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Blastinus posted:So the update is just about done for this week. I just need to get onto the next page first. If I can get some folks to post random nonsense for a few, that would be fantastic. Random nonsensing as requested.  Edit: New page achieved!
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Dec 14, 2022 23:48
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Death Knight Maddening varies by House and by NG+ If you've got NG+ and you've got the miracle battalion he's very very easy since you just cast miracle on everyone and then beat him to death. If you've got the Golden Deer and are determined to murder him you can get Lysithea up to Dark spikes and explode him. If you've got the Blions there's a shot that Dedue can eat an attack to bait him off defense tiles at which point you can apply battalions and knightkneeler liberally. If you're with the Eagles it's genuinely a pain though. Usually it's just not worth the trouble, the experience isn't great and messing up training routes to kill a boss that gives you a seal for a class that isn't great probably isn't worth your time.
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Dec 14, 2022 23:48
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Alrighty, I appreciate the assistance. I'll have the update up in about half an hour.MightyPretenders posted:I think one thing they could have done to fix the Death Knight's character was have a bigger reaction to his defeat. Something more than him going "Woah, neat." And since (let's face it) they aren't going to let us actually kill him here, give him alternate lines for his future appearances referencing the player's previous victories over him. The game's not the best at actually storing flags of things you've done before, I'll admit. It tries to keep some level of consistency with things like, "Is a certain character still alive/recruited?" so that characters don't reference people who aren't around anymore, but we won't run into a situation where something we did four chapters ago comes back to bite us. Stuff we DIDN'T do, however? The game can definitely sucker punch us for that.
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Dec 15, 2022 00:39
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 Hey look, graphics. It's going to take a little while to nail down the look, but let me know what you think. This is going to be a bit of a wordy update, and I know the perfect way to handle this kind of situation: more words!   : ... : Uh, Ashe? : Not too long. Apologies for startling you. Must be a great book, for you to be so deeply engrossed in it. What has you so captivated?: Oh, ah, it's quite an old book. One of the really old legends of Faerghus.: Aha, it must be the "Sword of Kyphon," then, yes?: Oh, so you know it!: Oh, yes. I know it quite well. I read it often as a child. In fact, I read it so much that my personal copy fell apart. I brought it everywhere with me. I adore that book. The tale of the warrior Kyphon, whose devotion and loyalty enabled his best friend, Loog, to become king. He went to great lengths to see things through.  : Ah, the part about the War of the Eagle and Lion? That's my favorite part! "In a flash, Kyphon's sword flew from its scabbard. The knight parried the assassin's blade mere inches from the spine of his king.": "Kyphon's blade hummed like the wind, slashing the enemy's throat. In mere moments, their forces lay vanquished—decimated by his mighty blows."So this is Faerghus's idea of children's literature, eh? All the kids, sitting around the fireplace, being like, "Tell me more about the throat slashing, grandpa!" : Hehe, I can recite the entirety of it, if you like. I never grow weary of that tale—the pinnacle of knighthood, with all its struggles and glory.: I know just what you mean! I never get tired of it. Some people laugh at me for reading these old tales, but I'll never outgrow them. I'm glad to find someone who shares my enthusiasm!: I'm glad of it as well. Tell me, what other books do you enjoy, Ashe?: Well, the first one I ever read was Loog and the Maiden of Wind.: Ah, you have fantastic taste! That story is another favorite. The final chapter makes me tear up every time... : It seems we have much in common. I look forward to chatting again sometime.: I'd love to! Yes, let's!Ah, that was very heartwarming to see two nerds connect. Now let's proceed to the execution!   : Inciting a Kingdom noble to rebel. Unlawful entry. The attempted assassination of the archbishop. An attack on the Holy Mausoleum. It is unnecessary to go on, followers of the Western Church. : What?! We have nothing to do with the Western Church! : You have already been identified. Please spare us your second-rate theater. : Dishonoring a holy ceremony is worthy of death for a member of the church. You are well past the hope of redemption. If you have any grace remaining, you will willingly offer your life as atonement for this crime. : It's no use arguing. Whatever your excuse, the punishment stands.: May your souls find peace as they return to the goddess...Wait, but-but hold on a second! These guys, their ploy was obviously orchestrated by someone. They're outright admitting it to your face. You're not even going to ask them who they were working for? : Wait! Please! The goddess would never forgive you for our execution!: Monster! We know you've already slaughtered many of our fellow brethren like this!: This concludes the investigation. Please remove these poor, lost souls from my sight. If I was Dimitri right now, I'd be wondering just what kind of half-baked operation the Church was running here. No attempt at all to discern a motive, uncover fellow conspirators, or reveal the mastermind that engineered the whole thing. They've got two sources of information who are clearly feeling betrayed and would no doubt be willing to rat out their boss for the sake of amnesty, and they're just going to execute them?   : As for the masked knight who led the attack... I'm afraid his whereabouts are yet unknown. : It makes no sense that the Western Church would try such a thing.Thank you! Someone gets it! But Dedue's going to be completely ignored, because... : It just goes to show that the Church of Seiros is not completely united. The church is led by those here in Garreg Mach, and the Western Church doesn't have a strong voice on its governing council. I imagine the Western Church has harbored some resentment towards the Central Church for a while now. : The Central Church?: Ah, that's right. Jeralt did say that you grew up outside the influence of the church. The Church of Seiros is split into a few branches across Fódlan. The largest being the Central Church, which is headquartered right here at Garreg Mach. : It's situated on the far side of the Kingdom's most impressive fortress, Arianrhod. I imagine the Western Church's intention was to eliminate Lady Rhea, and the Central Church's authority along with her. Naturally, the knights will be riding out to question the Western Church's top officials. Or rather...to punish them.: When they do, Your Highness, we will likely be asked to carry out said punishment.: Indeed.Kill all the rest of the witnesses, you say? You want us to burn their correspondence while we're at it? Maybe scuff some footprints? I feel like we're not giving the bad guys enough of a head start. : Now, I don't mean to be rude, Professor, but I must say that your situation is rather unusual. For someone to grow up in Fódlan and yet never have any contact with the Church of Seiros is...it's hard to believe.: I wonder why the archbishop would hire someone like that as a professor...Yeah, you'd think that, even if Jeralt was trying to keep us away from Rhea, we'd be given a crash course in how the church works. I know that Byleth's meant to be an audience surrogate character, but the way he acts, it's like he was basically born the same time as we stepped in. Meanwhile, the peanut gallery has some concerns.    Nobody's onboard with this, and why would they be? The rules are that opposing the goddess is death, but what were these Western Church folks trying to do exactly? Nab some bones? How's that death-worthy?  Oh, I can't wait for her to justify this to us. But first, another distraction.   : Not that I had ever placed much faith in those swine from the Western Church. : I have news, both good and bad. The remains of Seiros were not in the tomb. However, something else was. The Sword of the Creator.: Ah, the weapon wielded by that thief, the King of Liberation. : I doubt you will be surprised to hear that the Crest Stone had already been removed from the sword when it was found.: Hmph. As expected. It would be foolish to keep both in the same location.: There's more. The professor was able to awaken the sword's true power. Even without the Crest Stone, the sword glowed red. The professor's Crest is compatible. There is no mistaking it.: Absurd. Using a Relic without its Crest Stone should be impossible... The King of Liberation's bloodline should not even... Hmm.We're not entirely brushed up on the rules, but yes, a Relic needs a crest stone and the matching crest in order to activate its true power. Evidently, we've somehow got both. : They must be allowed to keep it, for now. I do not have enough information about the professor to act. : Good. I believe I will enjoy this a great deal...If we hadn't peeked at the Death Knight's character sheet, this would be confirmation enough that he and the Flame Emperor are in cahoots. We're not technically supposed to know that this fancily-dressed individual is called the Flame Emperor, nor are we supposed to be aware of this new figure's identity either. I don't suppose it'll hurt to know if you care enough to take a peek at the file name. We're not going to see him again for a decent chunk of the game anyway.  : That sword is one of the Heroes' Relics, and the most precious artifact in the church's possession. It is also a weapon of terrifying power. For now...I will entrust the sword to you. Please, use it wisely. : Surely it is not the sort of thing that one hands over so readily, even to someone who has the ability to wield it! If someone like Nemesis were to appear again, all of Fódlan would be consumed by war!: Nemesis?Y'know, the guy in your dream? Does any information actually stick around in your head? : Nemesis, the King of Liberation. He is an ancient king of mankind who was defeated by Seiros over a thousand years ago. When Fódlan was attacked by wicked gods, it is said that the goddess gifted Nemesis with the Sword of the Creator. Nemesis used that sword to defeat the wicked gods, saving all of Fódlan. Henceforth he was dubbed the King of Liberation. However, his power began to corrupt him until he, himself, turned to the darkness. Saint Seiros was forced to destroy him.That matches the version of events detailed in the library, which means that Seteth is also in on the lie. What a shame. : Lady Rhea, I beg you to reconsider. Given a little more time, we could more accurately assess this stranger's abilities.: No. I have faith, Seteth. Faith that our friend here will not be corrupted by wickedness. Since the death of Nemesis, none have been able to wield the Sword of the Creator. Now, after all those long years of being sealed away, it has returned and found a new master.: I...understand. As you wish, Lady Rhea. No worries about that. This version of Byleth appears to be squeaky clean and ambition-free.   : And I really can't read that Rhea at all... That sword is clearly precious... So why is she so keen to gift the thing to you?: The sword chose me.: Is that a fact?I love how incredulous Sothis sounds on this line. No way is anything going to choose you, buddy.  : And there is one more thing that has been plaguing me. The Sword of the Creator... It somehow feels distinct from other Relics we have seen. Such as the one that... Oh goodness, what was her name? Ca... Cat...: Catherine?: Yes! Her! The Sword of the Creator differs from her Thunderbrand in one key way. It bears a hole...where something should have been, but is no more. I despise not knowing what is going on! It...it frightens me. And yet... I place my trust in you. I must. Well, we're sort of committed at this point. Once we hop aboard our train of choice, there's no getting off until we reach the end. And that's the end of Chapter 4. But we're not yet done, because the start of Chapter 5 has even more words in store. With the amount of dialogue we've had to slog through in this outro alone, we would have already been in the next battle if we were playing one of the GBA games.  