Today's map is an indoor map, going up through a house with treasure chests. Remind me, how many treasure chests and doors have we bumped into in this game? I really feel like they've been at a premium.
...You've gotta be kidding me.
How? This is some cosmic joke on the writer's part. I wondered who was filling his seat, though.
Oh, and just next to him is Hetzel.
He doesn't look like he'll be here long.
Also, I give these two Keys, just in case.
Oh hey, Tormod dented this guy! Strangely enough, considering Tormod hit him twice, he's taken an odd amount of damage.
With Arcfire, Tormod's supposed to deal 11 damage right now anyway. Besides, the tome isn't dented. I think on Normal Mode, this guy is on 15/45 HP, which still depends on Tormod's stats, but is a more reasonable amount of HP to be missing.
Now he is missing all of it.
Oh, this again? It's like she never left!
Nailah, on the other hand, casually oneshots a dude. A sniper, but look at that HP and tell me you're not impressed.
...3 EXP, really?
In case you were wondering just how powerful +10 Might on a Dagger really was.
I love Mist casually doubling Swordmasters. Although I think technically, zeroing Hit might be the more impressive feat?
Whatever it is, he's dead.
Nephenee takes this other one. Turns out this ledge is about to get weird.
Meg and Nephenee intend to climb it, and ready themselves for the effort.
Titania and Mist, on horseback, will go around. There's only, like, five tiles they can't get to on this map, but they do have to take the long route.
Ike manages to sneak up here and has a conversation with Tormod.
Now that they are close enough together that perspective is not shifting Ike's height at all, Tormod has a second opinion about how much growing Ike has done: way too much of it.
Tormod, on the other hand, hasn't grown one jot.
At least magic has gotten him far where it counts.
Ike, having a rare moment of actually smiling, has a laugh at Tormod's expense.
Tormod does not appreciate the joke.
Ike has bigger fish to fry.
Muarim also has something to say to Ike, but Ike doesn't have a free side this turn.
Hetzel is talking to Oliver, in case you didn't check up there.
Heads up for the people who haven't played PoR, to explain who this man is.
And this is new information, to explain why he's popped up here.
Oliver is clearly some secret plot by the Senate to have an advantage. Exactly what the hell they had planned that used Oliver is a question for the ages. I think we're meant to assume Oliver is capable of at least doing something.
He's still going to be our boss for the chapter.
At least Oliver's priorities haven't changed.
Hetzel somehow Rewarps away with his Heal staff.
Mist is not killing some Warriors.
That Strength will help!
Titania gets to finish this other one. This formation was odd.
Mia Astrums down a Warrior of her own.
Vika's S Strike is worth something, but this guy is not about to die in a hurry.
That will give Vika a hand. Strength, need all the Strength. Remember that, since Vika is full-shifted, that is +2 damage.
All right, let's start with this formation. That is a bad enemy:ally ratio.
Mia hopes to take out this man with the Wo Dao. Just one crit or Astrum will do.
Running joke of this playthrough: Whenever I use a Wo Dao, it doesn't actually win me the fight.
Meg throws a Hand Axe.
"Meggie". That's the sign of someone who knows Meg personally. Not necessarily from childhood, but that was a friendship.
Nephenee is throwing over here.
This is the perfect quote for a rescue mission with Vika and Nailah.
Nailah, again, oneshots a guy.
Vika, your sense of needing help is rubbish.
At least you're still getting Strength.
Muarim gets to have his chat with Ike.
It's less interesting than Tormod's. These men are both too stoic for that.
According to Pegasusknight.com, there are alternate versions for both if the other happens to be dead. Both are, of course, depressing as hell even machine-translated.
This guy needs to go down in a hurry. Can't let him get to Vika.
Another Counter proc! No help this time.
Titania honestly doesn't get great levels this time. Well, this one is probably the best three stat level she could've gotten, but there's no way I'm bringing her to Endgame with these stats.
Mist finishes up this one.
Mist needs to get to the head of the pack as fast as possible.
And she brings out Florete to get past these guys.
Bane helps Heather take out enemies, even if perhaps this guy might've been better off still alive. If I wanted Heather killing things, I would've kept Baselard up.
Heather really wanted this guy dead, for some reason.
