Part 2: The Princess of Bern (feat. Cake Attack)
Chapter 2: The Princess of Bern (feat. Cake Attack)
This was where Roy was to meet the mercenaries that Eliwood had hired for him. Just to the east of the village, on the other side of the mountain, stood a small castle keeping watch of the border. When Roy arrived at the village, the castle was in a chaotic state. Little did he know that the turbulence in the castle was going to ripple out to reach the far corners of Elibe...
Y-Yes, Captain Miledy... I'm certain she was in her room this morning...
I've heard that enough times! What I want to know is where the princess is at this moment! Um...she's...er... We're almost going into head-on war with Lycia. What if something happens to the princess? Can you take responsibility? ... I knew I never should have let the princess go down to the border in the first place... I will return to Bern and inform the king about this matter. I'll try not to turn it into a panic, so you must find the princess as soon as possible! Understood? Yes, ma'am!
Yes, sir, we have her under constant monitoring in the dungeon level. Good. Don't let her escape. Sir...are you sure this is such a good idea? Don't worry! Look at all the enemies Bern has. The king's sister... We'll be sure to get a hefty reward by turning her in to one of our foes. ... Patriotism never got anyone anywhere. Don't you think we're better off finding ways to make quick cash? Yes, of course, sir. ...But, there is one little problem with that plan... What do you mean? I just received a report...it seems that Princess Guinevere's servant has escaped... What!? You fool, why didn't you say so earlier? Find her immediately! Don't let her get away!
This is where we're supposed meet the mercenary band?
Yes, though it seems they haven't arrived yet. Oh, wait, I can see someone running this way...
Oh, excuse me! I was in a hurry... No, don't worry about it. Are you all right? Yes, I'm fine... Thank you. Good, you're not hurt. Excuse me... You are from Lycia, are you not? Yes. I am Roy, son of the Marquess of Pherae. Oh... Dear God! I thank You for Your guidance! What? Please, could you help me rescue my mistress? What happened? My name is Ellen. My mistress and I were traveling to meet someone from the Lycia Alliance. But while we were passing through here, we fell into a trap and were captured by Rude, the lord of the castle to the east. Master Roy! We mustn't get into any unnecessary entanglements with Bern now! But we can't abandon a guest to the Alliance. Still, it wouldn't be smart to charge in carelessly, either...
Hey, guys, over here! Get the servant girl! Kill her if you have to! Oh, no...
I can only imagine Roy with the smuggest expression right now. "Sure Merlinus. But since they attacked us, it's fair game, right?"
Well, yeah. I mean, if someone attacks you and you’re holding a weapon, you have to retaliate. It’s, like, the law or something.
You won't pay heed of me now, will you? I suppose I can be witness to how much you have learned in Ostia. All right! We're taking down the castle on the border! Miss Ellen, you should hide... No, I will accompany you. I cannot fight, but I can heal wounded allies. Oh...but... I'm the one who got you tangled up in this mess. Please let me be of some help. Okay, but please don't strain yourself. Yes, thank you for your consideration.
While poor Wolt is being trampled by Bors' movement arrow, welcome to Chapter 2! It's a little bit of a step up from the first chapter, but nothing major. Soldiers have been thrown into the mix now, and we start seeing some Javelins and Hand Axes this map as well. Today's guest in the underlined text is Cake Attack.
The days before the extended tutorial arc. Times were tough.
Ellen is our first healer, though it probably won't surprise you to learn that she'll be completely outclassed before long. For now, she's quite useful since vulneraries are pretty damn expensive when you use them for all your healing.
Emphasis: Healer with One. Point. Of. Magic.
FE6 brings the dick moves right out of the gate.
First up, Marcus hits the village.
...I don't know what would have happened to this precious sword! I was really scared...
Yeah, sure. What a "precious" Armorslayer. With that out of the way, we start working on those soldiers in the south. Wolt kills one on his own, and Lance sets up Bors for the second.Hey, don’t underestimate Armorslayers. The effective bonus is 3x in FE6, so it’s almost more dangerous to wear armor here.
Alan kills the soldier.If you’re going to get good levels, than I hope at the very least that you never hit anything.
Thany, can you go check and see if the Pheraeans are looking for us?
Sure!
The Pherae family, one of the leaders of Lycia. The marquess' son is joining the Lycia Alliance Army.
So we're going up against Bern? That's what it looks like.
A worthy opponent! Time to show some skill, eh? Bern...this one's going to be tough. Better be careful.
...fighting somebody down there. What, a battle's already started? We'd better hurry!All right, some reinforcements of our own. Let's have a look:
Dieck, the "Oswin" of the game.
Lot and Ward, our balanced/traditional fighters.
Finally, Thany, our peg knight.
That is... a somewhat unfortunate portrait.
Is there something I’m missing, or is it just because it looks like she was halfway through a yawn when the picture was taken? Because that happens to the best of us.
I’m not seeing it either. God forbid someone actually smile in these games? It looks like she’s pulling a
.
Before getting to them, let's clean up this side of the map. Bors starts by attacking the soldier again. Can he do it?
Look at that, he's not completely useless. Wolt softens up the top fighter, and Roy comes in for the kill.
