Our next destination is Serafew, another village.
Well, to be fair, we've only seen the one batch of monsters. This has apparently been going on for a while, though, since there are talks of monster hunters.
"Her will is strong". Could you phrase that any clunkier/vaguely sexist?
Serafew is, I think, a Grado town. If it was Renais, it'd probably be destroyed.
Although it's a point of pride that it's supposed to be both.
This is not a place we want to hang around too much if we want to avoid capture.
We're now within Vigarde's domain.
This fellow looks like he'll be important. His name is Joshua, and if you've bumped into him in FEH, odds are you know how important.
For now, though, he's going to fake being the heroic lech. Sacred Stones, for all its faults, doesn't seem to have one of those.
There's the cleric now. Spoilers, she's blue, not green. For some reason.
As introductions go, this one could be better, but it could also be a heck of a lot worse.
For one thing, the cleric is legitimately in a lot of stress and Joshua is making a valid observation.
Now, if he intends to be helpful about it remains to be seen.
The cleric is certainly in a great rush to get out of dodge, though.
Joshua doesn't think much of it, merely remarking on how that conversation was a bit of a dead end.
He's got other things to think about.
It's time to hold a meeting between Glen and the chapter boss for this mission.
Saar is just a disposable chapter boss, no need to memorise anything about him.
Vigarde's orders were for Glen and Valter to catch her.
Glen decided to delegate that responsibility.
Not only that, but there's something else Saar is now responsible for while Glen is off doing... probably something much less important. That's not a comment on what he's doing, but Eirika is just that important to Grado's goals.
And so is this.
I think Eirika is more important than this, but it's a close run thing.
Regardless, Glen is making Saar do both.
Saar is not just happy to do it, but he's prepared to go above and beyond. That's... mildly creepy.
Well, Glen's confirming the order. We actually have explicit proof that Glen does not personally know this traitor, but I feel like this wasn't easy for him to say this.
Again, Saar is incredibly enthusiastic about murdering a random woman.
He's a random chapter boss, he'll be lucky to get any lines after this conversation.
And off Saar goes. Glen's going to have some words with his wyvern rider conversation partner.
Say hello to Cormag, Glen's younger brother. The lack of grey gilding on his sprite indicates that he is an unpromoted wyvern unit.
Glen is comfortable sharing his misgivings about Vigarde to Cormag. The two are pretty close, as brothers go. I don't think Cormag holds any kind of resentment (or even any feelings whatsoever) about not being a member of the Imperial Three while Glen is. That's just how things are.
...It's also possible Cormag just wasn't listening to Glen's ramblings.
They're heading off to go complete their less important errands.
Leaving us to head back to Eirika.
Eirika's getting nostalgic about the state of Serafew.
And, well... it's hard to fault her. The two countries are close enough that Ephraim was instructed in Grado, both twins underwent higher education here, and both twins knew Grado's prince closely.
Now, all that history has been spat on.
This isn't something the game is keen to linger on, but do you think the people of Renais are going to forgive Grado after this all goes down? The truth should mitigate it somewhat, but even that won't help too much.
At any rate, time to start caring about the practical matters again.
Right now, Serafew isn't really a border city, but in the middle of the new Renais-Grado Grado landmass. All the Grado soldiers are probably much closer to the other countries than worrying about Renais rebellions.
We attack from the south in the map, which brings up the idea that, perhaps, North is not always Up on a map. Such considerations are blasphemy, however.
Our tactical conversation is interrupted by this passerby.
He's looking for someone. Indigo hair... I think the person he's looking for is the only one with hair of that hue, but as for how unique it is, that's another question. I'm going to assume it's unique.
We can truthfully say we haven't seen her yet.
And off he goes. That was a complete waste of time.
...No, seriously, I'm not entirely sure what this scene is foreshadowing. In the prototype, there's actually an event associated with this man in the next chapter which this scene is presumably setting up, but that's not in the final game. Whatever it is we get out of meeting this man and the description of his young girl companion early, I don't know, there's no real reason we can't have them introduced later.
She also says this, but I don't believe there's anything unusual about that man. Or indeed, any reason to get attached to him. Other than the fact that his sprite is unique enough that he's probably going to be a recruitable character later.
