#maybe i will actually play another route of three houses. and finally get like. lore | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rina7anir-blog · 9 months

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The thing is: when I started playing Three Houses I had wrong expectations thanks to its fandom.

Everyone said it's the best Fire Emblem game. And me, who got back into FE through Engage (and loved Engage for its gameplay, character design, story - basically everything!) was afraid that Three Houses would be even better than that. Yes, I was afraid of another game being better than my favorite. I was very narrow-minded and shortsighted back then but don't worry! I had my personal character development since then. XD

So naturally I was disappointed during my first run in FE3H. Especially, you guessed it, the gameplay and the grafical design.

I was so used to Engage's colorful design and the big letters inside the textboxes and the menu, that my eyes had issues reading the text in FE3H and my brain was overwhelmed because instead of just focusing on the units and important spots like ballista on the map, tried to register the details on the houses and walls. And that's just an example. If you know how the maps are designed in FE3H, and how everything looks the same color too, you can guess how much of an headache it was for me to play this game. And to make matters worse: the game uses battalions!

It wouldn't be an issue if I just don't use them, right?

If you know the game and consider what I just told: no, of course not. Because the enemy used battalions as well and every time you initiate a battle and the camera zooms in, several other npc are fighting in the back. Since you now know how my brain works, you probably can guess how annoying it is for me to watch that. There's too much going on on the screen and I feel like I can't breathe - let alone focusing what is happening between my unit and the enemy.

"But it's more realistic that way."

Well, sure, but I don't play games for realism. I got enough realism in real life.

Maybe I should add regarding the text / letters: I have a bad eyesight and I'm playing FE games on TV through my Nintendo Switch, so my fiancée is able to watch it. I can play games like Engage and Blazing Blade normally from our sofa. But Three Houses and Three Hopes (and the other FE Warriors game) I have to sit closer on a chair. You can imagine that's not comfortable. Especially since the screen itself isn't that small, so the characters are still huge, but the text is still very small, it's irritating...

Now onto my next point: the monastery.

The idea itself is really nice, I actually like it and enjoyed it during the first chapters. But the further the story progresses, the more it felt like a chore. The monastery became a hindrance between me and the plot. Until I finally just skipped everything during my second run.

Personally I don't need something like that to get closer to my allies. I feel closer to the characters in Shadow Dragon and they don't even have supports!

Blame my autistic brain, blame my wild imagination... but that's how it is.

Speaking of characters: let's talk about those in Three Houses and finally something I like about the game! :D

Where and how do I start...

Since I didn't knew much about the game, only knew the Blue Lions from my short playing of Three Hopes and the fact that the game has a time skip, I basically went blind into Three Houses. And although I felt drawn to go back to Dimitri's gang (since I knew them, as I just said, from Three Hopes), I decided to join the Golden Deers. In retrospect? That was a mistake. I should have went with my heart and join Blue Lions. Claude's route gives you a lot of lore and insights. And to me it felt like the contents were all over the place. I tried reading the books in the monastery's library, but got bored immediately. (Which is strange for a bookworm, don't you think?) I also barely remember any conversations and no special traits of the characters stuck with me. Aside from... uhh... that big guy, whom the game refused to give a proper, fitting shirt prior to time skip... I forgot his name. (It's Rafael. I needed to look him up, yes.) I know that he likes food and building up his muscles.

Alright, and I know Ignatz is an artist. And he's kind.

Hilda is lazy.

Marianne... had a "dark secret". She's also kind.

...who else do I remember?

Ah, yes! Lorenz! He's annoying. But also kind. At least I think his heart is on the right spot.

Funny enough I forgot Lysithea and Leonie. I needed to look them up despite them being two of my favorites from the game. Especially Lysithea. Leonie... I didn't like how crazy she was about my dad (Jeralt). And gave me the feeling I wouldn't appreciate him enough. Like, girl... He's my dad! I love and admire him more than you and know him better than you, so take a step back please!!

Dang it, seems like I don't have to say something nice about the characters either...

No, no! I swear, I'm not making things up!

I'm writing the text basically free-style and just go with its flow.

And I really do like the characters in Three Houses.

One thing I liked about the monastery is how it really felt as if you are a teacher. I really cared about my students. My children.

It was truly a fun time.

Until the time skip happened. And my feelings got messed up...

The moment I woke up, I knew I head to meet up with the kids. So I didn't care about that dude who've found me unconscious. So I went straight Garreg Mach. Or at least what was left from it.

Like I said: I played this game without much knowledge. Though I knew about the time skip, I did not know what awaited me after it. And thus I did not recognize the young man who suddenly stood before me until the moment he said "You overslept, teach!" And even then I needed a few more seconds to realize that it was indeed Claude von Riegan. One of my former students.

(Something else I realized, though many months later while contemplating why I started to hate Hilda: it was probably also the moment I fell for this guy. But that's a different story. One I don't want to talk more about than necessary.)

Anyway! One after another my (former) students arrived and joined us. Everyone looked stunning, grown up... it made me cry. I felt something like pride.

That's what I probably love the most about FE3H. You teach your students, (don't) watch them grow, how they deal with their struggles, anxieties, worries, but also hopes, dreams... You just want to support them, to help them, to be someone they can rely on.

That's... why I love this game despite the headaches it gives me.

Speaking of headaches...

The story of Verdant Wind left me unsatisfied. I had a lot of questions, none were answered.

When suddenly facing the ones who slither in the dark (I think that's what they were called) things got even more confusing and I did not understand how and why they revived Nemesis.

(Aside from that I was only able to beat the boss with a lot of luck because none of my units was able to land a hit or do damage at all.)

Jumping a bit back though: I had to kill Ashe at one point. One of my first favorite characters in this game but I didn't recruit him since it was my first time playing the game, and now he looked even more attractive after the time skip... I was heartbroken to say the least.

Let's leave it at that for now a continue to my second run where I joined the Blue Lions. As male Byleth this time because to my information, there apparently was no S Rank in this game anyway...

...

I see you have questions.

I, too, have questions.

Yes, my informations were wrong.

But also: why did nobody on Twitter responded on my question where to get the ring??

It's funny how people jump on you if you criticize something. But answering a genuine question? Hell no! Why should they!?

Yes, I am salty!

Why?

Ohhh, let me tell you...

This is my story about how I'm still unmarried in Three Houses...

So I was male Byleth. Back with my homies the Blue Lions.

I like Dimitri, he's your classic Fire Emblem Lord, I am on my knees for this man, I will serve and protect him. Say whatever you want. Azure Moon is my second favorite route, right after Crimson Flower.

I think it was after the time skip that I realized "marriage" is indeed possible in FE3H. And I was devastated when I learned the ring for this event is missable. I would have loved to give Ashe that ring...

But only female Byleth could and since I was playing as male this time, I searched up who else could be interesting to date.

And that, kids, is how I met- Linhardt!

First I just did it for funsies. I gave Linhardt presents, talked to him on every occasion, dragged him to events and later even on the battlefield... That poor boy was stuck with me, liking it or not. He was my experiment, I was his. We got it.

Still, I couldn't find the ring. And yes, I did google it. But it remained a mystery. It was also strange how everyone told different things on FE3H threads? Some tell you the ring is obtainable from Sitri's grave, others say it's in Jeralt's room...

I never found it to this day.

I still dated Linhardt during every route since then, as if it became an obsession.

In the end we never married but we're now best buds.

Someday though I finally found a video on YouTube where someone showed how and where to get that ring. So the next time I'm playing FE3H, I will definitely get it!

And give it to Ashe!

And Linhardt!

And Mercedes!

And Felix!

And Dorothea!

And Clau-

Oh, right.

And Flayne!

Why not Seteth?

Because my feelings for Seteth are those of a child towards their father.

It's funny that I was wondering about that myself. I knew Seteth from Fire Emblem Heroes and Three Hopes. And I really liked his character from there already. But not the way that I wanted to marry him. Later through playing Three Houses I learned that he is Flayne's father and that answered my question.

You know, I never knew my own father. I also only had a foster father until the age of 5. Even though I don't have many memories about him, they all are nice memories. After moving and thus leaving him behind, my mom had a few other men after that but none of them accepted me as their child. You could say I somehow have a complex about this...

Yeah yeah, I know that's personal. But I don't mind sharing it.

I have a weak spot for father figures in stories.

There are several fictional characters like that to me. (Like Zhongli from Genshin Impact.)

Anyway, that's why I can't S rank Seteth. Unless it would mean in a non-romantic way, of course. But I like Flayne! I remember panicking myself when she suddenly disappeared. I really wanted to find her, not just for Seteth' sake. (Though I admit it was one motivation, yes.)

I wonder if Seteth would agree with me marrying Flayne and accepting me as his son-in-law? 👀 But even if not, I would run away with her. 🤭

(also: I love their backstory!! I love dragons after all, haha!)

Now, I said Azure Moon is my second favorite route after Crimson Flower... Surprising?

Indeed did I enjoy Edelgard's route the most. Probably because it was different. Of course I was hurt fighting Dimitri and Seteth. (speaking of which: at one point you have to decide to kill or spare Claude. at that time my feelings for this character were so confusing, I thought I hated him and actually wanted to kill him... don't worry, I spared him. just wanted to mention that.)

But I never liked Rhea to begin with. I thought I could learn to understand her feelings and intentions but, no. I can't like her. In a different timeline I would follow her for Seteth and Flayne's sake. But only for them.

Also it was nice to see Edelgard's feelings during Crimson Flower. That although she did evil things, she cared about the people around her. And that cutscene after our final battle? It moved me to tears. Despite of how dark our path was, I wanted to make Edelgard happy no matter what.

I'm stuck between Dimitri and Edelgard since then. Plus Claude. And all I wish for is them being friends and allies forever. Even though I know that wish is impossible to fulfill.

I think I'm cutting this here. I hope my feelings for Fire Emblem Three Houses were conveyed properly?

I'm open to questions, though, if you want to know about something specifically!

Also sorry if it's a long, boring read. I admit I'm too lazy and short on time to style this properly.

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skvaderarts · 3 years

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Hiraeth Chapter 51: Folly

Masterlist can be found Here!

Chapter Fifty-Two: Folly

Notes: I do so love these talking chapters. That’s where the character development happens. But this shall be one of the last ones. There is a lot of action that has to happen soon. No time for words! ACTION!

(-~-)

After spending an entire morning at Morgan’s graduation ceremony, they had come to the unanimous conclusion that such events were extraordinarily dull and that they should have listened to the young woman when she had initially opted not to attend. The sheer amount of pomp and custom had been enough to render even Vergil’s more formal sensibilities raw and unwilling to linger much longer. But they had been forced to stay to the very end as Morgan had apparently been one of the top students. They had to allow her the time to speak, and she had used it to politely but ruthlessly denounce the school’s stagnation before exiting the stage, all of the faculty aside from one teacher seemingly shocked by her words.

