#committing war crimes: the game route

[jel-jel-jel]

PSA (Public Salmon Announcement)

For some reason, it seems, everyone thinks that the taller platforms on Gone Fission Hydroplant are where to go during the Salmon Rush wave. THIS IS NOT TRUE. So I've made a quick visual aid to show people where the chokepoint ACTUALLY is, and why it's better. Explanation and Tips under cut.

Image A: When it starts getting dark at the beginning of a wave, it's best to run to Platform C, so you have time to (re)ink the area. Prepare for Glowflies to happen, even if it ends up being fog, or Mothership. It's better to be safe than being covered in Glowflies and scrambling to get to the chokepoint. If you or a coworker aren't at the chokepoint, GET THERE. Spam "This Way!" if you need to.

Image B: Why is Platform C better?? Well, looking at the diagram above, I've shown two possible routes that the line of Salmonids will travel, depending on where the person with the Glowflies is. Salmonids will pour in from two sides of the map. Sometimes the left, sometimes the right, sometimes BOTH sides at the same time. This is why Platform C is more safe to use than Platforms A and B. No matter the direction the Salmonids come from, they will have to approach from the single pathway up to Platform C, making them much easier to deal with. While on Platforms A & B, there are TWO potential pathways that the Salmonids could take to get to you AT THE SAME TIME. Even if they only came from one direction, you would have to guess where they'd come from next. But on Platform C, they will ALWAYS travel to this single pathway. Please use it to your advantage!

Tip A: After a few seconds, the Glowflies will switch to another person on your team (or you), so there's no reason to separate from them. The handy thing about egg throwing, is that you don't need to move from the chokepoint to deposit your eggs. Take a second to refill your ink tank, and continue shooting at Chums and Goldies, giving your coworkers the opportunity to do the same. They will also ignore players that do not have Glowflies on them, so it's safe to have one person depositing eggs while the other three fend off Salmonids. Just don't stray to far in case the Glowflies latch on to you next.

Tip B: A lot of Salmon Run guides advise that, if you are target of Glowflies, that you climb a wall and let the Salmon collect under you, allowing your teammates to easily take care of them. I have to STRONGLY advise against this, however. Firstly, you can't help shoot Salmonids if you're clinging to the wall, meaning they will be splatted a bit more slowly. It's essentially leaving your coworkers one person short. You also can't revive fallen teammates. Secondly, like mentioned before, the Glowflies will move on to someone else in a short amount of time. Having to switch out who gets to sit on the wall wastes time, and can be tricky, depending on where this wall is. It's a risky move, and may separate you from your team too much. And finally, it's just less hassle to use the normal chokepoint. There's no need to try to "cheat" the game, using the chokepoint is already the easiest way to deal with a Salmon Rush. Obviously, do whatever works, but not everyone you play with will want to use this strategy, so it's best just to do what everyone else is doing (which should be using CHOKEPOINT ON PLATFORM C. PLEASE.)

Thank you for reading :) Feel free to tell your friends! And now go commit more war crimes in the squid game

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

i watched a video about how to play three houses without committing war crimes and the person playing said they chose the silver snow route because it's the only route where you can 100% circumvent any warcrimes like setting towns ablaze or attacking while in disguise but they completely overlooked the war crime they imposed which is "siding with people who committed human experimentation" because Rhea and the church has done that. It's technically impossible to play three houses without committing or siding with anyone who committed war crimes.

And I fucking love it. NOBODY in this game is free of sin.

Except the cats <3

[littlekohai77]

Thoughts so far (Ikevil)

🄲🄾🄽🅃🄴🄽🅃 🅆🄰🅁🄽🄸🄽🄶: This is nothing but just a ramble, a bit suggestive, op is clinically insane.

*･ﾟﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*ﾟ:*:✼✿　　✿✼:*ﾟ:.｡..｡.:*･ﾟﾟ･*

Okay so I finally tired out Ikevil and I just wanna say....

I'm in love with William. I have known him for no longer than an hour but I'll commit war crimes for him. Wtf how can someone be so lovely??? How can someone be so captivating that other people become this obsessed with them?

I can't even begin to fathom what I'm feeling right now.

I'm so confused and intrigued because usually, the recommend suitor tends to be really cold or the route turns out to be boring. Basically they tend to be the golden cow.

But William is an anomaly. He's not cold or rude or harsh or as morally gray as others.

He seems quite level headed, polite and morally good.

At least from my impression of him so far.

Also Harrison is so 😍😫😩🙌🙏😫😭💀🤔🤤😓😬🤒🤗😘😚😡🤬😤🤯🧐😳🙄😳😳😳😍 🙇‍♀️🤰💃💃🏃‍♀️👀👁👁👀👁👁💦🔥💦😻😫😖

But I still didn't pick his route for now. I'll probably go for him after William.

Strangely enough, Liam doesn't interest me in the slightest bit in the romantic aspect. But I do want to be his friend, if that's even possible, cause he seems to be suffering.

Also Harrison gives off traitor vibes which is even more 😍🤗😍😳🙌😩

April 24... I'll keep it in mind and see for myself.

I don't know what it is I like about Ellis. Maybe it's just that I'm into size kinks and he's one tall goofy little goober. Also the fact that he wants to make you happy 😏 HUEHWUHEHEHEH

Jude Jazza. Is giving frollo vibes. Idk why IT'S GIVING FROLLO FROM HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. Also he has a resemblance to Silvio. The tone, the 'woman', the hair, the face, the attitude.

I'm sorry but Elbert is giving FUCKING MAGPIE VIBES. It's kinda adorable. Until he steals your jewelry.

Idk what to feel about Roger. What's even more unsettling is the uncanny resemblance with Tray from Twisted Wonderland. I associate Tray always with good things but Roger gives off none of that and that clash makes me feel unnerved and queasy.

Victor... I don't know what to feel about him. His carefree and easy going nature makes me even more weary of him.

I don't like Alfons. Period.

He just radiates toxicity. He looks like he's an avid player of mind games and I do not wish to participate.

Yeah... That's about all of them for now.

ALSO KATE

KATE KATE KATE

I think I'm having another gay moment here cause goddamn is she beautiful and do I feel for her. I might just make another oc and ship her with Kate... For science..

I have bearly started the route but I'm already in love with William.

