Let's Talk Some Bollocks About: The Nintendo 3DS & Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition

You're right I did not know that, it sounds well yeah haunted, (or maybe it just hates you) if its turning itself off even plugged in.

My thing on what turned out to be more than one game due to my guest, unfortunately wasn't Laura Bailey, will go up on the 21st, if someone has something before hand.

Definitely up for your game, whatever it might be!

I'm preparing my big Fire Emblem review with my special guest, The_Jaster.

I'm definitely up for that too. You and Jaster, neither of whom I presume has ever played an FE in your lives, given an in-depth look at Fire Emblem without actually looking at it at all and completely guessing/Kirby's Rumour Buffet-ing what it's like. Anybody would want to read that.

Balladeer wrote:

I'm definitely up for that too.  You and Jaster, neither of whom I presume has ever played an FE in your lives, given an in-depth look at Fire Emblem without actually looking at it at all and completely guessing/Kirby's Rumour Buffet-ing what it's like.  Anybody would want to read that.

How dare you.



You owe me an apology.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

I'm preparing my big Fire Emblem review with my special guest, The_Jaster.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Balladeer wrote:

I'm definitely up for that too.  You and Jaster, neither of whom I presume has ever played an FE in your lives, given an in-depth look at Fire Emblem without actually looking at it at all and completely guessing/Kirby's Rumour Buffet-ing what it's like.  Anybody would want to read that.

How dare you.



You owe me an apology.

We should hash out the details of our minutes of play on skype/discord sometime.

I actually think you would sort of like Fire Emblem Jas, but maybe the older ones because of the lack of the whole dating stuff and then it's just a strategy game but with a anime aesthetic, which still might be off putting.

masofdas wrote:

I actually think you would sort of like Fire Emblem Jas, but maybe the older ones because of the lack of the whole dating stuff and then it's just a strategy game but with a anime aesthetic, which still might be off putting.

Yup, I tried Fates but wasn't a fan of it all & I've actually been meaning to play The Sacred stones for a long time.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Balladeer wrote:

I'm definitely up for that too.  You and Jaster, neither of whom I presume has ever played an FE in your lives, given an in-depth look at Fire Emblem without actually looking at it at all and completely guessing/Kirby's Rumour Buffet-ing what it's like.  Anybody would want to read that.

How dare you.



You owe me an apology.

I do, I really do! I'm so sorry, thoroughly unjustified criticism.

But seriously I laughed out loud hard at this.

Quality.

Jas: You'd probably get on best with Echoes out of any of them, I'd say.

JayMoyles wrote:

Quality.

Jas: You'd probably get on best with Echoes out of any of them, I'd say.

Any particular reason for that?

I'm a bit earlier then I said but a change of hours in work gave me more time to edit today.

Mas: Welcome to another look back at a memorable 3DS game in this celebration of the systems life. I'm joined by a special guest in ZeroJones to talk about this one, how are you Zero?

Zero: I'm well, sir! And how are you?

Mas: I'm all good, I've got you here to talk about my favourite 3DS game Fire Emblem Awakening. Now last time I played it was 6 years ago and can't really remember much but you only recently played it form what I gather?

Zero: Yes, not terribly long ago - late last year, I think? I'd had it for a while, knew it was big, so I left it a good few months before taking it on.

Mas: I get that I've got many a game sat around unplayed. Now that you have played it what's your take?

Zero: I really enjoyed it! It's my third favourite 3DS game (behind Kid Icarus Uprising and Monster Hunter Stories), full of character, great gameplay, and an amazing storyline.

Mas: Any characters stand out for you? Lucina is a bit of a favourite of mine. (I want that Plush)

Zero: Ha! See, I knew all about Lucina, so the 'mystery' in the storyline of this odd masked character was not a mystery to me. It might have been an advantage to play it when you did!

Mas: That's got to be a bit of pain with a game like this

Zero: I liked Kellam - the idea that this huge, tank-like fella was so quiet he was basically invisible - and Robin, whose determination I enjoyed. And, yes - hard to avoid spoilers so long after release!


Mas: Some of the characters you meet later on from the future are your offspring, what did you think of the romance mechanic in this,  as I'm someone that played FEA as my first Fire Emblem game it was something normal and to be expected in the upcoming Three House for instance?

Zero: It felt like my Fire Emblem experiences were building up to Awakening. I'd played through Heroes, and got a few chapters into The Sacred Stones [thank you, 3DS Ambassador Program!], and Awakening was so much more sophisticated than either of those. The romance mechanic was brilliant - indispensable on the field, pairing up characters to have those little blocking advantages, and then leading on to being able to play alongside their offspring... well, a bit contrived, but cracking good fun.

Mas: That's good to hear that I wasn't the only one that liked that about FEA and is something I'm looking forward to in Three Houses. Has FEA made you go back and play any of the other games in the series?

Zero: I'm afraid not! I will finish off The Sacred Stones at some point, but they're big, long games that you have to invest time in, and I have lots of Switch games in that vein to be getting on with. I am much more likely to buy an FE title in the future, though. I haven't really looked at Three Houses at all - I'm sure it'll be spoken of at E3, and I'll see what's what then.

