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[Draxal]

For me, the most important thing is the speed of gameplay; engine optimization is important and it's why I couldn't stand POR.

 

[Neiteio]

What would you think about having a small bonus (like nsmb/3dland stars on the savefile) for those that play directly from main chapter to main chapter with no grinding?

Would you be upset or just don't care? I know a friend of mine that restarted SM3DLand just because his starts would not sparkle. He was halfway in when I pointed out that.

Eh, wouldn't matter to me. A sparkle or stamp on your save file isn't like an epilogue mission or cutscene or anything actually meaningful. It's just like a trophy on my PS3 -- fairly useless! But if such a sparkle or stamp would make the FE purists happy, and serve as a compromise allowing me to have the flexibility of an overworld map with item shops and skirmish battles for grinding, I'd be cool with it.

The greatest and most pleasant surprise with Awakening is how accessible it's been, not only because of the way I'm playing it (Casual Normal), but because it moves so fast, and is organized so elegantly. I can tap any element on the bottom screen and it'll explain that mechanic in a succinct two- or three-sentence paragraph. It's very simple and straightforward in its presentation, and all the more effective for it.

 

[Deadpandas]

There are two type of skills, always on and those that'll activate base off one of your stats such as skill or luck.

You can see which skill is which type by touching them when looking at the unit's status.

So for example, Miracle is a luck based skill that activates based off your luck stat while Disciple is always on as you'll always gain double the weapon experience with that character.

Skills are innate abilities that don't cost anything to use up in order to activate them. In fact, many of them activate randomly or have persisting effects that last for as long as the skill is equipped. For example, one skill might activate right before you attack, and it'd let you ignore half of your enemy's Defense or Resistance, or another skill might give you the ability to open chests or doors without the need of a key.

Skills are great tools that allow for units to become more versatile and capable in combat and on the field.

Fire Emblem skills are mainly just neat things that happen during combat - nullify defense, absorb HP, put to sleep, boost to a stat, and so on. They don't require anything to use, although the Rally skills require you to take a turn to activate them. The rest just happen naturally during the flow of combat. In Fire Emblem, everything is dictated by the RNG, and skills are no exception. In Awakening, skills are learned when you hit a certain level in a certain class.

Thanks guys. Sounds quite...complex, but I'm sure it's something you get used to. RNG seems to be quite important in the series and there will probably be a lot of resetting done because of it

 

[Anteo]

Thanks guys. Sounds quite...complex, but I'm sure it's something you get used to. RNG seems to be quite important in the series and there will probably be a lot of resetting done because of it

In lunatic and higher you have to get the RNG to play nice. Otherwise its impossible (Damn you chapter 1 and 30% chances of onehiting Fred!)
You'll get use to it. Or become crazy just play on casual.

 

[Moonlight]

Not so much a newcomer (that said, never played the GameCube entries or the SNES games), but my thoughts:

- Game progresses chapter by chapter, no overworld, no grinding, limited pool of EXP for all your characters. Shopping done by finding a shop in a battlefield or when at base.

I wouldn't disapprove, something like this means the developers can directly control the pacing, balance of the encounters, and difficulty curve. Which is, of course, a problem that Awakening runs into after chapter 14 or so. I didn't like finding shops on maps, I always thought it was unintuitive and messy. It wasted time, turns, and energy. That said, making items available via shops at the base would be a suitable compromise, if you had to remove the world map.

- No children, reaching max support only changes the epilogue. Also means less of a focus on romantic pairings.

I don't expect children to make a return for the next Fire Emblem, so I wouldn't be disappointed if it didn't come back, but I honestly did really enjoy pairing characters up and building supports, and seeing that tangibly reflected somewhere that wasn't just a cue card at the end of the game. I'd actually go so far as to say that max support only changing the epilogue would be a huge step back. Even Awakening only went half-way with the Barracks and shiny tiles. As unreasonable as it would be for me to demand this, I'd want to see progress in supports (or at least A (and S-Ranks if they return) ranks) properly reflected within the story or through parallel side-content. Hell, it'd be cool if certain sidequests were made accessible through building certain supports. This happened in Awakening, even (with the children quests), but if it could be developed a little more, that'd be great.

