RD Chapter 3-1 Base: The planning phase

One down, one to go.

...Daein? Are the writers seeing the same maps we are? I mean, I guess you'd want to watch for flank attacks, but through terrain like that?

Also, I wonder which Crimean King wanted to declare war on Begnion.

Flaguerre was possibly the same situation, but they didn't have time to bunker up.

Over-dramaticising this a little bit, aren't we?

Let's... try and bury those thoughts a little deeper.

For some reason, I thought the Part was called Laguz and Beorc. I'm not sure why this chapter in particular gets this title, though.

That's... the point of castles.

Skrimir really does not feel interested in this conversation.

Ranulf hopes that'll change.

Soren, let's hear from you.

Soren is probably the most important character in this part of the story. By hiring the Greil Mercenaries, Ranulf doesn't just have Ike, he has Soren, too. And Soren plans things.

Soren also isn't particularly fond of laguz, and looks down on their general lack of doing the same.

Ranulf:

フラゲル、ムギルの２つは
敵が準備を整える前に
落としときたかったんだが……
予想外にムギルの対応が早い。

Ike:

セネリオ、どう思う？

Soren:

…フラゲルからの
逃亡兵の仕業だと思われます。
砦の兵たちの戦闘は――
こういってはなんですが
一国の軍というには
おそまつなものでした。
しかし、引き際だけは
すばらしく良かった。

Ranulf:

逃げた奴らがムギルに着いて、
こっちの情報を正確に伝えたってことか。
どうりで、フラゲルに比べて
がちがちに守りを固めているわけだ。
さて…いよいよやりにくくなった。

Apparently, no, the laguz were expecting Mugill to fall as easily as Flaguerre, and didn't count on the Flaguerre survivors warning Mugill of what to expect. Sometimes I feel bad about how often I rag on the "laguz are bad at planning" thing, but then Ranulf pulls out something like this.

Skrimir scoffs at his trickery.

"I challenge you to single combat!" roared Skrimir.

"I accept. Let me open my castle gate and come out," said no sane Begnion general ever.

Probably not.

We must bring the fight to the enemy. But walls of stone pose a huge issue.

Skrimir is aghast. This is probably just as much culture shock as it is military inexperience- the laguz, as a race, would be more susceptible to Skrimir's gambit.

Another great quote.

Skrimir:

ハッ　なるほど。
ベオクは卑怯者揃いというわけか！
この大陸の長であるかのように
振る舞いながら、我らと
まともに戦うこともできんとは！
おい、ライ！
ムギルはやめだ！！
巣穴に閉じこもった虫など、
我らの威厳にかけて
相手にするわけにはいかんからな。

Ranulf:

そうはいかないんだ。
ムギルの戦力を残したまま
先に進めば…
背後をつかれる危険がある。

Soren:

当然、そうなるでしょうね。

Skrimir:

ぬぅ…　どこまで
卑劣な奴らなんだ！
では、どうしろというんだ？
俺は卑怯者どもとの
戦い方などこれっぽっちも知らんぞ。

Skrimir realises that, if the people of Mugill are not going to leave their fortress, there's no point in us attacking them and we should just move on. Ranulf and Soren point out that if we do this, the Mugill garrison will come out and attack us from the rear. I feel like Skrimir's frustrated "I do not know how to fight cowards!" is an appropriate reaction to this information from the perspective of someone who doesn't know this is how it works.

Ranulf implores Skrimir, one last time, to employ some proper tactics.

Skrimir is not interested.

I do have to wonder what a laguz training regimen looks like.

Well, that's him gone.

Soren asks the obvious question: Why is he the general?

Ranulf has an actual answer.

Gallia really is starved for choice.

オレたちのガリアは…
建国以来、自分たちのほうから
多国に攻め入った経験がない。
領地を明け渡し、隷属に戻れと
ちょっかいを出してくる
ベグニオン兵を――
ガリアの樹海を隠れ蓑に退ける。
そんな戦いしかやったことがない。

Ranulf goes into a little detail about how Gallia seceded from Begnion- even the events of that conflict did not involve Gallia using the skills they need to win in this one.

What we have is a man who is a particularly poor tactician, strategist, and basically any job that requires thinking more than one move ahead.

This is a racial trait of the laguz. Skrimir is not deficient in any way- if you went to any laguz off the street, you will probably find someone who has the same list of flaws.

I wonder if "stopping, resting and healing" even occurs to them. I feel like it might, especially because of transformation mechanics, but it almost doesn't sound like it.

Caineghis seemed pretty reasonable, though.

This is a good argument. Deploying Caineghis here means not having him hold down Gallia at home, which makes it easy prey for a back attack by Begnion's flying units. Plus, he's got to do all the little things that come with being a King, too.

And here's where the game gets... a little peculiar.

