The FE8 localisation rebalances a few enemy inventories and changes a few stats around; it was still in the days of FE difficulty getting turned down a bit for Western releases. I assume the axe was added because they didn't understand the AI and the drop mechanics, and didn't want the AI using durability on the dropped weapon (weapons in FE8 are restored on drop).
Most infamously, it also introduces a bug with the Wyvern Knight class that can hardlock the game if they use a Brave Lance or otherwise attack an enemy who doesn't counterattack.
I think the funniest one is that they buffed Seth's HP growth by 5%. I want to talk to the localizer who looked at Seth and not only thought he needed buffing, but that an average of +1 HP at max level would be the thing to push him into viability.
I think the funniest one is that they buffed Seth's HP growth by 5%. I want to talk to the localizer who looked at Seth and not only thought he needed buffing, but that an average of +1 HP at max level would be the thing to push him into viability.
The funniest buff for me is a certain postgame unit who I won't mention by name getting like +50 points to their growths in almost every stat. Mostly because it really highlights how bad their growths were in the JP version.
Also buffing [NAME EXPUNGED] to be sort of even with Joshua in growths... only to also buff Joshua. Game balancing decisions were made, that's for sure.
It's also worth noting that the other GBA games are pretty stingy with promotion items in general, where there's just not enough promotion items to go around; those games seem to be trying to force you to pick a few favorites from each class blob and so push you to have something like combined arms tactics with your endgame team. (That is, Roy cannot go into the endgame with literally every possible Paladin, crowding out almost all the non-Paladins) If that -or anything vaguely similar- is the intent, the split-up class promotion items are actually necessary to enforce the concept at all; if you got, say, exactly 12 Master Seals in a game with 36 characters who need promotion items, rather than a bunch of class-specific promotion items, then you'd only be able to promote a third of all your promotable people, but you'd absolutely be able to promote all 8 Cavaliers or whatever, even if the devs really intended for you to only be able to promote 4 of them or something. (And for example the funds ranking mechanics in those games also mean that if you're trying to keep your funds score high, then you have to be even stingier about passing out promotions, even the ones that a first-time player probably thinks of as no-brainers like the Lord promotions in Lyn's game)
Sacred Stones is weird for the fact that it's not only possible to promote literally everybody within a single run but is in fact kind of trivial to do; this is actually another thing that I suspect was caused by the rushing, where probably there were really meant to be more recruitable characters than we actually got and a more polished version of the game would've been designed so that you had to be choosy about who got promotion items.
On the other hand, Sacred Stones also has a bunch of mechanics that would've had to not be done -or be done very differently- to avoid this 'literally everyone can be promoted within a single run' result, so possibly Sacred Stones is just a Sign Of Things To Come. The later games do, after all, increasingly give up on this 'you can't promote everybody' idea. And I don't just mean stuff like how the international versions of Radiant Dawn made promotion items outright unecessary, I mean that even the Japanese version of Radiant Dawn's design was such that the theoretical necessity of promotion items was sort of a joke unless you had a pretty specific list of favorites you wanted to drag all of into the endgame and whoops that's one too many guys who need a promotion item so one of them doesn't get to be a cool fully promoted class.
Whatever the reason, I'm okay with the fact that the series has increasingly trended toward giving up on promotion items as a concept. There's potential to the design concept, but every entry to use the concept has... jank.
On the other hand, Sacred Stones also has a bunch of mechanics that would've had to not be done -or be done very differently- to avoid this 'literally everyone can be promoted within a single run' result, so possibly Sacred Stones is just a Sign Of Things To Come. The later games do, after all, increasingly give up on this 'you can't promote everybdy' idea. And I don't just mean stuff like how the international versions of Radiant Dawn made promotion items outright unecessary, I mean that even the Japanese version of Radiant Dawn's design was such that the theoretical necessity of promotion items was sort of a joke unless you had a pretty specific list of favorites you wanted to drag all of into the endgame and whoops that's one too many guys who need a promotion item so one of them doesn't get to be a cool fully promoted class.
Yeah it's worth pointing out that in the GBA era if promotion items are even unlimited purchasable at all, it will be in the form of a secret shop or something, where by the time you're looking at something like Fates even Conquest, aka the only route without unlimited grinding potential (sorta) doesn't even limit a player who doesn't know the secrets to a finite total number of promotions except to the extent that you have a finite supply of characters and, from the lack of grinding, a finite supply of experience.
I think this might've been one of mine and I'm glad it worked.
One of the main reasons why I argue for it is that Vanessa has a miserably low strength early on. The +3 damage from the Iron Lance will often mean better results for her, even if it comes at the cost of 3 effective speed in the same way that Eirika should use heavier swords on occasion. If she gets a single speed level, which is pretty likely, she'll still be able to double the majority of enemy units in the early chapters with +6 total damage and becomes capable of "2 rounding" enemies.
Most of the units she won't be able to double with it, she also couldn't double with the slim lance.
Oh, and it may seem questionable that Novala had time to go on a shopping trip in Renais and still get to the ambush site ahead of the heroes, but a later scene shows that he has teleportation magic.
I wish FE would ever make teleportation magic consistent within even one universe or have people use it even remotely intelligently. Some games are better than others with it, but I can't think of one where it adds anything except for questions.
Contrast this with the easy camaraderie shown by Glen, Selena and Duessel. As you may have guessed, I love it when the forces of Evil operate like a dysfunctional office comedy, so I look forward to seeing these morons screw over their own side through selfishness and short-sighted ambition.
Villain infighting go! I also really love the dynamic of the old guard vs the new maniacs to show the disfunction and add so many questions about what's going on.
I know I've been directly transcribing more text than usual for this scene, but that's because I think summarizing it would greatly weaken the moral outrage and sheer disgust that it's building. Am I weird for being so affected by this scene? Looking back through my screenshots makes my guts go cold.
This is one of the big moments where Eirika really realized what's happening and the moment where she snaps works so well. It's a little weird to me that he's that sadistic, but this man is also vicious backstabber and a member of a world ending cult. You don't get to be a member of a world ending cult without many screws loose.
The developers were a bit dickish when designing this chapter. I don't really mind; it's clear they were having fun. It's kind of like having a joke played on you by a friend.
They add a fair number of tricks like this into later levels. Single enemies with sudden Silver weapons or Killing or effective. Strategic placement of archers to try and constrain your airforce also shows up a lot.
This doesn't make King Fado look unforgiveably stupid. It makes him look mundanely stupid. I'm perfectly willing to believe that Fado, enamored with the symbolism of having twins and unfamiliar with the realities of childcare, handed his precious keys over to them in a grand ceremony and planned to tell them the truth when they were adults.
I think this also draws on something you mentioned before. How this war was surprising and he wasn't prepared for it. The security measure was put in place long ago and passed down to him where they probably had generations of it not being a problem or real concern, even if they took it seriously.
