Interdimensional Observer

It was novel little something. In PoR, the bonus/loss is so small that it really doesn't effect much, unless your name is Boyd and come early with low Skl and Tempest, then it could hurt. In RD, they put more effort into Biorhythm with those different waves for different characters (the slightest hint of character personalization and world building). But they also made it matter more in gameplay with hidden item chances being affected in a game loaded with them, and more importantly everyone being able to gain or lose 10 Hit, and for 3rd tier unit, the same for their chance to OHKO with a mastery. Those Heron Galdrars that affected Biorhythm were useless as a side note when the cost was forsaking the almighty Vigor. Fortunately RD is not so demanding in difficulty that the biorhythm effects severely hinder anything, in Hard/Lunatic Conquest I would scream if Xander or Camilla happened to be at Worst when I least needed it. More little elements of randomness to take into consideration- do they hurt or help SRPGs? I'm not quite sure. Biorhythm in PoR did nothing, but did RD's do too much?

It is basically the same as Stella Glow, but a bit inferior since SG develops from LA and thus has a number of improvements (not enough in my opinion for being the fourth game in the series- hence I did not buy it and won't unless $20 or less). One element of this inferiority would be LA1 only having one ending and LA2 only giving you two choices (Althea or Fatima, and to get Fatima, you have to answer a bunch of pre-battle questions correctly to build your bond with her, but it is all too easy to end up with Althea). In terms of character bonding element, you have unlimited means via grinding to max out everyone (heart with a cupid arrow through it is maxed bond, not just a full heart- in case you fail) in one run, while LA2 picks 2-3 characters for every story battle (prior to a point late in the game where you can trigger little character endings with those you bonded enough with) and you get to chat with one of them after the battle if you fielded them in the fight (you can't max everyone in one go). Everyone in LA2 also has Hot Spring scenes with Roland save Alice and Therese, a set of three little chats with no extra benefit, but to get them, you have to field a character in one of the 1st and 2nd and one of the 3rd and 4th spa battles, plus the 5th, and then select them each time during the spa intermissions (so Rina-Rina-Rina to see her full hot spring chain, no Rina-Dia-Rina). And there are only five sets of spa battles, so you'll need multiple runs to see everyone's spa battle scenes if you don't look them up online. The battles are slow, but SG demo looked to me like this wasn't changing. And no songs with lyrics in either game beyond the opening trailer. Plot-wise, you can expect about the same- an "evil" witch running around and being fought for the umpteenth time only for the "true" evil to emerge later. I never played LA3 since it never left Japan (I would have though given the chance), but it seems closer to SG in level of development.

The BEXP I only meant of PoR Shinon, not Leonardo. Knowing his growth distribution, I knew he'd be bad for that. And you're increasingly showing me that Leonardo I must admit is probably the worse given the tightness of resources and demands the DB faces. I'll concede. Now that I think about no-grind ingame Virion is also very very very trashy b/c zero enemy phase in one of the heaviest games for this and bad bases, assuming you're willing to snowball with others. But again, using him doesn't take so heavily from the Awakening cast the way using Leonardo does from the DB. Heck RD Astrid who has similarly lacking stats might be better than Leonardo if you consider she doesn't steal as much from others, although her contributions in her forced fights are likely smaller than Leonardo's chip contributions in Part 1.

Fun fact of the day: 40% of Japanese males are virgins. No wonder the population is aging rapidly. 249

Historically speaking, the longest a post-Qin (Zhou lasted like a 800, but it's ancient and not the same) Chinese dynasty ever lasted was ~400 years. Japan's might be older and still extant, but it rarely ever exerted actual political power, sparing it again and again. Europe's dynasties managed to last no longer I think (well the modern ones will likely endure for longer- but only because they're powerless). The collapse of the One Kingdom in a thousand years is thus expectable and actually miraculous to have clung on for so long. But such is video game logic. Begnion is also miraculous, but at least some of those ~700 years were at first spent on Kingdom before radical transformation into an Empire. And we know there would have always been room for Apostle-Senate intrigue, which we have a good idea of. He skips to show us where his Roseanne is, and never get actual boundaries for Chon'sin, we only know it is somewhere in the south, and that Walhart's formerly tiny state of Valm was in the northeast.

