Let's Talk Fire Emblem

[nocturnal YL]

Yes! I usually priortise on how much do I like the characters over how useful they are too. Even if it's a very constrained situation like Radiant Dawn's Part 4 Endgame, I try to bring in as many personal favourites as I could.

This sometimes results in me bringing in a team most players won't consider. The usual setup for a Radiant Dawn endgame team is usually mostly royals, but I'd bring in the original Dawn Brigade, Aran and Laura, Ilyana, and (depending on the playthrough) the three brothers and even Vika in one Easy (JP Normal) playthrough.

I usually favour early-game characters, characters who look young, and prepromotes who have high growth potential (they usually turn into crutch characers very soon, though). As a side effect of this, I use mages quite a lot in the earlier games. I also don't tend to use main characters (besides leveling them enough for the story-mandated promotions and generally being strong enough for solo fights), but there are a few exceptions like Kris in New Mytsery.

Gordin is vastly outshone by his little brother Ryan in New Mystery. I almost opted to focus on Gordin just because he looks adorable, but I ultimately decided against it as I can't afford to have a weak sole archer (for quite a while before I got anyone promoted).

My favourite characters in each game: (not exhaustive, because otherwise I'll list most of them)
FE4: Julia, Shannan
FE5: Asbel, Lara (mostly because she has 75 level ups ahead of her if you're that dedicated)
FE6: Lugh, Dark Lugh Raigh, Sophia, Zeiss
FE7: Lucius
FE8: Ross, Lute, Ewan
FE9: Ilyana (complete with the JP-only 255-Crit Thunder glitch), Nephenee
FE10: Laura, Vika
FE12: Kris, Katarina
FE13: Nah
FE14: Beruka, Velouria
♯FE: Dark Miku Kiria, (NPC) Tiki, (NPC) Tiki=Waifu
FE15: Faye, Mae, Boey

[Leon]

Hell yeah, always go with the people you like.

I prefer the older characters, so I'll always put effort into them versus the more childish looking characters.

[Nester the Lark]

^ Didn't know Sam Elliott was a Fire Emblem character.

I was starting to think that maybe my trouble with Fire Emblem was that I tend to favor characters I like over characters with good stats. I've been looking more at stats while playing Shadow Dragon. Can't really say how much of a difference it's making, though, since I've been abusing arenas and save states.

[nocturnal YL]

It depends on the game you're playing, but new games usually don't have problems with stats. It also depends on the difficulty you're playing, but Normal and Hard (Hard 1 in FE11) should give plenty of leeway compensating for bad level ups.

Speaking of stats:



FE10 level ups are so riduculous, you can max all stats way before you even reach level 20.

[Nester the Lark]

Update on Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon: I have finally finished a second Fire Emblem game!

It took me a while to figure out a strategy to deal with everything going on in the final chapter. Even then, I still lost one guy. (I won't say Bord was expendable, but he needed to take one for the team.)

I enjoyed it, even if it did feel a little scaled back from more recent FE games. I think it held my attention a little easier than Path of Radiance did. At least I can say I've played all the way through Marth's story (the first one, anyway).

I probably won't jump into another FE right away, but I'm looking forward more to Three Houses now.

[Leon]

Very good, I love the final map of Shadow Dragon. Having my units spread across the map really feels like you've got Medeus surrounded, and this is the last stand.

[Nester the Lark]

OK, I lied. I started up a game of Blazing Blade because I still felt like playing Fire Emblem while I wait for Monster Boy and Battle Princess Madelyn to come out next week.

In the past, I've made it as far as Chapter 28. Don't know how far I'll get this time, especially if I get distracted by too many other games, but I'm already past the tutorial chapters. I usually do the X chapters because they seem like a good opportunity to build up my units, but maybe I should skip them this time.

I'm playing on OG hardware, so no save state abuse this time. Also, I'm so used to the mechanics from Shadow Dragon that some of the differences are throwing me off a little. (Oh, I can't send overflow items to an invisible convoy anymore?)

[Leon]

You'll get the convoy a few chapters into Eliwood's story.

[Nester the Lark]

And it has that annoying wrinkle of being stationary while also vulnerable to enemy attack.

I also miss being able to press a button and seeing all enemies' range of attack rather that having to check each one individually. I'm... kinda bad at that, and tend to overlook one or two sometimes.

[Nester the Lark]

I guess there's going to be an entire Fire Emblem Expo in Japan on May 4, 2019. More info coming December 8.

Maybe it'll coincide with the release of Three Houses?

[Leon]

I would guess that it's going to be getting people ready for the 30th anniversary, which is in April 2020. Show fans the roadmap for 2019 with Three Houses DLC, Cipher, Heroes, and leave a stinger for 2020.

[Nester the Lark]

Details on the expo. Looks like it's mainly live music, a stage drama, artwork and such. I suppose that's not to say there couldn't be an announcement or two, but it mainly looks like, well, an expo.

[Nester the Lark]

All right, quick update on my Sacred Stones playthrough.

I've finished chapter 13 of Eirika's route. That's where I got stuck at on a previous playthrough, so I'm glad I've gotten past it (and on my first try, at that). I've gotten into one skirmish and did the first floor of the tower when it opened up just to kind of "cover" it, but otherwise, I've been sticking with the main story.

I don't want to compare it too much with the other games until I'm near the end. So far, I'd say it's comparable to Blazing Blade, but I do like being able to freely wander around the map and return to shops to stock up on weapons and items between (most) chapters.

Of the other games I've beaten so far -- Blazing Blade, Shadow Dragon, and Path of Radiance -- I think I actually enjoyed Shadow Dragon the most. It has its flaws, and it's a little stripped back, but it also felt less gimmicky than Blazing Blade. For example, I don't really like the changing weather conditions that effect movement and visibility. Also, having a "magic triangle" is a little much, as there often isn't enough room on the team to have three types of magic users. In keeping things simpler, Shadow Dragon felt like it was more focused on the basic gameplay, and kept things interesting more through map and scenario design.

Also, here's an unrelated tweet I thought was funny.

[Leon]

Totally agree about the magic triangle bloat, it's even worse in some games with Fire, Wind, and Thunder being separate on top of the others. I think Awakening had a good balance with all tomes being considered magic, with Dark Mages and Sorcerers able to use a few tomes exclusively.

[nocturnal YL]

Well, I'm on the other side. I do like the trinity of magic and the detailed classification of magic (even though this means tomes cannot be used by other magic users, leading to situations like Rexbolt usable only by Ilyana). I do think it'd be better if it works in conjunction with the other weapon types rather than keeping it magic vs magic, like how it's done in Fates and Heroes.