Part 22: Double Entente

[@Zoran501]

My kingdom for a bronze dagger +3

[@udtimburrhog6254]

Then let bronze dagger +3 be your kingdom.

[@marinary1326]

Selena, sitting at the top of her throne of skulls: yep, time to retire, I'm done carrying you fools

[@Realsheepsoft]

I absolutely adore your videos. Not only are you an exceptional player but your narration is so good at explaining the minute details about your process, with enough personality and subtle injections of humor to make it more than just a simple play-by-play. I was saluting as you went over Selena's accomplishments, only to chuckle when you dropped the quip about her critting!

[@Scepti]

You can actually interact with the green Hoshidan royals! Well the princesses at least. Sakura and Hinoka's personal skills apply, even over the wall, if you're ever 2 points shy of surviving the Generals, swap to attack them from Sakura's side and you'll get 2 extra defense! Admittedly I've never seen this actually come up, but y'know, you can do it if you want

[@klodpraisor]

Ok, so that’s why the calc was goody in my conquest run, I was like “where does the extra 2 def coming from?????”

[@drew_gon1617]

1:14:35 “Selena that was your queue for a critical hit” -Odin 2023

[@maxechilsemptyspace7184]

Selena was a great soldier for the cause, and she has the pleasure of retiring before the really questionable moral battles ahead of us. I think she's one of the lucky ones. Gotta love sweet extended (read lifetime) maternity leave.

[@eaglelord145]

50:48 “We all die eventually!” “Well, how irksome…”

[@calregretsthis]

16:50 The fake Jagen supports the true Jagen in their last moment you love to see it

[@ZerosDaduchos]

Y’know considering everything Severa went through in Awakening’s bad future it’s kinda nice she gets to settle down and raise a kid after saving the day one last time. Severa had a hard life. She needs some time to rest.

[@cartooncritic7045]

I always knew that Selena was a good unit on paper but between my own playthrough of CQ Lunatic back in 2021 and this challenge run where Selena ended up with completely jacked stats I've now become more convinced than ever that Wyvern Selena is great. We stan a queen.

[@maagic2031]

Selena's stat spread is kinda ridiculous. The mercenary line is just kinda bad at complimenting it.

[@urbanbetrayal5129]

Playing the game takes me so long now, I’m always trying to think about weapon and exp optimization like you even tho I only use a few units. Lol

[@Zoran501]

sorry for poisoning your brain

[@sohn7767]

Another victim

[@thekiss2083]

I appreciate the summary of Selena's career accomplishments. This is a hefty series and I'd forgotten some of the fine points!

[@toriku_]

Selena's last act was saving the entire Hoshidan royal family, if word of that got to Garon, she would be executed for treason on the spot

[@KevoCubbies3747]

With how jacked her stats were, you think they would be able to stop her?

[@maagic2031]

i love this playthrough because it is the only one that will seriously debate the merits of like half a support point vs a chance to get 300g. Truly the most important decisions to be had in the notoriously difficult Fire Emblem Conquest.

[@brunaolinto560]

Yay, I was right about Charlotte promoting and Silas/Camilla getting deployed! I love that

[@solalala8602]

i literally watch each of these videos 8 or more times each time they are so good

[@eyegnats]

Once when it’s posted at night once with my morning coffee and once when I happen to be playing a map there’s a video of and I want to reference the Mad Strats…

[@dispentryporter8621]

I think I might've gotten addicted to this series, it feels like I've been going through withdrawal these past two months since this was uploaded

[@TheLonelyNihilego]

Same

[@Khan__98-l4d]

That was the most blessed Selena I have ever seen. She will be missed

[@platzohar]

congratulations to selena for being formally excused from the rest of the war

[@SvanEsch123]

I’m really happy I got to hear my girl Charlotte’s hilarious quotes once again. Selena’s send-off was amazing, she lived for the cause truly. Hope the other units get the same farewell.

