Jump to content

Alef Zero

Member
  • Posts

    31
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Alef Zero

  1. Alright, time for some updates:

    Skills:

    new mastery skill for lord - Unity (hit/avo/crit +20 when unit adjacent to an ally)

    new mastery skill for dark bishop  - umbral shield (def +5 res + 10 when unit used wait command)

    all blow skills reduced to +4 (aside from armored and warding, which stay at +6, as their usage is more niche)

    all defiant skills repurposed as valiant skills - +6 to a stat as long as unit is at 75% hp or above (valiant avo and crit grant +20). This may seem powerful, but all defiant skills were gained via master classes (save for hero), so they should be worth it

    Classes:

    rearranged masteries for intermediate classes:

    • mercenary - darting blow (this class needs a good mastery, otherwise it's worse than thief. hope I don't break a tradition too much)
    • thief - desperation (no idea why a skill that requires speed for doubling to even activate was given to the second slowest intermediate class)
    • pegasus - avo +10 (fits more with the class theme)
    • cavalier - vantage

    changed skill focus of armored/fortress knight from axe to lance. in base game, there are 3 advanced classes that use axes (warrior, wyvern and fortress) while only one with lances (paladin), and armored units have always (?) used lances first. In fact, I feel like it was the intention from the beginning, as armored use the same animation for swords and axes, while lance animations are unique. Far-fetched theory but works for me. Axes are still worth using for their sheer power.

    changed mortal savant skill from darting blow to dark tomefaire. I didn't know what other skill to give him, and having at least one dark tomefaire feels nice.

    changed monk's mastery from magic+2 to resistance+2. mag+2 is instead acquired by reason C rank (previously fire passive was gained in that rank, but it does not work when equiped, must be hardcoded). faith C rank grants miracle

    cannot decide if great lord should be ginve swordfaire or lance avo +20. swordfaire fit class better in my view, but avo would make the class stronger, greatly synergizes with Dimi's personal and makes use of a skill that's not used anywhere else. I will probably toss a coin at this rate.

    Magic system:

    I've managed to give all spells some identity:

    wind spells are effective against fliers (wind and gale double, while excalibur has triple), and low weight, but also low power

    thunder spells have increased range (3 to be exact) and 100% accuracy, but cannot double

    fire spells have no special property, but have the highest power and decent accuracy

    ice spells have high crit and lower movement (blizzard seal movement, fimbul locks in place) but have low accuracy and high weight

    holy spells, aside from nosferatu, are effective against monsters (abraxas and aura double, seraphim triple), but have no crit and sligtly lower might than in the base game. nosferatu has weight of 4, might of 1

    i didn't touch dark spells, as I think they are strong enough. miasma got 1 more might tho

    Difficulty:

    raised enemy levels for hard mode, they are now 2 levels behind maddening

    revampted enemy skills for both hard and maddening - all enemies have their classes' matery skills (warrior has death blow, wrath and strength+2). On maddening, some enemies get additional skills (hero get vantage and desperation)

    I think about lowering exp gained on hard (but not as much aa on maddening) - despite all these changed I still plow through enemies with no issue on ng. This isn't how it's supposed to be.

    Side note - what are the changes that make maddening so hard? Enemies are now only 2 levels below maddening, have many new skills and gain the same boosts from my class changes. And yet, maddening is truly maddening, while I'm plowing through hard no problem. What am I missing?

     

    Additionally, Seteth's and Flayn's color scheme changed from pink/white to green - their class outfits now fit their hair.

     

    I think the mod is close to being finished, I'm mostly wondering about the difficulty now.

  2. 1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

    I disagree. If you think Swift Strikes is overpowered, my recommendation would be to increase its cost, or reduce its stat modifiers. I would not link it to the already-good Paladin class.

    I think it is OP, bacause other brave arts are tied to a class, that is inferior to it's master class. Swift strikes can be used in any class, so in the base game you use it as a wyvern lord to make one-rounding, fast, extremely mobile and dodgy unit.

    Besides, once you unlock swift strikes, you are never using any other art - even ruined sky for Sylvain is weaker than this one.

    1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

    It's your mod, you can do what you want... but IMO, this is a really poor paradigm for a rebalancing effort. Which units and classes go up - and which go down - should not be based on your personal affinity for them. But rather, on their general utility for any given player. If you don't think Emperor should be buffed further, I suggest making a gameplay-based argument for why it's "good enough already", with your proposed limited changes.

    TBH I do agree, in a rebalancing sense, that Edelgard doesn't need to be any stronger. She's already arguably the best unit in the game. That said, her strength and reputation certainly do not come from her personal classes, but rather, in spite of them.

    It was a joke. I just feel that Emperor with 6 in defense and resistance, access to magic with dark tomefaire is plenty strong already. Don't know about armored lord, but these are stepping stones anyway.

    1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

    TBH I'm not a fan of sex-segregated classes in 3H to begin with. So I don't see this adding much in terms of balance.

    Honestly? My main reason is to make use of "Rhea Sword" animation set (the one she uses in crimson flower I presume? I've never seen them), which is cool, but only fits women.

    Quote

    Changing Hero into anything but a "Swords and Axes" class, too, would really clash with its established flavor in the series.

    What if I changed it's name to Mystic Knight? Nobody would realize. 🙂

    1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

    Then what's a unit who trains in Bows and Lances to do? It seems like you're taking realistic options away, moreso than adding them.

    I don't understand this question - and what's a unit who trains brawling and bow supposed to do? Nothing, there is no way to fit all possible weapon combinations.
    Bow/sword is at least consistent than bow knight randomly switching from swords to lances.

    1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

    Honestly a fan of most of these. One potential point of disagreement is Hit +20, which I think is the best skill in the game. Literally every combat unit - physical, magical, player-phase, enemy-phase - enjoys it. I'd suggest pulling it back, if possible to Hit +10. Maybe Hit +15, so it's halfway to Uncanny Blow. If that's not possible, maybe instead do Bow Range +1 as an equippable skill? That'll be good on anyone still using Bows, and "stacks" somewhat with the Bow classes. But the lowered Hit rates at long-range will prevent it from being OP.

    It being so good is precisely why I don't want to remove it. Lowering it is not possible since... it's icon has +20, it would be silly if it was actually less.

    Bow range sounds cool, but on maddening, bow knight's attacks at range 4 reach around 50% hit WITH hit+20. You're not hitting with a bow from that much away.

    And since uncanny blow is exclusive for women, how are you fixing hit rate of some units?
     

  3. 1 hour ago, lenticular said:

    Is this supposed to be something that you're releasing for the community, or just something that you're making for your own use?

    Yes.

    Do you think they are mutually exclusive? I don't. Of course it's born from my ideas how it should be, but not uploading it for community is just such a waste. Even if a single person used and enjoy it, it would be worth uploading, don't you think?

    Feedback may have been a poor choice of word, think of it like an invitation to discussion.

    1 hour ago, lenticular said:

    I'm also not really sure what your motivations are for some of the changes here. Like, changing Shamir from a lance proficiency to a sword proficiency just seems completely random.

    I changed her prof from lances to sword, since bow knight's req are also changed from lance to sword. It would also let her easily access assassin, which fits her character.

