Fate Unstoppable comes back for this narration. It feels appropriate for this thought.
Whatever it is we're doing here, it's not making the Daeins' lives better.
As bad as the Daeins have it...
Well, we can help them by not having their King be a madman. Radiant Dawn tells us winning the war doesn't do that much for them, but...
It really says a lot, how much of an impact being "Without a King" makes on these pre-modern societies. Nowadays, governments can run while the head of state is otherwise occupied.
Our army is on their doorstep, and Ashnard is still off in Crimea doing... whatever. Now the Daein army has to figure out how to not get Nevassa taken over.
All Four Riders are gone from Daein. Kasatai is depending on Ena. And Kasatai has never seen Ena fight.
But surely Ashnard has at least considered what would would happen if he didn't come back to Daein, right? This is what he's believed is the correct plan. ...Right?
Ena is a lot calmer about it than one might expect.
Of the beorc, the Daeins are the strongest- although how they match up against laguz is an open matter.
Kasatai is very concerned about how Nevassa is about to be overthrown.
Yeah, that's a problem worthy of pointing at.
And Ena agrees.
Not that Ena has much of a choice in that matter. This is what they have.
Ena has been thinking about the plan, and...
Yeah, that sounds like the best explanation.
Ashnard doesn't need Nevassa anymore. He doesn't need Daein to still be around for his plans. All his good soldiers are with him in Crimea.
Kasatai, of course, thinks this is ludicrous.
Because he is still using the normal rulebook. Imagine being a King and deciding that your own capital can just get invaded because you're busy doing something else.
...I just realised which Three Houses character that can be applied to.
The counterevidence? The fact it's happening.
So, let's talk about Ashnard's war.
That's... an odd reason. Crimea's been doing that for ages. Although they are making ground thanks to Ramon and Titania and everyone...
I'll take your word for it. Suzerains are one of those rarer pre-modern systems of government, and I do not fully understand it. Begnion is Crimea's suzerain because Crimea is the only country that left Begnion peacefully, but what this means for Crimea's day to day business is unclear.
If this is indeed the correct behaviour, Begnion could have been very offended if they wanted to be.
Remember how scared of this Soren was when it happened?
Melior is basically doing the job of Nevassa for Ashnard right now. Much closer to Gallia.
...Surprised he's not using our old place, that's even closer.
Ashnard just... didn't care about what happened to Crimea as a result of his actions.
Phoenicis and Kilvas, yes. We saw Caineghis had to stop Tibarn from joining in the fight against the beorc from the word go. Goldoa, though... That would never happen.
Sighs Yes, this is true.
I wonder if Ena knows why this is desirable. Well, desirable from a warped perspective like Ashnard's.
Kasatai understands the logic, but not the premises.
Kasatai, now that he's not thinking of Crimea as being worth punishing over the allegiance with laguz, thinks their lives are pointless sacrifices in Ashnard's plan. An interesting shift. Between this and a later development, I wonder how on board with "The Daein Way" Kasatai is.
Ashnard, as it turns out, is even more insane.
This is a valid point, if Ashnard's goal was world domination. I don't think it would be folly to claim such, but it's not Ashnard's main goal.
...Look how much trouble I'm having explaining the Mad King and I've seen his dialogue. What chance do these poor saps have?
Ena may have chosen her words a little more clearly, but what she's saying here is accurate. Kasatai must understand how much Ashnard is willing to invest in their chances of victory.
ie: Zilch.
Kasatai gets it now. He may not like it, but he gets it.
There are reinforcements in the map mechanically, admittedly.
Poor Kasatai.
Ashnard hasn't completely left the Nevassans to die, though. His choice in commander, though spurious, was with merit.
Ena has one last gambit, but if Kasatai does not cooperate, it won't work.
Kasatai is so bereft of hope that, no matter what Ena pulls out of her bag of tricks, Kasatai will support it. This will be important.
I... I guess? That's... not generally how wars work. Fire Emblem wars, though? ...Still not really.
We now know Nasir worked for Daein, but considering the conversation with Ena, I don't believe he is attempting to steer Ike wrong here. Quite frankly, I don't think we're invited to believe Nasir ever pulled the wool over Ike's eyes, in spite of how easy it would be.
There has been no real clue as to Ashnard's movements, in spite of how perilous the situation is for his side.
It's so quiet, even the citizens are gone. Soren describes them as having been "conscripted", but I'm more inclined to believe they're all volunteers. Ultimately, though, I admit that they don't understand what they're getting themselves into, so perhaps some of the connotations of the word 'conscripted' survive.
Ike: "We're the good guys, though."
Daein treated Crimea a certain way. Daein expects that if Crimea wins, they will be treated in kind. As the retaliating army, Crimea has more right to do so than Daein did.
