Omegaprism

As a patron and new fan of Kaga's post-IntSys Saga works, this pleases me greatly. I got kinda jealous of those of you who just plunged in, language barrier be damned, and now there is a very real chance that I will get to try it out too. Also, Pixelman, your sig quote about Gundam made me laugh out loud at work.

I really prefer having the original case, at least. A scratched up disc is unacceptable. Also, for older games, the more of their original packaging and manuals included the better. At the end of the day, though, as long as the disc is in good condition, everything else is just extra.

Anybody here play those old Dungeons and Dragons arcade beat'em'ups? Something something Mystara? They epitomized arcade brawlers in the 90s in all the right ways for me. If you haven't played them, they came out together as a double pack called Chronicles of Mystara on Steam, Xbox Live, and PSN. Pretty good value and a fair amount of replay value. However, I am here to actually talk about Vanillaware's spiritual sequel to those games, Dragon's Crown. Plagued by bad press because of its exaggerated art style (mainly the Sorceress, one of the playable characters, because she is packing a pair of zeppelins), I feel like more people were talking about the breasts debate than the rest of the game, which is a ton of fun. There are six playable characters to choose from, and they each have several skills to choose from and level up, making for a nice variety of different play styles. I'm a fan of Vanillaware's art style so I ignored the hoopla over it and dove right in, and while it has some other problems (there are only nine dungeons and the optional quests force you to revisit them several times, four-player co-op crowds the screen a bit), The core gameplay loop is compelling enough that I still play it today. While Muramasa for the Wii was my first experience with Vanillaware, Dragon's Crown was the experience that cemented them in my mind as a developer to watch for. I think this game deserves more love and less people arguing over whether the female character designs are problematic or consistent with the game's art style. Also, if anybody reading this thread also plays, I'd love to do some online co-op.

Hmmm... Maybe something like Haze (basic skill)/Mirage (big damage)/Dancing Lights (lower cooldown)?

I'm still salty that Astra, my favorite of the classic proc skills, is the most tepid of the bunch. I would really love it if, since changing existing skills is not allowed, they added a new proc that scaled off of speed. No fancy frills, just a speed analogue to the Glowing Ember, Chilling Wind, and Dragon Gaze lines. It would help make all those characters whose sole good stat is speed (such as poor Navarre, Lon'qu, and Rebecca) a little bit easier to build.

I'll go with a couple of deep cuts from my Dreamcast library: Plasma Sword and Psychic Force 2012. Both are sequels to super niche fighting games, and both are considered by many to be a step down from their predecessors. I, however, really liked the new characters and crazy art style that Psychic Force 2012 had, and liked the gameplay just fine. Plasma Sword is not a great game, but I really liked the universe it was building on, and I don't care what people say, the plasma combo system in the first Star Gladiator was slow and clunky, and the sequel tried a lot of new and interesting things, including one of the first (and best) instances of cinematic camera work when someone used a super, a universal counter system, and my favorite, the plasma field, which gave every character a unique power-up for a few seconds, like growing to giant size, infinite super bars, turning invisible, becoming super fast, shooting out tiny bouncing exploding clones of yourself, making your attacks unblockable, freezing time, etc. It was awesome! Sadly, the Star Gladiator series is another one of those orphaned capcom properties, so the chances of getting a sequel or seeing any of the weird-yet-awesome character designs in any of their newer games is all but nil. I fervently wish Capcom would just make a "Capcom vs itself," game just so Rival Schools and Star Gladiator could get some more exposure.

Has anyone got a B-skill recommendation for a Raven on a budget? For the moment I'm just looking to fill in empty skill slots that will enhance his ability to do his job without having to replace his entire kit. Since the blue gang is starting to take over like a new mob outfit in town, would lancebreaker be decent? If it matters he's +Spd/-HP.

Congratulations! Finally! Here's hoping he lives up to your expectations! There is no such thing as too much favoritism!

I'll toss out a recommendation for Deltre, who did TearRing Saga a while back. He's doing an LP of a translated Path of Radiance Maniac mode in a bit of a PMU style. He tends to try and go for maximum recruitment and secrets, etc. and his commentary is pretty down to earth. He also does voices for everybody in the cutscenes, which could be your cup of tea or drive you crazy.

