WHOA.
WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?Paralogue 17: Supports include Panne/Pickles A (The support ends with a bad pun. Wow, for once my MU does something I might do), Lucina/Yarne C (Huh. Not bad), and Kjelle/Gerome C. I buy two Elthunder tomes, a killer axe and a handaxe. Dracoshield goes to Cherche. I forge an elthunder tome.
Pickles is not relaxed in Naga’s cradle. She can feel herself being watched. JUDGED.
A lot of effort is spent getting Morgan as much experience as I can. I’ve resolved to use him to make up for mistakes, but only after he learns Rally Spectrum. He’s just under level 15. Yarne, Lucina, and Cherche also get in some good levels.
Turns: 7 (paralogue)
Total Turncount: 53
Chapter 21: Supports include Sully/Pickles B, Lucina/Morgan A. I buy a second seal and a master seal, which Yarne uses to class up into a wyvern lord. He’s already got deliverer, after all.
If I was more invested in Pickles, I think this might be a sweet scene, especially since it’s the tail end of the story and we’re about to dive back into the main event. Chrom and Pickles sort of are two halves of a whole. They work together, complement each other, and both come from opposing lineages. It’s just a shame that one of those halves is full of holes.
Validar? Oh yeah, that guy! I remember him! So Chrom knows it’s a trap, but neither of his guesses to what’s going on involve Validar getting his mitts on the Emblem? Even when so many enemies have wanted it, all in ties with Plegia? I get his logic, but who said the Emblem had to be undefended if left in Yistoll?
I assume that the skeletons around Plegia would be dead earth dragons, though since Plegia’s territory takes up Macedon and Dolhr, they could belong to a few different types of dragons.
Okay, I really like the cutscene with Lucina facing Grima, especially with her in front of Grima’s eyes as they focus on her, ooh. Though Grima’s voice is a little doofy, the scene ends effectively. Here’s a thought, if Pickles is the mother of Lucina, and Pickles ends up becoming Grima, talking about how her mother is dead takes on a new meaning. EE HEE!
That aside, Lucina’s seen her interventions fail more than once, which would leave her a tad disheartened. Though it’s not turned into a big thing.
You mean that Grima worshippers don’t look fondly on Naga’s awakening? WHODATHUNKIT?
So here’s what I do. I have Morgan get to level 15 and second seal into a sage mid-chapter. I could conceivably finish this in two turns, but at this point I kinda just want to finish this thing.
Well isn’t this a sticky situation. We’ve become the classic macguffin delivery service. I think what bothers me most about when Pickles succumbs to her inner Grima-ness is that she can shake it off so easily afterwards. FE’s been pretty dramatic in the past when it has come to possession, this sort of just falls flat, especially since everyone just handwaves it afterwards. Well, except one…
Turns: 3
Total Turncount: 56
Chapter 22: Only support is Lucina/Yarne B
Lucina confronts her mother about what she has just seen. Since everyone, even Frederick the Wary, seems to handwave “oh, she just gets possessed by an evil preist every not and then, no biggie,” she once more takes the story’s reigns in her hands. She has to make a…. GASP… Difficult choice! Not only that, but she turns “fate challenging” against Pickles. Killing her will change fate. I love this more deliberate, contrasting Id variation, too. I don’t think the scene is as heavy as it could be, but I like that it is here, and that there are variations of it depending on what relationship MU and Lucina share.
Pickles accepts Lucina’s judgement. Scene would be better without Chrom making more justifications about his relationship with his lovely pickle wife. Lucina already didn’t want to do it, I think it would be more dramatic if it was between them and it didn’t get immediately handwaved.
Everything else is what it is. Destiny, fate, bonds, meh. Also, Walhart didn’t talk about Grima at all. If he had even a little bit this whole explanation would seem a lot less like rushing in plotpoints.
I get the two key weapons I wanted, Helswath and Valflame. I swat Aversa like a fly. Yawn-o-rama.
Turns: 1
Total turncount: 57
Chapter 23: No supports. I buy a second seal, and pickles becomes a dark flier. Cherche uses a secret book and Sully uses a goddess icon. I buy two handaxes and a javelin as well.
INVISHABUL TEIS!
Since Chrom and Pickles are married, this first conversation is actually kind of nice. It stinks that Chrom was diluting the Lucina scene, but it makes the pair seem like they’re kind of scared, and they want to be together. She even gets to take a spell for him.
Wahaha, I actually forgot that up to this point no one had any idea that Pickles was Grima’s vessel. Man, this part of the game is explanation city. If they didn’t have to do the Valm arc or worked some of that stuff into the main story, maybe they would have to stuff it all in at the end.
