Alastor plays and ranks the whole series! Mission Complete! ...For now.

[lenticular]

1 hour ago, Imuabicus said:

Interesting, what made you do so and at which chapter, if you don´t mind sharing? What with the CQ Lunatic/Hard stats being the same.

Without going into too much detail and drifting off topic, my experience with Conquest so far has been as follows. I decided I'd try Lunatic and figured I'd replay the first half dozen chapters even though I didn't have to, in the hopes they might ease me more gently into the new difficulty than if I'd jumped in after the route split. The first 8 chapters were largely inconsequential. A couple of minor hiccups, but nothing major. Chapter 9 was where I first had some real problems, including some enemy reinforcements that felt unfair and not actually my fault. But I persisted and got through it. Then was chapter 10 (the defend chapter in the port town with Takumi as an enemy) which felt  like it was probably a difficult chapter anyway, but also changed the rules on me in the middle of the battle twice (first by giving me reinforcements, then by having Takumi activate a dragon vein). And that was when I decided to change difficulty down to hard.

I've since finished chapter 10 on hard and then done chapter 11 as well which had no unfair nonsense or nasty surprises and generally felt incredibly easy. So now I'm wondering if I was premature in changing difficulty, except that the game won't let me change back even if I want to, so it's largely academic at this point.

[Jotari]

28 minutes ago, lenticular said:

Without going into too much detail and drifting off topic, my experience with Conquest so far has been as follows. I decided I'd try Lunatic and figured I'd replay the first half dozen chapters even though I didn't have to, in the hopes they might ease me more gently into the new difficulty than if I'd jumped in after the route split. The first 8 chapters were largely inconsequential. A couple of minor hiccups, but nothing major. Chapter 9 was where I first had some real problems, including some enemy reinforcements that felt unfair and not actually my fault. But I persisted and got through it. Then was chapter 10 (the defend chapter in the port town with Takumi as an enemy) which felt  like it was probably a difficult chapter anyway, but also changed the rules on me in the middle of the battle twice (first by giving me reinforcements, then by having Takumi activate a dragon vein). And that was when I decided to change difficulty down to hard.

I've since finished chapter 10 on hard and then done chapter 11 as well which had no unfair nonsense or nasty surprises and generally felt incredibly easy. So now I'm wondering if I was premature in changing difficulty, except that the game won't let me change back even if I want to, so it's largely academic at this point.

Yeah, I think mid game difficulty change in Fire Emblem wouldn't be amiss at all.

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Jotari said:

Yeah, I think mid game difficulty change in Fire Emblem wouldn't be amiss at all.

I actually agree with the current status quo that you should only be able to turn the difficulty down, at least if you're going to have any sort of reward for clearing the higher difficulties at all, even if it's just bragging rights like in Fates. If you beat the entire game on normal mode and then crank it up to Lunatic for the final battle, it's probably pretty easy to have constructed a party that will curb stomp the final map if you've had basically no limitations on what you can do while training up your army for the entire rest of the game up to that point.

[Interdimensional Observer]

8 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

I actually agree with the current status quo that you should only be able to turn the difficulty down, at least if you're going to have any sort of reward for clearing the higher difficulties at all, even if it's just bragging rights like in Fates. If you beat the entire game on normal mode and then crank it up to Lunatic for the final battle, it's probably pretty easy to have constructed a party that will curb stomp the final map if you've had basically no limitations on what you can do while training up your army for the entire rest of the game up to that point.

Being able to turn the difficulty up would be fine, all you'd need to do is add Lunatic+. And in this case, all the "+" means is that you can't turn the difficulty down, ever, and you cannot swap into it midgame, it must be chosen upon making a new file. I've seen games do this before.

Edited January 29, 2021 by Interdimensional Observer

[lenticular]

13 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

I actually agree with the current status quo that you should only be able to turn the difficulty down, at least if you're going to have any sort of reward for clearing the higher difficulties at all, even if it's just bragging rights like in Fates. If you beat the entire game on normal mode and then crank it up to Lunatic for the final battle, it's probably pretty easy to have constructed a party that will curb stomp the final map if you've had basically no limitations on what you can do while training up your army for the entire rest of the game up to that point.

