Fire Emblem 6 - The Binding Blade (Fūin no Tsuguri) - Gringe's Relocalization

[Eliwan]

So... Fire Emblem 6, the Binding Blade.

The first Fire Emblem game for the GBA, it features one Roy of Pherae, who actually debuted in Super Smash Brothers Melee as a piece of promotional material for the game.

Fair warning: This is my first SSLP!

The introduction scene, which can't really be done justice in screens.



The following text scrolls up on this background.
It's kind of spiffy, but I don't want to screencap the whole thing.
Man and dragon once coexisted in
harmony. However, man shattered
that harmony with a sudden onslaught.

A great war now known as the Scouring
was fought for dominion of the land.
Losses were tremendous for both sides,
and in this war the very laws of nature
itself were twisted and distorted,
bringing chaos and unease...

Defeated and humbled, the dragons
disappeared from the realm.
Mankind then began to rebuild and
repopulate their newly won land.

A millennium has passed since then...

I tried five times, I could NOT capture the screen effect between these two. Sorry.


culture and civilization to the farthest
reaches of the continent.
In the west lies the Kingdom of
Etruria, which is widely considered to
possess the most refined culture
in all of Elibe.
The Kingdom of Bern, with its powerful
military and logical, pragmatic people,
is located on the other side of
the continent in the east.

situated between them.
These smaller lands are...
the Lycian League, whose numerous
territories are independently ruled
by a number of marquessess that are
bound by a vow of allegiance;

become mercenaries to earn
money to survive;

Although there were occasional clashes
between these nations, the majority
of the people of Elibe lived in peace.
That peace, however, was not to last...


Now, Bern is mounting a merciless
invasion into Lycia.

Phearae's Lord Roy was in Ostia, Lycia's
largest territory, when the invasion began.
He had been sent to study to become
the next marquess of the Pherae territory.

Protagonist of FE7, Eliwood is too old and sick to beat even bandits...
has sent for Roy to return to lead Pherae's
soldier in defending against Bern.

The bossman himself. The finest Lord.
At the same time Eliwood sent for Roy,
Marquess Ostia's daughter Lilina
was in Pherae visiting Eliwood,
who is Marquess Ostia's long-time
friend and confidant.
Upon receiving his father's message, Roy
hurries home, taking with him his vassals
and Bors, a knight from Ostia who is
responsible for Lilina's safety.
The story begins when Roy reaches
the outskirts of Pherae...


Sorry for not screenshotting Bors just yet; but he's got green hair and bulky yellow armor.
The reason I didn't is because of the 20 image per post limit



They've all hidden themselves
inside the castle!

Right bandit: Hee hee hee...
You were right when you said
there wouldn't be many soldiers.
They're all getting ready
to defend against Bern!
Damas (left): Of course I was right.
I'm always right, you fool.
But reinforcements could be
here any minute.
All right, you curs, listen up!
Kill everyone in the castle
while we still got time!
Then we can waltz outta
here with all the loot!


THIS GUY: Let's go ransack the villages
and take everything they got!

Would you believe that I thought I had actually captured the destroyed village? I didn't!

Merlinus (left): Lord Eliwood!
We're under attack by
bandits from Mount Bolm!

Eliwood: Blast it! Were I not in this pitiful state,
I would take care of them all myself...!

Eliwood: Lilina, you must hide yourself.
This castle is going to
become a war zone.
Lilina: No, my lord.
I can fight, too!
And you are so brilliant at it, too.
Eliwood: Don't be absurd.
I couldn't face Hector if something
happened to you in my own castle.
Lilina: My father?
But...
Eliwood: It's going to be all right.
Roy should be here any moment, so we
just need to hold our own until then.
He'll drive off these dastards.
Can I just say I love the word 'dastards'?
Merlinus!
Send a messenger to Roy to let
him know the current situation!
We need his help!
Merlinus: Y-yes, milord!

[The map pans down as enemies fill it, then Roy's troops file in; then a cavalier rushes in from the top, walking over enemy units, an ability that they will lose once we gain control.]
OR IF YOU PREFER?




And that is 20 images! Please increase the image limit...

