Sire

If you are interested in Command and Conquer stuff, here's some random recommendations. OpenRA - An open source version of Red Alert, Tiberian Dawn (C&C 1), and Dune 2000. It is a recreation and modernization of these games with the classic graphics, so it is not recommended if you want the "purist" experience. Development seems to be multiplayer focused, but there are some updates to the original campaigns and mission packs. Perhaps the biggest thing is that it works on modern PCs without issues, as I run it on my Windows 10 laptop without issue. Mental Omega - A mod for Red Alert 2 that tries to be a "perfect Yuri's Revenge." This mod gets the most hype from me because it has an amazing campaign and apparently has great multiplayer support as well. Problem is it requires Red Alert 2 Yuri's Revenge to work, which may not work as well on modern computers. (I never played MO myself, but the official Youtube channel allows me to experience some of the hype with their missions.) Renegade X - If you enjoyed C&C Renegade which was the C&C FPS/TPS, Renegade X is around to modernize the classic. Renegade X is primarily a multiplayer game with a fairly active community that works on modern PCs. I play it from time to time since I loved playing the original's multiplayer.

Besides the Bionis Shoulder, I really hope they address the "short story" that was released separately that explains... (major spoilers for XC1) * * * * * That aside, I've been watching Miiks analysis of the trailer and it catches so many things I missed. One of the notable ones being brand new outfits! There's also of other stuff there too, so I suggest giving it a watch if you are interested in learning what information can be gleamed from the trailer.

Warcraft 2 - While I have played the original Warcraft, most of my time was spent playing Warcraft 2 making custom maps and playing them when I was a kid. I loved Blizzard games and went on to also play some Starcraft (Diablo was okay, but did not really interest me at the time). // When Warcraft 3 came out, that game mostly became my life for a very long time, until I was introduced to the wider world of PC Gaming through Steam (otherwise, I was always a Nintendo kid). Sadly, ever since Blizzard merged with Activision, the company has been going downhill and I am trying not to support them. Alas, it seems I've been sucked back into the void that is WoW Classic... Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones - I told this story a couple times on the forums. This is around Brawl's release I and thought Lyn looked pretty. So I did some research to figure out what game she was from, found out it was Fire Emblem, and decided to give it a try. When I went to my local game store, there didn't have Blazing Sword, so I got Sacred Stones instead. The rest is history. Samurai Warriors: Chronicles - My desired 3DS Launch Title. They didn't seem to have it in my local area, so I Ghost Recon ended up being my first 3DS title. I did manage to pick up Samurai Warriors Chronicles when I was in New York for a class trip as a friend bought it for me. I absolutely loved the game despite the limitations of the 3DS system. I went on to play Samurai Warriors 3 on the Wii, Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper on the Wii U, Hyrule Warriors, and Fire Emblem Warriors. I would like to play other Warrior games, but it seems they mainly focus on the Playstation systems which I do not have (and given recent Sony censorship policies, probably won't get anyways). Also, I hear their PC ports suck. Super Mario 64 - While I did have the original Super Mario Bros on the NES, Super Mario 64 was the first Mario Game I really played and fell in love with (I missed out on the SNES as I mainly went into gaming from the N64 era onward). SM64 has been discussed to death of how awesome it is, so I'll just leave it at that.

Looking forward to how XC1:DE develops. I played through the original myself and then saw an LP that used the "HD Texture Pack," which made it look great. Now the Definite Edition comes along and it also looks upgraded. Although, I think I'm going to miss the classic look for nostalgia purposes since that is what I'm used to. At any rate, I need to see the GameXplain comparison video... Actually, I'll just do a quick one myself (DE vs HD Pack). The image is in the spoiler. It's not great, but it gets the job done. Yeah, I can see myself missing the "upgraded classic look" when compared to the DE revamp, but I can't wait to see what all is new in the DE edition. * * * * I still think I prefer the original XC to 2, although I did love the Torna DLC for 2. I wonder if there will be any additional DLC for the Definitive Editon (perhaps Rex + Pyra/Mythra crossing over to Shulk's world this time around?)

I wanted to get it on Wii U, but never got around to it. Now maybe I'll get the chance to play the more "Definite Edition" on the Switch! The problem is where I will find the time to play it...

