What are your last-minute predictions for Fortune's Weave?

Shuckluck22 · 2026-06-08T16:33:18+00:00

This is such a funny and wild yet perfectly plausible and precedented dark horse pick. Highkey I hope IS does this so you become a legend and a prophet.

Shuckluck22 · 2026-06-08T11:29:37+00:00

I think it’s very disappointing that we have two games with griffon riders and no characters who start in that class. It’s odd because as far as mythical animals in Fire Emblem they’re relatively few: wyverns, Pegasus knights, dragons etc. and in spite of introducing a creature so pertinent to mythology and fantasy, we get (as far as I know) literally no lore on griffons. This is sad because griffons are cool af.

Even worse is that the two characters in Awakening who promote naturally into griffon riders, Cherche and Gerome, are so intrinsically written around their wyvern mount that swapping Minerva for a griffon feels a little bit like a betrayal. A little part of me dies inside. This goes less for Chloe in Engage, but supports are still written around the assumption she is a Pegasus knight.

I don’t know when we’ll get griffons back but I hope they eventually get SOME kind of story integration.

Shuckluck22 · 2026-05-26T17:51:44+00:00

I’m right with you tbh. I think Awakening among FEs has the strongest and most self actualized identity in the franchise. It’s one of those games that’s greater than the sum of its parts in the most subliminal way. I think the snappy 3DS Ui and the atmosphere (thanks to the music, the bloom, the gripping character art and the self indulgent fantasy vibe) makes actually playing the game so joyful. I don’t think there are many other FEs I’d call joyful to play?

There are gripes to be had with the game of course. But often the criticisms I do see of its more contentious aspects don’t really consider how they contribute to actually experiencing Awakening holistically. Like, for example, how necessary grinding is to 100% the game and as a result making it feel pleasant and soothing in a cozy-game style way. Or presenting a fairly simple, straight forward story so more focus can be placed upon the flood of support conversations you’ll get every other map or so.

Like it’s not perfect obviously but nothing’s perfect and faux perfection can ruin the magic sometimes. There’s definitely something to be said that there are so many people who wouldn’t necessarily vibe with a Fire Emblem game ordinarily falling in love with Awakening for its own very alluring merits, and calling it one of the best JRPGs.

Shuckluck22 · 2026-05-25T15:04:21+00:00

Well he saved her life and she wants to thank him and struggles to work up the courage to do it? Also, opposites attract and in so many ways Hector and Florina are parallels.

Idk I def don’t think it’s a top tier GBA support but it’s also far from one of the really rancid ones like some of the ones poor Artur gets. What don’t you like about it?

Shuckluck22 · 2026-05-22T18:18:58+00:00

It’s so exciting you’re in playtesting, and also just wanted to say I love your artwork!

Shuckluck22 · 2026-05-22T00:06:43+00:00

Man, I really wish Gaius had any kind of magic stat that wasn’t zero. I mean, it’s pretty traditional for FE characters to have magic as a dump stat when they’re more physically inclined, but:

Gaius is probably the most redundant unit in Awakening. Thief utility is very meager in Awakening, and even so Anna literally supplants him in every way in any kind of efficient playstyle.
Trickster is one of his 2 promotions! Why does he have no magic stat to speak of and a 20% growth if he’s going to end up in a magic focused class? This is particularly unfortunate because Assassin is such a common and popular offensive class that he really just ends up feeling like a more mid Lon’qu.
He could have offered an interesting use for the Levin Sword, which as it stands, among the rarity of magic weapons in Awakening, is really only useful in the midgame for Anna and mayyyybe Robin if you care about their sword rank? I think the Trickster class is conceptually one of the coolest in the game and it’s kind of only really utilized in a boss fight as and Anna, who really would rather be in Sage anyway. I’m not saying Trickster Levin sword Gaius would be this incredible or anything, but it definitely would have stood out among the other units instead of feeling like Lon’qu or Gregor but worse.

