General Banzai
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Posts posted by General Banzai
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The thing a lot of people miss here is that sometimes units aren't designed to be GOOD per se, but fun. An Est archetype, for instance, is driven by the underlying satisfaction one receives from putting a lot of hard work into something and seeing it eventually pay off. Even if in the context of a serious run these units aren't useful, they still provide variety and entertainment. Additionally, if every unit was good, it wouldn't be fun playing through the game and finding the best units. It would actually diminish the gameplay if you could just toss out any combination of units and have the exact same experience. Part of the replayability is trying different units, and the developers probably don't develop with the idea that players have access to growth rates in mind.
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I would also like to mention that in 2012 I wrote a novel about a brash, tells-it-like-it-is cult of personality dictator rising to power through democratic means on a right-wing, nativist, anti-Islamic, militaristic platform. (Although the novel is set in Europe, not the United States.) If you looked at elections in Europe, which account for much more fringe groups due to having multi-party systems, these kinds of platforms were snowballing popular support as early as 2004, when the Netherlands saw about 25% of its vote go to an extreme nativist party. The point is, none of what is happening now is coming out of nowhere, it's been building especially since the early 00s. Why? Well, terrorism is a major reason. Of course, people often don't realize that the exact aim of terrorism, and the best way for them to achieve their goals of inciting a race war between Muslims and the rest of the world, is to cause these kinds of institutionalized prejudices against Muslims that will then sway Muslims to the Jihadist cause.
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In 2008, before Obama took office, the entire world despised the United States. Trump's cabinet is filled with incompetent cronies and his executive orders thus far have demonstrated a complete lack of knowledge about geopolitics. Trump's insistence on "America First" as an excuse to screw over the global economy, when the global economy already privileges the United States at the expense of most nations, is baseless jingoism set against a nefarious, nebulous "globalist" other that does not, in actuality, exist. Trump's constituents claim that only the rich are getting richer and the poor are being left out. But they support a man who wants to give tax cuts to the rich. Even if he also cuts taxes for poorer people, the net loss in terms of benefits, infrastructure, and safety will more than outweigh the temporary financial gains. Lowering taxes worked poorly for both Reagan and W. Bush, the last two who tried it, so I don't know why anyone would think they would work now.
On the level of crime, Trump's policies would return us to 1980s levels of police militarization, where poor inner city communities were brutally subjugated in the name of "law and order." This actually caused crime to skyrocket during that time, because when the police treat people like scum, the people tend to treat the police, and the institutions they represent, like scum in turn. Ever since the 1992 Rodney King riots caused major inner-city police reform, ending the "War on Drugs" de facto and fostering cooperation between police and the communities they serve, crime has been on the decline. Crime is currently at its lowest point in around 40 years. Yet Donald Trump, in his debates, claimed "it's like medieval times out there" and has made similar hyperbolic lies about crime in the state of inner city neghborhoods, pandering to a mostly white, mostly rural constituency who has never been to the inner city. But that is Trump's modus operandi as a politician; invent or greatly exaggerate a problem (crime, Mexican immigration, Islamic terrorism), demonize an entire group of people, and propose ridiculous, costly, discriminatory legislation to "fix" said problem.
Of course, most people who do business with Trump know him to be a shyster and more of a reality TV personality than a legitimate businessman, who frequently "fails upward," profiting at the executive level off of failed or failing business ventures. It's no surprise he would take a similar approach to his politics, and it's shameful that any fragment of the population, let alone a significant one, has bought his used car salesman act so wholeheartedly.
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Sacred Stones, back in 2005.
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More likely the smooth as fuck gameplay, Casual Mode, and a more anime art style did it
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2 hours ago, AbsoluteZer0Nova said:
I can agree with that. I liked Conquest's story, but I would be in denial if I said it didn't have problems. Last I recall though wasn't Radiant Dawn met with harsh story criticism before and then years later it's now not as vocal? I see the same happening for Conquest eventually at some point perhaps, I still largely think most of the outcry of its story being completely irredeemable is that a lot of people are just not too pleased about how it's story was marketed with the whole fighting a kingdom from the inside, though I also see Birthright in the same light due to how Corrin was highlighted as the birth siblings for the Hoshidan royals and yet he recovers from the revelation that he isn't so easily... and I could go on, but I already had a topic of my reasons of enjoying Conquest's story more than Birthright's generic story which doesn't even feel like a war story with issues of its own on the flip side.
I'm curious about Gaiden's story seeing as how the game is being remade, especially since it's considered the black sheep of the series which Sacred Stones got some of its gameplay elements from.
