Bethany Plays: SS Intermission: Two Paths Lie Before Me

Eirika automatically makes the walk back to Frelia, making a stopover in Serafew on the way.

We have some exposition to complete.

...Also, that house in the bottom right has opened its doors again.

Eirika's moping.

So yeah, about the Prince of Grado, best friend to Eirika and Ephraim...

What's he been up to?

Apparently, it wasn't that long ago to Ephraim. To be fair, he probably spent a lot of that time in the wilderness.

OK, not really.

It is time for a flashback to meet Lyon. All flashbacks use this theme.

This, despite the setup, isn't the last time Eirika, Ephraim and Lyon ever interacted.

Eirika got delayed somewhat, and the two boys are impatiently waiting for her to catch up.

Ephraim, she is a woman, and- oh right, yeah, Ephraim is that pig-headed. Don't ask Tana about her birthday.

As should... most people.

~~And it's not like this teaching has stopped the game from treating Eirika and Tana badly before now.~~

Father MacGregor is the teacher of many topics to Eirika, Ephraim, Lyon, and probably Natasha too. He just exists to be that sort of background exposition man, and the idea that he'd be running key exposition on the Sacred Stones on his deathbed is natural. Expect to hear his name a lot in flashbacks.

Regardless of your feelings on these men, Lyon is and always will be more of a gentleman than Ephraim could ever dream of.

Eirika has an alternative reason for spending so long getting ready- oversleeping. She's about to do something pretty important.

Well, OK, "important" only applies to the narrative. The true purpose of this quest is character development- and showing off how much of a dunce Ephraim is.

I don't think this flame ever comes up again in any context. It almost certainly doesn't work and is just superstition.

Ephraim, of course, only found out about it when he was on his way to use it.

And probably bonk him on the head a few times with his cane.

...I was joking. He doesn't actually use corporal punishment, does he?

Also, we get a little insight to the prayers of these three.

Eirika isn't sharing, and that tells us plenty.

What does Ephraim wish for, then?

Are you surprised?

Eirika and Lyon don't even try to hide it.

Neither can I. I was mocking you, but I'm not sure about these two.

And I'm still not sure.

Ephraim decides the only way he's improving his lot in this conversation is to put someone else under the spotlight for a turn.

Lyon's most heartfelt desire is, and always has been, for the sanctuary of the people of Grado. If there's one thing you can count on Lyon to be, it's to be looking out for his people.

And, like with Ephraim, neither of his conversation partners are surprised.

I think this is definitely sincere, though.

Eirika kept her wish secret, and I don't think there's any wish Eirika could make that's as braindead obvious as the boys' wishes. Which only makes me wonder what Eirika, at this point in the story, could want. I suspect it's a wish about Lyon.

So why are we going, anyway?

Is he that predictable?

Oh. Field trip.

Goddammit, Ephraim, you had one job.

As he should.

This sounds very boring and very dry, but I assure you MacGregor is quite correct in that this is the most important lesson he could teach Ephraim. There is no teacher like experience, and history is filled with the experience of people who failed badly enough that no human being should repeat their mistakes to learn the lessons a second time.

Key word: should.

Nor do most people.

Most sane people, at any rate. Knights, on the other hand, judge valour and chivalry to be more essential ingredients for a Good King than administration and long-term goals.

Unfortunately, most writers share their opinion.

Ephraim makes this suggestion, and he is intended to be considered young and foolish, but it's the most sensible suggestion he ever makes.

This is probably a mite too poorly thought out, but I suspect the correct course of action to fit Ephraim's style of thinking and skillset does closely resemble this.

Fado is implied to be a Knight like Duessel- many characters speak of how closely Ephraim resembles him.

...Considering Seth, Orson, and to a lesser extent the cavalry trio, I'm starting to suspect Fado might not be as good a King as the plot takes him to be...

We call this dramatic irony. I call it "so plot armour is hereditary."

