#valentia meta

[fragmentos-adolescentes]

Hubo mil cosas que no elegí...que me llegaron de pronto y me transformaron la vida.

Cosas buenas y malas que no buscaba...caminos por los que me perdí...

personas que vinieron y se fueron...una vida que no esperaba.

Y elegí...al menos...cómo vivirla.

Elegí los sueños para decorarla...la esperanza para sostenerla...

Y la valentía para afrontarla.

Pura maldad ❄️

[emblemxeno]

While I don’t think the entire message of Alm and Celica having opposite but equal perspectives is ruined by it, I do think the story having Alm attempt to negotiate with Rigel in the beginning of Act 4 does weaken the foundation a bit IMO. I think it breaks apart the stubborn pigheadedness that was established in Alm’s character all the way back in Act 1, hell even the Prologue.

But, if anything, this could be another deliberate parallel between him and Celica, given the latter’s decision to “invade” Rigel, going against what she wanted to do before at the end of Act 2. So in a sense, you could argue that both Alm and Celica break away from their established character traits at the end of Act 3/beginning of Act 4, and doing so kind of... invites tragedy and emotional strain later down the line. With Alm’s peace treaty attempt leading into his jumbled feelings about Rigel and his place in the world, and with Celica’s decision to invade and the revelation of her identity leading into her emotional burdens and self-imposed duty to Valentia.

So it could signify in a grand sense that trying to break from their authentic selves in their individual pursuits leads to disaster for Alm and Celica, and that they truly need to lean on and be with each other to bring about a bright future for themselves and Valentia.

Or I could be giving the story too much credit, haha. I just like seeing the best in things that I had negative thoughts on before.

[ro-botany]

On the Characteristics of the Risen, and the Character of their King

The Risen King... Finally, a concept which once only existed in whispers and a single cipher 0 card, has made it into a Fire Emblem video game! Just the mobile game, sure, but it counts. And the Fell Exalt Chrom unit is so fascinating to me that I have not only this, but at least two other meta posts in the pipeline about it. I am so normal about him.

To kick things off... let’s talk about exactly what Risen King Chrom is, and also how he’s doing mentally. (Badly. He’s doing very badly.)

---

Real quick, we have to get one snag out of the way: the mechanism by which a Risen is made.

Shadows of Valentia introduced us to a prototypical version of the Risen created by Forneus, known as Death Masks. They’re made by fitting a dead body with a mask containing insects known as thanatophages. The thanatophages prevent the body’s decay and assert physical control over them in a manner not unlike certain real world parasites that control the muscular movements of their hosts.

I’ve seen a handful of my colleagues (lol) assume there are modern Risen made the same way. BUT. The Risen which exist during the events of Awakening are explicitly NOT Death Masks. During the xenologue Death’s Embrace, Brady states that “In the future, our wounded often turned to Risen just as we were tryin' to heal 'em.” This has to mean that Grima is transforming the dead and dying remotely, using some kind of magic; and at the height of their power, they may be either passively creating or deliberately casting an area of effect that turns dead bodies automatically. There’s nothing to suggest any Risen are manually created with thanatophages, or that Grima is manifesting thanatophages for that purpose.

Alas, we cannot do insect body horror with RK Chrom while also staying true to canon. But moving on...

---

Fell Chrom is, to make an understatement, very unique among the Risen. And to discuss why he’s unique, we first have to define what’s typical.

Behaviourally, typical Risen don’t appear to have sentience outside of their competency in wielding weapons and their tendency to form loose hierarchies based on individual strength. They’re incredibly aggressive by nature; it’s like their only innate drive is to fight and kill humans. Most of them are not capable of speech, though the stronger Risen Chiefs can grind out single words or even short phrases, which are usually just related to wanting to kill things. When being actively controlled through dark magic, they appear capable of basic tactics, though whether that comes from them or the person controlling them is unclear.

There’s no doubt that Fell Chrom is a Risen. He’s certainly got the appearance, the purple miasma, and the vocal distortion for it. Not to mention the giant glowing fatal wound in his side. Man certainly isn't alive.

He’s evidently still subject to control via dark magic too, if the fact that he was forced to war against his own country is anything to go by.

Fell Chrom also has the strong aggressive drive typical of Risen. Nearly all of his dialogue in battle situations suggests this. In order of increasing intensity: There’s the turn action quote “Find me an enemy”, which depending on your mood can read as either resignation or as chomping at the bit. There’s hostile level up quotes like “You shall count yourself...among the dead” and “You would...block my path”. His special trigger quotes are yet worse. He yells “This is your fate”, “No resistance”, and “Useless effort” with a fury you don’t expect from Chrom—and for the fourth one, he just shouts “DEATH”. And his voice clips for attacking aren’t words or even anywhere in the realm of a regular human noise, they're just distorted, monstrous growling.

But unlike with typical Risen, aggression is not all RK Chrom is. He can walk around the Askran castle and be around others without constantly trying to attack people. And in fact, he’s aware of and bothered by how violent being Risen makes him. One of his status page quotes is begging someone to “back away!” in a panic, as though he’s afraid of hurting them. It’s possible the violent instincts Risen have mainly only come into play for him in battle situations, or possibly when he’s in a state of heightened emotion.

