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mimzalot · 1 year

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

CURRENTLY PLAYING: Chapter 4

[document version]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

and on the topic of fascinating foils...

man. I was not expecting Shez.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

thanks for reading, all the best!

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#golden wildfire #three hopes #fire emblem warriors: three hopes #claude von riegan #mimzameta #mimzamine

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kimium · 3 years

Note

Top five Favourite Fire Emblem Three Houses Characters :)

(From this ask HERE.)

Thank you for the ask, friend!!!!

This was really challenging to answer so I made some rules and guidelines for myself. First, I didn’t include church characters or any noteworthy non-playable characters. Next, I also did not include any Ashen Wolves and kept it strictly to the students in the three main houses. I also didn’t include Byleth.

With that out of the way, let’s begin, starting with five. Rest is under the cut because it got long.

5. Bernadetta

I love Bernie mostly because of how she was written. Introverted characters are not uncommon in media but I find Bernadetta is written in a very three-dimensional way. Normally, I find introveted characters are defined only by their shyness. That’s it. Bernadetta is shy, yes, but she also has the tendency to over-think what others think of her and assume the worst. Most of the time it’s played for laughs (like in her support with Felix) but she also genuinely wants to befriend some people/ help them out (like in her support with Leonie). I like this because it’s a better representation (in my mind) of introverted characters. Bernadetta likes her own space, being alone, but this doesn’t mean she doesn’t want friends or doesn’t want to help out others.

(Also Winter Bernadetta’s tome animation in Fire Emblem Heroes is Hilarious and Top Tier. I love seeing it when I use her on a team.)

4. Marianne

Marianne is my number four because I love her character development. It’s one of my favourite ones in the entire game. I love how before time skip she’s convinced that she brings bad luck to others, that she’s a burden to them and to the world but how after time skip she’s far more comfortable with herself. Sadness, depression, feeling like a burden to others are emotions I think everyone faces to some degree or the other. What I love about Marianne’s development is how she changed and became a more positive, confident person.

On a superficial note I love her pre-time skip hair design. It’s all done up in braids and I, someone who has long hair, LOVES braids and wishes I too could have my hair done up in as elaborate of a style as Marianne.

3. Dimitri

This spot was a tough one to fill but overall I pick Dimitri for it. I formed an opinion on Dimitri solely through his development through Azure Moon route. In his route he’s a fascinating look at how survivor’s guilt, depression, PTSD, anger, confusion, etc. can affect someone and how one can slowly heal with the support and love of the people around them. Dimitri ultimately in the end of his route hasn’t entirely conquered his demons but rather has found the support he needs as he continues to heal from years of bottling up his emotions.

I also ended up liking Dimitri based on his supports with the others, particularly with Dedue. I admit, loyalty is a theme with characters I always enjoy but I liked how Dimitri was firm in telling Dedue that he doesn’t want him to live ONLY for his sake. He has always viewed Dedue as his own person who can make his own choices and never once tried to order Dedue around. I think that says a lot about Dimitri as a character and that is another aspect of him I really like.

2. Felix

I debated over this spot but in the end I chose Felix. Beyond the fact that Felix in game is a great unit and has a top tier design I like Felix because of how he counters the themes found in the Blue Lions’ route. One post I read a long time ago as a joke summed up the Azure Moon route as “King Arthur with some Game of Thrones elements”.

While that’s funny it’s also surprisingly accurate. Faerghus is a land that honours Tradition and Loyalty to the Crown. Serving the King is an unparalleled Honour and in service to the King you’re expected to give your entire life to them. We see many characters in the Blue Lions’ route display this way of thinking but none is more prominent to Felix’s life as his father, Rodrigue. Rodrigue takes his duty as the Shield to the Crown very seriously and with pride and honour.

Felix is everything his father isn’t and I find that parallel fascinating. He finds no honour in dying for someone else’s sake (Felix’s lines after Rodrigue’s death in the AM route, how if he should just throw himself on a sword for Dimitri’s sake Haunts Me) and doesn’t believe in blind loyalty to the Crown. It’s also why Felix is one of the few characters to call Dimitri out on his bottling of emotions (and BS). Not in a nice way, yes, but who else is calling Dimitri out? Who else is seeing the ugliness that Dimitri is trying to hide and recongises it as Terrifying and Unhealthy?

I also like Felix due to his relationship with Sylvain. I have a lot of thoughts on that but this is getting long so just chalk it up right now to “My Weakness for Childhood Best Friends Turning Lovers”.

Before I get to number one I want to give a shout out to an honourable mention.

Honourable Mention: Yuri

I can’t even begin to tell you all how much I love Yuri. He’s Exactly my kind of character. Cunning, but also cares for his loved ones. A manipulator not just because “that’s the way of the world” but also to protect those he holds dear. A Gorgeous Man who flirts which is like my entire Jam of a character. And also, he’s bisexual and I’m bisexual so I enjoy the representation. (Which speaking of I do like the bisexual characters in 3H a lot.)

1. Claude

I will admit a part of me loving Claude is how his English VA, Joe Zieja has interacted with the community and been so lovely. (Big shout out to the collab with FamilyJules where he sung God Shattering Star.)

However, beyond that, Claude is a character that grew on me as I played his route. I ended up loving his calculated nature and how his tricks and smiles are deflecting what he feels/is thinking/plotting. Yet, despite all of that he’s a positive person. Claude truly wants to make Fodlan a better place and break down the barriers between people. His goal is admirable and relatable. I also love how he too grows to love the people around him. In a way Claude at first is a person who is lonely despite being surrounded by people but that changes in his route. At first Claude was the stranger in a foreign land but thanks to his interactions with his class (and Byleth if you play his route) Claude is not alone anymore. His final lines in his route, when you take down Nemesis are actually my favourite lines in the ENTIRE game and I think sum him up as a character (and his route) perfectly.

On another side note I do like Claude because he’s an archer and I am a sucker for archers as a weapon user on whole. I also love that his name isn’t Actually his name since Fake Names are a trope I LIVE for. Finally, he also has the whole “secret identity” thing going on and coupled with the Fake Name and I’m just rolling in my favourite tropes here.

#personal #replies #ask meme #feel free to ask me more!!#fire emblem three houses

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gothamcityneedsme · 3 years

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I saw this bouncing around my dash and decided to fill it out myself for fun :) I decided to not double-list any games, and I tried to mix up the companies I used too so that the list would be more unique.

Long post, so I’m doing a readmore for my longwinded part lol.

(read more)

Favorite Game: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords - I could talk about this game forever. How it tears apart the Star Wars universe from within, how it creates a compelling story while challenging the usual themes, etc. I could talk for ages about the characters and how their motivations slot in place, and how this game lends itself to interpretation and analysis alongside roleplay. It’s just a wonderful game, one I deeply love and will always love. It’s a game that isn’t afraid to have you talk to other characters for twenty or thirty minutes at a time and honestly I’m always riveted at every line. This game deserves the cult fanbase it has, but I think there’s a lot the fanbase misses in appreciating this game. (Note...gameplay is a little janky and a community made mod restores a lot content that was cut before shipping-the game wasn’t properly finished).

Best Story: Fallout New Vegas - It’s the setting that makes the story here, and all the moving pieces and factions alongside the main conflict really make this game stand out. There’s so many little pieces to find along the way in the world and the way the main quest splits based on who you want in power feels important--and you are choosing a future for this whole region.

Favorite Art Style: The Witness - This game is peacefully wonderful with its visuals. There are wonderful nature scenes and nests of wires and panels spreading in various parts of the island that are fascinating to look at. The environment is half of the gameplay in most areas, so it’s important to look around even though exploration is not really the gameplay. You find puzzles in the world, even in nature, and it’s fascinating. The colors are bright and beautiful. There is even a map in the middle of the island inside of a lake that helps you track your progress if you notice it (it isn’t like a normal ‘map’).

Favorite Soundtrack: Shin Megami Tensei IV - I love video game soundtracks, but SMTIV is something special. The music booms in ways that make you really understand the atmosphere of the world, and there’s a great mix of different kinds of tracks for different places. I love the tracks for the other worlds you enter, and the themes of the different routes are done so well. Some of the music draws from past SMT games, but the remixes done for this game really are stunning to me, and there’s so many fantastic original tracks.

Hardest Game: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream - I love this game but I literally never touch it without a walkthrough, which is why it gets to be the hardest game on the list, despite being a point and click adventure game lol. Also just emotionally this game is challenging too, but I definitely mean this more in terms of getting a ‘perfect run’.

Funniest Game: The Stanley Parable - Trying to make this list has taught me that I don’t really play many ‘funny games’. I don’t know if a game where multiple endings demand that you kill yourself should count as a ‘funniest game’, but it is also a game where the narrator tells you to stare at a fern and memorize its features, so....it counts.

Game I Like that is Hated: RWBY Grimm Eclipse - I’ve been playing this game since it was in early access and have loved it the whole time. I find the gameplay soothing and fun, and I like playing the different characters. It’s a game I play to chill out and just enjoy some fun battle mechanics. It’s a fun game and I’ve spent over 100 hours in it, so I hope I like it, lol.

Game I Hate that is Liked: Nier Automata - Neither this game’s gameplay or story impress me, and the fact that you have to replay basically the same stuff from a more boring-to-play-character’s pov in order to SEE all of the plot is a huge damper on the experience. The story, to me, someone who engages with a lot of robot-focused fiction, is far from impressive or new, and it hardly engages with genre specifics at all, let alone in a new or interesting way. I view this game as ‘a story with robots in it’ rather than ‘a story about robots’, which, to me, is a detriment.

Underrated: Nevermind - This game is amazing and very unheard of--and when it is heard of, it has been marketed incorrectly. Nevermind seems like a horror game, and does market itself as one a bit, but it’s much more than that. It’s more about trauma, recovery, therapy, etc. This is a game that is so mindful about the topics it engages in that I am impressed by it every time. It’s heavy with symbolism and character, despite lacking conversations or other similar game mechanics. This is a lovely game that I really wish more people knew about-`p5-all of the patients are so interesting, and the focus on recovery and mental health is impressive.

Overrated: Fire Emblem - I sort of mean this as the series as a whole really. I have enjoyed the entries I have played somewhat, but I overall consider the series much less impressive than I was led to believe by others. The gameplay especially is not impressive to me in any regard, even though I sometimes do find myself enjoying it. The stories are alright, but many of them are weighed down by the gameplay and as a writer and person who likes to analyze writing, it’s very hard to do so when it isn’t able to fully exist under the chains the gameplay forces on it. There are ways to mix gameplay and story well, Fire Emblem has not really done that in any of the entries I’ve played. That being said, I don’t regret playing them, and I will occasionally replay, but I consider them mediocre games at best.

Best Voice Acting: Devil Survivor 2 - I love the voice acting in this game. I feel like all the characters are really suited to their voices, and it’s really easy for me to visualize their voices. They really bring the game to life and make both the dramatic and the funny scenes more enjoyable.

Worst Voice Acting: Jedi Knight Jedi Academy - I love this game, I really do, but some of the voice acting is janky. Some of it is okay too--I think Kyle Katarn’s voice actor does fine, and some of the others I like NOW but hated when I was a kid, but the male protagonist voice in this game is just awful. Which is bad when Jennifer Hale is the female voice actress lol. His performance is passable though unless you’re playing darksided--the darksided ending to the game lacks all punch when you’re playing the male protagonist.

Favorite Male: Battler Ushiromiya from Umineko no Naku Koro Ni - He’s the protagonist for most of the visual novels and I adore him utterly, especially once you move past episode 2. He’s a wonderful character who I care about deeply. I love his drive and how he fights--he’s someone who is easy to cheer for. He matures well throughout the series and his character development is just wonderful.

Favorite Female: Naoto Shirogane from Persona 4 - I really like how Naoto fits so well in the game, especially for being a final recruit--oftentimes the final recruit of Persona games (post 3) have a bit of a more difficult time feeling right with the group. Naoto works really well though, and I love her struggles and story as well. I think the difficulties she has concerning living as a woman in her field hit very deep to a problem that has existed for a very long time.

Favorite Protagonist: Connor of Daventry from King’s Quest 8 Mask of Eternity - I’m like, one of four fans of this character in the world, lol. KQ8 is not a very well liked game and it does have a lot of issues, both with age and with how much of a departure it is from the series prior to it. It’s strange to take a puzzle adventure game and make it a hybrid with what basically is a shooter, and it doesn’t really work. Add to that the fact that you spend most of your time in the game without anyone around to talk to and it leads to this really polarizing and weird experience. For me, Conner goes through what I would consider to be the ‘Ultimate Nightmare Scenario”. Everyone in the world is turned to stone except him (and he survived out of mere chance) and so now it’s up to him, practically alone, to save the entire world. There is no game lonelier than this. I adore him for his bravery in the face of it, and how he just picks up to do what must be done because someone should do it, and if no one else can, then he will. I also really love how he apologizes to people who are encased in stone while he takes money from their houses to help him on his journey. I really do think he went back after the game was over and gave everyone heaps of gold to pay them back with interest lol.

Favorite Village: Oakvale from Fable - The first Fable is the only one I really like, and it was one of the games I played when I was little, so the hometown in the game always meant a lot to me. I like how you grow up there and how your tragic backstory is there--and then how you get to return to the town years later after you’ve come into your own, and you can see it completely rebuilt. I like to spend a lot of my time in this town, just wandering around it and playing the minigames. Even though I have a house in every town, Oakvale is where my hero calls home.

Most Hated Character: Merril from Dragon Age 2 - I don’t really want to lay into how I feel about Merril, but what I will say is that it was suggested to me that I totally ignore her when playing, and I did so. I only met her for her quest, dropped her off in town, and literally never spoke to her or interacted for the rest of the game. I had a much better experience for it, honestly. She appeared after I made my choice in the end of the game, which felt weird since I hadn’t spoken to her in several ingame years, but other than that, the game was totally fine without her. I sort of just wish you could kill characters in DA2 the way you can in DAO, then I’d just do that, tbh. It doesn’t suit very many (or any) of the characters I rp in DA2 to keep her around or support her in any way.

First Game I Played: Mixed up Mother Goose Deluxe - I’m not actually sure if this is the FIRST game I’ve ever played or not, but it’s one of the first I played alone as a kid. I really loved it--this is probably what created my love for point and click adventures, and the game was very silly and fun.

Favorite Company: Bioware - I’ve always been a sucker for Bioware games, ever since Knights of the Old Republic 1 was my favorite childhood game. I love how they do stories and party members, and while I’m not a fan of all of their games, I really love what they’ve made and their style of storytelling and character driven plot. Even though sometimes their stories get cliche, I think the suit video games well and most of my early gaming was within their games.

Hated Company: EA - Bioware truly only started to go to shit after the EA acquisition, so I fucking hate EA. I know Bioware had issues before EA too, but I definitely don’t think EA has helped the situation whatsoever.

Depressing Game: The Beginner’s Guide - I relate to this game as a creator and a writer, and it affects me deeply because of the story it tells and the questions it raises. It makes me reflect on how I think of myself as a creator, and it reminds me of friendships I used to have.

Creepy Game: The Path - God, I love this game. It’s just aimlessly wandering around and finding symbolic scenery and watching your current character comment on it. Then, you go off to find your girl’s wolf, and each one is different and unique to her, and you watch it ‘kill’ her--and facing her wolf is the only way each girl can truly mature. Whenever you get to grandmother’s house, the camera switches to first person, and your eyes keep closing, so you can only see while clicking to move. It forces you to keep moving so that you can see, but since you are moving, you only get to see things somewhat vaguely. It’s got a great atmosphere, and I love the symbolic storytelling.

