screenshot Sage's great Library of the Old and Legendary!(FE6: Binding Blade)

[SageHarpuiaJDJ]

Hello SF! After looking around and thinking for a bit, I've decided to re visit games that I never really looked into/stopped playing/just wanna look back again and give my general thoughts, and try to be funny. (keyword:try). The format will be me rambling about my first experience as well as where I heard about the game and what made interested in it first, followed

I'm starting with...

Fire Emblem: Binding Blade!!!

My first experience:

After enjoying the very fun Blazing Sword, I decided to try Binding Blade next. I never really heard about the game as a whole and how it fared as a game. All I knew at the time was that Roy was always the main thing that was talked about when it came down to it, and if you guys guessed, it was always talking about how he was terrible as a lord. So I took it with a grain of salt, and decided to get the FE6 emulator and see for myself. After playing it for a bit, I can just say...

Okay, I've never actually finished Binding Blade. In fact, I borderline hated Binding Blade for a few very dumb reasons. The maps were too big, the RNG trolled super hard, and most of my units never really got good level ups. I stopped playing after hearing about the infamous chapter 14: Arcadia. Hearing the concept alone turned me off, but after actually seeing what it looks like...

I just couldn't bring myself to play Binding Blade anymore. Namely because of that chapter where you get Echidna and Lalum and all of the stuff that you had to do really burned me out. I now remember that I wasn't really the best tactician(in fact I may have been borderline terrible) during the time and I didn't really optimize my units correctly. I'm now going at this with a new optimism and open mind.

A few things to note/my general plans:

-I'm not going in this 100% blind, but I am going in it kinda blind. I know most of the maps up until the chapter where you get Miledy, and who's the final boss, but that's pretty much it. I don't know how other characters fare beyond that, so I'm interested if there's any other viable units later on.

-I am gonna be using guides on how to recruit characters/weapon and item locations. FE secrets are usually very important and can help a lot in the long run, and I want to get every unit possible and see how each works.

-I'm not gonna be looking a the growth rates. I only know Lilina's, Sophia's, and Roy's by heart. Everyone else I'm either iffy about, or I just don't know, so I'm gonna let my level ups decide on how I feel about their growths.

-I won't go all out about the story, but I will point out some things that I like in certain cutscenes as well as talk about the main point of each chapter.

-I'm actually gonna point out some stuff graphic wise as well as music wise.

-If it's a character that I already know about, I'll post my original impressions of said unit.

-Along with the unit, I'm gonna give my impressions with said unit's class.

-I'm gonna try to be funny, but I'm not a Batta the Beast or a Gheb. ;~;

-I'll ask for suggestions, but not a lot since I do wanna experience some stuff on my own. I'll just make it known when I do.

-I'm gonna try to use every unit at least 2 or 3 times. That includes Sophia, Ceilicia, and Wendy and the Knights.

-At the end, there's gonna be a MVP of a chapter based on amount of times used, how much said unit contributed, and how good said units level ups were.

INDEX:

Judging the Cover, Then Reading the Book - General Intro and Chapter 1Link

Fox Girl is Now Fox Woman! - Chapter 2

Edited August 3, 2016 by SageHarpuiaJDJ

[Magical Glace]

You will be working to ensure the true ending, yes?

Also, do you plan on going to Illia or Sacae?

[SageHarpuiaJDJ]

You will be working to ensure the true ending, yes?

Also, do you plan on going to Illia or Sacae?

Yeah, I am.

As for the Illa/Sacae part, I'll leave it up to vote.

[Magical Glace]

Yeah, I am.

As for the Illa/Sacae part, I'll leave it up to vote.

I vote Illia because I like Shanna and Tate more than Sue and Shin, then

[SageHarpuiaJDJ]

Intro & Chapter 1: Judging the Cover, Then the Book

Kind of a weird way to start, but before actually getting into the gameplay, let's look at what you see when you first start the game!

First, the intro.(no screenie :(. ) As an intro, it's pretty short, to the point, and doesn't spoil everything that is to come, which is a good thing in my eyes. It's also very pretty and nice in terms of colors and animation, and gives off an epic atmosphere.

Now on to the title screen. I can't say much about the font, but the sword's details and shading are pretty nice. The logo itself is kinda simple, but in an okay way. Blazing Sword's logo had a bit more going on with it with the text and the axe and whatnot, making for a more epic intro logo, but I do like the simple nature of this logo. Also I really like this version of the title theme. I don't know much about music, but FE6's theme was always the more appealing to me simply because how incident it sounds.



Now on to the game... but before we get into the game, lets go the extras menu and talk about something that caught me off guard.

Binding Blade has a TUTORIAL!!! I honestly think that this should be included in every other FE, or something similar. Having a tutorial separate from the game allows for more room for the story and other dialog. The main thing that skewers this very perfect and sensible concept is the placing of it. Like with Fates and Awakening, stuff like this is in the Extras menu, which really doesn't make sense imo because a mode where new players can learn the game is VERY FAR from being just an extra, and the many basic mechanics of FE alone requires a lot of time to learn. Lyn's Tale is a prime example of what a tutorial section can look like, but instead of being in the main menu, it's a part of the story and is a very tedious process due to the explaining. IS, it's not hard to make these into separate options. Please stop doing this with these modes.

Now, let this LP begin!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________



Oh hi Zephiel! Nice beard man! How you been doing?!



Been busy I see. How's the family? Does your father still not accept you? Do you still see your cute little sister?



Eliwood, you're not dead. Greatest dad ever.



Hector for best facial hair. Cerventes wishes he had a beard like this.



Aww, it's Lilina. Such a cuti... Why is my eye twitching all of a sudden?



