Eltosian Kadath

Using this phrase really emphasize how stupid it is to have the first half of the game be basically identical for all of the routes. If only there was a means to skip it after the first time this game would be so much more bearable...sigh...I feel like I have harped on this point before, but I think it is one of this game's biggest problems. like playing Cowboys and Indians...honestly this does remind me of how the Native Americans were treated in media for a long time... This did reinforce the notion I had that the Agarthans had some counter measures against Byleth's time shenanigans...I held that belief for a while really, as I started with Crimson Flower...

Extra is the last thing to check. That where you go to find unlockables, bonus content, parts of the game that are extra, not information vital to new players. It could also be part of the game. Or the game could point you to it when you start a new game. Instead it hides it away in the menu option people are least likely to look at in the start of the game. You might notice I specifically mentioned that most people play the digital version of solitaire, where things are also restrictions on your options. Having those restriction in place do not teach you how to play solitaire... elementary school me learned that one the hard way... Fun fact, this basic lesson isn't covered by the FE6 tutorial. Although the FE7 tutorial specifically points this option out to you. I guess I can go over them quickly Map 1 has your army of only mages face off against a group of zombies on a map with a few gravestones scattered around. In doing so it encourages you to discover on your own that terrain bonuses are absurd in Gaiden/Echoes (+60 avoid from the grave stones), and that magic ignores terrain bonuses. Map 2 has added a single physical unit to your army, and has an army of physical enemies on a boat, with a single plank connecting to your boats. It encourages you to learn the tactical value of choking a point. Map 3 adds a second plank, and a slightly more varied enemy, which shows you the far more likely scenario of an imperfect choke point, and how to deal with that. Additionally you have an enemy reappear from an early Alm map, the swordsman with a leather shield, and the stark contrast between how that fight plays out with Celica's army show the difference between resistance and defense plain as day. Map 4 teaches you that green units are stupid. I guess it also teaches you that there are consequences to playing slowly. Map 5 has a single Cantor as an enemy, which teaches you to hate enemy summoners. Actually I kinda love this map, as the way they delay the Cantor revealing its power to summon lends it an almost horror feel, as everything about seeing that single enemy inhabiting a whole boat on its own is shouting trap, but you have to advance on it anyway, which turns into you rushing it as its summons up a hoard of zombies to swamp you. Map 6 is optional, and the game cheats a little by warning you that you will need the Seraphim spell beforehand (assuming the green lemmings survived map 4), but it teaches you that Dracozombies are terrifying, and that effective damage is very powerful. Map 7 is about dealing with enemy choke points, as you now have more physical units, there is only one plank again, but now the enemy have a pair of archers to snipe you when you get clogged down on the plank Map 8 has only Mages, and two planks, but those mages have spells with long enough range to attack from the edge of one deck to another, and teaches you about dealing with the strange enemy ranges in this game. Not entirely sure why people hate them, but they do. Admittedly having part 2 dedicated to what is clearly a tutorial (even if they are just using the gameplay to do it) does feel a little silly... Plenty of casual fighting game players start out with button mashing, and see results. They may even stumble on one of the combos and start spamming that as well. Sure there may be more complexity at higher levels of play, but you don't need any of that knowledge to get started. FEs on the other hand have a base level of knowledge you need to get started, in a sense the complexity is more front loaded necessitating a tutorial in which they tell you things instead of simply showing. Most of the Lyn tutorial is story integration of gameplay explanation, about the only time it isn't is when it has to talk about what button have to be pressed.

@Interdimensional Observer have you ever looked into the Asexuality Spectrum before, as it kinda sounds like you might fit in the grey. Looking up AVEN is a starting place if you are looking into such things.

...Whenever you rely on growths its always possible to just have bad luck. Even if you do train her in Lyn you might be cursed with some poor Forina like this one here, that managed to get 0 strength after 11 level-ups, and have a strength lower than her No-Lyn mode base strength. Don't get me wrong, Pegasus Knights are good, but bad luck is also a thing...

