Baron the Shining Blade

Since this is a more appropriate thread for it, I'm gonna throw my Metal Slug protags' moveset in here and give it a major touch-up while I'm at it. I'm a little rusty with Metal Slug, so I used the Metal Slug wiki to refresh my memory. Everything in this moveset comes from the first 6 games, as I only have the Metal Slug Anthology which contains those games.

It is a shame, but it's better than nothing. I kinda wish I had a reason to actually open my Fire Emblem series amiibo (even the Alm and Celica amiibo dungeons weren't enough incentive for me). But @Timlugia does make a good point. It's hard to strike a balance in function vs rarity. Between the amiibo functions in Codename S.T.E.A.M. and Fates, it's no wonder FE amiibo are so coveted. Fans of other series could even see it as unfair that the FE amiibo got such good functionality while others never got anything quite that good.

At this point I haven't any predictions. Anything can happen. So I'll list the two I want to see the most. 1) Lloyd Irving (Tales of Symphonia) -- Yes, I'm in the Lloyd boat. I want him as the 2nd Namco rep. One of, if not the, most well-known Tales characters. His dual sword moveset and artes are unique and would be easy to implement. He did have a mii costume in Smash 4, so there's always still a shred of hope. 2) Marco Rossi (Metal Slug) w/Tarma, Eri, and Fio as alts a la the DQ Hero -- SNK rep, Metal Slug was a popular run n' gun arcade series though dormant nowadays (never stopped Castlevania or Kid Icarus, now did it?). Moveset could revolve around utilizing the various weapon powerups (but with more variety than Samus'). Examples (Marco is used here since he is the default): Normal attacks could involve punches, kicks, bludgeoning w/ weapon, other weapons for a quick strike, and using the knife (or sometimes a fork like when he has the fat status) Down Special: Cycle Weapons -- Cycle through various weapons and use them with Neutral Special. Weapons include Pistol (functions like Falco's Blaster but faster), Heavy Machine Gun (default weapon; even faster than Fox's Blaster, but individual shots only deal 0.1-0.3% dmg to avoid being OP), and Shotgun (akin to Samus' custom Neutral Special 3, "Melee Charge Shot" from Smash 4 but w/o the charge and a bigger blast radius). HMG and Shotgun have limited ammo that replenishes over time akin to Robin's weapon durability (When Kirby copies Marco's ability, it functions like Robin's copy ability, in that [since HMG is the default weapon] Kirby loses the ability when he runs out of ammo). Side Special: Grenade - lobs a grenade like in Metal Slug. Explodes on contact. Move can be charged up (but not stored) to throw a more powerful Fire Bomb. Up Special: Prisoner Boost or Slug Flyer/UFO Lift -- Took a moment to think about it how Marco would recover, but I came up with 2½ ideas: A Prisoner of War boosts him up from below (akin to Mega Man) or a Slug Flyer/Mars People UFO lifts him up (akin to Duck Hunt or Snake). Final Smash: Slug Barrage -- Cinematic attack. Various Slug vehicles barrage the opponent with vulcan gunfire, then Marco comes in with a Gold Metal Slug tank and finishes them off with an Armor Piercer cannon shot. The animation of this last shot resembles the shot fired in the title sequence of the original Metal Slug game (but probably a bit quicker for pacing).

Received RD for Christmas the year it came out. How lucky I was in hindsight. When I was hunting down Melee to play on the Wii, it never occurred to me to try looking for PoR as well. Much too late to bother now. I've seen a few LP's, and that's good enough for me.

We forget that this here Forest has a music section? In any case, it's surprising what you can find when you look in the right places. I like a few of the tracks in this album: Fire Emblem Theme, Declaration of War (such a beautiful piano piece, actually made me tear up a little), Counterattack (very interesting take using that funky synthesizer), and Prayers of the People (has one of my favorite renditions of the FE theme, made better by being an ending theme). FUN FACT: Chosen People was one of Super Smash Bros. Brawl's "Lost Tracks". I actually know of another obscure FE album called "Toy Music 2: Fire Emblem" done by Akihabara Electric Circus (which I know is not on SF's Music page). I only remember one of the tracks being some, I dunno, beach/carribean-esque(?) version of the FE theme. Well...before the Summer Scramble version came along, anyway.

