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[theprodigy]

What makes Tobin a better mage and Kliff a better archer instead of going with their obvious class choices?

• Tobin gets Excalibur at level 6, Kliff gets it at level 9, those 3 levels make a difference.
• Kliff's AS as a mage immediately after promoting to it is an atrocious 1, aka he gets doubled by literally everything.
• Mages in general fall off lategame, but Tobin at least has Physic by that point while Kliff doesn't have Physic.
• Lastly, Kliff himself is just better as an archer, the class bases of Archer/Sniper/Bow Knight cover up his lackluster attack growth and you eventually get a fast bow user out of it.

(though actually I just noticed Python's speed growth is almost as high as Kliff's....lol)

 

[DecoReturns]

Skip those and play these. First act alone has a better story and better chars than those 3 games.

Yeah, but if you don't care much for story, I recommend playing Conquest.

Echoes is rather boring gameplay wise honestly, its also surprising easy even in Hard Mode.

 

[Xenoflare]

• Tobin gets Excalibur at level 6, Kliff gets it at level 9, those 3 levels make a difference.
• Kliff's AS as a mage immediately after promoting to it is an atrocious 1, aka he gets doubled by literally everything.
• Mages in general fall off lategame, but Tobin at least has Physic by that point while Kliff doesn't have Physic.
• Lastly, Kliff himself is just better as an archer, the class bases of Archer/Sniper/Bow Knight cover up his lackluster attack growth and you eventually get a fast bow user out of it.

(though actually I just noticed Python's speed growth is almost as high as Kliff's....lol)

Python's base speed is atrocious, but I gave him a pegasus cheese and he's been the MVP so far and that's all he needed, his skill is also pretty blessed despite of his low growth.

His stats portrait is also lit af

 

[Busaiku]

I don't think you can. You're just going to restart.

Gah, I already dropped 5 hours...

 

[Golnei]

Did anyone else think of that expression from Hotel Dusk when they saw Saber's 'eyes closed' portrait?

Started earlier this afternoon ...

The blood in the cinematic was white ?

?

Other than that , it's ok so far

Those might have been tears.

The way it was shot did make it pretty awkward, though.

 

[VanillaCakeIsBurning]

Genny just learned Invoke and it seems to be pretty strong.

Only bad thing about it is that the EXP doesn't go to anyone.

Started earlier this afternoon ...

The blood in the cinematic was white ?

?

Other than that , it's ok so far

Is it a different colour in the JP version?

 

[Dad]

Sometimes my units don't generate the little affection points even when they have supports together and are standing right next to each other in combat. Is there more involved here? Boey seems particularly unfriendly

 

[Golnei]

Sometimes my units don't generate the little affection points even when they have supports together and are standing right next to each other in combat. Is there more involved here? Boey seems particularly unfriendly

I think some support levels are locked by chapter - have you already gotten up to C/B rank on the pairs in question?

 

[Ninferno]

Sometimes my units don't generate the little affection points even when they have supports together and are standing right next to each other in combat. Is there more involved here? Boey seems particularly unfriendly

Support levels are locked behind story progression which is understandable because support conversations will sometimes contain references to events happened.

 

[Dad]

I think some support levels are locked by chapter - have you already gotten up to C/B rank on the pairs in question?

Support levels are locked behind story progression which is understandable because support conversations will sometimes contain references to events happened.

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks

 

[PK Gaming]

Act 2

Going into Celica's route, I was worried I wouldn't like the new cast as much. I mean, Alm's route immediately endeared me to its cast and their cause, and I figured it would be difficult to break away from that and start with a new cast. Fortunately, my concerns were completely pointless; Celica's group is fantastic. Mae has a top tier personality and she's a great unit to boot. Boey is totally whatever (as a unit and as a character) but at least he's got Mae and Celica to bounce off. Saber is your typical experienced merc, but that doesn't change the fact that he's awesome and obviously peak husbando. Valbar's crew is great; my favorite of the bunch is Leon, who's gay and the game doesn't really make a big deal about it (IS is 100% learning). He makes for an awesome Sniper as well. Celica's route being populated by squishy mages is such a weird thing, but it makes for a nice change of pace, and roasting enemies with insanely powerful spells never felt so good.

