In which blah the Prussian blind reacts to FE Fates: Conquest

[Dark Sage]

Sakura's not dead, she's just a PoW and given the medieval warfare setting and the over the top villainy of the Nohrians, probably made into a fucktoy. Sucks, because I like that she is willing to shoot Corrin in the face during the battle.

I'm surprised you haven't complained that this scene is basically the same as the one in Cheve, just in a different location. In fact, they repeat this exact same scenario AGAIN later.

[Lanko]

- Hah, only now I'm thinking of how Sakura got inside that place.

- Build a fortress on an area that has dragon veins that lowers your walls (not all). Maybe Hoshido conquered this area from someone ages ago with the trick, who knows.

- Also don't understand why Sakura, Yukimura and the retainers were kept alive by Iago and Garon. Specially since they won't use her for anything.

Aside from that, I actually liked chapter 22. This is what I posted in another thread when we talked about it:

Her decision to stay wasn't actually a bad one, if we are considering morale. Imagine the soldiers defending the place seeing her leaving. That would be a clear sign of hopelessness and just increase the likelihood of them routing and allowing an even easier Nohr victory. She staying certainly bolstered their morale, as it always does when leaders remain with the soldiers in tough situations when they could have just run away.

She can heal, silence, freeze, I think. But I agree this could have been shown to the player, as the soldiers desperately see the enemy approaching, wonder if Sakura will run and have their resolve bolstered when they find out she is gonna stay with them.

Realistically, at least she (and even Yukimura) should have run when you break through a certain part of the map instead of sitting like ducks there, but then we would have to complain about pretty much every FE map.

I think 22 was handled well, the inexperienced Sakura tasting war and death at such a tender, young age, while still clinging to her helpful nature. Nohr might outnumber them, but assaulting walls is such a risk. Well, here you can lower some of them, and the Hoshidans are honorable enough to use ballistas with non-lethal arrows, but anyway, the game could have shown Nohr taking much more casualties than expected because of Sakura's healing, or make her sit in a spammable dragon vein that heals everyone.

[blah the Prussian]

Oh, the gameplay portion of this chapter was excellent. It does make sense that Sakura and Yukimura would be kept alive, because they are good interrogation material. Especially Yukimura, because he is the Supreme Commander and so knows what Hoshido's strategies are. Sakura is used for information about there siblings.

[Water Mage]

Oh, the gameplay portion of this chapter was excellent. It does make sense that Sakura and Yukimura would be kept alive, because they are good interrogation material. Especially Yukimura, because he is the Supreme Commander and so knows what Hoshido's strategies are. Sakura is used for information about there siblings.

I don't think Yukimura is the supreme commander of the army, he is most likely an important tactician, besides, Sakura is a princess, she definitively has authority over Yukimura.

I believe the supreme commander is Ryoma? Not sure.

Also, a question, what did of the fact that Sakura chose to fight against Corrin?

Did you think it was interesting and well written or stupid and badly written?

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Her decision to stay wasn't actually a bad one, if we are considering morale. Imagine the soldiers defending the place seeing her leaving. That would be a clear sign of hopelessness and just increase the likelihood of them routing and allowing an even easier Nohr victory. She staying certainly bolstered their morale, as it always does when leaders remain with the soldiers in tough situations when they could have just run away.

She can heal, silence, freeze, I think. But I agree this could have been shown to the player, as the soldiers desperately see the enemy approaching, wonder if Sakura will run and have their resolve bolstered when they find out she is gonna stay with them.

Realistically, at least she (and even Yukimura) should have run when you break through a certain part of the map instead of sitting like ducks there, but then we would have to complain about pretty much every FE map.

I think 22 was handled well, the inexperienced Sakura tasting war and death at such a tender, young age, while still clinging to her helpful nature. Nohr might outnumber them, but assaulting walls is such a risk. Well, here you can lower some of them, and the Hoshidans are honorable enough to use ballistas with non-lethal arrows, but anyway, the game could have shown Nohr taking much more casualties than expected because of Sakura's healing, or make her sit in a spammable dragon vein that heals everyone.

Good point. My first impression was that them staying was borderline suicidal, but I guess it does at least make sense for them to hang around a bit at first.

As for the non-lethal ballistae, Nohr totally went non-lethal with them first.

On a slightly more serious note, I find shuriken ballistae kind of weird and I can't help but get this mental picture of several ninja frantically dumping buckets of shuriken into a grapeshot.

