Fabulously Olivier

How would that one work. Black Knight could plausibly move and fight at Ike's relatively slow speed, but his frame and hitbox seem like they would be inherently too large to turn into a costume swap. That said, he'd made a great story boss.

In what way?

I'm pointing out the inherent absurdity of your argument. A casual player with no franchise knowledge does not care who a character is. They care if that character is cool and interesting. I mean, ffs, this entire franchise went westward off the backs of Marth and Roy looking cool in Smash Bros. Melee. No one knew or cared who they were, but it was enough to get people intrigued.

Implying that people actually care more about Celica - one of two lords in a game which had mediocre sales, which was a remake of one of the weakest games in the franchise. That's absurd. Fine then. If not Minerva, we could have Camilla and her twins. The casuals would certainly care about that.

Having them serve as clones is even worse about this, if anything. It highlights them as being nearly identical to someone else while also making them take a physical slot on the roster. If you're going to make Roy just "Marth with Fire" or Lucina "Marth but does more damage with the center of her sword than with the tip," go all the way. Either make then unique or make them an alt. Half measures help no one and only cause a perception that a slot has been stolen from a character that could actually bring something new to the table. One Hector or Azura is worth more than 2-3 slightly different clones of Marth.

Again, we're more concerned with specific animations than with character representation. Fine then. Celica is not worth representing at all. Not if she requires her own moveset, and certainly not at the expense of characters like Azura, Hector, Minerva, Ephraim, Takumi, or anyone else who could be selected to show the Smash Bros. audience something other than an interchangeable sword lord.

Let me put it this way.... do you want new Fire Emblem characters or not? As is, people already complain that Fire Emblem is over-represented in the Smash franchise. This is ridiculous, considering the number of games in the FE franchise, but it is an understandable and valid criticism given the extreme under-representation of Zelda, Pokemon, and Metroid in particular. The best way to represent Fire Emblem's diverse roster is to preserve existing movesets, consolidate clones into costumes, and add characters that could plausibly use an existing moveset as costumes of an existing moveset. Yes, there are minute differences between Marth, Roy, and Lucina. Differences so minor that the average casual player isn't even going to notice them. These minute differences are worth giving up if that makes room for additional representation for other FE characters. Smash isn't a franchise for everyone you ever wanted to be represented perfectly in detail to their source games. It's a tribute. It's an advertisement. It is the best means for Fire Emblem to gain exposure to casual audiences. So yes, it is a good idea to lump characters into styles that could be plausible from a casual gameplay perspective, or else lose them entirely. It is slightly unfortunate for Lucina/Chrom/Lyn/Alm/Celica to be treated as costumes or to not be in the game at all. It is far, far worse to allow these characters to take dedicated roster slots from potentially interesting new movesets (like lances, axes, archers, mages, knights, wyvern riders, pegasus riders, and paladins). That's how this series changes its outside perception from being all about generic sword lords. That's how new Fire Emblem characters become exciting rather than a boring meme to the average Smash player.

Established Movesets Marth/Roy/Lyn as alternate costumes of the Marth/Lord moveset rather than separate clones. If it works for Bowser Jr., it would work for them. Ike/Alm/Chrom/Lucina as alternate costumes of the Ike/Hero moveset. Robin/Celica as alternate costumes of Robin/Spellsword moveset. Corrin New Movesets FE Switch protagonist Azura Anna/Takumi (Archer Moveset)

The Last of Us in its entirety was technically one big, good escort mission.

Not worried. Me knowing about the game soon isn't going to make the game any better or release any earlier than it is going to. If I could ride the Guild Wars 2 hype train from start to finish, this is nothing.

Random chance critical hits and other such rng combat triggers. I tolerate these, but generally feel that there is always a better way of handling such bonuses. Empty open worlds. Nothing can ruin a game faster than a poorly implemented open world. Short times to kill in shooters. I would prefer that my gameplay not devolve into which player can gun down the other before there is even an opportunity to turn around and retaliate. Overload of arbitrary mechanics. For example, I hated Tales of Zestiria in large part because they overcomplicated the once simple, elegant combat. 30+ hours in, I was still getting tutorials while having forgotten half of the pointless mechanical nuiances in the last several hundred tutorials. That was when I put the game down for good and gave it away. Armor and weapon clipping makes my inner fashion warrior cry. The survival genre as a whole. How did anyone come to think of managing hunger/thirst/sleep/stamina meters as fun?

It isn't outside of the realm of possibility. Pokken Tournament Deluxe got new DLC after all. And yes, I really want those characters as well.

Well, the weapon type is just Breath (White), which I can see going either way. I'm curious as to whether the game ever elaborates on it.

It isn't consistent though. Because: 1) It makes all laguz dragons deal the same damage type regardless of their canon element. I mean, Nasir is an ice dragon, not fire. 2) It makes all Laguz dragons susceptible to light magic and ice magic, neither of which are canon. It makes more sense to make all Thunder spells deal bonus damage to dragons, or specifically Tellius dragons.

That would be a fascinating title. I would approve of a little more tragedy in Fire Emblem. It's part of the reason why I love FE4.

