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The first level Hector and Eliwood?s story have in common. Not surprisingly, it?s the one where the two meet up. Ultimately, it?s quite similar in both stories- if anything, Hector?s mode is easier because you have 4 more characters present at the start and 2 more total
Chapter Summary:
Hector survives the assassination attempt and presses on, now joined by Oswin the knight and Serra the cleric, a pair of his brother's retainers. In the realm of Santaruz he finds Eliwood under attack by a large force of hired thugs while the soldiers of the realm look on and do nothing. Hector rushes to Eliwood's aid and the two are reunited. But is Marquess Helman of Santaruz their enemy or another victim of the assassins at work?
Hector is particularly concerned for Eliwood because he himself was ambushed immediately after trying to leave home. Just as he suspected, the same group wants Eliwood dead. Fortunately, they subcontracted the job of killing him to some much less competent thugs.
Once again, Matthew proves that no one is as good at sniffing around for information as he is.
But even he didn?t see this coming.
Oswin has caught up to Hector, bringing Serra along with him, on Uther?s orders to make sure Hector makes it through the coming trials alive.
Just as Hector suspected, Eliwood is in this part of the realm of Santaruz. Just as he suspected, he?s under attack. And the soldiers of Santaruz are standing by and letting it happen.
The War Room, Part 11
All throughout my run of Lyn?s story I showed you the best way to hoard up maximum assets- or nearly the best way since I used lances instead of axes. Although acquiring lots of assets is the way one gets maximum Funds ranking, you don?t do that by never buying anything.
As I said before, when you buy something in this game you pay exactly its value. So your assets are completely unchanged. When you sell something, you do so for half-price so you lose assets- a bad deal usually.
However, Hector?s story is much less generous with cash than Eliwood?s: you start with 5,000 less and then have to play through more levels on the same amount after that. In Eliwood?s story you start with 5,000, get 5,000 more on 13x, have to get to 21 on that and then get 10,000 to spend which you can resupplying on chapter 23, and then have plenty of money to get to 29 at which point you?re handed functionally infinite gold. There are a total of 16 chapters from the start of Eliwood?s story to chapter 23, assuming one does every sidequest, so one can spend about 10,000/16 = 625 gold per chapter buying weapons on average. That?s enough for a shiny new iron axe + iron lance every chapter more or less, way more than you need to beat that many enemies. In Hector?s story if you do every chapter you have 5,000/18 = 275 gold per chapter- barely enough for an iron axe. And that?s just not enough- particularly since many good characters need more expensive weapons. A single tome of flux for Canas would cost 900. Not to mention you need to buy more healing staves.
So if you don?t sell an item to get a bit more cash to buy a bit more stuff before 23, you will run out of cheap weapons and be forced to use much pricier ones. Not to mention play less efficiently as your characters miss repeatedly with steel weapons or can?t return fire against archers because they have no javelins.
The total loss of 2500 assets from selling the red gem will more than pay for itself on a combination of saved turns, saved combat ranking, and saved funds from not needing to kill enemy brigands with a horseslayer.
After that initial drought though, HHM players should never need to worry about money again- same as ENM. As if there wasn?t already enough money in the game, Hard Mode players can get access to the Silver Card on chapter 18/19x which lets you buy objects at half price. Think about that for a moment. That means that you give up less in cash than you gain in assets when you buy something. So spend all the money you can once you have the silver card and save all the money you can until you have it. Once you have the card, you can even sell items if you want to because there?s no longer any net loss of assets if you then spend the money. Feel free to sell numerous worthless items and buy a few expensive ones to save storage space in Merlinus.
Oh and another thing: many people will tell you not to use Eliwood?s Rapier or Hector?s Wolf Beil often because, unlike the Mani Katti, they have a huge price of 6000 each (that?s 150 and 200 per use respectively). Don?t listen to them. Both of those weapons actually only cost 600, and they?re well worth that price with their great stats and super-effective damage. Remember, there?s this great staff called the Hammerne which for 600 a shot can restore a weapon?s durability- and its value- from 1 to the maximum. And there?s nothing better to use the Hammerne on really because nearly no other weapon in the game has such a huge price and such huge utility. So use both of those things all the time until your Lords are leveled and ready to go, and just save 1 use of each until you get the Hammerne. Then restore then and THEN toss them in storage and never use them again.
Preparations & the Map
Again, no preparations allowed unfortunately but at least one?s start formation is pretty good on this chapter. And you get a ton of guys for it.
