Shadows Interceptor

Haha, I completely forgot about Azura's waterbending. Whoops! That would be a pretty big tell, wouldn't it? :) I could see the song being a coincidence, as there is no reason I can recall that her theme is a song only she knows, but that ability to manipulate water . . .

I actually think that no one recognizing Azura makes sense. It is pretty clear from the over the shoulder perspective of Garon you see for about two seconds that the royal box is nowhere near the stage. We as the players absolutely know who she is because we get a good close up look at her- Corrin and company who were likely up in that royal box or squeezed somewhere else in the crowd, do not get that. It may be I'm looking at this as though seen through my eyes- even with corrective lenses I cannot pick out details like facial features at more than thirty feet or so. Put me up in a balcony looking down at a stage and I certainly can't recognize an individual unless they are wearing a distinctive color or style of clothing. Yes, Azura does have that distinctive blue hair, but maybe it's not as uncommon as we might think? Thanks for another bunch of laughs blah!

No worries, March was a super busy month for me as well! Thank you very much for the feedback. Romance is indeed a dangerous genre to write, particularly when dealing with source material that allows for multiple romantic options. Some reader is always going to be disappointed. I feel your pain- I'm pretty adamant about some of my own ships too! But thank you so much for looking past that and telling me your thoughts on the story.

Man, this thread is making me laugh so hard! I've got to step up my playing pace so I can keep reading it! Also, going to go back to the beginning to comment on something. I'm pretty sure from the animation Hans did not actually push Gunter off the bridge, as they were fighting a board broke under the horse and the pair of them fell through. Which would make sense since that horse has to weigh an approximate shit ton with the fully armored man on its back plus its own armor, plus the fact that a horse strong enough to carry all that would have to be huge. My issue is why has Gunter's "death" not been mentioned since? I'm putting death in quotes because I've learned that unless that unless you actually see the moment of death or the corpse then nothing is certain. Corrin asks Hans why he did it, then the old great knight who saved his/her tail in the last few chapters and appears to have been a significant figure in his/her life has not been mentioned again (at least up to chapter 10). Not even Felicia/Jakob asks, "Hey, where is Gunter at?" when they rejoin you! If the game wants to "kill" off a character and make it meaningful they should make it seem like someone in game remembers the person's existence!

Original story posted here: http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=61439 Thanks for any and all feedback! Constructive criticism is welcome!

