#look it’s not that sombron is especially good

[silent-partner-412]

i shouldn’t be shocked people like grima more than sombron but i am still disappointed

[meovelous]

Malear's va is really bringing the 'waiter at olive garden coming up to take an order only to get dragged into a family argument of 1000 yrs worth of self esteem and resentment to be a neutral 3rd party/therapist' energy

[the-priestess-of-dawn]

Grima and Final Blows

The other day I mentioned that I had an essay about Grima to write that I'd been putting off, and between that and all the great essays my fellow Grimleal scholars have been putting out recently, I decided to sit down and finally get it done.

So here you go. An analysis of Grima's difficulties with directly killing people.

Okay, so I’ve been thinking about this for quite some time, because one of my favorite things to explore when it comes to Grima is the gap between their villain act, which they actively play up in front of others in both Awakening and FEH, and their true feelings, which are hinted at in Awakening (particularly through the Future Past DLC) and made even clearer in FEH— their own evil actions are repulsive to them, and they wish they could live normally among humans, but they don’t believe they have any choice but to be the monster that “the fell dragon, Grima” is supposed to be. They are committed to this “fell dragon” character, to putting on a show for everyone, and they are so good at it that it’s easy to overlook that they… uh… aren’t very good at killing anyone important. Not directly, anyway.

Sure, Grima is responsible for numerous deaths. But what is their actual kill count? Well, in Awakening’s main game… zero. (Unless you count Chrom, but, as we witness, that was not a voluntary act on their part; Validar took control of their body. You could also make the argument that Grima “claiming the sacrifice” at the Dragon’s Table counts, but the problem with that is, although it’s obvious that Grima accepts the life force of the Grimleal members as a sacrifice, it’s not at all clear whether or not Grima personally kills them. Although it’s possible that they did off screen, it’s also possible that Validar killed them, or that they were ordered to take their own lives; there’s no reason Grima would have had to lay a hand on them.) In the Future Past, it’s… one, maybe one and half (Naga’s spirit, and Tiki, but only in body. More on this later.)

And it’s not as though Fire Emblem shies away from showing villains directly murdering people, Even in Awakening itself, the intro to Chapter 9 shows Aversa killing a Plegian soldier for delivering an unsatisfactory report, so it wouldn’t have been out of place to let Grima stab a few NPCs as a show of brutality. Especially seeing as Grima is the evil dragon final boss. As early as Mystery of the Emblem, we can see Medeus killing his cleric hostages to restore his own health if you fail to rescue them before trying to defeat him, and as recently as Engage, we get a whole cutscene of Sombron eating Hyacinth. Fantasy violence my beloved <3

Anyway, the point is, Grima could have been written to be much more violent and I don’t think anyone would have complained. Instead, though, Grima repeatedly— and consistently across the series— tries to avoid engaging in direct combat.

Let’s start with what Grima does in the main game of Awakening. We know that Risen pursue Lucina into the past, because we see them fall out of the portal with her in Chapter 1. We also know that those Risen, as well as the others that are appearing throughout the land, are not being directly controlled by Grima, because later in Chapter 13, as the Shepherds are leaving Plegia after meeting with Validar, Aversa, and the Hierophant, they are pursued by more skilled Risen, and Frederick notes that “Either they are learning our ways, or someone is commanding them…” So… It seems that sending the Risen—with or without specific orders—to attack while Grima is not themself present is a favored tactic.

But what about when Grima is present? Take a look at the Endgame: Grima chapter. Yes, you eventually get to engage Grima in direct combat. But not immediately. What Grima does first is…

Grima attacks the Shepherds with dark spikes from a distance, reducing everyone’s hp to 1. Now, here’s what happens next: Grima attempts to possess their past self, Robin hears the voices of their friends and breaks free, Naga heals everyone back to full health, and then the fight against Grima begins… Except actually, the Shepherds have to get to Grima first, because they’re at the top of the map and they’re not budging. Naga warns them that “Grima’s servants will beset [them] to no end.” and she’s not kidding. Grimleal reinforcements will spawn infinitely, and they can hit pretty hard. Even with everyone starting at full health, it’s possible to lose units to these Grimleal soldiers if Grima isn’t defeated quickly. Can you imagine what would happen if Naga hadn’t healed the Shepherds first?

Well, I’d guess that they’d probably all die to the Grimleal without Grima having to face them up close. Which was probably what Grima was going for.

This isn’t the only time Grima tries the dark spikes trick, either. Grima attempts this exact same move in the Future Past 3 when they face Lucina, Severa, Laurent, and Gerome.

Grima announces “With the next blow, I will kill you.” and then demands that they hand over the Fire Emblem as well as the gemstone they hold. The threat is very real. But…

Given that at 1hp, a gust of wind could take the kids out, would it not have been easier and faster to kill them and just loot their bodies immediately? And yet Grima lets the kids have an extended discussion about sacrifice, and even suggests that Lucina would indeed buy a little more time by running… Again, I cannot stress enough that Grima should be able to finish them off in one hit at this point.

So the plan was almost certainly to back off and let the Risen do the actual killing, even though that would be a lot less efficient under the circumstances. And when Chrom and the Shepherds arrive, Grima immediately turns their attention to them, saying “If it’s a reunion you seek, my soldiers shall welcome you on my behalf.” Then they once again pick a spot at the back of the map and refuse to move from it, forcing the Shepherds to fight through the Risen in order to engage Grima in combat at all.

And sure, Grima has some excuses. “I was hoping not to have to flex any muscle,” they say right before the dark spikes attack, as if to justify why they didn’t do it sooner. And of course they taunt Lucina over having to choose to whether to run as her friends sacrifice themselves for her or to stay and fight and die with them. “I must say I shall enjoy this either way!” Yes, Grima, we get it, you’ve made it very clear that you’re an arrogant asshole.

But is arrogance really all there is to it? If we look at what Tiki tells Grima in the good ending of the Future Past, it looks as though Grima’s arrogance has brought their own downfall. “If you had left Mount Prism alone, Grima, you might have stood a chance. Instead, you have brought the Awakening right to your feet.” However, when you think about it… Is Tiki’s continued existence not in itself a result of Grima’s repeated pattern of not really wanting to land a finishing blow? The game states that Grima did in fact kill Tiki… but only in body, not in spirit. This is, according to Tiki, because Robin intervened.

Now, the question I have is… Is it really possible that Robin could have intervened both against Grima’s will and without them having any idea? Honestly, it’s hard to tell exactly how aware Grima is of Robin’s resistance, because they lie about it a lot, e.g. stating that Robin’s spirit perished in sending Chrom back to his own world, even though just moments later, Robin is once again overpowering them. So, keeping in mind that Grima is a liar, was Grima really arrogant to leave Tiki’s body in Ylisstol, and to not make sure that her spirit was fully destroyed? Or was Robin simply able to capitalize on Grima’s propensity towards backing off?

Because surely the only way Grima could be unaware that Robin had acted against them is if Robin hadn’t actually acted against them. I don’t think I believe that Grima really wanted Tiki gone. Naga, sure—longtime nemesis and all. But if Grima had truly cared about seeing Tiki’s existence destroyed… Well, I doubt Robin could have interfered that much.

But maybe it could still be a matter of arrogance. Maybe Grima just didn’t think Tiki’s spirit could do anything with Naga’s spirit gone, and thus didn't care to pay attention to her anymore once she seemed dead enough.

If that’s true, it doesn’t explain why Shadows of Valentia Grima exhibits the exact same habits when fighting Alm and Celica, despite never having been outside of the Thabes Labyrinth at this point in their life. As opposed to the various Terrors throughout the rest of the Labyrinth, which chase Alm (or Celica) down in the overworld to force a fight, Grima is immobile in their room, and will wait patiently there indefinitely until the player chooses to engage. You can even evacuate from the dungeon.