Ephraim is going to stick to learning his craft from Duessel and one day become the strongest man around.

Now then, let's interrogate Lyon again. Ephraim is doing a lot of shifting the conversation to Lyon to make people stop laughing at him.

This was before the "sudden shift in character" Natasha cites, so he wants to be like Vigarde used to be.

Kind, benevolent, and generous. The sort of man who'd help a starving village because he could.

Lyon tries to deny it, for one major reason:

That's a tall ask.

Lyon is scrawny, easy to tire, and while he has the kindness down pat, he falls far short when it comes to the confidence.

"Must every conversation come back around to insult me?"

Ephraim tries the "make Eirika Queen" idea again.

・・・と言われてもな。
なあ　エイリーク
お前男装して王にならないか？
その色気のない体つきなら
きっとばれないと思うぞ。

For some reason, the intermission is the only part of the game available on Pegasusknight.com. I'm more than satisfied with not checking for translation slip-ups (unlike FE7 and RD, there's no reason to be on the lookout for them), but this translation is so famous it bears mentioning- and I'm almost certain it's the reason this line is on there in the first place.

I'm not entirely sure what Ephraim is talking about, but since machines tell me it's about her "sensual body", I can get the idea. As much as I dislike these kinds of jokes, I do have to mention that Eirika's "skinniness" is not a boon to the disguise plan, but likely the key weakness. Eirika is slender and elegant, while Ephraim is muscular and stocky. Eirika can cut her hair, drop her voice and wear an Ephraim-y expression, but there's almost no way to give Eirika Ephraim's build in a few hours. Maybe if she committed a few years to rigourous exercises to build her own muscles, but even then, I don't think they'd look the same on her.

We know Vigarde had a sudden change of heart, but Lyon... either Sudden Onset Tyranny is hereditary or Lyon is having a very bad time of it.

Ephraim considers the idea of him going along with Vigarde out of family loyalty.

There's always the possibility that Lyon doesn't do that, at which point... what is his plan? Clearly, we haven't seen it yet.

...OK, that could be a problem too.

...Here's hoping.

Time for us to head the rest of the way to Frelia, and...

Hello, Tana! It's nice to see you again.

One thing I'd like to mention now, to get both you and me thinking about it for the upcoming conversations, is something that I think Sacred Stones does poorly, but does poorly later- the game never lingers on the character parallels between Lyon and the Frelian royals. Tana, especially, is written in a way that almost makes me suspect she is intentionally the yin to Lyon's yang, but there's also a body of evidence that Tana's inclusion came a little later than everybody else's.

Tana's so nice to be around, it's almost relaxing.

Eirika is happy to see her friend.

And Ephraim apologises for the anxiety she went through.

Tana's glad to be together again. For now, at least.

And I think it's time we met Innes, too, isn't it?

And right in the nick of time, too!

Say hello to Prince Innes. Despite Tana's cheery greeting, the two are not on the friendliest of terms, largely to a huge mismatch in personalities. The fact Tana managed a cheery greeting is a sign that perhaps she's closer to her big brother than she might admit at times.

Innes... can almost barely say the same.

He is very full of himself and believes firmly in his own strength- and he's actually strong enough that he kinda earns it.

Innes and Ephraim are fierce rivals, or at least that's what Innes would tell you. Ephraim considers them friends, but he doesn't think highly of the relationship when Innes takes every opportunity to snipe (pardon the pun) at Ephraim's every weakness.

Innes, like most men in Magvel, has a crush on Eirika.

Not that Innes wastes time establishing that particular character trait.

Grado, the nation they were previously friendly with? What did Lyon put in your cereal?

...Thinks about last sentence Dude, that's just bitter.

Tana tells Innes to, for once in his life, exercise some tact.

...

He tried, OK?

Now that is true no matter what your understanding of the situation is.

Tana sighs in a quiet sense of "what else did I expect?"

Unlike some people we can name, Innes has not changed. He stands now as he always has.

