Eltosian Kadath

The Katamari series is a well beloved series of videogames starting on the PS2 with Katamari Damacy. The idea of the game is simple, you roll a ball like Katamari, and if it bigger than an object it rolls over, that object will be incorporated into the Katamri making it bigger (and possibly a little lopsided), which lets it roll up more stuff getting bigger, and able to roll up more stuff.It has a very charming aesthetic to it, excellent music, and a goofy story to it. The story being that the King of All Cosmos has destroyed all the stars in the sky in an act of (drunken?) catharsis, but seeing the consequences of this has sent his pint sized son, The Prince (you) to earth to roll up some katamari, that will be used to replace the stars in the sky. The King was the real star of the show, with a hubris that was amusing, and managed a comedic and sincere take on that old trope of the father that condescends to you if you only get a B+ on an assignment. The second one, We ❤️ Katamari, takes a very meta approach of having the King gaining massive popularity thanks to Katamari Damacy, and points out that there is still plenty of room in the sky, and so the young Prince gets asked by many of the King's fans to get the King to perform some fabulous or novel feat with the Katamari. It has an interesting history with the director having made a surprise move from sculpture to videogames after college, and at this point in his career he was tired of the mind numbing process of popping out sequels that Namco had become, and pitched the Katamari idea as a low risk budget title using the modeling efforts of students at a school affiliated with Namco to reduce the cost of development. Once in control he ignored a lot of "advise" from the higher-ups about adding powerups or complicated objects, instead focusing his attention on making the underlying feel of the moment to moment gameplay as satisfying as possible, and in this I feel he really succeeded. Now he was reluctant for the game he made to escape the sequel farm hell getting a sequel, but was coaxed into working on the second one anyway, and he expanded the objectives out a bit, and I honestly think it is the best game of the series. I am strangely reminded of the Schaffrilas rant about the importance of empty bottles in the original version, and how the 3DS version missed this entirely...

+Mag/-Luck Corrin would probably work with it. You would probably want to build up a core of magic users to get the most out of the magic rally, like using Elise, Ophelia, Leo, Odin, possibly even Felicia and Nyx. Even if you don't invest too heavy in the playable mages, you probably still want to play Ophelia's paralogue for the loot available in it, as you can get a spirit dust, an early lightning (C rank 1 might brave tome that adds a -2 debuff to magic and skill on the user after use), Horse Spirit (D rank, 4 might tome that grants +3 skill, speed, defense, and resistance when equipped), and Calamity Gate (C rank 7 might tome, reverses and doubles weapon triangle, also +1 speed and defense when equipped). Ophelia is best mage of Fates... plus the amazing loot for whatever mages you are using is the real draw (see above...) Forgot Thracia as well there... A noble goal, but after the tragic failure of monumental efforts starman.net exerted to move the hearts of Nintendo, I feel it falls on the deafest of ears... That is a funny way of spelling Majora's Mask... Yeah, nothing can live up to that level of hype, but try and forget the hype and give it a try anyway. It is still a game that is worth playing even if it didn't die for our sins... Persona 3 FES, and We ❤️ Katamari, if you haven't played the remasters of these games, then I would also suggest: Katamari Damacy, ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, Zone of the Enders, Zone of the Enders: the 2nd Runner, or MGS3:Snake Eater

The sign of a Niles that needs some training... Ah, the better way of dealing with him. Altough sending Dakota off alone sounds a little dangerous...I think that ends up triggering one of the reinforcement groups in the north as well... This is one of the chapters where having Felicia/Jakob sticking in maid/butler til tome-breaker really pays off, especially around that island to the west, and the Onmyoji reinforcement that pop out of the alcove just above it... Its not as time sensitive as it seems, as many of the reinforcements also have pass as well... I will also note that Mozu making an attack-stance hit will clear the debuff (and also not triggeer the debuff if she didn't have it before). One of them is only barely in Azama's range, so you should be able to trigger it, and then shelter the DV user to safety... I get them as soon as I can generally.