I'll drink a 2-liter of coke and belch the star-spangled banner if they put Vegetto in too. Such a nice combination of Goku and Vegeta's designs. Honestly, I would play a DBZ game where all of the playable characters were fusions of other DBZ characters, just for the laughs. Let's go Tiencha and Chibulma!

My big hope is that they include some of the deep cuts from the movies, like Cooler, Bojack, Janenba, Super Android 13, that giant cyborg brain from the second movie (Can't remember its name), or even Slug. Most of those villains would add some interesting variety to a cast that in past games has been a super saiyan fest. I saw that Freeza has a transformation super into his gold form, so we'll probably see more from the new show (Beerus would be pretty sweet, at least).

Once upon a time, there was a mysterious man... or was it a woman? Well, anyway, once upon a time, there was a mysterious stranger who awoke on the side of a road on a sunny day to discover that they were surrounded by concerned faces. There was a handsome, square-jawed prince, the prince's plucky younger sister who was definitely NOT delicate, and their steadfast servant and bodyguard. The stranger must have been hit on the head or something, because they couldn't remember a thing other than their own name: Reflet! No, wait, I think it was Robin. Or was it Kamui? Corrin? Pat? Leigh? Ainsley? Yuri? Look, their name isn't important. What is important is that they were very strong, but kind of slow on the uptake. Or was it the other way around? They definitely were naturally talented at something, and they definitely had a weak point as well... You know, it's funny, every time I hear this story, it seems like these details are different... Ah! That's it! The barista at Tully's said the stranger was quite sturdy, but kind of unlucky, so let's go with that. Aaaaaanyway, one thing that is always the same is that our forgetful stranger was quite lovely, or handsome, or whatever, and that everyone that got to know them very quickly became infatuated with them on some level. Some say that when the handsome prince and the bubbly princess and their suspicious steward found him or her, it was love at first sight. Yes, even for the dubious knight. He was very devoted to his charges, however, and tried not to let the almost supernatural attractiveness of our mystery man or woman cloud his judgement. In fact, it seemed that everywhere they went, there were more and more people who flocked to the side of the stranger in spite of a strange preoccupation with books, mind exercises, and games. Why did our stranger have such a passion for these things, you ask? Well, this might not have been the first time they hit their head, or drank themselves into a stupor, or got themselves into a bit of memory trouble through other, more outlandish means, and maybe they had developed these desires as a kind of mental exercise or trigger to regain their memories. But we're getting sidetracked again. Back to how all the dudes wanted to bang them... or was it the ladies? You know what, it must have been both. That's what an eyegasm this stranger was. And to hear them speak was like sweet poetry for the soul. Whenever they told you something needed to be done, you wanted to do it more than anything in the world. It didn't matter how strange or complicated their plans were, because you knew that as long as you followed them, you would be victorious. And when they told you it was going to be alright, you were safe... Oh, don't mind me, I was just reminisc- err, trying to remember the next part of the story. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway, even though the country was led by nice, attractive young people, its neighbors held a grudge against it, because of some bad blood with the previous ruler, who was apparently a massive a-hole. It kinda makes you wonder how his kids turned out as nice as they did. First there was a fabulous dastard of a king who drove the nice prince and princess' big sister to suicide! Then there was the brutal-yet-honest conquerer who had a weird masculine charisma who treated everyone like they were on a football team and he was the quarterback that would take them to the superbowl, and then there was the evil death cult who the time travelers were trying to- Oh man! I completely forgot about the time traveling girl from the future! So yeah, at some point in the future an evil cult brought a giant demon-dragon-god-thing to life, and then people died and came back as zombies, and there was some assassination subplot where the handsome prince got stabbed in the night but somehow lived long enough to have a daughter and teach her how to fight, and honestly the timeline and sequence of events in this bad future is a confusing jumble, so I'm going to take the easy way out and skip to the part where the future-princess grew up and found a way to travel back in time that, against all odds, doesn't involve a phone booth or a Delorean (probably because they would be too small to fit everyone), and took all of her friends with her to change the past. And then it turns out that she was the amnesiac stranger's daughter! Or maybe their niece! Or Was the twist that the stranger was from the future too, and she was their future wife? I'm pretty sure they have a kid from the future that pops up, but then that child is supposed to be a nerd like them, not a bad-ass sword-wielding princess... Was it a boy? Wait, the first one from the future was definitely a girl, right? But then they called themselves Marth, and the original Marth was a hero-king, not a princess, soooo... ...You know what? This time travel storyline sounded really cool, but it probably should have been its own separate story, as like a sequel to this one, so the time traveling girl (or boy, I'm unsure of everything about it now) could have had more time in the spotlight, and she wouldn't have had to compete with the the hotter-than-the-sun stranger with no memories, who is the real star of this show. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway, so there was an evil dragon cult who summoned their god, and it looked like the time-traveling girl and her friends had basically done nothing to change the past other than make their parents (most of whom had not even married each other yet) uncomfortable, and even worse, it turns out that the mysterious stranger was the dragon-god-thing's avatar the whole time! What a twist! The leader of the cult, who looked nothing like him or her, was their father! And the reason they had amnesia in the first place was because the demon-dragon-god-thing did a terrible job of trying to possess them and flip the control switch in their brain! It definitely isn't a convenient excuse not to explain how or why they escaped from the cult, or why they were such a good person, when by all rights they would have been treated like evil cult royalty and raised on a steady diet of evil cult values. Our heroes killed a whole lot of zombies and cultists, and along the way found love, and in the end, the great evil was sealed into a thousand-year slumber by the handsome prince, who shared an awesome high-five with his best friend, or wife, or whatever, and it became somebody else's problem in another thousand years. Wait, that's not right, is it? I'm pretty sure the dragon was slain by the stranger, who selflessly sacrificed themselves for the sake of the future. Everyone who had joined their harem army was really sad about about losing them, each one thinking about their favorite part of the stranger's anatomy, which was obviously their butt. I don't know why this is even a debate. Then, quite unexpectedly, the stranger woke up on the side of the road again. It was the same road as before! And the attractive trio were there to greet them again! It was like the kind of shenanigans you would see in an episode of Doctor Who! There was one major difference this time, though: the brand on their hand that marked them as the demon-dragon-god-thing was gone. Perhaps things would be different this time around. Thus was the tale of, um, Aiden, the hero of time! (Technically Path of Radiance is my favorite, but it was covered pretty well at the beginning of this thread.)

