Jump to content

feplus

Member
  • Posts

    510
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by feplus

  1. With text/cursor turned to fast and animations off, Mystery has a nice quick pace. I see no reason to turn animations on. Look to dondon's LTC videos: animations are off, battle forecasts are quickly passed over, and any relevant odds of success are added via annotations.

    Managing warp uses properly will be key. Because you're going for full recruitment, you'll have turns to kill, so training up units (mainly fliers) should be worthwhile. Divine!Chiki has flight and should be useful in some situations.

    I wouldn't worry about Medeus. A power ring and two speed rings are picked up without going out of the way, the Falchion will take a turn extra investment at most, and you should be grinding for favorable RNG anyway.

  2. If you've played through FE3 or watched a playthrough somewhere, you'll know that the game ends on a still image of Marth followed by the word Fin.

    So I was surprised when I stumbled across this video. Here, text scrolls across an ominous background with the Falchion surrounded by flames, the Fin screen only coming afterwards.

    What's the deal? What does the text say, and why doesn't it seem to be in patched versions of the game?

    ---

    EDIT: Disregard, found the answer. Apparently this is called the "Perfect Ending chronology" and is unlocked by "playing from the start of Book 1 to the end of Book 2, with all characters recruited and alive."

    This thread's pretty useless now, so if you're a mod feel free to lock, but I do have one question: what counts as "start of B1 to end of B2"? Do you need to play through both on the same file, do you need to play through both consecutively, or something else?

  3. @Levant I still don't get what Book 1 allegedly does better in terms of design over the other two.

    Dismount nerfs otherwise dominant characters, the cut content is mostly bad content and improves the overall experience by subtraction, UI is much improved over the original, some nice balance changes (eg. javelins crippling AS).

    Shadow Dragon is probably better, but there are good reasons for preferring Book 1. In addition to the above, some players dislike reclassing and SD's art style. The original is borderline unplayable and greatly inferior to its remakes.

  4. Kenneth's map is much better in my experience. Easy to complete the map with all requirements and turns to spare, less tedious, don't need to bring multiple thieves (or invest in chest keys, 500G a pop) to get all the valuables.

    Jerme's map has seven more turns to work with, but it's larger, the snow is overall more inhibiting, and it's a rout objective.

  5. "Impractical" appears to be this thread's operative word.

    In normal play, granted, triangle attacks are cumbersome and rarely worth it. But they really shine in challenge runs. Triangle attacks are the primary kill option in lategame Blazing Sword no-promoted-units runs, for example, and I've heard they're handy in some FE11/12 runs too.

  6. I probably sound like a broken record at this point since I've said it so many times, but growth rates don't make it challenging. Like people have said, if you want a character to be good, you can pool a bunch of resources into them to make them good. It's more about increasing replay value.

    This thread's very first response argues that showing growth rates undermines the challenge of Fire Emblem. This is the sentiment I am responding to since it's a weak claim.

  7. So, FE13?

    I still am curious to see how you can call Casual mode "rewarding" mistakes. It's not punishing which is different than rewarding; rewarding is the unit coming back with a few extra levels and maybe an extra skill.

    Not quite FE13. Lunatic comes close, but DLC grinding should've been removed until postgame.

    Casual rewards bad play because bad play is quicker and more efficient. For example, using weak units as bait to clear a path, or blitzing enemy forces all at once.

  8. In the original FE3, you didn't get punished for killing the Clerics in Khadein. Though they did back down like every other enemy unit on the map once Ellerean was recruited.

    Killing any enemy (including the clerics) prevents the silver card thief from spawning.

    Fire Emblem will never see an "edgy" protagonist, but it's plausible that it implements a proper moral choice system. This concept would be a natural fit and it's shocking the series has yet to try it. Imagine something like this:

    Ch.1-5: tutorial, only forced on a first playthrough

    Ch.6: moral choice is made, three branching paths

    Ch.7-20: rest of the game

    That would leave us with 48 unique chapters (par for the course), a more focused campaign length, and would allow experienced players to jump right to the good stuff. Intelligent Systems can have its Nintendo-friendly good guy lord along with an edgy and neutral protagonist depending on the choice made.

    Fates gets really close to pulling this off, but the choice made isn't a properly moral one and Kamui's a Mary Sue on any path.