Even his crits aren't as cool as his father's.
It’s somehow more flourish-y and underwhelming. At least Eliwood saved the spinning until after the attack...
Lance hops in the fortress to kill one fighter, Alan moves down to attack the second, and Ellen heals up Wolt.
In the east, Lot kills the soldier with his hand axe, and Ward and Dieck hop in the fortresses. Thany hangs back out of range for now.
Marcus continues to make himself useful by stopping in the armory. I pick up 3 swords, 2 lances, 3 javelins, and a spare bow.
This guy decided to swap to his hand axe, so Wolt takes care of him.
I do not know what sorcery is at work here, but I'm sure as hell not complaining.
It’s possible the RNG gods were pleased by your previous sacrifice.
Or maybe all the levels in my LP are going to start sucking. I think that’s how the RNG works.
Oh, LP in-jokes.
I do a little swapping on the east side, so Ward moves back as Dieck takes his fortress and Lot jumps into Dieck's. Pretty much everyone without a ranged weapon suicides right into Dieck.
Pretty much FE6.txt right there.
Lot starts the next turn by smashing this guy's face in, and Ward follows up by almost killing the archer. The archer is fed to Thany, and Dieck kills the soldier.
Marcus also stops in to buy some vulneraries.
Ward takes a bit of a beating, so he comes back for healing. Thany gets in position to bait the mercenary, and Alan, Lance, and Lot make short work of the soldier and fighter.
A sparse, but acceptable level.
No, really though, this is getting unsettling.
Next, Roy has a chat with Dieck.
Who are you? I'm Dieck. I think you've heard the news from an old guy called Merlinus. So you're the leader of the mercenary band? It's just a little group, really. Sorry we're late, I didn't think you guys would already be in battle. We've had some issues... Hey, don't worry about it. Actually, everyone's all excited 'cause they can show off their skills already. Thank you. That's encouraging to hear. All right then, let's get this over with, shall we?
Something interesting about the way Merlinus works in this game is that he has his own proper inventory, so he can access the storage and then turn around and trade it off that turn. In this case, he passes an Iron Sword to Roy.
That sounds a bit superfluous. Although I guess he can heal himself and stuff now?
To be more precise, the benefit is that Merlinus himself can extract and trade whatever he wants on his turn as well as other units being able to. So if Roy were to break his rapier attacking someone, I could have Merlinus run up and give him a sword and he would have another weapon that turn. It’s not really that useful, but it’s there. And yes, he can heal himself, use stat boosters, or whatever else you can do with a regular inventory.
Lance misses the mercenary with his javelin, so Alan does the honors and Thany takes the kill again.
These last couple guys won't move (unless they detect a kill, as Thany found out from the archer on my practice run), so we'll take the fight to them. Lot moves up first, but misses the fighter with his hand axe.
I hate it when the AI is programmed to do that. Does the random soldier really think he’s going to be a hero for breaking formation to kill one whole enemy? Getting mad about realism in FE here folks.
Oh for fuck's-
Ah, there it is.
And we’re back!
Lot gets an alright level killing the archer.
Rude has a javelin, but otherwise isn't very notable. Ward comes with a hammer, so let's put it to use, shall we?
Just when I thought luck was with me...
It takes a couple tries (no thanks to that 39 hit rate), but Ward eventually lands the hit. Roy comes in to finish the chapter.
There's the Roy I know
We found a lady trapped in the basement! That must be Ellen's mistress. Let her pass. Yes.
Ellen! Oh, were you all right? I never thought you would do such a brave thing for me... You had me worried, Ellen. I wanted to rescue you no matter what...so... It's all right, Ellen. Thanks to you, I am safe.
I am Roy, son of Eliwood, the Marquess of Pherae. Yes. And I am... Your Highness, are you sure...? It's all right, Ellen. My name is Guinevere. Guinevere!? Impossible! That's the princess of Bern!Roy doesn’t seem to understand the idea of people having the same name.
Roy just knows he’s in a Fire Emblem game. After all, despite there being at least 5 different worlds, there’s only one “Steve” across all of them.
Indeed, that is who I am. What! Do you plan on attacking us now!? Merlinus, wait a second. I beg your pardon, Master Roy, but... I want to speak with her in private. Can you give us some time alone? Hmph, if Master Roy says so...
