Welcome back, viewers! If you don't understand the title, I highly recommend that you listen to the music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Today, we celebrate the birth of...well...somebody that acts like quite a jerk until you take some time and get to know him. We won't recruit him for a really long time, so let's just leave it at that. Now, to the Longfort!
CHAPTER 3: WARRIOR REALM
And so, the Shepherds (and Virion) have reached the border of the freezing kingdom of Regna Ferox, with the Longfort being the last obstacle in their way. The khans (leaders) of Ferox are wary of foreigners, but a smooth tongue ought to settle things quickly with the Feroxi Guard. Unfortunately, the Guard is already mobilizing, so Frederick decides to finally give Yukari the benefit of the doubt and let her manage the troops any way she likes. As we go to the battlefield, we are told that the Preparations Menu is unlocked, which allows us to select what units go into battle, view a map of the battlefield (and swap the positions of allies other than Chrom), Inventory (allowing us to give Sully a weapon and swap around the Iron gear dropped by some Risen in the last battle), Support, Skills, Save (the last three just like in the World Map), Exit (to the World Map, in case we forgot to get supplies or we try a Paralogue at too low a level), and Fight (which begins the battle). Once swapping around my units so that I'm prepared to tackle both the left and right flanks, it's time to see just what the commotion is all about.
It appears that Raimi, leader of the Guards, is a tad hesitant to let us in. Chrom tells her that Lady Emmeryn asked us to come here, but Raimi's convinced that we're no more than a band of brigands with a bad cover story. She goes as far to say that if Chrom's the prince, then "I'm the queen of Valm!", which I should mention is a place that will be important later in the story. Anyways, going so far as to impersonate royalty is punishable by death on the battlefield, and when Chrom tries to plead for a peaceful resolution one last time, Raimi orders the attack to begin. This cues up cutscene #5, where Chrom is just about to get impaled by five javelins thrown in his direction when Sumia comes to the rescue. Riding atop the pegasus she rescued, she swoops in and grabs Chrom before he becomes a shish-kebab, and the duo briefly soar through the skies before returning to land and ending the movie. Chrom and Lissa are thankful for Sumia's quick timing, but Frederick would prefer if we dealt with the enemy now and saved the praise for later. Chrom then decides to fight the enemy to prove his status, Sumia talks about how pegasi have a weakness to arrows, and I can analyze the important units on the battlefield.
- SUMIA (Who will appear in more important scenes in the future): A clumsy aspiring Shepherd who tries her best all the same.
- KELLAM (Who, thanks to his initial Skill, already equals Freddy in Defense): The Shepherd everyone seems to forget is there.
- RAIMI (The battle's boss, a knight whose defeat ends the battle): The Feroxi commander. Stubborn and impulsive.
At this point, you might say, "But wait! When did Kellam join us?" Well...technically, he hasn't. He starts as a green NPC unit a little to the left of the starting area, and Chrom has to talk with him to recruit him. The discussion consists of Chrom wondering if he's being watched, Chrom getting surprised when Kellam speaks up, and Chrom apologizing for not realizing that Kellam's been with them since Ylisstol even after the knight was yelling and waving his arms around for some time. With that out of the way, it's time for some more summaries!
- Chrom, Sully, Kellam, & Lissa: They handled the left side of the field. Kellam/Lissa was the only pair to attack on Turn 1, since Chrom spent his turn recruiting Kellam, and the right force didn't want to get killed by being surrounded on the enemy turn. Chrom and Sully take some damage, but since they pulled off a Dual Strike both times they attacked an archer, they were able to clear the bottom-left group by the end of Turn 3. With Lissa helping in the healing department, Chrom and Sully whittle their way through a Knight, assisted by the fact that Chrom has an armor-piercing rapier in addition to his infinite-use Falchion. Once most of the enemies in the northern area have been wiped out, Chrom swaps Sully for Lissa in order to get her to the other team and heal one of them before the battle ends.
- Yukari, Sumia, Frederick, Virion, Stahl, & Miriel: They handled the right side of the field. Yukari had more speed than one of her attackers and killed him by performing an extra attack, and at the beginning of Turn 2, she is inspired by Sumia's rescue to talk about the Pair Up mechanic (which we've been using for some time, but would have been locked until now on Normal difficulty). The group takes a beating, but are able to clear the bottom-right group of enemies by the end of Turn 2, and Miriel even gets some experience from an Event Panel. They start the attack on the northern group, but since some damage has been dealt and the healer's on the opposite side of the field, the pair of Frederick and Virion lead the charge. They're at risk of taking a Hammer for serious damage (as Frederick has both Mounted and Armored weaknesses in exchange for access to all melee weapon types), but they are able to dodge a blow from it. The entire top-right group is eliminated by Turn 5's end thanks to this bit of luck. Now moving slowly, they wait for Chrom (and more importantly, Lissa) to reach the northern section and distract some foes before charging forwards, with Frederick doing a good job at weakening Raimi while the others are healed. Although Yukari could take out the boss, she waits until everyone else available that turn has a go (including Miriel, who dodges an otherwise fatal hit) before getting the kill...well, defeat. Raimi's not actually dead, as is revealed in the next scene. Yukari ends the battle at Level 9, her quick experience growth probably due to her default skill, which increases experience earned when paired up.