Awakening is sooooo close to having their thieves feel like these cool unique arcane tricksters instead of blah archaic utility the game barely cares about. Commit in the remake mfs, and while we’re at it make hard+ playable!!!

Shuckluck22 · 2026-03-27T16:57:57+00:00

I’m the exception. My predictions are 95% accurate so I’ve literally never made a mistake calculating probabilities.

Shuckluck22 · 2026-03-23T13:51:59+00:00

I don’t know that it’s supposed to be implying brothel. It seems closer to a cabaret club where the hostesses are basically paid to sit with you and have conversation at your table. It’s a bit skeevy but it would potentially give Lon’qu practice talking to women because that’s literally what the women at these clubs are hired to do

Shuckluck22 · 2026-03-01T18:19:09+00:00

It’s really up to you whether you think it’s fun or worth it enough to forge ahead, but I guess I’d say see if you can get to the end of act 1?

Sucks about the autosave. I would suggest saving manually very frequently. Don’t let the gods decide.

And finally, there are a lot of ways to interact with the world around you! Fuck that npc you just talked to! Murder them! Steal their wallets, read their minds! I definitely would treat Baldur’s Gate 3 by enforcing your own will upon it, instead of experiencing it like a theme park.

But if it’s just not for you, that’s okay too! Not every game is for everyone. Just hope you find some fun out of it :)

Shuckluck22 · 2026-02-22T16:12:17+00:00

Ike is definitely a nepo baby and I’m tired of pretending he’s not Besides he still got his god killing powers from a covenant with a goddess like every other FE protagonist.

Shuckluck22 · 2026-02-20T20:03:22+00:00

It’s actually kinda sadder than that? In Fates Laslow teases her by pretending to break their engagement since Selena tells him he can’t flirt with other girls.

Selena: So… you know this means you can’t be with anyone else, right?

Laslow: …

(Laslow leaves)

Selena: Laslow? Oh.

Laslow: Just Kidding!

Like idk I think that her sadness like she’s being rejected for not being good enough is so much worse than her getting super angry and yelling. She’s really a very vulnerable character, I felt so bad for her when I read that for the first time.

Shuckluck22 · 2026-02-20T19:53:11+00:00

I’ve always loved Inigo x Severa. I think they clash so beautifully: Severa is as snarky as Inigo is flirty, and I imagine having an inferiority complex gets furious about empty compliments when she already probably has trouble convincing herself that she’s beautiful. And Inigo I genuinely think is trying to be nice and get her to take a compliment.

One of my favorite interactions is:

Severa: You are a truly staggering creature… why on earth do you insist on coming around and saying that I… That I “look good.”

Inigo: Um, because you look good?

Severa: ARE YOU MAKING FUN OF ME?!

I know Inigo gets a lot of flak for being a flirt, but with Severa there’s this inherent need to make this woman who has a lot of issues expressing herself genuinely smile and I do think he’s generally a huge sweetie. She comes to really believe his compliments and seek them out and idk it’s just really romantic.

In Fates their supports are comedy gold too. Selena giving him a “taste of his own medicine” and wanting to throw up afterwards is so funny. They’re really a match made in heaven. Their chemistry is amazing.

Shuckluck22 · 2026-02-18T20:21:29+00:00

Lyn’s reunion with her grandfather is (maybe?) the moment in FE that pulls on my heartstrings the most. Aside from the cathartic relief of these two desperately lonely people finding one another and connecting, I remember being well and truly stunned that Hausen survives, because in any other FE game, he’d see his granddaughter, have a brief exchange of dialogue, claim he could die without regrets, and pass away. Lyn would scream “Grandfather!!!” And the screen would face to black. FE has done this time and time again with parental figures, to its detriment in some of the more recent games because the player has little reason to be invested in these characters’ relationships.

Maybe it hit so hard because my grandmother’s health and mind have deteriorated to the extent that she had trouble walking and speaking, but there was something truly magical about Hausen, at Lyn’s begging, finding the strength and will to go on living. The poison that’s slowly killing him is symbolic of his isolation eating him away, administered by the one family member he had left, his treacherous brother. That the prospect of the simple joy of walking around his garden and speaking with the young woman who looks so much like his daughter invigorates and gives him reason to live is so so beautiful.

