Soooooo what'cha playing?

[Shrimpica]

11 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Too much gameplay BS is their argument I think. Just that. To the point they haven't played it in full if at all.

 while i agree with FE5 having alot of BS/Kowga moments, FE6 has much more BS tbh. Atleast most Same Turn reinforcements in FE5 were kinda fair. Mostly. Late game they go full bullshit with teleporting dark mages who act on the same turn lol

3 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I found the gameplay to be absolutely bullshit and that's why i dropped it a few chapters. I genuinely wasn't having fun with the game. I strongly dislike Genealogy's gameplay was well but there were a few neat things among the abysmal slog i enjoyed.

 Both Jugdral games do have good writing but the gameplay just isn't worth it in my opinion. 

i see. Yeah, no sense in playing if you aren't having fun.

And tbh, Jugdral's 2nd gen really ruins it's story imo. Loptyr is some Anankos tier bs imho.

 

5 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Compare it to Conquest, where it has arguably the worst story but the gameplay hard carries it to A tier.

Hard agree. Conquest is the game i had most fun with in a pute gameplay form. Story might be shit, but idc because gameplay was soooooo muchhhhh fuuuuuuuuuuuuun

[Armagon]

26 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

FE6 has much more BS tbh

To me, FE6 is just a harder FE7. Same turn reinforcements suck and so do the Gaiden requirements but since i played FE7 before FE6, i just saw it as a naturally harder game.

26 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

And tbh, Jugdral's 2nd gen really ruins it's story imo. Loptyr is some Anankos tier bs imho.

I wouldn't go that far but yeah, Genealogy 2nd gen isn't as good as the first gen. 1st gen had political intrigue and the morally grey villain that is Arvis. Gen 2 has......evil empire vs the good guy kingdom/rebels. And yeah, most FE games do do that to some extent but they usually start with that as opposed to giving you political intrigue halfway through the game and then saying no. And this next part can also be said about any game in the series but it's because the Gharnef clones tarnish any story that they're in. Doesn't help that literally the only reason why the heroes won in FE4 is because the mastermind behind everything became an idiot. 

Even Three Houses has it's own Gharnef clones (and they are the weakest part of the writing) but they thankfully aren't as relevant in comparison. 

 

Edited August 29, 2019 by Armagon

[Shrimpica]

21 minutes ago, Armagon said:

To me, FE6 is just a harder FE7. Same turn reinforcements suck and so do the Gaiden requirements but since i played FE7 before FE6, i just saw it as a naturally harder game.

46 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

i didn't like FE7 either tbh. 

I generally see the GBA and DS Era as FE at it's weakest. They lack alot of stuff that i love in every other FE.

23 minutes ago, Armagon said:

And this next part can also be said about any game in the series but it's because the Gharnef clones tarnish any story that they're in.

Yup. Dragon/Dragon controlled destroy FE stories imho

[DragonFlames]

19 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

Have fun with that run, i'm sure that'll be interesting!

Thank you!

Speaking of which, I haven't gotten too far yet (because MegaNep VII has sucked me back in), but I already paved the way for some different classes. Here's what I had in mind for my characters' class-wise (critique/alternative suggestions welcome):
Byleth: Swordmaster or Hero
Edelgard: Warrior or (her canon class)
Hubert: Dark Bishop
Linhardt: Warlock or Bishop (leaning towards the latter)
Ferdinand: Fortress Knight (maybe he won't suck this time. I won't hold my breath, however)
Caspar: Warrior or Brawler or War Master
Dorothea: Warlock or Mortal Savant
Bernadetta: Sniper (she's getting RNG screwed right now. Hope that won't become a trend)
Petra: Assassin (gotta open those treasure chests)

Trying to get the S-support with Petra this time. Over time and through reading her supports, she has become my favorite character in this game, right alongside Annette. Both for completely different reasons, too.

[Sire]

Finally finished Golden Deer. It had a strong start, but it started to fall apart for me in the latter half of Part II. With this I finished Edelgard's Route, Blue Lions, and Golden Deer.

I was unhappy with my pairings again, as I wanted Lorenz x Marianne and Claude x Lysithea. I ended up getting Ferdinand x Marianne (what?), Claude x Ingrid (probably because I maxed out Lysithea, so when Ingrid was maxed out Ingrid bumped Lysithea down), and Lorenz x Lysithea (Not a pairing I wanted at all!). Byleth x Hilda was okay, and to be honest the only reason I went for it was because of the ending CG. My personal choice would be Lysithea, but I'm trying to save her for my "ultimate run."
Although, I may have been converted to the "Marianne Protection Squad." Guess that's another run that may need to be added to the list...

All I have left to do is the Church Route, but I'm starting to feel the burnout at around 185 hours. The Church Route pairing is slated to be Petra, and then there's my planned runs with F!Byleth alongside my eventual "Ultimate Run." Problem with the Ultimate Run is that its mainly for postgame, and Three Houses doesn't have one. // I may end up taking a break from Three Houses as I wait for the DLC, I don't know.

* * * * *

For details, click on the spoiler. May also contain spoilers for Edelgard and the Blue Lion routes.

Spoiler

I was happy with Part One of the Golden Deer due to Claude's perspective on trying to find the truth and going into the lore of Fodlan. While I knew the Blue Lions had more character driven development due to their personal connections, I found to be replaying Part 1 for the BL to be a drag after doing my first playthrough as Black Eagles. The GD perspective re-ignited my hype for the game because it went into the story of the world and such.