Evidence indicates that the more games we have a My Unit in, the more important and central a character they have become. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this isn't even necessarily a bad thing. Before Fates I actually really wanted a lord for an avatar. The idea that we could have our own personal self-insert and they won't be the main character is honestly unrealistic, and it goes against developers' tried-and-true methods of involving the player in the game's story. The source of the problems with the Avatar in Fire Emblem thus far have stemmed from the fact that they are just naturally amazing at everything, their only flaw is that they are too awesome/kind/sexy/pure/heroic, and anything bad that happens as a result of their non-flaw gets dismissed by the rest of the cast, and in at least one extreme case gets a teeth-grindingly awful, "The reason this happened is the same reason that I love you so please don't change," line. There are several things I would love to see done with the avatar in future games, but number one with a bullet is this: Everybody knows IntSys is just going to make a default character and slap the avatar label on them. We have yet to be given any agency over how they sound, or what they do in any meaningful way. They are pretty fixed as characters. So treat them more like the other plot-important characters are treated. Here is a nice concise list of criteria to work with: -Not everyone has heard of the avatar -People who do know who they are think and even talk about things other than the avatar -The avatar is bad at something that would otherwise be pretty useful (what if their bane and boon affected their dialogue?) -There are named characters who dislike or hate the avatar and are something other than cartoonishly villainous -Said haters do not "come around" and convert to MU-ism. They remain at odds to the very end. -The avatar makes a mistake (it doesn't have to be a big one), and doesn't get a, "There, there, it's not your fault." -They have a personality trait other than, "Charismatic." I think that about covers it. Nobody is universally loved by everyone no matter what. Most of the time we have to earn the respect and admiration of others, and over the course of doing so we make mistakes, screw up other people's lives, make bad first impressions, and step on other people's toes. It is literally impossible to live your life without making mistakes. How we (and the characters we play as) deal with the consequences is the stuff that makes a story compelling. If you look at how the various lords are treated across FE as a series, that's generally how I want the avatar to be treated.

