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Lord Tullus

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Posts posted by Lord Tullus

  1. I said it once, I'll say it again.  Why does Shadows of Valentia Need Fatigue?  Half the units in the game are complete ass if we're going off of gaiden standards.  When I watched the video, I heard that an item can be given up to get rid of all fatigue.  Does that go for fatigue on 1 or 2 units?  Because I'm not going to sacrifice any item that's not some sort of damn cheese for two units to go without stat drops.  

    Fatigue was about using other units, and making it so you couldn't cheese the game with a small group of Overpowered war hungry units. It worked decently with thracia because the vast amount of units still allowed for flexibility in who you wanted to train - with likes and dislikes.  But with Echoes, it seems, that I'll have to train everyone.   A small cast and an incentive to grind means that you don't see a major difficulty spike, sure.  But Why in Echoes?  What about this updated NES game makes it a must for fatigue to return?  I think the game would have been fine without it, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.  

  2. 2 hours ago, I'm a Spheal said:

    I think this would better as a ROM hack because those don't have to worry about the game being marketable to a general audience. With a scenario like this, you can't go to severe with the crime other wise people would feel they don't deserve redemption; who would want to cheer for a murderer. But if the crime was to light, then the people who would like this set-up might find it to ridiculous. A lot of fan created  ideas to me come off as not intended for a wider audience. Which is suitable for a fan made game but not for one that has millions of dollars poured into it.

    I personally wouldn't.  Who said you had to "cheer" for the murderous scumbag?  There are plenty of games and stories in media and cinema that have a true anti-hero, and sometimes it's pulled off really well.  The problem with fire emblem stories is that they've been sticking with the same, if not similar, shtick  for over 25 years.  And with similar plots and character archetypes to fill the void it becomes difficult to build an interesting story from the ground up and still keep that FE experience that comes from the character interaction with the challenges of war or hardship.

     So, in order for a new character like a Criminal to work, there would need to be some sort of "crutch" character within the story to build the personality of the lord while establishing a relationship with the greater cast.  Sometimes these relationships aren't good or turn sour, like with Gatrie or Shinon leaving the mercenary company after Ike's papa bit the dust.  But with bad relations, there are also good ones, so making it so that the protagonist uses the other characters to highlight grey morality, rather than just flat out hate, is a challenge that would be better left to the hacking community.  But it would feel good to see something like this come from IS.

  3. 4 minutes ago, Taxon said:

     There's nothing wrong with a character being altruistic, but when their entire motivation is that they want to help others it just comes across as forced, boring and hard to believe. It's like the writers are scared of giving their protagonists any vices in case they alienate a fraction of the audience, so they just make their heroes as inoffensive as they can, which leads to stale protagonists.

    Okay, digression over. I think your criminal idea is good. I doubt it will ever actually happen due to writers being afraid to take risks though. Why try and create another Ike when you can just regurgitate Chrom and people will eat it up, right?

    Well, that's true.  People ate up chrom for no reason.   IS... I really wish someone from the writing team would just browse this forum site one day for a while looking for Ideas.  Not plagiarism, but more like inspirational tweaks.  Well, what can ya do?  I see why they are scared though.  With how much of a flop the radiance games were, they are afraid to try new things and repeat the same mistakes.  If they took some marketing practices into account and tried to identify the problem with the sales (which is marketing and advertising in general) maybe they could find a way to involve new ideas without alienating new players or getting release dates that aren't around a bigger, more popular IP like Mario mario.

  4. Just now, Glaceon Mage said:

    Could work in theory, but I'm concerned over how on earth recruitment of non-criminals would even work

    Well, I'm thinking that the criminal escapes execution somehow (inspiration comes from the FE5 manster escape chapters) and ends up being a prisoner of an opposing army.  Bigger and better things come along, plot evolves, character isn't entirely edgy or evil, goes on a bigger quest as a redemption, etc.  Fire Emblem stories, if done right, have a tendancy to evolve into larger scale conflicts as things go on, or start as a smaller portion of that huge conflict.  I think.  That's just me.

