I'm waiting for someone who actually knows proper Japanese to do an analysis of this video, but in the meantime, I'll just be over here, "wat"-ing over and over and running around collecting cabbages from people.
I'm waiting for someone who actually knows proper Japanese to do an analysis of this video, but in the meantime, I'll just be over here, "wat"-ing over and over and running around collecting cabbages from people.
I don't blame you at all, milady. My first coherent thought after watching the whole thing was "Where the fudge did this come from?" (I don't even like profanity. I was just that stunned.)
Weird, but it seems like it's some optional side thing and not relevant to the main campaign, besides getting some weapons and training whatever that fish dragon thing is. I don't know what that fish dragon thing is supposed to be. The Severa clone looks lazy, but that's just judging from the design. What the hell is that fish dragon though?
The pokemon-amie face rubbing is too far though, lol.
I really like the fish dragon thing. The fact that it gains a level makes me think it might actually have a gameplay use outside of the Animal Crossing/Sim City/Weird Harem Ecchi Game "My Castle" area, which would be cool. Usually FE mythological creatures have been dragons, or mindless monsters that only appear on the enemy side, so a break from that is nice.
I'm still "wat"-ing over the face rubbing. Though I will admit that the shared bath thing is the best argument I've seen so far to actually playing through the game with a male avatar for once instead of always going female.
Still love Lilith! :3 Apparently, she's an Azure Dragon (perhaps baby), which is a type of dragon not previously seen in FE, though it is a type of dragon that features in Japanese and Chinese mythology.
The Severa clone doesn't get too much attention in Vincent's write-up except for pointing out her existence, but someone on the forums also pointed out an Inigo look-a-like, too, so it's possible these are some kind of Outrealms cameos or something. It's notable that both of those characters were top-rankers in the "FE:A Popularity Poll" done in Japan (you know, the one that determined which characters would get special art, etc. in the Scramble chapters), so it's possible that we'll see those others (Lucina and Owain for the second gen., and Chrom, Tharja, Gaius, and Cordelia for the parent gen.) as well, at least, if not a larger number of the cast.
The whole "My Castle" setup is a hell of a lot more complicated that I had realized when first watching the videos. There really is a lot of different things to do, between the accessories, and the shops, and the collecting things, and arenas, and convos, etc. etc.. I'm going to take a stab and guess that Phoenix Mode was mostly introduced for people who are interested in the game for its characters and "My Castle", but don't want to have to work hard at strategy and such to play the rest of the game. The fact that Phoenix Mode is only available for "Normal" (and not any of the harder difficulties), seems to support this.
I love the Kozaki-style art for Ike and Marth. Ike's still the only FE Amiibo I've been able to snag, but at least I can get him in-game.
Love the new characters we're seeing, too. I was kind of weirded out by Charlotte's look at first, but she's got a sick personality that should be lots of fun. I also lol'ed a bit at our anima-mage being the skimpy one this time around, and the dark mage being relatively modest. That said, I love the designs of both. Though... is it just me, or do we seem to be getting a larger than average amount of cleavage?
Seems like they've updated StreetPass battling quite a lot, but I still don't really have much of a desire to participate in it at all. I've never been much of a fan of PVP.
A lot of new weapons info, too; there's a breakdown in the forums there of what's been seen so far. Looks like 1-2 range weapons have gotten a significant nerf (probably for the best), and we're seeing some new things (like a 2-range only sword, apparently a throwing knife) and some old things coming back (reaver weapons \o/).
Kind of minor, but in a few shots we're able to see some of the Kamui designs and they're very nice! I love that the hair colour options are much brighter this time around.
Some new characters (including a Nohr werewolf shape-shifter as a counterpart to Hoshido's fox-boy Nishiki) and hints at things, and a lot of gameplay showing, which is nice! There's been so much focus on My Castle lately that we haven't seen a lot of gameplay footage. I haven't seen a full analysis yet, but there's some people chatting about a couple things over on SF. Vincent will probably get stuff up soon when he's awake.
