The situation is terrible with a side order of depressing.
Avarice.
Bastian will know what to do! Perfect time for him to be somewhere else! This is also his PoR art, for some reason- although the artwork they chose fits the RD portrait artstyle (and Bastian himself doesn't have much of a visual redesign).
The Greil Mercenaries are less helpful in this current juncture, although perhaps we could use Soren right about now. I don't think this is Soren's area of expertise, though.
Elincia rolls the dice.
She only has one wish.
So now. This chapter. This. Chapter.
We start at the base directly- all the interesting stuff was in 2-2's endgame.
Three Base conversations today. One and three introduce our new party as much as they provide treasure.
Geoffrey has come to visit Calill and Largo's tavern.
For being an urbanite, she hasn't changed her fashion at all. I presume fashion trends aren't quite so rapid at this point in societal development, but still. Also, for a woman who has settled down to run a tavern, that dress looks way too high-class. I expect an apron would ruin what makes Calill who she is, but perhaps something a little easier to launder?
Calill wasn't expecting Geoffrey to drop in, because Geoffrey is a Responsible Person and shouldn't be drinking the night before battle movements.
Aww, how adorable! This is Amy, Calill and Largo's adoptive daughter. She's obviously not their birth child- if she's old enough to speak in coherent sentences, she's old enough to have been born before PoR, and that seems irresponsible of both characters' PoR appearances. They do actually briefly touch on who Amy's birth parents are, but I assure you they're not plot-important or anything: Amy is otherwise just a representative of Calill and Largo's happy ending.
Raising your kid in the trade early, I see, Calill?
Geoffrey is here to pick up a member of the Royal Knights.
Say hello to this asshole again. Yes, I know you don't want to either. We're stuck with him in this file after all.
Although he and Tanith have a slower Support speed together, so I imagine whatever he did in Begnion, Tanith isn't going to let the grudge go. Then again, this says next to nothing.
He's an irresponsible oaf.
Deep breaths. Deep breaths.
You're telling me.
Because quite frankly, that is an insult to dogs.
...Why don't we put a dog in armour and call it "sir"? It would make a point to all the nobles calling Marcia and Lucia and co dogs.
I understand Astrid is a good human being, but where the fuck are your standards?
There's something about her new eyes that makes her feel a little bit dead inside.
I assure you, he gambled all his money away long before tonight.
In Path of Radiance, I compared Astrid to Ingrid Galatea, a woman who was desperate to establish herself as a knight to forge her place in the world in defiance of societal expectations.
This Astrid is Ingrid Galatea, the put-upon housewife-to-be cleaning up after the complete disaster zone that is Sylvain.
No offence, Calill, but the man has had Marcia for two decades now.
The one thing that makes Astrid/Makalov bearable is that it is an expression of Astrid's freedom to choose her own husband after the travesty that was her previous arranged marriage. But still... Geoffrey is literally standing right there.
Calill, I remind you, Astrid was raised to accept whatever husband her parents picked out for her. Astrid is probably the woman I feel most comfortable saying had an awful upbringing amongst the Tellius set.
The fact she can name more than one person worse.
...This gets partially set up in her Support with him in PoR, but skimming the second half of that chain, I'm not sure exactly how Astrid is left with that impression.
Ironically, Astrid does not actually have an increased Support speed with Makalov. Although she does have one with Marcia...
Geoffrey wonders how he got stuck with the both of them.
I already am!
I don't think there is any doubt on the table that Largo is not going to be resuming a playable appearance from this alone. I don't think Largo ever appears looking left in RD, so he's very definitely missing his right arm.
You don't have to walk on eggshells around Makalov, he doesn't notice.
So why are we even bothering with him?
Don't see that happening, but good call.
Our opponent is on his toes, after all.
We can't afford having Makalov in the party.
Aw man, Largo in this game, I'd love to have him smash the enemy.
I suppose mainly in this challenge, but yeah, I'd much rather have Calill than Kieran and Makalov. Or at least Makalov and the other returning character we don't have yet.
Fire magic is the best magic! No, seriously, Fire has the highest Might in this game.
Come on, Geoffrey, now's not the time for chauvnism! I hear it's highly flammable.
