Wait, Zephiel's the bad guy? Let's Play Fire Emblem: Sword of Seals!

As with Tanto's previous FE LP, seeing a slew of +1's is very compelling. I just don't know enough about the series to make a knowledgable comment.

Anyway, I trust Tanto, and if he says dancer, I say dancer.

But aren't there different characters beyond a musician and a fowl? I think Batre is on only one route >_>.

Then again, who wants Batre?

Way I heard it, Wendy was Oswin's daughter. More logical, and she could still be Serra's as well, I suppose.

I *still* haven't managed to actually catch up on this thread since like 4 pages were posted while I was offline for thanksgiving, but I just wanted to pop in to say: Hooray! I really liked the last FE LP, and am glad to see the follow-up.

I vote spoony bard. Because that bird guy scares me. ;_;

It helps that Serra is the only person in FE7 that Oswin can marry, and Wendy's sporting the pink hair. That doesn't necessarily mean anything -- I don't think Rath's wife appears in FE7 even though his daughter's a playable character -- but it helps.

There are also prepromotes mutually-exlcusive from each other, yes (Bartre on the Bard's path, a female hero, [Echidna], on the Dancer's) but they're both so ineffectual that I wouldn't be able to use them anyway. As it is, the only real choice is between using the Bard and the Dancer, so just focus on them for now.

All righty, I'll be starting the chapter now, and, if that's all the votes, it looks like the Bards have it! Expect an update sometime tonight or tomorrow.

He is on both routes! There is no escape.

All we are saying is... give Geese a chance.

Welcome back. Last time, we had pushed through a secret volcanic cove and, after routing the bandits that had made their home their, unlocked the seal that guarded the Blazing Sword, Durandal. After taking the blade, Roy and co. returned to Ostia only to find Narshen, however, by chance, Knight General Percival and Sorcery General Cecilia from the Etrurian army had arrived to drive him off.



...for further attacks from Bern. However, Bern's belligerent movement towards Lycia suddenly stopped altogether, as if to mock Roy and his caution. Bern was also maintaining a neutral position regarding the truce offer from Etruria. Bern's sudden silence and lack of activity could only be described as eerie.

With Hector gone, Eliwood was now the only lasting power in Lycia. Eliwood summoned the various dukes to Pherae to discuss their future actions. It was decided that Eliwood was to become the next leader of the Lycia Alliance and that a new Lycia Alliance Army would be established. This new force's purpose was not to take the offensive against Bern, but trather take a defensive stance for Lycia. For his victory against Bern in Ostia, Roy was chosen to be the leader of the new Lycia Alliance army.



Business was improving, and people's attitudes started to get more optimistic. Around that time, Etruria called for Lycia's assistance in ridding the Westen Isles of the outlaws and bandits making their base there. The Lycia Alliance expressed their discontent by saying that they saw no reason in sending troops all the way to the Western Isles, but because Lycia needed Etruria's protection against Bern, they had no choice but to oblige.Thus, Roy and the Lycia Alliance Army passed through Etruria and made their way towards the Western Isles.



Currently, they are colonies of Etruria. The Western Isles are rich in minerals and natural resources, so mining is a major industry. However, these minerals are worth a fortune, so various rogue groups have traveled there hoping to loot the mines and sell the minerals for themselves. Thus, the people living on the Western Isles and spend their days in constant fear of bandit attacks. And Roy had been sent to defeat these bandits.



With a few additions, join us now as we journey to...

Chapter 9: The Misty Isles





Meanwhile, in a castle further on the Isle...



Scott: You sure?

Pirate: Yup. We just saw 'em arrive on the small island to the east.

Scott: Just as that other group said... All right, they're probably floundering around in the fog unable to see anything. Just sneak up on them from behind and kill 'em off.

Pirate: Sure thing, boss.



Roy: Please, don't worry about it. It isn't your responsibility, Lady Cecilia.

Cecilia: Yes. But even within Etruria, there are a lot of people voicing their discontent on how the advisor is treating Lycia like servants.

