#✧ about luceus.

[rottenfantasy]

tag dump 6/6

[fantasycorrupted-a]

open rp

“What, did you know ’em? Well, they are dead now.” Their blood may not be on Luceus, yet the authority in his voice hints that even if he doesn’t have anything to do with their death, he certainly knows more about it than he should. And he does have a lot to do with it.

“Sorry about that. If you are accepting apologies, that is.” He might sound arrogant, corrupt, insane. But he isn’t a liar. “I have an explanation if you care to listen.” And if not, he will let them do and say whatever comes to mind. That would only be fair, wouldn’t it?

[winxixia]

Sketch of Luceus from Dragon Quest Heroes for a fic illustration cover

What is he thinking about?

[redemptioninchaos]

"Alright, ma'am. I've done as you've asked."

"You planted the explosive?... Good. Get back here."

"Yes, ma'am."

Colette would only notice the casually-dressed man with his headphones after she had gotten into her car - but it would be undeniable he had something to do with the explosion that took place a few seconds later. The parking lot where her car was was empty, Colette and her car aside. At least for now.

When Luceus flew towards her and her car, the last thing he expected was an explosion to happen. He did not freak out to hell and back; something told him Colette would manage to get out of this alive. But her car... He liked it a lot, and he knew she did, too. Oh she would be so pissed. And whoever the guy with the headphones was that he had seen leaving, he was knee-deep in trouble now. Luceus had overheard the stranger's conversation; this ma'am the man had talked to (he was far away but Luceus could hear him just fine) was probably his boss. Someone wanted to do Colette dirty. But who? Luceus frowned, thinking. No fucking way, ugh. Didn't we kill that weird fish guy? From back then, his opinion of Fíann had improved. But the same could not be said about Merrick...

Colette's BMW M850 prioritized speed, style, and luxury above everything else. It required more meticulous maintenance than what Colette actually gave it, but ever since she imported it from Philly, it hadn't had any issues.

Luceus and his brothers could fly. Heck, even Aurora could fly. Colette, despite having ties to an ancient wyvern spirit, couldn't fly, but her car was fast enough that it didn't matter.

Having been lulled into a false sense of security, Colette forgot to place any defensive runes on her car the one time, and it was the one time that led to disastrous results.

The car jumped up with the explosion, the sound enough to blow out car and building windows nearby and setting off car alarms. The doors blew clean off, four hunks of metal clanging onto the asphalt unceremoniously.

Shockingly, she step out of the car and the flames, only a few scorch marks on her clothes. She was otherwise fine, no signs of injury throughout her body; even her hair was unscathed. Her shoulders tensed up as she breathed heavily, her eyes glowing orange.

She could sense Luceus flying towards her, and she let out a bloodcurdling, two-toned scream, her own voice mixed with that of a primal chaos goddess as she turned towards him.

"WHO DID THIS?!"

[general-kalani]

{ @fantasycorrupted sent in; “Enemies can’t break your spirit, only friends can.” (Luceus)

Prompt from here! }

"And yet friends is something I find very limited on, so enemies can break my spirit very well at the moment... You must be a brother of that man Joseph was talking about. I am John, a brother of Joseph's. Wonderful meeting your acquaintance on this fine day, hm?"

[balkanmermaid]

Celestial II (1)

Summary: Starting with Luceus, each of the eight Corbeau brothers has a conversation with his demon and feels that another fight is nigh... and an old flame of Luceus’s is back in the game.

Hey, wake up. The neighbours are making steak. You’re gonna wanna be up for this. After a week full of driving sick folks to the hospital, working out and training, doing paperwork, reading reports and checking the trucks and the office in case a little change or repair is needed, I realise I can finally have my day off. And though I wish it could have been me giving the kids from the close high school a tour around the station, as I love talking with people, I’m glad I can just sleep.

I turn around, face burying itself back into the pillow. I’ll have to get up eventually. And I don’t wanna... It’s Saturday. There’s nothing that needs urgent attention - not today. Like every other weekend, I’m going to text Stef and Kam, meet up with them and do something fun. Go to therapy again, deal with the crap that Celestial pulled us all in. Lie in bed and be a couch potato. Try not to feel lonely as hell. Work out for a few hours again.

Make a latte. Have a stroll outside.

Just your usual weekend activities…

Oi! I’m hungry! You have to get up and eat! Lucifer complains inside my head with a growl.

Sigh. This feels like I’m looking after Stef or Kam… only, at least I can play with them, too.

And Lucifer is a wild card. I can only hope he isn’t going to trash my apartment next.