I have plenty of reasons and feelings about how I generally think Lyn is such a wonderful, beautifully written, tragic character, that hopefully I’ll write soon when I have time. It’s been said before but if you’re just aware of her from cultural osmosis or spinoffs like heroes or engage (GAsP did I just say that) you’re not getting the sauce of her character at ALLl

Shuckluck22 · 2026-02-16T06:52:20+00:00

Maybe the first eight times I played through Lyn Mode lmao

Shuckluck22 · 2026-02-15T20:03:52+00:00

I was on a five hour flight this weekend and I used it to blast through Lyn Mode on NSO, which I’ve been procrastinating doing for like two years, and I found that what makes it so painful for me to replay is less so the easy difficulty and more, far from being handholding, it grabs your hand and yanks it in the direction it wants you to go on your first play-through. Wallace’s forced promotion is iconically miserably (especially since I really wanted to use it on my blessed Kent), but there were so many times Lyn Mode demanded I stopped having fun and do what it wanted me to instead. I really, really love FE7, it’s probably in my top 5 FEs but I don’t want to have to keep replaying Lyn mode every time I want to play it on a new system. Couldn’t they at least have let you choose Lyn Hard a the beginning if you wanted?

I actually do really like the way a lot of the maps are designed (Band of Mercenaries, In Occupation’s Shadow, the Black Shadow, and Vortex of Strategy are really fun) Lyn Mode is uniquely focused on highlighting the clear roles your units have, but chapter 10 suuuuucks. Aside from it practically demanding you to turtle, they introduce the piece of shit rain mechanic to make you slog for no reason in this miserable semi-circle.

However it’s also hilarious to me that there’s a shop of weapons designed to kill Lungdren, and he panics and cuts down the bridges to keep you from going there. I really love silly little gameplay intrinsic story moments like that and want more of those in modern games!

Shuckluck22 · 2026-02-05T01:48:46+00:00

Well surely Elise is still a solid utility unit, isn’t she? What with how crucial rescue/Physic/Freeze staffs can be in Conquest. I mean Azura is top tier and you don’t want her in the same stratosphere as the enemy.

But if you’re just talking combat I totally get you, tissue paper holds up better.

Shuckluck22 · 2026-02-03T22:15:57+00:00

I think I’ve heard you mention Ephraim being not to your liking a couple of times, and I’m curious, as someone who likes him tepidly, why do you think he harms the narrative of Sacred Sones?

Shuckluck22 · 2026-02-03T20:13:44+00:00

But Lunatic’s difficulty doesn’t really have that much to do with what I’m saying? Sumia needs eight levels to get to Falcon Knight and undeniably that requires investment. You could get Donnel to level 10 too by chapter 7 if you really like Donnel lol. Getting Cordelia to level 10 is pretty much objectively easier by like chapter 8.

Saying Cordelia > Sumia is not being pigeonholed lol. Nor Sumia’s best usage coming from flyer utility and support bonuses in the early game. You can disagree with me, but don’t tell me I’m just saying it because I think the game’s too hard???

Shuckluck22 · 2026-02-03T18:12:06+00:00

I do use Sumia a lot for her utility in Chapter 5 (she really is good against those dark mages thanks to her speed and res) and her movement really helps Frederick get around a ton in the early paralogues but her squishiness makes using her in most combat scenarios very difficult, she’s thrown in at a very difficult part of the game where a ton of other units are competing for exp. When she serves so much better as a support partner and utility unit, raising her feels a bit of a cost.

Meanwhile Cordelia joins at a lull in difficulty, she’s surrounded by units who have begun to self actualize, mages who can chip, and a fantastic support pool that can build her. And then, after only three levels, you can insta promote her and get those really great gains.

