BrightBow

FE4 - Chapter 3 I would say chapter 3 since there really is no reliable way to deal with Eltoshan without risking Lachesis neck. FE5 - Chapter 24x Such...a...pain. FE6 - Chapter 14 Yeah, I don't escorting an 15 HP & 2 Spd liability through fog of war either. FE7 - Night of Farewells Ditto. Even better when the target can't even be controlled directly and is on the other side of the map. FE8 - Chapter 11 (E) Phantom Ship Fog of War and enemies everywhere. Neat. FE9 - To be honest, it's Chapter 8 Well, there are tons of knights coming from the south to canto the poor fool stuck with guarding that way. On the east side, there are all kinds of nasty mages, archers and longbow users. And heavy armored knights to protect them. The west side offers technically a bit relief but you have to organize recruiting Illyana. Rhys can't be everywhere and the east side is to dangerous for him anyway. There are not enough allies, to replace the front liners for a turn either. FE10 - 1-3 Enemies everywhere and everyone not called Nolan or Sothe, dies in 1 or 2 hits. Yay... FE11 - Final I was merely playing H2 up to now and the Dragons already have 26 Spd. Geese... Granted, I kinda underestimated this mode since it's really a pushover until the Cap breaking dragons show up at the end. So my team was far from ideal. Heck, I used Roshea for a while.

The opening is the only source that paints the Eight Heroes in a negative light. If it was changed to one where the dragons were clearly the bad guys, then the context changes. -The dragons were deserving to be fought because they were the aggressors. The end of their whole species was unintended on the part of the Eight Heroes. It's a recurring theme in FE that the bad guys aren't the only ones to cause innocent victims or that good guys can have reason to fight on the side of the bad guys but have to be done away with regardless. -The people in Nabata would be more then everything victims of the war in general. A war that the dragons started. Look at how Athos describes them: Athos: They had refused to fight humans in the war, and instead, they retreated to this wasteland. They desired nothing but to remain hidden from the outside. -Aenir and the name "Scouring" would be a regrettable reminder of humanities bad sides. That we might have done some things wrong. But for this we have Eliwood admitting that humans are carrying "some responsibility". The Divine Generals could not be blamed for that. During the war, they did what they had to do to stop the evil dragons. They can't possibly control the actions of every human. And they can't make sure that humanity keeps the correct outlook on history after they died. I'm sorry but I'm not sure what you are saying here. Do you want to say that the opening is wrong? If that's the case why would the opening lie to us? It doesn't really adapt anyone's perspective of the events, so that would be pretty random. And if that's the case I would like to say that Jahn has reason to think this way since he saw humans break the peace, slaughter his people and leave him injured below rocks for a thousand years. I can understand that he isn't very enthusiastic about the idea. As for Athos, I would say there are two ways to make sense out of that. 1. He was not around before the scouring. Jahn said that humanity's high rate of reproduction gave them the edge initially. This points towards the war lasting for decades. If he was born during that time, he would of course not know that dragons can live peacefully with humans. 2. If he was born before the Scouring, he was born during the time were racism against the dragons had to grow slowly. Like, there was harmonic peace for a thousand years or so and during the last 50 years humans grew mistrusting more and more until it ended in open hostility. Such a period has to exist in cases like that. He simply was a child of the Zeitgeist which wasn't challenged until he came to Arcadia. This is of course all assuming I understood the point in the first place.

I was kinda surprised about the lack of pony related threads in this forum. I thought every decently sized community has one of these, these days. Btw, one vote for Rainbow Dash coming up.

