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stunt_muppet) wrote2019-11-25 12:17 pm
stunt_muppet) wrote2019-11-25 12:17 pm
Entry tags:
Press X to Make Everyone Like You
To sum up my Fire Emblem Three Houses experience thus far: not only is it possible to plan your combat strategies based on which two characters you think should kiss, in the beginning of the game you are in fact encouraged to do so.
So one of the reasons I never played many turn-based strategies is that I run into a kind of Paradox of Choice - there are lots of things you can do on any given turn, none of them are explicitly the right thing to do, and you have to make all those choices for ten or so people at a time. Playing Mario Rabbids was a good up-ramp into the genre because you only control three units at a time, but in both the battles and the character-building segments I do still end up dithering a bit over what the best thing to do is.
That said, it does help that even if I screw up a combat formation and wind up trapping my units behind each other or spreading them too thin, there's usually something or other I can accomplish, even if it's just putting two characters next to each other so they'll like each other more if one of them gets to do something.
Which brings me to the point I made above - combat raises the bonds between your characters, and maintaining those bonds (romantic and platonic) in turn gives you bonuses for combat, so it's not like I'm chugging through a game mode I'm not as good at to get to thedating sim story that I care about. They're all connected!
The characters are all charming, but it helps a lot that the voice acting is really, really inpressive. Even lines that read awkwardly are delivered naturally and with ease. Conversations between characters flow really well, too. It makes up for the in-game graphics looking a bit stiff during character interactions and supports - the voice acting is so good that I can fill in the blanks for expressions and gestures that aren't there.
Also, while the game still has some Gender Nonsense in it (some unit classes are gender-restricted, though they have functional equivalents for the other gender; there are only four f/f romance options and two m/m romance options), I do appreciate that as much effort appears to have gone into designing attractive male characters as went into designing attractive female characters, and the men all have at least one unit class outfit that gets their tits out.
The other thing that's been taking up my time (aside from work and holiday prep) is making this year's MAGFest costume! I've going as Cassie Cage from Mortal Kombat 11, which may not be the most immediately recognizable costume but does match Fiance who's going as Raiden. He made the hat out of foam and pleather with a balsa wood skeleton! He's very proud.
Where last year's costume involved a lot of painting and shaping foam this year's is much heavier on the sewing; Cassie's outfit is similar to a flight suit, and my options for getting something premade was either to spend a lot of money for something from military surplus (which would still have to be adjusted) or spend a moderate amount of money for an itchy-looking polyester costume flight suit that I couldn't try on. So in my hubris I was like, hey, Simplicity makes patterns for a jumpsuit, I'll just make my own and then I'll know it fits! And then I remembered that denim (the material called for) is famously difficult to sew and the pattern pieces for a jumpsuit have to be huge for everything to be in one piece. I haven't even started the real sewing and I'm already feeling kind of done.
I never learned how to sew as a kid, despite my mother's efforts to the contrary, so I'm grateful to be getting the experience now. Maybe after this I'll be able to hem and patch my own jeans!
Still trying to figure out how to squeeze in Christmas shopping and wedding prep between all the fun stuff I actually want to do, but I do think it was valuable, spending time on these fun things. One thing at a time, I guess.
So one of the reasons I never played many turn-based strategies is that I run into a kind of Paradox of Choice - there are lots of things you can do on any given turn, none of them are explicitly the right thing to do, and you have to make all those choices for ten or so people at a time. Playing Mario Rabbids was a good up-ramp into the genre because you only control three units at a time, but in both the battles and the character-building segments I do still end up dithering a bit over what the best thing to do is.
That said, it does help that even if I screw up a combat formation and wind up trapping my units behind each other or spreading them too thin, there's usually something or other I can accomplish, even if it's just putting two characters next to each other so they'll like each other more if one of them gets to do something.
