Blazing Sword x2

The Blazing Sword endgame is so much more fun when you've actually leveled people up.

Of the crew I brought along to the endgame, it was only the Lords (and Nils) that weren't maxed:
Lyn: Lev 12
Eliwood: Lev 10
Hector: Lev 11
Nils: Lev 18

Everyone else reached level 20:
Oswin: General
Louise: Sniper
Pent: Sage
Canas: Druid
Hawkeye: Berserker
Karel: Swordmaster
Athos: Archsage

A-supports: Hector/Lyn; Eliwood/Ninian; Pent/Louise; Guy/Matthew

My absolute favorite was Canas, followed closely by Oswin. I knew I could send them anywhere on their own and they'd be all right. By the end, though, I was using Canas and Pent mainly for their staff skills. Those resurrected bosses are a pain.

Hector is all kinds of awesome.

Family Connections

Things I learned in the past ten minutes, thanks to the Fire Emblem wiki:

Pent & Louise have children. (Klein and Clarine.)

Niime is mother to Canas, who is father to Hugh. Canas might also be Nino's uncle.

And I really shouldn't be playing Blazing Sword and Sword of Seals at the same time, because I keep on mixing up who is in which game.

But really, I was researching my two new favorite mages: Canas and Pent.

Pent rocks from day one. When he's recruited in the desert, he can easily take on everyone without question. You just have to continue using him so his skills don't get rusty.

But Canas? He's okay at first, but once you level him up nothing can stop him. I got him up to level 20 and then used the class promotion item (too lazy to look up what it's called) and I currently have him at a level 12 druid. He does, like, 24 damage at once. (And hits twice.) Somehow I never recruited him during my first play-through of Blazing Sword, but it totally makes up for him now. He's one of few I can send off on his own and know he'll be okay—because no one can hit him. Way to go, Canas. You're coming to the endgame with me.

Blazing Sword Supports

Is it just me, or are they creepy?

I'm in my second play-through of this title (Hector's story! woo!), and figured I'd actually support some people.

Eliwood and Ninian are following each other around because my little fangirl heart needs them to have A-support. In the C-support conversation, Eliwood asks if she can do a "special dance" for him. Whoa. Too early for that, buddy.

Priscilla and Raven's C-support has kicked in as well, and she reminds him of the time in their childhood that he promised she'd be his bride. Um, lady? He's your brother. She claims it's just a silly child's game, but then proceeds to call herself a child. Um, ew. He's your brother.

Weird things happen when you're involved in a war, I guess.

Blazing Sword Conclusion

After I complained about the final chapter of this game, I completed it that day. It was only the undead bosses that freaked me out; the rest of the ending wasn't terrible in comparison. Except I kind of killed Marcus. Though he's one of those characters that is "seriously wounded," not actually dies, so I don't feel as bad. You did well. Thanks for sticking with me, buddy.

My final roster included: Eliwood; Hector; Lyn; Nils; Athos; Pent; Louise; Erk; Marcus; Hawkeye; Vaida; Renault.

I actually expected Hawkeye to die during the end, not Marcus, so it was a pleasant surprise when he didn't. I was also grateful that Nils dodged every magic attack thrown at him. Both final battles, Nergal and the dragon, were pretty much done by Eliwood and Athos. Pent's physic staff came in handy there. Especially when he traded it with Erk in the same turn. (Thank you, Erk, for your hammerne.)

And the obligatory list of A-supports:
Eliwood/Hector
Lyn/Kent
Guy/Matthew
Pent/Louise, though this is default.

Ever since I saw him on the board I wondered how I recruited Jaffar, but it came to me too late—probably should have spoken to him with Nino after recruiting her. Next time. And what happened to Lucius? I tried talking to him with Lyn after he appeared again, but he didn't join me. I have to look this up.

This is, easily, my second favorite FE story thus far. I'm actually trying to find an English translation of its sequel, since it wasn't released in the US. But I know they're out there. If I'm scouring the internet for the sake of playing a game... you know it was good.

I love these guys.

BS: Final Chapter

Holy crap why is this so hard?

Maybe because I am, essentially, battling bosses. I'll admit, when Nergal showed me who I was up against, I freaked out and said, out loud, "Whaaaat?" I instantly recognized Ursula and Linus (or Lloyd, I mix them up) and did not want to see them again.

I'm still trying to determine the best team, though. As much as I love Guy, he's kind of crap against bosses. Ditto Wil. Marcus is supposed to be my tank, but he was butchered. I have a nice little collection of light runes, though, so they buy me some time. Still. This is going to be impossible if Athos is the only one who can do anything... though even he isn't indestructible. Yikes.