Yes, Nasir said that the situation used to be reversed on the boat, saying that Ike's worldview would change during his travels. Also in the extended version of the script where Lehran tries to convince Deghinsea to make a move, Deghinsea also recalled that while Beorc are the dominant ones now, there was also a time where it used to be reversed. Interestingly, this was when the goddess had only slept for 150 years. So there is still a lot of time for a entertaining back-and-forth between the races. It's kinda entertaining that when Ike confronted Ashera, all he could do was ask for another chance. He couldn't bring up anything as an actual defense. He had no solution to the circle of violence besides: "We will try." The Goddess knew what she did when she judged everyone equally. The punishment was well deserved. Only the branded were innocent. The problem is that what we do know is not vague at all: There was peace, "a peace forged in wisdom". Then the humans attacked and afterwards there were no dragons anymore. Afterwards Humans cynically called it the "Scouring" to express their conviction what happy place the continent now is. The only things we learned afterwards, don't help humanities case at all. Sure, there were survivors... by escaping into the depths of a desert or into another dimension. And if Aenir's case is any indication, even that wouldn't save you if you were not fast enough. I would say that this is all pretty evil. Hence why I wonder what everyone else thinks about the opening. True... after all the opening is the only source of those events. What I was getting at is that both Zephidel and Roy have both good points. They both have entirely valid perspectives on humanity. But with the genocide existing, Roy's view (that humanity always makes up or their mistakes) was entirely incompatible with what would be humanities greatest evil act. If this element wasn't there, it would work. So the opening would just need to be replaced with an easy black & white issue with the humans as thee good guys. There is absolutely no reason for it not to be like that, since this is how everyone in-universe treats it anyway by worshiping the Divine Generals.

With all the disagreement I get on this topic... both here and in the past... I'm kinda wondering about something. I already elaborated what I felt about FE7 when I first played in at the very beginning of my first post but I would like to know what others felt back then. How was it when you played Fire Emblem 7 for the first time? What did you think you about the humans and the Divine Generals after watching the opening? If you changed your attitude towards them from negative to positive, then what caused that change?

They never explain it but they acknowledge it. That's the big difference. Chaney makes no secret about him not liking humans. And he admits sympathy towards Medeus. Fitting in nicely with that, back in the first game Gato said that he turn his back on humanities affairs but that Marth's actions convinced him otherwise. Chainey also says that he helps Marth because he is different then the other humans. And Anri's situation is not the same then the ones from his counterparts in Elibe. He wasn't the guy who lead humans to wipe out the dragons. He was the guy who freed humans after the dragons enslaved them. In that story, dragons are clearly the evil ones. The implications of Elibe's setting simply don't exist in Akaneia. I would go as far as saying that the themes are nearly identical. It's about human nature. Their bad sides and their good sides. The latter represented by the hero and his companions. Just like Roy, Ike's travels confronted him with human failings. That's why it's so irritating that they don't bring up this big result of humankind's bad side. Especially with a villain who demands mankind's end for those failings. But knowing the opening, Roy's speeches come across as ignorant. Everything would work fine if it wasn't for that opening. And if we use the Laguz/Beorc conflict to explain what was going one in Elibe, then the "Divine Generals" were racists bastards. Those games weren't shy to point out that nasty aspect of humans. Which in turn makes it inexcusable for the Elibe games to not only fail to acknowledge their crime but also to present them as actual heroes on par with Anri, the Crusaders, Team Altina and the others.

As for link points, just spam water barrels. And for affinity raising, use the ballons. Those mini games always seem to give out around the same number of points regardless how well you do. Which is convenient, since the ballon game finishes very quickly if you don't do anything. And if a part of the link board requires you to link with a spirit a certain amount of times, you can link with a spirit and then immediately cancel it. That way you can link with your spirit again after just a few moments.

Yes. Athos himself said that he couldn't believe that dragons and humans could exist peacefully. But here is the thing: Humans can't travel between worlds. So the only way for them to "drive the dragons out" would be to kill them.

They weren't banished through the dragons gate. They escaped through the dragons gate. Dragons were the ones who build the gate in the first place, remember? That's why humans can't use it. They weren't all nicely rounded up and forced through. And the war may have had survivors on the dragons part but not for lack of trying on part of the humans. They had to hid into the deep of the desert or literally into a different dimension.

Ok, thanks. So would you mind adding me?

I don't understand your point. Unless you are saying that the Scouring wasn't bad because some dragons could avoid being killed. This is based on what? What reason do we have to assume that he is lying? And what is he supposedly lying about?

