Playthroughs Kouzeon ironmans every Fire Emblem game: a blog

[Kouzeon]

Hello! Bonjour! Hiya papaya! And bienvenidos to “Kouzeon ironmans every Fire Emblem game: a blog,” which is… exactly what it sounds like! Hooray!

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Now, you might have a few questions:

• Q. “What is an ‘ironman’ in this context?” A. “Ironman” runs are the fan community-given name for a particular kind of Fire Emblem playthrough. In an ironman, the player is NOT allowed to reset the game or “save-scum” (ie reloading an old save file with the intent of redoing an already-completed chapter in the event of mistakes).
• Q. “And what is the point of that, exactly?” A. One of the biggest differences Fire Emblem has from most JRPGs is the permanent death of defeated party members (with the exception of some major characters who instead permanently retire from the battlefield (or if you use Casual mode in modern entries where incapacitated units simply retreat for the remainder of the fight)). Because of this, it’s common practice for players to restart a chapter upon losing any particularly helpful units (or, in some cases, any unit at all). In an ironman, this is completely disallowed; the permanent death mechanic cannot be circumvented and players must continue despite the loss of characters, no matter how useful they might have been or how attached the player was.
• Q. “But is the game beatable if you lose too many units?” A. This is a non-problem in nearly every FE title for 99.99999% of players. To be blunt, if somebody’s army has suffered so many losses the game becomes softlocked, this indicates poor strategizing on the player’s end and/or nigh impossibly bad luck (FOR THE MOST PART — some entries are more punishing than others, some early-games are more grueling than others. and this is before taking high-difficulty modes into account).
• Q. “What if YOU become softlocked, though?” A. Unless the RNG is particularly spiteful, I probably did it to myself and accordingly will take the L. I have, in the past, been able to bounce back from seemingly hopeless situations, but in the event that I truly deem a playthrough to have been rendered unviable, I will abandon it. The odds of this happening are not high, though.
• Q. “And you’re seriously playing all of them like this?” A. Yes, I am seriously playing all of them like this.

Now for a few ground rules:

• A game’s difficulty level will be set to the highest difficulty I have previously beat the game on. (For most applicable games, this is Hard.)
• After much deliberation, it has been decided that mechanics such as Mila’s Turnwheel, Divine Pulse, etc. can be used as their respective games were designed with them in mind. I cannot, of course, save-scum to regain uses of such mechanics if I run out.
• EXP grinding, paralogues, and other extra maps are allowed, but such optional maps are not “freebies.” Dead units remain dead whether or not they died during a main story chapter.
• No cheats, mods, or any sort of third-person interference with the game is allowed with the lone exceptions of fan translations (for FE1-6 and 12). Console-faithful emulation will be used for games pre-FE13 (much as I wish this wasn’t necessary, I have neither a Famicom/Super Famicon (or the limited-release official translation of FE1) nor the money to spend on Tellius physical copies nor the ability to read Japanese).
• Upon receiving a Game Over, I can retry the chapter from the beginning. Midchapter saves are ONLY to be used when directly resuming a playthrough after a break and cannot be used to circumvent the anti-save-scumming rule. (Such saves will be used mostly in games with long chapters such as FE4 when I can’t complete a whole map in one sitting.)
• Once the difficulty is set, it cannot be altered.

Not rules, but side notes:

• BS, TMS, Heroes, and Shadows will not be included in this saga.
• Playthrough updates will be posted at the end of each chapter. I will try to play a bit each day, but I only have so much free time and cannot guarantee constant posts. Additionally, when I have extra time on my hands and play more than one chapter in a sitting, a given update might include multiple chapters. At least for the time being, expect updates to come every few days and contain one chapter each.
• A schedule with the current game being played along with the next two games in the queue will be included at the end of this post and the beginning of every update. The queue is subject to change at any time.
• All spoilers for all games will be unmarked! Series newcomers, proceed with caution!

Rules may be added or adjusted as situation demands.

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So! Ready to watch (er, read about) a FE enthusiast with notoriously bad luck risk it all? Of course you are.

The first game is Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War (FE4)! The first update will come tonight (Jan 6 on CST)!

Spoiler: Schedule

1. Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War (FE4)
2. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (FE9)
3. Fire Emblem Awakening (FE13)

(edit: fixed grammatical errors)

 

[Elusian Roserade]

Good luck!

If you don't mind me asking, what will you do for games with multiple different routes, like Three Houses? Only play one route, or all of them?

 

[Kouzeon]

Good luck!

If you don't mind me asking, what will you do for games with multiple different routes, like Three Houses? Only play one route, or all of them?

Only one route is required, but once the main series is over I might do the alternate routes just for fun. (I’ll let RNG pick the route for me when a path split comes.)

 

[Kouzeon]

I am so, so sorry for the week-long delay orz, a lot of unexpected stuff came up (got home super late on Tues and since then there’s been a mixture of family things + illness) and I’ve been unable to dedicate myself to the game as much as I wanted AND I completely lost my data due to a power outage when I was nearing the end of the prologue so I had to completely start over, no joke. It’s my hope that I can post updates more frequently here in the future :’) sorry for the wait once more.