The garbage map design was actually not too big of a deal here. Ship to ship battles were oddly satisfying with one exception (FUCKING cantor's). They were short and satisfying; set up a chokepoint with a physical unit, and pelt spells at pirates from afar in order to soak in all of that sweet EXP. The game flow felt like a traditional RPG. While Alm's route was about building up to a climatic (not really) battle, Celica's route has you doing quests here and there on your way to shrine. Going from taking out dracozombie's to exploring tombs, to liberating the sea from corrupt pirates... they were no shortages of tasks you had to complete here, and it's been a good time. Oh yeah, I unlocked forging and it's hilariously broken. Heh.

Act 2's conclusion was good. I think they could have

Spoiler

had Alm and Celica spend more time with each other before breaking away and doing their own thing, but it was a good moment. Nice to see that they're not super emotionally dependent on each other though!

The story is still on point, though I suspect the gameplay will take a major hit in the desert related maps...

 

[Hours Left]

Okay, so what's the deal with when to promote? Saying that there's conflicting info in the usual places would be an understatement.

Best I can gather it's all classes ASAP except for Villagers, which you should wait until lv. 10? Is that the general consensus?

 

[theprodigy]

Okay, so what's the deal with when to promote? Saying that there's conflicting info in the usual places would be an understatement.

Best I can gather it's all classes ASAP except for Villagers, which you should wait until lv. 10? Is that the general consensus?

everything ASAP always

(what is the "usual places" ffs)

 

[Hours Left]

everything ASAP always

(what is the "usual places" ffs)

Other large message boards? It's not the damn Nintendo Power hotline.

 

[DecoReturns]

everything ASAP always

(what is the "usual places" ffs)

Doesn't Serenes Forest have a forum?
Plus theres other places people go, smaller, but still.

 

[LeonSPBR]

Gah, I already dropped 5 hours...

Dungeon always respawn enemies so it's a good place to level.

But it will take you one or two hours to get where you are if you restart the game, since you can skip cutscene and you know where the items are.

 

[Xenoflare]

Something just popped up in my mind

At first I thought this game looked a lot like Atelier games.

Which then I realized they had the same character illustrator.

Characters like Kliff and Mae can be straight out of a Atelier game.

Toukiden had the same person too. I'm quite fond of Hidari.

 

[Golnei]

Boey is totally whatever (as a unit and as a character) but at least he's got Mae and Celica to bounce off.

He's definitely the weak link of their group - a character like him was kind of necessary to balance out Mae, but he's so far been terminally bland - I can't help but think they could have still used that archetype while still making him somewhat endearing. Maybe the voice plays into that as well - the partial accent and stiltedness was probably to differentiate between him and Mae as characters, but in practice it just sounds like one had the better performance.

Act 2's conclusion was good. I think they could have

Spoiler

had Alm and Celica spend more time with each other before breaking away and doing their own thing, but it was a good moment. Nice to see that they're not super emotionally dependent on each other though!

The story is still on point, though I suspect the gameplay will take a major hit in the desert related maps...

I felt like the execution of that sequence was kind of off.

Spoiler

The scene with the oranges was totally pointless physical comedy and set the scene's tone in a weird place, and the actual argument hovered between sort of working and laughable melodrama (JERK in all-caps, Alm's monologue at the end).

Also, I wish they had chosen to give Celica a slightly less hyper-feminine run cycle; both in cutscenes and gameplay - it comes off as unintentionally comedic.

 

[spiritfox]

Can't help it when you're wearing as tight a skirt as Celica.

 

[PK Gaming]

I felt like the execution of that sequence was kind of off.

Spoiler

The scene with the oranges was totally pointless physical comedy and set the scene's tone in a weird place, and the actual argument hovered between sort of working and laughable melodrama (JERK in all-caps, Alm's monologue at the end).