It doesn't say anything about the dragons in Nabata being are all divine dragons. And one of the dragons in the CG looks way to dark to be a Divine Dragon anyway. But more importantly, the dragons who were killed were not just soldiers. Were does it say that? All it says, is that the Divine Dragons suddenly disappeared. Unless of course, the soldiers were somehow the only dragons who did not know about the escape plan. But that seems a bit unlikely. Honestly, are you seriously arguing that not a single non-combatant was killed by the humans? Then what are you calling Aenir? Not to mention, bing a soldier doesn't mean that your life has no value. And the protagonists of the series usually have a reason for going to war. Here, we have nothing like that. Just humanity wiping of a sentient species of the face of the continent. I would say that if you wipe of an entirely sentient species of the map, you probably need support for not being evil. Of course, I said at the very beginning of the post that it makes sense from an in-universe perspective. To quote Lethe: Lethe: ...Are you serious? I take it humans aren't interested in passing history down to their children... ...Typical. But there is no reason for them to stay ignorant during the whole thing. Especially if they throw speeches around as if they knew what they are talking about. They also have these memories. I already said that. Dragons age so slowly that Ninian and Nils barely aged during 1000 years. The dragons that survived the Scouring should still be alive. The younger ones would not be much older then Fa. Exactly. It's essentially impossible. And that proves Roy's big argument towards Zephidel in favor of humanity, that humans always right their wrongs, as simply false. That's why I brought it up. To show how ignorant Roy is. It might be that this was what they were referring to. But the legends already say that dragons were the bad guys and the Divine Heroes the good guys. To me this seems rather minor and I was hoping for some sort of acknowledgement of the opening. Jahn is the guy who initially couldn't decide whether or not he should even tell the story to Roy because it doesn't make a practical difference. If he got an advantage out of lying, he would have done so and never been so undecided in the first place. And if he simply didn't want to admit having done something evil (which makes no sense, giving his emotionless nature) then why would he have been so open about the whole "destroying a little girls soul" thing? And I could make the same argument about Athos staying silent about the war. Not to mention that this chapter promises that: "Roy was to learn the truth behind the legends that he had always heard" The chapter is even called "The Truth of the Legend." One of the songs that only plays here is called "Shocking Truth". Everything points towards Jahn saying nothing but the truth. And even if he somehow was, it was the game's job to provide reason to disbelief him. Sure. Thanks for the elaborate response. It must have taken some time getting through all of that. I probably should have just said: "They never acknowledge the opening anywhere else" and only bring up the rest of the stuff up if someone asks. Yeah, that's my point. The just casually mention that humanity attacked in the opening and then stay quiet about in during the rest of the game while singing the praises of the Divine Generals. If the opening wasn't there, it wouldn't be a problem. But they even reinforced it by having it in the opening of both games. Yes, but there is no other explanation provided. If I may repeat myself: "I would say that if you wipe of an entirely sentient species of the map, you probably need support for not being evil."

In Starfox: Assault it's almost vital to change the controls. You get to choose between 3 different settings and the default one doesn't allow to run and aim. It's only the third scheme that allows to run while aiming with the C-stick. Realizing this makes the game lot more enjoyable. And for the Mega Man Zero collection, I changed it so that B is jump to be consistent with the ZX games on that console.

Best: Dilemma (FE10) Worst: Enemy Attack (FE4) /This is not exactly the most epic 5 second loop

I didn't really buy one because of it. That being said, after the game's announcement, KI: Uprising, Tales of the Abyss and having a portable version of Starfox 64 and OoT, suddenly felt a lot more tempting.

