BrightBow

My guess was that the caps exist in order to allow maxed Paladins to survive four hits of a forged Brave Bow. They probably figured that trying to balance Generals for mutliplayer was a lost cause anyway.

No, I meant that I would assume that Mario would loose to Luigi. Since Luigi is the imperfect, more relateable underdog compared to Mario's flawless heroism.

I would have guessed that Mario would loose in a direct confrontation since he is so boringly perfect and stuff.

Yes. But unfortunately I didn't get to play it until years later. Not because of lack of interest, though. I just so happened to use the one card of the Geforce 2 series that didn't run the game at all. It was odd to find out that the one game that I once wanted to desperately play, ended up bombing so badly. Hmmm, I wonder how Luigi would do against Mario.

I guess I say no, since a player avatar would draw attention away from actual characters.

Man, I know she is up against Mario and Final Fantasy but seeing Jade getting clobbered like that is still kinda painful. Everyone can save kidnapped orphans from aliens. But it takes a rare breed of badass to also provide them with food, shelter and a sense of family. Oh well, truth be told, I am already surprised that she even made it into the contest.

I don't know about the 360 since I don't have one. As for the Wii, DotNW should be the only Wii title that actually got localized.

Well, personally I think that most of the remixes aren't particular well done. Or it could just be that "The time to Act" plays way to long, only to have "To Liberty" play for like two chapters before switching to "A Hero's Destiny" until the very end. But most of the new themes are just awesome. Oh and another vote for "A Hero's Destiny". No doubt my favorite track in the series. I would say that it's the perfect Fire Emblem map theme. It symbolizes the pain of those who suffered and the sacrifice of all those who died. But it's nevertheless triumphal because mankind will prevail despite all of that. FE11's "Preparations" also deserves a vote. It gets you pumped for even the dullest maps. And FE12's version of Medeus theme sounds absolutely great.

Well, the monsters work pretty much like PCs. They gain spells and skills as they level. On occasion, they will be able to evolve, retaining all their skills and spells but get reset to level 1. Since the classic Symphonia cast doesn't gain levels (they auto level as the story progresses but it always seems to be set pretty low to me), the monsters usually outperform them. But as I said, they cannot be manually controlled like the PCs and the 2nd Grade PCs. And I think that playing through that game with more then two players is a horrible idea. I do remember quite a few stretches lacking a third PC. Though, definitely less so later in the game.

I am not sure that playing DotNW with 3 players is a good idea at all. In case you don't know already, DotNW's has only two regular PCs. The whole Symphonia main cast is playable as well. But they are second class PCs, who among many other things don't level and are only around during certain points in the story. But most of the time, there should be at least one of them around. Still, with 3 players it's bound to be annoying on quite a few occasions. The game has some monster catching system instead. But those monsters cannot be manually controlled at all.

I guess that I want Marth to loose his Japanese voice as badly as I want Captain Falcon to be more faithful towards his actual F-Zero incarnation. What I am saying is, after all these years, it just wouldn't be the same without it... well, that and his quotes kinda suck if you can actually understand them.

*sigh* Companies always seem to have a few guys around, who feel the need to shut down anything they can, as long as they don't directly benefit from it. Oh well, as long as a public backslash causes them to activate a few brain cells, I guess it's not that bad.

Well, after all this talk about music, I might as well give my take on the music. This one always seemed to me the thing that was universally praised. In my case, I find the soundtrack to be bland and barely noticeable. A honorable mention has to go to the incredible dull battle preparations theme, which perfectly reflects my mood when I see yet another wide open map with randomly placed enemies scattered all over the place. Come to think of it, the FE12 screen has also been incredible dull. I really hope they don't maintain that pattern. In contrast, FE11 maps definitely bland. But it's soundtrack managed to make it come across as the most intese shit ever. The transition between battle and map theme always comes across as rather clumsy to me. The technique is interesting to be sure, but the battle versions usually lack the power and energy that would justify a switch. And after a battle, it switches to early to the map theme. It should switch right when the screen transitions to the map, to go along with the rather rough switch between 3D models and 2D sprites. And not right when the enemy dies. You know, I really loved the base screen in the Telius games. It was cool to talk with the PCs about... the stuff that's actually happening right know. As opposed to stuff like Awakening's supports, that were designed to fit anywhere. It made the characters feel so much more like a part of your army and the universe at large. And this along with the changing backgrounds gave you the feel that you were really traveling. To see this replaced with a screen that only exists to watch randomly generated lines and receive random items is an hell of a waste. I actually like the lack of feet. It makes the models quite a bit bearable to me. Because the last thing I wanna see, are the absurdly long high heels that every class seems to have. Oh, and the cast is godawful. It's like an entire army of Jar-Jars. Except Jar-Jar was never this predictable. They are like robots who are only programmed to do one thing. You read two lines of text from these guys and you are already bored. Or at least two, if getting off on killing and belittling enemy soldiers like a freaking psycho would qualify as a character trait. But not an endearing one, to be sure. No wonder Grima couldn't understand Robin's devotion.