He's not hostile, at least, I can confirm that. He's just... That Guy.
We have actually interesting characters to meet right now.
This time, a good question. Presumably, they're talking about us, but from context... doesn't sound like it this time.
You know, I'm not sure this is a wise idea.
The cleric from earlier is now being pursued by faceless red units. Much less likely to spare her.
Note: "May" does not mean "will".
They really don't want to listen to a woman traitor.
The cleric is trying to peddle the story that Vigarde is not the same man he was a year ago, when he wasn't declaring war on nations with whom he is friendly.
Not a good means of making friends with the Grado soldiers.
...That doesn't sound good.
Yeah, uh... no cleric is handling that. Maybe a bishop, given a light tome or two.
You know, it's probably just as absurd that a cleric is defecting from anything. Most (good) religious workers tend to focus on the people at the foundations of society and don't care much about the people in charge unless they're really worrisome.
The cleric has wandered vaguely into our party at last.
And Eirika doesn't screw up and reveal her identity on the spot. This could all be a sting operation, from our perspective.
The cleric is ready to share the information she has which Grado is prepared to murder her for.
Eirika decides it's probably in our interests to kill the Grado soldiers first before worrying about that exposition.
Our cleric friend is named Natasha, and she will be a mandatory deployment in this mission. And soft-mandatory on every following one for us, she's a female healer! Usually, Fire Emblem likes the first healer you get to be a female (and often a nun, too), but FEs 8, 9 and some installments of 1 started us with a man of the cloth instead.
Sadly, that "beautiful" in her description means what you think it means in her Supports. Natasha is a faster Moulder, but her Magic score is kinda behind. 2 Magic isn't the worst thing in the world, but it's pretty close to. And, of course, that 22 Avoid isn't exactly winning her any awards- keep away from the business end of a weapon unless you really think you can get away with the alternative.
...Genuine question of mine, why is Vanessa there and not closer to the house I want her visiting? Oh well, Neimi and Lute will be charging northwards, Neimi to try and work on the west side (emphasis on try because archers), while Lute does a lot of heavy lifting on the east.
Our map looks something like this. After the bandit-heavy maps dealing with Bazba's bunch, it's nice to have an enemy army with all the essential food groups again.
Here's Saar, about what you'd expect him to be. Knights get a whole lot less impressive when you notice the fact that Lute will eat this guy alive with any weapon, not just Eirika's Rapier.
We can also inspect the contents of the stores from the preparations menu, but we cannot make purchases unless someone walks up and visits the stores during the mission. It's good to check what is and isn't available for purchase.
When the map starts, Joshua comes out of the Arena looking unhappy with his lot.
He struck out.
That doesn't seem to have been a Grado-approved break of his.
This is an attempt at a tutorial. That Arena is a place we can visit too, and it functions loosely similar to how Joshua describes it, but there are crucial details missing.
Not that the Grado people seem to be happy with it.
Nor do they seem entirely impressed with mercenary work. This is an attitude that shifts later, although perhaps the circumstances change. Or maybe it's just this one guy that's the asshole.
If this line was voiced, I imagine the tone would imply he's thinking "I won't forget the way you think of mercenaries."
Another appearance of Joshua's random setup as the game's lech. On the other hand, this is also a gameplay hint. Ish.
It's not explicit, because the game's format doesn't allow it to be, but Joshua flipped a coin to determine what he's about to face. His real personality gimmick is his utter infatuation with games of chance- expect him to flip any coin that crosses his palms.
Natasha, on the other hand, eschews such matters as subtlety and finesse.
The line Joshua had that I called "sorta a gameplay hint" was unnecessary- Natasha has grabbed a sledgehammer labelled "gameplay hint" and slammed it into your skulls. Natasha can indeed talk to Joshua, and the game really wants you to try.
(You can also notice I did move Vanessa closer to the action off-screen. I though I was less sloppy than that in the screenshot phase. At least I thought of it.)
Easier said than done, however. Joshua won't move closer to us, preferring to lie in wait for us to move to him. He will attack us if we get in his range, and that Killing Edge means business. A normal player would try to put Seth or Gilliam in range and take so little damage that a crit won't matter.
