Hawkwing
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Posts posted by Hawkwing
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You have to play the fishing minigame for 24 hours with no breaks inbetween, and Byleth won't gain any experience from the whole affair.
I find it actually pretty fun and practical to unironically use knights.
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Peanut
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Where's the "Not yet, but I'm always prepared for them to" option?
Anyway, I never look forward to fighting witches, but I always just "deal with it" when facing them. Having an overpowered ability be "balanced" by a schizophrenic AI isn't good game design, but their fragility and lack of high level spells keeps them from being as frustrating as they could be. It also helps that with the exception of Sonia's map (that was a nerve-wrecking experience of hoping none of the witches would act and if they did, they would do something stupid) and potentially levels where witches can be summoned, none of the maps go overboard on the quantity side of things.
I never want to see witches return. Yet they're not the worst mechanic in Fire Emblem. An observant player will notice their presence and can prepare to counter them, which make witches better than mechanics such as ambush spawns or fog of war, which require trial-and-error, paranoia, or outside resources to prevent being unfairly screwed over.
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16 hours ago, Jotari said:
Yes, I was being theoretical. My point, probably better expressed at the end of your post, is that Awakening leans into the gimmicks way harder than any other entry and that can make them feel one note and cliche. Whether they are or not isn't really the point as by that point as a player to whom it doesn't work has already given up caring if they are.
Yeah, again, I don't blame anyone for holding such an opinion, even if I do find it annoying when people present the criticism while only bringing up the surface aspects of a character. I am still glad that IS listened to those criticisms and took steps make changes, given how Echoes cast is a lot more down-to-earth and while some of the characters of Three Houses are still kind of tropey, it's not quite at the forefront like how Awakening and Fates introduced it's characters. Things like base conversations and the monastery also gave the cast an opportunity to speak outside of supports, giving the player an idea of what they were like even if they haven't used them much.
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Also, given that witches were brought up, I do agree that they are not a good design choice. Relying on a schizophrenic AI to balance an overpowered ability only means that they won't screw over the player some of the time, and confronting Sonia to recruit Deen is something I'm probably only going to do once since that entire map was hoping that the AI wouldn't act, and if they did it would do something foolish (still managed to beat it on my first try, with the only turnwheel uses being from me overestimating Leon's ability to kill Sonia in one round while also underestimating the crit power of Excalibur on an enemy. Now that I think about it, you'll be fighting a boss with a high crit chance not matter which character you choose to confront). They're definitely not an enemy type I wish to see return in the series.
With that said, I do believe they have some saving graces. Unlike arcanists and cantors, they only have basic magic spells like fire and thunder, which hurt but aren't quite the magical truck their competition is. They're also incredibly fragile, and their high avoidance can be countered with another mage or combat arts. Finally, if there is a witch on the map, you know what you're in for and can prepare accordingly. Contrast this with things like ambush spawns and fog of war, where the player is punished for not knowing something the game doesn't tell you, and the only counters are either trial-and-error, looking up the enemy locations and timing online, or being paranoid about every fort and unknown section of the map. This doesn't make witches a good design choice by any means, but I'll take something I can take steps to prepare for over having to go to outside resources to not to be screwed over by something the game doesn't tell me.
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It is extremely easy to screw up, the consequences for not doing well include massive stat debuffs that take several maps to recover from, if not outright leaving your army right then and there, while completing the minigame correctly gives superficial bonuses at best.
I wish that there was a Fire Emblem pinball game.
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To screw up in the skill/strategy department immediately afterwards.
The proper way to watch an 80's cartoon without giggling at all the cheese is...
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On 5/25/2020 at 10:48 PM, Jotari said:
If 9 supports are about the exact same thing and the 10th features some character depth, it isn't really a testament to nuance. Gimmicky characters are no stranger to Fire Emblem (love me some Shannam), but Awakening's choice to make almost the entire cast gimmick based does make the writing style quite tiresome.
