Let's Play Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon

[┌༼ຈل͜ຈ༽┘]

"The League had routed Hollstadt's knights and recaptured most of the kingdom, but there was still the castle to deal with before Altea would be free; the mage-dragon Morzas remained entrenched within its walls. Unlike General Camus who preceded him, Morzas had been a cruel warden, slaughtering many innocent Alteans at the slightest provocation. Marth roiled to think such a monster still sat upon his noble father's throne."

And so we are finally close to completely liberating Altea. As for our preparations for this pivotal battle…



Wolf and Sedgar reclass back to General again as this chapter is an indoors chapter that puts greater importance on defence than movement.



Abel carries a Dragonpike that is useful for killing Manaketes.



Our team for this chapter. And with that, we begin.


What fool throws away a life already so preciously bought? Your mother, Liza, is dead; I killed her myself. Your sister Elice lives only because Gharnef wanted her. So what will become of you, little prince? Will you run for your life a second time? Or will you stay this time to die? Emperor Medeus would not put me on this throne if he thought you could remove me from it, kee hee hee...

Well, shit, Marth’s mother is dead. The good news is that his sister is still definitely alive. What could Gharnef want with her? Well, I know or rather, I have a good idea what he wants with her, considering his plans of betraying Medeus but I’ll tell you when the time comes.

Also, Morzas's Japanese name was Moses. Now why would they change that, I wonder?



If you look carefully, you’ll notice that the part of the map that we start in is exactly the same as the Prologue 2. Pretty cool. The map itself is in 2 sections. The left half is comprised of thin corridors which make excellent choke points. Of course, neither side uses the choke points because they don’t move and we need to rush in and kill the thieves before they steal the treasure and run off with it. As you can see, there are quite the number of treasure chests this time. We’ll be dealing with the left half before tackling the right half, for the most part. Once you open the door leading to the boss chamber, reinforcements will start arriving from the east. Unlike other chapters, they arrive every turn instead of every other turn. We have 2 normal manaketes to deal with as well as Morzas who is a rather special kind of manakete-a mage dragon. Don’t even think of attacking these guys with mages. It won’t work out. Trust me.

With our planning done, we begin for real this time.



Abel moves into the first manaketes range and equips the Dragonpike.



This guy would be a real pain if he was in a better position. For now, he can only hit units closest to the walls of the boss chamber.



Our Archer Generals move in closer. I’ll use them to clear out the ranged enemy units inside the boss chamber. The rest of our units go in various directions, mostly straight left and straight up with a few hanging back.



I do love how the manaketes look here. They look terrible in FE13. Then again, we only see divine dragons in that one. Abel doesn’t double the manakete unfortunately.



The enemy’s magic damage output is pretty significant.



On our turn, Wolf sits next to the wall and baits these Bishops. Julian gets a sweet critical hit and manages a kill.



I lost Abel here because he missed on my first recording for the LP.



And we continue moving forward.



Sloppy screenshot job right here, folks.



Great but expected level up.



He also gets this. It halves the price of an item you try to buy during chapters and doesn’t work in the preparations menu. It’s very awesome.



Julian is probably on the best Thief class characters in the series.



Yikes! A killer bow. This could have gone really bad really fast.



A honestly don’t remember why I wasted a Silver Lance here. The level up is… not completely horrible.



Frey’s miss is Julian’s kill.



I think it’s time to open the gate.



The Swarm Bishop’s failing is that a mounted unit can immediately rush in and kill him once the door is open.



He lives to die another turn. Next turn, that is.



Ogma bears the brunt of the enemy’s attack.



Oh dear. He survives though.



MHUAHAHAHAHA!



The reinforcements start to pour in.



Another close call.



Time to use the Parthia. Every time you use a legendary weapon (Mercurius, Gradivus, Parthia and Falchion), you get this flash before the battle starts with this weird sound effect that I can’t describe properly.



I felt a little brave. Okay, not really. Why take an unnecessary risk?



Stabbing bishops for profit!



Marth does NOT approve of stabbing holy men.



Neither does Ogma. He shows his displeasure of Marth’s actions



Navarre doesn’t mind though.



Jeorge takes one for the team’s cowardice.



A simple Javelin throw nets Abel a bad level. But his stats so far are pretty damn great.



Transparent dragons are 5% more deadly than normal dragons.



UGH!



Hardin’s needed to kill the boss so he makes his way back. Meanwhile, the reinforcements are drawing nearer.



That’s beautiful.



You see, I was a dumbass and didn’t bring any healers for this chapter. Hardin’s the only one who can use the Dragonpike and has enough HP to take on the boss.





Wohoo!



Navarre finished the boss.



Meh, I expected more.

The stream of reinforcements ends when the boss is killed. We clean up the remaining enemy units. Marth then picks up the Silver Card and the VIP Card.



And goes to this unmarked tile. With the VIP card equipped, there is a new option available: The Secret Shop!



It’s Anna my waifu! Anna runs the various secret shops located in a few chapters. They can only be accessed in a select few chapters while holding the VIP card on a single specific tile that is identical to every other tile. Think Feebas and the method to obtaining it and you’ll get the idea.



