What Am I Doing To Myself? Let's Try and Play Fire Emblem: Thracia 776!

[Deme]

Yes, I can trade a scroll between units. Only the unit carrying it at level-up gets the growth benefits. If some who could use some HP or Strength, and doesn't mind a little hit to luck, is close to leveling and I've got a free moment, I may switch it onto them for a turn or two. The same goes for other scrolls, just with different possible growths. The scrolls aren't consumable, so there's no reason not to pass it around. Voting "for the chapter" is just for my convenience's sake, so I don't have to be thinking about moving it around all the time.

If I do any arena training (risky stuff there), I'll probably load up the active trainee with as many scrolls as possible, and trade them all over to the next person, and so on.

Actually, something like the scrolls has appeared in another FE game: Book 2 of Fire Emblem 3 has some things that do the exact same thing. That said, Fire Emblem's growths have a historical trend of ticking upwards, and that really started kicking in around 7 or 8...So it's probably for the best that they didn't include growth-boosters again. I mean, yeah, Eliwood stinks, but compare him to Leaf. They occupy a similar spot -- the lord you wouldn't use if you didn't have to -- in both their games, but to the tune of Eliwood having +10% or so in all but 1 stat.

And yep -- that's basically what luck does. It's the stat I care least about, to be honest.

I was a bit upset with not being able to recruit enemies so much in awakening. Though you could do it to some extent. Ah well!

Awakening was where I realized I had some sort of Stockholm Syndrome with Fire Emblem -- where I was now so used to various forms of screw-over and abuse from the series that, when they were absent, I felt uneasy.
This is the unfortunate logical result.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Awakening was where I realized I had some sort of Stockholm Syndrome with Fire Emblem -- where I was now so used to various forms of screw-over and abuse from the series that, when they were absent, I felt uneasy.
This is the unfortunate logical result.

Well, you certainly won't have to worry about a lack of bull**** and the game not hating you, personally, in THIS one.

[Rising Phoenix]

Deme... what have you done?! I've spent 3 hours reading this playthrough and it's 1 am. I love you for it... and may have to start a let's play of path of radiance...maybe...

Also folks if you want to feel screwed over in awakening... all you need to do is start a game on Lunatic or if you are feeling especially masochistic Lunatic+...aha...haa...haha...yeah...

[Perkinz]

Deme... what have you done?! I've spent 3 hours reading this playthrough and it's 1 am. I love you for it... and may have to start a let's play of path of radiance...maybe...

Also folks if you want to feel screwed over in awakening... all you need to do is start a game on Lunatic or if you are feeling especially masochistic Lunatic+...aha...haa...haha...yeah...

I've heard horror stories of Awakening's Lunatic/+ modes. I think I'll let everyone else have a go at that one. Stockholm Syndrome isn't high on my list of priorities at the moment.

[Deme]

I'm not actually sure if that would be an antidote to that feeling, or if I'd just get my rear end handed to me. I'm looking for a particular type of screwed over, and should you, Rising Phoenix, do a PoR LP (which I would read and love to death and use to generally express my Soren fangirling), I can point to the exact type of screwed over I found myself missing. Of course, I can also do it in Thracia 776, since it has all possible forms of screwing you over, collected into one game.

[Rising Phoenix]

I've heard horror stories of Awakening's Lunatic/+ modes. I think I'll let everyone else have a go at that one. Stockholm Syndrome isn't high on my list of priorities at the moment.

Lunatic is okay once you realize that Freddy bear will be level five by chapter 3...

In Lunatic+ not even Frederick can save you... cause Luna+, Hawkeye hammer wielding Fighters...

[Deme]

Now, see, there's types of difficulty I like and types I don't, and that...Man. *shakes head*
Thracia 776 allows you to talk about all sorts of different difficulties!

I'm going to cut this chapter up some, because it's another long one. Or so say my 10 pages of screenshots.

Chapter 3, Part 1: Have Fun Storming the Fortress!

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...I forgot to save in a seperate file last map, didn't I? Oh, well. I guess I lied.


Oh, right. We had an objective. Riiight. We were going to go there and rescue them. Right. I'm sure Leaf and I didn't forget in amidst our spurts of random heroism.


Are you sure, Mr. Narrator? The map says Kelbeth... Actually, you know what? Kelves is fine. I'm with you, fan translator. Kelbeth sounds kind of dumb.


We start, as usual, with the bad guys. And some green units locked in a room. Green units are "other" units. They're not enemies. They're usually either helpless people or armies working with you and doing a bad job of it.


Redric comes on up and is given the throne. Despite our detour, we're hot on his trail!


Ok, now my rambling about child-hunting. Why do they call it that? Someone, tell me the name sounded...I dunno, cooler, in Japanese. Because here it sounds kind of lame and evil and lamely evil, but not in a funny way like "I'm not gonna wash my hands because I'm evil." They might as well be talking about puppy-kicking.
Like, the characters involved in a big way have what they feel to be a good enough justification, they're not just doing it because they enjoy hunting children, so...Who did their PR?

They're not even hunting children the way you picture when someone says "child hunting." It's more "Child Roundup" or "Child Rustling" or "Child Drafting" of some sort.
All of which also sound kind of lame, really. So clearly, this is just a difficult concept to name.

"I've locked them in the dungeon for now, but what do you wish to do with them?"
And that's our green units here.

"Good. Keep them here until the Lopto Church comes to pick them up. Be sure to be on your guard because the Magi Group might come to claim them as well."

So there's another group of rebels afoot? Great! We can meet up in Manster, rescue the girls, and absorb their handsome, awesome, and powerful leader into our group! It'll be a cakewalk!
One thing I do kind of like about the Jugdral games is that, maybe because the bad guys actually won, we're not the only people trying to free everyone and save the day. There's Tahra's rebellion, there's the Magi Group, and in a year or so, Leaf's cousin Celice will elect to abandon his own life of hiding in some backwards corner of the world and decide to take up arms against the forces that destroyed his family. The bad guys won, but the world's not just sitting back and taking it anymore.

"I thought I had killed them off, but they seem to have recovered somehow."

"No, I think I will stay here for a little bit...I'm tired from the long journey."
Great! So we can catch him here! Then we can go to Tahra straight...Oh, but then we won't meet up with this Magi Group. Hm. This Random Spurts of Heroism-based travel plan is getting rather complicated.

I'm sure the game will arrange something for us.


How impregnable is any fort in Fire Emblem, really? Well, I guess we can't just break the walls down like we could in the GBA games. That's already a dramatic improvement to security.

Anyway, Redric retreats to the area off the map...

And the map begins filling up with guys. We'll see them in a minute.


And now, our heroes! August is still here, of course.

Uh, because they hunt children and are a seat of present but probably not-carefully-monitored power for the empire of puppy-kicking? Geeze, Leaf.

The script sort of has to pretend last chapter, where the term got used and Leaf seemed to understand it just fine, never happened.
Maybe he was saving his comments for the next section, too.


*snicker* Right. Do people call it Barbie for short? Or Babs? I forget what NOA ended up calling it, but let's call that a good enough translation.

Right. It's not a wholesale slaughter of kids, but rather an evil religion's form of education. Maybe with a little human sacrifice on the side, just skimming off the top.
...
...I feel terrible saying that.

