Saint Rubenio

Since I removed Gay Fates, I'm going to have to rethink my pairings. I think I'll marry Laslow to Charlotte, because I wanna see how the philanderer handles that woman, then Camilla can become Benny's backpack so I get uber Iggy, then Xander can get his favorite psychopath. I kinda wanna give Nyx to Leo and Felicia to Odin, just to mix things up since I did the opposite before, but Odin and Nyx are already at B... Meh. Fuck it, I'm doing it anyway.

I'd rather get more brigands. Like, proper brigands, not high schoolers vaguely cosplaying as brigands.

I am the embodiment of disappointment right now. I finally unlocked one of Gay Fates's new supports... Turns out, only the option existed. Not the convo. Then I checked and there's... Actually a lot less than what appeared at first glance. So fuck it. I removed that mod too. Now I only have the voices, the icons, the extra model color palettes, the endgame save, the shader fix, the weapon models fix and Shigure inheriring his hair color. The gameplay is now entirely untainted. Bragging rights, here I come!

Well, as it turns out, the icons are accurate. I had never noticed, but steel shurikens really do kinda look like daggers. Go figure. As for Mistletainn... Well, I'd love to check, but our internet is still down and my phone's internet is super slow right now for some reason. Sooo yeah. I'll take your word for it.

Oh wait, they actually aren't dagger icons. They're just really dagger-like shurikens. Huh. Well, no matter.

Hey, I just noticed steel and sting shurikens have dagger icons. Someone who is familiar with the icon mod, is that normal or is the mod bugged on my end?

Niles and Mozu B Mozu: "You...you're horrible..." Niles: "And you're boring, which is worse." Well. He said it, not me.

...well. How irksome. Why are all of these anime JRPGs named the same, anyway? Valkyria Profile, Valkyria Chronicles, Xenoblade Chronicles, Xenogears, Tales, Trails, FC and friggin' FC...

FC bad is an opinion that I can get behind. Yet you said Torna good. What is this Torna you speak of?

Well, chapter 10 done. That was my best chapter 10 ever, which is funny, considering it's my first time on lunatic difficulty. Effie broke through their ranks with Arthur, Niles, Mozu and Haitaka and almost managed to get to Takumi, but I decided not to get greedy and instead keep the southern front clean. Then Camilla blocked the enemy in the one open corner to the left of the upper ballista while the rest took out the pegasus that got by her. It didn't get completely out of hand like it usually does. Man, that feels great. I still don't see how lunatic is so much harder than hard. I expect it to pick up at some point, but so far it's very slightly harder and that's it. Also, my fucking internet went down in the middle of the argument with Shrimpy and even with my phone's internet literally every image hosting site I've tried (Imgbox, Imgur, fucking google photos) refuses to load so I can't upload the images I need. Every site loads except the ones I need. The universe refuses to let me to prove to him that Niles isn't as bad as he says. God fucking damnit, this is so annoying... Nope, this is all wrong. The only part that is true is that it disables attack stance. Capture just reduces your hit by 10% and disables attack stance's extra hit and I believe critical hits too. Bonuses to his hit, damage, speed and such remain untouched. Don't believe me? I just tested it myself. I can provide proof later, when the universe stops taking the piss out of me. And, well, of course, then there's Heartseeker's bonus is just huge. Honestly, that alone is pretty much enough to make his chances very reasonable. Of course, there's some risk involved, since Haitaka is basically guaranteed to one-shot Odin and Nyx, but then you just give Niles a pair-up with Jakob/Felicia and all of a sudden that's two opportunities to land the 70~% - heck, actually, not even, since they give him skill, so his hitrate will be even higher. It's very reliable. And this is Haitaka, probably the hardest capture Niles will ever have to pull off - other people you might want to nab won't be on thrones. I mean, yeah. But then why do you refuse to accept that Niles can use them for any captures he may need to do? He doesn't have 0 strength, man. It's not that hard to get him to capture things. Which is a pretty big thing, with stuff like Haitaka, Kumagera, pass peggies and Rallyman running around.

No, it doesn't. Dude, I saw it with my own eyes last night. He didn't double Haitaka before Mozu paired up with him, then he did thanks to her speed boost. Or else how do you think my 17 speed Niles doubled Haitaka? 17 - 13 doesn't equal 5, y'know. You know, if the game absolutely requires that you save every single limited staff for the endgame or else it becomes unbeatable, maybe that's a flaw with the game Like, seriously, how do you get the 10k from the ice village without freeze? There's plenty of ways to lower enemy defense and increase his attack if need be. His strength is low, but it isn't so unbearably low that he deals 0 damage to everything. All he needs to capture is 1, nothing more. Your problem is that you want him to be a combat unit on Mozu's level, and that's just not what he is.