Welp, development seems to be at a standstill. The project lead and main scriptwriter's (now under the username Sub Zero) last post was July 25 and last visited Serenes Forest on August 4th. There has been no major development for months of July and August. As Von as posted above, there can't any progress on maps and gameplay until scripts are made. As scripts and story were Josh's responsibility (and the fact he's the project lead), means that Serenes Emblem is likely postponed until further notice. * * * * * I thought about writing up and submitting a script of my own, but then I'll be taking over someone else's role which I am uncomfortable about. Its possible someone else could start a "parallel" project that mimics Serenes Emblem, but I doubt there will be much interest in doing so.

Lysithea. I need my little mage nuke and she is the target of my "S-Support" for an ultimate run. While she did lose some points after I seen some of her GD supports (Ignatz, Marianne), she is still my S-Support candidate. I got her for my first run as Black Eagles. She did a lot, but she did compete a bit with Hubert who also performed very well. Then I got her for my Blue Lions run. I made her into a Dancer and had her use a forged Levin Sword for fun. I also had her for default in my Golden Deer run, where I finally understood the power of the Gloucester Staff. That +2 Range is incredible. * * * * * Otherwise, while not recruited for every playthrough, other candidates are... Petra - Petra is one of my favorite Black Eagle characters and she performs well with a Crit build. Dorothea - I love her take on the war post-timeskip. She seems affected by it the most and I absolutely love her perspective. Felix - Felix is probably the best sword user, even surpassing Catherine. I enjoy his blunt personality as well. Ingrid - The ultimate Falcon Knight in a game where Fliers are broken. Marianne - I joined on the bandwagon late, but now I'm happy to say I'm part of the "Marianne Protection Squad." We must keep our Disney Princess safe and sound. (Also, the Berkut/Reina fanart of Marianne being their kid helps.)

Reporting in my disappointment that there doesn't seem to be any unique dialogue in the GD Route when fighting against Edelgard's forces. Per usual, only Byleth seems to have unique convos, alongside Claude when fighting the main bosses. I'm guessing all the cool stuff will be in the Blue Lions route since it has Enbarr as the actual finale instead of "normal maps," but I have no idea. Here are some of my findings. It's not an exhaustive list, but hopefully it helps. * * * * * Confirmed: Claude x Edelgard (Gronder Field Rematch) Claude x Hubert (Enbarr) Claude x Edelgard (Imperial Palace) Byleth x Dorothea (Imperial Palace) Byleth x Edelgard (Imperial Palace) No Dialogues Ferdinand x Dorothea (Generic) Ferdinand x Edelgard (Generic - both at Gronder Field and the final showdown)

Trying to do the Church Route now as it is my final route for Three Houses, but I'm currently in Part One. I'm planning on speedrunning this playthrough instead of trying to do everything. The main thing I want to know is how relevant are the Black Eagle students? Do they still chime in on story events as a class or as individual characters, or are they just forgotten about completely and the Church members take over? I was looking forward to more BE interactions on the Church Route, but it looks like that may not be the case...

I didn't realize the Title Screen changed until after I cleared my 3rd route. Maybe it changed then or I was just blind and didn't notice beforehand. The main reason I picked it up was because I was watching Claude's English VA stream Three Houses and the title screen was different to what I had.

Finally finished Golden Deer. It had a strong start, but it started to fall apart for me in the latter half of Part II. With this I finished Edelgard's Route, Blue Lions, and Golden Deer. I was unhappy with my pairings again, as I wanted Lorenz x Marianne and Claude x Lysithea. I ended up getting Ferdinand x Marianne (what?), Claude x Ingrid (probably because I maxed out Lysithea, so when Ingrid was maxed out Ingrid bumped Lysithea down), and Lorenz x Lysithea (Not a pairing I wanted at all!). Byleth x Hilda was okay, and to be honest the only reason I went for it was because of the ending CG. My personal choice would be Lysithea, but I'm trying to save her for my "ultimate run." Although, I may have been converted to the "Marianne Protection Squad." Guess that's another run that may need to be added to the list... All I have left to do is the Church Route, but I'm starting to feel the burnout at around 185 hours. The Church Route pairing is slated to be Petra, and then there's my planned runs with F!Byleth alongside my eventual "Ultimate Run." Problem with the Ultimate Run is that its mainly for postgame, and Three Houses doesn't have one. // I may end up taking a break from Three Houses as I wait for the DLC, I don't know. * * * * * For details, click on the spoiler. May also contain spoilers for Edelgard and the Blue Lion routes. * * * * * Fire Emblem Three House aside, I recently started playing World of Warcraft: Classic again. As I disliked the direction modern Blizzard is going, it was refreshing to revisit the old "golden days" of WoW, even though I mostly played during the WotLK era. Sometimes, simplicity is best. My next main game after Three Houses is slated to be Earth Defense Force 5 for PC, but I still got a backlog of games I need to do as well. There's Smash Brothers, Octopath Traveler, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, and a lot more...