And while RK Chrom displays the kind of difficulty with speech you would expect of a Risen, with his slow halting pace and gravelly tone, he speaks in complete, coherent sentences and displays remarkable clarity about who he is and what’s happening around him. He’s no husk. Chrom's mind is intact.

That is massive. That is completely unique among Risen, and deeply, deeply horrifying. Because even though he can think, he is by no means in control.

---

If the Forging Bonds supports are anything to go by, Chrom did try to resist Grima, at least in the beginning. From C through to A he moves from disbelief to outright despair at the very prospect of warring against Ylisse. But by the S support—which necessarily takes place years after the others due to how far Grima’s campaign has progressed—he’s given up. So much of his dialogue is mourning the past, or repeating Grima's belief that everyone is doomed and nothing can change. He’s not fighting it anymore. He's resigned to his fate as Grima’s executioner.

And why wouldn’t he be? After the initial confusion from being resurrected passed, he was lucid. He was fully mentally present when he was murdering his allies and slaughtering his own people. And between the deep, fundamental drive to kill and the direct influence of Grima on his actions... There wasn’t a damn thing he could do to stop himself. He couldn’t protect a thing.

Even now that he’s free of Grima’s influence in Askr, he doesn’t exactly do anything to avoid being an instrument of violence. Otherwise he wouldn’t be a playable unit. Everyone he’s ever cared about is dead, and he’s been nothing more than a monster and an instrument of violence for years. Why not fight. It’s the only thing he has left.

This Chrom is a deeply broken man. Angry and utterly hopeless. It’s no wonder after all he’s been through.

And yet... there’s still a spark there. For all his rigid insistence that Grima’s bleak outlook is the truth, his ally growth quote speaks volumes: “If this power were mine...back then...”

If fate is so immutable and hope is so pointless, why deal in what-ifs? Why wonder about what could have changed? And he’s still trying to protect people he cares about from himself; why else would he yell for others to “back away” when he feels he might attack them?

Through all the years of horror and the terrible curse of undeath... he’s still Chrom.

[randomnameless]

Three houses get more representation in heroes because its popular ?

I guess?

My issue isn't with how popular or loved Fodlan is, but what FEH was supposed to be.

With FE Cipher, even if Fates and Awakening were very popular, we still had entire sets featuring FE6 characters. Ditto for FE4/5/8 (tfw a Bael got its own card).

CYL is a popularity contest, that much I understand.

And yet, I also understand FEH is supposed to be a celebration of the franchise itself - bla bla FEH is a main game because Vero is a paid DLC in Engage bla but would anyone really pay 60 bucks to play book 1 and 6 about Vero's story? Really ? If this is a main game , then the first warriors game is one too lol - so why are the same 3 games over represented ?

In Cipher, we had a Fates set, then a Jugdral set (featuring CIpher OCs?), then an Archanea set, then an awakening set, then a Valentia one, etc etc.

But if they follow the current FEH, it'd be one fodlan set, one thracia set, one fodlan set, one awakening set, one fodlan set, one tellius set, one fodlan set, one elibe set, one fodlan set etc.

I really get how popular units/games will always sell and the fan favourites are always represented, I played through 2 Tales gacha games lol, Links had basically a bajillion of Leons and Yuris while poor Caius barely existed, and Rowen never got a premium unit!

CYL is a fan event - for sure - but beyond CYL, it's just FEH that tires me - it's not a celebration of the FE series anymore, it's just a cashgrab to take money from some fans using their current obsession (Fateswakening in Year1-2, Fodlan now) so while it never concerned me in the first few years, I dgaf and moved on, wondering if the units I like would ever get a thing (and they did! Saias was released for free lol) but now with the state of powercreep the game has?

You have to roll for units, to get their skills and fodder them to units you care about, and even then, they might not be able to clean PVE content - I like when things are challenging, sure, but the last Seer's Snare was a cruel wake-up : even with the newest shiny skills and whatnot, Caineghis cannot compete with duo!Anna. P!Naesala has the WTA against them? Who gives a fig, he dies on initiation.

Hegemongard was just a prelude to what FEH would become lol - even if, with investment, old units could still put up a fight against her, but you had to get dedicated team to counter her.

Now? With a team with W!Mitris, L!Alear and A!Elincia? Good luck tanking anything lol - sure, Tina is a godsend and I find if hilarious how this random nobody from FE5 is supposed to counter the crazed current meta, but it's the same issue - sell ridiculous units, and sell ridiculous counters.

It's the essence of a gacha game.

Maybe the next A!Caineghis or maybe a L!Caineghis will make the character relevant again - at least if you want to play and use him, but... as far as FEH is concerned, no one gaf about Cain, so he might have gotten a refine and yet he'll not get another unit. Forgive him in you want to play PVE content - or roll for new premium units and field him as a cute mascot.

[galercin]

Introduction to Rinea from FE15 (Shadows of Valentia)!

Rinea is set post-canon events. Pre-war, she was engaged to the crown prince of Rigel, Berkut. During canon events, she dies as a sacrifice to the fell god Duma. She has been resurrected and ran away from Valentia for fear of being found alive.

She is currently 20 years old and enrolled in the Ashen Wolves house. Here, she lies low and has taken to learning sword should she ever need it in this new walk of life.

Note to Valentians, excluding Alm, Celica, Berkut, Fernand and anyone of noble birth, she probably will not know you. She has always stayed away from the battlefield until she was forced into it and even then, her soul was already gone by that point.