Except that Awakenings supports don't work that way? I understand if you were being theoretical, but again, very few conversations in Awakening actually focus on the characters gimmicks. More often than not, things like Kellam's lack of presence, Gaius's love of candy, Virion's flirtations, and so on are used either to start the conversation or pop up as a joke to continue it. Rarely is it the actual meat of the discussion.
I understand annoyance at how often a characters gimmick is used for this purpose. Heck, I agree with the criticism for certain support chains. Yet the presence of such jokes or conversation starters does not mean they are the only thing about the support. Ricken mentioning that that he's not a child in a single line of his support with Gregor doesn't change the fact that the discussion revolved around Ricken asking Gregor about what happened in certain battle with the aim to record what happened and review the information to become a better fighter, gaining an appreciation of the old man in the process. Nor does a character being surprised by Kellam seemingly appearing out of nowhere mean that the rest of support is about his ridiculous stealth abilities. Yes, some characters gimmicks are overused, but that doesn't automatically mean that said characters entire existence revolves around said gimmick.
This is why I hate seeing the complaint that Awakenings characters are all "one-note", especially when their listed "gimmick" is different in the characters actual supports and/or doesn't appear as often as it's made out to be. Yet at the same time I can't really blame anyone for holding this opinion, because Awakenings characters are overly reliant on their supports to round them out. This makes it rewarding to use a unit and see them become more fleshed out, but if the player doesn't, then they're stuck with a questionable first impression. That is the reason why I say that the handling of Awakenings cast is a double-edged sword, even if I think the quality of characters themselves is pretty solid.
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Happy Birthday!
My siblings birthdays happened last month, along with my grandma's, and mine occurred 10 days ago. They were mostly family affairs, were we ordered the gifts online to be delivered later, played some board games, and ate some ice cream cake. Aside from that, COVID-19 didn't really affect anything.
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I wouldn't mind, as long as they don't go overboard. I was actually surprised by the lack of Marth and the Three Houses protagonists, but that's around the number I'm expecting for Fire Emblem characters. I haven't changed my avatar since I got my switch, so I may need to recheck to see how many characters other franchises have.
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Debate whether or not I should let the presence of Eevee lower my recruitment requirements.
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Banned for not referencing Spiderman.
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Marth rises from the grave (as a Terror instead of a Risen) and does just that after Grima has already destroyed the world.
I wish that there was a Fire Emblem Tower Defense game.
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Wonder if Marth is trying to copy Caeda's tactics for recruiting people into the army.
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Chrom is seen as crazy for getting tactical advice from a bird, so you can only play the game with him.
SpoilerAlso, you have to deal with bestiality jokes. Some of them regarding Validar, unless he was also transformed into a bird.
I actually enjoy the more ridiculous banners of Fire Emblem Heroes, as they give the artists and developers more freedom and creativity in costume and weapon designs.
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On 5/24/2020 at 5:53 PM, Alastor15243 said:
@Hawkwing Gonna agree with you there. I actually think Three Houses is one of the ugliest games in the series. So much of the game's animation feels... dead... in a way few others do. But more to the point, a lot of what the game does to make it seem bigger only makes it feel emptier to me. Yes, this is the first game to have animated talk scenes where their 3D models actually gesture and talk instead of just using portraits... but that only serves to draw attention to how little they actually do with those cutscenes, even when they're saying that they're doing things. They're still just standing and talking, same as in every game in the past. All the animated models really do is strip you of the ability to fill in the blanks with your imagination like you previously could with the portrait talks all the previous games used.
Yeah, I really felt that Three Houses got the worst of both worlds with its presentation. It's not broad enough for my imagination to fill in the gaps, and not specific enough to be entertaining to watch in its own right. I also found it even more frustrating than usual when the game fell into the "telling instead of showing" trap that plagues the series. They're actually showing the characters and locations far more often, yet they don't really take advantage of it!
37 minutes ago, twilitfalchion said:basically every support involving Kellam that won't stop mentioning that everyone forgets that Kellam even exists.
