Xenomata

And yet almost all of those armors are not only powerful as hell, but most of them are also ready for battle out of the box after the standard SP grinding. Meanwhile we are still getting new untis who aren't even GHB or TT units who are underwhelming or already exist in the form of another unit but done better/worse. Looking back, Armors have passives that directly affect combat (always doubling, sped up Special Charge, diabling enemy doubles, a fucking C passive and Sacred Seal that lifts the one restriction holding back Armor units), meanwhile Infantry have a select few C passives that affect Special Charge and fewer weapons that they are weak against, Fliers have a lot of mobility-based passives, always some form of "unit A can move to any space that is adjacent to unit B who is within 2 spaces of them" and a small stream of Flying Dancers, and Cavalry... have literally gotten nothing new besides a few more ranged units. Armors are getting everything that'd have a direct impact on combat, and most of what the other move types get that'd affect combat are available to Armors as well... wow, I just made myself hate Armor units for reasons other than they are bullshit to face in battle!

I've learned not to have any regrets, even if many of the decisions I make are questionable, such as promoting Abel specifically because he looked good in the Restoration Helm EX, or promoting Laslow because I had Selena and Odin at 5* and I wanted to complete the trio, or even spending on this game... just at all. What I DO regret, however, is a more general decision: Collect every single unit and have them reach 5* Lv 40, merges optional. This means that if a unit exists, no matter how much I like or hate them, I have to have them regardless. I have, of course, made exceptions (didn't even try to summon from the Hoshidan Festival banner for instance), but for the most part, if I summon, I summon hoping to see a unit I haven't yet. This also means that because I'm aiming for every unit, I can't just promote any old unit and make them stronger, because the feathers have to go towards the unit it makes the most sense to promote at the time (for instance, Lon'qu is currently looking to be the next promote just because he's getting a shiny new toy soon). ...as you can imagine, this has led to many moments where I SHOULD be excited for a unit appearing, but I'm just not.

Won't say you're wrong exactly, but I also don't expect much in the way of reality when it comes to games. Heck even the games I don't like because of how gritty and "real" they are I can appreciate how overly-silly the context of everything is in review (Gears of War and CoD came to mind in typing) Characters like Kagero, however, I do feel are important to have in a cast to keep everyone grounded in some form of reality... but again, you usually don't want to be shown a boring character as part of a special occasion...

Don't forget Xander doing his silly Dance! Or Alfonse dressed as a bunny with a... loose carrot because Sharena wanted him to.

I know her personality and who she is, and I still don't really like her. The problem, for me at least, is that she seems to be almost completely consumed by the whole "retainer" business, but it's not funny like it is with Saizo. Her unique style of art comes up occasionally, such as with her supports with Arthur, but they aren't a defining trait like Oboro hating Nohr enough to look like a demon just looking at a Nohrian and having a flair for fashion, or Niles being a sadistic weirdo who sends shiver down everyone's spines because he's in the room. In fact, the only supports she is a part of that are memorable are her ones with Arthur, and only because Arthur is a gem. I legit cannot tell you anything about Kagero, and that's bad because I used to read the Supports of EVERYONE in Awakening and Fates when I was bored. Heck, I can even tell you a few things about Camilla, and she's the other character getting all the alts. Yeah, it's inevitable that a game is gonna have some odd ducks when it tries to inject personality into a cast of 50+ characters, but maaybe don't decide to flaunt said duck on another stage?

Hey uh... has anyone mentioned the Heroic Feats event starting tomorrow that'll give free Fury fodder for using Fury fodder to give your used units Fury? Cause... that's pretty neat.

Linde had a unique moveset to, even though it was still somewhat similar to the standard Mage moveset employed by Robin, Tharja, and the three stooges.

I'm actually fairly certain I remember reading somewhere Celica was already in the planning stages for Warriors before the devs even knew there was gonna be a Gaiden remake. I can't source this, but it explained why the History Mode map for Gaiden was sprite-based and not based off as it appeared in Echoes. Lyn... yeah popularity. I'm not sure it's fair to say that their sharing movesets was notable, because only a few movesets were truly unique by the time Awakenings DLC was released, and those that weren't shared with another playable character were used as the basis for the generic enemy captains...