I'm not gonna lie, despite its flaws I also like Conquest's story. It might be because I heard such negative backlash against it going in, and also because I started with the far more bland Birthright, but Conquest at least tries interesting stuff? It's at least attempting to be innovative, and I think in a lot of its attempts it actually succeeds. I like the situation the Avatar is placed in, where they have to awkwardly tiptoe around Garon's madness while also trying to not be an evil dickhead. It's a good premise with inherent tension. I like the early chapter where you go to Flora's village and Silas has a bunch of characterization for no reason. I like that the story really ties into the gameplay with neat map design. Yeah, it's still written poorly, definitely more poorly than FE7, but it delivers on certain fundamentals that FE7 lacks. It's easily the best "New FE" storyline and I don't understand why it's so reviled.
Also, I like that IS tried. After Awakening success, it would be real easy to lie back and phone in infinity no effort stories. But the attempted something innovative and brought in renowned story people to make the story work. It didn't work, they executed like donguses, but they tried. It's why I can't be too hard on FERD, either. It's got major issues, but it's clear IS is attempting something ambitious, beyond their usual ability.
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10 minutes ago, Irysa said:
who are you and what have you done with banzai
Actually I'd still probably say that FE7's story is worse than FE14 Conquest's story. But it's real close.
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5 hours ago, Busterman64 said:
While some changes like Wendy to Gwendoly is pretty ok with me(its still has the Wendy part in it "Gwendolyn"
) and Marduk is alright(but Murduk kinda sounds cooler), Why the heck was Shin(FE6) changed to Sin? Why take out the "H"? 
Shin and Sin are rendered exactly the same in Katakana.
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Considering Thracia is almost unplayable in English with the existing patch, that one.
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Ephraim is reckless and self-sacrificing. Eirika is naive and idealistic.
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If you can't see that there is a tremendously different narrative tone between 1-12 and 13-14, or refuse to believe that anybody might prefer one tone over the other, you're deluding yourself.
QuoteMost of Fire Emblem's stories in the end leave a lot to be desired. Some are worst than others, but in the end, they all kind of suck. But this doesn't keep them from acting like Fates is the worst thing to ever touch the series.
Despite your arrogant posturing otherwise, it's not incontrovertible fact that all stories in all FEs "kind of suck." FESS and POR have good stories. RD and 7 have stories that, while deeply flawed, have some good elements. Other stories, like Thracia, 6, and SD, are at least elegant in their simplicity. That's nowhere near the level of absolute steaming garbage that is 13 and 14's stories, which are mindnumbing to the point of being an affront to a player in search of a serious fantasy narrative. "All FE stories are the same" is basically like saying "the Republican and Democrat parties are the same."
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51 minutes ago, The DanMan said:
It's kinda just a common localization tactic; make things more exotic. The sterling example is FFVI, where Tina became Terra. In Monster Hunter, monster subspecies are literally "monster name subspecies"; in the localization, it'll be (for instance) "Azure Rathalos" or "Glacial Agnaktor" or some adjective better describing it.
Even in FESS, Rachel became L'Arachel. Names that seem exotic and fitting for a medieval setting to the Japanese don't always seem that way to western audiences. Hence, localization.
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I would like to just say that I proposed the Eyrios -> Ilios change infinity years ago and people laughed at me, where are you all at now HUH?
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3 minutes ago, Othin said:
god dammit, not again
They're just trying to spite you at this point.
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Gaidan remake looks god tier. The fact that there's no obnoxious nine month wait for localization is making me hyped almost as much as the fantastic art.
People rag on FE13/14, but damn I'm enjoying this whole "People actually play Fire Emblem" thing
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Are we sure this is right? Lachesis is back to being Lachesis, even though she was Raquesis in Awakening. And, uh, Marduk.
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For 9, no. I got the game at launch and played through it quickly, and this was in 2006, when I was only starting out online.
For 13, no. I didn't get the game at launch, but I wasn't going on FE fan sites when I did get it.
For 4, possibly. Back in 06-07, every FE hipster held it up as the best story in the series, which is quite honestly a laughable thing to say, because its story is awful. Thracia has a better story.
For 14, the fact that so many people hated Conquest's story was possibly a reason why I thought Conquest's story was good. I mean, it's certainly better than what most people say, and a lot of people were treating it like an incomprehensible mess, which it isn't. It's actually rather unique and does some things well. It's still poorly written, of course, but that goes with all of FE14.
