[Hard] Radiant Dawn Semi-Blind

[Shadow Mir]

Just how many level did you give Fiona there?

[Deltre]

10 minutes ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

Just how many level did you give Fiona there?

She started 1-F at 12.99, and promoted at 16. Maybe could have went for 17 if I had her kill the boss, but eh. 

I'm almost entirely positive she's speed blessed, and I did give her an Energy Drop. From where I'm standing though, that looks like a good 16/1 Paladin to me haha. I don't know her growths, but they seemed like they must be relatively high.

Edited October 18, 2017 by Deltre

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

You could take out the wyvern knight in the first turn by shoving Tormod with Vika and Muarim.

I can already say that next chapter will become problematic with a slow Micky without resolve. Tbf resolve wouldn't even prevent her from getting doubled. No single speed point yet. 
It's a weird run in terms of growths so far.

I'm glad that you enjoy the maps as much as I do. It's the main reason why I love this game. Only Conquest comes close to FE10 in map design and variety of mission objectives.

Edited October 18, 2017 by Byakuren Hijiri

[Deltre]

@Byakuren Hijiri 1-9 didn't end up being that bad, if a little reliant on memorization. Once I got it down where there enemies with 1-2 Range were coming from, it wasn't so bad. Probably my least favorite out of all the Part 1 maps though, just because whether or not it's difficult almost entirely depends on Micaiah's growths.

Anyways, if anyone out there ever wanted to hear a grown man lose his mind with excitement, this is probably the part for you. I think my feelings on this one mostly speak for them self, although again, when all is said and done I think this map is kinda weak. I think that the enemies, aside from the boss, should have no more than 10 SPD max. That way, you wouldn't end up in a situation like I did. The feeling of the map would be the same, it would just be less annoying for people who got unlucky with their growths. 

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

As for 1-9 the heal hedge in the south is the only safe spot for Micky. You have to swap BK from left to right and back each turn. Idk how long it took me to figure it out. If you don't know it, this chapter is more or less luckbased; depends on how good Micky is. Normally resolve and angelic robe / draco shield prevent her from getting ORKO'ed, but in this case resolve wouldn't help since she's still so slow to get doubled by everyone in this map.

I don't like this map much either despite the appearence of awesome BK. The small maps where you only have a couple of units are the hardest (excluding 1-P). There's another sort of map upcoming soon I dislike way more because you won't have Darth Vader archetype character there. 

[Interdimensional Observer]

20 hours ago, Deltre said:

It sucks that Jill and Fiona are randomly unavailable on this map for unexplained reasons, but taking the narrative out of the equation I actually really like this choice.

The logic I think is that Micaiah says she'll rescue the people at the swamp using only her friends, so as to not come off as hijacking control of the Daein Liberation Army from Pelleas. Jill was in the Liberation Army before Micaiah showed up, and Fiona is the stewardess of Marado, a more formal position than DB member. The problem with this logic is that Zihark can be fielded and yet he is in the same position as Jill (they should've excluded him). Tauroneo only being playable up once in P1 just to show how good he is, but also be realistic and acknowledge that a high ranking commander as talented and experienced as him can't always be in the thick of the battle, someone has to manage things from afar.

 

I dread the coming of 1-9 on every playthrough, the chapter is just a nightmare with a bad Micaiah, something I experienced on my one try at a draft run. For the DB, Micaiah and Sothe were free, while I chose Aran for my other DB draftee. Given I had so few units to funnel everything into Aran turned out amazing. Albeit not as amazing a certain somebody who later, although there was a little Battle Save abuse, managed to proc their 15% Speed growth wayyyyy more than they should have. That's my most recent massive blessing experience. Jarod by the way doesn't show up on 1-9 until you've killed every other unit.

 

Also, that "something later" when you bring the BK to 1-Final only happens on a second playthrough or later. So unless you took someone else's Clear Data and started a playthrough from it, you won't be getting anything. What exactly it is, is spoilers so great, I can't utter a syllable of it.

 

And since you expressed an interest in the Dawn Brigade and have finished Part 1, here is some information the developers unfortunately didn't have the time, budget and or space (I don't know which) to integrate. Don't worry, it spoils nothing.

https://serenesforest.net/general/designers-notes/radiant-dawn/the-dawn-brigade/

 

I had much of the game's plot spoiled when I first played the game since I followed it real closely when RD first came out in Japan (I was on SF back then). So it's interesting to see someone so excited and surprised over the BK's return. Hope you enjoy the rest!

Edited October 19, 2017 by Interdimensional Observer

[Deltre]

@Byakuren Hijiri Yeah, with 1-9 I basically had to brute force my way through. I don't think it's a great map, but at the very least I can say it's so short that failure only ever really costs a couple of minutes if you were playing with animations off/map animations. And for a first time experience, I don't think that there's many people who would say that getting to play as the Black Knight isn't totally amazing. 

If you were talking about 2-P, idk I kinda liked that one. 2-1, less so. I admit I'm a little lucky, the only save file I could find does have transfer bonuses for Nephenee (Speed and maybe Str/Def?), so that made it a little easier than it probably should have been. I wish I could have found a save file with Ike/Soren A support, Hard Mode clear data, and no transfers, but alas, I couldn't find one anywhere. Shoot, I'd have just brought in my own PoR file, but I did that on Maniac so it's no good for this playthrough.

@Interdimensional Observer That's the reason I thought Jill couldn't come too, but yeah, Zihark screws that up entirely. I'm not sure though, Zihark seems pretty laid back. He probably just went with the flow, leaving Tauroneo and Jill to do all the hard work back at camp. 

That information on the Dawn Brigade actually paints the original 5 in an entirely different light, and I wish that would have been included in the game proper. Sothe and Micaiah will be okay, I'm sure, but learning more about Edward/Leonardo and especially Nolan (given that he's apparently the LEADER of all things) would be much appreciated. I'm still holding out for more on that later, but I'm shocked they'd leave all that out!

And yes, this is indeed on a cleared save file. People who were subscribed to me had asked about the Soren/Ike thing at some point, and I thought it would be fun to try and get it, even if the requirements are a little obtuse from what I understand. 