By the time they had exited the building, everyone had been thoroughly exhausted. They had opted to travel via public avenues as a means of cloaking themselves, and as such, had spent nearly three hours simply trying to reach their destination. It had been a no-brainer when Vergil had simply opened a portal and silently pleaded with them to just take the direct route back. It was more difficult for any unwanted observers to track, at the very least. As as soon as they had arrived back at V’s doorstep, everyone had practically collapsed on the floor in the entryway. It was barely noon, but they were all sure that they were done with the day.

“Well, that was the most painful four hours of my life,” Nero said, slumping over on the stairs. “I used to think that going to all of those damn sermons that the order wanted us to go to was torture, but that? I think I’d rather Vergil cut my arm off again.”

Morgan stared at Nero in silence for a moment as she looked him up and down, realizing that he either had a very realistic prosthetic, or that his arm wasn’t missing. But she had heard him say the word “again” hadn’t she? He stared back at her before a mischievous smile spread across his face and he held up his right arm. Sure enough, it seemed to momentarily disappear, leaving nothing but a deflated sleeve before reappearing. He wiggled his fingers for emphasis.

No. She refused to ask about this one. It was just too early in the morning for that.

“To be fair, I never said that attending would be enjoyable. I said it would be satisfyingly petty. Was I incorrect?” V said tiredly as he entered the house behind them. He was already working his way out of his coat, ready to sit down and make a warm cup of tea. Lucia had chosen to stay behind with Flora to keep an eye on things. Perhaps he could track her down and ask her if she’d like a cup? Yes, that was a good plan. He was too tired to be self-conscious. He was staying in this house until they had a plan.

“Fair enough. You’ve got a point.” Nero sighed, sitting on the stairs to unlace his boots. They were covered with snow and slush. No one who wanted to live would be stupid enough to head past the foyer in such a condition. There was just no point.

“So… why’d ya have to sneak into your sister’s graduation? Didn’t you used to go to that school?” Dante asked casually as he tossed his coat on the hanger that V kept in the entryway. The boots came off easily enough. He would make quick work of those. No need to even sit down.

“Because I punched one of the teachers in the face right after I walked off of the stage with my diploma and then they banned me from the school grounds and all related properties.” Bren shrugged, unperturbed. “I’d do it again in a second. I regret nothing.”

“You punched a teacher in the face? At your own graduation ceremony?” Vergil asked, unsure as to whether or not he’d heard that statement correctly. Surely he had been mistaken. He couldn’t think of a single reason why someone would want to do something like that. Mentors could be ruthless, that much was true. But what possessed him to do something so extreme? He couldn’t say that it was his business, but he was admittedly intrigued.

“Oh yea, I punched him. Cold cocked him, actually. And I’d do it again.” Bren hung up his coat, offering to take the remaining coats and put them up for everyone else. “He was a total creep. Used to sneak peeks into both locker rooms when everyone was getting ready for practice. I’m glad that’s all he did. From what we know. He’s upstate now doing ten years. Got caught taking bribes for the sports team. Hope he rots in there.”

Vergil paused before nodding. He could get behind that easily enough. “Fair enough.”

Dante laughed and shook his head. It seemed that there was at least one thing that they agreed on. Although to be fair, the younger of the two had the feeling that Vergil would have done more than punch the teacher in the face. It was lucky for that creep that he had not made that kind of mistake in his brother’s vicinity. How unfortunate. He would have loved to see him get what he had coming. “I get the feeling that he got off pretty easy. Vergil would have probably impaled him.”

“No. They would have found him lying chest down looking up at the sky if I had been one of the parents of those unfortunate students. I dare not sully Yamato’s blade with such lowly blood.” Vergil then stopped curtly and headed into the living room, ready to sit down and not have to be around a stadium full of people again. Or anyone for several hours for that matter. His social battery had been taxed to its absolute limit recently. But there had been no way that he would have allowed both of his sons and the Linquist siblings to go that far away without an escort. He couldn’t stop them, so he decided to tail them and keep an eye out for anything mysterious. Thankfully things had gone off without a hitch. Another good reason to come back the way that they had.

It took everyone present a solid few seconds to register the implications of how that would be physically possible. And once they did, each of them shuddered slightly, the mental image alone gruesome enough to cause them pause. But after a moment they resumed hanging their coats and taking off their shoes, seeing no compelling reason to dwell on it any longer. Strangely enough, none of them could say that they disagreed with his proposed methodology. As long as they didn’t have to do it, then they could totally live with it.

“Sorry, I’m still getting used to the fact that you can do… What do you call it? And how did you do that? What’s a Yamato?” Morgan was clearly confused. She felt like he’d been dropped feet first into the tenth season of a complex show with lore she couldn’t hope to understand. The waters were deep and she was floundering.

Vergil produced the blade from seemingly nowhere, holding it out slightly so that she could have a better look at it. But he dared not let her touch it. “This is Yamato. A demonic blade passed down to me by my father, the Dark Knight Sparda. It has the ability to cut through anything, down to and including the fabric of reality itself, allowing me to open tears in space-time like the one we just passed through to get here. It would have made short work of that teacher.”

“Can I play with it?” She seemed impressed, barely resisting the urge to reach for it.

“Absolutely not.” He stared at her, unable to believe that she’d actually just asked him that.

“Damn.” In truth, she’d known the answer long before she’d asked. But that didn’t stop her from hoping that it wouldn’t be the case. “Wait, your father is the Dark Knight Sparda? Like the guy everybody talks about in all those myths and legends and stuff? He’s real?”

Dante nodded. No use in hiding things. She was going to need to be up to speed as soon as possible. They didn’t benefit from hiding things like this from her. At this point, the fact that most of them were at least part demon was just cursory information. They had no reason to lie to her. “Yea.”

She paused, seemingly considering something. The sudden widening that her pupils underwent indicated that much to anyone looking in her general direction. “Wait… He’s a demon, right? So you guys are, what? At least part demon? All of you?”

Both Dante and Vergil looked at one another before nodding, followed by Nero a moment later. V simply stared at her blankly, shrugging. He didn’t really need to say it at that point, did he? If his uncle, father, and brother were all at least part demon, then it went without saying that he was as well. That was simply how genetics worked.

“That’s so metal, man.” She nodded to herself, clearly unconcerned and genuinely impressed. It seemed that she was unphased by the sudden realization that she was in a room occupied by only one other pure human seemingly not concerning her in the slightest. But considering the things that she and V had been through together, it shouldn’t have been that surprising that she was unphased by their somewhat supernatural status.

Nero laughed to himself. She was pretty funny, and it seemed as though she was impervious to fear. He had the feeling that whenever she and Nico finally met that they would be the death of him. Maybe she could teach the plucky mechanic to drive like a sane person instead of a violently unstable maniac with a death wish.

“Guess that explains a little bit more about how everything went totally out of control in Redgrave City so fast. I’m not going to pretend to know why everything that happened, well, happened, and I honestly don’t want to even know because nothing would be a good enough answer, but at least I get how it all went down a little better now. Demons.”

Vergil stopped dead in his tracks. Had that been why she’d been staring at him like that back at Magnolia’s house? She knew about that?! How was that even-

“Look…” She sighed, realizing that what she was about to say was going to make very little sense to anyone other than herself. “My brother talked to me on the phone about it before he came to talk to you guys. He said that the cult he’d been in had kidnapped the son of the person who had been responsible for the attack, but that the person had decided to let him live because he’d helped them find him. I told him that he should still come talk to you because he shouldn’t have been a part of something like that, even if he thought they might be doing bad things for a good reason. He was contributing to that same evil, you know? I’m not gonna pretend I understand what either of you did or why, but I’m choosing to just let that go because it’s all that I can do. And because you spared my brother’s life when he was doing something almost as stupid himself. What other choice do I have?”

He stared at her quietly, everyone in the room going quiet in an effort to not interrupt. None of them could pinpoint why, but this had far more weight to it than they wanted to acknowledge. The tension in the room was incredibly heavy despite the fact that the Darkslayer had “You could choose to hate me. You could seek revenge against me And you would be right to do so. I’d have no right to stop you.”

“Yea, you're right. I could.” She shrugged. “But hating you is the easy choice. And I wasn’t raised to take the path of least resistance. That’s why I’m still here. So I’m going to choose to do the hardest thing I’ve ever done and just let it go. They aren’t coming back either way. But I’m still here and I have to keep going even if I don’t know where I’m headed. Even if it might be worse than where I already am or just as bad. Because there is a chance that where I’m going might be better. Your son taught me that much.”

V started before turning away to face the fireplace. He went to light it again, seeking anything that he could do to escape the gravity of this situation. He wasn’t sure what he felt about any of this. It was just so very much. What he wouldn’t have done to turn back the clock and do… something. Anything to spare them all this suffering. But he couldn’t. It was like she’d said. He had to keep moving forward. And although she claimed he’d shown her that, he wasn’t sure he’d learned that himself until long after he’d met her.

Could you teach someone a lesson that you yourself had yet to learn?

Just as she was about to continue, there was a knock at the door. Everyone turned in the direction of the door, subconsciously readying themselves for yet another attack. For all they knew their enemy had finally found them. Hopefully, Flora knew a spell that could reverse the damage. Dante sighed and stepped towards the door, unlocking it and then opening it. And then he scoffed, chuckling under his breath.

“Well, I’ll be. Haven’t seen you in a few weeks! Where did you disappear to?”

“I must say, it is a pleasure to see you again, Dante. May I come in? My sincerest apologies. I had to step away and attend to a few affairs back at the office. I hope nothing major has occurred in my absence.” To the collective surprise of everyone, it was Sirrus. He shrugged out of his coat and hung it on the rack, heading towards the living room as he greeted everyone in turn. Upon catching sight of Vergil, he stopped, a curious look crossing his face as he drew a few feet closer to the Darkslayer who was sitting down on the couch away from the rest of the group. He seemed to be reflecting. “And I see that Vergil has indeed returned! Glad to see it. When last I’d spoken to Magnolia, she had informed me of your extended absence. And she seemed quite forlorn. I fear she believed that you would never return. Thank you for silencing her disbelief.”

“A whole train station blew up and it’s all over the news. Also, V’s curse is worse and there’s an uber-powerful summoner in town using infernal magic.” Flora said dryly as she came down the stairs and made her way into the kitchen. Why was she not surprised to see Sirrus in town again? He’d been around quite a bit recently. The red-haired man stared at her unblinking as she left the room before allowing his hand to travel slowly up to his face as he turned in the direction of the rest of the crew. She shook his head slowly, disbelief evident.

“... Why is it that every time I turn my back on the lot of you that you stick your fingers in the light socket like unruly toddlers?”

Each of the descendants of the Dark Knight Sparda blinked blankly. They couldn’t answer that particular question in any meaningful way, unfortunately.

“I wanted to thank you for your extravagant housewarming gift. In-person. And I noticed the distinct lack of a gift receipt in the event that I could not bear it upon my conscience to receive it.” V didn’t have an answer to this newfound guest’s mostly sarcastic question, but he did have gratitude. He was admittedly thankful for the gift and for Sirrus’s sudden return. The change in mode and subject matter was a welcome one. The reality of what they faced hadn’t changed, but any distraction from the suffering that surrounded them was appreciated. And to be fair, V actually did enjoy being around him.

