Interdimensional Observer

On routs, I don't think they're that bad. If we talk about the seize objective, FE's original and still a common one, unless you LTC/are in a rush, or an escape feigning as a seize (see FE3's bridge battle), chances are you're going to kill everything in sight anyhow.

Because you don't understand what the Latin means. Or you understand it, but still get hung up the second word the way you would if I told for EXP grinding in Final Fantasy III, the best enemy to kill again and again is called a Kumkum. If you had to rename the red panda, what would you call it?

Just because you can rewind, doesn't mean people are going to whine about the game being easy. Or boast, wrongly, that they made it through the game without a single death. I had to load a save state two or three times to make it through THAT room in Thracia 776. It does not mean that room is easy, nor that I did the best job possible. I kinda made this same point earlier. Platformers have long had checkpoints, and more modern ones sometimes do away with lives, and some incentivize skipping checkpoints if you're of a certain mindset. A lot of RPGs put save points in a dungeon right before a boss. Why not offer something similar and optional in strategy games? I do see @Alastor15243's point of this allowing for greater "BS moves" though. Sure, these have looooongggggg existed pre-rewind features, but optimistically, you'd think developers would be wise enough to avoid making those nowadays.

I knew there had to be other relative stragglers, I just didn't remember exactly who they are. And Kaga even admitted he made the Sigurd's knights trio forgettable.

Most of Genealogy Gen 1 has something of note outside of say Chulainn. Gen 2 is noticeably weaker though owing in-part to the Subs problem. And Thracia 776 is indeed as you say Jugdral is, but not so many have played Thracia even with the new translation. Archanea did get remakes already though, and some would argue because the remakes did so little to improve its archaic characters, moreso SD than NM (which tried but could only do so much with so many), and the likelihood of another set of remakes for them is low presently, that Archanea is for the time being the worst. Thracia is presumably 2-3 remakes away, which assuming a B-team at IS dedicated to these, should come within five or eight years I'd think.

I can agree with some of what is generally said there. But, even if CQ becomes quick and easy with extreme planning, that doesn't mean the map design is bad. All difficulty in video games boils down to the following.: Reflexes Knowledge and Wisdom Luck Even intense things like F-Zero X/GX and fighting games are just these factors. Knowledge becomes memorization of racetracks/moves, wisdom becomes when you boost/what you string into combos-what is safe for you to use-what you punish your opponent for using. Then you improve your reflexes to make that wisdom work in practice. FE due to its gameplay nature is devoid of the first factor. Leaving only the other two to consider, and the last cannot be entirely controlled. Knowledge is the accumulation of information, Wisdom is the application of that information, hence they two sides of the same thing. The challenge therefore of Conquest comes down to acquiring knowledge, and then wisely applying it. What separates the "expert" player from a player who finds CQ hard, is how much knowledge they have and how wisely they apply it. This said, you have to be devoted to acquire that knowledge and gleam what it means. -The "expert" also keeps an open mind about playstyle and who they are willing to use to achieve their goals, no favoritism based on personality, or at least none that interferes with the ultimate objective. Map design rarely heavily entices the player when it's good, it is more the tediously bad examples which tend to stick in player consciousnesses. And, FEs tend to have average map design when you look at it on chapter-by-chapter basis. I did this chapter-by-chapter GBA FE breakdown to prove my point: FE6: FE7: FE8: -I should do more of these.

ANOTHER EVENT REVIVAL? WHERE IS THE ANNIVERSARY?! *Checks game's actual start date* Oh, the 27th of September. Hopefully the fireworks will be the last event before the Anniversary. And that the Anniversary starts before the 20th, I've got a Tenfold that expires by then. And looking at the showcase that goes with the fireworks raid, it doesn't seem so appealing. As good news, I free summoned Valentine's Hildegarde. I would've preferred a 5* dragon, but I'll use her. Got Valentine's Orion too, though no Ezelith. And Valentine's Orion is terrible, resists an ailment no Wind foe uses, is 3* so can't fully resist it and yet wastes two skill slots on it. Not to mention I thought he was a Dagger, but nope, he's a Sword! One of six Fire Swords. And I have the superior choice of Marth.

If the lord dies, just put the scar visibly on your record. Ironman is purely for show and challenge. Sure having a "1" for Game Overs on your record doesn't stop you from completing the game, but everyone will know your Ironman wasn't perfect in some way.

Reminder that IS doesn't breed purebred Wire Fox Terriers and have to wait for the litter to pop out and mature for a few months before deciding who sell and who to keep as dog show champion material. IS themselves determined who would be 5* exclusive worthy and who wouldn't be long before they came out of the digital womb covered in birthing fluids and all.

Probably. To take a razor's edge: Again, just me intentionally playing devil's advocate. Not intending to trash out of my own opinions necessarily. But, is it possible FE is still better at villains than the Tales franchise? I've only gone through ToS/DotNW, ToA, ToV, ToG, and ToX, and only one of these has a villain that I think could be called "outstanding", and even then, said villain I like not because they're a villain, but just because of their character.

