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Tag: Weapon Refinery
Family Fire Emblem-y love is in the air
Ah Valentine's Day. What a lovely day of loving loveable people.
Except for those of us who don't have a significant other to spoil in that romantic kind of way.
For us, there's only one way to celebrate this most commercial day of love:
Playing Fire Emblem Heroes. Naturally.
Greil — Heroic Exemplar
Faithful Axe (Might = 14, Range = 1)
If unit is adjacent to an ally, grants Attack, Speed, Defense and Resistance +3 during combat.
Aether (Cooldown = 5)
Treats foe's Defense and Resistance as if reduced by 50 percent during combat. Restores Health = half the damage dealt.
Fury 4 (A Skill)
Grants Attack, Speed, Defense and Resistance +4. After combat, deals 8 damage to unit.
Wary Fighter (B Skill)
If unit's Health ≥ 50 percent, unit and foe cannot make a follow-up attack.
Armor March (C Skill)
At start of the turn, if unit is adjacent to an armored ally, both units can move one extra space (that turn only, does not stack).
Soren — Addled Strategist
Blárblooms (Might = 12, Range = 2)
Rally Attack/Speed (Range = 1)
Grants Attack and Speed +6 to target ally for one turn.
Attack/Resistance Bond (A Skill)
If unit is adjacent to an ally, grants Attack and Resistance +5 during combat.
Speed Feint (B Skill)
If a Rally Assist skill is used by unit or targets unit, inflicts Speed -7 on foes in cardinal directions of unit through their next actions.
Resistance Opening (C Skill)
At start of the turn, grants Resistance +6 to ally with the highest Resistance for one turn (excluding unit).
Mist — Purest Spirit
Gronnblooms (Might = 12, Range = 2)
Rally Defense/Resistance (Range = 1)
Grants Defense and Resistance +6 to target ally for one turn.
Swift Sparrow (A Skill)
If unit initiates combat, grants Attack and Speed +4 during combat.
Resistance Feint (B Skill)
If a Rally Assist skill is used by unit or targets unit, inflicts Resistance -7 on foes in cardinal directions of unit through their next actions.
Green Tome Valor (C Skill)
While unit lives, all green tome allies on team net 2x Skill Points (only highest value applied, does not stack).
Ike — Stalwart Heart
Heart's Blade (Might = 14, Range = 1)
Radiant Aether (Cooldown = 4)
During combat, treats foe's Defense and Resistance as if reduced by 50 percent. Restores Health = 50 percent of damage dealt.
Distant Counter (A Skill)
Unit can counterattack regardless of foe's range.
Special Fighter (B Skill)
At the start of combat, if unit's Health ≥ 50 percent, grants Special Attack cooldown charge +1 to unit and inflicts -1 on foe per attack (only highest value applied, does not stack).
Even Speed Wave (C Skill)
At the start of even-numbered turns, grants Speed +6 to unit and adjacent allies for one turn (bonus granted to unit even if no allies are adjacent).
Right off the bat, I think it's worth noting that I vastly preferred the approach taken by last year's Valentine's Day banner.
There we had Roy and Lilina as a romantic pairing, with their fathers cutely handling the potential relationship in different ways.
With this banner, Ike and his sister reunite with their father. As sweet as it is, I can't speak to the impact of the character relationships having never played the Radiant games.
Plus Valentine's Day is usually about romantic love more than family love, so the choice to add Greil here seems a bit bizarre. Why not for Father's Day?
That being said, Greil — namesake of The Greil Mercenaries, is an interesting character pull.
He's also easily the best unit on this banner, despite being yet another armored axe-wielder. That power-crept Fury and weapon provide +7 to each stat when next to an ally, and if that ally is armored he also gets to move an extra space.
The other three don't work quite as well with the same weapon gimmick in my opinion, as Mist and Soren are both different flavors of the new Feint/Rally skill combo and Ike is another long-range red armor.
He's the second best thing on the banner because Black Knight is a broken unit archetype, but that's almost a given when Ike is involved.
I kind of feel like I should have used my orbs to invest more into the Duma banner, considering I got neither Duma nor Tiki.
But I can't be mad because Intelligent Systems gave me a very nice Valentine's Day present:
Both at 3 percent? Sure I might be a little salty that Mist and Greil are in the same color pool, but this kind of luck is unheard of for me.
If there's anything I can complain about, it's the genetic likelihood that Ike and his sister each have unique hair colors from their brown-haired father…
It's almost like the game developers wanted cool hair colors and didn't focus too much on continuity.
Or the Ike family has some weird recessive genes. I suppose.
The two-year anniversary events have given me the chance to save up a bunch of orbs, so with my luck I'll save up to see who else comes around next.
Speaking of saving orbs, how about that new Paralogue chapter?
Segue: Nailed.
While the aesthetic of the Valentine's Day maps aren't my favorite, the actual Paralogue story offers something refreshingly new.
Instead of leading off with the "Order of Heroes goes to get money or food" cliché, this Paralogue doesn't mention you at all.
It starts with the Greil Mercenaries lamenting Ike's complaints over his outfit as he slows them down.
Even though it's kind of what he always wears.
Everyone is shocked to see Greil alive, when he shows up, and It's really quite nice seeing Ike and Mist so happy to see their father.
Then a few battles pass and we get this scene where Soren is being hella gay for Ike.
So I guess there is romance on this banner?
Everything goes rather smooth until the final battle, which ends with a slightly awkward transition of Greil suggesting that the Order of Heroes surrendered after you defeat them.
I can let it slide, as that moves into another nice scene of the children trying to get their father back.
D'aww! It nearly crosses the line into being sickly sweet, but I love the character moment and references to Ike's maturity over two games.
By trimming the usual fat of Anna being vaguely reprehensible as a leader, Intelligent Systems made for a really nice alternate universe story that I quite enjoyed more than most Paralogues.
… Granted, it did make me wonder why Ike and his family got this special treatment when, for example, we had the Hoshidan mother Mikoto brought back to life in Heroes not too long ago with no fan fare.
But hey. All I continue to look for is a return to some new Sacred Stones characters considering we haven't seen any since before last Valentine's Day. I'm a simple man.
There we have it, Valentine's Day 2019 in Fire Emblem Heroes.
The banner units might just be okay, but that's made up for by a very nice underlying premise.
Those of you who play the game might be wondering why I didn't do some kind of joint 'update banner' post to talk about the Bane/Boon system, new weapon refines, Aether Raids changes and Dragon flowers.
Well… Mostly because I'm kind of burnt out on the mechanical stuff in Heroes. At the moment I'm playing the game for new characters, even if I appreciate things that have been added.
So I think I'll skip out on some of the update info for a bit and keep my writing focused on banners, just to keep the game more fun for me.
That said, let me know what you think about these holiday units, and tell me who you want to see in the game next!
Aether Raids
Greil
Weapon Refinery
Seeping with Content: New Genealogy Units and Version 2.9.0
Once in a while, Intelligent Systems likes to coincide a new character banner with an update to the game.
This week was one of those weeks where that happened. So I figured instead of stretching this out over a two-day period, I would just put it all together and make one more substantial Friday post.
Normally I like to get this thing out early in the morning by writing something up late the night before… But I'll blame my friends for keeping me up playing Monster Hunter instead.
Plus I don't exactly have a huge connection to the new heroes, so I don't have too much of an interest in any of them. Didn't help inspire me to write anything in preparation.
That said, even if I'm not super inspired by them, let's talk a little bit about who these characters are!
Quan — Luminous Lancer
Gáe Bolg (Might = 16, Range = 1)
In combat against an infantry, armored or cavalry foe, grants Attack and Defense +5 during combat.
Rally Speed/Defense (Range = 1)
Grants Speed and Defense +6 to target ally for one turn.
Draconic Aura (Cooldown = 3)
Boosts Attack by 30 percent.
Steady Posture (A Skill)
If foe initiates combat, grants Speed/Defense +4 during combat.
Drive Attack (C Skill)
Grants Attack +3 to allies within two spaces during combat.
Silvia — Traveling Dancer
Barrier Blade (Might = 14, Range = 1)
If foe initiates combat, grants Resistance +7 during combat.
Dance (Range = 1)
Grants another action to target ally (unless they have Sing or Dance).
Mirror Stance (A Skill)
If foe initiates combat, grants Attack and Resistance +4 during combat.
Deluge Dance (B Skill)
If Sing or Dance is used, grants Speed +3 and Resistance +4 to target.
Lewyn — Guiding Breeze
Forseti (Might = 14, Range =2)
Grants Speed +3. If unit's Health ≥ 50 percent and unit initiates combat, unit can make a follow-up attack before foe can counterattack.
Glitter (Cooldown = 2)
Boosts damage dealt by 50 percent.
Special Spiral (B Skill)
If Special Attack triggers before or during combat, grants Special Attack cooldown count -2 after combat.
Normally I would do an analysis of each new character after their skill breakdown, but I'm going to skip out on that for a number of reasons. Mostly the fact that I'm already pretty late on this and have a lot more to write, but also because I don't have too much of a personal connection to Genealogy of the Holy War.
So like. None of these characters mean much to me at a deeper level.
However, there are some benefits to each that I can acknowledge.
Thanks to his signature weapon and Steady Posture skill, Quan looks like he's a pretty great offensive unit against physical attackers. He does a bunch of damage while gaining a big defense buff. Not quite as cool a cavalry unit as Sigurd, but still useful.
There's never anything wrong with more dancers, and Silvia certainly is one of those. She may be a sword-weilding infantry unit like many others are, but her Barrier Blade at least seems like a great weapon to pass around to other units.
Lewyn is probably the most interesting and unique unit on the banner thanks to his brand new B skill Special Spiral. Utilizing it essentially means that he'll be able to activate Glimmer every turn after activating it once, and that's super cool. Arguably my favorite on the banner, a higher priority if I didn't have +10 Nino in my army.
Unfortunately, these positives don't outweigh my overall ambivalence toward this banner. After spending a whole heck of a lot of orbs on the Legendary Marth banner (which didn't get me Marth) and on the 2018 Brave Heroes banner (which has gotten me all of the Brave Heroes except for Hector), I was in pretty dire straits regarding my stash.