The secret shops have very exotic items available and each one varies in what items it offers.





And with that, we’re done.


...My sister was taken by Gharnef. She is no longer here... And my...my mother is... She is dead. Slain...by that Dolhrian dragon...
....! Marth, I am truly sorry...
I thought there would be something...some part of my old life I would be coming back to. I fought so hard...
You fought wonderfully, Marth.

All the moments you want, Malledus. What is it?
Your people have gathered outside the castle. They are overjoyed to be free again, sire, and would like very much to see their prince.
All right, then. I'll go at once.
Marth...perhaps you should let that wait, just until you are able to share their joy with them. We could send someone in your stead-
No, that would not do. Today is a momentous day for my kingdom and my people. I must celebrate with them now, not later. Anything else would be a disservice to those who died to save Altea. I am a prince before I am a son or a brother. Come, Malledus. Let us go greet my people.



"Thus Altea was liberated. Its people, ragged from years of Dolhrian tyranny, scrambled to the castle and flocked beneath its walls, eager to celebrate what, for many, would be remembered as the happiest days of their lives. They clapped each other on the back, laughed; and when Marth, their prince, appeared up above, they saluted their hero with a thunderous cheer:

"Glory to Marth, our prince of light! Glory to our star and savior!"

Marth smiled down at his people and waved. The great commander's last victory of the day was commanding his tears not to flow."

Goddamn I love this localisation. Suchs gems like “I thought there would be something...some part of my old life I would be coming back to. I fought so hard...” and “I am a prince before I am a son or a brother.” This localisation is what holds this game together and saves it from being mediocre, at least, story-wise.

Of note here is Marth’s 2 new titles: ‘Prince of Light’ and ‘Star and Saviour’. Marth’s class in Awakening is... Lodestar or Polaris, Pole Star and Guiding Star is an awesome throwback to Marth’s title and also far superior to the Japanese class name: Starlord which includes the throwback but isn’t nearly as clever. Amusingly, people were crying foul over the localisation team’s ‘mistake’ because they had no idea what Lodestar meant and just assumed that it was poorly translated engrish.

No new units this time. Perhaps this signifies that even though we retook Altea, there is still a long way to go. Or maybe I’m thinking too about this.

Next time, we go on the offensive. So far, aside from Gra, we’ve been retaking kingdoms but from now on, we invade enemy territory. First up is Grust. And meeting us will be the Sable Order...

[Yoh]

That is pretty deep character development for Marth.

[┌༼ຈل͜ຈ༽┘]

Sadly New Mystery of the Emblem undoes it all and turns Marth back into the bleeding heart wide eyed idealist that he was in the original game.

[┌༼ຈل͜ຈ༽┘]

"For Gotoh to create the magic that could defeat Gharnef, he needed two orbs: the Lightsphere and the Starsphere. Marth and company set off to Chiasmir and the Fane of Raman to find them, but in their path stood a cohort of Grustian knights known as the Sable Order. The bridges across the strait would soon be choked with the brave and the dead..."

It is time that we took the fight to the enemy instead of just retaking lost kingdoms. Quite a few preparations to be made this time.



Ogma uses a Dracoshield to boost his defence while Cain picks up a Speedwing as well as a Dracoshield.



Oh yeah, it’s promotion time



Damn! Ogma promotes to the Hero class, and gains a lot of armour in his appearance. He can also use Axes from now on but his rank starts at E which is a little sad.



What is not sad are these bonuses. These are fixed and only vary according to class.

How about another promotion?



Navarre promotes to Swordmaster. He doesn’t gain any new weapon ranks.

And yet another one. Though I missed the screenshots this time.



Lena promotes to Bishop and immediately reclasses to Sage because not only does it give her more magic at the cost of resistance which she already has a lot of but it also boosts her Tome Rank from E to D.



Our team is ready. So let’s take a look at the map.



The chapter’s defining feature is the 2 bridge sections which are only 2 tiles wide. This is just one huge choke point. Some of the enemy units will charge while most wait. There are several forts across the map which will eventually start reinforcing the enemy. They are all mounted units meaning our Ridersbanes are extremely useful here.

So let’s begin!



Yes, that's right. The Sable Order, it seems.
Really? Tell me, who leads them?
Why does it matter?
Oh...no, it's just- they say the Sable Order is led by a brilliant general. I was...wondering if he was riding with them today.
You must mean General Camus. I am told Dolhr is not very happy with him at the moment, brilliant or not. Something about acting outside orders... They'll be keeping him on a short leash; I don't expect we'll see him here.
That...that is good news...

Oh dear…



Let’s not waste time. All of our units move out towards the bridge while the some of the enemu units do the same.



We camp out just at the start of the bridge.



Screenshots of combat.



This draws out a few more enemy units.



Promoted units should always be priority targets.



Catria is amazing as always and Merric doing great too. But Marth… Damn that’s bad.



Ogma’s first taste of combat and he pulls off a critical hit. He’s so awesome.



Julian is also pretty awesome.



You see that Paladin with a Ridersbane? Yeah, guess what happened because I didn’t check the inventories of the enemies.



