Romance! Intrigue! Honor! And WAR!! Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4!!

[Jotari]

Yay more secret conversations. There's a surprising amount of sequence breaking I just never considered doing in this game. I'm also surprised that you didn't mention Deirdre won't die if her HP hits 0 so you don't have to worry about her as much as other units. Whoops. spoke too soon. There's a part 3.

Edited July 21, 2015 by Jotari

[FionordeQuester]

Yeah...sigh, I kinda messed up this update in some ways the first time I tried to post it all. In fact, here are some translation tidbits I forgot to put in...

Translation Tidbits

Creative Liberty #7: When Sigurd calls for God to put "1000 slashes upon his heart" if he's sinning, that's not actually in the original script. In the original script, he just calls for God to "visit unbearable agony and pain" upon him or something like that. He doesn't specify WHAT kind of agony.

Creative Liberty #8: The first half of Sigurd's ending line of "King Batou...No...What IS the Dark Sect anyway...?" is a bit different in the original script, and somehow even sillier. In the original script, Sigurd literally says something along the lines of "King Batou...What sorrow..." or "King Batou...What a pity." Either way, it's still evident that the writers weren't even trying with this scene .

[Jotari]

Yeah...sigh, I kinda messed up this update in some ways the first time I tried to post it all. In fact, here are some translation tidbits I forgot to put in...

Translation Tidbits

Creative Liberty #7: When Sigurd calls for God to put "1000 slashes upon his heart" if he's sinning, that's not actually in the original script. In the original script, he just calls for God to "visit unbearable agony and pain" upon him or something like that. He doesn't specify WHAT kind of agony.

Creative Liberty #8: The first half of Sigurd's ending line of "King Batou...No...What IS the Dark Sect anyway...?" is a bit different in the original script, and somehow even sillier. In the original script, Sigurd literally says something along the lines of "King Batou...What sorrow..." or "King Batou...What a pity." Either way, it's still evident that the writers weren't even trying with this scene .

As far as creative liberties go, I fully support those two decisions.

[FionordeQuester]

As do I. Anyways though, just got Chapter 2 done...boy what a map. It's one of the best maps in the game, but BOY is it a nasty one for how early it is in the game. In fact, it really almost seems like it and Chapter 3 should've traded places :P.

But still, I managed to beat it in 36 Turns. And here's a preview screen of all I accomplished in that amount of time...

Also, expect a War Room update on the Pairing mechanics soon. This one, I think, will be important enough to be a mini-update all on it's own.

[Nintales]

Are you sure about AideenxJamka?

Lester doesn't get Pursuit from that one, because it's a Class skill. Neither do Lana, but she's not a combat unit, so it's alright.

You worked well on that killcount for the lightsword though.

[FionordeQuester]

Are you sure about AideenxJamka?

Lester doesn't get Pursuit from that one, because it's a Class skill. Neither do Lana, but she's not a combat unit, so it's alright.

You worked well on that killcount for the lightsword though.

Yeah, I did think twice or thrice on that one, but, ultimately I decided that it was worth it for the following reasons...

1) Lester can easily be trained up in Chapter 9.

2) Not many other people really need the Pursuit Ring anyway because Holyn!Patty already has the Bargain Ring and the Uber Hero Sword to wreck stuff with, Leaf is basically an even better version of Cuan who ALSO destroys Arena's with the Uber Hero Sword, Hannibal has the Uber Hero Sword + High Strength + Big Shield to carry him, Leen will get lots of Exp from Dancing and Prayer...so basically Lester is the only one who even needs the Pursuit Ring.

3) Aideen X Jamka makes it much easier to train both of them since it can be made early, and since the Killer Bow is so expensive. Midir on the other hand just wastes the money since he can't clear Arena's even WITH the Bargain Ring (yes, I tried).

THAT SAID THOUGH, I did change my mind about almost every other pairing since I last made that list, so look forward to finding out all about that!

Edited July 24, 2015 by FionordeQuester

[B.Leu]

Batou, aka, the Ganon wannabe.

Huh, they believe in God in Jugdral ? Huh...

[Darrman]

Wonder what pairings you'll go for. Are we doing Horsety or Canonsety? or nosety but that's stupid Vantage-Wrath? I guess we'll find out when the time comes.

[Nintales]

There is also Corsety.

[sirmola]

Loving the LP so far. I'd love to read your 7th saga LP. (unlees you are secretly this guy: http://www.talking-time.net/showthread.php?t=12551or this guy: http://lparchive.org/The-7th-Saga/ ) Something about that game makes for great screenshot LPs.

There is also Corsety.

technically, but it's really a distant third. leen doesn't benefit at all, and corple is has no good skills from his mother (pursuit, i'm looking at you), no horse, and a horrible join time.

[FionordeQuester]

My 7th Saga LP? Sure! I never got that archived due to procrastination issues, but if I can't work something out with Geop, I'll just dig em' all and put em' all on Test Poster, just like I did for Melth's FE7 and FE6 LP's!

Also, the mini-update on pairings and the Inheritance mechanics are almost done. Just waiting for Marty's commentary now!

[B.Leu]

Wait, 7th Saga ? You did that evil game of doom ?

[FionordeQuester]

Yessir! And I had a blast doing it too, even though I struggled with motivation for some parts of it (just that was my very first LP, so I was still a bit green back then). That said though, even looking back on it, I'd say I did a pretty admirable job. Heck, I even managed to get Robert Jerauld himself (one of the play testers and localizers) to agree to an interview with me! I even cooked up some pretty sweet portrait edits from the Apprentices default images from the instruction manual...



And MetalMiku let me use some of his great fanart as well...



All in all, it was actually pretty fun for me to make. The only regret I have is that I never had the motivation to make different "mood" portraits for these FE characters ...

