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

[Interdimensional Observer]

22 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Haha, what's that from?

7th Dragon III: Code VFD

The fourth game and final game in a small, niche JRPG franchise developed by a defunct company and published by Sega. All four (the original on DS, 2020 & 2020-II on PSP, VFD on 3DS) games involve an apocalypse of dragons who are accompanied by Dragonsbane, a flower signaling the world's demise. First game is medieval fantasy, the rest are modern Tokyo.

 

20 minutes ago, Sunwoo said:

That has such an Etrian Odyssey aesthetic to it.

 

Fortune teller's incantation in the first 7th Dragon's second town. Considering this a fan translation, I'm not sure if the reference is based on anything in the Japanese or pure invention.

Either way, 7th Dragon has been compared to EO, mostly because they are dungeon crawlers with map-visible powerful enemies scattered throughout. The differences include:

• EO is first-person tile-by-tile exploration of a single labyrinth. While 7th Dragon is third person perspective, with many smaller and less complex 3D dungeons.
• Barring the first 7th Dragon game, the series is much easier than EO, common enemies are horribly weak, though bosses can put up a fight.
• FOEs should be avoided until you get to the end of a given Stratum and gain levels and buy new equipment. Dragons on the other hand can usually be fought right away once you get to a new place. Not always without injury or risk of a Game Over, but after the early game, it becomes normal to confront Dragons rather than run away.
• Only 4 characters per team in the first 7th Dragon, 3 in the subsequent games.
• Story isn't great by any means, but more important than in EO.

Yuzu Koshiro did the soundtrack for all the 7th Dragons, just as they've composed every EO.

 

-But thats the last I'll say of this here. This topic is going FE Fates Rev, and I'd hate to wander off the edges of Vall-ahhhhhhhhhh!

Edited January 13, 2021 by Interdimensional Observer

[Eltosian Kadath]

10 hours ago, Axie said:

well, you can also finish sacred stones without seth, but that doesn't make his contributions replaceable by another unit in the slightest. i guess the "without gimping your team" after "replaceable" was implied and not that clear lol. camilla just makes your life so much easier always. 

Camilla is no Seth. You can literally deploy an untrained Seth in Sacred Stones endgame and still have him help out. Don't get me wrong, Camilla is great early and midgame (and even a fair bit of the late-game), but so is early Paladin Jakob, and the utility of Elise and Azura massively outshine anything Camilla can do.

 

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Oh yeah, so, seeing iffy hit rates reminds me: this game uses a hybrid RN system. It's 1 RN when above 50% if I remember correctly, but below that it uses this weighted 2 RN system that's kinda like one and a half RN.

Its the opposite actually, its 1 RN below 50%, and a weighted system for above 50%. In case you are curious...below is a truehit chart for Fates RN (percentages in decimal form, so 0.01=1%, 0.1=10%, etc.)

Spoiler

0.01	0.01
0.02	0.02
0.03	0.03
0.04	0.04
0.05	0.05
0.06	0.06
0.07	0.07
0.08	0.08
0.09	0.09
0.1	0.1
0.11	0.11
0.12	0.12
0.13	0.13
0.14	0.14
0.15	0.15
0.16	0.16
0.17	0.17
0.18	0.18
0.19	0.19
0.2	0.2
0.21	0.21
0.22	0.22
0.23	0.23
0.24	0.24
0.25	0.25
0.26	0.26
0.27	0.27
0.28	0.28
0.29	0.29
0.3	0.3
0.31	0.31
0.32	0.32
0.33	0.33
0.34	0.34
0.35	0.35
0.36	0.36
0.37	0.37
0.38	0.38
0.39	0.39
0.4	0.4
0.41	0.41
0.42	0.42
0.43	0.43
0.44	0.44
0.45	0.45
0.46	0.46
0.47	0.47
0.48	0.48
0.49	0.49
0.5	0.5
0.51	0.5142
0.52	0.5286
0.53	0.5432
0.54	0.5579
0.55	0.5726
0.56	0.5874
0.57	0.6023
0.58	0.6172
0.59	0.6321
0.6	0.647
0.61	0.6618
0.62	0.6765
0.63	0.6912
0.64	0.7057
0.65	0.7201
0.66	0.7343
0.67	0.7482
0.68	0.762
0.69	0.7755
0.7	0.7887
0.71	0.8016
0.72	0.8142
0.73	0.8265
0.74	0.8384
0.75	0.85
0.76	0.8611
0.77	0.8718
0.78	0.8821
0.79	0.892
0.8	0.9014
0.81	0.9104
0.82	0.9189
0.83	0.9269
0.84	0.9345
0.85	0.9416
0.86	0.9483
0.87	0.9545
0.88	0.9603
0.89	0.9656
0.9	0.9705
0.91	0.975
0.92	0.979
0.93	0.9827
0.94	0.9861
0.95	0.9891
0.96	0.9918
0.97	0.9942
0.98	0.9963
0.99	0.9982

 

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Ah yes, and... I don't think it's ever explained why Ganglari does this, but it suddenly glows and propels itself up in the air and off the bridge, sending Dakota plummeting to his death since he's holding it. And of course the animation of Byleth flying through the air like a man being dragged by the leash of his absurdly energetic flying dog is nothing short of hilarious.

Well...he wouldn't plummet to his death, it would just bring him to Valla...for once Fates makes slightly more sense the more you think about it (although this moment is NOT the norm in that regard)

 

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

And sadly I just barely failed to make it in time to save Sakura. Fortunately that has literally no gameplay or story impact, and she's fine, she just runs off.

