#class: dracoknight

[cat-denied]

fire emblem feminism part 5: its like a fire emblem game in here

at long last, we finally have a half-reasonable number of characters with which to play fire emblem. salvation is here.

FOUR (count em) FOUR new characters!! and they're good!!!! powerful!!!! we're going places!! including promotion!! despite this we still have not passed the bechdel test,

firstly tho we have to get through the beginning of chapter 10, where every horse in the world is trying to chase us down. there were a lot of resets because the cast (lena shiida norne and athena) notably did not have a single character with high defense. BUT. then minerva appeared.

minerva i love you so much. OUR FIRST AXE USER. it only took ten chapters!!

anyway, knorda market was also pretty chill. linde unfortunately apparently cannot win a single round in the arena there so she's rather behind.

me when im boymoding

it's interesting to see how characters who are normally "a little underleveled" on recruitment are suddenly Vastly, Wildly underleveled since ive been getting so much experience on such a small cast. maria and linde are my only unpromoted non-max level units right now, for example, and Everybody reached level 20 really fast. also kind of wild to me that nyna/linde is not a more popular ship considering i think it was the first one i thought of when i first played this game. nyna does literally say "we're her family now" like come on lets get ON that

i hope jakey dies.

fun fact! ballisticians are just one of the many classes we have No access to in this run, along with thieves, pirates, fighters, mercenaries, knights, cavaliers, dark mages,

anyway! onto the millennium palace and MIDIA, the games only default female paladin!!!!

everyone is a paladin now. paladin emblem.

midia is one of my favorite characters tbh (love a sick badass fighter lady and her loser boyfriend i guess) and i am very happy to be using her again. her starting stats are pretty bad, but her growth rates are actuall quite good—she's got a 40% personal growth in speed, which is on par with the whitewings (!!), and her strength is the same as caeda or norne. might make her a dracoknight and have her be really speedy we'll see.

side note—i promoted athena mid-map and was once again surprised that the female swordmaster sprite is blonde. not only is athena, the game's only woman defaulting to the class, not blonde, but neither is Literally Any Other Playable Woman In The Game. why did they do this !?!?

anyway thats all for now!! we're here we've made it we're going places!! that place might be reclassing everyone to paladin but come on it's the best class in the game. next time we meet the whitewings!

nyna if only you could see the battlefield you could know that marth hasn't done shit this whole time nyna please we're dying over here nyna

[fevotinggauntletreal]

Clash of FE Classes - Final

(pictured: a Sage icon from Shadow Dragon, and a Dracoknight icon from Shadow Dragon, on a GBAFE arena background)

I am fashionably late, whops

introductions to the classes, other closely associated classes, and explanations under the cut

Mages are typically infantry units who cast magic with their tomes, and promote into Sages, who typically wield staves as well as tome magic. in games that divide magic types, Mages and Sages wield Anima (although Sages sometimes dabble into Light magic as well), and in games that divide types of Anima, there is typically one branch of Mage for each type of Anima magic, with few mechanical distinctions otherwise. Mages are typically distinguished from Clerics and their associated classes by having a higher focus on offense instead of Resistance, although both class lines share a penchant for extremely low durability against physical weapons. closely associated classes include the Priestess from Gaiden/Echoes: Shadows of Valentia; the War Mage from Genealogy of the Holy War; the Archsage from Blazing Blade and Radiant Dawn; the Diviner and Onmyoji from Fates; the Guru and Enchantress from Echoes: Shadows of Valentia; and the Warlock and Gremory from Three Houses.

are they Wyvern Riders and Wyvern Lords, or Dracoknights and Dragon Masters? the answer is not consistent across the series, as aren’t the translations. and as aren’t, for that matter, their typical weapon types; historically, they’ve wielded lances primarily and sometimes swords, as Pegasus Knights do, but Path of Radiance gave them axes as a new secondary weapon, which then became their primary weapon in Radiant Dawn, and this has since remained that way. whatever it is exactly that these people are riding, though, they’re as mobile as Pegasus Knights and a lot more durable to boot, which consistently makes them powerful and versatile units – although their Speed isn’t always up to snuff, their Resistance can let them down, and they usually still take heavy damage from bows. closely associated classes include the Wyvern Knight from Sacred Stones (who is on a different mount than that of the Wyvern Riders and Wyvern Lords of the same game, thanks treehouse); the Dragonlord from Radiant Dawn; the Griffon Rider from Awakening; and the Malig Knight from Fates. Ashnard from Path of Radiance, as well as Ivy, Zephia and Zelestia from Engage, all have unique wyvern-riding classes (although it’s, uh, definitely not a wyvern that Ashnard rides…).