Its been a little while, but real life stuff (like covid vaccine making me drowsy, and my dog's health deteriorating) have delayed mt response, but I will try to get the next update up by say... Monday...ish...maybe...,hopefully I am going to try to fit the whole map into the next one, but it is more than the rule of thumb I have for how many images SF forum post will take before it gets erratic so we will see... Yeah, I guess it was a long shot, as monsters would have probably been mentioned by now if they were in this. It sounds useful, but Izerna doesn't have the levels to use ut properly, and I doubt she every will, so hopefully the next healer we get has functional bases... Well that is a nifty little bonus, that it slow enough that I probably wouldn't have noticed (unless I was looking back at just the right old update, at just the right time). Very much the frog in a slowly boiling pot problem... Considering that he looks good enough to be a side mission mercenary carry, that puts him in same range as Volo and Ruby's dad, which he is noticeably cheaper then (perhaps I should think of Sylvis in a similar tier, but I like bringing her for the higher capture chance as opposed to carry potential) This is kinda reminding me of the hidden immortality skill on some of the Thracia 776 units, but less impressive. Not to disrespect Robust, but when compared to immortality... Good to know, but as will become readily apparent in the next update, the bow shop is far too depleted for that kind of reckless item management at the moment... ...sigh. Of course it is. I am a little surprised we can't have our thief(s?) promote into an assassin or something, but oh well... An interesting little look at features cut from development. I kinda wonder what ended up preventing its implementation, but that kind of specific information rarely comes out... Fair enough, I guess I did take that comment in a wild direction (but it was the first thing that came to mind...) Probably true, but it would have been nice to have an actual new recruit... Well Iserna's mom is still in the picture (with no father in sight so far), and Esteban's whole problem stems from a missing dad and aging mom... Sorry to say that I played through the side maps of the chapter before I saw your comment (I was eager to get back to playing Berwick after how long it too to get though the previous updates...honestly I should have slept more before playing them, as I probably would have played better...). I guess I can still hire him immediately before ending the chapter, but the deployment limits on these side maps were just too small for me to consider adding him... I think my new policy of hiring the Ward "replacement" after the main map is a economically sound idea then...

More evidence for the manipulative Azura theory... There is a classic endgame prep if I ever saw one... That is a tough map. Its one of those hard enough that I only play it if I want to actually use Seigbert, or want the challenge...good luck using it as training. Yikes...just one left... Holy smoke, you remember this as an ordinary chapter to ironman? That is some dangerous hubris there... I think @Interdimensional Observer was talking about how the Dragon Veins clear the forest (and water, as well as stop reinforcements), so unless you are thinking a few steps ahead, it isn't immediately apparent what the map will become...

Hapyy Birthday!!! Much as I like the Persona franchise, Fire Emblem Warriors taught me that I simply don't like Musou games, so when I learned it was a Koei Tecmo game where they made a Musou Persona, I lost all interest in it. I might watch an LP eventually, but the gameplay of those is simply not for me... Also I am a bit of a Kirby fan, although its been a while since I have really sunk my teeth into one of them. Kirby games tend to have the ideal structure as a casual platformer, where the basic path of the game is comfortable to get through, but they show you optional challenges to encourage you to get more into them, and seek a satisfying mastery, without forcing you into that. Random aside, recently I have been playing some classic Fallout recently (as in the first game from the 90s), which has been an interesting experience. It took a little finagling to get a PC game that old to run, and the controls have this ancient feeling of inconvenience, but it is such a compelling experience despite that. I am not too far, having recently reached the trading city of the Hub (note that is its name, not its actual function in the game), and its clear that the next place to look to push the plot is the ancient ghoul infested abandoned vault known as the Necropolis...

There is an event I would like to share that only came to my attention recently, but feels relevant to the discussion at hand, as it involves a look into a key part of the problem with police in America, and an attempt to address that part through reform. In 2006 in Buffalo city New York, police responded to a domestic disturbance, and after handcuffing, and remove a suspect from the premises, one of the officers started choking the suspect. One of the other officers on the scene, officer Cariol, tried to get the other officer to stop, and after the strangler failed to respond to Cariol's words, she pulled the strangler off of the suspect, and for doing so she was fired from the force, only 2 months before earning her pension. She would try to have her termination appealed, but was denied at the time. It should be noted that there were already allegations of excessive force from the strangler (repeated bashing the head of a suspect into the car they were restrained against), and would remain on the force after the incident, getting more allegations of excessive force, until he was fired, and incarcerated after being involved in an incident where multiple black teenagers were held down and shooting point blank with a BB gun. Also of note the suspect that was strangled to this day says that officer Cariol is the only reason he survived that encounter. Here we have a moment that could have become another citizen death at police hands; the one whom prevented it is punished, and the one who perpetrated the violence allowed to continue until his actions were so egregious that could no longer be covered up. After the protested that were sparked off by Floyd, the injustice of this incident was so illustrative of an issue with the city's police force that they added Cariol's Law as a way to address it. Cariol's Law adds a duty to police to intervene when other officers pose an imminent threat to citizens, consequence to police that fail to do so, added protections from reprisal to police who do intervene, harsher consequences for police falsifying reports, impacts the funding and termination policy of the police, and finally those whom faced retaliation for preventing, or whistle blowing about police abuse against citizens can receive restorative justice. This all came to my attention after hearing about Officer Cariol seeking the restorative justice from the law that bears her name, and having the pension she was denied granted her, as as well back pay for the pension, and the two month period she needed and would have worked to earn it, if not for her retaliatory firing. It is still too soon to see if this legislation will have a noticeable impact on the horrifying problems involving America's police, and I don't think it is addressing all of the problems, but I think its something to keep an eye on, and a place to start looking about the kind of reform we might be seeing...