Objective: Kill all enemies
Secondary Objective: Get the Secret Book from the village
Secondary Objective: Get the red gem to the armory, sell it, and buy real gear.
Turn Limit: 8
Wow, my army just increased in size by 400% in 1 chapter! I?ll be commanding a force larger than the entire population of the world before Four Fanged Offense at this rate!
Other than all the new possibilities brought about by actually having enough people to start using real tactics, this map is quite straightforward. If anything, it?s even easier than the Eliwood version because you?re allowed to use Serra and Matthew, which makes clearing the top front easier.
Plus Pegasus Knights are a joke as enemies- particularly for Hector himself. On Normal Mode he can typically instant kill them with his Wolf Beil at level 1. On Hector?s mode they?re too tough for that till he gains some strength. This slows progress down and it also means it?s necessary to use the handaxe instead of the Wolf Beil so as to conserve the latter. That?s pretty much the only serious hindrance of this being hard mode though.
The Characters:
?I will guard him with my very life?s blood? ?Oswin, Chapter 11
A trusted and battle-scarred Ostian knight, Oswin is evidently either prominent enough at court or assigned to guard Hector often enough that he and Eliwood know each other. Other than that, we don?t know much of what his usual duties entail, but when Hector left to help Eliwood, Uther sent Oswin to guard him.
It?s natural to compare him to Marcus: they?re both respected veteran soldiers entrusted with acting as their lord?s principle bodyguard on this dangerous journey. However, Eliwood and Marcus have a much better relationship. Hector accepts Oswin?s help only begrudgingly because Oswin is his brother?s sworn man, not his own, and he resents the fact that Oswin is only there to guard him- not out of any desire to help Eliwood. Oswin bears Hector?s occasional rudeness patiently and continues to put his sense of duty to Ostia above all else- including the often short-sighted wishes of his lord.
Many people, both new players and experts, swear by Oswin, but I don?t have a terribly high opinion of him myself. True, he is the only person in the game whose toughness rivals Hector?s and his strength looks impressive at first glance. However, his strength is actually only very good, not great, and his terrible speed means he will never be able to double most enemies on HHM.
Much more problematically, he can only move 4 squares- less than anyone else in the game. Since speed is so important on many levels to get a good ranking, this often means that he must either be left behind to accomplish nothing or carried as a burden by a faster soldier. Undoubtably his high starting stats make him very useful in the early levels, but I want him off the team as soon as I don?t need to bring him. In this way, he?s much like Marcus: a crutch character to get through the tricky early levels until your more helpful soldiers can stand on their own.
?Let me take point. There may be many of them, but numbers are meaningless! We are knights of Pherae. These mice of Laus will never defeat us!? ?Marcus, Chapter 14
Speaking of Jeigans, it?s the big M himself. Marcus is one of the most skilled and trusted knights of Pherae and was left behind to guard the Marquess?s wife and child while the other knights rode off with their lord a month ago. He?s known Eliwood since he had just been knighted and the latter was a toddler following him everywhere. Besides acting as Eliwood?s bodyguard, servant, and advisor, he?s also one of the trainers for the younger knights- including Lowen. In this capacity he seems to be a harsh but good teacher and well-respected by his students.
Marcus is what a success looks like. He?s justly proud of himself and his accomplishments and his position, understands his skills and his limitations, and has achieved everything he wanted in life: true friends, a chance to serve three generations of heroic lords of Pherae, and to pass on his skills to future generations. It?s hard not to like a man who likes himself, let alone one who gets so much great screentime with Eliwood and the other knights of Pherae.
That said, I really do not like to use him. When this game first game out, people railed about how bad Marcus is because of his terrible growths and tendency to siphon XP from your better, lower level units.
Later on people pointed out that he was actually a lot better than other Jeigans in earlier games and that he?s important for doing a couple of things early on in HHM ranking runs and from this came a myth that he was actually a good character. This has grown out of control and has led to him being top or high tier on most people?s tier lists.
There?s this strange idea now that you can?t win without using him extensively and that he isn?t terrible lategame, and both of those assumptions are completely false. Marcus is useful as a rescue-dropper, a decoy for Guy to attack, and to visit some distant villages on 13x and 14. I sometimes also use him on Whereabouts Unknown as backup for Sain if Sain didn?t turn out well, but that is the extent of his usefulness. No one whose main use is avoiding combat on the way to visit 2 villages and taking a single hit from a low level guy you want to recruit should be considered a great character. The man?s growths are pretty much the worst in the game and if you let him, he will kill your XP score.
