#with this we ended Cornia!

[randomnameless]

Artbook stuff!

Dev notes for the last Cornian people, Melisande'n'Colm, Tatiana, Renault and Monica (not that in order but ssh)

Monica!

Unlike her Fire Emblem namesakes, she is alive and not a comic relief (even if I had to include her defeated sprite because... just why)

Fluffy and curly hair isn't that common in the JRPGs sprites? Her being brave is basically spelled out in her recruitment paralogue/map, she's willing to fight against a cause she knows is just and would even like to join it... but she has to side against Alain'n'co, because her people's lives are at stake.

Sadly, all of her turmoil and dilemna was for naught since her grandpa was sekritly funding Alain's Liberation army, but at least she acted as a nice decoy so Zenoira wouldn't suspect him and target their people? Her mischievous side is played on in her second rapport convo with Clive, where she trolls a drunk!Adel and tries to guess what kind of leader Alain is when she asks him to rekt bandits who brought harm to her people, and yet she's one of the few characters who have something that is as close as a canon romance with another character save for the mandatory "can become Alain's love interest" thing.

(and even then, her maiden convo mentions Clive lol).

IDK who her seiyuu is, but I confess I also really loved her voice, tldr : Monica's surprisingly a well rounded character (for a character who isn't plot important!) even if I feel bad for her being left out of the loop regarding what her grandpa was doing with the Liberation Army.

Melisandre is... a seemingly vain character who is, well, actually vain (iirc Colm mentions she falls in love with someone different each day, save for Alain) but bar that, she's also someone really proud of her swordsmanship. Is it what the devs refered to when they mentionned her being "arrogant?"

I liked the random bouts here'n'there about her being aware of sekrit identities (Aramis can't pretend to be a merc) but ultimately she also brings some comic relief or fresh air to the otherwise serious Cornian cast.

Big up for the devs to have written her Scarlett convo as something kind of wholesome and not turning it in a catfight for Alain - sure they start with a contest to find the cutest accessories to catch his eye, but then forget all about him as they shop all day long. I wouldn't say her "cute" personality is based on her latching on the Lord, but rather her forming bonds with other people (like Liza, Sanatio or her heartwarming second Colm rapport!) and offering to help them.

Class wise... much like the FE swordfighters, she's supposed to be a dodgetank and can Astra stuff, but my dodgetanks units have a tendency to tank things with their faces, so I have a biased opinion on them lol.

Colm is Melisandre's retainer - in a way I would compare him to FE13's Frederick.

Good for him to have been promoted to a playable character lol!

His convos are often about Melisandre or him being her retained/minder/butler, but even if the fanbase seemingly hates vanguards (his class) I found him suprisingly decent, especially since he can protect people against flying units! Not a lot to say about him though.

Tatiana's design is certainly unique, apparently the devs came up with the buns to make her stand out even when she wears her plague mask? Her dark eyes (tired?) imo worked for me as she was supposed to work night and day on dissecting/experimenting on people who caught the plague to find an illness, while dealing with Baltro and his "how to aggravate, I mean, cure the plague I totally didn't came up with!"nonsense.

That plague subplot was interesting, even if iirc, Tatiana doesn't end up having the same realisation Hilda later has about how this was no natural plague but something Zenoira came up with, I wonder if Tatiana has a battle convo with Baltro but I suppose she would - the dude is basically responsible for creating and spreading the disease she tried her best to fight and cost her mentor's death.

Not to be confused with that loser Laurent, Renault is the archetype of the knight dying with guilt over what he was forced to do, but in his situation, he was really forced to since his body was possessed by some Zenoiran dude. Add to that he feels like trash for having survived when Ilenia didn't, and wants to atone for what a Zenoiran did using his body, and we have a perfect FE guy lol

Everything about this guy screams "remorse" and "guilt" but I agree with the devs, it felt nice at least if only on the cover art of this artbook to see him enjoy a drink with his former allies, and finally not feel like trash anymore!

Good for him!

[loregoddess]

some rambling thoughts about Unicorn Overlord and the angels and how they're written under the cut (lots of endgame spoilers), because I haven't been able to stop thinking about some things since finishing the game

So, I've been watching some of the other maiden rite dialogue and endings for UO, and some of them are insane. Like. Alain can marry Dinah--their paired ending says she becomes the new queen, so he definitely marries her, and presents to all of Cornia he beautiful wife, who is also Literally A Fox.

But! despite having very romantic rites with say, Raenys or Umerus, he does not marry them in his paired ending (they both return to Albion and just. Live their lives. no marriage implied, like, Alain's got more romantic "but not married" endings with some of the male characters than he does any of the angels).

Fascinating implications honestly. I had suspected that the bestrals were willing to live in family units with humans (as implied by Ramona, Morard, and Yunifi being a family unit, batshit backstories aside; and also the entire orphanage side quest). Like sure, there aren't any like, half-bestral half-human offspring in the game unlike the confirmed "half-elves exist, and a lot of humans are hot for elves", but the bestrals are shown to live in family units with human members. And while no one (aside? from? Alain? sir?) is hot for the bestrals (at least I didn't find any NPCs who were like, "hot damn" about the bestrals), we also don't see any human characters fawning over the angels (whatever Sharon and Ochlys have aside, I'll get to them in a sec).

And like, in-game the angels (technically "the winged", I know angel is a specific term but bear with me here) are all religiously and culturally treated as like, literal divine messengers of the heavens. But we also learn from the sage in Albion that they aren't divine in any way, they're literally just humans with wings, the result of an ancient magical lab experiment that apparently went wrong.

So it's like? The idea that they're divine messengers was definitely made-up, probably by the first pontifex, to give the winged a place to exist safely in society, but! But also this ends up getting warped in the most fascinating ways bc it leads to the "present day" culture(s) in the game, where other races are jealous of the angels but generally get along with them, but also, most importantly, view them as divine. Even though there are like, winged children and families, and they're clearly just people with wings, no one treats them that way, and while this leads to some of the angels being really arrogant (Ochlys's parents thinking humans are lesser beings), it also puts all the angels in a really weird spot.

Like, Ochlys loves Sharon bc Sharon treats her like a person, and doesn't revere her with reverence to the point of isolation (which seems to be how most humans treat angels), and so we get the idea that generally, a lot of angels are isolated from all the other races because they are viewed as divine. And this also places some absolutely insane expectations on the angels themselves, like, if they're divine messengers of the heavens, then they're supposed to be perfect, they're supposed to embody and represent everything that is the heavenly divine, they're not allowed to be people.

But the thing is, Baltro knows damned well (as do all the ancient Zenoiran souls) that the angels aren't divine anything, they're a failed magical experiment that got propped up on an isolated pedestal, who've have been acting the part of divine messengers bc that's what's expected of them, that's all they've ever know, it's so ingrained in the culture after 800 years that no one even questions it. But the angels are people with flaws and emotions that can be manipulated, and that is exactly what Baltro and the other Zenoiran forces do. Baltro doesn't even need the mind-control magic, because the way the culture of Fevrith treats the angels makes them extremely easy to manipulate by toying with their emotions and how they view themselves and how humans view them.

Take Umerus for example. Umerus throws aside all her values in a desperate attempt to save her brother's life, because she loves him, he's the last family she has left, and she'd even turn her blade on her oldest friend and anyone else if it meant a chance at saving him. And when Alain and Scarlett are able to save her brother for her and free her from Zenoiran influence, she ends up so guilt-ridden over her actions because she went against everything that her culture and everyone in the world has told her she is--divine and perfect and holy--because she's failed at being "an angel", so she's wracked with immense guilt that she can't escape.

Had any other character (human, elf, or bestral) been in Umerus's position, their actions wouldn't have been questioned, others would have been like "well, of course you'd act that way in that situation, that makes sense" and all would be forgiven, and while Alain and Scarlett are able to forgive Umerus (bc they treat and see her as a person), Umerus can't forgive herself, because she doesn't seem to see herself as a person, only as an angel who failed at being an angel.

And like, it's like this for almost all the angels in the Albion section. Fodoquia is ready to die fighting Zenoira right up till his own people make a sacrifice of his son, and then Zenoira uses his grief and rage to control him until Alain shows up (Fodoquia's admittedly faster to forgive himself, but he never truly bent to Zenoira's will and it seems he felt justified in a lot of his resentment towards the people who killed his son, even if he also feels guilt in his lost faith in them).