Mas: Hopefully, with FEA being one of your Top 3DS games and making you more interested in the series going forward, what was it about the story?


Zero: Big question! I think it flowed well, with several 'WHAM' moments, that kept you wanting to play. I also had a sense with the romance aspects that I was driving the story to some extent, with who I picked for Chrom [Sumia]. There were also plenty of little character moments that you could open up between battles, and it reminded me of the skits in the Tales series: these are people going into battle, a team, banded together by circumstance, just trying to stay alive and make sure their enemies don't. The story was also a huge sweeping thing for a tiny 3DS cart - the ambition was well-realized.

Mas: I couldn't say it any better myself, anything else you want to add about FEA?

Zero: Just that I enjoyed it far more than I was expecting to, really. I've been burned by strategy games in the past - slogging through levels for ages only to be beaten at the last when a big bunch of enemies sprang from nowhere. Having the option to play in Casual mode [I know, I know!] made me lose those fears and get swept up in the story and the gameplay instead. I understand that if FEA didn't do well enough, it might have been the last Fire Emblem game - I'm glad they've stuck with it.

Mas: Don't worry I also played where characters couldn't die, which some ways might have been a mistake as some characters may have gone underused but as you say I wanted to get swept up in the story more then I need to keep this person alive & going how do I do that. As I have you here, you did mention two other 3DS games but any that you think part from those that have gone overlooked or need talking about to celebrate the 3DS turning 8 years old?

Zero: Eight! That is a suspiciously long time for any video game console to be current, isn't it? I always like to chat about Code Name S.T.E.A.M., which is a lovely little game that no-one seemed to want when it came out. Tough and maybe a bit odd, but worth picking up. Tri-Force Heroes was a nice game, too; perhaps even odder, but great to play with friends both near and far.

Mas: Yeah, it's crazy how times flies with these systems before you know it the Switch will be 3 years old. Two games I'm not overly familiar with even if one is Zelda based.

Zero: I hope time will be kinder to Tri Force Heroes. The idea of multiplayer Zelda has always appealed to me since I played Four Swords Adventures on the GameCube with two uni friends. There are some great mechanics and ideas in the game, and it's quietly really well put-together. I think Code Name S.T.E.A.M. has been written off, which is a shame - the production values were sky-high: it looked great and sounded great. It was uncomfortably tough early on and late on, but when it flowed, it was lovely.


Mas: Multiplayer Zelda now with an okay online on Switch could be great, however, we're going off topic anything else on FEA before we wrap this up?

Zero: I did just want to add that I see why Advance Wars has died off a little bit. I'm trying to play through Dark Conflict, the DS game, at the moment, and I'm struggling. It's not as interesting, sending a bunch of cartoon tanks and planes off to fight when compared to your FEA troops, that you've carefully levelled up through battle after battle after battle. Apologies to Advance Wars fans, but FE is much better in that respect.

Mas: The connection to an individual character will likely be greater than to a tank like you say.

Zero: Absolutely. I mean, Advance Wars has its storyline, of course, but it doesn't connect so well to what's going on during the gameplay. I got a real sense in FEA of the same characters I saw in the cutscenes being the ones on the field, right there, with their swords and bows and magic staves and their comrades, natch, being all that separated them from death. In AW, you just make enough vehicles to win. So it seems so far, at least!

Mas: With that thanks again for joining me tonight Zero.

Zero: You're very welcome! A pleasure to be chattin' games, especially about the 3DS. A rocky start before blossoming into another Nintendo handheld powerhouse, not dropping the excellence baton between the DS and the Switch.

Mas: The pleasure was mine, bye for now

I knew it - you killed Zero, and are now impersonating him in a Woody in Toy Story 1 "Buzz is Right Here!" kind of way.

Aww, Zero.

Good stuff, Mas! And well done for getting AwwZero on board; although

ZeroJones wrote:

I'm sure it'll be spoken of at E3...

how long have you had this draft sitting around?

I think that I would have enjoyed FEA a lot more if I'd played it in Casual to be honest: as it was, I was essentially paralysed with fear at the thought of losing anyone, and haven't played an FE since. I thought it looked really nice on the 3DS (not so nice in those screenshots eh), but the story, at least initially, was... probably no worse that 'average JRPG' levels of guff. That's still quite guffy though, and as I didn't enjoy the gameplay either it fell by the wayside.

To briefly touch on those other two games: I bundle Codename STEAM up with Ever Oasis in my mind, brave Nintendo experiments that should be applauded despite their failures, but STEAM being a strategy game meant I was never likely to go near it. For TFH I just lacked two nearby invested friends, and I'm sad that I missed out on it for that reason. If another Four Swords-style game comes out on Switch (and I hope it does) I'll most likely subject The Lady to it.

Not as long as you would think, Balla.

Thanks, guys and seems Zero has had some interactions on twitter and enjoyed this brief cameo.

