"I have to use WHO?" Let's play FE12 Level Rotation Run.

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weso12: Nov 19, 2014; Lurker, Sims 3 LPer, Bored College Student

Welcome to my Let's Play of Fire Emblem New Mystery of the Emblem with a Level Rotation challenge

FAQ

What is this game?

This is a Fire Emblem game (yes that series that has way too many smash brothers characters), the twelfth one, a remake of (half) the third one, a direct sequel to the eleventh one, and strangely the only one not officially localized since the sixth. I'll go into that later when the playthrough starts.

If it's not officially localized how are you playing it in English?

Fan translation, which unfortunately doesn't use the most up to date localization of the characters name, I'll use the names the fan translation gives, with one notable exception, and not the official localization, but I'll mention the official localization when the characters show up (which will start early),

What's a Level Rotation Challenge?

It's a self-imposed challenge I thought of (though I am far from the first person to think of it), with the following rules (If you're not a die-hard fire emblem fan, don't worry I'll explain as they come):

1. On any chapter in which I choose my unit deployment, I must deploy the lowest level units in my army. With the following notes and restrictions:

-I may (and have to for obvious reasons) still deploy force deployments (namely Marth) even if they otherwise do not qualify

-If two units are tied in level, experience breaks the tie

--If two units are tied in level AND experience I get to choose.

-I must fill up my deployment slots

-Promoted Units count at their Level + 20

-If a unit needs to be recruited by a specific character I must deploy that character even if they do not otherwise qualify (replacing the highest level person I'd normally deployed, If multiple characters can recruit that character I must deploy the lowest level one)

-If a unit reaches level cap they no longer can be deployed until they promote. (Unless not applicable i.e. if Feena reaches level 30 I may not deploy her anymore)

2. I must recruit every unit and units may not die. (I'm playing on classic)

3. I am aiming for the good ending of the game (this is technically an extension of rule 2 as not every character is gotten on the bad ending) AND I must obtain every Master Seal and Elysian Whip

4. Units may not promote till level 20, however, if a unit (aside from the ones who do not promote), reaches level 20, I must promote them right away with first come first serve Master Seals or Elysian Whips.

-A further extension of this that involves cheating: If a unit reaches promotion level and I do not have any available Master Seals/Elysian Whips (for female units) I WILL allow to hack in a Master Seals or Elysian Whip (up to 15 Master Seals and up to 3 Elysian Whips), to promote units while removing the appropriate gold amount the process, this is effectively the equivalent of mimicking the now-defunct online shop, the only reasons I'm allowing this is that there are not enough Master Seals and Elysian Whips to go around to promote everyone in the main story but with the online shop there is just enough by my count. (If you feel bad about me cheating, then don't, because it's unlikely I'll be promoting that many units in this playthrough anyways)

5. How's Everyone is banned but I will be showing it off (Saving before I use it, and resetting after I do) (This isn't an extension of Level Rotation but I figured that it makes things more interesting and reliable if I don't use it).

Soft Rules: I'm banning reclass (mainly because I don't like it) and Drill Grounds unless I get to a point where I need them (With Drill grounds I'll require that I must use it on my lowest level unit), Arena is hard banned though.

Have you done a challenge like this before? Is such a rule set even possible?

Surprisingly yes, I did in the same thing with Sacred Stones granted that was a much easier game if it turns out I come onto a TRULY impossible point of the game (or rather not possible without an absurd level of RNG abuse), just abandon the self-imposed restriction. Just a warning that eventually things will probably turn into a close to Marth solo.

What's your spoiler policy?

This game pretty openly spoils Shadow Dragon so those spoilers are fair game (maybe spoil tag any plot points of shadow dragon not discussed in this game yet), but other than that NO SPOILERS of this game or any other game.

Character Profiles

Kris: A youth from Sera village in Altea. Knocked on Altea's gate to become a knight.

Katarina: Member of the 7th platoon of Altean knights. An aspiring tactician who assists her platoon. (See also: Eine)

Jagen: Marth's trusted advisor: very strict. hed served as knight commander in the War of Shadows.

Marth: Prince of Altea; prides his friends. He led the League's army to defeat Medeus in the last war.

Medeus: The Earth Dragon king who invoked the War of Shadows. Marth defeated him with the Falchion.

Nyna: Princess of Archanea, saved from execution by Camus the Sable. Aided Marth in the last war.

Caeda: Princess of Talys. Loves her fiance, Marth, dearly. Recruited many foes in the last war.

Luke: Member of the 7th platoon of Altean knights. Rash and stubborn, he is a nuisance to Rody

Rody: Member of the 7th platoon of Altean knights. Usually calm, but lately bother by Luke.

Ryan: Member of the 7th platoon of Altean knights. Timid, just like his elder brother, Gordin.

Cain: Knight of Altea, nicknamed "Great Bull". Abel's partner during the War of Shadows.

Wrys: A curate who resides at Talys. During the War of Shadows, his healing kills helped Marth.

Athena: Swordfighter from the frontier lands. A serious woman who never forgets a favor.

Jeorge: Knight of Archanea, the greatest bowman in the continent. His loyalty to Nyna is absolute

Gordin: Archer of Altea; a little timid. In the last war, he escaped to Talys along with Marth.

Roro: Member of the Assassins: Wears an eerie mask. His words belie his true intentions.

Merric: Wind mage of Khadein, Marth's long-time friend. Wielder of the wind magic "Excalibur"

Kleine: Member of the Assassins. A cruel woman who find pleasure in serving her leader.

Frey: Knight of Altea; willing to sacrifice himself. He aided Marth's escape during the last war.

Ogma: Leader of Talys's mercenaries. A veteran combater, his loyalty to Caeda is absolute.

Cecille: Member of Altea's 7th Platton. Hates losing and often gets into fights.

Draug: Knight of Altea, known for his rigid defence. He served as Altea's shield in the last war.

Est: The youngest of the pegasus sisters. A carefree woman who aided Minerva in the previous war.

Eine: Member of the Assassins; calm and collected. She posed as a new recruit to kill Marth. (See also: Katarina)

Table of Contents
Prologue 1
Prologue 2
Prologue 3
Prologue 4
Prologue 5
Prologue 6
Prologue 7
Prologue 8

Bonus Content
Alternate Prologue 4
The Truth about FE11 and FE12 Caps
Alternate Prologue 6
Alternate Prologue 7

weso12 fucked around with this message at 12:56 on Feb 24, 2020

# ? Feb 9, 2020 02:37

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# ? May 2, 2024 00:45

weso12: Nov 19, 2014; Lurker, Sims 3 LPer, Bored College Student

Post reversed just in case.

# ? Feb 9, 2020 02:37

weso12: Nov 19, 2014; Lurker, Sims 3 LPer, Bored College Student

If your curious: Heroes of Shadow is the fan translation team, find it a little egotistical to put yourself right on the intro like that, but the fan translators worked hard on this so whatever

Side note: I'm annoyed this game wasn't localized, but I understand, I imagine the main issue was that it was released more or less after the release of the 3DS. They likely didn't want to waste their time localizing a DS game that likely wouldn't sell well.

I mean I guess, I know that for a while the Wikipedia page for just entering in Marth referred to a small german town rather than the Fire Emblem protagonist.

That ambiguous person who we aren't going to describe because we want you to slide yourself into that role!

But it's a white person because non-pale skin people don't play Fire Emblem.

I like this intro shot because it's fun to see all the characters included.

Implying this person is not a renowned hero.

OH WAIT! Is it Merric? Him and Marth were pretty close IIRC, or it could be Caeda, you know a romantic interest is a friend if you think about it.

Does Marth befriend the titular shadow dragon of the last game? IDK who they can be referring too.

Which is why they are not in Fire Emblem Heroes!

Yeah I got nothing else snarky to say here.

I believe the fan translators put in a modified title screen as well that must have not been easy.

Starting a new game. I might show some extra stuff later if I get bored.

Normal Mode ~~because I'm a bitch,~~ because IDK if this challenge is possible even on normal mode (I practiced up to Chapter 10, but after that is when it would get REAL hard). So I'm not gonna even try anything beyond Normal

No tutorials because I don't need 'em!

I should probably explain this difference: Casual mode means that if anyone dies besides the main character they just return the next chapter. (The main character dying still means game over)

Classic mode means when your unit dies it's for real and they are gone forever, or more accurately when a character dies you restart the chapter over again because unless you're doing an Ironman self-imposed challenge, no one lets characters die for real. I'm playing classic because it makes things more interesting.

Since this is the first game with Casual mode I should probably say my thoughts: I don't hate it, honestly, it probably creates a better game experience, but I'm so used to Classic that unless I'm doing something like support grinding in awakening I pick Classic.

Well thank you, Anna, to explain who this is, this is Anna, the mascot of the series. She's appeared in almost every game in the series, to explain how this is possible, Fire Emblem Awakening justifies this as "Dimensional Hopping Nurse Joy's". She's not too much of a character this game but oh well.

Basically what's she saying is this is when you get to introduce a self-insert avatar.

The canon name for the avatar here is "Chris". However in Awakening location (along with with the Fire Emblem Heroes "Choose Your Legends" pool), it was localized as "Kris".

I'll be naming the avatar Kris here just for consistency with modern localization

You get to choose your avatar's gender, I'll be choosing Male since it's closer to canon (I don't think Female Kris even has a Cipher card).

Next, you choose your class, let me go through the options briefly. Note that Male and Female class options are different. (I'll into more detail of the classes in separate posts): Mercenaries (as seen above) are sword users, swords being the weakest most accurate of the 3 main melee types, it has decent strength and pretty good speed and skill. It's a solid option to start with.

Only male avatars can be mercenaries (and only male characters in general, this will be more important when I explain reclassing)

Myrmidons are sword users like mercenaries, but they're generally worse most of the time, less strength and defense. Usually this is supposed to be made up by having higher speed and skill, but mercenaries usually have enough of that to double anyway so it doesn't matter.

Only female avatars can be myrmidons, it's not a gender-exclusive class (you get male Myrmidons later), but the male avatar can't start as one.

Knights are the tanks, that fail at being tanks because they can't reach the front lines of this game, and, on harder difficulties get doubled when they do. They use Lances, which are the Mario of Melee weapons. They have medium accuracy and power. It's apparently a good option for Kris to take for the Prologue in an efficient playthrough but I'm not a fan overall.

Only male avatars can be Knights

Pegasus Knights are the flying class of the game, they have good movement and ignore terrain. They also have high resistance making them less vulnerable to magic and have high speed. Their typical downsides are being vulnerable to Bow, poor bulk and not great Strength. Overall a useful class and probably the only reason to be a female avatar in this game.

Only female avatars (and female characters in general) can be Pegasus Knights because of some weird flavor reason that has never made sense to me.

Left (Male), Right (Female)

Cavaliers the mounted units of this game, they have good movement, they use both Swords and Lance, they are somewhat tanky and can reach the front line, unlike Knights. It's probably the best option for Kris to take in a casual playthrough (not the option casual just a non-efficient playthrough)

Both male and female avatars can be Cavaliers.Mmale avatars in Cavalier start with an Iron Lance and D rank Lances and E Rank Swords, female avatars in Cavalier start with an Iron Sword and D rank Swords and E Rank Lances. (Also female Cavaliers will have access to one sword that males won't and it's a pretty decent sword)

Fighters are the axe specialists of the game.Aaxes are the least accurate but most powerful of the 3 melee weapon types. The low defense is a bit of a misnomer they usually have high HP to somewhat make up for their low defense so they tend to have average bulk. Their main issues arise more their weapon type is inaccurate which is somewhat annoying, and their speed is pretty hit and miss.

Only male avatars can be fighters.

Left (Male), Right (Female)

Archer's attack from range and can't counterattack in melee. Normally they kind of suck because the developers insist on giving them lovely stats, this is also true this game but on top of that, they have bad move. I guess they are tanker than usual but why would a unit who can't counter attack care that much about bulk.

Both male and female avatars can be archers and there is no difference as long as you remain archers.

Left (Male), Right (Female)

Mages are tome users. Tomes can attack from melee and ranged. On top of that their tomes target Resistance instead of Defense and Resistance tends to be a much lower stat (like 0 til near endgame) for most units. Their downside is primarily that they have low bulk and their combat stat (Magic) tends to be somewhat lower than physical units Strength. Personally I find that avatar mages tend to get outclassed by other mages later but that might just be my one experience.

Both male and female avatars can be mages and the only difference is that there two exclusive female tomes and one exclusive male tome. Yes, that is dumb.

I'm gonna default here and choose mercenary as that is canon (as supported by official art and card game). Female Kris's canon option is myrmidon BTW.

At this point you get to customize your appearance, I'm not gonna show the options here just know there is no skin tone option (which tbf isn't a huge deal since this game wasn't released outside of Japan), nor is there any curly hair option (which I personally found frustrating when trying to create myself), and strangely for a game where the intended audience is Japanese people, no black hair.

I shall now predict your journey using your past, present, and future.

After appearance customization, this is where you get to your avatar's "Past, Present, and Future". These all affect your stats in both a short term and a long term way.

Past gives a large bonus to bases and a low one to growths.

I'll list the bonuses below, I'm going min-max here since they are no "canon" options

Merchant's child: Luck +2, Resistance +2, Luck Growth +5%

Priest's child: Defense +2

Orphan: Strength +2, Magic +2, Strength growth +5%, Magic growth +5%

Farmer's Child: HP +4, HP growth +10%

Noble's child: Skill +2, Speed +2, Skill growth +5%, Speed growth +5%

I'm going with Orphan since a starting boost of Power is nice.

Next is present which gives a medium bonus to both your bases and growths.

Beauty: Skill +1, Speed +1, Skill growth +10%, Speed growth +10%

Wisdom: Luck +1, Resistance +1, Luck growth +10%, Resistance growth +5%

Diversity(Not shown here because I picked orphan last time): Strength +1, Magic +1, Strength growth + 10%, Magic growth +10%

Kindness: Defense +1, Defense growth +5%

Strength: HP +2, HP growth +20%

I went with Beauty because speed is and will always be the most important stat.

Last is the future which only affects your growth rates.

Humane: Defense Growth +10%

Honorable: (Not shown here because I picked Beauty last time) Skill growth +15%, Speed growth +15%

Enlighted: HP growth +30%

Wealthy: Luck growth +15%, Resistance growth +10%

Recluse: (Not shown here because I picked Orphan first) Strength growth +15%, Magic growth 15%

I picked "Enlighted" because of the HP boost, which puts me over 100% in HP which makes be guaranteed to level it up.

Side note why is "Recluse" something to strive for? Is this a Japanese cultural difference thing or a weird joke by developers?

With everything now complete, let us begin your story posthaste...

Hm... meeting? I wonder who we are meeting?

A bunch of blue units just hanging out. Note the archer and weirdly blue soldiers we never get access too. Along with that, a strange Cleric, who I have no idea who that's supposed to represent, I'm fairly certain on that Archer but that's about it.

Looks like we're about to bump into a mage girl.

I guess that answers the meeting question earlier.

I-I'm sorry. I was in a hurry, and... Excuse me, did you come here to become an Altean knight as well?

Yep. I came here all the way from Sera village when I heard they were recruiting new knights. The name's Kris.

Kris? That's a nice name. We're here for the same reason, then.

This dialogue varies based on your name length, I surprisingly got the medium-length one.

If your name is super short (like one character):

"___...? T-that's quite an unusual, short name...."

If your name is short:

"___? That's a nice, short name."

If your name is long:

"___? That sounds so dignified!"

My name is Katarina. I came because I wish to serve Prince Marth. But there sure are a lot of hopefuls here. Look, there's one over there and another there...

The first chapter of my epic saga to become Altea's greatest knight!

Hey, wait up, Rody! Don't leave your partner behind!

There's no doubt those two were knight candidates like us.

We should follow them, Kris. I think the leader of the knights, Sir Jagen, has something to say to all of us.

OMG Jagen is EVIL guys he's red! Also, that mysterious Cleric returns.

Knights will be chosen by their ability, not by their blood. The path is not easy, though. We have gathered a hundred men and women today, and only a handful of you will succeed.

So we expect every one of you to show us the fruits of your arduous training! Apprentices, I want you to gather in pairs! You will be facing real Altean knights in mock combat!

Huh?! We have to fight? T-this could be a problem.. Kris would you please partner with me? I'm training to become a strategist.

A strategist?

Wouldn't a strategist be doing entirely different training and regiment and stuff than becoming a knight. This part of the plot never made sense to me honestly?

Y-yes. I can give you advice on how to fight, but I can't fight at all...

Let's just casually ignore the fact you have the mage sprite map sprite right now...

You're up next. Grab your weapons and get into position. Hurry!

Got it! Let's go, Katarina! The test is about to start.

Y-yes! Let's do our best.

Why does it matter Katarina? No one is on the field yet!

Okay we're mostly out of plot mode and into the first battle of the game, but as you can see Kris is by himself.

Fire Emblem is a grid-based tactical RPG, now this may seem like a lot of numbers but let me explain them

HP is Hit Points (Or is it Health points? Does any Fire Emblem game confirm what it stands for?) But you know what this is. It gets lowered every time you get attacked and If it reaches 0 you're dead.

Str is Strength it's how much extra damage you do with Physical weapons (most Swords, Lances, Axes, and Bows). This is useless to magic users though in this game.

