Part 9: Ep 9: Long-Range Stealing

Chapter 3: Lionheart Eldigan Part 3



Now that Silvail has been conquered, it's time for the Orgahil pirates to show up, and for Briggid to get ousted by a mere DiMaggio recolor. Come on, girl, you're better than that.



Nothing much new in the unit formation this time. Four Pirates were changed into Axefighters, but that's it. This used to be a good spot to farm EXP for Dew. If you try to do that here, the only thing you'll be farming is death. Lots of it.



Good thing that some of them will use their Handaxes to suicide on Briggid.



Wait, money? Did she get stolen from? He didn't even hit her.



Some others thought that Aira would be a juicier target. It was a biiig mistake.



Oh right, that guy has a Leg Ring, I forgot about that...



Stop giving the Steal skill to bosses, dammit!



Up in the northwest, the Pirates are... clumsily walking around in the water. Some of them are so far off the coast, what were they even doing there in the first place?



And here come our featherweights. Their survival rate around here is close to that of Dew in a melee of Cross Knights, which is why I sent Ferry the Lady Sword to help.



Now that enemy phase is over, let's check our newest recruits.



Briggid is a bit worse in the stats department, having received a brutal -4 Str, for only +2 Mgc and +1 Skl/Spd. She's still a very reliable Sniper, who will make good use of her newfound ability to critical. The only real big change with her is that she has Steal as a personal skill, since she's a pirate, and all that.

That's actually pretty nice, as it will allow her and Faval to use good bows without worrying too much about money. It also means she can give money to other people, I suppose.



Tailto starts off better than in vanilla FE4, with 3 more levels and +3 Mgc, +2 Spd/Lck, +1 Def/Res, but -2 Skl. She is also a different class, a Mage instead of a Thunder Mage, meaning she has a C rank in all Anima instead of a B in Thunder... No, I don't understand either why she has an A rank in Thunder, especially since Mage-Tinny has a B instead. Meaning Tailto can use Thoron, but can't pass it down to her daughter. Weird...

Speaking of equipment, she also comes with a Bolting tome instead of a basic Thunder. The good thing about it is that you'll be a bit more free to take down those Pirates from afar; the bad thing is that with only Thoron to fight in the Arena, she's going to lose money pretty fast.



Claud, however, lost two levels. Somehow, that means he starts off with +2 Str, +1 Def, and +2 Res, so I guess he's a bit more useable. He also has Renewal as a personal skill, which should come in handy if you make him a father.

He's now able to use B Light tomes, which probably won't be necessary considering his vast Magic pool and staffbot inclination. His Fortify staff only has half its uses now, but is still useful for panicky situations. Also of note about his Valkyrie staff: it's the only Holy weapon in Binary which requires Major Holy Blood to be used.



Time to start slaughtering these Pirates. I don't actually use Tailto's Bolting (to save some money), but she can take one down in exactly two hits.



Time for some revenge!



Here's Pizarl, the boss who just stole Holyn's lunch money. He used to be a rather forgettable boss, but now he's 4 levels higher, and sporting stat-ups everywhere, going from +3 in Def to +7 in Str. He's still got his Silver Axe and droppable Leg Ring, but now has the Adept, Wrath and Steal skills. Do also note that enemies stealing our units' money don't carry that money on them... somehow, so you can't even just steal it back.



The only thing Holyn will get from him is this mediocre level and the Leg Ring, which should partially cover the money he's lost.



I still try to train Dew up a little, as he has fallen way behind.



Lewyn is also up for a bit of a training session to reach the Sage promotion, with great profits so far.



I still have trouble realizing that Azel is actually powerful, now.



Sending Aira to dodge-tank against a bunch of axe users. Whatever could go wrong?



I really was asking for it, wasn't I?



And the Pirates are starting to run away from the Lady Sword. Finally a wise decision.