We're not Seth and Gilliam.
Vanessa flies directly to this house. Aside from "the contents of houses are good!", there is a really good reason to Visit every single house on this map, and I strongly advise you get it. No "if you're playing the game in this way", every run benefits from the reward for visiting these houses.
And even if the reward doesn't interest you, here's a friendly cameo from a later party member!
She got too much stuff and has to dump something, and decides we're as good a place as any. No, not visiting this house doesn't mean she still has this item later. Why would you plan for that?
Don't do the first thing. Just don't.
This woman grew up poor, so it's kinda cool how she managed to keep up a healthy philosophy about becoming too wealthy all at once. Besides, as a dancer, she's got a harder time amassing wealth.
Oh, you'll be more than welcome in our army when we meet again.
Good for +2 Defence on a party member of our choice. Yes, it's going in the convoy and not coming out until endgame. No, I'm not selling it for cash.
Neimi can oneround things... mostly OK. There's some enemies she can't, but those are the enemies everyone else is worried about too. The problem being Neimi has to make a tactical withdrawal if she gets in those situations.
Lute's going this way. She still has a lot of progress she can make before Joshua is our problem, but this corner will be just exciting enough anyway.
Neimi starts off by attracting a lot more attention than I was expecting.
OK, she is now officially in need of help. At least she can handle the archer, or else I'd have more problems.
So yeah, something about this corner getting interesting?
Hey, I'm done fighting bandits!
This guy with a face does not have a name, although he is slightly scarier than his friend. There are more bandits than these two on this map, and it is their mission to make sure you don't visit all the houses. Honestly, they're just EXP, although if you dawdle too much, they will be uncontested.
...Carcino territories? We're on the other side of the map from Carcino! I wonder if this has anything to do with the guy looking for the girl with indigo hair- he's not from Carcino, but he lives just next door.
Those forests in front of that archer will prevent him from making forward progress and shooting Neimi of his own accord unless she can get back up there.
She withdraws all the way so Natasha can heal her. I'd withdraw her less and make Natasha do the moving, but I want Natasha on hand for the east front more than I want her babysitting Neimi.
Natasha actually has a healing animation, cutaway and all. For... some reason. FE9 took this away and we thank it heavily.
(That Hit rate is a formality: Healing staves never miss in this game. Yes, that disclaimer means what you think it means.)
Fortunately, there's an option for setting animations individually, and we can just leave Natasha's Off until she promotes and gets attacking options. Although yes, when we get to that point, we'll have to sit through the healing animations again. Fortunately, healing isn't really something you do as often when you're promoted.
(The main downside to having animations off is that you can't see the odds of an enemy's attack hitting you. This isn't much of a problem, since without save states, there's nothing you could've done once you've reached that point, but it is a good clue whether you made a tactically sound decision exposing Natasha to an enemy attack.)
Lute makes this guy embarassed to show up.
And Eirika prepares for the bandits. I think there'll be company for Lute from the north, she really doesn't need these guys too.
Speaking of, Vanessa's going to stand next to her for moral support.
Clearly wasn't anything else.
Although apparently it's not just Vanessa who needs to attend remedial dodging.
At least Neimi managed it. I'd rather not need Natasha in two places at once.
This is the part where things get ugly. That archer is in the most annoying of positions: even if I attack him at 2 range, the aggresor is in range of Joshua. While Joshua still has the company of that Fighter, I don't want that.
Let's start by having Neimi help out over here.
With... more Avoid. I'm sure she knows what she's doing.
Vanessa takes the Fighter.
And she picks up the Strength from this turn.
Lute goes for the archer.
And Eirika takes out this other bandit.
With Natasha in safety.
So, I was saying about this Fighter, Joshua, and dealing with that archer?
I didn't take a screenshot of the event, but Lute didn't actually finish this Fighter off because (I hope) her tome only had one use left. One use weapons are the best. I like keeping mine, but the situations never seem to come up often enough to justify it.
Neimi continues to moderately alarm me.
At least the situation is about to clear right up.