Elincia doesn't really grasp what happened to the Crimeans. Who's ready for another Soren speech?
Soren: ...You truly have no idea how to rule a nation. Do you know what happens to a country that loses a war? Everything is destroyed. Homes, land, crops... everything. And the citizens... They're not even treated as human. Crimeans, especially those near the capital where Daein's presence is strongest, are treated worse than sub-hum... than laguz.
Elincia: That's... Why would they... That's horrible...
Soren: The people understand this, which is why they pay for protection in the form of taxes. For the royals and nobles who are charged with protecting the people, there is no greater sin than to be defeated in war. It is the ultimate betrayal of the people's trust.
One thing that the Three Houses discourse kind of exaggerates is the consequences of war, and Soren's grisly depiction here kinda doesn't help. This is (unfortunately) not unheard of, but this is, honestly, a bit of a misunderstanding of what it means to be at war. Nations declare war when one army desires something from another, and it's usually in the winning army's interests to leave the losers in a governable state. Both because it's easier for the winners and it makes it less likely other people might attack you.
Now, if the war is being declared in the name of vengeance or xenophobia, then you get some "salt the earth" kind of behaviour. These are your religious crusades moreso than sanctions, though... usually. When the aggressor is not insane.
Nevertheless, brutal destruction is what Daein brought, and Elincia is brought to tears by it.
Probably shouldn't bring it up in Elincia's presence.
Titania offers some words of comfort. Ultimately, though, this is still a lot of pressure to put on someone. Just as killing a king doesn't usually end a war, restoring a queen doesn't usually repair the damage of it.
This is a more realistic goal. Although whether his army would respect that is another matter.
At least Elincia understood what Ike was getting at.
That sounds like an Ike approach to battle. Grab the enemy by the horns and if they try a trap, just kick their asses more.
Jill was the emotional MVP for taking on her dad with her head held high.
Ooh, we've got Mia/Ilyana A! Because of Mia and Ilyana's affinities, this doesn't give them a lot, while Ilyana's other Support is much more helpful. Ideally, I'd make it so Ilyana got to A with this other character, but that's largely a theoretical consideration- Ilyana's other Support partner has other problems. We can benefit from Mia/Ilyana having an A Support, specifically, in other ways later.
I am very concerned with Mia's paranoia. Mostly because I want to know where she's been that this is how her mind works.
Aw, she really does care.
Not enough to stop and do something about it, though. Tracking Ilyana down is probably going to be hard work.
There are a lot of things that could be, a number of them unpleasant.
Well, finding Ilyana wasn't that hard.
I love Tellius's one-liners. I was considering saying I love Tellius's sense of humour, but honestly, I concur with the people that don't find Ilyana funny. In my case, though, more for different reasons.
It's actually relatively impressive that Mia hasn't found out about Ilyana's hunger until A Support. I find the fact that Ilyana has massive food withdrawal issues interesting. Being Ilyana poses unique issues, and I feel that despite Ilyana having, you know, five chains, the nature of her hunger and how she handles existing with that sort of issue goes relatively unexplored.
I... don't think a biscuit will do the job. I'm also starting to worry about your eating habits.
Besides, I don't think Ilyana can move right now. Glad her hunger doesn't impact her battlefield performance.
Mia finally realises Ilyana's fainting is caused, at its root, by hunger.
I think I've seen some theories on real ways this sort of hunger can be brought about, but I'm certainly not on top of how that works.
As is normal for most people.
Mia is happy to help.
Ilyana's rationality, though, has been overwritten by her hunger.
I have several questions, and somehow the first of which is "what are the places this screenshot is about to be used out of context?"
Cannibalism is typically frowned upon.
Now wasn't that hilarious?
And this is pretty much where the game lost me. I honestly like Calill as a character, and her Tormod Support is pretty good (her third one, though, meh), and she got a huge upgrade in Radiant Dawn (somehow), but here...
...Not so much.
If I were in Nephenee's shoes, I'd be ejecting from the conversation about here, if not sooner.
I feel like the intent behind this question is sorta to portray Nephenee as being from the country, and so Nephenee's answer is "one hovel is the same as the one next door". Honestly, are cities any different?
For all the faults that is this conversation's opening, Calill has a keen eye for why Nephenee is like this.
Understanding the meaning of the expression "...friend" will spoil the twist in the A Support.
She's from the "city", but what exactly she is is less clear. Calill's societal position is explicit evidence that whatever societal model is being used in Tellius, it certainly ain't the strictly stratified "feudalism" one. Fire Emblem likes to be a sword and sorcery game, but it's pretty bad about depicting the period as feudal. Technically, they still work as belonging to the "early-modern" period, though.
I'm going to assume Nephenee properly consented to this?