Since then, thanks in part to the September quests and these new story quests, I'm back up around 100 orbs. But I'm planning on going back into storage mode, collecting as many as I can for a rainy day.
I'd hate for them to drop Neimi when I had zero orbs on hand, after all.
So I utilized my free summon:
Didn't get a whole hell of a lot, and moved on.
Sorry guys, but you're just not on my radar at the moment. Hopefully I can summon you all in the regular unit pool one day.
Luckily, I'm much more interested in the story that came with this new banner.
Chapter 12 begins with the aftermath of the "bombshell" that there might be a traitor hiding amongst the Order of Heroes.
I call it a bombshell only in quotes because I already had a huge rant about what a dumb, lazy storytelling tool it is to try a whodunit-type mystery when there is a canonical character in the main story who shapeshifts to cause mischief.
Like. We all know it's going to be the shapeshifter. Don't even try to hide it.
Spoiler alert, they don't really try to hide it. I actually respect the way they do handle the big reveal, but I'll get to that. Let's start at the beginning.
Yes Anna, yes I do.
Of course Fjorm, oblivious to the fact that shapeshifting is a concern when it comes to her family members who both miraculously escaped from being held captive, defends her older brother and younger sister.
If I sound more than a little unimpressed with how things progress here, don't worry about it. I'm just cynical and jaded.
There are actually some cool things in this chapter.
For example, this confirmation by Prince Hríd that Surtr's ritual needs two sacrifices.
After you receive that warning, the missions are uneventful for a bit. Up until Helbindi shows up to stand in your way once again… Only to receive some news.
This is actually pretty sad. The only reason he continued to fight was because Surtr's daughters told him they would convince the king to spare Helbindi's family.
He can't say anything after hearing the news. It's the last time we hear from him for the rest of this chapter. Especially for this game, that's pretty heavy.
Unfortunately that heartfelt moment is soon followed by a completely stupid, pointless thing.
At the beginning of the fifth battle, Fjorm is woken up by her sister — who everyone essentially predicted was just Loki in disguise since she joined your forces.
She reveals the fact that she was the traitor all along and poisons Fjorm, supposedly showing the source of her harsh cough.
It's interesting, to say the least…
Except then Fjorm wakes up. Because it was all just a dream.
People like that trope, right?
Frankly it doesn't upset me that they used the false dream trope so much as it upsets me that the very next cutscene makes the entire dream sequence pointless.
Because after Fjorm wakes up from her nightmare, Alfonse calls her into a war council to tell her about his suspicions that Ylgr is the spy.
Now don't get me wrong, I respect the fact that Intelligent Systems acknowledged the plot points that led to players theorizing about who the traitor. That's a much better way to handle this than trying to convince us all the characters had no idea something like this could be possible.
I just still don't understand why we needed the fake moment with a dream sequence if there was a much better reveal in real life literally seconds later.
Alfonse also calls out the Ice Prince as being equally guilty of having been shape shifted, and Loki reveals that all his suspicions were correct.
Then the final fight begins.
It isn't that hard, honestly.
So afterwards Loki decides to hand you a map for a secret entrance to Surtr's ritual chamber that way you can go infiltrate it and battle him.
Because you know. She has ulterior motives.
We found out that much when she was searching for the legendary dragons of Nohr and Hoshido during the special Festival banner.
So yeah, that's the story. I pretty much wore my heart on my sleeve while writing this portion, meaning I don't think I have to say too much more. It had some good stuff, but for the most part the bad stuff was pretty frustrating.
But hey, now that the dumb traitor B story is out-of-the-way, we can finally move on and save a bunch of little girls from being thrown into a fire. Which is arguably the more fun thing happening here.
Until we get that next chapter, however, how about we take a look at the other major FEH update that came out this week.
Oh Version 2.9.0. Like with the new Genealogy heroes, nothing about you really excited me enough to jump on it right away. It's a bit of a basic update compared to most of the others, so I felt justified tacking it onto the end of this post.
For instance, one of the biggest parts of the update isn't actually a thing in the game yet.
Rally Defense is a new game mode that is essentially the same thing as Rival Domains, except focused solely on defending the territory you own for eight turns rather than trying to take over the opponent's territory.
I'm not a huge fan of 'survive' missions like this, but if there are orbs involved I won't be too upset.
Arguably the most exciting thing about any new update is older heroes gaining weapon refineries. This time around is no exception, in my opinion.
Odin has been at the bottom of the game's tier list pretty much since his inclusion at Version 1.0.0. He's a really bad unit. But now his blade tome has an upgrade which grants him +6 Attack and Speed whenever he uses an assist skill like Reposition. I'm… Not sure that makes him too much better, but at least it has some good synergy with itself.
Cherche probably gets the biggest buff of the three. Her axe is now a Brave Axe, meaning it hits twice, and it comes equipped with Panic Smoke. I don't know if she has great Resistance to make use of this as a whole, but being able to turn all of an opponent's buffs into debuffs is great no matter the circumstance.
I'm not completely sure why Celica got a buff here, as it seems like she was already a pretty decent unit in her own right. However, legendary weapons getting legendary refines is kind of the norm, and Ragnarok's new addition is Brazen Attack/Speed, giving her huge buffs when she dips below a certain range of Health. I don't own an OG Celica so I can't say much about how useful it is, but it's cool to see her get a great addition.
New refines aren't the only skill-based change in this update. We also got something brand new known as the Combat Manuals system.
I feel like the game puts this into somewhat confusing terms, so essentially what you need to know is that excess units in your barracks can be converted into manuals.
By doing so, that unit no longer takes up space that you could use to summon another unit and their skills can be retained for inherited use on a different unit. It's kind of just a perfect middle ground between overstuffing your box and sending home all the units with good skills without using them.
I haven't personally gone through and converted all my units yet, but someday soon I will. As soon as I have more time to do so.
Most of these additional updates don't mean too much for me either, so I hope you're fine just seeing the whole laundry list.
I've probably kept you all hostage in this post long enough, so I'm just going to wrap things here.
With this veritable marathon of a Fire Emblem Heroes update post finally complete, let me know what you think of everything in the comments!
How do you feel about the new Genealogy heroes?
Do you think the traitor storyline is as stupid as I do?
Are you down with the additions from Version 2.9.0?
God willing this is the last update we see in a while. Because doing this long post while running around doing everything else has been pretty exhausting.
That said, I hope you at least enjoyed it if you made it this far.
Combat Manuals
Dream Sequence
Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
Helbindi
Hoshido
Hrid
King Surtr
Laegjarn
Lewyn
Nifl
Nohr
Rally Defense
Version 2.9.0 Update
Ylgr
Dancing right into Version 2.8.0
Today we got a brand new bunch of dancin' fools in Fire Emblem Heroes on top of the ramifications of the latest version update that came yesterday.
That's a lot of ground to cover, so I'm not going to waste your time with a flashy intro.
Let's just see who's new and what they can do!
Xander — Dancing Knight
Dusk Uchiwa (Might = 12 / Range = 2)
Effective against cavalry foes. Disables unit's and foe's skills that change attack priority. After combat, if unit attacked, inflicts Defense and Resistance -7 on target and foes within two spaces of target through their next actions.
Grants another action to target ally (cannot target an ally with Sing or Dance).
Close Counter (A Skill)
Quick Riposte (B Skill)
If unit's Health ≥ 70 percent and foe initiates combat, unit makes a guaranteed follow-up attack.
Odd Defense Wave (C Skill)
At start of odd-numbered turns, grants Defense +6 to unit and adjacent allies for one turn (bonus granted to unit even if no allies are adjacent).
If I'm just being honest, the most important thing about this Performing Arts Xander is his dance.
Like. I don't know how Intelligent Systems did it. But they created literal perfection.
Outside of that dance animation, however, he still seems to be one of the most worthwhile heroes on this banner to summon. Like every hero here, his weapon disables priority-changing skills on top of being effective against a specific kind of unit.
Plus he comes with three passive skills, again like every unit here. I don't know why IS decided to make these dancers so stacked, but I'm not complaining.
Xander is obviously built to be an interesting defensive dancing dagger user. His close combat lets him hit from one space away, where his Wave and Quick Riposte can help him survive an attack and hit back twice.
If his stat line is any good, he'll be an interesting character to throw onto a team.
Mainly because of that dance, though.
Elincia — Estival Princess
Cloud Maiougi (Might = 12 / Range = 2)
Effective against dragon foes. Disables unit's and foe's skills that change attack priority. After combat, if unit attacked, inflicts Defense and Resistance -7 on target and foes within two spaces of target through their next actions.
Attack/Speed Push (A Skill)
At start of combat, if unit's Health = 100 percent, grants Attack and Speed +5, but if unit attacked, deals one damage to unit after combat.
Rockslide Dance (B Skill)
If Sing or Dance is used, grants Speed +3 and Defense +4 to target.
Drive Resistance (C Skill)
Grants Resistance +3 to allies within two spaces during combat.
Elincia holds the distinction of being the very first colored dagger unit in Fire Emblem Heroes. Hurray! Congratulations on your accomplishments girl, you're doing the Radiant games proud.
Now I already have a pretty strong tie to Elincia as a unit in FEH because she's such a powerful staple on my flying team. One that I happened to summon when I was in the hospital.
Unlike Xander, her skills are a little more spread around and don't fit one play style in particular. But they leave her more readily available to fill a variety of niches.
She can be a solid blue dragon killer with that dagger of hers and the Attack/Speed Push. Probably combined with a healing skill.
Or she can be focused purely on buffing dances through that double stat improving Rockslide, improved further by her ability to grant Resistance buffs to nearby allies during combat.
There's just a lot of potential with her, and I'd be excited to summon Elincia as well.
Ryoma — Dancing Samurai
Sky Maiougi (Might = 12 / Range = 2)
Effective against armored foes. Disables unit's and foe's skills that change attack priority. After combat, if unit attacked, inflicts Defense and Resistance -7 on target and foes within two spaces of target through their next actions.
