Hawkwing

If this thread was about movies, we'd all have longer lists. Anyway, as for the actual topic: Atari Games (yes, I had an Atari, despite being born at a time that 3D games were considered commonplace. Heck, most of my gaming library consists of old games): Army Men: Major Malfunction (XBOX)-This game is painfully average at best and sloppily workable at worst. The storyline's fine, all the weapons are fun and useful in their own way (and in true Army Men tradition, the flamethrower doesn't suck) and many, in not all, of the levels are aesthetically creative: However, the game has a lot more stealth sections than they needed to have, despite them being surprisingly well done, and you have to restart the level all over again whenever you die or fail an objective. The controls have the "work fine in normal gameplay, but not for precise platforming" problem, and the tan soldiers are replaced by expy's of toys (such as lego's, GI Joe figures, a tank enemy is based of a transformer, etc.) as enemies, which adds to the variety but removes some of the charm. The game also had an extremely annoying escort mission, with the person being slow and weak, and every enemy targeting them, which isn't helped by the mission starting off with one of the games few boss fights. Tak 2: Staff of Dreams (XBOX)- It's not aged per se, it's just that it's more questionable design flaws become more apparent as I grow older. Not to mention the beginning half and latter half of this game are very different from each other, and not necessarily in a good way. The first half of the game is very well balanced between providing cutscenes for the story and getting back to gameplay, and the transitions between the levels in the real world and those of the dream world make sense from a story perspective. It also helps that the story is simple yet interesting, and the humor and cutscenes are very well done, and it really does seem like you're watching a one of the better Nickelodeon cartoons. However, at the halfway mark, the game focuses almost entirely on gameplay, switching between the real world and the dream world at a whim, and it feels as if the cutscenes appear at random intervals (though thankfully, their content IS always story or gameplay related, and the humor is still strong). They also pull a mean move gameplaywise at the halfway mark, as you can choose a single animal power to have as an extra attack, with the game hinting that there is a "best" one. What the game doesn't tell you, however, is that your choice is permanent, and you have no way of knowing exactly what said attack is or does until after you've made your choice, as all you have to go off of is the name of the animal to make your decision.

...Dorcas, who was storming with rage over how quickly his sub-plot was forgotten, how many times he has died in this thread, and how the only memes about him are about mutton and poison. Most of all, however, he furious at the person who ordered his wife killed, who in that very room was pretending to be one of L'Arachel's guards, and was revealed to be...

That wouldn't surprise me. It's stated that Alm's dynasty lasted 1000 years, but his bloodline could still continue, even if they no longer hold any royal power. It's overall ambiguous if Walhart is actually their descendant, just inspired by him (Alm did, after all, accidentally conquer an entire continent), or both.

...Gregor, who was taking a permanent vacation in the area after being scammed into believing it was trip to Hawaii (not that he was complaining). He agreed to hijack a hydroplane in order to pick up both Danny and Renault using a Fulton surface-to-air recovery system, as well as to drop the gun into the volcano from a safe distance. What he didn't tell them was... (Fun fact, Mount Mayon is an actual volcano! The more you know...)

...Deens Brave Sword, to see whether or not it would turn into a brave weapon that attacks twice, or a killing edge. As they were about to commence this experiment, Deen, having leveling up into an Ancient Lich after spending some time as a faux-filler boss in Wesnoth, snuck into the testing facility...

This started playing: (On a serious note, this is the best performed version of this song I've heard so far. If you enjoy classical music, you should really check out the soundtrack.) With Kliff using all the spells from the Elder Scrolls series, and Canas utilizing all 100 spells from Might & Magic, they were about to start an epic mage battle...

