Interdimensional Observer

Ah 1-9. See Deltre's LP for a terrible terrible case of what can happen with that chapter. His Micaiah got like 3 Speed procs over the course of her entire existence, and not having 10-12 Speed for 1-9 on Micaiah enough to avoid being doubled, makes this chapter very very very hard. Since the AI will prioritize an unarmed BK over 2RKOable Micaiah, but 1RKOable Micaiah is preferable to an unarmed BK (although you don't have to use the sit between two trees and the edge of the screen strat). Really, if something like that ever comes again, the enemies have to be built around the worse case scenario on the MC's stats, and or they need to have fixed promotion gains. The rest of your criticism- well admittedly Elincia's Gambit is a joke insofar as defending goes. It, like From Pain, Awakening and Geoffrey's Charge, are admittedly cases of prioritizing story over gameplay in RD's map design (EG less than the other two). FP, A has Micaiah's army crumbling and forced out of defensive fortifications thanks to how 3-13 went at the end, plus things on the Laguz Alliance side have taken a turn for the worse since 3-12 and a little light is giving off a big "WARNING!" sign. Geoffrey's Charge- Ludveck intentionally left behind his weaker troops in Felirae and sacrificed them while he went for the royal jugular as Geoffrey was distracted, that they're so puny makes sense. This doesn't excuse P4 though, where the main plot is very thin through the drudge of 4-P to 4-4 (and 4-5 isn't much thicker), nor does it fully excuse the prior chapters mentioned either. I commented to you on this before once (and if I remember right, you said you haven't played SS in a while), and I don't want to beat a dead horse since I doubt I can change you opinion, so I'll stop myself with this one last time. But monsters aren't that common. Lute and Artur's joining chapter, a lone Bael threatening hostages a few fights later, two fights on Eirika's, two fights on Ephraim's (one is somewhat interestingly a mix of monsters and humans), then the Gorgon nest, and lastly the final two chapters. I once thought Slayer was godly and hence Moulder and Artur it would be stupid to make them (and even Natasha) their non-Bishop choice. But really, for the main story, monsters appear in relatively few chapters. If you grind or do Creature Campaign, you will be fighting purely monsters (barring the rare Thief in Valni/Lagdou). But that is optional and shouldn't detract that much from the main campaign where it's overwhelming Grado's very human forces you're putting down. One of the story monster chapters is the Phantom Ship- which nobody can really forget (said chapter does have near zero plot). I'm not sure if its because it's difficult due to good map design, or just obnoxious in its reinforcements like the Hans and Iago round 2 battles (C24 and 25) on BR, plus Fog of War. I'm attempting the chapter on an Infantry only run- I could probably bear it with some Pure Waters popped, but gosh the enemies come on hard and fast and from everywhere. You can't board the enemy ship until the start of Turn 3, and the Deathgoyle boss appears at the end of Turn 4 and on the next turn already begins to move along with all surviving Mogalls in the north and south (like 8 to 10 total). The map is too small for really anyone to be completely safe. Admittedly if I permitted myself Duessel and Seth this would be heckuva lot easier, or maybe if I fielded just Berserker Ross, Ephraim, and probably Gilliam- everyone else being too much of hassle to keep alive. But as I said, the plot is near nonexistent for this fight, so you're right on this front. Eirika's monster battles and Ephraim's human-monster mix Landing at Taizel are all plot trash too (the first monster fight is spared only because it introduces you to monsters). Eirika deserves 1/20th of a point for attempting to world build with Caer Pelyn during her monster fights- but in the vast dearth Magvel has of world building, it does nothing (plus it partly builds on dragons- something Magvel didn't need because of how poorly they were handled). The Gorgons in the Gorgon egg fight (which is basically a free levels for mounties map since the eggs are harmless and rich in EXprotein, yet you have to rush to them or else they become very harmful) don't matter, but the events that happen afterwards, to which the Gorgons are irrelevant, certainly do matter a lot. And the final two chapters are in the abode of the Demon King- if there was time when monsters were justified, it's here. On a more positive note for SS, Turning Traitor I think can enter the echelons of good map design. Surviving with Duessel alive isn't an issue because Duessel is a great big tank, but if you want the Knight Crest for keeping his Cav trio alive, and if you want to recruit Cormag and haven't trained Tana, you have to work fast. Ephraim moving his full movement every turn will get you to Duessel just in time to recruit Cormag on the next turn, and since Cormag can fly, has good stats and a Killer Lance- he can kill one of your units pretty easy. The two Fleet units- seaborne Ballistae- can put a dent into your Pegs and squishies, the former being the only ones able to reach them in the first place. Because the map is rather small, the Fleets can be hard to completely avoid- as is the case with Cormag. The pirates threaten Duessel's trio well enough, and the moving Mercenary reinforcements from the southeast are stubbornly durable since nobody can double them. And the Cav reinforcements in the northeast are sufficient for threatening your backside.

