#i’m a fire emblem fan this is normal

[pollyanna-nana]

Look. I know some people are going to want to mail a pipe bomb to my house for three houses discoursing again in 2023-almost-2024 but can we please, for the sake of my goddamn sanity, agree that Edelgard waging war for any reason was objectively bad. “Well it was to oppose the church-“ Starting a war is bad. “The other countries didn’t give in so she had to-“ Starting a war is bad. “Well there was nothing else she could have done-“ Starting. A. War. Is. Bad. There is no possible justification on this planet for doing so that makes it a remotely okay thing to do. It is not a “necessary evil” and I hope people don’t take this mindset into actual real life conflicts happening right now as we speak. Yes she’s hot and cool and interesting but if I see one more person genuinely saying she was 100% correct I’m going to eat glass on live TV.

[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."

[somethingwittyandweird]

What's your favorite game you played this year?

You've activated my “review of my year in gaming” trap card! I was already going to make this post in some form or another, you've just given me the perfect launching point. So, the first thing you should know about asking me for favorites: I never give just one. How could I, when it's been such a banger year of games? (Heads up, this one's going to go long.)

I loved Tears of the Kingdom to death, and it took home my most hours played on Switch. It is a shining example of what devs can do with an extra few months to polish a game. There were so many remarkable moments that testified to how much care and ideas the devs were able to put in. I loved how it used the time since the first game to develop familiar places and characters, adding depth (no pun intended) and also making sure every familiar location had some new twist. The story was a much stronger followup to BotW, and I think this overall has my new favorite ending sequence of anything in the series (I'd love to make a full post sometime about how the final Ganondorf battles just keep getting more spectacular with each new title). I am so, so, so, so normal about this incarnation of Princess Zelda. 

Also in my favorites this year is Fire Emblem Engage, which hit at just the right time to scratch my strategy itch. As a long time FE fan it’s not a surprise I enjoyed this one- though it lost the political intrigue of its predecessor in favor of a more traditional/tropey story, I still had a lot of fun with all its gimmicks and gameplay innovations. Also it is hands-down the most visually appealing game in the franchise, a title previously held by the series’ GBA entries which are masterworks from the peak era of beautiful sprite art. From the incredible crit animations to the spectacle of super attacks to the battle maps which are so beautifully detailed that the game lets you free roam around them after a battle just to appreciate them better. 

I finished the Link’s Awakening remake this year! It was a charming trip back to an older era of Zelda design philosophy and I found it fascinating to compare the ways where the classic puzzles and challenges differ from what the game would be like if it were made today, as well as the places where modern technology allowed for better QoL changes that weren’t in the original. I really enjoyed the music as well, which I find to be a standout among the series still.

Here at the end of the year, I have to give a shout out to Sea of Stars. It has everything you want in an indie darling- very pretty pixel art, very nice music, turn-based battles with timed hits I joke, but Sea of Stars does a great job balancing evoking/paying homage to icons like Chrono Trigger and bringing new gameplay to the JRPG formula. I like its pared-down take on JRPG combat which revamps skills/mana into a much more dynamic resource that’s constantly being spent and regenerated, and I’m a known sucker for character combo attacks which this game has in spades. The later parts of its story are told with a lot of heart, and again I am a known sucker for certain character archetypes. Surprisingly also, I think the movement and exploration is absolutely a standout- not something that’s typically emphasized in the genre. But this game constantly has you hopping across stepping stones, balancing on tightropes, climbing walls and ledges… the emphasis on interesting traversal and verticality is a strength few games like it can boast. 

Before my final pick, I’m including a special section for all the games I didn't play myself but watched my friends play and still want to praise: Hi-Fi Rush, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, Mario Bros Wonder, Pizza Tower, the Minish Cap Switch rerelease, and more all came out this year and all of them have brought killer music, excellent gameplay, and stunning visuals that I’ve enjoyed to no end. Anyone considering to pick up any of them would find a quality product without a doubt.

With all that said: I think ultimately it has to be Tunic in the end. Underneath its premise of a Zelda/Souls-like adventure game there is a wealth of secrets that goes as far down as you have the courage to delve. It’s a game built to evoke nostalgia for games that you didn’t understand yet, posing as a game that you watched an older sibling play or a game you could only find a poorly-translated foreign copy of. It obscures everything and teaches you its secrets through context, exploration, and discovering in-game pages of the manual (remember manuals?). It’s a game made for lovers of secrets and puzzles, full of hidden paths and trophies that reward inquisitiveness and observation (and taking paper notes). It was when I saw that it not only has a conlang, but that it gives you the hints you need to fully translate it, that I knew I had to get it myself. It spurred me to screenshot every in-game piece of menu text, then spend evenings cross-referencing it to identify phonemes and construct a key.

The rush I got on completing that key is one of two moments I knew this game was absolutely special. The second standout moment is when the game teaches you its hugest secret, and then invites you to prove your mastery of it by presenting you a huge, multi-part puzzle. But, Tunic does the same thing that one of my other all-time favorites, Outer Wilds, does so well: powerups via knowledge, “unlocking” abilities that you always had, you just didn’t know that you did. The pieces to this puzzle are hidden in plain sight; it’s only when the game tells you what you’re looking for that your understanding shifts, everything clicks, and your eyes are opened to the path you have to follow. I don’t say it lightly, but I consider Tunic to be a one-of-a-kind title, and one that delivers completely on its unique vision. 

In case that brick of text doesn’t make it clear, I love this game. 

I love all of these games.

It's a fine time to be alive.

[doberbutts]

Speaking of Gamer Bros being mad about games for stupid reasons:

Now that I’ve played some Fire Emblem Engage I’ve gotta say the complaints about the localization being bad and changing things at first I was like “well... maybe...” when I saw contextless images of the changes, but now that I’ve played one of these changed things, uhh...

So this is one that’s cited often, and I get it, because Anna’s a Fire Emblem staple and she’s a known flirt and she’s usually somewhere in her late teens to early twenties and thus the same age as the protagonist, so suddenly removing the overly flirtatious and romantic dialogue in this game feels very off for her character.

Until you play the game and realize that Anna is fucking eleven years old in this iteration and it is dramatically inappropriate that the original dialogue had her doing this.

I do not care that Alear is also a minor at 17, there is no universe where an 11yo and a 17yo should be talking about being lovers and getting married. When I first heard people saying “but they’re both underage so it’s fine” I was like yeah that’s weird if she’s supposed to be like 15 because that’s pretty close in age BUT THEN I played Anna’s paralogue last night and she is repeatedly referred to as a little girl by literally everyone and I looked up her age and she’s fucking eleven.

Listen, I get it, because Anna normally looks like this, and her age is normally about the same or even sometimes just a little older than the protag.

But this is a little kid. And there is absolutely no excuse for such a little girl to be flirting with someone like that. I do not care that the character’s other iterations are usually flirty. They should have aged down someone else if they wanted to keep Anna’s flirts in character rather than do this to appeal to the loli fans.

