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Bogart posted:I wonder if the Grisly Wound skill that Ninetails and Wolfsenger share could be changed to something like Countermagic; attack with half of your normal BeastX damage back at half range. Put Grisly Wound as the Master Ninja skill instead. Or an Oni skill? I'm just spitballing. MonstrousMouse posted:What I'm getting from this is that Scarlet is a lot of fun and I should use her the next time I have the chance. Jadecore posted:I always forget about Marcath and its arbitrary illnesses. It's just a deeply pointless interlude on both routes. At least in Conquest it's where Peri and Laslow join, so you get a boon? NyoroEevee posted:If memory serves, Silver weapons can be used for Dual Attacks without triggering the debuff, at least. I specifically remember having to rely on that loophole in one of the DLCs relating to the Conquest-side Awakening characters... Shiny777 posted:My Kagero opinion is it's weird how of all things they made "Kagero gets captured and must be rescued by Corrin and her ex" be like the one post-split event that happens on every route.
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Jan 16, 2022 18:57
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  Time to get lost in the ice! I wish the ice would instead get lost because this chapter sucks. The plot recap also spoils the twist, but it wasn't a hard twist to see coming.  Six feet under the ground! Flora has led us to our deaths... If Felicia weren't there it would have been easier to kill Kevin and his army by deliberately leading them into the icy wilderness and leaving them to die, nobody but her and Flora know where the Ice Trible village even is and by the time they realised they were being mislead it would be too late.  A rout enemy chapter with only a single enemy who doesn't move... There couldn't possibly be a gimmick here. This map is the first of Birthright's gauntlet of tedious, uninspired, or just way too easy midgame maps. It's more the former two than the latter, although you can totally cheese it in a couple of turns if you want. 4 of the 5 villages you can visit on this map are actually traps - they'll spawn large groups of enemies around you as soon as you enter. If you know they're coming you can fairly easily dispose of these enemies before they move by surrounding the villages with your entire army and making visiting them the first action you take, but a blind player can get a bunch of units killed by spawning a load of enemies right at the end of their turn by accident. Even if you don't bother with the villages, there's another set of enemies that have 3 different spawn triggers tied to them - getting halfway across the map, activating the dragon vein that freezes the lake, or waiting 6 turns. Going halfway across the map will make them appear as soon as you've moved your unit, potentially leading to the enemies moving before you have a chance to move your own units away if it happens towards the end of your turn. Waiting for 6 turns has them spawn in at the beginning of player phase which is much safer. I don't know for sure what happens if you activate the dragon vein, but the wiki makes it sound as if they spawn in at the start of enemy phase and get to move immediately...  The village circled in green gives you 10,000 gold instead of spawning enemies, and the red line shows where you have to cross to spawn a load of enemies in. By parking a flier just on the edge of that line and shoving them with an Oni Savage, you can potentially beat this chapter by only defeating Flora. It might require some luck to take her out in a single round, but it's possible!  Flora herself is mildly annoying, she's on a high avoid tile and she uses knives. Icy Blood might also get someone killed if you're not paying attention... As long as you have a unit who can survive a round with her you can very easily get her to debuff her own strength and skill to nothing through repeated uses of her Silver Dagger.  This is the dragon vein that summons all the reinforcements early. The lake will freeze over once they appear regardless of how it happens, so you don't need to bother activating it. Just wait 6 turns and the enemies will appear without getting to move as soon as they spawn in.  I crave EXP and loot so obviously I'm going to visit every village, which means I want as many combat capable units at the ready as possible so I can take out all the enemies as they spawn. This means Oboro gets benched and Hana is briefly allowed to kill people again. Maybe she'll snag a decent level and redeem herself?  You want everyone gathered around each village when you visit it. I probably should have been visiting these with Kevin, seeing as he's not capable of combat... Oh well.  Surrounded by friends and allies! Their companionship warms her heart even in this icy climate...  Oh that's what he meant. Now this map has actual opponents on it... It's still better than Dorothea and Ingrid's paralogue in 3 Houses that shows you an empty map in the prep screen and then fills it with enemies as soon as you hit start.  Some of these enemies spawn in quite far away! This is why you want your army bunched up, any stragglers lurking around could easily end up being surrounded by the enemies spawning in from afar.  Every village has at least 1 item drop from the enemies it spawns. This Master Seal would have been nice to have had earlier, but I won't complain.  Keeping my army bunched up like this also makes it easier to form chokepoints to block off enemies I can't deal with. There's not a lot of terrain in this map, but there is just enough.   That's all there is to this map, surround the villages and them spawn the enemies in to be harvested for their EXP and WEXP. Not particularly thrilling.  One of the enemies dropped this... It's kind of cool, Setsuna's accuracy is a little shaky. Maybe she could benefit from it?  Oh no, that Berserker I thought was too far away is moving to set up a dual attack... I don't think this bodes well for Setsuna!  She's fine, just barely. Dual strikes are a cool mechanic but sometimes they give the enemy too many options for me to plan around! I am used to my units being paired up and therefore immune to them most of the time.   Kaze's gone from great to merely decent filler, and his levels have been falling off too. Golembane is a mildly useful skill, although like all effective skills it merely doubles weapon might, not triples. It works well with yumis but not so much shurikens, their power is weak enough that doubling it doesn't mean much. "Golems" in this game refers to Mechanists, Stoneborn, and Automatons. We haven't seen any of those as enemies yet.  The danger music was playing in this combat and I have no idea why, the enemies couldn't counterattack Setsuna to kill her. Was she the danger???  Hana is helping, were she not here I might have had to waste a staff use on surviving this Sorcerer I otherwise couldn't kill. Will she get a good level for her contribution?  ...okay. I guess that's speed?   Only unpromoted enemies lurking around this village. I think after the first defeat they'd either send out all their fighters at once or just not bother...  This guy drops a Spirit Katana but what I really want is his Killing Edge... If this were a GBA FE game I'd be able to get him to swap weapons and swap what he drops. The Spirit Katana deals effective damage against monsters, ie Faceless and Stoneborn. Guess what we'll be fighting next chapter!    Setsuna earned 3 EXP from that kill. I'm impressed she's gotten strength twice on that 25% growth.  6 turns have passed, apparently long enough for the lake to freeze over and all the guys in hiding to get bored and come out. They're only a mild annoyance so long as there aren't any other enemies out at the same time...  I don't know for sure if these reinforcements would be moving as soon as they spawned if I had activated the vein, but if they did then I would be totally screwed here. They appear in large groups all around the edges of the map, which would make the frozen lake the safest place to wait were not unfrozen until they appear. Maids are just a regular type of combat unit now. Were Felicia and Flora already maids when Garon kidnapped them both to serve Kevin?    3 very good levels. I think Mozu might be even tankier than Azama now. I've always wanted to make Mozu a General but never have, is this what she would be like?  Hinata sucks though. He is a point or so behind on all of his non-HP stats, so he is normally a little better than this...  All the reinforcements besides Flora's new bodyguards will begin moving as soon as they spawn in. The bodyguards won't move until you enter their range...  Compared to the bright white glowing Kinshis and all the snow, the pegasi Falcon Knights ride look kind of dirty... They're just slightly off-white in a way that stands out a lot here.  I feel as if gaining access to magic has made Rinkah worse. Not because magic is bad, but because I now insist on using the Rat Spirit in every situation to make sure she levels up her scroll rank. She'd be doing a lot more damage with the Bolt Axe.  I think this is what a generic Oni would look like statwise. Might Rinkah possibly hit her strength cap of 33? It's not too unlikely...  I like how all the units moving through the snow leave this little footprints. They don't do so in battle or in cutscenes, so it's surprising that it happens on the map.  Rhajat's hair and general colour scheme are so gloomy that I keep thinking she's a unit I've already moved. I had this problem a lot with Aran in Radiant Dawn, he's in black armour and he's got a helmet on his model so you can't see his bright coloured hair. ...I keep going on these random tangents because there's really not much happening here. I don't want these updates to just be unit levels and nothing else.   Thank you for your money, child! And thank you for not sending a load of soldiers to kill me. This is the one village that's safe to visit.  I could just ignore these villages and rush Flora and her little army. It's tempting, but I would miss out on EXP and loot...  I still want them gone before I start visiting villages though. The combination of Maids and Sorcerers is a little scary, I don't want to lure them all at once.  I think I might use my Arms Scroll on Rinkah now so she's at A clubs and C scrolls. With Kaden's help she should be fast enough to double reliably with a Tiger Spirit.    Scarlet gets stronger, Caeldori gets more magic without impacting Progidy, and Azama gets a surprisingly mediocre level. At least he got strength! I wonder if I should start experimenting with different classes for him...   The second to last house doesn't have much for me besides this Sheep Spirit. Normally you don't have to kill anyone to get the free items villages give you, the Ice Tribe really need to learn to cut out the middle man.  This last house can be a bit of a kaizo trap, it's definitely got the scariest enemies. I distinctly remember multiple Berserkers...  Yep, there they are. This guy sucks especially, he's got a Killer Axe and he doesn't have the decency to drop it! Although I do already have Scarlet's.  Rhajat eats him and absorbs his strength. 5 strength, Basara Rhajat time???  Time for the boss now. Thinking about it, isn't Rhajat Flora's neice? Would she feel bad about killing her aunt? Also isn't she the child of a Wind Tribe and Ice Tribe member? Does that give her special blizzard powers? Much to think about.  Flora's got high avoid and surprisingly good bulk, as well as pretty decent damage. She might be a little tougher than I remember.  Kaden paired up with Rinkah makes fairly short work of her though. With every swing of her Silver Dagger she debuffs herself, but she won't get much of a chance to do that in the first place...    "Seeya!" says Setsuna. Flora just needed a little poke with any weapon, I let Setsuna do this to build lance rank.  This unfortunately is more in line with what I'd expect from Kinshi Setsuna... Her growths as one are 30/25/0/45/75/45/15/55. Is she behind on res?  Bleh. 21 turns of slowly surrounding villages with all my units. I'm glad to see the back of this one!  Flora was blackmailed apparently. This doesn't sound so bad, just leave a single unit on the tile outside each house and then Garon can't touch your village!  Filled with shame over her actions and knowing Garon won't accept anything but Flora's death as an alternative to having stopped Kevin and his army, Flora... spontaneously combusts.  ...yeah. I guess she used magic to do this? What kind of magic I don't know... Saizo's supposedly a master of explosives and he tries to explode when you beat him in Revelation's Chapter 8. Maybe some people in Fates just know Self-Destruct.  Jakob could throw up right now and it couldn't make this scene any sillier. Why did they pick the most sudden and bizarre way for this to happen? May as well have just had Flora suddenly ragdoll like someone had typed /kill in the console. Next time:
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Jan 16, 2022 18:57
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There was a goon-made calculator for Gay Fates a few years back. Dug up the link for it here, though the actual numbers won't show up for me no matter which browser I open it in. I remember it working fine for me before, so no idea what the issue is there. No one else seems to have made one that I could find with a couple searches.
