#nuance in my fodlan game???

[randomnameless]

Relieved to see the "Church bad" stuff in 3H was the result of Treehouse's *ahem* liberties with the localization. One of the things I liked about Fire Emblem was that it wasn't like the 5000 generic church/religion bad JRPGs and that it treated religion with nuance and treated it's religious characters respectfully. I'd hate for the series that gave us characters like Lucius and Renault to become another bland religion bad wankfest.

Well...

It's not only on the lolcalisation, I'm afraid :(

"Church BaD" is peppered here'n'there through the game(s) because if Church BaD then maybe siding with Supreme Leader isn't completely ludicrous - but the lolcalisation amped it up to 11.

FWIW, I still think the FE series is the same series that gave us Lucius, Renault, Natasha, Yodel and the other monks/priests so it still has that nuance and isn't the generic "Religion BaD" JRPG (playing TS made me remember what was a true "Religion BaD" JRPG lol), and even in some ways, the Fodlan writers tried to warp it around "it's not the faith that's BaD, but Rhea" without ever saying what's so BaD about the faith Rhea preaches and what the difference with the faith that will be preached by her successors (Billy or the Tru Piss church)...

IIRC in Nopes Seteth mentions in an expedition dialogue how he disagrees with some church tenets... but never mentions to Barney what are those tenets he, as a saint, Rhea's right hand man and more or less her older sibling/kin, disagrees with.

Imo, the general Church BaD isn't BaD for being BaD in the og game, but a way to say Rhea BaD to both sell Hresvelg Tea and the idea that Rhea has to go so the player, through Billy, will take her place and make a better world because player wank.

The lolcalisation though? Kept the underlying Church BaD, even if their love of Tea sometimes makes their script suggest "Faith BaD"!

[ladyniniane]

Nooo Ionius IX :'(

All jokes aside, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about Lorenz!

What can I say, I'm a true barbarian, I'm completely unable to appreciate the basileus' sex appeal🙃.

I'm going to disappoint you, but I don't have many thoughts on Lorenz. It's like "I don't like him" and that's it. It's visceral.

The worst offender for me is his design. Especially his academy design. When I first saw that wonderful purple haircut, I was like "WTF is that? Mais ma chérie ça va pas tout ça!". (But then again, I'm a barbarian so maybe he's too enlightened for me).

One shouldn't judge a book by its cover. I know. But his design repelled me. It gets better post-time skip, though. But doing better than that isn't that difficult actually and it's still one of the worst offenders imo.

Apart from the fact that I was never that interested in discovering all the nuances of his personality (if there are) what I saw didn't convince me. The classism, the arrogance, the relentless pursuit of women who don't seem interested (like Byleth even has to tell him to leave the female students alone...)...I didn't find anything that held my attention.

The final nail to his coffin is that I never felt the need to use him in game.

On a positive note, I appreciate the fact that he's the only one to speak some sense to Klaude in Nopes (from what I've seen). I especially liked when he reminded everyone of WHY people are hostile to the Almyrans (the depiction of the Almyrans in Nopes is...something) when Klaude was crying: "Nuh I don't understand why Fodlan is racist and isolationist. They hate my people for no reason". Idk, maybe it's because your people regularly come to pillage and Nader wants to keep ships as souvenirs, idk?

Nopes made me feel sympathy for Lorenz and that's no meager feat.

[emblemxeno]

Man I hate the fire emblem fanbase so much it is hurting my enjoyment of the games. They can nitpick every little thing about Engage's and Fate's story, but watch out if you point out that Edelgard blaming the church for her experimentstion and not, y'know, her uncle who she KNOWS is an Arganthan, or how it doesn't make sense that the disappearance of 9 royals was swept snugly under the rug in the empire, or how Jeralt was suspsicious of Rheas doing to Byleth what she did to HIM, and suddenly you're a "hater" and "you have bad taste" and " lack media literacy".

3houses has the same storytelling issues Fates and Engage have, but bc the game has big tiddy lesbians and "I can fix them" traumatized characters = best JRPG since FF7. Fuck right off bruh. I'm so tired.

It does lend a lot of chances to be hypocritical in the fandom yes.

For as much as people can hate about Engage's time travel and magic stuff, or anything regarding Valla in Fates, at least those are purely fantastical. Does it erase the problems? No. But "magic world has magic things that don't need to always be explained in great detail" is-or at least should be-a sufficient explanation.

3H's issues, meanwhile, are almost always logical, informative, and communicative. Edelgard's war is predicated on logic jumps built upon exaggerated issues, an inflated ego, a savior complex, and half truths, and she herself is a canonical liar and manipulator. 3H's worldbuilding is based upon taking NPCs, books, and character biases as fact, despite there being known cover ups in Fodlan's history; to the point where it's not even fully known whether the other Hresvelg siblings actually exist. Jeralt is supposed to be 100% trustworthy as your dad, but being vigilant means you'll probably realize he's kind of shit and did a poor job properly teaching Byleth growing up.

Fates might have the Valla curse and a magic truth throne, but those things have a simple A -> B explanation and impact on that game's plot. It's easy to criticize because it's easy to understand.

3H on the other hand, you have to constantly twist yourself into a pretzel in order justify every angle and every motivation for every character in the game, mostly in service of not overly shitting on Edelgard's character, which usually results in kowtowing to her fans by shitting on Rhea, Dimitri, the church and Faerghus or, in my eyes, giving up and claiming "no one's completely in the right and that's why the story's good in the first place!"

From my perspective, if this happens, where someone can't form a rock solid opinion on even just how they personally feel/think about the writing, then either they need more time to themselves instead of online discourse or (where I lean) the writing they're discussing simply isn't that good enough to warrant engaging with its bad faith fans.

Side tangent that doesn't really fit but I wanted to say it anyway: Other FE games' moral dilemmas worked as well as they did because they were ornamental; a spice to the main emotional and thematic thrust of what their stories were trying to convey. Even the more complex examples like the Tellius and Jugdral games, weren't trying to sell their stories based on "look how complex and morally gray everything is", they were natural elements of war stories that supplemented the more major storytelling beats (Tellius' discrimination aesop, religious and political dogma, class warfare, and Jugdral's geopolitical inheritance feuds and territorial disputes, blood quantums, and passing the torch to the next generation).

3H's main drive... is the moral grayness. War horrors, comparisons between peace time and conflict, and constant conversation over "what the other side's justification is" while trying to "fix Fodlan." And the sloppy, fractured, and overly bleak attempts at nuance exemplified in the story is precisely why moral grayness shouldn't be the main factor. But people ate it up because... well, the prose wasn't too shabby I guess.

[kitkatopinions]

Out of curiosity, where do you stand on the "Edelgard is evil" debate? (I swear I'm not trying to start drama I'm just genuinely curious given your thoughts on how the RWBY writers handled Ironwood.)

I feel like every defense of Edelgard is people saying that Those Who Slither In The Dark and Rhea are worse and therefore her attempts to take them out means she's fine, but imo Edelgard is pretty indisputably a villain no matter what other people did. She's the 'sympathetic villain who has a point' kind of evil, the 'the end justifies the means' kind of evil, but it doesn't excuse her actions. She's kind of a conqueror who tries to set herself up as a dictator in charge of other countries that her army invaded. Iirc in the Crimson Flower path, you basically just sweep through Fodlan taking people out who stand in your way of conquering, with no regard to civilian life (and yeah, sometimes Edelgard is like 'that was sad, huh?' after a battle, but that's hardly enough) and then they tacked on a 'and then after that I guess they took out Those Who Slither in the Dark' to the epilogue. And then people kind of just decided that's the good path because they hate the Church of Seiros. I also have a problem with how the writers wrote Edelgard in Fire Emblem Three Hopes, especially in regards to how they basically made Claude's path a win for the Black Eagles (and made Edelgard a Sad Wide-Eyed Widdle Baby). It seemed like Fire Emblem Three Hopes strongly wanted to appeal to Edelgard fans, and I feel like it really hurt the game actually.

Edelgard is very different from Ironwood. She was a villain from the start, her arc wasn't rushed, they never acted like no one cared about her and they never hung all the problems around her neck as a way to dismiss the problems with the status quo. She was a nuanced villain, and that's the extent of it imo. She falls into the problem of 'the revolutionary person who has a problem with the system is actually also a horrible person who is just as bad as the people she's against,' which I do have some problems with, but I also feel like it's slightly more of a 'District 13 in the Hunger Games' situation rather than a White Fang situation.

But a lot of people look at the nuance involved and look at her being against the current system and use it as a reason to dismiss all her crimes and pretend she's only ever been the good guy who only ever does good things. So yeah, that's my general opinion on that whole discourse.

[rorah]

Do you have any thoughts on Claude’s route in 3hopes? Your analysis of Dimitri’s run was so awesome and I share similar criticisms. I’m personally not a fan of Claude’s characterization in 3hopes, and I’m a diehard Claude fan lol, so I’d love to hear your thoughts (positive or negative! your rant was just really well written and interesting!) have a good day/night :-)

My thoughts on Claude? Sure.

Well I have to be honest and start with the fact that I still haven't finished his route lol rip but I've been spoiled enough to know that this is the route where most of the characters/deers seem a little to too much OOC (for what I have read. Tbh I can't be sure about ALL DEERS but Claude is mostly the point here). And I am a defender of "characters in Hopes are still substantially the same as the one presented in Houses" argument, just different circumstances bring different outcomes. But also seems like the writers in charge of giving nuance to the characters don't know how to do it properly without taking some neurons and mental capabilities away from said characters, aka: make them look dumb.

GW and SB are the routes where I am hesitant to look for arguments that can backup such outcome or it's just a matter of "the devs forgot about that part in the original game" issue, as it's planted in some interview that I don't have the source at hand, sadly.

