To Become an Elitist [Playlogs FE1-5] [currently playing: Thracia 776]

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, BrightBow said:

It's probably a different lake lady. For one thing, she is described as "old" here. Though I suppose this is 15 years later.

But more importantly she also clearly operates differently, considering Patricia makes no mention of having dropped an iron axe or anything.

The one from Vestaria also looks entirely different from her. So there are probably just a lot of lake ladies around trying to get rid of the junk people are dropping into their home.

Well it is a traditional Japanese folk tale. We can't dismiss the possibility that Kaga had outright forgotten he'd already used this idea. Though considering that it's the exact same item, it doesn't seem that likely.

[Shaky Jones]

9 hours ago, ping said:

Somewhere in this thread, Saint Rubenio made the suggestion that I should play Thracia 776 blind - or at least as blind as I can, since I did watch dondon151's run of the game years ago when it came out, and didn't actively avoid any spoilers about the game at any point.

Wow Ruben, you're a real piece of shit.

9 hours ago, ping said:

The gameplay hasn't even started yet, and we already have a villain pulling the "I have you now, my pretties" and "Ah, a spirited one" tropes. Wonderful.

He's hoping you'll be too distracted by their cool sharp portraits to notice the lack of anything creative. 

And it's working. That beard goes hard.

9 hours ago, ping said:

Weapon Levels: Axe (E+40)
Skills: Wrath (auto-crit on counterattacks - only the first attack if Osian doubles, if I recall)

I know that Osian's big Thing is that he's a 1-2 range crit machine. His skill makes it so on enemy phase, but he'll also get his personal throwing axe in one of the houses on this map, which carries +30 crit, i.e. +90% crit chance on a follow-up attack.

Weapon Levels: Axe (D+10)
Skills: Vantage (will always attack first)

I don't know whether to love Kaga for giving you 2 game breaking axe units, or be disappointed because half of why I use them is to master terribly suboptimal units and then be really happy to discover that they're actually pretty good when you don't center your life around ltc.

Bord with a speed growth ruins the magic!

9 hours ago, ping said:

Weapon Levels: Axes (A), Bows (E)
Skills: Accost (add a round of combat if Dagdar's HP and AS are than the opponent's)

Dagdar seems... good. Just a big ol' ball of stats

3 game breaking axe units

9 hours ago, ping said:

Weapon Levels: Axes (D+20)
Skills: --

Bord 2: Bord Harder (Electric Bordaloo).

7 game breaking axe units.

 

What if Bord not only had no speed growth, but no speed base! Bravo Kaga!

I'm convinced he only put Marty in the game specifically for people that want to use the trademark "bad axe unit" in case you don't like Ocean Man and Havalla doing a little silly. I have to thank him for that. You are still not forgiven for Genealogy.

9 hours ago, ping said:

Weapon Levels: Bows (E+10)
Skills: --

His daughter seems... bad. Kaga did Rebecca first. Well, maybe - Rebecca has at least decent growths, which I don't know Tanya has. I do know that Thracia is considered to be unkind to bowlocked units, and I also know that another archer joining next map (iirc - could be later, though) who has +1 movement over her and a small chance to gain more via level-ups. She does at least seem to have excellent Spd, although I don't know how difficult it is to double enemies, generally speaking.

I like Rebecca, but I love the next archer. I used them both and they were great for me, but 8 move archer with super speed and high fucking magic but negative defense is just a bloody hilarious gimmick unit. If you want an archer that isn't just Dagdar iron bow sweep, definitely use my boy.

Funny that you'd think one archer would have good strength and the other bad, but no. They're both shit at that. You just gotta cap speed and let that outdo the weight of master bows.

9 hours ago, ping said:

Dagdar suffers from Accost, severely.

This is actually something I love about the game design and balance around Dagdar as a jeigan. Gets real interesting later, especially when ballistae comes into play

 

at least while you're not being frustrated at Kaga for putting 5 ballistae in one map, possibly all adjacent to one another. What the fuck?

9 hours ago, ping said:

So, to the next chapter we go. As I said - pretty standard first map for a FE game, just with lances instead of axes. Maybe to drive home the point that Leif is in deep doodoo, so he doesn't even get a Verdane arc to weapon triangle all over his enemies.

Most FE first maps are below average, so standard feels like a blessing. It's nice that enemies use lances so it's more than just the lord saving a town from random brigands with simple swordies. Nah, you get a groups of axe chads and you chop down the enemy lancers. Leif is completely fucked though. Unlucky!

9 hours ago, ping said:

Leaf does get a useful movement star, allowing him to grab two kills in one turn. Value!

Leif is completely goated with the sauce. Lucky!

9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Dang, I don't remember. What were my arguments?

To Become An Elitist

9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Bluntly: The gaiden maps are some of the worst maps in the game. At the same time, there's some decidedly nice stuff in them. I couldn't really tell you what's the most "we hate you and want you to suffer" option, to help you get them or not.

You're actively shooting yourself in the foot for a million dollars. It fucking sucks, but what are you gonna do? NOT get a million smackeroos?

Of course, Kaga just gave you a loaded gun and doesn't tell you what to do with it.

You end up shooting your left foot, and the requirement was the right.

9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

9 hours ago, ping said:

To be honest, unless somebody has a very convincing argument otherwise, this has LEIF written on it in very large letters

The pro strat is to just give all these early rings to Leif, yes.

The only argument against it is the distant sounds of "booooriiing", but is blind Thracia a game you can afford to be hip in?

9 hours ago, ping said:

I think you did, when I was starting to tryhard my breeding schemes for Genealogy. But I don't know about any arguments, so I'm not even sure anymore that I'm not just hallucinating.

Wow Ruben, you're a real gaslighting piece of shit.

[ping]

  

6 hours ago, BrightBow said:

The only good Tanya in C&C, even if she got Kaga'd at one point.

I was very young when I played any C&C game, so I honestly remember nothing about the actual plot (except that Tim Curry escapes to the last place that hasn't been corrupted by capitalism). So all I know of Tanya is badass spy, blows up buildings, and I think she is strong vs. infantry.

6 hours ago, BrightBow said:

Bold of you to assume that there are no other characters with 0 bases in important stats.

Anyway, Marty is... bad. But not as bad as he looks. Warrior class bases are amazing and he has good bulk. Which is nice because speed and skill shortcomings are much easier to address. Joke character he is not.

That is concerning (first part) and good (second part) to know. Let's see - it would be fun to see if Marty can measure up to the greatest sailor known to man.

