#in a very slow and so far mostly small scale slap fight as they play a game of chicken

[crystalelemental]

FE Fates Replay - Part 1

Introductory segment, starring the better cast!

I did keep to the plan and am running Female Corrin.  I gave her the light purple hair.  It looks surprisingly nice on her.  Everything else was kinda standard.  I thought about alternate hair styles, but honestly her default looks the best.  I will say that I think the grids they use are stupid, though.  They list girly as one of the qualities in expression types, but one of the options furthest on that slider just had her eyes closed all the time like Brock, so I’m not sure that’s...girly, exactly.  My boon/bane layout is Clever/Unlucky, which translates to big magic but no luck.  Luck should always be your bane, kids.  I do find it annoying that they replaced the obvious descriptions with these new terms.  It’s not hard to figure out what’s what, but I know the stats and their associations.  If you’re new to the series, you might have no idea what Robust is.  Is that HP or Defense?  If it weren’t for keeping them all in the same order, I wouldn’t know.  It’s a similar thing to changing up class names; it’s really kinda pointless and only serves to confuse.  My subclass was Samurai, because I like the idea of Vantage and Swordfaire, which I feel is harder to find on her through the castles than all the other really good options.  Also I already have cards with Renewal and Luna, and it’s not gonna be hard to find Aegis/Pavise, so these two seemed like more interesting options.  With character creation out of the way, let’s get started!

The prologue is mostly just the now-standard in medias res tutorial.  Only, they had you side with the Hoshidans, because they’re totally not trying to sway your judgment here.  There’s not much to comment on, but I will note this, because it’s interesting: every time the Hoshidans talk about Nohr, the words “scum” and “filth” seem to come up every time.  They seem completely incapable of referring to the Nohrians as anything else.  Also, it’s absolutely hysterical to me that Xander nearly one-shots Ryoma, and Ryoma needs to activate Astra just to make an attempt at keeping up with damage output.  I think we all know who the better brother is here.

Chapter 1 is another simple tutorial, this time with Xander.  Not gonna lie, it might be Heroes influence, but I like Xander.  He’s nice.  He’s tough on Corrin, but is invested in helping her improve as a warrior to escape the fortress and be able to go out like she’s wanted.  He’s a good brother.  Who I thought was older, but may not be.  Unclear.  The other siblings are okay.  Camilla hasn’t really done a lot, Elise is just adorable, and Leo also hasn’t done much but prove that he’s kind of a klutz who’s like “there’s more to being strong than just slapping hunks of iron together!”  We also get a brief introduction to Flora and Felicia, who are pretty fun.  Nothing substantial on them yet.

Chapter 2 is a bit more interesting.  You finally meet the dad, Garon, who is a transparent villain that’s really not interesting at all.  He gives Corrin a suspicious sword, and tells her to kill off their prisoners from Hoshido.  The map itself...honestly is still mostly tutorial, this time for weapon triangle matchups.  It even gives you free healing in the center of the stage.  It’s more about developing small tactics and seeing how the different weapon types match up now.  I still don’t care for tomes being lumped in with swords and having a universal weakness.  I greatly prefer magic being outside the weapon triangle, and having its own matchups.  Still pissy about that...  Anyway, Corrin refuses to kill defeated prisoners, and Garon orders Xander to take care of it, so he gets involved.  Leo’s quick thinking keeps everyone out of trouble, and lets the prisoners, Kaze and Rinkah, survive.  Honestly, I do kinda like Leo after this map.  I forgot how clever he can actually be at times.  The whole family being against their father’s orders to kill the defenseless is also nice, though it makes you wonder about Garon himself, you know?  I know he used to be a good king, and suddenly changed, but like...when did the change happen, anyway?  How long was the family raised by good king Garon, and how did they not notice the drastic and immediate shift?  Corrin’s pretty nice here too.  Callie made a good observation for the series as a whole: “For a lot of these stories about kingdoms, the focus is on who’s in power, but the Fire Emblem lords tend to be way more concerned about how to help their people, and it’s really nice.”  I would agree, and Corrin does keep this trait.  She’s very concerned about establishing peace again after the war, and wants citizens on both sides to be safe.  Corrin’s alright.

