Oh, yeah, she didn't need the statboosters at all (barring the Boots; that was something that came in handy a lot of times). I just fed her two Dracoshields because I thought it was funny.
I have vivid memories of the first map because I arrived there with only Erika and Seth and struggled hard. I started a new game from scratch and arrived at the chapter with Erika, Seth and Gilliam to no bigger success. Then one my third file I had actually learned how to FE properly.
Overall the sequence of chapters starting from the Interlude is really just neat. Perfect way to introduce players to Ephraim as well.
I have vivid memories of the first map because I arrived there with only Erika and Seth and struggled hard. I started a new game from scratch and arrived at the chapter with Erika, Seth and Gilliam to no bigger success. Then one my third file I had actually learned how to FE properly.
Overall the sequence of chapters starting from the Interlude is really just neat. Perfect way to introduce players to Ephraim as well.
Iirc FE10 also has a flyer that makes Seth look like a balanced unit.
Milady, Haar, and Camilla are the Holy Trinity of Busted-Ass Wyvern Riders, yes. Honorable mentions include Mystery Palla and Shadow Dragon Caeda, which promote into the class, both Jills, Heath, and SPOILER, who need actual TLC rather than just breaking the game out of the box, Minerva, who has been all over the spectrum from "solid" to "amazing", and whatever the fuck happened with Three Houses Wyvern Lord.
Fun Fact: Haar was one of the few cases where my localisation bothered to change a name. Calling someone 'hair' just was too much. Tbh the new Darahan name sounds much cooler anyway.
God Camilla is just so cracked for no reason it's hilarious. She's not even in the right class and she has better stats than a prepromote who joins later! She's so fucking funny.
Hey y'all, I'm back with a mini-chapter that takes a look at the two supports I unlocked in Chapter 8. Like I've done before, I've split this off on its own because I think it merits a lot of discussion. And thought. I needed some time to think about…how to interpret…one of them.
Let's start with the simpler one: Kyle and Forde C! I've picked up the habit of never letting a unit end their turn alone, like a true GBA Fire Emblem player. Gotta keep those support points coming. I haven't gotten a look at the support chart for Kyle or Forde, and thus don't have a Shipping Plan for them yet. But I assumed they would at least have a support with each other. I kept these guys glued together in Chapter 8, and near the end my efforts bore fruit:
The conversation starts off as usual, with the two of them saying hi. Then Kyle notices something odd:
Forde clarifies that he's actually sketching! With charcoal. Much neater and more portable than paints, you see.
That line made me realize that supports have changed a bit over the years, so let's talk about that. In modern FE, while you earn support points and unlock supports in battle, you view the conversations between battles. It's assumed that these conversations take place during downtime, back at camp, or at whatever castle the army is based out of. Some supports specify another location – tree-climbing in the woods, for example, or shopping at the market. Supports can still be about fighting or battle, they just take place outside of it: "Hey, in our last battle you took too many risks! You need to…" and that kind of thing.
But modern Fire Emblem is designed so that the player spends significant downtime between maps – supports, shopping, fiddling with skills and weapons and weapon upgrade systems. Retro Fire Emblem doesn't really do that. Shops and supports are both something you access during the levels. Sacred Stones's world map is something of an innovation. Does that make it a turning point for the series? A mix of styles? Weigh in, please, those of you who have played more than I.
Anyway, what I'm getting at is that, in gameplay, all of the supports must take place during a battle. Diagetically, they take place during battle. And this doesn't work too well for immersion because it's hard to have deep conversations during a battle, when people are screaming and dying and running at you with spears. There are only a few topics that people would reasonably talk about in those circumstances anyway, such as, "I'm wounded! Please help!" or "Stay away from the archers, Vanessa!"
And this poses a problem for anyone who wants to write varied and interesting support conversations. So far, the writers have chosen to handle it in one of two ways: Elide the topic, just have a normal conversation that could be taking place anywhere. Or, hang a lampshade on it! Point out that the characters really shouldn't be doing this, laugh nervously, continue as before.
While I don't think all the changes in the modern games are for the better, I think it was a good idea to move support conversations outside of battle. It solves a logical problem while opening up so many more possibilities for the characters to do new things.
…Hey, wasn't I talking about something before? Oh, yeah, Forde is drawing in the face of death and Kyle rightly pointed out the problem with that.
Forde isn't concerned. In fact, he has a good reason to be drawing!
Kyle: You're a cavalier – it's time to start acting like one.
Forde: As you command, Ser Kyle, commander of the Knights of Renais.
Forde is such a shithead (affectionate), but he's correct in that Kyle has no authority to make him do anything. I like him. He's one of those characters that are funny in fiction even though they would be awful to work with in real life.
Forde grumbles about how Kyle is so annoying and Kyle grumbles about how Forde is such a hassle, and then Kyle realizes a way to get him to put away the art supplies: He points a weapon at him.
Now it's Forde's turn to protest that this is not the right time. Kyle yells about how he always keeps himself and his equipment in tip-top condition, so he's always ready to spar.
We conclude with a simple exchange that sums up these two perfectly:
--
Well, that was fun. But, you must understand, Red and Green were not the only pair I kept close together for the sake of bonding, this chapter. Remember, how I was so eager to re-unite the siblings?
Well, they've got a fast support growth, naturally. Let's talk about Ephraim and Eirika C and why I kind of wish I could un-unlock it.
So, Ephraim starts by asking Eirika if she's doing all right. "I am fine, Brother," she replies. Ephraim insists that, no, really, she can rely on him for anything. Any time at all.
"I cannot ask you to watch me constantly," Eirika says, echoing the scene where she asked him to teach her how to fight. She wanted to be able to protect herself back then, and now she can.
Ephraim's portrait moves a little closer.
Eirika tells him to stop treating her like a child. He apologizes…but then counters that she loved it as a kid. Pestered him to do it, even.
She composes herself. Reminds her brother that they are in public. This isn't appropriate.
Ephraim apologizes again. He wouldn't want to do anything to her that she found unpleasant, after all. Then Eirika starts stammering again, trying to express that she doesn't dislike it, exactly…
Ephraim: So you really do want me to stroke your face?
Eirika: No! I mean, look—
And then they go after Tirado.
…I had heard the rumors, of course. The jokes about how every Fire Emblem game has incest somewhere. The top offender will always be Genealogy of the Holy War, where marrying close relatives to strengthen their holy bloodline is an optimal strategy both in story and in gameplay. Second place probably goes to Fates, where the main lord's adoptive and step-siblings are throwing themselves at you, and if the player finds that too weird and marries the only other eligible main character, it turns out she's your first cousin. But after those two, Sacred Stones is pointed to as a top offender, with many jokes about how there's something weird between Eirika and Ephraim.
I found this image captioned with, "Local lord slanders literally everyone as he questionably strokes his sister's face, more at 11."
