NekoKnight

I think this is the best answer. There are many things that are perfectly fine when practiced in moderation, and I won't feel responsible for those with no self control.. Jesus, smiling Reinhardt is creepy.

I'd say that Awakening was the start of a lot things that Fates refined and made better (gameplay mechanics) as well as things it made far far worse (tone and writing quality). One of my biggest issues with these two titles is how much the writing respects itself. Take for example the characters you can recruit despite their supposed death. They just...didn't die? Okay, so much for the dramatic story moments. Imagine marrying the man responsible for murdering your best friend's sister. That's some fucked up shit, man. The less said about Fates the better, but like I said, they made things far far worse. You know how the game is supposed to be about family? You can marry them too, with only the flimsiest of excuses for why no one finds that weird. Also, the more you think about the deeprealms, the more horrifying it is. But hey, who doesn't like shipping? Fates does get gameplay down pretty well (except in Rev where map design and character balancing is trash), making large improvements in the skill system and pair up. I don't fault people for liking games exclusively for gameplay but personally, I want something with at least decent writing quality.

Which is something I was critical of in that very post you quoted.

One could say that Henry does certain things that Tharja can't, but that doesn't make them equally viable. Obviously, Zephiel isn't outclassed nearly as bad as Henry is, but BK can still perform more roles and has a straight up better Special skill than anything Zephiel can equip. With his default kit, BK is a pretty good tank too.

I know powercreep (which could also be described as things that cause shifts in the meta) have been around since early on, but I think it's gotten worse since CYL. Units have a general stat cap and some units will inevitably have better spreads. This is fine and a part of having diverse units. The problem is skills, which have no "rules" about how strong they can be. Let's take a look at a skill like Wrath. Early on, either "If unit's health drops below 75%, Special trigger reduces 1 at the start of the turn" and "+10 damage when Special skills activate" could easily have been worthwhile single skills, but for Wrath, they are combined. The same could be said with the CYL weapons that give a +3 stat bonus in addition to a completely reasonably stand alone skill. This "skill stacking" has no limits. I'm also not fond of abilities that are straight up better than alternative skills. Here's in my mind an example of a fair balancing system: Def +3: A flat stat increase with no conditions. This does make it the weakest of the skills but also the easiest to use. Armored Blow 3: A 6 point boost but only on player phase. Earth Boost: A 6 point boost all the time but with the condition that your health be higher than the enemy. Close Defense: 6 points to melee defense, but no help with ranged attacks. Distance Defense: 6 points to ranged defense but no help with melee attacks. Steady Stance: 6 points to defense while defending but none on the attack (a reverse Armored Blow). What's an example of bad balancing? Luna and Black Luna. Unlike Aether which is better than Luna at the expense of a higher cooldown, Black Luna is just better. I know it's locked to BK but one wonders if he really needs an additional improvement over his already outstanding stat line and weapon. Zephiel is still a stronger tank but it's going to be hard justifying using him over BK now. In regards to Slaying weapons, I don't think they're a bad idea. Their introduction was the best way they could buff a weapon type without literally buffing Killer weapons, which, as a Gaccha game, they probably can't do. The only problem I see with it is availability. Slaying Axe is currently locked to 5* only, and Nephenee will probably follow suit. If they want to "amend" their mistake of making Killer weapons too weak, they should at least make them available at 4 star. I would hope that horse/improved armor slayers do as well.

Cecilia as well, in my opinion. If she's running a Raven build, she appreciates maintaining her bulk but doesn't want to sacrifice her Atk or Spd either.

So, could you stack Wrath with Wo Dao for +20 damage? Alright, that makes sense. Man, the stat stacking.

Not me unfortunately. Spent way too many orbs trying to get Lyn and never saw a Klein. Wouldn't those C skills overlap?

I sent back most of my Ninos before I realized how good Drawback could be. I did promote a +Spd -Res Nino to 5* however. Giving Hector Wary Fighter (from Effie) to combat SF! Camilla, not realizing that stops his QR from working.

Replace Lucina? Lucina and Lyn are both in Warriors and the two most popular female FE characters. One doesn't need to supplant the other.

Where do you purchase your tin foil?

