henrymidfields

Foot Archers: None of them. The archers this time seem quite lacklustre. Thief: Don't really care because I only use thieves when absolutely necessary to open up doors. Pegasus/Dragonkights: Caeda is the Nintendo heroine that really needs more love, especially in Smash Brothers. I like characters that are somewhat girly yet not a pushover, and Caeda is awesome. To heck with Samus, especially screw Peach, and ...maybe have Zelda step aside too...; Caeda, and for that matter, Lilina/Eirika, Misty/Leaf/Rosa/Serena (Pokémon), and Paula (Earthbound) are the best. Utility wise, Caeda is the closest to be a dodge tank, and her Wing Spear is OP as many said. If you're happy to spend the time and trouble training Est at the arena (which I think was Chapter 18?), then by all means do so, because it really was worth it. Swordmasters: I used Navarre, but I am really not sure who is good. Navarre's just not the dodge tank + critical hitter like Lon'qu/Say'ri (Awk), Marisa (SS), and especially Rutger (BB) were. Mercs: Ogma, of course. Social knights/Paladins: Abel and Cain - best availability, good stats and versatility. Also Jagen during the first 5-6 chapters, because he can distract the enemies as a meatshield. They also are fond reminders of Alan, Lance, and Marcus from Binding Blade. Manaketes: Tiki! Warriors: If you don't mind the somewhat low hit rates at the earlier levels/chapters, then Darros, because his Pirate-speak is awesome. Otherwise, Barst. Sedgar vs Wolf: Both are awesome! I strongly recommend using them over the foot archers. Armor knights: Draug. Available from the very start, and has really high defense which helps in this game. (Dodging is near impossible, and Mages don't appear as often as in the other series.) Clerics: I find that it helps having two clerics, due to the low HP recover amount from staffs compared to other games. Definitely use Lena. The second one can probably be anyone. I prefer using Maria, as I like to think that Maria tries to give her best to help the crew and grow up in the process. Mages: Merric, due to better availability. Beck vs Jake: I used Jake, and it certainly helped, but I don't know if Beck is better/worse. Thoughts on Xane? If you have a spare slot in your party, and if you have Sedgar/Wolf as part of your main team, then definitely use him.

Dude, that sounds so much better than the real-life situation my home is in. I shall ask Naga to allow me into this alternate timeline haha. On a more serious note, I'm making plans to create a fictional history as well - thanks to being inspired by you. A history of the Pokémon version of Japan, featuring Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. I'll let you know when I actually start writing.

Would this version of Hideki Tojo and Fumimaro Konoe have fascist/imperialistic leanings as well, relevant or not? And perhaps in this case, kept in check by Emperor Hirohito, as you explained earlier in your writing? Also, in comparison to the diplomatic mess RL!Japan and both RL!South and North Koreas have been since RL!WW2, are their alter egos on better terms for this alternate line of events?

For the Avatar: While I haven't played neither New Mystery nor Fates, I thoroughly enjoyed having Robin as one of the only sane people was funny as heck. Given how some of the units I supported in Awakening seemed had weirdo antics to varying degrees, I felt like I was saying "WTF?!" to many of the support conversations like Robin did.

I really have to second this. Both of my Navarres in Normal and Hard-1 are like more scrawny/fragile versions of Ogma, and they don't even have crit bonuses like Binding Blade or Sacred Stones. Either as BigDipper said above, or provide 15-30% bonus to both Critical Hit and Avoid. As for Warp, I suggest following Binding Blade and have it Magic-dependent.

Although I was more looking forward to XY2, if they let us visit Kalos in SM, then I'd be really happy. Whatever it is, I really hope it's another Pokémon version of an overseas region that has accurately portrayed geography like XY and GSC, and not like ORAS. No, seriously, this is all I ask for.

Yeah, the child system in Fates seems unnecessary. Awakening was all right because it wasn't as shoehorned. Ideally, though, it should be done like Jugdral, and have the story actually span over two generations - that makes the best story justification. A hypothetical remake of Elibe 1+0 would benefit from this Jugdral-style child system too.

Agree with almost everything you said. Sophia I can kind of understand (from a story perspective) why she needed to be in that Chapter, but Cecilia really should have died in Chapter 13. Also, Johto Route 40-41 from Pokémon GSC. High chance of encounter due to the nature of surfing across water tiles. The wild Pokémon are Tentacruels and Tentacools, with their poison attacks, and the ever-annoying poison status. Too many of said Pokémon, and nothing else to break the monotony, and they're at an unusually high level - some trainer's Pokémon are up to 5-10 levels below the wild Pokémon, and even Chuck, the local gym leader ties with the wild Tentacruel you can find - which is Level 30. It means that Bug Spray would not necessarily help to crossing the water routes either.

