Xenomata

Well... now that I +10ed Clive... I officially have no good reason to keep doing Aether Raids... I stopped doing the Coliseum when I took my "break" from FEH, and I'm not in any dire need for powering up any of my units. I only kept at Aether Raids because Heroic Grails, but thanks to the anniversary I was saved weeks of that drivel, and there's really not any Grail unit that I wanna burn almost a year on trying to +10. ...huh... now what?

Seriously? The highest Duo Hero is NY!Alfonse/Sharena? I'd have thought Ephraim/Lyon woulda been higher. ...you know, since he isn't in the summoning pool? ...anyway, can I be honest? I seriously am starting to not like these mid-term results. I feel like they instill either a victorious or defeatist shift in voting, in that "Oh yay the hero I've been voting for is in the Top XX! Better keep feeding them votes!" which to be fair I guess would probably not result in any major change, but then I think they'd instill this thought into people, such as myself, who AREN'T voting for someone in the Top XX: "Oh, there's now no way my chosen hero can win, I guess I'll just put my votes into someone else..." Take me for instance. I've been voting for NY!Selkie, and she's not even in the top 20. There was also CYL4, where I been voting for SD!Marth, but of course he was 3rd for men in the interim, and that result didn't change by the end. Either way, the way I see things, it installs the above thought processes into the majority of voters, and the final results are decided before we're halfway through the voting period because the votes will suddenly shift toward those in the top... let's say 12, because the top 9-12 probably have the best odds of overtaking someone in the top 8.

Huh Selkie won and is in the final round? Neat, I was on Keaton's team largely because the way I pick the team I'm gonna be on is based on what units I own, but... I don't got NY!Selkie... Now I DO have Nailah... gonna pick Selkie anyway.

Pretty much last chance to get anyone off the Legendary banner, and I got... Legendary Ephraim +HP -Atk. Hm... he is horrible for skill fodder... Sturdy Stance is about all he has to offer, and that's really not saying much... MERGE!

Well, remember that their Spd might be getting boosted by Scepter of Love (Largely Spd-based kit, after all), but yeah it is tempting to try for them. ...tempting, and the 3rd anniversary is certainly gonna give enough orbs to try for them, but I'm not gonna keep my hopes (or luck) up.

Ah you're right, Rouse Spd/Res. My bad. That would then mean Alm/Celica's statspread is 40/35/43/32/25, unless this Rouse skill decides to change rules for... some reason. Edited the original post to prevent mistakes.

Okay biased first-post opinions aside, let's talk skills and stats, cause if you look closely you can see we know them already (to an extent). >Alm and Celica sport at least 40 HP, 35 Atk, 43 Spd (this is probably the stat being boosted by Scepter of Love), 32 Def, and 25 Res. They have the skillset Scepter of Love, Lunar Flash, Bonus Doubler, Lull Atk/Spd, and what looks to be Rouse Spd/Res. >Faye has at least 43 HP, 40 Atk, 23 Spd, 35 Def, and 38 Res, with the skills Budding Bow+, Moonbow, Death Blow 4, Bold Fighter, and Armor March. Methinks Halloween Jakob just got powercrept... >Conrad seems to come with 39 HP, 32 Atk, 23 Spd, 33 Def, and 35 Res. His skills of Melee Bouquet, Ardent Sacrifice, what looks like Brazen Def/Res, and Wings of Mercy clearly spell out demote, which I guess means that now every seasonal banner is gonna have the painfully obvious demote character... shame, was hoping we'd get some half-decent units for our coming seasonal demotes, but guess that was too much to ask for. >Rudolph comes packing at least 46 HP, 43 Atk, 21 Spd, 41 Def, and 29 Res. Besides Thorn Lance, which seems to have Special Cooldown -1 on it, we can also see Bonfire, Special Fighter, and what looks to be Threaten Atk/Def 3. >Silque has 40 HP, I'd say a minimum of 28 Atk, 22 Spd, 32 Def, and 29 Res. She wields Rapport Wand+, Martyr+, Heavenly Light, Live to Serve, and Spd Opening. Not too many new skills this time around, and those we have are just retreds of existing skills. No idea what any of these weapons do yet, but then I guess we'll see when the banner trailer is officially released.