What?s more, by having ?better? stats than many previous Jeigans, he?s actually less useful in that he can?t actually weaken enemies without killing them. In FE6 Marcus returns but with his stats slightly lower across the board and 5 less Strength. This makes him far, far more useful since he?s now just good enough to heavily damage many enemies but not to kill them on hard mode- allowing your other people to get the XP more easily.
?Yes sir! As per general?s orders, I do 1,000 lance thrusts a day!? ?Lowen, support with Marcus
People like Lowen. One of Marcus?s prot?g?s, Lowen is a young squire of Pherae training to become a proper knight. Since almost all of the other knights of Pherae vanished with the Marquess, Lowen is brought out onto the battlefield early to help Eliwood.
Since he?s still in training and not yet a proper knight, Lowen is rather self-conscious about his relative lack of skill compared to Marcus. As a result he works hard and very seriously at his job and improving himself. Unfortunately, there isn?t much else to say about him since he doesn?t do very much talking outside supports. Most of those revolve around other knights of Pherae telling he?s improving but needs to keep working at it.
Lowen is the only cavalier you?ll have access to in HM until level 16 when Sain and Kent rejoin. It?s sort of like a mini-Lyn?s story or him, and you?d better make use of it if you want him to be effective. He has a lot of catching up to do if you want him to be able to compare to either of Lyn?s knights. Because he can?t be trained in Lyn?s story, he?s a lot harder to use than even Kent. That his offense is poor and always will be doesn?t help matters.
If I had to choose just 1 cavalier to use, Lowen would definitely not be it. His offense is just too bad for him to kill his way through the hordes of enemies I?ll need to face. He?s weaker than Kent and slower than Sain at most levels. His main redeeming feature is that his defenses are really quite extraordinary- both in terms of actual Def and HP and dodging courtesy of his high luck. No, he can?t tank like Oswin or Hector, but he can tank hard while moving 7 spaces per turn and that?s valuable.
If I had to use exactly 2 cavaliers, I would probably dump Kent and use Sain and Lowen. Kent just can?t handle offense or defense that well, whereas Sain and Lowen just have a different specialty. A lucky Lowen is quite a boon, so I?ll give him a try as I usually do, but I will expect to dump him partway through and almost certainly he will not be promoted. A much, much better mobile tank joins the party on Kinship?s Bond anyway.
?Hard words make my head hurt!? ?Bartre, Support with Canas.
A loudmouthed braggart obsessed with becoming the strongest warrior around and oblivious to how stupid he usually sounds, Bartre is introduced traveling with Dorcas and the pair of them join Eliwood because he?s fighting some bandits. His characterization is fairly inconsistent across his different supports and both games he appears in with his intellect ranging from kind of na?ve but not actually dumb to too stupid to follow a simple conversation. Too much of a joke character in this game for my taste, but he does have his moments.
Remember magikarp? And how it was worthlessly bad at the start, but if you worked really hard at training it, it would somehow suddenly turn into a giant monster that was almost, but not quite, worth the effort? That?s Bartre. His starting stats are just horrendous. Oswin is faster and will be for some time. Enemy brigands are so much faster that they double attack him. The shame of it. And he doesn?t have the HP or def to take hits like that. At the low levels, Dorcas?s greatly superior speed and skill pretty much just makes him better than Bartre. However, Bartre?s growths are far, far better than Dorcas?s in the stats that matter and this will let him overtake Dorcas by the end game if trained hard. Bartre really comes into his own somewhere around Cog of Destiny for me usually and from then on becomes one of my best soldiers. The thing is though that it?s way, way hard to get him to a level of even basic functionality. So the payoff just isn?t worth it. Particularly since he?s still only one of the best, not the best.
So I?m going to use Bartre here and there, but unless he happens to gain speed on every single level or something he is going to end up warming the bench. And challenging it to fights. ?And you call yourself the toughest bench alive?!?
?We owe him our lives, and I want to repay him.? ?Rebecca, Chapter 11 (Eliwood?s Story)
Remember how I mentioned Wil was Pheraean and left with his best friend to go make a name for themselves, leaving behind his friend?s sister? That?s Rebecca. They lived nextdoor and although he was oblivious, it seems like she had something of a childhood crush on him. Either way, she was angry that he just took off with her brother without so much as a goodbye and then she never heard from either of them again until now. Eliwood saved her village and she?s so impressed with his heroism that she decides to join him on his quest.