My game before Sacred Stones being Binding Blade, I was pleasantly surprised that they ended up being more than decent. It also helped that they have been the easiest units to baby on. I was really surprised with Ross as a Warrior being actually usable, compared to Ward, Lot and other ax-users in Binding Blade. I haven't used Garcia at all, so I don't really know about that, but Ross actually had hit rates up to 80% from the get go. I'd happily bet my money that the same would definitely not happen with any of the ax users in Binding Blade that is not a promoted Dieck, Alan, or Lance, even against lance-using enemies. Similarly, Amelia became an Armor Knight/General that actually avoids at least half the time in battle, and being actually usable all around. Trying to achieve the same thing with Wendy/Bors/Barth? Forget it; I ain't doing that even if I'm bribed a million bucks. Ewan wasn't as notable because Ray in Binding Blade was also viable. Still though, Ewan became my go-to decoy-setting dark mage.

I haven't played Fates yet, but I'm 99% certain that I will get to Level 20 before promoting. I did this for Binding Blade (back in 2002), Sacred Stones (back in 2006), and Awakening (most of last year). This included all clerics that I used - I just spam their staves as much as I can. Only when I started playing Shadow Dragon DS did I promote at below Level 20, and even then I went up to Level 18 for most units, and Level 20 for Lena as I did a lot of training in the arenas. I don't see why that should change with Fates.

Looks like someone's got the same answer as me! Though, in my case: a) the reasons are more clear-cut; and b) Gen 6 comes very close as my second most favourite. I've always considered the real-life setting and geography of Pokémon to be one of the defining features in Pokémon. Rarely did we have any other RPGs (and especially Nintendo-franchise ones) that had real-life geography incorporated into a game universe. The only three examples besides Pokémon that I know of are Shin Megami Tensei, Yokai Watch, and Earthbound, and the latter is a borderline case. Gen 2 represented the Kansai region very accurately, and really, that should have been the standard for the level of reference and accuracy in a Pokémon region compared to the real-life counterpart - which only the Gen 6 new games comes anywhere close. Gen 3, on the other hand, is a mess. They should really have ditched Kyushu and instead, go overseas, like Yokai Watch 3 did. Actually model the region (and by this the landmass and culture) from Hawaii, the coastal area of Queensland, or Guam-Saipan, and I would at least play the remake, if not the original. Yeah, this lack of geographical accuracy in Gen 3 was a dealbreaker for me - it made me skip RSE, DPPt, and BW1+2. (Though I played BW1+2 after coming back for XY.) And it looks like Gen 7's regions is the one that would be upholding the standard that Gen 2/6's region has.

I'm in the middle of playing Shadow Dragon, and I've just arena-abused the heck of Chapter 18 for my new-ly joined Est. (After all, I wanted to give her a try when some of the folks here are so against babying.​) After spending over 40+ turns raising her level from 3 to Level 15, I'll have to say, she ain't any slouch. (At least way less painful than Sophia in Binding Blade.)

Alternately, they could have allowed a higher level cap before promotion. Maybe, for argument's sake, set Lord's Level Cap as Level 30, and Master Lord at 10. PS Wow, didn't think this discussion would become popular! Let's keep it up, people, haha.

Sydney, Australia where the weather nice and sunny today. I return to my family's home in Tokyo, Japan every Christmas, though.

Could there be certain chapters (most likely earlier chapters in the story) that any gameplay "deaths" results in retreating for a chapter or two? I was thinking about Chapter 3 in Awakening. The former features Raimi apologising to Chrom for mistaking Chrom's army as Plegians, and Chrom easily forgives Raimi despite potentially having units killed. Having units crippled until say Chapter 5-6 would still be a costly penalty than Casual Mode, but would make better story sense than Raimi potentially committing a Karma Houdini.

As the topic above says. What are your opinions that (you think) are in the minority of the FE fandom? As for me: I am quite happy to play a remake of Binding Blade. Looking back, I don't really care too much about Roy not having his promotion until Chapter 21. I just assumed that that was just part of the difficulty expected for an average Fire Emblem game. Being a first-timer in the series at that time, the late promotion actually felt rewarding for me. I'm actually turned off from trying Fire Emblem 7. It's seems to be just a bunch of small-party adventuring episodes, without that epic war feel that almost all of the other games have. (It's the only game in the entire series that I don't want to play.) Level grinding is entirely fair game; I feel that not using that when you're given the opportunity is like not bringing in a cheat sheet for a maths test when the teacher allows you to.(*) Arena abuse is also fine, because that is simply using the otherwise scarce opportunity to level up. Of course, it would be a different story if you happened to be overlevelled or playing with specific restrictions. For a possible future title, I'd like to see an Industrial Revoultion setting. Whether this entails a crossover with Advance Wars, I don't know. So what is yours? (*) When I took my Australian Year 12 maths test, we were allowed to take in two A4-sized cheat sheets.

