Spoiler Free Discussion Thread

[Leif]

Yeah, spoilers are everywhere. If you want to avoid more, I would avoid listening/ watching anything Fates related, because I'm listening to the OST and have to deal with videos featuring the endgame with spoilers in the title and thumbnail (jeez people, can you NOT put spoilers in those?) are plaguing the recommended video sections.

I know, I am so tempted to stop following this entire forum already. I don't even look for Fates on youtube because of the stupid recommended videos. I am lucky that I don't know anything about the characters' personalities or general story directions; just some of the topic titles hinted at things that I wish I didn't see, which REALLY pissed me off, because it was the bloody title, not the actual thread itself!

I will still probably be surprised when I play it, because I don't know a damn thing about the game's presentation, pacing, story events, etc.

I just want to learn about weapons and inheritance--more mechanical things so I can devise a nefarious PvP team...

I remember my Shadow Dragon online team was broken as heck. I RNG abused the hell out of Merric, Palla, Catria, Est, and Rad so they all had perfect stats.

Edited July 2, 2015 by Leif

[Blaze The Great]

Some of you may know about the in-story deaths, but I found a big one.

[Soen]

For any of you that didn't see the news, Fire Emblem Fates has sold 303,000 copies in its first week in Japan(that's with all three editions of the game included, 350,000 if you consider the Special Edition as two copies). Hoshido has been sold more than Nohr, it seems.

That's better that Awakening has done. I hope the game is as successful if not more when it comes to the west.

[Taka-kun]

For any of you that didn't see the news, Fire Emblem Fates has sold 303,000 copies in its first week in Japan(that's with all three editions of the game included, 350,000 if you consider the Special Edition as two copies). Hoshido has been sold more than Nohr, it seems.

That's better that Awakening has done. I hope the game is as successful if not more when it comes to the west.

*Clap clap* Good to hear that the FE series are on a roll.

on another note, does anybody wonder if they decided to do this whole split release thing to determine how people prefer their FE experience so they know what to make the next game like.

I have not considered that. Depending on how much time and manpower it took to make this split versus the yield, they might make it a staple, which I find appealing with the "two sides of a war" theme.

Some of you may know about the in-story deaths, but I found a big one.

Please refrain from using spoiler tags without describing the spoiler, as there is no way to know what's underneath and this IS a spoiler-free thread.

[Sylphid]

So what does everyone think about the increase in skills encouraging you to use attack/guard stance?

Even more so than with Pair-up and Dual Strike/Guard, they're really pushing the idea of the buddy system this game. I guess the days of ever having a unit not have someone adjacent to them are over.

Awakening's Troubadour into War Cleric

*slams head on desk* My bad lol

I like the buddy system in general (Awakening's was too broken though, don't about how the one in Fates will turn out), so I like the idea of skills supporting it. If only the two stances seemed to be more balanced... Right now I feel like Attack Stance will be the go-to one in most situations.

However, I would also like to see effects that motivate having your units alone, to increase strategic options. I guess there's Galeforce?

Consider yourself lucky for forgetting it. I know I would like to. Losing mounts on promotion feels just that stupid to me.

[Raybrand]

IMHO, Lunatic wasn't that bad even without DLC. As long as you trained Avatar well early on and made sure you didn't neglect everyone else in the time frame from Ch. 7 to Ch. 11 (probably the easiest part of the game), it wasn't that bad.

Anyway, I've heard that (at least for Nohr), Hard is comparable to Awakening's Lunatic, and Lunatic in turn would probably be like FE5/FE6 hard mode. I don't know, but it sounds crazy, to say the least. Of course, that's just what I've heard/my own personal speculations.

I didnt think I was that bad at FEA, I just remember when I did Lunatic without dlc I was like 'glad thats over' rather than feeling accomplished. I remember it involved a lot of luck and most of my characters where dead weight.

I'm just going to feel disappointed if I end up playing Lunatic and making sure a specific character is the one to land the finishing blow on an enemy or I'm screwed next chapter, or making sure each gold spent durability on an item counts (though no durability in FE:Fates I dont want a similar circumstance). Although it does make the game hard, its just no way to play, there are other ways to make it challenging.

[Bovinian]

I didnt think I was that bad at FEA, I just remember when I did Lunatic without dlc I was like 'glad thats over' rather than feeling accomplished. I remember it involved a lot of luck and most of my characters where dead weight.

