[Fire Emblem Questionnaire]

Spoiler

 

When were you introduced into FE? Technically, Melee, but I first played Fire Emblem back in 2005, with Binding Blade. Take it from me, FE6 is a rough start!

How did you get introduced? A friend knew I liked Roy in Melee, and he was computer savvy and *ahem* sent me the means to play FE6.

What was your first FE game? Binding Blade.

What is your favorite FE game? It's a tossup between Binding Blade and Path of Radiance.

How many FE parts have you played yet? Everything except the original Mystery of the Emblem and Shadows of Valentia. I'll get to SoV soon, I hope.

Have you played any other games which represent FE characters (Smash Bros, Project X Zone) Just Smash. I played the original PxZ which didn't feature Fire Emblem, but I didn't like it very much so I never got PxZ2.

What makes you like FE so much? The tactical gameplay, the huge casts of memorable characters, the music, the feeling of nostalgia, the variety of ways to play.

What’s your favorite theme? It changes depending on my mood, but right now it's Resolve (Dark), the battle prep theme for Conquest. Generally, it'll be something from Fates. That game has a million problems, but hoo boy, the soundtrack is not one of them!

Who’s your favorite boss? Hmm, Zephiel, I think. Or maybe Ashnard.

What’s your favorite chapter regarding on map design / mission objective? Ooh. Thracia Ch14, Binding Blade Ch7, Conquest Ch10 all come to mind.

Who’s your favorite character gameplaywise? Tough choice. Rutger, Dieck, Titania and Morgan all deserve to be mentioned.

Who’s your favorite character personalitywise? Marcia, Jill, Elincia, Morgan, Takumi, Oboro, Mozu, Flora.

Who’s your favorite character designwise? Zephiel, Robin and Morgan, Flora, SoV Celica.

What’s your favorite class? Tactician/Grandmaster, Pegasus Knight/Falcon Knight/Kinshi Knight and Mercenary/Hero.

What’s your opinion about avatars? I like Robin, don't like Kris, hate Corrin. Overall, meh.

Would you like to see a return of berserk staves? Hell naw.

What's your opinion of weapon weight? It's an okay mechanic. Makes sense I guess, but it could be implemented better.

Which FE part has the best weapon weight system for you? Path of Radiance and Shadow Dragon, I guess. Radiant Dawn's stat inflation tends to make it irrelevant.

Was capturing in FE5 a good idea? Yeah. Like a lot of things in FE5 it could've used some polishing, but I like the idea.

In which FE part do staves work the best for you? Do you mean in terms of effectiveness? FE5. There's no denying the supremacy of staves in that game.

Have you any ideas for new weapons a / o staves? Uhhh, not really.

Should movement become a gainable stat? Sure, why not? That was pretty fun in Thracia. Keep it at super low growth rates like 1-3% like in Thracia and it should be fine.

What's your opinion of dismounting and decrasing movement for mounted units? Don't like it. One of my least favourite aspects of Thracia.

Does FE need more stealth chapters? No, thanks. I've never liked shoving in stealth where it just doesn't work with the game's mechanics.

Do you like Corrin? Absolutely not.

Should dragon veins return? Yeah, they were a cool mechanic. Well, as long as they execute them as well as they did in Conquest, anyway. No more of Revelation's silliness.

Who’s the real Mary Sue / Gary Stu of all FE lords? Corrin, Corrin and Corrin. Did I mention Corrin?

Do lords need a rapier weapon? They don't NEED them, but they sure are helpful to have around.

Can you beat Gharnef? I always use WINdell the Speed Pope. Gharnef is no match for him!

Do you like Micaiah x Sothe? No, it's kind of creepy. It almost feels like Micaiah's grooming Sothe, and I don't like how his character was derailed into just being a servant to Micaiah. I actually don't dislike Micaiah, but I've always found this pairing just kind of unsettling.