6 hours ago, BrightBow said:

You did see the Leadership stars on the 2nd stat page? The way they work her that for any star you have among your allies, you get +3% hit and avoid for everyone in your army. No 3 tile range or anything.
Finn and Eyvel have both 1 Leadership star, so that's a +6% boost for everyone simply by having them deployed.

Just keep in mind that not every red unit is necessarily part of the same "army". Or even among blue units, if the characters in question are still just guest units.
So you can't always tell who benefits from whose's stars simply by their color.

I did remember that leadership stars work globally in this game (specifically, didn't Arvis's brother appear on a lategame map and provide all enemies with something obscene like 10 leadership stars?). But it's good to know that regular characters can stack leadership stars. Certainly something to look for on new characters.

4 hours ago, Jotari said:

I'm staring and staring at those two portraits and I'm really questioning if they're different at all. If I were on my laptop now then I would have overlayed them on paint.net by now. Are we sure the wiki hasn't just accidentally uploaded two Leif's?

Left: Leif's mouth. Right: Leif's mouth (ANGRY).

4 hours ago, Jotari said:

She has the best personal skill, which Lil Manster shows on the skill screen. Literal immortality! 

I do remember that this was a thing, but it's not actually shown on the skill screen. Maybe on a different setting - on default, there are still some things hidden that I believe are visible if you change settings, like growth rates.

4 hours ago, Jotari said:

Oh look, it's Sigurd!

I guess Lester is the guy who canonically grabbed the eastern villages in Ch.8, during which he met Osian's father Sigurd. It all makes sense!

4 hours ago, Jotari said:

First Gaiden map is just outside Ram Village. You can even go back inside the village boundary in the gameplay if you really need to use a healing tile.

That's true. Although Gaiden's opening map doesn't have the same "fight between the houses" feel that this one has.

4 hours ago, Jotari said:

Yeah it kind of felt off for me too. I'm guessing her Little Leif and Little Nan stuff is an attempt for the translator to localize her saying Leif Chan (or possibly Kun) and Nanna Chan. But it doesn't quite sound natural, at least to me, in English given the context. Like, it's a pretty serious moment.

If I remember correctly - not using any honorifics in Japanese is only considered appropriate if you're really close with somebody, right? If so, your theory would also explain why only Leif and Nanna have pet names, and Eyvel still calls her daughter Mareeta "Mareeta".

3 hours ago, Revier said:

At least we got the Kagaisms out of the way early.

I'm sure now that Kaga got it out of his system, we won't see any villains make vague sexual comments towards unwilling girls ever again in this game.

3 hours ago, Revier said:

Game so far feels like a pared down Genealogy, but I'll give it some time, after all this is the literal beginning of the game.

Yeah, we've basically reconquered Jungby in the prologue of Genealogy, relatively speaking. Allowing myself a quick peek at Thracia's chapter list, it has 33 chapters (not counting the route split), so one Genealogy map is roughly equivalent to three Thracia maps.

1 hour ago, Shaky Jones said:

He's hoping you'll be too distracted by their cool sharp portraits to notice the lack of anything creative. 

And it's working. That beard goes hard.

1 hour ago, Shaky Jones said:

7 game breaking axe units.

Very rude to comment on Marty's Con stat like that, Shaky. Not everybody can have as little body fat as you.

1 hour ago, Shaky Jones said:

To Become An Elitist

I believe the oldschool elitist way was to have strong opinions on stuff you haven't any actual experience with. I've been told that the original BlaBla unit discussions were all made with ranked in mind, even though hardly anybody had ever done a ranked run.

I do qualify in that category by having strong opinions on certain character designs of post-Awakening FE.

 

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Shaky Jones said:

I'm convinced he only put Marty in the game specifically for people that want to use the trademark "bad axe unit" in case you don't like Ocean Man and Havalla doing a little silly. I have to thank him for that. You are still not forgiven for Genealogy.

Marty does have the niche of 15 base con and a 75% con growth (that's literally twice as much as the second highest con growth). Which quickly gives him the ability to capture anyone that functionally can be captured. You see, the reason he has that 0 skill and speed base is also to help him capture enemies. Because you can't halve nothing!

[BrightBow]

I suppose now that we are 5 games in, it might be worthwhile to reflect on some things we haven't seen 5 times.

For one thing, Marth is still the only protagonist who starts with a Rapier or a functionally identical weapon with effective damage against cavalry, armors and a small crit bonus.
There has also so far been only one trio of playable Pegasus Knight sisters with the Triangle Attack. Even if their appearance in Gaiden means they aren't strictly limited to just Marth's games.
Marth's games are also the only ones were you start out with a level 1 Paladin with a Silver Lance.

A lot of things just suddenly became "obligatory" with FE6 because that's how FE3 had done it.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

On 5/3/2024 at 4:03 PM, ping said:

: "An... axe? Where in the world did you get such a fine weapon?"
: "Darndest thing... I was walkin' past the lake up on the mountain, when this strange ol' crone just floated outta the water!"

: "Listen: strange women, lying in ponds, distributing axes, is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate of the masses, not some farcical aquatic ceremony!"

On 5/3/2024 at 4:03 PM, ping said:

 

So... why didn't Raydrik just stick around with the hostages? He could've forced the surrender then and there.

Of course, "main antagonist carries the idiot ball through the earlygame" is hardly unique to this title.

On 5/3/2024 at 4:03 PM, ping said:

To be honest, unless somebody has a very convincing argument otherwise, this has LEIF written on it in very large letters.

Yeah, you just have to swap the letter placement around!

IMO the case to use it on "not-Leif" is "HP functions as a Fatigue cap, and Leif can't be Fatigued, so an HP boost is more beneficial on someone not named Leif." Not saying I agree with the argument, but it's something to consider.

19 hours ago, Jotari said:

Oh look, it's Sigurd!

What's funny is, you could tell me he's "Leif's Uncle", and I'd believe you 100%. Same hair color, and the right apparent age.

On 5/3/2024 at 4:03 PM, ping said:

[Vulnerary received]

She didn't say, "Take this with you, and you'll be glad that you did". 0/10 translation. Next thing you'll tell me that there won't be any traps in America.

"Vole-nah-rare-ee"? What's that? Sounds like some Archanean nonsense that has NO PLACE in Jugdral!

Anyway, I may or may not be around as much for this thread, because I didn't beat T776 - T776 beat me. Twice. I still recall most of my second playthrough, though, so I might have a thing or two to say. Not nearly as much as for the last game, though. Best of luck, regardless.

