Imuabicus der Fertige

I had my save files for Maddening routes sitting around Chapter 2 for a few weeks before Ashen Wolves hit. I am not going to use DLC skirmish maps, nor the items you get for free (Chalice of the Beginning sounds incredibly strong). CF, AM, GD i´ll do without recruiting any students of the other houses except Ashen Wolves, staff or knights. Only exceptions is Silver Snow, where i´ll recruit every recruitable character. Currently in the process of going through Crimson Flower and recruiting Hapi was possibly my best idea yet. Dark magic, especially Banshee is so incredibly useful.

Sniper Mozu, Terror to all things that are Ninja and hard counter to Kitsune and Kotaro I´d like to put in my vote for Orochi. But that´s more because there doesn´t seem to be any discussion about her in the fandom at all (though I was late to the party). It might not be unrealistic to say that she managed to surpass Hinoka in terms of being forgettable. If there is some discussion about her, it´s about how bad of a unit she is, because of her speed when she is in the one game, where speed is not the most important offensive stat.

Don´t care about which setting. Quick and clean Interface, SD or Fates style. No more Hubs. Add Attack Stance back into the game. If Avatar, then with customizable growths. More weapon variety -> effective vs Mov Types, other weapon types, more named weapons without them being personal weapons and highly specialized weapons (for example: 0 Might 100 Hit 70 Crit). MOAR STAVES! I´ve seen so many cool effects yet they seem relegated to healing and the occasional warp. Enemy formations and enemy AI. Make me think about how I want to break the enemy apart and make attacking them dangerous. Maps and enemies that punish overcommitment to one class. A wind mechanic that influences fliers and archers, both positively and negatively (more mov and attack range respectively by good weather and the reverse). Map mechanics. Let me open/close doors, lower/rise bridges, destroy/repair obstacles. Large scale map manipulation for both player and enemy. More Classes. I want highly specialized mono-classes as well as mixed classes. And not just healer/support classes either, but classes that allow interaction with/manipulation of the map/the enemy. Also add maritime classes etc. to the game. Make influencing Hit/Crit/HitAvo/CritAvo possible via corresponding rallies.

I mean Birthright is kind of in an awkward position. There is Conquest that many will praise for its strategic gameplay and then there is Revelations, that seems to be pretty much hated by most of the fans for its map design. Meanwhile Brithright I think is like, not good not bad and gets mostly criticized for either being too easy or its map design being too bland? It´s like Birthright is that kid that has one awesome bro and one bro no one likes, so it doesn´t stand out much.

I would like to believe the reason for a Fates “Golden Ending” as people have put it was not for reasons of story, but rather a specific part of it´s gameplay. That aspect being unit customization. Want Samurai Selena? Have her get it on with Hinata. Want Crit-O-Fucking-Phelia? Combine the two O´s, grind out them sweet skills and there you go. Three Houses to a certain degree already does that. You can freely decide in which class you put your units and you can, with exceptions, recruit characters from other houses (yeah, I am kinda salty I can´t have Hilda on CF, but in exchange I get white hair smasher-girl, or that Dedue is locked to AM). So, from a gameplay perspective I don´t feel it would add much to the game. As for story, yeah that ain´t my cup of tea.

So much yes in a single topic. But most of the time, at the very least as far as I can see, discussions about “TH vs Fates” are almost always about story. I feel I have seen very little serious discussion about gameplay-aspects and as far as I have observed these discussions, few make a case for TH (especially if it´s TH or Conquest, BR and Rev are not as prevalent). But that may just be me looking in the wrong places.

Thinking about it, is suppose one could scratch the “may not affect the player adversely” since that would probably take a lot of effort. I will however point to Conquest chapter 8 (Ice Tribe with the lake-DV) and perhaps Chapter 9 (Azura Cave) though the set enemies to 1 HP is a cheap way of doing something, I feel. The whole enemy has mor dudes and better position is mostly referring to them having direct access to things such as ballistae or are covering each other in a formation etc. I mean the whole point of the additional difficulties is to accommodate differing players, no? Some may just want to enjoy the story and characters, while others want to test themselves or rather their strategies. Other than that, it´s exactly for that reason that I would disagree on less difficulties. How would additional chapters be integrated story wise? Would they just be omitted, or more as a recap of sorts, with characters just discussing what had happened? And what about players that don´t want or can´t play on these higher difficulties; would they be just locked out of parts of the story? Regarding the "they don´t add much to the game". Somebody correct me if I am wrong about this for the different games, but most of the time the higher difficulties just scale enemies up higher, meaning they will be more of a match for your units. Though sometimes they will go way overboard with that. But in some games, they also change or complete enemy formations, or change/add skills which may force a different approach to the game. To give an example I will once again point to Conquest and take the aforementioned Chapter 9. Of the top of my head Lunatic adds one archer in the hallway to the rescue staff chest, one more spear fighter near the boss, another archer in the boss room and an additional set of reinforcements of 4 spear fighters at the stairs near the rescue staff chest. However, it also gives the new archer in the boss room a magic bow and one of the spear fighters has a bolt naginata, so these are additions that may force a change in your strategy to the map.