I married Chrom because I hoped that the story would benefit from it.

Thank you for the response. So basically stuff like Elincia getting a more melancholic and heavier sounding version of her leitmotif in Radiant Dawn to go along with the burden of her leadership? Or am I completely of the rails there?

If I may ask, could you please elaborate what you mean with "puke on thematic development"? To be honest, I don't even know what "thematic development" is.

Now, I did read the interviews so I know that even before IS started the GBA games, there goal was to go back to the consoles. But I have to disagree with their opinion that this is the best way to play their games. I don't see the games benefit from the qualities of a console. But on handhelds... Turnbased games are so much easier to play on the go then action games. And it can be interrupted any time you want. So Fire Emblem's qualities really shine there. And developing for the Wii U would make the development costs explode while doing the entire opposite for the sales. That would be a huge mistake. Though, I wouldn't be surprised if the crossover serves to test the waters for that.

I am not saying they should include a unique model. I am saying that they shouldn't use characters that they don't come even close to properly display. Nobody held a gun at their head and forced IS to include the Black Knight in some fashion. There are tons of other characters that they could have use. For example, why not just make him Zelgius in the first place?

While we are on it: I also don't consider Spotpass content to be "free" in any way. It's content that you already paid for and therefore can expect quality for it. The fact that it requires an online activation to be used, doesn't make it any less so.

Spotpass units definitely were a wasted opportunity. The worst has to be the Black Knight. He not only looks nothing like he should but can't actually use swords. Even though being a sword fighter is a huge part of his character. I wish they would have at least payed attention to which characters the engine can actually display well. And individual palettes would go a long way to make Spotpass units resemble the originals. Yes, I know that the Avatar creation can't do that. "It's just a bonus, ect..." I've heard it before. But well... the Avatar creation really should allow to do that in the first place. The player should at least be able to choose his own palette. Not everyone likes blue.

Some of my favorite games are Gothic 1 & 2. Two PC games released in 2001 and 2003 respectively. While the series was big over here, it never got off internationally. So it should qualify for this thread. I can only recommend the first two. The series got further sequels. But unfortunately Gothic 3 was broken beyond believe. After that one, I didn't care about the series anymore. Anyway, the first two Gothic games and TESIII: Morrowind were what defined RPGs for me when I was a child. Even though they couldn't be any more different from each other. Morrowind's world offered freedom that I never seen before in a game. Discovering the depth's of the sea's with water breathing spells? You can do that. A destination is at a high place? Just fly there. Etc.. Gothic couldn't match that. But it had other qualities that made it just as good in my book. It had a tight atmosphere and an immensely lively (but grim) environment The first game plays in a prison colony, that was taken over by the inhabitants after an attempt to secure it with a magical barrier went wrong. Since almost all NPCs are outlaws, you not only have to worry about the monsters that force your low level ass to run like hell but also with the NPCs wanting to beat your non-existent lunch money out of you. Literally, since you don't actually die when knocked out by a human. And NPCs are free to empty your pockets until you can get up. But you can return the favor. So the world is fittingly hostile, making leveling feel so satisfying as you grew from having to run like hell from the mere sight of danger, to easily crush anything. There are tons of NPCs running around the camps, going through their daily routine. Like, in the evening you can see like a dozen NPCs sitting around a campfire, eating, talking to each other, playing banjo or whatever before they go to sleep eventually. That was five years before Oblivion btw. I would say that Oblivion's environmental actions can't compare. At all. Like I said, melee attacks don't actually kill other NPCs. They only die when you stab them while they are unconscious on the floor. That makes certain quests a lot easier since you can take all their stuff in the meantime. The same goes for you, but NPCs will only kill you when you murdered someone. Btw, NPCs also remember that you beat them up. So they get scared shitless when they just see you drawing your weapon. Once you get stronger, there is no greater pleasure then to teach a lesson to all those NPCs who gave you a hard time before. Btw, did I mention that level progression in this game is fun? The magical barrier is a cool concept too, since it actually gives a reason that you can't leave the game world. And the barrier is a real thing. Just try walking backwards right after the beginning of the game. Normally you can't see the barrier. But every now and then, you can see he magical web engulf the entire sky to remind you that you are really trapped in a cage. Even after all these years, I still think that the effect looks fascinating. In order to properly start the main quest is too get yourself popular at one of the three rivaling camps. However, after a few small quests, they all lead into the same main quest. The main difference is that depending on how your carrier goes, you have access to teachers who teach different advanced skills. I would say that the game's biggest flaw is that it's as beginner friendly as it sounds. Namely: you get thrown in a world filled with deadly monsters and criminals while your character doesn't know how to swing a sword. Literally. You need to find a teacher before your character stops trying to swing an one-handed sword in two hands. Which consequently makes the combat system initially look a lot worse then it actually is. And you even have to buy a map. Well, or beat up the map drawer and take his stuff. (Did I mention that Gothic is awesome?) But as I said: It makes progress all the more satisfying. And while I don't know for sure, I expect that the English dub isn't very good. Since this post ended up lasting as long as it does, I will summarize the second game like this: It's the same engine but runs quite a bit smoother. Both mechanical wise, controls and in terms from your starting position. Also, it has an ad-don that is amazing beyond words.