...What exactly is the difference between Calill as a soldier in the Crimean army and Calill as a civilian managing a tavern?
Calill takes it as valid, especially if precedent is an issue.
Say hello to Devdan, who also needs a place to reappear in RD that is not Begnion.
Danved is actually a victim of an inconsistent translation with PoR. In JP, his name is ウハラダ, which is the same name as Devdan's ventriloquism partner Nadved from his Largo Support. Devdan's name is ダラハウ, and I assume even the people who don't speak the language understand the intended joke.
I assume this is not, in fact, Nadved come to life, but Devdan pretending to be someone else to sneak in to the Royal Knights and be helpful to Geoffrey when Calill cannot.
You can bet this guy joins Mr. Snrub form the Simpsons in being a massive meme among the audience where everyone pretends to be completely fooled. I honestly find such memes frustrating.
I'm getting a very "you can treat him as one of your items" vibe from this line.
Thank you, Largo.
Danved will surrender his lances and join Makalov on the bench.
Geoffrey phrases it more diplomatically.
Looks at Kieran, Makalov, Marcia and Devdan He'll need it.
"Just don't throw him on the doormat again. I know he deserves it, but we need his spine not-broken."
Don't worry, Astrid, he makes a fine meatshield.
Oh yeah, don't forget you're in this mess too!
Please do it sooner.
Sadly, not this mission.
Let's check in on Elincia, and this conversation is already going places.
Elincia has possession of Geoffrey's lance.
I'd say the Freudian jokes write themselves, but... they kind of are.
Appreciable, but now's not the time.
Geoffrey accepts it all the same.
Elincia doesn't want Geoffrey using this lance.
This is a very storied lance in Geoffrey's hands.
His Brave Lance from back then, incidentally.
Elincia can't see that lance being used for a cause like this. It's just... not right.
...Well, that's certainly one way for the conversation to go.
And also dying for her. But you know. We're past that. Right?
That solved things.
Honestly, Elincia could've kept it, for all the use it's going to get with Marcia. I think I do use it at least once. Maybe. It's a little overpowered compared to the opposition.
So anyway, what's our resident competent knight up to?
I laughed at Geoffrey for his knightliness, but then there's Kieran to one up him.
Geoffrey's happy to have him around, though.
And Geoffrey gives him a Silver Axe to help out with the rebellion.
Thank Ashera he didn't specify a horrifyingly low age like "tenth".
...Kieran, we need to have a talk.
...Paintings are for mantels?
This is such a beautiful axe that to actually use it- on Crimeans, no less- is absolutely anathema to Kieran.
At least ordering Kieran gets results.
"It'll be like it was never used!"
After the gong show that was "Calill's Shop", you think Kieran is hopeless?
Right in the convoy with you.
We have access to the Market, but Aimee is off doing other things, so we have a requisitions officer doing these duties. I believe only Daniel may Forge weapons, but Crimeans are able to access Aimee's secret Bargains network. I buy a Killer Bow for Astrid, and possibly a Killer Lance for Marcia/Neph. The Steel Longbow is available only in Bargains, but is not worth it.
Astrid was a low-levelled unit with promise and Paragon in PoR, and she's kinda returned to that role here. A mixture of nerfed Paladin nonsense, a poorer prospective end result and the fact her first map is this one in particular means that Astrid fares very poorly in RD in comparison to PoR. Mechanically, she's as much a shadow of her former self as she is narratively. At least they kept the PoR Astrid writers for her endgame boss quotes.
Didn't actually cap her Bows from PoR Bow EXP. She starts with B Bows in this game, so she needs the full S from PoR for an autocap. That's mostly about what they expected us to work with in RD than my poor preparations in PoR.
Paragon's still here. Doesn't apply to BEXP anymore because of infinite reassignment, but otherwise it's just fine.
I switch out her Concoction for a Vulnerary.
And load up Marcia with a bunch of cool weapons for every eventuality. Thank goodness Marcia is in this party, by the way, because otherwise we would have to rely on an Astrid solo. And what kind of run includes an archer solo?
...
Cries in FE7.
Nephenee scored the other MVP.
Lucia's keeping tabs on Elincia while Geoffrey's out, incidentally.
Both of them are concerned about their distribution between both parties.