[Shaky Jones]

2 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

So... why didn't Raydrik just stick around with the hostages? He could've forced the surrender then and there.

Of course, "main antagonist carries the idiot ball through the earlygame" is hardly unique to this title.

I suppose it's arguably better in other old games where Narcian is at least a coward who's too egotistical to consider the 15yo boy's army worth his time which makes it in character, and Hardin semds his elite squad (Astram's hero squad) and actually does chase you himself in chapter 8 of FE3.

17 hours ago, ping said:

18 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

7 game breaking axe units.

Very rude to comment on Marty's Con stat like that, Shaky. Not everybody can have as little body fat as you.

Look at that weak ass chin. No facial hair or scars. Basic ass hairdo. What a beta. I sleep.

 

Dunk on the chunk

17 hours ago, ping said:

believe the oldschool elitist way was to have strong opinions on stuff you haven't any actual experience with. I've been told that the original BlaBla unit discussions were all made with ranked in mind, even though hardly anybody had ever done a ranked run.

Exactly. Everybody uses a guide for this game, so we as true elitists are demanding that you play in a way that nobody ever does for this game. 

17 hours ago, ping said:

do qualify in that category by having strong opinions on certain character designs of post-Awakening FE.

I mean the mindset of not being allowed to criticize what you haven't played is what forced me to beat Geneology, and that was one of the worst games I've ever played, just so I can be legally allowed to say that the gameplay story integration is terrible and the game has one great scene and a villain who only shows up 3 times and fights against a dozen pieces of cardboard with all attachment being gone post part 1. All that just to be told "well that scene IS pretty good". Why did I waste my time? Nobody even gets my point. Fuck this game.

17 hours ago, Jotari said:

Marty does have the niche of 15 base con and a 75% con growth (that's literally twice as much as the second highest con growth). Which quickly gives him the ability to capture anyone that functionally can be captured. You see, the reason he has that 0 skill and speed base is also to help him capture enemies. Because you can't halve nothing!

Kid named Dagdar

Kid named mounted unit

Kid named 60+ hit rate

 

In all seriousness, I love Marty. He's the perfect candidate for stat boosters I refuse to give to the lord.

[Jotari]

17 hours ago, ping said:

 

 

Funny thing is that the lower boss you randomly picked there is one without any dialogue at all. Not even a death quote. Though that same portrait is used several times for generic NPCs.

[Revier]

3 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

I mean the mindset of not being allowed to criticize what you haven't played is what forced me to beat Geneology, and that was one of the worst games I've ever played, just so I can be legally allowed to say that the gameplay story integration is terrible and the game has one great scene and a villain who only shows up 3 times and fights against a dozen pieces of cardboard with all attachment being gone post part 1. All that just to be told "well that scene IS pretty good". Why did I waste my time? Nobody even gets my point. Fuck this game.

"You can't call Skyrim shit until you've played it for 200+ hours!"
God I hate that argument. A video game is supposed to interest you as soon as possible, you shouldn't be obliged to play it for any extended length of time. Now ofc someone who spent more time on the game is generally going to have more to say than their counterparts, but that alone shouldn't make an opinion/impression any less or more valid.

Oh right, this was meant to be ping's LP thread. Uhhhh....

I kinda wonder what made Eyvel take Leif into combat? Like, okay, I know he's supposed to be trained to eventually become a warrior, but she raises concerns about his youth and inexperience, reasonably so. Also, how did her daughters get captured so easily? Did she seriously not leave enough of a force to defend them or the town? The setup has lots of holes when you look at it seriously, lolllll.

Edited May 5 by Revier

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Revier said:

"You can't call Skyrim shit until you've played it for 200+ hours!"
God I hate that argument. A video game is supposed to interest you as soon as possible, you shouldn't be obliged to play it for any extended length of time. Now ofc someone who spent more time on the game is generally going to have more to say than their counterparts, but that alone shouldn't make an opinion/impression any less or more valid.

Extended amount of time, no, not really, but I do think some amount of time if you're going to say in good faith that you have issues with it. It's at least going to be more informed than saying it's bad because of what other people have told you. Of course, anyone who isn't interested in playing Thracia, or any other game, because of its reputation is fair enough. But "It doesn't seem appealing to me" and "it's bad" are pretty different things.

1 hour ago, Revier said:

I kinda wonder what made Eyvel take Leif into combat? Like, okay, I know he's supposed to be trained to eventually become a warrior, but she raises concerns about his youth and inexperience, reasonably so. Also, how did her daughters get captured so easily? Did she seriously not leave enough of a force to defend them or the town? The setup has lots of holes when you look at it seriously, lolllll.

That really depends on the scales we're dealing with. If it's What You See is What You Get, then I think it's very fair that she took all eight of her warriors out to deal with the pirate threat, because she probably needed every fighter and she didn't think there was much chance of the village being attacked while they were away. If there are a lot more soldiers than what we see, enough she'd reasonably have to spare then leaving some behind is a wise enough decision, if only to hold an enemy off until they return.

Alternately, Mareeta and Nanna were the force defending the town and they fucked it up. I bet Nanna's staff missed right when Mareeta needed a heal.

Edited May 5 by Jotari

[Saint Rubenio]

On 5/3/2024 at 10:41 PM, ping said:

Dayni had requested a party with Marty, although he hasn't been around for a good while now. We'll see how things are when we find the Forseti and Odo scrolls.

Well, I imagine Shaky can sponsor the boy in Dayni's absence.

On 5/3/2024 at 10:41 PM, ping said:

On 5/3/2024 at 10:24 PM, Saint Rubenio said:

 

She's also kinda dead, I believe, killed by the Empire. Although that information comes from Lewyn, so he might just not have bothered looking for her.

Plot twist: She went into hiding. She's been living in the seas for 7 years.

On 5/4/2024 at 2:51 AM, BrightBow said:

On 5/3/2024 at 10:03 PM, ping said:

 

Urgh, why did the translators think some random local militia needed a fancy name? Idk, maybe this is a Heroes thing.

Fairly certain it is a Heroes thing, yes. One thing that's consistent across all fanslations is that they feel the need to rush to update stuff, down to specific lines, when they show up in Heroes. Even with stuff like names, where it's blatantly clear it's just some intern machine gunning their way through a list of names with zero context.

I mean, fuck, remember really early on where they went Nimue and Mardok even though they had already gotten official names in FE7? Pffft.