Sirrus paled before turning away to hide his slight blush. In this cold weather, it was hard to discern what was flushed skin and what was simply a negative reaction to the intimate weather. “Think nothing of it. It was the least I could do given the circumstances. You saved my life, and this house is far too stately to lay empty, and you did save my life. Too many treasured memories have been formed within its walls to allow it to languish. And I felt a strong desire to ensure that you were… comfortable. You have enough to worry about.”

An awkward silence fell over them for a moment as Morgan looked at V and then at Sirrus before looking at both of them again. She then shook her head and headed over towards the couch. She was going to have to ask V how he’d managed to afford a house like this. Their trauma payments from that charity group after the attack hadn’t been this big. A house like this had to cost a small fortune, especially in this city and especially in this neighborhood. He was probably the youngest homeowner in the entire area!

“If you’d excuse me for a moment, I bought groceries.” He waited for V to nod in agreement before heading towards the kitchen in the back of the building. He paused in front of Morgan, nodding politely before heading towards his destination again. Everyone returned to the task of making themselves comfortable, realizing that they had all gone on alert the moment that they’d seen Sirrus arrive. This situation with Belial had them on edge. They couldn’t wait to be rid of him. Perhaps Sirrus could add something useful to their almost nonexistent plans?

Morgan scooted over so that V could sit next to her, looking the young summoner up and down as she shook her head slowly from side to side. He gave her a sympathetic look that quickly migrated to confusion as he realized that she was only doing this in jest. He was missing a joke here, wasn’t he? Why did the humor of others so often fly right over his head? “Am I missing something?”

“Oh, you’re missing a lot of things, bub.” V mentally chastised Griffon, silently hoping that Morgan couldn’t look at him and tell that he had been momentarily annoyed but his avian companion. He had yet to mention the fact that he possessed a demonic panther and a talking bird with a severe death wish. Although he had the feeling that she wouldn’t really mind. “Not right now, please.”

She pointed towards the kitchen, a smirk crossing her face. She then folded her arms, leaning over so that she could whisper in V’s ear. “So you haven’t noticed that he… You know what? Nevermind. I’ll let you figure it out. It shouldn’t be that hard if I’ve only been around him for like 30 seconds and I already caught onto it.”

A moment later Sirrus called from the kitchen stating that he’d brought everyone tea. Flora sighed in relief. Finally, something that made sense around here. “Wonderful. Spectacular. Finally, some good damn tea.”

(-~-)

I hope you liked this chapter! Now, on to the next one! I’m excited for next week. I have something devious planned! Oh, it feels great to be back! Take care of yourselves out there and I will see you in the comment section! TGIF!

#Hiraeth #V #Nero #Dante #Vergil #My Post Devil May Cry 5 AU #My Post Devil May Cry 5 AU OC's #DMC #DMCV #DMC5 #Post DMC5

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houseisekai · 3 years

Text

House Isekai ARR: New types of Asks Available!

House Isekai ARR Masterlist Here

---

Lore Explanation:

Aigis finished putting the final touches in the Tower. It was rigged with several of Class VII’s technology, Fodlan’s, Her world’s and infused with Kazuma’s magic. And this was all funded by Recette and Tear.

(Aigis) “Readings are...satisfactory. It can be improved, but extensive testing will be required.”

(Towa) “Understood, we’ll be sure to put the students through this as often as we can!”

(Recette) “Oooh, maybe we can show this off to Fodlan and make some serious gold!”

(Tear) “One step at a time. This IS a prototype after all.”

Sitri came into the room, looking around at the boxes lying around.

(Sitri) “What’s all this?”

(Rean) “Oh, evening Sitri. Just something we’re putting together for the students.”

In front of the staff was a massive archway, leading into nowhere as the other side was just the end of the room.

(Kazuma) “We can’t really go around Fodlan causing all sortsa damage when we need training right? Figured it’d be a good idea to get like a..VR thing going on.”

(Sitri) “VR?”

(Aigis) “Virtual Reality. During our encounter two years ago, the Tower was able to simulate and perfectly replicate areas and people from memories.”

(Sitri) “I remember. It was quite shocking how real it seemed.”

(Towa) “So, we thought it was a good idea to train our students this way, since we don’t want to scare people by just waltzing into their territories and start beating the crap out of anything that moves!”

(Kazuma) “We won’t have to worry about dimensions ripping apart and shit, we’re powering it locally via our own magic and stuff. We can send the students in, something from either the past memories we have, or we can use it to replicate say...Persona Users. They can fight them and gain experience without actually needing the real ones here.”

(Recette) “Oooh, and another addition is we could just use it as a fighting ground, that way we can go all out in fighting without blowing the training hall up!”

(Tear) “And this is far more cost effective, to boot.”

(Sitri) “I see. I might use this myself to train...”

(Aigis) “It would not be a bad idea for us to use it too.”

(Rean) “Alright, let’s go and let the House know about this.”

Everyone nodded and left the room...

=======

Actual Explanation:

Echo Battles -

House Isekai members can now fight replicas from the original House Isekai, fight in past events during each route of Three Houses, or fight during events of House Isekai: Shadowbringers.

Echo Events -

House Isekai members can now view any events from the routes of Three Houses, House Isekai, and House Isekai: Shadowbringers (Including asks that you’ve sent).

And the main draw of this:

Instructor Battles -

House Isekai members can now fight full strength against Aigis, Rean, and Kazuma, and it will play out as if it were a training match!

If you wanted to see anyone from the new House Isekai fight the older members or just witness past events, now you can!

#House Isekai #House Isekai ARR

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imthepunchlord · 4 years

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What I wish for FEA

On the off chance Fire Emblem Awakening got remade for the switch (which can handle far more than the 3DS), things that I really hope for. I really would love if it did get remade for the switch, it was a lot of fun, a lot of great characters, an interesting set up that they could’ve done a lot more for. It’s not a perfect game, so a remake would be good to polish it up, and do the update that’s needed.

And this is more for me, been holding this in since playing FE3H and finally decided to share it.

- More supports for Chrom and Sumia

For someone who insists about standing for friendship, he doesn’t have a lot of supports, I also would’ve loved to see some other romantic options for him; like him and Flavia could’ve been great. I’d also be intrigued to see Lucina as a half taguel or manakete. And Sumia has no excuse for her small support pool. While I love Cordelia and Stahl, I also really wanted to see Sumia and Stahl, if they had a support.

And set it up that, whoever Lissa marries, that opens up a support between Chrom and his brother-in-law, if he doesn’t have one open with them. My otp is Lissa and Henry, I’d love to see the support between Chrom and Henry, that could be so funny. And have this extend to potential aunts and uncles between Lucina (Lucy’s younger sibling) and Owain. There are interactions we’re not getting but should be.

- Model edits for half races

Speaking of Lucina being half taguel or manakete; do actual edits of their models so they have those traits; I was bothered to see Morgan lack those traits. Also to see that Morgan is just a copy of her mother’s model. Taguel, ok, I can let fly since gender seems color coded for their armor, but manakete, seeing 3 different colors (yellow, pink, and white); its not hard to tweak the color. Morgan could’ve been black or purple (and on the off chance we ever get manakete!Lucina, blue for her).

- Plegia

This is a big one. While FE doesn’t have the best history with their poc, 3H was a step in the right direction, I would like this added to FEA.

Don’t make things so black and white, especially with Plegia and Ylisse. Plegia is overwhelmingly framed as the villains and Ylisse is just pure good. Never mind the fact that Ylisse did a mass genocide on Plegia that still effects it to this day. While it is acknowledged, it also feels swept under the rug too and Plegians are portrayed bad for responding as they do. And to my knowledge, Emmeryn didn’t do much to try and make up for her father’s actions outside withdrawing troops. Its a complicated situation I want to see addressed more, for there isn’t an easy answer to this. She’s not her father and shouldn’t be blamed for his sins, but she also can’t just bow her head and try to let things be, leave them to lick their wounds in peace; that allows anger, hurt, and resentment to fester that lead to Plegia lashing out. Actually one thing that could’ve been done is make use of Robin being Plegian and Emmeryn using them as a means to make up for how bad things got. Give us more on Emmeryn, and address that complicated situation.

Also, really address Robin being Plegian. Aside from later story detail, its something very forgettable and its a huge disconnect from Robin and their character. Robin is an amnesiac, yet there’s nothing of them trying to learn of their past. I would love to see Robin delving into being Plegian, their culture, and what it means to them to work with the Shepherds. While the Shepherds has been kind to Robin and embraced them to be among the flock, Robin canonly does still face suspicion after serving Ylisse loyally (Frederick). Realistically, Robin should be facing far more prejudice in Ylisse, which can help break this black and white set up between Ylisse and Plegia. This would also be really interesting to see for Robin as a character, acknowledging their Plegian heritage, what it means for them, where does loyalty lie, do they want to go to Plegia and try to find their past? Validar even hints that Robin’s mother is alive (potentially); where’s Robin trying to find their mother? To learn of their past and see what Robin was like before losing their memories, what happened that got them separated from their mother?

And not everyone will agree or like this, but remove being able to change up the avatar’s appearance. Because they want Robin blank for the player, this makes Robin lackluster as a character, and doesn’t work since there are actual conversations between the avatar and other characters that won’t match with the player’s views. Say you don’t like Chrom, but your avatar does and there’s nothing you can do to change this, its a set conversation between two characters. Let Robin exist as their own character, no changing up the design, and keep Robin as a person of color. I can say you can change the color itself from light to dark, but no making Robin white. This extends to Tharja, Noire, Henry, and the Morgans. All Plegians that are “good” and that can recruit are white, which doesn’t help things. Keep all Plegians dark skinned, it will help remove that light skinned people are “good” and all dark skinned people are “bad”, especially when majority of Plegians are dark. So keep Robin, Tharja, Noire, Henry, and the Morgans all poc, and let Robin become their own character, for they are meant to be but also an insert for the player and they aren’t a good insert. They can do what they did with Byleth, have a potential reason why Robin starts out so blank; maybe Grima reaching out to Robin is what set that off, and the further into the story you play, the more of Robin’s true personality shines through. Tharja reveals that knowing someone’s true name allows for hexes to work, and its a wonder if Robin is their true name or if they have a true Plegian name.

And what becomes of Plegia when you beat the game? Is Plegia left broken and never rebuilt, becoming part of Ylisse? Does Robin (and their spouse) go to store Plegia and become new rulers and help forge friendships between them and Ylisse? Or does Tharja or Henry go to become the new Queen or King of Plegia with their respective spouse? House does Plegian monarchy even work? Gangrel was a peasant that survived the genocide and stepped up, then Validar just took over and now we don’t know who rules or if Plegia is just left forgotten and broken.

Speaking of Grima, lets get more into them and Plegian culture and religion. They’re a largely worshiped god that promises doom upon the world, why are they so worshiped when it means many Plegians will die as well? Are they based on the Egyptian culture, believing that there is an afterlife after death, and that it will be better than their present life? Do they believe this world is the actual hell? Is there more to Grima in worship than just death? To play off their old name, is Grima known as a creation god, for destruction is a form of creation, paving way to renewal or new things to rise from creation. Aversa mentioned “gods”, so Grima isn’t the only god that is worshiped. Who else do they worship? Are there believers of Naga? What other gods are out there?