I don't know if you guys have been following along with all the Famitsu articles, but this week's leak includes a Not!Inigo (Lazward) and a Not!Owain (Odin). Both these characters' appearances (though admittedly Not!Owain doesn't look as much like Owain as Not!Inigo and Not!Several look like their counterparts) and descriptions basically point to them being the same characters, or at least an uncanny similarity.
Until/Unless a new, better explanation comes along, my head canon is that all 3 characters are actually the "Good Future" children from FE:A (as in, the actual babies that are born to the parent generation after the events of the game have ended, not the kids that came back to the future). To keep them separate from the Future Kids, they were given different but similar names (all of the names have a connection to their original name in Japanese), and then later these kids traveled around (perhaps through the Outrealms?) and ended up in Nohr.
It remains to be seen if these are the only FE:A "homages" we'll get. Of note is that all 3 of the children characters were the top-rated ones in a Japanese poll, along with Lucina who may or may not get a counterpart since she's already available via Amiibo DLC (also if my head canon ends up being correct, Lucina would need to be a ruler and couldn't just traipse around to other countries on a whim). There's also the "most popular" parent generation that could make a cameo of some kind as well (Gaius, Cordelia, Tharja, Chrom), though, honestly, I hope the Awakening pandering ends here.
Also, for those who are following along with FE: Cipher news, the 2nd series has been formally announced for release this September and is already in the top-sellers of AmiAmi. Series 2 will feature FEif characters, and has 2 starter packs again, one for Hoshido and one for Nohr. Because I am a terrible person, I bought one of each deck and also a booster box and will be offering duplicates available for sale/trade for anyone interested when the time comes.
So, according to a Nintendo Dream leak, it appears that not only are S Supports and Marriage present in Fates (which was also confirmed on the cover of Dengeki, I heard), we will also have the children mechanic coming back in some fashion. The top of this page shows a relationship progression between Kamui and Felicia, with the large shot in the middle having their daughter, Kanna. The bottom section shows Tsukuyomi and Orochi and also their daughter, Shara.
It's not yet known for sure if this is real or a hoax. Dream comes out on the 20th, so we won't have long to wait. However, people who are much more knowledgeable about this kind of thing than I am are leaning towards it being true.
I'm not sure what to think, personally. I expected S Supports and Marriage to likely make a return, but recruitable kids... it's a cool mechanic and all, but I'm concerned about the narrative justification. I really, really, hope it isn't time travel again. With what info we have now, it feels shoehorned in just to make the Awakening crowd happy, and I'm not sure if that's good for the game as a whole. But, I'll withhold my judgment until we get more info. So long as there's no time travel shenanigans, I'll probably be happy.
Also hilarious theory: What if the Tharja-looking kid (Shara) is supposed to be like Tharja and we'll also have Cordelia- and Gaius-looking kids as a counterpart to the Awakening kids being regular adults in this one?
So apparently copies of FE: Fates have snuck into the wild and people are now now playing them/releasing all the spoilers. All the children characters have been released (or leaked maybe? I don't know, but their faces are out there) with some very interesting tidbits to how the marriage system plays out this time around. Anyways I'll post pictures of the children in a spoilers below:
EDIT: I'd also like to note that Leo has a son according to the game data.
Thanks for the image update! Ahahahahaha, I totally called Not!Gaius and Not!Cordelia appearing to match Not!Tharja. And Not!Gaius is the son of one of my favourite Hoshido characters, too, so that's pretty great.
I've been following along with some of the game information for the past couple days, but I'm trying to avoid story spoilers, so it's hard. I love seeing character portraits and getting mechanics information and the like, though. Such risk.
Okay so a very, and I mean very, interesting spoiler has surfaced regarding those familiar faces we see in the Nohr campaign (aka the children look-a likes from Awakening). The A-support between Odin (Not-Owain) and Lazward (Not-Inigo) basically explains why they look the way they do. Do not open the spoiler unless you want to be spoiled, pretty big spoilers are present.