    Same goes for Bernadetta.

    2 hours ago, lenticular said:

    But I think that the biggest problem that I have with Defiant skills is that they just aren't very interesting. Having so many late game classes have a Defiant skill as a mastery just makes me tune them out, honestly. Maybe keep around some of the better ones (like crit and avoid), combine others (eg, Defiant Def and Defiant Res combined into a single skill) and then create some new skills in place of the more uninspiring ones?

    How about the reverse - them working when above 50% HP? Although I suppose it would make them too strong.

    2 hours ago, lenticular said:

    This one makes me a little sad. Ingris has always been one of my favourite units to build, in part because she doesn't have any weaknesses, which makes her a good fit for pretty much any class. I don't think it's over-powered, but it does make her fun to use.

    I feel like her amount of boons is balanced by her weak stats, but I really think that 5 boons is too much. Need to think about it a little.

    2 hours ago, lenticular said:

    This is a move in the right direction, but feels to me like it doesn't go far enough. 5 x 30% is only 150% of a regular attack, and while there are some other benefits like increasing the reliability of crit builds, it still pales in compariosn to the likes of Swift Strikes and Hunter's Volley. Especially given that Hunter's Volley can be done from range 3 and Swift Strikes can be delivered from a high movement class with Canto. Maybe make it 5 hits at 50% damage, while keeping the increased hit and crit and the reduced cost?

    It cannot be done, "hit 5 times for 30% dmg" is hardcoded as one effect. It must be balanced via adjusting dmg. crit and accuracy.

    2 hours ago, lenticular said:

    But doing so would be a big buff to the underpowered Emperor class, and a nerf to Edelgard overall, since beign able to have Raging Storm on a high movement class is just busted.

    Amyr is one of the the few relics that did not get a boost, as raging storm is already game-breaking. In fact, I increased it's cost to 5, so that she can can only get 4 additional moves.

    Giving her emperor could break some things, as these classes are acquired automatically. And given I dislike Edelgard, I don't feel like buffing her too much.

     

    1 hour ago, lenticular said:

    Maybe replace Sol with Aether? Although that might be harder to add.

    Undoable, unfortunately - weapon arts can only have one special effect.

    1 hour ago, lenticular said:

    This is an interesting idea, but possibly too powerful? Falcon Knight is already very strong, and with the nerfs you're proposing for Wyverns, I think there's a good argument that it's already the strongest class in the game. Maybe give it magic at half uses, just to pull things back slightly?

    Half magic usage seems to be hardcoded for specific classes. If I figure out how to do it, it's a good idea, otherwise it will have to stay as it is.

    2 hours ago, lenticular said:

    Personally, I'd like to see Catherine with a boon in Faith. Partly because I think it's a good fit in terms of lore/character, and partly to give her a slightly smoother path into War Cleric to make use of her Brawling boon. Giving her Seraphim at B Faith could also be fun, though not particularly impactful given her low Magic stat.

    Does it really fit her? She's fanatic to Rhea, I don't think she mentions church itself a single time.

  4. Side note - what do you think about splitting mortal savant into two classes:

    samurai (male ex) with swordfaire, bowfaire, darting blow (keen intuition on mastery)
    kunoichi (female ex) swordfaire, stealth, pass, [access to magic] (some mastery, possibly the same?)

    Their outfits really don't match the same class. Hero could be repurposed into 'mystic knight', instead.

  5. Quote

    Please no. Paladin is already a very solid class. It's the first accessible class with 8 move, and actually has the highest physical damage output with Lances of any class. Just let it keep those two traits. It doesn't need Swift Strikes, which IMO should remain character-specific.

    But lance is the only weapon type to not have a brave art right now. Note that with my changes wyvern lord, great knight and dark/holy knight (who also have 8 mov) would have higher. I don't like ST being character-specific as it makes those 3 characters vastly superior to other.

    Quote

    I don't believe the "freeze" condition exists in this game. Maybe it could have a movement-reducing debuff, like Banshee, instead?

    According to what I've learned, frozen status reduces mov to 0. I'm still yet to test it.

    Quote

    What's the point of this? It just removes the reward to the player of heading for S+ in their weapon of choice. After "Weapon Crit +10" at S'rank, there's no motive to go any further.

    The point is further elasticity - you can get a weaponfaire and keep it while in another class (ex. Felix gets swordfaire and takes it into war master class). Now that I think about it, reducing exp required for S+ rank would be a good idea.

    Quote

    This one doesn't seem great for balance. Felix hardly needs a further-boosted chance to increase his physical damage, for instance. And the sucky commoners, like Ashe and Raphael, are gonna get left in the dust. Hm... what if instead, most Crests also have a negative effect, like Blaiddyd? Maybe Annette's Crest of Dominic saves a spell use, but also decreases damage by 5. Or Claude's Crest of Riegan restores HP, but costs an extra weapon use. In that light, I'd be fine with boosting activation rates. So the Crests feel like more of a presence, although not strictly a positive or negative one.

    Yup, sucky commoners are now in the dust where they belong!
    Seriously though, it may not be good for balance per se, but like I said, crest absolutely do not show the power story makes them out to be. Aside from Felix's crest, which is very powerful because it's a major crest, most others never stood out to me. Their effects are too rare to matter.

    Your idea of secondary effects is interesting, but it's not possible with what I have, crests can only have one effect. Dimitri's one is actually hardcoded to do both things (dmg and durability usage up) at once.

    8 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:
    20 hours ago, Alef Zero said:

    Bow knight skill bonus and req changed from lance to sword

    Then it's not a viable path for Paladins. This isn't a rebalance, it's a flavor change.

    No, but it now follows the trend of archer/sniper having sword exp, not lance, and lets you easily switch between bow classes and assassin.

     

    8 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:
    20 hours ago, Alef Zero said:

    great lord - added swordfaire, +2 dex +1 def

    IMO Lance Crit +10 would be way better. It would synthesize with his Battalion Wrath/Vantage setup, and his innate Lance specialty. If Dimitri wants Swordfaire, he has plenty of other options.

    What are those options? I can only think of swordmaster/assassin, whose ascetics don't fit Dimitri. Great lords traditionally used swords, lord class in this game uses swords, great lord gives sword exp. It seems obvious to me. Battalion W/V is already busted, and with his current talents (no bane in axes, hidden talent in brawling) you could easily go for war master to maximaze this strategy.

    I want Dimitri to run around in his glorious armor and I want him to use swords! Please don't ruin my dreams T_T.

    8 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

    Yes, please! Admittedly, this one is mostly flavor - it wouldn't make Emperor worth using - but it would be pretty fun.

    Oh, it's definitely worth using now:

    image.png.dd09561f28c5bff74bb2d5187b8d1ca8.png

     

    9 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:
    21 hours ago, Alef Zero said:

    Dancer skills: dance, charm, swordfaire

    It doesn't need Swordfaire. Dancer is already a really good class, and its combat doesn't matter. The Charm skill would be a cool benefit, if not strictly necessary.

    If you really want to improve Dancer... maybe Stealth? Just become less likely to get hit.