But I am quite convinced of one thing. Hopes is presenting us the opposite resolution of Houses with a subtlety masked by sweet fanservice (just a certain percent of fans, I must say). What I mean by that is, Cloud in Houses is the one discovering the truth behind the mystery of Fodlan and kills Nemesis for some reason at the end of his route. And in Hopes, he is the most notable affected by this change by not discovering much about Agarthans and also kills Serios instead of Nemesis at the end of his route.

In Azure Gleam Dimitri gets his revenge and that does nothing for his personal journey. Actually, it's the opposite because he learned in houses that revenge will get him nothing but more collateral damage.

In Scarlet Blaze well… I am not entirely sure tbh.

Back to Claude. I think the main problem with his characterization is that it was not quite clear what type of person he is. I remember doing his route with the idea that he was the most relaxed, "meme" fun lord, and all positive of the three because the fandom painted him as such, and I feel utterly confused and betrayed because that wasn't what I perceived of him in his route. He has a little arc about open up and trusting others, while getting rid of his own prejudices about the lands he isn't well versed. But that's in houses. In Hopes, that part of his character is taken away because once again: No Byleth.

Let me remark that I haven't played his full route yet, so take what I say with a grain of salt. So tl;dr, we can say that his characterization in Hopes is bad because it was meant to be bad. You can see it as a mirror universe without the person who functions as guidance. And once again that brings us to another conflict when we recruit Byleth, but that's another issue to tackle on its own separately because it has tints of "devs fcked up and ran out of time/resources to properly do anything with it or give coherent resolution" issues. --- Edited because I accidentally type Azure Moon instead of Gleam lol But anyway, Claude fans, let me know your personal interpretation of Claude ~

[mimzalot]

started streaming Golden Wildfire! gonna reflect on the route as it unfolds, courtesy of your resident Claude enthusiast.

CURRENTLY PLAYING: Chapter 4

[document version]

if Three Houses glossed over the sort of wild situation that Claude has to survive every day in Garreg Mach then this route has started with a bang by opening with conflict at the Fodlan-Almyran border. bold move! and I certainly am endlessly curious about this impending intrigue - in fact I have spent the last four years (four years!) since Three Houses musing about Claude’s relationship to his home nations, and the nations’ relationships to one another, and what that conflict means for Claude and everybody else.

do I trust the writers with it? not really. am I gonna try and play it in good faith anyway? evidently. so let’s get into it~ 🏹

right off the bat I can tell there’s stuff in this route that’s gonna make me uncomfortable, sometimes in the fascinating and deliberate way, and sometimes in the “oh I feel like an accomplice to/victim of a hate-crime” way. this is not really a surprise when it comes to Fire Emblem but it deserves a mention regardless, as I think Golden Wildfire’s going to be a rollercoaster that will frustrate me as much as it intrigues me. I’ll have the additional challenge of having to articulate how I feel about it off the dome, as a biracial POC playing to a mixed-bag stream audience. so, in short: occasional yikes are inevitable.

but such is the price I pay for Claude. ahh Claude, my beloved. when first I played Three Houses I was drawn to the game by him, not expecting him to be everything I enjoyed in a character. other than just being generally *chefs kiss* impeccable, he also conveyed some nuanced mixed-race experiences rarely expressed in a lot of media I’ve engaged with. that he sprouted from a game that frequently overshoots its own political intrigue and bungles character resolutions like FE3H surprised me, but I was happy to pluck the fluff and dirt off my darlings and make the best of what had been provided -- a bizarrely relatable, endlessly complex nice young man having a terrible, no good, very bad time.

I already got a whiff of this from playing Scarlet Blaze first, and it’s vindicating to see Three Hopes elaborate on something I’ve been clawing at walls trying to convey since the first game: Claude is light-hearted, but his situation is not. it always blew my mind to hear people say that Claude was the “good vibes house leader” in 3H only to play the game and find a character that would flippantly laugh about threats on his life, occasionally mention that he exists at the hostile junction of two warring nations, and ultimately find himself in the impossible position of an anti-war leader operating during a war. across two nations. both warring. yes, yes, he’s quite a funny guy, but his circumstances are abysmal, and a big part of that agony comes from the role he occupies -- that which he is saddled with, and that which he takes upon himself.

this was not a position easily occupied, and I was delighted to find that Claude was intelligently portrayed as a character whose ideals had to bend to the demands of leadership, resulting in morally-grey decisiveness, diplomatic juggling, and one of my favourite things to explore in fiction: the pragmatic, sometimes paradoxical pursuit of “non-violence” during war, and as a solution to war.

already in Three Hopes (I played SB first) I sense they’re leaning a little harder on showing Claude’s struggle with this, including some hints at the unbearably high bar he sets for himself. he doesn’t wear accountability like Dimitri or Edelgard in 3H - it’s always a little more cavalier, something you have to read between the lines to spot and understand. but this game is a tad more forthright with it, pulling back the disguise of “Master Tactician” to plainly show Claude in a perpetual state of, well... this:

and nothing exacerbates this like the situation they’ve started the game with. it’s dramatic irony that makes the first three chapters really sting: we know by now that Claude is Almyran, and are placed in an uncomfortable position of puttering around the camp listening to the people Claude calls his friends talking at length about the brutish Almyrans invading at Fodlan’s Throat.

this is technically good set-up. Claude is here to fix a problem, and this is our first experience of the problem -- lacking communication and education means that neither side knows who they’re fighting, or why, just that they have to. with the Church of Seiros already positioned as a questionable but overbearing presence in ch. 2 (“Why are we being sent here to fight? Church school said so.”) it begs to reason that showing the consequences of Fodlan’s intensely insulated culture starts with these uncomfortable scenes. they are, after all, born from the fear of not knowing. Claude as an antithesis to ignorance-based conflict makes a habit of overcoming fear by knowing everything.

so there are some pretty ick conversations happening around camp, and that’d honestly be something I’d be fine to reckon with as a narrative choice -- if not for the visceral discomfort and sharp drop in faith that came in the form of Shahid’s introductory scene.

let’s get this out the way: I did not spend four years mopping my tears about all these Lords and Royals to see Shahid and not immediately think “bratty king? I can fix him, and/or make him worse.” especially as a foil to Claude, it’s interesting to see a foolish heir working towards the throne in a way that Khalid, and perhaps even the King of Almyra, would oppose. I’m bracing myself for his justifications, for his humanity, because he occupies an interesting political position and he’s the first family of Claude’s that we’ve seen on screen. and yes, he could just be shallowly evil, but that wouldn’t be anywhere near as fun as it being complicated and ugly, the way all the other Lords and Leaders are afforded.

alas, it is difficult to have faith that GW is gearing up to say something interesting when they introduce such a caricature of the ‘evil desert guy’ that I feel like I’m watching a Disney movie. especially when a scene shows a narrow-eyed, ashy-but-darker-skinned ‘evil’ sibling in contrast with our bright-eyed, lighter-skinned mixed-Fodlanian Claude. it’s these sort of artistic choices that threaten to undercut the same cross-cultural intrigue that this route is constructing.

the Three Hopes sprites are a bit awkward, proportionally (shout out to Margrave Gautier’s bizarrely wide mouth) but it’s a long and yucky history with depicting MENA people that makes this particularly egregious. I’m Samoan so not personally affected by this, but it is nevertheless going to take an active effort to just try to look past the way his character is drawn. I spare a wince of sympathy for my viewers that are more personally affected: it sucks, and it’s such a simple fix that it becomes even more frustrating.

he does look slightly less like a hate crime in the animated cut scenes though. “the only one who can beat me is me!” type rizz.

I actually like that his features might deviate from the typical proportions of most of our main cast, the way Hubert’ or Lorenz’s do. it is a shame to have it pushed just into the realm of caricature when there is something workable there.

nevertheless, 3H optics have betrayed themselves before (shout out, woman-enjoyers). so again, I’m going to try and brute-force past this icky design choice and try and find my bliss, which is thus: sibling drama, please, I beg. I love the garbage mish-mash of family dysfunction and political drama that happens in royal families, and it was high time that we saw a glimpse at what Claude’s other side is going through. I swear the British monarchy convinced people that wild dysfunction is reserved only for the English, but where there is power there is corruption, and where there is hereditary power struggle, by jove do you get problems -- it’s just a matter of flavour.

all that to say: I am hoping that we will be compensated for that abysmal talk-sprite with enough royal family intrigue to write home about. I would like to see Almyran politics that are just as complex as everywhere else, but culturally diverse and interesting without leaning lazily on the same fear-mongering racist rhetoric that Claude’s entire character exists to debunk. that’s my hope. my three hope. ha ha. look I’m not holding out hope for a diamond, I just kinda want a gem-shaped rock that I can polish up myself.

anyway, new spite-induced meow meow aside, let’s get back to Claude. my god! his life fucking sucks!

thinkin about this scene just before the timeskip where Claude expresses his thanks to House Goneril, and apologises for not being of more assistance. it makes my skin crawl knowing that Claude is not just thanking Holst but saying sorry to him after all the micro-and-macro aggressions he’s been weathering, but it makes a lot of sense; Claude is representing House Riegan and his grandfather, not Khalid of Almyra, and not even Claude himself. and what that shows is an important feature of diplomacy: the ability to make connections, and say what needs to be said in order to maintain good relations with his new allies.

better than that, it shows how damn good Claude is at it, despite having every reason in the world not to be. he is, in this moment, House Riegan. and with foresight, this is an interview, and this humble apology operates twofold as a promise, setting the tone for his eventual leadership and securing House Goneril as an ally.

if Claude were more selfish, more proud, more emotional or less wise, he wouldn’t be able to say things like that. it is the humility that makes people underestimate him, but it’s also what makes him so pivotal in creating and maintaining peaceful circumstances. sometimes, peace-keeping means pacifying the people in power. and especially for Claude operating in the alliance, managing expectations is key for a leader. he’s clever, this is strategic, and I’m excited to see Claude juggle the egos and roles of all the nobles around him.

but it’s tough, right? this is a situation that rewards Claude for not behaving like a human ought to. I like to imagine the way his smile falters when the Almyrans are spoken of like barbarians, agitation ticking along in the back of his mind while he forces himself to speak the niceties that will benefit everyone in the long-run. he’s only seventeen. we hear a lot about noble obligation, but there is no greater pragmatic noble obligation in Leicester than managing the other nobles, and Claude has that skill in spades -- hard won, but effective, with an eventual payoff to make all that juggling worthwhile. sometimes. maybe.

speaking of noble obligations, good lord that bit where Lorenz snaps that they must execute Tomas and Claude has to remind him that dead men don’t talk... I’ll inevitably end up talking plenty about Lorenz as the game goes on because he is a fascinating foil, so remind me later to talk about the things that make Lorenz a good noble, bad leader, and eventual good ally later.

and on the topic of fascinating foils...

man. I was not expecting Shez.

for those unaware, my read of Claude in 3H was that he mostly saw Byleth as a curiosity pre-timeskip, then brought them on as a means to an end post-timeskip. room for interpretation about how they develop after that, but generally most of my Byleth and Claude interactions boiled down to this thinly-veiled hostility and how it evolved into apologetic manipulation and mutual care.