Amazing how fast that plot point about Sakura having a sprained ankle that was preventing her form fleeing gets dropped...

 

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

...Does it literally only work on people with Nohr blood? Because Corrin's just fine.

And what the fuck was going on with Chapter 3? What's the point of guarding the border from outside the limits of the barrier? Wouldn't it have been safer to set up the border guard somewhere safer than the bottomless canyon? Minimize the number of skirmishes they have with Nohr? What's the point of guarding the bottomless canyon? What strategic value does it have?

Most of the time, Fates plot rips apart with even the slightest scrutiny...

 

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Basically you need everyone here.

I have theory crafted a way of doing it with one of Kaze or RInkah dead on Lunatic...

Spoiler

If you position the one survivor and Sakura in the right position in the NE corner, you can force the mage that spawns in that corner to be close enough for Draco-Corrin to kill it on the turn it spawns by having Draco-Corrin trigger the reinforcements by being at the edge of mage range, and then dancing him after fleeing from them. This lets you lure the mobile enemies into circling the awkward terrain in that corner in a way that inevitable splits them into groups you can deal with using just Draco-Corrin until all of them are dead. This is a slight variant on a strategy I used to complete this chapter on Lunatic, while having neither Kaze nor Rinkah see combat.

 

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Dakota gains almost no experience in his dragon form, so keep that in mind.

Its actually possible to miss out on a stat on levelup here due to buffs and stat caps of that Dragon form...

 

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

...That's more evidence for the “Female version was made first” theory. “Little Princess” just sounds way more like an actual thing Xander would call someone. “Little Prince” just feels... off.

I think its the exact opposite actually...Little Princess just feels off, whereas Little Prince has some literary, and video game illusion too it (with Antoine de Saint-Exupery's book The Little Prince, and the little prince being a beloved nickname of the hero of the Katamari series of video games) plus I call Yubello the Little Prince all the time...

 

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Since there doesn't seem to be any terrain data on SF to tell me which classes can walk on water, I used the “separate” command to figure it out myself without committing to placing either Dakota or Felicia in front before I knew. Turns out Felicia can't walk on water. So Dakota it is. But by dropping him into the water, I managed to save a turn, so we'll take out the Nohrian commander by the end of turn 2.

https://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Terrain/Nintendo_3DS_games

That should have the information you were looking for.

 

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

There, that's the image I used in Dakota's War Journal to broadcast my castle address. I uh... kinda can't take a more up-to-date picture anymore thanks to Miiverse going down.

Just out of curiosity, what is the Castle Address for this run's castle?

 

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

...No, fuck that. Fuck just saying I'd “really appreciate it”. If that actually happens... if I actually have such awesome readers that I cap my battle points at any time for as long as this whole-game marathon lasts, including the Kaga Saga and the spinoffs I might do... I'll do something crazy. Something stupid. I'll playlog fucking anything you guys want. It doesn't have to be even tangentially related to Fire Emblem. It doesn't even have to be a strategy game. If I wake up one morning to find I have 9999 battle points, then the second I am done with the mainline marathon... I am taking suggestions, I am making a poll, and I am doing whatever comes out on top. If you want me to playlog Final Fantasy Tactics, or GhebFE, or “Barbie's Magical Pegasus Adventure” or some shit like that... I'll do it. I'll do it for you guys.

Time for an FE related suggestion, you should play Tokyo Mirage Session #FE, the game that I find makes you most feel like you are playing a magical girl anime...

 

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

In Conquest, we spend a day conquering the Wind Tribe, so it's surely not too big. Same for Mokushu, at least. If a state can be visited and conquered/saved in a day (like Cheve, the Ice Tribe, and the Beast Tribes), it's probably smaller potatoes than nations like Hoshido or Nohr (whom we engage with much more often, and are denoted for their military strength). The game doesn't spell this out for us, granted - instead, it shows the nations as Corrin experiences them, and asks the player to interpret as they go.

The lands of the wind tribes are apparently large enough that you have to pass through it in both the most direct route between Hoshido and Izumo (as seen in the Birthright plot), and the highly indirect route the Nohrians take (as they detour through the Fox village to approach Hoshido from an unexpected direction). As for Mokushu, the plot says it was strong enough to completely wipe a nation off the map (as that is Shura's backstory...). On the other hand Fate's plot is utter nonsense, shattering into a million nonosenical pieces at the breifest touch of interpretation, so who knows if such an analysis is trustworthy.

[Shadow Mir]

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Dragonsbane

I can't be the only one that thinks that this would be better used as a name for something meant to kill dragons instead...

2 hours ago, eclipse said:

One of them was for the 3DS, but I'm not sure if they have Godhand (which looks like a cool class BTW).

Was it released outside of Japan?

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

Here's the thing, though - I would argue that Malig Knight would still be a pretty good class, even without tome access. Like, cut out the tomes, and you've still got "Wyvern Rider, but better". Wyvern Lord may give her better stats (aside from Res and Magic), sure, but her bases outside those areas are fairly strong to begin with.  She'd get Lances, but you'll have to raise her rank up from a paltry E. And I don't see Lances doing much for her (save for cavalry-effectiveness, and WTA against Katana and Spirit users) beyond what she can draw from Axes.

Bottom-line, class-change her to Wyvern Lord if you want, but I'd hardly call her a priority-reclass.

Who would you say is a priority reclass then? Anyway, I'd rather optimize Camilla's computer physical stats and gain lances than keep her in a class that gives me nothing of note but fanservice.