Chapter 3, the doofening.  Hans and Iago, the other transparent villain idiots, are introduced.  Xander makes mention of Hans being arrested a few years back, which I guess alludes a bit to time frame for Garon’s transformation.  Law and order was properly upheld until “a few years ago.”  Without a proper scale we can’t say how long that was, but Xander was old enough to be on the job upholding the peace, so I’d assume no more than like...4-5 years, maybe?  Basically, the Nohrian siblings should’ve been old enough to recognize the sudden and drastic change.  Anyway, after your defiance of the king last chapter, you’re given a new mission and told you won’t even need to really fight this time.  Your objective is to scope out an abandoned fort near the Nohr/Hoshido border.  Gunter, Jakob, and Hans will be going with.  Corrin arrives, finds that the fort is filled with Hoshidans, and makes the sensible decision of “whoops, it’s not abandoned, better report this and not engage in needless conflict.”  To which Hans, predictably, runs in and kills a guy, then run into the fray and gets himself killed in like two turns because he’s inept.  Now...hear me out.  This guy’s plan was to kill one soldier, then charge in.  During this, Corrin shouts that Hans is disobeying orders, and acting independently.  In a sensible situation, this should be an easily resolved problem.  Corrin and the others actually following her orders stand back, or accost Hans themselves, and parlay with the Hoshidans, who have no intention fighting.  Instead, you engage them needlessly because Hans ran in.  So...okay, I guess.

You clear out the map, and get an introduction to Saizo and Kagero.  They’re not exactly compelling, beyond Saizo being kinda sexist here?  He dismisses Corrin as just a girl who couldn’t possibly know how to fight, but as soon as Xander shows up is like “Ah, this must be their real commander.”  Fuck you too, buddy.  Camilla’s actually hilarious at this point.  She decimates Saizo’s allies, and Corrin is momentarily taken aback by her usually gentle sister’s ferocity.  Elise is just like “Oh right, you’ve never seen her on the battlefield.  She’s just like this.”  It’s kinda great.  Kagero notifies Saizo that Ryoma is on his way with support, and Xander finally, FINALLY makes the sensible call to just fucking leave.

Oh, but of course it’s not that easy.  Hans is still alive somehow, despite rushing into enemy territory, having no support from us, and getting immediately blasted as he ran toward a heavily fortified post.  He also, somehow, knocks Gunter into the bottomless pit.  Corrin is outraged and demands answers, doing some weird body morphing dragon stuff in the process.  Not gonna lie, I forgot she did this, and it does look pretty cool.  Hans tells her was only doing it under the king’s orders, then he runs off.  Your weird evil sword tries to throw you into the pit as well, somehow, but wait!  Lilith is here, and she’s apparently a baby dragon creature that saves you!  You’re brought to a pocket dimension that the dragons can access, and this is how My Castle is established.  I will bitch endlessly about My Castle soon, I promise.  But for now, we’re just as quickly sent back out to where we warped in, and are immediately knocked out by Rinkah.  Nice.

Overall I’d say there’s nothing too egregious yet.  Chapter 3 is the least sensible, but I’m willing to waive some of the decisions as just pushing the plot along.  The only real hang-up I have is about Garon, who I just feel like should’ve been found out a long time ago.  Like...immediately, perhaps.  The Nohrians presumably had years with their true father, being raised with the moral compass they all have, yet the guy changes overnight and no one really questions it?  It’s a bit far-fetched, even by this series’ standards.  But, I guess we have to get the board set up somehow, or maybe Xander keeping the peace around the kingdom was on his own initiative and not the king’s orders.  Who knows.  Anyway, part 2 will happen eventually.  I’m mostly getting to play when Callie’s bored of the game, so expect some slow progress, but our next update point will be after the Hoshidan tutorial chapters.  Stay tuned.