On 5/4/2024 at 2:51 AM, BrightBow said:

Anyway, Marty is... bad. But not as bad as he looks. Warrior class bases are amazing and he has good bulk. Which is nice because speed and skill shortcomings are much easier to address. Joke character he is not.

On the contrary, I'd say this only exacerbates how much of a joke unit he is. He arrives with all zero stats, has Bantu-tier growths, and if you're crazy enough to get him to promo he gets enough stats gets to make sages blush. It's a wonderful punchline.

On 5/4/2024 at 5:40 AM, Revier said:

You know that sounds good and all but aren't you being a mite reckless? Finn and Eyvel didn't shelter you in vain.

Game so far feels like a pared down Genealogy, but I'll give it some time, after all this is the literal beginning of the game.

It gets better as it goes and Leif starts to undergo - gasp! - character development? In my FE lord?

...You know, kinda the opposite of FE4, which peaks early in chapters 2 and 3 and proceeds to swiftly roll down a cliff for the rest of the game.

On 5/4/2024 at 7:51 AM, Shaky Jones said:

Wow Ruben, you're a real piece of shit.

Dammit Shakes, I don't remember it!

On 5/4/2024 at 7:51 AM, Shaky Jones said:

Wow Ruben, you're a real gaslighting piece of shit.

What did I even do now?!

On 5/4/2024 at 9:24 AM, ping said:

Left: Leif's mouth. Right: Leif's mouth (ANGRY).

When you zoom in that far it looks like a small pixelated face instead of a mouth.

Wicked...

On 5/4/2024 at 9:24 AM, ping said:

 

I do qualify in that category by having strong opinions on certain character designs of post-Awakening FE.

It's okay, you can say Nowi. Even Awakening fans defend that Nowi's a good character shackled with a godawful design.

On 5/4/2024 at 10:57 AM, BrightBow said:

I suppose now that we are 5 games in, it might be worthwhile to reflect on some things we haven't seen 5 times.

For one thing, Marth is still the only protagonist who starts with a Rapier or a functionally identical weapon with effective damage against cavalry, armors and a small crit bonus.
There has also so far been only one trio of playable Pegasus Knight sisters with the Triangle Attack. Even if their appearance in Gaiden means they aren't strictly limited to just Marth's games.
Marth's games are also the only ones were you start out with a level 1 Paladin with a Silver Lance.

A lot of things just suddenly became "obligatory" with FE6 because that's how FE3 had done it.

This is true. Not everyone needed a rapier. They could've had more fun with the concept of early lord weapons. Heck, what use do Eliwood and Eirika ever get out of the rapier? Coulda given them a magical sword, would've benefitted them a whole lot. Well, I believe Eliwood should've had lances to complete the weapon triangle of the lords, and also to actually be consistent with 6 where he has S lances and A swords in the trial maps, but I digress.

5 hours ago, Revier said:

"You can't call Skyrim shit until you've played it for 200+ hours!"
God I hate that argument. A video game is supposed to interest you as soon as possible, you shouldn't be obliged to play it for any extended length of time. Now ofc someone who spent more time on the game is generally going to have more to say than their counterparts, but that alone shouldn't make an opinion/impression any less or more valid.

When this comes up I remember that Steam only allows refunds for games played less than 2 hours. Yes, it's an intentionally short window so that you're less likely to refund your games, but well, if I had to give every game 10 or 20 hours of "a chance", I'd never be able to get my bucks back from anything I dislike.

Of course, the argument is moot with older games that you don't pay for or physical games you can resell, but people seem to often forget time's a limited currency as well.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

This is true. Not everyone needed a rapier. They could've had more fun with the concept of early lord weapons. Heck, what use do Eliwood and Eirika ever get out of the rapier? Coulda given them a magical sword, would've benefitted them a whole lot. Well, I believe Eliwood should've had lances to complete the weapon triangle of the lords, and also to actually be consistent with 6 where he has S lances and A swords in the trial maps, but I digress.

I'm in the weird spot of agreeing that "Lance Lord Eliwood" would be better for FE7, while also thinking that Eliwood using the Rapier - like his future son, Roy - is pretty neat, actually. I'm also left wondering how they'd handle Holy Weapons. Would Lance Eliwood now get Maltet, from Ilia? And if so, would Lyn switch over to the Durandal?

Speaking of which, FE7 really feels like the game where "Lord Prf must have anti-Armor and anti-Cavalry!" is solidified. Sure, it makes sense for Eliwood's Rapier to have it, given the weapon's history. But why the Wolf Beil? Why the Mani Katti? These could've been given different effects - say, making Wolf Beil a ranged axe, while giving the Mani Katti reaver effectiveness.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

mean, fuck, remember really early on where they went Nimue and Mardok even though they had already gotten official names in FE7? Pffft.

If they were gonna mess with Murdock, they could've at least changed to his real name: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar!

On 5/4/2024 at 12:58 AM, Jotari said:

Well it is a traditional Japanese folk tale. We can't dismiss the possibility that Kaga had outright forgotten he'd already used this idea. Though considering that it's the exact same item, it doesn't seem that likely.

Oh boy, I can't wait until we get to recruit a character by cutting down a specific bamboo stalk, and discovering them hidden inside!

11 hours ago, Jotari said:

Alternately, Mareeta and Nanna were the force defending the town and they fucked it up. I bet Nanna's staff missed right when Mareeta needed a heal.

What, and she didn't even double?

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

You know, kinda the opposite of FE4, which peaks early in chapters 2 and 3 and proceeds to swiftly roll down a cliff for the rest of the game.

I don't think the "rolling down a cliff" happens until Tellius. Eat rock!

[Interdimensional Observer]

On 5/3/2024 at 4:03 PM, ping said:

...do I dare?

This is where the "donthurtmekaga" tag will come alive. And remember, the safe word is "red".

On 5/3/2024 at 4:03 PM, ping said:

One of only two lords in all of FE I have any real liking for. -Do treat him well.

As for the bad bases...

...They're fixable.😄 Thracia makes it easy.

On 5/3/2024 at 4:03 PM, ping said:

I know that she gets stoned relatively early in the game,

No, that's totally wrong. She actually joins Raydrik of her own free will, for the sake of presenting Leif with another trial, which, if overcome, will give him the strength to save the world.😛

On 5/3/2024 at 4:03 PM, ping said:

Look how they massacred his Miracle skill. Well, it could be worse - when Finn has his Brave Lance equipped, it's still a 45% chance, unlike in newer games where I believe it's always just Lck%, but it's just not something you can use in a calculated way, unlike in Genealogy (...even though I never really did any smart set-ups with it).