Which also makes me instantly suspicious of anyone who is complaining about the localization- I’m not saying it’s not completely different from the original dialogue, I am saying that rubbing two brain cells together will tell you why the US localization team took one look at that dialogue and went “nope” so hard they eviscerated her entire characterization.

[noname-nonartist]

SoC was barely released for a month how'd you get burnt out already 😭

I’m sorry! TToTT

I’m not 100% sure either but I think it’s gotta do with how doing the dailies are sort of a bit much for me.

Like Project Sekai dailies are simple for me. “Play” a few songs (aka have it be automated), watch some ads for a few mats, and maybe spend some of my tokens on the event store.

For SoC, the normal dailies are the extra rewards for the mats need to grow ya characters. But there is also the Clash mode, the Tower mode, the Spiral Destiny mode, and the events with time locked stories.

And like. ya also need to play through the levels in those events manually in order to see all the stories. (which after work I’m usually super tired to do that on most days).

And this is also including the main story as well too, since they are separate stories usually. (Yes there is an auto mode for each battle, but ngl. The AI be low key not the brightness and I don’t have enough mats to make my characters stronger. So atm I HAVE to manually play the stages/other modes. There are Sweep mode and the Octopus Can but those are limited)

With Project Sekai. The Event Stories are the continuation of the Main Story. And if I missed it or don’t have enough energy to read/watch them. I can always look it up on YouTube to watch them (or on the game itself but like. I don’t trust the EN translation tbh).

Yes there’s only a limited amount of Auto Plays ya can do a day, but it’s enough for me to do all my dailies consistently without having to do it manually. And the only time I have to play it manually is the Challenge Show Mode. Which isn’t much.

And yes this also means I’m not doing the Co-Op bonus, but like. I’m very neutral towards the battlepass. So I honestly don’t care about that.

And sure I’m not maximizing my mats this way, but as long as I still get a good amount every day. It a-okay to me~

It build up over time too, since I’m not constantly spending them to improve my points/cards upgrades. So like I have a good amount of Mats atm in Project Sekai.

That’s another thing too. The cards building is very easy. Just level the cards up. I don’t really need extra mats to make them necessarily better. Once they are maxed. I can used them to get a bit more points. I don’t have to get a weapon nor gear to make them “stronger”. I just stuff them with music sheets and Bam! Done!

Basically. Project Sekai gameplay be more lax than SoC. Which isn’t Bad! Again I LOVE SoC GAMEPLAY! I was a Hugeeee Fire Emblem Awakening Fan back in my days! (And the characters be pretty compelling to me so far too!)

I just. Tend to get tired mentally from work (especially since it’s been super stressful this past two months) and so I don’t have enough energy to do all the dailies nor story progression. ;v;

(Plus whenever I play SoC for at least an hour my phone start heating up)

Sure I’m still am drawing somewhat consistently (I try and get something somewhat presentable once a week, but that’s due to art inspiration hitting super hard that I gotta draw it out)

But that’s usually during my weekends. So I’m not drawing everyday like I’m doing with these mobile games. Ya feel me? •3•;

I hope that explains things! TwT/

[fe-fictions]

Just a gentle PSA...

Please do not spam requests or ask if I’ve received a certain one. I have almost certainly received it, if not multiple times. It’s been a while since Tumblr’s eaten any requests! So safe to say if you’ve sent it, I have it. 

If it hasn’t been done yet it’s because I’m not interested in writing that particular prompt, or I am interested but I haven’t gotten to it yet, or I have started it and just haven’t finished it yet!

Please remember that the vast majority of these stories I am re-writing or making new ones of are free. I am not being paid or compensated to write these stories unless I’m commissioned, and even then the commission prices are heavily discounted from what a normal writer should be charging. (For example, a 10 page story commission should average around $100. I charge $15.)

I write these stories for your and my enjoyment! And as I have less and less time to write them, it takes longer to crack them out. 

There may come a time where I stop writing altogether, but for now, so long as I am able, have the inspiration and motivation, and have the time to put together a story for you all, I’m going to keep it rolling!

Getting constantly badgered about one or two specific stories is very rude and adds a lot of pressure, it makes me not want to write that story specifically because I feel like I’m being hounded into writing it.

Much like with daily or hourly requests about commission statuses... these stories take more than a week to write at times!

Please just be patient with me. This is just a fun free project that I want to do with you all as fellow Fire Emblem fans ;; U ;; / 

[factorialsotherfandoms]

Hi! I just found your qsmp xcom au and I’m absolutely in love. I’ve been a fan of the game for years now and I’ve always thought it would make a good au but very rarely found fics of it, especially for a fandom I actually know and enjoy :) The way you write pac and mike especially is just so. Aaaaaaaa! If I didn’t already like them I surely would by now. I’ve actually been inspired by your au to try writing one for my own mcyt fandom, and I was wondering if you had any advice for doing a playthrough? I like to consider myself decent at the game, but I’m certainly not an expert. If there’s any settings you’d recommend or tricks to making the game more easily translated into fic I’d love to hear it!

Ah hi! Hello! Someone who has also played it!!! I definitely have an utterly normal and reasonable number of hours in this game

I'm really glad you enjoy it! And lmao I've enjoyed Pac and Mike for a while, but it really was in writing them for the au that they took over my brain. Kinda wish I had more with them, as I'm kinda trying to ration myself so I still have more them-focused stuff to write later, you know? It's a silly-huge project as, well, you know how little of the canon plot I've managed to actually write in the 100,000+ words (minus notes file) so far ^^;

Oh that'd be cool! I don't know so many of them, but yeah! It'd be really neat to see more (I recently got into Ordem and I keep having to slap myself from starting another au ^^;). It's... actually the second one I did, funnily enough - years ago I also had a Fire Emblem: Fates one going but err... Well I might have been a dumbass and written straight to ao3 drafts so I lost everything but some sketches for that.

Advice wise... I mean the main one is play it on the settings you enjoy? It is a long game, especially if like me you have DLC on when you play. Potentially longer still depending on if you mod it or not.

This is just some rambling I guess.

Do you want to deal with character death? If no, play it on an easier setting. If yes, play it on a harder one. Feel free to save-scum away as needed! Theoretically save scumming on harder still means no death but higher injury rate, but I'm bad enough at the game that happens whenever

Similarly, are you thinking more plot or more true to gameplay? If like me you're story more than accuracy when writing, and have the correct stuff installed to, consider increasing the avatar project counter and turn limits. It gives you more flexibiltiy to do non-optimal but amusing things. Like me not letting Pac and Mike split up, or making Philza occasionally running off like he's a ranger instead of anything sensible for a specialist to be doing.

Make a list of all the characters in your fandom in advance, even if you think you won't need it. You will thank me when you're 50 missions in, having to use this random major you picked up from a scan 3 days ago, and you're sat on the party loadout screen desperately trying to remember who you haven't used yet so you can customise them.

