The Mad King's twin ambitions, the glory of the strong, and the desire to become the strongest warrior ever, came into conflict, and neither ambition came to pass.
It's hard to believe Pelleas and Ashnard share blood.
But we have a Prince, at least. Good news enough.
May Daein rise under the reign of Ashnard's father's grandson!
Accompanied by the heroine of the people.
May many more join our cause!
Not a lot of active warfare, but a very violent and brutal history for the many.
Conflict, not war, has gripped the hearts of the people. It may be more pleasant, but it is still toxic and should be stemmed all the same. Remember the greater Reign of Terror.
No respect for bows and knives We're mostly just expositing for the new people.
Well... I can definitely say they were created in equal faith. The differences are what make the sameness more special. Or whatever.
A sign of what, then, exactly?
Wonder, and perhaps not quite understand until she gives it great thought with great hindsight.
We're definitely going to find a prince today.
I can still hear his voice on the wind.
Ooh, some structure off in this distance.
Base is back! And it's gotten a few overhauls, too! For the most part, though, everything you remember from Path of Radiance is still there. What about that Library tab, though, that's new.
Faint light of hope, right?
A glaive is a type of blade. It actually shares something in common with the naginata.
Well... not sure what the idea behind this question is.
Who did you give the medicine to?
Deprived of homes, possessions, and security
As cool as it is to learn new words, I'm not sure I should be reaching for the normal dictionary to understand the chapter titles.
"Old Road", that's a new map name.
Also, they use "mark" twice in this chapter. I think it's a unit of time. How long it's supposed to be compared to our units of time isn't clear.
How long did it take for our wanted posters to get ahead of us?
...Wait a second... the ending narration to Path of Radiance implied that that cutscene occurred in the spring of the year 646. Is... is the three year timeskip counting from the start of Path of Radiance? Great, now I've gotten math involved. Also seasons. Daein is in the north, I assume Tellius is a northern hemisphere continent? I can't do northern hemisphere seasons.
These opening narrations are now fully voice acted, and thus automatically proceed. Crimea is actually supposed to be highlighted, but this fact took me by surprise.
I'm not sure "abdicate" is the correct word, but yeah, basically, Crimea passed on ruling Daein after winning the war against it, and without its own sovereign, Daein was absorbed into Begnion.
Attract cutscene here. (I recommend watching it from this link rather than looking it up yourself).
Welcome to Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. I highly recommend at least knowing the plot of Path of Radiance, if not having read my blog thoughts on that game, first- just as Path of Radiance is very clearly setting up for a sequel, Radiant Dawn is mostly (but not entirely) banking on you being familiar with Path of Radiance, because we're going to spend a minimal amount of time re-establishing the setting. I do know a person who played Radiant Dawn first and got by.
My reasons for doing this playthrough are largely the same as Path of Radiance, and this playthrough will also be using the All Girls condition. In Path of Radiance, I had a secondary playthrough that played conventionally to show off some scenarios that couldn't be done under All Girls. I do not feel adequately prepared to do the same for Radiant Dawn. My apologies to the Soren fans, but I'll still be bringing up the content- I'll just have to do some more text-based forms.
To start off with, since this setup recognises my Gamecube save data and that there are Path of Radiance save files on it, it asks if I would like to conduct Transfer Data. The answer to that question is yes.
You get shown this screen of all your save files and asked to choose which one. This one is the Path of Radiance playthrough I did for the blog. The one underneath it is the Hard Mode file, and since I started and finished it later, it has the later Clear number. Not sure why both of the top files are number 18, though. I will be going over precisely what Transfer Data does when I recruit my first affected character (Ilyana, if you're curious) and have a visual example.
In early copies of the North American version of Radiant Dawn, the existence of PoR save data that has been completed in the localisation-exclusive difficulty "Easy" will crash the game on attempting to load this screen. This glitch was fixed in the European version and later North American versions, of which this is the former.
