Bethany Plays: RD Chapter 3-7 Combat: Rolling down the river

Just look at the Daein Army. Fortunately, today our victory condition is "survive for 12 turns", a la 2-P. A rout would be a bit beyond our capacity right now.

Reminder/proof that Micaiah still does not have Authority Stars.

This is an important tutorial and if your first playthrough was on "Normal" (which doesn't have these tutorials), you might be concerned about the interaction between Permadeath and Player Army vs Player Army battles. If we kill any Dawn Brigade characters today, they will still be alive in the Dawn Brigade next time we encounter them. This applies in general- if the loss of a non-blue character is not a Game Over condition, odds are their death is not permanent.

Mia has a two textbox Converse for A Rank. Just how much she loves duelling at dawn that she has to do it in A Support. Mist's response actually feels appropriate, and something Mia would love to hear.

Everyone else marches across the river, Heather of course embarassing everyone else.

Nephenee will be getting a lot more use of Smite today.

And the cats Olivi Grass up. I was a little thoughtless and had Lyre get the more advantageous position. I really need to get Lethe to the front of the line.

How wonderfully generic. Despite my earlier assertion that these two are going to hang out in the back of the army, it is in my interest to bring Ike to the front lines. I have better ways of doing that later.

We have a 7:3 human:beast ratio in gameplay. How many extra laguz do we have?

You do have more soldiers to throw, though.

Including this annoying wyvern.

He can attack a lot of places right now. Fortunately, not Ike, but Lethe and Lyre are very vulnerable right now. This map is probably the map I feel most pressured by the lack of a female flier.

Mia and Mist take up formation on this part of the river.

Ilyana prepares to attract the attention of another wyvern on this side.

Heather stands in Support range.

Titania hauls Nephenee over the river.

"Although if that does happen, we're in real trouble.

Of course I didn't give Mist Florete here.

This guy took a beating, though.

As did this one.

Ahahahaha

And...

Thank goodness for Lyre's statups. She didn't need the Robe for this, but she needed everything else.

And of course they have Physic staves.

...Some birds have cropped up behind us.

Janaff and Ulki have to be recruited from Other units here, which is honestly kinda weird, but I like the Talk Ike has with Janaff.

And helping our decoy operation?

Reyson does not like being guarded.

Ike is just being a troll. As is normal for a legendary hero like himself.

Ike hires these two as Greil Mercenaries. Considering this is apparently a thing he does for Reyson, too, this isn't that farfetched, but I still question on what authority Ike has for this.

Ike: Ulki! What are you doing here?
Ulki: Orders of the king. I am here to assist you.
Ike: Oh, I get it. You’re here to guard Reyson.
Ulki: Shh! Ike, please! I cannot let the prince hear about this! Please pretend that I’m only here to assist you, I beg of you.
Ike: Sure, that’s fine with me. Whatever your reasons, I appreciate the help. Thanks!
Ulki: Don’t mention it.

Ulki is much less of a comedy character than Janaff.

Reyson: Janaff? What are you doing here?
Janaff: H-hello! Nice to see you, Prince! What a coincidence, huh?! I’m just, um, taking a flight. At night. In a battlefield.
Reyson: …Oh? I assumed Tibarn might have sent you to protect me.
Janaff: Oh, no, no! Nothing like that!
Reyson: Janaff. Do you really think you can hide anything from me?
Janaff: It… It was Ike! Ike asked me to help out the Greil Mercenaries! Really!
Reyson: Mm-hm.
Janaff: You see, Your Highness, the enemy might get suspicious if there were no birds among the force!
Reyson: Ah, that’s a good point. Now I understand. My apologies for jumping to conclusions.
Janaff: No worries, Your Highness… Ha ha… ha…
Reyson: Then let us go together to Ike and seek his next command!
Janaff: What?! Whoa, hold up there!
Reyson: What’s the problem? I thought you were here to help.
Janaff: Oh, hey, no problem at all, Your Highness. No problem whatsoever!
Reyson: Excellent. Let’s go.
Janaff: Perfect… Tibarn’s gonna have my beak for this…

Reyson: Ulki. Why are you here?
Ulki: King’s orders. I’m here to assist.
Reyson: Oh, I see. It’s that thing about having some birds in the decoy force, correct?
Ulki: Of course, Your Highness. Just so.
Reyson: Good. I’m sure Ike is glad to have your help. We’ll be counting on you, Ulki.
Ulki: I shall do my best.