She is a bit... standoffish, quiet, and skittish, but she can be chatty once you do get her to open up.

Her URL is a portmanteau of gale and güvercin (meaning dove/pigeon), as well as being a wordplay of latter.

Looking forward to writing with you all!

Easy mobile links:

Biography

Stats

HCs

Meta

Mun

[imustbenuts]

Connections

there might be a small connection between Grima, Robin, and Kiran which on its own seems insignificant but is surprisingly strong when examined closer. i'm also going to assume Kiran is the player in this case bc things becomes funky af from that perspective.

how funky?

meta levels of fucking funky.

Robin, Grima, Kiran. in japanese, their names are ルフレ, ギムレー, and エクラ respectively (rufure, gimure, ekura). translating these literally yields Reflet, Gimlé, and Eclat.

Reflet refers to metallic brilliance, such as on an object like metal or ceramics, i.e reflectivity of the surface (i think). it's straight up reflection in french.

Gimlé is said to be a place where the worthy survivors of Ragnarok are foretold to live, the most beautiful place in Asgard, a place more beautiful than the sun.

Eclat. Luster, brilliance, glory etc. The clap of a thunder, something akin to a burst. it's also a french word it seems.

so it can be said that robin is an avatar (a reflection), for both the player and grima depending on which is in control. when grima is in control, the world teeters on the brink of annihilation due to how grima in lore is seen by his cult to be the god of death and ruin. if we're in control instead, we beat grima out of existence either temporarily or permanently, then leaving robin to live their life.

which is fitting if you think of Eclat as something which is transient, and Gimlé as something more enduring.

on the other hand if we talk about norse mythos, Breidablik, (Kiran's divine weapon) is a place said to belong to Baldr. it's the cleanest hall in Asgard. it's weakly linked to Gimlé, but not much can be said otherwise. (unless the whole killing baldr kickstarts ragnarok thing. kind of indirect but... still pretty strong depending on how you look at it.)

additional bonus comes when we take into equation the existence of Mark from Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, the avatar of the player in that installment. their name is written as マーク (Mark). robin's children (EN: morgan) are also given the name マーク (Mark/Marc, never confirmed) in japanese sort of as either a joke or a throwback or a meta jab towards the players.

all of this is to say it's all very intentional. and yes, kiran or the player is potentially a divinity.

oh oh and if you think im doing an asspull, there is actually one common factor in all the games mentioned here. i present you this gentleman. Mr. Kouhei Maeda.

gaze upon this madman and quake in awe

notice how in FE echoes shadows of valentia he's listed as special thanks? remember, there is one specific thing that was added to the remake which wasn't present in the og game.

im talking about the post game dungeon, Thebes labyrinth, where u can find grima's creation lore... i'm linking another ramble below posted back in 2018. its more in depth stuff of what grima seems to be.

i am 99% sure he's trying to say something or building something up for the past 10 years!

and STILL there's more to be said about Kris from Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem! which i wont get into too much, but pay attention to how they're portrayed in FEH and in the plegian banner, and suddenly more pieces fall into place. (also: tharja, rhajat, anankos, lyn's reaction, robin's v suspect lines and a lot more i might have missed)

seems like he's given an extremely big role for FEH, having what seems to be the ultimate control over the story of that game. kouhei maeda is a damn mastermind.

the link is strong... once you see it you cant unsee it... thanks for reading...

[craneswings]

Yuzu Stats Meta 01 - SoV Numbers + Cipher Analysis

Time to take a look at Yuzu's actual stats and how they fare toward her progression toward being the strongest! However, with her origin being from Cipher and not Shadows of Valentia, I want to also take reference from her cards and how they would translate to a normal FE setting.

Part 1: The In-Game Stats on her D&D Resume (SoV Appearance)

As always, I used Serenes Forest to collect image references for Yuzu's base stats and growth rates. They are also posted in that order below.

Before breaking down how each stat fares in comparison to the rest of the cast, it is important to note that Yuzu is a DLC unit in SoV, meaning that she can be recruited practically anytime in the game and on either route. The latter isn't that concerning, but for the former I usually prefer to compare Yuzu's "optimal" recruitment to a midgame pre-promote unit in other FEs, supported by Yuzu's class of Priestess (or promoted mage).

HP: OKAY BASE, AVERAGE GROWTH

Now, Yuzu's base HP of 26 isn't actually low when comparing it to the rest of SoV's cast, but considering her position as a pre-promote and in comparison to her Cipher friends, she actually is pretty behind in the HP department. It can be difficult to specifically define what HP means in context (Bulky? Durable? High endurance?), but for Yuzu I would interpret it as her prioritizing a high offense rather than a defensive front. Her future defensive stats will further prove this.

On the other hand, her HP growth is fine enough at 40%. It's still the lowest compared to her friends (by just 5%, to be fair), but is on the same level as the average of the other Valentians at a glance. To be honest, at times the DLC units' growths feel like they were approached differently compared to the base game (which...fair. You're paying for these units so you wouldn't want them to falter too much.), which makes them hard to fairly analyze at times.

