Namero

I think the only thing that interested me in this was the thing about all the new banners having one of the new heroes available as 4 star. That'll make things a bit easier for a collector like me since it means twice the odds of getting one particular unit. It'll always obviously be the unit that is the least desirable among them, but when you're after them all, it still can make things easier. It'll also help me avoid another Eyvel situation (making the mistake of assuming a new unit with little to offer is a demote and thus becomes the one any only unit I am missing in the entire game at present! lol), Will this only be applied for new banners from here on out, or could it possibly be retroactively applied to returning seasonal banners? I feel semi-disappointed by the use of divine codes. I have long wished for a QOL item that could provide more leeway for various projects, like the ability to get a few merges for a unit you have or inherit a skill without losing another unit. This sort of provides that, but in an extremely limited and unfulfilling way. It seems we will have no say at all as to what character manuals will appear, and we will often be forced to get ones we don't want in order to get one we do want. As for FEH pass, I can't decide if my response should be, "When you spend anywhere from three to six hundred dollars a month on this game, what's another ten? Meh.", or should I go, "I already spend three to six hundred dollars a month on this game, and now they're trying to squeeze an extra ten out on top of that?! RAAAAAAAAGE!" lol My main disappointment is the fact that they are locking QOL features like extra supports and turn rewinds behind a paywall. Those sort of things should be available to everybody free of charge. I also dislike that there is now officially content that people can't access at all without forking over cash. Up to now, everything in the game could be obtained for free with either a lot of luck, or a good amount of patience and perseverance. It brings a sense of disappointment to somebody like me that always thought it to be a bit fulfilling to know the fact that my sacrifice is partly worth it due to the fact that it keeps an enjoyable experience around for other people that can't afford to make any sacrifice. If a subscription just had to happen, the things I would change would be: Make resplendent heroes available via divine codes (say a month worth of codes from a top player for a single resplendent hero); this would mean people that want a particular one could get it, but they'll have to forgo a lot of potential manuals in exchange, but at least they still have a means of getting them without charge. Having some exclusive quests for things like extra orbs seems okay (I would hope it to be enough orb quests that a person who does buy orbs could just say, "I can buy 23 orbs for thirteen bucks, or I can get twenty orbs over the month for ten bucks from the pass along with a lot of other goodies... no reason not to pick the latter."). And the final bonus that could make it actually make it make a worthwhile difference could be an increase in the chance of getting a focus unit on a banner by one percent while the pass is active. All QOL features like the multiple supports should be free and separate from it. I suppose the addition of a subscription (in this and every other Nintendo mobile game) is due to the demands of certain demons that walk among us called "shareholders"; they may look and sound like humans, but they are actually evil entities that exist for the sole purpose of spreading misery and chaos all in the name of "profit". lol With the increase in articles I had read in the past year about how subscriptions are becoming the next big thing in mobile games, I was afraid it would only be a matter of time before Nintendo was forced to start putting that in new games and even force it into older ones. And here we are. It will be ironic if this ultimately ends up having a detrimental effect on what was up to now their most profitable fully owned mobile game.

It is turning out just as I feared... instead of a "choose your legends" banner, we are going to end up with a "choose your house" banner! lol These results feel like a mix of recency bias and people eagerly wanting certain characters in that would have likely been in soon, anyway. I'm willing to bet a lot of characters like Lysithea and Dorathea are already planned and likely to be on the next Three Houses banner or two well before the next CYL banner arrives. Poor Marth just can't catch a break; first he gets screwed out of a rightful win by having his votes split, and now with all notable competition gone and the vote split fixed, he instead has to deal with two brand new main characters that just arrived. If I were Marth, I'd probably be thinking, "With all the focus on fan service these days, wouldn't it have made more sense to have two female leads?! Or even all three?!" Imagine if one rule was that before a character is available to be voted on, their game/chapter must have been out for a whole year. The results of that would be much more interesting... for me at least. lol

