a mostly amoral/immoral and unlikable cast of characters. Haven't played through Revelations to determine if it's worthwhile.
Bah, the Nohrians are much more interesting then the boring, goody two-shoes Hoshidans. Bah, I say to you, sir!
a mostly amoral/immoral and unlikable cast of characters. Haven't played through Revelations to determine if it's worthwhile.
Bah, the Nohrians are much more interesting then the boring, goody two-shoes Hoshidans. Bah, I say to you, sir!
Currently grinding for child paralogues because I need that extra EXP (and I used them in my regular run, so whatevs.). Selena and Beruka have risen from "medicore" tier to actually being good. I did the easy paralogues (Kana, Midori, Shigure, etc.) and I'm considering replacing Peri with Sophie, whom ties her in overall stats but has better skillz.
Currently on Percy's paralogue. I swear, I will get this run done before the summer ends. Then I'll probably restart Revelations Lunatic.
Also, Robby, at some point, you should play one of the GBA games if only for the awesome sprite animations (seriously, you have no idea how satisfying those are). Sacred Stones may be good choice since it's like Birthright in that you can grind and pretty much go at your own pace.
Depends on what you want. Awakening is about the same level of complexity as Birthright but with better characters and more exploitable gameplay. Conquest is much harder and more complex with somewhat better characters but a significantly weaker plot. Conquest is significantly discounted if you buy it through Birthright but Awakening is a larger game.
I like the Awakening story a lot better than Fates, and as said the children are a lot more . . . . logical in Awakening. And fun. And the supports are better written in Awakening too. If you want a better challenge just play Awakening on Hard or Lunatic.
Not that I'm not enjoying Conquest, because as said the characters are better than most of the Hoshidans and it's interesting to play the story from the other side.
@S.C.:
Bah, the Nohrians are much more interesting then the boring, goody two-shoes Hoshidans. Bah, I say to you, sir!
Indeed! Bah to you, sir!
I wouldn't exactly call Saizo, Azama, & Orochi goody two shoes persay :ninja:
Nope, but they're three who stick out.
Nope, but they're three who stick out.
Well surly and trollish behavior would stick out pretty much anywhere.
Only three paralogues left, then I'll go back to chapter 24.
But Selena died in the middle of doing Soliel's chapter, and because it's a pain in the ass to redo (and she's now of the same class), I opted to continue without her. Soliel can replace her niche as hero. With a low-leveled, non-skilled father, she's not ages above Selena, but good enough. Same with Sophie if Peri goes. So what do we have left?
Nina (which can end super early to miss out on the exp and treasure)
Ophelia (kinda open map, might be a little tricky)
Ignatius (nearly impossible at this point due to master ninjas, so I'll save it for last)
Can't do Dwyer's since Jakob died early in the run.
grinds teeth You think after all those fucking ninja killing Iago would be simple, yes? But nooooo, getting past the Sorcerers and Faceless are easy enough, but the FUCKING GENERALS AND BERSERKERS are fucking walls.
grinds teeth You think after all those fucking ninja killing Iago would be simple, yes? But nooooo, getting past the Sorcerers and Faceless are easy enough, but the FUCKING GENERALS AND BERSERKERS are fucking walls.
Damn you're still on that chapter?
RIP Soliel and Peri, you two served me well. But Takumi's chapter took a loooot of patience and planning, and I'm not bothering to do it over. Sophie can replace Peri just fine, and kid wise I still have Nina and will probably use Velouria to replace Soliel.
Takumi seemed almost impossible to hit/kill, but not only was Mozu able to one-round him with 100% accuracy, she critted him. That's what you get!
Now…should I try to beat chapter 24 fairly or try to use the reddit strait again?
Some of my characters are ready to jump into S rank relationships and have kids… but I should wait till they've hit level 20 and promoted them first, so the kid inherits more options, right? How far into promotion should I wait?
I'm probably paring Corrin and Rinkah, and Hinata with Hana... but beyond that I haven't really decided yet, I still need to see lots more interactions first.
Some of my characters are ready to jump into S rank relationships and have kids… but I should wait till they've hit level 20 and promoted them first, so the kid inherits more options, right? How far into promotion should I wait? I'm probably paring Corrin and Rinkah, and Hinata with Hana... but beyond that I haven't really decided yet, I still need to see lots more interactions first.