Warpskip silly!😄 But you still have a strong 🥃 point about going this map the old-fashioned way.

I'd express preference for Shadow Dragon/New Mystery's two save points per map (one for the earlier maps). It's limited to only two uses. And they tend to be placed far enough apart to align for a save for a separate "stage" of the battle. That's fair enough to me. You proved you could make it past the first part of the fight, you don't need to prove it again if you fail the second part. It's like checkpoints in platformers, which nowadays can be just as optional- see Shovel Knight and Azure Striker Gunvolt. And in those two cases, if you play for score, you want to skip the checkpoints. I wouldn't mind a meagre 1000 Gold per unused save point in FE if IS decided to do that. They don't belong, ever. They have no signs of being different from any other tile, and recovering from them is hard. Thracia Remake better give a subtle clue which are warp spaces. Fortunately, it's only on one map (well there is 16 Shannam, but those while still invisible aren't so bad), which is otherwise bearable once you Torch it up and see what you must get to and what you must destroy. It's the penultimate map, so it's expected to be hard anyhow, and you're free to use up most of your good stuff.

Backslash and Air Slash are actual Arts of his. And Buster, Speed, and Armor are actual Monado Arts. Smash and Jump however are not. The Vision special in Smash is a reworking something that isn't an Art, but is nonetheless a signature of Shulk. Completing sidequests of any kind gives EXP too. There are a bazillion of them (too many unfortunately >_>). But unless you like a little world/NPC building, you don't have to complete them all. Although the two unlockable Monado Arts and all of the 4th and 5th Skill Trees require a certain level of "Area Affinity", which increases by completing quests. Fortunately, although Monado Armor is kinda broken (70% physical and ether damage reduction for a time on everyone when maxed), you don't need either Monado Art or the extra Skill Trees to complete the game. Not to mention the 5ths all come really late, and some require being much stronger than is needed for the final boss to unlock (but I wanna say Shulk, Dunban, and Sharla have easy-to-get 5ths). Monado Armor if you want it is fairly quick to grab, but that comes more than halfway in, so don't worry about it for a lonnng time.

Of course you could, but for those, given the MUCH higher stakes, you definitely want to buy into the fiction that your vote counts. And it isn't so worthless -in the more local elections most people forget about. And it does in the US presidential, if you live in a swing state, in a swing district. Again, you want to buy into the fiction, because politics affects your life, which amalgams of pixels in a mobile game doesn't. Not quite. 😉 Tales of Vesperia's Yuri Lowell just has to be badass doing his own thing that differs from everyone else to be awesome. The story fails in spite of him, not because he is already developed in his ways. Seriously, Yuri is the saving grace of a weak central narrative.

Someone pointed this out to me last year on SF. I was actually thinking of a way to reference it, but couldn't figure out how to "naturally" incorporate it. -I guess this is a remix the Medeus battle theme. But it deviates so much that I can't quite pin it down, although it could be final map themes too, since that is sadly the only place Medeus shows up. Though other compositions like "Camus's Theme" on the same OST are readily recognizable. And the choice of instrumentation is really random, sure some of the OST gets modernized, but "Marth's" and "Minerva's" themes are 100% classical.

Just listening to the two other renditions of it, FE3's and FE11's, I'd say FE11 has the worst. FE3's is still in a way light and refreshing. Not quite sure what'd criticize about FE11's though. A little too busy and poor instrumentation? But FE3 does have the best main battle theme rendition. -Which is negated by a Together We Ride which I recommend earplugs for, or a tourniquet to stem the bleeding. Though you are mercifully spared from that for a few months.

Chiasmir still has twice the amount of effort put into than half of Gaiden's maps. But honestly, it is filler-ish. So I can see why FE3 chose to cut it of all fights, the same for the first Macedon and first Aurelis. Although, Chiasmir being cut was odd for one reason. Pyrathi and the Wooden Cavalry were the two good chapters that were lost in the cutting I'd say. Correct. Lodestar sounds less like just combining two words, albeit few readily understand what "lodestar" means. I didn't even. It means "a star by which one navigates/is guided". So calling Marth a Lodestar is calling him a literal guiding light, that which leads others, and at the same time shines brightly. Lodestar was first used in Awakening. Shadow Dragon translated this same phrase as "Star and Savior". It's wordier, but has a certain elegance. It's not my first pick for an NES soundtrack, but FE1 does have some good chiptunes. Being so barebones means the core composition has to be rock solid, it can't rely on orchestrated flairs. The Secret Shop music is good, the Fire Emblem Theme, Together We Ride, and what SD calls "Trouble!" (the thing that plays when a chapter's story opening is dire) all hold up to me.