Happy Game: Eastshade - This game is so sweet. There’s some drama around to with many of the quests, but I like this as an rpg without combat, and I think this would be a really good kids game. There’s a lot to see and explore, and the game was made to be really pretty so that you want to paint several aspects of it. It’s really lovely to just wander around in this game and bike around the area, painting anything that suits your fancy. As long as you don’t finish the main quest, you’re free to wander, and materials do respawn, so you essentially can infinitely paint once you get far enough.

Favorite Ending: Virtue’s Last Reward - I love the questions this game asks and where the ending goes. It thematically ties together--the whole reason the game itself exists is to get the attention of a ‘higher being’--the player, essentially. I love how it plays with that concept, and even though the final game in the series doesn’t entirely pick this idea up where this game left it, standalone this game is stunning in how it comes together.

#shitpost #long post #this was fun to do #i made it so every answer was a different video game and i tried to mix up my companies as well #got 3 atlus games on here but mer #2 obsidon #llol #2 sierra too haha but still #beginner's guide and tsp were made by the same guy too but #STILL I LIMITED MYSELF OK #these answers aren't absolute because i was trying to have a good diverse list lol

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fostersffff · 5 years

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Complete Black Eagle (read: Edelgard and Rhea) Thoughts

Now that I’ve finally finished both Silver Snow and Crimson Flower, I feel like I can put all of these thoughts out without worrying about a last minute twist. It’s entirely possible based on how much I’ve seen people talk about route differences that once I play Golden Deer and Blue Lions I’ll have changed my opinions, but barring some really wild and extreme stuff, I can’t imagine changing all that much. A ton of text under the break:

Edelgard

There was a Korean poll that was published recently where Edelgard was voted the #1 most disliked character in Three Houses... and also the #2 most liked character in Three Houses (behind Lysithea). It’s not a surprising result to see considering that she is the inciting antagonist, and that you don’t really understand why she does any of it unless you happened to start with the Black Eagles, but even then, IntSys felt it necessary to split Black Eagles into two routes, just in case you still didn’t want to side with her. But that’s what I think I found to be the most compelling thing about Edelgard: that she is a decidedly morally gray character, and how you feel about her comes down to looking at all of the things she does and asking “is this worth it?”

Part of what makes her so compelling to me is that no one understands her role better than Edelgard herself. She has no delusions about what she’s doing, and she never even makes an attempt to sugarcoat it to anyone around her. I made a post back when I first started the game about how I thought it was weird that her first support with Byleth ends with her talking about how she’s prepared to go down in the history books as History’s Greatest Monster without any context, but as the blanks fill in and time passes, it’s clear that she’s completely and utterly true to her word. "The ends justify the means” is the best description of her philosophy, but unlike a lot of characters (and people) who use that to justify their actions, she doesn’t take any solace in it, or use it as a way to offset the responsibility for all of the lives lost in the war. The end may justify the means, but it doesn’t make the means any less horrific, and even if the end result is a better world, it’s a small comfort to the countless people who died for it.

I think something crucial to sympathizing with Edelgard is that as far as she is concerned, she didn’t “initiate” hostilities with the church. When she kills Dimitri in the Crimson Flower route, she says “if only we were born in a time of peace, you might have enjoyed a joyful life as a benevolent ruler”, which sounds comically hypocritical in isolation coming from the person who declared war in the first place. But it’s because as far as she’s concerned, the systemic oppression resulting from the Church of Seiros’s influence on every Fodlan society means that true peace simply hasn’t existed since long before any of them were ever born. To Edelgard, there’s been a cold war between the Church of Seiros and humanity for a thousand years, and she took it upon herself to finally make it hot.

“Cold war” might sound exaggerated, but there’s something to that idea going on the evidence we’re presented with. At best, the church is ignorant to and/or idle on the suffering of the common folk and the corruption of the nobility all across the continent that exists because they grants noble status and political power to families that happen to have Crests. At worst, the church is intentionally passive about those problems because preserving the status quo and their absolute control is more important, and to act in any way to try to fix those problems directly could threaten their status as the center of power in Fodlan. Speaking of their control: isn’t it odd that the Church of Seiros was involved in each war for independence, maintaining their foothold in the old nation while also branching out and ensuring they were the dominant religion in the new ones? That the only time the church acts on their own (outside of an immediate threat like bandits) is when they are made aware of heresies, however mild, at which point they act decisively and without any shred of mercy, sending a sign to anyone who would dare try to cross the church? That, with the exception of Seteth and Flayn, the most devout members of the Knights of Seiros and the church have a fanatical devotion to Rhea specifically, and not Sothis or the doctrine of the church? The most insidious thing is that even if someone with the power to pose a threat to the church wanted to fight against them, the only people who could realistically muster up enough military might to challenge the Knights of Seiros would be nobles, and the fall of the church would also mean there would be nobody to legitimize their claims to nobility. Nobody would be willing to risk their noble status, and all of the perks that come with it, like that.

Except Edelgard.

This is actually what I like most about Edelgard, and why I was right to compare her to my favorite Fire Emblem villain: Zephiel. Zephiel’s goal in Fire Emblem 6 is the complete eradication of humanity and giving the world over to dragonkind, because he believes that humanity is a blight. He never says “I will lead this new world of dragons” or “My followers and I will live on to see the world of dragons”, which always led me to believe that he would eventually turn his sword on himself*. Edelgard, like Zephiel, does not intend to just conquer Fodlan and then just enjoy the spoils- once all of her affairs are in order (dismantling the church and nobility, re-establishing the church and turning nobility into a meritocracy, eradicating the Tunnel Snakes**) she finds a suitable successor (read: not her child) and then retires into the sunset (at least in the ending where she marries Byleth). And, if you don’t like Edelgard- or even if you do- this happy ending might rub you the wrong way, because even though her resolve was unshaken and she walks her path to the very end, it was still an incredibly violent path. This leads to another question that I’m sure people can argue forever: does Edelgard deserve to have a happy ending?

I’ve seen Edelgard described with a lot of terms that I don’t really think apply to her- like, at all- but I’d never seriously argue that she did nothing wrong. She is a dictator, and a warmonger, and regardless of which route you chose a tragic amount of life is lost as a direct result of her actions. Her alliance with the Tunnel Snakes is an entire can of worms of its own, because despite the fact that she has no control over what they choose to do on their own time, she is effectively still condoning their actions by relying on their power. The worst of it, as far as I’m concerned, is lying to her own people about who caused the destruction of Arianrhod and the loss of life there to prevent an internal conflict. I think with all that in mind, there are a lot of people who are locked into the conclusion that no, she doesn’t deserve to have a happy ending.

But! To create the world she envisioned, one where Rhea was no longer manipulating the world from behind the scenes, a world that would improve the quality of life for everyone in future generations, she was never going to have a choice in how she did things. Think of how openly and casually Rhea talks about how enemies of the church must be eliminated, without any room for discussion. Would a diplomatic call for the Church of Seiros to disavow the current system of nobility based on the possession of crests and for Rhea to step down as archbishop be met with anything other than hostility not only from the church, but from the Kingdom and Alliance as well? Even something as simple as publicly renouncing her own faith to try to motivate a cultural change just within the empire would’ve probably had Rhea dispatching Catherine to cut her down for heresy, just like she did for Lord Lonato. And the final, most passive alternative- returning to the empire after graduating from the academy, ascending her father to become the next puppet of the cabinet, hoping that she eventually bears a child with a major Crest or else watch her own children undergo the same torture she and her family went through. That’s just completely unacceptable, especially when that kind of self-sacrifice is only to the benefit of the nobles and the preservation of a rotten status quo that also only benefits those same nobles- and Rhea, of course. No matter what, she was going to have to sacrifice, and while what she chose would involve the most bloodshed, it also had the best chance of making things better for the greatest number of people when all was said and done, so her getting to have at least one ending where she is completely successful and is rewarded on a personal level doesn’t strike me as inappropriate at all.

A lot of what I’ve talked about with Edelgard has to do with the church, which is inescapable considering every single action she takes is motivated by the church. So ultimately, one of the most important questions to consider when asking “is all of this worth it” is “is Rhea really that bad?” Well...

Rhea

This bitch is fucking insane holy shit.

It’s kind of a nice feeling to feel suspicious of a character from their introduction, only for things to actually be way worse than you could’ve ever expected. For what it’s worth, this isn’t a case of me hating the character on a writing level, it’s just that I find everything about her character to be loathsome even under the best possible circumstances.

What makes Rhea so despicable is how simple and selfish her entire motivation is. Every single action she takes and emotion she expresses can all be traced to an obsession with her mother. It’s not that she believes she needs Sothis’s guidance to deal with a problem that neither she nor the whole of humanity can’t deal with on their own, or that the world will only be at peace if Sothis is around to protect it, it is literally just for her own sake. And on its face, I can deeply sympathize with going to crazy lengths to want to see your mother after she was tragically taken away from you. I also love my mom! But there’s a bunch of lines- both explicitly stated and implied- Rhea sprints past at an Olympic pace that I (and hopefully most other people) would not cross. These include:

Having twelve children*** and trying to turn all of them into your mother.

Having a grandchild and trying to turn them into your mother.

Maintaining direct control and influence over multiple sovereign nations over a span of a thousand years so you can continue to try to bring back your mother without anyone bothering you.

Keeping your closest friends/relatives/allies out of the loop on all of your completely unethical experimentation because deep down inside you either know how fucked up it is, or that they would try to stop you.

Ordering your subordinates to burn down the city full of innocent bystanders you are currently occupying to try to kill the grandchild who you put your mother into.

The one that disturbs me the most is what’s implied by the ending of Crimson Flower. In Silver Snow, Rhea tells Byleth that they were stillborn, and that their mother begged Rhea to put the Crest Stone into Byleth to give them a chance to live. But at the end of Crimson Flower, Rhea’s death causes the Crest Stone on Byleth’s heart to fade away, which should result in their death. But after a few moments, their heart starts up normally and they go on living as normal. They lose Sothis’s power in the process, but they’re just as healthy as they were before they obtained it. This leads me to believe that Byleth may have actually been born healthy and that, after their mother had passed from complications due to childbirth, Rhea placed the Crest Stone on their heart anyway. Or- it’s even possible that Rhea killed the mother herself, removing her Crest Stone heart after sensing that Byleth might be a better vessel because of their parentage. After all, Rhea is the only person who truly knew what happened in there. Jeralt had no idea about the exact nature of Byleth’s heart, only that they had no heartbeat, and Seteth and Flayn didn’t know about anything at all. Obviously, that’s all just speculation, as far as I’m concerned something like this is totally in line with Rhea’s character.

Now, to revisit the question of “is Rhea really that bad”, Edelgard doesn’t know about any of Rhea’s personal fucked up shit. What she knows about is what the church has done and what has happened under their watch and thus with their implicit blessing, that Rhea is actually The Immaculate One, and that she has been the sole driving power of the Church of Seiros since the church was initially founded. On a personal level, her own life and the lives of all of her family members were destroyed by the Church of Seiros’s influence on society via crests. And it should be noted that Edelgard’s not stupid; she’s very likely aware that the Tunnel Snakes are the ones who performed the blood reconstruction on her and her siblings at the behest and/or with the consent of the Empire’s cabinet and Lord Arundel, and she even addresses how awful they are and that she really wants no part of them when she approaches Jeralt and Byleth as the Flame Emperor. But, back when I first suspected that Edelgard was the Flame Emperor, I made a joke about how she has to deal with the fact that the Tunnel Snakes are dabbing on a mountain of corpses while Rhea is cripwalking on an even bigger mountain of corpses. But that wasn’t accurate- it’s not just that Rhea’s mountain is bigger, it’s also composed of people who are still alive, but suffered because of the Church of Seiros: Dorothea’s childhood spent as a wretch because she was born a commoner, the abuse Bernadetta endured from her father to make her noble wife material, Caspar and Sylvain’s brother being shunned from their families for the crime of being born without a Crest, Lysithea suffering the exact same procedure as Edelgard to increase her family’s noble standing, Hanneman’s sister dying from trying to bear a child with a Crest, to say nothing of the characters I haven’t seen the stories of yet. In the grand scheme of the game’s universe, this is only a sample of about 30 characters: what about the potential hundreds of thousands of other lives with stories similar to- or possibly worse than- the main cast? And what’s more, Rhea is not gloating about how big her pile is. She’s so utterly preoccupied with her mother that doesn’t even notice the mountain beneath her, and that might actually be worse.

Both

Finally, I want to briefly touch on the way both characters interact with Byleth, and how they handle things when they’re made into the villain. No matter what route the player chooses, Byleth does something for Edelgard that she has never experienced before: unconditional protection. She was prepared to fight the bandit, and she saw him coming from a mile away so I imagine she could’ve handled it, but Byleth still jumps in front of her to protect her. This is why Edelgard puts so much stock into Byleth, much to the chagrin of Hubert. It’s not that she doesn’t trust that Hubert and the rest of the Black Eagles are capable of helping her, but to them, she is Edelgard von Hresvelg, heir apparent of the Adrestian Empire. Even if their friendships with her would suggest otherwise, there is an ocean of difference between them because of their stations. But to Byleth, she was “simply Edelgard”. She has never experienced that kind of interaction in her entire life, and especially not when there was danger involved. This is so ingrained in her that even in the route where you most directly oppose her, after having spent a full year getting to know and understand her and still choosing to fight against her, her last words are “I wanted to walk with you.” Even that phrasing- that she wanted to walk with them, not that she wanted them to walk with her- says so much about how strongly she feels about Byleth. Is it waifubaiting? Oh baby is it ever, but it doesn’t make it less solid

On the flipside: something I really genuinely hate in games (and stories in general, but it crops up the most in games) is when people have unflinching, unwavering faith in the player character for no good reason. It’s why I think Persona 4 is a worse game than 3 despite being better in almost every other meaningful way. This almost certainly has to do with me not liking Rhea from the start: appropros of seemingly nothing, she is as dotting as any mother would be, she entrust you with an entire class of students lives with zero credentials, and in addition to that she is constantly assigning Byleth the most important tasks because she just has so much faith that they’re destined for greatness. Unlike the situation with Edelgard, helping fight off some bandits is not reasonable precedent for trusting someone this much. And the biggest reason I appreciate Rhea as a villain is because all of this turns out to be a ruse. All of this is in service of currying Byleth’s favor, to get them to trust her, to make them feel special, so that when she asks them to sit on the throne so Sothis can take over their body, they wouldn’t think anything of it. And you know it’s all been a ruse because of how unbelievably fast her turn is if you side with Edelgard. There’s no consistency between the Rhea who gently stroked your hair and sang you a lullaby when you were recovering from your trip to the shadow realm and the Rhea who calls you a failure and is going to rip your heart out of your chest.

*I’m extrapolating a lot of information about Zephiel and the world of FE6 in general because we just don’t have access to as much lore as we do in Three Houses, but I think what I’m saying are reasonable conclusions

**I call Those Who Slither In The Dark “Tunnel Snakes” for a number of reasons: it’s shorter, it functionally means the same thing, and it’s funny to me

***I refer to the vessels Rhea created as her children because that’s what I understood them to be when I first played Silver Snow, but upon rewatching the cutscene what she actually says is “I tried to bring her back by creating a body, and then burying a Crest Stone within it”. This could mean her own children that she bore, but it could also mean a number of other things, like vessels “created” from normal humans she acquired. For my own headcanon, the utter detachment she shows for Byleth when they side with Edelgard leads me to believe that they are, in fact, her biological children, but she refers to them so clinically because she felt nothing for them except disdain for not being able to house Sothis.

