Fire Emblem: The Random Stones

[Simon]

If you came into this thread asking yourself, "What the ever-loving crap is this?" then I would be happy to explain.

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones is the 8th game in the Fire Emblem tactical RPG series, and the 2nd of the series officially released to America. As the third and final of the series on the Gameboy Advance, it takes many of the features from it's predecessors and improves upon them with refined mechanics, new and improved classes, and a brand-new over-world map allowing free exploration.

Randomizers are a relatively recent trend in video games, primarily for classical ones like Pokemon and Legend of Zelda. It essentially mixes up all the content of a game, such as sprites, characters, events, maps, and items, and then spits it all back out into a brand new game. In this way it can be a clever twist on a game you know and love, and allows you experience it again in a completely different fashion, sometimes requiring outside-the-box thinking to proceed.

I have recently obtained a Fire Emblem randomizer, compatible with all three GBA Fire Emblem games, and have used it on a Fire Emblem 8 rom I have. You can find the randomizer here.

"Yeah, we know all that already, get to the point!" some of you may be saying. Well, then, without further ado, let us begin!




Our story begins on the continent of Magvel, where the kingdom of Renais is under attack by the forces of their former ally, the Grado empire.


A lowly Recruit comes to the throne, surely bringing news to King Fado and his trusted associates...



Unfortunately, the news is not good.

Fearing the worst, Fado summons his daughter Erika to his side, having somehow sired a giant floating eyeball. (God knows what her brother Ephraim looks like.) He asks if she has her special bracelet, and she does. It's probably special in that it was custom-made to fit her at all.



With that, Fado calls over Seth, the noble Falcoknight, to escort Erika to the neighboring kingdom of Frelia.

But Erika sees through her father's demeanor, and knows he is going to stay behind, bearing witness to Vigarde's power. She insists on staying with him, but Fado insists otherwise.


Seth, wasting no more time, somehow grabs onto the floating eyeball princess and runs off, accompanied by his ally Franz, the archer.


It's not long until Vigarde is upon the throne...



Meanwhile, outside the castle, Seth turns to Franz and tells him to ride on ahead to Frelia... without a horse. Whatever, he must be stealthy or something, right?


We're about to go on our own way when we get company. Seth, ever the valiant knight, steps in to face the enemy-



...Uh oh. Looks like he took a page out of Franz's book and traded in his mount for a bow. For the uninformed: Bows are super-effective against flying units.


Whatever, Seth is a badass, right? He can probably still take him!



Unfortunately, this cutscene suggests very strongly otherwise. Despite not being in range at all, Valter nocks an arrow and-



...Oh. :frog:

Well, after that waste of time, we peace out.



Meanwhile, Valter deludes himself into the idea that he actually did anything at all. What a loser.


Over the next ridge, Seth and Erika catch their breath. He apologizes for having manhandled his eyeball of a princess, but Erika is quite forgiving.


Despite his wound being completely superficial, she insists on helping him heal, to which he... politely declines.

Seriously, how would she do it? With those tentacle-nerve-things sticking from behind her? Not a pleasant thought.

In any case, we press on.


Seth calls Erika aside and says that if anything happens to him, she should continue on to Frelia alone. He then gives her a sword.


...Don't ask how he expects her to use it. :frog:

We're about to proceed with the story when we receive our first actual encounter: two of Grado's fighters being chased by a giant freaking spider.

:froggonk:
I mean, we could easily be flying out of here by now and just leave the spider to devour those two, but I guess we've got to make sure it doesn't go following us, I guess?


That's all for this post, tune in next time when I actually fight these dorks.

[Serraph Quarrere]

I fucking love randomizers. You never know what you're gonna get.

[Simon]

Prologue, Part 2: Enough story, time for battle!



Before that, though, let's see what units we're working with. With the randomizer, starting classes, base stats, and stat growths have hall been randomized, while still keep largely the same array of stats on the board. So each character we get (and some of the ones we'll face in battle) not only has a random class, but random stats as well, which may be for the better sometimes.

:eng101: A quick synopsis on stats: Strength/Magic is how much damage a unit deals. Skill determines a unit's accuracy and crit chance - units with higher skill are almost guaranteed to hit. Speed is pitted against other units to determine how many attacks either unit gets. Luck is the opposing stat for Skill - when another unit attacks you, your Luck subtracts from their Skill. Defense and Resistance reduce damage from physical and magical attacks, respectively.

