#lirin foe

[im-tired1124]

The pms induced depression and art block is working its way ‘round the bend now all I can do is crochet in the basement, so have the artfight profiles of only 3 of my children because apparently I haven’t posted them yet. Lirin has one too but apparently I don’t have the finished drawings saved on my phones sooooooooo yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaah.

Edit: Okay, Here’s Lirin’s pfp

[black-water-simping-ships]

Stormlight Archive and the unequal conflict

(i’m on a reread, mid-WoR now, so my memories of Ob and my perspective on RoW are a bit...stale)

ok so the hypocrisy and unequal values got to me yesterday again. branderson makes his antagonists into “this is Chancellor Hellfire, in his society all are treated equal but he eats infants for breakfast so he needs to be stopped” and that is why we our morality must always be skewed towards the protagonists

in sla he does get around to calling himself out, mostly by kaladin arguing with syl whether killing the listeners is o.k. but killing amaram or elhokar is bad but like, it gets nowhere? there are like...3 or 4 points where this inequal morality pops up and all of them piss me off so much lmao:

- the elhokar, moash, dalinar point: imo elhokar sucks and moash was justified in killing him. branderson has a hard-on for royalty (as seen in mistborn era one which is a burning landfill in that regard i hate it so much) but elhokar proves off- and onscreen that he’s not a good ruler. yeah, by the end of OB he was about to become a radiant and moash killed that potential but...Your Actions Have Consequences and i can’t fault moash for killing him! i just! can’t! perhaps his future better actions would’ve eventually balanced the ledger but it’s not that awful that he died the circumstances and moash’s further blackening in RoW of course, again, make us less sympathetic for moash. “this man has good points about an incompetent, mediocre, unsuited for his position person but he’s allied with evil incarnate so all his arguments are automatically invalid”. way to make a nuanced argument and dalinar. where to begin? walks all over elhokar, calls the shots, and blatant amounts of hypocrisy - though he does call himself out. oh and i am still pissed about him forcefully bonding the stormfather haha

- lirin idk he just annoys me at this point, possibly because he just refuses to see another person’s perspective? ...wait, i know who he reminds me of, he just has less of a spine lmao i’m not saying who though or i’d get torn to shreds

- pre-RoW i would’ve made a point about szeth here but honestly, at this point he’s just spinning the wheel of his soul and doing whatever the arrow lands on. godspeed, idiot

- nale. complete dick by abiding to the law, also allied with odium, also a bad look even though his argument of “this is the singer’s planet” is a decent one

- taravangian. god do i understand his perspective so much, yet this is also invalidated by him bleeding people out what the fuck not to mention starting wars

- singers, listeners and all the jam: this is the last point because it’s also the biggest point and where the crux of the issue lies all the spren allying with humans and not with singers is a fucking betrayal. there. i don’t think this si very fleshed out yet? what set off the conflict? likely odium had its hand in there. but the humans fucked up their planet, right, and migrated to roshar, the planet of the singers, who then allied with odium to, likely, stop the humans from fucking up everything and taking their land because let’s be honest, that is what we always do and by allying with a force called Literally Evil, the fused’s arguments are invalid and they are evil and they must be stopped. several thousand years are several thousand years and the rosharan humans have a right to live. yet the fused were alive at that point when it all started and that would make for a more interesting conflict yet it’s good vs bad, Honour & Cultivation vs Hatred the argument isn’t helped in that the fused we see are a) the pursuer, a fucking asshole b) raboniel, a ruthless scientist absolutely down with genocide yet made sympathetic through her willingness to cooperate with a human and c) leshwi, a honourable warrior who is also sympathetic to humans. raboniel, leshwi and venli end up breaking from odium in various ways, which denotes them as the “good” listeners/fused and, like, the humans lobotomized most of the singers and then enslaved their entire race? also not a good look. are the un-lobotomized parshmen entitled to payback? they’re the descendants of descendants against the descendants of descendants, where do you draw the line and even odium’s rhythms are named along bad lines i just. this is so heavy handed

i think my point here is that honour (humans) vs cultivation (singers) would make for a better, more nuanced conflict. you can have odium exaggerating it and fanning the flames by manipulating fringe groups on both sides and end up with the humans and singers allying against a common foe, an equally transspecies army led by odium. but right now the fused are Bad and the radiants are Good and that makes the entire conflict a bit...too clean-cut

[seiten-taisei]

Saiyuki Reload Blast Anime: Information for new and returning fans

Greetings everyone!

