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Ertrick36

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  1. Literally the only entry I genuinely don't like is Fates: Conquest - maybe also Fates: Revelation because the level design uses the mentality of an MMO to pad out gameplay (that is, they just waste your time) and I want to smash something every time I play that stupid ice-breaking level or Mr. Fuga's Wild Ride or literally anything that takes place in Valla. It's frustrating for Conquest because I want to like it but I can't bring myself to for some reason, though I think I've ranted on this plenty of times before so I just won't bother going into it this time. Also, I kinda stopped playing FEH after half a year, so I suppose I don't like that game much either - mainly they did something so that it's frustrating/impossible to play on an emulator at some point so I just dropped off the game altogether (though honestly I probably would've gotten sick and tired of the gacha elements eventually anyway). Don't even know if it's actually playable on emulator again, I stopped caring, lmao. I guess I could say I technically don't "like" the Tellius games either, but that's because I haven't really played through them so I literally can't say I like them since I've yet to truly sit down and enjoy them proper. Every other entry, though, I think I actually like. Even the entries that are easy like Gaiden, Genealogy, Sacred Stones, or Echoes; even the ones that are frustrating or tedious like Binding Blade or Three Houses; even the ones that are archaic like the NES games. I generally like every game in the series I've played. Like, this is what I'd say for each game: FE1: Archaic, but still kinda charming and still has enough strategy to keep me engaged FE2: Sorta same as FE1, only instead of strategy focus there's more adventuring and dungeoneering FE3: It's everything I imagine when someone asks to describe "Fire Emblem" minus support mechanics, it's really, really good FE4: Hilariously broken, but damn do I love the story FE5: Interesting gameplay dynamics going on, and I like exploring a more localized story within the world of Jugdral FE6: Tedious as all heck, but I like the characters well enough FE7: Sorta the same deal as FE3, except it also has supports and an enjoyable trio of protagonists FE8: Infamously easy, but again I like the characters (also has some messed up stuff, like Orson's whole story) FE11: Feels a bit gutted without supports (which is funny when the Archanea games never had support convos), but it has solid gameplay and a decent enough story; also the first time I think ballisticians have been actually useful in the Archanea games (why did they have a range of 2 in FE1???) FE12: The case FE11 fans will make for why the previous remake was better off without supports (lmao), but I do like the dynamic of the 7th Platoon, Katarina's story, and how the new mechanics freshen up the story of Marth's second adventure, even as far as how interesting having a customizable avatar unit can make repeat playthroughs FE13: Literally the first game in the series I played, it's my first love and I will never not love this game FE14: Barring previous mentions, I liked my first time through Birthright and came to love certain characters from that game FE15: There were things that were really dumb about the story, and I think they skewed what Alm should've been like in this game, but apart from presentation I do like a good number of the character interactions - it's also the first time the Whitewing Sisters got somewhat in-depth characterization outside of Japan-exclusive media, I think, so I like that FE16: One of the most tedious games to play through after you had already completed your first playthrough - possibly even moreso than FE6 - but I actually think the story's pretty good (maybe even the best in the series that I'm aware apart from the Jugdral games) and I really enjoy most of the characters; and I actually do like how they've handled character ideologies, I like seeing characters with firm, solid ideals that are tangible enough (and aren't just simplistic self-interest) that I could see people in the real world adopting them even if they aren't 100% rational or fact-based (also, don't get me wrong, I can enjoy a simplistic antagonist, it's just I also really enjoy idealistic antagonists or flaw heroes)
  2. So, they're gonna wait a year and a half after the first trailer to release another small trailer and then wait another half a year before they actually start dropping information on a regular basis, lmao Anyway, I'm... not really worried about this mode of advertisement? I dunno, I guess it's mildly annoying the Twitter account is just reposting trailer screenshots with captions explaining basic things, but the game's coming out in less than two months so if there's anything to discover about the game, I'm happy enough to discover most of it when I actually play it if they don't show off much more than they already have.
  3. I generally prefer playing as female characters, so I'll go with female for both, but I do actually like male Shez's design quite a bit. Of all the avatar designs we've seen in the series, I think both Shez designs are among my favorites, if not my absolute favorites. They're pretty rad, imo. Could be the novelty, but for now I like 'em. The first time I played Three Houses (shame I can't abbreviate it as "3H" anymore because of this game, lmao) I went with the Black Eagles, but overall, I think my favorite house is the Blue Lions so I will probably go Azure Gleam first. It's a really hard pick for me though because every house contains some characters I absolutely love, but every time I look at the roster of every house, I just look at the Blue Lions and think "I basically like every single one of these characters and they just click so well together". I also can't really bear the idea of turning a blade on the adorably dorky Annette or secret soft boi Felix.