At least she got a level worth showing off.
At least she got a skill proc.
There's also a Chest Key inside this room. Mia is going to loot it.
Mist even gets a few armours. She's close to her Strength cap and can't cleanly one-round him. Sadly, some characters are just like that.
Some more getting closer and closer to her ultimate caps.
...Well, she's surrounded. One of those guys went for Titania instead, but still.
Need to kill the top guy to get her out.
Titania will deal with this guy and move forward, but not far enough to escape the other guy. She'll be finishing him off.
See, Chest Key. The other two rooms also have inhabitants and two Chests, but no Keys. That's why Aimee still has some for sale.
Every kill Vika gets is some more solid EXP.
By the way, it's going to sneak up on me, but this is the level that sees her cap Mag/Skill/Spd. If it wasn't for the need to raise her Strike, you could probably get away with some BEXP in a few level ups. Then again, that requires being prepared to keep using Vika past this map.
Vika and Nailah set up to have Nailah get in some untransformed combat for EXP. The idea is that I get her close to her next level but not all the way there to cheapen her next BEXP level up.
Meg blocks one of Nailah's sides to lighten her load, and also making sure the lower balcony is free from enemies.
Disarm doesn't do much if Meg finishes the guy off, too.
At least she's capped her Axes.
Heather really keeping up with the damage output, Baselard or no.
Ah yes, there's a lot of indirect attackers coming up. Indirect attack is going to be a theme with trying to raise Nailah here.
At least this time, she gets to kick a guy in the face.
...Although she gets doubled. 20 Speed is kinda bad at this point in the game, even if 40 is overkill. (40, incidentally, is enough Speed to double literally everything the game will throw at you.)
Nailah does at least have an Avoid score that can actually dodge things, which is good, because her Defence is a little shaky.
Again with the missing down a ledge. I can tell these guys are rookies with the goddess's blessing.
Now you crit. Well, OK, it's a helpful crit.
No Magic cap for Mia. It turns out she's got a 35 Luck cap, so it's too much trouble to go to for it.
This guy, sadly, appears to have survived. So I have to kill him on my turn. Which holds up Mia's looting. She could be rejoining the pack!
Vika has run out of TP. The Laguz Gem is her next course of action.
Get the crit on the redundant hit, why don't you?
Ooh, Mia's inventory is full. Her first treasure will be sent to the Convoy.
Mist is almost where she needs to be.
Titania is just about out of targets back here.
...Titania, please make a better last impression.
Practically, this is the exact same outcome.
We need Vika in position to shift and Nailah can't attack, so all hands on deck to fix up our position.
Vika shines the Laguz Gem.
...And Nailah finishes up anyway. Beats Nephenee, apparently.
Mostly position-based, I assume.
The archers up there are going to cause problems for Vika. Probably. This one seems to have caught Heather instead.
Vika's one-rounding swordmasters. Her high power and ludicrous speed is good for that. She can double Mia. Well, if it came to that.
Levels like this, I'm not sure she'll be keeping up the habit.
This halberdier puts a stop to her. I think a point of Strength would allow her to finish off that last 4 HP, if you want an idea on how fast laguz grow.
Titania has new friends! That's also a two-tile gap on Titania's west, so this a bigger problem that it appears at first glance. Well, they can always go north from here and be a pest up there.
Heather getting ever closer to the ledge. I'm not sure what I'm waiting for, but I do know sending Heather up there recklessly will get all the enemies in the west running.
Speed cap
Excellent in general.
Nailah heals up on her own. Mist is my only healer and she's still catching up.
Mia chooses to send the Blizzard to the Hawk Army. I don't think I wind up picking it up, but I do see how it could've been helpful.
Meg and Nephenee prepare for those reinforcements.
I want Titania to rejoin the pack.
So that thing about untransformed Nailah up here? This Sleep staff is a good counter-argument. Mist has a Restore, but I really don't think Nailah can survive all her combat untransformed and asleep.
Sleep reduces Avoid to 0, which means any attack coming Nailah's way is guaranteed to hit. She has a huge HP bar, but not that huge.
That's the last archer to the east. Deal with him, and those treasure rooms become lightly guarded.
