Most irritating/boring maps in Fire Emblem?

[Fabulously Olivier]

I would say that regardless of information provided, the wind mechanic is not fun. Mechanics that move the player characters without the player's consent are not fun.

[starburst]

On 10/8/2019 at 6:50 PM, Shiki said:

Kitsune Lair, Winds of Change (Fates): Conquest maps so good and free of shitty gimmicks, am I right? Mmmm, I'm dripping with sarcasm today, I wonder why.

I will not try to change your opinion about these two maps. What I can tell you is that the defensive threshold for Ch 19 is rather low and can be completed with a great variety of units and no special builds, with or without horses, it does not matter. The party formation to tackle the fox packs is actually more important than the statistics of your units.
About Ch 20, it can reliably be completed in five or six turns without any specific builds as long as your party goes east and flows with the wind north. The boss is rather simple to kill and it is precisely thanks to the winds that one can face him that fast. (Getting the western chests is a different beast, but if you dislike the map, I guess that finishing it fast will be your priority.)

I can give you the specifics from memory, but this is not the appropriate thread.

 

11 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

All of those questions you have to find out for yourself, and any of them can lead to a death or a reset if you are wrong. If the winds were properly explained they would be far less irritating and hated.

 

5 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Everything else can either be experimented with when you have the opening, or just not messed around with in general. I never needed to know the answer to any of those questions to plan any of my strategies for that level, and if they had explained all of that, purely through text, I would have felt as information-overloaded and confused [...]

I am with Eltosian Kadath here, Chapter 20 of Conquest would be perceived way better if the specifics were given. The only way to actually "experiment" the mechanics would invariably lead to deaths/ restarts, and not being able to be played blind is always a detriment to the map overall rating. Lack of information in a tactical game is always negative.
I love replaying Conquest's maps, but experience is never a positive argument against design.

 

5 hours ago, Shiki said:

I generally dislike any of the DV gimmicks in this game [Conquest.]

Then you must love every map bar Chapter 21 and Endgame, which are the only ones where using Dragon Veins is crucial to their completion. (And many players will tell you that Lunatic Endgame does not even require a single Dragon Vein use for it is simpler to fly-skip it.)

 

4 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

Practically everything in Fates Conquest past Chapter 17 for the irritating category. Reason? It's where I realized that I didn't have fun with the game. At all. And nearly every map was frustrating in one way or another.

I play Conquest as puzzle more than as an RPG and thus it surprises me that some one can find irritating what I find entertaining.
I do not want to change your mind, I simply find it interesting how our perceptions are clear opposites.

[Shiki]

31 minutes ago, starburst said:

What I can tell you is that the defensive threshold for Ch 19 is rather low and can be completed with a great variety of units and no special builds, with or without horses, it does not matter.

This is the first time I ever heard of that and I'm very skeptical of what you consider "low".

I skipped Ch.20 in 3 (might have been 2 but probably 3) turns so I know that you can abuse the wind in your favor.
But that's like saying 14x in Binding Blade is good design because you can warp-skip it (which is absolutely not the case).

34 minutes ago, starburst said:

Then you must love every map bar Chapter 21 and Endgame, which are the only ones where using Dragon Veins is crucial to their completion. (And many players will tell you that Lunatic Endgame does not even require a single Dragon Vein use for it is simpler to fly-skip it.)

I mean I enjoy the first half of Conquest (which I stated how many times now in this single thread?) but the later maps with their gimmicks are awful.
21 doesn't require DV if you have fliers. Are you perhaps confusing it with something else? Endgame being Rescue-skip is something that is probably well-known by now, too.
To DV's credit Ch. 15(?) is an interesting gimmick I can get behind.

Also just saying I wouldn't make distaste of Conquests lategame so clear if I didn't properly play it (which is the reason why I don't comment on anything that Judgral or old-school FE did).

[eclipse]

4 hours ago, Etheus said:

 

I think it is important to remember that Fire Emblem has a pretty unique position among Nintendo IP. It isn't Pokemon. It doesn't rest on its laurels and give us the same game with the same story every few years with a new setting.

 

Each Fire Emblem, for the most part, is wildly mechanically different from the rest, and that's why our little community is such a hotbed of debate in the first place. One might consider that a good thing, as long as we try to be somewhat civil about it.