I might argue Boey isn't that much better. Boey is slow, not particularly strong, and takes eons to learn Excalibur, the only really good spell he gets. Nomah just picks up where Boey is likely leaving off. PoR 20/15 Averages: Rolf: HP 40.8 Str 21.2 Mag 8.6 Skl 24.85 Spd 24.5 Lck 17.2 Def 17.9 Res 12.25 Shinon: Lv 15 HP 42.5 Str 18.1 Mag 8.8 Skl 24.8 Spd 22.1 Lck 13.9 Def 16 Res 11.6 Shinon has great growths actually, but the bases of this level 1 Sniper are that of a ~10 Archer, which severely hurt him and make Rolf better. His poor bases upon rejoining make training Rolf not so bad, both mono-bows need heavy investing and Rolf gets significantly more time to do something with the training. Archers and bows are just terrible in PoR, Astrid wants Lances/Axes and to almost forget she has a Bow rank on promotion (and she is easier to train). Reina is a rather balanced-ish Jagen, if the only one in her class. Shoddy hit, fragile defensively, only average Str, and her Yumi rank starts low. But highly mobile, her offense is decent (she should just be able to ORKO things with a little Str stacking), and she will always double attack. Balanced for a Jagen. Leonardo has good endgame potential and is okay with Lughnasdh before that. That could arguably said to be more than PoR Shinon, whose earlygame contributions aren't necessarily great since Titania exists and she can delete everything in the chapters he exists. Leonardo's issues are: having Skl, Lck, Res as his highest growths (could they have picked a worse trio?), the DB not having many fliers to shoot down, the DB wanting durable units not ranged fragile ones, and the shortage of DB EXP. All serious issues, but he can possibly become more of a net positive than PoR Shinon, who admittedly would be easier to boost up with "just" an BEXP dump. As for Rinkah, I'm not considering her good at all, but I think people underestimate Fiery Blood. If Rinkah loses just 1 HP, she gets +4 Atk, which seriously helps bolster her good class poor growth Str into usable levels (again, ignoring as an Oni her Speed is only average, her HP is low, and Skl is only average).

I'd say I preferred LA2's cast. Both casts are generic anime as anything, but LA2's had a little less filler and it felt better written to me. But I sold both and didn't play either in a long while I'd say: Alph >= Roland Leon < Rasche (I love his hot spring scene, but Rasche is just the better bro overall) Theo = Pip (Theo is a bit obnoxious about his shota-ness, Pip is a little more restrained) Lucia >> Althea Vanessa < Fatima (I've always had fanfict thoughts where she and Josie raised Roland instead of Steven and Rasche) Claire <= Dia Mel < Luna Vivi < Sadie Nikolai >>>> Kaph (I offer a petition to gouge out Kaph's eyes) Mavi = Pop (Mavi is kinda just there, Pop has a personality, but it isn't great) Heath > Richter (Richter is kinda just there) Pollon Pollon <<<< Josie (why does PP exist?) And of the remaining characters who lack as clear parallels, I think Cecilia and Ayano were alike good (they're loosely comparable). Gaston was fine, but Kai was filler. Saki was fine, so was Rina, and Karen was good (well good for mass produced milk chocolate bars, no one in the LAs could classify as something of a higher order of quality and taste). Also, Therese over Alice, but neither has much personality. Oh FE, favorite villain? Sephiran. I've written several detailed posts explaining why before, I'll just dig a shorter one one up: Sephiran isn't really anything special, just someone in the cliche where they go insane because they can't take the suffering in the world anymore. But within FE, he's one of the few if only villains to go down this path. Plus he constitutes the evil sorcerer of Tellius, but isn't "muhahaha!" and openly ugly, evil and clad in darkness. He's subtle, handsome, unpretentious, and holy. Very much an inversion for FE.

