Sire

I didn't really participate in this event as much as I wanted. I fully cleared 5 lotto boxes, bought some stuff from the shop, and that's pretty much it. I didn't even attempt the super hard challenge quests. It sucks I missed out on the Lores, but it is what it is. My phone has also been dying on me as of late. It basically needs to be plugged in and charging to even function, so that makes it somewhat difficult to play even when I do have time.

I've been playing since release, but I've been a bit detached from Heroes since October of last year. The Ayra fiasco as well as the 2nd generation of BST rubbed me the wrong way and sapped my enthusiasm for FEH. I used to theorycraft and constantly check the natures of my units. I spent $80, $40 on Deep Devotion and $40 on Blazing Shadows (my purchases gave me nothing). These days I just roll with whatever I get and do not plan on spending any more money on Heroes. Shoutout to my +SPD, -ATK Ryoma who carried me through most of the game, especially Book I. Ryoma, alongside Ephraim and Nino, was my mainstay team for taking on content and the Arena. Currently I either run Armor Emblem (Black Knight, Brave!Hector, Brave!Ephraim, M!Grima) or some of my favorite units (Marisa, Cherche, F!Morgan, F!Grima // Summer!Cordelia, Bride!Cordelia, Summer!Robin, PA!Azura). While I should play Arena regularly for the rewards, it just doesn't interest me anymore. For old time's sake, here are my first 100 pulls when I was regularly active. * * * * * * * * * * Past Pulls

Finally managed to beat Torna. Final time was 18 hours and 30 minutes. Long story short, I loved every minute of it. My main criticism is the sidequest requirements for the main story to progress. That aside, my main wish is that Torna was longer and we could explore more with these characters. At the very least, having some voiced Heart to Hearts and/or having them playable in the original game would have been cool... As for my impressions... For some spoiler talk...

I decided to take a quick break from Torna to play a bit of the main game and claim the free items. Using about 20 Legendary Core Crystals, I got myself a KosMos! I managed to get Perdido, Obrona, and Azami as well. Now all I am missing are 4 blades (aside from one DLC blade and Elma). Speaking of Elma, her fight is rough! I thought I could get away with using the classic crit-heal setup with a focus on driver combos (Rex, Tora, Zeke). However, Elma likes to evade a lot and is rather resistant to Break (even though I have two Beta Scopes equipped). I think I'll need to rethink my strategy and get some more Dark Blades so I can seal the reinforcements... I also found a crash. If trying to send out QTπ on a merc mission and she is the main Blade on Tora, the game closes itself due to an error. Luckily I wasn't set too far back, but it did worry me when it did.

Looking over the two scenes again (Brighid & Pyra, Aegaeon & Brighid)....

Regarding your second point about Brighid... * * * * * As for the Community Levels, I did initially liked the idea because it reminds me of the classic Affinity Chart from the first Xenoblade. Seeing the complex web of relationships and how Shulk and company impact their lives was rather enjoyable. However, I'm now at the point where the Community Levels are basically a requirement. I plan on doing the side quests anyway, but I'll need to play some more to figure out my final opinion on the whole Community Level thing. One thing I do know is that it doesn't really make sidequests optional, so I'm not sure what lies for post-game (if there is one) besides superbosses and maxing out stuff. The fact that sidequest progression is needed for main story progression also makes me wonder what the actual hours of play are...

I'm not sure, but the review I watched finished the game in about 12 hours. Also keep in mind some reviewers may skip dialogue and cutscenes, which can greatly impact hours played. * * * * * Personally I'm about 6 hours in and I think got the last member of the party. Given the areas left to explore, I think the 10-15 hours for the main story may actually be true. I'm starting to unlock the 3rd affinity for my Blades and my guys are around level 25. Despite this, I am having a blast with the DLC. I absolutely love Lora and company. I don't know how long a completionist run (all sidequests, maybe all uniques) will be, but I'm guessing 30-40. As for some spoiler talk and impressions...

Welp, I may not be able to grind out Nerofest since the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Torna Expansion is now out. I saw the intro though and it was pretty interesting. Hopefully I'll make some progress in Nerofest despite another game taking priority.

Yeah, I'm downloading it now. I'll probably play a bit since I have nothing of importance to do on the morrow. I still haven't gotten around to some of the extra DLC stuff for the original XC2 (such as the Elma release), or freed Shulk and Fiora from the Challenge Mode. Either way, Torna hype go!

Welp, this Direct was not for me. No Fire Emblem news, which is a disappointment. The new Smash character reveal is someone I am not interested in. Some of the smaller news tidbits are interesting, but there was nothing for me to go crazy and be hype about. The highlight for me is the Splatoon v4 trailer, even though no real information was shown. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is officially revealed by Nintendo, which is nice. Luigi's Mansion 3 is cool but is a way off (and I never got around to playing Dark Moon). Oh, and the fact Nintendo Online is like super cheap. $20 for a year is not bad at all. I was also highly amused on how much GameXplain got right with their predictions! I can't wait for their followup discussion.

Finished mowing the lawn in the nick of time. Now I can sit back, relax, and see what news the Nintendo Direct has in store. I'm personally hoping for new Fire Emblem info and a brief segment on Smash with new stuff (character reveal or the "Spirits" mode). Everything else at the moment is a bonus.

Wednesday Stream goes live in about 20 minutes! https://www.twitch.tv/sirmarcuscalibur * * * * * Edit: Stream has ended! We went through Chapter 6 today. I am still debating whether to continue trying Monday/Wednesday streams or convert over to doing it on Youtube. A part of me wants to finish up Valkyria on Twitch since that is where I started. Maybe I'll just try to pick a day where I can marathon through it and play through the main story in one go. * * * * * Edit 2: Streams are reverting to "no real schedule." I'll post when I'll be able to stream as plenty of real life issues cropped up and are impacting my stream schedule. Once again, apologizes for the inconvenience.

Man, I remember playing through Crystal Chronicles. I was a Clavat main (the red hair with the bandanna). If/When I get the remastered version, I'll gonna go Clavat again, but with the "main Clavat girl" that shows up in various promotional materials. When I played the "My Life as a King" spinoff, I had an amazing Clavat that shared her design and carried me through that game. I hope there's some new stuff in the remastered version, but I'll be happy just to play through Crystal Chronicles again on the Switch.

2nd Stream goes live in about 30 minutes! https://www.twitch.tv/sirmarcuscalibur * * * * * Edit: Stream has ended. Thanks for the one person who decided to follow me! So much for setting a record for streaming without viewers. We covered Chapters 3 and 4 this round, with chapter 4 being a lot more harder than I originally remembered. I also used a opted for simplicity and got rid of all the fancy overlays and the webcam, leaving only the gameplay and my voice over it. This may become the norm for future streams The next stream is scheduled for Monday, September 10th, at 7:00 US Central Time. I am still uncertain about the Tuesday and Thursday streams, so we'll leave that for later thinking. Edit 2: Monday Stream has been canceled due to last minute complications. The Wednesday stream at 7:00 US Central is still planned. Apologies for the inconvenience.