Instead of having the lords and villains be the characters of the game, why not instead have classes? As in, you could choose whether you want to play as a mercenary, a myrmidon, a fighter, a knight, etc. and then you could choose which character of that class you want to play as. Each character in said class would have the same basic purpose (as in, myrmidons focus on speed and combos, while knights attack slow, but have the most health and are pretty resistant to status debuffs. Fighters focus on dealing damage, etc.) and perhaps even movesets, but they would have minor differences in stats, and major differences in what combos they could pull off, and what their special attacks/abilities would be. Also, while I don't think they'll have the weapon triangle, they could still have each weapon serve a unique function. For instance, lances would be very beginner friendly, as they have a long range are fairly simple to use, but on the flip-side that don't have as many complex and versatile functions as other weapons, and their effectiveness drops when an enemy is right next to them. Axes do the most damage, and can have some unique and creative methods of attack, but they have terrible defense and they don't have the longest range. Swords would be the most versatile weapons in the game, making them both very useful but also very difficult to learn. They would be a jack-of-all-stats, master-of-none kind of weapon. It would be very interesting to see a mixture of something like Soul Caliber with Super Smash Bros.

...the assassin. As Squirrel-girl has finally lost something, the universe implodes. THE END. Unless... That... is an amazing use of a pun. You deserve a medal.

...The Unbeatable Squirrel-Girl! After all, what are the downsides to having an ally with the only Marvel character with stats that surpass Glacatus? (Okay, they're technically tied, but still, that's impressive when you can defeat (and make friends with) the "Devourer of Worlds.") Unfortunately for him, Squirrel-Girl knew all to well about his checkered past, and sent her army of squirrels to...

Exactly as the title says, this is where you can throw around your personal ideas of what skills you'd like to see as well as discussing what others have proposed. Skill Name (passive/activate, class it's designed for): Description (Notes) is how I've formatted mine, and it makes sense when you see it below. Feel free to format your's however you want. A small note beforehand is that I personally dislike the percentage based skills common in the series, and would instead replace them with arts from Echoes, except instead of costing hp, skills require a cooldown after use or a build-up in order to use them. A lot more of these skills make sense with that in mind. Also, these are just ideas, and the specifics would obviously change after play-testing. So without further ado: Personal Skill Ideas: General Skills Ideas: I may add more later, as my mind blanked as I got to near end, and I've already spent more time than I'd have liked to on typing these up already. So what are your thoughts on the matter?

...Joshua, as he woke up before they turned on the woodcutter, sparing us from upping the age rating of this thread due to violence (though some topics in this story are NSFW anyway, so it's a wasted effort), and tells the duo that he's been tracking down the assassin that knocked him out, and offers to join them. They don't know (and probably don't care) that he still plans on carrying out his mission for L'Arachel of eradicating the grass cutting gang formed on the previous page. Meanwhile, the assassin sent to assassinate the assassin that killed Natalie realized that, though he succeeded in killing Natalie's killer, he failed to protect her. To cope with this failure he...

...hires him, but plans to have him watched from a distance by Hawkeye, to determine whether or not he can be trusted. As Jaffar has been playing to much Hitman: No Subtitle lately, he aims to earn the Silent Assassin rank when taking out the community service lawnmower gang, completely forgeting the acceptable breaks from reality that game has. However, he is anticlimactically knocked out and put in a wood-chipper by an assassin sent to assassinate the assassin that was sent to assassinate...

...dirt, as they are secretly half-ent's, and have the power of walking woods as both sides worship Njord (Age of Mythology reference, if you're curious) despite not being Norse. This secret would not last long, however, as by complete accident Gaius discovered the truth about their "rock candy" and was about to make this information public when...

I think we could get another Fire Emblem direct, as they could reveal news about Warriors and Heroes (and maybe Echoes if they're interested in adding another wave of DLC) while the lion's share of the direct be information about the switch game. Considering that nearly half of the direct last year was dedicated to Heroes, this wouldn't be unusual. It's possible we're getting that Binding Blade remake that IS has expressed interested in doing, or at the very least we're getting some news about it. That, or they're going to try their hand at yet another Fire Emblem spin-off game.

