BrightBow

Thank you for your response. I left your assumptions about me in the Top/Buttom thread uncommented but I think now that it might be better in the long run to respond to them. I mean, if I just let this stand like in the other thread, it just seems like I agree with you accusing me of "baiting" you. Do you really think that I was not genuine when I say that a Bizarre Jelly Girl is the last thing I expected to see in the series? (That's the thread you were referring to, right? I think it's pretty much the only thing I wrote about Awakening this week.) That this is just baiting? I was insanely surprised when I compared Nowi with them. I didn't found out about them being from the same artist until later. As for Yandere, I can't see the "cuteness" or "funny". That is joking about killing. I mean, the game isn't a dark comedy. It just has to conflict with the mood if she isn't seen as anything but vile. And I admit that my emotions got the better of me at least a few times and I am sorry for the problems that caused. But I deny vehemently that my post in the "Top/Bottom thread" where we already butted heads and the "Least thing you expect to see in Fire Emblem" thread count as such. Instead I claim that this is just you being incapable of dealing with the fact that someone dislikes something that you happen to like. Heck, you reacted that, back in the pony thread, calling me a shit in the comments on my profile for supposedly overanalyzing the show (where no one can see the context). Even if I did that, at worst it counts as me being incredible stupid and not as something so vile that it equals me to human feces.

What exactly is your problem? You accuse me of taking the game too seriously and yet you are the one who constantly takes personal offense when I say something critical about it, resulting in you writing these passive aggressive responses. Do you think it's better to belittle a living person then a piece of software?

If someone would please tell me: How is Tharja's presented in-game? Is she presented in any way that doesn't make her existence as a PC feel completely disturbing?

Above all else, it's a character based on the designs of the "Bizarre Jelly" girls from "No more Heroes". In fact, I would have never expected to see these designs anywhere outside of actual porn or parody, let alone Fire Emblem. I know by now that "Awakening" had the same artist as "No more Heroes" but they were deliberately designed as in-universe otaku-fap-material with the protagonist Travis even being caught masturbating while watching the show. Awakening lacks that context, so it makes no sense.

I don't think so. I would say that it's just an element that IS likes to reuse. Like how there is always a Fire Emblem related to those blood pacts and yet it has different purposes, serving as a prison for a powerful being in most cases while it's merely a key of sorts in Elibe. So it can't really be the same kind of object. And IS loves marks so much that Telius alone has already two of these kind of marks. And both are totally unrelated to each other. I am talking about the mark of branded and the mark caused by the blood pact. While the mark of the branded is inherited by blood, the mark from the misleading named Blood Pact doesn't actually work that way. Otherwise Micaiah wouldn't have inherited it from Pelleas after his death. (Extended script and unused CG in the Sound Test) Besides, according to Telius' rules, the Laguz parent will always loose it's powers. If those rules would have applied to Narga, he would have run out of fangs to forge swords with a long time ago. And everyone with Laguz blood ages slower, with the effect varying depending on the species. There is nothing that indicates that this applies to anyone outside of Telius. Especially in Jugdral. The war in Jugdral was over for a mere hundred years before the games. How many generations of slow-aging humans could possibly have fit in there? The known parents of Sigurd's generation looked already very old.

Look, I am not really contesting that the gameplay is really worse. But I think that Radiant Dawn often just feels very unfinished to a degree that PoR simply doesn't share, so I find it to be awkward to play. Like, nothing in PoR really compared to the nonsensicalness of Lethe being as weak as a low level second tier units while being treated as a third tier unit for exp calculation or skills that deal 200 points despite there being no enemy that even comes close to possibly surviving it even before having an additional effect attached to it. It isn't "entirely" absurd to consider PoR the better game even if one doesn't value it's story and characterization anywhere as much as I do. Which is really all I wanted to say. I have absolutely no idea why I spend so much time writing so much text, while actually leaving out the part that was actually important, in order to contest a trivial detail about a statement that isn't in any way worth arguing over, as a result wasting the time of somebody who just so happens to be a moderator which naturally might have significant negative results for me in the future. So, I am sorry that I wasted your time with this, Red Fox. I am going to put all that other stuff I wrote in the last two hours to address all your points in that spoiler tag but it's really just a bunch of nonsense. It's not in any way worth looking into it unless you think that I didn't try addressing your points.

Personally, I don't think it's that unlikely at this point. In the Iwata Asks interview, they explained that they had trouble coming up with something to do with the series after the Monshu remake. If they have similar difficulties after this game, maybe they simply end making another remake in the meantime.

Btw, the European E-shop released a demo of the 3DS game yesterday, for those who don't know yet.

Well... yes. I was speaking of personal weapons on the level of S-Rank weapons. And Thani is her equivalent of the Rapier and not her equivalent of the Falchion.

