monstierider

[monstierider]

My opinion on Maruki, spoilers, obviously

So, finally got my hands on a copy of persona five royal like a month ago, finished it yesterday, because I work five days a week and have two days to play it. Amazing game, amazing characters.

But after going through the third semester...HOW DOES ANYONE THINK MARUKI IS A GENUINELY GOOD PERSON??? Like, I get the whole "he just wants to help people escape their pain" thing, but like...he himself admits before the third semester that it's not exactly the right way to go about things. There's also the way he goes about trying to prove his reality is better by...effectively retraumatising Sumire, someone he already screwed over mentally by making her think she was her dead sister Kasumi. Like, of course she's gonna react terribly to being shown the exact moment of her sisters death again, YOU STOPPED HER FROM ACTUALLY MOURNING IT AND HEALING FROM IT. There's also how unnerving everyone looks in his reality. Ignoring the main cast, I mean the general public, the people you walk past who fade out to keep the screen from getting cluttered, as you get closer to the deadline for Marukis palace they all end up with these horrific smiles I can only compare to the Puppets smile from fnaf, smiles that look like a threat display rather then any form of happiness. There's also the fact he dangles Akechis life in front of Joker and Akechi to try and get them to accept his reality by implying that destroying it will kill Akechi, GOOD PEOPLE DON'T THREATEN ANOTHER PERSONS LIFE TO WIN AN ARGUMENT, and if you fail to secure a path to the treasure he sticks Joker in a permanent coma for all of eternity to "spare him the pain of making a decision".

Maruki fans, please, I am dying to know how you all think he's a good person rather then just one with good intentions, because those two things are VERY different.

[monstierider]

Just finished up my pokemon emerald seaglass playthrough today and this was my team for most of the game, thank the wishing well

We have

Blaze the Blaziken

Gecko the Sceptile

Mucky the Swampert

Blake the Sylveon

Midnight the Weavile

And Bullet the Scizor

Also, I wanna add that I managed to beat Wallace while taking no damaged, which floored me.

[monstierider]

Just played through pokemon too many types and had a blast.

This was my final team, Partner the Lucario, Halberd the Haxorus, Chimera the TYPE:NULL, Setter the Whimsicott, Babs the Gardevoir and Fae the Delphox. It was a chaotic, ridiculous and hilarious experience.

[monstierider]

Whilst the Grima idea is interesting, I'm not sure it'd work given Anri is stated to have fought alone!

Fair point, though it can't be exactly said that Anri did truly fight alone, we know little to nothing about them aside from them being Marths ancestor, having apparently been a commoner and having used Falchion to kill Medeus. Other then that, we're completely blind on all the finer details of his life and everything we do know is what little records remain of his life. So while it is heavily hinted that he fought alone it can't be truly said he did without further evidence.

[monstierider]

Unpopular pokemon opinion

I think the future paradox pokemon are better design wise then the past ones. Now, put away your pitchforks everyone and let me explain myself. I, one, do not take the statements made by thr occulture magazine into account, because that was written by people who looked at Keith's original trip to area zero and discovery of paradox pokemon and thought it was a joke to make money off of. Instead, I look at the designs themselves and the implications behind them. Sure, Fluttermane is a neat design, but realistically it doesn't have much behind it, it's just a bigger, meaner Misdreavus. Sure Roaring Moon is a fun reference to Mega Salamence and the feathers are fun but that's really it, it's not exactly all that unique and it doesn't imply much different between modern Salamence and itself. But the future Paradoxes do imply something through one very small detail almost everyone seems to ignore. These AREN'T the pokemon they're paradoxes of. They're recreations, mechanical approximations of them. So why is it that when Turo pulled for future versions of those pokemon the robotic copies came through. Simply put, the most likely answer is that the pokemon went extinct at some point and that the Future paradoxes were the best attempt humanity had to keep them alive. Even the differences between the designs say something. Iron Bundle and Iron Thorns look almost identical to their bases, implying that even though those pokemon had to be recreated they only went extinct very recently before the creation of the paradoxes. But Iron Valiant and Iron Treads look pretty off from their originals. Sure, they're recognisable but they're really off, implying that they were extinct for a long time, long enough for there to be no reliable enough depictions of the pokemon to exist anymore that Valiant and Treads could have be made to look closer to their bases.

I just think a lot of people fail to recognise that and just go "robots bad and lazy, primal pokemon cool and original" because the past Paradox designs look more active when they're stationary.