We’ve got a lone Pegasus Knight reinforcement. Now that’s odd. Let’s take a closer look…



It’s Est, Palla and Catria’s sister! And holy shit, she’s got the Mercurius with her. Dayum!



Mercurius certainly inspired Marth and the useless piece of shit that delivered it inspired her sister Catria. Don’t mind Cain though. He’s just being grumpy.



We’ve finally crossed the bridge. Reinforcements will start puring through any moment. Our powerhouses move towards the 4 forts at the bottom left side while our lesser units head towards the arena for a little training. Again, we’re not going overboard with grinding but we’re just leveling them up a couple of levels.



Est catches up with Marth.
I've been looking for you. Initially I intended to join up with you along with my sisters, but then I heard Grust had made off with one of Archanea’s three regalia- the sword Mercurius- so I flew there to get it back. This is Mercurius right here. It's lovely, isn't it? And powerful! In the right hands, I think you'll find it a formidable weapon indeed.

Indeed it will. Mercurius is awesome. Ogma will be getting it because I like favouritism.



So here’s Est. I won’t say much here but she’s quite the controversial character, story-wise and gameplay-wise.



And the reinforcements are here. As always, only level ups will be showcased.



Frey’s doing great so I’m not going to complain too much about one bad level. It should be noted that’s he’s really lagging behind when it comes to speed. Sedgar gets a very Sedgar level and Abel does great too.



Julian, Merric and Linde will be trained to level 15 each. See you then!



At least he’s thoroughly balanced?



Navarre in action as a Swordmaster. Swift motions everywhere.



I completely forgot that lone Paladin reinforcements will also start arriving from here a little later.



Still no speed for Frey. Julian is still getting great levels.



The results of our training. All looking good.



Oh NOW she gets magic. Fuck you Lena.

Minerva, Palla and Catria can all talk to Est.

First Minerva.

Commander, did anybody tell you? I flew all the way to Grust and brought back Mercurius. Pretty spiffy, huh?
Yes, Marth told me all about it. Very brave of you to undertake such a dangerous task alone. Well done, Est.
Hee hee! You mean it? Thanks, Commander! You should have seen the arrows whooshing past me left and right! But I'm a Whitewing, right? So I swooped down and let 'em have it! Just watch, though. I'll find some way to top it.
I don't doubt it. I expect great things from you, Est.
Hee hee! You mean it?

Then Palla.

Hey, Palla. I'm not slowing you and Catria down, am I?
Hey, Palla. I'm not slowing you and Catria down, am I?
I don't know... You and she have so much more experience. Sometimes I... I just feel like I'm not pulling my load.
Ha ha... Est... You're doing just fine. There are no half-Whitewings or almost- Whitewings. You're one of us because you're every bit as good as us.
Have a little confidence.
Right, confidence...
...Feel better?
Uh-huh. Thanks, Palla. It's funny... Whenever I talk to you, I calm right down. Promise you'll always be there for me, Palla.
I will... I promise.

And finally Catria.

Catria!
Est! It's about time you made it back. I was so worried...
Sorry... I won't leave you like that again. We belong together anyway. When the three of us surround an enemy, we're just about unstoppable!
True...but even so, I like having you somewhere I can keep an eye on you. Ha ha.
Hey! What's that supposed to mean?

As you may or may not have noticed (and shame on you if you didn’t) but the 3 Pegasus sisters get a lot of extra dialogue. Aside from Marth, Camus, Caeda and Hardin, they are the major breakout characters from this game. In fact, the 3 sisters have appeared in more games than any other character in the series, even Marth. All 3 of them get DLC in Awakening when it is usually reserved for main characters. I’m a little sour about this because they’re hardly the most well written characters in the series and yet they get more publicity than any other.

Anyway, there’s only 1 home on this map.

You know how the Fane of Raman is supposed to be protected by a fearsome guardian? Well, I heard the “fearsome guardian is nowt but a wee lass. If that’s true, you have to wonder why she’d stay all by herself in a dreary place like that. Mayhap she broke her ma’s favorite vase and got stuck there as a punishment? Ha ha, right.

So…

Anyone wants to take a random guess about who we’re going to find at the Fane of Raman? Anyone?

Now it’s time for the boss.



A little iffy so we’ll let him attack first.



Gandalf!



She misses once. Not really surprising but she scores on the second hit.



Fly, you fools!



She’s reaching her speed stat cap.



We’re done.


Yes. But the real battle may yet be ahead of us.
Malledus... Can we be certain the Lightsphere and the Starsphere are in the Fane of Raman?
Yes, sire; but unfortunately, they may not be all we find. The fane is said to be guarded by a goddess, one with fearsome powers. Those who defile her sanctuary are punished by fire; none are spared from the blaze.
Perhaps we should reconsider, Marth...
Perhaps...But if none are spared from the blaze, where do the rumors come from? Besides, we need those two orbs.
Well, might I suggest you take in just a few able companions, and let the sleeping dragons lie?
Sage advice. I've no desire to tear apart a holy place, whether the goddess is home or not...I'll choose a handful of elite to search for the orbs with me.