Cheating with a book is called pornography. I doubt Christianity is still at all relevant to Zelda, unless Link is Christ and Zelda the Holy Mother (but the metaphor would make Hylia the Heavenly Father, which Zelda can't be since the Virgin Mary is not of a divine nature and so it falls apart). And where the heck is the Christianity coming from? Don't tell me Link is wondering in some woods and then a chase leads him in the Legend of Zelda: Odyssey of Steel to turn up suddenly in Las Vaatigeles.

I believe the Japanese for Hero can be translated as "Brave". And fan translations of the Brave weapons have often called them Hero- weapons for this reason. Caellach is certainly brave, or gutsy at least, if evil. Calling a class just Brave, an adjective, in English comes off as weird. But heroes, nouns, are supposed to be brave people almost by definition, so it works better for a class. Brave being adjective makes it sound better when thrown in front of -Sword, -Lance, -Axe, or -Bow. They could could have called the class Brave Hero though.

I thought that was from a nonofficial source? Every LoZ since OoT has retconned that into oblivion though and Hylia is now retconning Din, Nayru and Farore. And if you want to talk poorly named legendary weapons, I can think of a game that has FE beat: Seriously. Swords have been made with iron since... Roman times? Nothing legendary about that. And then we have other things in FE, like turning the maiden Gawain had sex with despite Sir Pelleas desperately wanting her into a sword (Ettard). And Gawain's wife in another story becomes the blade with which Ike gets revenge for his father's death (Ragnell).

Since this is a Trails topic, might if I post some musings/laments I've been wanting to get out of me? I think I’d be interested in the LoH series from what I hear of it, except I’m bad at finishing games at a reasonable pace (my backlog just grows and grows) and I don’t want to be shackled by 300 hours of JRPGs just to get through the CS tetralogy alone. Adding the original PC (and I don’t have one) trilogy, and then this Japan only Crossbell duology would be what, 500-600 hours? Some math on completion time: Back to my like-disappointing reality issues, I don’t play games only for story, so no LPing the games or setting the difficulty to the casual setting, and as I have said that the entirety of this is only 60% of what they have planned for this particular world. Extraordinary ambition, but it sounds like it’ll be realized (unlike Mr. Tetsuya Xeno Takahashi who only got out 1 episode of 5(?) for XG and 3 out of 6 (which I overheard might actually only be two, 1&2 originally planned to be just 1) for Xenosaga), which is incredible. I also lack a PS4 for finishing the CS arc presently (this isn't a big issue though, but the time CS4 is translated, a standard PS4 should be available rather cheaply), and I don’t think I want to deal with games with high school or dating sim elements anymore. I used to be okay with it when I was younger, but now, well I think if I played Luminous Arc again, I’d go a little “ugh” at some of the scenes. Realizing my hopes for ever truly getting into the franchise are hopeless, I’ve allowed myself to read a bunch of spoilers from the CS games, thereby hindering the remaining desire. Still, while the experience won’t be the same knowing some big spoilers, I don’t think I’m absolutely lost, nor has the this killed the desire to play them entirely! Otherwise every player of FEH shouldn’t play any FE they already haven’t. The thing is, even when you know exactly where the roads go, you can still look forward to the journey. X may happen to Y, Z is a traitor manipulating the heroes, A is actually a B. These I may know, but all the banter and minutiae experienced between these things and while these things are happening, they unless you watch videos of the game online, are not spoilable, they are what one who knows too much has to look forward to. Not the surprises, but the unsurprising, that which few generally bother to discuss in detail online. That and the execution of the spoilers.