[monstierider]

The ramblings of a Gullveig fan, from unserious to serious

The period of time where people thought Gullveig was gonna be Seoirs and Kirans child was hilarious for me cause I kind of figured Gullveig and Seoir were the same once I realised that Seoir is light and Gullveig is time and once you hit the speed of light time gets weird.

Gullveig and Seoirs summer alt is actually really nice, not for "hot waifu" reasons, but because it's one of the only two pieces of official Gullveig art where she's smiling.

Kvasir, Seoir and Gullveig are actually a great way to show character progression because they show the progress of someone who grew up being shaped by a very strict ideal from their parents, the sad, quiet child who just does as they're told, the bubbly, energetic teen who has some deep seated issues and is horrible in social situations and the broken and saddened adult who feels like there's no longer any reason to keep going.

The fact that the only time we see Gullveig smile in the main story is just before her death at Kiran and Seoirs hands absolutely shattered me because it just shows you how deeply broken she'd become by that point that the only way she could smile was when someone was about to kill her.

Gullveigs relationship with Heoir is actually kind of funny and depressing when you realise that, Heoir is actually Seoir and Kirans child, making Gullveig her mother, Heoir and Seoir were raised as siblings, meaning Gullveig would likely view her as a sister and Heoir was born immediately after Kirans death at Gullveigs hands and likely using Kirans soul to create, meaning Heoir is partially Kiran.

[monstierider]

I actually really like Humanoid pokemon

I already know what a lot of people are going to think, but no, I don't like them for those reasons. I like them because they can be really fun to see what the pokemon team does with them. Will they go with a comforting humanoid form, Gardevoir, will they go with a somewhat disquieting one, Froslass, will they go with something that's only vaguely humanoid, Garganacl. There's so many options and I love each of them. Even if I dislike the pokemon, for example I DESPISE Kingambit, I can appreciate the concept, though I wish they gave Bisharp a better evolution rather then one that relies on a dead team and sucker punch to do anything.

I know I'll be seen as weird since most people hate the humanoid pokemon, but I don't care, I love my uncanny valley triggering creatures.

[monstierider]

A rant on why I hate Kingambit despite my love of Bisharp

So, to start this off, I want to preface that my favorite pokemon is Bisharp, I'm weird, I know, sue me, and that I've always loved trying to make Bisharp work. The main issue with Bisharp is its typing and it's stat spread. Dark Steel seems great at first, at sometimes it is, but that four times weakness to fighting is a nightmare to deal with, and every time I wished Bisharp would get an evolution I always wanted something that would let me work around it better, not defensively, but offensively. I always thought a good evolution for Bisharp would be something fast, that hits really hard and has some means to avoid priority attacks but at the cost of much lower defenses. So imagine my joy when I learned that Bisharp was getting an evolution in Scarlet and Violet. I was hyped, I was ready to see Game freak give us a fast, hard hitting dark steel type that'd give the Bisharp line some relevancy that didn't require some major gimmick to happen. So I waited for the evolution to be shown and then....

I see Kingambit, this slow, slower then its pre-evolution, pokemon that ends up trying to be better then Bisharp.....through letting its team die and spamming sucker punch....years of waiting for some cool, imposing, commandereeing pokemon that'd showcase the full potential of the Bisharp line, and instead we get a pokemon that is stated to be lazy, letting its subordinates handle all the work for it, and to be a terrible strategist that just overwhelms with numbers until it either wins or all it's subordinates die.....and my hopes were crushed, literally, the only positive I can think of is that it let's Bisharp run eviolite but that's really not much of a consolation for me.

[monstierider]

Give me your fire emblem head canons, from any fire emblem game, I'll start

Kvasir is actually really good with directions, it's just that as she gets older and becomes more and more of a girlfailure her sense of direction gets worse. By the time she becomes Seoir her sense of direction has become so bad that even becoming a goddess of time later down the line, Gullveig, cannot fix it.

