Mandokarla
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Posts posted by Mandokarla
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42 minutes ago, Jotari said:
Third criticism, the animation of the scene is absolutely atrocious XD
I'm assuming the in-game overworld animation is what you're talking about? Where Fleche literally does the "I'm ready to move" animation to mime an attack? Yeah that was pretty damn bad--it definitely weakened the impact of the moment. I think the CG's after were pretty good though.
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Derdriu and Enbarr would be wonderful opportunities for the devs to flex new graphical capabilities, and would offer some interesting and unique terrain options. Waterways, canals, bridges and whatnot would make the former diverse, and Enbarr could give you the claustrophobic feeling of fighting in a dense city--could be interesting.
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My unpopular opinion (not sure how unpopular, but whatever):
This community has an absolutely asinine way of discussing the writing quality of anything, but especially Fire Emblem games. This isn't to say that FE stories don't have problems (dear god do some of them have problems), but the people on this forum and in this fandom in general take either a ridiculously hardline approach to what "good writing" means, or they get super defensive about a game they like that has widely-acknowledged bad writing--when it's okay to like a story that isn't particularly great. As an example of the latter, FE7's plot is a mess, but people like the writing because of the relationships between the three lords, even though some of it (Lyn, all of Lyn) is irrelevant or purely carried by nostalgia--AND THAT'S OKAY.
As an example of the former, one that I'm seeing more now that we've entered "New Game Response Stage 2: Time for Hate" is most of Three Houses. There are a host of things that people point to as "bad writing" that in reality is based on a difference in taste, not a lack of skill. There are real problems or missteps, don't get me wrong, but let's go over a few examples.
Example 1: Blue Lions doesn't deal with TWSITD/Killing Thales as Arundel. The big criticisms of this route that I've seen are either (A) Dimitri doesn't actually solve the problem (he does, pay attention), or (B) It's not satisfying to deal with TWSITD that way, so it's poorly written. That is not how this works. Each route of the game has a specific focus, BL is more of a character story, VW is more of a lore and worldbuilding story, and CF/SS are mostly plot focused--all of which are valid story focuses. Dealing with TWSITD is not the primary focus of BL because they aren't as important to the core characters. This is a story about tragedy, growth, and reconciliation. It doesn't need to do everything, that's not the story it's trying to tell, and saying that a story with a focus that you personally don't like is bad writing is entitled and childish.Example 2: Rodrigue's death sequence. There are two prevalent criticisms here, one of which is VERY valid, and could have been easily fixed. Firstly, the obvious one, why not Divine Pulse the attack? There are easy ways to fix or explain this away, but the writers didn't do it, so it is a legitimate plot hole--especially because DP is explicitly used in the plot early on (it's not a purely gameplay based ability). The other big criticism is that people have a problem understanding why Rodrigue's death is the thing that opens the door for Dimitri's recovery. The people that don't get it, I'm willing to bet, haven't experienced mental illness of any kind, and also (more importantly) haven't been paying attention to the themes of the story. The sacrifice having the effect it does makes sense in the narrative and to the characters.
TL;DR the Fire Emblem fandom has a generally asinine approach to storytelling, and one that often is deaf to any brand of subtlety--or marks subtlety as "bad writing". I could get started on Claude here, because he gets WAY more shit than makes any sense, but I'll be here all day if I do.
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Virion x Literally Anybody. Virion is a really well written character (especially by Awakening standards) and I love almost all of his supports. The chemistry with him and Cherche is really nice, his support with Tharja is just good fun, his support with Robin had a nice theme to it, etc. Virion doesn't get enough love.
But personally, I'm a really big fan of Odin/Selena in Conquest. It shows (A) that Odin actually does have a degree of magical power, (B) they're still traumatized and affected by the events of Awakening, and (C) they genuinely care for eachother despite their bickering. It makes Ophelia less-than-a-godslayer, but you have to actively try to make Ophelia bad.