 

[Eliwan]

Roy: Oh, it's Lance!
What's the matter?
Why are you in such a hurry?
Lance: Lord Roy!
Bandits have appeared and are attacking
the castle as we speak!

Allen on the right.
Lance: He's inside, defending against
the bandits' attack.
But I don't know how long he can
last with his illness...!
Bors: Excuse me. Lance, is it?
Is Lady Lilina safe?
Lance: You must be a knight of Ostia.
Lady Lilina is in the castle.
She should be all right.

Bors on the right.
Roy: No...
I shouldn't have let Lilina go to
the castle before me.
Very true, Roy. We could use her strength. A lot.
Wolt (leftmost): Lord Roy, regret won't solve anything!
We must retake the castle!

JEEEEEEEEIIIIGGGGGAAAAANNNNNNNNNNN-- er, Marcus.
Roy: Yes, you're right.
This is no time to despair.
Very well. To arms then!
Our target is the castle!
We must rescue everyone!


(note that the top line of this map was cut off for sake of only needing to stitch together 2 instead of 3 screenshots)

Welcome to tutoria featuring bandits, enjoy your stay

Please note that Damas, the axe fighter two tiles south of the castle gate, moves onto the castle gate when you end your first turn.

Seriously, though, I hate ONE thing about this game so I'm going to make Roy the biggest most amazing strongman possible.
Because Roy is actually one of the most awesome Lords in the series, it's just that the reason why is very hard to see.

Starting Stats of the army, what stats do. You don't really need to check this

Spoiler

Roy, Lord, Level 1
18h, 5p, 5k, 7s, 7l, 5d, 0r, 5m, 6c, Fire
Swords D

It wouldn't be a tactics game without tons of numbers.
In order, these stats are HP, Strength, Skill, Speed, Luck, Defense, Resistance, Movement, Constitution, Affinity.

HP = avoid dying, 0 hp means death
Strength/Magic--I'm just using "Power"--makes you do more damage to enemies with your weapons, makes you heal more with staves.
Skill-- Allows you to hit more often and critical more often. Crits are (Attack - Enemy Relevant Defense)*3-- so if your total attack (weapon might + str/mag/pow) isn't higher than the enemy's relevant defense (def for physical users unless using Light Brand or Runesword; in which case they hit against res like all magic users), your crits are worthless.
Speed is the best stat--improves dodge rate, enables doubling.
Luck reduces the enemy's crit chance and improves your dodge rate.
Defense reduces the damage you take from physical weapons
Resistance reduces the damage you take from magical attacks
Movement determines how many tiles you can move in a turn, assuming you don't also have to pay increased terrain costs.
Constitution determines what weapons you can use without getting speed penalties as well as your Aid stat, which is to say which units you are capable of rescuing (halving your skill and speed, but sheltering that unit with another-- you can also pick up units and give/take/drop them, which is called a rescue chain, to escort them blazingly fast across a map).
Affinity determines what bonuses the unit offers when supporting another unit.

If your adjusted speed is at least 4 more than your opponent's adjusted speed, you get to attack twice in a round.
Normally you get to respond with one attack whenever you get attacked and you get to attack once each time it is your turn.
Your adjusted speed is affected by the amount more your weapon weighs than your con (Roy here has 6 con).

Roy is our Lord; and is required to bring on every single chapter of the game.
Additionally, he is the only one that can clear all but one of the maps, because their objective is SEIZE.
Finally, as our Lord, if he dies it is game over.

I mean, I reset whenever anybody dies, so it isn't that different.

Weapon rank determines what weapons the unit can currently equip and nothing else.
It's an important thing to keep track of, and it increases whenever a unit attacks.


Marcus, Paladin, Level 1+?
32h, 9p, 14k, 11s, 10l, 9d, 8r, 8m, 11c, Ice
Swords D, Axes E, Lances A

Marcus is a Jeigan-archetype. That means that he comes as a promoted unit, which means he gets terrible XP per enemy he fights or kills.
On top of this, his growths are terrible compared to many of the other units.

