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

[Alastor15243]

17 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

I got a question: Did you have plans to recruit Caspar to access Mercedes's paralogue?

Also, have you reconsidered some of your class paths?

No, but that sounds like a good idea now that you mention it.

As for class path reconsideration, well, I don't know what the fuck I'm going to do about some of my units given their weird stat growths, namely Dedue. Next time I have an off day I don't feel I can do a proper update on, I think I'm gonna re-assess them and write out their stats.

[AnonymousSpeed]

13 hours ago, Jotari said:

That...was actually surprisingly good.

11 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Very funny, was not expecting this! Truly, I have underestimated Riddel at my own peril.

I recommend you check out that guy's videos on Matthis and Makalov, they're pretty awesome.

8 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

In light of recent discussion, which do you prefer: Throwaway bosses with generic enemy portraits (a la Three Houses)? Or, throwaway bosses with cut-and-paste portraits, perhaps with minor recoloring (a la Genealogy)?

I kinda like portrait recolors. I know they're cheap, but for one-off enemy characters they have the right amount of goofy charm while also indicating that the boss is distinct from the other units on the field.

[Jotari]

8 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

In light of recent discussion, which do you prefer: Throwaway bosses with generic enemy portraits (a la Three Houses)? Or, throwaway bosses with cut-and-paste portraits, perhaps with minor recoloring (a la Genealogy)?

At this stage I think there really isn't much excuse for not just giving every minor boss a unique portrait. It's not like it's massively budget intensive. It comes to however much it costs an artist to draw a single picture. It's not even something thing the main developers have to worry about, it's an outsourced duty so it doesn't cost any more time. Just the money to pay some starving artist somewhere to make a pic for a minor character that manages to reach the stage of good enough. They managed to replace all the reused pictures in the remakes so far. The new generic boss mugs don't make for the most striking or memorable characters in the world, but they're all unique. It's really surprising they ran into an issue like this in Three Houses. Because even back in the GBA days I'm pretty sure they never reused portraits, at least not like the Kaga era. Like most things in Three Houses, I think it came down to bad management rather than it being logistically difficult. It's not like Three Houses even has that many bosses given that most Part 2 story bosses are from the playable cast.

Edited September 1, 2021 by Jotari

[AnonymousSpeed]

11 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Because even back in the GBA days I'm pretty sure they never reused portraits, at least not like the Kaga era.

Every gaiden chapter boss in FE6 is a recycled portrait.

[Jotari]

3 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Every gaiden chapter boss in FE6 is a recycled portrait.

Oh is it? I obviously remember the Mulagir bosses all having the same portrait but that's also obviously for the gimmick of the chapter.

[Acacia Sgt]

Blazing Blade also had portrait recolors.

For example, Marquess Araphen with Aion (the boss of Ch18x).

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

On 8/26/2021 at 6:33 PM, Alastor15243 said:

And finally, why is the tutorial for fighting these monsters such complete garbage?

Do they ever explain what that "great powah" is that forms both barriers and their big spoopy aoe attack? 

Also lol at the last option - How´d you learn all this anyway" - for the monster tutorial - just a giant "It´s magic. I ain´t gotta explain shit."

Edited September 1, 2021 by Imuabicus

[Alastor15243]

4 hours ago, Imuabicus said:

Do they ever explain what that "great powah" is that forms both barriers and their big spoopy aoe attack? 

SPEAKING OF THE LATTER...

Apparently, from footage I've seen, even though gambits can't kill with their AOE, monster attacks can, without them ever saying this?

[Alastor15243]

Three Houses Day 20: Cast Interlude 1

Alright, so, having a busy week combined with going through caffeine withdrawal... hasn't... become... any... less... of the state I'm in... so, I don't think I can do much of substance today. But a small update is better than nothing, so hey, let's take a break, take a step back, and take a good look at my army's current progress!

...Christ there is so much information on this stat screen. Whatever, let's do it and keep it simple.