Edited January 13, 2021 by Shadow Mir

[Jotari]

I'd love to help with your Dates scores, but my 3DS is broken at the moment. Hoping to fix it soon though.

15 hours ago, Benice said:

To be honest, I don't really dislike Fates' story at all. I think it has a lot of problems, but I just choose to not question it and enjoy the rather bumpy ride alongside the nice gameplay. I probably won't be defending it here, but I guess I just feel that it's not as bad as people give it credit for. Most of the time.

Valid opinion.

3 hours ago, eclipse said:

One of them was for the 3DS, but I'm not sure if they have Godhand (which looks like a cool class BTW).

Now, if I have to randomly show up in this topic (and you're on Fates, so I'm going to keep an extra-close eye on it), I'm gonna throw in a game suggestion - Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles!  It's e-shop only, and on the Switch.

. . .you thought I'd say SRW?  I'm not that crazy!

And SRW is...?

hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

 

Well...he wouldn't plummet to his death, it would just bring him to Valla...for once Fates makes slightly more sense the more you think about it (although this moment is NOT the norm in that regard)

  Hide contents

 

 

I dispute that. The fact than Ganglari is trying to kill Corrin is not the issue. It's the fact that it's suddenly flying around in the air and tossing him about with no explanation here or later which is the issue. If Lilith hadn't saved him he'd end up in Valla; does Lilith, who came from Valla, some how not know that? Did she genuinely think him in danger or did she not want him to find out about Valla? Whatever the answer is, the game certainly isn't revealing it. Why did Ganglari do that? The purpose of the sword is to kill Mikoto by getting Corrin close to her. Why then either send Corrin to Valla (or kill him), which would end up sending him much further away from Mikoto and reveal to him all sorts of stuff that might end up making him more of a hindrance. If you don't think about this plot point at all it's fine, it happens and it's gets Corrin to my castle. But thinking about it questioning why this happens provides only answers that would be contrary to what we know is the actual purpose of the swords existence and Corrin's presence here. The only rationale answer is that the sword is prophetic and k we that Lilith would save him and that he'd be instantly captured the moment he left my castle (course chances are he would have been immediately captured if Ganglari didn't have a spasm anyway). Either that or its just poorly made and that's just something the sword does some time and it's just not around long enough for us to see it happen again. Which lends itself to the idea that Anankos just sort of sucks at what he does. Guess it's not easy to hire product testers when you've killed(?) everyone in your kingdom (what are the invisible Vallite soldiers anyway? Are they real people? Is Anthony a real person? Man I can't even remember. Does the game even know?).

Edited January 13, 2021 by Jotari

[Shadow Mir]

Just now, Jotari said:

And SRW is...?

Super Robot Wars.

[Eltosian Kadath]

32 minutes ago, Jotari said:

It's the fact that it's suddenly flying around in the air and tossing him about with no explanation here or later which is the issue.

I suppose that is fair, the sword flying around (and its future explosion) do come out of nowhere..

 

35 minutes ago, Jotari said:

If Lilith hadn't saved him he'd end up in Valla; does Lilith, who came from Valla, some how not know that? Did she genuinely think him in danger or did she not want him to find out about Valla? Whatever the answer is, the game certainly isn't revealing it. The purpose of the sword is to kill Mikoto by getting Corrin close to her. Why then either send Corrin to Valla (or kill him), which would end up sending him much further away from Mikoto and reveal to him all sorts of stuff that might end up making him more of a hindrance.

I figure she was more concerned about something Revelation revels much...MUCH later into the game

Spoiler

That Anankos can snatch Corrin's body and use it as his vessel. With Anankos wearing Corrin as a skin suit he can jump back over and carry out the Mikoto murder plan...

I guess this logic is relying on info from the end of the game on the "final" route...

 

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I suppose that is fair, the sword flying around (and its future explosion) do come out of nowhere..

 

I figure she was more concerned about something Revelation revels much...MUCH later into the game

  Hide contents

That Anankos can snatch Corrin's body and use it as his vessel. With Anankos wearing Corrin as a skin suit he can jump back over and carry out the Mikoto murder plan...

I guess this logic is relying on info from the end of the game on the "final" route...

 

That;s a possibility. A pretty good one actually. Of course it's also a singular line from the end of the third route that helps a plot point from the prologue with absolutely no connecting point in between them, and even when that line is uttered it's the one singular instance where it's relevant as it never comes up before or after it and the reveal doesn't actually address Ganglari at all, which you can either call masterful subtly (slight sarcasm there as things can be too subtle for their own good, which this would be if it's actually the case), pure speculation, or fanfiction fixing plot holes. Likely this is reason Ganglari tried to take Corrin to Valla, and Anankos wanting too...

Spoiler

steal Corrin's body

was an important element of the plot in earlier drafts that got chopped away at until it was left as just one line.

A way to fix this plot a bit might be to have Corrin say something like I would have died had I fallen in, only for Lilith to foreshadow that he wouldn't have, but that she still saved him from a worse fate to make it clear she was saving him from Anankos and not from death, but then that also runs into issues of it foreshadowing something that gets absolutely no further elaboration in Birthright, and all of these stories are meant to be able to function as stand alone narratives, so that would help this plot point a bit, but might take Birthright down a little bit (course some unexplored foreshadowing isn't the worst thing in the world for a story like this).

Edited January 13, 2021 by Jotari

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

10 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Oh hey, I think I forgot to mention this. I know I came close to talking about it when I mentioned the weird and wonky weapon traits, but... yeah, so, this game has infinite weapon durability. Not infinite staff durability, but infinite weapon durability at least. And unfortunately, the things they do to “compensate” for this are... probably my biggest complaints with Fates' balance.