You can totally have them try and keep their cover in front of Reyson. Again, Janaff does a much worse job than Ulki. Sometimes it feels like the only character difference between these two is that Janaff is the funny one.

Janaff and Ulki will be lugging Ike and Ranulf down to the south side of the battlefield for one event in particular. This event will not meaningfully change my tactics (other than to facilitate it) and will have one important use much later.

Mia is part of the family now! Poly with Jill!

Mist takes out this guy, to make the two in front of her more accessible.

And Corrodes his weapon on the way down. This doesn't fully melt it.

Mia takes out this one.

And Titania, while still holding Nephenee, swings at this guy to chip him.

She doesn't dodge, because Rescue penalties.

Heather is ultimately the one to pick him off.

To great profit.

...Dangit. I was hopeful.

Ilyana comes back to heal her, mostly because Lyre actually failed to dodge this two times in a row (and in the successful attempt).

Lethe transforms, and takes the chance to unload Nephenee.

Just in time for this guy to chuck a spear at her!

And more Physic.

And more wyverns. These guys can get frustrating.

Physic guy didn't heal this mage all the way, so Lyre finishes the job.

STRIKE RANK! Lyre's damage output means business now.

...You ran all the way around here for a shot at Nephenee?

Titania parks herself here, to intercept these two enemies. Titania cannot leave this island owing to her horse, so she's the perfect candidate to handle this wing.

That just leaves this side. Nephenee gives Mia a Smite.

Eliminate everything.

With prejudice.

Mist takes out this crossbowman, dodging the bolt while she's at it.

Ilyana heals up Lyre, because she still needed it.

And Lethe stands here. Killing this enemy is honestly just a bonus. Coming up next turn is one hell of an arrangement.

Apparently Ilyana has not been finding the enemy's pockets full enough on food. Heather doesn't get to Steal anything today, though.

These two birds try to keep out of trouble.

Lethe is having fun dealing with enemies as they come.

And some ranged units to harry the cats' TP.

And moving up, if you can pick him out from the crowd, is Zihark.

Reinforcements have arrived.

Ilyana and Mist clear a path.

(For hilarious results from Mist. I didn't want/couldn't get that Physic staff anyway.)

Lovely, Blossom is still affecting her.

And Lethe walks up to... Talk to Zihark.

This conversation also happens in 3-6, but it turns out this opening is actually slightly different.

Zihark: Hold up, Lethe! I have to talk to you!
Lethe: We’re enemies. What’s there to talk about?

Lethe is more than a soldier... she is a laguz.

Zihark knows their kind way too well.

If he is going to spare the laguz, he must do so by taking their side.

To Lethe's utter bafflement.

The Daeins are talking about how fun it's going to be to kill sub-humans and Zihark... Zihark just can't stand it.

Zihark had hopes. They were rock-bottom, but thanks to Micaiah, they were there. So much for those.

Zihark knows where he belongs.

Zihark may be recruited from the Daein army by talking to him with Lethe or Mordecai. With "A Support Transfer Data", Ilyana and Brom can also do the job. The conversations for these three will be in the boss conversation update. I believe Ilyana could've done it on this file because I have transferred A Support in the past, but the precise mechanics are a little obtuse to me and I kinda wish I tried it in this run, if only for evidence.

Incidentally, Mist was given Corrosion specifically for Zihark's Iron Sword. If I was big-brained enough, I also would've given Zihark the one-use Wind Edge Meg had so Zihark would disarm himself. Do note that if Zihark does not have a sword on him, he will be given one and it will outright overwrite one of his inventory slots if you recruit him- I learned that one the hard way.

And, as one final note, I mentioned something about these conversations existing in 3-6? Yeah, Lethe and Mordecai can recruit Zihark to the Laguz Alliance Shiharam-style in that mission if you're not careful. I don't know who has to initiate the conversation and whether Zihark will turn up with the Laguz Alliance if he's still alive after the fact, but I can't imagine that's easy to test.

Back to combat, Lethe considers killing this guy, but notices she fails to double him and instead nibbles some grass.

I really would not like to keep a Longbowman around.