Dimitri: Level 11, 35 HP, 19 Str, 4 Mag, 15 Dex, 12 Spd, 8 Lck, 12 Def, 8 Res, 13 Cha.

...I think he has 35 HP. The number is a blue 38 after the +3 HP food he made for everyone, but surprise of motherfucking surprises, the game's lack of polish shines through once again and the game doesn't tell you the base values of buffed stats on the out-of-battle unit info screen. So if I'm mistaken that that's how much the food buff is, just keep in mind I made the same mistake with everyone.

He's a soldier right now, and he's at D+, nearly at C, in both axes and lances. He's a little further behind in flying. So I think he's making good progress at the moment. But he hasn't really reached the point where he's really started getting his niche. He hasn't started doubling, and obviously he's not good at enemy-phasing large groups, given that the requirements for that have increased drastically and he'd need bows to really excel at it... Yeah, unfortunately there's not much to say about it except that he's definitely in the upper half of my most useful units, just not as good as Byleth or Felix.

Dedue: Level 11, 36 HP, 20 Str, 3 Mag, 7 Dex, 11 Spd, 8 Lck, 10 Def, 2 Res, 9 Cha.

I genuinely do not have the first fuck of a clue what to do with this guy. If my resources are correct, in ten levels this guy has gotten 4 levels of speed on a 20% growth, and 2 levels of defense on a 50% growth. True, the dice have no memory and that could change at any time, but that's one hell of a fucky head start. That speed's not good enough to do anything of real value, but I definitely feel that 3 fewer defense. If this guy doesn't start getting good defense before his personal skill stops making him the tankiest unit in the army... we're gonna start having problems.

Felix: Level 12, 32 HP, 16 Str, 9 Mag, 12 Dex, 15 Spd, 10 Lck, 9 Def, 4 Res, 11 Cha.

Felix is the only unit I have, save for my mages against some slower opponents, who is capable of reliably one-rounding units.

…

…

…

Holy fuck, the implications of what I just said just hit me like a truck. That I'm still in that early stage of the game... after twenty days of playlogging, and twenty one fuckmothering hours of play time.

I finished Dark Dragon by this point. And here I am, still in the early-game where most units can't double.

And keep in mind, this is when optimal use of the facilities is at its most basic and least time-consuming, because, of course, the devs, in their infinite wisdom, decided that you can only reap the benefits of a higher professor rank by taking even fucking longer between chapters. Instead of boosting the rewards of skirmishes, or increasing the weapon experience points you give via tutoring, or increasing the effectiveness of the things you do at the Monastery... they just let you do more battles, let you tutor more people, and let you do more things at the monastery.

...Oh my fucking god let's just get back to business, it's hurting my brain just thinking about this.

Felix is easily my star player at the moment. Between his use of gauntlets and doubling, and his high damage output thanks to his personal skill, he's one big melee delete button for when I need it. No complaints with him so far.

Ashe: Level 10, 29 HP, 11 Str, 8 Mag, 13 Dex, 10 Spd, 11 Lck, 6 Def, 7 Res, 7 Cha.

He's just a filler curved shot bot at this point. I'll be making him an archer soon, but at the moment I just don't know if he's gonna be of any use to me. His speed and strength are both terrible, and I'm thinking I might want to recruit someone else and just ditch his ass. If anyone thinks he can still be salvaged at this point and has an idea of how, lemme know.

Sylvain: Level 13, 38 HP, 16 Str, 10 Mag, 12 Dex, 12 Spd, 11 Lck, 8 Def, 4 Res, 13 Cha.

Definitely better than Ashe, that's for sure. Especially now that he has the Lance of Ruin. But he hasn't really gotten to the point where he's really broken out of the mold of mediocrity yet. He's been making decent progress as an archer, about as far with bows as Dimitri is with axes. Better if I hadn't royally fucked up the sauna minigame last free time, but whatever.

Mercedes: Level 12, 27 HP, 9 Str, 17 Mag, 13 Dex, 12 Spd, 8 Lck, 8 Def, 11 Res, 11 Cha.

