this, except, this damage will be important for setting up Prayer. By putting him here immediately afterwards, I can get him attacked by (blah blah blah) without the (blah blah blah) having a chance to kill him afterwards. I'm not sure this would always work; but in my case, his stats just happened to work out that way.

Alas, Leaf is still too weak to clear these guys out like Fin can. Instead, we'll simply have to settle for blocking off the villages entirely.

Some people say he becomes one of the best units in the game, after getting past this rocky early game. Me personally, though? I've never been terribly impressed with him, for all the reasons covered in the...

Leaf Overview

But, he is still worth promoting, if you have the time. He's the only other unit, besides Lachesis, who transforms into a Master Knight; and Master Knights are still every bit as broken here as they were in Gen 1. That's great as far as Efficiency runs go...I just wish I didn't have to put so much effort into GETTING him there

.

Anyway...

Blume’s got Ishtar at Manster and Ishtor at Melgen. They’re both decent kids unlike their father. I’m sure you’ll be facing them on the battlefield in due course, so keep your guard up!

Aw, not a Lord Clement situation

...

Also, Nanna is NOT taking this village, as she doesn't need the help.

No; melee fighters are the guys most hard up for Gold. Which is why...

Player Attack

I'm letting Delmud get some of the stuff with his Thief sword! And yes, that leaves him at just 1 HP. Interesting how that works out :cheeky: .

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

But he IS definitely gonna need some support!

Player Attack

That's ok, though. Delmud hitting these guys is ALSO perfect for setting Arthur up for some kills. 6 Damage x 2 Attacks puts these guys in JUST the perfect area for Arthur to one-shot them!

Delmud gets his Gold, Arthur gets his EXP...it all works out, doesn't it?

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

It's too bad I couldn't put Fee next to Arthur; but these guys just hit too hard

.

Yied Army

Alright, show me whatcha got!

Enemy Attack

You know magic is dangerous when the game's Jeigan can't survive more than one hit!

But look at all them dodges! Things are gonna look pretty good if he can keep THAT up!

Yied Army

You know, they did a good job of spreading these guys out. They knew how dangerous these guys were; so they structured their advanced so that you could take them out 1-2 at a time.

Enemy Attack

As for Super Saiyan Shanan...

Yied Army

...Yeah. He's fine. More than fine, in fact. Just read all the

I typed out for him, here!

Shanan Overview

Manster Palace

Alright, now for the scary part...

Enemy Attack

Prayer rigging.

Manster Army

Jeez...I mean, I know on a logical level that Prayer is now granting +80% Evasion this turn, pushing Fin well beyond what any of these guys can hit...

But it still trips every alarm in my head. Just too used to knowing what that means in every OTHER Fire Emblem I'm played >_> ...

Actually, same thing happens with Shanan. Don't have any healers close to him, nor any churches. Every nick of damage he takes is one nick closer to possible death

But hey, it all worked out. Alster's forces have been decimated, and the MBandits are soon to come. Now that's strategy :cheeky: !

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Hold on, Shanan!

Celice is comin' to town!

He may not LOOK like he needs the help; but again, the dark mages are dangerous. Things could change at a moment's notice.

And get Patty behind there, too. She's not the fighter that Shanan is; and in most circumstances, she never would be. In fact, she'd usually be pretty bad. I personally find her useful as far as THIS run goes, but...well, you can read all about her here:

Patty Overview

Player Attack

Alright, now get Delmud some Gold...

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Get him healed up immediately...

Finish the guy off...

And get all non-participants out of the way. This is Delmud and Arthur's time to rock :rock: !

Fee can come, though. She and Arthur got that chemistry :daw: .

Meanwhile, Fin's now working out his stuff.

Phew...what a dangerous encounter. Not sure that would have worked out so happily, had Fin gotten a different set of level ups...

But it's all good, now. Nanna's there, and Fin should be fine for now.

It's too bad he can't help out with the villages this turn, though. Those MBandits are real annoying...

Yied Army

But whatever; he have bigger things to worry about...

I meant what I said about the game allowing you to fight these guys 1-2 at a time. However, I also let way more of them live than a normal person would. I had Celice skip em' all so I could funnel them into Delmud and Arthur. So now? I'm dealing with the natural consequences of that.

Manster Army

Fortunately, I had a plan for that; a certain "ace-in-the-hole". You'll see what I mean

.

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

But for now, nothing really happens this time. These MBandits are all that are left, and they're not much of a problem.

Player Attack

Even a LVL 1 Leaf can handle one with relative ease.

And they certainly don't give Fin any trouble!

White Magic

Oh, by the way? Leaf and Nanna are gonna be an item. Thought I'd mention that.

Player Attack

Man, we're getting ALL the pairings this chapter, aren't we?

Again, Lakche x Johalva is the only one that's really necessary for my plans. The rest are just because I'm a romantic.

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Which is why I'm not too worried about min-maxing Fee's romance time. Efficiency is what's the priority here.

Yied Army

Now will anything happen this turn?

Manster Army

No...but next turn's looking to be pretty eventful!

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Hammer time.

Dow, dow, dow, dow...d-dow...D-DOW, can't touch this

!

Btw... Patty and Shanan? Totally got the googly eyes for each other :mmmhmm:

Anyway, here's a villager...

And there's what she said! No, really; that's everything :cheeky: .

Back to the Lenster Special Forces; Nanna is actually pretty.

She's basically Ethlin, but with her dad's Pursuit skill and crazy high Strength growth. I typed up a lot of

in regards to HOW useful she is, here...

Nanna Overview

Player Attack

But basically, she's an incredibly mobile healer AND a fairly decent combat unit! She's no Celice, but she still gets the job done!

She'll be a pretty great wife to Leaf, if nothing else.

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Ok, now THIS was a little scary.

Player Attack

I'd been having Arthur finish off every guy Delmud had hit up to now, but...

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

There's rather a lot of them, now.

So ultimately, I had to settle for moving everyone back to safety...kind of...

Now, I know what you're thinking, viewers. "How is that safe? Aren't Fee and Arthur still in range of both dark mages"?

Yied Army

Well, here's a little exploit I discovered! You see, as far as I have tested...

Enemies will always target Julia, so long as the following conditions are fulfilled.

Code: Select all

1) Julia must be the closest person they can get to.

2) Everyone else they can attack [i]must[/i] be able to attack back.  Otherwise, there's a chance the dark mage will go after [i]them[/i] instead.

Now, I will admit; I did screw this up a bit by putting Fee and Arthur the same amount of spaces away as Julia was. I hadn't fully tested this at the time, and things happened to work out this time; so I didn't have all the details at the time. Make sure not to make this same mistake, if any of you do what I did.

Enemy Attack

So let's review. If Julia was 5 spaces away, while Arthur was only 1, the enemies would choose to fight Arthur. But if Arthur was 5 spaces away, and Julia was only 4 spaces; the enemies would've ALWAYS gone for Julia. Every single one of them.

What's more, Rezire acts exactly like Nosferatu does in the later games. In other words...

Yied Army

Julia is basically immortal. There is literally nothing these guys can do to kill her; not unless they have mad Leadership stars or something.

Enemy Attack

Hence, Julia was my trump card; my ace-in-the-hole. I laid out the bait...

Yied Army

And they swallowed it hook-line-and-sinker.

Now, this guy's telling himself that he's worrying about that. He thinks he can hide, but...

Enemy Attack

SURPRISE! Patty can also suck out your life, too!

Heck, she'll even take your livelihood. Girl's just all-around bad news for these guys :cheeky: .

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Alright, semi-final turn of this update.

Delmud takes this guy's life and money...

Player Attack

Arthur takes care of one of the ones Julia softened up...

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

And that's everything Fin needs to do there. So now...

White Magic

We send him back to our pad...

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

And finish up by walking Celice further down the path of victory...

Yied Army

And then allow our enemies to accomplish...

Enemy Attack

...nothing really.

The only "scary" part was wondering whether or not Julia's gonna kill them all before Arthur can get em'.

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Fortunately, she did leave one of them alive. Not brilliant, but, beggers can't be choosers

.

Here's the last Village text of this update...

There’s the 3 sisters, Vampa, Fetra, and Eliu, and also a mage named Tinny. But Tinny has a good heart... even if she is Blume’s niece. She’s helped us out on numerous occasions... Yep, she’s just not like the rest of them.

Get some foreshadowing for a possible new recruit (oh, like that's a spoiler :cheeky: )...

White Magic

Kiss Leaf's boo-boos, and...

Player Attack

There we go. That's the last dark mage our home castle fortress is going to face this chapter.

White Magic

Good job, Julia! Your mother will be proud

.

Also, I haven't shown every single big of staff spamming, as that'd be a drag. But, Lana's getting a lot of EXP. And once she's done, so will Julia!

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Alright, one last turn. But first; how about another bonus convo? This time between Celice and Shanan...

A New Advance

CELICE AND SHANAN:

Shanan: I heard you took back Isaac while I was gone. I can’t thank you enough, Celice.

Celice: You were the one who gave us the courage to fight in the first place!

Shanan: Hey Celice, you’re getting some muscle on you. You’d be just about...

Celice: What’s that, Shanan?

Shanan: ...Huh? Ah, nothing. Never mind, Celice.

...

Celice: Well, anyway... Shanan, I’m going to take on the empire!

Shanan: Haha... That’s great, Celice. I’ve been waiting for this day to come, too.

Celice: Well, I better get going. I’ll see you later, Shanan!

I'd like to say that's the weirdest moment we have with Shanan, but...sadly, it is not.

Recruitment

SHANAN AND LAKCHE [+100 Love Points and +2 STR]:

Lakche: I’m just relieved that you’re not hurt. I...

Shanan: How’s your attack coming along?

Lakche: Oh, I’m a long way off from where you’re at.

Shanan: You’re just lacking power in your swing. Put a little spirit behind it. Here... watch me.

Lakche: Alright. How am I now?

I remind you all that Aira was Shanan's aunt...and Lakche is Aira's daughter. The conversation itself is innocent enough, but, then there's the love points.

...

You know what? I don't even have anything to say about that. Like, we already went through so much of this with Lachesis x Eltshan, Deirdre x Alvis, Sylvia x Claude, et. al, that...it's almost not even noticeable anymore. Back then it was shocking, but now? Just par for the course for ol' Kaga

...

Alright, let's finish this!

Miniboss

Cutozov: My dark magic will consign you to oblivion!

Huh. Must be one of those "delayed effect" magicks, huh?

Let's get some story!

Levin Speaks

Levin: They had no choice. They would’ve been persecuted and burned at the stake otherwise. I doubt they differed much from you or I at first, but over time the ways of evil took root.

Celice: It’s like they’re being punished just because their ancestors were a part of the empire! And people are always calling them the ‘family of the devil’ and whatnot. ...is this is a child’s handwriting on this wall? It’s a prayer for the Dark Lord’s revival... ...Is Loputousu the only god they have?

Levin: Yeah... You have to be careful when placing labels on good and evil, Celice. Never waste your anger on individuals. Always focus it on the evil within all of us.

A very important moral lesson, and one that I hold very near and dear to my heart. No matter how much you hate a person, you always have to remember that they are human beings; with all the good and the bad that comes with that.

...That said, this here is the first sign of one of the major problems I have with Gen 2's story. We haven't seen enough of it yet for me to go into detail, here, but...keep this conversation in mind. I'll be bringing it up again when I DO lay into the story and characters.

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Aaaaaaand one last convo!

Dew & Patty's theme

CELICE AND PATTY [+100 Love Points and a Hero Sword for Celice; available after Yied is Conquered]:

Patty: I’m Patty, Shanan’s girlfriend.

Celice: You’re Shanan’s girlfriend? Yeah, right.

Patty: Ulp... you got me. I used to be a thief, but I’ve given that all up. So I’m here to help you guys out now.

Celice: You can’t be serious. This is an army. It’s no place for you.

Patty: You sure about that? You guys have no money, right? But you gotta have money to fight. That’s where I come in. I can get you all the money you need!

...How? No, seriously, how? Funding an entire army...well, I've never personally lived in medieval times, but, I have to imagine it's pretty expensive! Master thief or not, she's just one person! If she wants to steal from the enemy army, that's fine, but...it couldn't turn the tides THAT rapidly...could it?

Celice: Yeah, but we don’t want your money if it’s stolen.

Patty: Sir, where do you think the imperial troops get all their gold? They steal it from the villagers! I’m just tryin’ to take it back from them! ...What’s so wrong with that!?

Celice: ...I’m sorry, Patty. You’ve got a good point.

Patty: Sniff...

Celice: Patty, I think we can make room for you.

Patty: Hm? Really??

Celice: Yeah, I think so.

Patty: I promise I’ll work as hard as anybody else! Here, I’ll give you this sword as a token of our friendship.

Celice: Wow, that’s a nice blade!

Patty: It’s a Hero Sword... just for you!

Ooooh, nice!

Well, guess that answers my question. But...will she, and everyone else in Celice's merry band survive to the end? Will Celice's raid on Yied go unopposed? And what of the vengeful Aless? Will ~~Laylea's~~ LEEN'S words be enough to calm the wrath burning in his heart? Will he see reason before it's too late? And what of the Lenster Special Forces? Will they be safe, now that they quashed Lord Blume's initial onslaught? Or will he have other plans for our harried heroes? Seek the answers to all this and more, on the next installment of Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4!

This is Fionordequester, signing out! Have a nice day, and God bless you!

SUB CHARACTER OVERVIEWS

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

Daisy Overview

Janne Overview

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

CURRENT AAAA RANKED RUN STATS:

Time Taken This Update: ~41 minutes and 39 seconds

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: 15 hours, 43 minutes, 31 seconds~

Turns Taken This Update: 9 Turns

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 239 Turns

Levels Gained This Update: 21 Levels

Total Levels Gained: 590 Levels

Things I Regret: In the Prologue, I regret the fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue.

In Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue.

On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

On Chapter 3, I regret selling Deirdre's Aura tome! I'll bet she TOTALLY could've kicked Manfloy's butt, if ONLY I hadn't taken that away

!!

On Chapter 4, I regret spending so much time disabeling the Arena bug for Fury's Arena fights; her combat stats didn't even matter once I promoted her! I also regret not having Claude turn around sooner. I also regret not repairing the Return Staff before giving it to Aideen.