Thanks for the exposition, man. We've got heroism to do!

"Yes... Then let me give one last bit of advice. You won't be able to enter the fort on horseback, so dismount your horses before going in. Also, the children can't move, so carry them back to their homes."
Thanks also for the gameplay tips and warnings, August.



Whether August is a good guy or a bad guy is something we've still to work out. He's not exactly the most savory person, so his desire to "help" Leaf may just be a desire to use Leaf's name and history. But...We're sandwiched between a pair of agressive states that hate our guts. We might not be able to refuse help when next he's there to offer it...No matter what the price tag.



Until next we meet, August.

The player phase begins. Let's have a look around, shall we?

Forest and a few guys to the South-West. Also, us. We've got a new character that desperately needs protecting, but we'll get to her in a moment.


This map is rather narrow. We've got 4 villages, one for each captured kid. We'll be dealing with those later.


To the North-East, we have our first indoor area, complete with doors for Lifis to deal with and some treasure chests hidden by the terrain description. There's also a new building: a storage area. We can put items we don't need now into it, and I'm pretty sure you can access its inventory on the preperation screen later, right? Riiight? My sources are silent on the subject, but I hope so. We've got some stuff I'd like to save for later and all.


We also have a vendor in the North-West.

We've got a few things to note on the map, so let's look at them.

#1, there's this guy. He's a jerk. Wanna know why?

He's going to take stuff in the chests. One of them is a long-range tome. A long range tome he can use. We need to stop him.


Next we have the kids. Each one has a specific village we need to take them to in order to maximize reward. There's 3 boys and a girl.

One of them's even a familiar face to players of FE4! It's Corple! Corple's another one of the child characters, but he's also the adopted son of a bigshot general in Thracia.
He's nothing special here, it's just a cameo, and a reminder of the bigger world. *shrug* I wish we could use him here. Staff wielders are awesome. Alas. Just you wait until last game, Corple. Just you wait.



Of course, we've also got people of our own to look at.

First up is our Priestess, Safy. She's got no defense to speak of, but if she's getting hit, you've already made a bad move. She's good in what she needs, anyway.
The heal staff she comes with is your standard heal staff, but the repair staff...
That's another story entirely.

It's a unique staff, locked to her. It repairs weapons. In other words, it's a 5-use Hammerene, and they give it to you just for doing the first sidequest.
Stunning.

You guys need to remind me to use it. I spent all of Awakening with, like, 5 Hammerene staves I never used because *what if I need it later*? Anyway, 5 has all sorts of good weapons we could use it on one day. Staves are really useful in this game, so we're going to be seeing a lot of Safy and her fellow staff-users.

She's got nothing else to note.


We saw Lifis last map (I took the scroll off him then for giggles). We need to arm him. His low build makes stealing weapons not much of an option -- most of the time, if we want something from an enemy, we'll need to capture, unless we get lucky or the enemy involved has 20 build or something (which happens more than you'd like.)
He's not really a combat unit, but he can fight if he has to, and given a weapon that lets him use his high speed, won't do too badly. He'll never be great at it, but his command of lockpicks makes him invaluable.
Lifis has two movement stars, and a depressing PCC of 0. Like I said, not a combat unit. I guess if he didn't, it'd be possible to use him as sort of a myrmidon lite.

Next Time: Action! Scrolls! Inventory Management!

[Javan]

Deme's back! Huzzah!

[Illven]

Remember Deme, if Safy gets attacked in melee. It's a instant capture.

[Deme]

I reminded you guys of that last chapter, just with staff-users in general.

[Illven]

I reminded you guys of that last chapter, just with staff-users in general.

I forgot

[Deme]

Just pointing out, no big deal. It could do with re-stating, though, because it strikes me as pretty mean-spirited.

[Javan]

To clarify on the Repair staff, if you were to use it on a completely broken weapon, see former iron axe from last chapter, would it restore it to an iron axe?
I have never used hammerene staffs for the sole reason of "what if I need it later", similiar to Deme, so I have no experience with them.

And capture for our characters equals death?

[Rising Phoenix]

Remember Deme, if Safy gets attacked in melee. It's a instant capture.

Which is better than umm... getting killed in one round?

[Deme]

^^
You've got a point...Though with non-tissue paper healers (that is, not Safy), they could endure, and there's a chance to dodge with attacks there isn't with auto-capture.

To clarify on the Repair staff, if you were to use it on a completely broken weapon, see former iron axe from last chapter, would it restore it to an iron axe?
I have never used hammerene staffs for the sole reason of "what if I need it later", similiar to Deme, so I have no experience with them.

And capture for our characters equals death?

I believe so, but there are a bunch of things I'm not 100% sure on in the "little fiddly mechanics" department.


As for being captured...I am nearly certain you can recover a captured unit by killing their captor before they leave the map (or something like that), but the enemy will, just as you would, take their stuff.
Or maybe I am misremembering. I do know to make sure this is a full LP, we need to let someone be captured or otherwise allow for a non-death "death" at some point. There are a couple of options for that, and having a unit be captured is the most obvious one.

[Javan]

So that then begs the question, can you capture a unit who has captured one of your units?
I suppose that would be a matter for experimentation.

[tyckspoon]

I have never used hammerene staffs for the sole reason of "what if I need it later", similiar to Deme, so I have no experience with them.

Likewise, although it's mostly because the Emblem games I'm most familiar with (the more modern GBA set) provide strong enough characters and enough ready cash that you can get through like 90% of the game using Iron weapons, and there are more than enough uses already on the special weapons to handle the remaining 10%.

[Deme]

That, and most Fire Emblem games just take away your weapons when they break. The only other one I can think of that doesn't just lets you repair weapons with money, and there, you can repair a broken weapon, sure. You need to at one point, even.

Chapter 3, Part 2: Inventory Management, Ho!

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Ok, let's start this thing! Othin's going to start work on the guys to our left.


Thank you, othin.

He's actually got our Hezul scroll at the moment (I haven't handed it to Leaf yet), so maybe we'll see some results this level-up!

+1 HP, +1 Spd
...Now I'm grumpy, Othin. With the Hezul scroll, his HP growth is over 100. It is technically not possible for him to not gain HP. Which means he really just gained speed.
At least it's speed, at least it's speed...

Anyway, I set Leaf on a forest to help bait the archer, and I start moving everyone else forward. I trade some of Eyvel's swords to Lifis, and I notice something...
He can't equip her iron sword. I stare at it. I go and check its stats.


C? What sort of rank is that for an iron sword?
Let me see Leaf's...

...E. That's right. That's normal. And the C sword is much stronger and heavier than the E sword... And the description...
...WHY DO I HAVE TWO DIFFERENT IRON SWORDS? WHAT THE BUTTER MUFFIN?

I go poking around Serenes, and find a good match for the imposter. The imposter is not an iron sword, but an iron blade, a massively heavier (but also twice-as-strong) weapon.
Of course, without checking the item descriptions to see that they're different, my only clue is to look at the icon for it, which has never ever given me meaningful information before.
Bad translator. No cookie. Surely there's enough space to call it an Iron Bl or something.