1 in 3 chance to not even bother with the dodge.

And Heather helpfully kills this guy.

Lyre can't cross the river at speed. This is why I was so worried about how far Lethe was getting- in order to get her to recruit Zihark, you have to fight the beast tribe's river crossing speed.

Zihark escapes enemy range.

Titania cannot melee her opponents, so instead chooses to park in a thicket.

These two push their luck on "not being in range".

...Wait, is Zihark in range of something here? Who?

Honestly, probably this guy. Lethe being weak to him gave Zihark a lucky escape.

You ever just think about how Mist does not care about Swordmasters one jot?

Just throw everyone with a throwing weapon at her.

Ironically, only the non-Fire mage hit. I can see how Daein was unprepared.

Titania takes on this wyvern, and thank goodness, no way was Zihark going to survive-

ANOTHER ONE!?

Ilyana heals up Lethe.

Ah, come on! I know they're swordmasters, but cats are supposed to be fast!

Heather can secure a weaken, though.

Now Lyre gets a kill.

And probably a good idea to deal with these two.

...Dangit.

And dangit a second time. Nephenee was supposed to kill this one so Mist could take his spot and handle the first one with Florete! I think I did need Mia here anyway, but still. That was pure slop.

Mist stands on this square anyway, preparing to bait that Wind sage. No, there's no one else they're in range of right now, what gives you that impression?

Lethe was on two TP. Given the choice between sustaining TP and killing this priest, I decided Lethe could use some time performing untransformed combat. She was getting 3 EXP a kill, Blossom laguz EXP is terrible.

The birds put down the boys, preparing for the next plan just in case.

And Titania is working on these guys.

She's done with the whole "missing HP" thing.

I think that's her Strength capped.

Exactly as planned.

So this guy is out of range again. Whoops. Titania will spend another turn luring him around, especially with that wyvern to worry about.

Lethe can untransformed combat just fine. These wound up giving her more EXP without killing than kills did transformed.

Remember when I said Mia was in range of nobody? I was lying.

OK, the Greil Mercenaries thoroughly outclass the Dawn Brigade, but Jill still has the accuracy to overcome WTD and hit Mia. This might be concerning if Mia hadn't capped Defence.

Lyre gets more TP, though. She's not a unit who can really afford to fight untransformed. Although I think these two have closer stats than usual.

Ilyana heals up Lethe.

And Mia gets the kill on Jill. Mist will not attack Jill, incidentally- right now, the Attack option doesn't even appear in her menu.

Once was funny. Twice?

Mia is sick of your cheek.

Well, I feel loads better about this.

Yeah, this ain't your grandma's PoR Mia.

And the boys will approach from this angle for their destiny.

The wyvern up north has a frustratingly huge range.

Titania in and Zihark out.

And Lethe consumes some Grass for next turn.

Mist continues to slap sages upside the face.

OK, this level could've gone better. At least I got Luck, so I can show something off next time.

Strength, Speed, Defence, the core of any good unit.

And more dangerous dodging.

Lyre can't kill the south halberdier, so the two cats rearrange themselves to get Lyre a kill she can do.

Heather, if you really are stealing from the Daeins, please share with the war chest. We're dirt poor right now.

More healing Lethe.

And more good reason to do so.

Nephenee Smites Mist into dealing with that island over there.

Titania is finishing up her job.

Zihark will retreat to the east side of the Ribahn. Considering our plot goal is to escape to the west, hilariously counter-productive.

Ike is out of range of anything exciting.

Ah, I love this sort of interaction, especially since it's Mist and not expected.

Ow. That's a visible crit chance, so could've been worse. He did actually crit me once.

More HP, Speed and Luck. Strength and Defence is nice, yes, but Lethe has Blossom.

...Right. These guys. I was wondering where they were.

First thing's first, Lyre needs TP.

Lethe finishes off this guy, and forms a wall so the boys can hide in the north.

Mist is on this island to say hi to Nolan and Aran.

And out of dodge the boys go.

Heather Trades Ilyana to make sure she can zap a wyvern.

Nephenee pushes Mia into Support range of Mist.

Zihark is in safety!

This is always cool.

Now that Lethe and Lyre are adjacent to one another, Lyre has gained a large crit rate and this guy has had his crit rate zeroed. Power of Bonds!

