Class Mayhem! Let's Hack Fire Emblem + Sword of Seals!

Don't forget Luck; she's beating him in that stat by about 4 pts.

On that note, will Legault be up for class changing or are you sticking by your decision to keep him a thief? All things considered, I'd say stick with Serra for the class - Legault's Str growth is way too low to gamble on even with RNG manipulation, and Serra's rock-solid stats across the board would make her better equipped to defend herself in case something went awry (which is the name of the game for Hard Mode, it seems).

Wait, what am I saying



Turn Legault into a Fighter and promote him into a Warrior, because he's THE HURRICANE. >:D

MAKE IT SO. I can't imagine Legault otherwise now.

So, at the moment, the polls say that

Fiora: Nomad (She has one vote for Pirate, Cavalier, Archer, Nomad and Wyvern Rider, but since I'm supporting her with Kent I might as well make them the same.)

Dart: Fighter (Both Fighter and Knight have one vote, but I don't have any Fighters yet so...)

Legault: Fighter then immediate promotion into Warrior despite his crap Strength.

That about right?

I'll vote to tip this one to Cavalier. As long as she gets a horsie!

Welll, if you want, you can try leveling him up before hitting promotion. Ch. 21 has an arena and two shops stocked with staves, so once you finish clearing out every enemy there except Oleg, there's nothing stopping you from power-leveling him to Lv. 20 and promoting him then. The fact that he has 17 Spd and uses Axes should make arena battles a cinch.

Also: We already have Florina the WyvernRider, so I'm switching my vote to Fiora the Cavalier.

As for Dart: Aside from Guy the Soldier, the two Knights we have on our team so far (i.e. Dorcas and Lowen) are horrid, so I suggest we tip the balance in favour of making him a Knight..

Legault has an archer's nose.

Fiora: I support the nomad/Kent path.

Whoops, forgot something. As far as Supports go, I intend to show off the majority, if not all of the non-romantic ones, but obviously enough I can only show one of each ending affecting A Support.

Eliwood/Ninian, Wil/Rebecca, Harken/Isadora, Jaffar/Nino, and Barte/Karla are the only ones guaranteed at this point (though I admit I'm leaning towards Kent/Fiora and Dart/Farina), but everyone else is up in the air.

For the record, out of the current (and future) party, the following pairs are possible: Hector/Lyn, Hector/Florina, Hector/Farina, Hector/Serra, Lyn/Kent, Lyn/Rath, Matthew/Serra, Erk/Serra, Erk/Priscilla, Raven/Lucius, Guy/Priscilla, Prisclla/Heath, Kent/Fiora, Sain/Fiora, and Dart/Farina.

(I hope that's all of them,)

Hector/Lyn isn't guaranteed? It has extra dialogue in the penultimate chapter with unique music and everything.

Anyway, my votes are for: Hector/Lyn, Sain/Serra, Erk/Priscilla, Kent/Fiora, and Dart/Farina. I also vote that we don't double up on the same romantic supports from Tanto's LP for the sake of variety.

Hector/Lyn is implied (especially in Hector's Tale, where there's like three special conversations between the two), but it isn't outright stated like Eliwood/Ninian is.

And Sain has a paired ending with Serra? That's new to me.

Oops, you're right. Sorry, I must've been thinking of Sain/Rebecca. In that case, switch my vote to simply Sain/Fiora because their relationship is really something adorable.

By the way: once you finish Valor, can we get a rundown of our team and who'll be making the cut?

Dammit, I was shipping Hector/Priscilla and now it turns out it isn't possible?

Pairings from the Tanto LP:
Rebecca/Sain
Serra/Matthew
Priscilla/Heath
Lucius/Raven
Louise/Pent
Lyn/Rath
Hector/Florina
Eliwood/Ninian

Somehow I can't get excited about any of the remaining possibilities, so I will remain voteless unless convinced otherwise.

Protip: Don’t play Fire Emblem after a Super Robot Wars OG marathon, because then your fingers will get used to pressing Start > Up > A. In SRW OG, this saves the game. In Fire Emblem, this ends your turn.

Anyways, after I did that I immediately reset the game and hacked it to be my phase, but it appears I wasn’t fast enough, as Legault’s sprite is grayed out.

Now then, the map. To be blunt, this map is one big clusterfuck. There are tons of enemies (not to mention at least three spawn points), a corridor that will slow you down, and two Thieves you have to interact with: Legault and Mr. Member Card. Not only that, but I started with a really bad formation, and since I hadn‘t saved after activating the necessary codes (nor did I want to repeat putting in the codes), I had to stick with it.



