Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia Part 6: The End is the Beginning

In which I finish Act 1 and begin Act 2, and my earlier prediction looks to be accurate, surprisingly.

I pick up where I left off last time, in the Deliverance Hideout. There is further dungeon to explore, so I head that way. It turns out to be a Sacred Springs like I found in the other Mile Shrine dungeon. This one I use to bump Clair's attack by two and Kliff's defense by 1. I know pegasus riders don't get a lot of attack growth in most Fire Emblem games and I want Clair to be one of my main party members. I head back towards the entrance, fighting all the Terrors of the first part of the dungeon again as I try to remember how to get out (it's a bit of a maze and it has been a few weeks since I did the first part.) Fortunately, Python is there to see me off, which helps me realize when I've found the exit. And he joins us! Hurray! Now I have two archers. And archers are actually decent in this game so far, since they can counter attack adjacent enemies.

Next up, Zofia Castle and Desaix himself!

The Liberation of Zofia Castle:

We start with a scene of Desaix admiring the comfort of the Zofian throne, and wondering why he let Lima sit there for so long before taking it for himself. The results of his plot will leave him king of all of Zofia once Rigel conquers the entire continent.

Desaix's musings (it's always good when the villains monologue out loud, it fills me in on the plot. Or reminds me of it, at least) are interrupted by his soldiers bringing a captured Deliverance soldier, Fernand in. Fernand immediately cuts the soldier off, spitting on the name of the Deliverance and declaring he has severed himself from our wayward group. "I am no longer with those rebel scum." He then tells Desaix the reason he left; Clive has given command to Alm, Sir Mycen's grandson. Having said his peace, Fernand awaits execution.

But Desaix is puzzled at mention of Sir Mycen's grandson. "By Mycen had no... of Rudolf, how clever of you!" Do I know who Rudolf is?

Rather than killing Fernand, Desaix congratulates him on seeing reason, and promises to introduce him to a new master, more befitting Fernand's ideals, one "more to your liking." So We are going to have to fight Fernand. Probably. Well, at this point...

We get a cutscene of Fernand opening a large pair of doors into a well appointed room and being surprised to see a man in brown armor dancing with a woman with light blue hair.

Meanwhile, Alm and the Deliverance have arrived at Zofia. Alm gives a relatively good speech about fighting for their homeland from the usurpers and standing with him. Good job on your first try Alm.

I'm not entirely comfortable with Slayde's depiction.
I know Fire Emblem usually does a thing where you can tell
the bad guys from their faces, but it feels like they made him
evil fat here, and that doesn't sit comfortably.

Back inside, Desaix is with Berkut, a general of the Rigelian empire. Desaix offers Berkut a good view of what he assumes will be the final slaughter of the Deliverance, which Berkut is happy to see. Rinea, the woman Berkut was dancing with, is not a fan of such gruesome spectacle.

Berkut gives a bit of a speech about how the Deliverance is foolish, trying to change the "laws of nature." "You're either born a commoner or a noble, you can't change that."

Fernand greets this with a "Finally! Someone who agrees with me!" statement. Yeah, we'll be fighting Fernand then. Berkut plans to succeed Emperor Rudolf and rule the continent with Rinea as his empress. Ah, so that's who Rudolf is!

Cut to the battle. It's Desaix and Slayde with a relatively small number of soldiers. Six cavaliers, 3 archers and two soldiers in a tower, a single mage and some archers back by Desaix. Desaix tells Slayde to ride out with the cavalry and make short work of us. So they'll be aggressive? No. Slayde stays put and waits for me to approach. Bad move. I have Clair open a gate for us, sending Clive and Silque to that side while the rest of my troops head through the main open gate. Tobin and Python engage in an archer battle with the tower based archers while the rest of my army lures the cavaliers out one by one. Slayde recognizes Alm from the opening scene where he tried to kidnap Celica, and Alm takes him out easily (with a little fire magic assist from Kliff). When Slayde goes down Desaix flees, and it's simply a matter of mopping up the remaining enemies.

Berkut is not impressed with Desaix running away, but does not feel he has sufficient forces to take us on at present, so he and Fernand retreat to regroup with the main Rigelian force.

My people gather in the castle to celebrate. Oh, someone saw Slayde get away. Damn, I hoped Alm had killed him. One of my soldiers reports that Desaix has retreated to his fortress in the Northwest, on the far side of a forest. And he stole the royal sword to boot. Oh that fortress is probably where Mathilda is being held. Let's go! ...Not yet apparently. Alm is asking for advice from the others. Lukas says we could wait for the Rigelians to come to us and defend the castle, or we could take the fight to the Rigelian army. Oh right, there's still a large hostile army from the northern empire here. Alm wants to go out and retake all of Zofia.