I have been really surprised repeatedly at how useful Mercedes is. She's unfortunately both my best healer and my best magical nuke. I say “unfortunately” because I would be much happier if I could make use of both of those talents in the same turn. She's got a C+ in faith and a C in reason, the only things I'm really concerned about at the moment. Buuuuuut... at some point I should probably go battalion shopping and get her a battalion so she can start getting that authority rank up.

Annette: Level 10, 28 HP, 10 Str, 15 Mag, 10 Dex, 10 Spd, 10 Lck, 7 Def, 7 Res, 9 Cha.

This is the mage I wish were as good as Mercedes is at fighting. Right now she, like many others, is just filler chip damage, and it's frustrating. She has C+ reason and D faith, so she's doing decently well there, but I wish her speed would pick up. Not that it's likely to, given her growths. Maybe when she hits dark flier? Getting darting blow from adjutanting as a pegasus knight later is bound to help a ton as well.

Ingrid: Level 10, 32 HP, 14 Str, 9 Mag, 7 Dex, 14 Spd, 10 Lck, 8 Def, 14 Res, 13 Cha.

She's just on the verge of breaking out, I'm sure of it. I'm probably going to be going to some efforts to buff that magic stat since my goal is to make her a dark flier, but she definitely has the much-needed speed for the job of being a dark flier at least. She's got C reason and C+ flying.

Constance: Level 11, 25 HP, 6 Str, 19 Mag, 10 Dex, 8 Spd, 5 Lck, 6 Def, 8 Res, 9 Cha.

Her slow speed is infuriating, but her magic stat is really nice, so she at least does some great chip damage. Still, that's all she's doing at the moment. C+ Reason, D+ Faith, C flying.

...And of course, last (because she's not on the goals screen I used to read these and I forgot about her) and... last... is Professr.

Level 12, 35 HP, 20 Str, 10 Mag, 15 Dex, 13 Spd, 12 Lck, 10 Def, 7 Res, 12 Cha.

Yeah, uh, she's not as good at Felix is at obliterating enemies, but she's easily my best all-around unit. Her skill ranks are pretty shit though. D+ in swords, D+ in authority, some minor progress in faith and flying, and then a bunch of fuck-all everywhere else. That's never enough to stop her from being really useful in my experience, but I do hope I'll have more of an opening to boost those weapon ranks soon.

Alright, so, there's that progress report! Any questions?

Edited September 1, 2021 by Alastor15243

[AnonymousSpeed]

8 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Holy fuck, the implications of what I just said just hit me like a truck. That I'm still in that early stage of the game... after twenty days of playlogging, and twenty one fuckmothering hours of play time.

It's a slow game.

8 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Ashe

Ashe is pretty terrible as a unit, I'm not opposed to ditching him, but you can definitely go Brigand (for Death Blow) -> Sniper and make him useful at killing one enemy per turn, or theoretically make him a dancer which will render his poor stats meaningless.

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

It's a slow game.

Ashe is pretty terrible as a unit, I'm not opposed to ditching him, but you can definitely go Brigand (for Death Blow) -> Sniper and make him useful at killing one enemy per turn, or theoretically make him a dancer which will render his poor stats meaningless.

Ah yes, I did that with Ferdinand in my first run for that same reason.

God, I can hear the "Femboy dancer" memes already.

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Apparently, from footage I've seen, even though gambits can't kill with their AOE, monster attacks can, without them ever saying this?

I seem to remember a video of the Windcaller wiping out a guys entire army, but unfortunately I can´t find it. Granted without their big aoe they´d be even less of a threat. Also, the game doesn´t tell you how much damage the big aoe deals no?

 

On the topic of Ashe and other units of inferior disposition - why even bother with them, beyond sentimental reasons. They are like the rest of the scrub squad, except showcasing the bottom of the barrel. Get Catherine - instant upgrade. Same with Shamir. And it saves you exp for the stars of the show.

Edited September 1, 2021 by Imuabicus

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

God, I can hear the "Femboy dancer" memes already.

