Life

It's not about struggling with the chapter; it's about grabbing both chests and saving all of the civilians in time. If I recall correctly, you only have 4 turns to save the bottom lefthand citizen without considering that the northern ones die in 3 turns. If you managed to do it without Stride, well done.

It's more if Brown is barred from playing this week or not. If he is barred, then what is stopping me from organizing a campaign against a QB right before the Superbowl? #MeToo, remember? Or do we now suddenly say "hold up, let's wait for evidence"?

DK moves in Chapter 8 on Hard Mode too and he blocks the southern chest upon spawn. Aside from using a flier with a Chest Key (or Wyvern Rider!Ashe), I think the Horseslayer in that chapter is pretty much forfeit on Maddening at this point. It's just a Horseslayer anyway.

What bothers me about this case (as opposed to Ray Rice or Kareem Hunt) is that Brown was oddly specific in his denial but the accusation is only backed up by two texts from Brown. The other two cases have video/audio evidence. I'm worried that if Brown gets suspended and then turns out to be entirely innocent that people might use sexual assault as a method to sabotage another team before a big game. Imagine if someone accused Brady of sexual assault right before the Superbowl? What do you do? Does he play? Does the league attempt to stay consistant in their approach to these claims? This could be terrifying for the future of the league.

Yeah, we should get some brownie points for at least attempting to make peace. Even if it's kinda half-hearted at times.

Why would it look awkward for the Pats? Brown was a Steeler at the time. Pittsburgh would have more questions to answer.

Yeah, I'd say so. I mean, ideals and morality tend to go out the window when war approaches. Let me give a personal example (and this would be exactly what I mean when I say that I don't care much for Western morality when it comes to dealing with other nation-states). In 2012, Operation Pillar of Fire happened where my unit and the entire army sat on the border of Gaza ready to invade while my home (I mean this in a literal sense due to living in Be'er Sheva at the time) caught a serious case of metal rain. Hell, when I came back, my local shopping mall had a giant hole in the ceiling from a rocket that had hit it. Right before we are supposed go in, my officer comes up to us and tells us a few things in complete seriousness: 1) The Geneva Convention pamphet that is required by the UN for every soldier to hold isn't worth the paper that it was printed on. If we have it on us, we should tear it up. 2) If any of us are going to be captured by Hamas, shoot the soldier, even if it is our officer. Better that Hamas has a dead body than a live man. 3) Shoot anything without a helmet. Period. It's important to understand that these words were coming from a man who (and I really don't exaggerate when I say this) could effectively order me to my death and I would go because I knew that he would be right beside me until the end. This is a man that I (and the rest of my friends) respect and revere even to this day. All three of these things go against Western morality principles... because it doesn't account for the realities of war where ordinary men become monsters of necessity. So when I say "might makes right", it means that war is the ultimate argument solver. Positions of "we deserve this because we were here first" (this applies to us too) don't matter if you cannot hold onto the land in the first place. Had Israel lost any of its wars, it would be subject to the same position (we couldn't hold onto what we had captured, therefore it's not ours and shouldn't be ours unless the owner willingly parts with it). This doesn't mean that I enjoy war. I hate it because I've seen it first hand. But I don't put ideology before reality (which is kinda funny because I caused issues during my service twice about refusing to enter the Lehi museum on uniform on the basis that Lehi were Jewish terrorists that intentionally targeted Arab communities in the dead of night rather than soldiers with the civilians being caught in the crossfire).

I cannot like this comment hard enough. Fury's name change nearly made me rage.

I do not care, I am going to use old translations.

It's a bait and we always fall for it. I'm liking the hot takes where everyone suddenly has to scale back their position on the Browns. 18 penalties is inexcusable.

Wendy is still Wendy, Oujay stays the same and why Jarrot instead of Zealot drives me nuts.

