Naoko_Akamori

How the heck am I supposed to do this? Something like five Bolting users and the boss with Meteor, four characters to protect (all poisoned), intermittent 10 damage map-nukes... The best thing I can think to do is to devote everyone to cleaning up the right hand side, since Hapi and Constance need the most help not-dying, and just hope Balthus and Yuri can handle themselves. Has anyone come up with a better strategy? Most of my guys are around level 30.

Yeah. I do like that they add at least a 'little' bit of extra story in the Monastery depending on which House you get, but the repeated maps are a slog. I'll be playing my final route on Maddening though, so that should at least offer a little bit of challenge.

It's one of my favorites of the ones I've played, which admittedly isn't much of the series. While the graphics aren't great, I do like the interface a lot more - which I know is kind of a very small thing. Story-wise, I feel like it's one of the better entries in the series, at least as far as lore and worldbuilding go. I do wish we could access a fixed world map outside of the one for the battle screen, to see where everything is in relation to each other, but it actually does feel like the regions have a sense of history before the inevitable imperial invasion. The characters are also pretty strong, on the whole. There are some quibbles I have with some of them, but I feel like a lot of that is addressed in supports. I would have liked to see more instances of supports having an impact on how characters acted in the main story, though I do like how mealtime conversations do change based on who has supports with who (Shamir and Catherine's being a great example of this). It doesn't happen 'enough' but it does happen. I'm of two minds about the Monastery stuff. On the one hand, I'm waiting for the next wave of DLC to add a little more stuff to do, to maybe liven the place up a bit because by a certain point it just becomes "Greenhouse, Dining Hall, Choir Practice, Tourney, Gift Spam," but I do feel like it changes in a few ways post- time skip. Classes are war council meetings in the Cardinals' Room (And no one is idling in the classrooms anymore). The Greenhouse and Dining Hall make sense as facilities to use, since you need to cultivate medicinal plants, and also eat. It also kind of makes sense that the overall structure would be left intact. It's a valuable strategic location, so it was intended to be captured, not razed to the ground. The maps are a definite sore spot for me though. Reusing the same maps for Part I is bad enough, since you make your decision on which House to teach right away - Why not have the Faerghus kids deal with Lonato/Miklan, the Empire kids deal with issues there, and the Alliance kids deal with issues there? But then for the War phase, I'm pretty sure that the three routes I've already played make up most of the maps I'll run into playing Blue Lions. I'm hoping taking a break, and playing some other games, will help me to deal with a lot of the burnout I'm feeling right now.

Yeah, that's a fair point. Now it's just a matter of deciding to wait until Wave 3 or Wave 4. Do we have any idea if Wave 4 is supposed to be adding a whole new story, or content to existing ones?

So, with Crimson Flower, Verdant Wind, and Silver Snow (AKA, Verdant Wind II: Electric Boogaloo) done, my kneejerk reaction is to get right into Azure Moon. But... at the same time, I'm kind of worried that a bit too much of the same-old same-old will kind of ruin the experience for me a little bit. Would it be better to wait for Wave 3 of the DLC, you think? It's supposed to add more things to do around the Monastery (I'm hoping for another way to build support between two other characters besides eating) and the ability to play with the dogs and cats (!!). The only concern is having to wait until the end of the year, but Wave 2 came out a month earlier than expected, so maybe Wave 3 will as well. There's also waiting until next April to play the game once Wave 4 hits, but I don't really feel like going half a year without playing. Besides, isn't the additional story content supposed to be separate? I'm curious to hear what some of you feel the pros and cons are of waiting for Wave 3 before playing my final route? Keeping in mind I have never experienced Azure Moon before.

The Church route is more or less absolutely identical to the Golden Deer route, except Claude's dialogue gets given to Seteth, and it's missing a map (Because you can't program in an extra army, I guess). It does provide some story information that isn't revealed in any other route, but I don't think it's anything that can't be inferred based on stuff you learn elsewhere. In fact, it's SO similar to the Golden Deer route that it actually creates a logic error. I really feel like they realized that they couldn't copy/paste Endgame for Golden Deer, otherwise they would have. Because endgame for the Church route, if you care about rationale, is also incredibly contrived. Fun map, though.

I actually forgot about that moment. It's a really good one! I've got enough Renown that I'm probably going to grab her on every playthrough that I can, even if I can't get the requirements to recruit her.

