Mark Plays Radiant Dawn

[mark_asphodel]

I've only owned this game since April of last year, after all.

Prologue-Chapter Two, First Impressions

1) Balanced early-game team.  Let's see... one swordkid, one axe dude who can actually hit stuff, one archer, one magic user, and I get a staffchick on the second full chapter?  Nice.  And then this dude with the daggers who is pretty obviously the crutch character shows up.  Am I supposed to use Sothe in combat or not?

2) Characterization.  Oopsie, I accidentally skipped half the dialogue.  Whups.  Still, everyone seems likable enough except Sothe, who already is rubbing me the wrong way.

ETA: But Sothe thus far does not in any way compare with the irritating sack of annoyance that is Boyd.

3) Are those lover bonus or sibling bonuses that Micaiah and Sothe have going?  Both?  Oh, OK.  Thanks, Fire Emblem.

4) Jarod is weirdly hot for an asshat who murders civilians.  -_-

5) End of Chapter Two-- well, Micaiah went to jail even quicker than Leaf did.  Having recently done Chapter Three of FE5, I admit to being just a hair annoyed by "Staffchick Hostage Situation LOLOLOL now the Lord goes to jail!"  Just a hair.

6) Wait, I get Ilyana next chapter.  Can I stop playing now?

7) This voice acting blows.  Especially Micaiah's voice.

Comments

[writerawakened]

IMO, CHUCK NOLAN more than makes up for the mediocrity of the DB--"DB", in this case, being a fitting descriptor for Sothe.

Yeah, Sothe is a plot-important Jeigan (Jagen?) char who's locked in to a worse weapon type than everyone else. As far as I'm concerned, he can go DIAF.

(If you haven't been already, make sure to feed Eddy some XP. Worth it!)

[amielleon]

1) Starting at about chapter 5 (on hard; not sure about normal), Sothe can routinely hit enemies with bronze weapons without killing them.

Even if that weren't so, I'd say you can let him kill things routinely by the time it's chapter 6. You have a laguz and two more promoted units at the end of chapter 5.

3) They have an A support by default. They also have a "Bond," which is actually nonspecific. It's either 10 or 5 for both critical and dodge (that is, anti-critical) when directly adjacent. Generally speaking, with some exceptions, 10 is reserved for family.

Micaiah and Sothe have 10.

4) He has a buttbuddy too.

6) Try not to have her kill too many things. She's higher level than all of the baby Dawn Brigaders, and has the best availability in the game. (She hops over to the GMs after Part 1.)

7) Here's the Japanese. That said, I didn't think Micaiah was that tragically misvoiced.

[mark_asphodel]

Try not to have her kill too many things. She's higher level than all of the baby Dawn Brigaders, and has the best availability in the game. (She hops over to the GMs after Part 1.)

OK. I admit Ilyana's killing ability impressed me until I checked her stats again and realized she was Level 13, not Level 3.

[mark_asphodel]

Nolan's pretty cool. I've gotta like an axe dude who's not intended as a buffoon or a noble savage.

(If you haven't been already, make sure to feed Eddy some XP. Worth it!)

Eddy's doing good; he's got the Wind Edge now. Ammie tells me that Leo ain't so good.

[amielleon]

Nolan is an ex-merchant who got cheated by some friends and went to live on the streets like a bum, until Begnion got out of hand.

Nolan is awesome.

[queenlua]

I have very little to add, other than, ee omg you're playing this game finally I am so excite.

Also, the emulator I used to play this game was sort of wonky, and as a result, I missed all the cutscenes. Having listened to the awful voice acting later, I feel like I missed out on very little.

[swanchika]

"Having listened to the awful voice acting later, I feel like I missed out on very little."

Good, so the bad voice acting wasn't exclusive to the French version (Mist's voice was particularly horrible, since it was so obvious her actress was a 40-something woman trying to sound like a teenager... and, in one traumatic scene, a child).

"4) Jarod is weirdly hot for an asshat who murders civilians. -_-"

And then he's so much fun to kill :P

"6) Wait, I get Ilyana next chapter. Can I stop playing now?"

What do you mean ? You can't stop playing now ! You will also get Aran in the next chapter !

Also, are you playing Normal mode ?

[samuraiter]

I get Ilyana next chapter.

Aaand there go all of your provisions.

[quasiemblem]

Eddie & Leo were my top two units last time I played, if that tells you anything :P (They were a pain in a half to train, though; they never do very well for me in the beginning.)

You're kind of stuck with Sothe. He eats EXP but he still needs to be leveled up so, um, he's awkward.