Well, if we did a lot of damage, I guess we did. I feel like a consequence of having both sides in a conflict being playable at the same time means that we don't thoroughly gain an understanding of which side has the advantage, but honestly, there are multiple reasons we are not invited to think the Daein Army has the power to give the laguz more than a bloody nose.
With that said, though, them coming up to us at all? What the hell, Pelleas?
So now what do we do? We were meant to be retreating, and now we can't do that.
Skrimir, Ike and Tibarn can help with mustering the morale for that.
Last map featured the Daein Army fighting named characters in the Laguz Alliance. This map, though, is the first time both Ike and Micaiah are on the map at the same time.
So now it is time for the Laguz Alliance to speculate on the nature of this alliance.
For one thing, as a nation devastated by the Imperial Occupation in such a way to kneecap their army, how do they even have enough people to throw at a war? Well, because we raised an army in Part 1.
And, well... why the hell is Daein working for Begnion after everything they did to us in Part 1? Have we already forgotten Jarod?
Skrimir gets the conversation away from this futile direction and focuses on the most important part: What now?
Apparently the beast tribe are easily able to "walk off" injuries. That explains how Ranulf is still able to stand under his own power.
Strategy meeting time.
Key detail: The Daein Army is blocking our crossing.
No, we can't go around. Beyond the matter of "what if the Daein army moves too", we need to cross at a convenient spot, and can't confirm we'll find one before Zelgius hits us.
So now, what's the Daein Army like? This is a question Ike does not and has no reason to know the answer to, but it can be a little strange considering that's how we started the game.
The Daein Army has one weapon: Morale. You'd think this would translate to Micaiah having some Authority stars, but no.
Soren is apparently familiar with the Maiden of Dawn. I wonder how news of her got to him. Perhaps Elincia gave Ike some Daein reports that Soren was the only one to read.
Think about Part 1 again under this perspective. No wonder Micaiah was once called a Mary Sue: Her powers of Farsight and player control single-handedly turned the tide of the war over and over.
Now, are these miracles? Well, depends on how you choose to define a miracle. Colloquially, a "miracle" is just something incredibly unlikely that happened anyway. I believe the definition of miracle Ranulf is using is "actual godly intervention".
Whether it is true divine intervention or just an exceptionally skilled/powered individual is immaterial. The Daein Army is emboldened by the knowledge that Micaiah can fix anything, and they will fight with something to prove to show for it. Again, this woman does not have any Authority stars.
A lot of moments in these two chapters really try to use the language of narrative to communicate the fact that two armies you controlled are fighting, and there's nothing that really demonstrates that better than Soren describing Micaiah using this sombre little melody.
Speaking of fanatacism, Sothe's design in this CG. It's the same as his design on the boxart, but he just doest not pull off the look here.
【暁の巫女】は
デインに舞い降りた救世主。
奇跡の力ですべての者を救う――
デインでは、彼女はまるで
女神その人であるかのごとく
崇められているそうです。
デイン国王よりも
よほど人気があるとか。
先のデイン復興でもその影響は大きく、
帝国のデイン駐屯軍相手に連戦連勝……
面倒な相手ですね。
Micaiah is, right now, Bigger Than Ashera in Daein. Fanaticism for Micaiah far surpasses the zeal Daein had for Ashnard, and Ashnard was actually using rhetoric to get the commoners on his side!
So what do you get when you pit the Laguz Alliance against the Daein Army? Unbridled fanaticism on both sides.
Soren points out that the Daeins and the Begnions are not the same army.
Begnion is likely using the Daein Army as a meatshield, so they're just floundering about with nothing but Micaiah. I wonder how Soren has proof of his first assertion.
The absence of Tormod and Ilyana from the Part 3 Daein Army feels like a torpedo aimed so this line lands. There are a few Fire mages in the Daein Army generics in this chapter and some upcoming ones, but very few.
This line is also why I think ballistae are supposed to be good against laguz, but I don't get why other than being a safe way to chip TP.