[monstierider]

Thank you for sharing your views on these matters and well I can't quite say I agree, but I do respect them. Once more, I'd like to leave this debate off on a friendly note, and thank you for debating this with me in such a polite and friendly manner, just as it was last time, this was fun, thank you.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who feels like Crimson flower did a terrible job of making Edelgard....not a villain

Like, I feel like IS sort of couldn't find a good way to justify siding with Edelgard to the player beyond liking her as a character and the only way the could sort of doing it was by reducing Rhea to near Duma levels of insane, but even then while I won't condone her actions I can understand why she lost it, from her perspective she just saw someone she allowed into her home, break into the burial site of her dead siblings with the intention of desecrating them and robbing their graves and then watched what is, from her sad, broken perspective, her own mother choose to side with the person trying to take all she has left of her family away from her, I too would lose it under those circumstances. And then there's Edelgard not even being very smart, like, does she really believe her troops would hear "the church has nukes" and not either, question why they only dropped the one on the one location and why only now or just....lose all morale??? And then there's the battle at the Tailtean plains and the good old conversation between Dimitri and Edelgard, "must you continue to conquer?continue to kill?!" "Must you continue to re-conquer? Continue to kill in retaliation?" Like.....it's like even she realises she has no moral high ground over him and is just trying some desperate redirection to not be the villain she knows she is. And also the entire "king of delusion" scene where Dimitri, in his final moments, swears to avenge everyone who died for her, who she killed, to avenge all his fallen friends and family who died because of her and her ambitions and she basically just calls him a nut job.

Like??? Did IS just....give up on trying to make Edelgard look good and just hope that off her fucking rocker Rhea and Edelgards tragic backstory would cover that up???

[monstierider]

It could very well be personal bias that is dictating my views here, but I do feel a bit more lenient towards Edelgards fate in Azure gleam, not cause I think it's a good or fair one, but because it's one that makes sense for what I think they were going for in Azure gleam, which was to depict the overall story of the empire in that route as a tragedy, and the removal of will for probably the most willful and determined of the three Lords is a brilliant way to show that, even if it was executed poorly. That kind of fate is already a fate worse then death, and for Edelgard specifically it's a complete and utterly mockery, a purposeful one to show just how heartless TWISTD actually are.

In regards to Dimitri, I honestly find him the most inspiring of the three leaders, a man who's country is the worst off on almost all fronts, defending off attackers from almost every angle, even within his own kingdom, but still working his hardest to protect his people, ensure his friends survival and to remain kind, but that's purely my personal view of it and you are perfectly entitled to your own opinion on the matter, though I would love to hear your reasons why you find the other leaders more inspiring.

Regarding Claude, correct me if I'm wrong, but during Golden wildfires peace talk scene, I don't think Edelgard actually offers any real evidence against the church to Claude except her word, nor does Claude ask for any. Even accounting for his dislike of the church, the fact he doesn't actually try and get more concrete evidence out of Edelgard feels....off, especially considering that her first move in the war was to attack Leicester just so she could reach the church faster by taking the great bridge. The whole situation just doesn't come off quite right to me.

Also, I honestly found Dimitris willingness to kill Shez if necessary to be a pretty good sign of just how close the two actually are. It's not as if he decided to do it just because "maybe they might be to dangerous", he only even entertained the idea because Shez asked him to do so if they ever lost control of themselves. That was Dimitri putting aside his own desires for the sake of his friend, and he would have only done so if he truly felt it to be a necessity. That decision would tear him apart to make but he's still willing to do so to make sure that Shez doesn't live with the pain of having killed a friend or ally against his own will.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who feels like Crimson flower did a terrible job of making Edelgard....not a villain

Like, I feel like IS sort of couldn't find a good way to justify siding with Edelgard to the player beyond liking her as a character and the only way the could sort of doing it was by reducing Rhea to near Duma levels of insane, but even then while I won't condone her actions I can understand why she lost it, from her perspective she just saw someone she allowed into her home, break into the burial site of her dead siblings with the intention of desecrating them and robbing their graves and then watched what is, from her sad, broken perspective, her own mother choose to side with the person trying to take all she has left of her family away from her, I too would lose it under those circumstances. And then there's Edelgard not even being very smart, like, does she really believe her troops would hear "the church has nukes" and not either, question why they only dropped the one on the one location and why only now or just....lose all morale??? And then there's the battle at the Tailtean plains and the good old conversation between Dimitri and Edelgard, "must you continue to conquer?continue to kill?!" "Must you continue to re-conquer? Continue to kill in retaliation?" Like.....it's like even she realises she has no moral high ground over him and is just trying some desperate redirection to not be the villain she knows she is. And also the entire "king of delusion" scene where Dimitri, in his final moments, swears to avenge everyone who died for her, who she killed, to avenge all his fallen friends and family who died because of her and her ambitions and she basically just calls him a nut job.

