Kiran_

So M!Byleth + 3 house leaders makes sense for the first one. But I wonder what the SECOND 3H banner (assuming the 2nd new houses banner is indeed 3H). I'd assume F!Byleth with favorite student from each house? I just wonder how they're gonna choose who to go in that banner since we don't have a sense of popularity quite yet. I'd assume something like Caspar/Ingrid/Hilda or Petra/Ashe/Marianne or something. But probably female heavy since the first TH banner is male heavy.

It is fluff. The reviewer might have rushed battles, but clearly took time to read the story and pay attention to the cutscenes as they go into details bout both. They also mention exploring versus fast travel. So yes 45 hours on normal while going through everything and maybe not focusing on ALL of it seems reasonable. But he said 60+ not rushing, but I doubt not rushing will really add more than 15 hours. And realistically it would get easier with further playthroughs and you'd be smarter about your time and what you do. So 60, 60, and probably like 50 when you get it down is not 200 hours. So yes. Fluff.

I hope the NG+ works that way. But this makes me less likely to do all 2 routes at the same time if I get bonus points for the replay value. But now I wonder if I should start with the one I'm least interested in (Golden Deers) first before moving onto the other ones? Idk. And where did you get that recruiting is difficult? The author specifically said they just ran around giving flowers to everyone instead of actually focusing in on characters to recruit, and that it would probably be easier if they had focused. And also in that one game preview the woman had recruited 2 characters (relatively) early. I'm assuming because of the variety of skills needed you'll probably get around 2-3 on your first play through. And if skill levels and such carry over on NG+ you might be able to get 4-5 total. I'm assuming there's probably a cap tho on how many you can get from each house. Any more than 3 from a house and it feels like the house would be severely compromised. Lol.

I think the point is that no matter their inherent strengths or weaknesses the class system is really for anyone to be anything. You can take the easy route and just follow their strengths. The hard route and do their weaknesses or just do what you want with the units. I like that they're showing it off and not keeping a more 'canon' class for some of the characters! But she could have a strength in flying (she likes animals), but it could ALSO be a hint at a Dark Flier-esque class!

I meant the extra orbs in the actual event cause they replaced them with grails and stuff. Haha. But yes it does give those orbs.

I was one, specifically referring to log-in bonuses and quests (the part you cut out of the quote). And also Forging Bonds don't give orbs. I also don't consider Tap Battle or GC a huge source of orbs. Otherwise yes, we have the events, that we usually get, which definitely has a fair amount and I'm excited for.

Yeah they're different bosses on different maps, but it's the same story/timeline. Grima just sends them to different spots to kill different sets of children. It's been awhile since I played the DLC, but I always got the impression that he either gathered Morgan's from different timelines and used them both as his minions at the same time or they were supposed to be twins. I sorta assumed the latter. Also, just noticed, the calendar seems to be pretty sparse on orbs. I was hoping for a celebratory log-in bonus, or even some special quests, but it seems pretty light on that. =(

Don't they exist together in Future Past? And also according to Awakening lore Morgan might have come from a different timeline then the other children and so because of Outrealm nonsense it's entirely possible that they both end up meeting from different timelines. Lol. But yay for Three Houses banners!! And the summer seasonals go soooo long, which is nice! I can start saving orbs again!

Uhh, if you think about it realistically, they might be 'on the battlefield', but a real assassin would probably be crouched/hiding/behind the battalion. And also, real combat isn't turn-based, so what's so odd about it??

Omg, wow. I love him. I'm definitely glad I'm doing Blue Lions first, though now I'm thinking is that going to be my personal 'canon' storyline too? Maybe. He's so awkward and nerdy and cute and it makes that haircut of his even better because it really fits! Also going from that awkward kid to wanting to kill everyone?! Oh no. Edelgard already seems pretty business-like/ruthless so Dimitri's change is even MORE intriguing. AND the Blue Lions is the ONLY house where I like every single character a lot. From least favorite to most favorite to like ... BEST house as they've continued to reveal stuff. I also like the almost throwaway line, "I'm no stranger to misfortune" because ahhh. Hints at a dark backstory and I'm all for it.