But if you do choose to fight Grima, it proceeds much like the battles against them in Awakening go. The main difference is that they actually will move from their starting position this time, if you position someone in their range. That still requires a fight against (proto-)Risen who are spawning in from the sides to stop your party’s advance.

So… Now it’s starting to look like Grima actively prefers this one particular trick… And it’s a fundamentally defensive maneuver, which makes perfect sense from SoV Grima’s standpoint (they were attacked out of nowhere, after all), but is not really an obvious standout strategy for Awakening Grima, whose taunts and threats suggest an aggression that would be better supported with a more offensive strategy… Consider, too, that Awakening Grima is in fact being even more defensive than their SoV iteration, since they don’t move towards you at all.

With all that in mind, it really, really looks like Grima doesn’t want to fight, especially in Awakening. Not that they don’t intend for the Shepherds to die—on the contrary, they’ve set everything up so that the Shepherds will eventually be overwhelmed—but that they don’t want to land the killing blow.

(And gee, I wonder what might be fueling their reluctance? Being controlled and made to kill your best friend by your own hand wouldn't be totally traumatic or anything, right?)

And then... Funny thing here, I’ve been procrastinating writing this essay for a long time. I originally started thinking about it shortly before the Depths of Despair banner was released in FEH, so imagine my surprise when I saw this characterization hold up in the writing of Fell Exalt Chrom’s Forging Bonds as well… The Grima there says that Chrom was the one to kill the rest of the Shepherds. Now, it’s pretty clear that it was through Grima controlling him, but that’s not the point. The point is that once again, Grima didn't have to do any direct killing.

Look, if it had only ever happened once, I could buy that maybe Grima was just underestimating their opponents, that maybe they thought they could get away without having to put very much work in. But for Grima to operate this way so many times, so consistently, and to their own detriment? No...

Grima doesn’t like direct combat. Grima has trouble even when it’s a fight they asked for.

And when you think about it, that makes their reaction to Robin choosing to land the final blow themself in the sacrifice ending all the more understandable.

“…YOU WOULD… NOT DARE!”

Because Grima would not dare. Grima has always preferred to let someone else land the final blow.

[rafent]

To say Griss was bad at gift-giving would be an understatement (unless, of course, the gift involved pain. For him. And then he was half decent at it on a good day). He'd never put any value on doing things like that for other people, and the thought of giving up something that belonged to him - or going out of his way to get something - out of the goodness of his heart made his skin crawl. That wasn't to say that he didn't know how receiving a gift felt, but everything had a string attached, so he'd grown up snatching things so fast the strings snapped. Gratitude was foreign to him, too.

But Lord Rafal was no ordinary person, and Griss had decided the moment he opened the little bag the dragon had given to him months ago that he'd pay him back somehow. He'd learned the date of his birth only recently, surprised as he often was whenever Zephia spoke of age by the fact that he even had one, which left him little time to prepare. Not that Griss ever prepared for anything, but he knew Lord Rafal would be able to tell if he half-assed it, and he took some degree of care to not insult a fell dragon.

The blade of the carving knife slid across the callouses of his left palm, not quite kissing softer skin, still indecisive about whether to cut. Griss straddled a bench in the long-emptied dining hall under the flicker of candlelight, bent over and studying the lines in his hand. Beside him, the table boasted numerous cuts fanned out in some erratic pattern where he'd spent the majority of his jittery energy stabbing the knife between his fingers. He wasn't nervous. He didn't know he was, anyway.

The creaking door echoed through the hall and his head snapped up, grinning mask falling right into place. His guest had arrived, and he stood to meet him with knife still in hand.

"You made it." A hint of doubt, just barely. The dragon probably had better things to do. Griss offered his hand, the edge of the knife pressed into skin.

"So you got options today. First one's blood." And this was the one Griss was clearly most excited for. Brows raised when he bumped his hand a little closer. "We'd give our blood to Lord Sombron on-- well, every day, but especially on holidays. And I'm pretty sure your birthday would've been a holiday if you'd lived in my world. Couldn't get ya any royal blood without getting kicked outta the monastery, but it's not gonna hurt my feelings if my blood's not good enough. 'cause I also got this--" He turned halfway toward the table and the knife became a glint of light as he swung it to underscore the spread he'd procured.

"I didn't know which one you liked best, so I got the chef to cook up all the desserts on the menu. Took a lotta persuasion, but I knew she had sense. Hehehe." Everything from cakes, to pies, to cookies and macarons, to chocolate-covered fruit decorated the table, not laid out in any particularly pleasing way, but they all certainly looked fresh regardless. The knife point stopped at a corked bottle sitting at the end, and Griss led Lord Rafal over to it with more enthusiasm than his presentation of the desserts.

"Or this." He set the knife down to lift the dark bottle with both hands, clearly proud of it. "Got this as a thank-you for a job a while ago. Fancy stuff. I've been savin' it, but it's all yours now. So--" He looked up expectantly. "What'd'you think? An offering worthy of a fell dragon? You can carve me up with that knife if it's not. I made sure it was nice 'n sharp."

[// lord above sorry for the length]

It was not often, or really at all, that others summoned him to a location mysteriously preordained, unmarked by specifics and clear reasons. For such a lure to find its source in Griss of all people, Rafal's ignorance of the sights entered into was ergo wholly sincere. A room wadded full with the smell of mouthwatering sweets, lit by candlelight and replete with preparations in its illuminated shadows. He pretended especially that these implications did not thrill him. That disappoint the other man certainly did not.

". . .Punishments and blood holidays will be rejected." Immediate rejection, naturally, once recovered from wide, traveling eyes with nose wrinkled for further solidity of askance and brutal honesty. Those ideas were more to Griss' favor and even to Father's. Tonight was his eve of celebration and his flourish of hand pointed out the largesse that spelled his preference. "—but these are more acceptable. These are worthy offerings, enough to earn a place among the altars of Gradlon's finest temples."

A lengthier process of thought collapsed next, unfurling on a look almost distracted. Mumbled, worked, and smoothed past its invisible kinks. "Food and libation, a follower, only the setting leaves something to be desired. A temple this place is not, but with enough imagination. . ."

Words tapered off from a thought that would never finish; that would remain privy and consigned to the buried place it came from. Immersion was the true gift, wasn't it? To Rafal it surely was; one who had not been fashioned subject to ostentatious worship during his time. While Fell Dragons were showered with reverence only the true ones enjoyed lavish offerings - not failures with human forms alone that other children of god disdained. That truer humans took notice of, too.

Demeanor brightened, realizing the giddy makings of a destiny that could be worn for one night. He settled himself onto the bench in what could only be determined favorable reception, one leg crossed over the other. With that a lordly air; with that, not all masks worn with intent to deceive. Not all games of pretend condemned as harmful delusion. "Your provision of worship is most satisfactory to me, Griss. You may rejoice. I will accept it; all of it, and all of you."

But worship wasn't perfectly fulfilled in the absence of fawning eyes, mouths, and ovations. Without an audience readied to awe and vaunt at a dragon's every action. "Pour me a drink. I would be pleased further to celebrate me—" he gestured, commanded, and this time finished for that thought even if silently. Hopefully. Together, with the depletion of a sumptuous bottle to mark their time.

[emblemxeno]

Did you enjoyed Engage story more than 3H or less ? if so why and if not why ?

I enjoyed it more.

Ultimately, for all of 3H's in-depth prose regarding characters and some really hard hitting story beats, it fails to cement itself as a story I can enjoy because it lacks focus, cohesion, and respect for itself. There's too many plot threads that can go unanswered and characters that are treated as important are otherwise shafted (Rhea especially). The biggest reason though, is that for all of it's lore and worldbuilding, IMO it 1) fails to incorporate any of it in a way that's exciting in a gameplay medium 2) due to the monastery being static and centralized, the world doesn't actually feel lived in and 3) serves little purpose other than to be lore for lore's sake. The backdrop feels artificial, and does little to buoy the story when it needs help, especially since character dialogue can feel overtly bittersweet and melodramatic (I can only hear about the "horrors of war" so many times before it becomes incredibly annoying and lowkey disregarding the player's own intelligence to infer anything for themselves).

