24 replies to this topic

[SteveT]

Ahem.

 

Hyyyyyyyyyype.

 

I am sadly still in hype mode.  Something went horribly wrong with shipping for the special edition.  But from all appearances, the order hasn't been canceled, so I've got that going for me, which is nice.

[JRPomazon]

According to the game, I've logged about 4 hours or so into it. According to an actual clock, I've been playing it for over 24 hours straight. Lots of screw ups in my tactics I'm afraid.

 

Anyway, the game is fun but it can be real rough on ya.

[Masamune]

I kinda wandered off with the last one. It seemed good, but it just didn't really grab me. Would you say it's worth trying this one if I didn't really care that much about Awakening?

[SteveT]

Which ones have you played, Masa?

 

According to the game, I've logged about 4 hours or so into it. According to an actual clock, I've been playing it for over 24 hours straight. Lots of screw ups in my tactics I'm afraid.

 

Sounds like someone picked Conquest.

[DarkJuno]

I was about a couple days late on trying to pre-order the Special Edition, so I grabbed Birthright for now, though unless the game suddenly makes a hard left turn in the end portions I'll inevitably buy the DLC version of Conquest and the third campaign later. Only just go past the Choice in Chapter 6, so I'm not too far in, but it's definitely good so far. There's not as much "newness" in this as there was for Awakening, but already the animations are improved and the transition from field screen to battle screen are a lot smoother and snappier, and overall the game play experience is just better despite being pretty much the same. I somehow missed that Enemy Units are now also able to support each other so that's a nice new wrinkle to watch out for later.

 

For all the people complaining about how it's going to cost you a minimum of $80.00 to get the entire game, I have to point out that you ARE getting a metric ass-load of game for that $80.00. The campaigns seem to only share the first 6 missions, and other then taking place on the same maps (and even then, not in the exact same order and from different points of view) they're completely different. I just ind it kinda neat that Awakening was supposed to be the last FE game since they weren't doing too hot anymore, but then since that game ended up selling like hotcakes, we now get this new game where they're sorta just going all in on developing and being pretty ambitious in splitting the story line and all that. Really looking forward to digging into this. Granted, i would've liked it if this ha come out at the beginning of my Vacation rather then in the last two days, but whatever.

 

As for the ability to "touch" your characters being taken out.......stand up for what you want to, but I don't know if that's the Hill you really want to die on when you take a stand against censorship editing.

[Masamune]

Which ones have you played, Masa?

 

 

I played the three GBA games and Ike's first game, but definitely preferred the GBA ones. 

[SteveT]

Based on what I've read, if you try Fates, you should play Conquest.  It was designed more for the old-school fans who got all salty about the changes in Awakening.  Because Awakening split the fanbase so hard Nintendo had to make two different games.

[JRPomazon]

The story in these games is a lot better than Awakening. I say this because Awakening kinda had a bit of a checkbox syndrome to it's plot:

 

Blue haired Lord whose totally not Marth? ✓

Evil empire plotting evil crap? ✓

Secret but not so secret cult trying to resurrect ancient evil? ✓

God Dragons, involved in any capacity? ✓

Divine weapons, involved in any capacity? ✓

 

 

You get the gist. I'm 13 chapters into this game and the dynamics of the families you have to choose from and the gravity of Avatar/Corrin's decisions feel like they have an impact. I kinda feel like there will be some of the check box I mentioned above brought into the plot of both stories but the game I really want to play is Revelations when it becomes available.

Edited by JRPomazon, 22 February 2016 - 04:42 AM.

[SteveT]

A shipping confirmation just appeared in my inbox.  Looks like I'm getting the Special Edition after all.

 

This has been a huge mess and a lot of people are pissed, but the important thing is I'm not screwed.

[canas is back]

SOOOOOO, here's my two cents on the whole thing.
 
The gameplay: it is fantastic, it has the challenge for those that want it while also creating a space for those who don't like that as much. I love the variety that conquest gives you (haven't played revelations, so I only know the story for it, not how it plays) and the refinement of various mechanics which have appeared through the lifetime of the series for both games. The castle is cool, I wish it had a little more going for it, but there is already a fair amount of stuff and so I am not going to complain too much.
People really don't like how the game was split, but when looking at the amount of content in each one it really is three separate games, being sold for a fairly reasonable price for a AAA game. 
There's a few things I wish were in the game but that actually ties in more with story aspects
 
now for story and characters: This is the area that I have a few gripes about.