- Soren:
- ……いえ、やはりまた
同じ作戦で行くべきです。
この時期、この条件下での参戦は
デイン軍の望んだものだとは思えません。
たとえどれほど士気が高かろうとも、
まず兵士の総数自体が圧倒的に少ない。
到底、ラグズ連合とまともに戦える
戦力ではありません。
帝国側もそれは承知しているはず。
選民思想が強く、
他国を対等の存在として認めない
帝国の体質を考え合わせれば……
デイン軍を動かしているのは
あくまでも足止め目的の捨石という
可能性が高いでしょう。
- Ranulf:
- 確かに…やっと霧が晴れたんで
それとなく偵察をやってみたんだが、
微妙な感じだったな。
シューターも配置していない。
魔道士や竜騎士の数もそう多くはない。
あの様子を見る限り…
前回俺たちがやった渡河の方法を、
デイン軍が知ってるかどうかは疑わしい。
Soren's evidence for his assertion about Daein being a pawn is their relatively low numbers despite their high morale. Ranulf also uses the lack of ballistae, mages and wyverns as evidence that the Daeins are not prepared for us to use the decoy strategy, rather than just not fighting laguz in general.
Soren decides to go with the decoy ploy.
Ike volunteers for that job. I forget who was technically the decoy last time- probably Ranulf.
- Ike:
- それもそうだが…
おまえはガリア軍のほうに
いたほうがよくないか？
元気になったとはいえ、
スクリミル将軍は
本調子とは言えない状態だろう。
- Ranulf:
- おまえ、まだ
オレのお守りが必要か？
スクリミル。
- Skrimir:
- ふざけるな！
俺は既に元通りだ！
貴様の手など借りんぞ！！
Ike asks if this is a good idea while Skrimir is still recovering from Zelgius. Skrimir is just fine, thank you for asking.
Ranulf and Tibarn like the idea, but send their own soldiers to make sure it's a convincing decoy.
Rallying cry time!
I love Skrimir just embracing the "knowledge of the beorc". Soren/Skrimir has a boosted Support speed!
We beat Daein once. We can do it again.
Jill MVP for that last movement at the end.
One Info Conversation today, and the title does not seem promising.
Ranulf, if you wanted this conversation to end in a decent manner, this is the worst way to phrase that question.
Lyre is immature and Kysha isn't much better despite having actual authority.
Ranulf/Lyre has one-sided romantic tension on her end, and she's definitely trying to weaponise it here, but I'm not sure why it doesn't work on Ranulf. It could be Ranulf being gay, it could be Ranulf being smart enough not to fall for it, or it could be Ranulf just not liking Lyre in that way. I wonder if Ranulf's relationship with Lethe is an obstacle for Lyre.
...I don't know if it's just because I've got a partial teacher background, but Kysha being such a bad person to handle the task of training Lyre just gets me.
I am neither sure of the truthfulness or the helpfulness of this assertion.
Neither do I!
Lyre has lost interest in the prize, since now her honour in front of Ranulf is sullied and she needs to get it back.
Proving his point there, Lyre.
Does Kysha know Lethe and Lyre's mother? How much of a low blow is this?
Ranulf just wants to leave this conversation now.
Now is not the time to gloat, Kysha.
It's the one thing he could think of that could get him out of the conversation in... three pieces?
OK, you didn't have to mention it in the narrative, Lyre! Why Lethe and Lyre wear collars in-universe is anyone's guess, because out-of-universe, the guesses are much less savoury. I hope that collars don't have the same connotation in-universe as out, because otherwise this is all kinds of fucked-up.
Ironic that you use the word "slave" to make this argument.
Lyre really needs Ranulf to sit down with her and talk to her about the appropriateness of this crush, or lack thereof.
And the two get into the promised catfight.
They both have a crush on you and are dysfunctional in their purpose in the army? I feel like you really ought to have noticed at least one of those traits.
I'd sell this immediately, but it is a Skill I might want later. Very unlikely, though, and if I really need the money, I'll sooner sell this than anything else I have. Including the Statue Fragment.
Oh hey, you two can get to A. I do ultimately want Mist to end up Supporting Jill in the end, but because of the way Supports work, this isn't really feasible and the +3 Atk from Mia is very helpful to her now.
Since these two are (usually) sitting in the corner quietly, I'm going to give them an A Support to show their ending off. This is actually going to be a problem for me later, but hey, if it makes my job harder...
Today's Bargains. The Quickclaw was a tempting prospect, but it's not that good of a Skill for its capacity cost and I'm unlikely to want more than one.
I give Ilyana the Physic staff this time. There aren't allies worth BEXP running around, but this is a map where Physic might come in handy.
As promised, Lethe gets Blossom. I don't actually up her to 99 EXP, though. She still got a level.
Lyre gets Quickclaw, in the absence of anything better.
Mist not only gets Adept back from Heather, but Corrosion too. I have a plan for Corrosion that didn't pan out, but otherwise, it's nothing special.