Hey everyone. This is the story I wanted to submit as my Scribbles entry, but decided against it since I had completed it long before the contest was announced! Funny story, this little thing sat unfinished for five years on my computer until I suddenly realized how it was supposed to end. I'd welcome any feedback and the thread for it can be found here: http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=61440 0 0 0 Huey fussed and fretted for ages before Florina was able to calm him enough so she felt comfortable leaving the pegasus for the night. By the time she started to make her way back to the tent she shared with her sisters the camp was virtually empty, with everyone having retreated to the relative warmth of the shelters hours before. But it was not only the cold that they were escaping. Since that afternoon . . . since Oswin had revealed that terrible news . . . the atmosphere of the camp had been as grey as the threatening sky looming above them. It did not matter that most of the army had never met Lord Uther- even so, they knew his death was a terrible blow for all of Lycia. But for those of them who had known him, the loss was staggering. And no one, Florina observed, took it harder than Hector. In the months since Lyndis’s Legions joined up with Eliwood and Hector’s army she had seen the young lord who both terrified and fascinated her react to many different situations- more often than not with his formidable temper leading the way. But as soon as Oswin reluctantly shared the news, rather than shout and rage about the unfairness of life or even shed a few tears as Florina would have expected, Hector became extremely quiet. He refused to speak to anyone, even Eliwood. The last she knew Hector had been sitting alone by one of the fires silently staring into the dancing tongues of orange and red. As if acting of their own accord Florina's legs took her a different route. She tiptoed through the camp rather than around it, past the area where communal fires had been lit some hours before. He was still there, a formless mound in the grey darkness staring into the embers' dying light. She stopped and stared at Hector's unmoving back. The young lord's head was bowed towards the paltry heat given off by the fire's glowing remains. Though Florina watched him for several minutes he did not stir. It would be easy to keep going. Hector hadn't noticed her come and he certainly wouldn't notice her leave. It was late, she should be getting back to her tent before Farina and Fiora started to worry. He wanted to be alone all day so of course he would want to stay alone now. These and a hundred more reasons to leave ran through her head, but Florina did not move. This couldn't be Hector, the brash man who led them fearlessly into battle despite the odds. Florina wasn't sure Hector knew how to calculate odds or whether he would care about them if he could! It wasn't right to see him lost like this. He needed ... he needed ... something. What did she need when she was sad? A hug from her sisters, a flight on her pegasus, a good long cry with someone close by telling her everything would be alright. Florina couldn't imagine any of these things bringing comfort to Hector. But still she wrung her hands in worry; she couldn't leave him like this. Very slowly Florina tip toed to Hector's side. He sat hunched over on the cold dirt with his knees tucked up under his chin. If he noticed her presence he made no indication. Timidly Florina lowered herself to the ground beside him. Her heart beat like a drum in her chest as she tried hard and failed to ignore the fact that even while sitting he dwarfed her in every way shape and form. He was huge and scary and male but those were no reasons to leave him alone in his despair. She ought to do something more, Florina mused. Talk to him, tell him things would get better, give him a hug, tell a joke, make him laugh or smile or something. That's what he would do for an upset friend. But all of those things were far beyond Florina's comfort level with any man, in particular with a man as, for lack of a better term, manly as Hector. Stupid, stupid fear making her unable to do what should be something as easy as blinking! As it was it took her close to ten minutes just to gather enough courage to rest one tiny hand on Hector's knee. Florina let out a little squeak of shock when Hector's large hand moved to cover hers. Had she not frozen in panic at the contact she would have torn away and sprinted full speed towards her tent. He made no move to actually hold her hand, just rested his enormous paw on top of it. I know you're here, the gesture said. In a few minutes Florina's rapid breathing slowed and her galloping heart subsided to a more reasonable rate. It might not be a hug, but maybe Hector would realize that this was the best she could do? He made no move to affirm this and she made no attempt to ask. They sat till the last faint light from the coals faded away into blackness. With the light and source of warmth gone Florina was suddenly conscious of the late hour and the chill wind that plucked at her loose flying hair. She shivered in spite of herself. She heard rather than saw Hector shifting beside her. The rustle of cloth lead her to believe he must have been freeing his cloak from whatever odd position it had twisted into upon his sitting down hours before. The hand covering hers pressed down slightly and Florina tensed in response. She looked up at the dim outline that was Hector's head. From the shape of the silhouette she could tell he was looking down at her. "Stay?" Had the man been on his knees begging before her the request could not have been more poignant. The pain, the desire for someone to be with him in this time of tragedy was conveyed in absolute perfection through that single word. Hector was not a man to admit he needed help but . . . it hurt so much. It hurt and he couldn't take it and he wanted, needed someone to tell him he wasn't alone. Florina's response was a whisper on the wind. "Okay." Slowly Hector used his free hand to drape his cloak over her shoulders. Though the thick fabric and Hector's radiating body heat drove the cold away in minutes Florina continued to tremble. But in time even that stopped. Eventually Hector's chin dropped to his chest and Florina felt her eyes growing heavy with sleep. Just as Hector started to snore Florina gave in to exhaustion and timidly rested her head against his shoulder. Moments later she too drifted off. They stayed like that till morning, where Eliwood found them huddled fast asleep under Hector's dew damp cloak: side by side, hand in hand.

I am so looking forward to playing this game! Yeah, the story sounds like it has issues but honestly, I think I'll like it just fine. I kind of like Awakening's story, just because it's different than the Fire Emblems I played before. Those boiled down to 'Evil empire tries to take over world, possibly with dragons. You stop them.' Yeah, Awakening certainly had elements of that plot but it also brought in things on a grander scale, even if it might not have done so in the most coherent way. Plus, I've played through Tales of Graces. As long as Fates delivers a better story than that and actually lets me accomplish things in the game I think I'll be happy as a clam. You get a little tired of a game that renders all of the effort you put into fighting a boss useless because of b.s. plot reasons. Especially when it happens a lot. And by a lot I mean Every. Single. Time. That game stole my final boss kill and I will never forgive it. And, I do love me some fanfiction! Already got a few ideas in mind . . .