Favorite: Well I like traits from each. And while I've largely become disenchanted with FE MCs as a whole, Hector retains some admiration on my part. Least: Recently I've developed a disliking for Ephraim- way too reckless and yet nothing bad comes of it (save the little event where on Eirika's route her naïveté is emphasized). Say what you will of PoR Ike criticizing Sanaki- at least he got very heavily scolded for that and managed to learn to exercise some restrain. Ephraim never gets as much as that- and the one scene where his recklessness is punished, it doesn't outright say in any way "recklessness is bad, Ephraim made a mistake and it's all his fault". My old, wrongful, impression of Ephraim was a lord with formal training in military matters. Skilled both in combat and strategy in a professional way and a prince/cess ready to perform that part of their royal duties. Not like Roy- brains without brawn, Hector- brawn without brains, Marth/Seliph- trained informally while in exile and otherwise prodigal, or Micaiah, who has zero military training and wins via miraculous powers. This isn't to say any of those lords are bad, they aren't. It's just I'd like a lord totally mature in their natural royal duties of warring for change. Sigurd I'm not too familiar with, but he might count, I'd hope he would. Chrom- well he does kinda count, but gosh he is overly emotional, and I find getting past his childish bawling on the Robin sacrifice option difficult. Yet I'm not asking for perfection, I want a formally trained lord, but not an unrealistically always successful MC. Competency in strategy, fighting, and ruling are all desirable, but they can all be flawed while being competent, competent is not the same as perfect. Maybe they're a little indecisive, maybe a little too cautious, maybe they just make a bad decision at one point when presented with several options that all seem reasonable.

Overall I'd say it does fatigue me faster. I got a Switch for Christmas, after about 2-3 hours of playing SMO, the fun begins to fade, things become a drag, and my eyes get really tired. Yet hopping on my 3DS doesn't fatigue me quite the same and I can play much longer. This plus mustering the motivation to play a game (years later, I still haven't played my copy of Black 2 at all or completed Skyward Sword) and defeat my evil backlog, and near total abstinence from gaming (particularly time consuming JRPGs) during school semesters has restricted how much I've played games compared to my younger self.

I hear plenty of discussion of people criticizing SoV, Awakening and FE4 as having poor map design and praising Conquest's. While I get what Conquest did right and Awakening and FE4 did wrong, I'd be interested in hearing general opinions on map design in FE as a whole. What each individual game did right, did wrong. Where the rest of the series ranks. What FE has consistently done right and wrong. Suggestions on how things could be better. First, I would like to say that each game does have some decent maps, and maps with potential- if potential that wasn’t actually capitalized on. Likewise, each game has a few drudges. Second, when comparing them let’s set aside player juggernauting with things like Sigurd, Seth, a PoR BEXP dump, Nostanking FE13, grinding, etc. if possible to some extent. Third, what role should difficulty play in this? Everything is easy on the lowest setting where multiple are available. But the highest- is that too brutal? Does it ever help map design? I think it hurts F13, but maybe it helps FE12? Now onto my analysis on a game by game basis from those I've played: SD: A remake very first game, design isn’t atrocious, but it isn’t brilliant either as a result. SD adds mechanics not present in the original FE1, for better or for worse, possibly worse insofar as difficulty is concerned on the lower difficulties (and of course the Weapon Triangle's integration was unneeded- after Chapter 9 Axes don't exist). The higher difficulties might help a little? SoV: Some obvious slogs (swamps and sands), lots of repetition of maps, maps are crudely simple in design and random dungeon battles don't even really count as maps. I’ve heard some call the maps subtle genius- but whether this was intentional or not, who knows? The fixed indoor battles- Berkut 3, the Duma Tower fights, I think they were some of the better ones in this game. Other times I felt that on Hard, too often it was just Mire spam that made maps difficult. Throw some Bows in to annoy your Pegs. FE7: Well some of the maps are too easy, no doubt about that, and Battle Before Dawn is a little RNG dependent, if not for Zephiel then for Jaffar. Yet Ranked or partly Ranked (the difference being whether one plays for EXP or not) is a good challenge. Personally speaking, it might be one of the games with better map design. SS: Possibly a step down from FE7, but still better than 1/2 at least. Overall, I’d call Ephraim’s route stronger, the only weak link being Landing at Taizel. But Eirika still has Revolt at Carcino and Hamill Canyon for good chapters. And after the split, Last Hope was kinda good defense chapter. PoR: The design isn’t bad here, but how good is the question. Maybe worse than 7 but better than SS? RD: Well the Part system giveth good and giveth bad with the fixed teams. The bad being 2-1. The maps do nail the thematics though. I’m ignoring any slowness of animations here (which is largely fixed after a first playthrough). Part 1 is great and tight with its map design. Part 2 is very poor (C1), great (2-F), and serviceable with everything else. Part 3, I think it’s average-ish, not as good as P1 overall, but not bad (and River Crossing a is huge favorite of mine, so is 3-13). Part 4 is bland as poorly made plotless routs until 4-5 and Final, where things get a bit better. Overall? RD is divisive, with high highs and low lows, just as in plot as in map design. Awakening: I’d want to say the Gangrel Arc was good, the Valm a decline, and the Grimleal a bottoming out, which is kinda how the plot works out. But plot and gameplay don’t actually align here. The Gangrel Arc is probably the best in map design outside of C2 Lunatic/+. Valm might be worse than Grimleal overall though. I mean the Mila Tree and Yen’fay’s lava duel are awful, and if not as bad as Validar’s flat open map of atrocity, at least the Grimleal Arc gives us that pseudo-escape chapter with the spawning Mires on the other side of the walls. Fates: CQ is quite possibly among the best FE for map design. Not perfect, no FE is. The maps are gimmicky, but I think the gimmicks are for the most part done better than not. BR eschews gimmicks for the most part, but fills it in with weaklings in the midgame, and overwhelming enemy numbers in the late, not the best of ideas either. Rev uses gimmicks, and not as well as CQ does. Overall ranking for me for what I’ve played. From worst to best: Rev<FE13<SD<SoV<BR<SS<PoR<RD<FE7<CQ.