I heavily contest that statement. To be perfectly honest, I think that Radiant Dawn has actually the messiest gameplay in the series. I think that Radiant Dawn's gameplay is all kinds of messy. I mean, it's often downright absurd. In the cases of way too many units, you are left wondering what you are even supposed to do with them. Like, when you get Lethe, you get the impression that she is underpowered. And then you find out that despite this, she doesn't get any exp from killing enemies, so she can't even realistically get any stronger. All the while Mordecai hits like a truck and takes no damage despite being 5 levels lower and actually getting exp from it. But the dragons are definitely the worst, considering you would associate dragons with immense power. And the dissonance between Ike's group and Miciah's group is insane. Ike and Co are way stronger then Micaiah's group is at the end of their campaign while they are only at the very beginning of their campaign. And that's not even counting the fact that Ike has plenty of leadership and has way more units at his disposal AND can even recruit people from Micaiah's already small group. Ike can burst through his chapters with little effort while Micaiah has to munchkin like crazy in order to get at least one or two of her units to be valuable contributers in part 4. And while it's certainly entertaining to play against the odds like that, it makes Ike's chapters all the more boring by comparison. Besides that, Masteries are also completely nonsensical (I was son confused when the BK appeared. The numbers didn't make any sense then and never did during the course of the whole game.) and leave you wondering why IS didn't just make them instant kills. Not to mention that the ones that actually fail to reliable kill are the ones from the already hilariously underpowered mages and thieves. And despite being essentially a Lord, Micaiah can't use S-Rank weapon easily because she only promotes at the very end. Normally this isn't a problem because Lord's get their own personal weapon... except her for some reason. Not that it matters, seeing how weak magic is and Nosferatu and Thani are more beneficial then Rexaura anyway, but it's just all kinds of awkward. And it's not helped by the fact that Rexaura isn't exactly heavily contested. In short, I think that the game feels all kinds of messy, unfinished and unpolished. And that it is far from an improvement over PoR. Edit: Also, I think that without the support conversations, the FE5 support system is just so much better. I mean, units could give and receive support boosts without having to be deployed on half of the maps in the game. It gave you a reason to actually deploy some units you wouldn't even consider otherwise and went a long way to help individualize characters.

Multiply choices would indeed be very nice. I voted characters but... well, by itself they really don't mean much. It really depends on how much everything works together. Anyway, I love that the characters feel usually really human and as such are easy to empathize with. This is partly because of the writing but also because they posses the most human attribute there is but which nevertheless is very rare in video games: Mortality. Which is good for the story, because I wouldn't care about a story unless I also care about the people that are affected by it. And I really like the series' relatively mature approach to war. It not only gives it a face to your common grunt but also shows that the same applies to the enemy. It shows that the banner of "Enemy" hides tons of good people that will inevitable fall victim to the war. The series doesn't say that war should never be waged but it raises awareness to the consequences that one should be aware of before taking that step.

I would say, that a laptop that doesn't do it's job has priority over any game console at any day of the week, including Sundays and holidays. Unless you get only really, really, really limited use out of it. And considering you already own one, I would like to put additional emphasis on my attempt to discourage you from further considering the purchase of an XL. Besides, the XL is less handy anyway.

Thank you for the help. I guess it's just a matter of time until I buy one then. Also, the XL seems to have actual buttons below the lower screen. Sweet.

I also ponder a lot about whether I should upgrade or not. Maybe somebody can help me out here. With my regular 3DS I have the problem that unlike my DS Lite, the top screen gets scratched by the borders of the lower screen, which seems to be a common problem. So does anybody know if the XL still has this sort of problem?

Now I am a fan of Telius but... that world is done. All secrets were unfold and there is no story left to be told. Heck, it's already established that when the next big war arrives, the goddess herself while take it up herself to guide her children out of it. There really is no room for another story without if feeling painfully forced. The Jugdral games are of course tempting. The games were conceptional sound but were held back by their lack of polishing. As long as they would put a bit more effort into it then into Shadow Dragon (and keep My Unit out of it.), that would be a really nice idea. Still, as far as I am concerned, since FE6 the series did nothing but live on it's past successes. I think that it's time to move on. As for how, I am relatively open. They can even move the setting to the mars like IS had already pondered. As far as I am concerned, it doesn't really matter. Fire Emblem is about War and the people in it. I think that the series can work in pretty much any setting. And I definitely prefer the 3DS. I happen to disagree with the developers on that one. Fire Emblem's turnbased system is simply perfect for a handheld.

Both openings state specifically that the humans suddenly attacked, ending a "peace forged in wisdom". And afterwards, there were no dragons. And as we learn, the only survivors either escaped into another dimension, into the deepest depths of the desert unknown to mankind or were buried below rocks for 1000 years. (or maybe must serve as mounts for the Bern military.) They might not have pulled it off to kill them all but they successfully wiped them of the face of the known world. Personally I think the term Genocide is very appropriate. But regardless of terminology, my point was simply that this kinda paints the humans as the bad guys and consequently means that the Divine Generals aren't sympathetic by default. Yet the Divine Generals are always treated in the most positive light. And the games never provide any reason why they actually deserve this. As a result it comes across as this: The Divine Generals are awesome specifically because they wiped out the dragons. Because that's all we really know about them.

Thank you. That's a lot more helpful. Don't worry, I intend as little as you do to turn this issue into an argument...again.("sigh", sorry) Hence why I took great care this time, to express myself in such a way that there is simply nothing to argue about.