Basically, almost every weapon in the game has some weird gimmick or drawback to it, and the drawbacks only get more ridiculous the higher rank the weapon is. Personally, given how ridiculously slow weapon ranks are to level up in this game, I don't think this was remotely necessary, but that's what the game decided to do. And it makes a huge number of the weapons in the game... kinda pointless, especially in light of... okay I'll save that for when we actually get to mess around with My Castle.

Hm, now that I think about it, you don´t get any silver weapons in any of the three paths do you?

Oh yeah, I´ll put in my vote for playlogging Wargroove.

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

Here's the thing, though - I would argue that Malig Knight would still be a pretty good class, even without tome access. Like, cut out the tomes, and you've still got "Wyvern Rider, but better". Wyvern Lord may give her better stats (aside from Res and Magic), sure, but her bases outside those areas are fairly strong to begin with.  She'd get Lances, but you'll have to raise her rank up from a paltry E. And I don't see Lances doing much for her (save for cavalry-effectiveness, and WTA against Katana and Spirit users) beyond what she can draw from Axes.

Bottom-line, class-change her to Wyvern Lord if you want, but I'd hardly call her a priority-reclass.

If you care WL pushes Camillas physical perfromance quite a bit - increasing bases and caps, to the point she may remain a relevant force even in the lategame - though that requires an appropriate PU partner, since both her STR, SPD and DEF, while certainly good are not exceptional unlike other examples in CQ (Effie for STR/DEF, Xander for STR/DEF, Charlotte for HP/STR/SPD, Elise for MAG/SPD/LCK/RES etc). If you really want her to deal magic damage equip a Bolt Axe.

Your and the enemy units will probably catch up with her around chapter ~17/18, so when promotions come around. At that point she can still contribute, but she´s far from the monster of chapter 10-14.

Lances are a better weapon type for her by virtue STR>MAG. Technically you don´t need them because you have the Dual Club, but a Javelin is better at dealing with Mages for both damage and accuracy (if you put Camilla in range), than a 1 range weapon or a tome and you only have 1 Dual Club and probably more than 1 axe user. And being able to use effective weaponry is important especially when considering Attack Stance.

As for skills, I mean eh, up to preference. Rally DEF vs Savage Blow and Sword Breaker vs Trample. All of them are worthwhile, with Savage Blow being the weakest imo.

 

The only priority reclass in Fates is Mozu. 😛

Edited January 13, 2021 by Imuabicus

[Alastor15243]

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Its the opposite actually, its 1 RN below 50%, and a weighted system for above 50%. In case you are curious...below is a truehit chart for Fates RN (percentages in decimal form, so 0.01=1%, 0.1=10%, etc.)

Fuck, right, thanks for catching that, I'll have to fix that when I'm not half-asleep.

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Just out of curiosity, what is the Castle Address for this run's castle?

Same one. It doesn't change, hence why I posted it.

[Jotari]

Also re: Fates being as big as Brunei, fun fact, I've been to Brunei. Really lovely place. But that aside, I usually like to low ball the size of continents for Fire Emblem, because, well continental warfare isn't something that's exactly common, and a continent is a hell of a large chunk of the planet we see for things to look the same. But of all the continents to make sense on the big side, it would be Fateslandia, because the idea of a landmass the size of Fateslandia having two such wildly different cultures is kind of ridiculous.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

5 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

Who would you say is a priority reclass then? Anyway, I'd rather optimize Camilla's computer physical stats and gain lances than keep her in a class that gives me nothing of note but fanservice.

Mozu into Archer comes to mind, if you're trying to use her. I've heard great things about Paladin Jakob, though I've not used him yet. I often like to reclass Corrin, too, though that depends on your willingness to give up Dragonstones. There are a couple other niche ones: Samurai Odin, if you want to use his strength; or Outlaw Nyx, if you want the extra move from pair-up. And for what it's worth, I like putting CQ!Gunther in Wyvern Lord when he comes back.

For my part, I was totally satisfied with Malig Knight Camilla in my latest Rev playthrough. But, I suppose it couldn't hurt to put her in Wyvern Lord one of these days. That said, reviewing the options, it strikes me how balanced the class system feels in Fates. Very few must-have reclasses, but also few totally trash ones (Troubadour Effie notwithstanding).

6 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

The lands of the wind tribes are apparently large enough that you have to pass through it in both the most direct route between Hoshido and Izumo (as seen in the Birthright plot), and the highly indirect route the Nohrians take (as they detour through the Fox village to approach Hoshido from an unexpected direction). As for Mokushu, the plot says it was strong enough to completely wipe a nation off the map (as that is Shura's backstory...). On the other hand Fate's plot is utter nonsense, shattering into a million nonosenical pieces at the breifest touch of interpretation, so who knows if such an analysis is trustworthy.

The Wind Tribe appears to be mostly desert - a large area, yes, but not a large population (or army). As for Kohga, I'm pretty sure that one was supposed to be a microstate too - even in its prime, likely smaller than Mokushu. And if Mokushu were, say, bigger than Hoshido, then Kotaro probably would have tried to conquer Hoshido, without needing to team up with Nohr for help.

[Jotari]

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

Mozu into Archer comes to mind, if you're trying to use her. I've heard great things about Paladin Jakob, though I've not used him yet. I often like to reclass Corrin, too, though that depends on your willingness to give up Dragonstones. There are a couple other niche ones: Samurai Odin, if you want to use his strength; or Outlaw Nyx, if you want the extra move from pair-up. And for what it's worth, I like putting CQ!Gunther in Wyvern Lord when he comes back.

