Part 24: Ep 23: Mease-ly Levels

Chapter 9: For Whose Sake Part 1



Welcome back to Let's Play FE4 Binary and all its FE5 portraits. Looks like only the guys from Thracia really benefitted from the graphical update. We're getting to the really fun parts of the game, now.



We've only got three characters left to recruit on this chapter, and all the others are either promoted or ready to be. Recruiting Altenna and Corpul will double our stock of Legendary weapons, but that's not all...



The Vendor finally has some new items! This is point of the game where the game stops selling/dropping stuff that didnt get inherited. From here on out, it's all new items.

In this case, that Killer Axe will be going to Oifey to complete his mastery of the weapon triangle, and the Bolganone to Teeny so she has a bit of variety in her magic.



: Arena Completed, Gained 3 levels, +5 HP, +1 Mgc, +2 Spd, +2 Def

Seliph is doing fine mostly everywhere, but I've never seen him so Res-screwed. 2 points of Res in 23 levels is a bit worrying for a Heim descendant.

: Arena Completed, Gained 3 levels, +1 HP, +2 Skl, +2 Spd, +2 Def

: Arena Completed, Gained 3 levels, +6 HP, +1 Spd, +2 Lck, +2 Def

: Arena Completed, Gained 3 levels, +4 HP, +1 Lck, +2 Def, +1 Res

: Arena Completed, Gained 3 levels, +4 HP, +1 Mgc, +1 Skl, +1 Spd, +2 Def, +1 Res

: Arena Completed, Gained 3 levels, +4 HP, +1 Mgc, +1 Skl, +1 Spd, +2 Def

First healer of the gen. Caps Str, Def and Lck in priority. Okay.

: Arena Completed, Gained 3 levels, +2 HP, +3 Str, +2 Spd, +1 Def

: Arena Completed, Gained 3 levels, +3 HP, +2 Str, +1 Mgc, +1 Skl, +3 Spd, +1 Def

Those are actually surprisingly outstanding results coming from Shanan... I guess he'll be sticking around a bit longer.

: Arena Completed, Gained 3 levels, +3 HP, +2 Mgc, +2 Skl, +1 Spd, +3 Lck

: Arena Completed, Gained 3 levels, +2 HP, +2 Skl, +1 Res

: Arena Completed, Gained 4 levels, +4 HP, +1 Str, +3 Lck, +2 Def

: Arena Completed, Gained 4 levels, +4 HP, +3 Str, +3 Mgc, +4 Lck, +2 Def

: Arena Completed, Gained 4 levels, +4 HP, +1 Str, +2 Mgc, +2 Skl, +1 Lck +4 Def

It's rather interesting how, with just two less levels and the different EXP formula, Binary changed Ced's role quite a bit. He's slightly worse than Arthur and Teeny right about now, but will eventually surpass them. He's become sort of a slow, steady grower.

: Arena Completed, Gained 5 levels, +4 HP, +2 Str, +3 Mgc, +4 Skl, +3 Def, +2 Res

: Arena Completed, Gained 2 levels, +2 Skl, +2 Spd

Wait, how do you manage to miss a 130% HP growth twice? Johan, you just never cease to amaze me.

: Arena Completed, Gained 2 levels, +2 HP, +1 Str, +2 Spd, +1 Lck, +1 Def

: Arena Completed, Gained 4 levels, +8 HP, +2 Spd, +2 Lck, +1 Res

: Arena Completed, Gained 5 levels, +10 HP, +1 Spd, +5 Lck, +1 Res

Sweet Jesus, Faval sure didn't miss that HP growth.

: Arena Completed, Gained 4 levels, +3 HP, +2 Mgc, +2 Spd, +2 Lck, +4 Def

: Arena Completed, Gained 6 levels, +2 HP, +3 Str, +2 Skl, +4 Spd, +2 Lck, +1 Def

I like how they boosted the Dancer speed cap by 3. Without a promotion and with Arena battles to fight, Leen always kinda fell behind.