Not yet! I haven't even touched half of the series. I only played Binding Blade, Sacred Stones, Awakening, and I am currently doing my very first run on Shadow Dragon. I want to at least play Genealogy of the Holy War, maybe Thracia 776, New Mystery, and of course Fates before I get bored. At least they seem to come up with sufficiently different stories that doesn't feel like rehashes.

Yeah, having to wait until Chapter 21 wasn't very fun. But then again, I didn't mind the difficulty or raising Roy, or even the game in general - I assumed that Binding Blade was the default difficulty for Fire Emblem as a whole. (I was surprised how Eirika, Ephraim, (or Chrom in Awakening) were easy to raise.) Anyway, I vote Roy because he was the first lord that I played with - in other words, he introduced me to the series I follow, and nothing could beat that. Plus, disregarding stats, it was epic to see him eventually lead the Allies against Bern. Eirika would come second as she was one of the first Nintendo heroine I played/saw and followed outside of Pokémon (courtesy of Misty (in the anime) and Kris (in the games)) or non-Lord units (courtesy of Lilina) which wasn't anywhere near being "OMG, I'm kidnapped! Save me!!". Blazing Sword is one of the few FE games that I am uninterested so I can't really say about Lyn, Eliwood, or Hector.

Hmm, then maybe IS should actually use Advance Wars rules for all fog of war terrains. Some suggestions: Adopt variable line of sight for every unit and for every terrain. Allow for a wider view when you're up on a hill/peak/fortress, or when you are a flying unit or a Thief. Units can be concealed to all non-adjacent enemy units when in a forest etc. You can use lanterns and or torches to widen your view. However, this is a double-edged sword as enemy will also have a easier time locating you. (They can just aim for whoever is carrying the torch.) Visibility-related staves do not have this disadvantage. If you saw the enemy before he becomes invisible in the same player's turn (maybe due to your unit being killed by the enemy, or moving away), you can still attack that x/y-coordinate within that player's turn. And all these rules should apply to both the player and the enemy. Also on-topic honorary mention, post-script: A clear-cut damage and chance calculation. This is what defines Fire Emblem's strategy.

Least favourite: Cheating in fog of war: Why did they make the enemy able to see my movements in Fire Emblem when both the enemy and I could have done the guessing game, like in Advanced Wars? Most favourite: Rescue command. That saved my bottom so many time in Binding Blade. Especially rescuing civilians.

As far as games are concerned, it could also be that the past games were rigged in favour of the AI because of primitive artificial intelligence which otherwise makes such games too easy. Thus more recent games considered easier could actually be due to CPUs who act fairer/cheats less. At least TV Tropes Fake Difficulty entry reckons that is one reason.

I say some of the problem can be based on "rights vs responsibilities". Freedom of Speech, is of course, the right to say anything. However, isn't the right of free speech intended to be able to voice dissent against the government of the day, without risk of persecution? Putting it another way: Can I theoretically speak evil of a particular person through half-truths or outright lies? Can I theoretically talk trash about a particular race, sex, religious group etc? Theoretically, yes. Are they responsible use of my rights? No. I won't say that I know where the balance should lie between free speech and restriction from. Of course the above reason should not be used as a justification for excessive censorship. (Admittedly, Pokémon BW has a really good point with the chemistry of different people and different ideas.) However, I too believe that there is a case where certain restrictions are needed to avoid abusing right of free speech. With great power(?) comes with great responsibilities, I guess.

I too agree that I want to see a revival of the F-Zero series. Maximum Velocity on the GBA was epic!

I like a lot of the Elibe cast. Maybe because of Binding Blade being my first Fire Emblem game, but they sure had deeper and detailed characteristics than some of the other Nintendo franchise characters. (Before that I only played Mario, Donkey Kong, a bit of F-Zero and Zelda, and Pokémon.) I too am a fan of Roy, actually. It felt epic seeing him go all around the continent, liberating the masses from all the oppressors across the continent, like a boss. Yet, he also has a personal side, especially when he is with Lilina. Speaking of which, I also like Lilina in particular, and all of the female protagonists/heroines in Fire Emblem in general. She is my favourite Nintendo heroine, besides Zelda in Twilight Princess, Misty, Hilda, Rosa, and Serena in the Pokémon franchise, and Paula in Earthbound.