So, funny story, this guy is standing in the square Nailah needs to melee into. I also want his sword, but that first thing is more annoying.
Well, at least Nailah only has to worry about two opponents at a time anyway.
Meg found her own enemies.
And is kinda pushing into her caps.
Oi, give me that.
Nailah heals up again. Hopefully that's all the ranged units to worry about done...
Vika doing just fine defeating enemies as they come.
Perfect level up.
And up Heather goes.
Titania might not be able to climb ledges, but she can still guard them.
Moving here means this guy has one less square of movement to work with once he gets up.
Nephenee and Meg are going to be helping Heather out.
This was hardly worth opening the chest for.
What's the point of bringing a Restore staff if you can't afford to fall asleep in the first place?
What's the point of not falling asleep if you don't dodge?
OH DEAR YUNE THAT WAS NOT WHAT I WAS EXPECTING
...How does he only have 25% hit odds?
And up this guy comes. And we're more or less done back here.
Titania comes over here to take out the armours. Vika really won't be doing this.
...
...
Rolls eyes.
Mist at least has Sol to occasionally kill people she isn't entitled to. Vika doesn't have Tear and shouldn't have much in the way of crit rate.
...Well, this is also bad, but Mist is so capped up that she can still omnicap without problem.
Yes, clearly the fact the hit odds are just 25% is the perfect excuse to have Vika have finish this guy!
Vika's stats are a little more complicated. Let's just move on.
Nailah tries again to kickbox. That's a lot of guys in the west now- a few reinforcements have popped up.
Nephenee and Meg come up to finish this guy so Heather can start opening doors.
Wind mages. Heather has a knife, but Nephenee will be baiting one of them for having a melee weapon.
Ike attracted the third Sleep staff. Technically cheating, but whatever. This is the least of my problems.
Hey yeah, you know that one guy with a Crossbow? He had a brother. And he stopped Nailah from kickboxing. Again.
Oh yeah, and nearly killing Vika. Slightly under 10% more hit odds, too. This one is still only slightly north of a 1/5 hit, but still.
Heather gets an Adept to finish off her Arcwind guy. The other guy, of course, went with Nephenee.
...Ah well, I guess Heather isn't likely to make Endgame.
...Vika is on a melee rampage now.
Caps Str/Res. Four points in Def left, she can cap Luck with luck, but HP is out of her reach. The ideal solution would be BEXP, if Vika was going into Endgame.
There is no reason to believe that this "ideal outcome" will occur.
None. Whatsoever.
Oh hey, more guys back here.
So this is me checking her stats and noticing all five caps. I think I kinda knew Skill/Spd was capped, but everything else was a nice surprise.
Titania comes up to take out this guy. Meg has places to be and Nephenee has to be duct-taped to her for Support.
Mist will get the crossbowman for Vika this time.
There's an archer back here, too. Nailah seemed the more tempting target. Or he couldn't fit.
So around Meg/Nephenee come. This blocks off the boys, too.
Nailah Glares at this armour. It's time for some actual combat.
Oh yeah, Heather's coming over here, too. The chests will be dealt with the keys the boys have.
Nailah still has some ranged combat to handle. Just fine, of course.
Hello, actual EXP!
Well, she's level 30 now, at least. At this point, Luck is now forced to be every level to cap.
It's time to start Disarming and looting. Although...
Yes, this is cheating. But I was save-scumming this anyway, and that's also probably cheating, the extra 15-20% odds of getting a successful Disarm isn't the worst thing in the world. Besides, the reason Rafiel is even here is probably super-cheating in the context of the run, but that's definitely just for the purposes of the blog anyway.
These things are also of questionable material value to me anyway. I call it content.
Vika takes this guy. Honestly, not sure why, Nephenee wants this space and Vika could take on the armour knight. Maybe I was considering stealing his weapon still.
Nailah's random Glare connects, and this guy is going back to being stone before dying. Well, uh... actually, I'm not 100% sure how Ashera's "unpetrify soldiers" impacts the lives of the people she's using as Disciples, but the way Glare interacts with this plot point is humourous enough. Well, I'm sure this guy doesn't agree.
Mia's caught up and is taking out the guys behind us.
And just gets Luck. It's just Imbue and Cards, eh?
