Let's Play Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon

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"Trace a line around the continent's north-eastern plains, and you have Aurelis. This kingdom alone had somehow resisted Dolhr's attempts to conquer it, but only by some miracle. By the time Marth arrived in Aurelis, much of its territory had already been carved up by Dolhr's ally Macedon.
Still, the king's younger brother, Hardin, refused to give up without a fight. The people called him Coyote, and he intended to live up to the name. Since its founding, Aurelis and the holy kingdom of Archanea shared close ties and months ago Princess Nyna of Archanea had come to Hardin's aid. By his side, she had called on the people to fight- but few remained to answer.
Macedon's finest soldiers were closing in. Nyna knew they were out of time..."

Just like that, we’re dumped into the Battle Preparations screen.



We’re allowed 10 units this chapter. The units whose names are highlighted are the ones I’ll be taking to this battle. Unfortunately, Jagen’s time in the field has come to an end. Farewell, you glorious son of a bitch. You’re manly critical hit shall not be forgotten. Mostly because of how wasteful all that experience was. Fear not though. You place shall be taken by a character that we get that’s almost as manly as you.

Anyway, we start the fight and get further plot details.



A lone cavalier rides to this out-of-the-way fort.


They're here? At last! Prince Marth has come for us!
So it seems. Now, what say you we turn this battle around? I'm going to take my men east to join our might with Marth's. Together we will retake the castle. Stay here, my lady, and wait for the good news.

Hardin exits the fort and is joined by his loyal knights. Let’s check them out.



First, there’s Hardin the Coyote. Hardin is another really good cavalier. He’s the last good cavalier though. Hardin starts with some decent base stats and excellent weapon ranks. That B in lances means he can use a Silver Lance which we just happen to have.



There’s Roshea and Vyland. More Cavaliers. Their base stats aren’t too hot and their growths are just as mediocre. There’s no reason to use them over the ones we’ve gotten so far.



Wolf and Sedgar are Horsemen. Promoted units with horrible base stats. Sounds reason enough to dump them immediately but there’s definitely more to them than meets the eye. Don’t let their base stats fool you into ditching them. You'll see waht I mean soo enough.

Backstory time!

Hardin is the younger brother to the King of Aurelis who is significantly older than him. The King falls ill and Hardin and takes over and reforms the country’s laws. Previously, the corrupt Aurelian nobles would kidnap tribesmen and plains folk from the Aurelian plains and keep them as slaves. Among these slaves were Wolf, Sedgar, Roshea and Vyland. Hardin leads a revolution along with the plains folk and frees all the slaves. All the corrupt nobles are banished and their positions were given to notable plains folk who were instrumental in their successful revolution. Hardin was given the name ‘Coyote’ by the plains folk. The ex-Nobles would attempt a coup of their own but Hardin defeats them again.

As such, Wolf, Sedgar, Roshea and Vyalnd are very dedicated to Hardin. The four are quite fanatical in their loyalty to Hardin as evidenced in FE3/FE12. And I mean really fanatical. You won't see it here but you will in New Mystery of the Emblem.



We’ve also got this guy. Wendel is a Sage which is a promoted Mage. Recruit him with either Marth or Merric.



So the beginning part of this chapter can be quite tricky. Not because it’s particularly hard but keeping all of Hardin’s troops alive can be a bit difficult. As you just saw, their base stats aren’t that good. We would do well to hurry over there to help them out.



Firstly, Caeda uses her mobility and ability to freely cross terrain to head over to Hardin and his troops. The rest our units gather just outside the enemies’ attacking range while Ogma serves as bait to bring them down. One of Hardin’s troops, Roshea, baits out the enemies on the left side of the map.



Nevermind then. Roshea was only in range of the thief and thieves don’t attack when there’s a village to rush to and destroy. He does however agro the rest of the units who can’t quite attack him yet. He won’t be able to take them all at once so we have him retreat.



The cavaliers at the top rush down as well. Feeding Marth is important. Do it well enough and we can trivialize the final boss should Marth’s speed stat go our way, which it usually will.



Horsemen can use both Swords and Bows. Here we see Wolf’s Sword animation. He doubles the archer but can’t quite kill him. His partner Sedgar does the deed.

Skipping ahead a turn or so.



