Nanima

Just poking in for a bit, because of course I couldn't miss this fight! Still supremely busy, but I managed to squeeze out enough time for the most important clear of them all: @mampfoid @Landmaster @Zeo @mcsilas @daisy jane @Sasori @Robert of Normandy @kirauza343 @ruruo Takus versus Takus Music: 1. Flowing Waters (Fire Emblem Fates) 2. Battle with the twin demons Lechku and Nechku (Okami) - the last one seemed fitting and the mechanical sounds they make during the fight do sound a bit like a puppet being wound up... Anyway guys, this is the big fight. The one I never imagined I'd be able to do with just the Takus. And look how far they and me have come. This honestly didn't take me too long to figure out. Skadikumi was the big star here, with just how much firepower he now has. I am so proud of him. The others more than did their part as well though. Nyakumi really took that hit like a champ and managed to rid me of that pesky healer, while Sunkumi annihilated anything I pointed him at and even OG!Takumi got some critical shots in. The end I was most proud of, because not only did I manage to outdo the AI evil Takus with my own, but also had normal Taku triumph over one. Really this clear, more than any of the others, shows that you can still achieve your dreams even when your fave happens to only get colourless alts with barely two weapon types between them. I am really happy I got to show this off. Not sure how much I'll be able to reply, so I'll preemptively thank everyone for watching and hope to see you again sometime early- to mid-September!

It really is terrible what they did with Mercedes. It's like they were trying to make her as mediocre as possible for demotion, but I can't trust them on that because of that garbage AR skill and the fact that Brady was our last demote.

They really did Mercedes dirty with that sorry excuse for a skill. I still want her though..

Felix, because he is good at swords and reason, plus he looks good in it.

Good to know, although not sure if it's worth it considering Leonie already has 10 more points than him and is only level 16, but I'll keep it in mind for the future.

I made the experience with poor Ashe, who had a staggering 9 Str at level 17, which is when I finally dropped him in favor of making Leonie my new archer. Would be curious to know some workarounds too.

I am still only on chapter 8 of Blue Lions, because I have little free time and explore a lot, but so far my favourites are: Felix - Jerk he may be, but it still gets easy to tell when he cares about people. I love how he still wants to protect the innocent, he just doesn't want to make it about the "honor crap" and thinks the whole nobility is garbage at it. He is actually pretty complex and not just another Navarre archetype. His relationship with Dimitri and his dad does a lot to explain where his issues come from, but it's a lot more comolicated than just "They were mean to him." and more with being alienated by the way they handled the Duscur fallout. Dimitri - He is just incredibly sympathetic during the storyline and while I haven't seen how the game actually handles it, the discussion of his darker side intrigues me. I really want to see the conflict between his kind personality and murderous outbursts. Mercedes - An incredibly kind character who is deeply supportive of everyone around her. She nontheless is far from weak and can hold her own in any conversation without being intimidated. Her backstory is also incredibly sympathetic. Sylvain - At first he does seem pretty shallow and I have seen "flirty playboy who hides his sadness behind a cheery attitude" done before, but the game actually goes a bit further by not shying away from the fact that he does have an issue with women (believing them all to be two-faced harlots after his crest/noble status and money.). I like how they went there, given what a potential for controversy that has. Also how dark he gets with Byleth in his main support. That actually made me nervous. Kudos to the VA for selling it. Dorothea: Haven't seen too much of her since I am on BL and only just recruited her, but I do like how she is so far. She is like a softer Charlotte-type (who I also enjoyed), with some obvious self-loathing thrown in with how little she values her own accomplishments and worth. She also sticks to always being genuine with her feelings and doesn't take Sylvain's bullshit at all and it's touching to see her struggling to emotionally connect with Byleth. Other notable characters: All the other blue lion kids, Petra, and Leonie. I might actually come back to this once I have beaten the game. That will... take a while though. haha;;

Personal Picks in case of three banners: Black Eagels: Dorothea, Hubert, Petra, Linhardt. Blue Lions: Felix, Mercedes, Sylvain, Ingrid. Golden Deer: Hilda, Raphael, Lysithea, Ignaz. You could add a couple more as GHB too.

So

Well we all know why they made the same-sex endings so shippy at points because they all knew at rank A and so long as they didn't use the m-word, people who don't like all "the gay" would have plausible deniability to back them up as proven in this very thread. sigh Anyway, I still don't get how some people still try to deny LGBTQ people any right to be upset at this mess. The rest of the game can still be bloody amazing, but no one can convince me that this aspect isn't utter bull.

@hadosama Thanks!

Can anyone make a list of all the paired endings? I am especially curious about all of Dimitri, Felix and Dorothea's.

Felix and Dorothea look amazing, dang. The choice of who to marry become harder by the day.

@mampfoid Congrats! Can't wait to see her at work. As for me, I spent all of my 140 orbs, but was rewarded with both a Kliff (+Res -Def) and Dimitri (neutral). Leo and Takumi's lovechild and an angsty dork prince. I am more than happy with this haul! ... But a bit worried about the coming month. haha;;;

After learning male units can be dancers, I just realized Felix would be the perfect candidate (great with swords, budding talent in reason), and now I am in love with the idea. Thank you, Intsys.