 

Spoiler

like with king garon being a slime monster puppeted by the real evil, which is again, a omnicidal evil dragon, it makes the whole plot seem shallow and makes corrin and azura seem like idiots especially on the conquest side, with only their revelations selves making any sense with their plan.
75% of the interactions with hoshido seem like "oh isn't our glorious land of fantasy nippon fantastic!?!? we love peace and are just the best people in the world". Nohr doesn't do much better with just about everyone from there ranging from assholes to complete monsters, which makes it hard to deal with the conquest storyline and how it was handled

Character-wise I am happy with a few of the changes that NOA made to how the characters are portrayed, but hate others, of course the ones I hate the most were ones that in both the japanese version and the localized version are absolutely terrible. WE DID NOT NEED ANOTHER ******************* THARJA OR SEVERA, damn it irritates me that they literally recycled characters, like seriously if you want to do that at least try to make each one somewhat unique.

I want to go re do the whole dang story now...

[SteveT]

My copy came yesterday and I played way too much.
 
I'm playing on Hard mode this time and it is a beast. I actually decided to restart because I wasn't happy with my Corrin decisions. I gave her +Magic and - Defense, but then found out that the starting class is swords only.  That came to a head around Chapter 5 and between the awful stats and some XP I dropped on the floor in a blind panic when reinforcements showed up in Chapter 3, I decided I should try again.

Edited by SteveT, 24 February 2016 - 10:01 AM.

[canas is back]

dragon stone uses mag, and you can reclass later too, though using STR would probably be better.

[SteveT]

I have no regrets, and the whole thing only set me back like an hour.  -Def still sucks for a dragon.  The wyrmslayer guys in Chapter 5 were one-shotting her and that was completely unacceptable to me.  I also plan to keep everyone in their natural class, especially for Conquest.
 
When I got back to that chapter, I was much happier with the result.  Part of it was the realization that Rinka only looks tough and that I should have been using Kaze instead.  Part of it was better tactics.  Better Corrin was hardly a downside.
 
 
Now I have Arthur and Arthur is everything right and beautiful about America Nohr.

Edited by SteveT, 25 February 2016 - 05:32 PM.

[JRPomazon]

[SteveT]

Just finished Chapter 11 of Conquest.  The map design in this game is so damn good.  It's making me hate Awakening.

[canas is back]

awakening's level design was straight terrible, there was very little substance to it and it got really repetitive. 

[JRPomazon]

awakening's level design was straight terrible, there was very little substance to it and it got really repetitive. 

 

Agreed. All the missions, if not most, where to Rout the enemy. There was maybe one defense mission in a paraloge and that was it.

[canas is back]

there were two defense missions, and both those were secondary objectives, the first was the night assault, and the second was tiki def. one had kill the boss and the other was rout as a primary objective. There was a total of I think 4 defeat boss objectives in the game. 

[SteveT]

There's so much more to making varied and interesting maps than different victory conditions.  The victory conditions aren't even all that different in casual play.
 
Rout: Kill everything
Seize: Kill boss and however many enemies you want (all of them, unless you enjoy dropping XP on the floor).  Plays like rout.
Kill Boss: Plays like Seize, with the small exception of not having to move your lord across the map.  In most games, you'll do that anyway because the lord is a powerful and useful unit.
Escape: Plays like Seize unless there is a twist like strong enemies, overwhelming reinforcements, or a turn limit.  In other words, something that encourages you to want to leave the map as soon as possible.
Defend: Significantly different from the rest.
 
Making an interesting map, to me, hinges on the layout, enemy population, side objectives (such as villages), time pressures, or gimmicks (falling boulders, volcano levels, etc.).  That adds a lot more variety to maps than, "Oh, I'll hold off on killing this boss who doesn't move because I want to finish routing first."

Edited by SteveT, 01 March 2016 - 10:50 AM.