I've got to say, I wasn't expecting such a response. I don't know what to say to that. How are you even reasoning this?

That's exactly what I wanted to say with that. Well, technically I merely hate the people responsible for it. A game doesn't create itself after all. The thing is, I can live with bad games but not with ones that I find to be absolutely disgusting.

Well, sure he doesn't care about him but the game designers wouldn't have you say things that mislead you on how to approach the chapter. Maybe Shiva's death is the price supposed to be paid for the south route but the route along the mountains doesn't seem to work at all. I always end up getting completely wrecked by Meteor.

Then I guess I'm going to give my 2 cents as well. Top: (1)Path of Radiance The game that made me fell in love with the series. The storyline is absolutely superb. Sadly, the gameplay mechanics are essentially GBA plus halfheartedly added stuff from he SNES games. But it has it's fair share of improvements. The base menu is awesome and offers a way better opportunity for support conversations and info convos are a very welcome addition. It's too bad that this game got shafted during localization with the removal of Maniac but I don't penalize the games for localization changes. (2)Thracia 776 I would dare to say that it has the best gameplay in the series but it sadly held back by lack of polishing. Still, it's telling that so many features from this game that would later be reintroduced in the Telius games worked so much better here. This game has some actual thought put into it. It's a diamond in the rough but nevertheless a diamond. It's absolutely great atmosphere and skilled use of music helps too. I still remember the first time I heard the track "Adversity". My favorite moment in the series. As another personal bonus, it also uses my favorite artwork in the series. (3)Seisen no Keifu I really love this game as far as a engine goes. But as an actual game, it lacks even more polishing then Thracia. Thankfully it doesn't need it as bitterly because it doesn't suffer from the SNES era's lack of a formation option. This game offers a very unique (and good) gameplay style not found anywhere else in the series. Bottom: (1)Blazing Sword There has always been something that bugged me about this game ever since my first run: When has Athos made up for the fact that he was the champion of the jerks that attacked the dragons during the Scouring in order to be treated so sympathetically and getting a touching death scene. By now I can acknowledge the answer: He hasn't. Just like the previous game, this one takes it for granted that we will admire a group of people who we know nothing about except that they wiped a sentient species from the map. I have to disagree on that. Before he died, Athos said that he has no regrets. Well, knowing his stance on the issue and the fact that I learned at school that genocide is wrong, I also have no regrets putting this game into this spot for it's completely screwed up morals. (2)Awakening To keep it short, to me it's like this: Ever since March 28 in 2012, my patience with this game's art was strained to it's furthest possible extend with the release of Cordelia's artwork. Everything afterwards has pushed things too far. And MAN, I am still in sheer AWE on how far they pushed things since then. Under this circumstances, me and this game will never be friends and I have nothing but loathing for the people in charge who approved of this. (3)Shadow Dragon It's upgraded interface makes this game more enjoyable then the original but this game is just so freaking lazy. It essentially copies the whole first game and then simply adds in a bunch of new mechanics with zero regard on how they actually affect the game. The most obvious example being the introduction of the weapon triangle in a game where almost all enemies use lances. Essentially they changed too much in order to change as little as they did. But I give kudos for the replacement units and the ability to merge used items together.

I'm sorry but what are you referring to? You do conquer Laus and Caelin. The latter actually twice. Edit: And there is the awkward fight in Santaruz. You are specifically fighting Black Fang troops. But what were the Santaruz soldiers doing in the meantime? They can hardly just have stood around idling, so they would have to fight either Eliwood or the Black Fang. If the former, this makes three countries. And a group of assassins can hardly take on a whole country by themselves anyway. Edit2: And they would have no reason to, since all they had to do was to kill the marquis which can't be that hard. Afterwards, they had no reason to stay. Edit3: Nevermind. I shouldn't have brought Santaruz up. I don't think that the whole scenario makes enough sense to draw any conclusions from. For all I know, the soldiers had their free day but left the key to the castle below the doormat so that Eliwood could enter after duking it out with the Black Fang. But the issue with Caelin and Laus is a lot easier.

This is something that wonders me ever since playing Thracia for the first time: In chapter 7 of Thracia 776, August offers two choices on how approach this chapter: Run through the south or escape through the mountains in the west. Personally I always ended up using choice Nr.3: Wait for the reinforcements and kick their asses right when they appear. I can't see how those two other strategies are supposed to work. When running to the south, I attract the attention of the mercenaries and I will be forced to kill Shiva. And when I go through the mountains, I end up being Meteor food. Particularly Dalsim seems to be doomed either way. Does anyone have an idea on how to approach this chapter in the spirit of August's advice and without suffering losses?

And it's just painful to see how by contrast Michalis not only escapes Karma but also manages to get away with snatching Karma's purse and plundering it's storage room.

Speaking of Zelda: I would like to note that the European E-shop has Ocarina of Time 3D currently lowered by 20€. So it's at 30€ now. I figured that it's noteworthy since Zelda games rarely get cheaper and I've never seen full games at the E-Shop become cheaper either.