Take notes. No, more notes than that - I took what I thought were good notes, and still find myself wanting more details. This was actually easier on my old laptop where loading back to the ship after each mission took 35 minutes as I could type proper mini reports on my phone in that time. This... did not happen this time oops. My notes are a mess. The ones I published are the *tidied* ones.

That said, if something would work better for plot reasons? Just change it. You're writing a story once you sit down to write, and sometimes RNG sucks for that. Different character should have been shot for drama? Someone else should get to kill one of the Chosen as you linked their backstory in? Want more Avatars and them to be a bigger deal chatty wise? Just go for it.

What, if any, details from the original universe do you want to bring over? For me this was an after playing it thing, but it's worth thinking about. For example, do you want to keep potions, or are you using medkits? In the former case, how does that intersect with the worldbuilding? For QSMP working out how the eggs came in was one of the hardest bits, but I knew I both wanted them and didn't just want to make them units. Wanting the eggs and deciding they were ADVENT experiments (well Federation here) also influenced who went on missions. I didn't assign which eggs where (beyond Memory, A1, and Trump) until later, but I made sure that for all eggs with a combatant parent said parent went on at least one facility or chosen base mission. The exception to this is actually Tilin, as Luzu comes into the plot later (see my note about make a damned list of characters lmao), and both Quackities are non-com.

Actually that wise, the biggest question is what you do about the Commander, and their importance in getting through and into the final mission. For me, I'm using the eggs for that. For you? Who knows.

Are you doing fics before and after and off mission? If yes er I knew it'd be a big project but it spiralled out of control on me oops. Also… its not something that tends towards main characters, but you're unlikely to be able to truly keep it ensemble. Make sure to bring at least one fave on important missions, otherwise it'll suck to write them.

Maybe have a think about some character stuff before you start? Not everyone, unless you're like that, but having an idea for at least your favourites and plot-relevant people helps. Are you replacing Central, Shen, and Tygan with people from your fandom? Then you need to not use the people you replace them with as units. What about the chairman? (Early story for me his job is being done partially by Cellbit, then he's written out entirely later on). Are there specific classes you want people as? Less important for the first four, but something like PsiOps takes a bit of arranging. Are you willing to wait for the GTS for them, or are you fighting RNG? Are there any specific introductions you want? What does this need? (I knew I wanted Pac and Mike not to be there at the start of the game - I should write that huh - and their entrance to be dramatic. This meant I had to wait for an appropriate mission before I could adjust units and 'recruit' them. I actually had them premade and classed using the GTS, just not being used until I got a good mission for them. This ended up being... Well, if I write it people will see. It's on the to do list, but I need followup from the first Avatar kill first. Adjust where you need to of course, but it's easier to adjust something that already has the vibes).

If you premake your units, it doesn't necessarily remember your class preferences, and also it'll populate the long list of units you can buy before the units from say scanning or mission rewards. I just customised mine after i got them, but this does mean that my screenshots from the very first mission aren't usable (and in my notes I wrote using default names then fixed them). The first 4 characters are always 1 of each class, but I've yet to find a way to force them into specific classes. Consider that.

You will find yourself filling in worldbuilding and plot gaps. I'm sorry. I was adding stuff with bond mechanics (most of which i dropped) and

As for what I played on err... rookie (I can play up to hard, but am squishy and didn't want MCD to handle), double length avatar project (could fuck around), variable grenade damage on (I just like it), tutorial off (Jane Kelly was going to spoil all my character balancing, though I've still made reference to that mission in places), Lost&Abandoned on (I wanted a normal set of 4 to start and also already knew Bagi and Walter Bob were taking those roles), extended mission timer (see the messing about note)... basically I put it on the chillest settings possible so I could worry about in-character type stupidity rather than the complexities of the missions. Someone did frag someone at least once, though. Can't remember who, but it happened.

Um... Okay brain ran out. If you have questions ask away? I definitely have a brain today kinda honest. Also I played this back in like September so memory is a bit patchy, but see the note about considering doing another in another fandom lmao.

[sucker-for-shifters]

For Day 11 of GtWAC:

Reblog a fic that gave you an emotional reaction.

~~~

(I'd say "Wick's End" again, but I've already said that a lot/going to say it again later on, so I'm limiting myself to 3 times. Regardless, READ THE FIC. READ THE COMICS. IT'S AMAZING.)

Anywho, THIS FIC from @miniature-knight. I’m not normally a Fire Emblem fan, but OUGH. This changed my brain chemistry when I read it. Heck, I think this is one of the first things that got me into G/T in the first place!

The portrayal of all of the characters. The lore descriptions done in such a way that even a non-FE fan like myself gets invested. Hell, especially how the relationship between Sylvain and the other characters is portrayed! Old fic be damned, I find myself coming back to this again and again, and each time, I’m hit with that same wave of just raw emotion.

[teaveetamer]

The more I learn about Edelstans, the more I'm starting to be really put off by 3del and BE as a whole. It's hard to enjoy them when those stans like them too. I feel sick being comparable to them in any way. The thought of being lumped in with them because CF is my fave too makes me nauseous.

CF is a poorly executed villain route but just the option of being a bad guy in the game is a fun treat I'm weak for. For them to go so far just to deny villains and villainous things for what they really are out of some sense of insecurity or purity clout high or deranged delusions of protecting a clump of pixel resembling a rich white girl is sucking out all the fun.

I just want to be clear: It is absolutely okay for you to like or dislike something for whatever reason you want. If you don’t like Dimitri because of his stupid noodle hair, it’s whatever. If you like Edelgard because you wanna fuck ladies with big axes, have at it.

If you like Edelgard then I am not going to automatically assume you are like these people, and I have absolutely no interest in following you, reblogging you, harassing you, invading your private spaces, or anything else. Source: The fact that I’ve literally had this blog for three years and AFAIK the only time I’ve actually reblogged Edelikers who weren’t directly harassing people is when they were improperly using the tagging system to bash characters. Because that’s just bad etiquette and makes the site worse for everyone.

I know this might shock any casual bystanders to this blog, but I have had more than civil conversations with plenty of people who like Edelgard. I’ve even been friends with some of them! Crazy, I know. I am well aware that not everyone who likes this character is this unhinged. I respect the normal fans and they respect me, and we either don’t talk about it or we just have a discussion and respectfully move on after it’s over.

That’s just? Basic human decency? Basic respect for your fellow man?

What’s going on here is SO far beyond anything relating to the game itself. This is beyond any petty fandom argument. That’s why when I talk about this situation I try to focus on what certain people are doing, not what opinions they have about the game.

I think the saddest thing is that the kinds of people who run/participate in a server like that have fostered an environment of fear in the Fire Emblem community. If they’re willing to escalate every confrontation and blatantly lie and slander and bully and harass other people, why wouldn’t you be next if you step out of line? With friends like that, who even needs enemies?

Anon, I’m sorry that something you held special was tainted like this. I hope some day we can all move on from this dark period in the FE Fandom, laugh at the absurdity of it all, and enjoy the things about 3H that made it special to us without all of the baggage.

[arkus-rhapsode]

Sometimes I wonder if I hyperfixate on fire emblem given the fact that’s one of my favorite video game franchises. And I wonder if I’m not normal to the average fan or have obsessive tendencies.

But then I see the actual discourse and topics of stuff like reddit or FEtube, I realize “oh wait, I actually enjoy this series a completely normal amount compared to this.”

[beantothemax]

My favorite fire emblem ship is me x Seteth and my second favorite fire emblem ship is me x Lorenz and my third favorite fire emblem ship is me x Marianne. I am so normal about mentally ill bitches and obnoxious men. Did you know I really like mentally ill characters? I'm a huge fan of Castti and Osvald as well. They have a few things in common with Marianne, like their mental health issues. And Lorenz is so annoying. Maybe he should stop talking and gimme a big ol' smooch instead. And Seteth is so silly. He should be my best friend or bf. Both work. Me and Marianne and Seteth and Lorenz should hold hands. I do not have 3 hands so as a compromise then Lorenz will hold Marianne's free hand. We will be besties together. We'll have tea and talk about the state of the economy and flowers and animals and fables and drawing and politics and religion and Idk what else was correct dialog options during tea time. I remember a lot though. Bean I am so normal about this game can you tell.

I’m gathering that you like three houses a little

[oworasmodasus]

More lmk x fairy tail au!!!!! okay so I’m still working on it honestly haven’t scratched the surface yet but, some info on redson and mei here ya go!

(Also I’m gonna change Redson hair I dislike this style on him… and I’m gonna change up meis hair a little too)

Redson has fire maker magic and archive magic he usually uses his fire maker magic for combat along with it being apart of their body and such so bro really makes it apart of their daily life when he isn’t doing combat he’s doing strategy! His archive magic comes in handy with this! Assistanting his guild mates and learning more with these awesome spells!

Redson originally came from another guild called Demonic Bull guild, he was born and raised there but he ends up leaving after the guild is disbanded due to wagering a war with FFM guild if you don’t know what that means it means FLOWER FRUIT MOUNTAIN, anyway, he only ends up joining due to Sun wukong (guild master of FFM) guiding him to a brighter path(yes this is a reference and connection to gajeel and master mockorave ….I can’t spell these names bro…) he soon joins the guild in hopes that maybe he can be more useful to his guild mates and make amends, I should add that he has a form called Furious fire bull, which is like a more powerful combat form that he only uses when he knows he may not be strong enough to win a battle normally, he learned it from his mother princess iron fan who has a form Called furious wind bull who also uses wind magic btw but I think that was pretty obvious…

Next mei! I don’t have much on Mei YET but i will say that she comes from a rich family who she decided to rebel against due to feeling out of place and unwanted and trapped joining a guild without help from her families finances, the guild she joins is FFM! She also ends up meeting Mk there, Mei is a dragon slayer but she has no recollection of meeting the dragon who trained her, all she knows is that they were family and that she was small when she was trained to be one. I’m not sure what I want to name meis dragon powers I was thinking sea dragon? Or maybe ….green..dragon..? Ughhh yeah as I said mei is still being worked on 😭 mei has a dragon force form obvi usually every dragon slayer does but uhhh she only learns how to use it after battling Redson in a 1v1 during the war between demonic bull and FFM I also have to work on what I’ll do with the samadhi fire cause rn I dunno…it’s definitely gonna combine with her dragon slayer magic but for now I have no idea… OHHHH one last thing! Mei is an S class wizard and also the tattoos on her back other than her guild emblem are representing the samadhi fire and her family crest (I think that’s what you’d call it) okay I’m so sleepy good night that’s all I got for now!

[nowis-scales]

Fire Emblem 17 Playthrough… Engage!

Okay Engage’s opening song is like so aggressively anime that it has crossed into like, corny territory and even I can’t like… it’s just cheese, y’all, but the cute kind you laugh at

I wrote this at the time but it absolutely has grown on me and now I jam out to it quite happily lol

Went for casual and normal again this time, because it’s my usual game mode. I could try for a harder one later on a replay, but we’ll see!

Also I called my Alear “Pepper” because I find I just can’t do memey names, so I was thinking along the lines of “Pepsi”, but I think Pepper is such a cute name so I chose that.

Talk about an animation upgrade! Timerra looks awesome! She’s still my favourite character I’ve seen so far. Still so pretty. I’m perpetually begging IntSys for more WOC in FE, especially if they’re going to do skin tones as well as they did for Timerra. I love her, Petra, and Flavia, so I’d love to see what else they can do. Plus, we always need more good rep for WOC! They’re terribly overlooked in the FE series.

Marth you have a wife???