Well in all fairness, Xbox came out over a decade and a half ago, and 90's systems were considered retro or "old-fashioned" even a decade thence, in the 2000's. This coming from a 90's kid whose first Nintendo console was a Wii. ':) Let me tell you; Game Boy, MS-DOS, and Windows 3.1/95/98 were my childhood. Ohhhh so much. I still have a cooler chock full of Game Boy games (no idea if they still work though...). Meanwhile, DOS and early Windows are what defined PC gaming for me for a very long time. Wolfenstein 3D (yes, I played an M-rated game as a little kid...), 7UP Spot, Lemmings, and more on the DOS side; Microsoft Arcade Pack, ports of classic Sonic games, and a bunch of surprisingly fun edutainment titles (Jumpstart, Super Solvers, etc.) on the early Windows side. It was glorious. GLORIOUS, I tell you! Sound Blaster 16 is music to my ears. ^_^ What's more, in recent years, despite not previously being interested in emulators, I found myself using DOSBox to relive those glory days of DOS and Windows 3.1, whilst also successfully finding disc images of Windows 95 games from my youth (such as the Sonic ports, though not without some help. And I know, legal grey area and all that) and actually getting them to run natively on this modern Windows 10 system. It's pretty awesome. I'm always happy to go into detail or ask questions about using DOSBox for those who are curious or in need of help (not that I know how every single feature works, mind you).

Well yeah, of course. I know how business works. Bear in mind Conquest was given to me as a gift, so it's not like I spent money on it myself. If I were to get Birthright as a gift, I would still play it, but I don't care enough to spend money on it (or Revelation) myself. Besides, Three Houses is around the corner, and it looks promising. History repeats itself. ;) Also, addendum: I wanted to mention Kaze as another of my top units. He had a rough start, but after promoting to a master ninja he really got going, ending up as a fantastic debuffing res tank. Proc'd Lethality a few times too, plus that one Miraculous Save. He also made the perfect pair-up partner for Ike, each boosting the stats they lacked.

Took me long enough, huh? I initially skipped out on Fates after all the flak it got plus Shadows of Valentia was around the corner and looked much more promising. But I recently got Conquest as a Christmas gift from my sister, and I'd never turn down a new Fire Emblem game regardless of how bad it may be. I finally got around to playing it the last few weeks. The result...? I enjoyed it. The gameplay of Conquest is as good as I'd heard. Very engaging, well-balanced, and fairly difficult enemies and enemy placement. I'm pretty good at keeping my units alive, but this game really kept me on my toes, even on Normal Classic. I had to restart a couple of chapters, though it was mainly towards the beginning or middle of the battle (but Kaze did proc Miraculous Save for my Mozu once). I made good use of the rebalanced Pair-up mechanic once I understood the changes. I found Dual Guarding and stat boosts much more useful than Dual Strikes. Overall, this was a nice change of pace compared to what I'm used to. I also really enjoyed the My Castle feature. I honestly wish it had been in Awakening first. I know Fates' story is considered utter garbage, and though I can't vouch for the other two paths, Conquest's story did keep me engaged throughout. I did like the concept of undermining the true villain from the inside. Between this and Warriors, I got a pretty good impression of Xander. Or maybe I was just lucky... SPOILERS FOR ALL PATHS (I THINK), IF ANYBODY CARES As for what units I used, besides Corrin. It was an...uncertain start, but in the long run I used Felicia, Silas, Kaze, Selena, Elise, Mozu, Kana, Xander, Sophie, Camilla, Azura, and Shura (Izana was briefly used for Rally Luck and extra healing). I also used Ike, a near-maxed guest Dread Fighter Avatar named Claire, and an einherjar of Anna (only for the final two maps though). I'm not at all ashamed for using these guest units or fighting other My Castle teams to get guest units and skills, because to be honest it's practically warranted for Conquest. Even with Claire, I still had to play carefully and strategically. And I still almost lost her a few times. But she still came in handy, no doubt (especially with a Pebble, believe it or not). Quick thoughts on Conquest Corrin: I found him nowhere as jarring as other people do. As for how my unit turned out -- I picked +Str -Res, and I became quite the juggernaut. With an Inspiring Song buff and Swordfaire, I even one-rounded the final boss. 30x2, no joke. I surprised even myself. My top five non-guest, non-Avatar units are: Kana -- No surprise there, and you know how much I liked the child mechanic in Awakening. Inherited Swordfaire and Aptitude as well as a +3 forged Iron Sword did wonders for her. It is also so endearing how she calls you Papa. I still like Morgan a little more, but Kana is up there, higher than I honestly expected her to be. (On the topic of child units, I will agree that the Deeprealm was simply a throwaway to justify recycling Awakening's child mechanic, but I honestly didn't mind it too much). Mozu -- My spouse for this playthrough (It was between her and Felicia. Also, I very much prefer this "watered down" version of the Private Quarters; I don't like any of the characters enough to want to stroke their faces with my stylus or my finger). I didn't expect Merchant to be so good for her, but she really got going when I taught her Certain Blow and Quick Draw. Selena and Silas -- I know I'm cheating with this one. Either Selena has a good speed growth or mine was just speed-blessed. And as a Hero, no less. I paired her with Silas (currently the only other pairing I've done) and he made a pretty decent Great Knight. While paired with his spouse he had enough defense and speed to easily deal with the endgame Faceless. and Xander -- Again, no shame. His strength, defense, and 1-2 ranged Siegfried w/o drawbacks was incredibly helpful. He really helped carry the team. The soundtrack was good, though I'd still say Echoes has my favorite soundtrack. I must say, Lost in Thoughts All Alone might just be my favorite song in the series, if not all of gaming. Wonderful leitmotif too within tracks like End of All and Return to Elegance. Overall, Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest was a fun experience. Of the two, it was the path I wanted to try because 1) It mainly has the traditional classes and weapons, and 2) The idea of treading a dark path and rooting out the evil from the inside sounding much more interesting than just retreading a straightforward Awakening-style plot. And so...I can finally say I've played Fates. Even if it was only one path of the story. Probably won't bother with the others. Thanks for listening to me ramble. Here's my My Castle address (should I put it in my sig? Let me know): 16593-06984-78981-52169