Well, that sure is a lot of repairs for Adean, who I sent back to Agusty. Damn, everything is so expensive, too... she ends up with merely 135 Gold. Speaking of expensive, didn't I forget anything?



Right, Ethlyn gives her husband the Gae Bolg.



Look at this beauty. Not only does it give large boosts in important stats, the Gae Bolg is now 1-2 range. That's right, Quan is literally throwing the Gae Bolg at people.

Fun fact: it is also the only weapon of its type whose item sprite is inverted for some odd reason. The Helswath also shares this peculiarity.



Up north, Aira spearheads the counter-strike against the pirate gang.



And Ferry gets to level 20 by getting every stat she needed most. I like Pegasus Knights with balanced Def/Res.



Critical, please?



Critical, and a wonderfully ironic level.



Nothing else much happens on our turn. The Pirates apparently decide to converge towards the Lady Sword again, now.



Ferry will make it her pleasure to unsheathe it again.



Our cavalry is still far behind, so I send all my wounded foot soldiers at the guys behind Briggid. She won't be able to hold them for much longer.



Interestingly enough, the path-finding algorithm is potent enough to detect that cliffs are traversable now. That shortcut is actually really bad for Briggid, though.



All right, this should let them lure in the bulk of the pirate force.



I really have no respect for Dew's life, have I?



Oh, for the love of-



And now she's blaming me for it.



Time to kill more dudes near the cliffs...



Teamwork is all about synchronization. Good job, guys. _{Also Lewyn is ready for promotion.}



With Ferry busy patrolling the seas, this doesn't look all that good...



Heeeey, lucky!



I... wow. Not even a little bit of HP? Damn.



I suppose Briggid will have to do some facetanking for now



Oh right. Pirates walk on water, how do I always forget that?



: Feeeeel my Wrath!



Holyn, I know for a fact that you haven't capped everything, so please try a bit harder?



Sometimes, I wonder whether Aira loves me or hates me. Maybe the girl is a bit bipolar. Briggid's rescue was successful, though!




Well, that only leaves these 7 guys. Time to gather everyone and clean up.



Another 5% Mgc activation? Nice!



Great!







Time for Briggid to get her own Holy weapon, after a tender reunion with her sis.



Just like the Mystletainn and the Gae Bolg, the Yewfelle's Might was reduced by 5. Aside from that, not much has changed. The Wgt was adjusted to fit the new AS calculations, the Hit was increased by 10, and it still gives the Renewal ability when equipped.



Up next is Dew's event at the Blaggi Tower. He doesn't get the Wind Sword obviously, as Ferry already has it. Now, what kind of Sword could he possibly find at the Blaggi Tower?



Why, if it isn't the Blaggi Sword! This weapon is a "semi-legendary" weapon, with assets that make it quite a bit broken:

- It has stats about as good as that of a Silver Sword.
- It negates the Loptyr effect... You didn't think Julius was the only enemy in the game to have it, right?
- It is effective against Armored targets and "Dark" targets, like Dark Mages/Bishops. Little game: try to think of at least 3 castles after this chapter which aren't guarded by one of these two types.
- It gives the Renewal and Miracle skills.

Of course, it has some restrictions. The thing costs a bucket of money to repair every time you stab something with it, and only characters with holy blood can use it. Still, if that thing doesn't scream "Boss Killer", I don't know what does.



Anyways, one last level for the road...



... And we can start grinding love points! Let's fast-forward until turn 50.



The pairings I had planned earlier finally came to fruition. That's now Raquesis-Lex and Aira-Holyn done.



Next up is Ferry, who I'm going to marry to Lewyn. These two will give good, complementary skills to their kids (Pursuit, Adept, Critical), and give Fee a good Mgc stat to use the Wind Sword.

Ferry actually doesn't lack in other potential lovers, but Lewyn is the one who does. The mighty Tailto-Lewyn combo which gave you Forseti as soon as Chapter 6 doesn't really work anymore, but we'll see why when we get to it. His only other options would be Adean or Sylvia I suppose, if you like giving Holy Weapons to your healers for some odd reason.