Ok. So I need to get Lifis a sword from Leaf. I'll remember that, and I also need to get the Hezul scroll to Leaf.
Also on my shopping list this chapter: I am advised to get a spare short lance, if I have the space. Technically, I could use one of Fin's, but I could do one better, maybe.


Ronan uses his movement star. Of course, I can't send him ahead into the waiting arms of death, so once again, he has gotten it and is useless.
Number of Useless Movement Stars this map: 1
I come up with the bright idea of maybe using him to make getting everything to and from Leaf easier.

He can't reach Leaf. Foiled again.



Both of our immediate enemies attack Othin. It goes about how you'd expect. One day, enemies will learn a lesson about how bad an idea this is. But today is not that day. Today is a good day.


So close and yet so far away. Well, Lifis can make a bridge.



Like so! I give Leaf the Hezul scroll and the killing edge, and give Lifis one of the iron swords.
Now that I know the iron blade exists, I'm contemplating what to do with it. Thing is, with a weight of 15, there aren't many sword-users who can really use it well. I've got some inventory management to be thinking of in the near future. Do I bring it with me, in hopes of getting in some single, nuclear strikes?
I think the heaviest sword-wielder I can think of in the near future wants his double-attacks too much to want a weapon like this. Leaf would get doubled if he used it, most likely. Lifis? Well, he can't, but even if he could...
Grarglefargle. Maybe I will put it in storage.


For now, Eyvel can have it back. She's got village-guarding to do, and this is her last chance to do something meaningful -- her usefulness plummets after this, and she'll never really be good for anything again.
But today, she and Dagda are on rearguard duty.



I have Tanya weaken the soldier poking his nose in our business, and Havan finishes.


I also park Fin to try and lure down one of the soldiers, hopefully in a way we can deal with safely...And without too much resource-spending.


Eyvel gets a movement star just when I am parking her where I want her.
Number of Useless Movement Stars this map: 2

Anyway, enemy phase...

Fin, could you be a dear and not kill him too badly? He's got a door key.

...That critical means the answer to that is 'no, no I won't be a dear, Deme.'
Thanks, I suppose, Fin.

We've got a bunch of guys all massed-up in that little cliffpass.

I'll let Tanya work on one of them, from a safe distance... I think the cliffs impede movement, right?


Yeah, looks like.


I send Havan to the front line store to pick me up that short lance I've been wanting.

Havan delivers.

And levels!
+1 HP, +1 Str, +1 Def, +1 Bld
Nice!
Also, OOOOH! Build! Guess who can wield Steel Axes with only one point of AS penalty? It's this guy!

I have Leaf get some EXP, since he's got the Hezul scroll and is near levelling right now.


+1 HP, +1 Mgc, +1 Skl,
...Magic? Well, it's...Good for the light sword, I suppose. And you are in the path of a mage right now.
It's just strange is all.


Leaf gets his movement star!
And I got a screenshot of the little musical note indicating that the movement star kicked in! Oh, happy day!

To celebrate a movement star's successful triggering on a unit who has stuff he could be doing, I have Leaf attack the mage.

This is our first fight with a mage, so I guess Leaf got that point of magic (which, I remind you, acts as resistance against magic attacks) just in time.

Of course, the mage misses, negating everything I just said.

Of course, so does Leaf's second hit.


Also, for some reason, the enemy mage's map sprite reminds me of Kamina.
I took a screenshot just so I'd have something to accompany that thought.

Now, what did I say Ronan might be good for? Some sort of funky ranged mage-tank?
Let's see about...

Oh, wait. Despite his freaky magic growth, he has no base. So....Nope. Useless.


I let Marty do trade-and-release for the short lance. Now, it's time to figure out who should finish the mage and complete the front line against archertown.
I'd like Othin to be available, but he's still catching up. Man, that sounds familiar.


I'll let Fin help. If he gets badly hurt by the mage, he can retreat easily.

But, we're good.


Our front line is good enough. Let's go!


I will, though, have Ronan plug a hole so that Lifis will be protected. He's a little fragile.



Leaf handles the archers as best he can. Mostly via dodging.



I give Leaf a hard time sometimes, but he can handle the archers...



Way better than the archers can handle *us*. Or, well, Othin.

+1 HP, +1 Spd, +1 Luk, +1 Bld
More strength would be nice, but I can't argue with speed and build in a single level.


I let Tanya work at weakening the archer...

And she does a much better job than expected! Go Tanya!

And a level, to boot!
+1 HP, +1 Str, +1 Skl, +1 Spd
That's a pretty good level! You could maybe think about some Defense or Build, though, Tanya. Pleeaaaase? It'd make you so much better!


Anyway, Tanya's virtuoso whittling allows me a chance to get some EXP on Lifis!

So I get him a nice, easy little kill.

All these little nicks give me a chance to show off Safy!



It's just healing. Also...While it doesn't show her hit chance...
She has one.
I want you to think about this carefully.
She has staff accuracy.
Let me put it another way: whether or not a staff works depends on a hidden equation. Staffs can miss.
You can try and heal a guy who desperately needs it...And fail. Just on chance.
And then he dies and you lose him. Because of a hit percentage they never tell you about.
YOU ARE THE WORST JERK, THRACIA 776. THE JERKIEST.
This is a thing that sends me into a limitless frothing fountain of rage.

The calculation for *disgusted shudder* staff accuracy is (Staff's Accuracy [It's 60 for most staves] + [4 x Skill] ) %. It maxes out at 99%, so there's always a chance your staff will miss.
Always.

With her skill, Safy will be successful in using her staff 84% of the time. The remaining 16%, she will miss.

There are a lot of things about this game I like. Or accept. Or tolerate.
THIS IS NOT ONE OF THEM, YOU JERKS. I WANT MY HEALING TO BE HEALING.

To try and compensate, there's a chance a staff will double cast. That is, it'll go twice. The odds of this aren't terribly significant, maxing out at 30%. With Safy at the moment, it's 11%.
This is not actually compensation, I just wanted to try to say something nice.


Fin and the Newly-Healed Leaf will form a welcoming committee for our last friend outside the building. Then, we'll need to move quickly.

This works well, but not fabulously. I lament leaving the hammer with Dagda.
I'll try and work on that before I leave.



Othin finishes what Leaf started. Now, it's time to think about the forward scramble.

The moment I open the door, that guy with the robes is going to try and loot a chest to get a tome. A tome I want. A tome that will hurt me. I probably recapped this above, but...Well, now I need to think about it.
My plan is to have everyone huddle up, have my A-team and Lifis rush forward to try and catch him or rob him.


Safy heals Othin and Ronan takes a door key off of Lifis so that he can open a door and Lifis advance faster through it.

...Too soon, buddy. Too soon.
Useless Movement Stars: 3

Everyone bunches around the door.

Next round, Ronan opens it.
Let the scramble...Begin!

First up, I want Tanya to help me so Havan can grab this guy/knock him out. I'm pleasantly surprised to see how much she can hurt him.


And, more relevantly, how much she *does* hurt him. Nice work, sweetie.



Havan can actually capture this guy. He's got a door key and other goodies, so I run with this.

In order to enter the building, Fin...

Has to dismount. This lowers his stats...

Though not as much as I'd expect, really. It also forces him to use swords. Kind of annoying, and Thracia 776 *loves* indoor maps. This makes me sad. I love me some characters on ponies.