[@matthewthelastnohrian6621]

“Hero is a bad fit for Charlotte” *thinks back to the relay play through* :/

[@Zoran501]

did I stutter

[@thomasnguyen4427]

Oh I thought I was having deja vu, then I remembered the previous iteration that Zoran played this chapter was the relay conquest, with Adventurer Nyx, Swordmaster Odin, and all the other whacky misadventures of that crew.

[@kuhmuh2357]

I really like the rewrite, it's really interesting reading through the story which I thought I'd never do again in a fates game. It is sad that it's bound by the events playing out in the game the way they do but I really feel like it's making the best out of the plot provided.

[@snowballglobe5176]

tfw zoran uploads when ur already watching zoran

[@spiritzion]

severa will never be forgotten. you did good kid

[@lonelycomet9814]

this is such perfect timing. i come home from a major surgery, wake up, and see that zoran has posted. a great video to watch on repeat while i get my brain and body back up and working!!

[@Rainshadowable]

My day gets better with every Zoran upload. Thank you!

[@mihaimercenarul7467]

Cringe

[@yppeled]

Selena, we'll always remember you as one of the best Wyvern Rider 😭😭💔💔

[@audreyii5087]

I'll always have a soft spot for this chapter for how completely the Sorceror and Hero reinforcements fucked me up my first try. Also ty for uploading this right as I started a slow shift at work, absolutely came in clutch. Selena has more than earned her maternity leave, I'll pour one out for her when I get home

[@ilavain]

I started rewatching your Golden Deer playthrough a couple days ago because I was craving more of your content. I'm so hyped for Engage and when I crave Fire Emblem I start craving Zoran playthroughs

[@duetopersonalreasonsaaaaaa]

Same, even when not in a Fire Emblem craze specifically I like to put on Zoran videos when I'm sewing

[@jeffreycollins237]

This playthrough has warmed my heart to Selena more than before. I will miss her providing contributions and love the tribute listing of her accomplishments. I hope we see more of this for others 1st Gen characters. I am sure you have this covered 😉

[@toniconge7003]

Thank you Selena for all your hard work! Unrelated I really like Zola's arc in birthright and think he shouldv'e been a unit that joined your army and if you got support with him and Corrin then he would properly learn his lesson and would get spared by Garon. I think that would be neat gameplay to support integration instead of Kaze noticing a crystal to save his life because he has an A support with Corrin.

[@aperson6505]

People say Birthright's story is better than Conquest's, and while that is functionally true - BR resembles a coherent narrative - it still pisses me off intensely. Things like Zola being unrecruitable (would be an interesting addition to the cast + extra source of Nohrian classes when only Corrin, Silas and Scarlet can do that from a gameplay) perspective) are particularly egregious.

[@NicholasM200]

Love to see units picking up those level 5 promoted skills, and excited to see the child builds that include them. Defender may not be very good compared to bigger increases in a single stat, but the dopamine from seeing all green stats is priceless; I hope we get to see it a fair bit. (Plus it is pretty nice for enemy phase juggernauts who use their stats over and over again.)

[@NicholasM200]

The title of this video is also the best one since "Dia de los Puertos"

[@DoneWN]

Zoran your videos have single handedly reignited the conversation about Fates with me and my friends. I feel like I improve every time I watch your vids. Amazing content.

[@asmontosborne3111]

Note to future self: if Zoran uploads on an exam day, exam goes superbly well. Oh and godspeed, Selena. It's absurd how strong Selena turns out with just an easily accessible reclass and no particularly strong combat skills - if this were any other FE game, she'd be top-tier. So... Ophelia and Soleil next?

[@addambarcelos]

Her story stops here, but her work won't be forgotten. Cheers to the red haired tsundere o/.