(Disclaimer: I have no experience with TH Maddening yet, but bear with me a bit) I disagree. I think 3 difficulties can work very well, but what they should abstain from in the future I feel, is: Ambush Spawns – especially if I can´t predict where they will spawn, because they spawn in just about any damn spot on the map. If I get forts, stairs or whatever that let me have an educated guess where they´ll spawn I´m personally okay with them. Stat Sticks – Having every enemy be able to just barely not 2HKO your guys is just not good game design imo. Enemies should be able to meet your units on equal footing, but what´s the point of having actual characters when the enemy just wipes the floor with them. At that point I may as well use generics. And on that note: Map Design – I think maps should be designed in such a way, that they offer a mechanic that may help the player against an enemy in a superior position and has greater numbers but does not or only rarely affects said player adversely.

Imagine Hairdresser as a dancer-ish class. It´s first skill being: Sharp Cut: Change a characters hairstyle. Give the unit one of the following effects +20Hit/Crit, +10 to any one stat for 1 round, +15 HP. Maybe I am not getting it, but do you mean for this one fight against one enemy, or for the entire EP? Otherwise it would look Kind of weak. And if it´s for the entire EP would it expire when hit again?

My favourite Fates support would probably be Orochi x Kaze. It´s kind of hilarious when the one character that´s all about teasing others gets teased. And the ending is very noice too.

This may have already been done before, but since a lot of skills seem to make return every newer game, I have been wondering what kind of new skills people could come up with, especially in regard to classes, mechanics etc. that you may find disappointing, underperforming and in general just for fun. Disclaimer: X, Y and Z are values I don´t really know how to specify without them being too strong/weak/insignificant (any value I use is kinda random tbh). One more disclaimer: Skills thought up can be for every game and the like (since the games do differ from each other), even if some of my stuff may seem more geared towards TH. Skills I came up with so far: Proper Grip: If Weapon Weight ≥ X increase Dmg dealt by Y and AS by Z. If weapon Weight < Z increase Avoid/Hit by 10/20/30 (?) and Crit by 10. The whole point is basically two handing, meaning hitting harder and faster vs one handing which is more accurate and nimbler. Heavy Stance: (for armoured Units?) If total weight (weapon/shield) is above X increase Atk/Def by Y. Knights in a nutshell: you are slow, the enemy is running circles around you but hey! at the very least that armour and shield protect your bum and if you hit you hit hard. For Assassins instead of Lethality: Deadly Strike: Crit +20. Effective damage x4. The effective damage part is on account of several assassins I’ve had, not being able to kill with effective weaponry and that’s just a big no-no in my book (might just be me). And crit – I mean what else screams WEAKNESS as much as landing a crit on an enemy. (I also dislike procc skills) Spot Weakness: After combat: The next attack that hits the enemy deals 50% more damage. Only active on the last enemy hit by Unit. For Heroes: Last Stand: If HP is ≤20% gain X AS, Hit/Crit Avoid +Y and set skill activation to 50% + activation stat. Am I the only one who is seriously disappointed by Heroes? There is nothing heroic about them other than their name, so this should give them some form of redemption (even though its only Fates Great Lord Awakening Skill on Crack). And a skill for Dancers, just for the fun/heck of it: Sick Moves: Avoid +20. When counterattacking increase damage by 30% of damage dealt. What do y´all think?

Whilst waiting on the school bus I learned how to move my ears. Also learned how to raise my eyebrows. It was cold, ok?

I am sorry, perhaps my English is not up to the task, but what exactly is your point? What more should TH have done to make the game easier for the player? Send a warning when your units are in range of an enemy that has crit/effective damage? You already have all the time in the world to check enemies for their weapons, skills, whether they are positioned to cover each other. You can look at the map and identify side objectives such as NPCs and treasure, as well as dangerous terrain or terrain that will impede movement. I also don´t understand how FE is not about strategy. It presents you with a map and a goal for said map. How you achieve that goal is up to you. We are in the fortunate situation of most of the time knowing a lot about the map, which again, allows us to form our strategy. A war is a situation where opposing powers intend to achieve victory over the other and employ differing strategies to achieve that goal. Losing a war, however, does not result in being wiped off the face of the earth, or at the very least I am not familiar with any real history example of this happening. The winner may believe in the superiority of their employed strategy and may use it again (or not), but the loser will probably come up with an alternate strategy in order to not only not lose but to be victorious, unless he has no other choice due to other factors (one may be available resources).

also Skip = rest, so SotC recharges. It also recharges motivation by 50%, for each week. So there is even less ability to skip, but I suppose it adresses some of the weapon exp isssues, that may or may not pop up. I will admit that the Swordd of the Creator thing was a minor nitpick at best.