Anyhow, Part 1 is officially over. I immediately regret promoting Fiona on the map itself, because I remembered that BEXP is a thing, and I should have pumped up her STR/SPD a little more after this map before promoting her in hindsight. If I had, she'd be a complete monster by the time we get back to Micaiah's group. I'm going to withhold final judgement on her for now (so as to not look like a bigger jackass than I already might for talking her up), but in my mind she's gotta be at LEAST as good as Aran. Gotta be. Probably.  He wants all the same things as her (Forge/BEXP, namely) except he doesn't have Canto and I assume he becomes a Halberdier. If I were really tryin' hard, I could have even given her the Spirit Dust for a cool 11 HP per turn that would only get better with time. By the way, does Imbue stack with Renewal? Because recovering almost half your HP passively every turn sounds really nice.

Overall though, I find Part 1 to be a pretty great start. Jarod, while not exactly complex, does everything I think you need to do to be a good antagonist in these kinds of games. He's constantly on your ass, as the player you want to beat him, you regularly get to SEE glimpses as to what it is that makes him a villain instead of just hearing about it, and he actually feels like a threat. He's even humanized a little bit when they show that he is upset over the death of his right-hand man. Granted, he uses that rage to become even MORE of a douche, but that only serves to make him more consistent in my book. The game sets him up as a man mad with power, when his plans are foiled he goes down swinging, and we're never expected to feel bad for this guy despite the fact that we're shown that there's this glimmer of humanity in him. As far as "first arc villains" go, he has to be the best, hands down.

The idea of Ashnard having a secret kid is pretty interesting too, and goes hand in hand with Elincia's situation. I still wish that he would have been alluded to a bit in PoR, but it's got potential, I'll say that. Actually, having started Part 2 there's a lot more similarities between the two besides being secret royalty, but I'm going to wait until I beat Part 2 before I really form an opinion on that. All in all Part 1 was satisfying for me.The ending, while good, leaves me with juuuuuuust enough questions that I want to keep playing to hopefully find some answers. Like, what's the deal with the Black Knight? Or even Micaiah for that matter. Will we get to see Pelleas act a little bit more like a leader? How powerful is Fiona actually? All these questions.

The gameplay is obviously really good, so there's not a whole lot I have to add to that, other than that 1-F is also a great map.

[BrightBow]

I didn't have access to Internet those last few weeks, so I am only starting catching up now. That might have been for the best. With this game I would have been a bit worried about all kinds of beginners traps, so I probably would have said to much. But sorry if I am saying something you already know.

Even if battle animations are disabled, you can still display them by holding a button like in more recent games. Unfortunately I don't remember which one and it doesn't exactly help that this game can be played with a million different controllers.

The game actually has two versions of the script, one essentially being an abridged version. And unfortunately the only version of the script that got translated is the abridged one. The Serenes Forest page has translations for a few of the later chapters but that's about it. Unfortunately none of them translated the Part 1 chapters. I would really like to see those since there is a fair bit of weirdness going on in Part 1, like that thing with Laura that you noted.

Having two versions of the script is a really baffling decision. I'm going to copy the relevant passages from the Nintendo Dream Interview on this subject since half of it is devoted towards clarifying that the difficultly level does not affect the number of chapters and therelike:

Spoiler

 

Maeda: It’s not that they are different. Perhaps Fire Emblem enthusiasts would enjoy a long and deep scenario, but for more casual gamers this can make it harder to get into the game. On the other hand, fans of the series may feel unsatisfied with a lighter and shorter story. Therefore, we’ve modified the dialogue scenes to be a bit longer for the Hard Mode and a bit shorter on Normal.

....

Yamagami: Other than the dialogue scenes, which are integral to advancing the plot, there are also other scenes that, for example, reveal the kind of connection two characters have with each other. While these kind of scenes may be highly enjoyable for the Fire Emblem enthusiasts, for new players they might seem completely unnecessary, having no effect on how much they will enjoy the game.

In other words, by taking out the scenes concentrating on character building, we hope that players new to the series will be able enjoy the game more by just concentrating on the main story. We’ve heard from the more casual players that the storyline was too hard to follow in our previous games, so we’ve thought out this new structure and have found it to be the best solution to this problem.

 

Since I didn't copy the editors notes, I should clarify that Hard Mode refers to Maniac Mode here. The full passage can be found here: https://serenesforest.net/general/interviews/radiant-dawn/nintendo-dream/page-2/

I am particularly baffled that Yamagami specifically mentions that they cut scenes that focused on character building. One doesn't care about a story if one doesn't care about the characters involved in it. So that's just about the worst place to make any sort of cuts.

Anyway, this decision is all kinds of interesting given the very barebone dialog in the 3DS games.

Edited October 20, 2017 by BrightBow

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

You did very well in part 1, especially in trainingFiona. I never ever saw it happening in any other FE10 HM playthrough, so you deserve my gratitude!

Anyways - I don't think it's really a spoiler - you beat the hardest part of this game. Of course you'll deal with more Dawn Brigade chapters, but I think you got used to this party well enough to handle their upcoming chapters.
 

3 hours ago, Deltre said:

@Byakuren Hijiri Yeah, with 1-9 I basically had to brute force my way through. I don't think it's a great map, but at the very least I can say it's so short that failure only ever really costs a couple of minutes if you were playing with animations off/map animations. And for a first time experience, I don't think that there's many people who would say that getting to play as the Black Knight isn't totally amazing. 
As for this chapter of course it's amazing to kill stuff with him. But in 1-E I would rather prefer to listen this theme less and give the kills to the allies who need it.

If you were talking about 2-P, idk I kinda liked that one. 2-1, less so. I admit I'm a little lucky, the only save file I could find does have transfer bonuses for Nephenee (Speed and maybe Str/Def?), so that made it a little easier than it probably should have been. I wish I could have found a save file with Ike/Soren A support, Hard Mode clear data, and no transfers, but alas, I couldn't find one anywhere. Shoot, I'd have just brought in my own PoR file, but I did that on Maniac so it's no good for this playthrough.
I meant 2-1. And yes, this chapter can be easy or hard, depends if Neph has transfer boosts or not.