I've heard those jokes; I couldn't get them out of my head while I was reading this. So, I wondered, is my perspective just biased? Am I reading too far into things? Is it actually normal to want to stroke your sister's face, but only in private?
So I went to a friend. This friend plays tons of visual novels, but she has no familiarity with Fire Emblem. I told her that this conversation between the main character and her brother felt a little romantic to me and I would like a second opinion (admittedly, this may have pre-biased her). Then I gave her my laptop and let her scroll through my screenshots. Her dismayed cries of "Oh" and "What?" and "Why are you blushing?" were immediately validating. According to my friend, the face is an intimate place to touch and the fact that they want to hide it shows that they know it's not socially acceptable. Her judgement: These two are into each other.
I agree.
…And you know what makes me mad? They have chemistry! If they weren't siblings, I could see this working! Imagine it in terms of dating sim tropes: Princess Eirika's Otome Adventure. There's Seth, her bodyguard, who's dependable, mature, yet emotionally closed off because of the constraints of duty. There's Ephraim, her "childhood friend" who's nursing a secret crush on her; they can interact easily as he teases her and tries to make her loosen up. More will probably show up, like a fragile, shy, unathletic boy with confidence issues but a hidden talent, and a snarky asshole who doesn't trust others because he's been betrayed in the past.
Eirika has such otome game protagonist energy that hot men are throwing themselves at her, and I'm sitting here like Bernie Sanders in his winter coat, waiting for female love interests! Why can't Tana join us? L'Arachel? A wyvern rider with abs?
Eirika's conversation with Ephraim was fucking weird and weirdly good. However, I'm not going to pursue the support further, for two reasons: One, if Eirika spends too much time with men, she won't be able to reach A-support with a woman. Two, I am not brave enough to start airing my serious thoughts on incest. It's a confidence exercise for me to even post about lesbian content. So, no thank you, Ephraim; you can stay in Shipping House Arrest with Seth until Eirika is safely attached to another.
But modern Fire Emblem is designed so that the player spends significant downtime between maps – supports, shopping, fiddling with skills and weapons and weapon upgrade systems. Retro Fire Emblem doesn't really do that. Shops and supports are both something you access during the levels. Sacred Stones's world map is something of an innovation. Does that make it a turning point for the series? A mix of styles? Weigh in, please, those of you who have played more than I.
So Sacred Stones is kinda a turning point but mostly a step in evolution. For example, the Telius games that immediately followed (path of radiance and radiant dawn) in the release order have more extensive downtime at base mechanics than the games that preceded it.
As another example, a mechanic you may be familiar with from later entries or have noticed on your own is The Supply. You have a stockpile of up to 100 items not on any particular character, and the Lord can access this at any time in battle or you can access this between missions, either way. If you pick up too many items, you can usually just send an unwanted item to the supply, and so on.
This is a series staple, but it's half new. The thing is that it first appeared in the previous GBA games, in which you had the annoying mechanic of a specific character- Merlinus- being in charge of the groups supplies. He couldn't fight at all, he just had a cart (or tent) and carried All Your Stuff. He was the only way to access the supply and had to be protected. Sacred Stones folded this into the Lord where it would henceforth remain, but otherwise made essentially no change to the mechanics.
(including that either way characters near The Supply Character can also use the Supply command)
So I went to a friend. This friend plays tons of visual novels, but she has no familiarity with Fire Emblem. I told her that this conversation between the main character and her brother felt a little romantic to me and I would like a second opinion (admittedly, this may have pre-biased her). Then I gave her my laptop and let her scroll through my screenshots. Her dismayed cries of "Oh" and "What?" and "Why are you blushing?" were immediately validating. According to my friend, the face is an intimate place to touch and the fact that they want to hide it shows that they know it's not socially acceptable. Her judgement: These two are into each other.
I agree.
…And you know what makes me mad? They have chemistry! If they weren't siblings, I could see this working! Imagine it in terms of dating sim tropes: Princess Eirika's Otome Adventure. There's Seth, her bodyguard, who's dependable, mature, yet emotionally closed off because of the constraints of duty. There's Ephraim, her "childhood friend" who's nursing a secret crush on her; they can interact easily as he teases her and tries to make her loosen up. More will probably show up, like a fragile, shy, unathletic boy with confidence issues but a hidden talent, and a snarky asshole who doesn't trust others because he's been betrayed in the past.
yeaaah Sacred Stones has, for whatever reason, what appear to be canon incest ships. Ephraim and Eirika aren't even the only sibling pair suggested to have at least one crushing on the other, unfortunately, though Franz and Forde fortunately just have a pure sibling relationship with no undertones of incest, so no need to worry there.
my personal favorite squicky but probably merely unfortunate detail to this: the default canon endings mark out Ephraim and Eirika as king and queen of Renais after everything's over.
Which like, I think is just them not thinking things through, but does seem to imply they married or something, and is a travesty for other reasons I'll talk about later besides, when it doesn't involve particular spoilers or the like.
A couple of promotion bits I wanted to point out a while ago but keep forgetting when I'm actually at my computer;
Firstly, I should point out that there's an experience penalty you might not be expecting. In Fates and Awakening, the game remembers what a character's level was when they promoted and treats them as having gone 1 level up. In the GBA games, a promoted unit is just treated as 20 levels above its explicit level. So promoting at level 10 can result in someone suddenly gaining 90% less experiemce than before they promoted. Promoting early can still make sense, mind, but you're incentivized to at least promote closer to level 20, unless you have a very clear plan in mind. ("I'm going to promote Joshua for X mission so he can do Y Specific Thing, then bench him forever")
Second, I've been holding back for spoiler thought reasons, but on further thought I'd rather you not walk into a trap that really shouldn't be a trap at all: Thieves in Sacred Stones can promote into a Rogue (As the manual shows) but also into an Assassin. (Which the manual inexplicably doesn't mention) The Rogue is a super-Thief with no disadvantage, while the Assassin retains most of the Thief functionality, but critically loses the ability to Steal items. So if you decide to promote Colm early and turn him into an Assassin, you risk missing out on Steal-only items until you have an alternative option.
Conversely, note that Myrmidons can also promote into Assassins, and for them it doesn't involve any such 'gotcha'. So if you want to give the Assassin a try, maybe promote Joshua into it instead of Colm.
But modern Fire Emblem is designed so that the player spends significant downtime between maps – supports, shopping, fiddling with skills and weapons and weapon upgrade systems. Retro Fire Emblem doesn't really do that. Shops and supports are both something you access during the levels. Sacred Stones's world map is something of an innovation. Does that make it a turning point for the series? A mix of styles? Weigh in, please, those of you who have played more than I.