*Looks up the male dancer model for 3H*

...Thats a dancer? The female version in 3H lets you correctly guess at what class they have easily enough. But the male's attire could be that of a classical Greco-Roman philosopher, or any ordinary Greco-Roman man in general.

The first mainline FE instance of a male dancer, and it appears disappointing. FEH's dancer Inigo was much better:

Spoiler

And I'd say Etrian Odyssey came up with a, fairly modest, better male dancer design as well.:

Spoiler

Not saying it was drawn well, and the face ain't cute, but the clothes are good.

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by Interdimensional Observer

[AnonymousSpeed]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

God, I can hear the "Femboy dancer" memes already.

The what?

But yeah, Catherine or Shamir would be improvements. Hanneman is a little slow to be a magical nuke, but he learns some longer range spells. Manuela gets Warp at A Faith. Flayn can be a rescuebot for some hit-and-run strategies, Cyril is built to get you a wyvern rider, there's really no shortage of good substitutes for Ashe and "other units of inferior disposition". Also note that recruiting some of these units early enough (while their auto-levels have them as monks or fighters) will give them some additional weapon ranks.

You could also make Annette a dancer since she spawns with Mercedes at Hunting By Daybreak, and having extra physic or magical nukes could be pretty helpful there.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

2 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Also note that recruiting some of these units early enough (while their auto-levels have them as monks or fighters) will give them some additional weapon ranks.

This consideration applies only to out-of-house students, not to any of the units you mentioned. Flayn always joins as a Priest, Shamir as a Sniper, Cyril as a Commoner, and so on.

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

God, I can hear the "Femboy dancer" memes already.

Hmph. You say that like it's a bad thing.

Anyway, in-house Ashe is... fine. Not great, but definitely workable. I really enjoyed him in Wyvern classes on CF Hard - functioning as a flying lockpick, while maintaining an otherwise-full inventory, was a neat niche. He can also do nice in Sniper or Bow Knight. Deadeye can give him absurd attacking range, although his Hit rates will be shaky at long-range. The nice thing about having him in-house is getting a jump-start on class masteries (Fighter, Archer, Brigand) and Authority rank.

That said, if you wanna replace him, the most obvious candidate is Cyril. He's the earliest out-of-house joiner, and he shares Ashe's weapon strengths (Axe, Bow, Lance). On top of that, he offers better combat arts (Vengeance, Point-Blank Volley), plus movement-type proficiencies. Shamir joins a bit later, but can also be good as Sniper/10.

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

If this guy doesn't start getting good defense before his personal skill stops making him the tankiest unit in the army... we're gonna start having problems.

How close is Dedue to certifying in Armor Knight? That will bump his Defense up to 12 (before class mods are taken into account). Just think of it like feeding him a Dracoshield.

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

This is the mage I wish were as good as Mercedes is at fighting. Right now she, like many others, is just filler chip damage, and it's frustrating. She has C+ reason and D faith, so she's doing decently well there, but I wish her speed would pick up. Not that it's likely to, given her growths. Maybe when she hits dark flier? Getting darting blow from adjutanting as a pegasus knight later is bound to help a ton as well.

Have you worked on her Authority at all? C-rank gets her to Rally Speed, which is quite potent in combo with innate Rally Strength. Unfortunately, Rallying isn't helping her grow, but it can be a helpful support technique. Like, imagine a Dimitri that doubles.

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Her slow speed is infuriating, but her magic stat is really nice, so she at least does some great chip damage. Still, that's all she's doing at the moment. C+ Reason, D+ Faith, C flying.

My experience with Dark Flier Constance on VW Maddening is, her Speed doesn't especially matter. Her Magic and Reason list are strong enough that, with the right skills and battalion, she's one-shotting basically every foe. Especially in indoor maps, where her Magic is boosted further. Like, she's a fiercer offensive presence than even Lysithea.

[Shadow Mir]

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Ashe: Level 10, 29 HP, 11 Str, 8 Mag, 13 Dex, 10 Spd, 11 Lck, 6 Def, 7 Res, 7 Cha.