Anyhow, Part 1 is officially over. I immediately regret promoting Fiona on the map itself, because I remembered that BEXP is a thing, and I should have pumped up her STR/SPD a little more after this map before promoting her in hindsight. If I had, she'd be a complete monster by the time we get back to Micaiah's group. I'm going to withhold final judgement on her for now (so as to not look like a bigger jackass than I already might for talking her up), but in my mind she's gotta be at LEAST as good as Aran. Gotta be. Probably.  He wants all the same things as her (Forge/BEXP, namely) except he doesn't have Canto and I assume he becomes a Halberdier. If I were really tryin' hard, I could have even given her the Spirit Dust for a cool 11 HP per turn that would only get better with time. By the way, does Imbue stack with Renewal? Because recovering almost half your HP passively every turn sounds really nice.
I don't really think you screwed yourself by early promoting Fiona. She hasn't maxed anything yet, so she wouldn't benefit from bexp. as much as Edward or Micaiah would. If you give some levels later and cap a few stats (speed), you still can fix her weaker stats. It's not too late yet.

Overall though, I find Part 1 to be a pretty great start. Jarod, while not exactly complex, does everything I think you need to do to be a good antagonist in these kinds of games. He's constantly on your ass, as the player you want to beat him, you regularly get to SEE glimpses as to what it is that makes him a villain instead of just hearing about it, and he actually feels like a threat. He's even humanized a little bit when they show that he is upset over the death of his right-hand man. Granted, he uses that rage to become even MORE of a douche, but that only serves to make him more consistent in my book. The game sets him up as a man mad with power, when his plans are foiled he goes down swinging, and we're never expected to feel bad for this guy despite the fact that we're shown that there's this glimmer of humanity in him. As far as "first arc villains" go, he has to be the best, hands down.
Part 1 is my favorite part because it's basically like David vs. Goliath. A small and rather weak and unexperienced party has to fight for the liberation against a badass general who fufills his duties till his bitter end and tries to reach his target by all means - as dirty and cruel as they might be. Jarod is one of my absolute favorite villains in FE because of that. 

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

22 hours ago, Deltre said:

I'm sure, but learning more about Edward/Leonardo and especially Nolan (given that he's apparently the LEADER of all things)

Nolan was only appointed leader at the founding moment of the Dawn Brigade. He, like Micaiah was opposing Begnion occupation, but he was older with more life experience, seniority has long been a determinant of who is the leader in human society. Once Micaiah's special powers started showing and everyone realized how helpful they were, by merit of them, she became the new leader since it wasn't like she was oblivious to strategy either. Or at least that is what I assume.

 

And congrats on finishing Part 1! I Hope you're enjoying Part 2.

Also, I'm not going to say exactly why, but keep the Parity, don't sell it. It'll have a little use later on. 

 

I don't know how far you are along in Part 2, but I feel like mentioning a small conundrum in Part 3. In 3-1, there are two places you can Visit. If you send most characters to the one in the center, you'll get a nothing scene and a Seraph Robe. However, there are select characters and if you send any one of them to Visit the place, you'll get a different scene, and no Seraph Robe. However, you'll unlock a new Base Conversation at the start of the next chapter which reveals a little something about those characters. The conundrum is you get absolutely nothing from a gameplay perspective from the Base Conversation- so you have to pick character details or +7 HP for someone. You can't have both.

Since you're playing on an emulator and I just saw you toying with savestates for those Jarod fight lines, don't Visit the place in the center until you're about to finish the chapter (sounds reasonable when you see the map). Then visit for the scene, win, skip to Base and watch the Conversation, then load the savestate and Visit this time for the Robe and move on with the game. Alternatively, SF has the Base Conversation available, albeit not the Visit lines (which aren't much by themselves).

The characters who don't get you the Robe are, in case you aren't interested in figuring it out blind. Do not view this spoiler until you're completely done with Part 2! :

Spoiler

Oscar, Boyd, and Rolf.

 

By the way, in retrospect, the Muarim-Micaiah conversations seem to pick up on a little something from PoR. Here is part of the script of the PoR Tormod-Sothe Support:

Spoiler

B Support

Tormod: Hello, Sothe!
Sothe: …
Tormod: I was thinking… We’re both lethal mercenaries and we’re both about the same age, so we should be friends!
Sothe: I don’t think so.
Tormod: No? Well, you can say that, but I’m still going to be your friend. You’ll see!
Sothe: You’re insane.
Tormod: Yeah…? Well…maybe I am! But it’s not like being my friend is going to hurt you!

A Support

[Part 1]

Tormod: Hello, friend.
Sothe: Give it up. We’re not friends.
Tormod: You’re going to be my friend whether you like or not.

[Part 2 (Muarim is alive)]

Sothe: Why are you so determined?
Tormod: It’s Muarim.
Sothe: Muarim? You mean that tiger? What about him?
Tormod: Well, he looks sad every time I see him… He thinks it’s his fault that I don’t have any beorc friends. That’s why I wanted you to be my friend–to make him feel better.
Sothe: You should have said as much. Then I wouldn’t have thought you were crazy.
Tormod: That changes things?
Sothe: Sure.
Tormod: Why?
Sothe: He’s like a father to you. I understand why you don’t want to cause him grief. I also have…someone…who is like a parent to me. [My emphasis]

[Part 3]

Tormod: Oh, I get it! Hey, you grew up a lot like me, then! We’re going to be best friends forever!
Sothe: Er…well… We’ll talk. Sometimes. But don’t get the idea that we’re best friends!
Tormod: Why? We have so much in common!
Sothe: No offense, Tormod, but thieves are loners. I can’t have you tagging along, snapping twigs and making lots of noise!

 

 

Edited October 21, 2017 by Interdimensional Observer

[Deltre]

@BrightBow I had no idea! Toggleable animations are always a good feature to have. I'll need to figure that out at some point. 

Very interesting design philosophy on trying to keep the casual audience engaged. It's really counter-intuitive I'd think, especially given the popularity of some of these characters. Shoot, you could even extend that to Fates/Awakening, I really doubt anyone who loves the characters in those games WOULDN'T want more screen time for their favorites. Given SoV though, I think that IS realized that cutting character development from the plot is probably a huge mistake.

@Byakuren Hijiri I can definitely see 2-1 being more frustrating without that little boost for Neph. Why does she come with a Steel Great Lance of all things? So weird.

