surskitty

That is... quite the clusterfuck, yes! I will probably be very, very confused, but that is okay. And twelve-year-olds that can outpunch grown dudes are always awesome. Presea would've been the coolest thing in ToS if she wasn't all sad and creepy. (I still like her, but then I like everyone to some extent so that isn't saying much.)

So, with all these factions and strategists and... is the gameplay significantly different between games (Rhapsodia aside since that's obviously an SRPG), or is this mostly the same but with more confusing whirlwind of switching viewpoints?

Yes, do. :) Support convos aren't as good as 8 or 9, but it's still a pretty solid game in general once you get the hang of it. And I suppose it makes enough sense to play it before 6 as far as the story goes, anyway.

The FE10 graphics are much improved in general; the horse movements in 9 (and those of their riders, to an extent) were awkward even without the magical dog elbow thing going on, although the human animations are handled a lot better. And then 10 happened and everything was prettier, so.

Nah, I don't remember specifics, and most of it probably was actually things you mentioned. Still, more = cool.

Why so many protags, SuikoIII? They all sound amusing, but... uh!

Really, I don't think it's that bad. If you don't lean on the Tower of Valni and the skirmishes then it's more or less like playing any of the others; I really only used the tower for catching people up if they joined at a low level, and just playing through the chapters was enough for everyone who was more or less on par. If you can do that and if you don't mind some of the strange character recruiting requirements and the like, you'd be fine with something like FE7. Stay away from FE6 and earlier until you get the hang of those, though.

If nothing else, you need to see the support conversations, though! I don't know how much you've done with support convos in FE8, and IMO those are some of the best I've seen (Rennac why are you waltzing with L'Arachel in the middle of a battle there are arrows and swords and fucking horses charging through the halls what are you doing), but the characters in anything not named Shadow Dragon... totally worth it. Except the lords, who have an annoying tendency to be identically boring angsty stuffed shirts unless their names are Hector, Lyn, Ike or Micaiah. And even Hector and Lyn they didn't do as much with as they could've. :\

Yes! (Tried to find a clearer shot that also had one mid-gallop but bah, you get the idea.) The confusing thing is that in all of their previous games they did just fine (and also the pegasi's legs are correct! How do you get it right with half the horses but not the other half; alternatively, why are flying ponies more logical to you than walking ones), so I guess their brains just sort of imploded for a minute there when presented with 3D models instead of sprites. I... really don't know. Little details like that are amusing, though. :D I noticed a few things like that in your playthrough screencaps, so if they keep that up then that is cool.

I am the wrong person to ask about why anyone ships anyone seriously, but awkward will never not be funny so I imagine I'd enjoy that.

Hahaha what I think I like this Lazlo already.

You should! I'm trying to get Negrek to play more, too, but she keeps whining about permadeath and how hard characters are to train in FE7 and won't listen to me when I tell her the other ones aren't so bad in that regard (or that you can just redo the chapter and it's usually not as big a setback as it seems, but w/e). It's been a while since I've played FE8—still sitting at the point right before the final chapter for years now, I am the best at finishing things—but honestly I think it's a better entry point into the series than FE7 by far. I've never heard that it's bad per se, just that it's ridiculously easy thanks to the ability to grind in the Tower of Valni. And I guess the smaller, more manageable and almost impossible to screw up character roster (only 30 with no secrets instead of 45+ with a bunch of things you can miss. Or Shadow Dragon which is ridiculous). Which is why Negrek should give it a chance buuut fine don't listen to me, be that way. >|

Anyway, I hear FE6 is one of the better ones as far as its story and difficulty; I don't quite know because that is also something I stopped partway through for no good reason, but it was definitely fun while it lasted. I have a link to the translation patch somewhere if you don't feel like trying your luck with the Japanese. FE9 is fun and pretty to look at if you can get past the fact that the horses' legs all bend the wrong way; it's also regarded as easyish, but not as easy as Sacred Stones. Haven't finished FE10 either and it's sort of weird, but also pretty fun (even though they screwed up support conversations ;-; ) and they fixed the horse animations. I don't know all that much about the rest of the series, although I hear FE4 is insanely difficult so you might want to look at that if you want a challenge and can find it (with a translation if you need it, I guess; never looked so I don't know where one might be).

FE1/Shadow Dragon, at least the DS version, has some interesting chapters wrt to gameplay but the story/characterization in the English version is shit (the Japanese rerelease/original version may or may not also be shit in that regard, I don't know, but at least there's some additional context and information in the animé that's based on it if not in the game itself). Also it has the most ridiculous character/gaiden unlock criteria I've ever seen, so you can get away with avoiding that one unless ballisticians and Xane (who is effectively a ditto only Fire Emblem) sound particularly entertaining to you. And they are entertaining! but... yes, generally awful.

