BrightBow

The game should definitely involve a wide variety of ages. War always involves everyone, so we always should get a wide variety of perspectives on it. For the same reason, I would say that kids are also necessary. It's just a matter of how it's played. Characters like Ricken and Fa are extremely disturbing. Fa, because she doesn't even know about death and Ricken because he doesn't care. I prefer characters like Rolf, who understand the implications of their actions and can provide a reason for why they fight anyway. Besides, age is also a good excuse to have units with a wide array of levels. It makes no sense for some redshirt to joins as a Paladin. And I love varying levels, because it makes them feel like they actually represent a characters skills instead of just being mere numbers. Anyway, I guess having the majority to be younger then 20 isn't to bad. Older people would probably be more difficult to write because they would carry more baggage with them. I mean, look at Zihark. Since he is still young it works well enough that the person he is today, is mostly shaped by his experiences in regards to his relationship with a Laguz. But they definitely shouldn't just be missing completely.

Personally I would bet that Dragonite got cuter in order to contrast Charizard getting more badass. The two of them were very similar looking in Red/Green.

Erm... Gonzo is extremely "moe". So what about his looks? In his case it's just a case of behavior and personality.

Honestly, I don't see it. I mean, I would say the new Monshu on is better because it is more in line with the other portraits. Not because it is bad, yet alone bad enough that I would refuse to play the game again because of that. Well, I actually do find the Monshu expression a bit off, to be honest. Though, maybe it's just because Marth is the only one to have a significantly changed portrait, so he feels like he doesn't belong with them.

Well, I definitely have issues with the recent stat inflations. With the insane growths these days, units get so powerful in just few levels, that they can't be touched anymore. I find that highly problematic because it means that the stat threshold where strategy matters becomes narrower and instead revolves around stat munchkining. The old games got that pretty right. Defense growth was always low. So units didn't just suddenly become immune to all damage. Though, personally I would prefer to leave the Defense stats at base and instead inflate the HP stat. Except for specific classes whose whole point is that they are hard to damage, like armored knights. It's fine if a unit manages to take like 10 times more damage then at base level. It's skin just shouldn't turn so hard that pointy sticks and sharp metal can't even scratch it. As long something can be hurt, it still allows a strategy to kill it.

Honestly, I prefer Tenebie. The thing with Jade's trolling is that he always prevails. And that makes him kinda boring. Tenebie's antics will occasionally not only result to have things blow up in his own face but he will also be the butt of a joke on plenty of occasions. Besides, Tenebie is in DotnW. I found him to be the only relateable character in the cast because he gave me the feeling that I wasn't the only person being driven nuts by the boring and painfully cliché antics of the main cast. When he fails to troll, I felt even closer to him. And when he succeeds to get back on these clowns, I was all the more happy for it. Unfortunately, unlike Jade, he will often get away with the most obvious lies. And I don't find that very amusing. Just dumb.

I wish I would get a penny every time someone complains about the lack of the magic triangle in Awakening. Seriously, when did the Triangle ever matter? All offensive magic has the same utility of attacking enemies with low Res. And any kind of special effects are few and far between. So how could you possible miss that feature? Even in Gaiden, White Magic was just Staffs+Nosferatu while all the other spells that made people fall down were just Black Magic.

It depends on how you look at it, I guess. It isn't one of the Fire Emblem games where you can munchkin one unit to an absurd degree of power and have it finish the whole game by itself. In Thracia, units with high stats are just tools. Useful tools to be sure but a tool that is only irreplaceable when dealing with something powerful like bosses. They don't work against anything. 24x is of course the ultimate example of that. Even though individual enemies are weak, it is near impossible to beat with brute force. But Ballista are a more common example. They are one of the few tools in the enemies arsenal that combine power and accuracy and can wear down even powerful PCs, while extremely limiting the movement of the immensely frail staff users and mages. Actually, even warpskipping isn't that easy. You get yourself in the final chapters and you might find out that you lack the resources needed to defeat the bosses and disable the staffers. Sure, it's possible but you need to plan ahead in advance and that requires full knowledge of the game. Everyone else is better off not to miss out on any maps. Of course, once you find a working strategy there is not much challenge to be had without an objective that goes beyond "clearing the chapter" even if it's just "clear chapter more smoothly" or "try something different". That's a strong contrast to something like... lets say, Awakening with it's entirely random skill distribution on Lunatic+, which changes the entire situation with any retry and where even the best possible strategy might face an overwhelming chance of failure. But I don't think that the game should be considered easy just because of this. Heck, I don't see people claiming that Advance Wars is easy just because turn-by-turn guides will always work with 100% accuracy. Finding working strategies is what this game is about. And without relying on an absurd amount of luck, that is occosiaonally pretty difficult,