My feelings on Fiona are that I don't think she's as bad as people say (definitely not worse than Meg!), but she is pretty weak. She has some perks though, since she's basically one of the best people I had for cleaning up after Jill in 1-E given her Canto ability, so there's that if nothing else. Honestly though, if I were making this game, I'd just lower her level to like 5/6 or something. Maybe slap Paragon on her and have the boss drop Imbue instead. Anything to make leveling her easier, because that's her biggest problem as far as I can see.

@Interdimensional ObserverYeah, I just meant that it's weird that no one so far has brought up the fact that he used to lead their group. 

I'll definitely keep a look out for that village. I'm pretty much always a chapter ahead of whatever is in the recordings, just because they take forever to render/upload. That's a weird quirk on that item though, I'm sure it'll make sense when I get there.

So in this one, I do 2-P/2-1, and immediately run into the Goddess of PoR and the apparent God of RD all in the same map. And yeah, he's definitely godly alright. Normally I feel like these "best unit" characters are just a tiny bit overhyped depending on the game. They usually have some small flaw, or maybe need a little work to tip them over into broken territory (Marcia in PoR comes to mind who needs BEXP/has a bad STR cap), but THIS is on a different level entirely haha.

Neph/Brom coming back is fun too, I like them both as characters. Once again the plot of this part has me pretty interested, and the idea of Elincia being such a weak ruler that it would empower those who seek to overthrow her has my attention for sure. It's definitely a little silly how Brom/Nephenee would have no idea about any of this at all if the boss of 2-1 would have just...not told them his entire plan. Bit of a facepalm moment there, that's for sure. 

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

The thing about Fiona vs. Meg thing is that Meg has similar or even better bases than Fiona despite being six levels below her. Fiona's training will be paid out in the final section when she has +45% avoid and the caps to double permanently. In the chapters in the DB she still be a walking target if you look at the enemies's stats. The upcoming maps aside of one aren't friendly for her either regarding terrain.

As for part 2 you made the god even more godly by giving him transfer boosts. He normally starts with 47 HP and 20 speed (still high enough to double the boss). 22 speed is exactly the number to trivialize part 2. 

(Interesting for LTCers to save a speedwing on him)

 

Marcia really needs strength boost to do significant damage and to use steal great lances without penalty. Her strength growth is her weakness. I even think the lowest of all Beorcs with physical weapons minus Mist.

 

Elincia's bases look great at first sight, but you have to consider she's third tier. Yes, this game had third tier class. So her bases are actually really mediocre. Marcia with speed transfer could have the same base speed as Elincia for being 16 levels below her. Therefore her strength and speed growth are very good so she can compensate her low bases later on.

About Amiti: Well you might have noticed what happened to it. If not, I can say it's not dead yet.

 

Nephenee with strength and speed transfers is really good in 2-1. She can double everything including Yeardley with the sgl. With defense boost she could even take two hits, if she's in a thicket. But without them she's utter garbage. Has hit and evasion issues and can't double any soldiers because this game decided to give her a weapon to make this chapter artificially harder. An igl would have done it. It can even happen under certain circumstances that Brom and Neph can't take out the javelin soldier in the first turn. And then it would become a lottery because you have to do three things at the same time:

1. Killing all the enemies

2. Saving the houses

3. Recruiting Heather before she will kill herself.

 

Another annoying thing about this chapter is that the AI is unpredictable. Some enemies move in an one run, in an other they don't. Actually I expected to see the sgl soldier two spaces left and two spaces up of Yeardley moving and killing Neph after she had attacked him. Luckily he didn't. It happened actually. Yeah, this chapter is pretty random and because of that my least favorite map in this game and probably in the entire series too.

Edited October 21, 2017 by Byakuren Hijiri

[BrightBow]

The Wing Sage Maraj? Wow, this never clicked for me until now. He most certainly matches that kid's attitude somewhat.

Anyway, Parity is now a command skill, so it doesn't hinder Lucia at all.

Magic Cards are indeed almost completely worthless. There is one good thing about them though: They do not allow for a counter attack. And since they can still be used to trigger battle conversations, they could be useful to meet the requirements for some really well hidden stuff in this game.

You probably know already, but Authority Stars only count for the unit who actually leads the army. So Lucia's stars won't actually help you later on.

And man, Nealuchi got really lucky there. As you could tell, Crossbows are quite a bane for most fliers. Even Laguz kings fear them. As if Dragon Knights needed even more of an edge over other fliers. Btw, Warriors cannot actually use regular bows, only crossbows. But Archers can still use both. A fun way of using Crossbows is to combine them with the various Laguz Slayer skills.

In case you are not aware, it's random if Laguz are able to raise their gauge if they are attacked. So it's not a good idea to rely on that. Fortunately you will soon be able to buy Olivi Grass in bulk. It's not an unlimited offer but they will always offer you several in each chapter.

After this chapter the shop becomes available. I suppose you passed 2-3 already, so I hope you didn't overlook that because the 2-3 shop sells a Hammer and a Riders Bane. Hammers in particular are really good in this game since enemy Armored Knights lack any real weakness otherwise, thanks to their high speed and resistance and the fact that mages kinda suck in this game. Skills will stay locked for a while longer, though.

[Shadow Mir]

5 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

In case you are not aware, it's random if Laguz are able to raise their gauge if they are attacked. So it's not a good idea to rely on that. Fortunately you will soon be able to buy Olivi Grass in bulk. It's not an unlimited offer but they will always offer you several in each chapter

Not really - the gauge boost only happens if they either couldn't counter or did no damage either due to missing or being too weak to do damage. But with their being really brittle untransformed, it ain't practical.

[Deltre]

@Byakuren HijiriI'm really trying to avoid growths/map details as much as possible and just use who I feel like. If I end up saying some really 'out there' stuff about a character then end up looking like a jackass once I'm done and know their actual growth rates, then so be it :p

I found a way to 'undo' the transfer bonuses so I could see what you're talking about, and boy does it make a difference. 2-1 is pretty bleh without Neph transfers for sure. I also encountered the AI doing some really unpredictable stuff (which is why I sound surprised with some of the moves they make), and I honesty couldn't find the pattern. It seems like they just do whatever they want, and it's very frustrating to try to plan around it.

I keep forgetting that there are three tiers in this game. That would explain Elincia haha.