And Grima’s mention that they and Robin are one and the same, it doesn’t get addressed or explored as much as I’d like. To what extent are they the same? Is Robin just a human reincarnation of Grima? Could Robin become Grima without the possession? Are they a dark and light counterpart to each other? Does this mean that Grima is like Robin, started out good and open to the world and just wound up corrupted or went down a dark path, that Forneus potentially pushed Grima down? Or was Grima always evil at the start? Does that mean Robin actually started out evil and then the amnesia hit and they became good?

Its said on the wiki that Robin often experienced nightmares, which we didn’t see in-game, Grima could be set up to play a similar role to Sothis, an inner demon sitting in Robin’s subconscious, trying to manipulate and scare Robin down a darker path. And if Robin can potentially explore their own mindscape, could use this to lay hints to Robin’s past and Grima’s.

- Also go ahead and expand on the lore of the world

Plegia is the one I’m interested to see more of, but would like more on Regina Ferox, more on Ylisse and their views of Plegia presently, of Valm, of the taguel and of the manakete.

But just expanding this world, for there are a lot of interesting things and details set up that are left unanswered. Actually there are some paralogue that can be doen to expand on characters and give a little on their history.

Like, Nowi revealing that she was stolen from her parents. Are they possibly still around? Who stole her? Why doesn’t she have a support with Tiki?

Is Panne really the only surviving taguel or are there more?

Is Donnel potentially part manakete since his father gave him a stone that has a “hidden power” and Nah can use it as her dragonstone to transform. So was his father a manakete or did he just find that stone?

- Take the new features from Three Houses

One of the things I really liked about 3H was being able to explore the church and talk to characters, see what new thing they have to say for each month. I’d love to see the barracks explored and talk to characters in your army and see what new thing they’d have to say to you when you go about talking to them, what their thoughts and views can be.

I’d also like to build up points like 3H does, have lunch or a drink with your army, do little things for fun and build up supports and stats.

I also adore characters being fully voice acted and seeing the cutscenes play out. I’d love for them to stay and be used for FEA.

And while very unlikely to be done, I would love them doing another take on divide paths. Two possible routes to go, there’s going with Ylisse, or going with Plegia. Have Robin decide if they want to stay and assist the Shepherds or go to Plegia and learn of their pasts, see more of characters we didn’t get to see much of, see Plegians’ life and potential struggles after that genocide and being under Gangrel and Grimeal’s rule. Maybe have a complicated goal of improving things for Plegia, work at becoming the new Queen/King of Plegia, see how things stay the same or play out differently with you there.

It is very unlikely though, so at most I’d hope for an expansion on lore and culture, and make things far more grey than the black and white set up they did.

- Update characters

There are characters who haven’t aged well and require a major update in design and personality. Tharja is creepy but has a secret heart of gold, which clashes with what Noire tells us in the future. Inigo is a nice guy and is extremely annoying. Nowi has the mentality of a child and its extremely uncomfortable to pair her up with anyone, and I’d like to see her updated to be more along the lines of Flayn, still child-like in a sense, but also mature and wise in her own way. Her daughter Nah I don’t remember liking much either and would like to see adjusted. This is one of a few I think really need a tweak in personality and design.

- Allow for same sex endings

Now, this is unlikely since female characters (minus Chrom and male Robin) are the ones with future kids, but I would like to see that some same sex characters could have endings together, though there’s the issue of no child from mlm pairs. This can be solved by adding a handful of future kids to certain male characters, and can open up more sibling supports. its also realistic for some parents to have more than one kid.

But that means adding more children and I don’t know if they will. I would love to see more child characters and more sibling interactions, but yeah I don’t know if they will...

- Remove allowing Robin to pair up with a kid from the future

No. Just no. That should not have been a thing.

- Allow me to have both my children

Future Past dlc all but confirms that Morgan has a twin that exists, let us have them both. I adore them both, and I would love to see them work off each other.

- Give Flavia and Say’ri their own kid

Very salty that these two woc don’t have their own kid as well and a very small window of supports. Which ties into the next point.

- Update supports

It is very annoying that some characters don’t have supports with each other. Not just Chrom being picky about company despite boasting about friendship and bonds and Sumia being picky about spouses (for some reason); but Lon’qu and Basilio can’t talk, nor him and Say’ri despite coming from the same region. Nor any support between Nowi and Tiki despite Nowi having a fear of being alone, here is another manakete and yet no interactions between them? And on the off chance they keep in extra recruitable characters, why don’t Emmeryn have a support with Chrom and Lissa and Frederick?

- Chrom

So I know Chrom needs a wife for Lucina, but my god its the most annoying thing to deal with him till past a certain chapter, especially if one of his few potential wives I want to pair with someone else. I know its a must, but I would like it updated and adjusted. Because at the start of the play through, everyone has to avoid him like the plague less he goes and steals someone’s wife.

Another issue is him being the Exalt, we don’t see him being the Exalt and most of his time is spent away from his kingdom, making him lackluster as a ruler and leader. Who is he leaving in charge of Ylisse when he’s about when his potential wife, Lissa, and Frederick are at his side? Is any of the people of Ylisse bothered or nervous about him being vacant to rule? 3H the heirs feel like actual rulers and leaders, Chrom doesn’t. I’d like that updated, see what he is like as an Exalt, and what issues there are for there is no perfect ruler. What are his goals and how will he act them out? Does he have any? is Ylisse ok enough that he hardly needs to actively govern it?

And I think that about covers it for all things I’d hope to see added/polished up for FEA remake, if it ever happens for the switch. I really hope so, it got me into Fire Emblem, and while a lot of fun, it needs polishing up, and could use some updates and add ons.

I hope one day I will get to see it on the switch, and to see it updated and improved upon.

#fire emblem awakening #long post #wishes and hopes #shared issues #its a game with a lot of potential and good ideas #but could've been better done #and some of it is limitations on being on the 3ds #but on the switch there aren't as many limitations #so here's hoping for a remake one day #I really would love to see it on the switch

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fallintosanity · 4 years

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What are your thoughts on 7 Remake’s ~controversial~ ending? It’s been a few weeks now since I finished and I legit feel like I’ve journeyed through all 5 stages of grief and finally landed on Acceptance 😅

haha that’s fair! I have a lot of thoughts about the remake, but they’re coming from three different angles.

(Spoilers under the cut obvs; also this got fucklong even after I cut a bunch of non-ending-related thoughts, and I apologize to those of you on mobile)

From the POV of someone who played and loved the original

Overall, I really enjoyed the remake, ending and all. I replayed the OG prior to the remake’s release, finishing literally four hours before the remake became available in North America, but it had still been months since I did the Midgar parts so it wasn’t too immediately fresh in my mind. Still, I was impressed by how faithful the remake is to the OG for the vast majority of the game. They noticeably cleaned up a few things, like Tseng slapping Aerith, which didn’t age well or stopped making sense with regards to the greater Compilation, which was nice to see. But they also doubled down on some of the ridiculousness of the original. I can’t tell you how much I cackled when the Hell House showed up, or how many times I said to my fiance in joy/disbelief, “They really managed to fit that in!”

I also love all the little nods to the greater Compilation. I saw one interview excerpt from like... 2015 or 2014 or something that said the Remake is considered canon to the Compilation, and the content of the Remake itself suggests this. While some of the cameos could be considered nothing more than cameos (as much as I love Kunsel, I don’t think his name being dropped means anything other than that they needed a name and wanted to give a nod to him), there are other clear hints that Crisis Core and The Kids Are Alright, at minimum, are canon to the Remake. Hojo mentions “S and G type” SOLDIERs, i.e., Sephiroth-type and Genesis/Gillian-type. (Roche is a G type I am not taking arguments on this point) The description of the Buster Sword says it carries the hopes and dreams of those who came before, implying more than just Zack (i.e., Angeal). Zack’s scene right before he charges the ShinRa army is shot-for-shot the one from Crisis Core, which could have just been a nod, but the fact that he also says the same lines as the original is telling. There’s a lot of lore loaded into those lines. Leslie and Kyrie are both from The Kids Are Alright (which makes me wonder if the third ShinRa half-brother is floating around somewhere). You could make an argument for Before Crisis being partially or completely canon to the remake as well, since someone mentions a previous assassination attempt on the President, which happened in BC.

But now we get into the issue of whether Advent Children is canon to the remake, i.e., the ending and the thing you actually asked about. ^^; This is where I’m more torn. My initial reaction to the ending was “Oh crap, we went from FFVII-Remake to Kingdom Hearts - oh shit now we’re in Advent Children - oh fuck now we’re in fanfiction-land.” Which... is definitely not what I was expecting from the ending of Part 1.

On first playthrough it feels a bit like they overplayed their hand with Sephiroth in the ending: “everyone wants a Sephiroth fight in a FFVII game, so we’ll give them a Sephiroth fight”. I’ve seen a lot of complaints about the fact that Sephiroth appears in person in the Midgar sequence, when in the OG all we see of him before Kalm is the aftermath of President Shinra’s murder. I do think Sephiroth’s appearances prior to the ending were done well - the writers clearly intended to emphasize Cloud’s mental issues, and Sephiroth is too big a part of them to ignore. His appearances prior to the top of Shinra Tower both serve as a bone tossed to those who wanted to see him in the remake, and set up the Cloud-Sephiroth relationship a lot earlier and in more depth. You can see how utterly terrified Cloud is every time Sephiroth is around - even sometimes frozen into immobility. Depending on how things go with the Kalm flashback, this may also help cue new players in to just how wrong things are with Cloud. (After all, a SOLDIER First shouldn’t be afraid of another SOLDIER First, should he?) But the final fight against Sephiroth, or at least, a clone wearing Sephiroth’s face, felt premature, out of place, something that’s only there to appease people who wanted to fight Sephiroth now.

Aside from the Sephiroth thing, I’m reserving judgment a bit on the ending as a whole. On the one hand, I’m deeply curious to see where the story goes from here, and how the writers use their newfound freedom (more on that in a minute). On the other hand, I don’t want this to turn into Kingdom Hearts 4, and I don’t trust Nomura in that regard, especially after all the bullshit that went on with KH3, Verum Rex, and FFXV/versus 13. I love Nomura, but like George Lucas, he desperately needs someone to rein in, edit, and shape his ideas.

I’m also not sure how I feel about all the theories being thrown out there - such as that at least one of the Sephiroths we see is the one from after AC, somehow flung back in time to fuck things up; or that the OG was, 999-style, Aerith seeing into the future and now in the remake she’s taking control to put everything on the path she wants. They’re interesting, for sure, and I think that with careful handling, it’s possible Squenix might be able to pull one of them off - but given what I know of Squenix (again, more on that later), I don’t trust them to do it well. I am, to be blunt, very concerned that later installments of the remake are going to turn into an incoherent tug-of-war between those who want to be faithful to the original, and Nomura’s desire to inject weird Kingdom Hearts nonsense everywhere.