Edited July 29, 2015 by FionordeQuester

[B.Leu]

I was going to do a joke, asking you if were into BSDM, but it woul be hard, since I see just how much fun it must have been !

Despite how evil the game is.

Edited July 29, 2015 by B.Leu

[sirmola]

My 7th Saga LP? Sure! I never got that archived due to procrastination issues, but if I can't work something out with Geop, I'll just dig em' all and put em' all on Test Poster, just like I did for Melth's FE7 and FE6 LP's!

Also, the mini-update on pairings and the Inheritance mechanics are almost done. Just waiting for Marty's commentary now!

Ooh. maybe you could put them all in a thread to make them easier to find?

...

...

Wait. Archive. Does that mean... *checks master list*. Oh. So you are crossposting this LP from something awfull. That explains the long mechanics posts. Not that i mind. I love me a good fe4 LP, and i love it even more if i can enjoy it without occasionally being locked from the forum for the rest of the month for not being a member (although that will probably get better now that i am not always using the same IP address as 1000 other people).

Edited July 29, 2015 by sirmola

[FionordeQuester]

Yeah...now that I think about it, it might've been a good idea to warn you guys of why I had those long mechanics posts. Either that, or just trim down a lot of the fat...but oh well. Do any of you all mind them being there?

[sirmola]

Yeah...now that I think about it, it might've been a good idea to warn you guys of why I had those long mechanics posts. Either that, or just trim down a lot of the fat...but oh well. Do any of you all mind them being there?

I defenatly don't mind at all, especially given that mechanics knowledge makes or breaks a run like this, and the forum has lots of newer members who don't know this stuff. I actually learned one or two things about the ranking system from your posts. I just thought it was a little odd given the venue, is all. In fact, now that ive read the SA thread, there were one or two things that were discussed in your replies that i wish were discussed here (such as dewXaria, or the part where twerliki showed up in the thread).

Edited July 29, 2015 by sirmola

[FionordeQuester]

Oh yeah, those...for reference, I was going to pair Dew with Aira, but then decided against it when I realized I'd be marrying a 13 year old boy to a 17 year old woman.

And I couldn't argue "gameplay vs. story segregation" since I was doing something that actually affected the story.

Of course, since then, I realized that Lex X Aira was actually an even better pairing due to fun Uber Hero Sword + Ambush + Elite + Meteor Sword exploits on the Epilogue and Chapter 7, but, even before that, I was just going to settle for pairing Aira with Ardan.

And yes, Twilkitri, the one responsible for the Reparation Patches, actually came up to answer for a problem that one of the users had with the translation.

To quote the conversation...

[barhara] really bothers the hell out of me, especially with names like Sigurd and Tyrfing flying around. Is it really not supposed to be Valhalla?

Yeah...that IS definitely what it's supposed to be a reference to, though obviously it'd be a little anachronistic to just flat out call it that. On that note, BookofHolsety's upcoming patch calls it "Belhella" instead, so look forward to that [note that this turns out to be wrong later. It was actually Belhalla].

How is it "anachronistic" when the game is already busting at the seams with references to Norse myth?

...And they're changing it to Belhella? :doh: That's even worse, and for even dumber reasons!

This is one case where you should either stick with the blatantly intended mythological reference, or have the balls to make major enough changes that it doesn't stick out as failed translation of the the blatantly intended mythological reference and doesn't include the word "hella".

Assuming that this is one of the patches done while I was maintaining it, it's using Barhara because that's the name embedded into the world map and I didn't want to have the game inconsistent with itself if possible. If/when it became possible to alter that text then it would have reviewed, although this wouldn't have guaranteed it being changed to Valhalla. A distressingly large amount of reference hunters seem to feel that all referenced names need to be exact copies otherwise they don't count or something, which I'm sure will come up later. Not to say that Barhara is a particularly good example.

I want to say that Belhalla is used somewhere in Awakening, but I'm not completely certain on that.

Twilkitri! YOU'RE HERE?! Whoa, that is just awesome! I'm definitely looking forward to whatever other commentary you might have :D ! In fact, there is one thing I've always wondered about...in terms of the Reparation Patch 0.87d (which I'm using)...how much of the dialogue was done/revised by you, and how much was left over from the old translation patches?

[then I go into long introduction about why he's relevant since Something Awful wouldn't necessarily know that]

The problem is that when you translate an obvious reference as something that's recognizable as, but differs from the reference, it looks like you fucked it up, which makes it stand out a lot more than just running with the reference probably would. If it has to be changed for some reason, man up and change it to I don't know, Fuckburg or New York or some shit that doesn't look like you goofed up a reference.

I mean there are obviously reasons why you'd want or need to change a name, like fucking Milady, but Valhalla is a place name and JRPGs reference mythology all the time, so I don't see any reason why this one mythological reference in a game full of mythological references must not be allowed to stand.

And Belhella, the castle that is Hella Bel, just comes across as silly, which is probably not the intention.

I don't believe it should, which is kind of the crux of the issue.

To continue on the topic of Barhara, I'll just note that it's spelled Ba - Ha Ra (preview keeps turning the actual characters into gibberish for some reason) - assuming that the FE4 team didn't typo the name or misunderstand how Valhalla is pronounced, and assuming that I personally properly understand how Valhalla is pronounced (all of which are fairy shaky assumptions), Valhalla is not a viable translation from a literal standpoint. Barhala/Barhalla/Varhala/Varhalla are fine, but the first 'r' isn't convertible to 'l'. (Of course NoA decided to do that anyway when they translated it as Belhalla.)

It's like, it's hardly the only place name which is a reference that doesn't have the 'proper' spelling. The continent is being called Jugdral rather than Yggdrasil for a start. If you don't like Barhara you're going to hate one of the place names to the northeast, and there are several to the mid/southeast that I'm aware of. I'm sure that someone somewhere has documented all of the differences.