Leaf has to hold the back of the line for the moment: there's simply no one else.


Stings a little, but Leaf manages to give as good as he gets here.


I like how using a Door key just is represented by "D" in the menu. It makes me smile.
Also, Tanya opens the door.


Marty does his duty. I should look at that sword -- maybe Fin or Lifis would like it, and Leaf's running low on non-magic sword.
(I checked -- it'd be better for Fin than anyone right now; it's a bit heavy for Leaf, but Fin can take it.)



Havan weakens this spear-wielder and Lifis hurries behind him. We're almost in good shape here.


My instincts are torn here. Fire Emblem law dictates the healer should ALWAYS be healing. Thracian Law dictates I shouldn't use things I don't know where to get a replacement for willy-nilly.


Eyvel. Movement star. I should stop moving these guys out of habit.
Useless Movement Star Triggers: 4


...Uhh...Shouldn't you be moving, Mr. Dude? Like, isn't this your purpose?
Well, I'm not complaining.

First things first, I want those keys. 20 chest keys? That's something I'd like. Think of all the lockpicks I'll save!

Also, Lifis gets a level from his thievery.

+1 HP
It's terrible.


Fin's not as good at capturing sans horse (I guess he left him tied up outside?)

But he still likes killing.

+1 HP, +1 Skl, +1 Spd, +1 Def
And he still likes levels with lots of numbers! Fin's working hard for his liege, and it shows.

Back to our buddy the bishop...

I think Havan could maybe catch him...
But I'm not comfortable with the odds, not with that bishop's damage output.


Leaf takes that Iron sword off of Fin. Thanks, buddy!


If Leaf is nothing else, he's dodge-y.


...You gonna...do something, buddy? You could have, I dunno, hurt Havan or Lifis or someone....You know that, right?
Or you could have run away so I'll stop taking your stuff.


Well, if you're OK with this, I'm just going to resolve a conflict of interests. After all, with a back-up heal staff, I don't need to worry about using up my current one!
You're the best, buddy.


My thinking is that this will help the capture odds a lot, so I can get that elfire tome and that door key.

And painlessly for Tanya! Yaaaay!

....Yeah, that'll do. That'll do.



There we go.

And he levels, in spite of my not having a screenshot of it! Good boy, Havan!
+1 Str, +1 Bld
Not a great level, but more build helps shoulder that steel axe perfectly, and strength makes it hurt more. Good enough.


I feel bad for Othin. I keep saying I'll use Havan less...But I never do.

He does, however, get to clean up. I rely on those crits, buddy. You know that.


FINALLY, those reinforcements show up. Where have you guys been? I've been waiting forever.

One of them just walks up to Eyvel and stops. It doesn't attack. It either doesn't care about her...Or it knows it will die. The AI does that sometimes, particularly when certain weapons come into play. They must rush towards the unit...But they're too smart to attack. So you just end up surrounded by units terrified to death.
And then you kill them, of course.


Fin: also not someone to mess with.

Our main force is now in the clear. It's now time to do some unit-shuffling, some rescuing, some chest-looting...All that good stuff.

This time, Ronan relieves Havan. Marty's got doors to open.


Lifis opens the door and Tanya decides to help by relieving him of the chest keys.



Dagda and Eyvel help protect the villages. We've got kids to deliver soon.


Yeah, I think these new guys just don't care about who's in their way.

Let's get Tanya started on chests...



Meteor! It's a siege tome, a heavy, decent-powered tome that can deal damage at a range unthinkable by other types of weaponry, though with limited uses.
Had the Bishop moved, he'd have tried to use that against us, sniping us and ruining it.
Archers need something like this, and if you say "ballista," I'll shake my head and smack you one. Because you're mistaken. I mean, yes, Ballista is the sort of thing... But the lack of freedom of use ruins them on a functional level.


Marty unlocks the door to the children

And Ronan the door to the storage.


I send Fin down to start thinking about getting mounted; it'll make ferrying children easier.


Othin rescues the little girl, Lucia. She goes to the Lower-Left House. I have no idea if the game has any means of telling you this while still allowing you to bring her home. I'm guessing No.



Blah blah blah, Eyvel and Dagda do their things.


One of the new reinforcements actually attacks. I am surprised and confused.
The other doesn't. This AI is odd.


Fin ponies up.



Leaf grabs his fellow Second-gen character, Corple. I feel the need to invent a reason Corple never brings up this daring rescue -- I mean an in-universe reason, not the obvious out-of-universe reason.
Uhh...Ummm...Corple never connected the two, since Leaf in 4 is so much better than Leaf in 5 that they seem like different people? I don't know.
Maybe he did bring it up off-camera. I can accept this.
Anyway, we need to bring him to the Upper-Right house.

Othin picks up Merc, who my guide calls Roman. Anyway, he's Upper-Left.
And Marty's got Yuvel, who's Lower-Right.

Bringing them to the wrong houses gets you nothing, of course.

Havan gives Lucia to Fin, while I'm at it.


And Tanya gets an armorslayer! That'll come in handy in the next few chapters.


...Well, shoot, son.



OW. PANIC.

PANIC! PANIC!

Maybe Lifis can give her an escape route, we all run back to whichever axe guy is free?


Right. Now Lifis just needs to survive a round.


...Darnit, Thracia!

Good news is, Lifis doesn't get hit. We can run.


Everyone darts behind Havan, Safy heals Tanya. We're OK now.
It's at this point I realize that it's Havan I've sent to get the action, when I wanted it to be Othin. Sorry, Othin.
Havan's just...prone to being randomly available.


I caught an interesting crit frame. That is all.


Othin gives one of the kids to Dagda, so he can start heading back in case of more trouble.


Tanya helps. A little.

Bring it.


More reinforcements. This is a rule of Thracia 776, and I should have remembered it.

Havan can take a little...

But we're being trapped in a pincer.


Tanya's criticals can alieviate some pressure off of us, but it may come down to how fast Othin can run back.


And she levels!
+1 HP
And it's terrible.


Dagda brings the first of the kids home.

...What is his name even?
Well, anyway. He's home. Right choice.

Darn right I do.

Woot, woot! Defensive things!



Scroll? Scroll? Did you say scroll?

Stop trying to hint at game mechanics the player will never be shown directly and GIVE ME THAT.


Baldo scroll in the house!
Baldo is one of the crusaders, of course -- despite being otherwise pretty nondescript, he's the ancestor of all of the main lords of the Jugdral games.
His scroll is therefore like a good hero of a classic style (and not a Fire Emblem style) -- well-rounded, but not extraordinary, with many small bonuses.
It supplies +5% HP, +5% Str, +5% Skl, +5% Spd, +5% Luk, +5% Def.
Good for nearly anyone, but not likely to change too much.

We seem to have stopped the flow of reinforcements, thank goodness. Everyone's a little ragged.


Eyvel goes to bring Corple to...Well, not his house, all things considered, but where he's staying at the moment.

See? Not his house.
"It would have been a disaster if something happened to him. Thank you very much."
We don't get a reward...Now. Half of the kids just make good things happen later. And, frankly, I'd save them anyway. I'm a sucker for sub-objectives in Fire Emblem games as well as a sucker for chronic heroism.


I was hoping she'd crit again and finish this guy. Alas -- she's been on a hot streak this chapter.