Well, it will depends of the skills your characters have equipped when you hit S-Rank. If I am not mistaken, your units stop learning skills at level 15 when promoted.
Some of my characters are ready to jump into S rank relationships and have kids… but I should wait till they've hit level 20 and promoted them first, so the kid inherits more options, right? How far into promotion should I wait?.
Promoted units get skills at level 5 and 15, so waiting a little longer would give the kid a chance to inherent more skills. Especially useful if there would be no way for them to learn them naturally.
So I have a long wait ahead then of those characters saying "Hey, wanna talk and go to S rank?" Oh well. Now that I know that I can try to pace it more appropriately I guess.
grinds teeth You think after all those fucking ninja killing Iago would be simple, yes? But nooooo, getting past the Sorcerers and Faceless are easy enough, but the FUCKING GENERALS AND BERSERKERS are fucking walls.
I hate how the moment you open a door, they ALL go full agro on you too. It's better to just concentrate on the left side and take care of the berserkers first; they hit hard but at least they die quickly and then you have more time to prepare for the onslaught of generals.
So I have a long wait ahead then of those characters saying "Hey, wanna talk and go to S rank?" Oh well. Now that I know that I can try to pace it more appropriately I guess.
It's really up to you and how much you want to tinker with skills.
For example, Hinata/Hana won't really add to much to Hisame because they all can become swordmasters and master of arms. So all of them have the same skill access.
You can have more fun with Corrin/Rinkah, because the skills of oni savage/blacksmith/oni chief are less easy to get, since Rinkah (and Hayato with reclassing) are the only ones. None of the 2nd gens.
So I have a long wait ahead then of those characters saying "Hey, wanna talk and go to S rank?" Oh well. Now that I know that I can try to pace it more appropriately I guess.
Unless you're in this for the long haul and want to make your units the absolute best that they can be, I wouldn't wait. Yes, if you wait, the child units will get 1 or 2 additional skills, but by then you'll probably be really close to the end of the game and barely get a chance to use them (unless you don't mind hours and hours of grinding). As it is, the last three child units aren't really obtainable till the last 3-5 chapters. And yes, skills are useful, but overall, one or two skills per unit shouldn't make a huge difference. Me, I started doing S ranks at Chapter 15.
Oh yeah, another important point. After chapter 18, your children unit starts with an Offspring Seal that promotes them. And the more chapters you clear after chapter 18 they promotes at levels above 1, so keep that in mind.
So I have a long wait ahead then of those characters saying "Hey, wanna talk and go to S rank?" Oh well. Now that I know that I can try to pace it more appropriately I guess.
First off, you can S rank at any time. Your kid is only locked in once you start and complete their recruitment chapter. You can even start the chapter and exit it just to get a look at their stats. A child inherits the last skill listed from each parent (which can be reorganized) but at no point does the level or current class of the parent affect a child's class options. A child typically can change into both of the father's base classes and the starting class+promotions of the mother, but there are a bunch of contingencies and exceptions in place.
The only reasons to wait to recruit a child are to pass on a skill you don't want to train the child for, which probably requires a degree of planning you're not interested in, or to save the use of a Master Seal by waiting until after Chapter 18, when the recruitment chapters get more difficult but each child's Offspring Seal also autopromotes them in addition to adding levels.
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Takumi seemed almost impossible to hit/kill, but not only was Mozu able to one-round him with 100% accuracy, she critted him. That's what you get!Now…should I try to beat chapter 24 fairly or try to use the reddit strait again?
I've been telling you guys all along, Mozu is a boss-killing MACHINE!
Give 24 a clean playthrough, it's really not too bad at all.
Give 24 a clean playthrough, it's really not too bad at all.
Uh…..ooops. The strat still worked, albeit with some reclassing and Nyx using a warp. :)‹br>
But there's no shortcutting 25. Kamui is doubled and barely does damage to Ryoma. I do have Velouria and Midori added to the team for help, but I'm NOT looking foward to a new round of lunge-poisonstrike-dual strike hell.
Damn you're still on that chapter?
. . . . . . . DON'T JUDGE ME!!!!
