Path of Radiance Act 3-1: Daein

We arrived in Daein, although it turns out that we've still got a ways to go to reach the final boss. Ashnard is not content to sit on his throne in Nevassa. So what have we done?

• Chapter 18: Ike arrives in Daein. We get a good look into what it means to be a Daein soldier, although largely an overview, and also see that Kilvas has chosen to ally with Daein. This chapter is mostly just a breather after Chapter 17, and having Shinon, which requires Ike to kill him to recruit him, is a good way to encourage the player to start using Ike again. Ike is one of the few characters able to fight later bosses, so it's a good idea to keep raising him.
• Chapter 19: Naesala takes to the field. A demonstration of the laguz royal's power, and also a way of getting you to regret not recruiting Reyson if you were dumb enough to do that. Daein threw their strongest solution at the problem first, and it bailed on them because he didn't really care about Daein. The money we found was probably Naesala's paycheck, and it came in handy to get Volke to share our first clue as to the deeper nature of Ashnard's war. Mechanically, this battle is pretty simple outside of Naesala, but this giant looming threat changes the way you approach the map entirely.
• Chapter 20: The desperate General Shiharam. With Naesala unable to defeat us, Petrine tries to logicistically put a stop to our progression, even if it costs the livelihoods of the Daein citizens. This is a straight rush to the finish, focusing more on the emotional core of "stop Shiharam" to pull off some of the intensity. If you brought Jill, you also get to hear the wyverns talk to her to cement this chapter's role as an emotional speedbump.
• Chapter 21: An empty capital. Unable to put a stop to us, Ashnard abandons his capital entirely, leaving only enough soldiers to plausibly put up a fight and a dragon. While we're still reeling in confusion, Nasir reveals himself as the Worm, allowing Ena to escape and leaving us with a castle and a lot of questions. This is a massive map with a lot of treasure to acquire, and how you go about approaching a map like this says a lot about your playstyle. This is also when you start needing to keep an eye of Sleep staves- bring your Restore.
• Chapter 22: Hostage situation. This is the breather after Chapter 21, a gimmick map that encourages you to think differently. It also humanises the Daein people some more- bet you didn't really think of the priests as Daeins, huh? Once you take out Schaeffer, you find another layer to Ashnard's plan, that being his knowledge of and active pursuit of the medallion to attempt to awaken the dark god sealed within. One thing to pontificate on, though, is that all Ashnard did was take a heron into his possession.
• Chapter 23: The great bridge. Petrine is out of chances, and throws everything and the kitchen sink at us to maybe put a stop to us and save face for her King. You'd think maybe she'd try blowing up the bridge, but who knows what technology they have. Defeating Petrine represents the fact we have taken down one of the Four Riders, which apart from the fact she's been harassing us so long, is a huge marker for how far we've gone. With this and Crimea's reappearnace, we're unstoppable! And after a complicated map with booby traps and ballistae alike, that's certainly the feeling one might come to have.

The Daein arc is the bridge between the sort of "ragtag mercenaries just running around" and "unstoppable murderball" that defines the early and lategame of Fire Emblem. One of the tricky parts of balancing a game like Fire Emblem is making sure you can get through the lategame regardless of how well your units turn out, so often lategame maps don't quite have the bite that the early ones feel like. Lore-wise, they've turned it to their advantage, although perhaps that puts a lot of pressure on the Crimea arc to have the actual tough enemies.

Emotionally, the Daein arc does a lot of legwork in humanising both the people and soldiers of Daein- the characters who aren't the Mad King Ashnard and the people ready and willing to kill for his brutal ethos. Much like the Begnion arc built up Radiant Dawn Part 3, this chapter is setting you up so that, in the back of your mind, you'll be ready to take Radiant Dawn Part 1.

How about the arc as a whole? Well, as with most Fire Emblems, there's a bit of a problem when it comes to the later arcs- the goal rarely changes. This is why most Fire Emblems like to include a secret cult manipulating things from the shadows or another faction with separate goals that gains more power once the first is out of the way. Path of Radiance does not do this- our goal is stopping Ashnard and that doesn't change throughout the whole of Act 3, but the stakes get added to with our little friend Lehran's Medallion. It's a bit of an old adage when it comes to drafting: The beginning and the ending are easy. It's writing a good middle that proves you adept.