Engage meanwhile, though not "deep" in the sense that you're gonna get extreme political intrigue and similar things akin to what most expect (to a sometimes unreasonable degree) for a war story, it hits the marks it wants to and respects itself as a story. It knows it's a story about overcoming fear and despair, found family, self actualization, and being true to who you want to be no matter where you come from, and doesn't stray from that goal. I never feel like a blatant audience member looking into a story as the characters exposit at me, instead I feel genuinely engrossed in what's happening to Alear and the world of Elyos as a whole. And like, people can complain about things like Zephia, Griss, and Sombron having "sad" backstories, but I'd rather have the cliche "they were evil cuz they were sad and just wanted companionship" than the constant Edelgard sympathy the game throws at me as if I'm either 1) unable to comprehend morally gray storytelling or 2) a person who wants to hear that a violent, imperialistic war is being led by someone who "isn't evil ackshully."

And in general, as an FE fan, while I don't like to limit each individual game by precedents set by past entries, 3H and Engage both take story inspiration from previous entries, and the latter, y'know. Is good at it and the former isn't. I can't take 3H's attempts at plot threads of racism/xenophobia, social hierarchy, and grand politicking seriously when it fumbles the landing despite previous FE games sticking said landing just fine. On the flip side, I can take Engage more seriously when it asks me too, because the character driven, save-the-world narrative is something that it does well consistently, like most FE games before it.

[ruinakete]

peony : what would a ‘ happy life ’ look like in your muse’s eyes ?

BOTANICAL HEADCANONS ・ accepting! ( warning for discussion or mentions of pregnancies, childbirth, child neglect / abuse, religious trauma, and bad parenting overall )

there are two answers to this depending on pre-death and post-death Zephia, so i'll answer this question twice, elaborate on both, and compare the expectation between the two, as slight as it might be. the order will be PRE-DEATH → POST-DEATH → COMPARISON. warning for rambling and long paragraphs, too 💕

first off, a "happy life" in PRE-DEATH Zephia's eyes would be pretty basic and concise. she would bear a child by Lord Sombron and heal her loneliness. but that's where it ends. she hadn't thought of anything after gracing a womb with a child, thus, after her child would be born, what then? what would she want after? though this "happy life" would consist of Sombron giving in to her wish, would he not expect her child to become a pawn if she taught them the ways of the Fell Dragon? but if she didn't, if she tried to be a mother like her mother once was, would her child not snap their jaws at the world like it was theirs?

no matter how many children she has, there is no place for the Four Hounds in this happy life. they were temporary in her real conquest and, thus, would be discarded once she was deemed pregnant. after all, her only reason to be Sombron's follower in the first place was for him to realize how good of a mother he could make her, right? there's a question of where she and her child go but for that, she has no answer. whatever it be, it would be nowhere close to a Fell Church. that much was for certain. she saw the treatment they gave children—took part in it, even. but she would be damned if anyone besides herself hurt her child. this, likely, extends to Sombron. she chose him as a father simply because of how absent he is in the lives of his own children so it should be the same for hers. he won't care and her child's entire world will revolve around her.

but, a "happy life" in POST-DEATH Zephia's eyes is more thought-out but less sensical. her conquest of bearing a Lord Sombron's child is still a priority, but she does not know where it stands among the others. because, now, she realizes that she does have other people she cares for. whether she has one child or plenty, the Four Hounds deserve a place at her side, however, she doesn't know where or how that is. would she take them far from the Fell Church? even after its damages have already been done? would she name Griss as the godfather of her child? Mauvier? would she forgive Marni and, in some twisted form of fate, pronounce her the dead godmother? either way, she will have a child ( because, to her, she needs to start over. a clean new slate. a clean new family. ) but where would she go to raise them?

after her death, Zephia doesn't really understand her goals or desires. she's realized that the Four Hounds were the family she wanted, yes, but would they be enough? especially after she had such an influence in all of their fates? what's to say that Griss would even be a good godfather? and if he isn't, what would she do? it isn't his fault that he's the way he is as much as it's her fault for encouraging his desires. would she discard him from the new life or would she see her child as the problem?

now for the COMPARISON. let it be known that imagining Xephia with a child is a dangerous game, as her own traumas are only repressed, not healed, and putting a child under her care would only prove how inept she is at motherhood. she wasn't made or taught how to properly love someone and her definition of parenthood is a transaction of obligation from the child for being born so... yeah.

pre-death Zephia is selfish whereas post-death Zephia is not as blind to her prior desires. this has nothing to do with Sombron, unfortunately, as she still wants to have his child. that will not change. for over a thousand years, that was her goal and, likely, will not change until a thousand more years of self-introspection occur. however, post-death Zephia does now see the Four Hounds as a family, though her understanding of this doesn't reflect that. she doesn't fully recognize the impact Griss, Mauvier, and Marni had on her conscious. so while she definitely imagines them being a part of a "happy life", in comparison to pre-death Zephia who will not think of them as anything beyond what they are, i don't think she knows what or where they'll be. because, after all, Marni's death was by her hands and Mauvier is nowhere to be found.

it's simple to assume that a "happy life" in Zephia's eyes would be something cruel and purposefully full of malice ( ex. founding a Fell Church of her own, or another faction of followers, or reviving Sombron completely ) but the only goal in life that she can remember having is to bear a child and live a life of fullness with them. the specifics aren't and were never thought out fully.

[fayesdiary]

Hortensia from Engage ? :D

Answering these later than I wanted, but it's been a crazy week so

First impression: Oh, definitely not good. I was pretty skeptical of Engage when it was first announced (and you can still see my old posts about it), and not only her designed looked more like an idol than an FE character and had a really squeaky voice, what little we knew about her kinda made her look like a Heroes-tier villain. Yes, I know how hard of an accusation that is.

Impression now: Like most things about Engage for me, they did a 180! Hortensia's great :D

Her design and voice eventually grew on me (esp because her VA, the same of Faye btw so :D, absolutely killed it), she has a lot of great moments both in and out of the story and she's a lot more interesting than you'd give her credit at first glance, between her neverending tragedy called her life, her hidden smarts and being both in the position of an atoner like several other Engage characters, but also one who struggles to forgive and forget Veyle who was in a very similar situation to hers (but I am absolutely not faulting her for that let's be clear).

I really like in general how all of the atoner characters in Engage have at least one support partner who will give them a bit of trouble before accepting them because, well.. redemption does not come easy, and not everyone will forgive and accept them right away.

Also, Fell Xenologue Hortensia. My heart.

Idea for a story: Either her time at the Elusian Academy or Fell Xenologue Hortensia being brought to the main Elyos because SHE DESERVES TO BE HAPPY

Unpopular opinion: Her voice is more than fine (although definitely an acquired taste) and she's more than the annoying cute little sister. Nuff said.

Favorite relationship: Platonically with Veyle because of their slow burn, with Hortensia struggling to separate her two personalities and especially to forgive her for... a lot but especially getting her father vored by Sombron only to corrupt him and have him fight her and Ivy, and by the end of their A support she still can't bring herself to forgive her... but at least wants to give her the chance to start anew. Both of them are in a really rough position with each other, but they're taking the steps to build bridges and I think that's lovely. How Hortensia can't bring herself to forgive Veyle straight away but still wants to give her the chance.

Romantically with... Céline, I guess?

