Maddening difficulty is truly maddening. Almost every stage required a retry (meaning not even ten time crystal uses was enough to keep everyone alive to the end of the stage and only a complete reset of the battle could salvage things). The Marth paralogue for some ungodly reason required five retries. I just could not handle the rush to the western side to stop the thieves followed by the fort on the eastern side full of mages and archers. I could use my time crystals to beat one or the other but not both. Eventually I won mostly by pure luck -- lots of critical hits solving my problems for me.
I came to an innovative solution on how to beat Chapter 25. Instead of fighting my way through the long and winding passageways while enemy reinforcements kept streaming in, I warped half my army on turn one directly into the room adjoining the enemy general's location. On turn two Hortensia, who cast the original warp, then rewarped herself and two more friends directly into the front line, and from there I quickly grabbed the treasure chests, defeated the entrappers, and launched my assault on the boss, all before any reinforcements had arrived. It was truly a thing of strategic beauty.
Humorously the last battle, Chapter 26, was one of the easiest in the game, I won on my first try and with few time crystal usages. So much for maddening difficulty, my strategy (designing my characters' classes, skill sets, and emblem ring pairings) and tactics (moving my units in the most efficient and safe manner possible) overcame the worst the game developers could throw at me.
However, it isn't over. Fire Emblem Engage now has a beyond maddening difficulty mode, 'Fell Xenologue,' where your levels and equipment are kept stable by the game and only your skills and bond levels carry over from all the development you put into them. In this mode the enemy gets insane advantages in numbers and abilities, fighting with cannons against my swords and bows. Until I crack this final nut I still haven't beaten the game in full, and the only way to do so is to continue developing my skills on my maddening save until I'm on par with the enemy. That means lots and lots of skirmishes. I should also defeat the tempest trials on maddening difficulty just to show that I can. There's still a lot of work to do.
I gave my pact ring to Lapis this time, the best girl in the story not named Alear, Framme or Veyle. It was her turn, and the ending reward artwork/skit for choosing her was indeed beautiful. As a backup unit, Lapis has a hard time getting enough kills to keep her level even with her compatriots, she was always lagging behind, but luckily in the Fell Xenologue everyone's levels are the same so Lapis' true value will shine more there.
After careful reconsideration, I made a new final assortment of who gets which emblem ring. My maddening cast is much weaker than the group I raised to max stats in hard mode, but they have a more polished and professional assortment of ring and skill combos. I'm prouder of them.
Diamant - Edelgard.
Alear - Camilla.
Goldmary - Marth.
Ivy - Leif.
Panette - Roy.
Jade - Hector.
Lapis - Ike.
Veyle - Celica.
Citrinne - Byleth.
Alcryst - Lyn.
Timerra - Sigurd.
Alfred - Eclair.
Celine - Chrom.
Chloe - Veronica.
Anna - Tiki.
Yunaka - Corrin.
Seadall - Lucina.
Framme - Soren.
Hortensia - Micaiah.
The synergy of personal skills and emblem skills shines best with this assortment. It was my second time through the game, but the emotional moment when Alear and Veyle die and then come back and save the day through clever tenacity still brought tears to my eyes. It's such a wonderful story on top of the amazing gameplay, with such wonderful people to know and love. I can't praise this game enough.
Meanwhile BanG Dream has announced a new anime season about a new girls band, MyGo, coming out this summer. After how good Morfonication was I'm looking forward to it. Also, Kanojo mo Kanojo's manga is planning to end in just four more chapters. I'm worried the author will abandon the polygamous harem at the very end and betray everything this series stood for, but I don't think that will happen. I can't believe such a massive betrayal could actually happen. But who knows, maybe Japanese censorship rules really will prevail and the author will have to go against his better judgment.
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