Board 8 > Fire Emblem Topic 6: Overdoing things a bit??

(+) Yeah! (+)

Actually, now that I looked it up, turns out that the dancer and the character I was thinking of are the same character. So yes, that character is the most messed up thing Kaga has ever done.

Edit: I went back and looked at the pictures, and it's a different character from the dancer earlier.

That dude actually came back to try and do it again with another healer and she just did not even realize what was happening, nor care. She got pissed when Attrom took the guy out because she wanted to dance, dammit!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/3/5/AAeolZAAED8f.jpg

9 minutes raw.

https://youtu.be/2nQwAMSO9wM

Obviously not enough to get finer details, but something of note for those worried about the overpowered nature of Engaging: Alear with Marth, using his Dragon boosted 9 hit Lodestar Rush skill, was not able to 1 round an early game axe knight boss. 3x9 is nothing to scoff at early game, but it's not the insanity some of the other previews over the past months have implied. I'm assuming a lot of prerelease video has intentionally been cut in a way to make the abilities look more overpowered than they actually are.

Man, there's just nothing about this game that looks appealing to me.

NBIceman posted...

Man, there's just nothing about this game that looks appealing to me.

Can I change your mind with....THIS??

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/1/8/AAeolZAAED9y.jpg

What I'm learning from these media snapshots is probably a net positive to me and I'm still looking forward to playing it in a couple of weeks (assuming there isn't a demo before then). That Digital Foundry video really brings into focus how much of a graphical improvement this is over Three Houses (even though, yes, it's still a Switch game) and the animations are looking about as close as we've come to recapturing the charm of the 2D sprites in a 3D format. Multiple journalists have been complimenting the maps too, which is promising. Hopefully they mean design-wise rather than just visual diversity.

I've long accepted not everything is going to be to my personal taste, but that's fine. If early indications of the plot and humour are any indication, I'm probably not going to love it. It seems broadly straitlaced shonen anime style and hopefully not all the jokes are in the vein of Alcryst begging for forgiveness like in that first video. I was also a little disappointed that the hyper class flexibility is back. I was hoping this one would go back to more of a unit/class identity again, so I guess I'm just crossing my fingers that I can play through the game with minimal crossclassing without missing any obvious perks that the game is expecting you to capitalise on, especially if learning new skills seems to come from Emblems rather than swapping classes. I'm sure none of the reviewers saying the game feels a little easy are playing on Hard, so I'm not too worried about that.

I forget which one, but one of the videos I saw (it may not even be one of the ones I posted) had someone who claims to be a longtime fan saying they had to restart maps several times on hard, and that's only withing the first 8 chapters they had access to. Also said they AI was pretty tricky sometimes, at least on hard, always going for weapon breaks immediately and sometimes not going for the attacks at all even in range, and instead moving to cover tiles.

Honestly the break feature sounds scarier the more I think about it. There's probably going to be some late game maps where enemy baiting just ain't going to be viable without being punished for it. The lower damage martial artist classes are going to be all the more important.

https://www.eurogamer.net/fire-emblem-engage-is-a-proud-celebration-of-all-that-came-before-it

Engage reminds me more of Fire Emblem Awakening,

hmm

Kind adjust been chugging through, but a TearRing update.

Overall still liking it. Definitely a lot of ups and downs, very inconsistent. Some maps are great, others are some franchise worsts, and I don't know why Kaga thought the stage gimmick was going to make anyone happy.

Surprisingly, the extensive character treatment is what's got me coming back. There's a lot more casual conversation and side moments than per FE games tides to have. I wouldn't say any characters are standing out to me as all time classics by any means, except for Holmes, who's genuinely great. Bow Lord for life, though he can use swords now that he's promoted.

If you want to give votes for the Fire Emblem Heroes: Choose Your Legends poll, you are free to do so.

https://twitter.com/FE_Heroes_EN/status/1611195859538161664

Just know that all past winners are ineligible, which you can know who previously won from scrolling down on the front page.

https://vote7.campaigns.fire-emblem-heroes.com/en_us

These are the characters that were closest to winning the last time around.

