Ok, the story is BAD. Gameplay is fun, but the villian is right.

[steakysteak]

Too many forced events where your main character is a sniviling coward. what was the timeskip for if you were just going to run from them again. Why did they strike out again if there units alone werent enough. Why the sudden stupidity from certain characters too drive the plot. Its like playing a character that never learns, and since you dont make any decisions, you get to simply watch him make the same pointlessly stupid decisions over and over.

Gameplay is fun, but once again too many forced events. This isnt just linear its forced. Many of the events could have been handled better. If your just interlacing your movie with some gameplay you could still give the illusion of choice. If your just going to have the main charater coward out every time the villian is around, why even have a battle, just cutscene it.

I love the presentation. The design is top notch. The gameplay would put it over the top if it wasnt a fire emblem rip(Not a bad thing, just doesnt do anything better than fire emblem).
But the story is downright horrid. It was one of the few games that I stopped because of the story...ill muscle through to finish it, but nothing can redeem the story at this point. Any redemtive arc or story just paints the main character as that much more incompotent and makes you wonder just how stupid the people following him are.

[Rhapsodos]

I don't know if I'd call Eden a coward for retreating nearly every time he fought Balastard because there was too much at stake and too little chance of succeeding. Eden is going against a tyrant with legendary powers committing genocide wherever he goes and it stands to reason that Eden has the best chance since he also has legendary powers, which would be a waste if he fought directly to the death against overwhelming forces. If he died early from not retreating, he wouldn't have honed his lightning, which definitely turned the tide of war later on.

Except for Klara, they didn't strike out thinking their units were enough. They waited for Battleturd to slip up, which he hadn't for two years. He's suddenly leaving the capital because Hullisberg is successfully rebelling against him thanks to Emile. The timing was right and no one could know if they'd have another opportunity like this again. It also revealed to them many potential allies they could recruit and if unified, they could win the war.

I do agree that Eden is stupid at times. I hate to agree with Klara, but she's right that he cares way too much about keeping everyone alive and happy when there's a war. Then again, that's part of the reason why everyone IS following him even when he's commanding them to carry out his own war crimes.

I think out of all the characters in the story, I hate Battletoad and Klara the most and they definitely ruined the story for me. B is just a giant ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ while Klara's got Charlie's Angels (2019) powers.

[steakysteak]

The problem with Edens cowardice stems from the (unbelievably poorly written) exchange between him and Bali after he runs the second time. The apology and misunderstanding line after which B calls him pathetic....mind you this is 2+ years after Leon was cut down in front of him...and his first words to B was i half expected an apology for this misunderstanding...

That is both immense cowardice, and bad writing. Its almost as if the writer forgot the gravity of the events that came before.

B is just a murderous duoche, but he does a great job at making you despise him, but Eden makes me despise the main character for his weakness, stupidty, and complete lack of growth. actually most of the allies stay the one note characters throughout the game.

Its like the battles won or lost, or training time spent did little to harden them. Putting that aside. I wish the devs would have put a little extra time into giving the illusion of choice.

for example, you could have simply gave the player the choice to rebel against B at hullisberg, which would still eventually lead them to where they end up, but you would feel like you made the decision to be there. Or let the player decide wether they want to entreat the nobles for there aid, making the next battle different if you do or dont. Easy ways to make the player feel like they are making the decision, and still leading them down the story beats.

[treahnurb]

Originally posted by Rhapsodos:

I think out of all the characters in the story, I hate Battletoad and Klara the most and they definitely ruined the story for me. B is just a giant ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ while Klara's got Charlie's Angels (2019) powers.

Wholeheartedly agree. Battletoad (love the name you came up with) could be argued to be corrupted by the Eidolon but boy do I hate Klara. Hatehatehate.

[BlazingScribe]

Originally posted by steakysteak:

The problem with Edens cowardice stems from the (unbelievably poorly written) exchange between him and Bali after he runs the second time. The apology and misunderstanding line after which B calls him pathetic....mind you this is 2+ years after Leon was cut down in front of him...and his first words to B was i half expected an apology for this misunderstanding...

That is both immense cowardice, and bad writing. Its almost as if the writer forgot the gravity of the events that came before.

B is just a murderous duoche, but he does a great job at making you despise him, but Eden makes me despise the main character for his weakness, stupidty, and complete lack of growth. actually most of the allies stay the one note characters throughout the game.

Its like the battles won or lost, or training time spent did little to harden them. Putting that aside. I wish the devs would have put a little extra time into giving the illusion of choice.

for example, you could have simply gave the player the choice to rebel against B at hullisberg, which would still eventually lead them to where they end up, but you would feel like you made the decision to be there. Or let the player decide wether they want to entreat the nobles for there aid, making the next battle different if you do or dont. Easy ways to make the player feel like they are making the decision, and still leading them down the story beats.

I disagree that Eden doesn't have character growth and I don't think he's stupid either. He isn't as ruthless as Klara or Balastar but the Eden demonstrates on multiple occasions that he is clever enough to be dangerous, and smart enough to take advice from people wiser than he is.

There are two big themes between Balastar and Eden throughout the game, trust and compassion. Balastar is a paranoid loon who is implied to steamroll over any objections anyone has of him, and while he demonstrably cares about his people he doesn't hesitate much to sacrifice them if it means getting revenge. Low trust, low compassion. Eden by contrast has an excess of both at the beginning of the game, and while there is potential for that to change by the end, most players will likely see Eden kept largely on the high road by people he trusts enough to listen to. Eden's compassion is what allows him to win in the end because unlike Balastar and Klara Eden is a leader rather than tyrant. While Balastar's camp shrinks even as he "wins" against Eden, Eden's camp and pool of allies struggles but ultimately grows in strength and unity of purpose.

Klara might be right, that they could have beaten Balastar by attacking him hard and fast right of the gate, but personally I think that mindset has more to do with her own grudge and less to do with reality. Plus doing so would likely require being just as ruthless as Balastar, which is not something Eden is willing to do.

Lastly, Eden is clever. He thinks like a mercenary rather than a soldier, and he thinks like a politician rather than a general. Where Balastar and Klara smash through problems with varying degrees of finesse, Eden's greatest victories are usually won with words and performances rather than direct violence. And he relies on Albrecht, Gilbert, and Klara when that violence does turn out to be the only path forward. Also, on the subject of cowardice. George Washington in the American Revolution had a mixed combat record, but was renown for reliably extricating himself and his army from horrible situations and continuing to fight the British. The well-ordered retreat was arguably his most renown characteristic as a general. That and his ability to keep his army in the field without surrendering or giving up is what made him the ideal general in that circumstance. Eden has some similarities in this regard.