Let's Play Fire Emblem: Echoes - Shadows of Valentia: A Tale of Big Hurty Lightning

[The Flying Twybil]

Update 3: Get Crit (Ram Woods and Fleecer's Forest)

(A brief note that there will not be any battle GIFS for this update, apologies for that, but the software I use to get video off the 3DS was on the fritz. There should be some in the next update.)



Alright, the beach bums voted, and the overall vote was to bring both Faye and Kliff. Faye still managed to pull ahead with about a third of the votes against her in the end. Pretty much everyone aside from a small few voted to take Kliff.

That being said, let's grab these nerds and get on the road of to war.





And with a little fanfare, she joins. How anticlimactic.

Huh? Now you want me to come with you after all? Make up your mind!



Yay, friendship!





Music: Act 1 - Where the Wind Rustles | YT KHin NES

Then, skipping past the conversation at the end of the last update brings us here.



...but my fellows in the Deliverance have been fighting to reclaim it.



See that little entrance in the top left? That's the Deliverance base.

We’d best prepare ourselves for a long journey.



Indeed, this will take a bit of time, but we've officially reached the actual gameplay. There's not much for us to do right now but cross into Ram Woods, and go up against these bandits blocking the path.








Music: The Incorrigible | YT KHin

These here woods belong to me and my boys, see? So if ya wanna be passin’ through, yer gonna have to pay the toll. Ha ha!




But it’s only been minutes—we’re still within sight of the gates!

Worse surprises than this await us, Alm. Is everyone ready?





Alm, if I may? You mustn’t rush headlong into battles on your own.



Trust them. Give them something to do. …At least let them deal the final blow.

Right. That’s good advice. I’ll give it a try!

(Yes, that's the game trying to explain basic mechanics.)

Anyways, here we are, at the first real battle of the game. I already showed off our character's stats last update, no need to do so now as they haven't changed any.

Player Turn Music: The March to Deliverance (Prologue)| YT KHin NES

Enemy Turn Music: The Air of Brutality (Prologue)| YT KHin



First thing to note are these Supplies- it's the new version of the healing tile from Gaiden. Marked by a big green magic circle, a long flag, and boxes of oranges (no, seriously) they regen HP per turn when you stand on them and give 40 avoid.

Normally, they're pretty good places to camp out, but for this map they're back in the village walls which happens to be the approximate distance of too damn far for me to care.

They also are the source of Gaiden and SoV's most unusual AI quirk, one we'll see by the end of this update.



Anyways, uh, say hi to the first and only axe users in the entire game.

No, seriously.

And we don't get any, ever. I meant what I said about the Splitting Axe.



Look at this smug jerk.

Let's turn that grin around, shall we?



I've got this.

Alm wasn't kidding when he said he could take these guys. Just park him in a forest and watch the bandits fly. Regardless, we basically never need to worry about him getting EXP, and especially so right now, despite him only being level 1.

In a mark of good game design, he's got just enough Atk and Spd to drop these bandits down to 10, leaving them mostly in range for our other units to get a kill or two.



Allow me.

I move Lukas just in range of the southern bandit, as his combat capabilities against bandits is mostly equal to Alm's right now. There's no weapon triangle in this game, so he's not at any disadvantage.



Now it's time to let the enemy phase play out, as per the usual FE strategy.



Music: The Dauntless Blade | YT KHin NES



This jerk takes the bait, and eats 16 damage for it.




Lukas also kicks some bandit hindquarters.



I also ended up putting Tobin too close and he trades blows.



Our Turn Again. First move is to get Gray to weaken-




It's been fun!




-Insert exaggerated rage for sake of comedic value-

Meh, we lost a kill to Grey deciding to be badass on a 6% chance. I don't really mind him picking up another level before we get him a promotion. He's far enough above most base stat bonuses to make good use of it. (I'll explain what that is later.)

Alright, Alm, you want to weaken one of these guys for Faye or Kliff?





I'll take that as a no. *sigh*



Kliff shows off his smooth moves when trying to finish a bandit. Can you blame me for thinking he would crit as well, given he's the most likely to?




Don't count Tobin out!

Fine, Tobin, you can have the EXP. Fine. I counted you out because the others needed to catch up, but fine



And so the enemies throw themselves head first at us yet again.




Kliff draws in these jerks and does well in avoiding their attacks by way of tree. He doesn't return too much damage, but I can work past that.

Another nifty detail of SoV is that instead of visually taking place on minor sub-battlefields based on the tile you're on, it takes place on an enlarged version of the tactical map. It even accurately represents environmental details at the right range.




I was taught by the best!

That sure was a camera angle. I'll hopefully have a .gif for it next time, but the default villager finishing attack is a twirl into a downwards vertical swing. I tend to call those wheel-swings given the wide arc.

The last bandit moves in and-



what even



This ends here!

Uh, I guess it does.




Alm, did you not hear what Lukas said, goddamn-




That was a fine victory.

not really no

Anyways, this demonstrates one of Gaiden's modern approaches to one of it's older mechanics. Originally, fighting or defending from a unit gave a little bit of EXP to everyone on the field, as a way to minorly upkeep the levels needed to beat the game.

This game re-implements that by just handing all of that out in bulk at the end of the battle. Unfortunately, it does cap at 99, which means you'll optimally want to not be close to a level when you finish a map.






Music: The Incorrigible | YT KHin

I can see you have more than a bit of your grandfather in you.

You think so?






Eh, we got time, let's go bash some more bandits.







More brigands? It seems the rumors were no exaggeration.

Based on their numbers, I surmise they must have a hideout nearby. But we can ill afford to pick fights with every cutpurse and rogue we encounter. Let’s sit back and lay low until they depart.



Ah, yes, FE_Bandits.txt.

She’ll certainly add some color to that run-down old shrine! Gar har har!

Gar har har! She’s prettier’n the boss, that’s for sure!

What? They’ve taken a prisoner?!



Busts out of the bushes running-



Never change, Alm.



Release the woman you’re holding at once, or else!

Bwa ha ha! Or else WHAT?

Ya must really want a knife in the belly if yer slingin’ taunts at the likes of us.



To arms, everyone!

There's a theme here, notably that Lukas, a noble, is acting selfishly in regards to the war and Alm does the heroic thing instead. Get used to seeing this.

Actually, it's more of just a pragmatic approach by Lukas, but still selfish nonetheless. Some other characters will be far worse about this.





