Blademaster!

It's the type of character Owain is. I guess I meant the internal level system discussed here: http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=37768&st=0&p=2281473&hl=promote&fromsearch=1entry2281473

I'm about to "blog" for a bit since I just finished the game and have a lot on my mind after playing it, but this is mostly just a review of the game (hopefully). Anyway... It's been around eight years since I started playing Fire Emblem. The first game I played was FE7 (like most people obviously) after having first heard about the series through Super Smash Bros. Melee(surprising I know, etc.) and from seeing the game's reputation on Gamefaqs at the time. To put it quite simply, I was blown away. I'd never played an SRPG before, and everything about the games mechanics, system, story, and graphics were fascinating, and as far as I can remember the only experiences that have come close to being as entertaining and engaging for me was when I first played Earthbound 11 years ago, got into anime/manga about 6/7 years ago through series like Dragon Ball, FMA, Naruto, One Piece, Rosario+Vampire, Death Note, and Negima (likely my core starting series), playing Pokemon BW and BW2, and when I played Fate Stay/Night about a year ago. Though my interest in these series have taken a pretty heavy drop over the years, with the exception of Type-Moon works and Pokemon, Fire Emblem has stayed strong and close to my heart, hence why I still bother to show up here after all these years and make this topic. I went on to play the games in this order IIRC FE8->FE9->(from here it gets fuzzy)FE6->FE4->FE10->FE3->FE2->FE5(end fuzziness)->FE11->FE1->FE12 and now FE13, with each game having something about it that I enjoyed very much. And after having played FE13, I can still see that the series is still capable of pumping out something new and refreshing. In playing FE13, I did the near impossible in this day and age of the internet: try and avoid as many spoilers as possible. The only things I knew going in were that: This may seem like a lot, but at the same time it isn't. I knew nothing of the antagonists and majority of the story, That being said, my overall impressions of the story and cast are a bit mixed. Fire Emblem, as silly and possibly retarded as this may sound, is in my mind one of Nintendo's more "mature" franchise, along with Metroid, Mother, and MAYBE Golden Sun (from what I can think of anyway), and this game continues that tradition from the "typical kiddy aimed at everyone nintendo game." As such, I was glad to see that the story didn't suffer from any real censorship (if I am wrong, please correct me as I really haven't been following anything about this game at all) as I have no problem with using arse instead of ass if it would please "mothers against drunken people who play grand theft auto and kill people because of it" and such. As far as the story goes in this regard, there really wasn't anything that stood out to me other than and I can't think/haven't seen enough of the character interactions to comment on that. Moving away from this silly maturity topic though, the actually story itself was pretty decent, though certainly not the best in the series. FE4 (which I'd say has the best story in the fou ranchise by far), FE9, and Book2/FE12 I'd say definitely had better stories, though the more climactic parts of FE13 are easily some of the best in the franchise regardless, especially because of the beautiful CG cut-scenes. The twist about was probably the best part of the story and but the whole Valmese arc was pretty bad and felt lacking on many fronts. The ending was also pretty lacking since it was just but this is pretty typical of FE endings anyway along with the whole "Japan can't write good endings" stereotype. As for the characters, Of course, any good video game needs good gameplay, and FE13 once again delivers on this aspect very well. Combining all the best features from past FE games (supports, forging, skills, world map, children, reclassing, branched promotions.) and executing them all almost flawlessly(other than including capturing and fatigue from FE5 and one other thing) and then adding in the whole dual strike/partnership system was once again genius on IS's part, showing that they're still capable of coming up with fresh and interesting ideas. Frankly, I'm really curious to see what they will do next to try and surpass these new features. The world map system was much better implemented than it was in FE8, but still not as good as the one from FE2. The new skill system/second seal mechanics also added in an entire new depth of gameplay to FE, making this game feel more like an actual rpg than any game before it with the amount/types of customization available too you, and was even able to be done in a somewhat balanced way, though the difficulty of the game is still a bit jumpy as a result. My only real complaints about the gameplay are that I didn't like the new inventory interface, nor how the barracks could give you conversations between characters who have no support options together, along with how you can just use Chrom to recruit everyone. I haven't really messed around with the online things offered in the game too much, but it looks like there's a ton of stuff to do and I'm looking forward to playing with it on my next run. As far as other things go for the game, maybe it was just because of the speakers on my 3DS in general, but the music in this game didn't seem to stand out all that much. There were some tracks I enjoyed, but overall it was nothing special. I haven't played with the Japanese voices yet, but the English voice acting was really well done if you ask me. As far as the artwork and graphics goes, this is probably the second most visually appealing FE game after FE10. The character designs were all pretty well done for the most part(Aversa though...), and the sprites and battle CG were great. The CG cutscenes were also some of the best in the series. Ultimately, this game is everything a hardcore FE fan like myself could want and more. Outside of all the great things listed above, the amount of references to other games in the series and DLC just help add to making the experience even more entertaining than ever. It is a very welcome addition to the FE family, and deserves every bit of praise it has gotten from the video game community (to my knowledge). IS really outdid them selves this time, and if this kind of innovation is implemented in all future Nintendo games, I can't wait to see what Pokemon XY have in store. In general, I'd give this a 9.5/10, with the music and at times weak story telling holding it back, but for an FE game, it's easily an 11/10; FE5 is really the only game in the franchise that truly sets itself apart from this one now. Well, my review/tl;dr aside, I also had a couple of general questions:

Just walked into gamestop today and found out about this... Damn it! The guys at the counter said to check again in a week if they get more available.

The more you care about what people call you, the more often people will use that word. It's why people will never stop using the word nigger to piss off black people.