Except that not a SINGLE CHARACTER actually forgets that Kellam exists in ANY of his support conversations. Instead, the joke is that he is ridiculously difficult to spot despite wearing a conspicuous suit of armor. Even then, it's really only the focus of Miriels support and in a different way Cordelia's, with every other time it being a joke before diving into the meat of the conversation. Now I do think that they didn't go as far as they could have with Kellam's clever and stubborn sides, especially since they are rather interesting when they show up, but not every support he has revolves around his lack of presence.
He isn't the only character that has this issue. A ton of people claim that Ricken's entire character is "stop treating me like a child!" when in truth only one support chain is like that (and predictably, it's his worst one). If anything, the focus of his supports is how he wishes to become a war hero to help raise his families reputation after they fell on hard times, with a few underrated "war is hell" conversations regarding that. Yeah, there are jokes here and there how Ricken wants people to treat him with greater respect, but they're just that: jokes. Nearly every single character has some variant of this situation.
I'd say that Awakenings issue is how questionable most characters first impressions are as well as how reliant the characters are on supports fleshing them out. This is a double edged sword, as it makes it even more rewarding to unlock supports to flesh out the units and see them go from one-dimension tropes to well-rounded characters, yet if someone doesn't use a character for one reason or another, then they'll be stuck with a questionable first impression for a while. It's the main reason I believe the sentiment that Awakenings cast is "one-note" is so reoccurring.
I still enjoy Awakenings cast, yet I will compliment Three Houses for having their cast speak up more outside of supports, making them less reliant on the player having to use them in battle to get an idea of what the rest of their personality is like. Echoes also kind of did this, though base conversations were random, supports noticeably ranged in quality, and while I got a good impression of what a character was like by what they said in battle (same situation for Fates, I might add), not everyone did.
On a side note, things like Fredricks, Kellams,and Libra's unit description as well as the latter two's endings gave me the impression that those things are written first and the supports are sorted out later. I wouldn't be surprised if the writers originally intended for the other characters to forget that Kellam existed, but changed their mind and decided they would get more mileage out of changing the joke to him being ridiculously stealthy despite not trying to be. A similar situation may have occurred with Libra, as they found his "dude looks like a dudette" shtick to be less interesting than the other aspects of his personality and past. Why they didn't change Kellam and Libra's endings during the final edits to reflect this, I couldn't tell you aside from them maybe running out of time.
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He gets stuck some ways in, meaning you have to go in yourself and somehow convince him to go through the rest of it.
I wouldn't mind seeing Shadow Dragons Gaiden Mechanic return (albeit with the numbers adjusted and some alternative ways to unlock them).
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I would not be surprised if more people will play as Jax just to end fights on this note.
But seriously, despite not really paying much attention to MK11 news, all the friendships are surprisingly creative and hilarious.
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Banned because I had an interesting dream last night and I can't remember what happened.
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Wonder who put a black and white television in front of my door.
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Posted this mostly for reference. -
Don't know how much flack I'll get for this, but in terms of animation and presentation... I quite honestly believe that Awakening is visually superior to Three Houses.
Yeah, I know that the characters of Three Houses have feet, but they also have far more visual hick-ups that previous games didn't have. Such as weapons disappearing and then reappearing out of thin air when a unit is healed, or how often animations are repeated when doubling despite there being an animation for a second attack. And while previous games didn't have battalions, them disappearing and reappearing at a moments notice is far more noticeable than it really should be.
This isn't even getting into comparisons between the actual battle animations. While Awakening's critical animations could be considered a step down when compared to Radiant Dawn, they didn't take their sweet time to attack like several of Three Houses do. The strength between strikes also fluctuates drastically between classes in Three Houses, as well as whether or not it looks like they actually hit their enemy. While Awakening isn't flawless in this regard, it is far more consistent, and there are also more unique animations between classes, which Three houses has far less of due to how its weapon system works.
This isn't to say that Awakening's battle animations are perfect; it still has its fair share of stiff and slow animations, noticeable clipping, and thrown weapons reappearing out of thin air. Fates and Echoes both knock Awakening out of the park in terms of animation quality. Given the series track record when jumping between different systems, the first game on it tends to not be as polished or fancy as the later games. Neither game bucks that trend, but Three Houses introduces a few issues that previous games didn't have, instead of just having a few rough around the edges animations.
