Radiant Dawn Part 2: Crimean Civil War

That was one hell of an ending. Elincia faced not just the revolution of her people, but the near death of her sister, all because of her meek rule. This isn't really the job for on-the-job training, but for the benefit of her people, she pulled through. Elincia was a relatively passive character before now, but this arc is what defines her for many of her fans, myself included.

One thing I brought up early on is that it's interesting that the game follows up a revolution with the people as the protagonists with a revolution with the rulers as the protagonists. One thing the story does a good job doing is not only making sure Elincia is still worth supporting, but highlighting exactly what it is Ludveck is doing wrong. Even if the audience is encouraged to consider Ludveck as having a point, it does not want them to be taking his side, and I think most people would agree that Elincia at any point in this part is a better Queen than Ludveck would be King.

The fact that this Part includes not just one, but two chapters where the player is encouraged to spare lives is interesting in conjunction with the theme. Elincia's mercy is something the plot will keep in mind- she hasn't abandoned it completely- but the fact that Elincia explicitly highlights that the Endgame will have no mercy condition is definitely intentional- Elincia not only understands when violence is not necessary, she also understands when it is. While there are no analogues to Three Houses on this topic, I am thinking of the conflict within nonetheless.

There's a bit of an elephant in the room to talk about, though, and that is Lucia on the gallows. Damn. That thing went right for the gut. I knew the scene, of course, but I had completely underestimated how much of an emotional sucker punch it was going to be coming back to it. My first time seeing the plot of Radiant Dawn was so long ago, and while I was so young, that I can't say for sure whether I really thought the game was going to have the guts to kill Lucia off- all she really had protecting her was tradition. And traditions were made to be broken...

Mechanically, Part 2 is a bit of a hodge-podge. There are a total of 17 characters playable in at least one chapter here, and which ones appear where is nearly random. These characters are going to go their separate ways- some of them will show up relatively soon, some of them will stay with the Crimean faction, and some of them will disappear completely until near the end of Part 3! Unless you're aware of exactly which units are which, you are going to have the rug pulled out from under you somewhere. Fortunately, there is only one chapter you will depend on the characters you met in Part 2, and because of the nature of which characters they chose, you're not being expected to do anything beyond your means by using them- although the map highly incentivises having them at least somewhat trained, it doesn't punish you for not having done so. When I say "90% of all dead RD runs die with the Dawn Brigade", less than half the runs remaining die with the Crimeans in Part 2. The rest of them die in Endgame.