Favorite headcanon: Oh, hmm. Don't really have one, but I just imagined her doing Alear's makeup so let's go with that, it's cute

[iturbide]

What would the Elyusians' religion even be??? Like, we get so little info on them and what they believe, that when we see Sombron and he's clearly doing evil things, it's like. How did this guy get a religion??? Like, from only seeing what the game shows us, it's hard to imagine a religion based on Sombron that would have any good to it. I mean, that's clearly what the game was going for, just pure cartoonish evil, but c'mon... do better.

Yeah, unfortunately the whole impression of any potential Elusian religion is tainted by seeing how Sombron is in person. He is wretched. There is nothing good about him.

But also...religion is a funny thing. It's not so much about the deity, but about the stories and what they mean to the people that embrace them. Sombron can be an absolute piece of shit (and he is) without that necessarily reflecting in any way on the faith itself that adopted him as a central figure.

Like, just as an example. We know that Sombron had a lot of kids with a lot of different dragons. We also know that Hyacinth himself had both a wife and at least one concubine, with each one bearing a daughter. While Sombron himself is a vile piece of work who used his children to further his goals and disposed of them for the most minor of infractions, Ivy and Hortensia both agree that, before coming under Sombron's thrall, Hyacinth was a loving father -- so it doesn't seem unreasonable to speculate that the Elusian faith prizes family, using a muddled record of Sombron's own situation as the basis for it. It's also clear that Ivy and Hortensia love each other dearly, which could similarly play into that concept of valuing family -- especially if Sombron's own children have any minor standing in the faith.

We know that Hortensia's mother was looked down upon for being a concubine, but we don't know what the underlying source of that disdain was: it might have been a matter of class difference between queen and concubine, with the queen coming from high nobility and the concubine coming from either a family of lower standing or even a commoner -- but we also know that Hortensia's mother eventually won over the queen herself with her smiling perseverance. Given the trials that Sombron put his children through to test their mettle, it's not impossible for me to imagine that, a thousand years down the line, the Elusian faith has enshrined such perseverance in its scriptures as a virtue.

And this is just from what very little I know from the interactions in the main game and the few supports I've managed to get with Ivy and Hortensia. There's potential for a lot more -- but it's on fans to make it all up, because the game went out of its way to imply that Elusia is as evil as the divine at the core of its faith.

[dimensionslip]

Fire Emblem Engage Thoughts

I finished the main story recently and thought I would note down my thoughts on the game.

TL;DR: Definitely buy the game if you enjoy Fire Emblem’s battle system. If you’re looking for a deep story or something that involves the supporting cast more, this isn’t the game for you. But if you can tolerate the weak plot, I think it’s generally a fun time.

Story spoilers for the whole game are included, so tread carefully under the cut!

Things I liked:

The battle system!! The engage system adds a really interesting dimension to the base tactical RPG system and I like how it makes things quite more flexible (you can either use it to make the game easier or try out some interesting matchups to see what happens).

I also enjoyed the maps in general! They make me think, especially the later maps but not to the extent where I find it unfun to try and strategize/figure things out there.

The rewind mechanic for when you mess up. I love tactical JRPGs but one thing I’ve hated about them is having to restart a whole ass 30-min battle from the very beginning when I mess something up. So for me this is a really nice qol thing because I do not have so much time in the world to keep restarting battles that I fuck up.

The Japanese voice acting is really great. It allowed me to tolerate one of the biggest issues I had with the game (the story) and factored in to my enjoyment.

The character models and animations. They are so fluid and also good. I like that you can see them animated too before you commit to an action. 

Them making the Somniel as your base (similar to what they did for Garreg Mach Monastery in 3H, though with a caveat–see stuff in “Things I wish this game had”)

Things I didn’t like:

The story in general, but I think it’s more an issue of, it’s not what I’m looking for in a plot. I could see why the simpler storytelling might appeal to some people, but I prefer a lot more morally grey characters and while one can argue that they do exist in this story, I’m not sure I like the execution of said characters. Specific bones I have to pick with:

Lumerra’s introduction and death. At first I was a bit suspicious of her because, wow, isn’t it convenient to have a very kind mother?? And apparently she IS a kind mother all along indeed, BUT THEN. She’s killed off really early and honestly while the voice-acting in that scene was really great, the way it hits you out of nowhere is just… jarring? In the sense of it’s hard to feel anything about it because you barely knew Lumerra.

In general, everyone’s acceptance that you are the Divine Dragon and having zero doubts about it. Like a little more suspicion would have been neat to play into, even if it’s easy to prove that you are who you say you are.

The game’s habit of telling you ALL about an antagonist’s backstory and motivations before they get killed (either by your hand or someone else’s). They repeat this formula so much, even for the big bad and it’s just. One heck of a text vomit without any creativity to it, and we’re just supposed to accept how it is. It doesn’t make the characters very redeemable to me though, but I wish they exercised more creativity in getting people’s motivations across.

Sombron is such a bad offender, maybe I just don’t pay attention to his lines very well but there was little to no indication that he was doing everything just so he could reunite with an Emblem. The whole time it’s really just postured as “this guy wants to take over the world(s)”

I understand this is typical of older games in the series and large casts, but the lack of relevance of most characters after the chapter you acquire them is kinda meh in my opinion.

The minigame controls. Coupled with my controller drift issues, my poor A button is just never gonna be the same way again, huh. I think the wyvern ride one is quite fun, but the reliance of spamming the A button isn’t the best way to handle some stuff I feel, especially with the way the Switch controller is designed. I know I can just get a controller or something. But still.

Gold being so scarce in the game. I never had a gold issue in the past games I’ve played as I would earn it passively by not spending on things so much, but in Engage you can’t even do that. It seems like a ploy to get you to buy the DLC as it has some stuff there that will make your life easier, so that kind of adds to the mixed feelings I have regarding the situation.

Most characters being very one note, and it reflecting in their supports. Like if you have a character who was an antagonist turned into an ally, half/most of their supports will end up with them being eager to make amends. If someone likes muscles/training, that’s also gonna be most of their lines and their supports. But it’s a very taste-based thing, and granted I haven’t looked at everyone’s supports yet, so I might change this bullet point in the future.

Things I wish this game had:

More unique dialogue in the Somniel based on what point of the story you’re in. There are some unique dialogue for plot-relevant characters but it would have been interesting to see what the others thought too instead of their dialogues changing depending on where they were located. I think this would also solve the problem where the characters don’t feel relevant to the story anymore after you acquire them.

Lengthier support conversations. Wishful thinking, but the supports in general felt really abrupt, though this is nothing new in FE. Some were pretty deep/thoughtful, but most didn’t really leave much space for characterization.

Please let us change people’s clothes in battle. It was a little disappointing since you spend more time in battle than in the Somniel. The clothes customization in this game is pretty nice, but I guess they just left it to the Somniel because rigging those properly for battle was probably extra work they didn’t have time to properly test/implement.

My rating in numbers: 6/10 if I had to account for the plot, 8/10 if we’re just focusing on gameplay/how fun I found it.

To end this more positively, Diamant, Ivy, and Seadall are my favorite characters. Ivy (with Celica) and Alcryst (with Lyn) are my MVPs, with a special mention to Seadall and Emblem Byleth for letting me do some crazy stuff in one turn. Chloe was also really fun both in and out of battle (okay, I also like Saori Hayami) and training Anna to be my gold farmer eventually paid off lmao. Praise be to Anna.

[fantasyinvader]

@emblemxeno

I feel like if you look at Engage, while not mentioning her the game is pretty good to Rhea. As I mentioned before, Byleth's trial theme song uses tracks that associate it with Silver Snow. Song of the Nabateans, pointing to Byleth's draconic heritage, Edge of Dawn, a song that depicts Byleth and Edelgard's relationship as they end up as enemies and isn't used in it's full version in Flower, and Paths that Shall Never Cross, referring to Byleth and Edelgard goin their separate ways.