Roy: Advisor? I thought the king had made the decision to send Lycia to clear out hte bandits.

Cecilia: No, Advisor Roartz had been working with Lord Arcard, who's in charge of the mining operation in the Western Isles, and they decided to do it on their own without consulting the king.

Roy: How can they do that?

Cecilia: ...Do you remember last year's tragedy in Etruria?

Roy: Of course. Etruria's next heir, Prince Mildain, suddenly passed away last year.

Plot point!

Cecilia: Right.

Roy: I never had the honor to meet him. I understand that he was a very bright individual.

Cecilia: Yes... If the prince were alive. Etruria wouldn't be like this. King Mordred couldn't bear the fact that his son had died. The shock was sogreat that he never completely recovered from it. And today, it seems like he's always in a different world, and he doesn't really pay attention to anything going on around him or in his country. Roartz took advantage of this. Now, he's basically in charge of what goes in the palace. Ever since then, he has kept the Three Etrurian Generals, Lord Doublas, Percival, and me, away from the king unless there's a great emergency.

Roy: But what about the time when you came to aid us in Ostia?

Cecilia: That event was an exception because Percival worked with me. But now...

Roy: Please don't worry yourself... We can return to Lycia when we complete this mission anyway. But may I ask you to take care of Lycia while we are away?

Cecilia: Of course. You can leave the Lycia Alliance, and also Princess Guinevere, to me.



Interestingly enough, Guinevere's field sprite in this discussion is that of a Sage. This is because she's one of the characters you can unlock for the trial maps after you beat the game...

Roy: The battes on these islands are likely to become slugfests. You can never know what will happen. I think you should hide in Etruria with protection from General Cecilia.

Cecilia: Your Highness... please trust me. I understand your intentions of suggesting a truce, and I also promised Roy that I would protect you. Trust me, I will defend you at all costs.

Guinevere: ...I understand. I apologize for being selfish. Roy, I pray for your safety.

Roy: Thank you, my Lady. I will pray for yours as well.



This one's trickier than hard, but it's a challenge nonetheless. This is the first map so far with Fog of War, so be careful as you make your way through the battlefield - one wrong move and you'll find yourself at the wrong end of an axe. As such, you'll want to field one of your thieves here to take advantage of their increased visibility, at least until you buy some torches from the shop to the north.

The strategy isn't too complicated - move northwest until you reach the center then divide your team into mounted units to head for the villages in the northeast and the rest to head south. There are a pair of recruits here that will charge your team aggressively from the second turn, but you'll run into them by the time you reach the center and you can just have the right units recruit them easily enough.

One thing to watch out for are the reinforcements that start to appear a number of turns in, as they'll make for the villages as soon as they appear if you don't lure them away, and smash them in.



Wendy heads south first, blocking the bridge from the first two pirates in the area.



Next turn, she and Lilina gang up on a pirate for a kill, with Noah taking the other.

It's a bit of a clusterfuck at first, what with everyone trying to cross the bridge at the same time. Thankfully, the other enemies approaching won't meet up with us until a few turns from now so we'll be able to reorganize our formations in time to fight back.



Huh? What's Fir doing up there?

Scott: Oh, it's Fir. Sorry I had to call you in.

Fir: What is all this noise about?

Scott: Well you see, some brigands are attacking this island. The people living here are in danger.

Fir: What!

Scott: I sent some guys over to try and stop them, but the invaders are pretty tough. The situation doesn't look good.

Fir: I can't believe...

Scott: If only I could go out there... but I can't leave the castle. So, Fir. I'm sorry, but...

Fir: Yes, I shall go and drive them off.

Scott: Thanks.

Seems like Scott's playing Fir like a fiddle. Tsk tsk. Didn't her father teach her not to trust strangers so easily?

Fir: Leave it to me! Attacking innocent villagers... that's not forivable!

Scott: I asked another guy too, so you can work with him.

Fir: Someone else?

Scott: Yeah, a nomad named Shin. He looks frail, but he's got a decent shot with his bow.



Shin: That's me. I heard the story from Scott. Let's go.