    I guess I wanted dancer to be useful for something more than just giving it's turn away. Right now, I don't want any character to be a dancer, since that unit would do nothing anymore. Still, maybe I'm just trying to fix something that's not broken.

    Stealth would make no sense - dancer are meant to be flashy.

    9 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:
    21 hours ago, Alef Zero said:

    On tedium and grinding:

    • class mastery exp required is halved (save for commoner but not noble)
    • all faculty members join with all their acquired classes already mastered

    I dunno, I think the rates are... fine. Especially when you get the statues and Knowledge Gem online. Maybe reduce the requirements a smidge: say, from 20/60/100/150/200 (vanilla), to 20/50/80/120/150 (proposed).

    On this, I strongly disagree. I remember that, on my first, virgin run of three houses I didn't manage to master a single class, aside from noble/commoner and I guess Ingrid who stayed in pegasus knight until level 30. Not mastering classes means very little skill selection to customize units.

    Note that you don't have access to statue bonuses until intermediate classes, and knowledge gem appears even later. Going back to lower classes and griding to get good skills is horrible for me. Especially since I remember how nice it was to play awakening and get skills naturally, just be playing in a class.

    9 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

    What if they started halfway? So, like, Gilbert would join with 10 in Noble, 25 in Fighter, and 40 in Armor Knight. You still need to "earn your masteries", it's just lower-effort.

    Unfortunately, impossible to do. It can either be mastered or at zero. Out of those two, I prefer mastered. Also, how would, say Gilbert, who was a knight his entire life not master his classes?

     

    9 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

    Speaking of Gilbert... he sucks. Especially in chapter 13, where you can't control his loadout whatsoever. If nothing else, give the man a good inventory: Silver Lance, Tomohawk, and Silver Shield.

    Hmm. Actually, this is a pretty good idea, easy to implement as well. It will be done! (Also, he starts with B authority now).

    9 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:
    21 hours ago, Alef Zero said:
    • Req: axe C+ lance C+ armor B riding B
    • Dark Knight:
      Stats +3 +2 +3 +2 0 0 +3 0 +4 -1
      Skills: canto, lancefaire, black tomefaire
      Mastery: seal res
      Req: lance B reason B riding A

    ...So it's not a viable option for Hubert or Hapi anymore. Lovely...

    Hmm, why not? Lack of dark tomefaire? My idea is that no class gets dark tomefaire - these spells are superior to black magic, but they don't get a faire.
    Also Hubert is an asshole

     

    9 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

    My take between the two? Give Holy Knight a slight edge in Magic. That way, it's doing more damage with White Magic and combat arts, while being slightly more effective at support spells. Meanwhile, Dark Knight will retain a damage advantage with Reason, thanks to its Faires.

    I want dark and holy knight to be hybrid classes. This is what I thought they were when I first played and I really liked that three hopes made them as such. Dark Knight is already better at magic since black magic is better offensively and it has one more mag.

     

    9 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

    Although I'd pprefer the Dark Seal requirement remain. Let the Dark Merchant sell more of them. Also Heartseeker is pretty trash on a magic (read - ranged) class.

    But the dark merchant is available very late in the game, you'd have to backtrack and grind dark mage if you want vicious blow. I imagine these classes were supposed to be a reward for beating death knight, but they aren't that good even with my changes, especially since you really aren't beating DK in that first fight without Lysithea (or prior game knowledge).

     

    5 hours ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

    Trading Dimitri's axe bane for a flying bane counterinuitively makes it even easier for him to become a flier, since axe is the higher requirement for Wyvern Rider.

    Ah, I forgot it only requires C rank. Let's put it to B rank 🙂

    Quote

    Also, if "axes handle similarly to lances" is a reason to not give Dimitri an axe bane, surely that would apply to Ingrid as well. You could give Ingrid a brawling bane since it's the least "knight-like" weapon, but I think she's fine as is myself.

    Seeing how she effortlessly broke throgh Bernie's or, I don't think punching things is unfit to Ingrid 🙂. I don't know what bane to give her, but with authority hidden talent (which I definitely want her to have) she now have 5 boons and no banes. It's too much.

     

    5 hours ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

    Also not a big deal, but since it's in the quoted section I'll mention it: Seal Movement is very bad as is and I would either increase its effect to at least -2 (may not be possible via easy hacking methods) or trade it out for something else.

    It actually is possible, but it has to be a solid number (unlike 'halve enemies movement'). Let's leave it at -3 for now (I'm not rising Dimitri's brawling no current run, not tested it yet).

     

    5 hours ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

    Bernie losing Vengeance (assuming you're keeping alive the trend of characters only getting unique arts in their boons) is a significant nerf, though I suppose you've removed Swift Strikes as well, so perhaps this is just the trend of the hack? (If Cyril still gets Point-Blank Volley at C+ he's smirking, though.)

    She's not, I wasn't paying much attention to the existance of this trend. She's just neutral in it. I changed her boon to sword to ease her access into bow classes (bow knight now requires swords), since I think assassin really fits her.

    And Cyril keeps his art, everyone hates on him enough. In fact swift strikes removed is the only nerf (as I wrote I dislike them). Side note, Dimitri gets Vengeance now.

    5 hours ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

    Paladin is now very OP. I don't think an 8 move class needs this.

    Deus Vult!

    5 hours ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

    Meteor and Agnea's Arrow also both rule. I'm not sure if this is a deliberate effort to make Dorothea ridiculously good but if so I'm not complaining? Abraxas is great as well.

    As they should, they are very rare. I like Dorothea, but not that much. If anything, it's a deliberate effort to make mages ridiculously good 🙂 

    5 hours ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

    Never mind that now non-DLC havers can use a flying mage... although they stlil miss out on the one +mag flying battalion.)

    Welllll...

    I use dark flier animations for falcon knight casting, so without dlc, it would probably crash. No workaround for that, unfortunately.

    5 hours ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

    -Falcon Knight getting magic is interesting! Compared to Dark Flier, it loses Black Tomefaire but has generally higher stats otherwise. Since it keys on different skills and is available at a different level I think both classes manage to avoid stepping on each other's toes.

    Maybe I should create and give dark flyer galeforce. Wouldn't it be fun? 🙂 

    5 hours ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

    -Mortal Savant is incredible for infantry now. 10 speed on player phase, super evade on enemy phase, magic access, decent stats otherwise? Yikes. Now even non-sword mages would strongly consider getting to C+ish sword just to get into this instead of Gremory (which has more spell uses but worse everything else).

    That's true, maybe darting blow is too much, but it must have a third skill. Any suggestions?

     

    5 hours ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

    -It's not a big deal, but I'd keep Hero as requiring axe instead of authority. There's a very strong tradition of Hero being an axe+sword class (GBA, DS, Awakening/Fates). Also, C authority is basically trivial by Level 20. Hero still feels weak, too (unless Sol is tuned very strong, I suppose). Maybe trade out the mostly useless Defensive Tactics for Axefaire?

    Like I said, I have trouble what to make out of Hero.

    Axefaire would be nice, but no advanced class has two faire, so it'd have to be moved to master class. I intended hero to be an offtank, not as tanky as fortress knight, but faster, defensive tactics would play into it, as it allows to take more hits before losing battalion and I always imagine hero as a champion leading allies on a battlefield.