On Chapter 5, I regret not having Dew sit tight after slaying that General; I didn't really accomplish much by moving him around outside, so I probably wasted about a minute or so.

On Chapter 7, I regret putting Fee and Arthur the same amount of spaces away from that dark mage as I did Julia. I was lucky enough that the attacked Julia anyway...but a mistake is still a mistake.

Level 21: 59 HP, 20(25) > 25(30) Str, 13(18) Mag, 20 > 22 Skl, 16 > 18 Spd, 13 Lck, 16 > 18 Def, 8 > 11(16) Res!

Level 10-14: 42 > 48 HP, 14 > 17 Str, 1 Mag, 21 > 25 Skl, 17 > 18 Spd, 9 > 11 Lck, 12 > 14 Def, 1 Res!

Level 4-9: 32 > 37 HP, 4 > 6 Str, 9 Mag, 11 Skl, 8 > 10 Spd, 19 > 23 Lck, 3 > 5 Def, 8 Res!

Level 3-4: 32 > 33 HP, 12 > 14 Str, 0 Mag, 9 > 10 Skl, 9 Spd, 5 Lck, 8 > 9 Def, 0 > 1 Res!

Level 1-4: 24 > 27 HP, 0 > 1 Str, 11 > 14 Mag, 8 Skl, 11 > 12 Spd, 5 Lck, 3 Def, 14 Res!

Level 2-7: 32 > 40 HP, 1 Str, 9 > 11 Mag, 10 > 15 Skl, 11 > 15 Spd, 10 > 11 Lck, 2 Def, 6 > 7 Res!

Level 14-15: 41 HP, 13 Str, 1 Mag, 14 > 15 Skl, 13 > 13(18) Spd, 15 > 16 Lck, 9 Def, 1 Res!

Level 3-4: 31 > 32 HP, 8 Str, 3 Mag, 9 > 10 Skl, 8 Spd, 8 > 9 Lck, 5 Def, 4 Res!

Level 12-13: 38 > 39 HP, 18 Str, 0 Mag, 22 > 23 Skl, 23 Spd, 10 Lck, 13 Def, 4 Res!

Fionordequester · Sun Aug 30, 2020 11:01 am

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4! Can Celice soldier through the desert and give Lord Blume and Bramsel the comeuppance they so richly deserve? Let's find out

.

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

But before we do that, let's get some other miscellaneous movement done first.

Now, you ABSOLUTE MUST move Oifaye closer to Darna to do what I want to do. There's an enemy unit coming up soon that I can recruit. He's going to be in a world of hurt if he doesn't move in the way I want him too. I need Oifaye around to manipulate where he goes; so absolutely do that if you want to make things easier for yourself.

Also, I had Aideen go back inside the castle this turn so that she could Repair her Warp Staff. If you look carefully at the last pic, you'll notice I had Julia standing between Lakche and Johalva; that there is why. I needed someone else to take Aideen's place in the Jealousy Formation.

Enemy Message 2

Now; let's continue on!

Wait, that's...a good thing for Bramsel? That Yied has fallen? I kind of assumed that Yied and the Empire were on the same side, so I would think Bramsel would've enjoyed the extra firepower they'd have given him.

Bramsel: We’ll usher them onto the narrow road to Melgen and strike from behind when they least expect it! Heh, heh... This is child’s play. Isn’t that right, Jabarro?

Jabarro: You never want to face the enemy up front, do you, Bramsel... Well, I guess I can’t complain. We’ll show you what mercenaries’ll do for gold.

I mean, yeah...given the choice between getting my men killed in a head-on battle, or just crushing the enemy in one well-executed surprise attack, I'd think the latter would be more responsible. Don't wanna make anymore widows than you have to, after all.

Liza: We definitely can’t let their army get through to Alster...Your father’s so preoccupied with recapturing Lenster, he would never see them coming! I think we need to take our entire military and lay in a course to intercept.

Ishtor: Yeah, anything to keep them out of Alster. Liza, can I have you command the troops into battle?

Liza: Yes, of course!

Ishtor: Forgive me, Liza. I’d keep you from danger if I could, but you’re the only one I can trust.

Liza: Ishtor, I’ll be fine. I consider it an honour to go. I just want you to be safe. Farewell, Ishtor. Okay, troops! Take your positions!

Don't misunderstand; neither of them are the new recruits I was talking about. They don't come into play until after Melgen is conquered.

Manster Army

Oh no, here they go! They're "laying the course to intercept"! Just what sort of furious march are they going to go on now-

Oh...um...huh. Guess they're not doing anything after all. Well maybe Blume's got something...

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Ok, no. Everyone's just sitting on their hands I guess. Interesting tactical decision, I have to say.

Well, works for me, I guess.

Isaac Castle Town

Anyway, Delmud's gotten everything he needs out of his Thief Sword, so he's not going to be seeing anymore combat. For that reason...

I just sell everything he has. Fee needs that Thief Sword, anyway.

White Magic

Also fixed Lana's Warp Staff, so now he's back to Warping and Jealousy Formationing.

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Oifaye continues on his merry way...

And now to equip the BIG MAN himself

!

Isaac Castle Town

Now, Celice is MORE than strong enough to handily ORKO almost everyone he fights this chapter; so the Strength Ring is redundant.

So instead, we want to increase his Defense a tad.

Between that, the Barrier Ring, the Live Ring, and everything else going for him, Celice is borderline indestructible. And to top it all off, he's got an interesting new ability at his disposal.

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Move him down, use Dismount, and...

Whoa, look at that! He's back to Jr. Lord!

...With...all the terrible stats that come with that. Um...I mean, that's great for this one specific instance of traveling through the desert on foot instead of on horseback, but...that seems like a pretty niche thing for Kaga to have gone out of his way for. Is there some particular PURPOSE behind this, or was Kaga just...

Fire Emblem Treasury wrote:Q: Is there any special meaning behind Celice’s ability to dismount?
A: The reason for that is a simple one that I’m a little embarrassed about, which is for “aesthetic purposes". At the beginning, we guessed there would be many female fans who see Leaf, for example, and think “he looks so handsome inbattle, I don’t want to promote him!". Originally, we wanted every mounted character to have the option of dismounting like in Mystery of the Emblem. However, because of space issues we had to give this idea up, so in the end only Celice’s dismounting option was kept.

...ok, yeah. Kaga was just being Kaga yet again.

Dude's like the Fire Emblem equivalent of Hideo Kojima; I can never tell whether he's an absolute genius, or an absolute madman. Can't argue with most of the results, though

!

Now for more story.

Fighting Dancer

Uh oh...

Leen: Forget it! You come over here if you’ve got something so special.

Bramsel: Heh, heh... I like them feisty, but her obstinacy I can do without. Bring her to me!

Oh, shoot. How many other guys have been watching her, anyway?

Leen: L..let go of me! You freaks!!

But suddenly...

Player Attack

A WILD BLACK KNIGH...er, ARES...no wait, uh...ALESS APPEARS!

Bramsel: Who the hell are you!? You worthless mercenary... How dare you challenge me!

Aless: No one lays a hand on her. You got it?

Bramsel: How dare you speak to me like that! Somebody, get him!!

Aless: Who of you doesn’t recognise this sword? I must warn you the Mistoltein craves blood! So who wants to be its first victim?

Bramsel: That’s... the Demon Mistoltein? You’re Aless, the Black Knight!?

I hope not. That dude was ridiculous to try and kill.

Kind of a psychotic douchenozzle, too; don't care how many times Radiant Dawn tries to sell me on the whole "he was noble all along" thing

.

Aless: Yeah, that’s me.

Bramsel: Ulp... forgive me! I was merely having a little fun! Look, I’ll never lay a hand on her again!

Aless: Leen, you okay?

Leen: Yeah, I guess so. Thanks, Aless...

But later that day...

Well, give the game credit for one thing. At least this sprite is on someone evil enough to deserve it, this time. Poor Clement never got a fair shake

...

Manster Army

And once again...

Nothing happens.

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Yeah, it's really weird how the game handles this whole segment.

I mean, it's got basically the same premise as Chapter 2. A friendly noble is under siege by a massive army, with only a few bodyguards to protect them. Meanwhile, our army starts a fair distance away; so we have to dash on over there and help...or so we think.

Except, NO, we don't! Because as it turns out, the "massive army" is actually fairly weak. One single LVL 14 Fin with occasional help from Nanna was enough to handle them. And even putting that aside...

Manster Army

The whole thing is totally unnecessary. You can just let their castle rot! You don't even get a penalty on your Rankings!

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

In fact, that's actually desirable! It's an allied castle, so there's almost nothing for us to do there. We can't go to the Item Shop, we can't go to the Storage, we can't visit the Fortuneteller, we can't fight in the Arena...going to the Blacksmith is literally all we can do.

So, why rush? Shanan and Patty/Daisy are just fine on their own, Leaf and co. aren't in any serious danger, their castle isn't worth a darn thing to us unless we convert it into a player castle...

Heck, there aren't even any fun side objectives. I mean...there's a Defence Ring we can get. Which...is handy. Just warp Fee to Yied, like so...

White Magic

And there you go.

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

But that's just one stat ring; along with some pocket change that this Thief Sword will get us.

That's nothing compared to the Pursuit Ring, the Bargain Ring, and the smorgasboard of Gold we could get from all those threatened villages in Chapter 2! And even if it was, it's still only one side objective. The rest of the map is fairly straightforward.

Last, but almost certainly not least, is just how lethargic a lot of the enemies are. I mean, Ishtor is doing absolutely nothing right now, Blume doesn't give a rip about anything besides conquering Leaf's castle, and Bramsel (apparently) sees absolutely no harm in letting his neighbors get conquered by someone he KNOWS he's going to have to fight at some point.

There's no tension; it's just a map with a ton of empty space in it. It's a "rescue" mission...where nothing bad will actually happen if Celice takes his time. And that is just...bizarre to me.

It's not even that I actively dislike this map or anything. I mean, yeah, I find it kinda dull... But I don't HATE it or anything...

I just find it really bizarre how they handled the scenario here.

Anyway, after moving Fury and Oifaye further down...

We want to take Celice, here...

And move him to this EXACT spot, here!

Because now, something's FINALLY going to happen

!

Manster Army

In addition to doing some house cleaning, we also want to position Celice in a way that let's him do two things...

1) Avoid having to fight General Liza, since she actually has decent stats.

2) K.O. one of Lord Ishtor's guards on this turn.

Yeah, in addition to the enemies being fairly lethargic, most of them are also pretty weak. I mean, don't get me wrong...

Ishtor himself would normally be pretty scary for the point of the game he's at. 34 Might and 3-10 Range is enough to safely OHKO almost everyone on our team, just like Sandima. And Tron pushes that all the way up to 39 Might!

To put that in perspective? Shanan and Oifaye are the only ones...the ONLY ONES on your team who are always guaranteed to survive the first blow at base level. And heaven help you if you lost both of them...

But yeah, I'm not an amateur. I knew to dump almost every resource I had into Celice. So at this stage of the game...even Ishtor doesn't amount to a whole lot.

Celice is OP enough as it is. On top of that, he's also got the Light Sword giving him WTA.

Miniboss

Because, yes, the Light Sword still counts as a Light Tome for any mage fights Sigurd gets into.

Not that it matters. Celice coulda shrugged it off, even if he had been hit. The Light Sword's more just insult to injury.

Welp, time to finish this.

Well, there's our Tron Tome. Course, Ishtor has another line of dialogue, if you killed Liza first.

Ishtor: You...! You killed Liza... I’ll never forgive you!

Sorry, Ishtor. Rage boosts only work for the good guys

...

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Anyway, we're gonna put THIS in the Storage to sell later...then...

We're gonna see more story.

Victory 2

Celice: I have a hard time believing Prince Ishtor or his general were bad people...

Levin: Yeah, but don’t forget that they both supported a ruthless tyrannical leader. They were without a doubt the enemy in this scenario. Celice, this is war! It’s not just about hatred or resentment.

Celice: ...Yeah, I suppose.

Levin: Haha! You’ve got a good heart, Celice. You just need to learn to let go sometimes. We’ve got a rescue mission in Lenster we need to focus on.

Celice: Yeah, that’s right. We’d better start heading in that direction.

SPOILER ALERT: Celice does NOT end up going in "that direction". Not now, anyway.

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

I mean, we could do that, but...

I dunno. I think Leen could use a hand. Besides...

Remember how I said Arthur was going to be guzzling a ton of EXP? Well, that time is coming now!

But first, more story time.

Enemy Message 2

GEE, YA THINK?!?

Bramsel: We need to move before they gear up again. Commander Jabarro, it’s time. Take them from behind. I want them dead... all of them!!

Jabarro: Yes sir!

Some forces assemble...

Player Attack

And then we go back to Aless & Leen...

Leen: He’s just usin’ you. I... I just hate him so much!

Aless: Leen, you have to understand that...

Leen: I don’t care anymore! Don’t talk to me. You just do whatever you please! Just forget we ever met!

Kind of a weird mood swing from her, considering this is coming immediately off of Aless rescuing her from getting raped.

Then again, I'd also have to wonder how she knows enough about Jabarro to make informed judgments about him...or better yet, why the heck she hasn't gotten the heck out of dodge. Surely Aless could've arranged something to cover her while he was gone

?

Because yeah; this creep's still at large

.

"Meanwhile, at the ~~other~~ Fortress of Evil..."

Enemy Message 2

Blume: You show them what you’re capable of!

Vampa: Yes, Your Majesty!

Blume: I’m counting on you girls!

...Why do I get sudden flashbacks to "Totally Spies" :mmmhmm: ?

Blume: Hmph... And to think I raised you as my own when your mother passed away. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten all I’ve done for you!

Tinny: Of course not, sir.

Blume: Then get going. Those horrible people killed both my son and his sweetheart Liza. YOU are to avenge their deaths!

Hmm...that woman looks...familiar...somehow. I can't quite put my finger on it...

Eh, whatever. I'm sure she's not important.

Yied Army

Alright, so on this turn...See that guy way out ahead of everyone else? That's Aless, and he is very random in how he spends his opening turn.

Sometimes he'll go toward us like he did here, sometimes he'll hang back, sometimes he'll go way out to the left of the group, sometimes he'll go southwest...you get the idea. Normally, that wouldn't be TOO big of a deal, but...