I hate how the moment you open a door, they ALL go full agro on you too. It's better to just concentrate on the left side and take care of the berserkers first; they hit hard but at least they die quickly and then you have more time to prepare for the onslaught of generals.
sigh Yeah, I thought my Avatar would dodge them, but I was wrong.
. . . . . . . DON'T JUDGE ME!!!!
I wouldn't dare dream of it considering I had problems with the level myself taking 3 tries and sacrificing Peri to finish it to boot.
That chapter took me several tries because I kept dying in that last room. I think I ended up turtling 2-3 turns with paired-up Axebreakers on the left and paired-up Wary Fighter-ed Generals on the right, all with passive boosts and rallies. It's all the more frustrating for how long it takes to get there.
^ I might got time to grind but the time it takes to get to the end of that level?…..Bullshit even on easy.
Takes fucking forever but still better than some Revelations maps.
And I had my first death that I decided to just live with. It was Takumi, who I didn't like anyway, aside from how powerful he was. Spent an hour getting through a stage, had beaten the general, had one guy left to go, had all my characters grouped together for support, and suddenly a reinforcement comes out of nowhere from the opposite site of the map, and in one shot snipes him dead.
Literally one turn before I'm done.
Apparently as a plot important character he gets to live, just not fight on the battlefield or have kids.
Oh well, I have other archers. Had they killed Setsuna or Izana I miiight have reset but I dunno, it was a long map. But yeesh. And just judging from some of the descriptions the game is loaded with this sort of thing?
Also married off my Avatar and Rinkuh. So… they have an invisible friendship meter. And once you get them to A rank, private conversations build up hearts... but you don't need that filled to get to S rank... and now they're married the heart meter I'd been building up in private switched to yet another different heart meter now? That does something at level three? Wha???
Also married off my Avatar and Rinkuh. So… they have an invisible friendship meter. And once you get them to A rank, private conversations build up hearts... but you don't need that filled to get to S rank... and now they're married the heart meter I'd been building up in private switched to yet another different heart meter now? That does something at level three? Wha???
The heart meter thing is just for fun (though I never found it to be that fun). New events with your partner can happen as the three hearts at the top are filled, but it doesn't affect stats or the story or anything.
Worst case scenario I have a backup save if I really find I'm missing him or want his kid. But that's also what new games are for.
The heart meter thing is just for fun (though I never found it to be that fun). New events with your partner can happen as the three hearts at the top are filled, but it doesn't affect stats or the story or anything.
That's a shame. I understand that when you've got like 30 characters that need to interact with 30 other characters, that's by default going to shorten the overall interactions, but its a shame that they're all SO short and one note. Compared to say, Persona or Suikoden, or any dating sim ever where you spend tons of time on that, the characters are overall a bit shallow.
(Suikoden has 108 guys, but they're through the filter of just one lead.)
So if you can only S rank one relationship, why does it not blank out the others after you get married? In case of death? And what about all the A+ ones that are clearly for same gender matches?
@MetaMario:
Excellent taste :)
Doesn't help he made a horrific first impression as an ass, and I have too many characters already.
So if you can only S rank one relationship, why does it not blank out the others after you get married? In case of death? And what about all the A+ ones that are clearly for same gender matches?
You can still get to A-support other units after getting S-Rank, but you can't progress more than that. A+ serves for you to get their classes to a same unit with a Friendship Seal. For example, Hana getting A+ with a Felicia allows her to reclass into Troubadour Class(Pre-Promoted Maid that can also become a Strategist.) and Felicia can reclass into a Samurai Class, but you can't A+ the same unit with another.
And I had my first death that I decided to just live with. It was Takumi, who I didn't like anyway, aside from how powerful he was. Spent an hour getting through a stage, had beaten the general, had one guy left to go, had all my characters grouped together for support, and suddenly a reinforcement comes out of nowhere from the opposite site of the map, and in one shot snipes him dead.
gape You threw away the BEST archer in Hoshido!?
There's no special conversation for A+ either. It's purely for reclassing purposes.
Doesn't help he made a horrific first impression as an ass,
He's no worse in Birthright than he was in Conquest (both for justified & poorly explained reasons). @Robby:
and suddenly a reinforcement comes out of nowhere from the opposite site of the map, and in one shot snipes him dead.