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Jan 16, 2022 22:42
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Shiny777 posted:There was a goon-made calculator for Gay Fates a few years back. Dug up the link for it here, though the actual numbers won't show up for me no matter which browser I open it in. I remember it working fine for me before, so no idea what the issue is there. No one else seems to have made one that I could find with a couple searches.
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Jan 16, 2022 22:51
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I think Ive gotten too used to Fates story handwave of the kids. I just remembered how good a hook Awakening’s kids preventing a bad future is and I’m mad. Mad about Deeprealms.
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Jan 16, 2022 23:10
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Hooray! We saved the ice tribe from being threatened by Garon! All 6 of them still alive.
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Jan 17, 2022 16:28
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Is it just me or does Fates seriously love ostensibly noble and heroic characters committing suicide for the dumbest loving reasons instead of being reasonable?
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Jan 17, 2022 16:30
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  Nothing but fish and rice from the lottery, again and again... Supposedly it makes for quite a healthy diet, although I think you need some vegetables thrown in too. Rice comes from a plant, why isn't it a vegetable?   Now that I once again have money, I may as well complete my collection of weapon triangle reversing weapons. I really regret buying all those clubs, Rinkah doesn't have the inventory space for them all and Scarlet can't use them right now...  The Dual Yumi is imo more effective than the Illusory Yumi at its job of countering mages, the extra resistance might be nice but the Illusory's WTD makes it bad at actually hitting magic users unless they're using the Calamity Gate, and I'm not sure any enemies in Birthright ever do.   Once again I must make the choice between bulk or magic power. Orochi went Onmyoji and Rhajat's strength is just as terrible...  ...but it feels like a waste not to take advantage of Strong Riposte. Rhajat as a Basara with a Horse Spirit reaches 17 defense, which combined with 33 HP is pretty good! Fun fact, Basaras actually have the highest growth total of any Hoshidan class at 90%, while Onmyoji draws with Diviner for lowest at 60%. Basara's growths are however quite poorly distributed, it's got 20% in HP and 15% in luck while Onmyoji is minmaxed for magic and speed.  I said I'd do this last chapter, so I suppose I must. This'll let Rinkah use the forged Tiger Spirit, as well as boosting her might with both clubs and scrolls by 1. I can't remember what the A rank clubs even are in this game, but the extra damage is nice.  Okay fine I'll use this on her too, I don't know who else should have it. Combined with the Tiger Spirit's +1 bonus to speed, this should entirely cancel out the penalty to follow up attacks it gives! Of course Rinkah would still deal more damage with the Bolt Axe, but Scarlet might be taking that from her soon.     Only 2 supports to show off today. This one makes me laugh so I'll share more than a single text box. Rinkah did maybe provoke him a little more than these images show, but Azama really is a jerk. He's great.     Thankfully Rinkah doesn't have to marry him, although I did consider pairing the two up. If you're over there, and she's over here, then who's flying the plane?  No unit stats today, the last chapter and the next few might be pretty short so I don't want to have to keep updating them despite not much changing. You do however got a sneak peak at Selkie - I was curious as to how she'd turn out, her parents both have excellent stats but Rinkah's strength growth will drag her averages down... She seems perfectly fine to me though. ...not that I'll be picking her up for a while. She wouldn't be earning much EXP from these next few chapters, so I think I'll pick up her and all the remaining kids just before Chapter 23 when the game gets serious again.  Kaden Kitsune (HS: Diviner) A+ Support Partners: Hayato (Diviner), Azama (Monk), Hinata (Samurai) Personal Skill: Reciprocity (Allies who heal this unit heal 50% of the damage recovered themselves) Pair-Up Stats (C B A S): Spd Res Lck Spd+Res Growths (With Default Class): HP: 45% (55) STR: 40% (50) MAG: 10% (10) SKL: 25% (40) SPD: 45% (65) LCK: 50% (60) DEF: 35% (35) RES: 40% (60) Kaden! Fox boy. I've actually been worrying about this analysis for a short while... I don't really think I have much of a good read on this guy and how useful he is. Until a short while ago I would have called him one of the worst first-gens in the game - he's stuck at 1 range, his bulk and power are both questionable while his good speed and res don't stand out so much in a cast of fast and resistant units, and Beastbane's only giving him 6 extra might against mounted units... He's been kicking butt in this playthrough, but did I underestimate him or is it just because of his great levels and support from Rinkah? I don't really know... From looking at Kaden's base stats you'd think he's got quite a good start - he joins at a high level compared to other units, and he's got a whopping 15 strength and 19 speed... Unfortunately his join chapter isn't that friendly to him, and unlike Keaton he's stuck with the crappy Beaststone as his only form of offense for a while. At base Kaden will be like a lot of your other units, defeating most foes in 2 rounds while being defeated in 2 or 3 rounds himself. With his Beaststone he'll be able to 1-round the Cavaliers he'll face in the chapters shortly after he joins, but he'll take a lot of damage in return. With tonics and a good defensive pair-up (so Rinkah) he'll be able to shred groups of riders and even Wolfskin without dying himself, although units such as Ryoma or Scarlet or any decently bulky lance user with the Beast Killer will likely be able to do the same with less investment. Once he's got the Beastrune Kaden's bulk and offense will start to look much better, and unlike Keaton he won't have to worry as much about the cost of sacrificing speed for power. Speed and potential killing power aside, Kaden's still stuck with 1 range and once you start getting to the enemy-infested meat grinder maps of Chapter 23 and onward his inability to counterattack from a distance will become much more of a liability, even if the number of promoted enemies also increases. His huge resistance and power against mounted units will still be nice, but ninjas and of course Ryoma will have an easier time cutting through the hoards of Dark Knights and Bow Knights and Javelin-tossing Paladins. Diviner's not a great class for Kaden - his natural 10% magic growth isn't going to get him anything. Basara is nice for Rend Heaven, especially since Kitsune don't get any offensive skills naturally, but otherwise he's got no reason to go into it. Great Master from Azama could be good to get Kaden the Renewal skill, which combined with Even Better will add up to a whopping 60% HP recovered every even-numbered turn, and 20% on the odd-numbered ones. Samurai has some nice skills and Duellist's Blow pairs well with Nine-Tail's instrinsic avoid bonus, but otherwise I think Kaden would prefer to fight in his default class. Recriprocity is an okay skill, although I tend to forget it exists and therefore not take advantage of it. I'm sure there are cases where it could save you from a restart or enable some master strategy if you plan around it, but I've never really benefitted all that much from it. Really though I don't have much knowledge about Kaden or what he's good for so I'm interested to know what other people think of him... He's definitely seeing a lot more success than I normally get from him this time around, but it's hard to imagine him turning into a complete monster in the endgame like other units can. We'll see! Pros
My Thoughts: It would have owned if he could have become a Wolfskin by supporting Keaton in Rev, even if it would have made no sense.
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Jan 17, 2022 19:01
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Cythereal posted:Is it just me or does Fates seriously love ostensibly noble and heroic characters committing suicide for the dumbest loving reasons instead of being reasonable? The writers in general seem to be in love with the whole tragic/noble death concept, but they absolutely do NOT have the chops to actually write it well.
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Jan 17, 2022 20:11
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i must die for my sins / to protect corrin from a single faceless attack / instead of throwing a kunai at a exploding rock
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Jan 17, 2022 23:47
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I think in the case of Flora and Scarlet it might be a "don't you wish to see how they end up in the route where you don't go against them?" thing, signaling to the player that ~their choices have consequences~ and ~please buy dlc~. No comment on why they, or unsupported Kaze, die so weirdly, though.
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Jan 18, 2022 11:31
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Ventadour posted:I think in the case of Flora and Scarlet it might be a "don't you wish to see how they end up in the route where you don't go against them?" thing, signaling to the player that ~their choices have consequences~ and ~please buy dlc~. No comment on why they, or unsupported Kaze, die so weirdly, though. See above: Keldulas posted:they absolutely do NOT have the chops to actually write it well.
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Jan 18, 2022 11:34
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Shiny777 posted:There was a goon-made calculator for Gay Fates a few years back. Dug up the link for it here, though the actual numbers won't show up for me no matter which browser I open it in. I remember it working fine for me before, so no idea what the issue is there. No one else seems to have made one that I could find with a couple searches. Cythereal posted:Is it just me or does Fates seriously love ostensibly noble and heroic characters committing suicide for the dumbest loving reasons instead of being reasonable?