That is weird. How in the world to explain this? Perhaps Branded powers already existed without the Brand (perhaps in an incomplete form)? It just took a little more time to Laguz and Beorc to "evolve" to the point where Brands formed? "Evolve" being a word you see Yune toss around a few times in the Tower. "Several generations" was probably only two, or about 20-40 years. Since Yoram, the 1st Apostle and person to claim to hear Ashera's voice, was Altina's granddaughter. That isn't too long a gulf of interbreeding with Branded, but that it exists at all is strange.

Well there is Veld, but of course he is so weak as a villain (just a Manfroy goon with Stone and a few Deadlords) he might as well count as much as the Fire Dragon. To add insult to injury of the four dudes, only Bantu has any real availability. Kurthnaga gets a mere five battles where he is hardly doing anything because he's Est-like, Nasir and Gareth in RD get two really short ones (albeit White Pool is cool). PoR Nasir is nearly as bad and you have to win a luck contest clad in ebony to unlock. Tellius gives good reasons why the Dragon Laguz aren't playable sooner, but it is still a shame (Ena and Kurthnaga would be a little better if they joined in 4-4). Then we get male Manaketes who taunt us with not being playable as Manaketes: Xane, Gotoh, and Nils. Lastly we have the two second appearance of Myrrh's adoptive father Morva, whom I throw in just because of how poorly he was done.

Aren't there only 15 major Switch games out so far? I may exaggerate, but this is a very young system with a rather small catalogue to flip through. Given we have access to these statistics, I wonder how FE Switch will do once that comes out? A nice long SRPG with high levels of replayability for some. Sounds like a time burner.

The general criticism I see of Orson is that the backstab comes quite early in the game. The shock factor/emotional attachment can be on the weaker side because of this. I don't think his reasoning for betrayal is horrific, but the felt connection to him is limited and therefore so is that of the betrayal. He only appears in one chapter before he turns against you. I do think Valter was wonderfully psychotic and did well with all his screen time. I kinda question whether the backstory of the Duessel support helps or hurts him, since it makes him. His death quote is weak, but the rest of his dialogue is solid for a serial killer. And he's kinda threatening as an enemy- if only he moved. Agreed, a terrible generic evil sorcerer who does almost nothing of significance over the course of the game, so he fails in villainy, And whose excommunication from Rausten lacks any explanation and hence he gets an F in sympathy too. All he has of note is being a Bishop and thus using Light Magic, and in Creature Campaign is so durable at base it kinda brushes aside his low Mag (that and effective damage on every foe). But that has nothing to do with his character.

I didn't have a problem with it as a kid, but the animations are a little slow in PoR now that I don't have quite the patience to watch them all the time; this is a common complaint even when it's just the map animations. RD fixes this problem... on the second playthrough and beyond. On the first run you get the option of full animations and map animations, after completing the game once, you unlock an option for no animations. Meaning when two units fight, neither actually moves at all, it's a much quicker exchange of damage numbers/miss/no damage with the results to the HP bars shown, and a moment taken whenever a skill activates. Why they don't offer this choice on a first run, I don't know, but I do like the trio of animation options (now combine them with Fates's animation activation options and we'd have all the bells and whistles for this matter). Didn't notice how bad the 3D models were at the time, but they are rather lacking in PoR, the criticism N64 quality isn't without some basis in fact. Fortunately RD really tuned up the models (yet somehow it still runs on the same game engine as PoR) and not just thanks to the Wii's extra power. They really went out of their way to make the most elegant, sometimes realistic, other times over the top unit models FE has had so far. Here is hoping FE Switch exceeds RD! In the case of Lyon, he isn't quite the same as Julius in portrayal (from what little I've read of FE4's script). Eirika!Lyon is either himself or Formortiis is controlling him, with the goal I think being making Lyon into a pity magnet for the player. Ephraim!Lyon has no Lyon-Formortiis internal conflict, outside of briefly during the end of Two Faces of Evil (the Gorgon nest chapter where the SS Renais meets Lyon's palm). Said moment of dichotomy ends with Lyon saying it was a farce and that the DK never controlled him, although as DK speaks after his resurrection that he manipulated Lyon the whole time. Lyon nonetheless all the time like there is a chance he isn't being manipulated. He is cool, calm, sociopathic in his detachment, but never "muahaha!", he seems reasonably close to his flashback self and it makes the facade of him actually doing what he is doing of his own free will to a degree believable. Julius, insofar I have read, seems to be closer to Ephraim!Lyon, but not ambiguous as to who is in charge. Loptyr is clearly in control when looking at how Julius behaves and speaks, either masquerading as Julius, or Julius and Loptyr have become one mind. He doesn't call himself Loptyr outside of his death quotes (and even then not explicitly). To the very last chapter, he calls Arvis "father", even though Arvis did not sire an Earth Dragon that we know of. If Eph!Lyon were closer to Julius, we'd see more blatant evilness, or were Julius closer to Ephyon, we'd see more pseudo-real Julius. Sounds like Medeus, and Gharnef, and Nergal. Medeus was the lone Earth Dragon to side with Naga, only to lose faith in her entrusting of the world to humans when they attacked the Manaketes. Gharnef- clearly had potential as a pupil of Gotoh, but jealousy corrupted him. Nergal- grief from loss of beloved (somehow what was probably centuries later) led him to explore Dark Magic for resurrection purposes, only to trip up and become consumed by it. What do these share in common? Tragic background told to us, but they're so clearly evil in person that it kinda undermines some of the sympathy we are supposed to feel for them. Yet Eriyon and my personal fav might come off to some as selfishly begging for sympathy, to which some respond with antipathy. One of the strong traits of my fav though, and Lyon too, is that you do get "show" with them via flashbacks. Lyon is bit better handled on this front since he has the flashbacks scattered throughout the game as opposed to dumped all at once. Though at least they kinda justify how my fav's dump happens despite the oddity of the way it is done, and the flashbacks couldn't be done sooner really. Plus my fav's happens accompanied by nice CGs and some not horrible voice acting (certainly suitable for the personality of my fav). Shame some the important info is not available on the first run, since RD is long, first impressions matter, and not everyone will be playing the game a second time.

