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


Alastor15243
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3 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Not sure. Really, it's only heavy writing that's significantly more tedious to playlog than to play. Most of what I'm enjoying is just the experience of playing this game, which is a lot more fun than, oh... definitely the last three games, and maybe Blazing Blade too. I don't think I marked Radiant Dawn down much for my fatigue. In fact I ranked it much higher than my desire to play it again.

My only experience with the game is watching Mangs and Mekkah LP it but thought the game was boring. It could be because their commentary sucked for this game. 

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5 minutes ago, Icelerate said:

My only experience with the game is watching Mangs and Mekkah LP it but thought the game was boring. It could be because their commentary sucked for this game. 

It's really simplistic, but also pretty engaging in terms of how much what you do on your turn matters. Massive far cry from the Tellius games, which might be skewing my perspective compared to other games good at this, but right now I'm liking it.

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4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Alas... I'm starting to get the sense that this game was fairly low-effort in various ways.

It probably was. I mean, when the last two ambitious projects were commercial failures, they had to get down to earth again. Perhaps it is one of the reasons why some people call the game "dull".

Anyway, keep going! At the pace you're on, you'll finish it very quickly.

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4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

and I've gotta say... I seem to remember Rickard having some... camp gay aspects to him? Can't remember if it was in the original games, but I know it was at least in one of the other three games. Did the localization get rid of it, or was that introduced in 12?

It's 3B2/12 stuff. I think you could read it as:

  • Trolling his big bro/chief because he's more interested in spending time with a saint than thieving.
  • Or, Rickard seriously means it.

Not sure which is true, but I'd default to the former. 

The FE12 Julian-Rickard support doesn't touch on this, Rickard doesn't use words and phrases like "our relationship" and "love" there. And the Kris-Rickard is incredibly generic and short, which is a little surprising given some Kris supports did receive some effort.

Edited by Interdimensional Observer
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4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

...Oh, also, it only occurs to me to check now if you're allowed to access the convoy through Marth, and yes, you are. So that's back for good now. Every game from now on, with the possible exception of Echoes, lets you use that absurdly broken convoy mechanic.

 

Oh no, Echoes does indeed have infinite lord pants of holding too. I remember it being an argument in favor of them implementing an Alm vs Celica fight in gameplay ie if Alm has access to the convoy and the healing square there's really no way he could lose to Celica no matter how stat screwed he is, well so long as Celica's ai is to just attack physically like in this video.

I do wish that happened.

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Day 8 Bonus: Chapter 7

 

So we've missed our first Gaiden then if I recall correctly. Offically making this not a complete playthrough of the entire game.

 

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3 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Oh no, Echoes does indeed have infinite lord pants of holding too. I remember it being an argument in favor of them implementing an Alm vs Celica fight in gameplay ie if Alm has access to the convoy and the healing square there's really no way he could lose to Celica no matter how stat screwed he is, well so long as Celica's ai is to just attack physically like in this video.

I do wish that happened.

Thanks for the clarification! And yeah, that might've been cool. Also, aren't Alm's promoted bases so ridiculous it's almost impossible for him to be stat screwed? Or is that just in Gaiden?

4 minutes ago, Jotari said:

So we've missed our first Gaiden then if I recall correctly. Offically making this not a complete playthrough of the entire game.

Apologies, but trying to get all of those things does not sound fun.

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2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Thanks for the clarification! And yeah, that might've been cool. Also, aren't Alm's promoted bases so ridiculous it's almost impossible for him to be stat screwed? Or is that just in Gaiden?

Probably. He's pretty ridiculous in Gaiden but it's not like he isn't still super powerful in Shadows of Valentia too.

2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Apologies, but trying to get all of those things does not sound fun.

That's why I support the hack option. Though I do get the reasons people opted otherwise. Though alternate suggestion now. How about for future maps you make a separate save file in the chapter before the gaiden, get the requirements and then just warp skip the chapter before it? Consider these chapters also have original content, it could provide you something to judge in terms of the script given how let down you are in the minimalist writing department.

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11 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Also, aren't Alm's promoted bases so ridiculous it's almost impossible for him to be stat screwed? Or is that just in Gaiden?