#Fire Emblem #Fire Emblem Three Houses #FE3H #Edelgard #Rhea #Nintendo #video games #seriously this is the most analytical writing I've done since college what the fuck IntSys

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pink-rathian-official · 4 years

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At the beginning of 2019, I mentioned I would keep track of every game I finished, and sum up my thoughts on all of them at the end of the year. And now I’m half regretting it because I’m gonna have to write out a short summary for each of these games. Oh well. You’ll be able to find all of them under the Read More, if you’re interested. Will be including an arbitrary score next to each game based on how much I enjoyed them.

Just some fun numbers before we jump in to the meat of the post- In 2019, I beat a total of 41 games. That’s an average of 3.41 games per month, which actually isn’t too bad of a rate!

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (5/5) 100% complete! Beaten twice! Without doubt, the best Smash game yet. You didn’t need me to tell you this- if you’ve got a Switch, then you’ve probably got Smash.

Bayonetta (4/5) A classic character action game, and an immense source of nostalgia for me. Play this game or I’ll break your knees.

Bayonetta 2 (4/5) I actually went into this game with low expectations, I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as the first game. Fortunately I was stupid and wrong and ended up loving it just as much as Bayo1.

Splatoon 2 (3/5) The story wasn’t particularly the most enjoyable thing ever, although I did sink a pretty decent amount of time into the multiplayer. Still not my go-to game if I’m looking for a quick match.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (4/5) It was enjoyable, although kinda started dragging on towards the end. The side content started feeling very repetitive, especially the shrines- but it was still a genuinely great time.

DOOM (2016) (3/5) I raged a wee bit, gonna admit. Although it was fun, I had a lot of frustrations with the late game.

Cthon (3/5) Doom, but a Lovecraftian roguelike. I’d recommend picking it up on Steam, it’s only USD$4.99 regularly, and USD$1.69 during the Steam sale currently going on.

Fire Emblem: Awakening (4/5) I suck at strategy games because I’m a smoothbrain, but FE:A is totally one of the best 3DS games ever released. Lucina is my daughter and the story made me cry.

Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition (2/5) I already played the 3DS version, and went into the DE expecting it to be a bit more enjoyable- and while it was, I did find myself getting bored rather quickly.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (5/5) The best TES game ever released according to many fans. While I do still prefer Skyrim more, I can see exactly why so many love it. Planning on returning to do the DLCs soon.

Night in the Woods (4/5) I hate story-centric games, but I liked NITW a lot. The exploration was nice, seeing the town change day-to-day was nice, and the ending was freaky in a good way

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 (4/5) An incredibly fun game, very similar to Left 4 Dead but fantasy themed and with rat monsters. Launched my obsession with the Skaven.

Fallout 3 (2/5) Yeah just play New Vegas instead mate.

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (3/5) If you separate it from the rest of the relatively mediocre AC series, Black Flag is pretty gud. I like being a pirate. I don’t like tailing missions. I really don’t like ship tailing missions.

Ib (3/5) I played this game a few times through during my obsession with RPGMaker horror games. Still holds up pretty strong, although it’s a wee bit short.

Amorous (3/5) 100% complete! Yeah it’s just a lewd furry dating sim. Does have a decent character maker that I use as a reference for my fursona now though!

Way of the Samurai 3 (4/5) I don’t know why this game slipped under everyone’s radar back on release. Just overall a very Nice samurai simulator, albeit with some combat that takes some getting used to.

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (5/5) The best MonHun released yet. World is great, but for some reason it just doesn’t hold me like GU does. Maybe I’m just a boomer.

Super Mario Odyssey (3/5) It’s definitely what you’d expect out of Mario. Not a bad game by any means, but I just didn’t really keep attached to it like most others seemed to.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (4/5) I like being a lawyer, and I love the serotonin rush that I get when cornering a criminal on their logic.

Resident Evil 7 biohazard (4/5) The first RE game I’ve played to completion. I don’t regret it at all, because it was super good. Got some great DLC as well.

SoulCalibur VI (Libra of Soul + Soul Chronicle) (4/5) Loved the character creation, loved gitting gud- did not love some of the side missions in LoS because holy Hell a lot of them are bullshit.

Borderlands 2 (4/5) I hated the first Borderlands, and went into 2 expecting more of the same. Ended up leaving surprisingly satisfied. Great loot n’ shoot all around.

Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition (4/5) It took me a few tries to really get into this one, but once I did I was totally hooked. The ending battle could’ve used a little more love, but it was still by all means a great game.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (4/5) Despite being a clearly rushed game with a drop in quality towards the last few hours, VtmB is still one of the most solid action RPGs I’ve ever played. Still not exactly gonna excuse the last couple of boss battles though.

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (5/5) This went from “tumblr meme game that I had no interest in” to “one of the best fucking games I have ever played, and it hurt me deeply.” I don’t think I’ve ever been so invested in a story before, and the trial system was very refreshing.

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (5/5) How did they make a story with twists even more mindblowing than the first game? While THH invested me into the series, GD solidified my newfound love for it.

Which (3/5) 100% complete! A very short experimental horror game by indie animator and developer Mike Inel. Not bad at all, and completely worth the free download.

Skullgirls: 2nd Encore (3/5) I never really got good at this game, although the story mode was still very enjoyable. Not particularly something I’m probably gonna be coming back to.

Hollow Knight (5/5) Absolutely spectacular Metroidvania that gives quite a unique challenge. Fell in love with this game so bad that I was constantly thinking about it at work. Please stop comparing it to Dark Souls, it’s such an amazing game on its own merit without needing that comparison.

Undertale (5/5) It’s Undertale, do you really need me to tell you how amazing it is?

Devil May Cry 3 (Dante story) (4/5) Extremely fun and challenging. If you haven’t played this game yet then you are wrong. Beating the first Vergil battle without being hit filled me with very unneeded confidence- the spectacular final battle against Vergil stripped that confidence away.

Ion Fury (3/5) Very challenging, but still super enjoyable. The heroine is a genuine badass, loved hearing her quips. The final boss was garbo though.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (5/5) Sekiro absolutely deserved the GOTY award. Loved the combat, loved the challenge, loved everything about this beautiful game.

Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age Definitive Edition (5/5) DQXI singlehandedly changed my opinion on JRPGs. A story that’s equal parts awesome and tearjerking, combat that feels truly satisfying, and a quirky world that had me hooked for all 98+ hours.

Danganronpa Another Story: Ultra Despair Girls (4/5) While it absolutely was a good game, something about it didn’t really hold the charm that the other Danganronpa games had. The story was still superb, and the twist at the end was hooh.

Spyro the Dragon (3/5) 120% complete! The nostalgia factor drew me in, the level design kept me. Except for Tree Tops, fuck you Tree Tops.

WarioWare Gold (3/5) Packed with the best microgames from WarioWare’s history, but not enough content to keep me there past the main story mode.

Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D (3/5) MGS3 is one of my favorite games ever, but the 3DS port’s framerate issues really killed the fun for me.

Halo: Reach (4/5) The story mode was good, but the multiplayer was absolutely sublime. I raged, I cheered, I had the fun I missed out on growing up without an Xbox.

#video games

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notajinn · 4 years

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Top 10 Games I Played in 2019

IMPORTANT NOTE: I am finishing this at nearly 2 AM in the morning, so I did not proofread. Excuse any typos.

With 2019 closing out the decade, I want to make a "Top 10 Games of the Decade" list, but first I have to point out my favourites of the year. I actually played over 10 games this year (which is very unusual), so I chose my top 10. As usual, these are not all games that came out in 2019, but I played them for the first time this year. I'm not ranking carried over mobile games this time, although at this point the only mobile I play is Dragalia Lost.

Let's go.

10. Untitled Goose Game (Switch)

There's a lot to love about this game concept alone even though I ignored it for the longest time pre-release.

Pros

The entire goal of the game is just that you are a goose and also an asshole. I've talked many times about how I think being unique is overblown in place of being high-quality, but this is a unique take that really works.

With a vaguely open-world that you're thrown into with no real purpose, you really capture the feeling of just setting out that day to be a jerk. I appreciate that there is a progression system with a list of mischievous tasks you have to do to reach the next area, but it's still presented in a very free way. You'll do some of them accidentally just trying to be a jerk, and others you'll really have to think about. Eventually there will come a clear end goal, which I was pleasantly surprised by.

Controlling the goose is also perfect in how unwieldy and overconfident you feel. You don't exactly move quickly, and there's no attacking, but you still feel better than the humans around you.

The minimalist art design helps sell the really low-stakes nature of the goose's quest. Sound effects are also pronounced thanks to this, and sound is very important for the goose. I also like the slight stealth gameplay that's not at all punishing, as someone who enjoys but is bad at stealth.

Cons

Even for a budget game, it's quite short to reach the "end goal". It's very much a game you can continue to mess around in, and there's a "New Game+" set of tasks you receive, but as far my "have to reach the end" mindset...I was expecting it to take a little longer. I'd say it was maybe 3 hours max, including lots of goofing around.

I also found that I VERY much don't enjoy being a jerk to children (see screenshot), and very begrudgingly did the minimum mean things to get past the kid. Luckily there is only one kid.

Final Thoughts

Honestly the lower ranking is not so much because of negatives, but because I played so many good things this year combined with this being mostly a fun little novelty. I feel like people who are interested would have already played it (if they have the console). Really you can go with your gut instinct of whether or not being an asshole goose sounds fun for you.

9. Kingdom Hearts III (PS4)

If you told me Kingdom Hearts III wouldn't even make my top 5 in the year it was released, I'd think you were crazy. But here we are with the long-awaited game.

Pros

So much of this game is fanservice for the series, and I had fortunately caught up on the spinoffs enough to enjoy it. Seeing the 358 crew and the BBS crew, all the Organization members...there's a lot of love here.

KH3 also has some of my favourite worlds in the series in Toy Story and Pirates of the Caribbean. Pirates in particular managed to scratch that Wind Waker sailing itch just enough. Meanwhile Toy Story going for a unique plot really helped pull me in, and there's that now infamous Woody scene that I love. Even other worlds like Monsters Inc get some great scenes (like Vanitas and the doors). Tangled is also one of my favourite Disney movies, so while the world itself was pretty average, I was happy to be in it.

Combat-wise, I appreciate getting so many options like dodge roll and blocking right off the bat regardless of your initial choices; previously I always forced myself to take the Shield so I could start with the super-useful dodge roll.

The music is as stellar as ever, although they loop far too quickly given how much time you'll spend in a single area sometimes (looking at you, Toy Story). I especially love Don't Think Twice, which had the bonus of being a complete surprise.

Cons

KH1 was the first Aladdin. KH2 was Return of Jafar. So logically KH3 should have been King of Thieves. Instead we get no Aladdin at all! Just the Genie as a summon I think?

For all the character fanservice, it still feels like only the main trio, Riku, and Mickey are really useful. I can't believe how poorly Aqua does as a Keyblade Master. I can't believe Kairi and Axel's training basically amounts to nothing. I know it's Sora's game, but it's still so frustrating.

And the final fight with everyone is very much so "good idea, bad execution". It just feels so messy. The entire climax is just not paced very well.

The Frozen world is one of my least favourites in the series. Nearly nothing interesting happens (outside of one good Larxene scene), you don't get Elsa as a boss or a party member, and the progression is just "got to get to Elsa's castle, oh no we fell" repeated three times. Also did they really need to put the full Let It Go song in there? I say this as someone who likes the song. This whole world is just a mess, and I think we'd be better off it was cut. And replaced with ALADDIN 3!

Where is the Wreck-It Ralph world? You know, the Disney movie about video games?

The combat somehow feels less smooth than KH2, possibly because of so many things constantly going off. The Park Attraction skills are fun at first, but later they take so long and often aren't worth bothering with. But I think HP of the enemies assumes you'll use it, because some enemies get really spongy later on.

There was also literally no reason not to end Sora's plot with this game; they had a very easy chance. But they also had an easy chance to end at KH2 and they didn't. I don't know why they're so afraid to use a different protagonist. Even if they don't want to make one, there's so many other potential-protagonists in the game already. Some of whom are also technically Sora!

Also the stupid Toy Story music loop is like 10 seconds long. Stop it.

I was actually originally going to put this at 8, but after typing out these Cons I moved the ranking back.

Final Thoughts

For as many pros and cons as I wrote out, the biggest thing about this game is that it's somehow incredibly forgettable. Kingdom Hearts 3, the game we waited over a decade for, is forgettable. And that really hurts.

The ReMind DLC has some real potential to help with this, but it also costs $40 CAD. If you're on the fence for KH3 as a whole, maybe wait and see what people say about the DLC fixing stuff.

8. Cadence of Hyrule (Switch)

It really hurts to put Cadence of Hyrule this low, because there's so much I love about it. And I want to see more third-parties work on Nintendo IPs.

Pros

You can finally play as Zelda in a proper Legend of Zelda game! Yes there's the rhythm mechanic and roguelike nature, but you're ultimately still going around a 2D LoZ overhead map in the same way you would a mainline game. But now you can have Zelda go around and play a little differently. For example, you have no regular shield but you have the Nayru's Love barrier which can work defensively in a different way. I appreciate that the characters all play differently when the developers could easily have easily given you three different sprites with one moveset.

The rhythm mechanic of moving on the beat works very well with the LoZ map style. Being able to see the bar speed at the bottom also helps a lot to learn in the first place. Most importantly, you have the option to completely turn it off to play this like a classic LoZ. Obviously the soundtrack itself is full of great LoZ remixes.

The difficulty is just right without being too rough or too easy with only occasional exceptions, and the game is fairly forgiving about respawing when you do die; it usually doesn't feel like a BIG deal. There's tons of LoZ equipment to use, which I really appreciate after how barebones Breath of the Wild was in that regard.

As with any roguelike, you also have a lot of replayability with the map changes and different characters and equipment to try out.

Incorporating classic bosses with musical instruments is also really fun.

Cons

It's as short as you would expect a budget game to be, but it's more expensive than your average budget game. I'm going to chalk that up to using a first-party Nintendo IP, but the price fools you into thinking the game will be longer.

I also personally don't really care for roguelikes, so the selling point of replayability isn't for me. It's a bit unfair to judge the game for something the genre is supposed to do, but I don't think it's a bad game for being like this. I just think it's a game I like less because of that emphasis.

There's also one boss in particular that was super frustrating, and I think it's because I didn't understand the "trick" to beating it.

Final Thoughts

I do honestly recommend this if you like classic LoZ, but just know what you're getting into; something that emphasizes multiple playthroughs and won't take too long on a single run, but which executes the LoZ formula itself really well.

7. XCOM: Enemy Unknown (PC)

I can't believe how long it took me to play XCOM: Enemy Unknown given that Fire Emblem is my favourite series. I also owned it for years on Steam, but it was just this year I finally booted up this strategy RPG.

Pros

You want a challenging SRPG? Here you goddam go. This game is punishing as hell, but as long as you don't play Iron Man mode it's still reasonable to deal with. I don't usually care for games that sell on difficulty, but I've played enough SRPGs that I don't mind more difficulty in the genre that's not cheap. XCOM very closely skirts the line of difficult and cheap, again if you are not playing Iron Man (which prevents you from restarting missions).