What was the biggest WTF moment in all your FE playthroughs? Uh, there've been far too many to recount them all, so I'll just use my go-to: when an enemy missed with a Sleep Staff at 98 Hit in FE7.

In which difficulty do you normally play a FE game for the first time? Normal, then I step it up later on.

Which part is the hardest in the lowest difficulty? Does Thracia count? I know it doesn't hard a Hard Mode, but there is Paragon Mode. And even with that, Thracia doesn't mess around.

Which part is the hardest in the hardest difficulty? Awakening's Lunatic+, I guess? Maybe FE12's Reverse Lunatic. Haven't beaten or even played either of them, I admit, but they both sound hair-pullingly ridiculous.

What’s your opinion of the „Jagen-archetype“? I like 'em. Gunter's the only one that I don't like.

How often do you use prepromoted units? All the time, especially in Elibe. Mmm, Elibe prepromotes...

Did you ever start to cry due to a certain cutscene or an other event? No.

Have you ever used Wendy till the end? I tried once. I gave up before Chapter 8 had even ended. LOL

How do you face Rinehart in FE5? Haven't done Route A yet. Yeah, I went Route B on my first run of FE5. It wasn't pretty.

Does FE need a multiplayer modus? Nah, multiplayer just doesn't mesh with FE gameplay.

What was the highest hitrate one of your allies did miss? I've missed at 99% before, but the most ridiculous thing that ever happened was Raven missing twice at 93%. Of course, he got hit by a ~30% hit!

What was the lowest hitrate you got hit? Around 5%.

Are you excited for Echoes? Yes, but I can't play it right now due to money issues and the fact I'm quite ill right now and my ears are blocked up. I couldn't enjoy that sweet music!

In which part do you have the most deaths? Uhh, I dunno? I haven't counted.

Who does have the most kills of all your playthroughs in total? Marcia or Morgan, probably.

Who has been got killed the most of all your playthroughs in total? I can't remember.

Classic or Casual? Classic.

Olwen or Eyrios? Olwen.

Nohr or Hoshido? Nohr, I guess, but not because I like or sympathise with Nohr. I actually think they're a bunch of pricks. But Conquest's gameplay is so damn good.

Story or gameplay? Gameplay, but story is important, too. Isn't that right, Fates? *glares*

When do you use status boosts? As soon as I get them. Who they go to is completely dependent on my team and progress at the time.

Do you use arenas? Only in Thracia.

Do you savestat-abuse? Only in Thracia.

Funniest line in any conversation? Pick anything Kieran says.

Any villains you wished they were playable? Validar  Joking aside, playable Galle or Lloyd would've been cool.

Opinion about same gender S-supports? There should be more of them. I'm not even gay myself, but come on, it's 2017. Homophobia really needs to be chucked out the window already.

Do you like ninjas? Sure. Kaze's pretty cool. Even if he's a bloody moron on Conquest. But then, who isn't, aside from Takumi?

Any mechanics you would like to see returning? I wouldn't mind seeing Pair-Up/Defensive Stance come back if it's handled like Fates. Of course, Attack Stance would come with it.

Any mechanics you never want to see again? Awakening-style Pair-Up. Eugh.

Have you ever made thoughts that Ashnard and Ashera begin with the exact same three letters? No.

What’s the best version of the weapon triangle for you? Fates', I guess? If only because the infinite use weapons makes Triangle-inversion weapons so much more valuable and useful. I guess they just work well in tandem.

Have you learned vocables of other languages by playing FE? I learned a tiny bit of Japanese from playing the Japanese version of Awakening, but nowhere near enough to learn the whole language.

Have you learned sth. about the nordic mythology? Only as far as etymology goes. And even then, I tend to forget it. Which is a shame, because Nordic mythology is quite interesting. I should put more effort into studying and memorising it.

Which stat is most important for you? Speed.

Which class do you use the least? Archers. The only ones I use regularly are FE10 Shinon and Takumi. Occasionally Jamke as well.

Does FE need more remakes? Yeah, I'd like to see remakes of FE4, 5 and 6.