Funds tends to be the easiest ranking out of the main three (Exp, Tactics and Funds) because of the Silver Card's existence. Every time you buy an item with the Silver Card, you pay half price for it in hard gold but the full value of the item is added to your Funds count. So if you were to buy a Fell Contract with the Silver Card, you will spend 25K gold on it but the value in your convoy is worth 50K or double in true effect. Ironically, this is actually means that if you empty your pockets entirely with the Silver Card, you actually end up with double the value of every item you paid for, trivializing the Funds rank. I find that it's always Exp that breaks me rather than Funds due to this manipulation. As for why your ranking dropped, it's pure math. Clearly you were about 10k over the rank at the time and the promotion plus a few item uses just put you under. It's no need to worry. If Exp ever drops to 4 stars, that's the one that you need to start worrying about.

What does Roy do then? If Lilina becomes the Seize Lord (don't get me wrong, I actually kinda like this idea), what is Roy's purpose until he gets the Binding Blade? He still has 5 Move and terrible bases along with stat caps that hold him back until the end of the game. OK, let's assume that Roy at 20/0 is the beastiest Roy we can have (and by that, I mean average stats). What am I doing with a Lord who must be fielded every map with 13 Str and 15 Spd until the end of the game? For comparison, Rutgar joins in Chapter 4, has 9 Str and 15 Spd at base and can also promote into a death machine without an arbitrary chapter requirement (picking up 1 Move in the process, mind you). It's a good idea... but it doesn't address Roy's real issues of bad bases, 5 Move and a very late promotion. That's what needs to change. As an aside, when did everyone start calling Wendy Gwendolyn? I legit got confused the first time I saw this.

You're funny. I literally mean it at the opposite of "philistines" or "barbarians", especially since I would use both those words to accurate describe both my country and the nation-states that surround us (and have already done so). Any other quick-witted barbs?

Man, the Bills were down 16-0 during the 3rd to the Jets. Then they started the comeback. And do you want to know what I was thinking right up until Allen hit John Brown with one of the best throws of his life? "Allen will throw an INT because I've seen this script before many times and it doesn't involve happiness for Buffalo." And I still watched it. Outside while waiting for pizza, in fact. My point is this. You only get to question your faith in your team when they are BAD for a long time. I sat through 17 straight years of no postseason. You don't get to complain until it's 5 years straight. Otherwise, it comes off as insulting to fans of franchises that have actually suffered heartbreak. For the record, you can complain about what the Steelers are doing wrong. What you can't do is start asking "why do I support a team that doesn't play well" when that franchise has had decades of organizational stability. It means that you are spoiled by the success of DECADES and I wouldn't want you to be a bandwagon Bills fan if we became good and the Steelers went to the trash heap.

How about, like, everywhere in the Middle East? That is generally the thought process here and we are effectively barbarians (the "we" is everyone in the region with us Israelis being only slightly more civilized than our neighbours but not much). Western bourgeoises don't apply here and that is what you sound like, mate.

I feel bad for the Dolphins (weird to say that as a Bills fan). That was how our Week 1 went last year.

Here we go, boys! Number #1 defense in the league incoming this season. A Top 15 offense would also be great, mind you. And now I'm screaming at the TV. WE WERE IN FIELD GOAL RANGE! YOU DON'T TAKE A TAUNTING PENALTY. 4 turnovers in the first half. This is starting to become a tradition in Buffalo and I don't like it. At least we're only down 0-6 at half. 1-0! A win is a win!

So I bought a physical copy of this game and I was wondering how to access DLC if it's possible. Region listed is UK even though I bought the system and game here in Israel. EDIT: I should clear something up. I just want to make sure that Lunatic comes out that I don't have to pay extra for it.

How excellent the sound track is the farther you go into this game. Beyond Heaven and Earth is one of my favourite video game tracks as of now.

So I recruited 4 on my first playthrough (BL): Dorthea, Hilda, Caspar and Ignatz. Dorthea went Dancer and out of the other three, Ignatz is actually the most salvagable thanks to B Bow and B Sword as a Chapter 11 recruit. He doesn't need Hit +20 from Archer so he can get Deathblow while pushing for A Bow and Sniper. Both Caspar and Hilda are both liabilities but Hilda does at least have Freikugal to kill something that looks at her funny. She just doesn't survive the enemy phase. Caspar is simply bad but that might be because he never got fielded and the rest of my army are gods.