- Sidequests unlocked through meeting certain conditions on the previous map(s), such as a turn count, level requirement, keeping certain green or red units alive, visiting a village, etc

I'd be all for it - mostly. I think level requirements are unnecessarily obtuse and frankly somewhat silly. Especially if it just springs it on you. Your side-objective should be clearly explained and possible to achieve in a self-contained manner, and more importantly, should encourage you to look at a map in a different way than you otherwise would have.

- Maybe no avatar

I like the Avatar, I'd be disappointed to see him/her go. What I'd really like to see FE go is to further develop the options in creating your Avatar - more body types, more voices, more options. Nothing too drastic (no sliders, for instance), since it'd need to be reflected in a 2D portrait, but something that just doesn't feel as limiting. I suppose I wouldn't be too let down if they got rid of the idea, and it'd definitely be good to make him/her less of a centerpiece character, but yeah. I like the Avatar.

- Maybe no reclass

Mixed. I like the reclassing system a lot, and I like the options it gives you when building a character, but I can totally understand the homogeny of characters once you reclass enough. If they had to strip out reclassing, or limit it severely, I'd like to see them better balance every class and make them feel unique to each character.

- Skills just come with characters, and you can obtain new ones that you can assign to whoever. Or, no worrying about skills at all.

I really enjoy skills, and I think they add a great dynamic to the game and in developing and building your characters. Removing them would be a step back, I think. However, I think it'd be cool if you had skills directly innate to a character, not just something inherent to a class or obtained through progression. I think it'd be a cool way to encourage people to use units they might otherwise be uninterested in bringing to the fold.

Generally, I think that a more classic Fire Emblem experience isn't well suited for a portable system. A lot of the 'problems' with Fire Emblem: Awakening were made to better accommodate the pick up and play experience, the Reeking Boxes something you can spend ten minutes on while waiting for your bus stop. A more traditional experience I feel, would be more at home on a home console at this point.

 

[The Awesomest]

Thanks guys. Sounds quite...complex, but I'm sure it's something you get used to. RNG seems to be quite important in the series and there will probably be a lot of resetting done because of it

It's really not. Skills just happen on their own. You don't need to really do anything other than decide which ones your characters have equiped.

Not so much a newcomer (that said, never played the GameCube entries or the SNES games), but my thoughts:


I wouldn't disapprove, something like this means the developers can directly control the pacing, balance of the encounters, and difficulty curve. Which is, of course, a problem that Awakening runs into after chapter 14 or so. I didn't like finding shops on maps, I always thought it was unintuitive and messy. It wasted time, turns, and energy. That said, making items available via shops at the base would be a suitable compromise, if you had to remove the world map.

I think most FE games actually do this... I believe it's only FE7 which doesn't allow you to restock basic weapons between chapters. FE9 and 10 provide full-fledged shops between chapters, like what we get in Awakening, though the inventory changes from chapter to chapter.

I like the Avatar, I'd be disappointed to see him/her go. What I'd really like to see FE go is to further develop the options in creating your Avatar - more body types, more voices, more options. Nothing too drastic (no sliders, for instance), since it'd need to be reflected in a 2D portrait, but something that just doesn't feel as limiting. I suppose I wouldn't be too let down if they got rid of the idea, and it'd definitely be good to make him/her less of a centerpiece character, but yeah. I like the Avatar.

Another thing to note - IS may decide to tweak features. They like doing that. We could get something more like FE7's tactician, where although it's an avatar of the player, it has no spoken dialogue and doesn't really play any major role in the story other than "Oh hey, thanks for helping us with the battle!", unlike FE12 and Awakening. Similarly, they could change the reclass mechanic from Change Seals to some other method, though that may be less likely to happen.