Ultimately, as stated, I didn't have any tools for changing the text on the world map, and I wasn't about to have the world map use one spelling while the rest of the game used another.

I'm going to assume that 'Belhella' was a typo for Belhalla until confirmed otherwise.

[in regards to why Japan may have spelled Valhalla as Barhara] - Maybe it's just easier to write "similar to but not actually Valhalla" in a way that looks sensible in Japanese.

[in regards to Jugdral vs. Yggdrasil] - At least for me, Jugdral is sufficiently different from Yggdrasil not to trigger the "did you mean this other thing that is actually a name" reflex. It's like, if it were called Valar Castle or something.

[in regards to not wanting to clash with world map spellings] - That is a reason I can definitely respect, though it doesn't seem like it's relevant for the new translation.

[in regards to Belhalla] - That is hella better than Belhella, and probably the best version of "similar to but not actually Valhalla" I've seen so far.

And there we go

Edited July 29, 2015 by FionordeQuester

[Jotari]

The mistranslations of the Irish provinces always irked me slightly, mostly because I am Irish and it's not a reference you see often at all, but reading this I imagine it's the exact same issue at work. Which makes me feel better about the situation. I understand and agree that the game should be consistent with itself...even when its wrong.

Edited July 29, 2015 by Jotari

[FionordeQuester]

Mini-Update About Romance, Inheritance, and Jealousy

Alright guys, War Room time! And this time it's so big and important, that I figured I'd put it in it's own separate update. But before we get into that, I've got some good news. First of all, I managed to work out how I wanted to change my pairings, with Dew getting hitched with Sylvia (she's like 14 at the start of the game), and Aira getting Lex (rather than Ardan), so that's all good. And secondly, with all the new ideas I've been finding (aside from changing the pairings), I did another "test" run-through up until Chapter 5, and it turns out, my strategies gave me enough levels so that I don't even NEED to train either Midir or Azel, like I thought I would. So THAT'S pretty awesome. But most importantly, I have my strategies all locked down for sure now, so there won't be anymore sudden changes.

So then, sorry for that bit of inconvenience. Anyways, let's get started!

The War Room Part 5: The X's and Y's of Romance, Inheritance, and Jealousy

Alright, so as I've alluded to, you can pair your females up with whatever strapping men you want to. But the results of this aren't merely cosmetic. No, whichever male you pair up with your female units will pass down not just their DNA, but also some of their growths, all of their weapons, all of their "Civilian Skills" (more on that later), and even whatever Holy Blood they happen to have.

Furthermore, every you have will give birth to TWO children, not just one, so if a pairing is well made, you greatly benefit TWO of your future units in Gen 2, not just one. And of course, the flip-side of that is that a badly made pairings will mess up two Gen 2 units instead of just one. And on top of all that, almost your entire Gen 2 army is made up of children characters, so if you somehow mess ALL of them up...hooo boy is your AAAA rank run going to suffer.

So then, in order to figure out HOW to make good pairings, let's first talk about the...

INHERITANCE OF SKILLS:

First of all, look at the first screenshot here...

See how Pursuit is listed as a "Soldier" skill? Now compare it to Jamka's two other "Civilian" skills...

What is the difference between the two you may ask? Well, basically, "Soldier" skills are skills that just naturally belong to every unit of a certain class. So for example, Sword Fighter and Bow Fighter units will ALWAYS have the Pursuit skill, and Thief units like Dew will ALWAYS have the Steal skill, even if said units are generic red enemy units. But civilians skills, on the other hand, are skills that are NOT naturally occurring for those who have it. So for example, for Jamka, Pursuit is a Soldier skill since he's a Bow Fighter who naturally gets it. But for Alec, Pursuit is a Civilian skill, because Social Knights like him do not normally have Pursuit.

Most importantly though, Civilians skills will be passed down to the children characters, but Soldier skills will NOT be passed down! So, say Jamka marries Aideen. Aideen gives birth to someone named Lester, who is an Archer Knight like Midir, and someone named Lana, who is a Priest like Aideen. But unfortunately, Archer Knights like Lester do NOT naturally have the Pursuit skill, and unlike our Gen 1 characters, Gen 2 characters have skill sets that are ENTIRELY defined by their parents. So basically, Lester will NOT get Pursuit if Jamka is his father! He will only get Charge and Continue instead.

But if Midir marries Aideen, then Lester WILL get Pursuit, because for Midir, Pursuit is a Civilian skill, not a Soldier skill like it is for Jamka. So that's the difference between those two kinds of skills. As for how the skills are inherited...well, take a look at this...

See the six stars? What this means is that any given unit can have up to SIX skills at once, even though none of the units on out team now have more than three. So basically, when I say that children characters get all of their parent's Civilians skills, I really do mean they get ALL of them. The only exception to that rule are the Meteor Sword and Lunar Sword skills (we haven't seen the second one yet), which can only be passed down to children characters that can use swords. In most cases, this doesn't really matter, since most classes CAN use swords...just, don't try to be pairing Holyn with Aideen.

So, essentially, if you were to say, pair Lex up with Aira, who gives birth to two Sword Fighters (Lakche and Skahasa), you would get these skills...

Lex!Lakche & Skahasa: Pursuit (Soldier), Meteor Sword, Awareness, Ambush, Elite

But if you were to pair her with Dew instead, they would get...

Dew!Lakche & Skahasa: Pursuit (Soldier), Meteor Sword, Awareness, Solar Sword, Bargain

Or heck, what about Noish? THAT guy would give...

Noish!Lakche & Skahasa: Pursuit (Soldier), Meteor Sword, Awareness, Charge, Critical

But the flipside to this is if you pair her with, say, Alec, who only has skills that Aira herself already has...then you'd just get this instead...