There's so much dumb RPG numbers to gloss over and spec, and I love it. Things to research, order to research, facilities to build, equipment to craft, skills per each character to learn. If you like pouring over resources like me but don't like the real time nature of an RTS, this is perfect.

I also like the idea that you start off so overwhelmed against an absurdly powerful alien force, and everything you're doing is basically just trying to survive while looking for a way to hold your ground. There's a real desperation in the gameplay that captures the feeling of war in a way that Fire Emblem struggles with.

Cons

I haven't seen RNG that hates me this much since Fire Emblem: Sealed Sword. And it seems to be a universal experience that the RNG is more stacked against you than it leads you to believe.

I've also seen many people online suggest Iron Man for a person's first run, but that is AWFUL advice. It's why I almost quit the game twice, but ultimately just made a new file without Iron Man. It sounds fun for a second or later playthrough, but there's so many unknowns happening constantly in your first run that it just feels unfair to go Iron Man.

The aesthetic is sci-fi apocalypse; two designs I generally hate. Everything is so gloomy and blue and tech. It's all very forgettable to look at.

Healing options are so limited, at least in the relatively early sections I'm in (I did not beat this). Actually this is one of the very few games I started but did NOT beat before playing something else, which in itself means there's something that I really disliked. At this point I can't remember what that is.

Final Thoughts

If you like Fire Emblem gameplay but want it to be even more resource management based, and can deal with a drab aesthetic, absolutely grab this. Especially since it gets really cheap on Steam. Just do NOT start on Iron Man mode.

6. Telltale's Batman: The Enemy Within (PC)

There was a Joker live-action movie this year; an entire movie dedicated to him. And yet Telltale managed a better Joker.

Pros

I am one of those weirdo people who considers Joker one of his favourite comic characters. I'm a sucker for a good villain, and it was probably Joker in Batman: The Animated Series that is responsible for that. So I love seeing a good fresh take on the character, and Telltale delivers. This is season two of Telltale Batman, and we briefly got to see "John Doe" in the first season as a proto-Joker who's definitely a violent jerk, but not necessarily a villain just yet. While there are many plot threads in Enemy Within, the main one is about how John grows among the mess that is Gotham. Depending on how you play, you can actually push him to become a vigilante and ally of Batman instead of the villain. This is itself not only a fun take on the character, but also the most uniquely any Telltale game has branched.

I remember explaining once that Telltale is not so much "choose how the story ends", but more "choose how your character's relationships with others changes". But there, you get a wildly different final chapter depending on whether John is a vigilante or villain. I really appreciate the effort it took, but it's also bittersweet since this was one of the last games the studio worked on before being closed.

Telltale gives us other character portrayals that range from standard to occasionally good. They have Harley play the big mob boss who has John wrapped around her finger this time, and they do a good job selling it.

You'll get some great dialogue options, and it seems almost impossible to please everyone. Being forced to make hard choices that will inevitably make someone mad at you is what this genre is about, and it's often not exactly clear cut what the consequences will be.

Cons

Like other Telltale games, action sequences are done with QTEs. These are relics in this day and age, so I really didn't care for them. It's a good way to get around a probably costly combat engine, but it's ultimately filler to me to get back to the plot. Since this is a Batman game, it has more action sequences than the average Telltatle game.

Other sequences like searching for clues are less annoying, but still not really fun. I did not grow up on point-and-clicks, but it seems the developers did.

You also can't easily restart sequences if you selected an option by mistake; you have to restart that entire chapter. And a chapter is multiple hours. I get the implication of "you have to live with your choices", but when it's an actual mistake because I'm using a PS3 controller on my PC mapped to Xbox buttons...I get a little annoyed.

Final Thoughts

It's a little weird to start at Enemy Within if you didn't play the first season, and it will retroactively spoil things, but you honestly could. It is more fun than the original (which is also good). Easily the big selling point is being able to shape John the proto-Joker; if that doesn't appeal to you, this may not be for you.

5. Super Metroid (SNES Classic)

Not only is 2019 the first time I played (and completed) Super Metroid; it's also the first time I completed a Metroid game at all! I had played a decent amount of Fusion and the first Prime before, but fell off both of them. This time, I absolutely saw Samus reach her goal.

Pros

How do you talk about such a beloved game? First of all, the SNES era is still visually my favourite in video games. This has a lot to do with nostalgia since I grew with the SNES, but also because it was the height of sprites before the industry turned to 3D models. And as amazing as N64 and PS1 graphics looked back then, they did not age well. The SNES, however, still holds up so well visually.

For a game with a sci-fi aesthetic that heavily takes place underground, I loved the variety and colours Super Metroid offered outside my expectations. This is definitely up there as one of the most beautiful games of the console.

Where I think the game excels the most is Samus' controls. The level of precision they built into her abilities is nuts. Obviously there are games where characters have larger movesets (such as fighters), but for a platformer I love how well you can maneuver Samus. For example, when you do a moving jump. If you hit the D-Pad and then jump, you do the Spin Jump. If you jump and then hit the D-Pad, you do a more standard jump. It may not seem like much now, but I feel like for the time it's very impressive.

There's so many fun abilities you get, and the majority of them can be used simultaneously for some really fun platforming.

You also learn very quickly even without text based on the way power-ups and obstacles are laid out. Even storytelling is done well simply through gameplay; no cinema scenes or text explanations needed.

The bosses feel stressful but almost never too cheap; you always feel like they're possible to deal with. Occasionally you may need more missiles or energy, but it's usually learning and countering patterns.

Music can effectively be atmospheric or lively depending on where you are, and I retroactively wish we had a few more Metroid tracks in Super Smash Brothers.

Also even though I'm not a 100% completion-ist type of person, I appreciate when I do find some secret missile tank by really examining the area.

Cons

When you're not used to the controls early on, it can be tricky to handle Samus. Mostly those spin jumps. The wall jump also never really got easier.

Weapon switching is a weird situation. I appreciate you can do it on the fly with the Select button, but the fact it always goes in a certain order means it can often take a while to get to what you want.

Personally I also thought Ridley was a hell of a difficulty spike, and the game actually calmed back down in difficulty afterwards? Maybe I'm just bad at fighting such an aggressive and fast boss.

Phantoon was also a tough boss made tougher by the fact the closest working Save Point was a good 5+ minutes of platforming away for me. I like that the nearest Save Point doesn't work because the electricity is off, and it builds on the haunted ship atmosphere, but boy was that frustrating to jump all the way back nearly four times to fight that boss.

Final Thoughts

If like me you've somehow not played Super Metroid, you really should. It still holds up, and it's relatively short (my time was about 6 hours). It may be a little weird at the start with the limited abilities and getting used to the precise controls, but if you stick with it you're in for a good time.

The reason it's number 5 and not higher is not due to any particular negatives, but simply because the next few games left me with more positives.

4. Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight (PS4)

The fact that this game exists is incredibly stupid, and I love it.

Pros

Persona 3 is not a happy game in a traditional sense. There are happy moments, but most are bittersweet. It's a game about dealing with and overcoming tragedy, and has a dark visual atmosphere to match.

So the fact we get to see that cast dancing around with bright colours is nuts. But not at all in a bad way. These characters go through so many difficulties; they absolutely deserve to have a fun dance party where they don't have to think about anything else. This isn't the happy kids deciding to dance; this is a bunch of stressed out people who need a break. And as someone who loves Persona 3, it makes me so happy to...well, see them happy.

The majority of the original voice actors were brought back (the main exception being Elizabeth), and they do just as good a job as in the old days.

We get mostly great remixes of the P3 songs, and the original versions of others. Each song has a particular character assigned to it so they can more effectively match their dancing style. The models look amazing.

There's also minor Social Link elements which are used in place of a story, and their personalities are mostly intact. There's certainly some Flanderization, but it's not as bad as Persona Q.

You also get a decent progression system of unlocking songs in batches, and needing to beat them to get the next songs. The Social Link requirements help make repeating the songs fun while giving you something to work towards.

The rhythm game itself is hard to judge since I play very few rhythm games. I found it fun once I got the hang of it on normal difficulty. There's tons of modification options to make it easier or harder depending on your preferences.

Cons

As with every modern Persona game, the DLC is awful. Tons of Day One DLC, and they even locked Shinji to DLC! Does he not also deserve to have fun without paying extra? There's also a few songs I would have liked, but not at those prices. Otherwise DLC is mostly costumes and accessories which I both don't care about, and which are overpriced.

I also hate that we had an EASY chance to get the FeMC Minako in this fun low-stakes plot game, but didn't. It's not like Atlus forgot about her either; she was in Persona Q2 which came out a little later. If anything, SHE should have been DLC and Shinji should have been in the base game.

The jump in difficulty between Hard and All-Night is absurd. I can beat most songs on Hard with good ratings, but I can't beat the first song on All-Night at all.

Koromaru is not in the game, which inherently prevents it from being perfect. He could have jumped in during Fever Time at least!

Final Thoughts

This game is only for Persona 3 fans, but boy is it some great fanservice for us. If you're a Persona 3 fan that at least slightly enjoys rhythm games, this is for you.

3. Indivisible (PS4)

As of writing this, I have not actually beaten Indivisible. If I had to guess, I'm at the 2/3 mark? A big plot thing just happened, but it's clearly not the final plot thing.

Since this game is less known, it's a platformer/fighter/RPG hybrid with a heavy South Asian influence.

Pros

It's a platformer/fighter/RPG hybrid with a heavy South Asian influence.

Look at that sentence! These are all things I love!

I grew up on platformers and RPGs, and I have a lot of fun when I get into a fighter. And as someone who always desperately tries to find even one brown character in most video games, I'm all about a cast that is mostly South Asian!

The combat system is really fun. It utilizes something similar the classic Final Fantasy ATB style system, but at a very quick refresh rate and tons of fighting game elements thrown in. For example, a key is doing combos with your various party members. Each character has 3 standard moves, and knowing when to use what depending on the enemy's position is where the strategy comes in. There's also one party-wide meter that everyone dips into to use Supers. It's a very aggressive and offense-oriented battle system, but they manager to incorporate healers and support units comfortably. But yes, everyone is basically a fighting game character in an RPG battle system.

The platforming starts off very basic, but you get access to so many moves and can use them all fluidly together. There's some really fun platforming segments that really force you to use everything Ajna can do.

The character designs are top-notch, even removed from how ecstatic I am about the diversity. Again, they are designed as fighting game characters who have to be distinct and high-quality. Everyone also feels extremely unique in combat.

I wouldn't say the overall story and writing is amazing, but there's some good moments here and there. It also follows a somewhat less traditional path for Ajna so far, even though I'm expecting a fairly traditional climax.

Cons

Okay, so this is in some ways a fighting game. Which means you should have a move list you can look up. While you get a brief explanation of each character's gimmick when you recruit them, there's NO MOVE LIST!

That sucks, but you can go into Training and figure out the moves for yourself, right? Yes, except you don't unlock Training until almost 10 hours into the game! Which means for the early part of the game when you're still learning the mechanics of the system as a whole, you also have more trouble learning what each character can do. Combined with a very high rate of recruiting new characters early on, this can be overwhelming. If they didn't want to make a move list, they should at least have made Training available from the beginning.

Backtracking can be a bit of a pain; there's minimal fast travel points. Ajna doesn't cover as much space as Samus relatively to the game world, so it really takes some time to go around. Enough that it sometimes discourages exploration, which is not good in a platformer.

The sense of progression is also pretty slow once you get past the 1/3 mark. You don't get new characters quite as quickly, and it's not as though your characters learn new moves (they shouldn't, based on how the battle system works). You also only have levels for Ajna, which in my experience don't make a huge difference. And there's no equipment or items give you that sense of growth. What you have are the Ringels; collect enough of them and you can get a major defense upgrade, or add an additional attack slot per turn to every character. They're great upgrades, and fun to explore and find, but it's a long time between upgrades.

I also feel like healers and support are tough to use well in such an aggressive battle system, which is unfortunate because I traditionally love support-type characters.

Final Thoughts

Despite liking it more than most of the games on this list, it's a tough recommend. It's very specific to what it is, and there's nothing to really compare it to. However I really like it, and I especially love the South Asian influence.

2. Celeste (Switch)

If you showed me a 10-second clip of Celeste gameplay, I'd dismiss it as some easier Super Meat Boy clone.

I'm so glad I didn't.

Pros:

In many ways, Celeste can be called a long series of platforming challenge rooms. Basically once you clear a distinct "screen" and die, you move forward. You die, you restart on the same screen in seconds. There's infinite lives and no timer. You take as long as you need, and you keep pushing forward. It's a compromise of making a classically difficult platformer that removes all elements that make the classics feel cheap. And it's also a great representation of the story Madeline is going through.

Having a young-life crisis, non-mountain-climber Madeline sets out to climb the famously difficult mountain Celeste. There's a few other characters to deal with, but the majority of the game is spent with Madeline and the reflection that represents another side of her. A side of her that's always bringing her down and trying to force her to turn backIt's a short and well-written story, and absolutely worth experiencing. I love the weaving of the "keep trying" gameplay and story, and the fact an Assist Mode to make the gameplay easier is available from the start is important.

The music also nails that Super Metroid feeling of atmospheric or lively depending on what's happening.

Controls are similarly precise but reasonable, and the incredibly low stakes of failure make even the cheaper platforming segments doable. Some of the platforming is legitimately annoying, but being able to try again in literal seconds makes it less frustrating than easier platformers.

Cons

I don't care for the character sprites. They are small and faceless. You understand what they're going for, and I know they have to be small in relation to the area of the game. But it's just not visually appealing.

...I can't really think of any other cons.

Final Thoughts

I feel like Celeste is an important game that will stay with me, far beyond just a good game I played in 2019. It's short, it doesn't cost much, and it's absolutely worth your time if you have any sort of anxiety or self-esteem issues.

1. Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Switch)

My favourite series finally returns to a home console after nearly a decade. And boy does it deliver.

Pros

There's two critical things I look for when judging a Fire Emblem game; the cast, and the core gameplay.

The cast in Three Houses is nearly fully presented to you from the start of the game. You have your three separate houses with their individual students, and you choose one to lead. Fortunately you can recruit most students from other houses with some work, so you don't have to worry too much about mutually exclusive units. You will see a few new faces over the course of the game join your team as well, so there's still some surprises. At first glance, many of the characters can be relegated to anime tropes. Claude is the charismatic schemer, Marianne is the quiet girl who likes animals, Hilda is the lazy high-confidence girl, etc. But as you progress through the story and the Support conversations, you'll find that nearly every character has a lot of writing effort put into them. I do not want to give any examples because it's better to get to them yourself throughout the game, but don't take the characters at face-value. Don't expect a full 180 personality shift, but do expect lots of depth to explain both currently personalities, and being able to see the growth of these characters. There's some very relatable issues some of the characters face.

Honestly, it's not a stretch to say Three Houses has some of my favourite characters in the series. It's a big plus that one of the main Lords is dark-skinned for the first time in series history.

Then we have the gameplay. Off the bat we're into some very non-traditional Fire Emblem stuff with the academy system; you use things like lectures to build the weapon levels of your students. Also Cavalry, Heavy Armor, and Flying have their own weapon levels now? Also you don't buy spells, you learn them with weapon levels? There is a LOT that's different.

