Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack: N64 & SEGA Mega Drive (& GBA!!)

[darksnowman]

19 hours ago, Ike said:

Hope you didn't use Marcus too much as he's an exp sponge that would be better off going to other units. He's fine if you use him in a pinch, but you shouldn't be needing to add him back to your team later on.

In the chapters he featured in, once I saw he's a powerhouse I kept him in and around the group in case cover or rescue was needed. On a few occasions, he OHKO'd enemies who thought they'd chance their arm against him. Used him on one or two end-of-chapter bosses to ensure a safe exit instead of rolling the dice with anyone weaker. The Marcus + Hector combo reminds me of tag-teaming PoR with Ike and Titania. The guy Oswin is pretty handy when he's close enough to do anything, too.

19 hours ago, Ike said:

Magic users are OP, especially Canas, who you should definitely use. He's one of the few characters who can do decent damage to the final boss (make sure to keep some Luna tome uses in reserve). You do get some stronger ones later, one of which needs babying but has high growth rates (better if you use Afa Drops on them). Erk should be fine to use unless he's been getting unlucky level ups.

Okay, I'll sub in Canas for a few chapters. Giving Raven a run out too but need to be mindful to not let it detract from funnelling some exp Eliwood's way. I've enjoyed incinerating enemies with Erk but I just don't like the kid. Never liked or trusted Soren either. Something about these Fire Emblem mages doesn't jive with me. I've traded up to the horseback troubadour girl as healer now. I'd like a badass pegasus knight because flimsy Florina's a waste of a spot. And if I'm to have a thief, I want that redhead spy Leila to join our ranks. 

19 hours ago, Ike said:

You need to have units stood near each other to gain supports

Yeah, that's my understanding of supports. I'm not feeling disadvantaged without them but I'd like to get the ball rolling with them since I know they're a part of what makes Fire Emblem unique.

19 hours ago, Ike said:

Arena's are perma death as well, they are very risk-reward.

Good to know—glad I aborted on those arena attempts.

Here's how I'm leaning:

Preferred:
Hector (lord)
Lyn (lord)
Eliwood (lord)
Oswin (knight)
Rebecca (archer)
Lowen (cavalier)
Priscilla (troubadour)
Raven (mercenary)
Marcus (paladin)
Kent (cavalier)

To try: Canas (shaman)

Question marks over Florina (pegasus knight), Lucius (monk)

Useful but lost their place: Dorcas (fighter), Bartre (fighter), Will (archer)

Don't like his stance: Guy (myrmidon)

Don't like: Serra (cleric), Sain (tool), Erk (mage), Matthew (thief)

Let me assemble a squad of battle-hardened 20+ year-olds.  

[darksnowman]

2 hours ago, darksnowman said:

And if I'm to have a thief, I want that redhead spy Leila to join our ranks. 

No sooner have I typed this than...

[Ike]

I usually give Florina an Angelic Robe for more survivability. She has high res so good against magic users, she becomes a good dodge tank as well.

You get quite limited deployment slots so it’s hard to try everyone.

[Jonnas]

I'm loving these impressions on my favourite Fire Emblem game. It's great to see you experiencing it with fresh eyes.

On 17/02/2024 at 8:19 AM, darksnowman said:

in a recent skirmish against pirates, my luck ran dry. Must've restarted it six times before I got through the first two turns with no casualties. And I play cautiously as it is.

The pirates at the gate are purposefully overleveled, hence why the chapter felt so hard. You could've taken the detour up north, which is the cautious path for this map, recommended for first-timers. If you did challenge the pirates up front and win, then you have my respect.

Just... did you kill the enemy called Dart? Because the condition for recruiting him was leaving him alive during this chapter (he won't move at all if you leave him be)

On 17/02/2024 at 8:19 AM, darksnowman said:

Had one support conversation between Eliwood and Hector but nothing else yet. Wouldn't mind more but maybe I'm not positioning the troops correctly. I thought the old hag that's travelling with us said she could give info on supports but maybe I misread that because I can't see it in the menu.