Player Turn Music: The March to Deliverance (Prologue)| YT KHin NES

Enemy Turn Music: The Air of Brutality (Prologue)| YT KHin



He can strike from a distance, so we must plan our approach carefully. Whoever goes after him needs to finish him quickly or be ready for a reprisal.




He may not be properly brave, but he's at least wise. Archers got a bit boosted damage in this game, including being able to attack in melee, and later on, a frankly ridiculous max range. Unlike usual Fire Emblem, their Skill is usually garbage now, and makes terrain advantages your ally against them.

For the sake of it, I just send Lukas over there to take him out. I'd rather not deal with it while I'm trying to get these squishy villagers some levels.



This is farewell!

You know what? This is fine. This is the first actually useful crit yet.





Nothing personal.



With that taken care of surprisingly quickly, I move up all the others into the cover of forest, except Alm who stands out in the open to lure more bandits in.





Faye here is jumping, yes. Characters have special attack animations for attacking after a dodge, and they're pretty neat, so hopefully the capture software's not on the fritz next time.

Overall, everything goes according to plan.





I send in Tobin to weaken this jerk. Kliff follows up with another attack. If you're wondering why his crit's so low all of the sudden, it's because he's not near Alm or Gray for his native supports to trigger. Any stats boosted by a support will be in yellow on the bars below, while stats subtracted will be faded out somewhat.

Kliff's only developed support is with Tobin, which we haven't triggered much growth of yet.




Faye finishes to get our first level of the game.




Damn it, Faye. At least you got a point of HP, which is usually the one thing you're behind on, but you couldn't have at least gotten a point of speed?



Before I end the turn, I have Lukas bodyblock Gray. It's not like he needs it, but I'd prefer to have everyone looking to level stay at high HP right now.




Gray picks up some flak from one of the bandits on the right and Lukas blocks the one on the right.



Our turn rolls around and I decide to go ahead and get rid of this bandit that snuck up on Gray because he's a bit out of the way now.




what even




After whatever that was, Tobin picks up another kill. Kliff's the most behind right now, but we'll catch him up eventually. I push my luck, hoping Faye crits, but that doesn't work out.



For some reason, past me thought it was prudent to let Alm just finish that one off, despite everyone around having plenty of HP to counter with.



Alright, Mr. Bandit, which of these people are you going to-



Oh.

So, this is that AI quirk I was talking about. In Gaiden and Valentia, when an enemy, (and most bosses,) goes below half HP, they will retreat to an open Supplies tile if possible. There's one off to the very far left, and pathing just so happens to give him a path waltzing just past my units.

In short, Tobin stabs a bad man.





Thank you, even though that speed point's not going to matter much at this point in the game. Whether it matters later is dependent on his class choice. Oh, and he can promote because villagers promote as early as level 3.

Anyway, offscreen, I move Kliff, Alm, and Faye up towards the north, towards the last brigand.




Who promptly hits her in the face with an axe. How rude.



Good work, loser, I just blocked off your healing spot.






Hmph, now you hate me.




Checkmate.

Also, that happens to be a very good level for Kliff, given now he can double bandits, making the leveling process far easier on me.

"You make it look so easy, Alm."








Valor is nothing to be sorry for. Now come. Let’s find this prisoner they spoke of. They mentioned a shrine, yes? It must be nearby.

Ah, yes, now you want to do the right thing. Well, at least you're pretty alright, though I wish some other people we meet would spare a half-second to help some people out.



Music: Act 1 - Where the Wind Rustles | YT KHin NES



Shrines like this were built by folks so they had a place to worship Mila, but famine and other problems kinda put a damper on most Zofians’ piety. Now they’re mostly just home to brigands and the like.

Then the woman who was taken captive must be inside…

That's it for today's update, but next time ought to be a lot more interesting.

Next Time: We Enter The Third Dimension

[RandomKesaranPasaran]

Random crits disrupting your carefully planned attempts at killfeeding, the true Fire Emblem experience.

[ClyncyeRudje]

Hey kids, you like dungeon crawls in your SRPGs, right?????

I don't... haaate? what's coming up. But it is very weird and feels out of place.

[Tanegashima]

That's an absurd number of crits for earlygame Fire Emblem.

[metis]

Aw, I don't think Lukas is being cowardly here, he's more pragmatic and a little cold -- his priority is bringing these new soldiers to the Deliverance, and it would be a waste if they died to random bandits before they got there. It's still far from heroic, but I don't think calling him a pansy is quite right.

(Incredibly biased source here though, Lukas is one of my favourite FE characters)

[Night Zap]

It can be pretty funny to see enemies drop everything to run across the map to the nearest healing spot.

I like the dungeon crawling. The movement feels so satisfying.

Roman cosmetics were known to use antimony as well- cosmetics have a long history of being dangerous. Still do, really. Personally, I think it's either an STD or it's a case of Desaix trying to poison him and eventually giving up when he continues to hold on for too long. Probably the latter, as much as FE's had some iffy stuff in it's history, I don't know if they'd actually do the former.

Cosmetics. That was the word I was looking for Sounded like some kind of vain supervillain there with phrases like "pursuit of beauty"

[The Flying Twybil]

Random crits disrupting your carefully planned attempts at killfeeding, the true Fire Emblem experience.

That's an absurd number of crits for earlygame Fire Emblem.

i dont even know

Hey kids, you like dungeon crawls in your SRPGs, right?????

I don't... haaate? what's coming up. But it is very weird and feels out of place.

It can be pretty funny to see enemies drop everything to run across the map to the nearest healing spot.

I like the dungeon crawling. The movement feels so satisfying.

Cosmetics. That was the word I was looking for Sounded like some kind of vain supervillain there with phrases like "pursuit of beauty"

The dungeon crawls were part of Gaiden and I actually like their implementation, despite them being a little funky at times. My particular issue with them is the spawnrate later on, because trash fights is where this game does not shine. The active movement is quite freeing to me though, especially after a couple of long heavily strategic maps.

Now there's something that comes at the end of this dungeon that I have a mixed opinion of. It sort of plays with both of my sentiments regarding SRPGs, and I can't ever precisely say if I like it or not.

Aw, I don't think Lukas is being cowardly here, he's more pragmatic and a little cold -- his priority is bringing these new soldiers to the Deliverance, and it would be a waste if they died to random bandits before they got there. It's still far from heroic, but I don't think calling him a pansy is quite right.