Call me crazy, but Byleth has been the one and only DLC character thus far to actually make me feel excited! lol Maybe I'm just a decrepit old man, having played Nintendo's series including Fire Emblem all the way back to the days of the Famicon, but when I play Smash, it is the Nintendo characters that excite me and that I look forward to. I think the only third party character I really wished for at any point was Sonic (and Megaman to a lesser extent). My reactions to the DLC characters thus far went like: "Joker? A random character I have no connection to whose game hasn't even been on a Nintendo console? Meh." "Hero? You already know it is not a character of personal history when they are simply called 'Hero', but the games they're from are kind of good. It's the fact that they are a walking RNG lottery that makes this character stand out! lol An okay addition, but I'd still much prefer a first party character." "Banjo? I don't know whether to laugh or cry... Way back in the day this would have been a dream... a dream I had long since buried and figured it better to forget due to the fact that it would just be an early reminder of how corporate greed is destined to ruin all of gaming... Bittersweet. I still would rather it be a first party character." "Terry? Isn't one/two fighting genre characters enough? I've played his games, but to me he is a distant character with little relevance these days. Another meh." At this point all hope for a Nintendo character is lost, thus I thought, "So who will this last character I do not care about be this time? Dante? Travis? L Block?..." The second I saw Byleth my Jaw dropped and I couldn't help but go, "Yes! Finally! A first party character! From a game I've put over a thousand hours into at that! The fact that it's a FE character is just the cherry on top! Hopes and dreams renewed! Life is good! Please let this be a sign of things to come!" All while bursting into uncontrollable laughter as I realized how salty all the people expecting the likes of Master Chief would end up being! 😂 As for the way Byleth was handled, I guess I like it overall. Giving him all the relics was one way to make a character representative of the series many signature weapons (instead of "just another swordsman"), kind of like how Robin was representative of the series durability system. I was kind of hoping that if Byleth was in, he'd have a gimmick revolving around hid Divine Pulse ability that he is known for which didn't end up happening. But this is still good enough for me. Here's to hoping that fighter pass 2 can also end with yet another FE character! Then Sakurai could conclude it by saying, "The reason we did six this time is because we did not want to break what has become an important tradition: All waves of DLC are to end with a new Fire Emblem character!" 🤣

*gasp* *pant* I... I did it! I got Peony to +10 from her debut banner! I was so unprepared that I was afraid it wouldn't be possible. I normally make a special effort to prepare for mythic heroes, so I was drained after Altina and expecting two months before the next. Then, the day after Altina ends, the game goes "What's that? You're expecting time to prepare for the next one? Ha! Guess again! You're next Mythic hero will be arriving tomorrow! On a normal banner no less! So you better not waste this one time opportunity!" I know well the odds of getting a specific unit you want off a normal banner is way higher than a legendary/mythic one, so instead of taking my chances with them I became determined to finish this one straight from its debut! Doing so was exhausting. Especially when a new set of Christmas units dropped in the middle to collect, one of which I'd like an extra merge for, but then there's a new legendary hero about to appear, as well as Winter Fae returning soon who I only need a couple more of to complete... Gah! This month is driving me crazy! Since I pulled a Kliff and Selkie along the way, I figured I'd use them to turn Peony into a de-buffer as well as a supporter for Aether Raids. Every other week she can equip the dual skill to serve as a top scoring dancer in other modes.

We haven't gotten any level four B skills, yet, have we? I suppose it is inevitable that we do sooner or or later. When that time comes, here is an idea for one: Bowbreaker 4: If unit's HP ≥ 25% in combat against a bow foe, unit makes a guaranteed follow-up attack and foe cannot make a follow-up attack. If bow foe initiats combat, grants spd +15 and reduces damage from area-of-effect specials (excluding Rokkr area-of-effect specials) and foe's first attack by 40%. With Null Follow-Up being everywhere, breaker skills have gotten pretty obsolete despite them being limited to being only useful for specific foes; an upgrade like this could make them worth using, again. An extra 15 spd would enable unit with decent speed to prevent a follow-up (or even make a follow-up themselves) even against foes with Null Follow-Up. And the damage reduction would be an extra bonus to make them all the more effective against the one specific weapon they are meant to counter. I would hope for a Bowbreaker 4 like this specifically to give a big middle finger to Legendary Alm, of whom I am utterly sick of seeing everywhere.

