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Tae posted:I really question if you played awakening that much if you forget fig-thrower, dumb hick swearing Robin. I only played through once, and way back when it first came out, so yeah, it's been a while. I keep meaning to play through again but 3H has me hooked pretty thoroughly right now.
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Sep 23, 2019 04:10
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Harrow posted:I only played through once, and way back when it first came out, so yeah, it's been a while. I keep meaning to play through again but 3H has me hooked pretty thoroughly right now. And it's a shock going back to it, so I mean it's not the best playthrough right after 3H because drat 3H blows it out of the water.
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Sep 23, 2019 04:13
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Byleth is a fine silent protagonist since the fact that they're a weird emotionless construct is something the story actively plays off. I feel like they should have leaned more into it, used how hosed a person with no emotion but also somehow boundless charisma is to like, tell a story or say something. As it stands there's some good moments but it never amounts too much of a statement or anything.
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Sep 23, 2019 04:16
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I played Awakening without knowing anything about how it's structured, and I love my Robin for suddenly and unilaterally declaring that she's in love with Chrom. I definitely wouldn't have chosen that, and it made the rest of the game much more interesting, especially her relationship with Lucina. I've rarely had a player avatar rebel against me that aggressively, and never with such good results.
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Sep 23, 2019 04:19
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I can't be the only guy who enjoyed building Robin into the perfect Nosferatu sorcerer rear end in a top hat.
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Sep 23, 2019 04:20
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f!Robin marrying Chrom is, imo, the best way to play Awakening. Othewise Chrom's wife is just kinda shuffled off to the side awkwardly.  Though male Morgan is kinda a doof.
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Sep 23, 2019 04:29
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Cuntellectual posted:f!Robin marrying Chrom is, imo, the best way to play Awakening. Othewise Chrom's wife is just kinda shuffled off to the side awkwardly. It helps make him endearing, at least to me. Also he's a great contrast to serious Lucina.
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Sep 23, 2019 04:31
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Olivia Chrom is the most strange mechanic in awakening, since it basically requires to actively avoid doing supports with most of the female cast. Also you can't actually see the Olivia/Chrom supports unless you go to the extra menu if you marry them.
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Sep 23, 2019 04:34
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Tae posted:Olivia Chrom is the most strange mechanic in awakening, since it basically requires to actively avoid doing supports with most of the female cast. Also you can't actually see the Olivia/Chrom supports unless you go to the extra menu if you marry them. The S support in the extras menu is also different than the one that triggers if you actually get them married in game I always do it too because Olivia being sparkly in some of the serious Lucina cutscenes is hilarious and Chrom being Inigo's dad is just 
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Sep 23, 2019 04:45
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Cuntellectual posted:f!Robin marrying Chrom is, imo, the best way to play Awakening. Othewise Chrom's wife is just kinda shuffled off to the side awkwardly. FractalSandwich fucked around with this message at 05:37 on Sep 23, 2019 |
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Sep 23, 2019 04:46
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I always romance Chrom cause if the game is making me get straight married, I guess I'll make my daughter a main character.
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Sep 23, 2019 04:48
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ill always be annoyed that M!Robin's support with Chrom reads as more romantic than F!Robin's support of "oh no we both accidentally saw each other naked"
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Sep 23, 2019 04:54
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I just how this game will give you a “choice” of dialog that is basically one option. Or all options that are bad. Why give me a choice in whether I want to go along with Rhea if it doesn’t matter. They make you want to think the players thoughts matter but they don’t. Ever.
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Sep 23, 2019 05:33
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Mordiceius posted:I just how this game will give you a “choice” of dialog that is basically one option. Or all options that are bad.
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Sep 23, 2019 05:39
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You can keep Lance of Ruin immediately if you tell Rhea to gently caress off when she asks you for it 
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Sep 23, 2019 05:41
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Andrast posted:You can keep Lance of Ruin immediately if you tell Rhea to gently caress off when she asks you for it Fair, up to three choices depending on route and if you have Sylvain.