Data has shown that a lot of people don't actually watch the video for these Moon cutscenes, so I suppose I'll just give you the big picture and let that be that.  Verdant Rain Moon posted:The ceaseless rains that satiate the verdant landscape of Fódlan are accompanied the fierce winds and mighty roars of thunder. This abundance of rain, sparkling as it falls against beams of emerging sunlight, is a constant reminder to the people of Fódlan that nature is ever wild and unpredictable. For when the rain finally does pause, the clouds part to give way to a glorious rainbow. I'll admit, this is mostly a bunch of drivel. "Hey guys, how do thunderstorms work?"  Woohoo, we're really raking it in now! This could buy us a load of cool weapons. But first, our new mission.  : I would like for you to take your students into Kingdom territory to eliminate some thieves.: They stole a Hero's Relic from House Gautier of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus–the Lance of Ruin. Their leader's name is Miklan. He is apparently a disowned son of House Gautier.: Why was he disowned?: I believe it had something to do with his lack of a Crest. Such happenings are fairly common within the Kingdom.: The Crestless cannot harness the goddess's power, even if they possess a Relic. Nonetheless, they are still capable of simply wielding those weapons.Well, yes and no on that. We'll see. For the record, all this Kingdom intrigue isn't just because we're starting with the Blue Lions. For some reason, the early part of the game is heavily concerned with the goings-on in Faerghus specifically. It all works out surprisingly well for picking the Blue Lions as the first route, which I've been informed (thanks Cythereal) is the intended gameplay experience, aside from this whole, "The Lions have the curiosity of boulders gathering moss so they learn absolute jack-diddly" rationale that I chose. Anyway, right, thieves.  Just adequate though. They're still just rebranded bandits, after all. : Unfortunately, most of the Knights of Seiros are away from the monastery purging the apostates of the Western Church. So we are entrusting you with this mission. After all, you wield the Sword of the Creator, which is more than capable of opposing any Relic.: The Sword of the Creator is a powerful weapon, well beyond the other Relics. You have nothing to fear. However, to ensure that no harm comes to the students, we will also send the monastery's most skilled individuals to aid you.PFFFFTTTT hahahaha...Sorry, you'll see. : I must remind you that you are expected to conduct yourself in a manner befitting the wielder of that holy sword. Why not? We've been ping-ponging between conversations all update. Why stop now?  Yes, that is in fact the thing which we were just told. : I'm sorry for dragging into the Kingdom's petty squabbles. This should not be your burden to bear, but my own...: I'm happy to help.: Thank you, Professor. Hearing you say that puts my mind at ease. Hi there, painted-on beard man. : It's been a long time! Two years, if I'm not mistaken. : Indeed, Your Highness. You've grown so much in those years. I hardly recognize you.: A friend of yours? : When my father died four years ago, he looked after me as though I were his own son.: (laughs) You flatter me, Your Highness. It was my honor to care for such a fine, young man. It's nice to finally meet you, Professor. My son, Felix, has mentioned you on occasion.Guess everyone's allowed to write letters to their relatives and the like. That would logically mean that just about anyone who's anyone in Fodlan knows about our glowing sword at this point. : What brings you to the monastery, Rodrigue? Is it the thieves plaguing the Kingdom?: I'm afraid so. This is not merely a problem for House Gautier, but for everyone. The thieves have set up their headquarters in Fraldarius territory, and are mercilessly pillaging the villages of that area. You have our full support in stopping those dastards. I thank you for your help, both of you.And by full support, Rodrigue means that he'll be standing at a distance. No recruiting old men for us just yet.   : Specifically, that you were able to awaken the Sword of the Creator's power. Thusly, it seems the true nature of your Crest has been uncovered.Yeah, I'll bet that the news must have had you careening off the walls. : I had, of course, seen your Crest before. However, at first, I failed to recognize its true nature. Eventually, it dawned on me that what is visible is perhaps merely a small part of a greater whole. In other words, your Crest is too significant to be detected when using normal instruments.That would also explain why it is that, unlike other Crests which have just one effect, ours has 3 separate bonuses that can act indepedently of one another.  : However, I could not be certain. The Crest my conclusions led me to was far too unusual. A Crest thought to have disappeared in this world in the millennium since the fall of Nemesis, the King of Liberation. The Crest of Flames. That is what you possess.: The Crest of Flames...An Emblem of Fire, one might say. : Your ability to wield the Sword of the Creator has unequivocally proven my hypothesis. A legendary power, dormant since time immemorial, and now resurrected... Well, it was already clear that we had some kind of divine power, but that's as close to confirmation as we can get. As to why, that still remains a mystery.  Maybe a bit of tea wouldn't be the worst idea right now. Some normalcy is important to keep us grounded from all the weirdness that's been happening lately.  That being said, we're running a little low on blends. There'll be a merchant who'll supply us with more, but we're not quite there yet. Now, I didn't realize this until looking it up after the fact, but one of Manuela's likes is, in fact, Mint Leaves. Another point in favor of consulting a guide, I suppose.   Purely professional, I assure you.   Doesn't go too badly at first. Manuela likes to feel needed and appreciated by those around her. Then I just utterly lose the plot.   I really should have gone for the obvious answer here.  Also, apparently she enjoys talking about children, which I wouldn't have expected, and I certainly didn't at the time. Guess there's more warmth to her than I thought, because I assumed she'd just want to talk about herself.  Another disastrous date. Sorry, Manuela.  But at least we end on a cheerful goodbye. Mostly because the game doesn't have voice lines for characters declaring tea parties to be an utter trainwreck.  Few exams, and we'll call it an update. We'll actually start with Annette and see where we're at from there.  But wait, you say, a Brigand? That's an axe class that doesn't cast spells. What about the rest of Annette's magic? And to that I say "We'll have another wind magician down the line, so honestly, just don't worry about it."   The Brigand class adds 30% HP and 10% Str growths with no penalty to Mag growth, which means that what once were weaknesses in Annette's toolkit have been refined to 55% and 40% respectively, while she still has a 50% chance to grow in magic. And wouldn't you know it, she'll have axe skills that do magic damage, so nothing of value is being lost.  Ashe is nowhere close to being able to mount up, so for the time being, we're going to hop him over to Archer.  Not for the sake of growths, mind you, but because of Bowrange +1. As the name implies, he's going to be expanding his reach quite dramatically.   Felix, lastly, has two very intriguing choices. The Mercenary class is more strength-focused, while the Thief class is better for speed and would let him steal stuff and open locks. Normally that'd be an easy choice, since I don't like juggling keys, but we've got Ashe already, so...  Plus folks are asking me to turn him into a Hero anyhow. Seems like an appropriate decision. Not the one I'd usually take, but I wouldn't have made Annette a Brigand either. Extras Ashe Ubert - Commoner with a shady past turned adopted son of a minor noble. Ashe tends to be the man on the outside when it comes to the internal disputes of the Blue Lions, which helps him to be a voice of normalcy in an otherwise somewhat turbulent house. He's just really eager to help and that's a-okay with me. Starting Weapon: Bows Personal Skill: Lockpick (Can open doors and chests without using a key) Crest: None Skills - Strong (Axes, Bows), Weak (Reason), Budding (Lances, teaches Shatter Slash) Stats - Max and Growths: pre:HP: 23-68 (35%) Str: 8-51 (35%) Lck: 6-56 (40%) Mag: 5-36 (25%) Def: 5-43 (20%) Dex: 8-76 (55%) Res: 6-49 (35%) Spd: 9-71 (50%) Cha: 5-36 (25%) Combat Arts: Focused Strike (Axes C+), Deadeye (Bows C+) Waning Shot (Bows A) Reason: Wind (D), Cutting Gale (C) Faith: Heal (D) Nosferatu (D+) Physic (C) Analysis: Ashe, Ashe, Ashe...I love your personality, but you just don't learn anything that someone else can't learn better. Even within his own house, Felix is a stronger archer who's just as fast, and there's an axe user we can recruit soon who can match him stat for stat and has a wider suite of trainable skills, including Flying for that all-important wyvern mount. Ashe can't even step sideways into a magical class, because his offensive repertoire is two wind spells; the absolute weakest school of magic in the game. Also, his skill isn't even that unique, since anyone who can swing a sword can become a Thief and open locks just as well. Class-wise, we've already discussed that magic is a nonstarter, but depending on how much speed he builds up, it's not a bad idea to lean into the Brigand class line. Otherwise, he'll be an effective but not outstanding Archer/Sniper, since Deadeye is a niche that only one other archer character can take advantage of, and it lets him take care of problem targets way out of a range where he himself would be in danger. And of course, since he doesn't have any weaknesses in physical skills, he can basically go anywhere else, but it's going to be a slow process. He's usable, sure, but it's a tossup between him and Dedue as to which one is the weakest link of the team.
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Dec 15, 2022 01:06
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Blastinus posted:which I've been informed (thanks Cythereal) is the intended gameplay experience, aside from this whole, "The Lions have the curiosity of boulders gathering moss so they learn absolute jack-diddly" rationale that I chose. Specifically, the Blue Lions, according to interviews, were deliberately designed to be the most immediately familiar house and storyline to Fire Emblem veterans. Theirs wasn't the first story written for the game (they were the second), but every character on the Lions was consciously modeled on traditional Fire Emblem archetypes, plus or minus a few twists. Interestingly, the Blue Lions have a pronounced popularity with women, at least in Japan. By the Japanese-only Nintendo surveys, the Lions have the largest female fanbase of the houses. Dimitri, perhaps unsurprisingly, seems to be very popular with the 'I can fix him!' crowd. 
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Dec 15, 2022 01:16
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I do think it's best to start with the Blue Lions. There's a pretty big BL-only cutscene that loses some of it's punch when first seen on a second or third playthrough. And the story is the most self-contained imho. Then it makes sense to go with Black Eagles or Golden Deer to learn a lot more about what is going on in the wider world.
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Dec 15, 2022 12:34
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I appreciate that the Flame Emperor wears the full getup regardless of who's around, just in case some third party might be watching them in a cutscene. That's dedication.
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Dec 15, 2022 14:24
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Zulily Zoetrope posted:I appreciate that the Flame Emperor wears the full getup regardless of who's around, just in case some third party might be watching them in a cutscene. That's dedication. Maybe he's just gently caress-ugly. Like a mutant Kostas.
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Dec 15, 2022 17:04
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Natural 20 posted:Death Knight Maddening varies by House and by NG+ Then again, I've made 3H bosses out to be a bit more than they are sometimes. I got my entire army in formation to smack down the penultimate boss only for Manuela to crit with Bolting on the opening and one-shot them.