Isn't DW9 riddled with clones? They might wanted to have avoided this and thus reverted back to the game where everyone was unique. And I haven't played DW9, but is significantly different from how SW4 (which I assume plays just like SW3/C barring these Hyper Attack I hear about) play? That could be a factor. I'm just hoping no WO4-Hyper-Ultimate triple buy thing. Just patch and DLC if you want to add/tweak stuff. The hinting at Greco-Roman mythology (well Da Ji and her serpentine master have been beaten thrice over at this point and neither is particularly great as a villain), should add some variety. And possibly some new Mystic characters, and I don't mind some OCs. I liked Susano-o, Abe no Seimei and Shennong. Will all the old Mystics be returning though? And although he not be of myth but of reality, could Alexander the Great get in? SW and DW love their conquerors and conquest, might as well include one of the world's finest given the remote chance. Call him a Greco-Roman Sun Ce? He has a personality, unlike Link, but what is to deny say Lana, Linkle or Cia makes it in over Maneondorf? Gdorf without Link or Zelda would be a little off, one of the HW OCs would make a little more sense. I'd go for Volga, but Cia would work as well (she can fetishize over Zhao Yun, Yukimura, Muneshige or even Xingcai (Sword & Shield combo like Link). Just not Lana please.

I thought it was Divine Protection or Debuff Resist Gems that blocked AA's status spike? Blizzard Bzelgas and Ancient Daedala are who you need Spike Defense Gems for. And IRRC, the max on SD gems is 50% per gem, while Debuff Resist needs only 1 gem for 100% immunity, which isn't bad (Melia and Dunban have anti-Spike skills, but they cost a good deal of Affinity Coins and Melia's only adds 30% protection). Daedala reminds me that to get maxed Night Vision Gems, which will stop working if your current superboss battle goes into the day, you will need to kill Daedala multiple times. And I don't like having to farm superbosses or rare enemies to stand a chance against other superbosses- I'm never gonna touch you FFX postgame! XCX actually requires a good bit of Augment (Gem) making for the postgame bosses, and you'll need to grind resources for making an Ares 90, the easiest way to handle the postgame (and even the Ares will need some good Augments- just far less than every other Skell and Ground Gear build). This owes something to XCX being a little more MMORPG in nature, where equip grinding for the postgame is I guess standard procedure. BLADE Tickets you can trade for any monster drop in the game helps, provided you have other players willing to help you fight the Global Menaces, since tackling the Global Nemesies by oneself is not easy (and they're pretty much gone from the game now with XCX's online dead- having more than just two GMs would be much appreciated in a port). Rule no. 1 of SMT, as soon as possible, get Tetraja, or better Death nulling armor as soon as possible for the MC. Mudo is ludo-crous (Hama is fortunately naturally nulled by MCs not wandering the Vortex World- that one sadly needs both Expel and Death null). I consider Macca/Wastrel Beam worse though. Bye bye precious money! I had no chance of blocking your theft! And as rare as it is, why did someone invent a spell that reduces your level permanently? And those SMT IV Fiend appearances I never bothered with because of how much luck you need to encounter each and every one of them. I could handle the Famed Fusion Accidents, but I drew the line there.

I meant Black Frost would possibly be used over Jack Frost. Blackie is basically a larger and a little more demonic version of a standard Jack Frost, and is also supposed to be a stronger. Regular Jack Frost is a little generic and small. Even if BF didn't make it in, it could easily have its color scheme converted to a palette swap for Jack Frost's. Issac/Felix (if they could make all the Koopalings and Alph, might as well go the extra half-mile here and Issac and Felix share the exact same Psynergy, equips, and curse of silence when the main protag) would be very good. Alas, Golden Sun has suffered from Dark Dawn being a regression of the series rather than a step forward with no sequels (which would have to do so much to fix all that was wrong and also foreshadowed with DD's plot that I think it'd need two sequels to address them without rushing things). However, the retroite characters: ROB, Ice Climbers, DH, Mr. G&W, Pit and LM to lesser extents, are all as dead. The only difference is that GS died on the GBA/DS rather than the NES. Therefore, I'd like Issac and think he has a case. Why discriminate against the system of death Nintendo? S4 got rid of the Issac Assist Trophy IRRC, which is an ill omen for the series. Thinking on Issac's moveset, while he would use a sword, I would like them to severely downplay regular sword swings for other things. Besides Psynergy (mostly Venus/Earth, but he could use the utilities and perhaps some Mars/Fire), Unleashes, and Djinn, don't forget Summons- they could be used for Midgar 2.0, or a Final Smash. Stage- Venus or Mars Lighthouse, the end points of TBS and TLA, sufficiently epic, rather clean aesthetically, and not generic fantasy or as unmemorable as the rest of GS's locales can be. As for Lucina, I'd say have her share a spot with Marth, regardless of whether she'd keep her no-tipper or not. The character select screen might need an overhaul anyhow, it is getting a little too crowded and the character portraits too small for me. Perhaps divide into looser or firmer expandable and collapsible categories for all the characters (so all of the FE chars in one file, all the Mario in another, various Nintendo one-offs in a third)?

