Surprisingly, I wasn't a weeping mess with Ryoma's death (I was expecting that since I played Birthright first). Don't get me wrong, it was sad; I felt emotional inside, but I didn't have tears coming out of my eyes like I did with Elise and Xander's deaths in Birthright. I feel like I would've been crying if they extended the ending scene when Azura said, "Can I cry with you?" Perhaps hearing Azura cry would've made it more emotional for me; then again, I can understand why this scene didn't need to be extended.
If you suggest, "Well maybe it's because you knew about it in advance?", I'm one of those people who generally doesn't ind spoilers and ends up having the same emotional reactions regardless of whether or not I knew about it in advance. I knew Elise's death was coming, I saw a few pictures, and I still cried.
Going into Chapter 25, I grinded everyone until they were Level 15 and Corrin until he was Level 20. I thought to myself, "With my grinded-up Corrin, I'll take out Ryoma with only him by tanking with Dragonstone+ for several turns followed with a finishing Yato and it's all good." Boy was I wrong once I checked the damage Corrin would do and noticed how both were standing on healing tiles. Then I saw the Dragon Vein tile above. "Oh, I can just use someone with Locktouch to break through one of those upper doors and have someone use the tile so that Corrin can still do the job himself," I then thought. Few turns later, I was wrong again. Turns out to open one of those doors, you have to take out either Saizo or Kagero (I though beating them would only unlock the closest door to Ryoma while the other door could use Locktouch)."
After feeling bad for taking out Laslow and Peri in Birthright, I didn't want to take out Saizo or Kagero either, but with the circumstances, I had to. Since you only had to take out one to open the doors, I had to decide which one to take out. In the end, I chose Kagero. If Kaze died for not achieving an A-support with him after Chapter 15 in my Birthright play through, I would've killed Saizo in Conquest just to even things out, but since I did succeed with A-supporting Kaze in Birthright so that he didn't die, I had this idea of "I want the two brothers to be alive." I knew about Kagero's past with Saizo though, so of course, this decision still wasn't perfect. I still felt bad having to kill her.
I cleared the Dragon Vein tile and moved Corrin. When I saw Ryoma's critical and attack power boosted, I got even more nervous, so at that point, I ended up being a monster and used Xander to weaken Ryoma, then had Corrin finish him off just for the special dialogue.
After all that... man, I can now understand why many decided to go the "don't leave Corrin alone" route.
Cut into Chapter 26 - pretty duable overall. Had some tense moments, was a big challenge, but I made it in my first try. Looks like Iago is a confirmed cheater because he's a sorcerer that can use staves, and with a skill that gives him infinite usage of them, that just made things more annoying.
Trying to kill him was scary though. Those crit percents! I managed to set up an Attack Guard between myself and Leo to weaken him, then have Keaton finish him off.
I don't know which Iago demise was more satisfying though. In Birthright, Iago takes the whole "we were acting under Garon's orders" further by saying Garon manipulated his mind as an excuse. When Leo arrives, Leo finishes him off with his signature spell book. Here, Iago is finished with the generic "smash-in" effect from Leo.
Most emotional moment in the game so far if it wasn't Ryoma's death? IMO, Probably would have to be Sakura breaking down in tears watching Hans, Iago, and Garon kill innocent Hoshidan soldiers even though it was promised not to happen in the first place.