People get really lax about that and make poor choices, even if they're technically obeying the rules, all of the time.
The thought of 'prepromotes are good if not better actually' is making me feel worse somehow. Before getting into the discourse I was playing (what I thought) normally - using Marcus to weaken enemies for others to kill safely and a few times as a panic button. But after reading way too many Reddit threads about his archetype, I started to doubt myself.
I also don't want to restart the argument, but also want to explain some of my thoughts for this because as much as it can feel bad, I think the concept is actually very good design for mid-game and later pre-promotes.
For many games, your later game pre-promotes are there as a safety net against bad rng or unit deaths. If you get to the point where you recruit them and all of your early game units turn out bad because of rng(or dead because you're iron manning or are willing to eat the loss) the mid and late game pre-promotes are there to pick up the slack and allow you to still beat the game.
Which means that they need to be capable of beating the game with a stat screwed lord and no help from any of the growth units.
This is a boon for any unlucky player, but also means that the pre-promote will be, well, enough to beat the game and they're much more reliable for doing so because it involves much less rng. This matters a lot in the efficient play discourse for the greater community.
A problem that FE 7, 8, 9, and 10 have is that they also gave your early game paladin(or wyvern lord 10's case) the same treatment to the point where many people are disappointed by the next pre-promote Paladin you get compared to base FE7 Marcus, let alone one with any levels.
FE6 Marcus falls off hard, many people will call him vital in hard mode and he is, but he'll carry you to about the point where you can actually promote one of your early game units and not much further. The original Jagen has the same arc, as does Gunter in Fates and Vander in Engage. Vital units for a little while, but out paced by their unpromoted contemporaries by the point where the growth units are level 6-10.
FE6 and FE7 have a second problem for a bunch of late pre-promotes. They're defecting enemy units and get "hard mode bonuses" in the modes most often discussed. This is a bug where said pre-promotes gain phantom levels in hard mode, gaining 4-8 hp and 1-4 of every other stat, because that's how those games boosted enemy stats in hard mode without giving more actual levels, and thus more xp to the player.
FE8 fixed this so it isn't a worry and it also doesn't come into play if you're on normal mode. However... the greater community almost exclusively talks about hard mode you need to be seriously lucky to beat free stat boosts like that in FE6 and FE7 with growth units.
I wonder if it's deliberate that all the monsters in the game so far have been undead. I didn't pay any attention to this back when I played TSS myself when I was younger, but I don't think there's been any mention in the game so far of entire villages going missing or people disappearing or anything.
So where did they get the number of bodies they'd need to raise an army of undead big enough to be the kind of threat they're implied to be?
I'd always thought of this as another facet of the war going on. Many people are going to die in the fighting and they're the ones getting reanimated as zombies and skeletons. Which have the benefit of already being in the world and not needing to do, whatever it is that monsters do to break through.
I love this meme, but also just that your early game priest isn't a tiny anime girl. It's a dad who's here to help and be someone people can lean on. Then you read his supports and... they're a lot of light hearted fun in a surprising way while he is still trying to help.
Honestly Moulder is low-key one of my favorite characters in the game. In the main story he's pretty much just a court healer tagging along on royal orders, quiet and dutiful. In the supports though, you get a good mix of results: he looks at Colm and immediately decides that the boy needs a father figure and by god he's going to be one (with the poor lad consistently misinterpreting his fatherly advice as time goes on), with Giliam it's two old soldiers shooting the shit and talking about better days, and it goes on.
After playing the post-Awakening FE games, I've come do decide that while the GBA games had much fewer supports, they overall tend to be of higher quality. Sure I'd love each of my party to be friends with everyone else, but given the choice I'll take a character with only four support options if they're all written well.
Sacred Stones was the third game I ever owned (after Ruby and an adaption of the Duel Masters TGC) and the first one I picked for myself, so I will be reading along. It's always fun to reevaluate things you initially experienced without a bigger context.
Like, now that I experienced a ton of other similar JRPGs, it's striking how well the evil generals are done here in SS. The quick scene of the newcomers being introduced to the old guard makes all six of them way more interesting in a super efficient way.
After playing the post-Awakening FE games, I've come do decide that while the GBA games had much fewer supports, they overall tend to be of higher quality. Sure I'd love each of my party to be friends with everyone else, but given the choice I'll take a character with only four support options if they're all written well.
I stopped after Awakening, but I suspect the issue is less the actual writing and more how the general character philosophy changed. It's much easier to create something worthwhile between people like Moulder and Garcia than between characters that are each just a basic teen anime trope.
After playing the post-Awakening FE games, I've come do decide that while the GBA games had much fewer supports, they overall tend to be of higher quality. Sure I'd love each of my party to be friends with everyone else, but given the choice I'll take a character with only four support options if they're all written well.
IMO the reason a lot of supports feel better in the GBA games are yeah, with fewer supports to write there's more room to make each one actually have some depth and character to them. Plus, the fact that every character is limited to only 5 supports total means you know they should only get one A support per run barring character death shenanigans, meaning every A support can be a nice final culmination of that pair of units storylines and issues, or them clearly getting romantic or whatever.
Contrast say Awakening, where the sheer number of supports means that even if a character might have plenty of good support conversations, there will still be at least a few where the writers just shrug their shoulders and go "Idunno what to write, I guess just fall back on their gimmick" and you get stuff like every Lon'qu support with a girl starting with "HMMM WOMAN DO NOT COME NEAR ME, I FEAR WOMEN" or Kellam being comically Not Noticed by anyone, or Gaius obsessing over sugar, and so on. Plus, since everyone can reach A support but only can have one S support, there's often a need to avoid having too much implied romance up to A, then suddenly the units go "whoa actually we're madly in love with each other!" in their S support.
That's not to say you don't get some bad or joke supports or characters in earlier games. Dorcas/Vaida in FE7 is one of the dumbest supports in the series where it literally consists of them not even running into each other until the A support as they constantly go "I was told too meet someone here for the battle can't find them" and this... somehow makes them fight better together. Or Ilyana from Path of Radiance exists, and while I love the little gremlin she might genuinely be more one-note than the average Fates character basically all her dialogue is going "hungry gib food want eat". But the higher volume of supports in later games, brought on at least partially by the "gotta ship everyone" mentality of them, means conversations fall back on bland or generic supports all the more often.
Or Ilyana from Path of Radiance exists, and while I love the little gremlin she might genuinely be more one-note than the average Fates character basically all her dialogue is going "hungry gib food want eat".
Good point actually. Next Smash cycle I am gonna ironically stan her as the character whose blueprint saved the franchise. Clearly she would thus represent all the newer games best
I stopped after Awakening, but I suspect the issue is less the actual writing and more how the general character philosophy changed. It's much easier to create something worthwhile between people like Moulder and Garcia than between characters that are each just a basic teen anime trope.