For my part, I was totally satisfied with Malig Knight Camilla in my latest Rev playthrough. But, I suppose it couldn't hurt to put her in Wyvern Lord one of these days. That said, reviewing the options, it strikes me how balanced the class system feels in Fates. Very few must-have reclasses, but also few totally trash ones (Troubadour Effie notwithstanding).

The Wind Tribe appears to be mostly desert - a large area, yes, but not a large population (or army). As for Kohga, I'm pretty sure that one was supposed to be a microstate too - even in its prime, likely smaller than Mokushu. And if Mokushu were, say, bigger than Hoshido, then Kotaro probably would have tried to conquer Hoshido, without needing to team up with Nohr for help.

Why would you ever field Conquest Gunter? Do you spend a heart seal on that one chapter just to make it easier (speaking of which, while that is the chapter that drives Conquest's story off a cliff, it is a gimmicky chapter that works pretty well imo)?

[Alastor15243]

8 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Why would you ever field Conquest Gunter?

Because shelter is absurdly broken for LTCers and he can use it while flying with just a heart seal.

[Jotari]

22 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Because shelter is absurdly broken for LTCers and he can use it while flying with just a heart seal.

Huh. Now I know. Rescue chain strategies be like that I guess.

[Alastor15243]

7 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Huh. Now I know. Rescue chain strategies be like that I guess.

Yeah the main benefit is being able to take someone who's already moved and put them in the back row so somebody else can swap them out to the front again and make them move again. When you only have a handful of well-trained units that's amazing, and when it lets you use Azura multiple times, well...

 

 

Edited January 13, 2021 by Alastor15243

[Samz707]

I only just realized it now, but people aren't going to be able to even play revelations eventually officially, since it's download only essentially. (Outside of that special edition thing, which will definitely get scalped.)

[Interdimensional Observer]

8 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Its the opposite actually, its 1 RN below 50%, and a weighted system for above 50%. In case you are curious...below is a truehit chart for Fates RN (percentages in decimal form, so 0.01=1%, 0.1=10%, etc.)

Thank you for this. In pre-Fates 2RN, 75 displayed is the place things deviate the most from the displayed value, the difference here is 85 True in Fates weighted vs. 87.75 in pre-Fates 2RN. However Fates weighted 2RN has its deviation from displayed peak at 78, which is actually 78.21. 

A maximum difference of 2.75% between the two 2RN systems isn't a whole lot, now I'd feel fine looking up the old 2RN table were I to play Fates (or SoV or 3H?) again, it shouldn't matter much.

 

4 hours ago, Imuabicus said:

Oh yeah, I´ll put in my vote for playlogging Wargroove.

Not bad game, excessively sore noses aside. I acknowledge it isn't a direct copy of AW, with the changes making for an overall faster game, which isn't a bad thing. However, for some reason, the AW magic wasn't there for me. I finished the campaign on Normal, though it felt tougher than AWs other than the first and I never felt the urge to try the arcade mode. Maybe I should get back to it and try that co-op mode campaign they added.

 

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

Why would you ever field Conquest Gunter? Do you spend a heart seal on that one chapter just to make it easier (speaking of which, while that is the chapter that drives Conquest's story off a cliff, it is a gimmicky chapter that works pretty well imo)?

Doesn't he learn skills like Felikob? Easy access to level 15 skills isn't bad. The no-growths hex/sept/octo/nona/centenarian has an unusual total of three class sets: Cav, Merc, WR, and can A+ Jakob on CQ for Troub.

Trample, Elbow Room, Str +2, Savage Blow, something? Maybe he could OHKO something with a Offensive Stance followup? Or he can Rally Skill/Def/Res + Gentilhomme and Inspiration for support; staffs don't care about Mag for the sake of healing. Shuriken/Sword/Tomebreaker will probably fail due to his absent Spd and being very easily doubled.

Edited January 13, 2021 by Interdimensional Observer

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

Why would you ever field Conquest Gunter? Do you spend a heart seal on that one chapter just to make it easier (speaking of which, while that is the chapter that drives Conquest's story off a cliff, it is a gimmicky chapter that works pretty well imo)?

Gunter's personal skill also offers offensive boosts when backing up Corrin. And switching them around can give a non-flying Corrin effective flying mobility. His physical offense and bulk are pretty good when he returns, too, even as slow as he is. Give him a Horseslayer (in Wyvern Lord) and he's one of the best weapons against those obnoxious foxes.

43 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Thank you for this. In pre-Fates 2RN, 75 displayed is the place things deviate the most from the displayed value, the difference here is 85 True in Fates weighted vs. 87.75 in pre-Fates 2RN. However Fates weighted 2RN has its deviation from displayed peak at 78, which is actually 78.21. 

A maximum difference of 2.75% between the two 2RN systems isn't a whole lot, now I'd feel fine looking up the old 2RN table were I to play Fates (or SoV or 3H?) again, it shouldn't matter much.

 

Not bad game, excessively sore noses aside. I acknowledge it isn't a direct copy of AW, with the changes making for an overall faster game, which isn't a bad thing. However, for some reason, the AW magic wasn't there for me. I finished the campaign on Normal, though it felt tougher than AWs other than the first and I never felt the urge to try the arcade mode. Maybe I should get back to it and try that co-op mode campaign they added.

 

Doesn't he learn skills like Felikob? Easy access to level 15 skills isn't bad. The no-growths hex/sept/octo/nona/centenarian has an unusual total of three class sets: Cav, Merc, WR, and can A+ Jakob on CQ for Troub.