A less explicitly romantic (but come one, let's be real) pairing I liked a lot was Dedue/Dimitri. Their paired ending hit me hard, and I could see it so viscerally. It was very bittersweet.
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Swordmaster Marianne was so much fun for me. Swordmaster bases + her crest let her do significant amounts of physical damage at base, while still letting her abuse soulblade/levin sword/Blutgang magical damage. I turned her into mortal savant at endgame for spell utility for fun.
I really, really want to try her as a trickster now that Cindered Shadows is out. I think it'd be really fun, and would be more viable than Mortal Savant. My current Maddening SS run has Marianne as a Valkyrie, gonna see how that goes. -
Eventuality =/= eventually. They have different meanings. But I said I'd leave, and now that I've addressed the reading comprehension issue in the room I will do so.
To OP, use whoever you want. Everyone is usable and decent, and I advocate for sticking to the house students with no subs on the first run of each route, but it's your game and there is no "right" way to play. Have fun!
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7 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:
Big deal. Even with lagging stats boosted to class bases, a schmuck with only two good stats is still a schmuck with only two good stats, right? Also, as far as early tanking, he compares unfavorably against Hilda, Byleth and Leonie, because - gasp - he's not even that tanky as to make up for his low speed. Even fucking Cyril felt easier to train than Raphael, because he is that damn unreliable on the battlefield.
On Maddening Leonie gets doubled about half the time, and when she gets double she nearly dies--like the rest of the cast. Raph's HP helps mitigate that eventuality.
But I'm not going to waste time with this any longer--you're focusing on deficiencies in certain stats without thinking about how the stats he does haveare utilized naturally and powerfully. I'd forgotten how you weave your brand of snark into any discussion, it's tiring.
tl;dr Raph is fine. He's mid-tier at best, but that's still fine, he fills his role well with very little needed planning and attention. -
2 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:
Not sure if serious. His stats are shit in damn near every parameter, which is a Very Bad Thing, in case you forgot. And why should I have to post a screenshot, which I don't know how to do (and even if I did, I can't do anyway because I'm staying the night at someone else's house)?
I'd say the investment-reward ratio for Raphael is rather low as well, as his only good stats are HP and Strength. I would have to jump through a boatload of mental hoops to justify someone who has poor stats everywhere else... Especially since far as I'm concerned, if he needs to be babysat until advanced classes, there is only one logical conclusion - that he's a shit unit.
Any stats Raph is lagging in, that he actually needs, will be patched up by class bases as the game goes on. His growths aren't great, but 45% defense isn't terrible when a high base growth in this game tops out at around 60% for non-hp stats. He will be your main early game tank on all difficulties, because recruiting other students takes a few chapters. If Maddening can be beaten in 0% growths by abusing class bases, Raph can get by on any difficulty without needing to cross class into 8 different things to function. He requires no more investment than any other starting student, and doesn't really require babying either.
His stat deficiencies don't really matter. He enters a bit of a power trough in the midgame, but everyone else is doing fine enough at that point for that to not matter. He can hit Warmaster a few chapters after the timeskip without much issue, even on Maddening.
I guess the point of all of this is that you're making a mountain out of a molehill. The biggest criticism of his kit is that his personal skill is literally worthless, but he can contribute a great deal without babying.
What non-lord unit would you say doesn't need babysitting until advanced classes? Or, even better, give me another example of a unit that needs babying to get "good" in your eyes? Not Cyril, that one's too easy. -
30 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:
The problem with Lorenz, as I see it, is that he has no real utility spells, meaning he's merely a power pick - and he doesn't even have that to his name. His being locked out of the best magic class imo doesn't help his already flimsy case.
Even so, some units require you to jump through more hoops than others before they become good - like Raphael.
On Hard, Lorenz has the power to oneshot a lot of units with his strong nuke spells from range, which is value. He also provides access to his relic. On Maddening, pretty much nobody not named Ingrid, Petra, or Leonie doubles, so massive chip damage is also valuable. Recover becomes more useful as HP pools grow, and Ward has (albeit niche) defensive utility. No investment required.
