Slumber

I beat Final Fantasy 2(4) when I was 4 years old with minimal help. I don't know how I did it, but it started a trend of me beating tons of text heavy JRPGs like Xenogears, and Final Fantasy 7 and 8 by the time I was 8/9. Final Fantasy Tactics was my wall. I had to go back to that when I was 11.

The only way I'm playing Russian Roulette with Nazis is if I can get another Nazi to take my spot, and there's a bullet in each chamber. That metaphor is dumb doesn't really make any sense, but a goddamn Nazi is running in Illinois, so I'm a little addled right now.

Jesus Christ dude, it's just a video game. You've been venting in this thread for weeks. Take a step back and think about something else now, not later. If you're so upset about this, waiting another month isn't going to help anything.

FFX gets more praise for multiple reasons. The cast of FFX, while still overall unlikable, at least has Auron and Lulu. Sazh and Fang are the closest that XIII comes to having likable characters, but Sazh is treated like a joke, and at least 50% of Fang's appeal comes down to her accent. The other 50% is 100% the reason Lulu works, and that's because unlike most of her party, she's not constantly spewing stupid bullshit. There's an emotional core to FFX that isn't at all present in FFXIII. The romance between Yuna and Tidus, the relationship between Auron, Tidus and Jecht, Yuna knowingly going on a march to her perceived death, and her Guardians who all treat her like a little sister all going along with it, Rikku's attempt to save Yuna that inevitably lead to Tidus learning that the Pilgrimage will end with Yuna's death. All of it is treated with appropriate, albeit with a healthy dose of melodrama, emotional weight. FFXIII has Sazh and Dajh, and that's about where the emotions in FFXIII begin and end. Despite Fang and Vanille walking to their deaths, Snow trying desperately to save his fiance, Lightning trying to save her sister, Hope dealing with his mom's death, and EVERYONE trying to avoid turning into Crystals or Crystal zombies, it's all treated as a minor annoyance to damn near everyone. Also all of the party members pretty much all hate each other and never talk about goddamn anything relevant. FFXIII's story is absolutely stupid and the game doesn't even try to present it in a digestible fashion. If you want to know what's going on most of the time, you have to go to the pause menu to read data logs. Characters spout brand new nonsense that you aren't privy to prior to cutscenes, only for the exposition that the game badly needs to be unlocked in the data logs after each new nonsense phrase is uttered. While FFX is linear, XIII takes it to an absolutely ludicrous level. The game really is one giant hallway until you get to Gran Pulse. Then once you leave Gran Pulse, it goes back to being hallways. FFX has side paths and secrets to find off the beaten path, and the game gives you a lot of reasons to go back to old locations. XIII crams all of its side stuff into Gran Pulse, and there's no reason to return to any place that isn't Gran Pulse. The battle system in FFXIII is very rigid. People praised it a lot back in the day, but go back and play it. Ultimately it plays like an ATB Final Fantasy where you control only ONE character. The Paradigm system isn't nearly as involved as it appeared at first glance, and it's pretty easy to determine what the "proper party composition" is for most fights. Also, even the leveling system is a damn hallway, while FFX once again gave you plenty of places to branch off in its hallways. Seymour, despite being the biggest joke of a villain in all of FF, is at least campy as all hell, and again, fun to make fun of. What can you tell me about Bartandelous? Besides being a schemey old man/god. "Moms are tough" Finally, the soundtrack in FFXIII isn't anywhere near as memorable as X's. Instead of crafting a soundtrack that fits the game that also is fun to listen to on its own, FFXIII's soundtrack is damn near ambient, it exists purely to heighten the mood of the game. Which would be fine if FFXIII weren't a JRPG, or if the game had any sort of atmosphere, but it IS a JRPG, a genre that's famous for kick ass soundtracks that can stand on their own, and it has absolutely no atmosphere. I can't think of a single song from FFXIII's OST that I have ever listened to outside of the context of the game. After my initial FFXIII playthrough, I agreed that it seemed like it got too much shit, and that X was still far and away worse than it. But playing it a second time, when I had the time to let things sink in and didn't just roll with the game's pace, it quickly started falling apart. A second look revealed chasm-sized cracks in the game's structure. Again, I don't think X is particularly great, either, but there are still things I really like about X. There's really nothing I like about XIII. It was pretty for its time, but graphics don't hold up, and they can't be the sole saving grace of a 10 year old game anymore. So yeah. FFX is a game I like that I love to make fun of. FFXIII is a game that I hate that I love to make fun of.