Allen, Cavalier, Level 1 {I may accidentally transcribe 'Alan'}
21h, 7p, 4k, 6s, 3l, 6d, 0r, 7m, 9c, Fire
Swords E, Lances D

Red cavalier. In most FE games, you're given two cavaliers, red and green, parroting the original Cain and Abel.
Which stat set corresponds to which armor color does change, unfortunately.

Lance, Cavalier, Level 1
20h, 5p, 6k, 8s, 2l, 6d, 0r, 7m, 9c, Anima
Swords E, Lances D

Green cav. Interestingly, in FE6, both cavs have the same weapon ranks (a mistake corrected in 7, where the strength-speed cav uses lances (Sain) and the more balanced cav uses swords (Kent)).

Bors, Knight, Level 1
20h, 7p, 4k, 3s, 4l, 11d, 0r, 4m, 14c, Wind

4 movement. Knights are weak because of their low movement scores and speed stats.
However, this is even moreso in FE6, because

Spoiler

we get a LOT of mounted units

So it's really not fair to him at all.
But do note that he has more defense than the promoted Marcus. Knights have basically nothing but Defense in their starting stats.

Wolt, Archer, Level 1
18h, 4p, 4k, 5s, 2l, 4d, 0r, 5m, 7c, Ice
Bows D

I like Wolt. But Wolt is an awful archer. He's got lower stats than a lot of our army...
And he can only attack at range.
Admittedly, having a ranged attack makes him very useful, but his bow has 6 might, which means he's only hitting for 10...

This will cause him to become unusable as soon as enemy defense starts ramping up. Right now, the enemies are basically all at 2 defense, though.

In fact 10 of the enemies on this map, of which there are 16?
20h, 5p, 2k, 4s, 0l, 2d, 0r, 5m, 11c

-`-`-`-`-

Okay, so FE6 Ch1.

The plan is simple.

Roy will kill all but two or three units on this map. To accomplish this, I will send everybody but Lance into the chokepoint directly above our starting position, with Roy in front.

Bors will lag behind and this will keep happening.
Wolt may offer some chip damage.

Lance will be making a beeline for the village in the bottom right, which gives gold.
Everybody else will do everything in their power to feed Roy kills.


Villager: If you don't have any, you won't be
able to replace your broken weapons!
And you can't fight
without weapons!
This line became a meme in the FE community.

I then forgot to visit the other Houses, because they aren't Villages, and in vanilla GBA!FE6/7, no House gives you items.
Sorry. x{


End of my turn 1. (the linked is just the actual end)


At the end of turn 1, Damas moves onto the castle gate (which gives him a bunch of bonuses)...
And says
Damas: Curses!
Reinforcements already!
But they'll have to go through
me to get into the castle!
Damas, you are terrible.


Lance got hit. This is perfectly acceptable.

Now, I've got something silly about FE6 to share.

The game prioritizes killing Roy. Despite Wolt being in range of some enemies, who can attack such that he can't counterattack them (normal AI preference)...

Since I want the enemies to dogpile Roy, I'm going to have Marcus Rescue Roy, then have Allen Take and Drop Roy into the Forest tile.

Then Allen will move away from the tile because he is on a horse and thus has Canto.

Shady things I've done: Wolt has attacked the left fighter near to him, Roy actually attacked the fighter above Marcus before being rescued and then dropped to that Forest tile.

Image of this from separate playthrough (in which Roy got hit a bunch).



So, T2 end.

...interestingly the AI decided to attack Wolt with one Fighter. But everybody else went for Roy!

Who dodged EVERYTHING. Forest tiles the best things.

Lance moved to the bottom right corner of the map, when really I didn't need to shove him so far into the corner.

T3 involves Roy poking a fighter and everybody else running:

Roy level! Yesss.

Roy pokes the Archer and succeeds at getting 2 hits of 6, bringing the archer down to 6 hp left; which means that even once they move onto the forest tile they should die because Roy doubles the Archer.

Yes this is my strategy, feed everything to Roy. I know it's kind of lame, but I love Roy so I feel obligated to try and raise him...


Yes, I'm sorry for wanting to make sure that Roy doesn't SUCK.

I like having Lords that can actually fight and win.