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Jan 19, 2022 14:07
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  Time to fight Blond Marth. ...remember when Fates hadn't come out yet and people were calling Leo Blond Marth? I don't really get why, they don't look all that similar. The correct way to read this title card is in the way one of the F!Corrin voices says Leo (I think it's no. 3?) like she's reprimanding him in a sitcom. Unfortunately I don't have the voice clip so if you don't know what I mean then that won't make any sense.  The worldbuilding in this game might be nonexistant, but some of the location art is excellent. The Woods of the Forlorn are where Conquest's Chapter 7 takes place... except this time the Faceless don't all have Grisly Wound.  Well I guess you've got to camp somewhere. Does this place get any light in the summer? Are Nohr and Hoshido like the North and South pole? These plants have green leaves so presumably they must photosynthesise.  Hi Leo. The rocks in front of his face kind of look like angry eyebrows, or at least they did from the tiny image thumbnail. In Conquest we would have already kicked Takumi's butt 3 times by now, Leo's been slacking off!   Don't mock the guy who's got WTA on you with both of his weapon types. I there's a few reasons why you could argue Hoshido aren't the good guys the game wants you to initially believe, although considering this game's quality of writing it's hard to tell which of those reasons were intentional and which were not. Leo unfortunately does not elaborate on this line any further.  Nohrians get their Vitaman D elsewhere. I really wish there was a proper explanation on what exactly the daylight situation is in this universe. It's yet another interesting concept that goes completely to waste!  Yep, they're doing this trick again. I definitely believe there's only 3 enemies we have to fight in this chapter. Unlike Nohr's forest map, this one's more of an open field, with swamps and forest tiles scattered about. There's also gravestones but unlike Gaiden and Echoes you can't stand on them to become virtually intangible.  This version of Leo has +5 HP and -4 magic compared to his join stats in Conquest, but aside from weapon ranks he's exactly the same. He doesn't have his Iron Sword either but equipping that would only ever make him weaker. He's not particularly scary, although combined with the Faceless that have yet to appear he might be able to finish a weaker unit off if you're not paying attention. A Sky Knight can easily wack him with a Beastkiller to end the chapter. Leo will activate 3 dragon veins on turns 3, 4, and 8, and then will begin approaching unprovoked on turn 13. He will also begin to move 1 turn after his retainers have been provoked, and likewise his retainers will start moving 1 turn after Leo has been provoked.  5 strength? 17 magic? What kind of Odin is this? This impostor disguised as Odin Dark isn't really much of a threat, especially since Vengeance and Nosferatu can't activate at the same time. The Horse Spirit he drops is worth KOing him for, so prolonging Leo's defeat to hunt down Odin might be a good idea.  Some people have poor luck with Niles's growth rates, but this Niles has not gained strength ever. Seriously, his base strength as an Outlaw in Conquest is 9 and promoting adds 1 more to it, assuming this Niles promoted at level 10 he's not managed to proc strength once on a 45% growth in 9 levels. Thanks to his high weapon rank and the power of the Killer Bow and the Silver Yumi he could potentially be a threat to a flier, but otherwise he's even weaker than the generic Faceless you'll be fighting. Setsuna might like his yumi, otherwise I think it might make more sense to sell it.  Leo will use these veins to summon swamps, instantly creating Faceless that will start moving on enemy phase. Every swamp in tbis map will spawn more Faceless on turns 2, 4, 6, and 10. Unlike Rhajat's paralogue they will not spawn inifinitely, but the chapter will likely be over before turn 10 anyway. You can activate the veins yourself if you want, but you do not want to. Or maybe you do, I don't know. It lets you harvest more EXP more quickly???  Oh and this giant tree stump and its roots are entirely ornamental, only the tiles with forests, swamp, or graves count as anything but regular ground. It can be a little misleading at first glance.  This map is going to become a giant moshpit of Faceless, so undeploying your weaklings is a pretty viable strategy - there's not much terrain to hide behind, and anybody who's not KOing the Faceless that attack them is arguably a detriment. In fact I'm pretty sure if you only deployed an untrained Ryoma and paired Corrin with them and turned on autobattle you'd win with no other input.  On Hard and Lunatic the map will immediately become swamped with Faceless as soon as you hit start. I hate it when maps do this but it's still not as bad as that one paralogue from 3 Houses.  2 out of 4 of each Faceless that spawn in a group will come with various breaker skills, or the occassional oddball like Counter or Vengeance or Gamble. What's important to note is that every Faceless has only 12 strength and 22 might - any unit with 22 defense or over will be completely immune to them unless they have a damage increasing skill.  This is what the map looks like now. Leos' attack range is quite large, so watch out! I'm going to stay out of it until I'm close enough to lure over his retainers and guarantee I can KO them before Leo goes down so I can get their drops.  Otherwise this is just another "who cares" map. Throw the guys at the other guys, get EXP. Caeldori's not actually going to 1 range this guy, I just wanted to show off how weak these Faceless are.  She got 1 EXP for that kill. My level 1 promoted units do get a little more, but it just makes this chapter feel even more pointless - it's easy, and none of the enemies are worth anything. This is why I don't like Birthright's midgame!  Oh and Mozu is straight up invincible. She can do whatever she wants here, it doesn't matter. Pairups aside, I think she's the only unit I currently have with 22 defense or more?   If only it was this version of Mozu that had been living in her village when the Faceless attacked. She'd have made orphans out of them all if only they had parents.  Some of my units are in a little bit of danger... Setsuna can't 1 round these guys with her naginata, and she can't counterattack with her yumis. It might have been a better idea for me to have left her behind, there's little in the way of terrain to make chokepoints with.  For now I can make somewhat of a defensive line, but that's not going to be an option when I advance away from the map boundaries and enemies start spawning in behind me. If I cared less about making this at least a little interesting I would have just deployed Mozu and send her charging straight in.  Oops! Some of them have Swordbreaker. I don't even know what Hinata is doing here anymore.  Rhajat with a Horse Spirit is almost bulky enough to be invincible, although the weapon's low might means she can't ORKO without a dual strike. I think Caeldori and Rhajat can support one another so I'd like them to hang out.  Any non-Nohrians take damage from ending their turn in the bog tiles. I don't know how exactly that's calculated, it might be like Oboro's personal skill which considers Nohrians to be anybody with a Nohrian base class. Regardless the damage is barely significant, and it happens at the end of enemy phase and cannot kill you.  After just one turn of enemies throwing themselves at my units the map is nearly empty again. It's going to fill up again very rapidly, and unfortunately I can't end it just yet since I still haven't lured over Leo's retainers. If you don't care about any of the loot you can easily do this all in 1 turn.  I'm not even going to promote him. There's no point.  Unfortunately I can't bait either Niles or Odin without also baiting Leo, so I might wait until he starts moving to lure over his retainers. Leo moves further than you'd expect for a mounted guy in a swamp!  I think this game wants me to make Mozu a Basara. Maybe I'll consider it just for Rend Heaven.   Leo moves to activate his first dragon vein, creating a tiny swamp underneath him. How does he ride his horse through it?  The Faceless move as soon as the swamp is created, effectively making them ambush spawns. They are however a pretty crappy ambush.  Luring an archer over with Scarlet feels wrong somehow, even if she's not a flying unit anymore. Her face is very nice! Kevin is going to marry her.  I think you should maybe try gaining a single point of strength before you start making threats, Niles. Scarlet's only been an Adventurer for a few days and already she's better than you.  At least he's worth a lot of EXP from being so high level. Thanks for the Silver Yumi!  And thanks for the awesome skill! Now Scarlet doesn't have to be stuck in this crappy class. Lucky Seven grants +20% hit and avoid for the first 7 turns of a map, it's especially useful in short maps like this one.  Oh I guess that's Faceless from every single spawn point possible. Hmm. Is this bad?  ...it's not great. I don't think I can take out Odin this turn so I'll take just a little longer to grab the Horse Spirit, but suddenly this map feels just a little more threatening.  These 2 can make a rush for Leo. Caeldori can pair up with Rhajat for safety, a dual guard gauge should make her bulky enough to survive all the Faceless.   Setsuna and Hinata can hide at the bottom where as few enemies as possible can attack them. They should only need to live for 1 more turn...  On this side of the map I have just enough units to make some rudimentary defensive fortifications. Orochi only has to take one hit, while Scarlet and Kevin are safe. The rest don't fear the Faceless at all.  I swapped Rhajat from the Horse Spirit to the Cow Blaster so she could 1-round all her attackers, but now I'm worried I might have gotten her killed. Caeldori wouldn't have been any bulkier...  Giving up is not the appropriate response to a crisis. You have better growths than this! You're a Basara!  It sure would have been embarrassing to have died like that considering how much I've complained about difficulty. My IQ drops by like 50 points in these maps.  I don't like the dark. I'm an adult and I still don't like getting up to go to the bathroom at night : (  You can't kill a fox with a tree! They're like, the same affinity or whatever. Kaden will absolutely be able to mulch this guy next turn, I just need to make sure I can take out Odin...  There he goes, he's on the move now. I bet Conquest would have given this guy Death Blow and a forged Mjolnir tome.  Scarlet can just barely reach him to take him out, but that's a shaky hit rate and he'll just heal up the damage if he hits in return. What to do...  I forgot I had this. The power of anime can't help Odin if he can't constantly announce his attacks!   These are just anime subtitles, Odin can't actually speak right now. Thanks for the Japanese wall scroll you huge weeb.    Taking out magical horses is the role Kaden was born for. Leo didn't manage to prove himself in my Conquest playthrough, and he won't get to this time either...  I guess Kaden's no longer RNG blessed. I hope he's still at least good.  Bad map, but now it's over. At least the one after is kind of fun...  Kevin that's a Heal staff and this isn't Radiant Dawn. I don't think Leo's a zombie either.  Thankfully Leo is willing to listen to reason. He's the second sibling who's at least considered what Kevin has to say, although he was also the person who convinced Camilla not to listen to us...   Azura hands Leo a magic orb and lets the viewer know that if you want Azura to marry her siblings in Conquest it would not be incest. What she's given Leo is the same plot device she has in Conquest to reveal that Garon is evil and no longer possible to save, why she couldn't have done this earlier or given it to you in another route is... Yeah there's no reason.  It's because you haven't bought the DLC, you cheapskate! Azura won't help save this world unless you give her 20 dollars.   The next step in our journey is to visit the Rainbow Sage, but he lives on the other side of the world. Thankfully through the magic of reading we can teleport there in an instant, and then teleport back. Instant teleportation kind of ruins the stakes or drama of any setting, it's really something you have to be careful with. I think a lot of Fire Emblem games are guilty of this! Next time: We playtest the Rainbow Sage's funny troll hack
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Jan 19, 2022 14:08
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I find it funny that this update happens right after we talk about other aspects of how insanely lovely this game’s writing is. Azura hands Leo a plot device to convince him to help you, so he hands you a plot device so you can just skip any sense of logistics. And tells you to visit a Sage, which is also basically a huge plot device. Like holy poo poo, that is some insane density of horrendous writing. Also, seriously what the hell is with the retainers stats? This IS supposed to be Lunatic, right….?
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Jan 19, 2022 14:33
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I completely forgot this chapter exists and I definitely played Birthright more times than Conquest.
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Jan 19, 2022 19:38
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midnight lasagna posted:This map is going to become a giant moshpit of Faceless, so undeploying your weaklings is a pretty viable strategy - there's not much terrain to hide behind, and anybody who's not KOing the Faceless that attack them is arguably a detriment. In fact I'm pretty sure if you only deployed an untrained Ryoma and paired Corrin with them and turned on autobattle you'd win with no other input. This is correct, since that's how I handle this map.