So my thoughts on this banner... first off, where did ANY of these units come from? I mean Kagero is a bit of an upset from me, but in retrospect she only had one other alt before now. At least it's not Camilla in yet another secksy outfit on yet another undead dragon, though at least this time it would have been appropriate... Anyways, the theme of the weapons is nullifying Special Charge, between the normal weapons having uber Guard, and Witchy Wand both inflicting Guard status and flat out resetting enemy Special Charge. That's pretty neat, should make a number of enemies think twice about fielding nothing but units with Special triggers in mind. Mia REALLY came out of left field, but I'm not opposed to her being the witch this year, since she actually pulls it off really well. Plus she's actually wearing clothes unlike last years witch (who I hold nothing against and love with every fiber of my being). Anyways, her kit is kinda standard for a healer, but since it's on a flying healer that makes for some pretty neat shenanigans, inflicting deadly statuses from almost anywhere on the map. Imagine it, full-damage Firesweep strike, 7 damage to surrounding enemies, and also everyone has their Special Charge reset and can't recharge without special-charge increasing specials. Man, Staff units are both overpowered and fun. Also, the Witchy Wand is gonna be the bane of everyone who uses Aether or Galeforce. Kagero... oh god, she's gonna have uber-high Attack because she's an Armor, isn't she? Oh well... Even Atk Wave to round out the Wave series of Passives to. I dunno, besides the Bottled Juice, I kinda find her kit underwhelming...? Like, it's just so bland. Niles... I can't really see him taking off compared to Jakob, and since I'm definitely spending money this month on orbs for these units, the only way I'm getting Niles is on accident. I mean, normal Niles has below 30 Atk, he's probably only gonna barely break 32 as an Armored Colored Bow. I also don't really get giving him Smite to go with Atk/Spd Link, though I think Smite is a funny Assist so it's all cool. Nobody cares about Field Buffs on Armors, yet another unit gets Swift Sparrow, MOVING ON. Myrrh sure does have a weird skillset for the obvious Premier unit of the banner, but whatever. I'd also have preferred she had the effect of Spirit Breath reversed so it was on Enemy Phase rather than Player Phase, even if it meant she also got Bold Fighter, but whatever again. I'd also have preferred they stop putting Stat+ skills on seasonal units, but WHATEVER. I'd also have liked to not really want her regardless, but hey-yo whatevs.

Wow, uh... forget what I said, Lilina freaking crushed Morgan with the multiplier boost. This is now the second time I picked the winning team from the start, the first being Ninian. Which is odd, because Lilina I picked simply because I liked her and she was something like my second or third ever 5* pull, compared to Ninian being my first ever Dancer (yeah, I didn't even use Olivia at the time). Well uh... GG? What am I supposed to say, the teams I pick never win... ...oh yeah, remember when we were told to remember the winner of the CYL Gauntlet? Wonder what was supposed to come of that...?

Hey, don't sign Morgan off yet. This wouldn't be the first time a team lost despite having the final multiplier. ...I mean, the difference in scores is too close for comfort for Morgan, but you never know, there could be people who blew every flag before this multiplier!

Is no one gonna mention that it took them a Seasonal Banner AND over a year and a half to introduce Def/Res 2, the literal most obvious Dual Stat+ skill they could ever have cheesed out?

Also Sans. Hopefully, I mean

What @Kaden said, Ike himself can take on Hector just fine if you have him hold Quick Riposte or Axebreaker in some form, but you need to take Hector on twice this week.

I kinda see an issue of you don't seem to have any Red Earth blessed heroes... I'd hate to say it, but I don't think you can get through this one in a timely manor until you have at least one other enemy-phase Earth blessed Red hero, because Hector will simply kill anyone you try to throw at him. Unless Mist can chip Hector slowly, but I highly doubt it unless she has Pain+.

@XRay I'm not saying Dancers are hard to come by (actually I not only have enough dancers to have one in all 7 Arena Assault battles and still have one unused, but I just got another Dancer as well (Sylvia)), but rather Odin having the Atk/Spd Link refine means he needs a Dancer to reciprocate him if he wants to take advantage of the effect on Player Phase, otherwise he needs to run an enemy-phase set. And his player phase as a Bladetome... it sucks, downright. If I really need a Blarblade user, I have plenty of other Blue mages to do the deed. Do I like him? Heck no, not as a unit at least. I'm only invested in him now because his weapon is shiny and new and looks REALLY cool when being cast, but it'll mean nothing if I can't even secure a +Atk copy of him. I just needed to make sure we weren't trying to assume I was gonna go Owltome build on Odin. ...anyways, so quickly I need to ask another question, but spare Wo Dao+ finally thanks to Karel appearing. I'll probably SI in such a way the target unit gets both Wo Dao+ and Desperation 3 in the same SI. Anyways, here's all the Swordies I'd consider giving the Wo Dao+ to, as well as any additional notes.