Bernadetta 19,335
Corrin (Female) 14,673
Hilda 13,205
Azura 10,260
Robin (Female) 8,737

Felix 19,117
Soren 17,416
Robin (Male) 11,584
Byleth (Male) 10,102
Yuri 7,896

Just spent an hour and a half dividing up units, money, gear and items got the final route split.

Not really comparable to the 1 to 2 hours of FE4 management per map, which I actually love doing, but at least it still feels good to get it done.

I'm raising just as many units as I was in FE4, but it's through normal procedures rather than home castle arena shenanigans, so it's some tough calls!

I imagine I'll merge again finally before the end.

Polygon Engage preview less social elements more SRPG action with tons of map variation

Okay now I'm more interested

KAGA CUBE

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/0/2/AAeolZAAEEDy.jpg

Got my preorder email from Nintendo.

2 weeks!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/9/1/AAeolZAAEELb.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/9/2/AAeolZAAEELc.jpg

The overall narrative is pretty mid due to the story being far too large to be contained in this game (seriously this should have been a franchise with books), but there are just a while bunch of really good individual moments throughout. There's a lot of similarities here between Sacred Stones and TearRing that I think are actually hadled better here.

I'd go as far as to say the Sacred Stones team may have been looking pretty closely at this game...

I think this scene says it all about this game being overstuffed.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/8/1/AAeolZAAEEM1.jpg

The players in this scene are incredibly important, and the events therein just as much so.

One character missing was just killed, the enemy we've been building to for most of the game, and now he's put of the picture. Nobody in the part ever met him, and he's never been on screen.

The other major antagonist at the top is now appearing on screen for the first time. The guy on the floor has had a few scenes and is important, but still hasn't been around a ton. The characters at the bottom my main party has never met, and Holmes party met once but didn't really talk to. All incredibly important for the plot. None of the characters at the top of this screen have ever met any of the games main characters.

It's a game in desperate need of supplemental content. I'm not saying none of it works, and the idea that machinations are happening around the continent that you aren't involved with even though it involves the same goals isn't bad, in fact it's richer for the narrative, but there just isn't enough overlap here.

BRUH PLZ

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/9/7/AAeolZAAEEOp.jpg

Okay that's actually really funny.

All these fuckers can do a 3x3 square breath attack, too, so it's not like you can wall block!

So I had a staff....that I though instant killed an adjacent monster. I never looked at it close, but turn 1 here I looked at it again. Free Dragon kill, right?

Thats not what it does.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/2/3/AAeolZAAEEPD.jpg
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https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/2/5/AAeolZAAEEPF.jpg

Turn 1...complete!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/5/4/AAeolZAAEERG.jpg
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rekt

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/8/5/AAeolZAAEERl.jpg

Kaga slipping in that last meme unit.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/9/2/AAeolZAAEERs.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/9/3/AAeolZAAEERt.jpg

Man, this postgame followup and dialogue variation based on actions/deaths/paths/events is DENSE. Kinda makes me less tolerant of that symbolsalad I got after beating FE4.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/0/8/AAeolZAAEER8.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/0/9/AAeolZAAEER9.jpg
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https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/1/3/AAeolZAAEESB.jpg

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/2/1/AAeolZAAEESJ.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/2/2/AAeolZAAEESK.jpg

This thing really came together at the end.

I had a blast playing TearRing. Every once in a while there was a map that just had me shaking my head, but there were plenty of exciting ones too. Even the treasure desert had a fun gimmick.
The game also has a pretty slow start, and theres some clumsiness throughout you gotta deal with. Excess exposition can get frustrating at times, the game clearly was planned to be larger than it ended up being even though it has the highest chapter count in the franchise as far as I am aware, but the contents of that exposition were solid. Great ending too, I think. Unironically the only good Lord romances in all of Fire Emblem, and that goes for both Runan and Holmes!