(Incredibly biased source here though, Lukas is one of my favourite FE characters)

I'm mostly just picking at him in a joking manner, but he is better about this than one particular guy I could point out for doing this. It's not really cowardice, but an issue of personal scope regarding the Deliverance. Unfortunately, nobody likes to see a cold, pragmatic revolution (and I tend to be that kind of person). If you're planning on recruiting more soldiers, maybe a little heroism is in store, as what credibility is there to a promise of a peaceful Zofia if you can't keep the populace safe now?

I actually do like Lukas, and I can tell what he's doing - I was just a little salty when I wrote that, as yesterday wasn't really that good to me. I'll go back and edit it a bit and be more fair with it.

[AradoBalanga]

Yeah wow, that is an unusually crit-happy band of Ram Villagers there. And yet, my intuition is telling me that the RNG is setting you up for some form of disappointment.

[Greener223224]

My guess is that you’re getting RNG-blessed in crits to account for being RNG-cursed in growths. So congratulations on having all your non-sword units guaranteed to suck!

[metis]

I'm mostly just picking at him in a joking manner, but he is better about this than one particular guy I could point out for doing this. It's not really cowardice, but an issue of personal scope regarding the Deliverance. Unfortunately, nobody likes to see a cold, pragmatic revolution (and I tend to be that kind of person). If you're planning on recruiting more soldiers, maybe a little heroism is in store, as what credibility is there to a promise of a peaceful Zofia if you can't keep the populace safe now?

I actually do like Lukas, and I can tell what he's doing - I was just a little salty when I wrote that, as yesterday wasn't really that good to me. I'll go back and edit it a bit and be more fair with it.

Haha fair enough, and you are definitely right overall wrt to the Deliverance.

[Greener223224]

I'm mostly just picking at him in a joking manner, but he is better about this than one particular guy I could point out for doing this. It's not really cowardice, but an issue of personal scope regarding the Deliverance. Unfortunately, nobody likes to see a cold, pragmatic revolution (and I tend to be that kind of person). If you're planning on recruiting more soldiers, maybe a little heroism is in store, as what credibility is there to a promise of a peaceful Zofia if you can't keep the populace safe now?

So, in Fire Emblem terms, you're saying you lean more towards Dorias than you do August.

And now I'm sad there's no proper Dorias equivalent in FE15, since otherwise the dynamic with Alm comes across as closer to Roy and Merlinus, where the lord makes all the good decisions and the advisor just chastises them.

[The Flying Twybil]

Yeah wow, that is an unusually crit-happy band of Ram Villagers there. And yet, my intuition is telling me that the RNG is setting you up for some form of disappointment.

My guess is that you’re getting RNG-blessed in crits to account for being RNG-cursed in growths. So congratulations on having all your non-sword units guaranteed to suck!

The lasting curse of the FE LP, where in the world does RNG decide to stand. I can hope some high-rollers like Kliff pull me through, but, uh, these starter levels are definitely a bit eh. They've all still got, like, 50~ levels to go though, so maybe the curse will wear off.

And now that I've said that, watch me never crit again, even with a Brave Sword.

So, in Fire Emblem terms, you're saying you lean more towards Dorias than you do August.

And now I'm sad there's no proper Dorias equivalent in FE15, since otherwise the dynamic with Alm comes across as closer to Roy and Merlinus, where the lord makes all the good decisions and the advisor just chastises them.

Despite me usually being the logical type, I do think the heroic, Dorias approach is needed here, speaking in military terms. There's a lot of room to be pragmatic in a war like this, but certain things call for valor, especially when it comes to recruiting troops. As time goes on, we'll see more regarding this due to Alm's heroic nature. The Deliverance is focused on winning this war, while Alm specifically wants to bring peace to the land- winning the war is only part of that.

And yes, the relationship we'll be seeing the future is very Merlinus to Roy. A Dorias-type advisor would be good here, though that makes me wonder how much that would detract from the characterization Alm gains by being alone in his valiance (and alone in general), let alone what it would do to the overall themes of the game. I do in part definitely wish they'd just get off his back for once, but that's perhaps good, realistic storytelling in it's own respect.

This game hits its writing pretty well in some spots like this, there's just a few story moments far later we'll be seeing that detract from this.

[The Flying Twybil]

Update 4: Big Update, Big Gains

Last time we proactively kicked some bandit ass, and now we will continue to do so! Even Lukas is on board for it, sort of!

Oh, and this time we'll have more gifs of ass-kicking because we all know gifs are fun. The gifs time around are courtesy of resident Beachgoer Quackles, of Paper Mario: Master Quest and The Gostak fame, thus saving us from early onset of the LP Curse.



Music: Act 1 - Where the Wind Rustles | YT KHin NES

Oh, and uh, here's the map music again just in case you want to hear it. It's pretty good.

Anyways, let's get to it because this'n's a long one.






Music: The Incorrigible | YT KHin

Eek! Stay away from me! I’m only the stupid watchman! I just WATCH things! Eeeek!

The delivery on these lines are just perfect by the way.



He just fucking books it. Can't say I blame 'em.



Music: Battle Preparations - Deliverance | YT KHin

So, here's the prep screen. Nothing's really important about it right now as all of these options are available from the map.



Here's our team, just as a reminder. That little angel symbol is an indicator that the unit can promote. Those with sharp eyes may have noticed that the description card for this map had a similar symbol stamped on it. We'll see what it means by the end of the update, but suffice to say we're getting promotions today.

Oh, and we could just leave to mess with the watchman some more.

What? YOU again?! L-leave me alone! I told you, all I do is keep watch for the others!

Good times. Anyways, let's head on in.





Music: Undercurrents | YT KHin NES



That's right, we're going full 3D now.

It’s foul, like the rogues who crawl about the place.



Every dungeon starts off with these neat, atmospheric lines by our current main character. It kind of reminds me of the ones in Crystal Caravans, personally, which is an entirely unrelated but neat nostalgia trip.

If you're wondering, this mechanic isn't actually new. The 3D part is, but Gaiden did feature walk-around dungeons...though they were handled a bit differently back then.



As we can see, the place is pretty damn dark, so it's a good thing Alm brought his lamp. Also, I don't remember if I've said so, but this remains one of the best looking 3DS games. I hope that comes across somewhat through the .jpeg compression.

Although, soon enough we'll find that we're not alone.



Huh?!

Player Turn Music: The March to Deliverance (Prologue)| YT KHin NES

Enemy Turn Music: The Air of Brutality (Prologue)| YT KHin





And bam, like that we've got ourselves a minature battle. You'll note that the brigands are a bit wounded- that comes from having Alm land the first blow in the 3D map. It's minor, but it can help sometimes.



