And this is the prologue? Geez, if these maps are this big, I might need to split the writeups into multiple parts. Regardless, let's get started with Genealogy of the Holy War, yet another blind run! We start the prologue, the Birth of the Holy Knight.
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Also, do note that the translation patch I got is from Serenes Forest, so they made some changes to certain things, such as skill names. Here
is the list of changes made, most made to fit the changes in the modern games or to make names easier.
Alright, so the Chronology mentions an evil sect, holy wars, great purges, and other such fun things. Jugdral sounds like a fantastic place, right off the bat. Now we learn of Grandbell, the kingdom founded in the center of Jugdral by Saint Heim, one of the 12 crusaders. His descendants became the Royal Family, and multiple duchies formed within the kingdom, each with their own "holy blood", and who practice partial autonomy while still serving the Royal Family. King Azmur, since he's becoming too old, leaves much of the administration of the kingdom to his son, Prince Kurth, who himself is helped by Lord Byron of Chalphy, and Lord Ring of Chalphy. Meanwhile, Lord Lector of Freege and Lord Langbert of Dozel team up and oppose the princes authority. Lord Alvis of Velthomer, captain of the Royal Guard, knows not of this, and only Father Edda of Claude could sense the crisis. As this happened, news of calamity spread from the east, where the peaceful town of Darna within the Yied desert is taken by Isaacian bandits, who begin a massive slaughter within the town. News traveled to Grandbell, and plans were made to subdue Isaac. Prince Kurth travels to the frontlines to command the troops, alongside Lord Byron. Thanks to a diplomatic pact with the kingdoms of Agustria and Verdane, threats of war were nonexistent, so there wasn't much need for soldiers at present, and few were left behind. However, Verdane sends it's massive army, headed by Prince Gandolf (if he isn't some kind of mage, I'll be sorely disappointed), attacks Grandbell, laying siege to Jungby. This duchy was currently under the protection of Lord Rings daughter, Aideen, while Chalphy was in the hands of Sigurd, son of Lord Byron. After news of the invasion reached him, Sigurd swore he would not allow them to lay a hand on Aideen, and he and his few soldiers rush to Jungby to save his childhood friend. This action cracks open the doors of fate, and none could have predicted the disasters that have been foreshadowed by these event.
Well that was long.
A bunch of bandits surround and take control of Jungby. A green haired... man? I'll go with man for now, named Midir, apologizes for his inability to defend the castle to Aideen, who waives off his worries, telling him to escape with the other soldiers, and stop worrying about her. Midir says he won't leave, and he and the others will fight to protect her to the end. Now with Sigurd, he tells Noish, the red half of the Christmas knights to protect the castle while he goes to save Aideen. Noish is surprised, asking if he truly plans to go alone, and Sigurd notes that with most of the army gone to Isaac, there isn't anyone else left. Verdane's army may be full of barbarians, but it's huge, and he doesn't want to endanger his knights. Noish is flabbergasted, and says that he is prepared to die fighting if he must to protect Sigurd. Noish asks Alec, the green half of the duo, for his support, to which he responds "Damn Straight" (I love the guys at Serenes), and notes that we should save the villages first, so that the barbarians don't destroy everything and kill everyone. Alec gives Oifaye (I've heard of this guy!) credit for that and notes that his intellect is taken much after his father, Lord Sesar. Sigurd asks if he is here now, and the boy himself responds, stating that while he knows he shouldn't be here, but he doesn't want to just wait in the castle. Sigurd recognizes that he can likely help, but decides to bring him along as an advisor, so as not to put the kid in danger before he's ready. A rather odd looking fellow by the name of Ardan is left to defend the castle to avoid it being taken, Alec makes some jokes, Ardan takes some offense, and then everyone enters the battlefield!
So, I'll start by stating that I'm not completely clueless on this game, mostly thanks to stuff overheard on the Fire Emblem thread and on Serenes, though I still don't know much. I know that weapons can be repaired, there is no trade function, all units have their own gold, the Divine Weapons are crazy powerful, there's a generation split, which means people can be paired in this part to give their children certain traits in the next part, that doubling and criticals are now skills, and that all chapters are multi-part seizes. That about sums up my knowledge of this game right now, so that you know where I stand. Onward to adventure!