    I'll give it some more thought/

    5 hours ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

    -Dark Knight losing Dark Tomefaire is indeed a downer, as noted. I'd consider giving it back and then giving Lancefaire to Holy Knight. The "sword + magic" niche is already filled twice over by Mortal Savant and Trickster, no need for a third. (Another option is to combine Black and Dark Tomefaire.)

    But holy knight would get white tomefaire, not black, so mortal savant goes into another niche. Lancefaire makes it worth to take Sylvain into it, otherwise his reason talent is hard to utilize.

  6. Try checking if the save files are still present - they should be somewhere in the dolphin folder in appdata (you should check where exactly either on dolphin home page or maybe on reddit).

    When you backup the files, try to reinstall dolphin. Check reddit or any other forum to see if it happened before.

    Unfortunately if the files really are corrupted, there is nothing you can do.

  7. Hello. I'm currently working on a rebalancing patch for the game, thanks to discovery of a easy to use triabolical editor and are looking for feedback.

    My main goals were:

    • making all classes viable (which generally mean buffing many weak classes as I dislike nerfing. There is an exception to it and you know which. As all buffs apply to enemies as well, this is not a problem)
    • making class system more flexible and modular. I wish for more elastic class paths, like great knight being a possible final class for both paladin and great knight, while also making advanced classes worth using
    • adding a little more lore accuracy to some elements (mostly by strengthening hero relics, their exclusive arts and crests)
    • reducing tedious and grinding

    Changes to far:

    Unit talents:

    • Ingrid gets a hidden talent in authority (which fits her and her personal) but weakness in axes (could be something else, not feeling strong on this)
    • Ferdinand von Aegir gets a boon in authority (fits him perfectly) but weakness in brawling (a true noble would not punch things)
    • Dimitri's bane in axes changed to neutral (this never made sense, as axes handle more similar to lances than any other weapon, this bane was, in my opinion, purely gameplay-wise), riding to normal boon, added hidden talent in brawling - mastery: seal movement (really fits his hidden beast tendencies), bane in flying (I really don't see him being a flier)
    • Catherine gets a boon in armor (no reason really, just wanted her to have it)
    • Shamir's boon in lances changed to swords
    • Bernadetta's boon in lances changed to swords
    • Claude gets a bane in axes (this guy is not smashing things, lets be serious) and hidden talent in lances (monster piercer)
    • F!Byleth's boon in brawling switched to bows

    Unit skills:

    • -changed byleth's white magic learnt - Aura learnt on faith B. On faith A M!Byleth gets abraxas, F!Byleth gets seraphim
    • -removed swift strkes from relevant units (changed to different skills: Sylvain - frozen lance, Seteth - shatter lance, Ferdinand von Aegir - lance jab)
    • -changed Ingrid's magic attack arts rank from A to C+
    • -changed flayn's frozen lance from A to C+
    • -Felix learns bolting on reason A+

    Weapon Arts and magic:

    • increased accuracy and crit rate of astra to +20, reduced cost to 5
    • repurposed subdue into sol (hero exclusive master art)
    • swift strikes repurposed into paladin exclusive master art
    • war master strike moved onto warrior
    • fimbuveltr now applies frozen
    • meteor has power of 20
    • thunder magic is switched to high accuracy no crit. thunder range increased to 3
    • ragnarok is effective (double) against armors
    • cutting gale is effective (double) against fliers
    • nosferatu weight reduced to 4
    • abraxas is now range 2-4 power 18, cannot double
    • aura's crit reduced to 0, hit increased to 100
    • agnea's arrow is now effective against everything
    • defiant skills activate below 50% HP, stat boosts increased from 8 to 9, defiant avo reduced from 30 to 25, crit reduced from 50 to 25

    Lore Accuracy changes:

    • -doubled activation rate of all crest effects (save for those that cancel counter attacks, those increased by 50%)
    • -buffed all hero relics and sacred weapons
    • -vastly upgraded all hero relics' exclusive weapon arts

    [Reliance on crest is a vital point of many characters' backstories, it's detrimental to have them so weak in the game]

    Class data

    Vast changes to majority of classes:
    Stats: HP STR MAG DEX SPD LCK DEF RES MOV CHR

    1. Hero:
      Stats:+3 +2 0 0 +! +2 +4 0 +1 0
      Skills: swordfaire, defensive tactics, weight -3
      Mastery: defiant str, sol
      Req: swords B+, authority C
    2. Mortal Savant:
      Stats: +1 +3 +3 +1 +4 0 +2 +2 +2 0
      Skills: swordfaire, black tomefaire, darting blow
      Mastery: keen intuition
      Req: sword A, reason A
    3. Great Knight:
      Stats:  +5 +3 0 +2 -4 0 +10 0 +3 +1
      Skills: canto, lancefaire, axefaire,
      Mastery: defiant def
      Req: axe C+ lance C+ armor B riding B
    4. Dark Knight:
      Stats +3 +2 +3 +2 0 0 +3 0 +4 -1
      Skills: canto, lancefaire, black tomefaire
      Mastery: seal res
      Req: lance B reason B riding A
    5. Holy Knight:
      Stats: +3 +3 +2 +2 +1 0 +3 +4 +4 +1
      Skills: canto, swordfaire, white tomefaire
      Mastery: defiant res
      Req: sword B faith B riding A
    6. Dark Mage (it, alongside dark bishop require normal seals. I guess you can sell your dark seals):
      Stats: +3 0 +3 +1 0 0 0 +2 0 -1
      Skills: miasma, heartseeker
      Mastery: vicious blow (crit+20 on initiation)
      Req: reason C
    7. Dark Bishop (now a master class):
      Stats: +5 0 +5 +3 0 0 0 +4 +1 -1
      Skills: lifetaker, fiendish blow, heartseeker
      Mastery: arcane mastery (mag/res +4)
      Req: reason S
    8. Wyvern lord - removed bonus and growths of speed, lowered mov to 7 changed avo+10 to lancefaire, changed req. to axe B, lance B, flying A
    9. Enlightened one - added white tomefaire
    10. Dancer skills: dance, charm, swordfaire
    11. Bow knight skill bonus and req changed from lance to sword
    12. great lord - added swordfaire, +2 dex +1 def
    13. emperor - can use magic
    14. All lord master classes now learn offensive tactics on mastery
    15. falcon knight - changed req sword C to faith C, can now use magic, lowered mov to 7
    16. priest - mastery changed from miracle to warding blow

    Skill progression:

    • reason C - fire
    • faith C - miracle
    • armor B - staunch shield (def +4 on wait)
    • authority S+ - general/commander (not decided yet)
    • faire skills earned from S+ rank no longer stack

    On tedium and grinding:

    • class mastery exp required is halved (save for commoner but not noble)
    • all faculty members join with all their acquired classes already mastered

    On difficulty:

    I don't like maddening. I've played and beaten it on ng+ but find bloated enemy stats not fun at all. What I do like, however, are bonus skills. As such I've made changes to generic enemies on hard mode:

    • all prowess skills upgraded (ex. generic brigand enemy used to have axe prowess lv 2, now it's level 3)
    • all enemies have their classes' mastery skills equiped (that includes higher tier classes - death blow will be equipped on both brigand and warrior)
    • many enemies also get breaker skills

    On modularity:

    Advance classes that focus on a single weapon get unique special attack:

    • swordmaster - astra
    • grappler - fierce iron first
    • sniper - hunter's volley
    • hero - sol
    • paladin - swift strikes
    • warrior - war strike

    Meanwhile, master classes are all hybrid classes with dual faire skills and higher stats, but also higher requrements. This is meant to give a choice - a low-effort class with a unique skills after mastery, or a premium class with higher requirements.