As time goes on, I probably won't cover all these minor battles in much detail, but for now I'll use it as an opportunity to show off important bits.

In this case, I move everyone up, and specifically leave Kliff out in the open to take on both bandits on his own. He can double them, so he'll weaken them for the others.



Music: The Dauntless Blade | YT KHin NES

A bandit takes the bait and hits for paltry damage and-



Now you die.

what even

first hit of the update even

...Whatever, my dude, you put him on 1 HP, I can't complain.



He does what I intended to the other guy, and gets about halfway to a level.



Faye's close to a level so I let her have this one.



Look at that!

She gracefully displays a finishing blow for us in return.



There's also this pretty rad screenshot I caught too.




Such radical moves gets the team's only gal a level.

It's actually a pretty good level. That SPD's going to help for the rest of this dungeon, while that DEF point may go a long way for us.




I didn't feel like letting the last jerk hit one of the team, and Gray was right on top of a level so I gave it to him.

...It sure is a level. That SPD point is only going to be useful depending on which class he enters.



Ahaha-haha! Man, that was too easy!

And that's one band of bandits gone. Alm and Lukas are stuck at 99 because the bonus EXP won't push them over. Looks like Tobin and Kliff are up for another level though.



Music: Undercurrents | YT KHin NES

Back out in the caves again.



Over to our left is some boxes and pots. Like any good adventurer we can show zero respect for people's sense of property and destroy them all.



Smashy smashy



Oh, hey, there's an orange. There's also some sort of cave back here.



Oh, whoops. Guess I better turn around and fight this guy.



Player Turn Music: The March to Deliverance (Prologue)| YT KHin NES

Enemy Turn Music: The Air of Brutality (Prologue)| YT KHin

And so we do! If I'd let him touch Alm's back, they'd get a free turn on us. You know, basic stuff.



Anyway, I continue to play overly defensively and try and bait them into attacking Alm and Lukas.




Music: The Dauntless Blade | YT KHin NES

Eh, this is fine enough.



The other guy does go for the latter, giving me a chance to show off his attack animations. They're not too special, but the other specialized animations are pretty nifty.



What's also nifty is this level. My experience with Lukas is that he hates getting Speed. This Lukas nearly has as much as the end-game Lukas on my other file has.

...Yeah.

Keep it up, buddy, and you may even make it to the final fight!



Just showing this to inform you that Supports are in this game. Some are FE3 style supports where they're constant, unspoken buffs.

Can you see Tobin, Kliff, and Grey's faces off to the left there? This symbolizes a support bonus, (as to what, it varies between character,) and you can see their effects represented by those tiny little bars of yellow on Alm's Hit and Crit. These "Passive" supports never generate any conversations, and are kinda minor for the most part, but anything's helpful.

Now for "Conversational" supports / support chains. These are what most people think of when they think of Supports, being ranked C through A, and providing very noticeable bonuses. In this game, they're locked behind both support points gained by fighting near one another, as well as story progression.

Presently, the only person on our team that Alm can support with is Faye. We won't see that one today, but we will see another.

Where were we again?



Right, we were beating up on bandits, not talking friendship.

This is more than enough to land him a level-



- And he does not disappoint

I know it's just his first level, but oh boy, if he decides to keep this up...

While Alm is over here showing off-



Don't push me!

Kliff, what



this is fine



this is even more fine



Ah, that was a fine victory.

Alright, this is getting a bit ridiculous. I'm not complaining though.



Music: Undercurrents | YT KHin NES



Checking at the end of this little cave nook is a big golden chest.

Like any reasonable adventurers, we calmly walk up to it, press A



-and smash the hell out of it with our sword, somehow popping open the lid and launching its contents upon the ground.



"Oh, wow, an iron sword. Big whoop. Don't we already have those by default?"

Is what some people might say, but this is our first weapon upgrade of the game, and quite a useful one to boot.



See, the fun thing about the Iron Sword is that it has no weight value, meaning that it doesn't slow our units down at all to use. Sure, the +2 Atk isn't that much, but it's a free buff in a game where 1 point of SPD can make all the difference.



Oh, and there's also weapon skills too. They're just special attacks that cost a little HP to use, and we gain them by using said weapons a whole bunch. Most skills are exclusive, but quite a few carry over.

Weapon skills will be a more worthwhile later when they're, say our only source of armorslaying, but for now there's not much to say about 'em.

Onwa-




*Sigh*

Looks like all that noise we made brought the last bandits in here to us. Time for another fight, folks.



Strategy for this fight? Let them all beat up on Tobin.

No, seriously.



Doing fine so far, it seems.



damn it



Eh, he's alive.



The other jerk goes for Faye.



She's fine.



After much mental deliberation, I send Kliff to finish that jerk off.



Who do you think I am?

Kliff's fancy new sword does wonders.



Tobin weakens a bandit for Faye, and his health gets low enough to start limping.



*sigh* There.

Faye then takes that guy out, full force. It's enough to finish off that last bit of EXP she was waiting on.



nrughghghr

Well, on the bright side, HP is Faye's weakness, but well, the promotion's probably just going to nullify this...



With that guy down, I just wait and see what he tries to do. Most likely he's going for Tobin.

He's got this though. He can still take one more hit-





This is the part that hurts!






ahahahaha

haha

ha

i dont even know

At least it was the most stylish one today.



Hah! We really took it to 'em!





ooh, oranges

Back to the matter at hand, sometimes stuff drops from boxes. No, there's no rupees, but there is currency in them.




Thanks for explaining that for me game.



Also, that was all the bandit spawns in the cave we managed to run into, so, uh, have some pictures of this neat cave.



Hey, look, alcohol in a game with teenagers.

Before you ask, no, they don't let you drink it. Datamining has shown that it seems its was planned, (at least two characters were intended to like it,) but at somepoint it was cut. As they are now, alcohol items are mostly for sacrificing, a topic we'll cover later, but personally I tend to sell them given their high selling price.



Would you believe they pay more for a half-drunk bottle of ale than they would for a fresh vegetable? I'm not kidding.




Anyways, let's go ahead and go inside. The blur from dashing makes this seem like some sort of magic explosion, and I'm all good with that.



Music: The Incorrigible | YT KHin

Note the girl collapsed on the ground next to him. This is the only range we'll see this sprite, and would you believe it has a higher res version?



You got nerve bargin’ in here just as I was gettin’ to the main event.



Ah, Fire Emblem bandits. They never cease to have a mild amount of yikes to them, it seems. Personally, I want the silly pirates from PoR back.

