[Children to avoid?]

As previously stated, it really depends on your personal preference. You want that child unit? Then recruit them. You don't? Then don't bother unless you want their map for experience and items. If you feel like your army is missing something critical to its success, then a child unit can make a solid contribution.

For example, I never used Nyx as I found her too fragile to properly train, and Odin was always sub par in magic for me, so I never really used mages (even went as far as to reclass Odin to samurai). His daughter, Ophelia, for me filled a vital magic gap that had existed in my force since the beginning. She is the only child unit I actively use though. The others are just bench warmers I recruited simply because I needed the experience and items their maps provided.

[Anyone else highly disappointed in Boo Camp dlc?]

I honestly feel like going into boo camp expecting EXPonential Growth is a set up for disappointment. EXPonential was just hack away at foes so weak that even a level 1 Donnel could kill them, allowing the player (if they were willing to invest the time and gold(for new weapons)) to create a team capable of ORKOing everything in the game. Boo Camp, conversely, seems more built for Conquest players looking for a few extra points of experience along with the ability to grind supports, giving them access to the (superior) exp grinds that are the paralogues. Also, one of the main points of EXPonential was that it was the place to grind child units you wanted to use, is a bit moot now. In my current Conquest playthrough, All I needed to do to make Kana, Sigbert, Soleil and Ophelia usable was to just use their offspring seals and they instantly became engines of destruction on par with (if not better than) the rest of my team.

But to the main question. Is Boo Camp a disappointment? If you expect EXPonential Growth, yes, it is a big disappointment. If you are playing Conquest and want to grind some levels and supports, then Boo Camp is a nice, if tedious, map to play. If you are playing Revelations or Birthright, I would stick to scouting. Seems a bit more efficient, especially after the gold DLC comes out (and assuming it has more in common with the Golden Gaffe).

IS's main reason for this though is for multiplayer balance. Think about it, if Boo Camp functioned just like EXPonential, then whoever forked over the cash for the map pack or just Boo Camp would have an infinite advantage over other players. It would be paying for a cheat code.

[Scarlet (Conquest chapter 13 spoilers)]

Ever heard of a Blood Eagle?

I was just about to mention the Blood Eagle! Worst case scenario, they did that to her while ensuring that she was alive right to the very end, as opposed to expiring early on.

[Dub Wars: Japanese or English?]

They both have their perks and flaws.

Example perk of the English version: people may shit on Felicia's English voice, but I love it personally. I far prefer it to the high-pitched voice she had in the Japanese version. Niles, while he has been toned down, still sound exactly like how I thought he would. Rena Strober did an amazing job as Azura to the point where I am desperately trying to find Conquest's version of Lost in Thoughts for my music collection. Also "UGH, MY ACHING BLOOD".

Example flaw of the English version: While Marisha Ray has a lovely voice and does a great job with characters like Margret (Persona 4) and Oboro. her voice just doesn't fit Effie. Speaking of Effie, the JP!Effie is vastly superior to the English one. While I know Nyx is supposed to be an older lady trapped in the body of a 13 year old, her high pitched voice still grates my ears.

[Stornborns are disturbing ._.]

There is no official answer, but here is a little something I came up with to help explain the stoneborn, along with a bit about the faceless. Keep in mind that this not official, just my headcanon.

The stoneborn entities formed from magic and earth. Similar to faceless, they are the creations of Nohrian dark mages attempting to form new tools for both hard labor and war. Though they failed at creating a good tool (immobile, tends to attack everything around them like faceless, only capable of throwing rocks at people), they created an excellent static defender with little regard for its own safety and is easy to use (i.e create and place in narrow choke points . That they happen to look incredibly freaky and have a terrifying attack animation (first time I saw it I was very disturbed) is only a bonus as it demoralizes attackers. They are rarely found actually defending Nohrian castles or cities, rather they are normally found near mountain passes and other strategic points leading into Nohr, acting as a early warning system and first line of defense for the Kingdom. A fair number of stoneborn also exist within the Forest of the Forlorn, these stoneborn are, however, feral and will attack anything they see. The presence of the feral stoneborn, along with feral faceless, has meant that many a aspring dark mage has entered the Forest seeking to claim as many of these animated constructs for their own purposes. The vast majority never return.