@BrightBowI figured as much with the Authority Stars. There goes my dream of a Geoffrey/Elincia/Lucia god squad though :l

Parity being usable on command makes it kinda good now ngl. With the ability to pass it around that could be kinda neat.

Crossbows being a thing makes me regret not getting all the Master Seals in Part 1 tbh. I could've just slapped one on Nolan and he'd be at least decent. Hindsight is always 20/20 I guess.

Pretty sure that @Levant Mir Celestia is right about the Laguz gauge too. It seemed like I'd always get a huge boost whenever I couldn't counter with Muarim/Rafiel/Lethe. It's still a hindrance but without it, Tigers would just be outright better than Armors again I guess.

Speaking of the Laguz Gauge thing, I end up using that a bit on this map. Again, it's harder without Nephenee boosts (went back and tried it, it's not AS bad as the first one, especially if she gets STR/SPD), but nothing too bad. Crossbows are scary as hell, but a great idea at the same time I feel. 1-2 Range was a much needed boost for bow-users, and the drawbacks are enough to keep them from being overpowered. Great as a Flier Nuke, but just okay for everything else. 

On story, I like the direction the plot is going, generally speaking. I enjoy two-faced characters like Ludveck, but I have to say I'm baffled as to why he'd keep incriminating evidence against him around at all, let alone in a secret cave within walking distance of his manor. It kind of just makes him seem...dumb. Destroying the evidence is the most obvious thing to do, and yet he just...doesn't. Why? Unless he himself isn't the mastermind, it just doesn't make sense honestly. I guess I'll have to wait and see what comes of that.

Anyways, as one final thing, for 2-F and beyond I'm disabling most stat transfers except for characters I had valid transfers for when I played PoR Maniac. That means Ike (STR/SPD), Titania (SPD), and Marcia (STR/SKL/SPD) only. I guess Jill can keep hers since the hard part with her is supposedly over so it would be almost pointless to change her now. But I previewed 2-F and it just felt wrong to go at it with a bunch of super-units that I didn't even really earn. Not to mention some of the characters that got buffed are some of the best already, so ultimately I decided to just stick with the bonuses I would have actually gotten. If I had realized how impactful transfer bonuses actually were I would have done this sooner, but hopefully this can keep things a bit more interesting for the maps to come.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Haar having a Speed transfer is quite strange, good, but strange. He has a 17 Spd base in PoR, a 35% growth, and 9 levels to hit the 26 cap. He needs a Robe for HP, and doesn't on average cap Skill either. He doesn't come close to capping anything. The person you got a file from rigged levelups and or gave Haar stat boosters- he has HP, Str, Skl, and Spd transfers.

Even without transfers though Haar is very good indeed. But I'm not going to give much of my opinion on the story or unit advice, since I don't want to weigh you down, raise you up only to be disappointed, or guide your path through the game by saying who is bad and who is good. Though I will agree that although the thematics of 2-1 are good, being stuck with only two units and having to visit so many houses and recruit Heather isn't that fun.

 

As weird as a stealth operation of eight people including a bulky general and winged princess in a flowing dress sounds, Lethe and Mordecai did arguably have reason to be there. Beast Laguz are described as having incredible hearing, smell, and good sight. I'm not quite sure how Fog of War works in RD, but I noticed that Nealuchi couldn't see the Bowgun unit, despite Nephenee being able to see it when she moved one space behind him. I think it might be reflective of something commented on in PoR- Bird Laguz have poor night vision, like many actual birds I think.

Also, 2-2 had in the southeast corner a niche where a lone Rogue sits. It just sits there with a dagger and a stealable Coin. The space it's on also has a hidden Discipline scroll. What is it doing there? Who knows? Discipline isn't worth too much though, so don't feel bad, most characters have good weapon ranks in this game, and Arms Scrolls exist too.

 

Geoffrey's design is much better too. His PoR self I've nicknamed the Lime Knight. It's too garish, and explains how he got spotted in PoR- who wouldn't see a guy in that shade of armor from miles away? The pose of the PoR official artwork was dashingly heroic though.

 

Lastly, you haven't ever fooled around with the Library in game right? I think a Clear Data'ed playthrough unlocks everything in it right from the start- including spoiler terms from later on. So don't ever look at the Library just in case.

Edited October 23, 2017 by Interdimensional Observer

[Deltre]

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

As weird as a stealth operation of eight people including a bulky general and winged princess in a flowing dress sounds, Lethe and Mordecai did arguably have reason to be there. Beast Laguz are described as having incredible hearing, smell, and good sight. I'm not quite sure how Fog of War works in RD, but I noticed that Nealuchi couldn't see the Bowgun unit, despite Nephenee being able to see it when she moved one space behind him. I think it might be reflective of something commented on in PoR- Bird Laguz have poor night vision, like many actual birds I think.

Also, 2-2 had in the southeast corner a niche where a lone Rogue sits. It just sits there with a dagger and a stealable Coin. The space it's on also has a hidden Discipline scroll. What is it doing there? Who knows? Discipline isn't worth too much though, so don't feel bad, most characters have good weapon ranks in this game, and Arms Scrolls exist too.

That reminds me of something else I didn't notice right away. Lethe (and Mordecai?) have extended vision range when they transform. Because they're cats, you see. Doesn't surprise me to learn I missed more hidden items though lol, I usually forget to check unless I accidentally end up on the right tile by pure chance.

I did once pop into the library section in one of the earlier parts, but I immediately smashed B once I saw all the character bios were unlocked haha.

Anywho, Chapter 2-3. It's...alright. Kinda easy, but they nailed the feel of charging through a bunch of untrained rebels with a fully trained squad pretty well. It was cool to play, but nothing special with the gameplay itself really.

I'm surprised that this was the last map before 2-F though. I feel like this part could have used an extra map or two, to let Elincia/Lucia find proof of Ludvec's plans a little more naturally. That way, Ludvec wouldn't come across as so smart to plan out and execute a military coup, yet so dumb that he'd leave behind all the evidence in the world. Not to mention (since I've beaten 2-F by now) that he had a pretty good contingency plan in place, so the idea of him being so competent yet so incompetent at the same time is conflicting, for sure. Nothing that really RUINS the plot or anything, but it is a little silly.