Since you expressed a liking for Mozu, you can have her. As a Maid that is.

Canonical/lone choice pairs don't always work out the best. MicaiahxSothe is a poor romance (a presumably happy marriage, but a terrible romance), and Lyn with Hector or Eliwood, while I very much like EliwoodxLyn and prefer it to EliwoodxNinian, is a bit out of character for Lyn. I'm not fond of Awakening/Fates marry anyone. But at the same time I do like the GBA giving a smaller handful of choices to certain characters. Kent with three picks works better for me than Stahl with ten or so. Sure individuals cases I might not like, like HectorxFlorina, but the player still gets some creativity to choose, but with boundaries that are reasonable, if not perfect, for the individual. That Stahl can love Sully is indirectly cheapened by Stahl being able to love Tharja, since Sully is just another option of many disparate choices. For Kent, Fiora isn't just another option, since he only has two others, the weight of the option of Fiora is stronger. Do I make sense? Would a canonical mother have strengthened Lucina? Quite possibly. Would a canonical pairing have helped Chrom? Not so sure of that. But still, straying from Awakening and Fates where anyone can marry anyone is a good idea. At least fix the lords' partners, or a handful of other characters.

The rules set up for the Branded are: Laguz + Beorc = Branded; Branded + Beorc, or Beorc descendent of a Branded + Branded/Beorc = a random chance of having a Branded. No where here is one's biological sex involved, nor the question of firstborn or not. The special circumstances of the Apostle's Brand- are they really necessary? They contradict the norms, but aren't sufficiently explained as to why they do or how they do. It sounds like there has been nothing but Empresses, each of which has duly been an Apostle. Misaha, the 36th Empress who died in 625, allows us to calculate an average of 17.361 years per reign, which sounds reasonable. Except 17 years sounds a little too short for Branded leaders since Branded are supposed to age slower. But Sanaki is stated to be the youngest empress ever. If most inherited the throne as adults, it sounds a bit more reasonable. Well Micaiah, the true Apostle, makes a number of onscreen predictions, all of which come true and which often clearly benefit the heroes. If Sanaki never said she predicts XYZ, or did and her prediction was wrong- that could certainly be room for questioning whether she heard Ashera's voice (or Yune's- it is never said if Ashera ever actually spoke to the Apostles or whether it was all Yune, or Ashera for the Apostles save for Micaiah). Not to mention Micaiah's heart reading and Sacrifice ability must come from being the Apostle, and therefore we may guess that prior Apostles, even if we hear nothing of these feats in game, might have displayed the same powers. Those powers, the slowed aging, and perhaps even the Brand, wouldn't have been viewed suspiciously and either ignored or celebrated by the Senate or the masses since said traits belong to the Apostle- who cannot be anything but good, and certainly pure of disgusting Branded blood (and Dheginsea and co. made sure to hide the truth). But yes, hearing voices and claiming your authority from some removed deity is bound to led to false prophets and messiahs as it does in reality. Given we know the Senate has had a tumultuous relationship with the Apostle- sometimes with, others against, it wouldn't be surprising if a few Apostles were their puppets. Plus, if the Apostle line has bore males (if they haven't- well we found a race more manless than the Gerudo), I could imagine, if things were to be realistic, a few of these Imperial Princes would take issue to being so close to absolute power and yet denied it on the bases of goddess hearing and sex. Hence they would either work closely with their sisters/aunts/nieces/cousins, or make said relatives work for them and become Emperor of Begnion in all but name. Yet IS doesn't seem like the kind of people to ever consider such possibilities, they aren't that realistically historical or gritty. They probably want us to seriously believe all 36 Empresses of Begnion prior to Sanaki were Branded True Apostles and very possibly firstborns. As for the delayed heir issue. I'm being a little too realistic here, but if Misaha had a male child, why didn't Sanaki get born much sooner? Males don't get pregnant, they impregnate and can fertilize multiple women at once. Royalty should be expected to be the exception to monogamy, particularly when there is a serious leadership crisis and a goddess hearing girl, or just any girl given the crisis, needs to pop out of a womb ASAP! If concubines aren't allowable, understandable according to some royal traditions, then quick divorce should've solved the problem, if not as fast as the harem approach, sooner than Sanaki. Unless the upper nobility of Begnion, the only people whom an Imperial Prince or Princess would be worthy of marrying besides maybe a Daein or Crimean of royalty or utmost nobility, was highly inbred (and the royal family also inbred) and thus wracked throughout it all by incest induced infertility. Edit: Then again, Europe could operate without quick divorce or concubines- how else to explain Maria Theresa of the Austrian Hapsburgs for instance? Sanaki is 13 in RD, which happens 3 years after PoR, which happens in 645. So she was born in 635, which would mean she was conceived in roughly 634-635. The Serenes Massacre is 625. We don't know how old Micaiah was when she was "killed", but she has no memories of it and never in PoR or RD is