[So what in fates is the most rage inducing for you (gameplay wise)]

Gameplay stuff I have a problem with? Well, I normally just criticize the story, but here we are:

Lunge is by far one of the more annoying skills in Fates. Nothing wrecks a perfect strategy more than a couple of enemy ninjas dragging my heavy hitters (usually Xander, Peri or Kamui) out of line and then gang up on them. Especially if they are dragging them into some high-level boss's sights.

Along with lunge, giving certain enemies skills that their classes wouldn't normally have is a double edged sword. Yes it does make it so the player does have to actually pay attention to their enemy's units which can enhance tactical gameplay, but it is still jarring to charge an archer only to lose a unit because that archer has counter.

I will agree that weapon xp goes up way to slowly. It makes it very difficult to effectively do any class switching, especially using those early Heart Seals changing to a class that doesn't use the weapons that your character does. Given the problems with bronze/brass weapons indicated in previous posts, this makes it even more difficult to raise these units, making multiple weapon classes like Great Knights, Weapon Masters and the like really difficult to fully utilize without a lot of grinding. And there aren't a lot of options for grinding in Conquest.

I know why there are so many enemy-only weapons. Giving the melee bosses some ultra powerful warrior or brave weapon is pointless if they don't have a ranged attack and, lets face it, many of those (javelins, hand axes, e.c.t) took a major hit in this game. That still won't stop me from getting really annoyed at all the short-bows, nagiyaris and the like running around.

I actually quite enjoyed Nohr Chapter 10. Perhaps I have just gotten really lucky the couple of times I have played it.

[What are some of your epic fail moments in fates so far?]

Forgetting that the enemy archers in the Seven-Hold Sanctuary had counter. That wiped out my entire left flank the first time I played it.

[I can already feel that this game will get the same amount of hate as Awakening did...]

(currently playing conquest)

Gameplay: In my view, I find it far superior to Awakenings. In Awakeining, I just paired units up and that was the end of it. Here, there is a fair amount of strategic planning that go into each move I make. Even on normal, Conquest is more than capable of punishing tactical mistakes. Gods help you though if you anger the RNG deities, they will make sure you never hit those 99% chances to hit and that you will get shit level ups. In the release hype thread I jokingly said that XCOM 2 and it's punishing tactical gameplay would help me prepare for this game, and I was more correct that I care to admit.

Music: I liked Awakening's ost, but the ost here is one of the best I have heard in a long time. I have even supplanted some of the music I listen to while writing with music from Fates (mainly Dark Wastes and Far Dawn), that's how good it is. I was looking forward to this game to not just play it, but listen to its music.

Characters: By the end of the first arc in Awakening, there were definitely characters I did not use simply because I despised them (I shouldn't have to make my views on Ricken and Tharja clear again, right?). Here, at least in Conquest, I have yet to recruit a character that I do not find engaging or interesting (well, besides Kamui). As for everyone else, they are pretty much one of the reasons why I chose Conquest in game terms.

Story: ...well, 3 out of 4 ain't bad right? Kudos to you if you like the story. I only have a vague idea as to how both Birthright and Revelation go, but Conquest (without spoilers) tends to rely on certain tropes and mcguffins far more than I expected it would have and it tends to both distance me from the plot and infuriate me.

To be completely honest though, story has never really been this series's high point for me. Gameplay and characters are, and this game has that in spades.

[Record Hall - Ancient Texts]

Huh, the headcanon religion that I was working on developing for the world of fates and my fanfics was more accurate than I thought...

[Least Favorite Characters?]