I'm just going to feel disappointed if I end up playing Lunatic and making sure a specific character is the one to land the finishing blow on an enemy or I'm screwed next chapter, or making sure each gold spent durability on an item counts (though no durability in FE:Fates I dont want a similar circumstance). Although it does make the game hard, its just no way to play, there are other ways to make it challenging.

I think the new experience scaling calculations alone will make the difficulty more balanced in this regard. In Fates, units who are behind in experience gain huge amounts of exp, whereas units who are overleveled will gain very little or even no experience. This simultaneously helps make more units viable without the need for grinding, and (hopefully) prevents the snowball effect where a paired up Robin could just solo the game while continuing to get stronger and stronger.

[BlueL]

I know, I am so tempted to stop following this entire forum already. I don't even look for Fates on youtube because of the stupid recommended videos. I am lucky that I don't know anything about the characters' personalities or general story directions; just some of the topic titles hinted at things that I wish I didn't see, which REALLY pissed me off, because it was the bloody title, not the actual thread itself!

AMEN. When was Youtubing Fates music I completely forgot about the recommended video feature. So now any time I want to listen to one of the handful of songs in my history on my laptop I'll just use incognito mode. Even name of just music titles have mild spoilers! ugh.

I like the buddy system in general (Awakening's was too broken though, don't about how the one in Fates will turn out), so I like the idea of skills supporting it. If only the two stances seemed to be more balanced... Right now I feel like Attack Stance will be the go-to one in most situations.

However, I would also like to see effects that motivate having your units alone, to increase strategic options. I guess there's Galeforce?

Yea, outside of putting a unit at a chokepoint, or sending out one strong unit without a durable partner by herself/himself, it seems like Attack Stance is definitely superior.

Speaking of attack stance, I really wonder if any bosses use it. I'd be surprised if at least the siblings (assuming they're bosses) don't.

And interesting question. I have no idea. Galeforce would probably just encourage me to use Guard stance so my unit can get a nice stat boost in the meantime.

Consider yourself lucky for forgetting it. I know I would like to. Losing mounts on promotion feels just that stupid to me.

lol yea I agree. I stopped using Lissa and Maribelle not to long after I got Anna so it completely slipped my mind since Maribelle was the only Troubadour you naturally get, and making her anything but a Valkyrie was not happening for her first promotion.

Edited July 2, 2015 by BlueL

[Captain Karnage]

AMEN. When was Youtubing Fates music I completely forgot about the recommended video feature. So now any time I want to listen to one of the handful of songs in my history on my laptop I'll just use incognito mode. Even name of just music titles have mild spoilers! ugh.

I think MasterEnex has uploaded most of the OST with only generic names if your intrested

[BlueL]

I think MasterEnex has uploaded most of the OST with only generic names if your intrested

Thanks but I only wanted to hear Aqua's song and what ended up being the brave version. I don't actually want to spoil most of the music for myself.

[Tamanoir]

Thanks but I only wanted to hear Aqua's song and what ended up being the brave version. I don't actually want to spoil most of the music for myself.

I don't really like to listen to a game's music beforehand, because hearing a new music for the first time is part of the game's enjoyment.

Especially since this game's OST looks really great.

So, since I was away from Internet for some days (then ultimate anti-spoil tehinc), I spend some time calculating the class growth for every version of the Avatar. (this is in Excel Format, but if you need a specific one, I can post it here (I poste +Mag/Speed -Luck/Skill some time ago.)

Otherwise, while waiting for this game, I'm playing Grandia for the first time. This game is really charming (and the battle system is cool, even though I'm only starting to understand its specificity.)

I played the Shining Force CD and Final Conflict before the game release. They're pretty cool if you played SFI and II (since they're linked to those story. FC Is the lissing link between the two game. It has Max anda SFII Fan Favourite).

And for your strategy need they're pretty good (FC particulary, because of limited healing (all the healer are kinda lacking MP, at least as first, and some interresting map design. )

[Taka-kun]

I don't really like to listen to a game's music beforehand, because hearing a new music for the first time is part of the game's enjoyment.

Especially since this game's OST looks really great.

So, since I was away from Internet for some days (then ultimate anti-spoil tehinc), I spend some time calculating the class growth for every version of the Avatar. (this is in Excel Format, but if you need a specific one, I can post it here (I poste +Mag/Speed -Luck/Skill some time ago.)

Otherwise, while waiting for this game, I'm playing Grandia for the first time. This game is really charming (and the battle system is cool, even though I'm only starting to understand its specificity.)