Like??? Did IS just....give up on trying to make Edelgard look good and just hope that off her fucking rocker Rhea and Edelgards tragic backstory would cover that up???

[monstierider]

I honestly always saw Edelgards fate as essentially what happens to her if she ever slips off the tight rope her ambitions have set her one, it's a fate worse then death for her as it completely robs her of her will, yet at the same time is realistically the only way Edelgard would be allowed to live should she lose the war, because at that point it isn't even really her, it's a child trapped in her body. It's certainly not a happy fate, but I always viewed it as more of a showing of the true risk she takes going through with her path, in honestly somewhat a similar way to the Hedgemon husk. In one case, if her path is cut short she risks becoming a puppet, in the other case, she risks losing her humanity. Both are meant to show the true danger her path takes her down, as both are fates worse then death that only happen if either her body or her will falter.

In regards to Claude, I did sort of feel he was out of character, but not because he was scheming and conniving, I honestly loved that, but because he just seemed to.....accept everything he was told about the church by Edelgard during that little peace talk. Claude was designed to be a truth seeker in houses yet he never really does that, at all in hopes, and it just made him feel a bit....dumb I guess is the best way I can put it. It's like they couldn't figure out a way for him to be both a schemer and a truth seeker at the same time and just decided to give us one or the other. Also, in regards to the idea of Claude playing the role of villain....I don't think it makes any sense for him, he's shown in every route making the decisions most likely to keep Leicester alive, no matter what, because its the smallest country with the weakest army, his schemes can only carry them so far, if he tried to take on the kingdom and the empire at the same time he'd be crushed.

With Shez, I always viewed Shez in Golden deer as only being there because of Claude, but they don't really seem to happy about it. Hell, first scene we see of them post time skip is Shez threatening to leave because they aren't being payed enough. Their bond never really felt all to strong to me. With Crimson Wildfire I just feel like the relationship between Shez, Edelgard and Hubert were really one sided. Sure, Shez liked them, but a point that gets hammered home over and over again in that route is that Edelgard and Hubert never seem to really trust them, not until after the final battle and you only ever hear a true apology for it from Hubert if you give him your merc whistle, Edelgard just sort if gives a half apology and leaves it. Even after telling Shez they trust them earlier in the story, if you recruit Byleth, during the chapter where Epimenides possess Shez to attack Byleth, they make it seem like they were expecting Shez to betray them the entire time, so it never really felt like an actual relationship to me. With Azure Gleam though, it feels like the only one where Shez both doesn't care about the money he's getting and where he's genuinely trusted. At no point does Shez warn about leaving if they're not payed more, which speaks volumes considering they're a mercenary, a sword for hire, but the blue lions show genuine trust in him the entire way, even Felix shows a genuine degree of trust in them and we all know how Felix can be, even during the Epimenides chapters, the blue lions don't react with any sort of anger or expectation towards the possessed Shez, just confusion and some sense that something must be forcing Shez to attack an ally, because they all trust them enough to know Shez would never willingly betray them, at least that's how I see it.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who feels like Crimson flower did a terrible job of making Edelgard....not a villain

Like, I feel like IS sort of couldn't find a good way to justify siding with Edelgard to the player beyond liking her as a character and the only way the could sort of doing it was by reducing Rhea to near Duma levels of insane, but even then while I won't condone her actions I can understand why she lost it, from her perspective she just saw someone she allowed into her home, break into the burial site of her dead siblings with the intention of desecrating them and robbing their graves and then watched what is, from her sad, broken perspective, her own mother choose to side with the person trying to take all she has left of her family away from her, I too would lose it under those circumstances. And then there's Edelgard not even being very smart, like, does she really believe her troops would hear "the church has nukes" and not either, question why they only dropped the one on the one location and why only now or just....lose all morale??? And then there's the battle at the Tailtean plains and the good old conversation between Dimitri and Edelgard, "must you continue to conquer?continue to kill?!" "Must you continue to re-conquer? Continue to kill in retaliation?" Like.....it's like even she realises she has no moral high ground over him and is just trying some desperate redirection to not be the villain she knows she is. And also the entire "king of delusion" scene where Dimitri, in his final moments, swears to avenge everyone who died for her, who she killed, to avenge all his fallen friends and family who died because of her and her ambitions and she basically just calls him a nut job.