Since we're all talking about when the next direct is coming out, I guess I'll throw in my two cents on the matter: What I hope we get: A half-hour direct that'll show that IS has learned from their previous writing mistakes and will provide us an overall great story. They'll go fairly in-depth with the new mechanics, as well as how they improved the old ones. Some characters will be shown, and they'll reveal that each nation/faction in the game will have different armor designs from each other, instead of being universally the same as it has been in previous games, and that more effort has been put into personalizing allies and enemies alike. They may also add unit customizability and new game+. What I hope for the most, however, is that they put more attention on showing off the combat animations, as my hype for Shadows of Valentia doubled when I saw how dynamic the combat would be visually, and I'm very excited to see how they'll improve them. I also expect them to give some news about Heroes and Warriors, and maybe Echoes if they plan on adding more DLC and the like. What I actually expect: A small yet reliable story synopses that should tell us what to expect, some character introductions and designs (I wouldn't be surprised if a few elements are exaggerated or simplified, since it does take time to get used to a new system and engine. Just compare the SNES, GBA, and even the 3DS games together and you'll see that the later games are more polished and less rough around the edges) a new class or two, a short description of a new mechanic, and 1-3 example fights to show off the new combat animations. Again, we'd get news about Heroes and Warriors On a more serious note, I'm wouldn't be surprised if the direct is pushed into February due to the sheer size of the game and the length of the direct. I do find it strange that they haven't revealed anything, since I'd expect a one-minute trailer or title or something at this point, but I think they're going to reveal most of the information at once. After all, nearly half the direct last year was dedicated to Heroes, and that game had a very short time between when it was announced and when it was released.

He was only sealed twice. Awakening takes place 2000 years after the first three Fire Emblem games, while the Exalt sealed Grima away 1000 years ago before Awakening begins. As for whether or not the Thabes visit is canon, both sides are plausible: If Alm and company didn't go, it would make a fair amount of sense, as he did just accidentally conquer an entire continent and became it's first leader due to factors (mostly) outside of his control and it is mentioned in the epilogue that the new kingdom faced multiple rebellions and an increase of bandits taking advantage of the chaos, so they probably wouldn't of had much time or reason to take a trip to Archanea. If they did go, the mysterious traveller who starts the post-game quest would of had knowledge of Grima (somehow), heard that Valentia's new king had a weapon that could kill gods/dragons, and decided to enlist his aid. Since it only takes around a week to sail between the two continents, it's not to much of a stretch to say they had the time for the detour. Regardless, it would explain why Alm's Dynasty is noted to have lasted for only 1000 years, as well as why Valentia is no longer united by the time of Awakening; Grima remembered who sealed him first, and took revenge by wiping out Alm's bloodline and destroying much of the kingdom. I'd venture a guess that the Falchion was destroyed in the battle against him, perhaps even weakening Grima to the point that he could be defeated by the Exalt, and given Grima's destructive power, it could also explain why medieval weaponry is still in common use despite the time gap between these events. I don't think that'll be the plot of the switch game, as I know most people want a break from Archenea after Awakening and SoV. That being said, it does seems as if IS is planning on a making a game of the event eventually and is building up the lore and story behind it early on, though I don't expect we'll see anything for a few years (hopefully after they've show they can write an all-around solid story and have nailed the gameplay mechanics). Where are you writing this fanfic, out of question? I'm just curious, as I have some ideas I wouldn't mind throwing out there.

Laurent: Lawrence of Arabia (There was once a very well done meme that replaced the characters from the movie with those from FE, but I for the life of me can not find it again). Gerome: The Dark Knight Trilogy, and maybe the original batman films (Batman & Robin and that weird one from the 60's are guilty pleasures). Gaius: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (both versions). Also:

I actually thought that Fire Emblem used something similar to the M&L series with it's combat before I had actually played the games. I thought you could choose what kind of attack you had beforehand (such as choosing shield-breaker to lower an enemies defense, or sword dance to attack four times (I thought that Marth's/Roy's/Ike's moves in Super Smash Bros were actually from their base games, even though only Aether and counter really were)), and then you'd need to input the commands correctly to do efficient damage. As for the question itself, I say'd no, as it would lengthen already long levels, and it would probably be tiring to the player considering how many individual battles there are even on the early maps. That being said, I would like it as an option if the game has New game+, as long as you can turn it on and off at will. (When I originally read the title, I thought you meant that the characters would interact more with each other, where a dual strike looks like a more like a preplanned combination attack that both characters rehearsed beforehand rather than their partner suddenly deciding to attack. Having unique victory animations between characters would also be cool.)

