Dark Holy Elf
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Posts posted by Dark Holy Elf
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Entrap or Freeze one of the Spy Shuriken users, as mentioned. It really ruins the whole formation. If only one Spy can attack you, then as long as you are either (a) outside the range of the silver shuriken ninjas, or (b) can OHKO them with a counter (I used Trample/Axefaire Hand Axe, suitably strong bow setups might work here too), you'll then only get hit by one Poison/Grisly Wound and hopefully your tank is tanky enough to deal with any other Masters of Arms who can reach them that turn.
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I have no idea why that would be the case. Others are reporting that it works for them, so it must be a problem with Drive? Just to be clear, you did hit "Make a copy" under "File," right? I had somebody copy+pasta the calculator sheets into a new document, which wouldn't work because it would be missing all sorts of reference sheets.
Just wanted to let you know it's working fine now, so I'm not sure what happened.
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Hm, I tried copying this to my own drive but when I entered things into the pink fields (I tried "Effie" and "General" for the record, but nothing else worked either) the spreadsheet just said it was calculating and never got done. This might be an isolated incident, since I've run into random Google Docs bugs before, but letting you know anyway.
Cool work regardless. I think the big thing I would love to see out of one of these is an average stats calculator.
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Absolutely because you can rock Levin Swords and output some solid combat at 1-2 range, and +Mag even has the cool side effect of a slight boost to speed.
For bane... Skill's an option since Levin Sword can't get crits or procs anyway, though be warned it will have a big accuracy hit you'll need to patch up somehow against certain enemies, such as with a Gunter pairup or Heartseeker. Luck hurts your magic boost somewhat but otherwise isn't a bad choice especially since dragonstones make crit a non-issue, Strength is also an option if you want to rely mostly on dragonstones and levin swords. I'd avoid Res even though I normally would consider it, since you're hurting both your magic and your speed with that.
Dark Mage, Wyvern, Samurai all have some pretty useful skills/builds for a secondary class, but of course you may want to choose that to help out your spouse/children too.
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Mostly just going to second a bunch of names here.
Favourite comic relief is probably Arthur, for reasons of... well, see this entire thread. *salutes the thread*
I am also amused by Odin, Selena, Nina, Percy, Izana, and Azama.
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No, the + 5 spd is calculated against your opponents unaltered speed stat, and vice versa. This makes it legitimately possible for both attacker and defender to double in the same round of combat
Has anyone actually seen this happen? If so, what's the order of attacks? Attacker, defender, attacker, defender?
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One aspect I found weird in both Awakening and Fates is the lack of cross-generation supports. They don't even have to be romantic, but it's just strange to me that they're completely separated in that way (aside from Nah and Tiki and any avatar supports, obviously); I want to see Foleo and Oboro bond over clothes, dammit. Might as well do something new with the kids if they're going to be implemented in such a poor manner.
Definitely agreed.
I've mentioned this elsewhere but one thing that keeps me from feeling emotionally attached to the kids in both Fates and Awakening (with the exception of Lucina) is that it sometimes feels like they exist in a separate continuity. They don't exist in the main plot, joining in a scattershot of optional maps which can occur at any time. They don't interact with the vast majority of other characters in the main plot: just their parents (and one of those is in the form of a generic support), the avatar, and in Awakening's case, Lucina. (Exceptions also noted for Tiki/Nah, for instance, yeah.) I really don't like this effect, and it really keeps any of the kids from feeling like fully three-dimensional characters, even the ones with relatively better writing.
Of course I think IntSys generally needs to revamp how they give out supports, instead of obsessing with everyone from group X supporting group Y for various X and Y. I want more cross-gen supports, more same-sex supports, and far more supports for characters like Say'ri or Scarlet who randomly get shafted, and less supports between two characters the writers couldn't think of anything good for but were obligated to write because of a checklist.
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Voted kitsune, the reason being design. I love the sleek fox design, whereas the wolfskin looks... bulky and ungainly? I loved the designs of transformed Volug and Nailah, too, so Fates' wolf attempt is very disappointing to me.
I also probably like Kaden and Selkie as characters better than Keaton (didn't get Velouria), though the gap isn't huge for me.