Get used to seeing this guy, troop, since he's got a decent shot at being on our final team.

Fir: ......

Shin: ......

Fir: Um...

Shin: What?

Fir: Um, did you also join the fight to protect the people living here?

Shin: No... I have no such interest in such thing.

Fir: Then why?

Shin: I'm paid to fight. That's all.

Fir: ......

Shin: ......

This is what most of the Fir/Shin support reads like. Yep.

Fir: ...I gotta keep the conversation going. Um... you're from Sacae, right?

Shin: Right.

Fir: What took you all the way out here?

Shin: It's nothing new. You look like you're from Sacae, and you're also here.

Fir: Well I'm traveling around Elibe to train myself, and... Oh, you weren't asking about me, were you...

Shin: ......

Fir: ...Whew.

Shin: ...I'm looking for somebody.

Fir: Who?

Shin: ...My clan lost to Bern when they invaded Sacae.

Fir: ......

Shin: Our clan leader let me escape, and he told me to find and protect his granddaughter. So I left the battlefield to fulfil his request.

He's searching for Sue, obviously. Good thing we brought her along, huh?

Fir: I see... Well, I hope you find her.

Shin: ...Yes.



Oh my God, Sword of Seals, stop being so chatty my fingers hurt. :<

Pirate: ...out there...

Scott: Yeah, I know what I'm doing. Once she's killed, we can get that sword she's carrying.

Pirate: Sword? That weird one she has?

Scott: That's no ordinary sword. That's the 'Wo Dao', a famous katana. If we can get it from her and sell it, it'll be worth a fortune. Hehe...

Amusing that they'd use an entire scene to introduce a weapon that's not all that interesting outside of a high crit rate. Ah well, let's keep reading.

Pirate: I see. So that's why you were so generous to her at first.

Scott: I couldn't make a move up until now, but now's a chance. Listen, I want you to follow her. When you see the chance, grab the sword from her!

Pirate: Sure thing, boss!



Phew. Anyway, Wolt lures one of the approaching fighters and shoots him down over two turns.



After which the rest of the Fighter's group reaches our moving forces and fires at Noah.



Thany aids Wendy in her kill, though she could have easily dealt with the mercenary on her own (no damage!).



Now that's more like it. A few more levels like that and we'll have a decent fighter on our hands.



Oujay the hedgehog cleaves the archer bugging Noah in two.



Our team took a few blows, so they'll use a turn to heal up a bit before they head for the center. When you're dealing with the Fog of War, you want to leave as little to chance as possible.

Chad is especially helpful as a result, as his enhanced visibilty makes him a great unit to scout the area ahead. Battlefields like this are one of the times that thieves really shine, and having them on-hand to have a better glimpse of what's ahead really cuts down on the risk of moving.



As you'll have noticed, a lot of the enemies on this stage are axe-wielders, and as a result they'll hit harder at the cost of accuracy. Because of this, you'll want to field a lot of sword users to take advantage of their low hit, as the triangle really works against them since they won't be able to connect with it in effect.



Somewhere down the line, Noah and Fir reunite on the battlefield.

Fir: Sir Noah?! What are you doing here?!

Noah: Yes, I joined this army a while back... Whoa! What are you thinking?! Put away your sword!

Fir: Sir Noah! I thought you were nobler than this!

Noah: What?

Fir: Just because you're a mercenary knight... Lending your services to pirates?! You should be ashamed

Noah: ...Huh?

Fir: Don't play dumb! You're working with a band of pirates to attack the people living on this island! And you call yourself a knight!?

Noah: Um, can I have a sec I think there'sa really big misunderstanding...

Fir: Misunderstanding?! You still insist...

Noah: We're trying to help the villagers. We're supposed to go defeat the head of a pirate group. I think his name was Scott or something.

Fir: What? Scott is the head of a pirate band?

Noah: If you think I'm lying, why don't you ask the pirate over there? He's right behind you, hiding in the bushes.

Fir: Pirate? What pirate...



Fir: Hey! Wait!

Noah: ...You didn't suspect at all?

Fir: No! Scott was very kind to me...