Like??? Did IS just....give up on trying to make Edelgard look good and just hope that off her fucking rocker Rhea and Edelgards tragic backstory would cover that up???

[monstierider]

Honestly, as someone who does love Engage, the lack of any dlc content for hopes still infuriates me a little to this day. I would honestly have taken anything, like, even if they couldn't give us a whole new route, I would have loved a few new paralouges you can play to unlock some new units and the wrap up some loose ends. Also, yeah, my favorite route in Hopes is Azure gleam, I just love the way all the lions bounce off each other and it feels like the only route where Shez really belongs if you ask me, since they seem much less focused on revenge against Byleth, and more focused on what's best for the people they've grown close to, whereas with the other routes they just kinda feel like they're either, there for a paycheck, or there because Hubert would kill them if they weren't, but even I have to admit the second half was kind of rushed, though I do like it actually giving Dimitri proper closure for the tragedy of Dusur by letting him actually fully defeat those who slither in the dark.

Also, I just realised something of a possibility I hadn't considered before, being that those who slither in the dark being Agarthans, doesn't mean that the Agarthans are those who slither in the dark, but just means that TWSITD is something of an extremist group within Agarthan society. I have no evidence to back this up, aside from the existence of Epimenides showing that not all Agarthans are like Thales and his cronies, but I do rather like the idea so I'm just gonna add that to the list of things to think on.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who feels like Crimson flower did a terrible job of making Edelgard....not a villain

Like, I feel like IS sort of couldn't find a good way to justify siding with Edelgard to the player beyond liking her as a character and the only way the could sort of doing it was by reducing Rhea to near Duma levels of insane, but even then while I won't condone her actions I can understand why she lost it, from her perspective she just saw someone she allowed into her home, break into the burial site of her dead siblings with the intention of desecrating them and robbing their graves and then watched what is, from her sad, broken perspective, her own mother choose to side with the person trying to take all she has left of her family away from her, I too would lose it under those circumstances. And then there's Edelgard not even being very smart, like, does she really believe her troops would hear "the church has nukes" and not either, question why they only dropped the one on the one location and why only now or just....lose all morale??? And then there's the battle at the Tailtean plains and the good old conversation between Dimitri and Edelgard, "must you continue to conquer?continue to kill?!" "Must you continue to re-conquer? Continue to kill in retaliation?" Like.....it's like even she realises she has no moral high ground over him and is just trying some desperate redirection to not be the villain she knows she is. And also the entire "king of delusion" scene where Dimitri, in his final moments, swears to avenge everyone who died for her, who she killed, to avenge all his fallen friends and family who died because of her and her ambitions and she basically just calls him a nut job.

Like??? Did IS just....give up on trying to make Edelgard look good and just hope that off her fucking rocker Rhea and Edelgards tragic backstory would cover that up???

[monstierider]

Yeah, it really does feel like hopes was just....left unfinished. What we have is good for the main lords, let's us see them under different circumstances, for better or worse, but for Shez, Arval and Epimenides it's just....disappointingly clear they had more in mind that never got made or at the very least never got released. Like, they clearly had more planned, the unused characters in the files, the voicelines in the gallery for npc only characters, and just Shez's story in general all makes it feel so...unsatisfying. Honestly, the only thing I can think of that might have caused them to have clearly planned the dlc out so much and then just dropped it would have to be the passing of Ferdinands voice actor, may his soul rest in peace, but it doesn't make the fact that we get all these fun details dangled in front of us, just to drop us into that cliff Byleth fell into during the attack on the monastery.

Like, who is Shez's mother? What is Agarthan society like? Are they all similar to Kronya, Solon, Cornelian and Thales, or is the average Agarthan more similar to Epimenides? How did Arval end up with Shez? Did they wind up together on accident? Is Shez some kind of homonculus clone body Epimenides had planned for his return? If so, how did they end up not only getting out of Shambala as, very likely, a baby and getting raised in Fodlan?

So many questions, and the only way we might ever get any answers is through.....fire emblem heroes, and even then, that'll probably only be the case if Shez ever wins CYL.

