The Last To Post Wins!

[Lightcosmo]

9 hours ago, Shrimperor said:

The player should always be able to react. Always. Otherwise it's bullshit game design.

I think this is the opposite of what the developers want. Considering Fog of War, ambush spawns, dumb events when (X) player unit steps in specific area, i'd say for sure they want the exact opposite experience for players. I agree with you, for sure, but I don't think that's how FE is designed, personally anyways.

Edited January 5, 2020 by lightcosmo

[Acacia Sgt]

7 hours ago, Quiyonce said:

*launches you into the Death Star*

Meesa think weesa like for Gungan to be Jedi too.

---

Gee, how terrible for them wanting you to be proactive...

[Armagon]

11 hours ago, Shrimperor said:

I was on board until you said this. Seriously, fuck low mov maps. 99% of the time just a boring mess. There are some exceptions, but the majority just makes me wanna put away the controller and play something else.

What is it with Fire Emblem and Not Fire Emblem (TearRing, Berwick and Vestaria) always being cursed to have terrible desert maps? I don't think I'll ever understand.

The only one I don't really mind is Blazing Blade's desert map and that's because Pent just deletes like half of it.

9 hours ago, Zemuria said:

I rarely have ever seen a series put into dirt as much as what happened to Star Wars.

The Prequels are bad but there's way too much Star Wars content to say that they "put dirt into". The Star Wars universe is a sandbox, that's why there's so much content.

8 hours ago, Quiyonce said:

Isn't the next one supposed to take place 400 years before the prequels tho? Like the only character that could be present/referenced is Yoda. I don't think this is the most optimal direction either but I think 400 years is far enough removed from the original saga to stand on its own, if the creative team does it right of course.

These new High Republic movies being standalone would be great for getting non-Star Wars fans interested. The standalone nature is one of the reasons why The Mandalorian is loved so much. Fans and non-fans are able to enjoy it because it's not tied to any pre-existing knowledge.

In general, the more disconnected the stories are from the main movies, the more interesting they can be. 

Besides, there's like almost no lore pre-Episode 1 in the current canon so I welcome these new movies.

[DragonFlames]

I'm gone for about one day and this thread has become a warzone. Wtf?

16 hours ago, Shrimperor said:

Them having 4 Mov without any ranged attacks means i will never use them. It's already a pain  to use 4 Mov Mages, but they atleast have ranged attacks up to 4 Range. Or even 5 sometimes.

Fortress Knight would only be able to use Hand Axes and Javelins. 2 Range max + 4 Mov Advanced class = nope.

Understandable. I haven't used one since then, either. Still, I can't deny that having one around helped me greatly in my very first playthrough.

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

The only one I don't really mind is Blazing Blade's desert map and that's because Pent just deletes like half of it.

And then the Gaiden chapter requirements sneak around the corner, gently tap you on the shoulder and say "you failed!" with an evil grin.
Although you could just rescue Pent, I guess. Which would just turn it back into a regular "F*** deserts" map.
You just can't win, can you?

The only strategy game I've played that has at least somewhat tolerable desert maps is Stella Glow, though there, the maps aren't too large to begin with, so that might have something to do with it.
They also have a good soundtrack, which helps, too.

[Lightchao42]

So to commemorate the new year I went back to Xenoblade 2 to do Kora's quest and defeat Tyrannotitan Kurodil. Besides that, Three Houses, and Doom, I recently got Weegee's Mansion 3, Dragon Quest XI, and Astral Chain, as well as Pokémon Shield to see how its simultaneously better yet worse than the previous games. I started reading The Lord of the Rings too, which I've wanted to do for a while now. I'm finished with college so now I have a wealth of free time (though even if I wasn't finished I would still have the month off).

On the topic of Star Wars, I haven't seen The Sky of Risewalker yet but "Weird Al" Yankovic made a song about The Phantom Menace so I think that makes it the best Star Wars movie.

[Armagon]

Oh fuck, that's right. Avatar 2 is supposed to come out this. I completely forgot about that and for good reason.

24 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

And then the Gaiden chapter requirements sneak around the corner, gently tap you on the shoulder and say "you failed!" with an evil grin.
Although you could just rescue Pent, I guess. Which would just turn it back into a regular "F*** deserts" map.
You just can't win, can you?