*Internal screaming* This is fine. I suppose it's not to hard to obtain them if you know what you're doing, right? I may have mixed the two up, with his animations overriding the option to turn it off. Still, I don't want to be surprised when this happens. So it's similar to Shadow Dragon/Mystery of the Emblem in the sense that you get more units than you need, but the ones you get later aren't as good as the former. I'm fine with that. I just asked because the child mechanic in Awakening (and propably Fates and Genealogy of the Holy war as well) made the first generation units a little too valuable for my liking, and that was one of the cons of having a small cast in Gaiden/SoV. Thanks for all the answers! They've helped me out more than you'd think.

I started Binding Blade today, and I just beat chapter 3. I also beat Lyn's story in Blazing Sword yesterday, and I plan on playing Sacred Stones sometime in the future. Anyway, I have a few questions about how the support system in the GBA games works. By the way, I've already had a support between Roy and Wolt, as well as Wade and Lott, and I know that there is a 5-support limit, so I have some experience with the system, even if it is limited. So without further ado: At what point in the game does the support system become available in Blazing Sword and Sacred Stones? Are any support points gained in Lyn's story? Are support points gained at the beginning or end of the player phase? Do actions such as healing add any points, or are they gained solely by standing next to someone? I know that there is a limit to the amount of points that can be gained in a chapter, but are there any limits to the amount of supports that can be had in one? If, say, a character reaches an A-support with someone, but then the other person dies, will they be able to reach another A-support, or will the dead person count towards the 5-support limit? I also have three questions about Binding Blade specifically, not related to supports:

Yeaaah I could have worded that better. The DLC was probably made after the main game was done, so they had the time to create the statues and classes from scratch. They did understandably use the same room to save resources. I suppose I didn't find the overclasses that impressive, and I've heard elsewhere that they felt lazy in general, just adding an extra skill or magic spells to an already existing class. No, that was the Fear Mountain Shrine, where you challenged said statue to a difficult fight and gained Duma's Lance in return. Now that I think about it, maybe Duma saw that the Mila allowed people to worship her indirectly through statues, while she could lazily stay in her temple, and vowed never to do that, instead wishing to be worshiped directly. Who knows, maybe he even walked among the general populace before he went mad. Again, it would have been interesting to see what the Duma Faithful was like before the events of the game. Though if you think about it, there are only six places where Mila has a statue in Zofia, and of those, two of them are graves (the Deliverance Hideout and the Seabound Shrine), one has access to a resurrection shrine (Dragon Shrine), one is a repurposed dungeon (the Sylvan Shrine, which has corpses lying around and prison cells, so make of that what you will), one is a humble shrine (Thief Shrine), and one is located in her Temple, so it's not like they're in every single town and castle.

I think this Extra Credit video explains the appeal of fighting games, as well as why they don't have a mainstream audience. (I would post the video here, but I don't know enough about the website on how to do that. Heck, I don't even know how to add attachments!) Personally, the problem I have with fighting games is simply activating combos in the first place. Not so much memorization, since I know that comes time and practice, but just knowing that I did them correctly in the first place. I know some of it just comes from having to use a keyboard to try out these games, which I know isn't ideal (oh, the joy of online emulators! I can play old games for free, but with the knowledge that I'll have no context of how to play, and my save data has the chance to be erased at any moment without warning!), but even if I had a normal controller, I can never confidently "draw a half-circle, then press X button" or "charge back, then forward while pressing kick" etc. without worrying that I'll mess it up or actually messing it up. Not to mention some combinations do seem unintuitive at times. How is the game supposed to know that I went back twice, then forward twice? What differentiates a charge back/forward with normally pushing back/foward? And who in the right mind thought that doing Z on a D-pad was a good idea! (Skip to 4:05. The game is Tatsunoko VS. Capcom, by the way.) I don't mean to say that fighting games are bad, far from it, but it's not hard to see why it's not a genre for everyone. On a side note, I've rarely, if ever have had trouble the the controls of fighting games, it's honesty knowing what the heck each fighter does that causes issues (or not).

That was for the DLC, after the main game was (presumably) finished, so they had the time to create the statue models. That, and the overclasses themselves remove the personal victory animations for each character (excluding Alm and Celica), so I don't think they put a whole lot of effort into said DLC.