Come on, guys. I have Shadow Dragon in my queue.

BS ch. 27 & 28

It took me the better part of a week to get through chapter 27. I've approached the Shrine of Seals, Linus is hanging out waiting for me to advance, and halfway through the chapter Vaida shows up with her slew of wyvern riders. And I was doing pretty okay, for the most part, until she appeared.

Why didn't I know that you could recruit Vaida??

Funny thing is, I had to reset a couple times due to her team killing off Merlinus. But I really needed him there, as I was seriously short on weapons and there was actually an armory present. But I couldn't keep him there. Instead, I had Heath going back and forth between the armory and random characters, stocking them up. It was pretty amusing, really. Instant wyvern delivery service.

And then I was going to stick Eliwood on Vaida, and he was able to talk to her. Well shoot.

Unfortunately I had to sacrifice Wallace, but at that point I just wanted to get through the chapter already. Sorry, Wallace. You did well that chapter.

I went through chapter 28 in about ten minutes, though. Entering the lava cave, and you can only take five people. My roster was Eliwood; Hector; Pent; Louise; Erk. UNSTOPPABLE. I don't think any of them got hit throughout the chapter at all. And Eliwood has just been promoted to Knight Lord, which means he's on a horse. I didn't think he could get any more awesome.

Well he could; he could be Hector. I'm going to max that guy out.

One good thing about chapter 27: Both Lyn/Kent and Guy/Matthew have achieved A support. Awesome. But why can't Matthew change classes? I wanted to promote him. Sad.

BS ch. 26: Battle before Dawn

I may have been able to complete this level already if it wasn't for Ursula. Seriously, since when does Bolting do so much damage?

Here I am, attempting to rescue Zephiel, even though he's doing just fine protecting himself (does this remind anyone of when I had to "protect" Pent? Yeah). But I move around the castle, careful not to get in Ursula's path, and suddenly her face appears out of nowhere and blasts someone to his death. I've lost Marcus (twice), Isadora, and Heath this way. Aren't you guys suppose to not die on me? It always seems that her might is exactly the amount of health I have remaining. That's just not cool.

But man, I could watch Jaffar battle enemies all day. Apparently his weapon is a sword, but it's totally a knife. Or two of them. He needs to become a playable character now.

BS ch. 25: Pale Flower of Darkness

This is the first time I've had to restart a chapter numerous times in this particular game. Our team has reached the Black Fang fortress, and while there aren't that many enemies to battle I've just become careless and overconfident. I mean, honestly, how the heck do I manage to kill off Marcus?

Guy & Matthew are becoming pretty unstoppable. Guy's been promoted to swordmaster, Matthew's close to promotion himself (assassin, I assume?) and they're at a comfortable B support. They're my favorite duo thus far.

I always tend to have characters that do just fine on their own as well. I left Marcus to a horde of wyrven riders and he was all right (Erk was hanging around there, anyway, so he may have needed a little healing). Oh yeah, and since Erk can now use staves, I've kind of left my healers behind. Sorry, girls, but I have no use for someone who can't defend himself.

Back to this chapter: I did reach the boss first time around, but if Kenneth hadn't critically hit whoever was attacking him, I would have been all right. Since then, I've attempted this at least four times to get back up there. It'll happen. Give me some time.

Blazing Sword Updates

It occurred to me today (though this happened yesterday) that I killed off Legault when I should have recruited him. And I guess I knew this at the time, but I was so close to the end of the chapter and I already have a successful thief, so I couldn't be bothered doing it over. I hope he's not crazy awesome. Is he?

I've had a couple C supports kick in, finally:
Guy/Matthew
Eliwood/Hector
Lyn/Kent

I had a small stash of auto-promote goodies (hero crest, et al) so I spent the majority of today's lunch hour promoting and preparing for battle. Wil, Sain, Guy, & Erk have all received their respective promotions.

I have a habit of not rotating characters in chapters, so I'm using the same people over & over again. Though this does help to boost experience (During the last PoR play-through, I stopped using Stefan because I'd completely maxed him out and figured I should give someone else a chance... haha). So my roster always includes: Eliwood; Hector; Lyn; Kent; Guy; Matthew; Erk; Serra; Wil; Marcus. Sain if I have the room. All these guys just rock. There's no one I don't like. Hector's animations are the best. I believed Lyn when she scolded that he'd hurt someone [like an ally] during battle.

This all started because I was angsty over killing Legault. But hey. I have so many characters I'm not using, and Matthew is kind of my favorite thief ever at the moment, so I doubt I would have used him, anyway. Right?

Pet Peeves 1

1) Battling on a ship.

