The Fire Emblem Thread

[TigerKnee]

I'm OK with the multiplayer features in Fates gameplay-wise (the story reason is really shit and clearly had some kind of executive meddling going on) except for tying forging to resources - a lot of the rank rewards are sidegrades and in the time it would take you to get all the outright power boosts like stat boosters, you might as well have completed the game. It isn't really "balanced" around having to use multiplayer in any form anyway so people who don't like it can just ignore it, but it's nice to blow off some steam after some of the harder missions on Conquest.

 

[Blaine]

Yeah, well, you'll all be happy to hear that Nintendo's latest 10.X firmware is explicitly designed to brick the 3DS if you try to homebrew it. I downloaded the update tonight. You're required to read a warning which further states that if you're not 18 years old and the owner of the 3DS, you shouldn't agree to the update. Until you do agree, though, certain software and/or online features will be disabled.

I'm not sure how much of that is scare tactic and how much represents a genuine policy shift and change in the firmware such that it reacts more aggressively to cracking and homebrew attempts. FE: Fates itself and the furor over their shit-ass NA translation, which has included public discussion of cracking and homebrew, may even have prompted it. FE is a major franchise.

In any event, the dialog in the NoA translation at least is indeed horrible. It's gushy, flippant, childish, C movie-esque, hack-y, fan fiction-quality nonsense (although in a technical sense, it's very neat and there are few if any typos). I'd rather have Hamburger Helper and BioWare writing the dialog. It makes Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and FFTA2 look like Shakespearean masterworks by comparison.

Typically my attitude is that I'm wallowing in console animu popamole anyway, which is why I reacted with what amounts a sneer when you all started making a fuss about it. It's like going to a fast food place and complaining that your hamburger looks like a messy turd rather than a neat turd. This episode seems particularly shitty, though.

 

[deuxhero]

That's always been there, it's too cover their ass legally if you brick your stuff.

 

[Blaine]

Ah. I probably just clicked past it before.

Doesn't really matter; in a month or three (or four days) no doubt The Scene will have cracked it again so that as long as you read carefully and follow instructions, you can homebrew without any real danger.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

If people are annoyed by NoA changes to the game, people in Serene Forest are working on restoration patch etc for the game. They are also working on fan translation which now on progress to translate all the support (all the chapter is already translated since several weeks ago).

More info:
http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=56220&page=1
http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=60728

 

[Archibald]

I'm not sure how much of that is scare tactic and how much represents a genuine policy shift and change in the firmware such that it reacts more aggressively to cracking and homebrew attempts. FE: Fates itself and the furor over their shit-ass NA translation, which has included public discussion of cracking and homebrew, may even have prompted it. FE is a major franchise.

I doubt that people mad about shit translation make up significant numbers for Nintendo to care. I also not sure about calling FE a major franchise since there were talks about shelving it if last game didn't do well enough. Sure it is "traditional", but I wouldn't be surprised if its not even in TOP 10 for Nintendo.

 

[Perkel]

how to make character shitty. Let NoA make translation:

 

[Perkel]

 

[Zetor]

I'm OK with the multiplayer features in Fates gameplay-wise (the story reason is really shit and clearly had some kind of executive meddling going on) except for tying forging to resources - a lot of the rank rewards are sidegrades and in the time it would take you to get all the outright power boosts like stat boosters, you might as well have completed the game. It isn't really "balanced" around having to use multiplayer in any form anyway so people who don't like it can just ignore it, but it's nice to blow off some steam after some of the harder missions on Conquest.

So it's kinda like a built-in cheat mode that allows you to 'grind to win' even in a game that is supposed to have none (Conquest)?

Gotta sell those boxes to non-grognards somehow, I guess.

 

[Morality Games]

I'm not sure where Intelligent Systems acquired the notion Manakate ought to be pedo bait.

 

[CptMace]

Such amazing dialogs getting butchered. Pity.

 

[TigerKnee]

So it's kinda like a built-in cheat mode that allows you to 'grind to win' even in a game that is supposed to have none (Conquest)?

Gotta sell those boxes to non-grognards somehow, I guess.

Nah, there's a literal DLC map that allows you to grind for EXP in Conquest that'll be released later... which you have to pay for.

The multiplayer features are pretty benign in comparison - for example, Conquest players doesn't get EXP from doing multiplayer battles

 

[Siveon]

I'm not sure where Intelligent Systems acquired the notion Manakate ought to be pedo bait.