Gameplaywise they're similar enough, both having solid overall stats (including derived ones like hit/avo/crit/dodge) but 6 move + 1 range + no tricks besides a slight shuffling of their stats is kind of a downer. Wolfskin's probably better in that regard overall, though, the defence difference is substantial.
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Only bias one was toward Flora (I gave her a B I think. I just use her in a way they makes her good). I love Oboro as a character but she's also an AMAZING unit imo so...
Really? I like Oboro too, but I have a hard time hyping her as a unit. I mean, she joins after Hinoka and has worse base stats almost across the board, plus I'd certainly argue that Sky Knight is a better class than Spear Fighter (but hey, if you disagree, guess what Hinoka's Heart Seal option is...). I mean this doesn't even mean Oboro isn't worth using, just that she isn't top-tier.
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I haen't gotten all the kids yet (I only bother getting the kids of first-gen characters I actualy use in any given playthrough FE13-14). So far, of the kids I have gotten, Dwyer has felt the most underwhelming. Most of the kids tend to average slightly better than their father is at the same level, plus a skill from their mom. (Obviously some kids don't replicate some of their dads' special perks, such as Raijinto, and are worse anyway.) Dwyer... fits this! But unfortunately he joins at a point of the game where Jakob has become underwhelming anyway, so I don't really need another healer. I should also mention that Selkie didn't really seem to eclipse her father at much, and they fight over some beaststones, too, which is a shame because Selkie amuses me.
Otherwise, I have to mention Shigure, for the same reason as I would have mentioned Inigo in the previous game: getting dancers lots of support ranks is annoying. Dancing/singing really should have given more support points than it does IMO... though I'm not sure how much that would have fixed the problem, because I don't want to glue my dancer to one person... the whole tactical point of a dancer is to refresh whoever needs it most for the current situation! I haven't actually looked at his stats yet but unless they're insanely high, he's not going to be worth it to me. -
I can confirm that Iago doesn't have a cut-in or critical quote, he got a crit (fortunately against my Dual Guard) when I fought him in Conquest, and I also saw him activate Vengeance in Birthright.
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who even cares which side has better characters (though it's Hoshido) because the CGs should be even
The CGs should be of whoever the devs feel like. There are reasonable arguments for just taking the top X characters, or the top Y characters of each route... or ignoring all poll results and putting in literally anyone they want. They are bonus content and they are under no obligation to be "fair" with it, any more than Smash had an obligation to put in as many Donkey Kong characters as it has Fire Emblem characters. If you don't like the content, you're entitled not to download it. Be happy for any characters you like that do make it.
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Oh good, I was thinking about this thread as I was nearing the end of Birthright.
While the Conquest list looks pretty good overall, the Birthright list has some major things I disagree with. Reina is so low it's crazy. It feels like there's a definite anti-Corrinsexual bias (Scarlet's also too low; she's a pretty easy S). -
Nina having two right feet is funny. With Corrin I assumed they dun goofed (hence the correction), but this feels like a deliberate reference. Great to see Nina regardless, she's one of my favourite kids.
I'm a bit surprised they passed over Selkie if she's apparently popular and Hoshido could have used another kid, but it's not really the type of thing I'm going to be upset about, even as someone who likes Selkie more than Midori, for instance. The devs can make their own choices, I'm just happy for any optional artwork of this sort we get. It's sure a lot more than we got for FEs in the old days! Especially Sacred Stones where it took how many years for them to even release official art of the supporting cast?Strange, they're over-exposed but lack depth. It's actually pretty amazing.
It's crazy that you actually believe that, it really shows your anti-Nohr bias IMO. The Nohr royals have some of the most depth of anyone in this cast (even if you don't like them), and the fanbase has reacted appropriately. Even on Birthright they're some of the better characters, so I'm not surprised they consistently do so well on the character polls both at Serenes and elsewhere. But by all means keep sticking your head in the sand and making snarky jokes about people only liking them because of their looks; it's probably easier than actually honestly talking with people to understand why they like these characters, even if you end up disagreeing.