Now we start a new adventure! Nothing too special about the intro. Bandits run in trying to take over just because Eliwood is sick and Roy and his posse comes in to kick ass. But first a few screenies from the intro for fun!


You... are one very ugly motherfucker.


Eliwood also became a savage with age. Truly FE's greatest dad.

Now on the units:

On the left we have Lance: green Cav No 6, and on the right we have... the underdog, the boy, the lord sealed by 19 levels, Roy! Okay, Lance has a pretty standard design and hairdo, but I love that palette he has. Don't know much about his character tho. As a character, Roy doesn't really stand out to me. He doesn't really experience any big events that tests his ideals or have a sudden change in attitude from what I've played and read. He's pretty basic as a character, and his design is pretty neat too.



Next we have Allen: red Cav No 6. Again, pretty standard design and don't know much about his personality. His palette is okay I guess.

*screenshot of Bors...lost in action :(*

Now, we move on to Bors: the golden bruiser. He's seems like the protective type. Can't really think much other than that. He has a nice sprite palette tho. Not really fond of his design, specifically the hair. I do like his chin and facial features.


This is Wolt: that one archer with cool hair. Design wise, he's okay. Character wise, no clue. Palette wise, also nice.


Finally, we have Marcus: feed me, if you dare, scrub. Eh, he's okay as a design I guess. Though he doesn't really make that much of an impact on the story, iirc. Character he's pretty much the same as FE7. Pimp purple is an awesome palette.

And with all that said, we now begin!

Let's talk about the map:

In terms of design, I actually like this map as a starter. It's just the right size and has just the right amount of enemies. The enemies all just use one type of weapon, besides the archers, which is good for starter standards.

Now for the units that we start with. We start out with 6 units at the start, and for the most part, they be of some use.

Let's start with Roy. Many people expect a lot of differing traits when it comes to how to how a lord is supposed to be used. The way Roy was designed in terms of gameplay is actually a good concept, imo. It was just poorly executed due to the lack of level ups. When I first played this game, I gave Roy a lot of kills, and he actually turned out kinda strong. Now, I'm gonna try to only give him like 1-2 level ups each chapter to make room for other characters.

His bases, aren't really that bad imo. He has a good amount of speed and decent con. It's not gonna be of use that much here, however, since Fighters actually have enough con to avoid being doubled by Roy. His luck is also good. His Rapier... is a Rapier. It's needs be preserved until he gets another one, because it's a very strong weapon against Cavs and Knights. Starting off with D in swords is also an advantage. He now has access to slayer weapons as well as a steel sword and iron blade, and constant use can lead to him getting a Killing Edge very early on in the game.

Now for Marcus. As a Jeigen, Marcus is a pretty good one. Being a horse unit, he has good mobility and can hold his own when respawning units arrive. His stats are strong from the beginning, which is to be expected. He can double, one shot, and maybe even crit all of the units here and forward.

I never understood why Jeigens start out with Sliver Weapons, considering that they can one shot everything with it. It may be a trap for the inexperience to learn, or just there to sell. He has an Iron sword too, which I'm gonna give to Roy to save him from using the Rapier. The fact that he has the whole weapon triangle as well as access to slayer swords from the beginning is very tempting for a newcomer, but the only weapons that he's ever gonna use are those of the slim variety and an iron axe. Until then, he's not gonna be getting a lot use for a while.

Next we have Allen. Cavaliers are a class that FE players will always have if the map doesn't have a gimmick like too much terrain. They've always have the same uses from distant attacking to saving other units. Players usually tend to only keep one or two Cavs to allow space for flyers. Like with this case, Allen may be the only Cav that I bring in midgame, or it could be Lance. It may even be both or neither, only level ups will tell.

Allen here, from my experience, has Sain growths, meaning that he won't get a lot of speed, but will get good defense, HP and luck. His strength is good, skill is eh, and he has okay speed, although he can't double the fighters in this map. His luck is bad atm, and he has good defense. His and Lance's con are the same, meaning that if he gets RNG blessed with speed, he will be a top draft in my team and may never leave. He has typical starting weapons and no vulenary. He and Lance has a weapon level of E in swords and D in lances. It won't be hard getting their sword levels up.

We now have Bors next. Bors... shouldn't really be in a map like this. It's way too open and almost all the enemies are axe units. Knights in general are kinda taboo in FE, imo, because not only does the unit's growths need to be good, but the maps and design must make that unit usable in terms of strategical defense. On one hand, we gets Knights like Oswin who can be very useful in most of Blazing Sword due the maps varying in size and some having chokepoints and requires you to defend, as well as Oswin having good bases from the beginning and having good growths as well. On the other hand, we have Bors, who can be good, but gets put in a very bad spot from the beginning due to the nature of this map.

Now, Bors stats are kinda a joke here. He has the same strength and skill as Allen, but worse HP(doesn't really matter since he's Knight and has damn good defense) and luck. Due to that, and the fact that this map consists of mostly axe units, Bors will see no action here, because he won't have a reliable hit rate. Let's just hope that C rank in lances comes in handy.

Now for Wolt. Archers... are barely good, most of the time bad from my experiences. It's seems like female archers get the better end of the stick, because up till we got Takumi, male archers just borderline sucked for the most part(I have not played the Tellius series, so I don't know about Shinon). Archers in general I've never liked as a class due to enemy archers being trolls and being RNG blessed, and the first archer that I get being absolute trash from the beginning, and doesn't go anywhere during the ride. I get what archers are used for, sneaky bastards that hits units from a distance but fragile due to not being able to fight up close, but I'm really annoyed at the fact that I've never start off with at least an archer with good bases.