  5. I have seen this in some topics, but not as a topic itself.
    Essentially this is what the title says, a main protagonist (dubbed, "Lord") who is a criminal or has a background that is obviously not good.  I'd personally like to see this adapted, and it hasn't been done with a main character in FE before.  It might be even better if the crime committed was extremely severe, and had risen out of some hatred for unfortunate events or mistakes that highlight norms within a society.  For example, a former mercenary wants to get revenge on the king of his country because his wife was killed, but only because their laws state that said wife was part of a group of people that are forbidden to marry or mate.  This sparks conflict and motivation to do bad deeds, creating a circle of cause and effects, as there could be reasons why such laws are in place.  This shows corruption within a country, and the populace that believes in the country's leaders and some don't. This leads to conflict, and so on and so forth.

    What I'm trying to say here that a different perspective on one character and their motivations can change the tone of an entire story if these traits both arise from and cause conflict.  This seems especially true when applied to the main protagonist, who we have received nothing but a stale lord with slight alterations in character or deviations in personalities, but not birth. Aside from Ike, of course.  Characters like Michiah have mystery and amazement simply because the back ground is kept from us, and even her motivations, however wrong, made her stronger and her Ideals more intreaguing, at least in my opinion.  Characters like Ike are outstanding because he's not a lord of nobility, and he takes no crap and gives no sympathy.  His actions dictate his roles in the story as he grows in path of radiance.

    A criminal would break the Cliche's of storytelling in FE if it was done right.  There's real potential of multiple backgrounds that don't need to be tied to side characters.  What do you all think about this? 

     

  6. I don't care about supports.  I'd like to see a specific conversation between the whitewings and Zeke in the final chapter if deployed.  It would be a chance to add more depth to the ties of why Zeke goes back to you know where.  But the support if any, I'd love to see Teeta/Tatiana support with silk.  Maybe something like the healer on healer conversation in the Staff of Ages hack

  7. In any case, I've given the Defense/sheild ring to Leif.  That actually saved his hide from dying to some steel bow guys.  After finally completing chapter 8X, I'm faced with yet another issue.  Should I give the Leg ring/Boots to Ieif as well?  I can't imagine him needing it all that much.  With the warp staff, I can just... warp him if need be.   I can repair the warp staff as well.  (Safy is still B rank though.)

    Lara is now maxed out with a whopping 9 strength and 9 build (Holy Smokes, Batman!)  and I'd imagine a Flyer would make poor use of the leg ring given how dismount is a thing.  (I hate dismount, if you could not tell)  I'm thinking Either giving it to lara (because she becomes a dancer later, Saving it for a later character, or giving it to my man, Fergus.  Feedback and "OBJECTION's" are appreciated.  

  8. Howabout using All swordmasters/trueblades in addition to Fire/Light magic only?  By that I mean, you can't use thunder or wind.  Only light or Fire, and the only sword users you can use aside from Ike and Elincia are the swordmasters and trueblades and you must use all of them.  (I've never used all trueblades and Trained Tormod in the same file, so... it could be quite interesting to do so.)

  9. Any Defense map that isn't a GBA Defense map.  Those suck.  Yes, Even the one in sacred stones.  I much prefer  Chapter 8 on Epjhraim's route.

    Other Favorite maps include: 3-13 of RD.  Just, not even Takumi can hold up to the 3-13 archer, and Edward and the other Sh*t brigade members get to bring home laguz pelts as symbols of unit pogression.

    Chapter 3 of Geneology of the Holy war, because You fight your first holy weapon - this game doesn't mess around.  Also, it's a rush to help out Briggid

    Encountering Matilda and Desaix in Gaiden, (Chapter 3)

    Chapter 14 of Shadow Dragon, because Marthipan gets his revenge and Catria becomes a member of the team.  You can also handle the reinforcements multiple ways, depending on your team, and playstyle.  What?  There's like 7 single tile choke points that make it archer grind heaven.

    Chapter 1 of FE 1/3/11.  Seriously.  This is the greatest first chapter in all of FE, Bar Geneology and thracia.  The game teaches you things by making you experience them, and you form your own strategy.  No hand holding, the houses you visit give you good information, and the forts place emphasis on alternate healing methods and taking advantage of your terrain.  Really Solid First chapter.  The only reason I hold Geneology and Thracia lower than this one is because those games expect you to know how to play FE or have some sort of experience.

    Chapters 14 and 16 of Binding Blade.  Why?  Chapter 14 is the pure definition of punishment, and chapter 16 is just challenging.

    Fates had some nice chapters too. Like conquest chapter 10, 12, and 18.

    Awakening's Chapter 10 (or 9) the one with the best theme in the game who's name I won't speak.  That chapter isn't anything to write home about, but for awakening, it gives incentive to rush, the boss is more memorable than the main villian of the next two arcs, and the music sets the tone for what the characters go through, making you feel what they feel.  You don't need to impact the player's feeling directly.