I initially was enjoying Awakening a fair bit despite some misgivings. I like the main character avatar in this compared to their role in the later Fates, as they shared the spotlight with two other main characters. It meant they could really be used in the game's gorgeous cutscenes, which play out the narrative a lot better than in Fates.

I just kind of lost interest. I had already played all the GBA Fire Emblems and Shadow Dragon on the DS, and the new additions in this game like the pairing system didn't really grip me whereas the other new features wore me away. I can tolerate anime tropeyness to a great deal, but not when it extended to making the first major antagonist a bit of a joke.

The support conversations are awful. You can obviously just skip them or not go out of your way to build character relationships much, but that means you have to skip content, and building up support ties into the gameplay by making your units stronger (along with other stuff). And in the past, support conversations have been good. Awakening did well in making the feature more visible. But the writing is bad and it isn't helped by them wanting to make almost every relationship feasible. Not necessary - but I guess it amassed a lot of broad appeal and the sales of the game helped the series survive, so whatever.

Micro-transactions - not only a thing now, but now very conspicuously on the map. Just ew.

The option to grind out maps in between story chapters, which was a feature in Sacred Stones (and I think the GC/Wii games? Not sure). Personally did not like this approach.

I eventually went back to Awakening and completed it and have decided it's alright, but I prefer the succeeding games. Props to Intelligent Systems to having an idea of what the fans want and delivering on it. Fates Conquest improved the mechanics and had the more traditional act structure, Fates Birthright provided more Awakening to all the people that preferred it (and I know a lot of people enjoyed it, and liked it more than Conquest, which I'm fine with), and Echoes brought back the amazing art and was a fresh game in a lot of ways - despite being a remake, or I guess because it was a remake of the black sheep of the series.

Oh yeah, those other games have their fair share of faults too. Especially Fates. But they succeeded in ways I appreciated more.

Aaaw, this was a really sweet little idea Mas. It has made me a bit emotional, mind. I'll read it later.

Kriken wrote:

I can tolerate anime tropeyness to a great deal, but not when it extended to making the first major antagonist a bit of a joke.

...

Props to Intelligent Systems to having an idea of what the fans want and delivering on it.

That first point was very much my main issue with the writing from what little I've seen of it... but sad though it is to say it, maybe that's what saved it. Getting anime fans on board. I certainly wouldn't be surprised, given that we got chuffing Camilla in Fates.

I think I actually burst out laughing when it pulled the old and tired amnesiac card, I really tried to ignore the godawful story and just focus on the gameplay side of things but it wore me down every time it popped up. For me tactical strategy games like these work best when the story isn't getting in the way too much, think stuff like X-com or Into the Breach.

The stories good though and what got me on board, again why I'm surprised Balla doesn't like it as the casual mode is there to play the story still.

To be fair the story - or rather the writing - didn't seem to great in the few chapters I did play.  I wouldn't have played it solely for that.  In the Luminous Arc games I did actually quite like the gameplay! (Also FE doesn't give you a playable manatee as far as I know.)

Awakening was super exciting for me at the time because I didn’t own a 3DS so I could only play it by staying up all night when I had access to one. Since then it has not stood the test of time, go play Path of Radiance or one of the game boy ones

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I liked Awakening well enough for what it was at the time - the maps were fine enough if a bit annoying when it came to flooding reinforcements in later chapters, the story was good enough and I liked the romance/child unit aspect presenting here as it meshed nicely with the plot. The characters were fun for the most part too - go away, Tharja - and I could see why people would gravitate towards the game. A move towards anime style tropes and character designs would appeal to a lot of people and the game essentially saved the series.

But therein lies the problem - Fire Emblem became something that wasn't really catered towards me any longer. I fell in love with Fire Emblem through the Tellius duology. It was dudes in armour getting involved in warfare with a good side serving of fantasy. The focus on making FE into a dating sim with a slice of SRPG to go with it wasn't there at all. However, with the fanbase they'd captured with Awakening the developers had to appeal to the new masses. Therefore, Fates arrived with some of the worst characters I've seen in any RPG, some truly nonsensical storytelling, some pants map designs and a particularly bad case of feature bloat due to how many systems and mechanics made up the game. I'm concerned Three Houses might head down the same journey.

So, Awakening is a solid game and one that I'd still recommend to people looking to check out the series (especially considering how difficult and pricey it is to play the Tellius games) but it's led the series down a path that I don't particularly enjoy.

Kriken wrote:

I initially was enjoying Awakening a fair bit despite some misgivings. I like the main character avatar in this compared to their role in the later Fates, as they shared the spotlight with two other main characters. It meant they could really be used in the game's gorgeous cutscenes, which play out the narrative a lot better than in Fates.

God, Corrin's role in Fates was terribly handled compared to Robin. The main character is a toss up between Chrom, Lucina and Robin and the game's story works better as a result. The world revolves around Corrin in Fates and the game honestly suffers because of that.

I don't know if you will enjoy Three Houses Jay, as some of the previews have compared it to Persona but if Persona was a SRPG and Fantasy settling.

Now I do know you like Persona but you know post P3 that's what the game is, where when you see Fire Emblem name you expect something else.

Much like how I view something like Res Evil 5.