In Yukimura's case, Mikoto introduces him as a strategist and calls him one of their brightest leaders, but he doesn't appear to get any kind of special title that would indicate him having authority that would outstrip royalty.

[blah the Prussian]

I don't think Yukimura is the supreme commander of the army, he is most likely an important tactician, besides, Sakura is a princess, she definitively has authority over Yukimura.

I believe the supreme commander is Ryoma? Not sure.

Also, a question, what did of the fact that Sakura chose to fight against Corrin?

Did you think it was interesting and well written or stupid and badly written?

I thought Sakura fighting against Corrin was fine. I think it's stupid if she didn't want to fight against Corrin, honestly. Princesses, though, don't actually have political power. This was true even in the Middle Ags, and if an important general wanted a Princess of the battlefield he would get his way.

[Book Bro]

I too thought this was a good chapter for story. Well for the Hoshidans anyway. Loved seeing Yukimura explode at the end because he's usually so calm. It was a tragic turn for Sakura but I appreciated seeing her courage and strength. As for Kamui, it really is Cheve 2.0 isn't it? Unfortunately there's still a few chapters to go before he stops acting like a wimp. At least he starts being sassy to Iago around this point, which is something.

Sakura really should've hated Kamui after this though, but then again everyone acting really strangely upbeat in the Br/Cq endings is a general problem.

But I agree this could have been shown to the player, as the soldiers desperately see the enemy approaching, wonder if Sakura will run and have their resolve bolstered when they find out she is gonna stay with them.

I think 22 was handled well, the inexperienced Sakura tasting war and death at such a tender, young age, while still clinging to her helpful nature. Nohr might outnumber them, but assaulting walls is such a risk. Well, here you can lower some of them, and the Hoshidans are honorable enough to use ballistas with non-lethal arrows, but anyway, the game could have shown Nohr taking much more casualties than expected because of Sakura's healing, or make her sit in a spammable dragon vein that heals everyone.

These ideas would have made it much better though.

[Tolvir]

Well, I just finished The World Ends With You, and Chapter 21. One of them had a stupid story I'm going to make fun of, the other is the greatest game I have ever played. Take a wild guess which is which. On to the snark!

-This chapter title is incredibly subtle as to who the player will face in it. If you spell subtle like this:

!!!!!!!SUBTLE!!!!!!!

(Yes, I used Comic Sans. Shut up.)

-Corrin is like "Oh, we need to attack them now, otherwise they might SALLY! What exactly is so bad about the besieged army sallying? Traditional military doctrine holds that the attacking army wants the enemy to sally, because then the besiegers can take out a large number of end,y troops without having to contend with fortifications. Either Corrin is the founder of a radical new military doctrine, (where you do everything the opposite of how you should do it in the hopes of fooling the universe into reversing the outcome of the battle) or he's just a fucking dumbass. Well gee, I wonder.

-So wasn't Yukimura like the supreme commander of the Hoshidan army, or something? And Sakura, a civilian in this case, is essentially completely undermining his authority? I think I've solved the mystery of why Hoshido lost this war! Yukimura should be taking absolutely zero shit from Sakura.

-Once again, Hoshido proves itself to be terrible designers of forts, as the strategy for this one appears to be "We have all these walls, but eh, actually linking up the walls so, you know, the enemy CAN'T GET THROUGH THEM, is just too much effort, you know?" "You know, fellow Hoshidan, I think that strategy is brilliant. All that's missing is us building the fort right next to these magic thingies that we know full well Nohr's royalty can use, and said magic thingies, if used, will flatten what few walls we do have! Brilliant!"

-So, sure, Sakura is in a safe place here. My question is this: how did she get in? There isn't a visible door, and that section of the wall isn't broken yet. Did Yukimura airdrop her in there or something? To add to that, why have this apparently inaccessible chamber here to begin with? For once I' criticizing the level design, because all you needed was a simple door there for this to make actual, logical sense!

-Okay, fuck you, game, making enemies I already beat surrender in a cutscene! What, did Hana and the other guy I forgot the name of play dead for a while before coming out and being all "Oh, we surrender!"? What the fuck?

-Yukimura criticizes the Nohrians for executing POWs. Fair enough, but Yukimura is the one using child soldiers! (Note: I know Nohr uses children too. This is a problem with the whole series.)