But what remains the same is the core formula of the strategy-RPG battles. Your process to build your units may be different in many ways, but you're still using the tactics you would expect in an FE game. There's just a few other things to consider now.

Basically I feel that Three Houses' new systems are a good compliment to the classic system as opposed to being a full replacement. Which is why even as an old FE elitist, I absolutely loves playing out the fights. Also they brought back Fog of War!

I really love the incorporation of visible agro lines. Basically when you move your character within enemy range, you actually see direct lines from the enemies so you see who will attack you. Combined with ability to go back to a previous turn, this helps make bad RNG feel less frustrating.

The story is also hands-down the best of the modern Fire Emblem era (everything from Awakening and beyond). It may start off as anime high-school, but having a cast of characters from entirely different countries attend school together as teenagers and then skipping forward to when they are leading their respective countries to war against each other...it's a lot to take in. And you have four different ways to experience the game, all of which are fairly distinct.

New gameplay elements like the lectures and academy activities are actually pretty fun, and dip into a bit of that Persona itch. You also get a better feel for the cast as you see them going about more normal activities. And it's all done in voice acting. Even every generic NPC dialogue in all four routes. Honestly the level of voice acting is incredible for a first-party Nintendo game. Voices also help the game feel so much more alive.

As always, the music is wonderful. The main theme Edge of Dawn is up there with Kingdom Hearts songs among my favourite video game vocal tracks.

Seriously, listen to it:

youtube

The option to freely change class so long as you can pass certification is weird, but feels far less busted than Awakening and Fates due to skills taking longer to learn, and mostly being less overpowered. It's also great aesthetically. Being able to use any weapon with any class was also an interesting change.

Also we have gauntlets as a weapon in Fire Emblem now. Which means you can run up to a goddam Wyvern Rider and punch them in the face. This is amazing.

Another plus is that despite incorporating a time skip, there is no child system. Which means Support is not longer a means to getting a perfect gene child unit, but instead to see how characters grow together while also getting a slight stat boost.

Cons

I kind of miss the Weapon Triangle. I know it's not even the most important thing in the old game, but I have nostalgia for it? You can sort of get the Weapon Triangle abilities once you raise your respective weapon levels enough.

As for more of a real problem...gender locked classes. It's very frustrating that there is only one class that focuses on Gauntlets, and it's locked to males. Like, have you seen Leonie? She's made to be a puncher! And I made her one, but I had to make her a Warrior.

Similarly, the only Master class that focuses on magic is locked to females. It didn't present a problem for me in the Golden Deer route, but I'm sure at one point during the other 3 routes I'll want to make a male magic user. Oh, the Dark Mage line is also locked to males, but doesn't have a Master class.

Master classes in general are a problem. Nearly all of them are Cavalry or Flying, and it's visually annoying. Also because most of my Advanced classes were infantry, so my characters didn't really learn Cavalry or Flying with certain exceptions.

I wish there were no gender-locked classes, and more infantry Master classes.

Also I know it doesn't make sense story-wise, but I wish I could recruit Claude to Blue Lions or Black Eagles because I really don't want to hurt him when I play those routes.

Final Thoughts

I mean, it's number one on my list. Obviously I love it. But it's important to note this is my favourite Fire Emblem game in a long time. I feel like I need more distance from it (and to play the other routes) to really compare it to my favourites, but for now it's at least my favourite game of 2019, and my favourite Switch game.

#games of the year #games of 2019

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crystalelemental · 5 years

Note

I’m not one to be an elitist when I barely ever play on classic in the regular games, but even I think Fire Emblem is intended to have some kind of challenge. It’s a strategy rpg, after all. The mobile game should be simpler then a regular game, but that doesn’t mean it should be a pushover either. Sometimes they go too far with difficulty, but if they under do it it’s not fun or satisfying. Some of the more recent Bound Hero Battles, for example, have been so easy it’s just sad.

Right, which is why there’s no such thing as easy mode, and no casual mode option either.

Heroes isn’t a cohesive game. It’s essentially a random assortment of minigames. Some of them being challenging? Great! That’s fun. Some of them being challenging solely because of their demands that you constantly check in to monopolize all your free time? Literally no one has ever wanted this. But most importantly, this is meant to be a game that people can pick up and play for free and still have fun. Which means easier modes are a necessity. F2P players will absolutely not have the resources to top any of the performance boards in 99% of situations. Acting like every game mode needs to have serious teeth ultimately means those players who are here casually are actively barred from enjoying the game mode because everything’s frustrating. If you want challenge, there are already plenty of game modes for that. Rokkr Sieges was literally the only easy option among like 8 other difficult modes.

Also, difficulty of the single player stuff is entirely relative to player skill and resources. You and I may find them pretty easy overall, but I assure you there are people who still find them challenging, either because they’re still learning mechanics or they don’t have a good foundational army and are trying to get by with the few units they have. Again, making everything difficult for our level actively excludes new players. There have to be some easier options for them to have fun too.

#fire emblem heroes

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gamersonthego · 5 years

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Chase Koeneke’s Top 10 Handheld Games of 2018

2018 could’ve been a bummer of a year. The game I was most excited about – Fire Emblem: Three Houses – got pushed to 2019. We were getting a new Pokemon game...but it was based on a mobile game and was fundamentally changing the formula I loved. And outside of Smash Bros., there was little left I was anticipating.

And yet, 2018 turned out to be a fantastic year in handheld gaming. I got a turn-based strategy game that’s up there with any Fire Emblem game I’ve ever played. That Pokemon game ended up being pretty great! And there were a bevy of unexpected indies that kept me entertained all year long. Here are my top 10 handheld games from 2018 (as well as a few honorable mentions).

Honorable Mentions: Mark of the Ninja Remastered, Gris, Kingdom Rush Vengeance, Donut County, West of Loathing

10. Minit (Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PC)

I like to take my time in games – fully exploring worlds, talking to NPCs, reading item descriptions. In that sense, Minit, a top-down Zelda-style game that only allows you to play in one-minute sessions should be my nightmare. But it’s not. In fact, I really liked it. Minit’s limitations freed me from my thinking and made me engage with the game on its level. In a world dominated by GPS and a games’ landscape dominated by easily accessible maps, there’s something refreshingly challenging having to commit the area to memory and make plans on not only what to do next, but how to make it there in time.

9. Golf Peaks (iOS, PC)

I’m bad at real golf, but golf video games, especially the ones that don’t try to meticulously recreate the sport, are my jam. Mario Golf on the Game Boy Color is one of my favorite games ever. Golf Story was one of my favorite games last year. And Golf Peaks takes that crown in 2018. Golf Peaks expertly mixes golf, card and puzzle mechanics to make for a uniquely pleasing combination. New obstacles are layered in world by world and get increasingly bizarre, until what you’re playing is barely recognizable as golf. Golf Peaks feels meticulously crafted, and it makes for a difficult, but rewarding experience. Unfortunately, because it’s so bespoke, it’s a finite experience, and once you’ve completed it, there’s little reason to revisit it. A new world has been added since the game’s release, but after completing it in less than an hour, I’m back to waiting for more.

8. Alto’s Odyssey (iOS, Android)

Alto’s Adventure was one of my favorite games of 2015, a gorgeous and fun take on the infinite runner genre. Alto’s Odyssey further refines the formula by adding in even more things to do. The silky-smooth jumps, grinds and backflips return, along with the sublime wingsuit power-up, but they are joined by Tony Hawk-style wall rides that add a new dimension to the game. With uniquely skilled characters to unlock and upgrades to literally and figuratively grind for, Odyssey will keep you busy for a long time. It’s one of those rare phone games that’s good for play sessions both long and short, and its action never gets old.

7. Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition (iOS, Android, Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PC)

I was intrigued by Final Fantasy XV on the PS4, but ultimately bounced off its combat and general milling about. Pocket Edition fixes both of those issues and lets me enjoy what I really like about the game: its story and its characters. The miniaturized version of FFXV has turned it into a linear game with simplified controls (touch controls if you’re playing the phone version). The way it retains quite a bit of the themes and depth (and voice acting) of the original game despite streamlining it never ceased to impress me. And weirdly, playing Pocket Edition has actually reawakened my desire to play the original game. I want to see this treatment given to other Final Fantasy games.

6. Florence (iOS, Android)

Florence is not a game I would traditionally play on a phone. It’s not an infinitely replayable, puzzling experience like Threes or Drop7 or even a Kingdom Rush. But it is an experience, and one I deeply appreciated. Florence made me feel more than any other game this year, and it did it in a game that takes only about a half hour. It tells a mundane, yet impactful story about relationships. It’s beautiful. It’s funny. It’s tragic. But most of all, it’s real, and it uses its touchscreen controls to great effect to make you feel like you are an active participant in the story. It’s somehow simultaneously abstract and extremely specific, and I think it’s something everyone should witness.

5. Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee (Switch)

This is the Metal Gear Solid 2 of Pokemon. Let me explain. In MGS2, you play as Raiden, and you learn that you are being put through a similar adversity to the original MGS’ Shadow Moses Island in the hopes of turning you into another legendary hero like Solid Snake.

In Pokemon Let’s Go, things start familiar enough to anyone who’s played the first generation of Pokemon games (particularly, Yellow). You get a starter, you battle your rival, you face Brock and Misty and the other gym leaders and you stumble into and interrupt a nefarious Team Rocket plot. It’s all there. Except then you run into Blue, who is the real rival from the first generation of Pokemon. Which means your rival isn’t your rival. And you aren’t you. It’s fascinating and I ended up loving it.

Mechanically, it’s a weird mix of adding from more recent games while also stripping away complexity. Mega Evolutions are in. Held items are out. HMs are out. Steel, dark and fairy types are in. And there are some brand-new mechanics like catch combos that are a fun and new way to engage with Pokemon. It’s not all rainbows (I’m still not sold on the GO-style catching system,) but I hope the next mainline Pokemon game takes a little inspiration from these games. And I hope they remake Gold and Silver in this style too.

4. Holedown (iOS/Android)

Holedown became my go-to phone game for most of 2018. While you can beat it in a manner of hours, the game is so addictively fun and replayable with its final, seemingly endless level that you’ll be happy to dive back in again and again to improve your score. Holedown is satisfying in every sense of the word. Endorphins rush when you see and hear massive streams of balls ping-ponging off walls. Hitting the perfect angle to keep the combo going higher and higher is intensely gratifying. It’s so easy to play and understand, and yet you’ll be learning new tricks after your hundredth attempt. Holedown rules. Play Holedown.

3. Super Robot Wars X (Vita, PS4)

OK, this one’s a bit of a stretch. Super Robot Wars is not available in the US last I checked (though it is available in English.) Also, I did not play its handheld Vita version. Instead I played it on the PS4. So, on one hand, this game doesn’t really belong on this list. On the other hand, I love Super Robot Wars X so much, so it’s staying.

This was my first dip into the series and immediately found it to be an incredibly dense and confusing experience. It’s a turn-based strategy game like Fire Emblem, which sounds right up my alley, but the number of things to account for is staggering. To list all its mechanics would be a daunting exercise. Slowly, but surely, I learned to engage with more and more systems until finally, I felt like I could see the code, that I had entered the Matrix. I suddenly knew strategy game kung-fu. The game would set up almost impossible odds and, sometimes after an insane amount of consideration, I’d find a solution. I could boost the range on one weapon for the one turn I need it. Or maybe that shield I’ve never used would actually come in handy here. Oh wait, this pilot has a special skill I could utilize. The solutions are always there, you just have to look for them. It’s a beast of a game, but one I became utterly mesmerized with.

2. Dead Cells (Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PC)

I jealously watched early access PC players make run after run on Dead Cells. I heard people extol the game’s virtues on countless podcasts, and then, finally, the game released on Switch and I too could experience its splendor. And boy, did it deliver. Dead Cells bends over backwards to tailor the game experience to you. It allows you to choose what and when to unlock new skills, letting you further customize your arsenal as you play. It accounts for novice players who need to take their time getting through its sprawling levels while also providing options for crafty veterans who are able to speed through its content. And yet, as much as it caters, you’ll inevitably get to a point in your run where the game says “OK, now we’re going to test you.” I have failed that test every time. I have not beaten Dead Cells. But I am damn sure ready to try again.

1. Into The Breach (Switch, PC)

Where Super Robot Wars X is a turn-based mech strategy game on a macro scale, with an inconceivable amount of systems and options to deal with for your double-digit army of robotic fighters, Into The Breach stuffs all the same intensity into a comparably tiny grid and only a trio of battlers. It maintains the perfect amount of complexity, making every unit, every weapon, every move and every choice matter. It’s the ultimate chess game. And just when you think you’ve wrapped your head around its mechanics, it hands you a new team of mechs that plays completely differently. Runs are short, but meaningful, and the optional challenges (that let you unlock more new teams) push you out of your comfort zone to learn new strategies. Not only is it my favorite game of the year by a country mile, it might be one of the best games of all time.

#goty #gotggoty2018 #chase koeneke #minit #golf peaks #alto's odyssey #final fantasy xv pocket edition #florence #pokemon let's go #holedown #super robot wars x #dead cells #into the breach

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eienias20 · 6 years

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30 Days of Smash

On my Twitter i was filling all this in for the last month of hype before Smash Ultimate. It's out tomorrow so I'm gonna post all my answers from Twitter here!

30 Days Left. Favorite Mario character to play as? BOWSER! He brings the power and I'm all about hitting hard :D I especially love the new dropkick he picked up recently and his changed running animation. He's just fierce! Also, a 10/10 dad

29 Days Left. Favorite Zelda character to play as? SHEIK! I just think she's awesome. She's a ninja assassin! What's not to like? The new moves she was given too, the bomb and bouncing fish, I enjoy those. Sheik is just cool

28 Days Left. Favorite Pokemon to play as? That is gonna go to Greninja, no question! Another smash day another ninja, what are the odds haha. completely unexpected Smash 4 newcomer. I got back into Pokemon with X and Y and I love Greninja, he came at a perfect time!

27 Days Left. Favorite Ultimate Newcomer? Simon Belmont for sure! I'm not super experience in Castlevania, played only a few games but everything about his reveal and just him as a video game character has me super excited to play him!

26 Days Left. Favorite Echo Fighter? Goin with Dark Samus cause of how unexpected she was. It's super cool that Metroid has gone from having kinda 1 character (as both are indeed samus) to now having 3. That's rad. And Dark Samus, she just looks cool!

25 Days Left. Favorite Fire Emblem fighter? Easy! It's mah boi the all powerful radiant hero Ike! Brute force is my thing and he has that in spades!

24 Days Left. Favorite Fighter from another series? Well that'll go to Shulk. He is currently the only Xenoblade rep (hopefully that changes) but he is another fighter I greatly enjoy playing as and he's a great character from one of the best games of all time!

23 Days Left. Favorite Assist Trophy? THE BLACK KNIGHT! I'm so happy we're finally getting more worthwhile Fire Emblem content. I was super stoked just to see the Killing Edge, but one of Daein's Four Riders? Awesome. And he looks so strong! Is perfect!

22 Days Left. Most useful or favorite Pokemon in Ultimate? No one of them really sticks out to me as my favorite...a lot are really reliable. Think I'm gonna give it to Keldeo for this one. He has crazy range and he is relentless!

21 Days Left. Favorite stage in Ultimate? There are WAY too many stages to just pick one favorite. I mean, THERE ARE SO MANY! But I remember the Dream Land GBA stage in 3DS and being SO HAPPY to play on it, I'm so ecstatic that its back. That Kirby game was my childhood!