I guess that'd be just Gaiden. Because, though my first SoV Alm seemed to be really amazing, all my subsequent ones either weren't blessed and merely average instead, or were cursed with middling stats everywhere. I felt Double Lion was the only thing making him relevant on my later plays.

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9 minutes ago, Jotari said:

That's why I support the hack option. Though I do get the reasons people opted otherwise. Though alternate suggestion now. How about for future maps you make a separate save file in the chapter before the gaiden, get the requirements and then just warp skip the chapter before it? Consider these chapters also have original content, it could provide you something to judge in terms of the script given how let down you are in the minimalist writing department.

I wonder if that's always gonna be possible. I have to lose all but 15-ish of my units in one chapter, and unless the body count rises, I'm eventually gonna have more than 30-ish units.

Edited by Alastor15243
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1 minute ago, Alastor15243 said:

I wonder if that's always gonna be possible. I have to lose all but 15-ish of my units in one chapter, and unless the body count rises, I'm eventually gonna have more than 30-ish units.

That's an issue even with the whole "The game is designed to be iron manned" argument. The body count requirement is so low for the Gaidens you have to be really trying to reach any of the later ones considering how many units you actually get in the game. You'd need to be deploying units that are existing solely as meat shields to soak up one hit and die even if you're struggling with the chapters.

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And then there's the question of whether any of the units the Gaidens bring are worth it. You could say you deserve nothing great because you messed up that badly, but if you messed up that badly, what'd be wrong with a little mercy?

Athena comes early I think some have said she has a niche as a second early Pegasus Knight. But Horace as a General at 20/20 has 42 HP, 17.55 Str 18 Skl and 23 Def at 20 on average, not exactly amazing. Etzel doesn't reach 20 in any non-HP stat as a Sorcerer. Ymir comes late and ends up with 53 HP, 23 Str and an alright 15 Skl and 17 Spd as a Warrior, but  these are undermined by 7.5 Lck and 10 Def.

17x does contain a Warp though, thats worth all four of the above characters combined. 

 

As an aside, FE11 is the second game in the since FE4 to not have official artwork of every playable character at the game's release. The other title that didn't was Sacred Stones, which was basically an unexpected side project concurrent with the big boy of Path of Radiance. Every other game between 4 and 10, including Thracia the Obscure 776 had official art of everyone at release.

Sure, it wasn't the highest quality for FE4...

Spoiler

Page-90.jpg

but some was good:

Tailto.jpg

And RD continued the trend despite most its cast being a rehash of PoR (to its benefit, the RD artwork is more refined than PoR's).

With 11, this splendid tradition was thrown out of the window for good. All the new playables including Frey and Norne got artwork, and some mainstay characters, but nobody else. FE12 couldn't even provide it for all of the assassins.

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5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...

...The jingle suddenly was only playing in only one of my 3DS speakers, like the game actually... somehow has... sound-location-sensitive stereo sound programmed in for the map screen even though, unless I am very much mistaken, it doesn't happen in any context other than this.

That is kinda fascinating...

 

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Seriously, I looked at the original ending script for this, and far as I could tell, there was literally nothing in the DS version that wasn't, in substance, already in the NES version. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that the text for the two Japanese versions of the game is identical.

Holy shit is this script lazy. As a Fire Emblem fan, I am seriously offended here!

...But as a playlogger, I am beyond gleeful.

...In fact... fuck it!

There are a couple of moments in this game with actually good writing, which I find makes this laziness feel even more egregious.

 

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Yep, I think I've finally come to terms with the fact that not only am I actually having fun with this game... and not only am I having more fun than I've had with this marathon in months...

While I much prefer FE12 for its gameplay, there are a few things these games share that make for more interesting gameplay than people generally think. A big one is that actions have much more permanence to them (moreso in this game where you have no rescue staff, or dancer I suppose, but dancers have the same issue as using the warp staff to send a unit out of danger in that you generally have to put your dancer/healer into danger to do that...) you can't rescue units out, and dodge-tanking is so unreliable, that you must expect to be hit by everything, so you need to really think about enemy phase before committing to any player phase actions. The class change options make for a lot of creative replayability options as well, and in an odd may, much as I hate it, getting the gaiden chapters basically becomes a special run for more replayability (heck going back and doing an all gaiden run is one of the only times I replayed this game).

