BrightBow

Ah, dang it. I completely forgot about the DLC. Now that they know that they can get away with it, I am sure that Nintendo will demand that it is going to be abused even more with the next game. Maybe with massive level gaps between individual chapters and no money to work with so that people have to spend either days farming on those 2 random encounters that the game grants on a day or just in 10 minutes with some one of those totally optional DLC chapters in order to actually do anything. Maybe that's a bit too cynic but If nothing else the DLC will at least prevent that the next game could possibly be linear.

If you are using an ISO file for the translation then maybe it is enough to just to remove that file temporally and to start the ROM without it.

Well, I can at least understand that viewpoint if we are only talking about Radiant Dawn. I got the impression that the abridged script we got is mostly concerned about getting all the information out at the cost of the dialogue being quite clumsy and lacking character. (Like Naesala opening a conversation with Skrimir by asking him to kill him. I mean, what the heck?) And I'm not sure if the shortened script is to blame but Part 1 is especially weird, with Edward acting all out of character by playing the role of a whiner and worrier. But he is somehow still his proper cheerful, optimistic self in info-conversations. I would say that there are still plenty of good character moments that work despite the cuts: Pelleas' speech to his people in Part 1. The finale of Part 2. Some nice subtle moments with Skrimir in part 3. Just about anything with Sanaki, Yune and the bosses from the finale. And of course there is still lots of good stuff to be found in the battle conversations.

OMG, the list has Big Rigs on it. How is that run supposed to look like?

I don't think something like the ending of the Valm arc could happen the way it did through mere bad executing. Too many things about these stories are just way to right in order to fall so flat on their face when it truly matters. Now it really does feel like the Wallhart arc really, really, really should be a story that focuses on strength through union as opposed to union through strength. The appearance of the dynasties just fits way to well with that. But more like a bad execution, it feels more like a story that was rewritten by someone who either missed or didn't care what the actual core of the story was, so that stuff that was envisioned to be vital ended up being pushed to the sidelines. Maybe with the deliberate intend of giving it the theme of "The Shepherds save the day". Similar with Gangrel. The story seems to set everything up for a perfect story about revenge. But Gangrel never ever represents grief, anger and revenge. He only seems to bring up the suffering of his people in order to rub it in Emmeryn's face. He is such a moustache twirling bad guy, that he himself admits his opponents to be noble and laughs about it. It's not just that the story has the wrong villain but the suffering of the Plegian people is never elaborated on, we don't know how the average Plegian feels about it. The entire crusade thing only seems to matter in regards of how hard it made things for Emmeryn when she took over the throne or to show how dastardly Gangrel is by bringing it up against Emmeryn.