Look at that glorious 37 damage against a unit with only 16 HP. Isn’t it beautiful? Excalibur absolutely destroys anything that has wings that dares approach it. Keep in mind that it can’t be obtained again. Only use it when you’ve got nothing else and quickly need to kill a flying unit. But knowing me, I’ll probably end up needlessly spamming it for its overkill power. Merric gets an almost acceptable level up. 2 stats only but it is 2 good stats so it’s all good.



See what I meant about it being sort of difficult to keep Hardin’s troops alive? Sedgar barely hangs on with 1 HP. Time to get him out of there. Meanwhile, Merric goes and talks to Wendel.




Oh... Master Wendell! Teacher!
Well, hello, Merric! What a surprise! Good to see you haven’s blown yourself up yet.
Not yet, sir. But I did find Prince Marth, just like I said I would. I’ve joined the Altean army in the fight against Dolhr. ...Why are you here, Teacher?
Hmm... It’s Khadein, lad. The land is not as you remember it. That fiend Gharnef seized power, and now he’s draped the city in darkness. I fear Khadein is doomed... I could not stay and serve him. So, I snuck out alone.
Very brave of you, sir. Hmm... Why don’t you join us, then? If Gharnef is helping Dolhr, then he’s a bitter enemy of ours as much as he is to yours and Khadein’s. We couldn’t possibly leave the city in his clutches. And I’m sure the prince would be pleased as pie to have magic as robust as yours in his arsenal.
Hmm, you do know how to argue a point. I’ve no taste for war, but war is what I’ve been served. Come, Merric. We’ll fight together. Tell your prince of Altea that Wendell is at his service.




Remember what I said about Michalis being douchebag? Gharnef is an even bigger douchebag. Hate this son of a bitch. I won't demand it because you'll come to hate him with a burning passion. Medeus may be the main villain but it's defeating this asshole that most players care more about.

Wendel then talks to Marth.

Prince Marth, I am Wendell, a pontifex of Khadein, City of Magic. Our pleas for peace have failed, and Khadein has been taken over by one of the other pontifices. His name is Gharnef, and he and the many mages who swear allegiance to him have allied themselves with Dolhr. Prince Marth, I ask you now: please lend me your help in thwarting his vile ambitions.

Marth then visits the village the top of the map.

Well g’day, there, son! ...Why the wide-eyed stare? Ain’cha never seen a country village before? You know, speakin' o' rare sights, I once went to Pyrathi, where I saw me a real live Manakete! Cripes, let me tell you what a shock THAT was! In a blink, this regular old feller turned into an enormous dragon! I mean, I ain’t stupid. I’d heard of the dragonkin before. I’d just always assumed Manaketes looked somethin' like parakeets. Sheesh... ...What? Oh, this? I picked this stone up while I was there. Dunno what it is, but how often do you spy a glowin' red rock, ya know what I’m sayin' But honestly, it’s been kinda creepin' me out lately. You want it? Go on 'n' take it. Sheesh...

He gives us a Fire Stone. No, we can’t use it to evolve Pokemon but we can give it to a Manakete and allow the user to turn into a Fire Dragon.



Meanwhile, our units finally reach Hardin and his troops and begin to lend a hand. Navarre even gets a critical hit.



It isn’t as glorious as 37 damage but it will have to do. The Wing Spear lets Caeda do things she couldn’t even dream of with normal weapons.



Hardin gets to work too.



Sedgar may be bleeding out all over the ground but he can still nuke Pegasus Knights with his Steel Bow.



We did great. The lone cavalier can’t reach Sedgar and won’t be doing enough damage to kill anyone else. That thief still doesn’t want to fight and will ignore us.



The boss won’t be killing Caeda in one hit so we park her next to him and let him attack first.





Caeda is still frail as fuck though.



But she’s got this. But she misses on one of her two hits. Why do I even bother?



Can it be? Did she finally get strength? Not only that, the whole level up is fantastic. Keep this up girl and your place on my team is secured.



And so falls the boss. Everyone’s dealt with so it’s time for Lena to go on a healing spree to get some levels while we round up our visits to all those homes scattered everywhere.



Uhhhhh…




Be thrifty with your gold now if you’ve any plans to venture that way later! Also keep in mind that shops keep only a limited stock of some items; once they’re sold out, you can’t buy any more.



You’d better hurry and send units to bar their exits.

