Part 6: The Ballad O' Shanty Pete

Chapter 2: The Ballad O’ Shanty Pete

Last time we saved the island kingdom of Talys from pirates and hunters. This time we’ll do that, but moreso. (this is the last chapter like this)







That’s two things.

: All that changed when a pirate crew fell upon the town and made it their hideout. Here, in Galder, history records Marth’s first steps toward freeing his homeland.

: What about all that stuff last time?

: History doesn’t care.




Oh, they have Cavaliers now. I guess it’s not all just Pirates and hunters.




Thankfully, we’ve got new friends too.




: The king has bid me and my three men join your army. Cavalry has arrived from the west, flying Grust’s standard. They mean to take your life, sire. Be careful.

Grust sent literally two guys.




This map looks more complex than it is. There’s a lot of rivers to cross (that are of no consequence to our pirate foes), but the bridges are plentiful and convenient. We’ll also have to deal with an attack from the north. Also, you might notice that I have Caeda highlighted, and Ogma has a yellow glow. More on that later.




Our objective is to the far west. Gomer’s about the same thing Gazzak was, but he has range, so no cheesing him with Javelins or bows.




Also, this guy is mixed in with the enemies north of here. We’ll want Marth in his range. But we have FOUR new units to check out, so let’s do that.




Ogma fuckin’ rules. I don’t know what else to say except that he’s good. He’s got solid stats in just about everything that’s not magic related, and he’s got a ton of usability, coming in at chapter 2.

He’s also our first Mercenary. Mercs are tanky and strong, but they aren’t too quick, and they can only use swords. I don’t like them quite as much as Cavaliers, but they are seriously a good class, especially in the early game when axes are all over the place.




Cord is alright. He suffers from starting with an E rank in his native weapon class, but his stats are okay. Compared to his brother Bord (yes, they are named Bord and Cord. Shadow Dragon.), he’s faster, but lands less hits. He’s also got a hidden talent that I plan to show off when we get reclassing.




Bord is slower than Cord, but he gets more HP and strength. He gets a C off the bat in Axes, though, and comes with the Hammer, which is a triple damage weapon against armored classes. They’re both fighters, so they serve as decent hit-sinks at the very least.




If you read the last LP you know I love Barst. His personal Strength and HP growths are kinda shockingly bad (Somehow some of the lowest in the game, though simply being a Fighter gives him class growth bonuses that help balance that), but everything else is pretty solid. I’ve honestly always had good luck with him, it might be just because he comes early and with some fantastic base stats.

Honestly his growths were a lot lower than I expected, because I’ve always heard of people having great luck with Barst, even in his bad stats. Is this some kind of localized group hallucination?




Now that the introductions are out of the way, it’s time to start the map. I want someone durable to block the upper bridge, so Ogma’s on call. I also want Marth on the very tip of Darros’ range, because I don’t want to create an unintentional chokepoint.




Remember Ogma’s yellow aura? That means the currently selected unit can talk to them. This is especially useful when recruiting units, so you know who needs to speak to them. Although it is almost always Marth or Caeda.

This, however, is just a bonus flavor conversation. It’s the closest this game has to Support Conversations, and they’re rare, so enjoy them when they come.




: ...Princess.

: I never got to thank you for coming along with us. There’s no swordsman I trust more. I’ve seen your strength.

You can have this chat at any time with Caeda and Ogma, so...I guess assume he didn’t literally just join us.

: You don’t need to thank me, Princess. I’m just doing my job. Speaking of which, your father would flay me if you came to any harm.

I’m pretty sure that’s a joke, because Ogma’s whole backstory is that he was beaten to near death for helping a slave gladiator, and Caeda’s intervention was the only thing that saved him. Of course that’s never mentioned in this game, because Shadow Dragon. It’s in the sequel though.


Or maybe King Talys is just a dick and Caeda takes after her unseen mom.

: Do me a favor, and leave the dangerous fighting to me and my men.


: I don’t need protecting, Ogma. …I’ve got another job for you. Protect Marth for me.


: But, Princess…


: He’s very important to me. And the world… But mostly to me. So do as I ask, Ogma. Keep him safe. That’s my first and last request.