So, something that I do like about exploring the Monastery is finding all of the different students/people in the Monastery and seeing what they have to say. Now, we all know about the Gatekeeper, and about Bernadetta never leaving her room ever, but I was curious as to what other little 'in-character' moments you all have witnessed? Not necessarily dialogue even, maybe where students are hanging out and who they're talking with before you speak to them. Here's some of mine to hopefully explain what I'm asking. 1. During the fishing contest, it seems like all of the Monastery cats have decided to congregate at the pond. 2. Raphael in Part 2 is often in line at the dining hall 3. Marianne is either in the cathedral or visiting Dorte most of the time. 4. Manuela seems to be in the greenhouse quite a bit. Basically, which little moments throughout the Monastery help to build character without needing a support conversation to do it?

I might just have to delay my Blue Lions playthrough until then. I mean, maybe it'll come early since we were supposed to have to wait for October until Wave 2. Though, it's kind of funny that I want to wait for a DLC patch to a game to play with virtual dogs and cats... when I have an actual physical cat who's cuddling up to me right now. She's a lazy butt though.

Did they stealth-change the animations for some of the combat arts or am I just going crazy? It felt like they all had the same/very similar animations before (At least things like Wrath Strike, Tempest Lance, and Smash). Maybe it varies by class? Also, I noticed a lot more Heroes on my last few auxiliary battle maps, compared to the usual glut of Swordmasters/Assassins. Did they adjust that too? If so... thank god. Still need a decent Lance infantry class after enemies graduate out of Soldier though.

Oh, that's fair! Feel free to take a stab at relatives as well. So that's Maya, Raphael's little sister, as well as Felix's older brother Glenn. Petra's grandfather, of course, since her dad was killed in the Brigid/Adrestia war. Since I did Bernie's father, I should try to take a stab at her mother, too. 2. It's hard to get an idea of an overall appearance for Lady Varley, but I like to imagine she's where Bernie got a lot of her more gentle features. Handcrafts, drawing, and her love of carnivorous plants are all genuine interests that she has and the first two don't seem like they were motivated by her father's intent to turn her into a perfect wife. So maybe her mother's where a lot of that came from. It'd be cute if she kind of shared Bernie's love of pitcher plants and stuff too.

This is purely for fun and speculation. Obviously not the ones we've seen, like Duke Aegir or Rodrigue. Specifically think about what they might look like, based on how the students describe them, and maybe a little bit about how they might get along with others in their territory. For mine... Based on how Bernadetta describes him, my mental image of Count Varley is of a very tall, thin man - with very narrow cheekbones. I can see a well maintained goatee, and long hair - possibly purple like hers, but exceptionally well-kept. Since he's the Minister of Religious Affairs, I could see him wearing some sort of clerical type outfit, though it's never made clear if he's actually a member of the Church or just a liaison. If the latter's the case, then I can see him wearing expensive suits and absolutely losing it if there's a thread or a button out of place. I'm pretty sure it's stated that he's relatively poor as far as nobles go, so projecting an aura of wealth and status that goes beyond his means is probably REALLY important to him, and physical appearance is a big part of that.

So, I had a question about the Rafail Gem (And the other Hero's Relic accessories). Are ALL of its effects granted to a Crest-bearer, even someone without the Crest of Lamine? I ask, because that one in particular has a pretty ridiculous list of abilities, so if I could make someone like Dmitri or Sylvain immune to crits, with innate Aegis/Pavise, and type-effect null that'd be insane. Keeping in mind this is on an item with zero weight.

Oh, very much so! I think she even says she can read and write the language much better than she can speak it, and that's consistent with people learning English as a second language. Which is kind of the opposite of learning it as a first language. Here's my thoughts on it: - Cyril can't read and write, so he probably has to have the tests read to him and give his answers verbally, unless Byleth accepts pictures. It's never clarified how good his drawings are, I like to think he's actually really good at doing little comic strip-like things. After he learns to read, he transposes letters every so often, so expect things like 'bappy' instead of 'happy,' and poor sentence structure. - Ingrid feels like one of those people who uses a ruler to make sure all of her lines are straight. Her handwriting is probably perfect, though it takes her forever to complete assignments. - Hubert gets extremely flustered because he accidentally turned in one of his death threat letters instead of his Reason thesis. - I could see Bernadetta actually having some of the best handwriting (When she actually turns things in) because of father related reasons. Not students, but... - Manuela probably does the loops and curves and elaborate flourishes thing. Heck, I could see her doing a little winky face after writing something suggestive. - If Shamir wrote something to anyone it would probably be one sentence. Possibly one word. - We know Catherine writes letters to Rhea a lot. I like to think she sends four or five pages, double-sided, about what she did that day.