While supports with her are key to uncovering the secrets of some other people?s pasts, she doesn?t get that much development herself. She pretty much just seems to be a somewhat foolish and rather volatile young woman who spends way too much time obsessing over the men in the group instead of being her own person and getting her own character development. Since she?s about 15 at the most, I find it more than a little creepy that she romantic supports at all, let alone so many. Not quite as weird as Nino at least. What is it with Fire Emblem and child soldiers anyway?
Rebecca is an archer, archers are horrible, QED Rebecca is horrible. But how horrible is she exactly? Pretty darned horrible because her only real strength is her admittedly high speed. Wil is stronger by far and Rath is stronger than Wil and almost as fast as her with far better defenses and an uber horse. Under no circumstances should you try to train Rebecca. Just use her early on to soften up enemies for a real character to kill.
The third and final lord in the game, Eliwood is the main character and the hero of the story. Although he?s very young, his good upbringing in one of the more benevolent noble families in Elibe and training with great knights like Marcus have shaped him into a just, caring, and highly capable individual with a strong sense of noblesse oblige. Unlike Lyn, who has flaws but doesn?t acknowledge them, and Hector who does and wants to outgrow them, Eliwood is pretty unimpeachable and more or less always does the right thing no matter how hard it might be. And when people suffer because of something he had to do, he regrets it and tries to make amends. He?s empathetic, polite, kind, and honorable at all times, but not in a way that makes him seem superhuman. His relationships with his friends and family show him to be a profoundly normal sort of person. He?s not a hero because he?s an unstoppable warrior like Hector but because he?s a fundamentally decent everyman who?s good at leading people and doesn?t give up.
Eliwood gets a lot of flak for not being Hector, but would you really want a team of Hectors anyway? If everyone in your army was a superhero, the game would get boring fast. Although some people cruelly dub him ?Failiwood?, he?s actually a rather good character with pretty solid growths across the board. It?s only his starting stats that are bad.
The other thing to consider is that Eliwood is essentially a cavalier- he just doesn?t start off with his horse. Cavaliers and paladins are not top notch combat units like Hector, but they?re pretty good and what they lack in raw power they make up for in mobility. Eliwood will end up with a pretty darned good 7 move and a much needed ability to use Lances. So how does he shape up against, say, Sain, the greatest other cavalier in the game? Lategame, Eliwood is pretty much strictly better. Because Sain will ram into his low strength cap early, Eliwood eventually catches up. Meanwhile Eliwood is better than him in every single other stat- much better in some. So yeah, don?t knock Eliwood in the late game.
The trouble is that, like all lords, he promotes late. And he promotes for double price- not even Hector is worth double price to promote. So I won?t be promoting Eliwood and he won?t see much use once he hits level 20 unpromoted.
That Eliwood?s Rapier is not good compared to Lyn?s Mani Katti- let alone the dreaded Wolf Beil- is another reason he gets a lot of disrespect. As I?ve said before, being super-effective against some unit types is really only good if your weapon?s Might is high, and the rapier has the least Might of any of the special weapons. Further, most of the unit types it?s super-effective against will have weapon triangle advantage against it, a significant problem. On the other hand, having decent damage with nigh-perfect aim early on isn?t nothing.
?Heh heh heh? Noble sirs. Alms for a poor villager.? ?Zagan, Chapter 12 (Eliwood?s Story)
Everyone?s favorite chubby murderer, Zagan was hired by the Black fang to hire some other guys to kill Eliwood. They probably should have sent Wire after Eliwood instead because Zagan immediately gives his ambush away and completely flubs the whole operation.
He?s the first boss in the whole game to move- deciding to do so several turns in when he sees you?ll kill all his men if he doesn?t help them. With a steel axe and 14 strength, he hits like a truck but has no accuracy or other notable abilities.
Hiring this worthless thug was Ephidel?s first fail. It will not be his last.
Playing Through:
Rebecca isn?t going to be much help, so she?s going to go get that secret book for me. But first she stops at a house and this villager talks about how he saw Marquess Pherae?s group go this way.
And he?s quite terrified that a group that powerful just vanished into thin air. I wonder what sorts of ?something terrible?s exist or are imagined to exist in Elibe. It would have been interesting to hear this guy?s guesses about what happened.
Meanwhile, the useful guys are doing useful things. As I mentioned, Hector can?t 1-shot these guys with his Wolf Beil and they?re not worth 2 charges of it. So I?ve got to use my handaxe, even though I?d like to conserve that too. Oswin can?t fight alongside Hector the whole time because Matthew and Serra will need help, but I need him to let me take down this Pegasus knight immediately.
On the southern front, I want Eliwood in the front on that fortress, but he can?t reach it. Time for a rescue drop!