First thing's first, get rid of that guy.
The Magic and Speed is nice, but how about some of the other stats too?
Neimi's got... a plan. Not much of one, but one nonetheless.
Vanessa takes the job of attracting Joshua's attention. A minor note is that Joshua, at least in some releases of Sacred Stones, won't attack Natasha. I'm fairly sure the division is that he will attack her in Japan, but the international release made him non-hostile.
Eirika can't reach the house, sadly.
Now that was a fairly nice outcome, considering a crit would've killed Vanessa. I think that Iron Lance is one use, but even if it wasn't, Vanessa couldn't kill Joshua- he is actually kind of fast.
It's time for Natasha to talk to Joshua.
She's rather nervous about the whole ordeal, for obvious reasons.
Joshua doesn't mind doing it, but he also doesn't mind not doing it.
Natasha sees an opportunity to change his mind.
Natasha tells Joshua something that she hasn't even told Eirika yet- that Vigarde isn't the man he used to be. Not entirely sure what she expects will come of warning the other nations, though.
Joshua's a mercenary, and not even Grado-born, at that. You might as well have told him Vigarde ordered pizza for dinner.
But he does admit that he's leaning towards not killing Natasha. That's a perfect blink frame.
...I feel that's an appropriate reaction here.
He says this, but I wonder if he intends for any deeper symbolism or he's just being a troll. I have evidence to support both.
Joshua is literally leaving Natasha's life up to the flip of a coin.
Natasha is aghast at the audacity.
...Perfectly fair.
Time for the flip, then.
I believe it's important for me to mention now that this conversation is fixed. No matter how many times you play Sacred Stones, the outcome of this coin flip is the same, there's no RNG or anything.
However, the game does honour the suspense of the conversation and doesn't play the recruitment theme until Natasha wins the toss.
With that said, I don't believe Natasha actually declared that the terms for Joshua losing the toss would be that he join our army. Perhaps spread the word, sure, but this is a little bit above and beyond.
He's not kidding about that. Joshua is not above fixing games of chance, but he always accepts the outcome of any bet (tampered or otherwise) at face value and adheres to the results as promised. I would not be entirely surprised to learn Joshua fixed this game in Natasha's favour. I don't think he ever confirms it, though.
Natasha is just relieved to still be alive.
Joshua/Natasha is actually not nearly as terrible a ship as it sounds from this conversation, and I like it quite a bit. At least it's not Neimi/Colm.
...Ah dangit. One more point of Strength would've done it.
Neimi withdraws. I need a new plan for the west side.
Vanessa's going to pick up this house.
Fire Emblem villain countries usually do a bunch of off-screen atrocities the NPCs are happy to fill us in on.
Although considering that, he's not being very explicit about what kind of atrocities. Probably a rating thing, maybe.
The reward for this house is an Armourslayer, a sword supereffective on armour. It's pretty heavy and super-effectiveness on armour is only mostly impressive.
Saar, a blackheart? I... I suppose you're the expert.
We'll see when I remember to use this.
Joshua dumps his Killing Edge in the convoy, and runs around as an unarmed character looking for things to do. If only I could undeploy characters mid-mission.
And now there are bandits north of these houses. That one on the top is the biggest threat to the north house I have to worry about.
Heal up Neimi, and...
Well, that's him dealt with.
...Not chancing that.
Sadly, that means I'm leaving it to Eirika.
At least she's getting lots of stats.
And Vanessa takes this fight so Lute doesn't have to.
Having Natasha around is so much better than using Vulneraries for this.
...Wasn't a kill before, not gonna be a kill now.
Joshua stops by this house to pick up its prize.
And listen to the old man tell impressive stories about a character without a name or any way to verify this story.
At least I can get behind his concerns.
This, right here, is the cornerstone of the invention and cultivation of literature. This is, without question, the Reason libraries are a thing.
His book is just the Standard Skill +2 Item. Not that I really expected much better, but this kinda feels like a punchline.
Lute and Vanessa set themselves up here and prepare for those two enemies. I think both can hit them.
Neimi wanders off over in this direction.
...Oh, both go for Lute. Good thing I got a Miss, then.