I think they feed into each other honestly. If you know you have to write every combo of supports for a given character, you're less likely to make each deep and complex as opposed to giving them a gimmick to fall back on to make your life easier when two people really don't have much to say to each other. Then people start expecting more supports per character, and you don't have the time to devote to each one, and then you wind up with Fates support dialogue.
Plus, since everyone can reach A support but only can have one S support, there's often a need to avoid having too much implied romance up to A, then suddenly the units go "whoa actually we're madly in love with each other!" in their S support.
I don't know, they do still have to consider a character with an A rank and a B rank, so sometimes there is a bit of Suddenly Romance with the A rank convos, but it could be a lot worse. The one thing it really allows for though, is you can have proper character development. If you have at most one A and one B rank, you can let characters grow and address some underlying issues, or learn more about themselves. And if written well enough, you can avoid supports stepping on each other too much by exploring different aspects of a character in each one.
Whereas nowadays you can get something like Bernadetta Threehouses, who can never really address her crippling social anxiety because the next rank C support convo might need it to still exist.
And yeah, that's not to say there weren't any stinkers in the before times, but I do think the ratio of quality to filler supports was quite a bit higher.
I'm back, with a double feature too! This chapter picks up with Eirika and her crew dashing to Renvall to rescue her brother.
Quick note, one of the enemies last time dropped something called an Iron Blade. It requires the same weapon rank to use as the Steel Sword, does one more point of damage, at the cost of being way heavier and less accurate. My only sword-user (besides Seth) who has enough Constitution to use this without being slowed way down is Franz, and he's not even at D swords yet….And if he were, I would still rather give him a Steel Sword.
So I give the Iron Blade to Seth. I find it amusing to see him destroy enemies with the worst weapons in the game.
Now they've arrived at Renvall, a fortress "surrounded by lakes."
Well, first of all, that's a translation mistake. Renvall is not surrounded by lakes, it's on an island in the middle of a lake, and while I can't say for sure I am willing to bet that the two phrases are identical in Japanese, a language which doesn't mark plural/singular on nouns. Even so, the correct translation is obvious to anyone who glances at the map, which implies that the translator hadn't played the game and was working from the script alone.
In case anyone reading this happens to work in localization: please don't ever make a translator work from the script alone.
So the castle is on an island, and the only access is via the bridge at the front. I'll give Tirado credit, this was an excellent place to trap Ephraim. Now in order to rescue him, Eirika needs to capture this place, only it's not going to be half-empty this time.
This chapter is a climactic one. If we say that the first act of the game was Eirika going to find Ephraim, this here is the climax of the arc. We even get small statements from each of the characters with us, affirming their readiness to fight. This is something I'm only used to seeing right before the final battle in other FE games. Usually, a character won't speak up in story scenes past the chapter they join, because the story has to keep going if they die. But, for special occasions, every character still alive will pipe up with a short line, generally along the lines of, "I'll do my best!" or "Bad guy will pay!" It's kind of like a reward for keeping people alive. I suppose it also might convey a sense of camaraderie among the party, but honestly it mostly fails at that because these lines all stand alone and therefore the sequence doesn't flow. Characters can't respond to each other – what if one member of the conversation is dead?
In this chapter, most of these lines are pretty generic, as is usually the case. There are a few worth noting: Franz begs to participate in the battle, because he thinks his brother, Forde, was captured alongside the prince. Garcia tells Ross to calm down, breaking the rule that characters can't respond to each other.
Artur mentions, "I still have yet to repay you for helping me fight those abominations," which makes me go, wait – Why is Artur here?
Doesn't he have…a job? I mean, he mentioned in Chapter 4 that "the temple" sent him to protect that village. Doesn't it still need protecting? Aren't you, like, a priest? Don't the people of that village need you to do funerals or something?
I have no commentary, I just found that line funny.
The game is so vague about what the people of Magvel worship that it's my current theory that they actually worship, in its own right, a diffuse numinous light that is the source of all goodness and virtue. Personified gods are for intellectually weak heretics like the Demon King cult.
I'm just putting this here, not yet saying whether or not he was right.
So: the Second Battle of Renvall. We didn't fight through this terrain last time, which makes me wonder how the heck Ephraim and company got inside without alerting anyone. As you can see, the path to the castle switchbacks, going past several groups of enemies. There's a group of Soldiers, a group of Fighters, and a group of Mercenaries, encouraging you to swap your frontliners as you go.
On the east and west sides of the lake, there are also these boat thingies (actually ballistae, but it took me a while to figure that out).
I'm interested in the boat thingies, so as I start the level I send Colm and Vanessa up the coast to clear out the enemies guarding the west one. It doesn't go so well. The enemies should be weak, but they're sitting in defensive terrain and I just can't hit them! Even when I add Neimi as backup!
Everyone else is making good progress on the main path. And to make matters worse, inspecting the enemies my main group is facing reveals that there's a Mage…with an Energy Ring.
That thing will increase a unit's stats. That's not highlighted green. I'm gonna have to steal it. I'm gonna have to steal it with Colm, who is currently on the edge of the map, trying and failing to kill one Fighter and one Mage.
…Screw it. I care about an Energy Ring more than the boat thingy. I restart the map and completely ignore those two cockroaches.
But they don't ignore me! They rush down to my starting position, out of the defensive terrain. And Eirika, being a gracious princess, is bound by the laws of etiquette to give them a proper welcome.
This was my attempt at screenshotting a critical hit.
There are quite a few Mages sprinkled among the other soldiers, and I notice something off about their tomes:
Why does Thunder count as anima when Lightning is light magic? I mean, JRPGs tend to associate 'light' and 'lightning' because lightning comes from heaven, it's dazzling, it's an act of the gods, etc. Not how I would categorize lightning, but I can understand it. But now they can't even be consistent? The animation for the Thunder spell is a lightning strike! What's the difference? Is it attacking with literal thunder? Does the Thunder spell do sonic damage?
This map also has two houses. One of them contains a man who shares some juicy gossip on Tirado: "Rumots say he's been plotting behind Valter's back." I love that the military of Grado continues to be a dysfunctional mess. The other house is less interesting – just an old woman who confirms that there was some kind of hullabaloo where the soldiers were chasing someone, but she doesn't know if they were caught or escaped.
Hmm…I don't really like that the game is refusing to confirm whether or not Ephraim is actually here. We might be attacking a castle for nothing.
But, in some good news, I unlocked a new support! Seth and Franz C, everybody! Seth starts by asking Franz how he's tolerating the campaign, and Franz assures him that he's okay.
I think that's the first time I've seen Seth smile? I mean, not with my eyes – the portraits don't change – but, like, in the more detailed scene that I imagine as I read, he's smiling. Seth has been 100% Grim Duty Unto Death so far. These support conversations really can reveal new sides to a character! Well, on second thought, it's not entirely unexpected that what makes Duty Unto Death Man happy is another person joining him in his eternal watch.