  4. I'm getting the impression most of the characters that will be included in this game are gonna get new designs, not just the three main lords and their sidekicks. I am quite interested in seeing them all. Also sucks I can't read Japanese, I wish I knew what some of this stuff said. Oh yeah, and the little shack they're eating in looks like a cozy lil' camp.
  5. Oh yeah, no, my position is less of a solid "I absolutely don't think there'll be another game" and more just a pragmatic position to measure expectations - one that I automatically take with practically any potential entertainment company project. I also think it's incredibly likely they will make another FEW game because KT has gotten reasonably invested in the series and, as you said, they seem to bring in lots of unit sales.
  6. I'll second the FE spinoffs forum idea. Of course FEH is too big to just jam into a small corner of the site, but there are enough other spinoffs now that I think such an overarching forum is warranted. Though I'd say the TMS fans should be asked about such a change as well. I'd say if KT decides to make yet another FEW game, then maybe the series could warrant its own forum, but for now I'm working off the assumption that this will be the last Warriors game they make for FE. Also, I don't think a spoilers forum will be necessary. Maybe they'll put more effort into the story of this one than the previous FEW game since they did the lion's share of the work for FE3H and so they have more investment in this... but it's also a Warriors game, lmao. 80% of the game is probably going to be everything else but the story.
  7. I did some reading. First of all, pretty sure that "Defcon" user is just pure bull, AFAIK nations don't reveal DEFCON (or equivalent) levels to the public (not unless they felt like doing so, which they'd do through regular public channels, not through a special little website that doesn't even capitalize the damn letters of DEFCON properly). There's speculation about the levels - it has been suspected that the US armed forces reached DEFCON 2 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and beyond that at most it's probably only ever reached DEFCON 3 - but nobody knows for sure. The most credible thing I can find amidst the mess of the internet is this tweet about Russia's defense readiness system, spoilered below: It seems in line with other information I've seen, being that Russia has four readiness levels and they go from least dangerous at 1 to most dangerous at 4. In the video released of him giving orders, he specifically said to put the nuclear deterrence forces on high alert. He didn't say to deploy nuclear weapons, but rather to ready a deterrence force. Granted, nuclear deterrence has traditionally involved using the threat of more nukes to dissuade a foe from using them (MAD), but it can involve other things as well (radars, anti-missile systems, personnel, special electronics equipment, etc.), and does not necessarily signal that he's just going to nuke the world if he doesn't get what he wants. I think this paints a picture that Russia believes there is a possibility of a legitimate threat to their sovereignty by NATO. Generally what I've come to understand with Russia's military doctrine is any form of militaristic operation by NATO that occurs along the Russian border could potentially be seen as a threat to Russia's sovereignty. The reason NATO has maintained a position of no direct interference in Ukraine - as in, no putting their boots on the ground in Ukraine, so-to-speak - is because that would give Russia ample cause to get ready for a nuclear war. The reality I perceive here is Russia feels slightly attacked and threatened. Not in a major way, despite what Putin's tough and biting rhetoric might portray, but he certainly seems to think NATO is escalating the conflict even though Putin himself was the one that started it. And his position makes sense because practically nobody was sending Ukraine much of anything until the people of Ukraine themselves proved they're tough enough to withhold the Russian onslaught by preventing the Russian military from achieving their main objectives within a timely manner (or at all, for that matter, lmao) - there sort of has been a kind of escalation on NATO's part, but that's only because Putin's attack was so abhorrent in its lack of proper justification and so sudden and deliberate, and there's no indication that NATO will escalate things any further. It should also be noted that while leaders are calling Putin's readying of the deterrence forces a "needless escalation", none of them are in a panic. Part of that of course is the burden of responsibility politicians already have reducing their propensity for intensity, but also because they believe it's just a pattern of Putin's behavior, as well the general strategy of Russian leaders to "escalate to de-escalate" should a dangerous situation come to a head. So really, it's just bluffing to try to get his way. Perhaps Putin still will have the audacity to demand some form of payment from Ukraine, or perhaps he simply wants to prevent Russia from being punished too severely for their transgression... it's hard to say for sure, but all and all, I think nuclear warfare is still a long shot from here. With all this said, Godspeed to those fighting against the Kremlin's tyrannical ambitions, may we all find a swift and peaceful end to this cursed war, and I hope to all that is divine, holy, and reasonable that we all don't get atomized over some stupid territorial conflict instigated by some dickhead tyrant who was mad that he didn't get everything handed to him on a silver platter because he kicked and screamed loudly.