20 Days Left. Favorite Song in the Smash Bros Series? That is a ridiculous question. Nigh impossible to answer. There are a lot of good tunes but Imma take it back to Brawl with the rock awesomeness that is Tabuu's theme!

19 Days Left. Favorite alternate. Again a lot i like but i gotta give it to Mario's stars and stripes. It's just so good XD

18 Days Left. Smash 64 "main" Ah yes. Back in the days when Ocarina of Time dominated my gaming life! The Hero of Time, Link was my go to and to this day he's one I still enjoy playing!

17 Days Left. Melee guy. Well for the gamecube days the character I stuck to the most was still the Hero of Time, Link. No one could really pull me away though I greatly enjoyed Falco and Marth too

16 Days Left. Brawl character I played the most as eh? That was mah boi IKE! To this day I'm so surprised how unsurprised? I was he got into Brawl. I don't remember being super shocked. I got into Fire Emblem prior Brawl and I LOVE Radiance and Dawn. Ike in smash? Rad!

15 days left. My Smash 4 boy is SHULK!! Most wanted newcomer at the time and infinitely happy he's in Smash!! Woooo!

14 Days Left. Least used / most disliked fighter. Jigglypuff easily. There is no valid reason for it to still be here. And when he was revealed, dark pit. Still think he's a dumb addition

13 Days Left. Favorite Final Smash. I'm a giant Xenoblade nerd so the more Xeno the better. And Shulk bringing his crew in for the smackdown is too good!

12 Days Left. Most disliked or least useful Final Smash Peach's simply cause it doesn't do anything. Also Jigglypuff and ice climbers smashes. Just boring really.

11 Days Left. Favorite Smash minigame. Huh. Tough. I always did appreciate the original break the targets and board the platforms. Really challenging stuff!

10 Days Left. Favorite Smash item. The assist trophy. Such a Cool idea bringing in other video game characters for aid. So many cool peeps out there!

9 days left. Character you'd most like as an assist trophy. Never really thought about this. Since we got more FE assist trophies I say Xenoblade. Someone not yet in like Sharla Reyn or Melia

8 Days Left. Character I'd like to see as an echo fighter? No idea. We aren't getting anymore echoes so it doesn't really matter. I got nothing for this. I've failed you all!

7 Days Left. A DLC newcomer I'd want? Easy. Rex and Pyra! On the eve of Xenoblade 2's anniversary! I want the bestest otp of 2017/2018 of the best game of those years. It's that good!

6 Days Left. Who do I expect to play the most as in Smash Ultimate? Most likely Shulk since I'm a Xenoblade obsessed nut and Ike comin in after that cause the Radiant games are the best FE games. MONADO BOI AND HERO OF THE BLUE FLAMES

5 Days Left. Assist trophy I'd like to see as a fighter? That'd be Lyndis. Ever since Brawl where there were only 2 FE peeps s on the roster. She's a great character (betterthanallthe3dtrash) and would actually give some origin variety given again, 4 3ds characters.

4 Days Left. Most unlikely yet desired newcomer? TETRIS! I say it a lot. Very unlikely. Not so much personally desired but i think it'd be really funny in the best way

3 Days Left. Very first Smash Bros memory. I guess that would be just...playing Smash 64 with my sisters. Making up stories going from fight to fight and pretending blue Fox was Falco. It was a simpler time.

2 Days Left. Greatest smash memory? Idk how great but my first 4 man 99 stock smash. I did it on a whim in Smash 64. 4 DKs in kongo jungle. It took forever. But as the lives fell and it narrowed down. I realized how much time i truly spent XD. I've done it in every smash since

ONE. DAY. LEFT. FAVORITE FIGHTER EVER? SHULK! SHULK IS BESTEST!

Smash is tomorrow y'all. Let's all have some fun!

#super smash brothers ultimate #nintendo #super smash bros #super smash bros ultimate #i'd put more images but tumblr mobile is stupid

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siraranispleased · 6 years

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Fire Emblem Elibe - New Hidden Characters

Continuing on from the New Characters who joined automatically (or, in Bauker’s case, somewhat telegraphed recruitment requirements), there were also plans for three other characters to be promoted to playable (in the main game), albeit with more challenging or arcane requirements to recruit them. Two of these were for the FE7 side of the story, one of these was for the FE6 side, all of them are late-game units, and ones I wanted to keep the most held back for a surprise, but, since the projects probably not going to actually ever be a thing, anyway, might as well share those plans I had.

Careful, folks, under the cut, this gets pretty long.

Ursula

Recap/Summary: One of the Four Fangs, and technically the first one whose presence is felt. While perhaps the least “sympathetic” of the Fangs, Ursula still had a tragic quality both in the text and the subtext, between a manipulative, no doubt unrequited and exploitative relationship with Sonia, and the understanding that, Jaffar aside, the Fang used to be a noble if anti-heroic organization before Nergal and Sonia corrupted it, and Ursula was already one of the Four Fangs before they joined. Frankly, I just wanted to give her a chance.

Recruitment: Which is ironic to say given what you have to do to recruit her. First, talk to her in Chapter 26...with Nino. If you can somehow get Nino through the fog of war and Bolting, Nino will ask Ursula why they even had to kill Prince Zephiel in the first place...and keep asking her when each answer doesn’t satisfy her, until Ursula’s cool facade cracks and she admits that she doesn’t know, either, and has her own concerns. She doesn’t technically join the party, yet, but this does unlock 26x as well, and Ursula joins Nino and Jaffar in confronting Sonia, to which Sonia shows disappointment and casts Ursula aside. With lingering affection for Sonia holding her back, Ursula still only joins the fight as an allied NPC who otherwise doesn’t move. If she survives the Chapter, she finally joins as a playable character.

Gameplay: If you never recruited or used Priscilla that much, Ursula proves an alternative for your Mounted Magic User needs, especially given her very high Weapon Ranks compared to freshly promoted Priscilla. Her stats might pale a little bit in comparison, but Ursula would prove a very solid end game unit.

Supports: Ursula could support with the following characters: Vaida, Nino, Legault, Priscilla, Sain, Jaffar, Rath, Leila, and Karla. A lot of these supports would touch on a lot of tragic feelings: Ursula would’ve been resentful of Legault for being able to walk away from the Black Fangs despite being a founding member; Ursula would join Nino in mourning Lloyd, Linus, and Brendan; and talks with Rath and Karla would let her know more about Sacae, and of Uhai, another former member of the Fang. Priscilla and Sain would be somewhat of a bright spot, taking Priscilla on as an apprentice of her own without the manipulative relationship Sonia had with her, and Sain would continue to do his thing of helping his female partner forget her worries (she quickly makes it clear that no amount of flirting will actually woo her to him, but she appreciates his jovial company). With Vaida, Ursula is at first bitter to swallow her pride and apologize to her former “rival,” and though Ursula at first mocks her, she takes pity on her in their A Support, and offers for Ursula to ride with her in support of Zephiel, if it’d give her new purpose. In most of her endings, Ursula goes into hiding, living out her days in obscurity, continuing to pursue her knowledge of magic and history. In a paired ending with Nino, she even offers the girl a place to lie low until she can go back for her family after the events of FE6. However, if Ursula pairs with Vaida, she instead joins her as Zephiel’s “shadow,” and shows up with Vaida as an unnamed bonus boss during the fight in Chapter 22 of FE6.

Leila

Recap/Summary: This one was tricky. I mean, I always intended to have Leila become a playable character; she was too cool and had just the perfect potential Serra support not to promote to playable. The quandary was: what about her death in Chapter 18? I was really inclined to just dump it, since you didn’t need more of a reason to despise Ephidel, and the man-pain it brought Matthew and Hector was rote, less-so with Matthew, but, still, could’ve easily been dropped... But there was what it brought to Jaffar. The emotionally void Angel of Death, when he finally starts to become human, is confronted by the lover of one of his victims, repercussions of his deeds come back seeking revenge, and confronting him with the weight of his past. Entirely for what it does with Jaffar, that support works, and thus, Leila’s death works...but it can still work with her recruitment.

Recruitment: At the end of Chapter 27, after defeating Linus or Lloyd, and the last remnants of the Black Fang, Eliwood and co meet with Bramimond, the Enigma, the Legendary Hero who lost their soul and their identity to the Dark. To unlock Leila as a character, you’ll need to have deployed Matthew, Canas, and Pent during Chapter 27, and all three of them must have gotten at least one kill, each. So long as you’ve been using all three of them, there’s more than enough enemies to meet that bar, but the key word is using. Once you meet that requirement, during the meeting with Bramimond, a bonus scene plays out, where Canas and Pent seek to find out just why Apocalypse stole Bramimond’s soul while the other Legendary Weapons didn’t, to which Bramimond reveals that Apocalypse wasn’t the ultimate power of Dark Magic, but Oum. The magic of resurrection, which Bramimond was able to achieve. Hearing this, Hector immediately suggests using it to revive Elbert, but Bramimond explains that those whose Quintessence were drained and stolen could not be brought back. But Leila wasn’t; Matthew steps forward and pleads with Bramimond to bring her back. Bramimond tries, but, without her body present, and without using all their power for fear of their body deteriorating to nothing, Leila is brought back to life on borrowed time, doomed to pass on within a year’s time. Deciding to make the most of it, Leila joins the team to defeat Nergal. This also sets up just how Bramimond was able to completely resurrect Ninian, why that seemed to kill Bramimond, and why Ninian’s human life span was cut so short afterwards.

Gameplay: Like Jaffar, if you’ve been using Matthew and Legault strictly for their utility and not actually putting them in battle, Leila can function as a more combat oriented Assassin, and is, along with Jaffar, the most statistically capable of that class with the Strength, Skill and Speed to back it up. Using the absolutely bonkers stat growths hidden in the FE7 data, Leila would’ve just been insane, “held back” only by her “low” for an Assassin speed of “just” 26. She was, next to Athos, the “treat” character. You jumped those hoops, you have fun.

Supports: Leila would’ve supported with the following characters: Matthew, Hector, Serra, Jaffar, Raven, Guy, Karla, Ursula, and Bauker. Like with Ursula, Leila’s supports would have been on the more sad side of things, albeit presented with a stiff upper lip and attempt to be chipper. Her supports with Matthew, Hector, and especially Serra are her last chance to connect with and bond with her friends and loved ones before she dies for good, although Serra insists that, just because Leila’s on borrowed time, she not actually throw her new life away without fear, otherwise she’d never forgive you and “won’t eulogize your funeral.” With her past as a spy, Leila is able to confront Raven and help bring clarity and understanding as to what happened with his noble house, and impress on and convince Bauker to turn his talents to field intelligence rather than be strictly a soldier. She also gets a chance to forgive Jaffar, or, rather, allow him to make amends and wish him well on his journey of humanity. In her ending, Leila eventually settles down and just enjoys a quiet life before passing away peacefully. In a paired ending with Matthew, they have just enough time to sire a daughter, to carry on Leila’s memory after she’s gone.

Gale

Recap/Summary: The true Third Dragon General of Bern, made official after the death of Narcian, Gale is a noble, if grim, knight, ever true to Bern, whose only crime was committing to Zephiel and Murdock as much as his lover, Melady, committed to Guinevere. Though bearing no true ill will to Roy, Melady, or Zeiss, and indeed encouraging them to remain true to their convictions just as he does to his own. But does he really have to throw his life away for “honour?”

Recruitment: First, talk to him in Chapter 21 with Melady, the one time he shows any sort of hesitation in his conviction. Then, talk to him with Roy, which will prompt Guinevere to take the field and speak with Gale, herself, impressing on Gale just why Melady chose her instead of all of Bern. Realizing that, even though they’ve treated him personally well, Murdock and Zephiel aren’t best for Bern anymore, and wouldn’t have been exclusive in giving a lowly foreign-born like him a chance, Gale leads his squadron off the field, giving you room to breathe. So long as you quickly defeat Murdock afterwards, Gale will join the party at the end of the chapter.

Gameplay: Already a famed Dragon General and master knight, Gale serves as a sort of Physical version of Niime, the Hermit of the Mountain. He’s already got serviceable, boss-worthy stats, and has pretty much hit his ceiling, he doesn’t have much more room to grow after that, maybe a point in Luck or Defense, some complimentary HP bumps on his last two levels.

Supports: Gale would’ve supported with the following characters: Melady, Guinevere, Zeiss, Perceval, and Fae. Able to repair the rift between him and the other two wyvern riders, Gale would’ve been able to atone for his stubbornness and pride, and continue to act as support and guidance for the two promising knights. But the real meat of his supports would’ve been his chance to meet Fae, the divine dragon, and the youth of dragonkind, to see who Zephiel would’ve turned the world over to, and espousing some truth in Zephiel’s ideals, stripped away of all the bitterness and betrayal Zephiel himself went through that muddled and soured his outlook. In his ending, Gale would have voluntarily stepped down from his rank of Dragon General, serving as a humble rank-and-file captain in the standing army under Guinevere, out of respect for his new queen, and his initial opposing affiliation.

#sir aran wants to be a game designer #fire emblem elibe #spoilers

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pbpress · 5 years

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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - The Biggest Crossover in Gaming History

By Dan Smutek

A roster of seventy-four fighters is only part of what makes Super Smash Bros. Ultimate live up to its name. After Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS launched, the big question was “how can Super Smash Bros. get any better?”. The answers are found in Ultimate. Everyone who was ever featured in the Super Smash Bros. franchise has returned to reprise their role as a fighter. Of course, there are a handful of newcomers, but not as many as those featured in previous installments of the franchise. The selection of newcomers this time around is the most unique the franchise has seen so far. I mean, who expected Ridley after the game’s director, Masahiro Sakurai, said he was too large for development? Other noteworthy newcomers include King K. Rool from Donkey Kong Country, Simon Belmont from Castlevania, and Chrom from Fire Emblem: Awakening. All three were highly-requested newcomers to be featured in the franchise. And that’s the beauty of the game: it’s built upon not only the new methods of gameplay but also on the requests of the fans.

Don’t let anyone tell you Ultimate is a copy-paste of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Even though that’s what it looked like when first revealed, this is not true. In the Wii-U installment, “Classic Mode” was a distorted board game to say the least. Everything was randomized and the only boss fights featured were Master Hand, Crazy Hand, Master Core, and -- if you were able to take on 9.0 difficulty -- Master Fortress. It wasn’t the greatest work of the developers. However, Ultimate’s version of “Classic Mode” is simple, straightforward, and more enjoyable. Every individual character has a predetermined set of seven levels, each based around who they are. For example, Ryu will engage in one-on-one matches just like he would in the Street Fighter games. Only one stage is the same for every character, and that is the bonus round. It’s a minigame where fighters collect coins as they make their way to the end of the stage, avoiding a black hole that follows them slowly. The final stage is a boss fight. Master Hand and Crazy Hand have returned, but only select characters fight them. Other characters, based on who they are, will go against a different boss. (I.E. Simon Belmont will fight his nemesis, Count Dracula, Mario will fight Giga Bowser, and Link will face Ganon). There are three other bosses (in “Classic Mode”), but I leave that up to you to figure out who they are.