 

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Incidentally, Christ. You guys weren't kidding. This game really doesn't show the stat bonuses of equipped dragonstones. It's not even in the description. What the fuck were they thinking!?

Just to add one last piece of insult to injury, it isn't even in the little instruction booklet that comes with the game, you have to look them up online (I guess you can calculate the strength and speed bonus from the derived values, if you know the avoid formula off the top of your head...). In this one instance it is worse than the original was in usability...

 

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34 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

And then there's the question of whether any of the units the Gaidens bring are worth it. You could say you deserve nothing great because you messed up that badly, but if you messed up that badly, what'd be wrong with a little mercy?

Athena comes early I think some have said she has a niche as a second early Pegasus Knight. But Horace as a General at 20/20 has 42 HP, 17.55 Str 18 Skl and 23 Def at 20 on average, not exactly amazing. Etzel doesn't reach 20 in any non-HP stat as a Sorcerer. Ymir comes late and ends up with 53 HP, 23 Str and an alright 15 Skl and 17 Spd as a Warrior, but  these are undermined by 7.5 Lck and 10 Def.

 

I don't think Athena's that great either - she has all of 9 speed as a pegasus knight at base. Which begs the question, what the fuck is the point of forcing the player to actively sacrifice units to access these extra chapters when the units I get as "compensation" aren't that great!?

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2 minutes ago, Icelerate said:

Why don't you play through Heroes after the marathon? 

Sorry, but I am never, ever, ever playing that gacha hell addiction machine again. I played it less out of fun and more out of obsession for about a year, and I barely managed to tear myself away around the time Three Houses came out. I was even reduced to spending money on it a few times and I felt shit on both occasions. I refuse to risk a relapse. Not even releasing Altina managed to convince me to go back.

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1 hour ago, Shadow Mir said:

I don't think Athena's that great either - she has all of 9 speed as a pegasus knight at base. Which begs the question, what the fuck is the point of forcing the player to actively sacrifice units to access these extra chapters when the units I get as "compensation" aren't that great!?

The game also gives you substitute units when you fall below 15, and they're quite Auffle.  Paralogue units fare much better. Athena's 9 strength at level 10 is actually better than Navarre (he joins with 5 at level 3, 30% growth, won't hit 9 until level 16~17 on average) and competitive with Ogma (base 6 at level 4, 40% growth, hits 9 around 11~12). Horace shouldn't be overlooked - he's a General with 17 defense who shows up right before the map with a bunch of ballistae. Etzel joins able to use Thoron and Excalibur, with Barrier or Mend support as options. And Ymir... well, he can be fast (and still use Axes) as a Hero.

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

17x does contain a Warp though, thats worth all four of the above characters combined. 

There it is. The prime benefit of the paralogues are the items and experience they offer. The recruitable units are just a nice bonus. That's why they're worth it - by killing off enough units whom I'm not using, I get more resources to funnel into the ones I'm trying to make good.

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1 minute ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

There it is. The prime benefit of the paralogues are the items and experience they offer. The recruitable units are just a nice bonus. That's why they're worth it - by killing off enough units whom I'm not using, I get more resources to funnel into the ones I'm trying to make good.

Yeah, isn't it the only way to get stuff like Wao Dao and a Long Bow? Well other than the online shop which is this mythical thing I never got to experience because every damn wifi in the country was incompatible with the DS at the time.

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9 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Horace shouldn't be overlooked - he's a General with 17 defense who shows up right before the map with a bunch of ballistae.

Good point! That chapter was not properly calibrated for the quintupled increase in ballistician range compared to FE1. It's a catapultastrophe!

 

6 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Yeah, isn't it the only way to get stuff like Wao Dao and a Long Bow? Well other than the online shop which is this mythical thing I never got to experience because every damn wifi in the country was incompatible with the DS at the time.