Reinforcements don’t spawn if the boss is dead.

Before we seize, Marth and Hardin share a talk.

Lord Hardin, I am Marth of Altea. I’ve come to offer what help I can.
And I very gratefully accept it. Stories of your exploits travel fast, young prince. I feel as though I’ve gained a thousand allies in one.
I’ve heard a few stories of you as well, Coyote. It will be an honor to fight alongside such a courageous man.
I’ve left Princess Nyna someplace safe for now. We need to decide who will command here. I was hoping it would be you.
Me? But, Sir Hardin, you are far more qualified-
Tsk, Princess Nyna would not be pleased to hear us nitpicking over who will be listed in the history books. Take command, so we can oust this Macedonian scum and be done with it.
You are sure?
Make no mistake. Lord Marth. I consider myself an exceptionally good judge of character. If I thought you acted out of selfishness or ambition, I would not extend the offer I have. You have my trust.
Lord Hardin, thank you. That is an honor. If you don’t mind me saying so... I feel as though I’ve made a good friend. We share the same ideals, I think.
That we do. May our friendship be a long one.


Now that everything’s done, we seize and finish up.



Prince Marth, your arrival could not have been better timed. Please accept our gratitude. Princess Nyna of Archanea is en route from the fortress. I am sure she will wish to meet you. The battle is not won yet, though: many of the enemy continue to hold out within the castle's halls. Stay wary.

That's the King of Aurelis by the way.

Character Spotlight:

Hardin



Statistics:
- Class: Cavalier
- Level: 6
- HP: 24 (50%)
- Str: 9 (30%)
- Mag: 0 (0%)
- Skl: 7 (55%)
- Spd: 8 (55%)
- Lck: 3 (30%)
- Def: 8 (20%)
- Res: 1 (0%)
- Mov: 9
- Ranks: Swords D, Lances B

Hardin is the last ‘good’ cavalier. Also known as ‘Coyote’, Hardin does not disappoint. He has great growths as well as great bases stats. He also has a B rank in Lances meaning he can use a Silver Lance allowing him to deal massive amounts of damage that Jagen couldn’t because of his bad stats. Hardin is also a great character, as far as personality goes. More bias from me.

Roshea



Statistics:
- Class: Cavalier
- Level: 3
- HP: 22 (90%)
- Str: 6 (40%)
- Mag: 0 (0%)
- Skl: 5 (55%)
- Spd: 7 (10%)
- Lck: 4 (10%)
- Def: 7 (20%)
- Res: 0 (0%)
- Mov: 9
- Ranks: Swords E, Lanced D

Roshea is pretty bad. His base stats are bad but his growths are almost decent if it weren’t for a abysmal 10% Speed growth. Speed is by the most important stat and having such a bad growth in it kills Roshea’s usability.

Vyland



Statistics:
- Class: Cavalier
- Level: 1
- HP: 20 (60%)
- Str: 5 (30%)
- Mag: 0 (0%)
- Skl: 3 (25%)
- Spd: 6 (40%)
- Lck: 2 (30%)
- Def: 7 (25%)
- Res: 0 (0%)
- Mov: 9
- Ranks: Swords E, Lances D

Vyland’s growths are just bad everywhere. His low base stats emphasize his low growths even more. He’ll never be any good. Interestingly, he is extremely popular as a meme in the japans fandom and his own hack dedicated to him.

Wolf



Statistics:
- Class: Horseman
- Level: 3
- HP: 22 (160%)
- Str: 6 (100%)
- Mag: 0 (0%)
- Skl: 6 (85%)
- Spd: 8 (85%)
- Lck: 5 (50%)
- Def: 6 (65%)
- Res: 1 (0%)
- Mov: 9
- Ranks: Bows D, Swords E

That isn’t a typo. Wolf really has growths that high, some exceeding 100% even. Wolf and Sedgar have the best growths in the whole game. However, training Wolf is hard because of his status as promoted unit meaning he gains less exp than others and his low base stats. It is a good idea to reclass him to General or Hero because his growth rates will be altered and become even better. By that, I don’t mean he’ll have better growths but the rates will be altered to suit him even more. The grand total will still be the same.