...Well, OK, less so "assume" and moreso "pretend".
Today's Info conversations. "Refugee" is exceptionally unspecific.
Why, it's another Jill conversation! Jill's arc properly concluded in Chapter 20, where she stood for what she believed in in the face of her old life, but we have one little bit of a denouement for it.
All Ike knows is how to be a good guy. And sometimes, that's all you need.
All in a day's work.
Another guest!
A nameless NPC! And... yes, she is the exact same portrait as the cute lass design I commented on back in Chapter 1.
She's a Talregan, and she's familiar with Jill in her position as "Shiharam's daughter". Shiharam has been a pillar of the Talregan community, but I'm not sure how much Jill has been engaged with them.
Oh wait, you aren't nameless! Sure won't stop the textbox from keeping your label as "Woman", though. She might be named, but she's functionally a generic. Among other things, prepare to never hear from her again after this.
"The Dark Angel" is a brief cameo by some amount of religious beliefs in Tellius. From the look of things, invented wholesale by the localisers (ie, the Japanese version has Sophie concerned Jill was "killed in action") rather than being a mistranslation of one of Tellius's other myths (ie, this isn't related to the dark god in the medallion or anything).
Sophie has apparently missed... a lot about Jill's movements over the past few months. And also has no idea what General Ike looks like. Not that most famous military men have photos, especially in the days before cameras.
...Also, yeah, even a trained Ike isn't going to be much of a bodyguard for Jill. Jill is just that powerful.
Jill starts trying to explain the truth of the matter, before a variety of unhelpful rumours start.
Wow, Petrine's propoganda machine has not broke. She's picked up on that Shiharam didn't have a choice in doing what he did, but has missed the part where that's because his bosses are murderous maniacs rather than the Crimeans being something that needed drastic measures to stop (...not that we aren't that.)
Fire Emblem likes to have its Lords contribute to the hard work of running a farm to portray them as good to their people. Matters such as competent governing seem to be something it prefers to skim over.
This, though, is something Shiharam has definitely earned praise for. Before modern medicine, I'd cut Talrega some slack for not having a doctor on-site.
Shiharam may have been born in Begnion, but he definitely did more for Talrega than any Daein-blooded general currently in power.
I'm not sure if it's easier on Jill to think of him as a good man or a bad one, in terms of "our army has killed him". Some of the characters in Three Houses had awful fathers who required executions rather than military defeats, and how those characters feel would work much differently.
...Well, that's a little harsh...
That is a bit of a true statement. Sophie is either ignorant to or not thinking about how the Crimeans are going through the same thing as her.
Aw... wait a second...
Didn't we feed you guys?
Yeah, that.
...So yeah, uh...
Sophie, thinking of Jill as a Daein soldier, tells her to do what a Daein soldier seeking revenge on Crimea would be best served doing.
Well, OK, they could choose a better diet than mud and weeds. If it works for the animals, I suppose...
Kind of giving me Fleche vibes. At least we don't have to cut her down heartlessly later.
Well, regardless of the fact we're not Daein soldiers, this is still good advice.
About the correct reaction. I wonder if Jill is imagining herself doing the same thing pre-character arc.
Practically, this means we did "waste" our food feeding the Talregans. Well, hopefully, there's some sensible ones in the bunch. Sophie being a generic "Woman" rather than a properly named character, though, probably means she's supposed to represent the whole bunch.
Regardless of whether they accepted our charity, feeding them was the right thing to do.
Meanwhile, in a conversation that doesn't promise to be less depressing.
It's not all about the "losing the medallion" thing, though.
We have no choice but to beat Ashnard. We have to restore Crimea, because right now, there's a bunch of people in the same shoes as Sophie, just on the other side of the border.
Mist has been using the medallion as a bit of a talisman, giving her the courage to stand alongside Ike. Without it- with it stolen like some common trinket- Mist feels a lot smaller and more powerless.
It's also substituting for the maternal and paternal presences that were robbed from her by the deaths of Elena and Greil. At least Titania's been good at acting as the former.
Even without the physical representation, Greil and Elena are still standing alongside their children.
No need for that, Mist. You're fifteen, you have no real place on the battlefield to begin with. Now please continue being my cute swords and staves valkyrie.
That's the spirit!
Ah, yes, Nasir, exactly the character to continue the tone of this conversation.
Mist shifting is a good excuse to redraw her portrait into something less depressed.
Not that Mist knows yet.
So anyway, after that last battle, we should mark the occasion with a memento.
Jill's got a new axe to remember her dad by.
Later. She can't actually use Silver Axes yet! To be fair, they're A Rank weapons, which is basically the most exclusive weapon type in a game that doesn't give you all the S Rank weapons.