It's hard to believe a professional writer actually wrote Xander's character. It's almost depressing.

Hilariously enough, Shin Kibayayashi (critically acclaimed maga writer) and Yukinori Kitajima (one of the writers behind some Ace Attorney games and Professor Layton vs Ace Attorney) both worked on Fates. Proof that stunt casting applies to writing too?

[Does anyone else have a hard time choosing Nohr (conquest)?]

I think there might be a big thing that a LOT of people are missing here regarding the whole blood vs. adoption debate.

One of my friends, who is a member on this site and whom I've been hanging out with a lot recently, is adopted. So it's not like I'm unsympathetic towards adoptive families or think that blood bonds always triumph. Your family is who raised you, who cares about you, and who you love and love you back.

The problem? Kamui wasn't adopted.

This is what I think a lot of people forget. Kamui was not adopted. Kamui was kidnapped. This is NOT a situation in which blood relatives of a child willingly gave them up for adoption or flaked out on them, and the adoptive family stepped up. This is a situation in which Kamui already had a family that loved them, but Nohr attacked and killed Sumeragi then kidnapped Kamui.

Even if Kamui was happy growing up with the Nohr siblings, to say that this is blood vs. adoption is pure intellectual dishonesty because Kamui was NOT given up by their blood family to an adoptive family that truly loved them. He was kidnapped from the family that his mother married into and had their memories manipulated. Now, whether Kamui or the players want to pick Nohr despite that is your choice and I don't care what you do, but a lot of the semantics of how you guys are portraying the two sides just seems outright dishonest or false.

technically, the blood part is dishonest as well, given certain... things... the player can do.

[Does anyone else have a hard time choosing Nohr (conquest)?]

Not sure what point you two are trying to make, no one here has used the fact that the Nohrians are your adopted family as an argument against Nohr.

I think the point they are trying to counter is the idea that Kamui should return to Hoshido because they are their "true family" as opposed to the Nohrians who are the adopted (via child kidnapping services) family. There are some other threads that say that Kamui should return to their blood family because, well, blood-ties trump all in their opinion. A valid opinion, though many, including myself, disagree.

[Does anyone else have a hard time choosing Nohr (conquest)?]

The problem is, the story never allows Kamui to do that and he's locked into a constant cycle of failure and sadness. He wants to stop the war but he doesn't have a plan, and ends up contributing to the war effort instead. He wants to spare people but the villains just kill the people he spares. Why would you give me a route choice but constantly undermine my agency, making all of my goals fruitless? No wonder Kamui regrets not choosing Hoshido. It really is the superior choice.

And this is why once my life calms down a little I will likely attempt a full rewrite of Conquest. Seriously, the base work for a really good piece of medieval fantasy is here, full of political intrigue, war, love and death. Instead, the game chastises us for picking what was advertised as the more interesting option (at least to those of us who chose Conquest). It bloody well sucks, especially when they lock A) Good maps, B) unique objectives and C) interesting characters behind this wall.

[Least Favorite Characters?]

(currently in the middle of Conquest)

Oh boy, time to dish out more hate towards fictional characters. I suppose it better than hating people in real life...

Least Favorite Gameplay wise:

1. Nyx: High magic growth or not, one hit and she's down. The lack of grinding opportunities in Conquest makes getting already solid characters good extremely difficult, let alone challenging characters. Sorry Nyx. I was really interested in learning about you, but I can't grind supports when you die from a leaf touching you.
2. Azura: I have never found the dancer/bard/songstress archetype practical or interesting. While the extra move can be useful, I find that it encourages reckless behavior more than anything, its like Jet/Jump Pack units in Warhammer 40k (ironically speaking as a tau player). Combine that with her poop growths in tanking stats, she mostly sits on the bench for me.
3. Flora: Oh why o why must you join so late, and only after a specific mycastle requirement is met and after my avatar is about to fully s-support your sister? I would have preferred it to be you!
4. The Awakening Trio: I am making them work, but it is difficult after a few years of making them absolute murder machines in Awakening to go to this.