Perhaps it's the claustrophobia kicking in, or because I don't trust my pegasus knights enough to fly over water for fear of being bombarded by the enemy. (Curse you, enemy archers.) But I can't move anywhere. I just sit around and wait for the enemy to approach and hope they don't all go after the same person.

I don't care which game it is. I sit there and sweat when the chapter takes place on a ship. Probably my least favorite chapter ever is in PoR when they're fighting off the raven pirates. There aren't even that many of them. But they're everywhere...

2) Bowguns.

When the enemy has them equipped, the damage is crazy. There are few people that can successfully attack someone using a bowgun. And when I have them, they usually suck. What good is using my prized archers close-range with an Mt of, like, nine?

Only once I didn't completely hate the bowgun. I gave Rolf the birdfoe skill (I know, I know, it's a waste on an archer, but I just had to know). Not even kidding, the damage was, like, 49 x2. With a bowgun. It was hysterical.

3) Support converstion failures.

I know certain people can have support conversations. I have them literally following each other around to activate it, and what happens? Not only does the support not kick in, they somehow acquire support with someone who was nowhere near them.

I had Shinon & Rolf buddying up on everything when he returned in PoR. They only got to C support. Gatrie wasn't even near Shinon during any of the battles and they got up to A support. That's not what I wanted. How obnoxious.

The same is happening with Lyn & Kent at the moment. If anyone followed me around as much as Lyn does Kent, I'd be creeped out. So where's their support? I want them to support each other, dammit.

Guy

Well, he was a pain to recruit.

First time around, Marcus killed him off. Second time, he killed Eliwood. I figured out that the only person I could logically put in his path is Lowen, as neither could manage to kill the other. It was close, but Guy was still alive. Barely.

He was doing all right during his first chapter with me, except that one time he missed a shot. Which I don't understand with a killing edge. But hey. He'll come in handy later. I already see myself teaming him up with Matthew, so one can steal while the other critical hits everyone. It'll work out.

A side note: What's with the vendors in this game thus far? All I can buy is, like, a vulnerary. Glad I went out of my way for that.

BS: Part 1

When I started playing this one, I anticipated it to be crazy difficult. At least, that's what I had been told. Maybe it's because I've played through other FE titles, um, four times? I think? But I didn't find it difficult in the slightest.

I figure it was created for a beginner, as it was the first English-language Fire Emblem title to be released. It constantly prompted me as to what I should do, and offered little bits of advice concerning things I already know.

Lundgren was a bit of a pain to defeat, considering I had all of, say, four characters that could penetrate armor. Dorcas did most of the work with the hammer (love the hammer). At that point, Erk finished him off. I love finishing people off with the least likely character. Seriously, Erk's MT was 4. Or something ridiculous like that.

I'm thinking the supports won't kick in until later in the game, as I had Lyn & Kent constantly follow one another and nothing popped up. Since Sacred Stones, I've had a thing for supporting the heroine with her knight. A-level support must happen between them. I will make it.

There's no one thus far that I've deemed as completely useless, so that's a bonus. I still fear putting pegasus knights in the path of anyone, though.

Recycled Characters

It took me far too long to realize that my paladins in Blazing Sword are in red and green... much like my paladins (of sort) in Path of Radiance. Curious how I'm playing both of them right now.

Dear Intelligent Systems... what? Now I'm going to forever believe that Oscar & Kieran are recycled versions of Sain & Kent. At least visually. Sain reminds me more of Gatrie than anything else, personality-wise, which just further proves my theory of recycled characters. Also: the moment I saw Nils I thought he was Rolf with blue hair. Look it up.

My brain also mixes up the plethora of spikey red-haired boys, including Roy, Wil, Ewan, and Eliwood. Yet Tormod is in the clear. I confuse Tormod for no one, because he's my favorite fire mage ever.

Blazing Sword intro

Well this is going to be fun.

I'm on chapter four and have already restart it twice. (As we know, you simply cannot continue once you kill a character off. Restarting is the only option.) I kind of dread the beginning of a tale, because people have virtually no HP and can be knocked out by one enemy. But I, naturally, am enjoying it thus far. I now understand the insane fandom around Sain.

I'm not sure how I got through Sacred Stones, though, with my limited knowledge concerning terrain. Though the how-to prompts in Blazing Sword annoy me, it gives me a few pointers. And no, I still haven't quite gotten the hang of the weapon triangle. It's not that difficult:
Axe beats lance
Lance beats sword
Sword beats axe
(Yes I looked that up.)
I wouldn't be surprised to eventually find said triangle hanging on my office wall. Seeing I really only play my DS during lunch hour, of course.