Technically, the Gaiden (FE2, way back on the NES) already experimented with a world map and Sacred Stones could be viewed as just hearkening back to that, but Sacred Stones added more functionality to the world map, and given the incomplete state of the game I can't help but suspect there yet were more plans in this regard that didb't make the cut. Maybe there were plans for a strategic map minigame of some kind, fortifying locations or spending money to build training faclities or improving shops, or whatever.
Put a different way, I can buy that My Castle was loosely in mind already -it was supposed to be in Path of Radiance, in fact, ie the very next game and many games before Fates.
And certainly, a lot of things Sacred Stones did first like branching promotions have switched from 'weird oddities' to 'what a lot of people think of as Standard Fire Emblem Design'.
Anyway, what I'm getting at is that, in gameplay, all of the supports must take place during a battle. Diagetically, they take place during battle. And this doesn't work too well for immersion because it's hard to have deep conversations during a battle, when people are screaming and dying and running at you with spears. There are only a few topics that people would reasonably talk about in those circumstances anyway, such as, "I'm wounded! Please help!" or "Stay away from the archers, Vanessa!"
A lot of Supports in Sacred Stones are already written like there's a base camp they're occuring in, even though that's mechanically impossible, actually.
To be fair, Fire Emblem has long been fuzzy about what a map really represents. The literal read of your dozen murderhobos blendering through maybe 50 guys if it's a busy map is rarely validated by the writing, which treats these war stories as involving hundreds to thousands of combatants per battle and individual battles sometimes are implied to take multiple days rather than maybe an hour... but then you get maps that are five people fending off a dozen bandits and the writing agrees with that...
So even these battlefield conversations are only maybe ridiculous.
But I do think it's probably good for the series it switched. Characters already get battlefield dialogue, when recruiting them, when they're recruiting other people, when they're participating in the plot, and with the introduction of voice acting they get a fair amount of battlefield conversation just from that. (Ryoma's crit/Skill line of "You deserve worse!" ties in so well to all the other evidence that he's a very angry young man wearing the mask of a calm and diplomatic and grown-up head of state, letting us organically see the mask slip in the heat of combat) What wasn't present was organic opportunities to show them being more 'domestic', show what they're like when not fighting wars or planning wars or otherwise thinking about warfare in a super-immediate sense. The GBA games having a fair amount of domestic scene Supports that are dubiously-sensible was an ugly kludge; the later games providing an explicit base camp to relax in for such scenes is way more organic.
I've heard those jokes; I couldn't get them out of my head while I was reading this. So, I wondered, is my perspective just biased? Am I reading too far into things? Is it actually normal to want to stroke your sister's face, but only in private?
Eirika and Ephraim are 'ship teased', where the game never actually admits they have any such feelings for each other, but it heavily hints at the idea. Conspicuously, the conversation you showed off has Eirika emphasize only the impropriety of public displays of affection.
It's hiding in a grey zone where you can read this as just regular family affection stuff (And I'm sure there were kids who just took it that way and stopped thinking about the topic), but it's pretty obvious that it's completely intentional that it's in that grey zone.
I'm not a fan for a number of reasons, but one of them is that the GBA games default really heavily to assuming a Support between a man and a woman will serve first and foremost to ship them. I have a very large number of potential complaints to make here, but my number one complaint is honestly that it's boring -if I Support together a pair of women or a pair of men, the games default heavily to trying to reveal new facets to the characters that make them more complete and interesting people, which is an incentive to explore all the possible combinations and see what new info and insights I unearth. If I Support together a man and a woman, I'm probably just going to see "their C conversation is one of them hinting interest in the other, their B conversation tries to give more reason for them to be a natural couple, and their A Support is them committing to each other with nothing else happening".
Don't get me wrong, it's not actually universal -one of my favorite and maximally-spoilery Supports is between a male character and a female character and has zero romance- but it's a strong enough trend that as a kid I quickly defaulted heavily to same-sex Supports if possible. (There's certain characters where I made an exception because I was basically going 'wait, how would you spin X getting with Y without breaking character for no reason?') I just got so bored of seeing A Couple Progressing Towards Confession again when I'd been hoping for something new and distinctive to this pair of people interacting.
(Oddly, even though Awakening and Fates have the child mechanic outright mandating that all male/female S possibilities will turn romantic/sexual, I actually found this to be less of a problem with Fates)
Wrapping back to Eirika and Ephraim: even aside squick factor, I'd much rather have gotten to see other facets of their relationship explored, same as a lot of the other male/female Supports with heavy or explicit romantic undertones. Eirika is an interesting character. Ephraim could be an interesting character if the game was more willing to actually show us more than his Polite And Dutiful Mask on the regular. This pair of twins should be an interesting pair of people with an interesting relationship in a number of ways.
So I'm disappointed we instead got them acting wildly out of character to do ship teasing while avoiding admitting to doing that.
Sorry to drop in with this nonsense as my first post in the thread, but...
... Do Orson's irises look a bit red-tinged to anyone else? Because between that, the way he was talking about his wife reading to me - note: if I read anything about Orson's role in the plot of this game anywhere at any point in my life I have entirely forgotten it - as if he's referring to someone who died, and the established presence of undead monsters serving the dark god whose cult seems to have taken control of Grado, it seems to me like the methods used to secure his service might have been a bit, er, unorthodox, so to speak.
If the implication there wasn't clear enough I'm saying that I, with absolutely no evidence or any idea if this is even possible in-universe, think this might be less Orson having betrayed Renais and more the reanimated and enslaved corpse thereof being promised that they'll re-kill him to let him be with his wife - who I am wildly speculating to already be dead - in exchange for this service.
Wow. I only reached the last mission as a kid and didn't know about supports, so I never knew about the incest.
I will say that I kinda expected the way Kyle stopped Forde from drawing was by kissing him, even though I knew that would never fly in a 2000s GBA game.
That line made me realize that supports have changed a bit over the years, so let's talk about that. In modern FE, while you earn support points and unlock supports in battle, you view the conversations between battles. It's assumed that these conversations take place during downtime, back at camp, or at whatever castle the army is based out of. Some supports specify another location – tree-climbing in the woods, for example, or shopping at the market. Supports can still be about fighting or battle, they just take place outside of it: "Hey, in our last battle you took too many risks! You need to…" and that kind of thing.
But modern Fire Emblem is designed so that the player spends significant downtime between maps – supports, shopping, fiddling with skills and weapons and weapon upgrade systems. Retro Fire Emblem doesn't really do that. Shops and supports are both something you access during the levels. Sacred Stones's world map is something of an innovation. Does that make it a turning point for the series? A mix of styles? Weigh in, please, those of you who have played more than I.
Oh yeah, GBA Fire Emblem supports taking place on a battlefield is one of those things of... debatable importance? Sometimes it's ignored entirely, sometimes it's integrated directly into the support like with Kyle/Forde here, or you might even have a "oh my GOODNESS support buddy look out an archer!" "Wow, thank you support pal, you saved my life!"