Welll then, isn’t that quite the convenient excuse for only being allowed to take a few characters into battle. Strange that they only do it in this instance and never again.

Well, that’s it for now.

Character Spotlight:

Est





Est has quite a lot of history to her. Back in the original game when everyone and their brother had shitty growth rates, Est stood out a glaring example of what units could be like if they had better growths. She came at measly level 3 with stats to match but sky high growth rates. In fact, higher growth rates that what she has here though you can’t compare the two games becaue the mechanics at work are vastly different. Est became her own archetype. Characters who are recruited late into the game with low stats and at a low level but unusually high growth rates. The polar opposite of characters that emulate Jagen. That’s great and all but with this game came a boost in everyone’s overall growth rates. Except Est, that is. You can see where this is going, don’t you? Training Est requires abusing the arena because after this point, you’ll be hard pressed to find an enemy that she can fight on even grounds. You would need to feed kills. And for what? For example, Catria has higher total growths than Est and she came several chapters ago. Est maybe worth training unlike many of the other scrubs we’ve recruited so far but just like them, there is no reason to when there are several better characters available a lot early on. And because of this, she’s very controversial in the fandom. New players will tell you that she (or rather, Nino from FE7 because that’s the game new people are more likely to talk about) is the best character in the game whereas more experienced players will tell you that Jagen (or Marcus from FE7) is far more useful simply because availability and relative usefulness. You don’t need Est and in higher difficulties, it is impossible to train her without serious arena abusing whereas Jagen is absolutely essential in the early chapters.

That was quite long now, wasn’t it?

See you all next time.

Est's official artwork for Fire Emblem: Awakening DLC, Death's Embrace:



Those eyes are freaky.

[Deleted]

I'm an Indian.

[┌༼ຈل͜ຈ༽┘]

And also a little bit Russian.

[Yoh]

Aug 19, 2013 22:08:03 GMT -8 ┌༼ຈل͜ຈ༽┘ said:

And also a little bit Russian.

SPOILER: Click to show

Kinda like him?

There are also a few notable quotables in this episode.

[┌༼ຈل͜ຈ༽┘]

Aug 20, 2013 6:33:11 GMT -8 Yoh said:

Aug 19, 2013 22:08:03 GMT -8 ┌༼ຈل͜ຈ༽┘ said:

And also a little bit Russian.

SPOILER: Click to show

Kinda like him?

There are also a few notable quotables in this episode.

Which ones did you like?

You should have been there during our skype call. Eddy read the LP with various voices. My comments were done in a bad Indian accent that suddenly changed into a bad Russian accent. We played up the incest and lesbian context within the talks between the 3 Pegasus Knight sisters and everything.

[Yoh]

That...that is good news...

Oh dear…

and

Swift motions everywhere.

and not to mention:

Perhaps we should reconsider, Marth...

I can think of that in Nesbitt's voice from Yugioh Abrdiged.

[┌༼ຈل͜ຈ༽┘]

"The Sable Order fought valiantly to keep Marth's army from reaching Chiasmir, but in the end Grust's knights buckled: the world's mightiest only in song. The League marched on to the Fane of Raman, a holy sanctuary built by the divine dragoons to house their most priceless treasures. Here another story was set to begin..."

“[…]world’s mightiest only in song.” Yep, still loving that localization.

This chapter is pretty short but there’s a lot to do. We’ve got loads and of doors and treasure chests to open. Our objective here, aside from seizing, of course, is to recover the Starsphere and Lightsphere, the 2 orbs that Gotoh will need to forge Starlight. There’s also a third orb here, called the Geosphere. And we’ve got a very special character to recruit. Naturally, speed is of the essence here since loads of treasure means enemy thieves who will run off with the 2 orbs. If even one of the 2 is lost, you won’t get Starlight when we eventually reach Gotoh and thus, will be unable to beat Gharnef. If you can’t get Gharnef, Marth can’t recover the Falchion, making it very hard to defeat Medeus. Lasting and over-reaching consequences for failure. It’s great to see them. If you fail, you have to reset or consider the Falchion lost forever.

That said, this map isn’t very hard at all. There’s not a lot of enemies aside from the few promoted ones that you should watch out for. If we do everything correctly, we won’t even have to fight a boss in this chapter.



Our team. Bantu the Fire Manakete is joining us again and for the last time. He’s needed to recruit the special character. Can you guess who this character is? Anyone who’s played Awakening should know.

Also, Ogma keeps the Mercurius in his inventory. Yay for favouritism.

Let’s begin!



Right at the beginning, a Sorceror warps in.


Can you hear my voice?
....Mm-hmm.
Defilers have set foot inside the fane- despoilers! Punish them. Let your fire consume them!
Defilers...in the fane...Punish them...
Remember, Tiki. Your divine dragon kin perished long ago, and Bantu has abandoned you...I alone am protecting you from Medeus. Remember...
You alone...are protecting me...Punish...the defilers...

Gharnef is up to his tricks again. The conversation makes it obvious that we need Bantu to recruit Tiki, the last Divine Dragon and the daughter of Naga. Don’t have Bantu? Sucks. Guess you got kill Tiki. Asshole.