It differs I think. For Sharla is Arts usage, and I'd say Melia too. But I recall giving Shulk Glory Gauntlets for Haste V and a Double Attack gem at the end of the game and getting a lot more Monado Arts in. I think he is auto attacks, and probably some or all of the rest. Maybe 16 auto attacks for a full refill? I thought it took four Double Attack-trigged autos to max his gauge from empty. Although I could be confusing that with the skill on his 5th Skill Tree that gives a full Talent Art gauge refill every time a Vision happens. The exact cooldown is shown in the Arts menu, and using AP to upgrade Arts will decrease the cooldown, which does speed up gameplay a bit over time. Everyone eventually gets 16 Arts + their Talent Art, but can have only 8 Arts on their active combat palette at any time. The lone exception is Shulk, who gets only 8 Arts, but his Talent Art contains several different options, numbering 8 in total (two of which are optional), so he actually has just as many Arts as anyone else. And on XC note, somebody told me I can make a second account on my Wii U to have a second save file without having to delete my first for XCX. I'm totally going to run through it again now! Experience will make allllll the difference with this game. Now do I pick Commando-Partisan Eagle or Enforcer-Psycorruptor?

Tomorrow is the last day to qualify for the 3rd debate. Looks like it'll now be just 10 debaters, which means one night, everyone with a chance of winning able to cut off and criticize the others. The Monmouth pollster did admit though that the poll leaned towards the younger side, which works against Biden and his strength with the older electorate.

Whenever you get a Switch, I suggest considering buying this digital-only game:

Does it really matter whether you're physically ramen or rigatoni if you use magic? 😗 Nice to see you passing by however briefly again Vax! 🙂 Just a twisted sense of "for old time's sake"? Or did Julia summon you?

I tried the DS MMZ Collection, I discovered that even with Baby Mode Scenario that I was bad at the games. They're nice games for sure, but I question how much enjoyment I was getting from them. However, ZX interests me with its Metroidvania elements, and difficulty which I think isn't so high. My issue with ZX though is that Advent heavily suggested a third game would happen, and that game was never made. I wish this series was finished, since as is, I'll feel like playing something incomplete. Since all the Japan-only e-Reader cards were digitally included for MMZ3 in the DS collection, they should definitely have them here. And, that would hopefully mean that getting this Biometal OX in ZX will be possible, which needed a DS with a GBA slot holding MMZ in it to play. First Classic, then X, now MMZ+ZX, perhaps Pokeman will follow, by that I mean Battle Network and Star Force. I tried BN1 on Wii U VC, never finished it, it could be tough, despite being kiddy in appeal, and having a slightly shoddy translation, but overall I liked it. Could a collection for that series please include an off-switch for random encounters as a QoL update? And speaking of Battle Network, can we get a Boktai + Lunar Knights four-game collection? It's that or I emulate the first two Boktais, assuming there is a patch to fake the solar sensor of course. Taiyooooh! And from what I remember, its entirely possible to fail the mission that gives you the Tri-Rod and Shield Boomerang and never be able to obtain them as a result. Sure the Z-Saber and Z-Buster are enough, but I wouldn't call this good design.

True, you're right it isn't "damselism" the way say Maria and Elice are. Captive, but not damsels. A meaningful difference. I should've mentioned that, when I did include Fergus and Leif in describing's Karin situation. And Midia's capture in FE3B2 is one in defiance to the end, which is stronger than damselism is.

Just to continue outlining damselism because I do this kinda of rote data stuff: FE11: FE12: FE4: FE5: FE7: FE8: FE9: FE10: So, FE1 is as bad if not worse than FE2, if not perhaps felt to be as bad. But things got better with the War of Heroes. Genealogy isn't bad in terms of numbers, but it is worse in feeling due to certain captivities being rather prominent. Thracia has worse captivities in numbers, but the greatest captivity feels well-executed. In GBA post-6 captivity almost entirely disappears. With Ninian being the one great damsel exception. And this remains true in Tellius, and certainly the 13 world and beyond.

I'm curious: Ellen- Flees from Bern's forces on her own after being captured by them to ask someone to save Guinevere. Shanna- A mercenary no issues. Clarine- Captured by Narcian, freed by Rutger. Dorothy- Protects Saul. Sue- Is rescued by Roy. Lilina- Is rescued big time by Roy. Gwendolyn- Helps in a rescue. Fir- Isn't captured per se. But is tricked into fighting alongside bandits who plan to steal her sword, and maybe enslave/rape/kill later. Sounds bad to me. Tate- Fights for the wrong side, but does so as a mercenary. Isn't really captured. Lalam- Is rescued by Roy. Echidna- Fights freely as a rebel. Cath- Goes around stealing things never caught. Melady- Betrays Bern for her lady liege. Cecilia- Puts up a good fight offscreen for a while, but Zephiel takes her out in a single blow and throws her in prison. Sophia- Shares a cell with Cecilia and saves her from death from the Zephiel wounds. Likewise saved by Roy. Igrene- Defends Arcadia and is never caught. Fae- Caught by Bern and saved by oni-chan Roy. Niime- Thrown in jail on Ilia, on Sacae she hides in the city of Bulgar with Dayan the Man. Juno- Thrown in jail in Castle Edessa. If we count Ellen, Fir, and Ilia Niime, we're looking at 11 out of 19 girls, more than half.