Fabulously Olivier

Anyone else find it odd that they would release the FEW DLC so close to their own mainline DW9? Seems like these would directly compete for audience attention. I know it's going to be a difficult choice on my part, even if DW9 has not impressed me so far. It's certainly not up to the bar set by DW8 XTREME Legends.

Levin from FE4. With his legendary, most enemies have a 0% chance to hit him. He does insane damage, and is held back only by the limited uses on Holsety.

Yep, I was thinking about Chapter 12. I have a love/hate relationship with Chapter 10, because I'm the weirdo whose favorite objective is Defense.

Almost every map in Gaiden/SoV feels like a bland non-map. The exception is Nuibaba's mansion, which feels like a map poorly designed around a single bad mechanic and which feels almost designed to be cheesed by warp & rescue abuse. Shadows of Valentia in general is truly a terrible game, which cannot be saved by even its strong story and high production values. Conquest Chapter 12 - I absolutely loathe it. I will never understand how this mission is one of the most well-liked in the game. I consider it a complete mess that does everything in its power to back the player into a corner, relies on fake difficulty through bad mechanics (like having entire groups of poison strike swap ninjas), and a turn limit on top of it all. The bridge maps in the Tellius games - because trial and error pitfalls are fun, right? Every desert map ever.

That is also a large part of the fun. Speculation occurs when we know nothing, and speculation occurs when we know something. It's all part of the experience. But trust me. I know how you feel. I was part of the Guild Wars 2 hype train. That was a 5 year journey. That was so, so much more painful than anything this shorter period could offer.

That's okay though. Drama and uncertainty are part of the fun of that pre-release hype train.

In fairness, I think you understate the importance of character identity in Musuo games - even the mainline Warriors games. From experience, characters like Zhang He, Lu Bu, Zhao Yun, and Sima Yi are a big deal to the playerbase. For me, Zhou Yu, Xu Shu, Zhong Hui, Xiahou Dun, and Lu Meng are a large part of my enjoyment of the series. Conversely, I absolutely hate characters like Xu Zhu, Zhang Fei, and essentially every single character under the "other" category (yes, even Lu Bu). Hell, look at the controversy surrounding appearance and voice changes in Dynasty Warriors 9 and tell me that people don't care about these characters.

Maybe he's going to take a shot each time one of his leaks is correct? I don't know how extensive his predictions go.

I'm personally hoping for a gorgeous Renaissance fantasy setting.

Am I the only one who would be okay with Tharja or Linde being clones of Robin? His low lck stats makes him less suitable for Vanguard, essentially relegating one of the game's most fun movesets to support.

Pokemon is a cultural phenomenon that has basically allowed Nintendo to dominate the mobile platform since its inception. The weight of the Pokemon franchise is beyond imagination. It isn't a franchise so much as it is a hurricane. Metroid Prime 4 is absolutely newsworthy. It's the sequel to a legendary trilogy and a franchise which has not seen a new mainline game sincd 2010 (a game so controversial and reviled, by the way, that it makes FE Fates look like Path of Radiance or Blazing Sword). Metroid fans are starving for a new title. I think you need to chill out. FE Switch will do fine. The Fire Emblem franchise has been quite commercially successful in recent years, and this game is being released for a massively successful console. We'll get news when we get it, and the release date won't come sooner if they showcase it in 5 minutes instead of 5 months.

I would argue that yes, we did need all of the royals (even if I would prefer that Elise not be in the game and not be a statiscally superior Leo). It would be incredibly odd to include some of them, while arbitrarily leaving out the rest. The problem with retainers, of course, is that any of them would be arbitrary in a similar fashion. With core characters like Kaze, Azura, and Silas, they are essential to the fates experience, whereas Niles and Oboro are just two random retainers among many.

It could also be a valuable tool in helping Niles find his niche, since spd is his main stat.

I hope that, if we do not get an FEW2, they atleast act in good faith and give us dlc for the characters they are holding back to sell the sequel. I would be willing to pay for Ike, Roy, and anyone else they may be saving as selling points.

I want neither. I want to see transforms with: 1) Lore on the level of the Laguz. 2) Always transformed in battle. 3) Geared with armor, metal claws, or other such beast gear. 4) Treat them like more conventional units, but with unique strengths and weaknesses depending on what they are.

Aside from having nothing to do with FE, I don't get the appeal of Xenoblade. So boring. It has the worst combat system ever. That sounds like my opinion, but it's actually objective fact. Scientists have proven it in places where science happens... scientifically.

All of this is true, but I'd say that she has serious redeeming qualities. 1) Primarily using a different set of materials from any other character makes maxing her out much less painful than it otherwise would be. It doesn't really come at the cost of improving anyone else. 2) She is incredible as a defensive unit. Her ability to dominate Shadow Elimination by wiping out every enemy in the allied base in seconds with an Awakening is extremely useful and satisfying. 3) She's likely to be fairly high level because Armored Blow is such a good skill, especially on heroes with long animations (like Archers when using Strong I, Leo/Elise, and Camilla) and heroes whose low luck stats leave them with a lack of flexible skill options (like Frederick). 4) She's actually quite solid at officer killing thanks to her Strong IV -> Strong VI combo. While it's just a white bar, it also ignores weapon triangle and hits enough times to reliably critical hit in one rotation.