The fact that this guy over here was talking about like, the inevitability of Pepper being no more than like, gum on his shoe gets a lot cooler when you realize his weapon is called “Obscurity”. He’s literally going to try and push us into it.

They weren’t kidding. That Engage sure can anime.

Wait, Pepper gets a new outfit when she merges?! That’s so great! Having been a Fairy Tail fan back in my early teens, I can’t help but be reminded of Lucy’s star dresses!

[gamersonthego]

GOTG Review: Mutant Year Zero

This is the next game in my Backlog Roulette series, where each month I spin a wheel to randomly select a game on my massive backlog that I must play (though not necessarily to completion). These wheel spins occur on the monthly preview episodes I co-host with my friends on The Casual Hour podcast.

I can’t remember the last time I shouted “oh, fuck off” as often as I did during my last Mutant Year Zero play session. 

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, the 2018 breakout turn-based tactical shooter from Swedish developer The Bearded Ladies Consulting, fools you into thinking you control the battlefield when in reality, the deck is eternally stacked against you. 

If you’ve read or listened to any content from Gamers on the Go before, you’ll know I love this genre. Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, Super Robot Wars, XCOM, Into The Breach, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars (a criminally overlooked launch title for the 3DS) — these are the kinds of games where I feel most at home. But being a big fan of a genre can be a double-edged sword, because now I’m pretty particular about what makes a good one of these. 

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars was way better than it had any right to be.

Mutant Year Zero has some cool ideas, but it’s not "a good one of these." Your ragtag group of mutants — a pig man named Bormin, a duck man named Dux and a…normal lady who sometimes kind of has nature powers named Selma (you do get a couple more recruits over the course of the story) — are Stalkers, a group of capable hunters and scavengers keeping humanity’s last bastion of hope, the Ark, from the brink of collapse. Complicating this are Ghouls, who roam the post-apocalyptic Zone outside of the Ark, looking to bring the whole thing down. And you need to use your cunning and strategy to stop them while also finding Eden, a place that may be a salvation for the ruined world. 

And therein lies my problem with Mutant Year Zero: my cunning just can’t make up for the amount of ways the game demands to fuck you over. One of the big selling points of MYZ is how you can explore areas in free roam until you or an enemy locks eyes and starts combat. This gives you an opportunity to pick up resources scattered around the environments or listen to your characters talk about the current events of the plot (which mostly involves Dux asking “isn’t this all kinda weird?” and Bormin saying “yeah, but shut the fuck up anyway,") but most importantly, it allows you to scout and position your units to ambush enemies for the next skirmish. 

A snipe like this is the coolest the game gets, but it's nothing you haven't done a million times before in XCOM.

There’s something satisfyingly cool about posting my sniper up in an elevated position, then getting my tanky boar behind some cover down low to rush in and finish the job so that the enemies never know what hit them. This isn’t perfunctory either, as MYZ rewards you for being patient, doing a stealthy sweep of the area and even picking off a handful of stragglers with silenced weapons before it’s time to go loud and mop up whoever’s left. It’s a great system…when it works. But too often, engaging with these mechanics is a tedious or even impossible pain in the ass. 

Tactical games all hinge on information. When you have information available to you, you can make smarter, more strategic decisions that let you take down bigger or stronger enemies. For example, in Into The Breach, you are given perfect information about exactly what each enemy is going to do on their turn even before their turn has started. So it’s up to you to find the best way of mitigating or redirecting their damage to protect your units and the city. Fire Emblem lets you turn on enemy range indicators so you can bait out some enemy attacks one at a time while avoiding the wrath of a full army. XCOM does hide enemies in a fog of war that are too far away, keeping you from getting the full picture of a battle, but it’s easy to scan around the field and position your units to make the best of what you have. Mutant Year Zero however routinely makes it difficult to know what you’re up against until it's much too late.

The first area you're in is a dense, dark forest. Then you get to this snowy area with so much crap on the ground that you can't really see anything effectively. And the zoomed out camera isn't doing you any favors.

The environments are incredibly dark, with plenty of debris to further block your view. Enemies have vision rings around them, but they don’t appear until you’re very close to them, making it nigh impossible to know if picking off this close enemy is going to provoke and enemy much further away. And there’s no map (mini or otherwise) to help you get a lay of the land. You do get a compass at the top of the screen that tells you where your objective’s destination is, as well as the direction of nearby enemies, but enemies also move around, and there’s no way to tag them to better keep track of where they go. But the worst of the issue of the bunch is an oppressively locked isometric camera that doesn’t ever seem to give you good sight lines of where you're going or what's out there. You can’t plan around what you can’t see, which often leads to your attempted ambushes getting ambushed themselves as more enemies you couldn’t detect come out of the woodwork to oppose you.

To make matters worse, even if you are able to fully scout out an area, there aren’t many opportunities to clear out those stragglers before the big firefight, even though that is kind of the game’s central thesis. Even when you do find them (which takes a significant amount of time, both with the game’s glacial walk speed, and waiting forever for enemies to get into the right position on their patrol path), the enemies in these situations can often take more than one round of combat from your stealth weapons, leaving them in a position to call in backup and/or retaliate with an attack of their own. But more often than not, enemies will be found in stubbornly stationary pairs, which further complicates your goal of a silent execution to remove a threat from the board. Why would they make a core tenet of their game so difficult to achieve? I don’t have a good answer for you, but it leads to a lot of standing around waiting for a plan to fail, only so you can reload and wait even longer for it to fail in a slightly different way.

Be ready to see this screen a lot.

Once the bullets do start flying, you’ll find yourself at a disadvantage almost immediately. Your attack ranges are painfully short, while the enemy seems to be able to take shots at baffling distances. Even when you do have a shot, good luck hitting anything. While MYZ certainly has some XCOM: Enemy Unknown influences — especially in its UI which will feel instantly familiar — one of the ways it tries to simplify is in its hit percentages. MYZ only deals in percentages of 100, 75, 50, 25 or 0. It all makes for a lot of missing, especially on your overwatch shots, leading to many wasted turns of missing, followed by more wasted turns of reloading your weapons. Meanwhile, a Pyro enemy is tossing molotovs at you like they were going out of style, and you’ll find yourself loading up your last save time and time again, leading to further frustration. I knocked the difficulty down to its easiest setting, and still routinely found myself in impossible, or brutally attrition-filled situations, and this is a style of game I feel pretty comfortable with!

It’s not quite all negative. The characters have pretty enjoyable personalities, both in their aesthetics and their mechanics, each with a unique skilltree of mutant abilities you’ll unlock over time (Bormin’s knockdown tackle is a personal favorite since it gave me another crucial stealth damaging tool, incapacitating a target long enough to follow up with two or more shots from my other characters, stealthily finishing the job.) And while the quantity of weapons in the game is low, the variety within that small set is very nice, with a number of distinct firearms with added abilities like knockdown or incendiary rounds. You can also find armor out in the world, which will cosmetically be displayed on your characters during play (I gave a top hat to Dux, not just for the increased damage buff it gives him while on elevated terrain, but also just because it looked dapper.)

It's a good hat! But also, this is a 75% shot? From my sniper character? Give me a break.