I hope she looks better as a Paladin.





Hector laughs at your feeble attempts to harm him.



Like I said, clusterfuck.





Okay, that’s weird. Having a female Cavalier use a sword makes them morph into an Assassin during battle.



I could pick those chests to grab a Luna and a Blue Gem, but I need to get Serra in position to intercept Mr. Member Card before he leaves.







There goes Darin.

Bweh, enemy phase level ups.



I know there are Secret Shops here, but I don’t need the items they provide.




They find the man for whom they've been searching, Marquess Pherae. He breathes his last in the embrace of his son, Eliwood. The companions leave the Dragon's Gate and set sail for Badon. Eliwood is grief-stricken at his father's death. Hector can find no words to comfort his friend.

While Ninian consoles Eliwood, Hector, Lyn and Nils have their own scene.



Our “new” character this time is Ninian. I’d kind of like it if you guys kept her as a Dancer so I can clear that 700 XP requirement for the upcoming Kishuna chapter.

I’ll write up another character overview later. Right now, I have to read through East of Eden.

Oh let her be. I like the image of the two siblings in hiding being a slip of a girl and a giant floating dragon head.

Okay, time for a look at the team.

I have to use Hector no matter what, but considering he's one of the best characters in the game that's not much of a handicap. I'm pretty annoyed about how quickly he reached Level 20 though; it means I can't use him until his promotion, which isn't happening for a while. Oh well, at least he can help out Eliwood, Matthew, and Florina.

Eliwood's taken a quantum leap in usefulness since Castle Caelin. If things go well (which they should, if I have anything to say about it), he'll cap Strength and Speed once he hits level 20. And since this isn't his tale, he can promote much earlier.

I haven't really been using Lyn that much, but she's still doing great. The fact that her list of Supports includes Florina, Kent, Wil, and Eliwood just make her ridiculous.

Sain hasn't been used since Castle Caelin, and honestly I think it's too late for him. Raven provides a decent enough source of healing, and if I really need a mobile healer Marcus is much better.

Who would have thought Kent would make such an excellent Nomad? His Strength has been pretty shaky, but he's more than made up for it with his relentlessly increasing Speed. The fact that he has a Support with Lyn and Fiora is just the icing on the cake.

Man, you should have seen Florina last chapter. She was getting so many Support boosts she was basically an invincible critical hit machine.

Wil's been doing great, but I honestly think he should have been a Mercenary. I can't even remember the last time he managed to double someone.

Well... Dorcas' stats are exceptional compared to what he usually gets.

Serra's my only Thief, so I have to use her.

Oh wow, I forgot about Erk.

Matthew's got 8 levels to salvage that Strength stat, and even if he doesn't he can always just use Luna.

Lucius is decent, I guess, but I don't think a Mercenary with 1 Defense is really going to be that helpful.

Oswin's at a high enough level that I could just throw him in and not have any worries. Still, he's a Mercenary, and an upcoming character will satisfy anyone's Mercenary/Hero needs.

Like Oswin, I could throw Marcus into my team right now and have him perform excellently. Just look at that Magic stat.

When was the last time I even used Lowen?

Rebecca's been doing great. Though her sprite's rather... transparent clothing is a little eyebrow raising.

I believe it has already been established that Bartre is going to be on my team no matter what.

I kind of wish Guy would get more Strength, but other then that I have no complaints.

I think it's too late for Priscilla.

I'm going to be promoting Raven as soon as he hits Level 10. Those stats are wasted on a Cleric.

Canas is my only Pirate, but that's a position far less important than being the only Shaman.

Meh.

Fiora's always been a great unit for me, and it doesn't look like that's going to be changing any time soon.

I just got Legault, so he's perfectly usable, but I think Hector and Bartre provide all of the axe wielding I'll ever need.

While you guys pick... let's say six other characters for me to focus on, I'd like you guys to keep Supports in mind. The team I used for Chapter 20 all had a Support with at least one of the other characters, and they were basically completely invincible. Florina and Fiora in particular completely destroyed everything, and you saw what Eliwood could do.

Nobody picked anyone, so I’ll just go with my choices.



Oh, joy. Fog of War. Anyways, since this map is pretty easy (though damn near every enemy has a poisoned weapon), I decided to just bring in the characters who might be good but need a few levels.

That’s what I wrote before I did the mission. On Hard mode, this mission is a ridiculous slugfest. Sure, at the beginning the enemies are pretty weak, but eventually an army of high level Wyvern Riders and Knights flood the area, and the ones not equipped with Poison weapons have Javelins.