: Very well. How could I say no to you?

: Thank you, Ogma. I knew you’d understand. All right, I have to go. But I hope we get to talk like this more. You’re a good listener.

: ...Princess.

: Yes?

: You keep yourself safe too. Marth would grieve if anything befell you.

: Fair enough. Thank you, Ogma. You’re very kind.

Caeda and Ogma are pals! They’re such good pals, there was a DLC about it in the sequel. But that’s for later. Now they’ll never speak again.




Here’s how I’m set up for this turn. I want the bulk of the team ready to push west, but a few powerful units like Caeda and Ogma near the north to deal with the enemies up there.




Darros immediately runs up and talks to Marth. You don’t even have to trigger this manually.

: I’ve had me fill o’ the piratin’ life, and now I be lookin’ t’start anew. What say ye? Make me yer matey, and I swear t’pull me load.

We’ll make him our matey.




Apparently this pirate didn’t like either bridge, and decides to use the river to go for Abel. It’s alright by me.




The Cavaliers on this map will also rush you, so it’s easy to get them caught out without their allies if you time it right.




Now that we have Darros, I want to kill off the northern enemies. Caeda can double down the hunter.




As for Darros himself, he’s the only recruitable natural Pirate in the game. I think Darros is pretty okay. He’s not great, but he hits hard and he gets quite a bit of HP. However, he has some pretty serious speed issues, which only get worse as the game goes on. If he doesn’t get very lucky there, he can quickly become a liability.

For a bit of trivia, Darros didn’t appear in the first remake of this game, FE3, but he was added back in for this and the sequel, just like Wrys.




For now though, Darros is gonna dice this goon.




The other pirate came around south for Cain, but since I moved Cain up to fight the northern front, Draug gets the kill.




One of Ogma’s best assets early on is his frankly ridiculous base speed. Sometimes he can double with his steel weapon, which will kill pretty much anything at this point.





Wrys.






Is this Abel’s idea of a joke? Buddy. Please.





You’re getting outshined by Gordin. This is embarrassing.





Second verse, same as the first. Two relatively durable units to wait for the incoming cavaliers.





Also Jagen sneaks in for some conversation. That wacky Jagen.





...Thanks?




The Cavaliers are pretty beefy, but it’s nothing you can’t deal with.





Also Barst is a storm of pain and axes.





The Rapier is, of course, an elegant solution to any Horse Problems.





Cord and Gordin team up to down the second Cavalier, and that’s all the impact they have. Way to go, Grust, you sure did assassinate Prince Marth!




Third verse, same as the previous two verses. Although, Bord’s not that durable. I’m sure it’ll be fine, though.


how could I fuck this up?




There are some Hunters over there, including this guy. He looks like he could use a pick-me-up chat from a fellow blue-head.


I mean Caeda, because I just realized how ambiguous that is in this universe.





I’ll have Jagen pull him closer.





Bord manages to whiff this 82% in one of the more embarrassing misses so far.




Here’s your other hint to talk to Castor with Caeda, delivered hopefully not as he shoots Caeda. Which can totally happen.




Pulling Castor also pulls the other Hunter. It may look like I’ve bitten off more than I can chew, but…





So here’s a problem with Darros already. His strength and speed aren’t enough to let him not get doubled against these guys with his Steel Axe. So this is just a death sentence.




I don’t feel super confident about this setup. If only there were a handy feature with which I could achieve a sense of assurance.





SAVE TILES

The glowing blue tiles let you save your game mid-chapter. This is a compromise between FE10’s “you can save whenever you want” system, which sorta made you nearly invincible, (Disabled on Hard Mode, though.) and the rest of the series’ “fuck you” system.




You only get two Map Save slots across all your files, though, which is kinda weird, since you can have 3.




With some backup from Gordin, Bord’s actually able to down his Pirate foe, though.





Well, let’s see how this turns out.











Hmm.





Oh, that’s handy.

I won’t be showing when I do this in the future, don’t worry, I just wanted to show what the system looks like.





Maybe I DON’T want Bord there.





This seems better.




This seems even more better.





There. More fortified across the board.