Anyway, let's get rid of this jerk. We could run away to see this:

Again? Don’t you rats learn? I’ll teach you to meddle in the affairs of others! Kill ’em, boys!

...But it's not really as funny as the WATCHman.





Player Turn Music: The March to Deliverance (Prologue)| YT KHin NES

Enemy Turn Music: The Air of Brutality (Prologue)| YT KHin

Time to finish this.



Hilariously, the bandit boss is really no better than his cronies. He does have some Ram Wine, like that old man back in Ram wanted, so I guess that's one sidequest down.



It may be a little hard to see thanks to the flooring and the jpegification, but I've sent Tobin and Gray up the lower left, Alm and Faye up the center left, and left the right side to Kliff and Lukas.




The bandit right next to the boss runs down and goes for Alm.

Music: The Dauntless Blade | YT KHin NES



You can't touch me!



Alm's got enough defense to take only one damage from the enemy, which triggers special taunting lines.




The next two bandits go for Gray, and nothing special happens.



Across the map, Kliff manages to whiff a 9 in 10 chance to hit.



But I can see where his luck went to.



Another bandit goes for him, but he's doing fine.



Clean up time, folks.



It is worth noting that Kliff is halfway on his fatigue now, you know that mechanic I briefly mentioned a long while ago. Basically, the more combats/actions a unit enters, the more their stamina drains. If it hits rock bottom, their max HP is halved until that's remedied.

Fixing it is as simple as giving them food to eat or making a sacrifice of a food item. It's kinda minor, but can really start to show in the longer dungeons and maps.




Alm moves just out of the way to let Faye get a kill and she does her super-stab animation again.

It's pretty good, though it's not nearly as good as one finisher animation we'll see later. Said animation isn't even one of the crazy horse-spins that the cavs do either.




Gray grabs a point of ATK, and I'm fine with that. It's high enough it should translate to any of the class choices.



Tobin makes an effort to finish the other one off, but alas, not this turn.



Lukas weakens a guy for Kliff...




I miscalculated...




...And it pays off. Seriously, Kliff, that's two in a row.




On the enemy turn, Tobin finishes that bandit off, but it really seems like the numbers just aren't on my side.



And now, suddenly they are. I really do wish I could get you all a gif of the dodging jump attack, but the stream's always lagging when it happens.

Anyways, he does take that bandit out.




On our turn, we do nothing but move up in preparation to rush the boss. I've let Lukas and his beefy defense draw in the archer on the side.



-Bait taken-





And we return the favor.



Kliff gets an acceptable level out of the deal.



Given that Tobin only needs one more point to gain a level, I use him to bait the boss and nab that little bit of battle EXP.



Music: Warring Powers (Boss Theme 1) | YT KHin NES

Saving one wench won’t make this world any less of a pit!








Oh, hey, we've got a support ready to go!

Gray & Tobin - Rank C




Uh, do you think you could sound a little less cheerful?

I don't know, you tell me. Why did you have to-

Huh?

Ugh, never mind. Forget it.




Hm. Well, there's something going on there. In order to take out his bottled frustrations, I let Tobin punch the boss in the face.




This one's mine!

consarnit all




Thanks for that killsteal, Tobin. I was saving that one for someone who actally needed it.




Eh, that's the battle. We're fatigued, but this is the end of the dungeon.





Music: Melody of Water | YT KHin NES

Let's go see what's up with this lady.




Wh-who are you? How did I get here?

You’re in a shrine. Some brigands kidnapped you and took you here.



We dealt with them before they could do you any harm.

I see. Thank you, sir. After those ruffians seized me, I passed out… Ugh… I don’t want to think about it.

What’s your name?



I hail from a priory far to the east, on the island of Novis.

Remember this, it's an important detail of sorts.



What brings a woman of the cloth like you so far from home?



I nearly forgot! I must find a man named Sir Mycen. Are we far from Ram Village?



What? You’re Sir Mycen’s…grandson? ……! May I see that mark on your left hand?

What, this? Sure. Pretty strange for a birthmark, huh? And that’s not even the weirdest part. A long time ago, a girl in my village had the same mark on her hand.



Huh? What is it, Silque?

Sir Alm, I have something for you.

Here. Please take this.



Here comes one of the game's new mechanics, and oh boy is it a divisive one. My feelings toward it vary, but we'll cover it in the next update when it matters more. In short, it lets us rewind time in combat.



It’s a relic that contains some of the Earth Mother’s power. I believe it will be of great use to you.

Are you sure? You were supposed to give this to my grandfather, right?



Now that you have left your village and embarked upon an auspicious journey, the Turnwheel will become a vital tool during the trials ahead.

Okay… Well, thank you. I promise to take good care of it. By the way, how do you use it?

You don’t use it. It uses you. When the time is right, the Turnwheel will give you a sign.

How cryptic.



*The screen flashes*

Ah! It appears that Mother Mila already wishes to show you something.



What’s happening?!

*Another screen flash*



Music: The Darkness | YT KHin
That’s Zofia Castle! This is our kingdom?

Let's just ignore the little plot hole on how he knows that's Zofia Castle for now.



*Another screen flash*



Music: Melody of Water | YT KHin NES

Sir Alm, what did you see?

It was… It was so clear! Silque, it was horrible!

Be calm. What you saw in the vision is not the present.



Her power is sight.

So the vision is something that’s going to happen?

Something that COULD happen. If the vision was ill-boding, perhaps it was a sign— a sign that the Mother wishes for you to take action in order to prevent it.

……



We got a plot device, yay!

The game also forces us into another conversation with her.

Ah, Sir Alm. In my travels, I have witnessed the sorry state of our kingdom. With no goddess to bless them and no king to rule, most Zofians are at a loss.



I would ask for permission to accompany you on your quest.

Alright, thread, you heard the lady. Do we take-



Psych, we're taking her anyways. As a rule, I'll be recruiting everyone possible given the way EXP and deployment works in this game. Besides, I'm definitely not passing up a healer.

If you refuse, you just get this dialogue:

Very well. That was not the answer I was hoping for, but I shall respect your decision.

Riveting stuff.





Looking around the room brings up some minor details, but the mana herbs are at least notable in that they restore 20 HP compared to the 10 the others restore. They're classified as rough though, so most people won't really be regaining any stamina from them.

Now it's time for the big part of the update, this Mila's Servant Statue.



Mila's Servant: Present to me those who are worthy. By my master's will shall I bestow upon them new power.

