dragonlordsd

Thanks for this. While I'd like to assume this is intentional, the fact remains that this is NOT how the system works in Heroes, and the descriptions make no reference to preventing follow ups. Given that quick riposte is one of the last available skills, I think this actually may be developer oversight. I think the battle system is NOT capable of handling more than 3 "rounds" of combat at a time.

Agreed. Or at least, corporate executives assume most fire emblem fans are men, because most video game fans are men. I think that De Geso is right in that there is not a grand conspiracy or bias. Again, I'd like to point out that this is not an American game, this is a Japanese game. The social dialogues and issues we have currently are not necessarily reflected in their decisions. One of the major issues in today's society is the assumption that there is a conspiracy or hostility behind bad decisions, when there often is a very simple explanation. This does not make it a "good" decision objectively, just understand that they are not intentionally attacking you.

Ok, ok, let's all calm down a bit. Here's what I'll say: So far, I don't see any reason to not allow bisexual options, any more than genderlocked classes, as they just use exactly the same support writing, so there's basically no effort on the developers part. Similarly, skin tone is just a color, and literally can be changed in the shader without affecting anything else, so there's no issue there. THAT SAID, discussing this is completely pointless as this is a game made by Japanese people in Japan. Arguing about market size, influence, the number of LGBT people in America, and so on a is completely pointless. Heck, in a recent article with IGN, the game developers themselves said they don't know why the series is popular outside of Japan, and they don't care. Basically, there's not much point in getting angry or sidetracked here. Ultimately, who cares if you or the other person is right? It's not worth getting angry or offended over.

@Spectrum Really good point about the difference between Claude and the other two. In that light, I think it would have been a good idea for the writers to allow Dmitri to mirror Edelgard and go full villain. A slow breakdown of him going completely insane Luca Blight style would have made for a really interesting route.

Lol, yup. You never think it will be you... until the fire nation flame emperor attacks.

Please do not enact these feelings in real life. 😉

Hard mode limits them, but there are still ways around that. But yeah, that'll always be an issue. It's also extremely easy to farm stat boosters (literally. from the green house)

Based on the naming conventions the game has used, scottish/celtic/slavic seems to be the way to go for the Kingdom and the Alliance. For the empire, it's mainly germanic, and the church is greco-roman. I'd look up some of the lore around Dagda and the Tuatha de Danann, that seems to be the gist of it.

Well, a lot of it comes down to playstyle. I prefer to have at least 1-2 dedicated healers depending on how many units I'm fielding and how big the map is. I also prefer to run 1-2 dedicated nukes, so that's around 4 mages at max. I mean, you're not wrong. It's just that there's not much harm if you have the weapons lying around, and it gives you more options in general.

That was my point. From the system's perspective (ie, the underlying code), I don't know how it counts "rounds". But this is simple to test. Someone just needs to equip quick riposte on one of their units and let an enemy unit that can double them attack. If they go four rounds, then that would mean the system can calculate four rounds.

The official definition for quick riposte (according to the wiki) is: "If foe initiates combat while unit’s HP is ≥ 50%, unit makes guaranteed follow-up attack." So that shouldn't be how it works. That said, I remember the exact same thing occuring for me. I've got two theories: 1. There's some ability that we've overlooked that prevents followups while he's on his last lifebar. This would be similar to other demonic beast abilities that prevent critical hits or effective against damage. 2. The game's programming does not allow for four rounds of combat. The latter should be easy to disprove. Can someone test that?

