PoR: Chapter 11 - Blood Runs Red | One of the Best Chapters in PoR?

[Zukonima]

So I think very highly of Chapter 11, my full point is the video below:

But I was wondering if others feel the same way or If I'm giving it too much credit.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

This chapter has the best ambush spawn in FE.

Gameplaywise it's interesting but it's not one of my absolute favorites.

Well, you have to defend a couple of houses. It's actually pretty tough to defend the house in the central west if you don't bring Titania or promoted Marcia.

As for the civil defend I never could let them all alive. Even if I ignore the east side and go through the central house (BK), one myrmidon automatically dies after Zihark's recruitment.

[Zukonima]

This chapter has the best ambush spawn in FE.

Gameplaywise it's interesting but it's not one of my absolute favorites.

Yeah, I think it's just above average gameplay-wise as well, but the story and character development along side it make it all the more interesting

[BrightBow]

It's a very fun map. It's a joy to replay because all those side objectives give this chapter a lot of depth. But I have two issues with it that I imagine result in a lot of frustration on a first run:

For one, Jill appears on the map. Considering that this is Fire Emblem, you will probably try to recruit her, ruining your run in the process. Or worse, you end up killing her and loose out on the best character in the game.

Also featuring: This game's only instance of reinforcements that can immediately move after they appear. And it's the Black Knight. So when that happens... someone will probably end up dead.

Now I can't really hate this design decision. When I played this chapter the Black Knight went immediately after Ike, resulting in a cool boss conversation and death conversation. Best defeat I've ever experienced in a Fire Emblem game. Still, it is a cheap shot. At least you know from the cutscene that he is in that house so it makes sense to keep some distance. But considering that there is so much stuff on this map, you can't exactly be picky about where you go. And you definitely would want to have a talk with that grey-haired fellow in the upper right. And most importantly the Black Knight breaks the established reinforcement rules. As I said, no other enemy in the game does this. So even if you expect him to cause trouble, there is no way that you could know that he can attack immediately.

It doesn't exactly help that there seem to be multiple ways to trigger the Black Knight. He is definitely triggered if you aggro Mackoya but he also seems to move out after a certain amount of turns.

Edited July 4, 2016 by BrightBow

[Alex95]

This chapter, specifically the Black Knight, killed so many of my units.

It's a good map, sure. Protect the houses, two paths to take, get a Laguz Slayer, recruit Zihark, waste time trying to recruit Jill.

This can be either a fun or frustrating level.

[Quintessence]

I also give credit to the chapter for being in agreement with the dialogue. I think PoR does the job well done in terms of dialogue, story telling, character development, gameplay and world building despite how standard and basic its story is.

Ch 11 has the player face multi objectives: Arrive, not messing with the Vigilante, avoiding Black Knight, recruiting Zihark, and avoid Jill.

The appearance of Black Knight is a constant menace and triggers quite the tension in the map, but once you play it and get used to the story and basics, you'll go swiftly if you know what you're doing.

Having Jill is making the player question whether to retreat back and talk to her or pass on and Arrive, but the objective in the map and the presence of the Black Knight forces you to beat the map asap. Eitherway gg.

Zihark is recruited easily because you have long move units vs a standard infantry one so you'll reach him in a better way rather than engaging him. Thing is, the Vigilante group suicides and idk if Cats or Tigers are able to unequip claws. I think best way is to recruit him at last turn and Arrive immediately to get some free BEXP. The fighters on the west are annoying because you have enemies you have to defeat, a house and thieves willing to pillage the villages, so the player needs to sacrifice something unless Marcia gets the house and flies away. I generally kill the fighters and get the Dracoshield.

This chapter is really cool because it isn't so one dimensional and straight forward as others.

Another chapter I like is Ch 8 but mostly is because of its world building: Ike's growth, Titania and Soren's development and guide is quite a nice thing to see when most games have a Jagen protecting the lord and the rest of the cast is meh.

That's the credit I give to PoR.

[Augestein]

Zihark is recruited easily because you have long move units vs a standard infantry one so you'll reach him in a better way rather than engaging him. Thing is, the Vigilante group suicides and idk if Cats or Tigers are able to unequip claws. I think best way is to recruit him at last turn and Arrive immediately to get some free BEXP. The fighters on the west are annoying because you have enemies you have to defeat, a house and thieves willing to pillage the villages, so the player needs to sacrifice something unless Marcia gets the house and flies away. I generally kill the fighters and get the Dracoshield.

Unequip Brom and have Mordecai and him recruit Zihark with Smite from Mordecai and they'll attack Brom over Mordecai if he transforms.

Yeah, I do like this chapter. if you visit houses with Laguz, things go down south as the people are not neutral as the story points out, and it has a ton of mini-objectives that aren't unreasonable and has the Black Knight appear to add additional pressure when playing. You can recruit Zihark if you wish, and spare the vigilantes for extra BEXP adding a nice little puzzle in the chapter that you can ignore completely if you find it too annoying.

It's really well designed.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Nice map, aside from the total cheapshot of the Black Knight appearing mid-map. To make matters worse on NM, after that cheap-shot, he doesn't even do anything! Make up your mind, BK! On HM it's better since at least he starts chasing after you, albeit slowly, and thus you get that creeping doom effect. Personally I'd have had a more explicit warning for his appearance, but then have him move more quickly.

But everything else about the map is cool. Vigilantes, Zihark to recruit, houses to rush to, a reasonably interesting boss (mobile with two weapon types and decent stats). You're also still early enough that you aren't yet reaching durability godmode with your units, and just late enough that Titania might die if you try just throw her carelessly into a large pack of foes.

[UNLEASH IT]

Not if you're Zihark LOL AMIRITE?

[Dinar87]

Agreed. This is one of the best chapters in fire emblem imo. Multiple objectives make things very interesting don't they? It's a shame the BK and Jill had to ruin what would've otherwise been a perfect map.

[Jedi]

For sure one of the only maps in FE9 that gives you a dire sense of urgency, tons of stuff going on, the Jill & BK stuff is unpredictable, but also adds stress depending on how its going.

Very fitting for how the story is going for that point in the game too.