So yeah, get Bantu.



Speaking of which, let’s have Bantu lead the charge.



Merric finishes him off.



Julian and Marth are going to zig-zag their way across the map, opening the treasure chests.



Pro-tip: Don’t use mages as bait. They’ll get doubled and die. This is from a failed recording.



That’s better.



Behind the white screen lies Bantu in extreme pain. The enemy got a critical hit but not enough to kill. He even double Bantu.



Let’s not mess around. Excalibur’s power is meant to be used, not hoarded.



The second enemy doges the fires. That erupted from beneath him. And he dodged them. By ducking. In a field of flames. What.



Bantu and Jeorge take out the survivor. The level up isn’t bad. Skill and Defence are both appreciated.



Oh yeah, this is a Hero with a Killing Edge. You should really watch out for this guy.


Ogma can tank the hit. Even a critical wouldn’t have been enough.



Half of these rooms contain enemy units instead of treasure.



Jeorge does some major damage to the Hero while Ogma and Navarre form a wall.



Merric kills the Hero and gets a good level for it too.



These two are great walls.



No logic-defying dodging for you, thief.



More treasure!



We got the Lightsphere as a drop from an enemy thief.



Damn, that’s awesome.



Jeorge kills this thief and recovers the Starsphere.



OH YES! Also, she’s reached her Speed cap.



We’ve almost made it to Tiki.



And the Geosphere is ours as well.



Bantu reaches Tiki and…

Tiki! Tiki, my child! At last, I have found you!
No... Stop... Come no closer...
Hm? ...Gharnef has put you in some sort of trance, poor thing. Peace, child. Peace. Awaken.
...Mmm? ....Ban-Ban? Is that you? Where am I? What happened?
Yes, child. 'tis I, 'tis I. How I worried! Are you hurt?
No, Ban-Ban, just...just scared...I feel as though I just woke from an awful nightmare...
I am truly sorry, child. Truly, I am. I will not let us be separated again. From now on, I will be there to protect you.
Promise? You have to promise, Ban-Ban. I hate being alone...

D’awww! Now Tiki talks to Marth.

You must be Tiki. Bantu told me all about you.
Ban-Ban told me all about you, too. Will you take me with you?
Of course, Tiki, as long as that’s what you want.
Yes, yes, it is! Oh, thank you, Mar-Mar!
Mar-Mar?!
Am I not allowed to call you that?
N- That is- Well, if you want.
Thank you, Mar-Mar!
You’re welcome?

D’AWW! So for those of you who were wondering where ‘Mar-Mar’ came from in Awakening, which she uses to refer to ‘Masked Marth’, well, there you go! We don’t see it much in the games but it is implied that Marth and Tiki grew close to each other as pseudo siblings. Then Awkening had to come along and say that Tiki’s feelings for Marth were always sexual. Damnit Awakening! Why did you have to go and ruin it? I greatly dislike Tiki’s sexualization in Awakening.

Xane can also talk to Tiki. Why Xane? Well, let’s see!

Huh? Xaney, where'd you go?
Huh? Xaney, where'd you go?
Xaney?! Why are you imitating me!
Xaney?! Why are you imitating me!
Cut that out right now!
Cut that out right now!
Ugh, I HATE you, Xaney!
Huh? Hey, wait, Tiki! Oh, come on. I was just jokin' around! Tryin' to lighten the mood!
It's not like I can transform into a dragon like you, so just- Oh, would you come back?
Meanie.
So how are you holdin' up, kiddo?
I'm all right.
Still having those bad dreams?
Sometimes. They're really scary...
I bet they are. (...Ugh, what does Lord Gotoh expect me to do?)
Did you say something?
Oh! No, no, it's nothin'. Hey, you know that Marth's countin' on those powers of yours.
Uh-huh... Why?
So, uh...you just take care of yourself, that's all. You're one special kid.
I know.

So Xane is not only good friends with Tiki but is also an acquaintance of Gotoh and is on some kind of mission. We’ll know more in the sequel about all 3.

I’ll just give out a few spoilers for now. Tiki is the daughter of Naga, the ruler of the divine dragon race. Naga is referred to as male as well as female throughout the series and may not even have a gender. After the decline of the dragon tribes, the last surviving divine dragon, Tiki, was put into a deep sleep never to be awoken again otherwise she too will eventually lose her mind like the rest of the dragon tribes. She has nightmares during her slumber. Bantu eventually took pity on her and awoke her but took precautions to ensure that she wouldn’t lose her mind. After they were separated, he began to desperately search for her.

As for the reason of the decline of the dragon tribes and the divine dragons, we’ll save that for the sequel.



Anyway, here’s Tiki. You may think that she sucks but she is amazing. The Divinestone provides some insane boosts that keep her viable. Tiki can also use a normal Firestone but only she can use the Divinestone.

So let’s talk about the orbs we obtained.

First, we have the Starsphere. A unit holding it can use any weapon without using up any usage points. For this reason, it is best to give it to someone holding one of the 3 Regalia or Tiki so that she can freely use her stone for easy training.