He's just a filler curved shot bot at this point. I'll be making him an archer soon, but at the moment I just don't know if he's gonna be of any use to me. His speed and strength are both terrible, and I'm thinking I might want to recruit someone else and just ditch his ass. If anyone thinks he can still be salvaged at this point and has an idea of how, lemme know.

Drop him and recruit and use Bernie instead.

[Jotari]

4 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

And I'd say Etrian Odyssey came up with a, fairly modest, better male dancer design as well.:

  Reveal hidden contents

Not saying it was drawn well, and the face ain't cute, but the clothes are good.

 

Looks too much  like a pirate imao.

[Shadow Mir]

5 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

And I'd say Etrian Odyssey came up with a, fairly modest, better male dancer design as well.:

  Reveal hidden contents

Not saying it was drawn well, and the face ain't cute, but the clothes are good.

 

That's supposed to be a dancer? That looks much more like a pirate lol.

 

[Sunwoo]

7 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

*Looks up the male dancer model for 3H*

...Thats a dancer? The female version in 3H lets you correctly guess at what class they have easily enough. But the male's attire could be that of a classical Greco-Roman philosopher, or any ordinary Greco-Roman man in general.

The first mainline FE instance of a male dancer, and it appears disappointing. FEH's dancer Inigo was much better:

  Hide contents

And I'd say Etrian Odyssey came up with a, fairly modest, better male dancer design as well.:

  Hide contents

Not saying it was drawn well, and the face ain't cute, but the clothes are good.

 

EO really does have superior designs over FE when it comes to thinks like armors and dancers.

And if IS didn't wanna do dancer boys, they could always make more bard guys. But apparently they don't wanna do that anymore either?

[Alastor15243]

Yeah wow I remembered the male dancer model showing a bit more skin for some reason.

[Interdimensional Observer]

4 hours ago, Jotari said:

Looks too much  like a pirate imao.

 

3 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

That's supposed to be a dancer? That looks much more like a pirate lol.

 

Etrian already had done buccaneers.:

Spoiler

 

1 hour ago, Sunwoo said:

And if IS didn't wanna do dancer boys, they could always make more bard guys. But apparently they don't wanna do that anymore either?

Although I was thinking of Elffin before, you triggered a thought in me. That being male dancer in 3H would actually kinda pass as a bard. Checking Wikipedia for some quick ancient depictions of the famed mythic Greek bard Orpheus.:

Orpheus, the dude sitting on the left with the lyre, doesn't look entirely unlike the 3H male dancer. I think you could strap a lyre to the male dancer model's back and it'd make a fine bard.

 

3 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Yeah wow I remembered the male dancer model showing a bit more skin for some reason.

I'm not even sure how you'd dance seductively, or whatever's supposed to be magically refreshing about the choreography, in that garb. Unless we're talking the art of folk dancing, which FE has never really shown off because it's lame. Historically important and worth preserving for the future sure, but the audiences for those kinds of wholesome moves isn't very big compared to the sexy stuff.

Also, sorry for slightly hijacking the topic with this many posts on the matter.😅

[Alastor15243]

Sorry guys, no update today either. Serious rain last night and a tree got knocked over in the neighborhood, taking out power for many and making me pretty dang busy sorting some stuff out. I think I'm going to just start up again on Monday. Sorry for another update drought of a week!

Edited September 2, 2021 by Alastor15243

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

22 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Thats a dancer? The female version in 3H lets you correctly guess at what class they have easily enough. But the male's attire could be that of a classical Greco-Roman philosopher, or any ordinary Greco-Roman man in general.

I don't especially see what's un-dancer-like about it, though. The male outfit shares the shoes, bracelets, and choker with the female version. As for the clothing, the arrangement is very different, but the fabric looks basically the same.

I think the general point of the look is not to look like a physical combatant (there's no armor here), while also not looking especially magical either (no religious wear, no floating). I think it succeeds on both fronts. No, it's not as perfect as Heroes Inigo, but it still serms tasteful and class-appropriate.