[@clairhibiki]

once again the mirth and excitement i have at the end of a video is dampened when i realise the timer has been reset before another zoran video comes out. truly exquisite content. with your teaser, it means either peg knight laslow or we're picking up soleil next, and i'm pumped for either or both

[@rexbot2749]

I was randomly recommended this video. Your narration is truly incredible, and surprisingly you have a lot of emotion in your gameplay. It's all calculated so that you can tell a great story. Joy, surprise, fear, sadness. Hearing you send of Selena made me feel like I lost an old friend (I remember liking her the most when I first beat conquest), and I haven't played conquest in 3 years (Might play it again based on this video). Props to you, and I look forward to watching the rest of your episodes. genuinely the best content I've seen in a while.

[@theleftfootedsultan]

Dodgetanking in Fates, everybody

[@Zoran501]

they said it couldn’t be done

[@sohn7767]

Only took the least dodgy natural dagger user

[@plainjanemugi]

Love this!! Thank you so much for these fun videos. Always interested to see how much of an idiot I am in these games compared to someone like you. Very cool stuff as always ❤💫

[@nathang9644]

I've always struggled with Soleil's paralouge, I'm excited to see what you've come up with!

[@failer940]

I was lowkey sad when you gave that little speech at the end of Selenas journey. I love you and your vids^^

[@vishuprathikanti9352]

I was curious to see what the rewrites could do to save the plot at the end of this chapter, and it turns out... not much. But I guess it's something?

[@cartooncritic7045]

The Anankos slime zombie shit really does just get in the way of everything, huh?

[@sohn7767]

“I’m the best”

[@alexpowell1184]

the analysis gives me joy. I’m excited to see what you do with the children

[@meko750]

Gotta say, didn’t think Selena would be our first retiree. Though she probably deserves it after how many times Zoran’s tried to kill her in the relay. 😛

[@RubyChiang]

Love how you announced Selena's retirement almost one whole hour into this video.

[@Zappy-McCraw]

Another stellar video, Zoran. I really do appreciate not just the detail you go into, but also the bits of personality you add in quips and such. Now that units are starting to retire, the overarching story formed by the challenge is really adding to the experience. Keep up the good work. I eagerly await your uploads, no matter the time it takes.

[@texkat25]

I was stuck on this chapter for a week, and of course, the day after I toughed it out you release this XD

[@kamijazz65]

With engage coming out soon ive been taking a break from fates and other fe's in general to have a fresher experience , but man do ur videos make me wana dive back in head 1st, thank you for another amazing video dude.

[@CharlieMahakian]

Love this series, I’m watching each new installment the day they come out!!

[@Camnose]

popping off for another zoran upload

[@justchica3243]

Ryoma: I won’t allow innocent civilians to starve Corrin: (says something really stupid) Ryoma: NEVERMIND YES I WILL

[@LassMineko]

I really enjoy your Fates videos (and this challenge in particular), always looking forward to them. Cheers!

[@poyopoyowanya]

I love your content Zoran happy new year and thank you for your hard work!! Your videos are informative, entertaining yet relaxing

[@dodge7246]

A regular day: =| A day in which Zoran posts a video: =)

[@ScubaLuigi]

man no one's uploading anything today, I'm bored Zoran: I gotchu bro

[@kuhmuh2357]

1:10:09 Those words gave me a heart attack

[@soul_survive]

babe wake up, new zoran upload

[@clairerogers9223]

These hit and crit rates are actively stressing me out.

[@ChaosRagnell]

If you ever got a 5% crit it would be funny, it's like when your pokémon does a critical hit to a shiny to "make you happy",but with your units instead

[@cesarmejia59]

Lástima, ya no va a haber más Selena. Al menos ayudó un montón.

[@rainingrotom]

legendary gameplay

[@christopherpho9424]

Amazing playthrough, excited to see how you tackle the Kitsune chapter without losing your sanity. Also, am I crazy? I remember the hero / sorcerer reinforcements sometimes spawned a paired up of each.