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Dec 17, 2022 03:26
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 Sort of a mini-update, this one. Just doing some more cleanup in order to avoid inevitably getting flooded with more supports. Dimitri/Mercedes C  : I certainly won't, but thanks for your concern, Mercedes. It's more of a hobby than anything, so don't worry too much. : A hobby? How wonderful! I would probably get tired of it, but that's just me.: Hmm... Didn't you say you hoped to take the sword test soon?: ... : To be honest, I've been a bit worried, as I haven't seen you at the training ground much.: Why didn't you say something sooner if you were so worried about me?: It didn't occur to me that you could have forgotten... But you're right, I should have mentioned it.Mercedes did mention that she can be a bit scatterbrained sometimes. But also, given Mercedes' stats, which will be the subject of this update's bio, it's possible she just blew it off because swords aren't her forte. : As an apology, why don't you let me help you with your swordsmanship?: You would do that for me? I'd really appreciate your help!: OK, but keep in mind that since we're short on time...we may have to "overdo it" a little.: I don't like to overdo it, but if we must. I'll try my best.: It's settled. Let's begin!Some time later...  : I usually just hold the sword without thinking about my grip, you know? Let's see what happens now that you've shown me the proper way to handle it.There are actual sword noises occurring in this fade to black. Get your mind out of the gutter. : I was nervous at first, but just look at me now! Hya! (CHOONK!) : Ugh...It's hard to describe sounds just using words. But yes, that sounded like a rather meaty slash. Which makes it all the weirder because...  : I-I'm so sorry! I don't know what happened! I just meant to swing the sword. I didn't think it would go flying like that! I'm impressed with how quickly you can dodge!: Yes... I know you didn't intend to murder me. Though that scare likely took years off my life...: Maybe I'm not cut out for this whole sword-fighting thing.: Nonsense. It's far too early to give up. The first time I picked up a sword, I was much like you.Only, given his sudden bursts of strength, I imagine he left swords embedded in the wall. : It's true that different people are better suited to different things, but if you keep at it and refuse to give up, you're certain to improve.: Do you really think so? Thank you, Dimitri. It's very kind of you to— Oh! : Hm, it seems I didn't dodge your sword fast enough. Don't worry, I can easily repair it.: I'm the one who tore it, so I'll be the one who mends it. How does that sound?: No, please don't worry yourself over it. Just focus on your exam.Bit bold of Dimitri to be lecturing Mercedes on her swordplay when he can't cast a spell to save his life, but let's be throwing swords, not barbs. Ashe/Marianne C   : Um... : Actually...: Goddess, protect me, I— Huh?: Um, Ashe? Does this key belong to you? I found it by the door. : You're welcome. And my apologies for scaring you.: No, I'm the one who should be sorry. Kind of ridiculous, mistaking a friend for a ghost.: No, that's OK. I guess I do look like one...: No, of course you don't! It's just, I...um. In the dark, with your head down like that, and with your hair covering your eyes... I...uh... : Ah! Please stop! Uh...Maybe get a few more hours each night. That would definitely help. : Why not just lift your head up a little?: Up? You mean like this? : That's great. You look completely normal now. : What did you say?: Hm? N-nothing! Uh...Nice recovery. We've got two more ranks of this. Can't be jumping the gun just yet. : Just keep your head up and smile! I promise you'll never be mistaken for a ghost again.: Keep my head up and...smile? I'm sorry, but I don't think I can. Marianne has a lot weighing on her mind, and it's not going to be so easy to get her to loosen up. Still, that doesn't mean we can give up on her. Felix/Annette C   : ♪Oh, this mountain of sweets, and treats that I long to eats... Oh, stacks of steaks and cakes and crumbs and yums...♪ Probably the absolute worst person who can walk in on an impromptu song and dance number.  : I hope I'm not interrupting. : I heard enough to know that you're hungry.: No! I mean... Well, yes. At least tell me you didn't see the dance?: You have nice footwork. Get something to eat. I can take over watering the plants.  ...  : And you're shouting.: You can't just spy on people while they're singing without even saying anything! It's not right!: I actually did call out that I was coming in. It's not my fault you didn't hear.: Well... You need to speak louder, then! Ugh, this is so embarrassing...Only one person is making a big deal out of this, you know. : And of course I was singing some silly food song I made up. I should have been singing about...bears! Or swamp beasties!: I didn't realize there were songs about bears and swamp beasties.Well, if you really hate someone and want to submit them to horrendous torture, there's always the Gummy Bear Song. It looks like a swamp beastie, at any rate. : That food song seemed to be close to your heart. Your stomach isn't far from your heart, after all.: Oh, you are the worst! And there she goes. : Huh. What was that about? I better water these plants. Wouldn't want them to get thirsty, or they might start singing too.My read on Felix is that he's not a bully by nature, but at the same time, he's not good at softening his approach to people. If he has an opinion, he'll state it bluntly, and he doesn't really care about the other person's feelings on the matter. Case in point, our next subject, also known as, "What happens when two blunt objects collide?" Felix/Ingrid C  : Time for our tactics lecture. You'll be there, won't you?: Those things are such a waste of time.: Nonsense. You're going to be there.: Must I?: Why is this such a chore? You went last time. : Brazenly rambling on about clear-cutting a nearby forest to secure a marching route. And attacking an enemy base, stealing their horses. You were incredibly disruptive and even rude.: I was offering my honest opinion.: Then, you left before we were finished! What do you suppose happened after that?: I have no idea. : We all began breaking down the viability of your somewhat maniacal plan. And apparently, similar tactics have been used to turn the tides of historic battles.: That may be an exaggeration. Successful armies must be able to handle unexpected situations. That starts with weapon mastery and creative tactics.: If you didn't have so much battlefield experience, you wouldn't be capable of such unique strategies. Which is why we need people like you—people who think creatively—to lead the army.Who would have figured that "Attack them where they're weakest and steal all their stuff" would end up being a viable plan? Truly Felix is an unsung mastermind. : Now you're just massaging my ego.: When have you ever minded? : Mm-hmm.Ingrid's solution to the problem of Felix seems to always be "Get his butt back into his seat." Which makes sense. The guy seems to always just want to do things on his own. That's it for this update. Told you it'd be on the shorter side. Happy to see that Marianne is getting some love from our folks in blue. In this month's exploration, we'll be getting Professor Rank C, which unlocks a very useful feature that'll help characters get together even more easily. Can't wait for that. Extras Mercedes von Martritz - The even-tempered but somewhat airheaded healer of the Blue Lions, which makes her a foil to her more passionate partner in crime Annette. Mercedes has a background that's not immediately evident through her bio, but what we do know is that she was originally born in Adrestia. More information to come as we delve into her supports. Starting Weapon: Bows, White Magic Personal Skill: Live to Serve (Healing magic cast by Mercedes also heals her for the same amount) Crest: Lamine, Minor - 10% (Conserve the use of healing magic) Skills - Strong (Reason, Faith), Weak (Swords, Lances, Axes, Hvy Armor), Budding (Bows, teaches Waning Shot) Stats - Max and Growths: pre:HP: 25-64 (30%) Str: 6-37 (25%) Lck: 5-54 (30%) Mag: 10-72 (50%) Def: 5-44 (25%) Dex: 6-62 (45%) Res: 9-65 (45%) Spd: 8-58 (40%) Cha: 8-58 (40%) Combat Arts: None, aside from her Budding Talent Reason: Fire (D), Thunder (D+), Bolganone (C), Ragnarok (A) Faith: Heal (D) Nosferatu (D+) Physic (C), Restore (B), Fortify (A) Analysis: Of all the White Magic practicioners in this game, Mercedes is perhaps the most straightforward. While others supplement their healing with utility spells like Silence, Rescue, and Warp, or they have side proficiencies in swordplay, riding, and flying, Mercedes' niche is that she heals very, very well. Some healers have Physic, a long-range single-target heal, while some have Fortify, an AoE heal, but no one other than Mercedes has both of them at once. With her excellent magic growth adding to the reach of those spells, by the end of the game, she'll be able to top someone off from all the way across the map. You might say that Mercedes not having any utility besides healing makes her fairly uninspired compared to her contemporaries, and that might be true, but also, that doesn't make her bad. Quite the opposite. She does everything she needs to, and it's unlikely that she'll disappoint. Moreover, despite her apparent lack of anything physical-related, there are two bows in specific that are going to be handy for her. One's magic and the other has an augmented effect with the Crest of Lamine. Considering that Waning Shot gets the same ranged bonus as Curved Shot, that'll give her a way to snipe foes and effectively neutralize them while doing good damage besides. Personally, my standard approach is to go Gremory, the ultimate on-foot magic class that strengthens both White and Black Magic. Alternatively, when Dancer becomes available, that class also casts magic and offers her additional mobility and evasion besides, though Dancer is more of a sword-based class so bows won't be as useful there. I'd probably say don't bring her down the Archer line, even with her proficiency, because her healing is her greatest asset and sacrificing that for bows seems really wasteful to me.
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Dec 18, 2022 00:13
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Felix is a perfectly decent kid; he's just short with the Lions' knights because they all kinda suck as people, and he wants them to be better. I don't think he comes off as a bully at all. He's literally just paying Annette compliments and offering to do her a favor!
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Dec 18, 2022 00:33
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Felix is just as damaged as the rest of the Lions, and just as caught up in the events and society that's strangling the rest of him. He just makes the mistake of thinking that by rebelling against it all he's somehow free of it. I think the rest of the inner circle understand it, too. None of them make any move to exclude or reject Felix. Annette's taken aback because she's not part of that inner circle and doesn't have the same crushing burdens of upbringing and life experience that have so damaged Dimitri, Ingrid, and Sylvain among other people. She's Kingdom nobility, but she's from a minor noble family far to the west from the other Lions' territories and she is not the house's heir. One very interesting detail about Mercedes and Annette, though, the School of Sorcery in Fhirdiad is the only other institution of learning and education of any kind besides Garreg Mach we ever hear of in Fodlan. If there are any universities or academies in Fodlan anywhere else, we don't seem to ever hear about them, to the point that the heir to one of the Leicester Alliance's most powerful noble families was sent abroad to Faerghus for an education.
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Dec 18, 2022 00:40
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Dimitri is just angry that Mercedes is violating the divine mandate that swords mustn't have a reasonable 1-2 range option. And Felix comes across more as playfully teasing Annette here, it's just that he doesn't understand that his audience is... well, annette.
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Dec 18, 2022 04:24
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Hey there, folks, just wanted to let you know that I'm dealing with a fever of some description, so the update might be a bit late. Hoping for Friday, but who the heck knows?
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Dec 22, 2022 19:21
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Blastinus posted:Hey there, folks, just wanted to let you know that I'm dealing with a fever of some description, so the update might be a bit late. Hoping for Friday, but who the heck knows? No worries, you rest up and take care of yourself. Your health is more important than playing games for people on the internet.
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Dec 22, 2022 19:41
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 So this chapter is on the dull-ish side, I'll freely admit. We've dealt with what seemed like a major catastrophe but which turned out to be an elaborate graverobbing scheme and now we're just spinning our wheels again until the next important event occurs. For that reason, I've decided to trim down this update and only cover the bits that are actually relevant and/or interesting. You're probably expecting me to do the gag where I just drag the page down a few lines and say, "See you next week!" but no, there are SOME things to salvage here.  Like sidequests, for instance. We're going to just ignore the one at the bottom because it involves doing a tea party with Rhea. We can support her, sure, but there's zero point in it during this route. : A stone? A stone... I do not understand. Yet as I think of it, the pounding in my chest grows faster still. But is that me...or is it you? Hmm...File this away for now. We'll come back to it later.   : Things are finally calm again, and so I've come here to unwind. Let me tell you, I put all of my knowledge to use keeping those kids alive. Still, the truth of it is that when someone faces death for the first time...well, they figure out who they are. They learn if they can do it again. We can't lose them, Professor. Not to battle, or to cowardice. If you can keep them going, then I will too.: I will protect them.Right. The game is constantly telling and never showing these events apparently taking place, and it's really bugging me. On the matter of the Western Church posted:
Somewhat varying accounts of what went down last night. Apparently it was so stealthy that the Gatekeeper didn't even notice, but also they apparently attacked the Goddess's Tower as well? It feels like there was some bigger event planned that just became trimmed down to the battle map as we know it. If they were attacking folks attending the Rite of Rebirth in an attempt to get at Rhea, that would have made the Western Church seem less sympathetic and give the situation less ambiguity.   : Perhaps... Perhaps it is resigned to its woeful fate of being plucked from the water and eaten... Ah, Professor. You are so outgoing with all of the students. I would like to have more opportunities to connect with you, though I am certain my brother would disapprove.Someone's going to need to teach Flayn about...anything really.  For the lack of actual plot going on, this chapter is vital for introducing a few important features.  And to that end, we're going to be grabbing this as well. It'll save us the trouble of going back for it in about a minute.  Yup, sometimes we have to go out on particular battle maps in order to accomplish objectives, and we want to do this one, since the side merchants sell vital supplies we can't purchase at the regular stores. Things like seeds, bait, tea leaves, and most importantly, GIFTS! We're also going to swing by the Armory, because there's something I'd like to pick up.  So you're surely familiar with the anti-armor Hammer, and how absurdly heavy it is in most games. That's why we have this lower-tier version. It's lighter and not as strong, but as has been established, the effective damage is x3 when you've actually got a weapon with effectiveness instead of just getting it from a combat art. I know a particular enemy in the upcoming map who we can test this out on.   Last but not least, forging weaponry. Not the first game that's had this feature, but previously, the limitation was mostly just the fact that smithing a good weapon required a LOT of cash.  It still does, mind you, but it also requires an investment of raw materials as well.  (Source: Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance by Fedule. Really good LP. Check that one out) Previous games in the series, forging involved tweaking individual stats and could end up costing a pretty penny, depending on what you were trying to raise. If you forged yourself a unique weapon (which you could give silly names and garish colors to, bless them), you were probably going to want to cherish them. This game's taking a, shall we say, simplified approach.  First off, if there's a way to rename weapons, I haven't figured that one out, but also, rather than having any leeway in how your weapon is raised, you have a few very simple options. Either turn it into a plus form of what it currently is, or choose a new form out of a limited list. Big downside of plus-sizing a weapon is that it's stuck as that kind of weapon forever, but while various weapons have their ups and downs, a Weapon+ is just a flat increase in stats, which can make it very attractive to do so, depending on the weapon. Also, as you can see, forging a weapon restores it to full durability. There is a separate Repair option that costs less smithing stones, but given the choice, I prefer to upgrade since it's an overall higher benefit.  Training Weapons are a little different, since they can only be plused up. On the other hand, you get a ginormous number of uses out of it, so it becomes even better at its job of, y'know, training. Plus it hardly costs anything to do it, so why not?  The entrance hall has a new guy in it, with a very familiar orange haircut. Hmmmmmm...   : My life has been spent as a dedicated knight. I am to accompany you on your assignment. I may have slowed a step in recent years, but I pledge to you the full extent of my abilities.: It's a pleasure to meet you.: No, Professor. The pleasure is all mine, I assure you.Gilbert is the elite knight who Rhea mentioned would be coming with us. We'll get to see him in action, but unlike Catherine, he doesn't seem to really match the hype. On the matter of Gilbert posted:
Yeah, if folks getting a hit in was the only consideration, he'd be fine, but he kinda has to get there first.  : And some are unhappy because they have a Crest they never asked for.On the matter of Crests and Relics posted:
Crests are a big deal in Fodlan, and the fact that a Relic's been stolen by a Crestless noble at the same time as an ultra-rare Crest and its matching Relic has surfaced for the first time in eons has set the campus buzzing with chatter, not all of it positive.  But enough about that. We've got a C rank with Marianne, so we can really accelerate this supporting thing.  I suppose it shouldn't be shocking that she's not exactly enthused about social occasions.  Whatever though, tea is tea.   See, the thing about Marianne is that she's a very caring soul, despite her shyness and her self-conscious feelings.   And as much as the topic seems to make her nervous, she does appear to appreciate it when folks notice her. It just seems like she's not entirely comfortable with making herself known.   The important thing is to let her know that she's not a bother and you're happy to be with her.  And there we go. I guess by law, we're required to stare now.  Frankly, I don't know how anyone would be.   One Owl Feather for the road, and I'd say we can call this a successful chat.  Oh, no doubt. It depends on how long it takes for a B rank.  Little detour to the 2nd floor dorms. It's a bit odd for Felix to be here instead of training, but as it turns out, he's hiding from someone. : Have you seen a man who looks like me? He's middle-aged and relatively tall.: I have.: If you get the chance, tell him I've gone out. OK?Yeah, remember, we got introduced to Rodrigue of House Fraldarius somewhere inside that massive wall of text. Evidently Felix isn't too keen on sharing a heart-to-heart.  : I hear about the things you did. I'm so glad Lady Rhea's safe. I figure you're a great person after all, Professor.Cyril's idea of good or bad seems to entirely revolve around people's relationship to the Archbishop. That's just the kind of attitude people foster around here, I guess.  Regardless, earning Cyril's trust means that we can try to recruit him now, but we'll have to be Level 10 first before we can manage it. : That cleaning kept me real busy... I better hurry to my next job. Oh, hey, Professor. Ya need something from me? I got a lot to do, so if it's not urgent, just find me later, OK?Next chapter, kid. We've got some battles to do anyway, so I'll get there eventually.  Anyway, why don't we get to know Lord Rodrigue a bit better? Since we're teaching one of his kids, he'll probably want to meet us as well. : Professor. Have you seen my son, perchance? I have need of him.: He went out.: Is that so? That is too bad.And yes, you can rat out Felix if you want, but I don't want to, so I won't. : I must ask him not to distract you, Professor, nor His Highness from the matter at hand.So much for getting to know him. Fortunately, a nearby knight is willing to fill in the blanks.  : That man I walked past earlier... That wasn't Lord Rodrigue, was it? House Fraldarius is a powerful noble family, linked to the founding of Faerghus. Lord Rodrigue, its current leader, is a magnificent warrior. He's known as the Shield of Faerghus. A dozen or so years ago, during the northern campaign in Sreng, he performed splendidly as the king's right hand. Come to think of it, wasn't there someone from House Fraldarius amongst this year's students?: Wow, Lord Rodrigue in the flesh... What is Felix doing? This is such a rare opportunity for him to see his family...: I know Lord Rodrigue. He paid repeated visits to His Highness after the previous king was killed.That would explain why it is that he and Dimitri are so close. He's the nearest thing to a father that the poor dude's got at this point.  Though speaking of family, it looks like Sylvain's a bit more pensive than his usual self. He's probably a bit troubled about having to go after his own brother, and who can blame him?  : I'm so sorry my older brother is causing you all this hassle, Professor. Don't misunderstand, I always thought he was a piece of garbage, but I never thought he'd steal the Relic. I can't wait to see his face when he realizes I'm in the group that was sent to take him down....Evidently not. Though maybe, since he's going personally, he's intending to take his brother alive. He's a lot less confident if he's not in your house. : I can't believe my own brother is the leader of the bandits. House Gautier is my true home...and his. Please, Professor. He really is one of the worst people I've ever known, but we still... We share the same blood. We're still family.He can trust himself to show restraint when it comes to his brother, but all he can do if he's not coming along is beg you to hold back for his sake. Like I said, there's more depth under his outwardly uncaring demeanor. We'll pry it out eventually.  Annette's apparently also got stuff on her mind. We should see what's wrong. : Hey, Professor? Did you happen to see that man I was looking for earlier? I just spotted him by the dining hall, but then he ran away!: I might have seen him.: Oh? You saw him by the entrance to the monastery? Thank you, Professor! Well, that can't be right. She told us before that her dad's name is Gustave, which is entirely different from Gilbert. But the Fire Emblem hair rule doesn't lie. If your hair's orange, then you must uh...nothing rhymes with orange. On the Matter of Looking for People posted:
If the hair's light-blonde, you...mustn't abscond?  Lance tournament, and that means that Dimitri's up to bat.  I assure you that tournaments will eventually catch up to our party members, but for the time being, it's still an utter curbstomp.  In general, you can succeed at tournaments by virtue of sheer attrition. Even if you can't KO someone in one round, as long as you're taking minimal damage in return, you can keep exchanging attacks without worry.  The game does have a failsafe to prevent complete sandbagging, actually. If you don't defeat an opponent after four rounds of combat, the game will end the tournament in the AI's favor. If a battle's going that long though, that's probably a sign that you aren't leveling enough.  Anyway, yes, we win. Slowly and surely. And for our prize we get...  Always handy. Even if we have some excess seals, that means we can just have people test into side jobs for easy stat points.  Three, you say? A rough ask, but I'm sure we can handle it.  What a grisly murder! And who could have been the culprit? : If you broke a vase, you should apologize to the owner. Honesty is always the best policy, unless you're hatching a scheme to assassinate the Archbishop, in which case you should probably not write your thoughts down on paper. Actually wait...the Goddess's Rite of Rebirth was going to happen anyway, so all they did by leaving a distracting note was put the entire Monastery on high alert. These Western Church guys were the worst crooks.  That must be really difficult to deal with, having to speak to other people. I have a silly idea, but it just might work. : Just do things during the day. The actual answer was to give up and tell her that her situation was impossible, but I don't cotton to that kind of thinking.  I don't know if I should be giving tactical advice to an opposing house, but, well, I wouldn't be much of a professor if I intentionally steered him wrong. : Try reading Cichol's General Treatise on Mercenaries. Considering that we can't support Hubert on this route, that doesn't amount to much.  Now then, the actual reason why we're here.  Nothing much to this quest really. Just grab a shard from in front of each statue and...  Oh, we are going to receive so many blessings for this. Training's been slow thus far, but this is the part where the game really busts wide open.  We've been building up all this Renown for several chapters, and here's how we can spend it, in enhancing the skill gain, experience, and other bonuses relating to character growth. It may seem like a lot of work, but...   Yup, the point values shown are cumulative. In effect, every statue just needs 10,000 Renown to be fully restored, and we've already gathered 5,000-ish from our assorted activities.  Saint Cethleann has a very specific bonus that she offers and we absolutely want this. Rather than only gaining 1 class point for each fight, now we get 2. Still doesn't seem like a lot, to be sure, but it's turned mastering a class from a tedious chore into something actually bearable.    For the other saints, I'm going to just be getting to the Experience bonus for now. This results in: Class Exp +1 Exp +20% Sword, Lance, Axe, Brawling, Reason, Faith, Authority +1 And that's just the beginning. We'll be taking regular visits to the saints every chapter to enhance our growths even further. At maximum affinity, the experience bonuses in specific rise to a total of +60%, which is handy because Maddening imposes a one-half penalty to exp gain. We'll want to cancel that out as much as possible.  Quick sandwich break before I continue. Disappointingly, Sylvain and Ingrid don't have a unique conversation when eating a meal together. Maybe later.  Alrighty, so let's get to the meat of this chapter. : Ah, Professor. Jeralt was looking for you.: Where is he?: It seems he has gone off somewhere. If he is not in his room, then surely someone has seen him. Ask around. Couldn't have just taped a message to my door? Right, time to Find Dad, I guess.  Oh also, yet another combat mission. This is a problem since we only have 1 BP for Battle excursions at this time, and there are only two free time events. That means we have no chance for Seminars. No biggie, I guess. Just means that we can get everyone up to Intermediate level.  : However, know that I believe in you. I have no doubt that you will use that power justly. You will most certainly fulfill the grand destiny that the goddess has seen fit to grant you.Uh, Rhea, I was given this "grand destiny" because a bandit was about to merk me. You seem to be ascribing more importance to this than is actually there.  Gained Fortifying Herbs Gained Calming Herbs Interesting thing about this quest is that the folks who need the herbal remedies are actually house-specific. We'll see how it works on other routes.   : Oh, Professor! Are you looking for Captain Jeralt? I just saw him in the knights' hall a little while ago. He was talking with a female knight, but I didn't get a good look at who she was.We've already been to the Knights' Hall, so that's hardly a mystery.  But along the way, we've got herbs to hand out. : So the whole plan to attack the monastery was some plot devised by the Western Church? That means they used Lonato. What right do they have to drag a good man like that into their schemes?! There's going to be a big investigation into the Western Church soon. I wish I could be a part of it. I want to hear for myself why Lonato had to die. I get where you're coming from, kid, but you're going to spiral downwards at this rate. How's about some drugs to make you feel better?  Just doing my duty as your friendly neighborhood dope peddler.   : There's a graveyard attached to the Monastery, so you'll probably find him there. I can't remember where the graveyard is, but I bet Seteth knows.It's not difficult to find on our own. It's just the last point on the map that we haven't visited yet. But sure, let's head back and ask for directions.   On the way, let's maybe help Annette calm her own anxieties about finally meeting her dad for the first time in forever.  "Our duty as a professor." Seems as if we're more like a life coach than a teacher sometimes.  Also, we've been putting this off for long enough. Let's get some Riding knowledge.  Same rule applies as when we're teaching students. If we get better results, we get a multiplier on our gains from training. Considering how precious our time is, getting a Good feels like such a waste.  : It can be a little hard to find. Would you like me to show you where it is?: Please.: Very well.  : Hey. I wanted to ask you to join me, but I couldn't find you. So here I am.Seriously, you couldn't have poked your head up and been like, "Hey kid, I'm over here"? The graveyard is just a flight of stairs down from the Knights' Hall.  : She's resting beneath this humble grave...: Why is her grave here?: Hm? Oh. Of course you would ask that. I wouldn't know where to begin... I suppose I haven't talked much about her. : And...she loved flowers. Whenever I brought her back an unusual flower, her face would light up. I cherish those memories. I can't count how many times she made me happy just by smiling. And she smiled the most...when she was pregnant with you. She died right after you were born. She wasn't able to spend much time with you. But she loved you with all her heart. That's the truest thing I know... Never forget it. : One day, I hope you'll give this ring to someone you love as well as I love her.  Honestly, I enjoy the resolution of this quest chain. Jeralt is a very sour and grumpy individual, so the times where he actually opens up a bit and lets his guard down are really sweet.  So our mom's name is Sitri. Maybe we'll get to know more about her in later chapters, how she came to this Monastery, and what happened to make Jeralt hate Rhea so much.  One last activity and we'll call it quits. Today is the Fistfuls of Fish event, meaning that every time we catch something, it's actually 2-4 fish in one.   In general, the advice is to hoard your bait for this particular event, and for multiple reasons. First, as I mentioned before, you get points for each fish that you catch, and that's added together when you catch multiple fish at once.  Here's where I'm starting with my meager dozen or so pieces of bait. And here's where it ended up.  If you go to the side merchants every chance you get, you'll be amassing hundreds of assorted worms, meaning that if you blow them all on this event, it's entirely possible to get a rank-up with fish alone. As it is, we'll be popping C rank the instant we answer a student's question in the next update.  In addition, should you be lucky enough to find a treasure fish, then Golden and Platinum fish are 500 and 1000 gold a pop, making them an easy way to stock up on cash. There are other events that get you special kinds of fish, but it's this one in particular that's wonderful for gathering in bulk.  This chapter might have been light on dramatic plot twists, but I really appreciate being able to connect with the Blue Lions and their relatives. It seems like they're all dealing with varying levels of estrangement, and I hope that they'll be able to mend the fences before too long. Even Sylvain and Miklan maybe. It's hard to say until we meet him.