So as we know Saiyuki Reload Blast is being animated around July, and we are very excited!

Since I know there will be new and returning fans, I wanted to bring to light some information about this wonderful series. Beware, this is a long post!

---

MANGA

Saiyuki is a manga written and drawn by a woman who goes by the name Kazuya Minekura. The series became officially published in 1997 and has been running ever since. Saiyuki is composed of many manga and a few spin offs:

MAIN SERIES

Saiyuki - The beginning of the series, 9 volumes Saiyuki Reload - The second series, a direct continuation, 10 volumes Saiyuki Reload Blast - Third and final series, currently ongoing, 3 volumes

PREQUELS

Saiyuki Gaiden - Set 500 years before the main series, 4 volumes Saiyuki Ibun - Set before the main series, tells the story of Sanzo’s master

---

ANIMATED ADAPTIONS

Saiyuki is interesting as it has many animated adaptions. This is a source of enjoyment but also frustration as this means none of the art styles are consistent as they are mostly done by different studios or changed character designs. The anime are also plagued with fillers. 

TV SERIES

Gensomaden Saiyuki (2000) Saiyuki Reload/Saiyuki Gunlock (2003) Saiyuki Reload Blast (2017)

MOVIES

Saiyuki Requiem

OVAS (in order of release)

Saiyuki Premium Saiyuki Burial Saiyuki Gaiden

This post has some information on finding places to read the manga and watch the Anime.

---

Now for the main reason for this post. 

Saiyuki Reload Blast will more than likely start at the beginning of the third and final series which means it may be confusing for new fans or ones who haven’t read the series in awhile. Platinum Vision may put in some flashbacks to explain characters that have long since been established, but I’m hoping to give you as much information without being too long of a read as possible.

Because of spoilers for all series I will put it behind a ‘read more’ cut.

SAIYUKI GAIDEN

The story begins in Saiyuki Gaiden. It’s not quite necessary to read, but it’s a very good series that is very emotional. Long story short, Gaiden is about the crime a young Goku committed 500 years ago that got him imprisoned. 

Goku, after watching his best friend Nataku, a war god, die before his eyes, transformed into the terrifying creature known as Seiten Taisei. He slaughtered many gods. His friends, the original forms of Sanzo, Gojyo, and Hakkai, attempted to save him. However they all met an untimely end leading Goku into despair. A merciful Goddess named Kanzeon Bosatsu sealed his memories and imprisoned him in a mountain for 500 years.

SAIYUKI

Skip forward 500 years, we meet Sanzo, Gojyo and Hakkai who all have very traumatic pasts. Sanzo frees Goku from his prison and a few years later the group gather together and are order by 3 gods to stop the resurrection of the demon king.

Along their long journey they meet many people; some good, some bad. One important rival is Kougaiji, the Demon King’s son, and his faithful team; his sister Lirin, his apothecary Yaone, and Dokugakuji, his loyal warrior and Gojyo’s older brother.

The team runs into another fearsome foe known as Kami Sama. Sent by a doctor who works for the Demon King named Ni Jianyi, Kami Sama completely battered Sanzo’s group and took Sanzo’s sutra, the source of his heavenly power. 

After regrouping, the team finally began to work together instead of bickering, a sign of their growth. A fierce battle ensued and the Sanzo ikkou were victorious, taking back Sanzo’s scroll and continuing their journey.

SAIYUKI RELOAD

The series continues on in Saiyuki Reload. Similar to the first series the guys run into enemies and help villages they visit. Two characters they encounter are Hazel, a priest from the west, and his bodyguard, Gat. Similar to Kami Sama, they are influenced by Doctor Ni and they follow the group.

An event happens that causes Sanzo to spiral into a rage that echos a traumatic incident that happened in his youth. This makes him to leave the group and go with Hazel.

Eventually Sanzo runs into the man who has been causing the group so much trouble, Ni Jianyi, also known as Sanzo Ukoku who is a priest that uses a sutra similar to our hero.

Sanzo is throttled, his friends come to aid him but are also beaten down. Hazel, who loses someone precious, attacks his former mentor Ukoku but is badly injured and presumed dead. Taking advantage of the situation, Sanzo manages to blind the deranged Ukoku and the man flees, leaving the group shaken.