It's not slowing me down much, anyway.


At last Roy is level 4! Not top-heavy enough.

lol missing screenie #2


Allen has the privledge of getting our first critical hit!

The rest is just cleanup, so I'm skipping the last three enemies. :/



Allen and Lance teamed up (with a Trade assist from Marcus) to take out the Archer that was to the left of that Fighter.

Roy gets in position for the boss.


Interestingly the AI chooses to attack Lance. That means that the WTA check happens before the royhate.


Damas: You can't take down a few pathetic knights?!

Damas has terrible boss conversation.

He also misses because he has a displayed hit of 25.
All the power in the world won't help if you can't ever hit.
I think somebody says as much in FE7.

Wolt adds 3 damage.
Lance misses twice.

I messed up so I can't get Allen to attack with the Javelin as well, so Roy hits Damas, guaranteeing that Damas will fall this enemy phase.



Damas finishes his life with the plain utterances:

Damas: Wh...what the...?!
S...so strong...

Giving OUR BOY ROY 73 XP, which he uses to...
(And then I had class so I sat in suspense for 2 hours before I got to see the level up)


Woop.

Seize gate with Roy, and I'll start the Ch1 conclusion..

 

[Eliwan]

...now!

Roy: Father!
Lilina!
Eliwood: Roy, is that you?

Roy: I'm so glad to see you both!
Thank goodness you're unharmed.
[Lilina exits?]
Eliwood: Thanks for the rescue, Roy.
Roy: Of course, Father.
How is your health?
Eliwood: Well enough.
I've some life in me yet.
THEN WHY DON'T YOU FIGHT WITH US?!
Eliwood: But Roy, do you know why
I called you back here?
Roy: I'm to take over your role by
leading the soldiers of Pherae.
We must join in the rest of the Lycian
Army to defend our people.
Eliwood: Exactly.
As you know, Bern has
commenced an invasion of Lycia.
We are honorbound to follow the
ancient vows of our allegiance.
Lycia needs every lord's army,
and we must oblige.
Roy: Of course.
Eliwood: I'm truly sorry to interrupt your
studies and force you into this war,
but I'm not well... I'm in no condition to lead an army.
Roy: Father...
Lilina: Lord Eliwood!
I'll go with Roy!
And unfortunately no you won't.
Lilina: My father leads Lycia's largest army.
And I'm certain my magic will
be of help to Roy...
Eliwood: No, Lilina.
You must return to Ostia.

Eliwood: With Hector preparing for battle, there is
no one sitting on the throne of Ostia.
It must be an uneasy feeling for the
people not to have a sitting lord.
As the daughter of the marquess, you must
take the throne until Hector returns.
That will put the poeple at ease.
Do you have any objections?
Lilina: ...No, my lord.

Eliwood: You are to meet them at the border to
Bern. Merlinus will accompany you.
Unfortunately, as this is not FE7, Merlinus takes a deploy slot and basically can't be levelled.
However, having a convoy is awesome.
He is knowledgable and experienced and
should be of great help.
Roy: Thank you for everything,
Father.
Eliwood: Don't worry, my son.
I have absolute faith in you!
Fight bravely, and show everyone who
the next marquess of Pherae is!
OK. Roy?
WIN EVERYTHING!
Roy: Yes, Father!

Bors: You needn't ask, milady.
I will accompany Lord Roy in his travels
and protect him with my very life.
Lilina: Thank you, Bors.
[Exit Bors, enter Roy]
Lilina: Take care, Roy.
Roy: I will.
You too, Lilina.



And that concludes Chapter 1!

IMAGE LIMIT IS OPPRESSIVE.

Next time, The Princess of Bern! And actual strategy, so it'll take a lot more screenshots.

 

[Private Lee O'Malley]

Hopefully you'll blessed with a decent Roy.

inb4 all you get is health level ups.

 

[Eliwan]

Hopefully you'll blessed with a decent Roy.

inb4 all you get is health level ups.

Click to shrink...

If I am not blessed with an AMAZING Roy, I will be feeding him stat up items.

