TheGoodHoms

As a Xenoblade fan, Pyra and Mythra are a really cool addition to the Smash roster, but as some who adamantly believes Xenoblade Chronicles X stands head and shoulders above the other games it pains me greatly that we won't be getting Elma or Cross. Monster Hunter Rise was easily the best part of the direct for me personally, but I'm already set on getting it when it comes out so it's more or less just extra fuel for the hype. The only brand new title that really sparked my interest in a significant way was Triangle Strategy because Octopath was a brilliant game and this spinoff looks just as promising. I really like the idea of each path being based on an idea you choose to uphold rather than just the character that you choose. Also I'm declaring team morality in advance and none of you can stop me.

Personally I would have preferred Cecil Harvey from Final Fantasy 4, but I suppose Sephiroth's not a bad choice. Probably the coolest edition so far in fighters pass 2, especially since it's the first new villain we've had in a while.

I know I'm a little late to the party, but if I may be so bold, I think this discussion incorrectly assumes that themes are one of the most important subjects of art criticism when in reality themes can't be held up to any sort of standard which makes them practically incompatible with the fundamental goal of criticism. To accurately critique art it needs to be judged according to it's objective qualities, in the case of film these qualities would be things like story structure, writing, dialogue, characterization, performance, cinematography, lighting, and sound. For video games we could also add in interactive elements like level design, controls, and gameplay mechanics. All of these things can be objectively analyzed to determine a work's quality, but themes on the other hand cannot because they inherently subjective. This is not to say that themes don't actually exist in media or that they can't enhance your enjoyment of something, but I am saying that themes can't be objectively measured against other themes to determine it's quality. For example, lets say there are two films with underlying themes about environmentalism, one asserts that environmentalism is a good thing that needs to be supported and another says that it's a hoax and that we shouldn't waste resources perusing it. If I asked you which film is objectively better based solely on this information you wouldn't be able to because neither stance is objectively right or wrong since it's a matter of perspective. However, if I told you that one of these movies has a tightly written narrative and eloquent dialogue and the other has a meandering plot and vague dialogue you could immediately tell which is objectively better because we know that eloquent dialogue conveys information the audience needs to know to understand the story better than vague dialogue which is more likely to leave the audience confused. I'm not saying we shouldn't talk about themes in media because I actually like discussing them quite a bit myself, but we need to be mindful of the fact that criticism should be based on objective standards to provide a fair and accurate assessment of a work's quality, free of as much personal bias as humanly possible.

If I remember correctly, Joker's reveal was an out of nowhere bombshell with no tease or build up from Nintendo. So it could still be coming, but I for one hope that it doesn't because I REALLY don't want to watch TGA again this year.

I'm sorry my friend, but you've left me no choice...

Think you're a massive Fire Emblem fan? Well our good friend @PeaceRibbon sang the main theme of Fire Emblem Fates at a college fall festival! Give it a listen and show this absolute mad lad some love!

I learned this morning that legendary actor Sir Sean Connery had just died at age 90. Sean Connery has been in a lot of great movies over the years, my personal favorites being his portrayal of James Bond in the original 007 films, Professor Henry Jones in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Captain Marko Ramius in The Hunt for Red October. If anyone else here has any fond memories of his movies feel free to share them, lest we forget that death is a time to celebrate life. Rest in peace Sir Sean Connery, there's plenty of room in heaven for a charming Scotsman like you.

I think a lot of 3DS era converts have also played Three Houses. The joke was more about riffing on obnoxious old school FE elitists, than teasing newer fans for enjoying the quality of life features introduced into recent games.

Prepare yourselves 3DS era converts, no more pair-ups, battalions, or casual modes for you! It's time for the return of the brutal and unforgiving world of Japanese Fire Emblem! MUHAHAHAHA!!! All jokes aside, this rerelease comes as a pleasant surprise and at only 6 bucks I'll defiantly be picking this one up. I've developed a fondness for older video games as of late so a game like FE1 would be an excellent addition to my collection. Can't wait to have my butt handed to me on an 8-bit silver platter and love it anyway! Are you trying to expose us as roommates?

Thanks for the shout out!

If fighters pass two is doing more for you than fighters pass one I say more power to you. I'm not actually mad that Steve got in, I just wanted to use that image because it's funny. That's not to say I don't want Dante in the game because I freaking love Devil May Cry, but at this point I'm not going to get too worked up if none of my favorite choices get in because the roster already has so many characters I absolutely adore like Simon and Terry. Though I still stand by my statement that Steve isn't really exciting, at least not for me personally.

