You know Sombron's story is terrible when there's a theory that the Zero Emblem is Shouzou Kaga and it actually makes sense.
lmao that'd make a whole lot of sense actually
Okay, after thinking a bit more about it: Things I Like
The combat feels satisfying and almost always fair (I played in Hard), the game gives you a lot of tools to play around with
The animations are fluid and varied, making each battle fun to watch
Things I'm Mixed On
The Emblem system. It's mostly good, but man I wish the explanation was clearer on which skills are automatically active when you're synced and which ones go active when Engaged. I eventually got it, but it took some time. Also not all of them are well-balanced. Does anyone use Dodge Up?
Also about the Emblem, I think having each Emblem having Bond conversations with all characters is just gratuitous and they're not really emotionally impactful anyway. It just makes raising Bond levels more tedious.
The subsystems -- some of them feel a bit detached, like the Tower of Trials, or polishing rings.
Somniel itself. It's not as big as Garreg Mach and some activities (cooking, Arena) always feel worth it to do, but it's still a bit of a drag later on when I was farming Gold
Forging. It's fun, but the money problems make it prohibitively expensive. I like forging killer weapons a lot.
No more weapon endurance except for staves. It makes managing the equipment easier in some ways, but I keep forgetting to restock staves.
The characters. A lot of them are fun and quirky, like 3H amped up, but it feels uneven at times. Some of them are still dour and serious. Like the cast comes from different FE games (which is funny considering the Emblems DO come from different FE games).
The character design. Some are okay and like 'FE, but cooler (e.g. Diamant, Kagetsu)', but others went way overboard
Things I Dislike
How hard it is it to get Gold, it's miserable and basically you need to build Anna to have a decent experience farming it
Level scaling on skirmish is wack, they're always harder than the main quests...
The story is mostly either too cliche or too melodramatic... On surface, it's just Good vs. Evil, which might be okay if they go all out with it, but then they undercut it by having boo hoo tragic backstories for the villains at the last moments before their death
That you have to have an NSO subscription to access the Relay trials
No S-ranking support nor paired epilogues for anyone except Alear, boo!
Yunaka is great. She was my favourite character from the game.
Sombron is a whole lot of nothing.
Every paralogue spent on an Emblem is a paralogue that could have been dedicated to a side characters. Royals aside, characters kinda just disappear if you don't use them. Supports are a bit rough to grind for even if you do use a character. Like I didn't field Bunet in my first run so I knew almost nothing about the guy. Lindon really gets hurt by this since people don't really use him and his supports are hilarious.
IIRC if you got to the screen where you equip skills it will tell you what Emblem skills are Sync skills and which are Engage skills.
Are you planning to play the DLC?
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My bracket looked like random picks compared to his. Congrats to azuarc for winning the GotD 2020 Guru Contest!
Supports are a bit rough to grind for even if you do use a character.
Yeah, I read that they only added the Somniel activities (orchard, stable, and swimming pool) in one of the post-launch patches. It must've been really rough before.
TeamRocketElite posted...
Are you planning to play the DLC?
Leaning no. I heard the story's kinda bad and the gameplay is ridiculously hard (on Hard and above, not sure if Normal is manageable). Also with the $30 price tag (and my country's horrible exchange rate), I think I'd rather play something else.
Yeah, I read that they only added the Somniel activities (orchard, stable, and swimming pool) in one of the post-launch patches. It must've been really rough before.
This is correct and it is still kinda rough. Three Houses support grinding is super free compared to Engage.
Raka_Putra posted...
Leaning no. I heard the story's kinda bad and the gameplay is ridiculously hard (on Hard and above, not sure if Normal is manageable). Also with the $30 price tag (and my country's horrible exchange rate), I think I'd rather play something else.
Sounds fair. Normal isn't that bad. But, a lot of the maps weren't really fun to play.
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My bracket looked like random picks compared to his. Congrats to azuarc for winning the GotD 2020 Guru Contest!
Yunaka - Funny, consistently useful, great design, intriguing and quite emotional backstory, she's got it all
Kagetsu - Hot, amazing in battle (made him a wyvern knight + Leif's ring and Vantage so he can counter anything), pleasant enough personality
Louis - Goat tank, nothing can touch him with Ike's ring (although I kinda regret making him a halberdier since he can get broken, but at least I get to use a halberdier). Gave him the Boots.