Alec!Lakche & Skahasa: Pursuit (Soldier), Meteor Sword, Awareness

And obviously that's bad. Of course, Skahasa and Lakche won't be affected that much on account of having both Meteor Sword AND Pursuit, but some of the other, weaker children practically live or die based on what they get from their father.

INHERITANCE OF GROWTHS:

Again, most Gen 2 children do not come with their own set of growths. Instead, theirs are entirely defined by their parents, and are determined by this formula here...

Growths of parent w/same gender + (Growths of parent w/opposite gender / 2) + Holy blood bonus

Again, going back to Lester (who is a man), suppose he still has Jamka as his pops, and we're trying to figure out what his Strength growth would be as a result. Well, Jamka has a Strength growth of 50%, and Aideen has a Strength growth of 20%. Plug those numbers into the formula, like so, and you have...

Jamka!Lester - 50 + (20/ 2) + Minor Ulir Blood (no Strength growth bonus) = 60% Strength growth for Lester

Then if we're trying to figure out Lana's Strength growth (who is a woman), we'd come out with this instead...

Jamka!Lana - 20 + (50/ 2) + Minor Ulir and Fala Blood (no Strength growth bonus) = 45% Strength growth for Lana

So all in all, it looks like Jamka gives pretty nice Strength growths for his kids, even if it IS kind of wasted on Lana (she's purely a magic user). But what if Azel were to marry Aideen instead? Azel only has a measly 10% Strength growth, so with HIM married to Aideen, the results would be this instead...

Azel!Lester - 10 + (20/ 2) + Minor Ulir and Fala Blood (no Strength growth bonus) = 20% Strength growth for Lester

Azel!Lana - 20 + (10/ 2) + Minor Ulir and Fala Blood (no Strength growth bonus) = 25% Strength growth for Lana

Owch...Lester really gets messed up in that pairing, doesn't he? Though to Azel's credit, he DOES at least give him this...

So that's...something. Doesn't make up for only having a 25% Strength growth though. So the take away from this is, be careful about marrying your women to men whose talents are not suited to their children. Of course, the game manual itself doesn't actually tell you about any of the children besides Celice, Sigurd's future son, but fortunately, that's what I'm here for, so, here's a handy dandy chart, complete with the females we haven't recruited yet!

Ethlin = Leaf (Prince), Altenna (Dragon Knight)
 
Aideen = Lana (Priest), Lester (Archer Knight)
 
Aira = Lakche (Sword Fighter w/Innate Pursuit), Skahasa (Sword Fighter w/Innate Pursuit)
 
Deirdre = Celice (Junior Lord), Julia (Shaman)
 
Lachesis = Nanna (Troubador), Delmud (Free Knight)
 
Sylvia = Leen (Dancer w/Innate Dance), Corple (Priest)
 
Fury = Fee (Pegasus Knight), Sety (Sage (promoted class w/Innate Continue))
 
Briggid = Patty (Thief w/Innate Steal and Give), Faval (Bow Fighter w/Innate Pursuit)
 
Tiltyu = Tinny (Mage), Arthur (Mage)

Yeah, odd thing about the rest of Gen 1? We're going to be getting a lot more female units than male units from now on . So anyway, that's it for growths. And if you don't know which character has what growth rates, here's a nice chart for who has what btw. So then, next item on our list...

INHERITANCE OF WEAPONS AND ITEMS:

So then, see all this neat stuff that Aira's got?

Yeah? Well, Lakche's going to be getting absolutely ALL of it the moment you get her, while Skahasa isn't going to be getting a darned thing. Why? Because generally, children characters will only inherit items from whichever parent shares their gender. So Skahasa will be getting all his weapons and items from his pops, and Lakche's getting all her weapons and items from her mother. The only exceptions to this are Leaf & Altenna and also Patty & Faval. Those two pairs only get items from whichever parents do NOT share their gender. So Leaf is getting all his weapons and items from Ethlin, and Patty is getting all her items from her father.

That said though, what if Aira has MORE than those seven swords displayed above? What if she ALSO has the Speed and Skill Rings stored in the vault? Well, in that case, Lakche will just START with those two rings stored in her vault the moment you get her. Which is good, because Lakche starts with a Slim Sword regardless of how many items she gets, meaning that the Earth Sword would otherwise be lost if Aira tried to pass it down.

Oh, but one more important thing. Children can usually only inherit weapons that they can actually use. So suppose Ardan has promoted, and he's gained the ability to use A Swords, A Lances, B Axes, and B Bows. But, then he marries Aira, whose children can only use A Swords. Skahasa will get whatever swords Ardan had at the end of Chapter 5, but he will NOT get ANY of Ardan's bows, axes, or lances. No, those will either be gone forever, or simply respawn on certain enemy commanders in Gen 2 (for example, the Hero Axe will always spawn on one of the mini-bosses in Chapter 6, as long as Lex doesn't sell it to the Pawn Shop).

The only exception to the above rule is in regards to Holy Weapons (which you will get later on). There are about two of them that can be passed down to people who can't use them. These are the wind tome Holsety, and the Valkyrie Staff. These items cannot be sold, so they actually CAN be passed down even to children who will never be able to use them...you're just not going to be able to actually do anything with them. So if Levin marries Aira, Lakche will get Holsety, but she won't be able to sell it or use it, so it'll just end up being a waste of space.

INHERITANCE OF GOLD:

This is simple. The amount of Gold that children start with is determined by this formula...

[(Father’s Gold + Mother’s Gold) / 10] + 2000

One interesting implication of this is that buying as many items as you can before the end of Chapter 5 will give your children WAY more Gold than if you bought absolute nothing. For example, if I paired Ardan with Aira, and both have 50,000 Gold (the max amount), their children would get...