[arcstral]

ooc; TOA Anniversary Munday!

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is. Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing! Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

Name: Soji

Pronouns: She/her

Birthday (no year): October 14

Where are you from? What is your time zone? United States. Both my parents are from South Korea. East coast resident (EST)

Roleplay experience: A little over 13 years of roleplay experience

Got any pets? One chinchilla affectionately dubbed Souji Man and a 'Shavanese' dog (short-haired Havanese) named Happy

Favorite time of year: Autumn

Some interests and things you like: The holy trinity of cosplaying, writing, and drawing

Some fun facts & trivia about you:

— I joined TOA during the peak of Covid quarantining in 2020 when there was a huge convention dry spell. The indie roleplay scene for Fire Emblem during this time was uneventful too. Having no productive outlet for cosplaying or writing, it lead me to join my first RP group which was (jazz hands) TOA

— My zodiac animal is a rabbit

— I have hundreds upon hundreds of hours clocked on Super Smash Bros from Brawl to Ultimate. You'll never guess who I main.

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? Final Fantasy XIV, Project Zomboid, Phasmophobia, Touken Ranbu, and Stardew Valley in order of frequency.

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: I like bug types; my favorite Pokemon is Scizor. While not Pokemon my favorite Digimon, Kabuterimon, is also a bug. Honorable mention goes to Greninja.

How did you get into Fire Emblem? Saw Shadow Dragon in my local Gamestop one day and didn't buy it even though it stuck out to me with its somber and less colorful boxart. Next time I saw a Fire Emblem game in the store, i.e., Awakening, I bought and played it. The rest is history.

What Fire Emblem games have you played? If we're talking start-to-end I've played and finished FE1, FE3, FE7, FE9, FE11, FE12, Awakening, SOV, 3H, and Engage. The remaining games in the series I've played to either early or mid game.

First Fire Emblem game: Awakening

Favorite Fire Emblem game: FE11 Shadow Dragon

Any Fire Emblem crushes? FE7 Rath was my first and only concrete FE crush. Marth was initially more of an aesthetic source of admiration though knowing his character better he likely exemplifies the ideal partner. Similar to Marth he's not really a crush, but right now I think a lot about Rafal, ironically less in the realm of looks or perfection and more at his attractive hot-and-cold personality.

If you’ve played the following games, who was your first S support? - Awakening: Chrom - Fates: Kaden was my forecast - Three Houses: Dimitri - Engage: Alfred

Favorite Fire Emblem class: Dracoknight

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class? Archer. My first class in FFXIV was an archer and my FE tastes will reflect that too.

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? Blue Lions

If you were an Engage character, which Emblem would you Engage with? Marth. Need me a princely ghost boyfriend I mean advisor with a good head on his shoulders.

How did you find TOA? Through Fire Emblem roleplay related tags

Current TOA muses: Marth and Rafal

Who was your first TOA muse? If you don’t have them anymore, could you see yourself picking them up again? Marth is my ride or die Fire Emblem character and that extends to him as a muse.

Have you had any other TOA muses? Besides Marth and Rafal I've also written Xane. Though there isn't a lot of data, my second muse slot historically (and presently) being reserved for dragons tickles me a lot.

Do you think you have a type of character you gravitate towards? Not really. My tastes are unexplainably versatile. I can favor the sweet and friendly golden boy type characters, or the less pristine and morally ambiguous "bad boy" types, and everything in-between. This isn't just true for TOA but also for characters from different series. My friends have a lot of trouble forecasting possible favorites for me because of it.

