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Post by Optimal Megatron on Jun 13, 2018 10:07:29 GMT -5
So FINALLY some info about this is out after the complete silent act over the last year. Looks like we'll be seeing a return of the fully voiced bits from FE Echoes, which is slick, and it's on the Switch which should give them some more horsepower to work with.
I kind of like the implication that "units" here will be just that. A unit of soldiers commanded by the character you click on rather than basically knowing every single person in the army on a first name basis. Dunno what it'll affect in the combat engine, but it also looks like we've got monster type enemies making a comeback as well.
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Post by Greatshot on Jun 13, 2018 22:58:37 GMT -5
Looks like the lovechild of Fire Emblem and Dragon Force (or Langrisser), and either way I'm totally on board with that. Also happy to see breakable weapons return and nary a forced romance in sight.
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Post by Optimal Megatron on Jun 14, 2018 11:43:59 GMT -5
I dunno, I liked Alm and Celica. Unless we're talking about Fates where you could kinda duck any of those if you just avoided S-ranks.
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Post by Greatshot on Jun 18, 2018 20:46:45 GMT -5
I never did get around to playing the remake of Gaiden. But Alm and Cecilia were canon even in the original if memory serves, so that would explain why it didn't feel forced. But yeah, the S-ranks = lurrrrve thing got old very quickly. It worked fine for Awakening because it was baked into the story but it felt like it had run its course after one game. At this point the only way I'm on board with that again if if it leads to a full remake of Geneology of the Holy War (which needs a remake anyways).
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Post by Optimal Megatron on Jun 18, 2018 22:17:49 GMT -5
Oh, well then yeah, I agree. The kid units felt excessive to Fates, to the point my Conquest run didn't use any of them and the plot didn't really feel like it changed.
A few of the S-ranks were good (I'm fond of Charlotte and Xander or Felicia and Leo) but a vast majority were very much "S-rank turns into marriage because we need child units!"
Amusingly, someone was noting how a FF6 remake would be problematic since it has to establish "canon" pairings from FE7's various options.... or they could make a combined FE6/FE7 two generational game where your S-ranks from the Lyn/Hector/Eliwood era would pass on traits like Awakening to the FE6 Roy era kids, preserving player "choice" in the narrative.
And I'd dig an updated release of Genealogy given Echoes was amazing and any remake with that much love poured in with efforts to modernize it would be cool.
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Post by Optimal Megatron on Aug 4, 2019 20:01:06 GMT -5
<play=Altered_Beast.mp3>
So, playing this and.... I seriously cannot put it down. The weapons triangle has been cut out (aside from unique skills that basically give it back to specialists via Lancebreaker/Swordbreaker/etc.), weapon durability is back but doesn't destroy a weapon upon overuse (it becomes "broken" with weaker stats and crappy acc until repaired), repairing broken weapons is a pittance once you really get going, the Divine Pulse rewind mechanic is a fairly good revision of FE: Echoes' Mila's Turnwheel, and the overall story and characters are just great all around. And then there's the class system.
Rather than set classes and set promotions, 3H does a great bit of playing into the academy setting by spending seals on taking the "certification exams" for a class, unlocking it for a unit. The skill rank requirements to pass the exam get higher as you go, with the sword variants here as an example.
Level 5: Myrmidon (Requires Sword D) Level 10: Mercenary (Requires Sword D), Thief (Requires Sword D) Level 20: Swordmaster (Requires Sword A), Hero (Requires Sword B, Axe C), Assassin (Requires Sword B, Bow C) Level 30: Mortal Savant (Requires Sword A, Reason/Anima Magic B+)
Each certification exam takes a different kind of seal for its level range, but you can have as many as you can afford and your students have the ranks to pass. Mastering a skill by using it enough in battle gets you a Mastery bonus which are abilities or combat arts. (Also, there's a recurring boss that carries 4 Dark Seals that give access to Dark Mage, Dark Bishop, and Dark Knight)
Abilities are basically Skills from Path of Radiance. You can have lots of them from different classes, but only can slot up to 5 in your unit's selectable list. Also, there's a personal ability which is unique to each unit, and potentially class skills (Fire for the Mage class, Canto for Cavaliers and Pegasi riders, Steal and Locktouch for Thieves, or Bowrange +1 for Archers).
Combat Arts are limited to 3 equipped at a time but are either special attacks (Knightkneeler for effective damage against cavaliers with lances, Grounder for effective damage against fliers with swords, Triangle Attack) or movement options (Shove, Draw Back, Reposition). Combat Arts take extra durability off a weapon and don't generally double, but they hit harder in a variety of ways. You learn them through various skill ranks and class masteries.
So far, I've run Black Eagles with Edelgard, and the plot is certainly laying out lots of bits of mystery that I'm curious to see where it goes. I've also used gifts and supports to recruit like, everyone but the probably four students from the other classes, but it's not a necessity since most of the classes have a fairly even spread.
The time management stuff reminds me of Persona 5 in a good way, and the teaching bits are actually fun in raising your units, especially with Budding Talents. Some units suck at learning one particular skill, but if you push it hard enough, they make a breakthrough and it becomes a strength. Not every unit has one, but for instance Edelgard is typically axes and heavy armor, but with enough effort, she can excel in Anima magic, and learns a unique +20 Crit with Black Magic ability. Bernadette is a pretty basic archer archetype, but focus on her Riding to push through the slump and she gets Pass. It's a fun system that encourages experimentation outside their default classes.