For what it's worth, I stopped spending money on FEH back in... it was either October or November, whenever I finally +10ed Witchy Nowi and had no more incentive to spend a dime on this game. So while I don't wish to speak for everyone, it's possible that there's other whales like I was who simply got tired of the game and its bullcrap and just... stopped spending money. Maybe some faster than others, but still.

I'm largely in the Don't Care club. Maybe it used to matter, because at least the units were given above-average stat spreads and good weapons (not as good as proper Brave Heroes, albeit). Heck, I +10ed Mia and everyone in Farfetched 2 besides Aversa. But if all you want is a banner meant to bring in popular characters, well one I don't wanna say "just wait for another game-themed banner they'll probably appear" because there are no guarantees, but I will say that CYL at least brings awareness and may influence the devs when picking out units to feature in later banners maybe? But second, if Farfetched is supposed to bring in popular characters not in the game yet, well guess what? Top Females not in the game yet were Academy Bernadetta and Plumeria (ignoring her though it's then War Dorothea), and Top Males not in the game yet were War Felix and War Ashe. So any wishes of bringing in [insert character here] are completely toppled this year because Three Houses dominated the Top 20. And therein lies three and my main reason for being Don't Care: I can't bring myself to care about these fan-voted banners. I typically don't care as much for Lords/main characters as others do, but they're almost ALWAYS the highest rated characters. I don't care much for the "sexy" or waifu women, but they always seem to do very well anyway. And anyone I do like, Benny from FE Fates for instance? He placed 273rd with only 487 votes. Bad example? How about Midori? 233rd. Mitama? 305th. Even Charlotte, who is a "sexy" women that I'm pretty sure people do like? 97th, nowhere near close enough to be placed on a Farfetched banner. I'm naturally being pushed away from these banners because the characters I like are completely shafted. And sure maybe these guys will be some of the coolest units we get for all of FEH's lifetime; regardless, you can't make me care about a fan-voted banner if I wasn't one of those fans. So please, tell me why I'm wrong. Tell me why Edelgard, Dimitri, Claude, and Lysithea deserve to be the top heroes over the four Fates units above even being near a Farfetched Hero slot. But please understand that I'm not saying I don't like it, I'm saying I can't care.

And my free Special Hero is... Picnic Genny +HP -Atk! Okay, there were heroes I wanted more, but there were heroes I did not want at all. Genny fell... skewed more toward wanted, but not necessarily at the top of the wanted heroes list. Consider me pleased.

Did I just get 333 Heroic Grails cause FEH didn't die within months of release? SWEET! Finally, my latest Grail project! ...yes I know he just got a new weapon/refine, but I honestly don't think he needs it, his Spd/Res barely benefit and the difference in Atk and Def are +1 Atk -5 Def, I'd rather use the Luncheon Lance.

You mean besides the fact that they are all the first effect listed on modern Prfs, the effect that usually has no half-screen spanning requirements? See almost ANY Prf weapon released on a new unit these days? Then I dunno. It's just a name I came up with, same as how the community referred to Assets and Flaws as "Boons and Banes" until we were given an actual name for "when a unit has 3 more Atk than Neutral".

Atk +3, Spd +3, Def +3, Res +3, Special Cooldown -1, Special Damage +10, Effective Against [ ], those are all I consider "stat effects".