What do you believe you enjoy writing the most? Emotions. Conflict with those emotions. Mwahahahaha

Favorite TOA-related memory: The first few months into my TOA debut when everything was bright, fresh, and new. Meeting new friends and forging bonds with other characters was super fun and I still remember who was around me during that time. Farina (written by Maxie) is the closest muse to Marth in terms of when they joined TOA and who has stayed to this day.

Got any delusions that didn’t see the light of day in TOA that you’d like to share? I tend to be very stable, loyal, and proactive in my delusions. If they're strong enough I pursue them, like Xane and Rafal. Rath would be among them if I ever replayed FE7 and if I determined having three muses wouldn't make my performance suffer over all.

[handfuloftime]

Part 3, Chapters 6-10

As predicted, Chapter 6 was... difficult. I had to reset about five times before I finally worked out a viable strategy (using Micaiah and Sothe conservatively on one side of the field until the Black Knight shows up, and everyone else--with long-range weapons where possible--on the other side). Though it went surprisingly smoothly after that.

I'm genuinely worried that 3-13 is going to be unwinnable, though. The only unit I have who can even use a Master Crown is Tauroneo. Nolan changed class in this chapter and both Jill and Edward are level 19, but there's no way I'm getting any of them (or even Zihark, who I think is like level 6 now) to level 10 in the next chapter.

Also just not a fun chapter in terms of watching Micaiah and co. resignedly march off to fight a war they all know they shouldn't be involved in.

Nice to have one more chance to use the Black Knight, though (he's certainly having a busy few days). And how genuinely happy Micaiah was to see him...

Loved Ranulf twisting the knife in the parley. Everyone's having a bad time, but Sothe is having a particularly bad time.

Chapter 7 is a fun challenge, especially since I have to leave Titania behind because she'll get stuck on the riverbank otherwise.

Loved Reyson enthusiastically dragging Janaff and Uliki into the battle with him.

I know it would make no sense to pool resources at this point in the game, but man, the Greil mercenaries have about 25000 BEXP that I don't need to use because they're all leveling up at a nice steady pace, whereas the Dawn Brigade desperately need the experience and all they've got is whatever I can earn each battle.

I never quite know how the game selects which battle themes to use ("Dilemma" showed up as early as chapter 3 this time, whereas I think I normally don't hear it until at least chapter 8), but the Dawn Brigade theme playing over Ike's battles was very funny.

Ike must be having a time fighting Daein again.

Ugh, Valtome. He's not even enjoyable to hate, since he's a homophobic caricature to boot.

Lava dungeon chapter!

Titania was of course the first unit to change class (Ch. 8), and Shinon and Haar are right behind, with Nephenee (and Oscar?) slightly further back.

Congrats to the boss, who survived attacking Titania only to get killed by lava. Oops.

Some weird rolls of the dice in this chapter, including Soren missing a >90 and Ranulf getting hit not once but twice with <15.

Love that Skrimir's response to realizing they've trespassed in Goldoa is "I've always wanted to fight a dragon!"

Man, Dheginsea sucks.

Lovely to see Nasir (and Ena) again.

Chapter 9 is kind of a nothing of a chapter, but it's a good opportunity to train Astrid.

And it's nice to see Elinca's steely response to the Crimean noble who tries to question her strategy.

I know everyone is having a bad time at this point, but god, poor Zelgius.

Giffca coaching Skrimir through giving Ranulf a present to thank him for his service. He's doing his best!

Elincia <3

Ch. 10 is another very fun chapter both for the plot and the gameplay. I had to reset once because Boyd got swarmed by mages (I forgot that healers can also attack you, lol), and really I should have had to a second time--Rhys got hit by an archer, but the archer missed the follow-up attack and the dracoknight that attacked him immediately after missed both his attacks also. I haven't gotten that lucky in a while.

Haar is level 19? When did that happen?

I gave Ranulf Wildheart because the in-game description of the skill says that it halves your experience, but he was weak enough in the subsequent chapter that I double-checked and yep, it halves your transformed stats instead. Guess I'm taking it off again next chapter.

Really wish the Crimeans didn't run full-tilt towards the boss. I was terrified an archer would get Elincia.

Important chapter for Levail's character development (inasmuch as a minor background character can have development, lol)--he's still loyal enough to the Beignon military hierarchy that he suggests they go bail Valtome out, but next time we see him, he's abandoned that entirely.

