Ch20: Rising Darkness
Slightly less generic than usual but still eeeeeeeeeeh/10
The crests are to blame!
“gone, there were a lot of… developments.”
Andrei explains what happened with Bran
“fuck this game tho”
the classic [Cardinal Direction] Isles
“I know where Ray is.”
Brandine! REMEMBER THE PROLOGUE?
“But it sounds like they’ve had some trouble on the road, so they’re not in a position to continue marching here, to us. Looks like he’s come up with quite the force.”
“Let’s be on our way as soon as possible.”
cheer up, Red Lyn!!!
Ｉｔ ｉｓ ｗｈａｔ ｉｔ ｉｓ．
“That might have been true before, but he doesn’t seem the same way to me, not anymore.”
Everyone concludes that Ash has some sort of anguish
“like this, is there? Just when I thought we have time to rest ourselves.”
“I’ve never seen anything like this before. If the worst should happen, I could flee with Lord Rayden by air to Olva. … But what kind of person would I be then? A— Are those more enemies? No… those banners… Tiomare… and Olva too. I’d better report this.”
In her defense, who wouldn’t take the chance to flee with Lord Rayden?
Our dudes come in WAY DOWN in the bottom-right
Pegasus knight flying a huge distance over to Ray and Meredith (paladin) really accentuates how huge all the distances are.
“southeast. Tiomare, Olva, and some others from the looks of it.”
“forward until the enemy’s attention is diverted.”
OH HELL NO MY MAN IS STAYING RIGHT HERE THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
… by the evil forces of Shel!
How do you make a gigantic rout map with 50 enemies even blander? Make sure the player knows the enemies are just walking corpses stripped of any possible motive.
RIP Val’s red horse from the earlier versions. She’s just Eirika and doesn’t get any new weapons
(for comparison)
Just the Sage animation. Alicia can now use dark magic (this class used to be called Mage Lord but I guess it was changed back to Sage because Alicia isn’t really lordly?)
I still don’t get how the hell you guys manage to get the supply full
gaze upon yet another abomination of mankind
I wanted to see what her palette looked like because she’s already level 18 and I regret
I also wanted to see if she gets the crit bonus. No such luck
sorry not sorry i want crit bonus now (this also fixes Hawke’s terrible con)
(also guess who I forgot to deploy)
Lame! I was going to give Alicia a Nosferatu tome because that might actually be useful for a unit who can only wield D rank dark tomes right out of the gate, but I forgot about how dark starts at D so Flux is literally the only one she can use
Yes, that’s right. Fifty. Before re-inforcements. That wasn’t hyperbole earlier. At least Ray and co aren’t green
People with descriptions that are too long, ho!
I think we’ve already seen this but just in case
I was going to actually bring Emilia, but a unit who can use staffs and buff or duplicate a unit for a turn is too good to pass up.
I don’t have a lot to say and I want this to be over quickly, so…
It’s time for a MONTAGE!
#[ ♪ SURVIVOR - EYE OF THE TIGER ♪ ]
#[RECORD SCRATCH]
We’re never going to get anything higher than C, so let’s grab a free support!
“You’re Mother Alyssa, correct?”
A: “You know of me, do you?”
K: “Yes, of course. Our church matron has spoken of you and your idol before. You may not be as well known as others, but she always said it was important to be aware of the other faiths that exist in the lands. Yours is just as important than any.”
(That’s a very weird and long-winded way of saying ＢＵＲＮ ＴＨＥ ＷＩＴＣＨ)
A: “Well, aren’t you a nice one? What’s your name?”
K: “My name is Katarina, a servant of the Pure One.”
Normally, I’d consider “Pure One” an even more generic RPG divine entity than the Light that Protects us All from FE8, but because this is Requiem I bet the writer actually put some thought into it!
As opposed to the gameplay
A: “One of Gwen’s lot, hmm? But if that’s the case…”
K: “If you don’t mind, I’d like to learn about your faith. May I ask you about it?”
A: “Hm? … Alright. Go ahead.”
K: “Thank you. You founded a church all on your own, but your idol… This ‘Lady Luck’, I don’t quite understand.”
A: “Are you doubting my faith?”
K: “O— Of course not! I would never— I completely respect your faith.”
A: “Hahaha! Perhaps you are a little bit of fun, after all.”
K: “Wh— What?”
A: “Until next time!”
K: “I— I…”
(Alyssa is some kind of cheeky Anna/Tom Bombadil-esq character iirc)
Free support №2
Al: “Oh, Ash. This is a first. What is it?”
As: “This power. How did you come to master it so quickly?”
Al: “‘Master’? I like the sound of that, but I don’t think I’m quite there yet. I suppose I must be a natural.”
As: “You are more controlled with it than myself, despite having less experience. For example, you were able to warp an entire army of soldiers across a country.”
Al: “You can’t do that?”
