Which Fire Emblem game is the best and which one should I play?

[Shadow Mir]

5 hours ago, Køkø said:

* What ax are you trying to get from a Swordmaster? Making up hypotheticals that don't exist is awful for your argument.  

I guess this is just a matter of how you play, but I always give the Leg Ring to Sigurd. Best is subjective, but it's much easier to smash through everything with Sigurd.

There are no impossible village visits. Move fast enough, and you will get to them.   

* I have never had an issue getting specific units to pair up. Make sure Levin isn't standing next to Sylvia for extended periods of time and recruit Ferry before the 50 turn mark. Have him and the latter spend a couple of turns next to each other in chapter 2, 3 and a little bit of 4 and usually they're lovers early into 4, even before the love point boosting conversation. Levin starts out with 210 love points with Ferry and 200 with Sylvia. The conversation in chapter 4 gives to 290 to Levin and Ferry, making it possible to pair them up even if they never stand next to each other, and eschewing the passive love growth that comes from simply being outside of the castle together.  

* It was a hypothetical, yes, but I still feel like needing to finish off enemies with the right unit isn't something that should be mandated just to avoid dealing with the massive inconvenience that is needing to use the pawn shop.

Perhaps.

My concern is less that the village visits are impossible, and more that you have them in positions that it might be too late to do something about by the time that you CAN do something about it. That is what I consider questionable at best, and outright awful at worst.

* Doesn't she (Erinys) make a beeline straight for your main castle? Considering Lewyn starts out in the center, that sounds pretty dicey...

5 hours ago, Køkø said:

* So it's not a matter of efficiency for you, it's one of taste? Why are you bringing personal feelings up in a conversation about unit balance? It's fine if you don't like their personalities, but here is not the place for that. 

* That's not unique to FE5, so using that as a mark against it is invalid. I never had a problem with using the status staves as intended in FE5. And you get more than just one. 

Fun fact, did you know it's possible to cheese chapter 22 and berserk Reinhardt?  

* You said FE5 had the worst chapter in series. The only thing you could be talking about 24x. Sounds like you need a guide because none of what you mentioned besides that is difficult. The prison escape chapters are some the best in the series. If you do decide to play one day, I will personally help you wherever you need it. 

* Inexcusable could mean there are no excuses, and that's not true as I gave you one. "Questionable" is not me being mild, but accurate.

* Personal feelings are part of it, but at the same time, I feel Thracia's being one of the most balanced FE games is questionable since for one, mages don't get a buffer for speed loss like other units do, second, there's practically no reason to take Cyas over Sety, and third, it brought about the Con-based AS system that mostly screwed female units.

* Sure, Thracia is an exception, but what about the likes of Blazing Blade...?

*Yes, that's it. Anyways, if I routinely get punished for going in blind, that's a design flaw. Compare to Fates, where there are only two things that would throw off someone playing for the first time - and one of those is only a factor in Birthright (namely, Kaze dying).

* If you think it's not indefensible, then answer me this: what other games could have healing skills fail??? Because literally no other Fire Emblem game allows this to happen - which is why I consider you as being soft, and your argument to be flimsy, desperate, and unacceptable.

Edited March 1, 2018 by Levant Mir Celestia

[Køkø]

14 minutes ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

 

* Doesn't she (Erinys) make a beeline straight for your main castle? Considering Lewyn starts out in the center, that sounds pretty dicey...

* Personal feelings are part of it, but at the same time, I feel Thracia's being one of the most balanced FE games is questionable since for one, mages don't get a buffer for speed loss like other units do, second, there's practically no reason to take Cyas over Sety, and third, it brought about the Con-based AS system that mostly screwed female units.

* Sure, Thracia is an exception, but what about the likes of Blazing Blade...?

*Yes, that's it. Anyways, if I routinely get punished for going in blind, that's a design flaw. Compare to Fates, where there are only two things that would throw off someone playing for the first time - and one of those is only a factor in Birthright (namely, Kaze dying).

* If you think it's not indefensible, then answer me this: what other games could have healing skills fail??? Because literally no other Fire Emblem game allows this to happen - which is why I consider you as being soft, and your argument to be flimsy, desperate, and unacceptable.

* Use the Return staff to send him there. 

* I never had an issue with mage speed. 

Other than if you like him. This goes back to the holy blood thing. Cyas has it, but he doesn't get Valflame. Funnily, it's coded into the game, so perhaps he was meant to. 

He was going for a realistic approach I guess. 

* I don't understand. 

* Let's check this one off. You're comparing games that are nearly 20 years apart. 

