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Hello everyone! Welcome back to Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4! Can Celice soldier through the desert and give Lord Blume and Bramsel the comeuppance they so richly deserve? Let's find out 
.
But before we do that, let's get some other miscellaneous movement done first.
Now, you ABSOLUTE MUST move Oifaye closer to Darna to do what I want to do. There's an enemy unit coming up soon that I can recruit. He's going to be in a world of hurt if he doesn't move in the way I want him too. I need Oifaye around to manipulate where he goes; so absolutely do that if you want to make things easier for yourself.
Also, I had Aideen go back inside the castle this turn so that she could Repair her Warp Staff. If you look carefully at the last pic, you'll notice I had Julia standing between Lakche and Johalva; that there is why. I needed someone else to take Aideen's place in the Jealousy Formation.
Now; let's continue on!
Wait, that's...a good thing for Bramsel? That Yied has fallen? I kind of assumed that Yied and the Empire were on the same side, so I would think Bramsel would've enjoyed the extra firepower they'd have given him.
Bramsel: We’ll usher them onto the narrow road to Melgen and strike from behind when they least expect it! Heh, heh... This is child’s play. Isn’t that right, Jabarro?
Jabarro: You never want to face the enemy up front, do you, Bramsel... Well, I guess I can’t complain. We’ll show you what mercenaries’ll do for gold.
I mean, yeah...given the choice between getting my men killed in a head-on battle, or just crushing the enemy in one well-executed surprise attack, I'd think the latter would be more responsible. Don't wanna make anymore widows than you have to, after all.
Liza: We definitely can’t let their army get through to Alster...Your father’s so preoccupied with recapturing Lenster, he would never see them coming! I think we need to take our entire military and lay in a course to intercept.
Ishtor: Yeah, anything to keep them out of Alster. Liza, can I have you command the troops into battle?
Liza: Yes, of course!
Ishtor: Forgive me, Liza. I’d keep you from danger if I could, but you’re the only one I can trust.
Liza: Ishtor, I’ll be fine. I consider it an honour to go. I just want you to be safe. Farewell, Ishtor. Okay, troops! Take your positions!
Don't misunderstand; neither of them are the new recruits I was talking about. They don't come into play until after Melgen is conquered.
Oh no, here they go! They're "laying the course to intercept"! Just what sort of furious march are they going to go on now-
Oh...um...huh. Guess they're not doing anything after all. Well maybe Blume's got something...
Ok, no. Everyone's just sitting on their hands I guess. Interesting tactical decision, I have to say.
Well, works for me, I guess.
Anyway, Delmud's gotten everything he needs out of his Thief Sword, so he's not going to be seeing anymore combat. For that reason...
I just sell everything he has. Fee needs that Thief Sword, anyway.
Also fixed Lana's Warp Staff, so now he's back to Warping and Jealousy Formationing.
Oifaye continues on his merry way...
And now to equip the BIG MAN himself 
!
Now, Celice is MORE than strong enough to handily ORKO almost everyone he fights this chapter; so the Strength Ring is redundant.
So instead, we want to increase his Defense a tad.
Between that, the Barrier Ring, the Live Ring, and everything else going for him, Celice is borderline indestructible. And to top it all off, he's got an interesting new ability at his disposal.
Move him down, use Dismount, and...
Whoa, look at that! He's back to Jr. Lord!
...With...all the terrible stats that come with that. Um...I mean, that's great for this one specific instance of traveling through the desert on foot instead of on horseback, but...that seems like a pretty niche thing for Kaga to have gone out of his way for. Is there some particular PURPOSE behind this, or was Kaga just...
Fire Emblem Treasury posted:
Q: Is there any special meaning behind Celice’s ability to dismount?
A: The reason for that is a simple one that I’m a little embarrassed about, which is for “aesthetic purposes". At the beginning, we guessed there would be many female fans who see Leaf, for example, and think “he looks so handsome inbattle, I don’t want to promote him!". Originally, we wanted every mounted character to have the option of dismounting like in Mystery of the Emblem. However, because of space issues we had to give this idea up, so in the end only Celice’s dismounting option was kept.
...ok, yeah. Kaga was just being Kaga yet again.
Dude's like the Fire Emblem equivalent of Hideo Kojima; I can never tell whether he's an absolute genius, or an absolute madman. Can't argue with most of the results, though 
!
Now for more story.
Uh oh...
Leen: Forget it! You come over here if you’ve got something so special.
Bramsel: Heh, heh... I like them feisty, but her obstinacy I can do without. Bring her to me!
Oh, shoot. How many other guys have been watching her, anyway?
Leen: L..let go of me! You freaks!!
But suddenly...