He's Eliwood, but with worse everything except Luck and HP, right? Roy has a higher Luck growth than Eliwood, but lower basically everything else.

What really cripples Roy is his promotion happening so late, with only 5 or 6 chapters left in the game.

Though Eliwood isn't much better, honestly; he promotes with 7 left. It's just that those chapters are longer and have more reinforcements, so it is easier to train Eliwood than Roy.

Basically, my mode of operation for FE is...

"If the Lord sucks, I will do everything to laugh in the face of the RNG and make the Lord NOT suck."

Eirika was the worst Lord ever. She was the only Lord of mine that wasn't able to run alongside her own troops.

...21 strength at level 20/20. Had capped speed and luck at like 20/10.

And currently it seems like I will have to do this.

Because Roy is level 6, with 6 points of strength. Seriously..?

He's got 22hp/6 str/9 skl/8 spd/11 luck/7 def/2 res.

I will break this game with a godly Roy. No matter what.

 

[Nanimani]

Eirika was the worst Lord ever. She was the only Lord of mine that wasn't able to run alongside her own troops.

Click to shrink...

You kidding me?
Roy's worse. Sure, she's no Ephriam, but she's not bad.

 

[Eliwan]

You kidding me?
Roy's worse. Sure, she's no Ephriam, but she's not bad.

Click to shrink...

In my last playthrough of FE6, Roy was good enough to continue being used to actually kill units until most of my army was promoted.

The same could not be said of actually half of the Eirikas that I've had.

Subjectively, Eirika is a worse unit than Roy.

Also, if we set aside combat stats, Roy is way better.
He's a general of an actual army, unlike Eirika's relatively rag-tag team.
He's also younger than Eirika.

Anyway; going to get started transcribing chapter 2 now.

 

[Nanimani]

In my last playthrough of FE6, Roy was good enough to continue being used to actually kill units until most of my army was promoted.

The same could not be said of actually half of the Eirikas that I've had.

Subjectively, Eirika is a worse unit than Roy.

Click to shrink...

Odd. I've never had an Erika like that.
...Or at least I can't remember one.
Admittedly, my one playthrough of Binding Blade had him hold up until promotions, but at least Erika promotes at an almost decent time.

Also, if we set aside combat stats, Roy is way better.
He's a general of an actual army, unlike Eirika's relatively rag-tag team.

Click to shrink...

Eh. True, mostly. Generaling is Ephriam's job.
Then again, that means she pretty much took out Grado's forces in Carcino and their collaborators with just a rag-tag team.

He's also younger than Eirika.

Click to shrink...

???
How does that matter?

 

[Eliwan]

Odd. I've never had an Erika like that.
...Or at least I can't remember one.
Admittedly, my one playthrough of Binding Blade had him hold up until promotions, but at least Eirika promotes at an almost decent time.

Click to shrink...

Eirika has a much better promotion time, yes.

I've done 2 complete runs of FE8-Eirika and each time she turned out way worse than the rest of her army. It's only when I run Ephraim mode that my Eirika turns out nicely... On the other hand, both of the Roys that I have raised turned out nicely (though this third one seems to be defying that). Admittedly the second one didn't go far (computer stopped working).

Then again, that means she pretty much took out Grado's forces in Carcino and their collaborators with just a rag-tag team.

Click to shrink...

True, but note that they did withdraw from that location already.
Also that Eirika isn't called, in any way, to have actually contributed to battle strategy.
Roy is specifically called out as doing so.

???
How does that matter?

Click to shrink...

Roy is 14.
Eirika is 17.

I hope that you know how many biological changes there are in people between those two ages. Physically and mentally, the body does spurts of development Roy is before one and Eirika is after one.

It stands to reason that Eirika should actually be stronger in some ways than Roy... and certainly smarter.

Eirika gets tricked.
Roy marshals an entire army.

Roy is smarter. And younger. And just as capable in a fight (though you could attribute that to game mechanics).

Anyway;

---

This is where Roy is to meet the mercenary band that Eliwood hired.

At the time Roy reaches the village, the castle is in an outright panic.
Roy has yet to realize that this confusion going on in the castle will spread, engulfing the entire continent of Elibe in chaos...