  8. I've been here since 2015 (I remember clearly because I visited this site not long after I got the 3DS to play SSB4, which came out in 2014 - I was a guest for a while before I officially joined). I remember the thing that got me here in the first place was someone on GameFAQs shared a link to one of TheMoniker's screenshot LPs and I found those LPs incredibly entertaining. I joined and made, like, a single response. Back then I literally just used the pic of Wil as my profile pic from FE7 because I liked his appearance and I sometimes used the name "Wilson" to represent myself online (it's not my actual name, btw). When I joined, conversations about Fire Emblem: Fates were ripe. Everybody was talking about the game. Back then the game to rip on was Fire Emblem: Awakening, which upset an adolescent me because that game got me into the series and I was quite fond of it (still am, actually). There were series veterans (some, I should emphasize) who genuinely thought that Fire Emblem: Fates might be a return to form and bring back the kind of storytelling they yearned for - I think even some fans of the Kaga games were clamoring for this, which is kinda funny to think about. Of course the game came around, it became the new target, and that's when I realized the cyclical nature of the fandom's hatefests, lmao. At this point I just find it kinda amusing. I'd say the site itself is the internet equivalent of a small rural town that occasionally holds a big festival that attracts all sorts of tourists. Which is basically most forums these days, particularly when we have things like Discord and social media for people to hold discussions on.
  9. Just like I did in that Fates thread, I'll list the tiers, with the order within the tiers being in no particular order (it'll be characters that are playable and characters who made a big impression). The Big Three Luceebo (I actually got a Lucina amiibo and this is what I call it, lmao), Owain Needs No Aid, You Betrayed the Law(rent) The Grand Council Sumia, Inigo, Thotja (I've fallen in love with this dumb, derisive nickname, lmao), Henry, Gregor, Google Chrome, Robin the Bank (both of them), Morgana (both), Virion, Cordelia, Maribelle, Lissa, Cynthia, Nah, Frederick Please, Mustafa Kemal Pasha (feel free to spam my DM's with all the AMKs in the world, Turks), Tiki, Noire, Tom Brady, Olivia, Cherche, Basilio The Conscripts Gaius, Sully, Miriel, Kjelle, Vaike, Nowi, Libral, Lon'qu, Say'ri, Severa, Panne, Geromeno, Gangrene, Walmart (and his entire gang, for that matter), Phila, Emmeryn, Yen'fay, Aversa, Stahlin (our leader, with faith in the people), Validar, Anna The Convicts Ricken, Donnel So I have some things to say about the characters I bolded (as well as some of the more controversial characters and the two convicts), but lemme just go over my overall assessment first. Numbers as far as characters I like are much better than those in Fates. The thing I've found is the characters in Fates are a lot more polarizing for me than in Awakening, for both better and worse. I love Oboro, Takumi, and Mozu... so much so that I think I may even love them more than Lucina. Though I also dislike Corrin and others I put in the "convicts" section of the Fates counterpart to this thread a lot more than I dislike Ricken and Donnel. The fact that there's only two characters in the "convicts" section is a good sign, but there are still signs of the... questionable direction casts would go in the future among this cast. Here's the thing about the characters I bolded; simply, they're wasted potential. They are characters who show up and maybe could've had some sort of interesting role, but simply fall flat. Phila could easily be replaced with a generic, faceless NPC, and there'd be no impact. Walhart's henchmen aren't amazing, but their issue is I think they focused too much on making Sat AM cartoon villains - they're amusing, but I think their gimmicks and gags take away from Walhart's role and impact. Walhart was to serve as a mirror to Chrom - what solving all problems with the sword would look like at its full and worst extent. But they do little to capitalize on Walhart as a character - his arc is cut short in favor of the Grima plotline. All in all, I think these, as well as the Robinsexuals, were a sign of things to come - we got a taste of wasted potential in Awakening, then in Fates we got a banquet of the stuff. As for the "convicts"... I am just not a fan of the shota archetype in Ricken's case. I dunno, I just really don't like it. I don't mind having a childlike character (or just have them straight up be a goddamn child, Christ almighty these Japanese media companies playing risky with this crap), but such characters can be more than just "hey, I'm not a kid!" Maybe I just haven't explored enough of Ricken's character, but I don't really care to. As for Donnel... unfortunately it has little to do with him as a character and more with just all the memeing about him - it's kinda soured my opinion of him, sadly. Two other characters I wanted to talk about are Tharja and Nowi. I honestly just like Tharja's creepy hex witch vibe. Like, it seems like a lot of people complain about how she does morally abhorrent or questionable things to her allies, but... like, she never seemed like she was supposed to be a paragon of virtue? She only joined because she figured that if she fought for the Plegians she'd just die for a feckless king and she doesn't really have much loyalty towards either side - seems like it's more a matter of "whichever side will keep me alive the longest", and she seems to figure her chances are better under a trusting prince than a psychotic king. She's like the darker side of Miriel, where she likes experimenting and research, but in darker and more grotesque fields and with not-so-ethical means. I guess I can understand people not liking such a character, but somehow such a character appeals to me just fine. In regards to Nowi... I almost feel like I probably should've put her in the "convicts" section because I find her kinda grating, but I just don't care much about her? Not even all the... questionable people I met online with questionable "causes" who associated themselves with her were enough to make me outright hate her. I dunno, she's just kinda... whatever for me. All in all, Awakening has an overall better cast than Fates IMO, but Fates has some stars that shine brighter for me than any in Awakening. Though I understand if people disagree with this assessment, as it's all subjective in the end. The biggest challenge for me was deciding which among the "Grand Council" to put as my third choice among "The Big Three". I feel like Laurent has always just been a character that's appealed to me. He's like a more humanized version of Miriel - an intellect with his own share of scars and more overt emotions.