Shez is different, right off the bat. I can see Claude working them over, but there’s something very new about the vibes of Claude approaching a peer he finds suspect. it has the same echo of how he treated Byleth, and even Marianne, but there’s a difference that I can’t quite put my finger on, and I suspect it comes from Shez just being a much more talkative character, plus the dramatic irony of vaguely knowing where Shez’s story might be heading. they’re not harbouring the goddess, nor a cursed beast, but a secret third thing :’l (and god I’m so excited to see what’s up with Shez, they’ve been impressing me as a protag since I started this game, I don’t think I’ve liked a FE avatar this much since Robin)

the way I characterised Shez has him coming off a little arrogant and brash, compared to my previous Shez, who seemed mostly daft and down-to-earth and is currently committing girlboss crimes in Adrestia in an alt timeline. I’m so used to overlooking the avatar character that I hardly realised just how much potential Shez holds in this route, as a sellsword brought onto the squad of the guy that wants to avoid bloodshed. honestly I’m pretty astounded by the raw fire of intrigue it’s set alight in my brain. Shez thrived under Edelgard because they always had work. and now they’re struggling under Claude, and we’re seeing just how vile the war machine is that it will make peace an inconvenience to the merc economy.

just before I finished the stream, I played the opening scene of the timeskip: where Shez is struggling to make ends meet by being a mercenary in a peaceful alliance. therein lies the intrigue of this pair-up. Claude wants peace. Shez needs to fight to live. so how do we reconcile this?

already it seems that Claude mmmiiight have just deliberately forced scarcity on Shez in order to easily manipulate them into a) not moving into a different nation when Claude still doesn’t know what’s up with him and b) taking up his first offer of becoming a commander, which is exactly the morally dubious pragmatism that I love to see in my Alliance leader - but who’s to say? it’s not as if it’s the same method he used to flush out Bergliez’s army in the SB route, forcing their hand by starving their troops with hopes they’d choose surrender...

guess we’ll find out next time, eh? but oh, is my spotlight shining on these funny little guys.

and quickfire round: Nader’s still lookin’ handsome, love that Claude’s opinion of Shez rises every time I side-eye the church, and Arval continues to enthrall my entire brain.

and. yeah. that’s a majority of my first impressions of the GW route. not even all of them but this is like an entire essay and I’m only just past the prologue. tl;dr more of the same Claude goodness, something new and tense in Almyra lore, and then something new and unexpected in Shez. and we’ll see where the rest takes us.

thanks for reading, all the best!

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[fireemblems24]

Scarlet Blaze Ch 9

Going to admit up front that I'm incredibly unmotivated to play this, but here we go.

STORY

Ok, so calling it now. Edelgard realizes she's a dumbass for thinking her single-supply line 10/10 army strategies couldn't smash all of Fodlan under her fist at the same time. So she's going back to look at options.

Given what the story's said so far, write it down - Edelgard will call a temp truce with Claude to focus on the Kingdom. Then she'll later plan on fighting the Alliance or doing exactly what she accuses Rhea of doing and ruling the Alliance with her soft-power.

Lysithea showing up? Does she if you don't recruit her? She doesn't really add anything to the scene.

Hubert thinks TWSITD wants to recruit Shez. He's getting interrogated by his own allies. Yikes. Deserved. That's what you get for fighting for the Imperialist land-hungry country.

Oh, no side-battles this time, like in GW in ch 8. Good. Means it'll go fast.

MAP/SIDE BATTLES

I keep remembering that Ingrid's dead in this storyline. If Sylvain or Felix are recruitable after this, that's straight-up character assassination.

Monica adds nothing of value. Her personality is literally just "Edelgard."

"Whatever part of me that was a knight is dead." - Ashe 😭 It's like CF!Felix all over again. He's just miserable. At least someone here gives a fuck about Ingrid.

Lysithea not trusting the Empire saga continues.

Least self-aware Imperial soldier "Why, what would happen if instead the Empire itself were suddenly invaded?"

Glad to see Mercedes expressing regrets.

Ok. Who wrote this? "I believe the Church of Serios ought to be protecting the people of Adrestia even now." 🤣

SHEZ & MONICA B SUPPORT

I'm sure this will be a deep, nuanced conversation. 👌

Monica is jealous of Shez because Edelgard is impressed with him. And is in denial.

She claims her relationship with Edelgard is deeper and Shez is just her servant.

Monica literally counts how many times Edelgard says people's names.

Much deep. Such character.

EDELGARD & BALTHUS B SUPPORT

Their final support.

Hubert told Edelgard Balthus was a womanizer. Hubert is really over the top in this game, lamo.

Edelgard isn't Balthus' type. Taste.

"I'm not compassionate - merely hopelessly committed to my ideals." - Some self-awareness this time. Nice.

"I've set out to unite all of Fodlan. I've started a war over it." - Edelgard.

I've seen people say the fandom say we shouldn't assume Hubert's thoughts are Edelgard, fair. But, like, it's right there. Out of her own mouth. Again.

She promises to protect anyone who serves her and her ideals. Tell that to Houses!Bernedetta or Houses!Monica.

In the end she invites him to a war council.

MANUELA & JERITZA B SUPPORT

Their final support.

Manuela notices that Jeritza is getting along better with the soldiers. He compliments her for being perceptive.

Manuela tells him that all he's missing is a smile. Not going to lie, I thought she was going to say "wife" instead.

She's really pulling a "you should smile." She and Claude need to get put in a corner for that. Albeit, Manuela is acting as his teacher, Claude's just being a sexist ass.

Jertiza smiles and seems to like Manuela, but not the way she wants.

HUBERT, PETRA, & JERITZA PARALOGUE

I see Lorenz is in two paralogues available here, so I guess characters sometimes are in more than one?

Anyways, plan is to use Hubert and/or Petra while Jeritza gets carried around.

I think I pissed Hubert off and made Jeritza happy.

They debate how tough the group is. Game is being somewhat self-aware by having people be like "move on already."

Soooo . . . this paralogue is about stopping the Church of Serios from assassinating Count Varley. Fuck that.

So in this paralogue we're rescuing an abusive father who's using faith as propaganda from the people trying to get rid of corrupt leaders in the location of the home we chased them out of on threat of murder if they return. Great.

Man, we had to fight Shamir and Catherine duo :(

Catherine asked if we were really willing to die for Varley. You know it's bad when Catherine is the smartest one in the room.

SHEZ & JERITZA B SUPPORT

Jeritza is looking for someone. He saw them and he ran away.

Shez described Jeritza as having a "murdery aura," accurate.

He says he'll never "capture her." Man, Shez, not sure it's a good idea to help him here.

He denies getting help.

LORENZ, FERDINAND, & CONSTANCE PARALOGUE

They're all having tea together and discussing it and trying to "out noble" each other and kissing each other's ass.

Constance feels inferior to their nobility. It's her sun thing, right?

Constance asks them which one is the most noble. Ferdinand says it's not noble to rank things like that. Constance calls them cowards essentially.

Now they're having a competition and asks Shez to judge. Shez suggests a training battle.

I hope Ferdinand gets a second paralogue that's most interesting than this. The dialogue wasn't even that funny outside the the first part.

It was an extremely mid plot, but fun to play with the time limit on killing all the generals.

If Ferdinand was MVP, does that mean he won?

Shez won. Is that automatic then? I jumped back and forth between Shez and Ferdinand the whole time.

Now they're going to have a tea party.

MAIN BATTLE/STORY

Monica is soooo boring.

People are trying to assassinate Edelgard. Hubert suspects Shez.

Shez, Monica, and Hubert rescue Edelgard from Shamir in a cut scene. Hubert also blasted at Shamir and Monica was in the way of his magic. Monica gets mad. No one told her what happened in Houses lamo.

Edelgard just stands there the whole time during the cut scene lol.

Oh, Edelgard's a green unit this time. Weird. Like it made sense for Dimitri but the moment we busted him out, he was playable. Edelgard isn't under threat of Cornelia or anything. Oh well, she's not one of my best units.

Oh, fuck, I can't use Hubert either. That actually does sting.

It's ok. I still have Ferdinand and Shez, Manuela is good too.

Persuade Shamir is an option. Makes sense I guess.

I have to protect Edelgard from getting routed. But what if I just . . . don't? Kinda weird how she's just . . . standing there. Like there's no in-game reason for why she's not fighting and just sitting around letting everyone else save her.

Edelgard left the throne room for like a minute and needed to get warp rescued back lamo.

OMG, Shamir only defects to save Catherine's life. 😭😭😭😭😭 Girlfriends.

I feel so much like the villain right now. After that stuff with Catherine and Shamir.

Ferdinand's father escaped. Hubert's taking it out on Ferdinand.