Part Two also had a strong start, but it started to fall apart for me when advancing on Enbarr. The reason why is because Byleth suddenly gets fixated on finding and saving Rhea. Granted, I was playing a character who didn't trust Rhea, but the game said no to my roleplaying and continued with the main story instead. Also, the finale of the Golden Deer, while interesting, didn't do much for me. Maybe its because it is early in the morning and I was trying to just finish the route to go to sleep. I loved the premise (Underground Technology City and a showdown against Nemesis), but the execution didn't feel right. Again, maybe this may be due to because I'm on NG+ and know what I'm doing now, who knows.
- - - - -
In general I sorta loved Claude's sneaky approach compared to Dimitri (and Edelgard) who simply charge at everything head on. While most of Claude's schemes worked behind the scenes, I appreciated the stuff Claude did during this route.

The students of the GD were great too, save for Leonie. I honestly just liked her for her timeskip design and her connection to Jeralt, but her lines about Jeralt get old real quick. Cyril is the only character I outright dislike in TH because his entire world revolves around Rhea. Catherine is a Rhea fanatic as well, but she seems to have some interesting stuff on the side (and it helps that Catherine is a solid unit). Oh, and I also dislike Gilbert as well since they took the "dishonored knight" thing way to far with him...
Although I must admit, seeing Lysithea in her natural habitat has changed my opinion of her a little. Lysithea bullying Marianne and Ignatz did not set well with me, even if Lysithea realizes and tries to make up for it in the end. Still though, my favoritism for Lysithea remains.
In general, I'm probably still biased with the Black Eagle students since they were my first house. I do like the students in the other houses, but not as much as my Black Eagles. If I had to choose between Blue Lions and Golden Deer, I think the GD win out because Dedue is not always around and when Gilbert shows up, he drags down the Blue Lions.

* * * * *

Right now I would rate the routes as such...

Edelgard (Favorite Route)
- The Most Unique Route
- Excellent Gameplay
-- Good, but Rushed Story

Dimitri's Route
- Interesting Lord
- May have the most touching finale in terms of story.
-- The Redemption happens overnight
-- Is the most "vanilla" FE story.

Claude's Route
- Learn about the world of Fodlan
- Learn about the world outside of Fodlan
-- Late-game focus on Rhea and "out of nowhere" finale leaves much to be desired on an otherwise solid story.

* * * * *

If you made it this far, here's some random musing on my planned Church Run.

- Byleth x Petra is the S Support Pairing
- Edelgard will the be dancer (Yes, I know she leaves.)
- Hubert will be neglected.
- I'll actually use Seteth and Flayn for once.
- Maybe I'll recruit Hilda since she was planned to be recruited on my first playthrough (but she doesn't join in the Crimson Flower route).
- Lysithea is a mainstay, but she may try out random builds.
- I'll make Caspar into a War Master instead of trying to make him an Armor Knight. Hopefully he'll be useful in this run...

* * * * *

Fire Emblem Three House aside, I recently started playing World of Warcraft: Classic again. As I disliked the direction modern Blizzard is going, it was refreshing to revisit the old "golden days" of WoW, even though I mostly played during the WotLK era. Sometimes, simplicity is best.

My next main game after Three Houses is slated to be Earth Defense Force 5 for PC, but I still got a backlog of games I need to do as well. There's Smash Brothers, Octopath Traveler, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, and a lot more...

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. A licensed game published by the fine fellows at Titus Interactive who forever live in infamy. It's also one of the cartridges that sit in my earliest memories of gaming so I was compelled to revisit it. It is mostly a game of fetch quests in order to access climactic battles with cyclops and minotaurs. The combat is a clunky mash fest and the controls are obnoxiously slow and imprecise. The dialogue is quirky, maybe a bit on the nose when Hercules comments that every resident of a certain town looks the same (they're all the same character model) or how the snowy area is "colder than Newyorkus". One boss had me stuck for hours because he's just so damned difficult, and the lack of checkpoints had me redoing the dungeon beforehand each time. Another drag on the experience is having to equip every item in order to give or use it. The game is mostly get X item, bring it to Y location, so the constant pausing is obnoxious while a better game would just acknowledge you have the item and not ask you to equip it first. And the biggest drag is probably the grinding. You need several hundred coins to buy quest items, but enemies only drop 5 at a time, even at the end of the game. Thankfully I found an exploit to get quicker cash than that.

I rate Hercules a 2.3 out of 10. Among my play time there was only one boss fight where I felt like I was having fun, but I was also struggling each step of the way over difficult controls and non helpful UI. Had those not existed it would have served as the boss of a Zelda dungeon since it's the only enemy you don't just attack but instead defeat by interacting with the environment. It is a game that struggles with its basic functions and doesn't take advantage of its few good ideas. And the majority of your playtime is just walking through the same environments, exchanging items.

[Armagon]

So while i'm still keeping true to my plan to return to playing Bloodstained and Super Neptunia RPG, i've also decided to finally, after a year of holding off on it, jump into the Ys series. Specifically, i'm starting with Ys Seven. I've just gotten past the first boss and the game so far is enjoyable. I can compare it to Nayuta no Kiseki except the gameplay is more involved than in that game. Adol is silent which genuinely surprised me. I mean, he has a voice but he's basically Link in that you imagine what he's speaking. As far as gameplay goes, like i said, more involved than Nayuta but at the point where i'm at right now (not very far), it's standard action RPG. Music's pretty good. As far as graphics go, the 3D is......alright. Since it released on the PSP just like the Trails of the Sky trilogy did originally, i was expecting sprites though i suppose i shouldn't have because it's an action RPG and not a turn-based one.

Edit: Oh yeah, the one thing i didn't like so far was that first boss. That fucker had way too much HP for a first boss.