"Hated" you? Possibly, but if he thinks any differently, he has a pretty poor way of showing it.

Tana has some pretty good reasons for disliking this particular character trait of his. It might surprise you to know that, as far as I can tell at least, Innes's hatred of Ephraim and Tana's crush on him are unrelated. Again, if that's true, Innes isn't showing it.

Innes has set himself a lofty goal. A goal so lofty, that perhaps he'll never reach it.

And Innes will not back down from an unreasonable challenge.

Shut the hell up, Innes, nobody asked your opinion.

Well, that's enough introductions to Innes, let's actually do some exposition.

From everyone at the table.

Eirika, of course, phrases it pretty formally.

Everyone is here and safe, for the first time in the story.

We have exposition to get in the way of any excitement, though.

Innes takes the first turn.

The Frelia/Grado front is progressing "favourably"- off screen wars are of little concern and, without active intervention from the protagonist, don't like to go in the correct direction. This front is either going to stay where it is, get pushed back by sudden Grado reorganisation, or get pushed forward when we defeat key marshalling forces. Or even all three.

Hayden seems unimpressed with the situation- beyond the above concerns, this is nothing but busywork anyway.

If we don't attack the root cause, this war is going to continue mindlessly until we're out of warm bodies to throw at each other.

Fortunately, we have clues.

Thank goodness someone sent a report back.

Grado's goal is the Sacred Stones. Which means everywhere in Magvel.

"The tower" is the resting place of the Sacred Stone of Frelia.

Answer one question, and along comes another. We know what Grado is doing, but we're still asking why. Figuring out the what doesn't stop the whole "warring is just busywork" thing.

Eirika has no more clues.

Ephraim does, or at least suspects as much.

He's mostly been following Myrrh's beliefs about the whole deal.

I think it's time we met Myrrh.

Those wings definitely weren't there before. They're in her official art, and I think they're usually seen being a bit bigger than they are here. I think her portrait usually sticks to not having them, and I'm not sure whether she has two separate sprites or some other trickery is being used to add them here.

Ephraim asks Myrrh to explain herself.

Myrrh is not of that mind.

The Manakete are Fire Emblem's favourite supernatural plot element. There is no such thing as a Fire Emblem game that doesn't have dragons that can turn into people- Thracia comes close, but Julius shows up a few times and he's possessed by one, I'll allow it. Each continent has its own general rules about how dragons work that has a few commonalities between some games.

Manaketes in Sacred Stones are the most unusual in the series.

Fortunately, the name is not unknown to the people in the room.

Manaketes are not quite human, not quite monster, but somewhere in between. No Manakete in any other game with monsters in it would be caught dead being lumped anywhere near the same category as them. Ironically, Three Houses's monsters are related to dragons, as much as the local dragons deny it.

Ephraim wants Myrrh to pipe up. Either for confidence, or Ephraim doesn't remember this part of the story well. I lean towards the latter, mostly because Ephraim, while blunt, doesn't usually go for "throw them in the deep end" kind of training.

Darkling Woods is the place where the Demon King was defeated. The Manakete rest there, watching the place where it occurred.

And whatever it was they were looking out for, they found it.

Something was up.

Saleh is not a Manakete, but a human who associates with them.

And they got interrupted.

What exactly they were doing to her goes unelaborated on, but her dragonstone is crucial. A Manakete without a dragonstone cannot transform. Archanean and Elibean manaketes have plot reasons for using dragonstones, but Magvel just has them because Fire Emblem has always had them. ~~And it's the only way to balance Myrrh.~~

Although the manaketes in the world of Fates have dragonstones too, Tellius and Fodlan do not. With that said, there are enough clues between the pages that suggest maybe Fodlan does have dragonstones, it's just that the local dragons never mention it and the player never gets any to use their transformations.

...

You mean to tell me you got around to rescuing Myrrh while on the run from Valter? Ephraim, I'm sorry, but you are now officially waaaaaay too competent.