...You couldn't happen to be able to spare any other women, would you?
There is "the backup plan".
At least "exposition in-universe characters should know" gets acknowledged.
This is just a blink frame, but I love it.
So what's going on with the villain of the week?
Numbers! Ludveck knows our numbers enough to do math based on their reports. Ludveck's army is allegedly 3000 large, but we don't know where these people are.
Incidentally, I'm going to take a stance on Three Houses less subtly than usual: Edelgard did not kill millions of people. These numbers, while perhaps a shade on the smaller side, reflect the size of armies in the world of sword and sorcery (I think both medieval and early modern). Fodlan might have armies around tens of thousands large, or maybe even hundreds of thousands large, but "millions dead" is a product of modern statistics and not those of a time period where the most destructive weapon was a man with a couple of swords and a suit of armour he could move around in.
とすると、王都の守りにほぼ二千…
思ったよりも残してきたな。
ふん、警戒して当然か。
かつて、我らは王都を急襲され、
なすすべもなく王を失った……
あのような失態は二度と犯すまい。
何があろうと女王を守るため、奴らは
二重三重の予防策をとっているはず。
The part in the middle seems new, but I can't quite tell what it's about. Something about losing the King in the past and not repeating such a blunder.
This otherwise inconsequential nugget is valuable information to Ludveck.
That would be because the cavalry forces must be Geoffrey's and the remainder Lucia's. Ludveck is one step ahead of the Delbray twins and has plans for how they reacted to this situation.
...And Ludveck does the very heroic thing of leaving a token force of Volunteers at his castle to distract Geoffrey while Ludveck advances on Elincia and Lucia.
Here we are at Felirae. You might notice that there are 16 people here and not 4000. The Wii isn't that powerful.
Not just common soldiers, but random citizens with a weapon slapped in their hands.
And Ludveck is nowhere to be found.
Yeah. We're going to run roughshod over these civilians.
Geoffrey reasons that these must be a distraction for more competent forces. Because how ludicrous would it be if Ludveck had completely abandoned this position with nothing but Volunteers?
The camera pans all the way up to the top of the map to point out this door. It has 60 HP and there is no way to get this party in possession of a Door Key. This door must be opened to win the map, too.
These guys don't deserve to die.
They're just idiots who got wrapped up in the rhetoric of a charming criminal.
Kieran forgets to do that, and if you leave these guys on Roam, they'll obey the normal AI tactics of being as brutal as possible.
Translation: You get BEXP for each one that's still alive.
For a maximum of 50. There are reinforcements, and I think it's literally impossible to finish this map without killing a handful of rebels (especially the boss). The victory condition is Seize, incidentally- and Geoffrey is the Lord.
Which means we need to get Geoffrey to the other end of a large map without killing people. Geoffrey is going to be doing a lot of meatshielding today.
Geoffrey brings us three Authority stars of his own.
Tashoria has none, which gives us a distinct advantage today. Not that the Rebels had much of a chance anyway.
This is what Tashoria looks like statistically. That's... a standard swordmaster, I suppose, with some actual decent Defence. The Wo Dao is traditionally a special sword that can be used only by Swordmasters, that has different stats (usually lower Might and higher Crit) to a Killing Edge. In this game, Wo Daos can be used by anyone with a Sword rank and are inferior to Killing Edges in both Might and Crit. +5% Hit, -1 Weight, +1 WEXP and -600 Worth are not advantages to using a Dao. If you have the choice, go for the Killer.
The boss, obviously, lives on the Seize square, but I have observed him move off it randomly. Because that's a one square tunnel he's forced down, he's usually forced to die anyway, but I wonder if it's possible, with a Marcia/Danved Rescue drop, to Shove him out of the way and spare him after all...?
All of these ballistae are Catapults. This map would be interesting if Marcia had to worry about the normal kind. Those two Warriors down at the bottom of the image have Bowguns.
This guy possesses a droppable Speedwing. A few other miscellaneous enemies will drop their weapon, but that will be obvious from red text on the field.
This tile has an Arms Scroll on it. I won't be making it to this tile.
Let's begin. Proud Fight is not a particularly good or bad map theme on its own merits, but it's the one that accompanies this long, gruelling slog of a map (with pauses for the cutaway battle themes On Glory's Wings- for Player Phases- and To War- for Enemy Phases). It's the kind of song that starts to grate on you if left for that long.