the death of Misaha's granddaughter brought up save by Lekain. From this I would guess Micaiah was a newborn or close to it. The Senate had to be informed of her birth immediately as a matter of state, but if early childhood is perilous in Tellius as it was until modern times in the real world, the public could understandably be denied knowledge of Micaiah's birth until she survived the dangerous first few months or even year to avoid causing their newfound joy to suddenly be crushed if she died a few days later. Thus on this hypothesis, Micaiah would have been born in 624 or 625. So that means about 10 years passed between Micaiah's birth and Sanaki's birth. If Misaha bore a female child- well the question becomes why she didn't have a Brand. Unless the firstborn daughter already died and she was the second. But then this makes the simple perfect narrative of 100% firstborn Branded True Apostles continuing their kind for generations marked with holes. This said, the delay on having Sanaki is more plausible with a daughter, since they get pregnant and they can't fit more than one seed in there at a time (barring rare uncontrollable exceptions). If we blend some miscarriages with infertility issues, recovery periods from said miscarriages, and the time it takes to get pregnant, a somewhat viable answer for the delay on Sanaki can be made for a daughter of Misaha (a run of sons sounds wrong since otherwise we'd be meeting Sanaki's big brothers). All that is said is that the Senate was formed during the time of Toremeni, the 3rd Apostle, as a religious organization led by the Apostle. And which later helped the Apostle defeat the Laguz rulers in the Kingdom of Begnion and thus form the Theocracy/Empire. It's possible one of the Senate's assigned duties was that. We don't know how many regencies Begnion has had, that Sanaki at the age of ~5 was the youngest Empress ever, on the one hand blocks the most extreme of regencies, while still making room for ones 6 and up (up probably ending by ~18).

Introducing Barcel City! And the Grass Starter ends up becoming a Grass-Fighting Matador. I'm going to be totally skeptical of whatever story gets shown in the trailers, or even skip it and the support dialogue outright. After Fates, tis best to be wary. Why one should be wary going back to Radiant Dawn if you're a major Micaiah fan. I say this because what do RD, Awakening, Fates, and SoV all have in common? The plot presentation shown in the early trailers and info releases is betrayed. Micaiah is important to RD, but after P1 she no longer is the lone nor central star in the sky (not that I'm raving mad about this- I'm not but everyone can agree Micaiah needed more)- they also dropped that weird Micaiah-Caineghis duel (which the Red Lion King would have deserved to win). Awakening overemphasizes the Chrom-Lucina duel in its promotional stuff, which lasts for the whole of five turns in Chapter 4. Fates- there is no real choice after the one, there is no reform of Nohr, the birthright is a tenuous stepchildright. SoV- way of peace and way of the sword each different and of merit,-nope! It's Alm's perfect way or Celica's overly passive one. But this doesn't really matter to me since unless FE pulls a Mega Man X7 in gameplay (to name a major changeup bomb), I'm totally going to get it. And therefore, the teaser, which I doubt would show off much gameplay, is meaningless to me. Was there something saying that they wanted to try continuing with SoV's 3D exploration segments? Would FE Switch do that, or would Switch 2? Since SoV wasn't released and fan feedback, if they wanted it, obtained by the time FES started development? How late into the development cycle could one add such a feature? I'm trying to wrap my head around how one could make an open world FE work, since open world is hot nowadays. Not saying FE should go in that direction, I'm just trying to think how they could if they wanted to.

I'll say we don't need Deadlords, loosely reusing the title I'd be okay with though. And of course I'm all for notable enemy commanders that are fleshed out. And special elite units- provided they're handled well (as in they're never quite a joke in gameplay and make at least two appearances in the plot- one pre-final fight and the fight itself). Or even something not small and exclusive like the Begnion Central Army, just having names to the enemy units you're fighting with a bit of detail behind them would be nice. The Deadlords were handled poorly in Awakening, they're a filler fight before the Validar battle where literally it's just them and Aversa. Most pack some legendary weapon as a drop, which is nice and makes them something of a threat. I get they were trying for a quality vs. quantity battle here, but quantity was simply too low. I forget if the west and east Deadlords even move unaggro'ed, since if they don't you only need to fight a pathetic four enemies before going for the quick Aversa kill. The DLC handled them better, but still didn't do them right. And rather than treat them wholly seriously as tragically fallen warriors, in the DLC the latter half of the opening jokes about them. On this note, I remember the Anima using Deadlords have minor Holy Blood in Genealogy. The only reason they did this probably is because no normal class has A in any magic type without Holy Blood and they wanted to toss the trio Bolganone/Thoron/Tornado. It wouldn't have been terrible though if all the Deadlords had some Holy Blood- make it an attempt by the Loptyr Cult to subvert Holy Blood for their ends. An idea first developed before they had Dozel/Freege/Arvis/Shagal as puppets.