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Dec 23, 2022 15:09
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: Greetings, Professor! Nothing to report! Oh! Come to think of it, last month there was something to report, wasn't there? Thanks to you, I hear that everything was resolved. I never realized that bandits had entered... I'm not a great guard after all, am I? I hope you will forgive me one day.
: The head of the Western Church holds the title of bishop. That's not as distinguished as an archbishop such as Lady Rhea, but it still comes with a fair amount of authority. If someone in that position plotted an assassination, I cannot help but think it must have been instigated by some outside force. There are bishops in the Eastern Church as well, but to speak frankly, they do not have much impact. They are under the influence of both the archbishop and the Leicester Alliance, so their ability to voice grievances is quite limited.
: I've had a chance to spar with Gilbert of the Knights of Seiros before. I couldn't get a single strike in! If that man is accompanying you on your assignment, you can rest assured that no harm will come to you. To be honest, he kind of reminds me of someone... But no, it must be my imagination. Right?
: Aristocrats are fools–-allowing their lives to be dictated by their Crests. Though...I suppose I am much the same in that regard...
:: So, you have a Crest too, eh, Professor? Does that mean you're descended from nobility? You've certainly got the look for it... I sure do wish there were more nobles like you, Professor. A teacher, a mercenary, and so very mysterious... How could a girl ever get enough?
: Hey, Professor. Don't you think everyone's making too big a fuss over these Crests or Heroes' Relics or whatever they're called? How important can that stuff really be?
: Hey, Teach. I hear you were able to use the Sword of the Creator. That means... What does that mean? Could it mean that you're a descendant of Nemesis, the King of Liberation?!
: Mercedes... Her face looks...familiar...
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So Cyril is illiterate? So I guess it's up to us to take him under our wing and get him some schoolin'. A little surprised no one else has done it yet, though.
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Dec 25, 2022 18:06
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Blastinus posted:
... Huh. I thought we weren't supposed to know this yet. Is that a retroactive change from the DLC?
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Dec 26, 2022 00:32
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  Alrighty, looks like we've got a lot of folks we can work with today, so let's do this one by the numbers.  First off, Dimitri's finally got his Budding Talent taken care of.  : I did not know I had such power.Seal Movement is a passive ability that drains 1 movement from any enemy that Dimitri fights with. Pretty handy if you want to take an enemy hostage so he can fight with Dimitri and only Dimitri. In most cases on this difficulty, someone who takes Dimitri on directly will probably not be walking anywhere period, but the spirit of the thing is nice.  Otherwise, I have to show off the Dark Seal. You know, for completion's sake. And to that end, I'm giving Sylvain a crash course in Reason. I have all the regrets about this, but I had to choose someone, and that someone had to be a guy because, oh right, did I forget to mention that certain classes are gender-locked in this game? Oh yeah. Big time. And it's for this reason that most of the competent spellcasters are women, since the ultimate spellcaster class is female-only. But if you want to use the Dark Seal, paradoxically, the only class it's good for is locked to men instead. Gender-exclusive classes are stupid.  Felix is also going hard into his axe training. Won't have any opportunities for one on one coaching, so we're cranking that x1.5 and that'll have to be that.   Tricky one, this. Or...well, it's actually not when you think about it for a little bit. The problem here is that Dimitri can ask this question flanked by Caspar, who has absolutely zero chill. : It may be necessary to increase your training intensity.: Is that so? Caspar would have been ecstatic about this answer, but to Felix, it's next to useless. But never mind about that, because it's...  PROMOTION TIME, BABY! And this is a big one. +1 Activity Points +1000 gold per month +1 Lecture Points +1 Gardening Plots Master Classes (Level 30) Unlocked... And most importantly, we've unlocked the ability to use Adjutants!  There's a lot to know about Adjutants and I won't cover it all until we have an excess of units, but in short, we have the ability to hitch undeployed allies to your frontliners to provide extra benefits, gain support points, and earn a portion of experience that their assigned unit earns. Since deployment limits are pretty strict, this will be helpful to help B-listers still stay relevant to the rest of the team. Also, we're about halfway through maxing our professor level and we haven't even gotten 1/4 of the way through the game. I'm alright with this, because the more free time we have available, the more we can mess around with the game's features.  Appreciate the sentiment, Mercedes, but I think you're doing well with your mix of both.   This update will actually round out our C-rank supports for all of the Blue Lions kids. Ingrid and Sylvain are the last two that we haven't hit yet.  : Well, that's that. Father never relents. : Were you just hiding something?: Well, um, that is... I was just tossing out something I have no need of. It's important to keep our spaces clean, after all! You'd do well to remember that too, Professor! A clean space makes for a clean mind...or some such. Getting rid of things you have no need for is the first step to managing one's belongings in an economical way.That's quite the remarkable deflection. And the worst part is, I think that our character bought it, because... : Could you help tidy my room sometime?: While I'd love to help, I don't want people getting the wrong idea with me being alone in your room.What needs tidying? We've been in your room, Byleth. You're living in an IKEA showcase. You gonna get Ingrid in there to make the bed or something?  : So my father raised me to be conservative with my resources, paring down when necessary. He also encouraged me to keep my living spaces immaculate, so the two go hand in hand, I suppose.: He sounds like a good father.: Yes. He's...a good person. Even when managing our territory used up most of our family's resources, he still went out of his way to ensure my comfort.A parent being self-sacrificing doesn't necessarily make them good. Going back to the reason we came here... : What was it you threw out, anyway?: Oh...just a scrap of paper. It was already written on, so no good for note-taking. And obviously I can't use it to clean my lance. So I tossed it. No need to hang on to inconsequential things, you know!We know, because we have more awareness than the character we're controlling, that something about that letter made Ingrid upset, and that it wasn't the first time she'd gotten one of them. Something about her dad seems perhaps a bit more controlling than she's letting on. : Professor, did you come to check on me for any particular reason? I hope Sylvain and Felix aren't getting into trouble as they tend to do.: No particular reason, no.: Ah. Well, if there's nothing important, I'll be on my way, then. I still have some cleaning to take care of, after all. Talk to you later, Professor.Whatever's bothering Ingrid, it's something she'll have to open up to before we can do something about it. Ultimately, it's her family, and we can't force any action out of her. Besides, we've got other problems with...  : You're the only one for me. I swear. Hey, if ya don't believe me, well...: Oh, I get it. If I'm not your type, do you want me to introduce you to some other guys who have Crests? They're all nobles, just like me. : I just want you to be happy. You know, get what you're after. I hate seeing a girl cry, especially one as beautiful as you. So you know, maybe we... : So, Professor, do you enjoy spying on people?  I cannot invent a more succinct way to respond. : You're a jerk.: Hey, that was between me and her, not you. But you know how it is. Most relationships, they end in heartbreak. Anyway, I don't know why she's so upset about me dating other girls. She didn't care before she found out, so why does she care now?You can't care about things you aren't aware is happening. That's fairly self-explanatory. : I really do hate seeing a girl cry.: Is that a fact?: Believe whatever you want, but I'm honestly not sure if I can ever love again. I'm not cutting anything. These two lines are back to back. Guy doesn't actually give a crap, and he's happy to let you know it. : Why don't you join me? Who knows? Maybe you'll find love. I mean, I know I will. : Calm down—it was only a joke! You've really got no sense of humor, you know that?Let it not be said that Byleth is incapable of showing his emotions. When it comes to Sylvain, he is PISSED! Still got a C-rank though.  In other training news, Ashe's attempts to get airborne continue apace. It's a race against the clock, because as we'll see, Cyril's resume happens to be a very disquieting xerox of his own, only better.  As for these training battles, like I mentioned last update, we only have one BP to spend every time we choose Battle as a free time activity. That means that this week and the next week are going to be a quest apiece.  The enemies are not very interesting and there's only really one thing to show off, so let's just cut to the chase, shall we?  The Sword of the Creator is very powerful and very flashy, to the point where for this GIF, I'm going to go into miniature just to capture it all.  Eesh, look at that. For the sake of simplicity, combats are only one on one, but it's highly implied we're using a laser chain sword to casually swipe through dozens of units at a time. You might be thinking that it's wasteful to be using our legendary weapon in so cavalier a manner, but the game has a mechanism for allowing us to reuse the Sword of the Creator whenever we're feeling a bit tapped-out. This is not a game where you hoard all your good stuff and never use it until near the end.   Our goal for today is to bring as many folks into the Level 10 club as possible. As a result, an attempt will be made to funnel kills into Byleth, Dedue, Sylvain, Ingrid, and Mercedes. A tricky prospect when promoted units also have superior movespeed, meaning that these aforementioned folks will tend to lag behind.  Still, we're making do as we can.   Oh, and what personal super weapon would be complete without...  SPECIAL ATTACK MOVES! Yes, every Relic, if activated by an appropriate Crest-bearer, has a unique Combat Art that draws out the Relic's true potential. This one is known as Ruptured Heaven, and...well, I suppose you can imagine that with the canned animations everyone else has, their Combat Arts aren't going to be nearly as spectacular. Still, I'll make an effort to show them off when applicable.  Even with prior-mentioned mechanisms for recovering our weapon though, we shouldn't make a habit of this. I don't mean this level. We should absolutely make a habit of getting levels like these.  Perhaps sensing my intentions, Sylvain is positioning himself to gain more magic. Good on you, Sylvain.   Felix and Annette are lumberjacks, and they're okay.  It's for reasons like this that I'm pivoting Dedue towards punching. The Brawler class line will give his speed a much-needed shot in the arm.  Yup, Annette's not the only one getting in on the Rally fun. Ingrid's the last Lion in line for a bio, but certainly she won't be the least.  Glad to hear it.  Back in the classroom, I'm going to be training up Ingrid on Swords, since she'll need to learn it as part of the Pegasus Knight class line. Might's well get it out of the way early.  And we're training up Annette on Axes, which gets her...  : I'm starting to get it!Lightning Axe and other similar weapon arts are magic-based and use the wielder's Magic stat instead of their Strength. In return, magic attacks target the foe's Resistance, which tends to be pretty low on most enemy martials. If you're at all concerned that Annette won't be able to use her Magic growth as a Brigand, put those worries to rest.  We haven't seen the Relic of House Dominic, but yes, it's an axe. A very, very big axe. And magical too, so take all that stuff above and apply it to every attack. Lotsa fun, that.  Huh. You know what, Leonie wouldn't make a bad Lion either. She also wants to excel through martial prowess and all she'd need is 15 Strength and C Lances. Something to think about.   So Leonie, what would you like to talk about today?  Shocker.   Aside from her unhealthy fixation on our Dad, Leonie likes traveling and reminiscing. She's not exactly the deepest well of characterization.  GODDESS ABOVE!  I think we're just hitting her with compliments so she doesn't tear our throat out. What was that face?  I'm not sure it's safe to get that close, but here goes.  Yup, getting out of here.  Maybe we won't and say we did.  A Perfect means more Smithing Stones, which is nice. We'll soon have a means to purchase as many as we can afford, but they're a bit costly. I'll take as many free ones as I can get.  Getting to B rank Lances means that Dimitri gets the first Breaker skill. You remember how I said that the Weapon Triangle doesn't exist in this game? Well, that's only half true. You can equip Abilities that impose the Weapon Triangle, but only in your favor. Therefore, any time Dimitri uses a lance against sword users, he'll get +20 Avoid and Hit, but he won't be weak to axe users in return. Very nice. Won't be so nice when enemies start turning them back on us, but good things can't last forever.  