A WILD BLACK KNIGH...er, ARES...no wait, uh...ALESS APPEARS!
Bramsel: Who the hell are you!? You worthless mercenary... How dare you challenge me!
Aless: No one lays a hand on her. You got it?
Bramsel: How dare you speak to me like that! Somebody, get him!!
Aless: Who of you doesn’t recognise this sword? I must warn you the Mistoltein craves blood! So who wants to be its first victim?
Bramsel: That’s... the Demon Mistoltein? You’re Aless, the Black Knight!?
I hope not. That dude was ridiculous to try and kill.
Kind of a psychotic douchenozzle, too; don't care how many times Radiant Dawn tries to sell me on the whole "he was noble all along" thing 
.
Aless: Yeah, that’s me.
Bramsel: Ulp... forgive me! I was merely having a little fun! Look, I’ll never lay a hand on her again!
Aless: Leen, you okay?
Leen: Yeah, I guess so. Thanks, Aless...
But later that day...
Well, give the game credit for one thing. At least this sprite is on someone evil enough to deserve it, this time. Poor Clement never got a fair shake 
...
And once again...
Nothing happens.
Yeah, it's really weird how the game handles this whole segment.
I mean, it's got basically the same premise as Chapter 2. A friendly noble is under siege by a massive army, with only a few bodyguards to protect them. Meanwhile, our army starts a fair distance away; so we have to dash on over there and help...or so we think.
Except, NO, we don't! Because as it turns out, the "massive army" is actually fairly weak. One single LVL 14 Fin with occasional help from Nanna was enough to handle them. And even putting that aside...
The whole thing is totally unnecessary. You can just let their castle rot! You don't even get a penalty on your Rankings!
In fact, that's actually desirable! It's an allied castle, so there's almost nothing for us to do there. We can't go to the Item Shop, we can't go to the Storage, we can't visit the Fortuneteller, we can't fight in the Arena...going to the Blacksmith is literally all we can do.
So, why rush? Shanan and Patty/Daisy are just fine on their own, Leaf and co. aren't in any serious danger, their castle isn't worth a darn thing to us unless we convert it into a player castle...
Heck, there aren't even any fun side objectives. I mean...there's a Defence Ring we can get. Which...is handy. Just warp Fee to Yied, like so...
And there you go.
But that's just one stat ring; along with some pocket change that this Thief Sword will get us.
That's nothing compared to the Pursuit Ring, the Bargain Ring, and the smorgasboard of Gold we could get from all those threatened villages in Chapter 2! And even if it was, it's still only one side objective. The rest of the map is fairly straightforward.
Last, but almost certainly not least, is just how lethargic a lot of the enemies are. I mean, Ishtor is doing absolutely nothing right now, Blume doesn't give a rip about anything besides conquering Leaf's castle, and Bramsel (apparently) sees absolutely no harm in letting his neighbors get conquered by someone he KNOWS he's going to have to fight at some point.
There's no tension; it's just a map with a ton of empty space in it. It's a "rescue" mission...where nothing bad will actually happen if Celice takes his time. And that is just...bizarre to me.
It's not even that I actively dislike this map or anything. I mean, yeah, I find it kinda dull... But I don't HATE it or anything...
I just find it really bizarre how they handled the scenario here.
Anyway, after moving Fury and Oifaye further down...
We want to take Celice, here...
And move him to this EXACT spot, here!
Because now, something's FINALLY going to happen !
In addition to doing some house cleaning, we also want to position Celice in a way that let's him do two things...
1) Avoid having to fight General Liza, since she actually has decent stats.
2) K.O. one of Lord Ishtor's guards on this turn.
Yeah, in addition to the enemies being fairly lethargic, most of them are also pretty weak. I mean, don't get me wrong...
Ishtor himself would normally be pretty scary for the point of the game he's at. 34 Might and 3-10 Range is enough to safely OHKO almost everyone on our team, just like Sandima. And Tron pushes that all the way up to 39 Might!
To put that in perspective? Shanan and Oifaye are the only ones...the ONLY ONES on your team who are always guaranteed to survive the first blow at base level. And heaven help you if you lost both of them...
But yeah, I'm not an amateur. I knew to dump almost every resource I had into Celice. So at this stage of the game...even Ishtor doesn't amount to a whole lot.
Celice is OP enough as it is. On top of that, he's also got the Light Sword giving him WTA.
Because, yes, the Light Sword still counts as a Light Tome for any mage fights Sigurd gets into.
Not that it matters. Celice coulda shrugged it off, even if he had been hit. The Light Sword's more just insult to injury.
Welp, time to finish this.
Well, there's our Tron Tome. Course, Ishtor has another line of dialogue, if you killed Liza first.