Starting Gold - [(50,000G + 50,000G) / 10] + 2000G = 12,000G

So only 12,000G total. BUT, if I used all of Ardan's money to buy 50,000G worth of stuff, and then did the same with Aira, then their children would be able to sell all of that in order to get 25,000G gold in exchange. Plop on their starting 2000G, and they'd both have 27,000G instead! Not bad eh?

INHERITANCE OF BASE STATS:

Um...actually, I'm not going to go into detail here because one, the formulas used here are excessively complicated, but more importantly, base stats aren't really influenced all THAT much by the children's fathers. So going back to the "Jamka vs. Azel" section, Jamka!Lester may have a 60% Strength growth compared to Azel!Lester's 20% Strength growth...but he only starts with 10 Strength compared to Azel!Lester's 8 Strength, even assuming that you got Jamka, Azel, and Aideen all up to Level 30 before Gen 2.

So really, all you need to know is that how many points parents have in a certain stat have a very slight influence on the starting stats of the kids. But the difference is so negligible, that it's not really worth thinking about. I just covered it for the sake of completeness.

Now, that's everything in regards to inheritance. Now let's talk about how to actually MAKE these pairings via...

LOVE GROWTH:

Basically, to make two character fall in love with each other, they need to earn 500 "Love Points" with each other. This can be done in four ways...

1) Doing nothing – Deirdre will always fall in love with Sigurd, and Ethlin will always start the game married to Cuan.

2) All couples come with a pre-determined amount of love points, and until Turn 50 on each map, they'll gain a certain amount per turn no matter what. So every turn, Ardan will get a set amount of love points with Aideen and Aira, even if he's inside the castle, and they're outside.

3) Have a male and female unit Wait next to each other when you end your turn. When you do this, the amount of love points they gain is boosted by +5. So if Ardan waits next to Aira, he will get +7 love points with her instead of just +2.

4) Making certain characters talk – these may give a large fixed boost to love points. For example, there was the aforementioned conversations that Azel and Midir could have with Aideen last Chapter. If you have them talk to Aideen, they'll automatically gain 100 love points with her. And in addition, Dew's conversation with Aideen in Chapter 1 actually gives him 50 love points with her! So that there's a fabulous, and very convenient way of getting love points for whichever pairs have that option.

Now then, what about the default love growths mentioned in Option 2? After all, some pairs can actually gain as many as +10 love points with each other, even WITHOUT waiting next to each other! Well, here's another chart, this time yoinked straight from Serenes Forest! If you look at it, you will find that Gen 2 characters can ALSO fall in love with each other, though in their case, the benefits aren't nearly as extreme. They merely gain the ability to lend each other money, and the ability to get Hit, Evade, and Critical bonuses from each other.

But wait, that page also mentions a Jealousy System! So what is THAT all about you ask? Well, I'm glad you asked!

JEALOUSY:

This here is a hidden, and may I say somewhat sexist mechanic that exists within the game. I'm not sure if there's any mention of it in the instruction manual, but either way, Serenes Forest provides a nice, concise explanation for it, so I'll be quoting it verbatim for this section. To quote the section...

"The Jealousy system comes into play whenever a second female waits adjacent to the female in a male-female pair."

If the second female (B) has a higher priority for the male than the original female (A), then the second female will snatch the adjacent lover’s bonus from the original (the uniform +5 bonus).

Jealousy stacks for multiple “secondary” females and even for multiple males. I’ll just describe the two simplest formations that utilise stacking."

T-Shaped Formation

"In this case, Tiltyu (the Thunder Mage) has the highest priority for Claude (the High Priest) and will snatch the adjacent bonus from Sylvia (the Dancer) first. Since Sylvia no longer has a bonus, Fury (the Pegasus Knight) will not be able to snatch anything. Putting Fury there is basically fairly useless."

Square Shaped Formation

"In this formation, Tiltyu (the Thunder Mage) will get both Sylvia (the Dancer) and Fury’s (the Pegasus Knight) adjacent lover bonus (gaining a total bonus of +10). This is a method of greatly speeding up love growth (since instead of the normal +5 bonus, you can get +10), which may be useful in ranked playthroughs or simply just to get couples earlier."

So there you go. Obviously we're going to be using this Jealousy mechanic to get our dudes and dudettes to tie the knot as quickly as possible, not just for Gen 2, but also for the sake of being able to buy stuff like the Elite Ring much easier. But of course, nothing's ever that simple. You see, as alluded to in the two "Formations" described above, certain females have priority over other females in regards to who steals what love points from whichever men they're going green-eyed over. And strangely enough, there are actually TWO different charts that come into play depending on whether you've reset the game at least once or not. So if you've NEVER reset the game at all (a stupid decision in any situation), the chart is as follows...

No Resets:

Lex/Azel/Jamka/Holyn - Aira > Lachesis > Briggid > Other girls
Midir - Ethlin > Aideen > Fury > Aira > Lachesis > Briggid > Other girls
Fin/Dew/Beowolf/Levin - Aideen > Fury > Aira > Lachesis > Briggid > Other girls
Claude - Tiltyu > Sylvia > Deirdre > Ethlin > Aideen > Fury > Aira > Lachesis > Briggid
Other Males - All girls equal

Yes, you're reading that right. Ethlin and Deirdre actually WILL steal love points from some of the other females, despite the fact that they're already married! I have NO idea why the game designers made it that way...but then, I suppose that's the same as asking them why they even HAVE two separate charts to begin with. Because if you HAVE reset the game at least once, the chart goes like this instead...