"Plus, I was still high on adrenaline from running away from the wyvern knight that carved Seth's stats out."

Whatever it is Myrrh has found is still there.

And something must be done about it.

Oh, what is it now?

...This is a private council? I guess spies are a thing here...

...OK, that's important.

How'd they do it?

Apparently, by using the same thing we would use in their shoes- their equivalents to the playable characters.

What's Glen, then?

Sending a member of the Imperial Three, let alone two members of the Imperial Six, is shocking enough.

...

Please tell me you took the warning as seriously as you should have. Of course you didn't.

Oh yeah, that tower the Sacred Stone is in? Tower of Valni. This tower has a bit of a reputation for other reasons, and it's always surprising to hear it had a purpose beforehand.

Caellach and his men carve their way through the green soldiers that pretend to be effective meatshields.

Sometimes with crits. I think the hits they land is consistent between runs.

Even the myrms are taking point.

Incidentally, this map is a reference to Chapter 16x from FE6. I won't be battling on this map, but it is something you can do. The thing about when you can do it is that there's nothing narratively interesting about doing so, so it's not really part of what I cover.

Caellach walks up and smashes the Sacred Stone of Frelia. They have a unique animation for doing it, but the sprite of the character doing the smashing doesn't do anything special.

Incidentally, only two characters are ever depicted smashing a Sacred Stone in the whole story, so if they ever wanted to remake this game in 3D, they wouldn't have to work too hard to make the animation better than "puff of particles over sprite".

If Caellach can smash 'em, they clearly are pretty fragile, although the special animation implies something special happens when you do- other than the whole "getting one step closer to the apocalypse" thing.

Caellach dismisses the idea that it could be significant, but as long as he's getting a paycheck.

The one green unit they didn't kill walks up for one last line.

I'd presume he knows this, but apparently he doesn't.

Caellach didn't notice he was still alive, and decides that, since he's done the tremendously brave thing of proving it in front of Grado's faces, that he deserves to live long enough to have last words.

The Frelian goes with the old standby.

Caellach is not impressed.

And he crits him on his way to the afterlife.

Selena objects to the fact he just murdered a man in cold blood.

Caellach doesn't see the problem with the complaint she did have- that he wasn't doing his job. As far as he's concerned, he did do his job.

He does realise it was probably the murder that did it, though.

Selena objects to the murder of people who have surrendered, are not interested in conflict, or are too weak to pose any threat. She gets her morals from Vigarde- or at least, the old Vigarde.

Caellach is not impressed with that.

And Selena, in turn, doesn't appreciate a man who doesn't respect his own boss.

Caellach has the measure of the woman Selena is now. And I don't think he means that as a compliment.

Well, at least someone had fun.

That chest has a Blue Gem in it, by the way. Whenever I see a chest on-screen, I want to know what's in it, especially if it looks like you can open it in gameplay.

Admittedly, I get the feeling that even competent soldiers wouldn't have held up against Caellach. Not because he's good, but because he's ruthless. Caellach as a villain really sells the "mercenary" in mercenaries- many Fire Emblem mercenaries (and indeed, many fictional mercenaries- see Han Solo) are more of the theme park variety, where they'll actually take ideals over gold if it means taking the heroes' side.

There's warfare, and then there's... this mess.

Grado has messed with something that should not have been messed with. We can win wars. But we must repair the damage dealt to the Stones.

Jehanna and Rausten are in danger, of course. I'm not sure if Hayden knows the Renais Stone is safe, but I assume he's gathered Eirika and Ephraim can't really change how well off it is.

Not just the Stones, but the people therein. Whether they've noticed the war is their prerogative- but soon it will come to them.

And we must all work together to face not just Grado, but the evil behind it.

Eirika: "Did you?"
Hayden: "One time!"

Hayden admits he's writing checks he's not sure he can cash.

Innes volunteers to deliver the message.