  10. I think five usable galeforces per turn is the minimum amount to make their drawbacks worthwhile. You have to take into consideration several things with them: First of all, obviously lower movement, though how low varies from game to game Secondly, the fact that flier units can are almost always able to traverse over all terrain types, while armored units tend to get severely bogged down in any non-plains tiles Thirdly, due to lower movement they are substantially less likely to be able to even reach an enemy to be able to proc galeforce Fourthly, they have weakness to armor-slaying weapons - fliers do have their weakness against bows, but that is mitigated to a degree by the fact that archers can't attack in melee range, thus a flier can attack one without concern for retaliation, while armor units typically use melee weapons and most armor-slaying weapons are melee-range so the armor unit always has to risk potential counterattack from an enemy wielding weaponry that can easily kill them And lastly, once again due to their limited movement, they won't be able to acquire experience at the same rate as a flier without deliberate planning Is it excessive? Maybe. But armor knights being good has often been the exception, not the rule, and a rare exception, at that. I want to particularly emphasize the part about terrain costs. In the worst case scenario, the armor knight will be incapable of moving across a terrain type that even bog standard infantry could move at least one space through. And often the lowest non-standard terrain cost still has the armor knight expending all their movement to move just one space. Fliers, meanwhile, can always move 7-8 spaces, no matter what; the only exception is terrain that nobody can cross, such as walls. I still wonder if even five is enough to make them worthwhile. They just suck. The problem is they're a largely defensive class in a type of game where you always want to be moving and attacking. Fire Emblem almost never gives you an incentive to invest in defensive units, even in chapters that supposedly are all about defense. In the case of an enemy assault force that outnumbers you, such as Chapter 10 in Conquest, you want mobile units that can easily ORKO enemies, rather than tough, static units. Mobility is simply more important than toughness. Of course, having a degree of survivability is important, but lack of mobility is too much of a trade-off.
  11. Yeah, it wasn't to say that the singing was amazing god tier. Some folks just were way too mad and harassed the actors over how the localization was handled. Don't really want to go further into talking about it for fear of derailing the thread, but I'll just say there are plenty of terrible individuals out there and I've had more than my fill of them on the internet. I haven't sang competitively or for very long, but I've received some choral instruction from accredited instructors for a few years so I can understand some of the finer gripes people have with the song. It's not just that they're translating a song, but that they're translating between two entirely different language groups. You get all manner of simpleton weebs who decry the fact that localizations don't do literal translations of the original material, but the issue is if you do that then the translation will be a stilted, confusing mess of alphabet soup. Translation from Japanese to English requires not just a knowledge of what certain words mean, but an intimate understanding of the two languages to the point where either could be described as a first language to you. Or at the very least it requires the ability to contextualize the words well enough to know the general gist of what's being said, although having this limited understanding has its drawbacks. One could argue what the lyrics should've been after the fact, but it's fairly miraculous they managed to get the meaning down and have it sound... sorta decent. There are better localized songs out there, but I've also heard much, much worse in terms of translated songs. All in all, I find it to be an alright tune, but there are other songs in the game I like more.
  12. It's not a bad song, and I don't take issue with how it's sung, really; maybe I just have low standards in this respect, or I just got sick of all the bitching about it. A bit surprising that they actually had the voice actress of Azura sing the song since for the most part media companies tend to get more skilled singers to perform those kinds of songs. She got way too much flak for that, IMO, and it's part of why I still don't take a lot of the crazies who go mad for "more accurate" localizations seriously. Maybe there are some legitimate issues with the localization, but the fans took the issue too far. I just take issue with the fact that it's such an overused leitmotif in the game. Apart from some of the more mundane songs that I couldn't care less about (such as the songs used for comedic moments or that one overly sappy romance song I prefer Awakening's romance song), it feels like there's not a single song that doesn't have the "You are the ocean's grey waves" melody jammed somewhere in them. It's so prevalent that by the time you've beaten even just one path you've probably heard the main melody several thousands of times even though you only heard the actual song a handful of times. A motif can work, but not when it's used so often that the subtlety is akin to the silence of an elephant stampede.
