Dark Holy Elf
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Posts posted by Dark Holy Elf
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I'll figure out how to use the freeze staff... once I can get past the initial wave of enemies on the left side. I can't even have Effie or Xander tank all that! They end up dying :/
Should I split up my forces or just go down one path, retrace my steps, and go down the other?
It's been a little bit since I did the fight, so apologies if I don't remember the details. This is what I did. Other strategies of course may work:
There should be a place you can move a tank (I used Xander) to that only can be reached by something like 2-3 of the enemies, but will still bait all of them out. I think it's the upper right corner of the room on the bottom left, but don't quote me on that; I just know such a space exists. Once he has baited these enemies (all of the first 5? swordmasters/ninjas will arrive even if not all of them attack), retreat! You can judge how far you can retreat so that, once again, not all enemies can get him at once. Then, with his two rounds of countering with Siegfried, I was able to sweep through the rest with the half of my team I was using for the left side while the other team was already headed up the right.
But as mentioned, if you wish, feel free to keep your teams together and double back if necessary.
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First of all, your summary is excellent and well-written. I agree with most of it, too. And good for you for not being afraid to both say when you think the game did something right, as well as when it did something wrong.
I agree with almost all of what you wrote, to boot. Some thoughts in response / to add:
I am okay with the fact that Elise's words failed to reach Xander. It's a tragedy, certainly, but I get it. Xander's loyalty does not let him betray Garon, even with his sister's sacrifice - perhaps especially due to it. He already didn't believe he could live with himself if he betrayed his father, and now he additionally believes that he can't live with himself knowing he killed Elise. The scene after the battle (not to mention how easy the battle was, if we give gameplay any credit) suggests that Xander didn't give it his all, that he wanted to die. He realised that Corrin was right, but couldn't live with himself to let him/her by.
I do agree with your point that it would be nice if there was some direct victim of Hoshidan aggression in the plot (Elise or otherwise) but I am actually quite satisfied with this scene as it is.
I also agree that it would have been far better for the game's writing if Garon were a better person. While I don't mind that Xander is loyal to a scumbag - people do things like this in real life, especially when it's a parent sometimes - it does lose something. The final battle of Birthright just bores me because Garon, and Corrin's connection to him, falls so flat. When Corrin fought Camilla, Leo, and Xander, there was a real emotional connection to those fights. Even with Iago, who had dogged your steps and deliberately caused you misery throughout the game, it was nice to see him get his comeuppance. Garon had done nothing but be generically evil, and beating him had neither emotional resonance nor gave me any satisfaction.
Although I'm kinda used to this by now, I think a majority of FEs have main villains who are utterly uninteresting and blandly evil and they bring their games down.
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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.
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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.
Do You Like The Kids? / Your Thoughts on Them
in Fire Emblem Fates
Posted
I agree with your post, but the thing is... the bolded part doesn't have to be the case!
They already proved this, with Chrom and Sumia in Awakening. Each only had five (IIRC?) potential romantic partners. There's no reason this couldn't be extended to everyone, plus or minus a few for each character. This would naturally and inevitably lead to fewer supports being garbage, and to make up for it we could get more supports that don't fit this exact model.
The only disadvantage this has is it would become possible to lock yourself out of a kid (as you could lock yourself out of Cynthia if you married off Chrom, Robin, Henry, Gaius, and Frederick to non-Sumia people). But this isn't a problem at all, because players who plan out their pairings could still get everyone, and those of us who don't wouldn't notice the difference.