Well, this guy is going down slow.
Money!
...Oh, that was slightly more EXP than I wanted. Guess we're not capping Magic on Nailah either. One BEXP level will cap Luck and Res, though.
What kind of Magic score is 7, anyway?
Physic staffers back there, too. This is going to take some doing.
Wow, that's pretty accurate for up a ledge. Go Mia.
Mist and Titania do some general cleanup, but this is going to get messy. Hopefully both chests in that room are opened before I'm done. Since there's unarmed healers over in the boss area, I control when I end the map, but I'd prefer not to dawdle over these treasures.
Less money, but still money! Why is there a Blue Gem and a Red Gem in a chest here anyway? Are these actually some kind of power orbs we should be worried about?
Not sure what Nephenee was going for here, but she killed that guy nonetheless.
The lengths you go to not gain Strength...
Vika stops to finish off our unarmed friend here, mostly to allow people to actually get past him.
And also for stats. Gotta squeeze those stats in.
Nailah's going to continue with the untransformed combat, since she's already got one level up, might as well build to a second.
Next on the robbery agenda:
I'm clearly planning on bringing a lot of Lance users to Endgame! Well, that's not true, I'm not planning my Endgame team very much at all when making this decision. I know vaguely who's in it, but not enough to cunningly plan inventories and such.
Ike and Rafiel are now forced to back out of range because of the lack of a wall.
Nailah's doing just fine, I swear.
Look, just because you can doesn't mean I want you too. Especially when you still need a point in Strength.
Time to start dealing with the problems in here.
Titania was doing a complicated trading gambit with Muarim's Chest Key, but since I kill this guy instead of opening a Chest, it was a waste of my time. I could have opened a chest and moved Mist in such a way Muarim was safe, but I just... didn't. Meh.
Heather's taking a break from looting to finally get started on killing these annoying fellows.
Look, Meg, I know Rafiel's given you "Bliss", but this is ridiculous!
(...When I put it like that, I don't want to know what Bliss is like in-universe.)
Fine, fine, HP cap.
Nephenee isn't worried about getting Impales. For one thing, those don't trigger at 2 range in the first place.
This guy has a weapon, and while he doesn't seem to move, I'd prefer if he just wasn't a problem to begin with.
...Oh yeah, Strike rank. It completely slipped my mind that Vika is supposed to be training Strikes as well as EXP. Convenient that this popped up, though!
Rafiel comes closer to the combat once again.
Nailah chugs a Concoction, but things should be overall very not risky.
This screenshot is a few pixels of blood away from being more gruesome than most some Dimitri & Edelgard artwork, and you're telling me it's a Miss?
Mist's axemen are not counter-killed.
And another Physic to help this guy out.
Time for the last Disarm.
Nephenee moves first, and deals with this poor guy. Yeah, he wasn't hurting anyone, but Rout means no red units at all.
He kinda fades weirdly, on account of being stone.
Yoink.
That's enough out of you. There's one more on the other side, but you know...
Rafiel transforms, for no particular reason, and moves here, for one particular reason.
This wasn't working multiple times, especially untransformed.
Ooh, Fortify! This is essential in the lategame, we should try and keep this at hand, but for those drastic emergencies...
This is also Gold. Well, OK, Arbalest is the Best Crossbow in the game, at 38 Might and 15 Crit- Aqqar is 34/0 and Taksh is 30/10. I'd say Arbalest was specifically designed for one chapter, but I think weaker Crossbows can manage to do the job Arbalest performs there just fine.
...Hey, wait a minute, since when did Oliver move?
37 Atk against base Rafiel's 31/26 bulk, Oliver isn't going to ORKO him, but Rafiel has good reason to be concerned.
Hurting Rafiel doesn't seem to be something Oliver is willing to do, however. He has his principles and he sticks to them.
Rafiel is rightly confused.
This is 100% the buildup to romantic abuse at best in literally any other situation.
And this is the correct response. Well, OK, the correct response is punching Oliver's face in, but Reyson tried that and it didn't go so well for him.
Gollum now?
Come to daddy? This man has severe issues.
...And he's... blue now?