ATK: GREAT BASE, GREAT GROWTH

Base 15 ATK is insane. Only Zeke and Mycen beat her (who are Tier 3 units who join much later into the game) and Conrad tie her (who by my recruitment assumption, would still join later than Yuzu). There's really not much else to say on a comparison level, girl can swing hard. A great way to portray her training paying off, as I headcanon SoV to occur close to the end of her Cipher mishaps.

Additionally, I know I just said Yuzu gets carried by DLC growths, but a 55% in ATK is pretty ridiculous as well. Barring Delthea's Est-nature of a 70% ATK growth, 60% is the highest in the game that ties with fellow Cipher Randal along with Celica, Mae, and...Genny, of all people. Magic gang? All in all, even if she is right behind them, the high growth is a great showing of where her priorities lie.

SKL: GOOD BASE, GREAT GROWTH

Yuzu is above-average in SKL with a base stat of 13, although there are a fair amount of units who surpass her, mainly veteran warriors such as Deen and Mycen. Still, she beats out a lot of the cast to represent her expertise in her weapon of choice during this adventure: her Warrior's Sword. Unless you decide to use a Pitchfork and reclass her, for some reason.

The growth is a very similar story to ATK growth, with a 60% growth tying her for second with Conrad while the top SKL growth of 75% belongs to Luthier. (Those magical villagers really want to act like they're on top, huh.) This again shows Yuzu emphasizing her willingness to improve her martial arts prowess above all else.

SPD: GREAT BASE, GREAT GROWTH

She starts with 16 base SPD, literally outrunning any playable unit other than Deen who has 17 SPD. It really is a similar story to the last 2 categories, given her 60% SPD growth is only challenged by Kliff, who ties her, and Clair, who wins with a 70% growth. Given how SoV has units double one another based on smaller speed differences unlike other FE games, I can easily imagine Yuzu being incredibly swift, fitting for one sometimes described as a ninja as well as samurai.

LCK: GOOD BASE, OKAY GROWTH

LCK is where Yuzu is somewhat brought back to reality, with a base stat of 9 being good, just not outpacing the majority of the cast by a wide margin. Yuzu does not strike me as a particurally lucky nor unlucky person, yet she would rely more on her own merits to win a fight rather than pure chance. This also explains her decent 35% LCK growth, which is still above-average for playable units, just not incredible.

DEF: OKAY BASE, LOW GROWTH

This is a very similar instance to HP, where technically Yuzu's 7 base DEF is not low, but it is important to comapre her to the competition here. She notably trails behind the rest of the DLC units, along with being on a similar playing field to other promoted units. With the assumption that she'd be a midgame unit, her defense would be quite low. Not frail by any means, but Yuzu is a frontline, offensive force. She trains to trade hits, not excel at tanking them.

30% DEF growth also slightly trails behind the Cipher DLCs, and this time even ties or goes behind a lot more Valentian residents. This serves as further evidence that Yuzu is not attempting to minimize damage, preferring to hone her attacking traits.

RES: GOOD BASE, OKAY GROWTH

RES is usually a low stat in SoV (ignore Emma, she's cheating), but Yuzu's base of 9 RES and even 2% growth is better than a fair amount of the cast. Still, if you try comparing Yuzu's RES while considering her class of Priestess, a mix of physical and magical damage, she is fairly behind the other mages, sages, and even clerics of SoV. I think this fits her desire to prioritize the martial arts rather than magical arts. Otherwise, this is another showing of a priority of offense over defense.

TOL: HIGH

0.6 is the highest Tolerance of the game, meaning Yuzu takes the longest to tire while traveling in dungeons. This is pretty fitting for someone who likely travels often, either to find new opponents or in the pursuit of intense training.

That is the end of Yuzu's SoV stats, but before summarizing I thought it would be nice to pay homage to her source material.

Part 2: The Cooler Way to Calculate Stats

Now this section will definitely be more brief, as Cipher doesn't serve as great material to transition to traditional JRPG stats, given how your attack stat is also technically your defense stat in Cipher. I am also lacking general knowledge of each card's power, so there will be no comparisons. Furthermore, I don't want to speak much about Yuzu's class choices here, as I plan to cover them in a future stats meta.

This time around, this wiki entry assisted in collecting Yuzu's card stats. No images will be used, but instead I will highlight cards via their series and skill names.

SERIES 3 - ATTACK EMBLEM (Cranewinged Swordswoman)

A support skill that provides the main attacking card 20 extra attack. It can easily be seen as a flex of strength, but it also highlights that Yuzu is still a team player when it comes to the battlefield!

SERIES 3 - INDOMITABLE WILL (Flightflash Bravecrane)

Another attack-buffing skill, this time for herself when you are down to your last orb. A sense of desperation, possibly, yet I also see it as Yuzu holding a strong enough will during battles to provide comeback factor.

SERIES 4 - MIXED MARTIAL ARTS (Crane Warrior)

A conditional where Yuzu gains 10 attack when supported by a sword, lance, or axe unit. It's another showing of being a team player, this time thanks to her high weapon experience.

SERIES 7 - NINJA WARRIOR'S TECHNIQUE (Shinobi of the Violet Shadows) 

Yet another +10 attack buff, surprise surprise, but this time being shared with an ally when that ally is a shuriken unit. More cooperative play, which serves well in a TCG setting.

SERIES 9 - SHIELD OF THE POWERLESS (Purple-Gleaming Protector)

A skill that "defends" your weaker allies during the opponent's phase by raising their attack by 10. This is an instance where arguably the attack stat is more of a defense one, but it still shows Yuzu's capability of support.