We will be playing in the game's Easy difficulty setting this time. Unlike in Path of Radiance, these difficulties are the same gameplay as the Japanese Normal/Hard/Maniac, just with the names changed. This one translation choice may have done a lot of damage to the Fire Emblem brand from now until Awakening because of how hard it is to recommend this new game on the Wii by word of mouth.
Here's the easy reference list for Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance!
So we've made it to Crimea, and now it's time for the real Daein army!
The Crimea arc is all about wrapping up plot points as best as it intends to, leaving the player with exactly enough questions to prepare for Radiant Dawn while still leaving an overall cohesive game. Or so I thought. And the key issue is Elincia. Elincia is not ready to be Queen, and no amount of "having hired Ike" (a process she had relatively little agency in doing, by the way) is going to be a substitute. Nyna and Guinivere, Elincia's direct predecessors who follow her plot otherwise exactly, do not claim that they are inexperienced and know nothing of their duties, especially not as repeatedly as Elincia does. Unless you are fully absorbed in the literary magic of endings, it would be difficult to take Path of Radiance as a happy ending knowing what's likely to happen to Crimea if Elincia goes unchecked- and it doesn't help Sephiran's just outside the door talking about exactly that. Plus there's that whole business of Lehran's Medallion- that thing is almost a Chekhov's Gun that never went off if not for Berserk King Ashnard in Hard Mode.
With that said, Path of Radiance is by no means left incomplete because of Radiant Dawn's existence. Radiant Dawn answers all the questions that Path of Radiance actively leaves (whether it answers all the ones it doesn't is a natural consequence of writing a sequel when both works are as long as these two), and if you know that much, even if you don't necessarily know what the answers are, Path of Radiance works as a whole story. But that, of course, is a matter of hindsight. Hindsight that is easy to predict because the nature of storytelling (come on, you didn't think the answer to Elincia's ruling woes was going to be her being overthrown for good, did you?), but there is kinda a very clear nugget of the story preparing for its own sequel perhaps a little too well.
One thing I find interesting on a holistic level that kind of contributes to the Crimea arc's lack of narrative excitement is that most of the bosses lying around here are generic. Rikard, Gromell, Hafedd and Heddwyn are all disposable characters, possessing no connections to any other characters, and even Bertram, despite being one of the Four Riders, gets treated as such were it not for the question of his identity. Bryce makes it out a little more, getting the burden of being exposited at by Ashnard once the Black Knight has stopped doing it and also having his connection to Tauroneo and Gawain, but most Fire Emblems usually have more character bosses than disposable ones by this point. Obviously, the game is trying to keep a hold of as many characters as possible to save them for Radiant Dawn (Bertram and the Black Knight reappear in Radiant Dawn, and Izuka didn't even let himself fake death here), but I think this does also tie into Ashnard's interest in promoting the strong regardless of class. I think the idea is that these disposable bosses are meant to be characters who rose up through the ranks. Rikard, especially, talks a lot about the glory that his kills will provide. This sort of thing is a fascinating overlap of meta- and in-universe needs collaborating, but ultimately falls short because they don't actually do much with these four. Perhaps the fact that Bertram and Bryce are almost as disposable as them is meant to say something about the relevance they share.
After the credits roll, Fire Emblem games usually show you your turncounts, and this game follows that norm. I could show you my credits in full with screenshots, but let's be honest: the real timer is completely inaccurate and there's not much of a reference for how fast I went. Fortunately, I have been in the habit of ritually recording my turncounts for every single run of Path of Radiance I have ever done, and I would like to show you six runs to compare with both the main playthrough and the backup run. For convenience's sake, I'll also be dividing by Act (as per my review pages.)
Ashnard has fallen, and now it is time to understand what it is he was after. Why is Ashnard the way he is, and what can he teach us not to do? For that, it's time to unpack his boss conversations, starting with the ones most players will see and then going along to the bonus ones.
There are all these groups of people we'll get to at a steady pace.
