Yar har ho and a bottle of rum! Nah, seriously, that's the kind of pirate that lives in Path of Radiance.
...Oh, right, hold on, we left the last chapter awaiting punishment. Wrong tone.
The worst part of being a kid: when your dad puts on his "I'm disappointed in you" face.
Boyd: “No fair playing the martyr! Nobody made me go with you. I left of my own free will! I’m ready to accept my punishment, too! Wait, what am I saying?”
Rhys: “Please, Commander Greil! Titania entrusted me with her orders. If anyone’s to blame for this mess, it’s me. I’m the one who should be punished…”
Oscar: “I set a poor example, Commander Greil. Any punishment should be mine alone.”
Everyone steps up to take the blame. At least we understand why we're getting punished.
Tough but fair. Perhaps we'll have guards for Mist and Rolf for a while. They'll probably need it.
Mist objects- she doesn't feel right seeing her brother punished for trying to save her. Ike, on the other hand, accepts.
...This part, though, I don't get. Even if the game doesn't want Ike's punishment to affect the player, why not timeskip over it? (This never gets brought up again. I can only imagine at some random point during or after the game, Ike just locks himself in his room for ten days. Whether he explains this is another matter.)
Greil's bringing Boyd, Oscar and Rhys, Titania's bringing Shinon, Gatrie and Ike. At the very least, we're not going to be without Titania. That would ruin this run!
---
Close-ups on the Gamecube models kinda look weird. This guy also has a laughing animation to share.
Also, poor first mate. Or maybe he doesn't notice the insult. ...Actually, I'd still feel bad. (From the sounds of things, the piratey style of dialogue seems to be more of a localiser thing. They definitely had fun with the two pirate chapters.)
"We've been terrorised by pirates for multiple days, should we consider hiring someone to save us?"
"Probably."
Shinon doesn't think there's much of an issue. This is actually the first mission that can be a little challenging if you're playing legitimately. Of course, for us, that won't come up. But it'll be a little close!
...I just realised Gatrie's saying this backwards- lightning comes before thunder. If you're planning on using Shinon and Gatrie, having Shinon shoot first and then throwing Gatrie in to the chokepoint is a good way to use them. We will be getting no archers or knights, so we won't even be using the budget version.
Ike's catchphrase came from Titania. What are the odds?
We've got a between combat menu! We can now choose which units to deploy, where they start standing, and trade around items.
Well, OK, we can't actually change any deployment positions right now. Or until Chapter 8. Remember this screen is here, though, we'll need it later.
I also edit my deployment positions. The right-hand wing will be where we send Gatrie and Shinon, and Titania has the movement to deal with that Fighter.
This is a different Fighter (he's on the boat), but here is a droppable Hand Axe, a weapon Titania can throw as well as swing. We'll be making use of this later. I actually don't wind up using these much, but this one will be essential.
Our first indirect combat! With an Iron Axe, Titania will be unable to do any damage. If you don't do any damage in a round of combat, you get 1 EXP. Honestly, since Titania gets about that for kills, not that bad a trade. We should still do our best to stay on top of indirects.
(Archers can only shoot at 2 range unless using a Longbow in Tellius. Archers with larger firing ranges are exclusive to Three Houses and Shadows of Valentia. This is probably why 1-2 throwing weapons are more important here.)
This Fighter here is weird. I don't think he moves. He certainly didn't rush at Titania and take a swing, and all the more fortunate for it.
"Unknown" villager, fancy sprite... that's someone we'll see in the future! He seems to have missed the memo on what's going on.
Good luck to you, sir! He gives us an Elixir, a 3 use inventory item that fully heals the user. We won't be using this one for a long time. We'll wait for when enemies are dealing more than 10 damage a turn.
Oh hey, someone showed up on the boat. We could use a pegasus knight. And a woman. She's not working with us for now.
Honest pirates! Not unknown, but I imagine these pirates are not. This one is literally named "Pirate", for crying out loud!
Marcia's looking for her brother. We do see him later, which makes the "tossed his carcass into the waves" story questionable.
Cheater! Yeah, that sounds about right for Marcia's brother.
Creepy. But honestly, if you're hoping for actual gold out of Marcia's brother, yeah, you're screwed.
Yeah, sounds about right.
Imagine looking a Holy Knight in the eyes and believing you can win. Then again, axes beat lances.
