like a star, like a firefly

With the next Fire Emblem title just under two months away from release now and steadily getting drabs of information (not to mention E3 coming up in a fortnight), I've been poking at the previous games in the meantime -- specifically, Shadows of Valentia.

I'd just reached the very start of Act 3 when I'd last left off; I guess at the time I felt intimidated by the idea of juggling Alm's and Celica's parties while enemy reinforcements showed up on both sides. In practice, though, that hasn't been so bad, although the one ambush I've suffered so far got off to an extremely hairy start and would've messed me over if Luthier (whom I'd literally just recruited) and then Clive hadn't gotten lucky criticals when they did. Right now Alm's staring down Desaix, while Celica's just recruited Jesse and needs to decide between Deen and Sonya.

Speaking of Desaix... my first jab at him didn't go very well. I think I'm onto something good by giving Gray the Lightning Sword, but as fast and hard-hitting as he is, he's still a glass cannon compared to all those knights; he wound up dying on me because I left him out in the open while having him kill Desaix, and even using the Turnwheel didn't seem to change the RNG to let him dodge or anything. (Sort of reminds me of trying to select "resume game" after getting killed in the GBA games.)

Note to self: send Faye up to bait Desaix down instead, at the edge of his attack range this time, then pull her back on my next turn to stick Lukas where she was and bombard the bastard with Kliff and Luthier. Be more careful how I use Gray this time! Sending Clair up the western side to lure the archers and help Mathilda was a good idea, so let's do that again. Finally, pray that the Witch doesn't ruin anything for me.

If Desaix's giving me trouble, then God knows how I'm going to do against Grieth. I've heard Grieth is a nightmare.