Did they change the speed difference required to double? It's certainly higher than 4. Also, is it just me, or did the elwind tome the mage in Lunatic mode used shoot fire and not wind?

The VN is really overrated and not that great IMO. I can't say anymore about my opinions on it without spoiling anything, but the general opinion on LB! is that the common route and Refrain are good, people like Rin2 because of how it ties into refrain (personally I thought Rin2 was really bad), and then all the character routes suck except for Mio's who at least has a decent one. I might try watching my favorite parts of the VN when they air. Have to say, this season is pretty bad. Just finished the second episode of Tamako Market, and it's really bad right now.

http://www.siliconera.com/2013/01/15/fire-emblem-awakening-has-dual-audio-voice-tracks/ "Nintendo of America sent us an early copy of the game, and we confirmed the feature for ourselves upon receiving it." They already have the game ;_;

She made me drop the anime, so I'd say no.

As long as they make it so that you can only smoke it in your own personal residence or in some kind of specialized pot bar, let them do as they please. Just keep that nasty shit away from me. Not that helps anyway since the smell sticks to everything.

It's overrated

For 6x, you don't need Archers at all. All you need is someone to kill the Armor knight, Fighter, and Roro, the former two of which can be done very easily, and the later just needs some who can deal a lot of direct damage to Roro and then Linde can finish him off with Aura. For 7, I'm not using any Archers in my current play through of that chapter (which is also my first one so I don't have bonus shop items), but the only thing I could really see any archer helping with in that chapter is killing the fire dragon, since otherwise your fliers, Marth, Feena, and Navarre do all the work in that chapter. Haven't done chapter 8 so I won't comment on it just yet, but that's just my two cents on that matter.

Oh, I didn't know that...

In the case of this topic, efficiency was clearly defined for arguments sake in the first post... Also, does letting people tactically die in the prologue contribute against efficiency if you still achieve a low turn count?

Has it been discussed why you wouldn't just try using an Iron Bow forge instead? Unless my calculations are wrong, accounting for the bonus hit, the difference in price too make them have the same str and hit is ~900, and ~2000 without the hit bonus for a total of 8140. Since funds don't seem to be that big a deal in this game from what you are all saying, that really doesn't seem like such a bad deal, since arms scrolls (can you buy them in the bonus shop after completing Lunatic?) normally cost 2500 anyway, and now you have a weapon anyone can use with 5 more uses. Edit: Forgot to mention this assumes a +5 steel bow forge.

Do you guys have a list of average level/turn count per chapter when trying to do an efficient run?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/3-arrested-in-massive-canadian-maple-syrup-heist-which-hurt-world-supply/2012/12/18/da2639fc-4932-11e2-8af9-9b50cb4605a7_story.html I actually can't stop laughing. I love you Canada.

You actually just can't obtain it? I didn't see anything on the site to suggest that before like with the silver card...

If I lived in a gang infested area and had to go to that school because my parents couldn't do any better, I'd be happy to have them there if they actually have any power to do anything. I remember in my high school these two kids got into a fight and the police came in a flash, but my school was pretty high end and strict about violence, and the police station was pretty close by anyway.

Maybe this isn't the best place to ask this, as it is more of an advice question, but how do you factor the need to bring Sirius, Minerva, Julian, and Merric into the final chapter to recruit the 4 clerics? Does this add to any need to use them more so that they don't drag down your team in the final chapter at all? Do you kill someone off and then bring them back in the final chapter with the Aum staff to help make up for this (that is how the Aum staff works right? They come back to life in the chapter you use it allowing for an extra unit to participate)? Or is it just something not worrying about?

I wouldn't expect American's to fly out to Europe and commit mass shootings there. They have Europeans there fully capable of doing that themselves.

Yeah, that's my bad for not mentioning that my statement didn't affect your argument. The law literally just passed five days ago, and now they're already starting to rethink things after this incident.

There was a bunch of things on his facebook and twitter to suggest that he had gotten into fights at school, going so far as to attack a bus driver IIRC, was dealing weed, smoked pot, and was suspended from school three times (the reason he was where he was in the first place was because he was on suspension) for "weed", being late/missing school, and carrying potentially stolen jewelery and having "burglary" tools while making graffiti. From my point of view I would call someone like that a hoodlum, though not a gangbanger. http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/03/26/10872124-trayvon-martin-was-suspended-three-times-from-school?lite Not anymore. The law just passed a couple of days ago to allow concealed carry.

If this is true, then, well... http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/12/adam-lanza-did-he-preview-school-shooting-on-4chan/ Honestly, I find that... kinda funny. I guess I just have a taste for black comedy or something. But I have to say, my favorite line in that article was: It really shows the bias the media/society has at times where in the case of Adam Lanza, his photos of "boyish innocence" are immediately cast aside only wishing to portray a monster, where when Trayvon Martin got killed and the same thing happened with his innocent photos, no one even bothered to try and look at how he was a hoodlum and only wished to portray him as a martyr leading to even more bias in that case. Though Lanza probably doesn't deserve any sympathy.

Oh, no I don't mean to say anything about his motives, and I believe Morgan Freeman was more concerned with it contributing to some kind of precedent.

This whole incident just feels similar to a situation where you have tons of work you need to do and then all of a sudden a relative or friend gets hurt/dies and then shit hits the fan because you feel bad and want to care, but then you also need to do a lot of work. As tragic as this incident is, it also has awful timing like what I described before, and the U.S. has more pressing issues to worry about at the moment like the fiscal cliff when compared to gun control. Though I like what Morgan Freeman said about the incident. We shouldn't care about who Adam Lanza is and not even bother remembering his name.