So what I'm reading is that if someone wants to snap the difficulty over their knee they can. If they want to preserve difficulty and play Fates like an older Fire Emblem they can. If they want some combination of the above they can do that too. Long story short, Fates gives options. People can play the way they want to, the way they feel they will get the most enjoyment out of the game. For a game where a major point of advertising was how many options the player had, I think this discussion proves Fates fulfilled its goal admirably- at least in terms of gameplay. Now why don't we just sit back and let each other enjoy playing through Fates in whatever way we choose, may it be with an army of super Corrins or an under leveled team of whatever units did not happen to be used on the last map and thus were spared from the rout that killed off their comrades.

It is dependent on your playstyle, whether you like to use powerful characters or characters whose personalities you like, and the every volatile RNG goddess. But here is my two cents. Is Wallace any good? Never used him. The fact that he is a prepromote unless you do Lyn's hard mode is a downside. Is Canas any good? He will be your only dark magic user, so he definitely has his uses there. A little slow for my tastes as I like my mages fast and dodgy, but I know several people who swear by him. Is Oswin any good? is he better or worse than Wallace? Oswin is fantastic and I definitely recommend using him. By the end of the game most regular enemy attacks just plink off of him. Serra or Pricilla. By the time Pricilla joins you can already have a whole lot of investment put into Serra, making her the far easier unit to promote. Pricilla's higher mobility is nice, but if you don't see yourself playing with other high mobility units then there really isn't any reason not to use Serra. Plus her supports with Erk are hilarious. Is Nino any good? Yes, with effort put in. She is powerful, but at that point in the game you will already have mages with a lot more experience. If you aren't careful everything will kill Nino, since she comes in at such a low level. But she is a sweetheart and her supports with Jaffar are great! Which pegasus sister is the best and if there is no best, please tell me the pros and cons of each one. I have only ever used Florina because by the time the other sisters join I have put a great deal of effort into training her up and I almost always have better units to field than untrained pegasus knights. Kent or Lowen. (I already know Sain is the best, so i'm only comparing these 2) Kent. I tried using Lowen once, it didn't work out. His level ups were meh and he was very quickly outclassed by Kent. Will or Rebecca. please tell me the pros and cons of each. and i dont care about the no upclose attacking so please dont say neither. I've had better luck with Rebecca because her speed growths have been more consistent. Will has a higher strength growth I believe, but I prefer the ability to double attack with more regularity. Dart or Bartre (i already know Dorcas is inferior) Never used either, I dislike fighters as a general rule and have a personal vendetta towards FE pirates. Guy or Raven (please give me pros and cons) Both are good. Raven is a typical merc, strong, reasonably tanky and fast. I don't typically add new units to my fighting roster later in game but I try to make an exception for Raven. He may be the more useful of the two, but I genuinely like Guy better. You don't need to be tanky if nothing can hit you and swordmaster critical rates are fantastic. Support him up with Matthew and nothing will touch either of them. Park him on top of a hill in a defensive line and he will hold that line as well as any general.

If Birthright is the easier route while Conquest is the harder route, where does Revelations fall in comparison? Thanks in advance!

Reminds me of the Awakening release fiasco. My brother and I were in college at the time: my roommate and I drove around to all the Gamestops and other stores in the area while my brother decided, because he had nothing better to do, to walk to his local Gamestop in the middle of a blizzard- all of us returned with nothing to show for our troubles. At this point I'm going to wait a couple weeks till my birthday, which should hopefully bring about an influx of gift cards, to get the game. In the mean time I'll poke around Gamestop every now and then on the slim chance that they get a used SE in stock! Never going to happen, but I can hope.