Least Favorite Story wise/In general

1. Kamui: I know Fire Emblem lords and ladies are supposed to be idealistic and incredibly naive, but Kamui I think hits the singularity for how naive and stupid they can be. Sure, Roy, Leif, Erika and the rest of them had some stupid moments, but never like this. Reform the Kingdom from within by being nice and showing mercy? While I like your ideals, you actually got to fight for them, damn it! I was expecting to actually start a rebellion at some point (post Cheve rebellion anyone?)! Not blindly follow
   the slime monster

   while moaning about how you wish you could have chosen the other side! Oi IS! I bought Conquest because I wanted to play as the bad guys and then lead a revolution! Not watch someone mope around lamenting why he didn't choose glorious nippon Hoshido. (If you haven't noticed, I am quite salty about this)

2. Azura: Oh dear, I really wanted to like you. But your reliance on shoddy planning and plot macguffins that instantly break after revealing plot critical info makes it so hard. If you know about the real threat to the known world then say something! Being mysterious for mysterious's sake is cliche and boring, not to mention aggravating.
3. Asama: From what I have seen from Birthright, he pales in comparison to Sakura as a healer and he is an ass to people who don't deserve it. Unless I see some redeeming supports for him, I will leave him to die at the hands of wyvern riders.
4. Anankos/Hydra/big-evil-god-entity®: This story didn't need this. I was sold on the human conflict from the first trailer and while I do see how it can be woven into the plot, it is completely unnecessary. Especially for Conquest/Birthright.

5. Ricken 2.0: I didn't like Ricken. One-dimensonal and under-leveled compared to my other casters at the time meant he was benched. Same goes for his expy.
6. Shara/Rajhat: Tharja was a child-abusing, spouse-abusing stalker with creepy delusions. This is the kind of person I would get a restraining order against. Her presence means that if/when I play her paralouge, if she is an enemy like Cynthia was in hers, Tharja v2.0 is dead. (nothing against Cynthia, she's just the main example that came to my head at the time)
7. Effie: Not overtly. I love her Japanese self. But they slightly tweaked her character in the localization to make her Sully and Stahl merged into the same person. She was fine as she was! And while I do like Marisha Ray as characters like Margret from persona, I just don't think her voice fits Effie well.

Ok, ranting over. Onto more productive things

[Does anyone else have a hard time choosing Nohr (conquest)?]

Nice post. I respect you for preferring Nohr but still acknowledging it's problems.

Edit:

I feel like Conquest could have been an interesting story if the game went all the way and embraced the fact that you choose the bad guys. And not have the Hoshidans forgive you for what you've done.

Thanks. To refuse to acknowledge that something has problems is to become part of the problem.

As for your edit, agreed, I feel like if they made Kamui their own character rather than the player self-insert, its possible that Conquest could have been that. While I know I, and many others, don't mind playing the bad guy (it is a welcome relief after reading book upon book, watching movie upon movie and playing game upon game from the hero's perspective) I guess IS decided that the safer route was to make Kamui a self-insert. A shame, truly.

[Does anyone else have a hard time choosing Nohr (conquest)?]

I choose conquest for many of the same reasons mentioned above (superior gamemplay, tactical depth, presence of certain Ice Tribe waifus) but I mainly chose it because I strongly value personal loyalty, more so than I do family bonds. Also, I'm very slow to give trust. A few days with your supposed "real siblings" compared to years with the people who you think are your family? Yeah, I'm choosing the latter.

As for Takumi, I really, really, REALLY (repeat ad nauseam) hate how the game tries to make him out to be the bad guy. Of all the siblings on the Hoshidoan side, he is the only one who acts like a human when Kamui turns away from Hoshido. Ryoma, Sakura, and Hinoka all hold onto the delusion that Kamui is their best sibling and that he really doesn't mean it when he is kicking them to the curb. His hatred is completely justified, and this hatred should be present among the other Hoshidoan siblings.