*･ﾟﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*ﾟ:*:✼✿　　✿✼:*ﾟ:.｡..｡.:*･ﾟﾟ･*

𝙰𝚕𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝... 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞. :)

[ms-katonic-of-tamriel]

Skyrim's MQ Boss wasn't meant to be Alduin

Read a rumour/fan theory the other week that Skyrim's boss was never meant to be Alduin, but instead Uriel V who'd somehow managed to not die in his Akaviri invasion centuries prior after all, but was returning with an army of dragons, having unlocked the secrets of his dragon blood and mastered the Thu'um.

And that makes the game make SO MUCH MORE SENSE and SO MUCH MORE COHERENT.

It literally changes everything.

First the Civil War now actually ties in directly to the MQ, because Titus Mede has no intention of surrendering, and the Legion are therefore opposed to the threat... but Ulfric might actually be allying with a mighty warrior who's promised to reinstate worship of the Nine, can more than deal with the Dominion and might want his former provinces back once he's ascended the Ruby Throne. Suddenly the Thalmor simultaneously look a lot less all-powerful and rather more nuanced, because now they're acting against a genuine threat to their people. Perhaps they even help you fight Uriel because they'll take any ally over the Septim who'se going to devastate Alinor and commit full on war crimes on them.

And suddenly your Civil War choice MEANS something. Because you are also picking the game's ending by making that choice - side with the Empire and defeat Uriel, or side with Ulfric and place Uriel on the Ruby Throne.

And of course there's those on both sides who don't agree with their leaders - Stormcloaks who think Uriel's a power-hungry madman and Legionnaires who think actually a returned Septim who is also Dragonborn has a better claim to the throne than Titus does. The Civil War questline on either side could involve dealing with dissidents... or joining them, which also paradoxically means you could pick a side then make the other choice in the main quest. Maybe persuade Ulfric Uriel doesn't have his best interests at heart and persuade him to help you off him. Or persuade Tullius he'd be better off supporting the true Dragonborn.

The Dark Brotherhood questline also suddenly matters, because here's an assassination contract on Titus Mede. Do you take it or turn traitor and sell the Brotherhood out to the Penitus Oculatus (earning the Wrath of Sithis as a result). True white knights can of course opt for the more traditional destruction of the DB.

The Greybeards and Blades get more interesting. Arngeir's neutrality in the face of the canon civil war is entirely to be expected - he's a monk not a warrior, and the destruction the Thu'um could wield in any mortal war is a good reason to fight in none of them. But here's a war involving two Dragonborns. How should they react to that? And here's the Blades lacking a purpose for years with no Dragonborn, and now two come along at once. Uriel might have a tempting offer for them. Meaning actual consequences for not killing Paarthurnax - they go and side with Uriel for self-protection if you refuse to do it, and take Paarthurnax's location with them, meaning you need to get to the Throat to try and save him from Uriel's dragons, and a real risk of failing.

Bend Will suddenly a much more key Shout because you need to learn it as part of the main quest so as to deprive Uriel of his dragons so you can get to him and kill him. Of course, every time you use it, you get that bit more power-hungry yourself, and once you've freed a dragon from Uriel's control, there's the option to free it or enslave it yourself. The dragons do leave in peace once freed, but of course you now have wild dragons out there who could be a risk further down the line. The Greybeards approve of you freeing them, but the Blades prefer it if you just kill them.

And finally, there's the third option. The Evil Bastard option. Maybe Titus isn't a legitimate emperor, but the true Dragonborn doesn't have to be Uriel. Maybe you want the throne for yourself. There's a route to that too. First off, there needs to be an actual vacancy, so you need to join the Brotherhood and off Titus. Secondly, pick a side in the Civil War - the Empire is easier, but it's possible with the Cloaks. Take Skyrim for the Empire, off Titus via the Brotherhood, deal with Uriel, and a grateful populace crown you instead... or persuade Ulfric to turn on Uriel somehow, off Titus via the Brotherhood, drive the Empire out of Skyrim, deal with Uriel then move into Cyrodiil to take it for yourself. You also need to have been using Bend Will to acquire Uriel's dragon army - mandatory for the Stormcloak side, also useful for the Empire route if part of your pitch is dealing with the Thalmor. You need Legion support to be Emperor and Tullius is hard to persuade - but gives in very easily if you've Bend Willed enough dragons.

Any allies you made among the Thalmor get thrown under the bus if you pick this route, obviously. Or do they? Accepting Thalmor assistance makes defeating Uriel easier, but they have more on you too. Meaning if you go this route, you need to throw them under the bus somehow, or they manage to get word to Ulfric/Tullius that you assassinated Titus as part of the DB and stop your reign before it even begins.

OR there's the other Evil Bastard option. The Blades can nullify the Thalmor and are happy to take care of this... but only if you kill Paarthurnax. In other words, suddenly the game's choices all become very very relevant.

That's the game we could have had. Sigh.

[controversial-blorbo-bracket]

Controversial Character Tournament Round 2: Light Yagami from Death Note vs Edelgard von Hresvelg from Fire Emblem: Three Houses

(remember that these characters are fictional and your fellow tumblr users are real. please be normal in the notes, i will not hesitate to block if you harass people)

Propaganda under the cut, may contain spoilers:

Light Yagami:

LOVE: - "He does some messed up things but have you considered: fucked up protagonists rock :)" HATE: - "this man makes me sick. ive genuinely had manic episodes over hating him. i have trauma from his existence in general. not even because of the murder. because hes a sexist cheater :(" - "My cousin and I frequently debate this. I think despite his 'intentions' he's ultimately a despicable character who cares for nobody but himself. She disagrees and says that he is just trying to do the right thing and making a difference in the world (she still thinks his actions are wrong, but she doesn't think he himself is despicable)" BOTH: - "I mean cmon man"

Edelgard Von Hresvelg:

LOVE: "People either claim she's the hero or the irredeemable villain with no in between. She's also my lovely wife who has never done anything wrong in her life." "I never even finished her route and remember nothing of what happens in that game but I DO remember the absolute warzone the fandom turned into because of her. She staged a coup and overthrew the head of the government/church and I think that's pretty cool of her. "But she committed war crimes!" God forbid women do anything." "I lied in the previous question. I don't hate her or love her in fact I have never even played this game. But I keep finding people making up Discourse™ featuring wild accusations of bigotry towards both Edelgard fans and Edelgard haters so I feel that she belongs here. (Also my friend hates her. but HER friend loves Edelgard. So even in my small social circle there is a clear polarization.)" "ok I don't have any solid propaganda because my opinion of her is more positive-neutral, but. she fits the spirit of this poll. trust me." "[three houses spoilers] Yes she started a war but it was the only apparent way to break the chokehold the church had over everyone in Fodlan. Also she’s the only lord you can gay marry so I’m hopelessly biased" "every time i go into the tag its either "edelgard is perfect no notes!!" or "edelgard is literally a fascist!!!". ive never seen someone with a neutral opinion of her. i yearn for battle." "I know very little about her to be quite honest! But good god. As a fire emblem fan for the GBA and engage. I have NEVER seen such a decisive character like Edelgard. Jesus Christ. I still find stuff in those tags. What the hell!!!" "I don’t even go to Fire Emblem but even I know that Edelgard has never done anything wrong, ever, in her entire life, and that if she did any war crimes they were a SUPER effective use of girl power. source: I am a lesbian. (realtalk I genuinely love a noble-minded extremist revolutionary and think Edelgard is a great character, so it’s kind of a shame that opinion on her seems to simply split down the line of “whether the person wants to kiss Edelgard or Dimitri more.”)"

HATE: "So on the one hand, she's fully willing to kill and burn and murder her way to a "better future" at the expense of the present, but on the other hand she's pretty cool and #girlboss. She's also a canon gay romance option, but idk if that makes her more or less problematic." "I just. I understand why people like her. I really do. And I don't have anything new to say for why I dislike her. Edelgard fans and stans have heard everything. She has great points and motivation, but her methods are wrong. She hitches her ideals to the first good opportunity and never reconsiders her allegiance when things go off the rails. She hates the church for "lying to people" and proceeds to lie to her own populace herself in her own route. She gives Claude an opportunity to live because she knows he believes in her goals. But Dimitri and his Kingdom are too beholden to the church to ever be offered such mercy. She herself acknowledges that the change she wants to see is more quickly enacted through war than subtle and slow societal change. She recognizes the human toll of her actions, but she justifies it through flowery language and an insistence that the change needs to happen now or it never will. I honestly find her so interesting, and I agree with a lot of her thoughts about the need for societal change in the world of FE:3H. But people latched onto her and propped her up as someone who can do no wrong. And that just never sat right with me. I just think she’s a hypocrite who got put in front of a shiny means to her end and was immediately blind to every other opportunity around her." BOTH: - "I dont even play fire emblem but I cant escape people not shutting up about how much they love or hate her" - "You said there were no hate answers for her...and I don't really hate her so it wouldn't be right but I wanted to balance things out some. She's the perfect storm of a character who sounds right and progressive and has a route all to herself that doesn't contradict that...but once you play other routes, it becomes clear she's kind of. full of misinformation. And attacking people who don't deserve it. Also a LOT of the divisiveness I'm willing to blame on the writers rather than her, for having her both be Evil Tyrant we NEED to take down and Sad Uwu Baby who just wants to eat cake and laze around and loves You the Player SO MUCH."

[raxistaicho]

Red Flags I've noticed when someone's take on Edelgard is in bad faith include, but aren't limited to:

Constant erasure of her queer identity as the bisexual emperor she is

Calling her Edel, the nickname Kronya uses, instead of Edelgard or El, the names she prefers to be addressed by

Completely ignore everything regarding Abyss in canon while simultaneously bringing up interviews from the writers that a majority of fans don't actually learn exist until years later, if ever

Constantly ignoring all the war crimes Dimitri commits during the other routes or giving him an out due to the insanity plea

Gloss over the fact that Edelgard is literally 18 at the start of the game and has spent the last 8 years being abused, experimented on, and had her life threatened by people she literally cannot escape from without abandoning Fodlan all together, leaving her in a "work with them or die as a political puppet" position unless Byleth or Shez sides with her

Constantly forget Dedue exists and/or forget that in his Felix Supports he swears to commit terrible war crimes if Dimitri orders him to and will do it without question

Constantly forget that Those Who Slither in the Dark don't actually get dealt with in Azure Moon unless you recruit Hapi and pair her with either Byleth or Dimitri

Refuse to acknowledge that human experimentation is in fact a war crime and that Rhea has committed many, MANY war crimes in her 1000+ years of ruling over Fodlan

Hate on Fire Emblem: Engage to an unhealthy degree

Ignore the fact that Dimitri, Seteth, and Rhea are more than happy to set a town of innocent people ablaze if that's what it takes to win the war

Constant erasure of her queer identity as the bisexual emperor she is

Gah, don't remind me of all the desperate bleating that she's poor representation because she's designed to appeal to men.

Calling her Edel, the nickname Kronya uses, instead of Edelgard or El, the names she prefers to be addressed by

That's not one I've really seen. Usually haters call her even dumber nicknames.

Completely ignore everything regarding Abyss in canon while simultaneously bringing up interviews from the writers that a majority of fans don't actually learn exist until years later, if ever

And also just misinterpreting the interviews.

Constantly ignoring all the war crimes Dimitri commits during the other routes or giving him an out due to the insanity plea

So the whole insanity plea doesn't work with Dimitri because he's still very much aware of the fact that everything he's doing is wrong, his scene with Randolph is all about that. He's just in full-on, Then Let Me Be Evil, mode.

Gloss over the fact that Edelgard is literally 18 at the start of the game and has spent the last 8 years being abused, experimented on, and had her life threatened by people she literally cannot escape from without abandoning Fodlan all together, leaving her in a "work with them or die as a political puppet" position unless Byleth or Shez sides with her

It's wild how folks seem to think Thales wouldn't retaliate if she refused to play ball or that Rhea would be the best ally in the world against the Agarthans.

Constantly forget Dedue exists and/or forget that in his Felix Supports he swears to commit terrible war crimes if Dimitri orders him to and will do it without question

Eh, Dedue's pretty yikes there, but that support's kinda shit in other ways. Specifically Felix calling him a dog. That's pretty damn bad.