I was so focused on the "Niles is worthless in his join map" thing last night that I glossed over this. This is another straight up impossible statement. Haitaka has 11 defense + 1 from his weapon + 3 from the throne = 15. Niles at base deals 15 damage with the bronze bow + 1 from WTA against Haitaka = 16. At the bare minimum, he deals 1 damage to him. Which, yeah, isn't much, but this is with the weakest weapon he has and without taking any boosts into account. Not to mention that, at base, Niles is only 3 points of speed away from doubling Haitaka, which he's guaranteed to get from a pair-up with both Jakob and Felicia (those bonuses apply when capturing, that's how he was doubling in my screenshot). As for the accuracy... You're just being stubborn now. I've said it before and I'll say it again: It's extremely easy to improve his hitrate against Haitaka. You can hit him with a bronze dagger (which also lowers his defense), toss Odin/Nyx next to him, pair someone up with Niles, and if you want to be extra sure, freeze him. This is so effective that, in my run, even though he hadn't leveled up skill yet, Niles would've had a 100% chance to hit if I had frozen Haitaka. Not that I needed to, double 89% is pretty good odds in my book. Soooooo yeah. I'm gonna have to agree with Eltosian here, your hate boner for Niles blinds you as much as my own for Mozu does. Again, I'm not denying that Niles becomes pretty bleh as the game goes on, but you're talking like he's a Wendy-tier scrub, and that's just 100% not true. "Niles deals 0 damage against Haitaka." I just don't get how she's supposed to be a Niles killer. She doesn't have his outlaw utility or capture. They can co-exist just fine. Shura is more of a Niles killer, and even he doesn't have Capture, which is pretty huge if you know which generics to grab. Actually... I can marry him to Elfuigi 2 and then I kill four birds with one stone: Niles gets to go archer, Mozu gets to sit on the bench, Nina gets green hair (I'm hoping, I've no idea how the mod handles the children of gay parents) and I get to not feel filthy for marrying the 12 year old! Perfect! Lightcosmo, the words that you have said please me. I beseech you to elaborate. Oh, phew. Got me worried there for a minute. Now you just have to keep me informed about your experience with the returns! Pffft... Pretty funny glitch, too.

I've seen people with like 30 days lol. For a game with a continent that doesn't even get a name, it has essily some of the best bits of worldbuilding in the series. Yeah, that's truly a shame. I wish they looked back and considered all the great ideas Fates had. Unfortunately, I have my doubts. Money is all that matters, and money most likely says Three Houses 2 is the way to go. ...sorry for getting all negative again. I'm just afraid, damnit! When will the next FE be announced? I need to know if FE is dead to me! Confirm my fears or surprise me, just... Do something, IntSys! Hahhahaha... My, my, the Conquest expert! It's better than in the older games, where I hardly even check enemy inventories because you have to go in a separate menu for it. But it's still a bit difficult to remember to check the other screen every fight. Your suggestion would make it perfect.

Effie. I mean, sure. ...now watch as my Mozu turns out worse because I have all of the luck. See, I agree, Conquest's lunatic, at least from these first few maps, is pretty great. Not that much of a step up from hard, but I'm sure that'll change. But... I also almost died a bit earlier because I forgot Kilma has Vantage. Twice. Looking at the skill list for every enemy is hard when you're a lazy asshole lol.

Yes, this is the biggest reason I've grown fonder of Fates's artstyle myself. The fanservice sucks, but I really dig the whole "dark European vs bright Japanese" aesthetic. Heck, Fates is the only game in the series where the countries have distinctive clothing. Every other is just multicolored robes and armor for eveyone without much rhyme or reason. I don't think it's bad, mind, but I do appreciate what Fates does in that regard. I don't think it's too late yet. Just adopt the mindset I used when playing Awakening. Get rid of as many folks as you can, then be recklessly slow with the Ravens. ...or, go back a bit. The game saves often. Return before Gudmundr joins and pick the option that screws you out of him. Shame, but hey, it's an option.