Marcia and Mist should get into a sass-off.
Why Marcia decided to stand here is another question.
She's outfighting the bandits with axes.
And critting the myrms.
Ike'll Talk to her, and... well, apparently Marcia's having trouble. There's no one here!
(This is where the difficulty comes from casually: getting through all the enemies quickly enough to make sure Marcia is still alive when you talk to her.)
Ike'll help Marcia out. So apparently these pirates are supposed to be a threat to Marcia.
...That's how you choose to phrase it, Marcia? You're hardly the first "first pegasus knight" to not have a crush on the Lord, this isn't tradition growing pains or anything.
Ike is suitably perturbed. This is honestly just Ike's default state around women, flirting or otherwise.
We'll keep you in mind. It'll be nice to go toe-to-toe with multiple soldiers.
Oh hey, a pirate that survived a round of combat with Titania! They're getting better! And we still have three more chapters before we get another sword arm. That point of Strength will be important.
Oh hey, the boss survives, too. I could use a Steel Axe, but...
I think Titania can handle Havetti. But that's a lot of damage to take. We may need to dip in to our Vulnerary stocks in the future.
Well done, Titania. And the rest of you too. An honest day's work for an honest day's pay. Well, except for the people we killed.
A bit of an odd expectation. Greil has a bit of a reputation amongst the people of Crimea, it seems. And with good reason!
Then who will run off the pirates, if it's too low a job for mercenaries?
Seriously, who are the knights fighting? They're not hostile to any of their neighbours. Anyway, time for a reading:
Titania: “We’ve driven off all the pirates. Your people will suffer no more indignities at their hands.”
Mayor: “Oh! That is joyful news! Here is your pay, as promised.”
Titania: “Thank you very much. And if you find yourself in need again, do not hesitate to send word.”
Mayor: “Of course, of course. All of you put on a most marvelous show–such combat skills! To be honest,I was expecting Commander Greil to be here today. When I saw just you, nothing more than, no offense, a band of children…Well, I will admit to being a tad nervous!”
Titania: “I apologize for troubling you. Unfortunately, Commander Greil had other pressing matters to attend to.”
Mayor: “Oh, no. Don’t apologize. There’s no need. After all, you got rid of those brigands, and you did it impeccably well!”
Titania: “It’s a fine compliment you pay, sir, but it was our pleasure.”
Mayor: “As a matter of fact, you’re more than good enough to be in the royal army if you so desired. Especially your Commander Greil. He’s far and away better than most any general I’ve seen hereabouts. Er… What I mean to say is…Don’t you think running off pirates is a bit…beneath you?”
Titania: “That’s not–“
Mayor: “Don’t get me wrong, now. You certainly helped all of us simple folk out. Even so, it seems to me the proper place for you and your Commander Greil is in the service of the Crimean throne! Well, that’s what this old man thinks.”
Titania: “We–and Commander Greil–are quite satisfied with the work we do now.”
Mayor: “You’ve nary a selfish bone among you. Well then, rest assured we’ll speak again if any problems arise. Thank you again.”
Titania: “Hmm…”
Ike: “Titania? Is something amiss?”
Titania: “No, of course not. Our mission is complete, and that’s all that matters. You did well today, every one of you.”
Shinon: “Pah! Jobs like this barely make a dent in my incurable boredom! It’s like that old buzzard said, there’s better work out there Something with a bit of challenge.”
Titania: “Shinon!”
Shinon: “I’m joking. J-O-K-ing.”
Gatrie: “Come, Titania. Be honest. Don’t you find the work we do to be a bit…disheartening? Unglamorous?”
Titania: “What? You too, Gatrie? What’s gotten into you?”
Gatrie: “Please! Look, we’re not a band of money-hungry recruits. We’re professionals, and we’re very good at what we do. Shinon and I have discussed this at length. All of this mundane mercenary work is unworthy of us. We’re wasting our talents.”
Titania: “I see. You’re telling me that you think Commander Greil is mismanaging us. Do I have that right?”
Gatrie: “Whoa! Hold it right there! That’s not what I’m saying at all!”
Ike: “What is it, Titania?”
Titania: “What’s what?”
Ike: “You seem so angry. It’s not like you.”
Titania: “Hmph…”
Gatrie: “Exactly! Ike’s got the right of it!”