There are much bigger issues than a few joke characters in the Fates story. That's not something that I am even attempting to deny. However, when something is edgy, it's typically the result of a desire to make something dark. If something succeeds at being dark, it is dark. The Dark Knight is dark. If something tries and fails to be dark, it's edgy. Batman vs. Superman is edgy. Aside from the terrible writing of Fates, the absurdity of so many of Conquests' characters are a huge contributing factor to it falling out of dark territory and into edgy territory. Immersion breakers are a big deal when something is attempting to be taken seriously. That's why someone like Arthur - arguably the most absurd character in the entire series - not only sticks out like a sore thumb, but effectively drains any gravity the story might have had when he's around. For all of its faults, Birthright is actually better about this.... mostly. Characters like Azama provide some level of comedy relief without killing the mood entirely. I think that most of us can take, for example, Hinata seriously despite there being some comic relief to his character, but can the same be said of Peri? Also, Awakening did have ridiculous characters, and plenty of them. But Awakening wasn't trying to be a "dark" or "evil" story like Conquest was. It had a plotline which could be taken seriously (and I'd argue that it did a much better job of presenting a dark story than Conquest did because Grima is a much better villain than Garon or Anankos), but there was also an inherent joy to the game. Awakening, for all of its faults, was intended to be a last goodbye - a love letter to the fans. It wasn't trying to be super serious or dark for its own sake, but rather to fulfill some of the popular requests that fans had been making throughout franchise history while producing something heartfelt. That's why I can forgive it for a lot. Conquest was trying to be a dark story and completely failed at achieving this right out of the gate. Awakening was trying to be a memorable game and a summary of all of the themes and elements that make this series as great as it is, and I would argue that it succeeded, despite not necessarily being the best written narrative.

Conquest may have been thematically edgy, but it is by far the most ridiculous, silly game in the series. It gave us Camilla, Elise, Peri, Arthur, Charlotte, Felicia, and Odin among others. The game is borderline impossible to take seriously because of such a large percentage of the cast being immersion breaking cartoons.

It can work, but Camilla isn't the best example. Injustice 2's Harley Quinn is simultaneously strong and traumatized. She's an abuse victim, but she also stands up to the source of that abuse. It's an interesting dichotomy and something we could perhaps afford to see a little more of in the medium.

Fates would have been better without the Revelation path entirely. The problem with IS's most controversial outings is a failure to reign in their ambition. If Fates had just been the morally grey conflict between two families and two nations of which the player could pick, the games would have been better for it. Revelation, however, causes irreparable plot damage to itself and BR/CQ by introducing tertiary plot elements that IS simply couldn't manage. With Awakening, that's the entire Valm arch. With Jugdral, it was overly ambitious map design that was too epic in scale for its own good. Etc. The phrase "keep it simple, stupid" probably applies well to Fire Emblem at this point. A great author can handle a complicated, sprawling plot, but IS seems to be better suited for honing in on singular themes to create something great.

Victorian history would agree with you.

FE1/11: I am perhaps too harsh on Shadow Dragon in some regards. While I genuinely feel that SD's complete lack of personality, objective variety, and story make it a bad game, I will acknowledge that its map design is actually solid. FE2/15: Absolute garbage. Most maps in Gaiden are unmemorable generic arenas rather than actual maps. Those few that do stand out are often based around a single gimmick. It says a lot that one of the only memorable chapters, Nuibaba's Abode, was memorable because of terrible gimmick mechanics that essentially force the player to rely on Warp and Rescue cheese. FE3/12: Haven't played. No comment. FE4: I personally like FE4 a lot (primarily because of its writing), but its maps are overly large. Aside from throwing off movement balance, large, time intensive maps aren't compatible with a series in which a single mistake or unlucky RNG can potentially permanently kill a unit. FE5: No comment. Haven't played. FE6: Generally decent, in so far as the chapters I have played. However, reinforcements should not be able to move on the same turn they appear; that's just bafflingly bad design which essentially adds trial and error gameplay where it doesn't belong. FE7: Pretty solid. I view the game as great, if somewhat overrated. I certainly understand why it is as loved as it is. FE8: The human maps are among my favorites, and comprise a majority of the game. The monster maps are boring slogs that thankfully make a minority of the experience. FE9: My favorite game in the series in all regards. Granted it could have used an additional difficulty setting, but the maps themselves were varied, memorable, and seamlessly integrated the story into the gameplay. I'm willing to look past a few stinkers (like the typical desert map, the bridge battle, and the mountain climb). FE10: A mixed bag. Act 1 is generally terrible. Act 2 is okay. Acts 3-5 are generally among my favorite FE chapters. I'm of the rare opinion that Elincia's Gambit is a great map, but then, I tend to love defence maps more than any other objective. FE13: Starts with an amazing first act and generally goes downhill from there. Still, the hate this game gets baffles me. It's certainly never as bland as SoV or as gimmicky as Fates. FE14: A case study in difficult and good not necessarily being one and the same. The maps themselves are generally solid, but the way the game essentially forces challenge by means of excessive gimmicks and poor enemy design (looking at you, entire groups of position swapping, poison inflicting ninjas) is quite frankly unacceptable.

Favorite Lord - Sigurd Sigurd is simply different from all of the other FE lords. His story plays out more like Game of Thrones than Fire Emblem. Though powerful, his idealism, romance, and sense of honor result in his downfall. It's compelling to see him fail, and this more than anything else makes FE4 unforgettable. Favorite playable character - Bastian Bastian is that rare mix of witty and pretentious that I absolutely love. He is eccentric and charismatic while also being a buffoon. And his character design perfectly conveys this. Favorite Villain - Naesala This backstabbing bird flipflops more than a politician during their re-election campaign, and he pulls it off with enviable charm. The dude plays a mean game of 4d chess, and it makes for a great addition to the Tellius stories.

Joffrey, of course.