Then there's Tailto, who is in a similar position. Just like Lewyn, Azel absolutely needs to be a father, and needs at least one magic-oriented kid, if you want to make the Endgame much more manageable. That only really leaves Ferry and Tailto, and his Pursuit would be wasted on Ferry, which is why I went for this setup.



Then there's Claud and Sylvia, I suppose. There aren't all that many magic users left who can hand good staves to Corpul, and that way he can just sell off the Valkyrie staff for easy money early on, then buy it again later. Plus, Renewal works well for him after promotion, when he stops getting one-shotted by everything.



As for Briggid, I... encountered an unexpected problem. You see, Fin and Briggid have so little time spent together that their love growth was considerably inflated in base FE4. Meaning that if you capture Silvail soon enough, they will become lovers around turn 45, no matter if they're never close to each other.

So yeah, Briggid just fell in love with someone she's never seen in her whole life. Not only is Fin a mediocre parent for her kids, he would also end up naked in Chapter 7, and I don't want that, nor re-record a chapter that went so well.



So let us pretend I didn't use any cheat codes or anything, but managed to convince Briggid to friendzone Fin, and go for Beowolf instead. She has quite a lot of options, including really good ones like Holyn (for Luna and sword ranks), Lex (for Paragon), Jamke (for Adept) and of course Dew (for stats and Bargain). Sol isn't all that great for either kids, but having Steal+Bargain on Faval is pretty amazing.

And yet, I'd rather go for Beowolf. Patty's hardest time will be in the very beginning, before promotion; and for that, she will need a sword that will guarantee kills, something even B ranks swords can't accomplish. Which is why she will receive the Beo Sword and its great Vantage+Wrath. Also, I like having Charge on my archers.



While I was at it and using cheats playing matchmaker, I also changed Adean's lover to Jamke. It's not a huge difference for gen 1, but that should let me try out something pretty amazing in gen 2.



Anyways, these guys have been sitting on their asses for awhile, so I might as well use them as training dummies for Dew, in a safe environment, with Charisma bots, Leadership stars, and a healer.



The guys have Brave Axes, but not enough Skill to be very dangerous with them. He'll manage.



And oh boy does he manage. 8 levels from slowly trimming down those Warriors, and some rather on-averages gain, if not for the +4 Def blessing. Now he's finally... mediocre. Improvement!

Tailto and Raquesis also helped a bit. They both got two levels, with some really nice +2 HP, +2 Skl, +2 Spd, +1 Lck for the former, and some okay-ish +2 HP, +2 Lck, +1 Res for the latter.



Now that the goons are done, let's have a look at Dobarl. He's a Berserker, making him instantly dangerous. He's also got that bullshit Steal skill, and the potent Master Axe from Thracia 776, which he thankfully drops. So now, we have a guy with 41 Crit, a ranged Brave weapon, and who will steal all your money if he hits only once. Also Wrath.

Oh right, and the one stat they decided to boost by +11 is Skill, obviously.



Remember that Lex gave up his Handaxe and Brave Axe to Holyn? Well he'll get this instead. Ranged Brave weapons are a little bit broken this early in the game, if you ask me.



But with the right people around, even Quan can get some pretty good chances of evade against it.



Besides, I just couldn't finish this chapter without a demonstration of Master Knight Quan throwing the Gae Bolg at people.



Do notice that the Gae Bolg has a new design in Binary, which makes it look closer to its official artwork. I'm unsure if this was created directly, or if the sprite was ripped from Thracia 776, where the weapon lies unused.



...



And... uh, Lex goes in for the kill and the axe. Whew, that was scary.



Now all that's left is to grab the villages and complete the Arena with our newcomers. Claud and Tailto grab the Money-only ones.



Ferry gets the one with Def+1.



And I figured that since Adean is so bent on getting Strength, she might as well get that one. She's already at 14, just enough to completely mitigate Lightning's weight.