SAIYUKI RELOAD BLAST

The new anime will pick up here, so there shouldn’t be a need to write up a summary of events. 

---

I would highly recommend reading the manga to get up to speed. The anime are fun to watch but they are full of fillers and gecko endings. In particular, many fans did not like the outcome of Saiyuki Gunlock’s adaptation of even a worm, the arc when Hazel appears as it:

Does not include Sanzo’s fight with the Youkai

Human’s mistreatment of Youkai

Goku nearly dying by the hands of Ukoku

Seiten Taisei fighting Youkai Hakkai

The Oasis Youkai

Sanzo tormented by the hands of Ukoku

Proper characterization and back story for Hazel and Gat

Dr. Ni’s reveal of being Ukoku Sanzo

And much more

Gensomaden Saiyuki has an entire filler arc surrounding the events caused by a War God named Homura which is somewhat canonical, but can be skipped. Many consider it a pretty decent contribution to the series as the characters were fleshed out.

Another reason to read the manga is because it focuses a lot more on character growth than the anime does which tends to stick the Sanzo Ikkou with the same character traits when, in reality, they have all grown little by little over the journey.

Goku especially goes through some major changes, especially through Reload which was not adapted into the Anime. Because of this, he’s always portrayed as overly naive, hungry, and a muscle head. He’s actually become a much deeper and mature character and I desperately hope Saiyuki Reload Blast properly shows this.

I hope this was informative! To new fans I welcome you to our fandom! We love meeting new people and watching the community grow. Saiyuki is an amazing series and we love it. To returning fans, welcome back! 

If you have any questions or just want a place to chat about Saiyuki, we have a discord chat where you can meet with other fans! If you prefer lurking that is totally fine too!

[elkian]

chapter 23

“lol elk you’re a bit behind did you forget-” no. this chapter fucking murdered me.

First thing’s first

Ivan is a cheating cheater who cheats, so he has a crit rate at range with the shadow sword, which in theory is not supposed to be possible. I found this out 20+ turns in to this 24-turn map.

THINGS I’VE CHANGED:

I tried to train some of my lower units (Itsuke, Yue, Arthur, and Rex; Lirin to an extent) on my previous attempts. I will not do that. I am bringing Team Steamroll because I need someone who has a fucking chance to hit the boss.

re: having chance to hit the boss: I cheaped out on weaponry last attempt, and what few attacks could hit couldn’t finish him and he would murder anyone on a counter.

What do these four shots have in common?

...

These are my only units with 20+ Skill. I have 33 Units - including a number of Prepromotes - and a grand total of 4 of them have 20 or more Skill.

I’ve said it before on previous chapters, but this playthrough more than anything burned into my brain that, at the very least, Skill is not a dump stat when you don’t have enough of it.

With his paltry Defense but excellent Luck, Anakin had the least chance of being critted to death but could barely survive a regular hit. And a 4% chance to lose a Plot Character is officially Too Damn High.

Levion will be my Tactical Nuke of choice this run. Not only does he have the best Skill of most of my army, he has the defenses to tank return fire and enough Con to keep his Speed above being doubled, not to mention access to Lances.

While I was in here - and I need to clear some Inventory space for this and the next stage - I realized there’s no reason not to promote Kelik. He’s capped, Anakin’s promoted, Shon’s going to promote this run, and Sieg can’t use it.

Note that Kelik cannot go head to head with Ivan either. I’m not really sure what Blazer was thinking - Shon’s promotion gains are far better (though that might be a slight on Shon, since he needs all the help he can get).

Oh, and his official titel is...

Suuuuuure, Blazer. Sure.

Actually, he has a support with Althares and Levion, so it may be worth bringing him next attempt.

Anyways. Upon actually checking the numbers, trying to Dodge Ivan is nigh-impossible, which is a useful consideration.

I’ve replaced Yue, Itsuke, Arthur, and Rex with Levion, Inanna, Tamiko, and Ace.

Yes. Inanna. Why?

Because Triangle Attack if Levion can’t nuke Ivan in time is why.

Alice is an absolutely amazing Prepromote and comes equipped with an Elixir, Silver Lance, and Wind Sword(40 charges!). She doesn’t take up a deployment slot nor require inane recruitment shenanigans to start. One of my few regrets on this level was not requipping her better so that she didn’t need to keep using Wind Sword charges.