It would be easy enough to tie any reward to the lowest difficulty you were on at any point during the run. So, if you want to switch from hard mode to lunatic, it pops up a little box saying "You will not earn the rewards for lunatic mode even if you complete it. Are you sure you want to proceed?" Then if you beat it, it only counts as if you beat hard mode. That way, the challenge and the accomplishment can be preserved for anyone who cares about it, but people who don't care about that sort of thing would be able to tailor their experience on a level-by-level basis.

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

50 minutes ago, lenticular said:

Chapter 9 was where I first had some real problems, including some enemy reinforcements that felt unfair and not actually my fault.

The Spear Fighters?

50 minutes ago, lenticular said:

chapter 11 as well which had no unfair nonsense or nasty surprises

Oh, this map has some nice things for you on Lunatic.

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, lenticular said:

It would be easy enough to tie any reward to the lowest difficulty you were on at any point during the run. So, if you want to switch from hard mode to lunatic, it pops up a little box saying "You will not earn the rewards for lunatic mode even if you complete it. Are you sure you want to proceed?" Then if you beat it, it only counts as if you beat hard mode. That way, the challenge and the accomplishment can be preserved for anyone who cares about it, but people who don't care about that sort of thing would be able to tailor their experience on a level-by-level basis.

 

11 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Being able to turn the difficulty up would be fine, all you'd need to do is add Lunatic+. And in this case, all the "+" means is that you can't turn the difficulty down, ever, and you cannot swap into it midgame, it must be chosen upon making a new file. I've seen games do this before.

Fair points.

[Shadow Mir]

2 hours ago, Imuabicus said:

Correct me if I´m wrong but isn´t magic in FE:A broken? What´s (broken/2)?

And Renewal > Rally Mag... I mean does Sakura, in her function as a healer with 2 range really need it that much? Rally mag would give w/e mage you have MOAR DAKKA.

>Implying magic is broken in Fates
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA..... No. Not when enemy resistance is higher than usual, meaning my mages are not even doing that much better than my physical fighters against most enemy types just because they're hitting resistance. And that's not even getting into the fact that most mages in Fates are, to be blunt, big steaming piles of shit. Even Radiant goddamn Dawn had better mages - and mages sucked THERE, too!

Which does a fat lot of good when most of the mages in Fates are so garbage I'm arguably better off going without them.

Edited January 29, 2021 by Shadow Mir

[Alastor15243]

7 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA..... No. Not when enemy resistance is higher than usual, meaning my mages are not even doing that much better than my physical fighters against most enemy types just because they're hitting resistance. And that's not even getting into the fact that most mages in Fates are, to be blunt, big steaming piles of shit. Even Radiant goddamn Dawn had better mages - and mages sucked THERE, too!

I just do not understand where you get, like, any of this from. I use mages all the time, especially in Conquest, and I've found them very useful. And you should really, really check out the shit people have shown can be done with Odin and Ophelia. It's completely insane.

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

25 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

Not when enemy resistance is higher than usual, meaning my mages are not even doing that much better than my physical fighters against most enemy types just because they're hitting resistance. And that's not even getting into the fact that most mages in Fates are, to be blunt, big steaming piles of shit. Even Radiant goddamn Dawn had better mages - and mages sucked THERE, too!

Which does a fat lot of good when most of the mages in Fates are so garbage I'm arguably better off going without them.

I´m somewhat sure that enemy resistance is higher in Awakening than in Fates, considering Awakening enemies max out stats earlier, but that´s a kind of math I won´t be doing. And Mag is very likely higher too, I´d imagine. 

As for Fates, there is a select amount of resistant class lines - Dark Mage, Troubadour, Outlaw, Diviner, Monk/Shrine Maiden, Kitsune, Ninja, Sky Knight. I guess against these classes using magic is not that great of an experience, but against the rest of the enemies’ magic is either ok or great. And that´s not getting into the potential of magic damage when in Attack Stance.

And the worst mage in Fates... I mean it´s probably a showdown between Nyx and Orochi and maybe BR Hayato? Nyx because everything she can do someone else can also do and Orochi for matters of SPD. Hayato because OMG HE IS ONLY LVL 1!

Obviously magic isn´t the solution to everything that it was - as Alastor demonstrated with his Awakening playlog - but it is far away from being useless.

Edited January 29, 2021 by Imuabicus

[Alastor15243]

Revelation Day 15: Chapter 19, Take 2

Well, time for day 1 as a filthy resetting peasant.