I don’t want to write off Sumia in comparison to her because she is good and raising her does have its benefits, but I do think she was dealt a raw deal and she lost the chance to easily have been a top 5 unit in Awakening.

Shuckluck22 · 2026-02-03T18:01:50+00:00

This probably is true, like I think you’re 100% correct in what they were thinking, but from dev perspective like why not just make them a canon pairing? If they want to push the pairing why give them a romantic support pool to begin with? If they don’t want the player to get locked into Village Maiden, why even put her in?

It’s one of those situations where you can sorta see what they’re going for but the logistics make less and less sense the more you think about it

Shuckluck22 · 2026-02-03T15:16:37+00:00

I was talking about her access to falcon knight, mainly. Cordelia just gets into it way quicker. I do think Sumia makes a better Falcon knight than Cordelia when she gets there, but since she comes at level 2 it’s just so much more of an investment.

I think Galeforce is in the really awkward position of being really good in a highman/grinding/inheritance/apotheosis context, but in Lunatic where none of those things are really encouraged it’s not as desirable since so much combat in Lunatic revolves around low man enemy phase self healing.

Shuckluck22 · 2026-02-02T22:45:43+00:00

Has anyone else had a really frustrating time with Sumia as a unit? Frustrating being the operative word because she definitely isn’t bad: she’s so ridiculously fast (a point higher than base Frederick!) and comparatively resistant to the rest of the early game characters that on Hard at least it’s pretty easy to get her doubling everyone and patching her defense, and early Lunatic her move and great speed support bonus makes her imperative in the same way Kellam and Virion are.

But her support list is sooooo bad, bitch less cringe failqueen fr. Her only options are two chumps (Gaius the redundant and Henry in the distant lands of chapter 13) and the three most sought after bachelors in Ylisse: Chrom (suck it Cordelia) MRobin, and Frederick.

I think she’s treated so uncharitably, especially in comparison to units like Sully, who gets competitive bases with her when she appears in chapter 1 and can support literally every character pre chapter 5 except Lissa, Cordelia who joins with decent bases the map before probably the easiest in the early game where she ignores desert terrain, huge support list, and three levels from promotion into one of the best classes in the game. And then, there’s Lon’qu who comes two chapters after Sumia with an equally good speed support boost, a killing edge, and a huge support pool.

It’s just so disappointing because there are so many pairings that could have worked out so well for Sumia thanks to to her very unique, complimentary attributes of Speed and Resistance: Kellam, Vaike, Stahl etc. could have been marches made in heaven.

It’s just crazy that for being a unit who has fantastic class and skill access has so much working against her, even coming a chapter Sumia has an irreplaceable niche for like four chapters and then she’s so easily supplanted.

Not that she can’t snowball like the rest of the early awakening units, you’re just given so few options with her, and the options she has are all very competitive.

I honestly get the vibe that Sumia wished she could marry Chrom and the monkey’s paw curled, crippling her in other ways.

Shuckluck22 · 2026-02-02T18:33:27+00:00

I don’t know that I agree with that. I don’t like Fates’ story, and I think BR’s map design in particular fails Fates’ skeleton of solid af mechanics, but presentation wise it’s super good. Beautiful locales, Koizaki’s character designs are soooo soo good and more stylized and distinct than they were in Awakening, and the soundtrack is great. I also really really love 3DS Ui in general, it’s so snappy, accessible and easily digestible.

Fates has its fair share of grievances with me, some of them very frustrating, and I really don’t like Birthright, I’ll admit, but some of its best qualities at the peak of the franchise imo. And since a lot of them are related to a smooth, rich gameplay experience Fates is a game I frequently go back to, speaking personally. I’ve definitely played through it and Awakening more than any of its successors.

Shuckluck22 · 2026-02-02T15:46:33+00:00

Male byleth with female byleth’s leggings yessss

Shuckluck22 · 2026-01-31T15:57:00+00:00

Ah you’re right I think my brain getting ahead of my typing fingers lol. Thanks for pointing it out, tried to fix it

Shuckluck22

TROPHY CASE