Sanatio is presented with a dead pontifex and the promise that all of Albion and the theocracy that upholds it will fall into utter chaos if he ever lets people know that the pontifex is dead. Baltro uses Sanatio's faith like puppet strings to make Sanatio mislead all of the orthodoxy, and Sanatio hates himself for it afterwards because he's not only an angel, but one of the highest ranking angels in the orthodoxy, he's supposed to be divine, to be above being manipulated and toyed with, and he failed that. And all the reasons why he failed are totally understandable and would have been forgiven so quickly had he been literally anything except an angel (and again, Alain and Scarlett don't hold any of Baltro's manipulation against Sanatio), but Sanatio can't forgive himself, he can't see his actions as anything outside of horrific and sinful bc that's all the culture around the angels has taught him.

And on the flipside we get Raenys, who is so devoted to trying to be the paragon of an angel, to protect others and uphold what is right, that her actions are nearly self-destructive, because she would die rather than fail.

Ochlys is the only angel in the entire game who seems even remotely well-adjusted, and that seems to be because she cut ties with her parents and their ideals, and also decided she was going to do whatever she pleased in her job rather than listen to her boss. And she met and spent an immense amount of time with Sharon, who treated her like a person from the start and gave Ochlys a chance to see herself as a person, rather than just as a divine angel.

And yet! Alain can't marry any of them. He can marry elves and bestrals, and of course other humans, but not the angels. The culture around the angels is such that even though his rite dialogue with Raenys ends with them kissing, he can't marry her, bc she is an angel, she is the divine, and I honestly don't know if a marriage between an angel and someone of literally any other race would be allowed, because it'd probably be viewed as sacrilege of some sort, because people aren't supposed to fall in love with something divine, they're supposed to revere it, but never bring it down to their level, because the angels--to what seems to be the cultural norms of all Fevrith--aren't people in their own right.

And I dunno, I got off topic, I was just gonna make a joke post about the fact that Alain could take a fox-woman as his queen, but not a human woman with some wings. But the fact is I've had a lot of thoughts about Albion and the angels, and how subtly the writing shows the culture around them, and like. It's so interesting, but also tragic, and hrm, the writing in the game, man. The writing gets me.

[antivanwine14]

Thoughts on Unicorn Overlord now that I finished, both positive and negative (long post):

Positives

The graphics are beautiful. The models are great and it was a very pleasant game to play in that sense. I also appreciated the fact you can skip the battles when grinding or just doing minor battles.

Game play: the tactics and team building was a lot of fun and challenging. I really enjoyed building the squads and experimenting with different builts.

Characters: I enjoyed a lot of the interactions and thought the characters really carried it. The rapports were good and there were several times where I wish there was more. Some of them were very funny and others really did a lot of world building.

Drakenhold: By far the best developed of the lands. It is a very strong second area to go to and really builds on a lot of things. The story rapport with Gilbert and Alain is actually some of the best and shows a different side of the relationship between Cornia and Drakenhold which I liked a lot. Even though Drakenhold is supposed to be worse than Cornia, things actually have complexity and I enjoyed it.

Negatives:

The story is middling at best. At the start I enjoyed it and I thought the time spent in Cornia was actually decent if not very close to a middle tier Fire Emblem Story. Drakenhold was good and I wanted more of that. Ellheim was alright but very predictable with nothing interesting going on. But then we got to Bastorias and it was literally a filler arc. There was no real reason to go there besides being curious on how they were handling things. The plot in Bastorias was not related to anything else and none of the main central characters really had anything to do with the area. By the time we got to Albion I was pretty over the repetitive story beats (bad person who really isn't SOOO bad and no we are really best friends) and I thought Albion's bad guy reasoning of ‘I did it to protect the church’ was the weakest. I have no issue with him being against you but I almost wish they had just gone mind control on him rather than his weak reasoning.

Also the amount of times a scene ended with everyone laughing was ridiculous and I don’t understand it. This isn’t an after school special, not everything has to end with a laugh. Let there be emotions besides happy. It would have been nice for there to be more conflict in the areas we have been too besides just clearing out Zenoira. Like, if Zenoira went back and tried to take places or something. It was all just one and done and the war was both pretty easy and happy. A big set back would have been appreciated.

Plot hole: Fun fact, if you accidentally missed the Tatiana quest in Cornia, like I did when I went into Drakenhold, you are going to be absolutely baffled by Hilda’s stuff because characters are going to talk like you’ve been there and dealt with that plague and people.

Character design- oh boy is that something. The female design is so unfortunate and what makes it worse is there are elements of good. Some of the outfits are just fine and not all the body shapes are thin and tiny, which is always nice to see. I don’t mind some level of fan service (Hades did it very well) but SOOOOOO many of the women in UO are just designed to be sexual. To make it worse they try to excuse it with Yahna being like I want to dress like this (completely fine, if this didnt mean ALL the witches had to be dress like her) and then the elves can’t wear metal because of the fae which is interesting in concept but why are most of the lady elves in their underwear but the male elves are fully clothed? PS, Scarlet's boobs bobbing ALL the time got really annoying quickly.

Alain- he isn’t allowed to have almost any emotion except mild and happy and that is unfortunate. This is a character who has been through a lot and he should have been super interesting. I know he is supposed to be stoic but there is more to stoicism than being mild all the time. Let the man have character. I almost wish they made him a little more like Alear (good personality, shows their youth) or even something along what Intsys wanted to do with Byleth (very stoic and closed off in the beginning, starts to open up as the story goes along)

Male Romance- they were cowards and very few of the men can even hint at something more than friendship. You can marry your cousin but can barely get anything from a man. Some of the rapport's show some promise and funny enough some of the most random characters have decent romantic rapports. Rolf has almost no connection to the plot or other characters but is one of the best ones. I am fine with not all the men being romantic (Josef's extremely sweet father son stuff being some of the best and not romantic at ALL), but it would have been to see more done with them.

Romance in General- honestly, I know they would have taken out all the guys but they should have not made every character available for Alain. It takes away from their individual stories. I honestly wished they picked a handful of characters (men and women) and allow them to build the story and romance with Alain and allow the other characters to form their own relationships without worrying about Alain. Sharon and Ochlys have something going on and it really annoys me that they can up with Alain.

Overall:

I had fun and it definitely kept my attention, but I don't know if I can recommend it. Maybe get it on sale.

[sweet-caroli]

Experiment "G-16"

(part one)

What went wrong?! - Saida Dr Fox terrified.-

—One day before the accident—

It was a beautiful sunny day at Unikingdom. There were lots of laughs and smiles from all the citizens, flowers look cute, the singing of the birds was melodic, but.... something was wrong... At least that's what Unikitty was thinking when she saw all that joy and quiet at her kingdom.

Something was missing and it was really clear.

- RAINBOWS ARE MISSING!!! - The princess said but she was interrupted by one of her friends.

- Don't you mean Master Frown? - Richard said to correct her, he thought it was really predictable guessing what Pink Princess was going to say

- Yeaah, sure that's what I was gonna say... By the way, have you seen him?

- I haven't seen him at the castle, perhaps he's got a life or work to do, just like you.

- Suure whatever you say, Richard...-she left quiet. After that something moved inside the bushes.

Richard got scared so he called Hawkodile to check the castle- At the laboratory, Dr Fox was doing chemical mixes... She called one "G-16" Nobody but her knew why and she went on with that project everytime she was alone.

The project was about creating a pandemic virus that affects everyone who touches it. Obviously to not get infected, the virus had to be studied and experiment with it. She needed a special suit. Her test subjects (Homeless and lost people, thiefs, low self-esteem people.), suffered lots of symptoms, everyone reacted in a total different way. Dr Fox wrote everything on her Notebook.

----

Experiment of the virus ''G-16''

Reactions such as:

- Mutation (body parts get deformed)

- Excessive itch and severe burns (Test subjects feel the urge to remove their skin).

- Hemorrhage in the eyes (the cornias explode).