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Sorry guys, no update today either. Serious rain last night and a tree got knocked over in the neighborhood, taking out power for many and making me pretty dang busy sorting some stuff out. I think I'm going to just start up again on Monday. Sorry for another update drought of a week!

Ouch, rough to hear that. Best of luck sorting everything out!

[Eltosian Kadath]

Sorry I missed the end of Shadows of Valentia, as I seemed to be the closest thing that game had to a defender, and I think having opposing opinions helps to sharpen critique. I would have commented sooner, but it didn't feel right to do so before catching up, and while it didn't take long to get through the rest of your Shadows of Valentia coverage, I find reading about Three Houses exhausting, in part because I find a lot of similar opinions about how Three Houses plays. I don't usually talk about Three Houses, as I really forced my way through all of the routes of the game too quickly, playing well after the point where I was enjoying it, and its really clear to me that the Three Houses burnout I was feeling after I was done with the fourth route has highly colored my opinion in a way I do not think is entirely fair to the game (maybe I will have more to say after the mind numbing White Clouds section)...although I do have a few comments on your biggest hot-takes

First, I agree a lot with your opinion on Three Houses support, one of the few places I think we disagree is with the paired endings, as I like the idea in concept, the way they obscure the mechanics to make it seem more like the characters are in control over who they will end up marrying, although I find your point about the romantic undertones of potentially pairing A rank supports undercuts this idea in execution. Also some nuance that I think was lost when people were talking about the gameplay effects of supports is that Three Houses have a far more generic effect compared to the rest of the series. It either gives extra hit, or if its a "special" support, some extra might on top of that same hit bonus. As soon as supports became a thing that would grow, there was more variety in its mechanical effects, from the proto supports of Genealogy's love mechanics leading to highly divergent children characters; the GBA and Tellius era's affinities gave a fair bit of variety to the boosts you could get; New Mysteries was the most generic in effect before, but even that gave you a Bond item based on which support you are getting; Awakening gave the variety of children like Genealogy; Fates went all out with both children, and linking the defense stance stat bonuses, and attack stance calculated stat bonuses based on character and support level, and Echoes gives a lot of creative though into what bonuses its supports give. These differences in the gameplay bonuses supports give make individual supports feel more special and distinguishable (even if you don't read it) which has been greatly diminished in Three Houses, and something distinguishable is desperately needed with the overwhelming glut of supports that rapidly drown you as you play.

This is probably its own massive can of worms to open, but I do have a complaint about Three Houses class system. I find the massive amount of possibilities in the system leading to an exhausting amount of decision fatigue. The massive number of endgame classes, and the even more variable paths you can take to get there with multiple tiers, gets exhausting to consider, and is more difficult to ignore than a lot of other clear sources of decision fatigue in the series. In other FE games, I can fairly easily ignore the class change systems if I don't feel like dealing with that, and even if I do engage with it (barring Robin and their kids) Three Houses has more options than any other game at every tier. Sure I could follow a guide to make that decision for me, or just declare a single-class challenge run or do the challenge run where I do ignore its class system, or something, but a more manageable number of choices would make for a more enjoyable system to deal with...or at least a less draining system one to deal with.

 

[Alastor15243]

@Eltosian KadathHey, awesome to have you back! I was worried something had happened to you at one point (I think when I first realized you hadn't posted in a while, I checked your profile and saw you hadn't been online in weeks or something), so it was a relief to see you in the list of thread-readers a few weeks back! Glad to see you've caught up!

I never really thought about the decision fatigue induced by there being no "default class" for almost anyone in this game. Definitely an interesting point. Personally that wouldn't bother me so much, it's more that every facet of the reclassing system is gated behind metric tons of filler and grind, but the most interesting part of that comment was how from your perspective, that means the game has too many class options, and... I mean yeah, on a per-unit basis, I guess it does have way more than basically any other FE game, even though army-wide it's average at the endgame and really samey in the early-game.

Edited September 4, 2021 by Alastor15243