Sadly, I think the support system is the biggest flaw in this game. The conversations themselves are excellent, it's just the system itself that's so obtuse and difficult. You need characters to stand next to each other for a stupid amount of turns, and it depends on the pairing. Simple pairings like Rebecca/Lowen or Matthew/Oswin take roughly 40 turns per rank, while pairings like Erk/Serra or Raven/Bartre can take 80 turns per rank. The quickest ones are Eliwood/Hector (3 turns for rank C, then 26 turns for each subsequent rank), as well as Lyn/Florina (1 turn for C, 20 for the next ones).

Oh, and each character can only do 5 support conversations per playthrough. There's that, too.

Hannah definitely unlocks the support compatibility list at some point. I believe it's called fortune-telling or something like that.

On 18/02/2024 at 8:28 AM, darksnowman said:

I'd like a badass pegasus knight because flimsy Florina's a waste of a spot.

Florina can be quite useful as a utility flier. She can get better at combat if you train her, but it's not a necessity or anything.

As Ike said, deployment spots are going to get more and more limited, feel free to stick with the characters you like. I personally love using Canas too, but if you end up not liking him, don't feel forced to use him, you do you.

In better news, you won't have to wait much longer for a new flier...

Edited February 20 by Jonnas

[EEVILMURRAY]

You guys are making me want to play this now... it seems so in depth

[Glen-i]

3 hours ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

You guys are making me want to play this now... it seems so in depth

Every Fire Emblem game is in depth. The series thrives on it! There's a crapton of things going on behind the scenes.

[Dcubed]

4 hours ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

You guys are making me want to play this now... it seems so in depth

It’s very good, and FE7 (released as “Fire Emblem” on the GBA) is not only specifically designed for newcomers, but it also happens to be one of the best entries in the series to boot.  It’s always my recommended starting point if you’re new to the series, so if you have NSO + Expansion Pack (and I know you do), defo give it a go

Edited February 20 by Dcubed

[darksnowman]

On 18/02/2024 at 11:41 AM, Ike said:

I usually give Florina an Angelic Robe for more survivability. She has high res so good against magic users, she becomes a good dodge tank as well.

You get quite limited deployment slots so it’s hard to try everyone.

I didn't see this in my inventory. Would any of them have lost it when they leave you for those few chapters?

16 hours ago, Jonnas said:

I'm loving these impressions on my favourite Fire Emblem game. It's great to see you experiencing it with fresh eyes.

Every now and again it seems like someone's posting about Fire Emblem. This time it's my turn.

Haha, yes there's been some good vocab on show. On that pirate level, I sent two up around to clear out the top and the rest through the middle. What was catching me out was it seemed to be the first time the enemies had some brains about them because they would gang up on one of my units. Re: Dart, none of my troops would strike up a conversation with him so since he was peaceful I just left him. Otherwise cleared the rest out—I wasn't moving on without all that exp.

Haven't been going out of my way to pair people up on the battlefield but I still hoped supports would come up naturally. Won't worry about them!

Last left it at a chapter I need to restart. I was all but done with it (was just trying to corner a pair of enemy thieves that were giving me the run around, the one with a name had me particularly curious) and left insufficient cover for Merlinus' tent.

8 hours ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

You guys are making me want to play this now... it seems so in depth

You've definitely got the chops for it. It's lengthy enough so a good way to get some value from NSO.

[Ike]

1 hour ago, darksnowman said:

I didn't see this in my inventory. Would any of them have lost it when they leave you for those few chapters?

Items don’t transfer from Lyn’s story, if you did use it then it’s gone. Next one is in chapter 21.

[Jonnas]

10 hours ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

You guys are making me want to play this now... it seems so in depth

The cool thing about Fire Emblem (especially the GBA games) is that the interface and UI are surprisingly simple and direct for the genre.

Despite this, the mechanics and details have a lot of depth to them. There's always a lot to explore and talk about.

2 hours ago, darksnowman said:

Last left it at a chapter I need to restart. I was all but done with it (was just trying to corner a pair of enemy thieves that were giving me the run around, the one with a name had me particularly curious) and left insufficient cover for Merlinus' tent.