A crazy idea I had is to basically give Armored units Galeforce, going off of "an object in motion will stay in motion" mentality. These armored knights take forever to get to places, but once they get there they become "Unstoppable" and can cut a path through enemy lines. Granted, this does nothing for their low movement or defensive capabilities, but it does help Armored units on the offensive. However, Galeforce has mostly been regulated to fast moving things (Dark Fliers), although Three Houses changes this up slightly by giving Edelgard a special combat art on her personal Relic that grants her another full action if her attack hits. Honestly though, another part of the problem comes down to map design. If the objective is always going to be "Rout" or "Get to Point A from Point B," then yeah, Knights are going to suck. They shine best in defensive missions or in sieges where they need to tank hits from high ranged weaponry. * * * * * As I was writing this, another variant of my idea popped into my head. Give Armored Units a variant of Canto called "Unstoppable." After attacking an enemy, the Knight gets another full action to do whatever it wants (compared to Canto which simply uses up remaining moves to do whatever.) So, the Knight can move and attack again, move and use an item, just stay put, and so on. Again, this doesn't help the Knight's mobility, but once they get to their target, they can wreck faces.

Welp, I caved in and decided to try Classic. I went in with a Dwarf Warrior, which was the very first character I ever made for WoW. (I ended up maining a Human Retribution Paladin and a Blood Elf Death Knight, Blood Spec). Nostalgia hit like a truck. While I mostly played during the WotLK days, playing Classic reminded me a lot of why I loved playing WoW in the first place. The simplicity of things and the discovery aspect is amazing. One does not take on multiple enemies or elite foes unless prepared. People naturally form groups to tackle difficult content. It is threatening to suck me back into the void, even though I have so many other games and things I want to do...

I love the Turnwheel mechanic. I am the type of player who plays on Classic but resets when a unit dies, so having the Turnwheel around allows me to "save time" by just going back a few moves and rethinking my strategy. Arguably, using the Turnwheel and resetting is the same thing, because if you reset you will have to do the same moves (or similar) to get up to the point where you "lost," and then make changes to prevent that outcome from happening. I can either Turnwheel back a few moves to fix my mistake, or reset and do everything over again just so I can fix a mistake. For those who value time, the Turnwheel is a wonderful addition. I also like having the Turnwheel around for other uses, such as trying to see unique boss conversations. I run up some units to hit the boss to trigger the convo, and if the boss dies or the unit is in a bad position, I can use the Turnwheel and take out the boss "normally" instead of trying to see all of the lore. However, I do agree that the max number of uses is a bit high. I personally think players should start out with 2 Turnwheel uses and end with 6 (at least on harder difficulties). This makes each rewind more of a conscious decision with weight behind it, but still allows some extras to be used for other purposes if desired. As an aside, the Turnwheel and Casual mode are two separate things. Casual mode allows for a different form of play where players can "sacrifice" units without penalty. On Classic, losing a unit will still likely count as a "loss" for most players, prompting a reset or a Turnwheel use. * * * * * * * * * * As for the questions... Is the Turnwheel easy to ignore if you decided not to use it? - I always use the Turnwheel if I need or want to, so this doesn't really apply to me. Should the amount of Turnwheel uses increase at all through progression? - I believe it should yes. Should the amount of uses, or even the existence of the mechanic, be tied instead to the chosen difficulty? For example, taking away the Turnwheel for the hardest setting? - I can see the number of uses going down based off of difficulty, but taking it away completely sorta ruins the point. - Maybe Fire Emblem needs to make an Ironman mode like they do with XCOM, where the game itself will constantly save and there is no going back if something happens. This may please the more hardcore crowd. How do you feel about players using the Turnwheel to reroll whether their attack crits or fixing an unintended movement decision? Should we allow the Turnwheel for things like that, or only allow it in cases of units dying? - The Turnwheel can be used for anything, and like I said previously, I like using it to see different boss conversations and sometimes use it to "save level-ups" that would otherwise result in poor gains. So, I don't mind players using the Turnwheel for "minor things." Do you find it difficult to compare the difficulty between fire emblem games that do and do not have the Turnwheel? - Games without the Turnwheel may be seen more difficult because they are more punishing and time-consuming if a player makes a mistake. - I personally haven't really compared the difficulty between the games, so I find it hard to answer this question. How do you feel about the Turnwheel being treated as a plot device? - I don't mind. I found its inclusion to SoV as a gameplay mechanic to be nice, and it makes sense with its inclusion with Three Houses. - However, at this point I think players will be fine with it simply being a gameplay feature without needing any ties to the plot.