But she does get a bow rank.


May as well try to catch him.

...Havan missed twice. That could have gone better.


Well, lookee there. Ronan.
I'm really just making a point, and that point is the game is laughing at me.
Count: 5




Sorry, Othin.


He levels, anyway.
+1 HP, +1 Mgc, +1 Skl, +1 Bld
....What. Magic? Seriously? You feeling OK, man?


And the last kid comes home.


So...I'm guessing we'll never need to remember this, right? It's just wasting out time by telling us about a guy who might suddenly gain sympathy to our cause, maybe after some conversation?
Because you're not flinging around "You'll get a dude for this" in letters that are flashing enough, game.

Not that I mind. We need help.
We get no immediate reward, but this allows us to talk to this fella later.
Now, onto inventory management.


I give Leaf the Baldo scroll and the Hammer. The hammer's not a high-priority item, but it might be useful for Leaf to have to give to someone later.

I strip Eyvel of everything she owns. She's done here. We're done with her.
...Though maybe, for emergencies, I should let her have an old iron sword of Leaf's. That seems fair.


Second off, Safy sells Havan's broken axe. It's not worth a lot, but every bit helps.


Lifis will take that big chest key and a bunch of other stuff. I spent a long time determining his loadout.


Interface failure: the staff option is below the wait, so I accidentally made her Wait when I wanted to heal. Darnit, game.

In the meanwhile, we'll start to handle the boss.

First, we'll let Othin sit, crit, and wait. Then, we may bring in Leaf.


In case that's illegable, he says...
"Wh-who are you people? Do you think you can get away with this!?"

We're the heroes. And...Well, define 'get away with'? We'll live. You won't. How's that?

True to our word, Othin's criticals bring him down to 2 HP. Leaf can bring this home.


Safy levels healing Eyvel. Which is why I healed her.
+1 Mgc
...That's...pretty bad.
But it is magic. Really, almost everything a healer needs is magic...Though skill, in this game and its STAFF ACCURACY wouldn't hurt.

Also...
I'm pretty sure the heal staff missed, and it didn't make enough noise about it for me to notice.
GRRR. I mean, nothing's going to attack Eyvel, so it doesn't matter... BUT GRRRRRRRR. HATE. HATE.


I send Ronan to the supply shed.

And I am faced with total gibberish.


I do detect which thing gives it to the supply, so I put my stat rings there for later.



Giving Leaf a magic sword was a good idea, game designers. Really good idea. It doesn't make up for all the bad ideas about Leaf you had, but...We can pretend for right now.

Well, you'd be a really dumb final boss if it was.


+1 HP, +1 Str, +1 Spd
That's....A pretty alright level. It's got all the basics. Good boy, Leaf. Good boy.



More supplies for the pile. Not a bad collection, really.



At the end of the level, these are the inventories of Lifis and Leaf. This will be relevant.


Let's get to that, shall we?

It was tense there for a minute and wait why is the music suddenly shifting? Who changed the background music?
(it actually does change, from the triumphant player-phase music to a much more threatening song).


Oh. You did.
Right.

"Put down your weapons if you want this girl to live!"


"Redric, you...!"
Thanks for your restraint, Leaf. Saves on editing.


A sweet sentiment. But how could we let him just run off with her?

"Damn...Okay...I'll drop my weapons. So don't hurt her!"
W-w-wait! What's all this? I meant we kill him, Leaf!

...Well. Darn.


Oh, for goodness' sakes! Didn't I just spend a chapter saying how you're out of usefulness?

Well, at least our friends will get away...But that also means we don't know what's waiting for us later.


Oh, what? Eyvel goes with us, but we leave Fin, who's been doing really well, behind?
You've discovered special ways to be mean, Thracia 776.



Guys, stop this. I don't have an unlimited editing budget.
(...Actually, I do. But we can't let them know that.)


This is one of those "Everyone chimes in" segments, normally reserved for end-game. Well, almost everyone. Ronan doesn't care about Leaf, and neither do Marty or Tanya, apparently.



Good man, Dagda! We need a plan, even if it does involve guys who are probably like Marty.

As for us...

We'll be here. Turns out, we're not really getting away with this at all.

Next Time: No Healer. Again. Also, alarmingly competent jailers.

[Deme]

Since the last post was running long... Have some character growths!

Character Growths

Spoiler

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Safy
HP: 35%
Str: 30%
Mag: 60%
Skl: 45%
Spd: 40%
Luk: 5%
Def: 3%
Bld: 2%
Mov: 0%
PCC: 1

Safy, besides being our first healer, is a near-ideal candidate for the position of one of our central healers (we'll probably want more than one). Sure, she's got the defensive and dodging abilities of wet tissue paper... But if your healer's getting attacked, you're doing it wrong anyway. On the other hand, she's got a good magic growth, and that's what really counts. Also, you get her early enough to grind her staff rank, and you *do* want some good staff-users, and her repair staff is unique to her and a really wonderful addition to the team.

Lifis
HP: 65%
Str: 35%
Mag: 10%
Skl: 25%
Spd: 45%
Luk: 5%
Def: 15%
Bld: 10%
Mov: 2%
PCC: 0

Not a fighter, our Lifis. Well, we don't really want him for his fighting prowess anyway. His job is to open stuff, and if his build and speed get high enough (looks a little dodgy, to me), steal things. We'll get other thief options, and we may want to consider them, but Lifis isn't a bad option. At the very least, he'll do.
Wish he had a PCC, though.

[Rising Phoenix]

Since the last post was running long... Have some character growths!

Character Growths

Spoiler

Show

Safy
HP: 35%
Str: 30%
Mag: 60%
Skl: 45%
Spd: 40%
Luk: 5%
Def: 3%
Bld: 2%
Mov: 0%
PCC: 1

Safy, besides being our first healer, is a near-ideal candidate for the position of one of our central healers (we'll probably want more than one). Sure, she's got the defensive and dodging abilities of wet tissue paper... But if your healer's getting attacked, you're doing it wrong anyway. On the other hand, she's got a good magic growth, and that's what really counts. Also, you get her early enough to grind her staff rank, and you *do* want some good staff-users, and her repair staff is unique to her and a really wonderful addition to the team.

Lifis
HP: 65%
Str: 35%
Mag: 10%
Skl: 25%
Spd: 45%
Luk: 5%
Def: 15%
Bld: 10%
Mov: 2%
PCC: 0

Not a fighter, our Lifis. Well, we don't really want him for his fighting prowess anyway. His job is to open stuff, and if his build and speed get high enough (looks a little dodgy, to me), steal things. We'll get other thief options, and we may want to consider them, but Lifis isn't a bad option. At the very least, he'll do.
Wish he had a PCC, though.

Lifis is more fragile than an egg on a battlefield... Also 5% LCK growth? Seriously? augh....

[Javan]

Perhaps one of the most entertaining chapters posted , good job Deme.

You may have mentioned this before and I am just forgetting it, but what do the rings do? Are they one use items like Speedwings or Draco shields or something else?

[Deme]

Lifis is more fragile than an egg on a battlefield... Also 5% LCK growth? Seriously? augh....

He's lucky he's a thief, that's all I'm saying about his combat-viability...Though we will have somewhat more combat-ready options available.