It sucks so much, because before hopes I didn't care about the Agarthans too much, they were just an evil cult for the sake of having an evil cult. But Epimenides single handedly got me wanting to know more about them.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who feels like Crimson flower did a terrible job of making Edelgard....not a villain

Like, I feel like IS sort of couldn't find a good way to justify siding with Edelgard to the player beyond liking her as a character and the only way the could sort of doing it was by reducing Rhea to near Duma levels of insane, but even then while I won't condone her actions I can understand why she lost it, from her perspective she just saw someone she allowed into her home, break into the burial site of her dead siblings with the intention of desecrating them and robbing their graves and then watched what is, from her sad, broken perspective, her own mother choose to side with the person trying to take all she has left of her family away from her, I too would lose it under those circumstances. And then there's Edelgard not even being very smart, like, does she really believe her troops would hear "the church has nukes" and not either, question why they only dropped the one on the one location and why only now or just....lose all morale??? And then there's the battle at the Tailtean plains and the good old conversation between Dimitri and Edelgard, "must you continue to conquer?continue to kill?!" "Must you continue to re-conquer? Continue to kill in retaliation?" Like.....it's like even she realises she has no moral high ground over him and is just trying some desperate redirection to not be the villain she knows she is. And also the entire "king of delusion" scene where Dimitri, in his final moments, swears to avenge everyone who died for her, who she killed, to avenge all his fallen friends and family who died because of her and her ambitions and she basically just calls him a nut job.

Like??? Did IS just....give up on trying to make Edelgard look good and just hope that off her fucking rocker Rhea and Edelgards tragic backstory would cover that up???

[monstierider]

I will admit, I was unaware of those Abyss dialogues, thank you for bringing them up. In regards to Loogs rebellion I always saw Rhea legitimising it as a way to avoid another Nemesis situation, especially since, if I remember correct, Nemesis and his ten elites were from Northern Fodlan and most of their relics were left there, so I always saw her vassalising Faerghus as more a desperation play. And in regards to her mistrust of humanity, I mean, she's in the wrong for it, but I understand why she has it, the genocide of your entire species isn't going to be something that'll be easy to forgive, no matter how old you get. Also, regarding my point about Edelgard "not caring about those her ambitions leave behind" I was more so referring to the people her actions will just make bitter, since, no matter how hard she tries, the annexation of a country and destruction of its culture, since we know Edelgard is actively seeking an imperial take over, even if for genuinely well meaning reasons, will breed resentment no matter what. That resentment can be mitigated, but it can't be avoided entirely. Life getting better for the common folk will only do so much to make up for the war she started and the complete and utter destruction of people's lives as they knew it.

Actually, regarding Thales, I hope you don't mind me going on a short tangent, but after hopes came out and showed us Epimenides I actually began to view the Agarthans a little differently, not as in, I began seeing them as if they were good people, but rather I saw them as being reflections of the one who holds their reigns. Epimenides after all is pretty much the exact opposite of Thales within Agartha, Thales doesn't give a damn about his subordinates and will happily leave them to die just to save his own skin, Epimenides actively risks his own life to save Nemesis, who he doesn't even like. Thales wouldn't even hesitate to rob someone of their free will, which is not a good thing for Edelgard if Azure gleam is anything to go off of, but Epimenides actively shows remorse for taking Arvals and Shez's bodies and wills from them, and even the game even states that his....core, whatever that means, is to be inherited, not implanted, like it probably is for the other Agarthans, but instead passed down, showing he likely despises such things, hell, he even states in the Arval/Epimenides paralouge in hopes "I know Thales has his methods, but they don't sit right with me". I also find it really interesting that Epimenides, going off his paralouge, is much more of an upfront fighter then an in the shadows schemer, to the point of having fought the imperial army, Seteth/Cichol, Flayn/Cethleann and Rhea/Seiros to a stand still almost entirely on his own, meanwhile Thales....gets smacked around by literally everyone at least once. We also have the fact that Epimenides doesn't seem to hate non-Agarthans like....literally every other named Agarthan, but by his own admission, pities them.

What was the point of this tangent again?.....oh, right, Epimenides was basically the moral backbone of Agartha and once he died it took after Thales instead.