I say this with all the love to Kingdom Hearts, but it’s a very specific kind of story and it’s not what I want to see in my FFVII.

On a writing meta level

On the meta level, I’m fascinated by the choice to go with the whole Whispers/Arbiters of Fate thing. I don’t know how much of that is pure Nomura-injected BS vs how much was a deliberate choice by the writing team, but for right now I’m going to assume it was mostly a deliberate and unanimous choice.

I’ve seen a lot of other Remake opinions along the lines of a reluctant, “I guess they had to put the Whispers in there because a perfect remake wouldn’t have been satisfying to everyone. There’s always someone who would have complained.” I... don’t think that’s entirely true. Like, yeah, sure, someone’s always going to complain if it’s not a pixel-perfect remake, but based on the overall satisfaction I’ve seen from OG fans (including myself) regarding the parts that are true to the original, I think Squenix would have done just fine if that was the path they chose. And given how much attention they paid to making most of the game into a nearly-perfect recreation, I think the writers knew it.

So why’d they go the whole Whispers route?

My guess would be that the writers were giving themselves freedom, on a meta level, with the Whispers. It’s a way of both poking fun at, and solving, their own dilemma: do we make a perfect, hi-res copy of the original? Or do we change things to make it our own?

The “change something to make it your own” is a longstanding trope when someone new is put in charge of something old. You see it in everything from Disney live-action remakes to new managers who change their employees’ routines just to “make an impact”. Most of the time, these changes are neutral / un-impactful at best, or outright frustrating / terrible at worst. I wonder if the Remake writing team wasn’t fully aware of this, and possibly tangled up in knots internally about how to handle it. Would it be seen as a bad, “make it their own” change to have Tseng not slap Aerith? What about adding Chocobo Sam, Madam M, and Andrea Rhodea to the Wall Market sequence? What about the changes to how the Avalanche gang reacts to Cloud, now that we have full animation and voice acting and it’s clear Avalanche has no reason to want to keep him around except for Jessie being horny on main? Where’s the line?

I could see the Whispers being the writing team’s way of making sure they stay in line where it’s important, while also giving themselves the freedom to make the updates needed to allow the remake to work. They’re kind of a meta nod to the audience, a “don’t worry! If we get too far out of line, the Whispers will bring us back.” In that sense, the entire ending where you (the player) kill the Whispers and free yourself (the player) from destiny is you giving the writers permission to continue making those small changes.

In FFXV, almost the entire ending sequence is a cutscene: Noctis on the throne, being murdered by his ancestors and descending into the spirit realm. But there’s one single quick-time event in there, one point where the player has to take action and push a button. It’s not even difficult, and on the surface it seems pointless. Except, if you don’t, Noctis lives. (Trapped in purgatory maybe, but he’s still there.) If you never push that button, Noctis doesn’t sacrifice his spirit and those of the Lucii to destroy Ardyn and wipe the Scourge from Eos. By asking - requiring - the player to push that button to commit that final act, the game makes the player complicit in Noct’s sacrifice. It’s a powerful moment, and similar to what (I suspect) the Remake writers intended with the Whispers.

Because they could have left the Whispers in forever. They could have had them be a continuous presence throughout all episodes of the Remake, a little reminder that no matter what tweaks the writers might make to update the story, to “make it their own”, the Arbiters of Fate will ensure things are on track. That things will play out exactly as in the original. But by asking the player to destroy the Arbiters, the writers are asking for the player’s permission to make changes. And by killing the Arbiters, you’re granting it. Because, just like you can keep Noctis alive by not pushing the button when prompted, you can keep the original game more-or-less on track by never stepping through that portal, never killing the Arbiters. But if you do step through that portal and go through with it, you’re agreeing to accept that things might change, thus freeing the writers from the constant double jeopardy of changing things vs keeping them exactly the same.

On a business meta level

As cool as (I think) that all sounds, the bigger question is, can Square Enix actually pull it off? And here’s where I start to have my most significant doubts. After the FFvs13/FFXV debacle and the hopeless mess that was KH3, I do not trust Nomura to tell a coherent story, even if it’s supposedly a retelling of an existing, well-known story. I don’t know anything about the inner workings or politics at Square Enix, other than that there are politics at play, so in fairness to him I can’t really say it’s because he himself is bad at telling a story, or just doesn’t have the support he needs to convey his vision well. But that gets into other issues with Squenix. We know their last several major games have had long and troubled developments. Someone way more attuned than me to the Japanese video games industry can talk in depth about why; all I know is that it happened (is happening?) and that it’s something of a miracle the remake came out as well as it did.

On top of that, I’m a bit concerned that even if Squenix can get (and keep) its shit together, it might be up against external forces that constrain how it can tell the story of FFVII in the present. For example, from what I’ve heard, the reason Crisis Core never got ported the way so many other games did, and the reason Genesis Rhapsodos has never been seen outside it and a Dirge of Cerberus cameo, is due to image licensing fights with Gackt, Genesis’s face model. CC established Genesis as a key player in the events leading up to the original game’s story, and enough hints have been dropped about CC in the remake that, like I said earlier, it appears to be canon. But if Squenix can’t reach an agreement to use the character again, they might be trapped in a corner where they either have to completely rewrite the parts of the story involving Genesis, or dance around his existence.

And on top of all that, it’s just expensive and time-consuming as hell to make games on the remake’s scale. Everyone expects the PS4 to be retired by the time Remake Part 2 comes out, which is going to pose huge logistical issues for releasing it. Squenix has been having a rough time of it lately, from what I’ve heard - are they, as a company, capable of handling all those logistical issues? I don’t know, and that makes me nervous.

Still, they did do a remarkable job with the remake overall, even grappling with the pandemic around the launch date. So maybe they’re getting their shit together again, and things will be smooth sailing from here. We’ll have to wait and see.

#anonymous #final fantasy vii #ffvii #ffvii remake #spoilers #meta #sanity replies #sanity talks a lot #tumblr massively fucked up the formatting somehow sorry

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supergenial · 5 years

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Three Houses sucks actually

It’s been a whole month so after about 180 hours of play and doing all four routes, I thought I’d write down all the minor nitpicks that upset me about this fantastic game. Obviously spoilers ahead.

First of all, I do think it’s a great game, it’s one of my favorite fire emblem titles so far. I will not claim to be a veteran, but I have been playing since the gba games, I’ve played every game between fe6 and three houses, even fe12. I know genealogy is supposed to be GOAT but I’m holding out for a remake like I did with gaiden (and boy, waiting payed up big time on that one). Also if you love this game and think it’s perfect, that is awesome, I urge you to not read this so you don’t get upset about someone not understanding the game that you love (even though I love it too). Anyway, let’s begin:

I. The Four Routes are bad (together)

This game presents the player with a choice of 3 houses they can join, with that decision deciding which story you actually get to see. Along with Lion, Eagle and Deer, there’s also a “Church” route that is kind of lame, but not game-ruining. On their own they’re all actually pretty darn good stories. But these routes are extremely flawed. Not intrinsically, mind-you, but rather as a whole. In a game with multiple routes, you’d expect them to complement each other but instead each route actively makes the other ones actually worse. Do keep in mind that I think each route is pretty good on it’s own (even church) whichever one you pick first you will enjoy it greatly, and it will only deteriorate as you progress through the others.

Edelgard’s route is a political story of a revolutionary who wants to crush aristocracy and replace it with a meritocracy, her objective therefore is to crush the church that oversees the 3 nations. It feels like something out of shin megami tensei, she’s basically a chaos hero (which I usually hate) but with some nuance and less insane. It’s a great route! Gameplay-wise, it is my favorite, and also has the most thematic cohesion with the early game where all the students have misgivings about their noble status. Problem is it would have you believe that Dimitri has a complex ideological reason for standing up against her and protecting the church, when in reality playing his route tells you that he really has no political ideologies that he believes in (he straight up says this to Mercedes in their A support), he’s just a king defending his territory, which is really underwhelming as he has no parallels or contrasting motifs in regards to her, he’s just a dude. Another awful thing that basically everyone agrees is bad about this route is Those Who Slither in the Dark, a group that is set up as villains that have to be defeated, but instead get dealt with off-screen in the epilogue. You’d think it’s because they were lazy, and didn’t want to make a level for them, but there’s 2 routes in which you do fight them, they have their own level already in the game, it’s just not in this route. The plotline then just feels very lazy and incomplete, but even moreso once you play Claude’s route and you just... you just fight against those who slither, which is all I wanted to do at the end of Edelgard’s route. Perhaps the most disappointing route, but I happen to have an affinity for disappointment and the themes it goes for.

Dimtri’s route is a fantastic story of a broken man reclaiming his sanity. It’s the most character-driven and the most emotionally charged of the three. It’s an amazing route! Easily the best written as it picks a single theme (Dimitri’s downfall and rise) and does it extremely well instead of spreading too wide and losing focus. The ending is a bit underwhelming though. Basically everything after Dimitri recovers his humanity feels like filler, though his A supports are really amazing, all of them, making his post-feral phase worth it. The bigger problem is that this route actively sabotages the player’s enthusiasm towards playing Edelgard’s route as it paints her as the ultimate evil, the True and Only villain that has to be defeated. As such, a lot of the reaction I’ve seen online is that people who play this one first flat out refuse to play Edelgard’s route because really, why would you? She’s badbadnotgood, her sanity and reasoning are as flimsy as it gets, and she broke Dimitri’s heart when he was a kid, along with killing his entire family according to this route. You’d have to be insane to be excited to play as her, it’s something you’d only do for the sake of completionism. In the church and deer route you fight Edelgard too, but she’s presented as a well-intentioned extremist rather than an evil snake. Yes, even in the church route, the very one thing she wants to destroy!

Claude’s route on the other hand is so complete it suffers from it. It goes over every major plotline and actually solves it with very little thematic resonance between it all. Those who slide? He takes care of them. Rhea’s misdeeds? They’re acknowledged. Edelgard isn’t insane? He agrees. Who exactly was Nemesis?(the very first cutscene we’re shown!) Got it too. What is Sothis, what happened to her, why is she bound to Byleth? Got it. His route is ridiculous in that it covers too much ground and lore that could’ve been better put in the church route as it has no real thematic cohesion with Claude. He wants to end racism or something, ok cool, but he never fights any “race-realists”, none of the villains in his route are diametrically opposed to his ideals, and his final boss is a last minute diabolus ex machina with no real theme to it. It would’ve been easy to drive the point further that by beating the deadlords they’re burying the prejudices of the past and forging a new world without their literal ancestors hanging over them, but instead the scene goes for a sort of power of friendship type of feel and just rolls with that. It’s an exciting route with many hype moments, but when put together with the other ones, it feels kind of really weird that his route is basically a lore dump to fill in the lore gaps rather than a story about something.

It’s a given that in a game with 3 routes each one would tell their side of their story and be somewhat incomplete, leading the player to play all three to get the whole story. Instead these 3 routes actively try to drag each other lower instead of boosting each other higher, which is really disappointing.