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Jan 20, 2022 01:20
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 Azama got his 20 kills fairly quickly, and now I have a statue to celebrate. Res seems like a weird stat to associate with Azama... It's his lowest base growth rate alongside magic at 20%. I guess they wanted the statues to have an even split between the stats they boost, so some characters have to be stuck with ill-fitting ones. Camilla in Conquest gets defense and that doesn't fit her much either.  Upgrading my jade and fish farms feels pointless, the Lottery keeps giving me all the jade and fish I need, instead of anything I'd actually want. Maybe this is the game telling me to forge a +7 Iron Yumi for Setsuna.     Setsuna and Hana reach their B support, and then a bunch of other people get random Cs. Setsuna feels a little more articulate and talkative in her Hana support, it's odd. Some characters in this game are somewhat inconsistently written.  Oh, they don't have any Heart Seals... Is Scarlet going to be stuck as an Adventurer forever? I can't have used that many, I only reclassed Kevin, Subaki, Felicia, and Scarlet and okay maybe that's more than I thought. Birthright for some reason is a little more stingy with them, you only get one outside of the shop and it's not until Chapter 13, unlike Conquest and Revelation with both give you two with the first being before Chapter 10. Thankfully I'll unlock the level 3 shop next chapter. I was going to do the Invasion I'd just unlocked but I don't want Scarlet earning any more levels as an Adventurer, it's not doing her growths any favours.  So I guess this is going to be my shortest update ever, because barely anybody leveled up last chapter so I don't see much point in posting a team update. I'll finish off by giving Setsuna this Energy Drop. I think she's already ahead of her 20/20 strength average as a Kinshi Knight but she needs more.  Ryoma Swordmaster (HS: Sky Knight) A+ Support Partners: Saizo (Ninja), Silas (Cavalier), Takumi (Archer) Personal Skill: Bushido (When supported by a unit of equal or lower level, +2 damage dealt, -2 damage taken, and +10 crit in combat) Pair-up Stats (C B A S): Spd Str Skl Spd*2 Growths (With Default Class): HP: 50% (60) STR: 45% (55) MAG: 0% (5) SKL: 50% (65) SPD: 45% (65) LCK: 40% (55) DEF: 35% (35) RES: 25% (35) Ryoma. I was going to do a joke analysis where I listed all of his attributes as just "Ryoma" because everybody knows what the deal with this guy is already, he's the unstoppable lobster man. But maybe there's something interesting to say about him besides "he's good". The secret to Ryoma's strength is the Rajinto, his personal 1-2 range katana with 11 might that gives +5 crit, +10 crit avoid, and +4 strengh with the latter applying even if it's not equipped. It also gives him +1 speed and -1 to his defenses because it's a katana. Drawback-free 1-2 range is incredibly powerful in Fates, and with Ryoma's insane strength he can demolish most enemies in only 2 hits. He might want to use a Dual Katana to deal with certain bosses or particularly lance-heavy groups of enemies, but otherwise there's not much reason for him to ever use another sword. Unlike Hana Ryoma can actually take a hit himself, and unlike Hinata he's more than fast and strong enough to 1 round enemies with ease, although in function I think it's more fair to compare Ryoma to your Ninjas than your Samurai - he's an enemy phase juggernaut you load up with boosts and send deep into enemy territory to obliterate anyone who attacks him. Except unlike your Ninjas Ryoma barely even needs the help to start doing that. From chapters 14 to 22 you really don't have to worry much about keeping Ryoma alive, the enemies will barely be able to touch him. Repeated magical attacks or hits from strong lance users will wear him down, but they do have to hit him first. Ryoma's avoid is high already, but the dual guard gauge is what helps him the most - so long as Ryoma's attacking twice per combat, he'll build his gauge enough to only take damage from 66% or even 50% of all attacks aimed at him. His super high crit chance can mess with that a little, but Astra can have the opposite effect - every Astra hit builds his gauge as if each one were a separate attack, so if you're really lucky with Astra procs then Ryoma might not take damage ever. And if all that fails then a weakened Ryoma can rely on Vantage to potentially kill enemies before they can hurt him - the combination of crits, Astra, and dual guard gauge can keep a Ryoma alive on low HP for a very long time if you're lucky enough. From chapters 23 and onward you might have to start thinking a little more intelligently where you place Ryoma - repeated lance hits from Great Knights and the powerful magical attacks of Dark Knights and Malig Knights will hurt. The secret to getting the most of out Ryoma is just how high you can stack up his defenses. A Great Knight in Chapter 23 with a Silver Lance will deal 27 damage to an untrained Ryoma, taking into account weapon triangle advantages and the -1 defense he receives from holding Rajinto. He's only got 36 max HP so that's quite bad! With a defensive tonic and any lower level partner to activate Bushido, this can be taken down to 23 damage, which while an improvement is still a 2HKO. A defensive meal can take it down further to 22, possibly lower. If the character supporting him is in the Great Knight or Oni Chieftain class, the +4 defense bonus will take the damage down further to 19 (17 if the Oni is a Rinkah with an S support with him). Combine that with a Rally Defense from Scarlet and it's down further to 15, combine that by reclassing to Master of Arms to take it down to 13, and then combine that with Dracoshields... You get the idea. In short Ryoma is not invincible, but there's so much you can do to increase his bulk beyond what it is that at some point he may as well be. Even a souped up Xander cannot solo all of Conquest, but there really is no challenge Birthright will throw at you that Ryoma cannot muscle through with enough resources. A Ryoma with no investment will be unstoppable for half of the chapters after he joins and a solid asset for the remaining 50%, a Ryoma with investment can solo the entire game. Swordmaster's a perfectly fine class for Ryoma. It lets him use Rajinto, it boosts his otherwise slightly mediocre speed, and it gives him more crit and avoid. As a Master of Arms he can trade some of that speed and the intrinsic bonuses of Swordmaster for more bulk, which may be helpful depending on the situation. Falcon Knight, Kinshi Knight, and any class that does not allow him to use swords is not really worth considering, but Air Superiority might be worth grabbing to help Ryoma fight Wyvern Lords and Malig Knights in the lategame. Paladin and Great Knight are both great classes for Ryoma, not just for skills but even as longterm combat classes, although he will have to A+ support Silas for them. Paladin for its high move good all around stats and Defender, Great Knight for its high bulk and Luna, which can be better than Astra if you only care about reliable damage. Master Ninja from Saizo doesn't give Ryoma much he can't do already, but Mechanist's Replicate can give you two Ryomas. Archer from Takumi doesn't give Ryoma much. Bushido is an absurdly powerful skill, and there's no reason for Ryoma to ever not be paired up with someone to take advantage of it. Corrin, Great Knight!Silas and Oni Chieftain!Rinkah all make amazing support partners for Ryoma, but even someone like Mozu who just gives him skill and luck will reduce the damage Ryoma takes just by being there. Pros
My Rating: You can't expect a demigod to beat a decapod
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Jan 21, 2022 11:39
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Ryouma feels a bit like cheating in Birthright and I usually avoid using him, even if I already had Hana and Hinata turn out bad. I don't have similar concerns about his son, who usually turns out as a monster as well, somehow. Probably the lack of Raijinto? I overall like that Fates did away with weapon durability, but Raijinto being that powerful and unbreakable just doesn't feel right.
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Jan 22, 2022 11:50
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Keldulas posted:I find it funny that this update happens right after we talk about other aspects of how insanely lovely this game’s writing is. Azura hands Leo a plot device to convince him to help you, so he hands you a plot device so you can just skip any sense of logistics. And tells you to visit a Sage, which is also basically a huge plot device. Ventadour posted:Ryouma feels a bit like cheating in Birthright and I usually avoid using him, even if I already had Hana and Hinata turn out bad. I don't have similar concerns about his son, who usually turns out as a monster as well, somehow. Probably the lack of Raijinto? I overall like that Fates did away with weapon durability, but Raijinto being that powerful and unbreakable just doesn't feel right.