Do you find that FE5 has made the biggest change / jump in FE in terms of gameplay? Yes, probably.

Are multiple lords ok? Yeah.

Have you done a draft (focussing on very few and rather bad units) yet? Nope.

Do you use second seals? Yeah, loads of them. Especially for skill grinding.

Which FE game is most balanced? It's gotta be either FE7 or Conquest.

Have you played romhack(s) yet? Assuming translation patches don't count, no.

Which part has the most aesthetic graphics? The GBA saga, I think. Fates is worth a mention, too.

Do you buy DLCs? Some of them.

How would you describe your playstyle? It changes depending on the run. Sometimes I play it slow and casual, sometimes I try for efficiency (not that that usually goes very well)

What’s a good difficulty for you? Shadow Dragon Hard 3 is the perfect sweetspot. Well, if you don't grind up Wolf and Sedgar, that is...

Opinion about infinite weapon durability? I like it more than I thought I would. It could certainly use some rebalancing, but on the whole I actually do like it.

And new class(es) you'd like to see in future parts? Nothing comes to mind.

Do you care for tierlists? They're useful reference points. I think letting them dictate what units you use is taking them too seriously, but they are useful as frames of reference and they're fun to read. And I love reading people's arguments for why certain units should be at certain points in the list.

How would you describe FE in three words? It's cool, brah.

Hardest chapter in the series? Battle before Dawn Hector Hard Mode. And not for any of the right reasons. Screeeeew that chapter. Might be more accurate to say that's the most stressful one. And terrible. And hateful. And cruel and evil and fiendish. I hate it.

Opinion about bexp. system in the Tellius games? Useful, but too abusable.

Opinion about the exp. gain system for healing? That's hard to say considering it varies wildly from game to game, but the more exp per use the better.

Sigurd = Sigod? Yeah

Do you think FE has focussed too much on fanservice lately? Fates did, definitely. I think a lot of Fates' writing problems stem from the fact the writers were trying waaay too hard to focus on cheap fanservice rather than actual substance.

Does it bother you that FE shares Hitler's birthday? It... does?

Do you think that FE could die out very soon? No way. If anything, FE's going the strongest it ever has. They'd be crazy to pull the brakes now.

What would be a good skill system for you? I like FE5's and FE14's. 

Do you think disabling the enemy's movement and attack range should be set as a customized option? No way, that junk is the whole reason I never played RD Hard Mode. It serves as nothing other than a huge inconvenience.

Have you ever destroyed things due to anger happened in playing FE? No.

Do you think that FE stories became worse and worse lately? Yes. New Mystery's was too badly usurped by Kris, Awakening's was very shoddy and Fates is just an absolute trainwreck of storytelling. Echoes' looks really good, though, so hopefully things will start to change now. Mind you, it's not like FE is a stranger to poorly written stories. FE7...

Opinion about FE10's 1x1 support system? Terrible, I hope it never comes back.

Do you think FE is too brutal in the one or other scene? I mean, there was that one scene in Radiant Dawn where Micaiah was going to burn Sanaki's group alive and shoot down anyone who tried to escape...

Most memorable moment for you in any FE playthrough? Too many to recount.

Pair up or classic rescue, take + drop? I could live with either, provided the Pair-Up was Fates' system.

Do you like Anna? On the whole, yes, but I actually don't like her very much in Awakening. The thing I like the most about her is actually the RNG Goddess memes, honestly...

Which question did you miss? None.

Your feedback of this questionnaire? Fun, but too long with a lot of odd, filler questions or questions that are quite vague.

Would you like to see another questionnaire for an other bigger videogame franchise again? Sure.

 

 

[Why do you like or dislike Fire emblem Thracia 776?]