Not only did these games rely on people reading the booklet that comes with the game, but that is just factually inaccurate. Take the early game scene from Genealogy of the Holy War Note how much of this introductory scene from FE4 is them having the characters explain mechanics of the games in-universe, AKA a verbal tutorial teaching things like: Characters can die in gameplay You should visit villages before they are destroyed Armored Knights have less mobility than Cavaliers You should leave someone to defend the castle to prevent losing. and there are more of these throughout the chapter. Looking at the manuals that come with it (admittedly my Japanese is a little shaky) you see things like a list of 2-4 things that every single button does (this they felt was important enough to also include on a seperate card so you don't even need to open the manual to find it), a section talking about the starting game menus, what the color of units mean, how to get a game over, how healing works, etc., it has over 40 pages of game specific information there for you to read, ignoring all the pages with story/character fluff. As for the "show don't tell" style tutorials, they don't really appear again... In action games, buttons have a general use, with only special instances of context specific use. In SRPGs buttons always have a context specific use. Pressing the A button in an action game makes your character do something, in an SRPG it takes multiple presses in specific places, with different additional inputs in-between to get any of your characters to do anything. Sure there will be things that take multiple specific inputs in an action game as well, but those aren't necessary at the beginning and just mashing each of the buttons is enough to get an idea of where to start. Figuring out how to start in an SRPG is a lot less intuitive, and the game often has to accounts for that in tutorials. Action games also end up investing a larger part of their challenge into timing, and button execution, SRPGs on the other hand focus all of their challenge on understanding the situation of the map, and how you can best influence it. Put simply that isn't something you can just stumble through or overcome with good reflexes, you have to learn how to play SRPGs, whether that is through tutorials, research, watching, or being taught. Sure its easy for you to decipher now, but you didn't always know how to play, and there are players that don't now, and even if you do understand these games, the more you learn about them the better you will be at them.

Ironically the answer is that you need to make an unspecified number of posts anywhere but "Far From the Forest". Its an unfortunate precaution made to deter spambots from overrunning the place.

I guess I can add my two cents on the topic. The only reason I can even imagine suggesting people play FE6 before FE7 is if they are planning on playing through the series in release order. Now I can imagine times where I might suggest playing one, and not playing the other, but if people are planning on playing both, then FE7 lends itself to being played first in almost all instances. Some people did play FE6 first, and that is fine, but usually that is because they were playing in release order for more practical reasons (like FE7 not being out yet, or not having FE7 at the time). Neither does Binding Blades tutorial (assuming you can actually find it...). For those that keep asking what is wrong with FE6s tutorial, hiding it away in the Extras menu is the answer, as those that need it wont find it... I don't think that necessarily is a safe assumption to make with the Fire Emblem series. Heck the third game included an entire remake of the first, solely to cater to fans that don't know Archanea. Especially with FE7, the first to have a worldwide release, that the game was made with people new to the franchise first in their mind. Even young me understood that Roy and Lilina were protagonists, and Zephiel the villain of a different Fire Emblem game, and clearly the one Athos prophesied about with his dying breath.That scene works works better as a squeal teaser than it does as a callback. Assuming the Japanese player that beat FE6 even saw those callback scenes, seeing as those that didn't have a second GBA with link cable (or could borrow one) wouldn't see those scenes until they beat the game 9 times for the Roy and Lilina one, or 11 times for the Zephiel one (and they needed a completed Good ending save for this one even if they did link it)... Honestly the assumption that Japanese fans of FE that played FE6 first would have all the hardware they needed (or think they need it at all given that FE6 is an exclusively single player game) to skip Lyn mode is about as reasonable as a US player having access to a completed save with their Rom. To quote one of the developers of the game "People are used to action games and shooting games, and in those all you have to do is press the A button and the B button and you’ll soon understand how to play. But for SRPGs, you’ve got to know the rules before you start." Egoraptor even covered scenarios like this early on when talking about how you need to be taught a lot of traditional games, like Solitaire (which is ironically played more in digital formats than physical ones nowadays...) Gaiden (and Echoes by extension) tried something like that with part 2, and people hate those boat maps even more than Lyn mode. The designers learned a valuable lesson about how well those "show don't tell" tutorials work in SRPGs with that one. Honestly, the only people that like those maps (myself included) are those that recognize they are tutorials, and even then only for game design reasons.

