Florete

Feels good after getting screwed over by the double special heroes.

Ironically, I think part of the issue with Skill/Dex as a stat is that its primary purpose - Hit rate - is too important. FE games up to Binding Blade can cause a lot of frustration with missing, either because of 1 RN or low hit rates in general. It's just not very fun to constantly feel like you're flipping a coin to hit the enemy, so hit rates went up, but largely in ways that didn't rely on the Skill stat, because relying on the stat would mean low Skill units would be forever screwed. As a result, though, having low Skill ended up meaning very little, especially with 2 RN granting invisible boosts. The Hit rate aspect of Skill/Dex should stay, but I think the stat just needs to be able to do a little more. An idea I've had in the past that I think still works is for it to somehow add extra damage to crits, since it already adds to crit chance and the classes that are characterized by high Skill are Swordmasters and such that like to fish for crits. I do agree with Eltosian's point that all stats don't necessarily need to be equal, though. Luck is fine where it is in most FE games, though (and this might be a new unpopular opinion?) I think Res is overlooked when talking about the worst stat and that it's actually weaker than Luck in most, if not all, FE games.

With Mozu, my favorite characters from each game all now have at least 1 version in FEH. Now my most-wanted character would probably be Volug, who legit may never get in unless he gets a lucky seasonal, but I can live with that.

Fucking finally Mozu.

Both games have at least a handful of units you have no strategic incentive to invest in. Non-royal laguz in particular, who are basically dead on arrival in PoR and viable but outclassed entirely by royals in RD (some are viable, anyway). I would also argue against PoR having a more competitive roster than RD. While most units in PoR are viable if you want them to be, value goes out the window for almost anyone who isn't on a mount. In RD, the variety of availability coupled with limiting factors such as ledges and stat caps mean units are more likely to be able to bring something of unique value over units who may otherwise be considered better. Well, for PoR hard mode, anyway. In Maniac a bunch of units just become completely unusable.

I didn't even know Shadow Dragon had supports. I forgot about New Mystery's supports, but wasn't paying enough attention when I played it to know how they worked anyway. Thanks for the correction, though.

Well, Radiant Dawn is my favorite game, so I guess I should say something. To start, though, I want to say thanks for not just dunking on RD like some people do. While I don't always feel the same way, your points are all fair and maturely expressed. That's refreshing to see these days. As you pointed out, they didn't really remove it so much as replaced it with BEXP, as well as guaranteeing at least 1 stat up every normal level. I personally really enjoy the way BEXP lets units reach their full potential pretty consistently. Conversation-wise, I agree PoR is better here. Everything else, though, I prefer in RD. The bigger bonuses (and rounding up) makes them feel impactful in a way they don't always in PoR. And while PoR building supports by number of maps is nice in the sense of letting conversations happen at the right times, it also means it's easy to miss some supports if two units miss out on one too many maps together. Titania has to be deployed on almost every map to reach A with Ike, for example. If you decide to leave her out for just a couple maps you miss that one entirely. For the record, PoR is the only FE game with a strictly chapter-based support system. RD's support mechanics are an improvement from the GBA era. There's not much to say here other than that RD has my favorite story in the series. Many of people's issues with it have never been issues to me. I think the Blood Pact is done well. I pretty much echo what Jotari said here. I will agree on one thing: the balance in RD feels pretty wacky at times. But I actually love it for this. Not just for being imbalanced, but because it harmonizes so well with the story. The Dawn Brigade is a ragtag group of rebels fighting an oppressive governing force, and the difficulty reflects that...until they get super strong allies (Tauroneo, Nailah, Black Knight) who rightfully make things much easier. I disagree on part 2 being a playable cutscene, there's some tough stuff there, and Haar isn't god yet, especially if you don't quick clear 2-E, which is probably the best defense map in the series. Part 3 has you taking control of an experienced group of mercenaries with a skilled tactician at their side, and the easier difficulty reflects that. The part 3 DB maps see that ragtag group of rebel fighters being forced to join the war in the middle of trying to rebuild their country, mostly without their previous powerful allies, and it feels as hard as it sounds. Lore-wise, Laguz pick their leaders based on who is the strongest, so it makes perfect sense that the laguz royals come and are super strong, but they are still held back by their lack of ranged combat, which ensures that they can't just go and solo everything without consequence. While there are definitely some annoying early game over conditions, I recall very few that are based on green unit deaths. The main complaint I see on this is Jill in 1-5, but multiple enemies are programmed not to attack her, so I feel like it's a case of people thinking she dies more often than she actually does. There's Fiona in 1-6, but I've never personally seen the enemies catch and kill her before she gets to where the player's team starts, and I don't see people mentioning this one often, either. Elincia in 3-10 is the only other one to my memory, and that one also seems pretty unlikely. I guess there's also Skrimir/Tibarn in a couple chapters but how the fuck are they dying. While I still enjoy playing it, RD hard mode is one of few things even I can't really find myself able to defend about it. Though from what I've seen and played of PoR maniac mode, it's arguably even worse, even if it doesn't have the same issues. The stat and reinforcement bloat is just ridiculous. I really disagree with this one. RD allowing experimentation is a major positive imo. RD having default skills on units be free until they're taken off keeps that aspect of unit identity alive, because it means certain units are the only ones who can do some specific skill combos. While RD's masteries being mostly glorified criticals does deserve some criticism, I vastly prefer it over most of PoR's masteries just feeling worthless. This isn't an advantage for either game imo. Biorythm sucks in both games. RD tries to play with it a bit more with the Heron's Bliss and Sorrow skills, but in practice those aren't very valuable. Everything you describe here is a positive to me. 🤷‍♀️ One thing you didn't note, though, is that units still have differences based on their caps and available weapons, which continues having impact all the way to the end. Like, Fiona has an absolutely terrible start, but if you put in the effort to train her she actually has some of the best Endgame potential because of all her unique attributes. For me, PoR is a game that hasn't aged as well as the games both before and after it. The game is a slog to replay because you can't turn off map animations, hard mode is too easy for me because mounted units are so strong, and the story, while good (and certainly better than any FE in the last 10 years), didn't hold up as well when I went through it again years after, feeling more to me like a setup for the sequel than its own properly satisfying story.