Spoiler Alert: He's going to automatically turn blue on the next Player Phase. And he can wind up in serious trouble if he moves in a way that gets him pinned down by Jabarro's forces. That, and we want to conserve these kills for Arthur, since he's got Elite Ring + Holsety.

Fortunately, you can manipulate where Aless goes. If you'll recall, I put Oifaye in a very specific spot in this update. If any of you are still wondering why I did so...this is why.

The way Aless moves seems to be entirely dependant on how your own units are positioned. And from my brief time experimenting, the way I moved Oifaye seems to get the results I want. So, there you go! That's what Oifaye was there for

: !

Now, as for Alster's forces...

Well...they're also kind of strange in how they move. Blume SAYS he wants his forces to crush the rebel army, but...

They all start headed toward Leaf's place, instead. Which brings up the question of "why is Blume so eager to pick a fight with the rebel army?".

Because as far as the story's concerned, he's still trying to take Lenster, right? And he's failed at that so far, right? So if he's having trouble just putting down Leaf and his two guys...why's he then throwing a whole section of his army towards the much larger rebel army? The one that's just taken down Ishtor and his stronghold?

It makes no sense

!

Vampa: Celice is ours. We can’t let Tinny‘s unit show us up!

Anyway, like Ishtor, the Magus Sisters can actually be pretty dangerous. I'll go into further detail next update, but...

Suffice it to say, magic was always pretty dangerous in the early Fire Emblems. Up to this point, Gaiden was the only game to even have RES growth. So up till like, FE6 or so, the game designer were still in "magic should hit like a ton of bricks" mode.

Anyway, back to story.

Hey, to be fair, Celice was pretty broken up about it too. Just, there's not a whole lot of ways around the whole "your dad is a bad guy" thing.

Tinny: Oh, I don’t know what to do. Mother... I wish you were here...

Man. Lot of dead mothers in this game, huh? I mean, Sigurd, Deirdre, Alvis...what is this, a Disney movie?

Anyway, after one last move by the MBandit (for his days are surely numbered)...

Enemy Message 1 (Verdane's theme)

Leen: Look at you acting so tough now that Aless isn’t around! You sick old man! You’d better just stay away from me!

Yeah! You sick old man! Just pack up and-

THE HECK DID HE JUST SA-

Bramsel: You will regret this day... Throw her in the dungeon!

Leen: No! Aless...

Uh...alrighty then. After one of the most...shockingly well-placed swears I've ever seen in a fantranslation (especially since this one generally downgrades the vulgarity of the original script)...

We get this scene, too.

I'm actually kind of curious. Is he inferring that FE4 dancers have a bad reputation as glorified prostitutes (and Jabarro's surprised, because he'd have thought Aless was too straight-laced to be attracted to her)? Or is he saying that Aless is cold-hearted and ruthless enough that Jabarro couldn't see him ever getting that worked up over what happened to her?

I don't know. Bookofholsety's localization didn't give me any answers, either. What are your guys' thoughts on this?

Jabarro: Well, it’s all behind us now, so I suppose we can let it rest.

Aless: What’s that supposed to mean?

Jabarro: Heheh... Well, right about now I’d imagine Bramsel is...

Aless: How could... How could you know that and not tell me, Jabarro!?

Jabarro: Stay out of relationships, Aless. You can have your fun with them, but leave it at that!

Aless: I see I’ve greatly misjudged you... I’m going back to Darna to get Leen!

Jabarro: I don’t think so, Aless. You know I don’t take kindly to those who disobey my orders. And that goes for you, too!

Aless: I know we’ve been through a lot together, Jabarro, but I’m cutting our ties here and now! Anyone who tries to stop me can make acquaintance with the Mistoltein!

Jabarro: You little ingrate! Don’t push me, Aless!!

Aless: Huh, whazzat? Hope I'm not pushing you, Jabarro! Huh? Am I pushing you?!?

Hehehe...anyway, the gauntlet has been thrown down! Aless vs. The World! Can we make it to him in time? Can we rescue his newfound love? And can we bear through the Magus Sisters and their awesome power? Find out, on the next explosive episode of Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4!

This is Fionordequester, signing out. Have a nice day, and God bless you all

!

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

CURRENT AAAA RANKED RUN STATS:

Time Taken This Update: 12 minutes and 10 seconds

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: 15 hours, 55 minutes, 41 seconds~

Turns Taken This Update: 8 Turns

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 247 Turns

Levels Gained This Update: 5 Levels

Total Levels Gained: 595 Levels

Things I Regret: In the Prologue, I regret the fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue.

In Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue.

On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

On Chapter 3, I regret selling Deirdre's Aura tome! I'll bet she TOTALLY could've kicked Manfloy's butt, if ONLY I hadn't taken that away

!!

On Chapter 4, I regret spending so much time disabeling the Arena bug for Fury's Arena fights; her combat stats didn't even matter once I promoted her! I also regret not having Claude turn around sooner. I also regret not repairing the Return Staff before giving it to Aideen.

On Chapter 5, I regret not having Dew sit tight after slaying that General; I didn't really accomplish much by moving him around outside, so I probably wasted about a minute or so.

On Chapter 7, I regret putting Fee and Arthur the same amount of spaces away from that dark mage as I did Julia. I was lucky enough that the attacked Julia anyway...but a mistake is still a mistake.

Level 21-22: 59 HP > 60 HP, 25(30) > 25 Str, 13(18) > 14(19) Mag, 22 Skl, 18 Spd, 13 Lck, 18 > 18(23) Def, 11(16) Res!

Level 9-13: 37 > 41 HP, 6 > 9 Str, 9 > 10 Mag, 11 > 14 Skl, 10 > 11 Spd, 23 > 25 Lck, 5 > 6 Def, 8 Res!

Fionordequester · Sun Aug 30, 2020 11:26 am

Well, it's been a while, but, I am back at last. I'm still using the old patch and everything, and while I won't promise a completion in the near future... This LP will eventually be finished. Perhaps just in the same way Samurai Jack was "eventually" finished.

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Anyways, let's review!

See that blue guy on the left? Well, he started out as an enemy, but then turned blue on Player Phase. He's Aless, and he's rescuing his girl Leen from an evil man called Bramsel. He didn't get the memo till now, though, so things can go really badly for him. His starting position is actually dependent on where your units are in relation to him! Sometimes he'll go way right, sometimes he'll hang back, sometimes he'll go way out left, sometimes he'll go southwest...you get the idea.

So you see the blue guy on the right? He's Oifaye, and moving him in the exact spot he's at made Aless move where we wanted him...

Right below Bramsel's squad, instead of right in the middle. So, there we go.

Also, Fee softens up this brigand with the Berserk Sword, switches to the Slim Lance...

Then switches to Slim Lance for extra killing power, all while visiting the village...

He prances around like some king, as long as there’s no Grandbell official’s butt to kiss. Oh, how I wish somebody would put that disgusting man out of his misery!

Then, from out of nowhere...

Especially that Aless. I wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley. He’s still young for a knight, but he has this magical sword called the Mistolteen. The story goes that Commander Jabarro found Aless as a child. Sounds like the two are very close. Anyhow, you wouldn’t stand a chance against Aless on the battlefield. Not to dash your hopes or anything. Here, this Shield Ring may be of some use to ya.

Dang, +5 DEF. They must REALLY want Bramsel dead! Anyway...

Aless & Oifaye go down (Aless is black, Oifaye is brown)...

Celice goes up...

Player Attack

Nanna & Leaf rough up a merc...

White Magic

And Lana warps Lester to Melgen because...

Yied Army

This is gonna be a big day for him. Jabarro's squad (Jabarro is Bramsel's flunky) presents a FANTASTIC opportunity for Forseti!Arthur to gain a TON of EXP!

Enemy Attack

Jabarro's forces are really weak, and Forseti!Arthur is super fast. The only problem...

Is Jabarro himself. 132 base HIT + 3 Leadership Stars means he's got about a 75% chance of landing hits, even on Forseti!Arthur. Since he has Adept, that puts Arthur in extreme danger. So, we need to somehow kill him, and ONLY him! How do we do that? Well, take a look at the Sword Cavalier stats...

...and compare them to what Celice will likely have...

21+ Defense is all you need for them to bypass him completely. The Bow Cavaliers aren't a problem, either, as you can just equip a 1-Range weapon. Hence, Celice will be sniping Jabarro while leaving the others alone.

Anyway, Darna's just assembled, and Aless got out of range. They're not doing much.

Only thing of note is Leaf proccing Continue on this dude.

Manster Army

Alster also has a turn, but...

They're foot mages. They have to go left a long ways before they're a threat.

Enemy Attack

Oh, and Fee gets an EP kill (EP = Enemy Phase).

Alright, here's one of the more crucial turns!

White Magic

Lana warps Delmud so he can talk to Nanna...

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

And everyone scrambles. The siblings are about to reunite, and Oifaye is making room for Arthur!

Aless also gets out of dodge (though he'll need to enter Darna)...

Actually, now's a good time to get him and Celice talkin'. Make sure they're on the same page!

Recruitment

Aless: I'm the Black Knight, Aless. But you might know me better as the son of Eltshan.

Celice: What? You're the son of King Eltshan!?

Aless: That's right! The very Eltshan that your father murdered! My mother went to her grave with that over her head! How does that make you feel!?

Celice: Really... But I thought our fathers were friends. I know things ended horribly, but I don't think our fathers ever resented each other.

Aless: That can't be... How could I have grown up believing the exact opposite to be true!

...The same way Jabarro lied to you before? Just sayin'...

Celice: Aless, we need some time to work this out. Why don't you come with us for a little while? Please consider it. Look, I hold King Eltshan in the same high regard as my father did.

Aless: ...Well, I suppose I could tag along for a while and see where things go. But if I find out you've been lying to me, I will gladly take your life in place of Sigurd's! You follow me, Celice!?

Celice: You do how you please. You just don't understand how ecstatic our fathers would be at us meeting like this!

I love Celice just no-selling his edgelord nonsense. It's great

!

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Now, Fee heads to Melgen as well (don't worry; the Desert tiles shield her from the horsemen)...

And here comes Celice, with his white, 12 Move steed!

Yied Army

Here comes!

The bowmen accomplish nothing, and the swordmen don't even try. Now it's Jabarro's turn.

Miniboss

Hey you did this to yourself, bud

. Speaking of Aless, here's their boss convo:

Jabarro vs. Aless:

Jabarro: Aless! You ingrate!! You won’t get away with this!

Aless: You disgust me. I hate to say it, but you’re going to die.

Actually, let's talk about Aless real quick, shall we?

Aless Overview

Manster Army

Back to Alster...

Yeah, I forgot to mention the armor knights headed up. They don't matter though; Losing Lenster doesn't hurt you.

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Back to business.

Nanna's gonna talk to Delmud, while smooching Leaf...

And here we go! Forseti!Arthur's got 3 Leadership Stars! That's a +20 HIT & Avoid boost with which to dodge-tank everything!

Now let's fix Lana's Warp Staff...

And send Julia out to Yied.

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

See, Patty & Shanan are still out there, and the Arena's only at the HQ. Lana can't be in two places at once, so someone needs to do it in her place, once she's done grinding.

Now, look how many levels Arthur gets!

LOOK AT IT!! SEVEN LEVELS IN ONE TURN

!!

Manster Army

Good thing, too.

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

The Magus Sisters are coming, and we want Arthur on that.

Anyway, Fee goes down a bit...

Aless gets out of the way while Arthur goes slightly right (he wants to get the Magus Sisters, but he doesn't wanna leave his scraps behind)...

...Then Celice goes up while equipping the 2-Range weapon. The bow knights could choose between him or Arthur, so we don't wanna encourage them to target Celice.

Now, let's have Lana give her Warp Staff to Julia...

One more turn, Shanan. One more turn...

Yied Army

Darna strikes!

Enemy Attack

...and falls right on its face.

Unfortunately, at least one of the guys went for Celice. It's not too bad though...

This level up is groovy!

Manster Army

Another boring Enemy Phase... But that's about to change.

One more turn, and it's an all-out magic war!

White Magic

Meanwhile, Julia warps Shanan...

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Celica brings the scythe closer to Bramsel's neck...

...Aless continues to Leen while Fee continues to Arthur...

Yied Army

And Arthur gears up for war.

Now, this is important. Notice how the Magus Sisters are up front, while Tinny is all the way in the back? That's because the trio moves first, while Tinny moves last. With this narrow choke point, we've made it so Arthur has no chance of killing her on Enemy Phase!

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Forseti!Arthur can blick them all without ANY fear of hurting Tinny! Get some Charm bots behind him (and Celice, if you wanna be extra safe), and he'll stomp!

Fee continues right and Aless continues up (trying to be more stingy on arrows, since those take time)...

And Celice is almost there.

White Magic

Julia gets Patty back home...

Yied Army

And now it's time for action!

Enemy Attack

The scrubs (who all wield Elthunder), have no chance of hitting him. Only the Magus Sisters can. They don't even hit for THAT much, either...

Miniboss

Eliu & Fetra only have 27 Attack...

...and Vampa has 30 + WTA. Vampa is the only one who really makes Forseti!Arthur look twice... But he has high enough HP that he can still Wrath her effectively (especially if you grinded him on Jabarro's squad, like I did).

Unfortunately, they don't feel like dying today. They teleport instead...

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Oh well. We got the rest of 'em. The goons were guaranteed to miss, so no risk there.

And hey! Tinny is RIGHT in front of us! Let's talk to her!

Tiltyu & Tinny's theme

Arthur: You're Tinny! I've finally found you!

Tinny: Huh? Who are you?

Arthur: Look, I have a pendant just like yours. I've been wearing it my whole life!

Tinny: Wow, they are the same. What is this all about?

Arthur: Well, my mother fought with the liberation army. After the war we all fled to Silesia. But my mother and baby sister were taken from me, and this pendant is all I have left of her. I found out just recently that it was King Blume who took them from me. I also found out that my mother had passed away but that my sister was still alive! YOU are my sister! I've come all the way from Silesia for you!

Tinny: Blume did all that!? I had no idea. I don't remember much of my mother. But I do remember that she always seemed so sad. You really are my brother, huh? This is all too much!

Arthur: Tinny, would you care to join our side? There's so much we need to talk about.

There is? Arthur just gave his whole backstory there. I can't think what else he's got....

