Shanty Pete's 1st Mate

Lima was worse, but mainly because he allowed for obviously bad stuff under his nose, while not even caring. Stuff like Desaix being in charge, and a creep like Slayde being allowed to serve as a knight. I do have an ounce of pity for him - thinking he lost his children in the fire may have worsened his probable depression. Still, he was completely unfit to hold the throne, and Desaix took advantage of that, to Zofia's detriment. As for Rudolf... his plan is rather convoluted, demands more suffering in the short-term, and could have seriously backfired. But, in conjunction with the actions of Alm and Celica, it had the effect of saving Valentia from its worst inhabitants - namely, the Duma Cult. Look, I'm not here to tread on freedom of religion, but when you're part of a violent club that creates monsters and forces people to give up their own souls, we're gonna have a problem. I'm indifferent to the whole "uniting Valentia", but deposing Jedah and his awful pyramid scheme was for the better of Rigel, and the whole continent.

Welcome back, everyone! I meant to kick off the next chapter a touch earlier, but I was tired Saturday night, and I try to stay off the site on Sundays. In any case, Mad Melee and Group Lance Attack both received some faint praise, while Random Shot managed to take the crown, as the worst-reviewed gambit thus far! Will any of today's contestants underperform it? Chapter 6: Line of Lances, Linked Horses, and Battleground Cleanup To begin with, as usual, I'll cover the stats of each of these gambits: Line of Lances Linked Horses Battleground Cleanup A brief recap of the grading guidelines: And now, let's unbox my own thoughts about these gambits!

Few realize it, but Gaiden was the very first Ragefest submission. Leon is a treasure. What should they cost, in a game without weapon durability? Should it be a "limited number of uses per map", like spells and gambits in Three Houses? Anyway, I'd counter that Physic isn't that readily available: Genny gets it, but you're not guaranteed a user on Alm's side until Tatiana. Faye and Tobin can learn it, yes, but they have several other class options. Huh, never noticed that. I can only imagine they were hearkening back to the FE4 tradition, of the Killer Bow being really easy to double with, and generally overpowered.

Yeah, but that's just a general reflection of fliers in general (and Wyvern Lord in particular) being overpowered, relative to other classes, in 3H. Wyvern Lord is the "optimal class" for nearly half the cast. As for Emperor, I do think a hybrid "Armored Axes-plus-Magic" class would at least be cool, if not optimal. But aesthetically, why not let us use Edelgard's Flame Emperor outfit? It's her most interesting armor design.

Her "personal" battalion also boosts her Magical attack. It's like they set up all the pieces to make her a hybrid combatant... and then gave her a "Fortress Knight, but worse" personal class. Not sure what the thought process was here.

Yeah, I don't think I've ever reached any caps in my four playthroughs thus far. If you're not surpassing, say, level 50, you're not likely to hit them. And you're not likely to raise their levels that high, outside of a solo run. I've only seen a couple stats go over 50, too - Magic on Lysithea, and Charm on Teach (thanks, teatime). Basically, caps are irrelevant for normal play. Also, in the future, please try to write a descriptive topic name. "Wtf is this real" could be about anything.

Yes, but Awakening especially makes it easy to pump a lot of levels into your growth units (i.e. infinite leveling via seals, Robin's Veteran skill), while also offering some of the highest growth rates in the series. I think the discussion is hampered by viewing "prepromotes" and "growth units" as antonyms. They're not. Wolf and Sedgar, while prepromotes, are also growth units. Similarly, FE12 Palla is not a prepromote, but she is a bases unit. Also re: Shadow Dragon, people are weirdly sleeping on Wendell. You know, the guy who shows up with 14 Speed, D Staff support, and the ability to use Excalibur from chapter 5? IIlyana's failure to meat expectations means she'll be going to bed hungry again.

I'm gonna say Awakening. Since the optimal way to play is to just funnel EXP into a handful of units. So their bases matter somewhat, but higher growths mean they reach "bulldozing" potential sooner. Robin dominates due to their growths (and skills, and class set), rather than to bases. That said, it's not infinite. Donnel has the best growths in the game (accounting for Aptitude), and he's still a trash unit, owing to awful bases and a limited class set. And Frederick is useful early on (as the game's "Jagen"), even if he doesn't "keep up" quite so easily.