This conversation is essentially about Seth moving Franz from his list of People That I Babysit to his list of People Who Can Help Me Babysit.
Seth tells Franz that he expects them to be equals by the time Franz hits Seth's age. This is such good news to the young knight that he starts jumping for joy (I swear, his portrait moved up and down a little bit!). Seth realizes that he might have overdone it with the praise and cautions him to calm down, focus on the battle, and not to get too cocky.
My party is approaching the mage with the item I want to steal. I try to approach carefully, having Colm take a Pure Water and step alone into his range.
Unfortunately, the mage is not the only danger he has to worry about. My forces along the east side of the map are taking damage without any enemies nearby. At this point, I finally realize that the boats are ballistae. But back to Colm's task—
Oh COME ON! Colm foists some Pure Water and a sword on Artur, and then he steals the Energy Ring.
With his turn done, the two Mercenaries come over and beat Colm to death. After that, while I was still staring at the computer with a grumpy look on my face, the Mage killed Neimi, clearly wishing to exact some kind of vengeance on the thief's loved ones.
I'm adding both of those to the deaths counter.
Well, I go back a couple of turns. Since I want to use the ballista now but anyone approaching it would face a withering hail of fire, I send Seth to clear it out. He kills two birds with one lance by also attracting the two Mercenaries who slew Colm. The Mage is without backup and I rob him in peace.
With the enemy artillery now under my control, I have Vanessa ferry Neimi to the ballista. The way artillery work in Fire Emblem, generally, is that they are extremely long-ranged pieces of equipment, unique to certain maps, which allow whoever controls them to attack faraway enemies with impunity. Ballistae usually require the user to be an archer, so only Neimi can use this one.
Oh, and apparently they only have 5 durability in this game. Pity. Well, there weren't too many enemies left by the time I got my hands on it; Neimi was only able to injure the boss's guards.
The boss, Murray, is a cavalier who drops a Knight Crest, yet another kind of promotion item. For knights and cavaliers. There's not much else to say about him.
I mean, one of them wasn't even manned, dude. You should have a talk with the weapons teams.
I was planning to soften him up with Seth and give the kill to one of my mages, but Seth's control over his massive power slipped and he killed the boss with a crit. I forgive you, Seth.
The gates open, Eirika and Seth enter the gatehouse. They stand before a bridge that…wait a second, that can't be the bridge over the lake. We just crossed that bridge. On the map! Look, it's perfectly visible in the screenshots. So what water is that? Is there a moat on the island?
Well, there's water past the gatehouse, and you have to cross a bridge over it. Eirika and Seth keep their eyes open for enemy soldiers, but only see one shadowy figure…Orson!
Yeah, Orson, why are you here? Why didn't you flee the castle with Ephraim back in Chapter 5X?...And did you always look that unwell?
I'm not imagining it! His portrait has changed! He's got bags under his eyes, his skin is sallow, and his eyes are haunted. He looks like he's been through some shit. The characters notice this too. "Orson...Are you well?" Eirika is a compassionate soul, but I remember the example of the Gradoan generals. Bags under your eyes are a sign of moral corruption.
Orson explains that he was captured by Grado, along with his prince. They were held in the deepest dungeons of this castle. In the confusion of the battle, however, he was able to escape and went looking for help…And he doesn't know if Ephraim is still okay. This immediately makes me scoff – what, you couldn't spare a glance at his cell while you were escaping? – but Eirika is sufficiently distracted by concern for her brother.
Orson offers to guide her to the dungeons.
...I hope Joshua made some money off this, at least.
"This way, Princess Eirika," Orson says, definitely not leading her into an ambush or anything like that.
Seth, whose Bodyguard Instincts are still functioning, asks him questions as they go. How long ago was he taken prisoner? "About two weeks ago." Did their captors spill any information about their plans? "Unfortunately, no."
Orson responds with a question of his own: How's the war going? Seth reveals that King Fado is dead. Orson seems…well, he seems taken aback. It's hard to know what's genuine when it comes to him. Eirika tries to cheer him up by bringing up the bracelets: as long as they can recover both Ephraim and his bracelet, Grado's plans will be foiled.
Orson: Would it not be best to give them to someone else? Give them to me or to Seth. Let someone you trust guard them. For your own safety, Your Highness, please. What say you?
Oh, I see. Yes, that's not a bad plan, Orson. As long as Eirika carries the bracelet-key, she will be hunted by Grado – but what they want is the bracelet, not her. So it would make her safer to simply hand it over to someone else. Someone who can be trusted with it, like a Renaisian knight, of course. And of the three knights present – Orson, Seth and Franz – Franz is just a rookie. So that leaves Seth and Orson. But Seth was charged with guarding Princess Eirika by her father, a duty he takes super seriously – and he would need to leave her side to make sure Grado doesn't endanger her as they hunt for the bracelet. As good as he is at running ahead and luring enemies in-game, I doubt he'll want to leave the princess behind long-term.
And that leaves Orson as a perfectly reasonable – nay, the only reasonable – person to take custody of Princess Eirika's bracelet. Well-played, you conniving traitor! But he blunders, pushing just a little too hard…
He mentioned the Sacred Stone. No one's supposed to know that the bracelet is a key to the stone. Eirika and Seth are the only living Renaisians who know. This is the moment that Eirika – who didn't get to see all the nonsense about a traitor in Chapter 5.X – knows that Orson is working with Grado.
Seth orders Orson to hand over his weapons. Orson protests that he doesn't have any. He was in a cell.
Seth: If I am mistaken, then I will give you all due apologies. However, there are questions I have that I cannot answer. Too many questions.
Why does this castle seem to be empty of Gradoan troops? Why wouldn't Orson help his fellow prisoners after escaping? How does he know the bracelets are connected to the Stone? And finally, proving Seth's Bodyguard Instincts are second to none…
Orson: You haven't changed, Seth. Nor you, Princess. You simply will not be deceived.
Eirika sadly asks why he would betray Renais, and his answer is a little weird: "My fondest wish will be granted…To spend the rest of my days in the embrace of my loving wife once more…"
Um, what? He's just a Wife Guy? Well, couldn't he have just…stayed in Renais with her, then? I feel that "once more" is doing a lot of work there. Were they divorced? Did he get Grado to kidnap his wife in exchange for treason???
Well, the imperial troops were watching us the whole time, of course. Now that their asset has been smoked, they come out.
Orson's map sprite turns from blue to red and he trots off. Tirado proceeds to brag a bit; he's quite chuffed to have ensnared a princess and a general. Eirika is not in the mood for chatting.
As he was about to explain before she interrupted his monologue – which he probably practiced in the mirror while gelling his hair – Ephraim escaped one of Tirado's cunning traps at this very castle. He escaped the pursuit of Valter and his wyvern knights, even. However, in his genius, Tirado simply fashioned a new trap for the other twin. Since it was common knowledge that Eirika entered Grado in search of her brother (slaughtered the garrison of a major town, remember) he put about word that Ephraim had been captured in the battle at Renvall. And, since Ephraim's currently in hiding, he couldn't really pop up to deny that. He lured the princess to Renvall, using Orson in a ploy to get her with her guard down.