I quickly stop back at base and, lo and behold, Ryoma gets a burst of strength and speed. Yeah, I'm gonna take this as a sign that I should use him for this map. Also, I'll be using tonics in HP, strength, speed, defense and resistance for all four of the main units I'm using. Keaton will sit this one out to let Ryoma in because Keaton doesn't have 1-2 range, and with such a limited army that's more of a problem than usual.

Also, a quick invitation to Kagero to go to the treehouse, and Dakota is now married. Let's check out this support before we begin.

...Man, I don't know what it is, but the S supports in Fates just feel so much more... sudden than...

...Actually, in fairness, I only got two of the S supports in Awakening, so maybe it's a poor sample size...

...But I also only have two here so far, and both feel awkward and sudden. I'm not sure how to explain... maybe it's just that the characters don't have the same quality to them that the Awakening cast did. Like I said, Awakening has a great cast and supports, even if it ultimately doesn't save a lifeless and insulting story.

Oh hey! I just realized! This game lets you buy things in bulk! Awakening made you press buttons repeatedly in a rather annoying process that I could do flawlessly until I thought about the button combination I was inputting, at which point, like The Centipede's Dilemma, I found myself fumbling with the rhythm repeatedly. I don't really think the slight improvements Fates makes are worth an extra “usability” tier, but this is more proof that Fates deserves to be on top.

Alright... let's try this again.

...As I apply the tonics to everyone, I remember to my great embarrassment that if I had just broken out the tonics yesterday, namely the HP one, the ironman would still be alive and well.

Oh, and I also gave Dakota a magic tonic on top of the others since he so frequently found himself relying on the bolt axe, even though it doesn't come close to being able to one-round anything. Yeah, the ludicrously high defense of some enemies really makes magic handy here, even if you don't have a really good mage.

...And I just realized I left a lot of the healing items on Effie due to convoy concerns (Dakota's replica can't access the convoy). Restarting.

Looks like that speed tonic made the difference with Xander doubling snipers. Nice, that helps a ton.

Since I don't really have much new to comment on today, this entry is likely to be sparse. But I'd just like to say while I'm thinking about it, since I don't think I mentioned this, that I love the “blow” skills in this game. These abilities that make you more powerful in various ways when you're attacking. It really helps to reward and incentivize player-phase combat, both by buffing your player-phase units and by buffing the combat of the enemies you'll be enemy-phasing, sometimes making it much smarter to player-phase them yourself.

Oh god, I forgot that one of Camilla's dual guard quotes is “Mommy's here!”. She really is just four fetishes and a half, isn't she? I usually don't have to hear that because Camilla's usually up front.

...Yeah, this is going way more smoothly this time around. I don't know whether it's the tonics I used, or the fact that all of my units have 1-2 range, or just the supreme power of hindsight, but I'm ripping through this.

Alright, I cleared the entire northern side, meaning that the “real” units are free to spend their turns doing free actions for the replicas, like using vulneraries or changing weapons after the replica attacks.

I like the game's red and orange “!” symbols on top of enemy units, warning you when the enemy has a weapon you might want to pay attention to. Red means the unit has a slayer weapon against the unit you're currently moving, orange means either a killer weapon or a slayer weapon against the unit in back. I'm not used to needing to be reminded in this game, though.

I'm surprised at how useful I'm finding savage blow. I'm not used to fighting enemies I can't realistically one-round. And given that the enemy stats aren't really ridiculous, just inflated... it's not nearly as awful as I thought it would be. I certainly find it a better overall experience than the lunatic modes of 12 and 13.

Aaaaand we are out of here. I must say, while I still think this is a good map, I didn't find it nearly as fun today as it was yesterday. Way less thought was involved. At times yesterday it almost felt like a Conquest map.

And now it's time for the story. Speaking of, thank you to the people pointing out that Anthony actually fits with Vallite naming conventions!

Okay, so, he talks about how the few remaining Vallites are trapped in the castle and forced to work as Anankos's slaves, and I have one burning question as I think about what Valla used to be like:

...Was it always a mess of floating continents? If so, how did people get around when this was a prosperous and flourishing nation? Are the methods we're using what they used? Did every community just come up with its own wacky way to get to the neighboring islands, from teleportation to floating blocks? Because otherwise I am just dying to know how these guys got around.

And then we get a quick scene with someone who's clearly Mikoto, and the hooded guy from Chapter 5, who has a really clean-shaven face under that hood for who the game expects me to believe he is.