Actually Ike with maxed Str landing all his hits, assuming the BK doesn't get healed by a Bishop, works too. As does Wrath and Adept, but regardless, it is all luck. No guaranteed way of killing the BK. Evidence FE isn't really made for 1 vs. 1 duels.

Nope, male. Rather girlish looking, particularly in FE3, though FE1 and 11-12 aren't so bad with it if an issue at all. He does transform and do this to Marth once though:

Enemies get immunity, some of the time at least. Enemy Surtr/Laevateinn is immune to magma damage b/c fire people, you are not. It'd also give them reason to invent a junk Skill that neutralizes harmful terrain. Lucina variant called Marth Unmasked who tosses masks at enemies like Daggers. Lucina could use another variant, and a Colorless one at that.

I can think of one BIG spoiler that would be perfectly possible in trophy form for XCX. Although at least it isn't the biggest spoiler. And I, sadly, think they could do a trophy of the final battle area- where all the big spoilers come to reveal themselves- and thus ruin the game for many that way depending on what they put in the description. If they wanted to use Jack Frost, they probably wouldn't use plain old Jack. Black Frost seems to be the "standard" unique Jack Frost, other ones being: Frost Ace, King Frost, Raiho, Demoneehoo, and Lucifroz. Better than any boring and typical silent SMT protag with a sword, gun, and comp (and sometimes magic and without the sword, gun, and comp- like the Demi-Fiend). I'd like Andy or Sami or Will or anyone AW as well. I played this one horrible Smash knockoff called Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble, and you know how Zelda now summons a Phantom to attack in her Down Special? Well one character has a moveset that is 95% that kind of summoning. Just have Andy or whoever do that. Each attack summons a different AW unit. T Copter for recovery Up Special, Down Special is a Battleship, Infantry is Neutral Special, Recon is side tilt, Medium Tank is side smash etc.. And I actually came up with a Belmont moveset once. Put all the Subweapons in Specials (though the Up can be a superjump) and give them 8-direction whipping with tippers on a bunch of the whip lashes, make them moderately bulky and slow, and I think we have a character. Namco did help with Smash 4, who knows if they'd be cooperative enough to give KOS-MOS again oh wait, they just were? Square would have to have a knife twisted in its back before it gave Fei (Weltall/Xenogears Final Smash please!), they were very stingy already with Cloud from their best known game of all. They only recently in World of Final Fantasy acknowledged Xenogears for the first time in eons IIRC (and they're also doing a concert for its soundtrack soon apparently).

Can we have some Russian hacks? I would love to see some garbled Cyrillic. And you know you're big when Russia hacks you. But China is the geopolitical rising star, and Korea is apparently a pop star, so they're not nobody hacks.

But a White Egg sounds like an unpainted egg. Make it a Purple or Pink or Yellow/Gold Egg instead, it is still not Red-Blue-Green, but now very colorful. ..."Painted egg" sounds like something you'd call a hooker. Speaking of certain biological functions, a Tome that makes an army of bunnies spawn out of nowhere to attack would be neat.