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Sep 23, 2019 05:44
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Shinji117 posted:I mean, not quite literally never. Byleth has the opportunity to make two choices of their own free will, unrailroaded by authority figures. I just hated when it's like "oh, here's a dialog choice" and the dialog choice was literally one option. But also, I really hated how they kept kind of forcing story on Byleth - like making them care about Rhea far far far too much when they have zero reason to.
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Sep 23, 2019 07:48
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Byleth’s dialogue isn’t voiced so anytime they need to say something it’s through a dialogue option, even if that “option” is actually just one choice. It’s a bit funky but at least it means we don’t get so much dialogue where the silent protagonist noiselessly flaps their gums and then the person they’re talking to is like “What’s that professor? You say Bernadetta fell in the well? Let’s go get her!”
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Sep 23, 2019 09:23
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I think what's actually worse than the one option dialogue choices are the ones where they give you two options that seem meaningfully different but which both lead to the exact same response. You can always tell, because the response will always be some kind of dismissal or redirection.
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Sep 23, 2019 10:53
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Fedule posted:I think what's actually worse than the one option dialogue choices are the ones where they give you two options that seem meaningfully different but which both lead to the exact same response. You can always tell,
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Sep 23, 2019 11:36
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Fedule posted:I think what's actually worse than the one option dialogue choices are the ones where they give you two options that seem meaningfully different but which both lead to the exact same response. You can always tell, Nah, it can frequently just address both points at once too. Which somehow is even more dumb than the other two options you gave.
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Sep 23, 2019 13:40
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Rand Brittain posted:Edelgard is strong but the Crest of Flames is only a small part of why she's strong, and it's absolutely not worth killing fifty people including the whole royal family, thus making the person you gave the powers to want you dead. That is not part of a rational calculus. This is literally pages ago but imo I think the point of putting the Crest of Flames on Edelgard was so she'd be able to wield the full power of the Sword of the Creator, thus creating Nemesis 2.0 for the Slithers.
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Sep 24, 2019 03:45
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The lp just hit the first death knight encounter and it made me wonder. I know edel has combat chatter with kronya, but does she have special dialogue for the dk? What with being his boss and all.
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Sep 26, 2019 03:21
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FoolyCharged posted:The lp just hit the first death knight encounter and it made me wonder. I know edel has combat chatter with kronya, but does she have special dialogue for the dk? What with being his boss and all. She does
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Sep 26, 2019 03:30
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For some reason I picture the Slithers resolution in Edelgard's route to be Hubert just stuffing noxious cloth into the ventilation shafts of the Techno Cave and chuckling to himself.
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Oct 7, 2019 22:25
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Considering their general level of competence, I assumed it was more something like a 'free candy' sign under a big looney tunes weight.
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Oct 8, 2019 03:40
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Cuntellectual posted:Considering their general level of competence, I assumed it was more something like a 'free candy' sign under a big looney tunes weight. Since Hubert and Shamir were married in my game, I'm now just imagining Hubert rubbing his hands together and Shamir having to grab the rope before it dropped the weight early. Just full on Dick Dastardly or Boris and Natascha nonsense.
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Oct 8, 2019 04:49
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Cuntellectual posted:Considering their general level of competence, I assumed it was more something like a 'free candy' sign under a big looney tunes weight. "Free Crest Stones. Stand under this anvil and wait."