I'm just saying.

Anyway, back to the castle, and...

...Ugh, for some reason I feel compelled to do those dumb bonding things with Dakota's partner whenever I play Fates. Even though as far as I know it doesn't actually give you anything other than an accessory. Anyway, Kagero has an interestingly morbid lover comment where she says she's afraid their life together isn't going to last.

Anyway, once you're married, everyone you invite has new dialogue commenting on the fact that you're married now and there's always someone in the treehouse with you.

Anyway, time to do my visits for the day!

We've got some new visitors! Or old ones with a rename. Hello, Zack and Em! Well, I've decided newcomers get chef's hats, so enjoy!

As for everyone else, I apparently have a smithy shield now, and that's kinda handy to have, so why not?

Alright, that's everyone on the recent visitors list! Time for supports!

...Funny, I only have one, and it wasn't even between guard stance pairs. It's between Dakota and Xander. Let's check this out.

Aw, that was a pretty cute conversation. I remember really liking Xander's supports. It's a pretty common sentiment that “Support Xander” is way, waaaaaaay better than “Story Xander”, and from what I remember I have to heartily agree.

...Hmmm... do I have enough time to do another chapter?

...Sorry, no, probably not. Let's see, is there anything less time-consuming I can try...?

...Fuck it, I'll do the second invasion. Those always make me nervous when I'm ironmanning, but I ain't ironmanning anymore!

Oh shit, almost forgot! Building upgrades! Sweet! And I finally have a level 3 mess hall! Infinite speed and defense boosts ahoy!

Also, I upgraded the fire orb, so we'll be getting Flora soon I'm pretty sure!

Anyway, the invasion doesn't seem too complicated. Most of the enemies don't have skills, and what few enemies do only have basic shit, stuff you learn at tier 1. Ryoma, Xander and Keaton will take care of the east and west flanks, and then we'll deal with the horde of enemies below us at our leisure, since they'll have to take the long way around. Man that indestructible wall of buildings at the south helps with invasions a ton.

...Weird, I just realized I still don't have a beastrune. When am I supposed to get that on this route?

...Woooooow. Chapter 22? Keaton joins with the fucking thing in Conquest! And in Birthright, Chapter 22 is when you get the beaststone+!

...Shit, I forgot about the dusk dragon statue. I usually don't place it anywhere when playing Conquest because it can ruin dual guard rhythm and fucks with Xander's personal skill (though admittedly it does wonders for Leo's), but I felt compelled to place it in Rev for symmetry with the dawn dragon statue. Ah well, it's not like Xander needs the +2 defense. I wasn't even counting on it. The attack and defense bonuses you get from the treehouse and the record hall are insane. +5 now, +7 later.

Alright, that was super quick. There were some reinforcements, but they were weak enough that even Sakura and Elise could handle them.

Now we get some more supports! Alright, I'll check these out before calling it for the day. Anyway, Selena... does not know the first thing about comedy, as she spends all of the B support telling Xander a joke so absolutely humorless that I actually can't stop laughing about how un-funny it is. Which is... surprisingly good writing when it comes to “good” “bad jokes”. You understand why nobody's going to laugh, but... at the same time, the thought of anyone telling this joke is still funny.

Xander: ...Do people truly find such things funny?

Oh wow.

But I like how Xander's not just a humorless dork here. He's like “how can I joke around while my people are starving?”. He says his people need him to take his job seriously and not seem like a total clown. He's... pardon the pun... humoring Selena, but his actual instincts about how a prince should behave are really sympathetic and on point.

As for Ryoma and Camilla's B support... it's not much, but I do like that we have an outside reaction to Camilla's doting behavior that's anything more than comedically finding it disturbing. He's actually trying to lecture her on why coddling Dakota is a terrible idea in the long run, and I kinda like that.

Ooh! Effie and Keaton A! We're gonna get Velouria soon! Man, gameplaywise, Velouria's gotta be my favorite of the kids, and her personality isn't bad either. So let's see...

Awww! While I think the previous supports could have been better, this is actually a really cute A support that leaves a lot of openings for it to more smoothly blossom into romance. Namely the moment when they both get flustered when Keaton praises her. And I like how at this point Keaton's actually fully prepared for her appetite and actually brought enough food for her, and she doesn't mind the game-y taste of the meat either. Really gives the impression that these two have gotten close and are significantly more comfortable with each other's weirdness. Yeah, in terms of “ability to convince me these two could start dating”, this is probably one of the best A supports I've seen in Fateswakening.