I especially like the implication that Novala, too, was taken in by the false rumors. The generals aren't working together at all, hahaha.
Though the Orson ploy failed, Tirado has a plan B.
He also blows the bridge behind them (guess he learned from the stunt Ephraim pulled). No possibility of escape, now.
Seth: Princess Eirika, we have to get away from this place!
Eirika: There's no bridge! We must fight, even if we're outnumbered!
I find it cool that this level is clearly set in the same building as 5.X. However, there is some difference in the areas accessible. And in terms of enemy variety, it's like the grown-up version of 5.X. Remember being trapped in narrow corridors while archers and mages attacked through walls?
Well, the designers know you have plenty of 2-range options now. So they're hitting you with 3-range archers!
I suspect this level is meant to be a tough one, so I prepare as best I can. I take Gilliam instead of Franz, for extra tankiness. I'm getting to like Vanessa more, so I give her the Secret Book, and Colm gets the Energy Ring because I'm going to be using him a lot and I want him to be able to hold his own.
We start all clustered together on the bridge. I spread out immediately, setting up a defensive wall to keep the Archer away from Vanessa and killing the nearby enemies. It's a good first turn. Then it gets better:
I won't lie, a big, dumb smile broke out on my face. Then I wondered how they got inside. That's…that's the same region of the map they entered from in 5.X! Does the castle have two entrances? If Ephraim found a side entrance, that might explain a few things, but still…how'd he get past the defenses outdoors? Did he and his crew crossdress and enter the castle disguised as washerwomen, or something?
Fuck it, whatever, Ephraim's here, it's fighting time. Kyle and Forde have a little argument about whether to unite with Eirika's army or attack the enemies from two sides. I think they've forgotten that Eirika has her own opinion on the matter. Throughout the last two chapters she's been regularly yelling "Where is my brother?!" like a boiling kettle releasing steam, so I have Seth pick her up and they make a beeline to Ephraim's party.
Oh, but before that happens I forget to check enemy ranges and Forde gets assaulted by four guys in a row. Oops. I reload.
It takes Seth a little while to cover all that ground, so I turn my attention to the main party, still in the entrance hallway. There is a treasure room, filled with five Knights, and I decide there's no way Colm is going in there, even with an Armorslayer. So I hand the Armorslayer to Joshua, and…
You know, I think this is a situation where it's best not to kill your enemies on counterattack. So I send Gilliam in to tank. (Technically Gilliam's not my most defensive unit anymore, as I discover that Forde actually has equal defense and 3 more HP than the armored knight).
Gilliam's real strength is strength actually. He doubles and kills the Knights, but he's tough enough to survive them all. Get yourself a man who can do both, like Gilliam.
Oh, and I also have Vanessa playing ping-pong through the wall with a Shaman. Even if I don't mention her again, know that she was my MVP of mage destruction this chapter.
Seth finally carries his Princess to her brother's side, fulfilling his mission like a true knight. As I expected, the twins have a battlefield conversation, and Eirika releases some of her tension.
Ephraim: Well, of course I am.
Gotta love that confidence. They're both happy. Eirika is a bit embarrassed about rushing to his rescue when he wasn't actually captured, but Ephraim tells her that, from his perspective, she did rescue him. Ephraim was stuck in enemy territory with a dwindling party and constantly on the run, "…when I turned around and found you."
Huh. His phrasing makes it seem like he didn't expect to find her here. I'd assumed that Eirika's trail had been obvious enough for her brother to track, but if that's not the case, why would he return to…
Oh. Ahahaha, he's doing that thing again! After shaking Valter's pursuit, Ephraim went back to the vicinity of Renvall again because it was the one part of the region that Valter wouldn't be searching! Ahahaha!
Three cavaliers show up as reinforcements. How nice of the developers to give Eirika and Ephraim an opportunity for sibling bonding!
Ephraim and Seth have a conversation that's basically just, "Let's catch up later." To my surprise, I find that Seth and Kyle have a conversation as well! They congratulate each other on surviving the war in a very bro-like, "I never doubted that you could beat all those guys," way. Then Seth brings up Orson's betrayal:
…then no one can be trusted, I guess. Seth's going to be more paranoid than ever—
Whuh?
Okay, well I finally clear out all the knights in the treasure room and Colm unlocks the chest. It's an Angelic Robe, which raises HP. By 7 points! Oh man, this is delicious. I don't know who's going to get this – there are so many characters who could benefit from reducing their fragility. Eirika? Colm? Vanessa?
This room is something of a chokepoint. First a mass of units had to wait outside the door for the knights to be cleared. Now they all need to wait in the room because there's an archer with a Longbow outside waiting for them. Vanessa gets him. I'm trying to get revenge for all the pegasus knights who've died at his class's hands.
As we approach the throne room and Tirado's smug mug, another enemy pops up from the stairs: a thief!
Oooh, he has a set of Lockpicks! I wonder if Colm could steal that from him? Let's see, this enemy has 14 Speed, and…Colm only has 12, oh no, he can steal my lockpicks! Run away! Run away! Gilliam, save me!
…First speed booster I get, I'm giving to Colm. This was embarrassing.
But he has a chance to redeem himself. Forde and Kyle have finished breaking through the cracked wall, connecting the east and west corridors. On the west side there's another treasure room, so Colm heads over there while everyone else gathers before the throne room to lure out Tirado's guards and…and then they wait. It's kind of a long way to travel.
At least I'm getting support points for this, right? Oh, and Natasha, you can top up everyone's HP. Get that healer exp, you need it.
…Is that Orson's Silver Sword? Uh. Well, he's probably not going to be needing it in his happy(?) married life, so it's mine now! Colm also finds an Elysian Whip, which covers all the promotion items, I think. A few characters hit level 10 this chapter, and I have enough units now that it's time for me to think seriously about who I want to invest in and take to the endgame.
Well, after Natasha has healed us all back up, I decide it's time to take on the boss. A note: I did unlock some more supports during this time, but I'm going to discuss those in a separate update. This post is getting long and…I need some more time to clarify my thoughts on one of them. It was a little…I don't know.
So! The boss.
Tirado's stats are cracked. He's the first boss with a promoted class, and they wanted to make him memorable. 14 Strength with a Silver Lance kills most of my army. 14 Defense and 9 Resistance, plus the throne bonuses, make him almost invulnerable. The usual approach to armored units is to use mages, but Lute does 0 damage to him. So, what's the solution?
Rapier and Reginleif, of course! This is the twins' chapter to show off. Eirika stabs through a gap in his armor for a critical hit, and Tirado dies with…a surprising amount of dignity.
Tirado: Very…impressive…However…I expect you'll wish you'd died here on my steel.