I must be missing something about how the scoring works... I'm using +10 copies of four of the highest rating units in the game (Halloween Hector, Legenday Tiki, Holloween Myrrh, and Surtr) all with top scoring skills like Galeforce/Aether and Rally+ skills, and I only got a score of 752. The top players at the moment have scores of 784... WTF! How is that even possible?! XD

This felt like a pure win banner. Every red is something I want. No matter which red appears I will be happy. 350 orbs down and all I get is one Sothis and one Altina?... Come on! I then noticed the silly Black Friday bundles and felt disappointed they revealed those right as the banner was arriving since I always stock up on orbs in the days prior, but went ahead and got them since getting a certain unit 100% for sure is too good of an offer to ever pass up. And with just twenty of those orbs I got two more of Altina. The RNG works in mysterious ways... lol The boons of the three Altinas I got are HP, Def, and Res. No +Atk, unfortunately. Among those three which do you think is best? Def is apparently a superboon, but there are way more magic threats out there in AR. Can't think of + HP being too useful.

And now that we finally have a new astra hero, I can merge that spare Naga I had onto that +9 I had to finish a +10 one. The spare was a +res one that I gave a bunch of resistance boosts to with sabotage attack in order to debuff enemy teams while the other used a vantage/distant counter build. Altina is better suited for the latter so it looks like the fully merged one will serve as a debuffer for enemies and a granter dragon effectiveness to allies while being tanky enough to do stalling if I need other units to traverse the map.

Not Lif, but still a red unit, which is the color I was hoping for in order to get another shot for more of Sothis. Altina is an Astra hero, so I can finally use somebody besides Naga every other week. But why is she a flying unit? And a floating one at that? You'd think from the one in-game pic of her that she'd be a mounted unit. lol I guess it is just assumed anybody from Tellius using the goddess's power can just float around. Having a brave weapon with distant counter built in is rather crazy. Was that negation of "reduce damage by X"-for-non-special skills effect on her special added just for Brave Ike? lol I doubt she'll be on too many defense teams, so she won't get in the way of those that use him for offense, but she'll sure be handy whenever he is on defense. I'd say after this crazy weapon, there is no longer an excuse for weapons with distant counter built in them like OG Ike's/Ryoma's to not be eligible for refinements because "be too OP". And we now have six female Mythic Heroes and one male. If you're hoping for any male heroes of legend like Anri any time soon, it would be best not to hold your breath! lol

I finished another grail project today. After Aversa, Kronya, and this, I wonder who would be best for my next grail project?

I think this week the longest I've ever held first place in Aether Raids. Just looking around at the other main units of other people up there already makes that Halloween Hector I have on display feel outdated. Just a few spaces down is a fellow on my friend list that already has a +10 Duo Ephraim. Jeez, already? It felt like a miracle that I managed to finish Hector while his banner was still up, I could never imagine +10ing a new unit every other week! lmao

*gasp* It really does exist... The weapon of fairy tales that many were certain was nothing more than mere myth... The Firesweep Axe! Too bad its obviously going to remain 5 star locked like the Firesweep Bow (and on a unit that is a gold mine of fodder, making all the harder to sacrifice him for it specifically...); the obvious demote this month is Tethys. That little note at the end that this duo hero "may or may not appear again in a summoning event" makes me ask, do they mean this unit won't be featured directly on banners but can still be summoned randomly? Or is this unit going to not be in the summoning pool at all? The latter sounds extremely scummy since it means they could be completely gone for anybody that missed them, unlike seasonal units where you just have to wait a year if you miss out.

Well, looky what I just finished. I never imagined the day wold come that I'd +10 a seasonal straight from their debut Banner (the only other unit I ever +10ed straight from their debut was Surtr due to it being a two person banner with crazy high odds). I especially never imagined it would be a red unit. But after a certain session where I miraculously pulled three of him at once, I began to think maybe it is destiny that the very first Hector I ever +10 be this one (OG Hector after his first merge to +atk is forever DC fodder, Valentine Hector got a couple merges since I got multiple going for his daughter of the same color, Brave Hector is only at +8, and Legendary Hector is stuck at +7 since he refuses to ever appear again (I tried yet again for him this month, but after pulling six of Ranulf my spirit was utterly broken...)). Highest attack in the game, highest Arena scoring unit thus far, and the ability to cheese Aether Raids will likely make him an even better investment than Surtr was.

