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I just started this LP a few days ago and am finally caught up. I usually don't read/watch ones for games I haven't played (which is why I gave it a pass when you first started it) but I enjoyed your previous three so much that I eventually came around. It isn't always possible for me to tell which elements of your victory are strategic (i.e., the army you'd built would always win that fight) or tactical (i.e. you are a god of micro) but I can definitely appreciate the obvious strategic parts. The summary of the Osiris myth you told doesn't actually match the version I was familiar with--in that one, Isis impregnated herself with Osiris' dismembered penis, and Horus was born while he was still dead. And, since this is all new to me, not several months old like it is for everyone else in the thread, I definitely understand why Awakening doesn't match what you enjoy about Fire Emblem but I think it's a mistake to write off the series for it. I can do an effortpost or PM for which games you haven't played (or am not aware you've played) that I think match your sensibilities, if you'd like.
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May 28, 2017 09:27
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 22:09 |
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Sure, I'll go ahead then. Writing off future FEs is definitely plausible for you--of the five games released since Awakening, only two of them are even plausible for you, and both of them come with caveats. I just want to challenge the idea that previous games in the series have nothing of value for you. FE1-3 are old games that have received enhanced remakes and there's really no reason to play them anymore FE4 (Genealogy of the Holy War) has one of the best stories in the franchise but ultimately has little tactical depth--most encounters are decided by figuring out which of your invindible god units is best against that enemy formation and watching the waves crash upon the shore. There's some strategic depth with how the pairing system works, and deciding who gets what weapons, but I suspect you want to give it a pass. FE5 (Thracia 776) is your ideal game (or your ideal Fire Emblem at least) given form. There's a wide variety of challenges instead of a series of samey maps, you have a large selection of extremely powerful tools all of which have very limited uses to force decision points, and you can in nearly every chapter make tactical concessions in order to gain more strategic resources. Most maps have side objectives (though unfortunately the game documents them poorly), there's a ton of micro-optimization to be gained by ensuring that your units all have the correct items in their inventory when they level up, and the fatigue system forces you to think ahead about not only which units you want to use on this chapter, but also which units you can't use this chapter because doing so would prevent you from using them later when they're more useful. The story is around FE7-8's level (though I'm a bit more down on FE7's story than you and this is more subjective so it's hard to be sure you'll have the same opinion), but unfortunately there's no professional-quality fan translation like there is for FE4, 6, or 12, so the prose will inevitably suffer. It does feature the best gameplay-story integration I've ever seen as well. All in all, I would definitely say that Thracia is by far the most Melth game I have ever played. In the interest of fairness, I'll list the main downsides: ambush reinforcements, an over-reliance on fog of war maps, and slightly more RNG than the GBA games (though ultimately not that much more). FE6-8 you've definitely played and formed opinions on. FE9 (Path of Radiance) I think you've played but I'm not sure so I'll give my pitch. It's basically the fourth GBA game. Maps have variety, and usually have side objectives. Shoving joins rescuing in terms of movement options a clever player can use to get ahead. The story is competent and much more grounded than usual, which makes it a typical favorite among the english-released games. FE10 (Radiant Dawn) is weird. The story is full of holes and stupid even on its face, but there's definitely Melthy gameplay elements in there, which might be enough to offset those concerns. Shoving and Rescuing are back. Maps often force re-evaluations on which unit types are good (e.g. indoor maps give mounted units -2 move). Many, many maps have a limited cast available, forcing you to decide which of the clown squad is least bad. The absolute biggest strike against it though is that hard mode features the most boneheaded changes I've ever seen in my life--the weapon triangle gets removed and you can no longer check enemy movement ranges so you have to count squares manually. FE11 (Shadow Dragon) is plausible. The graphics are kinda hideous and the plot is a barely-touched-up NES game plot (meaning there's many characters whose only line is their death quote) but the gameplay is mostly solid. There's a few stinker maps but most of them are quality, and a number of them feature fast-paced side objectives like you prefer. They're all seize maps unfortunately, and the optimal strategy is to use your copious piles of warp staves to skip the second half of the game. The gaiden maps also require you to play poorly intentionally to get them which is a shame. FE12 (New Mystery of the Emblem) is probably the game I'd recommend second-most highly for you. It has the same ugly graphics as Shadow Dragon but the plot is a barely-touched-up SNES game instead of NES game, and it shows. (Limited) supports were also added to give everybody a bit more character. On a gameplay note, it hits many of the things you love about Fire Emblem. Many maps have side objectives, and many have elements forcing you to rush forward or fight on two fronts (usually either to outrun a thief or escape reinforcements from behind). The warp staff is removes if you're playing above normal mode, but