Ruud (left): Y-yes, Captain Milady...
I'm certain she was in her room this morning, but she simply vanished...

LOOK AT HOW MILADY MOVED FORWARD.
Milady: I don't want excuses! Are you so incompetent youc an't understand that?!
>Ruud shuffles backwards.
Ruud: Well... I... Er...
Milady: Our forces are mobilizing to begin a full-scale war with Lycia. How are we to focus on the battle if the princess is missing?!
Naturally, you will take full responsibility for her disappearance.
I never should have let Her Highness come to the border to begin with.
I will return to Bern and inform the king of this matter. I'll try not to cause a panic, but I can't promise your life if the princess isn't found.
I trust you'll take every measure to locate her as soon as possible.
Ruud: Yes, Captain!
>Milady flies away.

Generic: Yes, Commander. She's under constant surveillance in the cellar.
Ruud: Good. Don't let her escape.
Generic: But Commander... Are you sure this is a good idea?
Ruud: Of course I'm sure! The younger sister of King Zephiel...
We're sure to get a hefty sum turning her over to one of Bern's enemies.
Loyalty to one's king. Bah. What a worthless notion.
The world is ruled by neither king nor queen. It's ruled by gold!
Generic: Yes, indubitably, Commander.
...But there has been a snag, shall we say.
Ruud: Hm? What do you mean?
Generic: I just received a report...
It seems that Princess Guinivere's lady-in-waiting has escaped..
Ruud: What?! You lout, why didn't you say so earlier?
Because he just received it?
Ruud: Find her this instant! Don't let her get away!

>Map pans over to other side, Roy and co enter.



Roy: This is where we're supposed to meet the mercenaries?
Merlinus: Yes, though it seems they aren't here yet.
Wait, who's that? Somebody's coming this way...

>A cleric slowly walks into the group, and turns to step next to Roy.



Cleric: Oh, forgive me! I'm in such a hurry...
Roy: No need for apologies.
Cleric: No, I'm fine. Thank you, good sir.
... I think I need to go replay this segment These follow one another in my screenshots.
Roy: Farewell, then.
Cleric: ...Are you from Lycia, by chance?
Roy: I am Roy. I am the son of Marquess Pherae.
Cleric: Oh, Saint Elimine! Thank you for guiding me to this boy!
Roy: Pardon?
>Cleric moves closer.
Cleric: Please, I need your help to rescue my mistress.
Roy: What happened?
Elen: My name is Elen. I am a cleric of Saint Elimine. My mistress and I came from Bern to seek an audience with the lords of Lycia. However, Commander Ruud of the castle east of here trapped us. We were captured, imprisoned by our own countrymen.


Roy: But we can't neglect a noble of Bern who wants to speak with the lords of Lycia.
...Then again, we can't simply charge into enemy territory either...
Wait, who's there?!
>Some soldiers walk across the bottom of the map and come close towards us.

Generic: Over here, boys! Get the girl! Our orders say dead or alive!



Merlinus: You wouldn't listen even if we did, I'm sure.
MERLINUS, EVERYBODY.
Merlinus: But no matter. Let me witness all you've learned about tactics in Ostia.
Roy: All right, everyone! We're going to charge the castle! Sister Elen, you should find a place to hide...
>Merlinus exits, Elen enters.
Elen: No, I will come with you. I cannot fight, but I can heal wounded allies.
I think these words are in literally every single Fire Emblem game, at some point.
Roy: But...
Elen: I'm the one that got you tangled up in this mess. Please let me do what I can to help.

Elen: Certainly. Thank you for the concern.



Before we actually get started, Marcus runs up to the top village as the first thing I do.



Bad screenshotting. At least it shows the open-mouth frame?
Lady: Armored knights have nearly impenetrable defenses. But some weapons, like this sword, can pierce their armor. I'm sure you can get better use out of it than us. Please, take it.
[Armorslayer Get!]

The Armorslayer (effective weapons in general) is hilariously broken in FE6, because Weapon Effectiveness is *3.
For whatever stupid reason, when FE7 was translated, weapon effectiveness was nerfed to *2.