Don’t even get me started on the church route, that shouldn’t even be in the game at all. It’s the same as Claude’s route, the exact same, but without Claude. Ok so that means Seteth gets a lot of development in this route right? No, not really, he’s just kind of there. Rather than Seteth being the lord of the route it’s more like this is a lord-less route. Ghost Dimitri is a really cool scene, for sure, but outside of that seriously screw this route. You might think “well but I like Rhea, I want to be on her side”, well spoiler alert kiddo: you literally fight Rhea in this route, she’s the final boss. And you don’t get to hang out with her all that much either so forget about that. While I dislike Rhea, I think having a route for her is reasonable since that sickening mommy fetish is so popular these days so of course you’d want to pander to that audience for that sweet cash, but people who like Rhea don’t even get that because you have to actually kill her at the end (which I actually really like, it made the church route Actually Good for me, plus it’s a really fun level despite being yet another fight at Garreg Mach, more on that later). Also in this route you don’t get to see Rhea in her Seiros armor that is 10/10 hot as shit so why even bother, go play Edelgard’s route if you want to see some actually cool Rhea scenes and quotes.

edit: just been informed Rhea does live if you S-support her, kind of disappointed but ok, that’s pretty good for all who liked her and it makes sense.

II. Claude, the master tactician

“Ugh, don’t call me that”, Even he’s fed up with the title

My favorite of the three lords in the game is easily Claude but it’s pretty unfair that he survives every single route (unless you actively choose not to spare him in Edelgard’s route), whereas Dimitri and Edelgard always die outside of their routes. But that’s not the worst of him, what I hate about him is how he gets hyped up as THE MASTER STRATEGIST whenever other characters speak of him. Granted, writing a “Smart” character is hard because you have to be smart or else the readers won’t buy it, but the writers don’t even try and instead make him out to be a complete fool in almost every route (he’s actually pretty smart in the church route imo, but he’s also never seen in that one).

In his route, he does exhibit some degree of strategy and thought, devising a trap to protect Garreg Mach (by setting his allies on fire???) and doing a bit of a Trojan Horse when seizing Fort Merceus. However, if you play Dimitri’s route, Gilbert suggests doing the fire thing, and in the church route you just infiltrate Fort Merceus in the exact same way. So congratulations Claude, you’re about as smart as... Gilbert, a character that no one ever refers to as a strategic or military genius. This is another case of routes weighting down other routes, if you only play his route you think “oh yeah, he’s smart, he Trojan Horse’d the empire, what an absolute madlad”, but once you play the other routes it’s like, oh, ok, I guess that’s just meant to happen that way whichever side you choose.

Ok, maybe he’s not a genius master strategist in his story, sure, after all Byleth is the tactician so of course he’d take a back seat, but what about as an enemy commander? he’s gotta have some devious map design to back up his claim to genius, right? Wrong.

In Dimitri’s route you fight Claude and Edelgard post-timeskip at Gronder Field just like you did before the timeskip. In this battle, Claude’s objective is to stop Edelgard. You think to yourself, oh that’s wonderful, an ally! Together we’ll crush that evil snake together! Except his army focuses yours, instead of going straight for Edelgard, as he did in the very same battle pre-timeskip. The game says there’s some fog, but guess what, this game HAS a fog mechanic to make some maps have low-visibility, and that fog is not present in this map! As such, he comes off as a total doofus in this chapter. This battle feels like Batman v Superman, a fight that just “has” to happen to sell the idea that the heroes are against each other, but Batman and Superman shouldn’t be fighting at all to begin with, they’re on the same side! They only fight because it’s the “hype” thing to do. Sigh.

Later on in the same route Claude is attacked by the empire in his hometown. His “master strategy” is to corner himself against an army that outnumbers his army 10:1, and trust that Dimitri will save him, the very same Dimitri that nearly killed him a couple days ago at Gronder Field. This is a pretty stupid and naive strategy on it’s own, but it gets worse once you look at the enemy troops in this map. They are all horses or infantry, not a single flier. Claude himself, he rides a wyvern. He could’ve escaped out to the sea, you might even think that’s his plan, but no, because Judith is there in the map and she certainly isn’t riding a wyvern, same goes for all his other men. Imagine the mockery, the sheer audacity of driving your enemy into a corner and thinking you’ll kill him only for all his men to suddenly get on wyverns and escape from you, which is possible thanks to the mount/unmount mechanic. Just imagine, you’re trying to save him and upon reaching halfway through the map, he and all his men get on wyverns and escape, saying they’ll trust you to take care of the empire as they run away, as you realize he just fooled you into taking out the trash for him. It would’ve been awesome! A moment worthy of The Master Trickster, but no, you just have to kill the boss before he kills Claude and Judith and that’s the map, that’s the whole thing.

And don’t even get me started on his map on Edelgard’s route. For a whole month people hype Claude up to be John Von Neumann combined with The Joker and Sun Tzu, so I’m expecting his level to be a really twisted one: warps, damaging terrain, falco knights with horse slayers, ballistae, swordmasters with armorslayers, siege tomes, sleep staves, berserk staves, etc. Instead, the level in which you fight against Claude has basically 0 unusual terrains, his “master strategy” is to just call for reinforcements until you cut off the source of reinforcements. This means that his “incredibly genius master tactic of galaxy-brain depth” is to use brute force, which is literally the exact opposite of clever tactics. Needless to say, this was to me the biggest disappointment, really wasted that opportunity to make a level that’s actually unique.

Then you go on to fight Dimitri’s right afterwards and guess what: his map has a siege tome user(with decent crit rate!), it has a unique monster gimmick where you have to kill an enemy every turn to avoid them turning into monsters, it has 4 commanders all calling for reinforcements leaving you to choose wisely which one needs to be stopped first, it has a river separating both sides of the map so that your teams have to be cleanly split up if going for multiple objectives, etc. It’s my favorite level in the game because it’s well thought out, interesting and basically more like what you’d expect of the mission where you’d fight a tactical mastermind. Sigh.

III. Ideological Conflict (a lack of it)

This is my biggest issue with the game

I really memed myself playing Edelgard's route so early because as I said previously it feels like a shin megami tensei chaos-route. She is fighting for an ideal, and so I falsely developed the hope that the game would have an ideological conflict. If you play Claude's route, you see that he is also fighting for his ideals, dude wants to end racism, that is awesome! However even when the characters do fight each other, their ideals are never in conflict. In Edelgard’s paralogue you fend off an almyrian invasion but she tells Byleth that she wishes they could be allies, and that in the future they should sit down and talk with almyrians to make their relationship better. In Claude’s route he is often fed up with the church’s historical revisionism and you can see he holds a lot of contempt for the institution as a whole. Edelgard and Claude may fight each other due to circumstance but their ideals are never against each other, in fact they kind of want the same things. And surely enough, Dimitri also thinks racism is whack, which is mostly explored through his relationship with Dedue. But Dimitri just doesn’t really believe in anything, in his route he’s completely reactive to the forces around him, there’s just no ideal world that he’s working towards, instead he just deals with the bullshit others have set in his way (not that there’s anything actually wrong with that, it’s just really underwhelming when the other stories are about ideals).

And really that’s ok. Like I said this is a problem of my own I memed myself into thinking I was playing a much better game, and only have myself to blame for those expectations. It’s very normal of intelligent systems to not want to put into the game a playable character who is racist or anti-equality. Except we have Lorenz and Ferdinand, two characters that are so fiercely pro-aristocracy I started the game hating them(nowadays Ferdinand is easily in my top 5). Ferdinand believes that nobility is a cross to be carried for the good of the people and that rather than a highway to an easy life, it is a tremendous responsibility to bear and that commoners are better off relying on a noble like himself to make their lives better.

Nobility being a cross is something supported by the narrative! There are many characters dissatisfied with their lives solely because they were born as nobles and have to deal with problems exclusive to nobles, most notably Sylvain, Ingrid and then Mercedes who straight up becomes a commoner because of the pressure of nobility. Lorenz on the other hand has been pressured by his family so much he’s a completely brainwashed tool of the aristocrats, but as the game progresses he gets his head out of his ass and becomes a more likeable character.

“Edelgard intends to abolish the nobility, but I know I can disuade her”, Ferdinand you bumbling fool, that is literally her main policy, have you ever actually listened to her?

Those two show it is possible for the team to write characters with bad ideals and then develop them into likeable ones, they just didn’t feel like having a lord that upholds bad ideals and grows out of them or is betrayed by their shortcomings. Hell, just imagine if after the last chapter in black eagles those who slither betrayed Edelgard instantly, showing that allying yourself with villainous people only because they’re convenient is sure to lead to betrayal. It would’ve been a sobering moment to see her say that maybe, maybe pairing up with mustache-twirling bad guys might have been a bad idea after all and having to really consider the damage she might have caused by letting them co-exist with her for her goals. Instead her route just ends, significantly shorter than all others. Aghhh. But yeah, this is a problem of my own expectations because fire emblem never had amazingly complex stories to begin with (I know I know, genealogy is supposed to be pretty deep, but that was over 20 years ago, it’s just not relevant to modern fire emblem until it gets a remake).

“Wait so you want Dimitri to be racist?” Oh hell no. Dimitri is literally perfect as he is, just look at him. What I’m saying is he should’ve gotten his own game, because he doesn’t fit in with the other two lords in this game as he has no vision of how the world should be (other than “Good”) and no ideological struggle he needs the world to understand. His story just doesn’t need Fodlan. The kicker is that his house, were it not for their tight and adorable friendship, is the one that is more likely to side with Edelgard as Sylvain, Mercedes, Ingrid, and Felix all hate nobility/aristocracy, and Ashe’s dad whom he idolizes literally gets sentenced to death by the church. Dimitri on a solo game would’ve been a cool story (better than Fates that’s for sure). But in three houses he doesn’t complement the other two lords, and the other two lords also bring him down. It’s what I’ve been saying: the routes just don’t complement each other. Remember how I said many people played Blue Lions and then just flat out refused to play the other routes? It sounded like I was belittling them but those people were right, they’re living their best life and I applaud them, they truly beat the game.

Worth noting that the church route is technically, from an outside perspective, a pro-aristocracy route. The black eagles students are all aristocrats except for Dorothea, and in this route it’d be a fair observation to say that they’re a bunch of spoiled kids who are trying to preserve the status-quo because they don’t want to give up their lands and servants. Obviously this isn’t how the route approaches character motivations, but an incisive in-world historian would’ve made this scathing observation by simply looking at who’s spearheading the revolt against the emperor: a bunch of rich kids.