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Before I played the game I was expecting to like Sakura more. I really dig her shrine maiden design, whereas Elise looks implausibly young/short (someone needs to tell IntSys that most women are generally done the majority of their vertical growing by age 12-13) and the hair is goofy.
But I like Elise's role in the plot. I like that in a family of people who are messed up by concubine wars, their father going evil, and the pressures of serving him, that she's this innocent figure whom they use as inspiration. I also like that she has some fire to her, some energy. I did not like Mist or Lissa, as I felt they were weak-willed characters permanently in the shadow of their older brothers, whom the game tended to only remember existed when they had some magical girl power with a medallion (or not at all, in Lissa's case). Elise has this infectious passion and you can just tell that she's gonna go out and seize the world by the horns as she gets older, whereas Mist... is still uselessly damselly three years after her introduction, in Radiant Dawn.I'll wait to finish Birthright before weighing in on Sakura. So far she's definitely behind, though.
Also in a game where Bows and Tomes run rampant, Flyers might not live long when they can get crit-killed in one shot so both of them might not enjoy being aerial-flyers for long.
This isn't true at all.
Gonna talk about Conquest here since that's the one I know (and relevant to Elise, at least). Every single map in Conquest either has no bows (e.g. 17, 19, 21, 26), has a bow-free half of the map where you can send the fliers (e.g. 11, 16, 18, 22, 25), or makes flight extremely valuable despite bows (e.g. 14, 20, 23, 24). There isn't a single map where I ever said "gosh, if only I had less fliers". 23 would be the best case if you're set on routing the enemy for Exp, but being able to use the fliers to ferry people across the eastern canyon lets you skip half the map is extremely useful in my mind.
As for tomes, there's no wind tome in this game to worry about (except Excalibur on a single, immobile boss?), and both younger sisters have good res. -
To be fair, Takumi was a jerk to Azura from what little interaction we've seen. (He throws her Nohrian heritage in her face even before Mikoto dies, which suggests it's something he'd done often.) He'd also been behaving like a maniac and become their enemy, and Azura had plenty of time to steel herself to the idea that he might perish fighting them. As someone who played Conquest first, I certainly didn't mourn him and, I wouldn't expect the characters to either.
Azura, notably, did mourn when Ryoma died.
But I do agree that I'd have liked to see more reflection in general. It feels like most of the character work in Fates has to either be inferred, or is in supports. -
I like some of the kids as characters (especially Percy, Nina), though generally my favourites are in the first gen, because, well, the kids feel non-canon to be honest. I feel this way about the non-Lucina Awakening kids too.
The plot reason for their implementation is so garbage I'm not even mad, it's hilarious. "Let's raise our kids in an alternate dimension where we'll miss almost all of their development. Oh and I guess pregnancy isn't a thing in this world, babies just get delivered by a stork."
I would rather kids did not return because I don't really like what they do to the game, buuuut I know there are some people who just love the mechanic, so it probably will. That's unambiguously why it's back in Fates, after all, a game whose plot has no reason for them to exist. But you know what? If it truly would risk sales to remove them, they can stay. I'm happy to put up with some contrived explanations if that's the price I need to pay to get FE to continue to sell into the millions and guarantee a healthy series for years to come, especially if they can make more gameplay experiences as amazing as Conquest.
So I'm mixed.
Also, ideas:
-If the kids do come back, I'd love to see something more like FE4, without the whole "first generation dies" thing because repeating that would be tacky (and to be honest the first time was tacky enough for me, though I know some disagree). I think it would be so cool to have the first gen return in their 30's/40's/50's in the second half of the game, I could play as an army of older badasses and their kids. As I myself get older in years this is increasingly appealing.
-Seriously IntSys, if you can grow babies in an alternate dimension and pretend pregnancy isn't a thing, you can let gay characters have kids. Hopefully next time! -
And Seth would then go on to completely break the game. Gameplay and Story Segregation, or is Seth even more god-like than we thought?
To be fair, if Valter had his stats from his boss fight there, he would have one-rounded Seth. The fact that Seth got away with just a permanent wound thus strikes me as very fair. We can assume his desire to protect Eirika gave him the power to avoid being doubled!... or Valter was holding back to savour the hunt.