Tinny: Sure. I didn't really want to fight any of you anyway.

Speaking of which, here are her battle quotes.

Recruitable Enemy

Generic Battle Quote:

Tinny: I’m sorry…

Tinny vs. Arthur:

Tinny: Sorry… I don’t want to fight, but…

Arthur: Ah, wait! Could you be…

And then Arthur cuts her to pieces and throws her into the wind with Holsety.

Tinny Death Quote:

Tinny: Ahh…

Not that she cares. Live her life, and you don't react to much of anything. That goes for her sub Linda, too. Amid X Linda have the exact same talk as Arthur and Tinny...

Anyway, let's do the overview!

Tinny Overview

White Magic

Now let's get Arthur back. He's got WAAAY more EXP than he needs

.

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

As for Fee, she still wants Arthur.

Speaking of which, Julia's done her job, so...

Yied Castle Town

The Warp Staff gets fixed up, then sent back to the Pawn Shop (with the Relive staff sold to foot the bill).

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Be sure to Wait in front of the castle, too. You'll see why later.

Let's take care of Bramsel once and for all!

Yied Army

Bramsel: Darna is my city, and I’ll never give it up!

And if you talk to him with Aless...

Bramsel vs. Aless:

Bramsel: What? It’s you, Aless!? You… you traitor!!

Aless: Bramsel! Return Leen!!

Bramsel: You’re too late! Right about now, she’s already… heheheh…

Aless: Y, you! I won’t forgive this!!

Anyway...

It's a hard thing. On one hand, we've seen GIFs of Celice OHKOing guys over and over again, and they definitely take more time than just uploading screenshots. On the other hand, GIF boss kills have become as much a tradition as the DBZ comparisons. It's hard for me to scale things back, no matter how taxing it is on my attention span.

Besides, it's fun! Celice stomping fools with his Uber Hero Sword is one of FE4's greatest pleasures. So, more GIFs it is!

Now let's get the castle!

Levin Speaks

Levin: The empire’s military was crushing the liberation army on all fronts. The few soldiers that remained barricaded themselves in the fortress to tend their wounds. As they regrouped for what they believed was to be their last battle, a miracle occurred. Gods decended[sic] from the heavens and granted miraculous weapons and powers upon 12 young soldiers. The soldiers came to be known as the 12 Crusaders as they led the liberation army back into battle.

Celice: That was the Miracle of Darna Fortress, wasn’t it?

Levin: Yep, that’s right. And now another miracle is taking place, Celice. The Crusaders are once again beginning to emerge in the face of Loputousu’s revival.

Celice: …Huh?

Levin: Hahaha… You’ll know what I mean someday.

Levin, you're not giving him the birds and the bees. You can explain yourself a little

...

Darn. It got captured.

These panning shots, I'll likely get rid of. Screen scrolling bloats the image size like heck, so finagling with that can be tricky. But we'll see.

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Anyway, Aless is almost there! And guess what?

Johalva got hitched with Lakche! May their kids be blessed in every stat possible

!

Well, we've blicked just about every remaining threat, so... Let's do some Arena stuff! Patty's got a lot to sell and a lot to give, so...

Isaac Castle Town

We sell these two things...

Then buy an Iron Sword to get our Gold to the amount we want. Patty's got the Bargain Ring, so she can do that!

There we go!

More Warp spam for Lana!

White Magic

Now here's where we want Julia parked in front of Yied. You can't warp units to castles that're blocked, so blocking EVERYTHING besides the HQ means we skip the Warp selection menu! Frames man, frames!

Manster Army

New Enemy Phase... Not that they have anyone left.

Oh no, they captured Lenster. Aaaahh

.

Enemy Attack

Also, here's one last guy attacking Tinny. He was the sole survivor of the Magus squad... Emphasis on "was".

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Anyway, Arthur sells his Elite Ring, since others gotta have it..

Then I Return Tinny to HQ before activating this convo!

Nanna with Delmud (+1 LCK to Nanna):

Conversation 1

Delmud: Yes! I found you! I'm Delmud, your brother!

Nanna: Huh? Is this some kind of joke?

Delmud: Here, let me explain everything Levin told me. During the last war all us kids fled to Isaac. But then our mother, Lachesis, brought you here to Lenster just after you were born.

Nanna: If you're my brother, then where is she now?

Delmud: You mean our mother?

Nanna: She left me when I was around 3 to meet up with you in Isaac, but she never came back. I've waited for her to come home ever since...

Delmud: Mother came for me? But... but I never saw her!

Nanna: Oh, no! What could've happened to her...

Delmud: Well, first of all Yied Desert is no place for anyone to be traveling alone.

Nanna: Oh, no... Poor mother!

Yeah, that was her likely fate; Turned to stone by one of those jerks from Thracia 776. The game never confirms it, though.

On another note, this conversation is completely different if you're using their substitutes!

Tristan with Janne:

Conversation 1

Tristan: Yes! I found you! I'm Tristan, your brother!

Janne: Huh? You're kidding, right?

Tristan: No, I'm not! Our father was a knight of the Nodion Kingdom. He died in battle during the upheaval in Agustria. You and I were still pretty young then. Sir Sigurd's army ended up taking us in, but we lost track of you while fleeing to Isaac.

Ok... So where was the mother

?

Janne: Wow, that actually makes sense. I was picked up by a traveling merchant in Isaac.

Tristan: I'd say he saved your life.

Janne: But he was murdered by an imperial soldier. I was 7 at the time. And then Fin took me in.

Tristan: Geez, I'm so sorry you had to go through all that, Janne.

Janne: That's okay. I'm just happy to have a brother! Tristan, we must make certain we never get separated again!

You know, she talks as though she didn't know she had a brother, but... They were alive in Sigurd's time? "Pretty young", but, still. Did Fin just... Never ask about Tristan? I'm glad the two have a unique backstory, but the details are really confusing...

Isaac Castle Town

Now then. Patty has more to give!

A LOT more to give, though make sure not to sell the crucial stuff!

More important, she has the Bargain Ring in her storage! See, parents pass down their storage items too, not just what's in their inventory!

Patty & Shanan spend some time together.

Lakche also gives a honeymoon gift to Johalva. Lots of sugar mommas in this episode, huh?

Let's get some sugar daddies in there, too, shake things up a little.

Actually, it's just the Uber Hero Sword he's selling. It sucks that we're taking Blume with just the Uber Light Sword, but the other guys need it more.

Also, this is a nice chance to get the Return Ring...

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

...And go home. Lana's gonna Warp him to Melgen so he can blitz Blume.

Plus, it's a nice chance for more convos!

Tinny with Celice:

Tiltyu & Tinny's theme

Tinny: I'm Tinny, Arthur's younger sister.

Celice: Ah, so you're Tinny. Yeah, I heard about you.

Tinny: Um... I need to apologise to you.

Celice: No, don't worry about it. King Blume is your uncle, right? You didn't have a choice.

Tinny: You'll forgive me then?

Celice: Hahaha... Of course! Its good to have you on our side.

Tinny: Wow, you're very understanding. I wish I could've met you sooner.

Celice: Tinny, I know you have family out here, and I don't expect you to fight them, okay?

Tinny: Thanks...

Nothing much to say, other than I'll be marrying the two. Julia's not an option, obviously, and the other women are already gonna be paired to other men... So, Tinny it is. Besides, I like her

.

Leaf with Celice:

A New Advance

Leaf: ...I lost both my parents in the Battle of Barhara to a surprise Thracian attack. Following that Lenster was seized by the Imperial Guard under Duke Blume. Fin kept me out of harm's way. We sought shelter in a nearby village and waited for the day to liberate the motherland. The timing felt right, so we rose up. However...

Celice: We both took up arms about the same time. We've all heard of King Blume's bloody rule. I just wish we could've made it here sooner...

And I wish you hadn't interrupted Leaf mid-speech :mmmhmm: !

Leaf: No, sir. I take full responsibility for our failure. However, I have every intention of living up to my father's good name. He had earned the distinction that comes with being a Knight of Noba. With all due respect, would you consider including us in your liberation effort? With what little I have to offer I hope to assist in Grandbell's return to glory.

Celice: Thank you, Prince Leaf. People often say our fathers were two good friends who shared identical fates. And your mother was my aunt...They both gave their lives while trying to help to my father. Prince Leaf, I can't begin to express my sorrow to you.

Leaf: I'm very proud of my parents, sir. And I greatly admire your father for all he did. Its Emperor Alvis and King Trabant that I detest!!

Celice: That's exactly how I feel. I just want to respect our fathers dying wishes and return peace to the land. Do join us, Prince Leaf.

Leaf: With all honour!

Nothing much to say here. I do appreciate the way Boo sticks to British spellings, though. Sort of gives that medieval flavor.

Now let's rescue Leen! Remember, only Aless can do this!

Recruitment

Leen: ...I wish I could say so. Fortunately someone from the liberation army rescued me.

I'm not sure what Bramsel was implying to Aless. Torture, perhaps? Bramsel didn't order that, though, so there's not much to go on.

Aless: Forgive me. I... this is all my fault. I should've listened to you.

Leen: ...Forget about it. I'm just glad you came back, Aless.

Aless: I promise it wont happen again.

...

Well, speaking of sexist cliches, let's talk about Leen!

Leen Overview

Also, here's her with Celice.

Leen with Celice:

Fighting Dancer

Leen: Don't think so. My name's Leen. I'm a dancer.

Celice: You're Leen, huh?

Leen: What s'matter? Never seen a dancer before?

Celice: No, I haven't.

Leen: Hehehe... You're funny.

And that's it. Bit of an odd conversation, though perhaps it's to contrast Celice with Sigurd. Sigurd was an older, married man who had no time for Sylvia's antics. Celice, on the other hand, is a younger, unmarried teenager, so he's a bit more flustered. Perhaps that's the point? Anyway...

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Leen started with a Return Ring, so back she goes! Much as I'd love to start working on Ares X Leen, we need Leen for the staff bots. Oh well; We've got time.

In other news, Fee goes down to get to Arthur...

White Magic

And Lana Warps Celice!

Manster Army

Enemy phase!

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

...Whatever

.

Now, Skasaha isn't needed anywhere, so he gets Warped to Darna to block off that pesky Warp menu.

At this point, we're just doing the Arena while Celice rides to Blume, so I'm not going to go TOO deep into detail on these next few turns. So, to sum up...

Arena Match

Lester sells all but these three items.

The Killer Bow & Hero Bow both have different uses The Hero Bow is cheaper and guarantees two attacks. However, it cuts Attack Speed by 8 instead of 3, and has 20 less Hit. So in general, I use the Hero Bow for weaker opponents, and the Killer Bow for more dangerous ones (like Wolf).

As you can see, Lester does really well, even *without* Pursuit! Also, as according to keikaku, he now has JUST enough to buy the Elite Ring next chapter, so long as he sells his Skill Ring!

Skasaha buys the Uber Hero Sword, and...

...Well, you can fill in the rest from there.

Tinny uses Wind along with Elthunder, for the same reasons Lester switched between HIS two weapons.

She uses Elthunder for raw power... But Wind's more helpful for the sword users.

Fin... is at a big disadvantage compared to the Gen 2 cast. He specializes only in lances, and his stats have fallen way behind.

Still, he has WTA against Wolf, and Prayer if it's needed. He doesn't have to worry yet.

Johalva shows off his Herc Axe and his amazing base stats by clearing out everything but the last opponent.

Could he eventually kill Wolf? Yes. Is it worth it? Heck no.

Celice clears the Arena partially for the HP refill, and partially just for some extra cash.

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

I Returned Delmud to HQ and sent Celice toward Blume, all while getting my pairings in a row.

Here we see Leen's power.

My set-up gives her instant Elite Ring, as well as untold amounts of control over her HP. Check 16:35 of this video to see!

Fire Emblem 4 Ranked Speedrun Route - Chapter 7 (Arena #2)

Yes, I've been busy while I was away. All the better to pump these out, when I finally did return

!!

Funny thing is, I chose Leen specifically for demonstration purposes. I knew I'd overshoot the EXP Rank without her, as Johalva already gave the final push I needed... But looking back? I think raising her's actually faster than Johalva! Johalva's a pain to train even with his wife's help, and he only gains 18 levels. Leen just might be faster... Maybe. Depends on how long her battles take compared to Johalva.

But enough about that. Let's get ready for a DEATH BATTLEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Fateful Showdown

Blume: As long as I have my Torhammer, I’ll never be scared of you little brats!

Speaking of "brats"!

Blume vs. Arthur:

Blume: What? …you, you’re…

Arthur: Blume, I’ve waited for this day! You’re going to pay for taking my mother and little sister!

Blume: Damn, you little brat! You think you can beat me!?

Arhtur would've been great, but alas... He doesn't have his horse.

Blume vs. Tinny:

Blume: It’s you, Tinny!? You’re betraying me…?

Tinny: I’m sorry, Uncle…

Apparently, her "I don't wish to fight" thing only extends to strangers...

Blume vs. Leaf:

Blume: Haha, you’re Cuan’s son, right? So you’re still alive.

Leaf: You’ve made my people suffer, King Blume. You’ll die for what you’ve done.

Blume: Hmph, you idiot! You’re the one who’ll die!!

Now then...

Unfortunately, Celice is not faster than Blume; not with the Light Sword. For all his strengths, Celice tends to fall behind in Speed... at least, compared to some of the bosses. Plus, Celice can only tank two hits.

For this reason, I would've just rigged a Light Sword crit, if I didn't crit on this one. This fight could last a while, if I didn't.

White Magic

Also, YAY! Lana's gonna promote!

Manster Army

Anyway, Blume recovers a good chunk of HP. This is why I want double Light Sword crits.

Even Celice can't handle a protracted battle!

Bottoms up...

Fateful Showdown

Er... Whoops. Accidentally overwrote the movie file. Had to grab this from the Youtube video

...

Blume: Urgh… How…!? It’s unavoidable… I’ll have to retreat to Conote. For the time being, at least…

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Off he goes. These guys are a stubborn bunch!

Oh well. Just get Celice next to the guard, and you'll seize next turn.

In fact, we want Patty & Shanan to Arena before he does!

Unit Change (Promotion)

Also Lana! She gets promoted!

Arena Match

She beats the Arena handily, like most Gen 2 units.

Aless' turn...