As of FE9/Path of Radiance though, supports became a base camp/in between missions thing, even though the world map function wouldn't return again until Awakening (and only previously existed in Gaiden, but I'm more experienced with Gaiden's remake Shadows of Valentia so I couldn't tell you how well it utilizes the map in comparison).
…I had heard the rumors, of course. The jokes about how every Fire Emblem game has incest somewhere. The top offender will always be Genealogy of the Holy War, where marrying close relatives to strengthen their holy bloodline is an optimal strategy both in story and in gameplay. Second place probably goes to Fates, where the main lord's adoptive and step-siblings are throwing themselves at you, and if the player finds that too weird and marries the only other eligible main character, it turns out she's your first cousin. But after those two, Sacred Stones is pointed to as a top offender, with many jokes about how there's something weird between Eirika and Ephraim.
Fire Emblem has long had games with a bit of an off relationship with incest, especially any of the games where direct shipping is more important like as you noted, Genealogy. IIRC actually shipping cousins is possible but not particularly optimal because the pairing that does so just gets you a Major Blood combo you already automatically get in story elsewhere, and the canonical sibling marriage in the game is quite literally part of a plan to create the Fire Emblem Antichrist, so FE kind of says "Brother-Sister Incest Bad?"
But then on the other hand you still have things like the weirdo shipteasing between Erika and Ephraim in their supports, or Awakening allowing marriages (sorry, "Battle Buddies") with Lucina and Owain or possibly some other weird family trees with Robin in the mix, and Fates is... Fates (Do you want to screw the family that raised you, or the family that's your biological relations?)
Anyways source Someone Might Have Made It The Fuck Up: It's entirely possible the face-petting thing is a bad translation choice, and in the original version Ephraim headpats Erika which is a bit closer to actual sibling affection when it comes to Japanese stuff rather than incest-y. Granted, there's also other evidence in the incest direction, but we'll get there eventually.
Eirika's conversation with Ephraim was fucking weird and weirdly good. However, I'm not going to pursue the support further, for two reasons: One, if Eirika spends too much time with men, she won't be able to reach A-support with a woman. Two, I am not brave enough to start airing my serious thoughts on incest. It's a confidence exercise for me to even post about lesbian content. So, no thank you, Ephraim; you can stay in Shipping House Arrest with Seth until Eirika is safely attached to another.
For the record, if you haven't been reloading after these C rank support, Erika is no longer capable of shopping around because she only has three supports left for a C-B-A with a chosen lesbian partner, so better make sure she's committed
Second, I've been holding back for spoiler thought reasons, but on further thought I'd rather you not walk into a trap that really shouldn't be a trap at all: Thieves in Sacred Stones can promote into a Rogue (As the manual shows) but also into an Assassin. (Which the manual inexplicably doesn't mention) The Rogue is a super-Thief with no disadvantage, while the Assassin retains most of the Thief functionality, but critically loses the ability to Steal items. So if you decide to promote Colm early and turn him into an Assassin, you risk missing out on Steal-only items until you have an alternative option.
Conversely, note that Myrmidons can also promote into Assassins, and for them it doesn't involve any such 'gotcha'. So if you want to give the Assassin a try, maybe promote Joshua into it instead of Colm.
Well, to be fair on Myrmidons promoting to Assassins, it's still a gotcha option in that Assassin is just generally an inferior choice compared to Swordsmaster - in terms of promotion bonuses Assassins equal or lose to Swordmasters in everything except 1 more point of resistance, and in terms of caps the only thing they beat them in is +1 skill. Then both classes are swordlocked, but Swordmaster at least gets a +15 to crit rate while Assassin just gets a 1/2 crit chance for instakills, which is admittedly fun but generally more of an unreliable gimmick than an actually useful ability in the GBA games. The one game where it might have been useful is FE6 with its much higher enemy quality... but FE6 is also the one where thieves just outright can't promote so assassin doesn't exist, whoops.
Rogue > Thief is much more blatant though, yes, you don't really want to lose the utility of stealing things even if it doesn't always come up.
I will say that I kinda expected the way Kyle stopped Forde from drawing was by kissing him, even though I knew that would never fly in a 2000s GBA game.
Surprisingly the GBA games do totally have a few Heavily Implied gay couples, even if yeah they wouldn't be too overt about it and fully confirmed couples you could ship didn't really come up until around Fates. In FE7, Raven and Lucius would "continue to travel as mercenaries for the rest of their days" (they were totally boning), or Lyn and Florina's "Friendship lasted forever" (don't worry they were just Roommates for a bit historians agree). I can't actually recall any in base FE8 though, granted, so it's nice of this mod to fix that.
Being "fair," Corrin/Kamui is actually, per the DLC chapters set pre-game, closest related to Lilith, the maid who's relevant for all of two scenes then proceeds to turn into a goldfish so she can manage your pocket-dimension base for the rest of the game.
Your sole interaction with her after that is occasionally tossing raw food at her so she makes for a better turret during Castle stages.
She's never directly playable, she has no Supports, and basically no one acknowledges her existence.
This may seem less "fair" than I claimed it would be, but it's actually as pro-Fates on this as I can bring myself to be, because Fates has a lot of incredibly stupid decisions. Babyrealms and all that.
This may seem less "fair" than I claimed it would be, but it's actually as pro-Fates on this as I can bring myself to be, because Fates has a lot of incredibly stupid decisions. Babyrealms and all that.
Hey, don't have to claim Fates fairness to me, it's the game in the series I'll actively argue is easily the worst Fire Emblem title. I can point at positives and negatives for most games in the series, but Fates just has this massive pile of garbage this is 90% of its writing decisions hanging over the entire thing, even if the base gameplay does have some improvements over Awakening (which it only really takes advantage of in Conquest, but still).
…And you know what makes me mad? They have chemistry! If they weren't siblings, I could see this working! Imagine it in terms of dating sim tropes: Princess Eirika's Otome Adventure. There's Seth, her bodyguard, who's dependable, mature, yet emotionally closed off because of the constraints of duty. There's Ephraim, her "childhood friend" who's nursing a secret crush on her; they can interact easily as he teases her and tries to make her loosen up. More will probably show up, like a fragile, shy, unathletic boy with confidence issues but a hidden talent, and a snarky asshole who doesn't trust others because he's been betrayed in the past.
Eirika has such otome game protagonist energy that hot men are throwing themselves at her, and I'm sitting here like Bernie Sanders in his winter coat, waiting for female love interests! Why can't Tana join us? L'Arachel? A wyvern rider with abs?