“Y’know, the only reason you’re still around is because I haven’t bothered to get rid of you.” I give up and get out of bed, scowling at the bright light streaming from between the curtains. My bed is very close to a pair of windows, so I often get woken up by the sun. “And I could do it. I could have gotten that done right after the battle.” Once in the kitchen, I throw on a fuzzy robe over my pyjamas and get to making coffee. Lucifer, oddly patient, waits for me to finish. “But I chose not to. I got a feeling we could help each other out, you know - you and I. I’ve noticed I care more about me with you around.”

Heh. You’re saying that just to get in my good cards, ain’t’cha, Lu? You know I ain’t hungry for food. I wanna fight! You got so much done yesterday! I wanna feel the way I did then!

“There was a minor fire that had to be extinguished yesterday.” I feel my eyes rolling into the back of my head. The neighbours might be making steak, but until I finish the steaming cup of coffee I’ve just picked up, there will only ever be pancakes from me. I don’t feel ready to make anything more substantial yet. I’m not that hungry. And remembering the fire makes me even less hungry.

“I can stick to my workout routine today as usual. Unless someone calls in to ask for us to get their cat off a tree, or someone gets stuck somewhere and needs help. We had a car stuck in a ditch to help with recently, not too long ago. But it’s the weekend now. Sit back and chill, Luci. We’ve earned it.”

The demon groans. Did you hear a word I said? I’m hungry! And if you don’t get me somewhere to feed on excitement, I’m gonna start feeding on actual food. And I don’t think you’d like that, Luceus.

For hell’s sake. Sometimes I wish I could send him back to hell, or wherever he came from. When I start talking with Lucifer, only I can hear him - everyone else says they can only hear hissing, as if I’m talking to a pet snake. Now, Luci knows when it’s a good time for a talk, and when he’d just get me - and himself - in trouble. “I didn’t ask to be paired up with you, you dipshit.” Just shut up already. I decide to add some whipped cream, chocolate syrup and fruit to the pancakes I’ve decided to settle on in the end. Staring at the inside of the fridge seems to have brought me ideas.

Time for something sweet. I don’t know how to relax properly; I have never known that. But just this once, a few pancakes and lying around in bed for a few hours won’t hurt my workouts.

Mmm, this tastes fantastic.

“Really?” Whenever Lucifer is acting nice, he is either about to bribe me into doing something I’m not going to like, or he’s trying to make up for the times he has taken over my body to wreak havoc. And while I firmly believe that therapy will do me better than a thousand apologies from a demon - from a monster - I can’t hold back the pleasant feeling.

“I’m glad. But I wanna know something.”

Sup?

“Who cooks better, Kamael or me?”

This is a trick question. Our brother is a chef de partie, and an exceptionally good one, too. Each of us has their own favourite food, and although we aren’t the picky type, which I know Kam is secretly grateful for, we have dishes aside from these favourites that we have learned to perfection. I’m nowhere near as good at cooking as Kamael is. For example, I have no idea how I’d cook shrimp, or what I’d serve it with, let alone what wine it could go well with. And he’s all about that.

And not just that. Kamael is a master of desserts, and any homemade lunches and dinners taste like he has made them for customers at work even when he’s cooking for us, for people known for their tolerance for any kind of food, even grub put together hastily from a week’s worth of leftovers. Unlike him, I’m far less resourceful. Then again, I can eat anything and sleep anywhere. All of us have got used to managing stressful situations, but for me, it became a must. Kamael and I are just different.

You know what I’ll say. I don’t, really, but I let Lucifer speak. I can notice him taking over me when he does, skin becoming golden, eyes flashing yellow - the changes reflect in the kitchen window. You’re made differently. You know it, and you thought about it just now. But he’s the chef, not you.

I’m about to try and come up with a witty retort - but it doesn’t look like Luci is going to let me. This ain’t a competition, Luceus. Your mom doesn’t have a favourite son. You’re all good enough. Stop fighting about it. If only he could understand me. But I shan’t ask too much of him. He’s a demon. And demons work in ways that humans don’t, and vice versa. It’s likely I’ll never wrap my head around the reasons why he likes to fight and destroy so much when I just want to relax.

I lean back in the kitchen chair and adjust the pillow behind my back. He’s right. I made nice pancakes. And they go especially well with my coffee. They even match the yellow kitchen.

Ha.

“Rich, coming from you,” I snort. “When God said that to you, you started a riot, a battle, and ended up getting thrown out of heaven. And don’t tell me you don’t remember. You’re not human.”

We’re the only ones with such notoriously bad memory - and not all of us forget so easily. Hah! You keep forgetting that’s only half of my memories, dearie. The demon laughs quietly. I was made in a laboratory, remember? I have knowledge of all that you humans wrote down in that so-called Bible of yours. But that’s not all. I was made in that laboratory where you first met me. He smirks. I also know how they made me. With the help of the Holy particle - the Holy genes.