Overall, this is a REALLY fun game and I'm not even done with one route yet. I've still got Blue Lions and Golden Deer to go, and reviews are saying they diverge plotwise a LOT in the second half of the game, which is lots of replay value. I highly recommend it.
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Post by Greatshot on Aug 5, 2019 8:55:57 GMT -5
Huh, I'm glad to hear it. I've been on the fence about picking it up because I really haven't enjoyed the direction the series has been heading in (horny waifu simulator). Sounds like this gets back into the tactics and plotting that made me fall in love with it in the first place.
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Post by Optimal Megatron on Aug 5, 2019 17:20:53 GMT -5
A few other details I forgot when going over this - Class unlocks accumulate and swapping a unit's class, abilities, and combat arts are all free at the start of every battle, allowing you to tailor your army to the situation. - You get one story mission a month on the calendar, but have four weeks of prep time before it, to explore the monastarey and do social stuff, hold seminars to raise up skills, train your students, or do auxilary battles (and this is where paralogue side quests go) to level grind. On Hard, every battle has a cost in points that means you can't just do them over and over again, but on Normal, at least one aux map will have no cost, allowing you to level up alt class masteries or newly recruited students without being time-pushed into the dirt, freeing up experimentation. - New Game + is a thing, as your bonuses earned from spending Renown on the Saint Statues carry over, and allow you to spend Renown on things that you had when you finished your last game, like your professor level (getting you lots of activity points and training points for the school section early without having to grind as much) or support ranks (to recruit students faster in a different class), and skills you ground up on them last time. - The DLC pack only gives a new alt outfit for the Avatar at this point, but it's $25 for new DLC all the way through next April, including story content and new units. - The library in the monastarey will devour about an hour of your time just reading up on Fodlan history. The geopolitics are important to both the backstory and the lives of your students, and they spent a lot of time on it. I'm reminded a LOT of PoR and especially Radiant Dawn. - Durability goes UP with rank, so Silver weapons have more durability to abuse with combat arts than Iron, averting the super forged iron sword problem. However, holy relics have even more, but the costs for repairing them is SIGNIFICANTLY higher and harder to get, so they're your standard "save these for a good moment". The protagonist's special sword, however, restores 5 durability every time you give your students a day off to relax and regain Motivation for lessons. Feel free to ask any questions you got and I can answer them as best I can without spoiling it, but I suppose it says something that Uni's playing it too after getting beaten black and blue by the Tellius games, so accessibility is there.
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Post by Greatshot on Aug 7, 2019 13:39:34 GMT -5
A few other details I forgot when going over this - Class unlocks accumulate and swapping a unit's class, abilities, and combat arts are all free at the start of every battle, allowing you to tailor your army to the situation. - You get one story mission a month on the calendar, but have four weeks of prep time before it, to explore the monastarey and do social stuff, hold seminars to raise up skills, train your students, or do auxilary battles (and this is where paralogue side quests go) to level grind. On Hard, every battle has a cost in points that means you can't just do them over and over again, but on Normal, at least one aux map will have no cost, allowing you to level up alt class masteries or newly recruited students without being time-pushed into the dirt, freeing up experimentation. - New Game + is a thing, as your bonuses earned from spending Renown on the Saint Statues carry over, and allow you to spend Renown on things that you had when you finished your last game, like your professor level (getting you lots of activity points and training points for the school section early without having to grind as much) or support ranks (to recruit students faster in a different class), and skills you ground up on them last time. - The DLC pack only gives a new alt outfit for the Avatar at this point, but it's $25 for new DLC all the way through next April, including story content and new units. - The library in the monastarey will devour about an hour of your time just reading up on Fodlan history. The geopolitics are important to both the backstory and the lives of your students, and they spent a lot of time on it. I'm reminded a LOT of PoR and especially Radiant Dawn. - Durability goes UP with rank, so Silver weapons have more durability to abuse with combat arts than Iron, averting the super forged iron sword problem. However, holy relics have even more, but the costs for repairing them is SIGNIFICANTLY higher and harder to get, so they're your standard "save these for a good moment". The protagonist's special sword, however, restores 5 durability every time you give your students a day off to relax and regain Motivation for lessons. Feel free to ask any questions you got and I can answer them as best I can without spoiling it, but I suppose it says something that Uni's playing it too after getting beaten black and blue by the Tellius games, so accessibility is there. The fact it sounds like it's a return to what I feel in love with - I described the Tellius games as "Game of Thrones, but Nintendo" to a friend who got into them several years back (before GoT turned into a dumpster fire ), that they get into the politics and the world building and all of that excites me. I planned on picking it up eventually anyways, but it was more of a "do I buy it now or wait for a sale". Sounds like it's worth picking up when I get some free time.
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Post by Matrix Dragon on Aug 12, 2019 0:48:34 GMT -5
So, I borrowed Ashe for the month because I figured he might have some unique dialogue with his adoptive father...
... So, Critical Hits. Man, when they hit...
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