Triangle Adept (A Skill)
If unit has weapon-triangle advantage, boosts Attack by 20 percent. If unit has weapon-triangle disadvantage, reduces Attack by 20 percent.
Chill Defense (B Skill)
At start of turn, inflicts Defense -7 on foe on the enemy team with the highest Defense through its next action.
Spur Speed/Resistance (C Skill)
Grants Speed and Resistance +3 to adjacent allies during combat.
Ohh, so sorry Ryoma. If only you were one reveal ahead, you could have been our first colored dagger unit.
Luckily we have a consolation prize in the form of a very special niche for you to fill as a red armor killer.
Yeah, oddly enough this unarmored lobster seems built to kill powerful red armor units like the Black Knight or Zelgius. He has color priority on a ranged weapon that's boosted by Triangle Adept and effective against armor units specifically. Plus, he inflicts a hell of a defense debuff at the beginning of each turn.
Now I can't promise Ryoma will be defensive enough himself to tank a counterattack should his effort to kill fail, but still. Thanks to canceling out abilities like Vantage he may actually have a chance to be a super solid tech choice on teams that are weak to red armored boys.
Micaiah — Summer's Dawn
Dawn Suzu (Might = 14 / Range = 2)
Effective against armored and cavalry foes. Disables unit's and foe's skills that change attack priority.
Fireflood Dance (B Skill)
If Sing or Dance is used, grants Attack +3 and Resistance +4 to target.
Resistance Ploy (C Skill)
At start of turn, inflicts Resistance -5 on foes in cardinal directions with Resistance > unit's Resistance through their next actions.
Color me impressed, every single unit on this banner is actually friggen useful. Micaiah here because she carries a legendary weapon with double ranged type effectiveness that cancels out abilities like Vantage while also lowering an opponent's resistance and boosting her own Attack and Resistance during battle.
Yeah that's front loaded I know, but it's really solid on paper.
Of course the Fireflood Dance is a bit more situational as it seems better fitting for a purely supportive dancer, but hey. Maybe she'll be a great offensive and defensive dancer.
Seriously I don't have too much to say here because she's just a good unit. I do wish she had a red dagger just to round out a banner full of each other colored dagger… But beggars can't be choosers, I suppose.
I don't think I can state enough how great every unit on this banner is. Seriously, if you didn't waste too many orbs on the last Summer/Awakening/Legendary banners like I didn't, you can have a good time stacking your roster with dancers that can fit on a variety of teams.
Personally I think Elincia and Ryoma are my favorites just based on skills alone. But I'd frankly be happy to get any of them.
In fact, for that reason I'm spending a whole bunch of my ~170 orbs on this sucker. Though probably not enough to go below 100 orbs considering all of the summoning banners coming up soon…
But with my recent lucky streaks, I should have a good time here, right?
Actually, interestingly enough I have been rather lucky. Just… Not in the way that I'd like to be.
I'm admittedly not entirely sure where these three came from. Micaiah was sort of funny just from the novelty of her alternate skin being in this new banner, but the other two were just. Eh.
I didn't have a five-star Shigure before, so he's got some catalog novelty, but Sonya is unfortunately just merging fodder.
So yeah, three five-stars in about 70 orbs. Can't necessarily complain since my friend Jonathan didn't get anything tonight… But boy do I want to complain about only getting duplicates.
At least there's a whole month to score some silly dancers! Plus, the story mode we got to accompany this Paralogue is as interesting in lore as it is useful for orbs.
Unlike most Paralogues in Fire Emblem Heroes, I would argue the 'Festival in Hoshido' Paralogue is much cooler for the story it presents than the pretty art style.
Though that, of course, is just as pretty as ever.
We start off, as you can see, with some exposition by the great Lobster himself regarding the history of the Hoshidan festival. He's introducing the festivities to Princess Elincia, who has been invited to partake alongside Micaiah. Also Xander. But he's just right across the gorge so it's a little bit less of an interesting invitation.
The stakes are raised very quickly when Loki shows up to remind the two that they've been put into a contract by Veronica. As they distract the Order of Heroes, who have come to protect the festivities:
Loki goes off to investigate whatever it is she has come to Hoshido seeking. Something that I'll get into in a minute.
Already this plot is more engaging than the fifth session of Anna tries to sneak peeks at naked Heroes to raise money.
Even if Sharena doesn't seem to be taking it too seriously.
As the Order makes their way around, they then come across Xander giving some similar exposition to Micaiah.
While Loki arriving to put a wrench in the festivities was already an interesting point of contention, Xander adds more depth into this particular event by explaining how he's there in more of a peaceful mission following the conclusion of Fates.
That's actually some pretty cool world-building. Especially in a world where heroes from other realms can show up to experience the same activities.
It kind of makes up for the fact that I was upset seeing another Fates-based alternate art banner. Even with the Radiant representation, we just have way too many Awakening/Fates characters getting special treatment at this point.
Anyway, once the Order arrives at the final stage, Loki adds even more intrigue to her arrival at the festival.
Yeah, that's right. Loki is after Anakos. ANAKOS of all things.
Apparently a fire dragon god isn't good enough for the Múspell army. Now to be completely honest, I wasn't a huge fan of this ultimate dragonic antagonist in Fates. Especially following Grima in Awakening, he was just sort of forgettable and weird.
But if they incorporate him into the plot of the mobile gotcha game somehow, I'm all in IS. You'll have us good.
But am also very invested in exactly where this sideplot is headed.
Normally I would just conclude my pieces here with a quick question about who you're most interested in summoning off the banner and what you think about the suddenly interesting developments in the Paralogue story.
But this time I have a little more to jump on.
Version 2.8.0 dropped yesterday, and while it may not have added enough to warrant a full post yesterday I still wanted to dedicate some time to it. Because you know. I like cataloging this stuff.
A lot of what was implemented here are minor adjustments to pre-existing modes. Adjustments that don't really do a lot for me specifically.
First and foremost is a new tier being added to the Arena. Once players hit tier 20, now they can go further and become a Great Summoner. Anyone who does gets an aesthetic crown mark on top of Feh's head on the home screen.
I've never made it to tier 20. So… Yeah. Doesn't mean too much for me.
Intelligent Systems also added in the ability to have multiple skill sets for each unit. That way you could have a build if your Reinhardt is on a cavalry only team versus if your Reinhardt is on his own. For example.
There's also some more options in the allies menu to sort different combinations of favorite characters together. But that's another functionality I never used in the first place so… Yeah. Again.
Probably the only thing that was added which I could actually see myself using is the Order of Heroes weapon refines.
Perhaps these three could actually be useful now! Which would be very beneficial to new players especially.
With those changes out-of-the-way, everything else is summed up as minor additions. Very cleanly summed up by this succinct list:
Gaining extra rewards during Grand Conquests is probably the best thing just in this section alone, though I am very interested to see what it will be like to play tap battles at triple speed.
Also I would be interested in having my orbs hit quadruple digits. But that's a different story.
That's about all I have to say for Fire Emblem Heroes for the day.
Since I was already on track for this earlier, let me know what you think about those questions I asked in the comments! Based on the events calendar, it'll be a couple of weeks before one of these shows up again. Considering I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who enjoys them, hopefully you all enjoy the hiatus.
Anakos
Elincia
Tutorials Abound in Version 2.7.0
Another update has made its way to Fire Emblem Heroes. This one is relatively small and more focused on assisting players who are new to the game, but veteran players are able to reap some rewards too.
Thus I'm going to talk about this one all the same! Just don't expect it to be a particularly long update. I'm still hot, tired and waiting in anticipation for the new summer units to drop.
Speaking of, get ready for that update tomorrow too. Should be fun!
Tactics Drills & Learning with Sharena
The major addition for Version 2.7.0 is Tactics Drills. In a sense these are advanced tutorials for players that go far deeper into the game's mechanics than the cursory tutorial missions at the start of the story mode when you start the game up for the first time.
As you can see, they come in three tiers of difficulty. Each serves a slightly different purpose, but all offer the same bonuses for new and old players alike. Every five maps give players 300 Hero Feathers when they're passed, and the sixth map will offer an orb for completion.
The small amounts don't really build up to a lot in the end, but rewards are rewards and I can't complain. Especially since supposedly there will be more added into the different tiers as time goes on.
So what do the tiers offer?
The "basics" tab offers challenges that showcase… Well… The basics of the game. There's really no better way to put it.
These basics range from how different unit types move across the field to showcasing the benefits of certain strategies like baiting out enemies or teaching players how different weapons work.
They're all pretty simple honestly, and the rewards are more worthwhile than the instruction in my personal attempts.
The "Skill Studies" tab… Again, just about does what the name implies.
Each map showcases a different skill archetype that exists in the game. Hone skills that improve stats, more attack-focused skills like Wraith, so on and so forth. If you don't understand how certain strategies work, this will likely help you out. There are even a few toward the end that I haven't been able to beat yet, as I find they're a little more difficult.
The "Grandmaster" tab moves furthest away from being purely tutorial-based. Rather than teaching basic skills knowledge, Grandmaster challenges are simply that. Challenges.
The game throws you into a map with a pre-determined unit set and just has you go at it. I haven't personally attempted these maps yet, though considering you need to have access to Book II of the story in order to even open these maps up, they're clearly more difficult than the average challenge.
I only wish this meant they had better rewards too. But no, it's still rather basic all things considered.
What's interesting about all of these missions are that they're purely for instruction and require no baseline units. The only real requirement to anything is the level cap for accessing Grandmaster tactics.
Every unit is provided based on the challenge. That means not only is everyone more open to the rewards, but newer players can see which units have great skills to utilize should they be lucky enough to summon them.
It's a respectable idea all-and-all. I appreciate it.
You may have also noticed a fourth tab allowing people to "Learn with Sharena." If any of you were wondering what that was:
It's essentially a website with more in-depth tutorials on anything and everything in the game. Pretty much the same stuff you'll get out of the Tactics Drills but spelled out in further detail.
They also include silly back-and-forth conversations between Sharena and Anna.