Noah: Really? Rumors say that he's a very cruel man...

Fir: Well, my mother used to say that you shouldn't judge people by their looks...

Noah: Well, that's true, but...

Fir: ...I was lending my services to pirates... What can I do now?

Noah: Then you want to come along with us?

Fir: What? Would it be okay?

Noah: We're always looking for more people to strengthen our army. I'll talk to Roy about it.

Fir: Thank you!

And there we have it - one new Myrmidon, on the house.



Fir's not too bad. She's got less strength than Rutger does (though only by 5%), but she gains just as much speed and skill and she more than makes up for it by gaining a lot of luck. However, with Rutger and Oujay turning into the beasts they are and the decreasing importance of sword users later on, I don't really have enough room to make for her on the team. As such, she'll ride the bench.



Her support with Noah is gut-wrenchingly adorable, so fans of romance might want to pair her up with him. She also supports with Rutger, as well as her father and uncle, but, aside from Noah, there aren't any real slam dunks in her support list. Still, all in all they're pretty good, so you can't go wrong for using her if you do.



Her first battle, sadly, is a little disasterous.

Sue takes over for the kill and levels up. She gets strength, but it might be too late for her...



Saul heals up Fir from her run at the mercenary.



And more recruits!

Sue: Shin... What are you doing here?

Shin: I was looking for you.

Sue: For me?

Shin: Yes. That was the clan leader's orders.

Sue: ...What happened to our clan after I left?

Shin: I'm sorry, we didn't stand a chance against Bern...

Sue: ...We lost.

Shin: ......

Sue: What has happened to my grandfather?

Or her father, for that matter? Why doesn't Rath get any love around here?

Shin: He is continuing the struggle against Bern...

Sue: I see...

Shin: I was told by the clan leader to leave and look for you.

Sue: Then will you fight alongside us?

Shin: With you?

Sue: We will be helping Grandfather because this army is fighting against Bern. Also, his army saved my life earlier.

Shin: Understood, my lady. If that is your plan, then I am at your disposal.

Sue: Thank you.



Shin is a very nice unit to have. He gains strength a lot faster than Sue does while still gaining enough speed to double, so he's much easier to raise as a result. He's got good stats all-around and can turn into a killing machine if you level him up, and as such he'll have a nice, cozy spot on our team as a result.



Shin isn't very talkative. At all. However, he's got some good support partners though, pairing with Fir, Sue, Dorothy, one of the Dragon Knights we'll be getting and a prepromote on a split path later on. So... yeah. He doesn't talk much, but he's ready to team up if he has to.



At this point, our team will be splitting up - our mounted units (Alan, Lance, Noah, Sue, and Shin) will head northeast to visit one of the villages (you can't visit both) while our sword-users (Roy, Oujay, and Rutger) will head southwest to the other. Our remaining units will stay behind to deal with the reinforcements in the middle and, once everything's dealt with, will reunite in the center and push around north to the castle and take on Scott.



Oujay humiliates a Fighter while Shin shoots down another. As I said, axe-users are pretty helpless against swords, though Intelligent Systems had to go and screw with that and make axes stronger than the other weapons in the later games...



Ah well, at least it's a small mercy in a game as tricky as Sword of Seals.

Oh, and here's a good level up from Noah.



Wendy manages to get in a Javelin hit here...



But then leave it to Roy to not only critical him into submission, but to get an excellent level up as well and raise his weapon rank. This is getting ridiculous.



As they move on their respective paths, our teams run afoul of a few archers and fight it out with them.



Alan raises his Lance rank in the scuffle.



Lance, not to be outdone by his partner, ends up raising his Lance rank as well on this approaching mage.



Shin shoots down the mage finally...



And this is how it stands so far. Thany will be taking a seat here, at least for a while, to block off some of the Pirate reinforcements.

Oh! Also, when you're sending your mounted units northward, be careful of one of the Fighters there. He's wielding a Halberd, an axe that's supereffective against cavaliers, nomads and the like, so your best bet is to weaken him with Sue and/or Shin before sending in a sword-user to finish him off.