I do think it’s pretty cool that the prelude ended up just being a small chunk of a bigger chapter. Like the black knight fight in FE10. And hey, it looks like Giygas has come to give us a visit! Or that spirit barrier is just making funky looking evil faces flow through the air.
And to its credit the scene where pickles impales chrom with a lightning spell is good, if I didn’t mention it before. Maybe I just like seeing Chrom in pain, but he sells it.
Behold, a** pull central! I’m fine that Basilio survived thanks to Lucina’s warning, but it just makes the whole thing more gratification for pickles. Gah. I guess making the memory of this fight as seen in the prelude the reason why pickles saw it coming is okay… but I wish they actually talked about it. It’s so rushed, it feels so fake, I am just repeating myself now.
How gently can you impale your husband on a lightning bolt?
The Yarne/Lucina duo is actually a very effective fighting force at this point. Kjelle is turning out decently too, and a killer lance and zeal can make all the difference. Of course Panne and Frederick steal the show, and Panne grows quite a few levels. Morgan makes himself useful as rallyman.
Behold, the return of Sour Pickles, the Fell Dragon Grima. Yeah, I wish they were in the game more, but what we get here is still fun, even though it is a case of “nice job fixing it villain.” Hard decisions, heh. Whatever. I love that Grima is so huge though. The image of Grima coming through the mist with the comparatively tiny tower in front of it was one of the images that got me super hyped for Awakening.
Turns: 2
Total turncount: 59
Chapter 24: No supports this time.
No… Oh Gods no!
Okay, okay. So we’re looking at a huge, evil dragon with ominous music and lightning and all that fun stuff. Then Pickles goes HEY! I SWIPED THE EMBLEM! If you’re going to do asspulls, at least don’t juxtapose them like that. Why is everyone so calm? THERE’S A DARK DRAGON IN THE SKY! IN the past games, the dark dragon didn’t even get to fully resurrect/leave the altar, and now that thing is in the air!
Maybe we could have had one more chapter where we retrieved the emblem through hordes of Risen while Grima went off to start destroying things? This really zips by. The chapter was much less challenging then I expected it to be.
The Naga CG is gorgeous. I will fight you on that. Though the fact that we actually outright see Naga also feels like a decision that was made with Awakening being the series’ swan song in mind. We’ve had Nagi in the past, sure, but even then the game was being all coy about it. Naga even outright says that neither she nor Grima are gods, something the series has been saying since Marth and Xane hiked along Anri’s Way, but these creatures are huge enough entities that they are as gods to men. Especially in Jugdral where everything is on a grand scale and you don’t really get to see any of them. On that note, though… Actually seeing Naga makes her feel smaller.
By “Naga’s Fire” I was expecting some pain to happen. We didn’t get any.
Turns: 2
Total Turncount: 61
Chapter 24: Supports include Lucina/Yarne A (N’aww. I wasn’t expecting to like them like I do. Yarne’s acting a head above his normal self) and Kjelle/Gerome B (“Gods, those menacing silences of yours are very annoying”)
Ready to climb another volcano?
Pickles will die, but there’s a teeny weeny miniscule itty bitty chance that your friendship will be so awesome that she will come back to life.
INVISHABUL TEIS!
Cherche+Morgan, Olivia, Rescue, Panne+Frederick, victory. Get some more experience in there for everyone else.
I haven’t read any of Aversa’s conversations at this point, but apparently she was found by Validar at a young age and had an aptitude for dark magic, hence the shadowgift everyone goes nuts over? Her death quote suggests that she was being controlled in some capacity and now welcomes the embrace of death, but to me she didn’t really do enough for that to hold any water. She was just there.
Turns: 1
Total Turncount: 62
Endgame: Supports include… Ricken/Pickles B?
Now this… this is a pretty great setup for a final battle. We’re on the back of the huge dragon we are supposed to be fighting. The dragons that have been past final bosses usually can’t even fit in the interface and we get to see their heads blow fire at us, but this is something very different. I do wish we were fighting the dragon instead of the person on the dragon’s back, but ah well. We gotta focus somewhere. It ends up being pretty typical in terms of how FE final battles are usually set up, but the atmosphere is fun. Love the theme, too. It always gets me pumped.
Talking is a free action indeed. Grima proves it can squish us like bugs but only does it once.
Pickles takes up Grima on her offer. MAKE HER A GOD, just spare the peoples! Actually, I like this more than the alternative. It makes it shorter, and while Pickles still gets to look all selfless, we get to the face to face floating in the void images quicker, at least.