Astrid has to make her pick of which enemies to kill. For her, a kill is worth the loss in BEXP, but she's also kinda weak right now
Well, that lasted long.
Kieran is force deployed, and he'll be chipping in to meatshield duty.
All other things being equal, we're not bringing these guys. I think they're non-lethal enough that you can get use out of them if they're on non-Roam AI, but unlike 2-1, these guys don't have Vulneraries everywhere to run away and heal if need be.
Marcia will not be getting good EXP from these kills, so she puts down her sword and joins Geoffrey and Kieran in "meatshield Astrid" duty. You might notice that this is not enough people to cover all four of Astrid's sides. Welcome to Geoffrey's Slog.
At least Geoffrey, Kieran and unequipped Marcia have no cutaways.
Honestly, I'd say the gimmick of this map is the only reason Astrid is usable in this challenge. Imagine if we got a normal siege-type mission with competent units, but we were still only allowed Astrid and Marcia.
The Killer Bow will see as much use as the Steel Bow today.
That still frame. Poor horse.
...Strength is too important, a two stat level can stand.
At least this time, the trees will cover Astrid's extra flank!
The Crimean Generics have assembled into their final shape. It's annoying how the priest always gets on the outside, because he moves last overall in the turn.
Astrid's move is to kill a Fighter, not just for EXP, but for position.
There's no other way out.
We make our move to this part of the map. I had designs on the Arms Scroll.
So, after that Enemy Phase, these three reinforcements appear, including a Sage. So how are we doing?
...We're not getting the Arms Scroll.
Astrid clears a path.
And gets a much more profitable level up. The Strength is kinda legitimately valuable compared to these stats collectively, but the Speed/Def outweighs it in the end.
Over to this side we go.
The Rebels with the green cloaks are promoted Paladins, not Cavaliers. They're worth an actual amount of EXP to Marcia dead. The main drawback to this is leaving Marcia armed for the next Enemy Phase.
No problem here. Kieran and Geoffrey have Herbs, Vulneraries and Concoctions, and considering the ludicrousness of this map, I consider them using them legitimate.
The enemy Marcia was in range of was this Javelin man. Attracting his attention might have been a bad idea, but I'm not sure how he would've moved otherwise.
Here's how things are going over here. I know one of these guys has a droppable Vulnerary, so it might be this guy, but I certainly can't be picky about which of these guys to Astrid this turn.
Well, Astrid needs to roll a crit just to kill this guy. Stats can't come soon enough.
Geoffrey and Kieran can't get through the thickets to keep protecting Astrid, but they can at least make a wall for everyone but Javelin man.
Tempting, but Marcia just stands here unarmed and waits for the next turn.
Ah crap, some of the soldiers are coming up here.
And the mage is here. He's going to be a pain in the butt.
The catapult is firing! This is going to be annoying.
More horse reinforcements.
OOH! This is probably the best droppable item on this map other than the Speedwings, and it's right here for the taking.
...For a certain definition of such.
Marcia introduces this catapult fellow to her sword.
She doesn't actually move forward, because I don't happen to remember how happy that crossbowman is to climb up and shoot Marcia and I don't want to tempt him.
This screenshot is not out of sequence, I had Astrid move after Marcia to more carefully plan the horses' movements. That's an awesome level up out of Astrid.
Want as many of these as possible.
A cavalier could loop around and whack Marcia.
Marcia accepts.
This chokepoint could've stood to be more aggressive. It's going to be a pain to get out of this.
Well, let's start blasting.
Ooh, the Vulnerary guy! This isn't much of an opening, especially since Astrid can't move into it and keep protected. She's slowly working on her ability to be a frontliner.
Marcia is busy going over here and dealing with these two jerks. They have way too much control over the ending passage.
And we're just whacking Geoffrey here. I think he's taking a lot from this Paladin and that Sage.
Oh great, Physic priest.
An opening!
We sneak out, with Astrid taking the front lines still. Those horses may be tempted to strike Geoffrey instead.
That's the archer set.
Marcai will stay here, though. She has enough Move to attack an enemy from the identical square on the opposite platform and return to this position. Complete safety!