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Jan 22, 2022 15:04
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  Time to interrupt this streak of bland, easy maps with one that's at least a little fun, if also still easy. Every single route has a Rainbow Sage chapter, and every time it's got a gimmick... Except in Revelation, where the gimmick is it's the only chapter without a gimmick.  Goddammit, Leo's warped us straight to Conquest's Chapter 10! I knew we shouldn't have trusted him. How are we going to survive this without Camilla?  We're here to find the Rainbow Sage... I wonder who it could be? Probably not this old man with a unique portrait. He's right about our outfits though, there's absolutely no consistency in colour or style between what this army's wearing. We probably look like we're here for the Notre Sagesse comic con.  Time for this map, again. Birthright's version of this map is a rout, so you can't choose to ignore one side of the map like you could in Conquest. There's a bunch of rooms connected by stairs only your units can access. Travelling up or down a set of stairs takes no action and you can move after doing so, but while you can go up and down the same set of stairs as many times as you like in 1 turn you can't traverse multiple sets. They're the ultimate turtling tool, basically.  This boss doesn't seem particularly gimmicky, unless you count his weirdly poor defense for a level 13 General as a gimmick. I'm so used to Conquest that I expect every General to have Wary Fighter. Sometimes it's nice to be able to double slow foes!!!  Now this is weirdly low defense for a General. This map's gimmick is that every single enemy has 1 stat capped and 1 stat set to 0 (weapon/support partner boosts aside). It's an interesting concept and seeing a General fall apart from a single physical attack is good for a sensible chuckle, but this map doesn't really do anything with it... It's just a series of easy fights in enclosed rooms against enemies with weird numbers. It's entirely possible to go through this map without ever realising there's a gimmick at all.  This map splits into 2 paths at the start and meets up again in the middle. All enemies on the left path have 0 defense and max resistance, all on the right have the opposite. The obvious solution is to send all your physical attackers left and your magical attackers right.   The room where the 2 paths meet back up has 2 Great Masters with only physical weapons and 0 strength, and 2 Master Ninjas with 0 speed and max skill. So 2 Saizos and 2 reverse Azamas.   The final room contains the only 2 threatening enemy pairs in the chapter - two Berserkers with max strength and (almost) 0 HP paired with two Swordmasters with max speed and 0 skill. The first pair are just standing out in the open next to a staircase ready to be ganged up on and killed, but the second are hiding behind the boss and will move to kill you. You could easily reach this point without paying attention to enemy stats at all, but getting a unit killed by a 54 might Berserker might wake you up.   The boss is flanked by 2 60HP 0 attack Spear Masters, one of which drops a free Bolt Naginata. They're basically human furniture, they don't move and they can't hurt you. You still have to take a few turns dismantling them through their massive HP though.  By my admission this LP is way more low effort than my Conquest one, but I should at least make a little map to show off how all the stairs work. Max res dudes on the left, max defense on the right, others in the middle.  Hinata isn't worth promoting so he has been replaced with Felicia, who is now being forced to spend time with her daughter. Hero!Felicia's a very useful support partner for her, being a Hero means she gives Rhajat speed defense and skill, and her own pair-up bonuses add magic on top of that.  Physical units to the left, mages to the right. Rinkah's being treated as an honourary mage so I have more of an equal number on each side. Kaze also gets to be a mage because none of my actual magic users have lockpicks.   This map is easy and short. No need to think particularly hard, just enjoy the spectacle of units with numbers that make no sense. Although you'd be forgiven for thinking that Azama's just that strong and it's an entirely normal General he's fighting.   All the enemies here are promoted, something that won't happen again until Chapter 23. This makes them all great sources of EXP, especially when Rhajat manages to proc her EXP doubling skill. Is that the first perfect level of the run?  Good job Setsuna. Maybe she can have the Cattle Prod now? Setsuna's all speed and nothing else so steel weapons don't slow her down all that much.  Nonexistant defense stats means this chapter's a great place to see some very big numbers if you can crit. Poor Hana really wishes she could swing that Armourslayer, but the pair-up code of honour forbids it.  Slowly baiting units and turtling using the stairs is how I tend to beat this map in Conquest, but here there's really not much point - there's very few enemies and their ranges don't overlap. There's no Lunge Ninja death rooms here.  These enemies are all illusions created by the Rainbow Sage, so their classes don't have to make sense. Maids and Mechanists are easily the weirdest class concepts in all of Fates, and Fates has many, many weird class concepts.  Not all the enemies are complete pushovers however, Onmyoji remains one of the more annoying enemy types to deal with. Maybe Rinkah will sit this one out.  Or maybe she'll hit 2 39%s in a row and kill him anyway. This would have been a cool action shot were the top screen a little taller...  Sure am getting some good levels today. Is this the power of the Rainbow Sage? Getting everything but speed and res makes this the anti-Birthright level.  The Rabbit Spirit is the equivalent of a Silver Scroll. It boosts a couple of stats too, although I forget which ones. I'd rather use the Cow Blaster I think, I can just sell this.  Seems like the enemies won't move unless you're in range, so this map's even easier than it looks. I guess this map's a nice breather, but it's a breather in a long series of breathers...  Enemies prefer to stand on the stairs when they can, although I'm not sure if that's them deliberately trying to screw you or if they just want the 5% avoid bonus. Regardless, it means if you're sending out a single unit with the intent on them retreating next turn then you should make sure the stairs are guarded!  Rinkah gets 4 magic and 4 speed from Orochi, it's enough to turn her into a competent magical attacker. I'd rather keep her and Kaden separate to maximise their usefulness, so maybe she could be Rinkah's new support partner?  Two enemies drop Maaster Seals in this map, which because it's a rout means you'll guaranteed to get them both. Nice if you somehow don't have units you're using promoted by this point, but I'd rather sell them. Sorry Hinata.  Sure, I'll send Setsuna into this room of bow users on her own. What could possibly go wrong?  The answer is nothing because neither of these idiots brought a weapon. More haha funny troll I guess. If Revelation's maps are the other contenders then I guess I'll vote for the Rainbow Sage's troll hack in this year's romhack contest.  Fates's camera doesn't like clipping through walls, so if you fight in a corner you get this weird bird's eye view of combat. I think I remember using this wooden floor texture in The Sims?  Setsuna's 20/20 Kinshi Knight strength average is 17.7. She has already eaten 2 Energy Drops, but this is still quite impressive. She could gain nothing but speed from now on and still be alright.  Air Superiority gives units +30% hit and avoid against fliers. Obviously it's useful for Archers, but it's even better for units than can fight fliers on enemy phase on account of the dodge it gives you. Unfortunately you're not going to have any unit reach level 5 as a Kinshi before that one boat map...  Sure, attacking unarmed healers is okay when Azama does it, but when you attack him in Conquest on this map... Although I guess none of these enemeis are real people. I think? Maybe the Rainbow Sage is some kind of twisted serial killer and he traps people in his mountaintop manor for laughs.  Another great level. The game really wants me to do Basara Mozu, but I won't! It's unoptimal!!!  Very nice. I'm saving one charge for Garon, but I can use the rest on whoever... Birthright doesn't realy have that many problematic bosses, I can't think of anyone else.  Everybody is on fire today, drat. Maybe I should have brought Hinata.   Okay nevermind. It's nice that she's doing what her dad can't, I suppose. At least someone finally got Rend Heaven, the skill I keep bringing up in every analysis!   Rinkah doesn't have room for a Silver Club, and I just benched both my sword users for being bad... I really would like to at least try getting use out of a silver weapon, but I think I'd prefer to sell both of these.   Only the 0 strength Great Master is unusual, physical enemies with 0 magic and magical weapons is nothing new for Birthright. This ninja exists purely to drop his Flame Shuriken.  Both of the treasure chests in this map just have rods in them. Another Wane Festal is nice, I guess.  Now for the actual challenge. Only the paired-up units in this room move,and while you can immediately ambush the Berserker pair from the stairs you also have to watch out you're not in the range of the second pair when you do so. I have definitely had to restart due to not paying attention in this room on past runs.  This guy might die to anything, but he is fast! I didn't expect hitting this guy to be a problem.  Thankfully I have my entire army ready as backup. Of course the Swordmaster behind him will be even worse thanks to instrinsic avoid and capped speed...   This map's blessings are enough to overcome Kaden's curse, he's back to being good again! Even Better recovers 40% of a unit's HP every other turn. Kaden also starts with Even Handed (or some sort of even pun, i don't remember) which gives him +4 damage on even-numbered turns. Wolfskin get odd number equivalent skills instead.  Kaden now has to take a hit, but that's fine - his high luck and the natural crit avoid he gets from being a Nine-Tails and having a stone equipped will allow him to survive without any danger.  Oops, I forgot the Swordmaster could attack too! He's evasive, but he also has 0 skill and cannot hit much.  Rinkah manages to hit the second time and cleans up. This is the standard Rinkah level I expected her to be getting most of the time.  Now the rest of this map is free. A General with poor stats and 2 adult-sized babies that don't move. You could farm these enemies for EXP and weapon rank if you wanted, they don't heal but they do have a lot of HP.  No, it very definitely is over. You can't move and your subordinates have 0 attack or magic.   I forgot to bring a Hammer but this is the next best option. Boink!  No I haven't, this is a rout and not defeat boss. I still have to beat up 2 sandbags before it's over.  Oops, I accidentally included Scarlet in a dual strike and she grabbed a level she shouldn't have. I don't remember how Adventurer growths compare to Malig growths but I know they're not great.   Mozu remembers that she is a farm girl and not a wizard, and also gets Seal Strength. She could combine this with the seal skills from Spear Master to nerf any physical unit who survives combat with her into the ground...  Lots of free weapons today. As funny as it would be to give this to Mozu, I should probably just forge it instead. There's always a third one I can buy as soon as I unlock the level 3 shop.  Fun filler in a streak of bad filler chapters. Great concept, middling execution... I would have loved to see what Conquest would have done with this gimmick. Or maybe I would have hated it.   I was going to make a joke about how it's no wonder Garon wanted this guy killed in Conquest, but you know what? The real power was inside of us this whole time. Everybody got amazing levels this chapter, I feel like my army is twice as strong now. Thank you, Rainbow Sage!   Takumi discovers the weapon inspect hotkey and the weapon I'm not using becomes the cooler weapon I'm not using. I always thought that the Yato should only remain a katana in Birthright, and that Conquest should turn it into a regular sword to fit Corrin when it upgrades...  +2 strength and +2 speed. RIP if you picked magic as Corrin's talent! Kevin will not use this, swords are dangerous and he has chosen the way of royalty-free music and not violence. It would give him the boosts even when it's just in his inventory, but he doesn't need speed or strength.  ...oh, the shop upgrade is next chapter, not this one... That means no Heart Seals still, Scarlet's going to be an Adventurer forever!!!
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Jan 22, 2022 15:04
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I usually play with no Royal weapons or no Royals, and Ryoma is just an awesome pre-promote without the Rajinto. In my Conquest run I'm thinking of trying him as a Kinshi, because a flying Ryoma with a bow has to be insane.