[@jamesthecringemaster439]

Selena is supposed to have a great work ethic, how could she retire first?! 😭

[@robinellermeier3795]

"He'll make use of his new +5 hit bonus in a couple chapters." Kitsune Lair is Chapter 19... looking forward to seeing what child we're recruiting next! My guess is Ophelia, since it's a safe bet Corrin is marrying her, and that needs to happen with enough time for Kana to be able to marry someone.

[@rattyxoxo7397]

Ophelia can’t be next because Odin doesn’t yet have Vantage and I don’t think Sorcerer Elise has levelled up enough to secure great magic inheritance, and the ending alludes to Soleil, however with two Paralogues before Ch19 I think Ophelia is a very strong guess for the second, though that means Soleil’s Paralogue will need to feed EXP to Odin, Elise, while also bringing Niles for capturing Zhara and probably Nyx to finish their support. speculation is part of the fun in this play through lmao

[@robinellermeier3795]

@@rattyxoxo7397 Ah true, forgot that you recruit Ophelia at the start of the chapter so you cant get skills last minute like you can with Percy. Another point in Soleil's favor is that if he wants to get started on Percy's marriage sooner rather than later, and Ophelia marriage is taken, he'll want to recruit another female child unit soon.

[@stellarispantheon1063]

So I’ve never kept track of how the passing recesses to children work, but I’m pretty sure Ophelia would pass down Dark Mage to Kana, right? If that’s the case, why would Corrin’s talent here be dark mage? I’m pretty sure Zoran chose DM specifically for his wife and daughter, and I don’t think characters can friendship seal into Corrin’s class via A support, so why choose dark mage if he’s gonna marry Ophelia?

[@robinellermeier3795]

@@stellarispantheon1063 I couldn't quite explain the details to you, but in certain situations passing on a class from one faction that the character already has will instead give them the Hoshidan counterpart. In this case Dark Mage Corrin is both the best choice for him personally, and also gives Ophelia and Kana Onmyoji. I know another case where this is useful is Jakob passing wyvern rider to Shigure, but again I could not tell you why exactly lol

[@stellarispantheon1063]

@@robinellermeier3795 Alrighty. That’s really strange, but I’ll believe ya lol. This game’s deep enough I could see that happening.

[@revtengu178]

man, even with the rewrite, this plot is just screaming please play the good route and make them friends

[@N_IRL]

1:05:29 is so sweet considering the context

[@siegfried7759]

Hyped!

[@shinchan3646]

Nice!

[@alexread6767]

41:49 Uh, why is the danger music playing? The Hero can't even counterattack...

[@alexread6767]

And just after that, Corrin attacks with a non-zero chance to die and DOESNT get the danger music

[@sohn7767]

I guess the music always plays when the hp is at below 25%. Corrin had exactly 25% hp

[@kaleina_mk]

i wonder, what would have happened if instead corrin decided to tell both the nohrian and hoshidan royals while they were all there at izumo about garon's true identity and what the throne can do to help i forgot if they ever mentioned that it had to be kept secret though

[@cartooncritic7045]

They try to justify this as being because the Nohrian siblings are too loyal to Garon to believe Corrin and also because if Corrin or Azura said anything about Valla they’d disappear. The former obviously has a bit more logic to it than the latter but this story sadly doesn’t explore either reason very deeply and that leads to a very frustrating central conflict.

[@Spwizzard]

Great episode, I've rewatched this whole series multiple times now. What's the reason you gave an extra level to Selena? She promoted at level 19, and ended at level 7. Isn't that 1 level over the requirement to reach 25 total levels?

[@Zoran501]

Attempting to secure more stat inheritance. (I wasn’t actually adjusting my strategy depending on whether Selena had already gotten the requisite stats or not.)

[@Spwizzard]

@@Zoran501 Cool, that makes sense. Thanks for the quick response!

[@TeaSunny]

Very glad to have that Steel Shuriken avoid drop, but a question I now have is IIRC you mentioned in a video of CQ24 the enemy doesn't attack if they have 10% or less listed hit and they get countered? The hit rates on Jakob went as low as 5%, so I didn't think he'd even be targeted in the first place. Is there another AI quirk that changes this behavior further, here?