LAZWARD: Odin.
ODIN: Lazward... What's the matter? Why the somber face?
LAZWARD: Are we really the people we are? Are our memories real?
ODIN: Huh...? What's gotten into you?
LAZWARD: It's been a while since we came here, hasn't it. Both you and I, Odin. We've become Marx and Leon's servants, and started acting like we were always here.
ODIN: So you're saying it feels like we've become different people?
LAZWARD: Yeah. This world, the people, and even our names, they're all different, and it makes me think, maybe our memories of the other world were all a dream. That maybe our other selves are long dead, and we're totally different people from them...
ODIN: Don't be ridiculous, man. That other world undoubtedly existed, and you are exactly who you are. Once our duties here end, we need to go back. If either of those worlds is a dream, it would have to be this one.
LAZWARD: It's like we've always been dreaming, isn't it?
ODIN: ...
LAZWARD: Hey, remember when our very first world was destroyed? After that... we managed to reunite with our moms in the next world, and fought until we defeated the evil dragon.
ODIN: Yeah, how could I ever forget? That feeling the moment we slayed that dragon... I can't even put it into words.
LAZWARD: It was fun being in that world, wasn't it? Searching for tiaras, getting chased by bears...
ODIN: Hahaha... that really takes me back. Of course I remember it all. It's not something you dreamed up.
LAZWARD: Yeah, when I talk to you, I understand. I'm glad I didn't come alone this time. If I had... I might not be able to bear it.
ODIN: Lazward...
LAZWARD: Thanks for listening, Odin. It really helped. I guess that technically fulfills the promise we made way back, huh?
ODIN: Promise? What promise?
LAZWARD: That festival way back when, right? You said you'd gimme a shoulder to lean on in hard times.
ODIN: Ah... that's right.
Oh, it's almost time to move out. Let's go, Azur[Inigo].
LAZWARD: Huh!? What did you just-
ODIN: What's the matter, Azur of the Blue Skies? Didn't catch me saying your real name? Nothing wrong with that every once in a while, is there? There's nobody else around. Not even Serena[Severa] would have a problem with that... I hope.
LAZWARD: Ah... ahahaha... Thanks... Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better now.
ODIN: Alright, you've finally smiled. That's a better look for you. You look your best with a smile... You always have.
LAZWARD: You too, Eudes[Owain]. You haven't changed a bit either. No matter where we go, we'll still be ourselves.
I don't know if it's been brought up before, but Fire Emblem 7 (title: Fire Emblem) and Fire Emblem 8 (title: Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones) are available on the Wii U Virtual Console. If you're in Europe, Fire Emblem 11 (title: Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon [a remake of the first game]) is also available. If you're looking to explore the older Fire Emblem games, this is a great opportunity!
It's a great opportunity to explore the GBA games for those who haven't yet, yes; Blazing Sword (the unofficial subtitle of 7 since it was just called "Fire Emblem" in the west) and Sacred Stones are both strong games in their own right, and I've played both multiple times. 7's got a cool bonus mode when you complete the game once that lets you play the main story over from a different character's point of view, changing things up a bit and adding some new chapters and characters and a bit more difficulty. 8 has a cool split-path in the middle that lets you follow one of the 2 main lords for a slightly different story for the middle portion of the game. It's a pretty short game over all, but it's also got some cool extras, like a tower full of monsters that you slowly unlock.
Shadow Dragon... well, it's a very uninspired remake of a game from the early 90s. Opinions on it are kind of divided, but I was so apathetic about it that I didn't even bother finishing to play it. It's not that I disliked it, really, it just failed to hold my interest. It's got updated graphics from the NES, but kind of a bare-bones, boring story that wasn't really updated or added to or anything, so it just doesn't feel up to the increased standards of the games made after it.