Ishtor: You...! You killed Liza... I’ll never forgive you!
Sorry, Ishtor. Rage boosts only work for the good guys ...
Anyway, we're gonna put THIS in the Storage to sell later...then...
We're gonna see more story.
Celice: I have a hard time believing Prince Ishtor or his general were bad people...
Levin: Yeah, but don’t forget that they both supported a ruthless tyrannical leader. They were without a doubt the enemy in this scenario. Celice, this is war! It’s not just about hatred or resentment.
Celice: ...Yeah, I suppose.
Levin: Haha! You’ve got a good heart, Celice. You just need to learn to let go sometimes. We’ve got a rescue mission in Lenster we need to focus on.
Celice: Yeah, that’s right. We’d better start heading in that direction.
SPOILER ALERT: Celice does NOT end up going in "that direction". Not now, anyway.
I mean, we could do that, but...
I dunno. I think Leen could use a hand. Besides...
Remember how I said Arthur was going to be guzzling a ton of EXP? Well, that time is coming now!
But first, more story time.
GEE, YA THINK?!?
Bramsel: We need to move before they gear up again. Commander Jabarro, it’s time. Take them from behind. I want them dead... all of them!!
Jabarro: Yes sir!
Some forces assemble...
And then we go back to Aless & Leen...
Leen: He’s just usin’ you. I... I just hate him so much!
Aless: Leen, you have to understand that...
Leen: I don’t care anymore! Don’t talk to me. You just do whatever you please! Just forget we ever met!
Kind of a weird mood swing from her, considering this is coming immediately off of Aless rescuing her from getting raped.
Then again, I'd also have to wonder how she knows enough about Jabarro to make informed judgments about him...or better yet, why the heck she hasn't gotten the heck out of dodge. Surely Aless could've arranged something to cover her while he was gone 
?
Because yeah; this creep's still at large 
.
"Meanwhile, at the other Fortress of Evil..."
Blume: You show them what you’re capable of!
Vampa: Yes, Your Majesty!
Blume: I’m counting on you girls!
...Why do I get sudden flashbacks to "Totally Spies" 
?
Blume: Hmph... And to think I raised you as my own when your mother passed away. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten all I’ve done for you!
Tinny: Of course not, sir.
Blume: Then get going. Those horrible people killed both my son and his sweetheart Liza. YOU are to avenge their deaths!
Hmm...that woman looks...familiar...somehow. I can't quite put my finger on it...
Eh, whatever. I'm sure she's not important.
Alright, so on this turn...See that guy way out ahead of everyone else? That's Aless, and he is very random in how he spends his opening turn.
Sometimes he'll go toward us like he did here, sometimes he'll hang back, sometimes he'll go way out to the left of the group, sometimes he'll go southwest...you get the idea. Normally, that wouldn't be TOO big of a deal, but...
Spoiler Alert: He's going to automatically turn blue on the next Player Phase. And he can wind up in serious trouble if he moves in a way that gets him pinned down by Jabarro's forces. That, and we want to conserve these kills for Arthur, since he's got Elite Ring + Holsety.
Fortunately, you can manipulate where Aless goes. If you'll recall, I put Oifaye in a very specific spot in this update. If any of you are still wondering why I did so...this is why.
The way Aless moves seems to be entirely dependant on how your own units are positioned. And from my brief time experimenting, the way I moved Oifaye seems to get the results I want. So, there you go! That's what Oifaye was there for : !
Now, as for Alster's forces...
Well...they're also kind of strange in how they move. Blume SAYS he wants his forces to crush the rebel army, but...
They all start headed toward Leaf's place, instead. Which brings up the question of "why is Blume so eager to pick a fight with the rebel army?".
Because as far as the story's concerned, he's still trying to take Lenster, right? And he's failed at that so far, right? So if he's having trouble just putting down Leaf and his two guys...why's he then throwing a whole section of his army towards the much larger rebel army? The one that's just taken down Ishtor and his stronghold?
It makes no sense 
!
Vampa: Celice is ours. We can’t let Tinny‘s unit show us up!
Anyway, like Ishtor, the Magus Sisters can actually be pretty dangerous. I'll go into further detail next update, but...
Suffice it to say, magic was always pretty dangerous in the early Fire Emblems. Up to this point, Gaiden was the only game to even have RES growth. So up till like, FE6 or so, the game designer were still in "magic should hit like a ton of bricks" mode.
Anyway, back to story.
Hey, to be fair, Celice was pretty broken up about it too. Just, there's not a whole lot of ways around the whole "your dad is a bad guy" thing.
Tinny: Oh, I don’t know what to do. Mother... I wish you were here...