Oh, and I have a save file from my failed previous attempt if anyone wants to figure out how to kill Ivan with 4 turns to go and a passel of units that would melt if he looked at them wrong.

I just noticed that Inanna and Alice are the same level. After being fed like 3(?) Angelic Robes, Inanna is +6HP, -4 Skl, +1Spd, -6Lck, -3Def, and +1Res. Ouch.

Some inventory management. One of my BIGGEST regrets on my last attempt was only bringing the Armor Cutter and then the person wielding it always being in the wrong spot.

Oh yeah, I promoted Mark. He and his shiny new stats look super sweet. He’s a few points up on Liquid, who was my first pick for this level.

If I have to repick, I’ll probably trade out the pegs for Eduardo and Liquid, or possibly Shadow there.

OH

YEAH

THAT

An important consideration for Shon’s (absurdly heavy) super-special sword is that the Brave Effect takes place before enemy counterattacks. And he caps for-

-oh god, this is going to be one of THOSE runs isn’t it.

Anyways, Shon fulfills his Destiny(TM). Something I realized is that his sprite looks oddly probably because it’s a recolored Eliwood sprite. That hair in particular.

Again, the stat gains! +2 minimum in everything but luck, +3 and +5 to Def and HP respectively. Did Blazer use standard gains for Kelik and not Shon, or the other way around?

I recommend following along Blastinus’ LP, btw, since I’m very tired and not going to go over every detail, especially inventory management.

I’m more careful re: positioning, so the steel Lance cav closest attacks Inanna (miss)  and this mage attacks Mark. I’m kinda surprised he managed that counter, to be honest. No one else is in reach.

And here we have the True Boss of the map. This Bishop is equipped only with Physic, and is bound and determined to make your life a living hell.

:( even with Effective Weaponry Karina cannot 1-shot this cav. She and Innana do not have Delphi shields, so I need to be sure to knock out that archer before proceeding. (Archer is also in the outmost range of the hand axe Fighter nearby).

Lirin eats the Steel Lance Cav that attacked Inanna. 

On one hand, I’m enthused that she can almost double this archer to death. On the other, I’m sad she can’t double this archer to death. Also, 33 HP feels like a lot even for a level 16 Archer.

I always forget about Berserker crit rates

Everyone piles on the Steel Sword Cav, the last living foe in range. Sieg was doing this on my last attempt, too, as if to taunt me.

I was wrong, Karina’s in range of the Fire mage and a Javelin Cav to the north. Ace runs up to switch her to Javelins.

Anakin refreshes Tamiko and she takes out the Axereaver Soldier through the wall.

Dream big, buddy, dream big. (She crits them immediately)

And again! Crit on the second hit.

This is important: this is the range of the Bloody Rifle Sniper. I’d forgotten that Bloody Rifles are Killer Longbows.

Also, you can see that the jav cav stayed put since the mage moved first (and missed on 70+%. glad it’s not just me.)

Parking Mark on that hill just out of BR range leads to some unexpected hilarity and an excellent level.

This Fighter makes some questionable choices, though I will say I think this is the first time Alice took a hit on any of my attempts.

Jav Cav runs into melee range and joins the ranks of mooks who failed to hit Tamiko. The level’s a bit meh but she’s already incredible.

Lyam managed, across two turns, a pair of BR hits vs the stationary soldier indoors. I guess the first hit didn’t bring their health low enough to proc the Bishop.

Anakin Motivates Mark and gets this timely, if not exactly impactful, level.

Why did he refresh Mark, you may ask?

this is why. GET BENT.

By coincidence (Mark) and design (Shon), this plants my dudes right out of mage range. I will walk someone in there in a second though.

By luck I manage to Rescue-chain Althares to just below that zone, with Alice and Emma and no real wasted movement.

That Knight has the Brave Lance, btw, so be sure to keep them switched to the Javelin til you can kill them.

oop. Forgot that indoor Knight had a Jav too.

OH. THIS MAGE HAD ELFIRE. THAT’S RIGHT.

Karina misses but doubles since Elfire is heavy, and gets a timely level.

This troubadour is bugged or something - this is the second attempt in a row they’ve run up to a wounded ally and done nothing.