I don't like Raph either, but if you put him through grappler (like you should to begin with) you gain access to a melee Hunter's Volley, but with more damage at the cost of that range. So Raph can become essentially a delete button lategame. His high hp and gauntlets built in brave effect is also valuable on Maddening, where doubling normally is rare. He's also naturally inclined towards gauntlets, so it's easy.
There aren't really a lot of hoops to jump through here. Most characters have 1 or 2 really easy lines of progression that don't require a lot of micromanagement. It's only the tangential/memey shit that requires a lot of hoops (like my Mortal Savant Marianne I'm building--lots of fun on Hard, probably entirely useless on Maddening). I'm not sure what you define as jumping through hoops here.
It's okay to say you find certain characters boring, but saying they're bad full-stop just isn't true. The only unit that might deserve that is like, Cyril, because his investment/reward ratio is still lower than most students, and might be less than certain faculty. -
Just now, Shadow Mir said:
I dunno - I found a newly-recruited Ingrid to be a better tank, because she wasn't getting doubled by everything and their grandma, which Raphael was.
Sure. If by "pulls his weight", you mean "is still hopelessly outclassed by the other mages", that is.
His spell list gives him solid nuking potential, his relic is absurdly good and can be passed around, he has a decent white magic spell list (no physic isn't good, but recover and ward are strong in their niche), and he can frontline better than every other mage in the game. He's versatile, and one of the better recruitable Dark Knight candidates. Let's compare him to the other mages:
Dorothea has the best spell list in the game when it comes to options, but she doesn't hit as hard as Lysithea and is almost as frail. She has range over Lorenz, but the difference between her magic growth and Lorenz's is I think 5%, which is inconsequential, and his spells generally have higher base might. Her real competition is Marianne, not Lorenz, because of the similarity in their spell lists.
Lysithea is, while overrated, still an exceptional mage when it comes to damage output, and access to long-range Warp makes her extremely useful. She dies to a stiff breeze though, which means you have to be more careful with her than with Lorenz. She's better, but she's also in the same house anyway so it's not like you have to pick and choose.
Annete gets Excalibur, but her spell list is really unimpressive otherwise, and her white magic isn't that much more impressive. She serves her role in BL, but isn't a character you get excited to recruit unless you like her personality a lot (which is fine, she's adorable). Not worth trading for.
Hubert is CF locked, so isn't relevant to this discussion.
Marianne is samehouse, and is generally a healer/dancer despite having solid offensive spells. Not really competition. She's cuter though, best girl don't "@" me.
Mercedes is just a generally fantastic unit, and the undisputed best healer in the game. She has some of the same nuking spells that Lorenz does, and her relic really helps bolster her survivability (not frontline though). She might be worth trading in, but she performs a different role.
Don't teach Sylvain magic, his budding talent is useless.
Hanneman and Manuela just kinda exist. Both have their roles and both are usable, but neither are top tier. Manuela is more of a utility bot than a healer, and Hanneman can hit hard...once.
Flayn's offensive spell list is decent, but neither super hard hitting or long range. She's there for fortify + rescue and that's about it.
I don't think I missed any mages that matter. Lorenz does his job and fills his niche well--he's also a pretty well-written character to boot. He pulls his weight. Most of the mages that outclass him, vague as those terms are, already exist within his own house. If you wanted to compare his overal unit performance as a whole versus the entire rest of the cast, this would be a different question. But when it comes to specifically mages, Lorenz can do his job.
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22 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:
I would recommend dropping Raphael and Lorenz and using students recruited from the other houses instead - they're that bad.
Also hard disagree on Lorenz. Use him as a mage and he pulls his weight. I also just tend to recommend sticking to your house students for your first playthrough of each route anyway, they were designed with that in mind.
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We're all here, presumably, because we really enjoy the Fire Emblem style of video game: structure, gameplay, art styles, etc. I like the combination of turn-based strategy and RPG elements that aren't well done elsewhere. The art and music are iconic as well.