Titania: “It’s just that I…Look, we do good work, and we help people. I want you to be proud of that. I felt like you were saying work that doesn’t bring fame and fortune isn’t worth doing, that’s all. Sorry.”
Gatrie: “No…you’re right. We are the ones who ought to apologize.”
Titania: “Enough. Let’s get going, shall we? Rest is part of our jobs, too. We can’t go into the next battle exhausted.”
Gatrie: “Now that’s a plan! I’m so hungry, I could eat a wyvern!”
That's an important thing to have. Not everyone can do the most glamourous work, but all work has glamour. Well, somewhat less when you're killing people.
Well, Shinon's got different opinions about what it means to be a mercenary. Exactly how much money Shinon gets in his pay packet, and how much that compares to "money to live well", is one of those things Fire Emblem skims over. Not even Three Houses considers the economy.
Maximum turn count.
---
We've done enough fighting bandits and pirates, it's about time we get started on the main story.
Let's start with the last of the Greil Mercenaries- that one in the middle, wearing black. He's made a sudden arrival here.
And by "sudden", I mean "he was running in". He also sounds like he's back early.
This is Soren's first line in the game, and I think it's a fairly fitting one. Soren will be a major character, immune to permadeath, and he'll also serve as the closest thing Ike has to a love interest. This is less of a "hide your gays" thing (it's 2005, there's a non-zero amount of that) as it is how little the Support system impacts Tellius.
Soren remembers to say hi to Ike. Ike is the only person Soren really cares enough about to observe such niceties for.
"Training with another mercenary group", Greil says. One has to wonder how the logistics of this deal worked out. It's also kinda weird for Soren in particular.
But it does give us this reveal. There are dozens of worse ways to receive this news.
We're pulling out the map this time! There's a few pre-chapter moments where Ike's movements are depicted on a map of Tellius in this game. They're much more common in Radiant Dawn, and also have a voice-over. This game does not do that.
Oops, typo. That should be "This is Melior, Crimea's capital." Also, the dot is pulsing and I appear to have caught an off-frame: that's the castle in the middle of the shot being highlighted.
Look at these off frames. You can see the Greil Merc's fort more clearly here. Where Caldea and the port town are located is another matter.
Soren was studying in Melior's library when the attack began. Thinking hard on this, I have to wonder if Soren's "a wyvern, perhaps" is actually a genuine question. Later on, we do learn that King Daein himself was physically present at this battle...
Knights, Cavaliers and Wyverns. The backbone of the Fire Emblem Enemy Army. Cliche, but effective.
As discussed in the artbook, Crimea was founded on the premise that Begnion was too racist, while Daein was founded on the premise that Begnion was not racist enough. I feel like that "...friendly" has a lot of bad blood in there. Maybe that is where all the Knights of Crimea are.
"Minor skirmishes", though, implies that only one battalion, or perhaps a handful of battalions, are necessary to keep a lid on it. Maybe. We don't get numbers, and to be honest, if we did, we could probably nitpick how realistic those numbers are.
What a way to buildup this moment. We didn't catch how grand it was enough yet.
I still say that's not a good enough darken on the top. Besides, do we really need King Daein's identity darkened right now? Who would even recognise the man himself if he was in proper lighting?
Also, I'm not entirely sold on the word 'treacherous'. King Daein may be many things, but 'treacherous' is not one of them.
King Crimea's brother is Duke Renning, depicted here. King Crimea himself, though, goes completely undepicted. Honestly, it seems kinda strange that they bothered to show off Renning, though it makes sense in hindsight.
Unfortunately for us, the story ends there. I do kinda wonder about the setup of Melior now, though. Soren saw the Daein soldiers, but the battle is far enough from the citizenry that ordering them to flee is a valid tactic. At least Soren could make it out.
Faster than the grapevine: Soren communication!
OK, seriously, you two have been taking jobs directly from the Crimean throne? What was the point of quitting the Knights? What are the Knights doing? It later gets revealed that a Greil Mercenary makes less than a Knight of Crimea. I'm not feeling like the latter has earned it.
Helping Crimea is certainly the "right" thing to do. Tellius isn't really the sort of game that will challenge that assumption (you want Three Houses for that), but it's interesting to come back to this game and feel like Titania could make a better argument here.