Valter just wasn't counting on Seth levelling up and actually having decent growths!
And yeah I completely agree with the Valter comments. Excellent post.
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Best memories:
-That music in Chapter 10. Great stuff.
-Gangrel, Walhart, and Grima were all fun boss fights
-Finally beating Chapter 2 on Lunatic. I had more trouble with that than any other map in the game, so beating it was a great feeling.
Worst memories:
-Losing a character to reinforcements who appeared in a place I wasn't expecting and acted immediately, especially in Chapter 21
-When I realised there was no reason not to pair up virtually all the time-An enemy attacking me on the enemy phase, I strike them back and kill myself on Counter. OH COME ON.
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Honestly shapeshifters feel like one of those ideas they've kept around since Tellius but haven't really bothered to integrate into the setting properly since. I am okay with them but they do feel like tacked-on fantasy racea with little meaningful interaction with the setting.
Regarding the rewrite, I certainly think replacing a generic with Keaton's daughter adds to the gravity of the scene and makes Keaton's rage more visceral, which is a good change. Although part of me is happier treating the kids in this game as non-canon as possible.
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I'm nearly certain that's a typo and that it should be Attack+1, Hit+10.
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I usually stay with the page so I can quote a particular post multiple times, and then address points brought up in other posts in a different post/on the next page OR, if the notification comes about new posts, just expand those so I can keep up. (I have to admit, it's a little draining.
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I mean, I guess the problem here is that for me, being an interesting character alone doesn't make them likable.
I will politely disagree, then. I don't really care if a character is particularly interesting (and I feel that I probably have a much more lenient definition of interesting) as long as they have some likable traits.
To the first: thanks!
And... yeah, that's totally fair, and explains much. I don't really care that much whether a character is likable. With antagonists, this is almost a given, some are very unlikable but they can still be interesting/good characters.
Bolded 1: Can you list these positive examples of protagonists who lack agency? I'd like to know what you consider to be a well written character,
Sure thing. Spoilers noted because yeaaah.
You'll note I didn't say protagonists in my own post. I don't really think that protagonists should be held to different standards from either major, non-villain characters in this case? Regardless, the three examples I'll cite (I could come up with more) are all either a protagonist, or a point of view character the player/reader is supposed to sympathise with, even if not the main.
Valkyrie Profile's protagonist:
Lenneth Valkyrie is a loyal servant of Odin and Freya. She spends the vast majority of the game doing exactly what they want of her, collecting einherjar and artifacts to help out the war effort in Asgard. If you follow the game's main plot, she will lead the war effort in against Surt. You, as the player, infer from Surt's dialog at the end that Surt might actually be the one in the right in the war, but you never really stopped to question this. The End.
Alternatively, you satisfy a bunch of semi-obtuse requirements to make Lenneth regain her memories from her time as a mortal and fall in love with someone she knew then, although as a result of other events in the plot, this man (Lucian) will die. Lenneth only shows agency at the very end of the game when she finally refuses to follow Freya's orders and seeks out Lucian's murderer, Loki, who is the game's actual villain, killing him to avenge Lucian and save the world.
She is an intriguing character partly because of her reactions to the various einherjar she meets, as someone who has lost all mortal emotion grappling with the themes of death and love her einherjar deal with, forshadowing the effects of such things on her when she finally wakes to them. However, she shows only very little agency at any point in the game, and none at all on one of the game's routes.
Liveship traders, supporting PoV character:
Serilla is an advisor to the Satrap (king), a young man who is indolent and selfish, advising her about Bingtown, a territory under his control. She tries to be a good advisor despite the fact that he does not respect her and has no interest in her besides wanting to sleep with her. While they are on route to a diplomatic trip to Bingtown, he threatens to give her to a thuggish captain of the ship on which they are travelling if she does not sleep with him; she refuses, thinking it a bluff. It isn't.