1+ Resets:

Midir - Ethlin > Other girls (so why even program this in at all...?)
Dew/Jamka - Aideen > Aira > Ethlin > Other girls
Holyn/Beowolf/Levin - Lachesis > Dierdre > Aideen > Aira > Ethlin > Other girls
Claude - Tiltyu > Briggid > Fury > Sylvia > Lachesis > Deirdre > Aideen > Aira > Ethlin
Other Males - All girls equal

Weird...so, with all this in mind, what exactly ARE my pairings and why? Well, here you are! They are as follows...

PAIRINGS:

AIDEEN X JAMKA: This is, admittedly, a slightly weaker pairing than Aideen X Midir as far as Lester goes. Continue will be nice to have, but he'll suffer greatly if he doesn't have the Pursuit Ring (which I may or may not give to him). However, Jamka and Aideen get WAY more benefit out of pairing with each other than Midir and Aideen do. Because Jamka, Midir, and Aideen all use large amounts of money in repairing their stuff, and none of them have access to the Uber Slim Sword, meaning that getting the Gold needed for the Elite Ring is a constant struggle for them.

With Jamka however, he is almost guaranteed to clear every Arena, and get 17,500G, while Midir is so weak, that he can hardly even get past Rank 3 or 4 even in the earlier Arena's. Because of that, Midir's only getting like, 4,000G at most without RNG abuse. Plus, Lester is extraordinarily easy to train due to Chapter 9, which is almost exclusively a flyer map. We haven't been introduced to those kinds of units yet, but suffice it to say, bow weapons will automatically activate Critical on flying units, which is exactly as abusive as it sound. And considering that we'll already have 3 Holy Weapons by then...yeah, babying Lester won't be any problem at all.

Oh yeah, and Jamka X Aideen can abuse the Jealousy system to become partners by the end of Chapter 2, while Midir X Aideen does not have that luxury. So they can get much more done in Chapter 2 than Midir X Aideen can.

There's a fair bit of debate over whether Jamka or Midir is a better father for Lana and Lester. Lana is practically impossible to screw up because she inherits all the staffs she'll ever need and her stats don't matter, and the father only matters if you want her to fulfill some niche role. Claude x Aideen is the best pairing for pure LTC runs, Azel x Aideen is probably the best if you want Lana to fight, but why would you ever want to go to that trouble? If you plan on using both the children, as you must in an AAAA run, Jamka or Midir are your only real choices. In my eyes, it comes down to whether or not you need the pursuit ring on a different child, since Jamka doesn't pass pursuit down to Lester.

AIRA X LEX: Aira's children will be showing up in the very first Chapter of Gen 2, where money will be very scarce for a while. Plus, we don't have a Thief to make donations either, so it's very important that we get either Bargain or Elite on Skahasa and Lakche. Originally I was going to give Dew to Aira, but because of that aforementioned reason, and a new strategy I discovered for how to abuse Ambush + Elite + Meteor Sword + Uber Hero Sword in Chapter 7 (against Jabarro and co.) and the Epilogue (against Burian and co.), I decided to give Lex to Aira instead. So now, not only will the sword twins never have to worry about money, but leveling them will also now be a cinch! So that's pretty grand I think, more than worth giving up Bargain.

I've never been a huge fan of this pairing because I feel that the sword twins have plenty of time to level up anyways and trounce arenas. I prefer Lex on Briggid or Sylvia (to help Patty/Leen respectively), but there are lots of ways to A rank this game, and Lex x Aira is still a great pairing.

Yeah. Personally, I still think Ambush + Elite is a great and convenient way to level up, and Skahasa and Lakche are the only ones who are really able to easily take advantage of that. But we'll see.

LACHESIS X BEOWULF: Unlike Aira, Lachesis's children do not get that much of a benefit out of having Lex or Dew as partners. Because unlike Aira's children, Delmud and Nanna do NOT start out with Pursuit, meaning their combat utility is severely hampered despite the presence of Bargain/Elite. Because of that, we want a male that can give them Pursuit, and good combat stats, and Beowulf is JUST the guy for that! Of course, Fin is a close second due to Prayer, but he can't pass anything down to Delmud. Combine that with Beowulf X Lachesis's ability to exploit the Jealousy system, and a Talk conversation that gives them 100 love points, and there you go. Beowulf X Lachesis is just the way to go ;) !

Fin x Lachesis is pretty good, and if you want to get fancy Azel x Lachesis can be useful for magic sword use, but this pairing is so much easier. Lachesis' children will never be amazing combatants, but with Beowful they can chip in occasionally while charisma botting.

SYLVIA X DEW: Good news Dew! Turns out there IS someone young enough for you to marry! Her name is Sylvia, the 14 year old dancer! Hehehe...he...he......darn you Japan...

Well anyways, it's good that things worked out that way, because Bargain is just too good to NOT give to someone. And who better than Leen, one of the Gen 2 characters who suffer the most in combat stats? Dancers tend to have that problem, but with Bargain, that won't matter for Leen since she's got essentially unlimited money with it. Now she can buy Elite whenever she wants, she can buy and sell the Defense Ring + Defense Sword (+7 to Defense) to more easily manipulate Prayer in the Arena (because yeah, she gets that), she can more easily repair the Sleep Sword (more on that later)...Bargain's quite nice on her.

That said, Lex X Sylvia does give Leen Ambush, which is amazing when combined with the Sleep Sword in the Arena. On the other hand though, Leen can also eventually get the Pursuit Ring, and any other stat rings she wants, so...it remains to be seen whether Dew!Leen is better than Lex!Leen or not. Either way though, Leen needs one of those two fathers if you want to be able to level her up efficiently. Otherwise, she just takes forever to get anywhere quickly. As for her brother Corple? Eh, he's a staff bot, nothing really affects him as far as AAAA Ranking goes.

Unfortunately, this pairing is one of the few that cannot abuse the Jealousy system...but oh well, they don't really need each other that urgently anyway.

A good pairing for the aforementioned reasons. I don't have anything more to say.