INVISHABUL TEIS! Though to be fair, this time it’s the FE “everyone on your endgame team give a pre-battle cheer” thing, which is fun, even though it’s pickles-directed this time.
SILENCE THOSE INSOLENT VOICES! THEY ARE RUINING MY SELF ESTEEM! I MUST ALWAYS HAVE AN AUDIENCE! I AM THE FELL DRAGON GRIMAAAAA!
AWW SHEET SON! Chrom critted Grima and Pickles finished with a burst of Valflame! Talk about teamwork! With the help of Morgan, Cherche, and Olivia, they get where they need to be. There are fewer enemies than hard mode, so it’s a straight shot. Though Panne had already Helswath’d Grima twice, so I got to see the spooky face. Freddy even dual-guarded her against the counter attack. N’aww.
Pickles deals the final blow. Man, she’s even drifting away on the wind while waving. Gah. Yeah yeah, we all miss the Pickles. Move along.
Killing Grima for good also seems like a move that was made as a final series-ending decision. I’ve seen people theorize that Grima is a conglomeration of previous dark dragons, and I can see that in a few ways. Especially since the measures that were taken to revive Grima parallel those of more than one previous dragon. I personally think that “Grima” is the term for any dark dragon that has stood before mankind.
I get to see some unpaired endings and some other fun endings, of course. Of course Panne is my number one golden gal. She rocked the house, and I now have a new appreciation for her. She shouldn’t be a footnote in Frederick’s ending, Freddy-bear is all hers!
Pickles is silver, Sully is bronze.
Fgdasdsdgasgfdvasdfasdgasdg… I’m a sucker for bookends, I’m sorry. I adore the scene where MU gets back up and meets Chrom again, and her mark is gone… It’s overly safe, it’s cheesy, I love it. But AWAKENING’S STORY IS A GIANT LOAD OF I think it’s a mixed bag.
Turns: 1
FINAL Turncount: 63
Final stats:
“NOW I’m angry!” Chrom: level 7 Great Lord
HP: 46, Str:21, Mag:1, Skill:24, Spd:22, Luck:17, Def:18 Res:7
“BEZT TACTISHIN EVVAR” Pickles: Level 3 Dark Flier
HP:49, Str:21, Mag:24, Skill:30, Spd:32, Luck:21, Def:21, Res:17
“The Bear” Frederick: Level 9 Great Knight
HP:37, Str:20, Mag:3, Skill:17, Spd:13, Luck:13, Def:18, Res:5
“She-Hulk” Sully: Level 14 Great Knight
HP:52, Str:27, Mag:7, Skill:25, Spd:19, Luck:22, Def:28, Res:9
“The Vaike” The Vaike: Level 4 Warrior
HP:52, Str:24, Mag:1, Skill:20, Spd:16, Luck:8, Def:15, Res:7
“You Can’t Tell Me What To Do, Old Man!” Ricken: Level 7 Dark Knight
HP:40, Str:11, Mag:16, Skill:13, Spd:11, Luck:20, Def:18, Res:11
“That Rabbit’s Dynamite!” Panne: Level 18 Griffon Rider
HP:71, Str:40, Mag:4, Skill:38, Spd:41, Luck:26, Def:31 Res:14
“DANCE OF JOY” Olivia: Level 10 Dancer
HP:25, Str:9, Mag:4, Skill:15, Spd:17, Luck:11, Def:4, Res:6
“Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick” Cherche: Level 10 Griffon Rider
HP:48, Str:23, Mag:4, Skill:26, Spd:23, Luck:15, Def:24, Res:8
“The REAL Main Character” Lucina: Level 7 Great Lord
HP:45, Str:22, Mag:6, Skill:24, Spd:25, Luck:19, Def:21, Res:9
“My Baby” Morgan: Level 3 Sage
HP:54, Str:22, Mag:30, Skill:32, Spd:29, Luck:28, Def:20, Res:17
“Pretty Critty” Kjelle: Level 7 Great Knight
HP:48, Str:24, Mag:2, Skill:20, Spd:18, Luck:15, Def:22, Res:6
“Don’t Mess with a Bunny!” Yarne: Level 5 Wyvern Lord
HP:63, Str:35, Mag:3, Skill:27, Spd:22, Luck:24, Def:25, Res:13
“The Wyvern that Flaps in the Night” Gerome: Level 2 Wyvern Lord
HP:41, Str:21, Mag:4, Skill:15, Spd:16, Luck:12, Def:20, Res:7
Well there you have it. Three turns over FD. For having made the mistakes I made and lacking the galeforce, that’s not bad, I think. Of course, I could have reduced it even further with advantages I didn’t fully use, but all things considered I think I had a good run. Next time, smarter tactics!
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