Refuse to acknowledge that human experimentation is in fact a war crime and that Rhea has committed many, MANY war crimes in her 1000+ years of ruling over Fodlan

Nah, but it's okay that Rhea was experimenting with life itself, an act forbidden by her own people, because she was nice to the lives she created! :D

[beevean]

I find it very interesting (A.K.A. annoying) how the idw comic tries defending this whole "sonic never kills" nonsense by bringing up every bad person who's turned around. But they also blatantly ignore all the times Sonic did kill or was fine with letting someone die

Dark gaia

Time eater

King Arthur

Solaris

Erazor Djinn (eternal damnation)

Ifrit

Captain behemoth

Bio Lizard

Explicitly tells Infinite he's going to kill him

The Ifrit (the one from Sonic rivals 2)

Captain whisker

Black Doom (Shadow was the one who finished him off, but the point is Sonic has no problem with other people killing either)

The idw comic's writing only barely functions if you blatantly ignore everything outside of it, and even then, it's still extremely iffy.

Secret Rings is canon to IDW, btw. Sonic had a flashback to the events of that game in #16.

"Everyone deserves a chance to be free, even the evil doctors," Sonic says after he yeeted Erazor Djinn in lava :)

Also yeah, some of these are creatures whose level of sapience is questionable... but not all of them. Solaris never speaks in his full form, but Mephiles is explicitly his mind, so we know that he's a cunning, sadistic deity. Sonic slashed King Arthur fully believing he was a real person, and he did act like one. Also Sonic is the very first person Shadow meets in his game, and the very first thing he asks of him is to kill all the aliens in Westopolis, with the goal ofc of reaching the "big boss" if you go through the Pure Hero route. Again, the sapience of the Black Arms is questionable, but those are still living creatures who might as well be slaves for all he knows. Doesn't care! He'll kill them all!

Sonic doesn't have a rule when it comes to his enemies: he's not a pacifist, he's not the Punisher. He either listens to them, or cuts to the chase: it depends on how unrepentant they come across. The very idea of him having a "principle" about it is ridiculous. Sonic doesn't have principles, he doesn't follow rules, he does what he wants to do.

I get the moral dilemma around Mr. Tinker: he's a blank slate genuinely willing to do good, so does he deserve to be punished for crimes he didn't commit? I don't know why Flynn felt the need to insert such a moral dilemma in a book that he himself has said is for kids and thus can't properly explore the concept of identity and sins, but whatever.

Problem is that, somewhere along the line, they started to treat him not as a brain damaged version of Eggman who might as well be a different person, but as "Eggman reformed", which is insane and even creepy from Sonic. It's just absurd that IDW Sonic based his entire moral code, that everyone has the chance to become a better person, after he witnessed his war criminal of an archnemesis simply getting brain damage, and somehow thinking that this amnesiac personality reflected Eggman's real ego. What the fuck.

Oh, and then this ridiculous shit lmao:

Not only Sonic would never play villain apology for Eggman of all people, but those examples are nothing but proof of how selfish Eggman is. He never cared about protecting the planet because of some hidden depths. My man spells his reasoning out very clearly:

But now Sonic passes off those strained alliances as some good deeds and proof that Eggman is not so bad after all. "Grade-A jerk", huh? Is that how you describe the guy who broke the planet into pieces and was willing to destroy the spacetime continuum for the sake of killing you? What's next, is Black Doom with his plans of turning humanity into cattle "a big meanie"? Why are you trying so hard, man?

Ah, and then he has to resort to guilt tripping Shadow about his own "crimes" (read: being forced to follow Gerald's programming) to get his way :) piece of shit who pretends to be morally superior when in reality he's just an awful person.

[gotta-pet-em-all]

oh..... i opened up the game again and toriel is sitting on the menu screen in an armchair.

i'm at snowdin. isn't that the route where you can commit war crimes in the not-sequel?

[celepom]

Favourite Light Novel (Series) of 2022

7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! by Touko Amekawa

Seventh Time's the Charm! Being reborn once may sound impressive, but Rishe is already on her seventh time around! She has had all kinds of excitement in her previous lives, from peddling goods as a merchant to locking blades as a knight, so now she's determined to kick back and enjoy. But to savor the high life, she first has to marry the handsome prince...the same one who happens to be her murderer! It will take six-plus lifetimes of experience and skills for Rishe to break the time loop and make her extravagant dreams come true!

The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash by Honobonoru500

A heartwarming fantasy isekai tale about a girl who embarks on a journey with her new friend–a humble slime.

In Ivy’s world, stars are everything. She’s a Tamer, born to subdue monsters and animals, but she was also born starless! With her life in danger, Ivy flees into the forest where she befriends a weak little slime named Sora—the one creature she can tame. Together, the unlikely pair set off on a journey, salvaging rubbish to survive. Along the way they’ll win hearts, evade danger, and discover there’s more to starless Ivy than meets the eye!

The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior by Tenichi

(Volume 2) The Secret is Out! Future villainess Pride is hard at work using her authority, boss powers, and past-life knowledge to save her people from a tragic fate. When she hits thirteen, she has an earth-shattering revelation: a scheming man trusted by the royal family had a secret route in the otome game! Can Pride foil this master manipulator's plot to unite everyone against her before it leads to her doom? And why is he so desperate to ruin her in the first place?

Accomplishments of the Duke's Daughter by Reia

(Volume 5) THE PRICE OF WAR! The war Iris always feared has finally come. No longer content to send spies to spread discontent in Tasmeria, Tweil descends with their army. Iris must rush back to her duchy to defend her people and rally the other territories to her cause. But no one survives war unscathed, and all too soon Iris will face a loss even she may not be able to endure.

Cross-Dressing Villainess Cecilia Sylvie by Hiroro Akizakura

Reincarnated as a villainess in an otome game, Cecilia realizes that as the heroine’s rival, she’ll die no matter what route she takes. Convinced that she can avoid her death flag by masquerading as a man, she crossdresses and assumes a new identity. In the process, however, she ends up replacing her brother-in-law as the knight charged with protecting the heroine! And now the prince who should be condemning her to death wants to hang around her all the time...?! Cecilia will do whatever it takes to achieve a peaceful and carefree life, but if her guise ever slips it’s Game Over!

I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again by Reina Soratani

Violette, daughter of a duke, committed a terrible, jealous crime against her half sister. As she languishes in prison, something unexpected happens: time is rewound, sending her back to the day her problems began! Armed with the memories of her disastrous first go-round, Violette is determined to live a quiet, unobtrusive life this time…but fate has something else in store!