Wolt... *sigh*. Everything... is worse than Roy... other than con, and his HP being the same. He can't even kill the Fighters after they've been weakened. Wolt has never been good in any level up that he got on my earlier playthroughs. I honestly don't want to even attempt trying to make use of Wolt, but maybe I was RNG screwed. I'm giving his Vulenary to Allen. D rank in Bows... I don't know maybe it'll come in handy?

*screenshot of Lance's stats... didn't include them but he has two point less strength, 2 points more skill, 2 points more speed, 1 point worse luck, and 1 point less HP*

Now we have Lance, who has Kent growths and is the polar opposite of Allen in terms of good and bad base stats, which is expected. Allen was actually the one who got the better level ups in my last playthrough. Lance would either gain no strength, no defense, or no speed. Lance has a Javelin, which isn't gonna get any use on this map.

Now, with all that rambling done, on the game itself...

I decided to move Wolt down at the bottom since Lance can do enough damage for Wolt to kill him. Moved Bors to the woods since he'll be out of range, and moved Allen to the top. Let's see how this goes...



CURSES! HERE COME DAT BOI!

No one took damage after the enemy's turn, and Wolt can get a kill now.

Good start.

Now to deal with this...

Good.

I have a bad feeling about this...

Dammit.

Damn. It. I remember this always happening to Lance. Welp, there goes one vulenary. Now for revenge!

Payback's a bitch!



Another kill for Wolt. Better start praying to Anna.



You really wanna ride this train, fam?



Big Mistake!



I have nothing to fear.



Time to visit a village, because seeing a dude in armor doesn't raise any red flags at all, apparently.



D'awww. She's a cutie. Anyways, we got 5000 gold, totaling to 10000. Damn good start.

OW! My face! Jokes on you because I level up this turn!



I sense good things in your future.



My time to shine!



Now I will grow stronger!



...Just the first level up...!



*prays to Anna like there's no tomorrow*



We're almost there, dad!

[ASS CLENCHING INTENSIFIES]



PRAISE ANNA!!!



You're running out of goons, fam.

You can't catch a break, but we're about to be done anyways.



...

don't start this shit this early on in the game!



Stay dead you prick.



Now for the boss. He's easy, which is good. Gonna snipe him a bit, and give one of the cavs the kill. Before I do so, I'm giving Bors Lance's Javelin for the next map, and giving Wolt's vulenary to Lance.



You brought a team of mostly fighters that uses axes, what do you think was gonna happen?

For Lycia!



Time to end this!



Damn right.

Allen chill.



And with that, this chapter comes to a close!

Final thoughts:
This chapter is a very straight forward chapter in terms of design. It's not a chapter that a veteran players can mess up like at all, and it's not too daunting for newcomers to the series. The enemy placement is pretty good and not too dangerous. Nothing really much to say in that regard, since... it's the first chapter of the game.


Final score:
5th: Marcus and Bors(0 LVs; 0 EXP. Didn't do that much outside of getting stuff and trading.)
4th: Roy(0 LVs; 82 EXP. Got some kills.)
3rd: Lance(1 LV; 76 EXP; +1 HP, +RES. Got kills, but a bad level up.)
2nd: Wolt(1 LV; 39 EXP; +1 HP, +1 SKL, +1 SPD, +1 DEF. BEST LV UP SO FAR.)
1st and MVP: Allen(2 LVs; 37 EXP; +1 HP, +1 STR, +2 SPD, +2 LUK. He's on a roll so far!)

Whew. That was a lot of writing. Good thing after this there isn't gonna be a plethora of new units for awhile.

Up Next: Fox Girl Has Become Fox Woman! Chapter 2...

Tell me what you guys think! ^^

[Magical Glace]

I approve of Wolt use, just hope he stays good. Looks like you're playing Normal though, so he won't be too screwed.

[Blaze The Great]

Pretty good first update. Informative, and pretty humorous as well.

As for units, Lance and Alan are probably the only non-Roy units worth using. In fact, if you support them together, it's not unreasonable to use both. The others all suffer from various problems that are somewhat crippling to their potential. And yeah, archers aren't great, though Tellius does have some of the best, along with adding in a crossbow (1-range weapon) to make them somewhat better.

Keep up the good work.

[SageHarpuiaJDJ]

I approve of Wolt use, just hope he stays good. Looks like you're playing Normal though, so he won't be too screwed.

Yep, it's normal playthrough since I've never beat the game. Dunno if I gonna do hard tho.

I hope he doesn't get screwed as well.

Pretty good first update. Informative, and pretty humorous as well.

As for units, Lance and Alan are probably the only non-Roy units worth using. In fact, if you support them together, it's not unreasonable to use both. The others all suffer from various problems that are somewhat crippling to their potential. And yeah, archers aren't great, though Tellius does have some of the best, along with adding in a crossbow (1-range weapon) to make them somewhat better.

Keep up the good work.

Yeah, I've read around here about Lance and Allen are pretty much the only usable units out of the starters. Hence why I'm using them the most, but if the others actually get good level ups, they may see more use, by not that much. Thanks for the compliments and feedback!

Chapter 2 is gonna be up either today or tomorrow. Along with some edits I need to make to the first chapter post, since I posted two repeats. ^^'

[SageHarpuiaJDJ]

Bumping for news...

Been very busy irl, but I'm still working on this! Almost done with chapter 2. May be posted today or tomorrow.

[SageHarpuiaJDJ]

Two months means a day in the deeprealms... Right?

But seriously, I actually have more free time than I thought even though my first month of College has been a roller coaster of good and bad things. I've actually almost finished chapter 2, but I hate imgur's new layout and it makes finding images tedious. Are there any good substitutions?