3rd Rally of 4 acquired. That doesn't mean that this is the 2nd to last Authority skill though. Annette's still full of surprises.  I can't argue against the value of training, but I think that we might be overdoing it a little.  Speaking of which...  Uh huh...literally the same. Onward then.  Right, Byleth's ready to promote, but there's a problem. More on that in a bit.  More speed is definitely useful, but I'm gonna need you to get Strength. Ingrid, care to demonstrate?  See? More like that.  Emphasis on slow.  Nonetheless, hitting Riding C grants Dex +4. If you equip it, you get +4 Dex. Dunno what else to say about it.   Lightning Axe, folks. This man is being sent 100%-to-0 in a single stroke with a training weapon. Shame the Combat Art animation doesn't give it a zappy glow, but the effects team isn't made of money.  That is not an untrue statement.  Rushing Blow is another skill that all punchers get. It's a skill that lets you hop to the other side of an enemy, freeing up the spot for follow-ups from allies and getting you into the fray better with the enemies behind. It's got its uses, to be sure.  Not too bad for his Level 10 milestone. Sylvain's been pretty solid.  If we do throw him into a suit of armor, Felix is hardly going to notice at this rate.  And Byleth closes us out for frankly absurd numbers. Jeralt's Mercenaries is a powerful Battalion that I should be giving to someone who isn't already damage-focused.  Hey, look whose birthday it is on the same day that we're going to be apprehending Sylvain's brother. That's sure to be a conversation piece.  I feel like Dedue knows precisely why I invited him, but he's playing it as official business because he doesn't want to open up.  Well, never mind about that. He's sipping his tiny teacup and we're going to have a conversation, dangit!  So we've established a few things about Dedue, one of which is his love of cooking. That factors into several of his positive topics, as you might imagine.   Aside from these choices, he also likes talking about maintaining equipment, Garreg Mach's guards, and other things you'd expect from a knight. He's pretty singularly focused on his tanking.  What is with tea parties and folks looking like they want to remove my head?  Though it's kind of brilliant that the right answer is to just sip your tea. You're telling Dedue that this isn't a business call. Just relax, enjoy your drink, and don't be so serious for a little while.  And see, that gets him right back into a positive mood.  No reaction to the staring though. Unless you count him turning away entirely.  Won't get much of a chance to get in good with Dedue on other routes. As an advisor character, he's closed off on anything other than Blue Lions.  And now we have ourselves a new merchant, but unfortunately, we can't access this guy from the menu. We'll have to hit him up the next time we go exploring.  For the moment, let's hand out a couple of promotions, shall we?  I think I already made my reasoning on this one clear. Dedue's speed is in the toilet, and being a Brawler will make it...not great, but certainly better than if we went hardcore into the Armor Knight route. His defense is good enough without us needing to go overkill on it. And yes, you see correctly. The Brawler class allows us to fight without any weapons at all, just using raw Strength without any added Might.  But why would we do that? Gauntlets aren't exactly expensive, nor are they heavy, and they have enough uses that conserving them isn't a problem either. I guess if you were using only one weapon, no other weapons to choose from, and you had to choose between using a broken weapon or fighting barehanded, the latter would be preferable, but that seems like really poor preparation.  Hmmmmmmmm...this is a problem. Y'see, you can use a Seal to attempt to certify for a class for which you don't entirely meet the prerequisites, but if you fail, that Seal's gone for good. A complete waste. And as the method for acquiring Dark Seals involves the crap-beating of a very particular foe, we're up a creek if we miss.  I'ma just throw him on a horse for now and he can hop over to Dark Mage when he's ready. Where he's going, he needs Lances, Riding, and Reason, so this'll be fine for the time being. Okay, now what about Byleth?  ...Yeah, maybe we need to get some private instruction. He's lagging behind the rest of the pack here.  But first, we'll need to go beat up some thieves in a tower. We can worry about where I'm taking everyone and why I decided it was a good idea when we have a bit more free time.
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Dec 29, 2022 05:49
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Faillen Angel posted:... Huh. I thought we weren't supposed to know this yet. Is that a retroactive change from the DLC? So it would seem. Just like the quest to take Rhea out to tea, it seems like the DLC content permanently alters the main game, even when you remove it. That's kind of annoying
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Dec 29, 2022 05:53
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Blastinus posted:And yes, you see correctly. The Brawler class allows us to fight without any weapons at all, just using raw Strength without any added Might. There's at least one obvious answer here: Style. On my one playthough with a male Byleth I took him through the brawler and thief classes, so I could make him an unarmed assassin, just tearing the heads off enemy soldiers with his bare hands. You can do a better job holding an entire flank and slaying all comers if you've got a weapon, sure, but you won't look half as cool.
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Dec 29, 2022 11:10
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I enjoy how the Hero relics are 1000 year old mega powerful weapons but only have 20 uses before breaking
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Dec 29, 2022 22:45
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Nissin Cup Nudist posted:I enjoy how the Hero relics are 1000 year old mega powerful weapons but only have 20 uses before breaking Honestly, if this game's writing thought about it, that would probably be how the Church maintains control of them: by controlling the supply of umbral steel used to maintain them. One interesting detail in that regard, there is not a single Relic associated with any of the Crested bloodlines in the Empire. Faerghus, on the other hand, has the most bloodlines with Relics. If you take Three Hopes as gospel, that fact and how it leads to Faerghus almost always having the most Hero's Relics granted by the Church, is something many Imperial military families resent. Every time the Empire's been at war, their only chance to have the awesome power of these weapons on their side is to beg Faerghus or Leicester to second someone wielding a Relic to the Empire's cause.
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Dec 29, 2022 22:59
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Agree that the gender-lock on some classes is very dumb. And honestly one of the more disappointing parts about the freedom to make anyone almost any class with training in this game is that there isn’t a huge selection of different classes. For example Swords have a handful of non unique classes, and if you want to use lances you have to get on something with 4 legs and/or wings. (Yes I know you can actually use most weapons for any class, but it’s the principle of the thing)
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Dec 30, 2022 00:11
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The only big use for unarmed brawling i can think of is as a secondary weapon option for people that dont predominantly punch. It lets you carry a diverse load of other weapons and still have a brave attack option in your pocket without losing much because fists have terrible stats. Which could be really useful, but they axed the weapon triangle and there isn't exactly a huge amount of diversity in specific weapon types so....Nissin Cup Nudist posted:I enjoy how the Hero relics are 1000 year old mega powerful weapons but only have 20 uses before breaking To be fair, they are 1000 year old relics that have seen extensive use. It's kind of amazing they last as long as they do between needing a new hilt duct taped on because Dimitri swung it a bit harder than it can handle. FoolyCharged fucked around with this message at 00:29 on Dec 30, 2022 |
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Dec 30, 2022 00:23
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Cythereal posted:One interesting detail in that regard, there is not a single Relic associated with any of the Crested bloodlines in the Empire. There's no Hero's Relics, because all of the Imperial bloodlines bear the crests of the Saints, rather than the Ten Heroes.
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Jan 2, 2023 04:03
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  Happy new year, everyone! This upcoming battle map is one of my least favorites, but it has a couple of neat surprises.  Honestly though, you're not going to call something "The Lance of Ruin" if you don't expect it to be misused once or twice.  : The abandoned tower those thieves are using as a base... Conand Tower.It might be hard to tell in stills, but it's starting to pour rain as they're talking. : This area was the site of a massive battle several hundred years ago. That's when invasions from the north were at their peak. Back then, this tower was built for both surveillance and defense. It will be difficult to seize it.: You're very well informed, Gilbert. Please, tell us more.: Well, I... Ah. You're joking.Hmmmmmmmm...Yeah, these two are way too chummy for just meeting one another today.  : They were in rough shape, no doubt because of the thief attacks. They're not going to make it through the winter in that condition. If the thieves had taken up pillaging in order to survive, that would be deplorable...but understandable. But this... This is something else entirely. It looks as though they destroyed those villages purely for pleasure. No matter what their reasons may be, that sort of behavior cannot be allowed. Ever.Agreed on that. No matter what society did that led them to thievery, that doesn't give them the excuse to subsequently punch downwards as well.  : Sylvain... The thieves' leader...the one who stole the Relic. Word has it he's your older brother. I know he's been disowned, but...: He is no longer a member of House Gautier...or my brother. He's nothing more than a common thief.: Are you sure about that? It would be understandable to find this situation...well, regrettable, to say the least.: Regrets? Heh, you must be joking. You know we're far past the point of regret.  No need to rehash a point I've made already. Sylvain's very happy to have a chance to handle this matter personally.  : (nods)This is an indoors map, so the weather's not going to affect us from a gameplay perspective. But when the writers are calling attention to an approaching storm, that's always a bad omen.  Let's just get one thing out of the way right from the start.  I. Loathe. Spiral maps. I realize that there are only so many ways you can simulate climbing a tower, but by golly, look at all that traveling we're going to have to do in order to get to where we're headed. There will be some reinforcements spawns along the way to keep us from ever encountering dead space, but still, this will not be a quick map.  Miklan isn't actually that impressive of a knight. Of note, he lacks the General ability, which means that he's fully vulnerable to all of our tricks. The majority of that imposing Atk and Crit can be attributed to the artifact he holds, which is just an absurd amount of Might. The Lance of Ruin is every bit as dangerous as it's hyped up to be, although there is a slight problem with his attempt to wield it. More on that soon.  More of note is this Fortress Knight in the corner who, if you pay attention to the stat block, is actually stronger than his own boss. A Fortress Knight is an upgraded form of the Armor Knight, and he also has Def +2 and Res +2, two abilities that give...well, take a guess. Most shockingly though:  Yup, not only does this guy have a Battalion, but he's equipped with a Combat Art, the first enemy that we've seen who has one. Depending on the AI's mood, he will absolutely bust that out if he thinks he can guarantee a kill with it. Considering the Steel Axe and his base strength, that's not an unreasonable assumption. We're gonna want to be careful with how we approach this guy.  Speaking of Fortress Knights, we've got one on our own side, which is less than impressive since, as I mentioned, this is a very, very long map. We're going to take off and basically leave Gilbert in the dust.  : They are merely thieves, but they have a Hero's Relic. Do not drop your guard.: Don't hold back for my sake. My brother is going to pay for everything he's done. Check out this diamond formation. We were made to Stride.  Yup, that'll shave off a bit of time. Not a whole lot, but this game really encourages offensive play if you can manage it.  Curiously, the zoom-in is this nice dark lighting while the map itself is more of a brown. I really prefer the battle shading in comparison.  Gonna be abusing the Sword of the Creator's reach in order to chip down enemies for my students. Plus it helps get Byleth closer to C Swords.  That is an absurd amount of Strength for where he's at.  Please don't stick with this.  