Ephraim moves onto the throne to sieze it and…he can't. Eirika is still the main character and only she can capture castles. So we finish this chapter when Eirika has caught her breath. There's only a short scene left to go:
They all grumble some more about Orson. Ephraim confirms that he only realized the truth of his treachery after he had already been led into a trap at Renvall. Interestingly, Ephraim wonders if he's somehow responsible for Orson turning traitor – just like his father, in the prologue, wondered if he was somehow responsible for Grado's invasion. Then a never-before-seen little girl shows up to tug on Ephraim's sleeve.
She mumbles that something is drawing near – something "big" and "dark". Ephraim thanks her, as if she'd just delivered some kind of report. Eirika and Seth are as baffled as I am and want to know what he's doing with a child, of course.
Ephraim: Suffice to say, Emperor Vigarde has enlisted some…otherworldly powers.
I like that Ephraim apparently had his own adventures with a colorful cast of characters parallel to Eirika's. I guess they're all going to have a lot of catching up to do on the road, eh?
Ephraim moves onto the throne to sieze it and…he can't. Eirika is still the main character and only she can capture castles. So we finish this chapter when Eirika has caught her breath. There's only a short scene left to go:
Yep. The GBA fire emblems in general only accommodate one character being considered to be Ye Primary Lord, and so (at any given time on any given run) there's only one character who A: you must deploy, and B: can seize thrones on Seize maps.
Oh. Ahahaha, he's doing that thing again! After shaking Valter's pursuit, Ephraim went back to the vicinity of Renvall again because it was the one part of the region that Valter wouldn't be searching! Ahahaha!
Quick note, one of the enemies last time dropped something called an Iron Blade. It requires the same weapon rank to use as the Steel Sword, does one more point of damage, at the cost of being way heavier and less accurate. My only sword-user (besides Seth) who has enough Constitution to use this without being slowed way down is Franz, and he's not even at D swords yet….And if he were, I would still rather give him a Steel Sword.
So I give the Iron Blade to Seth. I find it amusing to see him destroy enemies with the worst weapons in the game.
Yeah, the Blade class swords are, in theory, nice because oh hey bigger might, but in actual practical use tend to be better at dramatically weighing down most sword wielders to the point they aren't that useful, because swords are usually the lightest weapon class meaning the average sword unit tends to have lower constitution. That's not to say some units can't make use of them, if Ross or Garcia goes Hero they'll have massive CON and Great Knights have something like 13-14 on average, but otherwise I usually just shove them in a box somewhere.
So: the Second Battle of Renvall. We didn't fight through this terrain last time, which makes me wonder how the heck Ephraim and company got inside without alerting anyone.
I am like 90% sure Ephraim just has Game of Thrones TV series Ramsey Bolton powers - that is, he can just wander offscreen with "A Few Good Men" and pull off ridiculous stunts. Though I guess his initial infiltration in 5x could be considered a combination of actually a trap and the fortress itself being undermanned since everyone was searching the countryside for Ephraim instead.
I think that's the first time I've seen Seth smile? I mean, not with my eyes – the portraits don't change – but, like, in the more detailed scene that I imagine as I read, he's smiling. Seth has been 100% Grim Duty Unto Death so far. These support conversations really can reveal new sides to a character! Well, on second thought, it's not entirely unexpected that what makes Duty Unto Death Man happy is another person joining him in his eternal watch.
Oh, and apparently they only have 5 durability in this game. Pity. Well, there weren't too many enemies left by the time I got my hands on it; Neimi was only able to injure the boss's guards.
Yeah, Ballista tend to be either entirely for an enemy archer to take potshots at your army as they approach a fortified position (and in particular try and keep you from just blasting over the entire map with a flier), or an empty bin for you to shove an archer of your own in and maybe injure or kill one or two dudes. Though hey, once in a while you get things like Killer Ballistas, that's real fun to play with!
I was planning to soften him up with Seth and give the kill to one of my mages, but Seth's control over his massive power slipped and he killed the boss with a crit. I forgive you, Seth.
Ah yes, a true Seth Moment. At least Boss kills with your Jeigan characters don't feel nearly as painful in terms of EXP "loss", since they actually get decent experience for it instead of that earlygame "3 EXP instead of someone else's 30 EXP" (not that "EXP Theft" is really the issue some people play it up as, but can't deny it feels bad at times).
I'm not imagining it! His portrait has changed! He's got bags under his eyes, his skin is sallow, and his eyes are haunted. He looks like he's been through some shit. The characters notice this too. "Orson...Are you well?" Eirika is a compassionate soul, but I remember the example of the Gradoan generals. Bags under your eyes are a sign of moral corruption.
Seth: If I am mistaken, then I will give you all due apologies. However, there are questions I have that I cannot answer. Too many questions.
Why does this castle seem to be empty of Gradoan troops? Why wouldn't Orson help his fellow prisoners after escaping? How does he know the bracelets are connected to the Stone? And finally, proving Seth's Bodyguard Instincts are second to none…
Orson: You haven't changed, Seth. Nor you, Princess. You simply will not be deceived.
Eirika sadly asks why he would betray Renais, and his answer is a little weird: "My fondest wish will be granted…To spend the rest of my days in the embrace of my loving wife once more…"
Um, what? He's just a Wife Guy? Well, couldn't he have just…stayed in Renais with her, then? I feel that "once more" is doing a lot of work there. Were they divorced? Did he get Grado to kidnap his wife in exchange for treason???
I could have sworn there was more detail to this at this point, but nope checking the scripts apparently not. Ah well, Orson turned red and ran off so he'll probably show up again.
I suspect this level is meant to be a tough one, so I prepare as best I can. I take Gilliam instead of Franz, for extra tankiness. I'm getting to like Vanessa more, so I give her the Secret Book, and Colm gets the Energy Ring because I'm going to be using him a lot and I want him to be able to hold his own.
Some small optimizer part of me is absolutely screaming at this usage of these stat boosters. "nooooo skill books are better sold because skill is meh tier stat, nooooooo Thieves don't need strength they are for UTLITYYYYYYYYY".
Admittedly, the second one might just be the fact that on my own file Colm has perfectly decent strength while Neimi still had 5 strength at Level 12. This girl is desperate to be dumped from my team and yet I'm still using her.
Ah yes, good ol' forgetting to check enemy ranges. Honestly in castles it tends to be best to just line up your more defensive units for a good chokepoint, imo.
Gilliam's real strength is strength actually. He doubles and kills the Knights, but he's tough enough to survive them all. Get yourself a man who can do both, like Gilliam.
Yep, the early game like this is where Knights tend to shine the most. Eventually that lower movement speed and often low actual speed might cripple them especially as maps get larger and larger, but when they can actually get into combat or hold a chokepoint (as long as it isn't against mages) Knights/Generals make phenomenal team members.