Edited September 2, 2019 by Armagon

[know_naim]

Took a break from Fire Emblem during the weekend and attacked Astral Chain. On this plate-thing added to the limited edition it says that Astral Chain "might be a little different from what you've come to expect from Platinum Games". Yup, can confirm. While the very beginning of AC, the boss battles or just in general overclocking the action like in a Trigger anime is typically platinum, after a few chapters it begins to show what a monster this game is - both in a positive and negative sense of the word. This may well be the most comprehensive PG game in which the action is just one of many major elements of gameplay.

Basically, Astral Chain is divided into two main parts in each chapter. The first usually involves some kind of investigation in the normal world, the second is more action and cut-scene focused, taking place in the so called Astral Plain, where corruption and those  weird demons, called chimeras, dwell.
"Stop the police! Please don't paint graffiti here! By the way, have you seen this huge monster, which broke the bridge?" More or less in this way we talk with the inhabitants of the Ark, a huge artificial metropolis created by humanity as a refuge from the destruction of the earth, to gather information about the sinister filth that disturbs peace. Like any good detective, we write down key words in our virtual notebook. Makes you actually read the dialogues, because at the end of each investigation someone (e.g. our stupid brother Akira) will check with a short quiz if we are on top of the case. I will say this ... I did not dislike this element, because it was pleasantly straightforwardly made. The right key-word needed to push the story forward could be obtained from many different NPCs, and the 'test' at the end meant that you had to engage with the topic at hand.

The meat of the first part are side-quests anyway. Blue = minor. Red = major. You can imagine the level construction as a much larger Bayo-level in a semi-open world, where hidden fights, mini games, fetch quests and items are sprinkled on the game map ... seriously Astral Chain is stuffed with quality content, because some of the variations appear maybe once or twice for the whole game (such as a very cool motor bike section). Sometimes I felt I was playing like an RPG with elements of action elements but denser packed than Nier - you do not have to walk a lot, you always know what to do, there are just so many options packed in one place. Enjoyed how silly the game can be. For example, fetching an ice cream cone to a crying kid. Use of gyro Platinum style - put like 8 scoops on one cone and troll the player with NPCs dashing down the stairs, knocking you off balance (+ each delicate movement of the controller can mean -1 scoop! I think you actually get bonus points the moors scoops you manage to deliver).

Loved how while repeating chapters after acquiring new skills previously closed paths became accessable, metroid-style. Note that this is completely optional, there is no forced backtracking.  Also, if you fancy pure-P * -experience just push the main quest, there you'll have action in abundance. The legion, basically the weapons of this game, are perfectly woven into both the chill "investigative" gameplay and the combat. Can't complain about the depth of the combat system, because during one playthrough I haven't mastered (and maxed out, because there is some farming to do) the five legions. The absolute stunner for me is the use of the chain. There are no typical airs, i.e. as in the DMC a button to send the opponent flying and you can only jump to your legion, no separate jump button either. Initiating a combo throwing your legion at a flying enemy, then pulling the chain to get close feels fantastic. I think it is good to mention that the controls default to ZL / ZR for attacking and B for dodging. Completely different than in most character action titles and the asymmetry of the button layout (like ZL, summoning the legion, R pulling it back in) requires getting used to it.

Complexity is added via special skills to each legion. Sword legion is like Raiden from MGR in that it can enter a slashing position, Arrow you can probably guess (and his minigames are like 600% better Angel Attack's)... the rest maybe I'll not spoil, because especially Beast was handled quite creatively and is used a lot after you obtain it..

Music is banging, especially at THIS one moment near endgame. Wow wow wow, was like a "don't lose your way" from Kill La Kill momend, loved it. I also like the music in HQ and mini games. HQ is something that Yuzo Koshiro could compose, I immediately associated it with the 7th Dragon.

Unfortunately, in a game packed with some many ideas not everything came out so great. I didn't like the stealth elements fwiw. The controls imo were not well suited for trailing and hiding.  Batman mode on handheld is a travesty (yes, this game still has a special view showing things like distance to opponents and a range of other information) and I disliked how you can't just  quit optional missions mid-game without restarting the whole chapter/file (or maybe it is buried somewhere in the menus. Had a hard time to find voice language settings after I started, cause they are only available from the title screen 😛). So some chapter's where kind of a mixed bag. The further in,  the longer the cases got, so by the end I thought the balance was a bit skewed towards the investigation-part if you decided to do all the side-content.

The story is ... well, I would even say that it is the best in-house Platinum game in terms of script, because it is not bottomlessly stupid at least. Still nothing to write home about. I liked some side characters (Mari/Lappy is a win),  disliked the major ones (srsly, Akira is a jerk) and the player-character is like a prime example how not to make a silent protag work. Was just awkward all the way to the end. 

I could still write and write about this game, cause there is still  sooo much cool  stuff to talk about. Customization of your costume, the fun orders (achievements), very good training mode and taking photos as method of scanning opponents. Geez, how I got into it! At the beginning of almost every bossfight I got hit with the first attack, because I just had to photograph the delinquent with the camera first, lol. Astral Chain is quite long, I spent like 22hrs over four days, which means I enjoyed the game a lot. Usually binge-playing like this I only do with my absolute favourites. Another must-have for the Switch and a high bar for Bayonetta 3 to beat.

[Interdimensional Observer]

I finished TearRing Saga, the I Can't Believe It's Not Fire Emblem! game.

Allow me to give a lengthy dissection of aspects of it, mostly gameplay, in the form of a review:

 

Gameplay:

Spoiler

If you've played any Fire Emblem, you know how to play TearRing Saga.