Most likely Mark is just a product of the time. The expected audience was boys and they had no idea the default name might have any significance 20 years later.

I doubt it will ever happen. Realistically, male versions of female characters aren't going to go over well. And I don't just mean they won't do well financially, I mean they actually could turn out to be a net negative. So they'd have to do that for less popular characters only, meaning demote/freebie slots. Female versions of male characters don't have the same issue (at least not to the same extent), but they still have to create a new design and can't rely much on the existing fanbase of the characters, which means they're basically creating brand new characters at this point. So they can't use the popular women at all, and they can't rely on the fans of the popular men. It's a huge risk without a significant potential payout. Watch it happen now that I've said all this.

Damn. I got close to 100% in Hyrule Warriors DE, but never quite finished the grind. Maybe I'll go back to it now that I'm thinking of it.

It's April 1st.

Oh boy, time for me to make another incorrect prediction! I think it won't be Fates, because there's a high likelihood of April's New Heroes banner being Fates. This is probably also too soon for another TH-focused seasonal. I don't really know what to predict other than that.

I think it will be female to start. I think the most likely candidates are Celica, Lyn, and Lucina. I suppose there's also the possibility of Tiki, though I'm not sure they'd throw in a DLC Emblem so soon. I really hope when Emblem Lyn comes they use the opportunity to finally bring the Mani Katti into FEH.

Everything is a cold take with you.

Here's a hot take: Peach was, is, and probably always will be more of a badass than Zelda.

I know this is super late at this point but whose bright idea was it to cast Yuri Lowenthal as both Marth and Merric (and Eliwood)? Also this trailer bugs me because the demote was shown 2nd instead of 3rd.

It seems it may no longer be unpopular to be okay with how Fates was sold in three parts. There's this current Reddit thread where someone goes on a rant against it and there's a lot of disagreement. The person was also being very dishonest and patronizing in general.

When Mozu.

I've always wished gifs just couldn't be used as profile pics. And, let's be honest: the one that prompted this topic is probably a bot.

Alear and a Scarlet/Violet Pokemon.

Happy they're continuing Legends. Just please let it cook this time. Arceus was a ton of fun but also had a ton of issues.

I only have Camilla, but I'd particularly like to get Sanaki and Alear...so of course those two are facing each other in the first round.

It's somewhat dependent on the game (no one cares for Awakening Lunatic+, for example), but the people who care about this kind of thing - unit viability, investment costs, etc. - are the fans who play these games multiple times over and probably end up desiring more of a challenge than normal mode. I rarely see discussions about normal mode if it's not clarified early, and if clarification is asked for, they usually say hard mode, at least from my own experience. It's a common sentiment that the hardest difficulty is where units are pushed to their limits, and so that's where their abilities matter the most. For this context specifically, there's enough BEXP in RD normal that I don't think most people care about it as a cost for units like Meg and Fiona. What matters is how well they use it and where it gets them. It's possible more recent games differ. I barely discussed Three Houses online at all, and when I was discussing Engage a lot of people hadn't yet gotten to Maddening (but also Engage discussion is scarce in general).

You don't need to explain, I agree it's an awful decision. I just think it's not bad enough that the whole mode should be disregarded.

General Don't make a brand new game. Continue to enhance what Ultimate already is. I know this might be a controversial take, but it's the only realistic way for us to keep the roster, and the general gameplay doesn't need much improvement, if any. Fix the damn online. Just all of it. Better alt costumes. There should be an effort to make at least one "unique" outfit for everyone (like the Odyssey Mario), but obviously characters without clear options can be skipped. Modes As long as the main mode isn't Smash Tour, we'll probably be good. The other games have all done well here (for their time, if nothing else). Newcomers 2B Dixie Kong Fucking any female (default) Fire Emblem character with a unique moveset. For fuck's sake, Sakurai (or whoever is responsible for these decisions). Even just make Corrin female-default if you won't add anyone else.