Research that peoples like our family contributed to, agreeing to allow our grandfather to use them in his twisted little experiment. Research that turned into torture, into greed, into a thirst for blood.

“Are you happy you made me remember that shit all over again, right after you made me feel just a little better about it all?” The only thing stopping me from throwing the plate on the floor and breaking it is the fact that there’s one last piece of pancake lying in it. I finish it and drink the last coffee, stretching my legs under the table from my seat to the opposite one. I should go for a walk.

I’m not. I… I know you don’t like thinking about this. But it also explains a lot. You can’t just… erase it from your memory. As painful as it is. You can’t run from your past, Luceus. It doesn’t make you any less you. It’s only scarred you. Everyone bears their sins and mistakes. And you do, too.

Is that supposed to make me feel better? In its own weird ways, I think it does, and the more I go over Lucifer’s words in my head while he’s quiet, the more I find myself accepting them - even if it’ll take me a while to truly agree with them.

“What more do you want to eat, then? Should I just… go to K and ask him to throw a feast for ya?” No! I told you! I want you to… well, if he makes some mean fried chicken, I can consider that.

“Heh. I’ll take that as a yes, then.”

It almost feels like we’re teasing each other like a pair of boyfriends skirting around their attraction for each other. Oh boy. If I were to date this demon… I get up to put away the plate and the cup from breakfast, loading the dishwasher, and laugh to myself, shaking my head. How would that work?

Yeah, I think that if I were to date Lucifer, I would be doing exactly what I’m doing right now. Quarrelling over more or less important things and trying to stand my ground, waiting to see who of us will turn out right in the end, who will have to say sorry. If anyone. I wouldn’t want it to be me.

However, I realise as I sit down on the sofa in front of the TV and lift my legs, lying back down and stretching across it like a lazy, sleepy cat, not even a little part of me would mind that.

Luci is much more fun when he isn’t angry and doesn’t want to destroy everything he comes across.

And, for the record, I don’t think I’ve seen him calm these days, either.

Perhaps it’s time to try and…

Get a girlfriend, loser. The demon breaks my train of thought. I’m too old for this shit.

I need a double take to let his words sink in. “Wait, what?” What the hell. I’ve forgotten he hears my thoughts in his head like they are a radio, or a TV with the volume lowered enough for it to be nothing but background noise. When he thinks, it works the same way for me. It’s weird, but it’s how it works.

You heard me, Luce. I care about your ass a lot, and you know it - I mean, it’s a good-looking ass. Hold on a hot minute, did Lucifer just flirt with me?? But I ain’t sure I’m in your league, or whether you’re in mine, or not. Though… I do think I know what you could use.

“If you’re gonna suggest that I go out with my friends more often, I’ll tell you what, we already do that. Have you and their demons been hanging out, too, while we do?” Though we have all figured out our demons to an extent, we’re sure that all we know about them isn’t all there is to know about them.

Who knows? They could be planning world domination behind our backs, looking for the right moment… Or maybe they’ve already taken over the world, in ways different from what we expect. 

Lucifer rolls his eyes, using mine, and his reflection looks about as done with me as I’m usually done with him when he complains he’s bored or hungry or feeling like going on a murder spree. Get a girlfriend, loser. I want someone to cuddle up with us and keep us warm at night, someone to wake up to and go visit kids on Halloween pretending we’re an actual demon and not… whatever we have.

“Are you ashamed of what we have?” I gasp dramatically and put a hand on my chest, mocking shock. “I thought you cared about me, Luci! I thought we were friends! What are you saying?” 

Friends? Just friends don’t care about each other like we do, dumbass. Lucifer makes a purr-like sound. When I said get a girlfriend, I meant get a damn girlfriend. She’ll be for us. Actually…

I prick my ears, but the demon slowly stops talking, leaving me all alone with my thoughts again.

She’s coming for a visit very, very soon. You’ll remember her. She’s loved you ever since she left that loser Adam for dead. Samael’s ex-wife. I also dated her before she disappeared without a trace.

Though Lucifer’s voice falls quieter and quieter, I manage to gather one thing.

Lilith.

She’s back.

[lunarsanctuary]

hey guys here's the toyhouse page of the oc i've made that i think about the most. sorry for not posting art of her

luceus jumpscare

[the-expatriate]

🌺 to hear what my muse likes about yours (for Kamael and/or Luceus; Pari can decide!)

"I know Kamael more than Luceus. He's nice. A genuinely nice person but MY GOD HE'S BEEN THROUGH SOME SHIT."