But those niceties don’t make up for the molasses walk speed, poor autosaves, murky environments and painfully inaccurate weapons, which all combine to make for an experience that is equal parts exhausting and annoying, even in a game that’s as short as 10-15 hours. The Bearded Ladies new game, Miasma Chronicles looks like a big improvement to many of my MYZ complaints: The environments are cleaner, better lit and easier to both navigate and survey, which could make a huge difference in my enjoyment if I play it.

But Miasma Chronicles is not the game my backlog wheel landed on, Mutant Year Zero is. And I can't help but feel extremely disappointed. I’d heard many good things, and had often thought about playing it even before my backlog game required it. But unfortunately, a few fun ideas isn’t enough for it to rank in a genre packed with other excellent titles. 

[cuddly-asexual]

My Thoughts on FE Engage

Aight I had all this sitting in a google doc for a while and now that I’ve sat on this for a while I figured I could share what I think about this game. I have A LOT of thoughts so buckle up. These are all just my personal opinions and I’m not some kind of Maddening/Classic player that is gonna analyze how the game is balanced or anything. Spoilers for the whole game btw.

Overall

In general, I definitely enjoyed this game. I think if Fates was only one route then it would honestly be pretty similar to this one.

Game play is fun, characters are amusing, if a bit flat in some cases (but honestly I was a little surprised with some of them). The story is kinda lacking, but some aspects of it were fun and even interesting.

Most of my gripes from this game come from me thinking about cool shit it totally had the set up and then it not doing anything with those cool things. Lots of missed opportunities for a game that has so many references to older games in the franchise.

I do think this game is a step down from three houses in terms of characters and story tho

I played in English with the Japanese audio and wow I’m not very happy with the translation. They leave out a lot of things and even change characterization pretty drastically in some cases (Louis’ “people watching” and Amber/Diamant’s entire support chain as a few examples). The English dub is pretty solid from what I’ve heard though

I didn’t really think about graphics or art design much with this game, but I will say the discrepancies between the in-game and rendered cut scene models was insane (I don’t mean quality, like these characters just look different). Also Sombron’s model was ugly as fuck. Also lots of clipping and also sometimes only one eye would move on a character and that was always a little jarring

Gameplay

Kinda hard to fuck up the basic gameplay in a fire emblem game tbh

My main gripe is that the difficulty difference between “normal” and “hard” is fucking insane. Hard is pretty fuckin’ infuriating, but normal is piss easy, I really needed an in-between difficulty there.

Also it’s really hard to grind characters if you leave them for too long since the skirmishes scale with your main story chapter (I know this is more similar to older games but I got used to being able to grind all my characters okay :p)

I miss the crit cut-ins :(

There’s so much shit to do in the Somniel it’s kind of overwhelming and a bit tedious after a few chapters

No weapon durability, which I personally enjoy

I don’t think the soundtrack is anything special, but there are definitely some cool tracks that I like a lot esp near the end of the game

POG you can be gay with everyone

Emblems

Aight let’s get the big boys out of the way

I LOVE the emblem mechanic. I think it’s super fun and creative. It adds another layer of customization to your units and the nostalgia factor is not lost on me either

Visually I think engaging is super fun, love that the outfits are a version of the emblem’s and the cool hair colors

I think inheriting skills from emblems is a super neat thing, esp if you have a unit that works well with multiple emblems (grinding SP is kind of a chore tho)

INSANE that they wrote three part supports for every character with every emblem, they’re fun I like that you can learn about the emblem and what game they’re from in all of those

I think their choice of characters for each emblem mostly made sense, there were definitely some choices that made me go ???, but I’m fine with them and I’m glad they tried to balance out the genders since a lot of fe lords are dudes

Emblem ring polishing really fucking weird, don’t like the sounds they make oh god, I avoided that shit like the plague

Classes

Big fan of the way they do classes in this game! Rather than weapon proficiency determining what class you can turn into, the class you pick determines your weapon proficiency (for example as a high priest you get access to B rank tomes, B rank fists and S rank staves)

You get weapon proficiencies from using emblems as well, and you gotta use the specific emblem that gives you that proficiency

The classes aren’t as customizable as they are in three houses, but there is more customization than in older games. For most martial classes you can pick what weapon they specialize in (paladins, hero, berserker, etc)

Because of the way weapon proficiencies work your access to better weapons is a little more sparse since they don’t want you buying silver weapons for everyone at level 10, I think they pace it pretty well tho

YEAH BOY THEY BROUGHT BACK THE AWAKENING 2ND SEAL TRICK

Some of the outfits for classes are kinda... (looking at you sage and warrior)

Kinda crazy that all the royals have their own special class. I like it for flavor obvi, but it’s funny since they’re a big chunk of your playable characters

Maps

Pretty good in general

I think some more variety in winning conditions would have been fun, almost all of them were “Defeat enemy commander” and then there were two “Escape” maps. The last 5 chapters or so all did something fun so I’m not too beat up about it really

Lotta dark maps on this one, more than we’ve had in a while I think

Mostly a me thing, but I’m mad you can’t rotate the map 360 degrees anymore

FUCK CHAPTER 17 UGH

THE EMBLEM TRIALS ARE SO FUCKING COOL OH MY GOD, maps that look like iconic maps from their original game?? Dude fire emblem fans are EATING (don’t even get me started on the music remixes AOUGH)

The last level is piss easy if you’re over leveled and I think it makes it less impactful because you can skip the fun unit thing it has set up

Combat

The addition of Break and Smash mechanics was pretty neat, I think they made the combat a little more dynamic

Weapon advantages matter even more now since you can break an enemy with them

Smash is cool since you can wack enemies around the map, I will say tho, you often do so much damage with the great weapons that you often kill the unit before even pushing them

Also depending on the unit, the fact that you have to tank a hit first can deter you from using them

Somniel

There’s so much shit going on on the Somniel and thankfully you can skip a decent chunk, but it does get more monotonous than three houses I think since you go back a lot more often

I wish there was a thing i could click that would gather all the items lying around for me, I’m lazy, make Sommie do it

Characters

I was pleasantly surprised with the characters in this game. I was expecting more of them to be boring and one note, but there’s a surprising amount of depth with some of these guys. Depth that was not shared equally mind you, but it’s there.

This game has a bigger cast than it needs I think, but it’s not bloated like Fates.

Supports/Interpersonal Dynamics

This is also a story flaw that I’ll get into later, but there’s not really any interpersonal conflict going on in this game, everyone’s pretty nice to each other and where it would make sense for there to be conflict there is none (and sometimes there’s random superficial conflict that doesn’t need to be there, read: white bitches being racist to Fogado)

I’m not saying I need characters to hate each other, but there’s very little character growth or reflection going on. Like the game makes a point to show you that each of the four kingdoms have very different values and ethics, so you’d think that would come up more, but tbh it only really does with the crown royals and their supports

Also Alcryst having beef with Ivy, but not Hortensia was a choice

I also think more people should have been upset with Veyle, like I think it would have been cool to see them have to overcome their feelings since the evil Veyle was quite literally someone else and they had to come to terms with that in some way.

Instead it all comes from Veyle being like “oh god I’m so sorry please let me atone somehow” when literally everyone is like “oh no sweat we’re chill”

EVERYONE IS OBSESSED WITH ALEAR PLEASE GIVE ME ONE PERSON THAT DOESN’T LIKE THEM IMMEDIATELY. AAAAAAA

Yo why doesn’t Alear act like they’re from a thousand years ago

Story

Setting

The world is pretty typical for a fire emblem game I think. You got a handful of kingdoms, one is kinda evil-ish, one is super peaceful and there’s probably a trade based, “free” kingdom, and another one rolled at random on a list of kingdoms, in this case one that’s obsessed with strength.