What other duties? This seems like a really good use of Giffca's time, what is he gone off and dealing with that forces us to depend on a fool like Skrimir for a general?

Now that we've been introduced this plot point, I would like to make a diversion into something I brought up in PoR but didn't elaborate on until "later". This is that later. I would like to talk about the Black Knight and how to make Ike losing the fight canonical while still doing the important job of "killing the Black Knight". It is my belief that either Caineghis or Giffca should have done the job of holding him down while Nados collapses, and that whichever lion was chosen would still be dead in RD, canonising Ike's loss. This not only adds incentive to continue the Black Knight arc in this game, but it also provides a more concrete explanation here of why a) we're relying on Skrimir as general and b) why we care so much about how the lions are handling the situation here.

And this is why. Caineghis chose Skrimir not only because of his lack of alternative choices, but because the experience Skrimir is going to gain from participating in this war is going to round out his character for when he becomes King. As the plot point stands, this is still a valid approach, but I feel that, if one of the lions died in Nados, there would be some concrete pressure to train a successor, even if it does mean risking Skrimir to being killed by Begnion and making the situation much worse.

As for which lion I think should've died in Nados? My first impression was Giffca, since the man is so disposable as a character he almost feels pointless to have included in the first place- he has the awesome moment of telling Ashnard "the King doesn't think you're worth his time", but mild spoilers, nothing he does in RD tops that. But I think that, if it were Caineghis, not only would that tie into Chapter 7, but it would also give Giffca an excuse to flesh out his character some more, explore what he does with his life as Caineghis's shadow when Caineghis is no longer around to cast it.

The strangest part? I don't think you'd have to change canon that much to get this to work. In PoR, Caineghis is replaced by Giffca after Chapter 27 with no fanfare and no explanation other than this one retroactively, and at no point in the plot of this game do Caineghis and Giffca ever so much as appear in the same conversation- it would be almost trivially easy to condense both characters into one, not that PoR was much different in that regard. Many of the plot points that would come of this change occur anyway, as well, just in different contexts. I do have to wonder if the idea was at least on the table. Or it could turn out that the Extended script makes me look like a fool, for all I know as of this writing. 

Ike:

王がだめなら、
ジフカ殿や、ライおまえでもいい。
ガリアにも優れた将はいるだろう。

Ranulf:

いや、オレじゃ力不足だって。
普通に考えれば
ジフカ様ってところなんだが…
そうできない事情があってさ。

It doesn't sound like the Extended script's answer is any more enlightening. I think they're sorta pointing towards the "Skrimir learning experience" being more of a factor than deploying Giffca, but I'm going to assume this is something I can't call with just the machine translation.

Back to the plot that did happen, though, Skrimir needs all the help he can get to become the "next Caineghis".

Laguz are the "Children of Strength" and beorc are the "Children of Wisdom". In addition to my common point about how the laguz got conquered by the beorc, the specific choice of using "lend us your wisdom" helps reinforce how Soren's help is going to make this army something to be feared. With the power of beorc planning on their side, the laguz match the beorc of Begnion in getting in position on a battlefield... and then get to show off their superior strength.

Ike and Titania are fully on board here.

Soren is not.

He's got a lot of history with the laguz to unpack.

He truly has gotten better- back in PoR Chapter 8, Soren antagonised Lethe for no apparent reason. RD Soren would never do the same thing. Considering the fact that I now know Soren was not aware of the nature of his Brand and the history of the Parentless, I wonder if Soren's changing viewpoint is because he knows the bad blood between laguz and himself is not personal in nature, but couched in this wider context.

Soren likes Ike a great deal, and trusts in him completely, for personal reasons related to both his backstory and the Ike/Soren support, which is the only support that actually has an impact on the story of RD if Transferred. Other Supports also trigger mechanical benefits later, but we are not invited to believe these are canonised as a result.

For Ike, Soren will stomach whatever is necessary. Although he does add in an extra price tag. The Soren tax, I suppose!

Ranulf is happy to have Soren around.

Soren isn't magical (ironically), but he usually works.

Ike:

どれくらいかかる？

Soren:

一晩あれば十分です。

Titania:

ふふ、流石ね。

Ranulf:

頼もしい参謀殿…
いや、これからは軍師殿とお呼びするかな。

Soren reckons he can do it given one night's time. Ranulf starts talking about what they're going to call the meeting tent now that Soren is in it.

We'll go see what base shenanigans we can get up to in the meantime.

It's been a while since we saw Titania make the records.

Three Info conversations today, each with an amusing name and each being fluff pieces to introduce the minor Greil Mercenary characters. See what I mean about "Feast or Famine" from last round fitting in with them?

Rolf and Boyd have gotten into an argument.