IV. The Pre-Timeskip common route (FOUR times)

Moving onto gameplay-related nitpicks: what were they thinking? There’s like 13 chapters before the timeskip in every route, and they are always the same missions regardless of which house you choose. One of them is to kill Ashe’s dad and the other one is to kill Sylvain’s brother, you would think those missions would be exclusive to the blue lions and that other routes would have an equivalent for them: a story that hits home, that gets personal with one of the characters you chose and more importantly that just plays differently across all the routes. Instead the game would have you play the same missions 4 times so that you end up dreading the sight of them, on top of them having no real relation to the characters you’re using in 3/4ths of the routes. If the dlc route has me defend Garreg Mach even one more time, I’ll just go insane. Speaking of that:

V. Dimitri, Claude and Church route all have same maps

If you feel like playing all four routes, it’s gonna feel like you’re just playing the exact same game over and over. The maps you play in are literally all the same. And Edelgard isn’t scot-free either, but at least in her maps you fight from the other perspective of the map you know, you’re at least coming at it from another angle (though she will still have you defend Garreg Mach post-timeskip, completely negating the pleasure of not doing that pre-timeskip). I get it: these maps are huge, and they’re highly detailed because you can zoom in and literally see the battalions and all that, it’s really super neat and takes a lot of time to make so you can’t just have a hundred maps. But I mean by the end of the game (that is, playing all four routes) looking at any of the maps feels so tiring. I feel like I might just never replay any of the routes at least for a very long time because I’ve grown sick of seeing them over and over and over so many times. And dear lord, if I have to play Flayn’s paralogue one more time without fliers I’ll just shoot myself. Speaking of fliers.

VI. Fliers are absurdly broken

Literally what were they thinking. Wyvern Riders have absolutely insane stats and thanks to the dismount feature, they lose nothing by being in that class. The last levels in Claude and Edelgard’s routes are severely favored toward fliers too, both of them featuring tons of damaging terrain that is hard to cross for horses, though at least Nemesis has the decency of having many ballistae set up (probably because Claude himself is a flier so they expect you to have at least one). Also all that damaging terrain screws over horses because they thought horses were broken or something. But really, you’d think mobility is such an important stat that they’d compensate for it elsewhere, but no, all you lose is the opportunity cost of not having more crit as a war master (which female characters don’t have access to anyway) or being able to use magic. And horse units just get screwed over in every conceivable way, you’d expect that they at least get some beefy additional stats over wyvern riders but instead they’re actually weaker since wyverns are faster and speed is such an important stat. Also wyverns have so much defense that even in hard mode arrows (their supposed weakness) will have trouble denting them (or even hitting them thanks to their extremely high avoid).

edit: I also invite you to look at the growth rate modifiers for each class and see that all horse classes provide a negative speed growth rate, which is bad enough without realizing that wyverns are so minmaxed they even provide a cute minus 5 magic as a “balance” while getting boosts to both defense and speed in their final class. Are you kidding me? Horses are basically a player trap, they look cool and they’re half the master classes so they gotta be useful, right? Couldn’t be more wrong. Also what’s the deal with mortal savant providing -10% speed growth, that shit is bananas, how could the Naruto class hamper your speed if Naruto is all about that running, IT’S INSANE.

This is all exacerbated once you go for a low-turn-count playthrough, a fairly popular style of play among fans of the series where as the name indicates you try to beat the levels in as few turns as possible. Suddenly fliers go from clearly the strongest, to necessary. What’s absurd is how fliers are affected by the Stride battalion in the same way all other units are. Stride is a battalion effect that allows a group of units to have higher movement for one turn, your little walking units suddenly being able to walk 12 squares like it’s nothing feels pretty good but this battalion can also boost the movement of fliers and horses which means: why would you waste it on infantry units? It would’ve been so easy, and would’ve made so much sense for stride to only work on walking units, or to at least have reduced effectiveness on mounted units, but they just completely forgot that.

I knew I should’ve gone wyvern, could’ve had way more 1′s

VII. Crests

Oh wow, a neat game feature where each character has a unique skill related to their bloodline, and the story acknowledges their existence by saying they’re so highly valued they decide who’s noble and who isn’t. Surely they came up with really interesting effects for all of them, right? Wrong. “Raise Mt when using skills”, “Raise Mt when using magic”, “Raise Mt when attacking”. This shit is boring. But hey it’s ok right, you can’t expect them to come up with unique interesting skills for each character to have right? Except they did, each character (crest-bearer or not) has a personal skill, and they are all way more interesting than crests. The only non-boring crests are the ones bore by Annete, Mercedes, Hilda and Ferdinand. And Annete doesn’t even learn meteor, so her magic-conservation isn’t even that amazing once she becomes a gremory, though it probably is fairly useful if she becomes a dark knight instead. I will say though, crests are still way better than the personal crit skills from radiant dawn, like Stun and the like which were basically glorified critical hits in some cases or straight up silencers in the case of luna or eclipse (hell, those skills got so bad that the endgame is filled with Nihil wielders, characters who just straight up cancel the activation of enemy skills because the game itself had to patch them out preemptively due to how ridiculous they were, but at least they were impressive and memorable and not just “raise Mt a little bit sometimes” are you kidding me).

VIII. Lost items

Up until now these have all been nitpicks but if anything gets my blood boiling is those dreaded lost items, a gameplay feature that I just straight up gave up on and never looked back. You find a billion lost items throughout the monastery, which is great, an item that shows the personality of the character that lost it, and once you return it to them your affection grows. The problem is that there’s really like a hundred of them, and they’re not hard to find but rather are a pain to give back to their owners, for the screen where you select them doesn’t allow for any kind of sorting options. How hard was it isys?? I press X and the items are ordered alphabetically, was that really so hard? You really expect me to rummage through this endless list until I find the right one from the sea of really small text for ants? THIS IS THE REAL GAMEBREAKER, THIS IS WHERE IT ALL FALLS APART AND I REALIZE THIS GAME IS A TOOL OF THE DEVIL TO WRECK HAVOC INTO THE SOULS OF ALL PLAYERS.

In the end

So yeah, basically it’s a pretty good game, I’d say at least a 9/10 and unironically among my favorite fire emblems. I won’t go into detail about what I like because that’s not the point of the post and really who gives a shit, but it’s really good and I can’t wait for the dlc next year! Also this:

(also please let magic always function like in this game where instead of tomes and staves you have a set number of uses per encounter like it’s dungeons and dragons, that shit ruled)

edit: I did another post about the maddening difficulty, you might like it if you have read this far

#fire emblem #review?#vent post #deep analysis

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cheswirls · 7 years

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usum possibility thoughts

bc i just think its so interesting how the usum games are denoted as alternate stories to the sumo games. if you think about it, technically every pair of games are alternates to each other, but in the sumo games, it really got on another level. it wasnt just the legendary pokemon, but everything surrounding them. the sun/moon motifs, the day/night stuff, all of it.

the thing thats most interesting, though, is the lake of moone/sunne. it’s such an expansive and impressive mapped area, and you can see it has a history. you can see the parts in disarray, but besides that, the parts that look almost damaged, or purposely obstructed. and the pmc cafe guy mentions off the shore that it has a feeling of “something more”, something that could possibly happen

i really feel like the lake will play a big part in the usum games, it just has such an odd aura surrounding it, yknow? and thats another thing. walking through the halls, it reminded me a lot of n’s castle. something cult-y.

and when you think about it, that’s an aspect missing from the games. you have gods from other worlds and altars and statues constructed all around the islands, and the lake of moone/sunne, and all the tapus, and how once, the tapus fought with the island ubs/legendaries. you have an evil “team” already thats devoted to all the scientifical aspects of the region’s lore, how far out would it be to assume there could be a group like plasma, a group who worships these pokemon and actively seeks out praise from them, perhaps doing unsavory things in attempts to please their gods, or even more, to summon them.

team skull was there for the ride, doing their own thing. and aether was only concerned with nihilego, the ub mohn had been studying before he disappeared.

with the ub quest and the faller culture as well, i feel a team in usum with goals driven to summoning the island’s gods wouldn’t be far off, especially if a faller led this team, and wanted to use the legendaries to go back to their own world.

so those are general thoughts. below are just some “alternate” things i think could change to impact the usum storyline, along with just some fun speculation.

one. team skull takes on a more serious approach and actually has a goal. this one could go either way, since their lofty style got a lot of love from the fans and i don’t know if i can see them changing that much.

two. mohn is a valid character, and works with professor burnet and/or is an accredited scientist. i feel this would especially be a possibility if perhaps the aether foundation’s goals changed. mohn could be an active voice of reason on the dangers of ultraspace and the ubs.

three. gladion never takes type:null and is an active member of the aether foundation. hey, if it’s an alternate storyline, things like this could happen and leave an impact.

four. gladion has a type:null, but is also still a member of the aether foundation.

five. multiple characters, such as lillie/guzma/mohn, are fallers

six. there is a predetermined kahuna for poni. this one i feel is especially likely, since it would give more purpose for mina and her future trial. whether the kahuna is hapu or someone else is also up for grabs.

seven. perhaps it is not lusamine who is aether president, but mohn. also, perhaps aether is obsessed w ubs bc mohn is a faller trying to get home.

eight. the player is from sinnoh. this could be a further tie in to all of burnet’s research on sinnoh legends, a further gateway to dimensions, et cetera.

nine. lillie has a different role. now these games aren’t planned as future sequels like bw2, so im not saying that, but lillie could be different. for starters, her initial appearance could be her “z-powered” appearance, and not a stark embodiment of a nihilego.

ten. perhaps, instead of being targeted by aether, lillie and nebby are targeted by team skull/a new team/necrozma. heh? bc we know necrozma plays a bigger part, and is an ub killer.

eleven. perhaps instead of type:null research to contain the ubs, aether focuses research on necrozma, who hunts ubs.

twelve. unlikely, but, guzma could be a trial captain. as well, molayne could still be a trial captain. kahili could be a trial captain.

thirteen. instead of the altercation at the end being on poni at the altar of sunne/moone, the final climax of the plot is at the lake of sunne/moone, or equal parts between.

fourteen. po town is a legit and model town. hey, alternate story, remember? could happen.

fifteen. hau’s father is a valid character and takes on a specific role (faller?)

sixteen. nanu is still an active interpol member.

seventeen. there are trials for the psychic, ice, flying, fairy z crystals. (yes, a fairy trial) (also, no, not a trial for all the crystals, but some more or a switch between)

eighteen. the ship out in konikoni by lana’s house has a use. maybe the lighthouse too

nineteen. wicke is evil. not saying faba is not evil, but wicke is no longer the concerned caregiver in the background.

twenty. theres at least a story behind the rig/building remnant in the ocean on route 14. or it’s an actual place.

twentyone. you get to enter the geothermal power plant. (i mean, they have it all mapped out, so why not??)

twentytwo. different trials. or, at least, a different approach to them. also, not different like different types, but like sophocles’ electrium z trial being a trial instead of a trial and error session.

twentythree. so between heahea and the hano resort theres a bridge right? and the bridge has this HUGE bay mapped off behind it. im hoping we get to enter that in usum.

twentyfour. hapu’s grandfather being a valid character. he doesn’t have to be kahuna, bc i think they did an excellent job w hapu’s gradual involvement in the story that led up to her appointment, but a side character would be nice.

twentyfive. lillie is a faller. the similarities w faller anabel are too high in the sumo games, both washing up on a beach after going through a wormhole. granted, it’s never noted that gladion had another sister in the sumo timeline, but in the usum line, perhaps lillie had an accident and the main lillie is a faller that everyone thinks has recovered. (plus tearjerker ending by finding out and staying in the world where her adventure took place huuuuh??)

twentysix. maybe league challenger ryuki is the bearer of the dragonium z? and hands it out in usum?

twentyseven. the prequel team to team skull that was struck down by the tapus and whose remnants became team skull, you remember that? that team is around in usum. or, that event happens in usum.

twentyeight. more involvement of molayne. we have that the guy’s a former captain, gives you the steel z crystal, and convinces plumeria to challenge the league. but a lot of thats behind the scenes, lets give the guy some more action.

twentynine. another slight unlikely, but, plumeria is an island captain/kahuna(??)

thirty. finally, nanu is still a member of team skull, or a member of a team.