the rescue staff remains and is available early--and playing cleverly with it is often the only way to accomplish your goals on lunatic. The biggest strikes against it gameplay-wise are ambush reinforcements (above normal mode), and that upwards of 50% of the cast are completely unplayably worthless even on the chapter they join (on lunatic). You're practically forced to use the same army as everybody else who's ever beaten lunatic, with maybe one or two substitutions. FE13 you've formed your opinion on and I agree it's not your kind of game. FE14 BR (Fates Birthright) isn't your kind of game. FE14 CQ (Fates Conquest) is definitely something you might like, but with very heavy caveats. Most skills in Fates are static modifiers rather than percentage procs like in Awakening, but proc skills still exist. Pair up no longer has RNG and there's a lot of cleverness deciding you want the defensive boosts of pairing up or the offensive boosts of standing next to each other. There's a lot of tactical depth in the new pair up system and the new weapon system (weapons don't have uses; instead, weapons better than iron have static disadvantages) which many people find exhausting but I'm sure you'd revel in. There's some bad parts too, though--there's basically no strategic depth beyond choosing who to give experience to. Everything is a tactical challenge. And, with a few specific exceptions, chapters aren't even holistic tactical challenges--each enemy group is a separate obstacle, and after you overcome it you have all the time you need to heal up and regroup. In addition, the story is by far the worst in the series, and everyone who reads it gets dumber for having exposed themselves to it. Ultimately this is only a game for you if you decide you like the series again enough to put up with some very substandard elements--but it does have parts you'd like alongside them. FE14 RV (Fates Revelation) is a bad game. Don't play it. That goes for anybody reading this thread, not just Melth. FE15 (Echoes: Shadows of Valentia) is a very good game that doesn't match your tastes probably. FEH (Fire Emblem Heroes) is actually not as implausible as you might think for you. The main advantage it'd have over playing a full-sized game is that it can provide bite-sized tactical challenges that you finish in a few minutes when you don't have time to play something more substantial. It's a gacha game of course so if you're f2p there's RNG in even getting the units you want but you're almost guaranteed to get something good, and it can be interesting to try to figure out how to beat challenges when you don't have any of the pieces that perform best against them.
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May 29, 2017 21:58
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There is no Japanese easy mode in Radiant Dawn. The difficulties were just straight up renamed from normal, hard, and lunatic to easy, normal, and hard. You're probably thinking of Path of Radiance, which had the Japanese maniac mode removed, an easy mode added, and hard mode made a bit harder to compensate for no maniac mode.
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May 29, 2017 22:57
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Are there supposed to be a bunch more enemies you skipped by going fast? Obviously you skipped the guards outside the prison, but other than that, there's nothing but a few towers and three anubites between you and the final battle--what's supposed to be the factor that forces you to slow down and care about playing this as an RTS instead of a beat em up?
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Jun 6, 2017 06:12
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I always assumed that most polytheistic gods were kinda dicks because they represented natural forces which were pretty dickish I guess I'm not really sure if non-Greek gods are dicks though. The Aesir seem pretty chill from what I remember of them.
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Jun 30, 2017 08:54
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I think Surt appears at the very beginning--Ginnungagap (where all the interesting world-creation stuff happened) was where Muspellheim and Nifleheim met, iirc. I think the Eddas at least mention his name in that context even if he doesn't do anything. (I probably spelled at least one of those wrong)
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Jul 2, 2017 04:17
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Missions where the goal is to do something other than killing enemies can be really cool but designers need to be careful to make sure the enemies are at least in the way of the objective
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Jul 10, 2017 07:01
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Counting on Roman tradition and law to prevent them from warring with you doesn't always work, see: Gaul
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Jul 20, 2017 07:10
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NGDBSS posted:Got a source for that stuff? I don't doubt its veracity considering all the expanionist wars Rome went through in the name of "defense", but I can't find a mention of such legal tqisting on Google. Dunno about Parthia, but in the case of Gaul, Caesar just sort of started fighting without bothering to ask the senate to declare war
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Jul 22, 2017 08:28
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I suspect that the variants of the myth that have the palace of Byblos being a temporary resting place for Osiris' body didn't come out of people thinking it made a better story, but rather out of Byblosians wanting to insert themselves into the myths of their neighbor, possibly while said neighbor ruled them. You see the same thing with Rome claiming it was founded by Trojans in order to insert themselves into the Greek mythic world (while still remaining distinct from the Greeks).