: Arena Completed, Gained 4 levels, +6 HP, +1 Mgc, +1 Skl, +3 Lck, +2 Def, +1 Res



There were quite a lot of changes in the Arena this time. All enemies ended up having Killer/Brave weapons, and some were given Skill or Speed Rings. On the left we have Nietzsche who, in a nihilistic approach to the concept of promotion, devolved from a Bow Knight into an Arch Knight; on the right is Shiron, a Bow Armor who just got rid of that armor for something more comfortable.



There were also some rather surprising class changes. Slayton the Fire Mage threw away his books, grabbed a Pugi and became a Warrior; Triesta the Dragon Knight turned into an Iron Knight and now uses a neat Darkness Sword in battle.



Before the chapter begins, there are of course a bunch of promotions on the way. Julia goes first, and will be holding onto the Paragon Ring for this chapter. She's still behind on levels despite the fact she's leaving next chapter.



Like her mother, she can only promote to a female Sage. Her Shaman bases being better, she doesn't gain nearly as much from this promotion, but is still a pretty great magic cannon/tank. She gains +1 Mov from promotion and an immediate A Anima, but loses one Staff rank. She didn't really need it, but it's still a bit irritating to lose it.



Continuing with the one-path promotions, we have Patty who's completely blowing Dew out of the water right now.



And that's probably not going to stop anytime soon. Just like Dew, her Thief Fighter promotion grants great gains everywhere, +1 Mov, +5 Crit and an A in Swords. She already has Pursuit though, so no new skills.

To celebrate her newfound power, she receives Larcei's Brave Sword, as she has just enough Strength to wield it perfectly. Plus, we all love seeing her restlessly hacking away at bosses.



Her brother will be following a slightly less conventional path, what with the Yewfelle's unavailability. At least he doesn't have to worry too much about his stats now.



His default promotion is to become a Sniper. His gains are mostly Skl/Spd-oriented, and he gains +1 Mov, +5 Crit, and that's about it, since he already had Pursuit and A Bows.



His alternate promotion to Bow Knight offers lesser gains, but does grant him +3 Mov as well as a B in Swords and a pretty cool palette. With that, he will never be an outstanding damage dealer, but will be a good mobile cavalier, able to play an important supporting role even during enemy phase.



Which is exactly why I'll be going for the mounted option. Until he obtains the Yewfelle, he'll be more of Nomad Trooper kind of unit, with good offense thanks to his father's Beo Sword. He also traded his Luna Manual for Lester's Brave Bow.



Next up is Leif, who absolutely needs to promote before this chapter starts. I wish his Magic was a little higher, but it will have to do.



Leif's default promotion is still the outstanding Master Knight class, with about as many stat gains as the Thief Fighter promotion, as well as +3 Mov, Pursuit, and A ranks all over the place.



His alternate promotion is... this thing again. As a Baron, Leif loses out on the Skl/Spd for a bit more Def, and loses 1 Mov to gain Great Shield and the usual A ranks. Yeeeeeaaaah, no.



Let's go back to promotions where choosing a path is a little bit harder than that...



Fee's default promotion is to Falcon Knight. With that boost to magic, she's become some sort of a flying Ethlyn. She only gains a rank in Lances and Staves, though.



Alternatlively, she can promote to the retro path of the Dragon Master for some really beefy stats as well as +1 Mov and an A in Lances AND Swords. Despite the loss of Speed and Magic, it's actually a pretty good choice if you like having very powerful fliers. Really, even with her low magic she can rip volleys of fliers to shreds with the Wind Sword.

Only thing is, Altenna is pretty much locked to her Dragon Master promotion because of her lineage, and I don't really like having two units with the exact same map sprite AND battle palette. So Fee will stick to being a flying Ethlyn.



Next unit to promote is Arthur, and his uncanny Defense. He'll have more Def than Res after promotion.



His default choice is, like his father, to become a Mage Knight. With good offensive gains but little Skl/Spd, Arthur gains +4 Move, one Anima rank, access to C Staves and B Swords. Probably your best bet if you married Tailto to a physical unit with good combat skills. Also that cyan-grey armor looks pretty neat.