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1 minute ago, Jotari said:
I (not a detractor of the game) contest this claim. Valter just seemed like a less fun worse dressed version of Narshen, Riev managed to be amazingly forgettable, the villains in Erikia's route basically flt like filler, Selena was just a typical Camus with the woobie factor maxed out (not a trait I think gells altogether well with the archetype), Orson was interesting in theory and not terribly executed but still failed to leave any significant impression by only appearing in three chapters (with a very large gap in between), Vigarde is practically non existent which makes him worse than even Garon in my eyes, Fomortiis was more generic than Manfroy and Lyon, the highly praised crowning jewel of the game, while interesting and well written, felt incredibly rushed to me by appearing only in the last few chapters of the game. The only villain that I think absolutely nailed it in Sacred Stones was Caellach who in my eyes basically carried the bad guys team with how successful he was at smashing rocks. All with a strangely optimistic personality for a ruthless killer.
The first thing FESS villains have in their court is the fact that they actually appear in the story. You dock Orson for only appearing three times, but take a look at any other Fire Emblem and that's a typical number of appearances for a MAJOR villain, let alone a minor one. And all of Orson's appearances are extremely memorable; he starts as an overpowered Jeigan, then he backstabs the party, then we have his immaculate Chapter 16 extravaganza.
Yeah, several of the villains follow tropes; but it's the writing that sells these things. Narshen gets "If we don't get Ostia under control by the time General Narshen arrives, he'll laugh at us!" Valter opens with "You're just a corpse who does not know he is dead." You see him in action starting in the Prologue, establishing himself as a legitimate threat, whereas Narshen bumbles around a lot and by the end of his tenure is stammering in Murdock's face. I grant that Selena is a worse Camus than Bryce, but as far as the archetype goes, both are near the top.
On top of that, the villains in FESS are all strung along a common theme of corruption, where they were originally admirable men of high standing who have since either gone mad with violence, ambition, or some other vice. The villains are like a cadre of Greek tragic heroes after the end of their tragedy. They all look emaciated, sunken-eyed, almost zombielike; it's especially pronounced in Orson and Lyon's transformations, but Valter, Caellach, Vigarde, and Riev all harbor similar traits. They are all visually similar to the undead monsters that serve as the ultimate adversary of the work, despite many of these characters having no actual connection to them. These kinds of parallels, alongside the shared theme of corruption or falling from grace, tie the work together and contribute to the feeling of lean tightness I described in my previous post. Most FEs shamble from plot point to plot point and dispense a wide variety of disparate characters at almost random intervals to obstruct the protagonist; PoR is no exception in this sense. There's nothing exceptionally flashy or unique about anything FESS does, but it at least does something and does it with a concerted and unified purpose throughout its duration.
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Back in the day I extolled PoR for best FE story, and in a lot of ways it delivers where other installments in the series fall flat. It does a great job of characterizing the entire cast, especially a larger collection of major characters than FE usually can handle. In addition, the chapter-to-chapter scenarios often revolve around significant tactical and moral decisions Ike has to make, bringing a lot of weight to the player's actions and integrating the story into the gameplay in a way reminiscent of, and superior to, Thracia 776. Individual minor characters like Jill receive character arcs that tie into the story itself and in general you get a lot more going on than other FE games, as well as a lot more done competently.
Where does it fall apart? Anticlimax, anticlimax, anticlimax.
Now I regard FESS as the best story in the series. It's simpler and leaner, so it lacks a lot of the more interesting frills PoR adds to its story, but it delivers on the fundamentals in a similar way as PoR and even manages a complex cast of side characters (the way Seth acts around Ephraim, compared to how he acts around Eirika, is a spectacular and often-overlooked detail that shapes the way each route plays out from a narrative standpoint). The story is great at fashioning a darker, more somber tone than most of the series, giving the game an almost Gothic vibe. It has, unquestionably, the best cast of villains in the series, and I think even the game's detractors would be hard-pressed to contest that claim. And, unlike PoR, it hits the right notes at the end and resolves the tension in an actual climax. FESS in general is an exceptionally polished game, with few missteps or extravagances, and the story is part of that package. Additionally, FESS and PoR basically have the same caliber of (English) writing, localized at about the same time by about the same people, so from a mere technical standpoint it's a swell read.
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All that needs be done is FE8/FE9 caliber story emphasis on the part of Intelligent Systems, but those games didn't sell so
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I did with FESS, abusing the fact that you can get supports and then restart without saving to add them to your log without taking up space on a unit's allotted supports
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Great work on the episode, can't wait for more
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Takes approx 0 dollars to create Casual and Classic mode, some people want each one so why not both
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Gotta get those Evayle support bonuses, yo.
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