Sedgar



Statistics:
- Class: Horseman
- Level: 1
- HP: 20 (160%)
- Str: 6 (80%)
- Mag: 1 (0%)
- Skl: 6 (90%)
- Spd: 7 (85%)
- Lck: 2 (30%)
- Def: 6 (85)
- Res: 2 (0%)
- Mov: 9
- Ranks: Bows D, Swords E

Similar to Wolf, Sedgar’s growth rates are through the roof. Sedgar usually ends up better than Wolf because they start with near identical base stats but Sedgar has more room to grow. Nevertheless, both are extremely good. Everything that applies to Wolf can be applied to Sedgar. Use them both.

It is interesting because their growths aren’t high at all in the original game. In fact, Wolf and Sedgar are among the worst units in that game but for someone at Intelligent Systems really loves these two because the remakes gives them down right absurd growths.

Wendel



Statistics:
- Class: Sage
- Level: 1
- HP: 22 (40%)
- Str: 3 (0%)
- Mag: 4 (20%)
- Skl: 2 (20%)
- Spd: 12 (20%)
- Lck: 1 (40%)
- Def: 5 (0%)
- Res: 5 (35%)
- Mov: 6
- Ranks: Tomes B, Staves D

For an old guy, Wendel is hilariously fast. 12 base speed is nothing to laugh at. His growths are awful though. Think of Wendel as a Magic-oriented Jagen. He may look really bad but he’s a Sage. A magic user with bad growths Is a lot better than a physical unit with bad growths simply because enemies hardly have any resistance but always have decent defence. He’s better than Wrys atleast since he can also attack and their growths are very similar.

I will be reclassing both Wolf and Sedgar and switching back and forth between General and Horseman depending on whether I need 2 stone walls or movement is more important for each chapter.

[praise luke]

Is it just me or does Roshea have a face that you want to cave in with a hammer.

[Yoh]

How you manage to ko every enemy and get past any of them without being attacked right afterwards is a bit of strategy implemented everywhere.

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^Hmm? I do get attacked. I just don't always show everything.

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I don't think I posted this anywhere and I will start posting it from now on. A reset count! Won't be too high since this is normal mode after all.

Reset count: 1

It comes from a chapter I've yet to post. It wasn't a character death but a thief escaping from the map with stolen treasure.

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"After shattering Macedon's main force outside Aurelis Castle, Marth next led his army into the castle's halls to liberate the kingdom. A number of treasures slept in Aurelis Castle's nooks and crannies but how to extract them before they could fall into enemy hands?
"Only a thief could open chests locked that tight," grumbled one of Marth's men.
"But we don't have any thieves with us. ...Do we? "

After that no-so-subtle hint, we’re thrust into the Battle Preparations screen. The units we’ll be bringing along this map are:



Yes Marth, we do have a thief with us…



We start in the middle right. We have to make our way up and circle round in counter-clockwise manner to get to the boss. Scattered everywhere are treasure chests. You don’t actually need a thief because 2 enemies drop 1 Master Key each. It is an item with 5 uses and can unlock both doors and treasure chests. We have a spare door key with us. Lena grabs it for reasons we’re about to see. Enemy thieves will try to steal the treasure. If a thief gets to a chest before you, he obtains the item inside. To obtain the item yourself, you need to kill the thief before he escapes the map since once the thief gets his hands on one treasure chest, he will attempt to flee by leaving the map at a particular edge.

Enough talk. Let’s fight!

What?! The rebels are inside the castle? Grrr...Very well! Armored units: intercept the intruders! Archers: defend the throne! Thieves, you go gather up the treasure while I make preparations to withdraw. You have your orders! Don't let those rebels anywhere near this chamber!

The boss barks orders at his troops and we begin!

As soon as we begin, we see a locked room with an enemy unit inside. Said unit has a face and everything. He shall be CONSCRIPTED! Lena opens the door with her door key and Marth rushes in to talk to the captive inside.



I’m Rickard, just a small-time thief, mind you, but I’ve got big aspirations! I broke in here to clean the place out, and instead it was me that got my cloak cleaned... Since you saved my hide, I guess the least I can do is lend my services in return.

And we get another thief just in case Julian died. Rickard is really bad. We’ll talk about that later though. You can also recruit Rickard with Julian. I’ll include the conversation for character development purposes.