I'm just crossing my fingers that Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn make their way to the eShop soon. I own both, so it doesn't really affect me, but they're both expensive and/or difficult to find, and also more involved to ROM than the GBA games, which makes it harder for people to play them.
Don't know if anyone here is interested or not, but I've gotten my FE Cipher cards in and they're so amazing. The art is really super awesome with a large variety of art styles and artists, so it's a very interesting look at all of the characters. Pull rates are pretty good too; each booster box comes with 16 packs including 12 holo R cards and 4 SR cards. The SR cards are textured like Pokémon Full Arts. Each box also comes with a + card that is either a gold font print or (rarely) has a gold signature from a voice actor. I pulled a signed card of Robin and I was so happy because it was the one I wanted the most. ;~; I even decided to buy a second box.
The game itself looks really cool, but I'm just collecting, not playing. My memory is too poor to try and memorize enough stuff to play a game I can't even read. >_>
If anyone else here is interested in collecting or playing, I plan on trading Cipher cards here on PokéBeach in my Marketplace thread. I'm also willing to trade them for Pokémon cards, or sell them for money, for people who aren't planning on buying their own booster boxes but would like to get some cards of art of characters they like or whatever. :3
AmiAmi is selling booster boxes and starter decks, and they also have pre-orders up for the second series, too, which is coming out in September.
I've been playing through Fates and chatting about it with some other members elsewhere, so I thought it would be a good idea to bump up this thread!
Fire Emblem Fates has been out in in NA for several months now, in PAL for a couple months, and is now revealed to be the first FE to be officially release in South Korea later this year! So, Fire Emblem fans, what are you impressions about Fates?
For me, I started off playing Conquest since the characters and gameplay intrigued me more than Birthright. Also, I wanted to play a Normal/Classic version of it to get used to the new mechanics and such, whereas I was planning on jumping right into Hard for both Birthright and Revelations.
In terms of characters, I was overall pretty pleased. A lot of the characters I liked pre-game (Niles, Xander, Elise, !Inigo) I was pleasantly surprised with in game as well, especially Niles who ended up being much more useful in combat than I had expected. I ended up marrying Xander, mostly for fun. There were also some characters that I ended up loving despite not really thinking about them much before playing (Arthur, Izana, Silas) and some characters whose opinions changed for the better (mostly Leo, who I thought was very overhyped pre-release but ended up being a pretty cool dude anyway). The biggest disappointment was Camilla; I still think she's hot, and she's useful and an excellent mom, but her totally Corrin-focused personality was a huge turn-off. Jakob also was kind of disappointing.
In terms of story, well... let's spoiler that, just in case.
The plot ended up being a lot better than I thought it would be, probably because I heard so many people talking crap about it and I expected it to be awful, but it wasn't awful, just not great. The foundation for the story is pretty interesting, giving Corrin a reason to fight on the side of a country he/she does not agree with morally, and had there been more detail and less plot holes, it actually has the potential to be something interesting. It would have greatly benefited from a GBA-/Tellius-like narrator that explained things in between each chapter to keep things straight and give more insight and explanation to the world.
The biggest downside to the plot, in my opinion, is Corrin's place in it. Seriously, Conquest Corrin is so blindly naive they make Eirika from Sacred Stones look mature and level-headed. I headcanon a much more ruthless Corrin.
The second biggest downside was Takumi as the final boss, which just felt so... anti-climatic.
Gameplay was pretty good, though a bit more gimmicky and fiddly than I expected. There's a LOT more stuff to keep track of than in previous games, with all of the seals and the weapon buffs and debuffs. The levels themselves were mostly interesting, though I could do with fewer uses of the Dragon Vein mechanic, which basically just served to introduce a level gimmick. It feels a lot different from previous games and I'm still on the fence about what I think of it compared to some of the earlier FE games that had top tier gameplay. The new pair up is definitely fun, though. I find myself using attack stance more in the early part of the game to help certain units get kills, then switch to guard stance later game for stronger EP presence.