Mag is Magic it's how much extra damage you do with Magical weapons (mostly just Tomes, but there is a Sword that uses Magic), along with how much Healing you do with Staves (more on that a little later). This is useless to most physical units though.

Skill is well, Skill it gives a bonus to accuracy and critical hit rate, and if you're a pen and paper RPG fan you might think this is the god stat, but quite the opposite, it only gives a VERY small bonus (Each point of skill gives a 1% bonus and each point of skill gives half a percent to Critical hit rate, weirdly only until you reach 20 skill then it's (Skill - 10)%.) 9/10 times the weapons accuracy and critical is more important than the units.

Spd is Speed, it gives an evasion bonus (not much in this game, 1% per point of Speed) and the most important part if your Speed is 4 or higher than the opponents you attack twice (one when initiating and one after the enemy counteracts assuming it's player phase, both after the enemies counterattack if it's the enemy phase), the inverse is also true (if the enemy has 4 or more speed than you they double). This turns Speed into the god stat.

Lck is Luck, it gives an even slighter than Skill boost to accuracy, a slight boost to avoid (half the amount speed does), and reduces your chances to get hit by a critical by 1% per point. This might seem kind of useless because it is, but they are times where this is nice.

Def is Defense, every point of Defense reduces the damage you take from physical attacks (Swords, Lances, Axes, Bows, etc) by 1, simple enough.

Res is Resistance, every point of Resistance reduces the damage you take from magical attacks (just Tomes and that one Sword in this game basically) by 1, again straight forward. Note that aside from magic-users don't expect this to grow much.

If you're curious without the bonuses I chose here are what Kris's stats would have been:

HP: 20
Str: 6
Skill: 11
Spd: 10
Lck: 3
Def: 5
Res: 0

Now let's look at Kris's weapon:

To explain what these numbers mean:

The number by the weapon itself is its durability. Even time you use a weapon it's durability decreases, once it reaches 0 it breaks.

The letter "E" next to Sword is the Rank you need to equip E is as low as it goes so as long you can use Swords you can equip it.

The Mt is Might and it's the damage bonus of how much you damage you do

The Hit in the black bar is the Hit bonus your weapon gives

The Crit (short for Critical) in the black bar is the Critical bonus your weapon gives.

Finally, the Rng (short for Range) in the black bar is the number spaces away you need to be to attack your foe with.

Also, I should probably point those numbers in the corner

Atk is Attack it's Strength or Magic + Might.

Crit is (for Kris here) Skill/2 (Rounded Down)

Hit is Weapon Hit Rate + Skill + (Luck/2) (Rounded down)

Avoid is Speed + (Luck/2) (Rounded down), which is garbage, GBA and the Tellius games used Speed * 2 + Luck (and I guess they used Skill * 2 + Luck as well), but it still resulted in more evasion overall since player stats are better than enemy, which resulted in dodge tanking being somewhat viable, in this game you basically can't dodge tank.

To explain the "Iron Sword" in general: it's the standard weak sword, nothing too special about it, but you gotta start somewhere.

Enough lollygagging, time to move to the space highlighted like we were told to.

I love how this Soldier was impressed we walked in a straight in a line.

As you can tell this guy is a joke

I should probably explain his class though: Soldier is kind of unique throughout the series as it's mostly used a weak fodder class, to serve as the token lance infantry enemy class, because the series (aside from the Tellius games, Fates and I guess kind of Three Houses) refuses to give us Lance Infantry as main units. It's dumb IMHO.

His weapon is less special: Lances are less accurate and more powerful than Swords as I said earlier, and this the standard default lance.

Side Note: Why are they called "Lances" and not "Spears" like most things call them, is that localization thing or a thing in the Japanese version?

Kris can make short work of this guy. (If you're wondering about the up arrow by the Iron Lance and the down arrow by the Iron Sword, or why the Soldier has slightly more accuracy than he should, I'll explain that when it's more relevant)

Here's what soldiers (and Kris as a Mercenary) look like in battle.

Oh crap we have to beat up an elderly man this gonna be SO hard

Jagen is the boss here and as you can tell unlike Shadow Dragon and original FE1, he's not that good here. Age must have caught up with him.

So Jagen is equipped with a Javelin, they have crap might, and lower accuracy than an Iron Lance, but have the primary benefit of 1-2 range, meaning I can be used on foes either 1 or 2 spaces away. Considering the VAST majority of weapons in this game only attack in those two ranges (I think in this game you get access to one weapon that goes beyond 2 range), it's pretty handy.

As you can tell Jagen will be no trouble. We literally can't lose.

All bosses in this game have a "Boss Quote", basically just dialogue they give when they are attacked or attack for the first time. Here's Jagen's

And here is a clear look at the enemy palette of paladin

I should probably explain what Paladin is: It's the promoted form of Cavalier, it uses the same Sword and Lance combo, it has an absurd defense cap it'll never reach likely because of a programming error (or at least that's my running theory). It usually has better stats then Jagen here.

He wasn't hard to kill.

So after killing Jagen (sorry about that), we leveled up. if you're curious how this works. Every stat has a hidden value to increase that change depending on your class, for reference here are (my) Kris's as a mercenary.

110% HP
50% Str
5% Mag
65% Skill
60% Spd
60% Lck
30% Def
0% Res

If you're curious a growth rate of over 100% means that you are guaranteed to go up in that stat, and have Growth - 100% chance to go up twice, so I have a 10% chance to get a +2 HP. Neato.

Map clear? But I only beat two people. Aren't usually maps are bigger than that?

...But I didn't really do anything...It was all thanks to you that we won, Kris!

At least she knows she's useless

Prince Marth wishes to address everyone who passed the test. Sire, if you please.

Ah, it's Prince Marth! He looks so majestic. So that's the face of the hero who saved the world. I love the stories about Prince Marth in the last war. How about you, Kris?

Of course. After all, Prince Marth was the hero who brought an end to the previous war.

Yes, he defeated the Shadow Dragon and Dark Pontifex, restoring peace to the world.

You there, silence! You stand before Prince Marth!

Eep!

I'm surprised the game acknowledged we probably shouldn't be talking now

Everyone. I'm truly happy that so many come to help shoulder Altea's future. With the war over, peace has returned. However, peace isn't something we can simply take for granted: It is my duty, as ruler, to risk my life to protect it. Alone, I am powerless. So, everyone. From now on, I want you to lend me your power, as my knights.

Hear hear, Prince Marth! It was wonderful hearing Prince Marth speak, wasn't it, Kris?

Not really he just said generic dribble. also isn't the king dead? Why is he still the prince?

Yeah, it was. We have to do our best as his loyal knights

Let's keep at it together!

weso12 fucked around with this message at 07:28 on Feb 14, 2020

# ? Feb 9, 2020 03:21

1234567890num: Oct 6, 2017

Are you going to use the reclassing feature?

# ? Feb 9, 2020 08:56

BisbyWorl: Jan 12, 2019; Knowledge is pain plus observation.

It'd be sorta funny if they let you triple dip during chargen.

Just walk up with +3 speed and +30% speed growth forever.

# ? Feb 9, 2020 13:19

weso12: Nov 19, 2014; Lurker, Sims 3 LPer, Bored College Student

1234567890num posted:

Are you going to use the reclassing feature?

I'm gonna try to avoid it if I can, for no other reason then I'm not fan of it in this game. (Or really any fire emblem game other then three houses). However I'm guessing I'll probably come across a point where reclass will be necessary, and obviously I'd prefer to reclass then not complete the playthrough.

BTW expect an update later today, this one's gonna shorter than the last.

weso12 fucked around with this message at 20:30 on Feb 9, 2020

# ? Feb 9, 2020 20:15

FoolyCharged: Oct 11, 2012; Cheating at a raffle? I sentence you to 1 year in jail! No! Two years! Three! Four! Five years! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!
Somebody call for an ant?

The primary reason for reclassing is turning kris into a berserker and watching him shred entire armies single handed.

# ? Feb 9, 2020 22:00

hopeandjoy: Nov 28, 2014

I can�t wait for your army full of healers then.

# ? Feb 9, 2020 22:16

FoolyCharged: Oct 11, 2012; Cheating at a raffle? I sentence you to 1 year in jail! No! Two years! Three! Four! Five years! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!
Somebody call for an ant?

hopeandjoy posted:

I can’t wait for your army full of healers then.

This is an interesting challenge in most games, but in this one's massive cast it'll be a riot.

# ? Feb 9, 2020 22:20

weso12: Nov 19, 2014; Lurker, Sims 3 LPer, Bored College Student

FoolyCharged posted:

This is an interesting challenge in most games, but in this one's massive cast it'll be a riot.

I've done in on FE8 and even in by far easiest game for it it was still interesting. I practiced this up in this game up to Chapter 11 (maybe I should have practiced further but I think people want to see me go unprepared in certain situations), but I can't imagine how ridiculous it will be using like a level 17 fighter (possibly lower) Cord in endgame chapters.

hopeandjoy posted:

I can't wait for your army full of healers then.

I did practice up to chapter 11, and at least til then healers were decently spread out but then again I wasn't playing remotely efficiently and basically spam healing (I should probably conserving heal staves more honestly so I always have a healer)

But the healing exp formula isn't as bad as it was in FE8 when I was basically deploying Natasha, Moulder and L'arachel on every chapter and yes I was spam healing.

If you want my brief thoughts on my FE8 playthrough from my poo poo memory of what has been years ago:

The trainee units (with the rules I used), were a godsend (especially Ross) after the initial hump since their stats were considerably higher than their level indicated.

Marissa was lovely as always, I think she was far and away my lowest leveled units.

Eirika was the best unit in the game (I took eirika's route so she was forced deployed every chapter), I think she solo'd the final boss.

# ? Feb 9, 2020 22:43

weso12: Nov 19, 2014; Lurker, Sims 3 LPer, Bored College Student

First things first, I had to go back a little bit in the playthrough due to reasons I can't explain I had go to back and beat Jagen again, and got a slightly modified level up, it's the same as the last but I didn't get Skill which barely matters

I thought the shadow was the other protagonist of this game?

Conquering stuff for no reason just like real leaders do

Because having a protector nation of all the other ones is bound to go well!

What do you do when a large nation loses to another large nation?

Have a smaller nation save the day, of course!

What did you think would happen?

"I will get my revenge for my tiny nation by assembling an even smaller force!"

And as we all know a single princess of a small nation is capable of beating armies. (That might not be an exaggeration considering how good Caeda is in FE11)

And telling us about him is no indication that he'll be important later.

Hey look it's the title of the franchise!

You know an exiled prince, not an older experienced trained commander or anything of course. That would be silly.

Of course because protagonist powers.

Just felt like showing the whole scrolling top image.

I mean if you beat the leader of an army then all the problems are solved there's no more remaining political turmoil or anything like that, righ?

And Marth still hasn't gotten around to crowning himself king or anything, usually rulers are quick on that draw

As opposed to all the elderly squires out there.

What are the odds? No seriously what are the odds? IDK how many Platoons there are?

Dude I've seen your map sprite. You're not a Paladin, you're a Cavalier.

Oh hey a reasonable person hanging around here! Side note I should probably point out that in Fire Emblem Heroes, Rody here was officially localized as "Roderick"

Oh boy who let a 12 year old join the army?

Also the fire Emblem Choose your legends pool does call him "Ryan" but for some reason the fire emblem wiki (not the fandom one which does call him "Ryan" correctly) calls him "Raian" which IDK why. I know that's his katakana is transcribed but for basically other character they use the official localization (i.e. Rody uses Roderick)

It looks like that's all five of us. Well, what's the plan for today?

There was an order from Sir Jagen. Today's mission is to decide who the new commander will be.

Commander? Gotcha! Well, I'll be commander if you guys all insist!

Nobody's insisting anything, Luke...

Excuse me. I'd like to recommend Kris.

Katarina...?

Kris is a really strong individual. And he didn't abandon me during the mock combat yesterday, even though I couldn't fight.

I mean there wasn't really an option to abandon you, I would have happily done so if I could!

Alright then, I challenge him! Kris, if you beat me, I'll cede the position to you.

Huh? H-how has it come to this?

It's a challenge, man-to-man!

If your female you get some (shoehorned in) bonus dialogue here

But I'm a woman...

Well then it's a man-to-woman challenge!!

Kris, you're not afraid to fight me, are you?

Don't be silly. Kris won't lose to you.

So we'll decide with a battle. That'll let us see who's got the skill to be commander.

I'm sorry, Kris. That was selfish of me... But I couldn't stand hearing them make fun of you...

It's okay. When my grandfather trained me, he used to say the same thing. He said that the best way for men to understand each other is by fighting.

Huh. Y-your grandfather sure sounds colorful

As you can guess the dialogue here is slightly different if you're female as well, but in a lazy way:

It's okay. When my grandfather trained me, he used to say the something similar. He said that the best way for men to understand each other is by fighting. Well, I'm a girl, but...

(weirdly Katarina doesn't comment on your grandfather as a girl)

Anyway, our opponents are Luke and Rody. It's been decided that Ryan will be on our tea.

Y-yes. I'll do my best.

Luke: Master Strategist

It's just Kris and that kid, right? If that's all, I should be able to handle it. I'll show them my true strength.

You're at it again...? Fine, have it your way. But I think underestimating your opponent will get you into trouble.

Time to meet our new recruit: Ryan. Just fyi whenever we get a new character, I'm gonna show their growth rates in their base class:

80% HP
50% Str
0% Mag
80% Skill
50% Spd
40% Lck
35% Def
0% Res

And for fun: For all characters that have appeared in prior Fire Emblems (whether the original FE1, FE3 (I'll show book 1 and book 2 if they are different which they are usually not), or FE11, or even the BS characters if they have any, Ryan Growth Rates here were in FE3 Book 2, the only prior fire emblem game he was in):

60% HP (-20%)
40% Pow (-10%)
70% Skill (-10%)
40% Spd (-10%)
30% Lck (-10%)
40% Wlv* (N/A)
20% Def (-15%)
3% Res (+3%)

*Yeah weapon level was a stat in FE1 and FE3. It was... weird and pointless, it did result in Caeda being able to use the Silver Lance right away in FE1.

Other than a trivial Res growth removal (and every character had a 3% Res Growth in FE3 don't worry about it), his growth got better across the board. We'll see that it isa trend.

Overall for an archer with lovely bases, and decent growth rates you could do a lot worse than Ryan, in that he actually DOES shine if you train him But unfortunately the archer class does hold him back. If you're playing the bonus "You can reclass male units wherever" feature reclassing to him to hunter does make him shine once you reach that point.

Obviously I'm gonna have to use him.

Bows' main gimmick is that they have two range. They have the might of Swords and the accuracy of lances which makes them the worst of both worlds in that regard. (well not the worst in accuracy we're gonna meet the worst in accuracy eventually)

The Iron Bow as you can guess is the standard weak bow

Here's Luke. He's not as awful as that soldier but he's kind of a push over.

So Ryan does 7 damage

And Kris does 9x2 (or 18) damage. Meaning I can either chip with Ryan and kill with Kris, or chip with Kris and kill with Ryan,

Since Ryan needs the experience more, I attack with Kris first.

Enjoy the Luke enemy palette BTW!

Yeah that's right! And I bet you're hogging all the attention, overshadowing the rest of us! I'll beat you here to prove I'm the best! Prepare yourself!

I'm sorry if Kris being mildly competent is overshadowing the rest of you scrubs!

Also side note Luke has entirely different conversation with female Kris:

Sorry, Kris, but I won't hold back just because you're a girl!

That's fine with me.

I'll show you what I've got! Kris, try not to fall in love with me!

Also now that Kris has dealt most of the damage. It's time for Ryan to finish the job.

Dude you agreed to let Ryan fight I'm pretty sure, why are you upset he's helping out?

(Also here's your look at Ryan)

Luke you'll be never be a hero, it's not even a good reclass option for you! AND I don't have cross-set male reclass unlocked on this file!

Meet Rody he's also not tough

I set Kris and Ryan in formation for Kris to take the initial hit and Ryan to finish the job. But...

Note this dialogue makes NO SENSE as female Kris as Luke doesn't mention rumors in his female dialogue.

I need to see your ability firsthand, especially if you're to become the commander. I ask you this, as a fellow squire of Altea.

I didn't realize that Kris 1-rounded Rody, (yes he does double) (side note: you get to see Rody's enemy palette in this battle)

Is two enemies gonna be the standard this game? If so this, this game is a lot easier than I thought

Side Note: Rody does have dialogue when fighting Ryan. It's not that interesting but I'll show it here

My opponent is an archer... Then I should engage him in close-quarters.

Gah, but I don't get it! I was so confident in my skills! How did I wind up losing?!

We took turns fighting Kris one-on-one. That's why we lost to him.

I wonder if your brother is gonna be a character we meet later...

Even if we are weak individually, we can become stronger by working together with our friends

With the power of friendship we can overcome any obstacle if children's television taught me anything

Unlike the Greil Mercenaries: They fight FOR their friends

Side note: I'm pretty sure Kris and Ryan will still win even if Luke and Rody attack together, Kris is THAT good.

...I see. I thought I could be the victor through my strength alone. But I guess I was wrong. Fighting together is far more important...

Luke... I'm so glad. You understand now.

Yeah, it's all clear to me! It looks like being the leader is more trouble than it's worth! So I'll leave this bothersome job to Kris! I'm sure it'll be a joy to working under him! Kris, I'll be looking forward to your help!