Woohoo!
Next turn, Eliwood and the rest of the southern company work on the remaining enemies. Notice that Eliwood v Brigand is way too close to an even fight. Eliwood kills definitely in 3 hits, Brigand kills in 2 if he doesn?t miss and his hit chance is solid despite the weapon triangle.
It took Lowen?s help to let Eliwood finish that guy, but Lowen can?t stand up to 2 brigands + an archer after taking a hit, so? time for a rescue drop!
This guy. This darned brigand and his handaxe. He?s got loads of good terrain available, weapon triangle vs Oswin, and Hector can?t hit at the best of times till he has more levels. One time I was trying to max rank but this guy just ran onto the central peaks and refused to come down- even to attack Serra. Other times he?s just dodged everyone for so many turns that I had to restart. This playthrough though he was only moderately challenging. Still, I consider him to be the true boss of the level. Zagan is much easier to kill.
As I mentioned, Matthew and Serra will need help. One thing Oswin is good for is blocking. Another is putting that great javelin he starts with to work immediately.
Matthew finishes that archer next turn and holy cow, best Matthew ever!
You cannot grasp the true form of Oswin?s attack!
Seriously, can someone explain what knights are even doing in their criticals? Which way is he facing? Why is he standing like that? What the heck happened to his head? I?ve looked through it frame by frame and it never makes sense to me.
Remember, the bottom front has no healers to it, so what you?ve got to do is let everyone take some of the damage. As long as you don?t give the enemy a chance to counterattack your injured people, it doesn?t matter that they?re at 1 HP once all nearly enemies are dead.
Bartre and Lowen are hurt, but they can take a hit from a Pegasus knight. Marcus is preparing to engage Zagan.
Rebecca has got the secret book, so I?m having her go to the vendor just to point out again that the selection always varies level by level. Notice that I have no gold. I need to get Matthew with his red gem to the armory to sell it. Where was this lady last level when I actually needed vulneraries though?
Sain, you?ve been replaced.
Now Zagan is moving toward Marcus, but I don?t want to kill him with Marcus. Eliwood can do it, but he needs a rescue chain to get him there. So Lowen still stop here, then Marcus will move 1 left and take Eliwood and drop him right, and then Marcus can keep right on moving and stop on the mountain to fight Zagan.
Wheee! With that level up, Hector can now instant kill Pegasus knights with his Wolf Beil. Assuming he doesn?t impale himself on that lance he?s jumping into first.
Actually I?ll admit to making a newb mistake here and rewinding it. I sent Matthew in to do my shopping, but then I could only buy 3 things instead of 5 because I don?t have Merlinus yet and I forgot to have Serra walk up and take his lockpick and iron sword away to free up his inventory space. Final shopping list: 2 iron axes (for hector and for sain later on/ a spare for now), 2 iron swords (Eliwood and Guy), and 1 Iron Lance (Marcus and then Florina and then a spare once I can retire Oswin).
So my plan worked, Marcus heavily injured Zagan and left him killable by Eliwood from the safety of the mountain. My chance of death looks rather high, but remember True Hit. His real chance of killing Eliwood considering true hit and that he gets 2 tries is a low 6%
A good start on Eliwood. What I?d really like is Strength, Speed, and Defense as usual, but every stat as a use so I?m glad to have gotten even less valuable ones like Skill and Luck and Resistance.
It?s turn 5, Zagan is the last survivor. He?ll suicide to Eliwood before my next turn, so I win in 5. Sweet. I think 4 is juuuuuust possible, but only by feeding everything to Marcus + getting lucky on the top front. And 3 turns ahead of schedule is pretty great.
Reunions and introductions all around begin.
The exact relationship of Hector with Marcus and Oswin with Eliwood is something I?d like to learn more about.
This is actually Market?s idea, and it?s remarkably stupid for such a brilliant tactician. Soldiers of this realm were standing by and watching Eliwood get attacked if not outright participating. That their lord has also been targeted seems much less likely than that he?s an enemy.
Remember, Market wasn?t actually present for Hector?s previous battle- she was actually with Eliwood for Eliwood?s chapter 11. This is kind of weird and I?m not sure why they didn?t have Hector?s story involve Hector being with Market from the beginning since most things are from Market?s perspective.
In any case, Market?s age is obviously no concern since she?s a child progeny!
Total Restarts: 0
Turn Surplus: -3 (Makin? progress!)
Things I Regret Missing: The lockpick, that darned archer on Chapter 11, this one brigand who attacked Marcus on chapter 12.