FURY X CLAUDE: Three words. "Fricken Valkyrie Staff"! The game hasn't covered this yet, but essentially, the Valkyrie Staff can actually revive dead units! Of course, it can only be used once, and costs 30,000G to repair, but still, THAT'S pretty neat! Plus, Claude has Blaggi blood, which increases the potency of the staves that can be used by Sety and Fee. Because yes, these two will be leveled via Staff Botting, and with Blaggi blood, Fee will be able to spam the Warp Staff rather than the Return Staff. Plus, who knows what fun death warping tactics we can pull off with this? I already know of at least one...

Oh yeah, and this pairing can also abuse the Jealousy system. So that's fun, although it's not really needed.

Fury's second best pairing, but Levin is already taken for good reasons so...good choice.

Aw, thank you Marty .

BRIGGID X HOLYN: At first glance, this seems like a weird pairing due to Holyn not having any Talk conversations to speed things up or anything like that. However, this is secretly THE best pairing for Patty in the entire game, especially with the way I'll be playing. Because you see, Holyn has minor Odo blood, which allows Patty to use B Swords instead of just C Swords, which she's stuck with in every other pairing. Drop that, a Bargain Ring, and whatever other gifts Holyn feels like giving her (perhaps I might even throw in a Pursuit Ring), and Patty will come right out of the gates as someone who can clear the Arena's via the Uber Hero Sword, and dispense large sums of cash to all of our paupers struggling to afford the Elite Ring. As for Faval, he's gonna get the Ichival, so he's set no matter what.

Unfortunately, no Jealousy system exploits are possible with these two, but whatever.

Faval gets ridiculous amounts of HP in this pairing. B swords is useful to use magic weapons to safely nab gold from enemies. In unreliable runs b swords isn't really a necessity because the sleep sword can be abused so easily, but for the purposes of this run I can see why it would be useful.

Yep, his HP Growth is pretty ridiculous. 175% to be exact .

TILTYU X LEVIN: Well for one thing, Arthur immediately gets Holsety, on CHAPTER 6 no less. So there's that. But even aside from that, Levin's Holsety blood allows both children to wield more of the best kind of magic in the game, and increases their AS to ludicrous levels. Plus, since Tiltyu gives her children Wrath, nothing should ever really be living past two attacks anyway. So if anything, Continue is actually BETTER for them than Pursuit, since that gives them the chance to just kill an opponent outright when in Wrath range.

But again, no Jealousy system

Why not pass down Holsety, and Arthur has more trouble in the arena than Sety. This is the right pairing.

...Anyways, that all was a whole lot of ...but one more thing. Some of you may be wondering "what happens if your female characters die before falling in love?" Well, if they don't manage to have some kids before Gen 1 ends, their children will instead be replaced by "Substitute Characters", who are basically just inferior versions of their counterparts. So instead of having the amazing Lakche and Skahasa, you will instead have the lackluster Radney and Roddlevan, who don't get either Meteor Sword or Awareness. Oh, and their growth rates are lower, and they don't inherit any weapons or items from anyone. So in other words, pair ALL of your females up! There are technically a few substitute characters that can be worth something...but none of them can ever make up for the lack of Inheritance.

*Badney and Roddelbad

Indeed. Now then, that's everything, and hopefully I've given you all you need to know about the Inheritance system, and how to set yourself up for Gen 2. Have a nice day, and God bless you all!

Edited August 26, 2015 by FionordeQuester

[FionordeQuester]

Whoops, double post.

Edited July 31, 2015 by FionordeQuester

[Nintales]

In the end, does that mean Arthur is going to get the Pursuit Ring?

Because he needs that waaaay more than Lester. (you can give him the hero bow anyway)

[Jotari]

Is the Valkyrie Staff really that worth it? I kind of assumed you weren't going to be letting anyone die.

[FionordeQuester]

In the end, does that mean Arthur is going to get the Pursuit Ring?

Because he needs that waaaay more than Lester. (you can give him the hero bow anyway)

Nope! He is NOT getting it, because trust me, he does not need that at all. He'll want some healing support for fighting the Magus Sisters in Chapter 7, and some Charisma support from Nanna for grinding off the initial cavalry rush in Chapter 8, but other than that? He's practically untouchable, and between Continue and Critical, almost no one ever survives a round against him anyway.

No, trust me, Lester needs that Ring much more, if I even give it to him at all (as opposed to just grinding him on Chapter 9. Turns out, he can easily clear the Arena on Chapter 10 even without Pursuit if I do that. And from there? I could probably just either feed him some citizens, or just give him the Pursuit Ring for the Epilogue).

Is the Valkyrie Staff really that worth it? I kind of assumed you weren't going to be letting anyone die.

Well, for the most part, I won't. But, there's at least one occasion in Generation 1 where letting someone die is actually really helpful, which I'll let you all see when I get to that.

In terms of Generation 2? Maybe not. After playing some Generation 2, I haven't found any really good ways of using it, but, even so, it's worth pairing Claude with Fury just so she can warp spam to Level 30 .

Edited July 31, 2015 by FionordeQuester

[FionordeQuester]

Chapter 2 (Part 1-1)

OP NOTE: Turns out, Marty was on Vacation, so he wasn't available for commentary. Sorry about that.



Hello everyone, and welcome back to Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4: Genealogy of the Holy War! Last time we rescued Aideen and took Deirdre along with us after trashing the country of Verdane. But we still have the long shadow of the Dark Sect looming over us. And furthermore, it seems that the country of Agusty may ALSO be thinking of attacking us. So what's going to happen now? Find out TODAY!





Upon gaining control of the Verdane Kingdom, Sigurd received orders from Barhara to preside over Evans Castle along the border. He soon thereafter took Deirdre to be his wife.