Miracle in Thracia doesn't let you survive a fatal hit with 1 HP, it lets you dodge any fatal hit. Miracle can thus proc on consecutive hits without needing any healing in between.

What's unique about Finn, is that with Lck capped and his Brave Lance armed, he will have a 90% chance of dodging fatal blows (plus any regular chance of dodging before that).

Mind, failure equals death, and Finn doesn't begin at capped Lck. But, if you're willing to reset, and perhaps find a situation on the first 1-3 turns (early enough you wouldn't mind a time-wasting reset) where you'd like somebody to take a lot of heat (that wouldn't devour the Brave Lance), maybe you'd find a use for The Most Miraculous Finn.

On 5/3/2024 at 4:03 PM, ping said:

Dagdar seems... good.

Finally!😃 A game where axe users aren't reliant on one good axe (Genealogy) or are good despite using axes (FE1/3B1). 

I was using Dagda in the fourth-to-last chapter IIRC, so methinks he holds up. Ignore the part where I think he was Accosted of his life by a mage, that never happened.

 

15 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

This is true. Not everyone needed a rapier. They could've had more fun with the concept of early lord weapons. Heck, what use do Eliwood and Eirika ever get out of the rapier? Coulda given them a magical sword, would've benefitted them a whole lot. Well, I believe Eliwood should've had lances to complete the weapon triangle of the lords, and also to actually be consistent with 6 where he has S lances and A swords in the trial maps, but I digress.

8 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

I'm in the weird spot of agreeing that "Lance Lord Eliwood" would be better for FE7,

About that...

Classes

The “Lycian Knight” appears to be the predecessor of Eliwood’s Lord class; it is a mounted class that wields both swords and lances (with a higher proficiency in lances) and promotes into a Paladin. The “Lycian Swordfighter” is almost identical to Lyn’s Lord class, but promotes to Swordmaster instead. Hector’s “Lycian Armorknight” class promotes to General and can wield both swords and axes. All three classes share the map and battle animations of the Lord classes and, in the English version, they have the same names as the corresponding promoted Lord classes (eg. Lycian Knight is named Knight Lord).

https://serenesforest.net/general/unused-content/

There is a prototype of Blazing Blade with Lyn having a custom animation for using Durandal. -But the prototype also has Knight Lord in it with Durandal animation, so maybe the prototype came later, either at a point when: Sami and Andy would share Durandal, or, before Green got the Sol Katti invented for her.

-If Roy's Ma Boi would've ever actually was going to get Maltet. But the thing is, swords are the privileged weapon type of heroes. Eli is the most important of the Blazing Blade lord trio by far, he is the mainest lordest, the game is called "Rekka no Ken", Roland was the founder of Lycia. It seems inevitable that Eliwood would been destined for Durandal from the very start, so Lycian Knight's higher starting lance rank... not sure why that would be.

[Shaky Jones]

23 hours ago, Revier said:

God I hate that argument. A video game is supposed to interest you as soon as possible, you shouldn't be obliged to play it for any extended length of time

Dr Shaky Jones nods in agreement as he plays Fallout 2 and Morrowind, which don't get good until about a dozen hours in.

23 hours ago, Revier said:

I kinda wonder what made Eyvel take Leif into combat? Like, okay, I know he's supposed to be trained to eventually become a warrior, but she raises concerns about his youth and inexperience, reasonably so. Also, how did her daughters get captured so easily? Did she seriously not leave enough of a force to defend them or the town? The setup has lots of holes when you look at it seriously, lolllll.

She wanted to hear level up jingles coming out of Leif.

22 hours ago, Jotari said:

But "It doesn't seem appealing to me" and "it's bad" are pretty different things.

In some situations, you really don't need experience to tell that something is garbage. 

 

I wish someone showed me screenshots of TRS maps before I played it.

17 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Well, I imagine Shaky can sponsor the boy in Dayni's absence.

I'm advocating for Ronan here. He's my guy. 

Marty will prove himself without pressure, I'm sure of it.

17 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

n the contrary, I'd say this only exacerbates how much of a joke unit he is. He arrives with all zero stats, has Bantu-tier growths, and if you're crazy enough to get him to promo he gets enough stats gets to make sages blush. It's a wonderful punchline.

Something something I hate fe7 promo bonuses

17 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

..You know, kinda the opposite of FE4, which peaks early in chapters 2 and 3 and proceeds to swiftly roll down a cliff for the rest of the game.

Yeah Thracia gets so much better as you progress.

At least for the story. The maps near the end are something you'll want to murder relatives to excuse yourself out of. You can warp skip them, but then you'll be a coward.

17 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

What did I even do now?!

This game is your country. It's all your fault.

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

...They're fixable.😄 Thracia makes it easy.

Roy fans when you don't spend 70k in secret shop stat boosters making him lategame viable (they broke the Binding Blade in 2 turns).

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

No, that's totally wrong. She actually joins Raydrik of her own free will, for the sake of presenting Leif with another trial, which, if overcome, will give him the strength to save the world.😛

I can't think of trials without imagining Gotoh, followed by Ruben seething.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Shaky Jones said:

Roy fans when you don't spend 70k in secret shop stat boosters making him lategame viable (they broke the Binding Blade in 2 turns).

Are you implying there are other ways to play Binding Blade!?

[Revier]

Yeah. 

Shoving Miledy into every single encounter.

Edited May 6 by Revier

[Jotari]

2 hours ago, Revier said:

Yeah. 

Shoving Miledy into every single encounter.

Shove won't appear for another three games.

[Saint Rubenio]

16 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

I'm in the weird spot of agreeing that "Lance Lord Eliwood" would be better for FE7, while also thinking that Eliwood using the Rapier - like his future son, Roy - is pretty neat, actually.

That might be how it came to be, actually. They gave Roy a rapier because Marth expy, then they gave it to Eliwood because he's Roy's dad so it's appropriate that they're identical, and then after they just kept doing it.

They at least bothered to rebrand it for Ike, but it's the exact same sword. Even though the games became less and less reliant on armored enemies and the ol' rapier became less useful for each protagonist.

16 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Would Lance Eliwood now get Maltet, from Ilia? And if so, would Lyn switch over to the Durandal?

I mean, Hector already gets randomly warped to the Western Isles to get Armads. They also made up a completely superfluous, contradictory curse attached to Armads just to heavy-handedly foreshadow chapter 3 of FE6. I really don't think Eliwood warping to Ilia would've been that bad.