[godeaterazathoth]

Issues I have with ikevamp

That I’m venting here because they won’t leave my skull

*Content warning, we’re talking about men in the past, they did some bad stuff*

Part 1, historical inaccuracies

I’m I history nut so this really gets to me, since I know the deep details of these peoples lives.

The timeline, ok so the game takes place in 18th France, correct me if I’m wrong but I think it is in the second empire (1852-1870) considered there is a noble class, yet you can clearly see the Eiffel Tower which was completed in 1889, there is no mention of the 1889 exposition, so it must be after the tower had become permanent, by then the 3rd republic was around, if we are in the republic the Count wouldn’t be called that by the npcs at all the parties he goes to, no matter which we’re in, NOBODY mentions Napoleon III at, NOT EVAN HIS UNCLE (WHOSE SOMEHOW BECAME CASS CONSCIOUS!)

How does the time travel work, example, Dazai died in 1948, his plan was seemingly to wait until he’s born in 1909 then kill himself as a baby, but then he decides to use the magic door, what are the consequences of 2 Dazais existing at once or him erasing himself from history, he’s a pretty important literary figure, does someone else replace him or does the space time continuum collapse?? Is the future Vlad sees set in stone or can it be changed, just copy someone else’s time travel bit!!!

So straight up these guys aren’t who they say they are, we’ll go through 1 by 1

Napoleon- doesn’t mention he left the love of his life to marry a girl 20 years his junior (like think how interesting it would be if he’s conflicted about love cuz he had to give it up for political reasons) -that scene where MC talks about all the ‘good’ that he did in Europe, like committing war crimes against the Spanish and Portuguese and Eastern Europeans, being a coloniser, killing the slaves he freed when they asked for more rights, killing thousands of men in a meaningless war (ligit H*tler vibes)

Arthur- goofy irl, literally believed in fairies, had 5 children and married twice but he never mentions any of this, he cheated on his first wife while she was dying of TB, he was a liberal unionist (tldr didn’t like Irish people) he was anti-immigration, might have committed fraud. We’ll get to the other issues I have with him.

Leonardo- fruity as hell, vegetarian

Mozart- they got his character completely wrong, the guy was a complete man child, vain, broke, by the end of his life his career fell off (Beethoven better composer), in love with his cousin 🤢, had a s*at fetish 🤢🤢🤢. The hole Salieri thing didn’t happen.

Vincent- they made him too mentally stable, I’m all for him being meek, but the guy had serious issues that they ignore, he ate paint thinner, was rejected by his both crushes, WHY DOES HE HAVE BOTH EARS, DID IT GROW BACK, THEY SHOULD HAVE LEFT HIM WITH ONLY ONE, also he should be ginger smh. Oh yeah and they never mentioned the s*ecide attempt.

Theo- doesn’t mention his wife, or son, WHO HE NAMED AFTER VINCENT, his wife is the person responsible for Vincent’s work not being completely forgotten, was way nicer irl.

Issac- tbh hotter irl, low key ace, maybe a fruit, kinda mean, the only thing they got right was the major virgin vibes.

Jean- WHY MAN!??!! Even if the didn’t want a lesbian route, they could have gone with any other guy from the 100 years war, Edward black prince, idk WHY GENDER BEND ONE OF THE MOST PROMINENT WOMEN IN HISTORY, I’m fine with the delusional trans dude lie, but they say that he was a guy all along, THEN WHAT WAS THE POINT OF HIM BEING BURNT AT THE STAKE IF HE WASN’T CROSS DRESSING???!!! was he double cross dressing??? This is the worst of them all, give me the girl boss we deserve (revers fate)

Dazai- not depressed enough imo, he was a leftist, again missing wife, their were two su*ecide attempts, guy lived through fire bombing, had a few children that he is fine to erase from existence.

Shakespeare- probably a fruit, again never mentioned his wife and kids, btw the way he talks is annoying, some people don’t think he’s real.

Faust- NOT A REAL PERSON.

Sanson- too young, this guys is 67, really liked the guillotine, just saw execution as his job didn’t really care, had a wife and kids.

Vlad- Ok is he supposed to be Vlad THE impaler? Cuz he’s not evil enough, or is he a Dracula reference, cuz he can’t dance that dance either, why did they call him Vlad if he isn’t a blood thirsty war criminal.

Count- not enough history to work with.

Part 2, problematic moments

So I ha have seen some posts on the low key misogynistic way the MC is written and treated and there are a lot of issues wit white washing history so another trigger warning ⚠️

Misogyny- the MC of this game is not the best, I know she’s a self insert but she has no backbone at all. She lacks agency I’m most of the routes, like the MC getting kidnapped is a troupe in all these games, but Emma can escape on her own, Kate has ⚽️, even Alice had more depth to her, seems the only thing MC can do is cry and wait to be saved, I swear she gets kidnapped once in every route, I think they could have given her more character to work with. Another thing, but Jean being a man is bad, really bad, she’s a feminist icon but they made her a man, it’s sought of saying that women aren’t capable of this so she had to have actually been a man.

Handling of SA, important one here, I’m ok with the flirty guy, but I really hate Arthur, he doesn’t just flirt with her in chapter 1 he assaults her and acts like he did her a service, and she just forgives him!?! I’m fine with a guy that sleeps around, I like Jin and Nokto fine, but the way Arthur talks about women, always calling them Birds (if they were going for English slang it doesn’t work cuz he doesn’t have a cockney accent) or worse Skirts, it’s dehumanising, and shows that to him women are vehicles for sexual pleasure and aren’t on an equal level of understanding. There are smaller parts to, Leo kisses her without consent, the Count hides the truth from her, idk but Theo calling her a ‘hound’ sounds like he’s calling her something else…

Minor points on classism, I’m not expecting the communist manifesto, but all these games aren’t very good at dealing with class deviation. In Vlad’s route, the orphan boy thinks he can impress the rich girl, this is the 19th century, capitalism is on the rise, but there’s no comment about how it’s impossible. The little school Napoleons runs is strange, considering he was in a position where benefited from poor people existing and staying poor, ( side note, he’s teaching them swordsmanship when ww1 is right around the corner, just saying they won’t need it in the military) called MC out as a social climber, these games sought of depict the past through rosé tinted glasses, there’s only passing reference to how fucked people were in the past, Also all the historical inaccuracies above tie to this.