Grandbell's subjugation of Verdane caused quite a stir in neighbouring Agustria. The lords of Agustria expressed strong anti-Grandbell sentiment. The great King Imuka, who prized peace more than anything, was killed by an assassin.



Grandbell's military was still far away to the east in Isaac.



And none too soon did the new king command the lords of Agustria to invade Verdane. Under orders to hold Evans Castle, Sigurd once again found himself in the midst of conflict.

Great ...





Crisis in Agustria

Oh well. At least the music starts off happy.





Lachesis: You're putting your life in peril!

Eltshan: Nonsense. Look I've heard all about Shagaal supposedly killing his father. But there's no proof! If I can just speak with him, I know I'll get through to him.

Um...you do realize that he's king, don't you Eltshan? I imagine that if there is any "proof", he'd be pretty good at burying it.

Lachesis: But...

Eltshan: Lachesis, enough already. I'm leaving three of my best men behind for your protection just to be on the safe side. Lachesis, don't be so down! I promise Ill make it back. I've no intention of dying out there!

Lachesis: Eltshan...



And then Eltshan goes off to the northeast...



And even phases through the wall while he's at it! Man that Mistoltein is OP, isn't it?



Eltshan: Your father always strived for a peaceful coexistence with Grandbell. Besides, war is very hard on the people. You're risking your reputation with these actions. You must not let this war happen!

Shagaal: My father always had a soft spot for you, Eltshan. And all the while you had it in for me. Well, hes gone and now I rule Agustria! You're going to pay fully for making me the fool. Throw this trash in the dungeon!

Eltshan: Wait, Your Majesty NO!!!

Whoa, just like that eh? Can you really just...do that, to someone who's lord over an entire Duchy? I guess so.





Shagaal: Once were through there, I'm taking the whole show to Grandbell!

Boy...Eltshan really blew that one, didn't he? I mean, he KNEW there was some strong anti-Grandbell sentiment going on, he had to have known that Shagaal doesn't like him very much, he made a big show of attacking Elliot last Chapter, and then he just marches right up to Shagaal and openly challenges him...

I mean not to defend Shagaal, but what did Eltshan think was going to happen ?



Oh, and look who's back? Manfloy, doing the SAME shtick Sandima did in Verdane !!

Shagaal: There's no going back. I just wonder if we really have a chance here

Manfloy: Well, Grandbell still honours the Anti-War Pact with Agustria. Their entire military is still in Isaac. If we strike now we cannot lose!

Shagaal: Hmm If we can just overthrow Grandbell, Agustria will become the new world leader. And I'll be emperor of the world!

Manfloy: Hmhm... Yes, consider that a possibility.

Of course, there's still that same problem of "what will we do when Grandbell gets back"...but the game makes it pretty clear that Shagaal isn't any brighter than Eltshan, so his plan isn't supposed to make any sense.





And now back to Nodion, this time with the awesome Crisis 2 theme playing...



Eve: There's more. Well need to keep a close eye on Heirhein. If they learn of the kings disappearance, theyll attack without a moments notice. I'm sure they're not pleased with what happened in Verdane, especially Prince Elliot.

Lachesis: That Elliot just cant handle the fact that Ill have nothing to do with him. God, I cant stand conceited men like him. I need a man the calibre of my dear brother. That's why Ill never marry.

Eve: His Majestys Cross Knights are stationed well north at Fort Silvail. There are just the few of us soldiers left here. But my brothers and I will do our best to hold the castle. Just be ready for the worst.

Lachesis: Understood. Eve, thank you so much. Now dont you overdo it, or worse, get yourself killed! Please let Eva and Alva know how sorry I am for all this.

Eve: Uh, no need to apologise, Your Highness. King Eltshan left us behind for your protection in good conscious. We, as Holy Knights of Nodion, shall protect you to our dying breath!

But hey, at least they're both good people.



And out they go, fortifying their defenses as best they can.



Meanwhile, at the Fortress of Evil...



Boldo: Brilliant! Elliot, here's your chance to even the score. Go take Nodion by storm!

Elliot: Yes, father.









Oifaye: We've received a request for backup from Princess Lachesis.

Sigurd: Why would they seize Eltshan of all people!? Well, lets gear up. Were heading for Nodion. Id put my life on the line for Lachesis if it came to it. Eltshan would never admit it, but he cares for that sister of his more than anything. If he ever lost her, there's no telling what he'd do.



Sigurd: Lachesis must be pretty shook up as well. I've got to help her out if I can.

Deirdre: I understand. It looks like Ill be joining you then, Sigurd.

Sigurd: What? Forget it, Deirdre! I cant get you involved it this.

Deirdre: Sigurd, you promised you'd never leave my side. I'm... I'm scared. If you leave me now, I I fear Ill never see you again. Please let me go with you.

Sigurd: Er I did say that, didn't I Alright, well go together, but don't you dare leave my side!

Deirdre: You can count on that!

Oh Sigurd ...



Alright then, we're in the middle of a political fire storm here! We've got our romance! We've got our intrigue! We've got our honor! AND WE'VE GOT OUT WAR! Now let's see what masterfully done, THRILLING action music Yuka Tsujiyoko's got cooked up for us-



...now?

.......

Ok then...? Rather odd choice of music. But oh well. I still like it. Anyways, here's our situation.



Ok, it's not as bad as it looks, because all of the non-horse units are going to stay put for now. But that still leaves us with 10 enemies coming at Nodion, and Alva, Eva, and Eve aren't quite strong enough to beat them back without dying. Furthermore, as you can see...





Elliot and his boys have gotten a bit stronger since the last time we met them, getting buffs to almost all of their stats. Plus, there are also three of these guys in the mix...



So Cuan and Fin'll have to watch out. However, Lachesis's guards are pretty strong too...

Edited August 25, 2015 by FionordeQuester