#usum #pokemon usum #ultra sumo #pkmn #analysis

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hey-i-wrote-a-story · 7 years

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Chapter 38 Little To Show

It was already midday by the time Scott’s pack was gathered around his kitchen, leaning over the center island listening to Lydia’s cell phone, set to speaker.

“So where are we?”, Scott asked. The others looked on expectantly. Kira, Stiles, Liam, Lydia, and Malia were all there listening intently.

Mr. Deaton’s voice answered back. “I’m afraid we have very little to show in our research, beyond what we already know. I’m uncovering more information about Orchard Ridge, the Willoughby family, even some news items about the night of the original monster attack. But beyond that…” His voice trailed off, a hint of exasperation in his tone.

“Mom?”, Kira asked. “How about on your end?”

Mrs. Yukimura’s voice came through from her side of the conference call. “It’s not for nothing that the monsters were known as The Unspoken. The vast majority of the lore has been either lost or is under protection by sources I couldn’t even begin to imagine, much less locate. Everything that I have found mostly tells us that the amount we already know about the creature is a miraculous amount.”

“But not miraculous enough to tell us how to stop it”, Stiles observed.

“There is only one thing that both Mrs. Yukimura and I have been able to confirm”, Deaton began. “But it’s the same conclusion we’ve come to before.”

“I thought we were looking for an alternative”, Scott said quickly.

“I’m not sure we’re going to find another way, Scott. Certainly not in the limited time that we have. ”

“What are you guys talking about?”, Liam asked

Deaton paused for a moment, then answered, “There is one way we have found to send it back.”

“Good!”, Liam said, excited. “Let’s do it! What do we need? How do we—“

He didn’t make it any further before Mrs. Yukimura said, “It would require a sacrifice.”

The room went silent as the pack’s members stared at one another. This was not what they wanted to hear. Stiles finally broke the silence. “I don’t suppose you’ve learned we can go the route of toads or mice or a really big fruit basket.”

Mrs. Yukimura’s voice was flat and humorless. “No.”

Something occurred to Deaton. “The other three kids. Are they with you?”

“No”, Lydia said.

“I sent them outside to play”, Stiles said, glancing into the back yard to see the three of them seated around the base of a tree, apparently caught up in conversation.

Lydia added, “We didn’t know what you were going to find, so we thought it best that we knew first.”

“A wise decision”, Mrs. Yukimura said.

In the back yard, their backs to the house, Kaitlyn, Aadesh, and Freddie sat transfixed on a small purple gem that Kaitlyn held suspended from a thin gold chain. Inside the gem, tiny crystalline particles were slowly evaporating. The gem glowed softly as every word spoken in the kitchen echoed through the gem for the trio of friends to hear.

Her voice tinny and slightly distant, Mrs. Yukimura’s voice echoed through the gem, “A wise decision.”

“Yeah”, Freddie said. “Wouldn’t want us doing anything stupid.”

“Like summoning a killer monster from another dimension”, Aadesh griped, absently plucking blades of grass from the ground.

Kaitlyn shushed them both. It was hard enough to make out what was being said without having to restrain their remarks. The voices continued coming through the gem, its interior crystals rapidly running out.

“There’s more”, Deaton said.

Stiles rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Of course there is.”

“The level of sacrifice necessary to return a creature this powerful back where it came from would require something…more than human.”

There was a heavy pause the hung in the air as they processed that statement. Scott said, “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“What?”, Liam asked. “What is he saying?”

Mrs. Yukimura explained. “The sacrifice needs to be someone supernatural.”

Another pause. The three friends in the back yard looked at each other to verify they had heard that right. Judging from the look in their eyes, they had.

Back in the kitchen, Stiles said, “So that could mean someone like a wendigo, or a druid.”

“Or a banshee”, Lydia said.

“Or kitsune”, Kira said.

“Or a werewolf”, Scott said, completing what they were already thinking. In order to save everyone whom the monster could hurt, would the sacrifice have to be one of them?

“The range is wider than that”, Mrs. Yukimura continued, “for what this is worth. In term of a supernatural sacrifice, that could also include anyone who has been touched by the supernatural in some way. Their connection would have to be significant, not just a passing encounter, but—“

“That could mean any of us”, Stiles said, including himself in his statement.

“Or anyone like us”, Liam interjected.

“No”, Scott said firmly. “I’m not going to accept that somebody else has to die in order to stop this thing. There’s got to be another way.”

“I’m sorry”, Mrs. Yukimura said. “But there is no other way.”

As she spoke, Deaton’s eyes drifted to the book nearby on his desk. The monster guide book that Scott had lent him. The pages were still open to the illustration he had been studying earlier. A thought occurred to him. “About that…”

“Yeah?”, Scott said. He could tell from his boss’s voice that the wheels were turning in his head.

In the backyard, Kaitlyn’s gem burned out. Its interior crystals burned up, it was now a lovely hollow piece of costume jewelry, but of no use magically.

“Damn it”, She muttered.

“What do you think he was gonna say?”, Freddie pondered aloud.

“Do you think whatever it was would make an difference?”, Aadesh asked.

Back inside, Scott pressed Deaton. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that I need to be sure about something before I say anything else. Stay vigilant and watch out for each other. I’ll contact you as soon as I know more.” With that, he hung up.

The mood in the kitchen went from doubtful to dismal. Their options, currently being only one, were less than appealing. Mrs. Yukimura spoke again, catching a few of the pack off guard. They had almost forgotten she was still on the line.

“Dr. Deaton and I believe that it would be a good idea to return to the farm for one last search. You are looking for alternative solutions. You may find something there.”

“Scott and I already checked”, Stiles said. “We didn’t find anything very helpful.”

“But you didn’t have me”, Lydia said.

“Our thoughts exactly”, Mrs. Yukimura agreed. “If any of us could pick up on something lingering there—“

“—it would most likely be a banshee”, Lydia said, completing her thought.

“I’ll go with you”, Malia offered.

“Just be careful”, Mrs. Yukimura urged. “And take heart, It’s not over yet.”

As the two girls moved to leave, Scott stepped closer to them. “We’re going to find another way”, Scott said, trying to reassure his friends. “We will.” Malia and Lydia nodded, then left. Those left behind found it difficult to agree with Scott’s statement, so they said nothing.

In the back yard, the three friends sat in silence. After the quiet became too difficult to bear, Aadesh spoke up. “Maybe we should just let them do whatever it is they’re going to do. They always come up with a cool plan, don’t they?”

“You gotta admit, they do”, Freddie agreed, thinking back on the stories of his heroes’ adventures. “Like slipping the mountain ash into those pills, or the time they—“

“How’s everyone been sleeping lately?”, Kaitlyn interrupted.

The boys looked at each other and their eyes conveyed that which they had chosen not to mention. They both looked at Kaitlyn to find that her expression matched theirs.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Me too.”

Aadesh bowed his head and ran his fingers through his hair. “When things get really bad, it always comes out in our dreams.”

“It’s been that way for all of us”, Freddie remarked. “Ever since—“

“Ever since I started accessing my visions”, Kaitlyn said, nodding. She looked to her two remaining friends, locking her eyes on both of them. “It’s time to make some hard choices.”

The two boys didn’t contradict her, but they didn’t jump in to agree with her, either.

Stiles strode through the door of his house trying to stay focused and trying to stay as positive as Scott. The former was not that much of a challenge, as fear and desperation often honed Stiles’ focus. That latter? Yeah, that wasn’t happening. He figured he’d grab some food on the run and then get back to the business of brainstorming a way out of this impossible situation. I never thought I’d miss the days of obsessive homicidal grandfathers and psychotic alpha packs, Stiles mused to himself. It’s kind of hard to anticipate the thoughts of something that doesn’t exactly think.

Stiles stopped midway across the room when a strong aroma struck him. Someone had been cooking. And it smelled really good. Stiles quickly made his way to the kitchen, where he found his father setting out food onto the unusually clean table.

“Um…Dad? What’s going on?”

“What’s going on is dinner. And your timing is perfect, which is rarely the case. Plates and silverware are there on the end. Set the table for three.”

Stiles was already responding to his dad’s request before he even considered what he was doing. “Shouldn’t you be out monster hunting instead of playing Suzy Homemaker all of a sudden?”

“We’ve got every man on this and there hasn’t been a peep about your flying whatsits in hours. I have no idea when we’re going to have the chance to eat again once disaster strikes—which it always does—so why not enjoy the fleeting moment of quiet while we have it?”

Stiles found it difficult to argue with his father’s logic. “That actually makes pretty good sense.” He looked at the third plate even as he set it down, arranging the fork and knife on either side of it. “Who else is eating?”

“Oh, Malia’s around here somewhere. She might be upstairs. I tend to just expect her now. It makes her unannounced appearances less jarring.”

“I think she said she was going to grab a coat she’d left here before taking off with Lydia.” Stiles looked at the plate of steaming, well-cooked, and deliciously seasoned individual steaks at the center of the table. He sniffed. It smelled fantastic, but he still couldn’t place it. “That…looks suspiciously juicy and well-marbled, as well as having most likely been up and walking around at some point in the recent past. I thought we were eating healthy now. What is--?”

The sheriff cut off his son’s question by setting a large spinach salad to the left of the steaks, and a dish of steamed broccoli and asparagus on the right. “We have plenty of greens, don’t worry. Call your girlfriend and let’s eat before something out there blows up or rises from the dead.”

“Sure. But what kind of steaks are--?”

Malia was at the foot of the stairs about to stride past the kitchen before either Stilinski knew she was there. “I’m meeting Lydia in a little bit. We should be—“ Malia stopped, her face was lit up with joy, her smile a mile wide.

“Deer!”

Stiles felt his eyes bulge. “I’m sorry, what?”

Malia was in her seat in a second. “Oh, this is fantastic! Thank-you!”

The sheriff smiled at his son. “Venison. I was getting a little tired of pizza.”

Stiles smiled back and took his seat beside his girl. As breaks in the chaos went, this was most definitely a good one. And if this did end up being their last meal, Stiles would be hard-pressed to think of a better one. The sheriff passed the steaks around, Malia snatching the first one eagerly. As Stiles began to lift one of the succulent steaks onto his plate, Malia was already munching down hers with gusto.

“Mmmm! SO good! I’ve never had one cooked before. This is great!”

Father and son shared a look that signified a sudden decrease in appetite. Stiles set the plate down and slowly pushed it away.

“Maybe I’ll start with the salad”, He said.

“Me too”, his father agreed.

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