-Can I just say how unintentionally hilarious the execution scene is here? I might sound like a fucking asshole for saying this, but the music here is just so... upbeat! I have no idea what the writers were thinking (happens a lot in this game, admittedly) putting this music in for this scene. It's like they watched Schindler's List, and then when they got to the scene where the SS liquidate the Ghetto, they were like "Ah man, good scene, good scene, but I think it would be so much better if we added 'Zippity doo dah' to it! That would just really add to the scene!" Seriously, if the shittyness event horizon for this story hadn't happened already many times over, the part where Hans is executing defenseless Hoshidan POWs to this music would be! At least it was rather funny.

-Hey, here's a new drinking game: take a shot every time there was a point in the story where you wish Corrin would grow some balls and stand up to Garon. Like, for example, here, where Garon probably murders Sakura. This would be a great time for Corrin to finally be all "Oh Garon you naughty puppy" but nope, still the same old pussy.

Ah, well. One fourth of the Hoshidan Royal Family is down; how will they ever get their sicky sweetness now? Join me next time as I see what idiotic plot devices this game has in store next!

I had one huge problem with this chapter.

It is established that the Outrealms are canon, and can be used by Corrin. My Castle is an actual location, in an actual outrealm. The children are placed in Outrealms to keep them safe .

So here is my problem. Sakura, Yukimura, and the two retainers are captured by Corrin first. Corrin knows from experience that if he leaves them here, they will likely die due to Hans, Garon, and Iago. Why didnt he bring at least Sakura to My Castle where he knows she would be safe? We have no indication that Garon even knows the place exists, and since none of the major three bad guys were present in the battle, they likely wouldnt know whether Sakura was able to retreat, and her missing wouldn't of been a big deal. You have a prison, you can place her there if you are worried about people wondering why a Hoshidan is wandering around. Its not like you cant make a prison more comfortable either. Most of the time prisoners of noble blood or high stature were given accommodations due to them being a bit of a more important prisoner. Huge plot hole here that I was really annoyed with.

[Lanko]

So here is my problem. Sakura, Yukimura, and the two retainers are captured by Corrin first. Corrin knows from experience that if he leaves them here, they will likely die due to Hans, Garon, and Iago. Why didnt he bring at least Sakura to My Castle where he knows she would be safe? We have no indication that Garon even knows the place exists, and since none of the major three bad guys were present in the battle, they likely wouldnt know whether Sakura was able to retreat, and her missing wouldn't of been a big deal. You have a prison, you can place her there if you are worried about people wondering why a Hoshidan is wandering around. Its not like you cant make a prison more comfortable either. Most of the time prisoners of noble blood or high stature were given accommodations due to them being a bit of a more important prisoner. Huge plot hole here that I was really annoyed with.

Specially considering Lilith can not only watch what's happening outside but leave at will...

To show how much they cared about the story and consistency, we can think that Garon would be interested to know his children all have children of their own now. Or that Iago would love to hit Corrin through Kana.

Or even worse, if the semi invisible Invaders can also travel there, why Garon doesn't conquer these Outrealms, considering they are all pretty much being conquered by bandits anyway and he would get much needed resources for his very poor country.

Or why only My Castle is not affected by the "time goes fasterin the Deeprealms".

And probably many others.

[Book Bro]

Outrealms were a mistake. They're nothing but trash.

But seriously I hope they don't try to make Outrealms part of the story ever again. Leave it as non-canon DLC land. My castle should've simply been your army's base camp.

Edited April 18, 2016 by Book Bro

[Mox]

I swear to God this thread is a true gem.

[blah the Prussian]

Yeah, I said earlier that My Castle should never have been in the story. Also, ^^^thank you!

[Emperor Petitt]

Yeah, I said earlier that My Castle should never have been in the story.

There are allot of things that should not have been in the story, and things it desperately needed. The Warp in WH40k makes more sense than My Castle. Even then the warp is described as a place of madness for lack of a better term that is not descriptive

[Augestein]

You perfectly nailed it, all of it. I think this chapter is the most impressive in the sense as it succeed at being the most pointless and stupid thing ever.

One of the thing that make me laugh was that the 3/4 Faceless in the cutescene were supposed to be scary and all, and i was like, dude, we have an army (like you said), most of them are prodigies, and some even have legendary weapons, how the heck can Xander be scared of them in the first place ?

Sometime, I wonder if you guys are just too good... or that I simply just suck at this game.