16 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

If they were gonna mess with Murdock, they could've at least changed to his real name: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar!

Uh, yes!

...Who?

8 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

About that...

Classes

The “Lycian Knight” appears to be the predecessor of Eliwood’s Lord class; it is a mounted class that wields both swords and lances (with a higher proficiency in lances) and promotes into a Paladin. The “Lycian Swordfighter” is almost identical to Lyn’s Lord class, but promotes to Swordmaster instead. Hector’s “Lycian Armorknight” class promotes to General and can wield both swords and axes. All three classes share the map and battle animations of the Lord classes and, in the English version, they have the same names as the corresponding promoted Lord classes (eg. Lycian Knight is named Knight Lord).

https://serenesforest.net/general/unused-content/

There is a prototype of Blazing Blade with Lyn having a custom animation for using Durandal. -But the prototype also has Knight Lord in it with Durandal animation, so maybe the prototype came later, either at a point when: Sami and Andy would share Durandal, or, before Green got the Sol Katti invented for her.

-If Roy's Ma Boi would've ever actually was going to get Maltet. But the thing is, swords are the privileged weapon type of heroes. Eli is the most important of the Blazing Blade lord trio by far, he is the mainest lordest, the game is called "Rekka no Ken", Roland was the founder of Lycia. It seems inevitable that Eliwood would been destined for Durandal from the very start, so Lycian Knight's higher starting lance rank... not sure why that would be.

Damn. Eliwood could've been cool.

...Or Shon, at the very least.

5 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

Something something I hate fe7 promo bonuses

If you're crazy enough to get Bartre to promotion level, he gets... 0 speed. There's a non-0 chance he'll get to the endgame as a warrior with 3 speed.

5 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

At least for the story. The maps near the end are something you'll want to murder relatives to excuse yourself out of. You can warp skip them, but then you'll be a coward.

The topic was story here.

The maps... we'll get to 'em.

5 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

This game is your country. It's all your fault.

Ach, true.

5 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

I can't think of trials without imagining Gotoh, followed by Ruben seething.

Grrrr, grrr Gotoh grrr.

3 hours ago, Revier said:

Yeah. 

Shoving Miledy into every single encounter.

I shove Wendy to encounters instead. She'll be very good any second now. Any second now!

[Jotari]

8 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Classes

The “Lycian Knight” appears to be the predecessor of Eliwood’s Lord class; it is a mounted class that wields both swords and lances (with a higher proficiency in lances) and promotes into a Paladin. The “Lycian Swordfighter” is almost identical to Lyn’s Lord class, but promotes to Swordmaster instead. Hector’s “Lycian Armorknight” class promotes to General and can wield both swords and axes. All three classes share the map and battle animations of the Lord classes and, in the English version, they have the same names as the corresponding promoted Lord classes (eg. Lycian Knight is named Knight Lord).

https://serenesforest.net/general/unused-content/

A mounted class with swords and lances is just a cavalier. If we want lances Eliwood and rapier reference, make him infantry with swords and lances from base. It cavalry can have two weapons at base then why can't our main lord? Then for promotion he gets his horse and also axes for full weapon triangle advantage. And regular Paladins lose their axe rank in FE7, but only FE7, so Eliwood essentially promotes to a FE6 Paladin.

[RPGuy96]

On 5/5/2024 at 12:51 AM, Jotari said:

Alternately, Mareeta and Nanna were the force defending the town and they fucked it up. I bet Nanna's staff missed right when Mareeta needed a heal.

Mareeta: Heal me, Nanna, and then I can beat Raydrick with my terrible stats but awesome prf sword!

Nanna: *misses heal*

Mareeta & Nanna: Damn you Kaga!

Raydrick: Haha, now I can capture you offscreen, which is how I spend the majority of the game!  And also Kaga you!

Mareeta & Nanna: Damn you Kaga!!!

[Revier]

Oh, to be a damsel in distress in a Kaga game.

[BrightBow]

Btw, the Light Sword can also be used for a full heal. Another little perk that your average "Rapier" does not have.

Right out of the gate we have just so many interesting tools here. 2 magic swords. 2 double attacking weapons. Othin with his ability to always deal critical hits on counter attacks and to also deal reliable critical hits with his personal throwing axe. 2 units in advanced classes. And also some really useful support bonuses, which are quite potent due to PCC and because base weapon accuracy is not terrible high.

Crits are also just more interesting in general. Since they double the attack power, they can be used to punch through things regular attacks won't even scratch. Add in the ability to deal 100% reliable crits under the right circumstances, and it adds genuine depth to the mechanic.
And considering that even the very first boss will shrug of regular physical attacks, there are most certainly obstacles that incentivize to take advantage of that distinction.

[Saint Rubenio]

31 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

Btw, the Light Sword can also be used for a full heal. Another little perk that your average "Rapier" does not have.

Right out of the gate we have just so many interesting tools here. 2 magic swords. 2 double attacking weapons. Othin with his ability to always deal critical hits on counter attacks and to also deal reliable critical hits with his personal throwing axe. 2 units in advanced classes. And also some really useful support bonuses, which are quite potent due to PCC and because base weapon accuracy is not terrible high.

Thracia's usage of gear and weaponry (and by extension, the capture system) is by far the coolest part of it, in my opinion. The light sword is a nice introduction to this. It's such a cool lord sword.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, RPGuy96 said:

Mareeta: Heal me, Nanna, and then I can beat Raydrick with my terrible stats but awesome prf sword!

Nanna: *misses heal*

Mareeta & Nanna: Damn you Kaga!

Raydrick: Haha, now I can capture you offscreen, which is how I spend the majority of the game!  And also Kaga you!

Mareeta & Nanna: Damn you Kaga!!!

If only Mr Sigurd wasn't busy having a bath at the time, he could have used Pugi himself to chase off all the baddies before Eyvel returned. By the time Eyvel was back he decided Osian needed the experience so sat back to let the kids handle it. Plus he had to pen a letter to his brother, Mr Random Berserker of Millefeuille Forest.

Edited May 6 by Jotari

[ping]

FE5 Chapter 2: The Coastal Village

Spoiler

But while making his way along the shore, he passes near a small settlement: a coastal village by the name of Iz...