Agreed in drawing a distinction. Moreover, the "distress" that Valbar and co find themselves in is directly due to his decision to go after the Pirates. So they're in as much "distress" as Celica herself (who also picks a fight with Barth, and who can also be killed by his forces). I believe the same is true of Palla and Catria. If they didn't view defeating those bandits as an imperative, couldn't they have just... I dunno, flown away? Nobody is forcing them to risk their lives in this case. Perhaps, but Lysithea is also quite callous toward her classmates. Most of the students, it's possible to find a mix of positive and negative traits within. Yo that's messed up.

The one case I could see HP being preferable is an Alm solo run. Wherein, he'll have no trouble hitting level 20 before promotion. Otherwise? EXP all the way. This really seems like an exercise in cherry-picking. The Golden Deer have Lysithea and Leonie, sure, but they also have Hilda, whose key character trait is "being lazy and getting others to do her chores for her." The Black Eagles have lazy Linhardt, yes, but they also have Ferdinand von Aegir, who is nothing if not diligent. Catherine may be "the cream of the cream", but Jeralt is also counted as "the strongest knight who ever lived". I'd say Three Houses is pretty egalitarian, in how its characters are represented. They weren't being held captive, though - they were in a fight, and she helped them out. Much like Celica does for Palla and Catria later on. Jesse is the only male character that she rescues from being held captive. To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to use the Lightning Sword. Its combat arts are extremely subtle, and without advance knowledge of Fates RN, most of the calcs will go over your head. /game Double Lion on a fully-forged Royal Sword was how I beat Thabes, more or less. It's an absurdly good art, but then again, what brave art isn't?

Harsh, but I can appreciate the reasoning. I've not yet pulled a 1/10, because I've always thought that "well, there's a way it could be worse". We'll see if anything comes up that I consider 1-worthy. These are pretty much perfect! It could have been nice to have some gambits affected by weapon skills - like, "Sea of Swords" gambit would get a hit boost from Sword Prowess and Axebreaker. Or, "Flurry of Fists" could damage the targets twice in a row. Then again, even if they didn't do this stuff, it'd be nice flavor. Just in terms of style, I'd say gambit names are of... varying quality.

The bolded part, I wouldn't consider an especially good argument. Most Fire Emblem titles refer to a "goddess", and in the other games where they're given form (such as Tellius), they're generally represented as female. The only games I can think of without a goddess are Fates and Sacred Stones, and even those ones still have "Goddess Icons". That said, I totally agree otherwise. Rhea's "Damsel-hood" in part II of non-CF routes stands in stark contrast to her role in White Clouds, wherein she acts as Archbishop - possibly the single highest authority on the continent. Moreover, she's not brainwashed and forced to fight against the player (a la Tiki or Delthea), nor is she treated as a "bargaining chip" to manipulate the player's army (like Mathilda or Lucia). I don't think all female characters in captivity can be dismissed as "damsels in distress", or else the term becomes pretty much meaningless - and in Rhea's case, she's more of a "political prisoner-of-war" than anything else. Anyway, comparing Three Houses to Echoes/Gaiden in terms of treatment of women really feels like night and day. You know, Gaiden? The game where every female unit Alm recruits has to first be saved from captivity at the hands of wicked men? Three Houses does nothing close to that.

Broke: Fixing the Mine Glitch, so that the game plays the way the developers intended. Woke: Retaining the Mine Glitch, so that the player has the same options they had in the original release. Bespoke: Letting the enemies abuse the Mine Glitch to control player unit AI, so that the game plays the way Kaga would have made it. Anyway, this would be really cool to see. A full-on remake of the Elibe games, combined, would come across as great to me - and featuring Sacred Stones would just be cherries on top. The biggest boon would be having FE6 in an official English translation. On the flip side, a smaller-scale remaster - say, with some minor fixes, but not the fixes of modern games - would probably allow for a shorter development window and lower price point. Which are their own benefits. Also, I'm curious - where did you get that picture from? It appears to depict a promoted Eliwood (with Durandal) fighting morph-Darin (with Rex Hasta) in the final chapter of FE7, but the background is different (brown-colored stone tiles rather than green), and fog-of-war is present. Not sure if this was a trait of the Japanese release, or of a "beta version" of the game.