[SteveT]

I just finished Conquest.  So good, and I can't believe they made three Fire Emblem games at once.  The amount of content in this package is insane.

[canas is back]

Yeah, people complain that they split it, but it really is three separate games, of course people just complain.

[SteveT]

Part of the problem is that somehow the gaming media can't resist a Pokemon comparison, which is completely unjustified.  The fact of the matter is that the reaction to Awakening split the fanbase so hard that Intelligent Systems decided to make a game for each faction.

[Masamune]

Admittedly I felt like it was a bit of a cash grab splitting the games. But I take it this is more of an Oracles of Ages/Seasons deal instead. 

[SteveT]

Yeah, very much so.

 

Chapters 1-5 are identical (and very short).  Starting at Chapter 6, they diverge.  Different stories, different maps, different recruits, different gameplay focuses.  Even calling them different versions of Fates overstates the similarities.

 

One cool thing is that since the version you buy determines which side of the war your'e on, playable characters from the opposite game appear as bosses or enemy units fairly frequently.  They tend to be much tougher than standard mooks, and it adds to the dual game theme.  It's going to make me very sad when I play through Birthright and have to murder my old friends.

[canas is back]

really only things like classes remain the same, and usually your access is limited to the faction you are working with, minus some exceptions. Revelations gives you access to pretty much the full roster. 

 

It's really tough going through the other side and giving the units of the first run a good thrashing, especially since you know who they are and probably became attached to them

[SteveT]

It's entirely possible that I'm just burnt out on SRPGs after Conquest, but Birthright is not doing much for me (currently at Chapter 13).

 

- I actually liked Conquest's plot better, against the collective wisdom of the internet.  It wasn't super engrossing, but it was direct and focused and I like that in my video game stories.  By comparison, the Birthright plot is meandering.

- I much prefer beefy classes to speedy classes.  The Conquest cast clicked for me much better than Birthright.  Conquest has wyverns.  Birthright has pegasi.  That about sums it up.

- Conquest map design is some of the best the series has ever seen.  They all felt different from one another and were thought-engaging and challenging. Birthright tends towards the open fields where enemies rush you, as seen in Awakening.

 

So Birthright isn't hooking me nearly as strongly as Conquest did.  It's a shame.

[SteveT]

Birthright complete.  Maybe not as bad as I thought at first, but Conquest blows it away.

 

Revelation is on hold and/or a secondary game until after Dark Souls 3.  I'm thinking it's going to be a royals royale.  Nothing but nobles and their babies, though I do expect I'll want to grind up supports to get ALL THE BABIES.

[canas is back]

so I agree with you on the conquest portion of the map stuff, it really is best in series. I didn't like conquests story for some of the points on it rather than as a whole.

 

revelations is fun, it really does kinda highlight just how broken the royals and kids are, and eugenics simulator is in full force here you have access to all the best pairings stat wise you could ever ask for. Camilla giving Ryoma's kid not only a str boost but access to wyvrens? yes please! beruka and saizo's kid is pretty awesome as it's much the same and it doesn't matter how hard he actually hits as he gets both % hp damage abilities often able to soften bunches of dudes before anyone else gets there+ locksmith. Seriously the kids are bonkers just from one side but having total class access is insane

[SteveT]

I'll have to do some planning on the eugenics side.  Thanks for the Camilla/Ryoma tip.

 

I actually wasn't thinking about having any non-royals, but I guess I do need to make space for a ninja or outlaw because I'll need locktouch on somebody.  I'm actually more tempted to use Niles, because thematically he's the best guy best to defile an all-nobles team. with his pleasant seed.

 

Fortunately, bringing in Nina means I have an excuse to cut Takumi out of my roster.  Screw that guy.

[canas is back]

yeah really if you could give the royal weapon to a kid I would have given someone fujin yumi to his kid [as screwed over as they got] over keeping it on him. I still think that saizo>>niles, but that's due to the ninja class being better because daggers. 

 

 

but if you really really want to get into eugenic simulator fates edition 

http://serenesforest.../maximum-stats/

and 

http://serenesforest...s/growth-rates/

there's a hoshido and a revelations section as well. Some dudes aren't apparent that they have these weird bonuses, like saizo with a -2 to his speed cap as a ninja.