Well, since the Switch has come out, the price of the Wii U has plummeted. You could probably walk into a local game store and get one for really cheap now.

I propose one female lord whose only avatar-like quality is that you can customize her hairstyle and some accessories, but the majority of her design remains the same. Honestly, the thought alone of not having a boy lord with his boy-penis to make all the boys feel like they are represented (because girls don't play videogames, right? :^/ ) is probably enough to send most Japanese developers into conniptions, so other than that she could be the standard sword lord with a prf rapier and a sweet endgame prf dragonslayer weapon. If we were to get really nuts, though, I would also love a dark mage lord, or an axe lord, who has amazing growths, but bases that would make all the LTC-obsessed efficiency freaks ignore them at first. Basically make a trainee lord who specializes in the traditionally hard-hitting, inaccurate weapon types, who could promote into something like the revenant knights from Fates. They could go one of two directions with such a character. If it's a mage, magic is generally considered a scholarly pursuit, and coming from a position of lordly privilege would afford our more cerebral, sheltered lord the time and money to study how best to govern a kingdom with reason and logic. If it's an axe-lord, I really didn't think about the story justification, I just really want more variety in my protagonists, and a non-armored infantry axe lord would be something fun and different. Not to mention they both make fine foundations from which to promote to a flying lord who rides a dragon (horses are boooring). Third, I want a real shapeshifter lord. I want their power to be an actual relevant point to their story, and I want it to be good enough to be their main weapon type. *pointed look in the direction of Fates* Any of those possibilities would just make my day.

Go with Cybil. I haven't played the other TO games, but the alternative path is less interesting, I think.

This is a really minor quibble, but... isn't our boy Alphonse earth elemental? Air has a yellow icon, right? red=fire, blue=water, green=earth, yellow=air? There are some spells and equipment that benefit from elemental synergy, so I just wanted to be sure you knew sooner rather than later (also, if you decide to use any of the snapdragon scrolls you want to be sure of the element the unit you're plugging into the thing).

Eh, different strokes for different folks. I love the Japanese ghost story vibe they've got going. I too love this game, but had to take a break for a while (mainly that my wife does not approve of my playing it in front of my 2-year-old), but if you ever want to co-op or just be PSN palz let me know and I'll send a PM with my ID. I've gotten through the first two regions already, so I can help with the really harsh parts of those stages. Helping someone out would probably remind me why I have so much fun with Nioh, and motivate me to push forward. I can't disagree that it's on the long side, though. Yeesh. The recently-released DLC even added a super-hard mode for those die-hards who already beat the game twice!

I also vote for screenshots. That way I can still enjoy the update while I'm at work.

For years I have wished for a manakete lord, and when we finally get one, IntSys managed to ruin it. I could have forgiven more of Corrin's total lack of agency or character development if they had just let us be more like the manaketes in every. Single. Other. Iteration. But no! -No double attacks! -It's a melee attack that uses the dragon's body in the animation, but it works off of Magic for some reason! -You only get two kinds of stone: The rough equivalent to an iron weapon, and then a C-rank stone that is arguably even worse than the first one! -This unique, unseen-in-generations power that you have is TOTALLY IGNORED BY THE ENTIRE CAST, NAY, THE ENTIRE GAME WORLD ITSELF! I just want an awesome dragon lord, IS. Is that too much to ask?

Slag him all you want, but Luso is actually a pretty good addition to your army. He comes with built-in poach as long as he's in his squire class, and he gets the same growth bonuses and unique skillset that Ramza/Mercurio does. Is it all that original? No. Is it incredibly useful? Yes, and a sight moreso than the other crossover characters you're going to run into.

I just got a 0.1mb update downloaded. Perhaps Zephiel is almost upon us?

To be fair, OP, you started this thread by linking a list of "Top 10 worst fandoms." In any discussion of a list, comparisons are naturally going to be made, especially by those who disagree with said list's points.

Ditto.

Best: Path of Radiance - 3 Binding Blade - 2 Awakening - 1 Worst: Mystery of the Emblem - 3 New Mystery of the Emblem - 2 Birthright - 1