And with that... that's it for the week! See you guys on Monday!

Stay safe, everyone!

[Shadow Mir]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

I just do not understand where you get, like, any of this from. I use mages all the time, especially in Conquest, and I've found them very useful. And you should really, really check out the shit people have shown can be done with Odin and Ophelia. It's completely insane.

Orochi is slower than a snail, Hayato comes underleveled (in Birthright at least) and has accuracy issues, Rhajat is even worse on the accuracy front, Nyx also has laughable accuracy, and that's ignoring her crippling overspecialization, and Odin is at the opposite extreme as Nyx (too balanced). With a bunch of LOSERS like these, it's like the game is trying to tell me with all the subtlety of a jackhammer that mages have seen better days (and this almost feels like it was deliberate, to boot). Ophelia is more the exception than the rule.

1 hour ago, Imuabicus said:

I´m somewhat sure that enemy resistance is higher in Awakening than in Fates, considering Awakening enemies max out stats earlier, but that´s a kind of math I won´t be doing. And Mag is very likely higher too, I´d imagine. 

As for Fates, there is a select amount of resistant class lines - Dark Mage, Troubadour, Outlaw, Diviner, Monk/Shrine Maiden, Kitsune, Ninja, Sky Knight. I guess against these classes using magic is not that great of an experience, but against the rest of the enemies’ magic is either ok or great. And that´s not getting into the potential of magic damage when in Attack Stance.

And the worst mage in Fates... I mean it´s probably a showdown between Nyx and Orochi and maybe BR Hayato? Nyx because everything she can do someone else can also do and Orochi for matters of SPD. Hayato because OMG HE IS ONLY LVL 1!

Obviously magic isn´t the solution to everything that it was - as Alastor demonstrated with his Awakening playlog - but it is far away from being useless.

I doubt it. Largely because magic is now in the weapon triangle, and second, this game has a class that's tailor-made to make life hard for mages, as if Fates in general already wasn't enough of a calamity for them. If the best I can expect from most mages is them not being able to take more than one or two hits and them not being able to reliably kill enemies...well, let's just say that it wouldn't be the first time forsaking certain class roles entirely was a viable strategy.

Edited January 29, 2021 by Shadow Mir

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

5 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

Orochi is slower than a snail, Hayato comes underleveled (in Birthright at least) and has accuracy issues, Rhajat is even worse on the accuracy front, Nyx also has laughable accuracy, and that's ignoring her crippling overspecialization, and Odin is at the opposite extreme as Nyx (too balanced). With a bunch of LOSERS like these, it's like the game is trying to tell me with all the subtlety of a jackhammer that mages have seen better days. Ophelia is more the exception than the rule.

Knew it.

5 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

I doubt it. Largely because magic is now in the weapon triangle, and second, this game has a class that's tailor-made to make life hard for mages, as if it already wasn't enough of a calamity for them. If the best I can expect from most mages is them not being able to take more than one or two hits and them not being able to reliably kill enemies...well, let's just say that it wouldn't be the first time forsaking certain class roles entirely was a viable strategy.

None of this is an issue for mages. 

21 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Looks like that speed tonic made the difference with Xander doubling snipers. Nice, that helps a ton.

I´d love to see tonics return, since I can´t use permanent stat boosts. Also more tonic variety (example: Berserker Tonic: +XSTR & -xDEF/RES)

[Samz707]

48 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

And now it's time for the story. Speaking of, thank you to the people pointing out that Anthony actually fits with Vallite naming conventions!

Okay, so, he talks about how the few remaining Vallites are trapped in the castle and forced to work as Anankos's slaves, and I have one burning question as I think about what Valla used to be like:

...Was it always a mess of floating continents? If so, how did people get around when this was a prosperous and flourishing nation? Are the methods we're using what they used? Did every community just come up with its own wacky way to get to the neighboring islands, from teleportation to floating blocks? Because otherwise I am just dying to know how these guys got around.

 

 

Clearly they just flew around.

Just reminded me of the "Floating Islands" that came out of nowhere in Tomb Raider 2 with Flying Warrior dudes.