There's the bulk I needed.
Eirika takes on the Fighter Neimi couldn't manage.
More bandits appear behind Saar. Important to note, Saar himself won't move.
Neimi sets up here and shoots at that mercenary. Good for chip EXP.
Vanessa and Lute prepare themselves for this side of the field.
Joshua's going to buy things from the Vendor.
Fortunately for Lute, she doesn't actually double this guy, so she doesn't need a dodge to survive.
Vanessa gets to deal with the merc.
And Neimi the archer.
This soldier's going to be a pain to get, though. Neimi starts walking.
...Why didn't Lute double this guy? Minor Speed fluctuation, I guess.
Lute and Eirika take care of business.
And with that, we're done dealing with the enemies around here.
That was overkill.
Now it is time for the dithering around.
The last house features an appearance by another later party member.
This yoing girl is preparing herself to join the Grado Empire's army. Let's... not tell her it's a hellscape.
At least we'll be able to help her later?
Apparently, she can't even organise her own possessions.
Eirika went and bought a bunch of weapons for everyone too.
Neimi has finally gotten into position to deal with that soldier.
Worth it. Question mark.
I'm going to be ending this mission by grinding up Support points for Vanessa/Lute, so while I'm going, might as well show off the Arena.
The Arena involves wagering a sum of gold and then entering a fight to the death.
...First of all, I'll need to be able to pay the wager. The wager is randomly determined, but since this is Fire Emblem GBA, all I need to do is wiggle the arrow around a bit to set the RNG to my liking.
Once you've paid a wager, you are given an enemy to fight and told to go until you think you can no longer make it.
By the way, yes, losing the Arena triggers Permadeath.
Fights play out exactly as they would in the main game, with you always initiating- if both you and your opponent are still alive at the end of a round of combat, the next round begins immediately.
And, of course, the RNG's hand continues to lie in place.
But with RNG on your side, victory is still possible.
You even get EXP for winning- is this EXP necessarily correlated with the usual EXP formula? I don't know, but it's EXP.
You also get double your wager back. If you withdraw from a fight for any reason, you lose the wager.
And Lute comes up for Support points.
The injuries you get from the Arena also stick outside of it (and I think you bring any injuries you had into new bouts)- although you will be pleased to note that weapons are actually not counted for. You are stuck with Iron or its equivalent, though.
Some battles are scarier than others.
Heal is worth 11 EXP a cast, meaning Natasha levels up in 9 casts with change. She needs to reach level 10 to promote, although she can keep going up to 20 for more stats. Unfortunately for her, healing isn't really common enough for that- Natasha will be among the last promotions I make, and she'll be promoting at the bottom end of the 10-20 range.
You ever wonder whether you got bad luck or good luck?
...OK, clearly it was good luck here.
Some of these fights definitely feel like the AI is cheating.
Others do not. Although I think this guy dodged.
This pegasus, I swear..
Although apparently, I'm getting good enough to win without taking damage.
Still good EXP!
And Neimi takes her turn against a few of the finds in here. I think she crit this guy.
Vanessa finished just at the cusp of a level- not worth another round, but I do want the level up, so she'll take a few of Saar's Javelins.
Now that's a crit. Neimi kinda shuffles her foot around before launching an arrow she spun around. It's more "funny" than "awesome".
Ah great, he's hitting.
Wow, Neimi's luck in the Arena has really been pulling for her.
The levels, a little less sure.
Although I will take this one for Vanessa.
Took another round, muddled up this much. I think that's where I'm calling it, though.
At least Natasha got another level out of it.
And now for the "Pressing End Turn until Vanessa and Lute are friends."
I considered showing the conversations, but ultimately decided against it. All right, now that Vanessa and Lute have a Support, let's get into what stat bonuses you can get.