I think we're meant to take this as Ike addressing everyone here. Also, he may still be in his Lord pose, but he's back to his Ranger clothes. I think I do prefer the red. (It's specifically clothes- he's back to a tiny left shoulder guard.)
The thanks belong to everyone, but the "I hope I can continue to rely on you" is probably more for the Greil Mercenaries.
Ike'll take the chance to speak to the army this time.
50 soldiers. That's the unit cap in the GBA Fire Emblems. Honestly seems kinda small-ish on this map. It is also all we're getting for trying to get the last few level ups to confirm the Transfers. I think there are few Paladin reinforcements from behind Ashnard, but I finish before they appear.
Here are Ashnard's numbers, and what numbers they are. Renewal and Daunt (thank goodness he has no Skill to up his damage!), Gurgurant innately protects him from crits as well as being an awesome 1-2 sword, and massive Strength and Defence to make crossing swords with him quite perilous. Interesting that he has an axe rank, though, and laugh at that luck!
The gardens of Melior are indeed beautiful.
There is no more peace for the people of Crimea.
The country is still peaceful. It hasn't turned into a burning hellscape because Ashnard is now King.
It's the worst part: the calm before the battle.
...Oh right, I forgot about the battle.
The devs absolving themselves of responsibility for authoring this war for our amusement.
...No we haven't.
Well, OK, we might have. Soren's probably the in-universe figure doing our role in the Base.
And then a new beginning.
The act or process of returning a person or thing to the country of origin.
The thing in question is "sovereign rights". Does that count?
And right away, we get to the Soren report and the base. I got more BEXP from that last map than CEXP? Literally how?
No new Supports on the final day. There are only five chains that require waiting until the final chapter, and all of them involve one of three characters, all male.
There are three Info conversations, and we only get one on our run. All of them are just called "Friend".
I'm not sure when we're planning on starting the battle.
Ranulf knows Ike too well.
Thanks for the morale, Ike.
Giffca seems to agree.
...Where did Caineghis go after Chapter 25? Apparently, he's not supposed to leave Gallia in case of emergency, but he made an exception there. Giffca's back, though, since that's his job.
Giffca is going to be a playable character! Asterisk. He's not in our party right now.
See, we need to focus on multiple fronts.
Giffca will be in command of that army.
Ranulf is offended it's not him.
Giffca is really good.
Ranulf is in our party, so he's in the vanguard! Not that he'll be in ours.
And Giffca drops in on these two.
I'm not sure if it's weird on Lethe's end or Cain's end that she's expecting orders.
Doable!
Praise from the Lion King!
Mordecai is happy to have been at our side.
--
What happens to Janaff and Ulki in the main run that this can't happen?
Eh, I dunno. Although I'm in a different position on the other side of a screen.
We can take 'im!
Ulki seems pensive about something. Preferably not our chances.
Well, what else would they be up to?
Ike wants to meet up with Tibarn.
He just does that.
This is the plan with the bird tribes. Ashnard himself rides a wyvern, so it helps.
Tibarn is fond of the idea.
Both Phoenicis and Kilvas are going to be on the job!
Naesala seems to have taken Gritnea Tower to heart.
Leanne broke out the extra effort to convince Naesala- the kitten eyes!
Tibarn still doesn't trust the ravens to not fly away. Or at least telling Ike to prepare for the possibility.
As long as Ike can count on Tibarn, all is well.
Tibarn would like the Ashnard kill, if he can. He just wants kills on everyone, really.
I'm not sure what Ike's reasoning is here- if he's actively curtailing Tibarn or just happening into it.
I almost feel like this line rates this conversation at two star importance. Some of the other two star conversations have included gameplay hints either less helpful or less clear.
You're never going to escape this, Reyson. You don't have stats.
The conversation cuts away to Nealuchi and Naesala.
Naesala does not seem friendly.
Tibarn's suspicion may in fact be widening the gap between Phoenicis and Kilvas. This will turn into a feedback loop without intervention.
Reyson is that intervention. He is friendly enough with both Tibarn and Naesala that he can let them exist in the same room without anyone dying.