Game loves doing that at times only way to avoid it is not keeping anyone near certain parts of the map. @Robby:
So if you can only S rank one relationship, why does it not blank out the others after you get married? In case of death?
No particular reason they're just there for the sake of being there you also can't remarry a character if their significant other gets murdered.
gape You threw away the BEST archer in Hoshido!?
I didn't throw him away, he randomly died in one turn before the end of an hour long map while surrounded by allies.
He could have dodged or held on with one hit point, or had help from any of the 3 people standing next to him, but nope.
Besides, I'm playing on easy. Beyond some curiousity of how the systems work, I'm not giving a crap about stats or min-maxing, otherwise I wouldn't be hooking up the two samurai just because I think they have the best chemistry. I don't care if they have great stats, if I don't like them, they're not getting used anyway.
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Game loves doing that at times only way to avoid it is not keeping anyone near certain parts of the map.
Yeah, that's kinda bullshit. That's no choice on the player's part, no result of you being stupid or taking dumb chances… it's the game just flat out throwing a random event at you that there's no way to avoid except to start over with future knowledge.
That's not challenging, that's just punishing for the sake of being punishing.
Which would be fine if it was an early trap spring or a five minute level like the earlier ones were. Not so much on an hour long map that has dozens of enemies to eliminate... and it wasn't even a cheap boss general or something. Just completely random shmuck that wasn't even on the otherwise cleared out map. There's a difference between a puzzle and a "learn the solution by dying, replay it again." It's not engaging to redo what you already did properly the first time.
I ultimately had similar problems with Valkyrie Chronicles, where it didn't matter how organized my team was or how well I was playing, the later (longer!) levels kept throwing random new crap in that there was no way to anticipate, and sometimes those events could just wipe out the entire team or have a lucky hidden sniper from hell.... I ultimately just stopped playing the game eventually because it didn't matter how good it was, it was just being unfair. (I actually stopped when there was a scripted main unit permadeath for no reason except story. Screw that.)
It could be worse; this could be one of the games where the reinforcements get to move the moment they show up on the map.
Yeah, that's kinda bullshit. That's no choice on the player's part, no result of you being stupid or taking dumb chances… it's the game just flat out throwing a random event at you that there's no way to avoid except to start over with future knowledge.
Wait, so did the reinforcements attack you as soon as they appeared on the map, or did they surround you and you couldn't Takumi out of the way during the next turn?
@Cyan:
It could be worse; this could be one of the games where the reinforcements get to move the moment they show up on the map.
Yeah, in Awakening I'm having some struggle with Chapter 7 (It's one where Pegasus Knights show up from the flank) the moment the reinforcements come, all other enemy units just charge at you, and most of my units can barely take one attack.
@Cyan:
It could be worse; this could be one of the games where the reinforcements get to move the moment they show up on the map.
Wait, so did the reinforcements attack you as soon as they appeared on the map, or did they surround you and you couldn't Takumi out of the way during the next turn?
I remember it appearing and then attacking immediately. It was the boat stage with all the flying enemies. Was at the far left side of the ship, clustered around the tornado, he was on the bottom.
I do think he spawned on that turn, was pretty much right on top of me and I was in his range. It doesn't make any sense to me otherwise that I'd just let that go.
But if they don't do that because they don't do that in this game?
Then I probably took it for granted the fact that everyone had been tanking just fine, no one that round had taken more than a 1/3 of their bar in damage the entire time, all the allies were clustered together, and there wasn't any actual threat from the single enemy. That then honed in and did a critical attack that one-shotted him, something that hadn't happened to me since I started the game and was learning the combat 15 hours earlier when everyone was level 1..
But I can't imagine I would have just sat there, watched it spawn in, and not attacked it when it was in range and literally my entire group was there. Why wouldn't I just wipe it out while I was killing the general and the one other troop? I didn't spend all 10 units turns attacking the other two guys. It had to have appeared after I moved everyone into position for the final turn.
So if that's the case, my bad? But it really really doesn't feel like a thing I would do, not in that situation.
Either way, it appeared out of nowhere right on top of team and did an attack on a scale that no other enemy in the level had been even close to doing. Effective weapon plus critical plus no dodge or ally help, I guess.
It's extra funny because storywise the scene right after has the groveling traitor minion throwing himself in front of a scripted attack to save him.