Though I'd imagine almost having to watch Valtome execute Zelgius in front of him clarified his priorities pretty starkly, as well.

Tanith to the rescue!

Oh to be a fly on the wall for Sanaki and Zelgius's conversation... I have so many fic ideas, and so little time. (Update: I am writing the fic.)

And that's the end of the Laguz Alliance vs. Beignon arc, which is by far my favorite part of the game.

[neige-leblanche]

i wanna revisit + edit this.

berserker leona is it but i also cannot imagine him having been in a starting axe class ever. i can see him doing the grappling classes from fe3h though. <- my saving grace from making him a mage

if villager isnt an option pegasus knight really suits epel the best and it's pissing me off. i had been picturing the pomes in jugdral classes so he can be a thracian dracoknight he can be masc. okay.

we still need a knight. deuces unique magic + cauldron gambit in the white rabbit event would make him a good knight but that would leave us with a deficit of axe bros and also deuce is fast not slow. ortho could be a prepromoted general also in the genealogy sense of the class but that does not solve the problem

twst characters fire emblem class headcanons:

riddle: troubadour

ace: mage. ik he should be thief but i like thinking of him as the world's least friendly merric archetype

deuce: axe bro!!

trey: priest

cater: bard, but like in the jugdral sense (either these OR trey & cater are the green & red cavaliers)

leona: berserker!! ive considered doing an au where the beast boys r all laguz but aside from that. he's a pirate in this fic i have so on a personal level i think he could absolutely promote to berserker

ruggie: thief

jack: ok listen. ik he should be something tough and fighty like an axe bro but he'd make SUCH a good navarre archetype. he doesn't have obsessed with studying the blade energy but he does have obsessed with training in general energy i swear it fits he's a myrmidon. literally a laguz though so undecided

azul: SORCERER!!!!!! i wanna draw him in the awakening sorcerer outfit so bad

jade: paladin. vibes only

floyd: berserker as well. idk why the octas all have to be promoted classes sorry

kalim: dancer ofc!! i also really like kalim and jamil as a manakete/guardian duo

jamil: ik he should be a dark mage too but his vibes fit thief so much better ToT not in general just in the fe sense yknow. like he would get along with sooo many of the fe thieves

vil: dark mage

rook: tell me this man does not have ullr holy blood. he's a sniper

epel: VILLAGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

idia: dark mage as well. or like a ballistician or some shit

ortho: maybe can only describe him as a manakete?? ik they had robots in 3h but iirc they were only big things like demonic beasts. manakete fits his canon attack type best lolololol

malleus: manakete ofc. i was gonna comment that fe hasn't rlly utilized a mysterious bishie type dragon yet & then went IM SORRY KURTHNAGA TELLIUS U WILL ALWAYS PROVIDE. hell is a room with two doors & the lolis get worse after your rest time in the tellius chamber

lilia: dread fighter/mortal savant

silver: pegasus knight

sebek: wyvern knight

chenya: trickster

neige: dancer

rollo: bishop

crowley: idk man.

trein: sage

crewel: mage knight/dark knight

vargas: warrior

sam: dark mage but the fun kind like henry

[fireemblemtcg]

fecipher twitter, 9-9-2020: "Cherche: Wyvern Rider of House Virion" and "Cherche: Family-Devoted Soaring Wyvern Lord"

[Card Showcase] Cherche is a wyvern rider who serves House Virion. She excels in domestic matters like cooking and sewing, but at the same time, she is a formidable fighter who is absolutely terrifying when angered. She shall fight on with her liege, protecting and encouraging him all the while, until the day that he takes back their lost homeland of Rosanne. (Illust. @maturica-y​)

Card stats/skills:

B22-????? Cherche: Wyvern Rider of House Virion Wyvern Rider/Cost1 Blue/Female/Axe/Flier/Dragon 30ATK/30SUPP/1RNG

"I was hoping you might introduce me to your wyvern, so we can see which of ours is cuter. Not very sporting of me when mine is the finest in the world, I know."

Elysian Deliverer [ACT] [TAP] Choose 1 other ally, and move them.

[ATK] Elysian Emblem [SUPPORT] Choose 1 ally, other than your attacking unit. You may move that ally.