SERIES 16 - MASTERY OF MOUNTED ARCHERY (Master of Plains Warfare)

This skill gives Yuzu 30 extra attack after she moves in a turn. It's pretty unconventional for her weapon of choice, being a bow in this case, yet I believe this highlights her williness to experiment with unusual strategy and, considering the +30 boost, succeed.

These are only a few out of many skills Yuzu has in Cipher (I ignored ones that are either difficult to explain or more standard for main characters or the rest of the cast), but they definitely paint an interesting image for her. She still boasts high strength and prefers to apply it on the frontline, but she additionally shares her strength with others or builds it off of the weaponry of others, which also requires her allies' aid. It really shows a more supportive role that I feel like the mainline games can lack at times when it comes to physical units, outside of perhaps the 3DS games' pair-up mechanics.

Summary

SoV presents Yuzu as a Priestess who focuses on the physical side to dish out powerful, skillful, and fast sword strikes. However, she sacrifices a fair bit of defensive prowess in doing so, preferring to outright win fights before having to endure multiple hits. Even as a DLC unit, SoV's portrayal of Yuzu matches her nature of being battle-ready very well.

Cipher continues this trend, having many abilities that increase her power. However, not only does she buff herself to make it through fights, she also strengthens those around her with a focus on adapting to and using their varied weaponry, a support she sees value in due to her goals to master any martial art.

Hopefully this analysis goes to show Yuzu isn't just power-hungry, as her journey to be the best requires her to learn from others and support them rather than steamroll every enemy in sight. In that sense, I somewhat prefer Cipher's gameplay portrayal of Yuzu, but that doesn't mean SoV isn't fun or interesting in its own right!

[marianellaaragon]

Tengo la vida en el limbo, tengo mis metas en mi mente y corazón cada día, aun así me siento en el limbo, en algun momento me han causado tanta frustracion, me han hecho llorar como no te imaginas, no es porque sea sentimiento de frustracion, simplemnte sé que al éxito no se llega solo, y en lo que respecta cuando miro a los lados no hay nadie, solo Dios en mi corazón y mente, hasta donde he llegado hoy; no ha sido sola, soy cientos de personas y me siento agradecida por ello.

Independiente de todo algo me dice que, hoy y lo que sigue debo continuar un poco sola, lo sé, no completamente… tengo a Dios, y espirutualmente me siento viva, y con ganas de vivir mi fabulosa y afortunada vida, me siento tan agradecida por el paquete de vida otorgado, me siento privilegiada aunque venga de una familia con bajos recursos, nunca ha sido un impedimento para mi, soy una chica soñadora, aunque nunca habia pensando llegar tan lejos, imaginate... Alemania, nunca lo pensé.

Independientemente de todo tengo paz en mi corazon y sonrio sola, me hago chistes, me cuido, me acepto, en mí las palabras de autodestruccion no existen, he creado una mentalidad tan fuerte y me siento orgullosa de ello.

La vida te puede romper tanto que ya no queda otra opcion que empezar a repararte con tus acciones y decisiones diarias, con palabras lindas, a mirarte mas de dentro que de fuera, y solamnete aceptar que tu eres el autor de tu vida y que nadie mas va a hacer la vida exitosa que tanto quieres.

Es un camino solitario fisicamnete y un poco largo, ya lo acepté, quizas con un poco de dolor en mi corazon, pero con valentia, fé y estusiasmo de seguir por eso que me enciende el alma.

[gascon-en-exil]

The History of Three Houses Saturation: An Impromptu Heroes Retrospective

I've been poking through the Heroes archives some more. There's been a predictable amount of wank over Engage's sales numbers, and its supposed poor performance is sometimes propped up by the fact that so far FE17 has only gotten a single Heroes banner. Ignoring of course that IS must plan out these banners months in advance, I wanted to take a look back and see just what the mobile game was putting out around the time that Three Houses launched.

In 2019, FEH released the following for Three Houses:

July: New Heroes banner, with both Byleths and the house leaders as well as Mythic Sothis

August: New Heroes banner, with Hubert, Petra, Mercedes, and Hilda, also Kronya as the GHB unit linked to the July banner and the Death Knight as the GHB unit linked to this month's

December: Seasonal winter banner including Sothis

And...that's it, actually. FE16 wouldn't get any more new units until March 2020. The units added in 2019 make a lot of sense considering that Three Houses is much more frontloaded in terms of its playable roster; counting all routes, the player has access to 25 of its 40 characters by Chapter 1, and Sothis, Kronya, and the DK are all revealed fairly early (Kronya less so, but the two large reasons that she was the game's first GHB unit go without saying). The two banners combined account for whales who chose any of the three houses, with the leader and a wide-appeal(?) waifu option available for each of them.

It's tough to compare because FEH was less structured the first year of its launch, but this is in fact more restrained than how hard IS pushed Echoes in 2017 which got four banners within the first two months of its release. Looking at that, it's little wonder that Valentia doesn't have enough for even one more new heroes banner at this point.