Edited January 29, 2021 by Samz707

[Interdimensional Observer]

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Was it always a mess of floating continents? If so, how did people get around when this was a prosperous and flourishing nation? Are the methods we're using what they used? Did every community just come up with its own wacky way to get to the neighboring islands, from teleportation to floating blocks? Because otherwise I am just dying to know how these guys got around.

Is Valla in another dimension or something? Because the ground below the clouds on the world map don't look remotely like Nohrhido. Are the lands below also Valla?🤔

There are ways one could spin this. Ye olde Chrono Trigger with the flourishing magical Kingdom of Zeal and the barren cold earth of impoverished peoples below is one. Another would be Xenogears and its Solaris and Shevat, the two countries floating in the sky, the former invisible and the latter mobile. The first manipulates the surface dwellers for its evil goals; the second, much weaker, nation passively tries to help the surface a little.

Of course, Fates... *insert the usual remarks*.

...Azura could vaguely pass as Queen Zeal or Schala now that I think about it.

I ignore the plot of Fates as I've said, and I mean no malice here, I just happened to notice the map thing.

Edited January 29, 2021 by Interdimensional Observer

[Jotari]

9 hours ago, Imuabicus said:

Knew it.

None of this is an issue for mages. 

I´d love to see tonics return, since I can´t use permanent stat boosts. Also more tonic variety (example: Berserker Tonic: +XSTR & -xDEF/RES)

Well cooking stuck around in Three Houses, in such a way it was easier to use it on your whole army, so that simulates the idea of Tonics at least.

8 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Is Valla in another dimension or something? Because the ground below the clouds on the world map don't look remotely like Nohrhido. Are the lands below also Valla?🤔

There are ways one could spin this. Ye olde Chrono Trigger with the flourishing magical Kingdom of Zeal and the barren cold earth of impoverished peoples below is one. Another would be Xenogears and its Solaris and Shevat, the two countries floating in the sky, the former invisible and the latter mobile. The first manipulates the surface dwellers for its evil goals; the second, much weaker, nation passively tries to help the surface a little.

Of course, Fates... *insert the usual remarks*.

...Azura could vaguely pass as Queen Zeal or Schala now that I think about it.

I ignore the plot of Fates as I've said, and I mean no malice here, I just happened to notice the map thing.

Wello considering you fall into a canyon to get to Valla I'd say no, the land below it isn't meant to be Hoshido or Nohr and a different dimension is probably more accurate. As far as the land below goes, I think it is meant to be more of Valla, but not like a Chrono Trigger overworld underworld thing, and more like that's just more floating island stuff because the whole dimension is made up of floating islands.

[Shadow Mir]

15 hours ago, Imuabicus said:

Knew it.

If only one or two natural mages are anything resembling decent while the rest are mediocre to outright bad, that's telling me that mages aren't exactly amazing in this game.

15 hours ago, Imuabicus said:

None of this is an issue for mages. 

Sounds like you're trying to downplay the fact that much like GSC did with Psychic types, Fates added classes with the explicit purpose of being the bane of mages, in addition to smacking them with other nerfs, with Dark Mage in particular getting the worst of it, as most dark tomes were removed entirely, with Nosferatu, the one dark tome left, getting nerfed to hell. In addition, Dark Mage and Sorcerer have the lowest growth rates of all the classes, which, again, is pretty much deliberate.

Edited January 30, 2021 by Shadow Mir

[Axie]

just to let you know it was me (i am a party pooper and always keep my avatars with their default names #detachment) who made us a bond unit automatically named... alexa

daughter play us how can that be

[Alastor15243]

28 minutes ago, Axie said:

just to let you know it was me (i am a party pooper and always keep my avatars with their default names #detachment) who made us a bond unit automatically named... alexa

daughter play us how can that be

Haha, you do you.

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

4 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

Sounds like you're trying to downplay the fact that much like GSC did with Psychic types, Fates added classes with the explicit purpose of being the bane of mages, in addition to smacking them with other nerfs, with Dark Mage in particular getting the worst of it, as most dark tomes were removed entirely, with Nosferatu, the one dark tome left, getting nerfed to hell. In addition, Dark Mage and Sorcerer have the lowest growth rates of all the classes, which, again, is pretty much deliberate.

I assume that´s a PKMN reference but it´s not one I get.

I am also not downplaying anything; I even gave you a list of enemies mages would most likely struggle against? 

10 hours ago, Jotari said:

Well cooking stuck around in Three Houses, in such a way it was easier to use it on your whole army, so that simulates the idea of Tonics at least.