- Dementia and mental disorders (test subjects said they see strange things, forget who they are, bipolarity, personality disorders, others committed canivalism).

Note: There were subjects who survived these symptoms but ended up worse in only 15 minutes (death).

-----

- With this we can safe unikingdom from evil! The idiots of Frowntown will have to think twice if they want to come to the kingdom to ruin our happiness ... but I need to create a cure... But ... what if something fails and the kingdom perishes? Or my friends are hurt ..... mmmh .... - Dr. Fox had to decide wisely, but before she took a break from so much work.

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ok guys here I'll leave it, I'll upload the creepypasta in parts, so I leave you with a little more suspense

then I upload part two

@mai-hai <"3

[unique-monstrosity]

uncommon character development : questions 12-25?

12 through 25? Sorry this might be long bud 12. / Describe Five unusual Characteristics your muse has/ * Despite it not seeming possible Jasper has very good hearing and if she focuses in on it can hear everything going on around her from a classroom discussion half the schoolyard away or a squirrel scurrying to forage outside quietly she can hear it * Socially Inept specifically around Humans and in school * Tendency to have her cornia's flash yellow when in Suprise or in distress and anger * Sometimes runs hand through hair promptly will get it stuck there for the next few minutes finally (painfully) free her hand only to stick it back in later * Obsession around Greek mythology 13. / Have they ever been so overwhelmed they had to stop and take a break from everything? /Yes. when she was experiencing school for the first time in 8th grade she got too overwhelmed and had to take a week off of school to rejuvenate 14. / Are they a team player or they prefer to be solo? / Honestly she's so used to being solo that she doesn't know how to operate as a team player to be able to rely on others that isn't her family is a strange foreign concept 15. / can they multitask or must they face one subject at a time/ Jasper can multitask but that doesn't mean she's good at it depending on the situation 16. / what are their best school subjects? Their worst? List 5 of each/ I'll go from greatest to worst if that's ok :Music,Pre-Calculus, History,Chemistry, German, Health, P.E, Home Economics, English, Art 17. / Is your character an Introvert or extrovert? How do they handle big crowds? / I mean technically she's an ambivert but she definitely leans way into the introvert side. How she handles big crowds? She does everything she can to go through quick, easy and unnoticed remaining no eye contact at all and slides through the crowds best she can 18. // I apologize I have to take a pause on writing down questions themself so sorry //Jasper isn't really a leader but she isn't a follower either she's off doing her own thing so off to the sidelines at best for her really 19. Run they barely know have any combat skills or knowledge of at all to begin with 20. Not really anyone to be honest besides her past bullies, who made it hard/impossible for her to make friends with others cause of them 21. 1. Wish for more confidence in herself so that she could actually create a social life before high school ends 2: World peace for all that exist on earth there's enough issues as it is we don't need anymore 3: To see her father to understand what happened and why she and her mother wasn't good enough why he'd help create her knowing of the potential consequences?22. Jasper is wary of others not wanting to trust right off the bat after all she has a lot she needs to hide for her safety and family's but in time she will eventually begin to have a level of trust with them 23. Honestly either, the quickest way to her heart would probably just be the fact they want to spend time with her 24. None so far that she's aware of, 25. No she hasn't even kissed anyone yet or even really had feelings for anybody, So any that she has she doesn't know about (( AGH I'm so sorry i didn't get to writing your starter!! I can't believe I forgot! ))

[anarchia12]

Night time Chatting even more damaging then watching tv

Hey everybody😀 like I said in my last post I'm restarting my routine of posting but this time, in french and english...hope you enjoy😋

"It's not healthy to check out your phone before sleeping. Why's that?"

Quickly sending a message, watching a small movie or checking your mails before closing your eyes. "A huge negative cause" says chronobiologist Bert van der Horst from the Erasmus MC. “Those screens have a huge negative effect on our sleep, they disturb your biological clock.’’

So, we all (mostly) know that holding your phone too close to your eyes can cause eye damage, tiredness or even partial blindness😅

24h sleeping rythm

This biological clock makes sure that all processes in our body run by a 24h rythm. It basically indicates when we get tired or the complete opposite, when were super active. It's really, really important seeing as it makes sure that when can present our best when needed or so we can get a good night sleep the other.

Honestly, I don't really think that people realise that. As an experienced person, it's really logical that you need your sleep🤔

Reset

Light's really important when it comes to preventing our clock from running out it's tours. The generated light hits the cornia, sending signals to our brain which causes the reset of our internal clock shaking it awake.

Kind of funny when you say it like that😂, it "shakes it awake" when it's easier to say that it wakes us up and restarts our internal clock

Watching tv

We have a lot of different light sensitive cells that allow us to see. A few years ago, a discovery was made that indicated that we have more than 1 group of sensitive cells in our eyes. “These so called 'ganglioncells' act as a switches that channel signals to the biological clock in our brain.’’ That's also the case with the light signals from our phone. Those switch cells are actually most sensitive to blue light, like the light from your phone. “Set your phone aside at least one hour before you go to bed, it's a lesser risk for your sleeping rythm.’’

Completely agreeing😁😁, it's healthier to switch from blue to yellow light seeing as it's less tiring for our eyes AND it causes way less damage🤩. If you set your phone aside like he says, it will make your brain and eyes take a pause and they'll be able to heal a little from the whole day of watching your screen😊.

But, what does that mean for watching television before hitting the hay? A lot of people still hang before the light giving screen late at night. Van der Horst “That tv's light is way less intense and it stands at an appropriate distance which isn't the case with the phone you hold close.’’

So people, the conclusion is...DON'T USE YOUR PHONE TOO MUCH!! Unless you want to end up at the eye doctor's office😂😂. Liking my new post? Leave a comment and or a like😊😊

Bron: HLN

[oneworldproductions]

Sister Abigail © vs Cody - 1WPW World Championship

For the first time ever, the World Championship of One World will be on the line after Cody attacked Abigail backstage, and Heyman made the match up. These two have layers to their story, however, as Cody made his debut by interrupting Abigail, a disrespect she didn’t take lightly. It’s also worth noting that Cody has yet to suffer a loss since coming to 1WPW, and that his victory here tonight would change Chapter 7’s main event to a rematch between him and Abigail, thus canceling out Syn’s chance. Whether that’ll play a factor here tonight will remain to be seen, but our first time ever match has officially begun! The two meet in the center with a collar and elbow tie up that Abigail easily transitions to a waistlock and takes Cody down to the mat. From there it’s moved to a headlock. Cody lays in it for a few moments before positioning his weight onto his hands and standing himself up, attempting to use this handstand to break out of it, but to no avail. He is able to get them both back up to their feet after dropping back down, however, and a few well placed body shots loosens Abigail’s death grip on his head just enough that he can push her off and into the ropes. A back body drop connects on the rebound, all 209 pounds of Abigail hitting the canvas with a thud — and she gets right back up like it’s nothing! An elbow to the spine sends Cody to his knees, back arching as eyes squeeze shut. Behind him, the crowd boos as Abigail leans against the turnbuckles, convulsing, leg shaking, before pointing a bow and arrow at him and charging, connecting with a Bomaye to the back of Cody’s head! The champion leans against the ropes for a short moment, lips spread in a wicked grin and eyes glittering with evil intentions. Steel tipped fingers grab onto Cody’s tights to pull him up, allowing Abigail to grab him by the waist and deadlift all of his heavyweight frame, holding him in the air for a few seconds before planting him on his shoulders with a German Suplex, bridge included!

One…

Two…

Kickout!