But... It's so fucking bad! People rail Fates all the time for everything it does but not Awakening? Double standards! Utterly vile! Ahhahahhah... Hey, c'mon now... Yeah, you do raise a fair point. Oh well, nothing is perfect. You can't rest in the darkness. Be very careful, man. Yeah. Okay, no problem. I really should've thought to take some screenshots. But fine. Let's go over some numbers. You can check them here. They are correct, I can assure you. All right, so. Niles at base with the iron bow he comes with deals 17 damage. With 15 speed he doubles everything, no questions asked. Now, the tankiest enemies in his join map are the +5 HP fighters, with 31 HP and 6 defense. Niles deals 11 damage to them, needing a 9 damage attack stance to finish the job in one round. It's a bit steep, but Effie should be able to provide it easily enough. Keep in mind, this is still better than everyone else except Corrin at this point. That's the most trouble he has in his join map. He has exactly enough might to one-round the mages without help (22 HP 5 def, 17 - 5 - 1 from WTD = 11), and he only needs a very tiny boost to kill the fighters without +5 HP (26 HP 6 def, he needs a boost of 4). He has a bit more trouble with the lancers (24 HP 8 def, needs a boost of 6), but there's only two of then and they're very whatever enemies because of their gimped movement. As for his hitrates, they're basically perfect against the fighters and the lancers. He suffers a little bit against the mages due to WTD, but he remains on the 70s at worst, and he also hardly takes any meaningful damage from them, so he can fight them on EP, no sweat. So yeah. Tl;dr: Say whatever you will about his future performance, but Niles is just objectively, undeniably good in his join map. Unless you want him to frontline fighters, but if you'll knock him for durability you oughta knock Mozu too, who is even worse in that regard. That's... Not a terrible idea. Thanks, I'll keep it in mind.

Ah, yes. Pesky story fans. ...Wait, but... Awakening's story is peak dumbo too! Did everyone just forget the Hierarch nonsense? Am I really the only one who remembers it? Because that's even dumber than some of the crap in Fates! I mean, no, but Fates's story brought me so much joy, whereas Awakening's bored me so much that I ended up giving it the nope treatment, something I gave to... actually, straight up just no other FE story, on a first run. ...Well, it does have Gangrel. That, I will give to it. Gangrel was the best. I kinda wish he had lasted longer. Killing him as they did was ballsy, but on the other hand it left them without a plot for the next 10 maps or so, so that sucked. Yeah, that's a thing it does, unfortunately. Your choices aren't enough to turn a vulture like Rugga into a good guy. Hahahahaha I sucked so hard I ended up with more or less the same number Be careful, man. You don't want to accidentally overshoot it and be unable to see all the returns.

Right now she's the worst archer on the team lol. Yeah, sure glad I wasted all that experience on the worst archer on the team when I could've used it to make other units better. I disagree with your feelings, but that is all right. Your feelings are valid. ...Why tho? Please, do elaborate if you want, because from my point of view Awakening is just... worse, in every possible aspect. I'd like to hear your reasons. Wait, what? I thought he shows up no matter what. Weird.

I am terrified of chapter 10. I'll leave it for tomorrow. That works, I suppose.

I mean, I guess in a way kinda... I am very upset at her for not being the worst thing ever, failing to validate my irrational hatred, but also not being the best thing ever, impeding a complete turn around like people such as Charlotte managed. She's just kinda there right now. It's awful. I was told she was the best thing since sliced bread! The internet lied to me, Dayni! They lied to me...! Ahaahahahahahahah... I can't believe you actually did it. Thanks, that was hilarious. ...You can go back to calling me Commissar now if you want. I can hardly comprehend that's a name at all, it's so long.

Wow guys you were right, Mozu is so useful. Hell yeah. This could never have happened without her. Attagirl! I mean, sure, Elfuigi could've done the same thing if I had reclassed him to archer as I first planned and he would've had vastly better combat, but let's not dwell on the tiny details. Knock that off, will you? I am no commissar. I'm thinking more along the lines of... Supreme Genius Commander of the Peerless Strategic Mind. Yeah. That works. Use that title from here on, if you would.

Five.

Dude, Niles one-rounded the entire map except Flora and the boss with the help of attack stance. Not even someone with good attack, just about anyone did the trick. Mozu couldn't manage because she couldn't double. No, I did mean the fighters! He one-rounded the fighters with an attack stance! 4 extra damage more or less was enough! And this was at base, mind you. What are you on about?

BASE LEVEL IN HIS JOIN MAP IN THE HIGHEST DIFFICULTY, SHRIMPY FOR FUCK'S SAKE IT'S LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO SEE IT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ...Sorry. I just... sorry. I mean, Niles does that too. It's fuckin' pegs, any archer worth their salt could one round them. It'll take more than that to impress me.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand Niles missed. So I ended up giving Mozu the boss kill. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Mozu missed. So Elfuigi 2 took it. I hate both of you.