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Jan 22, 2022 17:07
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 Another day, another yumi from the lottery. I might have enough of these to forge Setsuna's yumi even more...  I might not be able to upgrade the shops yet, but at least I can upgrade the Lottery and Mess Hall. I don't actually know what the former really does, but a level 3 Mess Hall is guaranteed to feed all of your army instead of randomly picking half of them and expertly avoiding giving the bonuses you want to the right units. I could probably forge fish and rice meals before every chapter from here on out to give everyone at least +1 defense and speed.  Upgrading the lottery means I get another spin. It's not an Iron Yumi though... Now I have a Dual Yumi I don't really think I need one of these anymore, rather than forge them together I might just sell them both. All my army's inventories are overdue for an overhaul but it's hard to motivate myself to do it when all the maps I'm doing are so boring! I'll have a big cleanout just before Chapter 23 I think.  Turns out I only needed to buy a single yumi to make this forge, although I did have to steal the yumis Kaze and Scarlet had equipped. The Yumi Nikki is now stronger than the Fujin Yumi, and it's more accurate to boot. Who needs Takumi? I think with another forge it might gain like 2 extra crit in addition to more power and accuracy.     B support for Kaden / Azama and Felicia / Rhajat, C for Orochi / Rinkah, A for Mozu / Oboro. I guess this means I don't have to deploy Oboro anymore?   As much as I joked about making Mozu a Basara, I do not think 12 magic is enough to justify the otherwise worse stats. Spear Master was always the plan, and what you can't see here is that it also grants Mozu +10 crit and crit evade. I'm surprised at how similar it is statwise to Master of Arms...  This is a really fun upgrade for Mozu, and it ties in very well with her support with Oboro. Mozu starts as a farm girl in rags who can barely hold a weapon, she makes friends with a Spear Fighter who teaches her fashion, and now she's a Spear Master in a much cooler outfit than before. Mozu's glow up is complete!    It's been a little while since I last posted unit stats... I think I'll give a little update on how I think they've been doing and what I've got planned for them too. Kevin is still my best staff user, although Azama, Caeldori, and Orochi can all do that while also being allowed to participate in combat. As soon as Scarlet's no longer stuck in Adventurer I think he's going to spend most of his time paired up with her. Having him end up as a support backpack was always the plan, it's just that units locked to 2 range bows don't benefit much from defensive pair-ups. Will he cap skill as a Butler? Maybe! Or maybe he won't level up enough to ever get there. Kaden is currently sitting at -0.5 HP, +1 STR, +1 MAG, -1 SKL, +2.5 SPD, -3 LCK, -0.5 DEF, -3 RES compared to his averages. I won't do averages for everyone or else I'd be here forever, but that's a long way off how RNG blessed he once was... Still pretty great though. Before the next map I need to remind myself to reclass him into either Oni Chieftain or Blacksmith, both Death Blow and Salvage Blow could be great skills for him. Kaze's combat utility has kinda dried up, he's just here to fill deployment slots and pop open the occassional chest. As soon as I start recruiting kids I think I'm going to drop him, but his service up to this point has been greatly appreciated. Thank you, Kaze!    Azama is predictably an absolute monster in combat, although I really wish he had decent 1-2 range. I've given him the spare Bolt Naginata, his magic is definitely good enough to make use of it. I could reclass him to steal some skills from the Archer tree, although I don't really know what he'd want - Quick Draw is nice but not really worth the effort, and while Air Superiority is a nice skill I can't imagine Azama fighting many wyverns. Setsuna I guess is the unofficial mascot of this LP. She's deadly with a bow, but my insistence on training her lance rank means she's not being doing as much as she could. I think that'll change now she's got the Cattle Prod though, with Quick Draw and speed like that she shouldn't have any trouble murdering foes with it even if it is a steel weapon and it does slow her down. At least this isn't a GBA game where she would have like 3 CON. Rinkah's currently at -2.3 HP, +3.45 STR, +3.1 MAG, -0.5 SKL, -0.45 SPD, +0.35 LCK, -0.35 DEF, +1.05 RES compared to her averages. That's taking into account the Seraph Robe, Spirit Dust, Speedwings, and Goddess Icon I gave her. Still very blessed in her offenses, not doing so hot anywhere else. I could briefly have her dip into Basara with a Partner Seal so she could grab Magic + 2 and Rend Heave, her offense with the Paper Tiger is good enough... In fact I should have her do that because the next chapter coming up is basically free EXP.    Mozu I think is my favourite unit of the LP, she might not be the most effective but her stats are so weird and fun. -1.9 HP, -1 STR, +3.55 MAG, +0.9 SKL, +0 SPD, 0.15 LCK, +4.35 DEF, -1.2 RES, that's slightly weaker than normal but weirdly blessed in magic and defense. If only I had had this Mozu for that one Heart Seal run I did in Conquest where I made her a Dark Mage... I think I'm going to keep her as a Spear Master from now on, the class has great stats and Mozu's skill slots are going to look pretty crowded once she starts gaining levels. Having a Villager promote into Spear Master just feels right to me. Caeldori has been quietly overachieving for a while now. Her damage output is high thanks to Progidy, and she can fly and heal as well. Her speed's never been much of an issue, even when Darting Blow's not boosting it. It's a shame her dad didn't work out, but she's been making up for his failure very well! Scarlet really does not want to be an Adventurer anymore, it's such a waste of her potential. I am very annoyed at myself for my terrible planning. As soon as she's gotten a Heart Seal you'll all see how good she can be... I wish I'd kept her as a Wyvern Lord honestly. She's strong enough to 1-round most of her foes, but all the bulk she would have had on a wyvern is going to waste!   Rhajat is one of my best damage dealers, although I don't like how she has to choose between the Horse Spirit's speed and the Cow Blaster's might. I don't really think I have any plans for her beyond what she's doing now, besides maybe turning her into an Onmyoji if I ever think she needs the extra magic. Having her snag Tomefaire could be nice at least? Orochi is now unfortunately too slow to double anything without help. Her healing's nice, but even with magic as high as hers the Bloom Festal really isn't good enough. Fortunately there's a lot of room on my team right now so she can hang out for a little longer. I keep thinking she's Rhajat's mother... No unit analyses today, I've barely got any more to write but I don't want to burn myself out on them. I think it's just Scarlet and then all the kids and My Castle prepromotes... I have not once ever used Yukimura so his anaylsis may as well be ASCII art of a giant shrug. Next time: The first part of the 2 chapter nadir of Birthright's map design
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Jan 23, 2022 20:06
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For some reason I really enjoy the Rainbow Sage chapter in Birthright. It's really easy and silly, but somehow enjoyable. 
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Jan 23, 2022 20:22
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There's been so much talk about how great Rend Heaven is, but I don't think it's ever been stated what it actually does.
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Jan 23, 2022 21:58
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Rend Heaven adds half of the enemy's str or mag (whichever matches the weapon you're using) to damage, with an activation rate of Skill x1.5. Other than Vengeance, which has the same rate, every other offensive proc in the game is Skill% or lower, so it's about as reliable a source of extra damage as you're going to get from those as long as you're matching weapon type.
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Jan 23, 2022 23:35
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theshim posted:For some reason I really enjoy the Rainbow Sage chapter in Birthright. It's really easy and silly, but somehow enjoyable. Epicmissingno posted:There's been so much talk about how great Rend Heaven is, but I don't think it's ever been stated what it actually does.
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Jan 25, 2022 18:04
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  Time for fort Dragonfall! Hoshido had managed to invade this place as early as Chapter 9 in Conquest, what's the holdup here? The plot recap says it won't be easy but no, it will be very easy. This chapter is a far departure from the Wind Tribe hell of Conquest's Chapter 20.  Boring free EXP maps like this one are a good oppurtunity for me to reclass some of my army for skills. Blacksmith is such an odd class concept. I wish there was a Blacksmith prepromote, it seems like a fun design to build a character around!   Kaden goes Blacksmith for Salvage Blow (luck% chance of enemies defeated on player phase dropping an iron equivalent of whatever weapon they had equipped), Rinkah goes Basara for Rend Heaven (skill x 1.5% chance of adding half of enemy's strength or magic (whichever you're using) to your damage output). Both of these classes are a definite downgrade, although in terms of stats Kaden actually looks better - he's just stuck with E rank weapons. Rinkah can still use her C rank in scrolls, but now she won't have clubs to fall back upon. Not that it matters when they'll only be in these classes for 3 levels and all the enemies at this point in the game suck.  For Dragonfall is an amazing concept for a dungeon, it feels wasted as just a map in an SRPG. I wouldn't want to actually live here though, it's a bit scary. Potential invaders would hopefully feel the same way...  It's Iago! Or rather a projection of Iago, the real guy is at home in his pajamas with a pair of VR goggles. If he were truly evil he'd use his illusionary powers to recreate that awful gimmick from Conquest's Kitsune Lair.   That dragon vein in CQ's chapter 9 wasn't summoning acid rain, it was summoning digestive juices! With the help of Garon (or Anankos?)'s powers, Iago has sort of brought this fortress back to life. Being trapped in an inescapable building that's slowly eating you is an intriguing and horrifying concept, just like Fort Dragonfall itself it's wasted on this game.  Nothing compared to the prospect of another lovely Faceless and acid bog map though. I think I'd rather be dealing with the Wind Tribe...  This is Leo's map, part 2. Defeat the boss and muscle through boring lovely Faceless that spawn from liquid that hurts you. Although this time there's level geometry preventing a 1 turn clear if you don't have Lunge to swap you into the boss room.  Leo's map at least had human enemies to add a little variety, but everything here is a Faceless. The boss is just like a trolly Kjelle build I made for my Awakening streetpass team one time. This guy 5 breaker skills, with stones and knives being the only weapons that won't have their accuracy lowered against him... Don't let yourself be fooled into thinking he's actually tough though, his strenght is pretty mediocre and without any terrain or luck to boost it his avoid is nowhere near as high as it could be.  These Facelss are one level higher than the ones fought in Leo's chapter. They have 1 more HP, 1 more speed, and 2 more points of defense... And that's it! Nothing else. They don't even deal more damage. So once again, almost every single enemy here is completely incapable of hurting a unit with 22 defense or over. Doesn't matter if the acid bogs harm them, the Faceless won't be able to finish them off... Some of them have a dangerous skill or 2, but that's it. I called this map free EXP earlier but the EXP isn't even good, these Faceless are the equivalent of level 19 unpromoted enemies.  There are 3 chests at the back of this map, 2 of then containing items you'll want to grab. Some Faceless reinforcements will spawn with Locktouch, and they'll make there way to the chests... and somehow escape with the loot despite the entire point of this map being that you're trapped in a building you cannot escape from. The 1-2 combo of a Faceless opening a chest you didn't think they could and then escaping the map with the Boots can be a bit of a shock.  Faceless will spawn from various bogs each turn until you disable them with a dragon vein. I have no idea what the pattern is but it doesn't really matter, the Faceless are all jokes and all you need to worry about is making sure you can reach the chests before they can.  