...Does he really get it?

Alright then, Kris! Now that you're the commander, how about I give you a cool title?

A title?

Yeah. All the legendary heroes have their own awesome title! Hm, let's see... Looking at your eyes...

While this title is unfortunate, it's likely a jab at my eyes being the default one; this title is different depending on your eye selection the options are:

Kris the Ordinary
Kris the Kind
Kris the Terrible
Kris the Sly
Kris the Wild
Kris the Scarred
Captain Kris
Kris the Wise
Kris the Beast
Kris the Timid
Masked Kris

I don't really understand... Nor do I think it's something worth celebrating...

Aw, don't worry about it! Kris the Ordinary!

weso12 fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Feb 16, 2020

# ? Feb 10, 2020 05:07

weso12: Nov 19, 2014; Lurker, Sims 3 LPer, Bored College Student

Prologue 3

Hasn't everything up to this point also been training?

The first half of your training will focus developing your practical skills. Without further ado, I will introduce the senior knight who is to be your instructor.

To hone your practical skills, we will have a contest in the form of combat. If you let your guard down, it won't be just an injury you'll be walking home with!

This makes it seem like permadeath is on, but it's not.

Even among the Altean knights, Cain is one of our strongest men. You must become strong enough to earn his approval.

Your enemies will consist of us Altean knights, as well as brave warriors whom I am proud to call friends. The opponents are determined by the ability of each platoon. 7th Platoon, your opponent is...

Go easy on you?! You just basically single handedly saved the continent last year!

I feel nervous at the thought of fighting her...

You aren't gonna be fighting her! Me, Luke, Rody and Ryan are, you're just gonna be our little cheerleader in the back!

Let us see if you've got the ability. Talys's mercenaries shall fight you first.

Wait I was told we would be fighting Altean knights, what's this Talys's mercenary garbage?!

Here's the enemy fighter, he's not that tough.

Time for the final of all the iron weapons, the iron axe is more powerful than the iron lance but less accurate.

This mercenary ain't much either, don't worry this pattern will end shortly.

Time to meet our two new units:

If your curious Luke as the exact same stats as in the last chapter except he has 3 more defense.

Let's see his Growth Rates as a Cavalier

90% HP
60% Str
0% Mag
50% Skill
50% Spd
40% Lck
40% Def
5% Res

Let's compare Luke's growth in FE3 Book 2 (the only prior game he was in):

90% HP (Same)
30% Str (-30%)
30% Skill (-20%)
40% Spd (-10%)
10% Lck (-30%)
40% Wlv (N/A)
20% Def (-20%)
3% Res (-2%)

He's our first character who is genuinely better in every growth PLUS that strength boost is huge, and also his luck growth is no longer a joke, seriously Luke seems awful long term in FE3.

So compared to Rody, he's more (slightly) durable and stronger but slower. However the differences are small, the main difference being that Rody specializes in Lances (having a D rank to start) and Luke specializes in Sword (having a D rank to start as well).

Rody is also the same as the last chapter, except he has 1 more strength and 2 more defense.

Let's see his growth rates as a cavalier:

80% HP
50% Str
0% Mag
60% Skill
65% Spd
60% Lck
40% Def
5% Res

Comparing to FE3B2:

70% HP (-10%)
40% Str (-10%)
50% Skl (-10%)
50% Spd (-10%)
40% Lck (-20%)
60% Wlv (N/A)
20% Def (-20%)
3% Res (-2%)

Yeah better uniformly across the board. Nothing too much to report

I'm showing this screenshot weirdly cropped to emphasize the terrain, which I forgot to explain last map. Most terrian you walk is "Plain" terrain which does nothing, forrest terrain makes it harder to move through (Not going into detail here but cavalry have more severe penalties then other units as do armors and archers for some reason), BUT it gives you an evasion bonus when standing in it.

Also what this map is SUPPOSED to teach you is the weapon triangle, which is pretty straight forward: Swords beats Axes, Axes Beat Lances, Lances beat Swords

The bonus right now is pretty small: If you have D or lower weapon rank (which everyone here does): +5 Hit if you have weapon triangle advantage, -5 Hit if you have weapon triangle disadvantage.

And this terrain is the fortress terrain it gives you defense when standing on it, gives an evasion bonus and heals you 20% every turn your on it. Nifty (though keep in mind enemies take advantage of it too)

First I have Ryan attack this guy

And while I didn't capture the dodge in time, he missed, which was annoying

So I have Rody come in and hit him

And Luke come in and finish the job

Then Kris comes in and kills the fighter in one round, perhaps I optimized Kris too well,

Then Kris gets every stat that actually matters in a level up. (FTR I consider "Every stat that actually matters" to be HP, Str, Spd, and Def, getting Skill is just a bonus)

Or you threw mooks at us, one of the two!

In that case, I will fight you next.

Caeda unlike everything you've fought up untill this point ISN'T a complete joke.

Caeda doesn't (on this difficulty) move when your out of her range. So I moved all my units out her range except Kris the ONLY unit my army she doesn't doesn't double (but he doesn't double her so he doesn't kill her)

Come, show me what you can do with your sword!

Obviously this dialogue is different depending on what class you choose:

Myrmidon

Kris, you're a myrmidon, huh? Teehee. I feel somewhat drawn to you. We should be friends from now on. But that doesn't mean I'll go easy on you in this fight. Come, Kris, show me what you can do with that sword of yours!

Knight

An armored knight... I'll be at a disadvantage with the way that I fight. But I won't lose so easily! Come, show me what you've got!

Pegasus Knight

Well, well, Kris, you're a pegasus knight, just like me. Teehee. We have so much in common... But I won't go easy on you for this battle. You and your pegasus... Shall we take to the skies?

Cavalier

You're a cavalier, huh? Looks like you'll be a good match for me. Come, show me what you've got!

Fighter

So you're a fighter, Kris? Of the lance and the axe, the axe is advantageous... I might be at a slight disadvantage, but I won't lose easily! Come, show me what you've got!

Archer

Kris, you're an archer!? The bane of us pegasus knights... B-but I will not sit idly by and lose to you! Show me everything you have!

Mage

So you're a mage, Kris? Pegasus knights are resistant to magic, you know. I'm not going to lose this one. Come, show me what you've got!

As you can see Ryan makes short work of Caeda. Bows are effective against flying units (meaning that Bow's might is considered triple against fliers)

And doesn't miss this time

The game is REALLY ramping up 3 enemies this time and one wasn't a joke.

Also before I forget to mention here's Caeda's boss quote with anyone other Kris (which didn't trigger against Ryan for some reason)

Fear won't help you; approach with confidence and the intent to fight.

Promise me that you'll become knights worthy of helping Marth.

If you ever need help during the practical training, do call on me. And I'll fight, but as your companion

Um... doesn't the princess of a kingdom who's engaged to the crown prince (de facto king) of another kingdom have better stuff to do then help (albeit above average) squires.

Hm? We'd gladly appreciate your help, but I'm not sure if we would be allowed to.

While I understand that convincing people to join your side a thing in this universe, for knight training this is a slippery slope to letting any noble wanting to be a knight just buying a band of mercenaries and winning the trials through money.

What a relief. I'm certain Princess Caeda will make a reliable ally.

But, is it really alright to rely on others? I don't see how this fits with our training...

What decision should we make here? Yes or No (Poll time everyone, just keep your answers in bold)

Believe or not this decision has a gameplay effect, I'll be vague,

If we say yes we get a better character, but one that rejoins MUCH later in the main story. If we say No we get a worse character but one who rejoins right away in the main story.

If I don't get any answers in say 24 hours I'll be picking my preference which I'm keeping vague

I'll show off the basics of both options don't worry.

weso12 fucked around with this message at 07:57 on Feb 14, 2020

# ? Feb 10, 2020 08:53

BisbyWorl: Jan 12, 2019; Knowledge is pain plus observation.

I'll vote No just to get even more people in the party ASAP.

# ? Feb 10, 2020 11:26

FoolyCharged: Oct 11, 2012; Cheating at a raffle? I sentence you to 1 year in jail! No! Two years! Three! Four! Five years! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!
Somebody call for an ant?

Yes, we are intimately familiar with the trial by devil axe and the cold, calculated sacrifices of his men that marth made in shadow dragon.

# ? Feb 10, 2020 12:55

1234567890num: Oct 6, 2017

FoolyCharged posted:

Yes, we are intimately familiar with the trial by devil axe and the cold, calculated sacrifices of his men that marth made in ~~shadow dragon~~ Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light.

Fixed.

# ? Feb 10, 2020 13:36

anilEhilated: Feb 17, 2014; But I say fuck the rain.; Grimey Drawer

It's "canon" - I don't think any FE included gunpowder.
Anyhow I'll say No in full appreciation of the fact that this game's choices and consequences seem to have absolutely no rhyme or reason - they decide your title based on your eyes?

# ? Feb 10, 2020 14:08

slink_bot: Aug 1, 2016

Yes, we are well aware.

# ? Feb 12, 2020 07:04

weso12: Nov 19, 2014; Lurker, Sims 3 LPer, Bored College Student

First off I should say that till recently i thought Yes was winning but the last vote messed things up. Thankfully I had both variants of the chapter covered. Though the "Yes" has slightly different level ups going into this that I didn't screenshot, just know that Ryan is now Level 2 with only gaining HP and Skill IIRC.

[ assume some of you thought this flavor was the other way around, I assume this a problem with the Japanese version was worded leaving the english version to have to use the confusing wording

Our victory in the previous war was not just by merit of Altea. Gathering and fighting together with allies of various positions and statuses... This is how Prince Marth fights. No matter when an ally came to our side, they could instantly join the battle with us. That is also a necessary skill for an Altean knight.

I see... I understand now.

Yes, you're right.

I swear they are just throwing these titles at a dartboard

Also yes I finished the last part before the end of the Chapter. I just wanted the poll to be in a semi-logical place

What is now Luke?[

Holy poo poo, Ryan gets dialogue.

Don't you think it's a crying shame that there aren't any cute and caring clerics around?

W-what you mean...?

He's horny Ryan, not a hard concept

Well, a knight thrives on romance, right? Like I were wounded in battle, and a lovely cleric came to my aid... Hey, Kris the Ordinary. If we had a cleric like that with us, I bed we'd fight twice as hard.

Kris is ace confirmed /s

But it would make our lives easier if we had a healer on our side. Unfortunately, I don't think there are any healers around, Luke.

What about that Cleric in the starting cutscene I pointed out for some reason?

It might be a good idea for us to ask someone for assistance on the matter.

You finally learned how to be useful?

They've found us someone who can support our platoon! It appears we might be joined by a healer.

She's finally here! My lovely cleric! Out of my way! Let me at her!

Um... Luke maybe keep your cool, just a little. I feel bad for whatever Cleric is joining us.

Oh thank god it's Wrys, I've never been happier to see you, I'm not even gonna address the fact that you being here instead of Talys makes absolutely no sense.

I cannot fight, but this staff I carry can heal your wounded

I know it's a meme in japan, it seems weird that Wrys would just repeat his same dialogue from FE11 verbatim

........

Yes, yes, I heard the whole thing from Sir Jagen.

If you like, I could lend you my services as a healer. ...Oh my, has something terrible happened? Your face looks awfully pale... Have you been taken by illness, my boy?

It's nothing... He's just overwhelmed with joy right now.
Apparently this dialogue is different if you're female

Ah, no, it's nothing... (Be careful what you wish for, Luke!)

Pay no heed to Luke; we're all fine. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Wrys.

Well I see a female Myrmidon in the background so that narrows down who this can be based on the FE11 rooster

I've decided that you will have a rather unusual instructor for today's practical training. This is Miss Athena, a foreign myrmidon who helped us in the last war.

Ve are bad at teaching. But if ve are using swords, ve vill not lose.

Fun fact Athena doesn't use this annoying dialogue quirk in heroes. My theory is that they forgot that she was in Shadow Dragon (you need people to die to get her in that game), and didn't realize they localized her talking style stupidly.

Kris, do your best!

Here are the soldiers, they are the same as each other and they are garbage.

Here's the mercenary, he is also garbage.

Here's the myrmidon is garbage as well, watch out he might double Ryan (but not kill him)

And here's Athena, she's not a complete joke though she doesn't move til you get into her range so just be smart about that.

She's actually BETTER then the difficult version we fought last prologue: 1 more HP, 4 more speed, 6 more luck, 3 more defense. Caeda is very good for this prologue. She obviously was in FE11, FE3 (both books), and FE1 so there's gonna be some history here, here are her growths in her default class: (I'm not gonna bother showing growths in prior games anymore since you get the point they are slightly better for everyone unless I have something interesting to say *glares a certain low leveled mage*)

60% HP
30% Str
0% Mag
80% Skl
95% Spd
80% Lck
25% Def
10% Res

Overall she's a great unit, though she was better in FE11, were personal weapon basically broke the game in half considered that every single boss more or less was vulnerable to it and you could forge it. I'll go into more how that compares to this game to when she joins in the main story but she's still useful in this prologue.

And here is Wrys, these are his growths as Curate:

30% HP
0% Str
30% Mag
30% Skill
30% Spd
50% Lck
5% Def
50% Res

Believe it or not these are his best growths in the series. (Also that's the best res growth possible in the game including reclass.)

Fun fact: Wrys did not exist in FE3 (despite existing in FE1) in either book, because they were too lazy to make a male priest sprite that game. I would actually argue that as an inexperienced player back then, this made the chapters 2 through 3 harder than they needed to be in FE3 Book 1 from my vague memory of playing it way back as an inexperienced fire emblem player.

Overall Wrys is useful in the prologue but once the prologue ends and he rejoins he gets overshadowed by other healers. His crappy growths along with his low staff rank and a lack of personal staff, really hold him back.

Also I didn't highlight his heal staff or vulnerary but just know that the heal staff heals (Magic/2)+8 HP to any adjacent ally. The vulnerary heals 10 HP to the user when used, it will be a godsend in this playthrough if practice is any indication

Luke attacks the first soldier

And Rody finishes it off

Wrys heals Luke for the XP. I'm basically gonna have Wrys (and all future healers) heal every turn for the XP (assuming there is something to heal or I don't have another staff I want them to use). But I'm not gonna stick around in chapters longer than I need to just for healing.

Ryan chips a soldier (for the XP)

And Kris finishes the soldier off, off screen

Off screen I have Caeda move into in position and Caeda kills each of the mercenary/myrmidon. And Athena attacks Kris. (sorry for the lack of screens I thought this would be the "alternate dimension route" for a while.)

Ve vill challenge you!

Ryan chips Athena, and leaves just enough room for Rody to finish the job.

And Rody gets a not bad level up.

Especially you. You, vat is your name?

I really don't get why the game doesn't just use "Squire" all the way through.

Kris... Ve vill remember that. You, you are our friend. Ve vill aid you if you vant.

Again don't you have better poo poo to do then aid a random squire?

Interim report...?

From the very first test until now, I have evaluated your manner of combat. The more of your allies that have been injured and forced to withdraw, the poorer your score. Get ready to listen up! Commander Kris of the 7th Platoon! Of the twenty junior knight platoons, you place... First! Wonderful work, Kris! You are most talented!

the_entire_prologue.png

But don't let your guard down. Placing first doesn't give you an excuse to start slacking off. That is all! You may return to the castle!

As you can tell this dialogue varies based on the amount of units lost IDK the exact numbers but here the scripts:
"Few Fallen Allies":
Third! Impressive, Kris! I'd say that you've placed rather high.

We did it! We did it, Kris! It's all thanks to you, Kris.

But don't let your guard down. You are still in-training--so from now on, you must aim even higher. That is all! You may return to the castle!

"Some fallen Allies"
Tenth. Just in the middle, Kris. I've got nothing good to say, at this rate.

I'm sorry, Kris. It's because I can't do anything...

But don't give up. You are still in the middle of training, so I expect more effort from now on. That is all! You may return to the castle!

"Lots of fallen Allies"
Last... Kris... None placed worst than you...

I, I-I'm terribly sorry, Kris... It's because I can't do anything...

...But don't give up. You are still in the middle of training, so from now on try as hard as you can. That is all! You may return to the castle!

It's a castle of a kingdom, where did you think your tax dollars went?

Now, where were the 7th Platoon's chamber again...?

Uh, yes. I'm Kris. I came here hoping to become an Altean knight. And you are...?

I am Elice. Marth's elder sister.

Oh! Prince Marth's elder sister... Please excuse my lack of manners.

It's alright. Kris... I think it's very admirable that you've come to help Marth.

It is an honor to serve Prince Marth, the Hero King

But not an actual king for whatever reason!

"The Hero King"... you say? It does seem that our people have grown fond of calling him that. But truth of the matter is that Marth... Marth is just a weak, vulnerable child...

Um... Elice, even if you believe this, maybe you shouldn't be discussing this with some random squire.

Prince Marth is weak...?

Yes. Of course, he was the hero who triumphed in the battle against the Shadow Dragon. However, behind his heroic face, Marth is an idealistic child who firmly clings to his beliefs. And as you too must know, the real world... cannot be saved with just ideals.

Yes...

Even as we speak, somewhere unknown to us, our peoples' lives are being lost... Marth cannot save those people.

Yes, that's true... Even, the most excellent of kings is not an omnipotent god. A king is no more than human, and there are limits to the things he can do.

Didn't actual historical people believe the king was divine, which is how the monarchs managed to keep their uncheck power?