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Oct 8, 2019 21:07
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I’ve been thinking about ways to improve the overall narratives of each route. For me, the focus is on making sure the main character arc of the protagonist of each house is more fulfilling and satisfactory, as this game has such a focus on great character writing. My main suggestions then are less focused on plot than on character development. Long post incoming!! Azure Moon in my opinion has the best and most full character arc for its protagonist. The only criticism I would make is to make it more clear that Dimitri does not make a sudden recovery after Rodrigue’s death — he just finds motivation to cope better, but continues to struggle. This comes up in his S Support, and briefly in a monastery conversation with Dedue, but I think it should be emphasised more. Despite Verdant Wind having such a large number of plot revelations, I found it unsatisfying as Claude’s story. Although the game teases his being Almyran nobility, possibly more, throughout the entire story, it’s only after the ending that it actually confirms he’s the prince of Almyra. This is a real missed opportunity for conflict, in my opinion. One of Claude’s most significant flaws is that he’s a coward — he’s introduced running away from the bandit attack and leaving the others to fend for themselves. He focuses on schemes and poisons because he doesn’t want to get hurt (and he doesn’t want his friends to get hurt, either). In every other route, he is able to back out of the conflict in Fodlan and run away back to Almyra when things get too hot for him. It is, I think, a really interesting and relatable flaw — battle and dying are scary! However, the game never really makes Claude confront it explicitly. To reconcile these two problems with Verdant Wind’s story, I think Claude should have been revealed as the prince of Almyra after his gambit at Fort Merceus. Then he could have been challenged for what he was planning to do in Fodlan — Lorenz is perfectly placed to be the character to question him — and he can proclaim to everyone what he wants, and why. As a capstone, when Nemesis arrives, maybe Claude can bring in the Almyran troops again to show solidarity and unity between the two countries. Crimson Flower obviously has a lot missing from it, being far shorter than the other routes and with barely any cutscenes, so there’s a lot to potentially expand on, but I’ll make two main points. Dimitri and Edelgard should have some kind of confrontation earlier in the story. Maybe he’s leading the attack on the monastery instead of Seteth, I don’t know. In any case, he should make his accusations against Edelgard of her involvement in the Tragedy of Duscur. She can deny it, and say that Arundel was behind it and she knew nothing of it. Dimitri will argue that he cannot believe that since she and Arundel are fighting side by side, and Edelgard’s actions during school as the Flame Emperor. This would show more of the personal conflict between Edelgard and Dimitri, and how Dimitri is far beyond any kind of forgiveness for her no matter what. It could also trigger a moment for Edelgard to question her alliance with Arundel, and also reckon with her role as the Flame Emperor, which is sadly forgotten as soon as you get to the time skip. Following on from that, after the Agarthan attack on Arianrhod Edelgard should be forced to make a choice in the same way Dimitri had to choose between rushing on to Enbarr and liberating Fhirdiad. Hubert obviously has the ability to triangulate the Agarthan base, and I think this would present a good conflict for Edelgard — should she continue pursuing Rhea at all costs? Or use this opportunity to make a surprise attack to wipe out a faction that has done enormous harm to Fodlan even though it would risk weakening her forces? Whichever she chooses, it would be a very interesting piece of character development. Speaking of which, Edelgard is such a fantastic character, but her interactions in the monastery after the timeskip are kinda… ehh. Although I know her whole thing about painting Byleth in secret is meant to show how she’s opening up to deeper connections in the wake of Byleth siding with her, it’s showing it by having her literally lock herself away! I think it would be better if, instead of focusing solely on her relationship with Byleth, she was shown more around the monastery having conversations with the other Black Eagles. She’s opened up not just to Byleth, but to her allies as well. Silver Snow — instead of being largely a retread of Verdant Wind, this should flip the structure of the other routes on its head. The church has no need to reclaim territory like the Kingdom or the Alliance, so why don’t they go straight to infiltrating the Imperial Palace and rescuing Rhea right away? That way Rhea can be the protagonist of this route and you can actually explore her character far more deeply. Have her work to confront the mistakes she’s made over several chapters, rather than just one or two. And that is my very long post on my major criticisms of each route! Thoughts?
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Oct 9, 2019 03:42
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I like everything there, but I also think that Verdant Wind either needed: 1. Claude bringing together the Alliance post-war Or 2. Anything that could lead into the whole Nemesis thing better. That part was jarring. (Also let Claude come up with more ideas and plans that aren’t copied in other storylines.)
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Oct 9, 2019 03:48
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Yeah, for being a renowned schemer he didn't seem to have that many unique schemes.
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Oct 9, 2019 03:50
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professor metis posted:One of Claude’s most significant flaws is that he’s a coward — he’s introduced running away from the bandit attack and leaving the others to fend for themselves. Ferdinand at one point all but says that Claude deliberately led the bandits to Jeralt's merc company
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Oct 9, 2019 04:05
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Yeah, Dimitri calls bullshit on him saying he just ran away immediately after claude claims it as well.