I guess all signs point to Lif after Thrasir being the last one . I certainly hope so since him being being with Sothis and Marth would be perfect with them both being units I want more copies of. (I seem to recall Sothis's rerun originally being scheduled this month alongside Ryoma... thank goodness that didn't end up happening! I never want to summon that flying lobster again!) Could he be light/astra? I sure hope so. I am utterly sick of having to use two or three of Eir/Naga everyday. I also hope he comes with a very useful AR related skill. The recent news says that the next update will increase the number of place-able defensive structures from 5 to 6. Five already feels like too much... Hopefully Lif can be gifted with a skill akin to Upheaval that enables him to just passively destroy defensive structures.

I recently finished my next grail project, Kronya. Pairing her with certain units like Halloween Hector and Legenday Leif makes Aether Raids a breeze.

I've had a few other 5 star exclusive units I've gotten to +10 (Fallen Corrin, Legendary Tiki, Surtr, Brave Ike, Ameilia, Legendary Ryoma, flying Myrrh, Zelgius, Fjorm, Brave Lyn, and Legendary Robin), but that is my very first +10 seasonal unit. This being her fourth appearance along with having some of the highest stats in the game made her one of the few seasonal units that seemed worth chasing.

And with the rerun of the Land's Bounty banner, I finally got the last merge I needed for Halloween Myrrh after being utterly denied by Legendary Ryoma earlier this year.

I guess I'm having a little fun with this new mode. But I much prefer using my own units over this. I'm for the most part just playing for the rewards. You know one reward that they could add that would make this mode extremely exciting and rewarding? Making it so when the event ends, you're able to select one of the forms you trained and treat it like a manual to inherit a single skill/set from it to one of your actual units. I'd feel like a kid in a candy store every time I beat a map if that were to happen. lol No way they'd ever be that generous, obviously. "Risk people getting Distant Counter for free? BLASPHEMY!"

In my recent quest to get more copies of Eir, it seems the unit that decided to oppose me this time was fallen Corrin. Oh well, that's one of the few obstacles I won't complain about, it sure as heck beats getting a dozen of Genny!

Ugh, why an Anima hero? I thought that since the last mythic hero was for a defensive season (dark) we would finally be getting a new Light/Astra hero. I am getting so sick of having to use two or three of Eir or Naga every week for max scoring. I was hoping this month would finally give us some extra variety... Looks like green is the color to snipe, colorless the backup, red the backup after that, and blue the color to avoid like that plague.

Took exactly 378 orbs to get all 4 units. Since my top priority was Nagi followed by Phina, the rule I decided on for this banner was all colors on the first session, then ditch colorless, then ditch blue at 3.75%, then ditch red at 4.25%. Wound up getting Camus Sirius first and then Norne who also appeared in the same session (I always finish the circle when a five star appears unless in desperation-snipe-mode), then got Phina, then a few pity breakers followed by Nagi. (So strange how often they arrive in the opposite order of my priorities...) Among these new units, Norne has nothing of interest, Sirius has little of interest, and Phina and Nagi are both very interesting. Phina has some pretty high offense for a dancer, as well as a weapon that is effective against armor and cavalry with vantage built into it. This is the first time that I am tempted to just ditch dance altogether and make a purely offensive unit... One idea I immediately has was to give her Distant Count and Null C Disrupt to make a counter to annoying cavalry staff units, but I don't have an extra Nailah for that at the moment... Maybe I'll instead give her Special Spiral and Glimmer in order to essentially create dancing Ares. lol It seems Nagi was made to be anti-meta. Reducing AOE specials and weapon triangle advantage over colorless units means she can be great for dealing with common nuisances like Ophelia and Legendary Alm. I immediately gave her an Astra blessing since I already have a unit that does that job in light season in Brave Ike, and her resistance is high enough and that'll give her defense the extra push it could use. Now I just need to hope I end up randomly pulling Bantu. I actually feel a little disappointed at them just dropping him into the 3/4 star pool like that. It means I'll just have to wait for him to randomly pop up and then it'll be an immediate 20k feathers down the drain. lol