...OK, the catapult on that side can actually shoot over here. Never mind.
Told you about the Geoffrey bait.
Don't you just love exact kills?
Astrid just getting the value pack with every level.
Astrid is going to stand here and prepare to counter the crossbowman.
No more catapults.
All the stats!
So how do we make a wall for Astrid this turn?
This was the correct formation... but oh man oh man, do I regret which position got which character. If you're (somehow) following behind me with my exact strategy, switch Geoffrey and Kieran.
Bye bye, Bowgun!
...Shoot.
Astrid is getting attacked, and already we can see why having Geoffrey where he is is an issue. Reminder the goal is Seize.
Astrid can fortunately handle herself in a round of combat now.
We have to break out of here now, though. Come in, Geoffrey.
Astrid claims the door before anyone else does.
Kieran makes his way up. We need to establish a wall.
And Geoffrey. Gets. Stuck. If Kieran is in this situation, leave him. But we need Geoffrey.
That's no healing out of you, thank you.
Geoffrey got in enough fights that he levelled up. Since he has Paragon, he only needs 50 fights, but still.
Oh dear, this situation has gotten very interesting.
OK, we need to get this door down. Marcia pokes it with a Steel Greatlance.
I'm not sure if Tashoria is a civilian or a proper rebel like Yeardley and Maraj, but you really feel bad for the poor guy when you realise Ludveck has already mentally killed these people.
This guy might theoretically be scary for Marcia, considering Axe versus Lance, but it is at least a Poleax and this guy is not promoted.
Astrid heals. Not only is it necessary, but it's probably for the best to wait a turn and see how the situation stabilises.
...Which means this, of course.
No matter, no matter. Get rid of this guy...
Take out a cavalier...
For some nifty profit.
And now Kieran can take this spot. One guy notwithstanding, we own this hallway.
Oh no!
Marcia breaks down the door.
Astrid claims the hallway properly.
Kieran hides and heals. 6 HP, phew. But this was also an error.
Because now we've conceded that part of the field. We need Geoffrey to pass these tiles!
Headpats.
Don't worry about Marcia, she can survive a crit.
Astrid chips a bit from him.
And gets some Strength again.
And rather than killing the guy, Marcia goes over here to start helping Geoffrey, healing herself first.
Kieran heals and prepares for the counterpush.
One by one.
And getting these levels to help out.
We'll get Geoffrey out of there.
Astrid takes out the boss to great profit. I think we're more or less at the point where future Astrid uses won't be this stupid. Having to deal with this map is bad enough. Having to train Astrid on it is even worse. Although her necessary kills do make movement easier.
Halfway from Melior by now. Sorry, I stuttered- to Melior.
Geoffrey: Rebel forces! I am Geoffrey, commander of the Royal Knights of Crimea! Lay down your weapons and submit to the rule of the law! Further resistance is futile! Her majesty the queen promises leniency and means you no harm! Listen to me! You must yield!
Tashoria: Tch… What nonsense is this? Do you take us for idiots!? Our reinforcements will arrive shortly, and your fate will be sealed! Death to the tyrant and her lapdogs!
Geoffrey: Grr… The queen lives to serve you! Why can’t you see that!
Wow... this guy has gone mad. Also another instance of that "dog" insult being bandied about.
Yay.
Astrid stat check. Resistance cap, and not that far from some of her other ones.
This is the Speedwings guy. Can't deal with him, annoyingly.
Well, both of you can help with the breakout from either end, as best we can.
Kieran takes this square back.
And someone who can climb ledges goes for a round on Marcia. He loses.
At least we wound up with this.
Inching up...
Astrid breaks out the Iron Longbow to thin out the cavalier numbers.
Hell yeah. Go Astrid.
Out of Geoffrey's way, please.
Success!
...How?
Last turn, and while I would like to see this guy killed, I can't reach him. No Steel Lance for me.
Take it home, Astrid.
Marcia also secures another kill on a Paladin while I'm here.
Rockin'.
And that was Geoffrey's Slog.
Routed? We spared a ton! Less than I would've liked, but...
...No one important except perhaps Tashoria. No Ludveck, in particular.
Which means we are way out of position.