[pvremichigan]

∞ (for Luceus) //though I know what she'd say-

If I Think They Are: Ugly || Plain || Alright || Cute || Freaking Adorable || Pretty || Beautiful || Hot || Stunning 

"Bro looks like if Thor liked long walks on the beach. Why would- WHY WOULD A FUCKING BLONDE SEND ONE OF THESE IN?!"

If I Would Go On A Date With Them: Not even if we were the last two one earth || No || Maybe || Eh….Sure || Yes || WILL YOU MARRY ME

"DUDE'S GOT DEMONS. NOT JUST NORMAL SHIT, ACTUAL DEMONS. I DON'T TRUST LIKE THAT."

If I Trust Them: Not At All || Not Really || Kind of || Yes || With My Life

"DID I STUTTER ABOUT THE DEMONS?! Besides, he's really fuckin' awkward. Too plain too."

If I Care About Them: Not At All || Not Really || Kind of || Yes || Deeply

"Not in the slightest, I met the guy maybe once or twice. If his name wasn't attached to this ask, I wouldn't even know it. I barely know who the fuck he is as it stands."

If I Would Sleep With Them: Not Enough Alcohol in the World || No || Maybe if I were wasted || Maybe || Eh…Sure || Yes || TAKE YOUR CLOTHES OFF NOW! 

"Blonde. Demons. Boring. NEXT."

My Comfort Level With Your Muse: Keep a Distance || Okay You Can Stand There, But Don’t Touch Me || Let’s Get Coffee and Talk || Let’s Cuddle || I Can Change In Front of You || Let’s Take a Bath Together

"I won't hesitate to exorcise the fuck outta that thing."

If I See You As: A Stranger || An Acquaintance || A Friend || A Close Friend || My Best Friend || A Crush || The Love of My Life

"Never once did I want to befriend Pothead Single Divorced Dad Thor and never will I want to befriend Pothead Single Divorced Dad Thor."

[cxlestialbeings-a]

So I haven't posted headcanons on here much, I guess today's the day.

This first related post will be with a bit of everything.

* * *

The brothers all look quite different, but are very alike in some aspects.

Only one of them, Stefan, actually does writing for a living. However all of them like to sometimes compose poetry, and will often try to write for their beloved. And Azrael and their mother love to read their poetry.

Stefan also has the prettiest handwriting. The exact opposite is known about Lyle, though. As he spends nearly all of his time among computers and smartphones, Lyle has entirely taken to texting people, uses a digital signature, and does everything online - as long as that's possible.

As he doesn't have much time between his work and the gym he goes to after, Lyle orders takeaway most often. The Corbeau brothers share a little secret - they all like to order their food... that's right, from their brother Kamael, who cooks best.

In thanks, they all do other things for them, and for each other. Lyle helps with everyone's devices, Marion - with any translations or anything related to languages they might need, Aster helps with ideas about design and decoration and shoots videos for products, Luceus looks after everyone and keeps up with how they are and distributes medicines, Stefan helps with organisation, and Kamael sends everyone food.

Azrael loves to collect books, much more than anyone else among the angels. So much so that some of the world's rarest books can be found in his collection - or at least the first copies made of those books.

Aside from cooking and writing haiku, Kamael is also good at making jewelry, keychains, and buttons from clay or wood, and small figurines, as well as other little objects, which the brothers like to use.

Although he hates telling lies, Stefan has often had to tell some, or make things up, so that he gets his brothers out of trouble. He also came up with a secret language he and his brothers started using to communicate when they were all in highschool. It was based off of Latin. The eight guys still often use it in their group chat.

Though he has hurt a lot of his brothers during his fights with them while possessed, Luceus has also saved a lot of them as well. After he would manage to gain control over his body after the demon would finally release it, he would run to the others and tend to their wounds. As a firefighter, he had to pick up a course on first aid and pass the exams, so he learned a lot of ways to help and save people - and he has used a lot of them.

Eventually all the demonic brothers forced the demons who possessed them to strike a deal with them. The demons were to promise they were going to try their best to stay away from hurting other humans, including the one they were possessing. The demons had to agree, begrudgingly, knowing that while the brothers couldn't destroy them, they could still very much cripple them. With time, all the brothers got used to their demons and even befriended them, and the demons stopped messing around with their lives so much.

All the brothers have developed several phobias while they were young. They all became scared of things such as syringes, needles, small spaces, darkness, and, partly, of older people. They have improved severely after deciding to go on therapy. Their fears only reappear when they get flashbacks, or they have to interact with the aforementioned objects. They have made sure their lives avoid those without causing anyone inconveniences.

While in captivity, the Corbeaus started to lose their sanity. They remained locked up for so long some days, with no food or water and being forced to fight until they fainted with exhaustion, that at some point they started wanting to hurt themselves or take their own lives. In some places, their bodies still bear the scars they inflicted themselves during their childhood.