I think Hubert will use this escape as an excuse to kill Aegir.

They used a secret passage. Rhea probably helped build it lol.

Hubert is apologizing for suspecting Shez.

Wow, Shez only got promoted so Hubert could investigate him. So Edelgard only promoted a commoner because she suspected him of being a spy.

Yikes, poor Shez. Claude leaves him with no work (and not much pay) for years and Edelgard suspect Shez is with the enemy nearly the entire game.

I get to make Shez pissed off though. He's actually calling them out for being two-faced too.

"The great war Edelgard instigated" - narration. Claude, Dimitri - neither of you started this.

Part 1 Fin. Like with GW. I suspect AG will get that after Ch 9 too and GW is just one chapter ahead time-wise than the others right now.

xxxx

[all-is-for-all]

So Fire Emblem: Engage is.....interesting.

I'm only six chapters in, but I'm already getting the impression that the review consensus is pretty spot-on. The combat is solid and feels like any other good FE entry. But the shallow story feels like a huge step backward compared to the world-building masterpiece that was Three Houses. The characters are also a mixed bag, ranging from "fine" to "super obnoxious". The creators want you to feel an enormous gut punch from an early-game death, but there's just no dramatic weight or emotional resonance to it; they drag out the cutscene way beyond the length it has any right being at this point in the story, and the whole ordeal makes you just want to play Awakening or the aforementioned Three Houses to experience an actually-effective death scene.

More broadly, I am just so fucking exhausted of this "self-insert main character is a divine dragon/god/saint figure who has an obscured past and that all the other characters simp for" thing that the creators have insisted on for the past four fucking games. The other three games could get annoying with it at times, but Engage is taking it to parody levels. Characters are either obsessed with Alear (the above picture isn't even an exaggeration, I swear to god) or they lean into a surface-level gimmick, with barely any of the intrigue and nuance that came through in the characters of Awakening and Three Houses especially.

(This character is talking to Alear in their very first support conversation together. *Hurls*)

We need to have an FE game with another Ike -- a peasant with nothing inherently special about them, someone who is less "lord" and more "vanguard", someone who is loved by their army because of their personality and deeds and sense of justice, not their title. Hell, we could really just use a big changeup that subverts all the FE tropes in general. Three Houses did a great job hacking at some of the core FE traditions, what with Edelgard's quest to root out the Fodlan aristocracy and replace it with an ostensibly more egalitarian republic. But we need something more concretely revolutionary baked into the entirety of a game. Obviously I'm biased as a socialist, but even outside of that I can guarantee that it would make for some fantastic storytelling. We need a peasant army that gets to actually overthrow a monarchy, without any of the finger-wagging Three Houses had for Edelgard's attempt. (Obviously she does some problematic stuff, especially outside of the Crimson Flower route, but it's a Thermian Argument thing -- just present the peasant army overthrowing the monarchy in the same moral light that lords have been presented in since the very beginning of the FE series.)

I love Fire Emblem. Always have, ever since I first found the GBA game at age 10. But it needs a revolution. And Engage sure as hell isn't accomplishing that.

(I hope it gets better, but I'm not gonna be setting my hopes too high.)

[raxistaicho]

It’s always been so weird to me how Dimitri and/or Rhea-centric (and to a lesser extent Claude-centric) fanfics will absolutely butcher Edelgard’s character and put her through extreme violence as “comeuppance” for her being an evil bitch and yet in all Edelgard-centric fanfics I’ve read the other lords + Rhea aren’t treated the same way. Sure, I can’t say that they’re perfectly characterized and nuanced, but I’ve never read a fanfic with Edelgard as the protagonist that involved the other lords + Rhea getting tortured for the pleasure of the audience. People writing Edelgard as a protagonist give a level of respect to her enemies that people who write Edelgard as an antagonist just don’t have for her.

For sure, some of the stuff the writer of that fic has her go through is pretty goddamn gross (extreme physical abuse, her citizens throw bricks or rocks at her, at one point she gets bits of metal in her eye and her eye is later healed with the meta still in it) and it's clearly just the author venting her frustrations at the character. Now granted, I indulge in some of that myself, but it's more in the form of Dimitri losing arguments against other characters, like so:

“The Flame Emperor was behind the Tragedy of Duscur,” Dimitri said, his voice ragged and his eyes on the ground. “He killed my father! My stepmother! Our knights, my friends, the innocent people of Duscur! All their blood is on his hands!”

Marissa was so stunned that she could only stare at Dimitri in utter shock as he bent over to retrieve something from the ground. “Dimitri,” she said slowly. “That dark mage said he and the others like him created the Flame Emperor. He only said the Flame Emperor was responsible to quiet his protests. Thales is clearly the superior in their relationship.”

But Dimitri was staring at the dagger he’d picked up off the ground. Recognizing this situation for the lost cause it was, she rolled her eyes and left the prince behind. Dimitri might have exposed their position sooner than Marissa would have liked, but Thales and the Flame Emperor had unknowingly handed her a wealth of information.

If I ever got to a character physically torturing Dimitri, I'd be going too far and I should hope my fans would call me out on it.

And yeah, I mentioned this before, but it just feels like our side gives better respect to the other than we get in return. We (at least mostly, anyways, there's obvious bad-faith types in any group) don't question that Dimitri or Rhea's fans believe they're the character the game presents them as, and yet in return they act like Edelgard's a secret genocidal tyrant who just wants to rule Fodlan.

[dilydilydily-fe]

Let me first say no. This is my personal opinion and does not represent all Japanese fans. And it doesn't challenge the ideas of all fans.

ToDay! ! I would like to consider and write about the Japanese "first person" culture and the characters that appear in FE 風花雪月 (Fire Emblem: Three Houses).

This is one corner of the FE Fuka Setsugetsu strategy book released in Japan.

It is featured about their unique "first person".

Japanese video games, manga, and anime characters is Colorful hair colors, hairstyles, eye colors, and accessories are often symbolized to demonstrate individuality in appearance, but equally important is the "first person." (Video game fans familiar with Japanese culture will surely know!)

how do you describe yourself? As for the nuance, it might be something like their self-introduction, or something like the aura that they carry. (Personal impression)

In the image you saw earlier,

"Watashi" "Ore" "Boku"

and

"Ode" *This is special, so I'll explain it at the end!

……It is written to be pronounced as

Japanese has its own unique alphabets of kanji, hiragana, and katakana.

kanji=漢字=Chinesealphabet hiragana=ひらがな katakana=カタカナ

I would like to introduce these nuances along with the characters' personalities!

first most

”私"

This kanji character for "私" has a variety of uses, such as intellectual images, adult images, honorifics used when exchanging words with superiors, and different uses in business situations.

Characters using this first person in the Japanese version

edelgard Hubert Ferdinand Dorothea mercedes Ingrid Marianne

They are calm and have an air of maturity that allows them to always behave appropriately in public. It is also used when interacting with someone you respect, and it also plays a role in creating the atmosphere that aristocratic characters are living in aristocratic society. And this firstperson is the safest.

The first person ”私” is primarily used by women, but it is also used by men. In the real world, men use it in business-like situations and temporarily when using honorifics, so not many men use it on a daily basis. (Persons of high social status, such as presidents, politicians, and royalty, may always use it.)

However, when it comes to fictional characters, it becomes an accessory that colors their personality.

Hubert's "私"

I believe that this contains the nuances typical of him, who always tries to behave perfectly as Edelgard's aide. Although he is his close aide, he also acts like a butler. In addition, you can feel the extravagance and difficulty of getting along with his classmates.

Ferdinand's "私" I think it's a sign of his confidence. Absolute confidence, perfectionism as it should be. It is the firstperson that is typical of him who carries the proud Aegir family on his back. I think that he, who was born a great nobleman, only has this first person.

*Because of their status and position, characters from the father's generation often use this first person.

Female characters are the most common first person for females, so I will omit them here. (If there is something like "I want you to tell me more about this character", I will accept it)

Next, consider a character that uses the first

person variant of "I".

Written in hiragana (Japanese alphabet) "わたし"

Petra Lysithea leonie

They are younger image than the characters that use the kanji version, and you can feel that they are still growing. Since hiragana is the first character to be learned in the Japanese national language, I think Lysithea is used as an expression of childhood, and Petra is used as an expression of unfamiliarity in learning the language of Fodlan. And Leonie is like a village girl. Although she comes from a commoner family, she has no connection to the aristocratic society, unlike Dorothea, who is also a commoner. I believe that this is how they are used.

…… In addition, three characters using this subspecies of “わたし”

Bernadette Annette hilda

The three of them say "Atashi".　「あたし」

Watashi

By intentionally not pronouncing the W, it makes it look more casual. The first person for women is mainly "私", so I've been using this first person since childhood, but the girl who imitates her parents' words without knowing the letters says "Atashi" even though she's not fluent There are many However, since it does not interfere with my daily life, I do not particularly correct it. She is easy to say when speaking out loud, and there are many adult women who use this way of speaking on a daily basis. In fact, when it comes to colloquial language between family and friends, this one is more familiar. I think it expresses their talkativeness, friendliness, and innocence.

I feel that Hilda's "I" includes the nuance that, despite being a noble, she deliberately shows shyness and uses it as one of the tools to skillfully control her opponent.

I never really thought about it, but when I look at it again, it's a wonderful selection that matches‼

It's been longer than I expected! It will continue to the next…!

It has nothing to do with the text, but I will attach a picture of them. ���

[arkus-rhapsode]

My Thoughts of FE Three Hopes

Wow, Arkus talking about 3H? What is this? 2018? Also talking about FE3H, I must have a death wish.