    Lastly, I never thought I'd say this.  I actually Hate this chapter, but I cannot deny that it pits one of the greatest Ideas in FE history up against already wonky RNG and BS that the devs and Kaga love so much.  Chapter 4, and 6 of the Manster Escape chapters in Thracia 776.  It's just so different and Archaic that you might as well say that FE 9's prison break chapter sucks.  Really.  it's not about stealth.  It's about getting your crap, rescuing the village folk, and getting your ass OUT.  I applause Thracia for executing these map concepts so well, but the Bull Sh*t just makes me dread it if I need to restart it even once.

  10. 3 hours ago, Naglfar94 said:

    Haha you and I are the same when it comes to Lara I give her stuff too and ironically the first shield ring like you do. heeeey your Leaf got actual real speed? I am shocked my leaf got screwed bad in speed....and str a bit too he is..not so good and I am on chapter 7.

     

    Hmm are you using Karin? she could make use of it since she has low Def that likely won`t go up much..Though I would personally stick with Lara Leaf has 4 Def and she has..0 best give her something for Def especially if she is gonna be out there stealing since Lifis is ehhh not so good a thief and not as fast. Asvel also makes a good one he comes with a 0 base Def too which is not very good on him either.

    Well, any speed could be "actual" speed.  But I used one speed ring on him, and gave him the odo scroll.  That's about it.  Everything else is all Leaf (I know it's Leif, but I like Leaf)  I might need to give him lots of stuff. 

    Also, Lifis has been really useful.  He stole like over 7 tomes and 2 rapiers for me.  That base build of his is no joke.  Later on though.... I dunno how it'll go.  And aperantly... Dashin had the Sety Scroll when he died.  So.... there's that.

    As for Lara.  She sucks, she can't hurt anything without Scroll abuse or RNG abusing (I Loaded some save states just to get her strength up twice, but that's about it) and her build stat makes it so she can't steal staves even.  I want to use her seriously and invest in her because She's like a doll, and her speed is Sheeda levels of insane.  On top of that, she can promote 3 times, twice to theif fighter, and I hope that combined with loading her up with the Baldo, Neir, and Hezul Scrolls will be enough so that her dancer strength loss isn't as painful.  Why do you hate Lara, Kaga?

  11. Overused jokes aside, I'm somehow having a lot of trouble deciding whom to give this shield ring to. This is my second attempt at beating thracia, and I'm in chapter 8.  I plan to just complete the game at this point, and I'm dead set on making Lara the best she can be (Because I'm a sucker).  I know the sheild ring would be a waste on her, so aside from the ton of mounted units you get, who would be a good choice to give the first shield ring to?  Leaf and Fergus are already overleveled, and I'm almost ready to promote Asvel.  Dahlshin is dead and My Axe fighters (Othin and Havan) suck.  Any other advice concerning certain stat boosters I'm yet to obtain?

    Here's my Current Leaf:  https://gyazo.com/75f54ddadf65081e349ac0faab958500

  12. 1 minute ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

    I'd honestly say weight was no better, considering its tendency to give birth to severe weapon imbalance (See: Genealogy and the GBA games).

    Like I said, if you used them on the right people at the right time, there really was no issue.  I just found Fates's system to be more confusing and a poor replacement for the weight mechanic.  Everything is put in to balance things out, and working aroud them to suit your needs is an important part of efficient strategy in Fire Emblem, in my opinion.  Imbalance was never a problem for me, and I actually prefer it that way, as it gives me reason to use one thing over another.

  13. Here's the short answer:

    Honestly if you're going light magic, Artur or Saleh is your best bet.   Many other characters could access the other forms of magic, and with Bishops having the slayer skill, there's no reason to train them in light magic over staves.  Given that every weapon type has a legendary counterpart, making your bishop proficient in light (all the way to S rank) is useless in sacred stones, and that job is better left to a sage.  Since Lute, Ewan, and even Moulder do much better with anima magic, and Ewan even has one of your two dark magic choices, the obvious way to go is to use Artur or Saleh.  (Not even going to mention how much of a pain it is to train L'Archel, especially as a Valkyrie)

    Long answer, with Character By character "analysis"

    For Moulder, his high con make Anima magic or staves a must for him.  He can wield Elfire with no speed penalty, and the Excalibur gives him enough speed to make up for his lower magic.  Light magic is an absolute no on him. (Unless you just want him to use Aura as a bishop)

    Saleh starts with a B in light, so it takes minimal training to get him to S rank.  Plus, Saleh has a few good supports if you haven't read them all. He's my personal recommendation.