[SageHarpuiaJDJ]

I'm uploading the images now, so this is WIP post. I'll finish uploading them tomorrow. You can look in the spoiler tag for now for all of the text!

Chapter 2: Fox Girl is Now Fox Woman!

Now, we're on to the next chapter. But before we get into that, there's some things that I neglected to talk about in the last playthough. While talking about the graphics and whatnot, I never actually brought up the sprites as well as well as the portraits in general and the music in game, so I'm gonna be doing that in this segment as a quick rebuttal.

*2 random screens with portraits*

For a GBA game, the portraits are very well done and gives characters a feature that makes them stands out. The shading on the faces is also well done and shows details like wrinkles and curves perfectly. I really like the colors and the shading of the hair on all of these portraits too. And while they do look very anime for the most part, there's some good unique ones too! (Gonzolez and Dorothy are two of my favorites.)

*sceen of map, and two screens of battles*

The map sprites do they're job in showcasing what enemy does what, and the minor motions when idle are good and shows signs of life. The small animations when you're selecting your units are also nice.

The battle sprites are okay in terms of structure. The good amount of detail that is shown makes up for the lack of non detail, and it makes the sprites look cleaner. The animations are good sometimes, like Roy's crit and normal attack, and some are kinda crappy, like the fighter's silly looking attacks and crits.

As for music, I think that FE6's map theme is the weakest in the beginning. It's doesn't really have a medieval tone to it, and it doesn't really sound like a theme to an exciting journey to me(I retract this statement. The theme is actually pretty damn catchy). Though the battle theme does have this as well being fast paced, which I like. The defense and enemy phase themes are weak and don't really sound like you're in any distress. The defend theme sounds like something you'd hear from a puzzle game. Non of the FE enemy phase themes from the start actually gives out of sense of danger, which makes sense.


Now on to the chapter itself:

*screen of save screen*

In this mission, we're gonna be meeting the Mercenaries hired by papa Eliwood, but we're also gonna be meeting a surprise ally.

*screen of cutscene*

Hey! It's the legendary dragon lady, Milady! Okay, when I first saw this, I honestly thought that Miledy, the hot redhead barking at the fat plumber looking mofo, was definetly gonna be true and honorable to Bern's ambitions, simply because of how scared this guy is and the threat that she made. But, as the story progresses, where her honor really is focused on surprised me. And the fat guy at the gate...

*screen of cutscene*

Is actually a traitorous fat fuck who locked up Fox Girl and plans on turning her in to Bern's enemies for money. He's a damn good actor, I have to admit, but a terrible human being.

*screen of Merlinus*

Now back to Roy's Posse. If you all played Blazing Sword, then you all will recognize the balding dude with the fancy mustache. This is Merlinus, aka your convoy. Nothing much I can really say about his design, other that mustache is awesome. He's seems kinda stuck up when compared to the wimpy yet helpful little peddler he was in FE7.

*sceen of Elen*

This is Elen, your first healer. From my knowledge, healers in FE, if they're female, have usually one of three personality traits: They're kind but soft spoken worshipers of their God(s), Their peppy little balls of sunshine, or their stuck up rich nobles. Guess which one Ellen falls in.(strikeout: Stuck up rich noble, obviously) I like her design. Looks like FE8's Natasha was inspired by it, but with even cuter hair. Also, I fucking love how Roy asks if she's okay, and after she confirms it he's like, okay, bye now. I have other things to do. I don't think many lords actually do that. Tell me if they do.

*screen of cutscene*

On another note, Merlinus seems to love objecting to things, and he even has a temper now. Talk about overprivlaged.

*screen of cutscene*

You have quite the tougue for a shitty soldier, pal.

*screen of cutscene*

He He. I always found it funny how when someone says oh dear in a dire situation. I honestly don't know why.

*screen of cutscene*

Well, fuck you convoy man. When did you get a say so in anything when the only thing that you're know for is being a scapegoat and a pack mule?

*screen of cutscene*

With that said let's begin!

Before getting into the actual map, let's recap:
*spoiler with screenshots of all of the current stats of all characters.*

Now on to the map:

*screens of map*
This map may seem big for an early game map, but it's actually more cramped than huge. The map has a lot of visual clutter with the mountain, but the stretch isn't that long, imo. The map has some pretty easy to beat enemies, as well.

Now to look at the two new units that we got.

*screen of Merlinus's stats*

First is Merchant Priv- I-I mean Merlinus. My memories of the FE7 wagon are vague, but this one actually had something that I wished FE7 had. I can't remember what tho. Also, I found out that he respawns like in Blazing Sword, too, so that be useful. Not being level up if he doesn't die is a huge hindrance, tho.

*screen of Elen's stats and weapons*

Now for our Cleric. Clerics/Troubadours/Priests in the FE games are a bitch to train if you don't have access to a lot of staves early on. Unlike the newer games, healers don't get a lot of exp from healing. I think you need to heal 9 times in order to level up with a standard heal staff at level, iirc. Elen here I have vague memories of, but I think she lacks magic from when I tried to use her. She's gonna be used a lot anyhow since healers are automatically important. And she has a D rank in staffs, which is cool.

Now, one thing that I always do on this map is rush in after I get the new units, but I'm gonna try something different by taking it a bit slower.


I gonna try to get some exp for Bors on this map, but not a lot, since... He's a Knight in FE6. The hit rate is shaky, but I'm hoping for the best...



...Oh no.



Allen, I'm counting on you!



I knew I could count on you!



I'm just gonna get some stuff. Don't mind me.



Of course you'll run!