 

But fuck Fates, amirite? 😋

Yes and no.  Video games aren't a way of life, and IMO tastes in video games shouldn't define someone as a person.  In the end, it's something that most of us do in our free time because we find it enjoyable.  Thus, screaming matches over which game(s) are the best/worst are overblown, in the grand scheme of things.  There's nothing wrong with liking a video game.  There's nothing wrong with finding nothing enjoyable about a video game.  But there is everything wrong with belittling someone else for their opinion of video games.

There's people behind these words.  Never forget that.

[starburst]

3 hours ago, Shiki said:

This is the first time I ever heard of that and I'm very skeptical of what you consider "low".

About Chapter 19 of Conquest, when you have the time, check the party compositions here and here. I can name many more combinations, but those two examples from several months ago address this chapter without trying to prove anything (I was only chronicling what I was doing.)
Note that these examples use only ten units, no royals, no backpacks, no path bonuses, no nothing. A less restrictive party would certainly give you more choices to make your life easier.

 

3 hours ago, Shiki said:

skipped Ch.20 in 3 (might have been 2 but probably 3) turns so I know that you can abuse the wind in your favor.
But that's like saying 14x in Binding Blade is good design because you can warp-skip it (which is absolutely not the case).

Oh!, but I said nothing about the design of Chapter 20, nor was I trying to convince you about anything. I only said that the map can reliably be completed in a few couple of turns thanks to its own mechanics (and you seemed to agree with this.) Therefore, I do not get why people complain so much about a map that takes a couple of turns to complete without ever being pushed back by the winds. If anything, the winds make the map easier and faster, however bad its design may actually be.

 

3 hours ago, Shiki said:

21 doesn't require DV if you have fliers. Are you perhaps confusing it with something else? Endgame being Rescue-skip is something that is probably well-known by now, too.
To DV's credit Ch. 15(?) is an interesting gimmick I can get behind.

Also just saying I wouldn't make distaste of Conquests lategame so clear if I didn't properly play it (which is the reason why I don't comment on anything that Judgral or old-school FE did).

No, I meant Chapter 21, but I pictured worse scenarios, say, a party of ten foot soldiers (which I have used several times.) If you think that this map is "normally" played without Dragon Vein uses because having fliers is "normal", that is fine by me. Yet you were the one complaining about Dragon Veins. I said that no map of Conquest, bar probably Chapter 21 and Endgame, required the use of Dragon Veins to be completed. Thus I do not understand your complain about the Dragon Veins. I mean, you can dislike whatever you want, I just do not get this particular case. But there is no need to explain. I do not like mango.

I do not doubt that you played Conquest "properly", I simply enjoyed various things that you did not. Thrill is one example. Various Conquest's maps make me feel thrill, and "solving" a map is a feeling that I never got from what I played from Awakening, Shadows of Valentia or Three Houses.

[DragonFlames]

10 hours ago, starburst said:

I play Conquest as puzzle more than as an RPG and thus it surprises me that some one can find irritating what I find entertaining.

I do not want to change your mind, I simply find it interesting how our perceptions are clear opposites.

It is as they say, different strokes for different folks.

[Hawkwing]

Since this topic is about irritating levels, I'll skip the maps I downright hate and talk about ones that annoy me instead:

Chapter 20 of Conquest (The Wind Tribe level): This map is a slog if you decide to ignore the mechanic, since you have to keep working around the constantly changing wind, making progress slow, or you have to have almost ridiculous amounts of foresight to use it without accidentally send one of your units flying to their doom into a pack of enemies or moving a group of foes into in a position you misjudged. That said, I don't mind the idea behind the mechanic itself, more the fact that it's in Conquest specifically. The game already can and will kill you if you don't pay attention to enemy stats, skills, and weapons, to the point that several chapters "gimmicks" are simply working around those alone, and that's not even bringing up how utilizing those same aspects of your own units can mean the literal difference between life and death. Changing the player and enemies positions sounds simple on paper, but in practice, it means that you have to keep track of where every individual unit on both the player and the opponents side will land, as well as planning on what strategy to use both before and after the doing so, and in Conquest this adds up quickly. It makes a complex game more complicated instead of intriguing. If the wind mechanic where in, say, Shadow Dragon, Echoes, Awakening or so on, it would be a lot more manageable, perhaps even fun.

