The Divine Inquisition



Hahnela: I welcome you, great Chosen One who is going to save the land of Valeria. In this section, my goal is to help you develop a better understanding of how your responses to the Goddesses' questions at the beginning of the game affect Denim's beginning status. It is commonly believed that Denim can have a better status if he answers the questions a certain way; however, this is not the case. Of course, that depends on what is meant by "better." You'll see what I mean later!

Anyway, let's get started with the actual analysis. I imagine that you understand that there are three questions that each of us goddesses asks Denim. In case you don't remember them, I'll give you a little reminder:

What is thy prayer?
What is thy offering?
What is thy vow?

Given that there are four goddesses asking three questions a piece, that means that there are a total of twelve questions that Denim has to answer. He has twelve possible responses, each of which he can only use once:

Reign PeaceGlory Honor LoveHatred
Victory Sacrifice Flourish Ideal HopeRevenge

Hahnela: Each response you choose will have consequences--certain statistics of Denim may increase while others decrease, or Denim's status may remain unchanged. The following tables will illustrate the effects of each response for each question.



Hahnela
ReignPray 00 00 00 00
Offer-1-1-1 +1+1+1+1-1
Vow0 00 00 00 0
PeacePray -1-1 -1+1 +1+1 +1-1
Offer000 00000
Vow+1 +1+1 +1-1 -1-1 -1
GloryPray 00 00 00 00
Offer+1+1+1 +1-1-1-1-1
Vow0 00 00 00 0
HonorPray -1-3 -3-1 +1+3 +3+1
Offer000 00000
Vow+1 -1-1 -1-1 +1+1 +1
LovePray 00 00 00 00
Offer-1+1+3 +3+1-1-3-3
Vow0 00 00 00 0
HatredPray +1-1 -3-3 -1+1 +3+3
Offer000 00000
Vow+3 +1-1 -3-3 -1+1 +3
VictoryPray 00 00 00 00
Offer-3-1+1 +3+3+1-1-3
Vow0 00 00 00 0
SacrificePray +1+1 -1-1 -1-1 +1+1
Offer000 00000
Vow+3 +3+1 -1-3 -3-1 +1
FlourishPray 00 00 00 00
Offer-1-1-1 +1+1+1+1-1
Vow0 00 00 00 0
IdealPray -1-1 -1+1 +1+1 +1-1
Offer000 00000
Vow+1 +1+1 +1-1 -1-1 -1
HopePray 00 00 00 00
Offer+1+1+1 +1-1-1-1-1
Vow0 00 00 00 0
RevengePray -1-3 -3-1 +1+3 +3+1
Offer000 00000
Vow+1 -1-1 -1-1 +1+1 +1




Zoshonell
ReignPray -1-3 -3-1 +1+3 +3+1
Offer000 00000
Vow+1 -1-3 -3-1 +1+3 +3
PeacePray 00 00 00 00
Offer-1+1+3 +3+1-1-3-3
Vow0 00 00 00 0
GloryPray +1-1 -1-1 -1+1 +1+1
Offer000 00000
Vow+3 +1-1 -3-3 -1+1 +3
HonorPray 00 00 00 00
Offer-1-1+1 +1+1+1-1-1
Vow0 00 00 00 0
LovePray -1-1 +1+1 +1+1 -1-1
Offer000 00000
Vow+1 +1+1 -1-1 -1-1 +1
HatredPray 00 00 00 00
Offer+1+1+1 -1-1-1-1+1
Vow0 00 00 00 0
VictoryPray -3-3 -1+1 +3+3 +1-1
Offer000 00000
Vow-1 -1-1 -1+1 +1+1 +1
SacrificePray 00 00 00 00
Offer+1+3+3 +1-1-3-3-1
Vow0 00 00 00 0
FlourishPray -1-3 -3-1 +1+3 +3+1
Offer000 00000
Vow+1 -1-3 -3-1 +1+3 +3
IdealPray 00 00 00 00
Offer-1+1+3 +3+1-1-3-3
Vow0 00 00 00 0
HopePray +1-1 -1-1 -1+1 +1+1
Offer000 00000
Vow+3 +1-1 -3-3 -1+1 +3
RevengePray 00 00 00 00
Offer-1-1+1 +1+1+1-1-1
Vow0 00 00 00 0




Bartha
ReignPray 00 00 00 00
Offer+1+1-1 -1-1-1+1+1
Vow0 00 00 00 0
PeacePray -3-1 +1+3 +3+1 -1-3
Offer000 00000
Vow-1 -1-1 +1+1 +1+1 -1
GloryPray 00 00 00 00
Offer+3+3+1 -1-3-3-1+1
Vow0 00 00 00 0
HonorPray -3-3 -1+1 +3+3 +1-1
Offer000 00000
Vow-1 -3-3 -1+1 +3+3 +1
LovePray 00 00 00 00
Offer+1+3+3 +1-1-3-3-1
Vow0 00 00 00 0
HatredPray -1-1 -1-1 +1+1 +1+1
Offer000 00000
Vow+1 -1-3 -3-1 +1+3 +3
VictoryPray 00 00 00 00
Offer-1+1+1 +1+1-1-1-1
Vow0 00 00 00 0
SacrificePray -1+1 +1+1 +1-1 -1-1
Offer000 00000
Vow+1 +1-1 -1-1 -1+1 +1
FlourishPray 00 00 00 00
Offer+1+1-1 -1-1-1+1+1
Vow0 00 00 00 0
IdealPray -3-1 +1+3 +3+1 -1-3
Offer000 00000
Vow-1 -1-1 +1+1 +1+1 -1
HopePray 00 00 00 00
Offer+3+3+1 -1-3-3-1+1
Vow0 00 00 00 0
RevengePray -3-3 -1+1 +3+3 +1-1
Offer000 00000
Vow-1 -3-3 -1+1 +3+3 +1