Again, I think it's a respectable addition to help improve the game's accessibility for new players.
I'm just not personally very driven to go look at them without the allure of extra rewards. Sorry Intelligent Systems.
Weapon Refinery Update
Ah yes, another four units have come up to the wringer. Has Intelligent Systems done their job in making these characters more useful than they were before?
For the most part… Not so much. From what I understand, anyway.
Katarina (known as the first scarf bae in my friend circle) essentially gained a refine to her tome that adds a Speed and Resistance Ploy skill on top of its owl effect. However, as Jonathan (owner of the bae) pointed out, her weapon's might sticks at 14 rather than building up to 16 as we usually see. So… Yeah, that's a thing.
Eldigan wasn't given a straight upgrade so much as he was given an alternate path to success. His Mystletainn was already able to refine itself and have a built-in Fury skill, giving him a big boost across all stats at the cost of some health. The fact that he was able to have double the Fury was actually a great meme for a while there.
Now he can take on his son's previously exclusive variant known as the Dark Mystletainn, which inherent accelerates Special Attack cooldown by one, then accelerates cooldown by two each time that attack triggers during combat. Honestly both are viable options, so it's up to personal preference.
Titania probably got the worst of the upgrades in this batch. Her brand new Draconic Poleax keeps a Triangle Adept skill in-tact from her Emerald Axe, but has a much more beefy 16 might. When players refine the weapon, it apparently grants +6 resistance to units within two spaces.
I don't use Titania, but honestly this upgrade doesn't make me any more willing to do so. Sorry girl, better luck next time.
Conversely, Nephenee's upgrade from the Slaying Lance to the Dauntless Lance is a vast improvement and I couldn't be happier. She has been a mainstay on my Water Blessing team for a long time, so I'm glad to have even more reasons to use her.
On top of cranking her might from 14 to 16 (leaving the base lance as powerful as her old one with a refinement), she also gains an inherent advantage against armored units. Zelgius and Black Knight be damned.
However, add onto that an additional refinement to the Dauntless Lance that gives her +4 Speed and Defense when she's attacked and Nephenee becomes quite the monster in her own right.
It's a little silly to say that she moved from being my chief lance infantry unit to being my chief lance infantry unit with even more regard. But hey, that's what should be expected when you improve upon greatness.
Quest Progression
I don't exactly have a lot to say about this new feature in particular. In fact, I don't fully understand why this standalone update was important enough to distinguish alongside new unit skills and the new game mode.
But someone decided it was important, so I'll give it the time it demands.
Apparently when players complete quests, there will be a separate screen dedicated to showing off all of a player's finished quests rather than having everything separated onto different pages.
I'm not sure who thought this was a significant problem that needed to be addressed, but I hope they're happy with it. It seems a little superfluous when there was already an option to simply accept all of one's finished quests… But oh well.
Additional Updates
As usual, there are a number of smaller things listed at the bottom of the 2.7.0 update page. They usually aren't big enough to give a lot of time to, but I like to spread the word all the same:
Things like new maps scrolling to the top are cool quality of life updates that always come with new versions of the game. They just don't offer too much to talk about.
However, there are a few especially nice things in the 'other improvements' section this time around. Being able to set any music one wants underneath battles is something straight out of classic Fire Emblem games and is a greatly appreciated option in a title that features songs from every game in the series. Event text recaps are also a great addition for someone like me, who seriously enjoys little things like plot in silly games like this.
The most useful overall is the ability to restart 'difficult' maps without having to exit and reenter the battle over-and-over again. As someone who tries things like Grand Hero Battles repeatedly to earn all the orbs I can, I can assure you all that this is highly beneficial — even if you haven't personally gotten to a point where it's useful just yet.
Like I mentioned up top, none of the updates specifically included in Version 2.7.0 are groundbreaking. The tutorial missions that make up Tactics Drills are nice, though mostly for the rewards given how long I've been involved in the game. Nephenee getting stronger is also a plus, and I'm really glad I can restart missions that don't require stamina at a faster pace.
If nothing else, even smaller moves forward like this show there's always room for improvement in a constantly developing game like Fire Emblem Heroes.
That said, what sort of updates might you want to see come to the game in the future? Let me know in the comments down below!
In the meantime, I'll see you all tomorrow when Sketchy Summer units arrive.
Eldigan
Grandmaster Challenges
Hero Feathers
Learn with Sharena
Mystletainn
Nephenee
Tactics Drills
Fire Emblem Heroes Version 2.6.0: Masks and Menu Mayhem
There ain't no weekend like a Fire Emblem Heroes update weekend!
This Thursday afternoon, Heroes received its 2.6.0 update, which was followed up with a brand new summoning focus based around Blazing Blade characters that night.
While I usually try to condense this stuff into a day after post, the band-related stuff I took part in yesterday kept me busy enough that I really wasn't able to commit the time I wanted to this. So I figure I'll split the version update and the new summoning banner into different posts today and tomorrow to fill my writing quota.
That said, if you're seeing this well in the future when everything is already available, you can check out the post on the summoning focus here.
But for now, let's jump into what's new with version 2.6.0!
Home Page Changes
Alright so the most obvious and somewhat jarring change that came with this update is visible as soon as players open the game:
That's right, the hub area now has red ribbon labels over each function.
That's pretty much literally all there is to say about that. Apparently the point was to make them more obvious but I wouldn't say they were necessarily hard to discern in the first place.
Ah well, we'll get used to the new look eventually and it probably won't even matter.
Coming straight out of the world of Fire Emblem Fates, Heroes is adding a bit more customization by implementing an accessories system.
Again, there isn't all that much to say about this feature. It's rather self-explanatory.
Outfit pieces can be unlocked in various ways, and players can attach those pieces to their heroes to give them a bit more personality when facing off against opponents in the Arena.
Or just for the sake of making them look cool. That's also an excellent reason to do it, let's be honest.
A few accessories were given out when the game updated as the reward for a retweet event a couple of weeks back, so everyone who plays has started off with something to put on already.
Naturally I dressed up Eirika first, since she's arguably my most used unit and the protagonist from my favorite Fire Emblem game.
Or at least the protagonist that I own in a game with two main protagonists.
Doesn't she look frickin' cute in that hairpin? I think so.
At the moment there are only five accessories to utilize, so not too many characters can take advantage of them. Most of those five are also locked behind missions to complete:
Luckily they're easy to complete. And we have 40 days to do so.
If nothing else I'm thankful that the Mysterious Mask Lucina wears when she cosplays as Marth is one of the first costume pieces available. I'll be spending quite a bit of time trying to decide who's the best person to wear that thing.
I hope they frequently add in more accessories, because one day I'd like to make my characters as baller as I made Beruka back in my Fates days.
Ally Menu Adjustments
While the addition of more stand-out labels to the home page were the most immediately striking change visually, this one is arguably going to screw with players the most in my opinion.
Or, at least, it's going to screw with me for a long time. That much I can guarantee.
Long-time players of Fire Emblem Heroes are likely to flip to the game's misc. setting tab when they want to look at the Hero Merit their units have accumulated or to see the progress made on their Hero Catalog.
Like me, they probably had to do a double take when discovering those options are no longer under that tab.
That's because the Ally tab has been completely reinvented to offer just about anything and everything related to working with units in one place.
Contrary to what many of you may be thinking, the plus signs aren't actually something players can interact with.
They do, in fact, indicate that there's an extra menu under those options to expand out. However the actual icons don't open up or have smaller icons pop up underneath. They just open up a separate page with a number of options to select in each.
For Ally Growth:
For Change Equipment:
For Interact with Allies:
See, that's where the Catalog and Hero Merit List are hiding now.
In the same change category, the game has also highlighted two other quality of life additions to the Ally menus.
First is the ability to automatically spend as much SP as a character has accumulated on their skill upgrades all at once, rather than having to do them one-at-a-time like a savage.
Considering how many people inherit skills that wouldn't want their SP spent on certain skills they aren't looking to use, I can't imagine this option will be widely used by competitive players.
But for people who are more casually picking up the game once in a while it's probably a nice idea.
I sort of fall into the prior category though so… We'll see.
Second is the addition of more favoring options in different colors, that way players can more aptly organize their heroes however they want.
I can see this one being much more useful for me… As soon as I figure out exactly what I need this many divisions for.
Perhaps I'll try to separate out heroes that are good for skill inheriting, or better indicating who has better IVs.
I'll experiment and get back to you on that.
New Weapon Refinements
Four heroes have been given new life with new weapon refinements.
To be completely honest, the Tiki improvements are the only ones I really care about, and even there it's just for young Tiki.
Linde's refinement to Aura allows her to gain +5 Attack and Speed if she's within two spaces of a magic unit or cleric. That is a great power boost, but Dark Aura is also a powerful upgrade that she's had for some time now.
To be fair Merric's refinement to Excalibur has the exact same effect. But he's a unit that desperately needs a boost like that from what I understand, even though he also has access to Dark Excalibur. That one just happens to be less useful than Dark Aura.
Tiki's stands out more to me, mostly, because she was one of the first units I ever summoned and has been a staple on my teams ever since.
Her personal base weapon is absolutely garbage, however. So terrible that everyone replaces it with Lightning Breath almost instinctual.
However, now she has access to Breath of Fog rather than just Flametongue. And Breath of Fog is way better!
Not only is it effective against all dragon units, the Breath restores 10 Health every other turn and ensures her damage goes by the foe's lowest defensive stat if from a distance. Plus it does 16 base damage and that's great for a dragon attack!
The only problem with this is the fact that you need to inherit Distant Counter to utilize the Breath fully, whereas Lightning Breath has a two space range built-in.
I don't know, I suppose I'll see if it's worth getting rid of distance in place of power by messing with it. But just know I certainly feel like it could be worth it.
Smaller Changes
Many of the changes made through this update are relatively small things, so I figured I'd lump them all together here.
I'll be honest, neither of these changes in particular mean much of anything to me.
They're cool I guess, but they're such minutia that I can't be bothered to provide any sort of well thought out, philosophical commentary at like… 2 a.m.