"Today's levels". Well... OK. BEXP's only going to get more expensive later and we've got a whole bunch, we might as well make some investments in the name of advancing on the Daein capital.
(Also Mist capped Magic).
Nephenee's capped Str/Skill/Speed now.
Ilyana's creeping up on her important caps.
Same with Astrid.
I give a level to Mist because of course I do.
Calill also didn't have much of a reason to get a level, but if she's lucky enough to potentially Transfer some Magic and Speed, I'm not going to say no.
Lethe uses the Smite scroll. It'll be really important someone has this later.
Jill also takes after her father and equips Stun. This is entirely for character reasons, Stun is just not good.
As with all instances of Fire Emblem castle sieges, the whole "siege" part goes completely unheeded, and the castle is basically a glorified house.
Of course, this may still be a cunning trap. Well, OK, some other kind of trap, there's very little cunning here.
Elincia twigged, that's a new one.
Soren, at least, understands that siege warfare is the far smarter play. Not that we will be doing any sort of siege warfare in the rest of this story, or frankly, the rest of the series.
"We have no plan" is practically the same as "we have no idea which plan to use", right?
Welcome to Nevassa. Here's Ena preparing for being the Chapter boss.
The only thing harder than fooling an expert is fooling someone who hasn't even read the rulebook.
You and most of the fanbase.
Ena declares a cage match with Nevassa as the cage.
Kasatai would like to see the final measure Ashnard left.
This must be really shocking.
Never let it be said the Daeins are not loyal. Show us your secret plan, General Ena.
...Now that is a secret plan.
Reminder that dragon laguz are still laguz, and the Daeins hate those.
Kasatai panics. Ena is actually slightly smaller than the standard Goldoan, but still, the size difference between Goldoans and beorc isn't fully recognised by the map models.
Kasatai recollects himself, and acknowledges that, despite being a laguz, Ena is still prepared to defend Nevassa with the Daeins.
And Kasatai loudly brags about how, with the might of Goldoa, Daein is reinforced. A far cry from the chants of "sub-human" that normally follow laguz around, huh? Kasatai doesn't really have any skeletons in his closet to make me inclined to think he's as generic of a Chapter Boss as usual, but that may also be because he doesn't have much showtime.
...Well, OK, this is a little metal for a reasonable enemy general.
GLORY TO DAEIN wait that's next game.
Meanwhile, the trap has been launched.
I don't know what's worse: how pathetic these soldiers are, or the fact there is more pathetic later to come in Radiant Dawn.
Ike is ready to knock some heads together.
Is this in Nevassa or outside it?
As plans go, this is... not the usual kind.
This is pretty much what one would expect from such a plan, though.
Ike is prepared to grab it by the horns.
Titania's closing her eyes because she knows there's going to be no effort for choosing the elite team and it's just going to be all the women. Again.
Our ladies can handle that.
...Come to think of it, have they ever actually called this place Nevassa in Path of Radiance? It's what the Daein capital is called in Radiant Dawn, at any rate, so I'll keep calling it that.
We can bring the whole party and Sothe. One thief to steal all the treasure. Good luck doing this with Chest Keys.
Here's the initial map. The goal is to Seize Ena's tile, so we need to get Ike from here to there. The blue tiles are rivers that fliers can cross, the black tiles are walls that block even fliers. Also pictured, four Rooms with unseen enemies.
This is Ena. She has the class "Red Dragon", but this is an academic matter- all dragons are basically the same in Path of Radiance. Radiant Dawn codified the differences, but Path of Radiance still properly classifies the dragons ahead of time. At any rate, Ena is Demi Banded, of course, and has plenty of both Defences and a hard-hitting Breath. Ena's Breath is physical (uses Str, hits Def) and attacks at Range 1.
Renewal we've seen- this would've been the first time if we recruited Reyson- and will passively heal Ena for 5HP on top of the Seize tile's healing. Miracle is a 14% chance of your finishing blow not finishing her off after all- but unlike Seeker, this will just be frustrating, not potentially dangerous. Boon is the Mastery Skill of all Dragons, and at the start of her turn, all adjacent units will be cured of status conditions. I want you to remember she has this skill.
Here's Kasatai. Despite being a General, he has more Resistance than Defence and the rest of his stats are pretty crap too. If you attack him, that Wrath Brave Lance might be an unpleasant surprise, but he's still using 26 Atk and only hits in melee.
These Bishops are the trouble ones.
They pack the Sleep staff, which can send a unit at range 1-Mag/2 to sleep, where they will remain for 5 turns unless woken up with the Restore staff or Shoving them a bunch (Shove knocks 1 turn off Sleep). While asleep, you can't move or attack (duh) and your Avoid is reduced to zero.
...Unfortunately, it turns out I had Too Many Images, and the actual battle will have to be posted separately.
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