In addition to this, Lyre doubles.

The other guy gets Physiced. I didn't give Micaiah a Physic staff to make sure she didn't contribute here.

Aw... Mist is 3 damage short of oneshotting Aran.

So much for his Iron Lance.

I'm sure this would be more impressive if you were being used.

How do you have the same Defence as Aran with Tarvos.

Thankfully, no Corrosion for him.

Fun fact: Base Lyre does not oneround base Nolan, even if he doesn't bring Tarvos.

And more reinforcements.

This guy didn't come closer, which is annoying, because I need him dead this turn.

Mist goes to kill these sages.

And Lyre gets to kill another swordmaster!

Lethe Grasses up.

And Nephenee remembers there's fighting going on over here. The boys have found an escape route.

Ilyana stops to kill this General. These two don't move.

No crit rate? No problem, Ilyana has her own!

Heather is going for the Support ranks.

This is just hilarious. Also, fun fact, Mist is now 2 EXP from promoting.

Ah great. Both cats get indirect combat. Although, considering the crossbowman is two squares away from a cat in the left screenshot, you might be forgiven for thinking this is the same round of combat. Reminder that the wyvern has moved and Lyre was on the right this turn.

Lyre got a Quickclaw proc! 2 damage? What a ripoff!

Lethe and Lyre look annoyingly similar on night mode, or if you are otherwise unable to tell from their collars and bells having different colours (they have similar fur tones, so that's of little aid). It's a lot easier while I'm playing, at least, but the commentary can get a little stumped when the names aren't on screen.

...I said something about this map being hard for Strike? Lethe just got her SS!

And the Black Knight has moved. He starts moving on Turn 10, and this is your cue that you won't actually be moving around freely in this area. Which, for this playthrough, good, I didn't really want to have to chew through Resolve Laura, Fortune Meg and Beastfoe Fiona.

Leo, on the other hand, takes on Ilyana.

Here's a shot of Lughnasadh in action. Lughnasadh's +5 Speed probably isn't even saving him from being doubled by Ilyana. You know, ignoring the fact that Ilyana already doubles the damage she needs to deal.

I remember having a playthrough where I raised both Rolf and Leonardo and got them to shoot at each other. Leonardo did 1 damage to Rolf and Rolf did the opposite in return. To be fair, I think Leonardo was using a Longbow to shoot back, but still.

Lyre has reverted. We're not really doing any more fighting this mission once we've cleared our surroundings.

We need to not be standing in the highlighted range.

Lethe shows off her new SS Strike.

18 Might Claws, this is equal to Ragnell and the Silver Poleaxe. And beats the Silver Greatlance and Shinon's Bow. Now just to get Lethe a Strength stat...

Heather tries her luck on this guy.

Unfortunately, the second hit of a double.

Ilyana finishes the job.

For more good stat. Might want to consider some Speed, though.

At least she's on S Wind now.

Everyone else generally goes away from the Black Knight.

Ike goes closer.

Mia takes on the next few combatants. You may also notice I didn't heal her for Mist EXP to promote her. Aside from trapping her on that island like Fiona and Titania, I really want a photo of something we can see later, and that's not easy to savescum mid-battle.

Besides, Mist slapping things down is boring. This guy isn't a boss, but here's how far Mia has come since Rommit.

If only Disarms gave me the Killer Lance.

Final turn, and the Black Knight is here. No more real kills to be made, but at least I can do the thing I brought Ike here for.

...Anyone getting PoR flashbacks? I do not commit to this course of action, although I do notice Ike has a non-zero chance to survive it.

You know that Reaper Card I gave to Ilyana? Part of it was for Leanne later, but the main use of it is giving Ike a way of engaging the Black Knight in battle.

If you conduct this conversation with the Black Knight, you can get secret goodies later. I believe it is the last secret objective we have to complete to unlock said goodies chronologically- there are three main conditions in all.

So let's talk about the Black Knight and how he survived the Moment of Fate.

This is true: If you have Ike fight the Black Knight in PoR, Ike tells him that Greil slashed his tendons between the last time the Black Knight met Gawain and Chapter 7. The Black Knight, who saw Chapter 7 as proof he has surpassed his teacher, realises that his victory was indeed as hollow as it felt.