I do have a few gripes, the main one being S supports and kids being tacked on needlessly and poorly. I expected these things to be awful, and they met my expectations easily. It's pretty clear that these parts of the games were only included because they were popular mechanics in Awakening and they didn't really no what to do with them or how to integrate them properly into the story at all. The private quarters stuff is cringy even without the face rubbing, and the kids are awfully explained and easily forgettable.
Other main complaint is the social gimmicky stuff with My Castle. They could have easily done a PVP system or whatever without having to do all of the silly resource gathering things or whatever that make me feel like I'm playing a crappy free-to-play mobile game whenever I'm in between chapters. Using ore and food for benefits doesn't add anything meaningful to the game, it just forces you to go online and waste time by visiting other people's castles to get resources and is nothing but time bloat. The main redeeming factor of the My Castle stuff is bond units, which are just silly fun. I've never actually used any of my bond units in game before, but I love seeing what classes and skills I get whenever I make a new unit with someone. Sometimes they're pretty random, other times I've gotten some really good skill combinations, like a Wyvern Rider with Replicate and Draconic Hex.
After I finished Conquest, I moved onto Birthright. Hard/Classic BR is significantly easier than Normal/Classic CQ, and I expect Hard/Lunatic will be the same, so that should be fun.
Pre-release, I was less interested in the Birthright characters overall compared to Conquest, but there are still some that I appreciate. I learned to really love Azama, and there were some other good ones as well, like Ryoma, Sakura (who reminds me a lot of a younger me), Oboro and Kaze. Most of the others I don't have too strong of an opinion on, at least not yet. I'm kind of conflicted about Takumi because I really disliked him in CQ but he's better in BR, though my initial impression is having a hard time wearing off.
In terms of story...
I'm actually in the apparently small camp of people that thinks Conquest's plot is better than Birthright's. The BR plot felt very boring and was both too-quick and slow-paced at the same time. Like CQ, it would have greatly benefited from a narrator. It was very straight-forward and the few times it tried to be shocking, I don't really think it had the intended effect. Xander was a very poor Camus, and in fact the whole situation of most of the sibs fighting you under dubious circumstances felt very felt and unnatural. Elise's death was, I feel, foreshadowed a bit too heavily and I called it a few chapters early. The whole deal with Azura's singing and disappearance at the end was awkward and felt like a commercial for Revelation.
So I guess I feel like both plots were executed poorly but the CQ plot had more potential to be interesting than the BR plot. I do attribute some of this feeling to expectations, though; just like how I expected CQ to be worse than it was, since I actually kind of liked CQ's plot and everyone was saying that BR's plot is better, I expected more from it than I got.
At least BR Corrin wasn't as bad as CQ Corrin.
For gameplay, it was basically exactly what I expected from pre-release info, lots of open boss/rout maps without a lot of variation. I did a lot of messing around and I can think of any levels that were particularly difficult. CQ definitely wins as far as gameplay is concerned, but that doesn't mean BR was bad, just not as interesting.
I finished up Birthright a couple weeks ago and I'm currently in the middle of Revelation, in between chapters 20 and 21 while I grab some kids and mess around. After I got yesterday's DLC, I made Kiragi a Ballistician for lols and it's a shame that the class kind of sucks because it's amusing as hell. I'll give a more detailed opinion on Rev when I'm done with it, though for now it seems like it's mostly a combination of the gimmickiness from CQ and the ease of BR.
Speaking of DLC, haven't really played a lot yet, unless Revelation counts but I snagged a Special Edition so it was just a part of the game for me. Did Beyond Awakening a few times to grinds Supports in CQ and did Boo Camp once, but that's about all. I did buy the whole first Map Pack though and planning on buying the rest of the DLC, too, I've just been more focused on playing the main games, especially since I've been on vacation and busy so it's taking me longer to play through than I would have initially thought.
I guess that's enough wall-of-text for now. >_> But I'd like to see other people opinions of the games here!
Also, you all should totally take part in my playthrough. >.> <.<