@XRay @Jotari Therein lies a bit of a problem with refining weapons that have established effects in their original game. From a "lore" perspective it makes sense to give Raijinto a Death Blow/Fierce Stance refine, but in practice it doesn't actually make much sense to actually give to Ryoma because it does very little to actually improve his performance (and he still competes with many other DC swordies, but besides the point). So maybe it's cute that refined Fujin Yumi lets Takumi walk wherever the hell he wants like in Fates, but that doesn't even mean much of anything in most MAPS, let alone actual combat. Besides, we now know what refines can truly do thanks to Leif's Light Brand refine, which already had a Stat+ and base effect but then got another Stat+ effect PLUS the refine effect. So if you wanted to give some sick refines to existing weapons while still making them useful, I have a few ideas... Alondite / Ragnell: Grants Def +3. If Foe initiates combat and uses Sword, Lance, Axe, Breath, or Beast Damage, grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res +5. (Alondite and Ragnell are basically the same weapon in the Tellius games, just one is locked to one character while the other can eventually be used by anyone. Anyway, I don't remember where I saw this but I seem to remember a ranged weapon in SOME game having a weaker attack at range? Plus given Ike's very close-range battle style in Smash Bros, I think it makes sense for him to have a close-range effect) Divine Mist: Grants Spd +3. Grants bonus to Atk/Spd during combat equal to highest bonus applied to Def or Res. (a refine these days tends to work with the units base kit, and what better way to work with your base kit then to work with your own personal skill? Basically makes her With Everyone! skill grant herself an Atk/Spd +5 bonus, or higher if she is buffed by Fortify Res 4 or something.) Expiration: Nullifies skills that disable counterattacks. If foe does not have a weapon that deals effective damage to unit, reduces damage from attacks during combat by 20% and grants Def/Res +5 to unit during combat. (As a final boss, Grima's weapon can counterattack at any possible Player range. Besides Dragonskin, Grima also comes with Pavise+ and Aegis+ on higher difficulties in Awakening, further making them hard to defeat with just normal weapons). Just... actually now that I look back Grima's might be a little much... but eh, isn't that what peer review is for?

It's really not a joke weapon, all the weapons in Fates named after a character are actually decently viable for something... besides Takumi's Shinai or Niless Bow, but OTHERWISE they are. Like I said earlier, Jakob's Tray is a modified Silver Dagger with lower Might and modified other stats, Def +4, and differing debuffs. Felicia's Plate is also one of these weapons, and it was a Magic Dagger that could crit and trigger offensive skills (which magic weapons in Fates like the Flame Shuriken normally cannot do) in exchange for low might, which made Felicia as a maid an actually potent threat due to her horrendous Str but VERY good magic.

Laslow, Barst, Jakob, and Fem Morgan are getting Laslow's Blade, Devil Axe, Jakob's Tray, and Father's Tactics each, GO. >Laslow is a bit in the air thanks to his Silver Sword base. As a reference, the original Laslow's Blade was basically a Nohrian Katana (Spd +3, Def/Res -3), and Laslow's Personal Skill gave him a Rally that boosted Str and Skl by 1 each, pretty weak but hey anything helps. >Barst... well what I know about the Devil Axe is that while powerful it has a chance to recoil on the holder completely. I'm sure that means this thing'll inflict post-battle damage on Barst in exchange for a powerful effect... Atk/Spd +6? I'm not sure if they'll keep to the Brave weapon he has or change it up though... >Jakob's Tray in the original was basically an augmented Silver Dagger with a decent Defense +4 effect and different debuffs, albeit slightly weaker. They could go a number of ways with this one, but it certainly won't be anything like Felicia's Plate... His personal skill gave an adjacent Corrin some combat boosts. I can't see him getting a Support Partner skill like Corrin though... Jakob is anti-social being anti-social to anti-socialists. >Morgan... I mean, her kit was designed with resisting incoming Magic damage, I can't imagine this thing either coming with Distant Def, Mirror Stance, or hell both why not? Maybe it'll even come with Mirror Stance 3! Either way, there's only so many ways you can go with a unit with an established role in life...