Edited October 23, 2017 by Deltre

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Yeah part 2 is really short, but I think the plot doesn't leave all that many questions left.
 

• 2-2 is pretty easy with Lucia who shouldn't get hit all that often and Mordecai who doesn't take any damage by physical enemies. Both serve to feed kills to Brom and Neph. Neph still suffers but less than in 2-1 since lots of good units help her. Neph without boost can still ORKO mages and healers. You won't see Lucia for a quite while...
• 2-3 is actually a fun map. Yeah, the enemies are pretty bad, but it's a good opportunity to train Marcia and even Astrid (if you like her). The point of the mainly first tier units is to spare them and get bonus experience instead. In my runs I usually give 90% of the kills to Marcia because the others - spoiler - will have less availibility or usefulness than her.What I said about Lucia also applies to Geoffrey after part 2, even worse here. Astrid's bases are terrible for her level but you could try some parablossom shenigans later on.
• 2-F will be my absolute favorite map in FE. I ? it. I highly recommend to give the hammer and horseslayer to either Brom, Neph, Haar or Heather at the end.
   

The complaint about aromored units in this game is a bit injustified imo because they are buffed in FE10. Sure, their movement is still lower than other physical units but therefore their class base stats are better than in other games. In FE10 they have decent speed and res. You might have noticed that mages don't double them, muss less ORKO them except for thanibombing. 
Magic and stave users are the actual victim in this game. They're not only fragile as expected but also slow. Their base class speed is really low in general, and most mages in this game have a low speed growth (<50%). 35% is the average for the common mages in this game. They can't even double knights for the most part in this game.


Also I didin't get the skip animation trick you used in this part.

Edited October 24, 2017 by Byakuren Hijiri

[Shadow Mir]

On 10/22/2017 at 7:44 PM, Interdimensional Observer said:

Also, 2-2 had in the southeast corner a niche where a lone Rogue sits. It just sits there with a dagger and a stealable Coin. The space it's on also has a hidden Discipline scroll. What is it doing there? Who knows? Discipline isn't worth too much though, so don't feel bad, most characters have good weapon ranks in this game, and Arms Scrolls exist too.

Bold: Of which I'd wager he missed most, if not all, of them up to this point. Also, I'd say mages tend to have weapon rank issues, especially since you don't get the high level magix until l8 in the game (the only high end tomes you get for most of the game are an Arcthunder, Arcfire and Shine from the bargains late in part 1). On top of that, the ones you do find are best off sold.

Edited October 24, 2017 by Levant Mir Celestia

[Deltre]

@Byakuren Hijiri Oh, I'm not debating that Armor Knights are a good class, for the enemy anyways. Honestly, they always have been in that sense. Maybe I just find Brom a little underwhelming when Mordecai is for all intents and purposes Brom+ when you get him? I'd just like the player armors to be a little bit more functional. Somewhere between Tauroneo who can solo maps (when he bothers to show up) and Brom would be nice was all I was saying haha. Supposedly there's a knight who will blow my mind coming up so maybe I spoke to soon.

All I did to make the animations turn on at will was hold down the 'Z' button on the controller before a battle scene would normally start. That's going off a gamecube controller of course, I don't know what the equivalent is on a wiimote, but I imagine it must be possible. It's a neat little thing and I'm glad @BrightBow told me about it. You can only turn them ON though, you can't turn them off this way. 

@Levant Mir CelestiaFunnily enough, I think I've ended up accidentally waiting on Arms Scroll tiles more than anything else. Of course, I usually have to find an item on a map to remember 'oh yeah, hidden items are everywhere in this game.' Still, if anything, I think missing Master Seals is going to screw me harder unless I can buy them/find more. Poor Nolan!

You can go ahead and color me impressed with this map. I think it's a very strong stage that actually makes you use a good balance of offense and defense if you want to win. Hanging back too much will only make life hard for you, but trying to rout the map isn't exactly viable either. There's plenty of terrain to take advantage of for holding important areas or hit-and-run strategies. You'll have to cover most of the map sooner or later, and you'll end up in almost every area at some point if you're trying to get all the treasure, especially the stealables. 

Not even to mention the map theme, which is all kinds of awesome. Great map with a great feel, the only thing I'd change is maybe put a Bolting near Ludveck and some Fire Sages to threaten Haar the Manslayer and Mordecai the Immovable, but honestly, that's such a minor nitpick. Or just give Dracos their bow weakness back either way

[BrightBow]

I'm glad that we do have a translated version of the extended script of 2-E.

https://serenesforest.net/radiant-dawn/scripts/game-script/part-2-final-chapter-elincias-gambit/

What I find most notable is that Ludveck gets to properly elaborate on his outlook:

Quote

Elincia:
“Didn’t you say before that you caused a rebellion in order to protect the country? Then let me ask you, what is country? Isn’t it civilians who make a country? Think about it. Throughout this conflict, do you realise how many lives you’ve simply thrown away?!”

Ludveck:
“Ha, such naive reasoning. What is wrong about using civilians!? Without even lifting a finger, civilian numbers will rise by themselves. Human live are as cheap as grass, isn’t that the truth? These small insignificant bundles of life don’t have any impact on the country’s well-being. However, a king is different. Without a king, a country cannot stand. A country needs its king. It needs a powerful king!”

I would like to see Ludveck's face when he learns that not only did Elincia go through with this, Lucia didn't even end up dying. For all his talk about merely wanting to test Elincia, his reaction towards her decision to sacrifice Lucia shows that Elincia staying the queen was never an acceptable outcome for him. It's the one time in the entire arc where he actually looses his cool.

It's a bit of a shame that the return of the Greil Mercenaries overshadows the conclusion of Elincia's character arc. It doesn't actually invalidate it because Elincia made her decision and spoke the word before Lucia got saved but I think that it does at least distract from it. I like to think that in recent years Part 2 got a bit more respect but back when the game came out I recall that it was basically universally dismissed as mere filler.

Since we are in Part 3 now, I suppose this is the right time to point out that Master Crowns do not work on Mist. For whatever reason Mist has her own unique promotion item. And said item only appears very late in the game. And no, there is no story significance to that, they just drop it in your hands. Fortunately you can still promote her by simply getting her to lv 21 but of course that's gonna take a while.