In fact I'm just going to take the easy way out and show off the 'other changes' listing before wrapping this sucker up.
If it wasn't obvious, I basically wrote this post in two sittings. One during the day, in the middle of sitting around at the RUHS band banquet. The other was during the early, early hours of today where I was a bit too tired to really focus on anything.
Yet I decided to finish this anyway just for the sake of having it out at a proper time. Even though I easily could have waited and gotten this out later in the day.
My brain is stupid like that sometimes. I just love torturing myself.
That said, hopefully you got a good grasp of what this update entailed for the game going forward! If so, let me know what you think is the best part of the update.
In the meantime, I'm going to go pass out. Stay tuned for tomorrow (as of this posts publishing) for part two of this session regarding the new summoning banner!
Beruka
Catalog of Heroes
Hero Merit
Merric
Fire Emblem Heroes Version 2.5.0: The Aesthetic Update
I've been a bit busy throughout this last week finishing the Spring 2018 semester, so I wanted to make sure I spent the weekend talking about recent updates to Fire Emblem Heroes.
Because really what else do I do with my free time?
There was a large-scale update and a brand new summoning banner put out over the last couple days, so in today's post I'm going to focus on the 2.5.0 Update and tomorrow I'll focus on the latest Genealogy characters.
With that said, there's a lot to cover, so let's get into it.
The 2.5.0 Update is here, and it brings along a number of changes to existing game modes and aesthetics throughout the game.
There is not exactly a lot that's "substantive" to this new version of the game, unlike previous versions that did things like add entirely new ways to play. As a result this update update (totally not clunky at all) will probably be on the shorter side as I just go through my thoughts on what is new.
Arena Updates
Easily the largest changes of the bunch came to the OG Arena.
BECAUSE NOW IT'S IN A DIFFERENT COLOR!
That sweet, sweet dark tone really makes a true mirror to reflect the darkness in my soul as my units smite all others in their path.
Okay fine, that's not actually the blunt of the update to the game's Arena mode, but I did want to point out the fact that the assets were altered because… I'm really not sure why they were altered.
Were the original colors not visually pleasing enough?
Is this darkness what the developers wanted to reflect with their competitive mode all along?
The world may never know.
The actual major update to this mode is the shift from seven battle chains to five, and the subsequent item system that accompanied it:
I do like the idea of making overall season chain necessities shorter, as well as adding an item for each battle in the chain to entice people to get a ranking at least once.
However, it does bug me that they decided to go from seven battles to five.
Seriously whose bright idea was it to take a game mode where the swords used to take part come in intervals of three and not make the overall requirements come out to some interval of three? It's honestly kind of asinine and bugs me from a part of myself that I can't readily explain in such a short timeframe.
Luckily they decided not to make me chuck my phone at a wall by also implementing Bonus Ally benefits for a season's token heroes.
The Bonus Ally system, in which the characters specifically named get additional stat buffs if you use them, has always made Tempest Trials a great deal more fun. I still can't get over the time when Christmas Lissa tanked everything during her Tempest Trial, or when Reinhardt did just a few weeks ago when his retrain came out.
Now that Arena characters get this same kind of boost, it makes everything feel so much more copacetic when it comes to summoning new banner heroes.
Now, not only do we get new characters for the catalog, but those characters are more likely to help us get better benefits in the Arena seasons. All things considered it's a genius addition, and just about makes up for the whole lack of even numbering.
A couple of beloved characters are finally getting the special weapon treatment they deserve.
It's one of the things I really appreciate about how Intelligent Systems has handled updating their game over time, actually. While most units inevitably get power crept, more stuff is added to benefit the older heroes to ensure they still maintain relevance — either in battle or through skill inheritance.
The latest update brought three heroes back into the limelight. Two by granting brand new weapons and one by adding a special upgrade.
Camilla — Bewitching Beauty
Everyone's favorite over-sexualized older sister (something the universe will have to remind me never to write out again) has a brand new weapon, giving her further utility than she was able to achieve with a Brave Axe. Camilla's Axe has twice the might as a Brave Axe+ and grants her +4 Attack and Speed if there is a cavalry or flying unit nearby. While this does make her a more effective member of a flier emblem team, it might arguably be worse than a Brave Axe depending on who you ask. It is a cute reference to the fact that all of her siblings are on horseback, though.
Corrin (male) — Fateful Prince
Corrin is a unit that literally everybody has wanted to see get a cool upgrade in the Weapon Refinery. Yato was such a neat weapon in Fates that it's not hard to imagine why. Though I personally think it's a missed opportunity not to offer him three upgrade paths for the Yato based on the three paths it can take in Fates, the upgrade we got is a neat reference too. With the upgraded Yato, allies who have a support with Corrin gain +4 to all stats when within two spaces of him. Somewhat situational, but like I said a cool little reference. The scary part of this comes when, as my friend told me, you can have three upgraded Corrins provide +4 to every stat of an ally three times over… THAT is dangerous.
Clair — Highborn Flier
Like Camilla, Clair's Silver Lance can now be upgraded into the Rhomphaia. Coming from Shadows of Valentia, the weapon adds one more might point and grants her super effective damage against armored and cavalry opponents. It's simple. It's effective. It's just a great upgrade that makes Clair that much more viable. Unfortunately, it cannot be passed onto another unit. That's really the only downside as far as I can tell.
While all three of these characters have been improved by their upgrades (except debatably Camilla), I'm not sure I'm more enticed to use any of them.
Perhaps if we get Scarlet to appear one day I'll make her a perfect husband Corrin to turn her into the relentless beast she always deserved to be. But that's a long shot at this point, so I'll continue to dream…
Tap Battle and Rival Domains
The two images above essentially sum up everything that has been changes with these game modes. So I won't break down the information, but I will briefly react to it all.
Tap battles have never been a game mode that I enjoy. For the most part I don't like them because they're seriously underutilized. Seriously Intelligent Systems, awards only once per level when there are four different ways you can play that level? With no benefits for completing all four varieties?
Plus, don't even get me started on the fact that music repeats between versions of the game mode despite putting gaps between them.
In a way, the addition of hero merit boosting for heroes who participate does help. It encourages playing through those four different varieties of the levels at least.
But my issues, for the most part, do still stand.
Rival Domains, however, have had an improvement that I can get behind more readily. Not only have the selection of characters been pre-determined rather than randomized, which makes it easier to go through and learn how to properly be a stage, but they also made it easier to beat by restricting the ability of enemies to attack after warping.
Simple changes, but effective in terms of making things more straight forward and easy to defeat. Unlike with the tap battles, this actually makes it way more enticing for me to play the game mode.
Thus, I deem this section a success and a failure. Hopefully tap battles will eventually get better enough that I feel they're worth bothering with more often.
Tutorial Adjustments
So this is another category where there was a significant change that I frankly don't have too much to say about.
Essentially, there have been adjustments to the game's tutorial mode to bring it more up-to-snuff with how much the game has developed in the time since it came out. For veteran players like me, that means next to nothing. I did the tutorial a long, long time ago.
The developers knew this was the case for many of their players and offered up some extra awards.
As the picture above shows, most of the rewards were feathers and badges. A good amount of them too. But what really stood out was the character:
When we played through the tutorial originally, the first hero everyone received after the original three members of the Order of Heroes was Virion from Fire Emblem Awakening.
Now players receive Takumi from Fates, who is not only a better character but a generally more relevant one. So veteran players got an extra Takumi too.
I appreciate the gesture, as well as the opportunity to give another unit close counter.
Additional Changes
Alright, while this picture here sums up everything else that's changed pretty succinctly, there were a few other things I noted that I wanted to point out.
First off, look back at the second bullet up on the list there. Apparently some options are available in the Sacred Seal Force that are new, but I have not been able to figure out what they are.
I sort of imagined that meant there were going to be new seals to forge but…
Oh well. Some should come eventually, right?
Well, I digress for now. That's a story for another day probably.
As I've mentioned here or there throughout this post, there are also a lot of aesthetic changes that came from this update.
For example, the main maps screen has a similar visual change to the arena screen.
Then there are smaller visual tweaks, like the inclusion of an indication as to which units get bonus points in rival domains.
But hey, none of these are as important as a single change that's hidden away on the menu screen.
See this option?
Well… Now we can do this.
Isn't it just beautiful?
I could stare at it all day. *Insert crying tear here*
And that, ladies and mentlegen, is a not-so-short summary of everything new in Fire Emblem Heroes this week.
Er… MOSTLY everything.
As I mentioned at the beginning, there was also a new summoning banner dropped the other day. But this post is already getting a bit long in the tooth, so stay tuned for part 2 coming out tomorrow.
Or, if you're reading this way in the future, just check it out through this link here.
In the meantime, let me know what you think about this update in the comments down below! What aspect of it do you think is the best? What part do you think is the most disappointing? I'd love to hear all about it.
Fire Emblem Echoes
Rival Domains
Sacred Seal Forge
Tap Battle
Falling in love with the Fire Emblem Heroes 2.2.0 Update
Good god there's a lot to cover here today. Guess that's what happens when I'm so busy that I don't have the time to address these updates as they come out.
Though… I suppose it is nice to be able to get it all out of the way at once rather than having three separate, incomplete posts.
Probably the only problem is the fact that this post is going to be a billion words long if I get to rambling on too much. Since I'm already basically doing that, I'll zip it and jump into all the Fire Emblem goodness.
I'll try to keep it brief. Promise.
It's not going to be brief, is it?
The Version 2.2.0 Update
Starting off our little marathon of coverage is this big puppy: one new Fire Emblem Heroes update fresh off the presses.
Battle Screen Layout
Probably the most obvious change right off the bat is a brand new battle mode select screen:
Okay well it isn't COMPLETELY new or anything. But it's new enough.
Instead of there being two separate icons for the Tempest Trials and Voting Gauntlets, the two categories have been combined and now appear together in an "events" vortex. This change has cleared room for… Something.