I will note that / was meant as an OR, as I have seen Berserker Arthur soak crits thanks to his high health....

That is so hilariously stupid... Wow, it managed to pull itself out of the Star Wars Christmas Special section of the bad entertainment curve, and get back into a Room section

Its so easy to forget that the Awakening Avatar is rarely force deployed... Also F for Libra, your life is worth less than a tiny bit of extra time Oof F for Flavia too...hopefully Chrom lives long enough for you to win..

Oof, that is an unfortunate oversight. Missing both boots and some vital money (at least it sounds vital given all the class changing you are talking about...) Fun fact about the chest keys in Conquest, there are 3 in total, and 2 of them are on the chapters that give you the rescue staves... Surprised you didn't intentionally trigger them early by baiting someone across the gap... Attack stance is such a great mechanic. That this is possible without being trivial is a big part of what makes Conquest such a great game to play... Well that was a bit of rotten luck, but with the downside of Arthur's personal, not the most surprising event, especially when he isn't in a high defense/health class.

I almost commented this early in your run, but the best way to deal with the highest difficulties of this game is to just let the Avatar snowball into a god and practically solo the game. You are doing a slight variation on the best Awakening strategy. Sounds like you are mostly remembering the early game, as a vast majority of those are rout. Its actually surprisingly close to half rout, and half boss kill, with 2 boss kill maps in the first half of the game...

Nanna

If you are counting staff use, and capture mechanics as a part of player phasing that would swing it that direction for me, although if you are looking only at combat I would put it more into EP focused.

I think you are overlooking a few, like Echoes mechanics do encourage player phasing, I think you could make an argument for Thracia as well depending on what you are including in player phasing.

...which gets kinda undercut if you have access to the spotpass maps that let you recruit multiple of the defeated villains, like Gangrel and Walhart.

Kaga had the guts to do it in Berwick Saga, so who knows.

Happy Birthday to KIrby, may the little puffball dance many a victory dance for such a celebration!

I was kinda expecting you to kill her off intentionally, but it being accidental is kinda funnier. Ouch...I feel like that is such a harsh judgement on Awakening. One of the worst things a game can do is make you not care... The Nowi death just gets funnier. Sorry to burst your bubble a little here, but this is famously a choice where decision has no impact on much of anything. She jumps either way...

Yeah, I seem to remember that being a common way for Camilla's supports to start. I think similar supports like these are part of why a lot of people think of the Fates cast as kinda one note... That is a super lucky prize! Those reinforcements really make this chapter intense in the end and the way they trigger means you are generally a turn away from victory if you try, making for an interesting choice of how long you want to stay trying to get some extra xp, or that spirit dust for instance. I guess what I am trying to say is I like these endgame maps because they make things interesting. Shame you just missed it, but it being so close I think paints that optional objective as a difficult, but reasonable thing to accomplish even if you do have to bug out early. Its kinda ironic given all the Laslow talk above, but I honestly do think Laslow is shown to be the best parent in Fates. Admittedly that is a low bar...

"dunes to the northwest" is a bit vague to really indicate a single specific unmarked tile...

The first BK map is far worse, as he is an ambush spawn, that uses their full movement if someone is within range. I remember one time where I got forced into a position that map where it was impossible to avoid two death because I didn't look up the exact conditions that trigger him to spawn before playing it.

It really isn't. Guides are focused on informing the watcher, and as such tend to give you more specific information on all portions of the map, whereas watching someone play only gives you specific information on what that player focused on, and even then it can be easily missed as the display of this information tends to be incidental to the act of play rather than the focus. Although watching someone play can give you a better idea of the ramifications of map design that aren't always immediately apparent from a guide, and a hint at AI behavior that might not be well documented. On the other hand guides often have better information on diverging events, as the player you are watching only plays through one of those versions of events. I mean going into a run not trying to complete the map with the results you want, but trying to learn about it. Testing how the AI behaves, looking at the kinda threasholds you might need for how the enemy ends up clustering, watching for the time limits you are on with side objectives, seeing what events are out there, seeing where and what reinforcements show up, etc.

There are plenty of ways to become less blind other than a guide. Watch someone play, talk to someone knowledgeable about the game, do a practice run of a map which you intend to reset, just feeling out the aspects of the map you need to learn. I think there is room for games that don't focus on the blind experience, instead focusing on making the game more rewarding for those who become more experienced with the game. Honestly, they tend to be a bit overblown, they only trigger if you use the wait command, so any other way a units turn ends prevents them from triggering, almost all the ones in 16b don't send you to anywhere dangerous, the death chamber of 24x sounds bad, but dealing with the warp staff mages in there, and spawn blocking the enemy that appear there tend to make the map easier, although it does take resources to get people out of there. Also of note you can avoid both those maps if it they really scare you that much.

You don't need a guide if you know the game. Needing to learn about and get good at a game doesn't make it bad. Congratulations Sooks, sounds like it was a huge accomplishment!