 

[Jintor]

I actually rather liked FF7's tactician. Not sure why.

 

[Oxx]

It will be interesting to see where the series goes from here. Part of me longs for a more intimate, more focussed game after the excess of Awakenings.

 

[dakkumauji]

The one thing I do like about this game is that everyone is usable.

 

[Save 'N Quit]

http://serenesforest.net/fe13/news_2013b.html#2105

Surprisingly, the staff actually mention the censoring of Tharja's CG in Summer Scramble (in North America); apparently it was edited to comply with ratings. The June issue came out on 20th April, while Summer Scramble was released on 2nd May, so it's amusing to know some Japanese fans knew about the censored CG before us!

I sincerely don't believe showing a bikini wearing woman's behind is to hot for a T rating.

Unless of course, Nintendo themselves consider Tharja sexier than a lot of other video game females...

Adorable

 

[Kincaido]

The censoring is a joke. There are way worse things in other T games. Nintendo gonna Nintendo.

 

[dakkumauji]

See, now there Lissa's hair looks cute.

 

[Samyy]

Pair him up. Weaken some enemies and feed him kills. That oughta do it. He'll become a monster. What chapter are you on?

Chapter 8 or 9 I believe. I have a whole ton of people to level so I'll probably slow down and do all the extra battles I see.

 

[ohlawd]

The censoring is a joke. There are way worse things in other T games. Nintendo gonna Nintendo.

Hey man, don't lump NoE with NoA.

They got the uncensored version over there, remember?

 

[Samyy]

The free(?) Marth DLC and the spotpass teams can be used to lvl up your weaker characters if you so wish.

As for Donnel, he purposely starts out weak and can't really gain levels by himself early on unless you pair him with someone and take out an enemy close to death.

However, once he does start leveling up by himself, Donnel turns into a false god who is able to slay enemy units left and right easily in the normal/hard mode playthrough.

Uhm theres no free dlc, is the Marth DLC the Lost Bloodlines one?

 

[ohlawd]

Uhm theres no free dlc, is the Marth DLC the Lost Bloodlines one?

Prince Marth DLC is from Champions of Yore 1.

Isn't that still free today?

 

[Kincaido]

Hey man, don't lump NoE with NoA.

They got the uncensored version over there, remember?

They did, but we didn't have censored conversations!

Spoiler

They still win ;_;

 

[ohlawd]

They did, but we didn't have censored conversations!

Spoiler

They still win ;_;

Forgot about boingy bits. Both lose.

Then NCL truly is our only savior.

Looks like it just ended today.

lol wow. That sucks.

Guess he didn't make it.

 

[dakkumauji]

Prince Marth DLC is from Champions of Yore 1.

Isn't that still free today?

€0/£0 between 19th April 2013 to 10:59pm 22nd May 2013

Looks like it just ended today.

 

[Chrom]

Champions of Yore 1 stopped being free in Europe since a couple of hours ago.

 

[dakkumauji]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

[Samyy]

Champions of Yore 1 stopped being free in Europe since a couple of hours ago.

Goddammit

 

[Hours Left]

A lady in a bikini too much for a T rating? Give me a break. Total baldfaced lie.

 

[SolarKnight]

Things Yen Fay has managed to do to me:

-Vantage->Critical for the kill
-Double me and activate Astra both times

jfc what the hell's up with him >__<

 

[ohlawd]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

That sounds pretty terrible. Michelle Ruff does Noire's laugh better.

Hmm once I start training the other kids with Japanese voices, I guess I'll make a comparison post between voices with all the major characters.

 

[Dresden]

Man, Cordelia x Frederick is like . . . I feel bad for Frederick.

 

[McNum]

Started a new game, still just on Normal. Yeah, yeah, I know. Should have picked Hard for my second game, but I'm planning this one is going to harvest supports, and I don't want that messed up by a stray reinforcement. My first game was getting way too hardcore, anyway. I need to either slow down or start a new game if I want the next wave of DLC to be at least some challenge...