Yes. Precisely. Most people realize this and can come to terms with that reality. But Marth cannot do that... He truly thinks that he can save everyone. In war, losing just companion is unbearable for him...

I have a feeling this is almost a jab at fire emblem players for resetting whenever someone dies. But my rebuttal is that if an actual military general could rewind time ever time a casualty happened with no consequences you bet your rear end he would do so. (Casualties in military aren't as common as some people think)

Though I appreciate they gave Elice something of a character in this remake considering how most games treat her as basically nothing but an object.

......

In this cruel world, it will become increasingly difficult for him to continue to hold these ideals... Kris, if some day you should achieve knighthood... Please, protect him somehow and keep his ideals safe...

I'll absolutely reset when someone dies so Marth never has to learn the true horrors of war, of course!

Side note: That "some day" instead of "someday" is the translation not me.

weso12 fucked around with this message at 00:14 on Feb 27, 2020

# ? Feb 12, 2020 22:48

weso12: Nov 19, 2014; Lurker, Sims 3 LPer, Bored College Student

Bonus Content: Alternate Dimension 1

Now you might be curious what happens if we say "No" to Jagen.

It went beyond the frontiers of nationality, and included friend and foe alike...

As you can tell the rest of the dialogue is the same, as is the Wrys scene.

Let's skip ahead to the map:

So I asked a big favor: to be allowed to take part

1. Why is that a big favor?

2. Why does an Archanea general give a gently caress about a mildly component Altean Squire?[

This might be a joke in the japanese version since apparently "Jeorge being bad" is a meme in Japan.

Here's Jeorge's stats, he's not a joke, keep Caeda out of his range

Snipers are promoted archers that are WAY better. Good movement, WAY better stats, just overall deal with most problems that archers have. (No 1 range but you can't have it all)

Here is the enemy fighter. The enemy mercenaries are the same as the mercenary from the other version of this map.

First we have Caeda attack the fighter

Wrys heals Caeda to make sure the mercenaries don't kill her

And Ryan kills the fighter and gets an irrelevant level up since it's an alternate dimension (HP, Skill, Def if you care)

I end the turn in this formation

And the mercenaries attack one of Luke and Rody each.

Luke and Rody finish off each.

And Kris stands JUST in range of the boss. (He's not at risk of dying aside from a slight crit chance, don't worry)

You ain't a bow knight, that's not a class in this game (closest thing is a Horsemen)

i do my favorite thing and attack Bow Users with fliers at one range.

Rody does 8 damage making an easy kill

For Luke kill and irrelevant good level up (HP, Str, Spd, Lck, Def)

Just use the term "Squire" translation patch."

Kris... I'll remember that name. I'm afraid I cannot join your cause but... Gordin, could you go in my stead?

Finally someone with poo poo to do besides help a random rear end squire.

Kris, you are someone I'd like to fight alongside one day. I look forward to the day we can meet again.

Rest of the dialogue is the same but the only long term difference is Gordin joins us. Gordin is basically a Ryan with worse growths but starts slightly better. I'll go into slightly more detail when he joins for real.

weso12 fucked around with this message at 08:09 on Feb 14, 2020

# ? Feb 13, 2020 05:59

weso12: Nov 19, 2014; Lurker, Sims 3 LPer, Bored College Student

Bonus Content: The SHOCKING TRUTH of FE11 and FE12 Caps

Okay I was PMed some proofreading advice that included a question about that one off-handed comment I made about the Paladin's Defense cap being likely a programing error let me got into more detail. Even though we are not at the point were caps matters (and likely never will) I still want to talk about this eventually so I figured now is as good as a time as any.

First off I'm gonna show off the fact that FE12 which uses the same caps FE6 did (More accurately FE11 did but aside from Falcon Knight (which is an exception all of this) all of them are the same.)

First let's look at Marth's Lords caps versus Roy's Master Lords Caps (Magic is ignored here because FE6 did not have Magic, HP is ignore since it's 60 across the board for both games, Luck SHOULD be ignored but isn't for reasons that will be obvious later.)

pre:

       Str Skl Spd Lck Def Res
FE6    25  25  25  30  25  25
FE12   25  25  25  30  25  25

You might be thinking that's just a coincidence since they are all 25 but let's look at FE6 (Male) Hero versus FE12 Hero.

pre:

       Str Skl Spd Lck Def Res
FE6    25  30  26  30  25  22
FE12   25  30  26  30  25  22

Well that's suspicious let's look at Swordmaster FE6 (male) vs. FE12 Swordmaster.

pre:

       Str Skl Spd Lck Def Res
FE6    24  29  30  30  22  23
FE12   24  29  30  30  22  23

Huh... what about General

pre:

       Str Skl Spd Lck Def Res
FE6    27  25  21  30  30  25
FE12   27  25  21  30  30  20

Okay Res is different but that's weird, maybe it's just a coincidence then, what about warrior

pre:

       Str Skl Spd Lck Def Res
FE6    30  26  24  30  28  20
FE12   30  26  24  30  28  20

Okay... what about Sniper....

pre:

       Str Skl Spd Lck Def Res
FE6    24  30  29  30  22  23
FE12   24  30  29  30  22  23

How about Nomad Trooper vs. Horsemen those might be different enough classes to be different?

pre:

       Str Skl Spd Lck Def Res
FE6    24  28  30  30  23  23
FE12   24  28  30  30  23  23

You get the point now they seem to be taken almost verbatim from FE6 they are two weird exceptions

Let's look at Paladin

pre:

       Str Skl Spd Lck Def Res
FE6    25  28  25  30  25  25
FE12   25  28  25  25  30  25

Huh that's weird, almost every other class has a 30 luck cap, why does paladin have 25. It seems likely they just swapped the Luck and Defense cap around here.

Now for the weird example: Berserker

pre:

       Str Skl Spd Lck Def Res Con
FE6    30  24  28  30  22  24  20
FE12   30  24  28  22  24  20  N/A

The reason I pointed out Con of 20 here (even though Con is not a stat in DS fire emblem), is that this sincerely looks like they forgot to put the luck cap at 30, skipped over it, were off by one to the point they put the Con cap in Res.

I find this super weird this wasn't fixed in FE12 since all these problems originate in FE11. I don't think the games are cross compatible in anyway.

Thanks for reading this adventure in pointless trivia. Don't worry there will be more to come.

Also if you don't care about this pointless trivia don't worry I'm going back to proofread my old works and after that I'll write the next update. (The screenshots are already ready).

# ? Feb 13, 2020 21:34

Keldulas: Mar 18, 2009

Berserker gets slightly screwed, but not in a way that actually matters overall. The two better defense may actually be a net benefit, honestly.

The paladin luck/defense swap would be a benefit for sure, but I don't know how many of the cast could even try to reach that cap honestly.

# ? Feb 13, 2020 21:45

weso12: Nov 19, 2014; Lurker, Sims 3 LPer, Bored College Student

Keldulas posted:

Berserker gets slightly screwed, but not in a way that actually matters overall. The two better defense may actually be a net benefit, honestly.

The paladin luck/defense swap would be a benefit for sure, but I don't know how many of the cast could even try to reach that cap honestly.

This is stuff that really only matters in "competitive" multiplayer, where basically when it was a thing everyone hacked max stats on characters with the best supports, apparently the Paladin defense cap being 30 actually made the most viable tank in the meta, (draco knights being vulnerable to forged warrior bows, general having too lovely of movement to matter)

I forget how good or bad berserkers but Defense is generally a better stat then luck or resistance.

Again this mostly pointless trivia I felt like sharing because I know it and it's weird.

I tried to look up the chances to cap but IDK the formula for that and I know that there is a site that calculates this stuff but it hasn't been updated in
ages so it doesn't include new mystery.

So out of sheer boredom here are the average defenses of FE11 and FE12 paladins (with the FE12 cast of ones we haven't met spoilered tag, yes I know I'm breaking my own rules, sue me)

FE11
Frey: 15.6
Abel: 15.6
Cain: 15.6
Jagen: 12.8
Matthis: 19.1
Hardin: 15.6
Roshea: 15.2
Vyland: 13.7
Midia: 12.8
Arran: 11.5

FE12
Kris (With Humane Future as Cavalier): 25.1
Luke: 23.2
Rody: 22.2
Cecille: 16.8
Matthis: 20.5
Sirius: 20.5
Cain: 22.5
Belf: 19
Leiden: 16.8
Roshea: 16.8
Vyland: 21
Midia: 19.6

So FE11 characters don't come close, and FE12 characters get closer but the closest humanly possible is basically 5 points off on average, so you aren't reaching that 30 cap without RNG abuse, luck, stat boosters, or most likely hacking.

# ? Feb 13, 2020 22:40

Keldulas: Mar 18, 2009

That's largely what I thought the break-down would be. FE12 characters don't exactly have the best growths, even if they're an upgrade over FE11.

In a playthrough at least, you could probably stack defense boosters on one paladin to just create one particularly hard target. It's not an awful idea if you use stat boosters.

# ? Feb 14, 2020 00:50

weso12: Nov 19, 2014; Lurker, Sims 3 LPer, Bored College Student

First things (for hopefully the last time) since I think I've solved the issue causing my to replay we have so new level ups for characters

I legit forgot that Luke even has a Resistance growths. IDK why Ryan's levels up are so bad, but w/e.

Finally a non-generic chapter title.

Just walking around here makes me feel rejuvenated, in a way.

Yeah, same here.

This is probably the only joke in this game I've found remotely funny so far, I haven't read all the supports or anything but I actually appreciate the humor here.

......

Hey, Kris the Ordinary! Wasn't this supposed to be, y'know, a shortcut!? Well?!

Holy gently caress did Kris actually display... imperfection?!

Uh... sorry... I did think it was, really... But we're definitely lost now

WHAAAAAT?! You don't need to tell me that! I figured that out ages ago!

Ryan, Athena, Wyrs, Caeda, you guys have any thoughts to share here? I guess not. Speaking of which, Caeda (as we'll see shortly) is with us, shouldn't know the layout intimately and be able to take us to the castle or at the very least use her pegasus to scout for us to find a way home.

Ahem. Ladies and gentlemen, our new mission: Find our way back to Altea Castle. Of course, we should try not to wander around aimlessly while we find our way.

Argh, we've totally fallen behind the others. ...Altean Knights, lost in Altea. Sir Jagen is going to kill us...

I-I'm honestly very sorry...

It's fine. If we march all night, we can make up for lost time.

Thanks for the great contribution to this scene Ryan.

Over there! That village is under attack!

Kill everyone who tries to flee!

I'm glad fire emblem as always shows a nuance look at banditry. Showing them as people who's financial situation forced them in doing something horrible rather then inhuman monsters

...The more you let riot, the smoother our job will be. Weeheehee!

Here's Athena, in comparison to the last chapter as an enemy she now has 1 more strength, 2 more skill, 1 more speed, 3 more defense. So that's a significant upgrade.

Here are her growth rates:

75% HP
40% Str
0% Mag
60% Skl
70% Spd
65% Lck
25% Def
10% Res

Those are actually really good growths, and her bases are nice for this point in the game. Her bases aren't super for a level 10 myrmidon though. I'll give more thoughts on her when she rejoins in the main story.

I showed both hunters because

1. This gives an idea of the range that Caeda needs to avoid on turn 1 (she can survive one hit from one of them, though I'd prefer to avoid that)

2. To show off that enemy units can have random stat variation, which can sometimes make or break a map

There is a thief on this map, which is slightly weird because there's nothing to steal nor is their a village to destroy (Thieves can destroy villages in this game it's... weird).

They are Barbarians on this map, which I should probably explain what those are:

They are enemy only axe users who can move through mountain terrain (albeit slowly), they have been (in like 2 games) a playable class before, but they usually act as early game enemies meant for the lambs to the slaughter. I've seen them also called "Bandit", "Mountain Thief", or "Brigand" in different games/translations of old games.

This one has a highlighted in green in his inventory, that means he drops it when he dies!

Meet the boss: A generic enemy that they didn't bother giving a portrait too.

The boss has a hand axe, which is basically just a javelin in axe form: Low Might, low accuracy but 1-2 range.

Time to show off an actually 100% non-speculation error the developers made: this clearly marked forest tile is actually a plain tile

And this tile should be a plain tile is actually a forest tile.

I'm actually curious what caused this. I got the point of wondering is the translation patch caused this somehow turns out (Think that's impossible? Remember the coin case glitch in gen 2 of pokemon was only the US version)

=

Nope. Professional game developers made this mistake.

Okay enough screwing around, first off we'll have Rody attack this hunter.

And gets for real his first level up, and it's not bad speed and defense are important stats

Luke finishes the job

Kris then kills the Barbarian, taking a bit of damage in the process

Enemy phase happens, and Kris gets attacks by a barbarian receiving more damage.

This image (while not the best example) is to mention that the hunter chose to target Ryan instead of Athena despite the fact that Athena couldn't counterattack. If you played most fire emblem games you know that the AI usually prioritizes targeting those who can't counterattack almost above all else. I don't the exact specifics of AI targeting in this game but from I what I understand this games AI prioritizes damage* and crit rate is considered into its priority. Ryan and Athena have the same defense and he can't crit either but if I had to guess the reason why he targeted Ryan it's because either:

A. Ryan has less avoid

B. Ryan has less luck so even though it's crit rate is 0 on both it still views ryan's against crit rate as being higher.

*Well technically it prioritizes killing whenever possible, but usually unless you screwed up killing shouldn't be possible.

Oh wow maybe I put Kris in a bit of bind. Thankfully all the enemies that can move have already

Kris slayed the thief and got a good level up out of the deal

(He might be overleveled)

Random new party member time

Well he's blue so he's clearly not an enemy

You've got blue hair... just like Marth's... I gather you're the commanding officer

As you can tell this dialogue varies based on what hair color you choose it's "just like Marth's" is only mentioned if you have blue hair. However not shown in the serenes forest script is this dialogue if you have green hair

Also the kerning here looks bad between "hair" and "just" to me

Very well, I shall join you. The name's Merric. I'm a mage from Kadein. Your orders, please!

Merric is a pretty solid mage at this point, he's a little bit high level right now, and he has high speed. He are his growth rates:

70% HP
0% Str
40% Mag
65% Skl
65% Spd
70% Lck
15% Def
15% Res

The first tome you get is nothing special. It's literally an Iron Sword with 1-2 range, less uses and inflicts magical damage instead of physical but obviously it's not meant to be special so it gets the job well enough

First things have Wrys heal the gently caress out of Kris, he needs it

Ryan finishes off the hunter

Caeda chips the boss

Again nuanced display of the understanding why crime like this happen.

Luke attacks the boss

And gains every stat I care about sans Spd (albeit the most important stat)

And Rody finishes off the boss.

I mean kind of, sort of, not really.

That's it! He must be Merric the wind mage

Oh really?! Listen lady they don't give two people the same name in the same game of basically any series ever.

I heard he even fought alongside Prince Marth during the War of Shadows. Wow I-I'm a little nervous now...

You literally have Princess Caeda, Prince Marth's fiancee in your team, but just anyone else from the team makes you nervous?

Prince Marth summoned me to help train the new knights. But, sadly, I seem to be rather lost. Would it be alright if you would show me the way to Altea Castle?

You know that place you were trying to go to anyways.

Your bandits were defeated, I fail to see how that's "Just as planned".

Also this character's name was localized as "Legion" in Awakening and Heroes.

Ooh, Kleine. Didn't you have something else to do?

Just fyi this lady's name was localized as "Clarisse" in Heroes if you care. Also they made her tsundere.

Quiet, you. It was easier than taking candy from a baby. I don't waste my time like you lot. You and Eine had better end this quick! It's not hard.

Yeah, whatever. In the end, our skulking about is going to get us results. We've got us a plan... We'll kill Marth... without fail.

Killing a crowned prince: easy as pie! Of course! Also who is "Eine"? While this isn't a fresh save file so I can't really test this: I think the guide (as the L button guide) reveals it regardless, but I won't say it because it's a pretty big spoiler at this point of the game.

Another poll time Yes or No

Yes this stupid option DOES result in a different character I'll give the pros and cons vaguely

Yes results in a character who rejoins us right away but an overall worse one plus the next prologue we have to go to is harder with my current rules if we say yes.

No results in a character who rejoins a little latter, but an overall better one plus the prologue we have to go to is slightly easier but by no means trivial.

Edit: Here's a straw poll to make things easier

https://www.strawpoll.me/19394353

weso12 fucked around with this message at 07:40 on Feb 15, 2020

# ? Feb 15, 2020 07:06

Sword_of_Dusk: Sep 30, 2018; Legendary Luminary

Yours is still a ways off from such a point, but Kris can become so broken with very little effort. Future Avatar characters are slightly more balanced, though still quite capable units.

# ? Feb 16, 2020 07:18

weso12: Nov 19, 2014; Lurker, Sims 3 LPer, Bored College Student

Sword_of_Dusk posted:

Yours is still a ways off from such a point, but Kris can become so broken with very little effort. Future Avatar characters are slightly more balanced, though still quite capable units.

I'm literally going out of my way to not just have Kris solo things because the entire point of this self imposed challenges is to use crappy units, besides if I overlevel Kris, eventually (when he's not forced deployed), I won't be able to use him. Yeah from what I understand they started with an already powerful unit base before the Past-Present-Future thing and the past-present-future thing just makes him more overpowered.

