Farishfyre

So in an effort to procrastinate from coursework, I booted up Echoes and saw that I was on the final map. Just beat it and got to the end-credits and what not. I never actually took the time to appreciate the song playing in the end. I looked it up and it's called "Heritors of Arcadia." It's actually a bit haunting/chilling for a "congratulations for defeating a god" song. But when I thought about it--it's a nice set-up for the events that unfold in a distantly related game: It's unfortunate that in this world, war will still continue to wage. I'm not sure of the timeline if FE3 takes place directly after/during FE2 (I presume after because of the overlap of characters). We see this in the distantly related game (see spoiler above) where an apocalypse basically occurs. This is further reinforced by Act 6, I believe, of Echoes. I really like this set of lyrics from the song: The seasons, they turn, Memory fades. But when my name has been lost To the grey. I will sustain you, Year after year. I will protect you, When dangers appear. It's a haunting but beautiful song imo about the peace that Mila obtains and the future she predicts but still prepares the people for. What did you guys think about the song? I know I'm def. a few years late haha but just figured I would kickstart some nostalgia.

So my younger sister had Dimitri with chalice & Byleth. One thing that helped was abusing a large-range gambit (I like Immortal Corps) that could stun/weaken enemies. Doing so buys you some turns to heal/prepare. That's what helped my sister pull through. It's definitely also possible to get RNG-screwed. Like I had to restart after Byleth got hit consecutively by 4 20% attacks and missed an 85% strike lol.

That's an interesting point about the avatars. I personally really liked Robin but I'm iffy on Byleth & Corrin, to be quite honest. Do you think having a "customizable main character" with their own personality is a better choice? I find Corrin and Byleth to be a bit annoying with how everyone kinda idolizes them (obviously not everyone, but still). With Robin, you still have that over-idealization but idk I personally found myself a bit more interested in Robin's whole background and the motif of "our bonds give us strengths." Corrin just seemed kinda...bland to me and Byleth isn't that great IMO just because I don't get why everyone in the game fawns over them. I would almost rather something like FE7 where the player can be a "character" but I still like having a customizable character (like Robin/Corrin/Byleth) that can be adjusted for replays and challenges. I'm not sure where the balance would be, but it would be interesting to see how future "avatars" develop.

Yes. My sister and I are working on maddening playthroughs for all 4 routes and we completed AM and your trend was pretty spot-on. The first few chapters are tricky because even with NG+/advanced skills, your characters can still get screwed over. But then it gets drastically easier. Chapter 12/13 are definitely difficult although Chapter 12 was exceptionally difficult at first because of the difference in strategy execution. Normally, I can just leave the fort unguarded and storm through enemies but in Maddening, I actually had to stay to defend the castle until Ladislava and the other fliers are eliminated. Chapter 13 is just...scary. But then the game gets to be a bit easy again--I mean you can still get RNG screwed like when Byleth gets hit by a 17% attack and misses his 95% hit rate. The difficulty ramps up mostly during paralogues (where there are usually special conditions) or during the last few chapters (like in our SS maddening run of the Enbarr chapter--that was rough to switch up the initial strategy but became easier). But like other posters have commented: the hardest parts in Maddening are mostly from BS surprises. Like in Mercedes/Caspar's paralogue with the reinforcements or Petra/Bernadetta's paralogue where you straight-up are lied to about the mission objective. If you know what to expect, the battle becomes drastically easier imo. So all of that being said, I think my final verdict is that the earlier games seemed a lot harder. Radiant Dawn Lunatic mode was brutal. Partially because (a) a lot of the characters suck imo and (b) not as much room for error correction if you get RNG screwed (#RIPOscar). I think there's a balance to be found where modes can be difficult but fair. Like there should be room for correction but also a reward for good strategy. Chapter 13 in AM/SS is just mean because of the isolated units, the literal flood of units targeting Byleth and Dimitri/Seteth and so forth. Again--if you know what you're walking into, the chapter becomes easier but still not a lot of fun. The other chapter that gave me some grief was the final chapter of AM. I kinda liked the difficulty of it but I felt like I had to resort to cheap shots to beat it. Like normally, I like splitting my characters and routing most of the enemies. But in Maddening, it just...was too much to do and I ended up focusing only on one side of the stage so I dealt with like half the enemies and it was drastically easier.

*inserts meme that says "I fear no man but that thing...it scares me"* I didn't even think about this, but I would like this a lot. But for my own original thoughts: my main request would be something like Distant Counter/Close Counter seals. As much as I love those skills, sometimes it sucks to lose out on an awesome A-skill for them. And like I currently have a pretty good L!Dimitri who can tank like a lot from abyssal maps and it would just be fun to see him be able to counter-attack so he can be a monster on both enemy and player phase.

So I saw your reply and went digging and I admit that I might have conflated Fates!Felicia with Heroes!Felicia. My apologies. I think I was thinking about tidbits in Felicia's personality from Fire Emblem Heroes such as: Her level-up response: "Does this please you?" Her special activation response: "For my master!" Her character page response: "My master is an absolutely wonderful person!" Her level 40 confession quote has tidbits like "You like it?! I'm so relieved!" and "'I've been working hard to be a good help to you" but to be fair--most character's level 40 confession quotes are pretty cringey. In short, I don't really mind Felicia but I think the "submissive maid" trope is a bit...uncomfortable for me lol. Maybe I've been exposed to too many weird fantasies from people.