I played the Shining Force CD and Final Conflict before the game release. They're pretty cool if you played SFI and II (since they're linked to those story. FC Is the lissing link between the two game. It has Max anda SFII Fan Favourite).

And for your strategy need they're pretty good (FC particulary, because of limited healing (all the healer are kinda lacking MP, at least as first, and some interresting map design. )

Good idea to occupy with other games while waiting for Fates. My most agonizing wait is until December, when Xenoblade X is released and I know that game will occupy long enough until Fates is released. Until then, I read books about war (I am more of a book-guy).

[Blaze The Great]

Thanks but I only wanted to hear Aqua's song and what ended up being the brave version. I don't actually want to spoil most of the music for myself.

Ichorous Earth has a lot of versions of Aqua's Song along with quite a few other songs with mostly generic titles. That's where I got mine, spoiler-free.

[Tamanoir]

Good idea to occupy with other games while waiting for Fates. My most agonizing wait is until December, when Xenoblade X is released and I know that game will occupy long enough until Fates is released. Until then, I read books about war (I am more of a book-guy).

Since I'm in EU there's also EOU2 and Devil Survivor 2 that will occuppy me for a while.

[BlueL]

I don't really like to listen to a game's music beforehand, because hearing a new music for the first time is part of the game's enjoyment.

Especially since this game's OST looks really great.

So, since I was away from Internet for some days (then ultimate anti-spoil tehinc), I spend some time calculating the class growth for every version of the Avatar. (this is in Excel Format, but if you need a specific one, I can post it here (I poste +Mag/Speed -Luck/Skill some time ago.)

Otherwise, while waiting for this game, I'm playing Grandia for the first time. This game is really charming (and the battle system is cool, even though I'm only starting to understand its specificity.)

I played the Shining Force CD and Final Conflict before the game release. They're pretty cool if you played SFI and II (since they're linked to those story. FC Is the lissing link between the two game. It has Max anda SFII Fan Favourite).

And for your strategy need they're pretty good (FC particulary, because of limited healing (all the healer are kinda lacking MP, at least as first, and some interresting map design. )

Yea that's how I feel, at least in a game like this where I expect epic music. I'm currently passing the time with a Tales of Vesperia. It sucks I had to play it after Xenoblade Chronicles (up there with KH as one of my favorite action RPGs ever) but it's a really good game in it's own right still.

Ichorous Earth has a lot of versions of Aqua's Song along with quite a few other songs with mostly generic titles. That's where I got mine, spoiler-free.

Yea that's actually where I got her song and the Brave Version from on Youtube. But it's the recommended videos from other channels (and one music song of his I can't remember) that's the problem.

[Mister Cold]

And interesting question. I have no idea. Galeforce would probably just encourage me to use Guard stance so my unit can get a nice stat boost in the meantime.

.

Iirc, you need to do galeforce stanceless or it doesn't work.

[Sylphid]

Yea, outside of putting a unit at a chokepoint, or sending out one strong unit without a durable partner by herself/himself, it seems like Attack Stance is definitely superior.

Speaking of attack stance, I really wonder if any bosses use it. I'd be surprised if at least the siblings (assuming they're bosses) don't.

And interesting question. I have no idea. Galeforce would probably just encourage me to use Guard stance so my unit can get a nice stat boost in the meantime.

lol yea I agree. I stopped using Lissa and Maribelle not to long after I got Anna so it completely slipped my mind since Maribelle was the only Troubadour you naturally get, and making her anything but a Valkyrie was not happening for her first promotion.

There's also blocking enemy's attack stance attacks which is probably useful at times. Or with your shield meter is full, you could block a potentially lethal attack from a boss or other stong enemies. The usefulness of Guard Stance really depends on how well the map designs force you to utilize it. Most of the time the added damage from Attack Stance is probably going to be superior though.

I don't know about bosses using stances, but I've seen several generic enemies in them in streams.

What Mister Cold said, Galeforce doesn't work in either stance. Which is pretty interesting nerf, actually. Not sure if it's enough of a nerf though.

I used Maribelle pretty much every run (it's called blatant favoritism) so I saw her options plenty of times and one always annoyed me :p

[Taka-kun]

Since I'm in EU there's also EOU2 and Devil Survivor 2 that will occuppy me for a while.

Oh yeah, totally forgot about Devil Survivor 2 RB, just waiting until October then (I also live in the EU).