Now, as for 2020:

March: New Heroes banner, with Ferdinand, Bernadetta, Annette, and Lysithea, also the Flame Emperor as the GHB unit

April: Legendary Edelgard

July: Seasonal summer banner, with Duo f!Byleth/Rhea, Dorothea, Sylvain, Ingrid, and Lorenz as the TT unit

August: Brave banner with CYL 4 winners which was swept by Three Houses: the house leaders plus Lysithea

October: New Heroes banner, with Seteth, Flayn, Catherine, and Shamir, also Nemesis as the GHB unit as well as Legendary Dimitri

December: Seasonal winter banner including Bernadetta and Hilda with Felix as the TT unit

That's twenty-four new units from a single game in a year. It's easy to understand why Three Houses fatigue would be setting in, especially when combined with the pandemic and this being more or less when the discourse got infamously bad. But the oversaturation got even worse in 2021:

January: Seasonal desert banner including Harmonic Dorothea/Lene and Raphael, also Mythic Seiros

February: Legendary Claude

March: New Heroes banner, with Linhardt, Dedue, Ingrid, and Marianne, also Solon as the GHB unit

May: New Heroes Fallen banner including Edelgard and Dimitri

June: Seasonal summer banner, with Duo Hilda/Marianne, Caspar, Ashe, Mercedes, and Leonie as the TT unit, also Legendary m!Byleth

August: Brave banner with CYL 5 winners including Marianne and the Gatekeeper

September: New Heroes banner, with Yuri, Constance, and Hapi sharing a banner with a Heroes OC, also Balthus added to the standard summon pool and Aelfric as the GHB unit

October: Seasonal Halloween banner including Duo Sothis/m!Byleth and Rhea

November: Seasonal ninja banner including Shamir as the TT unit

December: Seasonal winter banner including Harmonic Lysithea/Lute, Manuela, and Ignatz as the TT unit, also Legendary f!Byleth

That's thirty-one units, with only two months out of the year not getting any new Three Houses content. One of those was also the notoriously meta-centralizing Fallen Edelgard, plus I think this was the first year to have a bunch of Reddit drama related to her alts with A Hero Rises? That's not really what I'm looking at here.

I've looked into this this far - might as well finish it up with how 2022 fared. This was the year that Hopes released, so there was some new-ish Fódlan content to pull from at last. I'll go ahead and throw what we've gotten so far of 2023 in here too:

May: New Heroes Fallen banner including Rhea

June: Seasonal summer banner including Harmonic Edelgard/Altina, Dimitri, and Claude

August: New heroes banner with CYL 6 winners including f!Byleth, also Jeralt as the GHB unit

September: New heroes banner with Ascended Hilda (uses her Hopes design), m!Shez, and Monica, also f!Shez added to the standard summon pool and Holst as the GHB unit

October: Mythic Arval

December: Seasonal winter banner including Dorothea and Annette using their Hopes designs, also Legendary f!Shez

January 2023: Seasonal desert banner including m!Byleth

March 2023: Seasonal spring banner including Bernadetta and Ashe, also Legendary Yuri

April 2023: New Heroes banner with Rearmed Ingrid (uses her Hopes design), Felix, Sylvain, and Rhea, also Cornelia as the GHB unit

May 2023: New Heroes Fallen banner including f!Byleth (based on Hopes)

A mere fifteen units in 2022, and ten so far in 2023. This gives Houses/Hopes 93 units so far - more than any other individual game aside from Awakening (which is only slightly higher at 97) and Fates (a hefty 129). Both those games have larger playable rosters and were pushed hard in FEH's early years to the point that people also complained about it, so FE16's oversaturation is impossible to ignore.

I very much doubt that it will get another New Heroes banner this year...not because there still aren't candidates but because there's exactly one Agarthan with a unique portrait (Thales) they haven't used as a GHB unit at this point. Seasonals are always a tossup, although I'm wondering if Fódlan can carry a summer banner for the fourth(!) year in a row when the only remaining high-value waifu IS has left to stick in a swimsuit is...um...Petra, I guess? Unless they go with church units - and Rhea's already been put in a bikini - or the Wolves, all the rest are the type to go for more innocence fanservice appeal, like Bernadetta and Lysithea. We can safely say at least that IS has been treating Hopes like an expansion pack after its single banner, using it out only for some seasonals, a limited selection of Legendaries (m!Shez incoming at some point, probably), Mythics (...this one's pretty much just Arval), and Fallen units (I fully expect Fallen m!Shez next year) and for easy Ascended/Rearmed designs, in the same way that the post-timeskip Houses designs seem to be reserved for Legendary and Brave units.

How much does any of this reflect on Engage? Probably not much, really. It's nowhere near as frontloaded in terms of units so IS can't dive too far into the roster for characters like the Brodians and Elusians without getting into spoiler writing territory, whereas both FE15 and FE16 had multiple starting groups to pull from for early banners. As I mentioned re: Valentia, they may have also learned that adding a bunch of new units in quick succession is an easy way to struggle to fill out new banners in the future and draw the ire of some of the fanbase at the same time. I do expect another Engage banner in 2023, although it'll probably be in the second half of the year. Maybe they'll be used more in seasonals? The Awakening-and-Fates-esque vibe of FE17 better lends itself to goofiness like the summer and Halloween banners, and if they do thieves again in August that'd be a sure way to slip in fan favorite Yunaka before she's scheduled for a regular banner.

[childofaura]

The Meta is so fucked... well I mean it's BEEN fucked but now it's EXTRA fucked.