Also, I wish they had chosen to give Celica a slightly less hyper-feminine run cycle; both in cutscenes and gameplay - it comes off as unintentionally comedic.

Spoiler

Yeah the game just kind of throws their seperation at you. I'm of 2 ways about it; I can sympathize with Celica's anger (Alm is going to war despite being 17), and the fact that she has her own shit to do. But her anger seemed disproportionate.

 

[Golnei]

Spoiler

Yeah the game just kind of throws their seperation at you. I'm of 2 ways about it; I can sympathize with Celica's anger (Alm is going to war despite being 17), and the fact that she has her own shit to do. But her anger seemed disproportionate.

I do agree that it could have been written in a more natural fashion - though I think I wouldn't be as inclined to view the scene negatively without the preceding FMV or the last few lines it ends on.

Can't help it when you're wearing as tight a skirt as Celica.

The actual dash animation isn't as bad, though.

 

[Sölf]

So, me being an idiot in act 3 I used the merchant to send some useless items to the other side and now am stuck with the Rion Shield on Celica's side. Any way to send them off later or can I no longer complete this sidequest? So far it doesn't look like the merchant respawns.

 

[psychowave]

Also, I wish they had chosen to give Celica a slightly less hyper-feminine run cycle; both in cutscenes and gameplay - it comes off as unintentionally comedic.

Wish Japanese games would stop doing this. Reminds me of Animal Crossing: New Leaf where your run cicle is different depending on whether you're wearing a skirt or pants. It's just ridiculous.

 

[TheMoon]

I am.

1. The current OT is a placeholder until Shun gets back as stated in the OT.
2. Once we get it updated, there will be a more permanent OT title, I'm not dicking around until that happens.

Oh, I thought this somehow fell through.

Some sort of newbie warning would be good though. Like a sign

 

[redcrayon]

Spoiler

Yeah the game just kind of throws their seperation at you. I'm of 2 ways about it; I can sympathize with Celica's anger (Alm is going to war despite being 17), and the fact that she has her own shit to do. But her anger seemed disproportionate.

Somehow I was less bothered by this than (spoilers Celica, battle 1, act 3)

Spoiler

when Celica's team, including a heavy Knight and a group of mages all on foot, wanders off afterwards, and the two Pegasus knights suddenly go 'oh, they've gone' as if they had no hope of seeing or catching them despite a) being airborne and b) ten times faster.

.

So many misunderstandings in jrpgs would be resolved if the characters involved didn't walk across entire continents to have three-line conversations before getting the wrong end of the stick and running away angry. It's as if no other nuance or exploration of the situation happens outside of the few sweeping lines in the cut scene, or it being possible to catch them up a few moments later and say 'hang on a minute, sorry, I didn't mean it like that!'

Still, I thought Celica's POV

Spoiler

is ridiculously naive considering the situation. 'Is there no way to avoid fighting?' is a conversation for before invasions, assassinations and murder in a country plagued by bandits, pirates and the undead. It comes across as a bit too much like Corrin's hilarious 'maybe if we attack them without killing anyone' 'plan' in Fates: Conquest. No, Celica, did you try talking to the people that wanted to kidnap or kill you personally? How did that work out? Her argument that he's out of depth as a teenager carried a lot more weight with me than her idea that the country pulling together and attempting to defend itself before all is lost is somehow wrong, or her idea that the reasonable thing to do would be to just talk to the people who've killed hundreds and destroyed half the nation and politely ask them to stop and go away. At the very least she could have conceded that what Alm has bought her people (and herself) is time and a much better position strategically and politically than it was in previously being sold out in the hands of traitors.

Still, really enjoying this. Definitely preferring it to the other 3DS games. Abusing Invoke brings back nice memories of Tanith's Pegasus Knight reinforcements in Radiant Dawn, and using them to soak up ballista fire

 

[sorakirosaki]

So, me being an idiot in act 3 I used the merchant to send some useless items to the other side and now am stuck with the Rion Shield on Celica's side. Any way to send them off later or can I no longer complete this sidequest? So far it doesn't look like the merchant respawns.