Gotta admit, it's not the most efficient, but I do actually enjoy the aesthetic of just beating a guy with your bare hands.   Yeah, you see what I mean about Gilbert. Mercedes is falling behind because you can't Stride yourself, but everyone else is just going, going, gone.   I wasn't expecting Ashe to actually puncture this pillager's pee-wee, but the important thing is that engaging him in combat means that he's activated and he'll move within range on his turn.  Meanwhile, Dedue's going to act as bait to lure out some archers by Miklan. Gotta admit, for a group of thieves, they did pick a well-fortified position, and they've got folks who can rain down death from safety while invaders are forced to slowly advance up the stairs.  : Enemies approach from the lower floor! Watch the rear flank!Plus they've got a few surprises up their sleeves. Fortunately, this game uses polite reinforcements who will always lose their turn when they appear. They won't be so polite when we get around to Maddening.  Like I said though, Miklan has the makings of a strategic genius. A really smart setup, with only one minor caveat...  The people he's got working for him absolutely suck.  Now then, this guy's got a Chest Key for us, I do believe. Just gotta trample it out of him.   Like so. However, since Ashe can open locks for free, he'll be the one actually going for the chest.  Meanwhile, Mercedes has a bit of catching up to do, experience-wise, so I've got a plan for her. This is a perfectly reasonable idea.  While Felix does something that feels like it should be impossible, but it's Felix, so who even knows?  Looking great, Annette!  While everyone else advances, Mercedes' training begins. It's a good thing that thieves kinda suck for damage.  Ah, come on, old man!  This was kind of inevitable, honestly. Those guys come up the back so quickly that Gilbert is almost guaranteed to turn around. That's a bundle of kill experience down the drain.  Well, we remain undeterred. At least this guy goes before Gilbert and he's going to target the squishier character.  Getting less squishy by the moment.  These archers aren't taking advantage of their superior range that well. Their loss is our gain.  Spoilers I guess. I don't get Byleth to C rank before the end of this update. This is a very long map though, so I didn't feel like resetting.  Other archer subdued. Thanks, Felix. Now we can advance without being harassed by arrows.  An anti-armor sword, eh? Definitely going to come in handy in the future, even if we don't use it this chapter.  : It's an ambush!What an insightful observation.  Although for an ambush to be effective, the folks in front actually have to put up some kind of a resistance.  Hmm...still resisting gaining speed. Everything else though? Love it.  I will admit, though it may be a shame that Gambits are almost all just mass tramplings, it's still hilarious to look at.  Even with the speed penalty from cavaliers. Impressive, Sylvain.  More experience heading up the stairs. Nice!  You are absolutely fine, Ingrid. More than fine.  I haven't pointed it out because there wasn't much reason to, but there's a hit squad of about half a dozen folks running down from Miklan's chamber.  All of them holding Vulneraries. How very peculiar.  Ooh, some more easy bandits? For me?  The hit squad's not proving too difficult either. Shouldn't be a problem to deal with them as long as they don't have...  Yeah, that.  I mean, this is Normal, but on Hard or higher, we would have been steamrolled pretty nastily there.  Two can play at that game!  He who tramples must take care he does not become the trampled.  Meanwhile, we're going to dispense with these fools.  Some. We can always improve more.  Let me say that I just love the big numbers you can get with Lightning Axe. That's another guy who's just going to explode in a single blast.  Speaking of folks folding in one strike, our progress up the stairs continues.  Dedue can handle a number of things, as long as they aren't mages. Maybe I should see if I can give him a little Reason just so he can get the Resistance base stats from Monk.  Okay, let's bait this out and see if we can not eat dirt. But first!   That's our last Blue Lion who's at Level 10, and how! You rock, Mercedes!  Successful bait. Now to deal with this guy.  First we'll soften him up a little.  Thanks, Felix.  Now the coup de grace. Effective damage and magic combined will bust through his defenses but good.  Interestingly enough, the Mace uses the lance swing animation instead of slamming into the ground like axes do. A little variety is definitely appreciated.  Not the strongest of the Lions, but her versatility makes up for it.  Rings are another accessory like shields, though instead of providing defense, they offer a small boost to a particular stat. Considering the odds that Ashe is getting on Deadeye, I think he could really appreciate this.  Speaking of Ashe, Miklan's position on the map offers a very cheeky little trick for archers, since they have just enough range to make his life miserable.  : So, you think you can take the lance from me, huh? I'll kill you... I'll kill every last one of you! Not at that range you won't. You're no Death Knight, friend.  And it's already been obliquely hinted at, but wielding a Relic without a Crest is incredibly dangerous. Every engagement, no matter what happens, Miklan is going to have 10 HP knocked out of him.  Which isn't a big deal. He's standing on an HP recovery tile. But at the same time, we're coming out with a net positive.  And speaking of that, do you want to see something funny?  : I'm here for the Lance of Ruin, Miklan. Hand it over. I don't want to humiliate you, but I will.: Hmph! Hurry up and die already. If not for you... If it hadn't been for you...: Shut up! I'm so tired of hearing that. You've always blamed me for something that isn't my fault. So I mentioned before that Miklan doesn't have any abilities to negate combat effects, right?  Well, that includes forced movement, including Lure, a Gambit that yoinks an enemy to behind the attacker. We're just styling on this poor idiot.   However, since he can't be defeated by the strain of using the Lance of Ruin, it's time to finish this the old-fashioned way.  Huh, everything got really quiet all of a sudden.  Outside the tower, the storm begins to rage.  : A bunch of spoiled rotten children. Oh hey, the lance is activating on its own. Is this another unexpected awakening?  Nope. The Lance of Ruin has other plans.  See, the Relics are a bit more than just powerful artifacts. They've got, shall we say...  An effect on those without the protection of a Crest.   One of Miklan's underlings is a little slower on the uptake than the rest, which is a problem because...  The Relic isn't content with just turning the unworthy into red goo.  I've been trying to hide this because I think this reveal is very cool, but honestly, you could have already guessed, considering prior games in the series.  There are monsters in this game. Rather big ones, in fact.   If you thought that Miklan was a pushover, that's because we're not quite through here yet.  I remember being really taken aback by this when I first played the game, because it does just hit you all of a sudden. You're doing a pretty ordinary fight and then suddenly you're thrown into a whole new confrontation that you hadn't planned for. And it's not just the player. Everyone is entirely unprepared.  : What the–Miklan?! Is that you?!And yeah, Sylvain is going to be in equal parts disbelief and horror for all this. He didn't like his brother, but he didn't want this to happen.  : Oh my. Is this your first time fighting such a thing? Then listen well to what I say.Well, we would, but it's a lengthy tutorial and I'd rather just explain it in the moment. : So, this is the power of a Hero's Relic. To create such a sinister beast... It has gone too far. I fear all we can do now is put an end to it.That's the plan, but I've got a feeling it's going to take just about everyone to pitch in to make it happen. Fortunately, the game situates everyone right in front of this room, so no need to worry about getting stragglers here.  So. Monsters. Here's the basic rundown. I've labeled a few things for handy reference. 1) Health Bars and Latent Abilities. Monsters have multiple HP bars, signified by the gems next to their portrait, and every time you shatter one, it gains another ability, as shown. The Black Beast formerly known as Miklan gains Magic Bind and Death Blow at 1 gem and 0 gems, respectively. Magic Bind: Silences struck enemies, preventing them from casting spells. Death Blow: Gain +6 Strength when initiating combat (that is, attacking on your turn). These abilities are cumulative, meaning that the longer a battle goes, the deadlier a monster becomes. 2) Barrier Abilities. Let's hop out of the character menu for a second and see something.  When you highlight a monster, you'll notice it's surrounded by these yellow squares. That's a monster's barrier, and attacking a monster on a square that's protected by a barrier not only cuts damage in half, but the barrier has its own ability that comes into play. In this case, Vital Defense. Vital Defense: Sets crit chance of attackers to 0 if they're targeting a barrier.   Let's see that in action, as soon as Miklan's done pelting Gilbert with rocks at long range.  Yeah, see, 100% crit proof.  In addition, monsters will charge up a super attack after taking a turn. This targets a wide area, either around it or targeted to a specific unit, and it will go off the next turn unless you can find a way to stop it.  So how does one stop the attack from going off? Well, Gilbert's attack provided a clue. Attacking that segment of the barrier cracked it, and one more attack will shatter it. If we can destroy the entire barrier, that will stun the monster and disrupt its attack.   And that's where Gambits come in.  Not only will performing a Gambit center the monster's attack on the character who did it, but it shatters the section of barrier it was targeted on and cracks the other sections in the Gambit's area of effect.  Disturbance is a line-based Gambit that goes forward 2 spaces. That means that the space behind the one Dedue targeted also got damaged. Now we need to target the space to the upper left with something.  As it so happens, Annette has just the thing: a cone-shaped attack called Blaze.  Yes, that IS a cart loaded down with explosive barrels.  Special delivery.  Armor down, and the beast is open to attack.  As an added bonus, shattering the barrier of a monster will also award rare ores, so it is rewarding to upgrade to higher-quality Battalions in order to get those wide-range Gambits.   : Here it goes!While a monster is stunned, it can't counterattack, making it prime time to lay down the hurt.  Still in danger though, so no banter.  Second health bar. Just keep pouring it on. The bonus abilities don't matter if it can't get an attack off.  Thanks to Fraldarius activating, Felix takes down phase 2 all on his own and pulls in an entire level's worth of experience.  Shame that he's too tense right now to express his disappointment.  Now would be a decent time to activate Ruptured Heaven, but I want to spread around the experience if I can.  Love the crit chance though. That was a 1/4 chance of ending the chapter right there.   Almost there. Just got to do a little more damage.  Perfect.  : I can't lose! Freeze-frame! Well, every frame's a freeze-frame, but this one in particular is intentional.   And the beast is down!  So's my enthusiasm.   Poof. There it goes. Just as quickly as it suddenly appeared. And everything is once more silent.  : It's over... Let's retrieve the lance and leave this place.   Rhea had better have a great explanation for this. Again. Extras Video - Chapter 5 Highlights Mostly just dialogue and cutscenes. I realized last time that showing the full gameplay was kind of a waste of time.
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Jan 3, 2023 18:02
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Three Hopes note, Miklan gets a much bigger story role in the Blue Lions' story in that game. If you want to take that game as canon in this respect, part of Miklan's chip on his shoulder is that he's Sylvain's half brother, and their dad genuinely loved Miklan's mother until she died. Sylvain's mother is a cold and loveless arranged second marriage.
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Jan 4, 2023 03:12
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The Three Hopes Miklan story made me want to throw my controller. There were so many other ways they could have ended it other than… that. Like, really? They’re gonna leave us without any proper catharsis?
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Jan 5, 2023 02:13
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I suppose one advantage to Three Hopes is that you do get a chance to see more of characters who were originally just one-note parts without a lot of screentime in the original material. I haven't played the Blue Lions path in that game, so I can't really chime in on what happens with Miklan, but I can't imagine it's any worse than being eaten and transformed by a spear.
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Jan 5, 2023 04:04
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Relax, I'm sure as the head of the church Rhea will be able to set us at ease about what we just watched the holy weapon do.
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Jan 5, 2023 04:09
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Yeah there's no way Rhea hand-picked Byleth's house for this mission to make some sort of point about the fate of those who defy her doctrine; we never would have seen this if we'd picked another house, I imagine.