This village used to contain a Wing Clipper, but since that weapon was pretty much merged with the Wind Sword, we get a nifty item called the Sol Manual. Much like in Thracia 776, it provides its wielder with the Sol skill, although in this case the item doesn't need to be used up and can even be passed around. Quite the nifty little bit of hacking, there.



I find the skill to be most effective on glass cannons like Tailto. She has high enough Skill to activate it often and she deals more than enough damage to entirely regenerate her HP each time, especially when in Wrath range. And when Sol activates, the Hit rate becomes 100%, negating the only possible way to dodge a Wrath hit.



After that, I just send everyone back to the main castle to shuffle inventories around. We get the lover conversations for our legit couples...



Our less legit couples...



And Quan and Ethlyn, who apparently never declared their love to each other despite being married. Whatever you say, game.



Briggid and Tailto did pretty well, respectively gaining 2 levels for +2 HP, +2 Str, +1 Skl, +1 Lck, and 3 levels for +1 HP, +1 Str, +1 Mgc, +2 Skl, +1 Spd, +1 Lck, +1 Def.

I'm not going to repair Thoron right now for Tailto, as she's close enough to 40k gold to buy the Paragon Ring next chapter.



Claud also managed to finish the Arena with Azel's Thunder tome, gaining only 1 level (+1 HP, +1 Mgc, +1 Spd, +1 Res).



Now, all that's left is to outfit the Leonster Elite Trio for inheritance, and we'll be good to go.




There we go. Altenna's inventory will be a bit more modest than Fin's, but she's got the Gae Bolg, and I'd rather have the Silver and Brave Lance early in the game.



Sylvia also purchased the Leg Ring from Holyn. That is probably going to remain her final inventory (and Leen's) for most of the game.



Now for some promotions! Ferry goes first.



The obvious, default option for her is to go for Falcon Knight. She doesn't gain as much Mgc in Binary, since her bases as a Pegasus were higher, and she doesn't get any ranks in swords either. Still a pretty solid promotion, with good gains, A Lances, minimal access to staves, and Adept.



The other option is to go full retro and have her promote to Dragon Master, just like in FE3. While she does get quite beefier and can use A Swords/Lances, she doesn't get any new skills and some of her gains become negative. She does get +1 Mov, though.

Since Ferry's stats and growths fit more with Falcon Knight and I won't really need high ranks for her weapons, I'll go with the first option. Also, her palette as a Dragon Master is the same as Altena and that's way too confusing.



Next up is her soon-to-be husband, Lewyn.



His first promotion is the ever-so-broken Sage class. Its Speed cap is a little bit lower, but he gains more Str to compensate for it. He jumps to A Anima, gains a Light rank and only a B rank in Staves. Sages are a bit nerfed compared to vanilla FE4, but that's still very very good. They also gain access to C Dark, though that won't come into play until gen 2.



His second option is the with-shoulderpads alternative: Mage Fighter. They're a bit sturdier and slower than Sages and their weapon ranks stink a little (only C Staves and B Anima), but they can use Swords!... That's great, right?

I guess I could spare him a Killing Edge or something fancy for mage-killing as a Mage Fighter... but really, he can kill mages just as easily as a Sage. He's also got a fancy new palette, ditching his full purple ensemble from vanilla FE4 and choosing blue/green garnments more fit for a God of Wind.



Well, that's about it. Let's finish this chapter.



Nothing really new here other than a few changed classes. Langobalt brought Axe Knights instead of Great Knights, for some reason, and Reptor is now a Sage instead of a Baron... oh dear, chapter 5 isn't going to be fun.



I like to think that the lone NPC survivor that we let escape in the previous chapter is the one who guided Mahnya here.



Anyways, next time, on Let's Play FE4 Binary, Lewyn battles with his recolored uncles for succession. Also, the beginning of the Blaggi Sword Crusade.