What the- Rickard? What are you doin' in here?
Oh, uh... Hey there, Chief! Been a long time, huh? So, funny story: I decided to break in here and clean the place out- and then I got caught. Hilarious, right? Comedy gold. OK, your turn What are YOU doin' here?
Me? I’ve washed my hands of thievery and joined the forces of justice.
Ohhh really? Justice? So then this wouldn’t have nothin' to do with some new lady friend? You always did have a soft spot for a pretty face and the right features-
Wha- Can it, you little fink! I said it’s about justice! I’m entitled to have moral crisis now and then! ...You know what? Just for that, YOU are gonna work for me, startin' right now.
What? Do I have to...? Well, all right. You drive a hard bargain, but what can I say? I missed ya, Chief. Just make sure I get a cut out of the haul!

Small world. Julian and Rickard know each. Rickard and Lena know each other. Julian happens to rescue Lena. Lena knows Castor and Navarre. Caeda is the one who recruits them both.



Julian heads to a chest and opens it. I’ll list the contents of all the chests at the end.



Our units move up and left. The high movement units close the gap and a few act as bait.



On enemy phase, the enemy thieves start moving towards the treasure chests. A few knights make their way down to attack us. On player phase, Navarre starts the show with well timed critical hit.



Frey gets critical too. This is good sign hopefully.



Another Critical? Wow. We’re really raking in those critical. Abel gets a semi-decent level up for it.



Lena gets ready for some truly devilish stuff. IT’S WARP TIME!



Lena sends Marth across the map right on top of a treasure chest to prevent a thief from getting to it. She gets a great level up too. For Healers, a magic level up, even it’s only a magic level up is still a great level up.



And Marth destroys the knight with his Rapier.



Frey finishes another enemy.



Caeda gets in on the action with her Wing Spear. Barst murders the curate before he can cause too much trouble.



More Julian feeding. Also another critical by Navarre.



A thief manages to steal a Seraph Robe. The Seraph Robe is an consumable that boosts a units total hit points by a full 7. It’s pretty damn good so getting it back is a priority.



Abel takes out this Cavalier with a Silver Lance before he gets the chance to cause some serious damage. He also drops a Master Key.



Navarre kills a thief to get a less than acceptable level up.

Our units start to make their way down to a fairly well defended area. Marth starts with killing an archer.



Not happy that everyone is showing off, Hardin decided to get in on the critical hit action. The RNG Goddess must be a good mood. Though that one was completely unnecessary.



All of our units assemble just outside the enemies attack range. With Marth as the bait. Yes, the prince is the bait. I’m fucking genius tactician. I deserve a raise.



Marth is not happy with being bait. He gets a bad level to show his anger.



LENAAAAAAAAAA!



I should really be careful with not abusing Excalibur.



Is this a bad level? Sort of. Strength is good. Weakness bad. Bad bad bad! (Someone get the reference please.)



Merric goes up against the boss. These knigts/generals have some great defense. Use magic to break them.



An Armorslayer also works. The odds of hitting are bit shaky but Ogma pulls it off.



A great level too.



Moving on!


'Tis Akaneia's burden to protect the world of crisis- a duty I have striven to fulfill. But Dolhr has laid waste to my kingdom, and now I find myself powerless to stop the world from falling into ruin. Marth... Please, pick up the banner where I have let it fall. Lead your might against Dolhr, and free us all.
Of course, Princess Nyna. Altea swore fealty to Archanea long ago, a vow we have always kept. And, as you know, it is in my blood- House Altea's blood- to destroy Medeus just as Anri did before me.

House Archanea bestows it only upon a true champion, one we believe has the power to save the world. With it, you gain the right to open treasure chests across the land and wield the precious items within. I know you will use them well. Never give up, Marth. Fight, until the day you restore light to our world.



And Marth receives the Fire Emblem. The thing that the whole series is named after. And what does it do in this game? It allows Marth to open any treasure chest. Yeeeeeep. And why does it allow Marth to open treasure chests? I’m… not sure, to be honest.

Here's the Fire Emblem as it appears in Shadow Dragon/New Mystery of the Emblem without the 5 gems that adorn it. Also known as the Shield of Seals/Binding Shield.



For comparison, here is the Fire Emblem as it appears in Fire Emblem: Awakening after it was broken and then reforged.



