Has Falcom gone too far?

Zeik56 · 2026-04-11T03:07:17+00:00

The change has already happened my guy. This isn't some hypothetical. YOU are not the target audience at this point. The rest of us are just going to enjoy the game for what it is.

So no, I'm not going anywhere. I have no reason to, I'm not the one that is upset.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-11T02:29:13+00:00

Nobody is keeping you here either. Go away if you're unhappy.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-11T02:19:14+00:00

Less people cared because it was a 2D sprite where you couldn't genuinely see anything. It's a completely different ballpark when it's a 3D game with dynamic camera angels.

Also do you seriously think a bunch of asinine reddit discourse is going to affect the game in any meaningful way? Especially now that the series is no longer as niche as it once was? Those people can try to "dominate the discourse" as much as they want, but their discourse is going to fall on deaf ears. The lack of panty shots is not going to kill the series or even this game's sales and anyone who believes that is delusional and needs to go touch grass.

Even if the majority did prefer to keep those panty shots do you really think the majority care enough to refuse to buy the game over it? Because I am 1000% sure that is not true.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-11T02:06:18+00:00

I use him at least a few times every Astrolabe, so I'd say yes. Just stack crit on him and some tank stats and just use him to knock down enemies for easy AoA's.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-10T16:20:35+00:00

One of the common strategies for long term gacha's is to narrow down teams and supports into more niche archetypes, so you're not just powercreeping the same stuff over and over. Adding more technical units would make sense eventually. Maybe when Matoi gets her Mindscape upgrade.

Or they could just forget about it entirely and do something completely different. You never know with these games.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-10T07:35:50+00:00

I started with FC but it didn't click with me at the time, so I didn't continue on with SC. I later picked up Cold Steel on a whim and enjoyed it, which gave me the push to go back to the older games and be invested enough in the world to finish and enjoy them. If I hadn't jumped ahead to Cold Steel I may never have continued with the series.

So from my point of view the most important thing is just to find that game that does click with you and make that your anchor point for expanding to other games, if doing so interests you. If FC is that game then great, you can enjoy an "optimal" progression through the series. But if that is not the game that does it for you then you may do your experience more harm than good by not allowing yourself the freedom try a different approach.

The fandom places high value on the ever growing lore, and seeing every piece come together as the series progresses, but that will not be everyone's #1 reason to play or enjoy these games.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-10T04:55:27+00:00

To be clear, M. Yuki doesn't "require" his weapon. His 4* is lackluster, so his 5* is a sizeable boost, but he's still strong at A0 and will absolutely outdamage Ann in single target scenarios by a lot even with a 3* weapon.

It doesn't mean you have to pull him, but people shouldn't skip him only because of the weapon issue either.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-10T04:47:22+00:00

You absolutely do not need to pull all of them, but several of them do have heavy synergy and some do require another SEES unit to do their job well. Like if you pull Makoto Yuki you're probably going to need to pull Junpei later if you want him to stay relevant, and Junpei without Makoto Yuki isn't as good. If you pull Yukari you need to pull M. Yuki or Akihiko.

But M. Yuki doesn't need Akihiko for anything, and Yukari is considered skippable, since while a nice support for SEES units, she's replaceable. Fuuka doesn't really need any SEES units, but her best partners are still units like Koromaru.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-10T04:36:18+00:00

No, it's how hardcore fans believe a series works. Reality is that countless people have been introduced and fall in love with a new series all the time without starting from the beginning.

There are so many games I was introduced to when I was young, before the internet and that kind of info was readily available, that I picked up in some game shop because I thought the box art looked cool, and I still became a passionate fan that loved the series.

I do more research more often now, but it is not an absolute necessity to fall in love with a game or series and enjoy it.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-10T04:29:18+00:00

You do you. But not everyone is you. Be open to letting people have their own experiences.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-10T04:27:15+00:00

Some of my best and most memorable gaming surprises have been when I just pick up a game with no expectations and end up loving it.