[enbyboiwonder]

"Have you seen Terry?  I’m about to go down and I thought he might like to come along, but I can’t for the life of me find him anywhere.”

Terry/Luceus | rating: G | words: 550 | pre-slash; cat transformation (though both are mainly implied)

a place to fly and a place to land

Luceus turns the page of the book he's reading, hand dropping to softly stroke the head of the snow-white cat sleeping on his chest.  There's a flash of red out of the corner of his eye, and, letting the book tip back into his lap, he looks up to see Aurora seemingly on a search mission out in the hallway.  She catches his eyes and stalks over to stand inside his doorway, brows drawn and hands on her hips.

"Have you seen Terry?" she asks, peering around the door as if the swordsman might be hiding somewhere in Luceus' quarters.  "I'm about to go down and I thought he might like to come along, but I can't for the life of me find him anywhere."

[continue on AO3]

[fantasycorrupted-a]

one bastard demon man nobody asked for Luceus why are you like this

[winxixia]

Tagged by @captainbobbin (thank you for encouraging me to share my fics lol)

Rules: list the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern!

What About US

Erdrea was a happy and peaceful place.

Masquerade

Laughter and chatters filled the buzzling castle of Heliodor as the guests slowly entered the place for the first day of the Masquerade celebrating the coronation of Queen Jade.

Echoes of an elusive age

“Hendrik... You don't have to do that...”

Under the mistletoe

Castle of Heliodor, in the middle of winter. The Luminary’s Eve was almost there, and the people of Erdrea were making preparations to celebrate the birth of the Luminary Erdwin a thousand years ago.

What knighthood means

It all happened so quickly. One day he was plotting Hendrik’s demise through bringing doom over Erdrea as Mordegon’s right arm, the next he was defeated at the Tree of Life and almost executed by his master so the demon could save face. In just one day, Jasper lost everything.

The temple in the woods

An ancient temple had been discovered near Phnom Nohn, in the middle of the ruins. It was found by a traveller who fell through a hole in the main room.

Sun Wars

Eleven was panting as he slid behind a small sand dune. He held his weapon fast, his knuckles turning white as he gritted his teeth. This was hell. Jade, Grandpa Rab… They had fallen first in the hands of their enemies.

The best gift

“Mh… What would she like? Now that I think about it, we never talked about this matter…”

Hand to hold on to

He was a small thing, like a discarded bundle thrown on the bed, save for the slight shaking and the hoarse sobs escaping his tight throat.

Hello, Mother

It was a windy day.

As I expected, most of my stories start with a bit of context. If you've been following me for a while, it won't be a big revelation to you if I say these are mostly Henjasp stories haha! Only "Sun Wars" doesn't depict them as a couple, and the best gift is about Luceus & Aurora from the Heroes spinoff. The context is mostly "it's act 3 but Jasper somehow survives" though I won't say more hehe. I think I should try and start my stories in the middle of action more often, that'd be more engaging than just a wall of text before the story even begins.

Feel free to do this with your own fics and tag me so I can see it! But still I'll be tagging my buddies @sarunohadaki and @daovihi because they're awesome writers! <3

[redemptioninchaos]

Things had been crazy with the Corbeaus the last few weeks. One of the family friends, a lady named Hella, was dating a tiefling who seemed to have come straight out of a medieval fantasy world. Said tiefling apparently squared off against a demonic ancestor, the fight so large-scale that it traversed space and time.

Ajax had won the fight, and apparently it freed other demon-like creatures from the ancestor's control. His mother had become a succubus, but after the ancestor's death she could feed like a normal person. Ajax, having taken oaths of paladinship, was suspicious of her, first doubting that Aurora had any good intentions, then doubting that it was really his mom.

The conflict was resolved peacefully, however, and it led to a tearful reunion for mother and son. Since Ajax inadvertently rescued Aurora, she was able to return to her passion: cooking.

Luceus's brother, Kamael, had a thing for cooking as well, so he approached her one night to ask her about a recipe she'd made. Aurora's cooking was great even before she was a succubus, but her transformation had awakened magical abilities that enhanced her cooking drastically. It seemed that she didn't even have to use her demonic wiles to charm men, just her cooking.

Once Kamael approached Aurora as she was cleaning some cooking utensils at the end of a family dinner, Colette looked to Luceus and said, "An angel and a demon sharing a kitchen. Guess it's not as novel for you as it is for me, but..." Then, her eyes flashed orange as a mischievous idea came to her mind. “Watch this.” 

She casually walked towards Kamael and Aurora, bumping into him so that he’d in turn bump into the succubus, then walking away as if she wasn’t responsible. 