I think that Tellius is without an equal in that regard. Of course, it has a smaller world then let's say Jugdral with it's dozens of duchies in Grandbell alone. But having focus isn't a bad thing. I think Tellius understood this more then anyone else, hence why the game's world opens up slowly instead of throwing a massive info dump at unsuspecting players, like previous games did. FE9 explores the Beorc nations very thoroughly to the point were the generic citizen of each nation is effectively their own character while giving glances of the world's history that makes the world feel a lot more substantial. That history then got explored in FE10. And while I don't really like the way FE10 executed it's story, it still excellently builds upon the hints and glues about the world's history that were given in the previous game. But Jugdral is neat too. I think that the games already managed to give express a lot of personality to the individual families simply by the way their armies were put together. The worst it probably Ylisse. Yes, I said "probably". The thing is, that world isn't really that much thinner then Magvel. Like, Renais, Freila and Grado are effectively interchangeable. They are all generic kingdom/empires. And it's history doesn't even explain where the Sacred Stones came from. And what are those Ruins of Logdau anyway? But FE8 knew how to add all kinds of details to make the world at least feel more real. Like, chapter 5 doesn't take place in a generic town but in Serafew. Serafew is a Border Town where people of Grado and Renais lived together in harmony. Once a symbol of friendship between nations, Grado's attack has instead turned it into a reminder of what is lost to the war. Rigwald is a random fortification but a sheer legendary fortress that hasn't fallen in generations. The first flashback that includes Lyon mentions a flame that burns since the Time of Darkness ended. It's mere mention makes the world feel larger then what we see on the screen and makes it feel like it has history... even though it's most certainly just a tool for the writers to show that Eprahim doesn't know anything about said history. And while what we know about it is vague, we learn in Caer Pelyn that what the rest of the world knows about it is inaccurate and maybe downright twisted. We never learn more about it other then that dragons were involved but is is enough of a hint to turn something that doesn't make any sense into something that was merely lost to time. So it still feels big even though I bet the writers don't know anything more about it then we do. Awakening does not only have very little of that but what it adds is often contradicting or downright stupid from the get-go. Like, I don't even know who the Shepherds are. Are we talking about an army or a small group? They talk to each other like they all go drinking together, so I would guess they are a small group. But then we get scenes like this: Emmeryn Chrom! Lissa! Welcome home. Oh, and good day, Frederick. How fared you all? Chrom Well—we shouldn't have any bandit problems for a while. Emmeryn Wonderful. And our people? Chrom Safe as they can be, Emm. It really sounds like he was on an actual mission to fight bandits. Which apparently only involved him, his sister and two people to protect them. And "our people"? As in "everyone in the country"? Needless to say a whole country is way too big in order to be protected a small group... let alone just four people apparently. Something as simple as adding a few generic NPCs into a few scenes would have helped a lot. These kind of details are important. And don't even get me started on the whole mess with the Tanguel. Were did they live? Who killed them? How could Emmeryn not have known that there was a genocide? A depth? To the last Exalt who was described as a horrible person? Does anything about them make one feel like the answers to these fundamental questions exist at least in the developers notes or does it feel more like they were just lovelessly thrown in with zero consideration on how it fits with the rest of the world? At the end of the day, thin as it might be, Magvel simply feels more like an actual world. Ylisse just feels like a total mess while somehow being equally as thin. And if nothing else, Magvel is at least kind enough to map out it's world. Btw: Apparently living in Ylisse is really shitty when you are still "safe as you can be" in the wake of a freaking Zombie Apocalypse.

Since I am certain that just like any other franchise when it innovates, Fire Emblem got it's fair share of backslash, I personally expect that the next game will try to strike a balance in that regard. That IS will try to make them more like past games to at least some extend. But I am not sure if that will even make a difference to me personally. I wouldn't hate a game because it is merely boring and generally bad. I know that Awakening is supposed to be a fluffy wish fulfillment game but that's not the impression I got from it. The game is just generally disturbing and unpleasant. Like a slimy mix between "No more Heroes" and "My little Pony", as I like to describe it. Just without NMH's self-awareness about it's messed up protagonists and the writing quality of "MLP". There is tons of stuff in the game that isn't merely bad but makes me wonder what the heck is wrong with the people responsible for it. And then there is other stuff that makes me feel insulted as a fan in particular. I mean, Nowi isn't just blatant paedophile pandering. She is also for all intends and purposes a clone of the old Tiki, down to her crown which you would think would be restricted to Divine Dragon royalty. Her being essentially Tiki is something that's not relevant for the new players but only for fans. And I don't like what this says about the way Intelligent Systems sees their fanbase and consequently me personally. So no matter how hard they might try to be more like the old games, I am not sure that these people are even capable of creating a game which doesn't make me want to take a long shower after I'm done playing it.

I guess Thracia is pretty much like 3rd edition D&D. Eventually battles only revolve around disabling the enemy casters, Still, I am sure that it is possible to take a few pages from one or two D&D rulebooks without breaking the game in half. If nothing else, it shouldn't be much of an issue to introduce a few more buffs spells, area effect magic and to bring back summons.