Sounds about right. I remember one time as a kid where he was actually good in one of my runs, but never again...

The annexation of Canada was Fallout canon from the very first scene.

I am ready whenever.

Bah, curse FE11's split male class system, if only they could be combined like in FE12 (after its unlocked)...sigh I guess he can be a Sword Master, and get to actually use that Silver Sword that was promised for him them.

I don't think much of my advice changes too much with it being an ironman. Going with Luck Bane is always a safe bet thanks to the Goddess icon you get in the pre-choice chapters. As for Boon, whichever you prefer, personally I like Speed Boon, Defense Boon might be nice since you are ironmanning, Magic boon is one of the more interesting options, and strength works fine as well. For Talent, pick one that you want, but would otherwise have a hard time getting on them, or their spouse. Its hard to make a bad Corrin. You can get almost anyone to work if you want to. Arthur is probably a bad idea on an ironman, as his personal skill leaves him particularly vulnerable to crits (at least until he gets his son as a sidekick). Niles is a better idea, as his personal gives you access to recruiting generic enemies, which are particularly useful on ironmans. If the plan is to ironman it, then I guess you have to find a way too make do without whoever dies. Having a Generic or two in the prison, or a child paralogue ready to get a replacement is probably a good idea to have ready. Sorry, I haven't really used them enough to have good advice to give. Plus while I am thinking about it I don't have much extra advice to give on these two topics either. Having an idea of where you will use your entrap, and rescue staff uses is a good idea. Figuring out which of the Level 15 promoted skills you want to go for, and which you want to shoot for as early as chapter 23, and which can wait for like chapter 25 is something else to consider. Sorry for being so vague here, but there are plenty of ways you can play Conquest, and what resources you still have available will make a big difference. For a ironman run, it might be a good idea to save some for lategame replacements, as they get items to scale their level based on how far into the game you are. Although Ignacius's paralogue should not be done lategame, and the loot available in Ophilia's are so good, that doing it earlier might be a good idea as well. This thread might help with that

I remember the funny strat of intentionally reducing his speed with rescue to let him help out without killing too many enemies. Should have figured you would go with Hector mode recruitment order. Hector is also one of my favorite FE characters, that scene he has with Lyn on the boat in Hector Mode always really got to me, as that feeling of having to cry, but being unable to is so soul rending, and so rarely touched upon in media. FE7 did a good job of using Hector to show the cruelty of toxic masculinity, without telling, and it makes Hector a great character. Also figured I would mention one of the more difficult scenes to see from Hector Mode, if Hector manages to land the killing blow on Linus in Cog of Destiny (which only occurs if you get the Llyod version of Four-Fanged Offensive, and its difficult to pull off stat wise thanks to Hector's story promotion), than he has a retrospective moment with Athos, where he sees himself in the man he killed, in Linus the Mad Dog, the man who was there only to avenge his brother, and regrets that he had to kill...

Time to suggest my favorite FE11 unit, Minerva (I will leave the class choice to you, to help fill a key hole if she can). As for a second, lets have Hardin practice his imperial talents as a General. Don't worry, I bet @Saint Rubenio will gladly swoop on here and add Matthis to this PMU. Not much of a fan of his FE11 performance, but he is an important part of the early game axey boy triangle attack in FE12, and I will always remember him fond;y for that.

This song makes me think of the hell years, in big part thanks to how well it was used in the ending of Mr. Boop, a distinctly 2020 Webcomic/multimedia work. It began in it, and reached its end at the turning of the year, and hearing this song is a subtle reminder that those times haven't truly reached their end... But back to the less depressing topic of depressing music, I am tempted to add Although true to its name the sadness is undercut by feeling of moving on. Honestly I feel this song captured the tone of P3... ah what the heck, let me add a bonus P3 track

They are items that the Charred Loyce Knights drop, and you have to pickup.