There's also blocking enemy's attack stance attacks which is probably useful at times. Or with your shield meter is full, you could block a potentially lethal attack from a boss or other stong enemies. The usefulness of Guard Stance really depends on how well the map designs force you to utilize it. Most of the time the added damage from Attack Stance is probably going to be superior though.

I don't know about bosses using stances, but I've seen several generic enemies in them in streams.

What Mister Cold said, Galeforce doesn't work in either stance. Which is pretty interesting nerf, actually. Not sure if it's enough of a nerf though.

I used Maribelle pretty much every run (it's called blatant favoritism) so I saw her options plenty of times and one always annoyed me :p

I have heard so mixed things about the Dark Falcon class which gives you Galeforce. As far as I know, it's not obtainable in-story. So how do you get it? Via DLC?

[BlueL]

There's also blocking enemy's attack stance attacks which is probably useful at times. Or with your shield meter is full, you could block a potentially lethal attack from a boss or other stong enemies. The usefulness of Guard Stance really depends on how well the map designs force you to utilize it. Most of the time the added damage from Attack Stance is probably going to be superior though.

I don't know about bosses using stances, but I've seen several generic enemies in them in streams.

What Mister Cold said, Galeforce doesn't work in either stance. Which is pretty interesting nerf, actually. Not sure if it's enough of a nerf though.

I used Maribelle pretty much every run (it's called blatant favoritism) so I saw her options plenty of times and one always annoyed me :p

Yea, assuming you face a lot of adjacent enemies, guard stance could be at times useful for squishy units like mages but I agree Attack Stance is generally better.

And hmm that is an interesting nerf. Does it simply not work on units with the skill or will it not work on the turn activated by Galeforce.

And aww sorry to hear that. It took me too long to appreciate Maribelle's personality and Brady's usefulness gameplay wise.

Oh yeah, totally forgot about Devil Survivor 2 RB, just waiting until October then (I also live in the EU).

I have heard so mixed things about the Dark Falcon class which gives you Galeforce. As far as I know, it's not obtainable in-story. So how do you get it? Via DLC?

Oh yea, I'm really curious about how you get Dark Falcon and Delphi Shield.

BTW what mixed things have you heard about Dark Falcon.

And I'm guessing some kind of post-game reward or something to do with streetpass?

[Taka-kun]

Oh yea, I'm really curious about how you get Dark Falcon and Delphi Shield.

BTW what mixed things have you heard about Dark Falcon.

And I'm guessing some kind of post-game reward or something to do with streetpass?

Among the more consisten theory I hear is that Dark Falcon is exclusive to Nohr and Dread Fighter is exclusive to Hoshido. To obtain them it's either:

- Buyable scroll from My Castle

- DLC

- Requiring both paths (i.e you have both Birthright and Conquest installed)

- Requiring all THREE paths

Not sure which one is correct.

[BlueL]

Among the more consisten theory I hear is that Dark Falcon is exclusive to Nohr and Dread Fighter is exclusive to Hoshido. To obtain them it's either:

- Buyable scroll from My Castle

- DLC

- Requiring both paths (i.e you have both Birthright and Conquest installed)

- Requiring all THREE paths

Not sure which one is correct.

Oh I thought you meant mixed like mixed opinions on the class. Thankfully this will all be figured out by the NA release.

I saw this on Reddit, not sure if true:

Requires 2 routes:

• Dread Scroll - Class-change to Dread Fighter (x2)
• Divine Dragon Herb - All stats +1
• Boots - Boosts Movement by 1

Requires 3 routes:

• Dark Falcon Wing - Class-change to Dark Falcon (x2)
• Divine Dragon Herb - All stats +1
• Boots - Boosts Movement by 1

[Taka-kun]

Oh I thought you meant mixed like mixed opinions on the class. Thankfully this will all be figured out by the NA release.

I saw this on Reddit, not sure if true:

Requires 2 routes:

• Dread Scroll - Class-change to Dread Fighter (x2)
• Divine Dragon Herb - All stats +1
• Boots - Boosts Movement by 1

Requires 3 routes:

• Dark Falcon Wing - Class-change to Dark Falcon (x2)
• Divine Dragon Herb - All stats +1
• Boots - Boosts Movement by 1

x2? Does that mean we will get no more? Two scrolls of each and that's it?

[Sylphid]

And hmm that is an interesting nerf. Does it simply not work on units with the skill or will it not work on the turn activated by Galeforce.

Oh yea, I'm really curious about how you get Dark Falcon and Delphi Shield.