Eh, it's really a trade off. Bolt Axe has 14 might. In terms of pure might, it will only be out damaged by Agnea's arrow, Ragnarok, and Hades Omega. Additionally, any spell that could realistically compete with it in damage is severely restricted in usage. Ragnarok has a maximum of six uses (depending on class) while the others only have 4. Four casts for a large level is not a good idea strategically. Bolt axe also has three range. While the other spells CAN have 3-4, it requires using Thrysus or Caduceus, and you only have one of each, so someone will be left out, unless you're only using two mages. Further, not everyone with good magic has access to good spells. For example, my Marianne has higher magic than Lysithea, at 41 to her 40. But her best spell is the fairly weak Fimbulventer. HOWEVER. Bolt axe has a weight of 15, heavier than any of those spells. Additionally, it costs resources to obtain and repair, and uses up durability. Further, it is still affected by terrain, unlike all other magic, and there are more forests in this game than any other game I can remember. All in all, it's not super clear cut. Some mages will NEVER require a magic weapon (Lysithea, Dorothea), whereas others will ALWAYS want a magic weapon (Edelgard, gotta get that 3 range!), Ingrid, Marianne. Others fall in the middle.

Yeah, I'll chalk that up to general difficulty lack. It's really a balance issue. Murdock, in Binding Blade, had 25 base defense on normal mode, plus throne bonus. The MAX strength for a hero is 25. This means that it is IMPOSSIBLE for a hero with a brave axe to do more damage to Murdock than a hero with Armads, even though the brave axe has 10 might to Armads' 18. Since the stat caps are much higher in this game, it's harder to balance the bosses to appropriately ceiling out, but even so, most enemies could use some extra stats. That said, what else do you use umbral steel for?

I literally just found out you can control characters in 3rd person, Valkyria chronicles style during battles. It’s really difficult, but way more immersive. Also, I’m sure someone mentioned this, but you can repair legendary weapons like normal weapons. Finally, Bolt Axe and Levin Sword have three range when you upgrade them. Totally missed this until someone posted it in the weapons thread.

I think it’s more of a practical issue than character dissonance.

They are superior to silver weapons, but not usually better than brave weapons. Relics have a couple of things. First, some are so much better than others that it’s difficult to actually compare them. Second, I imagine that they would be much more useful if enemies had higher stats overall. Brave weapons are most useful if the enemy has LESS defense than you have strength. This, unfortunately, is the case for most enemies. Relics are most useful if the enemy has MORE defense than you have strength.

True. I think there were larger problems with older games that more came to a head in those entries specifically (though in different ways) I think the awkwardness of some situations was more pronounced because the world building was so good.

I really appreciated this game’s writing improvements. All of the tropes that had dragged down awakening and fates were more or less dealt with. That said, the mechanical and technical challenges this game faced did create a lot of “awkward” moments. But I’m impressed enough with what is there to overlook what isn’t for the most part.

To be honest, as a straight guy who is not the best about theses kinds of things, I was still stunned at the m/m options. I ASSUMED Claude would be an option. After all, if Edelgard is an option it’s only fair. Or at least Dmitri or... something. I was also surprised that the supports are basically the exact same. I don’t... know if that’s a good or bad thing. But yeah, the options are so skewed it’s ridiculous.

When comparing divine weapons to brave weapons, there’s a bit of a range. For axes, Amyr and Freikugel have such high might, they can definitely be superior in most situations, depending on enemy defenses. Similarly, Lance of Ruin, Lance of Zoltan, Gradivus (extra range) Bows and swords on the other hand...

I was warned of this in advance, but for everyone else: You CAN spare enemy characters post timeskip, but only if you kill them with Byleth. You can leave, say, Claude alive, and he’ll help you out.

I haven’t messed around too much with forging, but I like the mechanic. i think one of my biggest balance criticisms of this game is that you get access to brave weapons way too early. I mostly use a combination of brave weapons + iron weapons, with any of the Zoltan weapons and divine weapons handed out to those who have too low strength to effectively use brave weapons. Apparently you can have the blacksmith repair divine weapons for umbrellas steel, have not confirmed this.

Blutgang is very good on mage dancers. I made my Marianne a dancer, and I was surprised to find it was a really good fit. While lysithea and Dorothea have access to higher damage spells, those who don’t but still have really good magic can really get a lot out of it.

Yeah, probably because of the split route. Black eagles is technically the longest, but Edie is the shortest. Too bad, but there it is.

Yup. I mean, technically, you could always do this (ie, in awakening, fates, etc.), but it is still possible in Three houses.