I see you're making good progress. Just a couple of tips:

• Merlinus is the only character protected from permanent death. If he dies, he just comes back next chapter (he only levels up if he survives, though);
• Won't spoil it if you want to figure it out yourself, but if you do want to know what to do about the named thief, click the spoiler below.

Spoiler

Talk with him with either Eliwood or Lyn. I think Hector works too, but I'm not 100% sure about that.

 

[darksnowman]

12 hours ago, Ike said:

Items don’t transfer from Lyn’s story, if you did use it then it’s gone. Next one is in chapter 21.

Harsh. So it's permadeath with items too. Better use em or lose em. I hadn't taken note of who had what but noticed Lyn came back with a recharged Mani Katti which has been very nice.

Impressive how you boys remember these games in so much detail. I could only talk about the entries I've played in the broadest of strokes.

12 hours ago, Jonnas said:

I see you're making good progress. Just a couple of tips:

• Merlinus is the only character protected from permanent death. If he dies, he just comes back next chapter (he only levels up if he survives, though);
• Won't spoil it if you want to figure it out yourself, but if you do want to know what to do about the named thief, click the spoiler below.

  Some named Thief in the corner (Reveal hidden contents)

Talk with him with either Eliwood or Lyn. I think Hector works too, but I'm not 100% sure about that.

 

Yep, the game actually told me that. I just want him to survive every chapter to see what levelling him yields (I've my fingers crossed he will become a shop). I said I left insufficient cover for the tent, but it'd be more accurate to say I left it wide open. When they came in the side door to attack the tent, I was only able to get the peggy knight back in time and she got sent to the big Fire Emblem in the sky for her heroic efforts. Canas and Raven were only one square out of range from taking some heat off her. Like I said, the map seemed done and I was more concerned with trying to corner those slippery thieves lest they flee. Schoolboy error.

You and @Ike will be pleased to hear that in a previous chapter, I was able to position four units around a thief until I got mine there to steal some gear back. Then I skewered the scoundrel. Felt good. 

Of course I'll check that. Useful tip as I supposed Matthew would be the key character there.

For some reason, I thought maxing a character to lvl 20 made for automatic promotion, whereas the items are if you're in a rush to promote prematurely. But I got Lyn there and nothing happened. So now I'm handicapped if I want to make sure she doesn't sap exp away from the other weaklings. When I retry that chapter I'm just going to load her up with keys and she can do double duty as a door and chest opener.

[Julius]

Blast Corps is available on N64 NSO today:

Elsewhere, Mother 3 got added to GBA NSO...in Japan 

[Dcubed]

Perfect Dark, Diddy Kong Racing and Banjo Tooie are just a matter of time now

So the march begins for Earthbound Endings outside Japan...

[Hero-of-Time]

3 hours ago, Julius said:

 

Elewhere, Mother 3 got added to GBA NSO...in Japan 

Their My Nintendo got merchandise too

 

[Ashley]

Maybe they'll shadow drop it in a few weeks time in the UK and then a few months time in America.

[Dcubed]

Worth noting that Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & The Blade of Light hit the Japanese NSO service in March 2019 and then got an individual English localised release around a year & a half later in December 2020…

… a Japanese NSO release does not preclude a separate English release later.  And I seriously doubt that Nintendo would just give away a brand newly localised 1st party title; especially one as high profile as Earthbound Endings.

Edited February 21 by Dcubed

[Glen-i]

20 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

a Japanese NSO release does not preclude a separate English release later.  And I seriously doubt that Nintendo would just give away a brand newly localised 1st party title; especially one as high profile as Earthbound Endings.

Isn't that exactly what happened on the WiiU though?

[Dcubed]

2 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Isn't that exactly what happened on the WiiU though?

No, because Earthbound Beginnings was localised all the way back in 1993-1994.  The English version was already done.

That wouldn't be the case for Earthbound Endings however... it would be a similar situation as with Sin & Punishment and with Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & The Blade of Light.