Second is the Lightsphere. A unit holding it negate the effects of terrain for enemy units such as the boosts provided by forest tiles or forts, which is great for killing bosses.

Lastly, we have the Geosphere. It is a consumable with just 3 uses. You can use it to damage all units on the field, including allies with a 13 might attack. It’s not really useful though there is one chapter where it can be used to make things easier.



We’re done.


Never fear; I have them. We need to take these to Gotoh so he can undo Imhullu's magic...But first, Nyna, we've a more pressing task ahead of us.
Oh? And what is that?
We must defeat Grust once and for all. If we march south without finishing them off, we have our rear exposed.
Then you mean to invade.
Yes. And this time, General Camus will be there to meet us. I am sure of it. "Camus the Sable", they call him. Many extol him as the most able warrior alive. It will be a fierce battle...but one we cannot avoid.
You are certain we must face him?
We have crippled Grust, but they will regroup and stand in our way again. No, we need to stamp this fire out before the wind catches it and starts spreading it anew.
Very well. But before you attack, there is something I must tell you. Later, though...Not yet. I must sort my feelings out first...

Oh dear, Camus is up next.

Treasure chests:

Starsphere
Geosphere
Speedwings
Spirit Dust
Seraph Robe
Master Seal
Bolganone
Bullion (XL)
Pure Water

Character Spotlight:

Tiki





The +X indicates the bonuses from the Divinestone.

Tiki is amazing. With the Divinestone, she gets some crazy bonuses, especially to defence and resistance, making her easy to train since she takes almost no damage from most enemy units. With the Starsphere, she doesn’t even have to worry about running out of uses. The divinestone also does bonus damage to Medeus, making her even better. Her growth rates are also really good. And she has a very interesting backstory. She’s got it all. What’s not to love? She isn’t even disgustingly sexualized like Nowi in Awakening is.

Bonus pictures of Tiki:

Official Art:

SPOILER: Click to show

With Bantu:

SPOILER: Click to show

Okay, so next time, we’re going up against Camus. Here’s a little preview:




Oh dear…

[Yoh]

So Xane is not only good friends with Xane but is also an acquaintance of Gotoh and is on some of mission given to him by Gotoh. We’ll know more in the sequel about all 3.

This is great episode though.

[┌༼ຈل͜ຈ༽┘]

Corrected that lol.

Also compare Tiki to Nowi. It's disgusting, isn't it?

[Yoh]

pretty much

[┌༼ຈل͜ຈ༽┘]

"It was General Ordwin, one of the Three Heroes of the War of Liberation, who put Grust on the map. His peerless knights tamed their neighbors the barbarians in the kingdom's infancy, securing its place as one of the greatest of the Seven Kingdoms. However, the current king, Ludwik, was weak-willed and easily cowed. Dolhr had little trouble forcing him into an alliance. Now he had taken ill, even as Grust suffered its string of defeats at the hand of the League. The once mighty kingdom was poised to fall..."

We’ve successfully invaded Grust and routed their finest knights, the Sable Order. But we’re not done yet.



Our team. Look who’s back! It’s Caeda. She has one last man to work her charms on before we finish the game.

This map is a big one. We need to circle our way around to the boss of this chapter, a guy called Lorenz. Back in the original game, the bridge that’s right next to our starting position wasn’t broken and we could simply take the shorter but tree infested path.



This is Camus. And he’s everything that the game builds him up to be. If we were playing Hard Mode Level 5, Camus would be even more scary, downright godly, even. He has high stats everywhere they matter and he also uses the Gradivus. The Gradivus is a 19 might weapon with 1-2 range meaning he can attack you from range as well as melee. Aside from being the strongest weapon in terms of sheer power, the Gradivus as another use that makes it the best weapon in the game. The holder can ‘use’ it like any other item to FULLY RECOVER their HP. What this means is that you need to defeat Camus in a single turn otherwise he’ll simply use the Gradivus to fully heal himself. Not only will that mean more pain for you, but also less uses of the Gradivus that will be available once you do defeat him.

Aside from that, the map starts throwing out reinforcements after a while but nothing too much. As you can see, all of the combat units that the enemy has are promoted ones. The reinforcements though are not promoted units so they are easier to deal with.

We begin!



All right, Marth. As you wish. When the Dolhr-Grust allied forces seized control of Akaneia, the entire royal family was killed, save me. I was given into Grust's custody- the custody of the Sable Order, to be more specific. I am told Dolhr wished for my execution- and with it the end of the holy lineage of House Archanea- and Grust was willing to comply.
But you are not dead.
That is right. I was not put to the sword. The Sable Order's captain came to my defense. His name...was Camus.
....!
Camus protected me, knowing he risked incurring the wrath of the Shadow Dragon. He was the one who eventually arranged for my escape to Aurelis.
...I had no idea. That certainly explains Dolhr's displeasure with him.
I hated him, too, at first. But in the time, I found my hatred tempered by the compassion he showed me, my feelings...changed. And now, all I wish is to see him again...But not if it means you and he must fight.
Nyna... Do you... I cannot make any promises. But I will do what I can. I hope you can accept that.
Thank you, Marth. I could not ask for more.