Shadow Dragon is fine. But a lot of things just confuse me. The gaiden requirements are the most obvious example. Like, what's the point? Even if the point was merely that they exist to find replacement units, then why make them even harder to recruit then normal units? And why introduce the weapon triangle in a game where every enemy uses a lance? But New Monshu isn't just a lazy copy-paste from the original with tons of mechanics that it wasn't designed for. The designers had such awesome ideas like actually giving Dragon Knights axes, now that they can actually use them. The game still makes me shake my head a few times, though. Like, what they did to poor Cecil. And why keep Yubello the same when every other mage got amazing buffs? And the BS Fire Emblem chapters were a particular awesome additon. It really shows the difference between classes, when you play a map that was specifically designed for your particular team. Like how even the low level knights can take way more hits then the Paladin Midia. While Midia herself relies on her high movement and offensive power. I think everyone at IS should play these maps. Too bad the online locked chapters didn't match that quality. Yeah, playing with a bunch of Roros and hoping they hit something with their 50% displayed hit is so much fun... Still, for both games, I really wish unit sprites would have gotten more differences then just hair color. Especially when it means that every Paladin looks like Marcus of all people. And they should have kept the support system from Monshu. Having to build supports without support conversations is the worst of both worlds.

Escape from Monkey Island. Everything about Monkey Kombat. You! Are! NOT! Prepared! This part has to be the worst game-anything. Technically it's not a sidequest, though. So in case it has to be optional, I guess every sidequest in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin should count. Yes, all of them. Well, most of them. Maybe the quest system itself should count. Most of them consist of finding one or several items. The kicker is that there is not the slightest bit of direction on where to get them. Most of the time, it's a random drop from an enemy. But this is a game where a zombie can drop ice cream. There is no way to narrow it down and there are tons of different enemies. And just to screw you over in case you really were crazy enough to kill every single enemy in the bestiary thousands of times over, the item might be in some secret room. So you would have to hit every single wall, roof and floor too. And even if you were given directions, it would still come down to enter and leave the same room over and over just to kill the same enemy. And to think that fans of these games complain that Mirror of Fate was too short. At least that game doesn't make you run around in circles for hours like a fucking idiot. That's no fun and no challenge. But the absolute pinnacle of bullshit is that the system only displays 5 quests at once. Before it allows you to "solve" new quests on the list, you have to finish one of the ones displayed. So it can easily happen, that you finally managed to "solve" one of the 5 "collect random crap" quests just for the game to suddenly drop tons of rewards at you, because the next few quests are all stuff whose requirements you filled ages ago or simple require you to press a series of buttons. And storyline wise it makes no sense either. You are supposedly being tested by a former hero. Yeah, genius. If I prove I can survive in the castle without his toys, I get his toys. But more importantly, what do I proof by killing the same critter over and over and hitting every single wall in the castle? Gullibility? "Castlevania: PoR is such a awesome game, I spent 100 hours on it." Yeah. And 95 of them wasted.

Considering that Virion has a negative speed base, I can't help but think that IS makes lv.1 archers shitty on purpose these days. Still, even with good stats, I think EXP gain is a concern. There is of course the fact they not only do they not get enemy phase exp. But even without that, since the utility of archers are ranged attacks that can't be countered, they would logically the units used to weaken the enemy so that a melee fighter can finish them off safely. Naturally they won't get any exp that way. So I would argue, they should also get increased EXP to make up for their lack of player phase. And EXP should be shared among all units participating in taking down an opponent, like in Baldurs Gate or Pokemon. And add some staff that makes Archers more handy to have around. Like the Zombie Dragons in Tear Ring Saga for example. And to bows more useful by comparision, Javelins and Hand Axes should be unable to double attack.

I find it a bit difficult to imagine that one could identify with an Avatar and NPCs enough to be an issue. Granted, I never had a married PC outside of Awakening. Marrying your former kids was definitely awkward, though. I did intend to marry Anomen from Baldur's Gate 2 once, but I couldn't bring myself to readjust my team at that point for a various of reasons. That, and he was a cleric/prick multiclass with less then 17 wisdom.

Jenna from Golden Sun That's about it, I think.

Erm... Wallhart was described by the locals as a guy who razes villages for fun and sports. Him being a cruel tyrant seems pretty much to be the consent. It's just that the script paints him as a cartoonish bad guy. And when it decides he has totally good intention, it simply says that he is misguided and ignores all the past stuff that isn't consistent with that interpretation. I mean, how does destroying villages help his "quest"? Exp grinding?

You do realize that Titania has an absurd state lead over Astrid'? And that Titania can use Hand Axes, who are going to deal way more damage then Astrid's bow? And that Titania can actually counterattack in melee? And that she can canto just as well as Astrid? And that she can promote extremely fast? And that she has way more availability?