• Same four physical weapon types- Sword, Lance, Axe, Bow (but no weapon triangle). Axes are a bit inferior and of few users, but still not bad.
• Same five magic elements that consist of Fire, Thunder, Wind, Light and Dark. They're balanced I'd say.
• Staffs for healing, as well as stat boosting and summoning monsters.
• Same division of classes into Infantry, Cavalry, Armor, and Flier. And, the Fliers are Pegasus Knights who promote to Wyvern Knights.
• Same RNG percentages-based leveling with every 100 EXP obtained on a character.
• Same stats of: HP, Strength, Skill, Speed, Luck, Defense, Magic (which like in Thracia doubles as Resistance, albeit only half of a unit's Mag counts as Res here), and for a rare few characters, growable Move.

TearRing Saga was released two years after Thracia 776, but it does not simply copy or improve on Thracia (absolutely no Fatigue in any way for instance) it borrows from all games to precede it.:

• You have dismounting, which does inflict stat losses and restricts your weapon types. But fortunately indoor battles are fairly rare, Runan encounters at most two before the game's finale, Holmes has more, but still plenty of outdoors encounters. So cavalry won't be hamstrung for the vast majority of the game.
• Capturing does not exist in TRS, but Stealing has been reworked, it's stronger, but more random. Thieves in this game have a chance equal to their Skl+Spd to steal any non-starred item in an enemy's inventory when they hit. I never used any Thief for Stealing, mostly because they're fragile and have next to zero Str growth, but they might suit your style. One playable character gets Mug- this guarantees they take an item from enemy if they kill them, but, being in 3 spaces of a unit with Mug inflicts -50 Hit/Evade on allies, so this and said character's stats keep Mug in check.
• As in Gaiden, at a certain point, your team is divided into two amongst the two main heroes: Runan and Holmes. Three times the two heroes meets, and each time they can exchange characters, money, items, but otherwise the two go their separate ways for the entirety of the game. Runan is a traditional FE experience of battle after battle with only time to shop if anything between them. Holmes has moments of linearity like Runan, and after the third reunion ends the game on a straight and narrow path. But, Holmes otherwise has freedom to roam parts of the world map, which allows him to shop wherever and grind EXP fighting monsters, or even gamble money, use an Arena, or craft a handful of rare items. Overall, Runan has the harder battles, usually against human foes. Holmes's fights tend to be simpler, easier, and feature more monsters.
• Map design is definitely better than Gaiden, despite a few clunkers that feel like they could be Gaiden's worst. It's all seizes, routs, defeat bosses, and a few "open all treasure chests" for Holmes. The maps aren't as devilish as Thracia, not as rudimentary as Gaiden, nor as gigantic as Genealogy.
• Speaking of monsters, if you disliked Conjurers spamming cannon fodder in Shadows of Valentia, I am sad to say that they exist here. Enemy summoners begin showing up in the midgame, but then vanish until the lategame, where they aren't too bad.
• Besides summoners enemy warping Witches are here too, you'll see a rare Witch or two in the midgame, but then they disappear until the lategame, where they are rather numerous and can even appear as reinforcements. Fortunately, their AI is still intentionally dumb and won't all gang up on one ally.
• Not present are Status Staffs. And siege weaponry is restricted to a max of 7 range, while siege magic, although often in the hands of enemies that move, is curtailed to 5 range. Potentially fatal AoE and even a lategame target all spell exists, but beyond the Fierce Breath of Draco Zombies, these are always restrained to being usable only on even turns or those divisible by 5.

To explore some other gameplay facets:

• Save Staffs exist, 3 of them, although the last one comes late and the second one requires a bit of tedium to get. Each has has a generous 18 uses and can be used by any Staff unit. In exchange for one turn of theirs', you get the ability to save to any file slot once per use, which you can then freely reload. These can be a great convenience if you care to use them.
• Unit balance is like in any FE- not perfect. But, TearRing Saga allows for most of its cast to be readily trainable and usable, despite a few flaws of real poorness and brokenness. As a bit of novelty, all the Mages and Clerics have something unique to them in form of a Tome/Staff or Skill, that was great touch I felt.
• Growths and stats are not too high in this game. A non-HP growth of 30 can be considered good. Non-HP/Lck stat caps max at no more than 25.
• Skills exist, mostly procs, most familiar to FE fans. One negates enemy Def, another heals for damage deal, yet another does 5 hits. The fan translation for the sake of making it easier for FE players to adjust, renamed the skills from things like Gale and Heaven Saint, to that of their matching skills' used in FE. New skills are mostly new procs, and minor terrain-based skills, these give +1 Move and +10 Hit/Evade when fighting on a map whose type matches with the skill's, for instance, Urbanite activates on City maps.
• Money is real tight in this game. You only once get an injection of 10000 Gold, and you get only so many Gold Bags containing 2000-4000 Gold when used. Considering basic weapons cost usually at least 1000, and for tomes its over 2000, things are expensive. And do you want to promote a Pegasus Knight before the third reunion? You'll have to spend 10000 just for that. Weapons tend to have generous durability, but you still might find yourself running short of funds. Arena abuse, very hard if you don't know how to do it right, easy enough if you do, might be desirable here. Or, maybe Thieves are actually useful for Steal!
• Starting positions on a map change be changed, but still a bit cumbersome. You can't see where characters will deploy before the map begins, but you can alter your team's starting layout. Just jot down where every character starts, and then reset and compare to their place in the character roster. Swap a given character as desired with someone who occupies the space you want to give them. This is like in FE3, but, it is slightly better in that you don't have to deselect everyone and then select one and leave the menu and reenter it again and again, it helps.