There's a skip button Disclaimer: As I have not played on Maddening, feel free to correct me if I have made a mistake pertaining to said difficulty. Let´s entertain the thought of skipping for a bit. The least important aspect of skipping is skipping support scenes and cutscenes. I mean you don´t get to choose some avatar lines but other than that? Nothing of value was lost. Now let us take a look at skipping monthly activities. If you decide to skip them, you lose out on the following: The chance to use the weekend activities, in other words you lose money, weapon/unit experience, you can´t train Byleth proficiencies. Also, paralogues and I guess Sword of the Creator won´t be recharged without Rest. But here’s the thing. Skipping in Three Houses does not mean that you can skip stuff. You are forced to partake in class, the birthday here the holiday/festivals there will stop your skipping etc. Additionally, skipping class means you get the average outcome for teaching. No Great! no Perfect! and what is arguably an advantage no Bad! (How much this factor into a playthrough on the differing difficulties I don’t know) You have probably already caught on to it, but you lose something else when skipping. NO EXPLORING. Characters morale will be severely cut back, outside the MVP spot after battle, since you can’t eat with them. Even less progress during the forced class. No chance to recruit out of house characters. And most importantly: NO PROFESSOR RANK. What does that mean? Even less money, even less weapon/unit experience, limited access to items and weaponry (I think these are tied to Prof Level?). And pray tell, how do you train Byleths movement types without exploring? Skipping in Three Houses, depending on how much its stuff you want to skip will severely punish/limit you and that should not be the case for a FE. It’s also the only FE game that does so as far as I know, but I only know DS upwards.

I would like to see the Divinity II concept of elemental magic applied: Fire magic gets spells that buff AS and Accuracy Water magic buffs MAG/RES and may heal Earth magic buffs STR/DEF and may give a shield that blocks a hit or alternativly restores/inflicts status effects Wind magic manipulates allies and enemies MOV

My unpopular opinions: FE Fates Revelations is the single greatest Fire Emblem Sandbox to have ever been bestowed unto us. FE Fates Conquest maps are NOT gimmicky. Please no more central hubs like Three Houses. Its intrusive to a degree I lack the words to describe. Skills should be used on enemies to define their EP/PP potential or rather roles. That Berserker with Death/Certain/Darting Blow and a Killer Axe/Tomahawk/Hammer? Yeah probably not a good idea to let him hit you on EP. On that note: more passive skills, especially two-edged ones like Quixotic or Life and Death. Procc-skills are whack (does not include pre FE 10 procc skills, as i don´t know them).

An apology is in order then! Sorry for the premature post. At long last, trusting nobody will pay off.

For the "Three Houses is better than Fates" discussion, that one is mostly carried by two things (as fas I can tell anyway): But story is more important than gameplay, therefore TH > Fates (which if I cared for Story I might actually agree) Birthright is too easy, Revelations is full of gimmicks and Conquest has too many ninjas, its lategame is unfair and also too many gimmicky Maps. I do not mean to sound like an asshole/elitist nor do I mean to attack you, but the video you posted is not a Divine Pulse moment, that`s a "Player does not check enemy stats" moment as far as i can see. And yes, Three Houses is overvalued (is this even a word?) for its story, when the critical aspect of the game - its strategic gameplay - is very boring.

The one and only story trope I don´t get tired of is a good person turning evil, especially when it´s coupled with dishing out the pain to the good guys. Hmmm, thinking of examples perhaps Sarah Kerrigan from Starcraft? That cutscene from WoL showing her last stand as a human and staring into the sky has given and will continue to give me Goosebumps. Then again we get a “redemption” of sorts. Other than that, methinks Saber Alter is another impressive example on how to turn evil and kick ass.

I mean the chariots could be made into a Wargroove wagon kind of thing, with one character being a Chariot Driver (class?) and then you´d be able to load up another one or two units enabling the chariot to do combat -> perhaps have a fixed spot for one ranged attacker and one melee attacker? This would be a nice thing for low MOV units to get around the map too. And about the whole impractical thing, while wagons are technically not chariots (I think) I´d like to remind/point to the war wagons used in the Hussite Wars making for mobile and difficult to fight against fortresses.

I mean for flying mounts we pretty much have whats possible I think? Technically we have small Dragons aka Wyverns, we got Pegasi as well as Griffons. The one thing I can imagine are birds -> supersized Eagles like in LotR, or if we are going the route of magic flyer class something like a phoenix but that seems kind of excessive (riding a burning bird?). Also giant bats like the bat rider from Warcraft III. As for mounted units on the ground -) a Camel-based class would be possible too, but outside of desert maybe a bit weird i suppose? -) or a big lizard as a mount. And if water ever becomes a significant part of gameplay I think a turtle or an otter as a mount could do.

My personal favourite character is Orochi. I really enjoy her supports, most of the time she´s either playing with or teasing people, but I never got the impression she did it do insult them. And when she gets the table turned on her it´s kind of hilarious, especially her support with Kaze. I also like her performance as a unit – reeeeeeaaaaaaaaally slow, but accurate and hits hard.

Selena/Severa leads the train to dislike town.

So something like a Templar or perhaps Crusader? The base class could be something like Novice Knight (or just "Squire" but that would not feel religious I think) which focuses on typical physical combat (sword, lance, etc) and the promotion gains access to presumably healing/white magic.