You will get a another chance in act 4

 

[Roman]

About Celica, I was even more bothered by (end of Act 3 spoilers)

Spoiler

her immediately deciding to stop hiding her identity, starting to wear a crown, and invading Rigel with a handful of followers. Literally one act ago she berated Alm for invading Rigel with a full army and an actual plan, because it "made him a target". The reasonable course of action would have been to try to meet up with that army. Boey calls her out on this being reckless, but he's the only one and it's brushed aside.

 

[sorakirosaki]

About Celica, I was even more bothered by (end of Act 3 spoilers)

Spoiler

her immediately deciding to stop hiding her identity, starting to wear a crown, and invading Rigel with a handful of followers. Literally one act ago she berated Alm for invading Rigel with a full army and an actual plan, because it "made him a target". The reasonable course of action would have been to try to meet up with that army. Boey calls her out on this being reckless, but he's the only one and it's brushed aside.

I thought it was because

Spoiler

jedah told her that mila is in rigel in the duma tower and tbf she didnt really invade like alm did she at least from my understanding was going as far away from the villages

imo

 

[Sölf]

You will get a another chance in act 4

Thanks. Will do that then.

Also, how long are these months? There is this one sidequest für the coral thingies and he said he needed it until the end of the chapter 3 month (which is already at nearly say 120 for me).

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Thanks. Will do that then.

Also, how long are these months? There is this one sidequest für the coral thingies and he said he needed it until the end of the chapter 3 month (which is already at nearly say 120 for me).

The months only change when you move to a new act, so they're as long as you want.

 

[Roman]

I thought it was because

Spoiler

jedah told her that mila is in rigel in the duma tower and tbf she didnt really invade like alm did she at least from my understanding was going as far away from the villages

imo

Beginning of Act 4 spoilers:

Spoiler

The Jedah conversation was after that, in the swamp. She did invade, Boey called it invading and nobody denied it - they are crossing the border and attacking the Faithful without any army support, not knowing how to get Mila back or where she even is, while at the same time wearing a crown. Avoiding the Rigelian army wasn't mentioned, and I mean, in the battles they still fight the army.

Celica is a gigantic hypocrite.

 

[YAWN]

Berkut's voice actor steals the show.
I hope we can play as him in a possible future DLC. We are getting Fernand after all.

 

[Roman]

Berkut's voice actor steals the show.
I hope we can play as him in a possible future DLC. We are getting Fernand after all.

He's amazing and only gets better as the story goes along.

 

[sorakirosaki]

One thing i find myself quite enjoying with this game is the way the two go about journies

I really also like how the two contrast
In the sense that alm is doing things proactively to ending a war to protect his people

While celica is trying to rely on the gods to fix it

Also i hope the next fe is fully voiced

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Act 4 spoilers:

Spoiler

I almost killed Jedah in the swamp. What happens if you do? I got him down to 7 health.

 

[psychowave]

About Celica, I was even more bothered by (end of Act 3 spoilers)

Spoiler

her immediately deciding to stop hiding her identity, starting to wear a crown, and invading Rigel with a handful of followers. Literally one act ago she berated Alm for invading Rigel with a full army and an actual plan, because it "made him a target". The reasonable course of action would have been to try to meet up with that army. Boey calls her out on this being reckless, but he's the only one and it's brushed aside.

I think it's more about

Spoiler

Celica wanting to protect Alm from harm. She isn't mad about the Deliverance invading Rigel, she's mad about Alm invading Rigel and putting himself in harm's way. She basically wants him to stay back while she shoulders all the responsibility, because she's selfish and doesn't want to lose him.

 

[rickyson1]

roughly how do the chapter lengths in this game compare to each other? specifically the first two chapters versus the third chapter versus the rest of the game after that

trying to eyeball whether I can afford to play the third chapter and still have enough left for my upcoming travel

 

[Roman]

I think it's more about

Spoiler

Celica wanting to protect Alm from harm. She isn't mad about the Deliverance invading Rigel, she's mad about Alm invading Rigel and putting himself in harm's way. She basically wants him to stay back while she shoulders all the responsibility, because she's selfish and doesn't want to lose him.

