The Other Side of the Fourth Wall

Once again, I'm resuming my playthrough of Fire Emblem Engage, in which I cover what could be called the Solm arc of the game- Chapters 13-15, as well as Chapter 12, which I covered last time. Beware of spoilers if you have not already played the game. Chapter 13 Fogado introduces the heroes to his mother Queen Seforia, who is remarkably laid-back for a queen, answering to "Mom" rather than "Mother." She informs the heroes that her daughter Timerra has Ike's ring, and demonstrates that she lets her children- including Timerra, the successor to the throne- mostly do as they please. At night, Timera is camping with her retainers, eating meat and doing some awful singing when some bandits attack. Fogado and the heroes arrive and have to help out. The map is another "fog of war" map (i.e. night in thi scase). These maps seem more common than in Three Houses, in which Chapter 3 was the only story map with fog (and it disappears after the mage's deat

Welcome to the fourth part of my blog entry series chronicling my playthrough of Fire Emblem Engage. This entry will deal with what could be considered the "Elusia arc" of the game- Chapters 9-11.  Be warned- this blog entry, and all subsequent ones in the series, will include significant plot spoilers, so do not view it if you do not want to be spoiled . Without further ado, let us resume the series. Chapter 9 This chapter takes place on the border of Brodia and Elusia. King Morion heads out to fight King Hyacinth without the help of a ring, and it goes about as poorly as one might expect. While Hyacinth almost loses to Morion, he pulls out Lyn's ring and defeats Morion, abducting him. He orders Ivy to stay behind and hold off their pursuers without her ring, as punishment for losing a ring that Sombron gifted her. The goal is simple- get to the east end of the map and defeat Ivy- and while the goal is to save Morion, there isn't any pressure to defeat Ivy quickly. I

 I pick up where I left off on my first impressions of Engage. Again, there shouldn't be too many major spoilers at this point, but this review will discuss plot points, so be advised if you want to go in blind. After starting the game, I saw that skirmishes were available- like in Awakening, they tend to become available upon startup or after completing a map. I took part in my first skirmish, against Firenese knights. It was a good opportunity to gain experience points and support with my units. Speaking of supports, I notice that they're rather short, often totaling between 10-20 lines between the characters. That isn't necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, but perhaps it could contribute to the lack of in-depth Jean's Paralogue I decided to start with the first Paralogue. Paralogues in Awakening and Fates tend to involve unit recruitment (usually a second-generation unit), while Three Houses grants special battalions, Heroes' Relics and other rewards. Engage

This is the second part of my ongoing coverage of my playthrough of Fire Emblem Engage. This time, we will cover Chapter 4 and 5, and while there won't be too many spoilers, that will eventually change. Another thing to keep in mind is that these are my first impressions, and not only can they be revised over time, but I'm also writing based off of memory, and may not recall all details(for example, the names of minor characters). Chapter 4 Continued I tried the chapter again, having learned from my mistakes the previous time. It was a bit challenging getting my forces to Chloe and Louis in time, but I was able to manage it in the end; maps in which you have to reach a single allied unit surrounded by enemies can often be frustrating. The boss is an armored unit that is immune to being broken under most circumstances, and doesn't appear to be any slower than a standard infantry unit. I know armored units have a bad reputation for not being very useful, but this is overcompe

Yesterday, I picked up Fire Emblem Engage.  I played through the first three chapters and started the fourth, so I will share my thoughts in this blog. This blog entry won't have any major spoilers beyond what you might have heard of in promotional materials, but later ones about Engage might, and I will warn you when those entries delve into spoilers. Startup and Character Creation After starting up the game, an opening movie plays, showing most of the main cast, the Emblems in action and teasing future events. The song seems to be about the world, but I personally prefer Three House's "The Edge of Dawn," albeit in part because its significance only becomes apparent after you complete the game. The moment the game begins, you're given the task of creating your character, and have to choose a few things. Your "form"- in other words, your gender. Since I chose a female character, I will write the first impression accordingly. Your character's date of

To commemorate the release of Persona 3 Portable on other consoles, I'll do an AI-generated story of  Persona 3, picking up where the ending left off. The prompt is in bold, the rest of the text is normal, and footnotes will be included  Be advised- there are Persona 3 ending spoilers You are Kotone Shiomi(FN1), a teenage girl and a second-year at Gekkoukan High School. You and your friends in S.E.E.S. recently sealed away the goddess of death, Nyx, and now, graduation day has come. You are on the roof of the school, waiting for your friends to come, but you're feeling tired, as you have for the past few days. And so you lay your head in your companion Aigis' lap, and drift off to sleep... "Kotone! Kotone! Wake up!" You hear your name being called, and you slowly open your eyes. You see your friends surrounding you: Alice, Al, and Oscar(FN2). They look worried. "Kotone! Are you okay?" asks Alice.  "Yeah," you say, rubbing your eyes. "Why w

As much as I enjoy Persona's Social Link(or Confidant in Persona 5) system, there are some annoying mechanics that go along with it, especially in Persona 3, when the system debuted. Luckily, most of these were dropped in several games, and I will look at some of the ones that I won't miss. No Indication You're Ready To Advance In order to level up a Social Link, you need a certain number of relationship points with your friend, represented by musical notes, which you earn by spending time witih them and giving the right answers. The amount is unclear(I wish there was a progress meter, but that's beside the point), but if you have enough, the next time you spend time with your friend, you'll get a rank up. If not, you'll gain some points, and will only be able to proceed to the next rank once you have met the quota. In some cases, this may be inevitable, like with Nanako's Socal Link in Persona 4. Usually, you'll get some indication as to whether your So

This blog entry contains spoilers for Persona 3. Persona 3's story is divided into two parts- The Journey, which is the main game, and The Answer, which is a shorter segment after the main game. The latter was not part of the original game but was released for the FES re-release for the PlayStation 2, but not included for the Portable rerelease for the PlayStation Portable, which will soon be rereleased on other consoles. While many find its exclusion disappointing, I find the Answer to be severely flawed. The Story First, let's provide a brief recap of The Journey's ending. On January 31, 2010, the protagonist, along with his team- S.E.E.S.- fights against Nyx, whom the protagonist manages to seal away. In the aftermath of the battle, all the members of S.E.E.S. except Aigis lose their memories of the Dark Hour and drift apart, although they remember their promise to meet on March 5, which is the graduation day. Tragically, the protagonist, who'd been growing weaker in