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Spoiler: Schedule

Current: Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War (FE4)
1. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (FE9)
2. Fire Emblem Awakening (FE13)

Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War - Prologue: Birth of a Holy Knight (or, Sigurd’s untimely “death” at the battle of Yngvi)

It is the year 757. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and it’s a beautiful day for…

shuffles through notes

Verdane to invade Grannvale!

While the army of Yngvi is flailing around in a desperate attempt to save Princess Edain, Sigurd of Chalphy boldly chooses to mobilize his forces (composed of three men, including himself and a guy who says things like “damn straight” and “hands down” in the year 757) to defend Yngvi and save the nearby villages… and that’s where the gameplay proper begins!

Turn One

I start by mobilizing Naoise and Alec to take the first enemy on the map’s far east, while Arden predictably stays behind. Sigurd is sent slightly further to the north on the path toward the first accessible village.

At the start of the first enemy phase, Gandolf… um, I mean Munnir… appears and…

Alright, maybe Alec’s speech isn’t so abnormal after all. Sorry, Alec. I’m just going to assume everyone talks like this in Twilkitri’s dub.

Anyway, back on topic. Munnir “kills” Midir before setting off to fetch Cimbaeth, dragging the very unfortunate princess of Yngvi along with him. The bridge to Evans is destroyed; Munnir and Gerrard act like the amoral creatures they are, and the prince of Verdane takes off to Marpha with poor Edain still in tow. Dimaggio orders his men to head to Chalphy, and that marks the end of the dialogue. Back to the action! A lone enemy saunters off to Alec, hits, but loses half of his HP for the trouble. A few more soldiers trot off in the general direction of Chalphy’s men; a man begins to lay waste to the aforementioned village in the far northeast.

Turn Two

Firstly, Azelle and Lex make their timely appearance, complete with lively banter (“Finally, a chance to kick some ass” indeed, Lex) and self-recruitment. I send Sigurd out to OCKO (one-combat knock-out) the soldier wreaking havoc upon the village. He succeeds, and I let him enter the town. A villager pays him 4500G in gratitude is it odd that I always feel bad taking the villagers’ money in these games?. Alec tops off the soldier he was previously engaged with, dodging his blow and sauntering off none worse for wear. He cantos west in preparation to meet next turn’s newcomers, plus he isn’t needed elsewhere: Lex and Azelle have just arrived in the north, and Sigurd (affectionately dubbed ZIGLUDO-CHAN-SAN-SAMA-SENPAI-SAN-SAMA-SAN-CHAN-SAN-SEMPAI-CHAN the Map Soloer) is parked close by as well. There was a soldier directly to Alec’s right. I send Naoise to his rear. Naoise hits, enemy misses. Azelle goes to the bottom right tile of the village he spawned near; the enemy on the bottom left takes two fireballs to the face and dies. Lex enters the village, gets lectured on the weapon triangle, and is paid 5000G. And, as always, Arden stays put.

On enemy phase, a nearby soldier - an archer - arrives and shoots Naoise. It hits for around a third of his HP. Naoise’s last opponent in the previous phase aims again at Alec, misses, dies. More small mobs of enemies slowly make their way east; a lone bandit makes his move on Lex and promptly fails. Lex bonks him in return, and the enemy’s health depletes by half.

Turn Three

Ethlyn and her husband make their grand entry and I am reminded of how little effort Ethlyn’s genes clearly put in during the creation of Altena and Leif. Sigurd’s brother-in-law expresses worry for the most broken character in the game and Ethlyn graciously announces to the audience that she is a healer who can, of course, heal. After a few more words, Finn cuts them off… okay, I guess he’s there too. Cool. Forgot about that.

My first move is to order Sigurd to hustle further north; Lex can’t dodge hits forever and Azelle, frankly, can’t take hits at all. What Azelle can do, though, is take out Lex’s attacker with a single fiery strike. Lex goes over to the brigand to the direct southeast of the church and takes out half his health at the cost of 0 HP. Leif’s dad sneaks up around the archer harassing Naoise and very nearly kills him. This makes him easy pickings for Naoise, who promptly ends him with a single strike. I have the quartet (Alec, Ethlyn, Finn, Naoise, Calf’s son) clump together with the intent to mobilize them as a group to easily take back Yngvi, with Ethlyn healing Alec. Arden does not move an inch.

In enemy phase, the soldiers by the southeastern cliff continue to advance on the cavalier quintet. Both enemies (one with a hand axe, the other with an iron axe) within Lex-attacking range attack Lex. Neither hit lands, suggesting I might have been wrong in my earlier statement. The one with the iron axe dies.The three villages in the west of the map start to go under siege. Nothing I can do about that right now.

Turn Four

Lex finally gets a hit in on the hand axe guy, who misses once more. He cantos a bit west. Sigurd goes further west in an attempt to provoke Mr. Hand Axe, since he isn’t in striking range. Azelle moves exactly two squares to his northwest so he can twiddle his thumbs and maybe daydream about Edain until he can safely attack.