Ok to be fair, you don't really need the Gaidens in Blazing Blade apart from the ones where you get Dart and Jaffar.

Edited January 5, 2020 by Armagon

[DragonFlames]

8 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Ok to be fair, you don't really need the Gaidens in Blazing Blade apart from the ones where you get Dart and Jaffar.

True, but if you do want to get them for whatever reason, Pent's presence can screw you over in that map.

[Codename Shrimp]

Someone deleting a map won't make me like it. If anything it will make me hate it more. Because than i am walking through an empty map.

 

I don't think anyone will miss Desert maps if they just up and remove them. Just nuke them out of existence. No need to fill that Desert map qouta, IS.

 

Also, soon, it's time again.

time for

ROAR OF DOMINION!

Edited January 5, 2020 by Shrimperor

[Acacia Sgt]

 

 

19 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

I don't think anyone will miss Desert maps if they just up and remove them. Just nuke them out of existence. No need to fill that Desert map qouta, IS.

---

They have never bothered me. The whole most units have mov penalties hasn't. Having to send units to pick up the hidden items hasn't. I like deserts as a settings. I live in one.

... I would certainly miss them...

Edited January 5, 2020 by Acacia Sgt

[Armagon]

I remember when Vestaria Saga was fun. But these last few chapters have really been pushing it. The only reason I haven't dropped the game completely is because of the 5 turn saves.

[DragonFlames]

39 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I remember when Vestaria Saga was fun. But these last few chapters have really been pushing it. The only reason I haven't dropped the game completely is because of the 5 turn saves.

Oof.

---

As for me, aside from replaying Megadimension Neptunia VII again, I'm also thinking about doing another Three Houses playthrough. I haven't picked my path yet, though I think I'll do either Blue Lions or Silver Snow (as those are the routes that I haven't played recently). We'll see.
I'm also thinking about giving Nights of Azure 2 and Shining Resonance Refrain another go.

Regardless, after I finish MegaNep VII, I think I'll get started on Atelier Meruru. About f***ing time.

Edited January 5, 2020 by DragonFlames

[Interdimensional Observer]

For desert maps, I'd say, roughly:

• Scorched Sands (Sacred Stones)- This map is actually enjoyable for me.
• TearRing Saga's second desert map- the Condor Squad is optional and sorta fun. Five strong Wyvern Riders with Spears, support bonuses between each other that give them Hit, Evade, and plenty of Crit, and they smartly refuse to split their pack apart. And, if you don't mind missing a few stat boosters, you don't need to ever step in the sands. Since you can just seize the northern castle instead.
• TRS's first desert map, having a clearly-defined road with no Move penalties in it makes things better. And it isn't all desert.
• Awakening cliffhanger battle
• Awakening 1st arc ender battle
• FE3B2/12
• Birthright Wind Tribe battle
• PoR not going for every last drop of BEXP.
• FE3B1/11
• Blazing Blade's not on HHM.
• Claude Paralogue

Divider from fun/bearable to a chore.

1. Shiro Paralogue
2. RD
3. Gaiden's three-four fight mess, herein it's the first battle > last battle >>>>>>> Sonya and Deen alike.
4. Genealogy Chapter 7- It isn't the desert terrain itself thats the problem, it's the trip back north to Darna that bothers me the most.
5. Blazing Blade's on HHM
6. Binding Blade's

[Armagon]

After Ch.15 of Vestaria Saga, there's a route split: Zade & Athol's route and Cyltan's route (oh yeah, there's three Lords now). The problem is that Cyltan's route is fucked because this route does not have convoy access, only Zade's route does. Not only that but it seems to imply that Ch.15x is the last chapter with shops. Meaning what i do in this chapter will determine how i do the rest of the game and i may or may not end up in an unwinnable situation.

Guyyyyyyyyyyyys. I kinda don't want to play this game anymore. This game was good but Kaga completely shit the bed with Ch.13 and onwards. It's a better game than FE4 and 5 but that's not exactly a high bar.

Edited January 5, 2020 by Armagon

[DragonFlames]

11 hours ago, Armagon said:

The problem is that Cyltan's route is fucked because this route does not have convoy access, only Zade's route does.

wat.