Chapter 19 of Conquest (Kitsune Level): All enemies having beastbane and several of them having pass is an interesting gimmick! You have to plan around an enemy that will ignore your positioning, and you can't bring in your horses to save the day, while Wolfskin add a neat "fight fire with fire" aspect to the map. Illusion is an interesting gimmick, as you have to constantly improvise around an enemy that you won't always be able to attack. Together, though, they just result in an annoying and occasionally frustrating level where you won't always be able to attack an enemy that is in a troublesome position, planning around pass can occasionally prove fruitless if the enemy decides to illusion instead, and it sucks to be you if your best units ride horses. It's thankfully not a difficult level, but it can be an exercise in patience and frustration at points.

Any level with the hexing rod: I hate this staff to the point it's in a three way tie with fog of war and reinforcements with my most hated Fire Emblem mechanic. I just don't always hate the level it's in. My biggest gripe is that the effect lasts the entire level. If the affected unit simply had to deal with reduced health for a turn or two, that would be fine. The player would have to improvise over the reduced health, and have to decide whether to still send the unit into battle or to create a different strategy while they recover. When used against an enemy unit, the player would have to capitalize on the debuff so that an enemy healer doesn't just undo the damage after the effect wears off. But no, it lasts the entire map, and there's nothing the player can do to remove it. I know there are tricks and strategies to get around hexing rods, and I have used them, but they can still be risky and not always practical to pull off. Hearing that Iago has this thing on lunatic singlehandedly killed my interest on playing on that difficulty.

Paralogue 8 of Awakening (Kjelle's Chapter): To its credit, I do appreciate that this is one of the few child paralogues that you can reliable complete the moment it appears (you can do this with almost any Paralogue, granted, but several were clearly designed to be played later when your units are stronger, regardless of what order you S-Supported the characters), and it becomes a lot more bearable upon repeat playthroughs, when you realize that reinforcements have a pattern of when they stop appearing. Still doesn't prevent this level from being annoying, though, as dealing with the constant reinforcements is more tedious and frustrating than it is interesting. Not helping is that while Kjelle is thankfully unlikely to die, she won't gain any experience from the archers she kills until you recruit her, so that steel lance will be wasted for a while. That's more of a pet peeve more than anything else, but it still doesn't make me enthusiastic towards recruiting her.

All Swamp Maps in Gaiden/Echoes (except the final level): Swamp maps are desert maps, except the sand hates you, there are no small patches of land inbetween to help speed things up, and the bosses don't make for anything by being interesting to fight (well, Jedah is most certainly a unique boss, but whether he's a fun one is a different matter).

[starburst]

Hey, Hawkwing, I understand your complains about those Conquest chapters, and agree with everything you said about Ch 20. Not being able to 100 % predict where your units will land is frustrating, specially on a map with enemies than can easily one-round you.

I also see your main issues with Ch 19. The difference is that, in my opinion, the convergence of Pass, Beast Bane and the Illusions is precisely what makes this map interesting. Without one of them, it would be much easier to deal with the fox packs. It incentivises a compact formation on your party, the heavy use of Attack Stance on Player Phase and paying attention to the Illusions timing. If anything, I dislike Life and Death on some foxes more than any of these.

About Iago’s Hexing Rod, the key here is that it is predictable. He will use his staves in the exact same order during the entire chapter, thus you will always know when a hex is coming. And since one can see its affecting range, it actually affects the party movement and not their HP. I find Azama’s Hexing Rod in Ch 24 way more annoying, since his range and his position forces you to bait. And the prick will hex Strategist Elise even after tonics, pair-up bonuses, rallies and singing, with less than a 20 % success rate! She has enough Luck to win the lottery and enough Resistance to tank every magician in all Harry Potter books, and yet the stupid Azama will hex her. Go figure.

[Lightcosmo]

I agree with alot of Fates maps too be simply boring. Mostly in Revalations, though. They're so focused on gimmicks that you cant really play in your own way.

[Hawkwing]

2 minutes ago, starburst said:

I also see your main issues with Ch 19. The difference is that, in my opinion, the convergence of Pass, Beast Bane and the Illusions is precisely what makes this map interesting. Without one of them, it would be much easier to deal with the fox packs. It incentivises a compact formation on your party, the heavy use of Attack Stance on Player Phase and paying attention to the Illusions timing. If anything, I dislike Life and Death on some foxes more than any of these.