@fantasycorrupted

[eliaspsuedo]

Fire Emblem Warriors thoughts

12-16 hours, DONE! At least with story mode, I still have history mode and all the unlockable characters to get through.

I’m sure the main Dynasty Warriors games are good. They should be if companies keep making spin-offs based on them, but my general thoughts on these Dynasty Warriors spin-offs is that they’re fun diversions but they get repetitive without any decent hook, either in the story or gameplay. I played Dynasty Warriors Gundam 1 back when I was young and Dragon Quest Heroes in preparation for this game. From what I remember of DW Gundam, it’s that I liked it for the first few hours till it got stale, but I’ll always remember the original mode. The interactions (always loved seeing the Zechs, Puru, and Domon), the scenarios, and it was the first time I saw stuff like G Gundam and most early-UC shows. Dragon Quest Heroes is one I really enjoyed for the gameplay and bits and pieces of character interaction. It felt a tower defense game, where you get medals to summon monsters as your sentry, it really livened up the combat. Lastly, because I was more familiar with DQ, I got to understand all the fanservice, references, and the joy seeing my favorite DQ characters interact with each other. So, now that is the context of where I’m coming from in terms of DW games is clear, what did I think of FE Warriors?

First up is the negatives of the game.

Story mode was pretty bare-bones, which I expected but I was hoping for a little more flavoring in what little meat I got. The plot was pretty average: Young Lords, Chaos Dragon, obvious betrayal, etc. all that stuff you’d see in a FE game, but what really made the whole story come out as “meager” for me, was the lack of cross-game interaction and involvement in the main plot. There are brief bits of cross-game interaction, like Lissa talking to Oboro or Camilla praising Robin, but they’re brief and there’s little impact on the plot. This is important because this is a chance to either flesh out the characters out of their element or give us a pair that we’d never thought about, but now we want to see more. I go back to the Zechs, Puru, and Domon group from DW Gundam. They were all from different series, had different alignments, and completely different personalities, but seeing them work together, and even get out of their comfort zone by acting out of character really made them stand-out.

But what about the Supports? That’s a problem, cause by relegating the fun and interesting interactions there the player will miss out and the story will suffer. You have to work to get them, which is harder since maps last longer, rates feels slower, and for all that hard work you get 3 minutes of character portraits talking to each other. It’s ok in regular FE because there’s more opportunities to raise levels, you get more talk, and it mostly helps side characters. Let me put it this way, would you rather see Frederick fix Leo’s collar in a text box and read about it, or fully animated while you’re in the game?

The characters in Warriors are should be an ensemble, meaning their skills, personalities, and talents are equally spread out and given a proper time to shine. This is not helped by what keeps the characters we want to see together, the main characters. My friend who only plays FE Heroes, likes Dynasty Warriors, and doesn’t like Rowan character design, helped me put it into words: “They feel like discount Sharena and Alfonse.” I agree with that, cause there’s not much to Rowan and Lianna. Aside from what they are (twins, royals of the kingdom, etc.), who they are is lost on me. Rowan gets off better, cause he has aspirations and liking to knights, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are pretty much there. Since a large chunk of the plot is about them, we got less time to get a feel out of the Heroes.

Going to DQ Heroes, I got more fun out of Luceus and Aurora, the male and female characters of that game. Now, Luceus thing was he prattled on complicated battle strategies (something I wish Robin did in the game) and took an analytical look, and Aurora was his foil that summed up his plan and just attacked and did what she felt was needed. What made them so fun to watch was how we saw those interactions during a supposedly tense moment, and it lightens up the mood and brings up the energy for hack and slash.

Another thing, voices are repetitive, especially in menus.

I saw a piece of trivia on how Rowan and Lianna were made sword users to help with the tutorials. I can see why they did it, but I have a better idea: how about making them wield all the different weapons? It lessens the oversaturation of sword users, it really make them feel like our avatar, and allows some variety in the animations. Though rigging up 5 different weapon animations seems like a hassle…

The last big negative is how many characters have little to do. This is most apparent with Marth’s group as, aside from some scenes including one with Darios, they really don’t do much in terms of the plot. In fact, now that I think about it, even the other groups don’t much to do either. The most I remember is moral support and speeches, but for active and direct actions? Not much. Takumi disarming Darios, the Shepherds teaching the group, Sakura finding a cure for Rowan, snapping Corrin out, and the Gleamstones, those all are out of the top of my head. I’m glad Celica and Lyn aren’t in Story mode cause they’d have even less to do! I doubt adding more character from the other FE games would help. With a plot this thin, I doubt we’d see more of, say, Ike that we’d see of any other character. I guess if you want to see the older cast, that’s what FE Heroes is for.

