Thanks for the memories, backloggery! I'll see you all on the new site.

Hey thanks! I see yours is coming up too.

Well dang I actually missed my own backloggiversary, but thanks for the wishes anyways!

I think I will probably get the Platinum and call it . Seeing all 3 timelines is good enough for me to call it done. I do enjoy Tactics Ogre but it's not my favorite TRPG (that honour goes to Disgaea 1) so I don't feel as compelled to do absolutely EVERYTHING in it.

That and the idea of completing the Warren Report looks frightening

Happy birthday!

Yeahhhh, I'm also glad I finished everything on time with that non-negotiable deadline staring me down. Maxing out the online points while also doing a really ambitious playthrough with a team twice the size and grinding galore, I really knocked myself out this time.

I really loved the sense of community while doing this though. Despite limited ways to communicate, it was great to see plenty of fans coming together at the end. Some of them were on that 9999 grind themselves and we helped each other and now during the final days I saw "Farewell friends" and "Thank you" messages everywhere. Great vibes!

I'm all Fire Emblem'd out now for sure, gonna take it easy for a while now. Maybe a Nintendo Direct will happen in the meantime, so I know how much love my backlog may or may not receive this year...

Anytime!

I have played the first 4 (though not the R versions of the first two). I really enjoyed the first two and the fourth one, but didn't care at all for the third. Maybe this time around will be different - that and playing 5 and 6 are the true reason for the marathon, though I won't complain about replaying the other 3.

For sure! At this point I really hope the long-rumored FE4 remake isn't going to somehow come out later this year since that could be possible if Engage has been finished for quite some time before it was released. FE4 is by far the most similar Fire Emblem entry to Unicorn Overlord in terms of general feel and if they nail the remake like they did with Echoes I fear it could very well deprive Unicorn Overlord of its GOTY for me. Please don't make me choose, Nintendo.

Man all 3 of those games are absolute bangers! Glad to see you’re enjoying them all!
Are you on the countdown to FFVIIR or waiting till this lot is done first

You're right that I put a lot of thought (and time) into all this stuff! You could say it's too much, especially looking at my not-so-small backlog nowadays, but this is one of my favorite entries in what's close to becoming my favorite franchise. With the looming 3DS online shutdown on top, I definitely don't want to have any regrets later and go out with a bang. My backlog will still be there afterwards, and with all the rumors about a Nintendo Switch 2 playing Switch games with enhancements I'm fine playing 3DS in the meantime.

Hope everything is going to go well with your move! Never done it myself before, the thought of moving my collection is definitely painful...but not as painful as the thought of having to part with some of it! Hope you can find space for all your games!

Haha yeah, those hacked skills are everywhere in popular castles. I've never taken a single skill in all my playthroughs though, since it kinda breaks the balance. While I wouldn't mind having Aptitude on a lot of units (especially for Lunatic where you can't reset or otherwise influence growths), it would tarnish my runs and I also heard of people getting shadowbanned or something for having impossible skills on units? Not sure there, but I didn't want to try it out.

I'll definitely miss the utility of passing time quickly with a 1turn castle battle, eating somewhere else for a meal on the full party before lategame, buying Heart Seals if need more earlier on, grinding supports or statue kills in Conquest and more. That's why I wanted to do these playthroughs now as Fates will feel hollow without it.

At the very least, I will still have all the goodies from the points as you can create template files after the branch where you reach the castle pre-Ch7 and update your profile to get the points as those stay on a save file forever. That's what I'll be doing for future playthroughs, one male template for Birthright, one female for Conquest and both for Revelation. Leaving me with two free slots to replay something while keeping my 3 Lunatic files as well.

Thanks! I feel really proud of that one for sure and unlike Awakening's Lunatic it required so much more planning and strategy. Conquest/Hard is already no joke but Conquest/Lunatic is just in a tier of itself and they achieved that with no enemy stat inflation whatsoever. Instead, they force you to play smarter and pursue different solutions with subtle changes to maps themselves and enemies with the skills they gain. Plus, even with all that there are few things I'd consider BS so that really speaks for how well designed it is.

Haha, I'm not worried about Revelation's Lunatic at all after surviving Conquest. I already know enemies are only slightly stronger, mainly a little bit HP, Str/Mag and Def/Res but a lot of other things are the same or not as crazy. I will also have the same Corrin I just had through Branch of Fate and they had a super strong earlygame which will help a lot until more units show up.

Though it'll still be a decent challenge overall, I'm actually not planning on being super serious with this playthrough and instead treat it as a reward for Conquest. I didn't use the paid DLC at all or do a single skirmish in Birthright, so this time I'll just do whatever the hell I want for fun. Using 30 total units of favorites and MVPs, all 4 Amiibo, actually doing skirmishes, using the DLC I paid for (except the EXP map, got skirmishes after all), actually having a waifu again instead of Jakob for gameplay reasons and more.

I'm also about halfway to 9999 battle/visit points for online and I'm crazy enough to go for it before the online shutdown so I'm in it for a long run. Might as well make it a really extensive one so I can put it away with no regrets afterwards!

FE12 is certainly so, so much better than Shadow Dragon! It's crazy how decisions during that era of FE almost cost us the franchise. Shadow Dragon was just too simple of a remake I'd say, sticking too closely to the original game and not looking very appealing. Understandable that it also failed to sell well, even on the DS. But then they take lessons learned with FE12, improve a lot of things and add so much new stuff and then decide to not even localize it? Ugh. Marth's saga deserves another remake treatment just to fix that blunder.

The potential for duology FE remakes is crazy indeed! FE4+5, FE6+7, FE9+10 and Marth's games would all work so well and for most of them there's new stuff for all but diehard fans in the west. I think remaking two games in one package also seems reasonable enough given that they can re-use a lot of assets if they remake games together. The real question is where they'll continue, I'm expecting chronologically myself and hope for FE4+5!

I'd be happy if it lasts a month, but we'll see! AIMING FOR AS LONG AS I CAN!!

Replaying FE12? Interesting! What do you think of it overall? I liked it a lot and it paved the way for a lot of features that Awakening ultimately popularised but man does the combat still look bland despite the improved overall artstyle. It's not gonna happen, but I'm still hoping Marth's duology gets fully remade with modern graphics and voice acting at some point because the face of the franchise deserves better. The fact that they did such a fantastic job with Echoes on 3DS makes me want it even more.

Maybe the fact that they never localized FE12 will help them consider it... They can't just throw him into the spotlight in Engage when most people in the west don't even know the full story of the Hero-King!

Hell yeah!
Persona 3 Reload, Granblue Fantasy: Relink & Final Fantasy VII Rebirth for me

Edit: Plus Splatoon 3 Side Order! (It's strange to say but i'm praying Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree comes out later in the year! I can't play any more )

Yeah, we almost had it. Having a better defense and/or kicker would've helped. Oh well - we still did a lot better than I thought we would! Now I root for the Lions.

Thanks! I'm so pumped for Rebirth! I took two days off for it even.

Thank you friend!
Hard to believe it’s been 11 years since joining but I wouldn’t have it any other way

Agreed

Favorite team beat my least favorite team, so everything is good! Not holding my breath against the 49ers, but who knows?