Leanne is less useful as a tool for this purpose, but she is a morality chain for Naesala in a way Reyson isn't quite.
Naesala tries to be edgy and say he's not in this for the herons. He can't quite manage it.
And now for the last conversation, this one requiring Nasir be kept alive. This conversation is, more than the expanded lore Nasir provides in standard cutscenes, more than getting Nasir as a playable character instead of Ena, more than the satisfaction of victory, this is the true reward for beating the Black Knight.
Nasir owning up to his actions as the Worm and making amends.
Mist starts this conversation abnormally quiet. She's in her usual cheerful sprite, at least.
Ike seems to implicitly trust Nasir regardless of what he did, but wrongdoing is still wrong, and Nasir is the better man for openly admitting to it to Mist's face. Now if he can apologise to Soren for that low blackmail attempt-
Fleeing without making it clear which side he was on only made him appear more guilty. Even now we do not fully understand what puts the Goldoans on "our side".
Yeah, did you think for one second Mist would not forgive him, after her reactions to Volke and Jill? Why aren't we sending her in to get Ashnard to calm down and consider less destructive goals?
Jill told her that and look where she ended up.
Nasir is just a grandpa looking out for his "baby" girl.
Whatever it is Mist can do to help, she'll do it!
That's a load off all three of their backs.
And both of them are happy to receive it.
---
Incidentally, Aimee sells Physic staves for this map. They're really important in Endgame, especially if you're on Hard Mode, so if you have been using them liberally and/or not stealing them, you'll still have enough.
Not all of the BEXP has been used yet (don't worry, I will use it all), just some starters. Marcia has capped Defence and Tanith has capped Strength. Calill does not get Strength or Resistance (this turns out to be important).
And now for our statups. I've got more or less two of everything, and will be handing them out to complete caps before I concern myself with things like "practicality". First thing's first: both Seraph Robes go to Jill. Marcia, Jill and Nephenee were the only characters able to cap HP by using both Robes (Mist was one HP short), and Jill is in the most desperate need of additional HP in Radiant Dawn- Nephenee came close.
Calill and Ena get the Energy Drops. Calill can cap Strength, no other character on my cap list can, and more caps is better than less even if you don't need the stats, because of the way RD stats work. Ena needs more Strength because she really needs Strength. It turns out Ena was working on a very close margin in terms of her Strength.
Calill and Elincia get the Spirit Dusts. Calill has now capped Magic and Elincia needs a boost to her Physic/Rescue range. Spirit Dusts are relatively easy to place because so few characters need Magic to begin with compared to the other stats.
Tanith and Elincia get the Secret Books. Tanith has now capped Skill, while Elincia could use the extra accuracy to make sure she lands Amiti. Honestly, who got the other Secret Book wasn't that much of a choice.
Calill and Ena get the Speedwings. Calill has now capped Speed, and Ena honestly has a terrifyingly low Speed score. I didn't remember how much a female Red Dragon gets for transforming (+4, incidentally), but I saw a <20 number and thought "that's far too low".
Ena and Elincia get the Ashera Icons. Elincia has Miracle, of course, but both characters just need the extra edge and Luck is so hard to cap- I did a lot of stat gaming to make Mist cap it just to say I've done it once.
Elincia and Tanith get the Dracoshields. No one needed Dracoshields for Defence caps, and these are the two frailest characters around. Well, and Mist, but somehow I don't see that being a problem for Mist.
Marcia and Calill get the Talismans. Marica has now capped Resistance, and Calill is now in range to do so. Both of these choices are purely in service of the "more stats > less" philosophy of RD.
The second Arms Scroll was a tough choice, but I eventually chose to give it to Ilyana's Thunder magic so she could use Rexbolt at some point in Endgame and show it off. In PoR, there is no way to tell how close to a new weapon rank you are.
These are the last levels. Jill capped Defence, Tanith is just getting stats, and Calill, after much cajoling, got Strength and Resistance. She needs to gain both in the actual mission itself, but after the hell that was getting this level up, I can handle that.