Illust. Yoko Matsurika

B22-???R Cherche: Family-Devoted Soaring Wyvern Lord Wyvern Lord/Cost3(2) Blue/Female/Axe/Flier/Dragon 50ATK/30SUPP/1RNG

"This war has scattered my family and friends. Driven them from their homes. Unless we see this through, none of us will ever go home again."

[CCS] "We can win." [ACT] If your opponent's lord has higher attack than this unit, then until the end of the turn, this unit gains +10 attack. ([CCS] is only usable if this unit has Class Changed.)

Canto [TRIGGER] When this unit's attack ends, you may move this unit.

Illust. Yoko Matsurika

More Fire Emblem Cipher Series 22 translations! | Tip jar

[drivedef]

catria, florina, & fee

Ok this one is fun i love fliers so much I use them every run in any game LOL

Spouse: Catria   I absolutely love all of the whitewings and will die for them thanks.Best Friend: Fee 👏Sibling: Florina   1000% FACT I love Florina’s character and she deserves all of the hugs

[luminousrider]

"And their movement slows through difficult terrain," Altena replies still keeping a safe distance from Duessel and his horse. She doesn't care for them. Their mouths are weird. They're not at all cute and cuddly like a wyvern. "I know a cavalier's weaknesses."

It was impossible not to growing up in Thracia. She grew up on stories of the brave dracoknights armed with their horseslayers above the desert sands. Even if Travant avoided the subject with her, someone was always willing to regale the wide eyed little girl with the story of Thracian victory.

Altena tenses as the horse leans closer to sniff her hair, its breath hot near her ear. This is not at all enjoyable and seems almost pointless. There is little reason for her to need to know anything about riding a horse and she takes a step away.

"Is there a reason this class is necessary?"

✧･ 𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦.

teaching a young student - w/ Altena.

[starry-skies-116]

DND Classes for FNAF Security Breach Characters (My AU, HEAVILY Fire Emblem Inspired):

Gregory: Specializes in Dark Magic, Lances, and Bows, as well as unarmed combat. High magical resistance, so he can basically yeetus deletus from faraway with spells but don’t get him too close to melee- oh, wait, just slap vantage and a high dex/avd stat on there and you’re good. Combat Art Lodestar +potential to become magic-oriented Dracoknight = ultra disrespect. Special weapons are Gungnir for his exclusive lance and Gradivus (not to be confused with that one regalia lance from Fire Emblem) for his special spell talisman, but he has to go through a lot of crap to get those weapons. Basically tears apart any enemy with high phys nullify, and even then he can just dodge anything thrown at him if its not a magical attack that he doesn’t tank. But there is still the risk of him getting oneshot, so be careful. Would be either warlock/dark mage, or monk.

Vanessa: Specializes in Light Magic +healing, Flying, Bows and Lances. Kinda low strength growths so she can’t really do damage much, but if your units are in a pickle she basically heals them, rallys them, does whatever she can so they can annihilate the enemy- and she’s pretty good at dealing some magical damage when the time calls for it. Has the HIGHEST heal and warp range out of anyone in the entire campaign, so people basically fight for who she gets to warp so they can ez cheese the battle map: “OR WE COULD USE THE WARP STAFF”. Has flying advantage like Gregory when she gets classed into Valkyrie (fanmade class) so she can do great dmg with lances due to those classes stat boosts and saves offered on rolls. Special weapons are Flame Parthia for bow and Abraxas which is Aura magic tome on steroids

Freddy: BARBARIAN/PALADIN RIGHT OFF THE BAT BC HE WANTS TO MAKE HIS SIBLINGS CRY-LAUGH THE WHOLE SESSION: Specializes in axes, authority, brawl and swords but obvi deficient at magic and flying: pretty good at cavalier, has gotten better lol- REALLY good at heavy armor, he can take physical hits like its no tomorrow. Character exclusive weapons are Dragon Claws and Ragnsalir Hauteclere for classing into paladin. If Gregory can’t shred the enemy with magic and his poke stick, cue Freddy about to spam Dragonskin special ability to stun the enemy before deleting them off the map- he’s got this covered if his little brother’s strategies fail! (comforts him afterwards lol). Special skills Guardian’s Fury, Taunt and Fighting Spirit basically equals “don’t forget about wave 2 disrespect”.