  13. In dealing with Ricken and Maribelle, I always pair them up and have Lissa use a Rescue Staff. When a mage is paired up with her she should typically have enough of a magic stat to reach the cliff they're on. Then boom, they're no longer under threat. After that, I send either weaker or substantially over-leveled units east to plug up the forts, and the rest of my forces deal with the central battlefield forces and wyverns. Use Chrom and wind magic to devastate the wyverns. It's a bit of a tedious map, but I've scarcely ever had any real trouble with it.
  14. If it wasn't for Roy, Cath would've featured prominently in Stalin's positive heroism propaganda campaigns. At least until she joined that filthy Trotskyist coup conspiracy, like all the rest of those traitors that may or may not have actually been traitors. I think if there were to be a working class hero in Jugdral, it'd be Sigurd or Eldigan (even though ironically they come from the nobility - they wouldn't be heroes from the working class, but they'd be champions for the working class). Though they'd probably be less the violent revolutionary types and more the reformist types. Great for lib-leftists, remains to be seen if tankies would be into them (prolly not, just on the basis of them being nobility). And then she'd accidentally surrender all her power to a megalomaniacal general (who was actually average height for the time), because that general is just so gosh darn incredible at everything he does that doesn't involve romance. Oh yeah, and she'd keep flip-flopping between a democratic regime and a monarchist regime for almost a century. This is my favorite brand of joke about France. Toss the "surrender nation" jokes in the dump, it's all about the guillotines, Napoleon, and the fact that it blew through roughly half a dozen governments between 1792 and 1870.
  15. All I know is that Anna is probably as far econ-right as you could possibly get and everyone else wouldn't even know what a "communism" is because the means of mass production haven't been invented yet in any Fire Emblem worlds we've been made aware of so far (no idea on Heroes because I haven't played it passed Book 1, lmao). I think there were actually times Anna even mentioned socialism by name, funnily enough. Maybe only once or twice, but I swear I remember her mention it. If we want a waifu political spectrum that's accurate to the world of Fire Emblem, it should be the single-axis spectrum spawned from the First French Republic - an axis that ranges from monarchism to republicanism. Is your waifu a selfish brat who bosses you around and makes the relationship all about her? Congrats, you have a monarchist waifu. Is your waifu more of a giver who only wants you to be happiest you can be? Then your waifu may represent the values of a great and liberal republic.
  16. It generally depends on what the goals are for the developers, but the general idea is that the more voice work you put into a game, the less dialogue you'll get. And in terms of customizable protagonists, they vary in spectrum. To go against the grain, I'm going to say silent protagonists can be great if they're executed well and if their silence is used to an advantage. For example, in Fallout: New Vegas, the protagonist has no voiced lines (though they do have voiced efforts - grunts and the like), but that doesn't mean they don't have dialogue of their own... in fact, the Courier can be given a fairly colorful, if possibly sometimes inconsistent, personality. Because the developers don't have to blow half the VO budget on making the protagonist have voiced lines for every possible option they're allowed to allocate that budget towards voicing more NPC dialogue, which means more dialogue overall in the game. You compare this to Fallout 4, which has practically no actual roleplaying options besides who you want to stand besides when you nuke a shifty university (or if you want to become the leader of said shifty university), consistently four dialogue options that almost always suck, and a story and world with the width of an ocean and the depth of a puddle, and you'll understand why older fans of the Fallout series will stand by the argument that voiced protagonists ruin open-world RPGs with customizable protagonists. That said, I think often times developers don't use the advantages of a silent protagonist to great effect. At least, not beyond simply lengthening the overall game's playtime. You can do a lot with the extra budget and time afforded you from not voicing a protagonist, and I'd like to see more devs really take advantage of that by implementing stuff that better enhances the gameplay like what was done with Fallout: New Vegas rather than just throwing on additional padding. And this isn't to downplay the impact good acting can have - a lot of scenes are greatly enhanced by quality acting - but if the character is meant to be a relative blank slate then I don't want them to have voiced dialogue because I think it's a lot of money and time spent for not a lot of payoff.