I don't know for sure (since I'm solely using information on Serenes Forest), but the way I understand it is that Galeforce doesn't activate if the user is in either stance. I'm not sure though, since as far as I know, it's just the short skill description datamined by Vincent we have to go with.

And from what I've seen, what you wrote earlier is correct: you get Dread Fighter / Dark Falcon scrolls as extra reward for owning multiple paths (2 for the first and 3 for the second). No idea how they're given to you though. I think it was found from DLC or streetpass menu, but I might remember wrong.

As for Delphi Shield, Vincent found info about a skill named "Wing Shield", but no idea how to get the item that gives it (called Wing Shield). Interesting to note is that flying units with that skill will also get terrain bonuses, which I don't remember happening before in the series.

x2? Does that mean we will get no more? Two scrolls of each and that's it?

I would imagine there will be DLC to provide players with more though. Also, it's possible it's 2 per playthrough (I'm guessing, don't know for sure)

[BlueL]

x2? Does that mean we will get no more? Two scrolls of each and that's it?

Probably as of now, but like Sylphid said below, I'd be surprised if they don't make it available through other means like say DLC eventually.

I don't know for sure (since I'm solely using information on Serenes Forest), but the way I understand it is that Galeforce doesn't activate if the user is in either stance. I'm not sure though, since as far as I know, it's just the short skill description datamined by Vincent we have to go with.

And from what I've seen, what you wrote earlier is correct: you get Dread Fighter / Dark Falcon scrolls as extra reward for owning multiple paths (2 for the first and 3 for the second). No idea how they're given to you though. I think it was found from DLC or streetpass menu, but I might remember wrong.

As for Delphi Shield, Vincent found info about a skill named "Wing Shield", but no idea how to get the item that gives it (called Wing Shield). Interesting to note is that flying units with that skill will also get terrain bonuses, which I don't remember happening before in the series.

I would imagine there will be DLC to provide players with more though. Also, it's possible it's 2 per playthrough (I'm guessing, don't know for sure)

Hmmm well that's an interesting nerf, guess we'll have to wait and see if it actually matters much.

And yea something like streetpass menu or maybe something like in Awakening where you could download it through spotpass and I guess it would just be in you're convoy.

Slight detour: even though Dread Fighters getting hidden weapons instead of magic makes more sense, I still reallllly dislike the change. FE13 DF Owain was such an awesome unit because of his versatility. You're wielding a lance? Meet me my axe. You're wielding an axe? My sword can handle that. You're wielding a sword or have high defense in general? Blast you with a forged class S tome.

R.I.P. FE13 version of Dread Fighter.

/end rant.

and man I will definitely look up how to get that skill. I've always had soft spot for Pegasus Knights (combines 2 of my favorite things: Flying and women) so acquiring a Delphi Shield (or in this case Wing Shield) on one is as big for me as most people probably feel about Boots (which I sadly wasted on Nowi in FE13. Nah made her obsolete so fast. Would have been great on Nah.)

[Tamanoir]

Probably as of now, but like Sylphid said below, I'd be surprised if they don't make it available through other means like say DLC eventually.

Hmmm well that's an interesting nerf, guess we'll have to wait and see if it actually matters much.

And yea something like streetpass menu or maybe something like in Awakening where you could download it through spotpass and I guess it would just be in you're convoy.

Slight detour: even though Dread Fighters getting hidden weapons instead of magic makes more sense, I still reallllly dislike the change. FE13 DF Owain was such an awesome unit because of his versatility. You're wielding a lance? Meet me my axe. You're wielding an axe? My sword can handle that. You're wielding a sword or have high defense in general? Blast you with a forged class S tome.

R.I.P. FE13 version of Dread Fighter.

/end rant.

and man I will definitely look up how to get that skill. I've always had soft spot for Pegasus Knights (combines 2 of my favorite things: Flying and women) so acquiring a Delphi Shield (or in this case Wing Shield) on one is as big for me as most people probably feel about Boots (which I sadly wasted on Nowi in FE13. Nah made her obsolete so fast. Would have been great on Nah.)

I don't know, this version of the Dread Knight is pretty cool too.

It has total Weapon Triangle Control (something shared with only Weapon Master and Great Knight.), including a ranged option. and the ability to inflict debuffs.

They're not less versatile, just differently so. (and they can still uses magic weapons if needed anyway.)

The skill I am personally the most excited about is Proximity shot. It would makes Takumi really powerfull.

Edited July 4, 2015 by Tamanoir