I actually screwed up here. I was gonna move Lance to protect Wolt, but now Roy has to take his place. At least Roy's gonna do some damage and Elen can get some exp.


Allen's a badass, but he can't handle this on his own! Fear not! For here comes...

*screenshot of Deke*

The cavalry! First, the leader of the bunch, you know him well: Deke! This guy looks cool and has a killer blue palette to boot. He's very professional in spite of his bandit appearance.

*screenshot of Shanna*

Next we have Shanna: Street Fighter's Sakura: FE edition. I've always like the peppy optimistic types, and Shanna's no exception. I really like her cute short hair and her hairband. Too bad the Pegasus knights in FE GBA doesn't have distinct palettes outside of their hair.

*screenshot of Wade*

Now we have Wade: I love strength, but nothing else. He's looks so western when compared to everyone else, but that's a tradition with fighters in GBA. He's a hothead who loves to fight. Has a cool palette.

*screenshot of Lot*

Now we have Lot: I love everything else, but the stats that I need to be good. He's the cool headed one who always think ahead. That nose. Also pretty standard GBA fighter look other than the nose, but his palette I like. I wish he didn't suck.

*screen of intro*

You two may be the only ones earning anything, if we're being honest.

Now let's look at our new recruits!

*screen of Wade's stats, weapons, and weapon level*
First is Wade. I've never understood why base Axe units in FE are never actually good or amazing. Sure, Fates has some badass Axe users, but the only really reliable Axe users to use in a normal campaign without a huge fault are Wyvern Riders. As much as I hate to admit it, fighters get overshadowed once you get Beruka and Camilla, but fighters in fates are still better than the Fighters of the past and I still like using them. Still that's not good enough. Anything that uses an axe in FE that's not on a dragon is destined to be terrible or sub par, which is sad. It's either the terrible hit rates on axes or the units bases and growths themselves.

Wade here suffers from both of these cases. I've never thought I'd ever say, 'Stop getting strength and get something else you big, useless rock', but Wade made that possible. He ALWAYS gets strength and almost NEVER gets any other stat, especially speed. He does have good luck, which I do value because crits are scary no matter what percent. He and his brother have a D in axes. People would normally skip these two, but I want to make at least one of them work.

*screen of Lot's stats and weapons*
Next is Lot, who is the polar opposite of Wade. He can actually hit and has decent bases, but his growths are even more 50/50 for the worse than Roy's. I honestly want to use him because of his good speed, but I don't know if that will be case with him. He has a good weapon selection when compared to his brother. Let's see who walks out the better fighter...

...If any of them actually gets good level ups...

*screen of Deke's stats, weapons, and weapon level*
Now for Deke. Like I said, Fighters are always generally bad or meh for their default weapon sucking as well as their growths also sucking, but their's another thing that really hurts them: Mercenaries. Mercenaries are the polar opposite of Fighters. They always start out good and will stay good in the end. It wasn't until the 3DS games where these professionals actually became more honest, even though in Awakening, Fighters were still overshadowed by them for being worse in that game. I think the Mercs in Fates are the most balanced iteration of Mercs. The GBA games, however, made Mercs waaay too strong. I like mercenaries, but I like using different classes for different situations too, and when you have a class that can't be beaten by anything most of the time, things get uninteresting. I also never just start borderline feeding kills to a high level non prepromote. Though in this game, you can't have one unit steamroll the entire game, or so I think.

Deke starts out good and has good growths to boot. His con is high enough to not get bogged down by his iron blade. He also has a C rank in swords. I usually use him to weaken enemies on this map, and don't start killing unit the next map. He's gonna be a necessity in this game, and he'll never not gonna get a spot. I think Deke's the reason why you start getting Mercs later in the GBA games, because Mercs in FE GBA are just too stronk.

*screen of Shanna's stats, weapons, and weapon level*

Finally, we have Shanna...

...

*screen with just Shanna's portrait*

...

Can we take a momment to look at how fucking CUTE this portait is?!

...

...

Now then, Pegasus Knights have always seem to be most honest class in FE, imo. Their haven't been any super broken Pegasus Knights and borderline terrible starting Pegasus Knights. They've always been useful and you never break the game with just Pegasus Knights due to being weak to arrows. All starting Pegasus Knights also usually have good growths and/or good bases, as well as being available early on, allowing for faster training.

Now with that said, Shanna here is gonna be seeing a lot of use, since fliers are a necessity in this game. She starts with general Pegasus Knight bases and growths, but the D rank in lances and having a Javelin will make getting exp easier. If she starts getting strength early though, hoooo boy.

Now back to the game.



Got the Armorslayer, aka the boss killer for like 5 out of the 8 starting chapters before the Gaiden chapters. Roy and Deke will be using this a lot.

Now lets shop!



I'm gonna buy two swords, a lance, and two Javelins. Maybe I'll buy two vulenaries too.



Now... whose gonna get this kill?



Lance. Because you need this map for redemption.



Good, now let's see if you got better...

*screen of level up*

God DAMMIT Lance! C'mon.



*prepares anus for Wolt's next Level up*



Second verse, same as the first.



RIP Roy Level up.

*screen of battle*

At least Allen's still awesome. I forgot to get his level up, but he gained HP, luck, and defense, which is decent.

I moved Shanna to the woods since a Soldier is on the way and she can get some exp from the wimpy little pokey man. Also decided not the move the others in the range of the fighters in the front so that Allen can take the hits. The fighter with the hand axe should attack Allen too.







Going good so far.


He... went after Wolt?



Talk about convient.



I guess I can... use Wade for the Soldiers? But first, let's get Shanna this kill...I'm not liking these odds.



It worked out in the end, though!