  17. There are a few routes where I think this could be possible (getting Resistance 23 points higher than Defense, I mean): Most immediately apparent is using Seliph with Tilfing and a Barrier Ring. Tilfing gives +20 Resistance and the ring gives an extra +5. The challenge would be keeping his Defense from getting too high, which is already problematic considering it's six points higher than his Resistance. Second possibility is one of the Pegasus Knights (okay, you can only get one) or Mages. In particular I think of Arthur and Tinny, with the former having much stronger favor. But the only way for this to be really viable is if their parent is Claude, since typically the Defense growth is gravely sacrificed in favor of powerful Resistance. Then give the candidate a Barrier Ring for good measure. Unfortunately they won't have a holy weapon to boost their Resistance to crazy levels. Julia would be a good option... if she was an option. Another possibility that isn't as viable is Ares, who uses Mystletainn. I think this would only be viable if you could figure out how to manipulate the RNG just right to ensure Ares gets a ton of Resistance level-ups without any Defense level-ups. But Mystletainn's reasonably high Resistance buff of +10 is enough that I thought it worth consideration. Fourth option would be to acquire the Barrier Sword and give it to a viable candidate. This could (I think) be combined with the Barrier Ring to give a total bonus of +12 to Resistance. This would be best used under the circumstances I mentioned in the second choice (the ones that could use swords, I mean). Though tbh I think even if you fulfilled the criteria you still wouldn't be able to make Alvis take out the sword. And I mainly think it's because either the AI is hardcoded never to switch away from using holy weapons (or Alvis in particular is hardcoded to never use the other weapon) or because the AI perceives the switch to the sword too grave a sacrifice to its overall offensive and defensive capabilities. There's no easy way to tell how this works without looking into the code or making a custom ROM hack, as no other holy weapon-carrying enemy/NPC unit carries a weapon that deals damage to the opposite stat that their holy weapon deals damage to - not as far as I'm aware, anyway. Alvis is a... unique case, as it were.
  18. A few years ago I would've been baffled and bewildered by that thread, but a year on Twitter has conditioned me to not even bat an eye at absurd nonsense, lmao. If shitposting's dead, it's because there are people who carry genuine beliefs twice as ridiculous as those expressed in that thread. I say this as an avid shitposter.
  19. I'm going to say that apart from certain game-specific stats every stat is important to some extent, and the values change from game to game because every game handles differently. Strenth: A/B - Depends on if you're fielding any weapon-wielding class or a mage class. For most games it's even useful for mages because strength can determine attack speed, be used for a secondary physical weapon in case magic won't do the trick, or in the case of the handful of games where it's applicable it's the stat that determines mage attack power (as in, FE1, FE2, and FE3). You need this stat to deal damage, period. You could have all the skill in the world and be tanky as hell, but you do not progress without strength. Magic: A/C - It doesn't nearly have as much use for non-mage units as strength does for mage units. There's one game where magic affects more than simple magical attack power, and that's FE5 where magic affects both magic attack power and magic defense. For non-mages, it's basically only good for the handful of weapons that deal magic damage, or I guess for those few classes that use both a physical weapon and magic tomes, which in that case for more physically oriented units the magic would be good for being able to counter all enemy attacks because 1 damage is better than no damage. Skill: C - This is an RNG stat. There is no RNG in the primary functions of Strength and Magic. But for skill, it's all about determining hit rate. You do need a high skill to consistently hit things, and in some games low skill hurts more than in others, but you can make do with merely average skill. It can determine activation rates for skills as well in the games that have skills, but again those are RNG based and many have fairly low chances to proc until you get into the late game so you don't want to count on them. The problem is with stats with controlled, static battle values, any skill that gives you an RNG-based value is inherently going to be less valuable. Speed: B - Not as important as the most important stats, but this stat determines both whether your unit deals twice the damage they'd normally deal or if the enemy will do so instead. It also determines avoidance rate, which is pretty important but still RNG based. Luck: D - Garbage stat. You don't need much to avoid getting critted by most enemies, and it's useless against enemies with high-crit weapons anyway. It affects a handful of skills too - skills that suck like Salvage Blow or Profiteer. Only unit I'm aware of with a desperate need for more luck is Arthur because of his already low luck combined with his awful personal skill that grants him an additional -5 dodge, which means just about every enemy will have a chance to crit him. Defense: B - Survivability is important. However, as I said in my excerpt about strength, tankiness alone is not going to let your unit progress in levels, which I'd say is crucial even if a unit has low growths. The only time tankiness is more important is if the unit is practically incapable of growing more, such as Aran in FE3 Book 2 or a lot of classic Jagen-esque units, and their main purpose is to shield their weaker allies who need experience. But defense is still necessary, and lacking defense is what really brings down a lot of high DPS units. Resistance: B - Read what I said about defense. Resistance is less universally used because there aren't as many enemy mages as there are enemy soldiers bearing swords, spears, and the like, but when you do encounter a mage they typically hit like a truck. It was a unique stat in the Archanea games because in the first couple games it'd never grow and every time it did grow it'd reset unless you used a Talisman - it was part of what made Gotoh a stupidly powerful unit in the first game, as he was usually the only unit that had any resistance. HP: C - This is not as important as defense or resistance. If you have 20 HP but 25 defense and the enemy has an attack stat of 25 and they are able to double you, they will deal 0 damage. But if you swap the HP and defense values, they'll deal 10 damage, and you'll be down to 3/5 of your health. Of course, having good HP is important