Now then, here’s list of what treasure you can find in the treasure chest:

- Bullion (can be sold for 5000 gold)
- Physic (can be used to heal units from long range)
- Seraph Robe (permanently increases HP by 7 of the unit that uses it)
- Armorslayer (does super effective damage against Knights/Generals)
- Killing Edge (powerful sword with a high critical hit rate)

Character Spotlight:

Rickard



Statistics:
- Class: Thief
- Level: 1
- HP: 16 (50%)
- Str: 4 (50%)
- Mag: 0 (0%)
- Skl: 2 (30%)
- Spd: 9 (40%)
- Lck: 0 (50%)
- Def: 3 (10%)
- Res: 0 (0%)
- Mov: 7
- Ranks: Swords E

Compare his base stats and growths to Julian and you’ll see that Rickard is worse in pretty much every way. He’s only there to serve as a backup if you let Julian die. We’ll be seeing more of this later on. More and more characters will just be inferior versions of characters that we got before. All serve as backup in case you let any units die. This is a problem in the first 3 games where IntSys said in an Iwata Asks that they didn’t expect that players would strive so hard to keep every unit alive and immediately restart the chapter if a unit dies. So they provided backup and we end up with loads of characters who are mostly useless if you’ve been keeping everyone alive.

Reset Count: 1 (a thief managed to get away with a treasure)

[LuciferIX]

Still amazed at how much you do for this.

Didn't get very lucky with the levels this time.

[Yoh]

Theives are always some of my favorite classes

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To anyone who's interested, my Let's Play has been inspired by Something Awful Let's Plays. The style and structure used here is identical to one that the various LPers use over there. They ofcourse put even more effort into their Let's Play's. I serioulsy recommend checking out their LPs on the LP Archive, a free archive of LPs from Something Awful.

[Deleted]

Considering the LPs from Something Awful started the whole craze, they might as well be good at it.

[praise luke]

Emerus has a punchable face.

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ANNOUNCEMENT:

The Let's Play is on a hiatus. Too much college work. Brain melting.

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The hiatus is over! Yay!

"Aurelis was free, but Marth and his army- now known as the Archanean League still had much work ahead of them. They followed the Middleroad south, bound for Archanea Palace- a perilous route, for it took them right into Lefcandith Valley and the jaws of trouble.
The countless fortresses lining the valley made it a veritable gauntlet and compounding the danger was the presence of the Whitewings, a knightly order led by Princess Minerva of Macedon. It would be a fierce battle."

And so the chapter begins. Our team for this chapter. My team isn’t going to be changing much. A few characters will be switched around occasionally but for the most part, most of the units you see here are the ones I’ll have with me for the endgame.



We start at the top of the map. There is a lightly guarded village. It will be a detour for Marth because all access to it is blocked off by mountains except for a small gate that we will require a Door Key or Master Key or Thief utility to open. But trust me, that village is important.
At the bottom of map near the boss we’ve got:



Minerva the Dracoknight, also known as the Crimson Dragoon. She carries the Hauteclere, an absurdly powerful axe and has some great stats for this point in the game. Also with her are:



Palla, Catria and Est, the Whitewing sisters. Palla is the strongest of the 3 and carries a Silver Lance. Catria is more dangerous because she carries a Killer Lance. An unlucky critical hit could ruin your day. Est is the weakest of the 3 but is still a threat to mounted units (which are team is filled with) because of her Ridersbane.

The thing is, you can’t recruit any of them. More on that later.



This guy is the real boss for this chapter. He’s not to be taken lightly. He’s got a lot of defense and hits hard with his Silver Lance. He also drops a Silver Axe when killed. However, he has no ranged weapons and he has terrible resistance so our Mage Merric can just whittle away and eventually kill the boss.

Meanwhile, back at Battle Preparations, Caeda uses the Seraph Robe we got in the last chapter for a much needed boost to her HP. Her max HP increases by 7.


Let me attack the rebels head-on, and keep my pride as a knight of Macedon.
Ah, you mean the same pride that cost us all those soldiers back in Aurelis? I think not, Princess. If we're to regroup, we need to buy time. My tactics are necessary. The emperor himself has named me commander of this post. Either obey, or accept the consequences. Your little sister Maria is still under our word, is she not? What a shame it would be, if we decided we could no longer care for her...
Enough! ...I will obey. But the Altean knights are smarter than you give them credit for. They will prevail here, and you will regret having acting so rashly, General.