Anyway love to hear some other opinions, (I started playing this game before my transition and have always thought it it was wired, it’s my personal least favourite just cuz I couldn’t really get into any of the guys, my OC ended up as a Carmilla reference so….)

I have seen a post talking about some of the issues before so that’s what got me to write this out, if you disagree or want to add anything I’m all ears 👂

Thanks for reading 💗💖💖💕💓💝💗🥰🥰🥰❤️✨✨✨✨❤️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[zahri-melitor]

Batman Eternal

I think for a weekly, event comic that was promising to deliver the Bat Family, it underperformed. Some people had a good event, some people had a mediocre event and were underused, and there were a few absolute shockers.

The Good:

In terms of a 'push Bruce to the limit' event, it was interesting in that this one pushed Batman, the Bat Family AND Bruce, separately, to their limits. I'm used to events being 'pick two of the three'. That said, it still underestimated the effectiveness of its supporting cast.

Bruce had a solid event, in that it was focused on him and broke him down to build him back up by running him ragged and keeping him guessing on 'who caused this'. Honestly I don't have a lot to say about Bruce's plot, sorry. It was an okay mystery running through various rogues? I think making Cluemaster Who Dunnit was not the right choice (Arthur should always be a bit pathetic), but I can see why they picked him in the story that's returning Steph and after making Riddler the big bad for Zero Year.

Selina actually had a reasonable event. She got her entire backstory rewritten and ended up controlling crime in Gotham at the end of it, but eh, the former happened to a lot of people during n52 and the latter is something Selina ends up doing every now and then. Her plotline involved organised crime and Carmine Falcone, so it was even something associated with her long term story arcs.

Jim Gordon: look, once we get past the incredible miscarriage of justice that was Jim being arrested and convicted for manslaughter (please, please, explain to me how Jim shooting the signal box input was what caused the trains to crash, rather than the railway routing that meant there was timetabling and no fallback override for two trains SHARING TRACK while running in opposite directions), it was essentially just an excuse to put Jim in Blackgate and start up the plots there. Which you know, went pretty well. Jim got to be the strong man, show off his personality, and presumably this all sets up the Superheavy plotline (sigh).

Julia Pennyworth. Look, I don't hate the idea of Julia, so much as am confused by the very tight timeline constraints required for her existence (post about this coming), and I resent that DC let the team basically invent a new Oracle without being allowed to acknowledge that Oracle is Barbara Gordon. It's like it's an important role in Gotham! Anyway. In terms of what Julia brought to the page, I did appreciate that the writing team seemed committed to increasing the number of women characters populating Gotham, I am happy to have someone not Alfred running comms for the Bats, and I can see several ways she'd be an interesting character to have around, long term, for storytelling. I could grow to like her. But man. I had a really hard time swallowing her existence while Barbara's in the same event having her character destroyed.

Harper Row is so clearly Scott Snyder's pet. Honestly, I really enjoyed her design and the general arc of her story; adding an electrical engineer to the group is actually a relatively unoccupied niche and gives her points of differentiation, but by handing her such a major part of the plot while other, fan favourite characters were appearing and getting not much at all was setting her up to fail in the eyes of the audience.

Steph ranks up in the 'had a good event' category. She essentially reran her origin story combined with aspects of her War Games plot (before everyone yells at me, I particularly noted the correlation with the part of the story where Selina hid her with Holly coming through here with Steph hiding from Arthur and her getting dumped at the Rows for protection. Go actually read War Games). I liked the concept of the Spoiler blog being what she used as her name inspiration here. I again wouldn't have minded if she had actually interacted more with other Bat characters (everyone got very siloed here) but you know what? The story brought her back and set her back up in her default sort of background state. Seriously, they picked from Steph's biggest stories here (her origin, War Games, and actually parts were in conversation with War Crimes, which is a phrase I never thought I would say), and that was a reasonable decision imo.

The Mediocre:

Luke Fox got an interesting plotline with Jim Corrigan and the Spectre. Unfortunately it rarely interacted with the rest of the story (apart from leading to Arkham blowing up). This could have been a separate mini.

Tim got to appear in actual Bat titles, doing actual Bat things, and while being abrasive I could squint at him and see his original characterisation. Tragically despite this he basically didn't get to interact with existing characters he knew for most of the plot. Got handed the idiot ball on occasion to show off Harper. I wish he'd had more opportunities to spend time with characters I know and enjoy him with.

Kate Kane was there, for this event. She got to spend some time with Barbara and Jason. She also really didn't do much of anything. It felt like an obligatory 'you currently have a solo' appearance.

Jason Bard: look this is where I'm conflicted. If this was simply Random Cop #34, I'd have probably bumped it up to good but unrealistic (in terms of the speed run to Commissioner), but as a Jason Bard story? About all they kept or knew of Jason was that he's a cop, he was mentored by Jim Gordon, and that he Has A Limp. I am still outraged they made Babs give him the limp, I think making him a minor antagonist of this was a waste of bringing back Jason Bard, and the endpoint left him in a position where he's moderately unusable by other writers (there was a slight set up for 'transition him over to a detective agency' but there was no resolution on why anyone in Gotham either among the GCPD or the Bats would trust him after this).

The Bad:

Hush. No, not so much in his story (it was boring, it was Tommy being Tommy, yawn), but in the fact for no apparent reason Tommy is running around with his head bandaged. WHY? No reason was given. Using the bandages as his 'costume' is actually painfully irritating, because he wore the bandages during the original Hush as he was healing from facial reconstruction surgery. Here, he was imported into New 52, with his face wrapped in bandages, and no reason given. He wasn't trying to become Bruce and steal his identity. He was just...in bandages. Because that's how he looked in Hush and the fanboys think of him, despite the fact he basically never appeared in bandages again AFTER the initial Hush storyline. I'm infuriated in the pointless iconography that misses the original intent that this is.

Barbara had a terrible event. Even if I excuse everything as she was still grieving over Dick's 'death' and Jim being in jail, and the fact she was undergoing personality surgery in her own title (Batgirl #35 sigggghh), a complete random 'ship Barbara and Jason together' plotline came out of nowhere premised on the fact Barbara was missing Dick? Or something? And their age gap in n52 nonsense is only a couple of years, rather than Babs being ABOUT TEN YEARS OLDER and having babysat Jason. Ugh.