Innes reckons that, if he's delivering the message personally, a greater degree of danger will be communicated than us just sending a messenger.

~~I knew we should've sent Seth...~~

However the Sacred Stones work, Innes suspects Frelia is in danger because they no longer have a Stone. I think everywhere is in danger from monsters, just in greater numbers as less Stones exist, but Frelia counts as part of everywhere.

...

So we're counting on Hayden to hold the fort? Is he still well enough to take the field?

You're doing a lot of that.

Eirika decides to follow Innes's example and go to Rausten.

...Where do you want Eirika to be? I don't think anywhere on Magvel is safe.

Rausten, funnily enough, might actually be the safest place for Eirika on the continent, despite the Darkling Woods right next door. With that said, this sentence is dramatic irony aimed right at people playing on replays.

Eirika is determined to be as helpful as Ephraim.

And Ephraim allows it. Not that he ever should've had that power in the first place.

Ephraim, because he is Ephraim and has absolutely no sense of self-preservation, decides to head to Grado directly.

Ephraim expects taking Vigarde and Grado Keep to be a wincon, or at least a crippling blow.

On the other hand, Hayden uses this argument, and I have to say... Caellach came personally to Frelia. The Imperial Six are as likely to be scattered over the continent as they are on the home field. This is more of a "no one is safe" than a "Ephraim's not that screwed".

Ephraim is more than happy to take on any number of Imperial Six members.

Fado would've done the same. Possibly. I think the Fado we saw had slightly more sense. But only slightly, though.

Hayden puts his faith in Innes, Eirika, and Ephraim.

The three nations that are not this one and the destroyed one (sorry, Renais) have people heading their ways.

Hayden gives as much as he can, but unfortunately, he doesn't have the crucial resource. He has more soldiers than he did previously- each of these three groups is capable of sending around Frelian Pegasus Knights as messengers- but no new characters will be added to the roster from Frelia's ranks before these missions.

...Well, OK, that's a lie, Hayden won't be supplying any new Frelian characters.

But with what Hayden gives us, the rest is up to us.

But you know, no pressure.

Innes and Eirika ready themselves for the trials ahead.

We march into the belly of the beast.

Presumably, each army gets 10000 gold, but we only get one of the bags.

Eirika and Ephraim say their farewells.

...You absolute...

Eirika has the perfect blink frames.

I say that because I do not trust myself to say what I really think.

Eirika can handle yourself, ya big dummy.

Well, as a Fire Emblem Lord...

Eirika has every right to be skeptical, considering Ephraim's... history.

On the other hand, Ephraim is Ephraim. He can win with those odds.

Here's hoping his plot armour holds.

The last thing you need is more confidence.

Please tell me you actually know your limitations and aren't just saying that.

It is time, at last, for Eirika and Ephraim to head their separate ways.

Now then... which do we follow?

This decision, right here, is the most massive decision in the entire game. This decision is mechanically equal to the decision to play Birthright or Conquest, or perhaps more accurately, which House to join in Three Houses. This is a true-blue, bonafide route split in a classic FE game. Even Shadows of Valentia, the first game to split the party, wasn't really a route split- all playthroughs of the game played all of the story.

With that said, this is before Fire Emblem really dug into the meaning of route splits. Narratively, both routes end up in mostly the same place, even if they have disagreements about how they got there. So the question becomes, what changes?

All characters may be recruited on both routes of the story. Some characters are available earlier or later depending on the narrative, but at the end of the day, everyone will be there.

Two characters from both routes couldn't quite be squeezed onto the other. When the Lords reunite, those two characters will come alongside them.

Everyone that Eirika and Ephraim fight is always fought no matter which side you pick. You don't get to see what the other side did, but they're down regardless. In essence, assume everything is canon unless it's outright impossible for mutually exclusive events to occur.

There are major reveals for two characters only on a single route. While the events these reveals are about occur on both routes, the characters remain ignorant about them on the other. Sharing which characters and which route would be spoiling the surprise.