Gurza
ReignPray -1-1 -1+1 +1+1 +1-1
Offer000 00000
Vow-1 -3-3 -1+1 +3+3 +1
PeacePray 00 00 00 00
Offer+1+1+1 +1-1-1-1-1
Vow0 00 00 00 0
GloryPray +1+1 +1+1 -1-1 -1-1
Offer000 00000
Vow+1 -1-1 -1-1 +1+1 +1
HonorPray 00 00 00 00
Offer+1-1-1 -1-1+1+1+1
Vow0 00 00 00 0
LovePray -1+1 +3+3 +1-1 -3-3
Offer000 00000
Vow-1 -1+1 +1+1 +1-1 -1
HatredPray 00 00 00 00
Offer+3+1-1 -3-3-1+1+3
Vow0 00 00 00 0
VictoryPray -3-1 +1+3 +3+1 -1-3
Offer000 00000
Vow-3 -3-1 +1+3 +3+1 -1
SacrificePray 00 00 00 00
Offer+3+3+1 -1-3-3-1+1
Vow0 00 00 00 0
FlourishPray -1-1 -1+1 +1+1 +1-1
Offer000 00000
Vow-1 -3-3 -1+1 +3+3 +1
IdealPray 00 00 00 00
Offer+1+1+1 +1-1-1-1-1
Vow0 00 00 00 0
HopePray +1+1 +1+1 -1-1 -1-1
Offer000 00000
Vow+1 -1-1 -1-1 +1+1 +1
RevengePray 00 00 00 00
Offer+1-1-1 -1-1+1+1+1
Vow0 00 00 00 0





Chris: As you might notice, I grouped the information by response as opposed to what is done in the other guides that address this subject (grouping by statistic). The simple reason is this: Since you're called to choose an answer to the goddesses' questions, it makes more sense for you to be able to see the effect that each answer has on your status as a whole! By doing this, I managed to make a discovery:

Certain statistics are linked, namely
HP and INT
MP and MEN
STR and AGI
VIT and DEX

What this means is the following: For any given response to any of the goddesses' questions, an increase in one statistic will lead to a decrease of equal size in the statistic that is "linked" to it. For example, say that you choose to Pray "Honor" to Hahnela. As a result of this decision your HP will decrease by 1, but your INT will increase by one!

Chris: What does this imply? There IS no absolute best response to the goddesses' questions!! If you answer the questions so that your status is unchanged, you'll get the following Level 1 Status for Denim:

HP : 68
MP : 4
STR: 27
VIT: 25
INT: 26
MEN: 24
AGI: 20
DEX:26

If you add all of the numbers up, you will get 220--regardless of your responses to the goddesses' questions, this number will not change. You can choose your answers so that your AGI is 4 points higher than the default (20), but as a result your STR will be 4 points lower than the default (27). So it depends on how you want Denim's Level 1 Status to be distributed; personally, I would give Denim 4 more AGI points at the cost of 4 STR points, so he's nice and evenly balanced. Of course, this has no significant effect in the long run--after gaining 49 levels, you'll see that your status in the beginning is inconsequential.

A more lasting effect is the one that your answers have on the elements of Vice, Kachua, Lans Hamilton, Guildus, Mildain, and Warren. The game tracks "points" for these characters in five categories: Fire, Wind, Earth, Water, and Neutral (no element). For each of these characters, your responses to each of the questions gives them a point in one of the five categories--their element will be the one that has the most points at the end of the inquisition. In the event of a tie, the character's element will be chosen at random between the elements with the most points; if "Neutral" gets the most points, then the character's element will be chosen at random. With GameShark, this doesn't even matter because you can change their element if you don't like it!



Hahnela: In case it helps, we've created a model in Microsoft Excel that simulates the inquisiton from two perspectives: Denim's starting stats and the elements of his comrades. You may download the simulator here. If you do not have Excel, you can download the Element Effect Tables for Hahnela, Zoshonell, Bartha, and Gurza. These tables indicate the elemental points awarded to Denim's main comrades for each possible response to the goddesses' questions.

At any rate, I hope this was helpful to you. While this analysis shows that the long-term effects of your answers are subtle at best, it also lead to an interesting discovery about some of the "mechanics" of Tactics Ogre. Take that knowledge into the game, and have some fun with it!



Credits: The numbers in the tables, along with the default Level 1 Status, are courtesy of Henry Chan's Tactics Ogre FAQ, which you can find here.

Furthermore, information regarding the effects of your responses on the elements of your comrades came from www.fireemblem.net, translated by Kupocorey of the GameFAQs message board.

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