This is an interesting point. The game is very much not on Soren's side on this matter (sometimes Soren is more right than Titania, but usually it's obvious to the player which is making the "right" arguments). Are the Greil Mercenaries truly obligated to investigate this? Depending on where you live, you have the right to avoid being punished for not helping someone in need- and if helping that person would put you in danger, that right is even stronger. Helping Crimea would represent a huge risk for the Mercs.
And really, what would we do? The battle is probably already lost (it is already lost, incidentally), and as much as Titania has been just grinding the game to dust so far, we can't count on her to take on the whole Daein army at once. For one thing, Iron Axes are only good for 17 2-hit kills each.
Titania's argument is that Ramon and Renning are good people.
Yeah, I think Soren's right on this one. No matter how statistically superior to Titania Renning is, he's no better off as a one-man army than her. Although there is that infinite-use Crimean regalia that Renning can use...
Siege rules suck. They also tend to assume that the enemy has not already penetrated your castle.
Greil decides that, since we do not know how the battle has fared beyond the first blow, that we should send someone to check. I feel like we don't have to think too hard about which outcome it landed on.
Ike is voluntold as the troop commander. Titania as advisor is a good call, though.
Shinon objects to this decision. Greil decides this is good reason to include him in the mission. Shinon is tongue-tied, and serves him right, honestly.
We'll also get Rhys and Soren. Casually, having Rhys is so good. Soren, though, needs a little more effort. I wouldn't mind having Boyd or Oscar instead of Shinon, though. Frontliners are at a bit of a premium in this party.
Mist gives Ike the Regal Sword on the way out. So hopefully Ike had three weapons or less in his inventory last map! (Ours did.) The Regal Sword is 7 Might, 95 Hit, 10 Crit, 6 Wt and has 40 uses. Crucially, though, it does Effective Damage (x2 Might) against Armours and Cavaliers. This weapon will serve a casual Ike well. It's locked to Ike, though, so unless things go spectacularly poorly, we won't use this at all.
If you're familiar with Fire Emblem Tradition, you might have heard of the Rapier, a Lord-locked sword that also hits Armours and Cavaliers for effective damage. In early footage, Ike could be seen with one, and there's unused data that hints the Rapier was an item that was planned to be included. Honestly, I can't imagine Ike holding a rapier. It just feels comical.
Whoever wrote Mist knocked it out of the park.
---
This location has a name? Capital! I'm never going to remember it.
Ike is wondering why he's being put in charge of something. Fair question. Even now, I'm still not entirely clear on how concerned Greil is about his future.
Rhys and Ike talk about how Ike is going to succeed Greil as commander one day. Greil is the founder of the Greil Mercs, it's his rules and all, but considering what Ike was being put through to get in to the Mercs at the start of the game, it's kind of weird that Greil is putting stake in hereditary command. There is more to this story, though, but I don't fully understand how it fits together.
In a casual playthrough, Ike does wind up surpassing Greil, especially in Radiant Dawn. We never see Greil's stats, so we can't numerically compare him, but this does remind me of a similar moment in Dragon Quest V: Your father in that game is super-awesome and you fully feel like you're never going to match his skill, but if you compare your stats when you reach the same level he was, you find out that you're the better unit.
Good advice. Maybe this should be a motivational poster or something.
"Them" is referring to corpses strewn across the road. In Fire Emblem, dead people disappear in a bright light, and this map appears to have taken a leaf from Fire Emblem Tradition and pretended the corpses have just done that rather than show us what Soren is describing. I assume a pile of corpses as large as suggested would bump up the rating.
Interesting. Ike assumes that this means Crimea is winning.
This is a brutal counterpoint. Why is there fighting along this road at all? Whoever was killing the Daein soldiers is retreating from Melior. This is not good news. Hopefully there is a survivor.
Soren suggests it's not Renning, when Titania asked. Who it is, though, remains an open question. Right now, we, the audience, only know one other candidate (King Ramon), and I don't think anyone is expecting him, even without prior knowledge.
We are interrupted by these guys. The Daein army wear black- breaking series tradition, where the invading army typically wears red. Of course, official artwork of some of the head honchos, like Zephiel and Vigarde, reveal other colours, so perhaps this is less 'tradition' and more 'technical limitation'.
I won't be showing it off in this run, for reasons, but there is actually a scene in this game where a Daein soldier can be caught wearing red.
Maijin proves immune to the common courtesies of diplomacy- namely, "listening to the other person". Not even in the "I will directly counter your arguments instead of making my own" way, our words just go in one ear and out the other. If they even get in an ear to begin with.