* What's wrong with uniquity? If not thinking that something that occurs for a short period of time in one game is enough to write off the entire thing makes me "soft", so be it. They miss for the same reason any other unit with low Skill does. From this I'm assuming you have an issue with Hit Rate in general? Because that's always an issue in every FE game.

 

[Shadow Mir]

22 hours ago, Køkø said:

* Use the Return staff to send him there. 

* I never had an issue with mage speed. 

Other than if you like him. This goes back to the holy blood thing. Cyas has it, but he doesn't get Valflame. Funnily, it's coded into the game, so perhaps he was meant to. 

He was going for a realistic approach I guess. 

* I don't understand. 

* Let's check this one off. You're comparing games that are nearly 20 years apart. 

* What's wrong with uniquity? If not thinking that something that occurs for a short period of time in one game is enough to write off the entire thing makes me "soft", so be it. They miss for the same reason any other unit with low Skill does. From this I'm assuming you have an issue with Hit Rate in general? Because that's always an issue in every FE game.

 

* Which means fighting through a squadron of cavalry that has a recruitable unit among them... yay.

* I find it problematic when most of the higher end tomes (and Dime Thunder) are practically unusable due to weight.

Hence the "practically".

From what I read, apparently he wanted to actually make axes usable, which might've spurred that.

* My point was that status staves were useful in Jugdral because of how the hit formula was, but in the games afterwards, they tended to be too niche to get any real mileage out of. Which isn't helped by you only getting one copy of them in most games.

* And yet people rarely try to point out Thracia's flaws (to put it into perspective, Armagon and I are the only ones who regularly criticize the Jugdral games). When it comes to Awakening and Fates, though, people tend to be more critical. Why does Thracia get a free pass when it has a lot of design elements that are questionable at best, and inexcusable at worst???

* If uniquity also means either crossing the line into unplayability or having infuriating mechanics, then everything. It's simple as that. You might be okay with the undue reliance on luck that healing staves being able to miss brings, but I consider it a huge deal-breaker, even if it's temporary, because that takes a running leap over the line and lands squarely in irritating territory. And I know I'm hardly the only one who thinks that it actively detracts from Thracia.

[Køkø]

6 minutes ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

* Which means fighting through a squadron of cavalry that has a recruitable unit among them... yay.

* I find it problematic when most of the higher end tomes (and Dime Thunder) are practically unusable due to weight.

* My point was that status staves were useful in Jugdral because of how the hit formula was, but in the games afterwards, they tended to be too niche to get any real mileage out of. Which isn't helped by you only getting one copy of them in most games.

* And yet people rarely try to point out Thracia's flaws (to put it into perspective, Armagon and I are the only ones who regularly criticize the Jugdral games). When it comes to Awakening and Fates, though, people tend to be more critical. Why does Thracia get a free pass when it has a lot of design elements that are questionable at best, and inexcusable at worst???

* If uniquity also means either crossing the line into unplayability or having infuriating mechanics, then everything. It's simple as that. You might be okay with the undue reliance on luck that healing staves being able to miss brings, but I consider it a huge deal-breaker, even if it's temporary, because that takes a running leap over the line and lands squarely in irritating territory. And I know I'm hardly the only one who thinks that it actively detracts from Thracia.

* Pretty sure she doesn't attack him, and they prioritize your castle anyway. Only two of her squadron suicide on him most of the time for me after swarming Arden. You say "fighting through" like it's so tedious. Out of all of my playthroughs, this has never been an issue. Rarely are your complaints reasonable regarding this, and when they are I acknowledge it. A lot of this is you exaggerating and sometimes outright lying about the issues. 

* What tomes are you speaking of in particular? And Dime Thunder has a brave effect, so I don't understand you.  

* Why are you talking about stave obsolescence in Elibe in a discussion about Jugdral's issues? You just noted a plus for the latter, which makes me more confused. 

* This likely due to the lack of attention Jugdral gets in general. And unlike Awakening and Birthright, Thracia has good map design and a decent story. It seems at least 50 or so percent of Armagon's post are about how terrible Jugdral or anything related to it is, but I haven't seen you doing that often.

* Again, how do you feel about Hit Rate?

[Shadow Mir]

On 3/2/2018 at 10:13 AM, Køkø said:

* Pretty sure she doesn't attack him, and they prioritize your castle anyway. Only two of her squadron suicide on him most of the time for me after swarming Arden. You say "fighting through" like it's so tedious. Out of all of my playthroughs, this has never been an issue. Rarely are your complaints reasonable regarding this, and when they are I acknowledge it. A lot of this is you exaggerating and sometimes outright lying about the issues. 

* What tomes are you speaking of in particular? And Dime Thunder has a brave effect, so I don't understand you.  