Fates is a big one. Star Ocean 3 is fun but dumb as hell. I like the gameplay and OST of FFX, absolutely hate the cast and Spira. Heavy Rain is The Room of video games, down to the main character's bizarre accent.

Hybrids definitely didn't start with Fates. They've been around since FE2, but they've been pretty sparse. FE4-5 had Mage Knights/Valkyries and Mage Fighters, with Master Knight being a Lord promotion for Lachesis and Leif, and Barons, who were enemy only. All of them had situational uses, but by and large, you just had most of them just sticking to either physical OR magical damage, rarely ever actively switching between the fly. Sage from FE9 and 10 with the Knife option is more or less the Mage Fighter brought back, only with there being 0 reason to ever use a Knife. Mist as a Valkyrie is slightly better off and can actually make use of swords, but she falls off in the endgame in this regard. FE13 had Grandmaster, Dark Knights, War Monks, Tricksters and Dark Fliers(With Falcon Knights gaining Staves at promotion instead of Swords). Dark Knights and Dark Fliers make sense to me. Dark Knights are just a Magic Knight concept, and Peggies in FE have always been closely linked to magic. Falcon Knights, even though I hate the change, also make sense. Grandmaster is sort of a necessity for a proper Avatar class. Regardless, on a base level, I don't think Dark Knights pulled off being hybrids well, and the other three classes were pretty middling. But this is Awakening, so anyone can be good at anything/everything. Tricksters and War Monks still make no goddamn sense to me, and they're the first signs to me that IS was just throwing in hybrids for the hell of it. Fates is where seemingly they just stopped caring altogether. There's like what? 11 hybrid classes? And I can't think of reasons for like 7 of them. And the 4 that I can aren't balanced particularly well. Certainly not enough to really justify them. I mean, Fates was filled with bizarre-ass classes even without hybrids(Machinists, anyone?), but the hybrids are so thoroughly baffling that they're easier to point at as a whole.

This has been a problem I've had with hybrid units in any game, really. There's really no reason for hybrid units outside of locking more skills behind level walls, and they very rarely make sense on even a conceptual level. Bandits and barbarians=Brutes, use axes Mercs and myrmidons=Speedy, skilled fighters, use swords Oni Chieftain=???, use axes and magic??? I'd really want the next FE to scale back on hybrid units, just because most of them feel like fluff added because there's some weird mentality that's especially apparent with Fates that "more=better". It doesn't feel like they exist because somebody had a genuinely interesting idea to add to gameplay, it feels like they exist because somebody was forced into a room for 4 hours and had to come up with more class ideas or they wouldn't get their lunch break.

I think I like this explanation. It seems to tie in to how Dark magic works in Elibe, and how Nergal is able to make Morphs.

Quintessence is just FE's way of handling "souls". It's a similar-ish thing(Though unlike souls, quintessence is more of a quantifiable, semi-tangible thing, and there still seem to be souls separate from quintessence), and it's more of a way to tie everything in the universes together. It's a decent thing to remember is there in the background, occasionally coming up in the stories(Dark magic harnessing it, Nergal using it to open dragon gates or whatever). I don't think I'd want a game to go in depth and explain everything in detail about it, though.

It says a lot that even in Archanea and ESPECIALLY Jugdral, that classes that are explicitly said to be masters of all forms of combat like Master Knight and Baron, cannot use Dark Magic. The all-powerful Sage cannot use it. Only people who have been taught to use it can.