    Lute is either anima or bust.

    Artur is your best Bet as a light magic user, and Bishop gets him staves so he can rank much higher and use important staves much faster, but as I said, the slayer skill would be almost useless on him, as there is no point when he could use Invaldhi, the S rank light magic tome.  It's really up to you how you promote him.

    Natasha was meant for staves, same with L'Archel.  Make L'Archel a mage knight if you are so inclined, and if you want natasha, make her a bishop so she can actually one-shot the monsters with minimal training.  It'll be a big pain to get either one up to S rank in light magic, and having the S rank staff in either ones' hand makes the last fight even easier, if you want to draw it out a bit for dramatic effect, or if your units just get stat screwed.

    Ewan is decent if you want to train him, but with no grinding, why would you even bother with him?  I guess he can be Speedy Gonzales for a while if you have the guts to train him. 

  14. I really liked weapon weight, and personally, I think that Fates's weapon penalties were just over-complicated forms of weight.  For the most part, many weapons just reduced your speed or made it impossible for one to double attack, and that's basically what weight did.    Weight was more simple, and if you used the right characters with the right stats, weight became less of a penalty, if there was any at all.  You were rewarded with using the "right" weapons in a simple way, similar to how they worked in fates.  Only one major difference.  Silver weapons weren't complete Bull Sh*t.

  15. Dear lord, what is this?  I came here and started to find interesting discussion in the first page, and was inclined to offer my opinion, how ever small it may be.  Then page 2 came along, and oh boy, I tried to skim, but...  this is just a little much for just some simple skin tone changes, right?  I mean, it doesn't really matter.  While we are here arguing about the representation of fictional characters, real people in the real world are still being mistreated for the most petty reasons.

    To be honest, I'm glad that Mr. TryHard remembered that Garret exists.  People usually forget about him.  What were we "talking" about again?  Oh, right.  Racial/cultural diversity in a fictional game series... really?  In my opinion, it doesn't matter.  Race shouldn't matter in the first place in real life, but society already makes my opinions look like crap.  I just think we should appreciate that these characters are getting a redesign at all, and call it a day.  (Boey is the best mage because he knows fire magic)

  16. I like reclass.  Everyone says that it ruins the character.  No.  I disagree.  Reclassing is in the game for more than just "Unit A picks up weapon E and runs with it".  It's in the game for replay value, adding new strengths to failing characters, and just goofing around with it was never an issue to me. Fates and awakening made it a bit of a hassle with seals, but I can't deny that it made the reclass system more in tune with specific character traits. 

    I think it worked best in shadow dragon, however, because most of the units you had were personality deprived, near-generic units who got the most use out of reclassing.  Plus, it was fun to just go into a battle reclassing anyone I could into any class that seemed unfitting, and trying to complete the chapter with handicaps and forged weapons just for funsies.  And guess what?  It was hella fun, and didn't force me to think about how it impacted character personality.

    One thing that does bug me is this: Reclassing in the same game as branching promotions.  Seriously, IS?  Really?  Pick one.  Reclassing completely undermines branched promotions.  You are modifying the unit to fit specific traits that the player likes, and there's no real incentive to stick with it.  If I were to implement reclassing in a future FE game, I'd make it that once a character is reclassed (and I'd make it so Lords can't reclass, like in shadow dragon) you can't do it again.  Only one time per character. Maybe go back to the original class after promotion, but once you reclass, you need to stick with that decision.  This will encourage players to use characters in their base class on beginning playthroughs, which will give people an incentive to learn a unit's strengths and weaknesses, and also it doesn't impact character personality when you;d try to get to know the story and cast the first time around.  Let's be honest.  How many times do we replay FE games for the story after we've read it once or twice?  If reclassing was a one time thing per character, it would mean that any class diversity could lead to screw ups on the battlefield.  Meaning players would really need to think twice before reclassing.

  17. 5 minutes ago, Commander Xelon said:

    So reclassing in Shadow Dragon and Shin Monsho felt natural to you despite being shoehorned into games that were over a decade old at the time?

     

    Like I said earlier, I didn't get far, but I enjoyed what I played aside from having to manually end my turns, which made it a chore to play.