"Having to endure Tanith"? Isn't that backwards? Sanaki is the one who always causes trouble for her subjects. Like when she abandoned her guards, got into a battle with disguised Daein soldiers and afterwards blamed the person she sneaked away from for the whole mess. The only thing Tanith ever did to her, is to bring up how Sanaki as a little kid kept tripping over her cape. Anyway, Mist is one of my favorite characters so my vote goes to her. She is very well developed and engaging. Scenes like her coming out of the castle when the Mercenaries are loosing the battle in chapter 8, her feelings in regards of the history of her parents, that little scene at the end where she touches the Fire Emblem one last time... lots of scenes with her are truly moving. Even the circumstances of her joining time are well handled, as she joins right after the death of her father and the barely evaded complete annihilation of the Greil Mercenaries. Both events which showed her just how easily she could loose the people she loves when she isn't with him. This motivation is approached from a very dark and depressing angle, as Mist is well aware of her own weakness and simply prefers to die together with her family rather then being alone. With so many child characters in the series just sorta being present, IS did a good job with her and Rolf to really show what goes on in their little heads to actually enter the battlefield. Mist showed very early on what sturdy stuff she is made of. When she and Rolf where kidnapped, she stayed strong for the both of them. The aftermath of this crisis puts this into perspective. According to Ike, she is actually a crybaby. Goes to show that she is the sort of person who will push herself past the breaking point if the people she loves need her. She has the sort of strength that gets you through tough times. The strength that allows you to survive a war. She always works hard and always looks out for everyone. Obviously this is motivated by her fear of loosing others in combination with her father's phylosophy of considering every comrade to be family. But that just means that others matter to her. As a side note, I liked how the script acknowledged that Mist for all her fear of loosing her brother also wants revenge against the Black Knight. That will all the stuff going on between him and Ike, they didn't forget that the Black Knight hurt her just as much, if not more so. She doesn't show this often but this just shows what her priorities are and therefore only adds to the list of things that maker her awesome. Honestly, as far as fictional characters go, she is probably the closest one that I have for a role model.

One thing to keep in mind is that Awakenings localization was clearly less restricted then those of it's predecessor. PoR couldn't even admit that Shinon was obviously drunk in one scene. Awakening has no such restrictions and has alcohol and curses all over the place. Of course that is no actual maturity but some people don't notice the difference. However from my perspective the game is very dark. This is a game where at one point the heroes of the story burn thousands of people to death while making puns about it. There is a zombie invasion that gets barely acknowledged to the point where there is even a time skip without the issue being brought up again, let alone the problem solved. A heroic character abuses several of her comrades left and right and is even implied to have raped one of them. An entire human race was wiped out and people didn't even notice it. It's not just that bad things happen. Obviously they do. It's the fact that the horror is meet with such indifference, the implication that such horrors have apparently become such a mundane part of everyday life that the people don't care anymore. That's probably not what others mean and obviously none of that was intended but that doesn't make it any less creepy to me.