(I actually stopped when there was a scripted main unit permadeath for no reason except story. Screw that.)
That's a bit harsh. It's not like you lose any units or it has any impact on gameplay.
Unless you're thinking of the later heavily foreshadowed one that's not actually a death.
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Uhoh, just realized Birthright (and Revelations) might also pissed you off.
Anyways, bullshit crits are part of the game. You get lucky with crits and skill procs and so does the enemy sometimes. It's the type of thing that will make Chapter 15 a pain in the ass.
That's a bit harsh. It's not like you lose any units or it has any impact on gameplay.
Unless you're thinking of the later heavily foreshadowed one that's not actually a death.
Valkyria Chronicles has permadeath. You have a couple turns to rescue them, but they can die in the same turn they fall if an enemy touches them, or if you just don't get to them in time due to being on opposite sides of the map. It's also a game that has snipers and headshot mechanics where the AI can make literally impossible shots.
And its a big problem on maps such as the one where a giant war machine rampages around the map doing crazy damage.
The cinema death for Isara was just the last straw after having already replayed the last several maps several times each due to random scripted surprises too many times. It's one thing to grind a map over and over, it's another to just keep losing because reasons. Doesn't matter if that death didn't overly affect gameplay or that she was a NPC, it was a nonsense bullshit death for no reason that was no fault of my own after I had replayed the map several times to do it flawlessly and not let anyone die.
I'm fine with characters dying in stories, if it's done right. Maybe if my troops were immortal and it was a story death, so that it was significant that it was the only death in the game, it might not have rubbed me the wrong way quite so much. As it was, it just felt like a slap of "You failed to protect everyone and this character died really easy!" after having just spent a lot of time to not get anyone killed.
I didn't consciously decide to quit the game forever at that point out of sheer frustration or anything, but that was my stopping point for that day, I just never got back to it after that and now its been years. I think its the combination of there being permadeaths I was retrying missions to avoid, combined with a cinema death that was the problem.
Uhoh, just realized Birthright (and Revelations) might also pissed you off.
At this point I don't think I'm going to shill out for those. I'm enjoying the game just fine, I should get through it, but it's not really super grabbing me the way some other tactics games have. Maybe that'll change some once I start changing out classes and having actual options on the skills.
Anyways, bullshit crits are part of the game. You get lucky with crits and skill procs and so does the enemy sometimes. It's the type of thing that will make Chapter 15 a pain in the ass.
And that's not challenge. That's just punishment for punishment's sake. Especially on lengthy maps.
Valkyria Chronicles has permadeath. You have a couple turns to rescue them, but they can die in the same turn they fall if an enemy touches them, or if you just don't get to them in time due to being on opposite sides of the map. It's also a game that has snipers and headshot mechanics where the AI can make literally impossible shots.
Maybe it's from my time playing Fire Emblem but I would always restart a map if someone actually died. Your guns are definitely better than the enemy's once you upgrade them or receive award weapons, especially in terms of range. I remember seeing one map and deciding I wasn't interested, so I just repeatedly sniped the boss from all the way across the map.
And its a big problem on maps such as the one where a giant war machine rampages around the map doing crazy damage.
Yeah that one's some real bullshit. The game struggles with making bosses fair and that map in particular is annoying as fuck.
The cinema death for Isara was just the last straw after having already replayed the last several maps several times each due to random scripted surprises too many times. It's one thing to grind a map over and over, it's another to just keep losing because reasons. Doesn't matter if that death didn't overly affect gameplay or that she was a NPC, it was a nonsense bullshit death for no reason that was no fault of my own after I had replayed the map several times to do it flawlessly and not let anyone die.
I'm fine with characters dying in stories, if it's done right. Maybe if my troops were immortal and it was a story death, so that it was significant that it was the only death in the game, it might not have rubbed me the wrong way quite so much. As it was, it just felt like a slap of "You failed to protect everyone and this character died really easy!" after having just spent a lot of time to not get anyone killed.
Hard to say there's ever a good guy's death that feels earned. Isara's death is probably best handled in terms of aftermath and ensuing character development but it still feels like the group should have been smarter than to allow that to happen.