11 hours ago, Armagon said:

Not only that but it seems to imply that Ch.15x is the last chapter with shops.

Wat?

11 hours ago, Armagon said:

Meaning what i do in this chapter will determine how i do the rest of the game and i may or may not end up in an unwinnable situation.

*insert Nepgya face here*

11 hours ago, Armagon said:

Guyyyyyyyyyyyys. I kinda don't want to play this game anymore. This game was good but Kaga completely shit the bed with Ch.13 and onwards. It's a better game than FE4 and 5 but that's not exactly a high bar.

Shots fired.
Are we still saying that Kaga is some kind of god when it comes to game design, thus no one is allowed to call that into question? Because it seems to me like that image is crumbling.

[Armagon]

9 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Are we still saying that Kaga is some kind of god when it comes to game design, thus no one is allowed to call that into question? Because it seems to me like that image is crumbling.

I don't think anyone ever did but he definitely seems to be held in high regard. I remember when Vestaria Saga was announced, it was a pretty big deal on this site simply because Kaga was making it.

[Codename Shrimp]

2 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

Are we still saying that Kaga is some kind of god when it comes to game design, thus no one is allowed to call that into question? Because it seems to me like that image is crumbling.

I think it stems from the fact that going from FE5 to FE6 the games lost alot of the features. There was a post on reddit a big while ago about how SNESFE fans felt about GBA games and fans...

pretty much how the current ''oldies'' view the 3DS games. 

Also, Kaga liked to experiment a bit (FE2 and FE4 are different from the rest, FE5 has a lot of features). It took until FE10 for IS to truely experiment again (multipe prespectives and stuff). FE9 was a return to alot of features that IS removed going from FE5 -> FE6, with some features in FE5 never returning again. 

I have to say however, i love modern FE design much much more than Kaga design FE.

Balance seems to be alooooooooooot better (even if broken stuff still exists). Games are moving away from weak enemy spam to actually having dangerous enemies now, but less in numbers (something i appreciate much more). And IS nowdays is experimenting much more and is more daring than Kaga (just look at Three Houses). And there's less surprise bullshit. Also, Kaga stories are pretty much the same. You played one, you played them all, and he really loved the nobility, Knight Honor and stuff like that.

Nonetheless, one can't deny the postive influence he has on the series. He is the creator, after all.

 

Anyway, on another topic

tfw you wanted to make Ashe dancer, but he is so uncharming, he didn't win the competition...

Time for Fish Girl in reserve xD

[Interdimensional Observer]

Kaga is definitely responsible for at least Arvis and Jugdral's world-building, more or less solely so. And the thing is, he is a single person whose name is known and people can, or think they can, pin stuff to. FE hasn't had a singular figure leading its development since, or at least one FE fans have clung to, and it's harder to develop a mini-cult around an amorphous mass. 

Other developer mini-cults tend to be mixed bags too. See Kenji Inafune, responsible for the Mighty Number 9 fiasco. How did a mere character artist suddenly transform into the "greatest mind" of Mega Man? Tetsuya Nomura and Hideo Kojima are whole other mixed bags. Even Shigeru Miyamoto has a few stains on his record- Wii Music was bleh and he ruined the charm of Paper Mario with Sticker Star.

 

 

----

C'mon Nintendo, add themes to the Switch! Something other than that boring white/black background!

 

 

And @Armagon a random and very minor Star Wars question this neutral non-fan of the franchise who has seen practically nothing of the series has had pop in their head (this is a topic of anything, so might as well as it here). Can Force Push be used as a rocket jump of sorts?

One of Newton's laws of physics says for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So would Force Pushing against solid ground beneath you be able to propel you into the air? Or if you happen to be sitting in a chair with wheels on the bottom and Force Pushed a wall, would it send you sliding towards the opposite wall?

Edited January 6, 2020 by Interdimensional Observer

[Codename Shrimp]

2 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Kaga is definitely responsible for at least Arvis and Jugdral's world-building

Here's the thing though: 2nd gen Jugdral is just your normal everyday FE defeat dragon story. It completely loses all the Charm Gen 1 had.

FE4 was my 2nd FE, after Fates: Conquest. And fighting Loptyr controlled Julius at the end was no different from Anankos controlled Takumi.