Get hype guys! It's time for Roy's first level up!!!

*twitch*...It's... A level up... I suppose... *twitch* There's... m-more to go... Keep calm... Sage...



Shanna looks pretty comfy here, if you know what I mean. :3



Naga give me strength.



Well, at least Shanna's getting lucky.



This woman is the cutest NPC ever.



Hmmm... I suppose Wade can get this kill, but I'm not sure after that shit display earlier... So Lot's gonna get in instead...



Nah. Allen can get this. Lot's gonna weaken that soldier for Shanna.



The hit is all that matters.



Shanna's doing great...

*screen of level up*

Level up already?! Let's see what she got..

*screen of level up*

Nooooo! Not Shanna!



Well, the gang's all here... mostly.



I think this is the longest that I've spent of this map. I have to say that playing it safe has worked out for the most part.



What's with these shaky hit rates?



Allen doesn't give a fuck, though.



Unless you hit again, I'm not impressed.



The gang's all here!



...My hopes are going to be crushed, are they?





...I think I died a little inside.



Hey! Wolt can get the kill. Let's get this level up.



...O-or not.



Maybe Shanna can do something?



She did a lot!



*screen of level up*

Does this game have a redhead fetish or something? Why do redheads get these awesome level ups? (not including Roy, atm)



Lot gets a kill. Thank god.


....

!WE INTERUPT THIS LET'S PLAY THAT INVOLVES SCREENSHOTS CAUSE SAGE'S VOICE IS TERRIBLE WITH A IMPORTANT MESSAGE!

If you actually decided to read this, this is where I had to stop for like a whole month cause of school and shit. I actually have a bit more free time than I though. I may even be able to get more pages done! Now... Where were we?

*screen of map*

Gonna end my turn here.



Prolly should've equipped the Javelin.

*screen of map*

...but now this guy's kinda fucked.



You can do it, little cutie!



Yay! I hope you redeem yourself!



Speaking of redemption, Lance's chances are looking very low and Allen and Marcus may be the horse units for this portion of the game. Unless he gets an amazing level up on this chapter, I'm not wasting my time anymore. Wade and Bors are pretty much lost causes, too. Well, I may give Wade one more chance on the next map. Now to end my phase...



...Th-Th-That's not Lance!



This is what I get for not healing Allen.



This section annoys me. If I remember, none of these assholes attack until you enter their range, especially that asshole archer. He will stay there and won't move until you attack him. The mercenary in the front has an iron blade. He means business, so the Deke will come in handy to weaken the guy...

*screen of Deke's Weapons*

...Actually Deke can kill this guy...with his Iron sword. He does 10 damage to the guy and can double him. I guess Lance can get in on this.



...

(Groans of increasing discomfort)



Shanna has a good chance of weakening the guy with little risk with her silm lance. I just hope she doesn't the low % crits that these lances are known for.



Good job, my little princess of the skies.



Don't suck this time, Lance.



You still have a long way to go. Off screen, I used Shanna to re-equip Lance's Iron Sword. I don't think that fighter moves, though.



Let's see...



...You's a bitch.



OH NAGA WHY?! This is just fucking discouraging. You are supposed to be the FAST CAV! How do you not double FIGHTERS?!?!

...Fuck it. I'm going for it.



...Now you decide to dodge low 40% axe attacks. Fuck you, Lance.



...What? Was I wrong then?





Oh. Well fuck you then, good sir. This... This is why I hate Archers. Fuck them all. Lance feels the same way, which is why he's gonna stay here and fuck that Archer's shit up.



Faggot bowman is next.



You're making Lance angry...







You won't like him when's angry...

(...Rage caused the screenshot to burst into flames and crumble. It was just HP and Skill. Fuck. You. Lance.)

...And I don't like you PERIOD. I fucking yield. You're benched, Lance. Now Lilina's not looking so bad, cause at least she can KILL on her chapter.

...Okay, calm down. Maybe we can make this work...

...Okay, I'm calm now.

Now, back to game. In order to save time, I'm not gonna post a screenshot of the bosses anymore. I think a good chunk of the members here have seen these bosses, so that will save some time. The boss is a typical Knight boss. He's harder to kill because of the insane bonuses that the Gate provides, and even Wade and Lot have terrible accuracy against him.

Anyways, I'm gonna try something with Marcus. I've given him Lot's Iron Axe, and he can't kill, the boss, but he can do a damn good amount of damage, or so I think...



I was right! As long as Marcus doesn't pull a GBA starting Paladin and gets a 'Fuck Your EXP' crit, I should be able to give this to either Roy, Deke, Allen, or maybe even Shanna. Not Lance. You lost your chance...

...on this chapter



Time to do Marcus things!



You like Axes? No anwser...



...But apparently Marcus like Lances. Fire Emblem, ladies and gentlemen.



I love trading.



This should be enough for Roy or Lot to Kill. I guess I'll use Roy for this so that he get too far behind.

He can, but I'm not sure I should, let's see what Lot can do.

........Roy's getting the kill.



But to be safe I let the boss attack first, now to finish the job!



Owned.

*screen of level up*

Now, let's see if it was worth it...

...

...

...It wasn't. I wasn't fast enough to get the screen shot, but Roy only got skill. I have so much to say about all of these shitty level ups, but let's seize the throne and end the chapter.

*screen of seize*



We finally get to see fox girl! If you're like me, and played FE7 first, you really would think that Guinivere of all people would be a major part of the story. She's just a child that Zepiel's dick of a father prevented from seeing out of jealously.

...

...