I honestly have no idea what the new upper-left icon is. It looks like the Garden of Eden, or some kind of fountain of power. The name is obscured and we can't select it yet, but supposedly it's going to be maps specifically used for Legendary Heroes and their blessed allies.
Which will finally give me a reason to use my blessings.
Also included in the new events vortex is a brand new game mode, which is arguably the most significant addition to this update.
Tap Battle Game Mode
Tap Battling is… Interesting.
Interesting is about the only really good thing I can think to say about them upon first impressions, however.
Let's break things down.
Opening up the Tap Battle menu, as you can see above, makes everything seem very similar to a Tempest Trial, with the two-week timer ticking down.
However, the similarities stop there. An early noticeable aspect of the game mode is that it fills the same niche as Arena Assault by requiring no stamina, dueling swords or anything to play. You can literally tackle the labyrinth endlessly if you want.
If you do decide to tackle it, there are two game modes to work with:
As you can see, Casual mode has you tapping the Summoner at the bottom of your phone screen to defeat an enemy when they reach the red square in front of your units, whereas Expert mode requires you to tap the row of the unit that's under attack.
I enjoy the aesthetic presentation of this mode, if nothing else. Being able to select whatever units you want to bring is an interesting idea as far as letting you choose a team you want to tap with, and it's cool to see their sprites so close up against a wide-open background for once.
On top of that, even if the enemy placement is rather spaced out and boring on easy difficulty, there is also a hard difficulty that makes tapping along to the rhythm of the song a little more exciting:
Multiple kinds of units appear in hard difficulty too, as opposed to just sword-wielders on easy.
There are also special boss stages every 20 floors, where you encounter a notable character that attacks each of your unit's lanes in a set order until you can wipe out their health bar.
Each time you beat a level, you're scored based on how much of a combo streak you keep throughout.
The Summoner be looking cute in this graphic here. Just sayin.
However, as cute as the Summoner is, he can't stop the ever creeping mediocrity of the event as a whole. While it all sounds interesting in concept… It frankly becomes dreadfully dull and underutilized in execution.
For one, as you might have noticed before, I said hard mode makes it more enticing to tap along to the song. THE song.
There's only one song.
Granted, we only have 40 floors currently, and there are 100 floors all together promised…
But seriously Intelligent Systems? ONE song? In a music-based rhythm game?
I'll give them props for making each stage have a unique pattern despite going against the same base song… But it's so painfully boring to just hear the same song over and over again.
Plus, each stage goes through five floors at a time in this game's logic. With only 40 floors available so far, that means there are eight stages (with more being promised to appear every day). These stages are quick to run through on easier difficulties and feel less like accomplishments than they would have if each stage was a distinct floor to work through by itself.
With that said, I only mentioned them being quick on easier difficulties, right? Hard mode is definitely the way to go then, isn't it?
Well, hold your hypothetical horses my dear reader.
Hard mode is more engaging, yes. In fact, I quite like the idea of there being options to change game style and difficulty to create a more customizable experience for players… But the game is set up in a way that makes it a superfluous addition.
Clearing each series of floors earns you a reward. However, each stage literally only has one reward.
If you beat a stage on easy, you can't get a reward for hard. If you beat it in casual mode, you can't get a reward for expert mode.
Despite this, the four permutations of play style are all given desperate rankings. So for example, if you get an S-rank on Easy/Casual, you don't get the S-ranking on Hard/Casual. But you get no extra reward for taking the same stages on again other than bragging rights.
Seriously, as far as the informational post put out by Intelligent Systems says, there isn't any sort of extra reward planned for getting full S-rankings on each permutation. The game simply claims it's an "easy-to-play battle mode."
Honestly if I wasn't such a completionist with my games, I probably wouldn't bother playing this mode after the first run of it. But I am, so I'm going to hate myself and continue playing it just in case something happens later.
Something just really bugs me about Tap Battles. I feel like there's an interesting concept under the surface of a boring, empty-feeling game mode.
For example, I like the idea of bringing the units you want, but the choices you make have no impact on your time in-game. I understand why considering each map is specifically timed to go with the song, but there was so much more that could have been done.
Why not make it so a sword unit you bring is super effective against an axe-wielding boss? Have their attacks take away more of the bosses health bar, or something along those lines.
I don't know… Maybe this will grow on me, but for right now I'd honestly say it's bland and forgettable. Luckily it will keep updating and provide more rewards to retain interest, but what a missed opportunity.
Speaking of forgotten, however…
A slightly more anticipated part of this update, for me at least, was the addition of new weapons to refine.
Basically, every unit who uses Falchion can now upgrade the legendary sword with various effects. Lucina's upgraded Falchion grants her buffs to all of her stats when she's standing next to allies while Marth's upgraded Falchion buffs his allies when he's next to them, for example.
The other five units shown in the image above can also now upgrade their basic weapons into character-specific legendary weapons. For units like Raven, Felicia and Caeda, these buffs were hugely needed and welcomed.
Hell, I've had a Raven since probably my fifth 5 star summon, and only now am I considering using him.
I'm just hoping Eirika gets an upgrade to her sword soon so I can keep my child growing.
New Special Battle Map Rotations
This is probably the most interesting update in the bunch, if you ask me.
Two different daily rotations have been added into the Special Maps menu.
The first offers players the chance to fight Grand Hero Battles of the past. Seven of the heroes have apparently been retired to this fate, which will give us the opportunity to take them on whenever we want – if it's the right date.
I love that idea, since it shows they're planning on making room for new Grand Hero Battles to be implemented in the near future without having to worry about bringing these back in rarified time slots.
Plus, there are quests available for a full year to get extra things like orbs.
Who can complain with that?
The second rotation comes in the form of Special Training Maps.
There are five of these maps with five difficulty settings each that give you rewards when you beat them the first time.
Of course, that means that there will be no rewards remaining after the first week, but they're apparently built to help train the units that are described in the title. It's a nice idea, though slightly less so than the Grand Hero Battle rotation if you ask me.
Extra Patch Notes
The last part of the 2.2.0 update is outlined in full right here. For the most part I don't have anything to add.
Except… Thank god manaketes don't have to transform each and every time a fight starts.
I really appreciate that kind of quality of life change.
Love Abounds Summoning Focus
That's leg one of this marathon done. You all still with me?
Well then, let's talk about Valentine's Day.
While I've been waiting for this holiday-centric summoning banner to arrive for some time now, I'm admittedly not super excited seeing that it centers around the Binding and Blazing Blade heroes.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad it's not Fates- or Awakening-centric again, but these games have easily the third most granted alternate skins.
Maybe if I get the chance to play these original games at some point in the near future, I'll be a little more caring for the heroes. But until then, let's see what these new holiday heroes are packing, shall we?
Lyn – Wind's Embrace
The interesting thing about this Lyn is the fact that with her addition you can now have a team full of four different Lyns to take down your foes. Okay… Well that's not the only interesting thing I suppose. I do actually like Lyn's build. She's a blue armored mage who can buff the movement of her fellow armored units, gains stats when she's next to them and make the opponent use their special attacks less. Sounds pretty sweet, especially considering I don't have any non-footsoldier magic units. Plus, I'll have two of the game's four Lyndis clones if I get her.
Hector – Just Here to Fight
Alright, Hector is… I guess the opposite of interesting, in a sense. His skills are essentially the same as his regular counterpart, just with a buffed up weapon, a new special attack and different armor-benefitting skill. While it isn't exciting, his original form is still known for being a beast, so I'm pretty interested in going after him as well. Especially since he looks pretty legit in that black outfit of his.
Lilina – Blush of Youth
Lilina is arguably the unit I would want least on this banner… Even if I just cursed myself into getting her instead of Hector, since they're the same color. She's a green mage cavalier, which I already have in my own amazing form. Her skills are sub-par in my opinion despite making her a team leader, so I'm not going to lose any sleep over her. Sorry Lilina.
Roy – Youthful Gifts
Roy is our second bow knight, behind Lyn funnily enough (it's a position which I still think should have gone to Neimi, Intelligent Systems. One day soon, I swear). However, he seems to pale in comparison to his friend, with just Death Blow going for him honestly. At least, in my opinion that is all he has going for him. He shares the same weapon skill with Valentine's Day Lyn and Lilina, but I'm just not super impressed by them I guess.
Eliwood is also here as a special hero, but he's going to show up in a Tempest Trial later this month.
While I'm not necessarily in love with these heroes as a group, I do actually quite like their overall Shakespearean theme. It's a neat aesthetic to take on for a Romeo and Juliet callback of sorts.
If I had to pick, I'd say I'm looking out for either Hector or Lyn. Green and Blue orbs abound.
However, because I'm unfortunately not super in love with these lovey dovey heroes, I'm not going to spend a ton of orbs this time around. I had about 100 at the time the banner dropped, so I'm going to be disciplined and only use orbs when I get back up to 100.
If I don't get anything, I'll just spend some time building up again using the many, many events all happening at once. That way I'll also have a ton of orbs around just in case I like whatever is coming in the future.
Now that I've discussed my thoughts on the heroes, you know what's up next.
Story time, lovelies.
Luckily, this time we only have a Paralogue to sort through, not a full chapter. That makes things much easier on my for now.
Plus it opens up the opportunity for more creative level design, in this case fitting in with that Romeo and Juliet style I mentioned before.
See what I mean? It's a very medieval-styled festival in my opinion. War of the Roses era stuff.
But how does that cute aesthetic tie a story together?
Well it starts with the Order of Heroes preparing to head out to a festival for Devotion Day. Because the holidays in Fire Emblem can never just be in their natural forms.
Sharena has a very romanticized view of the holiday:
However, her allies have a… Much less romantic view of things.
Classic Anna.
When you arrive in the world, you start to come across the done up heroes, starting with Roy and Lilina.
They're pretty much just being cute and flirting with each other.
Even if I haven't played the games they're in, I can appreciate a cute ship when I see it.
Once you defeat them you come across their parents preparing to take part in the festival.
Frankly, the exchange between them all is hilarious. I really enjoyed this part, so I'll lay it out in pictures.
I just really like the idea of Hector going up against these people having fun by slaying them with his legendary axe. It's super great.