3 of the 4 kingdoms are allies/neutral and of course it’s just the “evil” kingdom picking fights, which I think is kinda stale esp since they’ve been at peace for a while. Not saying there needs to be a war or anything I just want more political intrigue and tension

Elyos has also been ruled by dragon gods since forever, never elaborated?? Where did normal people come from? Were they the same?

I’d love to learn more about what happened during those thousand years tbh

Also what was the world like a thousand years ago? I wanna know more about Gradlon, did people live there? How was Sombron as a king? What about the mage dragons?

Plot

There’s not much in the plot of this game that sets it apart from older fire emblem games

Like a good chunk of plot beats are very similar if not exactly the same as fates

MC is dragon child with mysterious past and everyone loves them immediately

Mom dies in your arms by jumping in front of something purple to save you within the first 5 chapters thrown by a hooded figure

You fight a resurrected version of your mom who is now a little evil and actively obstructing you

Evil kingdom king was controlled by evil dragon

You turn out to be the child of the evil dragon

Evil dragon is some bitch from another world

The antagonists are pretty comically evil until they die and then the game tries to redeem them or make them seem like round characters, but I don’t think you really get enough of that side for any of them. And it’s not like the pacing felt rushed, you were definitely just dicking around in there for a few chapters in the middle, those could have been used to flesh out the antags

They faked you out and made you think Alear was evil in the past, but oops nah he was nice then too

It was pretty obvious from the beginning that you were Sombron’s kid, and Veyle’s sibling, her evil reveal was pretty neat tho

Chapters 21, 22 and 24 went hard I will say. They had a lot of cool shit happen in there and even some stuff I wasn’t expecting! I’m still mad Alear wasn’t evil

COME ON SOMBRON’S FROM ANOTHER WORLD? AND HE’S JUST EVIL CUZ HE WAS A PISSY LONELY BITCH THAT MISSED HIS GHOST BF

Last level was equal parts cool and disappointing. I guessed correctly that Sombron would bring all the past antags as emblems which GOD IS SO FUCKING COOL, but they’re just like generic hooded figures which is so LAME. Like come on you’ve already put in this much to have a nod to the older games you can make a few more assets :/

Fell Xenologue Thoughts

Gonna be real I liked this vibe a little more than the main game’s vibe. No dlc is worth the money, but I at least didn’t regret buying this one.

Also the plot made me more emo than it should have gonna be real

THE FUCKING MUSIC GOES SO HARD. They only added a handful of tracks but they all slap

All the extra writing they did for the royals when they meet themselves or a retainer holy shit dude, some of those hurted

Setting

The setting is much more grimdark in this (as much as this game can be anyway). Just having conflict baked into the world does a lot for the vibe

The world is very bleak and filled with animosity, grief and pain but also those who would try to persevere despite that

Very fun seeing all the vibe swapped kingdoms even if they were quite superficial. Love the mirrored map too

Plot

Aight I think one of the themes for this dlc was love and aaaa I think that’s so sweet

Familial love between Nel & Nil/Rafal + Four Winds

Romantic love between Nel and her divine dragon

The distinct changes in the relationships between all the royal sibling duos I think also kinda focuses on the lack of familial love they share in this world vs your world

Also just how Rafal has just been searching for validation and meaning (i.e. love) and not getting it through his thick skull that everyone around him love him until the end

The twist villain was fun, I saw it coming, but not cuz the game was obvious I’m just too genre savvy (in fact I think a little foreshadowing could have been cool)

I think the Nel evil fake out was cool, but it was resolved way too fast, esp because they teased it in the trailer, but didn’t really go anywhere with it

I really liked the ending!

Nel saying she knew Rafal replaced Nil all along but still grew to care about him all the same

Nel saying she can’t bare to lose another sibling so instead she’d die to take Rafal’s pain away

Rafal refusing to let Sombron’s “curse” on the dragon stone dictate his actions. He was a shitter all of his own choice, he doesn’t regret it and he’d do it again

Not getting to tell Nel his true name before she died

Saying he’ll stay with her for a thousand years until she wakes up

Alear saying they are invited to come over to his world and Rafal in response saying no, but also that 1000 years is a long time so maybe that could change

THEM BEING THE LAST TWO PEOPLE ALIVE IN THIS WORLD

I get why, but I wish we didn’t get Nel and Rafal as units, because after having that whole emo ass see you later and knowing Alear has to wait 1000 years to see them again is so bittersweet, but then you literally get them back after the end credits because whoops I guess time moves differently there now

Characters

I like the dragon siblings a lot actually. They have interesting personalities and their dynamic is insane, especially after the thousand years when Rafal was able to reflect.

The other three however, Zelestia, Gregory and Madeline, I don’t like that much

They essentially took these villains who had fun quirks and were somewhat interesting, but sanitized them and made them SUPER boring.

I get what the devs were trying to do. They made the villains sympathetic and then created a way for you to have them on your team in some capacity. The thing is, these three are so different they are basically different characters, so it doesn’t even fulfill that want

Added on the fact that they don’t have supports with anyone outside of their squad so we don’t even get to see what other character’s reactions are to seeing people who look like the Four Hounds but aren’t them (not that there was much of a reaction anyway since according to Madeline they were all welcomed easily)

I think they should have just found a way to redeem the Four Hounds OR bring their other world counterparts but have the other world counterparts be more or less the same, but maybe fighting on the “good” side still with the dragon sibs

As for the personality swapped royals, I found some of them quite interesting like Alfred, Celine, Hortensia and Diamant. Alcryst was also fun but he was just quite literally a true opposite to himself. Fogado was fun but WHY was he like that. The game doesn’t tell me soooo. Timerra and Ivy were just funny, I’m sorry.

I think what they should have done is instead of just trying to make everyone a true opposite (still not over the Timerra being vegetarian and hating music) they should have taken one important part of the character and changed it, but then kept everything else the same.

Take Timerra. Keep the fact that she’s more stoic and less flexible in this world but maybe she still loves music, but doesn’t have time for it or it has less priority in her life

Stuff I Think Would Be Neat

This is just my “oh what if they did this?” section, it doesn’t really have much to do with my opinion on the game

I think if evil emblems talked this game would have been so fuckin juicy. Like you have fused with these people, they know everything about you, if they were evil they could tear you apart and I think that’s fuckin metal. I just want Marth to be evil and mean as a treat

Past Alear being actually evil would have been super interesting, esp if after dying a second time they only retained their evil memories and briefly turned on their allies

EVEN BETTER: if they made it a gameplay mechanic! Like Alear is red and fighting on the enemy phase

I think limiting the units you have on each map on the xenologue to the relevant royals and retainers would be good too. Since everyone is a default class anyway you don’t lose anything and it invites you to get all the special dialogue with the royals and retainers

And that’s all! If you made it all the way through this, wow thank you for reading all of my rambles. I really love the fire emblem franchise and even if this game wasn’t the best I still enjoyed myself while I played it. Until next time!

[shy-peacock]

I would love to see Rayamaari in an Hogwarts AU, with Raya gryffyndor and Namaari Slytherin (but rated E because yes)

I wouldn’t do rated E with them as students. So here’s-…whatever this is *tosses* also I know VERY little about hogwarts stuff- I’m a small fan. While I’m at it- I enjoyed the series but I absolutely despise that woman who wrote it. So this will be my first and last time writing a hogwarts AU 😬

Rated G-T maybe?

It couldn’t have gone down any other way.