Yes. Although, I understand if you don't believe me... Even if you are not the princess of Bern, I can tell from your appearance that you are certainly someone of high birth. But...if you really are Princess Guinevere, there's one thing that doesn't make sense. Miss Ellen told me that you intended to meet someone from the Lycia Alliance. Yes, that is correct. Why, if you are the princess of Bern? I want to find a peaceful way to end this war... I figured that if I could speak with someone from Lycia, I would find a solution. Your brother started this war. Is it in your power to stop it? I certainly wish to stop it. ...No, it must be stopped. ...I see. Very well, I will escort you to the Lycia Alliance Army. We will meet with Lord Hector and see what he thinks about this matter. Honestly...will you take me? Yes. If there is a possibility to avoid bloodshed and end this war, then I believe that we must try it, no matter how small the chance. Thank you! Thank you...truly.-----
Level 1 Transporter
Affinity - Dark
HP: 15 (100%)
Strength: 0 (0%)
Skill: 3 (50%)
Speed: 3 (50%)
Luck: 10 (100%)
Defense: 3 (20%)
Resistance: 0 (5%)
Con: 25
Merlinus more or less serves the exact same purpose as he did in FE7, which means he's there to store all your shit. The main differences between 6 and 7 are that not only does he take up a dispatchment slot here, he also doesn't get experience from surviving chapters. If you want him to level up, you're going to have to do it 1 exp at a time. The flipside of this is that unlike in 7 where you had to bring him to use his tent, you can always send things to Merlinus in this game. You can't get stuff out if he's not deployed, but barring things like an emergency vulnerary or a promotion item, you really shouldn't need to, so that's not that much of a downside. Let him sit on the bench, he's earned it after the shit he went through in FE7.
Ah, so it’s not so much that he does superfluous things, but rather that he himself is basically superfluous.
Level 2 Cleric
Staves - D, Affinity - Wind
HP: 16 (45%)
Magic: 1 (50%)
Skill: 6 (30%)
Speed: 8 (20%)
Luck: 8 (70%)
Defense: 0 (5%)
Resistance: 6 (60%)
Con: 4
Ellen is an alright healer, in that she has an acceptable magic growth and starts with access to Mend staves, but pretty much anything beyond that is atrocious. She has a pretty good speed base and her luck growth is through the fucking roof, but she has terrible HP, will likely end the game having picked up a single point of defense through leveling, and her terrible speed growth means that while she starts off dodgy enough, she'll get outpaced very quickly on the hit/evade scale. Use her until you get a replacement, but dump her as soon as you can.
Level 5 Mercenary
Swords - C, Affinity - Thunder
HP: 26 (90%)
Strength: 9 (40%)
Skill: 12 (40%)
Speed: 10 (30%)
Luck: 5 (35%)
Defense: 6 (20%)
Resistance: 1 (15%)
Con: 13
Dieck is a case of relatively poor growths being outweighed by fantastic bases. His speed may suffer a little bit, but his ridiculous constitution means he can wield basically any sword without issues, and combined with his high skill, he's basically tailor-made for using axes after promotion. There's not really much else to say, he comes in as a fantastic unit, and he'll probably end up somewhere between good and great by endgame.
Dieck is probably my favorite character in the game. I mean, look at those goddamn bases. His growths aren’t great, but I’ve never really had them hurt him either.He’s basically Oswin. Remember his amazing growths? I sure hope not, because his were pretty awful too.
Level 1 Pegasus Knight
Lances - D, Affinity - Wind
HP: 17 (45%)
Strength: 4 (30%)
Skill: 6 (55%)
Speed: 12 (60%)
Luck: 5 (60%)
Defense: 6 (10%)
Resistance: 5 (25%)
Con: 4
Thany is what happens if you had gotten Fiora in the beginning of FE7 instead of Florina. Her strength base is low, and her growth isn't much better, but her sheer utility will keep her on the team unless she gets really screwed. Her low HP means she has to tread really carefully at first, but in time you'll be able to throw her at fighters and laugh because even with the weapon triangle advantage, they have a whole 25% hit chance, and that's before promotion. Of course, much like Florina, her sisters are technically better units (or at least more balanced), but assuming she sees regular use, she'll have established herself by the time they join.
Thany is one of those characters I like more than they probably deserve. She always seems to end up average or above average for me.
Level 3 Fighter
Axes - D, Affinity - Anima
HP: 29 (80%)
Strength: 7 (30%)
Skill: 6 (30%)
Speed: 7 (35%)
Luck: 2 (30%)
Defense: 4 (40%)
Resistance: 1 (15%)
Con: 12
At first glance, Lot is merely the Dorcas to Ward's Bartre, but he has really strange growths for a fighter. He's actually much closer to the role Lowen served in FE7, though his bases aren't nearly as well-appropriated for that. He'll serve as an alright tank, but he's a pretty mediocre fighter, so stick with Ward if that's what you're looking for.
Level 2 Fighter
Axes - D, Affinity - Fire
HP: 28 (75%)
Strength: 8 (50%)
Skill: 3 (45%)
Speed: 5 (20%)
Luck: 4 (45%)
Defense: 3 (30%)
Resistance: 0 (5%)
Con: 13
Ward is a more traditional fighter, but that doesn't mean he's a better one. That speed growth is going to haunt him, especially considering his lower speed base, but he's much better suited to the fighter's role of "Hit something really fucking hard." The problem is that no matter how you spin it, Dieck is generally better at that job than both Ward and Lot, and he has much better speed and skill than either of them. Use him if you absolutely have to have a fighter, but Lot might actually be a better unit, and neither of them are particularly good fighters.
You know how there are some characters you never use, no matter how many time you play a Fire Emblem? Lot and Ward are those characters for me. I’m just not a fan of what either has to offer, especially while they’re being completely overshadowed by Dieck. Still, I have to laugh at how much Fire Emblem recycles characters archtypes. We totally didn’t just recruit Ogma, Bord and Cord, no sir.
Guinevere official art.