Okay, well I finally clear out all the knights in the treasure room and Colm unlocks the chest. It's an Angelic Robe, which raises HP. By 7 points! Oh man, this is delicious. I don't know who's going to get this – there are so many characters who could benefit from reducing their fragility. Eirika? Colm? Vanessa?
Personally, I tend to prioritize either my fliers because they want the extra durability due to often spending time far away from the healers doing their own thing, or the especially squishiest team members who are at risk of just getting instantly killed if I leave them out of position. Often, that means magic users with their 2 defense and 15 HP where a single lucky fighter with a Steel Axe turns them from one mage into two halves of a mage.
…Is that Orson's Silver Sword? Uh. Well, he's probably not going to be needing it in his happy(?) married life, so it's mine now! Colm also finds an Elysian Whip, which covers all the promotion items, I think. A few characters hit level 10 this chapter, and I have enough units now that it's time for me to think seriously about who I want to invest in and take to the endgame.
Oh, speaking of promotions, any thoughts on when you plan to start promoting characters? It's come up before, but Sacred Stones is honestly a pretty short game, so you tend to benefit from early promotion a bit more than in others, with the instant stat buffs and added versatility.
Also, this thread totally got me to boot up Sacred Stones on my 3DS again after a few years, only to discover I had an Ironman run I forgot about on Chapter 9 of Erika mode so whoops might have dived right back in. Somehow, two more chapters later, nobody is dead, but I'm really eying those promotion items as enemies get bulkier.
Ah yes, good ol' forgetting to check enemy ranges. Honestly in castles it tends to be best to just line up your more defensive units for a good chokepoint, imo.
Oh, speaking of promotions, any thoughts on when you plan to start promoting characters? It's come up before, but Sacred Stones is honestly a pretty short game, so you tend to benefit from early promotion a bit more than in others, with the instant stat buffs and added versatility.
Well, when it comes to the characters and items I have right now, I don't think I can promote more than one. The only characters at level 10 are the twins (who get a plot-related promotion, I assume), Gilliam, Kyle, and Forde. Those last three are all competing for my single Knight Crest. I think I'll choose one to promote next chapter, because I'm excited and I want to play around with the promotion system. After that, maybe I'll let frontline units get to level 12 or so? The squishy ones who need stat boosts and added utility, I think I'll promote as soon as I can. I reserve the right to change my mind on this, by the way.
Quick note, one of the enemies last time dropped something called an Iron Blade. It requires the same weapon rank to use as the Steel Sword, does one more point of damage, at the cost of being way heavier and less accurate. My only sword-user (besides Seth) who has enough Constitution to use this without being slowed way down is Franz, and he's not even at D swords yet….And if he were, I would still rather give him a Steel Sword.
The Blade weapons give noticeably more weapon rank experience. The devs seem to intend them to be partially a weapon for Mercenaries (Who are Sword guys like Myrmidons, but with much higher Constitution) and partially a way to train up a Sword rank on a promoted class that gains Swords.
This chapter is a climactic one. If we say that the first act of the game was Eirika going to find Ephraim, this here is the climax of the arc. We even get small statements from each of the characters with us, affirming their readiness to fight. This is something I'm only used to seeing right before the final battle in other FE games.
Why does Thunder count as anima when Lightning is light magic? I mean, JRPGs tend to associate 'light' and 'lightning' because lightning comes from heaven, it's dazzling, it's an act of the gods, etc. Not how I would categorize lightning, but I can understand it. But now they can't even be consistent? The animation for the Thunder spell is a lightning strike! What's the difference? Is it attacking with literal thunder? Does the Thunder spell do sonic damage?
Magic started as just 'magic', with some 'dark magic' existing in the plot but not being a mechanical concept. Then magic got broken up into Fire, Wind, Thunder, Light, and Dark in the SNES days. Then the GBA games compressed Fire/Wind/Thunder into Anima.
That the basic Light Tome is called 'Lightning' has always been baffling, honestly; it's not firing a lightning bolt. I don't get why it isn't named something else. Thunder wouldn't be confusing if Lightning had a sensible name.
'Signs of illness=signs of moral failings' is pretty common in fiction, which I've never been sure how to take, but Fire Emblem is especially aggressive about it for whatever reason.
It makes things largely land wrong for me, personally, where eg Garon comes across much less badly than intended in part because he looks less 'evil' and more 'perpetually short on sleep and/or nursing a cold, and understandably cranky as a result'.
Orson: Would it not be best to give them to someone else? Give them to me or to Seth. Let someone you trust guard them. For your own safety, Your Highness, please. What say you?
Oh, I see. Yes, that's not a bad plan, Orson. As long as Eirika carries the bracelet-key, she will be hunted by Grado – but what they want is the bracelet, not her. So it would make her safer to simply hand it over to someone else. Someone who can be trusted with it, like a Renaisian knight, of course. And of the three knights present – Orson, Seth and Franz – Franz is just a rookie. So that leaves Seth and Orson. But Seth was charged with guarding Princess Eirika by her father, a duty he takes super seriously – and he would need to leave her side to make sure Grado doesn't endanger her as they hunt for the bracelet. As good as he is at running ahead and luring enemies in-game, I doubt he'll want to leave the princess behind long-term.
And that leaves Orson as a perfectly reasonable – nay, the only reasonable – person to take custody of Princess Eirika's bracelet. Well-played, you conniving traitor! But he blunders, pushing just a little too hard…
Eirika sadly asks why he would betray Renais, and his answer is a little weird: "My fondest wish will be granted…To spend the rest of my days in the embrace of my loving wife once more…"
Um, what? He's just a Wife Guy? Well, couldn't he have just…stayed in Renais with her, then? I feel that "once more" is doing a lot of work there. Were they divorced? Did he get Grado to kidnap his wife in exchange for treason???
In the first place, they blew up a stone bridge... in a setting that has no explosives... in a context the bridge should be a drawbridge. And then once we win, we walk right out anyway. Somehow.
In the second place, this is a really bad 'treat European castles like Japanese castles moment'. The number one failure point of castles in Europe was always enemies within, where letting people in is negating 98% of the defensive value of the castle; Japanese castles were instead designed in the assumption enemies would get in, with an extended kill zone past the gate.
Tirado doing this is baffling and in-setting his plan should be viewed somewhere from 'completely stupid' to 'maybe sort of smart by virtue of being universally viewed as dumb and so doing it intentionally is unimaginable to others'.
I won't lie, a big, dumb smile broke out on my face. Then I wondered how they got inside. That's…that's the same region of the map they entered from in 5.X! Does the castle have two entrances? If Ephraim found a side entrance, that might explain a few things, but still…how'd he get past the defenses outdoors? Did he and his crew crossdress and enter the castle disguised as washerwomen, or something?
We're explicitly told the blown bridge is the only entrance.
Ephraim dove into a plot hole to escape the prior ambush, and fell out another plot hole into the castle days later.