Of course it’s the redundant (Knight Levion just damaged) that you get a crit on. Still better than Storm.

Mark and Shon team up to kill the Knight (Shon has a free inventory slot and I don’t want the Brave Lance ending up with Liuke) and Karina takes Lirin’s Delphi Shield and soars up to switch Shon back to javelins.

Honestly one of the biggest crimes of this level is there’s no chance Liuke will be mobile, so if you mess up on inventory management sweet, useful loot will drop and have nowhere to go. There’s no shortcut back to him - it’s turn 6 and we’re just now in sight of the door.

that lower Mage has Dasher, which apparently has an animation in other versions of this Hack, but not this one.

Probably the smartest move in terms of survivability. Shon’s high Luck negates the Short Bow crit.

jeeeeez-us. Shon doubles the Dasher mage to death for a decent level whilst I contemplate how close we came to a reset here.

Aircalibur mage. The tome is fittingly as light as air, so they can put their full 11 speed to work fwiw. I will not be parking Karina in range.

That Fighter has a Steel Axe and the Sage has Thunder. Tread careful.

Mark dispatches the archer for this dodgy level.

It’s a good idea, on a map like this, to manually end each unit’s turn. For example, while paging through Units, I’d totally forgotten Anakin to the south. That would have been a pain to make up for. Instead he runs up to refresh Lyam for giggles.

Althares is on a House so he has some terrain advantages. Kinda wishing I’d brought his promotional now. Ah well.

Oh and I lied. I put the Short Bow (remember, Blazer hacked it to have 1-2 range) on Lyam and put him on the forest in front of the Fighter just to see, and he ends up melting the AC mage for no damage himself.

I actually got a crit on this potshot on the next turn only to realize that wasn’t the Sage and to reset. Sage does not get hit and I reset again because that was for actual joaks. I have no idea with the Bloody Rifle, honestly.

7 turns in to a 24-turn level and we are just now in sight of the door. A thief is about to spawn btw. The Door Key Knight and Chest Key Mage are buggy - the Knight will unlock the door, while the Mage will step on, but not open, the upper-leftmost chest, which is the first one the thief can reach. It can be pretty hilarious actually.

God. Even Sieg’s super-special effective sword isn’t enough to keep his ass intact. We don’t do this. instead, every non-magic-proof ally moves up to just out of range and every magic-proof one walks in.

Almost forgot to finish this joker off.

All the enemies on this level are high enough that low-promos can get decent chunks off them. I’d complain, but honestly I’m okay with these stats.

Every single JaveKnight goes for Lyam. He crits one, fells none, and doesn’t get hit once.

Lirin, meanwhile-

OH SHIT HE’S FAST ENOUGH TO DOUBLE

Yeah, I did not brain that good. Thankfully her Luck-Res-HP are all high enough to keep her in one piece.

Crunch the numbers, kids. Don’t end up with dead ponies.

Tamiko restore Lirin to full and she annihilates the Sage for a decent level. Wish she’d had that strength before - she could only do 14 with an Iron lance so I gambled on Steel instead.

Cia incinerates a remaining Knight for her first Sage level. Outstanding.

I doofed up and had Cia end turn after refreshing her so Levion and Lyam step into Hero-Merc range

Ow. Also, wishing I’d brought a sword for him after all. Didn’t use it at all last attempt. Guess I could have trade-scummed it.

It’s a good thing none of them can double him. He can’t double back, though (Cia can). He misses the Hero, too.

Shon smacks the Hero down and snags the Angelic Robe from them.

Lyam notches the Steel Sword Merc for a level I have no right to complain about.

Liring and Innana finish off the Mercs; Emma and Althares dash for the left side treasure. I come to the realization that Emma could very likely solo the entire left side, since the Mage drops the Chest Key. I want to try grabbing the Lockpicks this time, though, so Althares joins her.

Okay, solo is an exaggeration but not by that much. Also, dammit, I should have kept her at the edge of range. Ah well, Javelin drop is good too.

...well okay then (that’s the Emblem Axe btw)

I’ll take it!

The chest key Mage steps down to fail at hitting Althares, but the Thief still goes right. Maybe the Mage isn’t meant to move.

Althares, with Anakin’s help, steals both Lockpicks and Dracoshield. Howard kills the mage (needing a steel sword for it too) and Emma obligingly melts the thief for an odd-for-her but very welcome level.