Okay, Byleth's classic route is actually pretty cool. The ending anyway, the fight against 3 Byleths... no. But that end? That was cool. In my 9.9 run of it, Roy was the only one alive... dats mah boi.

A NEW CHALLENGER HAS APPEARED! (my favorite thing to do is take screenshot snippits of Fire Emblem 4koma cause it gives me an excuse to read it again :D)

THROW IT AWAY THROW IT AWAY THROW IT ALL AWAAAAAY Throw WHAT away?! My Orbs? Fuck no, I got a #FE pity rate to get rid of! Banner as a whole... eh. Sure it's good whatever, but I'm not playing enough anymore that I need to get anyone here, especially not Lif.

Wow, I just now noticed I missed half the recent Forging Bonds event, ergo I missed the EX accessories. ...oh well I guess? I got better things to do, like man my Pokemon shop and do College things.

This... had me thinking. I wondered why myself and double checked the history of New Hero banners with a focus on a single game (no seasonals, no CYL, Farfetched Heroes, or Fallen Heroes since they do not focus on a single game, though Adrift counted...). The result... I still don't know. I made a quick spreadsheet with all the single game focus New Hero banners on it here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rYjYYDW9mi4f7v2G0UFkbeC-B6ph_FuY2UqjeY9Wd9c/edit?usp=sharing I don't see a pattern. Maybe it has something to do with year? The book the banner is a part of? Whoever's running the dart launcher? I can't tell...

...you're putting words in my mouth. I mean that the exact same way as if I were to say "I don't get what's so great about country music" or "I don't understand how people can support Trump" or even "I don't know why people like honing in on one sentence in an entire discussion and use that to make assumptions about others". I'm not saying anything about others tastes, I'm saying I don't get it because I legit don't get it. It's no more than an aside, wholly unrelated to Dimitri, same way you'd say "Alright enough about the quality of Taco Bell meat, what's going on with the way farms these days treat cows?". Two separate subjects. That's it.

...what? I never assumed anything about why people like Dimitri, and I admitted that I probably can't like Dimitri because I can't get past the things he is and does as dark Dimitri. But... literally my first question was if I missed something when playing the Blue Lions route. And @Landmaster pretty clearly explained that yeah I did. If I can't see the appeal of a character, how am I assuming anything? Or is it that because I don't like him, no one should? Because I don't think like that...

I probably just can't see the reason to like Dimitri because the kind of character Dimitri was for the first half of the War Arc (from my point of view calling him a tyrant) is the kind of character I DON'T like. Add on the whole paper cut-out Lord act, and... well, for what it's worth I can't say I like Edelgard much, but then I haven't seen her on the Black Eagles route yet, and at the very least she seems a lot more genuine than Dimitri was being in the Academy arc. ...I dunno, I don't get why people can like tyrants, psychos, yanaderes, and such either.

Well... as a FE1/Shadow Dragon Marth voter, no, but given the trend of past CYL alts, which is to say Alm and Celica in their original outfits, it seems the most likely to happen. Plus it'd just be plain ridiculous. Before anything, I want it understood that I played and completed Azure Moon within a week or two of the game being released, so I'm trying to remember everything I can about Dimitri from over 6 months ago... And I don't remember that being the impression I got of him. Academy Arc Dimitri I remember being the most paper cut-out FE Lord with hints of a traumatic past up until... was it chapter 10? Well, when the big reveal happens and he pretty much tosses that out the window and demands the head of anyone with white hair, purple eyes, and an axe. From there... I don't see "edgy boi", I see "the enemy". Not caring for anything but the destruction of an empire for the sake of the dead he obsesses for, ignoring the world around him that is willing to put their lives on the line for him, I don't even remember him being much more than "cool, now don't do it again. Now slaughter" when Dedue came back, you know when he thought Dedue was one of the dead he obsessed for? So maybe I missed the purpose of his character, but excuse me for missing the deconstruction of a Lord when he's acting like the Tyrant.