So before I start even talking I really want to put this disclaimer out here, especially when talking about the divisive nature of 3H, these are my OPINIONS. This is not a objective analysis of the game nor am I am claiming it to be. These are the thoughts I had playing this game. If you enjoyed it, good. If you didn't, that Is also good. You do not have to agree with me, but I am asking for people to be respectful if they want to engage with this. And if you do agree with me, please do not use what I say as an excuse to attack people with other opinions. I am not trying to personally attack or offend you if you like this game/character/plot point. This is my opinion of a piece of media. There is plenty of opinions of this game on the internet, all I am doing is adding my thoughts to the conversation.

Anyway, people might now I am generally more middling on 3H nowadays. I think its greatest strength was its character writing and its willingness to try different things even if I wasn’t a fan of them like the time management aspect. But I felt the social sim aspect and developmental issues behind the scenes resulted in a much uneven game and at times unfinished project. I’ve also looked back and realized a lot of its politics are not that great. Like the strength of the narrative is the character conflict, that you have these three forces who all want what is best for people like them with crests, and its very compelling drama where you see how much they care about each other, but just can’t agree. But step back from the context of the conflict, the issues aren’t really crests or even the church, but rather the feudalist system which is never really addressed in a major way (And we know you can be a rich noble without a crest). With most of the plot centering around a lot of people who are nobles. Heck, you have actual subjugated and colonized people and most of their plots are either treated as backstory or something to be resolved in their character endings (Even Claude and his anti racism isn’t that relevant in comparison to the strife of the crest bearers and their place in Fodlan). While I think characters like Dedue and Petra are good, the story of 3H is not their story. Like every ending still seems to maintain the system with slight alterations, the thing that’s changed the most is who is calling all the shots in Fodlan. Which isn’t uncommon for many FE’s that maintain a simple “The good lord is the good one to rule”, but given 3H attempts to ask more nuanced questions, it feels like it the political aspect is much more undercooked. Which sucks because anytime discourse about 3H happens it boils down to: “Church bad! Church good! Fascist! Not fascist!” when there is an actual discussion to be had about the issues of the internal politics of the game and how it relates to the status quo. But again, when it focuses on CHARACTERS the 3H story is very good.

But hey, now we have Three Hopes! A musou style game that is an alternate take of the 3H world with loads of extra content! Surely this will be able to scotch tape the issues with the original while also providing another three completely separate routes that are all satisfying on their own, right?

Well... not really.

Look, I know I’ve lost people when I said that, but from what I have seen, I think a lot of people wanted Three Hopes to be, Fodlan: The Definitive Edition. Give the people Three House with all the stuff it missed out. Like how Persona Royal is the definitive way to play P5 which not only improved the story in an organic way, but still let you experience P5 as it was. But 3Hopes isn’t that. 3Hopes is a completely alternate universe, with honestly so much variations, I would say trying to apply logic and revelations from Hopes and retrofit it to houses just clashes too much and doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. I see a lot of people try to apply stuff learned about in Hopes as being relevant to Houses, but I disagree with that. I feel like knowing about this in Hopes doesn’t retroactively fix the problems of Houses, and I feel some character are almost completely different so the application of this Hopes characters ideas and thoughts are relevant to the Houses version isn’t really fair. Overall, if you are just here for another game with the Fodlan kids though, I get why this has its appeal and its easily the better FE Musou while integrating more FE elements. But it is a spin-off and I am treating it as such.

Okay if you are still sticking around to listen to me ramble after that, let me just get positives I liked about the game out of the way first.

From a story standpoint, I like that this game is willing to fill in stuff from 3H that went either on addressed or was flat out ignored. Shez is better than Byleth in everyday and their relationship with Arval feels far more genuine than Byleth and Sothis. Yes their design is very “OC do not steal” but honestly, I prefer your MC to just be a mercenary that got made a student and not a teacher.

In terms of routes, I will touch on some subjects later, but I actually do believe 3Hopes did manage to make Edelgard in particular more compelling, by actually showing her weeding out the conspiracy in the Empire and centralizing her power rather than it being all off screen, as well as actually allowing her to do more dubious acts when wartime came which was one of my biggest issues with Crimson Flower as a whole as it was an antagonist route where they didn’t do a lot of the actually pretty bad stuff they did in other routes like making the Dukedom which empowered Cornelia. So using Bernadetta’s father as a pawn or saving Lenato as an act of good faith with manipulative undertones actually made Scarlet Blaze a better route. 

Speaking of routes, I quite like how 3Hopes was willing to basically say “This character could go any way in this war, and this is who is ride or die their lord.” I avoids some really weird stuff like Ingrid ever being on black eagles with the only reason being “The Professor told me to” and also adds an interesting layer with characters like Yuri or Dorothea who will do what is best for them and their groups. It also I think allows for more story opportunities like Felix and Sylvain backing Dimitri, Hilda and Holst tag teaming with Claude etc.

Rhea not just disappearing or getting captured also adds for her character to take a lot more initiative. Rhea is mostly passive in 3H with the exception of Crimson Flower. Which led to her character basically being a lot of speculations. And I don’t particularly care for discourse that ends up just being based on speculation. SO yeah, Rhea feels like more a character here.

The politics in 3Hopes are... still pretty bare minimum. I like more characters talk about policy more openly and address concepts like getting people involved in government and the only reason they are keeping lords around is to manage things until they are replaced. It doesn’t feel weighted on one side or the other: all lords get a chance to have an opinion. But again, it is something. 

Graphics wise, it is an improvement. It looks far better than 3H and the character animations, expressions and attacks look so much better. Like Im not even gonna say “Well its a Musou, I expect it to look good”, because I remember FEW, it didn’t look that great with some of its animations. 

That’s the positives out of the way. Lets get into the negatives.

So you know how I said the three routes in 3H generally feel unfinished or not as fleshed out as they could be? Well 3Hopes is the same. It adds more, but due the spin off nature again, it feels not quite finished. I think you should know what 3H is before playing it, but Hopes has just a lot of “because I said so” momentum to its plot. I understand it needs to get to next battle, but it also doesn’t feel super meticulous on its route system. So it really just feels like Fates where everything was already decided for me when I make the choice of what house to join. 

I do respect the game willing to just say that war and conflict doesn’t end no matter what choice you make, but it also just generally feels like you accomplish little when you beat the route big bad, but there’s not a real resolution.

Now while I think Edelgard became much more interesting character in Hopes, I feel like she also gets a worse treatment. Having things like Hagemon Husk and mind control forced on her really feels like its limp wristlet trying to avoid her doing her most ambitious acts, and generally not addressing her and Those who slither in a satisfying way and once again just focusing her sights on Rhea. I have never been a fan of Thales’s influence on the plot and boy it doesn’t becoming any clearer in this game. Scarlet Blaze again feels incomplete with Tharles and Rhea just doing themselves in feels extremely unsatisfying. And before you think I am picking on Edelgard, trust me I have words for all the lords. There was a lot of people upset with Claude in Golden Wildfire seemingly being so bent on killing Rhea as that was the only way to fix the system. While many have already pointed out how that is wrong and basically his own ending proves that conflict doesn’t just end when one figure head is taken out, I actually do think this showed an interesting thing about the perception of 3H characters. Claude is often called a schemer, but we don’t really see him take any duplicitous actions beyond not reveal his racial background. He’s honestly a pretty open guy, but one willing to be very observational which sets him apart from the very single minded Edelgard and Dimitri. However, Wildfire does make Claude much more manipulative in his actions with Edelgard and his murder of Rhea. But many found this out of character as it seemed as Claude is the one who always found another way. I think overall, Golden Wildfire is fine, but once again, it playing with a different Claude and I think that will effect some people.

And now we get to Dimitri. Who I think got the worst of it all. Dimitri is quite literally down a character arc. I like intro of actually feuding with his uncle, there’s definitely manipulation by Cornelia, but if you know 3H, Rufus has a bit of a point in his fear of Dimitri. But that really never comes. Boar Dimitri is primarily absent and we honestly lose the best part of his character journey, needing to learn his vengeance isn’t going to fix the issues his people are facing. That he must take that anger and make a better Faerghus as king. Im not against maintaining sane Dimitri, but it really feels like Azure Gleam is objectively trying to be the good route. Multiple characters like Miklan get a redemption, the Church sides with Faerghus, Claude and Dimitri ally with not manipulation by Claude, Edelgard is made into a puppet and saved by her adoptive brother and left in a state she is no longer a threat, and he still has his close friend in Shez. Like literally, Dimitri gets everything he wants with his mental issues never being an obstacle. 

Some have theorized that this was intentionally, this was the team creating a deconstruction of the concept of the golden route. That secretly everything happened is bad. But I don’t believe this theory. I believe due to Dimitri being the most popular lord, we saw a route where a lot of his edges were sanded down to give the player a more dream-like, almost Kaga era, style story of noble people over coming noble problems and magic bad guys in black robes was the real evil. Dimitri was already subversive of the standard Fire Emblem lord, he is Sigurd or Chrom that thinks powering your way through will make things right and then needs to be told that how he has acted is wrong. He went to edge and needed to be pulled back. And if not, he will ultimately die.

And speaking of characters, Sothis’s sudden change is... again not that well done. I like the idea of Sothis controlled Byleth and it works for Shez’s story, but its also super disconnected from any church stuff so it feels like another missed opportunity.

And of course there is the game play issues. For a musou game to be this many chapters, its generally monotonous. Some people love it and will never get sick of it, but I will admit when I am on my 3rd play through of the game, I was feeling like I had scene Shez’s ultimate attack a hundred times by that point.

So did I hate this game? no not really. Its an FE spin off game with completely different play style, the only thing I can compare it to is the last FEW which it is a lot better than. I don’t think Hopes and Houses should be treated as linked, they are clearly different takes on the same concept. I think I found myself liking Hopes when it pandered to me already knowing the characters. But I honestly still think Houses was the better way to experience these characters for all the faults I have with it. 

Overall, it is a not worth full price title, but I can’t say its awful. I think what it tries to do is commendable and if you just want more time with the Fodlan kids, I think you will love this. But I just can’t say I liked it myself. 