    There are more synergies between classes now - sword and bow can orbitate around assasin, hero, sniper, bow knight. Great knight could be a master class for both paladin and fortress knight. Lance users can go for paladin and stay for swift strikes, or move towards dark knight or great knight.

    I also wanted to make sure all faire skills get at least two end-game classes excluding lords

    Undecided yet:

    • Cannot decide if dark knight should get lance or swordfaire (holy knight gets the other). Holy knight looks like it should be a straight upgrade to paladin, so lancefaire, but most units who want to be a dark knight (Sylvain, Lorenz, Hubert) prefer lances. Dark knights in the past used to prefer swords and it would synergize with mortal savant more. Holy knight using lances would synergize with falcon knight for women and I feel it would fit more. On the other hand, my holy knight Ingrid with a silver sword looks majestic.
      A tough one.
    • I'm not sure what to do with hero. It's fine right now, but I've been thinking about changing it to master class with axefaire.
    • I'm thinking about using one of the spare class slots to divide mortal savant into two gender-exclusive classes. It's because those two models don't look like the same class - male one is definitely a samurai while female looks more like an onmyo mage. Male variant looks especially silly doing anime casting animations while wearing full armor.
    • A random thought - do you think game would gain if all faire skills were removed from classes and replaced with other skills? There is no limit on how many requirements and proficiency bonuses classes can give (even though in the base game these are capped at 3 and 4 respectively).

     

    What do you think? Your feedback is appreciated.

  8. On 4/25/2024 at 10:25 AM, Imuabicus der Fertige said:

    Characters and grids were their criteria, that´s why I included what I included.

     

    Right, Wargroove, that´s the game whose name I forgor yesterday!

    Right, I should have been more specific.

    I wanted to know why are there so few actual clones (or if there are, and I just didn't know). Unicorn Overlord is not such a game, because combat is different, map design is different, units move in real time etc.

    Persona 5 Tactica is not a clone, despite it having rpg elements, named characters and a grid, because it also focuses on small maps and deploys only 3 characters.

    FF Tactics also does not cut it, different camera perspective, emphasis on verticality etc (although this one is close).

    Quote

    Of the top of my head Advance Wars, FF Tactis, Dark Deity, Banner of the Maid, Vestaria Saga, Berwick Saga...

    Aside from the last 2 and tactics, I've never heard of these games before. Also, they look like games made in rpg maker, my query is bigger games (this may be wrong in current age, but I consider a game big, if it got a physical release).

    Quote

    Yeah, if you made the thread cause you're looking for recommendations,

    Yes, and no. My idea was to ask, since this question has been with me for some time now.

  9. FE clones, if you will (not pejoratively in the slightest), are they as rare as I think they are? Fire Emblem may not be a mainstream franchise, but one would think that with this many games, there would be at least a decent clone every now and then.

    By a clone, I mean turn based combat on a grid with many characters available, with focus on tactics specifically. I think it's easy to intuitively know the elements, especially for members of such a forum.

    Maybe I'm just unaware, but the only titles I can think of are:

    -Tears to tiara 2 - probably the closest game, even story follows a familiar pattern. It's a also a ps3 exclusive, that nobody cared about then, and that's completely forgotten now
    -Hyperdevotion noire - gameplay is very close, but narrative is closer to a traditional jrpg, it's also a low-budget spin-off to an already niche series.
    -Fairy fencer F refrain chord - a spin off of a niche jrpg from the same developer as above. If I didn't actively search for it, I wouldn't know it exists
    -Natural Doctrine - this one is a stretch, as the gameplay differs quite a bit, but I still recognize many similarities, especially during the last 3 missions, where characters can die, and consequences are very similar to fe.

    I'm aware original creator of fe went to make his own games, can they be considered fe clones as well?
    Anyway, am I missing something? And if not, why is this a case?

  10. That is, not necessarily a sequel (I wouldn't mind in the slightest though), but just any new game in Fodlan specifically. Direct follow ups seem rare (to my knowledge that is), but there were many games set in Archanea (the first game, shadows of valentia, awakening, although distant, was fates in the same universe? I didn't play it but I think so).

    Obviously we got three hopes, and while it fixed many problems from the original and gave many a character more chances to shine, it was ultimately a different gameplay and game had it's own share of problems, including terrible endings.

    Given that three houses is one of the most popular games in the franchise, do you think we will see more of fodlan? Or is it a closed chapter?

  11. This may be harsh, but my experience with fate go and feh points to one conclusion - gacha stories are absolute trash and that cannot be remedied due to business model.

    Every new chapter/book/etc. is introducing new status que smashing enemies that are always more dangerous then the previous ones.

    Every chapter have heroes deal with world, or straight up universe altering events, that grow so large, it's impossible (for me) to take it seriously. We had invasion from another kingdom, then invasion from another kingdom led by unkillable king, then invasion by the queen of death AND THEN an assault by a time-controlling reality warping goddess. How the hell am I supposed to take seriously a story about a bunch of kids fighting reality-shaping goddess AND WINNING? The scale gets so out of hand.

    Unbelievable clusterfucks like these happen (too) often in jrpgs, but since these games have to introduce new OP units to sell, they also have to introduce them to the story, which destroys it.

  12. 2 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

    Yeah, I often criticize SoV for being unnecessarily backwards when it comes to "progression" or gender equality or whatever buzzword you want to use. Like, most girls you recruit being imprisoned damsels in distress is a comically outdated trope that very few want to see now, but this is a remake of an old game. Its not their fault that Kaga has several fetishes that should've been left outside of his games. But why the cannoli did you add MORE tropes to an already outdated game with the Fernand Mathilda scene or the Celica treatment at the end, or Celica being saved by Conrad, or Celica no longer serving as the purity to counter Alm's base nature of ruthlessness from the original, thereby making her purpose mostly exist purely as the woman that he needs to save and marry. Like how did you make an early 90s game even LESS equal to female characters? That sounds like something you have to intentionally do! 

    Its mostly girls that are imprisoned, because, well, men tend to get killed when defeated.
    When you capture a woman, aside from ransom, you can have one as a trophy or a slave (sexual or regular). Women are physically weaker than men, and most of those we save are fragile (that is, all aside from Mathilda) and are less aggressive than men, so they're easier to subdue. If Mathilda was not to be used against Clive, she ought to be killed as well, since she would be a problem to keep.
    It's all biology, really.
    The fact that Jesse is not immediately killed makes no sense - he's a mercenary, so nobody's going to pay for him, and he can try to escape or fight his captors - he's too dangerous to keep as a slave, not worth any money to pay, and cannot be swayed to work for them. The only logical step is to kill him to get rid of dead weight..