And now the Yngvi Strike Force moves out! Alec moves first, performing a hit-and-run on a brigand that depletes half of the enemy’s health and a third of his. Ethlyn, though, saves the day, restoring 18 HP! Altena’s father swoops in with his trusty (and hilarious-sounding) javelin, stopping the previous soldier in his tracks. Finn attacks the southern enemy, whom he depletes to 4 HP (but is hit for 12). Naoise lands the finishing blow. You’d never believe it, but Arden stays put.

In enemy phase, the only person to make a move is Mr. Hand Axe, who completely ignores Sigurd in an attempt to escape his wrath (cowardly, but I would do the same were I him), instead targeting Lex (whom he doesn’t manage to hit either). The western villages continue to be pillaged.

Turn Five

Since it has been made clear that Mr. Hand Axe (who is, for the record, a LV 10 Brigand) has no interest in fighting Sigurd, I must bring Sigurd to him instead:

Okay a hit rate of ONE is objectively hilarious, c’mon.

After barely surviving his encounter with ZIGLUDO-I’m not typing all of that (who canto’d off to the west, where the nearest village is) and predictably failing to get a hit in, Mr. Hand Axe met his demise at the hands of local cinnamon roll and player phase superstar Azelle, who was rewarded by gaining a level! Wait, have I been keeping track of everyone’s levels? I don’t think so. Anyway…

Everyone’s levels, photo taken at the time when I started freaking out about people’s levels (ie right after Azelle got his Mr. Hand Axe kill in).

A-NY-WAY, I send Lex in pursuit of Sigurd, who by no means needs the backup, but I don’t want Lex to be alone. Ethlyn heals Naoise, who goes one-on-one with the brigand closest to the cliff. Both hit once. Alec finishes the enemy off with two blows, dodging the brigand’s lone hit. The rest of the quintet gets into formation with Seliph’s uncle taking the lead. Arden is still living his best life at Chalphy.

Enemy phase! Very little happens except for a few more enemies peeling from the cluster around Yngvi Castle in favor of heading toward Quan’s (there, I said his name!) group and the other level 10 brigand, who has been hitherto ignored, beginning to approach Arden, who may finally see some combat. The villages continue to burn.

Turn Six

First matter of business is getting Sigurd to help that poor half-decimated town in the map’s northwest corner. The farthest he can go for now, though, is the slope of the hill leading to the town. He probably will not need their help, so I decide to let Lex and Azelle pair up instead and send them south to bait the center-west enemies out for Sigurd to massacre later. (Azelle’s stubby little infantry legs prohibit him from getting very far, though.)

The Yngvi Strike Force moves out. Finn gets some damage in on the nearby hunter, the heir of the Gáe Bolg strikes a brigand and cantos off to a single forest tile, Naoise finishes off the brigand and levels up, and Alec post-recovery goes around and behind to finish off the hunter, which gains him a level too. Ethlyn follows their lead, staying in the back. Only three soldiers in the initial group remain. So does Arden (at Chalphy).

Another boring enemy phase! A brigand hand axes Alec. Villages continue to be ransacked.

Turn Seven?

Time for the Yngvi Five to wrap up business. Or it would be if my power didn’t go out. I am still kicking myself in the teeth really hard over not bothering to periodically save. I’m sorry I couldn’t provide a more satisfying conclusion to the prologue… I really wanted to, and I spent a stupid amount of time and effort on this, and I was actually so upset I almost cried. And I don’t cry much, so that should tell you how frustrated I was and am about this. (Especially because this is an IRONMAN playthrough, like come on)

I am replaying the prologue from the top right now and am trying to replicate all of my strategies detailed above, but I cannot guarantee all the minute details like hits and misses will be the same. Much as I’d like to make another post detailing my OFFICIAL, power outage-less playthrough, I have the patience and attention span of a literal walnut and the idea of having to scrap this part of the blog and start completely over makes me want to puke. Sorry, but I can only write so many hyper-detailed posts about what is essentially the same experience with only minor variations without my brain melting from the sheer tedium of it. (Not to mention starting completely fresh would mean having to leave you guys hanging longer, which I really, really, REALLY didn’t want, even more so than the idea of writing a completely new post.

This is on me. I was being cocky and stupid about saving and paid the price for it (which tends to happen when I am cocky and stupid about things, so you’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now, but nah). Sorry once again. I promise I will update you with how the “real” prologue goes alongside the Chapter 1 post (the prologue section will probably just be my end-of-post tally along with a general overview, so not nearly as detailed as this format (which I plan on maintaining in the future for all formal posts)).

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“END” OF PROLOGUE

RECRUITS: N/A (was 9)
DEATHS: N/A (was 0)
OVERALL RATING: N/A

Side note: Man, I would say I thought picking Genealogy for the inaugural game was a great idea at the time, but I honestly always realized it was a terrible idea (the maps are HUGE and the chapters are super long compared to most Fire Emblems, for the unfamiliar) but wanted to go through with it anyway because it’s my favorite Fire Emblem. Serves me right.

That’s all for today! See you next time!
(Sorry again.)