So hold on. Let me get something straight. Harmein’s tactics are to wait and ambush our forces when we least expect it. Minerva’s tactics are to charge in blindly, a tactic she tried at Aurelis and failed miserably, without any regard for strategy and rely on brute force alone and she says that Harmein is the one who’s acting rashly?



Also it seems Minerva’s sister is being held hostage to force Minerva to co-operate. And who’s the one holding Minerva’s sister, little Maria hostage? Prince (or King technically) Michalis. Minerva’s older brother. That’s right. Michalis is holding his own little sister hostage, threatening her with execution to force his other sister to co-operate with him. This is after he murdered his own father out of petty ambition and a desire to rule Macedon all by himself.



I hate this douchebag. I HATE him. And let’s even get into New Mystery of the Emblem. Or you know what? Let’s get into it. Incoming SPOILERS for those who care.

SPOILER: Click to show

In Shadow Dragon, we ultimately go up against Michalis and kill him. But New Mystery of the Emblem comes along and tells us that Michalis survived and has been ‘redeemed’ because he now wants to make up for his actions by rescuing Maria who has been kidnapped by Gharnef. He eventually finds and battles Gharnef and in the original Mystery of the Emblem, dies after giving Marth the tools to defeat Gharnef. In New Mystery of the Emblem, he survives and is recruitable.

In his ending, it is stated that he eventually goes on to rule Macedon, even loses all of his battle scars and leaves to take over another country and rule that country.

And this is after he kills his father out of petty ambition, holds his little sister hostage to get his other sister to side with him and is in general, a brutal tyrant.

Meanwhile, Hardin who is a great guy and has lived a lifetime filled with good and noble deeds being one of Marth’s most trusted allies and all around stand up guy, gets married to a woman whom he loves but who does not return his love all engineered by someone wanting to keep the tradition of princess only being allowed to marry royalty alive, gets corrupted by Gharnef and turns into a tyrant because of it, dies alone and miserable, hated by the whole of Archanea which forgets all of his noble deeds, remembering only his tyranny and is even remembered in history as only a tyrant and not the noble man he once was.

Michalis gets a third chance. Hardin doesn’t even get a second. And probably all because Michalis is a ‘pretty boy’ that Japan loves so much while Hardin is rather plain guy.

Fuck you Michalis. Fuck you Gharnef. And fuck you FE3/FE12. Fuck. You. All.

Alright. Calm down. Deep breath. Alright. Moving on.



Marth goes and opens the door and Merric uses Fire on one of the archer. Meanwhile, the rest of our units race downwards.



It’s an uneventful Enemy Phase. Minerva and the Whitewings all move up accompanied by a few mook Pegasus Knights and one Dracoknight. Merric’s bleeding all over the grass thanks to those archers. Marth kills one of them. Lena goes to heal Merric and…



Oh fuck you too Lena.



Know for the gimmick of this chapter. Minerva and the Whitewings WILL NOT attack any of your units at all. They’ll just fly around for 3 or 4 turns and then leave the map because Minerva gets tired. Lazy bitch.

But here’s one thing you can do: Kill them all. Don’t worry, they don’t die. They just retreat. If Minerva is defeated, all of them leave the map but if any of the Whitewing sisters are defeated, only that particular sister will leave. This may be a bit of a dick move but I’m not going to let that free experience go to waste. Even though they will not attack on Enemy Phase, they will counter-attack the unit that attacks them on Player Phase so take care.



The mook dracoknight goes after Merric and Barst gets a not-so-good level.



See? Minerva moved right next to Navarre yet didn’t attack him.



Oh, Excalibur, you so awesome. Merric gets an alright level. The Mercenaries attack Marth and he dispatched them to gain a great level.



We’re back to this then, are we Caeda?



After some chip damage from range, Frey defeats the eldest sister, Palla. He doesn’t get a good level but his speed was falling behind so I’ll take it.



On Enemy Phase, a fair number of reinforcements start popping out of the fort. One of them carries a Ridersbane. You should get unit onto that fort as soon as possible to stop the flow of Ridersbane carrying Cavaliers.



The middle sister Catria is down, thanks to LOL Excalibur.



And Wolf takes out the youngest sister, Est.



Cain takes a ranges shot at Minerva and gets a great level for it.



Hardin tries to take on Minerva but OW! That hurt.