Eventually, she is returned to the Satrap who is sick. The two of them arrive in Bingtown and Serilla attempts to act as a mediator for the city which is currently in political upheaval. Although she wants what is best for the city, she becomes a pawn to the political faction she finds herself allied with (which turns out to be rather unsavoury), and memories of her abuse leave her too scared to contradict them and assert herself, which causes the poltiical problems for a time to get worse. With the help of one of the other major characters, she does eventually manage to free herself, but before then she causes a lot of problems because she isn't able to stand up to then.
She shows some agency at points, certainly, but her lack of proactiveness at certain points is key to the plot and a big part of her character. She is interesting because she shows one way that good people can be manipulated by less moral, but assertive, thugs.
Final Fantasy XIII point of view character:
Hope Estheim is a teenager on a prison train to be exiled to the extremely dangerous land of Pulse, a death sentence. A breakout on the train occurs, led by a man named Snow. He hands out firearms to any other prisoners willing to fight. Hope's mother agrees to take one to protect her son, and in the resulting fight, she is killed.
Hope is emotionally destroyed by this, of course. Circumstances then cause him to be isolated with Snow and the other party members, on the run from government. Hope loathes Snow, blaming him for his mother's death, but every time he tries to confront Snow about it, he loses his nerve. Snow, meanwhile, unaware of the hatred Hope bears him (or even that it was his mother who died), is often playful and joking with the boy, which only stakes his hatred more. There's one memorably awful moment when Snow tells hope that "The army is no match for NORA!" NORA is the name of Snow's little rebel group... but also the name of Hope's mother.
Eventually, consumed with despair and hatred over the awful situation he is in - bereft of his mother, on the run from society, and doomed to die from a magical curse - Hope eventually resolves to kill Snow. This is the first act of real agency Hope shows, and it's an awful one! He fails, and eventually thanks to some selfless acts from Snow, is able to forgive him.
Again, there is some agency shown at points, but his lack of agency at key moments is core to his character and what makes him interesting. He serves as a lesson for how one can build up another man's evil in one's mind even when it is unjustified, and that not finding a productive outlet for these emotions can be damaging.
Incidentally, the FFXIII character is quite reviled by some people, precisely because he is a murderous coward! (He's certainly the worst of the three I cited as a moral being.)
Also incidentally I think that VP and FFXIII both have some writing problems (like the majority of video games), although I think these particular character arcs are well-done (better than Corrin's, if that's not clear!). Liveship Traders is pretty straight-up excellent though, highly recommended.
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Strange, many times I've been thinking the opposites. I know I give this game a hard time, but I consider some supports in Fates to be better than the best ones in Awakening. However, I often feel like the family supports are essentially "by the way, child, as your father/mother, you should X, and I will always be there for you because I'm your father/mother".
I feel the same way, though disclaimer that I haven't read too many yet since I've only read the ones I've gotten in-game rather than seeking more out here on Serenes. So there could certainly be some good ones I'm missing.
I also felt the father/child interactions in recruitment chapters had far too much "waaah you left me in the Deeprealms you jerk". Which... well, is true (Fates parents, you are bad at this; please just wait for the war to be over before raising your kids thx), but it gets a bit repetitive.
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Oh man, I have no idea how to do proper quotes from multiple sources on this forum, it keeps screwing up my browser. Sorry.
Yeah, you've definitely not read the thread.
Using Ike as an example to show Corrin's flaws =/= wanting Corrin to be an exact copy of Ike.
And apparently, you haven't read my previous post, or you're just rude. Please do not accuse me of not reading this thread again. It is insulting.
Here are three examples you yourself have used saying you wanted Corrin to be like Ike:
"I often imagine what Ike(for example) would have done in that situation. And then i realize Kamui is a little bitch."
"Huh, I wonder why Ike even bothered fighting back against Ashnard. What can he and his little mercenary gang do against a man who controls an entire army right?" (in response to someone explaining that Corrin didn't lead a rebellion against Garon because her odds of success would be poor and she would die)"
"Again, details. Just don't let Corrin be a coward. Should Ike have handed over Elincia when his fort was surrounded by Daein? He and his mercenaries would have died if it wasn't for being rescued by the laguz. That's what i want from Corrin, fight or die."You may not want Corrin to be an "exact copy" of Ike but you certainly want her to copy some key personality traits, namely his bravery, unwillingness to compromise his morals, and never-say-die attitude. To you, it makes Corrin a bad character that she not share those. To me, it does not, and in fact I prefer that she doesn't.