For all magical purposes, he shines a bit more as a Mage Fighter. Same offensive boosts, more Skl/Spd/Def, +1 Mov only, but the Adept skill, and the same weapons ranks with an additional C Light. I'm not a big fan of having yet another purple Mage Fighter, but since it's Freege's color I guess that cannot be avoided.



Returning from his father's promotion paths, here's the Iron Mage. It makes Arthur surprisingly tough with a high Def boost and Great Shield. With no additional move, he'll be struggling to keep up, but he does gain a B in Staves, which is certainly better than an access to Swords. He's got a somewhat boring palette, but do notice that he keeps his Mage Knight purple shield.

Given magic's ability to attack at both ranges and still wreck shit, Arthur actually works really well as an Iron Mage. Seriously, you don't want to face an armored mage with both Great Shield and Wrath. But because of his achievements during chapter 7, I'll give him a break and make him a Mage Fighter so he can see a bit more combat. Also, the pointy hat.



And that leaves only Ares to promote. He's traded his Power Ring from the previous chapter for Delmud's Skill Ring.



His default option is still to become a Paladin and gain somewhat magic-oriented gains, +1 Mov, one rank in Lances and a B Axes, both he'll never use. Nothing outstanding there, outside of him using a black Valkyrie shield instead of his custom one.



Here's where his custom shield went: to the Forrest Knight promotion. This path provides Ares with the tremendous boosts to Skl/Spd that he really needs, in exchange for less magic and no access to Lances. Then again, why would Ares use anything but Swords?

Generally speaking, Forrest Knight is a better promotion for Ares. +1 Str/Def is just negligible compared to +6 Skl and +3 Spd. Sadly, it's also Delmud's best promotion and he benefits more from it, so Ares will have to stick to Paladin for the sake of class diversity. Though if you don't care about variety, you might as well promote everyone who can to Forrest Knight. Just keep in mind that Ares loses access to Rapiers if he chooses this path.



There was a lot of trading around this chapter, but here's probably the most important one. If Shanan loves Skill so much, how about he trades his Balmung for Ulster's Killing Edge, that way he can be the crit-happy swordy he wants to be? That should also give Ulster the means to compete with his sister a little more.



Other than that, there were two big trading chains:

- Oifey gave his Silver Sword to Leif, who gave his Steel Blade to Larcei, who gave her Brave Sword to Patty, who gave her Beo Sword to Faval, who gave his Silver Bow back to Leif. He's looking quite lordly with all that silver on him, now

- Lana gave her Silence staff to Teeny, who gave her Solar Manual to Arthur, who gave his Wind tome to Ced, who gave his Sleep Staff back to Lana.

What else... Patty gave her Shield Ring to Finn, Seliph donated a Steel Sword to Shanan as consolation for losing his birthright, and Teeny's Blizzard went to Ced for an all-out wind-themed inventory.



Whew! I think we're good to go.



Now, for the Map that looks linear, but really isn't at all. West, we have a lone brigand pillaging Tahra and three random promoted units protecting him. Fee will be going there to teach them a lesson. South, Thracia is going to start spamming squads of Dragons to try and capture Mease. South-west, Hannibal is just going to stand there, waiting for me to steamroll through his troops, capture Luthecia and bring back his son. That's the gist of it for this part, pretty simple.



First things first, the good old +1 Lck siblings Talk. Can't have a chapter without one.



Thanks to Leen's dancing, we're already in range to start pestering Hannibal's armors. Adept activates, and one of them is already down.



His wall or armors is actually a bit more diversified in Binary. The front of the formation is a ragtag bunch with either Brave Lances, or Sleep Swords/Brave Bows. The two units above and below Hannibal were promoted to Generals with Master Lances, and on the sides he has two pairs of Iron Mages with Elfire and Elwind tomes.



The High Priest with Fortify now also has a Nosferatu, and one of the Bow Armors in the back was turned into a Shaman with a Jormungand and Sleep staff. That one will be our priority.

Aside from those two, all the armors have only average stats, so really the only thing that makes them dangerous is Hannibal's 8 Leadership stars.