* Why are you talking about stave obsolescence in Elibe in a discussion about Jugdral's issues? You just noted a plus for the latter, which makes me more confused. 

* This likely due to the lack of attention Jugdral gets in general. And unlike Awakening and Birthright, Thracia has good map design and a decent story. It seems at least 50 or so percent of Armagon's post are about how terrible Jugdral or anything related to it is, but I haven't seen you doing that often.

* Again, how do you feel about Hit Rate?

* The thing is, it's Lewyn's starting position that makes it troublesome since before I can even think of using Return, I have to go through a cavalry rush that has a recruitable unit among them. And I'll be clashing with them in a section of the map that leaves little room for offense or defense.

* Resire, Bolganone, Thoron, Tornado, and Yotsmungand (I might've misspelled that last one). There are the long range tomes as well, but they get a pass because their range does require some kind of limiting factor to balance them. And most games with long range magic had measures to limit their usability anyway. As for Dime Thunder, it's a brave, sure, but its 12 weight practically mandates trade equipping another weapon afterwards, which is inconvenient.

* Because I frankly think that not all tools of war are created equal. While I will credit Jugdral for making status staves useful for the player, that's also one of the few good things that can be said about it...

* I will grant that Jugdral doesn't get that much attention, even from the developers (looking at Smash Bros., even Gaiden got a song in Brawl, but the Jugdral games got nothing other than recolors - Ike has an alternate color scheme based on Sigurd, and Marth's white color scheme is based on Leif; in the context of Heroes, Jugdral is (probably) one of the least represented continents). Anyway, I'm just not sure the story is worth enduring the poor gameplay... or the games' tendency to be outright unfair (Thracia is especially bad about this, but Genealogy also has enemies cheat by equipping weapons to counter your units in the event they're caught with a weapon they can't counter with (e.g. You attack a General that has a bow equipped at melee range - a logical move since bows can't counter melee. But the General now gets a lance equipped to counter with).

* The importance of having a high hit rate tends to fluctuate from game to game. For example, high skill is more important in Sword of Seals than in Blazing Blade, since most weapons are less accurate, every boss is on a gate or throne, and enemy quality is higher.

[Køkø]

2 hours ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

* The thing is, it's Lewyn's starting position that makes it troublesome since before I can even think of using Return, I have to go through a cavalry rush that has a recruitable unit among them. And I'll be clashing with them in a section of the map that leaves little room for offense or defense.

* Resire, Bolganone, Thoron, Tornado, and Yotsmungand (I might've misspelled that last one). There are the long range tomes as well, but they get a pass because their range does require some kind of limiting factor to balance them. And most games with long range magic had measures to limit their usability anyway. As for Dime Thunder, it's a brave, sure, but its 12 weight practically mandates trade equipping another weapon afterwards, which is inconvenient.

* You attack a General that has a bow equipped at melee range - a logical move since bows can't counter melee. But the General now gets a lance equipped to counter with).

* The importance of having a high hit rate tends to fluctuate from game to game. For example, high skill is more important in Sword of Seals than in Blazing Blade, since most weapons are less accurate, every boss is on a gate or throne, and enemy quality is higher.

* Are you talking about Beowolf? Levin and Sylvia should be saving the villages while you're doing that. Ferry doesn't appear until you conquer Anphony, which is well after Voltz's squad. I personally kill Macbeth with Levin for the Shield Ring and the Return him to Evans with Ethlyn after conquering. What are you having trouble with?    

* Resire has the OP ability to leech health. Julia wrecks with it, and Linoan shouldn't be on front lines anyway. Bolganone is only available in the penultimate chapter in FE4 and does not appear in Thracia. (though it is coded) Who's even trying to use it? Sety or Arthur get Forseti and the former wrecks with anything you give him. Tinny has Wrath, and will be one shotting anything with low Res and comes with Thoron (with prior kills on it, hopefully) Thoron is only 7 in FE4, 9 in FE5, and has 20 Crt in the latter. Tornado weighs 2 in FE4, so you have to be talking about FE5. It has only 10 uses anyway. I'm going to make an educated guess and say that it and Thoron in FE5 along with Bolganone in FE4 are meant to be enemy only. This is definitely the case with Jormungand, as it is not available without hacking in FE4, and is only usable by Salem in FE5. He gets other magics than Dark, and he's the only one able to use Fenrir, which makes up for the fact that he can't poison with Jormungand (I don't know why the game won't let him)  However, it's not easy to get him to A Rank in Dark, but if he does he gets the best long range spell in the game.

* Yeah that kinda sucks 

* I just don't understand why you only have a problem with stave hit rate. You also seem to be forgetting that Vulneraries are Elixirs in this game.

 

Edited March 6, 2018 by Køkø