Monday, February 23, 2015

All Girl Challenge - Fire Emblem Sacred Stones



This is a challenge I made for Fire Emblem games. Since I love female characters more than male characters, why can't I have a play through where I can only use female characters? Thus, the All Girl Challenge was born.
Fire Emblem Sacred Stones, the 8th game in the series, and the 2nd one released outside Japan.

Fire Emblem The Sacred Stones

First of all, let's list the available characters who will be in this challenge.

  1. Eirika, princess of Renais
  2. Vanessa, pegasus knight from Freila
  3. Neimi, the childhood friend of Colm
  4. Lute, the prodigy
  5. Natasha, a cleric from Grado
  6. Tana, the princess of Freila
  7. Amelia, an orphan from Silva
  8. Tethys, a dancer
  9. Marisa, one of Gerik's mercenaries
  10. L'Arachel, princess of Rausten
  11. Myrrh, a manakete from Darkling Woods
  12. Syrene, commander of the pegasus knights of Freila
This challenge was done on the hardest difficulty.

I had some difficulties in the first few chapters, because using only 2 or 3 characters in a map and getting surrounded is not cool. This goes for the chapter where you recruit Artur and Lute. As the number of available troops increased, the maps became easier, maybe because of the troops getting more EXP than they normally would in a normal play through.

Notes:

If you're wondering which path I chose, of course it's Eirika's route. What is a challenge when the protagonist herself is not included?

Everybody is level 20 before job promotion.

Characters recruited in a very low level had a visit in Tower of Valni 1st floor once (twice for Amelia: 1 as recruit, one as knight).

Here is my team by the time I'm battling Formortiis:

First of all, here is Eirika, the protagonist. She's great for performing sallies, just be careful of enemies using high level magic.

For Vanessa, I chose Falcoknight over Wyvern Knight to give way for Tana to be the Wyvern Knight. I don't use Vanessa in previous play throughs, but I figured she's pretty decent. I had her hold the Fili Shield since Tana has more bulk than her.

Here is my first RNG disappointment. A sniper who cannot finish off enemies easily due to the lack of strength. I just chose sniper over ranger because I know sniper is better in stats. She holds Nidhogg (duh, only female bow user).

Lute is one of my best units. The only problem is her fairly low defense and skill, making it hard for her to perform sallies, and hit fast enemies with any tome other than Fire. She can't even survive one hit against bosses in the last few chapters. I chose Sage over Mage Knight since Sages deal more damage and have better stats. She wields Excalibur.

The main healer of the group, since I can't rely on her battling due to her low skill. She does help in battling the undead with her slayer skill. I had her hold Latona even though I never used that staff.

One of my favorites in every play through is Tana. I just chose Wyvern Knight so I can utilize the pierce skill, and I need more bulky units. Like in every play through, I let her wield the Vidofnir.

Her decent growth rate, and lots of levelling up made her invaluable. Her roles are physical tank and axe user (yes, she is the only one capable of using an axe). I chose General over Great Knight because General provides more bulk, and the Great Shield ability is good especially in sallies. I made her wield Garm.

 
Another disappointment to the RNG. All I can do is rely on her Silencer ability. Marisa supposedly is planned for Swordsmaster, but because of the need of Lockpick user rising, I had no choice. Even with her low strength, she still holds Audhulma.

The hardest unit to train, yet one of my best units. I used the Metis Tome on her since she will be having the most level ups after using the tome compared to other characters. I chose Valkyrie over Mage Knight since enemies in the last part of the game all have dark weapons, so light magic will take care of that. She wields the tome Ivaldi.

Supposedly, I'm not supposed to use her, but I figured that I need more units that can deal major damage to the final boss. With her low luck, she can be easily defeated, but I made her hold the Hoplon Guard, and she became a foomidable unit.

 
I don't know why I even bothered using her. Her stats are still inferior to Tana and Vanessa even after some level ups. The only reason I need her is for Tana to perform the Triangle Attack. Only Tana can lead the attack because of her being a Wyvern Knight.

He did nothing in the final chapter. The only reason he's here is because he's a required character. He did nothing in the final chapter anyway.

 
Unfortunately, I can't use her in the final chapter because of Ephraim being required.

Here is a scene of the final attack to Formortiis. Notice Vanessa and Syrene on the other sides, and Tana executing the attack. This results to triangle attack, but wait.

Tana performed the Triangle Attack, but also used pierce. Now that is something I don't see in every playthrough.