[randomnameless]

To continue the woobified view of the Elites and my comparison of them to the Black Eagles :

Same for me regarding the BE, especially because they also literally fought Edelgard's troops in WC when you choose their house, and even if you don't, they definitely still would know that Edelgard dus nasty shits in WC.

The idea that media literacy is dead is quite fitting, because the idea that even rotten persons have loved ones/that having loved ones doesn't mean you're not rotten is a known thing, yet the Eagles and elites get a pass solely because "they genuinely believe in the cause" and "they love and care for each other"

Probably Fraldarius was as devoted to Nemesis as Ingrid to Dimitri, Lamine very well may have been as sassy as Dorothea, perhaps Goneril was as brave and endearing as Caspar, or Maurice was as loyal to his clan's interests as Petra to Brigid's happiness (through a strong bond to the Empire) but like the BE, they are butchers, who relished in the destruction of everything those against them hold dear, lap dogs and rabid curs of someone they definitely know have crushed innocents and scorn the very idea of peace except under their domination.

The only meaningful difference between Edelgard-following BE and the elites is that we can know more about the BE and we are forced to dislike cutting them down even as they refuse to let northern Fódlan alone.

Honestly I need a fanfiction where the BE are called out for that bullshit.

Yep!

That's the tone deaf feeling I got from Nopes, the Deers are hunting someone bcs their leader wants her dead for no reason, but Raph only comments on how hungry he is.

Uh, sure Raph, you're not the most thoughtful character in there, but come on? Some commentary or exposition on what you're doing? Hello KT? Can we have characters be challenged or even react to the events of screen instead of wondering what's for dinner/teatime?

No??

I wouldn't say it's an issue of media litteracy being dead, but more something in the lines of people being more and more "all or nothing" nowadays, without any nuance and conflating liking a character with the idea/image that might project on you : if I like ASOIAF's Cersei, I don't think everything she does is "justified", but modern fandom, I feel like some people would categorize you as a "good" or "bad" person based on the characters you like, and it's just... not what fandom is or was supposed to be imo, I'm here to nerd and gush about favourite characters, not write litteral essays about the Geneva Convention.

Corollary is what, imo, made the Fodlan fandom hell : some people really take "criticism" against a character personally - sure the way FE16 was written invites projection, but at the end of the day, making a Berning Fire Joke is, just, making a joke about a bunch of pixels, nothing more.

Back to the BEs, they can have a sense of camaraderie and genuinely support each other... as they tear apart "people because Supreme Leader told me to" and fight side by side with Bob the Carpented who was turned into Waldi the demonic beast.

Ferdie can skewer Flayn on her father's lance because she is "a creature that has plagued humanity for ages" even if they reached a C support before shit hit the fan - and still protect Mercedes and Bernie from their abusing Fathers. Does that make him a great guy? A nuanced guy?

I think the trope is called "even evil people have loved ones" or something like that?

I don't think so, but he is no random one note villain sycophant either - now, what is the more annoying with the Fodlan games is how this dichotomy is never called upon : everything is just a giant blob or Hresvelg Grey ("morally grey" but only applied to Supreme Leader) where no one really is angry at her, and all the "sacrifices" she's making are off-screen while the characters on-screen always moan about her "ReFoRmS" and "IdEaLs" without talking about the cost bar some milquetoast "but war bad". And no one, in the game, will ever throw this hypocrisy to their face - Gallant Ferdinand will dream about the Opera as he wipes off the blood of a young woman who just wanted to return to the only home she had.

Yay.

FWIW, some mutuals and I have nothing but pure lols about Doro's line in the non-CF routes being "we killed Ferdie professor :'(" because, hey, why should I care more about Ferdie than about random loldier 55 ? Rhea? Felix? Claude? Ignatz?

Maybe the Elites were really friends and became """"nice""" persons with time, to their families and loved ones ?

Does this magically erase what they did before? Will that "good" they did erase all the "wrongs" they have previously done? Will theyr forever escape the consequences of their actions?

In a game that depicts Flamey as a terrorist for 11 chapters only to drop that plot point by the window to moan, again, about her "IdEaLs", "consequences" are maybe something you can eat as a snack, or throw in a trashcan.

So following the rules of this verse, given how Supreme Leader never receives flak for her Flamey stunts, why should the Elites receive any for what they did? Look, Maurice calls Daphnel his friend, surely he is not that bad of a man? Well yeah, he might have seduced women and planted a lot of wild oats here'n'there, but he cares about his friends!

Jeritza likes ice creams and cats! Surely it's more important to paint him as a cat lover than to deal with all the consequences of his stunt as the Death Knight, kidnapping and implied rekting young woman while he was in GM, under Flamey's orders, right?

Calling it now, after eviscerating Seteth's older brother, Goneril might have melted in front of one of Rhea's kittens, and adopted the cat asap. Surely that makes Goneril a "good" character right? And forget the entire "genocided a bunch of hippies living isolated in their village" stuff?

I don't have fanfics recs where the BEs are called hypocrites, but I confess I don't read a lot of fanfics in the FE16 fandom because of all of the aforementioned issues.

[bbq-hawks-wings]

BBQ rambledumps for the first time in a while. Been running D&D.

What's up, my beautiful fellow clowns, how we doing today? I just logged in on desktop mode and saw a new message in my inbox only to discover it's a porn bot and they're sending videos AND strange URLs directly now. YAY!

Thank God, blurring content from users who don't follow you was an actual improvements made to this hellsite after years of fumbling features. Progress is progress.

Anyway, I originally came here intending to write about my Fodlan D&D campaign because I'm due to show some actual creative capacity here for once and prove I haven't completely gelatinized into a lump of depression and exhaustion. So yeah, more nonsense under the cut.

Nice, the icons have been switched around a bit - they're a little easier to read now.

SO! I wanted to two-fold introduce the campaign setting and talk about my players/characters - whom I will be referring to by their characters' names exclusively (except maybe Atlas) - because I'm actually having a blast with it all, and maybe some of you will appreciate the various eccentricities of this gaggle at my table, too.

First, the setting:

I...

LOVE.

FODLAN.

Idegaf about Fire Emblem as a larger franchise or series - this PARTICULAR story is EXACTLY the kind of thing that makes all the happy chemicals in my brain go brrrrrrrrr.

There's drama, political intrigue, romance, deep lore, references to various real-world myths, references to various real-world PEOPLE, repeating thematic motifs, a complex and nuanced look at conflict and war, a complex and nuanced look at religion and history, AND THE OUTFITS ARE SPECTACULAR?!?!?!

And if I kept thinking about it we'd be here all day.

One of the hardest things for me as a very n00b DM is that I know most of the power of the game and enjoyment for my players comes from the world they exist and play in. If I don't have a good grasp of how all the strategic pieces fit together across the map, how am I going to let my players roam and interact with it like it's always been their own idea and not me actually scrambling to slap something together that's satisfying for them while also not completely toppling my campaign?

And here I have not only this entire RPG I adore and already want to know like the back of my hand, that has characters that I delight in mimicking and writing for, that has nearly all the wiki knowledge I could ask for, but I also have the PERFECT excuse to write my Golden Route and let all my little chess pieces live happily ever after somewhere, AND there's a campaign setting already made for 5e!

Is the DM set up to have a good time?

Yes

Absolutely

With my setting chosen, I now had to figure out the various big plot flags to hit that would put it on course for the ending I want. Some big considerations I particularly kept in mind included:

Edelgard MUST start the conflict. There is never a scenario in this multiverse (according to canon obv) where she does not strike first because it's in her character to strike first for both her own survival as well as to protect those she's taken charge of. The second she thinks she has what it takes to confidently take her next move before her opponent the plot lurches forward full speed. This is what predominately sets her apart from Claude who is quite similar about the lengths he's willing to go to win but he's typically much more reactionary while Edel is aggressively preemptive.

If I don't want Edelgard to have all of Fodlan immediately in a standoff for survival that just looks like the other games with the other nations because of the complications that TWSITD throw into the plot, the truth of the Nabataen race HAS to come to light to her before anyone else. That means that she has to know BEFORE she retakes the Empire for her own regime. This means a BIG MESS for the Church of Seiros to deal with start-to-finish over the course of the campaign.

Going along with the previous point, once the true nature of the Church, the Children of the Goddess, and just what ACTUAL Fodlan history is (and remember, Edel hates these people pretending they're divine when they're clearly not, she is NOT putting up with that nonsense), Faerghus is going to be PISSED even if there's complicated feelings about how the nobility came to be, and Claude's scheming will get kicked into overdrive. There's no way I can't see it happening. Even if the Nabateans have FULL support and protection of Edelgard (which they will sooner than later) the bloody history between them and the nobility of the Kingdom will reach a crescendo and the Nabateans will have a LOT to answer for regarding their involvement in Fodlan history.

Where I want it to end is for all of them to overcome Thales and TWSITD with the help of Shez and Byleth. As a result, Sothis will be fully revived, she'll reward and bestow special blessings to the entire cast, and then she'll ascend into the heavens once again - but this time taking her hand of protection off of the world, opening the setting up to "D&D proper" so the players can keep playing in the sandbox they've grown attached to if they want, but they get way more stuff to play with now and we can actually use the core books for more than just basic rules YAY!

With that all set up in the back of our heads, let's introduce our players - all of whom besides Atlas is completely blind to the original plot (MWUAHAHAHAHAHA):

Umbrae: A knight from the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, Umbrae's father was one of the the victims of the Tragedy of Duscur. Discontent with the ambiguous non-answers that have been found regarding the massacre, Umbrae is on a mission to discover the truth of what happened and why - no matter what sordid secrets may be revealed in the process - so that the chapter of anguish and uncertainty for the nation can come to a close and healing can properly begin.