Tobin is all for it, until Gray points out that this will lead to all out war with Rigel. They discuss the implications of that. Tobin is a little surprised. "You knew it would come to this all along, didn't you?" And Gray replies "I had a feeling." They also talk about how Alm is better than them? Of a different class. Oh I don't want this to go the "noble people are better than commoners, and Alm is secretly noble, that's why he's so good" route. I had a bit of that "royal blood is fantastic" stuff in Shadow Dragon with Marth, and it annoys me. Especially when the army has people like Python, Forsyth, Kliff, Tobin, Gray and Faye in it, pulling their weight as much or more than the rest. And Lukas who is very on the side of commoners are just as good as nobles. That's why Fernand left after all. I don't want Fernand to be like "Oh, Alm was a noble all along, that explains why he was able to kill me" sort of thing. Alm has been trained by one of the most celebrated Zofian heroes, Sir Mycen, all his life. Sir Mycen who rose from commoner to be appointed a knight and then a count by the king through his valor in battle, according to Fernand. That's where I hope this stays.

Moving on, I speak to some more random people in the castle. Several people talk about how Desaix killed all of king Lima's children and pinned it on Mycen in order to get Mycen out of the way, but there are rumors that one child still lives: Princess Anthiese. The princess had a half brother (what did I just say?) and they were close, but were both in the princess's villa when Desaix had it set on fire. Did one or both of them escape the blaze?

There is an old man in the throne room, who says he's served for decades in the palace, and knew Mycen well. And Mycen told him he had neither a wife nor a child. So who is Alm? We proceed to meet Mycen on the palace balcony.

I do like Mycen, I have to admit. He certainly has a grandfatherly feel.

Mycen and Alm talk a bit, with Alm apologizing for running off without saying good bye, and Mycen saying he's ok with it, and knew it was coming one day. Mycen then asks Alm if he is ready to face the consequences of the next step. Can he take the lives and hopes of the people who follow him into his own hands? Can Alm be prepared for the consequences if he fails? There will be many people who want to stop him if he proceeds. Alm says he will face these things head on. Then Alm gets dragged out onto the balcony to give a speech to his adoring fans. I mean, the people who fought for him to retake the castle.

Scene change to Rigel castle. Rudolf is unhappy with the Deliverance's success. His advisors point out that Desaix should have done better, and wonder what Berkut is doing letting things get out of hand.

I have full confidence that this man will be on our team.

In particular, Jedah, an obvious villain, says his mages would have done a far better job than the army, which causes the military advisor to stutter in outrage. Rudolf, you know Jedah has blue skin and black eyes, right? None of this sounds suspicious to you? Rudolf himself gives me the impression of a man who just wants conquest at any cost though, so I guess this is in line with that. Fire Emblem, especially earlier games, was not great at giving its villains much beyond cliche villainy to work with.

Act Two: Pilgrimage.

Act two begins with another animated cutscene. Alm and Rudolf are facing off on the ramparts of a castle in what seems to be a cold, snowy land. So probably Rigel. Celica is watching from the sidelines. Alm is all alone, the soldiers around are all Rigelian soldiers. He shouts that Rudolf took everything from him, his home, his friends, even Celica, and now Alm is here for revenge. Oh, Celica is apparently a phantasm, she's unseen and unheard by anyone else there even as she throws herself between Alm and Rudolf, trying to stop the fight. Is this a vision?

Alm has some good moves, but he's losing. Rudolf is too strong for him. As the scene ends, Rudolf glows pinkish-purple and moves to strike Alm down... and Celica wakes up. A nightmare.

And we're Celica now! Yay! We meet some new people, Boey and Mae, who we learn later are mages who help Celica. The church bells are ringing the news of king Lima's death. So are we back in time now? We also meet Genny, another of Celica's friends. Celica goes to speak to the priest, Nomah. She worries something ill has befallen the Earth Mother, Mila. There are no crops growing in Zofia, Terrors stalk the land, and Rigel has invaded Zofia for the first time since the Divine Accord was set up. Celica plans to travel to Mila's temple and try to find out what's wrong. Nomah explains that Rigel breaking the Divine Accord is what caused the Terrors to begin spawning. But the Terrors should be present on both sides of the Zofia/Rigel border, so what has driven the Rigelians to invade?

I thought I'd taken pictures of Mae, Boey and Genny as well, but they're not on my phone.
I'll try to get some for next time.

Mae, Boey and Genny join Celica, and we're off! Mae may be my new favorite. Boey says he'll go along, and be more useful than Mae, and Mae retorts "What can you do with your piddly little lightning magic? I have fire! Burny fire!" It's great. Genny seems more shy.

On to the world map again! Ah, we're on an island here. We will have to pass through the cemetery to the north which is inhabited by Terrors in order to get to the docks and head toward the mainland.

Next time, continuing the journey with Celica!