The Matriarch’s head shakes as gloved digits grip onto Cody’s dyed locks, using the little hair he has to pull him onto his feet, and onto his shoulder. Cody’s as limp as a doll and could be tossed around like he was one, if that were Abigail’s intentions. However, she seems to be having much more dangerous motive, as black and blue eyes scan over the turnbuckles. She charges, intending to lawn dart him right into the padding, a move that would effectively scramble his brains — but Cody pushes off! He lands on his feet! Abigail braces herself just before she collides with the turnbuckles, features turning angrier as she whips around, and is face to face with Cody’s boots! The American Nightmare connects with a beautiful dropkick! Abigail’s temporarily down, but doesn’t stay that way for long. Cody has the answer as soon as she’s back on her feet; the Beautiful Disaster! The kick lands square on Abigail’s temple and rocks the champion, sending her all the way out of the ring and falling to the floor below. Cody sizes her up as, with help from the ring apron, Abigail begins to stand. He sprints, stepping up on the middle rope, then the top, sending himself off the turnbuckle with a big dive — that Abigail catches! All 216 pounds of Cody is caught right out of MID-AIR! These two are as evenly matched as it gets, as far as size goes, but Abigail’s showing an incredible display of power early on in this match up as she tosses Cody with an overhead belly to belly right into the steel steps! Abigail sits back on her knees, looking over the damage she’s caused, a small smirk forming, as arms begin to stretch out. She spins up to her feet and tosses Cody into the ring with little fanfare, wasting only a moment before stepping up and into the ring herself — AND CODY CATCHES HER WITH A SMALL PACKAGE!

One…

Two…

Th— KICKOUT!

We were only half a second away from a new champion! Cody almost did the unlikely and knocked her off! The arena is buzzing with electricity after that near fall, and Cody feeds off it as he connects with an uppercut that staggers the already dazed Abigail, who’s as shocked as the roll up as everyone else. He runs the ropes and slams her face first onto the mat with a bulldog, Abigail instantly grabbing her nose and checking for blood or any breaks. Cody cuts the search off short by dragging Abigail back up and going for Cross Rhodes — but she fights it off and effectively blocks it. A kick from the champion is caught by the challenger, and elbows rain down across her knee, between the pieces of the padding and right on the bone. Abigail pushes him off and instantly grabs for the knee, eyebrows drawn together in pain as she tests putting pressure on it. Cody grabs her by the waist, arm hooked over his head, and brings her down with a saito suplex. Abigail makes a grab for her shoulders after the impact, still noticeably favoring the left knee, and Cody’s quick to take advantage of it as he locks in the American Nightmare! His modified inverted figure four has put away many of opponents before, and is locked in to cause further damage to the targeted knee. Red and black hair is torn at as Abigail fights the will to tap, a feat no one has done in her short career, as the submission is tightened, Cody ensuring he has it locked in all the way. The only way out for Abigail would be to get to the rope or submit, giving up her championship and having that memory stamped on her brain for the rest of her life. Fingers are drawn out of her hair as forearms pound against the canvas, picking herself up and crawling over to the ropes. Cody thrashes around to at least wreck the ligaments more than they already have been as Abigail inches closer to freedom. Then, with one more burst of energy, grasp the bottom rope and frees herself, guaranteeing this matchup will continue!

Cody releases at the referee’s command, swiveling up to his feet as Abigail rolls to the apron, adjusting her knee pad and collecting inventory. Stretching the leg out and back, seeing how much pressure it can take. It’s unlikely it could handle her whole weight at this point, which could prove fatal to her championship reign. And maybe even beyond tonight depending on just how much damage was done. Cody steps out onto the apron and lands a forearm. Or, tries to, but Abigail blocks it and delivers a high kick that lands right on the side of Cody’s head! The American Nightmare is rocked, and Abigail isn’t much better off on her one good leg. Even still, she’s able to turn Cody around and get him in position for a rolling cutter, a move she calls Black Arrow, not even hesitating before rolling them OFF THE APRON AND TO THE FLOOR! What a nasty fall!

Abigail is back up to her feet rather quickly after such an impact, Cody getting the worst of it for sure. She extended her arms out to her side, soaking in the boos from the crowd, but her attention quickly turned to the ramp, as she noticed that Syn, her opponent for Chapter 7 if she retains here tonight, was stalking his way down to the ring. Abigail’s expression turned to that of a glare, as she walked to meet Syn, the two coming face to face. There was silence between them, Abigail tilting her head to the side as if to taunt him. Syn’s face was stoic, unclear what he was thinking about. Suddenly, from behind, however, Cody was up, and jumped up onto the apron, using it as a launchpad for his Disaster Kick, catching Abigail right on the jaw as she turned around! Cody grabbed Abigail and tossed her back into the ring, before jumping up onto the apron and up to the top rope himself. Cody measured Abigail as she got up, and leaped off, performing a beautiful moonsault as he crashed down onto Abigail! Cody made the cover!

  1…2… Kickout!

Abigail managed to kick out and retain her title for the time being. Cody made eyes with Syn, and nodded to the tall man standing guard on the outside. “We end this tonight!” Cody called out to him, before turning to go back on offense against Abigail. Unfortunately, his little moment with Syn took too much time, and he turned right around into Abigail’s signature big boot! Cody was turned inside out! Abigail grabbed Cody by the arms and dragged him up to his feet, trying to turn him for Baptism By Fire, but Cody managed to break free, and landed a chop block on Abigail’s knee! Abigail screamed out in guttural pain as she fell down to the mat, clutching her knee. Cody grabbed the vulnerable leg, and began to pry away at the knee brace on the leg, removing the straps and tossing it away, leaving Abigail’s injured knee without any protection! Cody then gave the knee a few agonizing stomps, before wrapping her legs up, and once again locking in the American Nightmare! The modified figure four! Cody was gonna rip Abigail’s knee out of socket! Cody was wrenching back with everything he had, and Abigail was nowhere near the ropes!

The screams of Abigail in pain sounded like a demon being excorcised, but the Matriach of Destruction seemed to have another plan up her sleeve. Abigail grabbed the ref, asking her if she wanted to quit, and tossed him through the ropes with a single hand! Now the match couldn’t end! Abigail saved herself by preventing the match from ending and taking out the ref! Cody tried to keep the hold on, but now, with no rules in place, Abigail sat up and dug her long, sharp fingernails into the eyes of Cody, practically gouging out his eyes! Cody clutched his face and released the hold. Abigail may have just scratched Cody’s cornias! Cody staggered to his feet, and Abigail managed to get to hers, allowing herself to fall into the ropes, which slingshotted her back at Cody, crashing into him with a deadly spear! Cody was out! Abigail’s eyes practically turned black, a mix of the pain and the rage building inside of her was pushing her to her breaking point. Abigail rolled out of the ring, and walked over to the steel steps she’d set her lantern down on during her entrance. Abigail went to get back into the ring, intending to use the lantern as a weapon to bash Cody’s skull in. She was grabbed by the arm by Syn, though, stopping her from progressing. Abigail went to turn and swing the lantern at Syn instead, but he saw it coming, and ducked the swing, before catching Abigail with a nasty headbutt! The sound of Syn’s skull making impact rang out throughout the arena, and Abigail stumbled back towards the ring. Cody reached through the ropes, and pulled Abigail up into the ring, dropping her with a Silver Spoon DDT! Abigail was dropped right on her dome!

  Cody got back up to his feet, and took a moment to pose for the crowd, indicating that he was about to become their new World Champion. Cody went to grab Abigail again, this time for the Cross Rhodes, but Abigail had grabbed the discarded kneebrace, and clocked Cody over the head with it! Cody’s eyes rolled into the back of his head, as he fell back to the mat! Abigail knocked Cody out!

Abigail dropped the brace and covered Cody, hooking both legs, watching as the ref slowly got to his feet on the outside. She yelled for the ref to hurry up, and count the pin. The ref slid back into the ring, and made the count!

1….2… Kickout!

  Somehow, someway, Cody managed to kick out of that! Abigail, in a fit of frustration, banged her hands on the mat. She should’ve had this one won, this match should’ve been over. Her eyes set on Syn, who was still standing at ringside. Abigail stood up and looked down at him from the ring. “Now I’ll show you exactly what I’m going to do to you at Chapter 7! I’ll show you exactly the fate that will befall you for your betrayal!” Abigail yelled, before turning back towards Cody, and grabbing him, lifting him up for Crucifixion, her version of the Gory Neckbreaker. Before she could drop Cody with the move, however, Cody began to wiggle, and managed to wiggle free, before she lost her grip on him, and Cody landed behind Abigail. Before Abigail could even register, Cody grabbed Abigail and drove her into the mat with Cross Rhodes! Cody hit his finish! That was it! Cody made the cover!

  1….2…3-

Syn pulled the ref out of the ring! The ref’s hand had practically hit for the three, but Syn pulled the ref out of the ring before anything definitive! Syn just saved Abigail!