Godfrey: Originally from the Adrestian Empire, Godfrey was an aimless wandering sell-sword until he met the love of his life, Josephine - a monk of the Church of Seiros whose tender kindness brought light and hope into the lives of those she touched. She joined him with his platoon of fighters during the outbreak of plague in the Kingdom to treat the sick and afflicted along the way; but no good deed goes unpunished. While Godfrey and his men were called away to respond to news of a threat, the camp was attacked by those who feared their involvement was spreading the sickness. Godfrey returned too late to save his wife and unborn child and has since sworn an oath to the Knights of Seiros, now once again aimless in his purpose with nowhere to place his grief and anger except upon the heads of the wicked with the edge of his sword.

Booferd: A lowly thief from the Adrestrian Empire - there's not a lot to Booferd yet because he's only been to the first session and has been stuck studying to keep his GPA up. He's fantastic at this game, though, and I'll make sure he gets the chance to have a great time whenever he can play. He called Balthus "ball-face" in RP and he's going to get inspiration points for that.

Atlas: Hailing from the far-off land of Morfis, Atlas is an escaped experiment victim of TWSITD on a mission to save his fellow victims still trapped back at the lab and wipe the scourge of the Agarthans off the face of the earth. Unlike the Fodlan branches of the Agarthans, this base in Morfis raised humans like lab rats a la The Promised Neverland to simulate and study various conditions and outcomes their human experiments underwent. Atlas, an exceptional subject, escaped and eventually found his way to the docks of Adrestia where Hubert found him - seemingly incomprehensible and insane at first but then deceptively brilliant upon patient inspection. Hubert secretly scooped him off the street before he made more ruckus, cleaned him up and trained him, and then planted the unnerving foreigner into Garreg Mach as his personal mole (because Rhea loves picking up strays) - seemingly unconnected in every way while funneling information, secrets, and the nifty little gadgets he makes to the young man and his emperor who promise him a proper payment for his services.

This post is getting long and I need to get the kids up from their nap. I have more, especially since we're about 4 sessions in, so I'll probably make a new post soon. Feel free to send any ideas on how to tag this.

[cuban-feminist-that-gives-a-hoot]

I posted 694 times in 2022

5 posts created (1%)

689 posts reblogged (99%)

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I tagged 121 of my posts in 2022

#trails of cold steel - 9 posts

#fire emblem: three houses - 7 posts

#life is strange 2 - 5 posts

#our flag means death - 5 posts

#shin megami tensei - 4 posts

#star trek - 4 posts

#a league of their own - 3 posts

#shadow hearts - 3 posts

#lol - 3 posts

#lol! - 3 posts

Longest Tag: 136 characters

#will smith shouldn’t have to return an oscar over a slap like that when there’s been far uglier and worse things that has happened there

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

This dumb as fuck meme going around has forced me to create a positive out of everything I dislike ever: that at least the things I dislike actually exists in some capacity.

0 notes - Posted November 22, 2022

#4

Fire Emblem: Three Houses and why I'm never touching the Blue Lions ever the fuck again!

Because the Blue Lions run was the most recent run I finished, it's the freshest in my head, and thought I should give my thoughts on it, so here we go. Dimitri simps are not welcome here for this and there will be spoilers.

The Blue Lions

The Blue Lions route is by far the route that dragged the most for me of them all. My first initial impression of everyone outside of Felix, Sylvain, Dedue, or Dimitri is boring and basic as fuck. But that impression changed throughout the playthrough, with most of them rising in my impression, except for Dimitri, but we'll get to him in a second. Overall, I wouldn't play this route again unless I genuinely want to angle for that Dedue romance and I'm not sure playing this route again is worth it for this. But, let's start off with my impressions of the characters.

Sylvain: If it isn't my favorite hoe of Fodlan. He's not just your typical casanova, but someone who has a lot, and I do mean, a lot of issues with the ladies because of him being used by everyone to raise their status and become nobles by birthing Crest babies. I'm not surprised that he doesn't have A-supports with most of the ladies because of his issues and the ones he does have A-supports are Dorothea (who sees right through him), Mercedes (who has also gone through a lot due to her having a Crest), Byleth (for also seeing through him, but also helping him work through his stuff), and Ingrid (who happens to be a childhood friend of his). He's a nuanced hoe and also fun to have in the party. All of my routes have him because he's free real estate as Female Byleth. In my Black Eagles run, he was with Felix, but Blue Lions saw him get married to Ingrid.

Ashe: Unlike Sylvain, I really only got to see how good Ashe was in the Blue Lions route as I didn't recruit him in my Black Eagles run and he was the only one I wasn't able to recruit in my Golden Deer run. Ashe is such a sweetheart and a damn good Archer. I liked him a lot and strived to pair him up with Annette as I thought they'd be cute together. Ashe is a good boy and definitely worth having again.

Annette: Sadly, Annette did not get much use on her own, but she was paired with someone as their adjutant (mostly with Ashe, to grow that bond between them). But she's adorable, hard-working, and just really sweet. Didn't get much use, but that's OK. She's nice.

Ingrid: Now her? I dig her. I understand she had a lot of prejudice towards the folks from Duscar due to Glenn's death, but the fact that she does grow out of it shows the kind of growth that Ingrid does have. Unlike Dimitri, she manages to move on and develops a good bond with Dedue. Plus, as a Falcon Knight (by the end of the game), she was insanely useful and could bounce around as needed. Definitely worthy of the party.

Mercedes: My first impression of her was this: "Man, does she sound funny as fuck". But after getting to know her and learning about her past, I realized that she talks like that for a reason, but also, she's just really sweet. I honestly regret not recruiting her in my Black Eagles route as I could've learned a lot about her and Jeritza if I did that. Instead, I had to look up the context as to what I missed and it made me regret forgetting to recruit her even further. Also, she is by far the best healer out of all the healers available. The fact that her Crest allows her to heal herself when she heals others makes her a tougher, less squishy healer than anyone else. 10/10, would use her for sure.

Dedue: My main reason for playing through the Blue Lions was to romance Dedue as his romance and usage of him is route-locked to the Blue Lions. It didn't work out like that, but he's still a very useful character and I 100% do like him a lot. Enough that I worked my ass off to pair him with Flayn as I thought their support conversations were adorable. A shame that he really couldn't be recruited outside of the Blue Lions because I would do so at every turn. If I ever feel up for suffering through the Blue Lions again, I'll try to romance him.

Gilbert: What a C tier dad he is. How dare he abandon Annette and leave her all alone like that?! All because of the stuff that happened in Duscur?! Nooooo... The only reason he's not F or lower is that there are genuinely far worse dads out there in the world of Fodlan. Also, the dude lacks the courage and sense to tell Dimitri to knock his shit off and King the Fuck Up! Didn't use him, so can't talk about gameplay. Was pointless as fuck for me to do so.

Dimitri: The sole fucking reason why I hate this route. Most of the pre-time skip, he's meh at best. It's during the Holy Tomb mission that it all goes fucking downhill from there. I hate this fucking asshole so, so much. This is one angry murder hobo and unlike with Hubert or Jeritza, his murder hobo ways are a fucking detriment and ruin the entire route for me. His need for bloodlust and revenge fucked so many people over. I hate the fact that Felix lost both his father and brother because of Dimitri. Dimitri makes this route fucking unplayable and is just as bad as Noctis from FFXV when it comes to royals fucking things up by not being told to King Up and do the right thing. His fucking impatience and need to kill Edelgard dragged the war out and he outright treats Byleth like shit post-time skip by telling them to Silence and Shut up. Nah, man. Byleth wouldn't put up with that level of disrespect. Neither Claude nor Edelgard would treat her so badly after the time skip. I would've loved a route split where we take down Dimitri and have someone else step into the Lord role for the Blue Lions. And don't get me started on how his solo ending calls him the Savior King. I know that history is written by the winners, but fuck that shit. He is no savior of anything. He maintains the status quo. 0/10 - Trash character leads to trash route. Folks that love Dimitri, love yourself more than this trashcan on fire. Whatever Dimitri has, other characters do it better.

Felix: The best fucking character in the Blue Lions by far. I recruited him in both my Black Eagles and Golden Deer runs because holy fuck, he is OP as shit gameplay-wise. Story-wise, I 100% am Sympatico with him over everything that happens in the Blue Lions route. He is one of the only reasons that Blue Lions should be played as in the other routes, he gives up his position as a noble to travel, whereas, in the Blue Lions, he stays as a Noble. Felix wound up being who I romanced in my Blue Lions run, unintentionally, actually, as I forgot to talk to the Gatekeeper to have Dedue meet me, so Felix showed up at the Goddess Tower instead. Fine by me, for Felix was worth it. He's the sane man in the group and I genuinely got where he was coming from when he got pissed at what his father said after his brother, Glenn, died. If you have to play the Blue Lions again, Felix is why you should, if only for his better endings there than anything else.

The Blue Lions run would've been so, so much better if I didn't have to put up with siding with someone like Dimitri. The rest of the Blue Lions are fine and Felix is without a doubt one of the best characters in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Blue Lions route is a -2/10. Dimitri drags that score down a lot and the best Blue Lions are recruitable outside of its main route. Unless you're thirsting for Dedue or want Felix to have a nice ending, Blue Lions is a one-and-done thing for me.

0 notes - Posted August 16, 2022

#3

By far, the best joke in this hilarious train wreck, for as we all know this one immutable truth: money can’t buy knives.

0 notes - Posted January 26, 2022

#2

Life is Strange 2 (SPOILERS)

I finished playing it recently and I really only have one, really true way to describe the experience:

Like, holy shit is this game so much of that. So, so, so much emotional damage.

My quick thoughts:

How dare you introduce the good girl Mushroom, then allow her to get killed off without giving us the opportunity of saving her, Dontnod? That is some evil shit there. RIP Mushroom.

Sean Diaz is one of the best damn characters ever put in a video game, to the point that I 100% am never going to go for an ending where he is fucked over, either in death or in prison. He's just such a good character, trying his damn hardest to protect and take care of his little brother after the loss of their father.

