NekoKnight

Exactly. The voting thing should have happened before they even left for the capital. Just say that Roland escaped to Wolfort territory on his own and you made the decision to turn him over to Aesfrost or defend him.

They perform a daring rescue mission to the capital, which is overrun with soldiers from Aesfrost. They don't know what Aesfrost wants but there is no mystery about this being an invasion. The other country is waging war on Glenbrook. There is not an ounce of ambiguity about that or that rescuing the prince is an action that will commit Wolffort to fighting Aesfrost. Why did they bother to drag the prince back to their fort just to surrender later?

It honestly felt like playing an early beta version of the game, not a mostly finished title that needs some polish like UI tweaks. Dismal voice acting, perplexing writing choices and the presentation which leaves something to be desired. I'm definitely going to send feedback but I don't have high hopes. It's not going to be a title that's remembered fondly for anything besides gameplay if we can expect more of this. Related to what OP said about choices not really making sense, I fear the developers will be so focused on the mechanic of your choices affecting things, that they won't care about writing a believable narrative (and yes, that does seem to be a priority, not just the gameplay.) I think I'd rather play FF Tactics, which already has more polished gameplay and charming visuals.

They're a full purchase by themselves so I don't think that's an unreasonable expectation. Even if the themes were to shine greater in the larger narrative, one would hope that each route effectively told its story.

That much we can agree on. It's weird that Xander doesn't as much attention for his actions in the route you play his team.

I wish OP had a profile picture of someone like Narcien or Kempf. His arrogance and derision fits them better than Byleth. Is it a character arc when Xander is on team Garon until the very moment Garon flips and attacks them? He straight up threatens to murder Corrin, right outside the throne room, under suspicion that it's a fiendish Hoshidan trap. Maybe it's just my personal tastes, but I think an arc needs to be more than a last minute epiphany about the evils of your faction, all while side-stepping any moral responsibility for being complicit for so long. The story is clear on Garon being bad, but it never focuses on Xander needing to correct his behavior. If fact, Xander acts as one of the main moral guiding figures late into the game with the "justice is an illusion" speech I'm not sure that's an accurate reading of his character. Disregarding that the plot forces him to like Corrin, as all sympathetic characters simply must, the conflict in his feelings is that he wanted Corrin to be his sibling but can't get over the fact that Corrin keeps doing things to hurt him and his family. That's not "my family and country are pressuring me to hate you", it's "I'm rather upset that you're invading my land, killing my people and are, at the very least, indirectly responsible for my mom's death."

You must understand by now that you're in a minority for believing that all contrivances are equal and invalid targets for criticism. Let's look at two events in Fates, the one that leads to Corrin being reunited with his Hoshidan siblings in Chapter 4 and the circumstances that lead to Corrin deciding to support Garon's invasion of Hoshido in chapter 15. The first event requires: 1. Rinka to capture Corrin and send him off to meet the Hoshidan royalty. Is it convenient that the one Hoshidan that Corrin met and spared in chapter 1 happens to be the one who finds him after he returns from the outrealm? Sure, but it's a single event. The second event requires: 1. Corrin to be constantly being watched by Iago for some reason so he has to travel to Valla through a special path only he and Azura can use. 2. Azura has a single use magic orb that reveals the truth about Garon. There is no explanation for why she uses it right there and then. There is no explanation for why she doesn't get another one after it breaks. The method to reveal Garon is there and then poof, it's gone. 3. There is a curse that prevents people from speaking about Valla so Corrin can't report the things Azura tells him. 4. Despite having the love and trust of his Nohrian siblings, for this one particular topic, they would just refuse to believe him when he says that Garon is bad news. This point is brushed over and no other alternative plans to invading Hoshido are even discussed. 5. There happens to be a magic throne in the Hoshidan capital which has the primary function of revealing goo monsters. Convenient. Heck, let's add on a bonus contrivance. Corrin only found Valla at all because he chanced upon Azura who was already heading there. She wasn't even leading him there on purpose. The first event is a minor coincidence to get the characters moving to where they need to be. The second event clearly shows the hand of the writer forcing a plot direction that is utterly bizarre. The purpose? To get Corrin on board with the invasion in a way that preserves his moral purity. Do these two events seem equal to you? Is it all just fiction so who cares about how things happen? I agree with you on the issues with SoV's story so I won't try to argue the opposite position, but other people could. They could say that everything fits a theme and you're just misunderstanding what the writers wanted to do. That's what you sound like when you talk about the grand design of Fates and the rest of us think it's just bad story telling. Yes, I have in fact written something before. There is no difference between a "writer's perspective" and a "reader's perspective" when it comes to looking at how stories are structured. I'm either privy to the entirety of the author's thoughts or I'm not. You, me and every other person on this forum is an outsider when it comes to the stories we examine. We do our best to guess their intentions by studying the way they present their work. To be clear, my criticism was not directed at authorial intent itself. I think the intent of the writer is important and have a very distant relationship with "death of the author". What I was criticizing was your veneration of authorial intent, as though one must accept any decision as acceptable story telling as long as that was the deliberate choice of the writer. Let me ask you this, was it their intention to make Corrin a self-righteous moral coward? I don't think it was, for how highly praised he is in the story. Did they intend to make Ryoma a manipulative bastard by having him lie to Corrin about being his real brother? I don't think it was. It really seems like an oversight that shows they were so focused on the fanservice of letting you bone the Hoshidan siblings that they didn't consider the implications it had for the characters. If these were all intentional, do I have to think it's acceptable writing that these horrible people are praised as good guys? I think the underlying issue here, and the reason this thread was created, isn't that there is a lack of nuanced or critical discussion in the community, it's just that your philosophy for identifying good story telling is very different from other people and it frustrates you to be in that minority. To many, many people, Fates really is that bad.

