Alm's okay. Something about his "Celica NEEDS me!" line in the prologue made me cringe, but that aside, I like him well enough. (Honestly, my cringing at that line was kind of a silly kneejerk on my part; I guess it rubbed me the wrong way because in the prologue he'd made a bigger deal about Celica being his "window to the outside world" than her own circumstances, so it felt like he "needed" her just as much. I dunno.) I like Celica more; I tend to take a bigger shine to female protags than male ones by default, plus she's got some versatility as a unit. I've gotten more attached to some of the side characters on the whole, though -- and on that note...
I actually have a big soft spot for Faye. Sure, she's not the deepest or best-handled character in the world, but I still think there's some points where we can read things into her. For example, her eagerness to kill Alm's enemies for his sake comes across to me as her being that desperate to be valuable to him in any way she can, which makes me wonder if her sense of self-worth is kind of screwed up. Has no one ever told this girl that she has worth as her own person? I know that's a bleak way of looking at things, but then again, the game itself gives her a rather unhappy ending as it is. Faye deserves better. And I'm glad I'm not the only person who sorta ships her with Kliff. I want to think that she does eventually get over Alm, divorces her way out of her unhappy marriage, reconnects with Kliff and goes on to have a fulfilling life with him instead. Problem solved?
Also, I never understood the yandere accusations she's gotten. She's violent towards enemies in battle, not other girls who exist in Alm's general airspace. =/
As for the gameplay, while I'd definitely rate Fates Conquest's highest in terms of satisfying strategy and map design, I'm quite happy to roll with SoV's way of doing things. I appreciate how IS retained most of the Gaiden's unique points while also adding a few new things and still keeping some modern conveniences like being able to highlight enemy movement ranges. I do wish they'd made the hit rates a bit better while they were at it, though. Coinflip accuracy is no fun at all. ~.~;
I think one of my favourite things about SoV so far is all the extra little dialogue that the characters have on maps -- saying things when you first select them, reacting to people scoring kills, telling each other to heal when they're low on health, and all the rest like that. It all goes a long way towards bringing them to life that much more and giving that much more incentive to keep everyone alive -- and you know I'm a keep-everyone-alive kind of player as it is. Oh, and I've seen the mourning quotes on YouTube, and they're all pretty heartbreaking; I gotta hand it to the dub actors. (Speaking of which, as someone who wasn't a terribly big fan of Fates's localisation, I quite enjoy how 8-4 handled SoV; I don't really have any complaints about it.)
The Zelda-ish dungeon exploration is cool too, and while I might've personally preferred a similar approach to the villages, their VN-style presentation is fine as is and I like seeing the protags' comments on various things.
I'm still only at the very beginning of Act 3 right now, so I haven't encountered any of the really hard bosses yet (though I know they're coming!). Things got pretty hairy for me with the Necrodragon, though; not many units can put up with its attacks, even Valbar can only take so much punishment, and Celica's too glassy to just go in there with Seraphim without careful consideration. That one mercenary with the shield was a bit of a pain as well (thank God for mage!Kliff) and Slayde at the end of Act 1 could've done with being a little easier to hit.
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I actually have a big soft spot for Faye. Sure, she's not the deepest or best-handled character in the world, but I still think there's some points where we can read things into her. For example, her eagerness to kill Alm's enemies for his sake comes across to me as her being that desperate to be valuable to him in any way she can, which makes me wonder if her sense of self-worth is kind of screwed up. Has no one ever told this girl that she has worth as her own person? I know that's a bleak way of looking at things, but then again, the game itself gives her a rather unhappy ending as it is. Faye deserves better.
And I'm glad I'm not the only person who sorta ships her with Kliff. I want to think that she does eventually get over Alm, divorces her way out of her unhappy marriage, reconnects with Kliff and goes on to have a fulfilling life with him instead. Problem solved?Also, I never understood the yandere accusations she's gotten. She's violent towards enemies in battle, not other girls who exist in Alm's general airspace. =/
As for the gameplay, while I'd definitely rate Fates Conquest's highest in terms of satisfying strategy and map design, I'm quite happy to roll with SoV's way of doing things. I appreciate how IS retained most of the Gaiden's unique points while also adding a few new things and still keeping some modern conveniences like being able to highlight enemy movement ranges. I do wish they'd made the hit rates a bit better while they were at it, though. Coinflip accuracy is no fun at all. ~.~;
I think one of my favourite things about SoV so far is all the extra little dialogue that the characters have on maps -- saying things when you first select them, reacting to people scoring kills, telling each other to heal when they're low on health, and all the rest like that. It all goes a long way towards bringing them to life that much more and giving that much more incentive to keep everyone alive -- and you know I'm a keep-everyone-alive kind of player as it is. Oh, and I've seen the mourning quotes on YouTube, and they're all pretty heartbreaking; I gotta hand it to the dub actors. (Speaking of which, as someone who wasn't a terribly big fan of Fates's localisation, I quite enjoy how 8-4 handled SoV; I don't really have any complaints about it.)
The Zelda-ish dungeon exploration is cool too, and while I might've personally preferred a similar approach to the villages, their VN-style presentation is fine as is and I like seeing the protags' comments on various things.
I'm still only at the very beginning of Act 3 right now, so I haven't encountered any of the really hard bosses yet (though I know they're coming!). Things got pretty hairy for me with the Necrodragon, though; not many units can put up with its attacks, even Valbar can only take so much punishment, and Celica's too glassy to just go in there with Seraphim without careful consideration. That one mercenary with the shield was a bit of a pain as well (thank God for mage!Kliff) and Slayde at the end of Act 1 could've done with being a little easier to hit.