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canonical-transformation · 1 year

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Prologue & Chapter 1 — Mystery of the Emblem [FE17 let's play]

(spoiler: the Emblem was Marth)

Meet my OC! Her name is A'lear. The apostrophe isn't abbreviating anything, it's just really important to put lots of apostrophes and uncommon letters in an original character's name. She is a dragon, like Corrin from Fates!

Also A'lear's mother is Queen Lumera, the universally loved Divine Dragon Queen! And that means she is a princess, just like Corrin from Fates. A dragon princess, wow!

(the Fates comparisons end here. A'lear is better than Corrin because Corrin had that "reconciling two conflicting heritages" angst where she had to fight her own siblings for drama. My OC A'lear will not have any of that "nature vs nurture" angst, because this will be a story about FOUND FAMILY.)

A'lear's hair is red and blue as a homage to the two most important characters in Fire Emblem history: Enemy Phase and Player Phase.

This is my second playthrough of FE17. I'm picking Maddening this time around, and the game insists I pick fixed unit growths for my own sanity. (That means no random dice rolls on level-up, but instead slowly ticking counters that give stat points out at steady intervals.)

We have Switch Online (for my wife's foray into Splatoon) so I will absolutely be making use of the online features — the shiny yellow and purple tiles which give free loot and XP, and more importantly, earlier and more convenient access to the Tower of Trials, which will let me grind for A supports and silver ingots and Ancient Well loot more easily when I'm feeling stuck.

I don't have the DLC but will consider it after this run.

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Our story begins with a semi-prophetic dream sequence, in which Robin and a mysterious blue-haired stranger defeat an evil Fell Dragon sorcerer together and profess their undying, eternal, totally platonic love for one another. Then she wakes up from a deep slumber, with amnesia.

But who was the stranger? (It was Marth, protagonist of the original Fire Emblem. This is not a spoiler. He's on the box art and all the trailers. He was also a playable character in 2017's Fire Emblem Warriors, and one of twenty-four non-Fox characters in 2001's Super Smash Bros Melee. Also we'll get his name halfway through chapter 1.) Who could it be?

Functionally, the Prologue is a tutorial for the basic controls. On turn 1, you learn how to move A'lear-and-Marth. On turn 2, you attack the Fell Dragon Sombron with a sword, and he attacks you back with horrifying dark magic. Then he does it again, and A'lear is down to 10/50HP versus Sombron's 36/60HP. The situation is dire!

But hope is not lost! Each time A'lear and Sombron took a swing at one another, A'lear's Engage Meter went up by 1. Now it's full, which means... they can do the fusion dance and...

(Emblem...)

... Engage!

Wow, very Cool(TM). Take that, 13th century Italian city state aesthetic, what have you got for drip? Eyepatches?

With their powers combined, A'lear and Marth unleash a devastating ultimate attack, stabbing Sombron nine times at stunning speed for exactly 36 damage. He dies, and Marth tells A'lear that he'll always be by her side, so long as she remembers him.

Anyway, did I mention the amnesia? A'lear awakes with amnesia and is greeted by her fan club, the twins Framme and Clanne (*). Shortly afterwards, we meet Vander, 32nd Steward of the Dragon, who has pretty good facial hair, and takes his job a lot more seriously than his successors.

(* I do literally mean fan club. Their support chain is about the Divine Dragon Fan Club, of which they're both founders and presidents.)

In Chapter 1, A'lear and her three guardians are on their way to meet the Queen of Elyos when they encounter some of the Corrupted, who are zombies I guess. A'lear and Vander must fight them. (The twins tried to play hero and now need rescuing.)

Vander is what some call a "Jagen": a grizzled old warrior (often a paladin) who starts with way better stats than the rest of the team, but who gets next to no EXP from kills for half the game. Functionally, this means that every time Vander defeats an enemy—which they're pretty good at—he's wasted EXP other characters could have been using to level up.

This results in a totally immersive gameplay experience:

A'lear: "Vander, hand me your vulnerary."

Vander: "Of course, Divine One. It is my sworn duty to protect your life. With my own, if necessary."

A'lear: "Oh. That won't be necessary. Now, take position in the trees. No, those trees."

Vander: "Those trees? In the distance? Nowhere near the enemy?"

Alear: "Yes."

But reinforcements keep coming, and by the end of turn 2 Framme and Clanne are about to be torn to shreds. In a cutscene A'lear suddenly remembers the voice from her dreams, and then she utters the invocation to summon Marth, Emblem of Beginnings.

A'lear and Marth then proceed to fight a single Corrupted axe fighter together, with such perfect synchronisation that they're basically mirror images of one another. Because of this, the monster is able to simultaneously block their every attack together. I kind of feel embarrassed for them. (Supposedly Alear gets Dex+1 from fighting alongside Marth? This is what Dex+1 looks like.)

Alear and Marth demolish the remaining monsters, levelling up their Bond a bit in the process. This requires having Vander lure some of the remaining monsters from the south.

Vander: "As you commanded, Divine One, I holstered my axe and let them all stab me a little bit as I rejoined you."

A'lear: "Thank you."

Vander: "Dare I ask where you learned such battlefield tactics?"

A'lear: "I don't know, I have amnesia."

A'lear takes down the last enemy with another ninefold nonuple stab combo. But then a dragon shows up out of nowhere! Oh no! Is it a potential ally? Or... a NEW STORM!?!?!?!?

#playing engage #fe engage #apostrophe a'lear liveblog #this is going to screw up my autocorrect for Alear for years to come #oh well #fire emblem spoilers

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