[Mini rant time]

In spite of all of the characters that people hate today and back then, for me, none of them will ever come close to being as rage inducing as a deadbeat like Desmond is. I can completely understand why Zepiel lost his patience and killed him, because Desmond is just an absolutely terrible excuse for a human being. I can't stand characters like Desmond. As a parent, you should be proud of your child's success. You shouldn't worry that you're not of a high class or isn't gifted like your child. Him clinging on to Guivere was in no way real love, but he just wanted her to love her in the same way that some grudging brat wants to own something just because a person who's not a total asshole like that child is, which is not as someone as old as him should act, especially with a child as young as Guivere. And ordering to have the fox killed? Then hiring the Black Fang to kill Zepiel? And even going so far as to attempt to poison Zepiel? That's just plain disgusting. I understand trying to get a parent to love you in spite of what you want to do. It would honestly shatter me if I were in Zepiel's position: Wanting to have a relationship with all your parents, but one half won't even give you a chance. Not even GARON was as much as monster as this guy after dying and having his body possessed. Now I can understand how most people feel so enraged when a fictional character takes awful actions too far, because thinking about Desmond makes me wanna punch a wall.

tl;dr...I understand the hate for characters like Peri and Hana more now after thinking about Desmond again.


[Mini Rant over]

Now back to big reveal!



...Um, are you sure that's not Zepiel's wife or something? That cannot be Guinivere. That just can't.



...

..That's it! The cellar was dank, so that means that they all got high! Get off what you're on right now!



Tell me yours first! And it better not be Guinivere. There is no way that the little fox girl that we all know and love grew up to be this pretty. All little girls in FE always stay cute. They never grow up to be pretty. It's the ru-

...

*clears thoart*

That's Roy, the first lord in FE history to have more people hate him than like him. As we found out with Fates, he's certainly not the last.



I wonder what awesome name that Zepiel's wife will have. It's gonna be something epic, but majestic to fit her pretty-

...

...

...



Elen, go away.



...Holy shit. Puberty hit Guinivere like the Sword of Seals. That hair. Those eyes. That headpiece. I mean, why can't she be the canon wife for Roy? Nothing against Lilina's looks, but Guinivere's way prettier and less of an obvious, cliche setup for a romance.(if you played FE7 first like I did, that is.)You know what, I'm shipping it anyways! RoyXGuinivere: The REAL OTP!

...What's with the sad music, though?



My exact reaction, Roy. Well, not really since I've played this chapter like 5 times. Thus... making that whole sequence about Guinivere comepletely... and utterly... pointless. :3








Merlinus, kindly do yourself, and Roy, and most importantly me, a favor, and fuck off. What would YOU do if it's was a trap? Why are you even saying this when you can't even fight? Get off of your high horse dude. Seriously.



That explains the music. She's an 'Emmeryn' archetype now, but probably won't die. I guess she saw that soldier kill her pet fox and has PTSD whenever Zepiel crushes people with that big ass sword that is conveniently a scepter.

...

Whew, finally done. After almost a whole month, I finally did it! Decided to go more with the story this time because we meet a big role in the story in spite not being a fighter.


Final thoughts:
This is chapter is a pretty good chapter as well. It's not as easy as the first one, but still as challenging as a map at this stage should be, imo. My main gripe though is how unnecessarily large this map is. The mountain is way too big. Only one unit can go on it, so what's the point of making it so big. And the left side of the mountain where all of the vendors and stuff are located are too far back. Other than that, this chapter isn't really that bad, but it's early game, so I shouldn't look for too much.

Going back to down side that's not related to the chapter itself, there is something that royally turned me off this game in the first place: the growth rates. GBA growth rates in this game and FE7 don't make sense to me. This a period where things like second seals and heart seals wasn't even a thought, and once a unit reached level 20 promoted, that unit couldn't grow anymore unless it used stat items, so why is it that in order for a growth rate for a stat that's not HP in these games to be amazing, it has be along the lines of 50-55%? It may just be the noob in me, but that should not be the case with these limitations, cause when a unit gets RNG screwed on one chapter, that unit may not be usable for the rest of the game, as we've seen with Lance. The first levels can make or break or unit, and units are already starting to break and we're just starting.

I have been told that FE6's balance is the worst, so I may just be too salty over the matter, but I don't like it when a game's hard because your main cast is super crippled and the game itself is designed to be hard. It may work in some cases, but it does not work here. I still want to give the game a chance, though. It's only the first two chapters, and I've already played most of them up to the one where you get Miledy, so I know what to expect for the most part.

After reading over this, Yeah I was REALLLLY salty. Too salty for my tastes. Well this is what happens when you type and play at the same time. The next chapter is actually kinda lenient with the enemies; there's a bunch of soldiers in it. So there's still a chance for... well everyone except Bors maybe.

Final score:
Will post soon...


Whew. That was a lot of writing. Good thing after this there isn't gonna be a plethora of new units for awhile.

Up Next: The greatest beard... falls. Chapter 3...

Edited November 4, 2016 by SageHarpuiaJDJ

[Shadow Mir]

fighters in fates are still better than the Fighters of the past

Really now? Because I think Arthur and Charlotte are losers, failures, schmucks, the whole nine yards. Give me PoR Boyd, Nolan, Barst, or Vaike over Mr. Alwaysfacescritchances or Ms. Can'thitthebroadsideofabarn any day of the week.

Edited November 4, 2016 by Levant Mir Celestia

[Frosty]

What's going to be Alan's main weapon of choice if he's promoted?

Also YAY for Thany/Shanna....

[bottlegnomes]

Enjoying this so far.