Narrative: 

Spoiler

• TRS is typical FE up to that point in time. An evil cult with a dark sorcerer leader wants to destroy the world with the help of an empire. Dragons exist and are very powerful. As in gameplay, it's a hodgepodge of ideas from everything before it in FE, but it doesn't feel like dreadful rehash. The blend is smooth, with enough changes and mixing to have a pleasing if familiar taste.
• Whilst the focus remains on the main characters, there is less a feeling of a Lord & Tactician + Other monologue here. The main characters are a bit more alive, and things just felt better than say Shadow Dragon/FE3B1/Binding Blade. The game is wordy, this isn't a terse script that says only what must be said and then abruptly moves on.
• The game has a lot of exposition, perhaps a little too much. It does layout the foundations for an interesting world in terms of politics and lore of long ago, and more recent political-military events from the past few decades. I like all of this.
• A fault lays in the acting though. As beautiful as the backdrop is that the exposition creates, the actual events in the present can feel a bit hollow. Holmes's route during the first split has a very weak plot, and Runan's doesn't feel much better at the time. Things do pick up later, but it doesn't excuse how things felt earlier.
• A lot of interesting stuff happens offscreen as the game plays out. Unfortunately you don't get to see almost any of it. But adding that stuff would have meant having four main characters mostly doing their own things, which would mean more playables to support them, and more of just everything to include. This game is already long, 40 Chapters, although the mandatory battle count is closer to 50. 

 

Characters: 

Spoiler

• There are no Supports, sadly. Characterization I'd say is a step up from Thracia 776, almost everyone gets at least one scene to give a glimpse into them, and the scenes are fairly well-written. But one could ask for more. A sizable portion of the cast is interwoven with each other in backstories, which is better than being predominantly stray warriors to me. 
• The main characters are Runan and Holmes- best friends and co-lords.
  • Runan is Marth/Seliph/Leif/Roy/Eliwood played to a "T" in terms of personality, he even has Leif's brown hair, and originally was going to have blue hair. His class is Lord, he fights on his feet, he gets Rapiers, he is typical.
    • More interesting than Runan is his advisor in the vein of Malladus/Jagen/Augustus/Dorius/Merlinus- Eugen, a rather sharp old man. 
  • Holmes isn't prim and proper. If Runan is Eliwood, Holmes is Hector, he is a brute when it comes to manners, but he isn't stupid nor blindly plunges into battle. Holmes's jock behavior might be a bit much at times, but he is different, which can be refreshing. He is also a Bow user unpromoted, so he is distinct in gameplay.
    • Holmes gets his own right-hand man, the playable Shigen, a young man Myrmidon. The two have a good friendship, with Shigen being a good guy able to put up with Holmes's coarseness.
  • Enteh and Katri are the game's main heroines, complete with Game Overs if they die and mandatory deployment. Each is a nice girl and Cleric, Enteh goes with Runan, and Katri with Holmes. Though relegated to being second fiddle to the males and not so independent, they don't slave over the guys they patch up in battle.
• The villains and NPCs are rather flat, thought they do get some characterization, mostly at the very end for the villains.

 

Music and Visuals:

No great hits among the music, but it works. No problems with any of it. But not being a Fire Emblem in copyright, I miss the Fire Emblem Theme. The credits has a song with English lyrics, beating out Fates by more than a decade.

The PS1 graphics are pretty, quite colorful, the sprites and portraits of characters are great usually. I like the Mediterranean aesthetic of most of the towns and the other map graphics are clean. Animations look good- the spells are cool- and you can turn them off for map animations, which you can choose longer or quicker versions for, the former being simple, yet crisp and dynamic.

 

Conclusion:

TearRing Saga is worthy of your time and attention if you are willing to emulate. It might not be your favorite by the time you finish it, but you should still give it a chance, unless something I mentioned above really really turns you off. Although IS will can't do anything with this game- no Cipher cards, no FEH inclusion, no anything- it is still a Fire Emblem beyond the name and legal ownership. If you like the Fire Emblem franchise enough, it's worth a shot.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

I destroyed Double Dragon on the Switch NES app. It's one of the first NES games I ever played and I could never get past the double Abobo fight. Now I eat abobos for breakfast with my elbow strats. The sad reality of finishing NES games is that you typically have to break them in half in order to beat them. You start out with punches and kicks. But kicks reach farther, have less endlag in order to combo into the next kick, and deal double the damage of punches. Punches have their use, however, as they net you more experience than the kicks and let you get the better moves faster. By choosing to punch enemies in Missions 1 and 2 and tank their weak counterattacks, you'll be almost max level by the time of the Mission 3 difficulty spike. Some of the move additions are honestly downgrades though. For instance, the final move, a jumping roundhouse, is slower than the previous combo finisher allowing end game enemies to duck under it almost any time. Awful. The elbow move is insane though. They duck under it 80% of the time but you can spam it quicker than any other move until they attack you and you win the trade in damage. It's the highest damage move in the game, and has the highest range for some reason. The controls are also difficult to get used to as the new moves you earn are still mapped to the A and B buttons so casual players end up performing them on accident. And the platforming sections and dodging of traps that appear randomly on top of you will also cheese you out of your extra lives. Pain in the ass level design, but the game's short length encourages you to just try again.