Mechanically, the game had some fresh ideas but is still FE at its core. The split routes had some pros and cons for surr, but a of it could be fixed with a cleaner UI. Honestly other than FE4 of course, this is the game most deserving/in need of a remake.

Despite the flaws holding it back here and there, I cant help but give the game high praise. Literally all I know about Berwick is that it has hexes, and is very much NOT a followup to this game, which is actually sad to hear. Ironic, since early on I was considering dropping this for now and just going straight to it!

Holmes is a real one.

1.Geneology of the Holy War
2. Three Houses
3. Radiant Dawn
4. Path of Radiance
5. Thracia 776
6. Sacred Stones
7. Blazing Sword
8. TearRing Saga
9. New Mystery of the Emblem
10. Conquest
11. Birthright
12. Shadow Dragon
13. Echoes
14. Awakening
15. Binding Blade
760. Revelations

So I'm not going to be going all in on Berwick since Engage is so close, and patch 6.3 for FFXIV hits in a few days anyways. I'm going to at least get it going though, figured I'd do the first chapter, get a feel for what's going on, figured it can't be all that different. Thought I'd go ahead and do the first chapter tonight, even if I go to sleep a little late as a result!

......It's very different. I cannot do this tonight.

I haven't even started playing, but I'm just going to leave some of these extremely helpful tool tips from before you even start playing here without comment. I don't even want to imagine the horror I would have experienced without clicking to this menu, some of these have me bugeyed.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/4/2/AAeolZAAEESe.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/4/3/AAeolZAAEESf.jpg
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https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/5/0/AAeolZAAEESm.jpg

Fire Emblem Heroes uses the Simultaneous Turn System for its live PvP mode called Summoner Duels.

I unironically love the mechanic where a unit's horse can take damage and die. That's unadulterated Kaga right there.

On the other hand, spear might being "x + yH" sounds like something you'd read on a shitty Magic the Gathering card from Homelands.

Ugh I tend to hate games that do the alternating turn thing personally

Alright, got that first chapter under my belt.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/3/4/AAeolZAAEEaK.jpg

Right off the bat, I understand the argument that this game doesn't actually belong
on a list of ranked FE games. Unlike Tear Ring, which was literally FE6B, the
mechanics here are pretty drastically a departure. Not enough for me TO
COMPLETE seperate it, however. Had the franchise proper not instead reaped back
to sage simplicity on the GBA, I could see this as the potential path the
franchise went down.

The game is gorgeous. I love the map, and I cant show this here but there was no reason to have this many frames of animation at all times. Even the idle sprites on the map are going nuts. Based on just the heal spell, Kaga is back on his nutso magic casting as well. Aesthetically this is all a big step up.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/3/5/AAeolZAAEEaL.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/3/6/AAeolZAAEEaM.jpg

There's
a lot of weird thing to get used to. Horse HP I haven't actually noticed yet,
but having to dismount to enter building is unavoidable. This actually has a
propose, the building you enter in chapter 1 actually has you fighting and enemy
inside.

Whats got me the most flustered by far is that combat yields NO experience other than the kills. Chipping enemies, which is most combat since everything is bulkier, will both wear durability and build weapon EXP. There is very little to look up for this game outside of character guides, no guide proper at all from what I can find, but I know weapon exp is IMPORTANT. Everything is split, crossbows and bows, spears and lances, all different weapons. Its basically the Mastery stat but split up between every weapon type, it makes up like half your stats. And PROMOTIONS are tied to this, at least a bunch of them are. So while, yes, your level 22 Jeigan wont top you of exp since even he isnt one shotting most things, its still not best to rely.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/3/7/AAeolZAAEEaN.jpg

A close second is the lack of a universal counterattack. Counter is an ability characters have and can learn, and apparently only a small number of them, so baiting is nothing like what youd be used to. From what I can see, character individuality is very extreme here, and skills are what your army is built around. Growth rates are a joke, youre EXPECTED to get more 0 stat levelups (not that anyone even leveled up in this chapter) with the potential exception of HP.