Not a fan of "everyone is exclusively Bysexual". Reminds me too much of a dating sim and I enjoy influencing the characters romantic lives beyond just my avatar. It doesn't have to be a free for all, but letting everyone have two or three potential lovers would have been nice. Hope there's at least some paired endings and not just default romance ends. That could turn the community very ugly besides.

I think you mean comic drawings, since no characters in heroes approach photo-realism (other than maybe Dorcas and co.). I agree his lines are a bit darker, but his colours aren't anywhere near as flat as Raven's and Hector's and he fits in right among the other characters. It's pretty good.

How so? The fact that his hair doesn't look like oily spagettis is already a massive improvement.

Geez Intsys isn't even trying to be subtle about which units they care about more here. Would it have hurt them to give one of the broken sets to the guys? Apparently. *sigh* Anyway, I'll be going for Dimitri of course. I hope he doesn't take too many orbs, because then there'll be a tight window where I have to save for Summer Micaiah, potential new seasonals, Naga and L!Tiki and then Felix and Dorothea when they get here. Having so many faves hurrrrts.

I will! I totally understand. Sometimes checking skills just doesn't enter my mind until I accidentally activate an armour's vantage or get creamed by an unseen WoM tactic. So long as we can still get where we want it shouldn't matter though. haha If it's an alt, I actually hope it's a male singer unit, but looking at 3 Houses class restrictions, Intsys doesn't seem a fan of those (NILS WHEN??). Let's hope something will have shown up once I am back here from summer break. Yeah, in Celica's case that would be the bigger threat. @mampfoid Sorry to hear about your lack of Cordelias. May they flock to you soon, so the next time I reply to one of your clears in September, I can see the progress! I am sure OG!Sakura is, but the others are a bit iffier.. I am trying to build a team for her to tackle an Abyssal, but we'll have to wait and see on that. @mcsilas I would have traded him for an SLilina in a heartbeat. She totally is. Just waiting for the day when she can leave the job entirely once another Sakura joins the squad. Some really unfortunate enemies there, yeah. Thank you, but feel free to keep tagging me. I may not always have time, but I do enjoy simply watching the clears as well! Now for your clears: Some great Brady action here. Surviving that Iceberg like that was amazing! Also Noire taking out all the fliers was really fun to watch. I do love the girl, her banner just keeps her from me sadly. 😞 Poor Morgans are going to have an identity crisis seeing everything they are facing here. Some great tanking from the Grimas and sweeping by the mages. Poor bow flier couldn't manage to take out anything even when the Grimas were so low on HP. Almost feel sorry for the girl.

She sure did an impressive job taking down the right side of the map, including the Morgans, by herself. Shigure meanwhile supported the Kanas in their endeavors on the left. They are such tough little kids. You can definitely be proud of them! He certainly is, and I am sure OG!Takumi was itching to get into battle, but it was over too quickly. xD Sadly, I was completely out of Brazen Atk/Spd fodder and didn't want to waste any grails in getting it, so the bow went back to the beach. Great to see you managed a themed clear. With how your GF army is growing, I am sure you'll have another one in the future. You even managed to leave the Morgans for last to make things suitably dramatic. This clear really came together well I must say.~ Thanks, he loves it! As I said above, I was saldy out of Linus. 😞 @Zeo Yeah, Skadikumi is a pretty good tank by now. Glad you could see him at his full power now! Wow that Matthew clear sure was amazing! Just throw him in the middle and let him work his magic! Gotta say, as highly as I already thought of him, this had me floored. Definitely a memorable show! Even if it wasn't a one man show, it's still great to see Morgan lead the charge. He managed to take out himself and a lot of the rest of the map. Amelia, ever the front fighter, took a hefty magic hit before getting boosted for the final kill. A great team up! And then Morgan brought the rest of the family to beat on the imposters! Some really good mage tanking going on here. Surprised the flying archer didn't go after F!Robin, but I suppose it just wanted to live for one more turn. lol Everyone had some fun in this one and that's what matters most. @daisy jane I gave him Brazen Atk/Spd 4 🙂 No worries, I sometimes forget to check skills too. haha From personal experience Myrrh with Aether can be great. If you give her something to accelarate the cooldown you should definitely go for it. Otherwise it could still be worth it during long battles. Sounds like Sakura put in some amazing work and Olivia tanked a pretty hefty blow. Congrats! You are making me wish for a dancing lance flier like that too. haha Maybe someone's alt? Not sure who I'd want most for that role. Celica is just so op, the Morgans never stood a chance. Sounds like quick and effective work. Bet the Morgans regret ever trying to challenge her. @DLNarshen Thanks, he does put in a lot of work all the time, since he is the only one of the Takus that can tank reliably. Julius and his blue cheerleaders make for one funny image. Still amazing how hardy he was with taking on the entire map. Barely suffered any damage throughout. Well done! @Sasori Of course, he was ready at all times. haha They sure will think twice about it. Yeah, it's great to see it work on him. Totally worth foddering Wolt, he was so rude after all. I should probably let OG!Takumi hve some action next go around. Poor boy is starting to feel neglected. @mcsilas @kirauza343 @Robert of Normandy @ruruo Before we start, I just want to mention that I started another internship this week and things have been really stressful for me again. So I am sorry to say, but I've decided to take an extended summer break until the 6th of September when it's over. I might upload some clears on youtube, because that's relatively simple to do, but posting, watching and replying on here can take up hours for me, so it's probably best if I take a break from it for now. I'll make an exception when Marth's LHB comes back and I can finally get my birbs to beat him, but that's about it. Once the internship is done I'll also try putting up the other Abyssals at least. Now let's have a proper summer send off for my princesses and stars: Music: 1. Little Trick 2. Welcome to Mirrors -both from Magia Record So I really thought I'd just put in Sakunyan to shine here, but F!Morgan was gunning for the queen bee here. To her complete undoing, but A for effort with that Iceberg. I was excited to see Senkura tackle the flier so easily. Things got a bit messier than intended, but ultimately Hinoka didn't have to help out her little sisters with finishing the map beyond positioning so I'll call it a success. Now for some stars: Music: 1. Complex Home 2. Calculated Future - both from Magia Record Decided to just have Sunkumi let loose on the right side of the map. M!Morgan didn't have a chance to fight back, the poor boy. After that Sakunyan finally got a showdown with F!Morgan and didn't have too much trouble surviving before Reyson ate her for his mandatory map kill. Maribelle got rid of the swordfighter handily and then the Ravenmage decided to avoid either of the ladies, probably because they'd kill him. It just postponed the inevitable. Sunkumi cleared up the flying archer and Sakunyan cleaned her plate for a complete success. Hope you guys enjoy your summer and see you on the other side!