Well, to be fair on Myrmidons promoting to Assassins, it's still a gotcha option in that Assassin is just generally an inferior choice compared to Swordsmaster - in terms of promotion bonuses Assassins equal or lose to Swordmasters in everything except 1 more point of resistance, and in terms of caps the only thing they beat them in is +1 skill. Then both classes are swordlocked, but Swordmaster at least gets a +15 to crit rate while Assassin just gets a 1/2 crit chance for instakills, which is admittedly fun but generally more of an unreliable gimmick than an actually useful ability in the GBA games. The one game where it might have been useful is FE6 with its much higher enemy quality... but FE6 is also the one where thieves just outright can't promote so assassin doesn't exist, whoops.
I've mostly used Myrmidon to Assassin to try and salvage someone I was using who got Strength screwed. If a double crit already isn't enough to kill, which happens surprisingly often outside of end game weapons, might as well go for Silencer only strats.
There's only one I can think of in FE8 canon and it's very much a shipping goggles one compared to FE7. Spoiling just in case, though it's also one that I know this mod changes, but I'm still going to reference characters we don't have yet.
L'Arachel > Eirika has some vibes in the A support where L'Arachel says "I hope this isn't too sudden, but..." and gifts Eirika a precious gem from her house and asks to be invited to join Eirika in Renais.
There're some implications there, though they go straight over Eirika's head in a way that when I think of it seems similar to Dorthea > Ingrid in Three Houses.
From a different support, Dozla and Myrrh, it also sounds like Rausten knows about people being gay and it's unremarkable there. I might've spent too much time when I was younger collecting all of the supports in FE7 and FE8.
I'm really enjoying this let's play of Fire Emblem: The Coffin of Ephraim and Eirika. Always thought Elden Ring was George R. R. Martin's first videogame writing credit, but you can clearly see his influence here.
I've mostly used Myrmidon to Assassin to try and salvage someone I was using who got Strength screwed. If a double crit already isn't enough to kill, which happens surprisingly often outside of end game weapons, might as well go for Silencer only strats.
More than fair, and there are ways to superstack your crit chances on an assassin depending on things like their support element. I recall on one playthrough of FE7 throwing together Assassin Matthew and Swordmaster Guy along with the crit-buffing rings and killing edges to have things like a 25-30% silencer chance on one, and a 70-80% base crit rate on the other. I'd have to check if there's any supports that give Colm/Joshua big bundles of critboost to see how viable it would be in Sacred Stones though - that Matthew/Guy set is just particularly nice since both of them are in classes that like extra crit and happen to have the right affinities to give each other maximum crit benefits.
I'm really enjoying this let's play of Fire Emblem: The Coffin of Ephraim and Eirika. Always thought Elden Ring was George R. R. Martin's first videogame writing credit, but you can clearly see his influence here.
Hey now, everyone knows his real first writing credit was Fire Emblem: Geneology of the Holy War! Seriously, I'll always find it funny the similarities you can find between FE4 and Game of Thrones with the latter releasing only a few months after.
Sorry to drop in with this nonsense as my first post in the thread, but...
... Do Orson's irises look a bit red-tinged to anyone else? Because between that, the way he was talking about his wife reading to me - note: if I read anything about Orson's role in the plot of this game anywhere at any point in my life I have entirely forgotten it - as if he's referring to someone who died, and the established presence of undead monsters serving the dark god whose cult seems to have taken control of Grado, it seems to me like the methods used to secure his service might have been a bit, er, unorthodox, so to speak.
If the implication there wasn't clear enough I'm saying that I, with absolutely no evidence or any idea if this is even possible in-universe, think this might be less Orson having betrayed Renais and more the reanimated and enslaved corpse thereof being promised that they'll re-kill him to let him be with his wife - who I am wildly speculating to already be dead - in exchange for this service.
Unfortunately, that leaves the question of why Orson betrayed Ephraim during the first battle of Renvall, when he was presumably alive.
...Unless the order of events went something like this:
Tirado: Will you betray your country if I get this necromancer here to raise your wife from the grave?
Cultist: Uh, sir, there are several problems with--
Orson: Sounds great! What do you need me to do?
*Later*
Orson: Okay, I delivered them into the trap.
Tirado: But they escaped. We need to re-work the plan and try again.
Orson: Not my fault. Where's my wife? Creepy robed woman, where's my wife?
Cultist: I don't know, where is your wife? Do you think raising the dead is easy? I need a fresh corpse, you know! Really fresh, if you don't want to end up with just a revenant!
Orson: Are you telling me that that everything I just did was pointless?! You--
Tirado: *Kills Orson* Is that fresh enough?
Cultist: Uh...yes, sir! I'll get to work right away!
Tirado: Recycling plans and minions is good for the environment!
I will say that I kinda expected the way Kyle stopped Forde from drawing was by kissing him, even though I knew that would never fly in a 2000s GBA game.
I'm really enjoying this let's play of Fire Emblem: The Coffin of Ephraim and Eirika. Always thought Elden Ring was George R. R. Martin's first videogame writing credit, but you can clearly see his influence here.
I started out abhorring Assassins because Silencer is underwhelming.
Then I did a Swords-only run and turned my Myrmidons into Assassins on the idea that Silencer might be nice if my team turned out to struggle against high-Defense targets (Swords are low Might, Sword-users includes a lot of people with low Strength, so it seemed plausible) and came to appreciate that getting most of The Thief Package is actually really useful. Colm turning into an Assassin loses Steal in exchange for Silencer. (He also gains access to a specific Sword, but we haven't seen it yet, so shhh) Joshua gains...
-Superior line of sight in fog maps
-Superior inventory management in regards to opening chests and doors (Lockpicks)
-A superior movement type, letting him enter River tiles, among other benefits
-Two different secret advantages (One of which really shouldn't be secret and is horribly counterintuitive in execution, and I kind of want to just explain it ahead of time but am undecided whether that's truly appropriate)
Which adds up to a surprisingly general collage of benefits even though they're individually all situational.
Not long after that run I learned that crit chance is secretly capped in the GBA games. 50% as a cap probably seems irrelevant to a first-time player, but with Supports and equipment and class-based crit chance I saw upwards of 70~% listed crit rate against real enemies -in those conditions, your Swordmaster adding +15 crit chance is doing literally nothing!
As it happens, I also kind of hate the Swordmaster's animations (The crit takes forever) and really like the Assassin's spritework.
So yeah, I default to promoting Myrmidons into Assassins, personally.
Not long after that run I learned that crit chance is secretly capped in the GBA games. 50% as a cap probably seems irrelevant to a first-time player, but with Supports and equipment and class-based crit chance I saw upwards of 70~% listed crit rate against real enemies -in those conditions, your Swordmaster adding +15 crit chance is doing literally nothing!