Cuz the stones throwers were pretty freaking annoying to me.

Xander is obviously afraid of padding and time sinks. His fear was that he would kill and receive no EXP. You have to read between the lines on that one. >_>

[Tolvir]

Yeah, I said earlier that My Castle should never have been in the story. Also, ^^^thank you!

My Castle should of been an actual location on the map, and instead of using dragon vein to build things and upgrade, it should of been actual resources. A situation where the player's army has a base of operations makes perfect sense, it just needs to be integrated better. I like it being more interactive as opposed to the old base system before where it just felt more like a between chapters menu rather than an actual base of operations.

What I personalliy think would of worked well is a more detailed system where you dont get to build a castle until you build up enough resources, and then you choose a location on the map and build there. For example lets say we build at the map of Chapter 8. The keep would be built in the Ice Tribe territory, and would have special bonuses and negatives depending on the location. So for the ice tribe you are limited to what crops you can grow, but have a special forge that can be built that integrates the ice magic used by the tribe into the weapons, giving special effects, and a few other special buildings or bonuses to existing buildings.

[B.Leu]

The Outrealms,and so My Castle, is like time-travel, world-travel or other Deus ex machinas of the same genre, unless it is done mastefully, or in a certain manner, it is just a cancer that can and will destroy plots. And in Fates, it is not done well at all. :p

Except gameplay-wise of course, it is perfect, walking in it is perfect, graphism, perfect, the shops, perfect. Perfect.

(Hopefully, no one will say 'But B.Leu ! Chrono Trigger did it ! And so Terminator ! And so Dark Souls ! And so Radiant Historia ! And so *insert X fictions who did it well* ! ' and I won't have to pinch my nose.)

Xander is obviously afraid of padding and time sinks. His fear was that he would kill and receive no EXP. You have to read between the lines on that one. >_>

Silly Augestein, Xander doesn't need EXP !... Much.

Edited April 18, 2016 by B.Leu

[Water Mage]

From a gameplay point of view, MyCastle was a wonderful idea, and I hope it continues, but storywise not so much.

Was it really necessary for MyCastle to be part of the story?

[blah the Prussian]

So sorry to drop this on you, but updates will be sporadic for about a week, because I have a debate tournament that I need to prepare for.

[Mox]

So sorry to drop this on you, but updates will be sporadic for about a week, because I have a debate tournament that I need to prepare for.

Good Luck :)

[blah the Prussian]

Good Luck :)

Thanks!

[blah the Prussian]

Well, the tournament is over, and I placed second, surprising myself greatly. One of the speeches entered was a speech against Trump. That speech, though, was very bad. Speaking of bad things and Trump, I suppose it's convenient that Chapter 23 is against everyone's favorite edgelord, Takumi Trump.

-Oh, boy! Azura is mentioning that Elise is bringing Sakura food while she's in prison! This could be a very interesting opportunity for character development on both ends! This could be an interesting scene! So, let's see it!

...they're not showing it, are they? Why am I not surprised?

-Yet more evidence that Nohr is in the right: Hoshido, in a case of vicious cultural appropriation, has blatantly stolen the idea of a Great Wall from China! Clearly, the SJW forces of Nohr must put a stop to this.

-Okay, I know that outside this topic I pushed the Talumi Trump joke way too much, but, O ,San, come on! He's defending a fucking wall! Honestly this one's on the writers, because they seem to be going out of their ways to invite Trump comparisons.

-So what was the point of the existence of the fort in the last chapter if this wall exists? Look, this wall makes the fort completely redundant. It would make sense if they were far apart, but they're right next to each other! Once again, Hoshido proves itself to be terrible at strategic planning and thinking.

-Here's a very simple question: why does this wall have a throne? Think about that for a second. You know, Hoshido, when you sit the ass of every single lame ass boss you can find on some throne, that doesn't exactly do wonders for the legitimacy of the monarchy!

-So what exactly possessed Takumi Trump to put a bunch of his men outside of the wall? Okay, I know it's so that the map is easier for the player, but, really, this is absurd!