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Jul 26, 2017 01:05
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His videos often spend about 12 hours on youtube before being posted here; I suspect he starts the upload before bed and then reposts it here after work Anyway, in response to the request for advice at the end of the video, as someone who hasn't played the game I'd appreciate it if at the beginning you laid out what exactly the objective of the mission is. Sometimes you do because it's something particularly weird but sometimes I have to puzzle it out based on what you do during the map.
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Aug 22, 2017 20:19
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Most ancient peoples didn't believe in "religion" the way we moderns understand it. As a citizen of, say, Ephesus, you worshiped the goddess that protected Ephesus not because it was the "true" set of beliefs but because why would you worship the god of a place you don't even live? You don't really care that other Greeks worship Artemis differently from you because it isn't an aspect of your beliefs that it's important to make other people believe the same things you do.
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Aug 23, 2017 05:10
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Melth posted:Oh absolutely. I think this is true in most RTSes though. The key to wild success in most RTS campaigns is to grab all your starting forces and do something unexpected and aggressive with them. The developers understood how fast you could build an economy and will have balanced the waves that come at you accordingly. The only unknown to them is how good you are with your starting forces. There's at least one (extremely bad) RTS I know of where the easiest campaign strategy by far is to just turtle and tech until you have more of the biggest, baddest unit than the AI does, because the AI is completely incapable of dealing with them except by matching them unit for unit.
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Aug 25, 2017 02:50
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Do the skip, but give us a brief summary of what the map would normally be like in your narration
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Aug 26, 2017 22:56
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Was this a known tactic that existing speedruns use? I'm really glad you decided to show off the fast way
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Sep 4, 2017 08:36
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In theory, could you have avoided capturing the forge and just blitzed the last camp, or are the triggers so large that capturing the forge is unavoidable?
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Oct 9, 2017 21:06
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Asehujiko posted:Have you considered doing post commentary? His last three LPs were screenshot LPs if that's what you mean. It wouldn't be a good fit for an RTS though imo.
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Dec 12, 2017 03:41
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What was the goal in that mission?
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Feb 6, 2018 01:44
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Randarkman posted:Is there any pantheon that had worse gods than the Greeks'? Because, just goddamn. Probably but very few pantheons a) were for literate societies that wrote their myths down and b) had those records survive to the present day That's part of why Greek and Norse pantheons are the ones that come up so often. They just have the best records of the thousands of dead religions.
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Feb 27, 2018 22:12
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OwlFancier posted:Hades is a big goon, lives in the basement, bad with women, hoarder. He has a dog instead of a cat though
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Feb 28, 2018 07:24
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 22:09 |
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CommissarMega posted:With all that being said though, Greek myth is a mess, and it's quite possible all the versions of the myth being discussed here were told somewhere and somewhen in the Hellenic area. It's important to remember that organized religion, with codified dogma that is reinforced over its entire geographic area, is much less common historically than you'd think. It didn't really hit the west until Constantine manhandled his bishops into agreeing on a single version of Christianity. So all the various Greek cities told different versions of the myths because in a very real sense Ephesus and Athens didn't have the same religion, they had different religions that shared many common elements. I mentioned Ephesus specifically because it's a pretty noteworthy example of the gods we know being worshiped very differently. There was a very popular earth mother style goddess called Cybele in the non-Greek parts of Turkey, which Ephesians adopted from their neighbors. Except they wanted to worship their own gods instead of foreign ones, so they decided that Cybele, as a female goddess associated with nature, must be Artemis (who is basically nothing at all like an earth mother in the version of the Greek pantheon you usually hear). Artemis-as-Cybele was the main cult in Ephesus even, and produced some very striking religious art, such as this: 
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Mar 1, 2018 10:57
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