However, the legendary swordplay of Gawain was not lost forever. Just... hidden, underneath an untrained, inexperienced and incredibly young man.

The Ike that fought the Black Knight in the Moment of Fate was not Gawain's equal. He was much poorer. But the Black Knight knew that, if he threw that fight, Ike would continue to train and one day match Gawain's legendary skill.

The fact Ike could not tell is proof of how unready he was. Think back to the overwhelming power of the Black Knight in the Moment of Fate, and how beating him there comes down to luck.

That was him holding back.

One day, though, Ike will be Gawain. And then, Ragnell and Alondite will clash once more. And the Black Knight will get the Moment of Fate he wanted way back in PoR Chapter 7.

Remember how dumb and contrived the whole "the Black Knight has blessed armour and Ike must use Ragnell to fight him" was? Yeah, for equally dumb and contrived reasons, the Black Knight is no longer invincible. Honestly, if you removed the whole "Black Knight is blessed" plot point entirely, would anything about the Moment of Fate have really changed other than Mist breaking the thing with the Runesword?

So now, is today the Moment of Fate?

Of course not. At this point in the story, considering the Black Knight has Nihil and even a level 20 Ike meeting his caps can only do so much, defeating the Black Knight is a pipe dream- and, in fact, defeating the Black Knight is said to disqualify you from those secret goodies.

How does one survive the Black Knight without using a magic Card? Well, you want to engage at range. More than that, you want the Black Knight to come to you. An Ike with 27 Speed (+4 Spd with a 35% growth, not guaranteed) can avoid the double, and as you've seen, a base Ike can take one hit of Alondite. If your Ike hasn't gained 11 points of Luck (unlikely, seeing as Ike has 9 level ups and a growth rate of 30%), you can use Mist, Soren and Ranulf's Bonds to reduce the crit rate by 10 (for Mist) and 5 (for Soren and Ranulf). If you got their A Supports in PoR, Reyson and Lethe can also offer 5 Dodge too. If the Black Knight engages in melee, you have a 10-30% chance (based on Biorhythm) of the Black Knight triggering Eclipse and overkilling Ike on the spot no matter what Bonds he's using. The only way for the Greil Mercenaries to have a Nihil scroll is to have Ilyana steal Nolan's. (Although speaking of, Meg does have a Fortune...)

Ike:
やはり
生きていたんだな……

Black Knight:
あの程度の技で
私を仕留めた気でいたのか？

Ike:
！
どういう意味だ！？

Black Knight:
………１つ
教えておいてやろう。
貴様の父ガウェインと戦っていた時と
貴様自身と戦っていた時の私は
同じではなかったと。

Ike:
別人だったというのか？

Black Knight:
そういう訳ではない。
ただ…空間を移動する関係で
精神と鎧だけを飛ばすのと
生身の身体ごと飛ぶのでは……
戦闘力に差異がでる。

Ike:
……いまは
どっちなんだ？

Black Knight:
生身……
すなわち、ナドゥスで
対峙した時とは違う。
さらにもう１つ、朗報だ。
我が鎧の加護は……
あの戦いを終えたあと失われた。

Ike:
なら、特別な武器でなくとも
ダメージを与えられるということか。
こちらに好都合なことにな。
あれから３年――
俺もあの時とは違っている。
行くぞ！！

This is a relatively famous localisation edit, and since there's so much JP script in this blog, I felt it was relevant to show it off here all the same. It is said that, in the JP version, the Black Knight's survival in Nados is not because the Black Knight wanted Ike to train to Gawain's legendary status and give him the satisfaction of victory that Greil never could, but because the Black Knight's warp powder glitched and the Black Knight that was duelled in the Moment of Fate was not in fact the Black Knight at all.

This is true. This is quite possibly the best translation change in all of Fire Emblem, and quite honestly, it's impressive that the JP team did not think of the ENG version of the Black Knight's survival, because so much of Path of Radiance was foreshadowing this reveal that I would not ultimately be surprised to learn the ENG team just assumed that's what they were building up to.

By the way, this is what our odds of beating the Black Knight with someone else are. With some heavy artillery and a concentrated effort, maybe this is possible, but I'm in no mood to bother.

Here's Mia killing a mage.

The Black Knight is the only other enemy to move on the final Enemy Phase.