I've only played about half, up to but not including Naggiar or something. My first PS3 (I got the game before the HD update, but still years after the game first released) died before I could finish it. I got spoiled on the one character revelation, but oh well. Said character I felt was stronger in their first five minutes than later on, a little stereotypical "weakening" happened to them, just as a little side comment. Even so I very much enjoyed the game and want to eventually replay and complete it. I'm just dreading the grinding for EXP between chapters, not that it is really necessary. Also, is it bad that I save scummed a good bit later on? Its just annoying when your Lancer or Sniper misses that all too important radiator/headshot! Or when you accidentally stumble onto a mine because you walked a little too fast. Ideally before this sequel releases, since I think I'd want to get it.

The recruitment theme for SS is indeed rather good, I just wish it got a modern remix, since the GBA has poor sound quality. Another tip, like if you aren't aware already, eventually you'll have to pick between following Eirika or Ephraim. Unlike the game of its inspiration Gaiden, you don't get to play as both simultaneously, and while they reunite much sooner than Alm and Celica, you have to play the game twice to see all of the plot and gameplay- once on each route. Ephraim's path is loosely like Alm's a fight right into the heart of a powerful evil empire led by a pretty strong emperor. Eirika's journey loosely mirrors Celica's- no search for a goddess or pursuit of a way of peace, but all of the fighting is coincidental to what is supposed to a peaceful diplomacy mission by a small handful of soldiers. In terms of difficulty, everyone generally agrees Ephraim is the harder of the two routes. No Invoke spam in this game, but do buy a Restore staff or two to counter the nuisance on Ephraim's route. Eirika's quest isn't devoid of difficulty, but on the whole her maps are easier. Like in more modern games, you can grind in map battles, but note that once you enter a story battle there is no withdrawing from the preparations screen, so save on the map and never on the prep screen. And sometimes you'll have to fight back to back battles with no chance to shop or grind between them, but generally this is never too bad. Also, gold might become an issue if grind too much since you'll need to buy fresh weapons. Fortunately, the third floor of the Tower of Valni has a chest with a guaranteed 3000 gold, just repeat this as much as needed.

That was 3-11, when Daein had taken the Oribes Bridge. Since that is the border of Daein and Crimea, that is understandable that Ike would crush them there. It is what Ike and co. decide after 3-11 which I am criticizing. Note this line from Sothe in 3-12: And since SF doesn't have the pre-battle narration to 3-12, I took a quick look at Deltre's LP the chapter since it's close at hand. Read what it says: "However Apostle Sanaki elects not to pursue the retreating Daein forces." "Instead, she petitions King Pelleas for permission to pass through Daein." "After waiting for several days, she receives no replay, and Sanaki reluctantly orders a march." "Avoiding the heart of Daein, the army skirts along the mountains and makes its way south." This doesn't sound like Sanaki and Ike wanted to fight Daein at all. Not unthinkingly dashing into the heart of your foe is good as a military strategy, they don't appear to have ever been fighting Daein. They were just moving southeast towards the Begnion border. If they weren't fighting Daein at all, but intended to, this sounds like an awful strategy, since we're looking at very long supplies lines and if the Laguz Alliance made it to the Daein-Begnion border, they'd be at risk of being flanked by the Senate and Daein. What makes more sense is that Sanaki thought the best way to Begnion was passing through Daein, but didn't want to actually harm Daein. Either way you spin it- a peaceful passing through or military campaign, the wisdom behind this movement is quite bizarre. Only when you know P4 is just around the corner does it make any sense.

