Part 7: Prep: Schrodinger's Frey

Part 6: Schrodinger's Frey (Battle Prep)

Alright, I'm trying something new from here on out. From now on battles are divided into a preparation screen and an actual battle. Since I know some people don't give a shit about the preparation stuff, I'm going to try out making that its own separate update. This also should let me update more frequently in smaller chunks, so the posts don't take as long to scroll through and read. If you're really opposed to this, let me know. I'm still new to screenshot LP, so advice is helpful.

Without further ado:





We begin with an unusual sight. Luke in thought.









This is probably my favorite line. SOLDIER OF LOVE.





: I mean, people think Ryan is a "cutie," or Rody is "Ohmigosh, so cool!"

They clearly did not see Ryan covered in the blood of that poor hunter from last update.



Aww yeah. Steve is moving up in the world.



: That's when I realized: it's my hair!



Steve is fed up with Luke's bullshit.



This plan clearly has no flaws.







: Apparently, today, Sir Jagen wishes to have a word with us before training...

I wonder if Jagen is popular with the ladies? I think he's still got it.



Really? I thought it was more of a week.





Does Marth just sic all his old friends on the recruits, but some aren't handily deleveled from last game?

: Of all who remain, there are only twenty names.

Knowing Jagen's counting skills it's probably more around 5. Maybe there never were any other platoons at all .







: As such, we will be introducing lectures to advise you.

The game now becomes an endless parade of Steve taking Gen Ed. classes.





Frey? The hell are you doing...not dead?

Okay, so this might take a little explaining. In the prologue to Shadow Dragon (Only playable on Normal Mode), Frey is one of Marth's allies. At the end of the prologue, someone has to disguise themselves as Marth and be caught by the pursuing enemy to ensure his escape. They die as a result. Now, in Normal, you can choose who it is, but in Hard mode and above where the prologue is skipped, as well as in the original game where Frey is not present, it's canon that Frey is the decoy/sacrifice.

But I guess he's okay. Yay?



Jagen, we were in actual danger last time. You're a little late.

So why has Frey returned from his grave?



To give tutorials.



: Before you fight your enemy on the battlefield, you must ensure that you are sufficiently prepared. Selecting those who will fight, organizing their weapons and items... Steve, you will do all these things, as part of your role as commander.

Oh hey, menu options.





: Talking to your party members will often yield tactical advice.



: When you come to a new battlefield, it's always a good idea to check if anybody has something to say.

Frey is kind of a liar here. Half the time it has nothing to do with tactics, and more about "Hey, remember this character from Shadow Dragon?" or replacements for the support conversations from several other Fire Emblems.



So here we have the Prep screen. Some of these options (Save, ...Options) should be fairly obvious, but I'll explain the others we have available.



All maps have a unit cap, and Pick Units lets us select who we're sending into each map.

By default, it's the first 5 on the list for this map...but I'm just not feeling Rody. He feels a little redundant with Luke around, and we'll get plenty of cavaliers. So I'm benching him for now. If there are any huge Rody fans who really, really want to see more of him, I guess I could throw him back in, but for now, I'd rather have a healer to keep the units I want to level safe. Even if it's Wrys. I love Wrys.



Check Map lets us look at the map before the battle starts, and swap our units' starting positions around. Taking a peek at the boss here, it's Draug! Draug is a character so boring his name is literally "guard" backwards. He's also a Knight, which means Steve might finally have her time to shine! (Or Merric, but fuck that guy )





Inventory lets us swap items between our units. Those last two options will be explained later, but Trade lets us trade items between characters, List lists all the items we have sorted by categories, Items lets us use items like stat boosters inbetween maps, and Merge lets us move all the items from one character to another.



Guide is sort of an encyclopedia. You can look up things about the various people, places, and things in the game. There's also a relationship chart. It's not super interesting, but if you want to see it, it's on Serenes.



Anyway, time for the meat of the update, the Base Conversations. These are, to my knowledge, not written out anywhere on the internet, so I can't cheat and just use the script if I forget stuff. Thankfully, screenshotting is easy in dialogue screens.

I'll go from the bottom up...

Talkin' Grandpas with Jagen









I like the phrasing of "picked up". Like he just found baby Steve on the ground and was like "Sweet, a free child."







Jeez. No wonder Steve is so fucked up.







Insert your own "elderly people" joke, I'll just throw out some starters.



Shuffleboard



Prune Juice



AARP







: "And if you don't wash my damn hut I swear to god I'll strangle you with your dumb mask, whippersnapper."







Or just being the player avatar.





Fascinating.



Lot of things on sale, Stranger







Huh. The other platoons apparently do exist.





What is Jagen doing to these people?







Said weapons may be only slightly powerful.





Katarina has underworld dealings?





Katarina slowly slides the butterfly knife back into her pocket.





Last one...

MacGuffin Chat With Frey





Also a sword. But the shiny thing helped too I guess. (It opened chests)





This is kind of a dark moment in the first game, where Nyna tells Marth about how she saw them hanging up her family's corpses. Nintendo!









Well, we're pretty much their vassal state.



So, that was a lot of talking. That's about as much backstory as was in Shadow Dragon entirely. Seriously, this game steps it up in the dialogue department. But next time we'll get back to the action. See you then, if you haven't all deserted the thread after reading this update.