Some serious Stockholm syndrome here. Camus even admitted to killing her father. I suppose he’s an honourable person who did save her life but this hardly a healthy relationship that they would have had.

It is time to take Grust out of the equation entirely and in our way stand the last of the Sable Order as well as their illustrious commander, Camus the Sable, whose tactical skills and power were so impressive that Medeus himself commended him and did not kill him despite Camus openly fighting Dolhr, saving Nyna and even killing one of the more fearsome Manaketes of Dolhr, as recognition of that skill. This will be tough and hopefully, Camus will listen to reason and no longer ally himself and his knights with Dolhr.



We start by immediately taking out the Ballistae that would cause trouble for our squishy units.



He gets the one stat he needs.



Marth’s a bit ambitious.



On the enemy’s turn, the paladins charge forward.



I was hoping to take out the General across the river but he survived and got healed up by long range healers near the boss. So instead of pursuing that General and getting rushed by 3 Paladins coming down from the north, Marth gets out of there and gets a critical hit on this other Paladin.



Ogma takes on those Generals instead and gets a bad level for his trouble.



Catria is turning out to be amazing. Cain finally gets a good level. I’m so disappointed with him in this playthrough. I’m still using him because I like him and Abel fighting as a team.



Hardin has come a long way. I feared that he was going fall behind because he was getting poor levels a while ago.



Over the course of 2 turns, Ogma takes care of most of the enemies coming from the top. He gets a great level.



That’s terrible Marth. Anyway, we continue moving forward.



Tiki’s turn.



Meh, the Fire Dragons look cooler but at least this is way better than Awakening’s terrible looking divine dragons.



That looks nasty.



An empty level. How many times must I say this? I’ll say it again: Fuck you, Lena.



Moar skill!



Their day job is to wait around and take care of reinforcements.



Tiki’s level up is good. Speed is great since that’s where she tends to fall behind.


Tell me, have you seen my granddaughter Lena? Is she well? If she happens to you, would you see she gets this Hammerne staff? It’s a staff of repairing passed down through our family. I’m certain she’ll make good use of it. Of course, not all items can be repaired; be sure to caution her about that.



The Hammerne staff is amazing. It can repair any item that isn’t completely broken and refill all of its usage points. And unlike most other games where you get only 3 uses of it before the staff itself breaks, you get 12 uses. And only Lena can use it. I told you she’s pretty useful.



A couple of reinforcement knights pop out of the fort while some of our units make it across the river to the small island.



Beck misses but Jake takes the Thunderbolt and manages to score a hit on the enemy ballistician and kills him.



Nice try. It ain’t gonna work, buddy.



Ridersbane always works though.



Fantastic level up.



I try to take out the enemy healers. Beck gets a blank level. I don’t really care though.



I know you do much better.



We’ve almost made it the main boss area. Marth needs more speed.



As soon as we get close enough to Camus this happens.


General, I have no wish to fight you. You know this battle is pointless; surely you must!
So long as Grust continues to support Dolhr's ambitions, it does not matter what I know or think. I am a knight; I have a duty to fight for my motherland's glory till the very end.
But surely-
Prince Marth, there is nothing you can do or say. I am party to your father's murder. Are you a man or not? Draw your sword.

Princess Nyna...
Nyna, what are you doing here?! This is the middle of the battlefield!
I know, I know... But please, Camus, listen to me... Camus, you gave me back my life. And Marth, he gave me back my kingdom. I do not wish to see that the two of you fight. It is...it is unbearable. Please, Camus, fight with us. We need your strength. ...I need it.
I am sorry, Princess.
What? But, Camus!
Were my heart my master, I would do exactly as you say. But what sort of knight abandons his kingdom- his king!- now, when they need him the most? Would you have me toss away the life I have built as if it meant nothing at all?
No, Camus, I.... I don't know...
I have lived as a knight, and I intend to die as one. There are no other roads left for me to walk. Farewell, my princess. I shall never forget our days together at the palace, few though they were. I pray you meet someone who can bring joy back into your life.

Well, shit. Camus isn’t going to join us and we’re going to have to kill him. He values his duty to his country and king far more than his own life. Ambitious, yes, but stupid too. But yeah, Camus not being recuitable and you being forced to kill him was a pretty big gut punch back in the NES days but here it feels lacking if you haven’t seen the Archanea Chronicles. But we have. And we’ve seen how honourable and powerful Camus is first hand. So that feeling that something is lacking is somewhat diluted.



So let’s do this. Ogma equips the Mercurius and walks into Camus’ range.



That didn’t work out as planned. And though the General by himself isn’t threatening, even with his Silver Lance, Camus’ presence changes things. We need to be careful here.



This spot where Ogma is now standing is within Camus’ range but outside of the General’s range.



Here we go!

Of note, the music during the battle is special. It’s called Clash of Two Virtues and is reserved for super special bosses.



Camus hits Ogma deals 22 damage leaving him with only 11 HP. OUCH!



Ooh the pain train hits hard. Catria does some great damage with the the trusty Ridersbane.



Next up is Marth. His Rapier comes in handy. Camus is almost out but he needs to go this turn or he’ll just heal himself.