At this point I don't think I'm going to shill out for those. I'm enjoying the game just fine, I should get through it, but it's not really super grabbing me the way some other tactics games have. Maybe that'll change some once I start changing out classes and having actual options on the skills.
Well Birthright is the one you're playing. At the risk of spoiling a future event, which units are you mainly using? There's a scripted death of one of your men coming up in a few chapters that can be avoided if you fulfill a certain requirement.
And that's not challenge. That's just punishment for punishment's sake. Especially on lengthy maps.
Dunno why the rest of that paragraph didn't copy, but one of the consequences of splitting the units between games is that you lose a lot of unit variation between countries. Meaning that Hoshido units are typically faster and dodgier but with bad defense and HP while Nohr troops are stronger and tankier. Still, you'll be able to customize your troops more once you get to promoted units with more class changing items.
Easy mode might have something to do with it too.
Yeah, easy might have been a bad choice. But as my first FE game, and them being notorious for the deaths, I didn't want to just launch into hard.
Also, the stats being what they are might be a factor too. When almost everyone has under 25 HP and the effective attacks are just one-shotting things and there's lots of dodgings and everyone has the same 1-2 distance range, when all side abilities are for like 10% health but its on that tiny bar… it just feels samey at the moment. Hopefully the upgrades and later harder enemies changes that.
There's a scripted death of one of your men coming up in a few chapters that can be avoided if you fulfill a certain requirement.
I've been overall trying to go for balance. The characters that came in early, or have the heal/sing abilities are a bit ahead of the others mostly due to getting exp every turn, and theres a couple that are a bit behind, but by and large I've been rotating pretty heavily and doing some grinding between story levels to catch up the characters that are behind and to try out the different classes and get people their next abilities to see if that's what makes them a breakout character or class for me. Corrin, Sakura, Felicia, Rinkah, Silas and Azura are in the 15 range, (I keep pulling them out cause they're too ahead) most of the rest are around 11-12. …the dragon at the temple is like 30, what the hell. Mozu is the one I'm most interested in since she seems like she might be a magikarp, but I'm okay with it if she isn't, her wobbly attack animation is really endearing.
Like I said, I'm not against scripted deaths, and it wasn't that in and of itself that made me just stop playing Valkyria... it was mostly the feeling that it just didn't matter how well I played, every level was just going to screw me some way or another and require replays where I knew the future. Lot of subtle things adding up eventually. I didn't purposely quit the game out of rage, I just didn't go back to it for whatever reason after that.
Mozu is the one I'm most interested in since she seems like she might be a magikarp, but I'm okay with it if she isn't, her wobbly attack animation is really endearing.
She will become a modest powerhouse if you put the time into making her stronger and find her a proper husband with which to use the Partner Seals with….she loses the timid character animations though when she promotes unless you turn her into a merchant.
Disagree. Mozu, if done right, becomes a certified boss-killer. You need to reclass her once or twice but all the skills she needs come in her normal class options. Spendthrift gives any unit that has it a specific number of ridiculously good attacks and Mozu has a number of other ways to stack damage on top of that.
Mozu doesn't become quite the tank that Donnel was, but she does become a very good unit if trained right.
I've had Kinshi Knight Mozu (Conquest), Dread Fighter Mozu (Revelations), and Sniper Mozu (Conquest again). I can confirm she's a boss killer.
I had ninja Mozu in Birthright, which I think may have been a mistake. I have Kinshi Knight Mozu now, which is doing better. But with only a few chapters left, I don't have enough time for her to grow more. And I don't feel like drilling in DLC.
Urgggh, damn chapter 25 is as hard as I remember. I have no Freeze staves to stop the ninjas/lungers, so I'm trying to use Entrap/Enfeeble. Effie can one-shot the master ninjas (if she hits), although they and the swordsmasters double a lot of my team.
Kamui can't touch Ryoma, so I've got to do this the hard way. I find that pairing up helps in surviving with dual guards and preventing the enemy teaming up on you, but it lessens the available units I can use. Then there's the hallway of death, where if you don't kill as many enemies as you can on your phase, someone's definitely gonna bite the dust. Some are lackluster (Midori, Flora) so I can power on without them, but some units have gotten too essential (Camilla, Effie, Anna, Elise, Mozu, Nyx) that I can't go on without them.