I do sincerely hate NoA for that change, because *3 effective weapons are AMAZING.

Roy takes out the northmost soldier after Bors weakens him:



Lance takes out the soldier nearby, in the face of the weapon triangle.

It yields only good:

 

[Nanimani]

Also that Eirika isn't called, in any way, to have actually contributed to battle strategy.
Roy is specifically called out as doing so.


Roy is 14.
Eirika is 17.

I hope that you know how many biological changes there are in people between those two ages. Physically and mentally, the body does spurts of development Roy is before one and Eirika is after one.

It stands to reason that Eirika should actually be stronger in some ways than Roy... and certainly smarter.

Eirika gets tricked.
Roy marshals an entire army.

Roy is smarter. And younger. And just as capable in a fight (though you could attribute that to game mechanics).

Click to shrink...

He was also personally tutored by one of the top three generals in a great country.

 

[Eliwan]

He was also personally tutored by one of the top three generals in a great country.

Click to shrink...

True.
I'm just saying that it seems super weird how awesome Roy is compared to Eirika, and yet people say he sucks and don't bring her up.

---

I don't know, exactly, what happened next, because my next screenshot is of a purely white screen. I assume an enemy died.

Then two fighters, a mercenary, and a pegasus knight ride in, coming on-screen in the bottom right corner, just south of the mountain pass.


Shanna: Sure!
(she then flies away).

Deke: House Pherae, one of the noble families of Lycia. The marquess's son is going to join the other armies of the Lycian League.

Deke: Looks that way.
Wade (blue-clothed): Finally, a foe worthy of my axe! Let's show'em what we're made of!
Lot (orange-haired, slightly green clothes): Bern, eh? This won't be easy, I can tell you that. We had best tread lightly.
>Shanna flies back in.
Shanna: I think I've found them! But it looks like they're already caught up in a skirmish.
Deke: What? The fighting's started already? Let's get a move on then. Time to earn our pay!


Pretty sure Bors killed a soldier, Lance is taking that fort because I prefer Lance to Alan and I want him to get some XP.

Wolt then takes out the Soldier two tiles left of Lance; and Elen heals Lance up.



Screenshot compilation of the stats of our team at this point, since I feel like this will be interesting

And so begins one of my most hated level designs.

This chapter. We get these four units.

One of them (Shanna) is too squishy to actually fight the horde of enemies in front of them.
Two of them (Wade and Lot) are axe users, and FE6 is not the Emblem game for axe users.
One of them is Deke, who is awesome.
You have two options, really. Either A) sacrifice the defense offered by the forts, or B) Have the mercenaries retreat and fight the enemies on equal terrain with all of your units.

A doesn't work because FE6 is an enemy-phase based game anyway. It's the epitome of "Villains act, heroes react." I mean, it's technically the opposite, but your actions are dictated by the enemies' actions.

B works because of this:
(Also, Deke got a crit.)
See how the enemy only has a displayed hit of 14? The Fort contributes a lot to that.

Now, A also has the problem of being slower to play through than B as an option.

So really, what happens this chapter is that Roy's entire army has to play catchup to units you get that start in the middle of the map; which means that your army from Ch1 is basically worthless.

It's... aaaaaaaaaghhhhhhhhh. I hate it.


This, though, I love. FE is just so beautiful! Huge smears for motion.


Lance takes out a Hand-Axe Fighter next turn for this level.

At least Roy didn't get that level.


Soldier decided to attack Shanna with his Javelin, which is what I wanted all along, so I could do this.
(The soldier dies shortly afterward)

I then have Allen rescue Roy, then trade Roy to Marcus, who moves with Roy, allowing him to be picked up by Shanna who then moves some more, and Roy is then taken from Shanna by Lot, and finally dropped on a fort. You have to go through a lot of stupid things to get units over to the right side of the map before the mercenaries have already ground through the units.

It just contributes to my hatred for this map.


This is what it looks like in the end. Blessed Canto.


I WILL TRAIN YOU, ROY.

Deke slaughters an enemy that I was hoping would attack Roy.


Wade was the only one who could get rid of this soldier...