Firstly, we have Seth. In the base game, Seth was our trademark Paladin: a high-end unit meant to be our crutch character for the early game while we have undeveloped classes. Thankfully, because he has such a high starting array, his stats aren't in any bad spot. If anything, he's gotten an improvement: graduating into a Falcoknight gives him a boatload of movement unhindered by terrain. His higher Skill, too, gives him a great chance to hit and crit.


His starting equipment is a Steel Sword and a Light Brand- a mid-tier and high-tier weapon. The Light Brand allows him to do magical attacks at range, which makes him extremely effective at this stage of the game.

...oh, and he's at half-death because it's scripted. Apparently the game was so shocked at his and Erika's dramatic performance that he took damage anyways.

Next is Eirika (who I will occasionally be misspelling as Erika), who was originally one of our requisite Lord characters. She was originally quite vulnerable, due to her low stats, and sadly the stat change hasn't done much to mitigate that at all. Of course, the largest difference is that she's a Mogall, one of the game's monsterous units.


Thankfully, to account for the fact that she can't use any weapons, she's supplied with Evil Eye, the signature Mogall "weapon". This is a blessing, as her new unit type means that, like Seth, she can fly over mountains and stuff and take on units at range. On top of that, Evil Eye never runs out, which will make her consistent in that role.



But enough of that. Last we left off, we were about to kill a couple of poor saps and the giant spider they're running from.


Using our ample amounts of free movement, Seth flies into the adjacent mountains and stabs one of them, while Erika finishes him off with a sharp glare.


For this early part of the game, we're going to want Erika to get kills so that she gets the bigger chunk of EXP. Seth's status as a high-tier unit means he won't get as much for himself, so it's better off in her hands - er, tentacles?

It's the Enemy's Turn now. The boss in this chapter won't move until his flunkies are dead, so the remaining fighter tries his luck on Seth, being unable to reach Eirika in the mountains.

He doesn't do much, sadly, and Seth retaliates in kind.

Back to the Player Phase, Erika finished off that injured fighter for the sweet EXP, leaving only the boss.



This is going to be the tricky part. That spider is capable of climbing through mountains and inflicting poison with his attack, so if Erika is within his range, he's going to try and attack her- and with her stats so low, there's a good chance she won't survive. Therefore, I should keep Seth in front of her- however, he's at low enough health that if the spider hits him even once, the poison will finish him off.


So we compromise by keeping Seth in front of Erika and using one of his healing items. Now Seth will be able to survive a full turn, no matter what happens.


The enemy phase begins.


Seth bravely dodges the attack, and strikes back true.



Player phase again. He's still a little high for Erika to finish him off, so I have Seth take another shot. He does very well, making his need to heal pointless.



Murphy's Law, I guess. :frog:

At any rate, this lets us safely finish off the spider with Erika. For that, she get about a whole level's worth of EXP, putting her halfway into level 2.


Gains could be better, but beggars can't be choosers.


Following the battle, Erika insists she's fine, having come out of the battle unharmed. Seth, however, can tell she's not feeling well.

...Don't ask me how he can tell, he just does.

Erika laments that this is really war, and that she really had to kill people. She brings up games she used to play with Ephraim-


-just, you know what? Every thing about Erika just brings up more questions than it answers. Why is a giant eyeball fit to be a princess? How is she Fado's daughter and Ephraim's brother? Is she adopted? How does she do anything at all when her primary ability is to stare at things until they die??

Fuckin' Christ, man. 



That's all for this session. Tune in next time for Chapter 1: That Was All Just the Prologue?

[ElFailzalot]

This is a beautiful abomination. Randomizers, man. Keep it up. :frogpipe:

[Joline]

this is beautiful
eyeball princess for new prime 2017

[Simon]

Chapter 1: Get On With the Real Game!





Where we last left off, Seth and Erika were en route to Border Mulan in order to make a man out of Erika escape into Frelia. Unfortunately, Grado is a step ahead of them.



Princess Tana, supposedly one of Erika's good friends, came to the fort to ensure Erika got into Frelia safely. Alas, she's not a soldier.

Her guards insist to retreat, but like Erika, she's more insistent on staying.

Dumb princesses. :getout:

Meanwhile, outside:


Breguet's a lot of things, but he is not a patient man. Considering what you're about to see, he is neither patient nor a man.


...Yeah, you saw what I read.