Trample, Elbow Room, Str +2, Savage Blow, something? Maybe he could OHKO something with a Offensive Stance followup? Or he can Rally Skill/Def/Res + Gentilhomme and Inspiration for support; staffs don't care about Mag for the sake of healing. Shuriken/Sword/Tomebreaker will probably fail due to his absent Spd and being very easily doubled.

All this stuff too. Granted, getting to A+ with Jakob (or S with Corrin) will take a few chapters.

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Not bad game, excessively sore noses aside. I acknowledge it isn't a direct copy of AW, with the changes making for an overall faster game, which isn't a bad thing. However, for some reason, the AW magic wasn't there for me. I finished the campaign on Normal, though it felt tougher than AWs other than the first and I never felt the urge to try the arcade mode. Maybe I should get back to it and try that co-op mode campaign they added.

I haven´t played the game, only watched someone’s playthrough, but I´d like to know what someone who has experienced the entirety of FE thinks about it. Otherwise i may have said EO:V or Nexus but I imagine these ones could prove to be very tedious to playlog.

[Alastor15243]

5 minutes ago, Imuabicus said:

I haven´t played the game, only watched someone’s playthrough, but I´d like to know what someone who has experienced the entirety of FE thinks about it. Otherwise i may have said EO:V or Nexus but I imagine these ones could prove to be very tedious to playlog.

Well, I've not only played the entirety of FE at this point, but also the (western-released) entirety of Advance Wars too! I played through it once when it came out, though I definitely feel giving my thoughts would be way more productive in playlog form, so I'd be happy to do it if we get that far and it got picked!

[Interdimensional Observer]

29 minutes ago, Imuabicus said:

I haven´t played the game, only watched someone’s playthrough, but I´d like to know what someone who has experienced the entirety of FE thinks about it.

It's not FE though besides the grid and medieval setting. If you want knockoff FE, try the Kaga Sagas or craft your own with SRPG Maker. Wargroove is an indie take on Advance Wars gameplay, a pure strategy game, no "are-pee-gee" nonsense. It's not the most complicated of strategy games, but like AW, it's easy to learn and can be an entry point to the genre. Nice map maker like AW too. Though now that SRPG Maker exists, IS would never need to implement their own FE Maker mode or independent game.

Wargroove/AW I wouldn't inherently expect an FE fan to love. They are grids with strategy, but people like the RPG aspect of FE, and it has a fixed cast of units with personalities and names. Those things can draw people in, in a way AW can't. Which is why AW died. However, I will not allow Sami to be seen wearing nothing but a bath towel if that were what it took to revive AW.

[Etrurian emperor]

For what its worth I think the worldbuilding of Fates at least had potential as a concept, and its not uniquely bad by Fire Emblem standards. There have been similarly lifeless continents before Fates. Its an easy target thanks to the lack of a name, but Ylisse and Magvel are hardly any more developed. 

The general setup reminds me a lot of Elibe. You got two major powers, and a collection of mini nations having to navigate around those two countries. There being both minor nations and independent tribes makes for some excellent variety. The two superpowers are shown to have their own ways of handling the tribes and mini nations. Nohr is clearly subjugating them since they've conquered Chev and the Ice tribe, while Nestra seems to be something of a vassal. Hoshido on the other hand doesn't interfere with the minor powers on their side of the continent. This doesn't entirely work out since it leads to Izumo and Kohga getting easily conquered, Mukushu conspiring against them and the wind tribe just allowing conquering armies to march through their lands to subjugate Hoshido. 

It works as a concept. Fates just had to go be Fates about it. 

Edited January 13, 2021 by Etrurian emperor

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

32 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

It's not FE though besides the grid and medieval setting. If you want knockoff FE, try the Kaga Sagas or craft your own with SRPG Maker. Wargroove is an indie take on Advance Wars gameplay, a pure strategy game, no "are-pee-gee" nonsense. It's not the most complicated of strategy games, but like AW, it's easy to learn and can be an entry point to the genre. Nice map maker like AW too. Though now that SRPG Maker exists, IS would never need to implement their own FE Maker mode or independent game.

Wargroove/AW I wouldn't inherently expect an FE fan to love. They are grids with strategy, but people like the RPG aspect of FE, and it has a fixed cast of units with personalities and names. Those things can draw people in, in a way AW can't. Which is why AW died. However, I will not allow Sami to be seen wearing nothing but a bath towel if that were what it took to revive AW.

What put me off getting Wargroove so far was the units - I am no fan of all factions having exactly the same troops and the only difference comes from the leaders.

I do have Vestaria Saga and enjoyed what I played of it - am at the a Dragon from the south appears chapter - but I kinda just lost interest in it. 

Edited January 13, 2021 by Imuabicus

[Interdimensional Observer]

17 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

The general setup reminds me a lot of Elibe. You got two major powers, and a collection of mini nations having to navigate around those two countries. There being both minor nations and independent tribes makes for some excellent variety.

Elibe still left some areas undercooked.

• Lycia is fully cooked being central to both games. 10/10- Relative to FE's standards for world building.
• Sacae gives a strong, distinctive cultural impression, I'd like more detail. 9/10
• Nabata is overwhelmingly desert outside of Arcadia, so it doesn't need a whole lot of building. This said, the question of dragon kind in Arcadia is a bit of a hit. 8/10
• Ilia looks pretty, but I want to know more about the decentralized government topped by a guild system. And I need more on its preference for men at home and women working outside of it. 7/10
• Western Isles has that yellowed landscape, which I like to imagine indicates poor quality soil, so agriculture is weak. The good mines nearby relegate it to the Cerro Potosi of Elibe. The Western Isles has something of a "Wild West" feel judging from its inhabitants, and it ends up in confederacy after FE6. But I wish to know more about its society. 6.5/10
• Bern is mountainous, a superpower, has wyverns and the Dragon Temple, but what else? 4/10
• Etruria is a superpower, the end. 2/10

I won't say it isn't a better world by FE world-building standards, but I'd like to get more. 