Namaari was the pride of Slytherin, no one had bested her in a duel yet. She had worked hard for that title, had put in the hours to perfect her skill. Wanting to be the best for her house, a symbol for them to look up to.

Raya was just as good. A naturally gifted witch, the star of Gryffindor. Warm, courageous, like the fiery red colors that her house wore with pride. She was all heart in everything she did.

Their pairing could not have been more perfect. The other members of the dueling club practically buzzing with excitement at their match up, pulling in students from the hall that were passing by. All come now to watch the duel of the century.

Typically the two of them sat at the sidelines, monitoring, helping the youngest of their members with their newly learned spells. But today- they wanted a show, real examples of what dueling could look like with witches as advanced as they were.

To think this was meant to be a normal practice….

But the show was meant to go on regardless of what Namaari or Raya thought of it, each of them casting a spell of protection over the crowd- knowing how these advanced duels could send a spell array. Students both older and younger then gathered around while Raya took her position on one side and Namaari took her place at the other. Wands at the ready, giving the signature bow that all duelist must adhere to in order to claim the match an official one.

A beat.

A hush fell over the crowd.

And they began.

Magic whizzed through the air, electrifying the mock stage they had beneath their feet. Not a breath, a word or even a noise came from either witch as they shot their spells at one another. Namaari dodging one only to catch another with her wand, flinging it back and forth at her opponent as she did the same on the opposite side. The students standing around, amazed, gasps slipping from their lips and cheers from one half of the crowd when Namaari caught Raya off guard and nearly sent her flying back. An additional cheer echoing out as she maneuvered it.

Recovered, she blasted a fiery spell right along the edges of her opponent’s cloak, which Namaari dispelled with a quick flick of her wrist. She caught a wicked grin from her dueling partners face, a pause amidst the game, before they were back at it again.

Back and forth it went, Namaari feeling the heat of the duel the longer it ran. A bead of sweat ran down her temple as she rolled just out of range of Raya’s next move. Her attention laser focused, watching every tiny movement her opponent made. Good or bad. Waiting for her opportunity to gain the upper hand. Catching a misstep, an opening, where she could seal her victory.

Namaari’s hand snapped as she dug in her feet and in one fell swoop, she fired a disarming spell straight into the woman’s hand.

Raya’s wand soared into the air, caught by a student who was quick to hand it back to her- hopeful that the match was not yet finished. However, as per the rules, she was disarmed and the victory was bestowed upon Slytherin. Both Namaari and Raya knowing this, the latter tucking her wand away with a kind smile on her lips as she made to bow. A show of respect at the end of the battle.

The crowd erupted into cheers, the students with their emblem green and silver being the loudest of the bunch. Namaari found herself frozen for a moment, her mind still racing from the duel that had come to an abrupt stop. Her pulse gradually slowing, temperature cooling, until she had the sense to return the bow Raya had given her. Though the smile she wore Namaari did not display back. Not as her brain reviewed the last few moves of their duel, realizing what had happened almost immediately after it was done.

She wouldn’t dare call Raya out in front of the others. There was enough rumors going around about their rivalry that didn’t need to be stirred up in this room, not when all the students had benefited from this lesson. All of them leaving with smiles on their faces, a good show of sportsmanship that was rare between some of the oldest rivalries in this school. Happy with the outcome, more pleased by the manner of how the duel was dealt than who had won.

Namaari waited it out, allowing each and every body to file out. The club finished for the evening, leaving Namaari and Raya alone at last to clean and lock up. As the last of the students left, Namaari turned then to face Raya. Watching her from across the room, hardly staring for but a minute before Raya let out out a small chuckle.

“You’re predictable as always-“

Namaari frowned, “how so?”

Raya turned, smirking at her before turning back to the cases of wands. Packing them up properly, making sure each was handled with care.

“You’re upset. You want to talk to me, but you’re overthinking it-“ she casually mentioned, “so you’ll stand there- analyzing me, until you’ve talked yourself out of it or-…I take the lead and ask you myself.”

Namaari scoffed, rolling her eyes.

“I don’t do tha-“

“My love,” Raya teased, “you’ve done that since we were children.”

Namaari felt her face heat up in embarrassment, a wave of memories flying through her mind. Of her first days at this school, meeting Raya, becoming rivals and practically making life here absolutely miserable for the both of them. How they somehow managed to become friends, even stranger than that eventually became lovers, marriage and now they were Professors at the same school they fell in love at. Raya becoming a house leader of Gryffindor while Namaari was one of Slytherin.

And apparently-….well…she definitely knew Raya knew her like the back of her hand.

With a huff, a point of surrender, she gradually walked to her.

“Fine, I am.” Namaari stated, walking towards her. Watching as Raya continued to pack up the rest of her belongings in her bag. Rummaging inside to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. “You let me win today.” Namaari added, grumbling, “I don’t want to be handed a victory- I want to earn it.”

Raya gave her a lopsided grin, “I know you don’t-“

“So why did you-?”

“Because the Slytherin students needed a win.”

Namaari paused, considering this, and in that moment Raya turned to face her. Leaning against the desks that held the wands in their case, folding her arms.

“I’m not just a Professor for Gryffindor students, love.” She continued, “and Slytherin took a heavy hit at the quidditch tournaments this year- I’ve seen a lot of the most passionate students lose their edge cause of it, like they’ve been in a slump because of the fall of their ranks.”

Namaari nodded, agreeing, recalling the day her house had been changed from their high place of first to the sunken low of last place amongst the other houses. It was not an easy loss, though Namaari had chalked it up to being a good lesson on humility. Though the loss was ages ago now, so maybe Raya was right? Perhaps they did need a pick-me-up to set their spirits right again.

Raya wore a smug grin as Namaari relaxed, her minor irritation webbing away as she came to her. Knowing she was right, seeing it now as her demeanor changed then. Wrapping her arms around her wife while Raya continued to check the desk, her bag and anything else she may have forgot. Namaari’s head resting against her shoulder, hugging her close.

“You could have told me-…” Namaari grumbled, trying to stay mad though the tone in her voice was far from it, “you completely caught me off guard with the whole thing-…I bet you even proposed the idea to the students too, huh?”

“Possibly-“ Raya chirped, “but I did want to see if you could beat me on your own at first, it has been awhile since we’ve matched up like that.“

Namaari couldn’t recall a time since their student days, though she was sure there was at least once or twice they must have clashed wands. As far as the record goes, Namaari was quite certain she had claimed the victory then.

“I could have, you know-“ she pointed out, “I could have beaten you fair and square if not for the students-“

Raya scoffed and turned in her arms till she was facing her wife, “oh so if they weren’t here, you think you could have won easily, huh?”

Namaari smirked, seeing how this one comment riled her up. Setting her mind to do it again, teasing her.

“I’d have won in the first five seconds-!” Namaari boasted, “I was holding back anyways, given some of the spells were way too advanced and-“

“That sounds like you’re challenging me for a rematch-?” Raya pointed out, “are you?”

Namaari laughed.

“We have another hour before we have to meet in the great hall?”

Raya smirked, moving Namaari’s hands back as she once again grabbed for her wand and walked the space of the room. Her shoes clacking loudly, determination in her step.

Namaari followed to her own space, raising her wand at the ready. Bowing, awaiting Raya to return it, then rising once more to begin.

“Ready for me, love?” Raya shot her way, arching an eyebrow in her direction.

Namaari could feel the rise of magic moving through the air, her body thrumming in anticipation at the coming duel. Knowing it didn’t matter the winner or loser of it, only that it was Raya she got to do this with again and again.

“Always.” Namaari answered, right as the duel began.