Yeah, you got unlucky with route choices. Golden Deer and Church are basically identical from what I hear, with the Church Route being an inferior Golden Deer route. I haven't gotten to Church myself yet, but I hope the Black Eagle students and the Church members make it interesting enough to warrant a playthrough. (And I love my Black Eagle students.) Blue Lions is relatively similar (map wise) to Church and Golden Deer, but then things change up after the Battle for Gronder Field. There are two unique maps for BL, but then it does back to the war story with the finale having its own twist on things. There's also the different perspective of BL and the focus on Dimitri for story purposes. (Compared to Claude which is more about his world-views and finding the truth while the Church explores more of Byleth's backstory.) Edelgard's path is the most unique out of all the routes, but is also shorter. Not only they have a vastly different perspective, but there is only minimal sharing with the other routes. My favorite route is probably Edelgard's due to its unique perspective and gameplay, but it was also my first route so I may be somewhat biased.

Only finished Edelgard's path and Blue Lions, currently playing through Golden Deer. I plan on doing the Church route as well. * * * * * 1. Edelgard's Route 2. Blue Lions Route

Just tutor in Flying with Seteth and Manuela. Getting to D rank is fairly easy, and remember you can take the tests earlier but there's a chance for failure. I managed to make my male Byleth into a flier without any problems. Granted, I'm on NG+ and have higher professor levels, but it should still be possible in a normal playthrough if one focuses on faculty training over other things. AS = SPD - (WT - [STR * 0.2]) Provided I wrote that right... In other words, for every 5 points of STR, it takes off one point of WT. So, 20 STR would remove 4 WT.

It's during the Enbarr map late into the game. I know it's available for Blue Lions as I did it using Dorothea, but I can't confirm if it exists on other routes as I haven't gotten that far yet. To recap, to get the Opera Company Volunteers, you need to bring Dorothea (or Manuela?) near the Opera House on the map. They will say something about the Opera House and the battalion is gained after the map ends. * * * * * * * * * * For potential specifics on all routes, click the spoiler below.

Pre-Timeskip you just need one or the other (as everyone is a student at the Monastery), but rewards are tied to what characters you have. Post-Timeskip you need both characters.

I have a new one. In the main "stats" screen, I want to see a "Total Stats" number. This makes it easy for to me figure out who to train or who to give statboosters at a glance. You can see it on the "battlefield stats" screen, but not the main one. Why it works this way I have no idea.

While a part of me wants to go into WoW Classic (I joined in the dying days of the Burning Crusade, so I mostly played WotLK and Cataclysm), I find it difficult to support Blizzard anymore since they merged with Activision. Their business practices don't set right with me which makes it difficult for me to be hyped about Blizzard products. (I want to be hype for Warcraft 3 Reforged, but its difficult...) However, if I do head back in, I may try out Night Elf Hunter or Dwarf Warrior. I want to go Human Paladin, but I think Retribution Pallys in Vanilla were a complete joke...