  Cody sat up, with his hands in his hair, wide eyed and mouth agape. Cody had the match won, he was practically the new champion, and Syn had just stopped the count. Cody looked more confused that anything, standing up and leaning against the ropes, staring right at Syn’s still stoic face. “Why?!” He shouted, looking down at the man who just prevented him from winning the belt. “Why?!” It was the same question everyone else in the arena was asking. Why the hell did Syn just do that?!

Cody, unable to wrap his brain around what had just happened, never saw Abigail get back to her feet behind him, and never saw her grab the knee brace again. Abigail drilled Cody in the back of the head with the kneebrace, knocking out the son of Dusty Rhodes. Abigail tossed the brace out of the ring to hide the evidence, and Syn grabbed the ref, tossing him back into the ring. It took the ref a moment to realize what was going on, but the first thing he saw was Abigail covering Cody. The ref managed a slow count…

  1……2………3!

  “Here is your winner, and STILL One World Pro Wrestling World Champion, Sister Abigail!”

The camera focused in on Syn, still standing at ringside, watching what he had just done. One World was saved, the belt was going to be free from Abigail’s clutches, and Syn, the man who vowed to make sure that scenario happened, had just prevented it. Cody had the belt won, and Syn had saved his former owner, his biggest enemy. The crowd booed as Abigail clutched her belt to her chest, and Syn stood outside of the ring, his eyes never leaving the comatose body of Cody.

What the hell had we just seen? What the hell just happened? I guess this is goodnight, everybody… Maybe we’ll have some answers for you next week…

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And another what if where we could have went to Bastorias ealier... but Joseph canonically would have died :(

How's that "as you all guessed"???

Poor Joseph would have died during the Soldraga map, and Alain would have inherited his pony. Damn!

Hopefully Joseph's role in the scenario saved him, but I wonder if the Holonius!Alain thing in Albion - that still makes more sense than Sanatio ! - would have meant we would have had someone else play the role of the Lord (Virginia? Scarlett? Or Joseph himself?) or if Holonius would have hijacked Alain's body, but more Zenoiran stuff would have been appreciated (maybe Holonius would have told Galerius that, uh, that Baltro fuck was the loser who told us to sacrifice an unicorn which resulted in our doom, maybe we shouldn't work with him anymore?).

If Holonius hijacked Alain though, would that mean that he had no ring of the unicorn on him, or didn't put it on?

(Galerius needs the two rings to be exorcised out, but if Holonius is like Theodora when she borrowed Berengaria's body, the ring of the unicorn is enough to get rid of him?)

Alain was supposed to have been jailed in Bastorias, maybe we could have had more Reimann shenanigans, or maybe the devs wanted to cook something with the rat tribe? Given how Yunifi has a lot of concept illustrations, I wonder if she wasn't the "Scarlett" of that beta version, aka the "main girl pushed by the plot".

Also, nice confirmation that, at one point, the scenario was linear! But they dropped that idea - maybe for gameplay purposes? - and we ended up with, well, the game where after saving for Scarlett in Cornia, you can basically either do Elheim, Bastorias or Drakengard as your second chapter.

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Land 1 done!

Without crossing the bridge to get rekt'd by the final boss and trigger a bad ending, of course :p

I know the game puts more emphasis on gameplay than on characters, unlike, say, FE 8x2, but damn if every little situation you recruit random characters makes me think of past FE events in different titles and it just... fits? Somehow?

Like, evil empire has trouble conquering a party of Cornia, but behold! A mysterious plague pops up, that is totally not tied to the shady as fuck necromancer who works with the evil empire and says it'd be annoying if people find a cure.

So we have some guy and his army of cleric wearing plague doctor masks trying to find a cure by, uh, experimenting/working on people who already caught the plague, even accepting to work with the evil empire because curing the plague is more important, right?

Ends justify means yadda yadda... save for the part I earlier mentionned, that it is heavily implied the evil empire is the one who created that plague to begin with!

Now, imagine in a FE game if, in the background, we had to rescue people or hear about people being afflicted by a strange and unknown disease... and if that disease was engineered by people for a further motive...

8x2? Nah.

We also have quests where people are fighting for the evil empire who is occupying their land because they believe as long as they obey their people won't be put to the sword...

(I watched my bro play the final chapter, we know how it ends lol)

Not!Cyril fighting against bandits, finding and helping a witch fend off people who are trying to "catch her" - we even get a flimsy excuse for a bikini attire in the process and an answer to the "why do i use spells to rejuvenate myself in a sexy body? It's because I won't be able to move as fast as I can now if I was a crone" other flimsy excuse, etc etc.

Now it's time to enter the land of fucked up siblings relationship (sure Virginia is Alain's cousin - who looks like his mom - and can end up with him, but this is not the kind of Jugdralian stuff I had in mind) and let me tell you, all those plot bunnies I had in Jugdral about Lester believing he was going to become Lord of Jungby all of his life, only to have his role/throne snatched before his eyes by a bum who's apparently his cousin and can use the legendary shiny bow of legend is... basically Drakengard (Drakenhold in english?), but up to eleven.

Ah, and it wouldn't be a post from me if I don't find a way to rant about the localisation lol

Josef, upon meeting Virginia, basically goes in the audio "it's been a long time since I last saw you". In the english version?

Like what are you implying Josef, she wasn't a princess when you saw her last time or didn't have the "standing" fit for a princess?

Besides, I hope the release of the october book won't blow a hole in the Josef's "you were a teenager when we last met" by releasing character ages, but that's not really that important.

This however

Alain greets his long lost cousin, nothing wrong here right?

Well, in the JP audio, he calls her with the "hime" suffix, showing as much deference as Josef, who is a retainer of the royal family. Virginia doesn't use any suffix because that's her, but in Alain's various support convos, we learn that he had to learn and to behave like a proper noble after escaping from his castle 7 years ago, and all this noble/formal stuff is something he doesn't use with his commoner friends.

Ergo, this minor thing here is important, especially in the Drakengard themes : siblings/relatives used to be close, but reuniting after a long period of time or several life changing events, they are changed and even if they want and try to, cannot be as close as they once were.

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WDYM only Alain can get the killing blow on Baltro???

TFW the Tricorns keep on whacking him to no avail, ditto with Magellan :(

even if plot wise it makes sense

@pandp-author Feathershields are absolutely ridiculous lol, Fodoquir basically exists and makes mage teams/teams where Sorceress try their "surprise you're frozen !" combo completely meaningless !

Sanatio's healing is completely stupid too lol, too bad we can't play more maps with the angels/feathered people, because they're fun to use!

I'll make a more detailed post about the epilogue later but plot wise for the final chapter, as expected, Gharnef Baltro backstabs the Red Emperor, it is revealed Ilenia - Alain's mom - survived in the prologue, but Red Emperor Galerius Galvius when defeated body/soul hopped on hers so she became his unwilling medium (which raises all sorts of questions here, when Alain kills Galvius during the "Rescue Scarlett" mission, did he aleady kill Ilenia and Baltro resurrected her, but she's somehow still alive and not a zombie?) but ultimately she is free when Baltro uses Galvius' soul to open the "gate to the netherworld" or something, to use the souls of the Zenoiran currently in limbo as fuel for his spells.

Given how Baltro notes that the Cornian Royal fam has the blood of the Maiden who survived the sacrifice of the Unicorn and its curse 800 years ago, I guess he implies that is the reason why Ilenia makes for a better host than the random Valmore - the previous human who was Galvius' host - but then it raises the question of Giethe hunting Virginia : wouldn't she have been used as a spare ? Granted, given how Galvius incarnates in the flesh of people who defeat him, the only way to incarnate in Virginia would be for either her or a random to kill Galvius while he's using Ilenia's body (and Virginia would later kill the random).

So I guess if Giethe brought her head Baltro would have been "you dumb fuck", but Alcina's plan to uwu with Gerard in Alain's body wouldn't put a dent in his plans, since he could get rid of Gerard in Alain's body to put Galvius instead if needed.

As cheesy as it was, I liked how the plot unfolded here - despite his "perfect lord" appearances, Alain still wants revenge for his mom and didn't forget what happened 10 years ago : if the player chooses to give Alain his vengeance, despite learning the plot and the truth about Zenoira, he... actually kills his mother, and Baltro is still Baltroing around.