[Alastor15243]

Revelation Day 3: Chapter 7

Happy page 200, everyone!

Alright, time to get started with Revelation proper. First off, basic castle maintenance (collecting resources, feeding Lilith, room visits, etc). Then, time to do the support I unlocked with Felicia.

...This is genuinely funny. My favorite line is when Corrin praises her for what he doesn't realize was just her panicking and flailing around on the battlefield and accidentally winning the day, and her response is dead silence and then Dakota's all “Felicia!? What's wrong? Why are you curling up on the floor again!?” which is just such a hilarious mental image, especially with her adorable sad face.

Felicia has... a curious motivation. She's (according to the game anyway) a brilliant natural fighter, but she'd much rather just be a maid, because she likes cooking and cleaning and sewing and the like. The problem is that she's terrible at it. It's... got potential. An interesting contrast between being a failure at what you love and being a success at what you hate.

...My main issue is it feels weird that she enjoys being a maid when she's basically... isn't she some kind of hostage Garon kidnapped? Like he took the chieftain's daughters and made them work as domestic servants in order to keep the chieftain in line. Weird that she'd like doing that stuff.

...That's odd. Did something go wrong with me putting up my castle address? The game doesn't seem to be telling me that anyone visited since last night, even though I heard from people who said they already did. Lemme know if something's going wrong!

But I guess that means there's nobody to visit this morning. Oh, speaking of, in terms of accessories I'm looking for, fox tails are always nice, but I'd also really appreciate more of the accessories that let you control who runs which building. Particularly the chef's hat. I could really use the chef's hat.

Alright, so...

...Since this is Revelation, if there's ever going to be a time to meme it up, it's gonna be now. I'll use this as a test run and see if I change my mind about any of these things for Birthright or Conquest, but for here, nothing's off the table. I'll use amiibo, I'll do some DLC, I'll take the path bonuses, I'll buy from other people's shops, and use all the other random reward shit this game throws at me. Might as well.

...So time to break out my amiibo collection! I've got the entire Fire Emblem set (sort of), but only four of them matter for this game. The first four. Marth, Ike, Robin and Lucina. They let those characters visit your castle, and they give you some accessories. But on the third visit you get to battle them and then recruit them. After that they can show up in shops if you summon them again and they'll sell their own weird items.

Judging by their dialogue, they're the versions of these characters who were randomly summoned to smash bros.

Yeah, so, I got some cool accessories like Lucina's butterfly mask and Marth's tiara, but I'll have to wait until later, probably tomorrow, to get the second conversation. The annoying thing is they give you one of two accessories each time, but the second time is more obscure, with them giving you something based on your answer to a question instead of just asking you what you want. Which can make it annoying if you're trying to get both.

...Hoooooooooly cow I forgot how many rewards you get for your battle and visit points. This is a ludicrous amount of stuff. But sure, I'll use it. I just used two boots on Azura and one on Dakota, but I'm saving the remaining stat boosters for later. Goodness knows those boots'll save time on the sheer amount of moving around these two are gonna have to do.

...Let's get on to the actual map.

...Right, so, just like I remember, Azura only brings up her “hiding place” in the context of giving them a place to lay low. Not in terms of giving them a means to actually act on their intentions of stopping the war entirely.

...But she does say she'll have stuff to tell him, so fine.

Oh right, looks like there are more cutscenes. Holy shit, the fall into Valla is, like, hilarious. Spiky rock formations are just whizzing past Dakota's head.

...Also, there's this dumb-looking fog they place up Azura's skirt to keep the fact that she's falling upside down in front of you from being a panty shot. Not saying I don't sympathize, but it looks really blatant.

...Also it's weird because Azura's dress regularly exposes her panties in cutscenes anyway.

...Hahahahahaha, wow, all of this exposition about Valla is kind of ridiculous. Personally, I'd have saved that cutscene budget for a scene here showing the fall of Valla and the rise of the mad dragon king Anankos.

So yeah, she's talking about how much it sucks to keep her emotions bottled up about all the shit that's happened to her, but...

...she's still keeping it bottled up. Like, this is her first opportunity to share her grief with another human being, and she's just... stating the bare essentials matter-of-factly. No tears, no joy, no intense sense of relief about finally having somebody else to talk to about it. She's just madam exposition like always. Like, seriously, the second she knew the avatar enough to have his trust, on all routes, she should've wanted to take the avatar to Valla with her through the water. She should've been near-ecstatic about the idea. But she never does it unless she's absolutely forced to, even on routes when she has nothing to lose by doing so.

But enough of the terrible story! Let's get onto the terrible map!

There are four deployment slots, but unless you do the Anna DLC or bring an amiibo or bond unit (friendship babies as I like to call them), you only have three units to deploy. This is, as far as I know, the only instance in the entire game (possibly the entire series) of having more deployment slots than the main campaign can possibly fill by that time. And you'll only get one more unit on this map, so... this is a really, really low deploy. Yet again the Corrin-Felicia duo will be taking care of everything while Azura sings for support.

...That's the first part of why this map is lame.