For one thing, Emmeryn did not perform a sacrifice.The word "sacrifice" implies that she gave something up that she didn't have to. And she was a dead woman who just hadn't stop breathing yet. Obviously overcoming your self-preservation instinct for the greater good is still pretty impressive. So it would still have been somewhat noble if killed herself to prevent Chrom from handing over the Fire Emblem but... man, she was way to arrogant for that: Emmeryn: See now that one selfless act has the power to change the world! Also, wasn't her speech before that amazing? Emmeryn: Plegians! I ask that you hear the truth of my words! War will win you nothing but sadness and pain, both inside your borders and out. Free yourselves from this hatred! From this cycle of pain and vengeance. Do what you must... As I will do That's Emmeryn's big lesson for the world that changed the hearts of all Plegians and made them turn on Gangrel. Hey, you think one could stop all the fighting in the middle east by shouting "War is bad" and then killing yourself? I bet Mustafa was busy kicking puppies before Emmeryn's speech opened him up to an entirely new way of thinking. Sarcasm out, this is way to simplistic for cheesy 90s cartoons. But Awakening is a game where you at one point burn hundreds of thousands soldiers to death. With these stakes, it has a fucking responsibility to treat war from beyond a kindergarten level. And there is no reason to feel emotionally affected by her death. The game doesn't focus on the feelings of Emmeryn, Chrom or Lissa and it doesn't bother to develop their relationship. Emmeryn herself isn't human enough to work as the protagonist of a tragedy. And even after she dies, the game neglects to focus on the pain and the loss of those she left behind in exchange for glorifying her suicide. All the game does is to put her on a pedestal, pushing her from it and then going "isn't it sad?". Effectively it tells players to cry in the same way that bad comedies tell viewers to be amused with a prerecorded laugh track. And does Chrom learn anything from her sacrifice? Well, he claims to have been blind before the final battle with Gangrel. But he himself said previously that the Plegian's "rightfully remember their suffering" and sounded like he blamed no one but Gangrel for this mess. So in truth he hasn't changed at all. And Lissa got two lines (and the word "line" is pushing it) before declaring that she will completely ignore her sister's death from now on. Technically she said "You can count me in! I'm tired of crying all the time. It's time to start punchin' stuff!" But it really means the same thing. And then they bring her back in a Spotpass map. ....except with an entirely different set of memories and a different personality, resulting in IS gloriously wasting the opportunity for some good character moments between Emmeryn and her family since she is now an entirely different person. But hey, her body is still intact, so she is still good enough as marriage bait for the Avatar. And that's all that matters to IS these days.

There is a scroll that teaches the skill, hidden in chapter 25. Almost all skill scrolls are unused but "Mug" is in fact obtainable.

For my part, I am more puzzled why a generic ancient Roman civilization bothered to turn into a generic feudal Japan civilization. It just baffles me how there are characters who talk about the past of Valencia, yet what they describe has nothing to do with the continent that we are familiar with.

Tear Ring Saga had a character who gave all allies around him a 50% penalty to hit and avoid. It's implied that this is because no one can stand being near him. Mechanical wise, it's the result of a skill that allows the user to take all the items of an enemy they defeat. While said guy is played for comedy, the skill is later used more seriously by a bunch of allied NPC fighters who are gladiators who want to seize an opportunity to gain the favor of the invading player army. Nobody liked those guys either. Edit: Curses! Foiled by a dastardly ninja.

^ Chapter 11 doesn't even feature Dawn Brigade members. Either way, it's not too difficult for Tibarn to die if you don't pay attention. Punishing the player for thoughtlessly relying on Tibarn is probably the sole reason that Goran is using a Crossbow. Tibarn is likely to die against the boss if his skills fail to activate.

Super Mario 3D Land works well with it. The downside is that it is pretty much needed. Platforming doesn't always feel fair without it. I got the impression that it also adds a lot to Kid Icarus: Uprising and Monster Hunter 3U.

It's not like the game was her idea. And making a scene around Julius probably wouldn't have been smart anyway. As a rule of thumb, nothing that that Ishtar says when she is around Julius can be taken seriously. And even if we assume that her behavior is serious, she behaves no worse about killing enemies then the average Awakening PC. And just because the empire is bad doesn't automatically mean that the rebels are good guys. She had little reason to assume they are to be trusted. But they did kill her brother, his wife, her father and Yune knows how many people that she is close too. They might very well have taken everything from her that she had. The game is ambigious about Ishtar's motivations to the very end but for my part I couldn't hold it against her even if she absolutely loved the opportunity to kill some of the people who murdered them with her own hands. But be it as it may be, the scene were we learn that Ishtar protects children from certain death doesn't work well with the image of a bloodthirsty psychopath without a consciene. And does anybody seriously expect that a little kid like her could have controlled the Freedge? What could she have possibly done?