Speaking of: Jason Todd did somewhat better than some of the others in that he got to actually hang out with Barbara and Kate for a storyline, and honestly pairing him up with Kate is a route DC should look at more often in terms of character mediation, but lost 1000 points for the Jason/Barbara stuff. Also had a terrible costume (but what's new there).

Crystal Brown I am so sorry. Not only did you get yet another completely new look and personality, you lost all the few characterisation elements we had for you, you collaborated with your ex-husband, and you betrayed Steph at one point. You should be awarded damages for pain and suffering.

Lincoln March/Owlman: you were in this event SOLELY to confuse Steph and delay her cooperation with everyone else. I resent your entire existence in this timeline and it irritates me that Scott Snyder set up an entire previous event essentially to introduce you to the main universe and then waited going 'did you get it?' You are not Thomas Wayne Jnr sorry.

[girlbosstourney]

GIRLBOSS TOURNEY ROUND ONE: THESE COLLEGE GIRLS HAVE RELIGIOUS TRAUMA

Select which one you think is GIRLBOSSIER, i.e., which one is the better girlboss

Propaganda

Edelgard von Hresvelg:

Started a religious war to dismantle the church and kill the pope (who is also a woman. girlboss vs girlboss) Asked her dad to abdicate as emperor to give her the crown and he just did it. Vitriolic discourse continues about if her actions were moral or not.; Led a revolution against corruption in her kingdom and continent, waging war against a church led by immortal dragons who were deliberately holding back humanity in a bid to maintain their control over the people of Fodlan. Depending on the game’s route she’s either a victorious liberator or a treacherous conqueror blinded by her ideals. You know. Girlboss shit.; She is literally a girlboss (emperor) building her empire (started a continent wide war to conquer and assimilate two other countries into her empire). She has committed 15+ war crimes including abuse of corpse, using biological weapons in warfare, and forced conscription.; https://www.tumblr.com/cygnus-rose/657166895331655680/fe3h-war-crimes-with-receipts-this-time-part, https://www.tumblr.com/cygnus-rose/657166968319852544/fe3h-war-crimes-with-receipts-this-time-part

Allison (Kill Six Billion Demons):

Bequeathed the title Kill Six Billion Demons. Reformed basic white girl. Lesbian. On a quest to kill god. Missing an arm and a leg and also an eye but she stays silly

[fantasyinvader]

Let's look at the “Church Bad” argument for a second here.

It ignores the fact that Edelgard is told by Thales that the experiments were intended to give her power so she could provide salvation to the Agarthans. It ignores that the source of Edelgard's version of history, her father, is said to be an Agarthan puppet by Hubert, and that Edelgard was manipulated into starting a war and taking out Rhea. It ignores that the Agarthans are also behind the Empire splitting up, as well the assassination of Lambert and Claude's uncle. Lonato and the Western Church were also manipulated by them, with Miklan being implied to as well. We also have to ignore that they were the ones who gave mankind Crests and Relics, and the Elites themselves viewed their weapons as divine.

We have to ignore the influence they have had all throughout Fodlan, in addition to how the Empire doesn't have a branch of the Church, the Western Church is trying to kill Rhea due to Agarthan manipulations, and that the Eastern Church holds little power within the Alliance due to the country's power structure. We have to ignore that the nobles simply pay lip service to being faithful, and how their actions go against the actual teachings of the Church. Teachings we are encouraged to familiarize ourselves with. Or we have to just skip how Claude talks about getting to know people and letting go of misconceptions, ultimately seeing the Church not as an enemy to his goals but a potential ally in his best ending. Not to mention how the Agarthans tried to feed him information to turn him against Rhea.

Not to mention, how the route where I fight the Church has NPCs talking about how I shouldn't believe everything my lord says, how said lord is repeatedly shown to be a liar, the fact my army is using the end product of human experiments in the form of Crest Beasts, how my army starts by committing a war crime by invading a country that has declared neutrality, how often the game mentions this is a war of conquest, or the various endings that point towards putting down rebellions, lack of freedom of speech, or military campaigns against foreign countries. Not to mention the various hypocrisies that pop up, hard for there to be a “free and independent” society where the people are being spied on and any uprisings against Edelgard are squashed.

Even if I ignore what the creators said, that doesn't mean I can ignore what the game itself says in my analysis. The game frames the Church as the good guys in 3 routes, and in the route where I fight the Church I am following a liar who has been manipulated into trying to take out the Church and it leads to Fodlan becoming a dictatorship. Sorry, but things don't work out in Edelgard's favor.

[randomnameless]

In regards to how much of the Church bad rhetoric is supported by the Fódlan games themselves, from what i've seen of Three Houses' JP script there isn't really that much support for those arguments there outside of heavily biased sources that the audience should take with massive doses of salt like Edelgard, Dorothea or Lysithea; i'd argue that it wasn't until IS and/or KT decided to, for whatever reason, take the lolcalized church-demonizing script and fandom reaction of EN 3H to heart when making Three Hopes that they really started believing they wrote Rhea and the Church as being the hidden villains of the verse, and that JP 3H is (mostly) free of the issue of making stupid arguments just to try and criticize the Church for things it can't be reasonably blamed for.

I agree with the things you say, but about the biased sources...

Well, the games of course hammer the player with biased sources, Supreme Leader and her court, Claude, the Abyss residents -

Which is doubly funny for the Abyss residents, because their "Church BaD" is completely bonkers, given how it's the Church who offers them a crappy, and yet existing shelter.

"The Church wants us gone" Dude, if they really wanted you gone, Rhea would have deployed the knights to evacuate the Abyss as fast as she organised her expedition to put the Bishop of the Western Church to the sword.

Doubly funny bcs the Big Boss of the Abyss, Yuri, is sekritly Rhea's agent!

Of course being a secret agent, he can't tell people to use their mind and think - if the Central Church wanted them gone, why are they sheltering you all here, under Garreg Mach the most important site to them, and giving you, albeit in measly quantities, food and water? Rhea is the one who named the class "Ashen Wolves" - it would be pointless to give a name to the class of abyss resident who are considered unofficial students of the officer's academy, if she really wanted to purge the Abyss, right?