I would argue that it's worse because of the reinforcements. Sure, FE6 has instantly moving reinforcements too. But usually not close to your army, since the maps are actually pretty huge in that game. Of course, Sophia's joining chapter is an absolute nightmare. But I would say that afterwards it's comparatively easy for her to avoid getting attacked at all.

Best: FE10 Haar Worst: Lissa FE10 Haar is an over leveled Dragon Knight in a game where nothing can really hurt them. And he has tons of availability as well. Honorable mention goes to Shigen (TRS), who has a sword that revives him again and again as long as the 40 charges of his sword don't run out. And Lissa is a low level cleric with no speed, who gets double attacked to death by instantly moving reinforcements spawning near your army. Plus, I am still sore that she died on the last turn in the final chapter.

There is no thing in Awakening that I enjoyed in the first place. The characters are absurdly shallow, the story is a really bad joke and the gameplay is boring. The best thing I can say about it, is that the atmospheric soundtrack might work if everything else in the game wasn't trying to be as goofy as possible. But as it is, it's a complete mess. But okay, my feelings aside, the continuation of the series is of course good for the people who do enjoy it. But every other series has people who enjoy it, too. So why does Fire Emblem deserve special treatment beyond a mere personal level? What "greater good" does Fire Emblem provide that other franchises don't? And if a personal level does matter... well, I would rather not have yet another franchise which objectifies one half of humanity for the benefit of the other half. Obviously porn will alway exist and I don't actually mind it. At this point, my respect for Fire Emblem would actually rise immensely if they would just officially become a H-game series. But it worries me to see this sort of dehumanization everywhere and in such an extreme fashion. It's not to long ago, when No more Heroes had a group of girls just like Nowi for the purpose of parody. Back then, it was funny. But Fire Emblem of all franchises, did surpass this exaggeration by not only having a little girl dressed exactly as the ones from NmH but with added marriage and pregnancy. And all of this without the self-awareness of No more Heroes. No, in Awakening we are supposed to care about the characters. They are serious. One could of course argue how much our fiction affects our society, But I have no doubts that it is at least a reflection of it. And it looks very ugly. Unless of course video game publishers are just ignorant about what their customers actually want. But then there is no reason not to get rid of it. And In the faint hope that I am not yet deserving of a warn or worse, I will tune out now. Edit: Oh, whatever. It's too late to avoid a warn that way. And to be honest, I think it's perfectly on the topic of this absurdly out-off-any possible-character figure anyway. Especially since we know how this one looks since no less then four months and we haven't even anything about the Marth figure. And if the series stays like that, then I am wasting my time on the forums anyway. "Sniff... Ah, gods. Eighteen long years...What does any of it mean now?"

Fanservice? Fire Emblem is a fantasy themed strategy RPG... or something like that. RPG, you know story, characters, that sort of thing. So how those any of this crap service a fan? The fact that IS seems to think that this is fanservice is specifically what pisses me off about this. Because I just so happen to be a fan and I don't feel serviced. Just insulted. And while I technically couldn't care less about random merchandise, I also can't ignore how it fits in the bigger picture. Because the attitude that makes this figurine is the same attitude that produced Awakening. And it will produce the future games in the series. And that matters because this is not why I play RPGs or Fire Emblem. My life has already become richer for having played this series. It left me with tons of positive experience and some of my favorite characters ever, most of them who just so happen to posses ovaries. And if IS continues to produce characters that are mere vaguely human shaped sexual fantasies rather then anything coming close to resemble the characters that I play the series for, then it's naturally a concern for me.