Also update coming real soon. I'm currently more than halfway done with the update. (Aside from uploading pictures).

# ? Feb 16, 2020 09:10

weso12: Nov 19, 2014; Lurker, Sims 3 LPer, Bored College Student

Okay we have 4 votes for no and 2 votes for Yes so "No" it is

Yes nothing at all! No concerns whatsoever about bandits next to the castle, which should be the safest place in the country!

Time for a scene change

Oh wow Marth shows up again.

Please, calm yourselves. You may stand at ease.

Is it to do with the bandits we subjugated? Are you, sire, reprimanding us for disobeying our orders

As far I as I know they were no orders for "If you see bandits, don't attack them". What did you think they want us to do in this context if not save the civilians.

Not at all-it's quite the opposite. Your actions have saved many. As ruler, my duty is to protect my people, and I am truly grateful for what you did.

We're honored to be service, but that was tougher than any of our training

How would you know you didn't do jack.

Kris, and you as well, Katarina... I hear from Jagen that you've been exemplary cadets.

What has Katarina done that's actually useful yet? She ain't actually doing the strategy that she claimed she would be doing.

I've seen your skill, and I agree wholeheartedly. Why, the both of you are suitable for the Altean army.

Um... does that mean we're done, we graduated, let's get this over with.

Should the two of you pass your test, i'd love it if you would become my Royal Guards.

Um... I'm not saying that isn't something worth considering down the line, but isn't the Royal Guards supposed to be experienced soldiers.

Though the stories tell of me as a great hero, it is not so.

You're actually a great villain

There is only so much that I can do by myself. That much I know to be true. The War of Shadows was won with aid of comrades who wished for the same future as I. 'Twas not a lone romp across the land

Side note: Marth is perfectly capable of soloing basically all of FE11. I've done it more or less.

I realized, whether in peace or war, I need people I can trust -young, dynamic soldiers who can support and guide me.

B-but the Royal Guard exists to protect the king... It is a role of immense importance. Are we even fit for such an esteemed duty

For once I agree with Kris, shouldn't it be more experienced knights? Also what King? Marth has been defacto ruler as prince for over a year!

Yes, I believe so. I want you to be my Royal Guard. Jagen feels the same as I. But... don't feel obliged to promise me; I won't think ill of you if you decline. And so, I ask this of you once more. You need not answer right away. It's quite alright. Please think it over carefully.

Back to dartboard titles

Oh boy, Luke is thinking again!

Um... Ryan don't even ask.

Guys, guys, guys, I need an opinion! How's my hair look?

We find out it's been three months, so I have to imagine this is fairly mundane poo poo for what Luke says.

I'm a soldier of love, seeking out only the most beautiful women, but I... haven't gotten any dates yet.

Or he hasn't actually asked out any girls! In my experience you need to be the proactive one, as obnoxious you've been I've never seen you try to ask a girl out.

I mean, people think Ryan is a "cutie" or Rody is "Ohmigosh, so cool!"

I assume there is some translation patch having fun here.

Quite a few people seem to secretly lust after Kris too.

Exactly! I didn't get it at first. I thought, "what am I doing wrong?" That's when I realized: it's my hair!

Well, for example, I'll fix up my hair like you do! And then... They'd see me as gentle and quiet, like softly falling rain! Just like Kris, right?

Umm... If you say so?

Luke, maybe if you did something about that attitude of yours, you'd be more popular.

As you can tell there's variant dialogue here based on Kris's gender and hairstyle after the "And then..." I'll show all the ones on the Serenes forest script, (I'm not manually checking 20 hair styles). I'll give them all names what he got here was the "Cute Guy hairstyle".

"Tough Guy Hairstyle"

They'll see me as brave... and handsome, just like Kris, right?

Not possible...

Luke, maybe if you did something about that attitude of yours, you'd be more popular.

"Tough Girl Hairstyle"

They'll see me as brave... and beautiful, just like Kris, right?

Err... Luke, you're a guy. How does mimicking Kris automatically make you gallant...?

Luke, maybe if you did something about that attitude of yours, you'd be more popular.

"Cute Girl Hairstyle"

My feminine grace'll win hearts, just like Kris!

Your "feminine grace" is scaring me actually...

Luke, maybe if you did something about that attitude of yours, you'd be more popular.

"Crazy Hairstyle" (I assume things like the afro go here)

N-no, let's not actually. The girls would run away in fear if I had Kris's hairdo...

...How rude! What's wrong with my hair, exactly?

I-I think your hair looks great, Kris...

Oh, it's time. Apparently, today, Sir Jagen wishes to have a word with us before training.

During this time, I've witnessed many a platoon desert because they couldn't stomach the harsh training. Not mention platoons that failed due to miserable results... Of all who remain, there are only twenty names.

I hope those 80 people, while unsuited for knights aren't just ignored so hopefully they can be militia or something. More troops is better than less troops.

Well we're still here so what does it matter?

Oh wow Kris agrees with me!

From now on the practical training will be far more grueling. As such, we will be introducing lectures to advise you.

Lectures?

You're in training Kris did you think there wouldn't be lectures?

In my lectures, you will learn essential knowledge that all knights should possess.

From here on, this is the real thing. Prepare to be pushed to your limits.

Now, firstly, I'll talk about the preparations you need to make before a battle. Before you fight your enemy on the battlefield, you must ensure that you are sufficiently prepared.

(Ignore that it says "Check Allies" instead of "How's Everyone" it's a result of that image being from an early version of this translation)

Kris, as commander, the decision of who to send falls upon you.

Understood. I'll do my best to choose the most suitable companions for the battle.

This dialogue is slightly different on Hard mode and above since you also get access to inventory on higher difficulties (I really don't get why they don't just give you access to that here.

Now, firstly, I'll talk about the preparations you need to make before a battle. Before you fight your enemy on the battlefield, you must ensure that you are sufficiently prepared. Selecting those who will fight, organizing their weapons and items... Kris, you will do all these things, as part of your role as commander.

I understand. I'll do my best.

Talking to your party members will often yield tactical advice.

When you come to a new battlefield, it's always a good idea to check if anybody has something to say.

So here are the units we are deploying, normally i'd also show inventory but we can't swap inventory yet. It'd be rather hard to deploy anyone but these in this challenge aside from maybe swapping Wrys for Caeda if you fed Wrys a lot of heals and didn't use Caeda at all.

Also of note is that Merric joined us without any dialogue saying he'd help us with our training.

Now let's see the map

They are two enemies fighters blocking the path.

A cavalier to watch out for.

An archer to worry about if Kris was a Pegasus knight or if I was deploying Caeda.

And Ogma the boss, who will leave until we defeat all four enemies on normal mode (he doesn't do this on hard mode and above)

He's actually tough, pretty comparable to Kris stat wise.

Time to go into the talk dialogues

That's right. In the previous War of Shadows, the abominable shadow dragon, Medeus, invaded Archanea. Archanea was crushed by Medeus's troops, and House Archanea was wiped out, save for Princess Nyna. And it was Princess Nyna who entrusted Prince Marth with the proof of Archanean royalty: the "Fire Emblem"

I mean that's all poo poo mentioned in the prologue 2 intro

Ooh... sepia toned flash back

House Archanea bestows it only upon a true champion, one we believe has the power to save the world.

Therefore, our connection with Archanea runs very deep. Don't forget that.

Okay time for convo two.

Sure go ahead, IDGAF you don't anything useful in a battle anyways

I've found someone in another platoon who could join us. I'm off to talk to her. She's called Cecille. I can vouch for her ability

If you didn't know Katarina doesn't have high standards for ability.

All of her comrades have deserted, and it seems she's in a pickle, now that she's all alone.

Won't Jagen and the other knights just merge with a Platoon who's short a member or something.

Right, I see. In that case, it would be great if she could join us. Sir Jagen did say our battles are going to become fiercer from now on. We need manpower -every soldier counts.

Yes, I'll do my best. Also, I'm hoping to bring along some powerful weapons as well.

Okay legit question are we using actual swords, spears, arrows and axes in freaking mock battles, why would we do that?

Err, the truth is... I have some secret connections. I can't get them ready right now, but I'll do my best so they'll be available for your next battle, Kris

I would concerned or suspicious about your connections but I'm just glad you can be useful that I really don't care.

I don't really get it, but... You're not getting involved with anything dangerous, are you? You needn't go so far.

It's alright. Please leave it to me. I want to help you, Kris, any little that I can. Well, I'll be off now

Well time for the last conversation

You said your name is Kris. Where did you learn how to fight?

I was originally an orphan; I was picked up when still a baby.

This dialogue obviously varies based on your Past option here are the ones from the script on serenes forest

A noble, but i left the castle due to family circumstances...

from the country

a bishop's son/daughter, but then my parents died...

a peddler's son/daughter, but later my parents divorced...

Since I was young, i've been living in a small village named Sera, together with my grandfather. He was the one who trained me. Grandfather was very strict, and worked me to the bone, every day. Many times, I thought I was going to die...

JESUS CHRIST. Is your grandfather strict or abusive?

What's your grandfather's name?

His name was Maclir. I heard was once a knight of Altea.

Maclir? I see. You must mean Sir Maclir...

IDK why you have slap Sir on their in order to recognize it.

Were you acquainted with my grandfather?

Yes. Kris, your grandfather was an old friend of mine. He left the front lines due to injury, but his loyalty to House Altea was unmatched. I see. So Sir Maclir trained you hard and well so you could become a knight of Altea.

"Kris, become Altea's sword. Acquire unbreakable power and loyalty." That's what my grandfather used to say when he was still alive. I grew up with his wish in mind.

I see. I understand your strength now. You are amazingly capable. The lads who will themselves to battle these days don't have that much power. Clearly, that's the result of hard training from an early age. Kris, I ask of you too. Never stop tempering your skills. Your power is sure to be of use to Prince Marth

Okay enough lollygagging time to start the map

The 7th Platoon's opponent, today, is...

Ogma I saw it on the battle prep.

Did our tactician completely ignore battle preparations? Really what good are you? (Well you're about to give us some better weapons soon)

Kris, Ogma is a hero from the last war... He'll make for a formidable enemy.

The soldiers here will be your opponents, first. If you defeat all of them, I'll step up to fight.

Oh cool we got our new recruit

Kris did you not listen to a word Katarina said earlier.

I'm Cecille, a junior knight like you! I know it's very sudden, but I was invited by Katarina to join your group.

...Very sudden indeed. But, the more the merrier. Could we talk after the battle?

It's not THAT sudden Kris, Katarina, talked to you about this in advance

Sure, I'm glad you understand. Oh yeah, I brought along some strong weapons that Katarina prepared for you! Just give me the orders and I'll give you them to replace your worn out ones.

Cecille (or Cecil as officially localized via the Fire Emblem Heroes choose your legends poll) probably had the biggest downgrade from FE3 to FE12, for reference she could use Silver Lances at base in FE3, but in FE12, she's stuck with Iron Lances and Steel Swords, also of note is that she not very bulky at all and generally (while this is a personal thing) I prefer cavaliers who can take a hit, and Cecille really can't in this game. Also it bugs me that despite her like "tough as nails" and "loves to fight" personality they made the girl the fast and frail cavalier, when it doesn't fit her personality. Yes I am perfectly aware it's realistic for her to be weaker then the guys, but fire emblem basically ignores sexual dimorphism in physical abilities for the most part so just go all the way and let her be strong and tough. Here are her growth rates:

70% HP
45% Str
10% Mag
70% Skl
75% Spd
50% Lck
30% Def
5% Res

If your curious she can be a decent mage if you reclass her that way but they are better mages in this game that don't start at E rank tomes.

Meet the Steel Sword, Steel Lance and Steel Bow. If your curious why she has 3 steel swords, ones for Kris, ones for Luke and ones for herself, the steel lance is for Rody, and the steel bow is for Ryan. If your Kris is a male Cavalier, Knight, or Pegasus Knight she has an additional Steel Lance instead of a third steel sword, if your Kris is a fighter, replace that third steel sword with a Steel Axe, archer, she has a second steel bow, mage, she has an elfire tome. I'll explain Steel Axe and Elfire once it's relevant but you can guess what they are.

They basically significantly more powerful slightly less accurate versions for the Iron Sword, Iron Lance, and Iron Bow.

First I have Luke attack the Fighter on the top bridge

Then I have Rody attack the fighter on the botton bridge

Then I have Ryan attack the fighter on the bottom bridge and plan to let Rody kill the fighter on enemy phase

Some of you observant people might realize what's about to happen (I'm gonna skip some stuff to get the point

The archer attacks Rody for 5 damage

The fighter attacks Rody for 7 damage; Rody kills the fighter in return.

I reset before I could show the full death quote. Here it is for reference:

Guh... I blundered... My apologies, Chris. I'll be a burden like this, so I'll withdraw for now.

As you can see Rody died here because of my careless, had I not been incredibly stupid here (Gave Ryan the steel bow or Rody the Steel Lance, among countless other options), Rody would still be around. But this is level rotation not iron man, so I reset the chapter and start a new.

Some of you with more knowledge of this game might be asking "Why are you reseting, even on Classic, rody comes back after the prologue".

3 reasons

1. Having Rody for the rest of prologue is nice

2. You get less money at the start of Chapter 1 is anyone retreats IIRC

3. There's a Paralogue requirement of having 1 or less death in the prologue and alternative turn count requirement is actually kind of strict on normal so having extra assurance is nice.

Also just fyi I'm not a master fire emblem character, so expect a lot of dumb mistakes, for funsies I'll add a death counter and here's the count so far

Rody: 1
Total: 1

I swapped Ryan's and Wrys's starting position this time

So in a move of extreme caution I have Rody wait next to the fighter

Luke attacks the fighter on the top bridge again

And Ryan finishes the job this time

And gets a pretty solid level up, but I REALLY need some speed on you boy.

I finally get around to trading a steel sword to luke. (Also put Cecille in this position to bait the archer since her defense is awful)

It works and she gets attacked by the archer.

Rody gets attacked by the fighter and LIVES this time since no one else does

Ryan chips the archer from some XP

Then I have Luke attack the archer.

Have Wrys heal Rody (in hindsight I should have Rody attack but it didn't matter)

Move Kris into range of the cavalier so the cav attacks him

Then I have Rody attack the fighter (don't worry the cav wouldn't kill him even if they both attack him)

I end my turn and the cavalier suicides on Kris (Kris might being used a little too much)

I finally get around to giving Ryan the steel bow.

I attack the last fighter with Ryan. And end my turn (I did heal with Wrys earlier but i figured that showing heals for XP isn't necessary)

Here's a look at Ogma again

And holy gently caress, Wrys gets a good level up. That's a thing that normally happens, treasure it because it'll never happen again.

Ryan attacks Ogma with a Steel Bow.

Luke attacks next (Don't worry I plan to kill him this turn as to not worry about the fact he dies in an extra hit)

And Cecille after not attacking the entire map, finishes off the boss for some experience

I mean her skill is pretty high for a cavalier.

And just like that map over.

Kris, if you have need of my power you need only ask.

I assume this a "royal" we, but I guess you gave us the steel weapons.

I mean sure I guess

That Royal Guard position that Prince Marth offered us. Did you think about it? I... I'd like be a Royal Guard, if you're in with me.

That typo was NOT me.

Together, we'd be an unstoppable team... When I imagine a future like that, I feel very happy.

Another Straw Poll

This time I'll be still be vague

If we say "No" we get a character that we get to use for one chapter in the prologue who rejoins way the gently caress later, If we say "Yes" we get a character we probably won't get to use in the prologue due to self-imposed rules.

https://www.strawpoll.me/19398752

weso12 fucked around with this message at 00:14 on Feb 27, 2020

# ? Feb 16, 2020 09:56

Sword_of_Dusk: Sep 30, 2018; Legendary Luminary

Almost done with the prologue I see. The real stuff will begin soon.

# ? Feb 16, 2020 18:08

FoolyCharged: Oct 11, 2012; Cheating at a raffle? I sentence you to 1 year in jail! No! Two years! Three! Four! Five years! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!
Somebody call for an ant?

Katarina, over the entire course of training you've brought us some swords and stole all the credit. We don't have a future with freebooters like you. :colbert:

# ? Feb 17, 2020 01:32

weso12: Nov 19, 2014; Lurker, Sims 3 LPer, Bored College Student

Alternate Dimension 2

Here's what happens when we say something is wrong:

I didn't count him amongst the dead. It's a little worrying...

How dare a weird looking bandit escape and try to live.

Well, it's okay. We did beat them in the end! Heehee, all this worrying's gotten me hungry... Come on Kris, let's go and find something to eat.

The rest of the dialogue is the same up to this point and we're deploying the same units let's just get to the enemy formation

We got soldiers instead of fighters, an overall downgrade.

But a mage instead of a Cavalier which is scary since none of us have any resistance of who we are deploying sans Wrys

Draug is mainly annoying because of his high defense. Again like Ogma, on normal mode he doesn't show up till you beat all the other enemies.

For some reason Cain's dialogue despite not mentioning who we are fighting is trivially different

From here on, I will prepare an instructor based on your performances until now. The 7th Platoon's opponent, today, is...

I would mock the fact that armor knights suck in fire emblem but they are actually annoying to fight most of the time.

These soldiers are your opponents. You must defeat all of them if you wish to fight me.

I first have Luke attack the soldier.