That's always funny. It's also great when Hanneman charges straight at the enemy and tries to punch them to death when you use a gambit and he's got magic equipped.

So, there's Dorothea and Manuela, obviously. But then there's one bit of dialogue on the Church route, where Dorothea talks about how she's glad she won't have to face any of her friends from the opera company in battle. That was just kind of bemusing. Are all of the songstresses in the Mittelfrank Opera Company trained in combat or something?

Oh nice. So it's more than just a color change? 30 AS Paladins... Good lord. Oh, also, I should ask. Are you doing your playthrough on NG or NG+? I might give it an honest college try on NG just to see how far I can go with what I've learned, and not relying on Renown/Statue buffs.

Wow. Am I ever going to be able to double anything?

Alright! So far, my team's looking like: Great Lord Dmitri, Enlightened One Byleth, Fortress Knight (By way of War Master) Dedue, Bow Knight Felix, Wyvern Lord Annette, Wyvern Lord Sylvain, Bishop Mercedes, Dancer Marianne, Falcon Knight Ingrid, and Dark Knight Lysithea (AKA - We took the living nuclear bomb and put her on a horse). I'm not going for Marianne right away (I want to let the AI get a few levels into her), so I'm going to be low-manning it (Ashe isn't gonna cut it) until I pick her up. Annette's going to stay Adjunct to Felix until she gets a few levels.

Alright. Whew, that's... a load off my mind, really. What do you recommend doing for Annette? Lysithea kind of makes her redundant as a mage, so I was thinking sticking her on a Wyvern to maximize Rally capabilities (She CAN Canto after Rallying, right?)

I'm about to start a NG+ playthrough in Maddening, and it'll be my first time playing the BL route. I've got most of the BL units some classes mastered, so they'll be good to go, but I don't have any for Dmitri and Dedue. Brigand is easy enough on Dedue, not so much on Dmitri, and I feel like Deathblow is kind of super important. With my current statue buffs, I can get Dmitri up to +7 skill rank per instruct (So, at least 40 experience per week assuming no Greats or Perfects). I think this equals out to ~10 weeks to get D+ (Which lets me attempt the exam with a 2/3 chance of success at least). Is this worth doing in the early game, or is the three chapters or so of EXP I lose for something he's actually proficient in not worth it?

Well, at least you can let Gilbert die on Chapter 5 and not lose anything, as far as I know. Which is good, because he'll happily wander into the final boss's murder radius after the cutscene. Though... honestly, I'm getting a lot of practice in turtling with my Silver Snow Speed Screwed Squad. Sylvain getting doubled by Pegasus Knights who can do 44 damage per round is no bueno. I can only imagine what that's like on Maddening.

First off, I love that the setup here clears pre-quoted text whenever I quote someone. Nice to not have to edit it myself. Second, yeah. I'm not sure if Blue Lions has any significantly different maps, but the fact that all of the maps so far have been rout-fests has really kind of gotten old. Story-wise, it's been great though.

So, since Maddening is kind of absurd without NG+, but leaning on NG+ early kind of trivializes it, I decided on a little self-imposed challenge, just to kind of keep things from going too far in the opposite direction. 1. No Battalion abuse: No Lord Battalions from the other routes, and I can only use unique Battalions after I complete the corresponding Paralogue. Also, only Battalions associated with the specific route I'm playing/the Knights of Seiros (Except for the BE route unless I headcanon that Edelgard just held them hostage or something). 2. Class Masteries only when the unit reaches the appropriate level. So, no starting with Deathblow at Level 1. 3. No buying 'main' weapon proficiencies, though purchasing things like Riding and Heavy Armor is okay, as well as a C-rank in something to qualify for a Master Class. 4. Avoid abusing early access to Concoctions, Elixirs, and Silver weapons (Though the Armory will probably be moot since I won't be buying primary weapon proficiencies). Does this sound like it'll balance the difficulty at least a little bit? The only other things I'd really have are the Saint Statues, though I've spread my points fairly evenly among them (Only one I've maxed is Cichol, the others are all just before the extra Divine Pulse), and A+ Professor ranking (But with the EXP penalty, and limited battle slots, the biggest benefit to that is extra chances to grind supports).

Oh wow, that actually sounds like a lot of fun.