Since it is also a requirement for watching some unrelated secret goodies in endgame and we have conclusively missed our chance now, here is Micaiah's boss conversation with Soren. The rest of them are in here, of course.

Soren: …Ah, that explains quite a bit about the stories that surround you.
Micaiah: Who are you? You’re… You’re just like me!
Soren: Yes, they call our kind the Branded. As the years pass, I understand better and better how others see us.
Micaiah: You are so… cold. It’s like you’re cloaked in frost. Is there even blood in your veins?
Soren: There is. Blood very similar to yours, in fact. Blood that teaches us what it means to be rejected and alone.
Micaiah: Your heart is frozen, but I feel a warm core trying to melt through that ice. I see… You have someone you cherish very much. Someone you rely on.
Soren: Do not presume to understand me, you ridiculous girl. You have no idea who I am and what I can do. None at all. Daein has no business in this war. I will defeat you swiftly and send you and your army back to Daein.
Micaiah: I finally meet my own kind, and he is an enemy…… I will not retreat. I won’t let you go any further!

Soren has not had Micaiah's experience with being accepted by her community with anyone other than Ike. He has spent years understanding a persecution that Micaiah never felt in her darkest moments. I wonder how Micaiah might feel, though, if she were introduced to Stefan's Branded community.

Soren:
………

Micaiah:
…あなたは…何者！？
どうして……
あなたは…わたしと……同じ……？

Interestingly, in the Japanese version, Soren opens this conversation with an ellipsis and Micaiah is the first person to bring up their shared Brand. On a completely unrelated note, the English version of this conversation is the only time a Branded identifies another purely on instinct- Soren having a facial Brand makes him recognisable to anyone who knows what a Brand is. Yeah, there's a lot of instances where an ellipsis in the JP version was replaced with a line of dialogue in both games (honestly, I have taken potshots at a lot of the lines of dialogue for the blog and later learned they were ellipses in JP), but this one is interesting from a lore perspective.

Once the main force is across the river, our duty is done and the cards suddenly land in our favour.

A nice hammer and anvil trick sounds nice.

Not for these guys, though.

This seems like a non-sequitir isolated from context, but I think "the hawks are there too" explains it.

...Hundreds of hawks? Either this guy is exaggerating or Phoenicis is nowhere near meaningfully extinct.

獣兵だけではありません！
無数の大鷹が……！！

He does not report a number of hawks, just "countless".

Soren thought they were uninformed of our past tactics. Apparently they didn't even know the hawks were here.

Sothe figured it out. Much too late.

Micaiah cuts her losses and gets out of dodge.

Against the wishes of the Daein people, who want more laguz heads.

Although they can be persuaded.

Remember how Micaiah did a lot of leaning on Farsight to prove an effective commander in Part 1?

Looks like someone's no longer carrying the team.

Although that might be more serious than first glance.

Is this ship tease or maintaining morale in a tough situation?

Pelleas is talking face to face with Lekain. And is very concerned with Micaiah's failure. This is all sorts of red flags.

You know, a true repayment of Begnion's kindness would be a good solid kick up the arse. Or, more diplomatically, a staunch refusal to humour your little war crimes.

You mean we have been friendly up until now? I didn't know "friendly" meant "occupy brutally and torture your able-bodied into submission". Hey, I suddenly need to go back to my Civilisation file...

...There are a number of questions one could ask. Or really, just "Why?" in increasingly more exotic forms of address, few of which I feel are polite to share on this blog that just two images ago included the phrase "kick up the arse".

The Senate have a bit of a power fetish, at times. This is not the last time they relish in the idea of having an unwilling ally beg.

The entire Daein army would be cursing your every bone right now if they knew the extent of your spinelessness. As am I.

Lekain moves along.

...By teleporting. Because of course now Lekain can teleport. Unlike the Black Knight, Lekain teleporting into the middle of our party and causing damage is not a concern- he would be torn to pieces before anything meaningful happened regardless.

Almedha notices this little midnight betrayal of country.

And unlike Micaiah with Kurth, spotted the person Pelleas was talking to.

Pelleas selling out Daein to the Senate is such a huge reveal in the plot right now that you might be forgiven for skimming over this line, but this is a big deal right here. Lekain wound up usurping the inspection from Sephiran after all. Sounds like Daein's liberation could've stood to go a little more smoothly...