Sure, my Ashe is really great right now but run the numbers. The argument for Leonie is that she is a statistical god with solid proficiencies. That is Ashe in a nutshell but he trades some bulk for sheer utility. Count up the numbers of doors and chests that exist in Part 1 alone and suddenly a free Thief that has offense and an incoming wyvern is far more useful than more durability. If Ashe can save you a total of 10 keys in Part 1, thats two full Relic repairs of money. You can spam earlygame relics. How does spammable Freikugal sound? Nobody else can do that without reclassing to Thief or Assassin. Edit: Regarding his hidden talent, that's in lances. The ability is crap but it does now give him a route to C Lances (for Wyvern Lord promotion) thanks to +2 after unlocking it. As long as Ashe focuses on Flying from when you recruit him, Ashe is budget Claude with far more utility. I don't think that this can be understated.

I'm going to make the argument for Ashe to be recruited no matter what. Let's go step by step. Recruitment: B Support or 15 Charm and C Lance. On my first run, I never recruited anyone by way of B Support but C Lances is a prerequisite for Wyvern Lord!Byleth which means that training Lance rank actually doesn't go to waste. And since Leonie is the other recruit who requires C Lances, this is probably the one weapon rank that gives you the most bang for your buck in recruits, especially if you are playing BE (the other is Faith for Annette and Lysithea but Lysithea is an auto-recruit regardless). 15 Charm is an easy breakpoint with starting points of 7/45 for Byleth (50 growth rate at level 5). I cannot see a negative to pushing immediately for an Ashe recruit and it also secures Leonie. Lockpick: I don't think that this should be underestimated. First off, this skill saves you 300G per use and that money adds up over time. In addition, I never have to run a Thief or Assassin ever and that lets me make everyone (including my thief) into Deathblow wielding juggernauts. And lastly, I don't have to do convey shenanigans in map if I want to pick up multiple chests. That, just by itself, saves turns because Ashe can just race for the chests without caring that he doesn't have chest keys on himself. Proficiencies: Hidden talent in Lances, up in Axes and Bows, down in Reason. Wyvern Rider only needs a C in Flying but it needs a B in Axes. Great, Ashe is now budget Claude by being naturally good at bows but also having help in 2 out of the three skills needed for Wyvern Rider. Stats and Classes: Ashe's one major flaw is durability. 35/20 HP/Def are bad growth rates. However, his offensive power is perfect for what you need (a fast, airborne, reliable delete button on the way to chests) and those great proficiences help him out with good classes until Wyverns are available at Level 20. Brigand is Deathblow and Archer is Hit +20 (a shockingly good skill thanks to the RN in this game) while helping Ashe get to Close Counter quickly. During his Brigand years, Ashe is now working with 65 HP growth (no Def change) but he also now has 45/55/50 Str, Dex and Spd growths. That's incredibly good on a unit whose personal skill is entirely utility based and gains no additional damage bonuses. Ashe will not miss, he'll reliably double everything even with Axes and have more than enough Atk to eliminate everything in one round (or at least he does this on Hard Mode from very early on). Outside of the Lords and probably Felix, who has offense this reliable in all three categories in the BL? Ingrid has Str issues because she went Peg Knight and stayed at 35 Str growth (along with no talent in Axes). Sylvain is looking down the barrel of 60 Hit on enemies. Annette can only survive one round of combat. Dedue is unrecruitable. Ashe's only weakness is his defense and he covers for it with Flying Canto and good enough growths. Others: 5 Range Combat Arte on a 7 Move Unit who excels at Accuracy sounds really good. Yeah, Ashe also gets Deadeye. Focused Strike is +30 Hit for 3 uses so that might also be useful. All in all, Ashe is the perfect thief who accidentially also became an offensive monster when nobody was looking. This is a "what if Matthew actually had reliable respectable offense" moment. I really cannot think of any student (especially from the BL including Felix who only brings offense to the table) that adds so much value to your team in so many different ways. tl;dr Ashe for High Tier (not broken, just a really solid unit no matter what).

