(no subject)

[kradeelav]

slowly but happily working away at Fates: Conquest in the evenings this week ~ just completed eternal stairway.

* wish there was more build-up on the kitsune, ngl, rather than just having a filler episode feel of 'hi, time to masscre you, bai' now i'm wondering what the laguz would've been like with their illusion and 'you can't fight them/they can't fight' magic every other turn. would they be more broken? more hopeless?

* overall i'm having a lot of my brain-width taken up by having to plan around the map gimmicks. i strongly suspect i'll have more to say about the characters on the second run-around since i know how to prep before each level (and I'll probably binge-read all of the supports after this playthrough so i'm not stuck trying to figure out who to pair who with gameplay vs characterization reasons); this is definitely no path of radiance where you could basically turn your brain off after the grann desert chapter and go on auto.

* finally got kaze combat-worthy by making him a mechanist and pumping every strength statbooster in him, he's actually killing as much as nyx (who basically one-shot the wind tribe boss, fugo, with a crit. felt oddly apropos with fugo's last line there.). the wind tribe chapter had such a clever little mechanic with the wind good lordy, and i almost lost a unit or two while i was busy just being impressed with the architecture (it's PRETTY man, i love the little skyway bridges and the fans). however, i could see how it'd be a bitch on lunatic.

* heard "eternal stairway" was one of the toughest chapters so i didn't wholly cheese it ... but i did intentionally stack the cards a little by limiting the team to just the mounted + flying characters which was basically corrin plus the royals. definitely made it bearable while not making it a cakewalk either. (it helps that i completely forgot to equip gunter's blessed lance on beruka oops)

* that said, i only just noticed the stoneborn/faceless having a little dick/crotch-chain which was a little awkward when lilith had just died lol. that scene .... could use a little more pathos. i had almost forgotten lilith existed imo. but god, the stoneborn designs are so fucking cool and creepy. seriously badass monster design that i kind of want to poke at a bit.  i'd be surprised if there wasn't any stoneborn x corrin hentai action doujins ngl :D ) 

* xander's 'get a grip man' speech to corrin though, holy shit. all of last chapter was worth that. respect points went wayyy up for him as i've been wanting to slap corrin up the face for a while. can't stand people moanin' and bitchin' about the necessary job to do when like she's leading a literal blitzkreig army and leaving a bunch of bodies in her wake. like... come on. think this game would have been better served if there was something like mass effect's paragon/regenade system -- doesn't require THAT much extra writing but being able to actively lean into your hypocrisy would have been real nice  and imo better storytelling.

i hear the hoshidan royals are up next .... vibrating at what the map gimmicks might be now. :3

Comments

[neotula]

real excited to hear your thoughts on the next few maps - you've actually passed me in conquest now! i was playing it on a borrowed 3ds before i got mine, so i actually stopped at the chapter with saizo and never finished it. i need to go back and finish, but that chapter just frustrated me and i got sad about saizo, so i just...stopped. will have to reborrow the 3ds, tho, lol, as on mine i've been playing revelation.

[kradeelav]

Instead of keeping the tapes circulating as the quote goes, we'll just have to keep the 3DS's going. ;) that's one of the many cool things about Fates, tbh - is that there's at least some optional difficulties/routes if one is just too emotionally whammo for a specific laid back headspace (Revelations is likely going to be that for me so like, handshake emoji TaT)