Yeah, but tonics are a lot more problem oriented (I guess?) than meals. And tonics in TH would probably have to give a larger stat boost considering the amount of stat inflation going on on Maddening.

I don´t really know about Cooking in TH though, since I never used it - but looking at the gains it looks rather mediocre?

[X-Naut]

5 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

If only one or two natural mages are anything resembling decent while the rest are mediocre to outright bad, that's telling me that mages aren't exactly amazing in this game.

Sounds like you're trying to downplay the fact that much like GSC did with Psychic types, Fates added classes with the explicit purpose of being the bane of mages, in addition to smacking them with other nerfs, with Dark Mage in particular getting the worst of it, as most dark tomes were removed entirely, with Nosferatu, the one dark tome left, getting nerfed to hell. In addition, Dark Mage and Sorcerer have the lowest growth rates of all the classes, which, again, is pretty much deliberate.

The most privileged weapon type got hit with nerfs to make it less dominating than it was before? Oh no, what a nightmare!

For real though... magic still has universal 1-2 range and hits a lower defense stat. Daggers are dumb but being in the triangle also gives them an even better bow matchup, and one of the new spells can turn the tables on daggers. Fates is "stat limits my ass" the game with all its stat-stacking potential, and with the right setup Nosferatu can still be pretty dumb even with its nerfs. Not to mention with durability gone they had to do something to tare it back.

Mages are a lot more chained than they used to be but they're far from useless. If they have any complaints it's that they want magic weapons to stop muscling in on their turf.

[Axie]

magic is fine in fates. it does wish it had better default users early game, but a) that's not a fault of the tomes and scrolls, which by themselves are good weapons, b) you can always reclass some other people or use a prepromote later on. it's no ylisse magic, but it's certainly no tellius magic either. it's closer to ylisse than tellius in the usefulness of magic spectrum.

[Punished Dayni]

3 hours ago, Imuabicus said:

I don´t really know about Cooking in TH though, since I never used it - but looking at the gains it looks rather mediocre?

Certainly lesser, the best you can get is an all round +1 and that involves the hardest to catch fish, knowing the way to get the veg and almost certainly luck in auxiliary battles with meat, though you only need to get lucky once or Amiibo Gazebo assistance. Most of the multistat boosting meals aren't worth bothering much.

Seeing as you can only do it once per monastery visit it's not a high priority and barring boosting speed when I'm free to do so I'd only bother using it for endgame for larger boosts.

And for those looking at using it on the two chapters in a row, it will only last for the first chapter, so you don't get it for the second.

And the cook effectively doesn't matter, because they don't change anything about the meals.

Yeah, Fates's is more in depth.

Edited January 30, 2021 by Dayni

[Shadow Mir]

On 1/25/2021 at 8:01 PM, Jotari said:

Given classes do affect growths you might want them to have levels in a different class to gain more magic levels or something, but in reality the acutal impact of that on stats is very negiblible unless youre already at end game when youre recruting the unit (by which point leveling them up the traidtional way was never going to be an option). Really my offspring seals is that they:re too good. There:s no choice involved because they:re going to make the character as good as or better than levellling them traditionally (especially I think in weapon ranks as it levels all weapon ranks which is harder to do with multiple weapons in practice). The way they:re implemented they might as well just had the child units be recruited at the level they:d be offspringed sealed to regardless. Giving the child units default promoted classes in addition to tier 1 classes wouldn:t have been the worst idea ever, and would actually make more sense in Dwyer:s case as hes obviously meant to be a butler and not a troubadour (also another thing to blame the weird promotion of butlers and maids).

Honestly, I thought they were more undertuned, if anything - it makes me think all the waiting was for nothing.

On 1/27/2021 at 3:55 AM, Axie said:

i don't think birthright and conquest have this necessity at all but i must say this sounds kind of valid of revelation. the problem is actually getting some of these kids with how bad their parents are in it

As I see it... in Birthright, the gen 1 units I would consider bench material are Subaki, Orochi, Hayato, Setsuna, and Rinkah. In the context of Conquest, I'd consider Arthur, Odin, Niles, Nyx, Charlotte, and Laslow easy benches.

[Jotari]

6 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

Honestly, I thought they were more undertuned, if anything - it makes me think all the waiting was for nothing.

No idea what you mean.