And of course we come close to "the house" on the second map of part 3. Do you remember that? If you sent most characters into the house at the center you get a Seraph Robe. If you sent Oscar, Boyd or Rolf into it, you will get no item but you will get a very significant info conversation in the next chapter.

Edited October 24, 2017 by BrightBow

[Interdimensional Observer]

I do like 2-F a lot, one of RD's best and that of FE as a whole. The map looks good with nice use of height, the music beautiful, the plot scenario dramatic. From a gameplay perspective, the Allied units are kinda useful and add to the drama- Elincia's loyal soldiers, the Queen of Crimea has truly taken command of the field of battle (unlike in PoR where Ike did everything). The map is suited to those who want to play fast with the boss kill option. And the defend option in this EXP laden map appeals to slower players who want to prep their favorites for the future.

I've never gone for the Dracoshield, I thought Ludveck would continue moving around the map once you triggered him. I'll keep that in mind for the future that he doesn't. Calill I send to the left, since she can use the height bonuses to enflame enemies on and below the staircase without worry. Since I didn't go for the Dracoshield and the enemies in the southwest are not generals for the most part, their defense is low enough that Heather too can deal a good height-safe chip.

 

On 10/22/2017 at 10:28 PM, Deltre said:

I'm surprised that this was the last map before 2-F though. I feel like this part could have used an extra map or two, to let Elincia/Lucia find proof of Ludvec's plans a little more naturally. That way, Ludvec wouldn't come across as so smart to plan out and execute a military coup, yet so dumb that he'd leave behind all the evidence in the world. Not to mention (since I've beaten 2-F by now) that he had a pretty good contingency plan in place, so the idea of him being so competent yet so incompetent at the same time is conflicting, for sure. Nothing that really RUINS the plot or anything, but it is a little silly.

I'm in agreement Part 2 is a little short, and Ludveck is a bit lacking compared to Jarod. The Ike limelight steal is criticizable, but the most important thing is Elincia didn't know it would happen, she made her decision fully believing it was Lucia's death or Ludveck's release, she couldn't have Lucia alive and Ludveck in jail. The limelight steal does make out Bastian as something of a genius politician since it was his plan, perhaps a bit too in trusting Elincia would pass the trial though. And it almost ended in his beloved Lucia's death.

Yet overall, I very like Part 2. It is a short, tight and concise story, with solid writing. For once in FE, we get to see a ruler well... rule! In every other FE, governance doesn't happen you're too busy resisting, liberating, and invading against the big evil. At the end, everyone lives happily ever after in a golden age. With Part 2, we see a monarch having to govern, learning it isn't easy, and is forced in the end to make a difficult decision and grow from it. Part 2 is something of an epilogue to the Crimea-centricism of PoR, which was one of three focuses of the game, the other two being Ike's personal quest and Laguz-Beorc relations. Things which Part 3 covers as you're seeing now.

Some criticize Part 2 as irrelevant to what comes before and after, but the game does make a good transition from 1 to 2, Crimea you would think would be wary about the kingdom who killed their prior monarch a few years ago returning to normal under the butcher's throne. Relative to Parts 1 and 3, Crimea's little rebellion is fairly low stakes. It serves to a degree to cool things down after the tensions of Part 1, and allow the player to breathe for a moment before the drama of Part 3. At least this is how I have interpreted it.

 

4 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Since we are in Part 3 now, I suppose this is the right time to point out that Master Crowns do not work on Mist. For whatever reason Mist has her own unique promotion item.

I think the point was she is Ike's sister, that is kinda unique. And in the Japanese version of RD, Tier 3 requires a Master Crown to access, and they're limited in supply. Mist getting her own promotion item makes her an exception to this restriction.

[Deltre]

@BrightBow @Interdimensional Observer I don't really feel like the GM stole the show at all. Elincia ended up making all the hard choices, and ultimately was responsible for ending the rebellion with her own two hands. Sure, Ike saved Lucia, but as both of you said Elincia already had made her decision. Whether Lucia lived or died was kind of irrelevant by that point, though seeing as this Part made me like Lucia a lot more, I'm glad she she did survive!  Ultimately though, the story of this arc was solely about Elincia, Crimea, and her ability to rule, so I'd hardly say the GM shifted the focus. To me, the choice she was faced with was so much more meaningful than anything the GM did here. 

Once she decided that she'd have to allow Lucia die to protect the kingdom, Ludveck and his rebellion were defeated by Elincia's own hand. Keep in mind, defeating the rebels was never the issue, it was that Elincia didn't want to kill other Crimeans. With things having progressed as far as they did though, the gloves come off metaphorically speaking, and despite being pretty weak units the Crimean Royal Knights would have things back under control in no time. Kieran even commented on that back in 2-3. Shoot, Ike doesn't even stop the rebellion, he just saves Lucia. Elincia was pretty much dead set on handling it herself, if I was understanding the ending correctly.

The only thing that I could even really see as 'show stealing' in all of this was the GM's grand entrance. On the other hand, of course their entrance was grand. Could you imagine how lame it would be if they just showed up a la Laura? Now THAT would be disappointing, especially as someone who's played PoR. If anything, BASTIAN is the odd man out here, proving that he's incredibly sharp to an almost scary degree. Even that was somewhat hinted towards though, especially if you read up on Bastian in PoR through supports.

I can't say whether or not Part 2 has any impact on the overall story, obviously, but if Elincia and the Crimean Royal Knights show up at all in the coming Parts, then I can hardly say it's wasted time. Geoffrey/Lucia/Elincia all got some good development, and most of the supporting cast got some good screen time as well. If it does turn out to be filler, then I say at least it was filler done right since we learned a good amount about everyone involved. For someone like me who wants to know more about what happened after PoR, it's great. For new players who need these characters to be established for later events (again, I assume) to make sense, it's great too. 

/my .02

SO Skrimir is pretty cool, not gonna lie. A bit thick, sure, but I like his character a lot so far. Of course, it's always nice to kick some ass with Ike and friends yet again too. This is pretty much the ultimate PoR fanservice, packaged into a map where you get to stomp all over the competition and I love it. The way that this game is set up more as a bunch of short stories really lends itself to this kind of gameplay a lot better than any other FE could in my opinion. It lets the difficulty be modular, in a way. One moment, you're in the shoes of some of the strongest guys around, but the next moment you might get a bunch of weaklings as the main focus. God, going back to the Dawn Brigade (assuming I do) is going to be jarring.