[aokozaki]

The penny is a pistol alt-fire, you toss a coin and if you shoot it, it auto homes in on enemies for a crit.

However a far more skilled player than I can shoot the penny with a charge shot or a railgun.

Anyway, Gil toss for a final fantasy job class?

Gil toss is sometimes a samurai move btw, that's kinda funny

I absolutely hate FF/BD jobs that require spending resources to fight. Yes yes, this goes for Salve Maker and stuff, but I hate Ninjas too. I've gotta use shurikens!? But I've only got 47 of them!

I like the Dragoons/Vakyries.

They often have a lot of overlap with the aesthetics of Fire Emblem's Dracoknights and Pegasus Knights (I notice that BD's take on them essentially leans more into the latter than former), and jumping around with a Lance seems like a lot of fun.

[fevotinggauntletreal]

Clash of FE Classes Semifinals - Match 1

(pictured: a Swordmaster icon from Shadow Dragon, and a Dracoknight icon from Shadow Dragon, on a GBAFE arena background)

introductions to the classes, other closely associated classes, and explanations under the cut

Myrmidons are typically sword-wielding infantry units, who promote into Swordmasters, still sword-wielding infantry units. technically, the first Myrmidons promoted from Mercenaries in Gaiden and then into Dread Fighters; still, boundaries between two distinct styles of sword-wielding class would grow bigger and wonkier for the next three games. Binding Blade finally consolidated the distinct Myrmidon class, with its focus on Skill and Speed above all other stats – as well as its signature eastern aesthetics. other closely associated classes include the Trueblade from Radiant Dawn; the Samurai from Fates; and the Mortal Savant from Three Houses. Lyn from Blazing Blade plays very similarly to a Myrmidon while belonging to a pair of unique Lord-type classes.

are they Wyvern Riders and Wyvern Lords, or Dracoknights and Dragon Masters? the answer is not consistent across the series, as aren’t the translations. and as aren’t, for that matter, their typical weapon types; historically, they’ve wielded lances primarily and sometimes swords, as Pegasus Knights do, but Path of Radiance gave them axes as a new secondary weapon, which then became their primary weapon in Radiant Dawn, and this has since remained that way. whatever it is exactly that these people are riding, though, they’re as mobile as Pegasus Knights and a lot more durable to boot, which consistently makes them powerful and versatile units – although their Speed isn’t always up to snuff, their Resistance can let them down, and they usually still take heavy damage from bows. closely associated classes include the Wyvern Knight from Sacred Stones (who is on a different mount than that of the Wyvern Riders and Wyvern Lords of the same game, thanks treehouse); the Dragonlord from Radiant Dawn; the Griffon Rider from Awakening; and the Malig Knight from Fates. Ashnard from Path of Radiance, as well as Ivy, Zephia and Zelestia from Engage, all have unique wyvern-riding classes (although it’s, uh, definitely not a wyvern that Ashnard rides…).

[tc-doherty]

Happy Blorbsday / STS 😂❤️

Since I loved your question so much, what DND classes would the cast of Silverwood be if they played?

(sorry if you've already been asked, feel free to link me to the answer if you have!!)

@bloodlessheirbyjacques

@bloodlessheirbyjacques

Thanks! The thing about Silverwood is that I have made almost 500 posts about Silverwood on my other blog and almost all of them are memes, so I have in fact covered D&D starting classes (although not just classes in general), D&D alignments, and also Fire Emblem classes (which kind of counts) so here's a compilation:

Ithea: Neutral Evil, Barbarian. Her FE class is lord (of course) and I even made a sprite for her! If she isn't a lord, then she is a dracoknight.

Anthem: Lawful Evil, Wizard. FE class: pegasus knight. If Ithea isn't a lord, he's a mage.

Charlie: Chaotic Good, Fighter. FE class: manakete/dragon laguz.

Cyan: Lawful Evil, Bard. FE class: dancer.

Gavin: Lawful Neutral, Warlock. FE class: shaman.

Kaite: True Neutral, Ranger. FE class: archer.