Oh fuck yes! Way to finish in style Ogma.



We did it. Camus is defeated. Of course, if this was Hard Mode level 5, then Camus would probably tear me a new asshole.



Not a bad level up at all considering Strength was his only lacking stat.



And we get the Gradivus too!



However, it’s not over yet. That remaining General is free to do whatever he wants and he’s sure to kill any of our characters that are within his reach. Lena uses the Fortify staff to heal everyone on the map a little bit.



I was very careful with the planning for this. I made sure that Lena would be able to heal enough health in the event that the General scored a hit. Catria survives with 1 HP and we kill the General on our turn. There’s still the boss guarding the seize tile.

Also, Catria is turning into a goddess.

Caeda, work your charms.


My father has told me quite a bit about you.
Princess Caeda! My, look what a lovely young woman you've grown into. Your father was a good friend to me, many years ago.
General, I heard you opposed Grust forming an alliance with Dolhr. Why didn't you try to stop it?
You think I did not try, Princess? Our king is meek; in the end, Doluna proved better at cowing him than I did.
But sir, surely you know that Dolhr intends to use Manaketes to conquer humankind! You must act now- for Grust's sake, if not the world's! Join us, General Lorenz. We can put an end to this battle right now.
Hmm...What you say makes sense enough, but I serve Grust. I cannot simply betray my country.
Ah, but what makes a country?
Pardon?
Is it one man- your king? Or is it the countless innocent people who make their home here?
Well, that's- Hmm...
My father has a saying: "A kingless country is a country still; but a king without subjects rules naught but hills." If you disobey your king to ensure his subjects' safety, how is that a betrayal? You are protecting his reign.
Protecting his reign? ...Aha ha ha, ha ha! Ahh, that mad logic! I feel as though I've shed twenty years and I'm talking to your father again. You win, Princess. I yield! I will join you, in the interests of king and country. Har!

Never change, Caeda, never change. Except that Strength growth. That shit is atrocious.

Then Lorenz can talk to Marth.

Prince Marth? I am General Lorenz of Grust. I have decided to join you, in the interest of my fellow Grustians.
I am honored, General. Thank you. Shiida tells me you and her father were close.
Yes. How the princess has grown, though! Sharp as a tack, that one. Such a change from when she was- Eow what am I saying? Shiida has always been clever. Even as a wee girl she knew how to wrap her elders about her little finger.
You knew Caeda when she was little?
Oh, yes. The mischief she got into. Well, those are stories for another day. First, we’ve a battle to finish!

Both Lorenz and Camus are absolutely loyal. The difference is whom they are loyal to. An important difference but it’s there nevertheless.



So here’s Lorenz. He’s not good at all, unfortunately since he’s a pretty cool character.



We’re done!



No, Marth, I...I should not have made such a selfish request. I am sorry, so terribly sorry...
....
The worst part, Marth...the worst part is, I knew it would come to this. Ever since I gave you the emblem, I just knew...Have you heard the story of Artemis's Curse?
No...
The last time the Fire Emblem changed hands to save House Akaneia, it was not without cost. There was a princess named Artemis who loved your ancestor, Anri, with all her heart. He loved her as well- but when Medeus appeared, the two were parted forever. She cursed the Fire Emblem- called it the end of war, but also the end of love. Now the emblem has changed hands again, and I am the one who is cursed...
Nyna...
Look at me, so quick to fall apart... You lost loved ones in Altea and took it so bravely; but I cannot be so brave... Please...leave me for a moment. This is too much to bear. I need to...to confront my feelings...
...Say no more, Nyna... Princess. I will step out. Send for me if you need anything.
Thank you, Marth...

(Marth leaves)

Ahh...! Camus, Camus... Ahh...no... Oh, why...

I don’t think I really need to add much here this time. Artemis is explained well enough and even though Camus and Nyna’s relationship is very unhealthy, you still feel for her.

Character Spotlight:

Lorenz

Lorenz is not good at all. He’s got great defence and that’s really all he’s got. His strength is barely passable and his Skill, Speed and Luck are atrocious though he does have a 70% Skill growth, for what it’s worth. Hs’ not even good as a tank since his terrible speed means that he’s get double by everyone taking more damage than even the fast and frail characters who only get hit once. Shame because he is interesting and has fairly important role in the sequel.

So let’s talk more about Camus. He proved to be so influential to the series that every game has a character that is based on him. A knight that is extremely loyal to their king for various reasons and is usually a really honourable and good person that refuses to defect to your side meaning you have to kill them to progress. These characters are always high ranking members of the enemy’s army and are well r respected, even by our army. Some are done really well such as Selena(FE8) or Linus & Loyd(FE7) while some are done terribly like Eldigan(FE4) and Mustafa(FE13) but that’s to be expected. If there’s one thing that you can expect from any Fire Emblem game, it’s a character emulating Camus.

Camus’ official artwork:

[┌༼ຈل͜ຈ༽┘]

As for the Grustian King, we're never told what happened to him but's it implied he dies of shock at the defeat of his country and its finest warriors. He leaves behind opposite gender twins who feature in the sequel.