    The only reson none of this happen is because this is a PEGI 12 game.
    By the way, I didn't notice the fact that you mostly save girls at all.
    I also am not sure if a girl being saved by a handsome knight is an outdated trope? And if anything, Mathilda/Clive support was meant to be a commentary against sexism? At least that's how I understood it. I also don't think they meant to make Celica another damnsel in distress, that's just a result of subpart writing.

    In fact I have an idea - have Alm's route end with killing Rudolf, therefore uniting Valentia militarily, while Celica's route ends with killing Jedah, thus eliminating dark magic from the country - forget about fighting evil unded dragon, about magically unsealing falchion (btw. can someone explain why is this sword in valentia and not archanea? SoV is supposed to take place in the same continuity right?).

    You have Alm, who focuses on dealing with physical dangers, while Celica deals with the spiritual, unnatural aspects.
    This makes their union more balanced - Alm brings physical strength and charisma, while Celica brings enlightenment and spirituality.
    This is clearly how developers wanted them to be, but with how the story is currently, Celica should absolutely not be allowed to rule.

    Also, you seem to heavily dislike traditional gender roles, but you'd be fine with a woman being a symbol of purity to offset a ruthlessness of a man? How exactly a trope gets "outdated" and who decides that?

  13. On 11/17/2023 at 2:34 AM, Armchair General said:

    Yeah, but  I kind of assumed that it was common knowledge to have at least two healers in anarmy that's larger than  six people?

    Sure, if you knew that the only other healer save for Silque is available for the last 2 chapters. Or that reclassing does not really exist in this game (reclassing naturally happens so late it's pointless and I've never found the villager fork thats been mentioned a few times.)

    On 11/17/2023 at 11:53 PM, Shaky Jones said:

    Have you played every other rout? While it fails to properly provide decent replay value as a result of a repetitive monastery system and most routes sharing the same maps, it is supposed to be very replayable, and despite my many problems with the game, I have over 10 runs into it, so that has to say something good about coming back to it. Admittedly, a lot of that comes from extremely stupid reclassing. You should try out war master Hanneman. 

    Yup I have 480 hours in that game, played every route except crimson flower, because I will not support Edel, especially since it means going against Dimitri. I've played azure moon 3 times, currently thinking about SS to romance Rhea
    Hanneman though, I'm not sure about. I've already tried a full faculty memebers run, but I had more fun using students. Oh well.

    On 11/17/2023 at 12:16 AM, Shaky Jones said:

    I have no idea where you got that bit from, but give old men a chance. Hanneman is like, one of 4 good things about 3H anyways.

    Got the joke from "this is basically fire emblem". Still, you find this old dude, that you last met half the valentia apart, in the most random place and he asks to join us. I was completely sure that he was going to turn on us at some point and reveal he's a villain, there was no way he swam all that way alone on a tiny boat.
    Already used Hanneman, a good mage, but I really dislike his supports. No idea why does Seteth even talks with him.

    On 11/17/2023 at 11:53 PM, Shaky Jones said:

    Tl;dr: I'd say the Tellius games are the most likely worth your time, with Sacred Stones being a decent other choice. The Jugdral games could be better potentials for story games (Shaky Take: FE3H is FE4 remake) depending on how you like your plots, but you'll have to accept the random jank and support-less characters that comes with old FE.

    Thank you, I appreciate you taking the time to write all this. I'll keep it in mind.

    On 11/18/2023 at 4:02 AM, Jotari said:

    o this is less directed towards you and more at the wider community, especially those that played Gaiden. How could Celica be handled better? All of these are well worn, and very deserved, complaints. But they needed to do something. While Celica somehow manages to have marginally more agency on the NES, they still kind of needed to do something, since in the original it was almost literally climb a big tower and fall down a big hole. Is there any way we could get to the same point without making Celica look weak and reducing the entire thematic aspect of her story?

    My take? Just have her try to combat Jedah and fail. Have her overpowered then whisper something like "I tried Alm. I'm sorry, but now it's in your hands".

    On 11/19/2023 at 12:29 AM, lenticular said:
    • Dimitri and Dedue
    • Dimitri, Felix, and Sylvain
    • Caspar and Linhardt
    • Alois and Jeralt
    • Rodrigue and Lambert
    • Raphael and Ignatz
    • Byleth and Alois

    Of those, precisely zero of them are unambiguously romantic in nature.

    Communities I frequent says otherwise - it's hard to find a thread about pairing that does not involve shipping all of them save those with Alois and Rodrigue. Same goes the for girls, apparently, likes of Ingrid, Annette and Marianne are all closet lesbian.
    And it keeps getting worse - in engage everyone is bi, in baldurs gate 3 everyone is bi.

    But I'd like to not continue this topic - the longer it goes on, the higher the chance I'll write something that certain people will consider homo/transphobic and a certain person would love to rise the pitchfork, I'm certain.

    On 11/19/2023 at 12:29 AM, lenticular said:

    And then the story. Yeah. It's... not good. I know that. It has inconsistent characterisation and rampant misogyny, and it contradicts its own core theme.

    I've heard complaints about misogyny before, but I'm not sure If I see any. Like, the only one I can find is in Mathilda/Clive supports, but thees are quickly destroyed by Clive himself. Unless girls acting like girls is already considered misogyny, in which case I disagree. Some people dislike traditional gender roles, but I see no merit in going against them just because.  Men and women are different.

  14. 19 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

    You weren't bopping your head to TECHNOLOGY BEYOND YOUR COMPREHENSION?

    I mean, I get the memes, but when I got there, I was invested in the plot. I expected it to be serious. Magic golems and stones shooting lightning still fit medieval fantasy.
    A futuristic base that looks like a space station, does not.
    It may be a preference, but I DESPISE when these get mixed, it's impossible to be taken seriously.

    20 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

    Why did bro feel the need to specify?

    Suspicious. 

    Is it? Last evening, Halsin told me he believes I care about him like I care about a lover and wants to cross the sticks, because I asked if he feels good in our camp. Once.
    I'm kinda traumatized.

    You know, I miss the times when a man could admire another man AND not be accused of being gay. Like Sam and Frodo who I consider a great example of loyalty and friendship we should all aspire to. Yet today, netflix would make them gay, no doubt about it.

    20 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

    By the way, I know this is all off topic, but can you tell me how DQ stories generally go? I know a guy who really loves those games and I can't exactly ask them because it will almost definitely be biased. 

    You are a hero of light, who will traverse many places helping locals with their local troubles, giving valuable life lessons, like not punishing villains (no Vince, I will never let it go, you should be hanged), never getting angry and helping idiots obviously using you, because they asked. At the end of your journey, you will find the sword of light and kill the demon lord.
    Hmm. Wait a minute...

    Quote

    That's lowkey a trademark of the series. You can relate nearly every final boss to a dragon in some way, shape, or form.

    Well, it does not fit azure moon. I feel like I should just replay three houses (again).