Yeah, I actually do like the ideas behind the gimmicks, it's more that illusion and pass appear together that I have an issue with. Either mechanic would require a different approach than usual to confront, and while illusion thankfully has an explanation, in practice the player has enough to keep track of that it may as well be random. It didn't help that one of the situations I encountered was a kitsune having a clear shot at one of my healers, and I wasn't able to take care of the threat due to them also being hidden on that turn (my tanks weren't in a position to protect said healer, either). It was my own fault for putting myself into that situation, I won't even try to deny that, but it didn't warm to the the combination at all. Illusion also made the fight against Keaton take slightly longer than it should have, thought that's a nitpick in the grand scheme of things.

Perhaps illusion should have appeared in an earlier level first. That way, the player would get a better idea of how it works on it's own, so that when it comes back later, pass and beastbane would add an interesting twist to how you would have to approach it when compared to last time, instead of having to figure out how to deal with both gimmicks for the first time simultaneously.

3 minutes ago, starburst said:

About Iago’s Hexing Rod, the key here is that it is predictable. He will use his staves in the exact same order during the entire chapter, thus you will always know when a hex is coming. And since one can see its affecting range, it actually affects the party movement and not their HP. I find Azama’s Hexing Rod in Ch 24 way more annoying, since his range and his position forces you to bait. And the prick will hex Strategist Elise even after tonics, pair-up bonuses, rallies and singing, with less than a 20 % success rate! She has enough Luck to win the lottery and enough Resistance to tank every magician in all Harry Potter books, and yet the stupid Azama will hex her. Go figure.

I'd imagine he would be, after realizing that Iago cycles through the staffs instead of instead of using the one most practical for screwing you over. I was surprised that he came off as more of an annoyance than a threat when playing through the level itself (I'd say I had a larger problem with the beastslayes and hammer combos on the level, since most of my best units fell into either category, and the opponents packed enough punch that they were dangerous to confront even for my infantry/wyvern riders. Them being near the end of the level and meaning I had to do the whole thing over if I got a TPK didn't help). Azama's was annoying, yeah, and I only got out of that one due to Silas dodging twice and Benny being strong enough to fight even with the reduced HP. And the staff being present in the final chapter makes me wonder who's bright idea it was to prevent the player from saving.

Really, my main gripe against the hexing rod is that simply it lasts the entire map. A turn or two? Yeah, that's annoying, and could possibly lead to a units death if they're in the wrong place at the wrong time, but having to improvise over my tank having their HP cut in two or my healer being even more fragile makes for an interesting case of improvisation. As is? It either requires risks to confront, or taking the long way around, and there are moments where neither choice is practical.

[Alastor15243]

Oh right.

Any map with a secret shop in FE1. Anyone remotely familiar with the sheer clunky incompetence of the FE1 inventory system knows full well that trying to buy shit from those fucking shops while carrying a bare minimum of two out of four items already is a fucking pain, especially since the item exchange system only lets you give, not take, and the "drop" button, with no "are you sure" prompt, is super close to the "give" one.

[Shadow Mir]

I second literally the entirety of FE4. It's just one huge slog. Aside from that, I also consider the wind chapter in Conquest very irritating, because moving the player's units against their will is a really big dick move. Ditto for the equivalent chapter in Revelation, except it manages to be even worse because of the fact that the previous chapters pretty much mandate heavy use of Corrin, and it's much earlier to boot.

Edited October 12, 2019 by Shadow Mir

[Alastor15243]

7 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

I second literally the entirety of FE4. It's just one huge slog. Aside from that, I also consider the wind chapter in Conquest very irritating, because moving the player's units against their will is a really big dick move. Ditto for the equivalent chapter in Revelation, except it manages to be even worse because of the fact that the previous chapters pretty much mandate heavy use of Corrin, and it's much earlier to boot.

I too second the Revelation wind map. It's idiotic and a pale imitation of the Conquest one. No enemy skills, ludicrously unaggressive AI, absolutely no pressure at all. The second I first saw it I knew it was gonna be a shitshow and, to spice it up for my LP, added a house rule of applying a random imaginary status effect to a random unit at the beginning of each turn. I still found the map dull as tar.

[Francesca]

On 10/9/2019 at 11:11 AM, Etheus said:

There are exactly two maps that I outright dislike in Path of Radiance. This one, and the damn boulders.