I am aware. But

Spoiler

she doesn't reflect on this at all when making the choice to invade Rigel, the point is not even brought up whatsoever. In addition she is wearing a crown and making herself even more of a target. This makes her a hypocrite.

 

[Ninferno]

About Celica, I was even more bothered by (end of Act 3 spoilers)

Spoiler

her immediately deciding to stop hiding her identity, starting to wear a crown, and invading Rigel with a handful of followers. Literally one act ago she berated Alm for invading Rigel with a full army and an actual plan, because it "made him a target". The reasonable course of action would have been to try to meet up with that army. Boey calls her out on this being reckless, but he's the only one and it's brushed aside.

I wasn't bothered by this as much. After all,

Spoiler

she has found out what happened to Mila by the end of Act 3, she certainly can't hold the "Mila will save us all" stance any longer, right? She has to be stubborn as a rock to not change course, since the situation has drastically changed. You react differently to different circumstances, does that necessarily make you a hypocrite? I don't know.

I do agree the execution of this is pretty weak though. However, the worst is yet to come in the end of Act 4... I have played Gaiden twice and I hate that particluar part; it is anti-climatic af. I hope SoV improves that a bit but I'm not holding my breath.

It goes without saying that I really like Celica hence I'm willing to try to think a bit more from her perspective, but I have to admit this guy on SF sums up this particular issue pretty well.

 

[sorakirosaki]

Act 4 spoilers:

Spoiler

I almost killed Jedah in the swamp. What happens if you do? I got him down to 7 health.

Spoiler

u get his dragon shield also if u have sonya in tour party u get a little bit of dialogue explaing that he offered her sisters powers and had her turned into a witch i was surprised to see that since i didnt expect boss banter

 

[Roman]

I wasn't bothered by this as much. After all,

Spoiler

she has found out what happened to Mila by the end of Act 3, she certainly can't hold the "Mila will save us all" stance any longer, right? She has to be stubborn as a rock to not change course, since the situation has drastically changed.

I do agree the execution of this is pretty weak though. However, the worst is yet to come in the end of Act 4... I have played Gaiden twice and I hate that part with a passion. I hope SoV improves that a bit but I'm not holding my breath.

It goes without saying that I really like Celica hence I'm willing to try to think a bit more from her perspective, but I have to admit that this guy on SF sums up this particular problem pretty well.

I'm not at the end of Act 4 yet but I've already heard it's still very bad. I want to like Celica but in my view they have done a much better job characterizing Alm and his motivations.

 

[toastyToast]

Leon got knocked out during the pirate king mission. Can I still recruit him or did I need to redo the mission?

 

[Frost_Ace]

So, as someone who enjoyed Conquest immensly (played on hard and it was so satisfying), would I enjoy this game gameplay wise? I heard conflicting opinions on this.

 

[Nohar]

Hum. I've been worned out by recent Fire Emblem games. Awakening was really nice but far too easy (so many game breakers, it wasn't even funny at some point), Birthright was bland, Conquest had very interesting maps but the story made me stop playing altogether, and I didn't even bother downloading Revelations (which suffers from so many unbalance issues that it doesn't seem worthwhile to try, not to mention that I had enough bad storytelling with Conquest).

It seems that this title offers a decent story for a change, and the gameplay sounds solid, but I'm wary when I read that it has the worst maps of the series. That doesn't sound reassuring at all. Is it an exageration, or am I better off skipping this game until I find it at a low price sometimes in the future?

 

[Taruranto]

I went with the "canon" classes and Tobin is outclassed by Python in every way and his growth are quite poor.

Kliff as a mage is meh for me, but I don't have any other options.

People who like mage Tobin usually bring up the early Excalibur, which is a spell that is basically brave sword but for magic (low weight and high crit). in addition of Physic that is really appreciated since if you did not make Faye into a Cleric only Tatiana knows ranged healing.