By the way, that battle is 100% not in her favor. Even with a crit, she would only be dealing 2 or 3, but the magical powers of cutscene land allow her to kill this stalwart mercenary easily.


...Geez, this guy (girl) is really confused.

So anyway, he captures the princess who just happens to be in this fort like a stubborn mule, and now we have to do something about that.


Back outside again, Seth sees the incoming army and suggest they use their combined powers of flight to skip past Border Mulan altogether.

But like any good princess so far, Erika is very certain that they should stay and deal with these soldiers (especially considering Tana is in that castle :frog: )


And so the battle begins.


First turn, standard routine of "Seth weakens, Erika kills." I make sure to keep her behind Seth so the soldiers won't be able to go for her.



The enemies encroach on us a little bit, and then we get some backup of our own! Franz the archer finally shows up again with Gilliam... another archer.

He says that he'll take point, since he has thicker armor. Before that, though, let's see what we've got:


In the base game, Franz was our first Cavalier- a basic mounted unit with the potential to promote into one of two better ones. Alas, he's an Archer now, which isn't quite as versatile considering we have a unit with Evil Eye.


But holy now, look at that equipment! The Poison Bow poisons enemies on hit (obviously), while the Short Bow has an increased crit chance.


Now we have Gilliam, formerly a Knight - a heavy armored unit who is basically meant to be a tank. Now, he's also an archer. Because he starts at a higher level, his starting stat spread is better than Franz, at least - and to his credit, he does actually have better armor, like he said!


And also a poison bow. Because if it was worth giving once, it's worth giving again.



Anyways, time for progress. Second turn, we gang up the archers on the Soldier, with Franz getting the kill for some EXP.


Then we do the same routine once again with Seth and Eirika.



And she gets another level out of it, yay!

...Still could be better. I could REALLY use some Luck or Defense there, game. :frog:

For the Enemy Phase, I make sure to keep Gilliam in front of Franz so he can take a blow, like Seth and Erika. And he does, spectacularly.

I mean, just look at where that lance is sticking! Good think he's totally got heavy armor on, totally, because he would probably be dead from getting stabbed in the heart!

...Right, anyway. Moving on.

It's our third turn, and time to end some fools. Our archers are fast enough to get two attacks, as show below, so Gilliam double-taps this guy, no problem.


Now we'll have Franz go in for the kill-


...ahem, I said we'll have Franz go in for the KILL-


:frog: ... Fine, then. You can just die a poisonous death, nerd.

We leave Seth and Erika to do more murder on the fighter here.


And then the bravest Soldier ever dies due to poison. RIP in pepperoni


Oh, enemy reinforcements also appear, to make sure we don't get away.

iren: Spoiler Alert iren:
[spoiler]We get away.[/spoiler]

Enough of that, time for the boss! Franz softens up this goon here, while everyone else moves in to take on Breguet. We're aiming to capture the fort back same turn, folks!



Well, you're not wrong...


but you're not exactly better off, you know? Especially with Seth putting you down to 2 HP-


...I said, you're not exactly BETTER O- fuck it, Seth, just take her out.


And we're done. :frogc00l: Missed out on sweet boss EXP for the units that could use it, but small losses.

FUN FACT: That sword you saw Breguet using, Shadowkiller? That's an unused weapon in FE8's data. Like bows against winged units, it would've been a special weapon that did extra damage to monster units... like the one Erika is right now. Good thing I didn't get her next to the guy, ha!


We meet with Tana, who is quite surprised to see us- either that, or she's making sure the giant eyeball she's seeing is a princess and not a regular giant eyeball.


Wards are exchanged, and we move on to plot development.


King Hayden is pleased to see Erika is alive, considering the twist he drops right here.


However, there's not simply bad news- Ephraim is still discovered to be alive, marching into the heart of Grado with his own small entourage of knights.


Overcome with relief and determination (or just more stubbornness), Erika wants to do the same thing to meet him.


Hayden disagrees. And I don't blame him, considering we have more squishy units than solid ones. :crossedarms:


Eirkia's stubbornness wins out, however. Or she just glared really hard at him.
He provides us a couple of trustworthy units, instead of any sort of military team (justified, considering all their resources are being spent repelling Grado).



And with that, we set off again, cutting through the remnants of Renais to forge into Grado!



Next time, we begin Chapter 2: Axes and Archers, where we meet the Great Garcia and Ross the Boss!