Both are bad, both are bullshit, both made me facepalm.

All i could think off after FE4: ''Loptyr was beta Anankos.''

...Comparison might be a bit extreme, yes, but that's how dissapointed in Gen 2 i was.

And honestly, Arvis is a pretty badly written character. He was moustache twiriling BBQ eating villain in Gen1. Gen 2 suddenly wanted to make him a Hero and make symphatize with him. Nope nope nope. I wanted that guy to burn and die the worst death imaginable.

Three Houses Major Spoilers!

Spoiler

Edelgard is a much much much better written Arvis.

Like actually good written, and by far the best villain the series had.

 

[Armagon]

21 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

Also, Kaga stories are pretty much the same. You played one, you played them all, and he really loved the nobility, Knight Honor and stuff like that.

Don't forget the evil cult being the mastermind behind everything. Even in Vestaria Saga, the game wasn't even trying to be subtle that the cult was behind everything. At the very least though, it seems that this story (part 2 anyway, which no word on it's development has been made) won't end with a dragon final battle. But it'll probably end with a demon final battle.

9 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Nintendo, add themes to the Switch! Something other than that boring white/black background!

On that note, add music to the eShop channel. The Switch UI is weird because on one hand, it's so effective and clean. But on the other hand, it's completely devoid of personalization. The 3DS had themes, the Wii U.....kinda (the Animal Crossing plaza).

11 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Can Force Push be used as a rocket jump of sorts?

Maybe but it'd be redundant since Force Jump is a thing. However, Force Push can be used to cushion falls from great heights. During the Second Battle of Geonosis in The Clone Wars, Anakin, Ahsoka and Rex jumped off a tall fortress after rigging it to blow up. Anakin and Ahsoka used the Force to cushion their fall and then used the Force to give Rex a safe landing (because he's a Clone).

[DragonFlames]

Playing MegaNep VII again and I am floored by how many screencaps you can make of the different dialogues and it just fits so very well with Three Houses. It's absolutely hilarious. XD
Like this one:

3 hours ago, Armagon said:

I don't think anyone ever did but he definitely seems to be held in high regard. I remember when Vestaria Saga was announced, it was a pretty big deal on this site simply because Kaga was making it.

Kinda like Hideo Kojima with Death Stranding.

41 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

I think it stems from the fact that going from FE5 to FE6 the games lost alot of the features. There was a post on reddit a big while ago about how SNESFE fans felt about GBA games and fans...

pretty much how the current ''oldies'' view the 3DS games.

Ugh, the usual "us vs. them" mentality and the resulting elitism. I f***ing hate that stuff.

41 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

Nonetheless, one can't deny the postive influence he has on the series. He is the creator, after all.

Oh, I certainly won't.
Doesn't mean I won't call his questionable design choices into... well, question.

18 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

Three Houses Major Spoilers!

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Edelgard is a much much much better written Arvis.

Like actually good written, and by far the best villain the series had.

 

Yes! So, so, so much yes!

[Quiyonce]

52 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

C'mon Nintendo, add themes to the Switch! Something other than that boring white/black background!

It's been so long since launch and the homescreen is still so...plain. Not to mention the lack of most video/music streaming apps.

[Codename Shrimp]

Ya know, there hasn't been enough Lys here lately, so...

As Angelica would say

''The fabulous 15s''

[Shadow Mir]

On 1/2/2020 at 5:00 PM, Acacia Sgt said:

They wouldn't be true endings otherwise. You're suppose to work for them; and it has to be a challenge, otherwise you could stumble across it by fluke; and it beats the purpose of the game having a standard ending if the True ending was an easy alternative.