My favorite his Gangrel. He is just as much of a joke as a villain as the others. But he is way more entertaining. He is so hamtastic and always seems to enjoy himself so much, that it's just such a pleasure to watch him. The least is Aversa because... well, because the paralouge completely destroyed her character. Not that here was much to destroy but it's a matter of principal. Turns out she never was in control of her life and nothing she ever did or say mattered because she was always just enchanted and brainwashed... *sigh*

Re-classing back into level 1 is complete and utter nonsense. If IS wants to have infinite leveling... then they should simply raise the level cap. And they shouldn't raise stat caps to absurd degrees just so they can have an excuse to artificially increase game length by sending the player through the leveling hamster wheel again and again.

No character developement? The remake did give Marth quite a bit more character and growth then the extremely straightforward NES/SNES scripts. It's still simple but not bad in any way. Unlike Chrom, who stays entirely static. The addition of a pre-timeskip prologue helped too. The only issue I have with this game, is that they pretty much copy-pasted all the enemy and PC data from the original game... and then added a ton of modern mechanics that the original game wasn't designed for. The most obvious is the addition of the weapon triangle. In the original game, they didn't exist. So it was no issue that most enemies were using lances. (The enemies prefer to use the more military looking units.) But now that the mechanic exist, swordfighters effectively have a permanent disadvantage. NMofE might use the same engine but it is just sooo much better designed. Still, the game is by no means bad. I actually like it quite a lot, because it doesn't have the inflating defense and avoid values from the later games. So while the game isn't hard, at least you can actually die if enough enemies gang up on a single unit. And the game also has no less then 5 flavors of hard mode.

I don't see how any issues Sothe may have as a unit are related to the topic. And like I said, his role as a major character was heavily foreshadowed in PoR. So I don't see any issues with that either.

Some say the glass is half empty, others say it's half full. Might as well say that rather then having no beer, you are going to have beer.

Anyway, back on the subject of Sothe. Am I the only one who after his revelation as the Jagen for Radiant Dawn, everything actually fell right into place? So that's why he couldn't promote. He gets his next level and new class after a growth spurt in a timeskip, after having outgrown being a weak tag-along kid. So that's why we never found out who that mysterious person was, that he was looking for. Because that new person was going to be the new protagonist. So that's why he was the only non-main character who retreats when he is defeated. He was already decided to play a major role in the next game.

Man, I could swear we just got one last week or so. Maybe it's because they have finished that whole Nintendo Line Streetpass thing.

I finally got my copy of New Mystery of the Emblem. Particular BS Emblem map 1 was just such a pleasure to play. I also got cake.

Anyway, least favorite female to me is definitely Lissa. The first two chapters don't seem to serve much of a purpose but to make her look as bad as possible. Everything she says is whiny and painful to listen too. Then during battle, she figures her sibling rivalry with Chrom is more important then saving the townspeople. "I am not delicate but I have messed up priorities." Be proud, Lissa... Her absolute master stroke has to be, when she whines about having to camp during the night... in front of someone for who all we know lost his loved ones and got his house burned down. Truly the "most loveable of the Shepherds".... Her only saving grace is that I would be pissed off too, if I would be expected to run across forests and battlefield while wearing a metal ring with lots of pointy spikes around my waist. Or maybe the ring is just some obscure sort of s/m gear, that she wears deliberately. And I am quite upset that her character is such a waste. Even though she is supposedly a main character and has actual story appearances, as a result of Emmeryn's death she merely screams for one line and then sobs for one line. Then she immediately snaps back to her old self with no marks left: Lissa: You can count me in! I'm tired of crying all the time. It's time to start punchin' stuff! Considering how well this was handled with Mist in PoR (starting with the fact that she got right after Greil's dead an entire scene devoted to her, featuring only her and Ike), this is just a complete joke. But hey, the game told that Emmeryn's death was soooo tragic. So no need to actually show it in some fashion. *sigh* Otherwise, her actual contribution as a main character merely seems to be, to jump out of nowhere into a scene, deliver a single line and then disappear as if she never was there to begin with. Like in chapter 13. Supposedly the scene features only Lucina, her mother, Marth and Avatar. And then suddenly... Lissa. No introduction. She just talks as if she had been there the whole time. It's so irritating. Well, at least that one line confirmed after 11 chapters, that I was not the only one seeing the fireworks in chapter 2. Given everyones lack of reactions, I could have sworn it was just my imagination. As for the best, i find it difficult to find a single character that isn't a complete joke. Cherche may not have to many issues with her personality but it's difficult taking someone seriously who wears a frigging french maid headdress. Fetish pandering doesn't get much more blatant then that. At least a bright red clowns nose would have been somewhat funny. And the rest of her outfit (what the hell is this thing?) doesn't help matters, as does her "Minerva says" routine. (Though admittedly her final line is the only time I smirked to a line that was actually supposed to be funny) I guess it's Say'ri then. With this cast, a lack of negatives is as positive as it gets.

They would just need to be not so speedy that they can double attack just as easily as the speed specialists. And they simply shouldn't be so durable that the difference to Armored Knights doesn't matter. And they shouldn't be so strong, that they can obliterate a target in the same number of hits as a Fighter.