Then I have Ryan finish off the soldier and while I don't normally show off level ups in alternate dimensions:

The fact that ryan got the same level up as in the regular dimension is a little freaky.

I'll have rody attack the soldier with the steel lance given to him by Cecille

And have Wyrs heal Rody preemptively so he doesn't die, don't worry the mage won't attack Wrys because Wrys has a Res stat

And have Rody be attacked by the archer and soldier, finishing off the soldier

And the mage is forced to attack Rody in Melee meaning that Rody lives with one HP and that the mage takes a whole heap on damage.

Then player phases starts and I have luke attack and kill the mage.

And Wrys heals Rody so he doesn't die

And Ryan attacks and finishes off the mage.

I mean I didn't even deploy merric so I guess now things are gonna get interesting

So first I have Kris weaken Draug with a Steel Sword, since he does a strangely high amount of damage

Ryan chips Draug for no reason

And Cecille goes for the kill

Not really, just brute forced it

Well this alternate dimension adventure is over

Group tactics my friend

Commander Kris, if you have need of an armor knight's strength, you may call on me.

Well good thing we're going to the other alternate dimension, were we got a better class person to join us.

The rest of the chapter is the same.

Also since I need to record the next part Yes (we got 4 yes's and 2 no's) won the poll and I'm closing it.

# ? Feb 17, 2020 10:18

weso12: Nov 19, 2014; Lurker, Sims 3 LPer, Bored College Student

So as I said last time "Yes" won the pool.

Believe or not this line slightly different if your female (I assume something is lost in translation here)

Yes, of course.

Well, this is a little awkward... I should get to bed. Good night, Kris. Good luck for tomorrow.

Wait, Frey! We've meet him like once.

Though your individual strengths vary, there exists no doubt of your excellence. Thus, today we will hold your final practical exam. Make sure that you are thoroughly prepared.

Once you've selected who will march onto the battlefield, it's never a bad idea to check and manage your inventories. By adequately organizing your party members' items, their prowess on the battlefield will be much smoother.

This is basically saying we access to managing inventory which is dumb that we didn't last chapter, according to Serenes forest script this dialogue still exist on hard and above despite the fact that you could already mess with inventory on those difficulties before.

4 talk conversations we're gonna be here for a while.

You know it would be great to learn about our kingdom in these lectures

Today is an exceptional day, for Prince Marth will speak to you. If you would, sire.

The Kingdom of Archanea is technically Altea's suzerain nation.

Thanks translation patch, you taught me a new word.

Princess Nyna is the last of their royal line, and there was debate as to decide who would rule Archanea,

And it wouldn't be Nyna because?

but I hear Hardin was crowned Emperor of Archanea soon after.

Question time? Why would Hardin be made an Emperor when Archanea is a kingdom, shouldn't he be King of Archanea? Do the writers of the game not understand how titles work?

The kind of person who make himself emperor of a kingdom

He's a wonderful person. In the previous war, Hardin was a precious ally of ours. As King Aurelis's younger brother, he fought to pretct Princess Nyna, who had escaped to the Lea of Aurelis.

Flashback time

Take command, so we can oust this Macedonian scum and be done with it.

If you don't mind saying so... I feel as though I've made a good friend. We share the same ideals, I think.

Oh honey...

...

Next is a conversation with Cecille

I'd like to make it clear that I'll show no mercy for those who underestimate me because I'm a woman!

This is a world where women join the military without anyone batting an eye, you can't exactly make "I'm a strong woman" you're entire personality

When we finally get another girl... Why is it Cecille -the 9th platoon's infamous violent girl - of all people?

Um... Luke maybe don't say this stuff in earshot of the person your poo poo talking. Also we've got plenty of girl around Caeda, Athena, Katarina.

You little... Who's the violent girl!? Take this! And this!

Yikes, w-wait! Please don't hit me! B-be gentle...

This is somewhat horrifying and not helping your case Cecille

There's some extra dialogue if your female

He can be such a troublesome guy...

Good grief. If you say so, Commander Kris. I'm your subordinate from now on, anyway.

What she says changes if your female

Commander Kris, I think you and I are going to get along very well.

Since I've joined this platoon, I'll fight under you. My life is in your hands.

Okay time for a check in with everyone's least favorite cheerleader

Katarina, what are you doing here?

She's probably hiding so that people don't know she's crying

Oh, Kris...!

I was looking for you. Let's go, it's almost time for the final test...

Oh... err... this is... It's nothing...

What happened? Please tell me. Did anyone do anything to you? We're friends. I won't let someone who made you cry

Dude she's clearly crying because she's getting emotional not because something bad happened also according to serenes forest script the Kris says "You can tell me" instead of "Please tell me" if Kris is female. Which is weird.

Kris... No, that wasn't it. I'm... just sad... I'll tell you the reason later... So, let's hurry to the test. I'm alright now.

Are you really alright?

Yes... Your feelings alone are enough for me. Thank you, Kris...

Finally the last conversation

Yes. Beyond here... are the gravces where sleep the soldiers who feel during the previous war.

I see..

My father among them... Many Alteans sacrificed their lives in the previous war.

So did many people of other nations that helped you out! But I get your point.

I couldn't save them... That's something i must never forget.

This is something where I think we're suppose think marth is being overemotional and stuff, but I disagree, while in mass scale combat, 0 casualties is impossible, but it's always best to realize every person that dies is an individual with a life and family. And hindesight to analysis to determine how a casualty could be prevented while still succeeding at your goal is important.

Also being mourning and empathetic that people died, is a good way for a leader to REALLY and truly think about whether or not war is absolutely necessary in a situation.

Sire... Ever since I decided that being a knight was my goal, I was prepared to die fighting.

If your female the wording here is "From the day I decided that being knight was my goal". IDK these minor wording changes

Those who fought in the previous war... Weren't they, too prepared to give their lives for the kingdom? It's painful, I know, but it isn't something you must brood over alone, sire...

Just because someone is WILLING to die for a cause doesn't mean it's not painful when they die or that you shouldn't do everything you can to prevent them from dying.

...Thank you. I'm happy to hear that. But I... still feel pain. When my comrades get hurt and fall, I can't help but to feel pain... Even if I'm deluding myself... I don't want to let even a single one of my comrades die.

Sire...

...Jagen often tells me that, too. "He who leads people must see the big picture." If one sacrifices few to save many, that was the correct decision to take. I understand that, too. But... I don't want that. Having to sacrificer someone...

My personal stance on this is: Always try to PREVENT casualties and if that is truly impossible then and only then do you go to minimize casualties

Maybe I'm unfit to be king... Perhaps it's a naive way to think...

Honestly i prefer my king to have empathy, why aren't you king BTW? Wanna do something about the exploitation of the common man in your society and how the average person probably lives in poverty while the nobles live in luxury?

But, that's how I really feel. And I can't betray my feelings

Sire...

Ah, sorry... I must have confused you by suddenly talking about all this.

... No, I understand. I do understand your feelings, sire...

Kris...?

I don't want any of my comrades to fall, I want everyone to be alright.... I think that, too. Sire... I want to help you accomplish that.

Kris... Thank you, Kris.

Also here's Ogma, because of my rules, we are probably never gonna use him the Prologue. Which sucks because at this point he's basically a second Kris (slightly weaker, slightly more bulky). But here are his growth rates:

100% HP
60% Str
55% Skill
50% Spd
60% Lck
25% Def
5% Res

So here's the units I have to bring to this chapter, Kris again slides in by force deployment, if this team looks familiar it's because it's the exact same team we have last map

Here's a quick view of everyone's equipment. I gave Luke and Rody there opposing weapon type to train there other weapon rank I guess. Cecille was given Ogma's steel sword because why not? Basically everything that someone can use that i deployed (everything but Merric's fire tome) was given to someone

Enemy view: They are archers here, so be aware if you deployed Caeda

This one drops an Iron Bow (not that we really need, Ryan's Iron Bow is fine is uses.)

They are enemy armor Knights, but they are only Level 1, so they aren't too tough.

They are enemy Myrmidons but when have enemy myrmidons ever been threatening in any Fire Emblem game ever?

This one drops an Iron Sword, neato!

The Cain is here, drops a Heal Staff, which always nice, can never have too many of those.

Your opponent in the final exam shall be...

You, we saw the map before the battle started, stopped trying to surprise us!

Myself: Cain, knight of Altea! I'll show you the sort of battle that real knights face!

First I have Luke attack this armor

And ryan finishes it off.

Rody attacks the myrmidon.

I move the rest of my units in formation (Note that I did NOT have Cecille attack that armor knight), aww,... man is this game introduce those invisible enemies in those crappy hard rom hacks

While it's not obvious from this photo, cecille actually managed to barely survive an attack from an armor and an archer, however doing this basically prevented all three of the myrmidon, armor and archer from attack Rody. Using Cecille's poo poo bulk to benefit!

An archer attacks Luke

And Rody finishes off the Myrmidon on enemy phase.

And gets a fine level up but I'd prefer some strength.

A myrmidon attacks luke and Luke does a poo poo load of damage back.

Player phase begins and Kris kills the Archer, while I'm barely using Kris I'm trying to avoid overleveling him, since he's like the best unit in my roster.

Kris gets a crappy level up at that least proves his HP growth is above 100%

Wrys heals Cecille because she desperately needs it.

Ryan chips the Armor with his shiny steel bow.

And Cecille kills the armor

Cecille levels and gets a decent level up. (I'll take Strength from Cecille at this point, I understand her leveling defense is a pipe dream.)

Luke kills the Myrmidon

ANd gets a level up which isn't great, but gains at least one of the two truly useful stats.

Rody attacks the Archer and that ends my turn

The archer attacks Rody

Thank you for not ambush spawning!

First off we have a pegasus knight, she drops an Iron Lance

And we have a cavalier who doesn't drop his Iron lance

You might have notice that Ryan killed the archer offscreen (Yes I took a screen of it, just trying to slowly reduce the amount of things I show.) Well Ryan leveled up from that and got FINALLY GOT SPEED, now he needs like 4 more before he's remotely close to doubling things!

I move everyone in a specific formation for safety purposes (Cecille is intentionally in range of the pegasus knight)

Cecille is gonna get attacked by the Pegasus Knight.

Cain attacks Rody.

Cecille attacks and finishes off the Pegasus Knight

After a chip from Ryan, Luke finishes off Cain

But the map is not over yet, Rody WAITS next to the last cavalier, so he doesn't die on enemy phase

Wrys heals Luke, which was really smart of me because

Because while I have Luke attack for the finishing blow, he misses

Thankfully Ryan could finish him off.

What are you wondering about now Jagen?

As before, you score depends on the amount of companions who were forced to make an early exit. Listen carefully. Your performance has been...

Most impressive! Even among the past Altean knights, there has not been a group with such high credentials as yours! Therefore...

This dialogue is obviously different depending how many deaths you have so far in the prologue:

Some Losses:
Ahem, not bad! Compared to other aspiring knights in the past, you have done very well. And so...

Hmm... This is extremely difficult for me to say. You have many injured... But you deserve credit for winning all your battles until now. Therefore...

Kris's 7th Platoon, I have decided that you have passed your final test!

Oooh, it's getting me excited just thinking about it! Heh heh heh heh...

So the tough as nails, badass, woman is getting excited about shopping? I was about to make a comment about feminism failings, but I guess it's not anti-feminist to have a female character with both masculine and feminine interests.

My lifelong dream has at last been realized.

Everyone looks so happy. I guess it's because we're all to be knights! We really did it, Kris.

"We"? you gave us steel swords and stand on the sidelines the entire time, giving no tactical advice.

Yep. It was my grandfather's and my own dearest wish to become an Altean knight. I can work for Altea and serve Prince Marth. So I've all the reason to be happy.

Side note for some reason, female Kris says "Yeah" instead of "Yep"

Indeed. I'm happy too...

Ah, Kris. What are you doing up so late at night?

I... well... There's a lot on my mind, I suppose. ...Kris, have I ever told you about the town I was born in?

Now that you mention it, you've never told me anything about your hometown. It wasn't Altea?

Altea is a country not a city last I checked so I could be a town in Altea, like yourself

I was born in a town called Knorda. have you ever heard of it? I... know it all too well. In Knorda, I was treated like an animal, beaten for fun.

Why did you ask if he's heard of it and not give him a chance to respond.

Whenever I couldn't stand the pain, I'd just close my eyes and think of nothing, taking refuge within my heart's confines...

Katarina...

...But someone was there to save me. She showed me the meaning of life. I felt that I would do anything for her. Kris, do you have someone like that in your life?

Um... his grandfather

Yes. To remain loyal to a lord; that's the sort of knight I aim to be.

Yes, that's right. You're also doing it for someone else... Not long now, is it...? It won't be long until we become Altean knights. When that happens. ...... Good night, Kris.

That isn't ominous at all.

Weirdly if Kris is female she says "Well then, time to get some rest..." instead.

What's this? A headband

It's from Cecille. "Give this to the new platoon commander," she said. Supposedly if you wear this, you'll be more.. "psyched". Cecille really wants you to wear it.

So once I put this on, I'll have a hairstyle like Cecille's? But will being like Cecille really suit me?

I'm sure it would. Oh, I know! How about you just try it on? If you try it and it feels a little strange, you can just go back to your original hairstyle.

Oh, good point...

Basically at various points throughout the game Kris is offered the option to change their appearance, and what I'm gonna do (and what most LPers I've seen do), is say Yes to show off the appearance then revert at the first opportunity.

Alright, let's give it a try. I'll try arranging my hair so that it's like Cecille's.

Wonderful! Cecile is sure to be happy with your decision. I look forward to seeing your new look.See you tomorrow, Kris.

This dialogue is different if your female:

Alright, let's give it a try. It'll be fun becoming like Cecille.

Wonderful! Cecille is sure to be stoked. I look forward to seeing your new look. See you tomorrow, Kris.

If you say "No" here's the dialogue (slightly different for male and female):

Male
No, I think I'm alright. My hairstyle is fine as it is.

Female
No, let's stop here. My hairstyle is fine as it is.

Katarina's Response (regardless of gender)
Oh, is that so? That's too bad. I was looking forward to see your new look, too... Ah, I'll go return this then. See you tomorrow, Kris.

# ? Feb 19, 2020 12:20

weso12: Nov 19, 2014; Lurker, Sims 3 LPer, Bored College Student

Alternate Dimension 3

Now let's see what happens if you say "No" here.

Apparently Kris turns into an a clueless idiot, I guess it was either that or rear end in a top hat so this is the better option

And Katarina is confused or sad.

Yes, I... So it was just me after all... I'm sorry. Good night , Kris.

The rest of the dialogue for a while is the same

The archers here have Steel Bows

And this one drops a separate Iron Bow

They are also fighters here.

There is also a mercenary who drops an Iron Sword

So I attack the Mercenary with Rody and Rody misses

Then I stupidly have Ryan attack the Mercenary, I move Cecille and Luke to the top corner but w/e.

But you'd better not think that your only enemies are those you can see.

This run ended quickly because Rody killed the mercenary got attacked by the archer and then killed by the fighter

IDK why Rody specifically is the one dying but oh well

Death Counter
Rody: 2

RESTART TIME

This time I had Ryan attack first, and have Rody finish off, they both hit.

Why can't rody get level ups like this is MY DIMENSION

Rody still gets attacked by the archer and fighter but lives this time

And a Mercenary attacks Cecille

I only show this Level up because it's a rare instant of a Physical unit gaining magic.

Luke finishes off the mercenary.

Ryan chips the fighter because Rody missed during enemy phase

And Rody finishes off the fighter

Cecille moves herself to bait the boss with me not realizing that Est doesn't move yet

While this frame is not the best example, Ryan actually crit'd here, killing the archer on the counter attack, who said Archers don't have enemy phase?

The exact same wording as Cain used.

ANd here are the two cavaliers from a different take but w/e.

Cecille attacks the cavalier to kill it on enemy phase

And ryan kills the archer.

And Luke intentionally as bait gets in range of Est, she doubles but she doesn't kill.

Cecille was gonna weaken Est for Luke to get the kill but she missed.

Kris has to finish the job then (not that it matters much this is non-canon land.)

I don't think you can call yourselves apprentices any more!

And that ends all the alternate dimension non-sense.

# ? Feb 19, 2020 17:53

weso12: Nov 19, 2014; Lurker, Sims 3 LPer, Bored College Student

Obviously this scene only exists if you said "Yes" last time: Katarina says "I think it looks wonderful" instead of "Wow, it looks great!" if your female.

I don't hate it, reminds me of Ike.

I guess Katarina wasn't lying earlier.

Are you going to have it like that all the time from now?

Let me think about it a little more... I might want to change it back again. Well then, let's leave it at hairstyles and assemble. Today is a big day after all.

Side note: Because the fireemblem wiki doesn't have small portrait of default appearance with all the accessories I'll just use the default appearance for the small portraits

Here's where the chapter starts if you didn't bother changing your appearance:

It's thanks to Kris the Ordinary that we've come this far. Aren't you all glad I conceded commandership to him?!

But he does have a point. We made it this far because you were here, Kris...

How long has Cecille been on our team in universe? We only had her for 2 maps in gameplay and yet they are treating her like she was always part of the team

Kris I haven't tested it but I'm guessing with my build Kris could solo the entire Prologue on normal mode.

Can you guys please stop sucking Kris's dick please.

...Um... I'm not very good at accepting praise, but, er...