So, new game. Female avatar named Rose, who's more or less a recreation of a City of Heroes character I used to have. +Magic/-HP. Going to make me a mage here. Still not sure if she going to end up as a Grandmaster, Sage, or Sorcerer, but we'll see. If she stays true to the CoH one, she'll end up as a Sage with some kind of defensive knack, too. She'll have to get Aegis, just because of her namesake's abilities and full name in CoH. But that's for later, game is young, only up to chapter 1.

Also, +1 Usability point to Nintendo. The Save Game menu remembers what file you saved to last or loaded from and starts the cursor there. No accidental overwrites of another game here. Hooray!

So, I gotta ask, this thread has a lot of waifu opinions... What about husbandos? I'm thinking Chrom, actually. He's a prince. And a Lucina with Morgan's selection of classes sounds just plain broken... And I still get a male Morgan out of that, too.

And my first file is just past 75 hours, yet I immediately start a new one? This game, man... this game.

 

[dakkumauji]

So, I gotta ask, this thread has a lot of waifu opinions... What about husbandos? I'm thinking Chrom, actually. He's a prince. And a Lucina with Morgan's selection of classes sounds just plain broken... And I still get a male Morgan out of that, too.

Husbandos?

First gen: Lon'qu, Stahl, Gaius

Second gen: Owain, Inigo, Gerome

Actual ranking?

Owain, Lon'qu, Stahl, Gaius, Inigo, Gerome

 

[toastyToast]

Does Nah get Armsthrift on her own? Donnel is her dad and I wanna pass on Aptitude

 

[Kincaido]

Does Nah get Armsthrift on her own? Donnel is her dad and I wanna pass on Aptitude

She can get it herself it he is the father.

 

[toastyToast]

She can get it herself it he is the father.

Aw yeah

Indestructible weapons

 

[McNum]

Nooo, had my first Game Over.

Free tip: If you pick HP as a flaw for your avatar, she is NOT a tank. She's not as fragile as Lissa, but it's close.

On the Husbando side, I think Chrom is just about locked in already. Going to be real hard to shake him, even if I went for it. And considering the sheer amount of UST in the Female Avatar/Chrom support, it'd be a darn shame not to go for it. It's fairly obvious that Chrom has a crush... Also, the B support:

Spoiler

"Is there any reason you are not wearing any clothes?" They really went there. Even if that's such a cliche, it was still pretty funny to see Chrom "accidentally" go into the women's bath tent. And especially how he tried to backpedal once he realized what he just had done. Heh, he's a Peeping Chrom.

I tip my hat to the localization team. This game is genuinely funny. Also funny that Vaike has gotten beaten up so much that he's on a C support with Lissa... by chapter 4. They haven't teamed up, she's just patched up his head injuries.

 

[demidar]

-HP? You're goddamn crazy. At least -Luck or something, HP gives/takes lots of little bonuses.

 

[Hours Left]

Pro Tip: NEVER choose -HP. Ever.

 

[Kincaido]

Yeah, choosing HP is pointless in the end since you're pretty much guaranteed to max it out. Also, Seraph Robes are one of the more common stat boosting items.

 

[crispyben]

So, I just ordered this game (without even playing the demo) since I finished LM2. This will be my first FE, but I played AWoR and a few other TBS games. Hopefully it lives up to the reviews and this thread! I hope to find some assistance here, should I get my empty head stuck between the bars...

 

[Kenka]

From my experience, Speed+ helps quite a lot. Strength- has little to no incidence if you are a mage.

 

[one_kill]

In my current playthrough, my avatar has +Speed and -Defense.

 

[demidar]

Went +Strength and -Magic and then I classed into Sorcerer. I'm a dumbass.

 

[Samurai_Heart]

You know for the new Smash Bros in addition to Chrom I want them to implement the Avatar into the game =D, and will act as a customisable Smash Bros character to customises XD, Wishful thinking lol wish it could be implemented =P

Edit: Mine's Speed + & - Luck

 

[Hours Left]

I'm grinding out supports right now, and it's cute to see where Cynthia gets her penchant for dramatic quote.