While the rest is certainly some fair takes for why it might be worth promoting to assassin for the extra utility (personally, Torches, Door Keys and Chest Keys are all super cheap in FE8 so I'd probably go that route instead to cover the most relevant of them, and last I checked Swordmasters have the same movement type as Assassins and can also cross rivers), I have literally never heard of a secret GBA critical hit rate cap, and several attempts at googling it brings up absolutely nothing. Do you have a source of any kind for this, because I feel like it probably would have come up at some point previously if it were true, and it's not even in places like the FE Wikis or Serenes Forest with its calculation breakdowns. The only place I could find a crit rate cap is for Thracia 776, where you only get a maximum of 25% crit rate for your first attack while followups are uncapped.
Edit: Alright, I was genuinely curious enough that I broke out the hacking tools - changed around some stats so Erika would have a 90% crit rate in the prologue while not actually dealing damage, and she was very consistently getting critical hits just fine. So, either I flipped a coin two dozen times and it came up heads almost every shot, or critical hit rates work just fine in Sacred Stones.
While the rest is certainly some fair takes for why it might be worth promoting to assassin for the extra utility (personally, Torches, Door Keys and Chest Keys are all super cheap in FE8 so I'd probably go that route instead to cover the most relevant of them, and last I checked Swordmasters have the same movement type as Assassins and can also cross rivers), I have literally never heard of a secret GBA critical hit rate cap, and several attempts at googling it brings up absolutely nothing. Do you have a source of any kind for this, because I feel like it probably would have come up at some point previously if it were true, and it's not even in places like the FE Wikis or Serenes Forest with its calculation breakdowns. The only place I could find a crit rate cap is for Thracia 776, where you only get a maximum of 25% crit rate for your first attack while followups are uncapped.
This was almost 20 years ago. I thought I got it from Serenes Forest's calcs page for Sacred Stones, but it doesn't currently say such... though the credits are also different from what I remember. And I don't remember the Skill page saying Silencer activates half as often against bosses, which it now does.
But I honestly can't say for sure where I got this idea; it's been way too long and I trawled a variety of sources and did my own testing, and I don't have any records from back then. I honestly might simply be mixing this up with some other game from a similar timeframe, or maybe my cartridge refused to display higher than 50% for some reason. I don't remember why I thought such a cap existed. Just that I did my own testing that seemed to support it.
This was almost 20 years ago. I thought I got it from Serenes Forest's calcs page for Sacred Stones, but it doesn't currently say such... though the credits are also different from what I remember. And I don't remember the Skill page saying Silencer activates half as often against bosses, which it now does.
But I honestly can't say for sure where I got this idea; it's been way too long and I trawled a variety of sources and did my own testing, and I don't have any records from back then. I honestly might simply be mixing this up with some other game from a similar timeframe, or maybe my cartridge refused to display higher than 50% for some reason. I don't remember why I thought such a cap existed. Just that I did my own testing that seemed to support it.
No problem, I was mostly curious because that absolutely would be something that bent my preferences from Swordmaster to Assassin, compared to some of the more situational benefits. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if you did in fact run into a calculation like that back in the day and it's just been since corrected, you could find all kinds of wacky stuff in the early days of Fire Emblem discussion and discourse.
And yeah, Silencer has a lower rate against bosses presumably so you don't just cheese them (at least I assume that's the logic, not like you tend to need Silencer Cheese), and some bosses can be outright made immune - in particular, I recall spending quite a few turns with the earlier mentioned critboosted Matthew trying to proc a silencer against the final final boss of FE7 before having to give up.
We've just completed the first arc of the story. Reunited, the twins can take some time to catch their breath. This is not a proper chapter, in FE terms, because it does not involve a battle map; rather the game will use the coming scenes to introduce new characters, new stakes, and a new phase in the war.
The party makes its way out of Grado, presumably without encountering resistance. They make a stop in Serafew, and the twins, walking just the two of them along familiar streets, reminisce. Ephraim asks Eirika what's on her mind, and she says she's thinking about Lyon. The prince of Grado, remember? Like Ephraim, he's going to be introduced in flashback before we actually get to see him in the present day…interesting.
They last saw him a year and a half ago, Eirika prompts. "It was at Grado Keep," Ephraim says, even though the following scene uses the same map and sure does look like it's taking place in Serafew! (But, then again, some details in the scene suggest that they're likely in the capital. I don't know, y'all, this game is a little inconsistent sometimes.) Anyway! Flashback time:
Eirika, running along a street, calls for Ephraim and Lyon.
Eirika's demeanor here is different from what I'm used to. She's…I want to say 'more assertive', but that would imply that she's normally meek, which is not true. She simply lacks her normal layers of silky politeness. She never apologizes once.
Ephraim grouses about her being late, but the shaggy-haired boy with them tells him – a bit teasingly, perhaps – that it's not kingly to be so harsh with his subjects.
Our first look at Lyon, everyone! His hair is messier than I expected. The sepia filter is wreaking havoc with the colors, but I summoned this guy in Heroes once so I know that his actual hair color is lavender like his father. (Don't worry that I got spoiled – I never used Lyon at all because I found Arvis prettier. Anyway, it was like five years ago.)
Eirika explains that she stayed up late deciding what to pray for at the temple, and overslept. Ephraim doesn't get why she's taking this so seriously, and Lyon recounts that the sacred flame in this temple has been burning "since the time of darkness ended" (i.e. for 800 years) and it's supposed to grant the prayers of any pilgrim who prays before it. So…are sacred flames, like, a standard feature of temples in this religion, or—sorry. I know the game won't answer that. I just really like religious worldbuilding. It's one of those "as you know" lectures where the characters state information for the benefit of the audience, even though any reasonable person in this setting would know already.
Uh...well, I said any reasonable person. The other two facepalm at Ephraim's ignorance, disappointed but not surprised. Apparently, he gets yelled at by their tutors frequently for not paying attention. Ephraim decides to ask his sister what wish she picked after a whole night of consideration.
Eirika: It's a secret.
Aw! I wanted to know!
Ephraim – now that he knows he can make a prayer at a temple – says he'll ask to become a stronger fighter. Eirika and Lyon agree that this is very like him.
Lyon: Praising you, of course! Right, Eirika?
Eirika: Hee hee…Yes, that's right.
She laughed! Ephraim made his sister laugh! Not exactly in the way I thought he would, but I'm just happy to see her happy. Finally, Lyon says that all he wants is "for all our people to be happy." Eirika and Ephraim agree that this is very like him.
Ephraim: You're being praised, as always, Lyon.
Ephraim and Eirika are perfectly willing to jab at each other, and Lyon will jab at Ephraim, but the twins seem to treat Lyon more gently. I never saw Lyon jab at Eirika either, but that may be because of Sibling Insult Privileges, her gender, or she just didn't do anything to annoy him this scene. The social dynamics are complex here.