As: “Not without severely crippling myself for a while.”
Al: “Is that so? Well, maybe I should be teaching you then.”
As: “Alicia.”
Al: “… Sorry.”
As: “Don’t be sorry; just listen to me. I’m starting to remember things now. When I first obtained this power, it started off similarly. I was confident in my abilities. But that soon changed. The voices came. Then the pain. But I still wanted to know more. It took a while, but it finally struck me that I had lost sight of the real world. I lied to you earlier. I was not always ‘gentle’. There’s more to this magic than simply warping about. But to see the effects of the other forms, I had to use it on things. I used it to controｌ, warp… even kill things. Nature, animals… even people. That’s the person you saw, when I came at Bran.”
Al: “Ash, that’s crazy… Are you being serious?”
As: “Very. You are the only one that I have ever told this to. I told myself that it was necessary, but in truth I was corrupted by knowledge. That’s what this magic will do to you, eventually. It obscures your senses and takes away your sense of self. Ha… It’s funny when I think about it. I spent years trying to step back from it all, but now, I understand that I can never truly go back. Now matter how much I resist, this is how things will be.”
Al: “W— Why are you telling me this?”
As: “Why do you think? You may be too enamoured to give up on using this power while you can, but even you can be wary of the high risk that it carries.”
Al: “I’ll… keep that in mind. But let me ask you something. Why do you care what happens to me?”
As: “Huh?”
Al: “You’re always telling me that this power is risky. At first I thought it was just because you wanted to keep it to yourself… But you’re trying to protect me, aren’t you?”
As: “So?”
Al: “Even when all is said and done, I’m your enemy, aren’t I?”
The classic problem with supports rears its head here: the player can potentially view this support as early as a few chapters after Val Mode and as late as the final chapter.
As: “I don’t consider you to be that anymore. … And even if we’re not friends, nobody deserves to go through all of that. What’s more, unlike me, maybe you might be able to overcome it all, being the better mage and all. … But if you aren’t and the darkness takes hold of you… Whoever or whatever is behind this dark magic will have you. We can’t afford to foolishly let ourselves fall to them.”
Al: “Ah, well… I’m touched.”
As: “Hm?”
Al: “See you around.”
As: “[close eyes] I can still stop you from falling down this hole, Alicia. Don’t end up like me.”
I’m done transcribing dialogue. If you want to actually read the supports, I suggest loading a 100% save file in the game and doing it yourself there: it means you get to experience some of Requiem’s writing without having to slog through the gameplay.
#[EYE OF THE TIGER CONTINUES]
(free support №3)
Meatshieldfest Destiny realized!
Meredith is like Kane but with good res
“… Yes, well, I might have claimed my country back officially, but that doesn’t mean I can afford to let my guard down, right?”
L: “… Right you are. … …”
V: “… … … I’m not very good at this, am I?”
L: “Lying, you mean? No, I’m afraid not. … If you don’t want to say anything more, though, then I’ll leave it at this.”
V: “No… I’ll tell you.”
L: “What is it?”
V: “I’m… trying to hold back my concern for Ash.”
Val talks about how she still feels like she’s losing Ash and she doesn’t think he’s going to stop with the darkness even though he told her he would
#BACK TO IMPORTANT THINGS
Cute!
Charismatic!
CHEMISTRY!
(Pb + Pb → more Pb, if you were wondering)
Dunno if being the [odd number] wheel to your kid (actually older) brother is gonna work, Andrei the Mandrei
(they talk about Bran a little)
You know what? We’ve got time to spare for a support orgy. I’ll let the greens take care of the stragglers
[ｆｌｅｓｈ ｎｏｉｓｅｓ]
Cute!
This cheeky lad wants in on the fun…
… but his brother refuses to let him get any action! That was the last enemy
Ray explains that Egardian soldiers ambushed him before this happened. Ash surmises Legato must have ordered it.
“I could become something much worse, I’m guessing.”
“to be more precise— under the employ of the Emperor. He made huge breakthroughs in our knowledge of magic throughout his life, but as he continued to try and better himself, he eventually went too far and drew the ire of the Emperor himself. … As a result, he was locked away in an underground prison.”
“used well by mages who have been cut off from the world.”
“then it must have been all that he could connect with. A mage with that much time could become powerful very easily.”
or he could spend all that time playing Requiem
“as much as we can about this magic. You also have her to thank for being able to see me again.”
“about this… ‘Shel’ person. I didn’t think he really existed.”
“were of the same mind. But at some point, he must have let the dark magic corrupt him into what he is now.”
Ash excuses himself because he’s feeling dark-magicky; Alicia and Rayden bond over talking about how they’re concerned about Ash. Now we’re off to Shel’s prison. Will it be in the darkest nightmare hour, when not moon nor sun has risen? STAY TUNED!
edit: Discourse cuts off half of the montage and only shows it as an image preview unless you click on it.