    20 hours ago, Ernivus of Celephaïs said:

    And I hope you're joking about the killing evil dragon thing. You better get used to it, dude. Simply put, I believe there's a higher percentage of FE games that involving stopping an evil dragon and his cult than there are percentage of Zelda games that feature the Triforce, Ganondorf or even Zelda herself.

    I,  uhh...

    You know what, how about you just tell which titles are different, so that I may skip the other.

    I understand wanting to keep the tradition, but I'm simply not interested in hearing the same story every time, just told by someone else.
    No matter how good the gameplay is, if I don't give a damn about the world and characters, my enjoyment will be shallow.

  15. Quote

    SoV Alm can be best described as what Gaiden Alm would be at the end of the game, after his journey with Celica who's pure soul prevented his savage desire for battle consume him onto becoming someone like Walhart. I always considered Walhart to be a reference to the idea of what Alm would've become without someone like Celica at his side. After all, Alm is clearly meant to be more like Duma, and Celica like Mila. They're meant to be the Yin and Yang or whatever. But in SoV, he's already pretty light hearted, and he knows when he needs to fight for the sake of protecting his homeland. He's unafraid to take the charge against Rigel. He more or less already possesses both the "oonga boonga" and the "I wouldn't hurt a fly" aspect from both gods.

    Hmm, when exactly does he show "savage desire for battle"? The entire reason he leaves the village is to help his country and possibly find Celica. In fact, I don't remember one moment when he was bloodthirsty or even angry. He sounded pissed a little when first fighting Berkut, but... what else?

    Yes, I understand that this is PG12 game, so I may expect too much, but I guess I'm just reaaally tired of child protagonists. When you say battle thirst, first thing I see in my mind is Dimitri riding into battle with a sadistic smirk in three hopes, and remember his awesome battle lines from boar phase. THAT is PG12 bloodthirst.

    Quote

    What does bro mean by this

    Well, she's a beautiful woman with long hair and a sexy outfit. Yes yes, very shallow, but when the other choice is a guy with black armor, I'll still go with sexy. Deen is not even "edgy cool" guy, he's so boring.

    Quote

    Fun fact: In Gaiden, you had to be lvl 20 to promote female mages. Funny stuff.

    image.png.6405326493ba9728d8fb546058cd00d4.png

    Quote

    In the game's defense, you're not actually supposed to have 2 healers. Faye is SoV only, and the game can very easily be trivialized with cleric faye. For new players that want to do silly exploits and such for an easy time, use cleric Faye, but I'd personally avoid it to keep things balanced.

    You want to play almost entire route with ONE healer who doesn't even learn physic? No thanks, healers who don't have physic have no place in my party.
    In fact, only after I finished the game did I learn Silque can learn Invoke. She was basically relegated to being a warp bot, and casting seraphim when needed.

    Quote

    I mean I like Awakening's story for FE standards. Archanea references and continuity is always appreciated, even if some people argue over what is and isn't canon about it.

    The fact that you may be right terrifies me.

    Quote

    I won't turn this into a 3H story debate or even Awakening.

    Sorry, that was never my desire. Awakening WAS a fun game. I simply prefer three houses with it's (mostly, whoever shoved those who rave n the dark into the game should be fired) grey morality, and more flawed heroes. TH also had more supports, so even if some were boring/stale, you still have more good ones, due to sheer quantity.
    I'm still mad they had to shove a map that looks like a space station into a surprisingly grounded fantasy, but japanease gotta japanease. Alas.
    I also happen to align very closely with Dimitri who is my favourite lord, one of my favourite characters in jrpgs in genreal, and my one and only lord I'd follow (just no homo, please). So, I'm biased.

    Quote

    3H writing just leaves a foul taste in my mouth that I often see regarded as peak storytelling, which I feel can hinder one from enjoying any other FE story that isn't "different".

    I consider it good by the standard of jrpgs. Comparing it to disco elysium or planescape torment is an unfunny joke, but hey, it's better than dragon quest.

    Quote

    Luckily for you, PoR is often regarded as one of the best in the series for its storytelling, probably considered 2nd or 3rd best after Genealogy. I personally think it's somewhat overrated and consider Radiant Dawn, its sequel, to be one of the best stories in the series, although that game does have one story element that basically everyone hates. 

    🙂

    I wouldn't dream of not seeing full story, obviously I'll play RD.

    Quote

    I like comically evil villains.

    -_-

    This is... problematic.

    I despise them. It's the easiest thing possible, to just make a despicable antagonist. No effort, no gain. That's why Edelgard I consider a good villain, while slithers are terrible.

  16. I've only played Azure Moon (twice, won't play other routes), so aside from Byleth and Jeralt (these are obvious, like you saide). The only character that was done better was Rodrigue, and only by virtue of not dying. I don't feel like anyone is particularly different, save for Sylvain, who's more boring here, he really lacks anything to do in this story, he no longer changes as the story progresses. There is the case with his brother, but despite being alive and even part of an army for a long while, I feel his presence has less impact on Sylvain than in three houses, where he dies the moment he's introduced. Crazy.

    Dimitri's path is somewhat different, but that's not for better or worse, he's story is just different. It's nice he puts greater emphasis on finding the truth, instead of just giving up like in houses, but I miss his edgy phase.

    In general, I miss most designs from houses - only some girls like Mercedes and Marianne look better (love girl's long, loose hair. Marianne looks stunning as holy knight). Sylvain looks silly, Ingrid straight up ugly, Felix's outfit looks more regal, but fits terribly on him during combat. I also preferred his previous hair.
    Dimitri looks more charming, but much less mature, and I really liked that in houses.

  17. After a long pause, and loosing save files, I started the game anew, this time finished it.

    I know this topic has been discussed to death, but Celica's portrayal and decisions in chapter 5 made me rage.
    After she decided to give up her life for a dubious offer of an even more dubious man (Jedah is literally purple, and serves a god you know is evil), I just stopped caring about the story completely. The scene when she realized she's been tricked made me utter phrases, many of which could be considered sexist, and since Integrity is probably onto me, I'll refrain from recalling them.
    Add to that the fact, that, in hindsight, Celica's entire journey was largely pointless (aside from saving many lifes and killing bandits of course) and I ended the game largely disliking Celica. Also, I still have no idea why did the falchion un-stoned. If Milla could still communicate, why didn't she speak to Celica? That would spare a lot of troubles.

    Alm will not be one of my liked protagonist - guy is way too soft and apologetic. I have no idea why did killling Rudolf affect him in any way - at that point, he was a stranger to him, AND a man who invaded his country. I get why would he be shocked, but sad? Same goes for Fernand and Berkut - first was a traitor who would let his friend be executed, while the other was a pathetic looser who would sacrifice his lover's soul just out of spite. Neither of them deserve more than a cold stare at best or a swift dagger to the chest at worse (Hell, if you don't save Mathilda, Clive still calls him a friend, despite the fact that he spoke to her and left her to death. This is just ridiculous).

    Maybe I'm too biased having started with more modern games, but aside from a couple of characters, most of the cast was incredible bland. Lack of supports AND any story relevance really hurts them. And also:

    Deen. This guy is bland, he may as well not exists. He acts like he's in the game as a punishment. Sonya is more interesting visually, mechanically AND has a relevance to the story. Recruting this guy is a trap, like many things in the game.