The friends return to the topic of the temple visit. Apparently, it's Ephraim's fault they're going. Their religious tutor, Father MacGregor, has gotten fed up with his refusal to learn anything; he's hoping that coming face to face with one of the Sacred Stones will instill some respect for the divine in the young man.
This line here confirms that the twins are living in Grado right now, in the capital. Their father has fostered them out to a neighboring kingdom to rebuild the bonds of friendship between their nations for the next generation. Historically, a powerful foreign ruler taking custody of your heirs was as much a hostage situation as it was a bonding opportunity, but there's no sign of that here. Pre-invasion Magvel was an idyllic, peaceful place.
Father MacGregor criticizes Ephraim a lot, but he's not their only tutor. Ephraim's been learning the spear from General Duessel and according to Lyon, the general has confided in him that he thinks Ephraim has the makings of a great king. Ephraim has a surprising reaction to this:
Ephraim: I would be happy simply taking my lance and travelling the land as a mercenary.
Wow. Um. Robert Baratheon moment…My only objection to this plan is that Eirika would be sad if her brother moved away. But on the other hand, I'm not sure she could find enough things/people for him to fight if she were Queen.
To be honest, I'm quite glad that the game is clearly establishing Ephraim's flaws: He's book-dumb, fight-happy, doesn't care for responsibility but can't stand being bored. I was a little afraid that he was going to be characterized as the Invincible Hero Man who is Always Right, but it seems like his military hypercompetence is balanced out by the fact that he's not interested in anything else. Or, as his sister puts it, "Ephraim, you're always so full of foolish, irresponsible romanticism. Father would have a fit if he heard you."
Well, Ephraim grumbles, what about Lyon? What kind of ruler will he become?
Lyon: I suppose I want to become like my father.
Eirika: You were born to be the Emperor of Grado, Lyon. It suits you.
I think I see why the twins don't throw casual insults at Lyon the way they do at each other. He can't even take compliments.
Lyon proceeds to explain that being the emperor is not easy. His father works from dawn 'till dusk and barely sleeps. He is "always so very tired." Lyon's only ambition is to be of help to him somehow. (New theory: The Evil-Eyebags correlation is simply a coincidence. Eyebags happen to be the fashion in Grado because everyone wants to imitate the emperor.)
No one would be able to tell them apart, he claims. Not even Lyon! They look too similar!
Lyon's spitting facts.
To be honest, I find this scene a bit sugary. It's like some cliched slice-of-life anime wandered into my war story. But the bitter balances the sweet; I've been watching Eirika go through hell for the past eight chapters. I appreciate the look at how she used to live, and what she's fighting to return to. Things used to be so good, and now…
If I go back to the prologue, and think about how recently these kids went from this to that, I don't think anyone can say they're not holding up great!
Back in the present, the twins wonder what Lyon thinks of the present situation: He would hate the war, but at the same time he idolizes his father. If he did speak out against the war, how would this strange new Emperor Vigarde react? Is Lyon safe from his own father right now?
With that sobering thought, we leave Serafew behind and return to Castle Frelia. Princess Tana welcomes the twins, and – what a coincidence! Her brother, Prince Innes, is also returning from the front lines! Welcome home, Innes! It's great to see you safe and sound!
Innes: Did you think Grado's slugs could touch me? With my bow, I'll take down every Grado soldier from here to the emperor's palace!
Well, that's a striking introduction! (for comparison, Ephraim's response to Tana congratulating him on getting back safely was, "I'm sorry, Tana. I didn't want for you to worry.") Innes then proceeds to glare at Ephraim like his presence is personally offensive. "It's good to see you," Eirika says politely. Innes's reply? It's his opinion that Renais fell because the kingdom was too lax in its defenses.
Thankfully, Tana jumps in and scolds him, pointing out that he just implied to the twins that their recently-dead father brought his death on himself. He has the decency to be a little embarrassed.
Innes: I'm sorry to hear of your father's death.
Innes: Hear me, Ephraim. Our most important task is to defeat Grado and end this war.
Then he storms off. Tana apologizes for her brother's behavior, but Ephraim brushes it off. Apparently this behavior – both the general assholery and the hateful obsession with Ephraim in particular – is entirely normal for Innes.
Tana explains that her brother is hypercompetitive, and sees Ephraim as a rival, a threat in his quest to be the best at everything.
At this point, Innes yells from off-screen to stop talking about him behind his back, which made me laugh.
Everyone is invited to a strategy meeting with King Hayden. Those present deliver their news in turn. Innes has been engaging Grado's invasion force in the south of Frelia. Things are going well, and he's stopped their advance (considering how dominant the Empire has been so far, this here is the first indication that Innes really is as good a general as he claims to be).
He still doesn't know why Grado invaded in the first place, of course, so Eirika steps in and directs their attention to the intelligence she got from Natasha: Grado wants to destroy the Sacred Stones. She sent a messenger ahead with this information, so King Hayden has already increased the guard on the Tower of Valni, where Frelia's Stone is held.
This brings up the question: why would anyone want to destroy the sacred artifacts that keep evil at bay?
Ephraim knows something that may be relevant. He calls in Myrrh (you know, the little psychic child from last time).
…Yes, Eirika. You were travelling together all the way from Grado. How have you not noticed yet? Her surprise is meant to be a stand-in for the player's surprise, because it's the first time Myrrh has fully appeared on screen. But that fails to take into account that I've been seeing this in the opening every time I boot up the game:
So Ephraim invites Myrrh to tell the council their story. The little dragon stays silent for a bit, before mumbling, "Please, Ephraim, you tell them," and scuttles back offscreen.
By the way, the script is taking pains not to refer to Myrrh with any gendered language, so I'm following the same convention. I'm not sure if that's a change made by the mod or not. I'd like to hear about how the original script handled this.
Myrrh is – as I expected – a Manakete. In Fire Emblem games, these are a magical race that can transform into dragons by using dragonstones. They can be very fun to use in battle. They can also be…awkward, when the writers decide to indulge in some "thousand-year-old dragon loli" garbage. Hopefully this game doesn't do that!
The other characters don't seem too surprised, because they've already heard legends of the Manakete. This makes Myrrh comfortable enough to pipe back up:
Myrrh: We live in the east…in Darkling Woods. We felt something. An ominous energy to the south.
Ephraim: From the direction of Grado.
Myrrh and someone called Saleh left to investigate the problem, but they were separated at some point in their journey across the war-torn land. Myrrh ended up lost somewhere near the Renais-Grado border.
Myrrh: They stole my dragonstone. They were preparing me for transport.
Human trafficking!…er, well, non-human trafficking. Fortunately, Ephraim happened to be nearby and saved the day. However, as Myrrh doesn't have a dragonstone right now, they can't turn into a dragon. So I'll have to wait to use a dragon in combat. :-(
Myrrh informs everyone that the dark energy still flows from the southlands, awakening the evil ones. They are determined to stop it. The others are trying to figure out what this could mean when a messenger barges in with urgent news.