And we get a panning shot around the Daein Army, now well supplied with generics as the enemy army.
Sothe notes that they're going to fight the beorc today, considering the laguz's desperation. Pictured: The Black Knight.
Sothe is not looking forward to the whole "fighting Ike" deal. Mostly because he knows what happens to people who fight Ike- see PoR for details.
So now, what's Ike like, asking as the people who don't hang around him.
This comes as a surprise to Sothe, but Micaiah is looking for the measure of her opponent.
- Micaiah:
- ……………
……ねえ、サザ。
アイク将軍って…
どんな人なの？
- Sothe:
- どうしたんだ、急に。
俺があの人の話をすると
あんなに嫌がってたのに。
- Micaiah:
- これから戦う相手として
知っておきたいの。
ベオクなのに
ラグズ連合軍に参加して……
当然のように前線に姿を現す。
それほど…ラグズから
大きな信頼を得ているなんて。
Ike's unusual strategy of "siding with the laguz and marching on the front lines" has gotten Micaiah interested.
Very much the quintessential Ike characterisation here. Ike is a very simple person, and treats all problems as if they were relatively simple in nature- which often leads to the people who have been stuck dealing with them for ages to realise they need to try a new approach to get new results.
The racism messaging of Tellius is pretty blunt, but looking at Ike and Jill through its lens, it sometimes feels more like a backdrop for characterisation than an actual issue it wants to tackle. The reason for both of these character traits of Ike's is the same: he's not entering the conversation with pre-existing biases, and to a society with these biases hard-baked into the system, that is incredibly radical.
Much like Micaiah for us, Ike has the reputation of being unstoppable and a miracle worker. Unlike Soren, Sothe does not use the word "miracle" to describe him- the victories under Ike's name were accomplished purely and openly through hard work.
Ike and Pelleas have about one thing in common: They both make bad Kings.
By phrasing it in this manner, Sothe slightly implies that Ike is any good at either. His leadership is certainly pretty solid, if very ceremonial in practice, but the extent of Ike's decision making is talking to Titania and Soren and agreeing with whichever one is making the more convincing argument. Which, admittedly, is still a better job than Pelleas is doing.
Pelleas has... his heart being in the right place. At best. He still called the Gallians sub-human.
Both qualities that do not actually imply any possession of good kingship.
- Micaiah:
- ……ペレアス王とは、
ずいぶん違うみたいね。
- Sothe:
- 悪いが比べものにならない。
先王アシュナードにも、
王になるべくして生まれてきたような
強烈な掌握力があった。
だが…ペレアス王には
それが感じられない。
- Micaiah:
- ………誰もが選ばれて
生まれてくるわけじゃない。
確かにアシュナード王は
才能には恵まれていたんだろうけど
彼のとった行動が……
デインを一度は滅ぼしたわ。
わたしは…ペレアス王を信じる。
自分の役割を果たそうと…
懸命に努力なさっていた。
あの人の善良さ真面目さを……
信じる。
Sothe and Micaiah bring the Mad King Ashnard into this comparison. I'm not sure what Sothe is going for, but Pelleas is a lot shinier a prospect when Ashnard is counted and not just Ike.
Sothe would like to know why Micaiah is putting more faith in Pelleas's promise than Ike's actual achievement. Or even an actual good ruler like... OK, maybe the laguz kings aren't the best examples.
Hey, I was watching that! The ending to that "but I..." is of immense interest to me!
- Sothe:
- こんな……
デインとは無関係といっていい
戦いに駆りだされてもか？
- Micaiah:
- ……それは………
This exchange is a lot more complete in JP. We're not being cut off.
I imagine he's talking about Micaiah and Sothe, owing to his peace talk last mission.
Yeah... for the most part.
A full party of 10 today. Poor Soren can't come with to unlock his secret lore even if I wanted to. Shame, because it's some important stuff.
So yeah, we're fighting the Daein Army today. You know what that means?
Our party. Exactly as we left them. Ready to turn their stats, weapons and skills against us. Unlike 3-6, where Lethe turning up is a once in a blue moon problem, we likely will have to contemplate our options against these characters. Fortunately, though, the Greil Mercenaries currently completely outclass the Dawn Brigade.
If anyone didn't happen to possess a weapon before the map, the game does give one out. Edward, Leonardo and Nolan all kept their Daein weapons, so I think Aran and Sothe are the only people that had to worry about it.
So then... let's cross a river.
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