Re-Armed Sonya:

Suzuki Rika never fails to hit hard. That design is gorgeous.

2. MYCEN!!!

WE GOT OUR GRANDPA!!! And he's drawn by So-Taro!!!

3. ... Attuned... Heroes... lovely. Also so funny how Triandra's skill sucks compared to Peony's, in terms of utility.

4. Marla!! How awesome! I'm glad it wasn't Jedah, he's a good villain but also I think Marla and Hestia needed more love as antagonists. She's definitely gonna be a merge project.

Overall, this banner had some interesting choices, but I'd have to still say it was disappointing. We really only got two new Valentia characters, which was Mycen and Hestia; I feel as though they should have at least thrown in one more but I get that they're trying to stretch it out. I'm super torn on Sonya because I think she's cool and she's finally getting more love, but also I feel like she took someone else's spot. Again, if FEH is so afraid of running their remaining Valentia characters dry, they can use the Cipher characters! Shade, Emma, Randal, and Yuzu exist guys! They're officially in Valentia even if it's DLC!

[pineapplee]

19?

Me encuentro en un punto de mi vida que no me imaginé, actualmente desconozco de todas las cosas o personas que me rodeaban en mi vida en años anteriores, hoy en pocas horas estare cumpliendo 20 años de vida, exactamente a las 6:00am y es inevitable no sentir felicidad por ello y al mismo tiempo miedo ya que se sumaran mas responsabilidades, pero no quiero hablar sobre algo que aún no pasa, no me quiero aferrar a las posibilidades del futuro, mucho menos idealizarlo, solo quiero agradecer porque tener 19 años fue la etapa mas difícil que he podido experimentar hasta el momento, si pudiera representar este año con una palabra seria "COMPRENSIÓN" estoy recordando todos esos momentos que me hicieron nacer de nuevo como persona, ver a mi ruth que apenas se acomodaba a tener 19 y ver como tuvo la suficiente valentia de enfrentar muchos problemas tanto personales como familiar o amistoso, no niego la desatabilidad que me generaron todos esos factores y apenas recupero un poco de energía después de tanto, hay cosas que se quedaran en esa etapa de mi vida de cuando solo tenia 19 y estaba aprendiendo a sobrevivir mentalmente. Esto me recuerda que la vida siempre será como una celebración o siempre será como tu cumpleaños, muchos podran quedarse contigo y dejarte un obsequio e irse al rato, otros simplemente no podrán llevar nada pero su presencia fue notable e indispensable, varios se quedaran hasta el final, no importa que pase, lo importante es ver el lado positivo de las cosas y es lo que trato de hacer a diario, ejemplo yo realmente no amo mi cumpleaños, pero celebrarlo un dia antes se sientio tan lindo, no sabia que hacer, si llorar o empezar a tener ataques de risa, ya sabes esos ataques nunca faltan. No niego que extraño personas que hicieron parte de mi vida o aún siguen siendo parte, uno de ellos es mi padre, mi familia materna, mi gato, yo espero algún dia compesarle todos esos cumpleaños que odie y ni siquiera queria vivir a mi yo interior, no se merecd que este en constante odio hacia un dia tan "especial"

Crecer se trata de ello, mirar cada detalle como un obsequio de parte de la vida hacia cada año que vivis en ella, no me arrepentire nunca de nada lo vivido, quizás aún no sane todas mis heridas pero tengo tanto amor por darle a la humanidad y comprensión que espero que los años me alcanzen para lograr mis metas, es increible todo lo que abarca esta nueva aventura donde irónicamente el control siempre lo llevare yo, en conclusión no quiero seguir escribiendo letras sin sentido, mucho menos letras mientras mis ojos mueren por dormir, solo quiero auto felicitarme por este nuevo nivel que he desbloqueado. 

PD: me esta costando reconstruirme después de tanto daño que me ocasione a mi misma a los 19 y pido disculpas por todos los errores que cometi

[olivine-ocean]

top 5 games and top 5 fave characters :^)

Oh boy both of these r hard bc I’m indecisive

Top 5 Games

Mostly based on nostalgia or otherwise, most were radio show eps I did

1. Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver

2. Kid Icarus: Uprising

3. Kirby Super Star Ultra

4. Fire Emblem Echos: Shadows of Valentia

5. Stardew Valley

Bonus entries go to Pokemon Legends Arceus and Splatoon

Top 5 Favorite Characters

Giving into the predicable kin picks… I’m gonna list some of my somewhat long lasting favs

1. Pit - Kid Icarus

2. Ethlyn - FE 4

3. Adaman - PLA

4. Meta Knight - Kirby

5. Risotto Nero - JJBA (can’t not include him)

Shout out to newer entrants Hector and Zelgius FE, and old faces just missing the mark with Bucky Barnes Marvel and Polnareff + Jolyne JJBA

[fortunatelyfurrywhispers]

Cuando tienes la idea de cambiar, de transformar tu vida social, familiar, economica o incluso de confort. Es inevitable sentir una mezclas de sentimiento entre ellos miedo, felicidad, incertudible, coraje, valentia, tristeza. Sin darnos cuenta todos Los sentimentos de llevarlos AL extremos podemos facilmente a caer en depresion sin darnos cuenta. Sin pensar lo que queremos lograr lo fijamos como nuestras desiciones, logros, metas en nuestro foco de atencion y AL lograrlos es todo felicidad y orgullo asi que valio la pena llevar nuestros sentimientos AL limite pues valio la pena pero que pasa cuando es lo contrario...

