FE13: Through Chapter 19
Feb. 16th, 2013 08:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mark_asphodelI'm not really feeling this plot. Sorry.
For a while, I was genuinely moved by this storyline. Emmeryn's sacrifice and everyone's reaction to it worked well enough in an emotional sense if not a logical sense. The reunion between Lucina and her parents was great. But this second half of the game is feeling perfunctory as hell.
Yen'fay? Do. Not. Care. Basilio? I like the dude, and while I was slightly spoiled by something I read a long time ago (I knew something bad happened to him, just not what or when), and he did put up a good fight... well, it all just felt obligatory. Like Cordelia's peeps getting wiped out. Like Phila getting whacked. As far as midgame shockers go in Fire Emblem, it doesn't really rate. As far as mandatory ally deaths go, it's decent but not... well, it's not a Shit Gets Real moment. That happened back in Chapter Nine.
They've done some interesting stuff with the basic framework of an FE game-- dead father trope subverted, exiled prince business not even happening-- but so much of this feels like they were checking off boxes when they assembled it.
The villains continue to blow chunks. I'm suspending my judgment on Valhart, but Cervantes is a joke and Excellus is like a nasty bloated version of the Happy Mask Salesman from the N64 Zelda games. Gross, in every sense of the word. Unmitigated grossness.
Did I miss the reference to Doma/Duma or did they really take out the reference to him in that chapter? Fuck you, NoA. I was looking forward to that.
Gameplay Stuff:
OK. Chapter 19 was a bloodbath. Had to play it three times. -_-
Lucina/Kjelle are a wonderful sisterly duo of death. <3 So much fun.
Cordelia/Stahl make an excellent battlefield couple. Can't say enough good things about this pairing. Still need to recruit their horrible child, though.
Lissa disappoints me. She can't hit shit with her axes. I'm sorry I went the battle cleric route because she's pretty terrible as that.
Frederick is showing his Jagen-ness... lagging behind in HP and Def, has shitty Res, and is now very prone to dying even in the context of a support network. So much for protecting Lissa, dude. I can recruit their kid now, so I may just bench the both of them afterward. :/
Anna. Rocks. My. Socks.
Henry continues to not be very good at actually killing things with his anima tomes. Ricken is my main man as far as magic goes, aside from Robin of course.
I don't know what else to say. I've gone from being very impressed in a "Wow, this COULD be the best FE game ever!" kind of way to going, "Well, can't wait for that Leif DLC chapter so I can cheap-shot the characters I actually love." Come on, game. You still have time to pull this plot out of the mire and make me feel again.
For a while, I was genuinely moved by this storyline. Emmeryn's sacrifice and everyone's reaction to it worked well enough in an emotional sense if not a logical sense. The reunion between Lucina and her parents was great. But this second half of the game is feeling perfunctory as hell.
Yen'fay? Do. Not. Care. Basilio? I like the dude, and while I was slightly spoiled by something I read a long time ago (I knew something bad happened to him, just not what or when), and he did put up a good fight... well, it all just felt obligatory. Like Cordelia's peeps getting wiped out. Like Phila getting whacked. As far as midgame shockers go in Fire Emblem, it doesn't really rate. As far as mandatory ally deaths go, it's decent but not... well, it's not a Shit Gets Real moment. That happened back in Chapter Nine.
They've done some interesting stuff with the basic framework of an FE game-- dead father trope subverted, exiled prince business not even happening-- but so much of this feels like they were checking off boxes when they assembled it.
The villains continue to blow chunks. I'm suspending my judgment on Valhart, but Cervantes is a joke and Excellus is like a nasty bloated version of the Happy Mask Salesman from the N64 Zelda games. Gross, in every sense of the word. Unmitigated grossness.
Did I miss the reference to Doma/Duma or did they really take out the reference to him in that chapter? Fuck you, NoA. I was looking forward to that.
Gameplay Stuff:
OK. Chapter 19 was a bloodbath. Had to play it three times. -_-
Lucina/Kjelle are a wonderful sisterly duo of death. <3 So much fun.
Cordelia/Stahl make an excellent battlefield couple. Can't say enough good things about this pairing. Still need to recruit their horrible child, though.
Lissa disappoints me. She can't hit shit with her axes. I'm sorry I went the battle cleric route because she's pretty terrible as that.
Frederick is showing his Jagen-ness... lagging behind in HP and Def, has shitty Res, and is now very prone to dying even in the context of a support network. So much for protecting Lissa, dude. I can recruit their kid now, so I may just bench the both of them afterward. :/
Anna. Rocks. My. Socks.
Henry continues to not be very good at actually killing things with his anima tomes. Ricken is my main man as far as magic goes, aside from Robin of course.
I don't know what else to say. I've gone from being very impressed in a "Wow, this COULD be the best FE game ever!" kind of way to going, "Well, can't wait for that Leif DLC chapter so I can cheap-shot the characters I actually love." Come on, game. You still have time to pull this plot out of the mire and make me feel again.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-16 03:41 pm (UTC)I'll be interested in what you have to say when the other shoe drops back in Plegia.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-16 03:53 pm (UTC)Glad I am that there's another shoe to drop. I'm on kiddie-recruitment missions right now. Just got Owain (headcase) and working on Severa (ugh). Then Gerome and Morgan, I guess.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-16 05:17 pm (UTC)isn't it great how her recruitment mission is basically her having a fucking deathwish and trying to get herself killed the whole damn time? :DDDDD;;;
no subject
Date: 2013-02-16 04:31 pm (UTC)Is Henry promoted yet? I found him very underwhelming until he got a horse. Then suddenly he was everywhere, raining fire from behind a massive defense. (His speed could be better, though. Tharja is speedy but her skill has crapped out for me in two consecutive games.)
no subject
Date: 2013-02-16 04:33 pm (UTC)Oliver came to mind, yeah. "He's fat! Of course he's a terrible person!"
Is Henry promoted yet?
Yep. He's good for chip damage and whisking Olivia away from danger, but he's not a powerhouse. I am disappoint.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-16 04:43 pm (UTC)Anyway, I think the lack of speed would be what makes Henry less prone to OHKOing everyone and their mom, and I probably need to remember that I had Henry constantly eating +8 speed boosts through rallies... Speed's something of a threshold stat -- your speed is either dire enough to get you doubled all the time, enough that you're neither doubled nor doubling, or fast enough to double all the time, and crossing one of those boundaries makes a massive difference. (And in Ylisse the magic number for doubling is 5 speed. 5! ... I was very glad about that on Lunatic, when suddenly things were doubling *me*.)
EDIT: Also, don't mean to sour your perception, but the last part of the game is devoted mostly to Avatar's little personal drama and I doubt it will be that exciting to you.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-16 08:53 pm (UTC)....
Feels a bit familiar, perhaps?
no subject
Date: 2013-02-17 04:11 pm (UTC)There, I said it.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-17 06:43 am (UTC)This. I really liked the sequence around Emmeryn's sacrifice, but they didn't do enough with it, and now it's just kind of... there, while the second half of the game has nothing to do with anything that came before. And Lucina (while amazing in every way) kinda sorta doesn't seem to be fulfilling her role of kid-from-the-future anymore except when it's time to announce someone is going to die.
Basilio died well, though. I appreciate that for what it is: a good show.