I can hope though. He's my favorite dragon and one of my favorite characters in the franchise.

Here's hoping for Nasir. He'd either be blue or colorless.

I can see your case. I don't agree with it, but fair enough. I was aware that Sengoku Basaara was Capcom. I lumped it into the genre while neglecting to mention the developer/publisher. My opinion on it stands. And I like Dragon Quest Heroes, despite what I said. I agree. It's a breath of fresh air. I really like the tower defense mechanics. It's just the combat that doesn't click with me. I would personally prefer multiple smoother, more fluid combos over a single combo chain and some mana-cost skills.

It's not necessarily an unfair statement in either direction. DW6 had worse combat, but DW9's open world has impacted it in immense, tragic ways in most regards. At least in a standard DW game, there is some semblance of production value and events/objectives tend to have some sense of gravity and immediacy which is just not present in DW9. I can see DW6 being called worse. I can see DW9 being called worse. Neither are good, and there are fair arguments to be made for either being the series' lowest point.

In bold. You assume that people are a hivemind. One can like, even agree with a critic without taking their every word as gospel truth. Personally, he's one of a handful of critics I listen to regularly. I like his persona and his comedic style. I like what he has to say about the state of the industry. I just tend to disagree with his taste in video games - mostly. He's far too generous to certain indie games for my taste - namely those that are most art than game. In terms of critics that actually line up with my taste in games, I'm much more like Angry Joe. I live to please. DW8 XL- My introduction to the series. Genuinely loved it. My favorite characters are Xu Shu, Xiahou Dun, Zhou Yu, Lu Meng, Cao Pi, Zhao Yun, and Zhong Hui, by the way. Sengoku Basaara - Samurai Heroes - Loved the over the top setting. Prefer their interpretations of characters to Samurai Warriors for the most part. Loved the characters. Found the combat a bit lacking and janky. Arslan The Warriors of Legend - Loved the art style, music, characters, and setting. Hated the lack of content, small roster, combat, and constant strict ranking timers on every little objective. Samurai Warriors 4 Love it for the most part, but I do tend to hate several of their characters, especially anyone who is silly to the point of completely breaking immersion (namely Koshoho and Motochika). Warriors Orochi 3 Not a whole lot of complaints here. It's a good game with a large roster and I generally had a great time with it, though I don't really like being forced into playing certain characters or ranking up certain supports/bonds to unlock other characters. Dragon Quest Heroes Been playing this one a little at a time. I'm not a huge fan of the Dragon Quest franchise, so the aesthetic doesn't actually appeal to me, but it's mechanically okay. Not exactly my cup of tea, but a good game in its own right. Hyrule Warriors Completely blew my mind. It's such a huge step up from anything that came before it. Fate Extella: The Umbral Star I know this one isn't by Omegaforce, but it is aping their style. And I hated it. The combat was fine, but I hated the sci-fi MMO take on the Fate setting, the cringe-inducing fanservice story, the visually confusing bright neon maps, and the invasion mechanic that had bases taken across the map by constantly respawning flying reinforcement units. This was my most hated game in the genre before Dynasty Warriors 9. Dynasty Warriors 9 I've made my thoughts clear. Fuck this game. Fire Emblem Warriors UI, game crashing, and roster issues aside, I really love Fire Emblem Warriors. Mechanically speaking, I think it's the best Musuo game yet. I think it's on par with Hyrule Warriors, and both have seen extensive playtime from me.

The mention of Mario Tennis details has me worried. If that is the part of the show that Nintendo thought was worthy of a highlight, this may not be the show we were waiting for. And I'm not even talking about "we" strictly from a Fire Emblem community stance. I mean that there is so much more interesting content that Nintendo could show than a sports spinoff, aside from FE Switch. A Smash 4 port, Yoshi footage, Metroid Prime 4 early details, and so much more would be able to carry the show. Hopefully, they're just saving the best content as show surprises.