The villages give a nice haul of items though: Light Rune, Elysian Whip, and a Restore.





Would you look at that. Legault’s got a custom sprite too.







This Brigand could have destroyed that nearby village, but for some reason he chose to attack Legault instead. Oh well, not complaining.



Man, what a stupid Monk. Who tries to attack a Pirate with magic?



Here’s a good way to keep Hector occupied.



(If you’ve already determined who Eliwood is going to be married to, his Supports with the other two girls make him come off as this tremendous tease.)



What I wouldn’t give for a map weapon.

Well crap. Eliwood is now completely defenseless.



The majority of my units are poisoned and the remaining enemies are absolute beasts only Hector could kill in one battle. Time to end this chapter.



Hector’s already made me fabulously wealthy anyways.



So much for maxing Strength before promoting.

I really can’t tell if Kent and Fiora were being serious there near the end.


The group travels west to meet with Lord Uther, the marquess of Ostia. Lord Uther is an intelligent leader and power in the Lycian League. He has also been a father to Hector, ever since their parents died many years ago. Hector’s reunion with his brother is a happy one, if somewhat embarrassing.

Hector continues his journey filled with complex emotion. At length, they arrive at a fortress separating Thria and Ostia.

Two new characters this time.



(HP: 75%, Str: 30%, Skl: 35%, Spd: 50%, Lck: 45%, Def: 20%, Res: 25%)

I have never used Isadora because she just sucks, plain and simple. But I do notice that her growths emphasize how female classes have higher Speed caps. Fiora will be sure to take advantage of that.



(HP: 80%, Str: 50%, Skl: 50%, Spd: 45%, Lck: 20%, Def: 30%, Res: 20%)

I have never used Heath either, so I can’t really comment on him. He gets Hard Mode bonuses at least.

You are going to use Heath, then.

And you'll make him a Monk because I think it'd be funny.

(also palette issues are awesome)

Man, if Isadora had 2 more Str and joined as a Cavalier, she'd probably be about a hundred times more useful in a normal game. Alas, she's a prepromote, so I'm obliged not to care about using her.

I'm not sure what to make Heath, so I'll come back to his class change later once I see what everyone else is voting for.

So I decided to dick around with my promotion items to see how everyone I'm using looks in a different promoted class.

I'm glad to say that everyone looks fine, though Florina got a hilariously bad promotion boost (+1 to Constitution. Yay.) However, promoting Legault in a class outside of Thief caused the game to kind of screw up, and it seems his Assassin class also has a custom sprite. So no Axe Hurricane shenanigans.

Isadora: Nomad. Just 'cause.
Heath: Troubadour because his name's one letter off from Health? It's not like he's going to see any action anyway.

There still isn’t a conclusive decision on what to change Isadora and Heath to, and since I can’t even change them until the next chapter I may as well extend the poll time.



(Formation pictured not the one I used.)

This map is annoying. There are tons of enemies already, and throughout the battle more keep on coming in. This wouldn’t be that bad by itself, but when these enemies all can kill you in about three hits, things get a little trickier, especially if you forgot to bring a healer like I did. More than that, there are also a bunch of idiotic NPCs that you’re probably supposed to protect for a reward, but I think no reward is worth defending suicidal chipmunks.



I am confident enough in Florina’s abilities to just have her park in front of this door. I should probably park Fiora and Hector nearby though.





Argh, forgot Serra. Oh well, I guess I can just kill the Thief for one of the prizes.



Lyndis’ Legion has finally reassembled. Unfortunately, Rath only has Nomad gear on him, so I need to get him to Merlinus.





Yeesh, how many mercenaries does Eubans have?



I’m just going to have Heath fly away and chill out with Rath, Isadora, and Merlinus. Meanwhile, Hector and Florina are going to kill every enemy on the left side of the map.





A terrible enemy phase level up, but considering everyone lived through the massacre that was Phase 5, I think it’s worth it.



And I wasn’t joking about the Phase 5 being a massacre. Matthew single-handedly killed the majority of the central enemy forces, but in the process he almost broke his brand new Nosferatu. Meanwhile, I forgot to equip Hector’s Hand Axe on Phase 4, so four Mages took advantage of his low Resistance to whittle him down. On Phase 5, though, Hector and Florina dodged all attacks and revenge killed almost every single attacker.

There is a Secret Shop here that sells five use Chest Keys. I could use those to open that other chest down there, but I left the Member Card with Serra because I‘m stupid.





Not only do these assholes get in the way, they kill steal too!





How’s that karma taste?



Naturally, Hector’s Tale has a conversation between Hector and Uther that isn’t seen in Eliwood’s Tale.