Ivory King is a really interesting fight. Good Luck with the Loyce Soul farming, I did end up farming the full 50, but be warned it was really tedious...

Naw, they are clearly trying for the Boston Tea Party style of disguise Where their Native American "disguises" was clearly just some overweight white dudes taking off their shirt and tying their hair up 😛

That was kinda where I thought they were going with that scene, but when they didn't have Thales use time shenanigan powers again, I was a bit disappointed...

Ah New Vegas, by far the best of the post Bethesda Fallouts. It really is a great game with a lot of interesting choices, and really looked at the things Fallout 3 did well, and tried to combine that with the things the older Fallouts did well. Point is its a great game, and have fun with it.👍

I've never seen much LoTR influence in the Fire Emblem series, I have always seen a lot more Arthurian influences. I can kinda see the Wheel of Time influences possibly seeping into it, especially with the Archanea remakes, by focusing on personal hardships that are pressed into a person when the are a chosen hero (plus the implied cyclical nature of Medeus's return...).

You forgot about this part: which is far more what I take issue with, While it probably avoided your notice, multiple people, most notably Lenticular broke down extremely thoroughly, how no single stat makes a unit function without other stats.What she listed for what a unit with only Move could do certainly sounds the most useful of the lot, but more than one stat is necessary to make a good unit. That you need more than one stat to function isn't an indictment of Move. What you claim is the entirety of your argument doesn't show that MOV is one of the worst stats in the game, as you could replace MOV with literally any stat in the series, and it would still hold true, which would be paradoxical. Every single stat in the franchise can't be amongst the worst in the franchise. Not every unit reaches a high tier for the same reason. Some get there thanks to the power of the Move stat, despite weakness in other stats, and there are not many other stats that can cause such a shift. ...Move is what determines the where and when of engagement, that is literally what the stat does for a unit. If you don't have enough Move you can be forced into battles that yours stats are insufficient to overcome. ...And your point is? If all the units had the same strength (or defense, or speed, etc.) it wouldn't be an important stat for character evaluation either. Its only when there are differences in those stats that they become something that are worth evaluating. In the event that you simply poorly worded this, and more meant to imply that you have to slow your high Movement units down to allow slow units to catch up, that isn't the case. Even if you need that slow unit's capabilities in combat, the higher move unit can use that extra move to manipulate where the enemy goes (and thus where the fight ends up taking place), you can get more of them in a position that is safe on enemy phase, but can still let them contribute on next player phase thanks to their move, higher move units can also more easily ganag up on difficult to kill opponents, or simply help by rescue dropping a slower unit. Alternatively your higher move units can head towards an object they can complete, while the slower units deal with those that they are required to deal with. High move increases your options, whereas lower move limits them. If move were as bad of a stat as you acted, you wouldn't need all these hyperbolic and extreme examples to show how it is the worst stat in the franchise, you could simply bring up examples of how it does. And the stat that lets Marcus reach a position that can protect other units is his move stat. The stat that lets a unit that hides behind Marcus's coat tails on one turn, and still reach enemies to finish them off on the next, is their move stat. The move stat is critical to combat in that it determines where and when combat occurs. If you have too low of move you wont reach the units you want to on player phase, or control which enemies attack which of your units on enemy phase, and both are vital. When rescue is available, high move gets a lot of extra utility regardless of their combat stats, and while aid is a part of that, plenty of units without flight can contribute to rescue-dropping units as log as they have a good movement stat.

CONGRATS!!! I think its the worst area in the game, so its all down hill from here. The Ivory King fight is an interesting experience, although if you want to grind for Loyce Souls it can get a bit tedious (personally I don't think its worth it...)

It is intense, but I always found I just barely had the resources to make it through. Incredibly hard, but fair, and really forces you to use that class change system, and the handful of resources the game gives you.