Keir: Chaotic Good, Rogue. FE class: red cavalier.

Dumas: Neutral Good, Cleric. FE class: green cavalier.

Junior: Chaotic Good, Paladin. FE class: mercenary.

Ro: Neutral Good, Druid. FE class: troubadour.

[handfuloftime]

Chapters 24 & 25

I love that Ike's attitude is, "I didn't ask for you to put me in charge of an army, but you did, so now I'm going to do what I want with it."

Lucia being willing to leave her brother to die for Elincia's sake... Ooof. Not that Geoffrey wouldn't agree that that was the right decision (even if Elincia didn't), but still.

Tanith and Astrid were indeed the next two to hit level 20, though I also realized that Muarim has been at 20 for a while now--I thought it would be the same as RD where the laguz cap at 40 rather than 20 because they don't change class, but I guess not.

Bastian is extremely annoying, but he does have some moments of comic relief (Lucia mentioning that he had to disguise himself as a street performer because no one would buy that he's a merchant; Ike nodding off in the middle of their conversation).

I'm going to get Ike and Ranulf to A-level support if it kills me.

Speaking of supports, Tanith and Reyson are somehow at a B, and I'm enjoying how much Reyson's recklessness is driving her up a wall.

Nothing like the Black Knight popping up behind my lines five turns into a chapter! Reyson and the mages were (just barely) out of his range, so he just stood there ominously, but that was a panic I didn't need.

"When you die here, you'll be in breach of contract." lmao

And the Black Knight telling Ike he'd better bring the correct sword next time because he's getting bored was just "chef's kiss*. Important to hold your nemesis to proper standards.

Has no one in Beignon noticed that two priceless national treasures are missing? (...or did Altina's swords end up with Lehran?)

Even Ashnard is commenting on how mysterious the Black Knight is acting now.

Honestly, Ashnard is a really enjoyable villain. He's clearly having a lot of fun. And his theme music is great.

"You are an enigma, dark one." I hate that I ready this line as flirty.

Largo, please put a shirt on, you're scaring everyone.

I've finally figured out why the wyverns are unsettling me, and it's that their back feet are on the ground. They're not flying, they're just standing there!

Having had the bridge chapter, we now move on to the dropping rocks on people chapter.

The boss attacked Tanith on the second turn (with a line about Daein dracoknights' superiority to Beignon pegasus knights), missed, and got steamrollered. Lol.

Wait, going back to the support convos, you can only support with a max of three people and it's based on just being in the same chapter, not proximity? I guess that explains why gluing Ike and Ranulf together for three chapters has accomplished absolutely nothing, but that's so annoying--it makes it all but impossible to support with any characters who join later in the game. Well, I guess there's always RD...

Every conversation Ashnard and the Black Knight have is gold. Acting like a king and his loyal general but with an undercurrent of suspicion and you-know-I-know-you-know that occasionally rises to the surface as needling each other (The "Do you believe I would betray you?" "I believe your heart has considered it." "Surely you jest." exchange in particular). Delicious.

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

...okay against my better judgment I started playing Shadow Dragon, and in the spirit of that post I made after starting Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, now that I’ve finished Chapter 3, here are some observations about this game:

Playing on Normal difficulty gives you a new tutorial prologue that explains the plot and game mechanics to you. This is a blessing, as you guys saw how I suffered through the start of the original.

This tutorial prologue truly does explain everything to you, up to and including that killing off your units is permanent.

This tutorial prologue forces you to choose one of the characters present in it to send as a decoy to be killed by the enemy while the rest escape with Marth.

This enemy included the first name drop we get of the Sable Order - hi, uh, what’s-your-fuck, what was your name before it was Zeke--

This tutorial in how to get your own men killed was an easy choice for me to make as I looked at the men I had with me, stared directly into the eyes of the guy whose name I did not recognize from the original game, and said “goodbye, Frey, you will be missed and maybe I’ll remember your name by the time I reach the game’s end, but I doubt it.”

But okay could I have sacrificed Jagen. Is that something I am legally allowed to do--

Since I understand how this game works, both from the tutorial and from playing the original that it’s based on, I now know that while you can visit houses with any unit, you have to visit villages with Marth, and I’ve already picked up one recruit that I missed in the original. What the fuck do you mean there’s a healer who should join before Lena. Who’s this old dude.