There definitely could’ve been more to the story. At best, it’s ok. I think the problem was the story was too serious. In the above DW spinoffs, while it had dramatic moments, there was a lighter or fun tone in all of them. Cause you’re reveling in all the carnage, fanservice, and characters. The story of Warriors didn’t feel like that, it just felt like another cut-out FE story, and that’s sad. If it joked around for more scenes (one or two scenes of Owain and Niles don’t count), maybe the bland story would’ve been more forgivable.

So that means I hated FE Warriors, right? NOPE

It actually surpassed my expectations!

A big part of that is the gameplay. With the added FE elements, it manages to turn the rather repetitive combat into a tactical action RPG. First, the weapon triangle means you have to think who engages what. You defeat enemies faster and easier when you have the advantage, and vice-versa. This means team composition is crucial, giving you some thought in who you pick. Do you add archers cause there are fliers? Do you add mages cause there are dragons? Can I deal with being at a disadvantage? Combine this with the second: Commanding units, and you got something just like a FE game. During gameplay you can command your units to attack certain enemies or defend forts. You cannot ignore this and power through, you have to manage your units to efficiently win. This means you have to constantly go to the map and give orders, lest you have the AI dilly-dally, and pay attention who’s attacking what. For example, Takumi is guarding that fort, so I’ll order Corrin to kill him but not let Camilla go anywhere near him since he’ll shoot her down (Fun Fact: I did defeat Takumi with Camilla). Add to the fact the AI, which can handle themselves competently (though you do have to wrestle with it a lot), takes a while to defeat enemies, then you really have to do a lot of the work with your 4 playable characters to get the job done. This leads to a very engaging and frantic juggling act, and makes the core gameplay really solid.

Next, the pair up system was a really useful feature. You pair up two units and that unit will be your sword and shield. It adds another layer of strategy to your fight since now you can swap between a sword and a lance user to easily adapt to the situation. It comes at a cost though, as it cuts your commandable units. So that’s another thing to consider, losing a possible defender. Plus, the dual guard makes attacks not hit you and it is a life saver when you’re completing Anna missions that require you to not get hit.

The maps were also impressive. Taking advantage of fliers ability to, well, fly as well as using Dragonveins to improve the map for you units. It’s a really nice touch. There weren’t too many spaces without enemies, so there’s always something to do.

Let’s talk technical, because on the Switch it’s amazing. A steady framerate while docked (you can pick between 30 or 60 FPS), and undocked it works just as well. Especially with local co-op. I was impressed on how it ran undocked with two players. A little choppier, but it remains consistent and having a buddy around enhances the tactical edge, since you have to coordinate your actions.

History Mode was another thing I like. I haven’t completed it since I’m underleveled, but I am enjoying it more than Story Mode. On a FE map (complete with sprites), you select enemies like they’re missions and defeating certain enemies expands your area. The challenge here is to get S-Ranks to get Master Seals and other good stuff. It’s missions like defeat 500 enemies, or only use magic users, is varied enough to keep me interested, and there’s some story bits in it that seems interesting. Female Robin makes an appearance in the Awakening map, with Male Robin and Chrom watching in astonishment, it’s an interesting angle to say the least.

Finally, it’s the polish. The stunning animation, how it runs, how good the cutscenes look, and just how it feels like Fire Emblem. I had the same feeling with FE Heroes. Different format, same series, wonderful feel.

So in the end, I wasn’t expecting much, but I got more than what I asked and I definitely recommend it. Now I’ll just wait for my beautiful wife, and hope the next FE game on the Switch comes soon!

Now, let’s do the odyssey~

[8bitsupervillain]

Dragon Quest Heroes -thoughts and so on.

Recently I've been playing Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below. It's a pretty decent game, it's a Musou game so if you've played any of the Warriors games (Dynasty, Samurai, Gundam, or its Berserk variants) you'll have some notion of what to expect in terms of gameplay. It is a very solid game, and I did quite enjoy my time with it, I would go so far as to say that this might be one of the best spin-off DQ games out there, but I find it lacking.

It's not terribly complex, almost all the levels and missions are a variation on "kill all the things." Which is fine, simplicity isn't a bad thing, but the game really doesn't do anything to shake it up. Kill all the monsters and progress to the end of the map. Kill all the monsters by killing the big ones that are the mini-boss "mawkeepers." Defend the Yggdrasil root... by killing all the monsters. There are a small number of side-quests that involve you having to kill a certain boss monster in a certain way, but they're the minority, ninety-nine percent of the rest of the game is slaughter all the monsters.