Here goes, and you've been around you should know me and how it'll turn out. A mix of favorites in a loose military setting here: If I must have a lord, I choose Hector, a brash warrior, but certainly not brainless- he knows more of politics than he lets on at first. He is also one of the series best axe users. Or at least GBA FE's. Soren for the strategizing, not very hard, and I will be kind and make any accommodations he might require- I understand how it is to not be very social. Sephiran can gather intel in disguise and has super strong magical powers, did I mention blessings that make him near immune to harm? Dheginsea can maul the world without worries about this silly weapon triangle thing, and he has those same near immunity blessings. I can put a dragon on my team too. And he flies as a bonus. ...I can't have him? Then fine! Nasir! Or maybe Ena, or Xane. Camus/Zeke/Sirius can be leading unit on horseback and a great commander overall. Titania will fill in if he calls out sick or has conflicting interests issues. A Fireman. 100000 Gold has already been forwarded to a secure offshore Kilvas account for him as a down payment. Speaking of Kilvas, Naesala will be my non-dragon shapeshifter. Also very cunning and good at spy work. Will also be in charge of finances. I appoint Elincia my Secretary of State- do diplomacy well Your Majesty. Hardin the Coyote- I want someone to handle the most mobile of operations, and I can't think of many others suited for the task. Can he bring the Wolfguard? Minerva can rule the skies. Michalis I'm afraid would try to overthrow me. I won't trouble Haar or Jill or Cormag. And she will be working with Tanith, who I'm appointing over Sigrun as Pegasus Commander. Tauroneo will take care of the Armored Divisions. Reyson will sing to the souls of my allies. If he calls in sick because of chaos, Nils will take over. If Greil refuses to be my blade (which I expect), I will just have to hire Gerik instead. I won't trouble Stefan. Oh yes- archers! Shinon, you are "Supreme Commander of Everything Archery Related Who Will Be Immune From Reprimand And Never Have To Spend Their Own Salary On Meals". Will that motivate you to come work for me? If not, Prince Innes!

Unfortunately, I don't think that'd ever happen. But I share your sentiment. If Baten Kaitos ever got in Smash, I don't want Kalas or Sagi, I want Guillo! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae2uHcQk1nI Skip to 1:37 to see what he capable of and then tell me whether he's worthy of a fighting game appearance or not.

If they ever announce a Xenoblade Chronicles X2, you'll likely want to play the first first, since X2 would likely pick up on the giant cliffhanger X left off on. But you'll have 3-6 years I think before that gets announced and released. Plenty of time. What to take from X? Elma and Lin (with Tatsu) trophies for sure, but otherwise I don't know what to take. The music will likely have few tracks ripped from it, even though X has the weakest soundtrack of Xeno games. A stage would be asking for too much, but NLA or Sylvalum or Noctilum would be wonderful. Ideally with some Skells in the background. And if we're in Sylvalum, a giant Xe-dom patrolling the area. Don't worry- they are only aggressive against robots, normal lifeforms they ignore (RIP R.O.B. and Mega Man on this stage). Elma as a playable? Doubt it'd happen. But Dual Guns and Dual Swords is an kinda unique combo. Bayonnaise has the former, and Pit has been doing the later, but Elma could be something, and she's a female too. Shadowstrike would be like Shulk's Back Slash. Ghostwalker/Ghost Factory for her Down Special would be good. Meet Decoys Smash! Single strong hits? She'll take them without flinching. Aforementioned Umbran Witch however could easily break them with Bullet Arts, since Decoys erode at the same rate regardless of hit power. Making them great against strong single hits, but bad against rapid hitters. Or Elma could bring the full arsenal of X weaponry. There is no reason she can't use: Longswords, Shields, Spears, Knives, Photon Sabers, or Assault Rifles, Gatling Guns, Sniper Rifles, Rayguns, or Psycho Launchers. And a Skell (ideally the Ares 90 or Prog Ares or the original Ares that we never see in the actual game save the very beginning cinematic sequence) for her Final Smash- these are ultimately just flashy flashiness fests though, nothing to really do with gameplay.