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Oct 9, 2019 04:08
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I like most of your suggestions, though I will say as a huge El stan, I actually like how she still stays an awkward dork in private. She tries her best but she doesn't easily overcome and her most real connection is to Byleth and it's really cute. I think if A supports didn't have to be romantic there could be more focus there, like in her excellent A rank with Bernie. But El being an awkward dork while being this feared and assertive emperor publicly is great and I don't want that changed.
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Oct 9, 2019 04:08
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I think I've said this before but given that Claude's ideals are "people can come to understand each other if they just talk to each other" it's absurd that he never engages in diplomacy at any point in his route. Claude is the scheming diplomat, but Dimitri does more diplomacy and Edelgard schemes harder. Claude is all talk.
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Oct 9, 2019 04:14
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Eimi posted:I like most of your suggestions, though I will say as a huge El stan, I actually like how she still stays an awkward dork in private. She tries her best but she doesn't easily overcome and her most real connection is to Byleth and it's really cute. I think if A supports didn't have to be romantic there could be more focus there, like in her excellent A rank with Bernie. But El being an awkward dork while being this feared and assertive emperor publicly is great and I don't want that changed. I would probably feel better about it if we got my other imagined scenes that grapple with her goals and decisions, but as it is in CF although it's cute, I wish it at least came with some other stuff that's more grounded in the story.
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Oct 9, 2019 04:21
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professor metis posted:I would probably feel better about it if we got my other imagined scenes that grapple with her goals and decisions, but as it is in CF although it's cute, I wish it at least came with some other stuff that's more grounded in the story. I def wish we just cut dealing with Claude and focused just on Dimitri and Rhea, the parallels between El and Rhea, Dimitri becoming another Catherine, and the polish it deserves. if Claude must be fought, it's ludicrous that of all the routes you don't do second Grondar on CF.
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Oct 9, 2019 04:26
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cheetah7071 posted:I think I've said this before but given that Claude's ideals are "people can come to understand each other if they just talk to each other" it's absurd that he never engages in diplomacy at any point in his route. Claude is the scheming diplomat, but Dimitri does more diplomacy and Edelgard schemes harder. Claude is all talk. That does say a lot about him. Claude at the end of the day is almost all talk. He loves trying to draw out information from other people but can't be damned to return the favor. I really wish he was called out on his bullshit on his route and made to face the fact that his determination to keep secrets could backfire on him horribly.
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Oct 9, 2019 05:46
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professor metis posted:...It could also trigger a moment for Edelgard to question her alliance with Arundel, and also reckon with her role as the Flame Emperor, which is sadly forgotten as soon as you get to the time skip. Regarding the story split, I'm pretty sure she'd put off dealing with Thales till after Rhea was gone. It's not like Thales would be going anywhere, and he needs to deal with Rhea as much as Edelgard. I guess one way to do it would be something like if Hubert picked up that, because of Edelgard's Cornelia murder Thales realised that Edelgard was significantly more serious about the "once Rhea is out of power I'm going kill all of you" than he had thought and is pumping a lot of magic into something (Nemesis, but Hubert could be worried about another missile or some other grand magical ritual bullshit) and that putting off Thales might no longer be possible- so the route split would be something like (off the top of my head) "Dimitri Fields>Rhea Flaming Capital>Thales+Rampaging Nemesis (in Garreg Mach?)" or "Thales in the Bunker>Dimitri in Garreg Mach>Rhea (On fields? also in Garreg?)"? In order for that story split to work something would need to be done to make it so that Edelgard's original plan of "Rhea first, Thales later" had to be reconsidered.
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Oct 9, 2019 06:07
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the whole “Edelgard being forced to rely on her primary abuser’s resources in order to fulfill her goals” thing is a pretty interesting conflict that should’ve really been explored more within Edelgard’s own route. Maybe have the tension between them boil over and make Edelgard turn on Thales sooner than planned.
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Oct 9, 2019 06:09
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