Some Faceless will spawn in at the start of your turn just to show that that's a thing they can do. The acid bog also hurts your units as soon as you deploy them, which feels a bit mean. Fliers don't seem to be immune to damaging terrain in this game...  Otherwise... who even cares? This map sucks. I think I might go as far as to call it the worst in all of Birthright, although the one immediately after might take that title by virtue of having a very annoying gimmick. The only reason not to turn on autobattle is that 2 of the Faceless have Counter skills...  That's 1 EXP point per kill for Setsuna. I feel insulted.   2 whole EXP points for Azama! Wow! Renewal is a pretty handy skill, it restores 20% of a unit's max HP at the start of their turn. It was a level 15 skill in Awakening, but in Fates both Priestesses and Great Masters learn it 10 levels earlier. It's fairly handy to have, although I don't really value it as much as some point on the internet seem to. I'm definitely not reclassing my entire army into War Clerics...  Kevin is helping! Azura's gearing up to sing her macguffin song that will of course get us out of this jam, but I like to think Kevin MacLeod is draining these acid pools with the power of royalty-free music. I don't know if activating these slows down the rate the Faceless spawn at or not, in Rhajat's paralogue removing the bogs just made enemies spawn elsewhere.  The boss room contains 2 flunkies with counter skills, and this particular Faceless is here to goad you into firing magic over the wall to activate Countermagic. It's probably the only way you could die in this map...  I just attacked him anyway. Can't counter whatever magic Mozu used to teleport over that wall to kill him.    Kevin gains a nice but ultimately useless level, Oboro snags some EXP from a dual guard, and Rinkah makes use of the Basara class's high HP and luck growths. Nothing else interesting happened.  Oh nevermind, something did happen. This'll help Rinkah with her magical attacks a little, although Rend Heaven is the real reason I reclassed her.  A Faceless who spawned in with Locktouch makes a grab for a chest. The Spy Shuriken has an attack range of exactly 3, it cannot double but it can attack almost all enemies without reprisal. Unfortunately unlike Conquest, Birthright's much more open map design makes it hard to abuse.  Underwhelming. Promoting gave you a magic growth of 85% Orochi, use it!  With nowhere to run, the thieving Faceless ran straight into Azama and died. Some of the other enemies on this map also drop stuff, I've picked up a Master Seal and a Goddess Icon already. I think Faceless are zombies, were they buried with those when they died?  Now here's a rich corpse. Slay the Spire has a random event where dropping gold in a mysterious caustic liquid causes it to undergo a chemical reaction producing even more gold, maybe I should dip these coins in the bog and get even richer.  I have no dancer, my one lord character isn't doing anything, and I have no units with only 4/5 movement... I guess Setsuna's going to get a new pair of shoes.   The boss is hiding behind a single Faceless with Counter, but give him room to move and he'll approach you before his buddy can block the way. This is a defeat boss chapter so make sure you've grabbed all the loot before you engage him, just in case!  I might be here a while, Kaden's at the mercy of Axebreaker and his skill is pretty terrible when he's not a Kitsune. At least he's not in any real danger.  Meanwhile Kevin's having fun mopping up all the gunk. The Faceless are all spawning at the entrance so this isn't really helping, but it's something to do!  Setsuna can have this too. She does kind of need it, she's only got 25 HP.  Oh, did that kill? I was so bored at this point I was just mashing start. There was no crit chance and I could have sworn the numbers didn't add up, maybe Even Handed bridged the gap.  Noo, don't get strength! Every stat increase also raises the threshold for Progidy to activate! Magic and defense are however allowed.  Thrilling. I'm not sure I can't handle another Facless map, I think when the time comes to do Hinata's paralogue I might just post only the ending screen and then link a funny cat video to watch instead.  Forced to hear this song for the millionth time, the dragon of Fort Dragonfall immediately vomits our army out. Hooray!  Now I can reclass Scarlet. I can finally buy her wyvern back from the pawn shop!!! I hope nothing happened to it while it was away. Next time: Invasion 2?
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Jan 25, 2022 18:05
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This map wouldn't be quite so egregious if you hadn't done Leo's map before it. As is, it's just kinda...there.
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Jan 25, 2022 18:36
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  Time for Invasion 2. In Conquest, this map was a gruelling moshpit of death full of Spendthrift Merchants to oblierate you with high damage, Entrap, Freeze, and Enfeeble Maids to trap you and debuff you to nothing, and a few turns after some mounted reinforcements with Lunge to pull you off of your throne and claim it for themselves... In Birthright it's just a bunch of enemies with no skills. Boring, but less likely to give you an aneurysm.   But first, shopping! With Chapter 20 cleared I have finally unlocked the level 3 shops... And that means I can finally buy back Scarlet's wyvern! It's actually a different wyvern with glowing red eyes that may or may not be a zombie, but I'm sure it's been long enough that she won't recall the difference.  I'll also buy her this Arms Scroll, since as a Malig Knight she'll only have a measly E rank in tomes she won't be able to do much with. The level 3 shop sells 1 of each normal stat booster, and 2 Arms Scrolls at half price. I'm not entirely sure 5000 gold is worth the price of not having to grind out weapon ranks a little, but I'm lazy and I'm rich.  A Spirit Dust, a Goddess Icon, and an Arms Scroll should make up for all that time Scarlet spent stuck as an Adventurer. Malig Knight is a bit of an unorthadox choice for her - she is definitely a physical unit - but her magic's just workable enough that she should be able to mow down enemies with a Bolt Axe so long as Kevin's helping out her stats. The Bolt Axe will be her main form of magical offense, but the Horse Spirit should help her tank when she needs to. Although with 15 more strength than magic she would prefer to be hitting things with a club.  Setsuna compliments her outfit with a fancy Seraph Robe and some swanky Boots. Kinshi Knights can move much further than 8 tiles per turn, they just won't show their true potential unless their rider is sufficiently stylish. I'm not entirely sure what a fragile player phase unit like Setsuna is going to do with 9 movement, maybe she could get some cheesy boss kills from halfway across the map.   That's Hana and Setsuna's A support unlocked, as well as Rhajat and Caeldori's B. Hana does not actually get to be a Strategist, she's got to A support Felicia for that. Setsuna can however be a Samurai if she wants. I don't think she does particularly want to, though. I'm not really sure why I supported these two in the first place...  Time for the battle itself. There's no horrible skills or brutal formations here, just an open field of dudes with no skills. The boss herself has Pavise to potentially reduce 1 range damage and Bowbreaker to make her slightly harder to shoot down, but she's the only enemy here with any sort of gimmick. Any unit with good physical defense should be able to tank of all these guys without much issue. If Kaden were still a Nine-Tails he could do it with a Beastrune...   On the left and right are some Adventurers, Wyverns, and Dark Knights. None of them have any skills either.   This invasion, like all invasions, was just a matter of figuring out how best to throw my units at the enemies so there were a couple of failed attempts. This one was my fault for assuming Scarlet's high avoid would make her safe...  And yet despite Fates's love for killing Scarlet, she does not actually die - she just retreats. This is only because there is a single cutscene she appears in after becoming a playable unit.  Mozu also died as a result of me trying to have her tank the entire bottom half of the map by herself. No single enemy could deal more than 6 damage to her, but there were a lot of enemies and her HP is bad.   These failed attempts were enough to convince me to cook a +speed +def meal for everyone... because those are the only 2 ingredients I have. "Vinegared" doesn't look like a word to me, or at least not one that's pronounced how it's spelled.  Preliminary is over, time for the actual gameplay... Which isn't particular interesting, this is just a big empty field full of enemies. Scarlet's first move is to eliminate one of the Adventurers - two of them can kill her, but she can tank a single guy just fine.  Rinkah, Caeldori & Rhajat, and Scarlet & Kevin have all gone to the right side. There's no particular reason why they specifically are over, here, I just need a certain amount of dudes on each side to rout.  I am doing this invasion 2 or 3 chapters after it unlocked, so all the enemies are quite weak for this point in the game. They still give more EXP than regular enemies do by virtue of being promoted, though...   Kaden snags a niceish level and the Seal Resistance skill. Seal Res is a bit weird - it doesn't benefit Oni Savages unless they've gone Chieftain and are using magic, but it can potentially set up kills for your magic users... Magical beaststones aren't a thing so Kaden can't make any use of it himself.  Setsuna & Azama and Kaden are on the left side. Kaden supports Azama so I want them next to one another, although I don't think either one of them wants the other one's class...  Mozu charges straight down like she did on my failed attempt, except this time she has her husband with her to improve her defense and give her some dual guards. Normally this would be a very bad idea, but this Mozu is quite blessed.   On my first attempt I figured I should sent Mozu equipped with a Guard Naginata to seal the strength of all her attackers to make sure she's not at risk, but it's actually better for her survival to run in with a Beast Killer and kill them all on the counterattack. These enemies would be ignoring her in favour of gunning for the throne if they couldn't hurt her... or at least I think they would. Enemies in Invasions do weird things.   Mozu you are not a Basara, stop getting magic. Seal Defense is cool, although none of these enemies seem to be surviving to have anything that can be sealed. Kaze also got a level through dual guards but I think it's better if I don't post the levels of units I'm not really using.  The Adventurers decided to shoot Mozu for 0 damage, but the Bow Knights were in range of some statues they wanted to shoot more than a target they couldn't hurt. Those statues don't even do anything...  Defense is rather uncharacteristic of Setsuna, especially as a Kinshi. She does however sorely need it!  Unfortunately I couldn't get rid of all the enemies on the left in time, and that means more reinforcements next turn. They're not dangerous, they're just annoying...  Most of the enemies are dead and Mozu's on low HP, so now she can use her Guard Naginata. I don't think I can eliminate all the enemies in the middle either, so I guess it's not a big deal I could't clean out the left.   The power of Shove! Caeldori couldn't reach the boss on her own, but Rinkah picks up her mount and throws it for some extra launch power.   Rend Heaven, the skill I've been hyping up all LP... doesn't actually do anything unless the enemy you're fighting has any points in the offensive stat you're using to attack them. So Rhajat can only get bonus damage against magical or mixed units.   More reinforcements move in on turns 3, 4, and 5. They're not particularly powerful, but if all of your units are far away from the throne you could potentially get an embarrassing game over when one of them seizes it.  They all die fairly unceremoniously. Maybe I could try and train Rhajat's lance rank so she can meaningfully proc Rend Heaven against physical foes? Just for fun.  Invasion over. That wasn't very exciting.  Only Scarlet and Kevin earned any support points this time. If they get married, should I allow myself to use Kana? I said no royals, but Kana's not exactly good... Next time: 2 more boring maps and then the game gets fun again I promise
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Feb 5, 2022 21:55
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midnight lasagna posted:Only Scarlet and Kevin earned any support points this time. If they get married, should I allow myself to use Kana? I said no royals, but Kana's not exactly good... Sure, Kana is indeed pretty mediocre. If you want an additional caveat: has to use dragonstones only.