1 hour ago, Tuvy said:

 I never liked it due to the fact that some characters were almost unusable,

But Thracia has one of the lowest numbers of bad characters in the series. There's Tanya, Ronan, Eda, Shanam, Miranda and the Chapter 9 horseback units, but everyone else is at least usable. Even Dalsin, who's pretty bad for most of the game, is still really useful during the Manster escape. Oh, and I guess Saias is pretty bad too, if only because keeping him around means you can't get Ced.

[Recruitment Themes]

Definitely Tellius'. Together We Ride is a great classic for sure, but With Us! just really appeals to me.

[When do you promote your units?]

As soon as possible, although if the unit I'm planning to promote is really close to a level up (say, 70+ exp) then I'll grab the level before promoting.

[Favorite characters for each class?]

Villager - Atlas

Soldier - Lukas

Cleric - Silque

Mercenary - Kamui

Cavalier - Mathilda

Pegasus Knight - Clair, but Palla and Catria are extremely close

Mage - Sonya and Boey tied, but all of them are excellent

Archer - Leon

[My initial thoughts on all the character portraits...]

This is easily my favourite art style in the series yet, so I'll weigh in, too. I won't be factoring in personality or competence as a unit in this because I don't know much about any of that yet. This is based purely on physical design.

Spoiler

Alm: It's a nice design, and a clear improvement over his previous designs. A bit generic aside from the colour scheme, though. I do appreciate that he's a lefty. Don't see too many of them around, particularly in Fire Emblem.

Lukas: Another solid design. The red is understated and it looks good.

Gray: Great, I like how casual and easygoing he looks. It's nice to see more characters with a darker skin tone in Fire Emblem, too.

Tobin: This is an interesting one, because although he looks really plain and generic, it's such a neat and tidy design that I don't mind. His haircut is particularly nice.

Kliff: I like how spacey he looks. He has a nice colour scheme, too, I'm a big fan of purple. He looks a bit like a butler, though?

Silque: Easily one of the best Cleric designs out there. Her clothing is richly detailed without being flashy, and she's really pretty to boot.

Clair: Just beautiful. Her colour scheme is great, I really like her helmet, and that wavy blonde hair and those tights omg. Definitely a standout. I love the sass in her portrait pose, too.

Clive: Now that is a gentlemanly looking chap. Really has the "noble knight" look down pat.

Forsyth: Ehh. I like his hair, but I'm not a fan of the shade of green.

Python: I like the two-tone hair, and the blue is a lovely shade. His pose and face give me Innes vibes. I hope I like him more than I like Innes, though!

Luthier: His hair is absolutely magnificent, and those are some of the coolest mage robes I've seen.

Mathilda: Great, I love her outfit and armour. She looks tough. I'm not sure what's up with the helmet, though.

Delthea: Absolutely adorable. The super cute, way-too-young-to-be-at-war mage returns once again.

Tatiana: Just wonderful. Love the shade of green and the colours of her gown.

Zeke: Fantastic. His haircut is just perfect, and his outfit's incredible. By far his best design yet.

Mycen: Mustache perfection. He really has that wizened old warrior look down.

Celica: My absolute favourite. Her design is just perfect, her hair style and colour are incredible and her outfit is fabulous. She looks elegant, smart and charismatic, and her look perfectly captures her sword-and-sorcery fighting style. I can't sing her praises highly enough.

Mae: Really cute. Love the red-pink-and-white colour scheme, she looks appropriately bubbly and energetic from what I've seen of her dialogue.

Boey: Another one of my favourites. His colour scheme is marvelous, his hair and skin tone match wonderfully, and his outfit is the picture perfect mage look. Great stuff.

Genny: She's a pink Lana, even right down to the age! Really cute.

Saber: Good. Has a cool, gruff look.

Valbar: Ehh. Honestly, I don't like the armour that much, it looks way too clunky and the helmet looks silly. Impressive chin, though.

Kamui: Really, really good. He carries off that easy-going look perfectly with a distinct Asian flair. What a perfectly chiselled face, too!

Leon: I love all the purple, he looks fab. He reminds me of someone, but I just can't put my finger on who...