And Minerva’s defeated as well. To be honest, she kind of deserved this humiliating beat down if she seriously believes that waiting in ambush is more rash tactic than rushing in blindly. I mean, damn woman. What the hell kind of logic is that?

Also, Sedgar’s growths at work.



Marth gets to the village. Inside it is…


You there. Have you come across a young girl, one by the name of Tiki? She must be found, boy! Tiki is the last of the Naga, the divine-dragon clan. Without her powers, we cannot challenge the Manaketes who serve Medeus... Me? I haven’t the power. I am a fire dragon, yes... But in the name alone, in name alone. I lost my firestone in Pyrathi. Without it, I cannot do battle. ...You will be traveling much, yes? I wish to go with you. Perhaps together we can find Tiki.



We get our first Manakete! He’s kind of awful but oh well, can’t have it all I guess. Even though the Firestone provides some great bonus stats but his growths are horrible so he’s not going anywhere stat-wise. I guess I’ll show him of this map.



I’m not sure how I feel about these levels.

So Bantu’s never going to catch up with everyone else so after he grabs the Firestone from the convoy, Lena warps time and space (but mostly space and not time) to send him right into the thick of the action.



She gets good level but it’s been quite a while since she’s gained any magic.



Cavalier: Look at this old fuck. Going up against me! What an idiot! I’ll show him. I’ll show him the power of a-waaaaaait, why are you glowing?



Cavalier: Oh. My. God. What. The. Fuck?



Cavalier: OH GOD IT BURNS AAAHHHHH!! THE FIRE! OH THE PAIN. AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Boss time!







He’s nothing special when up against super effective weapons.



That one level where she gained strength was a one-off thing wasn’t it? Oh fuck me.



Merric! You’re not doing any better!



WINNER!

Prince Marth, I was wondering if we might talk about the Manaketes.
Manaketes? You mean the dragonkin?

No he means the Dovakhin.

Yes, sire. I was not sure how much knowledge you had of the Manaketes. The Manaketes inhabited our continent long before the dawn of humanity. However, ordinarily their draconic disposition stayed suppressed; their power sealed within special stones. Thus rather than terrorizing humankind, they chose to live simple, peaceful lives in the quieter reaches of the world.


and created what would be a great empire there. His forces invaded the human realm, and in the blink of an eye, he had subjected all of the land.


In his head was a shining blade of light- Falchion- which he plunged into Medeus- and the tyrant was no more. Anri went on to found Altea- and the rest, I believe, you know.
Yes, Malledus... Is that what this was about? I do know my own kingdom's history. And I know what I must do, now that Medeus has revived and restored Dolhr to its former might.
You are Anri's last male descendant, the only one who can wield Falchion. You must find the blade that was taken, and put an end to Dolhr and its misguided Manakete rulers.
I will finish what my father started. I will avenge him, and bring light back into our world.

And that’s it for this episode!

Character Spotlight:

Bantu



Statistics:
- Class: Manakete
- Level: 1
- HP: 20 (40%)
- Str: 2 (20%) +8
- Mag: 0 (10%)
- Skl: 3 (20%) +4
- Spd: 4 (10%) +4
- Lck: 1 (10%)
- Def: 3 (10%) +9
- Res: 1 (0%) +4
- Mov: 6
- Ranks: -

Bantu is a manakete and can transform into a Fire Dragon. If other kinds of dragonstones were available in this game he would also be able to transform into a Ice Dragon, Wyvern or Mage Dragon. The Firestone provides significant boosts to his stats indicated by the ‘+X’ next to his base stats where X is the corresponding boost to that stat. But don’t let his base stats fool you. His growths however, are worse than even Jagen. He’s not going anywhere. What you see now is what you’ll have 20 levels later, more or less. As I said, those bonuses are pretty damn good so he might be useful for 2 chapters or so but after that, he’ll have problems.

[Deleted]

You're really emotional in this update. I laughed at your rant and when you said "Fuck you Lena".

[┌༼ຈل͜ຈ༽┘]

Apr 16, 2013 14:37:31 GMT -8 @thatwiseguy said:

You're really emotional in this update. I laughed at your rant and when you said "Fuck you Lena".

So a couple of chapters later...

Lena has 6 magic...

...at level 20.



She's become like Caeda and her strength problem except with magic.