Right side needs to be cautious. I don’t think it’s an accident that this Cappricio-wielding General is right in range of that cracked wall. The Shaman just has Flux, but that Physic Bishop is right there. That Warrior at the bottom is carrying a silver axe, too.

Yowch. Alice and the Shaman both land a hit, Alice whiffs the second.

Althares grabs the Earth Master Animate Seal and the squad swings back around.

Levion gives no fucks about your critty lance, though I actually sit him on a pillar instead.

Enemy phase, everyone misses.

not Levion, though.

Honestly, having this guy out of my hair is well worth the Silver Axe uses.

Innana and Lyam knock down the wall and Mark has better odds with Iron. He gets up to 98 EXP too.

Ace and Levion finish off the General for a surprisingly decent level.

Thanks to some trade shenanigans, Alice pops the chest. I decide to send the Axe on since Levion is about the only person who has a chance landing a hit on the boss with WTA

ACE IS BA-

-ck?

Halberdier with Drizzle

Archer with Steel and Longbows

I really wish Anakin had a prestige class of some kind. His high utility means he earns EXP super fast - ten per phase just from Motivating - and he’ll ram 20 sooner than later.

Innana and Lirin kill the Archer and Alice grabs a Bloody Rifle from the chest.

Levion and Mark move into Drizzle range- thanks to WTA Mark can just scrape by not getting critted to death and Tamiko heals Lirin for a decent level

times like these I really wish I had the Heavy Lance. I keep forgetting to trade the Armor cutter off Howard too - all the armored units have Lances so I keep forgetting.

OH SH-

THANK GOD

Mark initiates The Slaughter and gets a great level for it.

Drizzle’s low hit (Ace’s on a pillar) means that no one has gotten hit yet, thank god.

Inanna finishes the job and gets a level.

Yup. That sure is a level.

We don’t start the final offensive just yet, but I check the numbers of Swordslayer vs Swordmaster and conclude that I love Levion.

One of the biggest problems I had in my last attempt is that no one had the HP to tank a crit from that damn thing. Levion can take a crit, as well as a single Silver Sword Crit I believe and the double.

Also, I can’t tell if this is deliberate or a coding bug/fail, but unlike other ranged swords the Shadow Sword uses Strength at both ranges and can crit at both ranges. Don’t get crit if you can help it.

Althares opens the leftmost door and Karina snags this, sending the now-redundant Delphi Shield back to the convoy. Be absolutely sure you have space before you play this level. The next one gives you a ton of shopportunities too.

Alice and Lyam take down the Shaman. What does it say when it takes two prepromotes to kill an unpromoted enemy, I wonder?

Oh, btw.

Ace can double a swordmaster.

we won’t be doing this (jfc that crit) but still.

It takes Howard (2 misses with the Emblem Axe) Sieg and Cia to kill the true boss of the level.

NOW we can start on Ivan.

Bad: Ivan doubles and hits twice while Levion misses.

Good: He doesn’t crit and has switched off of distance attacks. I forgot about plinking.

Althares grabs the last item - an Eclipse tome - leaving boss and throne all that’s left undone.

Even with his Accuracy woes, Ace whips out two Javelin hits. I love you, Ace.

just for chuckles, I let Howard take a shot with the Killer Lance. No one dies and he doesn’t hit.

I move Anakin up for Motivating Ace before having second thoughts.

Remember what I said about Light Magic being a good finisher due to its high accuracy?

No one dies, but he makes both hits.

Oh. Huh.

I’ll take it.

And this chapter is FUCKING FINISHED. I have so many regrets, largely due to making bad starting choices and not knowing how to finish. I probably didn’t need to steam roll it this hard, but Aside from some scares no one was actually at risk of death at any point. And there’s an arena next map for actual training and purchasing purposes.

Night all.

(if you have interest in my failed attempt, it’s a private post over here)

[im-tired1124]

A quick PSA from your good friend, Ān Lirin :)

I feel like this is a good time to inform everyone that Syrephans are, in fact, highly venomous and have retractable fangs. The more you know 💫

[im-tired1124]

So uh…

This is Lirin

He’s one of the main characters of my soon-to-be webcomic (I’ve been working on the first page on and off for two weeks. I hate drawing trees omg)

Not much to say about him rn since I don’t want to spoil much, but he’s the main gang’s navigator, cheerleader, and court mandated Disney princess (this is a joke, please don’t take it too seriously). Also despite having a pretty bad case of generalized anxiety he is, surprisingly, very extroverted and friendly, sometimes to his own detriment.