[@Zoran501]

On further inspection I think the threshold is actually based on the expected damage as displayed, i.e., damage times displayed hit rate

[@TeaSunny]

@@Zoran501 Went back t'the vid in question and calculated, assuming they round (5 damage on a 13% hit being .65, while 5 on 8% is .4) that would check out! Thanks for the clarification!

[@kellamyoshikage286]

1:10:05 One of these times you need to include a run that fails right as you say this, before cutting and switching to another run that reached that same point and passed. Imagine being a soldier for this Corrin. He tells you to equip weak weapons when you could get the kill otherwise, berates you if you get a crit, and doesn't bother healing you if you won't see combat again even if you're seriously wounded. At least the benefits are pretty great.

[@mr.krustykrust]

I’m confused as to why those sorcerers were attacking Jakob on turn 2 enemy phase. In your Mozu vs Chapter 24 video, you mentioned how you had to use the steel bow or else the enemy kinshi knights wouldn’t attack Mozu as their hit rate would be below 10%, and it must be higher for the enemies to target her. But here Jakob was being attacked by mages with 7% and 5% listed hit.

[@TheLonelyNihilego]

I’m wondering this as well

[@sohn7767]

Damage matters. AI looks at the average damage i.e. damage * hit. As you know, having either 0 hit or 0 damage will put the final value to 0, which is the benchmark to get ignored. I assume the AI only sees the average damage up to one decimal place. So in the case of mozu, 1 damage times 9 percent will equal 0.09, which will be treated as 0 by the AI. Then again AI works on a point system, so sometimes the lines drawn may not cover 100% of the cases

[@Zoran501]

Apparently it rounds to the nearest integer, actually

[@SirStrikeFreedom]

Will you be playing Revelation or the fixed Revelation mod after all this? Seriously wish to see how you tackle that

[@7hammerkirby]

The rewrite this chapter kind of made me sad. There had to be a better way of handling this one, it just feels like something interesting almost happened and then Corrin decided to be Corrin again and it all fell apart. An idea I had while thinking about this was that maybe Takumi could sabotage this somehow. Instead of Corrin looking at the truce that just happened and thinking "Oh wait, I need to undo all of this and ensure thousands of deaths in this conflict to maybe help Garon", Takumi could jump in with a fictional claim that he overheard the Norhians conspiring to make a fake truce, causing Ryoma to pull back out. This way, instead of the plot being moved forward by Corrin's bumbling, awkward, save-the-goop-man-with-the-magic-chair agenda, the plot moves forward via a profound act of betrayal and malice from Takumi, who could use the extra development and screentime considering he basically ends up being the main villain of the story at the end. But who knows, maybe the limitations of the engine make this unfeasable. Maybe this plot really is unsalvageable unless new modding tools show up. Anyway, rant aside. I absolutely love this series! If I weren't already knee-deep in Engage Maddening I'd be tempted to pick up Conquest again myself.

[@gabrielclamens3151]

Poor Zola, that guy can't catch a break in any of the route, he wasn't even that bad compare to the other bad guys ! Truly a shame that Fates story is something hm ? Also, why benching Selena now ? And wyvern Silas ? Is everyone going through the class x) ?

[@iiyouth24]

so how is it that you know how to divide support between units? like do you map out every chapter in advance to make sure you can reach all your goals in time? also are there chapters where you want to use a certain character but can’t because you’ll miss the opportunity to achieve support or levels with another?

[@Zoran501]

yes and yes

[@GaretStrife]

I always love how these kinds of restricted runs come together, and watching how you do things here, and having the technical stuff that goes on behind the scenes explained so clearly, is really awesome. Kudos on a great series! I've done a Captured-only run of Conquest Lunatic in the past, and it really tested my thought process and forced me to play in new ways. It created arguably my most enjoyable ever run. And the only DLC I cut myself off from was experience and gold. Comparing this to my own run got me thinking because I didn't see you mention it much in your other videos. But if you had this challenge to do again, how would you use the DLC classes? Who would use them? Example. I've run Odin through Grandmaster before with great results, and having Xander as a Lodestar was great for preserving my Speedwings. Just curious.