Tend to go for Hard Classic mode. With the turnwheel returning it makes not resetting because the enemy cries you at the last enemy easier, which is nice. For my middle play through (the 2nd of the routes) I might turn it down to Normal Classic just so I can get through it a little quicker before I move onto the 3rd route (which will be like my main route) in which I will either go back to playing Hard Classic.

Between 19 and 24. I'd say 20 though.

I would say all three of them. But honestly Chrom & Robin are the protagonists. You can have multiple protagonists and I think each one is a protagonist during their own part of their story. I would say Lucina can definitely be argued either way, but without a doubt is the least protagonist of the 3, but Chrom and Robin are both definitely the protagonist depending on the arc of the story itself. Lucina is only the true protagonist of her own story in Days of Future Past. In Awakening itself I think she falls behind Robin & Chrom especially in the last arc, which is all about bonds and the bond between Robin & Chrom is focused on as they share dual spotlight. I think that's what makes it so powerful of a story is that we get two equal protagonists, and that you can't just have ONE person. You need multiple people to overcome darkness. That's the only reason I might argue for Lucina being a protag in her own right.

I hope just a wider variety of magic units that can also wield weapons. I know magic classes can wield weapons, but they have such low Str caps, that I assume it would be useless. I want some physically able magic classes like Grandmaster and I want some mobile magic classes like Dark Flier (hopefully a dragon this time) and Dark Knight. So we shall see. But I'm assuming unique promotions for sure for the Lords and Byleth. And hopefully Dread Fighter isn't locked behind DLC. Haha.

I honestly don't think it's going to be 80 hours to go through one route tho. One it feels like an exaggeration, to make it seem longer than it is, and I'm sure for some players it could be. Probably closer to 30-40 realistically per route. Upwards of 50 if you really micromanage your characters. Also that's probably going through every side quest ad maximizing every lesson plan. Also he probs walked away from the game several times, but left it on, which always adds like 8-10+ hours to any console game I play.

Wow. I just fell in love. Okay. Was not expecting that, but she is captivating. Her design is beautiful, imo. The choker is giving me 90's nostalgia, I dig it. Also, anyone who wants to beat up arrogant nobles is a-okay in my book. She might be Master of the bow, but she was meant to be a Swordmaster. Out of all the teachers, she's def. my favorite now. She's going to be a staple of my team unless she has some awful personality.

Omgggg. This hyped me up. Also blond Byleth is growing on me. Poor Claude. The only sane one!

I just ... this post had me actually laugh out loud! Bolded for things I LOVED and agreed with. Haha. My number would be slightly different but LOL. So good.

Sadly very little is universal when it comes to advertising. We have to always totally change our marketing based on the vast differences in culture. Americans, stereotype or not, don't retain or engage with content as much, idk why. And different mediums have different interaction times. I can speak most to NoA, because that's what I generally do. But the few times I've done it for global markets, even hyping up something as simple as a new promotion tend to go differently. Same assets (aside from like language). Different launch times. I also personally have never done video games, so I can't speak to the more nuanced details of that market. But I've done other entertainment and I can't imagine in being too different at the end. America likes instant gratification. So hype is best done when something is close to release. Look at how music artists tease their new work within a small time frame of it being released.

Omg. Claude riding a Wyvern, YES. And then fighting time-skip Edelgard? YES. Loved the glance at the maps and yay to Flayn and that old teacher being confirmed playable before time skip!

Considering it's my actual job, it's not "limited" evidence. We have plenty of studies that prove what works best in advertising. Less is more. A lot of people are NOT interested in regular small updates. Attention for the average consumer drops off. You can do a gradual promotion, but there is such a thing as too much info. I get you might be different. And same goes for me. But you can't put what you would want on everyone else. Absolute silence is a death. But just silence? Not at all. They are promoting the games. Just not on the timeline you want. And not the way you want it. But doesn't make it less effective. If you're such a casual fan of some games, what does it matter if they wait to promote until the last month or so before a game? They're still giving all the information, just condensed and so it's top of mind when you wind up at a store and see it. Nobody is saying that NO marketing is good. Just that a different timeline is fine.