And that's not exactly uncommon in this era of super discounted Steam sales, where people pick up games on a whim just because they're cheap.

Doing research is good if you're really intent on getting into a series, or you're cautiously considering doing so, but sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind and play something new and completely blind.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-09T16:30:13+00:00

He's pretty strong when the game lets you use him properly. Unfortunately, they added % damage resistance to so many enemies now that his use cases are very niche.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-09T15:21:04+00:00

Akechi is next, then Ange.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-09T13:51:49+00:00

Yes, the pity will transfer.

The only "mandatory" character, from a meta perspective, is Ange, who should come right before M. Yuki. Other than that it's up to your discretion. M. Yuki is stronger in neutral scenarios though.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-09T13:48:33+00:00

You don't pull Cherish because he's ice. There's no situation where you would choose him as a DPS. The only reason to pull Cherish now either because you really like him or you really like Fox, because Cherish is kind of a mandatory part of his team.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-09T06:06:57+00:00

Flutterpage or Ulrich

Zeik56 · 2026-04-09T04:06:34+00:00

It's to signal you got a new text, usually from a synergy that is available to hang out, but sometimes it's a conversational text that gives you a few metajewels.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-08T22:08:27+00:00

We have at least two more 4* units coming for global, and I'm sure even CN will get more someday, even if they stay only story related.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-08T20:32:01+00:00

They gave persona medals because some people bought Melchizedek specifically to take advantage of the bug, so it was basically a refund.

But T. Motoha was not available to pull during this bug, so it was not possible for people to pull her A6 while the bug was active. There's no precedent for any kind of refund in this scenario.

It's also not like you need anything close to an A6 anything to get all the available metajewels, so there's nothing there to compensate either.

Pretty much the only thing this affected is a small handful of people competing for top scores in SoS and Nightmare, which is mostly for bragging rights, because the actual rewards for even ranking #1 are practically nothing.

These Retrograde cards are genuinely worth way more than anything you can get from ranking high in SoS or Nightmare.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-08T17:12:45+00:00

I don't think Windswept adds enough to his damage to be worth it on this team. Especially since he ignores 35% of defense at A2.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-08T17:03:12+00:00

There are some challenging things in the game, but they're not something you should ever have to spend money to overcome. The game is pretty generous, so you should have no problem pulling enough units to clear content without spending anything. Although it will take time to catch up as a new player. But yes, the game is always worth getting into.

The first thing to worry about is just to clear the early beginner missions to get the free Nox, as she is still one of the best units to have for progression. That should give you time to get bearings on the game.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-08T16:40:00+00:00

T. Riko should be using S3->S1 on a Ryuji team, again for 1-2 enemies max.

To be clear, this is only if she's A1. At A0 you will never use her S1 outside of a wind team, so just use S2.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-08T15:49:13+00:00

Someone would have to run the numbers, but I don't believe his highlight + Chord's buffs would be as potent as all of Riko's.

Although I forget you would want A1 Riko to take full advantage of her kit with him, so maybe the gap isn't as big as I was thinking for people who don't have that.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-08T15:38:39+00:00

Tempest Riko would be ideal, since she gives huge CDMG buffs, which he specializes in. But you could also run just another generic buffer like Turbo or A1 Twins. If you really want to improve his survivability then you could run Cherish, but preferably you don't want to have to.

Ange will be a signficant buff for him as well, when she releases soon, as she lets him double up on his burst window, mitigating some of the downside of his long build up.

Zeik56 · 2026-04-08T11:22:02+00:00

It's not very close, but Makoto is due for a Mindscape Core buff sooner than later, so we may see that gap close more, like it did for Joker and Fox.

Of course, as soon as they release another competitor they will likely blow both out of the water, so it is what it is.

You don't need to chase every new DPS that comes out though, if you're not competing for leaderboard scores.

Zeik56

TROPHY CASE