When you start the game, you’ll only have eight available characters. Yes, you’ll have to unlock sixty-six characters. Calm down, all you have to do is play the game. New challengers will show up at random times. Beat them, and they’ll become a part of your roster. The most efficient ways of provoking new challengers is by playing “Classic Mode” and “Adventure Mode” (you read that right, “Adventure Mode” has returned). Sometimes, you’ll lose in a match against a new challenger. Before you go throwing your controller at the screen because you didn’t beat Ridley or King K. Rool, know that if you play the game for a little while, you’ll have another chance to defeat them, thus adding them to your roster of fighters. An icon of a door will appear in the “Games and More” menu. This is known as “Challenger’s Approach”. Simply select your best fighter and defeat the new challenger.

New challengers can also appear in the new adventure mode, titled “World of Light”. A new enemy called Galeem captured seventy-three fighters and turned other characters -- who aren’t featured as fighters -- into spirits. Captured fighters were cloned, and spirits were forced to possess the lifeless clones (now known as puppet fighters). Only Kirby survived the onslaught. It’s up to him to confront and stop Galeem. Along the way, there will be multiple “spirit battles” and boss fights (much like the ones mentioned earlier). Additionally, players will have the opportunity to “awaken” captured fighters. If the awakened character isn’t already in the roster of fighters outside “World of Light”, they will be after they are defeated and awakened.

“Spirit battles” can also be accessed outside “World of Light”. Originally, characters not featured as fighters were depicted in the form of collectible trophies. In the development of Ultimate, however, Sakurai determined that trophies weren’t a good fit for the game. In the last video direct, he said that trophies were really difficult to develop. Now, characters not featured as fighters are featured as spirits. Backtracking to “World of Light”, Galeem deprived these characters of their physical forms, forcing them to become spirits. The spirits then possess puppet fighters, which have certain specialized abilities during battle (I.E. the enemy can turn metal, therefore making them harder to launch). Outside “World of Light”, there is a menu known as “Spirit Board”. There, players can access a variety of “spirit battles”, or battles against puppet fighters. If they are able to beat the puppet fighter, they can participate in a minigame to obtain the spirit used in battle. Over time, players will gather a variety of spirits they can use in battles (except for those in “Classic Mode”). Different spirits can grant different abilities to your fighter, as they do with puppet fighters. You can upgrade spirits and equip them with power-ups that can boost their defense, speed, and offense power. Spirits can also be paired up with figure players.

With the release of Super Smash Bros for Wii U and 3DS came the debut of amiibo figurines. This is Nintendo’s version of Skylanders. I’m inclined to believe amiibo figurines drew much more attention than Skylanders did. Amiibo figurines have a computer chip embedded into the base of the figure, and are compatible with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. When you scan one into the game, a fighter appears. You can customize this fighter with custom abilities and send it into matches. Figure players (or FPs) can level up as they fight more. Eventually, they’ll become near-unstoppable fighters. That is, if you train them extensively. Honestly, I think they have more display value.

I should also mention the two new gameplay modes that add a twist to the traditional multiplayer battles. “Squad Strike” allows for a six or ten player team battle.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate presents many ways to enjoy heated battles against video game allstars, and incorporates characters who aren’t featured as fighters in a creative way. And speaking of characters, six new fighters are on the way as downloadable content (DLC). At the time of which this is published, two have been revealed. If you register your physical copy of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with your “My Nintendo” account, Piranha Plant from the Super Mario Bros. franchise will be added to your roster of fighters upon its launch date. It will be available for purchase sometime in the future, but if you register your copy of the game, the fighter will be yours for free (until January 31st, 2019). Nintendo has also revealed that Persona 5’s Joker will be available for purchase as a DLC fighter in the future as well. More news pertaining to Ultimate’s DLC will come sometime in the future.

#dan smutek #culture #opinion #scitech

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memorylang · 3 years

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2020’s End and 2021’s Beginning | #48 | December 2020

If 2020 came in a flash, it ended with a fade. Still, it was a pleasant fade. I describe here my U.S. adventures from Christmas to New Year’s. For photos from these stories, you can check my WeChat or Instagram @memoryLang. I also reference tales from Christmas 2019 and New Year’s 2020, about which you can read in December 2019 and January 2020 stories. Onward to adventures!

Christmas 2020

Since my family couldn’t attend Midnight Mass as we usually do, a sister and I instead decided to carol at home. The year before, when I’d come home from Mongolia, we’d caroled at church. This time we caroled to Sister’s own piano accompaniment, with lyrics in old hymnals and online. We enjoyed singing harmonies inspired by Pentatonix and various years of choir. Through this, Dad mostly slept while other siblings did other activities. Our youngest sister was with her boyfriend’s family, our older brother with his girlfriend’s, and our stepsisters with our stepmom at their place.

On Christmas Day, my siblings and I readied the house while Dad helped our stepfamily finish cooking. The evening before, we’d done cleaning with Dad, too, but Dad always had more for us to do. Then the stepsisters and Tita arrived, bringing food with which we filled the kitchen island upon which my siblings and I had draped a large cloth. We watched online a Christmas liturgy while waiting for my older brother and his girlfriend to arrive, I botched the before-meal prayer since I was put on the spot, then we enjoyed a delicious meal of both American and Filipino dishes and desserts.

After the meal, we had about a half hour before Stepsisters needed to head to work, so we moved from the dining room to the living room for gifts. We began our Secret Santa. I delivered my gift first, to my youngest sister. She and the others felt amused that I’d simply wrapped the Amazon box in which her gifts came, scribbled out “Alexa” from some ads then wrote her name half a dozen times instead. Our oldest stepsister couldn’t make it since she was home with her partner and their newborn. But, she video called in to see my sibling’s reactions from her gift.

As gifts that I’d received from my youngest stepsister, I’d gotten new travel items, like a journal and eye mask. I felt delighted. From my dad and Tita, I received a new brainstorming notebook and a jacket coincidentally in my Hogwarts house colors of silver, black and yellow. From myself I received a CrashCourse Mongol t-shirt that even a Mongol friend recognized and loved!

National and State Parks, Monuments and Forests

From the next days, Dec. 26 to 29, my national parks friends and I embark on our last trip of the year, to see a collection of sights in Arizona. Over the next few days, we see Walnut Canyon, Petrified Forest, Meteor Crater, Sedona's Devil's Bridge and the Grand Canyon. I feel awed by the spectacles and amazed by the geological history of this earth. My friends and I take lots of photos.

As on our other road trips, we talk politics and life goals and telenovelas, too. As a group of minorities, we’re pleased with the presidential election results that released since our previous road trip. Still, we’re glad that the current administration has been able to get COVID-19 vaccines out to people even before the year’s end. I feel relieved that my prospects of returning to Peace Corps Mongolia seem more likely. Till then, we’re also glad that we’ll get more stimulus money to help cover our weird year’s last expenses. As for the telenovelas, I find out about Turkish and Hispanic stories, popular characters and a global community of viewers. Between the day’s adventures, I complete online at our hotels some freemium Pokémon yearend challenges, too.

Of the sights we behold, I’m most awed by the Grand Canyon. My family had visited it the year before we moved to Vegas, but that was over a decade ago. During that trip, my youngest brother had gone off the path to return down a slope to our minivan and had encouraged Mom to follow. Well, Mom slipped on the rocks and broke her ankle, which cut short that trip. I didn’t remember much from the Grand Canyon because of that.

On this trip, my friends and I see the snow-covered Canyon blanketed by encroaching cloud banks only sometimes split by sunlit rays. I love the rainbow of colors, from the red rocks to the aqua Colorado River. The pines of green and dark brown hold sheaths of white. The sky shows hints of violet from the blues and pink as our sun sets.

And the sheer faces of the rocks, my God—They were so steep! I’d wanted to hike into the Canyon, but the ice made that less safe. Instead, a friend and I hiked the southern Rim Trail to its first lookout points. I felt quite a fill of wonder. We saw fauna, too, perhaps elk. The animals added to the natural grandeur that we saw on our trek. With our trip having built up in scale from the smaller Walnut Canyon and Petrified Forest to the epic Devil's Bridge in Sedona, the Grand Canyon truly felt like our grand finale.

New Year’s Eve 2020

Just after midnight passed to begin Dec. 31, 2020, I was taking a few hours to wrap up my year-in-review post for WeChat, to share with my Chinese family and friends. Concluding it, I slept many hours. I re-awoke during what was daytime for Dec. 31 in Vegas but in Asia just past midnight to begin Jan. 1, 2021. For the next hour, Chinese and Mongol friends wished me Happy New Year, and I returned the greetings.

Vegas and Siblings

After I broke from my New Year’s greetings, my siblings and I spent a little over an hour playing Nintendo Switch games. My little sister with whom I’d sung carols on Christmas Eve did the “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” yearend event, so I joined her in co-op to gather resources on her island. Our younger brother wanted to play “Smash: Ultimate,” so the three of us played that next, including for the first time the Roy amiibo that our older brother had gifted me for my July 2020 birthday. I played a lot of Byleth and Corrin since I’d still “Fire Emblem: Three Houses” on my mind. (Just before Christmas, I’d finally reached the time skip in the Blue Lions story.)

After the games, our sister wanted to hike the Lone Mountain on the west side of the Vegas valley. So, we hopped in a sedan to ride over. Though on the day before, Sister had let me practice driving for my first time in over a year, I didn’t feel like asking to take on the highway. I comfortably rode in back.

The hike felt surprisingly strenuous, given that the small peak sat right there in Vegas. Though, our hike was much quicker than my national and state park and monument trails. The scenery reminded me of my trip to Red Rock Canyon back on Nov. 18 with another friend. With no discernable single path up Lone Mountain, I remembered hikes on Mongolia’s mountains. My siblings and I found its summit windy. I registered our names in a composition notebook at the top, then we proceeded down. On our way home, we passed through a shopping plaza from which I’d accompanied Tita to pick up food for my older brother’s March 2020 birthday. I felt amazed by how many months have passed.

Back at the Vegas house, I showered and had meal of Christmas leftovers. Then I finished packing my small personal item for my Allegiant flight, hopped back in a car with my younger sister, finished my last social post of 2020—a family-focused reflection—then began my march to airport security for Terminal A.

Even though I reached the airport at my flight’s boarding time, the place was so empty that I went through security and found my gate before staff finished boarding passengers. I’d received a message that a Mongol friend wanted me to review her personal statements before she submitted them for U.S. college applications. So, I finished reading and commenting on those aboard my flight before staff had us turn our devices to airplane mode. I felt stressed about having dropped my learner’s permit card somewhere, penned a last journal entry of 2020, slept through most of my flight then felt relieved when a flight attendant found my ID card before our plane descended.

Reno and Friends

I disembark from my flight to Reno just after 8:40 p.m. I feel touched on my walk from the terminal by the voice of Mayor Schieve in an ad, “If this is your first visit or your home away from home, welcome to Reno.” At this moment I realize that Reno really is my home away from home.

I exit the airport, where my guy friend who’d married last year walks up to me. To my surprise, his red sports jersey contains two Chinese characters, “火箭,” in gold across the top. He asks about their meaning. Given that we’re at New Year’s Eve, I think at first, “fireworks.” But, I know those characters as “烟火” /yānhuǒ/.

Certainly, his jersey’s first character, “火” /huǒ/, means “fire.” As for the second, I only recognize parts. The top’s ⺮ /zhú/ radical means “bamboo,” while the bottom part resembles “前” /qián/, which means “before.” As for what fire, bamboo and before mean together, I’m not sure.

While we walk, I at last consult my Pleco dictionary app. I scribble in the “箭” to see that it’s pronounced /jiàn/ and means “arrows.” This explains the presence of the bamboo radical. Thus, “fire” and “arrows” taken together, “火箭” /Huǒjiàn/, mean, “Rockets.” My friend explains that this is a sports team.

After getting in the red vehicle with his wife whose first wedding anniversary was just the day before, my friend explains that he’d gotten to learn about Chinese characters in his religious studies course about contemporary Daoism. So cool!

The couple and I had kept in touch the past year over video, but this New Year’s Eve is our first time together in the same city since my return to the Peace Corps in January. I’m elated to see them again! My friends and I arrive at the newish fencing studio of our friend who owns it and was part of their wedding party last year. Turns out that he’s relocated to a larger studio since the time that my friends took me fencing in the spring of 2018, before my second trip to China. This new studio used to be a mechanic shop apparently, so it’s quite spacious.

2020 Ends in Dodgeball

Though I don’t recognize the few others present, I’m warmly greeted by one who’s the girlfriend of our fencing friend. She introduces me to others. I’m touched by folks’ inclusiveness. I’m amazed to find on the food table Pizza Plus, as, just a few days before, I’d weirdly craved some Reno-Sparks Pizza Plus (which I hadn’t eaten in over a year). God blesses us.

For the next few hours, after a series of mostly leg stretches, we play a physically distant sport that I haven’t played in years, dodgeball. While I’m not used to dashing with a facemask on and sanitizing my hands between rounds, I have great fun. While my aim remains lacking, I can for the most part still dodge, and I’m able to swipe balls to hand to my more capable teammates. To my surprise, I receive MVP status from folks after finishing a round by catching a teammate’s fumble and getting our last opponent out.

A couple hours in, we switch games to a form of “Mushroom Ball,” a free-for-all type of dodgeball game in which we individually try to take out other players before someone gets us. In this game that we play till just before midnight, I do much better. I’m able to catch and throw at close range against folks who don’t notice me. Still, the amount of times others hit me causes me to really work my legs, since we squat when we’re out. My legs haven’t recovered much from the recent dodgeball, the afternoon Lone Mountain hike nor the evening flight from Vegas. Yet, I love the fun.

2021 Begins

My friends new and old walk out into the cold night of light snow, where one pops a shower of confetti and another a champagne bottle when we see fireworks appear across the valley of Reno-Sparks. We chat about our resolutions and take selfies. I recount memes about how saying, “2021,” sounds like, “2020 won.” We laugh and return inside as the wind picks up.

I discover that I don’t much like the taste of even flavored champagne, but thankfully my friends’ cookies have enough sweetness to cut the bitterness. My friends mention that their family always bakes holiday cookies, which brings back vague memories from their wedding when I stayed with their family at an Airbnb. Our 2019 had ended in what felt such different times.

My friend in the Rockets jersey talks up my accomplishments and Mongolia service, which makes me feel both bashful and delighted. Turns out that some of the folks at this little get-together had been looking into Peace Corps service! I share my experiences with them and my hope to return. One woman and I had even taken a class together in fall 2017, which feels like a remarkable blast from my undergrad past. Before the couple who brought me from the airport drives me to my family’s house, I exchange contact info with my new friends. I’m surprised to realize that the new fencing studio is just a few blocks from the neighborhood in which I’d lived from fall 2017 to spring 2019 graduation.

Into the New Year

I arrive at the now-quiet Reno house, where I continue to exchange New Year’s greetings over social media well past midnight. I shower then get my bearings while others are still out and about. After resting away the rest of my morning from aching over the eve’s soreness, I play some seasonal events on the freemium Pokémon games. Then, I reengage on social media with New Year’s greetings.

Quite liking the quiet home, I bring together this New Year’s blog story. Oddly enough, many of the couches that were in Vegas during Christmas are now here in Reno, since my parents and siblings had moved them while I was in Arizona. Curiously, the little neighbor boy had alluded to this when calling from his window when he saw me having just returned to Vegas. Before I’d left Vegas for Reno, I’d seen him on a hoverboard that he and his siblings had gotten for Christmas, reminding me of the one that my Mongol host family had gotten the August 2019 week when we’d said goodbye.