Spoiler

Her mom yo.

 

[Jintor]

A character where all their moves would be dual support actions would be kind of rad.

 

[demidar]

You know for the new Smash Bros in addition to Chrom I want them to implement the Avatar into the game =D, and will act as a customisable Smash Bros character to customises XD, Wishful thinking lol wish it could be implemented =P

Edit: Mine's Speed + & - Luck

They gonna take Ike out? Because Marth has blue hair, Ike has blue hair and Chrom has blue hair. People gonna think everyone in Fire Emblem has blue hair (Roy is a long time ago).

 

[Oxx]

Happy birthday, Rick.

Maybe one day I will use you in a battle.

 

[john tv]

I tip my hat to the localization team. This game is genuinely funny.

<3

 

[McNum]

-HP? You're goddamn crazy. At least -Luck or something, HP gives/takes lots of little bonuses.

Pro Tip: NEVER choose -HP. Ever.

Yeah, choosing HP is pointless in the end since you're pretty much guaranteed to max it out. Also, Seraph Robes are one of the more common stat boosting items.

Heh, well I wanted to do something different. The first game is my power game. This one is going to run more on feeling. And -HP seemed like it could be fun to go for. It'll cap at 80 no matter what I choose. And Seraph Robes being common... isn't that an argument FOR choosing -HP?

The final modifier for max stats for this is: -1 Str, +3 Mag, +2 Spd, -1 Luck, -1 Def, +1 Res.

I don't see how that's bad. Especially for a magic focused avatar.

<3

I take it that's you? Well good work. Made me laugh more than once. The in-battle quotes are great, too.

Tiki's line to Anna about "Pursuing a different career in food services" in the A support is probably my favorite, though. Tiki is so sweet... except when she's scary, then she can make anything sound scary.

 

[demidar]

Heh, well I wanted to do something different. The first game is my power game. This one is going to run more on feeling. And -HP seemed like it could be fun to go for. It'll cap at 80 no matter what I choose. And Seraph Robes being common... isn't that an argument FOR choosing -HP?

The final modifier for max stats for this is: -1 Str, +3 Mag, +2 Spd, -1 Luck, -1 Def, +1 Res.

I don't see how that's bad. Especially for a magic focused avatar.

I suppose it's okay on Normal. It would be a lot harder on Hard, obviously.

 

[McNum]

I suppose it's okay on Normal. It would be a lot harder on Hard, obviously.

This is just a fun run. Get the unlikely supports, try out different characters, see Chrom naked, finding the most wrong person to pair up Nowi with (or maybe just see how she and Ricken would get along), and so on. Just doing silly things.

On Hard, I'd imagine a -HP Avatar would get one-hit. Lunatic would just cut to Game Over after selecting Done on the avatar creator and tell me to be serious.

 

[Samurai_Heart]

They gonna take Ike out? Because Marth has blue hair, Ike has blue hair and Chrom has blue hair. People gonna think everyone in Fire Emblem has blue hair (Roy is a long time ago).

Lol, that's why they need the Avatar =P, but I doubt they'll take Ike out rather Chrom will probably be middle of their speed. And I don't think they will care about blue hair anymore XD cause I'm guessing most people actually believe that now lol

 

[Kincaido]

Heh, well I wanted to do something different. The first game is my power game. This one is going to run more on feeling. And -HP seemed like it could be fun to go for. It'll cap at 80 no matter what I choose. And Seraph Robes being common... isn't that an argument FOR choosing -HP?

The final modifier for max stats for this is: -1 Str, +3 Mag, +2 Spd, -1 Luck, -1 Def, +1 Res.

I don't see how that's bad. Especially for a magic focused avatar.

Ahh, my bad. Thought you meant that you chose +HP. Those are some decent stats. I obviously need some sleep :x