about Virion's character...

[Skynstein]

You don't get it. What breaks the story flow is that you're free to fuck around (quite literally, if characters get S supports in between) in what is supposed to be a critical moment.

The last FE game to have a World Map still forced you to go straight to the next chapter in some instances where it would break the story flow to allow you do anything else.

And you're free to force yourself into going to Chapter 10 before doing the paralogues. What's the problem? I like a little freedom in my games, thank you very much.

This is not the only instance where a paralogue spawns far away from where you're supposed to go next, but if you want to dedicate yourself to the story, you are free to skip the paralogues and head to the next chapter. I did that after Chapter 13 when the children's paralogues spawn the first time I played through the game, I didn't bother with them and finished the story before heading into the children's paralogues.

[ClassyWolf]

And you're free to force yourself into going to Chapter 10 before doing the paralogues. What's the problem? I like a little freedom in my games, thank you very much.

This is not the only instance where a paralogue spawns far away from where you're supposed to go next, but if you want to dedicate yourself to the story, you are free to skip the paralogues and head to the next chapter. I did that after Chapter 13 when the children's paralogues spawn the first time I played through the game, I didn't bother with them and finished the story before heading into the children's paralogues.

This I acctually think is a minus for awakening (and a plus for sacred stones).

There isn't really any sense of urgecy, like Jack Walker, sacred stones handeled it better, that if the situation required it, you were immidietely shipped over to the next chapter. Think about, if you beat chapter 14 (fe8), but weren't thrown straight to the next chapter, but you can go and do whatever you want in between chapter 14 and 15, it would break the sense of urgency.

Yes you sould go to the next chapter right away, but could go and do the paralouges, grinding, dlc or really anything and do the chapter later. because its possible to do this, it doesen't seem like they are in a hurry to escape.

[Czar_Yoshi]

*Beats Cht.4, unlocks outrealm gate*

Game: "Maribelle has been kidnapped! Hurry to save her!"

*Does all the DLC first anyway*

*Cht.5 opening*

Hi Gangrel, so how long exactly have you been waiting on that cliff for me?

Or how about this:

*Beats Cht.25*

Avatar: "Whoo, we climbed that giant smoking Volcano that had no traces of lava present whatsoever! Now we can teleport to Grima, but don't you think we should first head back to Valm and poke around Walhart and Yen'fay's graves for no reason?"

The point isn't whether or not you choose to break the flow, it's that you can at all. In Sacred Stones, did the game let you move around the map in between Eirika's Jehanna chapter and the Valter battle? No. Why? Because there was an ambush waiting right outside the palace. You can't just say, "Sorry Valter, I need to go bust up some Revenants to train my weak units first, I'll come back and let you chase me tomorrow."

Or, to use another series as an example, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. While in the future, can you go do extra missions for exp? No. Why? Because you're in the future running from a mob and there are no missions to do and no time to do them in. If you had the option to, even if you chose not to, it would break the immersion, which is bad.

Edited December 30, 2013 by Czar_Yoshi

[Skynstein]

*Beats Cht.4, unlocks outrealm gate*

Game: "Maribelle has been kidnapped! Hurry to save her!"

*Does all the DLC first anyway*

*Cht.5 opening*

Hi Gangrel, so how long exactly have you been waiting on that cliff for me?

Or how about this:

*Beats Cht.25*

Avatar: "Whoo, we climbed that giant smoking Volcano that had no traces of lava present whatsoever! Now we can teleport to Grima, but don't you think we should first head back to Valm and poke around Walhart and Yen'fay's graves for no reason?"

The point isn't whether or not you choose to break the flow, it's that you can at all. In Sacred Stones, did the game let you move around the map in between Eirika's Jehanna chapter and the Valter battle? No. Why? Because there was an ambush waiting right outside the palace. You can't just say, "Sorry Valter, I need to go bust up some Revenants to train my weak units first, I'll come back and let you chase me tomorrow."

Or, to use another series as an example, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. While in the future, can you go do extra missions for exp? No. Why? Because you're in the future running from a mob and there are no missions to do and no time to do them in. If you had the option to, even if you chose not to, it would break the immersion, which is bad.

On the other hand, Pokémon the main series you can do silly stuff like going back to a route to grind before taking down a boss. It really depends on the approach of the developers, and I think both have their merits. It's quite possible I'm used to more freedom because I'm used to Pokémon and free roaming. In BW, N is there at the league with his dragon and I choose to train beforehand because, well, I can, but I didn't mind. Recent Pokémon games have been criticized for being too linear, though, because the very early games (RBY and GSC) had way fewer roadblocks, which allowed you to take unorthodox routes.

It's not always a good thing, though. In HGSS they force you to go catch Ho-Oh/Lugia before you beat the league, but IMO it didn't work very well because it felt forced. The original games didn't have it, and, in HGSS' story, there's no immediate need to go and catch the legendary, even according to the story.

In my current file, Walhart has conquered the world because I'm still at Chapter 17 grinding my units. I'll come back and pound him later with my OP units, though.

Edited December 30, 2013 by Malebolganone

[Czar_Yoshi]

On the other hand, I feel RBY/GSC had an above average number of roadblocks. However, because the world was a semi-grid instead of a straight line (glares at Unova), every time you did something, a whole bunch of stuff opens up all over the place for you to do when you go back there, or to give you a reason to go back there. The roadblocks are also much more creative than in future generations and the mechanic of collecting an HM and the badge to use it allowed for an almost puzzle-like approach to the game, whereas newer ones are "go back to the last town and beat the boss to remove this barrier."

The thing is, though, those games were adventure RPGs. You're a little kid wandering around with nowhere to be and no goal except to become very strong, and occasionally you stumble into a mafia base and bust them up. Never will anything bad happen if you turn your back on an objective for a few days, because everything you do works toward your ultimate objective anyway, and nobody knows who you are so nobody will miss you (the worst that could happen is the Rival will be stuck waiting in some hallway for who knows how long, and who cares about him).

The difference between this and FE, however, is that FE is a game in which you are a key player in the military affairs of the known world. You're either hurrying to take down something dangerous, running from something very dangerous, or the story gives you a timeskip because there's nothing going on. While there are some times that are better than others for going off and doing your own thing (saving random villagers), there are also times that are worse than others, and my issue is that the game lets you do this stuff during those times, without even mentioning that you might have better things to be doing.

As for Par.3, at that point in the game you have two healers barring reclasses and two Rescue Staves, one of which more than likely has at least one use on it from rescuing Maribelle/Ricken. I did indeed use Rescue, but the problem is that the Villagers refuse to stay put and will simply charge back at the enemy, you don't have enough staves/healers to rescue all three at the same time, and even if you did your Mag isn't good enough to bring them back more than two turns of movement. It becomes much easier later as you gather more resources, but is extremely annoying right after it's unlocked.

[minervyx]

Virion is sexist (not misogynist) and perverted. I feel he means well in his own deluded way though.