  9. That argument requires the claim that casual mode brought in enough players to save the series, players who would otherwise not have purchased the game were casual mode excluded. Awakening sold well in large part because of its advertising budget, high production value, large 3DS install base, and positive word-of-mouth. It almost certainly would've met its modest targets without casual mode.

    Neither here nor there. Again, there are ways to make Fire Emblem more accessible without coddling players and rewarding bad play.

  10. But the 'would-be-chefs' have paid money. If you pay money to do something then it's not good for business if you can't fully enjoy what your money has paid for, will tell others that you have not enjoyed what you paid for, and will not pay for any similar products in the future.

    The real-world counterpoint to this argument is how Fire Emblem survived for eleven games without casual mode.

  11. Well feplus congratulations on getting FE cancelled with your ideas.

    Fire Emblem would've survived without casual mode.

    The "feel" of losing units for a few turns is unimportant. What matters is whether casual mode makes players better. It does not. In fact, it makes them worse.

    Imagine every time somebody burns food while cooking they get their hand burned too. Now they've got a burnt hand and burnt food.

    This is a weak analogy. Here's a better one: imagine every time somebody burns food while cooking, s/he is scolded for the mistake.

    Would this create better cooks? Yes. Some would-be chefs might be discouraged and abandon the hobby, but those who stick around will improve.

    I want better players, not merely more players. Fire Emblem can become more accessible without instilling bad strategic habits.

  12. Fire Emblem has a history of encouraging better play through manipulating player psychology.

    Most pre-Awakening Western fans started with Blazing Sword. Lyn Mode is a protoype of casual, where units who reach zero hit points are wounded for the rest of the campaign but available later. Players are taught that making critical mistakes will cost them units short-term. When the main story begins, players are taught that making critical mistakes will lose them units who also die (usually) and will not return, so there's natural progression here. The stakes become higher.

    Peramdeath itself is in large part psychological. Rarely will a player lose critical units, since core members of a team tend to have better stats and lower chance of death. Killed units are typically superfluous and plenty of replacement prepromotes are available. But virtually all players reset when any fighter is lost because they feel guilty. That character has a name and a face and a death quote. His/her death is entirely on you. Don't you feel bad? Why did you make that mistake?

    So even though it's rarely necessary, players reset and play the map better. They improve. They improve because the game guilted them into making fewer mistakes.

    Casual mode lacks this psychological component. No wonder so many new players struggle to transition from Awakening to earlier titles: they were not given incentive to improve! Casual also reinforces bad habits regarding unit placement and lack of attention to detail, since unit death is of little consequence.

    I'd prefer casual and phoenix were cut entirely, and I don't care if that means the player base becomes smaller. Games can't be for everyone. If such modes must be included, psychological manipulation is important. dondon's idea of a token statistical penalty is a start. I also wouldn't mind locking content behind classic.

  13. Blazing Sword's normal modes are worth playing ranked. Easier but encourage different playstyles.

    • Eliwood modes have more turns to work with.
    • Hector modes have more funds and experience to work with.
    • Normal modes have more lenient experience but less funds and stricter turn requirements.
    • Hard modes have more lenient funds but less experience and more generous turn requirements.

    If you'd like to play normal ranked with additional challenge, consider a no-arena run. Arenas are very powerful options in ranked play.

  14. On HNM, which OP said he was doing, you get Lowen in C12 and Kent is available at the beginning of C16. Therefore, 4 chapter lead.

    12, 13, 13x, 14, 15.

  15. I'm talking about the four maps listed at the bottom of this list.

    • Grizel execution court
    • J-shaped map
    • V-shaped map
    • Defeat Bandits

    I find it difficult to believe that only this scanty bit of information exists. I'd expect the map data to be located within the rom itself. If the content isn't located in the data, I'd expect some players to have produced images or video. But Google doesn't turn up much information either.

    Any more info floating around, or is this the best we have more than a decade later?

  16. Lowen also only has a 4 chapter lead over Kent, and assuming Lyn Mode

    1. Most arguments in this thread have assumed no Lyn Mode. Sain/Kent are better with LM included.

    2. Lowen has a five chapter lead on both modes and he's doing more in Ch.15/16.

    additionally, a B support between 2 mismatched affinities is unequivocally better than a C support between 2 matched affinities.

    Also a +3 support with 20 innate points. Marcus/Lowen is one of the better supports for reasons dondon has outlined.

×
×
  • Create New...