We start a fight scene. Looking at this map, there is a startling lack of actual terrain features where the lion's share of the fighting is. This is an open terrain map. Soren hates open terrain. And he also starts with a bit of an issue dealing damage- an occupational hazard of using Wind tomes. Wind has 2 might, for crying out loud. If you're playing along and you're not satisfied with Soren's performance on this map, that's not him, that's this map. Give Soren a few levels and a better tome and he'll be a magical delete button yet.
Ike isn't sure how to handle open terrain maps. This map is a bit of a difficulty spike, it's a fair assumption. Shinon has quite the barb to toss his way. Honestly, sometimes I wonder how good a commander Mist would be. I usually don't remember this remark in my reasoning, though.
Standard procedure on setup: Organise the spare weapons semi-randomly amongst the load bearers, make sure Titania has as much room as possible for drops, and tuck the guys in a corner while Titania goes to town.
Blue circles like this indicate a crit. In motion, there's also a flashy animation. I am not trusting myself to be able to record and post these in video form.
Titania gets another good level. That Speed is slightly concerning, but I don't think she's worried about her Speed in Chapter 8. Strength, Skill and Defence are all perfect.
This guy has a Knight Killer. This weapon has a near-perfect attendance in Fire Emblem, but it's had a few names. You might know it as a Horseslayer or a Ridersbane. This guy missed Titania, but if he hit, he might have dealt some actual damage. Not enough to consider healing over, though.
Titania's already made it to Maijin? Open terrain really makes things easy if you're juggernauting with one unit.
Also Titania has proper dialogue with Maijin. A chunky one, too.
Maijin: I’ve fought the Crimean army before. The Imperial Guard has some skill, but the rest are a poor joke. Which will you prove to be? Hmm? Perhaps you’ll offer me some entertainment after all.
Titania: If you attacked us because you thought we were with the Crimean army, you made a mistake. I left my post years ago. Now, I’m nothing more than a common mercenary.
Maijin: That means nothing to me. You’re not of Daein, you’re armed, and you’re here. It’s our job to destroy you. Simple, wouldn’t you say? Come, dog! Prepare yourself!
Titania: I’d just as soon avoid this bloodshed, but that seems unlikely. If that’s the way it is, I’ll not hold back!
All bosses have dialogue with Ike, and Maijin also has something to say to Soren. For the most part, they're not really that interesting yet.
Maijin has some beefy Defence: Titania actually can't one-round with her Steel Axe. This forces me to backtrack and pick up her Hand Axe from Ike to deal moderately efficient damage to him and the archer that are my only opponents at the end of the map.
12 HP left after going a round with Titania. Knights are tough. I think you're supposed to hit Maijin with Soren. We'll have better solutions to Armour later.
I know he's in a Healhedge, but it bears repeating: After going a round with Titania, Maijin cannot be oneshot with an Iron Axe.
Well, at least he kneels in the end.
Gatrie has second thoughts about killing Daein soldiers. We've picked our side now, at least we would have if there's anyone around to blab about our involvement. I routed this map, but after Chapter 2, there's always potential for one off-screen soldier...
Shinon tries stealing the weapons off dead enemies, in what I believe is the only case of an attempt in Fire Emblem history. Why don't we have the option to take non-droppable weapons anyway? Why can I have his Steel Lance and not his friends'?
This is all the series has to say on the subject. Thracia 776 has a mechanic where, instead of killing people, you could attempt to capture them so you could steal the weapons they were holding. Apart from that, the dead get buried with whatever neat junk they were lugging around. Assuming they get buried.
...We'd better take a look.
Well then.
Soren is off being his "I don't care about anything other than self interest" mood. This is probably one of his less justified times. Even if this woman is an enemy, we'd still be better off taking custody of her.
Something's telling me she's not an enemy. Presumably, the part of me that knows this is one of my favourite characters in the entire duology.
Yes. Rhys will lend a hand.
...Actually, I don't think there's ever a big deal made about Rhys's strength. He starts with a Strength stat of 0 and is physically unfit, but I don't think there's ever any counterevidence to the idea that he can lift heavy things.
Lost a turn to needing to switch out to the Hand Axe. To get the full BEXP, you need to 4-turn this map, and I'm not sure how one does this without a Titania rush.
Next time: The Greil Mercenaries move out.
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