I can usually get to the final fight no problem. The game is only 20 minutes long, and although there's no methods of earning extra lives or continuing, the respawn system is so ill suited to the final battle that having extra lives would not actually help for the finale. I eventually broke down and dropped a save state there, but I didn't beat the dude with a gun until I looked up how speed runners handle the fight. Their method is being better at the game than me. But I also found a backup strat where they find a magic pixel in the room where you are immune to bullets and can damage him safely. Refer to what I said earlier about having to break NES games in order to beat them. The game was more fun before I dissected it and tore out its heart. Overall I rate this game a 4.1 out of 10. Playing the game casually is a blast, playing to actually beat the game is a drag as you fight polarizing enemy designs. Later, better beat em up games like Streets of Rage let you earn more extra lives by earning points. And their respawn system keeps those lives feeling valuable because they let you continue the current fight rather than reset the enemies of the current screen to full health. Furthermore, the first part of Mission 3 is one of the most unwarranted difficulty spikes I've seen in a game like this, and is a harder screen than the majority of the screens following it.

[Shrimpica]

On 9/2/2019 at 5:50 AM, Armagon said:

Adol is silent which genuinely surprised me.

starting Celceta he will sometimes speak during choices, but otherwise nah. He becomes extra expressive in Ys 8 though. There's also alot of ''Adol said'' ''Adol thought'' etc

He Also speaks in Ys 9 trailer

 

Quote

 Since it released on the PSP just like the Trails of the Sky trilogy did originally

Trails in the Sky's original release is the PC version. PSP version is the port. Falcom used to be mainly a PC developer back then until PC marked in japan died and Zwei II bombed because of that

Edited September 3, 2019 by Shrimperor

[Armagon]

8 hours ago, Shrimperor said:

Trails in the Sky's original release is the PC version. PSP version is the port.

Ah. Well today i learned.

8 hours ago, Shrimperor said:

Falcom used to be mainly a PC developer back then until PC marked in japan died and Zwei II bombed because of that

So that's why the PC versions of Falcom games are pretty much exclusive to the West.

[DragonFlames]

Just got done downloading the Atelier Arland trilogy. I know what I'm doing for the next few weeks at the very least...

That, and I recreated the post-time skip versions of Edelgard, Claude, Dimitri, and male Byleth in the character creation tool of Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires. I would post screenshots so you guys could take a look for yourselves, but the upload limit is stingy, so I can't.
Darn it.

In other news, my quest for the Platinum trophy in MegaNep VII has come to a screeching halt due to the hardest part in the entire game: finding every hidden treasure. Getting 10+ consecutive Symbol Attacks off without failure and without any enemy spotting you in-between (which is something you need to do in order to unlock some of them) is harder than it looks, it turns out.

Edited September 4, 2019 by DragonFlames

[Armagon]

20 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

I would post screenshots so you guys could take a look for yourselves, but the upload limit is stingy, so I can't.
Darn it.

Well see, the problem is you're using Serenes Forest's built in image uploader, which has the upload limits. Instead, you copy-paste the image from an outside source like Twitter, Imgur, Discord, etc.

Unless the upload limits you're referring to is something completely different.

22 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

In other news, my quest for the Platinum trophy in MegaNep VII has come to a screeching halt due to the hardest part in the entire game: finding every hidden treasure. Getting 10+ consecutive Symbol Attacks off without failure and without any enemy spotting you in-between (which is something you need to do in order to unlock some of them) is harder than it looks, it turns out.

Bold: what the fuck? That's such a specific requirement. Doesn't help that enemies have the eyesight of a hawk.

[DragonFlames]

Just now, Armagon said:

Well see, the problem is you're using Serenes Forest's built in image uploader.

Yeah, that is exactly it. I'm not too big on the whole social media stuff, so this forum is most likely the only place you'll find me on the internet.
I'll try to come up with a solution to this somehow, though.

2 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Bold: what the fuck? That's such a specific requirement. Doesn't help that enemies have the eyesight of a hawk.

The actual wording is: Make [number] consecutive Symbol Attacks without being seen.
And yes, it is rough. Especially because you mustn't miss, either. If you whiff even once, the chain is broken and you have to start all over again. In dungeons with fast moving enemies, this very quickly becomes a nightmare.

[Armagon]

8 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Yeah, that is exactly it. I'm not too big on the whole social media stuff, so this forum is most likely the only place you'll find me on the internet.
I'll try to come up with a solution to this somehow, though.

Yeah, just make an imgur account in that case. The cool thing about that is that your imgur account is private unless you choose otherwise so you can avoid the "social media" part of it.

[DragonFlames]

55 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Yeah, just make an imgur account in that case. The cool thing about that is that your imgur account is private unless you choose otherwise so you can avoid the "social media" part of it.

You don't even need to make one. You can just upload the pictures there. Kinda nice, if you ask me. The pictures are available for viewing on the Last to Post Wins topic, if you or anyone else is interested.

Never thought I'd self-promote. Jeez...

[Lightcosmo]

3 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

In other news, my quest for the Platinum trophy in MegaNep VII has come to a screeching halt due to the hardest part in the entire game: finding every hidden treasure. Getting 10+ consecutive Symbol Attacks off without failure and without any enemy spotting you in-between (which is something you need to do in order to unlock some of them) is harder than it looks, it turns out.

Really? I dont remember this being too difficult. Getting the treasure... that was a pain, indeed. Some of them are well hidden in towns, that's where I missed some.

[Lightcosmo]

2 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

Yeah, that is exactly it. I'm not too big on the whole social media stuff, so this forum is most likely the only place you'll find me on the internet.
I'll try to come up with a solution to this somehow, though.

I know how this feels. Anyway, completing the extras in XC2 is very tedious, to be sure. But I'm still on it!