Perhaps one of the most entertaining chapters posted , good job Deme.

You may have mentioned this before and I am just forgetting it, but what do the rings do? Are they one use items like Speedwings or Draco shields or something else?

Thank you.

And the rings are one-use items just like the stat boosters in other games: specifically, they boost the relevant stat by 2 (Magic, Shield, Leg), 3 (Luck, Speed, Power, Body, Skill) or 7 (Life).

[Deme]

Since I know this chapter is hecka wordy, let's do the introduction in a seperate post, before I get down to working on the chapter proper.
Chapter 4, Part 1: Really "The Dungeon" about Covers It

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Soooo....Where were we?


Oh, right. We failed. I mean, we won the map and all, but not only did we not rescue Nanna and Marita, Leaf couldn't even keep his long fought-for freedom.
And, far as we know, we're stuck with Eyvel (not long-term viable) and Leaf (who sucks). Oh my.

Manster was under the rule of the Freege family, a house of nobles put in charge of Northern Thracia by the Emperor.

The Freege family are familiar faces to players of FE4. Most of them were villains, but you had a couple of playable relatives, too. For some instinctive reason beyond explanation, the very mention of them raises my hackles. *shrug* Your guess is as good as mine.



*Hackle level: 50% raised*

Leaf has no idea of what he was about to witness...

Is it going to be difficult and kind of annoying? Because I'm pretty sure I have some ideas about that.


So, we got some green people (who we'll help), some red people... And a chance to start listening to the bad guys, like always.


That's right, Reidric! You won't get passed over in favor of Jenkins in accounting again!
...Because as soon as I get some units who can fight, I will kill you. Just you wait.


Oh, hey! We were looking for a Dashin!

A man of few words, Dashin. But I didn't want to use even one of them on a font color and portrait for the guy.
I like how the game didn't flash the 'He's recruitable' signs everywhere in this chapter -- only if you've met the prereqs to recruit him do you know he's recruitable, instead of a substitute not-Reidric boss or a mid-boss or something.

"I shall go to the arena. Woman, you will have to come with me as well."

"Girls? Marita and Nanna?"
"That's right. They are doing quite well. Don't worry, I haven't laid a finger on them."

"Are you really going to let me see them?"
"You have my word."
Well...I certainly doubt he's lying, but...
Is lying the worst this guy could do?

That evil chuckle means "no."
Nooo, Eyvel, don't! He's going to do something to make you regret that desire! It might even be faux-ironic!

Eyvel throws down some elipses, and we cut away.

Ok, so now we just have Leaf.
...We're boned.



Oh, wait! Rescue! We're saved from just enduring Leaf!


*delighted squeal* Sety! Everyone, say hello to my favorite Gen 2 character! Hiii, Sety!
Though I suppose he merits a bit more introduction. The short version is that Sety's the prince of Silesia, the obligatory land of Ice and Pegasus Knights. In canon, he's the son of Levin, who is my favorite character in the Jugdral games, bar none. Between the first and second halves of Geneology, Levin abandons his role as the new king of Silesia and his family. His wife dies, and Sety decides enough is enough and goes looking for him. I'm simplifying stuff and leaving out some spoilers, but Sety's basically a ball of heroism and daddy issues.
Sety's the descendent of the crusader Sety and, after his father left, the wielder of the tome Holsety, which was gifted to humanity by the dragon Holsety. I can never decide if that's kind of neat, because of the ongoing name pattern, or kind of terrible, because of the ongoing name pattern...
But one of my only gripes about the localization given to these names for Awakening (becoming Ced/I dunno I guess maybe also Ced please/Forseti/Probably Also Forseti, respectively) is that they took that pattern away from me. Thus, I am sad panda.

...Also, there's some dude. He's pretty OK.


Guess what? Right now, We get the dude. We do not get Sety.

Why you always got to do this, game? Why you always got to dangle all hope and happiness in front of my face, only to brutally dash it on the cold, unfeeling floor?!
Farewell, sweet prince. We will meet again!

Now, let's meet what we've got that Sety's left behind...


Thanks for working in some stuff about stealing mechanics, game! Lara's the first non-optional thief, so I guess this is a good time to have this talk.



Well, well, well...Before we see our new guys, let's have a look-see.


Bottom left, we have Leaf, and...You know, those sprites don't look like other members of our usual crew. Let's see...


They're new, it seems. We'll look at them, and Leaf's situation in a bit.
We also have quite a few chests.

In the bottom right...

Oh hai Lifis! Looks like Leaf's not our only old team member, though I doubt Lifis went with him out of heroism.
With him are some generic green brigands. They won't mess with us, at least.

Our new friends not in cages are at the east corridor in the center of the early stages of the map....


And in the upper right, we have some civilians and half of a darkened room... More about the room in a second.

And same on the upper left. We want the civilians to escape alive -- if they do, we'll get an extra chapter with a special surprise inside.

The darkened room will be revealed when we unlock it, which should smell fishy to anyone who's been paying attention.
The red arrows are our objective. New to Fire Emblem in this game, and vanishing until FE9 and 10 is a map objective not explicitly linked to killing (or siezing)!
Our stated goal this map is to escape. The map ends when Leaf gets to those arrows. Well-fitting to the idea that this is a jailbreak. We don't need to occupy a position of power or defeat the enemies -- we just need to get to fresh air and freedom. Other characters can get to the red arrows and escape as well, but Leaf's the one who ends the map. Simple, right?

There's just one little, itty-bitty, teensy-weensy, minute liittle hiccup.
Any unit that hasn't escaped before Leaf, and is therefore still on the map when it ends, is left behind. You don't get them for the next map, or pretty much the rest of the game (there's a chance to get them back later, but it's too late for the unit to really be useful if they're left, like, now). They're effectively dead.
Does the game tell you this?

Well, why don't you go back and read that text. Does it look like the game said *anything* about this?
No.
Because it hates you.

I mean, it's narratively interesting and all...But it's also some grade-A jerk move.

Ok, now let's look at people. For starters, we'll look at Leaf's situation.

They took our stuff. Unlike many other games, the Empire actually has competant jailors that don't just let you keep all your worldly goods.
Darnit! The Empire may be evil, but it makes its orphan-teared powered trains run on time.

This is what those chests scattered through the map are about -- they're what became of the inventories of Lifis and Leaf.
But let's look at some more cheerful things.


Like our cell-mate Fergus!
Before you say "This is cheerful, Deme? His stats look kind of dubious." Well, never fear! Fergus is actually a mounted unit -- a Free Knight, capable of using swords on foot as well as on horseback, so he only has to worry about one weapon type for stuff like this. What this also means is that because he's indoors, he's dismounted, so the stats we see here are actually after some penalties. Also, he's only level 3, cut him some slack. He's still a step down from our higher-level regular guys, but he's got some maps to catch up on...And one heck of an incentive to do so. His PCC is 5.
5.
Fiiiiiive.
Hand that boy a sword with a crit chance, and we will have all sorts of crazy critical-hit fun.
Heck, you don't even need a sword with a crit chance (though it helps) -- you can just stand him near our other cell-mate, and their support will put him to a stunning (my numbers seem to vary a bit on the exact number, my guess is 50%, but I've seen people say as high as 85%) critical chance on the second attack, all on its own.
In short: good stats, good growths, a movement star, GREAT PCC, good mobility, decent build. Fergus is a beast. Fergus for president 776.