Beat the three of them and you arrive next on a battlefield with everyone… Except Roy for some reason. Guess he just gets the shaft here.
Or technically, I suppose it makes sense due to the exchange between Hector and Eliwood.
See, Hector sees his daughter Lilina going around with a gift while spending time with Roy and believes the two are off to get hitched.
He's not so happy about that…
But Lyn quickly derails the argument.
And fight you do.
When you defeat all of the holiday heroes, they lament their loss as usual. However, things take a different route when Lilina comes out and gives the gift she's been carrying around to her father.
Obviously he feels bad knowing that the symbol of what he thought was his daughter growing up and moving away from him was actually her way of getting closer with him.
He also mentions the wonky continuity of Fire Emblem Heroes by talking about how he's dead in her canon universe and they shouldn't be together…
But hey.
Video game logic.
Once the heroes move on, Sharena decides to hand out presents to everyone, with her speech to the Summoner calling back to her idea of wanting to reveal her true feelings by suggesting once more that she had a romantic interest in him.
It's a sweet ending to a sweet diversion in what has become a rather dark story progression.
Even if I don't have a huge attraction to the holiday heroes, at least I feel nice having gone through the story these developers plotted out.
Now if only I could summon one of these fools so I would feel better about them.
You've all made it quite far into my little gauntlet of over-embellished written nightmares here, so for this portion I'm going to take it easy on you.
Because I appreciate and love you.
So many events, so little time.
Most notably, we've got another Tempest Trial on the way (with Valentine's Day Eliwood as the reward, like I said before) and six summoning banners coming out in the next month.
It'll be a grind to keep up with it all, but I'm as ready for the challenge as ever.
Golly gosh am I tired after all this writing. Wasn't expecting to stay up so late to do it, but I guess the writing bug really hit me tonight.
I know I basically just said it in the short section above, but I wanted to thank anyone who came this far again for being so willing to put up with my late night rambling text bullshit.
Seriously, this was a massive undertaking that probably had no right to be such a massive undertaking. Could've just split it into multiple posts. If I was smart, I probably would have.
But that said, there's a ton of things to reflect on that I talked about leading up to this. So let me know, what do you think of the 2.2.0 update? Or the new Valentine's Day summoning focus? Or all the upcoming events?
Let's talk about it in the comments below!
But even if not, I hope you all enjoy your weekends. I've got a bunch of work to do throughout, but it's going to be great to rest a little too after this long, arduous week.
Bartre
Eliwood
Fire Emblem The Blazing Blade
Grand Hero Battle
Lilina
Lyndis
Rhythm Game
Voting Gauntlet
The Radiant Fire Emblem Heroes 2.1.0 Update
Welcome to your multi-faceted Fire Emblem Heroes post for the week.
Yesterday, Heroes got a semi-large scale update that implemented some new features. Today, brand new heroes from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn were added into the game.
So let's not mess around friends, there's plenty to cover and a limited amount of moonlight to write about it, but I'm just as excited to get into it all the same.
This little list in the notifications page kind of covers everything succinctly, but in trademarked Jason Rochlin fashion I'm going to jump into each point individually, likely over-embellishing their descriptions as I discuss my thoughts.
Hero Merit limit increase
Is my unit bias showing yet?
For those of you who don't know about Hero Merit, one of the many underlying systems in Fire Emblem Heroes that runs as you use your units to battle others is the accumulation of Hero Merit. This Merit doesn't necessarily affect the heroes themselves in any way, but it's highly beneficial for players to work toward maxing it out all the same.
When a specific unit reaches an interval of 500 Hero Merit, the player can receive 500 Hero Feathers. With the new increased capacity, players can earn 4,000 Hero Feathers with each character.
I've become more of a fan of Hero Feathers as of late, as they are what allow you to unlock an individual unit's potential. In other words it allows you to grow a unit from a three star rarity to a four star rarity or a four star rarity to a five star rarity.
Now that I know the value of merging multiple five star units together to increase their power, I have a much more positive outlook on these collectibles – and a much higher need of them considering it takes 20,000 Hero Feathers to buff one unit to a five star.
Pre-battle map checking
Just tap the blue icon for a handy dandy strategizing bonus!
This kind of system was implemented in other game modes, especially those where you have to fight multiple maps in a row like Squad Assault, but now you can use it any time for just about any map you can access.
As far as what it does… Well, it should be fairly self-explanatory when I say "pre-battle map checking." Want to see what your units will be up against in the next fight? Check the map ahead of time, take a look at the opponent units and what skills they have to come in better prepared.
That's really about that. It's a simply but highly useful change.
More Sacred Seals & Weapon Refining
For context, the additional Sacred Seals are Brash Assault, Savage Blow, Hone Speed, Close Defense, Guidance and Attack Smoke.
To be completely honest I can't do this particular change any more justice than the screenshot above does.
Two new legendary weapons can be refined, though the only one that really matters to me is Sanaki's special red tome, as she's a five star unit I have and use fairly often.
Personally I hope this change is an indication that more upgrades will be coming in the near future, since there are plenty of other units that have legendary weapons that I would love to buff.
Cough cough Eirika cough
The Sacred Seals that were added to the construction option also aren't very important to me personally. They're all Seals that were available in the past as part of Tempest Trials rewards, so I already had all of them leading up to this addition.
Thus, I can't actually build any of them. I already have them.
Oh well, at least other newer players now have access to some cool additional skills.
New terrain type: Trenches
It's all quiet on the Western Front, Xander.
While the screenshot above once again covers all of the information I currently have about this new terrain type, I'm quite interested in seeing how trenches affect the game going forward.
From the description alone, it just seems like trenches are being added as a check to cavalry units. Instead of their usual three space movement range, heroes on horseback can only go one space when moving across trenches. It's a small debuff if the maps where they're featured don't have an excessive amount, but it is interesting to note that Intelligent Systems is trying to hit one of the most prevalent unit types in competitive play.
Of course we don't know whether the trenches have extra utility because they aren't featured in any of the new story maps… But that's a different story. For now it just seems like these things might be more of an aesthetic implementation than a practical one.
Beyond those major points, the other changes are small or tie into bug fixes specifically. The only one I can recall having an impact on me is the way they've made it so units without weapons aren't added to the pool of potential allies when playing in a Voting Gauntlet.
That's cool, but also I never ran into the problem personally so I guess I never well.
With all that said, let's move into the next leg of this marathon. Everyone's favorite: A new summoning focus banner.
Three heroes from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn have arrived in Heroes, and their appearance also continues on the legacy of Radiant game focuses apparently being Intelligent System's choice to advance the game's overarching plot.
But of course, we can't get into silly things like plot without discussing the merits of our new potential allies.
Micaiah – Priestess of Dawn
Micaiah is interesting in that she is apparently a fan favorite unit who also happens to look quite overpowered. As an added note, she actually has five skills but I could only get four to line up for a picture so know that she also has Drive Attack as her C skill. This girl's weapon is kind of crazy and all over the place, being a blue tome that's good against horses and armored units while also combining the effects of three other really good weapons from the past. Her resistance to damage on account of that weapon is accentuated by her Distant Defense and Guard, yet she can also buff allies with Drive Attack and give them health through Sacrifice. In a way, she's a really well-rounded unit, and I'm assuming her stats reflect the same thing.
Sothe – Zephyr
Here's a dagger unit that finally seems worth his weight (sorry Neko Sakura, your cute Halloween cat ears are still in my dreams, but not in a creepy way). Sothe appears to be any team's best friend with a weapon that debuffs every enemy stat within a certain range while also buffing every stat for allies in a certain range. Plus, he also Spurs Attack and Speed during combat. However, without proper protection this kind of benefit appears temporary as his other skills suggest he's quite the glass canon. An interesting unit indeed, and one that seems like he would mesh well with a blade tome user.
Zelgius – Jet-Black General
So in case it wasn't obvious, Zelgius is the Black Knight without his helmet on — the Black Knight being a unit who was a prize some time ago in a Tempest Trial, except now he's apparently stronger stat-wise from what I've been told. Also there's apparently some controversy over the fact that his appearance in this form spoils Radiant Dawn plot points? But to be completely honest a lot of characters spoil plot points in their games so I'm not sure what the problem is. I don't think I have a lot to say about this guy's skills. He has the same weapon/special attack as his reskin, but now he gains attack when attacked, can warp around like crazy and converts opponent buffs into penalties. Definitely sounds like a strong guy… But I just can't get over how much his face isn't what I expected to see without the mask.
Despite the fact that he got the least amount of writing up above, I think Sothe is actually the character on this banner that I want the most.
Like I said before he looks like a match made in heaven for a blade tome user, and as a result would make a perfect balance on my infantry team alongside Nino and my other stat buffing unit Eirika.
Even though I want Sothe a lot (much to the teasing pleasure of my friend Jonathan who managed to summon the guy almost immediately), the other two wouldn't be so bad either. Micaiah especially. I'd be very down to join the scarf squad with her.
Luckily, I managed to enter this banner with an abundance of orbs thanks to the recent Tempest Trials and my early summon of flying New Year Azura.
Yeah that's right, 95. Well earned if I do say so myself, and there's more waiting in the sidelines from a new Squad Assault and Chain Challenges.
After blowing through about 30 of those orbs, however… I more or less learned my lesson to be careful where I put my money.
Don't get me wrong, five stars are never a bad thing necessarily… But as much as I love Clair from Echoes, she's just not a fantastic unit in Heroes.
Especially compared to Cordelia, who's served me loyally since the very beginning.
As I keep cautious with my orb horde, I think that makes it a good time to jump over to the story accompanying these three new heroes.
I kind of spoiled this earlier, but the Radiant Dawn banner opens itself up in a continuation of the Book II storyline.
Guided by a dream starts with… Well, a dream.
Gunnthrá appears once again, actually making herself relevant in the story considering Intelligent Systems forgot to give her any sort of meaningful moments when she was a Legendary Hero summon possibility toward the end of December.
Speaking of… Don't get me started on how much I want to throw my phone at the irony of Gunnthrá suggesting we should meet after I got screwed out of summoning her to meet in person already.