The last of the BEXP is given to Elincia. Better she gets this 6 EXP than it going to waste?
Here we come, Melior.
Elincia is ready.
So how about one final speech?
Elincia is taken aback.
Fair enough reasoning.
Let's see how we go.
Just a little jitters, and then...
And much we have still to gain!
And thank you... actually, that should be along the lines of "beloved friends, the laguz".
"Men of Greil". Someone had fun with the old-timey filter on the writing staff.
(Bastian helped with the speech writing, clearly.)
We stare Ashnard in the face
And dare to break his grip on Crimea!
...
Our lady is growing up!
Ranulf is rather taken aback.
This is a rather profound statement...
...and Ranulf looks at him weird because how could Ike come out with it? I forget where Nasir says this.
Come on, Ranulf, we've seen Ike parrot Nasir and Soren's intelligence before.
Ranulf may be having too much fun with the snark button.
Ike's ready to go!
As are the Greil Mercs.
...You make a decent argument.
Ike's happy with what Elincia said.
...But Greil would've done it, had he still been alive...
You get an actual choice on this one. There is no mechanical reason to choose one or the other. I decide that, if we're not having Ike fight in this mission, he might as well not contribute before it.
I'm not sure which option is more in character, but I at least appreciate that both options are valid.
I think that's just a blink frame from Mist, but yeah, that's our Ike.
Since when has he ever done the royal thing?
I think this one line justifies the "Don't Speak" option's existence.
Cut to the Mad King, and it's panic in the castle.
Bryce suggests Ashnard take the chance to pull a villain exit while he goes down fighting.
Ashnard says no.
The Daein royal bloodline, Bryce cries.
Ashnard takes his suggestion well. Honestly, the fact Bryce leaves this conversation alive is a testament to the seriousness of the situation and a good mood.
Bryce insists it's just a "just in case" plan. That Ashnard should still do as a first resort.
Ah, yes, the importance of having a blood heir to take on Ashnard's duty after him. Does the man even have a wife yet? (Turns out the answer is "it's complicated".)
Ashnard is of another mind.
(I think Ashnard is the thirteenth generation, because of another appearance of numbering the Daein royals in RD.)
This ties in very neatly with Ashnard's philosophy. Ashnard believes that, if he is defeated today, then the person who beat him deserves power more than him. The strong shall prevail, and the weak perish.
He dismisses Bryce for his insistence on the old ways.
Which honestly kinda breaks Bryce.
I don't know where in the scriptures this is cited, but if Tellius ever had a Charles Darwin, Ashnard would totally use the quote "survival of the fittest" multiple times.
Bryce has come to the conclusion there is no changing Ashnard's mind.
And declares that he shall stand at Ashnard's side no matter his opinion.
Bryce, of course, served as a member of the Four Riders to Ashnard's father. And he started at fifteen, same as good ol' Glenn from Three Houses.
If we consider Ashnard's father's death to be eighteen years before the game, per Tanith's talk about the great plague of Daein, then Bryce is 53 years old, give or take. (15 years when appointed, 20 years serving Daein Sr., 18 years serving Ashnard). He has no age, Apparent or Actual, listed in the artbook.
Ashnard killed his father. His blood stains Gurgurant's sword.
All of the twenty people who had legitimacy ahead of Ashnard in line for the throne died because of Ashnard. Unlike his father, we are not led to believe he stabbed each one individually, but Ashnard holds the sole blame for their deaths.
Really starting to crack that whole "I will follow you no matter what" statement from Bryce, aren't we?
You can see the hesitation on his face, though. Props to the artist.
I'd say something sympathetic to what Bryce is going through, but honestly... Three Houses doesn't invite you to think well of characters like Bryce.