Seconding my surprise in you not liking the Tellius fighters. Boyd was maybe the best non-mounted unit in PoR and Nolan was a life-saver in the DB chapters. But yeah, the GBA ones are all pretty garbo, and I've never had much luck with the DS ones sans Barst. Your two starting fighters in FE5 are pretty sweet though, and might be the best in the series.

Also, maybe it's because I started with the GBA games and then went back to the older ones before stats started really inflating, but I'm partial to the lower growths. To me 60% should be considered great and 40% good, not good and terrible respectively. Along this line, maybe give Lance one more chance. He's always turned out really well for me. I actually prefer him slightly to Allen because I have bad luck with Allen missing when I really don't want him to.

Anyway, looking forward to where this goes and I'm interested in seeing your thoughts on the game once you're done.

[SageHarpuiaJDJ]

Enjoying this so far.

Seconding my surprise in you not liking the Tellius fighters. Boyd was maybe the best non-mounted unit in PoR and Nolan was a life-saver in the DB chapters. But yeah, the GBA ones are all pretty garbo, and I've never had much luck with the DS ones sans Barst. Your two starting fighters in FE5 are pretty sweet though, and might be the best in the series.

Also, maybe it's because I started with the GBA games and then went back to the older ones before stats started really inflating, but I'm partial to the lower growths. To me 60% should be considered great and 40% good, not good and terrible respectively. Along this line, maybe give Lance one more chance. He's always turned out really well for me. I actually prefer him slightly to Allen because I have bad luck with Allen missing when I really don't want him to.

Anyway, looking forward to where this goes and I'm interested in seeing your thoughts on the game once you're done.

Yeah, I'm not really familiar with the Tellius series, so I don't know how good the classes are when compared to other iterations, same with the SNES series, which I should really start soon, and in fact, gonna start blind next!

And the only reason I said that cause I was mad salty when I was done. I'm still gonna give Lance a chance, but Allen's blowing him out of the water atm, which is the opposite of your experience lol.

And thanks for the support!

@Frosty: Maybe Axes if I don't get a good axe user.

@Levent: Not familiar with any of those other than Vaike. Vaike I didn't really use as much because I didn't really like fighters during the time, but he's okay. I still think Arthur and Charlotte are better though, because Bronze Axes actually helps out with accuracy and lowers crit chances. I may just be biased though, tbh, which is kinda a bad way to look at things.

As for finishing this chapter post, I'm gonna have to lower the screenies by quite a lot since I reached the limit this time around. I need to edit my post a bit so that I can split it into 2 parts. Maybe just have the current post as gameplay and the other stuff in another post. Expect that some time this month, maybe this week if my workload gets smaller.

[Shadow Mir]

@Levent: Not familiar with any of those other than Vaike. Vaike I didn't really use as much because I didn't really like fighters during the time, but he's okay. I still think Arthur and Charlotte are better though, because Bronze Axes actually helps out with accuracy and lowers crit chances. I may just be biased though, tbh, which is kinda a bad way to look at things.

The issue is, I shouldn't have to feel like I'm playing Russian roulette trying to use either Arthur or Charlotte, and yet I do because the former's pretty much always at risk of critical hits, and the latter's defenses are garbage. Also, their personal skills are useless (in the case of Arthur, worse than useless), which doesn't help their case. Nor does it that Berserkers have an innate crit evade penalty, essentially forcing me to luck out nearly every time they see combat.

Edited November 8, 2016 by Levant Mir Celestia

[SageHarpuiaJDJ]

The issue is, I shouldn't have to feel like I'm playing Russian roulette trying to use either Arthur or Charlotte, and yet I do because the former's pretty much always at risk of critical hits, and the latter's defenses are garbage. Also, their personal skills are useless (in the case of Arthur, worse than useless), which doesn't help their case. Nor does it that Berserkers have an innate crit evade penalty, essentially forcing me to luck out nearly every time they see combat.

I actually think Charlotte's PS is actually pretty darn useful in Conquest, especially in Chapter 24. Unpopular opinion, but I find the Crit penalty to actually make sense for such a powerful class. Though I will agree that Arthur has it pretty bad, and now that I think about it, Vaike is way better. Also, I don't think defense when fighters are talked about, so lacking in defenses doesn't really bother me as much since that's one of the flaws of the class in terms of its design.

Now that I think about, I think Fates' fighters, although not as good unit wise as fighters before, are actually better design wise, but that's just me.

[Shadow Mir]

I actually think Charlotte's PS is actually pretty darn useful in Conquest, especially in Chapter 24. Unpopular opinion, but I find the Crit penalty to actually make sense for such a powerful class. Though I will agree that Arthur has it pretty bad, and now that I think about it, Vaike is way better. Also, I don't think defense when fighters are talked about, so lacking in defenses doesn't really bother me as much since that's one of the flaws of the class in terms of its design.

Now that I think about, I think Fates' fighters, although not as good unit wise as fighters before, are actually better design wise, but that's just me.

Being "good" in all of one chapter doesn't even come close to salvaging it out of the bin of garbage personal skills, as I see it - especially since I have better options against female units that can actually hit worth a damn. And it doesn't help that most female units aren't that durable anyway. As for the crit evade penalty, I think it makes Berserkers much better as an enemy class than as a player class - their sheer power and crit boost don't even come close to making up for it imho. And it drags me back to the point about I shouldn't have to gamble every time I try to use a certain unit, especially when if it doesn't work out, it could be run-ending.

As for design, I'm not a fan of Fates' fighter design, except Arthur.

Edited November 9, 2016 by Levant Mir Celestia

[Frosty]

@Frosty: Maybe Axes if I don't get a good axe user.

Awesome... That's what I also give him in my FE6 runs! XD

Proto-Kieran GO GO GO!

Edited November 14, 2016 by Frosty