The action itself is pretty good, I like the Musou games and I found this one to be really pleasing to play through. That might be because I'm a big fan of the Dragon Quest games, but I don't think the game gets a free pass because it's wearing the skin of my beloved. If you were to do only the critical path of the game you're looking at a fairly solid thirty hours or so depending on how good you mash those buttons. There are a few missions toward the end of the campaign that grate on my nerves, and they are all invariably the missions where you have to keep the monsters from destroying a stationary target while running around the map. Normally this won't be a problem, but in the end game it becomes frustrating because of the high-level unique enemies the game starts spawning in addition to the Mawkeepers that open portals that summon more and more monsters as time passes.

Storywise the game is somewhat lacking; during a festival of some sort a man in a dark robe uses magic to turn the normally docile and peaceful monsters of the world into ferocious monsters that attack humans on sight. Surprisingly the game never makes a big deal over the fact that you are having to engage in the wholesale extermination of creatures the main characters and numerous others claim to be friends with. You play as the (either female, or male) captain of the royal guard for the kingdom of Arba; there's not much of a difference between the two captains other than Aurora gets ice-magic, and Luceus gets fire-magic. You're joined by a healslime named Healix who is somehow unaffected by the sudden change in monsterkind, and as the story advances you're joined by characters from previous Dragon Quest games. The story is fine, I suppose, it's not exactly the deepest thing written especially by the rather lax standards held by Dragon Quest as a whole. There's a small, mild attempt at a twist about roughly the half-way mark but it just comes off as so rote and predictable it's not really worth mentioning other than as a "oh yeah" moment.

The story isn't told particularly interestingly, maybe if this had been a proper Dragon Quest it might have been told differently but the story is just kind of poor. Each chapter always seems to breakdown the same way: "We need to go to this part of the kingdom to see how they fare against the monster attacks. Oh no, the town/city/castle/whatever is besieged by monsters. Let's save whoever's in charge. Look it's *insert character from other Dragon Quest here* 'Let me help you against these monsters.' I'm from a different dimension, but I'll help you in this time of need." Repeat five or six times until you unlock every character from Dragon Quest IV-VIII, except Psaro, he's his own sidequest.

For the most part I like the characters they included from the other Dragon Quest games. It makes perfect sense that they didn't include the player characters because they're all more or less blank slates. I can understand the reasoning behind why some characters were chosen but honestly Nera is a waste of a character. She's just so weak and uninteresting that almost anyone would have been a better choice. If you really needed a spellcaster that badly why not Maribel from Dragon Quest VII? (Please note that I am aware that Gabo and Maribel actually made the cut for DQ Heroes 2.) Hell do something really unexpected put in the first recruitable character from Dragon Quest II, that would've been a surprise.

I love the fact that Psaro the Manslayer is quite obviously a DLC character added after the game was done, because he does not contribute to the story one bit. The boss fights in this game are honestly kind of weak, there's a couple that are interesting I liked the fight against the Dragon of Light and Darkling that happens after. The final boss fight was cool, even if it wasn't particularly tough. The one thing I really dislike about this game is the sidequests that are inevitably about collecting a certain amount of whatever alchemy ingredient the quest calls for. The drop rates for these items is pathetically small and you'll often be running a circuit from one end of the map to the other trying to force monsters to spawn just for a very small chance of them dropping the item required. Granted you could also use the mini medals you acquire through the game to buy whatever quest item you need. Even then though you'll find yourself repeating the process, only now for mini medals. I liked Gragworts quests, because that lizard guy is just a delight to interact with, but his quests almost always just boil down to "kill the creatures in X amount of time" but they are pretty easy, and usually worth the effort.

There's not a whole terribly lot to do after you finish the story mode. Each of the characters usually has a small handful of quests you can perform for them to unlock special items that are usually just some equipment that always results in unlocking an alternate costume for that character. Which is nice, even if the costume is just a recolor of their standard outfit. There's only three costumes that do anything significant; if you do Alena's colisseum quest you unlock her DQIV outfit; and if you beat the super-boss Zoma (the final boss of DQIII) you unlock the heroes costume from Dragon Quest III for Luceus and Aurora. It's not much of a reward if I'm being honest, but the Zoma fight is hands down the best fight in the entire game.

I'm actually kind of surprised there weren't more bosses from the other Dragon Quests in this game. Maybe they added in some of the bosses in DQH 2 (I know they added the Dragonlord), but I thought it would've been really neat if you could test your mettle against bosses like Malroth, or Nimzo. They could've made a packaged deal, and after beating Psaro you unlock a fight against Aamon, that would've been really neat!

Overall I quite liked this game, the story is admittedly super weak, and the side quest stuff is quite repetitive after awhile. But I'm glad I played it, hell I sunk 78 hours into hundred percenting the game so I guess it did something right.

I hope that Dragon Quest Heroes 2 fixes some of the issues I had with the original.