: "Bucks, is this kind of body count really necessary? We're here to make coin, not gut everything that moves."
: "Look 'ere, smart-aleck. We got us a nice division of labor goin'. I don't tell you how to plan your strategies and whatnot, and you don't tell me 'ow to go about plunderin'. Oh, and if it's them Freeblade folk yer worried about, we already saw to them. The boss tipped off the Empire that the Leonster boy was hidin' with 'em."
: "Leonster boy...? Wait, you mean Leif, the prince?! Are you certain of this?"
: "Sure am. The boss grabbed one of the village folk an' use his talents with a knife to loosen 'is tongue. Stubborn fella, though - mighta survived if he'd talked sooner."
: "He resorted to torture, did he...?"
: "Hah, yer one to talk! Boss says yer the one thow taught 'im everythin' he knows about interrogatin'! There's a reason you ain't with the church no more, mate."

: "I just need to make contact with the Leonster heir, and then Lifis is disposable. Now, how should I go about this...? Well, before anything else, I must alert my benefactor..."

So, what do I remember here...

I know that August is one of Leif's two Advisor Men in this game, the "realist" vs. an idealist, and that people point to him as one of the strongest characters in Jugdral. Narratively, of course. And I know that Lifis might be the most morally bankrupt character you can recruit in the entire series.

But I think that is all. I don't even recall who August's benefactor is, to be honest.

: "Commander, over here! That village is being raided!"
: "Hmm... That's Lifis' crew, by the look of it. They've been quiet as a mouse for a while, but I guess they move fast."
: "And we have to move faster! We cannot stand by and allow this to happen!"

Gosh, I'm not used to such short intros anymore. So, here we are back to the classic "brigands have invaded our country!" opening that Fire Emblem is so fond of. Well, Pirates instead of peak-walking Brigands, but that is what Marthipan had to fend off when it all began.

This map still isn't very much out of the ordinary. Pretty low enemy count and a lot of space between three individual groups, so this doesn't seem too difficult to engage. The only potential issue I can see is that we'll still not have a healer available... but then again, Vulneraries are Elixirs in this game, so there's that.

Boss Man isn't too terrifying, either - as long as you don't get any smart ideas of having Leif fight him. 6 AS is enough to double him. But like Weissmann in Ch.1, Bucks is a walking invitation to enjoy the benefits of a Jeigan with a magic sword.

____

To start off, Dagdar takes the Brave Axe and makes sure that we can grab another Vuln. Not the greatest reliability, but as you can deduce from Dagdar's reduced HP, Accost is coming in handy here.

: "These pirates grow bolder by the day! Just recently, I heard that a cleric fleeing Tahra was taken prisoner by 'em! Mayhap you can help the poor dear, eh? Here, take this for your trouble. If you manage to find her, do send word that she's all right."

[Vulnerary received]

It took two chapters to get to get the third damsel into distress. Kaga's in rare form today.

__

(note the movement star proc on Eyvel)

For the next group of enemies, I... don't really bother. Dagdar, obliterate.

__

Well, one remains as XP scraps for Marty and Leif.

...nevermind...

...or do mind...

__

...nevermind. Doubling threshold seems to be 4 in this game, after being 3 in Old Mystery. Good to know.

: "They'll make one big, bloody example outta us! What are we supposed to do?!"
: "How can you say something so cruel, brother? These people are puttin' their lives on the line fer us, and you've got the nerve to complain?!"
: "You're too naive! The pirates would've killed a few of us, sure, but they had no reason to hunt down everybody! Except these idiots couldn't leave well enough alone!"

: "By way of apology, take this magic trinket. Not sure what it does, but maybe it'll be of use to you. It's about time somebody showed those pirates what it's like to fight for THEIR lives for a change!"

[Speed Ring received]

Not entirely sure what to do with this one. I know, "Leif" is probably the "optimal" play here, but since I avoided the "feed all the everything to the main lord" playstyle for the last four games, I don't really want to start now. Marty would seem like another obvious pick, but there isn't much point in going from unable to double to still unable to double.

...not the most difficult set of houses to save. But I shan't make the mistake of taunting Thracia. Not with a fog-of-war chapter coming right up.

: "Oh, you must be with the Freeblades! I want to join y'all! I'm good enough with a bow and I can get around pretty fast. I won't hold you back none.
: "B-But you've never been in a real fight like this before...! You that eager to leave yer mother alone in this world?!"
: "That don't matter none! Every battle is somebody's first, right? Guess this'll be mine. I mean, maybe you can stand holing up in here an' waiting to die, but I sure can't!"

"I don't want to see you die, son!" - "Fuck you, ma!" ...I might over-interpretet and/or exaggerate a little for effect, but the "holing up in here" comment sounds a little inconsiderate to me. Teenagers, amiright?

Weapon Level: Bows (E+30)
Skill: Adept

Ronan's base combat stats are pretty comparable to Tanya's - +1 Str, but -3 Skl and effectively -1 Spd, as she is slowed down by two points even by Iron Bows. However, Ronan has an additional point of movement, three movement stars (or "Vigor", as this translations calls it) to Tanya's zero, and enough Con to rescue Leif.

Overall, Ronan seems like an upgrade to Tanya, whose main feature is her support for Osian and Dagdar. But of course, I don't know how exactly their growths compare - I do know that Ronan has a substantial Mag/Res growth, as well as a small chance to level +Mov, but I don't know if that comes at the cost of lower Str/Spd growths.

Around this time, we also get the first reinforcements of the game - three more pirates, at a pretty safe distance. Not terribly relevant for the fight as a whole...

__

...although Tanya (with a crit) and Halvan manage to grab kills while is on the way to the throne.

And to be honest, that way to the throne isn't too interesting. Just not the most difficult map.

____

Leif does get two more kills, although the second one was only thanks to Dagdar failing to capture this Vuln-carrying Pirate...

...and it comes without reward. Good character, I've been told.

__

Boss kill is, again, very basic...

...and Leif seizes on turn 9.

He was a red unit before the start of the fight! Kill him!

: "Augustus, at your service. I am a priest of Bragi on pilgramage."
: "Is there something you need from me? With respect, I don't have time to spare on talk."
: "Neither do I. I take it you're headed to the Corsair Isles to nip this pirate threat in the bud?"
: "Indeed. If we leave them be, it's only a matter of time until the scum attack Iz again. Besides, I hear they're also keeping a cleric captive there."
: "I see. In that case, allow me to be your navigator. I can guide you to the isles."
: "What? Why would a priest know the way to the Corsair Isles?"
: "This old man has many surprises left in him yet, I'll tell you that much. Still, the decision is yours."