I just beat the game a second time (Now with over three hundred hours logged lol). First was the church path, then the Black Eagle path. Now I'm ready to start another New Game+ and am thinking of going the Blue Lion route. It was on the second game that I finally maxed out all the statues and got an A+ professor level. How much renown can I expect to start with being my third play? I always choose classic and the highest difficulty, so it looks like I'll be going through the newly added Maddening difficulty. Any notable differences besides enemies with higher level/stats? And here's a funny question I've thought about a few times. You know that mural of the goddess that appeared in the first ever trailer? Does that picture appear in-game anywhere? I don't recall seeing it in either play through of the game so far... I remember thinking of it both of the times you hear Rhea start to speak that certain line from the trailer, but never noticed it appear anywhere... Maybe it just goes by quick and I just wasn't paying attention during that few hundred hours. lol

I just pulled a spare Saber from the revival banner. For a long time I had been hoping to get a spare Shield Pulse for a certain build I wanted to do for Brave Ike, but his recent refinement makes that old idea completely obsolete. lol It seems like Shield Pulse works best on units with weapons that accelerate special cool down to that it can fully charge Aegis/Pavise right away. Any particular units that might really want it? One certain unit I'm eyeballing at the moment is Brave Hector. I have a +Atk +8 Brave Hector. Since his weapon has the special acceleration and quick riposte effect, he might be able to make quite the ranged tank. Would giving him the quick riposte sacred seal in addition to his weapon make him double even if the opponent has sturdy/mirror impact? (those skills are showing up on way too many units these days lol)

I refined all four of the brave heroes now. Lyn feels a bit underwhelming compared to the others, just getting a small stat boost. Roy feels like he has become a better Tibarn. Lucina went from utterly useless to the best support unit ever. And Ike feels like he has the most game changing refine thus far, especially if paired up with Lucina! I always thought Brave Ike would be something else entirely he had a way to not counter until the enemy is done attacking, and now he has a refine that not only does that but reduces damage from the first attack in the process! I had not given him distant counter thus far despite having gotten him to +10 since it felt somewhat detrimental. But the second I refined his weapon I immediately went and sacrificed my last Nailah manual to give him DC and NCD. I had long had a hypothetical build in mind for giving him shield pulse and pairing him with saber and giving them both infantry pulse to make them a distant tanking team, but now that's not necessary at all. I just paired him with Lucina with her new refine and went to test him in the many crazy Aether Raid maps in my friend list which included the many annoying infantry pulse teams, and he tanked everything that came his way like a champ! The only thing he needs to watch out for are Hardy Bearing users fast enough to double him (particularly if their second attack will trigger a special). Since that seal is almost always on an infantry unit, I just gave the +Atk Eir I had a poison dagger (with Death Blow 4 and the sturdy blow 4 seal to make up for the lack of attack) and now just use her to one-shot any Hardy Bearing user, then reposition her with Ike, then reposition her with Lucina (good thing she doesn't need to be adjacent like infantry pulse users do lol), leaving Ike on the front lines to take out anything that attacks him. Looks like light season of Aether Raids will now be a cinch! And to think Brave Ike is now a free unit for everybody... Good thing 99% of his use is enemy phase, or he'd be the most annoying thing of all to encounter in arena and such. I've already seen a few of him in Aether Raids, but that feels like a free win since the AI is going to attack with him regardless. If it was smart enough to make him not attack at all, then he'd be a problem. lol

With my promotion of Kronya today, I finally achieved my goal of five-staring every unit in the game. The way I do things is every single unit has one copy with a the default pink heart color that serves as my main copy to never let go unless being merged onto a copy with a more desirable stat boon to serve as the new main copy. If it is a unit where more than one copy is necessary like Mythic heroes, the secondary copies I keep get a yellow heart to denote they must be kept despite not being the main one, but are open to merges or fodder in the future if they become unnecessary (unlikely to ever happen with mythics at the rate things are going lol). And if the unit has a stat boon I am on the fence about using and desirable skills to pass on then I keep them around without a heart until I decide to make them the main one to merge onto, or fodder them off for inheritance. Otherwise, it is just straight to the manual collection. So let's see... 405 main five star units, 7 secondary five star units, and 14 heartless units makes 426 five star units in my barracks. And I currently have exactly 100 five star manuals to go with that (I might need to start some discussions later on about the many ideas folks could come up with for so much fodder lol).