I don't know if anyone else has done this or if I am just a sadistic bastard, but whenever there has been an chance to fight the Hoshidoan Royals in my Conquest playthrough, I have always sent Kamui after them. By all rights, Hinoka, Ryoma and Sakura have no excuse not to hate Kamui at this point. Hinoka's life dream has been shattered by Kamui's actions, Ryoma just lost his mother and is losing his Kingdom to Nohr thanks to Kamui's actions, and Sakura, well, her line during the Choice essentially boils down to "I just wanted to love you! Why are you doing this?" right before Kamui attacks her. No one in the Hoshido Royal family should feel anything other than a sense of lost and hate at the mention of Kamui's name after chapter 6. None of them.

EDITS: Fixing spelling

[Audio Skinships in English]

did they think Effie was too boring or something so they made her all about teh gains?

I think it is because they might have changed her character during localization (can't confirm, will know within the next 24 hours). JP Effie saw herself as a dainty, normal girl, despite the fact that she A) can bench press a castle, B) can crush diamonds with her teeth and C) can consume her armor's weight in food and not only not have it go to her legs but still be hungry. The other characters balked at these Goku-like actions and she just never really understood why people freaked out like they did. Again, she thought she was a normal girl.

Conversely, NOA Effie appears to be characterized as... well... the muscle building character, and they gave her a deeper voice as such. NOA, in my opinion, did not need to do this. Effie was interesting enough in her JP incarnation. Turning her into Sully 2.0 with a mixutre of Stahl makes her kinda dull. Which is a damn shame.

[Audio Skinships in English]

Marisha Ray.

she voices Margaret in the Persona 4 series.

No wonder her voice sounded so familiar. Just got done playing both Persona 4 and Q.

It definitely doesn't fit Effie though.

[Audio Skinships in English]

While yes, Effie's VA sounds nothing like what I was expecting, I can't help but feel like I have heard that voice before. Who else does she voice (and perhaps more importantly who is the VA?)

[What are you doing next week to count down the final five days till Fates (in NA)?]

Getting my work done so my weekend is realatively clear and

dealing with these assholes. If nothing else, XCOM 2 will prep me for a harsh lunatic classic playthrough in terms of dealing with AI unfairness.

EDITS: Image was too big, so I put it in spoilers.

[Bloodline, Loyalty, or Neither?]

I wanted to pre-order the special edition, but by the time my budget allowed for that level of discretionary spending on games/miniatures the stock had run dry. As such, I just pre-ordered Conquest. I know the SE is availalbe from some retailers now, but...

J͔o̪̠̦̳͚̯̲i̳̭̱̦̦̯̠͘n͍̙͕ ͓̪̱̥͇u̦̩̜̼s̟͎͖͉͓͍,̰͎͕̤̫́ ̴̻̼̝o̢͉̜ͅr͍͇̗̟͎̹̘ ̢̫͇̺b̤̰̜̳̰e̪c̘̭͞ó͚m͍̥͉̪͉̦͡e҉̺̞͍̫̖ ̶̲̜̮͙̞͔ͅt̪̼̘̩͠h͍e̛̲m̪͖͖͝

If I had to pick, I would say either Nohr or Neutrality. There is equal pull between both A) wanting to return to the people who I was raised with, because even though they are not my blood-family, they are far more like a "family" to me than some mooks who claim to be my true family and I should fight for them because of that. B) I would be leery of the fact that my supposed father just tried to order my assassination. While I strongly doubt my siblings had any influence on its ordering, I wouldn't put it past "father" for trying something else.

Again, I would either run away with my retainers chasing after me or fall back in line with my Nohrian brethren. Nohr or Neutrality, Conquest or Revelations.

