Part 65: Finale: Goodbye, Archanea

Finale: Goodbye, Archanea


: After Medeus’s demise, Dolhr would relax its shadowy grip on the land and fade into obscurity: the Empire was finished. The fires of war that had raged across Archanea would die, and light would come to take darkness’s place. But before any of that came to pass, there were a few final moments of Marth’s tale that need telling…



: I’ve been waiting a long time for this day. And now I’m not entirely certain what to do with it…

: Marth…um, we haven’t talked much since leaving Talys. But I thought.. Do you know where you will be going?

: To Altea, of course. War has left my kingdom in ruins. I cannot waste another day; I must return to help rebuild.

: So...I suppose that means you have bid Talys farewell for good…

: Don’t be silly, Caeda. I need to at least go thank your father and tell him the fighting is done.

He’s so bad at this. Also King Talys never appears in the series again.


: My father…? Marth, I’m not asking about my- Never mind. Please excuse me…

She flies off.




: No... Well, we were just talking. And she asked me…

: Ha ha, oh, Marth...How can a man who faced the Shadow Dragon be so desperate to avoid facing his own feelings?

: I- my- what? I don’t know what you are talking about.

: You wish to send Caeda home to Talys, then, and return to Altea alone? That is what you want?

: Well, that’s where we both belong. I don’t see what my wants have to do with anything.

: Clearly not. Marth, if you have anything to say to Caeda, say it now. Love cannot always make the leap from heart to heart by itself; sometimes you must speak it aloud and give it wings. Surely a great leader like you can muster the courage for that?

: ….



: ….?

: I did not speak with my heart before. When I said I would go to Altea, I… Well, I had meant… I hoped you would be at my side.

: ….!

: As you said, we have not spoken much since Talys. With you, I felt I never had to say a word. If the battle started to take its toll, you were always there…close by…I would see you there, so beaut- ahem, so brave…




This scene is . Probably because it’s remake exclusive. If Caeda died, by the way, Nyna talks about Artemis’ Curse again, and this doesn’t play.


: ….Ugh, why is this so difficult?! Caeda, I’m just trying to tell you I-






: Herein its events have been chronicled, that none may ever forget.





: Well…I suppose I’ve got to come clean, eh? I may have sprinkled in a few white lies.

: Sir Jagen, why?

: Having a poor final story...that would reflect badly on me.

: I understand...I suppose. But...why all the death? Your version killed off almost everyone!

: Hmm...I suppose...if you were about to go to the afterlife...would you want it to be empty?

: …! Sir Jagen…this isn’t fair! You can’t just leave us here! You deserve more time!

: I have lived for a very long time, Steve.



: I’ve seen triumph…



: Bravery…



: Love…



: Loss…



: And...things I can’t much explain. And it’s hard...to leave it all behind. You’ve all meant the world to me.

: Thank you...but-

: But it’s selfish of me to forget your feelings. Prince Marth, Princess Caeda, you, and the rest...you’ll get along fine without me.

: That’s not true! What would I have done without your advice?

: Bah! Believe in yourself, Steve! Or I’ll haunt you. And you tell Prince Marth to remember to wear his pants. And make sure Cain doesn’t work the newbies too hard, I don’t want to see any Altean recruits where I’m headed! Remember to keep your sword polished...don’t let...Marth leave the Falchion...in his bedroom...again….

: Sir Jagen! You can’t go!

: Make sure...Father Wrys...gets his Christmas card...don’t let Gordin...touch my armor...again….and….Steve?

: Yes? Anything.

: Never forget…Hardin...possesses...the Darksphere.

: …

: Heh. I….love…..that stupid…..joke...

: Sir Jagen? SIR JAGEN!?

Sir Jagen...goodbye.








After the ending scene, you get the turn records for your adventure. None of these are super great, but I’m no speedrunner. I finished the game, it’s enough for me .






Kinda sucks that there are 25 maps and they scroll up in sets of 6. Anyway...time for the character epilogues. Each of our heroes gets a little sendoff, if they’re alive/recruited. Don’t worry, I spliced in the Gaiden only characters.




The credits also play on the top screen. The “B” is for Battles, the number of times that unit engaged/was engaged in combat, and “W” is Wins, which is just a kill count.









Since there are a ton of these, and they aren’t all interesting, I’d like to take this time to throw out some special thanks.




First of all, a giant thank you to Nintendo/IS, of course, for making this series that’s near and dear to my heart. Lots of high school bus rides and long evenings were spent on a Fire Emblem or, uh, ten.




Hahaha, I’m sorry, I’m just thinking about Abel’s FE12 ending. Anywho.




Thank you to my friend who has no internet screen name, but knows who he is, for helping me workshop ideas for the LP and suffering through the plot of Fates with me. That kind of thing is a lifelong bond.




Huge thanks to vilkacis, for providing roughly ten metric tons of awesome fanart in both of my FE threads, and always being a fantastic poster.




Thank you to Camel Pimp for her many fan art and thread contributions as well, throughout this and FE12. You found some fantastic FE1 art I’d never have tracked down myself, and I read through your Lunar LP’s while I was working on this. Y’all should go check that out.



Speaking of fanart, chiasaur11, Blaze Dragon, and LifeOfAGuardian did some great work too, and they deserve a shoutout.









The records guy, as usual, is a little gossipy.



The term is “Berzerker”.





Yes, they changed one line. I love these guys.




