Fireworks! (and more FE4)
Jul. 4th, 2012 10:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mark_asphodelSo, Michigan lifted its restrictions on the kind of fireworks that everyone was going to Ohio and Indiana to acquire anyway. Communities have responded with restrictions at the municipal level; my town decided to place limits, saying that these previously banned fireworks could only be set off the day before, the day after, and the day of a national holiday.
It didn't say "U.S. federal holiday," and lemme tell you-- there were a lot of patriotic souls celebrating Canada Day in style on this side of the river.
I don't particularly care because after seven years in The D I'm used to crazy firework summers, but I'll say that pyromaniacs across Michigan appear to be acting the way drinkers acted once the Volsted Act was repealed-- a little bit nuts in their glee. I expect a de facto ban will creep back, bit by bit, over the next year or so.
There's this little magic moment in FE4 wherein a you move a character, just happen to plonk them beside their intended, and suddenly the command "Give" is available in their options. It's kind of like an "achievement unlocked" message-- Lester and Lana Unlocked! Arthur and Tinny unlocked!
I don't like being thwarted by video games. Since my initial playthrough of FE4 had a few mistakes, I picked up the save file that left Sigurd and the gang in the Spirit Forest and played through Chapters 2 and Chapters 3 again. I'm still progressing with the first file, mind you-- I aim for four separate pairing-happy runs in all. I now have three alternate versions of Chapter 4, all ready to proceed.
[This all may sound nuts, but I really, really am enjoying FE4 from a playing angle. And a musical angle.]
So version 1.0 has all the rote pairings-- Aideen/Midayle, Beowulf/Lachesis, Lex/Ayra, with plans for Holyn/Briggid, Azel/Tiltyu, and Levin/Fury.
In version 2.0, Noish and Alec are still viable units, Azel turned out significantly better, and Cuan redeemed himself partially in my eyes after some lover bonus crits led to some essential one-hit kills. Lachy's stupid minions stayed alive in this one and I have the Knight Ring to show for it. Efficiency in clearing chapter 3 was one of my goals, and the strategy employed shaved six turns off the early-chapter turncount (compared to my first attempt) and led to some really beautiful moments, like when 3/4 of Sigurd's team wiped out the entire oncoming Madino force in one player-phase turn. I think I know now how to get that turncount reduced by another 2 or 3, but at this point I'm happy 'cause I seized Silvail on the 19th turn thanks to Ethlin's generosity with the lover/sibling crits for once.
Anyway, over on the NES/SNES forum at SF, they seem to be in the process of re-evaluating a couple of the planks of conventional wisdom re: the second-string and third-string pairings. So now Azel/Lachesis is "overrated" because magic swords are overrated, and Alec/Fury isn't so hot in spite of making Fee arrow-immune (and here I was in the process of trying them both), but even so people should take Fee into account and not just Sety when pairing off Fury. It led to a little bit of wank, but honestly it's refreshing to see people re-thinking this stuff, given how often pairing preferences are offered up as immutable truth. Once you get people past their first choice for each eligible lady, there's really a lot of diversity in what people find usable and rewarding.
Anyway, so here's how the second playthrough is supposed to go: Aideen/Midayle (happened by accident, but honestly I see no reason to change this up unless I'm looking for a free stat boost for Lana), Aira/Noish, Levin/Fury (hard to break me of this one), Dew/Lachesis (this one's for Ammie), Holyn/Briggid ('cause Midayle removed himself from the eligiblity pool), and Tiltyu/Finn, which has a pretty vocal group of advocates on SF right now. And, frankly, the Prayer/Wrath combo sounds like a trip. And since I had a perfectly good efficiency run going, I used another save slot to pair Finn with Briggid to see how that one works.I may even do Levin/Tiltyu on that run.
Don't ask me to justify some of these in terms of storyline unless large amounts of boredom and alcohol are involved. :/
It didn't say "U.S. federal holiday," and lemme tell you-- there were a lot of patriotic souls celebrating Canada Day in style on this side of the river.
I don't particularly care because after seven years in The D I'm used to crazy firework summers, but I'll say that pyromaniacs across Michigan appear to be acting the way drinkers acted once the Volsted Act was repealed-- a little bit nuts in their glee. I expect a de facto ban will creep back, bit by bit, over the next year or so.
-x-
There's this little magic moment in FE4 wherein a you move a character, just happen to plonk them beside their intended, and suddenly the command "Give" is available in their options. It's kind of like an "achievement unlocked" message-- Lester and Lana Unlocked! Arthur and Tinny unlocked!