As with most people outside of Japan, my first game of this series was FE7. The game's opening said that dragons and humans lived together in peace until the humans attacked them and wiped them of the face of the continent. They even called the war the "The Scouring". Now that's a nasty name. They "cleaned" the world from the dragons. It really shows how proud of the genocide they committed were. Genocide is bad. I hope we can all agree on that. Yet I never had the feeling the game called this crime out for what it was. Initially it seemed plausible that people would speak of their "heroes" in a favorable manner. History gets written by the winners after all. It was similar in FE9. Yet, here this never seemed to change. Athos even said: "Well done, brave Successor to Roland." After the final battle. Apparently "our" heroes saving the day makes hem successors to the guys who wiped an entire sentient species from the map. I wouldn't consider that a compliment. I thought I had missed something. And there were still secret levels and tons of support conversations. It had to be in the script. They couldn't possible just now address this crime at all. Especially since one of the people responsible for it, was actually in the party by the end and was universally treated at a sympathetic character. How can somebody who committed mass-murder be sympathetic? There had to be a justification. It just had to be somewhere. I mention this, since I thin it's important to show were I'm coming from. This is something that bothered me about this game since day one. Something that my mind wasted countless hours pondering about. It seems like the opening is from an entirely different game. It's downright absurd how quite the games are about the whole "humans started the war" thing, how all the glorification of the "Heroes" or the "Divine Generals" goes uncontested. In FE6, the opening is essentially the same. Yet, the rest of the game stays quiet about who started the mess. Every time the war is brought up, it simply says "mankind fought the dragons". It takes the war for granted. Like here: Of course, good or bad are already decided by their worship of the "Divine Generals". So they don't really take a neutral stance. If you worship the guys who committed genocide, you probably think the others were the bad guys. And they sometimes call dragons the "enemy of mankind". And at least once, the dragons are blamed directly. When Niime tells a story to Fa: Blaming the victims for their own death is just unbelievable vile. Yet our protagonists are never confronted with the truth. Our at least, the game never offers an explanation that makes us see the opening in a different light. It's like the game was designed with an entirely different back-story in mind. One were the dragons really were evil, like in Akaneia. A lot of parts would work a lot better that way. For example when we come to Arcadia, everyone we meet is friendly. Nothing hints that they are all survivors of the massacre caused by Roy's ancestors. You would be think they would have all kind of sore feelings or traumatic or something, but nope. Just compare the reaction of the Arcadians to Lethe and Reyson to see how absurd that is. And even ignoring that, they are still concerned about staying hidden from the outside world. So they should show at least some suspicion towards Roy. They don't know him. They have no reason to trust him. Roy is also also really unimpressed by the place for someone who knows dragons as the "enemy of mankind". And then they learn that one of the "Eight Heroes", Athos spend the rest of his lifetime there studying. They just throw that out there even though that image is entirely absurd. It's like Lekain living in the Serenes Forest despite him being the one behind the massaker of the Herons. And think about how little Ninian and Nils aged during the last thousand years. All most all of the dragons that survived should still be alive. They all lost their loved ones and went through so many hardships, surviving only because they hid in the desert, all because of him. Honestly, that's all we hear about it: [spoiler=Spoiler]Roy: "What? Do you mean Athos of the Eight Heroes?" Sophia: "Yes... After the Scouring...Athos traveled around Elibe... At the end of his journey, he arrived at our village...in which men and Dragons were living in harmony... But he said that...it would only be a matter of time before we were found..." Roy: "So he led you here..." Sophia: "Yes... And he hid his Divine Weapon...inside this temple..." Roy: "Can we use his Divine Weapon?" Sophia: "Yes... Athos told us...to use his weapon to protect Arcadia... And your fight against Bern...will lead to our safety..." Roy: "All right. Thanks." Apparently the game doesn't think that this requires any further explanation or anything. Which kinda confuses me, since judging by FE9, I kinda figured that people's forgiveness for genocide isn't something to be taken for granted. Then there is Zephidel: He seeks humanity's end since he thinks that humanity, driven by Jealousy, Hate and Greed, causes nothing but harm. He mentions those evil emotions but doesn't bring up how they lead to humans killing the dragons. You would think that when the opening mentions this big crime of humanity and the story puts humanity on trial and questions it's right to exist.. that said crime would be used as an argument. It's nasty what his father did, no question... but it just doesn't compare to genocide on a global scale. And Roy's response to the whole thing is this: Roy: "I cannot agree that such a world would be for the better good! It is true that humans have many evil emotions and do terrible things, but it has always been us humans who have corrected such wrongdoings!" If we remember the genocide, then Roy's argument falls apart. Humans always right their wrongs? Now how is the mess humanity did 1000 years ago supposed to be fixed? Athos spend centuries in Arcadia with doing anything about it, his own father didn't do anything about it despite him probably being married to a dragon and Roy doesn't mention wanting to do anything about it either. And of course, the epilogue doesn't mention him ever doing anything like that. He can only make this argument out of ignorance. The same thing happens in the next chapter: Jahn... honestly, this chapter really, really disturbs me. The glorification of the "Eight Heores" really goes through the roof here. The introduction of chapter 24 starts at least promising: In the temple, Roy was to learn the truth behind the legends that he had always heard. What Roy was about to hear was completely different that what he had always believed to be true... To keep it short: No it isn't. The only thing that was different from the legends he heard was that the Divine Weapons were the cause of the Ending Winter, instead of the thing straightening it out. Otherwise, the dignity