Which is a joke-y way of saying that this is absolute nonsense. I really hope it's a product of the rushing, but... kind of doubt anything so reasonable underlies this nonsense.
Okay, well I finally clear out all the knights in the treasure room and Colm unlocks the chest. It's an Angelic Robe, which raises HP. By 7 points! Oh man, this is delicious. I don't know who's going to get this – there are so many characters who could benefit from reducing their fragility. Eirika? Colm? Vanessa?
I usually give it to Eirika, but Vanessa is a good recipient. It's surprising how often it takes a bow from 'instantly kills Vanessa' to 'leaves her alive'. Which is often all you need, really.
In fact, thinking on it I probably ought to default to giving it to Vanessa in my Eirika route runs for... Reasons.
Well, when it comes to the characters and items I have right now, I don't think I can promote more than one. The only characters at level 10 are the twins (who get a plot-related promotion, I assume), Gilliam, Kyle, and Forde. Those last three are all competing for my single Knight Crest. I think I'll choose one to promote next chapter, because I'm excited and I want to play around with the promotion system. After that, maybe I'll let frontline units get to level 12 or so? The squishy ones who need stat boosts and added utility, I think I'll promote as soon as I can. I reserve the right to change my mind on this, by the way.
Note that you can click into using a promotion item, look at the options provided (And their combat sprites), and then cancel out at no cost. So you can 'shop around' without using savestates or the like.
Well, when it comes to the characters and items I have right now, I don't think I can promote more than one. The only characters at level 10 are the twins (who get a plot-related promotion, I assume), Gilliam, Kyle, and Forde. Those last three are all competing for my single Knight Crest. I think I'll choose one to promote next chapter, because I'm excited and I want to play around with the promotion system. After that, maybe I'll let frontline units get to level 12 or so? The squishy ones who need stat boosts and added utility, I think I'll promote as soon as I can. I reserve the right to change my mind on this, by the way.
To be precise, because this is useful to know, the twins get unique promotion items that promote only them at a plot set point, one per each. (they can't even use master seals)
There's no choice in the sense you can't use those items on other people, but unlike some other lords in the series you don't have to worry about 'this is the chapter where the game will secretly promote them at the end btw, make sure they don't wind up 99 exp to the next level or something silly like that' which, as I said, has been a thing in some entries.
Well, when it comes to the characters and items I have right now, I don't think I can promote more than one. The only characters at level 10 are the twins (who get a plot-related promotion, I assume), Gilliam, Kyle, and Forde. Those last three are all competing for my single Knight Crest. I think I'll choose one to promote next chapter, because I'm excited and I want to play around with the promotion system. After that, maybe I'll let frontline units get to level 12 or so? The squishy ones who need stat boosts and added utility, I think I'll promote as soon as I can. I reserve the right to change my mind on this, by the way.
Sounds like a good plan to me, honestly. After the last few chapters on hard mode jumping back in the game, I'm absolutely side-eying all my promotion items and wondering if I should be slapping them on before continuing because there was a lot of retreating, turtling, and screaming in Chapter 10, with recently-promoted Ross being my MVP alongside Seth, and Neimi narrowly dodging a 68% hit rate death shot from an archer being the biggest highlights.
...Admittedly, losing Neimi probably would have been like losing a pair of cement shoes I refuse to take off with what her levels have been like.
That thing will increase a unit's stats. That's not highlighted green. I'm gonna have to steal it. I'm gonna have to steal it with Colm, who is currently on the edge of the map, trying and failing to kill one Fighter and one Mage.
I'm not imagining it! His portrait has changed! He's got bags under his eyes, his skin is sallow, and his eyes are haunted. He looks like he's been through some shit. The characters notice this too. "Orson...Are you well?" Eirika is a compassionate soul, but I remember the example of the Gradoan generals. Bags under your eyes are a sign of moral corruption.
To be blunt, I think the problem is less that Thunder isn't a light tome and more that they named the Light tome Lightning for some reason. The actual spell animation for Lightning is pretty clearly just a standard beam of light, whereas Thunder is an actual lightning strike.
I suspect they were just thinking "hmm, we want to name this thing something light-related, but naming it Light seems too short... how about Lightning? Yeah, that works. Who wants lunch?"
My general recommendation with statboosters is to give them to characters where the stat will make the most difference, which is usually a character where their stats are middling. You don't want to give a speed booster to a character who's really slow, because they'll probably just go from "doubling nothing" to "maybe doubling soldiers sometimes", and you don't want to give it to a character who's really fast, because they probably already double everything. Meanwhile, a character with average or above-average speed is usually at that point where just one or two more points of Speed can push them into doubling most common enemies, so a statbooster helps them a lot. It's the same with Defense; someone like Gilliam is already super-tanky and someone like Artur is getting two-shotted no matter what, but someone like Vanessa or Franz can take a 2HKO or 3HKO and turn it into a 4HKO or 5HKO, which is vital. A character who can double but whose damage per hit needs some work really appreciates the equivalent of +4 damage, moreso than a character who one-rounds everything or a character who isn't even close. Mobility-boosters are the main exception where they're truly useful on anyone, even (perhaps especially) on the characters who already have high mobility, since there aren't really any diminishing returns to mobility, and a character who can cross the map in two turns opens up a lot of options.
If all else fails, the best bet for dumping your statboosters is onto fliers. I mentioned that my first advice to any new FE player is to not worry about using prepromotes, and my second advice is to nurture your fliers. A strong, well-raised flier is probably the most powerful asset any army can afford.
(pictured: the closest I have ever can come to Nirvana)
To be blunt, I think the problem is less that Thunder isn't a light tome and more that they named the Light tome Lightning for some reason. The actual spell animation for Lightning is pretty clearly just a standard beam of light, whereas Thunder is an actual lightning strike.
I suspect they were just thinking "hmm, we want to name this thing something light-related, but naming it Light seems too short... how about Lightning? Yeah, that works. Who wants lunch?"
My general recommendation with statboosters is to give them to characters where the stat will make the most difference, which is usually a character where their stats are middling. You don't want to give a speed booster to a character who's really slow, because they'll probably just go from "doubling nothing" to "maybe doubling soldiers sometimes", and you don't want to give it to a character who's really fast, because they probably already double everything. Meanwhile, a character with average or above-average speed is usually at that point where just one or two more points of Speed can push them into doubling most common enemies, so a statbooster helps them a lot. It's the same with Defense; someone like Gilliam is already super-tanky and someone like Artur is getting two-shotted no matter what, but someone like Vanessa or Franz can take a 2HKO or 3HKO and turn it into a 4HKO or 5HKO, which is vital.
If all else fails, the best bet is to dump statboosters onto fliers. I mentioned that my first advice to any new FE player is to not worry about using prepromotes, and my second advice is to nurture your fliers. A strong, well-raised flier is probably the most powerful asset any army can afford.
(pictured: the closest I have ever can come to Nirvana)