Yes, we did just recruit the climax boss of PoR's Begnion arc to our cause. Oliver is, depending on how sympathetic you're feeling to Hetzel, the most sympathetic of the Begnion Senate, because while he does Evil things, he's a complete buffoon and works on a completely different morality scale to us. The events of PoR were probably likely to occur no matter what Reyson's feelings were on beorc, but with the Begnion Senate openly doing crimes that allow us to put a stop to them, Oliver is able to channel his obsession into more healthy outlets.
That's a lot of Watsonian babble, so how about a little Doylism? According to the developer commentary in the artbook, Oliver's inclusion in RD was a fun request from the staff that received unanimous agreement- if you feel like this is some cosmic joke, that's because it is. Apparently, Power-Hungry Fool is also a joke with Oliver as the punchline, and Oliver has a rejiggering of it as his unique battle theme.
We also have some non-Oliver combat to deal with, so let's get that out of the way...
Yes, yes, Mist.
Ike has a conversation with Oliver once he's turned blue.
This is a bit of a character shift from PoR, admittedly, where Oliver insisted that Reyson stay in his home regardless of his opinion on the matter. This may be due to Oliver's duties as a Senator interfering with him dropping everything and following Reyson around, and one way or another, he is relieved of those duties now. That does kind of imply Oliver takes his duties seriously, which is... certainly a thing.
Our killing of him also seems to have triggered a bit of an epiphany in him too. I can see how that would help.
Another classic. Most characters want very little to do with Oliver, and many characters have custom Support lines specifically for Oliver, and how strange they find it that he is in the army. Some, like Aran, actually don't find him all that offensive (Aran, specifically, has the implication that he finds common ground in both him and Oliver formerly serving Begnion before defecting from it), but most do.
Oliver has a Slow speed with Danved (considering he held Devdan in indentured servitude, fair), and a Slowest Speed with a whopping 11 characters: Tormod, Muarim, Tibarn, Janaff, Ulki, Reyson, Naesala, Nealuchi, Nailah, Lethe and Tanith. Everyone not listed has a neutral speed, including former slave Vika and near-kidnapping victims Leanne and Rafiel.
If you didn't recruit Oliver, he has a full complement of boss quotes at the ready:
I have seen death’s vistas and returned an even wiser, more exquisite man! Take it in! Bask in the beauty!
Ike: You! You’re still alive?!
Oliver: The world simply could not bear to be without me. Your crude weapons have no force against true magnificence! Blessed with such beauty, I have no foes… only inferiors!
Ike: Glad to see you’re still barely clinging to that last shred of sanity. Just give it up, already.
Honestly, Ike, I reckon he already has tossed aside his last shred of sanity. He's just a functional insane. And by "functional", I mean "able to put on his own pants". ...Although saying that, Oliver might be both fat and decadent enough to require assistance with that for other reasons.
Oliver: S-sub-human! A hideous sub-human is attacking me! Help! Someone help me! I’m much too lovely for this!
Nailah: What a strangely shaped creature… Is this some rare subspecies of beorc?
Does Hatary just not have fat people? I can see thinking Oliver is some sort of freak of nature from his speech and mannerisms, but surely there's at least one husky fellow out in the desert? Maybe Nailah just doesn't have as much contact with the beorc as I assume.
Volug: Grrrrr!
Oliver: Ack! A sub-human! What a horrible monster, smacking his lips before dining on my delicate body! Someone, please help me! A man like me doesn’t deserve this!
...I'm tempted to say you deserve worse, but honestly, not really. Getting eaten is a pretty grisly way to go, and there are Senators other than you I wouldn't wish it upon. Valtome, though...
Tormod: Hey, chunky! Apparently we didn’t kill you enough last time! Time to try again!
Oliver: Yawp! Dear me! What a frightening young child.
Tormod: I am NOT a child!
Tormod draws the line at slavers, no ifs and or buts about it. He surrounds himself with former slaves, there's no way he was drawing even the slightest positive opinion about them.
Oliver: Sub… sub… sub-human! Tiger! Tiger! Eyes burning bright! In my foyer late at night! Oh, my poetic soul! I’m much too delicate for this!