 

And considering I loved Tellius so much in my youth that I still know most of the PoR maps by heart, that's saying something.

I expected the boulders to be annoying but after a few tries I just cheesed it with Full Guard Haar + Aether Ike and no one else and just laughed my ass off as everyone crashed themselves into them and died. Good fucking map even if only because it makes you play differently or suffer. 

On topic, Night of Farewells made me cry tears of blood the first time I played the game, which was incidentally my first experience with the series. I was not prepared for the Berserk staff. I recently played EHM and it was much more manageable, though the floor tiles are still a pain in the ass. 

Arcadia. Just...Arcadia. I nearly dropped the game because of it. 11A for making it you recruit a Sniper with a damn Troubadour is downright mean too. 

[Mars of Aritia]

I generally found conquest to be better than expected, but I can't see myself playing it again, well at least not any time soon, thanks to the wind map. (well that and the idiot plot lol). I loathe this piece of shit chapter, pretty much for all the reasons said so far. I will add that chests actually have good stuff in them so you can't just ignore them, and as usual the enemies don't play by the rules and are completely unaffected by normal wind. In fact ch. 18-20 were all pretty crappy, but at least it gets much better after that, except for the also terrible ch 27 which you are forced to slog through if you mess up the endgame.

 

Funnily enough, I actually did not mind the revelations version that much. Maybe because it was done very early in the game and the enemies are not as strong, so the wind sending you wherever the hell it wants is not so infuriating.

[Sonicfan]

Chapter 8 of FE6. It's not hard but it's very boring and very tedious as you basically go in a massive spiral and end up just to the left of where you started and checking the inventory of enemies is tedious since you cannot see their weapon at a glance. Special mentions from FE6 go to Chapter 16 (much the same thing), Chapter 24 (it's just ORKOing manaketes with effective weapons or magic) and pretty much all the gaiden chapters.

HHM Chapter 29 (Sands of Time) in FE7 which is just the enemy tossing status staves at you with about 50% hit on your highest res units with a pure water. Get hit and you'll need to reset.

Any FE7 map with a luna druid on. Hope you like rolling the dice on whether you'll need to restart with little agency given to the player.

Chapter 5x of FE8 - It's a rehash of CH8 of FE6 but saved by the small force you have.

[Shadow Mir]

On 10/9/2019 at 10:54 AM, Shiki said:

Actually I don't mind the Steel Lances here. Iron weapons would have been arguably worse.
Aside from the Soldiers and some Shamans Forde or Kyle don't double the enemies anyway and they wouldn't one-round with them either. With the Steel Lances they can 2HKO most enemies sans Fighters and maybe some Cavaliers if not scoring ORKO against some slower Soldiers.
Sure, they aren't accurate and Mercs will double the cavaliers but as long as it's not FE6 levels of unreliable I rather take that than extending my time on this chapter killing enemies.

The bigger problem imo is you only get 1 Javelin and no healer in a map where mages are abundant the closer you get to the throne.

My big issue with Steel Lances is that they're too heavy and inaccurate, and they're not powerful enough to make up for their lack of reliability (3 extra damage ain't enough to justify possibly missing and/or being doubled). 

[Alastor15243]

Mystery of the Emblem Book 2 has a lot of pretty lame maps. Mostly owing to the fact that the maps are sparsely populated and have needlessly rough terrain, often involving sending Marth ridiculously long distances with nothing to fight. There's a map towards the middle of book 2 that looks really cool, but the end of it is literally nothing but sending Marth to open three separate doors with no enemies, walking back and forth across the length of the map with no challenges or obstacles of any kind. There really was no reason to make this part of the map at all. All the free goodies you run around the map to collect could have just been given to the player at once.

[SageHarpuiaJDJ]

FE6: Chapter 7. This chapter actually left such a bad taste in my mouth that I actually stopped playing FE6 for a very long time. Those Wyverns. Those fucking Wyverns.

FE7: Chapter 26. This is basically considered the low of any FE map, so I don't need to explain why I don't like it because It wouldn't add to anything.

FE8: Ephraim Chapter 11: I'M ON A BOAT!

FE13: Chapter 17. The reason I put this here is because I actually played this without grinding, and it was the worst experience I ever had in Awakening. The fucking Falcon Knight ambush spawns, my god. I don't know if the wyverns from FE6 Ch. 7 were worse, but I got soooo tired of miscalculating  were they will go and losing a until because of how fast they were. Also, I love walking in a cramped straight line to the boss. So much fun.