He's strapped for cash, so no Uber Hero Sword yet. That's ok, though. The Mistoltein tides him over till then.

Nanna gets in there as well...

...and demonstrates the power of the Uber Hero Sword.

She repairs it, too. She's a staff user, so she's not as hard up for Elite Ring time as the pure fighters are.

Leaf has great bases, and even better growths than his father. You'd be amazed at how effective he actually is...

And no, he doesn't need the Elite Ring. Not yet! He doesn't need to promote till Chapter 10, at which point, the Rescue Staff will be more than sufficient!

Not much to note on Oifaye & Fee. Oifaye is high leveled enough to not need the Elite Ring yet... And Fee is another staff bot, thanks to Claude. Hence, she just keeps her Shield Ring.

Almost done, so...

Let's finish off with Patty, Shanan, & Delmud!

Patty's got Bargain, so she also repairs the Uber Hero Sword.

And then she clears. Easily. This is why I love pairing Patty with Holyn. I'm not fooling! Holyn really is the difference between her stomping the Arena, and getting stomped by it!

Shanan reminds me of RNG abusing Allen or Sain in FE6-7... Except instead of "abuse", he literally just comes this way

!

And finally, we have Delmud.

Delmud ends the chapter with the Elite Ring and Hero Sword. He saves money from not having to buy either back, and he's also one of the weaker fighters. Giving him that extra level of security seemed like the right thing to do, at the time... But looking back, I might've overdone things a little. Perhaps he shouldn't have bothered Thief Swording those Dark Mages? Oh well, not the worst thing in the world.

Mine's got 80% STR Growth!! Sooner we can get that workin', the better!

Chapter 7: Crossing the Desert

Now, let's talk about Leen's substitute, Laylea. She actually has an event unique to her, at this EXACT village! Leave it alone till she gets there, and she'll get THIS!

A Gift (Laylea Gets Barrier Sword):

Lover 2

Anna: My boyfriend left to join the war. I'd guess you're fighting for someone you care for, too. I wish I was strong like you. All I can do is sit back and wait. Oh, here. I have something for you. This holy sword will increase your resistance. Get in a few swings for me, will you?

Little does she know, her prayers are answered 1000 years from now... I fought her in Apotheosis, without DLC. Believe me, I know

.

Laylea: Thank you, I’ll do my best. By the way, what's your name?

Anna: Me? I'm Anna and my boyfriend's name is Jake. If you run across him you tell him I'm thinking about him...

Laylea: Jake... Got it.

Jake was her boyfriend till like, FE7... Then he disappeared. Pity, that.

Also, here's Daisy; Patty's substitute. Have her Wait next to Shanan when Blume's beaten, and...

Daisy's Training (+3 SKL & SPD):

Dew & Patty's theme

Daisy: Guess who!

Shanan: Ahh!

Daisy: Ha... HAHAHA! I scared ya, didn't I!?

Shanan: D, Daisy! I nearly took a swing at you! Quit playing around, alright!?

Daisy: But I'm bored. And I'm too weak to fight anybody.

Shanan: I'll teach you how to use that sword then. I don't have much time, so I'll keep it real simple.

Bad idea. People who think they can fight are in more danger than people who know they can't...

Daisy: Wow! My own private lesson with Shanan! Wheee!

Shanan: You'd better take this seriously, or you can just forget it!

Daisy: Ulp... sorry.

Shanan: Okay. First, let's begin with posture. You'll want to... Hey! Are you listening to me!?

Daisy: Sigh... Hmm?

...But somehow, I don't see that being a problem. Not with Daisy, lol.

Finally, Fin's got like, a million different convos, depending on who he married.

Fin with Nanna (+5 SPD to Nanna):

Aideen & Lana's theme

Fin: Nanna, how're you holding up?

Nanna: I'm fine, father. You don't need to worry about me.

Fin: Your strong determination reminds me more of Lachesis each passing day, Nanna.

Nanna: Father, if you loved mother so much, how could you have let her go all by herself!?

...

Fin: To Isaac? Nanna, I've asked you before not to bring that up... That's between your mother and I.

Nanna: But...

Fin: You'll understand someday. Just wait till you're a little older.

Unless the answer is "she had sex with Beowulf, and I ran her out of the house", I don't see how this is a "Wait till you're older" situation

... Though now that I say that, he DOES come off a bit awkwardly, in these next two.

Fin with Lakche (+5 SKL to Lakche):

Aideen & Lana's theme (I don't have an easy way of viewing this conversation, so I'm guessing here. This plays for Nanna AND Lana, so, I'm guessing it plays here as well!)

Fin: Who are you?

Lakche: Hm? I'm Lakche.

Fin: This can't be...

Lakche: What's the problem? Hey, don't look at me like that. You're embarrassing me!

Off to a great start, Fin. Bring it home.

Fin: Ah, forgive me. You just remind me so much of someone I once knew.

Lakche: I do?

Fin: Yes. Don't take this the wrong way, but you are the spitting image of a woman I once loved.

...A little forward, Fin. Just a little.

Lakche: Oh. So were you two a couple?

Fin: Yes, but we got separated during the war, and I haven't seen her since.

Lakche: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. What was her name?

Fin: Aira... You're the first I've met to parallel her beauty.

Lakche: Aira? You sure about that!?

Well, he sticks it regardless. Lakche had Johan & Johalva to contend with, so I guess she's used to this sort of thing.

Fin with Lana (+5 MAG to Lana):

Aideen & Lana's theme

Fin: Who are you?

Lana: I'm Lana. You're Fin, right?

Fin: You...

Lana: What's the matter? Please don't look at me like that. You're embarrassing me!

And this one's basically the same. Lana's just a little more dainty.

Fin: Ah, forgive me. You just remind me so much of someone I once knew.

Lana: I do?

Fin: Yes. Don't take this the wrong way, but you are the spitting image of a woman I once loved.

Lana: I see. Were you two a couple?

Fin: Yes, but we got separated during the war, and I haven't seen her since.

Lana: Oh, how sad... What was the woman's name?

Fin: Aideen. You're the first I've met to parallel her beauty.

Lana: Aideen!? That's my mother!

Now let's finish this! First, let's see what happens if Julia was K.O.ed...

Victory 1

Celice: Julia!? Oh my god! You're alright!

Julia: Yes, I'm fine. They locked me up in this castle, but I knew you'd come for me.

Awesome. Now...

Levin: Well, that's the way it goes sometimes, Celice. This war isn't over, you know. We've only just gained a foothold in the Thracia Peninsula.

Celice: But we have the total support of the people! They're always so happy to see us!

Levin: That just goes to show how harsh the empire's rule has been on them. The people are counting on you, Celice. But I think the worst is still ahead of us.

Celice: Yeah, maybe so. But I'm surrounded with so much talent! I can't imagine any obstacle being too great for us.

Levin: Yeah, the sky's the limit, Celice.

That's that! Thx for being patient with me, and God bless you all!

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

SUB CHARACTER OVERVIEWS

Linda Overview

Daisy Overview

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

CURRENT AAAA RANKED RUN STATS:

Time Taken This Update: ~1 hour, 17 minutes and 17 seconds

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: ~17 hours, 12 minutes, 58 seconds

Turns Taken This Update: 12 Turns

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 259 Turns

Levels Gained This Update: 70 Levels

Total Levels Gained: 665 Levels

Things I Regret: In the Prologue, I regret the fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue.

In Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue.

On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

On Chapter 3, I regret selling Deirdre's Aura tome! I'll bet she TOTALLY could've kicked Manfloy's butt, if ONLY I hadn't taken that away

!!

On Chapter 4, I regret spending so much time disabeling the Arena bug for Fury's Arena fights; her combat stats didn't even matter once I promoted her! I also regret not having Claude turn around sooner. I also regret not repairing the Return Staff before giving it to Aideen.

On Chapter 5, I regret not having Dew sit tight after slaying that General; I didn't really accomplish much by moving him around outside, so I probably wasted about a minute or so.

On Chapter 7, I regret putting Fee and Arthur the same amount of spaces away from that dark mage as I did Julia. I was lucky enough that the attacked Julia anyway...but a mistake is still a mistake. Also might have wanted to refrain from Thief Swording the Dark Mages.

Level 22-24: 60 HP > 64 HP, 25 Str, 14(19) > 15(20) Mag, 22 Skl, 18 Spd, 13 Lck, 18(23) > 20(25) Def, 11(16) Res!

Level 1-6: 31 > 38 HP, 11 > 14 STR, 13 > 16 SKL, 13 > 14 SPD, 6 > 8 LCK, 8 > 9 DEF, 0 > 1 RES!

Level 13-23: 41 > 53 HP, 9 > 14 Str, 10 > 19 Mag, 14 > 20 Skl, 11 > 17 Spd, 25 > 30 Lck, 6 > 10 Def, 8 > 11 Res, B > A Staves, C in all Weapon Ranks!

Level 4-9: 33 > 38 HP, 14 > 17 STR, 10 > 15 SKL, 9 > 10 SPD, 5 > 8 LCK, 9 > 10 DEF, 1 RES!

Level 2-5: 31 > 36 HP, 11 > 14 STR, 1 > 2 MAG, 8(13) > 8 SKL, 9 > 10 SPD, 13 > 16 LCK, 8 DEF, 0 RES!

Level 15-16: 40 > 41 HP, 16 STR, 9 MAG, 17 SKL, 16 SPD, 8 > 9 LCK, 17 DEF, 8 RES!

Level 4-5: 27-28 HP, 1 STR, 14-15 MAG, 8 > 9 SKL, 12 > 13 SPD, 5 LCK, 3 DEF, 14 > 15 RES!

Level 2-6: 27-30 HP, 9-10 STR, 1 MAG, 9 SKL, 16 > 17 SPD, 13 > 14 LCK, 7(12) DEF, 9 > 13 RES!

Level 7-19: 40 > 56 HP, 1 > 4 STR, 11 > 16 MAG, 15(25) > 21(31) SKL, 15(35) > 21(41) SPD, 11 > 17 LCK, 2 > 5 DEF, 7 > 9 RES!

Level 12-14: 42 > 43 HP, 16 STR, 0 MAG, 7 SKL, 16 SPD, 5 LCK, 14 > 15 DEF, 1 RES!

Level 1-5: 31 > 36 HP, 10 > 11 STR, 4 MAG, 10 SKL, 9 SPD, 5 > 7 LCK, 10 DEF, 3 RES!

Level 15-17: 41 > 43 HP, 13 STR, 1 MAG, 15 > 16 SKL, 13(18) SPD, 16 > 17 LCK, 9 DEF, 1 RES!

Level 4-7: 32 > 35 HP, 8 > 10 STR, 3 MAG, 10 SKL, 8 SPD, 9 > 11 LCK, 5 > 7 DEF, 4 > 5 RES!

Level 13-14: 39 > 41 HP, 18 STR, 0 MAG, 23(33) > 24(34) SKL, 23(43) SPD, 10 LCK, 13 > 14 DEF, 4 RES!

Level 1-7: 31 > 39 HP, 7 > 9 STR, 0 MAG, 6(11) > 11 SKL, 9(14) > 11(16) SPD, 12 > 13 LCK, 3 > 6 DEF, 1 RES!

Level 7-9: 40 > 42 HP, 13 > 15 STR, 4 MAG, 12(32) > 13(33) SKL, 13 SPD, 6 > 8 LCK, 12 > 14 DEF, 4(14) RES!

Level 3-6: 33 > 36 HP, 0 STR, 9 > 10 MAG, 11 > 12 SKL, 11 > 12 SPD, 14 LCK, 2 DEF, 7 > 8 RES!

Level 3-9: 27 > 31 HP, 4 > 6 STR, 0 > 5 MAG, 2 > 4 SKL, 9 > 10 SPD, 6 > 9 LCK, 2 > 3 DEF, 4 > 5 RES!

Fionordequester · Sun Aug 30, 2020 11:57 am

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Fire Emblem 4: Genealogy of the Holy War! We all ready to meet some old foes?

Perfect! Then let us begin!

When the Rush Comes

The Thracia Peninsula has two very distinct faces. The northern half is an enormous fertile savannah[sic] home to several small kingdoms.

It's called "savanna", actually. That's what [sic] means; That the word was spelled incorrectly.

The south however is a barren wasteland lined with towering mountains, and home to the Thracia Kingdom and their infamous Dragon Knights.

With reckless valour Thracia made repeated attempts to conquer the northern fertile land.

However, each attempt met with opposition by Lenster’s Royal House and ended in defeat. After the massacre of Lenster’s army in the Yied Desert, Thracia’s perseverance finally seemed to have paid off.

However, a military force headed by Blume of Freege quickly moved in and subdued the area. Thereafter the empire appointed the region as the Northern Kingdom of Thracia under King Blume. During the ten-odd years that followed, not even the brazen King Trabant dared challenge the empire’s military power.

So not only did Trabant slaughter an entire royal family in cold blood, but he did it all in vain. He made things worse, if anything.

But the fall of the capitol in Alster to the liberation army presented a new twist to the delicate balance of power in the region.

That would've made for a really interesting twist; That Celice actually made life hell for the people living under Blume's watch. It'd even be a nice callback to Sigurd & Levin's conversation in Chapter 2, where they concluded that Sigurd was causing a mess, but was still doing what needed to be done.

But no, everyone who's not a bad guy is just 100% on Celice's side. Pity, that. Gen 2 gets a little stale at times...

After safely escaping to Conote Castle, King Blume began to amass a military force.

Meanwhile Princess Ishtar, better known as the goddess of thunder, fortified Manster Castle’s defense in case of a Thracian attack.

This is a weird plot point, btw. You'll see why.

And just over the border at Mease, King Trabant and his commanding officer General Maikov maintained an ominous silence. The people had only one wish, and that was for Lenster’s Royal House to return to power.

Alright, here we go!

Enemy Message 2

Chapter 8: The Dracoknights of Thracia

Gee. I wonder who we'll fight after Blume

?

Blume: Vampa, I never imagined they’d pose a threat to the three of you.

Vampa: Forgive us, sir… but we have the situation under control now. General Muhammed’s squad have already reached Alster. And General Ovo’s knights will soon advance on Lenster. We, too, shall go back in.

They mean that, too. This chapter sends five mini-bosses at you at once! FIVE! And there's gonna be more!

Blume: Alright, I’m counting on you. Now what’s taking King Trabant so long to provide backup?