Leif, Nanna and Ares all have pretty good magic swords, and so will be staying behind to intercept Altenna's squad.



And to deal with the Kapathogia armors, nothing beats a frontline of mages, as long as they stay out of Hannibal's range.



It goes about as well for his troops as you would expect.



I even find the time to notice some amusing graphical oddities with the Master Lance.



Somehow the Shaman doesn't even fire her Sleep staff, despite encompassing the whole of my frontline from that position.



Welp, let's start taking them down, then. You can see the effect of Hannibal's leadership here, though Patty still showers the guy with Brave Sword slashes until he falls.



Staying the cream of the crop. Keep it up, big boy.



And Shanan is having a lot of fun with his new toy.



Enemy Shamans aren't really common enemies, so it's nice to see one with a nice palette here and there.



Never doubt the power of incest. It resurrects Dark Demon Dragon Gods and makes shy amnesiac girls one-shot big dudes in armor.



Smelling a bit of a pattern there.



I guess I never explicitely showed off what happens when Blizzard puts a unit to sleep. The first hit deals the damage, and if the status effect sticks, the second hit happens and produces the "tink" sound I always edit in. The second hit also doesn't deplete weapon usage.



And would you look at that, all of Hannibal's troops are dead, and he's sleeping. Time to take on the generic moustache General guarding his castle.



Kanatz is nothing much. Heck, you can just bypass him if you want to, and he'll disappear when you recruit Hannibal. He's got 5 more levels, and about as much in each stats. He's just another one of those mildly annoying Generals with the Master Lance + Vantage combo.



He dies miserably from an arrow overdose.



And to think I almost made Midayle their father.



That about does it for Kapathogia. It certainly wasn't that difficult.



Altenna is almost there for the party too. Everyone stays right outside of the Gae Bolg's range.



Her squad is a bit better than what we had to fight last map, with Steel Lances/Javelins for the Riders and Sleep Swords/Pursuit Rings for the Knights.



They proceed to attack our cavalry for some... astounding results.



Actually, most of them didn't even try attacking at all. This is all sorts of bad, because they're both shielding Altenna, and threatening the castle.



Thank god I had the intuition of only leaving mounted units behind. With some good hit-and-run maneuvers, Leif can reach Altenna and talk to her. I love how you can both attack and talk during the same turn, with FE4's Canto.



After that, the usual series of events happens and Altenna runs off to confront Travant, gets knocked out by Areone, and Travant deploys without the Gungnir.



All Dragon Knights, with Silver Lances and Life Rings. Finally, no more fucking Javelins.



Since Travant is actually somewhat tough, and Seliph will barely have to fight anything for awhile, Charisma bot Delmud will be retreating back to Mease and complete the Nodion Power Trio.



Around that turn, Fee has finally reached the area around Tarha. There are two Mercenaries with Steel Axes/Blades and a female Hero with a Brave Sword/Bow. I guess it's a much better equipment to fight a Pegasus than the silly Thunder Sword vanilla FE4 gave to that poor girl.



Well, time to go and capture Luthecia, though Seliph will probably need some help to take care of the filler boss in a timely fashion.



Nothing to see there, just filling some holes.



Hannibal, I've heard that talking during sleep can be the symptom of innapropiate medication. You should really consider taking less Vulneraries.



The rest of Altenna's squad then gleefully suicides on our Mease team. I don't know what's up with those Dragons, but they really don't seem very nutricious for our units.



Nanna doesn't count, since she's capped most everything.



Back in the west, Fee easily dispatches the Brave Bow lady thanks to her Critical Guard. And of course, those guys had to position themselves to block her from reaching the brigand directly...



Speaking of that Brigand, look who it is! Another Gazzack recolor from FE3. That portrait is Dahl, a Thief from Book 2 who accused Marth of stealing from his group of thieves.

Here, he's actually got pretty impressive stats and hits extremely hard thanks to his Devil Axe, if inaccurately. I suppose they gave him Sol to both extend his lifespan and increase his overall hit rate. Though that might also have been just to fuck with the game, as strange things happen when you trigger Sol during a Devil Axe activation.