The only FE game that I've played with a horrible story and character is Fates, but I'm sure everyone will rag on that and Echoes, so I'm going to do a story that I love with characters I love. Awakening. For Awakening, I'd really bring out more the duality between Ylisse and Plegia. I would have loved Gangrel to be less mustache-twirling villain and more, "Your country literally tried to exterminate us, and we are wanton for resources after the war drained us dry and your father was awful". I think it would have made Emmeryn's words more impactful, and also I would have loved the enemies to be less 'bandits' and actually more village people raiding other villages because they legit couldn't survive. I think it would have really lent credence to the war and how blinded the Plegians were by their hatred for what they endured that they were willing to kill innocents in pure retaliation and desperation. I also would have enjoyed Emmeryn being less perfect and more "I watched in silence as my people murdered yours and through my silence of not stopping him, I allowed this to get here." And then have some more behind the scenes revelations of Validar pulling the strings a bit more, and Gangrel maybe slowly descending to madness over the first arc because he's slowly selling his soul in his desire for revenge. I think that would have been a small, but really good tweak. As I found Awakening's issues to be more in just not expounding upon the grayness they alluded too. I'm unsure how I would fix the Walhart issue. I sort of think it would have been better if Walhart had set his sights upon Plegia and after everything that happened they (with Validar not being the new ruler), asked Ylisse to come to their aid to show how far Chrom had come in forgiveness and the fact that he understands his duty to a country his father decimated. And I like the idea of the two nations who were at war 2 years prior teaming up against a conquerer. Only to find out at the end that Walhart had targeted Plegia because of the rise of Grima. But show that Validar was still behind the scenes and after Chrom kills Walhart, he kills whatever ruler Plegia had and takes over Plegia and then the rest of the story can go as follows. I always had some level of disconnect with Validar being ruler right after Gangrel and the fact Chrom had to work with him when we all knew he was evil. And then Walhart targeting Ylisse instead of Plegia when he had intended to stop Grima seemed an odd choice. As far as characters, I actually loved Awakening's cast of heroes, so for me it's really just the villians I'd tweak ever so slightly and minor plot points.

It's a really easy position to defend if you know anything about marketing. For one, NA knows their audience, and they know how hype is built. As you said the dedicated fans don't NEED NA to post anything because we've all been religiously following Three Houses news. We get translated material instantly. A fair amount of us play the game with Japanese voices. We as fans, have always been used to getting our information first that way. We're hyped no matter what because it is Fire Emblem and we're invested in it. On the other hand, casual fans don't care. And the audience that NA is trying to get at is the people where a slow hype would do nothing for them but either annoy them, or kill it. The longer your draw something out to a casual fan/someone who is new to a series, the less they care. Hype is built by silence, predictions and then a rollout of information in close quarters to a release so people are both excited and it's top of their minds. Someone going to Gamestop after a dedicated month of info is more likely to see it and be like, "OH! NA twitter has been going crazyyy about this game, and it looked pretty cool! I watched some videos." Versus something that's been going on for months and months they'll be like, "Oh, I remember this. Huh. I'll check it out later." All my friends who are casual fans or don't really care, are like, "Ohhh! Have you heard about the new Fire Emblem! That E3 trailer looked so cool!" Like for them, that WAS enough. They don't want weekly updates for months. You're conflating what YOU as a dedicated fan want, not what the general, average public (who we need to buy the game) needs.

Not surprising in the least, I'm glad they finally announced it tho! Though this seems to confirm or lend credence to the fact they're gonna do the M!Byleth/House Leaders and F!Byleth as GHB probably. So we'll probably get student banners (curious if they'll do mixed student banners or house student banners) after. At the very least I don't have to dip into the red pool since I'll be trying to get all the house leaders probably (unless one has atrocious art, which I doubt). Merges will come later.

I liked Edelgard as the narrator. Haha. I also dislike losing control, so I'm starting to really relate to her. Haha. Oh no. Glad they're marketing. I like that they waited and did it this way instead. It condenses the hype into 3 weeks rather than a really drawn out thing. They knew all the major fans would be following the Japanese marketing, so it's smart to wait until the month of to do a heavy push to get the none-fans and people who don't really know much about FE aside from maybe Fates.