Vampa: We’ve sent several requests for reinforcements, but he has yet to respond.

Blume: Grr! What’s holding him back!?

Vampa: I recommend keeping an eye on King Trabant, sir. They say he’s not to be trusted.

And this is where the game's writing starts getting a little messy. Not that it was flawless before, mind. It's just that Chapter 8 is about where the cracks really start to show. See, Princess Ishtar is one of Blume's daughters, and as the game said...

Princess Ishtar...fortified Manster Castle’s defense in case of a Thracian attack.

...So on the one hand, Blume is asking for Thracia's help. But on the other hand, he expects foul play? Enough to give the Thor Hammer, and send her away? He's got no leverage on Trabant, either, so he's relying on nothing but Trabant's good will... while NOT relying on his good will, at the same time...

And yes, I checked the Naga translation. No, it doesn't make any more sense. It just made everyone say fancier words

.

Blume: Hrmph… Well, we’ll handle the rebel army with or without him. Vampa, Fetra, Eliu… move out. This time, no survivors!

Does Tinny count under "no survivors"? Or does Blume know about that?

Vampa: Without fail!

We’ve had just about all we can take of King Blume’s rule!

Sety: You mustn’t lose hope! Sir Celice’s liberation army is just to the west of us. Go… tell everyone it will only be a matter of time before they reach us. Believe me! Freedom is just on the horizon!

And if that fails, Sety is like, the most OP foot unit ever... On a castle. So there's that.

Changed my mind! Camera pans are here to stay, though they'll occasionally need to be chopped up to squeeze under 2.0 MB.

Enemy Message 3 (Trabant's theme)

Arion: He claims the empire has lost both Lenster and Alster to the rebels.

Trabant: That’s Sigurd’s boy, right? Blume must be getting pretty old to let some kid walk all over him. Arion, don’t worry about Blume. Let the empire and the rebel army fight it out. I’ll strike when they’re both too tired to fight back.

Arion: I knew it. You’ve been holding out all this time, haven’t you father…

Trabant: You’re damn straight! The peninsula was finally within my grasp after disposing of Lenster’s knights in Yied. Then that Blume slipped in and stole it right from under me… He’s gonna pay with blood!

Presumably, the plan is to let Blume die, so he can take Lenster without provoking the Empire... Of course, that still leaves three surviving members of the royal family. Tinny is one, Ishtar is the 2nd, and the 3rd will be introduced in Chapter 10. They're all women, yes, but one of them's got a really, really powerful, uh... "boyfriend", let's just say. No spoilers, but... You could say he's got "connections". Not that he needs them. One way or another, he would make life hell for Trabant and everyone he loved. Just have Ishtar say the word, and...

Trabant was doomed from the start, is what I'm saying.

Arion: Father, I know how you must feel. If only we could take on Grandbell outright…

Trabant: Everything rests on the unification of the peninsula. The fertile lands to the north hold the key to eliminating poverty within our kingdom. Arion, our ways have often been likened to that of hyenas… Yet our mercenary work for foreign lands has meant the kingdom’s survival. However… I’ve had enough. It’s time we move up in this world. Arion, the rivalry before us will determine the fate of Thracia.

This is also where the game starts trying to make Trabant more sympathetic. Apparently, he was always meant to be that, way, according to Kaga...

Kaga (Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War Playing Guide) wrote: [Trabant] was an extremely passionate man... He wasn’t a blood-thirsty person at heart... If he wasn’t born in Thracia, he would have been a true hero.

...But the game does a really terrible job of showing this; As though Kaga had a completely different vision of him than the rest of the writers did. I dunno. The whole thing's explored in more detail in Chapter 9, but, I wanted to bring it up now. Have you guys see if there's anything I'm missing, as we go through the game.

Arion: Understood, father.

Crisis 2

"Having exactly zero guys there DOES seem silly, in retrospect."

Levin: Yeah, I do. I can bet you King Blume isn’t wasting any time over at Conote. The citizens of Manster have also requested your help. We need to move… fast!

Celice: Alright. We’ll set out at once!

Correction: Leaf, Nanna, & Fin will set out at once. Celice just sort of... sits there :cheeky:.

Chapter 8: Dragon Knights of Thracia

Now! Let's look at the map!

This is also where the gameplay itself starts seeming more... rushed, for lack of a better word. Celice's path is a straight line, with absolutely no terrain or anything to get in his way. Instead, the game throws a parade of mini-bosses at him. However, most of THOSE don't arrive for a few turns, and you can even skip the last few of them if you're fast enough.

You can literally beat it in 6 turns, if you know what you're doing. Heck, this may only take me two updates, despite the tons of optional content. What we get, then, is a map with a ton of empty space. I suspect that's why there's three different secret events, as well as a Thief Ring in the lower-right.

This isn't getting into stuff like some of the blatantly mismatched tiles. I mean...

We've got this cliff looking thing that's a noticeably darker shade of green than everything else around it...

...We've got the ground tiles just left of the cursor that seems very... patchy in how they're laid out. They don't blend in with each other...

...And if you look closely, there's this greyish sort of outline all around the brown Peaks, right before they're supposed to transition to the green Mountains...

...I dunno. Am I on to something here, or am I just seeing things? Or perhaps it's just the palette?

Anyway, enough about that! Let's get going!

Chapter 8 Arena Footage #1 (click this if you get lost following the screenshots!)

Manster Castle Town

Now, Celice has some inventory to clear!

First, we're storing the Defense & Return Rings. Celice is going in a straight path, and most of this chapter's enemies fall under two categories...

1) Incredibly weak melee units

2) Magic users

For example...

This is who Celice'll be fighting first. And...

...they're only slightly stronger than Eltshan's Cross Knights in Chapter 3. Actually, Eltshan's guys had Steel Swords, and only had -3 in HP, and -1 everywhere else. That, and Eltshan had a holy weapon, and 5 Leadership stars (40% to HIT & Avoid vs Ovo's 10%). They're weaker, if anything!

Ovo is no prize himself. He has two Leadership stars, and no Class or Personal skills. That said, he's also the only mini-boss in the entire game with a unique portrait. No other boss re-uses it! His awesome hair is exclusive entirely to him... So, that's something? Whatever.

But yeah, Celice is now far ahead of his enemies, as they're really weak for where they are. I see no reason to keep the Power Ring on Celice. Not till later.

Now, let's get some Arenaing done!

Arena Match

As weak as Julia is now, she grows in leaps and bounds due to both amazing growths, and her staff botting potential. Good thing, too; She's gone during Chapter 10, for reasons I won't spoil.

The Skill Ring may seem an odd choice for Delmud, but it really is the best option. For starters, the Power Ring is in far higher demand... but more importantly...

...fricken OVERLORD ZENON here essentially has the touch of death against anyone who can't put him down in the 1st round. He's fast, he's strong, he's durable, and he has the Continue skill on top of that. Delmud needs the +5% crit and the +10% Hit. Otherwise, OVERLORD ZENON could troll him real bad.

There she goes, buying the Uber Hero Sword for the Arena, and a spare Steel Sword for killing MBandits. She still needs that Elite Ring, though, so...

There. Fee doesn't need the Defense Ring. OVERLORD ZENON hits her too hard for it to matter. The battle's gonna come down to luck...

Sadly, she doesn't get lucky enough on her SPD gains. She doesn't get outsped by OVERLORD ZENON, but, she doesn't get Pursuit against him, either. I had to retry a few times before she made it through to the end.

Patty's turn...

She gets a Knight Ring partially so she doesn't overflow on Gold, and partially because she's going to take the field this Chapter. More on that later, but for now...

Yeah, she also gets trolled by OVERLORD ZENON.

It's all good, though. Her boyfriend's Shanan himself, so, she can handle Swordmasters. Just needed a warmup, lol.

Also, remember her Bargain skill! It cuts repair costs in half, and also let's her do crazy inventory stuff! Like this!

That's her trying not to overflow on Gold. Not an easy task, when the Elite + Pursuit Rings total 40,000G, but we managed!

The irony with Leen, here...

...is that she actually has the easiest time of everyone so far, despite her stats.

Actually, it's because of her stats, along with Bargain, that allows her to thrive! She's so fragile, that getting her into Prayer range is trivial! Just give her +5 DEF, +7 DEF, or +12 DEF as needed and there she goes! Only thing that can throw her is an untimely Sun Sword proc...

Looking good, Leen

!

Oh, and careful when selling HER stuff, too. She's also liable to overflow!

Now, before we go further...

Let's get Celice to Lenster, and we want Leen to Dance soon. Don't want Lana wasting a Warp opportunity.

Manster Castle Town

Now ,let's do something awesome!

First, Patty drops herself to ~18000G with those two rings...

...And gives it to Aless. Now he can buy the Elite Ring!

But we're not through yet!

Now we sell some loot for 17500G...

...and help Arthur out, too. Now he's got money for Holsety repairs!

Arena Match

Tinny goes through the Arena, mostly with a plain Wind tome. She also uses Elthund to counter Marda's Elfire...

And then switches between Elwind & Wind for OVERLORD ZENON. Dude's annoying enough even with the ability to cleanly 2HKO...

...Unless, of course, your name is Arthur. Didn't even promote him till he cleared everything, either. SPD is the only stat he was even close to capping...

Unit Change (Promotion)

...and Mage Knights only have a SPD cap of 22, so it really doesn't make a difference.

Yes, those numbers are with Holsety added in. Stats can't go past 30 by themselves!

Manster Castle Town

Now regarding Johalva, it'd be nice if I could have him beat the Mercenary in the Stage 4 fight. Unfortunately, it's an axe man vs a sword man, where axes are almost as bad as they've ever been.

So, I settled for just giving him the Elite Ring first, to drain some cash. After that...

Arena Match

I had Skasaha wear down the Uber Hero Sword a bit as he cleared the arena...

Had Lakche buy said Uber Hero Sword at a slight discount (since it's not at full uses)...

...before clearing the Arena herself.

And then she got to donate about 17,500G to her hubby. With that...

Johalva got the Defense Ring as well. This, by the way, was why Johalva had to buy the Elite Ring before Lakche's donation. Otherwise, he would've capped at 50000G. Now...

The Mercenary could do naught but plink at Johalva

!

Of course, Johalva sells the Elite Ring immediately after, but that's ok. He's gonna snag about x5 civilians to promote. After that, he should be capable of beating everyone but OVERLORD ZENON.

For most units, the Holy Weapons are an almost necessary step to true greatness. For Aless, however...

...it's just a stopgap. Something to make do till he's got enough for the true ultimate weapon: The Uber Hero Sword!!

Now here's a problem. Aless is 4 levels under the threshold for capping off Arenas... But he's already juiced THIS one for all its worth! What's we gonna do to make up the difference?

Well, keep the Elite Ring on him, and find out NEXT time! God bless you all!

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

CURRENT AAAA RANKED RUN STATS:

Time Taken This Update: ~38 minutes and 45 seconds

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: ~17 hours, 51 minutes, 43 seconds

Turns Taken This Update: N/A

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 259 Turns

Levels Gained This Update: 44 Levels

Total Levels Gained: 709 Levels

Things I Regret: In the Prologue, I regret the fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue.

In Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue.

On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

On Chapter 3, I regret selling Deirdre's Aura tome! I'll bet she TOTALLY could've kicked Manfloy's butt, if ONLY I hadn't taken that away

!!

On Chapter 4, I regret spending so much time disabeling the Arena bug for Fury's Arena fights; her combat stats didn't even matter once I promoted her! I also regret not having Claude turn around sooner. I also regret not repairing the Return Staff before giving it to Aideen.

On Chapter 5, I regret not having Dew sit tight after slaying that General; I didn't really accomplish much by moving him around outside, so I probably wasted about a minute or so.

On Chapter 7, I regret putting Fee and Arthur the same amount of spaces away from that dark mage as I did Julia. I was lucky enough that the attacked Julia anyway...but a mistake is still a mistake. Also might have wanted to refrain from Thief Swording the Dark Mages.

Level 6-12: 38 > 45 HP, 14 > 19 STR, 0 MAG, 16 > 20 SKL, 14 > 18 SPD, 8 > 9 LCK, 9 > 12 DEF, 1 RES!

Level 14-18: 48 > 55 HP, 17 > 18 STR, 1 MAG, 25 SKL, 18 > 20 SPD, 11 > 13 LCK, 14 > 17 DEF, 1 RES!

Level 23-24: 53 > 55 HP, 14 > 15 STR, 19 > 20 MAG, 20 > 21 SKL, 17 SPD, 30 LCK, 10 DEF, 11 RES!

Level 9-14: 38 > 44 HP, 17 > 22 STR, 15 > 19(24) SKL, 10 > 12 SPD, 8 LCK, 10 > 12 DEF, 1 RES!

Level 5-6: 28-29 HP, 1 STR, 15-16 MAG, 9 SKL, 13 SPD, 5 > 6 LCK, 3 DEF, 15 RES!

Level 6-11: 30-32 HP, 10 STR, 1 > 2 MAG, 9 SKL, 17 > 18 SPD, 14 > 16 LCK, 7(12) > 9 DEF, 13 > 16 RES!

Level 19-21: 56 > 58 HP, 4 > 9 STR, 16 > 19 MAG, 21(31) > 22(32) SKL, 21(41) > 22(42) SPD, 17 > 18 LCK, 5 > 9 DEF, 9 > 11 RES!

Level 14-16: 43 > 44 HP, 16 STR, 0 MAG, 7 > 8 SKL, 16 SPD, 5 LCK, 15 > 17(22) DEF, 1 RES!

Level 7-12: 39 > 46 HP, 9 > 13 STR, 0 > 1 MAG, 11 > 15 SKL, 11(16) > 12(17) SPD, 13 > 17 LCK, 6 > 7 DEF, 1 RES!

Level 9-14: 42 > 47 HP, 15 > 19 STR, 4 MAG, 13(33) > 15(35) SKL, 13 > 14 SPD, 8 > 11 LCK, 14 > 18 DEF, 4(14) > 6(16) RES!

Level 6-9: 36 > 40 HP, 0 > 1 STR, 10 MAG, 12 > 14 SKL, 12 > 15 SPD, 14 > 16 LCK, 2 DEF, 8 > 9 RES!