Out of all the chapters, in general, that hurt, Chapter 4 is the biggest one. So much pain and emotional hurt there that it was killer.

OK, game, I know that I like going as queer as possible, but did I really have to side with Finn on doing something so incredibly stupid so that I can choose to romance him? Also, no option to bang Finn too on top of the kiss? Lame!

Dontnod threw in so much good stuff in here, both in the environment, setting, and story, that I can't help but call it a masterpiece. It blows the first Life is Strange out of the water so hard that I'm surprised that folks ignored this game over the others.

I'm sad that any new Life is Strange games will be done by Deck Nine instead of Dontnod, but this just made me want to see what other games that Dontnod has out there.

If you can get this game, get it. It is so good and will cause so much emotional wreckage, it can kill. But it is an amazing game and worth the price, even without a sale.

1 note - Posted May 30, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Fire Emblem: Three Houses and my Thoughts on the Black Eagles run

At the time of this writing, I've finished, in this order: Black Eagles, Ashen Wolves, Golden Deer, and Blue Lions. So, general thoughts first and then I'll break down each House and what I thought of their routes. All routes were done with Female Byleth. Spoilers ahead, so be forewarned. This part will be about the Black Eagles and my general thoughts.

I love this game. It is such a blast to play through and it's nice actually playing a teacher that has to help their student to get better while also having that slice of life stuff I just love a lot. Please give me more slice-of-life stuff like this in video games. Gameplay is fun, the story is great, and I do not regret buying a Switch for this and Shin Megami Tensei V. I always say that it's ethical to pirate from Nintendo, but given that I was really curious about it, I'll make an exception for my usual "Do Not Buy" policy when it comes to Nintendo.

Now, onto the Houses.

Black Eagles

The Black Eagles are, without a doubt, some of my favorite party members from start to finish and, due to me not hearing much of anything from the fandom about this route beyond "I am Ferdinand von Aegir", I thought it appropriate to pick this route first.

Man, that was one adventure I was not expecting at all!

So, the main goal of the Black Eagles can be summarized like this: A bunch of folks that believe in a meritocracy decide to team up with some evil edgelords to take out the Catholic Church and personally murder their immortal pope, who just happens to be the one the Catholic Church is named after, and can also turn into a giant dragon to wreck shit up. After taking out the Catholic Church, they then backstab the evil edgelords over time. That's pretty much what's happening in the Black Eagles route. I, for one, love this.

Edelgard is one of my favorites and I adore her goals and motivations as to why she is doing this. Taking down the Church is always a worthwhile goal and, while I do like Seteth and Flayn, I'm not fond of Catherine (who is OK with doing really fucked up shit) and Rhea (who just happens to be OK with murder without trials). Is it any wonder that at the route split, I sided with Edelgard and not the Church? Also, a minor tidbit, but the reason why she donned the moniker the Flame Emperor is one that actually flew over my head hard. I thought she named herself that because she wanted to burn the Church down. Turns out, she has the Crest of Flames along with the Crest of Seiros and that's why she's the Flame Emperor. Yeah, that flew over my head. Talk about an obvious miss there. Was clearly having 20/20 Bimbo Perception that day.

Hubert is a goth murder hobo done right. Unlike Dimitri (and we will get to him when I get to writing about the Blue Lions), his murderous tendencies are controlled. There's a purpose for why he does the heavy killing load for Edelgard. He is so loyal to her that he killed his own father for betraying her. That is how loyal he is to her. I loved his character and, unlike another Robbie Daymond-voiced murder hobo, I get where he's coming from. He's also relatively useful in combat and I do dig him as my black magic user for sure.

Linhardt is the healer of the group and I loved him the second with his quick intro: "Lindhardt. Goodbye". Quick, efficient, and shows exactly the kind of character he is. He's the one I relate to the most in the Black Eagles route: I too want nothing more to do than to sleep, shirk off hard work, and study all the time. He was an instant recruit from me when I played the other runs, if only because I didn't want to kill him.

Petra is my main swordswoman and I generally love her story arc, with her being technically a prisoner from her homeland of Brigid. She's sweet but tough and I do like how she tries to learn the culture in Fodlan. She also was a recruit in my Golden Deer and Blue Lions runs, but sadly, she was just mainly recruited, not exactly used often due to the presence of Felix and Yuri.

Bernadetta, my adorable sweetheart! A lot of folks would find her fear of everything annoying, but the second I found out why, I was like, "OK, you are officially under my protection. Where is your fuckhead father so that I can bury his ass six feet under?" I am so disappointed that we do not even get even an iota of a chance to beat his ass in (or at least have Hubert mention killing him). In short, one of the best archers you can have, and while she was recruited in Golden Deer, I actually didn't recruit her in Blue Lions. Well. Fuck.

Caspar is fun. I like him. He's impulsive, brash, and just the fun of the Black Eagles. And a decent brawler too. A shame that he's actually sidelined in both my Golden Deer and Blue Lions runs due to Balthus (in the other three runs) and Raphael (in the Golden Deer run).

Dorothea was my Gremory (when I reached that class) by the end of the game and while she's a decent mage, she does get outclassed by both Hubert and Linhardt in my Black Eagles run. I do love her interactions with everybody, so that was fun. Definitely worth having, if only so that you don't separate her from Manuela.

I figured to add Jeritza here as he's exclusive to the Black Eagles, Crimson Flower route: He's OP as fuck. That man can take a hit and keep going. Also, another murder hobo, and given the reason why he went murder hobo, I can only say this: He was doing the Goddess Sothis' work on taking out his father and the rest of the Bartels out. I do not feel sorry for Baron Bartels for thinking he can even try... *that*. Ew. Gross as fuck.

And I saved the man, the meme himself, for last: Ferdinand von Aegir. He is not just a meme, he's an awesome character and by far, my favorite himbo in all of Fodlan. He was my Dancer in this run and may I say that he looked amazing in his Dancer outfit. Not to mention that I just loved how he interacted with everyone. Billy Kametz's performance as him is nothing short of excellent. Fun fact, I actually listened to his duet with Robbie Daymond in a "This is totally not Hubert and Ferdinand we're singing as *wink*" song and I did not get the context of it at first until I played the game. Now afterward, I get the context. And I aimed for that Hubert x Ferdinand ending because I like how they contrast each other. He also was an instant recruit and while he didn't get used as much in Golden Deer or Blue Lions, he's still a favorite and I did not want to fight against him.

In short, Black Eagles are 10/10, would play this route again, and will always side with Edelgard. Down with Megalomaniacal Dragon Gods. Will get to writing about the other routes soon.

2 notes - Posted August 12, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[dmclemblems]

I tend to love the most hated and/or misunderstood characters but I will never give up defending them and supporting them.

[mayhem-ensues]

Scarlet Blaze and the Nobility

One of my favourite things about Scarlet Blaze is getting a more nuanced look at Edelgard's dealings with the nobility. Like, of course we know that ending the system of nobility is a major facet of Edelgard's goal but it's mostly dealt with in the background, supports and epilogues in Crimson Flower rather than being part of the main plot.

Like, the stuff with Count Gloucester is really interesting to me and it's the kind of stuff we don't see in any route in Three Houses. Count Gloucester's betrayal of the Empire was costly but Edelgard has to bury her feelings about the situation because well, who the fuck else is going to run Gloucester territory? Shez rightly points out that this is kinda bullshit, and Edelgard agrees but there's not really much to be done here without creating more problems down the line. Edelgard wants to create a world without the nobility, but that's not the world she's dealing with yet so she has to make some decisions she's not really satisfied with to get to that future.

And it's not just in her dealings with the nobles of other countries where she has to step carefully. Edelgard directly tells Shez that she can't insult a Minister's family without repercussions, which y'know, makes a lot of sense since we know that the Ministers together can take power away from the Empire. It also goes to show that reforming an entire political system doesn't happen over night, like we know Edelgard passed reforms during the time skip but even so she still has to be careful in her interactions with the nobility. We know from the Crimson Flower epilogues that Edelgard spent most of her life reforming the class system, so again, it's nice to see the struggles their given more attention in the main story rather than just the epilogue.

Edelgard has always been more pragmatic about her goals than the fandom at large generally gives her credit for, so it's cool to see that aspect of her personality given more of a spotlight in Three Hopes.

It's also a really logical way of separating Scarlet Blaze from Crimson Flower. Scarlet Blaze takes place in the first year of the war, so of course there's a lot more jockeying for position and people changing their allegiance and what not. Whereas, Crimson Flower is in the fifth year of the war so things are obviously going to be a lot more settled in terms.

Also it's really cool to see it tie into the arcs of other characters. Like, Shez starts the route off mostly just being around cause they're getting paid and cause the Black Eagles are their friends, but you can see them get more and more invested in Edelgard's goals over the course of the route which is cool.

I also love how it ties into Ferdinand's arc. He spends most of his time trying to take down his Father "the right way" but as Hubert correctly points out in their B Support, the system was never really made to take down nobles. And although Ferdinand does protest, he eventually does have to come to terms with the fact that there probably was never a "by the books" way of exposing his father's corruption and he has to take him down personally once he begins and open rebellion. And of course, after that point we see that he's more committed to Edelgard's ideals, and we get there A Support where he openly supports public education for the 2nd game in a row.

So yeah cool to see a much greater emphasis on the Nobility and the characters dealings with that system in the story here, as putting this stuff in the background of Crimson Flower is one of my issues with that route.

Honestly the only thing that's really missing for me here is some more detail on what exact reforms Edelgard passed during the timeskip between the prologue and the main game cause we know really nothing about them other than Dimitri thinks they're good and admirable. Like, it makes sense that we don't get too much detail because both Fodlan games make sure to never go too in-depth into the actual policies of the Lords but that doesn't mean I can't still wish that they did.

Also since I've mentioned the reforms here, I'll just remind people that if someone is arguing that Edelgard was able to get her reforms through without the Church's interference they're wrong.