Despite being the youngest of PoR's child soldiers (Sanaki is younger, but she wasn't playable in PoR), Rolf got the least dramatic change of all the children. Even Tormod feels like something actually changed. He looks a lot taller here, but I'm not sure if that's actually a thing or just how the images I linked work. I think his face also looks like it's got a bit less puppy fat and his arms have more of a muscle tone- which is rather standard compared to Sanaki, Mist, Sothe or even Tormod.

And here's Boyd, with a bit of a meatheaded response at first glance.

I suppose this goes without saying, but Boyd went to the same gym as Ike and got a comparative muscle boost. He already had a bit of a tone in PoR, but RD really helps sell his nature as a Fighter. The three years have also killed some of his flippancy, but he can still be his dumb-ish self at times.

Siblings fight like siblings no matter what the situation is.

It's power.

Mist, who rarely fights with Ike (their conversation in the last chapter is probably the most hostile Ike and Mist ever get with each other), doesn't have the patience for the antics of the three brothers.

Rolf asks if Mist can settle their argument.

Mist's blink frame.

Both of these are good points. Both of these problems can make or break a unit in FE.

Mist gives a very middle of the road answer to try and shut them up.

To Rolf and Boyd's disappointment.

There are actually two interesting comments to make about the Strength vs Skill argument here. The first is a character in FE6 called Gonzales- he is quite possibly the one character in FE history whose Skill deficiency is so awful that giving him a Secret Book might actually be incredibly valuable. He is still considered a pretty good character by some (not all) because of his raw power. The other comment is, while Rolf does start with a higher Skill stat than Strength, Rolf's growth in Strength is higher than his own Skill and Boyd's Strength. In fact, both characters have the same Skill growth, so if growths can be said to represent opinions on the value of stats, Rolf actually values Strength more than Boyd.

Now, if the argument was Strength versus Speed, then you'd tap into something that even high-level Fire Emblem players don't agree upon. (Both Rolf and Boyd have the same Speed growth- in fact, it is the same as their Skill growth.)

Change of conversation topic, Mist is here to give Boyd something. Unlike usual for an Info Conversation, this is not actually an item we, the player, obtain.

Mist has been working on Boyd's shirts.

More specifically, with all this growing Boyd's been doing, he needs replacement shirts to make sure he keeps his modesty.

Yeah, the brothers, and really the mercenaries in general, have money problems. Ironically, considering PoR showered you with gold.

Mist is working on her embroidery.

There's a lot one could conclude from that "...", but it seems "both" is an acceptable answer.

When it comes to the Boyd/Mist versus Rolf/Mist debate, lines like this kinda help the player form an impression of Rolf/Mist, which undercuts the writer's inclination for Boyd/Mist. I think the idea is that Rolf might feel uncomfortable with a cute girl working with his clothing regardless of romantic inclination. This is why you cut the knot and ship Jill/Mist.

The full (spoiler-free) list of people who have a Fast Support with Mist is "Ena, Jill, Titania, Boyd, Mordecai, Rolf, Danved, Gatrie, Volke, Ranulf, Lyre, Lethe, Mia". If you're using this as a judgement of who her shipping partners are, you're way off. Everyone between Ena and Rolf in this list has a special flag, but we don't know what that flag means. (Also, Ike has the Fastest Support Speed with Mist, which is why he isn't here.)

Rolf likes to feel useful, so he does it himself.

I made the comment that Rolf is a lot bigger in RD than PoR if the images are to be believed, and this line casts further confusion on whether this is an actual change or just an illusion. After all, what can we truly measure Rolf's height against in-game? Is this sibling banter, or has Boyd not noticed Rolf's growing because he's been growing too?

And they're back at it.

Oh dear...

Kitten Smitten has us making an introduction to not only Shinon and Gatrie, but two other characters too.

Gatrie is totally in love with this woman, and Shinon decides to check her out too.

This is not usual for Shinon, and Gatrie notices this. Good to know they're sufficiently friendly that such a character turn is commented on. Gatrie is typically oblivious to such things.

Shinon has his own reasons. Unlike Soren, whose prejudice against the laguz is an issue that he is actively reconsidering, Shinon doesn't have the same justifications and doesn't believe he should change his spots. He's clearly loyal enough to Ike that he'll sit through this war, but he doesn't have to like it.

Say hello to Lyre. If you remember PoR's Ranulf/Lethe Support, you'll know this is Lethe's little sister, a fact that doesn't really come up in this game until later, but isn't much of a reveal. We also saw her in the opening shot of 3-P's meeting scene (still don't know why, she doesn't speak in the extended script), and we'll have more to say about her when this mission starts.

Thank the gods Shinon already abandoned us when we met Lethe for the first time. The combined aggression towards laguz he and Soren would've exerted would've got someone killed.

Lyre is also pretty immature, and ready to get into a fight. She doesn't hate beorc the way PoR Lethe did, but she does a pretty good job of filling in for PoR Lethe's general cattiness now that RD Lethe has grown past that.