So, next time: Thracia fog. Hurray.

The story is still picking up its pace, so I can't really say much about it. Augustus hints at stuff - priest, but also familiar with (and, it seems, not fundamentally opposed to) torture, working with a bunch of pirates, with a mysterious benefactor... but no meat on that skeleton of a character, so to speak. And apart from him, this chapter (Pirates! Who abducted a priestess!) basically retells the very first quest on Alm's journey, without any added twists and turns... other than Augustus, potentially.

The Team:

	  Lv.	    HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Con  XP
Leif	  3.06	    30   4   0   3   6   7   3   5  +99   [+7 HP]
Finn	  7.63	    28   8   1   8  11   5   7   9  +8
Eyvel	  */12.98   28   9   4  18  20  10   7   8  +46
Osian	  2.29	    28   6   0   7   9   4   4  11  +62

Halvan	  3.54	    29   8   0   7   7   3   5  13  +31
Marty	  1.78	    32   9   0   0   0   6   6  15  +39
Dagdar	  */6.54    43  14   1  11   9   2  10  15  +36
Tanya	  1.99	    20   3   1   6  10   6   2   4  +54

Ronan	  1.30	    20   4   0   3   7   3   2   7  +30

 

 

On 5/4/2024 at 10:57 AM, BrightBow said:

I suppose now that we are 5 games in, it might be worthwhile to reflect on some things we haven't seen 5 times.

For one thing, Marth is still the only protagonist who starts with a Rapier or a functionally identical weapon with effective damage against cavalry, armors and a small crit bonus.
There has also so far been only one trio of playable Pegasus Knight sisters with the Triangle Attack. Even if their appearance in Gaiden means they aren't strictly limited to just Marth's games.
Marth's games are also the only ones were you start out with a level 1 Paladin with a Silver Lance.

A lot of things just suddenly became "obligatory" with FE6 because that's how FE3 had done it.

This has been discussed a bit already, but I'd blame BlaBla more than BinBla - because of course I am, but also because BinBla was a deliberate "return to the roots" in its story, general "character shapes", and more simple basic mechanics, compared to Jugdral. Because of that, it makes sense that Roy uses the same weapon as Marth, and indirectly, the same can be argued for Eliwood, but there's less of a reason for Hector and Lyn to receive personal weapons with the same special property of the Rapier.

I'll also say that Kaga did recycle the concept of three triangling sisters (though not as playable characters, and not limited to the Pegasus/Falcoknight class) and the Lv.1 Pala with a Silver Lance. Sure, Arran is in Marth's second story, but he's still a "Jeigan other than Jeigan".

On 5/4/2024 at 11:52 PM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

: "Listen: strange women, lying in ponds, distributing axes, is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate of the masses, not some farcical aquatic ceremony!"

: "You're just jealous that you won't be the queen of Thracia, you jerk!"

On 5/4/2024 at 11:52 PM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Anyway, I may or may not be around as much for this thread, because I didn't beat T776 - T776 beat me. Twice. I still recall most of my second playthrough, though, so I might have a thing or two to say. Not nearly as much as for the last game, though. Best of luck, regardless.

...doesn't that bode well for this playthrough. Let's see who wins this battle of will.

On 5/5/2024 at 2:49 AM, Shaky Jones said:

Look at that weak ass chin. No facial hair or scars. Basic ass hairdo. What a beta. I sleep.

 

Dunk on the chunk

...Shaky, I hate to inform you that skeletons generally don't have facial hair or scar tissue. I'll admit that you somehow still seem to maintain a full head of hair.

On 5/5/2024 at 2:49 AM, Shaky Jones said:

I mean the mindset of not being allowed to criticize what you haven't played is what forced me to beat Geneology, and that was one of the worst games I've ever played, just so I can be legally allowed to say that the gameplay story integration is terrible and the game has one great scene and a villain who only shows up 3 times and fights against a dozen pieces of cardboard with all attachment being gone post part 1. All that just to be told "well that scene IS pretty good". Why did I waste my time? Nobody even gets my point. Fuck this game.

You just didn't play Genealogy often enough to appreciate its finer points. Before criticising it further, you should play it again. I'm sure that will improve your opinion on it.

On 5/5/2024 at 3:00 AM, Jotari said:

Funny thing is that the lower boss you randomly picked there is one without any dialogue at all. Not even a death quote. Though that same portrait is used several times for generic NPCs.

I did go for a nondescript kind of portrait, so I guess that makes sense.

On 5/5/2024 at 5:43 AM, Revier said:

"You can't call Skyrim shit until you've played it for 200+ hours!"
God I hate that argument. A video game is supposed to interest you as soon as possible, you shouldn't be obliged to play it for any extended length of time. Now ofc someone who spent more time on the game is generally going to have more to say than their counterparts, but that alone shouldn't make an opinion/impression any less or more valid.

Guess how many hours you have to have in Europa Universalis IV to be allowed an opinion.

On 5/5/2024 at 11:21 AM, Saint Rubenio said:

Plot twist: She went into hiding. She's been living in the seas for 7 years.

Not much of a plot twist: It wasn't the Empire she was hiding from, she just really needed to be away from Lewyn.

On 5/5/2024 at 11:21 AM, Saint Rubenio said:

It gets better as it goes and Leif starts to undergo - gasp! - character development? In my FE lord?

...You know, kinda the opposite of FE4, which peaks early in chapters 2 and 3 and proceeds to swiftly roll down a cliff for the rest of the game.

I'll say that Sigurd managed some character development of his own, going from "I'll just seize one more castle. And then another one. And then..." to actually conferring with Queen Rahna about the best course of action. His growth was just cut short before it could arrive somewhere. I really think he's one of the better FE lords, as far as the story is concerned - it's just too bad about his son.

On 5/5/2024 at 11:21 AM, Saint Rubenio said:

It's okay, you can say Nowi. Even Awakening fans defend that Nowi's a good character shackled with a godawful design.

I'll also say "battle panties". I'm still baffled by just how dumb those are.

And to avoid the obligatory Katie Tiedrich, an alternative that I saw on Reddit just recently...:

 

On 5/6/2024 at 2:39 AM, Interdimensional Observer said:

No, that's totally wrong. She actually joins Raydrik of her own free will, for the sake of presenting Leif with another trial, which, if overcome, will give him the strength to save the world.😛

...that you, Rudolf?!

On 5/6/2024 at 10:47 AM, Saint Rubenio said:

Uh, yes!

...Who?

Looks like you got some required watching to do.