I don't like being thwarted by video games. Since my initial playthrough of FE4 had a few mistakes, I picked up the save file that left Sigurd and the gang in the Spirit Forest and played through Chapters 2 and Chapters 3 again. I'm still progressing with the first file, mind you-- I aim for four separate pairing-happy runs in all. I now have three alternate versions of Chapter 4, all ready to proceed.
[This all may sound nuts, but I really, really am enjoying FE4 from a playing angle. And a musical angle.]
So version 1.0 has all the rote pairings-- Aideen/Midayle, Beowulf/Lachesis, Lex/Ayra, with plans for Holyn/Briggid, Azel/Tiltyu, and Levin/Fury.
In version 2.0, Noish and Alec are still viable units, Azel turned out significantly better, and Cuan redeemed himself partially in my eyes after some lover bonus crits led to some essential one-hit kills. Lachy's stupid minions stayed alive in this one and I have the Knight Ring to show for it. Efficiency in clearing chapter 3 was one of my goals, and the strategy employed shaved six turns off the early-chapter turncount (compared to my first attempt) and led to some really beautiful moments, like when 3/4 of Sigurd's team wiped out the entire oncoming Madino force in one player-phase turn. I think I know now how to get that turncount reduced by another 2 or 3, but at this point I'm happy 'cause I seized Silvail on the 19th turn thanks to Ethlin's generosity with the lover/sibling crits for once.
Anyway, over on the NES/SNES forum at SF, they seem to be in the process of re-evaluating a couple of the planks of conventional wisdom re: the second-string and third-string pairings. So now Azel/Lachesis is "overrated" because magic swords are overrated, and Alec/Fury isn't so hot in spite of making Fee arrow-immune (and here I was in the process of trying them both), but even so people should take Fee into account and not just Sety when pairing off Fury. It led to a little bit of wank, but honestly it's refreshing to see people re-thinking this stuff, given how often pairing preferences are offered up as immutable truth. Once you get people past their first choice for each eligible lady, there's really a lot of diversity in what people find usable and rewarding.
Anyway, so here's how the second playthrough is supposed to go: Aideen/Midayle (happened by accident, but honestly I see no reason to change this up unless I'm looking for a free stat boost for Lana), Aira/Noish, Levin/Fury (hard to break me of this one), Dew/Lachesis (this one's for Ammie), Holyn/Briggid ('cause Midayle removed himself from the eligiblity pool), and Tiltyu/Finn, which has a pretty vocal group of advocates on SF right now. And, frankly, the Prayer/Wrath combo sounds like a trip. And since I had a perfectly good efficiency run going, I used another save slot to pair Finn with Briggid to see how that one works.
Don't ask me to justify some of these in terms of storyline unless large amounts of boredom and alcohol are involved. :/
no subject
Date: 2012-07-04 11:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-05 02:54 am (UTC)Dude, I think you need to play this. It's not flawless, but it's fun. Maybe it'll be less fun in Second Gen with all the overpowered little superkiddies. And the pairing business is fascinating once you get past the "X needs to be with Y and only Y!" phase.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-05 02:07 am (UTC)I'm not a huge fan of skills myself, and I find Prayer too fickle for my liking. My playing style isn't accustomed to counting on a lot of dodges unless the person in question is wielding Holsety, or a full-dodge-powered support with some other bonuses in play.
Sounds like it could be fun to try once, though. If I ever play FE4 again I'll probably try some less conventional pairings, but after having played it a few times it's lost its charm for me. There's so much about it that's broken.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-05 03:16 am (UTC)What about Levin? Seems like Levin!Arthur is oft cited as one of the most OMGWTFBBQ things around these days.
OTOH, if part of the problem with Gen 2 is overpowered and broken characters, isn't doing something a little unconventional a nice way of shaking it up? Not gonna advocate something as drastic as pairing Levin with, like, Aira. Though maybe we all should...
My playing style isn't accustomed to counting on a lot of dodges
Oh, I incorporate it a fair amount. I like having at least one surefire "bait" character in the arsenal (plus a RES tank, but that's another story). Finn made me very, very happy in Gen1 on that count. Hell, I even tried it with Sylvia on a smaller scale. And after using Tiltyu even briefly, I was sold on the idea of a Wrathfest coupled with being untouchable at 7HP.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-05 05:10 am (UTC)If I want Jugdral gen 2 with some spice to it, I'd play a replacement kiddies round. Last time I tried I was bored by turn 3, but well, if the urge ever arises.
Given your fondness for prayer, I say go for Finn/Tiltyu!