This is all associated with a Byleth that's held in the same esteem as Revelations-Corrin and True Ending Roy, in addition to every other past FE lord.

While the House Leaders do get their bracelet, they don't get much else. No paralogue chapter like the other DLC emblems, nor do they show up in the xenologue. Nothing, just a cutscene where we get them for free. Considering how the Cipher card that came with Houses in Japan mentions that it's your story, it's ultimately Engage saying that the game is Byleth's story above all else. Not Claude's, not Dimitri's and not Edelgard's, Byleth's.

Edelgard also says that the three lords protected their worlds, but anyone who has played Houses would see that her route goes in the other direction, working with TWSITD, killing/exiling the other lords and killing Rhea. What Edelgard did to protect the world is the exact opposite of those routes, so who really protected the world?

Hopes uses Nemesis as the big bad for Fodlan, not Rhea. Nemesis, who Edelgard makes out to be this champion of humanity, is the one held to the same level as Loptyr, Grima, Ashera, Duma... Nemesis was the bad guy, Rhea killed a bad guy and Edelgard killed her while praising the villain. Claude's route is the one that tackled the supposed big bad therefore it's the one more in-line with past FE heroes, and by extension Dimitri and Byleth's routes. They're the ones who protected the world, Edelgard instead goes on to conquer it when not stopped by them.

Even how we get Byleth's ring calls back to Silver Snow. Hortensia was an academy student, a princess borne of a concubine, her father was manipulated by Sombron's forces into doing their work, her former classmates defect to the Divine Dragon's side and she does as well in the end even if it means fighting against her former country. Compare this to Edelgard, who joins the academy, is a princess borne of a concubine, implications Ionius was a puppet for TWSITD to push Edelgard into stating the war to kill their ancient enemy, her classmates defect in Silver Snow despite fighting against their homeland and possibly their own families while Edelgard...continues attacking the rest of the continent using the monsters that were once men TWSITD provided her. Her own version of the Corrupted. Bonus point is that Hortensia prides herself on being a "cute" girl, while Edelgard's depth comes from her both being a violent conqueror...and a cute girl.

If anything, Hortensia went down the path Edelgard refused to do, hence why she's a hero in the end.

Lumeria being a dragon living at the center of the continent, worshiped as divine? GOOD GUY. Doesn't matter that she did something to Alear that changed them, it saved Alear's life and not treated as a bad thing. Alear's hair changing color is also seen as a good thing, with it returning to it's natural red is the bad ending. Meritocracy isn't so good when people are tossed away for not serving their master well enough, people without merit being labelled as defects.

If anything Engage, a game meant to celebrate the franchise, shows for out-of-line Flower is from the franchise. It's everything players have fought against in the past, while other routes are held up to the same standard as past heroes. Doesn't really surprise me Houses discourse hasn't died down after Engage, Engage made Edelgard look like shit.

Especially compared to Hortensia.

[emperorbubblegum]

Bubblegum's Backlog, Part 9: Fire Emblem Engage

Okay so this is another one that isn't technically part of my backlog, but I had already preordered it when I started this idea, so here goes.

So intially I didn't really like Engage. I didn't expect it to live up to Three Houses, since it seemed like it was going to be more like older titles, but ignoring personal preference I'd say this Engage is better than 3H. It's like they took all of the good parts from Awakening and Fates and threw them into the same cooking pot, topping the final dish off with some 2000's era anime vibes. Reminded me a lot of the shows I'd watch growing up, like Digimon or Yu-Gi-Oh.

All of the Emblems were incredibly one note, but the new characters were all fantastic. I can't say I disliked any particular one of them. All the support convo's were funny, and the design and artstyle are all really appealling to look at. I know some people were mad about how modern-day-JRPG it looked, but I play a lot of JRPGs so I kinda liked it.

In terms of specific characters I liked, unfortunately I can't really name one. These guys didn't stick on me as much as Three Houses' or Path of Radiance's did. Merrin's definitely one of them, same with Etie, but if I had to give a reason besides that they carried the game for me, I probably couldn't. Rosado's another that comes close, but I just like that there's a gnc male character who doesn't sound like he inhaled 60 liters of helium.

The villains are the best we've had in a while, and by that I mainly mean Three Houses and Fates, both of which were too goofy to be considered a threat. Sombron manages to be absurdly evil while still managing to be taken seriously. The Four Hounds too were all great characters whom I cheered for whenever they appeared.

The game's voice acting was another strong point for me. I already mentioned how much I appreciated Rosado having a deeper voice than most femboys, but overall the entire cast did great. They really added to the childhood anime nostalgia. The English ones, at least, as I didn't play it with Japanese voices. Specifically, Luara Stahl as Alear and Sarah Williams as Marni were two that blew me away with how well they did.

I'd say this is one of the best Fire Emblems to date. Maybe once I play more of them that opinion will change, but I doubt it. If you're a fan of the series, or just like JRPGs in general, I'd give this one a go. Especially if you want to get into FE, but never knew where to start.

[faroreswinds]

Some anon asks that are spoilers for Engage:

In Zephias case they also portray Griss who is loyal to her as sympathetic as well, and he’s just as bad as her too. So it at least applies to both. Also more than anything what she wanted was a child of her own, and Sombron promised to get her pregnant which would definitely backfire since she wants a child to love and Sombron has *Checks Notes* Zero love for his kids and sees them as disposable pawns and they exist in service of him for conceiving them.

Lol yeah, I saw that stuff. 

Some weird writing there. Although I like the idea of an evil lady who wants to have evil babies with someone she admires, I don’t think the overall writing for this particular character is very good. 

Especially since she still has the “whoops, I’m actually sympathetic!” part of her.

You know, maybe I'm expecting too much of the fe-fandom here but with Nemesis being the "dark emblem" of fe3h maybe Nemesis/Agarthan apologists will finally shut up.

Nah, but I like the optimism, anon!

Unfortunately, we are looking at a sunk cost issue here. People for years have written essays about Why Rhea Is Evil, Actually, and that typically includes the conclusion that Nemesis is Misunderstood TM. 

That will never go away. Look at the occasional conversation about Arvis! 

Alear: Time to rub again- Oh. Edelgard: What's the matter? Alear: I was hoping for Dimitri again. Edel: Not available. So- Alear: Bye. Claude: Told he didn't like you. Dimitri: Well better you than me. I think they're too into the rubs when I show up. Edel: Whatever. That lizard doesn't know what it takes to protect the world. Other rings: *Crowd laughter* Leif: Yeah, no. As someone on the run who mugged soldiers for supplies, kiss my ass "Flame Emperor". Sigurd: It's funny because that's Arvis.

I'm sorry if this spoils Engage for you, it's okay if you don't want to answer.

I'd like to know what you think about this joke Edelgard tells Alear in the exploration dialogue.

JP: https://twitter.com/Heavenly_harpe/status/1616704534189047808 EN: https://twitter.com/GBooAdvance/status/1616866763022663682

I used google translator for JP's text, however it just gave me the feeling that EN mitigated her aggressiveness.

Nah, don’t worry anon. I’m not protecting myself from spoilers at all. 

I think I agree with you. The English says

“You never abuse your authority, Divine One. I appreciate that about you.”

But the Japanese says:

神竜は、人々を不当に支配したりはしないのね。 良かった・・・あなたとは仲良くすることができそうよ。

“So (the) Divine Dragon does not rule unfairly over people. Good. I think I can get along with you.” 

The general idea is still the same. Alear doesn’t abuse their power over people, which Edelgard likes. 

But the English loses some of the nuance. Edelgard does appreciate it in the Japanese, but it’s more like since Alear isn’t abusing her power, Edelgard believes they can get along. 