Looking at my units, we have Sigurd to start with, who seems pretty good as a level 5 lord knight. He has star rank in swords, notably, a steel sword and an iron lance, 9000 gold and the pursuit skill, which lets him double. Noish is a level 3 cavalier, and seems pretty strong, though only okay everywhere else, has a steel sword, 2000 gold, and the critical (it says it "doubles power" if activated. Sounds a bit less effective than modern crits) and Duel (this one says he can keep fighting if agile enough? Is this basically the same as pursuit?) skills. Alec is a level 2 cavalier who has solid enough stats, an iron sword, 2000 gold, and the pursuit skill, as well as nihil, (finally! A name I recognize!) which prevents enemy skills from activating. Ardan is a level 3 sword armor, who has pretty stereotypical armored unit stats, an iron sword, and the vantage skill, which only works at low health, from what the description says. Looking at the enemies, Gandolf is not a wizard of any sort, but instead a level 20 warrior (holy shit! In the prologue?), and is an axeman, just like his brigand and mountain thief goons. There are also some hunters among them, but none of them appear terribly scary.
I have Alec attack the nearest brigand, while Noish finishes him off (I quite like this games battle music!), and Sigurd charges towards Jungby. Ardan leaves his post to go help the knights with the villages that they plan to save, but he's trudging along pretty slowly. Gandolf complains about his mens slow work, and takes down Midir, the last castle guard (dat boss theme). He then takes Aideen with him, and leaves Dimaggio and Gerrard (two people I hadn't noticed before) in charge of this area. He also tells one of his men to destroy the bridge leading to the second castle. As some brigands attack Sigurd's group and a village, a mage and cavalier appear from the north. The knight, Lex, and the mage, Azel, have come to assist Sigurd. Lex interrogates Azel about his reasons for coming along, and after some prodding, proves it's due to his attraction to Aideen. After some joking around, they join us.
Azel is a level 1 mage, with decent bases, a fire tome, 5000 gold, and the pursuit skill, while Lex is a level 4 axe knight with balanced and good bases, an iron axe, 5000 gold, and the vantage and paragon skills, the latter of which doubles experience gain. Azel heads down to assist Ardan and Alec with saving the nearest village to Chalphy, while Lex takes on the people attacking the village west of where he starts. Lex also visits the village, and learns about the weapon triangle, that churches will heal you for 5 gold per hitpoint, and is given 5000 gold. Noish joins Sigurd in heading towards Jungby, attacking a hunter, while Sigurd kills a fighter, and Alec goes to save the village from the mt fighter terrorizing it.
More reinforcements come in the flavor of Ethlin, Sigurd's sister, who brings with her Cuan and Fin, as they come to help Sigurd due to the danger. Cuan is a level 4 duke knight with a steel lance and a javelin (not good for this chapter, sadly), some pretty great stats, 5000 gold, already paired with Ethlin, and has the adept skill (another "attack again if agile" thing, though I at least know what this one does). Fin is a level 1 lance knight (also poorly equipped for this chapter), with decent bases, an iron lance, 2000 gold, and the pursuit and miracle skills, the latter of which boosts evade when low in health, as opposed to simply preventing a lethal hit like in later games. Ethlin is a level 1 troubadour, with a slim sword and a heal staff, with low physical stats, but good skill, speed, and magical stats, 4000 gold, and the critical skill. Ethlin heals Ardan and prepares to heal Lex and Alec as well, while Cuan and Fin go to help Sigurd deal with the crazy number of foes. Azel sets fire to one brigand and saves the town he was ravaging, while Alec goes to help Lex, who is facing a few brigands and wants to break through them to save a far off village. Noish takes on the horde of bandits nearby while Sigurd kills a hunter and pushes towards Jungby, preparing to save the nearby villages.
Ah dammit, Lex died. He didn't dodge any of the enemies attacks. Darn single RN's. I'll be starting another Reset Counter, by the way. Reset Counter: 1. Still, resetting on the prologue of all things makes me feel like such a noob.