Wait Lilina won again? But... what? So... it's gonna be Lilina vs Morgan then? But... I kinda like them both... I know I'm Team Lilina, but you can't make me choose between a character I have good memories of using when I was a noob, and a character I have good memories of using in Awakening... ...well whatever. Here's a reminder that I have a cool Bride Ninian who could help you out in the final battle between Fire and Darkness. my FC is 5177973547.

Mass summoning time, but I didn't record any so I'll just post the most interesting results in no particular order... Leif +Spd -HP (current Leif was +Def -HP, gladly take the boosted Speed over boosted Defense on a unit who'se averagely bulky already) Ophelia +Spd -HP (neat, current Ophelia is +Atk -Res) Katarina +Atk -Def (great nature, kinda peeved about this summon because it was the Daughters banner I got her, not the Swift Sparrow banner...) Sylvia 5* +Res -Spd (WTF I thought I had summoned her normally and then 5*??? Oh whatever...) Ephraim +Def -Res (Old Ephraim was neutral and had no business taking on magic anyways.) Shiro +Atk -Res (Not sure if I wanna overright the current +Def -Res, since he's so bulky as is...) Pale Flower Nino bad natured x2 (probably gonna be Swift Sparrow fodder...) Anamnesis Lady Eirika Male Morgan 5* Karel +Res -Def (It took so long and he arrives as an off-focus summon? Fine, sure, I'll take it.) EDIT: Forgot to mention, I got a better Karel (+Spd -Res), +Atk -HP Meisterhardt, +Spd -Def Silas, and some more copies of Ophelia. Ophelia managed to become +5 merge from all the copies I managed to get since this banner began... meanwhile it took forever for a second Silas to appear. Polar opposite of what I thought would happen, to be quite honest.

Welp, managed Legendary Tiki +HP -Atk with the last 20 possible orbs I can get before banners end. Not a good nature whatsoever, but whatever. I can't summon from the banner anymore anyways, and I managed to exhaust my pity, it's all good.

I still cite my pulling Bride Ninian as my best roll, since I only had 3 chances to potentially get Ninian, if she was even on the 5 Blue Orb session, and then she was and I was like "wow, did they ninja update the pulling of 5* units to look so beautiful?" Though I suppose another session I'm willing to cite as "Best" was the Legendary Banner that had Legendary Ryoma and Kinshi Hinoka on it, because in one session I managed both at the same banner, both with +Spd -Def. Maybe Ryoma would have prefered -Res or -HP, but it's not like he was that beefy to begin with. But HINOKA? Hinoka man, she was +Def -Spd before this banner! She is now a super MVP and probably the reason I've been able to do a few Abyssal maps without help. Lastly... actually, let me just share this little thing with you all, because it's the most convoluted way to explain my third and fourth best sessions... This came from my last How Many 5* units do you have update. I mean, I'm really not that lucky of a summoner. I'll consider it good luck if I even summon a 5* in the first place...

Oddly got some guys Legendary Robin and @Vaximillian more than anyone else on my FC, even among those on SF that I know are Lilina. Also we won? What? There must be a mistake, I'm on this team after all.

Keeping in mind that Odin had Odin's Grimoire, which can have Atk/Spd Link build into it via forge? I mean, if I had DC then I'd totally go for it and Vengeful on an armor without question, but I kinda don't, and without a dancer going defensive is kinda the way to use Odin's forged Grimoire...

I have no idea what led me to think Questions was where to ask this question...

Call me a humorless dum-dum, but aren't those just the colors that appears when the game is doing the fancy summoning thing? Like, right before the game expels smoke signifying 4* or higher?

I wonder what it must look like for everyone else with siblings, I.E. Two Ryoma, two Hinoka, two Sakura, and four Takumi, not to mention two Male Corrins, two Female Corrins, and three Azura. Family Gatherings will never be small again...