High Tier
Anna - My magic DPS and her personal skill really saved my economy, but man she's pretty annoying outside of battle (well, she's a kid)
Alear - Very dependable avoid tank, Engage+ is busted, and bonus skill effects as a Dragon are really fun to use. Still don't like his design all that much though
Merrin - I ended up putting her as my Lyn bearer, though perhaps I could've tried it on Louis too. Her high move + Summon Doubles really helped with distracting the enemies, and her avoid isn't that bad either.
Ivy - Dependable in battle, both for combat and support, but I still can't get over that rice cooker lid on her face + she started a bit annoying
Veyle - Pleasant enough personality (I ended up liking her character more than I expect), but she's kinda squishy for a late game unit. She has her uses though. Thought too late of putting Byleth on her.
Fogado - Great with either Radiant Bow or Silver Bow, but his ability to use both effectively makes him amazing. Likeable enough personality, but he does come across as discount Claude. Speaking of which, really good with Claude's ring.
Panette - Amazing DPS, kills enemies left and right, but might die if I'm being a bit careless. Pretty interesting character too. But I still can't deal with her face tattoos.
Seadall - Immensely useful (as expected of a Dancer), can kill stuff too if he needs to with the forged body art scroll, Lucina ring on him saved my hide a few times, but I just don't vibe with his personality too much. Also I still don't understand what the fortunetelling feature is about...
Mid Tier
Chloe - Great mid-game but I just stopped using her later on. If I ever do another playthrough, I want to use her more.
Pandreo - Good enough magic and staff user, but man his squishiness and slowness made it painful when enemies got to him. Can't even survive one hit.
Citrinne - I love her character and apparently she's a very potential unit, but I didn't get to raise her when more units came in. Another character I'd love to give another go someday.
Jean - Mine got pretty good, and I tried making him work as a Griffin Knight with Levin Sword + Staves, but he was also very very squishy. Adorable design and personality but he always looks very uncomfortable.
Boucheron and Etie - Used them until mid-game but there just wasn't enough space in my party eventually
Mauvier - He's pretty hot, and decently useful. But his whole schtick being trying to find redemption makes him a bit one note in his supports.
Diamant - Another hot design. He also seems very reliable but he just didn't make the cut. His personality is kind of more stoic, but that makes him cool.
Timerra - Sandstorm is intriguing and I tried using her a few times but she just wasn't reliable enough, even with an Ike ring
Hortensia - Great utility unit, her personal skill and Sleipnir Rider skill work amazingly well in tandem, but her design is ridiculous and her personality is annoying
Amber - Used him a bit during mid-game but just didn't have enough slot for him. Fun gimmick about him looking up to heroes. Great epilogue too, he finally became a legendary hero too.
Lapis - Really cute design, pleasant personality with a unique enough quirk (DIY crafting), but just didn't feel good to use
Saphir - Heck yeah older woman representation (although apparently internal data shows her age as 35 lol), and not a total dead weight in her join chapter
Rosado - He destroys genders, but wasn't very useful
Lindon - Apparently his supports are funny, but I don't use him nearly enough since he joined late
Vander, Clanne, Framme - Not the worst units to use early on, but really quickly dropped off
Celine - Cute enough design but ridiculous skirt. I was lowkey hyped when she joined due to sword + staff combo (I wasn't aware how many classes are able to use staves), but she just didn't hit hard enough. I think I remember mine getting a few bad level ups too.
Queen Lumera - Initially, a pretty generic 'dead mother' character, but I do like the reveal that she "adopted" Alear despite everything. I wish she was a playable character via DLC.
Low Tier
Alcryst - I heard he has the potential to be good? I already had Etie as my archer at the time, so I didn't really have a spot for him. Also his gimmick is more annoying than funny to me.
Zelkov - Tried using him a few times, but since I already *invested* in Yunaka, he could not hold a candle to her
Alfred - I don't hate him, but he seems important so I tried using him, but he's a let down. His design is like FE:H Spring Event Dimitri and his voice is kinda annoying? He's only this low because of how disappointing he is
Somni - La creatura
Bottom Tier
Jade - Painful to use, but I'm pretty interested in her writer side
Bunet - Yeah, like a Jeigan that came way too late
Goldmary - Wretched personality and not that useful
Gris, Zephir, Marni, Sombron - Enough said (Gris is on the top since his design's kinda hot)
Bunet is pretty terrible as a unit. He's arguably terrible as a character, but I find his gimmick so stupid that it's enjoyable again.