Ever since Tiki, I suppose, and the trend of Manakete units being children. Of course it only really went into hell with Awakening.

 

[TigerKnee]

I doubt that people mad about shit translation make up significant numbers for Nintendo to care. I also not sure about calling FE a major franchise since there were talks about shelving it if last game didn't do well enough. Sure it is "traditional", but I wouldn't be surprised if its not even in TOP 10 for Nintendo.

The shelving talk thing was pre-Awakening and guess what - because of all the waifu-ing and casualization, it completely blew away their sales expectations. Which is why we have Fates

Yeah, Fire Emblem post-Awakening still isn't a Mario or Pokemon, but it's an SRPG series that the "mainstream" audience might actually have had exposure to now - in a genre that most people probably wouldn't be able to name even a few entries in.

 

[Archibald]

Well what is "mainstream" audience if boost in sales was due to waifus? Are waifus mainstream now?

 

[Delterius]

Are waifus mainstream now?

That rock you live under must be getting heavy.

 

[Archibald]

 

[Siveon]

Well what is "mainstream" audience if boost in sales was due to waifus? Are waifus mainstream now?

I think so, actually. Just look at The Witcher 3 fans, Biowhores, and hell, even Fallout 4. That may just be a loud minority, but, I dunno.

 

[TigerKnee]

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With more than 300,000 units sold between all versions of the Fire Emblem Fates game during its launch weekend, the Nintendo 3DS strategy RPG earns a place in the record books as the fastest-selling game in the history of the long-running, critically acclaimed franchise in the United States. The game sold more than five times as many units as 2013’s Fire Emblem Awakening, the previous record holder in the United States, during its first three days of availability.

Well, hope none of you were hoping that Fire Emblem returns to its roots of Thracia or 7 or PoR or whatever your favourite "hardcore" Fire Emblem was

 

[Archibald]

It also confirms that nobody really gives a shit about bad translation?

 

[CptMace]

when it concerns bad dialogs to begin with, who gives a fuck.

 

[TigerKnee]

The general public definitely gives no shit as long as it doesn't read like Babelfish and even then.

when it concerns bad dialogs to begin with, who gives a fuck.

Hell, even the "hardcores" usually don't give a shit - how many people preferred the original PSX version of Final Fantasy Tactics even though the story is supposed to be serious and a bad translation really hinders being able to accomplish that?

 

[Blaine]

Well, these are strategy games, after all. There's nothing stopping you from going back to replay the golden oldies afresh, particularly given the ready availability of GBC/GBA/DS/NES/SNES/PSX/PS2 emulators and ROMs.

CptMace I tend to agree, although looking at some of the various translation comparisons that have been posted around the Internet, I'd say that even if the original Japanese text (for Supports etc.) isn't particularly fantastic or interesting, it's still quite a bit better than the gushy, childish, flippant nonsense we've got in the official NoA version.

If the writing can't be amazing, it should at least be inoffensive. Shit like "Rrrggrrgh rgghthgfh arghrgh.... That's dragon for 'I love you!'" is actively obnoxious.

Hell, even the "hardcores" usually don't give a shit - how many people preferred the original PSX version of Final Fantasy Tactics even though the story is supposed to be serious and a bad translation really hinders being able to accomplish that?

Fortunately, it's now possible to get the best of both worlds on ePSXe, as there's a War of Lions translation patch for the original PSX version. It's the definitive English version of FFT, beyond doubt.

The Engrish always bothered me, even when I was playing FFT on my roommate's PSX and a shitty little CRT in 1998 in boarding school.

 

[Blaine]

This stunted stat growth shit on Hard difficulty is really starting to piss me off. It's not stopping me from progressing through the game, but it yields quirlky results, such as freshly-arrived units having 4-5 more HP and 4-5 more offensive power than my earlier units, and my Rinkah, supported by an adjacent unit, dealing 1 less damage with only 10% more accuracy against a lone, unsupported enemy of the same level who's using a spear (axe > spear).

All-in-all I find it to be an annoying and shitty implementation of Hard difficulty, especially since, later on, it's theoretically possible to hit stat caps, at which point the shittier growth becomes a moot point. They should have stuck with buffing enemy stats, equipment, and so on, in my view.

 

[Morality Games]

I get it. Intelligent Systems start creeping in on Bioware's waifus so now Bioware is creeping on their tactics.