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First things first: You see that isolated forest tile? There's a hidden Red Gem there. Pretend I picked it up and sold it instead of hexing 7,500 gold into my inventory. Stupid invisible items...



Right then, Chapter 5 has another FE5 map, and despite being re-used I genuinely like how it was executed, you really need to put a little thought into the strategy here.



Natasha joins us here, and she's the usual. What's really unfortunate is she has Serra's map and battle sprites. The map sprite I understand, because that's tied to the class, but why they didn't keep Natasha's original battle sprite is something not worth scratching heads about.



The map is FE5's Chapter 6, which was originally an "Escape" chapter. And don't let the meager-looking enemy density fool you, there's plenty of reinforcements. We have a spare Door Key from Chapter 3 so we don't really need either Mage Thief. But wait...is that a MANAKETE over there?!



Standing in for Joshua is none other than Fa. I regret to inform you that all three of the Manaketes in this hack use Myrrh's map and battle sprites. I could probably spend time describing the technical reason for that, but I'll get straight to the stats: Yes, she's weaker than in FE6, but her weapon now has infinite uses. Fa isn't invincible, but give her a little time and she'll turn out nicely.



First I'm going to get rid of as many ranged enemies as possible, either by drawing them out or having Clarine take them out. After that Eirika and a few others will wait around by the door while the rest go around the side.



Also, either Bows had their effective damage nerfed or Clarine's defense is ridiculous.



I suppose that's high defense for a Pegasus Knight.



And of course more enemies show up.



Great, why do the healers get all the good levels?



We didn't see Lute's battle sprite before, so here it is now: she looks like Lilina.



We also have bandits to worry about. Saving the villages is not an easy task, but we'll manage.



Wendy and Serra head east to fend off a Fighter, and Serra gets this.



Keep in mind Lute boasts about her skills a LOT in FE8. Also, Natasha's battle sprite. It's as bad as the Power Glove.



Entering this village recruits...



...Echidna! The first female Fighter ever! Not counting My Units, that is. She comes with a Dragonshield. Stat boosters now have three uses, but they now only give 1 stat point per use (5 HP in the Angelic Robe's case) - you can spread the points around if you wish, which is nice.



I haven't mentioned this up until now: FE Girls also has a menu option that highlights every square the enemy is able to attack, which you can do in the main series starting from FE9, but what's really interesting to me is this feature exists in leaked prototypes of FE7 and FE8. It's somewhat useful, and I'm not totally sure why it's not in any of the other GBA games.



Finishing the knight from earlier gave Lute...a point of magic at least.



This is where things get tricky. With an Iron Blade, Karla can most certainly one-round every Fighter and Bandit that attacks her, and since the bandit AI always attacks when it can, they'll suicide on her instead of going for the houses - assuming, of course, axe magnetism doesn't kick in.



Echidna's battle sprite. It's nice.



As expected, two Fighters later Karla gets...strength. Wow.



This house has a Secret Book.



Natasha opens the door, and we get ready to charge.



Of course, by "charge" I mean "stand still and chuck spears at them".



My heart stopped here; I hadn't realized the weight of the Iron Blade would cause Karla to get doubled here. Gah, why did Awakening remove weight again?



She gets a point of defense at some point, which actually saves her life.



Axe magnetism kicks in here; if she hadn't gotten that point in defense I'd have had to reset. Now THAT is luck if I ever saw it.



Here's a good level wasted on a healer to make up for it.



A lucky dodge followed by a point in...defense. Again. Hm.



God dammit Priscilla!



Oh not you too.



Okay fine, I'll get these updates done quicker, just stop missing like this so often!



...No promises of course.



Ladies and gentlemen, the GREATEST MAGE EVER



And now to follow up a decent level it's time for a bad level montage!





Fun day I'm having.



Now to draw out Fa and the rest of the enemies.



You know now that I think about it that flame animation's a little wierd...oh I get it, that's Fa's flame breath, not Myrrh's, so it's not exactly aligned with the sprite correctly.



Fa gets recruited and Wendy resumes tank duty.



Oh yes, I like where this is going. I think the dragon stone here counts as a magic attack.



Geez Wendy it's all about strength today huh?



Oh, Karla, not again!



This house has the incredibly worthless Armorslayer.



I didn't use Manaketes too much in my original playthrough, but now I'm starting to think I should.



DEFENSE. AGAIN. That's three times now!



Clarine managed strength and capped speed, too.



Okay something wierd's going on, what's with all the defense?



The last house has yet another Torch.



Next I check out the armory, which thankfully has Steel weapons, which I stock up on.



The vendor has...overpriced Torch staves. In any case I can get some Heal staves; Serra just broke hers.



Out of frustration rather than overuse I imagine.



Fa goes to soften up the boss a little, then we send in Lute for the kill.



Uh...YOU SAW NOTHING. She'll get him on the second hit-



Oh COME ON! Fine, Eirika gets the kill instead.



...wonderful. That's the end of Chapter 5.



Saving all the houses nets us a Guiding Ring. Promotion items have two uses now (except for the Master Seal) so we're sure to get some use out of this, assuming our magic users manage to hit their targets every now and then.

Coming up next: Great, of all the lords they had to replace my namesake with...

Natasha's growths:
HP: 55%
Mag: 50%
Skl: 30%
Spd: 45%
Luk: 75%
Def: 20%
Res: 60%

Echidna's growths:
HP: 95%
Str: 65%
Skl: 50%
Spd: 40%
Luk: 40%
Def: 25%
Res: 15%

Fa's growths:
HP: 105%
Str: 75%
Skl: 80%
Spd: 60%
Luk: 45%
Def: 60%
Res: 25%