Clerics gain exp for healing. I do not have to put Lena through the hell gauntlet.

After Chapter 3 you gain access to a pre-battle menu where you can purchase items from the shop, move items around in the convoy, and equip other weapons, so I don’t have to do the stupid bullshit that I would do where the map would be clear of enemies and I was on turn 30 from accessing the convoy to equip my units properly.

There do not appear to be supports, like the original, but sometimes your units are able to talk to each other on the battlefield and you get a little exposition or character information.

You can also reclass your units in this menu. Marth is not allowed to be reclassed, nor is Julian (once a thief, always a thief I guess...), but you can go a little nuts on everyone else - within the limits that there are where you’re only allowed to have a certain number of characters per class. I hope they up this number by the time we meet the Whitewings, or else somebody’s gonna have to change and it’s going to be several of us.

Anyway I can let Lena kill. I can let her go apeshit. I can turn her into a mage and let her do murder right away and later pick up staves again. I can turn her into a pegasus knight. I can do anything. I hold that power. She could hold that power.

They nerfed Caeda by not letting her use swords. I hope they still let her promote into a Dracoknight/wyvern rider - the first game, I don’t think I mentioned, interestingly didn’t have different class lines for pegasus and wyvern riders. A pegasus knight simply promotes into a wyvern rider.

I don’t know what Marth’s growth rates are, I know Res growths are fucked up in these early games/remakes of, but on reaching level 4, Marth gained one point of Res, his only point of Res, and I am so proud.

All the maps are roughly the same shape as I remember from my delirium of playing the original. I will probably be playing this game pretty slowly, since again, I already kinda played it, and having a better grasp of even the starting plot means that I understand better where it ended up going. Not that I can keep the country names straight still. I don’t remember where the fuck Minerva and the Whitewings are from.

Anyway the plot of this game is that there’s a war as Medeus of the kingdom of....uh, Dohlr, I think? is trying to conquer his way across the continent. Marth’s father, the king of Altea, is backstabbed by an ally who joins with Dohlr, and Altea is invaded. Marth escapes but his older sister remains, and Marth flees to Talys where he remains for several years until he’s strong enough to beat up some pirates and then set out on a quest across the continent fighting the forces of Dohlr, Grust, and Gra and trying to figure out where the fuck these assholes put Falchion after they stole it off his dad’s corpse.

[gzeidraws]

winged warriors

[gascon-en-exil]

Up through Chapter 8 of FE1. Some gameplay impressions and miscellaneous comments.

I stopped fielding Jagen after the first few chapters. He was good for weakening bosses, but other than that I’ve had little need for him when Caeda uses his silver lance just as well and Cain and Abel (and Hardin to a lesser extent) are statistically solid with comparable movement. Mounted units are really limited in a game with neither rescuing nor canto...nor the ability for anyone but Marth to visit villages, for that matter.

Alas, unpromoted healers are indeed worthless, and I replaced Wyrs and Lena with Wendell almost immediately. I know Hammerne is exclusive to Lena in this game but it’s not like she has to be trained to use that. At least Merric is still pretty good.

Gordin would be surprisingly decent, if only his movement didn’t suck. I’m only a chapter away from Jeorge though so I feel he’ll be getting replaced shortly. Neither Wolf nor Sedgar has impressed me much so far, but at least they’ve got horses.

Ogma and Navarre and more unexpectedly Barst have been carrying the infantry game. Marth would be pretty good too if only he weren’t always stuck rushing to villages and recruitments and then to the throne. 

I do have to quibble with some of the translation choices in this port, like why they went with curate from the DS games rather than the more familiar priest, or why promoted magic users are bishops when sage is a more encompassing class name. Wyvern knight is odd, matching neither the traditional wyvern rider/lord or the DS games’ dracoknight. Also, why are the basic non-swords not iron weapons? It’s so strange to have an iron sword but then just...lance...or axe...or bow. Even if that’s more accurate to the original Japanese, a little consistency wouldn’t hurt.

I finally found a Kaga game with clunkier inventory management than FE4. Wonders never cease.