Any other day I'd have thought this was an elaborate, if belated, April Fools' joke. But this is actually real. Oh gods... Well...I suppose this could be my birthday movie this year, if only because I like the Sonic franchise enough to give things like this a chance. It'll be an interesting ride, at least.

The more I thought about it, the more I started to think she simply said Aether something. *shrug* Oh well. Pay it no mind.

I commented on this in the main 4/4 Feh Channel thread, but it's already getting buried in all the buzz about the summoning change and will probably go unnoticed. At the end when Feh drifts off to sleep as per usual, she utters what sounds to me like "May 13th." It may have just been nothing but sleepy gibberish, but if she did in fact utter this date of May 13th, I have to wonder what this could mean. Could some FE-related event be occurring on that date? It's not the FE Expo, that's this month, right?

Let's take a break from this summoning change quarrel for a moment. ...Now is it just me, or did it sound like Feh said "May 13th..." when she drifted off to sleep at the end? If that is what she said, what FE-ralated thing could be happening on that date?

Themes used in this clever fashion are known as Leitmotifs. When used correctly, like you showed with Robin's theme "Id", they can greatly enhance the experience of the game (or movie; leitmotifs are prevalent in any media that involves music). Fire Emblem is known for it's use of leitmotifs, mainly starting with a simple theme and then having a battle theme being a faster, more intense version of that theme (variations like the Ablazed tracks in Awakening don't count. Those are an example of variable mix). "Id" makes enough sense. The Japanese version is simply "I".

Prior to Smash 4, I'd have went with FE13 Einherjar Roy, but then I saw his Smash 4 render, and loved it immediately (and I finally got his amiibo recently). His Ultimate render is nice and all, but why of him doing a side tilt? His render on the Everyone is Here! panorama is cooler imo. Back to his actual Smash render: I echo Etrurian Emperor's statement; it's endgame Roy, promoted and standing proud in the wake of Zephiel and Idunn's defeat. Btw I always found it interesting how he keeps his scabbard on the same hip as his dominant hand, rather uncommon for swordsmen. Though his GBA animation w/ the Binding Blade could suggest he is actually ambidextrous or close to it. Not bad for a 15-year-old boy.

Well well...the one time I want a rumor to be true, and it is! After 5 months, we were a bit overdue for a new regular Direct. To my knowledge, this is the first time a Fire Emblem game has been the main focus of a regular Direct. Aside from other potential FE announcements, the only other info I really want from this Direct is a release date for Daemon X Machina.