Back to where I was before, I had Azel help Lex deal with some of the brigands so that he wasn't hurt as badly, and Alec rushes to help him while Azel goes to visit the village nearest Chalphy, the brigand attacking it being slain by Ardan. Cuan's group goes to help Sigurd, while Ethlin helps Lex and the other northern fighters, and Sigurd slows down a bit, smashing some more people since the village seems like it's going to be safe for now. Noish is surrounded and nearly killed (lord knows how he'll survive next turn), and the village south of Jungby is now being attacked, but I've got some time before it's all destroyed. Alec and Lex take down the enemies near them, while Azel heads towards the village, and Ardan slowly joins them. Noish breaks through the enemies surrounding him, and flees towards Ethlin, who heals him so that he doesn't die, while Sigurd then takes on the brigands who attacked him, and Cuan and Fin approach but stay at a healthy distance.
Sigurd moves forward, staying on the trees, where he's functionally invincible, and Ethlin finishes healing Noish (I'm noticing that healers are going to be really helpful in this game). Fin runs north to both avoid death and to assist Lex and Alec. Azel visits the village in the meantime, and gets 3500 gold, while preparing to join Sigurd and the others in the south, while Ardan heads back to the castle, since He sadly is too slow to be of much use while everyone else charges ahead. Alec attacks the sturdy hand axe brigand that's hounding them, while Lex moves ahead to go save one village from it's single attacker.
After a rather uneventful enemy phase, save for Cuan getting attacked and put in danger, but smashing the offending enemies, Noish rejoins Sigurd in taking Jungby, while Ethlin prepares to heal the people in the northern area. Cuan narrowly avoids death at the hands of a hand axe brigand whose movement I miscalculated when moving him, but he lives, kills his assailant, and goes to join Ethlin as she slowly kills a brigand who can't hit her. Sigurd kills a hunter, and then moves on to the brigand who's destroying the village, and Noish criticals an enemy who was crossing the bridge. Azel walks towards Sigurd's group, Ardan trudges on towards the castle, and Alec and Fin head towards Lex as he smashes the brigand laying waste to the northern village.
Sigurd kills the brigand, and heads towards Jungby castle, while Noish claims a speed ring and 2500 gold from the villagers. Lex saves the village near him and visits it to receive 2500 gold, while Alec, Fin, Ethlin, and Cuan all head towards the village due south of Lex. Azel continues his trek to Sigurd's group, and Ardan reaches the castle, and I notice he can "guard" or "enter" it. Curious, I have him enter, and he disappears from the map! I click on the castle, and he's in there, just sort of hanging out. I'll see what he can do in there on the next turn.
Sigurd and Noish take down the brigands guarding Jungny castle, while Azel continues towards them, finally drawing somewhat near. Alec attacks the brigand who's destroying the village, while Ethlin heals Cuan and Fin, and Lex joins them to get healed. I check on Ardan, who can enter a town to sell stuff, repair weapons, visit a fortune teller, and visit the storage (I guess that's a way to give other people stuff that they don't have if you really want to). I check on the next option, sortie, and it just sends him back to the battle, though there was a guard option, which is likely just where he started out, protecting the castle.
I check on Ardan again, seeing that there are two greyed out icons, and a promote icon, which is only usable at level 20. I just leave Ardan guarding the base, while everyone save Azel, who is unhurt, go towards Ethlin for healing. Fin and Alec finish off the brigand, Alec warning the village and receiving 1500 gold. Everyone heads towards Jungby actually, so that they can be healed and then immediately take the castle. While Ethlin heals everybody, Azel takes advantage of Di Maggio's lack of a ranged option, and blasts him for a few turns.
...I probably shouldn't have put him near the front entrance, since Di Maggio walks over and smashes him, nearly killing him, but dying for his troubles. I fiddle with the options for a bit while having Ethlin heal everyone, and notice the Autosave feature, turning it on, since it seems like it will save me a lot of time in case of unit death. After she finishes healing people, I have her talk to Sigurd, where they talk a bit about their past, and he thanks her for coming to help, and I have Sigurd take the castle. Oifaye sees Midir on the ground, and Sigurd rouses him and asks where Aideen is. He doesn't know, but tells Sigurd that Gandolf was here, and then joins us. He's an archer knight with okay stats, an iron bow, 2000 gold, and the pursuit and duel skills.
Having captured Jungby, I place a savestate, and will be resuming from this point in part 2, since holy crap this chapter has been going on for a while. Also, just as a footnote, while I truly do appreciate most of the tips you guys give me, and will gladly accept some help if something isn't clear or something, avoid spoiling anything (though you've all been good about that), and don't tell me which pairings of characters give good turnouts, since I'd like to go through with the games eugenics system on my own for my first run.
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