Outrealms. This cheap little idea makes all possible outcomes possibly true. There are likely, in the what to human comprehension would be an infinite number of worlds, some worlds where Sephiran died, others where he lived. If the Infinite Regalia DLC and Tiki's convo there is correct, which I heard someone once say is her talking to a Marth that failed to save the world, then there are even worlds where the outcome defies what is actually possible in the games. Meaning there might be a world where Ashera was able to unleash her second judgement and thus Ike and everyone not Branded was turned to stone/killed and Sephiran's plan went to full completion. In yet another world, Micaiah could have survived the second judgement being Branded and raised an army of Branded with Stefan and Soren and 10 years later with grown Aimee and traitor Zelgius by her side went on to slay Ashera. Maybe Ike took Greil's "stay in Gallia and forget Daein" message as he lay dying to heart and actually opted not to escort Elincia to Begnion. Or in another Sephiran was present the moment Misaha was about to be assassinated and took the hit intended for her, or he learned of Micaiah's existence much earlier and changed his mind about genocide. But I'm getting into fanfic territory at this point. True, he's pure evil, a little over the top at times, but thankfully not as bad as Valtome (best diplomat ever, how in the world wasn't Elincia persuaded to help him after he said he take her throne?) or Oliver. He can show restrain and be down to earth serious, he cuts to chase on Sanaki not being the true Apostle and Misaha's murder. The artbooks also suggest he was the mastermind in the Senate behind the Serenes Massacre, which is impressive since he'd have been a politically young ~30 at the time. And the Massacre is at the heart of Tellius's troubles- heck you could say Lekain spawned Sephiran with his ambition (which is what I think you meant). Interestingly the Japanese Extended Script says Yune sensed doubt and unhappiness the moment before he died. My gut reaction to this is preferring that he'd had been 100% content with his vile ways. Because a little unhappiness does nothing to redeem him for his evil. On the other hand, its a bit of justice that this wicked Senator never fully delighted in all of his villainy and suffered a little for it all the time. Plus having him alive in P4 is good since he is a villain wholly rooted in concrete physical human affairs, while Dheginsea, the BK, Ashera, and Sephiran all ascend to personal, philosophical, and theological issues. It's like Xenogears, you need Bishop Stone, Shakan, and Ramsus to balance out the abstract nightmare of Krellian and more grounded but still rather complex Miang and Grahf. Early on at least, since both Shakan and Stone are like dead long before Disc 1 even ends. The Recollections state that the Senate fought to establish the Apostle's rule in Begnion vs. the Laguz leaders when the Kingdom of Begnion was in the civil war that led to the Empire's establishment. Without the Senate, the Apostles may have never have been the Empresses of Begnion in the first place. So from the beginning, even if the Apostle was theologically and politically above the Senate indisputably, the Senate had certainly carved out a justifiable reason for its existence and claims to major political and theological clout. If only this detail had been included in RD.

On Sigurd, well he never loses a standard military encounter. He makes a big mistake at the end, but that is not so much on the battlefield as it is an underhanded backstab just on the cusp off of it. It's followed by a hot stone massage admittedly, but it's still not exactly Valter vs. Ephraim post-5x. Looking back at my old comment, I was referring strictly to perfection as military commanders. Sigurd is a master of war, his weakness, insofar as I someone who hasn't actually played FE4 can tell, is reckless passion for Deirdre and a lack of political awareness. His inability to see the strings in the shadows until it is too late dooms him. Though how would he realistically know Arvis was corrupted when he was busy fighting through the western half of Jugdral the entire 1st Gen and never saw Arvis again until the fatal encounter? On Soren, well what choices did they have concerning Ena's little trap? They had to take Nevassa, it's the capital of Daein, the castle included. And Soren did advise caution going into it. If he said "lets just push ahead blindly!" or was less clearly prepared for the trap (which doesn't mean necessarily countering it in three seconds), then it'd be real big blunder. As for Micaiah, Soren kinda messed up there, but at the same time there was only so much that could be done while passing through the margin of the territory of a self-declared enemy you're trying to not hurt because you don't want to fight it. If ordering "capture those cliffs" antagonized Daein, well there goes the plan of trying to peacefully persuade them to set aside their weapons. Really the idea of going to Begnion through Daein instead of the old route used at the start of P3 was a terrible idea, an excuse to get Ike and Micaiah locked in battle, the seal broken and judgement cast, and then immediately have Ike and Mic team up for P4.

I think Dragon Quest Heroes, which is more RPG-styled Warriors game, used a new dimension with different OCs for its sequel. I think the old Heroes 1 MCs got reduced to costumes in the second. This would probably be for the best. Although DQH2 had no issue not returning some old characters who weren't OCs. This assumes FEW2 would come out within a few years of FE Switch, which at this point I'd consign to a 2019 or at best holiday 2018 release date (following a massive E3 reveal earlier that year). Do we need a FEW2 within say 3-4 years? I'd expect a little longer of a wait. So while I agree the most recent flagship is needed for each iteration of FEW, whether it'd be FE Switch or if it'd fall into a "too late for FEW too early for FEW2" limbo and we'd instead get FES2 representation is debatable. Of course, they could do both Switch titles just as they've repped Awakening and Fates at the same time. They could give Ninian Rings as a Staff-like equip. So while Tiki is Takumi (a lovely image if interpreted literally), Ninian is Sakura, except instead of healing she gives temporary stat buffs to allies. Azura in this game didn't get any actual refresher powers right?

If you're referring to Hama and Mudo, well Tetraja is admittedly very important in IV. Though I rarely needed it in Nocturne and practically never did in the original, or Soul Hackers. If you're referring to pure damage, well thats only true some times, Matador landing a lucky critical, Beelzebub doing double Megidoloan in IV, but I think that is true of many RPGs where if they pick the deadliest attack combo over and over you're dead for sure. Which reminds me of Memory Lane in DQVIII 3DS version- every boss has like a 20% chance of critting you and deals about 700 per critical, AKA an OHKO and all bosses get at least 2 turns. Hard, but cheaply so. And then we have Djinn Storm in Golden Sun- who thought that was a good idea? Crippling one or two Djinn on all characters is okay, but everyone's all at once? No. Just no.