The other 5 should be coming soon.

Disclaimer: the fictional societies in FoE are loosely based on various different cultures around the world, both ancient and modern (I.E Tibet, Ancient Greece, India, Ancient Mesoamerica, etc.) and do not entirely aim for accuracy and authenticity. However, I do care about not misrepresenting aspects of certain cultures or offending people. I’m trying to do as much research as I can, however I’m a one-man-band who is bound to get things wrong at times. So of people from or who are more familiar than I am with these cultures, please feel free to tell me if I’ve messed something up, and tell me how I can do better. Just please don’t yell at me.

[elkian]

Chapter 18: Holy shit suddenly we’re in the not-endgame

the thing about that sidequest is that what little build up to this end-of-Part-1 kind of deal there was is completely obliterated. The sidequest probably should have been placed after chapter 15 or 16, really, or even before that.

(also, the Inuyasha main BGM is playing during this, it’s interesting, and not entirely inappropriate)

I will say that Blazer’s sense of gameplay and gameplay lead-up (especially in when you can gain items) is pretty good, though.

Also, Here’s the more completionist LP by Blastinus if you like more detail

there is a metric buttload of foes on the field, though thankfully they’re mostly sporting E and D rank weaponry; some of the archers have Long or Short Bows, there’s a cav with a Cappricio (the low-hit crit lance) up top, and a knight with a Short Spear, but other than that it’s fairly generic.

We’ll be bringing Cia for plot reasons; speaking of which, those levels last chapter will serve Anakin well, since he’s due for a Plot Promotion at the end of this chapter. One nice thing is that if your Anakin didn’t turn out really combat-viable, you can still grind him up to level 20 by Motivating people.

Considering I’m fielding 16 units, another healer probably would have been a good idea. Especially when Corben can’t outdamage our Archer.

...man, Lirin’s doing the same fucking damage with a SLIM LANCE

i have her take down the archer instead, and her first hit is a crit. Beautiful.

there’s a Sage with Thunder and 2x the magic of most of the mages in the middle of the map, lest you get complacent

Shon lands 4 of 4 shots at 86% and only gets hit once. I’m kind of proud!

Ehh, still kind of proud. I’ve been so starved for Skill levels that this is fine with me.

the Knight in range of Emma decided to loop around to take a potshot at the now-healed Shuuda. Whatever.

now we’re talking. Shuuda went from being equal to venom blades with steel to outdamaging Steel with Iron. It’s all in your foe.

in both of my attempts as well as Blastinus’ LP, this Allied Merc is just invincible. They dodge two attacks entirely and take about 2 damage from the third attacker.

that upper Cavalier on the left moves before the mage, saving Corben some burning - there’s no space to attack from now. And that Cav didn’t have a ranged option.

the generics were going to kill a sniper, so cia runs over the finish them for....

anyways

starting to regret not training Tekun. We break out the Lancereaver instead (and I really should have grabbed the Armorcutter earlier)

a) Mark can double this poor sod

b) look at the fucking size difference, it’s like they were built on different scales

idk it’s just jarring.

I possibly-foolishly free up the chokepoint in front of Corben for a pretty okay level.

I have no idea why you are so hell-bent on gaining resistance, but I will not argue.

Also, the sheer amount of Skill makes me so happy.

Supporting Ace with both Eduardo and Anakin may work out well, since it means he either has a high-Move decent frontliner watching his back, or that our squishy mage of a protagonist has a physical unit nearby

Also, Eduardo is getting better Hit with WTD and Steel thanks to Javelins being heavy and the support. And just Ed being Ed.

Refresh Units+Healers is always a great combo, and this is an astounding level.

good thing Ed has so much HP, cause he can’t dodge worth squat at the moment

ow. Mark missing both counterattacks is also an Ow moment.

it takes something like 7 collective attacks, but dodgy Merc is brought down.

Ace’s high luck and HP makes this viable. Good thing, too, cause he takes the hit.