I could go into Fates' many flaws, but several of them have already been eloquently described by people such @Etrurian emperor so I won't revive that discussion. This isn't a community problem, @Ottservia , it's a you problem. Despite saying you wish for discussions to be more nuanced, you certainly like to take away all the tools of the Fates detractors to make our arguments. We can't criticize contrivances because according to you, all stories are contrived. We can't criticize characterization or plot points because they're tied to "themes" and "authorial intent". There is nothing we can really criticize because you would just accuse us of judging the game according to our subjective personal tastes. This all smacks of hypocrisy anyway considering you use your own non-objective interpretations of the story to invalidate people arguing the contrary. You can say there is hidden brilliance in the writing but when others reject that, they're inappropriately assuming they know better than the writer. But let's get into that topic: authorial intent. Why is it that one must "respect the writers" for their writing decisions just because it was "thematic", "by design" or "intentional"? Do I have to give them a pat on the back for making Hinoka and Sakura forgive Corrin despite all the evil he allowed to happen, because it's allegedly part of a theme? Do I have to say it's "just not for me" when they railroad you into invading Hoshido with a series of contrivances just because that's the direction the writer wanted to take? How can any story ever be considered bad when criticisms are countered with "That's just your personal tastes"? I know you don't think Shadows of Valentia is a good story, so let's apply the same standard there. People can and do argue that Alm was always meant to be the flawless savior of Valentia and that any themes of a duality between Alm and Celica were just the story we wanted instead of what the writers wanted. There are things to support that claim, such as Berkut and Celica perfectly representing their respective deities' flaws and Alm being the ultimate combination of strength and kindness, but I don't think it makes the story better that Berkut is an ineffectual whiner who murders his fiance and gets forgiven, or Celica being unbelievably foolish for trusting Jedah, or Alm being a Mary Sue that can only pay lipservice to not being a perfect human. Thanks but no thanks, I'm only going to praise what a writer tried to do if they have more successes than failures in their narrative. And what a conga line of failures Fates was. Who can read Ryoma describing the "kingly qualities" of Corrin as a toddler and not assume it's self parody? Who can read Xander's pronouncement that "peace is wonderful" after he just cut a bloody swathe through a peaceful country, and not shake their head? <Groans of increasing discomfort.>

Interesting build considerations. Sounds like Def and Res boons are pretty interchangeable but I can agree that trying to make her a jack of all trades unit lowers her optimum performance in particular roles. I saw a strategy that uses L!Hector for the CD reduction and so Edelgard more reliably gets her third attack in (if for example she gets two soft targets and doesn't take a counter attack. They're both Fire legendaries so they can be used in the same season as well.

Hm. I don't think I have to worry about OG!Leif and Shining Bows, but mixed bulk is pretty nice. After the merge she'd have 40 res which could be brought up to 50 via Eir blessings.

Sorry, it's Legendary Edelgard.

What would be the best nature for Edelgard, +Def or Res? For context, I want to use her as an optional Galeforce sweeper for AR and as a mixed tank. She has her default kit, DC and HB in her seal slot (don't have HB4) . I have the option to run her alongside double Eir or double Altina.

Yeah, definitely not that viable of a skill. W!Sothis uses it pretty well but she's a big ball of stats with all the right skills to make her tricky to fight her on either phase. Bah, just my luck that my rare 'good' free pulls have absurdly niche SI.

Free pulled a Brave Alm on the banner today. Who would be able to use Threaten Attack/Spd well? A close call user, certainly, but I don't have any of those.

He actually gets to 47 spd on initiation which is pretty useful. Bonus Doubler is pretty rad. I used that team to clear Abyssal Lif but you're right in that I usually have to use other teams (Brave Bow and Reinhardt + 2 dancers) for Abyssal stuff. Atk Smoke would be the more budget option, that much is certain. One plus side of Res Smoke, however, is that it benefits 3 res targeting units on my team while Attack Smoke is only good for the two tanks (Myrrh and Lyon).