Alen vs Lance vs Marcus vs Zealots vs Trec vs Noah vs Percival Alen. In my current playthrough I've described him as having enough strength to bench press Dieck while Dieck is bench pressing Alen's horse. Wolt vs Dorothy vs Klein vs Igrene Igrene. Purely because of her support with Astore. I don't typically like archers and thus don't use them. Sue vs Sin vs Dayan Sue. She makes for a lovely dodge tank. Bors vs Wendy vs Barth vs Douglass Bors. He turned out pretty useful in early game for me before I suddenly had to worry about completing chapters in set amounts of turns. Niime vs Sophia vs Raigh I can't stand dark magic users- never have, likely never will. I like my mages fast and dodgy, thank you very much. So, of these three, Raigh, because he's Nino's son. Lugh vs Lilina vs Hugh Lillina, no question. I got ridiculously lucky with her speed growths so she can reliably double attack all the things. I have dubbed her the Blazing Scourge Ellen vs Saul vs Clarine vs Cecillia vs Jodel Clarine. She's amusing, she got good magic growths, and through some dedicated grinding became my first promoted unit (at level twenty, no less). Saul lost my respect when he refused to grow in magic for fourteen levels straight. Chad vs Astore vs Cath Astore. I just like the guy. I'm keeping him in my active roster as a fighting unit and feeding him every stat boosting item I come across to make up for the fact that he has hit level twenty but can't promote. And he would have made such a nice assassin too :( Rutger vs Fir vs Karel Rutger. Nothing can touch him and with the right supports and weapon his critical rate is insane. Plus I've got a soft spot for vengeance crazed killers in my RPGs. Bartre vs Geese vs Gonzales vs Lot vs Wade vs Garret Who? I also don't typically like axe wielders. I can't really give an opinion here since I haven't used any of these guys. Deke vs Ogier vs Ekhidna Dieck (or Deke). He's a tank who crits like a myrmidon. Zeiss vs Milady Haven't actually recruited Zeiss yet, but I hope he impresses me more than Milady, Ms. I'm Going to Grow Ten Levels Without Getting a Single Point in Strength. Shanna vs Thite vs Juno Shanna (Thany) because she is the only one I've had the patience to train up. I don't like to field more than one frail flier at a time. Lalum vs Elphin Elphin. Lalum just sort of annoys me. Thoughts on Merlinus? He is best confined to cut scenes. And I don't like him much there. Thoughts on Fae? She's adorable and a dragon, what's not to like? Well, I guess the fact that she only gets 30 uses of her dragonstone . . . Thoughts on Roy? He's not as bad as I feared he would be. He's a fine lord and a decent unit. Not great, but good enough to hold his own. Plus the support bonuses he give to Lillina are fantastic!

Aaaaaand the Best Buy ebay copies are gone! One hour! One hour away from checking this thread and I miss that! Congrats to those who snagged one! Maybe I'll make a few calls to stores around where I'm at- perhaps someone will decide to cancel their preorder at the last minute???

When did you guys order your special editions? I really was hoping to get one, but by the time i checked (a day or so after the Nintendo Direct released) I couldn't find it available anywhere! I have no interest in the art book or carrying case, all I wanted was the three paths on one cart :) It's silly, but I have this thing about digital downloads- I just don't like to do it for certain games, Fire Emblem being one of them . . . not that it's going to stop me from eventually getting Conquest and Revelations! Hope you all get your copies without any issues!

Thank you XaosLogos! That feel of transcendence is exactly what I was going for. For anyone who is interested in reading some of my other work you can find me on fanfiction.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/2100895/Shadow-s-Interceptor I primarily write character driven stories that take and expand upon the worlds and characters already given to us in the original work. Two overarching themes in a lot of my stories are family and friendship. I've written the most stories for Final Fantasy VI, though I have also dabbled in writing for Final Fantasy V, VII, and IX, Fire Emblem (obviously), and a few others that aren't all that good. My current project is a story that follows two characters from Final Fantasy VI, Cyan, a warrior who has lost everything but his life, and Gau, a child raised by monsters, through the events of the game and explores how they help each other heal and grow. Also in progress is a massive editing attempt for my other big Final Fantasy VI story, about the relationship between the characters Shadow, the assassin who has killed his emotions, and Relm, the stubborn little girl who decides to befriend him anyway.