@mcsilas Early clear indeed! Kids vs. Kids: Awakening Edition really did go well. You were able to just swoop in from the right with your fliers to turn an advantage early. It was pretty exciting to see M!Morgan duel his "sister" and survive, even if he couldn't finish her off himself. Very effective showcase there. @Sasori Neat twins versus "twins" theme, with their adoptive parents helping out (or looking on in Raven's case). The boys both took a lot of damage but survived it all. Lucius is like that great parent who let's you try out everything first and only steps in once it's actually dangerous (at least lethally so. haha). Took that hit impressively well himself and ensured victory! So after being beaten up all last week, Marth and Caeda decide to turn things around and spank some very naughty kids. With a bit of help from family friends, but I guess all is fair when your potential descendants start throwing magic your way. Merric and Gordin were very useful when dealing with those fliers. M!Morgan couldn't even get his special off before being deleted by Caeda. Marth went around tanking things and eliminating non-flying danger. I am sure the Morgans will have learned their lesson from them. haha @mampfoid @Landmaster @kirauza343 @daisy jane @Robert of Normandy @Azuris @ruruo @Zeo Again, Takus come up first: Music: 1. Inerasable 2. Infinite Battle - both from Magia Record You'll probably have noticed that Skadikumi has a shiny new toy, courtesy of a rude pity-breaking fellow while trying for S!Lilina. Of course I wanted to try showcasing it immediately by having him tank most of the enemies upfront. This resulted in one of the shortest clears I've done. He didn't even have that much difficulty tanking Morgan's special, since it didn't take much seal shifting at all. Getting Nyakumi to finish M!Morgan was a bit trickier, but double bonds always work out for the best. Overall, it was a tiny bit more challenging than expected, but really nothing to tear at my hair over, and seeing Skadi be so strong was definitely great. See you soon for the rest!

Sometimes our units can be full of surprises. haha Yeah, I love all of Hoenn's music very much. Glad you enjoyed the girls. I am always happy to see how effective they are. Tell me about it. I hated that Debuff so much. Glad everyone had a role in the victory and thanks.~ Thanks! Yeah, it can be hard to show off new things with simpler BHBs, but colourless only always ends up fun for me. Sakura is still dealing out that massive damage, yep. Double Bonds are such a fun time. It great to see someone else who played Grandia. That game is still dear to my heart.~ I am so happy to see they are back. With some new shine on them and a new toy as well! Amelia is as tanky as ever and Morgan blew his way through the lines with the support of Ninian and Priscilla. It was nice to see Marth and Caeda left for last only to fall to Morgan and Amelia respectively. Congrats to Amelia especially, but you too fo course. haha They weren't ptepared for a flying archer, that's for sure. (though Caeda is urprisingly tanky) Yeah, Og!Sakura kind of steals the spotlight from everyone in the Princess Clears, so it's nice that Sakunyan has her own stage like that. One of the best acts of treason I have seen. xD Cain certainly blew me away with how much damage he took. Led the enemies right to the rest of the team in a weaked state. I also found it the little accidental convo between Cain, Able and Barst funny: "Attack" "Advance?" "Yep" *retreats*. Good job! You took a lot of risk with both Dark Heroes there, but it certainly payed off. Not to mention they probably loved being all dramatic in this fight. Who doesn't want to beat up their exalted ancestors anyway? Idiots, that's who.