Oh my bad! I forgot to mention as a disclaimer that I'm pretty sure those studies I mentioned earlier focusing solely on the US ideology of conservatism. I truthfully am not very well educated on global politics so I don't know how far I would extrapolate those research findings to other countries. I do apologize if you found any offense in my earlier post--definitely not my intention but still I'm sorry. *checks your post* From Maryland? ✓ Likes Claude? ✓ So far you're 2/2 in my book lol. From my understanding of the research, affective empathy positively correlates with neuroticism although results are mixed: like in adolescents, emotional empathy doesn't really correlate well with neuroticism and there are interactions between empathy and other variables like parenting and depression that are affected by the level of neuroticism but tl;dr: there's not actually much out there to fully link empathy and neuroticism in one direction or another.

I agree with this! I liked Fates (as I generally like all of the FEs) but I was a bit...perturbed by some of the motifs. Like the subservient maid Felicia or the (forgive me for using the wrong word) "loli" part of Sakura/Elise or the overt adoration from Camilla. In all, I actually like the characters when they're not interacting with Corrin lol. This is where I think I stand. Like I notice the "otaku" vibes and I'm not the biggest fan of it (especially in games like FEH) but I really care most about the end product of the game. Like for the most part, I marry the same character in every playthrough (I never noticed but I seem to have a thing for FE dancers like Ninian, Tethys, Leanne, Olivia, Azura, and Dorothea). But when I think about Fire Emblem, I focus more on the story/characterization/plot devices/gameplay/etc. Honestly I think I really only notice the over "otaku" vibes (if I'm using the word wrong lmk) in fan-work. But even then--who am I to hate on fan work when it's overall promoting the series I love so much?

Thank you for your welcome! Oh awesome! I truthfully haven't fully explored the forums (I blame school) but that's nice to know! Guess I now have a one-source stop for all my nerdy indulgences haha. I started with Aelfric just cause I like the whole "traveling healer" idea. My main team so far is Aelfric (as a warrior), Ophila (as a scholar), Therion (as a dancer), and Primrose (as a cleric). It's probably a bit redundant lol but I like having Therion/Primrose buff Aelfric/Ophila (depending on the situation) for massive damage and then having Ophila/Primrose as healers when needed (especially for some of those annoying bosses lol). What about you? You must be eavesdropping on me cause I was just talking to my sister about this lol. I'm definitely partial toward the water starters. I'm torn between Squirtle (for nostalgia), Totodile (my first real starter since I was way too clueless playing Red), Piplup (cause penguins are my favorite), or perhaps even Psyduck (cause they're adorkable). What about you? Haha thank you! Glad to have your seal of approval! It's been a minute since I last was on a forum lol.

There are some peer-reviewed research papers that actually touch on this idea. Conservative ideologies (in a sample of 567 participants) on issues such as capital punishments and gay marriage all significantly correlated with increased Machiavellian, narcissism, and psychopathy constructs (Arvan, 2013). There was also this study that accounted for life-satisfaction between liberals and conservatives and found that conservatives were less neurotic which could explain why they have a higher "life satisfaction" score--but the lack of neuroticism has also been linked with less grievances toward inequities in society (Burton et al., 2015; Mondak & Halperin, 2008). Not trying to stir the pot here because obviously these studies are exploratory and cannot infer causation--but it's certainly interesting as the US becomes more polarized in how personality differences may account for some of the observed behaviors.

Hey welcome fellow newbie! Three Houses is definitely a great game (even with my nitpicking on some stuff). Have you completed all the paths yet? If so--what's your favorite one? My favorite path is probably Verdant Wind tbh.

Hey SerenesForest! It's kinda weird to be introducing myself since I've browsed the website for years now. I never got around to making an account on the forums until now. Anyways, nice to meet you all! I've been playing Fire Emblem for approximately 18 years now. My first game was FE7 in 2003. I've also successfully completed Binding Blade, Sacred Stones, Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, Awakening, Fates, and Three Houses (well, I've beaten all the paths but I'm re-doing them on maddening now). Aside from Fire Emblem, I also enjoy playing Pokemon (add me on Pokemon Go yo). I'm also about halfway through this other game called Octopath Traveler. As you can probably tell--definitely into RPGs lol. Hopefully that's a decent enough introduction! Look forward to nerding out with you guys!

I actually found this GHB to be pretty simple/straightforward--well, at least with the B!Claude I've built. I don't really intend on utilizing Dithorba or her "Flier Formation" skill for inheritance, but ya never know.

Just chiming in here but I think Ingrid would make a better dance than Ashe. I haven't made either of them a dancer, to be honest. But I've done BL twice (once on Normal and once on NG+ Maddening). Both of them seem to suffer in STR for me, which makes me keen on not using them really for melee. But Ashe (as a sniper) is useful with Hunter's Volley & with his intrinsic locktouch ability. Ingrid was a Falcoknight my first playthrough and a Dark Flier my second playthrough and both times she struggled to really do much damage. Her Physic spell was useful and she eventually did get fast enough to be a dodge tank. When I use Dorothea as my dancer, I build her to be a dodge tank for repelling enemies and so that she can be in the middle of the battlefield. So I suppose it might also depend on how you plan to utilize your dancer.