nordopolica

I'm running a "randomised" BL Hard play through right now. Basically just putting all the names and classes in a spreadsheet and scrambling it. My favourites so far have been Warrior Mercedes, who is an absolute beast for some reason; Sniper Sylvain is decent, though not entirely unconventional; and Paladin Marianne, who is... fine.

Ignatz and Marianne. Its not much but by God are they precious.

My issue is with this as well. Recruiting anyone who requires a Mag stat seems so much more difficult than ones who require Str, Spd or Cha since even shifting to a magic class doesn't boost you all that much. At level 20, the Byleths on both my playthroughs had Str that skewed toward 20 and Mag that skewed toward 10.

I like all the characters but my favourites have definitely been Dorothea (huge surprise considering I absolutely hated her pre-skip design before release), Catherine and Claude. NPC-wise, I love the Gatekeeper (of course), Judith, and Nader. The only characters I can think of that I'm not a huge fan of are Edelgard and Hubert, but it's not like I hate them. EDIT: How did I forget Ignatz!!??? Iggy is my sweet boy.

Hate those words but I ended up with Dorothea my first go. Was aiming toward Claude for most of it but realised I liked him as more of a friend for Byleth. Wasn't expecting much from Dorothea but turns out I'm a sucker for unambiguously outgoing and nice characters and her VA is great.

I have been avoiding spoilers like the plague and I also don't know what the hell is going on in this thread but I had to come see whether this was confirmed and am both pleased for the inclusion AND disappointed at the wlw choices! Rollercoaster of emotion.

I was like this early on, but I've come to see it as a weird outlier of a situation. I think it's less weird, particularly with regards to the time skip (and only in most cases), because you're the same age as (most of) your students, and it's not really a traditional high school - more like a military academy or vocational university (the vocation being murder). It would be like if you were dating that PhD student who taught your class in university, in my opinion. Add in the timeskip, and I think all (read: most) weirdness is pretty much eliminated. The younger-looking ones is still weird because you knew and taught them as kids, but the ones who are the same age as you, I don't see any issue. Way less weird than dating the people you were raised to see as your brothers and sisters. That being said, if Catherine is a bi option I am sticking to her.

I love all my children equally except Dorothea's hat.

The former.

For brevity's sake we'll say you can only poach 2-3 folks from each of the other houses. I'm going Golden Deer first so: From the Black Eagles I'd most likely take: Petra, Caspar & Ferdinand. From the Blue Lions: Dedue/Felix (depending on which of those is actually available, if either), and any two of the others. Don't really mind. And on subsequent playthroughs where I don't play GD I'd take: Raphael, Marianne, and maybe Ignatz/Leonie.

This is Scotphobic 😞 All seriousness, I'm pretty much guaranteed to go Golden Deer first time around, but Felix bein' so darn handsome and possibly un-scoutable is a huge bummer. Before seeing him, I was tossing up whether to do Blue Lions at all, but now I'm pretty sure I'm gonna do them on my second play. Additionally, if it turns out Catherine is somehow only recruitable (if at all) on a certain side, I'm doing that, hands down.

I would like the game to be good. ...Also, limited supports. Not too fussed about S supports but would rather they don't come back in favour of more varied paired endings.

Pretty sure that's Byleth's Prf weapon we've seen in the trailers and the boxart? If I'm remembering from the trailer correctly, that character is Byleth.

Way too early to know for sure; I need to know the base roster for each first, and get to know the three leads a bit more. At the moment I'm liking Claude and Edelgard's designs but I can't commit to anything yet.

My only worry at this point is my lack of faith in the writing quality all around. Story, characters, supports -- they're all up in the air. Kind of hoping Byleth is a silent protag at this point (not holding my breath of a defined (read:good) personality, them still being a self-insert and all) At the very least they've proven time and again that they can make a fun game so at this point I'm not too worried.

It looks like it might be their Prf weapon, this game's Yato or so on. It's featured in the trailers as well I believe?

There could be verses or sections for each main character? Or maybe the choice is all an illusion and Edelgard is the main character no matter what.

Yeah the vocal mixing in both versions sounds super weird? Like the vocals are too raw and just layered on top of the backing track without much tweaking or editing. Not fond of the really clunky lyrics of the first chorus and verse but the second chorus is pretty good and every time I listen to it, it grows on me. It's definitely more of a LiTAA than Heritors of Arcadia :/ but it's good nonetheless.

I'm leaving FE negativity in 2016. I'm ready to open my heart to Three Houses and ready myself for any disappointment that will inevitably send me crashing down like it did post-Fates. Also it looks dope. I'm loving the villageresque system and I can't wait to hear more about the story.

Ok, officially hyped for this game. I was always kidding myself with the "cautiously optimistic" schtick anyway. My only hope now is that the supports aren't super generic Radiant Dawn-style, or that conversations will exist in the first place, but gameplay-wise, with all the quality of life stuff, it seems like I'll finally be able to enjoy playing Gaiden.

I fear poor critical reception because of absent "modern FE" aspects, too. If this game lacks supports, I can't see people new to the series sticking by it like they do Awakening and Fates, nor do I think it will be so popular. I fear that Kimishima's IS is maybe a little more complacent with FE's position and will be taking risks like this, and the series will suffer in sales and reception as a result. But if they are taking risks, I at least am 100% supportive. Gaiden was always an experiment, and FE needs its hit of fresh air.

I just want Hector. Even if he were one-three stars, he is the only one I want. Alas, I keep getting Camillas, Barsts, Bartres and Cherches. I truly hope they do a event/focus/lower-ranked Hector at some point in the future. As soon as I get him, I will be content, but until then I will be forever locked in a cycle of frustration and dissatisfaction.

Not re-rolling to get Hector. Spending money on orbs and still not getting Hector. Not having Hector while every Arena team I go up against seems to have one.

The wording of the email received by a Redditor (which I assume is where you're getting your information, indirectly or directly) seems to indicate that the English version, too, will be releasing at 7am Japan time on 2/2/17. For reference, here. Since it'll be about 9am on the 2nd where I live, I'm guessing a simultaneous or very close to simultaneous release is imminent.

My updated ballot! Last vote's going to my boy Heck, because I accidentally voted for him twice once and started a voting pattern just to maintain my dignity. I know I should probably vote for some girls to bump up some varied, older characters in the ranks, but I figure that's probably a lost cause, so Lyn winning is basically the best I can hope for at this point.