Level 9-14: 31 > 36 HP, 6 > 8(13) STR, 5 > 6 MAG, 4 SKL, 10 > 12 SPD, 9 > 11 LCK, 3 DEF, 5 RES!

Fionordequester · Tue Sep 29, 2020 9:01 am

Hello, my fellow lightbringers! We ready for more FE4!? Let’s get started!

Chapter 8: Dragon Knights of Thracia

Oh hi, Julia. What’re you…

Julia with Celice (+1 LCK to Celice):

Lover 3

...

...They went there. The sound team actually went there. Celice & Julia are half-siblings, and the sound team puts LOVER 3?!?

Julia: …I’m scared. I sense something evil in this area.

Celice: Why’s that?

The music dims...

Julia: …Celice, be careful… Ishtar is extremely powerful… You must not fight her!

Celice: Julia? What’s gotten into you!?

The music goes back to normal

Julia: …Huh? W, what’s going on!?

Celice: Julia!

Anyway, that makes Celice luckier somehow so… Actually no, let’s just pretend this never happened.

PLAYING THROUGH:

Chapter 8: Dragon Knights of Thracia

There! Now he’s where he was at the end of LAST update ^_^ !

Anyway, Celice beats some dudes in the Arena so he can buy… Well, the Uber Hero Sword, first of all. But also…

The Skill Ring!

Chapter 8: Dragon Knights of Thracia

Yes, this is an important purchase, believe it or not! It makes the difference between perfect accuracy and imperfect Accuracy against the map’s strongest boss. You’ll see!

So here’s one of the most important parts. Aless is a monster, and a valuable investment… But he’s also underleveled. One of the mini-bosses are also directly to the upper-left of Alster, so this is a perfect chance for him to grind! Arthur & Fee have jobs to. So, here they all are.

Now, let’s see that Talk!

Arthur with Fee (+3 HP to Fee, 100 Love Points):

Lover 2

Arthur: Yeah… I guess you could say that.

Fee: Really… Hmph… And here I thought you could only think of yourself. It’s nice to be proven wrong.

...People are very direct in this translation, aren’t they?

Arthur: Yeah… Well, let’s just say you’re an exception.

“Now, OTHER people, I could care less about. As seen by my fighting against the Empire.

Fee: How’s that?

Arthur: Look, just be careful, okay? I’ll see you around.

Fee: Arthur…

But seriously, what IS this plot point? Arthur’s been laid-back and chill since he came into the game. He’s done nothing mean, said nothing mean, and he’s fighting to find his sister and fighting to liberate the people… So what are these jabs?

Could it be that this patch mistranslated the line? Is he actually more like Python, from Echoes? Someone with no ambition at all? Someone who’s lazy, not selfish? And Fee’s comments are more like “I didn’t think you ever got worked up about anything?”

It would make sense! It would fit perfectly into his character, as well as all his past interactions wi-

…Oh. Well that ruins that, then.

~Aaaaaaanyway… Lester gets Warped over to Lenster.

Chapter 8: Dragon Knights of Thracia

Him, Patty, and Fin will all be gathered there, for reasons.

Actually, Fin’s got a Talk to do!

Fin: So buckle down. Things are bound to get rough.

Leaf: You think I don’t know that? I’ve been praying for this day to come, you know… My father’s dying wish was to return peace to the Thracian Peninsula. And I’ll do whatever is necessary to end King Blume’s reign. Even if it takes my life…

Fin: …Your Highness! What a careless thing to say! Anyone who’s in position to become king must stay alive for the people at any cost!

That’s gotta be hard, as a military leader. The people DO need you alive, but that can also be a really easy excuse for cowardice. Leaf’s likely aware of that, so he and Fin have probably had this conversation a lot...

Leaf: You’re right… Sorry. I know you went through a lot to keep the empire from finding me. You often went without food while we were in hiding, but you never once let me go without… I finally realise all the sacrifices you had to make for me, Fin. Thank you so much.

I’ve never played Thracia 776. I wonder if that’s something to consider doing as a next LP? It’d have to be a video LP, of course. I’ve found those to be much funner.

Fin: Your father’s life-long dream was to see the war torn Thracia Peninsula united. You must keep his dream alive, for you are the only one who can pull it off now.

And this brings up another interesting thought.

Trabant has a family. Far as everyone knows, he’s got at least one son, at least one daughter, and likely a few relatives. There IS no “united peninsula” for as long as Thracia has a royal family, right?

So what’s this talk about a united peninsula? Were Leaf & Fin already planning to kill Thracia's entire royal family? Not just Altenna & Arion? Would that really in-character for them? Again, haven’t played Thracia, so I don’t know the characters well enough to say. Any thoughts on that?

+3! That’s stupid high, especially with crits!

Manster Army

Alright, Enemy Phase! Let’s see-

OH COME ON

!!!

Muhammed: Now go get Alster Castle back. I’ll take your head off if any one of you doesn’t follow my orders… Now attack!

This is deliberate... It has to be. They even reference him taking off someone’s head, in both the Boo & the Naga translation. You know, like Shagaal took off Eltshan’s head? Plus, they had plenty of portraits to re-use. Ovo’s, for one.

But nope! Here's one of Gen 1’s primary antagonists: Some white guy called “Muhammed”, with blonde hair.

Anyway, they didn’t go very far. They keep formation and take baby steps downward.

Ovo: We’re not about to let General Muhammed’s squad show us up, understood!?

Well, they certainly went farther.

I’d joke, but, they DO have something up their sleave.

See this? This is Aless, and he takes magic like a champ.

See? The Magus Sisters 5HKO him. Plus…

Miniboss

They always attack from 1-Range, even though they have tomes.

Aless sounds like an instant-win button, for this reason. He has Mistoltein + Critical + Ambush, so he can smoke them like nobody’s business… Right?

Just one problem.

Yes, they have the TRIANGLE ATTACK!!

This is a series staple, involving three warriors with a familial bond. Just have two of them next to the enemy, and the third sibling will score an automatic critical hit! This is usually reserved for the good guys… But not in this game. This game, it’s reserved for these three, as well as another trio in the Final chapter.

So, Vampa stomps as Aless asks the existential questions. So, while Aless IS still your best mage buster, he’s gotta taking all three of them on the same turn. That…

...Or you just send Celice. Why? I mean besides his OP stats?

Manster Army

Awareness. “Nihil”, going by modern translations. It negates all critical hits, including the Triangle Attack! So once again, Celice is our man.

Chapter 8 also marks the turning point for Awareness, by the way. It was mostly useless in Gen 1, apart from some edge-cases. Gen 2, though? You’ve got multiple end-game bosses rocking Killer weapons and Critical skills, so it suddenly gets really nice to have!

Chapter 8: Dragon Knights of Thracia

Now it’s our turn!

Reminder that Patty has to recruit someone.

Leen needs to help Aless out soon, so I have her Dance as she’s coming out.

You can’t see them, but there are two Armor Knights just above Aless, so that’s what he’s doing. Fee’s flying right, to save one of the two villages I showed!

Also, here’s Patty and Fin. Celice will catch most of Ovo’s men, but the five Troubadors will ignore him. Fin’s there to take care of them.

Now for the boss!

“’Ovo’? Mo’ like yo days are Ovo!”

Miniboss

I’ll give him this: He survived a crit. That’s something.

Chapter 8: Dragon Knights of Thracia

Now break out that Light Sword, cuz we’re taking everyone this round!

Manster Army

And yes, I do mean evereyone

!

Well, after Lester gets targeted once, with the Killer Bow equipped. This is where lacking Pursuit hurts him… So he’s here to collect the Power Ring. May as get some EXP as he does.

Now then! Watch THIS!

There’s most of Ovo’s goons…

Now for the Magus Sisters.

And there we go. Can’t blame this on me overleveling Celice, either. Aless KOs them almost as easily! At base level!

Actually, let’s see how Aless is doing!

Enemy Attack

I love Holy Weapons in this game. I really, really do! They’re some of the only Holy Weapons in the series that actually live up to the hype. I wouldn’t want a remake to change a thing!

Also note how much EXP Aless got. These guys’re all 3-4 Levels higher than him, so Aless his gain is fantastic

!

Anyway, that’s all Aless is killing this EP.

Chapter 8: Dragon Knights of Thracia

Well, that’s it for those guys…

Now we kill the bridge General while getting onto a Church. Haven’t used one of those in a while, huh?

Also, Fin, goes around…

Player Attack

So Lester can secure the deathblow!

Chapter 8: Dragon Knights of Thracia

Now, Lester wants to be directly behind Fin, so the Troubadors don’t attack ‘em. Patty can just move as far as she can.

Back to Alster. Leaf & Nanna have almost come home…

And I’ve made a Jealousy Formation with Skasaha and Lana!

Also, Aless kills another guy, then goes just out of range. Also somewhere Leen can Dance.

Now, Fee’s going up to the village, and not down to her secret event.

Let’s see what the latter would’ve looked like!

(Same Music)

Fee: How’re you holding up, Mahnya?

It’s nice, having Metis in Chapter 4. Means I don’t have to remind y’all who Mahnya is :cheeky: !

Fee: Being named after a hero of the kingdom, my aunt no less, must count for something… Once this war is over, you and I are heading back to Silesia. Sound good? And maybe I’ll find me a handsome boy and get married! Ha ha! But that’s a ways off yet. Hang in there, Mahnya!

And that’s that!

Cutscene time at Conote!

Enemy Message 2

Faval: Look, I’m busy, okay? So if you’ve got something for me, spit it out.

He says to the king with a Holy Weapon… Well ok, Blume doesn’t have it now, but Faval doesn’t know that.

Blume: Grmph… I had you summoned because I have a favour to ask of you.

Faval: What kind of favour?

Blume: I need your help in bringing down the rebel army.

Faval: Not interested. Find another mercenary to do your dirty work.

Faval specializes in clean mercenary work, you see. He’s super picky about it. How does he make ends meet, despite that?

Well, I was going to mock the plot again, but...

Blume: understand you have several orphans under your care. It seems you could use the money. I hear your younger sister has resorted to theft to make ends meet. That doesn’t bother you?

...Actually, it explains it right there. He’s NOT making ends meet, and being picky about his dirty work is probably why.

Faval: Patty really goes out of her way for those kids…

Dun dun DUN!! Brigid had TWO kids, and Faval’s the brother!

Faval: Hmph… we could use the cash.

...Of course, that gets weird when you realize he’s letting her steal. His own sister. This isn’t even getting into the problem with his substitute, Hawk. More on that, later…

Blume: Then we have an agreement? You finish off Celice and all the money you want is yours.

Faval: Agreed.

This seems like a really bad id-

Faval: I’ve a feeling I’m going to regret this…

...Exactly. And…?

Faval: ...but I’ll help you just this once.

...And he does it any way. The scene needed to end there, I guess.

Manster Army

Aless is out of range, fortunately. Muhammed would have gotten him, otherwise.

Yeah, he’s not super strong. He’s got just two Leadership Stars, and doesn’t have personal skills… But he’s got 2-Range and Hero Weapons. Aless doesn’t wanna get hit if he doesn’t have to.

This is Fin attracting Troubadors…

And those Xs are the result! All five of them are gone now!

And these Xs are Celice blasting the Armor Knights!

Finally, that 8% HIT is the result of WTA!

Chapter 8: Dragon Knights of Thracia

Magic Swords obey the magic triangle when the opponent attacks from afar!

Also, there’s the Church healing! Pretty neat VFX, eh?

Now! Celice blicks the MBandit, then switches to the Hero Sword.

As for the others, Fin’s done here. He heads back to Lenster to fight some Arena guys later.

Then, these two go further right. Patty’s recruiting Faval, as you might have guessed.

Aless and his girl keep chipping away…

Manster Army

Then Faval takes his shot.

It’s actually very important Celice ends at either this spot here, or the tile just lower-left of it. Put him anywhere else, and you risk Faval blocking his path! We want Celice to skip Faval entirely, so this is important!

Recruitable Enemy

Also, here’s something interesting. Faval has the Ichival AND a Silver Bow…

...and the one he choses is random! His choice of weapon changes depending on how he feels.

Doesn’t end up relevant, but still! Interesting.

Nothing interesting otherwise. Some long-range attacks here, some Mbandits there… We kinda killed everyone else.

Chapter 8: Dragon Knights of Thracia

Let’s move on.

Fee comes to save the village! Sorry about the textbox in the way…

Player Attack

But yeah, reminder to Thief Sword your Mbandits first. They give 5000G each!

Now Aless is LVL 16, so he’s almost at this chapter’s benchmark. The Bow Knight isn’t as high leveled as the Priest, though, so we take a chance.

Priests aren’t weighed down by weapons, so Aless gets just one guaranteed attack.

Chapter 8: Dragon Knights of Thracia

He needed Continue or Critical. Otherwise, the guy might’ve lived!

Back at it, and…

Booyah! Just 42 EXP from where he needs to be

!

Doesn’t need to kill Muhammed or anything! Just whacking him will do :cheeky: !

This is as far as Patty can go before the long-range guys can hit her. Fortunately, she and Lester are exactly where they need to be

!

Same for Celice, who kills the leader of said guys (he grants a +5 HIT bonus), then goes riiiiiiight outside Faval’s range. Faval’s scripted to attack Lenster, so he’ll ignore Celice outright!

Enemy Phase! Will something happen this turn?

Enemy Message 2

Yes it will! It’s Ishtar!

They finally make up their minds about Thracia? Pretty big fricken difference between “we’re expecting them to help us” and “we need to guard Mease from them”…

But enough nitpicking.

Notice how deferential Blume is, here. Everyone else, he barked orders at. This is the first person he’s actually said “please” to.

Ishtar: Father, this so unlike you! How could a petty band of rebels get you so worked up?

Or perhaps it’s because he has an actual bond with her?

Blume: They’ve already killed your brother, Ishtor, and we’ve lost Tinny as well. I can’t rely on Vampa and her sisters either… You’re all I have left!

Also like how Blume keeps things vagues with Tinny. She coulda been killed, she coulda been recruited, or she coulda just disappeared.

Ishtar: I see… I’ll need the Torhammer then. I can take care of the enemy blindfolded with that in my possession.

Blume: You want th… the Torhammer!? Hmph… Alright, take it. Just don’t slip up!

Ishtar: I won’t… I can handle this.

Famous last words.

Manster Army

And there she goes, just 1 space away from attacking Celice instantly. We’ll get to THAT death-match soon…

…But let’s see how Aless is doing, first!