Chapters 9 through 14 are set on completely different maps with... mostly different premises. There is a surprising amount of overlap in general themes between missions, but you're in for a massively different experience on either side.

The game does its best to make sure both sides receive the same rare items somehow, although in a few cases, the game misses one or two.
Chapters 15 and 16 have slightly different setups between routes, but are set on the same maps, have the same plot, have the same treasure and have the same goals.

The Lord you pick now will be your Lord for the rest of the game. Although the two have equal treatment where personal regalia and plot promotions are concerned, the Lord you don't pick turns (mostly) into just another of your units when the two reunite.

After the convergence point, the Lord you picked will take point on most plot developments. In essence, you're "choosing" the main character.

The main villain of the story approaches the situations he meets in drastically different ways. It's almost like he's a different person between routes, despite most of his encounters being "after" the convergence. Which portrayal is "more accurate" comes down, in many ways, to personal preference, but all considerations of his motives require taking both routes into account.

In many ways, Eirika route is the route the game expects you to pick first, or is perhaps the route the devs wrote first. It is mechanically easier than Ephraim's route in multiple respects, and when playing both routes simultaneously to record the footage for this blog, I often felt that some of the ways Ephraim route unfolds is expecting the player to have foreknowledge about what happened in Eirika route.

The fact that Eirika has been your Lord through the lion's share of the game story and the characters often talked about how much easier Eirika's plan is is the game's way of trying to convince you to agree. And, if all else fails, it's also the default option.

I mentioned something about "all characters are available on both routes".

Once you've confirmed your route, the game acknowledges the mechanical absurdity that's about to ensue and has a conversation to smooth over it.

Whichever Lord you pick gets all the units we've been using thus far- and that means Eirika gets Forde and Kyle, too.

Eirika is absolutely baffled by this recklessness.

Apparently, there's enough faceless soldiers running around that the Lord you didn't pick isn't soloing their side.

Goddammit, Ephraim.

Both Forde and Eirika are in complete agreement about the utter absurdity required to narratively put Forde and Kyle in Eirika's party.

And Eirika wonders if she can't tell Ephraim to check his sanity.

Kyle, to prevent a long argument for all involved, offers some words to try and get Eirika to just accept the help and worry about Ephraim's foolishness later.

And besides, while Ephraim's job is more dangerous, Eirika's is more important.

I could totally believe Ephraim would pick a fight with the grim reaper.

Eirika accepts their words.

And their aid.

Now get in the trunk, boys, this is not your run.

Kyle is as loyal to Eirika as he is to Ephraim.

Forde prefers not to go too crazy.

"Now, could you hold some of my extra stuff?"

Ephraim's route, while harder than Eirika's, is perhaps not quite as hard as many would think. A lot of online playthroughs of the game that show both stories often have Eirika play on Normal Mode and Ephraim play on Difficult. As a result, if your impression of the game is largely based on them, you might be forgiven for seeing some of the differences between routes and assume it's the route's differences and not the difficulty mode- and quite frankly, I feel bad about perpetuating the stereotype. Ephraim's route is harder because of a handful of design decisions in terms of how the maps play. If you know what to expect, you can play both routes pretty similarly. Then again, if you know what to expect, very few games are hard.

This scene stands in contrast to Forde and Kyle joining Eirika, with Seth (and the grab bag of potentially permakillable misfits we've been collecting throughout the game's opening off-screen) joining Ephraim.

Like Eirika, Ephraim doesn't expect this until it happens.

Unlike Eirika, this is actually a more reasonable boon. For one thing, we are not letting Ephraim siege a castle with just Forde and Kyle again.

The Frelian services supplied sound much smaller here, and Hayden kinda implied they'd be on the smaller end anyway.

And Eirika not only doesn't expect as much danger as Ephraim does, she also has physical concerns to worry about- is she really dragging the whole cast onto a boat?