Sadly for him, the Lady Sword was made to slaughter his kin. Before perishing, he delivers his original death quote.



: Murderer.

Took him long enough to realize Fee is out for blood. To be honest, I was expecting a follow-up to Gomer's Full Metal Jacket speech. Oh well.



Next on the to-do list: conquering Luthecia. General mini-boss #76, you're up.



Disler is remarkable for how unremarkable he is. He's got the usual +4~7 in every stats, Charge, a Silver Lance and Bow. He used to have a Javelin and Return Ring in vanilla FE4. That's about it.



Even Blizzard doesn't consider him worth being put to sleep.



And another quick boss death for the Larcei Foundation. That certainly was a pathetic fight.



Luthecia conquered, and Corpul recruited!



Corpul has some pretty decent bases for a level 1 unit, as well as okay growths, but the difficulty is (usually) to train him from level 1. At least he gets access to Light magic in Binary, and inherited Renewal from his father. Since it will renew his Prayer's dodge effect every turn, it makes the little bugger surprisingly difficult to kill.

He inherits all of his father's items, plus a free Physic staff. Also of note that Valkyrie and the Gae Bolg are the only Legendary weapons that can be inherited.



While Corpul is slowly heading back to Kapathogia, there's a Travant incoming. Like with Altenna, it's best to stay out of his range.



This time, the squad actually attacks and mostly get slaughtered by criticals. Double Charisma and Mountains completely destroy their hit rates.



As well as my level-ups, it seems.



Not a whole lot of them remain. Let's check out our King of Thracia.



Travant is kind of a boss, in every sense of the word. He's very close to his Dragon Master caps, has a bunch of Leadership stars and a badass set of skills including Charisma. His Critical Guard negates criticals and arrow effectiveness, essentially replicating the effect of vanilla Nihil. So really, there's not much left to approach him except using magic.

We've already seen the semi-legendary weapon he carries: the Dragon Lance. It's a replica of Dean's weapon from Thracia 776, and can only be wielded by Noba and Dain descendants, as well as all Dragon units. Since he drops it, that means we have three units able to use it: Altenna, Leif and Fee (if she goes for the Dragon Master promotion).



As usual, hitting and running is the key. Attacking Travant at close range would be suicide, so Delmud takes his Master Axe... and masters?



I still think this is the best palette for a dragon-riding boss. Areone has a similar one too, which really makes me wish he was actually recruitable.



What better unit to finish Travant than the son whose parents he murdered in cold blood, using the sword his mother used to wield.



Sweet mother of mercy, these levels.



Well, at least we got something good out of it. The Dragon Lance is a really neat semi-legendary for being only one range. It's like a more powerful Brave Lance, but with a Vantage skill attached to it. It completes Leif's arsenal really well, seeing as he never really gets his own super weapon.



Upon Travant's death, the next enemy phase has Altenna deploy. She's going to be rushing right at Seliph to recruit herself.



The rest of Travant squad then gallantly commits suicide. One of them also drops a good level. Must have been a super rare form of dragon.



Yep, definitely a rare form.



Only one unit actually survives the raid, and he serves as a training dummy for Leif's new weapon. It's a really neat sprite.



It suddenly occurs to me that neither of the Mercenary guys attacked Fee. After engaging her once, they just waited until they disapearaed from Seliph conquering Luthecia. Odd.



And while we're waiting, Altenna eventually recruits herself. She's pretty darn good, and has the appropriate legendary weapon to clean house. I never really know what to give her though, seeing as there are few lances and the Gae Bolg already covers a lot of her usability. Most importantly, she's a flier, meaning Fee can finally get some help on her rescue missions.

She will inherit all of Quan's items, as well as the Gae Bolg even if he had sold it.



This point is kind of a stalemate for the enemy forces. Nothing can progress until I either kill or recruit Hannibal, and our mighty war general is currently stuck outside his own castle, unable to get reinforcements because a there's little Dancer girl blocking the way.

This is actually a pretty great spot to start building love points and training our new units. So next update, we will see some intense power-training, and obtain even more godly items. See you then.