Deke slaughters the Archer.

I take a gamble with Shanna. She's got a low hit rate, but she won't die and there aren't any enemies in range who can finish her off.

I believe she hits, but I don't actually know because the screenshots are missing.

[Roy levelled, gaining 1 HP, 1 Luck, and 1 Defense. However, I can't upload this screenie because imgur is being frustrating.]
ROY YOU ARE NOT DOING YOUR JOB


For once I have to use Marcus, because otherwise I can't give Shanna the kill so she can level.
So PURPLE, is he not?!
Shanna, in killing that merc, puts herself in range of an archer, so I do some silly things to block that archer:


Which leads to Roy bringing a fighter down to 1 HP-- and getting a weapon rank!

Roy has attacked 37 times this LP.
Grinding him gets difficult. :|

Deke kills the archer since Shanna can't.

It was worth it.

Shanna finishes off the Fighter roy battered.
Elen heals Roy up.

Ruud's stat page says he has 10 defense. That 10 defense is a lie. He's on a gate. He has 13 defense.
His description is "A knight in control of a castle on the Bern-Lycia border." I forgot to check Damas'....


So despite the Rapier offering 15 Might due to having x3 Might against Knights (and Cavalry) instead of the usual 5, Roy still can only deal 5 damage.
However, look at that hit rate of 84.

>>Boss quote:
Ruud: Damn it all! Just when I thought things had finally turned my way...

Roy stabs him twice.

Now, the hit rates in this game are stupid.

The armorslayer is 40 hit and 4 weight superior to the Hammer.
FE6 is sword bias heaven.

Lot takes a swing at Ruud using his iron axe for some XP and because it doesn't actually cost me a turn.
Deke finishes with 18 damage.

Ruud: Oof...


Talk conversation that never happened: Deke and Roy.
Deke: Are you Lord Roy of House Pherae?
Roy: Who is it that's asking?
Deke: Name's Deke. You should've heard about me from an older man named Merlinus.
Roy: So you're the leader of the mercenary band?
Deke: Just a small company, really. Sorry we're late. Didn't think the fighting would start so soon.
Roy: Well... There was a complication...
Deke: Don't take it the wrong way. We don't blame you. Actually, quite the contrary. My boys are excited for a chance to show off their skills.
And yet he's really the only one worth a damn. :?
Roy: Brilliant. It sounds like you're just the caliber of fighters we need.
Deke: Enough chitchat then. Let's wrap things up.

Beginning conclusion... later. I feel bleh and I think it's showing.

 

[Nanimani]

EH? Thany got translated to Shanna?
And Dieck to Deke?!
Worst game, 0/10.

... More seriously, Dieck's bases are great, but neither of the two times I got people up to "Promoted" left him as any good.
I prefer the other blue-haired Mercenary.

 

[Nanimani]

Why are you overleveling Roy, anyway? He's gonna ram that level 20 cap, even if you keep him the same level as your other units.
Why not level them evenly?

 

[Eliwan]

EH? Thany got translated to Shanna?
And Dieck to Deke?!
Worst game, 0/10.

Click to shrink...

Actually, these are more correct romanizations based extensive effort by a number of people, but Gringe in particular.
If you want to read about why those got chosen, see the topic.

... More seriously, Dieck's bases are great, but neither of the two times I got people up to "Promoted" left him as any good.
I prefer the other blue-haired Mercenary.

Click to shrink...

Ogier?
Yeah, he's good too.

Why are you overleveling Roy, anyway? He's gonna ram that level 20 cap, even if you keep him the same level as your other units.
Why not level them evenly?

Click to shrink...

Because Fire Emblem is a story of Princes and Princesses.
I do this in every FE I play. My Lord is my goto unit for everything.

I lead armies like Rider and Saber combined, best unit and leader in front

More seriously I'm extra doing it for FE6 because everybody insists Roy is not a good unit.

And I will prove that he is a fine unit. By carrying the game with him.

Because I can.

And because FE6 is Mount Emblem, I want to specialize in not-mounted units.

 

[Masket]

A Fire Emblem LP? Pffft....it'll never catch on. You must be mad!