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Feb 6, 2022 07:06
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Obligatum VII posted:Sure, Kana is indeed pretty mediocre. If you want an additional caveat: has to use dragonstones only. Seconding the Kanakete~
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Feb 6, 2022 13:13
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Yeah, she's nothing to write home about 
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Feb 6, 2022 13:49
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You may as well use Kana. Girl Kana is the best and she isn't going to be spectacular. Hell, she's basically a knight who can never double and is range-locked. She's basically an extra bit of challenge. Also marrying Scarlet is a bit of a waste if you don't use her daughter.
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Feb 6, 2022 18:27
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The public has spoken, Kana is fine. The revolutionary blood in her veins will trump the blue blood.  Here's a filler chapter. I think at least 50% of Birthright could be considered filler, but this is filler filler. This is a bad map with no plot significance, nothing here happens that needs to happen or could not have happened somewhere else. Honestly, it's all been filler since we entered Nohr... To make this chapter even more filler, I am going to show off my failed attempt before I post the actual thing. This is partly because what happened was kind of interesting, and partly because I refuse to have the time I wasted playing this not be content out of sheer spite. It turns out this map has some elements the wiki doesn't tell you about!  The Nohrian royal family has been slowly falling apart ever since Kevin left. I always play this route after Conquest, so I feel especially bad... The Nohrians might be the villains in this conflict, but I care about them way more than I do the likes of Ryoma.  This war is actually taking place on two different fronts - the bulk of each country's armies are fighting at the border (and Hoshido is losing), while all of Hoshido's nobilty and leadership figures are running around inside Nohr's borders with a tiny army of their own, accomplishing... something. I don't think we've actually managed to do anything meaningful yet.   The Rainbow Sage has left us a special map with a shortcut of his own divising marked upon it. The only thing not suspicious about "Demon's Fall" is that it it were a trap then the Rainbow Sage probably would have called it something else.  Oh yeah, it's that kind of shortcut. I feel as if there's plausible grounds for a "the Rainbow Sage is trying to kill you" theory here - he's been stated to have given power to Garon and Xander before, before we could meet him we had to fight through a deadly gauntlet of enemies, and upon surviving that he claimed the real power was inside of us all along. I bet that was just a lie he made to avoid giving us any actual reward after we survived his death trap, and now he's given us terrible directions in one last murder attempt. This map takes place atop an endlessly burning waterfall. It's not lava - it's burning oil on top of flowing water. This is a defeat boss map, but the boss appears to be inaccessible behind lots of fire and cliffs.  Chapter 21 marks the first appearence of Stoneborn in both routes. Stoneborn are incredibly slow but powerful ranged attackers who are quite easily capable of one-shotting some of your weaker units, assuming they can hit them. They count as both Monsters and Golems for the sake of weapon effectiveness, so you will at least have a few tools at your disposal for killing them... If you remember to bring them. Magic also works fairly well, their resistance is terrible and even Orochi shouldn't have issues doubling them.  Each island contains a pair of dragon veins. One will create a bridge to the next island, the other will flood the island with lava (actual lava, not burning oil) and spawn large amounts of reinforcements. There's a fairly obvious tell which one is which.  Enemy reinforcements will pour in from these holes in the ground if you trip the wrong vein. They also provide high avoid bonuses and healing per turn, so try to stand on them before the enemies do the same.   This map features a large amount of level 5 promoted enemies, and only a small number of level 20 Outlaws. The Stoneborn are the equivalent of level 1 promoted enemies, so they won't give much EXP.  My army feels like it's got way too many filler units, I should consider recruiting more kids so I have better people to use. It's been a short while since I last brought Felicia...   Stoneborn have a large attack radius and can even attack between platforms, so you have to pay attention and make sure nobody's getting sniped by more attacks than you're expecting. They're by far the most deadly enemies on the map, so rushing ahead to kill them first isn't a bad idea.  The promoted enemies are a little challenging too, but they're no match for obscene forges and large amounts of stat booster favouritism. These enemies are all Purple Guys, which means there's a mix of Hoshidan and Nohrian classes.  If this were Conquest these Stoneborn would all have Wary Fighter, but it is not and they don't so a magic user can easily double them and rip them apart. With Felicia's help, Rhajat's just about bulky enough to tank 2 hits.  Fire Emblem games like to give inhuman enemies 0 luck, so these Stoneborn are all very susceptible to crits. They're also worth only 3 EXP... Not all monsters in this game have 0 luck though, just the Stoneborn as far as I'm aware. What are Stoneborn, anyway?  I'm not used to maps in this game being difficult, so I didn't put any thought into where I deployed my army. So nobody's able to kill this Master Ninja on turn 1...  Thankfully he would rather debuff Mozu for 0 damage than attack anyone who could hurt him back. Without any skills ninjas aren't all that threatening, they're more just annoying...  Stoneborn look rock solid from their portraits and the game's opening cutscene, but they're actually really fleshy and gross. Beneath their mask is some sort of orifice that they shoot rocks from, which looks a little too much like a sphincter.  It is possible for your flying units to move from platform to platform without activating any veins, but doing so can be tricky. Setsuna would be torn apart pretty much instantly, Scarlet could survive but she'd have to take Kevin with her, leaving nobody around to activate the dragon veins. Caeldori might be bulky enough to tank a few hits but her accuracy against the Outlaw is dubious, and if she couldn't kill him then he would kill her.  A Master Ninja stood on a hole is an incredibly difficult enemy to hit, at least if you're not Setsuna. He's not even hiding in the hole or anything, it's just there.  Scarlet's pretty much the best unit for Stoneborn killing, she's just good enough to one-round them and can tank hits in return. If only I also had Kana, then Scarlet could take Kevin while she stays behind to activate the veins.  Which vein is the right one? It's the one on the side of the statue that's holding the orb. I'd say this is obvious, but I don't think I figured it out on my first attempt. This is stupid and pointless, but at least it's deterministic. If you always pick the right one this chapter is quick and still fairly easy, but what if I show off the wrong one? It's been a while, I don't entirely remember what happens...   ...is that good?  This JPEG MS Paint scribble lava damages all your units at the end of their turn, as well as drastically reducing their movement. The movement lowering part is the real issue, since enemy reinforcements are about to come pouring in... I could stop them by sitting on the holes, but that would ruin the point of showing this off in the first place.  One Stoneborn and one Master Ninja appear from the left and right sides each, and will keep appearing for a few turns. These Stoneborn have Massive Rocks, which are much more deadly than the standard. One hit would kill Setsuna...  According to the wiki, there are 3 waves of these reinforcements. The lava makes them difficult to reach, which is a problem when facing the ranged Stoneborn...   With nobody capable of moving in to finish them off without also being bulky enough to take multiple hits, things quickly become a huge pile-up. Unfortunately I misread the wiki and it's actually 4 waves - I took one of the Stoneborn out, but there's still way more left.  I might have overestimated Mozu's bulk. Thankfully, this is the last wave... I can heal her from a distance, and she can slowly chip the Stoneborn down. Seal Strength will have made them much less threatening...  Eventually the correct vein will reappear, giving you another chance to activate it. Activating it now would only let more enemies start aggroing me, so I'll clear out this area first...  It... activated itself? The wiki didn't say anything about this. I guess this is a failsafe if you get all your lords KOd on Casual mode? This might be bad, I am not ready to have a load of new enemies move in.  Thankfully I can just about get everyone out of range of the Stoneborn. Everyone except Azama, who's bulky enough to charge forward and distract the enemy for a while.  wait why are there more reinforcements THE WIKI DIDN'T MENTION THIS!!!  Everyone is on low health, I can't even reach the holes to plug them, and I don't know how many more of these there are going to me. Scarlet's In Extremis would be a lot more helpful if she didn't In Extremiss.  I cannot keep taking out these things. The Stoneborn take off a huge chunk of health every time I fight one, and only Setsuna can reliably kill the Master Ninjas. I'm starting to wish Mozu had died earlier so I would have restarted...  Another brush with death. Stoneborn are just about inaccurate that dodge tanking is surprisingly effective, but I can't keep it up forever.  Azama is all that's holding back the approaching enemies at this point, and even he can't hold out forever. This Levin Sword guy can't hurt him, but all the other enemies are slowly chipping away at his health.  Oh, there's more! When do they stop spawning?  Golembane doesn't help much when you're on low HP and can't OHKO. Shurikens don't have much might, so they don't benefit from effective damage as much as other weapons do...  That's another brush with death. It really does just keep going.  Even Azama can't hold out any more. Please, just stop spawning enemies for one turn...  ...not that it matters. Out of all the things that could have killed this attempt I wasn't expecting Azama dying to be it. I don't think the rest of my army could have held out against all those reinforcements for much longer anyway, but losing to this feels especially bad. If only someone could have reached him to pair up with him!  Oh and they're still spawning in. Maybe they just keep spawning in forever. I'll show an actual solution to this map later. Normally I don't bother with failed attempts, but this one went so drastically wrong in a way I didn't think it even could go wrong in that I wanted to show it off. Don't pick the wrong dragon vein! Not even as a joke. And to think in my commentary I was going to suggest the idea of deliberately picking wrong if you wanted to farm EXP...
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Feb 8, 2022 14:40
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midnight lasagna posted:Everyone is on low health, I can't even reach the holes to plug them, and I don't know how many more of these there are going to me. Scarlet's In Extremis would be a lot more helpful if she didn't In Extremiss. 
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Feb 8, 2022 21:38
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I believe it was this map that I truly started to just loving hate Birthright. What is it with this complete guessing game that completely fucks you over if you choose the wrong coin flip? It’s so spiteful, I’m pretty sure I only survived by Ryomaing my way out of it.
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Feb 8, 2022 21:55
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And they bring it back later with the stupid “guided by dead mom” map though I can’t recall if that’s in Revelation or Birthright.
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Feb 9, 2022 00:46
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That's in Rev. Where it's also combined with "what if we brought back the stealth mission mechanics from that one map in 9, but made them immensely worse and tied a pair of boots to it to discourage you from just shrugging and ignoring the gimmick?" I still end up ignoring it anyway because the one time I got the Boots was a fucksawful slog of following a video of the map patterns with only two pairups deployed for an ungodly number of turns but it bugs me to miss out on them every time.
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Feb 9, 2022 00:57
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I just accepted that I wasn’t getting boots and gave myself a pair from the “you’re an idiot who bought all three versions” bonuses.
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Feb 9, 2022 01:16
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