There are seven "Affinities" in the game, and each Affinity will give you some stat bonuses. There are six types: Atk +0.5, Def +0.5, Hit +2.5, Avo +2.5, Crit +2.5 and Ddg +2.5. Your Affinity gives you four of these bonuses. Your Affinity bonuses are summed with your partner's and multiplied by the number of ranks you have, before being rounded down to the nearest whole number. I like to divide the Affinities into three main types: "Offensive" (giving Atk, Hit, Crit, and one Defensive bonus), "Defensive" (giving Def, Avo, Ddg and one Offensive bonus) and "Dark" (giving Hit, Avo, Crit and Ddg). The affinities are as follows:
- Light: Offensive, gives Def
- Fire: Offensive, gives Avo
- Wind: Offensive, gives Ddg
- Anima: Defensive, gives Atk
- Ice: Defensive, gives Hit
- Thunder: Defensive, gives Crit
- Dark: Is Dark.
You can't control who you Support with in this game, so you're stuck with the pairings you get and how your team is set up, but some Support bonuses are better than others: a pairing of two Offensive abilities makes you an astonishing boss-killer. In fact, getting Garcia to five ranks of Support with Ross and Neimi collectively is a good way to hit the early bosses hard before you have a real murderball going. Pairing an Offensive and Defensive Affinity gives you a little of everything, but some things are more worth having than others. It's a weird system, but it's the only one we got until Awakening.
Incidentally, both Vanessa and Lute are Anima affinity, meaning they get +1 Atk, +1 Def, +5 Avoid and +5 Dodge (crit evade) per rank. I will happily take the Atk, although I'm mildly annoyed by the fact +Def and +Avo are somewhat unsynergenetic.
As for the actual boss we're supposed to be fighting...
He died the way he lived: Not doing anything.
May you have a personality in some other game.
For now, give me my power and avoid.
About 80% of the tightness came from Joshua alone.
Presumably she's thinking of coin.
Seth immediately latches on to her place of origin, like a character who isn't on my bad side.
Natasha was some kind of proper Cleric and everything until things changed.
So what did change, then?
This mentor goes unnamed, but a lot of people like to assume this is a character named "Father MacGregor" who appears elsewhere in the story for similar reasons- and I believe he was also arrested and executed without warning. I don't see any reason this man has to be him, but there's no reason it couldn't be.
The true "crime" he had committed was knowing too much. Natasha wasn't engaged in the same practices, so she wasn't executed with him, but that also means we don't know what they were doing.
Fortunately, she does know the results.
Oh no, not the titular items!
Sounds like bad news.
They did the job sealing the Demon King and... presumably they keep up the seal.
So...
...
OK, mild spoilers, this isn't true (and to be frank, there is no reason to believe it is anyway, since Grado has control over Renais and probably already defiled that temple seven ways to Sunday by now), and Eirika should know it isn't true... but it's explicitly the case that she doesn't.
Suffice it to say, I am exceptionally annoyed at Seth.
He could do it all at once, but it's much easier to get the Stones in his possession piecemeal rather than collect them all at once.
Insanity.
Natasha isn't sure on the why.
But she does know the what.
That's Hayden, Ismaire and Mansel, not anyone specifically designated to stand guard. Although the actual guards probably could work too.
And, unfortunately, the wanted posters worked fast.
Natasha's blink frame game is on point. I think we should stop listening to Seth.
At least he has his priorities in order. Right, you go back to Frelia and warn Hayden.
...Wait, hold on, you're still sitting on that exposition you owed us from Chapter 3.
Sadly... I think it fits the facts a little too well...
So much for our disguise.
That's no reason to just tell him!
Presumably, this man is a Renais citizen.
Also probably the guy who gave us the Armourslayer.
Well, those are some good memories defiled.
Yes... but which direction? To Ephraim, or to give warnings?
Nothing we can do now, at least.
Apparently, that's enough. Hope it is, though.
Just let us get a few more level ups and party members first.
For saving all the villages, we get a Guiding Ring, a promotion item for all kinds of Magic users- the list I'm getting on Serenes is "Mages, Shamans, Monks, Priests, Clerics and Troubadours". I believe there are a total of seven characters that require a Guiding Ring to promote, three of which are women. Unlike in Tellius, you can't promote by levelling up at level 20- only promotion items work. Some GBA runs can feel the pinch for not having the correct promotion items for the desired party (FE6 especially), but this particular run will not.
Next time: We actually take a peek at what Ephraim route's up to.
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