Quick answer: IS didn't want to waste time or resources building a completely new statue that may only be used once or twice, and it was easier to adjust an already present model. The in-universe answer; by the time the game starts, the Duma Faithful went from a standard and possibly even benevolent religion to a fanatical cult filled with people who sacrificed their souls, wield dark magic, and raise the dead, so it makes since that general populace wouldn't put up shrines everywhere. Even in Zofia, Mila statues were only located in dungeons, many of which are shrines, and her Temple, so the rarity of Duma statues makes sense. As for the Mila statues in Rigel: The one in fear mountain may be the work of a rebellious priest/cleric, or since the dungeon holds quite a few treasures and a resurrection shrine, Duma may have not been picky about who was up for the challenge and added the statue so a brave Zofian may be more willing to explore it. It may also have been a taunt against the Zofian's laziness while promoting Rigel's strength by essentially saying "Look at the Zofians! Barely halfway through, and already they need a break! The people of Rigel have barely broke a sweat, and scoff at their weakness!" The secret shrine is, well, secret, and small, so why waste time making a new model for it? Considering that he was kicked out by Jedah, Sage Halcyon may have set them up in the Lost Treescape to ask Mila, in vain, to help the Duma Faithful return to their previous state as a proper religion instead of a cult. (On a side note, Sage Halcyon really needed more screen time and a memory prism. It would have been very interesting to see what Rigel was like in it's prime, before Duma went mad.) As for the one in Duma's temple, I see two explanations: 1. It was set up by a rouge priest/cleric who pretended to worship Duma but secretly worshiped Mila, and when Duma found out, he ordered the statue broken, but didn't have the heart to destroy it. 2. It was set up by Duma himself as a memoir to pay respects to his sister despite their differences, but again, ordered it broken, but not destroyed. Also, Mila may not be the one promoting your units, though that relates to the unexplained issue of why crests and seals give units better armour, a horse, and/or a new weapon to wield, so this question isn't limited to this game.

Favorites: Turn-based Strategy: I enjoy any game that makes me think, and I. 4X Strategy: They're long for the right reasons, I enjoy how the game changes over time, and I love how it seems like I'm charting a course of fictional history. Adventure: They're just fun. Not much more can be said, honestly. Puzzle: As long as they don't resort to moon-logic, they can be enjoyable, and again, they make me think. Platforming: They're a gaming stable, and rightfully so. Depends: Tactical games: They alternate between fun and frustrating a little to easily for my liking. Rougelike: Same problem as the above. First Person Shooters: I enjoy most Star-Wars related shooters (Dark Forces, Battlefront, and Republic Commando) and had fun with a demo of the original Doom, but otherwise, they're a bit too similar to each other for me to pick and choose. Third Person Shooters: I greatly enjoyed MechAssault, Mercenaries, and Battlefront, but otherwise, they have the same problem as FPS's; they're too similar to each other. RPG: If they do something unique (such as the Mario & Luigi series) I tend to enjoy them, but otherwise, I find the general gameplay to be a bit boring honestly, and I never liked how number-heavy many of these games are. Don't Care for: Sports: They just don't interest me, but I don't dislike them at all either. Racing: Mario Kart is fun, and I've tried F-Zero X and greatly enjoyed it (partially because you can finish a race in less than two minutes), but as a whole, the genre just doesn't interest me. Rhythm: They can be fun, but they're not a genre I'd go out of my way to play. Dislike: Bullet Hell: How the heck am I supposed to simultaneously stay alive while defeating the enemy in all this mayhem?!?! Fighting: I just can't pull of combos. It doesn't help that I find many of the combinations to be unintuitive, and I can never pull one off confidently. About the only fighting game I'm good at is Smash Bros, and even then I main Ike, who relies largely on single, powerful attacks. MOBA: They're a bit too competitive for my liking, and I don't like "click a thousand times to win" kind of games in general. Horror: This problem applies , but I end up in an unappealing paradox no matter what: Either I'm not scared and can predict what's going to happen, and thus have wasted my time and money, or they succeed too well and I'm psychologically scarred for a few days, and I like to sleep at night.