Muarim: Oh boy…
The line beginning "Tiger! Tiger!" is a reference to an actual poem by William Blake. It is not a direct quotation (the actual lines are "Tyger Tyger, burning bright, in the forests of the night;"), but it is an intentional reference nonetheless. Fun fact, this game was not my first exposure to this poem's first stanza- although it's not like I read the poem itself before seeing this line.
は、は、半獣ーっっ！
見覚えのある大きな虎が
私に襲い掛からんとして
目を爛々と輝かせている！！
誰か！ 誰かあれ！
しっとりほどよい私を救うのだ！
I'm going to assume that the Tyger reference was added by the localisation, although spotting references to poetry is not something machine translation is going to do.
Oliver: Ho ho, what have we here? A fine little raven indeed! Please… Let me see the length of those wings. I’ll need to know, if I’m to take… proper care of them.
Vika: You Begnion nobles… Can’t you ever just say what you’re thinking?
Again, I'm 200% sure this is the prelude to something sexual in nature if it wasn't Oliver. I'm not saying Oliver doesn't have sexual fantasies and no concept of consent, I'm just saying Oliver probably isn't capable of acting on them for other reasons. He's a little like Gatrie in that regard- he's only funny because he's incapable of backing up the things he says.
Oliver: Oh, my– Quite the… striking… face you have. I seem to remember you from somewhere… Hmmm… It’s like my brain is in fog. I can never remember the ugly ones.
Danved: Danved is pretty striking. Don’t worry, Danved will show you just how striking he can be.
Oliver seemed to have forgotten Devdan in PoR, too. This conversation feels like that one, but with the serial numbers filed off.
Aagh… Still so many beautiful things… that… I… don’t own.
I'd suggest therapy, but somehow I feel like he's too far gone for it.
This guy also has an Unlock Staff to steal, for some reason, but there is not a single door left to open in the entire game.
Heather shanks him for stats instead. I think with a few levels of BEXP, Heather omnicapping isn't that much of an ask. Shame about how hard it is to justify her for Endgame.
Some more Lance EXP for all the Spears I want her using...
Nailah Shoved Vika just so she could dig this up. It doesn't mean much, Naesala had one and Vika only needs one, but it's cool if you find it and perhaps you want to give it to multiple male birds.
And on Enemy Phase, Nailah finishes up.
Alls well that ends well, wouldn't you say?
Hetzel warps back in to bemoan the lost lives.
And Rafiel recognises him.
Hetzel and Rafiel have history. We're about to unpack that, we're a little late in the game for "this is something to explore later"- although they do throw a few more of those at us still.
If you notice, Ike and Nailah have stepped forward and Rafiel has stepped back.
I think the most interesting part about this line is that Hetzel was not aware of the extent of Rafiel knowlege of Begnion secrets. I was about to call it cute, but this actually has massive implications for Part 3's narrative and Hetzel's position in the Senate if you give it too much thought.
Hetzel insists that he was Very Definitely Not Responsible for that crime he committed, he tried his best to weasel his way out of it! I mentioned earlier that the title of "most sympathetic Begnion Senator" comes down to your opinion of how much of a good man you think Hetzel is. It's clear enough that he's the Senator who believes most strongly in the rights of people other than the Begnion Senate (or in Oliver's case, non-beautiful people).
It's at least comforting for Hetzel to know Rafiel is alive.
He says this as he prepares to Rewarp away.
I think the only opportunity Ike has had to see Hetzel was PoR Chapter 14. Good memory- I can't guarantee the audience has kept him in mind that long either. Although showing his face in 3-P and other images of the Senate might've helped keep him fresh in their minds (and help mask the fact he doesn't appear in-person in RD until last chapter).
That's a big deal.
Although somewhat reasonably, we're going to let Rafiel cool off before he exposits.
Besides, we have other people to exposit with.
I'm listening.
This isn't completely as crazy as it sounds. Yune works in mysterious ways. I wonder if she's ever delivered other dreams while sealed, or if that is beyond her power. She certainly gave Micaiah a lot of good tips.
Everyone who's narratively important is going to be making their way to this climactic story event, although Yune is going to have to poke a few people.
Muarim vouched for the idea.
Ike and Nailah recognise it and don't question any further.
...Why does Tormod know Yune is the same figure as the "dark god"? Yune's name was never attached to that myth.