I think you're making a logical jump. Saying "this is the wrong direction" or "the open world has ruined this franchise" is not at all the same as saying that he wants the franchise to stagnate. Innovation is not inherently good. Innovation must be handled intelligently and with the appropriate finesse for it to be good. Hell, some of gaming's most enduring, beloved franchises (like Mario) are the result of small, intelligent iteration over decades rather than massive leaps. And that is your opinion as to whether a statement on DW9 being the lowpoint of the series is false.. Personally, not only do I think that Dynasty Warriors 9 is the worst game in the franchise (even compared to previous spinoff entries that I disliked, such as the content-lite Arslan Musuo)... I think it's a strong contender for the worst AAA game of the year. He may have been off the mark in saying that there has not been an issue with rushing directly to bosses in prior games, but the statement is also not without truth. There is a problem with boss rushing in DW9. It's a huge problem, and it's exacerbated to a degree that is more severe than prior games in the series. Factually speaking, every single mission and side mission in DW9 can be approached via rushing directly for the boss targets, and there is little incentive to engage in the 1 vs. 1,000 combat this series is known for. Rewards for killing non-named officers and soldiers are pitiful, just to name the largest contributing factor to this. The old system is better. It was so much better. Dynasty Warriors 9 has 3 combos per character. THREE. And all 3 of them do the same thing. One stuns. One lifts. One knocks down. On every.... single.... character. Prior games had more combos. Prior games had longer combo strings. Prior games had combos that served different purposes, rather than all being slight variations of "crowd control the enemy until they die." And that's all Dynasty Warriors 9 is. Trigger stunlock -> Flows -> Trigger Stunlock -> Flows until the boss is killed by a QTE prompt (eww, that's just gross) or has dodged away. Or if they're giving you the slightest bit of trouble, trigger your cooldown trigger or musuo to continue the beatdown. It's downright mindnumbing. I don't care about the voice acting one way or the other. It's the most minor of the game's many issues by far. But I will say, this one is not only noticeably worse than normal, but characters are also frequently, blatantly miscast. If you have to justify this game's existence by comparing it to Dynasty Warriors 6, you aren't starting with a strong argument, buddy. Also, he is one of the few critics willing to stand out for this series. That's just a fact. Dynasty Warriors and Musuo games as a whole tend to be so commonly and undeservedly derided by the press at large, that to like one is nothing short of a hit to one's credibility among their peers. That doesn't make him the only Dynasty Warriors defender, but it does make him the defender who most stakes his critical credibility and image on that defense. He doesn't suddenly lose that card because he doesn't like this horrible excuse of a game. As with Jedi, I will say that you're making a logical leap in claiming that he wants stagnation. There are multiple avenues for a series to iterate (or even innovate) intelligently on a formula. People who buy Dynasty Warriors generally expect a certain formula, but that does not mean that they expect the same content, exact same mechanics, story beats, progression systems, etc. There is so much room for this series to evolve without completely abandoning the established stage format to chase the open world trend. They can evolve their combat with additional combos. They can take inspiration from other successful action games, such as Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, Nier Automata, or Dark Souls/Bloodborne for examples of combat systems that are better received by the general gaming community. You can damn well bet that I would throw money at a Warriors game with Devil May Cry inspired combat. They can take inspiration from their own spinoff games, such as equippable skills from FE Warriors or the progression system of Hyrule/FE Warriors. They can improve the tactical aspects of the game with better unit ordering, AI, and squad mechanics. They can focus entire games on singular arcs of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms storyline with greater detail on the individual stories and characters within. I would certainly want that. They could reinvent their stages for once instead of committing to so much content recycling (which Jim himself has recently criticized them for). They could embrace what-if scenarios with full games. They could add competitive online stages. They could invent new objective types. The list goes on and on. There is so much they can do with this franchise to freshen it up without utterly changing its identity. Fact is, this game wasn't innovative. I even take back my remark about it being ambitious. Just laying out small groups of soldiers and camps with copy paste trees in an open world isn't ambitious. Open worlds aren't selling points; they are mechanics which need to be justified, perhaps more so than any other mechanic. Dynasty Warriors 9 utterly failed to justify its open world, and every single aspect of its core identity took a hit for it. Battles are smaller and less structured. Performance has taken a nosedive. Travel times are embarassing. And even the few mechanics that were added to "justify" the open world (namely, hunting, fishing, gathering, and crafting) were implemented so poorly as to actually detract from the overall experience. I can't defend this game. I certainly tried to play for dozens of hours in search of redeeming value, but I could find none. I hate this game.

Honestly, that isn't so much a reflection of Caeda as it is of Shadow Dragon as a whole. SD's story and character development is so barebones that the entire setting feels underwhelming and every character whose name isn't Marth, Minerva, or Gharnef leaves quite frankly no lasting impression whatsoever. SD desperately needed to be handled with the same attention to modern storytelling standards that was given to SoV.

Fair enough, though I think that Elincia's playable status is actually a reflection of her character arc. I say that she spends most of PoR as a plot device because she essentially has no agency until that point, relying on Ike and the Greil Mercenaries to lead and act in her stead. When she joins the party, she expresses a desire to fight and shape the war herself, no longer content to take a backseat. It's a huge character moment that goes beyond simply being able to deploy her. Radiant Dawn Elincia is when we see her fully come into her own as a political and military leader. It isn't an insult when I say that she was a plot device for most of PoR. In her case, quite the opposite is true. It's part of her character arc. She's initially helpless and then decides to seize agency in a big way. She isn't initially strong, but her potential is immediately clear and reflected in gameplay in her unique prf weapon and value as a flying healer. By the time of Radiant Dawn, she's a powerhouse in her own right through years of work. It feels believable, and it makes her one of the most compelling lords in the series. She's a rare perfect union of gameplay and character arc working in tandem to tell a story.

Elincia is plot important, but she's essentially a plot device moreso than a character throughout the first game. If we're talking about Radiant Dawn, then yes, she's a main character. Certainly moreso than Sanaki either way. I would consider Micaiah to be a higher priority than Elincia, but this isn't necessarily a zero sum game. We could see both. (I personally want to see Ike, Soren, Boyd, Micaiah, Elincia, Volke, Nasir, Tibarn, and Naesala as core Tellius characters with Nephenee, Ranulf, and Shinon as DLC.)