If he acts as the better person and the "saviour", he tries to offer mercy to Galvius, despite him killing his mother and plunging the continent in a sea of blood, which gives Baltro the occasion and opportunity to betray Galvius, thus freeing Ilenia without killing her, and it gives the party the occasion to kill/banish him to oblivion instead.

The usual "follow the plot = you're rewarded + vengeance is meaningless" trope.

Of course I can't talk about the final map without ranting about the green NPCs that are here to "help" you - nice nod to have them be Drakengardians to echo Gilbert's earlier (at the end of arc 2!) words of sending Drakengard's help to help Cornia when it will be needed - sure his help is green units + Hermann (one of his retainer that is blue this playable \o/) but it's a nice nod to the former plot and you can honeypot about the political ramifications of this move (the Liberation Army led by the Cornian prince helped free Drakengard, so now the Drakengard Army will help the Cornian prince to free his country?).

No such lines about the enemy Bestrals - who as Bestrals can't be soul snatched - who are recruited by Dyna who basically tells them "wtf dudes stop fighting with them and join us instead!" but I confess I laughed at their names (il y en a qui s'appelle Paulo mdr, pourquoi pas Bébert pendant qu'on y est?).

Too bad the named minibosses aren't more developped, but I wonder if in the Norbelle aka worst ending we get to fight Reimann and pals instead.

Oh well, I'll have other occasions to replay that map to get the different endings - at least the normal one on this PT (the one where Alain kills Galvius but fights off the possession thanks to his magical plot ring that resonates with the plot ring of his partner).

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Epilogue wise!

Or the credit roll, where only Alain gets an ending based on who got enough convos (+ a plot gizmo) with him, when the other characters do their thing!

Sure, as a FE player, the lack of paired endings based on the rapport convos was a bit annoying, but to be honest, given how the endings for each character have them at least share a screen with 1 or more other character, it's more... telling than shipping X and Y to see what comes out of it.

I mean, before getting Travis and the Tricorns' ending, we have a scene of them mock fighting/training together in the arena ft Amalia, and it's way more interesting and revealing about their character than some random "Bruno married Yunifi and opened a library in Bastoritza, with Travis visiting from times to times".

Sure Monica doesn't... rekindle in her ending her relationship with Clive (FE15xFE16 crossover?) in the ending, but in the playable epilogue aka where Alain can talk to the characters who are next to others and talk to each other... Clive is asking Monica, without any other thoughts, of course, if, y'know, they can meet her grandpa together but, uh, if she would accept to accompany him just because, uh, reasons.

Some ending background scenes, even if they're not in the textr proper, reference support/rapport convos (Mordon and Jerry drinking or Bertand and Govil chilling together) and I like the Cornian Ossan All Stars team practicing together, with Lex - the childhood friend - popping up in the background to watch them, even if we already got/saw his ending in city 1.1 earlier!

It helped depict this world and the characters as alive and interconnected, Lex is said to travel around the world after the war after all!

I regret not being able to use Sanatio more in the game - but that's the way it is lol - because he's kind of adorbs in his rapports, but maybe it's because he's turned in a butt-monkey who buttmonks in his Melisandre and Ochlys rapports lol (also his class is completely stupid) but yeah, called it, Sanatio being the only one who cared about the Orthodoxy, its people and Albion becomes the new Pope after Scarlett ditches her title to make flower crowns with her friends.

Hm.

IIRC the only pairing we have - regardless of the rapport convos - is Virginia and Gilbert, but tbh, if the "plot mandatory" convos tried to sell it, as I noted during the Drakengard saga post, the optional rapport convos (but not only between the two of them! see Aramis and Virginia's!) and the optional "yay we rebuilt Drakengard! Let's talk about the future of the country but wait Gilbert why are you talking with Virginia who's still basically at that point the Princess of another country and not talk to your retainers or even your totes-not big bro?" so their ending doesn't come off as a surprise, and to hammer it even more, the devs have them standing together in the playable epilogue talking about competing again.

I wouldn't say they're as hamfisted as Scarlett being the supposed canon love interest - because Alain marrying his cousin can throw a wrench in that marriage lol - but, uh, yeah. Random Drakengardian NPC foreshadowed it with his "wow Princess Virginia is so cool she rekt'd Giethe! We admire her a lot!" -> Gilbert's approval/opinion/wishes notwithstanding, Drakengardians NPCs like her even if she's from Cornia.

I also liked how Virginia and Gilbert's son will later be doted on and tutored by Leah, Gilbert's vassal who officialy became Virginia's and I found it was a nice callback to her support with Amalia - Leah wants to become stronger so she'll train everyday to defeat her, maybe she will use those polished skills to teach the future Drakengardian prince, since House Zelchesm is busy Tricorning around?

"And Minerva becomes a nun" -> I feel the execution is better here, because Hilda - who rides a flyin lizard and has a younger cleric sister - wants first and foremost to atone for her role in the "keeping the lockdown tight" during the plague, so if she can help by healing people this time I think it's plausible enough that she takes it, even if it means not being a wyvern knight anymore

(will she pioneer a new type of unit in Fevrith, the flying healer, but instead of being on a pegasi, flying healers would ride wyverns???)

As for the elves...

I liked how Eltrinde, to mirror maybe her rapport with people from each land (save for Drakengard?) is said to have travelled around the continent of Fevrith to finally break Elheim's policy of isolationism.

Rosalinde's last rapport convo with her vassal/knight Ithilion was cute, he was angsting about pursuing his romance with a human and being at her service and wanted to break up with his human, so she fires him for around 100 years, so he can live his romance, and then return to her if he wants - and in the ending BG, Ithilion is with his human :) (even in the cover art of the upcoming artbook!)

I'm not going to replay it so soon - but I'll definitely restart a run before the end of the year, on a higher difficulty to get the memetic fish stew ending or to get the utterly depressing Norbelle one.

(i want to try new shenanigans with units damn it like find a way to optimise Gloucester's damage input, do something so Berengaria doesn't die to a breeze and learns how to use her shield and/or make thematic teams like the "drunkards" with Mordon, Jeremy, Gilbert and Eltrinde)

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More artbook stuff!!

Dev notes about the remaining Bastorias cast (without Reimann, he'll be tackled in the traitors update)!

How is that angel vs human composition in Albion?

Bryce was ultimately reworked to be some sort of Robin Hood unit - we meet him first in Cornia unpromoted, then we recruit (or kill) him in Bastorias as a Hoplite, aka, a promoted unit!

Granted, his group of "thieves", the Rock Rats, are periodically heard about by several NPC (iirc in Drakengard too even if we don't meet them?) so yep, he's still around, stealing from Zenoira and trying to find a place to call home for his fellow thieves, after kicking out Nina from the gang when he learnt she still had a place to go (but then they make up, and in the cover of this artbook, she and her sister Mille are sitting on Bryce's shoulders!).

Bar that, Bryce apparently comes from Drakengard (was he a desert dweller?) and has an interesting recruitment dialogue, and even rapport conversation with Alain that totally does not hint at the final boss of this arc's identity nor his motivations at all - about how the ones who started from scratch and rose to a position of power are the most dangerous of them all, since they will do anything to conserve/keep the power they've reached, even if it means pissing on the person they used to be, or forgetting why they wanted that power in the first place.

Unit wise, he's a Hoplite, like Hodrick. Great physical tank who can protect allies but he dies to mages and breakers.

The only named playable bear in the game, Bertrand!

IDK about the "mafia/yakuza" boss, but the other bear units sort of smile, when Bertrand never does so maybe it was to highlight his taciturn disposition : when we meet him, he and Govil - a young and hotheaded werewolf - are arguing about what to do against Zenoira, Betrand doesn't want to mount another attack/counterinvasion because last time they failed, and iirc, it was during that last time that they had a lot of casualties, including his own son.

Govil apparently dgaf and wants to take a shot at Zenoira - in what seems to be a suicide mission with half of his people in shambles - and they argue, Alain can either decide to help Bertrand (thus making an enemy of Govil), Govil (so you don't recruit Bertrand), or to take them both on (and recruit the two!).