And that's chapter 4! People seemed to hold Blaze and Poison Tactic in roughly equal regard, around the middle-of-the-barrel among offensive gambits. Meanwhile, Absorption had grades all over the place, but low enough to make it the second-lowest thus far (after the glitched-out Reversal). So, what have we got today? Chapter 5: Mad Melee, Group Lance Attack, and Random Shot We're moving back, from gambits with some of the largest areas-of-effect, to those with some of the smallest. How will they stack up against one another? Mad Melee Group Lance Attack Random Shot Quick reminder of the Grading Guidelines: Anyway, how do I rate these three gambits? Find out in the box below: Thank you for reading! I'm looking forward, as usual, to what everyone else has to say about these ones.

Regarding the stuff in the spoiler tag: That, and manipulating Slayde's AI. Still, excessive grinding can make the battle itself less tedious.

Well it's up to you, of course. Shields and armor could coexist, I guess, but they should be differentiated in some manner. Like, Shields could have durability (based on a number of hits, or amount of damage taken), while Armor lasts forever. Or, Shields could be tradeable or unequippable mid-map (thus losing the defense boost, but also the weight penalty), whereas you're stuck with armor the whole map (like a Battalion in Three Houses). Just wanted to add, I like the concept of two-handed weapons! But I would say, just make sure they're worth both hands. There's a long history in the series of higher rank weapons having more might... but also being heavier, and less accurate, and more expensive. Heavy two-slot weapons need to offer more than just extra might, I would say, to justify their cost. But there's a lot that can be done here, like brave effects, extra crit, or type-effective damage.

Give it to the cheese merchant at Zofia Castle! In turn, he'll give you the Exotic Spice, which can be sold for 3 Gold Marks. This opens up a wealth of forging opportunities - for instance, you can instantly boost the Royal Sword to Rank 2, for 2 extra Might and 5 more Hit. Clive's doubts work better here if you failed to save Mathilda. That said, Alm failing to call Fernand a "punk-ass bitch" really strains my immersion. And horse, don't forget her horse. I wonder if he was scheduled to be executed as well? Almost certainly that one. Fernand can't stand the peasants getting all uppity. In my first playthrough, I assumed "oh, I'll encounter them again on a future map". A la Cath in FE6. I had no idea of returning to Zofia Harbor to pick them up. So I actually got Est first among the sisters! "Barth and Garth and Grieth and Dolth... the 'League of -th's, you might say!"

I like this narratively, but how would it work in gameplay? If it's a case where "Alm beats Berkut in battle, but then there's a cutscene where Berkut actually wins", that would feel pretty cheap. If it's a case where Alm needs to lose in battle, isn't that supposed to cause a Game Over? They could suspend permadeath for a map, but if the game isn't clear about it, that could really mess with players' heads. Maybe the win-con is "Alm fights Berkut", but the battle is scripted so that Berkut is guaranteed to win (say, a certain crit). They could overpower Berkut so he's almost impossible to beat, but in a game with grinding, I don't know if that's something they can guarantee (consider, plenty of people beat Desaix's double). But yeah, this would make Berkut look more competent. How about, Desaix doesn't send out troops until after the Berkut encounter? Once that happens, Alm and co are forced to return to Zofia Castle, and Desaix starts sending the cavalry against him. That way, they could balance the battle without considering the implications of an additional squad showing up.

I'm trying to figure out how to factor this in during the next series - that is, rating the battalions themselves. In theory, both the gambit and the stat boost can be granted independent scores, which are then factored into the total. But if a battalion lowers physical attack (and has a physical gambit), shouldn't it get a lower score than one with the same stat modifiers (but a comparably-graded magical gambit)? So I may end up applying a slight malus, in cases where there's a "stat boost - gambit mismatch". But, that's a bridge to cross later on. Yeah, I've thought of this for a while, but part of the reason for the timing was that things have really quieted down here. That's partly understandable, for a game nearly two years old, but disappointing nonetheless. Still, it's been a cozy experience - and fewer regular respondents mean I could have quicker turnaround on the chapters. And the foci are simple enough that, should anyone show up late, back-grading the gambits isn't out of the question. Sounds good! I still don't have the energy for doing it daily, but I may be able to make an "every other day" schedule work.