Next up, the matter of Karin. She's a pegasus knight, if the name didn't clue you in, so when we get out of this accursed building, she'll have not just a horse but a flying horse! It's hard to get more useful than a good flier, to be honest. As for Karin, she's...Well, as you can see, she does pegasus knight stuff: good magic (for resistance), good speed and luck, bad defense, strength, build, and HP. This cuts her combat viability significantly, and that's pretty worrying.
She's got no other features of note. Like Fergus, Leaf, and Lifis, she's been disarmed.

So let's look at our characters who can fight, shall we?

You may notice he's listed as an axe knight, and is carrying an axe...But can only use swords. Can you guess what this means before the kids at home do?
That's right: he is also a mounted unit, currently dismounted.
This game gave us 5 new units this map, and 3 of them are taking dismount penalties. And one of the other ones is a thief. And the two returning characters are Leaf and Lifis. How very...it of it.

Bryghton's stats are just sort of so-so, though his defense is nice. He's our sturdiest character right now, so let's give him a big welcome.
He also comes with our ol' buddy Wrath! While ultimately not enough to help him overcome his mediocre base stats, decent-but-not-fabulous growths, and PCC of 1, it makes him a serious asset at this point in time.

Introducing our one really combat-viable non-mounted unit...

Makua! She's our first myrmidon, and has all the proper attributes thereof: fast, skilled, weak. Her strength there's going to be a bit of a worry for us. Reviews on her are pretty mixed, but like Bryghton, she'll do for now. She also has Ambush, which hopefully will help her out here. She's got a PCC of 3, just good enough to be worth noting, not good enough to rely on.
Her chest key makes me regret wasting an inventory slot with that chest key we got last time.
Eh, live and learn.


And finally...

What, you thought Lifis shouldn't fight? Well, as it turns out, he's actually a better fighter than someone. Doesn't that feel special? And by special I mean annoying?
Her build even makes stealing weapons a no-option. There actually is some special usage for her, but we'll be getting to that much later. For now: don't let her fight.
...Actually, never let her fight.

This is what they give me to work with? Well, honey, I've seen worse.

[Deme]

My warning in advance: some of the images may be scrambled. Basically, Photobucket uploads them kind of out-of-order, and so...It becomes really hard for me to tell sequence of events. I do my best, but if you spot something odd, let me know.

I need a tylenol after this...

Chapter 4, Part 2: Keep It Down, You Crazy Playable Characters!

Spoiler

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Now, let's get this party started! This is a pretty long map with so much to do that it can drive a man mad, so I don't want to waste no time.


In an ideal world, Makua will be able to critical and handle this guy. Not reliable, but it's a nice idea.

I present to you what is likely the only evidence that could ever be provided that we live in an ideal world. I don't even know.

I'll let Bryton bait the soldier behind the gang into hopefully following them -- I don't want him to be too far behind, but I do want him to kill this guy.


And Lara opens up the door to treasure-room one, while we're here.


You and me both, buddy.

"I knew it! You look just like the guy in the wanted ad."
Well, Lifis, at least you're famous. In a 'get arrested' sort of way. Which, by the way, happened within a few minutes/days of your getting off my leash. That's just sad.

"Hehe...Looks like I'm pretty famous... Wait a minute...maybe I can use these guys..."
Use them for what? ...Don't answer that.



This oughta be good.


Didn't we kill all of your boys?
"I'll be out of here sometime soon. So it'll only be a short while, but let's be friends, eh?"

"Really!? Leave it to me! See these muscles? I'll knock out a guard or two any day!"



"Haha...Idiots are so easy to manipulate. Now I just have to wait for a chance..."
Riiight. That happened.

Onto the enemy phase!

I love the smell of Wrath in the morning.


oh, you know, being the world's least lucky guy, starting an ill-thought-out-rebellion, being a political figurehead of sorts... The standard stuff, really.

Shown: beginner-level question-dodging.

"And the next thing I know, I get thrown in here. Great, huh?"

"Yeah, and then they threw me in here as well because they thought I was with you."

It might be a bit, considering it got you THROWN IN PRISON. But Fergus is way too chill to worry about that sort of thing.

"Yawn...I'm kinda tired, so I think I'll take a nap. Wake me up at dinnertime."
As shown.
"I don't believe..."




Leaf's pretty uneducated in his global color palletes. Silesia has the global monopoly on green hair and green eyes.

"Well, our prince suddenly left the country. The queen has already passed away, and the princess is still too young, so..."


"Yes. The people opposing the Empire all moved to a city called Tovae in the far north, where they're defending the royal family."
Well, the bits of it that'll stay put. When the princess is old enough to fight, it'll turn out that that's "actually none of the royal family, really."

""Well, I'm still not a knight yet, so flying is the best I can do. But my pegasus and I understand each other."

I like it when fictional characters name their mounts. Makes me all smiley.
But...It's not a bad idea for us to move to productive exposition.

"He said he was going to go look for the king... But you see, the king's kinda weird. He left years ago, abandoning his country and family. Naturally, everyone's mad. So we need Prince Sety to return and take the throne."
So we have Karen, who's out looking for Sety, who's out looking for the King. This doesn't sound absurd at all.
When Karen doesn't report in, on account of being imprisoned, I wonder if they'll send someone out to search for her who's searching for the prince who's searching for the king? How deep does this rabbit-hole go, Silesia?



Fergus. You're making it really hard for me not to just call you the best and leave it at that.

"You're the only one who can snore away in a place like this. You're so insensitive!"
Silly, Karin, that's not how you spell 'great.'


"Told you so, hahaha..."
"Erg..."


"Yes...Maybe you can help me."
And then he explains everything, I guess.

Well, that was great, but it's back to freeing prisoners and so on.

That was not where I wanted to move her to. Dumb mis-clicks.

Well, let's free some folks:



For some more talking.

"Well, someone really did come...I guess talking crap sometimes does work..."
This seems to be a theme with Lifis -- his compulsive lies somehow help him out, because no one's smart enough to realize he's just full of it.


I re-equip Lifis so he can run and start opening chests. This is the moment I realize I was really, really dumb to give that key to Lifis before we left -- we could have gotten some better items instead.

Enemy phase!

Well, she dodged, at least. She didn't kill him.


This map takes a while to get going, doesn't it?

And this sort of dialogue is pretty hard to talk about, too.


Except to note that Leaf gets absolutely, positively, always and forever... No respect. No respect at all.
Then again, he's been sort of in hiding, while other people do stuff. Boy's late to his own homeland-freeing party.

"But now, with Sety's help, they've become a force strong enough to be able to fight back against those dastards. As long as we trust Sety...we won't lose."
As long as you're getting rescued by Leaf, can you at least promise you won't be completely insane and suicidal?
No?
...I thought not.


Our NPC brigands rush around; they'll do way more killing than I'd like if you let them, so we need to try and control the EXP flow a bit.



We send Lifis to get back our hammer. We'll get some, but not enough, use of this...Hopefully.



Makua crits just in time to finish off our nearest guardsmen. One less kill for the brigand boys!