Oh, is Castor’s sick mother real? Is it a con? Tell me the truth, Nintendo!




Back to thanks, EclecticTastes provided me with information on how the Generic Units actually function, which explained a lot of my confusion with their stats. I appreciate that!




Shingoryou translated the text on Cipher Ogma and Navarre’s cards from Japanese for the By The Sword update, which gave us the amazing name of “Wielder of the Manly Sword”.




Lena . If only it could have been.




Okay, since I forgot to show it off earlier...Tokyo Mirage Sessions Navarre, everyone:



Holy shit, I love his slinky arm.




I’m sorry you literally did nothing this run, Merric. You’re a good character!




HERE IT IS

THE LAST IMAGE OF MATTHIS I WILL EVER LP

I’M FREE




Huh. Sounds important.




I think Wolf’s got the highest battle/kill disparity on the team. Keep choking that point, you crazy diamond.




Of course, major thanks to the Fire Emblem Wiki, my source for all the art you’ve been seeing. They’re a fantastic community resource for every game in the series.




In the same vein, SerenesForest is a godsend. Their scripts saved me so many screenshots (i lived that nightmare with rune factory).




...Alright, show of hands, who remembered Vyland existed?




Thank you to everyone who posted, seriously. This update is going to drag long enough without every single name, but I want to assure you that I appreciated every bit of it. An LP doesn’t really work without an audience to enjoy it, and I sincerely hope you did. Even if you didn’t post, and just read, it’s a great motivator for me to keep going.




I really wish Rickard was good.



Vun Voman.




Scratch Rickard, I wish Bantu was good!




Neither of these are true, as we know thanks to the sequel. A lot of these epilogues kinda have that issue.




For example: He didn’t. Or at least he never mentions it in the sequel!




Some of these titles are wonderful.




That archer mentioned earlier in Gordin’s entry was Jeorge, by the way.




So, you want more Fire Emblem? I’m fresh out.




But you can check out Fionordequester’s ongoing FE4 LP! Or Tae’s brave quest through all three routes of Fire Emblem: Fates.



There are, of course, also many of the games on the LP Archive.




You might see Anna some more!




Or just get into the series yourself. These games are picking up a hell of a lot of steam, and you can buy one on pretty much any Nintendo console. I’d suggest Fire Emblem (Blazing Sword) or Fire Emblem: Awakening as a starter.




Well, here’s some oddly placed foreshadowing.




Again, the titles are on point here.




Alright, out of everyone who remembered Vyland, did you also get Tomas?




Boah is not very good at his job.



Horace is cool, I wish he got more lines.




Smart rebels.




I refuse to believe Caesar gave it back.




She’s got a thing for Abel. No, it’s not really mentioned in this game, so this makes very little sense.




Same as above, but with Marth.




But what about Arran? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered:



Well, sorta. I forgot I let him die in the Normal run. Whoops. Well, that’s what that looks like, and here’s his real epilogue:

Arran became captain of Altea’s knights. His efforts helped many a town rise from the ashes after the war.




More sequel hints!



You said “Spell Slinger” twice.




One, wow, that’s kinda sexist. Two, yes, this was Abel.




Love Dragon Grandpa.




Because he only has one. Get it?



...Gravel-Yeller?




She would also dunk on him, for eternity.



Nagi’s...weird. She kinda gets explained in the sequel.

She’s Naga, AKA: God

Nagi also gets a special line for facing Medeus:

: Hmm? So… I am not the only dragon revived. I had heard you perished the last time. No matter; you’ve recovered even less of your power than me. This time, you have no chance!

Huh. Interesting.




I think the sequel outright contradicts this.



Thanks for the childhood, pal. Rest in peace.




And that’s all I’ve got.



That was Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. People don’t like it too much. It’s not hard to see why, the art is pretty awkwardly meshed with the 3D models. The plot doesn’t contain anything interesting. All the good writing seems tucked away in the Gaiden maps, which have ridiculously dumb requirements. There aren’t any real standout maps.

But I do like it. Even with all that, it’s still a fun Fire Emblem. The tactics and strategy are still there, you’ve got a wide cast of characters to use, and when the team is allowed to write new stuff, it seems to really hit. Reclassing and the many difficulties would return later in the series, with this game’s Hard 5 being a precursor to modern Lunatic. I won’t say Shadow Dragon is a good Fire Emblem, but I do think it’s a good game, and if you like the franchise or strategy games, it’s worth at least playing around with. I can firmly say that, after the joy of getting to finish FE12 again and the disappointment of Rune Factory, this is very much...in the middle.

And that’s okay. Thanks for reading.






















: Hmm. Well, this is odd.

: So...the time has finally come.

: What? Who goes there! Show yourself!

: You’ve kept me waiting.

: Reveal yourself! Free from the confines of age, I’ll whoop your ass right out of this afterlife, whippersnapper!

: Ha! You never change, do you?

: ...Oh my…

: It is my honor to see you again, Sir Jagen.

: Ha! Arran, my boy! We’ve got a lot of catching up to do! Say, this reminds me of a story…

: ...Sir Jagen, please-

: It was a few hours ago. I was dying, and I called Steve in to tell her a fantastic tale!


: This is not how I imagined this going.

: You see, it was many years ago…


Thank you all very much for reading. I’ve been LordHippoman, as always, and this was Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. I hope you enjoyed, and I’ll see you next time.

The End