Obviously, we all have other forms of media that we are also very fond of. So, if you were to take another franchise, or story, or book/movie/etc and place its characters and related story/stories into the framework of a Fire Emblem game, what would it be and why?
I would personally love to see Star Wars in this kind of a setting. I know you can get close with XCOM 2 mods, but it isn't quite the same thing. If I were to be a little more obscure, I honestly think Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn books would be a lot of fun to adapt into this kind of a game (mostly because implementing the magic system of those books into any kind of satisfying realtime gameplay is literally impossible, and a turn-based medium would let you go bonkers on the animations).
What are your ideas? What would you do?
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My one contribution to all of this is about Nemesis' seemingly-random appearance. It's established early on that Flayn's blood is special, and we know that her crest + her proficiencies are all around being a healer and supporting figure. Easy logical step from there is that Flayn's blood has healing properties of some potency. We also know that the Slithers successfuly took extracted some of Flayn's blood. So it seems easy to assume that Nemesis' body was revived from stasis in part due to the use of Flayn's blood.
Is that clear enough to satisfy the average player? Nope. I honestly think that 90% of the narrative issues people have with that game (the one's that don't stem from ignorance or lack of paid attention) would be solvable with the addition of like, 3 new cutscenes at 3-5 new CG's, just to transition more into "show don't tell". The game definitely felt some crunch time in terms of final polish.
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20 hours ago, Humanoid said:
The concept of time passing is extremely nebulous here. In one day, you can fight some monsters in the extreme north-east of the continent then make your way across to literally the other side to fight some bandits. Meanwhile, it supposedly takes some days to travel to the site of the mock battle, but we have a feast to celebrate it ending, at the monastery, before the battle even happens. Just ...what?
That feast is to celebrate the ending of the War of Eagle and Lion, which is what the mock battle commemorates. Not the mock battle itself.
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I just want to hop in and say the Lysithea is one of the most busted Mages I've ever used in Fire Emblem. I just finished the Golden Deer route and holy christ. She's worth getting, make her a gremory. Dropping ~60 damage at 4-5 range reliably is insane.
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1 hour ago, Critical Sniper said:
Or just make it something like Bishop FE8 Slayer skill, I think that would be better, Clerics and Monks would need to ptomote to get it, that wpuld be way simpler.
That would work, but I highly doubt we are ever going to return to that simplistic of a system again, barring Echoes games.
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2 hours ago, Critical Sniper said:
But isn't the tome a representation or a fraction of the god's/godess' power? If so they should be the effective but I guess it would be neater for classes to just have it.
If that was the case, then any old shmuck who could read would be able to use the tome, which doesn't make any sense. It's one thing to know the stories and the miracles, it's another thing entirely to emulate them. Additionally, if every light tome had that kind of effectiveness -- effectiveness against classes that, due to their stereotypically evil nature, are very prevalent as enemy units in most FE games -- they would be either super overpowered (see: Sacred Stones w/ Slayer) or the might of the tomes would have to be even weaker to balance. Alternatively, it would require a LOT more effort on the map design front, because this effectiveness would need to be accounted for in potentially every map in the game.
By contrast, if you lock it behind a class skill in the vein of Fates or Awakening, then the cleric/monk/priest would have to achieve a certain level of experience (or perhaps piety?) before they could shift from merely protecting the weak and healing, to actively crusading against evil. If you lock it behind ideally level 5 promoted (late enough to both keep up with enemy scaling, and early enough to actually matter most of the time), then the skill and tomes themselves can be allowed to be powerful.