And everyone’s looking quite a bit more alive. They shot over Jagen, though, so he did nothing. Poor Jagen.





C’mere, Castor.





: Princess Caeda? Oh...I’m sorry, but me mother’s sick, and the medicine don’t buy itself, see…


Castor is meant to be a con artist, but he really, really sucks at it. Again, something not actually mentioned in game. NES cartridge dialogue limits brought to a new era.


: So you agreed to fight for the pirates in exchange for coin…All right then. If it’s gold you need, take mine. Here, this is all I have. Take it, and go to your mother’s side.

: But Princess…I betrayed you! …Ach, I’ve been a fool! Forgive me, Princess. Let me fight for you now. Me life is yours.

He’s bad at this.




Or maybe he decided to join after he watched Caeda nonchalantly Javelin a man’s guts out. Either solution is possible.




It’s a very Caeda level up.




So, Castor (dented due to eating an Abel Javelin) is a bow unit who is way better than Gordin. His HP sucks, but he has pretty solid growths in some key stats, like a nice 20% in Strength, equal to Cain. A lot of people like to reclass him because bow locked units are meh, and it helps to cover some of his weaknesses (Like that ugly 0% HP growth.)


Also, did you notice the yellow Marth? Sharp eyes.




Wrys you can’t even use Skill, you silly goose.





With the threat of Bord dying no longer on the table, it doesn’t take much to mop up the rest of these guys.





Fourth verse, it’s the last verse. Ogma and Jagen are beefy enough to survive hits from the pirates while Marth chats with our new ally.





: Of course. Caeda told me about you.


: You know, she’s always been very kind to me, sire, even before I left Talys. And look how I’ve repaid her…


: Castor, you can still show her your heart is true. Let the battles to come be what defines you!





Well, that worked out.




Cord went Axe Shopping and got a few backups for weapons we already have.





There’s also a village up here. Sorry I didn’t get that in the shots earlier. This one is in no danger, though, because there aren’t any Thieves in the enemy ranks.





: She’s gone up into the Ghoul’s Teeth to tend to the sick there. We warned her, I swear we did… Lena is our angel. If something befell her, I- No, I won’t think of it. Take this gold: we’ve 5000 pieces. Just promise you’ll use it to bring her home to us unharmed.





This is nice, but I’m more excited to meet Sister Lena. She’s good at her job!




Just like with Gazzak, Gomer isn’t someone you want to attack on your turn. Let him hit you so you don’t get doubled up by a hit and a counter. Also, I know he has a low hit rate, but never, ever trust the hit rates.





...I want to recruit Gomer, can we please recruit Gomer? I’d take Shanty Pete.




Cain flees upon the invocation of the mighty Shanty Pete.




So, the best way to do this is just to rotate your units in and out to be healed by Wrys or the fort, letting one take a hit from Gomer and counter each turn, until he’s low enough to kill.





Again, not attacking on my turn, but Caeda’s a really good bet for most early bosses.





This goes on for a while. I’ll spare you.




Cain landing a crit does wonders to weaken him, though.





I’m getting increasingly worried about the home team’s stats here.


regardless.





A sneaky Wrys level before the end.





Beware using Steel Weapons because of their weight! I’m really glad they dropped that system after this game.




Abel gets the honor of the final blow, once again.







That’s more like it.




Also good! Why did Gomer have this?

...Maybe this was Shanty Pete’s sword.








Here’s another ending conversation where Marth just stares at someone. I think it’s justified in this case, though, because this guy’s eyebrows fuse to become his mustache.

: Now, as I hear it, you plan to march on to Aurelis…That’ll take you right up through the Ghoul’s Teeth. With all due respect, sire, you’re taking a great risk crossin’ those mountains, that’s Soothsire territory. The Soothsires are fearsome bandits, always raidin’ the villages and harryin’ what travelers dare pass by.




: How did you pronounce that?

: Nabarl.

: Just checking.

: If you go up there, keep your wits about you- or you won’t come back down.





Next time the game outdoes me in the pun department.

Have a Cipher Ogma.



I like his...forearm band?

...Also, because it must be seen, and it’s on the Fire Emblem Wiki, Anime Ogma.