As hard as it is to believe, I agree with Ashnard. Bryce, loyal to Daein over any reasonable sense of morals, is, perhaps, a Good Man, but he is very much flawed. Bryce, incidentally, is the character I compared Shiharam to in regards to who is Path of Radiance's "Camus". Yeah, Shiharam is a lot better of a man and commander than Bryce.
The water feature is still running despite all the soldiers. How quaint.
That is a lot of soldiers. And there's Ashnard coming to say hello.
Elincia recognises the man who stole her family.
Ike is worried about her survivability. She is very likely to die, and I think she can't handle him right now?
This angry expression of Elincia's is a (slight) redraw, and she only brings it against Ashnard. Granted, she's only had her white outfit for three chapters.
Ike has never met Ashnard until now. How's that for villain relevance?
Ashnard recognises her.
And pokes at her most traumatic memory.
Elincia has grown up, and is ready to bring Amiti to Gurgurant.
Crimea will be freed.
Such a long way from how feverishly Daein wanted Elincia in the opening acts.
And he rears far back to Smite Elincia.
I wonder what stories Ashnard has heard of Gawain's skill. I wonder if Ashnard has ever crossed swords with Gawain in the training hall before he became King.
Hahaha, Elincia is so much better equipped than you, Ike.
The only weapon that can pierce Ashnard's blessed armour from the Black Knight. There are other ways.
Ashnard knows Ragnell alone is not enough for Ike to best him.
"...I have no idea if I have enough Strength to deal any damage."
Prepare to be disappointed, Ashnard. And also killed.
The best soldiers in the Daein army.
I love this view, even if does kinda break the facade of the visuals a little (and I'm not just talking about Gurgurant's hilt clipping Ashnard's cape).
Let's show off our army.
First thing's first, 12 spaces, with Ike and Ena forced. That's enough for every woman except one, and Lucia has the Bond with Elincia and the Support with Ilyana, which I deemed better than Titania's Support with the level capped Mist.
Ena, our dedicated ace in the hole, has some... issues, but I assure you she is up to task.
Elincia is prepared for staffbotting, using the Rescue staff on Ena to get her closer to victory, and maybe Amiti-ing some fools who she can reach. Elincia is unlikely to get a high level if you're going for Transfers.
Mist is level capped and has nothing meaningful she can still gain from this map, so she'll be lugging around Ike, Restoring anyone who gets hit by Sleep who isn't next to Ena, and scraping essential kills to show on the high score screen.
Marcia is here to kick ass.
Ilyana is also pretty close to the level cap, and a few Physics will do the job. She has an essential duty with her Thunder spells in cleaning up dragons, though.
Jill has one goal: hit the enemy. Really hard.
Nephenee is a magnet for trouble, and with any luck she'll take the heat off other people when needed.
Look how close she is to level 20. Astrid is a sponge for EXP.
Tanith, on account of hitting the Strength cap alongside Marcia, is no longer truly a second-fiddle flier, but sometimes it still feels like that.
No idea what she's planning on doing with the knife, but apparently I'm out of siege tomes other than that one Bolting? She switched to Elthunder because Elwind is no use and she didn't scrape together Tornado.
Remember when I was raving about this woman? Mia is still good, but not being on the Transfer track has cost her some points. I think I normally work towards her Transfers in All Girls, but she's not that important in Radiant Dawn, all things considering. It's close.
Lethe is just a prepromote with a little bit of "falling behind" syndrome, or maybe that's just the lack of pretty green numbers. Lethe can only really Transfer Strength if she's lucky, and it's a monument to how laguz work in RD that this is reason enough to go for it. Not this time, though, sadly.
You're clearly just filling out the roster here. Yeah, Lucia can cap stats and Transfer in to RD, but she's not an important Transfer at all and not really worth the effort in PoR.
And out of respect for the woman who got us to Chapter 7 9, here are her stats. I think she also has non-zero chances of getting Transfers, and while she benefits more from them than Lucia does, it's still not really that helpful. Titania could use some help with her opening in RD, but more stats isn't the solution...
Yeah, did you really think Endgame was going to fit in one post? We have more still to come!