They agree to join, and ultimately make up, Bertrand will totes not become the guard of Govil's new tavern, and in the epilogue, they're bathing in a Bastorias hot spring together.

Maybe VW didn't want to have some "depression, the rapport convo" between him and Fodoquia talking about their respective dead sons, but I liked how Bertrand is still clearly in mourning and how the loss of his son and his forced "pacifism" are really at the core of his character, and not a thrown away line : war takes away people you hold dear, even if you're fighting for a cause, and it's a real toll that sucks, even (or rather, especially) when you're just someone who never asked for any of this shit to happen.

Imagine someone mourning for his dead family member in a game where some fraud tells you that "no biggie, we're all risking our lives out there, mine as I invade you, or you as you try to fend off my invasion!" - that game would suck, right?

Unit wise, Werebears are... a nightmare to face, especially if you don't have breakers, or magic users.

They are even more bulky than Hoplites (tfw higher HP even if their guard rate can be lower) and can actually hit and at times kill enemies (unlike Hoplites save for magic!Hodrick shenanigans). Tradeoff is that they cannot guard allies with their base skill set (unlike Hoplites) but their end of battle skill - a hit propotional to the amount of HP they have left - is completely stupid, since it doesn't take into account the enemy's def stat.

Alain by the end of Bastorias, even without his grandpa's shiny sword, should be a force to be reckoned with who only dies to magic or to RNG, well, mine died to a fucking bear who hammered him to oblivion with Life Blow. And they look cute as fuck, with their tiny shoes, huge chest armor and blood-stained hammers!

Sure they don't do that "tank" thing very reliably, but they're cute.

Govil, the unexpected popular maiden picked by the players!

I got the 80s' punk vibe lol, and where Bertrand became a forced pacifist after losing his son, Govil, character wise, is the hot headed youth who wants to attack/kill/get rid of Zenoirans in Bastorias... because they killed his grandparents and are still killing various people everyday, he wants revenge.

Fitting with the 80s' punk idea the devs had, after seeing reason y joining Alain and co, Govil, in his rapport convo, reveals that he isn't someone who loves to fight or who enjoys brawls, he wants to re-open the tavern his grandparents (not his bio ones, but randos who adopted him!!!) had, is quite self-conscious about his appearance but really doesn't want people to know that he cares about how he looks, and is a bit curious about humans, since Bastorias doesn't see a lot of them.

Unit wise...

Werebears are really units, after two runs, I can safely say I didnt' understand how they were supposed to be played, or what they were supposed to do.

They are good at finishing already damaged units, and have an AoE, but they don't hit quite hard and aren't very bulky so... I'd like to try using or building some unit composition around him one day, but I haven't really found a "way" to make him work :(

Eligor, the twist!

I've read some people's thoughts about how that twist revealing him to be a bestral under his mask was totes foreshadowed since he's the only one crouching - granted Belisarius does the same and after meeting Baltro in the previous arc I can't really be sure what a "humanoid" looks like - and he called Conrad, a minor boss, a "human" earlier in a map.

That was a lolcalisation goof, Eligor never calls anyone "human" before the reveal : aka when he backstabs Reimann.

Let it be in FE or in UO, no one really gives a fuck about magic and science discoveries when it involves brainwashing animal people :(

Now, Eligor's backstory and motivations are really one of the worst points of the Bastorias arc for me, to the point where I would have wondered if he didn't cook the entire thing, if not for the Encyclopedia revealing us that yep, rat bestrals exist (but not rabbit bestrals... despite them being our item shopkeepers...) and lived in hiding.

Through the campaign, we learned that Bastorias was always ruled by the Lion Clan/Tribe, and how it had a rigid hierarchy/structure : Lions were the rulers, Owls are the mayors/lorekeepers, Cats are fishers, Goats are innkeepers/merchants, etc etc. Per Eligor, the rats were shunned by the rest of Bastorias and lived in hiding.

However, what we see through the various quests is... well, Ramona, sheltering a young human (?) girl and an amnesiac lion on top of organising a resistance with NPC of different tribes, Goats, Owls and Wolves worrying about a young cat, an orphanage organised by a human who takes care of lost children, the Rock Rats (Bryce'n'pals) being welcomed in a city of bestrals and being able to settle in said city, Yunifi, a human (?) who manages to talk to every bestral out there, Ramona and Morard more than once saying Bastorias needs to stand united against Zenoira : but we see it united, or at least, tribes accepting to work with each other.

Is it something that only happened """thanks""" to Zenoira's invasion? Or because back when the Lion tribe was still around, they pissed on everyone who wasn't them (especially rats)? And yet, Morard's backstory revelas that the Lion King was so grateful that Morard tried to save his daughter that he saved his life with the Bastorais Blue, aka the mc guffin that turns humans in Bestrals (or Bestrals in humans!).

Eligor speaks of an oppression we don't see in-game, but I'll chalk it up to doylsit reasons here : lack of budget to properly cook Bastorias, even if it's still one of my favourite arcs.

Now, as for his motivations properly... being shunned for being a rat, he was captured by Gharn- I mean, Baltro, who killed all of his kin in gruesome experiments, leaving only him as the only survivor, with now, superpowers and a nice armor.

(Uh. That totes doesn't remind me of something.)

Then, grateful for finally having a chance to be something else than a mere "rat" with his new body, Eligor sides with the ones who experimented on him

(...at least Eligor isnt' calling himself the flame emperor?)

To reach his goal, become the King of Bastorias and leader of all bestrals, he, a mere rat.

To do so, Eligor works with Reimann (under, presumably, Baltro's orders) and IDK if he participated in the "kill every lion by taking their baby hostage" operation, but given how he gleefully mocks Morard who, berserked, turns his axe on his daughter-sister Yunifi and Ramona, the woman who sheltered them both by saying something like "not so proud anymore Lion!" I wouldn't put it behind him.

(which has all kinds of dark implications, because if you don't go to Bastorias, in the final Map, Reimann brings his enslaved Bestral army with him, including Morard and Ramona but not Yunifi, are we supposed to guess that a berserk!Morard or a berserk!Ramona killed her? :'( )

Much like Bryce teased, Eligor who, I suppose, at first wanted a place to live/exist in Bastorias, despite being a rat, now became someone obsessed with enslaving/berserking every other bestral to make sure he will become the leader of Bastorias - denying everyone else their place to live/exist.

No sad uwus for him, merely Morard calling him a moron because he is no lion, and they all wanted to make Bastorias a place where everyone could live, despite their race/tribe, but Eligor's dream became warped, he just wanted, even if it only lasted an instant, to be at the top, he a measly rat, no matter the cost.

In an era where AOT's ending exist, I'm glad UO didn't pull any punches by showing us what Eligor's dream meant for the entire Bastorian population that wasn't him, and unlike Alcina before him, there's no pity party for the dude, because saving the rest of the country and making sure their minds will never be enslaved/controlled/berserked again takes the priority.

Unit-wise, I found it very fitting how Eligor is supposed to be a dodge tank who sort of protects his allies but actually costs them points of action (or passive points), so he protects them or is their leader... by actively crippling them!

It fits with his arc, he wants to be come the King, even if it means enslaving his people, because what is important is not them, but him becoming king.

(which is why, as a post game playable unit, Eligor is a bit... uh... well.)

Next : la perfide Albion!

[randomnameless]

Artbook stuff!

More devnotes (and my own rants lol) about some characters from Elheim : Rosalinde, Linharagos, Lydielle and the Celeste gang! (+ Amalia but I forgot her in the Drankengard/Drakenhold posts...)

Amalia first...

Sense of dominance or not, Amalia is towering the rest of the cast (at 2m30!) wielding a giant sword that is totes not inspired by a certain dark fantasy manga, and uses what is basically a door as a shield. Her strikes are wide (and wild) and she is basically introduced as what we would call a Gotoh unit in the FE fanbase in the chapter she's introduced in (basically coming handy in one of the few defence map of the game) however, unless you recruit her early by using cheese strats, by the time you can finally use her after defeating her in the arena (around early albion or late Bastorias?) she's not that impressive anymore : still a damn good unit, but not breaking the game in half

(especially since she can't access her beserk state)

Plot wise : she's a random who's looking to fight strong fighters, to actually manage to beat her and beat her berserk form (that is basically, her ancestor taking over her body to fight), she only accepts to help Gilbert'n'Alain during the Drakengard campaign for one map because Gilbert promised her that if they survive, he'll reopen the coliseum.