So, if that wasn't clear enough, this is how we promote our units in this game. There's a decent bit to cover regarding it, so I'll save it to the end.




We can also sacrifice food to the statue which prompts it to restore all of our units' fatigue. It's not really necessary for this dungeon given it gets restored on going to the world map, but it'll be useful later.



It also prompts it to spout hints at us. This is good advice.




Heading downstairs has us find two sacred springs. These are hidden in dungeons throughout the game, and provide permanent stat buffs to the unit that drinks from them. These, being common fountains have only three uses, and share uses with the ones next to it.

One of them gets us Speed while the other gets us max HP. The SPD is ostensibly the most important one here, but I leave our uses up to the thread. If you all think it's very funny to make Faye incredibly beefy, I'm not going to argue.

(...I'd still rather have the Speed though.)



Speaking of Faye, she's just upstairs. Occasionally, our units will be around to talk with Alm, providing for some more characterization. I actually quite like it.



You always were braver than me. I remember when we were children and those knaves cornered us in the woods... You came to our rescue like a knight in shining armor.




Aww, that was sweet and not stalker-ish at all. She's not afraid to wear her emotions on her sleeve, if that hasn't been apparent yet.

Overall, I just wish they'd written her crush as being a little less obsessive. Then it wouldn't be that unusual.



Anyways, let's ruin this mood by punching more bandits to top off that leftover EXP.




You and me!

what is my response supposed to be to this anymore



Tobin tops off and gets an eh level.




I've had it!

Faye gets a crit as well.







Urgh. Now both Tobin and Gray want to talk to us as well. Don't you guys realize we're running near 200 screenshots already?



Just going into town with Pa for supplies used to be a fight for survival. I worry a little place like Ram won't last long in times like these.



I don't have the kind of direction you do. It's more like I just have a nagging desire to do SOMETHING.



This is something I can relate to. I mean why else would I be spending all this time doing LPs? Pish, surely not for some audience of complete strangers!

(I kid, you folks are great.)



...Me? Well, let's just say I'm figuring things out. Lukas keeps talking about kings and politics, but that does little for me. I'm actually just in it for the gold.



Well, that and I'm not about to let you outshine me!



Tobin's a born mercenary if I've ever seen one. There's actually a lot of mercenary folk in this game.

Anyway, that's it for this update, but we've still got those unit promotions to talk about.







Using Tobin as an example here, promotions work a bit differently in Echoes than they do in other FE games. This time around, there's multiple promotion levels, and to make up for the comparatively bad growths, classes all have a minimum stat value the character is shunted to if needed.

In practice, this means that any stats you gain that fail to get over the class promotion's minimum are wasted, but it does help set a baseline for unit power. When picking our classes for villagers, it's a good idea to consider not only the unit's growths, but how much base stats they gain in the trade.

Also, ladies have a different class selection list:






"Wait a second, Twybil," you say, "they don't get Mercenary!"

No, they don't and it makes me very sad. But, it's worth noting that Peg Knights are very powerful in this game, and that their Mage line goes to an even better class than what the guys get. The gals are usually better units in this game for the most part, actually.

Anyways, I've drug this on long enough, onto the voting.

A Quick Rundown on Classes:
- Cavaliers are masters of horse and stick. They're adaptable, mobile, and sorta tanky.
- Mercenaries use swords and go very fast. They're lethal but not as fast to move around.
- Pegasus Knights are lady cavaliers that fly. They trade off a bit of tankiness for higher speed.
- Archers shoot bows. They're alright enough, and good for picking on enemy mages.
- Soldiers are slow but very tanky. If they manage to get lots of speed, it's hilarious.
- Cleric is the female exclusive healing class. They have some offensive ability, but they have very powerful support abilities.
- Mage is the magic slinging class that foregoes weapons for fire and lightning. The gals promote to get swords and healing, while the dudes get... more spells, I guess?
*Mages, Clerics, and Peg Knights also only promote one more time. The other classes have a third promotion.


Below are the gains for each of our unit's class choices:

Tobin's are above, I'm not reposting those. Here's his spell list though:

Tobin's Spell List
Excalibur (Lv 6),Recover (Sage Lv 1), Physic (Sage Lv 5)

Tobin may not get much in the way of spells, but Excalibur is light and crits very often, and Physic is just Recover but with a ridiculous range. He makes an acceptable mage.

Gray






Spell List:
Sagittae (Lv 9), Thunder (Lv 10), Recover (Sage Lv 1)

Gray's a hard carry spell-wise. Sagittae hits like a damn train, but a spambot for it is really all Gray will ever be as a mage.

Kliff






Thunder (Lv 4), Excalibur (Lv 9), Sagittae (Lv 15), Aura (Sage Lv 5), Recover (Sage Lv 1)

Kliff's the best choice out of the guys for an offensive mage, especially given that Aura is even more of a ridiculous nuke compared to Sagittae.

Faye's Spell Lists:

Her stats changes are up above, remember?

Mage: Seraphim (Lv 8), Sagittae (Lv 12), Recover (Priestess Lv 1), Freeze (Priestess Lv 6)
Cleric: Physic (Lv 6), Rescue (Lv 10), Seraphim (Saint Lv 1), Anew (Saint Lv 14)

Both spell lists for Faye are very good, and come with special spells. Freeze is kinda pointless, but Seraphim and Sagittae are both quite strong. Getting Physic and Rescue is also great as a Cleric, and though we'll probably never reach a high enough level to see it used, Anew refreshes a unit's turn.


Whew, got all that? Alright, just vote for which class each villager should promote to and who to give a Speed or HP boost to aftewards (3 total).

While you're all doing that, I'm going to go sit down and take a break for the rest of the day. Damn, this was a long update.

------------

Character Profiles:

Silque
(Original: Silk)

->



HP:45 ATK:40 SKL:35 SPD:30 LCK:60 DEF:40 RES:2

Silque loves any rich, sweet, or rough foods, likes plain ones, but hates meaty or refined foods.

Silque is our first healer, and at least has a more notable, if overshadowed part in the plotline. Instead of just being some captured girl, she was on her way to give us the plot device, one that will be more important far later. Mechanically, she'll get a very useful spell soon, one that is incredibly hard to pass up. Visually, she's gotten a good deal older, and sounds it too. All in all, she's pretty chill and I like what I saw of her characterization.

[kokorikopi]

Not only was Brigand Boss in the Choose Your Legends voting for Fire Emblem Heroes, but he's also in the top 5 for Echoes units who aren't in the game yet. Of course, that vote was something of a farce considering one of the merchants from FE10 got botted to like five thousand votes and Louise vastly outperformed Pent because a really gross and terrible person memed her there, but still.