Also make sure to take out any of the archers nearby before you take him on as well, since even if a cavalier survives the resulting hammer blow, they can still be taken out by an errant arrow as well.



A mercenary from nearby the castle starts to make his way to our group, but Thany and Noah are on the ball.



And here come the pirate reinforcements, insidious bastards.



Lance doubles back and takes out his Iron Sword and levels up... his speed's nice, but I'd like more strength, even if just one more point.



Next turn, the pirates get taken out by Lance and Thany.

Thany levels up and doesn't gain any more strength. I'm tempted to take her sister for a test-drive when she joins later, to be honest - as good as she is right now, her growth in strength is low enough that I couldn't guarantee continued growth, while her sister's stat is. But we'll see.



More pirate mayhem - Thany ends up criticalling here for a kill.



While Rutger, meanwhile, doesn't really need any such help.



MVP? He may very well be.



Roy and Rutger continue their press southwestward towards the village, trampling everything under their path with their combine brokenness (Oujay's falling just behind them). The others, meanwhile, hang back by the pirate reinforcements so that they won't attack the others.



There are a lot of weapon rank increases going on this chapter, huh?



Anyway, Wolt shoots a pirate good.

Up in the north, Sue and Noah team up to take out the Halberd-user, and amazingly enough nothing goes wrong.



Fir's unit keeps on distracting the pirates in the center.



And Roy's team keeps being broken.



Yep.



Some more back-and-forth level ups from Wolt here. He's not too good to use but neither bad enough to drop, which is... aggravating, but I'm hoping he develops for the better nonetheless.



Anyway, Wendy tries to take a kill for herself, but this only prompts Lilina to step in and finish him off herself.



Hah, see? Now that's more like it. One unstoppable mage, coming right up!

Chad beats up a pirate and also gets a great level up. Great level ups all around!



With the Halberd user dealt with, Noah falls back to help out the center team with their blockading and gains some more speed.



The mounted units to the north keep beating up Fighters...



While Oujay shanks the Archer from before, gaining a good level up.



Fir heals up a bit in the center, but at this point we've all but taken out the reinforcements.



There ain't no party like a Myrmidon party 'cause a Myrmidon party don't stop.

These reinforcements are hella annoying, to be blunt. Having to fight it out with them with our team extended across the battlefield makes everything harder than it should be.



Well, at least it's giving good experience for our units, huh?



Lordy, Alan hasn't had a bad level up yet.



The enemies at this point have been finished off, so now it's time to get to taking advantage of what's in store up here. The important thing to stock up on are Torches to give to our thieves, as they can increase their visibility to obscene levels using them.



Hah! Even bad level ups can't stop Rutger now.



Only the reinforcements are left at this point, but enough about them...

...Because we've got some villagers to visit. Remember what I said about influencing the split path we take? The chapters you take for the rest of our stay on the Western Isles is determined by which of these villages we visit. If we visit the left or none at all, we'll be put on route A, where we'll recruit a dancer and heroine, and have an easier time altogether since the battles on that route are easier. The other house, meanwhile, will put us on route B, where we'll recruit a bard and ol' Bartre, but at the expense of an increase in difficulty.

With a vote of 3-2, we'll be taking route B, and I'm kinda glad - route B's the more difficult of the two, sure, but I prefer using the bard out of the two and maybe it's for the best if I take one for the team and play the more difficult path for you guys.

Anyway, onwards.



Visiting the house to the right nets us a Restore staff (the other house would've gotten us a Killer Bow, but now it's blocked off). Note the villager's helpful hint about a battle to the west - with this information, Roy will take the army to where the fighting is as a result.



There are altogether too many pirates on this stage.



Roy takes it upon himself to visit the southwest house, grabbing a Silver Sword for himself. With his rank just increased to A, he's the first of our team to be able to use it.



Blah blah pirates, blah blah blah reinforcements...



During Saul's healing, he gets his first level up. See? Told you he'd be turning out fine.

With the villages visited, our team starts to make its way back to the center to regroup. After waiting out the rest of the reinforcements, they'll then head for the castle, just as planned.