You salty Lyn haters are precious, really made my day. I do feel sorry for the SD fans, however. You really deserved more than 3 reps. LOL @ "too many swords", they should have just made a balanced representation of the series if they cared so little about actual balance.

All units have a preferred boon/bane which is better than neutral. There are also many possible natures worse than neutral. You should always merge into your best nature. What's a ideal nature depends on the unit but the best boons are often Atk/Spd, and the worst are HP/your weaker def/res stat. The best banes are usually HP or your weaker def/res stat, and the worst banes tend to be Atk/Spd. It really does depend on the unit, however, so consider what you want that unit to do. Also, stats usually differ by 3 points because of the boon/bane but sometimes it's a 4 point difference. Consider this when thinking about their optimal nature.

Lloyd needs new art more than anyone. ---- Re: thread topic I wouldn't mind some alternates (Mikoto!Sakura pls, or just Mikoto). As for the Warriors OCs I hope they don't give them all swords!

The dragon is an extension of Nergal, the culmination of his ambition. Nergal is very much the big bad, and the lack of characterization for the dragon only cements this. They are back to back bosses anyway, it's just like the stage 2 of single boss fight.

I don't think using oil to defeat enemies is particularly heinous, especially since burning people alive is done routinely by fire mages. If I recall correctly, it wasn't just the tactic Micaiah used but also that she was going to horribly massacre a group that wasn't even there to fight them. I don't hold it against Robin for using fire ships, but I agree that that scene could have had a more serious tone.

I presume he just means the total roster size, which was huge. Radiant Dawn had some availability issues since there were so many independent groups, so they could have tightened things up by cutting out some characters and focusing on a smaller collection of PoR veterans + new characters.

For the record, I'm not a fan of "Evil dragon wants to wipe out humanity for reasons", I'm just saying that narratively, they aren't as common as you claim. Nergal, Zephiel and Jedah/Rudolf are the driving forces of their games', not the dragon at the end, for example. The Fire Dragon has every reason to be in FE7. Nergal's plan is to summon them and steal their power. When you first go to Dragons Gate, Nergal almost summons one but fails. Then at the end he suceeds but is still thwarted by the efforts of the heroes. This is the only dragon you actually fight in the game, so I think it's a rewarding conclusion.

No joke, I think her Japanese name (Yuria) is very pretty and would consider it if I had a daughter. Congrats on your Celica. How many of those red orbs were Bartre?

Kana looks like he's 8 years old. The localization did their best to fix the incredibly awkward situation the Japanese version created. The fact that you had to list so many exceptions to the "evil dragon end boss" trope speaks to their variety. If you don't like dragons in FE (which I think is like being a Tolkien fan and not liking elves) that's one thing, but all those aren't the same. No need for context here. Until Awakening started the "I must be allowed to stick my dick into everything" trend, dragon "lolis" were never really treated as sexual beings, so putting them into the same category as Nowi is a gross generalisation. Personally, I don't mind them. Variety is always nice but I appreciate the "this person is immortal but has a child's body becase they don't age" angle they went with. There are plenty of adult body manaketes anyway, it's just few are playable. I just dislike prophesies in general. It's a lazy way of forwarding information to the audience and uncertainties make for more interesting stories. Even subverting prophesies in media is getting tired.

"Wait, did you just get 3 Reinhardts off a single banner?" "Yeah, so?" "That's highly unlikely isn't it?" "Screw probability, I have money!" -Whales

If my first child asks me why I named him Bartre, I'll tell him it's because I was rolling for a daughter.

Seems like OP was just looking at stat lines and ignoring the unique or rare (which is relevant to F2P folks) skills. It should be noted also, that CYL isn't limited so it doesn't really belong in this thread. "Require" Ranged weapons are huge for a flier team, so even if you don't have Hone, Corrin or Camilla deserve a spot on the team. The ability to give either of them +12 atk/spd through Goads is going to be enough to kill almost anything they ought to be fighting. @Thane

Serenes, your go to source for Spanish (Italian? Portugese? No idea, honestly) FE support.

Wat? What community thinks that making characters gay is somehow fighting sexism? How would that even begin to make sense?