This is more in-line with her character imo, although the Japanese comments on this tweet do not seem to agree. Edelgard doesn’t like it when people abuse their power, although she does herself but that’s another story. She does believe in just rule, it’s just a matter of how that just rule looks. 

As for the Japanese comments on the matter, the OP says this:

エーデルガルトはこんなこと言わない

“Edelgard would never say this.”

With varying comments saying things like “She’s acting since she’s still in her school clothes”, “She’s showing off her skills that she learned from Claude”, “I’m worried about how the Divine Dragon Tribe is treated”, and one person showing a screenshot of Edelgard saying that since Flayn is a dragon, she cannot hold any power over the people - therefore, the OG Edelgard denies Dragons. 

These commenters do have a point. While it is in-line for Edelgard to appreciate those who do not abuse power, she is still very much opposed to anyone but humans ruling over humans. It’s part of her mantra. 

I would argue, though, that this isn’t really Edelgard. These Emblem versions are mere shadows of their OG selves, so there is some wiggle room in how they can be portrayed. Plus, like... Edelgard is a very unique lord, in that she was a lord designed to betray you. That’s part of the twist of her character. But she has to stand in-line with heroes like Marth, Lucina, Erika, etc, who are the archetypes that are meant to stand against her. 

That’s not very marketable for a game centered around summoning past characters on the good-guy side. 

[yeyayeya]

Thoughts on Fire Emblem Engage (so far)

*spoilers*

I have recently gotten to chapter 9? 10? I can’t remember but I’m currently on the battle where Veyle got the Emblem rings and now I don’t have anything (jk I got the DLC so I have the 2 bracelets).

Game is exactly what I expected it to be: gameplay being tons of fun, story basically cliche and nonexistent. The Firene chapters just kinda felt bland and the most exciting chapters were the Brodia ones, which isn’t a lot but I appreciate the effort.

Characters? Also feel bland and a bit one-note, as I don’t really care that much about them, especially the Firene characters. Alfred is definitely falling short but I still use him a lot in battle cause him with Sigurd’s ring is absolutely bonkers. I also thought I would get annoyed with Clanne and Framme, and I wouldn’t be surprised if other people are, but I have officially adopted them. Alear is too pure for the world and too nice but he still be looking kinda silly and I wanna see him go apeshit.

Also, the avatar worship is a bit too much for me. And the wake up dialogues are weird and it kinda makes me cringe and feel weirded out (unless it’s Diamant, because I simp for him). Ngl the one thing that makes me excited is the Emblems, and I have gotten my sons (Roy and Leif) and I could not be any happier.

I fucking knew Morion was going to die right away and I was right and the dialogue between him and his sons made me feel emotional and that’s the only thing they nailed on. I need Ike quickly tho and I can’t wait any longer.

(Classic Fire Emblem with having no parents and dying and being an orphan. It was nice meeting you mom, but M!Alear’s VA fucking went all out and I thought I wouldn’t care but that shit made me tear up)

The Brodia character designs are so fucking good (imo) because they don’t make my eyes hurt and that’s a fucking good sign. They all look so good, especially Diamant and Citrinne.

Also Veyle being evil wasn’t a big surprise but the change in voice sold me on her. Kudos to her VA. And does she have like split personality? Because she genuinely seemed nice and she doesn’t remember meeting Alear. Sombron (think that’s his name?) is possessing her.

I’m actually not nitpicking a lot cause I have someone that I constantly talk to and we watch the same things and we’re just joking and goofing around, so to me that makes it more fun. If I was playing alone, I wouldn’t be enjoying the game as much as I do now.

[yanderefairyangel]

I am scared

Alright so I got Zephia in Heroes and her characterization is scaring me because on one side they managed to convey pretty much what I had explained about her in my post but in another way... they decided to go along with the fans' view of her being a Sombron simp it seems.

In her Meet the Heroes, when mentioning her fighting for Sombron's cause, it is said "hopin he will return her feelings"... and God, did I hoped it was just Sharena misunderstanding things since it's her POV.

Alright so the good :

" a joyful family of heroes living in a perfect harmony... Oh, how I wish I could sow up discord !"

I think it shows what Mauvier said about her being destructive and me saying she can't help but want to destroy things like self-sabotage. You could also read that as jealousy for someone having what she doesn't have because this is what I do.

" Summoner, why did you brought me here ? Was this a passing whim ? An accident ?" This show that Zephia doesn't understand why Kiran summon her

"And why are you being so kind toward me ? This is beyond me". Like I mentionned, she doesn't believe anyone could really love her yet alone treats her with kindness that she reguards as weak due to her boss's values, hence her not understanding why Kiran is being kind towards her, especially HER seeing all the atrocities she did.

Noteworthy but she mentions how Kiran reminds her of someone else that she calls "an obnoxious little gnat" ... poor Veyvey (yes I am assuming she is talking about Veyvey because Veyvey is the one character she claims she cannot stand whereas Marni, she did appreciated her before she ... changed her mind)

"If it is my love that you yearn, I won't give it to you. I am seeking for a family, people who will love me only. And every day, you offer your attention to an uncountable numer of individuals. You are indeed incapable of an indevisable love."

Remeber what I said about her incapable of loving ? Remember when I said she couldn't try to give anyone love and just expected to be loved ? GOD WAS I RIGHT!!! Like I said, Zephia refuses to try to love anyone unless she is assured that this person loves her and her only. That's why she keeps looking for her imaginary baby. The Hounds don't love her : Marni satys because she wants praise, Mauvier stays because of Veyle. Zephia is sure that no one can truly love her due to her own form of self loath and is at the same time obsessed with the idea of having someone who would love her and only her without anybody else. Veyle, Mauvier and Marni cannot give her that, the only one that did was Griss and when he told her, she did not believed him at first before realizing her mistakes. Thinking that only a child of hers would love her and only her since she would control every bit of his life!! That's also showing she really has no idea of what love and family truly means because a mother is the one supposed to be able to love all her children her love can be shared without losing any drop, that each family member are capable of loving one another. She doesn't want to give love to anyone who is seemingly incapable of loving her only and then...

they messed up

"I quite like you but you must accept that Lord Sombron will always come first"

*sight* Yes, of course, because Sombron would be the one do that ... what I don't hear. Is she thinking that way because Sombron promised her the baby ? I'd wish so.

"I wonder how much time it took for Lord Sombron to notice I was missing. If he did noticed it..."

Well, this does align with me saying that indeed she did help Lulu and Veyvey out of spite and because she wanted Sombron to notice her existence but ...

that's just some samples, her dead quote is "Lord Sombron" she complains about if he misses her or not etc.

I really don't like where this is going and I would also not like the game trying to make her look sympathetic or redeeming in any way.

Thankfully, it doesn't seems to be the case for the moment seeing how she still acts like a despicable lizard and doesn't say anything that seems to make her look good, but fact is that she definitely will be turned into a Sombron simp which won't do her any favor

[themoomoorn]

LA SAGA DE BAGUETTE PART QUATRE: L'AMITIÉ C'EST MAGIQUE

Last we saw our Rent Rejects, they were en route to the Evil Winter Kingdom That Worships The Yellow One, as Diamant and Alcryst's dunderhead dad charged on ahead and is en route to getting his ass kidnapped and fulfilling FE's Dead Dad quota. But wait! There's more! Order now, and we'll throw in an extra Dead Dad absolutely free! But you gotta pay for shipping and handling.

Emblème, engager!

We begin with King Moron dueling with King Whoreacynth (more on that later) in one of the game's cooler cutscenes. The fact that Hyacinth is a Martial Master instead of a traditional Gharnef-like sorcerer is a fun touch to all of this too. As the 100-decibel alarms had predicted, however, Morion falls in battle and is promptly consigned to fate as a gruesomely undead puppet. You know, as you do.