Enemy Attack

Nice! He’s over the benchmark!

Now it’s just a matter of surviving Muhammed. Can he do it?

Miniboss

And that’s all he says. Much more taciturn than Shagaal ever was.

Much stronger, too. Shame about his face…

Manster Army

Here we see the contrast between Faval & Ishtar. Faval, naivety aside, isn’t really for this whole thing, so he goes about half his full movement in the general direction of Lenster.

Ishtar, on the other hand, is part of the royal family, so she WILL pursue the closest enemy with her full movement!

In fact, let’s talk about her for a bit; She’s owed that much.

Ishtar, Ishtar, Ishtar… Well, let’s show her bonus convo with Tinny, first.

ISHTAR VS TINNY:

Fateful Showdown

Ishtar: Hey, aren’t you Tinny? Why are you fighting me?

Tinny: Ishtar!? I, I’m sorry…

Ishtar: So, you’re betraying us… I misjudged you, Tinny!

FYI, don’t ever do this. Ishtar will murder her.

Anyway, Ishtar is one of the most infamous sub-bosses in the entire game, and for good reason. She targets RES with a Holy Weapon, and has a 59% chance of proccing Continue. In practical terms, that’s a 59% chance of erasing anyone she wants to.

183 HIT is obscene, too. Here’s Arthur w/Holsety, for example…

This is the fastest anyone can be, besides Shanan… But 183 – 92 is STILL 91 Hit!

There are other boosts you can get, of course. Celice can give +20 Avoid, Castles and Mountains can give +30, Weapon Triangle Advantage gives +20, and our two Charisma bots (Delmud & Nanna) give +10 more each. That all boosts Arthur to 182 Avoid. That pushes Ishtar to 1 HIT, which should generally be enough…

But she still has HIT! The fact she has any at all should say something!

We don’t HAVE to fight her, of course. We can just kill Blume, Seize the castle, and make her go poof. She lives anyway.

But no, we’re not doing that. As strong as Ishtar is, she has one fatal flaw…

She’s still a mage, in a game where Brave weapons are at their best. We just a Hero Sword, someone with 19+ STR, and 10+ SKL. STR isn’t a problem, since Aless is running around with a 90% STR growth, and 10 SKL is trivial. From there, you decide whether you need Celice’s Leadership boost and/or the Charisma bots… And then you see if Ishtar needs to be on a Road.

...Or, you could just have an overpowered Celice.

Julius

Prince Julius, at last! Y’all remember him?

Well here’s a reminder. He’s Alvis’ son, Julia’s sister, Celice’s brother… However you wish to think of him. But does he have Major Loputousu, or is that yet another unnamed sibling? We shall see…

Julius: I need you, Ishtar. Come join me...

Ishtar: Of course, anything!

Er… You still protecting dad?

No? Just gonna take off with your boyfriend, huh? Doesn’t even return the TorHammer…

Chapter 8: Dragon Knights of Thracia

Suits me just fine, though!

Back to Faval… We just wanna move to around here so he’s out of Ichival range. Patty can do whatever; Faval won’t attack her.

Player Attack

Fee keeps chipping at her Mbandit…

Chapter 8: Dragon Knights of Thracia

And then Aless declares his grinding done, while Arthur goes to distract the dudes. It would have been great to have Eltshan’s son behead the Shagaal clone… But alas, I wasn’t thinking of it at the time

Oh well! He probably doesn’t deserve that level of scorn anyway…

MUHAMMED’S DEATH QUOTE:

Muhammed: We’ve been defeated…? King Blume, please forgive us…

His dying words are to ask for his liege’s forgiveness, so...

Anyway, Aless probably didn’t need every drop of that EXP. He puts in good work in Chapter 10, and even a little in Endgame, so he could’ve probably went home a bit. It’s no issue though; He had a convenient opportunity, and he was one of the only ones capable of easily killing Muhammed’s troops.

Anyway, Fin needs the Elite Ring, now…

Arena Match

So he gets HIS turn reaching OVERLORD ZENON as well.

He might have some trouble with Jismunt beforehand…

...but, hey! That’s why he’s near a castle ^_^ !

Manster Army

Enemy Phase is uneventful…

Muhammed’s goons brush past Arthur, Faval inches to where Patty can Talk to him...

...Blume’s guard offs himself for our convenience…

Fateful Showdown

And then Blume himself gets started.

Blume: You… I won’t forgive you!

Will he get Celice?

Nope. He just whiffs.

Chapter 8: Dragon Knights of Thracia

And there we go! Back to our turn!

Fin finds an awesome Prayer range, by the way.

Now SAVE YOUR GAME!! Blume doesn’t have TorHammer anymore, but he’s still a Baron. Big Shield can, and will, troll you!

Also, I wanna show off Faval’s battle quotes.

Recruitable Enemy

FAVAL VS PATTY:

Faval: Hm? Patty… it’s not like that.

FAVAL VS EVERYONE ELSE:

Faval: Sorry… I need the money…

FAVAL DEATH QUOTE:

Faval: Patty… Forgive your brother…

Scintillating.

Now let’s get him on our side!

Patty with Faval:

Recruitment

Awkward...

Patty: That’s right! We’re here helping the people and we’re gonna finish off Blume! It was the Imperial Guard that killed the parents of all the orphans. Remember!? And now YOU are fighting with the very same army! What’s wrong with you!

Faval: You’re right. Sorry… I don’t know what got into me.

Faval’s like a coin, you see. You try ‘em one day, he lands on your side. Try ‘em another day, and he’s on the other side. It’s all very sudden.

Patty: If you’re really sorry about it, then join up with us. We gotta bring peace back to the people!

Faval: Alright, I’m in. Patty, you sure have grown up since I saw you last.

Patty: Who, me? Heehee!

Seriously though, it’s so sudden! It’s like one paragraph, and he’s already swayed! Anyway, we got ‘em, so let’s talk about him!

Faval Overview

There we go.

Chapter 8: Dragon Knights of Thracia

Anyway, send Lester up and Faval right. Lester’s aiming for the Power Ring and Faval’s aiming for Gold.

Alright, Celice is up to bat again!

Fateful Showdown

You heard it here, folks. Celice just called Blume a brat.

Celice: There’s no escape for you this time. You might as well give up.

Blume: D, damn it… You…! I’ll take you with me!

But in all seriousness, he IS pretty savage here! Nice change of pace from his usual characterization!

Sadly, his line is followed by a failure to kill…

Oh well! That’s why we save our game

!

Chapter 8: Dragon Knights of Thracia

Now, let’s burn some RNs by killing this Mbandit…

...and get Fee some Gold!

Good thing Ishtar didn’t catch wind of that...

They’ve put their full trust behind a young Silesian mage named Sety. But they also have Thracia breathing down their neck…

Not to mention Ishtar! Seriously, she was there, up till Turn 3 Enemy Phase!

I hope they’re alright.

It’s just so weird to think about. That Ishtar and Sety started in the exact same castle! That would’ve been a death match for the ages…

Alright, can we try this again?

Fateful Showdown

There we go! Now does he have any unique convos? Yes he does.

BLUME VS FAVAL:

Blume: Y, you’re Faval! You…! You’re betraying me!!

Faval: Sorry, but I thought it over, and I decided that there was nothing that would get me to help you. I hate to say it, but you’re going to die.

More like Patty smacked some sense into you...

Blume: Damn it! All of you…

BLUME VS TINNY:

Blume: Tinny… you ingrate!

Oof, family drama. Let’s see wha-

Tinny: You drove my mother to her death, remember? Or do I have to remind you!?

Blume: D, damn it…

Ok, first of all, that is one HELL of a bomb to just drop inside a random battle convo. Secondly, when did she figure this out?! If it was before we saw her, then I’d have to wonder why she was so submissive and willing to obey in Chapter 7. If it was AFTER we recruited her, then when did she figure it out? Arthur knew that King Blume had separated him and Tinny, but he didn’t say anything about who killed Tiltyu… Only that she’d “passed away” recently. If Arthur somehow learned something between chapters, then the game never tells us. He doesn’t even get a convo with Blume, in fact.

Oh well… Let’s get this show on the road!

Victory 1

Levin: The soldiers that were here all fled when they heard of Conote’s fall.

Celice: Good. Manster shouldn’t be too difficult to liberate then.

Levin: I wish it were that simple… The problem is Thracia.

Celice: But Thracia has remained neutral all this time. Why would they turn on us?

Levin: You don’t know King Trabant. Just ask Prince Leaf. He lost his entire family to Trabant. And the way in which he took their lives was a disgrace to the knighthood… Keep an eye on him, Celice. He’s up to something.

Actually, we know for a fact he’s up to something.

Chapter 8: Dragon Knights of Thracia

We actually saw him say he’d ambush either us or Blume, once one or the other won. So, good on Levin!

But before we do that, we got another Talk.

Nanna wants to catch up with Aless, and I feel like obliging her.

Nanna with Aless (+2 STR & DEF to Nanna):

Conversation 1

Nanna: I heard you’re King Eltshan’s son. Is that true?

Aless: Yeah, so what about it?

Nanna: It is you, after all! I am Nanna… I’m the daughter of King Eltshan’s sister!

Aless: What? You’re Lachesis’ daughter!?

Nanna: Yes! She was so worried about you for the longest time… That must have been why she came to Lenster. She was looking for you!

Aless: My father knew Agustria was about to be engulfed in war. So he sent me and my frail mother to her parent’s residence in Lenster. But I lost my dear mother to the flames of war during the empire’s invasion of Lenster.

I guess Pursuit + Continue + Ambush just wasn’t enough for poor ol’ Granye

...

Nanna: And that’s when you went with Jabarro?

Aless: Yeah, he took me in after that, and I traveled the world with his mercenary troops.

Nanna: No wonder we never met… Aless, I have something for you.

Aless: What… Is that from my father!?

Nanna: Yes. My mother passed it on to me. It’s addressed to you, Aless.

Aless: …!!

Nanna: See… Sir Sigurd never once betrayed King Eltshan’s trust. I’m sure they were good friends till the very end.

Aless: Whoa… I’ve had it wrong all this time.

Nanna: Aless, keep Sir Celice safe, okay? He needs you on his side more than anything!

Aless: … I’ll do that, Nanna. Hey, I’ll teach you some sword fighting tactics before you go. Now watch carefully…

You ever just do that? You see your cousin, and you whip up some Krav Maga to celebrate? No? Well, apparently Aless does

.

Love the results, though!

White Magic

Anyway, Lana’s just about capped, so…

Now it’s Julia’s turn to have the Warp Staff!

Oh, and she sold the Rezire tome to pay for repairs and the like. She’s gonna get better Light magic real soon!

Arena Match

Meanwhile, Fin clears Rank 6 with some good Miracle use…

Can he beat OVERLORD ZENON?

YES HE CAN!! After a few tries, anyway!

Manster Castle Town

And then he sells about everything. Good thing Prayer is so strong!

Welp, I’d call that an episode alright! Will King Trabant launch a vicious offensive? Or will it be just as underwhelming as everything else we’ve fought? Find out next time, on Let’s Max Rank Fire Emblem 4: Genealogy of the Holy War! Have a nice day, and God bless you all!

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CURRENT AAAA RANKED RUN STATS:

Time Taken This Update: ~33 minutes and 24 seconds

Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: ~18 hours, 25 minutes, 7 seconds

Turns Taken This Update: 7 Turns

Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 266 Turns

Levels Gained This Update: 21 Levels

Total Levels Gained: 730 Levels

Things I Regret: In the Prologue, I regret the fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue.

In Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue.

On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.

On Chapter 3, I regret selling Deirdre's Aura tome! I'll bet she TOTALLY could've kicked Manfloy's butt, if ONLY I hadn't taken that away

!!

On Chapter 4, I regret spending so much time disabeling the Arena bug for Fury's Arena fights; her combat stats didn't even matter once I promoted her! I also regret not having Claude turn around sooner. I also regret not repairing the Return Staff before giving it to Aideen.

On Chapter 5, I regret not having Dew sit tight after slaying that General; I didn't really accomplish much by moving him around outside, so I probably wasted about a minute or so.

On Chapter 7, I regret putting Fee and Arthur the same amount of spaces away from that dark mage as I did Julia. I was lucky enough that the attacked Julia anyway...but a mistake is still a mistake. Also might have wanted to refrain from Thief Swording the Dark Mages.

On Chapter 8, I wonder if I needed to give all those kills to Aless, or if he could’ve done without them? Perhaps Delmud would have been better for grinding off Muhammed’s men?

Level 24-28: 64 > 70 HP, 25 STR, 15(20) MAG, 22 > 22(27) SKL, 18 SPD, 13 > 15 LCK, 20 > 21 DEF, 11(16) > 12(17) RES!

Level 24-28: 55 > 60 HP, 15 STR, 20 MAG, 21 > 24 SKL, 17 > 19 SPD, 30 LCK, 10 > 12 DEF, 11 > 12 RES!

Level 5-6: 36 > 37 HP, 14 STR, 2 MAG, 8 SKL, 10 SPD, 16 LCK, 8 DEF, 0 RES!

Level 6-7: 29-30 HP, 1 STR, 16-17 MAG, 9 > 10 SKL, 13 SPD, 6 > 7 LCK, 3 DEF, 15 > 16 RES!

Level 11-12: 32-36 HP, 10 > 11 STR, 2 > 3 MAG, 9 SKL, 18 SPD, 16 LCK, 9 DEF, 16 RES!

Level 17-21: 43 > 46 HP, 13 STR, 1 > 2 MAG, 16 > 18 SKL, 13(18) > 14 SPD, 17 > 20 LCK, 9 DEF, 1 RES!

Level 7-8: 35 > 36 HP, 10 > 13 STR, 3 MAG, 10 SKL, 8 SPD, 11 LCK, 7 > 9 DEF, 5 RES!

Level 14-18: 47 > 52 HP, 19 > 22 STR, 4 MAG, 15(35) > 16(36) SKL, 14 > 16 SPD, 11 > 14 LCK, 18 > 21 DEF, 6(16) > 7(17) RES!

Level 14-15: 36 > 37 HP, 8(13) > 9(14) STR, 6 MAG, 4 SKL, 12 > 13 SPD, 11 LCK, 3 > 4 DEF, 5 RES!