In terms of presentation, while both games share a similar style for the story sequences, Three Houses vastly overuses them. From supports to the monastery to big story events, they all use the exact same style and the same set of animations over and over and over again. This isn't new for videogames, and I've played plenty that use similar systems (largely because not every game has the luxury of being able to create unique animations for every character and cutscene), which just makes it all the more apparent how simple Three Houses system is. It doesn't help that the camera zooms in, zooms out, and spins around all the dang time which brings more attention to just how often certain animations are reused.
Awakening isn't free from this problem, as it also reuses a number of animations, but it is far less noticeable due to a combination of these animations only appearing during the main story chapters and because the camera doesn't move around as often as it does in Three Houses, making it harder to spot mistakes. It also has far more unique sequences, such as Robin ravenously eating bear meet while everyone else is sitting down, Sumia tripping, Maribelle being tied up (even if that one isn't that great), and Sumia punching Chrom in the face, and much more. In Three Houses, scenes like these are either hidden behind a black screen or shown via a visual trick that is oftentimes clumsily executed.
Again, Awakening is not flawless in the execution of several scenes. A lot of animations are really simple, it still has "characters stand around while commenting on something" scenes that Three Houses is plagued with, and for a game made in 2013, the animation techniques wouldn't look out of place for a game made a decade earlier, which to be fair is also a criticism shared with Three Houses. And again, Fates has more unique sequences that, while often rough around the edges, can still be praised for how some single scenes are more dynamic than Awakening was in its entirety (although oddly enough, the in-game cutscenes of Echoes are the weakest aspects of the games otherwise stellar presentation, with perhaps the exception of the first one, because Alm and Mycen sparring is pretty similar to the games stellar battle animations). When comparing the two games, however, Awakening doesn't overuse a simple system for showing the story and is far better at hiding most of the issues that said system comes with, whereas Three Houses draws attention to them.
Once again, I stress that I am only talking about the animation and presentation of both games. Aspects such as character and class design as well as graphics in general are a different discussion. I do want to mention that I do not think that Three Houses is a bad looking game; it just has too many visual hic-ups for me to call it good.
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My first game being Awakening:
1. Have a Better Balanced And Reliable Difficulty Curve. While I wouldn't call Awakenings difficult schizophrenic since there is a pattern behind it, it is pretty wonky, with the game alternating between being much harder and much easier than it should be on a whim, and unfortunately often for the wrong reasons. Remove ambush spawns for all difficulties, have less elements be reliant on an RNG, maybe change some of the map designs, and explain, alter, or remove some of the level gimmicks like the walls in Nah's paralogue and hiding the full force of the enemy in Yarne's, among similar changes.
2. Improve the Animations/Support Conversations, Have Characters Comment More Outside of Battle A La Base Conversations in Echoes and Three Houses, and/or Give More Female's Pants. Torn between these four options, as I love the animations of Fates and Echoes and they seriously make Awakening pale in comparison, but I think they're still alright. I think the quality of the supports in Awakening are better than people give it credit for, but you can still tell the writers bit off more than they could chew with the quantity (and the quality of S-Supports is all over the place, but to be honest I was expecting that), so there is still room for improvement. I loved how characters commented on certain story bits in both Echoes and Three Houses, and even when they didn't it still added to their characters to have them talk outside of support conversations. If Awakening did this well, it could lower the complaint of the cast being "one-note" before you unlock their supports. And while I know that Fire Emblem has always had fanservice, some of Awakenings class/character designs can raise an eyebrow, and I wouldn't mind some tweaks to make them less questionable.
The "Proper" Way To Do What the Above Poster Says
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With everyone but the lord(s) dead, no money in the treasury, all the weapons close to breaking if not broken already, and every map took over 900 turns to complete.
The proper way to be a modern day Robin Hood is...