ok
rant time
so I am playing Fire Emblem 6... and I'm on chapter 10B
and man, this chapter is just so good
ok let's look at it. First, the enemy variety is good and spread apart
it starts off relatively simple, letting you ease into the chapter
with an interesting plot premise
and a subplot of Miledy and Gale (sp) trying to find Guinvere
you've got lots of narrow and open paths alike to use as needed, and even a bit of terrain
there are split paths and enemies down each, with breakable walls letting you forge your own paths to places
there are shops if you need them
and plenty of villages
then the chapter gets progressively more interesting: you've got bandits popping up from the mountains, one of which is recruitable, and one of which is a sub-boss
you've also got a subplot with Ward, a minor character, where he's actually from here, and you can visit the village with him to get a Swordreaver instead of a door key
you also get special dialog with Ward's sister, Mary
furthermore, the village next to it has special dialog with the "guy's friend's sister" that Mary mentions to Elphin
(and the Elphin deal is why Roy and co are there to start with, so it kind of ties things together instead of just being a bunch of completely isolated events/subplots)
you can also get special dialog with Lot, presumably, though I don't have him out this battle
furthermore, you have another subplot with Gonzales. it's mentioned that stones were thrown at him and he's called a monster, but Lilina finds the good in him
this is a parallel to Sheeda and a dude from FE1 or FE3 I can't remember the name of
(with Sheeda/Lilina being the main romantic interest of Marth/Roy respectively, lining things up on that front)
and then, on the other side of the map, there's a village that explains what happened with Gonzales and why they treated him with contempt, thinking he was a bad bandit
they could have easily just left things as-is, but they used the villages to enhance the story instead
then things get even more complicated, with all these characters you know only by name so far--Klein gets orders from Arcardo that the Lycian army is working with bandits, the boss of this chapter is concerned about credit and HE'S the one ACTUALLY working with bandits... all in a scheme to get rid of the Lycian army, while General Cecilia (Roy's ally) is at odds with this darker side of Etruria
but they're human too so of course it's not like they're actually okay with fighting their sibling
and it really makes them feel all the more human
how they show, not through cheesy monologues or anything, but through simple dialog the struggles of soldiers
another conversation mentions how Klein isn't one to just use the Ilian mercenaries as disposable, and how Tate trusts him to not just do that
it speaks of Klein's character but also is an IMO realistic fear for mercenaries, that they're disposable, which they probably often are
then you also have not only the pegasus knights from Ilia, Klein and his archers, the normal enemies that were there, and the bandits, but cavaliers from the southwest charging in
so you're trying to balance your army and make sure you get to all the villages, while also recruiting all the units and doing everything else
while ideally minimizing potential NPC casualties, getting to the villages with the right characters, and not losing anyone
(because there's no casual mode)
it's just such a fantastic chapter
there's nothing like it in Fates or Awakening IIRC
not every chapter in FE6 is like this granted but it's still generally way more interesting than what we get now adays. and the thing is that back in the day I just took all this for granted, kinda
I didn't analyze it like I did now, it was just kind of like, man this is fun. now that it's gone though, I realize just how precious these small details were
and how they really added up
the only problem with this chapter that I see is one with the translation, which is that Etrurian enemies have the name "Bandit"
-----
so while I admittedly did praise this chapter a lot in Discord (where I cp'd the above from), it's not like it was legendary or perfect, no. But in terms of holding my interest, and keeping things active throughout, and giving me a lot to do... it totally succeeded. And compared to the level design and story execution lately, it was very enjoyable. So much so that while playing it I felt kind of compelled to talk about it, lol.
It's still FE6, I don't think I need to say anything about FE6's RNG... lol