FE14CQ: Also Chapter 17. In short, Ninjas can go die in a hole, Poison skills are the worse thing to ever be implemented in FE(Why bring it back 3H), And Kotaro is an asshole.

FE15: The first Desert map in Celica's route. You know a map's good when you can't even use your main lord in combat in a literal anti flier fortress. Why don't mages have normal move in deserts in Echoes again?

FE16: Chapter 13 for all routes besides Black Eagles. Separating your units like this chapter did, along with being Sliver hell with enemies like Assassins and Snipers, makes for a painful experience.

 

[Shadow Mir]

On 10/8/2019 at 4:46 PM, Armagon said:

Actually, this makes the map easier because then Miklan moves out of his throne bonuses and when you kill him and he becomes the Beast, everyone gets transported to the center of the room. Remaining enemies will still remain but only where they were at pre-transformation. And Beast Miklan isn't too hard to take out

I would add to my previous statements about this map that it's even worse on Maddening - if you aggro those archers, they come after you, and as they charge, they aggro whatever they pass. Observe. Gilbert is very likely to end up causing this to happen if the reinforcements that come from behind you don't defeat him, too. That being said, it does leave Miklan wide open if you have Warp, but that's not something to count on outside of NG+ unless you have Lysithea, and even then, I wouldn't count on it unless you started with the Golden Deer...

[Arachnofiend]

I have to be impressed with your luck (for better or worse) if Gilbert is staying alive long enough to aggro the archers. Dude gets trucked by the reinforcements on Hard mode, I can't imagine what sort of RNG must have occurred for him not to get murdered on Maddening.

The Miklan chapter has a number of issues, mostly that gap between dealing with the thief reinforcements in the north east and getting into the throne room where you have to slog through empty hallways to get to the next enemy. But I think the real crown for most irritating chapter in Three Houses goes to the Hubert paralogue: it's almost insulting how they gave the must-keep-alive green units healing tiles to stand on only for them to immediately walk away to throw themselves at the nearest demonic beast. Suffice to say I did not get Hubert's lance on my Crimson Flower run.

[PPPPPPP270]

I got to say a lot of Revelations maps are straight up terrible.

When the first level is a maze where you have only 3 units with one of them being Azura, you are in for a very slow map. The next level is no better. 

They bring back the wind level from Conquest if you hated that map. At least the enemies don't all have seal skills or constant flier enemies.

Then there's the snow level which is just awful because hidden enemies inside of snow, intentionally low deployment slots and every fucking enemy having droppable items. 

What about a map gimmick that straight up makes the map easier because for some reason they made a map that demotes and weaken enemies but have no effect on your own units. That's an actual map in Revelations.

Also let's do a 2 part map where you can't save after the first level and spam a ton of mounted reinforcements and have to protect Niles and Odin who join with awful stats for that point in the game.

There's also a stealth level where if you pick the wrong door you will basically lose the entire map, and even then if you pick the right door there's enemies behind that door that have 3 range weapons. When you play the map normally it's just a very generic map.

There's so many more bad maps that exist in Revelations. 

[samthedigital]

Three Houses reuses maps quite a lot, so after the final playthrough I was sick of just about every map. People have mentioned just about everything else I could think of, so I won't bother mentioning the maps I don't like in other games.

[Shadow Mir]

On 10/12/2019 at 2:46 PM, Alastor15243 said:

I too second the Revelation wind map. It's idiotic and a pale imitation of the Conquest one. No enemy skills, ludicrously unaggressive AI, absolutely no pressure at all. The second I first saw it I knew it was gonna be a shitshow and, to spice it up for my LP, added a house rule of applying a random imaginary status effect to a random unit at the beginning of each turn. I still found the map dull as tar.

Personally, I hated the fact that Conquest handed out seal skills like they were Halloween candy on that map. The wind was already awful enough, that just made it much much worse.

[Alastor15243]

1 hour ago, Shadow Mir said:

Personally, I hated the fact that Conquest handed out seal skills like they were Halloween candy on that map. The wind was already awful enough, that just made it much much worse.

I've never found seal skills to be annoying. Mostly because every time I see anything that threatens to reduce my stats, I see it as a challenge of "how do I fight this opponent so that doesn't happen?", and then I do it.