Honestly? SUPER interested. I still havent gotten a hold of everything here, like how ranges really work, but Im going to really look forward to getting into this further.eventually.

https://youtu.be/034rjLLd7aM

Honestly some super interesting personal skills here that I can't wait to utilize in combination with eachother.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

A close second is the lack of a universal counterattack. Counter is an ability characters have and can learn, and apparently only a small number of them, so baiting is nothing like what youd be used to. From what I can see, character individuality is very extreme here, and skills are what your army is built around.

Sounds like Triangle Strategy may have taken a lot of inspiration from this game.

Don't most SRPGs lack a universal counterattack? My experience has been that FE is pretty unique in letting you always counter, especially since it lets you do it at full power.

Yeah my post was probably pretty dumb. I'm just playing TS right now so that's where my mind went while reading that.

It's not the standard but considering the direct FE lineage it stands out!

Honestly there aren't a lot of game out that that are even like Fire Emblem, at least as a primary source of inspiration. Nearly all strategy RPGs are much closer to aping the TO/FFT formula, FE clones are extremely limited.

There's Dark Deity, and....The Banner Saga?

There are some that I'd call closer to FE, but still not terribly similar, like:

Shining Force
Warsong/Langrisser
Zone of the Enders: The Fist of Mars
Super Robot Wars (at least some of them)

For newer games, there's stuff like:

Banner of the Maid
Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga

And X-COM goes... somewhere in this comparison. Idk.

Never heard of either of those newer ones! The latter is PC only of course, but I dunno why I haven't seen the former

I've been busy this weekend so I just caught up with the topic. Looks like you didn't get Juni's event, so here's a reddit post that sums up the most messed up thing Kaga did: https://old.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/9yvv7c/kaga_really_does_do_it_first_juni_fes_first/

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/4/2/AAdMiTAAD2IO.jpg

Yeaaaaah. Not great, to put it mildly.

I'm just boucing around similar games in the genre waiting for Engage to hit just to clean up tutorials and the like for when I eventually get to then.

This is the second time I've struggled to stay awake getting through these Triangle Strategy cutscenes....and I don't mean trying again front the start, I mean I've been trying to get through the same string of cutscenes after the tutorial battle now for ages.

This is just soooooooo booooooring lol.

Mewtwo59 posted...

I've been busy this weekend so I just caught up with the topic. Looks like you didn't get Juni's event, so here's a reddit post that sums up the most messed up thing Kaga did:

Hmm Gamefaqs doesn't like GIFs so just imagine the Ratatouille reading meme here

I'm becoming more and more open to the conspiracy theory that they're hiding child units in Engage and Veyle is totally Alear's Lucina. She's got the red and blue stuff going on with the wings and they haven't talked about her at all.

I'm still only putting it at like a 10% chance, but I'm not longer ruling out the possibility.

Still doing the new info runaround for Engage. Something I'm delighted to hear is that poison, which most daggers inflict, isn't traditional poison, but is instead a defuff effect. Basically this means the Fates daggers are back, and as I said that was one of the things I wanted them to keep from Fates the most! It doesn't look like daggers are universally 1-2 anymore, but I'm sure we'll get a couple.

I hated all the debuff shit in Fates but daggers were definitely the best implementation of it. If it's just daggers and not also skills/every silver weapon/etc I'd be okay with it.

So far it looks specifically to be daggers and knives, I haven't seen it anywhere else or mentioned in any skills that have been shown through footage so far.

Daggers vs Knives might also be the 1 range vs 1-2 range decider, but I've yet to actually track down an item listing description for either to confirm (All the Yunaka footage so far has her attacking from 1 range, though).