A good example of how this could work is the specifically Awakening incarnation of Beastbane (in fates you get the skill earlier than I think is perhaps balanced in a vaccum, but the enemy phase nature of most of the game means that the beast units aren't optimal anyway, and therefore need that power earlier). Specifically in Awakening, your Taguel get it at level 15, because they don't promote / cap at 30, like your Manaketes*. You get this skill earlier than is fair in a vaccum, but if you use Panne often, like I tend to, you can somewhat easily get the skill 2/3rds of the way through the first arc of the game -- when the enemy has practically zero units that Beastbane affects. In terms of the timeline, the skill becomes actually useful in arc 2, right as a lot of cavalry units start to appear -- and this is about the time where you are starting to promote your units, and your earlier promotions are about to hit level 5, which is what I'm recommending for this kind of Cleric skill. This is also the point in time where promoted enemy stats start to become more than the Taguel can reasonably one-round, and as an offensive unit, that's necessary. Light magic users are famously weak in lategame combat, with few exceptions, so they would need that kind of effectiveness to continue contributing, but they cannot have that effectiveness early, because they will become a centralizing unit.
And as fun as they can be, centralizing or overpowered units like Seth, Camilla, Robin, Corrin, Pent, Milady, Niime, Titania, etc are not, in my opinion, good for a balanced and variable game experience.
*I don't use Wyrmsbane as an example because it's too narrow for this kind of comparison -- it works on only one class line. I chose to use Beastbane as my example because it affects multiple class lines, without breaking the game (too much), and it's locked to the same level limit.
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2 hours ago, Critical Sniper said:
Light magic could maybe be effective against "criminal" classes such as: Brigands, Pirates, Berserkers, Monsters, Thieves, bosses that are story-wise mega evil like not just enemies but cruel and others I might forget except for Shamans since they are already at ToMD.
I actually like this idea -- the fantasy cleric archetype is both a healer and one who smites evil. Evil is not restricted to the inhuman, so getting a small bonus of some kind against those kinds of classes could be good. However, I think that concept would much more appropriately be implemented as a class skill and not a weapon attribute. I also think things like offensive Staves could be a cool new addition, treat them kinda like staves in FEH. Low as hell might, and completely outside the weapon triangle, but have a supplemental effect that triggers out of combat. Build chip damage like Savage Blow into a staff for example, or maybe aoe debuffs, or that movement lock ability you mentioned.
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1 hour ago, NinjaMonkey said:
So what IS did in Radiant Dawn, then?
Somewhat, but RD also had the same philosophy dedicated to the fire, wind, lightning triangle, which makes it all messier. In a simplified Light/Dark/Anima triangle, we could accentuate upon these differences.
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The identity of each form of magic should be expanded upon. We have hints of this in the GBA Light - Dark - Anima triangle, where light is faster but almost always has some crit, dark is gimmicky but strong, and anima is consistent. However, due to balancing issues, one has always been the standout over the rest. In FE7, with the exception of Luna, Anima magic is just better. It's more consistent, which is all you need in a game full of weak as hell enemy units. In Sacred Stones, Light stands supreme because of the monster-heavy second half, and Bishop's slayer. Now, these advantages are due to the games less than the magic triangle itself, which is the problem.
I agree with everyone that says that magic users should be more prevalent in the franchise to make the magic triangle more relevant. I also think we should better clarify each form of magic. Double down on the crit nature of light tomes, make dark tomes (aside from maybe basic flux) have some form of additional effect at the cost of accuracy -- due to the described (in supports) nature of dark magic as chaotic and hard to control, and have Anima magic fall in the middle, no crit stats on tomes, no special effects, etc. However, unless the classes that use this triangle are properly adjusted, most players will still primarily use Anima because of that same consistency -- assuming every playable mage from each part of the triangle is equally powerful.
Alternatively, we could take the Tellius approach, and have each class of Fire, Wind, Lightning, Light, Dark tomes have a unique effective-against bonus. Someone above mentioned terrain-based bonuses, which I think is an interesting idea, BUT it will inevitably shaft a class of magic if one of the target terrains is less prevalent than the others. With the Tellius effectiveness, we could have Fire affect beast units (not horses, that would be far too powerful) if relevant, lightning affect dragons, wind affect fliers, light affect monsters, and dark be a gimmicky mess like always. This of course also comes with a mess of balancing issues, again based on enemy unit diversity. It also requires a net nerfing of the might of almost all tomes.