Palla: Absolutely stunning, undoubtedly her best design yet. Her green colour scheme is just as tasteful as always, and she's incredibly pretty.

Catria: Absolutely stunning, just like Palla. I can't quite decide if I like this design or her NMotE design more, but either way her new design's fantastic.

Atlas: Whew! If any man could turn me gay, I think he'd be it! Truly, he just looks incredible. Like people have said, his new design certainly matches his base Strength! I don't think I've seen anyone else mention this, but he actually really reminds me of Galzus. Does anyone else get a Galzus vibe from his new design?

Jesse: Good. His hairstyle and chin are certainly impressive.

Sonya: *fanning self* Be still, my beating heart. Just... gorgeous. Absolutely ravishing. That purple-black-and-red colour scheme is splendid, her face is beautiful, and her outfit... whew! Anyway, she's stylish, she's elegant, and she really gives off that skilled magician vibe.

Deen: Not a fan. I actually do like his colour scheme, but I don't like his hair much, and the spiked pauldrons just look a bit silly.

Est: As adorable as always.

Nomah: Very good. Probably the most faithful to the original Gaiden design of the cast, and perfectly captures the wise old sage look.

Faye: Completely and utterly adorable. Her design is cute and understated. Of all the Villagers, she best captures that simple villager look.

Conrad: Looks cool. The messy hair is a surprisingly good look, and his armour looks great. 

Berkut: I like his design, if only because he really, really reminds me of younger Simon Blackquill from Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies.

Fernand: Looks okay. Nothing particularly stands out to me about this design.

Spoiler

Linea: Really cute. The shade of blue is perfect, and I love the braiding.

 

 

[FE4 Translation Patch (Open Beta v7)]

I'd gotten used to Raquesis, as well... IS is fickle. I don't mind going back to Lachesis, though.

[Positive things about Shadow Dragon]

- Marth is actually a really solid character with a well handled character arc. Seeing him go from weak little princeling who just lost his kingdom to an accomplished hero in his own right is great, and it's paced perfectly. There are plenty of snippets of traits such as his feelings for Shiida/Caeda, his struggle with his grief over losing his mother during the celebration at the end of Chapter 17, his consideration and support of Nyna's feelings and so on. I always used to brush Marth off as a bland and uninteresting character, but on my current replay of the game I'm finding myself becoming more invested in his character.

- The story might be a bit simple and barebones, and a lot of the characters have next to zero characterisation, but the moment to moment writing is very good. The narration is excellent, and the character interaction feels organic and fluid. None of the dialogue feels wasted or like it's padding things out for the sake of it. It all feels very engaging and natural. The medieval-style dialogue is great as well.

- The number of gameplay options. The six difficulty levels, reclassing and forging make for a really customisable experience. My only sadness with this is that so many of the game's units suck. If the cast was better balanced overall, it could be really something special.

- I really like the soundtrack. The battle preparations theme is probably my favourite in the series, I like its map themes and Clash of Two Virtues is easily one of my favourite battle themes in the series.

- The high unit movement. The elevated movement ranges of every unit type relative to most other games in the series is always something I've enjoyed about this game, because not only does it speed up the pace of moving across the maps, but it also means you need to take extra care of what units you leave in enemy units' range. Horsemen can get pretty scary with flying units in tow! Special shoutout to Marth for having a whopping 7 Move and infinite chest opening utility. That's one of my favourite things about this game tbh.

- The overall lower stats of your units compared to enemies (on the higher difficulties, anyway). It really makes every stat point feel significant, and you really have to get the most mileage out of everything you've got. I like the reduced emphasis on dodgetanking as well, you pretty much always have to play assuming you'll be taking any hit aimed at you, especially in the earlygame.

- Save points are so useful. I agree with Etrurian emperor about the importance of when you choose to use them; use them wisely and they're a great boon. Use them poorly and you can back yourself into a corner.

- I find using Wendell to be way too fun. Something about a unit with those seemingly terrible bases and that portrait being one of the most flexible and useful units in the entire game is just so appealing to me.