I understand in CS this was used as a red herring for Aelfie, who is akshually the one who runs the Abyss and spreads the "Church BaD Rhea BaD" sentiment because of his own agenda and opinions, but with 3 (counting the DLC) routes having biased narrators against the CoS in FE16 (out of 5) you'd have to wonder what was the point -

Was it only to sell Hresvelg Grey? To sell Billy becoming God and the "new" head of Church being a necessity so the former has to suck?

IDK.

FWIW, Nopes gave us one (1) NPC who, from the start, says something positive about the Church rebuking the biased statement everyone is throwing around, Mark the NPC, who says accusations of corruption of the Central Church and wyvern poo, since Rhea and Seteth both punish people who take bribes or commit crimes...

And yet, for one Mark, we have many lines spoken with bias against the Church, and no one bothers to correct them (the church forces you to marry ? Uh, no, I've heard the story of a woman who left her land to marry a foreign king! - Church forces you to have responsabilities through crusts : no? Almyra and Brigid have royalty, and Brigid royals want to protect their people thinking it is both their duty and something they want, and yet the Brigid royal line has no crust? Ditto for Almyra? - crusts are the reasons why nobles act like asses : No, Kleimann offed Lambert not because he was jelly Lambert had a crust, but because he wanted more lands and opposed the King's reforms?)

KT wanted their golden route, but because Supreme Leader is the main thorn to any Golden Route (tfw the person who wants to conquer neighboring lands has to work with the people who don't want to be conquered and are fighting for survival in a war the previous person started :( ) everyone has to ally against a common enemy, and it fell on the CoS (with Dimitri getting the nonsensical Zahras scene) - is it it because Nopes follows an Agarthan narrative, as opposed to FE16 having Billy stand-in for a Nabatean centred narrative?

I still find it hilarious that the Nopes writers bent Dimitri, and, arguably Clout, in bonkers versions of themselves to justify Nopes, but couldn't find a way to, uh, have Supreme Leader realise the Mole People are the biggest threat to the world and the Lizards aren't that evil to begin with, provided you don't try to kill them ; that's why Supreme Bullshit started to be something interesting, Supreme Leader targets the Mole People first, but then it became a traditional Supreme Leader route, erasing the lizards took precedence over everything - even if she knows Uncle and pals are still slithering around since she never caught him - so the second she can become Emperor, she returns to her original plan, not giving a fig about Uncle and hunting Lizards to MAGA.

Compare this to Rhea, in the very same route, at the end, who has to fight against the Empire (who's out for her head) and the Mole People - and Rhea dgaf about the Empire anymore, the biggest threat to Fodlan are the Mole People - she doesn't target/aim/attack Supreme Leader and Barney in the ending cinematic, she flies over them, to defeat the "real" enemy, Thales.

[minimutty]

Minis FE Awakening Blind Playthrough: Chapter 1 (I think?)

Ok! Next chapter we're camping and vibing, and Chrom does the MC thing of just wandering way from camp bc why not. Of course gotta start the plot somehow.

Read More to keep things clean:

Soon after that He and Lissa just encounter Vesuvius randomly and then a large eye-thing appears (it's admittedly pretty cool) and then zombies spawn out of it??? I don't get it it but whatever, its easier than making soldiers and reduces the number of war crimes our MC and blorbos commit ig.

Anyway soon after we meet someone who totally looks like and sounds like Marth, and sh- I mean he saves Lissa and is all like "yea some evil shits gonna happen in a few yall are fucked" and then dips.

The map itself is like 5 guys route zombies. I've played more than enough echoes maps of the exact flavor, so I just whatevered.

We then meet some lady named Sully (idk her) and some kinda creepy flirt archetype named Virion (it's that guy from FEH!). Virion gave me a bad first impression but after playing 6 Fire Emblem games I'm just like whatever. Sully's not my type but she gets some of my respect for punching Virion.

After this map we go to the town, meet their big sister, get lore dumped, and then just dips? More importantly we get access to the supports! Ro- I mean Greebis has a *lot* of supports I can see what ppl mean. Maybe I'm being an FE boomer but I prefer quality over quantity, but eh. I'll deal. My goal rn is the roommate support and whatever lady I'll find relatively tolerable.

Final thoughts: New characters! Lance cav and archer! Don't know who I'll have to main team yet but we'll see. Plot is zombies and creepy blue eye and creepy foreboding stuff. I don't have a big plan for my team or who to train yet, but it's a process

[skeletorsims]

ALICEL, 1892

Not so much a town as a lone homestead out in the plains. Longman Ranch was apparently settled by Dimitry Lace's grandparents; grandparents he has never met. His mother revealed this to him after he had an accident at the mine, moving them out to the isolated land. She spent her last days there, and every passing one Dimitry couldn't help but feel that the story she had told wasn't the whole truth. But she is buried out back now, age and smoke getting to her, and now, he sits alone on the land, visited by the occasional riders; those who settled the land long ago and still enjoy some freedom out in the middle of nowhere along the routes they have taken for generations. Now there is a call to establish a more permeant settlement, a railway is apparently being planed to go through the land and Mr. Lace has graciously opened his home to prospective settlers.

This is my attempt at a Homestead Challenge. I love the prospect of historical gameplay and the challenge! To deal with my own discomfort and lack of lived experience about the treatment of Native Folks during this time, this does not take place in the U.S., and although everything isn't always hunky-dory and this will deal with some more serious themes, I am staying away from things I do not have the experience to speak about or express. Ultimately, I have done a lot of research about the settlements in Wyoming and Montana around this time and the Indigenous people who should rightfully own that land, but don't feel wholly comfortable placing this in a specific place and especially not in the United States which had just very recently to 1890 committed what basically amounts to genocide. It also just isn't very fair due to the limitations of custom content in regards to Indigenous folks!!! This is of course not a slam against anyone else's game, I feel like other challenges have handled this really well! It's just how I prefer to play. ANYWAY that's all to say: this is not in the American West although inspired by it. That does make it irrevocably tied to the gruesome history of the U.S treatment of minority populations, and I will endeavor not to do a disservice to any affected by the United States literal war crimes during this time despite not being specifically tied to the era/place.

PLEASE let me know if there are any tags I should include going forward to make sure folks stay safe and comfortable with the content they see! I will be tagging with the Content Warnings I can think of but please do let me know if I miss anything.