No matter what happens, for the love of god do not go back to the Fateswakening removal of the magic triangle. Especially in fates, with all tomes being "red". That was extremely stupid.
I feel like the easiest/laziest way to adjust the weapon triangle is to just copy the normal one. Light = Swords, Anima = Lances, Dark = Axes. Then copy the traits more clearly, where light weighs nothing and also doesn't have much might, make Anima consistent, and make Dark heavy and hard hitting. Maybe in the future certain kinds of tome effects would be totally locked to certain parts of the triangle. Make anima the only part of the triangle with Seige tomes for example, or something. There are a LOT of ways to address this, and all of them have problems.
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I recently got into the game, and I've been thoroughly enjoying it. The art style is good, the combat feels pretty good, and I like the VA. The story is acceptable for a mobile game too.
Has anyone else given it a shot, and what is your opinion of it so far? Experiences? MVP Characters?
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Getting help -- if possible -- is the best option. I got diagnosed after telling myself I didn't have it for four years, and after letting myself believe that I was actually depressed I went to a doc. Get an official diagnosis, the meds can help (I no longer have random, trigger-less panic attacks due to the meds), but above all just keep trucking. Someone earlier mentioned avoiding substances as an outlet, and I definitely agree with that. They will invariably make everything worse.
Ironically, the things that best help with the symptoms are the things the symptoms make difficult to do. Going outside, socializing with friends, trying a new activity, all of these help a lot more than you'd think -- but they take more energy than it feels like you have a lot of the time. Try to force yourself into it sometimes. I lay traps for myself to force me into it -- I let myself fall into obligations to do things with my friends, and even if i'm not feeling like it that day, the expectation that i'll be there pushes me into it. I generally feel better afterwards.
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9 hours ago, starburst said:
I have played Conquest Lunatic a couple of times, but only until Chapter 18 or 20. In all those occasions, I never used Jakob as a main unit (and I doubt that he could be the reason that would make me prefer Lunatic over Hard.)Since I may simply not be a player as good as you, and you seem to have more experience in Conquest Lunatic, I will concede and take your claim as true.
What I can guarantee you is that Jakob is absolutely superfluous in Conquest Hard. But if one only needs a re-classed Jakob in Lunatic, then he is superfluous in more scenarios than he is necessary.
On Hard, I'll absolutely agree with you. I feel that CQ!Hard is one of the most well balanced FE games currently in existence, if I must be honest.
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5 minutes ago, starburst said:
Archer Mozu costs a Heart Seal and a Bronce Bow, and Aptitude ensures that she will always be a monster no matter what. Her main challenger for the investment, Jakob, is both completely superfluous early-game and irrelevant from mid-game onwards. I always play as female Corrin and the prick always ends the game at around Level 5. Many times I just let Jakob die in Ch 6, some others I save him because that Heal is valuable to level-up Elise. If the items remained, I guess that I would always let him die.You've never played Lunatic Conquest without turtling, have you? Jakob with an early HS absolutely annihilates the early to mid game, especially if f!Corrin has wyvern as a talent -- super early Trample is strong.
What is your unpopular Fire Emblem opinion?
in General Fire Emblem
Posted
Wow that is an unpopular opinion. I'm not sure where I stand on this one, because on one hand, linear gameplay does test strategy more than anything with a grindable world map. On the other hand, I think traversable world maps with skirmishes have been underutilized from a narrative AND gameplay standpoint, so there's more depth to be had with this. If FE developed more of a larger campaign, where holding territory mattered more a la FE4, a traverseable world map could be really cool and interactive.
Ex. Villain-dude orders three armies to march out towards three different locations, and you choose which to counter--or maybe split your army to try and counter them. Pros and cons to each scenario, and it opens FE up to dipping its toes into a more grand strategy side of things. Really give you the "wartime tactician" kind of feel.