By this point I think I can say that I do understand where people who only like to grow weak units into powerhouses might get turned off by this kind of almost episodic gameplay style. Given that we're dealing with pre-established characters for the most part, power levels are already sky-high barring the Dawn Brigade. I personally think that this makes a lot more sense than having everyone we've already met in PoR revert to a Tier 1 Class or something like that., but I do get where some people might not like it.

[Interdimensional Observer]

From the end of PoR C16, the Serenes Massacre is explained so:

Spoiler

Sanaki
That is a very...difficult problem...Hmm... How to impart this tale...

Nasir
It would appear that no one is willing to begin this story. That being so, I would open with what is commonly known of the matter. Do you find this acceptable?

Sanaki
And you are?

Ike
He is a friend of mine. Nasir, if you know something, I would hear it. When you are done, the apostle can clarify. Agreed?

Sanaki
Hmmm...

Nasir
It begins with the assasination of the previous Begnion apostle. It was twenty years ago... One year after the declaration of emancipation was made. The leader at the time was the Apostle Misaha, who was more adored by the public than any apostle before...or since. When she was assassinated, the citizenry was wracked with grief. All of Begnion despaired. And then, a rumor began to circulate that the assassination was the work of the Serenes herons. In the twinkling of an eye, the rumor spread throughout the Begnion capital. One night shortly thereafter, it happened. The citizens grew violent. They massed at the edge of Serenes Forest, home of their supposed enemy, and set it to burn. The crowd raged on for three nights, and in the end, the heron clan was lost.

Elincia
But their involvement was just a rumor...Wasn't it? Why, why did they...

Sanaki
Oh, the shame of it...

Nasir
Apostle? The remainder of the tale is yours. You stand as the empress of Begnion. You are responsible for the acts of your citizens, are you not?

Sanaki
...False. The accusation was completely false.

Ike
The assassination of the apostle was not the work of the Serenes clan?

Sanaki
That is correct.

Nasir
The heron clan possess no fighting skills. Their tribe survived by living a life of peace and piety within their forest. Unlike other laguz, they never focused on developing their strength for the purposes of combat. Anyone with any knowledge of laguz would have known such a thing. At the very least, the citizens of Begnion would have known this. However, they had lost their leader, and in their grief, they cared little for the truth. They were merely looking for some way to vent their rage and despair. Isn't that true...Apostle?

Elincia
Please, Lord Nasir! Your tone of voice...

Sanaki
It's all right, Princess Elincia. He speaks the truth, be it with a sharpened tongue or no.

This says the Serenes Massacre was the result of rumors after Misaha's assassination. It was just a scapegoating by the Begnion people in their rage. Ashnard did steal Lillia, Reyson's sister, but he was never directly implicated in causing the Massacre. 

Rafiel's accusation is that the rumors were planted by the Begnion Senate itself- they wanted a heron genocide. Sanaki apologized when everyone thought it was a rage-venting, nobody thought nor did Sanaki apologize for a Senatorial planned killing. Begnion rebuffed that and that is what got the Laguz angry.

 

By the way, I only discovered it on my last playthrough of many, but that Crossbow ends up in the convoy if an NPC gets the kill. I also have shared plenty in your "not getting crits" problem in this chapter. Those Killer Ballistae aren't as good as you'd think, they only give 10 Crit and don't use the user's Strength in the damage equation- like Crossbows.

The game will explain what happened to Ragnell later as a side note. Don't worry, Ike's golden blade will return to him eventually.

Ranulf is great by himself, he is just such a likable ordinary guy to me. Ranulf seems to make Ike pop a little more, he just makes Ike a little less stoic and a little more.... entertaining, lively? I don't quite get how he does it, he just does.

Lastly, I do like Skrimir too. Originally I wasn't big on him, but in retrospect, I've come to appreciate him as a character. I'll give the full reasons why later.

Edited October 27, 2017 by Interdimensional Observer

[BrightBow]

What Aimee said about you not being able to sell weapon as raw materials is another reference to the forging point system that was removed from this version. Forging Points are acquired by selling weapons. And since the Silver Card enables you to buy weapons for the same price they are sold... well, this would enable you to get an infinite amount of Forging Points for absolutely 0 cost. So they accounted for such an exploit by temporarily preventing players from earning Forging Points. It's still possible to sell weapons, you just wouldn't get any Forging Points from it.

Maybe you actually did this offscreen, but the Silver Card can also be sold for a decent amount of cash once you are done using it.

You can absolutely get that Bolting. For one thing there is the Disarm skill. But also, long range magic has a minimum range of 3, so if you surround that guy he will have no choice but to switch to his 1-2 range weapon. But the biggest problem is the weight. The Bolting is significantly heavier then Heather's base strength. And I'm sure it's not a surprise for you if I tell you that her growths aren't of much help here.

Speaking of range, if a Sniper promotes they actually get the ability to attack at 3 range. Mind you, in this game attacking at 3 range makes your accuracy drop significantly. And yes, this also applies to ordinary Longbows, even though those already have heavily reduced accuracy. Needless to say that makes Longbows pretty bad in this game.

And I'm pretty sure that General was not causing any lag. There is a bit of a quirk with the Axe throwing animation of Dragon Knights. Not only do you have to wait for the axe to return but once they catch it they still do a little wave with that weapon. You can't see that because the camera stays focused on the target, resulting in an awkward pause until the battle can continue. Now the reason I know that is because in the options you can switch the battle camera to a fixed side view like in the 2D games. So there you can see what takes the Dragon Knights so long.

And since they no longer wear those fancy hats I would like to clarify that Lekain and Hetzel are indeed the two senators that we saw in Sanaki's chambers back in PoR. Numida and this new flamboyant guy are entirely new though.

Nephenee, Brom and Haar joining makes absolutely zero sense. This war doesn't even involve Crimea. Doing favors for an old acquaintance only gets you this far. Nevermind that these three have other duties back at home. I don't want to complain about it though because that way you can actually use them... but yeah, it's just plain dumb. Brom and Nephenee don't even have an info conversation to acknowledge their presence.

Edited October 27, 2017 by BrightBow