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Jan 5, 2023 04:15
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 So our quest to neutralize a gang of thieves took a bit of an odd turn. Everyone's naturally got more than a few questions.  : Upon that sight, it makes sense that your students were upset. I wonder if those Relics truly hide such power? Yet even still, that power seems familiar. That form as well... As one who wields the Sword of the Creator... Does that mean you possess that power too?Hope not. As cool as it would be to hulk out like that, it'd probably ruin my pretty boy image.  : I have already heard Gilbert's report about what happened. See to it that you keep what transpired at the tower to yourself. People would lose faith in the nobles should rumors spread of one using a Relic and transforming into a monster. All regions of Fódlan would fall into chaos. We must avoid that at all costs. Please ensure the students who accompanied you understand that as well. Have I made myself clear?: Hm..."It's okay to lie if it's the goddess's will." How easily Rhea makes that decision. : His transformation into a Black Beast was nothing short of divine punishment from the goddess. Punishment for someone arrogant and foolish enough to use a Hero's Relic even though they were unworthy and unqualified.: You knew?: Of course. That is why we rushed to recover it. Sadly, we did not arrive in time.And yet you didn't warn us, probably hoping that we'd recover the Lance without incident and then you'd never have to say a word. More importantly... : Will I share the same fate...: If someone without a Crest were to wield the Relic you possess, they would likely meet the same fate as Miklan. You, however, have been chosen. You are worthy of wielding the Sword of the Creator, so there is no need to worry.That's a lie, naturally, but we'll hear more of that when we get into Catherine's supports.  : As you wish. : You have my gratitude. I can see that I was right to trust you with this. Please report back. I will tell you of your new mission for the coming moon at that time.You might think that this is another false choice, and that we'd be forced to hand it over regardless of what we said. We'll see about that in another route.  : You look troubled.: I was just thinking about something. Professor... The possession of Relics and Crests has been highly valued in Faerghus since ancient times. It's far from uncommon for someone to lose their ability to lead their house because they don't bear a Crest. Just like Miklan. It happened to my uncle as well. The eldest child of the king, and yet he never ascended to the throne.The treatment of Crests in this game amounts to the classic "purity of the bloodlines" belief that has dominated royal lines of succession since ancient times. The fact that it's a fantastical phenomenon actually detectable with instruments makes it somehow worse than the pseudoscience of real life, but as we've already seen, this game's pulling a twofer with the other detestable trope of fantasy racism. I have a particular dislike of stories being like, "There is some actual trait or event that drives people to perform evil acts" rather than it just being based on intangibles like self-interest, paranoia, superstition, or a simple fear of the unfamiliar, things that can't be defeated through simple conflict. Fantasy stories always feel like they have to justify evil or boil it down to people being misunderstood or misled, and that ends up muddying the issue and having people come down on the side of, "Well, maybe there's a good reason for the evil." To whit, here's the follow-up to the point Dimitri's making:  : But House Gautier takes it a step further, and absolutely requires an heir who possesses a Crest.: Why are they so obsessed with it?: To that house, the power of Crests is a necessity, not a luxury. House Gautier holds the most northern territory in the Kingdom, and they have fought with the people to the north for many years. The head of that house is responsible for protecting that territory from fearsome invaders, whom they keep at bay with the power of Crests and Relics. In exchange for that responsibility, they are granted special privileges within the Kingdom.: Strength is strength, with or without a Crest. : I believe that Margrave Gautier was wrong to disinherit Miklan because he did not bear a Crest. Still, there is always a reason for why such customs stand the test of time. Imagine what this world would be like if no one placed any stock in Crests... Bloodlines that carry Crests would dwindle. The metaphorical blade used to oppose threats would eventually rest. This same argument has been made time and time again across the years. Both sides are at once right and wrong.: What do you believe, Dimitri?: I believe those with Crests and those without should acknowledge the others' strengths and learn to respect each other based on personal merits. And that doesn't apply only to Crests. The same holds true for lineage, race, faith, ideologies... If we could just accept each other and make mutual concessions, one step at a time... Perhaps... Who knows if that's even possible. Everyone has something that is unacceptable within them. I certainly do, and I'd wager you do as well.Dimitri has good intentions by trying to consider all angles before taking a stance on anything, and wishing for the happiness of his people and for an end to a practice that is driving families apart and causing children to be treated as objects. However, at the moment, all he's doing is considering, not acting. He wants people to all get along, and he's hoping to somehow cause people to respect one another, but as the game will show, a structure that favors one class of people over another will always lead to people doing horrible selfish things to put themselves or their loved ones on top.  The Crest system left Sylvain's brother with nothing, twisted him into a figurative monster, and then turned him into a literal one. Maybe you should ask the heir to House Gautier whether he'd like to "accept" the system right now. All vitriol aside, Dimitri is not a bad person. He just doesn't want to rock the boat when he's unsure of what the outcome will be. A fine attitude to take when you're looking from the outside and you aren't the king yet, but I have to question how he can lead his subjects if he's afraid of making anyone unhappy. The next day...  : You have shown exceptional skill in leading your students. I am forever grateful for the safe return of the Hero's Relic. Just as I expected, you have mastered the Sword of the Creator. Now then, I shall tell you about your mission for the coming month...Yeah, all ordinary build-up to some other arbitrary mission...  : Seteth, what troubles you? Oh. Oh dear. : Professor, have you seen Flayn recently?: I have not.: I have searched everywhere! Where could she be?! She may be in danger! Oh no... No, no! What am I to do?!: Calm yourself, Seteth. Professor, we shall continue our discussion another time. Seems like whatever we were going to do will just have to wait. If Flayn's missing, that means that, yet again, someone's pulling off another scheme within the walls of Garreg Mach.  Well, there's only one scythe-wielding character that we know of so far. I'd say we've discovered our prime suspect.  Horsebow Moon posted:As cold air begins to creep in from the north of Faerghus, Fódlan welcomes the riches of fall. The women spend their days reaping the golden fields, gratefully embracing the bounty the goddess has once again provided. The men venture into the wild with horsebows and empty sacks ready to be filled with game. At first I thought, "Why would you make a bow specifically for shooting horses?" and then I realized I'm a dumbass. They're bows designed for firing from horseback. Durr.   So the month begins, evidently with fruitless searching since we're not called back in to Rhea's chambers until the 6th. You may notice that there are a number of exclamation points littering the calendar now, and we'll get into the meaning of that shortly.  Yeah, I was there when you found out. : At present, all we know for certain is that she has not left Garreg Mach.: Flayn is not the type of person to just wander off on her own without telling me where she is going! We have searched the monastery thoroughly, but have found nothing. I am now mobilizing the knights to begin searching the town. Troubling rumors have been running rampant lately. I do not wish to consider the worst, but...: Troubling rumors?Of a Reaper, perhaps? : There are rumors of someone prowling the streets and attacking innocents, night after night. The knights have investigated the matter. They have not discovered any remains, nor have they found any concrete evidence.: The people are panicked! They all insist someone called the Death Knight is coming to claim their souls with his blade. There is no way she could have escaped unscathed if she were captured by such a fiend! Where is she?!More telling, not showing. You can't use even a smidgen of your cutscene budget to have some establishing scene of the Death Knight at work?  : I think of your...sister as family as well. You know that. You have my support. We will devote ourselves fully–mind, body, and soul–to recovering her.Bit of an interesting pause there. You might not even notice it in passing.  : The knights have the town covered, so I ask that you focus your efforts on searching the monastery again. We do not have time to waste. You have your orders.Well, fortunately, we have some experience in gathering information. The game is once more afoot.  : So finding little Flayn is our mission for this moon? Leave it to me, Professor. Chasing after girls is my specialty.: Sylvain... Even you must agree that now isn't the time for jokes.Frankly, I'm surprised he's still so chipper, but maybe he's just put his cocky facade back on again.  : Sounds intriguing. I had been hoping to cross blades with him.: Felix! Please consider how Seteth must be feeling right now. Right, everyone go and...ask questions and search around randomly, I guess.  Evidently, the first night isn't really getting anywhere.  : The only place I've yet to check is the library.: Get some rest.: As you wish. After I check the library.We don't actually get a lot of scenes alone with Dedue, and it's a shame about the brevity of this one. Just a few lines and we're already there.  : Is it the Death Knight?In the library. with the candlestick. : No, it isn't.  : Your Highness! My apologies.: Oh, none necessary. I'm sorry for startling you. I was just doing some research. But I'm just about finished. I didn't realize how late it had gotten.Dun dun...actually, why is this a shocking revelation? Has Dedue been chaining Dimitri's door closed at night or something? : We'd better head back to our quarters, Dedue. Until tomorrow, Professor. : Hm? That book is quite askew... He must have rushed to put it back upon the shelf.: ... : But look at that! This Arundel gave quite a sum each year... That is, until the year 1174. He must have died or fallen to financial woe. Hmm... I can't imagine what this has to do with Flayn.If you don't remember Arundel, here's a quick refresher from that library book we read. Register of Empire Nobles, Part II posted:House Arundel Whoever this Volkhard is, he's connected to the throne of the Empire, so finances weren't the problem, and this is an 1179 edition, so clearly he's still alive and kicking five years after donations dried up. Evidently, something changed his attitude towards the Church in that time. We'll have to keep this in mind as we begin our investigation, but that's a matter for next time, provided we're not interrupted.  ...Dangit.
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Jan 9, 2023 01:40
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Blastinus posted:All vitriol aside, Dimitri is not a bad person. He just doesn't want to rock the boat when he's unsure of what the outcome will be. A fine attitude to take when you're looking from the outside and you aren't the king yet, but I have to question how he can lead his subjects if he's afraid of making anyone unhappy. He's also 17 years old and rightfully concerned about making the right choices when as king his decisions will have the lives of his people riding on the line. I don't think he's so much going 'both sides' on the Crest system as he is weighing different possibilities and thinking hard about what the right thing to do is. Dimitri is generally a pretty thoughtful guy off the battlefield, his reputation as something of a blunt instrument notwithstanding. He hasn't made up his mind about what he's going to do before he's crowned, he's thinking hard about the issues he'll have to deal with when he is, and he's not afraid to express his doubts and indecision to someone he respects when he's mulling over an issue.
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Jan 9, 2023 03:13
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Blastinus posted:
A little out on a limb here, but I think this is by intent.
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Jan 9, 2023 04:01
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Natural 20 posted:A little out on a limb here, but I think this is by intent. Hard to say if it's intentional or not, if I'm gonna be honest. Everyone keeps spinning a yarn about how the Death Knight is this dreaded figure who's doing all kinds of terrifying acts, but it's all offscreen. All I'm asking for is some scene showing that, yes, he is in fact as dreaded as everyone thinks he is, because it's hard to tell whether we're supposed to take this character seriously or not. If what you're saying is that the rumors are overblowing his accomplishments and that people are working themselves up over nothing, then honestly, that would be a reasonable take as well. But without any actual confirmation, his character is just kind of confusing.
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Jan 9, 2023 04:27
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The Death Knight is clearly a red hearing in this chapter. Our actual opponent is gonna be some generic group of bandits calling themselves the Death God Gang or something generically spooky like that and the townsfolk just got the two confused.
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Jan 9, 2023 18:54
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I'll have you know the Night of Doom Gentleman's Highwaymen Association is a very upright group of outlaws and should never be confused with that rapscallion. Peasants 
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Jan 9, 2023 19:41
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Blastinus posted:Hard to say if it's intentional or not, if I'm gonna be honest. Everyone keeps spinning a yarn about how the Death Knight is this dreaded figure who's doing all kinds of terrifying acts, but it's all offscreen. All I'm asking for is some scene showing that, yes, he is in fact as dreaded as everyone thinks he is, because it's hard to tell whether we're supposed to take this character seriously or not. I think that the rumours we're being told about are inconsistent with what little we know of the Death Knight. That is to say, he just sat and watched us at the Right of Rebirth unless we challenged him. And then he complained about the lack of a challenge in general. He doesn't seem like a guy that would walk around murdering peasants.
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Jan 9, 2023 21:10
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Natural 20 posted:He doesn't seem like a guy that would walk around murdering peasants. Unless he was ordered to. Something else he's been quite strict about is that he's loyal to the letter of his given orders.
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Jan 9, 2023 21:20
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