The capture of Frelia's Sacred Stone, that's what.
It's almost funny – Hayden promised in this very scene that he'd made preparations to keep the Stone safe. Apparently Grado sent the bulk of their troops there, led by "Caellach the Tiger Eye and Selena Fluorspar." Ooh, another gemstone! An older name for fluorite, fluorspar is famous for its fluorescence – that is, the fact that it glows in ultraviolet light. It can be found in a rainbow of colors and crystal healers say that it clears the mind of distractions. Fluorspar has been used in iron smelting for centuries because it lowers the melting point of the ore.
I take back what I said about Innes's generalship – he only did so well because he was fighting a diversionary force.
The game now shows us a horribly one-sided battle at the Tower of Valni, where the Sacred Stone is – or, was.
Caellach: Do we gain anything by this? Not that I care, but…
At this point, a survivor of the garrison (that green Knight, there) speaks up, cursing Caellach for dooming them all.
Caellach: Huh? What's this? Still breathing, are you? Come. If you've any last words, I'll hear them, fool of Frelia.
Knight: You…monster…
Caellach: You waste your last words on insults? And feeble ones, at that…Hardly the right note to enter the eternal on, wouldn't you say? Well then, die.
Selena sees this, and she's furious. It seems the two of them have very different standards of…let's call it honorable battlefield conduct.
Selena: The emperor does not desire us to kill without cause! That would be murder!
Wait – the Emperor wouldn't like you to kill people without cause? Selena, have you been paying attention? What do you think this war is about? Do you think Vigarde has an excellent, life-affirming reason for destroying the sacred protectors of the cosmic order that he just keeps forgetting to tell you? Fucking Caellach shows more critical thinking ability than you.
Caellach makes fun of her for being such an Emperor Vigarde stan, before dismissively packing up to go.
Back in the capital, King Hayden is freaking out about the loss of the Sacred Stone. And the invasion, and the monsters, and the omens of unspecified darkness.
New plan: Contact every nation that still has a Sacred Stone (that is, Jehanna and Rausten) and convince them that it's in everyone's best interest to band together against Grado before this goes any farther.
"Do you think they will believe us?" asks Eirika, pointing out that the course of events here defies all reason.
Well, an envoy might be ignored, but a direct visit from royalty has more weight. Innes declares that he will go to Jehanna and forge an alliance with the queen; Eirika volunteers to head to Rausten. Ephraim immediately questions if it's necessary for her to do this and Eirika replies that she has made a vow:
Not willing to be outdone in any "who can throw themselves into the most danger" contest, Ephraim says he wants to invade Grado again.
…It's less stupid than it sounds. Ephraim correctly points out that, if they take out the Mad Emperor Vigarde, this purposeless war will be over. So he intends to take all the troops Frelia can spare to strike deeply and surgically, capturing the imperial capital and the emperor as fast as possible. They're trying to war against all of their neighbors at once, remember. It's reasonable to assume that the home territory is not as well defended as it might be.
Hayden: Very well. I entrust all our hope to you three.
Then he hands us another ten thousand gold.
The twins say farewell again. Ephraim worries over his sister, even though her task is by far the safest one, since she'll be travelling by sea (prediction: there will be pirates). Eirika worries over her brother in turn.
Ephraim: What's this now? Have you lost your faith in me?
Eirika: I know your true strength, Ephraim. No one can defeat you.
Ephraim: Ha ha! Hearing you say that fills me with confidence.
So the game offers me a choice! I wonder which one to pick…oh, just kidding, it was always going to be Eirika. I would like to see Ephraim's route too, of course, but – another time.
In one more scene, just before she's set to depart, Eirika is approached by Kyle and Forde. Despite all her reassurances, her brother is still worried for her, and he's sent his two most trusted knights to serve as her companions. Exasperated, she's about to go speak with him, but the Christmas Cavs stop her.
Kyle: Prince Ephraim says he's not concerned for his own safety. These are the words our prince gave us, and we believe he means them.
Forde: No matter how close death comes, the Pale Horse will not catch him.
Understanding that Ephraim is probably too stubborn to listen to reason in this case, she accepts the gift in the spirit in which it was meant. She formally accepts them into her service.
And with that…we've finally finished the interlude! Wow, that was a lot, and I'm sure Sacred Stones is just gearing up for the really fun bits. Will Eirika's journey be as safe as she thinks it is? Will Ephraim's army of faceless Frelian NPCs be any good? Will I go directly to Chapter 9 or be sidetracked grinding supports?
They last saw him a year and a half ago, Eirika prompts. "It was at Grado Keep," Ephraim says, even though the following scene uses the same map and sure does look like it's taking place in Serafew! (But, then again, some details in the scene suggest that they're likely in the capital. I don't know, y'all, this game is a little inconsistent sometimes.) Anyway! Flashback time:
nonsense answer A: clearly Serafew was the capital 1.5 years ago and they moved it since then.
nonsense answer B: Actually Serafew is a compelling one to one recreation of Grado Keep
(i'm pretty sure the real answer is scripting/scene setting sloppiness of one kind or another. Sacred Stones is very obviously overly rushed and lacking a lot of polish as a result)
In one more scene, just before she's set to depart, Eirika is approached by Kyle and Forde. Despite all her reassurances, her brother is still worried for her, and he's sent his two most trusted knights to serve as her companions. Exasperated, she's about to go speak with him, but the Christmas Cavs stop her.
Kyle: Prince Ephraim says he's not concerned for his own safety. These are the words our prince gave us, and we believe he means them.
Forde: No matter how close death comes, the Pale Horse will not catch him.
Understanding that Ephraim is probably too stubborn to listen to reason in this case, she accepts the gift in the spirit in which it was meant. She formally accepts them into her service.
By the way, the script is taking pains not to refer to Myrrh with any gendered language, so I'm following the same convention. I'm not sure if that's a change made by the mod or not. I'd like to hear about how the original script handled this.
Myrrh is definitely referred to as a girl and with she in the original English script. It's honestly an odd decision by the mod writers to remove it, Myrrh is definitely meant to come off as a little kid here more than she's meant to be mysterious.
Human trafficking!…er, well, non-human trafficking. Fortunately, Ephraim happened to be nearby and saved the day. However, as Myrrh doesn't have a dragonstone right now, they can't turn into a dragon. So I'll have to wait to use a dragon in combat. :-(
Man, Myrrh is such a cool character but you have to wait so long to use her. The whole "human with dragon wings" thing is a design I love and I'm always surprised to see a manakete in Fire Emblem that doesn't have them.
I found this image captioned with, "Local lord slanders literally everyone as he questionably strokes his sister's face, more at 11."