    I think why they felt forced to me was  that they had seals and you had to buy them, as well as there being branching promotions.  In shadow dragon and new mystery, they were there and you never had to use them at any cost to your rescources.  Plus the old games needed something to spice up the gameplay.
    And for some reason I like manually ending my turns.  Lets me veiw everything before I get killed by the enemy.

  18. I talked about supports in a recent video of mine, and based off of what we have to work with so far, I'd be surprised if we get no supports.  Even bare bones conversations would be almost confirmed at this point.  

    If you want to watch the video (don't because there are too many cringy jokes) here ya go

    Spoiler

     

    The only thing I'm really concerned about at this point is the marketing of the game.  Nintendo (and IS) are not doing so hot in that regard, and even if supports are in full effect, it won't mean crap if the advertising and marketing for Shadows of Valentia remains as stale as it is now.  I kinda want to yell at them; "What are you doing Nintendo!?" but then I remember that it costs a ton to make commercials or get adds out there.

  19. I've played Gaiden and Beaten it around 5 or 6 times.  It's a short, fun little game with plenty of replay value, if you know how to manipulate the viliger class grades. What I mean by that is that there are many ways to change up your team, and it doesn't feel as forced as the reclassing in fates or awakening.  Yes, to me those features felt forced.  I'd urge anyone to go back and play it, but it's not required.

  20. I think the reason Boyd (my fav) and Mist end up together is because you could see their chemistry from the start of Path of radiance.  Yeah, I thought it was odd, since Rolf and Mist make a much better pair, even support wise, they give each other better bonuses to combat.  But Boyd is a big muscle head, just like Ikeypoo.  Is it coincidence that mist sees something in him that rolf can't fufil?  I THINK NOT!  Fan fics and Head cannons are cool and all, (Edward X Lyre is my headcannon, even after that horrible 2 page fanfic I wrote) but I think that Boyd and Mist fit eachother.  Boyd protects mist, and Mist makes sure Boyd doesn't cause a huge panic.  (Plus she can make him clothes.)

  21. I personally never enjoyed Azura or Lucina, but I see why people like her.  Trying to recreate any character based on their popularity that isn't a sequel or a direct reason to be there (like the Lazy Fan service of fate's awakening trio) is just poor, and they put too much hope and time into recreating appeal rather than trying to appeal in different ways with new characters.  Azura is completely forgettably in my eyes, aside from the good voice work in the localization.

    As for female characters that don't piggyback off of a male character's spotlight, I'd say that it is very difficult to do.  When you think about it, there are VERY few FE games that have the main lords doing things on their own, without the "piggyback effect" either with duel lords, or plot important characters.  (The Jagens and advisers such as merlinus and Jagen don't count in my opinion.  Let me use a few examples: 

    FE 1 and 11 had Princess Nyna, Path of Radiance had Queen/Princess Elincia. The games with duel/multiple protagonists are obvious, FE 8 and 7 and 13.  Binding Blade Had Guinivere, and To an extent, FE 4 had Julia. FE 3 and 5 are really the only ones that come to mind that give the protagonist time to shine and develop as a whole.  Trying to build a single character with little interaction or second or third "Crutch" is something that the series has little experience with.  

    The reason Sacred stones worked with the crutch, is because it didn't feel like it was just the duel lords handeling things.  There were side characters like Innes and Duessel who's roles in the game were impactful, and had a part in the story, so the main lords weren't reduced to each other as a crutch.  And furthermore, Eirika and Ephraim worked well in the crutch department because their routes were split, and the minor characters would put in their effort.  More specifically, duessel in Ephraim's route, and Inness in Eirika's.  When they joined together, they had become more of a single entity, rather than two contrasting characters piggybacking off of each other.  This was made possible, in my opinion, because they were siblings who realized the same goal in the end, and had time to develop before the end of the game.  

    Does this mean that we should have characters and protagonists that try to hold their own in a story without any kind of crutch and we should do so instantly?  No, I'm simply stating that it would be difficult for FE to do so, especially with a main Female lead, because it's been done with males in the past, and few FE protagonists rely on a crutch. 

    I may be saying something completely stupid, but I think that FE should make it so that like in sacred stones, that the female lead is brought into the light first, and given more time to develop, or at least play the bigger role.    Maybe kill off the male crutch?  I've had a plot in my head for a while now, but I can't think of it in any way that a female lead could take the reigns of protagonist on her own.

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