of the "Eight Heroes" is not attacked at all. It's actually the whole opposite. It really pushes the idea that the dragons are evil and the humans were virtues. Not by bringing up facts but like this: ... See what I mean? Nothing about this changes the fact that the "Eight Heroes" were a bunch of genocidal bastards. But they spared one single dragon and had pity, so it's all good. And in contrast, the dragons are pushed to be the villains. At least the Fire Dragons are. They were the ones who captured a Divine Dragon and destroyed it's soul. Naturally, Roy is all disturbed upon hearing this: And the dragons lack the compassion who make us humans what we are. So Jahn cannot comprehend why Roy would be so disturbed by it. Of course, like Roy, we as players would be disturbed by this. They did all those things to that poor girl and he is like "So what?" We would of course be angry at him. Hartmund's "pity" contrasts positively from Jahn's lack of empathy so the dragons loose all or sympathy. After all, sacrificing a little girl is vile and all but so is Genocide. But I find it hard to condemn the dragons for it, considering that their whole species was at stake. And ore importantly, it doesn't retroactively justify humans for starting the war in the first place. Speaking of Jahn, he does this all the time. Acting inhuman and ridiculing human emotions: But think about it: There is no reason for Jahn to have no emotions. No other dragons do. Not the Elder in the village, nor Fa, nor Ninian and Nils. No other dragon in the series share this trait either. In fact, the only other Fire Dragon was Bantu who had pity towards Tiki, who was put asleep so she wouldn't loose her mind. The writers only have him act inhuman so we not only sympathize with him over his situation. After all, he is the only the only survivor of his species. He saw humans slaughter all of his kind and was left injured for a thousand years in the temple. He has all the reason in the world to hate humans and wanting to terminate them. He is essentially Reyson. But he has no emotions. So he never gets angry like Reyson and we never feel empathy towards him. And then there is this: Roy's argument is just as ignorant as above with Zephidel. You know Roy, there was another time were humans and dragons lived peacefully. It's called the time before your ancestors slaughtered them all. Jahn knows this time. He also knows how it ended. Sure, they live peaceful in the village now but who knows how long that will last? Roy only wins this argument because Jahn refuse to believe him, even though he could tear his case apart with his first-hand experience. So, that's the end in a nutshell: Humans = good, Dragons = bad It puts no new perspective on the opening. Humans are still genocidal bastards. It's just emotional manipulation. This is "One death is a tragedy, one million is a statistic" without any irony... In retrospective it's not hard to see what kind of story this was supposed to be: The hero goes through all kinds of challenges that show him the bad parts of humanity. The villain challenges mankinds right to exists. He knows about the bad parts but he also knows that the good outweighs the bad. He is proven right, when his conviction shows to be stronger then his opponents. And then Jahn comes in. His lack of emotions makes us truly see all the good parts of humanity. But like I said before, this story doesn't fit with the opening since Roy is never confronted with the true extend of the evil that humanity is capable of. So when he defends mankind, he only comes across as ignorant. So why is the opening like it is? Why not just say that the dragons were evil, like in Akaneia? And then there is FE7. It had essentially the same opening. So if they wanted to retcon something, they wasted their opportunity here. Human's are still genocidal bastards. It's actually confirmed by Ninian but not until the very end. The whole worshiping of the "Divine Generals" also stays the same though it's even more annoying here since we actually meet them in person. Par for the course, no critical word is lost about them. It's all the same as in the previous game, which is very convenient since I am getting tired after writing and reading for 5 and a half hours for this post. Athos is an important character in the game and eventually joins the party before he dies. All the while he is treated sympathetically. And he never says anything about his role in the war. No justification or explanation whatsoever. Human's still are... well you get the idea. And the people of Arcadia apparently invited him... seriously... But while Athos might not talk about the war, his silence is quite noisy. What I mean is, that it's absolutely absurd that Athos doesn't have to answer for it. The most important characters because our protagonists are Nergal, Ninian and Nils. Their are united by Aenir. As a reminder, she was Nergal's wife and Ninian and Nils mother. She was killed during "the Scouring". they are all victims of the war lead by Athos and the Divine Generals. They all have reasons for demanding answers from Athos but they never do. The kids stay quiet and Nergal conveniently antagonizes him for entirely unrelated reasons. All those opportunities to shed some light on the past wasted. And our protagonists aren't confronted with those things either. The revaluation about their mother was a victim of the war was made in that ridiculously hidden chapter. And it happened when they were already gone. It never reached our heroes. Well, not entirely. At the end Ninian apologizes and mentions that humans invaded them. Eliwood says this: That's all their is after 2 games. Humans bear "some" responsibility... *sigh* In Telius, the 10 year old Empress of Begnion took responsibility for the genocide her people committed by kneeing in front of the last survivors of the herons, begging for forgiveness on behalf of her people. In Elibe, you can pass just by saying that it would be nice if humans and dragons could live together and if you are a very great person you might even admit "some" responsibility. Maybe. As leaders and heroes of the humans during The Scouring Athos and Company carry responsibility for it. It's not like I can't imagine a reason why Athos and the others participated in the war. They may have their reasons. But without the games providing any, they may have just as well slaughtered them all because they had fangs. If you commit genocide, you can't just go entirely unquestioned like this. I'm not bad-mounding these games for the hell of it. The reason I am bad-mounding them because I genuine think those two games are absolutely disgusting. May it be because of incompetence, laziness, or meddling executives: In the end we have two games which think that committing genocide somehow goes hand-in-hand with being a shining pillar of human virtue without giving any other reason why.