Lyn is arguably bad. She's really just a gimped Myrmidon who gets no crit bonus, has a late promotion, and gains bows(Which isn't really a positive). Myrmidons were already losing prominence after FE6 when they lost their massive crit bonus, so a speedy swordie who CAN'T hit very hard, can't take many hits, and can't crit to compensate is... well, generally not fantastic. Obviously a better Lyn is better for 99% of people, but this is ultimately an argument about what's "optimal". Leaving Lyn on the figurative bench(Obviously you can't in Lyn mode, but just not using her beyond seizing) is more "optimal". Rath has bad availability and is low level when he rejoins. LTC/Optimal runners can't spare training up low leveled units. He's also a primary bow unit, which isn't great in FE7. He's also a huge EXP sponge because he's ironically OVERLEVELED in Lyn mode, wasting EXP that could go to other units who won't be underleveled when they next show up. You don't need magic, especially when the game gives you Athos right at the end. The one case would be using Luna against the Fire Dragon at the end, but again, Athos is there and can use Luna, so... The game also gives you Pent, who is just a better Erk who doesn't need the investment. Weighing your options as "Train up these units who are easy to get going and have very quick payoffs" vs. "Train up this one Mage who is slow to get going and won't offer you anything remarkable that another unit won't offer later on", the conclusion should be obvious. Matthew doesn't needs much training. Thieves are largely treated as purely utility, and the idea is to NOT get them in combat. The one place where this isn't really all that practical is the very first chapter of Hector's mode, but you can also do that map with a base level Matthew with no Lyn mode on HHM. There really is no "training Serra" beyond deliberately getting your units hurt and wasting turns letting her heal them back up to full. I don't think I need to explain why this doesn't fly in optimal playthroughs. Paladins gain Axes at promotion and their primary weapon at that point will likely be Hand Axes, so they're not really only picking Lancers. Florina is a bit of a different story, but she has insane utility to make up for it. It's not a conscious decision to only use lance users, it's just that lance users are mounted, and can clear maps very quickly. Just to note, I'm not advocating that you should only only level Sain, Kent and Florina in Lyn mode. Level whoever you want. I'm not an LTCer or anything, I'm just trying to explain the mentality because FE7 is probably the closest I've ever gotten to "LTC"ing. It wasn't anything set in stone, I just wanted to find my own way of seeing how fast I could beat FE7.

You have good tastes.

Out of this, the only thing I'll argue is using Wallace's Knight Crest to promote Sain/Kent(Even without massive babying, getting one of them to at least level 12 isn't a huge stretch. Once one hits level 10, just have whoever you want to promote kill Eagler and Lundgren, then promote before seizing with Lyn) early in Lyn's mode. There's really no reason not to, as using it on Wallace is a HUGE waste of a Knight's Crest, and getting another Marcus ultimately doesn't hurt. Do you need 2 Marcuses? No, but FE7's not exactly a game where you need units to promote at max level, and you need a promoted Wallace even less.

Basically horse emblem. If you give Florina, Kent and Sain tons of EXP in Lyn's mode, they'll carry you to a ridiculous level when you get them back in Hector/Eliwood's mode. One between Sain and Kent could even promote in Lyn's mode, effectively giving you a second Marcus, and you can promote the other the chapter after you get them back. It's really kind of ridiculous and overkill to do this, though, and you'd arguably want a stronger Matthew for a smoother first chapter in Hector's mode. And a stronger Lyn for obvious reasons. There is a reason to it, I just prefer to just give maybe ONE of Kent/Sain EXP to promote them by the end of Lyn mode, and give other units like Matthew and Lyn moderate EXP.