What is trash chicken and floor chicken? + Anyway, I am not so disgusting that I eat chicken out of walls. I buy my chicken from Renon. It did cost me my soul but it was delicious.

I thought that Philia was at least kind of funny. Her attemps to look composed, dignified and serious are in a hillarious contrast to the fact that the design of the Falcon Knight ensures that her panties are always visible to anyone around. And her death to teleporting Zombie Archers was not only meaningless but it was also hillarious. However, I was also quite confused when I saw it happeneing for the first time. IS couldn't have intended her death to be funny but neither could they have seriously expected that anybody would be able take this sequence seriously either.

Homura has still more votes then anyone but Kyoko. What's surprising is that Kyoko surpasses the others to such a degree. But maybe we just so happen to have a relatively large amount of Japanese voice actresses on this board.

"Insulting" is a strong word and one I would reserve for other characters. And Pherox has nothing to do with Selena anyway. However, the comparision between Philia and Mahnya at least demonstrates how gracelessly IS killed of a recurring character.

I think the fact that you can enter the canyon from the right side and can enter the Border Town from the left is more interesting. In the canyon, you can even shove that log right into that unique object below it. This could mean that you were originally intended to actually get to Bilibin and either use the bridge to get there in the first place or be able to use later in the game to return to the old areas. Personally I think that quite a few oddities could be explained if one assumes that the party was supposed to go to Bilibin before going to the southern part of the continent, starting with the fact that we actually see a man reaching the other side. You would think that would be brought up again.

Just so that there is no confusion, I didn't actually write a list of examples for characters kissing the Avatar's butt. I was merely trying to debunk Shadow Knights assumption that the opposite happened and specific characters like Lissa and Frederick actually gave Robin a hard time. Though I guess I still tried to cover that ground by bringing up the final chapter so I didn't have to go through the script of every single chapter this late at night.

Oh boy, Dark Dawn. I am quite frankly amazed how they bothered to make an entirely knew engine just to take the flawed mechanics 1 to 1 from the GBA games without fixing anything. So Psynergy is as useless as ever. Also, did anybody really want the "savescum until you get the item you want" forge mechanic back? The game got all the wrong ideas when it comes to appealing to nostalgia. But hey, this time the town is on fire. We start the game by introducing all these interesting stuff about the Sanctury on Mt Aleph, the howling moon and Psynergy Vortexes and then the game just completely drops it in favor of a glorified side quest that takes the whole game. And the titular "Dark Dawn" is totally wasted. It's such an awesome concept. But rather then actually fighting against those creatures and protecting the people, the rest of the game is just a boring hunt for Mac Guffins because the cities are already protected through devices that the party already activated back when doing so wasn't the least bit exiting. And there are two new PCs between the Dark Dawn and the finale but not a single boss. It's just such a boring and tedious part. Also, it's cruel to give the boat wings and then not allow the player to fly. Funny how nobody ever notices the wings but I don't want to complain about any specific bits of the story. Putting Points of no Return into the game is just such a stupid idea. You cannot let people permanently miss out on the sort of power ups that Dshinns provide. And it's such a pain in the ass to keep track of which of them you still have to get because the numbers are so uneven unlike in the previous games. It also forces you to get them all immediately, ensuring that the enemies are always even more outclassed then they already are. Speaking of easier, I was actually for a moment afraid to fight somebody who was a Werewolf like Sveta but... Sveta attacks Chaos Hound. Chaos Hound takes 562 damage. Chaos Hound attacks Sveta. Sveta takes 1 damage. Yeah... I know Golden Sun is extremely easy but this game offers so little resistance that the final boss feels downright out of place. Nothing in the game compares to that. I mean, I felt like a bully when I fought the Card Ninjas. Did somebody forget to give them attack moves or something? And then the Final Boss shows up and throws out several devastating attacks in a single round.