Engage's cast is surprisingly decent, especially in supports. It's unfortunate that your first few units are the stewards and Firine, which are the least interesting by a longshot.
Favorite Emblem rings? Any FE game you want to play after this?
Best to turn Zelkov into something else if you've already invested and intend to keep Thief Yunaka, yeah. He's one of the better units in the game, almost wasted as a Theif.
Problem is unless you have the DLC to do some cheap DLC class into Second Seal shennanigans, you gotta gain those 4 levels as a Thief before you can reclass, which sucks.
Yeah I enjoy a lot of the character interactons, although sometimes it's kinda ridiculous when the mostly serious characters (like Mauvier) interact with the mostly unserious characters (like Anna).
As for Emblem rings, might as well share my loose ranking:
Ike - it's so satisfying seeing enemies get demolished -- I didn't think of using the heavy blades with it though, I thought they were just useless
Corrin - Really dependable with the terrain manipulation, I use it basically every battle for Yunaka. Torrential Roar is also very useful and I should've used it more often
Lyn - Call Doubles is amazing as decoys (and sometimes can help whittle down enemies), I love it, and Astra Storm is useful to snipe or at least chip far away enemies
Byleth - A four-way Dance is a game-changer, but I don't always use it since I need to set the unit placement to get the most out of it; I also enjoy the varied Engage weapons
Leif - Really useful late game on Kagetsu, I can just send him to defeat waves upon waves of enemy fliers. I didn't use Quadruple Hit all that much though.
Alear - Great buffs and amazing attack, but it was introduced very late and by then I was already pretty set on my ways
Sigurd - Bonus movement is always good. Putting him on a Cavalry unit makes traversing the map too easy. And Override is quite useful though, once again, I forgot I can use the heavy lance to boost the damage further.
Micaiah - Great Sacrifice has saved my ass a few times, though I wish I used Nosferatu a bit more. Also her ring on Hortensia = cheat button.
Marth - I love his Avoid+ skills, but he's just not available all that often. I don't think I used Lodestar Rush more than twice after getting his ring back.
Lucina - The guard ability is a life saver, but her other effects are relatively subdued
Eirika - I don't actively think about Lunar Bracer, but I think she gives a pretty thorough overall buff when Engaged? (I had to look up her effects) I never once used Ephraim... oops. Twin Strike is pretty useful to delete an enemy though.
Roy - Plus five levels is pretty useful, but also not that flashy. His attack is fine for the AOE but is unlikely to kill any enemy, and sometimes I don't want to deal with the headache of the fire terrain.
Celica - Didn't really use Warp Ragnarok skill that much at all, since well, usually the enemies are pretty bunched up, so I'd be sending my mage to die. I can see her as being very useful in LTC runs.
Also gave my ring to Yunaka, I like her character and she's been immensely useful in battles. She also tends to stick together with Alear, so might as well. Her S-rank support also reveals her past (expected) and her birth name (didn't know she had one), so that's fun.
wow their relationship went way differently in my game:
I might finish the Dark Lord and Maiden of Light ROM hack I've started (I think I'm almost finished too). I was in the mood for Echoes or even Fates but apparently it's for 3DS and mine has been broken for years. :( Other than that, I'm looking into 3 Hopes but I don't enjoy musou games that much, although I do like 3H characters quite a lot... thoughts?
UshiromiyaEva posted...
Best to turn Zelkov into something else if you've already invested and intend to keep Thief Yunaka, yeah. He's one of the better units in the game, almost wasted as a Theif.
Huh, didn't know that. I'll keep that in mind.
Maybe I should start a new playthrough but without using any of the characters I used in my final line up.
12. Saphir - Heck yeah older woman representation (although apparently internal data shows her age as 35 lol), and not a total dead weight in her join chapter
Whenever I look at Saphir I can't help but think of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG8d0x1WcAc
And it's not just the internal age, her supports back up the fact that she's 35.
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""Love" is making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometers away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope." HK-47