[Does anyone else get irritated by the Nohr story? *possible spoilers*]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I figured I was just jumping at shadows while I was looking at the stories, or perhaps it was my desperate attempt to make the overall stories make sense.

[Does anyone else get irritated by the Nohr story? *possible spoilers*]

For me, despite its flaws from a narrative perspective (magical crystal ball anyone?), Conquest will remain superior to Birthright for a reason that Mr. Absolute brought up; how the two royal families treat Kamui. As previously mentioned, Xander (at least in Conquest) always rushes to support Kamui, who he views to be his younger sibling despite different blood and is more than willing to sacrifice himself to save Kamui. Its not just in chapter 6 when Xander stops Ryouma after one attack, but after they return to Krakenburg, Xander pretty much tells Garon to go screw himself after Garon orders him to kill Kamui. It's not just Xander, every single Nohrian sibling is more than willing to jump in front of each other to take the bullet aimed at one of their own. This sort of loyalty to one's family, even if they are not bound by blood, is what makes the Nohrian family far and above better than the Hoshidoans in my view. Again, Xander jumped in to save Kamui after one attack, Ryouma takes his sweet time, almost if he couldn't be arsed.

Actually, let me mention something that has been bothering me about Birthright that makes Conquest look very good in comparison. For the sake of me not getting banned, the following rant is behind a spoiler tag.

Really, the feeling I get after analyzing the story (or at least the translated, non-localized version) is that the Hoshidoan siblings are using Kamui in Birthright. Think about it. They are aware that kamui isn't truly their brother, yet they treat them like they are, only revealing the true nature of their relationship after falling in love withe them (I haven't read the transcript recently so I do not know if it is revealed anywhere else). Not only does this ruin the entire premise of calling the route "Birthright" but it also forces the question "What were you truly fighting for?" In the end, the only answer I could come up with was that Kamui was harboring anger against Garon for trying to kill them (rightfully so) but was being goaded on by his supposed "family" to the point where Kamui has no problem killing and letting others kill in the name of a cause which Kamui has only been on-board with for a few weeks TOPS. Kamui in Birthright has no problem A) killing large numbers of hostile troops as opposed to Conquest where they labored to avoid killing. B) Kamui also doesn't seem to be negatively affected when people he was close to (like Elise, Xander and Flora) die, as if they are letting their rage blind them or they have been seduced by their "family's" side of the story. Finally C) Kamui should be at least partially aware of the condition of Nohr (I don't care how sheltered you are, you got to be somewhat aware of the outside world) and yet has no problem trampling all over it goaded on by his Hoshidoan "siblings" who placate any questions with halfhearted offers of support for later after Nohr has been pounded into dust. You would think that being forced to fight a land that you regarded as your home for so long and fighting people who you thought were your family would cause you to hesitate even just a bit, but nope! Not Birthright!Kamui. Again, I just get the feeling that he is being used as a pawn by Hoshido to deal with Nohr.

That's just my opinion though. Feel free to point out any flaws in my arguments.

EDIT: One of these days I will learn to spoiler tag things properly...

[Skinship is out, says kotaku (new info on page 71)]

While many people here, including myself, found the poking and prodding of non-spouse characters a bit off-putting, if this rumor, and until NOA confirms it this is a rumor, turns out to be true, I will be disappointed. Mainly because the live2d assets likely take up a fair chunk of memory and without skinship, then all those assets are good for is for the five-second confessions, and that seems like a waste. If Treehouse has removed skinship, I wonder if NOA has other features planed to replace it. Completely stripping a feature that had been advertised (at least in Japan) and not replacing it with anything for western audiences is a bit asinine.

If it has been removed, then I am saddened because I was really looking forward to hearing the voice actors squirm in the sound booth. Especially if they were going with something similar to the direct translation of certain skinship lines...

[Everyone's picked their side, but is there anyone on their preferred side that they don't like? (possible character spoilers)]

Fixed now. Thanks,