In other words, Shinon is not someone we want Lyre talking to.

And here comes Kysha to stop one of them from destroying the other. Left to their own devices and purely narratively speaking, I'm not sure which one would've won. Mechanically... Lyre has her downsides.

Well, even if Lyre wasn't inexperienced, I feel like she could say this and mean it still. There are a solid number of characters worse than him I can name (Lekain, Oliver, Makalov), but Shinon is a valid choice for even a Lyre who's done some travelling.

Kysha is a... very... well, he's got multiple things not going for him, including a manner of speaking in the JP version that is very stereotypically LGBT in the insensitve way, although I do not feel comfortable explaining "what" and "how". More relevant to this conversation, he's also an extreme doormat of a character and not particularly pleasant regardless of his sexual orientation and identity.

For example, he makes Lyre apologise. While her hostility is something she needs to work on, this is not the time and Shinon is not the target.

Lyre has a crush on Ranulf, and the opportunity to be in his unit is a part of her motivation to even join the army in the first place. I am informed that Kysha, too, also harbours romantic feelings as part of their JP identity, but this aspect of the Lyre/Kysha dynamic is removed from the localisation.

At the very least, threatening to go to Ranulf is a threat Lyre takes seriously.

Shinon kicks Lyre while she's down.

And Lyre does what either her or Kysha should've done from the start, and removed Lyre from the situation entirely.

Kysha puts a pin in this conversation. I wonder how well Ranulf knows Shinon in order to tell Kysha not to hold this incident against either him or Lyre.

Shinon doesn't have much respect for either of them, for different reasons. Kysha's failed attempt at civilised behaviour makes him more repugnant to Shinon than Lyre, who is simply a different culture of person. Considering the fact that Kysha somewhat fails at his stated job from an external perspective, I don't feel entirely right either praising or condemning Shinon's view on him.

So what's Gatrie's deal?

So Gatrie looked at Lyre and got a crush on her. By Gatrie's standards, this is pretty bad, and not just because of the whole "beorc and laguz relationships are inherently cursed by the Branded deal". Lyre looks really young and is stated to be immature as a character, although whether this is entirely biological or just in personality is less clear. Gatrie, a grown man, crushing on her is... very concerning.

At the very least, Gatrie's brand of flirting is so ham-fisted as to be completely harmless by dint of not actually working on the girl (if Gatrie actually tried telling Lyre about his feelings, I get the feeling things would go comedically disastrously), but I am somewhat concerned nonetheless.

This one's a beloved line, although it feels kinda awful when you notice the reason Shinon is making this comparison is because of Lyre's race.

"Challenging" shows off Mia again.

Mia's had a change in costume that mostly applies to the stitching on the front and the baring of her shoulders, but other than that, there shouldn't be much different between the two. And yet, Mia really feels like her redesign hit her harder than it hit Rolf. Honestly, I was expecting worse when you remember her design in the cutscene back in 2-E, and how massive her breasts look there compared to their more subdued appearance on her portrait. Also, while I was in the gallery of Mia art, I noticed her seven Cipher cards and all of them make her look good. Between this and Heroes, there has to be someone on the dev team who likes her.

So what's she up to today?

Mia likes challenging Ike to fights.

Ike is relatively surprised, considering her persistence on the matter.

Mia is really dedicated to her craft, and is invested in her strength as a matter of her worth. The fact that she can even go toe to toe with the legendary hero Ike and claim a near victory is huge. Huger than Ike probably considers, honestly.

Ike doesn't do "easy".

And Mia considers that a bonus. Remember, she didn't like the idea of Largo slacking off because of her gender. "Slacking off because of her gender" is probably the furthest thing from Ike's mind, of course, but it matters a lot more to Mia.

Ike and Mist spar with each other now that "Mist using swords" is an open thing? This is honestly a pretty cute window into their relationship, even if Mist doesn't seem to be liking being on the receiving end of her brother.

Hey, Rhys! Come keep an eye on us!

Sounds like a bit of an unfair fight. Or maybe she's just talking about "after the fight".

Ike checks up on Rhys's level of consent for this situation, since he's aware Rhys has some issues with blood.

Rhys knows the choices are "watch Ike cut Mia open" or "have Mia turn up bleeding", and believes the former option will be healthier for him.

And also especially her, since it will cut down on the time between "Rhys seeing the injury" and "Rhys healing the injury". Also relatively important, the time between "Mia gets the injury" and "Mia heals the injury".

Being in a group of mercenaries like the GMs will do that.

Ike is happy with this.

And the two draw their swords and clash!

Sorry, Rhys, they can't hear you, they're already lost in their swordplay. Still beats babysitting Kieran.

Anyway, there actually isn't a lot of inventory management to conduct, because nothing has happened in the base to change our inventory settings, so I'll meet you in Mugill.