I'm thinking about a C slot skill for my +10 Lyon. The build is Naglfar, Draw Back, Iceberg, CC, QR, blank and Darting Blow (seal). This is for PVE content mostly. His team is Myrrh, Summer Laegjarn and L!Eliwood (full tactics support for Lyon). My current thoughts are Atk Smoke or Res Smoke. Atk Smoke improves his bulk and Res Smoke improves his damage for himself as well as Myrrh and Laegjarn. Thoughts?

TH's overall quality is hard to pin down because while it's head and shoulders above Fates in the character and (the complete) story department, it's full of tedious gameplay and story pacing decisions that make it much more of a drag to play. With that said, Fates (barring Revelation which is a hot mess in both gameplay and story) could be called a better "game" but TH is hands down a better story. While I agree with every Fates criticism you wrote, I'd accuse Three Houses as having deliberate acts of bad faith in the way they gut important characterization and story developments in each route to make the other routes more enticing to play. Of the routes I finished (CF and AM), they don't care at all about developing the main characters you aren't backing. They absolutely could have developed them but they chose not to. It's so bad in Azure Moon that one of the bosses who holds a ton of answers about a dropped plotline says "You don't deserve to know about this plotline" when he dies.

In regards to the Free Merge giveaway idea for the FEH pass, one thing they could do is give it out but only for non 5* exclusives. Obviously that wouldn't be as enticing, but it probably wouldn't hurt IS' bottom line while helping out players who just aren't pulling their favorite low rarity unit. They could also tie 5* merge items to consistent subscription renewals. I don't know what would be a fair trade in subscription fees for a merge, but it would encourage players to be subscribed for long periods of time,which is better than people who would otherwise just pop in to grab resplendent heroes they like and canceling again.

Altina vs W!Sothis and Alfonse vs Sothis would definitely be the chef's kiss of semi finals. Somehow I fully expect Azura and Edelgard to make it there tho, with multiplier shenanigans or otherwise. It's going to be a nail biting VG.

Huh, interesting results. I'd be happy getting Altina, Alfonse or either Sothis. I'm pretty indifferent to Alm and Leif, because while their kits are solid, I already have an AR defense and offense teams I'm happy with. I don't have a strong need for Edelgard but I'd still take her over Lazura, who is useless to me as I already have her. I wonder how the VG will be structured. Would it just be pairing down the ranking (ie 1st vs 2nd, 3rd vs 4th, 5th vs 6th, 7th vs 8th)? I want to join team Altina but it would be brutal if she had to eliminate (or be eliminated by) Alfonse in the first match. The most cursed semi-finals for me would be Alfonse vs Leif and Lazura vs Edelgard.

I think the concerns about how "P2W" FEH pass is, are alarmist. The Resplendent Heroes available so far are two gen 1 units, one of which is hilariously powercrept. Could we eventually see Resplendent Heroes for characters who are already kings in the meta? Well, it's certainly a possibility but if the devs have half a brain between them they'll pace the distribution so we don't see that happen. Why don't we start complaining after Resplendent L!Alm comes out and not before? I'm in the camp that believes that "P2W" should be defined as an overwhelming advantage that prevents F2P users from succeeding in the game. If FEH pass subscribers had a flat increase to their scoring for competitive modes, I'd see that as P2W, but increasing unit stats to make it easier win battles isn't the tipping point to where I can't win as F2P.

Huh, just saw this on Reddit. Presumably it applies to the 3rd rotation of quests as well.

It's usually healer units with the occasional Firesweep Lyn. Do you suppose Lyon would be a good fit? He's red, so he won't fair well if Ophelia gets danced to him but he has CC, a prf Raven tome and my summoner support. Maybe a Gronraven user? I suppose I could build Nino for that. I don't want to spend all my Grails on Kronya and don't have CC for her anyway. I do have Phina, but like you said, she might not cut it vs non cavalry units. ---- New question For FEH pass owners, would one be able to subscribe and get 3 Resplendent Heroes + 3 quest rotations if they canceled their subscription before the month was up?

That's how I feel about it. As a F2P player, I've already decided that the price of orbs is not what I'd be willing to pay, so while they're a nice bonus to the skins, they're not why I'd subscribe to the pass. The orbs are not worth the price even if that's what IS wants to sell them for. I think it's much better to value the pass on the free units and skins. Lyn is a 5* unit which makes her worth probably 100+ F2P orbs (only relevant if you want Lyn, but it's up to you to decide if you want that month's heroes). Sounds like a good deal to me if you like the characters offered. I play another gaccha (mostly for collecting characters with log in resources, heh) called Granblue Fantasy and they regularly sell packs for $30 for a full circle pull and a single skin. I think people underestimate how much people will pay for skins, forget the summoning currency.

I recently summoned a Nailah for Null C but I'm not sure what heroes would be good for it. I have B!Ike and Lancina, so the former seems a popular choice for it, but I'd feel a little dirty using it because I so despise seeing it when it's used against me. So who else is a good user? I have a +10 Lyon(with Close Counter)/Fae/Nowi/Tiki available, although I have enough feathers to +10 any low rarity unit I have enough copies of. Any thoughts?