(I also find it amusing that the only character in Path of Radiance I think is actually a good character, Soren, did in fact want to surrender Elincia in that circumstance. I think this reveals much about our divergent tastes in characters.)
I would agree with you. But given that they have no actual relationship, Garon being his father is never portrayed as the reason he doesn't rebel, and Hoshido Corrin has no problem betraying him without a second thought, I have to disagree.
Oh, I don't think Corrin has that much loyalty to Garon, specifically, although it's pretty clear at the start of the game she wants to impress him. She really wants things to work out with him (wouldn't you?), but yeah it's stupid, wishful thinking. Hell, she does the same thing with Mikoto whom she has even less of a relationship with (though obviously Mikoto is a better human); I'd say she craves a parental figure rather badly! However, I think ultimately the real reason that she doesn't rebel has a lot more to do with her siblings, especially Xander. Corrin knows exactly how Xander would respond to betrayal of Garon (and in fact, how he does respond, in both routes! Only a threat in Conquest, of course, but...) and Corrin can't deal with that, so she tries to please her dad as best she can and minimize harm until she can reveal him as a slime monster. She sacrifices innocent Hoshidans so that she can maintain a happy relationship with her family. I write this fully realising that a number of people will read this saying "and that's why Corrin sucks", but for me that's what makes her interesting.
Wanting your protagonist to be proactive =/= wanting them to be perfect.
That's fair. Personally, I'd rather have an non-proactive one than a perfect one (if that's the choice), because the former is more unusual and, IMO, more interesting. If Corrin is "good" (certainly she has a bunch of traits we'd associate with good people) but doing bad things, it's interesting to ask why. I found nothing interesting about how most previous FE mains behaved, with only a few exceptions. You're free to disagree.
I'm obviously fine with having an interesting, flawed, but more proactive main character, too! However, some flaws (or other character traits) require a character be less proactive. I can think of excellent characters (from things much better-written than FE) who aren't very proactive at all, for instance either because they are overly loyal, or they are abuse victims, for instance.
I apologize if I seemed rude or dismissive; a lot of people simply ignore arguments we've gone over multiple times. When you said that you prefer interesting situations, I just assumed you thought that we who dislike Corrin more than most simply wanted big damn heroes, which simply isn't true for most of us. Execution is everything; I'd be completely fine with Conquest Corrin being a self-centered bastard if that's how the narrative decided to treat them.
However, I think it's going too far to call me aggressive towards people who like Conquest; everyone's free to enjoy whatever they want, and I've always said that. When and how have I been going after people for liking Conquest? I get upset if someone ignores arguments in a discussion, but that's another matter entirely.
Corrin is very boring in Birthright as well. I find very little reedming with the character in general, aside from the interesting premise.I definitely agree that it isn't true for all of you, yes. People dislike Corrin for different reasons (some I agree with, some I don't). It wasn't my intention to paint everyone with the same brush. When I attacked the arguments of people who wanted Corrin to be more like Ike (or in general, wanted her to be more heroic, the implication being that's how we should judge protagonists), I was referring only to people who fit that description. This is the second time today that someone has assumed I was responding to them when I wasn't so I apparently should try to be more careful about phrasing my replies. Sorry about that.
In regards to your question in your second paragraph, I think you have come across as aggressive on subjects related to Conquest's writing in several threads that I've read here, but I'm not sure if this thread is the place to cite the reasons I feel that way. If you're really curious where I got that impression you can PM me.
Winged Shield or Bow Breaker?
in Fire Emblem Fates
Posted
If both are allowed/available, Winged Shield feels clearly better. Some archer-type enemies are extremely accurate so +50 evade isn't really good enough, especially since Falcon Knights typically have WTD to arrows and Wyverns aren't that evasive. And being able to sit on terrain (which fliers reach so easily for a variety of reasons) and get their bonuses is a nice extra perk.
That's a pretty big "if", though.