Ah that style of presentation, not a big fan of it. Can't comment on SoV (which sounds okay on this front) or Fates (which sounds terrible), but Awakening was okay in this matter with Robin, Lucina, Frederick and the Khans adding to it. But really I'm unabashedly most fond of RD, P3 to be precise. You get full fledged war room meetings long before an actual battle unfolds, with a relatively ensemble cast of Ike, Soren, Titania, Skrimir, Ranulf, Tibarn, and sometimes others, each contributing something distinct and meaningful (or at least justified in why they're there) to the conversation. Part 1 and Part 4 are very similar, just not quite as grand. The cast almost feels ensemble-like, which might be better for FE than a lone lord almighty. I'd say PoR and FE7 fall into a middle ground. Fewer characters in the storytelling than RD, but more than SD/Binding/Genealogy. Lyn is kinda irrelevant, and Ninian is a walking trope done unoriginally, but overall its decent. PoR- Soren is a little too sharp, and Ike a little too bland, but again it works (and this is the game that gave us the unprecedented Jill character arc).

Well they tried to give her more in RD if you read all the 3-7/3-F dialogue she gets. Well Ilyana begins nibbling on Mia's leg in their A Support, BR Camilla says she'll rock Corrin's dead body in her arms right? Both are pretty bad. One is a cannibal, the other is necrophilic. Waitress, where is the other half of my Red Wine Wasabi Cake?! They have to keep the kitchen under constant surveillance with her working there. Then again they could take advantage of her endless hunger to get her to build up a big tab. Which she could only pay back via working there. Thus they force her into indebted wage slavery and Cafe Seiren benefits. Reminded me that Mordecai says Ilyana is half squirrel, constantly stuff food in her mouth. I'm sincerely curious just how much more Laguz eat vs. Beorc. I'd like to get rough population numbers for Laguz vis a vis Beorc, and while I know that they being hunter-gatherers severely limits their size, knowing how much they exactly eat would help too. Given Ike is said to be able to consume about as much as a Beast Laguz, I'd guess it'd be maybe double at most? Does anyone know what the recommended caloric intake for a male in a physically very demanding job is? 2000 daily is the diet you see listed on most US food packages, so I'd expect at least 3000, maybe 5000? So maybe a Laguz at war would be 7000? Two and a third pounds?

I thought I heard, don't know how accurate it is, Pegasus in Fates are actual called "Tenma", an obscure flying horse of East Asian mythology. Hence the change to Sky Knight, because they aren't technically Pegasi even if they look like them. On unicorns, I saw the sorta famed Unicorn Tapestries at the Cloisters in NYC (well on the northern perimeter of the city- go in the late Spring when the gardens are in full bloom), the tour guide said the unicorn can mean unicorn, Christ, or finding and keeping a husband- depending on how you want to interpret it. She didn't actually explain the last interpretation, but I think the premise is you use a fair maiden to attract a male, then you throw them in a fenced in area to make sure they don't escape, not sure what the kill them part meant in this allegory. I think so, but that might just be because its easier to do, and only Charlotte and Forrest care about enemy gender. Ryoma has Sky Knight as his Heart class as a side note, probably to make a mirror with Xander's Wyvern Rider (a mirror shared with the little sisters, but not the little bros or big sisters). Also, you're forgetting about Shigure. But he's a 2nd Gen so he doesn't really fit in quite the same. Subaki is pretty bad though, I like the idea of making a physically tanky Pegasus Knight, but Subaki didn't have quite the stats to do this while being decent else, or they just made Hinoka too good, that's very reasonable too. One of Subaki's issues is Speed, perhaps he has a burdensomely high Con stat in the groin region. In my headcanon, I would like to assume Pegasi like birds have less dense bones than mammals do, making them weigh less and making flight easier. Of course the issue here is how could they support a rider's weight and equipment then? Its better just to assume they can magically kick up wind with their feet or something. Macedon the originator is south not north though. And Begnion is southeast too. Only Silesse and Ilia are northern. And Pegasus in Valentia are never explained I think- the enemy never gets to use them either- they're player only. Sounds reasonable, and Pegasi don't mind ferrying men if their female overlords demand it. And what about male Pegasi? Why don't the males like men riding on them? And if Pegasi are like horses, does that mean no human male could ever compete? In the wild, do they ever enter the Mile High Club? (Fun fact- the guy who invented the first autopilot for planes used it to have sex with a married woman in the sky before he even finished patenting the device. Said sexual activity got out of hand, one kicked the autopilot off and they crashed, into a lake unharmed fortunately. But the guy who found them was a little surprised to see they were completely naked. Made a bit of a story in its day.) So do the women shave? I'm pretty sure they do the legs at least judging from all FE artwork. Because the roughed up appearances of Berserkers and Warriors would inherently lend themselves to fanservice, which believe it or not was once forbidden in FE, or so it is said. As for Troubadours, well the men had Bard for a time, which is closer to what an actual Troubadour was. And they were well represented in the Priest department at least, plus exclusive access to unpromoted Light magic in FE7 and 8.

Wait, has Vestaria's translation been officially confirmed yet? Don't get my hopes up if it isn't. If it is, I'd say add a section for it. Or perhaps see if one can lump the Sagas into a single page from which one can pick an individual Saga game's pages, to avoid making things too long on the main page. Plus the Sagas aren't going to be as heavily referenced as actual FE games but who references any of them besides myself really?.