About there supposedly even being the opposite of asskissing for Robin in the game. First of all: Frederick never mistrusts Robin. He explains as much before the first battle even starts: Frederick: I have every wish to trust you, stranger, but my station mandates otherwise. Besides, once the battle starts the mistrust almost completely disappears. And the few times it does show up, it's specifically to give everyone else the opportunity to express how noble, skilled and trustworthy Robin is, all the while assuring us that Frederick doesn't actually mean it and is just cautious. Frederick: Indeed. Perhaps you might even be capable of an explanation for how you came here? Chrom: You fought to save Ylissean lives. My heart says that's enough. Frederick: And your mind, milord? Will you not heed its counsel as well? Chrom: Frederick, the Shepherds could use someone with Robin's talents. We've brigands and unruly neighbors, all looking to bloody our soil. Would you really have us lose such an able tactician? Besides, I believe his/her story, odd as it might be. (as a sidenote, the first chapter isn't even over and Chrom already makes Robin already out to be the factor that might just decide the outcome of this conflict. But back to the topic.) Frederick: Forgive me, Your Grace, but I must speak. Robin claims to have lost his/her memory, but it is only that: a claim. We cannot rule out the possibility that he is a brigand himself/herself or even a Plegian spy. Chrom: Frederick! Emmeryn: Yet you allowed him/her into the castle, Chrom. Does this man/woman have your trust? Chrom: Yes. He/She risked his/her life for our people. That's good enough for me. Emmeryn: Well then, Robin... It seems you've earned Chrom's faith, and as such you have mine as well. And it's not like Frederick is above praising her either. Frederick: Might I advise patience, milord? Robin is a fine tactician, but we have been working him/her mercilessly. Even the best of us needs rest. I guess those other guys dodging axes are just slackers. It's the guy who moves a cursor around the map who is the real employee of the month. As for Lissa, she is obsessed with Robin from the get-go and keeps her lips glued tightly to Robin's rear until she pretty much disappears from the script. Lissa: But holy wow, Robin! You were incredible! Swords, sorcery, AND tactics! Is there anything you can't do? ... Lissa: But allow me to introduce Robin! He/She just joined the Shepherds. Chrom's made him/her our new tactician. You should see all the tricks he's/she's got up his/her sleeve! Maribel's disrespect takes the form of telling Robin not to encourage Vaike. Otherwise she is just being Tsundere to Robin. In other words: She totally likes her. Robin: Yes. I know you're not especially fond of me, but it's a relief just the same. Maribelle: Oh, it's not a question of fondness. I am simply protective of Lissa. My treasure is very sensitive, and... Wait. Am I really justifying myself to a commoner? Gods... Yes, well, I do...apologize for being curt. And... And... And you have my thanks for your part in the rescue. There, I said it! That leaves us with Lucina, who along with EVERYONE ELSE will just gladly risk the future so that Robin can live, despite knowing better then anyone else what Grima is capable of. And it really is everyone else. Isn't that right Chrom? Chrom: And the good you bring to the world will more than make up for it. You made the right choice, Robin. Everyone agrees. And quite frankly, I don't get how anyone could not think that Robin is the most important person to literally everyone in the army after the final chapter. That one was really just embarrassing. Those quotes of the other characters, they are not about comradely and friendship. There is no "we" in them. There is only Robin. They are just about how important Robin is to them and to remind her how amazing she is. Even Kingdom Hearts handled that theme a lot better. As much as Sora is chilled, he would have died countless times ago without the help of his friends. He needed his friends when he lost his Keyblade. It turned out he needed his friends after all when he abandoned them in Castle Oblivion. He needed them to protect him during his sleep. He needed them when he was stunned by Xemnas in KHII. He needed them when he got trapped in his dreams. Robin needs his friends for nothing but to stroke his ego and then just frees herself from whatever the heck was even going on in that scene. I consider Sora an awful Mary Sue but that only shows how bad Robin is by comparison.