Wo Daos? Yes. Longbows, no. There are three of them behind Marth's throne. 

And nowhere can you find Brave weapons barring online, or in the hands of Camus the Sable or later enemies on H5 (and maybe lower?).

Edited by Interdimensional Observer
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54 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Good point! That chapter was not properly calibrated for the quintupled increase in ballistician range compared to FE1. It's a catapultastrophe!

 

Wo Daos? Yes. Longbows, no. There are three of them behind Marth's throne. 

And nowhere can you find Brave weapons barring online, or in the hands of Camus the Sable or later enemies on H5 (and maybe lower?).

No way to get those brave weapons out of the enemies hands though, I expect.

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1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Good point! That chapter was not properly calibrated for the quintupled increase in ballistician range compared to FE1. It's a catapultastrophe!

And it's also one of the absolute shittiest chapters in the entire Fire Emblem series. Even acknowledging some of them use Stonehoist, which at 50 hit, is not accurate and thus I can somewhat reasonably expect not to connect, it's still a massive pain in the ass when I pretty much have to assume everything else will. Especially when you eventually have to go into the range of several others to get a shot at one.

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

The game also gives you substitute units when you fall below 15, and they're quite Auffle.  Paralogue units fare much better. Athena's 9 strength at level 10 is actually better than Navarre (he joins with 5 at level 3, 30% growth, won't hit 9 until level 16~17 on average) and competitive with Ogma (base 6 at level 4, 40% growth, hits 9 around 11~12). Horace shouldn't be overlooked - he's a General with 17 defense who shows up right before the map with a bunch of ballistae. Etzel joins able to use Thoron and Excalibur, with Barrier or Mend support as options. And Ymir... well, he can be fast (and still use Axes) as a Hero.

The thing is, I felt like absolute shit having to kill units on purpose to get those characters, and never even saw anyone besides Athena (who I still stand by not being that amazing, as being a myrmidon is suffering; being a better Navarre is not saying much when Navarre sucks). It's one of the many, MANY reasons why I cast a grim eye on Shadow Dragon. Most of the other paralogue units are not much easier to justify using.

Edited by Shadow Mir
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1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Wo Daos? Yes. Longbows, no. There are three of them behind Marth's throne. 

And nowhere can you find Brave weapons barring online, or in the hands of Camus the Sable or later enemies on H5 (and maybe lower?).

The Elyssian Whip was the one that really irritated me. Having an entire class be inaccessible is garbage, especially since promoting from pegasus to dracoknight loses a bunch of res so ends up feeling more like a sidegrade than a direct upgrade.

Which does raise the question: how will this sort of thing affect the overall rating of the game? I know that if I were rating it, this nonsense would be a serious detriment to both usability and replayability, but it isn't my rating system so it isn't my call.

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3 hours ago, lenticular said:

The Elyssian Whip was the one that really irritated me. Having an entire class be inaccessible is garbage, especially since promoting from pegasus to dracoknight loses a bunch of res so ends up feeling more like a sidegrade than a direct upgrade.

Which does raise the question: how will this sort of thing affect the overall rating of the game? I know that if I were rating it, this nonsense would be a serious detriment to both usability and replayability, but it isn't my rating system so it isn't my call.

I definitely would have just broken from the original and had Pegasus promote to Falcon Knights normally and then add a tier 1 Wyvern class for Minerva so she could make a somewhat decent unit.

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4 hours ago, lenticular said:

The Elyssian Whip was the one that really irritated me. Having an entire class be inaccessible is garbage, especially since promoting from pegasus to dracoknight loses a bunch of res so ends up feeling more like a sidegrade than a direct upgrade.

Which does raise the question: how will this sort of thing affect the overall rating of the game? I know that if I were rating it, this nonsense would be a serious detriment to both usability and replayability, but it isn't my rating system so it isn't my call.

I never once got to use them. The DS wifi had this issue where it wouldn't work with the firewalls on both my home and school wifi. I only ever once got to play my DS online, and that was when I played Days of Ruin at this place we went to for a high school trip. It was pretty fun, but since I hated Shadow Dragon at the time, I never once thought to try the online shop.

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