What, are you embarrassed? You're such a cutie! Right, Katarina?

Strangely this dialogue is the same if your female.

Indeed Cecille... Kris, the time since we met sure has gone in the blink of a eye, hasn't it.

(Using "a" instead of "an" is the game not me)

I won't ever forget... The time that we spent together...

Hey, is something wrong? I wouldn't expect you of all people to suddenly get nostalgic...

Ah, indeed... I'm just being strange, aren't I? I'm sorry. It's time, everyone. We should head to the ceremony room. Our induction will be held there.

Kris, I appoint you a knight. ...And now you are Altean knights. You've done well up until now.

Well considering I had to reset for you twice (granted once in an alternate dimension), you almost didn't!

*Writes long paragraph about the issues involving Cecille's characterization in this game*

What in the world has happened that's important enough for you to interrupt this sacred induction

I mean it was basically done, but I would assume pretty important

I-it's an attack! Altea Castle is under attack by an enemy force!

Yeah that seems pretty important!

What?! How... What are their numbers?!

Yeah that is a legit question how on earth did they reach the castle.

I-I don't know. I just know they're in the castle...

I will assume command. You lot stay here and protect and prince!

Yes, sir!

...... Hey, aren't things getting dangerous? Shouldn't we go and help, too?

Um... we're guarding the prince, that's probably one of the most important duties

There's no need to be worried. There are plenty of soldiers protecting the castle. If it really is an attack, then...

It won't kill them, but they won't be able to move well for a few days...

Hey Katarina i know this is the big reveal that you're actually working for the bad guys and all, but maybe wait a little longer would be more effective.

Also how the gently caress did you poison every single soldier in the castle without drawing notice.

Katarina, what are you saying...?

"If there is someone who can move freely within the castle, they can easily drug the guards, or act as a guide for their accomplices... So until you can be trusted, you will spend every day waiting for such an opportunity." Those were my orders

"every day" is in fact two words in the game.

What?! Is this some sort of joke...?

Female Kris says something slightly different

What?! I don't believe this...!

Katarina! Wait, where are you going?! You can't just go outside...

Um... Cecille she made it pretty drat clear she was an undercover agent at this point.

I am not Katarina.

Excuse me?

Forgive me, everyone... My real name is Eine. My reason for coming here was to kill Prince Marth.

Side note: That Eine has been officially localized as "Reese" per Heroes, I only didn't mention it earlier as to keep that a surprise for those played Heroes but were like only familiar with weapon names and poo poo.

Okay two info conversations this time and they are both pretty short.

I understand that this can harder to process if you known someone for months, but she just said her was an undercover spy ordered to kill Marth.

But when I think about it... there were some signs. Although I never imagined it would come to this...

Are we... going to fight Katarina?

Well she just admitted to be a spy with the goal of murdering a defecto King. So I'd say that's grounds to kill someone.

...We are knights. Protecting Prince Marth is our foremost duty.

Time for our second talk conversation the first one was real short

Besides, this is your knighthood ceremony... I don't want to lose promising people in a place like this. Please leave everything to me. I'll find a way of escaping alone. You don't need to...

Marth I understand you don't want people to die, but it's our literal job to protect you, let us do what's on our payroll.

Speak no further, sire. I shall fight alongside you.

But...

Sire, you told me before that you don't want to let your comrades die. I'm the same. Just like you, sire, wish to protect us... I, too, wish to protect you. That's what I believe.

Weirdly female Kris says "I feel the same way." instead "I'm the same."

Kris....

Luke...

Everyone... Alright. Then are you all ready?

No kidding!

The 7th Platoon shall battle together with our prince! And we shall prevail!

So Cain joins for this battle (Est does if you went the other route in the last battle), here are his stats and if your curious here are his growths:

90% HP
40% Str
0% Mag
70% Skill
70% Spd
70% Lck
35% Def
5% Res

Overall not bad. He starts out as a higher leveled version of the 3 cavaliers we have already, but unfortunately we can't deploy him here.

This is a two purpose screenshot: First to show off the roster we will be using, which basically the roster we've been using for the entire prologue + Marth and Caeda. And second to show the other more important new playable character: Marth, Marth is vital in this playthrough off almost entirely the merit that he'll be forced deployed from here on out. Meaning I can use him regardless how high level he gets. I'm gonna try to practice self control and not use him too much if I can avoid it since that ruins that fun, but I might have to rely on him at points.

Here are his growths:

90% HP
50% Str
0% Mag
65% Skill
65% Spd
80% Lck
30% Def
5% Res

Overall solid growths.

In a screenshot definitely not taken in the future I show off Marth's personal weapon, the Rapier, it's not super powerful (Having the might and accuracy of a Iron Sword), but it's effective against Cavalry and Mounted Units (as in triple might), so it's handy.

Here's my rosters inventory before we start. Now let's meet our enemies

First off they are enemy thieves. It occurs to me I didn't explain thieves: They are somewhat fast units who are weak and not bulky who can also open chests, unlock doors, and on the enemy side destroy villages (More on that later when those mechanics are explained)

They are some barbarians

And here's the steel axe he has equipped, it's basically just a powerful less accurate Iron Axe

They are some hunters so keep an eye on those, so they don't go in Caeda's range. Especially since they have Steel Bow

They are a few mages but they aren't that threatening.

And the boss, HOLY gently caress KATARINA CAN FIGHT. Okay I can forgive trying to assassinate our lord and all but all this time you could have been useful in combat but for no reason you pretended this "Tactitican" bullshit when you were a mage all this time, you could have been undercover as an aspiring Knight and said "BTW I'm a mage", Kris can start as a game, so there is no restriction on this.

Strangely while Fire is equivalent to an Iron Sword, Elfire is equivalent to a Steel Lance (Having the same accuracy and might). It's still useful because more powerful magic is always cool.

The glowing circle is a Map Save, have a unit stand on it and you'll be able to make a "Map Save" your able to reload it later, each map save is usable once per battle.

And all I had to do was create a situation where they'd risk their lives to protect some poor Altean villagers from bandits... Marth's trust can be bought so easily. I'll be watching very carefully, so do make sure you kill him.

Um... what does those bandits have to do with anything, all that did was give me some experience

Oh noez, does Katarina feel GUILTY about attempting murder.

I move all my front line fighters (plus Cecille since I was low on front line fighters), into a line position to protect everyone else, and ensure they all take minimal damage

A thief and a hunter attack Cecille leaving her at critical HP and a thief attacks and gets killed by Kris. And a hunter attacks Marth

And two thieves additional thieves spawn at the bottom of the map

Ryan attack and killed the thief

And Ryan gets one step closer to getting to the point of being able to double something eventually.

Rody gives Caeda his Steel Lance, to do one of my favorite things to do in fire emblem.

Killing bow users with fliers at melee.

Marth attacks the other hunter

And Luke finishes the job.

And drat luke is becoming good.

And Caeda kills the barbarian who attacks her while thankfully missing

Goddamn Wrys that defense growth is 5% FIVE!

I move everyone forward in this formation, and the thief predictably attacks Cecille. Another attacks Marth.

More Thief reinforcements.

I immediately have Cecille kill the thief

And gets a solid level up, but I was hoping for some defense.

Caeda kills a mage.

Ryan and Rody team up on the barbarian and kill him.

Luke kills the thief and I end my turn with no enemies in range

Caeda attacks the thief with the Iron Lance as to not kill him

Caeda leveled up anyways and got Caeda_level_up.png

And Ryan finishes off the thief.

And Cecille kills a mage

Rody attacks the thief and...

Gains a drat good level up, though I could really use some strength, the Res is novel though

Luke attacks the thief as well to finish it off

And Luke gains a fine level up.

Kris lands on the save point which I save on which comes in handy because...

...Yeah that was my bad.

Death Count
Rody: 3

RESTART FROM MAP POINT, Rody kills a Thief

And another thief

And finally gains Strength

I intentionally move Kris into Katarina's range because a. He lives and B. She has a unique boss quote with him.

Yes, it was all a lie. I deceived you. I'm so sorry...

Apparently if your female she says "Forgive me, Kris..." instead "I'm so sorry...."

Wrys then gains what should be a standard Wrys level up.

Kris attacks Katarina in what is a guaranteed 1RKO

Roro... I'm gonna to retreat. I cannot win against Kris's forces...

No matter, we'll just have to find another opportunity to kill him, then. Well, time to run, run!

Maybe a more quiet assassination attempt might have worked, Katarina being a royal guard would have given you plenty of opportunities, but had to come open about her being a spy.

Kris gets an okay level up, and I never realized his luck was that low, not that it matters.

Sire. This is all my fault. I am prepared to receive any kind of punishment.

Kris, Katarina looked at you with such gentle eyes. Perhaps there was some sort of unavoidable circumstance for her. Perhaps she was being forced...

She just tried to MURDER you marth, maybe this isn't time to try to justify it.

Sire... My goodness... To think you would be concerned for the very assassin who made an attempt on your life...

For once I agree with Jagen here.

With the Shadow Dragon gone, and the world supposedly heading towards a path of peace and prosperity... Who in the world would try to assassinate you, sire...? At this rate, you will likely be targeted by assassins time and time again.

I think you underestimate game how frequently assassination attempts on political leaders the public is unaware that happen probably at a daily basis.

We must prepare a guard who will defend you, sire, with his or her life...

Singular they when referring to a hypothetical individual translation patch, use it!

Then I'd like to delegate that role to Kris. As we discussed before, if Kris were to follow me as a Royal Guard, I would rest assured.

Um... how about experienced people, Cain, Frey etceria.

Understood, sire. I'll make the necessary arrangements.

Kris... This won't be the last we've seen of Katarina. When the time comes, I want you to guard me. And, if possible... I want you help her. Because I believe that is something only you can do...

Honestly Marth comes off an abuse victim here of some kind.

Only this morning... We were laughing together, us three...

...I'm sorry. Getting upset about it won't solve anything.... Us knights, we'll just have to adapt... Oh yeah, Kris, what about that headband of yours?

I'll change it back to show off other hair styles

Yes, you guessed right. I was trying to be more like you, but it doesn't suit me like it does you.

Female Kris says "that's right" instead of "you guessed right"

I see. That's a little disappointing, but I'll forgive you this time. Kris, all of us in the 7th Platoon, we're partners. That will never change. Let's... all of us, together... Let's get Katarina back. Someday, definitely...

Um... why are we so willing to "Get her back" when she was an assassin to kill marth.

Now time for the all the party members that are leaving to get their two cents in.

Even a veteran like me has to admit it was an impressive first job!

Thank you for your kind words, Sir Cain.

I recieved a new request from Princess Caeda's father -King Talys. It seems I must venture to Grust.

That's too bad. I wanted to learn more about fighting from you, Sir Ogma.

Don't worry. I'm sure our paths will cross again, some day. Until then, don't you dare die.

Don't worry I can't die,. it'll be a Game Over.

Kris, I'm heading back to Khadein, the city of magic. There's something I have to do for Marth. He's a very important person to me, so...

I understand, Sir Merric. I will protect him to the best of my ability.

(Female Kris says "I understand. I will guard him well, Sir Merric.")

But Kris, ve could meet again.

Miss Athena... Please, stay well. I'd be happy if we could meet again.

Sir Kris, I'm going on a journey for a while.

No, Wrys, thank YOU for helping us.

Knowing fate, if two people are tied together, they will meet again, sooner of later. Please, take care...

But, I... still feel uneasy. I just can't shake the feeling that Marth will only be in more danger from now on... I want to protect Marth, but Ican't do even that, and it troubles me greatly...

Please don't worry, Princess. I'm certain Prince Marth will be safe. I will protect the prince in my lady's stead, without fail.

Thank you, Kris. Yes, if you are there, then surely... My apologies, Kris. Marth and I only ever ask favors of you. But if you are with him, then I know... Yes, Marth and I believe that you'll manage. Kris, from that I ask that you always stay by Marth's side... and help him...

Also here are the alternate dimension party member dialogue here

Est:

Kris, I'm returning home. I think Abel is getting worried about me.

Abel...?

You don't know Abel? Well, you see, Abel is a former Altean knight. A long time ago, he was Sir Cain's partner. Now he's left the army and lives with me. Oh, if you'd like, you can come and visit us anytime.

Gordin:

We have to do our best, too, to protect Prince Marth. Kris, my best regards from here on.

The pleasure is mine.

(Female Kris says "Yes, mine too")

Draug:

Hmm, perhaps that assassin was... Well, in any case, I ought to guard the castle's defenses even more diligently. Kris, I would like you to consult with me on this later.

Gladly, Sir Draug.

weso12 fucked around with this message at 00:13 on Feb 27, 2020

# ? Feb 24, 2020 12:55

weso12: Nov 19, 2014; Lurker, Sims 3 LPer, Bored College Student

Note: Since there's gonna be a lot of pre-chapter narration and I don't want to show a screenshot for all of it, I will be using italics to indicate the in chapter narration (that's not in screenshots), and plain text for my commentary.

An epic battle between Prince Marth's heroes and the Dolhrian Empire, which ended with the defeat of the Earth Dragon King, Medeus.

devoting themselves to the reconstruction of their homelands.

Gra and Grust were devastated. Altea, Aurelis, Macedon and Talys were left deeply scarred, and even the mighty Kingdom of Archanea was undergoing restoration.

Hardin, the younger brother of King Aurelis, was married to Princess Nyna, becoming the twenty-fourth king of House Archanea.

This is all poo poo we basically knew why are you repeating

After ascending the throne, Hardin aggressively restored the country in the twinkling of an eye, and formed a powerful army by gathering many soldiers. He then proclaimed the restoration of the Holy Archanean Empire, and himself Emperor.

Um... in my experience any RPG character who becomes Emperor, is just asking for trouble.

The world seemed to be moving towards an era of peace.

was finally starting to regain stability thanks to Prince Marth's efforts.

I'm confused on the timeline the training session was only a year after the events and that was at least 3 months,, so is this a year and three months i guess?

Prince Marth's engagement to Princess Caeda was announced, and the people of Altea rejoiced, sharing their happiness. However... Nearing the day of their wedding, an unexpected letter arrived from the imperial palace, contacting an imperial edict.

Man this game is exposing my actually quite lovely vocabulary.

"Dear Prince Marth of Altea,

In the kingdom of Grust, now under imperial rule, a large-scale rebellion has broken out. I request your kindom's assistance in its subjugation.

Your Highness is to lead the entire of Altea and sortie at once, suppressing the Grustian rebellion.

-The Emperor of Archanea

This sounds like trustworthy and someone who definitely has our best intentions at heart.

The Kingdom of Archanea was Altea's suzerain, so its orders were absolute. Forced to comply Marth ordered the knight Cain to protect his homeland, and together with Jagen, the paladin Arran, and the young, new appointed knights left Altea on the Grustian expedition.

This is your first real battle, is it not? Battles will be different from here on out. Defeat on the battlefield means death. Any allies you lose will never return... That is the harsh reality of war. You must take the utmost care not to get yourself killed

Or restarts whenever it happens, whichever.

You, and everyone else... It would be wonderful if we could end this battle without losing anyone...

Sire...

This dialogue is different if you're playing on casual mode

Kris, we'll be arriving shortly. This is your first real battle, is it not? You must take the utmost care not to get seriously injured.

Of course, sire.

You, and everyone else; It would be wonderful if we could end this battle safely...

Sire...

We will also have merchants accompanying us, who will sell us weapons and items. I daresay they will be invaluable during battle preparations.

Thank you, Jagen. Then let's begin our battle preparations at once.

Okay before we begin the preparation we have conversations to go through this one is called "Kingdom of Grust"

Kris did you not research the previous war at all?

Indeed. In the War of Shadows, Grust was our enemy. However, the general and the people were not to blame. There were many admirable people that I did not want to fight. General Lorenz comes to mind... Fortunately, in the previous war, he fought as our ally.

but, by Archanea's grace, General Lorenz was allowed to govern it. He's an excellent leader who thinks of his people. It's because of him that the people of Grust can live in peace.

I understand. But then, I wonder why did a rebellion occur?

Um... people of countries that were independent before, like to stay independent. That's kind of been a thing throughout all of history.

That, I don't know. Just what is going on in this country?

Okay time for the next conversation this one is called "Expeditionary forces"

Good to hear.About our expeditionary forces... I am already old, and would be of no use in the front lines.

Don't say that Jagen, you were a badass just a year ago!

Our main force will consist of you rookies, Gordin, Draug, and the Paladin Arran. The strongest among us is Sir Arran. Let me introduce you.

Kris, sir. It is an honor to fight alongside you, sir.

Sir Arran, as far as our reports go, our enemies are bandits. They are no match for a Paladin like you.

Of course. However, Sir Jagen, if possible please give a chance to Kris and the other new knights. I can't become much stronger than I already am. However, they're young and have potential. As Kris and the others experience actual battles, they should eventually grow enough to surpass me.

Ah! Sir Arran...

Kris, gain strength in the battlefield, and surpass me as soon as possible.The one who will support the future of Altea isn't me: it's you.

Yes sir! I'll bear in mind the importance of being a knight of Altea.

Basically this dialogue is saying "Don't over use Arran, he falls behind later", which is more or less accurate though for a while fire emblem fans overestimated how true this was.

I'll go into Arran a bit later after we get into the next two talk conversations which are unique in that they are support conversations.