-What's even more absurd, though, is this: this Great Wall of Suzanoh, this single most fortified place in all of Hoshido, has FUCKING STAIRS. Who thought it was a good idea to equip this wall with stairs? It doesn't even make sense from a gameplay perspective! Wouldn't it be better if there was a gate that you could break down, and there were stairs to the wall itself past that gate? That would actually make sense! Just... God! I don't even care that Hoshido are the good guys; by all rights that have lost this conflict. They think human wave attacks count as strategy, they put teenagers who would feel right at home at /pol/ in charge of armies, AND THE WAY TO TAKE THEIR MOST FORTIFIED WALL EVER IS BY CLIMBING SOME STAIRS! God!

-I don't get what the point of Oboro's last words were. If Nohr were the good guys she would probably declare her love for Takumi Trump in a half assed attempt to make her a Camus. Here, though, we already sympathize with Hoshido, so what's the point in trying to make us sympathize with them even more? It's especially jarring because Oboro's is all "Nohrian scum!" before you fight her, so it would make much more sense for her to continue with that.

-Also, Oboro, sorry, but Takumi Trimp wants to fuck his daughter, not you.

-Take yet another shot, because here's another plot point that would have been interesting if it was competently executed! Takumi Trump here is slowly losing control to whatever possessed him. It would be a lot better if there was a scene where he made that choice, and then slowly got more and more evil. It could also be left ambiguous how much of his turn to darkness was him and how much was the possession, sort of like with Macbeth. Instead, the only person who was making Hoshido morally ambiguous in the slightest is revealed to not be responsible for his own actions. Good job, writers. Honestly, compared to all the other shit you've been spewing out, I'm numb to this.

-Just how the fuck did Takumi Trump not know Sakura had been captured? Lets see... her last know location was this fort. That fort was captured by Nohr. She has now disappeared. It doesn't take fucking Einstein to figure this shit out, people! This is pretty basic logic. Either that was what happened, or Ryoma and Hinoka were like "Oh, it's okay, Takumi, she went to an unrealistically saintly girls farm!" Actually, I prefer the second one. Someone get me fan art.

-Okay, I know Takumi Trump isn't acting rationally, but, seriously, Corrin and co. are "monsters" for capturing Sakura? What else would he have them do, let her go? Allow Hans to murder her?

-Takumi Trump does a great impression of what I want to do every time I continue this story. Seriously, a spot on performance, man.

-I don't care that Takumi Trump is superhuman now, he really shouldn't be able to just disappear. Corrin would have at least been able to see him run away!

And that's it for Chapter 23, folks. The home stretch is in sight, as is the end of this story. I wonder how they're going to end it in a way that leaves me open mouthed by its stupidity? Stay tuned!

Edited April 24, 2016 by blah the Prussian

[Thane]

I can already tell you're just going to love the post-battle dialogue of the next chapter.

[NekoKnight]

-What's even more absurd, though, is this: this Great Wall of Suzanoh, this single most fortified place in all of Hoshido, has FUCKING STAIRS. Who thought it was a good idea to equip this wall with stairs? It doesn't even make sense from a gameplay perspective! Wouldn't it be better if there was a gate that you could break down, and there were stairs to the wall itself past that gate? That would actually make sense! Just... God! I don't even care that Hoshido are the good guys; by all rights that have lost this conflict. They think human wave attacks count as strategy, they put teenagers who would feel right at home at /pol/ in charge of armies, AND THE WAY TO TAKE THEIR MOST FORTIFIED WALL EVER IS BY CLIMBING SOME STAIRS! God!

I'm reminded of Psychopass season 2 (arguably an even worse story than Fates Conquest) where the big bad just walks into the top secret base of the protagonists because...they didn't lock the doors, or as far as anyone knows, even close them. Gameplay-wise it was a good mechanic but this is supposed to represent the most critical defense of Hoshido. That's not how walls work, that's not how any of this works.

[Book Bro]

-Oh, boy! Azura is mentioning that Elise is bringing Sakura food while she's in prison! This could be a very interesting opportunity for character development on both ends! This could be an interesting scene! So, let's see it!

...they're not showing it, are they? Why am I not surprised?

I so wanted to see this scene. I have no idea why they decided it was more effective to have Azura tell us about it instead if actually seeing it. I felt similar about Cheve, there really needed to be a cutscene after that chapter with Scarlet, even if they didn't show every gory detail at least show her being dragged off.

Also someone should totally edit Elise and Sakura into this Game of Thrones season 5 spoiler:

[eclipse]

You're really gonna love how the game wraps up.

By that, I mean, take a sip of water every time someone does something you don't like, and if you don't feel the urge to pee after an hour, congratulations.