Gray is born for Merc and I don't know how I am going to go through the game without making Faye a Cleric, but I don't mind making Kilff an archer and Tobin a mage on my next playthrough.

Cleric Faye is this games dancer, although to be fair she gets anew incredibly late.

Going to edit op with class recommendations for the villagers and their "canon" classes if anybody cares.

Alm Route
Gray: Rec Class = Merc. Canon Class = Merc.
Tobin: Rec Class = Mage. Canon Class = Archer
Kliff: Rec Class = Archer. Canon Class = Mage
Faye: Rec Class = Cleric. Canon Class = PK

Celica Route
Atlas: Rec Class = Archer. Canon Class = ???

Kliff as an archer feels like a waste, my mage Kliff is literally one of my strongest units, I can give him a regen ring and drop him the middle of the enemy group and he's basically indestructible. He literally almost soloed chapter 5's final map for me.

Also this whole option to reclass Dread Fighters into Villagers feels super broken. <_<

 

[Golnei]

So, as someone who enjoyed Conquest immensly (played on hard and it was so satisfying), would I enjoy this game gameplay wise? I heard conflicting opinions on this.

The maps are infinitely worse - you definitely shouldn't expect anything comparable to it. The unit balance and skills are also quite different (no weapon triangle, actively-triggered weapon-based skills as opposed to passives, interesting growth rates), so that may also count against your potential enjoyment of the game.

If you do decide to try the game, keep your expectations in check on that front.

 

[rickyson1]

The maps are infinitely worse - you definitely shouldn't expect anything comparable to it. The unit balance and skills are also quite different (no weapon triangle, actively-triggered weapon-based skills as opposed to passives, interesting growth rates), so that may also count against your potential enjoyment of the game.

If you do decide to try the game, keep your expectations in check on that front.

i've only played the first two chapters of this so far but i'd also call it quite a bit easier as well

having a noticeably easier time with this on hard than I did with Conquest on normal,I imagine it'll get harder but can't imagine it being enough to change that

 

[Nohar]

The maps are infinitely worse - you definitely shouldn't expect anything comparable to it. The unit balance and skills are also quite different (no weapon triangle, actively-triggered weapon-based skills as opposed to passives, interesting growth rates), so that may also count against your potential enjoyment of the game.

If you do decide to try the game, keep your expectations in check on that front.

Well, that's a first. I am not feeling happy about this.

 

[PsionBolt]

So, as someone who enjoyed Conquest immensly (played on hard and it was so satisfying), would I enjoy this game gameplay wise? I heard conflicting opinions on this.

My personal favourite FEs are Echoes, Thracia, and Conquest, in that order. Those second and third choices should tell you how gameplay-focused my tastes are. And for me, this game is a joy to play.

However, everything you've heard about Echoes that gives you pause is probably true. The combat scenarios are not even close to as tightly designed as the best FEs, there's less customization, fewer options in battle, and so on. The thing is, the game still works, because it feels so different that you don't find yourself missing what's absent. It doesn't feel necessary.
Despite my love for the game, I cannot reasonably say that its combat is top-tier. But I implore you to give it a chance anyway.

 

[RRockman]

My personal favourite FEs are Echoes, Thracia, and Conquest, in that order. Those second and third choices should tell you how gameplay-focused my tastes are. And for me, this game is a joy to play.

However, everything you've heard about Echoes that gives you pause is probably true. The combat scenarios are not even close to as tightly designed as the best FEs, there's less customization, fewer options in battle, and so on. The thing is, the game still works, because it feels so different that you don't find yourself missing what's absent. It doesn't feel necessary.
Despite my love for the game, I cannot reasonably say that its combat is top-tier. But I implore you to give it a chance anyway.

This is true and all but certian changes take a fantastic weigh of my shoulders, like how Pegasus Knights are buffed not to be weak to archers any more, or how snipers can actually out range mages if you position then correctly. It has made risky maneuvers sometimes VERY worthwhile, and I will miss that openness (in regards to how YOU approach challenges primarily, the maps are merely average) that will inevitably be gone the next game.