Supports are hidden bonuses in this game are unlocked by being in the same map as some one and only some combinations of supports actually unlock conversations in this game and by deploying Ryan in every Prologue map, I managed to unlock Kris x Ryan first conversation.

I remember you met every now and then during our apprentice days. You two seemed rather close.

Female Kris says "I thought it was nice you had someone close to you...."

Don't you have siblings, Kris?

Well Kris is an orphan, so I doubt he would know if he does!

Well, no... That's why I'm a little envious. What's it like having someone close to you who's around the same age?

Hmm... Well, my brother's always been in my life so it's hard to describe it.

Probably the most realistic response

Oh, but whenever I argued with my parents or friends... I liked it when Brother stuck up for me.

I have a brother, and in my experience it's usually quarreling with my brother.

You've a nice family. I see. So you quarrel too, Ryan.

...N-not anymore though.

This support was clearly written by someone who never has siblings.

Finally we get one support between Luke and Rody:

What, you don't like them? How about... "Cold-eyes"?

That sounds like an insult to me... Am I really that cold?

Fine, what good ideas have you got then?

I need no nicknames. And besides, nicknames are supposed to come naturally, right?

I mean your right, but aren't exactly speaking on Luke's wavelength.

Come on, I know you actually want one; you can't fool me! So I'll help you think of a fine nickname: one even a veteran knight of Altea would be proud of.

...If that's the case, I'll think of a nickname for you as well.

I can see where this is going.

Alright! remember to give me a cool one!

Hmm... How about "Should Be More Serious!"?

Rody, I'm disappointed they are better burns you could have given Luke then that.

What...

You don't like it? Then, how about "Oh Dear, He's Crazy..."?

Okay we are getting better and deeper, but it probably should be framed as an actual nickname to get the burn across.

Alright, I get it already! You... really like to run your mouth off when you're in a mood.

Hey Luke what have you been doing this entire time?

I do what I can, if it helps you to understand...

Oh, those eyes! Your nickname has to be "Cold-eyes" now!

In that case, yours is "Do it Seriously!"

Okay time for gameplay stuff, if your curious what happens to everyone who left us inventory, they all went into convoy, one thing I'm not sure is that Gordin and Draug can join in the Prologue or here, do you get jipped out their Chapter 1 stuff if you pick them in the prologue?

Oh right I forgot to explain what the convoy is, it's basically a storage place for all your items you get you can store 200 items in here.

New character time: And the game did an okay job talking about him itself, here are his growth rates:

40% HP
15% Atk
0% Mag
25% Skill
10% Spd
10% Lck
15% Def
0% Res

If your curious aside from that 10% Luck growth, Arran's growths are literally the class base growths. There is an in-universe reason for this but I'll discuss it when the game discusses it. That being said he's not bad, in fact he's a star early on in most playthroughs as an early game combatant and utility unit (especially if you reclass him into Dracoknight). Just make sure to not spam him, because he doesn't keep up for endgame. I can't use him much due my challenge rules but I'm allowed to deploy him for this chapter.

I should probably explain the Silver Lance and silver weapons and general, they are the most powerful standard weapons and are expensive and require a high weapon rank to use.

Next is Draug (note he doesn't start with a Vulnerary I just gave it to him). Draug is interesting, because as an Armor Knight he sucks, because armor knights suck in fire emblem point blank. However if you're using reclass (which I'm not), he has (along with the other armor knight you get) really good speed and stuff, and losses any bulk period, it's an worthwhile trade that makes him into a weirdly good unit if you wanna go that route but I don't like reclass in this game for reasons I'll explain below. Here are his growths:

80% HP
40% Str
0% Mag
50% Skill
50% Spd
40% Lck
55% Def
0% Res

Now just for reference here are his growths as a Pirate:

90% HP
55% Str
0% Mag
45% Skl
80% Spd
40% Lck
25% Def
0% Res

Yeah Draug is super nice as anything BUT an armor knight. (Or a magic class but who would make him that?)

Next in Gordin, who at this point is Ryan but with slightly worse growths, ryan will eventually be better but for now they are basically the game, here are his growths:

70% HP
40% Str
0% Mag
40% Skill
40% Spd
50% Lck
30% Def
0% Res

Time to explain reclass

During battle preparations of every chapter from here on out you can reclass characters into various classes. You might be asking the restriction here and they are some here.

First off, their a max of every class (promoted and unpromoted variants are combined together) of "Number of Characters You get that start in the class" plus 1, note that since Kris can be various starting classes, they're not counted towards max.There's one hard to get character that doesn't get counted towards the max, IDK what happens if you're maxed out on that class when that character joins, if someone can tell me that would be nice.

Second off, characters are restricted to only have certain options based on their starting class:

Marth here can't reclass period so is stuck as Lord for the entire game (as are certain other characters who will be introduced later, I'll mention it when they join us).

Female characters (who can reclass) are in the "Female Class Set".

Male characters (who can reclass) are either in "Male Class Set A", or "Male Class Set B". Note that after you beat the game on hard these two class sets are merged on all future playtrhoughs, which basically makes guys better than girls in this game at that point.

Let's start with Male Class Set A as displayed as Luke, I'll briefly go into the classes even if I explained them prior because i feel like it. Also the penalties and bonuses shown are for comparison to Cavalier.

Cavaliers are the standard mounted class, they can use both Swords and Lances, and have solid around stats. They are probably the best class in Male Class Set A (and probably male class set all together before promotion)

Archers are the standard bow using class, they are semi-bulky in this game, and have high skill. But they have lovely armor-like movement, bows are basically player phase only, and weirdly low speed at least for now.

Myrmidon are a high speed, high skill sword using class, they have somewhat low strength and not great bulk. They are probably the inferior swordsman class in this game.

Mages are the standard tome class of this game. They use Magic instead of Strength for their attacking stat, so that Physical units aren't great in this class unless they start with a magic growth (i.e. Cecille) and virtually no magical unit is good as a physical class. It also means they target Resistance instead of Defense, a typically much lower stat. They do suffer from low bulk themselves though.

Curates are the healer class of this game. Staves use Magic so most physical units aren't good here. They can't fight in any capacity yet, plus they are frail.

Time for "Male Class Set B", Mercenary will be used as the base of comparison and Kris will be are Model

Mercenaries are the "well balanced" swordsman, and in general the better option between Myrmidon and Mercenaries.

Fighters are the standard axe using class, high power but low accuracy.

Hunters are a bow using class that has higher power, speed but less bulk then Archers do, they are overall better right now. And if you have Male class sets merged in your playthrough, it's recommended that any archer you are using gets reclass to hunters.

Pirates are fighters but they can traverse water terrain (albeit slowly).

Dark Mage unfortunately do not use dark magic (which is not a thing in this game), but instead are basically the Mage of Male Class Set B. They are slightly bulkier but slower then regular mages (at least allegedly) but not by much.

Knights are lance users, they have lovely movement, lovely movement in terrain penalties, high strength and defense but unfortunately can't ever reach the front lines where those things would be useful, plus they are slow.

Now for the female Class set which will be quick because it's same at as Class Set A with one exception. Our model here will be Cecille because we don't have any other options.

Cavaliers

Archer

Myrmidon

Mage

Cleric (Which is basically the same as Curate, but I'm showing off the reclass bonuses here because Cleric technically has slightly different bonuses then curate)

And finally the one that is actually different: Pegasus Knight, it's a Lance using class that has bad bulk, low attack, but high speed, and most notable the ability to fly through any terrain, albeit weak to arrows.

It's an amazing class and when we get one in the main story that'll be a huge boon.

You might think I'm done here but remember that promoted classes are different than starting classes, here's Male Class Set A as promoted units (which is the only one I can show off since Arran is our only promoted unit here. I'll show the rest off when we get a female promoted unit or a promoted Male of Class Set B)

Paladin is the promotion of Cavalier and it doesn't get much but it doesn't need much, it has that absurd Def cap i mentioned earlier and a ridiculous 10 move.

Sniper is the promotion of Archer and unlike Archer is actually good. It gets an extra weapon rank boost in Bows, has good speed and gets a 5% Hit and Crit boost.

Swordmasters are the promotion of Myrmidon and is basically even more overkill Speed and Skill then the myrmidon, it gets and extra weapon rank boost in Swords and a 10% Avoid bonus (it still can't reliably dodge tank though)

Sages are the promotion of Mage, and gain Staves and a High magic cap no Sage will ever reach. They are probably the class you want to use if you want your magical user to be in combat on the map.

Bishops unfortunately do not use Light magic are the promotion of Cleric/Curate instead use regular tomes along with Staves. T{hey have an absurd Res cap no Bishop will never reach (MAYBE Wrys but that's a long shot). They are the class your magic user should be if you want your magic user to be a staff bot in the chapter (because of their higher staff rank)

Dracoknights are the standard promotion of Pegasus Knights, though males get access to it too. It's strong and bulky unlike Pegasus Knight and still reasonably fast. It doesn't have as good res as pegasus knight and still weak to Bows so keep that in mind. Also it gets Axes.

Why I hate reclassing in this game

Basically my core issue with reclassing is that characters feel a lot less special in the DS fire emblems because they are all interchangeable due to reclass, and don't have much dialogue. It's hard to feel your character is unique when literally every character in the same class set can do the exact thing. It also gives a middle finger to a lot of map design, because it assumes you have certain classes in the original games when you have access to more. In a game with EXTREME character bloat the last thing the game needs into have characters feel any less unique. At least the 3ds fire emblems have unique reclasses per character and three houses has specialities and stuff so that reclass is actually used to make characters more unique then less.

Time for dealing with the armory.

You have three options. "Buy", "Sell" and "Forge"

"Sell" Does what you think, it allows you sell your items at half the value they are worth.

"Buy" allows you to buy the standard E rank item for all weapon types plus Heal staves

I'll explain "Forge" in a later chapter.

Also I should note that I've heard the amount of money you start with is based on how many units (aside from Kris and Marth) lived through the prologue, but I'm too cowardly to test this.

In this chapter I have to bring everyone and here is everyones inventory

(I forgot a picture of Ryan's inventory but he just has a Steel bow and an Iron Bow IIRC)

The enemies here are pretty weak and all brigands and hunters.

this guy has a vulnerary

They are hunters do you do have be careful with a reclassed into pegasus knight cecille or a Pegasus Knight Kris.

This guy also has a vulnerary

The boss is... Lorenz hm.. that's weird he was marth's ally last war. Maybe he'll join use this time as well?

There is a tunnel to remember for later.

They are houses here, all they do is give when you visit them, they give you world building or gameplay tips. I'll show off all of these with liberal use of save states.

Villages can only be visited by marth in this game for some dumb reason and contain usually contain one of money items or a new character. This one is particularly important.

Armouries sell weapons on the map. They have stuff the armory in the battle prep doesn't have so keep an eye out.

Note the general that's Lang, yes surprisingly that's also the same name in the Fire Emblem Heroes choose your legends.

Since you've come all this way, I suppose I'll let you have the glory of capturing the rebel leader, Genearl Lorenz.

What?! General Lorenz leads the rebels?!

Yes Lang just said that!

What would possess him to rebel of all things?!

Who knows? I haven't the foggiest idea, and franky I don't care

You know the fact you aren't listening to them enough to know why the are rebeling is a good reason.

Prince. You are to kill General Lorenz, and reclaim the children of the Grustian royal family that he's hiding. While you do that... We will slaughter the families of those who participated in this rebellin and raze their homes to the ground.

Um... dude murder is a great way to constantly ensure their will be more rebels

Are you insane?! They're innocent civilians!

"I-isane"!? Young man, are you questioning my orders?! Perhaps Altea, too, plans to rebel against Archanea...?

Of course not! That's not...

Prince Marth, your tiny country means absolutely nothing to me. Your rude behaviour is merely an irriration

And your war crimes are a big concern to me!

Do not forget that I have the power of the empire behind me: I can crush weak, pesky insects like you any time I wish.

Jagen... What in the world is going on here? How could Harden have entrusted this country to such a vile man?

Sire, I understand how you feel. However, Lorenz has begun a rebellion.

A perfectly justified rebellion by the looks of it

That much seems to be true, so we ought to do something about that first. Sire, why don't you try to speaking to General Lorenz personally? Allow me to stay by your side and serve as your tactician.

Royal Guard Kris! When Prince Marth is in danger on the battlefield, protect him at all costs. That is an order!

Kris, if you're here, I have no need to worry. Let's clean up the bandits, and head to General Lorenz's position!

Yes sir!

I'm gonna end the update here because it's been long enough and the chapter hasn't even started yet! Plus there's a lot of houses and stuff to do in the chapter so their will be plenty to talk about once the chapter starts. Let me know in replies how you feel about me doing this when updates run long like this.

# ? Mar 4, 2020 23:40

FoolyCharged: Oct 11, 2012; Cheating at a raffle? I sentence you to 1 year in jail! No! Two years! Three! Four! Five years! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!
Somebody call for an ant?

I agree Jagen, we should absolutely recruit badass McEyepatch into our army. Someone get the blue paint!

# ? Mar 4, 2020 23:59

Keldulas: Mar 18, 2009

The problem I have with characters being stuck in their original class is that while that may make them more unique, that also means that the majority of characters end up as just 'bad'. Classes are NOT balanced properly, so in any regular playthrough, not using reclassing means that the cavaliers just run roughshod over everyone else, and the archers become pretty permanently poo poo in most circumstances. Those are just a few examples of the problems, so characters being 'unique' usually ends up equaling 'bad'.

Also you'd THINK that with the class sets merged, guys would become way stronger than the ladies. That really isn't true for a couple of reasons.

A: spoiler-based early item that only women can use.

B: access to pegasus knight is huge. Also, the ladies having the option to just switch to cavalier during maps with no terrain is just a good boost too.

C: for whatever reason, on average the ladies are better than the dudes.

I've done lunatic gimmick runs (forget what star) before. One of the gimmicks is that I've done an all-lady run before, and an all-dude run before. Marth and Dancer were allowed to be usable in both. The all-lady run had fun running the maps, the all-dude run was struggling constantly. A large part was losing access to pegasus knight, yeah, but I was also having to use weaker characters on average.

As the ladies, I mostly lost access to bows (archer only option = blech) and axes (Dracoknight only). That could've mattered more.... but didn't.

# ? Mar 7, 2020 01:44

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# ? May 2, 2024 00:45

weso12: Nov 19, 2014; Lurker, Sims 3 LPer, Bored College Student

Keldulas posted:

The problem I have with characters being stuck in their original class is that while that may make them more unique, that also means that the majority of characters end up as just 'bad'. Classes are NOT balanced properly, so in any regular playthrough, not using reclassing means that the cavaliers just run roughshod over everyone else, and the archers become pretty permanently poo poo in most circumstances. Those are just a few examples of the problems, so characters being 'unique' usually ends up equaling 'bad'.

Also you'd THINK that with the class sets merged, guys would become way stronger than the ladies. That really isn't true for a couple of reasons.

A: spoiler-based early item that only women can use.

B: access to pegasus knight is huge. Also, the ladies having the option to just switch to cavalier during maps with no terrain is just a good boost too.

C: for whatever reason, on average the ladies are better than the dudes.

I've done lunatic gimmick runs (forget what star) before. One of the gimmicks is that I've done an all-lady run before, and an all-dude run before. Marth and Dancer were allowed to be usable in both. The all-lady run had fun running the maps, the all-dude run was struggling constantly. A large part was losing access to pegasus knight, yeah, but I was also having to use weaker characters on average.

As the ladies, I mostly lost access to bows (archer only option = blech) and axes (Dracoknight only). That could've mattered more.... but didn't.

Yeah most of the female characters are pretty good. Cecille is an exception where she's just worse than Luke and Rody (and her negative defense base means she suffers as a pegasus knight). I only pointed out the technical disadvantage because I want to complain about this game specifically not having Female Class Set B later (and I want to wait to till a certain character joins and I was just setting that). (Side Note: I perfectly i understand the way on a practical level female class set b is not in the game i just wish it was)

Honestly the main reason I'm not using reclass (which I will probably eventually it's only a "soft rule") is that I get to use a bunch of "scrub" units, and just turning them all into cavalier would negate some of that. If it turns them TOO scrubby that I'm soloing with Marth too much, then I'll go screw it and turn on reclass, though some characters do NOT benefit from reclass (namely mages).

Side note: I actually had a lot of comments here about a lot of game design and balance the developers REALLY hosed with both reclass and class balance in this game (Draug makes the fact they didn't playtest reclass REALLY obvious), but I figured that's more appropriate to the actual updates. (I've thought way too much in the past about how to fix this game and FE11 balance wise and game design wise to the point i have literal documents for a hypothetical "remake" of the games, that i'll never actually make, and how to fix it, for highlights of stuff I did: Reclass was abolished, FE9 Cavalier/Paladin system was used (Turning Luke into a Sword Knight, Roderick into a Lance Knight and Cecil into an Axe Knight), Katarina was playable in FE12 prologue where she had a unique "tactician" class that couldn't fight but had various later FE style rallys that she could use (and gain experience from). But I seriously doubt anyone cares about my stupid ideas, I probably already shared too much.

Also I do have the screens for the next update ready just need to write it up, I'm gonna be busy on saturday so I"ll start writing on sunday.

weso12 fucked around with this message at 14:33 on Mar 7, 2020

# ? Mar 7, 2020 14:30

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > "I have to use WHO?" Let's play FE12 Level Rotation Run.