Geoffrey has a plan.
"Move, man!" Geoffrey's designed age in this game is 24. Yes, that makes him younger than Oscar.
Geoffrey calls for this generic man after Kieran leaves.
These are Geoffrey's contingencies- this and a flare. Lucia will handle the rest.
We still have a job to do here.
Why are we leaving Haar on lookout?
Lucia has a plan for this! Good, good.
...Although perhaps not the right choice of words.
Lucia considered it among the likely plans, but there's no way she would've taken the bait if she knew it. There's no good reason to.
Lucia had more faith in Ludveck as a person than to see him throw away dozens of lives just to distract the Royal Knights.
Haar sorta compliments her playing the strategist. I wonder if this is supposed to come off as backhanded.
- Haar:
- …女の勘ってのは、
つくづく恐ろしいもんだ。
- Lucia:
- エリンシア様を守るためになら、
私はどんな悪にでもなります。
Lucia's response is translated as "I can be any evil to protect Princess Elincia", which sounds... head-tilting.
Lucia's already sent the Queen to safety.
And Haar decides being used as a lookout was staying in a war zone too long.
Lucia traps him with one more job.
これから２時間…
この部屋で待っていて下さい。
予定通りならば、私は戻ってきて
あなたに報酬をお支払いし
自由にして差し上げます。
Lucia sets Haar a time limit of two hours. Which is a good idea for this plan.
Haar's job is to be a dead man's switch for Lucia.
If Lucia doesn't come back from what she intends to do, Haar is to go to Alpea and inform Elincia of such.
Haar reasons he doesn't have to worry about doing anything until Lucia is done, so it's now naptime.
Lucia pauses twice crossing this street to check for followers. As Ranger's Apprentice taught me, this is a rookie mistake- you want to walk with purpose. Stopping and appearing uncertain of yourself is more suspicious than simply moving to the objective, no matter what that objective might be.
This man doesn't have a name. I'm not entirely convinced this man is still alive.
We don't have any real explanation for what happens here. The portrait just disappears.
Lucia has been found out.
By Ludveck himself.
Really? Because you caused a civil war because you didn't like your queen.
Not an answer to the question, but rest assured there are alarm bells ringing in my head.
Well... this is concerning on multiple levels. We'll leave the stalker bit out of it.
本当に、あなたは素晴らしい女性だ。
あの愚鈍なる女王の下にいるのが、
もったいないほどのね。
Ludveck is still impressed by it: he tells Lucia that her talents are wasted under Elincia. Lucia is silent both before and after this line.
Lucia working on her poker face. She is designed to be 25.
Not technically true- Lucia's not the one visiting the place to deliver messages to Elincia.
The medium of Fire Emblem does not do this moment justice. Lucia's facial reaction to this line would tell us a lot.
Especially because, if this line is to be believed (and that is more than an fortunate blink frame), Lucia kinda gave the game up by reacting incorrectly.
Lucia baits the hook.
Whatever those secrets are, I'm not entirely certain. I think the one thing I know Lucia knows and Ludveck doesn't is that the Royal Knights were prepared for his bait gambit.
Lucia won't be talking to Ludveck, at any rate.
Well, this is all sorts of very concerning.
ルキノ殿…あまり私を
甘くみないほうがいい。
それを今から教えて差し上げますよ。
...Considering Ludveck's dialogue with Lucia in 2-2 and here, I think I might be better off not knowing.
No Turn Bonus, obviously, and a fairly respectable 27/50 lives spared. I alluded to this map in PoR, and I would like to talk more about it: this is PoR Chapter 15 done "properly". In PoR, killing the (transformed) laguz was more profitable from an EXP perspective than sparing them for BEXP, and the desert treasure and movement made sparing them a difficult job. 2-3 gives you vastly more tools to make sparing people possible, and also decreases the EXP yield such that BEXP is a valuable alternative to kill EXP. And it turns out pacifism FE is really awkward. The system just isn't designed to make leaving enemies alive fun and reasonable. A few missions in Three Houses might've benefitted narratively from some incentive to spare the lives of the enemy units, but FE has learned its lesson and just kinda quietly put that to one side. I don't really miss it, but sometimes I do wonder...
Next time: Elincia womans up.
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