Tekun kills the Knight for an okay level.

i don’t know whether to be mad he didn’t crit or glad he landed both hits

i leave Emma in kind of a bad spot, and she gets a level to help mitigate my fears (she’s carrying the Guiding Celestial Ring but I didn’t think to throw her a Fire tome)

this cav rides over to... deal her No Damage.

weirdest. troubadour. ever.

Zach kills the cav and breaks into double digits with an okay level.

keep in mind that at level 14, Corben has 2 less Strength

the cav that’s been harassing Tekun is much less scary against someone with defense and no WTD

are... are you fucking with me, Ben?

this is the second time this phase that a sword user has missed on high-70s odds

and again!

Emma caps out with - sure.

this boss’s palette is just... bad.

this mage did more damage than a cavalier with a sword

worried now

dodging a hand axe gives eduardo... even more HP and slightly more dodge

so Noah is supposed to appear here instead of this NPC, but i’ve never gotten it to trigger and I don’t know why.

Itsuke takes some heat off Cia for a pretty solid level.

all those Res levels pay off.

I was wrong about her promotion item somehow, but anyways, Emma promotes. Look at those defenses!

Mark’s been taking potshots at the first boss, and it pays off okay.

i don’t do this, but again, HP-Luck-Res levels are underrated

i’ll take it

what hurts even more than the lance is the miss on the first counter.

uh oh

fuck

reload

my last save was apparently several turns ago

Mark gets the HP-STR-DEF level again

one nice thing is that for some reason the enemy AI prioritizes attacking Allied units, so I can use them for a bit of a screen

(the downside is that allies will gank kills on enemies you were planning to feed on your phase)

that is fucking weird but okay

(it’s literally his alternate level inverted)

Shon crits on the first hit and subsequently buries this fucker, taking no damage in the process (and jumping to 99 EXP)

there’s something so hilarious about an Archer killing a General with an Iron Bow, 2 damage a hit, 52% hit chance.

this.... this is a peg knight level minus the skill.

where Eduardo  failed with 3 out of 4 55% Charge attacks, Ace manages with one 53% Javelin. Whatever.

One thing that’s interesting and good attention to detail is that there’s actually 3 enemy factions: Ft. Darner, Magnians in general, and Howard’s Unit (Hwd’s Unit)

it’s been a while since i’ve used Kelik, and enemies are just homing in on him. somehow he’s been avoiding 65%+ hits so far.

Shon fails to hit the Thunder Sage but gets a dodgy level for his troubles. Also, Jesus, that Strength.

This enemy archer was in range of Ben because I am a fucking genius (Lirin has the Delphi Shield) but decided to attack an Allied AI instead.

possibly because it couldn’t OHKO him? idk

Ace’s first level in quite a while. He’s the first on our team to cap speed, and Luck and Defense ain’t bad.

I grab Tekun and Kelik’s C Support. (Wind and Fire.)

an Allied AI baited the Sage over - Lirin takes a chip at him for a strange but good level

see, now I have to deal with this

Eduardo brings us home and nets 60 EXP in the process

Tekun kills a cav for an excellent level

and then almost dies to my carelessness. I can’t even be mad that he missed on 75%

this random-ass NPC has a Brave Sword, btw

sure

look at this shit. Howard is EXTREMELY dangerous - his attack’s always in the 30s and his base Speed is 20, so you need to make sure whoever’s in his way can live through that. He’s also got one of each physical weapon (sans bows) so getting WTA is tough

That NPC baits him into using his Spear, but that’s not a bad thing - in my previous play, all the Allies zerg-rushed Howard, and he expended something like half his Spear uses on them. We’re going to be employing that plan again.

Yes, Kelik (plus Tekun and a Javelin-wielding Ace) is our bait. He’s got the HP to tank a hit, the Speed to not be doubled, and just enough luck (+crit dodge from his support) not to chance being critted.

Ace actually manages to land on 19%

Anakin can actually survive one hit, so I leave him in countering range to motivate Emma

not bad!

and now Emma can out-heal Howard’s damage to Kelik with her Heal staff.

Zach actually manages to land a hit on like 5% with the Rifle Bow, apparently using his entire store of non-ironic luck in the process.

Howard’s down to 1 Spear use, and we need Shon to go a round and survive for quest reasons.

Kelik breaks out the Armor Cutter and brings him down. We’re ALMOST done.

NOW we’re done.