Topazd

I'll have to second that. Not to say I've actually tried all that many foreign brands, but it's easily my favourite.

It's definitely been the most prominent source of outrage here, haha. To jump on to the topic itself, it's been a while since Suikoden V so I'll welcome the other aspects of My Castle as most desirable. I don't even have any problem with the bathing stuff or other less questionable activities.

My rhetoric might make it seem like the polar opposite, but I've no doubt I'll enjoy FE14. Even so, I do harbor a legitimate concern of the impact this (admittedly small) addition will have and I have no particular reason to alter my manner of conveying my points. Regardless, this topic might not have been the best place to go on a tangent about the subject, so apologies and thank you for the translations!

Yes. Even if the roles were swapped (90% amazing content and 10% of rubbing and other wonderful inventions) the game should be judged as a whole, not exclusively based on its merits. Everything, regardless of being 'optional' or not does have an impact to the overall product, its setting and tone, to name a couple.

Really, are only the parts of the game that are mandatory in order to finish it viable for criticism? What if the game happened to be slightly less linear? The main quest would compose about 10% of the complete product, but you couldn't evaluate the rest of the game on account of it being 'optional'. I don't have a problem with baths since there is the quite apparent cultural context. 'Face-rubbing' on the other hand is more indicative of a not very desirable direction.

It's not necessarily the case that people think this feature is going too far in and of itself. It does, however, speak of a worrying direction to be taken with the series. And perhaps of a somewhat questionable shift in their target audience.

There definitely is an audience for such mechanics. I'll still have to question whether this is a direction Fire Emblem should be taking - I don't see this leading to anything beneficial.

But the 'it's optional, just don't use it' argument doesn't work all the way. This feature will be a part of the game (and it's use will be incentivized in some form, I'm sure) and should not be treated as separate. Let's take a less linear game, for example. Technically everything that isn't required to finish the game would be considered 'optional' - should one therefore abstain from taking it into account when reviewing the whole product? Or if you really want to stretch the term, let's say you have a cutscene in the main storyline with outright erotic material otherwise not present in the game - you can skip the cutscenes if you don't want to watch them, it's optional! 'Face-rubbing' isn't taking it quite that far, but the fact that it's not strictly mandatory isn't a significant point in it's favour.

A bad decision is hardly validated by the fact that it's optional. It's not enough for me to denounce the upcoming product based on it alone, but it isn't exactly a benefiting feature, either. That's not to say none of the newly announced features struck me as appealing. Even so, this inclusion (along with many other aspects) does speak ill of the direction being taken here - and I'm convinced it'll only worsen by future installments. I don't know what I was expecting after Awakening, but this is a rather unexpectedly lecherous turn to take wrt design.

That's really the first time I've ever heard anyone say that about SMTIV, haha. Which characters' voices stood out as particularly bad for you?

The mode is an asinine way to go about accessibility, though this is something I'm starting to feel slightly apathetic about. More bastardized modes contribute to bloating the game, their nature dragging the overall quality of the product down -- but it's a trend I've come to terms with. I do hope playing Classic is advocated and/or incentivized, at least.

Casual will return. I don't think should. Not much else to add.

Those numbers are added to the base stats of the class to calculate the actual base stats of the character, unless you meant something else.

SMT might not be for you, but clothing this skimpy only applies to this game and Atlus does plenty of non-M rated games (Etrian Odyssey, for one).

The trailer had just as little to do with SMT as it had with Fire Emblem, just so all of you know.

'Understandable' is how I'd describe them. Since bookofholsety has (quite recently) stated that the renewed translations are well on their way, I'd honestly wait until then.

On top of what Esme mentioned, the grinding maps did include palette swaps for already existing demons (marketed as new demons). I own all of the DLC, and out of those I'd recommend you get at least Clipped Wings 1 & 2 and the three superboss ones. In hindsight I do slightly regret buying all of it - it was unclear whether or not PAL would get the game at all so when it finally did come out here, I immediately bought all of the DLC as means of support. It essentially boils down to whatever floats your boat, and they're not terribly expensive in the end.

Well, true. If that's the case, I'm still a bit skeptical but eager to see the exact means they aim to compensate the absence of such values with. Though I'm still as bitter as ever about the fact that they had to remove weapon weight in the first place, so this might be something I'm never going to be completely fine with in any scenario, haha.

Even though I don't think this is a favourable scenario (it'd stray even further from the real FE experience than the regular Casual mode), I hope that's the case here as opposed to removing durability entirely. One of the major assets of FE is the streamlined nature, but weapon durability is something I really don't see the games function properly without nor do I consider it something that should be removed in the name of streamlining.

Yeah, the difficulty drops drastically after Minotaur, so it's not going to be a long-lasting trend. As for the Burroughs apps, I recommend at least the ones that increase your skill/demon slots and the ones that heal MP after every battle. It's been a while since I played, so take note that I might have missed something important. I'd also vouch for the Mag build, it really does go a long way in terms of getting rid of enemies fast. You'll unlock Easy Mode after a couple game overs, but if you want to play it on the regular setting (which I recommend), the best way to go about it is to just soft reset after you die. EDIT Sorry, meant hard reset <_<

Awakening gets a lot of undeserved flak so I do see where your defensive attitude comes from, but your method of conveying its 'superiority' to others will only cause feelings of disdain towards you. Keep in mind that whether or not game A is better than B is a very subjective matter.

@Awakener_ I doubt you'll get people to agree with you with an attitude that provocative. On the subject of the topic, yeah, the outlook is certainly positive and this seems to have more of a defined identity than the last game. Nothing conclusive can be said, but I'm definitely optimistic for now.

The spin-offs are not SMT titles, nor are they labeled as such (what Atlus USA does for marketing reasons is different matter altogether). Considering that the project was called 'SMT x FE' even in Japan, it isn't really incomprehensible that people are going to be sorely disappointed by the fact that after going by that name for 2 years, the result has nothing to do with SMT at all. The quality of the final product is something that can't be assessed at this time, and derogatory comments regarding it are a bit uncalled for, sure. I still don't see what purpose a discussion forum serves if people are going to take this stance of no tolerance for negative feedback.

On the subject of SMT if, this may prove useful for anyone patient enough. Granted, updates have been rather scarce, but the latest progress report was on the October of last year so it isn't exactly an all but abandoned project like Majin Tensei 1/2.