The Nabata Desert. A wasteland of scorching sun and frigid nights. It rejects human life. Any careless enough to enter its embrace is doomed to wander lost. Uther, the marquess of Ostia, spoke of a living legend…

Guided by his words, Hector heads straight into the desert.

Hector’s Tale adds a short dialogue after Eliwood orders the rest of the group to follow Hector and Lyn.



(HP: 50%, Str: 30%, Skl: 20%, Spd: 40%, Lck: 40%, Def: 30%, Res: 35%)

Pent looks like a good candidate for Archsage to me.

Sounds okay to me. It's just a sidestep from his normal class but that's okay.

Well, nobody voted, so I guess Heath is going to be a Monk, Isadora is going to be a Nomad Trooper, and Pent is going to be an Archsage.



Hector’s Living Legend has two significant differences from Eliwood’s. First, the party starts at the bottom right of the screen. Second, the sandstorm is no longer just for show.

Anyways, this map puts a lot of restrictions on your team. The first problem is that it’s a desert.



This means that all non-magical ground based units lose 3 Move. Because of this, you’ll want to have as many magical and aerial units as possible. But since Hector’s version of this chapter has Fog of War, aerial units are a liability that can get killed by a mob of concealed enemies at any point.



Not only that, but all Fire Emblem desert levels always have some junk on the ground for units to pick up. Whether or not you get it depends on your luck stat, but Thieves will always pick things up. So you want a Thief too, especially since they increase your range of vision.



The final problem is that to unlock the side chapter, you need to get 700 XP during this chapter. The easiest way to do this is to use Ninian, so you’ll want her too.



I start the chapter by promoting Raven.

I’m almost certain some of you are asking why I would promote someone before they hit level 20. The answer is simple: Clerics are useless.



If Raven were a Mercenary, then yes, I would want to delay his promotion until he starts capping stats. But as a Cleric, Raven is just sitting around wasting some amazing stats. And considering how low the Bishop’s caps are, Raven doesn’t have to worry about not being able to reach maximum potential.



Throughout the battle, Pent is going to be mobbed by enemies. He can hold his own, but the more he kills, the less experience I get. Normally, priority would be to rescue him with an aerial unit, but I just explained why aerial units are not a good idea.



(HP: 50%, Str: 40%, Skl: 30%, Spd: 25%, Lck: 40%, Def: 20%, Res: 35%)

Oh yeah, I forgot about this guy. Hawkeye’s got a custom sprite, so don’t be expecting any palette shenanigans with him. While I’m at it, don’t expect me to use him.





There goes the first of the two bosses. Now to hope everyone survives the next enemy phase.



Even as a Monk, Heath still wears chain mail.



Both of those were enemy phase level ups. I don’t think the RNG wants me to use Heath.



Serra wasn’t in range to Steal whatever Paul was holding, but she’ll be happy to take this White Gem off of the soon to be dead Jasmine.

There’s also a Body Ring and a Filla’s Might nearby. And if I go a little farther upwards, I can pick up a Light Brand and a Hero Crest.



Gah.




Kishuna begins to reminisce about his origin.

I wonder how my Ranking’s doing.



Heck yeah.



(Once again, formation seen not formation used.)





Sleep and Berserk are pains, but the amount of experience the enemies give balances things out.



Kishuna leaves as soon as you engage him in battle, and as soon as Phase 5 starts. I can’t recall if I have to kill Kishuna, but I’m going to. Kent’s Brave Bow, his support with Fiora, and some good old RNG manipulation are going to be my weapons of choice.

Killing Kishuna caused all of the holes in the walls to break and made the super dangerous Morphs leave in favor of these wimps. It also gave every other Morph free reign to hit me with their long range spells. Not a very good trade in my opinion.





Longbows may be useless in most situations, but here they shine.



Hector’s Tale has some slightly different after-dialogue text, but muscling through that chapter has drained me so much I don’t want to write it down. Sorry.



You guys can decide who I give this to. Do note I’m not going to be using Nino.




(HP: 85%, Str: 50%, Skl: 30%, Spd: 40%, Lck: 40%, Def: 20%, Res: 20%)

Unfortuantely, FE7 doesn’t have a Chapter Mod code like FE6, so I can’t get both Geitz and Wallace.

no wallace?

D:

I have to say, I love the look of Turban Heath, though.

I dunno what to do with Geitz, but we can't have a guy named Hawkeye who isn't a Sniper. Come on, it's just common sense.

It not in the game script that gamefaqs has then? [it's under "Fire Emblem" for some reason]