During the combat, Fir gets her first level up! Too bad it's just typical Myrmidon stuff.



Lance hands Chad the torches we just bought to him and we expand our visibility to cover most of the battle.



Lots and lots of rank-increasing going on here.



Oujay heals up here with a Vulnerary. Note that an enemy party from the north is following Roy's team, but they're in for a nasty surprise when they catch up.



Sue levels up, but at this point she's probably a lost cause.

Noah also gains a mediocre level up, though he may hang on for a little while longer.



Lance finishes off the last of the pirate reinforcements here (note that, after a point, I stopped showing them altogether because reinforcements are boring) meaning it's now safe to move for the boss.



Thany takes out the last remaining enemy on the stage for a great level up. And it's now time to take on the boss.



Scott here is dangerous, far more than any other boss we've fought yet. Being a berserker, he automatically gains a 30% boost to his crit rate, and he wields both a Killer Axe and a Hand Axe, making him dangerous to deal with no matter how you approach him. However, he does have an opening - he started equipped with a Killer Axe, so we can pick him off with ranged units and pull them out before he switches weapons.



Which is where Lilina comes in. Thanks to Scott's relatively low Resistance, Lilina can hammer away at him with magic until he's weak enough to finish off with our other guys. Her low Con is also helpful here, since it makes her very easy to rescue as a result.



Scott: But you gotta be pretty beat up by now! I'll finish you off!

Yeah, if you can touch us that is.



Things are off to a rocky start at first, but Lilina's not in any real danger. Noah will just rescue her and pass her off to Shin to drop her, so that she'll be ready to attack next turn.



Lilina and Rutger team up and get a bunch of good hits in, but Lilina's Thunder tome breaks early. I mess up Rutger's rescue at that point, which means...

...that Roy will take the kill.



Scott skips a line here...



I swear to God, I am not using savestates.



Thank God that's finally over with.



Merlinus: They must have known we were coming.

Roy: Something myst be going on behind the scenes...

Merlinus: Yes. Clearing out the bandits might be harder than we had expected. Ever since Bern started their invasion, something is different with Elibe.

Roy: I wonder what's going to happen from now... Dragons reappearing, Bern's sudden invasion, the collapse of the Lycia Alliance... All of these strange things happening at once. Still, we have to take things one at a time however tedious it may seem.

Merlinus: Now... where do we go from here?

Roy: Let's head west.

Merlinus: West?

Roy: I've heard there's a rebel group based there. They're fighting the bandits to protect the villagers.

As heard from that helpful villager we visited earlier.

Merlinus: I see. So we can visit them and gather some information on what's going on these islands.

Roy: Right. If we just go searching blindly, we won't get anywhere.

Merlinus: I have no objections, Master Roy.

A rare occasion, indeed.

Roy: All right, then let's head west.



Next time: West Side story.

If you deploy Merlinus and let him get killed, what happens? There's an awful lot of dialog with him in the plot...

Probably the same as in Blazing Sword - he'll run away and reappear the next chapter, ready to use.

Aw, the lamer.

Not only is Fir delightful, she looks enough like Lynn that I thought they were related!

That's TWO things going for her!

I find it disturbing that not only is every shopkeeper in the game an identical twin, but she seems to have snuck in from a different series entirely.

I'm going to miss Fir. She has the naivete of Nino with better lines to that regard ^_^

"Wait, isn't, what's his name, Scott, the pirate?"

"What?"

"Why not ask-"

"GAH! RUN!"

"Hey! What is he-"

Hilarious! Too bad we already have Rutger.

You know, at least Erk was urking us by the time Nino came up...and we forced Tanto to use her and pair her up with Canas.

Thanks Tanto!

Well I'm going to use Fir!

And more reports from the mystery translation I found:

Cath's second conversation isn't cut short. She says she isn't in the mood for stealing anymore after talking about that depressing stuff, then runs off.

Also, it looks like every instance of the word "bastard" has been replaced with "dastard." That's... something, I guess. I'm not really sure what, though.