[randomnameless]

I'm pretty sure Kaga covered why people use HP instead of tomes in Valentia, honestly Kaga covered almost everything when it come to world building, Post Kaga IS won't even name their setting half the time. I miss Kaga's world building, basically.

Eh,

I remember the infamous "Kaga trolling" - where he didn't reveal what was the link between Claude and Sylvia in FE4 or when basically Holy Blood mechanics were just "there's no theory or mechanic really" when the game and many fans thought otherwise.

Granted, the games were on old consoles, so all that lore/worldbuilding and supplementary materials were released in various books (Treasure!) but even if I don't want anything from Fodlan anymore (given what Nopes did) I'd still sell an arm if a guidebook about the WoH or even a novelization/ (un)official manga was released about it.

Tellius got a databook recently (a few years ago?) where we had many cool things, like designs for civilians from Goldoa, Rafiel being canonised as Nailah's partner, or the reveal of the kind of Laguz Petrine descends from. All pretty much useless things in the greater scope of the verse, but all the useless things that made it alive.

That's why I'm scouring the script and whatever I can in FE16/Nopes to find all those useless details - in vain most of the time - because even if it's useless, like the food meta post, it's the amalgation of all those little things that made the world apparently so lively -

even if, with hindsight, Fodlan is just a sandbox to make your Supreme Leader figma act and move.

Tl;dr : While FE5 is the bestest game ever, I liked the Tellius games and I'm still persuaded that Fodlan could have been better or something more interesting if they dropped the self insert (let Billy be Billy) and the waifu pandering.

[laphototravel]

Los Miedos

Hay un horrible sentimiento que nos invade el cuerpo, que nos llena de dudas que nos impide progresar y que nos miente; nos hace creer que es mejor quedarnos donde estamos, sin intentarlo, sin arriesgar, eso pa'que? si aquí estamos bien, comodos, protegidos, seguros, nada nos puede pasar, lo cual es cierto; Pero hay algo en esta ecuación que no estamos viendo y es en lo que el miedo nos ciega, en los y... ¿qué pasa si sale bien? ¿Qué pasa si detras del miedo a lo descondido, al fracaso, al rechazo o a las cosas simples como las arañas hay un mundo lleno de oportunidades y cosas maravillosas por descubrir?

El miedo te retiene, a él no le gusta que vayas mas allá, porque al momento de cruzar ese umbral, llega la hora de su fín. Y ese, definitivemente es el momento más hermoso que nos pueden dar los miedos, cuándo decidimos dejar de escucharlos, cuando tomamos la valentia de enfrentarlos y observar como después de ese momento empiezan a nacen sentimentos positivos, volviendonos mas seguros y fuertes por que al avanzar, al cruzar ese paso de terror y salimos ilesos nos volvemos imparables.

Sin embargo, a medida que vamos creciendo, vamos desarrollando nuevos miedos, cada vez más grandes, que querrán aferrarse a nosotros, pero con la misma valentia, nosotros debemos aferrarnos a ese sueño o meta, tener el objetivo fijo y superar cada reto y saltando cada vez varas más altas.

Por eso el verdadero sentido de los miedos, no esta en el hecho de sentirlos, ni en cuando tomamos la valentia de enfrentarlos, sino en el momento en el que ya los vencimos, cuando estamos al otro lado y miramos atras y empezamos a valorar y a admirar nuestro recorrido, ahí esta el verdadero valor de las cosas.

Por eso dicen, "Si quieres algo y tienes miedo, hazlo con miedo", porque a la final como dice mi mentora Juliana Taborda de ser para hacer "Detras de cualquier excusa que nos ponemos para NO hacer algo, existe un miedo, que se resume en el miedo a sentir y sentir es un acto natural de vivir, así que en realidad le tenemos miedo a vivir" y como dice una de mis canciones favoritas (Life's for the living - Passenger) "life's for the living so live it, or you're better off dead" o en español "La vida es para vivir, así que vivela o estás mejor muerto".

- Laura Pineda- Laphototravel

[imustbenuts]

i think in awakening grima was meant to be an anti-player entity.

grima kind of goes against the player in the narrative to wrestle control of robin, our avatar, and i remember screeching at him to fuck off, and that robin's mine bc the game says they're My Unit. so if they're ours (the players), it's our right to continue using robin as our avatar.

then as players we eventually directed the army to smite grima in the final battle, and by relinquishing our control of robin and letting them decide for themself to pull off the ultimate sacrifice (and also denying chrom or lucina the choice to seal grima for them), we lose control of the narrative completely. our avatar becomes their own person for a brief moment, then dies.

roll credits, then... oh, wait, hell yeah they're alive!

with their own life back, we are no longer around to see things through their eyes or watch over them. robin has now effectively become their own person instead of an avatar. our role is fulfilled and the game ends.

uh yeah thats all grima has always been a neat lil creature to me bc of the meta implication. right now in 2022 with all these extra lore materials in shadows of valentia and FEH it has still never been explicitly stated that grima actually does any watching.

but we players definitely do watch. grima is neat in a meta sense. always been a fan.