- Turns: 8
- Heroes: Chrom and Sully (since the enemies on the right side had more diversity when picking opponents)
The battle is over, and rather than being slain for incompetence (which would be really bad when our focus is trying to get Regna Ferox's aid), Raimi is alive and apologetic for her mistake. She promises to send word of our arrival to the capital and give us an escort. Yukari's surprised at how quickly Raimi changed, and Freddy realizes that in Ferox, strength is more important than their diplomacy could ever be. One save prompt later, and we're back at the World Map, with a TON of stuff unlocked. Not only can we access Arena Ferox (our battleground for Chapter 4), we can also go to past battlegrounds in order to shop, access our first Paralogue (a side quest in which new characters and rare items can be earned, though I'd rather wait a bit before doing Paralogue 1), and the Wireless option becomes available! In the Wireless section, I can...well, it's probably better to make a list.
- Manage a Streetpass team, which will show up in other people's Fire Emblem Awakening files if I pass by someone in real life
- Take on Double Duels with other players, where each person selects three members of their team, and then work together to defeat a set of enemies
- Access the Logbook, which records the data of every Fire Emblem cameo you've fought or recruited, as well as all of the Tacticians you've made in the past, and allows you to spend your Gold to recruit them.
- Earn Rewards for your Renown, which increases when successfully beating Double Duels, Fire Emblem cameos, or random Risen battles that will occasionally appear on the World Map from this point on. I've carried 2822 Renown over from the file I've already beaten, and while I won't go into details, this gets Yukari a lot of free stuff.
- Turn Spotpass on or off, in case you need to avoid sending or receiving WiFi signals (say, to avoid interference in a hospital).
- Use the Bonus Box to get additional Double Duel challenges, rare weapons, and Paralogues by downloading them with Spotpass. I can also select cameos from previous Fire Emblem games to fight or buy items from. Not every Bonus is available right now, but by the end of April, Nintendo will have at least have released every Paralogue.
And with that list out of the way, here's the summaries of the most recent Supports!
- Chrom & Sully C-Rank: Chrom's a tad curious why Sully's not with the other ladies, and she tells him she'd prefer tending the fire than helping 'make dinner for all the brave men', since she hates that kind of stuff. Sully admits that she's not much of a lady, and after Chrom says that everyone has their own talents, he asks if he can help her with the fire.
- Yukari & Sumia C-Rank: Sumia has recently acquired a bunch of previously owned books, and when Yukari mentions how relaxing it is to read, Sumia offers to let her borrow some. However, Yukari doesn't like any of the choices that Sumia suggests, and the pegasus knight has a bit of a breakdown when she thinks she's useless at something so simple as suggesting a book. Yukari tries to calm her down by asking for the last book Sumia suggested, "Wyvern Wars", which seems to work.
- Frederick & Virion C-Rank: Freddy and Virion talk about a blade the archer happens to own, a conversation which quickly turns sour when Freddy recognizes a sigil on its hilt as the mark of a very esteemed Ylissean noble family. Virion admits that the dagger was a gift from a young and beautiful member of the family he had spent some time with, and after a stern glare from Freddy, Virion tries to justify his habits by saying he's always played the gentleman and would never dare to sully their reputation. Freddy's not worried about that, since Ylissean noble houses are too sturdy for the events of a single dandy like Virion to mess up. While Virion walks off slightly insulted, Freddy muses how many powerful allies the sly archer has made while pretending to be a mere dandy.
- Stahl & Miriel C-Rank: Miriel's intrigued by Stahl's training habits, and after some discussion of shadow fencing and how it develops reflexes, Miriel wishes to observe his habits for scientific purposes. She's a tad disappointed at learning that Stahl's just finished his training for the day, but is able to coax a whole two hundred repetitions out of Stahl by attempting to observe a rock and making him feel bad. Perhaps Miriel knows more about emotions than she lets on...
And finally, as per the norm, let's talk about Supports that have not yet occurred. Now, Sumia is an interesting case when it comes to supports. She has as many possible husbands as Chrom does wives (four or five, including each other and depending on the gender of the Tactician), but no deadline for when to get married. In fact, her last possible marriage option is recruited two chapters after Chrom's deadline. Still, if we want to pair her up and reap some rewards, we should probably start meddling with her love life soon. Other than a male Tactician, Chrom (who's courting Sully and Yukari, at least until the tie is broken), and Frederick (who's courting Lissa), Sumia can also start a relationship with a sugar-addicted thief and a magician with more mental issues than you can shake a Risen's severed arm at. Who will she end up with? The choice is in your hands, viewers!
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