- Ike:
- …おそらく
ユンヌの仕業だろうな。
- Nailah:
- 負の女神は、
動ける者を集めているのか…
- Tormod:
- そのユンヌってさ、
邪神って呼ばれてたやつなんだろ？
信用できんのかな？
Nailah is a little more explicit about calling Yune the "Negative Goddess", although as one may be able to spot, "Negative Goddess" is still not the same as calling her "dark god".
I know Yune is a good goddess and all, but I'm slightly concerned the only evidence we have is a gut feeling. Yune did also promise to reverse the total extinction of humanity, which helps, but Ike probably ought to have brought that up, too.
Says the woman who's completely detached from modern Ashera-ism. Although I wonder what gods Hatary worships.
Tormod's happy with that explanation.
And we leave to go hear out Rafiel's exposition. Tormod was really happy.
Seeing Hetzel must've dredged up some bad memories.
And Ike is interested in hearing what those might be.
- Ike:
- …誰だ？
- Rafiel:
- 私です…
夜明けまえに…すみません。
- Ike:
- 別にかまわん。
ほとんど眠っちゃいなかったからな。
- Rafiel:
- ……アイク殿には、
お話しておいたほうが良いかと
思いましたので……
- Ike:
- 女王は？
- Rafiel:
- あの方は…すでにご存知ですから。
私たちの間には
なにも隠し事はありません。
Rafiel apologises for approaching Ike "before dawn", while Ike says he couldn't sleep. Turns out this conversation takes place in vastly different premises than I envisioned. Rafiel is also the one more interested in talking about his trauma here. Ike asks why not talk to Nailah, but Nailah and Rafiel have already discussed it plenty in the past.
Rafiel seems happy to share. For now. Hopefully he finishes without an interesting cliffhanger.
Yikes. Rafiel was a former slave himself. Seeing as Tibarn knew him before the Massacre, I wonder what the laguz knew of this event. They must've been steaming mad.
And Hetzel purchased Rafiel at auction.
The ownership of Rafiel is purely for bragging rights, I can't imagine Rafiel doing any work that a Senator would appreciate. Although I am not fond of the idea of Lekain or Valtome owning Rafiel all the same...
The fact that these slavers now have much of Duke Asmin's fortune goes relatively ignored. I suppose these slavers' wound up spending their money in such a way to re-inject it into senatorial matters, although that probably does leave Asmin with a smaller voice...
セリノスの王族……
彼らはまだ、それを従えたことは
なかったからでしょうね。
へッツェル殿は、わたしを獲るため…
かなりの私財をなげうったそうです。
I think the scale of Asmin's purchase, while still pretty big for a single purchase, is a little toned down here- selling off private property instead.
Being so desperate to leave that he becomes sick. Fair enough, especially for a heron.
Although if that was the cause, I'm less sure of what exactly Hetzel is doing for cure. It clearly worked.
...Ish. Rafiel's inability to fly was a relatively unstated part of the narrative before now- it impacted the gameplay, sure, but rarely was Rafiel deployed in a way to draw attention to it before this map. Shifted Rafiel cannot climb ledges.
Call Hetzel not a great guy all you want, at least he managed to avoid the Sunk Cost Fallacy.
Rafiel judged his heart and found Hetzel to his liking.
That probably made this part sting all the more.
The ability for herons to sense each other at distance is stated to be less than the dragons, but when it's a genocide with suffering being broadcasted in such massive numbers, perhaps even the cats felt a little strange that day.
And this is when we find out how Rafiel came by the knowledge that caused Part 3. He had a direct line to the Senate at the time and knew exactly what was going on.
でも………
あの事件が起きてしまいました。
あの夜を思い出すのは…
とても…苦しいことです。
森の悲痛な叫びが聞こえ……
同胞たちの気が…消えてゆくのが……
遠く離れていても感じられましたから。
その夜遅く…神殿に訪ねて来られた
へッツェル殿の手をとり、
すぐに森へ戻してほしいと懇願しました。
あの方は何も話されませんでしたが、
私は知ったのです……
元老院が神使を暗殺したということ。
その罪を鷺の民の咎と発表したこと。
それによって……
私の同胞たちの命が全て奪われたことを。
Hetzel spent the night of the genocide in Rafiel's company. The context of "Hetzel never said anything" is a little different when Hetzel is spending this agonising moment of Rafiel's life in complete silence, refusing to voice the responsibility he has for his suffering.