Oh, and uh FE7. I liked it enough even with it being my first game, but if you're used to Sacred Stones then only having the arena and regular battles to level people up with, especially some of the characters who join late and at a low level, might be kind of irritating. Most of the older games are like that, though, or are even missing arenas entirely (like Shadow Dragon). More reliable ways to gain experience are sort of a new concept to the series.

ramble ramble ramble don't mind me

That does sound amusing, hah.

Welp, that's fine because I'm totally cool with long games. 20 hours honestly seems kind of short to me, heh.

Hm, then maybe when I do get around to trying a Final Fantasy game I should do it while my brother is watching. We do enjoy us some running commentary.

I will do that! I've wanted to try some other SRPG games anyway, since all I've played so far is most of the newer Fire Emblems, FFTA, Rondo of Swords (unfinished) and maybe the first two stages of Wesnoth if that even counts, haha. Something else I need to get back to one of these days. Along with FE6 and FE10 and FE8 and Twilight Princess and all the other Zelda games I have that aren't Link's Awakening and Lost Kingdoms and a Nethack playthrough and... hahaha I am terrible at finishing games, so terrible

I am not fluent in Japanese at all! So I'd probably avoid those unless I had a guide or something. It'd be a shame to miss out on awesome additional content just because of the language barrier (somad that the original Fire Emblem 1 apparently had all of this interesting characterization and there is like no way English-speaking players would even know that given how terribad our release of Shadow Dragon was in the story department), but it is what it is. I will probably get Rhapsodia, though, especially if it's that cheap. \o/

Ah, I was under the impression you had played it because I vaguely remember an offhand comment about it regarding spoilers on your old site. Not like you couldn't have seen that info somewhere else, though, so I suppose that was a silly assumption. It's 80+ hours, anyway, at least according to the box. Usually takes upwards of 100 (my average is maybe 116?) if you want to do everything.

I've only played FFTA with regards to FF games because I kind of can't bring myself to be interested in that series, crazy as the entire internet is about it. :V One of these days I'll give one a try, though! Probably! Maybe. I hear FFTA is kind of dumb compared to most of the other titles in the series and I did enjoy that well enough during the brief time I spent with it (even if I do prefer Fire Emblem as far as tactics games go), so... maybe!

Thank you~

Is there any reason not to play them like I > II > III > IV > V > uh Rhapsodia/other stuff?

Haha wow then that is long. Is it longer than Tales of Symphonia, or... because that's the only frame of reference I have when it comes to really long games. Most of the rest of what I've played is either pretty short or... I... didn't finish it. Because I don't finish anything ever for mostly terrible reasons. Either way, though, I wouldn't know!

Download links would be nice if you don't mind, though I'm sure I can find them on my own and try them out. Something with Linux builds would be cool, though I haven't really done much with the Linux install on this desktop yet anyway. Buut I can try both Linux and Windows and see what ultimately gives the best results. This computer is relatively new (well, refurb) and it's probably the best computer in the house so... I'll probably be fine!

(Hm, never heard of Chakra... *looks up* Interesting! Although I can't say I care much for Plasma.)

Hah, I don't think I could intentionally play them out of order anyway. Big stickler for that sort of thing.

I will keep an eye out for all this stuff when I have time, then!

Oh, you can do that?

I can see the benefits. I've found myself with far too many new enemies lately, to the point where I have to take more than just moments to deal with them. Not On, indeed.

Ah, I wish I'd considered it. Manipulating others to accomplish my ends would be more enjoyable.

... much like this sandwich! You have my gratitude.

It appears reciprocity is a component of friendship. I have no sandwich for you, but would you like this fish? It is still fresh, as you can tell from the movement, and very high-quality.

Well, playing Suikoden seems fun at least! Actually I was wondering what emulator you use/would recommend for that, because I might try it for myself when I'm feeling less overwhelmed!

(Alternatively I do actually have an old PS2 now for... some of them, I suppose, but I've been too lazybusy to actually do anything with it at all, so eh.)

Hm. Not reffing, not actually getting the goddamn mafia daypost ready, working on a website for a friend, semi-reluctantly working on a website for a school side-thing and... school! And miscellaneous other things. Most of them involving an unfortunate amount of procrastination.

What have you been up to?

That is undoubtedly the greatest James cosplay ever. And I will feel better! I always do, it's just... irritating when I can't focus on aaaanything.

Hello, human!

I would welcome your friendship. However, I do not understand what it is for. What can one do with it?

What's up is I am feeling like this is honestly happening a little sooner than I would've liked! Dunno if you noticed but I'm sort of dragging on some other ASB stuff I really ought to have done forever ago :/ Not feeling that great ATM, buuuuut if I have to keep up with this thing for the sake of destruction and free twenty-foot dragons then I suppose I can. Le sigh.

Hi.

I made you a crappy meme for your battle with Twilight.

Yes. Yes it is.

Hey Viki! La la la...

the spectators do not like waiting... Or something.

Changed it, sorry if it offended you. Just my humor I guess. xD

Eh, I suppose I could come up with another witty comment. ^^;

Thank you!
You have no screencap, and your usertitle is blocks and numbers. :D