Alain's group can then recruit her by defeating her, and her berserk form, in the coliseum!

Design wise, the armored briefs is, imo, completely ridiculous especially given the otherwise okay-ish designs from Drakengard, but fwiw, I like her knees armor, even if I don't know what they're supposed to represent lol

On to Elheim!

I know, I added the image where she's damaged because we can't talk about Elheim and Rosalinde without sighing about, well, the sexualised designs and the overabundance of camel toes.

I know VW is known for its fanservice designs, but damn if Elheim was hit/designed with a "gotta make them sexy" hammer.

Rosalinde then - "deep brown skin" is used for dark elves in this game, it's nice to have some variation, especially when the "really tanned" persons living in the desert from the earlier setting were only... male.

Gameplay wise, Rosalinde might be one of the best units, an offensive nuke who can cheese the penultimate boss' gimmick even if she has paper thin defenses, imo she's basically a glass canon. I also really like her attacking animations with the lance (her weapon, even if she's a mage!), they're really fluid so while I know it's not really about "gameplay" it totes counts as to why I like to field her lol

Plot wise... Well, it's Elheim, and on paper, Rosalinde isn't that egregious, she's basically asking Alain (or more precisely Yahna) for help to save her country and her sister, who were both taken over by Zenoira - Rosalinde's seiyuu has a certain voice range (?) which really plays well in depicting her being worried and super pissed at Zenoira invading Elheim and brining harm to her people and beloved younger sister, but also manages to play her character being relieved when she realises her friend/retained who sacrificed herself to buy her time didn't die (and is ultimately saved by the party) while maintaining some sort of coldness/aloofness with the party, at least until her sister is safe because she doesn't trust humans (after all, they are the ones who invaded!) - after her sister is rescued though and her rapport convos are unlocked, we learn that she is a pretty playful person, who loves to tease people around, takes her duty seriously and wishes the best for her sister/wants to protect her, feeling like she let her down when she faced the Zenoiran forces alone.

That being said... Rosalinde is shoved in the "potential love interest who has a hands on approach" box and while it's only at the end of Elheim arc, the "love interest" angle really soured me a bit on the character, especially since, unlike Berengaria, Rosalinde can ditch her sister to marry Alain and become queen of Cornia, even when part of her arc has been trying to find allies to rescue her dearest younger twin and save her country :/

So plot wise I'm a bit meh about her, but gameplay wise? She's a beast!

Linaragos is our male elven archer!

"Sexy feel" of the design or not, at least on Pixiv, some artists are having a lot of fun about his lack of, uh, pants (and undies?).

While he looks serious, Linaragos can be playful and even entertains goofballs like Mordon, even if he plays the "only sane man" in their rapport convo when Eltrinde - basically the leader of the elves and a traditional "priestress" - ends up drunk by smelling his glass of wine.

Intimacy dialogue wise, in the loc version, Linaragos basically agrees to become Alain's object of desire so, uh, sure it's not as explicit as Alain and Berengaria kissing on screen, but there's that.

Gameplay wise, Elven Archers are basically support units - their conferal (adding magic damage to an ally's attack!) can be pretty busted, later on they can freeze foes with their arrows, and when they're healed, they heal the entire unit - but they need a bit of work to really shine, granted, given all the possibilities they open, I'm not surprised the game gives us three named characters in this class!

Plot wise, Linaragos leads a small army of elves trying to resist/fight back against Zenoira, but they're severely outnumbered - which echoes one of Alain's rapport conversations with, iirc, Hodrick, where they basically point out that Elheim's demography is quite poor compared to Cornia, which might be explained by the elves having a longer lifespan! - our army helps him, he recognises Rosalinde and agrees to help us free Elheim and save Eltrinde!

Lydielle (Ridiel?) is a half-elf who has the same "elven archer" class as Linaragos and Galadmir, but I liked how the devs apparently picked her haircut and hair color to give a contrast with the "pure-blooded" elves, and also her "cheeky and rebellious" phase, fitting since she's apparently 16 lol

Maybe her wearing red and orange also serves as a contrast with the other elven archers wearing primary green clothes?

I wonder what was the plot mentionned where she would have been one of Morard's agents - we know elves think bestrals (beastmean) are "unclean" which might echo the discrimination she faces by being a half elf?

Speaking of which, I really liked how her subplot - being discriminated against for being a half elf - while apparently being baseless since the playable elves never give her flack for not being a fully blooded elf, is actually illustrated by the NPCs! They are the ones who, for some, look down or straight up resent humans, consider bestrals "unclean" and, in her paralogue, rant about her not being an elf.

It's not given more attention because that's not what the Elheim arc is about, and Lydielle doesn't even have a convo with either Rosalinde or Eltrinde, but it plays with the general theme of "get rid of the common enemy and then rebuild the world to make it better than it used to be". I also love her recruitment conversations with Chloe - they become friends sure, but Chloe manages to convincer her that even if she might die and think her fight would have ultimately have been pointless against the Zenoiran invasion, her actions could still inspire people to take up weapons and even if she cannot be a knight of Elheim due to her half-elf status, she can still help people around.

Too bad she doesnt' have a lot of rapport convos, but fwiw, I like Lydielle.

Celeste is, much like Lydielle, someone who cannot become a knight of Elheim because she's not an elf.

Nonetheless, having been saved/raised by elves, she wants to help them and forms a militia, even as a mere human. Bar being the pure, innocent, naive etc etc human raised/saved/who lived with elves, what's most interesting about Celeste is that 1/she's another griffon knight and those units are busted 2/she actually manages to hire/join forces with former bandits we met, and who have a change of heart and accept to work under her orders.

Bar that, I don't have a lot to say about Celeste :(

Gammel!

Bandit 1, who was introduced in early Cornia, terrorising a village and slaughtering people - Alain'n'co defeated him and he begged for his life, saying that he had to resort to a life of banditry to pay for his sister's medical expenses, or some shady shit like that.

Alain can chose to put him in jail, or to let him go (and return to his sister) - the decision to let him go can be very controversial in fandom spaces, but plot-wise, it could be justified by Josef basically telling Alain that after Zenoira's invasion and ten years of them being in charge in Cornia, people are surviving and some might have turned to banditry because it was the only way to survive in this new world...

Alain's basically encouraged not to execute people, and it works with Gammel because, somehow, meeting a moron lord who doesn't execute him for doing bandit/thief things made him reconsider his life - Celeste apparently saved him and his sister and now he is part of her militia to protect, at least in the map when we recruit them all, elves from former members of his gang who want to sell some to make money. Emulating the moron lord who gave him a chance to start a new life, he doesn't kill his former allies, and instead hopes that they will turn over a new leaf, like he did.

So even if he looks like a traditionnal FE Bandit, Gammel really has a sister - and her existence is referenced in several of his supports, and even here, in the dev notes lol, good for him!

And I like how he continues, in the epilogue, to work with Celeste and Mandrin - judging by the notes, the trio "Celeste Mandrin and Gammel" was designed as some "do not separate" lol, if that "fantasy" (a headcanon?) of them hanging out with Gammel's sister is any indication!

Unit wise, he's a thief/rogue like Travis, aka supposed to be dodge tanks and quite fast, but... yeah :/

and Mandrin!

Gammel's childhood friend, who's also a bandit who attacked Sharon's church (earning Ochlys' eternal ire) and who also can turn over a new leaf if Alain spares him.

He joins in the same map as Gammel and Celeste and also became part of Celeste's group, and the epilogue reveals that he and Gammel's sister are getting along together, much to his chagrin.

Also I like his design even if I can't see the "scorpion" thing the devs mentionned :(

FWIW, I liked how he accepts that Ochlys hates him for trying to sack and pillage the church of Rondmort, even if personality wise, we're still on the "bandit with a heart of gold" thing.

I don't have a lot to say about those two, but Mandrin's class - Hunter - is cool and surpisingly useful - one of the few AOE attacks!