It looks like Fusillade and Poisoned Arrows really hit the mark for a lot of people, as they've become our second- and first-highest ranked gambits thus far! How long can we expect them to hold the silver and gold medals? Chapter 4: Blaze, Poison Tactic, and Absorption The first two are both quite similar to one another, while the last one has its own unique eccentricities. They all possess, however, a larger area-of-effect than anything we've analyzed thus far. Let's dive in! Blaze Poison Tactic Absorption A brief recap of the grading guidelines: As for my own thoughts? Well, open the box below to find out! That's all for today! I'm really looking forward to what y'all have to say. And, as a bit of a procedural question - should I keep on announcing the chapters a day ahead of time? Or will it be enough to just jump straight in to the next one? I don't want anyone to be taken off-guard, but it doesn't seem like advance notices have had any effect. Thanks!

Nope. You're limited to 1 S support, per character, in the 3DS games. But C through A are unlimited.

It depends on game design and stat thresholds. In Three Houses Maddening, for instance, I generally find shields to be most useful not on fast and frail units, but those who are already bulky. By defense-stacking, I make my physical lure units more durable, drawing in enemies that my frailer (and more offensive) units can pick off on player phase. Not the only way to play, of course, but it's served me well. I guess the question is - what's the difference between, say, having a suit of armor that grants +10 defense (with 6 weight); and, having a suit of armor that grants +6 defense (with 4 weight), and a shield that grants +4 defense (with 2 weight)? Both reach the same outcome, except in the latter, the player has lost one slot they could be using for a weapon. If shields and armor function towards the same end, with similar costs, then I find including both in the game to just be redundant. I'm not opposed to either one existing, just their combination.

This is speculative, but here goes: Rudolf would rebut Alm's claims of Rigelian princehood as a lie, an attempt to justify the Zofian invasion post-facto. There's no way the Rigelian army would abandon their king en masse for the invader who forced them to their knees. Anyway, I'd say Rudolf is too strong of ability and conviction to be taken alive. If he loses his lance, he'll continue to fight with his fists. And so long as he lives, the armies of Rigel will oppose Alm, thus forcing Alm (or one among his army) to take his life. Okay that was pretty bad, you got me there. Of course, if the villain comes to full bear against the player early in the game, then it's a guaranteed Game Over. Why didn't Ursula stay behind in 7x of Lyn's Story, or Zephiel in chapter 3 of Roy's? Because that would end the game. Not sure if it was intentional, but this comes across like Rhys's lines in Path of Radiance, when they were discussing what to do with Princess Elincia as the Daein Army approached: Bit of a stretch, but this could be interpreted as having access to certain magical spells. Like Delthea's Aura, Silque's Warp, or Celica's Seraphim. Certain characters are "gifted" with better spell lists than others, even though anyone can potentially get the basics (i.e. Fire, Recover).

I sent my two left Joy-Cons in to Nintendo, to fix the drift. They were back, and repaired, in about three weeks. So that could be an option, if you don't mind waiting a bit. Otherwise, I played some Switch games with my GameCube controller. With an adapter, it works great on games where certain buttons (namely -Minus and ZL) are non-essential. In particular, I found it to be my favorite controller for playing Celeste thus far. I also used it in Three Houses, with minor inconvenience - I can't zoom out, and I can't Divine Pulse without first getting a "game over" death. That said, it's preferable to the cursor drifting under my nose. You mentioned having a GameCube, so maybe this would be an interim option?

Yeah I think 1 Armor slot would be fine, 2 at the most (say, tops and bottoms?). Also, why would shields still exist in the weapons slots? If they have a certain weight, but provide a defense boost, isn't that just what armor is already doing? This is pretty much gold. I do think variable inventories by class/character is severely underdone (neverdone?) in Fire Emblem. I would personally give Armor Knights the most weapon slots, while leaving mounted units with the fewest. Promotion could also include gaining an extra slot, in some cases. Finally, rather than having a convoy accessible on the field, how about a Merchant unit? Their combat would be limited at best, but they would possess an absurd number of slots, to bring "backup" weapons and equippables to trade to others.