If I may ask a question: How do share friend codes anyway? I remember from the old DS games that each game had their own code but here the only code I can fiend is in the console's main menu. Is that the only one needed? Also, do people get messaged automatically when somebody adds them onto their list or do I have to find another way to request them to add me? Btw, the game could really have given you some tools to keep all your weapons in order. Like separating them between weapons you actually intend to use and stuff limited for fusions. It's so messy.

I think if I would answer just as elaborate to the game mechanics then on the art, it might easily be the other way around. It's just that the thing about the mechanics is so technical, I will probably get things confused when going by memory. It's easier to judge those when I actually get to play the game anyway. I'm not afraid in regards to the image section since Vincent hides the spoiler images so it's easier to comment on that but who knows what I end up digging out when looking up the mechanics.

Well, I try not to spoil myself so I don't really know much but there are a few things I think I can adress. Likes: -The game mechanics seem to have finally being improved As much as I like the Telius games, I can't help but admit that they simply reused old mechanics from past games since FE8, with the difference that they actually worked back then (Skills, Leader ship Stars, Personal weapons for normal units...). And the new ones tended to be mechanics that didn't matter either. (Biorhythm, Map Affinity...) It's somewhat ironic that the game actually grows past those issues in an entry that's supposed to "contain the best of the past Fire Emblem titles" or something along those lines. -The endless game seems to work properly I mean, you actually get a decent amount of cash during any encounter and pretty much anything can be bought. Not that I'm a fan of this sort of play but the point is that it was just broken in FE8. -Casual mode for all difficulties Yeah, I would prefer that mode wouldn't be there. It pretty much removes the series cornerstone in my opinion. On the other hand, in order for a mode to work at all the enemy would need to be strong enough to wipe of all PCs from the map. The hard modes should be able to pull of. So at least there is a point in having it available. -Battle animations look promising Dislikes: -My Unit I kinda liked it in FE12 but that was because it was a remake. It's fun having your own Mary Sue in an existing story. Like how it's done in Kingdom Hearts, for example. But with a cast of entirely new characters it will probably take attention away from them. I can't see how that could work out. -Nono Obviously I don't know to much about that the characters yet...But I think I heard enough of her for a few comments. She is a little girl with an even childisher personality who wears ridiculously little, who one can marry and have children with... Why? Just Why? It doesn't help knowing that Fa teaches us that dragons are to be considered as old as they look and Ninian and Nils teach us that dragons don't age much in a thousand years. There is really so silver line to be found here. The whole thing is just as disturbing as it gets. -Inverse So her choice of wardrobe is justified by her being a seductress? It doesn't matter how many of these characters are created in fiction: This whole "Women's sexuality gives them power over men" thing is entirely nonsense. You can manipulate people in a thousand ways... but not like that. How do people keep coming up with these characters? Do they think so low of men that they think they can be played so easily? -Time travel I sooo can't see this work out. At all. -The art direction. I really liked the art in the past games. In a genre were people usually think that nothing but underwear is the best gear to wear for war and adventures, it looked really good and practical by comparison. Together with the tension created by the mortality of your average character, it gave the whole game a really nice atmosphere. I consider myself someone who plays games more for the story then for the gameplay, so I really appreciated that. That pretty much flies right out of the window here. Par for the genre, this game makes the armors look like they simply exist to be fashionable. And as usual the female designs tend to suffer a lot from it. I wish I could only complain about breast plates, Serge's back or the awkward poses but then we get stuff like the Dark Mage outfit which leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination. *sigh* And of course they kept all the stuff I already disliked in the past: High heels, stockings, naked legs... *sigh* Characters and atmosphere suffer from designs like that. If someone is supposed to be a badass warrior or an intimidating authority figure, they should better look that part. If they can't pull that off, I wish they would just leave females out entirely. -DLC artwork I can't approve from putting so many different art styles into the game. Consistency is important. Otherwise the whole things just feels messy. Besides that, the art of the male characters, with the exception of Ike, is pretty awesome. On the female side... it's pretty much the opposite. Lyn, Est and Eirika look pretty good but the others either don't look like the characters they are supposed to be or the art in general is just bad. Like, Catria. She has an entirely emotionless face and a pose that looks she is falling backwards. Zero expression and a dumb pose... I can't believe how the art fails on such basic things. The most elementary things before I would even consider art to be at least decent.