[@nozoomie]

hi, i love all of your fates content and love how well you explain everything, and its gotten me to try and finish my own lunatic cq run and trying some mods out as well. i was wondering how you got moonlings camilla redesign to be hd, as when ive tried camillas sprite is all grainy and not. hd.

[@Zoran501]

The HD version of Moonling's redesign was something I made myself and do not have permission to distribute, unfortunately.

[@AstraProc]

Do you write down the class paths you take characters down? I feel like the precise heart,friendship and master sealing at certain levels can get pretty complex and it would be interesting to see.

[@stellarispantheon1063]

Legit curious, how many hours would you say you’ve put into this game? I’m at 1,300, but half are from mucking about with mods. I’d be willing to bet you’ve put in more.

[@Zoran501]

far too many

[@N_IRL]

Wow, that's a lot! I'm at 965 without mods. I'm trying to get every single support conversation in the game, including all the parent/child and sibling ones, so that's where a lot of mine are from. I haven't even beaten Conquest Lunatic on Classical mode yet lmao

[@konstantinos-iliasstrempas4594]

i would love to see fates remastered for the switch

[@sohn7767]

Engage coming out soon!

[@konstantinos-iliasstrempas4594]

@@sohn7767 i know and im exited for it but im just curious becauseu i didn't play fates and i thought it might be profitable for nitendo to do it

[@ginger_kirk]

Hey Zoran- love the series! Just have questions on the Silas/Camilla and Mozu/Keaton pairing choice. Not sure if you covered this elsewhere, but is this a personal preference or an extra optimization for this playthrough? All our other first gen pairings are the same for my normal playthroughs, so really curious here. Inheritance-wise the growths are comparable between Sophie and Velouria regardless of these two mothers and the stat mods are fairly negligible too. Availability-wise Mozu and Silas have a one or two map lead on Camilla/Silas depending on how you play it (assuming no MyCastle support grind) but that probably isn't significant. One thing I do differently for sure, is go the Maid route with Camilla (definitely not optimal) so I do prefer Keaton so I can get Sol on her because the Friendship slot is taken by Elise. Are these Sophie/Velouria mother choices more for the First Gen or the Second Gen to benefit? -I feel with Sophie that if I wanted Wyvern on her, you are able to marry Percy or Siegbert because of class rules, however I know she doesn't make use of the Villager line very well. -Velouria for me I like to gift to Shigure in order to be a super flying Rally bot (Str/Speed/Def/Res/(flex)), however Sky Knight isn't exactly the best line for her and probably won't be used (Darting Blow maybe?). -Wyvern Silas is interesting but I know Vow of Friendship eventually runs its course and he might not make it to Trample on most playthroughs. Archer-line Silas on the other hand can snowball Vow of Friendship, Elbow Room, and Quick Draw for super player phase stuff early and eventually get Lances back with Kinshi. -Cav line Camilla seems to be decent but outside of Elbow Room and maybe Defender not sure what she wants here. Keaton is forever a backpack for me so his wife doesn't really matter imo.

[@Zoran501]

I think the opposite pairings are a perfectly valid choice. What I like about Silas x Camilla is that Camilla gets an extra damage-boosting skill in Elbow Room, if she wants (and even Defender), and Camilla has a lot of synergy with Silas no matter what he's doing, whether he's a cavalier or a bow knight or a ninja.

[@vaalhazak4196]

You’re pretty good at this game, you know that?

[@yes1667]

Out of all monsters you chose to be Vaal Hazak

[@Noahs_Chair]

I know this video is a Month old. But It's that a custom Selena texture? I have never seen It before and I can't find It anywhere.

[@YahicoX]

Hello