We beat Ivy in the previous two Chapters, and punishment naturally awaits her. She's pretty resigned to her fate, however, and after Alear points out the obvious about how Daddy Dearest DGAF about either one of his daughters anymore, Ivy opts to jump ship...sort of. She doesn't actually join us until Chapter 11, but being the Sympathetic Sensual Heroine(tm) that she is, she knows her role well and heeds Alear and Diamant's advice. We also learn that...

...she's a worshipper of the Divine Dragons, unlike the rest of Elusia.

Minor Spoiler Alert: She worships the Divine Dragon as a form of rebellion, as court life in Elusia, as we learn later on, is complete garbage. It's a good reason, for sure, but it's also hampered by the fact that there are plenty of people, especially her younger sister, that treat her father like a paragon of goodness when we are shown nothing but contrary.

Plus, as we see later on, the faith of the Fell Dragon is treated like an actual faith instead of the stereotypical death cult that tends to follow dark-aligned dragons in older FE games. Normally this would make for an intriguing story and lore-building, but the problem is that Sombron isn't much different than Grima or Loptyr or Medeus, or Formortiis. There's sympathetic elements to him - probably more than Grima or Formortiis, for sure - but he's nevertheless as cartoonishly evil as both of those guys. There's no real reason to worship the guy, seeing that the Divine Dragons, in their fleshy glory, usually bestow true blessings that humans would want and need. The Fell Dragon's one big claim to fame was trying to raze the world to ashes. Okay???

As the lore says, Whoreacynth is trying to raise him up in Destinea Cathedral, and he needs the blood of regnant royalty to help him, and that includes Morion, who as a result is a beastlike Corrupted.

Despite the man being as intelligent as cement, he was still a good father to his sons. We get some surprisingly poignant send-offs from Alcryst and Diamant, which I quite liked. After taking out Morion, we then grind Whoreacynth into a pulp. Unfortunately, Morion's blood was just enough that Sombron could come back to life.

Sombron is ugly and not intimidating at all and I hate him.

Whoreacynth Outlives His Usefulness(tm) and we get him dying in this bizarrely titillating scene. We also see Hortensia having a Big Sad(tm) over the fact that her asshole dad is now dead. Whoop-dee-doo.

We see Sombron's dragon form for the first time. It looks cooler in cutscenes than it does in-game, for sure, but it's still a cobra's head glued to the body of a western-styled dragon. Meh.

Omnomnom~

With the obligate sacrificial men dead as doornails, we then are treated, with great shock, to his second-in-command, the one who helped assist in Hyacinth's sacrifice...

...our waif, Veyle. How convenient. Do note how her once purple eyes are a lovely shade of red now...

Unlike before, where we had our innocent sweet waif, Veyle now speaks with a "dangerous contralto" voice, gloating evilly of her hatred of humans. She's also the one who killed Lumera and stole Lythos' Emblem Rings, if the cloak she's wearing didn't make that clear.

Here we also meet the Black Fang/Four Heavenly Kings analogue for this game: The Four Hounds. They're lead by Seductive Evil Lady Zephia, the masochistic scene kid Griss, the bratty sociopathic womanchild Marni, and finally Mauvier, the one who is going to make a Heel-Face Turn about ten-ish Chapters down the line.

The looks make it a ringer, yes, but in battle he's also the only Hound who has a Personal Skill. Goddamn, that's pretty bad.

Mauvier demonstrates his affable nature, and he secures a spot on my shit-list for the time being.

One thing I forgot to mention is that before going to the Cathedral, Marth warned Alear not to go, predicting something terrible would happen. Alear doesn't heed the warning, but it's forgivable because they were in pursuit of Morion and were seeking to rescue him.

It's still treated as some kind of hubris anyway, because the Emblem Rings get stolen. Alear promptly goes into hysterics.

Given that Roy's ring isn't great and Leif's is mainly good for giving out free weapon proficiencies, I think you'll actually be fine without them, Alear.

With the Emblem Rings now corrupted and in the hands of the Hounds, Alear and company are forced to run. Fortunately, this plot point brings us to Chapter 12, which is the game's sole map where escaping is the main objective. You are given the option of fighting the Hounds, but they all have revival crystals and they each get an emblem that's been corrupted by Veyle and Sombron. They can't draw out their full power, but are still able to access the Emblem's skills and weapons. Also, the Emblems glow red and can't talk.

While the other three Hounds have basic promotions (Marni is a General, Griss a Sage, and Mauvier a Royal Knight, which is a mage knight-type that uses lances and staves), Zephia, being a 2500-year old dragon, has a unique class called "Melusine." What is a Melusine? Courtesy of Wikipedia, we know that she is a fey who resembles a serpentine mermaid. Their most famous story involves Melusine (the eldest daughter of a humanoid fey named Pressyne) locking away her father in a mountain after learning that he broke an oath he made with Pressyne - to never see her bathing herself or her children, as her nature would be made clear to him. Pressyne punishes Melusine by giving her a serpentine tail that would manifest on Saturdays. She would then go on to marry a French nobleman named Raymondin, and like her mother she imposed a contract that he never witness her bathe on a Saturday, as fey impose harsh punishments on those who break such promises. They lived happily (with Melusine bearing him ten sons, even) until he broke the promise one night and witnessed her bathing as a serpent. He exposes his crime in the heat of the moment after watching two of his older sons kill one another, and as punishment, Melusine transformed into a dragon, dropped off two magical rings for no particular reason, and flew off, only to return in order to nurse her youngest sons, who were still infants. Phew!

Wait.

Ten children? By a self-serving man who eventually scorned her?

...Keep a pin on that.

Ivy joins us for good in this Chapter, and in order to counteract the loss of the six Rings Alear had gathered up to this point, she steals the Ring of the Lady of the Plains (Lyn) and the Ring of the Exalted Princess (Lucina) in order to give the group a chance at fighting back. Of course, anyone who's obtained some or even all of the DLC Emblem Bracelets at this point will be unaffected by the loss, at least from a gameplay perspective. Whoops.

Her and her sister are Wing Tamers, which are basically pure mages that fly; she has a wyvern while Hortensia has a Pegasus. While the latter is geared towards staff utility, Ivy is a powerful mage...on paper, anyway. Because Ivy's evasion and build are below-average, she is prone to getting wiped out easily and struggles to double. Lyn does give her some extra speed, but her poor strength here means she can't take advantage of her weapons or specials.

Also, her and Zephia riding side-saddle the way they do looks...not great. As mentioned in the last post, how the frick can they stay on like that?

In any case, Alear gets away, yadda yadda. The next stop is the last Kingdom that we haven't seem: the Summer Kingdom of Solm. They have two Emblem Rings, we need them, and as we will see in Part 5, they're little more than a Glorified Plot Device in terms of worldbuilding, which is kind of sad considering its real-life inspiration. We march on as Alear goes through three tissue boxes over the loss of his bedazzled swag...

Yeah, I'm sure you'll do that Veyle. Such dark. Very convince. Wow.

Somniel Extras:

Sigurd/Amber Bond Convo, where we learn that Amber has lived up to his chosen gimmick since youth. It's been pointed out that out of all the Cliff Notes Emblems, Sigurd is the worst of the lot, and it's easy to see why. Initially he's inoffensive, but as time goes on, we realize that this is basically a bland Sigurd who's already dead and may have a memory problem...

Now I'm not saying that Alcryst is the Bernie of this game, but that is exactly what I am saying.

Okay, this isn't 100% the case, as gameplay wise Alcryst is better all-around and unlike Bernie, Alcryst's self-deprecation isn't played up for fetishistic/fantasy purposes. But boy howdy is it grating and executed about as well as Bernie's agoraphoia.

Diamant/Alear Support. Whereas Alear is deeply spooked by Corrupted, Diamant is spooked by hairy caterpillars. 🎵 One of these things is not like the others 🎵

'Till next time.