Edited September 4, 2019 by lightcosmo

[DragonFlames]

So, I've played the first hour of Atelier Rorona. It already feels vastly different from Atelier Sophie or Lulua, though seeing familiar faces and places from the latter does warm my heart a fair bit.
The graphics aren't on Lulua-level, but this is expected; after all, it's a port of an older game, but it still looks very pretty and welcoming. On the plus side, the game looks and runs equally good in handheld and TV modes of the Switch (then again, so do the other two games I've played).
The camera is apparently fixed in this game, which is something I will get used to. And I won't lie: I'm already paranoid about the whole time limit stuff. 3 months per assignment seems generous enough for now, but I know that won't last long, especially with so much other stuff to watch out for, like side objectives and side quests. Speaking of side quests, the game gives you three to start off with, all of them asking you to deliver a certain quantity of items, two of which you can fulfill by visiting two different shops. Needless to say, those weren't an issue at all, but I'm not expecting that to last, either.
Synthesizing also seems a tad bit different when compared to the other Atelier games I've played, but it could be just the UI that's fooling me into believing that.

As for the characters, they're already great. Rorona is a very endearing protagonist (I'm glad that didn't change come Lulua, where she was one of my favorites) and it's interesting to see how she started out before becoming the caring mother to Lulua. Also, from now on, I will always call Sterkenburg "Sterky".
Speaking of Sterkenburg, the guy is voiced by none other than Liam O'Brien himself. Which is awesome.
My favorite character for now is Cordelia. God, she's hilarious. Her innate attack skill consists of her calling two guys in suits and shades to gun down the enemy.
Yep.

I do harbor some skepticism toward the whole time limit thing, but I do like everything else so far.

EDIT: Forgot to mention: The music is amazing in this game. Calming with a tinge of welcoming homeliness, if that makes sense. I like it!

Edited September 5, 2019 by DragonFlames

[Armagon]

So i've gotten to the end of the third dungeon in Ys Seven. Things are still going pretty good so far, though the boss of the second dungeon also took way too long to die and if this upcoming third boss is anything to go by, then i don't really know how to feel about them. I've upgraded Adol's equipment (sorry Dogi, but i'm broke) so hopefully it goes by faster. One complaint i do have though is that the minimap doesn't tell me anything. It shows me the layout but it doesn't actually show me any shops, which is weird because Trails in the Sky's minimap actually did have shop locations and the like and the two games were released at around the similar time. On the other hand, there's a minimap in dungeons in Ys Seven, God bless. Whenever a JRPG doesn't have minimaps in dungeons, it's a pet-peeve of mine. 

On the Switch side of things, i still haven't jumped back into Bloodstained and Super Nep. I was going to last night but then they released SANS THE SKELETON in Smash. Granted as a Mii Costume but it completely overshadowed Banjo for me, who was also released yesterday. I'm not even a fan of Undertale but i went online with some buddies and we all played as Sans because it's hilarious.

In other news, in celebration of Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive, i've decided to marathon all the Xeno games i have. I don't know how consistent it'll be but i'll be following this order: Torna ~ The Golden Country (i actually have another playthrough of this that i never finished so i'll just pick up from where i left off)-> Xenoblade Chronicles 2 -> Xenogears -> Xenosaga Episode I -> watching the cutscenes of Xenosaga Episode II (i'm not gonna suffer with that game's gameplay again) -> Xenosaga Episode III -> Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive. Yeah, my plan is to space this marathon out in a way that when i'm done, Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive would be out. Kinda hard when we only have a vague 2020 release date but the theory is that it'll release on the day of the 10th anniversary (so June 10th).

RIP Xenoblade Chronicles X but hey, if Tokyo Mirage Sessions can be freed from Wii U purgatory, so can you.

 

1 hour ago, DragonFlames said:

he camera is apparently fixed in this game, which is something I will get used to.

Yeah, the entire trilogy is like that.

1 hour ago, DragonFlames said:

And I won't lie: I'm already paranoid about the whole time limit stuff. 3 months per assignment seems generous enough for now, but I know that won't last long, especially with so much other stuff to watch out for, like side objectives and side quests. Speaking of side quests, the game gives you three to start off with, all of them asking you to deliver a certain quantity of items, two of which you can fulfill by visiting two different shops. Needless to say, those weren't an issue at all, but I'm not expecting that to last, either.

The time-limit in Atelier Rorona is extremely generous (i say as i had to restart because i didn't unlock Pamela's shop fast enough). Anyway, just like sidequests, a good chunk of the required items you'll need to turn in can actually just be bought. If you want to shoot for the best ending, it's still recommended that you make them yourself but the game's actually generous with items you buy. And once the assistant comes in, it just becomes a lot more manageable.

I wouldn't recommend going for all the events on your first playthrough as a good chunk of them are missable and you can quickly run out of time if you don't take the optimal path. 

Pro tip: make a new save at the start of each chapter. Idk what the limit is but you can have a lot of saves. Use it to your advantage.

1 hour ago, DragonFlames said:

Synthesizing also seems a tad bit different when compared to the other Atelier games I've played, but it could be just the UI that's fooling me into believing that.

It's the UI but there actually is a big difference in that your Alchemy Level doesn't determine what you can and can't do. In Atelier Lulua, if you had an Alchemy Level of 20 and an item you wanted to synthesize was Lv.21, you could not even try to synthesize it. In the trilogy, Alchemy Levels simply determine the success rate. If you have an Alchemy Level of 15 and an item you wanted to synthesize is 30, you could try to synthesize it if you have the ingredients. Chances are it'll result in failure but you can test your luck (also you can savescum so if you save before a synthesis and you botch it, simply reload).

The other difference is that there's no quality lock. In Atelier Lulua, only by completing certain Alchemyriddle quests could you increase the quality cap of synthesis. Not in the trilogy. If by some means you get the items to make a 999 quality item, go ahead.

 

 

[DragonFlames]

23 hours ago, Armagon said:

Yeah, the entire trilogy is like that.