[Games You Like That Everyone Else Hates]

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. A lot of people hate this game, and honestly I can see why. It's a radical departure from the rest of the series, the battle system is complex and hard to get to grips with, the atmosphere is dark and dreary and the D-counter puts a timer on the entire experience with no way to set the clock back like in Majora's Mask. But for me, a lot of that is why I love the game. I was initially put off by how different it is to the rest of the series as I love Breath of Fire (III and IV especially) but the more I played it and got to grips with the game itself, the more I loved it. I love the dark and dreary atmosphere. It's done well; it doesn't feel edgy or like it's trying too hard like it could very easily have been, but rather the actual effects of the underground world on the people are handled well, such as the deteriorating air quality, the lack of lighting and the fact the ceiling of Lowtown is painted to look like the sky. It's accentuated by the wonderful soundtrack, which is ambient and atmospheric without being dull in terms of melody.

I also love how combat is integrated into the exploration, with the ability to use traps and lures to damage enemies outside of battle or avoid engaging them entirely. It adds a great layer of depth and strategy to the game that just really appeals to me. And of course, there's the elephant in the room, being the dragon transformation and the D-counter. When the D-counter hits 100% it's game over, and there's no way to reverse it, and using your transformations eats it up like no one's business. The payoff to this is that the dragon form is unbelievably overpowered, allowing you to steamroll any encounter for the price of shortening the time you have to reach the end. The tradeoff is made worthwhile due to the relatively high difficulty of the game (on the first playthrough, anyway; it's admittedly easy to cheese it on subsequent playthroughs by carrying Party Exp and equipment over), encouraging you to think carefully about whether or not you want to risk using dragon mode to blast through an otherwise difficult enemy at the cost of increasing the D-counter. And if you back yourself into an unwinnable corner, all is not lost as the game allows you to start over and keep the Party Experience and items you've accumulated, allowing you to have an easier time getting further next time.

Again, I totally understand why people don't like this game. Imposing an irreversible timer on the entire game is not going to appeal to everyone, and it really is a radical shift from the rest of the series. But for what it is, I love it.

[Favorite Pokémon of each type?]

I'll only be accounting for primary type to avoid overlap, with exception of Flying. Otherwise there'd be a lot of overlap!

Normal: Cinccino (HM to Snorlax)

Fire: Arcanine (HM to Infernape)

Water: Araquanid (HM to Azumarill, Primarina and Milotic)

Grass: Kartana

Electric: Tapu Koko (HM to Rotom and Xurkitree)

Ice: Mamoswine (HM to Froslass)

Psychic: Azelf (HM to Sigilyph and Tapu Lele)

Fighting: Medicham (HM to Hawlucha and Marshadow)

Flying: Togekiss (HM to Ho-Oh and Yveltal)

Poison: Alolan Muk (HM to Dragalge and Nidoking/queen)

Ground: Groudon (HM to Rhyperior)

Rock: Tyrantrum (HM to Nihilego and Rockruff)

Bug: Volcarona (HM to Galvantula and Pheromosa)

Ghost: Chandelure (HM to Mimikyu and Giratina)

Dragon: Salamence (HM to Latias and Garchomp)

Dark: Weavile (HM to Hydreigon)

Steel: Celesteela (HM to Aegislash)

Fairy: Sylveon (HM to Clefable and Floette)

Top 5 Favourite Types: Electric, Water, Fire, Fairy, Dragon

Overall Favourite Pokemon: Tapu Koko

[Heya!]

Hi, I'm Apollo. Been a fan of Fire Emblem since 2005, with Binding Blade being my first, and been on a bit of an FE kick lately, so I figured I'd join up. Been replaying Genealogy with the latest patch, Shadow Dragon on H4 and starting up Binding Blade for the umpteenth time with plans to replay Thracia and New Mystery when the updated patches are out. I've lurked here for some time and am glad to finally join in!