Speaking of Fire Emblem Heroes, Faye is an archer there for some reason, even though girls can't be Archers. Tobin is also a Swordie despite Archer being the path the game kinda leans you towards. Remember the flavor text in Ram Village?

I'm gonna be boring and say Mercenary Gray, Archer Tobin, Mage Kliff, Cleric Faye.

Also, while you can't recruit Silque as the other protagonist, they have a unique conversation if you leave her behind.

[Hunt11]

I am going to vote the same way so Mercenary Gray, Archer Tobin, Mage Kliff, Cleric Faye. That creates a workable party and more importantly provides a key spell for dealing with one of more frustrating challenges later on in the game.

[RandomKesaranPasaran]

Ah yes, the +1 SKL Tobin level, I know it well.

I guess I'll third the boring choice of Mercenary Gray, Archer Tobin, Mage Kliff, and Cleric Faye despite being partial to Mage Faye myself. Having someone in Mercenary and Mage just a good idea in general, Tobin's more or less hopeless, and having only one healer for a long time... is certainly a choice, especially since Silque doesn't get Physic.

[hopeandjoy]

I'll let other people decide the boys because I'll just give the boring answers, but I'll be nice and vote for Cleric Faye.

Warp-Rescue shenanigans are useful in this game and Faye is Alm's only source of Rescue. Also she gets early Physic and Slique...... Doesn't.

EDIT: eh, nevermind. Since everyone else is going with the boring good answers, Mercenary Gray, Archer Tobin, and Mage Kliff.

[Greener223224]

Traditional for Cliff and Faye (because seriously, how else are you going to show off the Again Staff?), but I feel like Gray going Archer and Robin going Mercenary because I want to force you to use and love Robin no matter what.

[The Flying Twybil]

I'd like to make a public announcement that you're all boring. Where's my cavalier Faye votes at? Where's my soldier Kliff at? C'mon, give me something to work with here. Sheesh, I know which way you boring people are going to vote in Act 3 and 4.

I kid, I kid. Though, for anyone voting, do know that any of the options are viable, it's just that the boring default options are decently balanced. For instance, I first played with Archer Gray, Cavalier Faye, Mercenary Kliff, and Mage Tobin, and they all made it into the final battle.

Not only was Brigand Boss in the Choose Your Legends voting for Fire Emblem Heroes, but he's also in the top 5 for Echoes units who aren't in the game yet.

Also, while you can't recruit Silque as the other protagonist, they have a unique conversation if you leave her behind.

I mean, for all we know, Bandit Boss was preparing to have a nice candle-lit dinner with a finely aged wine. What hidden lore are we missing here?

But seriously, if even a single one of those votes wasn't for Valbar or Mae, even if they're already in, it's a rigged vote.


Real serious talk, yes, all the potentially left behind units can be talked to by the second protagonist. I plan on showing the dialogue for each of them when we get to that point.

...because I want to force you to use and love Robin no matter what.

What makes you think I don't already like Tobin?

I mean, sure, I've been kinda putting him in the firing line a bit, but I know he's got it. Listen, I played through with Sage Tobin, I know he's got my back if I need it. Sure that SKL growth doesn't mean much, but Excalibur crits, he's got 'em when I need 'em. Later game Physic? Got it. He knows what he's doing.

I mean, he doesn't match up to my favorites, but he's a strong pick.


Also, folks, don't forget to vote for who I spend the SPD and HP upgrades on after their promotion. If you don't, I'm just gonna put them all on Faye I'll figure out something.

[Cornix Argentus]

I will throw out a vote for Mercenary Kliff, Archer Tobin, Pegasus Knight Faye, and Cavalier Grey. Two of those I've had work out well, and Grey should be fine as a cavalier.

Also 1 Speed and 1 HP to Faye, 1 Speed to Grey.

[Greener223224]

I'd like to make a public announcement that you're all boring. Where's my cavalier Faye votes at? Where's my soldier Kliff at? C'mon, give me something to work with here. Sheesh, I know which way you boring people are going to vote in Act 3 and 4.

Oh please, you want boring? I could demand that all three guys be Soldiers and Faye become a Mage. Or that we could go full FE4 and make all of them into Cavs. And even then, none of that would be as boring as giving Holsety to Sety or Arthur so that they and Aless solo the entire game with barely any help or effort.

What makes you think I don't already like Robin?

I mean, sure, I've been kinda putting him in the firing line a bit, but I know he's got it. Listen, I played through with Sage Robin, I know he's got my back if I need it. Sure that SKL growth doesn't mean much, but Excalibur crits, he's got 'em when I need 'em. Later game Physic? Got it. He knows what he's doing.

I mean, he doesn't match up to my favorites, but he's a strong pick.

Excalibur crits, eh? That gives me a new idea for sadism...

Also, folks, don't forget to vote for who I spend the SPD and HP upgrades on after their promotion. If you don't, I'm just gonna put them all on Faye

1 SPD Robin, 2 HP Luka.

[The Flying Twybil]

See, the thing is that Soldier Kliff has the potential to be interesting. If his SPD growth keeps on hitting, then we can end up with a very good armor knight unit able to do more than just choke hallways. Those base ATK and DEF values are pretty good.

That would only be if the RNG permits such shenanigans, at least. It's kind of a risk in that regard.

[Greener223224]

You could lessen the RNG risk...through means that people would classify as "cheating"...

Grind all the villagers to Level 20, and then promote them

[Night Zap]

Gray wants to be a known as a great hero, so let's make im a Cavalier so he can be a (Gold) knight in shining armor one day.

Tobin is in it for the money, so Mercenary it is.

Kliff doesn't seem the type to get up close and spill blood, so he should be a Mage.

And Faye should become a Pegasus Knight to channel her inner Cordelia.

Also, +2 Speed for Gray and +1 HP for Faye. Speedwise, Tobin will get carried by his class bases, so giving him a boost now that will only be nullified by his next promotion doesn't do much, and Kliff has a good speed growth, he should be fine without a bonus.

[OOrochi]

Let's go with

Cavalier Gray
Archer Tobin
Mage Kliff
and Cavalier Faye.

I actually used Cavalier Faye in my first playthrough. I don't know if I was just particularly blessed stat-wise, but she ended up being one of Alm's strongest units, especially after the wild support bonuses she gets.