[tinnictheguardian]

Fire Emblem: Engage (spoilers)

So I just finished Engage and I have thoughts! I am putting them below the cut because I don’t want to be accused of spoiling. I also make some references to Three Houses. So expect spoilers for Three Houses too!

Let me start by saying that Engage is an extremely good introduction/reintroduction of the Fire Emblem tactics mechanics. The story mode, for the most part, is basically a very long tutorial on what FE is all about.

I love how you get the direct damage/healing rings at the beginning, but then they are taken away from you. So you are forced to use the new six rings, which are more advanced and involve you putting your characters in the right position on the board.

It’s pretty clever, and of course, you must wait until Chapter 22 to get all the emblem rings. At which point, you can, if you want, stop the story and just play Tempest Trials, skirmishes and the like. Certainly, you can keep playing after the game is cleared because, ultimately, Engage is about the tactical gameplay of Fire Emblem.

That said, it's obvious to me that the story of Engage is an allegory for the series as a whole. I mean, it ends with an explicit invitation to engage with the previous entries in the series. But also, Sombron says that he wasn’t trying to destroy any world or “conquer” other world but was looking for the “Emblem of Foundation”.

It seems obvious to me that this mythical “Emblem of Foundation” is supposed to be us, the players. He does see Alear and Veyle through a light filter. So you could say that Sombron realised his daughters were the Emblem he was looking for after all. However, given how brutally Sombron keeps rejecting Alear, Veyle and any connections he had in-universe, it’s obvious to me that what Sombron was looking for was us, the players, as personified in-universe by the protagonist Alear.

Alternatively, the players he was looking for were the players that fell off the Fire Emblem train in the last 23 years.

So I can see why Nintendo is pushing Engage so heavily in Japan, the only country that got all the Fire Emblem games. This game is designed to introduce Fire Emblem, the tactical game, to new players, hopefully rekindle the love for Fire Emblem in old players and also satisfy the players who never left.

The main story of Engage is Alear’s story, and it’s good enough. It is a classic coming-of-age story where the reborn Alear finds her place in the world as a divine dragon who believes she has to save the world.

Near the end, she could have believed Sombron and stopped fighting because Sombron said he had no plans to destroy Elyos. But letting him go would have meant making him someone else’s problem, and good dragons don’t do that. Also, Alear is the deity of Elyos. She wouldn’t be much of a deity if she just let Sombron walk away after all the damage he did. Especially in front of the four future rulers of the land closest to her seat of power.

This is a good time to talk about Engage vs Three Houses. Many people have commented that Engage has a worse story than Three Houses. But others have pointed out that Engage’s story is more tightly written. I have a different proposition. What sets Elyos apart from Fodlan is world-building.

Fodlan has a better build with more thought-out history. It also feels like a small part of a large planet.

Plus, you are not actually fighting to save the world in Fodlan. No one in Fodlan is trying to destroy the world. They are trying to shape the world and, through shaping it, control it. Even Thales and TWSITD don’t want to destroy Fodlan. They want to be colonisers who extract wealth and resources from Fodlan at large for Shambala. For much of Engage, you believe that you are saving the world. This is a different stake because if Alear doesn’t act, Elyos is destroyed.

On the other hand, if Byleth (or Shez) stay out of it, Fodlan still exists. But someone unsavoury gets control of the wheels of its development and, if it’s Thales, purposefully hobbles Fodlan because it is not to the benefit of extractive colonisers for colonies to develop beyond a certain point. This is different from Rhea because Rhea wanted to arrest Fodlan's technological development because she didn't want humans to reach the great filter point again. People forget that Fodlan is explicitly a post-apocalypse world where technological advances backslide literally into medieval times after a devastating war. Elyos doesn't hint towards anything that grand in its past.

Also, in Fodlan, everything has some sort of explanation. Why do crests exist? There is an explanation for that. Why is Dedue, Petra, Shamir or Claude in Fodlan? There are explanations.

On the other hand, Elusia and Solm retainers especially seem to suffer from the “we thought they looked cool” problem. There is a randomness that I feel undermines world-building but not necessarily interpersonal drama.

Take Merrin, for example, you meet her in the desert, but she’s wearing fur. Is she Solmic? Is he from the borders, and like most border people, she doesn’t bother identifying with either Elusia or Solm? I haven’t seen any support conversations that explain these things, but more importantly, it also doesn’t matter. She’s with Timerra because they randomly met after Merrin ran away from her village because she wasn’t ready to be the matriarch. It’s entirely personal and not related to any big movements of the world. This is both a strength and a weakness. Because Merrin meeting Timerra is a self-contained thing. But that means the story of their meeting doesn’t add anything to the world. It's an event that happened.

I commented on a post on Reddit that people think Three Houses characters are deep because their trauma is largely related to the events of the main story. Meaning that the threads of their personal story weave together to enrich the tapestry of Fodlan. I stand by that.

Engage’s characters have depth, but they don’t add to the tapestry of the story. Even knowing that Kagetsu is from Pale Sands, which does NOT appear to be part of any of the nations we see, I feel like Elyos is only the things you see, and that sort of kills my curiosity for the world. While we know Fodlan is just one part of a living world, and I always want to know more about the other nations!

Finally, I spent most of the game wondering what the Emblems were. Were they the actual souls of the heroes or just constructs? By the end of the game, Emblem Marth confirms that he is a construct and there is a real Marth somewhere. Even though Lucina is 2000 years in the future from Marth, by travelling between worlds, Sombron can come upon a living Marth and then go to another world and find a living Lucian. Not dissimilar to Fire Emblem Heroes, where every world and every time in those worlds are accessible through the Askr gates at all times.

The problem is that the Emblems talk for a large part as if they were the heroes. Byleth talks about being a walking lost and found service. Tiki talks about someone putting her to sleep. Not to mention they talk as if they have experienced all the events of the other games, including variations. The best way I can describe it is that Emblems feel like Woody, from Toy Story, who knows he is a toy but at the same time, they are also Buzz Lightyear, who doesn't know he is a toy. So for me, this is all immersion-breaking.

Still, I think we can all agree that Emblems are magical constructs. Then the next question is, who created them? When did they create them? We know in-game that the mage dragon Zaphia can create powerful artefacts. She or another mage dragon probably created the time crystal that allows you to have divine pulse-like abilities in Engage. So did a powerful mage-divine dragon create the emblems?

However, you can also interpret how the game talks about the emblems as something that’s always existed in Elyos. But this vagueness, in many ways, weakens the world-building of Elyos because rings are not organic. They have to be crafted, leading to the question, why were they crafted given they seem to pre-date Sombron?

Every question like this is totally unimportant and inconsequential to the gameplay but does weaken the world-building of Elyos.

The last bit of weakness comes from the divine dragon themselves. Engage is very religious in the sense that it is a story of where you take your place as the God-Ruler of Elyos. But there is a big sign that Lumera wasn’t a perfect queen.

She let Brodia continue to invade Elusia, which probably explains why Elusia worshipped Sombron. If I was a citizen of Elusia who lost my land to Brodia and Brodia was a follower of the Divine Dragon, who my people also worshipped but who didn’t do anything to help me, I too would find a new God. It’s one of the problems with having a living God walk among the people.

Ultimately, a God who lives among the people becomes like a really powerful ruler. Someone who controls your life but who can become an oppressive figure because they control your life. But exploring any of that is beyond the scope of Elyos, and there is nothing wrong with that.

However, if you are coming from Three House and you supported anti-church factions because you don’t like the idea of a deity ruling over you, well, you will get whiplash from Engage!

Overall, I think Engage was worth the 100+ hours I put into it. I probably will continue to play Tempest Trials and other things. Also, I did pay for the DLC, so I will be looking forward to getting the additions when they are released. I certainly recommend it to anyone who enjoys Fire Emblem's game mechanics!