Please feel free to ignore that, that's just me ranting and is entirely unrelated to the main point of this debate.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who feels like Crimson flower did a terrible job of making Edelgard....not a villain

Like, I feel like IS sort of couldn't find a good way to justify siding with Edelgard to the player beyond liking her as a character and the only way the could sort of doing it was by reducing Rhea to near Duma levels of insane, but even then while I won't condone her actions I can understand why she lost it, from her perspective she just saw someone she allowed into her home, break into the burial site of her dead siblings with the intention of desecrating them and robbing their graves and then watched what is, from her sad, broken perspective, her own mother choose to side with the person trying to take all she has left of her family away from her, I too would lose it under those circumstances. And then there's Edelgard not even being very smart, like, does she really believe her troops would hear "the church has nukes" and not either, question why they only dropped the one on the one location and why only now or just....lose all morale??? And then there's the battle at the Tailtean plains and the good old conversation between Dimitri and Edelgard, "must you continue to conquer?continue to kill?!" "Must you continue to re-conquer? Continue to kill in retaliation?" Like.....it's like even she realises she has no moral high ground over him and is just trying some desperate redirection to not be the villain she knows she is. And also the entire "king of delusion" scene where Dimitri, in his final moments, swears to avenge everyone who died for her, who she killed, to avenge all his fallen friends and family who died because of her and her ambitions and she basically just calls him a nut job.

Like??? Did IS just....give up on trying to make Edelgard look good and just hope that off her fucking rocker Rhea and Edelgards tragic backstory would cover that up???

[monstierider]

Honestly, I always viewed Flayn and Seteth being unable to be recruited in crimson flower as them being unwilling to strike down one of the only other Nabateans still alive, especially considering the only other living Nabateans I'm aware of are the windcaller, who is a full on recluse who hates humanity, and...I can't remember his name, but the turtle who just lives at the bottom of a river and only comes up to mess with humans. Rhea's really all they have left, even if they don't agree with her, Flayn less so, but Seteth actually shows a great amount of disdain for Rheas methods, it's just that she's too stubborn and set in her ways to listen to him, he only goes along with it because, well, he's trying to look out for Flayn' safety and views Rheas methods as the only way to make sure she's safe, even if he doesn't like them.

To be honest though, I've always viewed the Fodlan games not as "country versus country", but "Edelgard versus Rhea" because....well, it all starts due to their clashing ambitions, ambitions that can't coexist not because their too different, but because they're so similar. Edelgard wants a world for humanity, but is unwilling to truly learn more about those her world would cast out or to share the burden with others, whereas Rhea wants a world for all people, but has grown far too controlling out of fear of another Those who slither in the dark or Nemesis showing up and is so dead set in her idea that only Sothis can truly guide Fodlan she's sacrificed her own morals and sanity for it, because in truth she's desperate to have someone to tell her she did the right thing even when a cursory glance shows that she didn't, despite the good things she did accomplish.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who feels like Crimson flower did a terrible job of making Edelgard....not a villain

Like, I feel like IS sort of couldn't find a good way to justify siding with Edelgard to the player beyond liking her as a character and the only way the could sort of doing it was by reducing Rhea to near Duma levels of insane, but even then while I won't condone her actions I can understand why she lost it, from her perspective she just saw someone she allowed into her home, break into the burial site of her dead siblings with the intention of desecrating them and robbing their graves and then watched what is, from her sad, broken perspective, her own mother choose to side with the person trying to take all she has left of her family away from her, I too would lose it under those circumstances. And then there's Edelgard not even being very smart, like, does she really believe her troops would hear "the church has nukes" and not either, question why they only dropped the one on the one location and why only now or just....lose all morale??? And then there's the battle at the Tailtean plains and the good old conversation between Dimitri and Edelgard, "must you continue to conquer?continue to kill?!" "Must you continue to re-conquer? Continue to kill in retaliation?" Like.....it's like even she realises she has no moral high ground over him and is just trying some desperate redirection to not be the villain she knows she is. And also the entire "king of delusion" scene where Dimitri, in his final moments, swears to avenge everyone who died for her, who she killed, to avenge all his fallen friends and family who died because of her and her ambitions and she basically just calls him a nut job.

Like??? Did IS just....give up on trying to make Edelgard look good and just hope that off her fucking rocker Rhea and Edelgards tragic backstory would cover that up???

[monstierider]

Personal Kiran head canon

So, I am well aware of how "a day in the life" likes to depict Kiran as kind of a bumbling idiot, which is funny, but consider.

Kiran being that bumbling idiot off duty, when they can afford to be or when doing a tempest trial where everyone's lives aren't at stake, but becoming scarily competent whenever they have to be.

One minute they're acting like an absolute goober, but the minute someone's threatening Askr and the order of heroes they're already getting ready a plan to take them down....until they either get kidnapped because they're still a normal person against....usually gods, or they get taken out of commission by some kind of nearly mortal wound.