Which brings me to the point I made above - combat raises the bonds between your characters, and maintaining those bonds (romantic and platonic) in turn gives you bonuses for combat, so it's not like I'm chugging through a game mode I'm not as good at to get to the
The characters are all charming, but it helps a lot that the voice acting is really, really inpressive. Even lines that read awkwardly are delivered naturally and with ease. Conversations between characters flow really well, too. It makes up for the in-game graphics looking a bit stiff during character interactions and supports - the voice acting is so good that I can fill in the blanks for expressions and gestures that aren't there.
Also, while the game still has some Gender Nonsense in it (some unit classes are gender-restricted, though they have functional equivalents for the other gender; there are only four f/f romance options and two m/m romance options), I do appreciate that as much effort appears to have gone into designing attractive male characters as went into designing attractive female characters, and the men all have at least one unit class outfit that gets their tits out.
The other thing that's been taking up my time (aside from work and holiday prep) is making this year's MAGFest costume! I've going as Cassie Cage from Mortal Kombat 11, which may not be the most immediately recognizable costume but does match Fiance who's going as Raiden. He made the hat out of foam and pleather with a balsa wood skeleton! He's very proud.
Where last year's costume involved a lot of painting and shaping foam this year's is much heavier on the sewing; Cassie's outfit is similar to a flight suit, and my options for getting something premade was either to spend a lot of money for something from military surplus (which would still have to be adjusted) or spend a moderate amount of money for an itchy-looking polyester costume flight suit that I couldn't try on. So in my hubris I was like, hey, Simplicity makes patterns for a jumpsuit, I'll just make my own and then I'll know it fits! And then I remembered that denim (the material called for) is famously difficult to sew and the pattern pieces for a jumpsuit have to be huge for everything to be in one piece. I haven't even started the real sewing and I'm already feeling kind of done.
I never learned how to sew as a kid, despite my mother's efforts to the contrary, so I'm grateful to be getting the experience now. Maybe after this I'll be able to hem and patch my own jeans!
Still trying to figure out how to squeeze in Christmas shopping and wedding prep between all the fun stuff I actually want to do, but I do think it was valuable, spending time on these fun things. One thing at a time, I guess.
no subject
Okay, that's amazing. I'm so happy to learn that the relationship and combat mechanics are related! What an excellent game!
Meanwhile, I've just looked up Cassie Cage, and she looks excellently badass. Good luck with your jumpsuit sewing, which does sound difficult but rewarding. I'm cheering for you!
1/2!
Three Houses also has a timeskip around the middle of the story, and the whole deal is you pick one of the titular Houses and get a certain set of characters that go with that house. However, you can recruit almost any of the other students until the timeskip happens (there are a couple who are only available in one house and can't be recruited).
Then once the timeskip happens, all of you wind up on different sides of a war, and depending on which House's story you're playing, if you didn't recruit someone from one of the other houses, you may have to kill them instead. Now obviously that's unacceptable, so I have to spend my non-combat time focusing on wooing everyone possible to my house, but that then leaves me with only combat time to strengthen bonds between the people I already have!
It's all a bit much but this does mean the game lends itself to multiple playthroughs easily. Even if you go through all four versions of the story, you can still go back again to pair up different characters, see supports you didn't before, or experiment with different characters in different combat classes. I'm looking forward to getting further into it!
(And psst, if you want to try a Fire Emblem game, Fire Emblem Awakening is considerably easier to find as a ROM than this newest one is, and I *think* it might have a no-permadeath option as well, though I'm not certain. You know, if you were interested.)
Re: 1/2!
Thank you for that note about the other games, meanwhile. I may have to look around...
2/2!
So far working with the denim has been relatively painless, especially compared with working with stretch lycra like I did last time - denim at least doesn't slide as much. I have wound up with my bobbin thread stuck or tangled more often but I'm not sure that's the fault of the fabric. Have you done any sewing or costuming yourself?
Re: 2/2!
I've done a little bit of sewing here and there, but only simple stuff -- a few decorative pillows, a little stylized hedgehog for a gift once. Nothing that actually had to stand up to being worn, in other words. Cosplay is so impressive to me!