I'm past the timeskip on BL so I'll give my impressions of my units to date: Byleth: What can't the avatar do in these games? Amazing offense from the start, 1~2 range Prf weapon and overall solid unit. Currently has shit weapon ranks (I had to push irrelevant weapon ranks to recruit Caspar/Hilda/Dorthea/Ignatz) but that will probably changed. Went Thief for the majority of earlygame since Thief is a great filler class for stats and my Axe rank wasn't high enough for Brigand. Dimitri: A mounted death god in Part 1. At some point, Paladin Dimitri started OHKOing enemies with a Killer Lance... without the critical. He's tanky on a horse, has solid stats and a badass eyepatch. Dedue: Periodically, I'll check through everyone's stats and get back to Dedue. Then I laugh and say "you're still stupid" before throwing him into the middle of an army solo. I've never been a fan of Armour Knights. But when Ch12 Edelgard does 1 damage to you while you hit like a Mack truck, I tend to change my mind. Speed is shit, Movement is crap but it's all remedied with Stride and an 8 Mov Dancer (more on that later). Sylvain: Dimitri light. His acc leaves something to be desired but Ruined Sky is really excellent and having it from Ch6 onwards means that I can just remove an entire HP bar from a monster whenever I want. And it comes from the back of a horse. Felix: I actually prefer Felix as an Assassin (such a great class to train weapon ranks) but the single best thing about Felix is the Aegis Shield. That thing allowed Felix to tank Ch12's Death Knight, even with 6 Wgt. Aside from that, excellent earlygame and impressive midgame. Ingrid: Flying utility. Luin. She could be shit everywhere else and she'd still be excellent because +25 Hit is so much more valuable tha +5 Att and +10 Crit on a Relic (I'm looking at you, Sylvain). Ashe: Ashe is the sole reason for why Wyverns are broken beyond belief in this game. I made a topic when I first got this game about whether IS realized a few of their balance errors over the years. And I think that I can safely say that the Wyvern bit is probably IS apologizing for killing off Cuin and Ethlin with Trabant all those years around. Why does Ashe make an excellent Wyvern? Well, turning him into Budget Claude with Lockpick is better than just "another Wyvern" on sheer utility. His offense is absurd because he doubles everything at range (with incredibly solid Att), can fly, can pick locks (this is not to be underrated, it opens up a lot of inventory space), has 7 Move and 5 Range with Deadeye. He has some durability issues but since he's a Wyvern, he'll outgrow low HP and Def really quickly (65 HP, 30 Def growth rates are acceptable especially when it's paired with 50 Spd at base). Meanwhile, the sheer utility he has is probably unmatched by any other unit I could make a flier. That is my argument for why Ashe is the best Wyvern in the game. Also, Ch13 sealed it for me. Mercedes: Physic bot and nothing much more. Healers are still valuable, no matter what. Mediocre offense but not her role. Annette: I'm really split on Annette. Her offense is absurd because she'll OHKO everything that comes close and just in case it isn't dead yet, she'll hit it again with something like base 50 Att with Wind. But she has 4 Move and unlike Dedue, cannot take an axe to the face. Not sure what to think yet but I'm still waiting for her Prf Axe because then I want to mess around a bit. Dancer: I recruited Dorthea for this role and with the March Ring and a Shoes Of The Wind, my Dancer has 8 Move and can reasonably defend herself. I'm never using +Mov items on any other unit ever again. An 8 Move Dancer actually makes 5 Move Brick Shithouse Dedue actually stay in the frontlines. Ashe can traverse big maps in a single turn. Annette can actually catch up with the team... due to Dorthea being able to be 8 tiles back and still in Dance range. If I were to do a "Best FE unit of all time" list right now, Dancer (FE5-FE16) might just crack top 5 at this point. I still maintain that the list goes Sigurd/Seth/Safy/Robin but that fifth place now feels up for grabs.

I'd put that in Combat like I mentioned above or just make it a full new category. I think the way I'd score it is -1 for 3 units of the same class in a battle (excluding beginner classes) and go from there.