I got it from the DMC reddit so sue them for the damages.

I mean... it's technically not a bad inclusion, but it doesn't really excite me at all. Maybe the stage will be fun? Hopefully the next fighter will be more interesting.

My predictions are Rex & Pyra or Travis Touchdown, but the characters I would actually like to see are Elma and Dante.

I'm sure I've done lots of silly things in the past, but my most recent blunder happened in Three Houses when I trained Byleth to be a caviler which is really hard to do since you can only train him in riding by talking to other professors. He fell behind the rest of the army pretty quickly and by the end game he was borderline useless aside from being able to use the sword of the creator. Long story short, don't build Byleth into mounts, keep his boots on the ground.

I'm not a huge fan of Scott Pilgrim, but I'm really happy for all the fans who've been waiting years for this game to return. I'm not sure if I'll get it for myself, but as an arcade beat'em junkie I think I'd probably enjoy it so maybe during a sale or something.

I don't have a lot of time to read books for leisure since I'm in college, but my favorite books will always be The Lord of the Rings. It's a tale of friendship, courage, duty, sacrifice, and redemption that resonates with me in a way very few things can. Return of the King moves me to tears every time.

Last game I played was Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite so I guess we're getting a Capcom developed Fire Emblem fighting game spin-off. Though Capcom has made all kinds of games in the past so I'm sure they could handle a main line title as well.

I'm not particularly ashamed of the way a pick mains. I just wanted to put my personal observations out there for the sake of comparison with the others.

@Fabulously Olivier and @PeaceRibbon got me thinking about what patters I could find in my mains. Aesthetics - I don't have a strong bias towards good or evil characters or male vs. female. The only thing I care about is how seriously I can take the character in the context of the game. If a character is obviously meant to be a joke or I find their design overly edgy I probably won't main them. Personality - I don't have much to say about personality because I personally consider it to be an intrinsic part of the aesthetic appeal so I'd basically be repeating myself. You guys are more than welcome to argue me on that one. Mechanics - Generally I prefer to main characters with a somewhat jack-of-all-trades play-style. Not that they necessarily need to have a tool for every situation, but they should strike a certain balance between offense and defense so that I can quickly shift gears if my current strategy stops working for whatever reason.

I can confidently say that I've chosen main characters in many different games for every single reason you've proposed. Aesthetics are probably the biggest factor that draws me towards certain mains initially, but I usually swap out for mains with a comfortable/fun play style in the long run.

Congratulations man, owning your own place must be pretty exciting!

I've been pretty silent about Three Houses over the past year mostly because of my apprehension toward the change in direction for the gameplay. The heavy emphasis on the monastery activities wasn't holding my attention very well, the combat is just as good as it has always been and I was enjoying the story and characters way more than Awakening and Fates, but micromanaging my free days every month was a slog. Truth be told it was so grading for me that I only finished my first play through recently. That's right, while the lot of you finished all 4 routes within the first 3 months of the game's release, I took my sweet time and played 1 route sporadically over the course of a year. But despite all my grievances I can confidently say Three Houses, or at least Azure Moon in particular, is up there as one of my favorite Fire Emblem games. The story and characters are some of my favorites in the series, I grew to enjoy each member of the Blue Lions immensely and when I finally reached the time skip the story's twists and turns had dug their claws into me deep and refused to let go. The closer I got to the story's ending the more I would play the game until eventually I was blitzkrieging my way through the final few chapters because my investment in the fate of these characters was just that high. As my fondness for the characters grew I also learned to better appreciate the monastery activities because it gave me more time to interact with the characters and customize their skills and abilities in ways other Fire Emblem games only dabbled with before, now the gates are flung wide open and it's pretty darn cool. This has to be one of the biggest 180 turnarounds I've ever hand on my opinions for a video game.

I think it's possible they might announce who the character is going to be, but I wouldn't expect much in the way of gameplay. I imagine the pandemic will make the development cycle for fighter's pass two much slower than the first one. However, I am definitely open to being surprised if they can get challenger pack seven into our hands sooner than I expect.

Gordon - Specifically pre-recruitment. Doesn't have his bow and has no attacks whatsoever. Batta the Beast - Fights with an axe, but all other fighters automatically land critical hits on him if their damage is above 40%. Donnel - YEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAW!!! Gatekeeper - Is immune to being launched, but lacks the ability to move.