Talk about a hell of a tease.
Anyway, her dream guidance is that the Order of Heroes should come to the ice kingdom to meet with her so everyone can combine forces to fight the evil fire king.
The story for this leg of Book II is fairly front loaded actually, as you immediately jump to the Order discussing their war plans in the face of a new powerful enemy. Namely, Anna mentions that the king of Askr is off leading some troops into battle.
The fiery King Surtr is also given more characterization suggesting that he's nuts and bloodthirsty, a theme we will return to later.
When Fjorm hears that you met her sister in a dream, she pretty much immediately suggests you follow her direction and head to their homeland for backup.
Once that is established, the fighting begins.
The maps themselves for this story mission are decent, though it seems odd to me that they would go with Askrian terrain rather than copying maps from Radiant Dawn, considering this is that game's unit's time in the spotlight.
In hindsight that is a complaint I could have aired when the Children of Fate were new… But then again it does all make sense in light of the fact that Book II is less a series of connected miniature adventures than Book I in place of a more serialized story.
That said, there isn't a lot of serialized story across the majority of the ice-covered maps, Chapter 3-1 through Chapter 3-4. The little bits of plot are pretty much just introductions for the Radiant Dawn characters you fight.
Don't mind Oliver, by the way. He's uhh… He's a special looking, apparently meme-worthy guy who's going to show up in a Grand Hero Battle soon.
Things start to develop when you arrive at the final map and come face-to-face with a new challenge.
The source of those flames are Laevatein, my favorite of the lot, showing what seems to suggest the beginning of a pattern where each of the fiery nation's main units are going to headline each chapter from here on.
Her gimmick seems to be an almost robotic adherence to the rules set in place by her father and sister, which is an interesting touch I wasn't quite expecting.
Gives her an appeal similar to Team Magma Admin Courtney from Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
Once you beat her, she retreats and the Order decides to take a break from their journey to help restore the burned village. Though this move makes sense, it's almost comically similar to them straight up saying "here's the commercial break before our next episode."
Yet… The story doesn't end quite yet.
For some reason tired of their alliance, Veronica decides to leave having assisted the fire nation with her contracted units.
That doesn't sit well with the king.
Yeah… Remember when I said this guy is a crazy, sadistic nut job?
Case an point: Crazy grin while imagining a little girl burning to death.
Honestly for as over-the-top as this comes across, I do admittedly appreciate the way they made a villain who's undeniably awful for everyone to stand up again.
I'm just hoping Veronica switches sides and we get the chance to use her against this ultimate foe. That would be pretty awesome.
Boy howdy, this really was a hell of a marathon wasn't it? I love it when there are a lot of things to cover, but it is a bit exhausting when everything takes this long.
I guess if nothing else I can appreciate it as a little something fun before I dive back into killing myself with work that I for some reason thought would be a good way to get back into the swing of things.
So, how about I take a break from talking your ear off and once more offer the chance for a larger discussion.
How do you feel about the updates that came with version 2.1.0?
Out of the Radiant Dawn heroes added, which is your favorite?
What do you think of the way Book II is developing? Personally, I happen to think the way they've gone with it is pretty intriguing.
Is the best part of this update the new game loading screen that I used as the featured image for this post?
Let me know your thoughts somewhere on the internet, and until next time… I'll be resisting the urge not to make myself broke again.
Wish me luck.
Gunnthra
King Gustav
Laevatein
Princess Veronica
Sothe
Zelgius
Fire Emblem Heroes' Book II update – Part 1
So remember a few days ago when I said I was going to be taking a hiatus from doing blog stuff because of finals coming up soon? Also remember when I said I would probably come back early if the big update we've been waiting for in Fire Emblem Heroes came out?
Well, it came out. So here I am, a few days late as usual, but still quiet excited about the huge volume of things added. Huge enough that I'm splitting this post into two posts, one to go over the mechanical changes and one to go over the big story additions.
It's a large task at hand, and I'd rather not be up all night doing it, so let's get going shall we?
Version 2.0.0 is here, bringing with it Book II of the game's story and some game-changing new additions. Like I said above, I go more into details on what Book II entails in this post here, so let's dig more into what's different about the Heroes experience from a technical level.
First and foremost, I would say the most immediately striking thing about this update is the User Interface changes, most of which contribute to making a more engaging and aesthetically pleasing experience.
Most notably to me was the menu background changes:
Though these appear to be small additions, the change is actually fairly big all things being equal – and much appreciated at that. Most of the time spent playing Fire Emblem Heroes, while not specifically in battles, is spent on these menus deciding what to play and how to play it. Thus, having something new to look at all these months later is pretty wonderful in my opinion.
Especially since the new backgrounds look way better than what we had before.
The new menu backgrounds are also joined by other aesthetic differences to things like actual menu layouts and designs, including the addition of 'Seasons' in the main hub.
These seasons tie into another brand new concept introduced in Version 2.0.0: Legendary Heroes.
Fjorm, along with just about everything else I'm talking about here today, was introduced a while back during an episode of Feh Channel that I didn't really talk about. Mostly because I knew eventually I'd get into a long post like this once the actual updates came out.
I'll talk more about Fjorm's role in the ever expanding story later on, so for now what you need to know is she's a princess from an icy land near Askr who does cool flips, buffs her allies according to the in-game season and is just generally overpowered and great.
Legendary Hero blessings are a somewhat inherently confusing mechanic that I'm not even sure I full understand just yet, so I'll let the game explain the blunt of it for now:
While I believe I understand the idea of applying a blessing to an ally who is going to be fighting alongside Fjorm during a Water season so they can get a substantial boost, what I'm still iffy on mostly ties back to some small questions that I'm sure will make sense as I actually get the chance to play with the mechanic. Where more blessings come from, whether or not the blessings last forever, whether you can have multiple blessings active at once… Things like that.
One thing I can say I understand about Fjorm is her summoning banner, which is extra special in a number of ways.
Firstly, it features a huge number of five star focus heroes rather than three or four like we usually get. Twelve to be exact.
Second, in that pool of twelve five star focus heroes, four of them are extra special seasonal heroes back from the dead. Spring Camilla and Xander return in their Easter bunny-themed attire alongside Bride Caeda and Cordelia from the June special banner. Though the two bride heroes are the ones I had personally pulled from the original, both the spring heroes are novel for my collection.
Third, not only are there a large amount of special heroes featured, but the banner has an inherent eight percent summoning chance for those special heroes. Eight percent! For context, most banners start at three percent, so eight is incredible.
Of course that eight percent hasn't helped me out very much. I've only managed to pull one five star focus hero after blowing a ton of orbs, enough so that I'm probably going to wait and save up the rest of the orbs I can get with the special events going on right now for the Fates children coming in a few days.
Though I can't complain all that much, since this is the hero I pulled.
Spring Camilla is quite the meme in my circle of friends for her… Well, sizable assets. So it's honestly rather hilarious to me that I pulled her, as did a few of the others in my circle. She refuses to leave us alone.
Cute ice princesses and well-endowed bunny princesses aren't the only things that are special about this update. There's a much bigger mechanical addition to the game that once again seems to be shaking up the game's tier list for useful heroes:
Weapon refining.
To unlock weapon refining, you have to go through a quick story mission, but it's relatively separate from the Book II stuff, so I'll go into it here.
The Rite of Blades intermission has one battle, which begins with a setup that introduces you to a mysterious girl in your dreams.
As it's later revealed, Gunnthrá is related to Fjorm and wishes to help you prepare by gaining access to a new power.
By following her directions, the Order of Heroes arrives at a shrine where they must fight through a number of guardians to make their way to a tablet inscribed with Emblian text.
Your team decides to take that power and use it for your gain, because honestly how could they not?
The story leading into weapon refinement is simple, yes, but it sets up an interesting addition to the game.
As the text shows, refining weapons… Well, makes them more powerful. As obvious as that must sound. However, it does so at the cost of a ton of materials, so it must do something weighty, right?
It does, in fact. Most legendary weapon-wielding heroes can make use of the refinement to give their weapons a variety of buffs.
To show this off, Eldigan has the best example of these buffs for my purposes:
Mystletainn, one of my favorite weapons of all time in the Fire Emblem universe I might add, can be adjusted in a number of ways for the right price. One adjustment gives it the effect of Fury 3 inherently, boosting all of Eldigan's stats at the cost of some life points with every hit. Eldigan comes with Fury naturally, so he has double the boost for double the cost. One adjustment increases his health and defense while also making it so he activates special attacks faster.
These extra weapon upgrades open up lots of opportunities for new strategic character builds with some high potential. A wide range of units can make use of these kinds of upgrades, too. Minerva is another unit I own who can have her weapon refined, and I know I want to take advantage of both possibilities.
While there are a few other small but important updates that came with this version, such as Staves getting a power boost to make healing units more useful, lowered special attack cooldowns in some cases, an increased barrack size to hold more units and an adjusted stamina use in story missions… Well, I just laid it all out right here. So I didn't think I needed to go too much more into it.
From here, it's time to go into the story changes that came with Book II's addition. Unless of course you're coming from that post to this one, in which case you've hit the end of the double update road, bucko. Congratulations!
Though of course I'm prone to breaking my own already thin fourth wall, so I'll let you all know that I'm planning on writing the second half to this update later this afternoon or tomorrow… Since it's about 2 a.m. right now.
So much for getting in and out quick on this one.
Oh well, either way look forward to seeing more later or tomorrow regarding my thoughts on Book II and what it brings to the table! Plus, now that December has hit, we're going to be getting a new summoning focus soon with some heroes from Fire Emblem Fates… Including one of my favorites, Soleil. So I'll probably be talking about that too.
Plus, in non-gaming news, I also have probably two more stories that will be coming out in the Daily Titan by the end of the semester, and some projects I'm doing might be worth putting up here as well. Look forward to that in the near future!
Aesthetic Upgrades
Arena Assault
Bride Heroes
Elemental Seasons
Feh Channel
Spring Camilla
Spring Heroes
Training Tower