to give you a strong safety net, but you aren't much of a tank if your value as a tank is put mostly into HP instead of defense. There's a reason people say that Benny in FE: Fates is a tank but not Charlotte. Movement: A - Movement is broken. Most of the time you want to be fielding high-movement units, and the only deterrent to this is that some enemies may bear weapons that deal bonus damage to those kinds of units. If you field a low-movement unit, they're either gonna do absolutely nothing but slog through the map or they're gonna hold everyone back and allow the enemy to take better positions than your own army. High movement lets you do more and enables you to reach good defensive terrain earlier than other units. A good map will have you racing against the enemy, and in those kinds of maps you want high movement, especially if you can also bypass terrain movement costs. Constitution: C - Con is a bit... I dunno. It's kind of annoying because it almost exclusively serves to stunt smaller, typically female characters while favoring larger, typically male characters. Con enables a bulky armored general to hit faster than a nimble thief or swordmaster, and I think that's kind of stupid. But it's, like... tertiary at the same time. It's the stat you kinda forget about until you realize that Fir as a swordmaster isn't able to easily double enemies because her low con means her attack speed is almost always reduced unless she uses the weakest weapons. I'm just glad that most games that have some other stat affecting attack speed use strength instead. Aid/Weight: F - Lumping these together because they more or less do the same thing, which is determine whether the unit is heavy enough to carry another unit. Not very useful overall. Also annoying that it's unchangeable. Charm: F - I honestly don't really understand fully how this works. All I know is it makes gambits more powerful, but I use gambits less because I want to deal damage out the arse and more for the effects they have. I use a gambit if I want to lock a bunch of enemies in place, if I want to destroy a monster unit's defenses, or if I want to impose some status on my units such as higher movement or basically invulnerability. They throw this stat at you if they want to give you a quick, cheap dopamine rush without actually making you more meaningfully more powerful. Level: SSSS++++++++++ - Absolutely most important stat ever, you are trash if you are level 1 even if your unit has 80 HP, 50 strength, and 50 defense. It's important because of the prestige, bragging rights, and just general vibes. Fatigue Tolerance: God Tier - My body is ready. No, I'm not going to grade the stats specific to Thracia 776
  20. Supports are saved onto a general game save file, separate from file saves for each character you make. So I'm pretty sure they'll remain logged. Just to be safe you could make a new save without deleting the old, unless that isn't doable for whatever reason. But I'm pretty sure they'll remain. Not as ball-busting and unfair as Lunatic mode. But really though, early game is always the most difficult in Awakening. I'd recommend that if Normal has felt super easy to you at this point you should try to make the jump. The other main thing to bear in mind, apart from the game obviously being more difficult, is that reeking boxes, which you use to spawn risen on the map, are more expensive (the price goes up from 500 gold to 4,800 gold), so it's not as easy to grind, though if you use the Spotpass system to summon rival armies to fight you could grind that way. You should still be able to play the game without obsessing over min-maxing 2nd Gen, ultimately. There's plenty of wiggle room still. There are a few different kind of DLCs in this game. Challenges - they make up the majority of the DLCs and usually come in threes. Probably the best of these is Apotheosis, but all of them can provide interesting challenges. They are: Champions of Yore 1-3, Lost Bloodlines 1-3, Smash Brethren 1-3, Rogues and Redeemers 1-3, Death's Embrace, Five-Anna Firefight, Roster Rescue, and Apotheosis (you could technically consider The Future Past 1-3 challenge maps as well, but they're unique, as I'll explain later). Most of these give you a gift of a special hero, and some will also give you a single special item (e.g. a skill called "All Stats +2", an item to reclass into a special Bridal class) as many times as you play them. Grinding maps - you use these to either gain experience, money, or high quality weapons very easily. There are only three of these maps: The Golden Gaffe for money, EXPonential Growth for experience, and Infinite Regalia for the weapons. You can play them as many times as you want and always get rewards from them. R&R maps - these are much more laid back, easy maps, but you get the opportunity to witness conversations between many characters that may reveal things you would never otherwise learn about them or may otherwise further expand on characters' bonds. Two of these also have special CGs containing four characters for each map (four from the 1st generation, four from the second generation, both based on popularity polls done in Japan) donning special garments. There are three of these: Harvest Scramble (contains no CGs, but plenty of conversations between same-sex characters), Summer Scramble (CGs of 1st gen characters and conversations between many 1st gen characters), and Hot-Spring Scramble (CGs of 2nd gen characters and conversations between many 2nd gen characters as well as a few between the 2nd gen characters and your custom created character). You don't get any rewards from them apart from a bit of experience and either a Master Seal or a few Seeds of Trust, but I guess you could consider the conversations a reward in themselves. Future Past - I'd say these are unique because it's a combination of challenge and a mini story in itself. It explores the world that Lucina and the other youths had fled from, and you must use your army to help save all of them from a grizzly end, even going so far as assisting Lucina in defeating Grima. It is a three-part series, and you gain nothing but experience from it, but it's cool to see an alternate future where Lucina and her allies have to save the day instead of Chrom and Robin (albeit, with help from Chrom and Robin, but Lucina in Future Past is treated like she's the main hero of the story even though you don't control her). You should bear in mind that the challenge maps and the Future Past maps are meant for high-level parties. Apotheosis probably has the strictest requirements in terms of power scale - it's the one map where you probably want to min-max and acquire the absolute best weapons and skills you can. But overall, I'd say the DLC is worth it - much better than DLCs for later games in the series, even.