I'm guessing you remember the one time I posted my giant blow by blow Conquest rewrite? And did I post the Birthright one? I don't remember. I never did finish the altered Revelation, too much variability at the end and I felt 28 chapters only was a little too tight. I got as far as... C16-17? When the Great Dragon Vein of Fire is released despite having to get around Garon, Xander, and Ryoma to do so. Corrin then plummets off a collapsing cliff after the Silent Dragon in their head thanks them for releasing the three Great Dragon Veins so that it could awaken and bring an end to the war between Nohr and Hoshido- as it told Azura and Corrin it would when it came to them in a dream some time ago. When Corrin awakens, it takes five minutes before a phantasmal soldier comes crashing into their tent. Turns out releasing the Great Dragon Veins wasn't such a good idea after all. By the end of the story, it'd turn out the "Silent Dragon", who was in fact asleep and not doing anything wrong, was Arete's and Mikoto's evil middle child brother who accidentally trapped part of his soul in the sleeping Silent Dragon ~20 years ago in a desperate move to use more of its power to stop the invading Nohrian and Hoshidan forces. Revelation only happens because Corrin in refusing to side with Nohr or Hoshido, earns Azura's sympathy, brings them to safety in the ruined and abandoned capital of Valla to the north of Nohr and Hoshido, and accompanied optionally by: Jakob, Felicia, Silas Kaze, Midori, Mozu (I think thats all I included up to that point), prays under Azura's leadership in the Temple of the Silent Dragon. Because Azura and Corrin are both Major Silent Bloods and Azura was taught Vallite prayer by the former princess-priestess Mikoto, the pray stirs the Silent Dragon, and the bit of Mikoto and Arete's brother's soul is able to wiggle deeper into the sleeping dragon and then use its power to trick Azura and Corrin into releasing the Great Dragon Veins so that said evil brother can rule the world as a god controlling the Silent Dragon. Had Corrin chosen Nohr or Hoshido, the trip to Valla would never happen, the Silent Dragon would never stir, and the villain would never appear. Since Azura, Corrin , and Mikoto are the only ones with Major Silent Blood alive, and the first and last always die in the final battle of BR and CQ, and the last always dies at the end of Rev, same with Garon. Technically, the Silent Dragon could still stir by Corrin or a descendant of them or Takumi or Sakura (Minor Silents), but it wouldn't have to happen nor would it in the short term. Thus, this Revelation does not inherently make it absolutely better than CQ or BR, since there is no manipulation by a force fought only in Rev. as there is in the actual real versions of Fates- Mikoto and Garon are the real and independent villains of those routes. It is still more golden-ish, but not perfect. ...But in truth, none of my rewrites were really all that good, but I tried. Such is the nature of fanfiction. Or is this referencing my massive Valentian history notes, which may or may not find contradiction with the actual games? It was a labor of love and passion, and a procrastinator exercise (as was the Fates stuff). The only issue is that sometimes, you hold so close to your ideas in your head that it makes the reality more painful for it.

Gameplay is first and foremost- I can always skip a bad story and ignore bad characters. Like I did with Fates and TMS yet I still very much enjoyed them. Story vs. characters. Well stories are never perfect in video games, so I'll expect a little more from the characters, even though they can very often fall into cliches. But both matter and I'm fine with a game that emphasizes grand themes over individuals if it is done well enough to compensate. Different genres weight story differently, but even for JRPGs, it never exceeds the importance of gameplay. Sans gameplay, I'll take what Hideo Kojima said, despite me never having played a single Metal Gear (I think he made Boktai though) and knowing he is quite fallible/questionable, about a video game without gameplay being "a chair that refuses sitting". Is it really a video game without any gameplay? Visuals, well it is painful to look at early 3D stuff like Super Mario 64 (but I did love the SMO 64 costume and retro area) and the battle graphics in Wild Arms, but 2D stuff holds up very good and I still don't mind playing stuff that came out on the PS1. I like HD stuff like anyone else, but art direction/style matters just as much for me. Music, I want better here than I want in visuals, more than plot even at times. Breath of the Wild is rather lacking on this front, a little hollow and the world isn't intentionally so lifeless as Shadow of the Colossus's I think. So gameplay >x10 Music > Visuals Story and characters fit into different places here, again, based on the genre. And even then on intentions moreso than genre, Etrian Odyssey is a JRPG, but its lack of story or characters doesn't bother me much at all, and I love picking out classes and appearances and names!