Also EB was sold as a VC release anyway, not given away for free as part of a subscription.

Edited February 21 by Dcubed

[Glen-i]

6 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

No, because Earthbound Beginnings was localised all the way back in 1993-1994.  The English version was already done.

That wouldn't be the case for Earthbound Endings however... it would be a similar situation as with Sin & Punishment and with Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & The Blade of Light.

Also EB was sold as a VC release anyway, not given away for free as part of a subscription.

All I know was that Mother 3 was made available on Japanese WiiU, and nothing came of it.

Gonna assume it's not happening. History has said as much.

But hey, you can easily play it now. You have the Japanese GBA app.

[Dcubed]

9 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

All I know was that Mother 3 was made available on Japanese WiiU, and nothing came of it.

Gonna assume it's not happening. History has said as much.

But hey, you can easily play it now. You have the Japanese GBA app.

That's because it came out in Japan on Dec. 17 2015; just a little over a year before the Wii U got replaced by Switch.  It was too late for them to release an English version of the game on that console, especially considering that Earthbound Beginnings had only just been released 6 months prior.

Likewise, Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon & The Blade of Light was actually originally intended for release as a Wii U VC title (probably originally due for release in 2015, in time for the series' 25th anniversary), but was cancelled and held back for release on Switch instead, in time for the series' 30th anniversary; probably because they realised that wasting that game on a dying console was a stupid idea.

Edited February 21 by Dcubed

[Ike]

Reggie's book reveals there were discussions on being it west.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2022/05/reggie-fils-aime-had-a-serious-conversation-about-bringing-mother-3-west-with-iwata

Reggie wanted to put it out in Japanese which is bizarre to me.

 

[BowserBasher]

Blast Corps. Backlash, YOU SUCK! That is all.

[Jonnas]

15 hours ago, darksnowman said:

You and @Ike will be pleased to hear that in a previous chapter, I was able to position four units around a thief until I got mine there to steal some gear back. Then I skewered the scoundrel. Felt good. 

Very nicely done. Not an easy task, especially when you consider the amount of items that can't be stolen back.

15 hours ago, darksnowman said:

For some reason, I thought maxing a character to lvl 20 made for automatic promotion, whereas the items are if you're in a rush to promote prematurely. But I got Lyn there and nothing happened. So now I'm handicapped if I want to make sure she doesn't sap exp away from the other weaklings. When I retry that chapter I'm just going to load her up with keys and she can do double duty as a door and chest opener.

You might be thinking of the GCN/Wii games, where the system worked like that. In the GBA, it's all items, which demands one to consider their resources wisely.

Regarding Lyn... there's quite a few chapters before her earliest promotion. Yeah, it kinda sucks, the next few maps would be perfect to train her promoted form.

[darksnowman]

16 hours ago, BowserBasher said:

Blast Corps. Backlash, YOU SUCK! That is all.

Opening yourself up to some backlash with that.

Blast the core!
Blast the corpse!
Just dang and blast it!

13 hours ago, Jonnas said:

Very nicely done. Not an easy task, especially when you consider the amount of items that can't be stolen back.

You might be thinking of the GCN/Wii games, where the system worked like that. In the GBA, it's all items, which demands one to consider their resources wisely.

Regarding Lyn... there's quite a few chapters before her earliest promotion. Yeah, it kinda sucks, the next few maps would be perfect to train her promoted form.

Hmm. Then maybe I didn't get everything back but I did relieve him of everything I was able to.

Aye, guilty as charged. I have a few others but PoR & RD generally remain my reference point for the series. Based on what you've said, that could have something to do with why I'm storing all the items in this one and going in armed to the teeth with the troubadour on healing.

Edited February 22 by darksnowman

[Jonnas]

6 hours ago, darksnowman said:

Hmm. Then maybe I didn't get everything back but I did relieve him of everything I was able to.

For the record, the stuff you can't steal is Gold (not an item, if an enemy Thief gets it, it evaporates) and weapons (unstealable by design). I don't think the chapter you were in contained any weapons, though.