  21. Going in chronological release order (spoilered for length, too): Bonus spin-off lightning round:
  22. He's seen too many tweets about FEH following the NOA account, and all the jokes FE fans make about their favorite teenagers committing war crimes make him uncomfortable as they remind him of standard US military operations.
  23. I know of this hack that allows you to purchase the swimsuits at the highest level of the accessory shop (I think there are some others scattered about the internet you can download as well). If you're willing to get hands-on with the files, you can also use a program called Paragon to create a small hack that allows them to be purchased in a lower level accessory shop. The localized version technically didn't remove them, but rather made it so that it's impossible to acquire them without hacks. You could also edit the game's save to give the characters the swimsuits without a hack, though it can be a real hassle to do this every time you make a new game/recruit a new character. Though of course you either would do all this through a 3DS with custom firmware installed and/or a computer. If you don't know how to do that, I'd recommend doing your own research on the matter. I'll say an emulator can make this an easier process.
  24. Because you specifically said changeable party members, thus implying an RPG with multiple playable characters as opposed to just one you level up, I'm gonna say specialized is what I lean towards, but it always depends on the game. Generally speaking I like having a party where everyone has their own thing they're really good at so that they can employ the most power for those specializations while covering for the weaknesses of others... but at the same time I don't like having any characters that are so weak in certain areas that either they contribute nothing or are a liability. So while I will try to favor certain skills for certain characters, I do still like to invest in other areas so they don't drag the whole team down. For example, in Fire Emblem: Fates, there are particular characters I almost never use because I don't like how they play. Rinkah and Subaki somehow seem to never have the kind of damage output I want - it always seems to be sub-10 damage from them, which means they barely get to level up and remain useless as anything other than early-game tanks. I've heard from some that Subaki can become a good unit, but that just hasn't been my experience. Meanwhile you have all manner of feeble units including Azura, Orochi, and Nyx, among others, who are always at high risk of getting one-shotted due to low HP and low defense - with healers this may be acceptable, but for units that are expected to be right up with the combatants it is a liability for sure. For any RPG where I'm mostly playing as a single character that I progressively level up I generally prefer to go for an all-rounder approach. Or rather, I try to give them at least one offensive specialization, one defensive specialization, and various non-combat specializations so that they can do a lot of different things. Same is true for any RPG where there's a definitive "avatar" type of character that can be an all-rounder, such as Robin in Fire Emblem: Awakening. Though occasionally, mostly due to some stupid gendered BS, I'm somewhat hindered in my goals (still salty that in Heroes of Light and Shadow males get a much more robust class selection, especially when you beat the game and get a New Game+).
  25. There was an export function in an older version of Paragon, but they took it out in the most recent version. Hadn't realized this until you replied. That said, I did a minor test myself and I think what I proposed isn't necessary. I think just the raw modded files alone are enough, which obviously you'd already be sharing when you release the mod. Another benefit to this is you can more easily make mods that'd normally conflict compatible with one another. For example I mentioned making a modification for your mod where unit starting classes are changed because I saw a mod on Gamebanana that turned every unit into villagers - it would be a fairly simple matter (I imagine, anyway) to combine that mod with your mod and make every character a blank slate to try out their new alternate classes without needing Pitchforks. Archer is a good fallback class, so I'd say it wouldn't do Clair any harm. And yeah, Conrad's probably a good choice considering his class isn't so good when a good chunk of maps in Celica's path at that point are swampy bogs or forested ruins, IIRC. I guess maybe also Valbar just 'cuz he's a knight and he'd be better off if you slapped a pegasus onto that title - might even be a durable enough dude that effectiveness bonuses against him won't do too much damage. Anyone else would really just be to shake up the dynamic of things/optimize the party.
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