[RandomKesaranPasaran]

See, the thing is that Soldier Kliff has the potential to be interesting. If his SPD growth keeps on hitting, then we can end up with a very good armor knight unit able to do more than just choke hallways. Those base ATK and DEF values are pretty good.

That would only be if the RNG permits such shenanigans, at least. It's kind of a risk in that regard.

If Kliff weren't working up from such an awful base (and if Soldier wasn't garbage to sit through until promotion) I'd actually have considered it. As is, though? Nah, good speed growth only goes so far unless you're confident about winning the lottery.

Honestly that's kind of the problem with the villagers in general, you might not care for the "boring answer" but the truth is the other options aren't actually that much more interesting; Gray and Faye are frankly utterly mediocre at physical classes and struggle to break class bases there (well okay Faye can break Pegasus Knight ATK but that's because Pegasus Knight is not actually a good class line outside of the one thing it specializes in and even then it's not much better than Gold Knight there, and it's not like she'll be fast either way, plus Seraphim does it better anyways if you care about that), Tobin is even more mediocre and early Excalibur isn't even that exciting considering he doesn't even get a range 3 attack spell ever, and Kliff is either "I can have a good spell list on a fast mage" or "I can have a fast fighter" which is a pretty meh choice IMO.

[Greener223224]

So what I’m getting from this conversation is “Cliff is the best unit in the game because he’s the fastest Villager, so his class choice doesn’t actually mean anything”.

[Tanegashima]

I continue to love all those crits.

Kliff clearly wants to go Mage, so let's grant his wish.

Nonstandard choice of Cleric Tobin, because I'm a sadist like that.

Soldier Gray and Pegasus Knight Faye, on that note.

[RandomKesaranPasaran]

Nonstandard choice of Cleric Tobin, because I'm a sadist like that.

The game doesn't let dudes be clerics, unfortunately.

[Oggy]

I will throw out a vote for Mercenary Kliff, Archer Tobin, Pegasus Knight Faye, and Cavalier Grey. Two of those I've had work out well, and Grey should be fine as a cavalier.

Also 1 Speed and 1 HP to Faye, 1 Speed to Grey.

That does sound interesting, seconded.

[AradoBalanga]

I'll go with:

Mercenary Gray
Mage Kliff
Cleric Faye
Archer Tobin
Mostly because the first three have never let me down in those classes, especially Mage Kliff. Tobin, on the other hand...oh god Tobin make up your damn mind on what stats you want. If you weren't part of a very powerful support chain, I'd dump your ass as soon as a replacement came along.

As for the fountains...Give Lukas all of the speed

Also, hope everyone enjoyed the watch guard's portrait. We won't see that second bandit portrait show up again in some fashion until Act 6, if memory serves. Every generic bandit will just use the portrait with the beard from now on. It does make one wonder why they'd even make more than one portrait for generics when they primarily use only the default. To say nothing about the non-gender locked classes, where you'll see the generic male version 95% of the time.

[theshim]

Make all the boys archers, make Faye a Cavalier, give Lukas +3 Speed

[The Flying Twybil]

Honestly that's kind of the problem with the villagers in general, you might not care for the "boring answer" but the truth is the other options aren't actually that much more interesting; Gray and Faye are frankly utterly mediocre at physical classes and struggle to break class bases there (well okay Faye can break Pegasus Knight ATK but that's because Pegasus Knight is not actually a good class line outside of the one thing it specializes in and even then it's not much better than Gold Knight there, and it's not like she'll be fast either way, plus Seraphim does it better anyways if you care about that), Tobin is even more mediocre and early Excalibur isn't even that exciting considering he doesn't even get a range 3 attack spell ever, and Kliff is either "I can have a good spell list on a fast mage" or "I can have a fast fighter" which is a pretty meh choice IMO.

I was only joking when I called it boring. I'm fine with the default choices really, I'm just hinting that I'm fine with the thread going crazy with it if it wants to.

My Cavalier Faye broke past her bases for ATK, SPD, and DEF as time went on, but I did give her stat boosters. Her speed really wasn't enough to reliably hold heavier lances, but her speed was actually one of the highest on the team. It wasn't an optimal choice, sure, but it worked given that the other Cavaliers didn't turn out so well. I actually quite like Peg Knights in this game though, so maybe we have a different evaluation on that.

The only thing I can say in defense of Sage Tobin is that in general, unless he's lucky, Tobin will be usually be mediocre regardless of class. Excalibur kinda came in handy and remained useful later thanks to accessories, (if I felt like it,) but it essentially solidified him into primarily being one of our team's healers.

Really the only thing Mercenary Kliff gets you is a single unit capable of outspeeding anything in the game, and probably a crit monster to boot. Alm still outperformed him by default though.


And hey, I've got three pitchforks, so whatever shenanigans the thread wants to get up to later, we've got room.

[kokorikopi]

I'm gonna pitch in with +3 Spd Lukas

[Hunt11]

My Cavalier Faye broke past her bases for ATK, SPD, and DEF as time went on, but I did give her stat boosters. Her speed really wasn't enough to reliably hold heavier lances, but her speed was actually one of the highest on the team. It wasn't an optimal choice, sure, but it worked given that the other Cavaliers didn't turn out so well. I actually quite like Peg Knights in this game though, so maybe we have a different evaluation on that.

This I am surprised to hear as one cavalier in particular always turned into death incarnate.

[Tanegashima]

Bah! In that case, Archer Tobin. Also, why have +3 SPD Lukas when we can have +3 SPD Tobin? Sounds like he can use all the help he can get.

[metis]

Mage Tobin! Mage Tobin!

I don't have strong opinions on the others, but mage Tobin puts in a LOT of work. Early excalibur is fantastic, he actually has the speed to double with it unlike Kliff, and by the time that sages fall off later in the game he gets physic which is super helpful.

oh and after Lukas gets his first promotion, pitchfork him into mercenary.

[hopeandjoy]

oh and after Lukas gets his first promotion, pitchfork him into mercenary.

I second this. I did this on my last playthrough and he made an amazingly tanky, unit destroying monster. It was great.

[Foolycharged]

Make all the boys archers, make Faye a Cavalier, give Lukas +3 Speed

Hell yes.

[Greener223224]

oh and after Lukas gets his first promotion, pitchfork him into mercenary

If we’re going to be making a unit blatantly overpowered, it should probably not be a unit people ready like. I know it sucks to have a character this fun be an armorknight, but just hold off on giving Luka the pitchfork until at least Chapter 1 is over. Especially since I have a much better idea for reclassing way down the line.