Well, I can't do either Super or Revenge move in "Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition". This requires 3 buttons to be pressed at once with one of them being a shoulder button. Getting the timing for that right, has proven to be next to impossible for me.

Wait a second, what do traps even have to do with this? She is an actual girl so how would liking her equal towards liking traps? Don't they have to be male? Because Est is a girl who supposedly looks like a boy, who looks like a girl? My head is all kinds of fuzzy now...

I was very specific about my issues with this art for a reason. I already knew how little tissue the FE4 dancers wear. And when I said "breast-butt", I meant poses that have a character twist around in an inhuman way to show of both her butt and breast. This art obviously puts a lot of emphasis on her breasts but at least her butt is not visible. Besides, it's not much more cleavage then Catria had and she is a fighter. The point was that the art reached a new low (as in "even lower") and will keep getting lower since we know that there are maid outfits and bikinis heading our way.

There are no visible panties here since the artist had the decency to use an angle that doesn't show anything from her butt.

I would like to bring up the WaterDragon from Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness. He is the very first boss fought in the game. Your stuck on a bridge with this guy being in the background so it's very much like a background boss in a 2D game. What makes this guy such a pain is his ability to shot 3 explosive projectiles in a row at you. They are insanely fast. He shots them to random places and your ability to dodge them is almost nonexistant. On normal mode, you can take a few hits but on hard they are insanely powerful and almost take half your life. And in hard mode there is only a single small piece of meat to be found until now, so you die in four hits at best. But wait, there is more. When diving into the water, he likes to take a piece of the bridge with him. He can strike several holes into it that way. It's always fun if you desperately try to dodge an explosion, just to be still caught into it while being right over the pit. You fly high in the air just to fall all the way down into the water, killing you instantly. Cornell shouldn't have a problem with him since his werewolf form is just that powerful. Reinhardt can take advantage of his achilles heal. He can chop of his arms to stop him in his tracks. But Carrie is pretty much screwed here. Since her projectiles home in, they automatically fly to the head. Therefore it's almost impossible for her to disarm him. Her projectiles also have the habit to hit other parts of his body other then the head. In this game, hits that don't hit the weak spot usually only cause paper cut damage. Well, at least it's possible to damage enemies that way but the point is that Carrie is going to die a lot against this guy. And the next boss is the Giant Skeleton... yeah, he is a complete pushover.

As far as I know, the old Fire Emblem games didn't have panty shots. And probably not even a breast-butt pose like this one. And I already criticized the art of past games for sexualisation before we even knew about FE13. So I think I would know if that was the case. Besides, panties and grace don't mix.