I was attacked by a pit bull/English bulldog mix when I was 8, and I had a phobia of really broad, stocky dogs for a few years. I got over it, though. Aside from that period of my life, I've never really had any animal phobias. I'm currently staying with my parents, and right now there are 4 cats(2 of which are mine), 2 dogs, and 2 tortoises. I love the cats and the dogs, but the tortoises are just kinda there. I've had a snake, ferrets, bearded dragons, baby ducks, and a bunch of other random stuff. We even had a family of owls who nested in our yard for about 10 years ever spring-summer-fall, which we fed and took care of when we could. But I think the coolest "pet" I've ever had was a crow who broke its wing as a nestling. Technically illegal to keep crows as pets, but we got the okay from some preservation place to look after it since it was a weak flier. It was definitely far and away the smartest animal we've ever taken care of.

Yeah, but even that's a bit of a misnomer. Arvis, Julius, and the Begnion Senate aren't really conquerors. They expand their reach and power through manipulation and politics rather than brute force conquering. They all technically do invade and conquer at parts of the story, but that's not their usual MO for 90% of the games.

Brady, Roethlisberger, Rodgers, and Brees are all fighting the clock now. I can't see Brady and Brees staying around for more than 2 more seasons, which would likely be a near collapse for each team(Brees has practically been the glue holding the Saints together for a long while now). Roethlisberger and Rodgers might have about 5 left in them, but they could start slowing down any season now, and that could spell trouble for their teams. The NFL could be seeing a QB crisis of sorts in the near future. Carson Wentz, supposing he continues to play as well as he did this season, could have another 15 years to his legacy. The idea of the Eagles being a powerhouse for 15 years along the lines of the Patriots for the last 15 year both scares and amuses me.

I am right there with you. I want the best from IS, but they haven't exactly built confidence with their recent efforts.

I'd be iffy on the plot points. It has some good potential. Plots where assassinations and such fail, people critical to the plot fake their own deaths to deliberately hiding to plot in secret, imposters driving the plot in unseen directions, etc. These things could work if well written. But I suspect plot implications of Chameleons would amount to "Haha, you thought I was dead but I wasn't!" in the most basic senses. It'd just end up having people constantly question if the character that just died is truly dead, or if the game will cop-out later. If they were MORE prevalent in the plot, I think it'd have to be at most like, 2 in the story. You'd have to be able to keep track of every single Chameleon. I think it would have to be a limited resource in the story. I do think more dragons with the abilities of Xane would be neat for gameplay, though.

Howdy. People are pretty friendly here, and the ones that aren't... make it obvious quickly. Hope you enjoy it here!

As you can probably guess with my Deltron 3030 choice as one of my all time favorites, I'd probably have to give If You Must the #2 spot from THPS3. Then it'd probably be The Boy Who Destroyed the World(Oh, my young, naive 10 year old self having no idea the... horrible abomination that AFI would become...). Then it'd be a toss up between Amoeba and 96 Bitter Beings. I have a bit of a punk bias, clearly. That said, I really, really enjoy Disengage the Simulator by CKY. I probably like that song a bit more than 96 Bitter Beings, but 96 Bitter Beings was definitely a better choice for a skating game. Debaser's up there with my favorites, too. I'd probably put Mr. Grieves as my favorite Pixies song, but Debaser is a close, close second. Well you should have just said so! I'll do some more pimping of newer artists I really like. It's really easy to recommend established stuff that's been around for 25+ years, so I'll keep giving love to newer stuff. This is something more along the lines of kind of groovy indie as some of the last stuff I posted. And this band has technically been around for 14 years, but they've only really been putting out stuff for 10: And this one... I don't even know why I love it so much. It's got a really fun energy to it. But it got me into Foxy Shazam, which is a bizarre band I've really enjoyed. And then there's this, which has the sound of music I'd probably make if I did anything with my musical ability. This kind of echo-y vocals, clean guitar, "City at night" kind of vibe-y rock:

Definitely heartburn.

Yeah, but this is the Pats' MO recently. They give up a ton of points then come back in the second half. Only their comeback was stopped early this game.

The only thing scarier than Philly sports fans after a loss is Philly sports fans after a win.

Everybody on the outside is just happy to maybe see a team that isn't the Pats representing the AFC in the SB. And now we watch as Philly burns itself to the ground.