That's alright. I don't actually mind. Besides, I think I've gotten used to it already.

23 hours ago, Armagon said:

The time-limit in Atelier Rorona is extremely generous (i say as i had to restart because i didn't unlock Pamela's shop fast enough). Anyway, just like sidequests, a good chunk of the required items you'll need to turn in can actually just be bought. If you want to shoot for the best ending, it's still recommended that you make them yourself but the game's actually generous with items you buy. And once the assistant comes in, it just becomes a lot more manageable.

Which is great, because right now, gathering enough materials for synthesizing AND quests is the hardest part of the game. There aren't that many gathering points in the different areas. I do like that one area has multiple zones, though. And you can go back whenever you like without returning to the world map. That's a neat feature that was gone in Lulua.

23 hours ago, Armagon said:

Pro tip: make a new save at the start of each chapter. Idk what the limit is but you can have a lot of saves. Use it to your advantage.

Already did and it already came in handy. Thank you!

23 hours ago, Armagon said:

It's the UI but there actually is a big difference in that your Alchemy Level doesn't determine what you can and can't do. In Atelier Lulua, if you had an Alchemy Level of 20 and an item you wanted to synthesize was Lv.21, you could not even try to synthesize it. In the trilogy, Alchemy Levels simply determine the success rate. If you have an Alchemy Level of 15 and an item you wanted to synthesize is 30, you could try to synthesize it if you have the ingredients. Chances are it'll result in failure but you can test your luck (also you can savescum so if you save before a synthesis and you botch it, simply reload).

Turns out even with sufficient alchemy levels, synthesis can just fail at random. It's not entirely funny trying to make 3 crafts with a certain ability for a side objective only to have the synthesis randomly fail at the last one and the only way to get the ingredients you need (at this point) is through the voucher system (which in itself is a fun idea)... which I've spent to get said ingredients already. Yay.
And there were multiple other instances where the synthesis just failed at random, particularly with the items I need to turn in for the main objective. Meaning I need to save before every single damn synthesis to ensure it definitely works. Not sure if I'm a fan of that, honestly.

On the positive side of things, I had Iksel join me. Beating people up with a frying pan is hilarious. Also, Cordelia's Theme is a gosh darn earworm.

[Armagon]

14 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Which is great, because right now, gathering enough materials for synthesizing AND quests is the hardest part of the game.

Another thing i'd recommend is doing the main objective month first and then doing sidequests. The main objective can usually be completed very quickly, especially if it's one you can just buy the stuff for. Once the main objective is out of the way, you have the remaining time to complete quests and the like.

12 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Turns out even with sufficient alchemy levels, synthesis can just fail at random.

I mean yeah, if your success rate isn't 100%, then it makes sense that you get unlucky on a 90% and you end up botching the synthesis just like Fire Emblem.

16 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

And there were multiple other instances where the synthesis just failed at random, particularly with the items I need to turn in for the main objective. Meaning I need to save before every single damn synthesis to ensure it definitely works. Not sure if I'm a fan of that, honestly.

Yeah, it's definitely a downgrade when compared to Atelier Lulua. Though on the flip side, i wasn't a fan of how Atelier Lulua locked your quality cap on three different occasions (the fact that it even had a quality cap was like, why?). It left me having rather weak items for a good early portion of the game and it could've remained that way if i didn't choose to complete the entire Alchemyriddle.

 

20 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

voucher system (which in itself is a fun idea)

Voucher system is where i ended up getting most of my equipment upgrades because of how easily vouchers accumulate. 

Speaking of equipment, don't worry about it too much. Combat actually doesn't matter in this game. There are no mandatory bosses in this game. Don't ignore the combat completely though because there are areas where you do have to kill enemies to move onto the next one but out of all the Arland games, Atelier Rorona's combat matters the least.

24 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Also, Cordelia's Theme is a gosh darn earworm.

It is.

Atelier music in general is just so feel good. Having a bad day? Just turn up some Atelier music.

[DragonFlames]

51 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I mean yeah, if your success rate isn't 100%, then it makes sense that you get unlucky on a 90% and you end up botching the synthesis just like Fire Emblem.

RNG, the bane of my existence... XD

52 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Yeah, it's definitely a downgrade when compared to Atelier Lulua. Though on the flip side, i wasn't a fan of how Atelier Lulua locked your quality cap on three different occasions (the fact that it even had a quality cap was like, why?). It left me having rather weak items for a good early portion of the game and it could've remained that way if i didn't choose to complete the entire Alchemyriddle.

True, though it's not like you get that much high-quality stuff early on, anyway (even in the endgame, it's pretty tough coming across materials with a quality of over 100). From that standpoint, capping quality makes even less sense, now that I think about it.

53 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Speaking of equipment, don't worry about it too much. Combat actually doesn't matter in this game. There are no mandatory bosses in this game. Don't ignore the combat completely though because there are areas where you do have to kill enemies to move onto the next one but out of all the Arland games, Atelier Rorona's combat matters the least.

Not to mention enemies drop materials, too, which can help if you run out of gathering spots in an area.

54 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Atelier music in general is just so feel good. Having a bad day? Just turn up some Atelier music.

Oh yes, definitely!
This is a true story: One time, when I couldn't fall asleep due to a panic attack out of nowhere, I turned up the opening song of Atelier Sophie. Fell asleep not five minutes later.

[Shrimpica]

Since i won't be starting XC1 now that a remake was announced, and TX is on hold atm..

I've been thinking of playing one of the command and conquer games for some nostalgia

I do own them all up to RA3, after all...

Question is if they will run on my PC haha. I had alot of trouble getting RA2 to run a few years ago hehe