Still, there should be a hint at least. Chapter 16 in FE6 is especially egregious, as is involves NOT killing a certain enemy... with nothing in the way of hints that you should not kill said enemy. Worse yet, the enemy you should not kill always advances towards your army. Getting Shinon back in Path of Radiance is another egregious one, largely because character death in this series is permanent far more often than not. The only hint to this happens to be in a completely different game... with said game being (1) the sequel, and (2) much harder. Even freaking Stefan from the same game at least gave you a hint via an info conversation. Odds are no one would know how to get those two without a guide. Even Three Houses doesn't avoid this, as some paralogues are only available after the timeskip, and some even require students from two different houses (the sole exception is Petra and Bernadetta's paralogue). What's more, on one route, one paralogue can even close after a certain point, and that's only avoidable by having Byleth defeat one of two specific characters. Once again, that's not even hinted at at all. For bonus points, said paralogue also requires units from two different houses. Or how about the Opera Co. Volunteers battalion? It requires taking Dorothea to the Enbarr map on any route aside from Crimson Flower (to be fair, the game does tell you that the opera hall is tied to Dorothea and Manuela's past, and this does get brought up quite a bit) and having her approach the opera hall.

Hiding stuff for the sake of hiding stuff is just stupid, especially when some of the stuff you're not told is necessary to beat the game. Like F-Zero for the SNES, which has one course with a big jump you won't make unless you hold down on the D-Pad during the jump to give your vehicle extra lift. The manual says the D-Pad is only for steering, which would make the player think down wouldn't do anything. Or if it can permanently compromise a run, like Kaze's death on Birthright in Fates.

On 1/2/2020 at 5:00 PM, Acacia Sgt said:

Once again, Birthright is much more lenient on you when it comes to availability of resources. You can prep up a replacement without issue. Which, again, would be just one unit. This isn't Hector Hard Mode, where deployment slots can be hard to come by.

That still doesn't address the fact that there's no guarantee that the replacement you're trying to train will grow to be as useful as the unit you lost. At any rate, I still think it's stupid that Birthright has something like that, as that's the kind of stuff that can permanently affect a run. It's even more egregious as there is no hint save for a very easily missed interface spoiler, and even then you're not told what to do.

On 1/2/2020 at 5:00 PM, Acacia Sgt said:

They wouldn't be true endings otherwise. You're suppose to work for them; and it has to be a challenge, otherwise you could stumble across it by fluke; and it beats the purpose of the game having a standard ending if the True ending was an easy alternative.

I meant the levels of the units in the paralogues themselves, as in Fates, the units in the paralogues level up as you progress through the story (except for Mozu's paralogue, which opens up immediately after chapter 7). After clearing chapter 18, the enemies promote. This is particularly bad in Revelation, since the two chapters before must be done back-to-back, and a good chunk of the fathers join in the space of those two chapters too (Ryoma, Niles, Xander, Leo, Azama, Odin, Laslow). Which means that the player would have to put off all story progress until they recruit the child units. And this is ignoring how at least two units have paralogues that are poorly designed for lategame (Ignatius and Shiro).

On 1/2/2020 at 5:00 PM, Acacia Sgt said:

Even for Volug you have to wait until 1-5. What would you be doing up to that point, only using Sothe? In that case, it is more the player's fault for neglecting everyone else; and so deserve the struggle. Even then, it's not a complete loss. As I said, 3-6 gives you stuff to compensate for the loss of many units... and even Volug's half-shift skill (Formshift?) can now be removed, which means that liability is now gone.

Like what? The Black Knight doesn't show up until turn 6 (at least on difficulties aside from Easy). Another concern, which is the polar opposite, is the fact that a new player won't know who's good for long-term use and who is best avoided, and might spread experience too thin.

On 1/2/2020 at 5:00 PM, Acacia Sgt said:

Eh, no, don't remember. It was considered hard even on Easy? Easy always felt for me... well, easy. Even back then in... 2009 or 2010 or so, when I played RD for the first time. Or maybe it was placebo, since in Japan it was named Normal, renamed Easy for overseas. Or placebo to others, thinking it wasn't called Easy in Japan. Or so. Though that may be the point. The Japanese didn't considered it Easy, rather as Normal. It's all about perspective.

Ehh, you might not have been around back then. Some of the reviews Radiant Dawn got soon after its release bashed it for being too hard even on easy mode. Also, none of the other FE games the Americas had gotten back then were particularly hard, which would make Radiant Dawn in general a huge difficulty spike.

Edited January 6, 2020 by Shadow Mir

[Armagon]

Laughs in Sakurai

 

[Shadow Mir]

On 1/4/2020 at 1:46 PM, DragonFlames said:

This will never not be hilarious (spoilered for size reasons):

 

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XD