Now, I have a choice to make: I could scatter the group and get Leaf and co free sooner, or I could stick together and have Lara do some work in the chest-opening department... What to do, what to do...

Let's get everyone together first.


On the enemy phase, a miss from Bryton robs him of a kill. Darnit!

So the brigands get it instead. Brigands will capture a unit if they can; if they die, the unit is back on the map. That's some good learning experience.


Lifis gets back his lock-picks.

And a movement star! Double the chest-opening!



Lara springs Leaf and co.


Never look a gift-rescue in the mouth, Leaf. At least not until the rescue's done.

"It could be anybody. For now, we have to run."


...Is this the game trying to tell me to make sure Leaf gets out last, because stragglers will be captured? I forgot this was here.
Well, I'm not sure; it might just be generalized heroic dialogue, but, either way, I like it. I think this game kind of asks you -- and, in some ways, forces you -- to roleplay as Leaf a bit. You're not the best, your fights are hard, you want to get everyone out alive...
You don't have to, but now when you pick who escapes and who doesn't, you know exactly what it is Leaf would want, and you'd be punished for neglecting that. Something like that, anyway. It's one of the reasons I wanted to LP this game, and I think highly of it: I feel it uses its mechanics and its maps to tell the story and mood of the game in a much more impactful way than a lot of Fire Emblems.

"Ha...All right, kid. I'll tag along with you for a while."


Your words say no, but your mutual support effect says "Yes."

"Just kidding. Well, what are you going to do?"

Really? Well, I won't look a gift pegasus knight in the mouth!

"I can't forgive that Redric person for taking girls as hostages. I'll help Lord Leaf escape, too."

Well, I guess that's all we can ask. We need all hands on deck for this one.
"Well, well...Looks like I got quite a handful now..."


We get everyone out. They're all helpess as newborns until they get weapons, so we'll have to see what we can scrounge up.

The brigands go towards the armor knights up there. You have fun, guys.


And we'll work on the scrounging.


And the Brigands will work on their kill-stealing.


Yay, a sword! Fergus, this one's for you.





Battles continuing up there. In fun-country.

And Leaf has a weapon now, too. Yay!


Bryton and Makua will defend against any surprises from the top, and Fergus will start defending Lifis in case bad guys pop up.

The Brigands vs Armors fight looks exactly like how it looks last time.




We get the last chests in these rooms and begin advancing.

Of course that happens when I move everyone away from that side.


A new battle is joined.


Makua handles a new reinforcement. We've got some friends coming now.


One of the armors kills a brigand...

Who drops the guy he was carrying...

Who is in turn re-captured by another brigand. It's the circle of brigands. And it moves us all.


Karin borrows a chest key to unlock...That other chest key. Well, it'll get us all out faster.

Makua heals.

I was hoping to hit one of these armors so that not all of their kills will end up with Bryton, but...

Nope.


Fergus fights...

As does Makua, but with less alliteration. Had she maybe critted, I could have gone with 'massacres.'



We save a kill from the Brigands! Hooray!

But we couldn't get all of them...



We recover our scrolls.



Fergus misses (twice, even) making me feel guilty I talked him up so much. Fire Emblem: different every time in ways that make you feel like an idiot for trusting someone.


Leaf gets out our killing edge, good for Fergus or Makua or somebody who wants to kill everything with crits.



One enemy heals...

The other takes on Makua.

Granting her her first level!

+1 Spd, +1 Luk
...Well, you're definitely a myrmidon, aren't you?


Fergus's PCC grants him a kill.


And we despair about ever getting rid of these guys. The'll escape, if they don't want to be hitting enemies instead.


We send Fergus to give our buddies a clear path...

He misses. Not a lucky day for us, I suppose.


Nothing like playing endless heal-and-wait games.


We'll cut that short and hope for no big reprisals. We don't have enough vulneraries for this.


...Well, now we do.




Bryton heals.


Lifis takes some licks.


Oh, for pete's sake! Go home, you guys. Go home. You're drunk.


Welp, that was sure worth my time.


Just what we need!
...On the other side of the map.


Leaf'll take the killing edge for a spin, hopefully attracting some enemy attention...That he can hopefully survive.


Now you're teasing me, game.


Makua, please tell me you can help.

Lucky for us, she can.



Brigand down!


And an attack pushes Leaf over the edge.

+1 Mhp, +1 Skl, +1 Spd, +1 luk, +1 Build
Build, you say?
*heavens open up, choirs of angels sing*
Leaf is now no longer weighted down by iron swords.


Well, that gets rid of them, at least.



Fergus takes the killing edge. His survival here is mostly going to be a matter of prayer. Not the skill.



One threat down.


One level up!
+1 Str, +1 Skl, +1 Def
Not bad, not bad at all! We need that defense right now, too.



A weapon for Karin, yay!


Oh, how I wish we had gotten that sooner.


If Leaf can take out this guy, and no people can hit Fergus when they spawn, we'll make it through this round. Odds are good.

Eeexcellent.



Ok. Ok. We're OK.






We split this up, and contemplate how we're going to handle this next bit of game.

Now to decide which direction the boys should run in...Towards danger, or away from it? Of course, all directions are 'towards danger' here.
We'll send them the short way.




Our previously-captured buddy escapes...


Oh dearohdearohdearohdear...

Phew.

Now, we've got everyone, and they're all equipped and stuff...So now it's time to begin Phase 2.


We'll start freeing these guys...Next time.

Next Time: NPCs! Gaming the System! Bloodbaths!

[Illven]

Stupid NPC's unable to free themselves.

[Javan]

Every time I play a Fire Emblem game those ohdearohdearohdear moments seem to be quite common.
Though if your luck holds out too much, many of us are going to look quite foolish on our reset counter guesses.

[Deme]

@ Illven: But if they could free themselves, I wouldn't be able to stop them from going crazy and running all over the place and dying. It'd be a nightmare, and we get an excellent prize for their survival.

@ Javan: I find I tend to go 'ohdearohdearohdear' in situations that, in retrospect, weren't big risks. I'm not sure whether or not this situation really counted -- maybe if there were more reinforcements there. It's basically the same reason I blunder into really obvious bad scenarios, like my first reset. I don't really check things or run numbers carefully enough to make good judgments... That said "Ohdearohdearohdear" is my most common response to anything.

...That said, when things start getting really tough, I can't count on my luck. We're just beginning to get to the game's true form.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Though if your luck holds out too much, many of us are going to look quite foolish on our reset counter guesses.

Have you seen the something awful lp of his game? (You should, it's great, especially the last chapter) trust me, it's better to worry about the reset counter being too low.

[Javan]

Originally Posted by Deme
... I don't really check things or run numbers carefully enough to make good judgments... That said "Ohdearohdearohdear" is my most common response to anything.

I have faith in you Deme, make the resets few!

Originally Posted by CoffeeIncluded
Have you seen the something awful lp of his game? (You should, it's great, especially the last chapter) trust me, it's better to worry about the reset counter being too low.

I have not seen it, and as I have not played through Thracia 776 myself, I have nothing to really base it on. Is it really that bad?

[CoffeeIncluded]

The lp is really good, and this one is shaping out to be a good ones well. Thracia 776 is basically intsys hates you: the game. And arbitrary bull****: the game.