The second part is that it's Revelation's cheeky attempt at simulating fog of war.

The entire map except for the area you're in is pitch black. You have to go to the absolute limits of the revealed map in order to reveal the next area... at which point enemies will promptly spawn on your turn. And also, half of the paths you take (the ones that don't have live plants growing in or near the tunnels) will just teleport you back to the previous room rather than reveal a new area.

This is just a dumb, tedious, time-consuming gimmick with a dash of Three-Houses-style tripwire spawns thrown in for good measure.

Thankfully Corrin is so overleveled by this point that he has absolutely no issue taking these guys down. Unfortunately, that means that this map has literally no strategic merit whatsoever.

...Scratch that, these guys are actually pretty tough on lunatic. But that doesn't make it any more fun or strategic when it's just one unit you've got who can fight. It just meant I had to turtle more with the dragonstone.

Oh yeah, did I mention there are multiple correct paths, and treasure scattered all over each of them? This map really wants you to waste a hell of a lot of time if you want to be a completionist.

Oh, speaking of treasure... keys in this game vanish from your inventory and convoy after you finish the map you got them in. Guess you can't use one place's keys in another, huh? I mean, it makes sense, but I'm ambivalent about whether or not it actually improves gameplay in any way.

First batch of treasure got us a rescue rod, a mend staff, and an armorslayer. Rescue rods are insanely useful but way more limited in use than they were in Awakening, having only two uses and 10 range. Slayer weapons are probably my one complaint with usability in this game, because their gimmick is that they're “weak against other units”, but they don't actually say how much weaker they are. You can figure out in the combat window, but still... it's really annoying for planning enemy phase stuff.

Anyway, since Corrin gains basically no exp here, I thought I'd use every opportunity I get to train Felicia. It's annoying and tedious (she needs three rounds to kill some enemies), but it's working. I've got plans for her as soon as I can afford to lose a healer.

Ah yes, and now we get Gunter. Excellent. That actually gives us some, pardon the pun, “elbow room”. I can fight these enemies in guard stance without sacrificing my healer.

...So let's backtrack and tackle the entire half of the map I missed.

Gunter isn't nearly as good in Rev as he is in Conquest. Mostly because he has way worse stats and can't even support. But he can still do a tun of supportive roles, and has that awesome (for Dakota) personal skill that gives +3 attack and +15 hit when supporting, so...

Some more treasure (a shitton of treasure, which is going to be a recurring theme on tedious maps to my immense disgust), namely a steel sword, killing edge and 5000 gold, and... we're in the final stretch. Thank goodness both routes actually lead to the end and I didn't need to backtrack again.

The berserker boss is meleelocked but has a nasty crit rate, so my only option that doesn't risk instant death (aside from having Dakota chug a ton of stat boosters) is to have Felicia chip him at a distance with the help of Dakota dual strikes.

...No this is absurdly tedious, and a single miss gets rid of all the net gain for the turn due to him healing 8 per turn on that fort. Fuck it, I'll give Dakota a second goddess icon and have him fight with his dragonstone while paired up with Felicia. That just barely gives him enough crit avoid to be safe.

Curiously the boss won't attack on his turn when a counterattack would kill him. Huh. I don't remember bosses ever having self-preservation instincts like that in this game.

And, game's over, onto the story again. Garon apparently can just bestow dragon blood on people according to this talk at the end with Gunter, and... yeah I know the DLC goes further into that, but... we see literally no instances of people outside of the royal families having dragon blood in-game, so... it's really weird that this is a thing and we never see it outside of DLC.

And then we're chased out by Azura's mom, and we're suddenly back at the bottomless canyon.

Also, they say this weird shit about the skies above Hoshido and Nohr reversing every few decades, and that the bottomless canyon portal shifts between open and closed each time this happens. And this is poetically referred to as “Dawn turning to dusk” and “Dusk turning to dawn”. So... what, is Hoshido gonna be a land of perpetual gloom for a few decades after the events of this game, while Nohr's gonna finally get some sunshine, and the other games just glossed over that?

But yeah, that's supposed to be the time limit for getting in and out of Valla, but... it never actually happens. We never see gloomy Hoshido or sunny Nohr.

Oooh! Oh so that's where the 2 battle points came from today! It updated the BP this morning, but only now did I actually get news of anyone visiting that would've explained that +2 BP! Somebody with an avatar named Undyne visited, and... yep. Checks out. Red hair, eyepatch, screaming about polearms... Here, have an accessory, friend!

Aaaand we've got more supports!

Ah yes, and the B support talks about how Felicia used her Ice Tribe powers of heat manipulation to cool off Dakota's fever by pulling the heat into herself. Which is literally the only foreshadowing we ever get about Flora's otherwise-inexplicable ability to...

...Oh we'll get to that, mark my words.

But yeah, if even drawing away a fever was an excessive and life-risking use of her powers, I don't understand how she can possibly use cryokinesis in any way without just suffering instant death. In one scene she summons a literal snowstorm.

Moving on, Azura and Dakota's supports in Revelation (they're some of the very few supports that change between routes, and I can't actually say for sure if there are any others) are by far the lamest of the three variations. They just shoot the shit about the Hoshido, Nohr and Valla, in that order over the course of the three supports. It's a lot of pseudo-philosophical waffle and... ugh.

...I think I'll leave it here for today. This map was exhausting, and Rev isn't going to get any better.

But at least tomorrow I'll be able to have some fun memeing the shit out of this game with the bonus stuff you get.

Stay safe, everyone!

And hopefully I'll see you in the glorious city-state of Lower Dakota!