Ambition. Racism. And fear.
What happened here is not explained, but from context clues, we get a pretty good idea of the gist. Although I wonder whether it was Hetzel or some other Senator who tried to pull this. It was honestly probably Hetzel, because another Senator might've tried something a little more permanent or politically useful.
Rafiel proceeded to forge a new life for himself in Hatary- at least, until Yune sent a message out into the din that Rafiel's secret knowledge of the Massacre's true perpetrator was needed. Considering Rafiel didn't know about the survival of his father and siblings, a fairly reasonable action, especially since attempting to return led to certain death.
夜明けに…私は神殿を飛び立ちました。
どこにそんな力が残っていたのか……
ただセリノスへ戻らなくてはと……
朦朧とする意識のまま、
風に吹かれるままに飛び続けました。
気がつくと…熱砂の上で………
あの時、女王に助けられなければ、
私はあのまま息絶えていたでしょう。
懐かしき故郷とは真逆の方向へ
飛んでいたなどということも…知らずに。
From the sounds of it, Rafiel attempted to travel to Serenes under his own power, but with a limited capacity over his senses in the aftermath of the disaster, he didn't realise he was flying in the wrong direction until it was too late. I think I vastly prefer this explanation of how Rafiel got to this point.
It's very difficult to consider Hetzel as both in equal portions. He's one more than the other, and your opinion of Hetzel will influence which one you lean towards.
At the very least, Hetzel did not do anything about the assassination of Misaha or the genocide of the herons. His hands are clean of that.
"Once you fully recover, you can return to the forest". Short time
later, the forest burns down and all but four herons are dead, one of
which is himself. I don't think Hetzel intended it that way, but it is very easy to draw a particularly sinister conclusion.
Rafiel does not find himself fit to judge a man for qualities he believes himself to possess. At least he's avoiding being a hypocrite.
- Rafiel:
- あの方が直接、
手を下されたわけでも…
命じられたわけでもありません。
ですが……
私はあの方のことを考えると…
心に【負】の気が湧き上がるのを感じます。
これが…『憎しみ』と呼ばれる
感情なのだと思います……
- Ike:
- 鷺の民にはもっとも
不似合いな感情だな。
- Rafiel:
- …自分でも訝っているのです。
私に…こんな感情が芽生え、
それを受け入れられていることに。
以前の私なら、とっくに
正気を失っていることでしょう。
When Rafiel talks about the emotion he can sense in relation to "Chaos", I think he does, in fact, mean something more negative, since he feels that emotion is hate. Ike and Rafiel talk about how hatred is an unnatural emotion for a heron to be possessing, with Rafiel wondering how he can handle such negativity.
The herons that remain are not typical herons.
We've got Reyson, who'd be even more reckless than Tibarn if he could punch people, Leanne, who would totally be swearing like a sailor if she even knew enough of our language to say the rest of the sentence, and Lorazieh, who has forgotten to participate in the story. I'm fairly sure he's petrified, although maybe herons are spared?
One thing that's true about Reyson and Leanne is that they exhibit far more Chaos than herons should be exhibiting. And it's to their benefit.
It sounds like the natural conclusion of this type of story, doesn't it? Although Tibarn had other ideas. Then again, it's Tibarn.
This is almost definitely Ike ejecting from a conversation well above his pay grade, but I think he does have a bit of a point. People who think they know right from wrong tend to be a lot like Lekain.
- Ike:
- そう考えると、
負の気ってやつも
悪いばかりじゃないんだよな。
- Rafiel:
- 正と負…どちらにも偏らず
調和のとれた状態がよい……
そういうことなのでしょうか。
- Ike:
- わからん。
俺たちには知りようもない
生というものの本質だろうさ。
On its own, I don't think this conversation is that much different from the INT version, but combined with the earlier bit about the "Chaos" in Hetzel, I think there is a little bit of a different tone in there somewhere.
OK, fine, I lost a little BEXP from Part 4, sue me. I was hunting for treasure!
Next time: Meetings that were a long time incoming.
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