    Also Nomah, is he supposed to be a joke character? The "Eleventh hour old (gay) man character"? He's so useless I don't know why he's even in the game.

    Mechanically, game does not hold well - too few classes, that feel largely the same, too little mechanics to work with. Many decisions made me rage:

    • All archers having close counter and absurd range, meant that there was no strategic way to deal with them - normally you'd try to close the distance to prevent them from attacking, now it's impossible.
    • Witches having unlimited teleportation range is straight terrible design. They can teleport anywhere they like and you can never protect every single unit, you are always at risk of random instakill.
    • Why are enemies so tanky? Even dumb mages can easily take doubling from physical unit to the face, and survive
    • Class progression is terrible. Mages take so long to promote, I ended up benching Boey, Mae and even Delthea. In fact, pristesses ended up being superior mages, since they always learn seraphim, powerful spell effective against half of the game's enemies. Also physic, warp, invoke. What's even the point of mages?
      Dread fighters and gold knights are absolutely superior to everything. Barons are ok, but with most maps, they'll not see much actions. Same for mages
    • There are so many traps for newbies - making Faye anything other than cleric is going to make your run needlessly hard. Saving Mathilda is so much more stressful and luck-based without physic, it's insane. Making any of the villagers a cavalier is also such a trap, because you get so many other, better cavaliers. Not recruiting Sonya rips you from an interesting, story-related unit (getting Deen made me regret ever wanting to not prioritize women over men). I also most of chapter 3 without Palla and Catria, because nothing in the game suggests they would return to the harbor - I expected to run into them some time after saving Est. When they joined, they were vastly under-leveled. Ugh.

    Music was very good. I knew to expect that, but it still surprised me how good many of the tracks were. Track when fighting Rudolf was even better than final fight theme. In general, the final fight was a little underwhelming, but oh well. Honestly, every part of the story regarding dragons was weaker than liberation of the country.

    One thing that bothers me more and more - does every FE game ends up being about killing an evil dragon? I first played three houses. After engage, I assumed they wanted to copy the story of awakening (which wasn't good anyway), since it was an anniversary title, but shadows ends up with very similar premise. I don't have to tell, that I find TH vastly superior that any of these stories. I though "This is basically a fire emblem" was supposed to be parody, yet it described these games mostly unironically.

    Next one on my list is Path of Radiance. Should I be worried?

  18. I'm planning to play these games for the first time. Given that these would be my first FE games without casual mode and without some form of time reverse mechanic, I'd like some opinions on what difficulty would be best. I've read that they're easy, but so I've heard about Echoes hard mode, which was a disaster for me.

    Note that any death means game over for me, and I'd like to minimize the amount of restarts I'll have to make. Especially to 1% crits, these tend to make me shut the game down.

  19. Maybe I didn't catch something, but bld seems to me, like a strictly inferior speed stat. It has the exact effect, increasing AS, but only matter if unit's current weapon is too heavy, while speed matters always.

    What I mean is, imagine unit has 10 speed and 10 build and uses 15 weight weapon, so 5 AS. Increasing bld gives the same result as increasing spd, up to fifth point, by which, further increasing bld gives no benefit, while increasing spd, does. So why would anyone choose to build bld+ passives instead of spd+ passives, aside from availability of course.

    I'm aware, that in some older games constitution existed, but it also had other functions. Build does not seem to have them.

  20. Continuing my fetish need to try make that one character regarded as useless, as strong as possible, I kept using Vander from the start to the very end with varying successs.

    At the beginning of the game, he's decent, but mostly for setting up kills. Unfortunately, paladin class is not well suited for him - he would be much better if he started as great knight, like Frederick. Paladin offers above average growths and bonuses in most stats, but that's completely countered by Vander's terrible innate growths. Him gaining more than two stats was a rare sign.

    As a great knight, he was decent (but that's more on great knight being actually great in this game, which is awesome after terrible three houses incarnation), that +7 to defence is no laughing matter. Still not as good as say, Jade, but he was able to take some punishment, and deal some dmg. with axes, even with his average strength.

    By the endgame I got bored of having half my team great knights, and tried halberdier for pincer attack. Unfortunately, I could rarely position him in such a way to activate it, my army was focusing on mobility (mostly mounted classes with canto). Imagine my disappointment, when I learned that pincer attack activates only if both units are adjacent to enemy, I though just having an ally on the other side of that enemy be enough.

    Unfortunately, even with heavy favourism with stat boosters, his stats were low, very low. I gave him two energy drops, and his str. was only 30 by the endgame. With terrible personal skill, low growths and very high internal level, he seems unsalvageable. A real pity.

    You could probably try making him royal knight or griffin knight and have him focus on healing and chip dmg. but I hate his outfits in these classes.

    Thank you Vander, for defending us. Always

    Rating: 3/10 (decent, not good, decent in the beginning, weak to worthless lategame. )

    2023100412110900_c.jpg

    2023100417255000_c.jpg

  21. This section saddens me. Jade was one of my strongest units, for a time, she kind of slowed down in the late game, but never to the point of uselessness, far from it. She just could no longer tank mages, but almost no normal enemies were able to scratch her, the only really dangerous things were chain attacks, but her high HP usually allowed her to survive even enemies attacking en masse.
    Great Knight all the way, I realize Bunet joins soon after, and Louis, but I have weakness for blond, ponytail girl knights, don't judge me. Too much konosuba and monster musume.

    Next time I play, I'll probably try mage knight and make her mine :}

    Rating: 8/10

    2023100412135400_c.thumb.jpg.6c15797b29d9b30d4a77e1eae8a688e7.jpg

    2023100417253200_c.jpg

  22. Will photos be enough?

    She's cool (heh). Great stats, great design, decent personality (as far as engage goes). I made her bow knight, and she was destroying enemies left and right. Thanks to her high magic, she had great success with radiant bow. Fast enough to double most enemies without Lyn or passive speed bonus.

    Rating: 8/10

    2023100412163900_c.jpg

    2023100417252600_c.jpg

  23. Hard mode, casual (does this matter?):

    Long story short, she spend the entire game as Griffin Knight, focusing on dodging. I gave her represailles (whoever that lance is spelled) with 40% avoid engraving.

    For the first half of the game, she was drifting about 80-90% avoid chance. After I regained Marth's ring, she learned avoid+20, which pushed her into 100% avoid for the reminder of the game. She was not hit once, since then, and ended up with rating of 241, the highest in my entire army (for reference, Alrear ended with 202). No stat boosters at all. Thanks to Eirika emblem, her dmg. was fine, although she couldn't ORKO even with doubling, save for mages and archers.

    She was absolutely MVP of my team. If only I predicted we lost the first rings, I'd have grinded her SP to get avoidance earlier, That would make her unhittable.

    Rating: 9/10 (being able to consistently keep 100% avoid cannot be overstated. Why does it matter if she needs two rounds of combat to kill most enemies, if she can just stay there and dodge forever?)

    2023100412130800_c.jpg

    2023100417252900_c.jpg

×
×
  • Create New...