Man. Lot of dead mothers in this game, huh? I mean, Sigurd, Deirdre, Alvis...what is this, a Disney movie?
Anyway, after one last move by the MBandit (for his days are surely numbered)...
Leen: Look at you acting so tough now that Aless isn’t around! You sick old man! You’d better just stay away from me!
Yeah! You sick old man! Just pack up and-
THE HECK DID HE JUST SA-
Bramsel: You will regret this day... Throw her in the dungeon!
Leen: No! Aless...
Uh...alrighty then. After one of the most...shockingly well-placed swears I've ever seen in a fantranslation (especially since this one generally downgrades the vulgarity of the original script)...
We get this scene, too.
I'm actually kind of curious. Is he inferring that FE4 dancers have a bad reputation as glorified prostitutes (and Jabarro's surprised, because he'd have thought Aless was too straight-laced to be attracted to her)? Or is he saying that Aless is cold-hearted and ruthless enough that Jabarro couldn't see him ever getting that worked up over what happened to her?
I don't know. Bookofholsety's localization didn't give me any answers, either. What are your guys' thoughts on this?
Jabarro: Well, it’s all behind us now, so I suppose we can let it rest.
Aless: What’s that supposed to mean?
Jabarro: Heheh... Well, right about now I’d imagine Bramsel is...
Aless: How could... How could you know that and not tell me, Jabarro!?
Jabarro: Stay out of relationships, Aless. You can have your fun with them, but leave it at that!
Aless: I see I’ve greatly misjudged you... I’m going back to Darna to get Leen!
Jabarro: I don’t think so, Aless. You know I don’t take kindly to those who disobey my orders. And that goes for you, too!
Aless: I know we’ve been through a lot together, Jabarro, but I’m cutting our ties here and now! Anyone who tries to stop me can make acquaintance with the Mistoltein!
Jabarro: You little ingrate! Don’t push me, Aless!!
Aless: Huh, whazzat? Hope I'm not pushing you, Jabarro! Huh? Am I pushing you?!?
Hehehe...anyway, the gauntlet has been thrown down! Aless vs. The World! Can we make it to him in time? Can we rescue his newfound love? And can we bear through the Magus Sisters and their awesome power? Find out, on the next explosive episode of Let's Max Rank Fire Emblem 4!
This is Fionordequester, signing out. Have a nice day, and God bless you all !
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CURRENT AAAA RANKED RUN STATS:
Time Taken This Update: 12 minutes and 10 seconds
Total Time Elapsed Over the Run: 15 hours, 55 minutes, 41 seconds~
Turns Taken This Update: 8 Turns
Total Turns Elapsed Over The Run: 247 Turns
Levels Gained This Update: 5 Levels
Total Levels Gained: 595 Levels
Things I Regret: In the Prologue, I regret the fact that Noish had to hang back as I rigged levels for Sigurd in the Prologue.
In Chapter 1, I should've brought Midir to guarantee that Kinbois's men would be taken down without issue.
On Chapter 2, I regret the fact that Ardan built up so many love points with Aira even though that pairing's been written out of the route, I regret making that positioning mistake with Fin, and I wish I hadn't made that careless mistake with Sigurd attacking that guard near Boldo (even if it did end up working out). I regret deciding to not just get Deirdre to Level 30 by the end of Chapter 2. I regret wasting something like 12 minutes rigging Aideen a win against Keimos, when it ultimately didn't end up doing much for Jamka anyway. And I could have manipulated Dew's Gold a bit better so that Aira got just 18,000G instead of 22,470G.
On Chapter 3, I regret selling Deirdre's Aura tome! I'll bet she TOTALLY could've kicked Manfloy's butt, if ONLY I hadn't taken that away 
!!
On Chapter 4, I regret spending so much time disabeling the Arena bug for Fury's Arena fights; her combat stats didn't even matter once I promoted her! I also regret not having Claude turn around sooner. I also regret not repairing the Return Staff before giving it to Aideen.
On Chapter 5, I regret not having Dew sit tight after slaying that General; I didn't really accomplish much by moving him around outside, so I probably wasted about a minute or so.
On Chapter 7, I regret putting Fee and Arthur the same amount of spaces away from that dark mage as I did Julia. I was lucky enough that the attacked Julia anyway...but a mistake is still a mistake.
Level 21-22: 59 HP > 60 HP, 25(30) > 25 Str, 13(18) > 14(19) Mag, 22 Skl, 18 Spd, 13 Lck, 18 > 18(23) Def, 11(16) Res!
Level 9-13: 37 > 41 HP, 6 > 9 Str, 9 > 10 Mag, 11 > 14 Skl, 10 > 11 Spd, 23 > 25 Lck, 5 > 6 Def, 8 Res!