Here in Reno, there are Christmas leftovers brought up from Vegas, too. So, I’m grateful not to cook. For dinner, I reunite with the couple who’d greeted me last night, and we enjoy sushi to celebrate the end of their brief return to northern Nevada, in the fellowship of our fencing instructor friend and his girlfriend. I heard such wonderful stories from everyone and feel quite inspired for whatever blessings may come. Life’s been nice.

My New Year’s theme is, “serenity,” through which I mean to focus less on the things I can’t control and more on those that I can. Part of this will involve closing up some old projects and making myself ready to go back to Mongolia as soon as the time comes. This is at least going to soak up the first quarter or half of 2021. Perhaps when I’m back in Mongolia I’ll focus more on readjusting.

In the meantime, I’m trying to finish moving through the stories, “Kafka on the Shore” and “The Brothers Karamazov,” while I work on my memoir writing. I’m looking to finish my close-read of “The Souls of Mao” while I re-re-(re-, etc.)revise my thesis for journal submission. And, I’m looking to complete “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” while I tidy my things. I always welcome new suggestions to my lists, and you can see mine on Goodreads.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

I look forward to writing to you soon in 2021. May you stay vigilant against the spread of the Coronavirus disease, as we await wider access to vaccines. I pray that soon our lives will open into the new world that we’ll know when we can at last be together again.

Sincerely, Daniel Lindbergh Lang

You can read more from me here at DanielLang.me :)

#Peace Corps #Mongolia #memoir #WithMe #story #Catholic #memoryLang #Nevada #Arizona #Las Vegas #Reno #winter #travel #COVID-19 #newyear #Christmas #holidays #Grand Canyon #books #Nintendo

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mirairambles · 7 years

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Fire Emblem Warriors [Nintendo Switch] - Review

Fire Emblem Warriors is the latest entry into Koei Tecmo’s Warriors series of hack-and-slash video games. Based upon Nintendo’s Fire Emblem franchise, Fire Emblem Warriors combines the tactical elements and characters of the Fire Emblem series, with the general gameplay of the Warriors series. The game follows 2014′s Hyrule Warriors as the second collaboration title between a Nintendo franchise and Koei Tecmo’s Warriors; with the 2014 title featuring characters from The Legend of Zelda series. Many gameplay elements from that game are present in Fire Emblem Warriors, though both games are different enough that one may like one, but not the other; they are, however, also similar enough that it would be very easy to compare them to one another, which many have done and will continue to do.

The plot of Fire Emblem Warriors is a rather simple one: an ancient beast known as the Chaos Dragon has been reawakened after thousands of years, and the main characters - a pair of twins and the prince and princess of Aytolis, Rowan and Lianna - have to use the Fire Emblem (which, in this game, is known as the Shield of Flames) in order to seal it away once more. Characters from other Fire Emblem titles - most notably Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, Awakening, and Fates - also appear in the game as playable warriors, with their appearances being the work of Outrealm Gates created by the Chaos Dragon as it awakens.

While the Warriors series has never been especially known for its stories, it is hard to deny that the plot of Fire Emblem Warriors is especially lazy. Hyrule Warriors features a similar premise, though as the Zelda series all takes place within one world over many millennia (unlike Fire Emblem, in which many games take place within their own worlds and are not linked to each other), they use the idea of time being distorted in order to explain the appearances of heroes from multiple different games. In addition, the 2017 title Warriors All-Stars, which features characters from several different IPs owned by Koei Tecmo, similarly focuses around a number of different characters being taken from their worlds in order to save the one that the main protagonists reside in. Both of the aforementioned titles however make these plots more interesting by using characters created specifically for these crossover titles - namely Lana and Cia for Hyrule Warriors and Tamaki, Shiki, and Setsuna for Warriors All-Stars. Fire Emblem Warriors features the royal twin stars of the game - the aforementioned Rowan and Lianna - as well as the prince of the neighbouring kingdom of Gristonne, Darios (who, despite being present throughout the entire game, can not be played as). Unlike the characters of other titles however, Rowan and Lianna don’t really have anything to make them interesting and do not stand out at all among the other characters of the game. Lianna is described as a more studious woman, and her brother is more excitable, wanting to forego becoming king in order to become a knight instead. These are all of the characteristics of the characters; they barely even stand out among the protagonists of other RPG series.

Fire Emblem Warriors features a total of 23 different characters to play as; with an additional 2 characters being genderswapped versions of the avatar characters from Awakening and Fates. While an impressive number, very few characters have unique movesets - in fact. there are only 16 movesets. Without purchasing DLC, Hyrule Warriors for the Wii U featured 21 unique movesets - or, should one count characters included in free updates, 25 unique movesets; the port of the game for the New Nintendo 3DS, released in 2016, featured 37 unique movesets in the base game. Considering this, it isn’t hard to be just a little bit disappointed when you unlock a new character only to learn that you’ve already played their moveset before. One of my personal gripes when it comes to movesets are that a number of characters fight on horseback. Riding on horseback is a feature present in many Warriors games, but in most cases it’s optional; in Fire Emblem Warriors, some characters can only be played as while on horseback. While some may not see this as a problem, I personally find that playing as mounted units is a challenging endeavour, as they lack the precision that other characters have, and at times the camera will lag behind their quicker attack movements. While this normally wouldn’t be a problem, almost a third of the playable characters - 7 of the 23 - are mounted units, meaning that in most battles, you’ll have to deal with at least one being in your party.

Surprisingly enough, many of the Fire Emblem series’ gameplay elements mesh quite well with the Warriors hack-and-slash gameplay. Fire Emblem Warriors allows players to command their units using a tactical grid almost identical to the gameplay spaces of Fire Emblem titles, and players can also pair units up in order to have them attack together and increase their bonds. This whole idea is hindered however when you can’t necessarily choose who you bring into battle - even in Free Mode (and if you can, the game doesn’t make it clear; even after reading through the tutorials multiple times, I still can’t figure it out)!

Unfortunately, praise can not be handed out to all of the gameplay elements. Fire Emblem notably features a weapons triangle - units wielding certain weapons deal more damage against units wielding others. Fire Emblem Warriors takes this element, but the more frantic and fast-paced gameplay makes it harder to keep track of which enemies have what. Additionally, although I’m not sure whether I’m to blame or the game is, the orders given to units through the tactical grid are not always followed by the CPU units; one time I had ordered Hinoka (a Pegasus Knight weak to Archer units) to stay at the allied base and away from the target (an Archer), and yet somehow she ended up across the map and getting killed by them, meaning I can no longer use her in battle. Though not a huge loss, as I disliked playing as her anyway, it nevertheless made me extremely frustrated. This happened a few times to me, and I even considered switching from Classic Mode (units that are defeated remain unusable) to Casual Mode (units that are defeated come back in the next battle) out of frustration (though I did not).

In addition to the game’s story mode, the game also includes a “History Mode”. History Mode allows the player to revisit battles from previous Fire Emblem games, and complete new scenarios in order to advance through these events. This mode is comparable to Hyrule Warriors’ Adventure Mode, and players are even able to unlock certain characters by playing through this mode (namely female Robin, male Corrin, Lyn from The Blazing Blade, and Celica from Shadows of Valentia). Both the History Mode and story mode suffer from a common problem: they lack identity. Aside from the tactical map and weapons triangle, the game feels very... bland and devoid of character. While the gameplay does feel smoother than Hyrule Warriors, Warriors All-Stars also used the same fundamentals and built a game that feels more unique and interesting than the end result of Fire Emblem Warriors. Something that helps with this are the game’s stages - Hyrule Warriors and Warriors All-Stars feature many stages with unique designs inspired by the games represented, but Fire Emblem Warriors’ stages, at least from what I can tell, all seem to be generic areas created specifically for this game. While that could be good (other Warriors games often prove this to be true), the maps generally all follow similar design principles, meaning that they all blend together and do not feel unique; more, they feel like backdrops to a battle instead of the setting of a battle.

One other major criticism comes from Fire Emblem Warriors’ incredibly annoying voice samples and portrayals, with the English voices seeming more like a distraction than an actual part of the game. The original Japanese voices are also not in the game by default, and must be downloaded (thankfully they’re free).... though the frequency of the playing of certain voice lines is still incredibly annoying.

In certain ways, the game improves over Hyrule Warriors, but ultimately it falls flat when compared to it. The game’s lack of identity is its biggest flaw. I would personally recommend this game to fans of the more recent entries into the Fire Emblem series, though those that do not enjoy them, or the series as a whole, will likely not get as much out of this game. Fans of other Warriors titles may also want to try this game out, but I hesitate in saying that all fans of that series will enjoy it. I went into the game with low expectations, but I come out with very mixed feelings about wanting to go back to complete the game 100%.

#fire emblem #fire emblem awakening #fire emblem warriors #fire emblem: awakening #fire emblem fates #fire emblem: fates #fire emblem shadow dragon #fire emblem: shadow dragon #fe warriors #fe #marth #lucina #nintendo switch #new nintendo 3ds #3ds #nintendo #switch #nintendo 3ds

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dreadwhoop · 7 years

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How about another review? Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse is a 2016 3DS title RPG by Atlus. It's about a Demon Hunter who collects Demons and uses them to fight other Demons whilst talking with them recruiting new Demons to the cause ultimately fusing Demons to make stronger ones. The main appeal is bosses you fight can later on become your minions incentivising the progress going from having Dwarves and Centaurs as your minions to fully-fledged deities from major mythologies and religions all serving your cause. It follows directly from the events of 2013's SMTIV and whilst it would be fair to recommend the predecessor the truth is the more obvious problem of recommending SMT in general when compared to its spin-off Persona, the far more popular Pokemon, and even recent triumphs such as Undertale - all of which owe more respect to this series than it'll ever attain.

In essence, SMTIVA (or simply 4A) is a celebration of 25 years (30 if you count its own origins from Digital Devil Story) to remain relevant to an audience ever-changing in its tastes. Much like 2013's Fire Emblem: Awakening, one of the major changes is a wider difficulty setting. It's become a running gag to complain about SMT's punishing difficulty and SMTIV's inability to recognise this, matched with the first 1/4's pace, meant it alienated both new and returning players to which behind such an outer mask of ugliness shined a beautiful latter 3/4 length of quality: you only had the choice between difficulties if you sucked at the game or completed it. 4A nails the early part by having a rolling start to events - you are in the midsts of the concluding parts of SMTIV, the strongest part of the last game, and different events will lead to an even greater experience. The other glaring difference is having FIVE SAVE FILES. I know this sounds dumb but SMTIV only had 2 and there was a point in the game where I almost crippled my progress biting off more than I could chew. Luckily I managed to struggle out of the situation but I've heard stories from friends I've bought this game for talk about getting 20-30 hours in and then hitting a perma-death wall because they couldn't figure out how to defeat a boss they've locked themselves in thus giving a bitter aftertaste to a game with so much potential. 4A's ability to have over twice the chances and more options, combined with difficulty switching on the fly, means there's no excuse now not to give this series a try.

Gameplay-wise, Atlus has tuned up the UI, the navigation of menus, and moving around the world becomes intuitive rather than memory-intensive, checklisting what needs doing constantly, in favor of a linear design which gives you room to approach solutions in a more varied manner. The abilities now work on an affinity/deficiency system to raise and reduce mana costs and give more emphasis on what certain demons can do making them appeal more than before. Likewise the soundtrack's composition by Ryota Koduka is superior - I did feel at first it wasn't elevated beyond a standard set in the last game but by the end it surpassed his SMTIV results by implementing the best parts of those tracks and improving other ones with new tracks sounding quintessentially SMT. The story length is impressive - it's longer than SMTIV. I was not expecting this to be anywhere near the length of SMTIV because of the decreased staff but Yusuke Miyata and Kazuma Kaneko really outdid themselves. Likewise the art by Masayuki Doi and Kazuma Kaneko is outstanding - the characters here are much more layered than the obvious "whose side are you on" characters in SMTIV both in their looks and motives. I genuinely enjoyed how integral returning characters and new characters felt never once boring on their presence and growing beyond cliches. By the end they had good reasons to exist alongside your decisions rather than complimenting you for choosing what they wanted. The final sequence is a rollercoaster of masterful highs and doesn't relent making you feel accomplished in reaching the climax to what is a well-deserved challenge and well-attained victory.

There are some minor downsides - I did not find the side-quests memorable because they spontaniously appear in your log rather than going out of your way to explore the world and interact with specific Demons and characters to make the immersion higher (one of the only times this happens is when you need to collect a certain Demon for a Weapon but it's unfortunately cryptic and requires a little lateral thinking to understand) but then the quality of life to not be tied to such things in order to get the definitive ending, as was with SMTIV, is such an upside it's forgivable. I found some of the special fusions from SMTIV missing and becoming basic fusions which was a dissapointment making them feel less important than before. The only other issue is you'll be constantly pleading povety to keep up with the absurd demands of this game's upgrading system - if you spec out a specific way, grind a bit to keep yourself honest, and generally know what to expect because you're using a guide then yeah you'll know how to avoid such things however for a pure blind experience with no spoilers it can be a little middling to afford the ideal fusions or items all at once. Doesn't make the game any less fun it just means you'll have to be wise on what you buy or the game will become artificially lengthened.

I wouldn't pen such recommendations unless I felt they deserved to be just this - recommendations. There's no point talking about games I cannot put my heart into and truly compare to any other great experience in my life, game-related or not, and 4A really is a gamer's game - it was made by gamers for gamers. We often put a critical lens to games getting remastered or remade such as the recent Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy or Sonic Mania and whilst they both succeed in breathing new life into their own series, 4A is a game you can skip SMTIV for to get an experience many miss out. I'd like to shame Nintendo for their absolute distain to promote this title for it's one of the best choices for the 3DS and as an RPG stands with the greats.

Also if you don't find the idea of beating a giant green penis on a chariot appealing then I have no words to justify how boring your life must be.

#SMTIVA #smt iv apocalypse #4A #Hey come on #Mara is the greatest penis #Demon Fusion

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cawfulopinions · 7 years

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Fire Emblem Fates: Just Shove Your Children into the Puberty Void

I really wanted to like Fire Emblem Fates. I really, really did.

But there’s only just so much anime I can take, you guys.

Fire Emblem Fates is the fourteenth entry in the long running Fire Emblem series of fantasy, turn-based strategy games. The series has always made itself distinct from other games in the same genre with its strong sense of fantasy aesthetic, its character writing, and smooth, smooth animation, but has always failed to get traction in the West due to its difficulty and occasional iffy mechanics choices. Fates’ predecessor, Awakening, sold very well, however, and proved that there was a place for Fire Emblem in the states, but sacrificed a lot of franchise difficulty, so Fates promised to give an experience that both fans of Awakening and fans of previous Fire Emblems could enjoy.

It… certainly tried. I don’t think it quite got there, but it tried. But there was a lot going on along the way that makes me question what the hell they were thinking.

Fates, ultimately, feels like it’s torn between being a Fire Emblem entry and being a cool light novel that all of the kids will like. There’s a lot that feels like it was cribbed from the latest cheap anime on the airwaves, just for the sake of appealing to people who’re into that. It’s a very weird atmosphere and it doesn’t really fit for what Fire Emblem has previously been. There’s some serious war drama, but there’s also some creepy incest stuff involving your non-blood related siblings and a lot of fanservice. There’s this soap opera stuff involving whether you should be loyal to your birth family or your adoptive family, but also a dimension crossing dragon man’s evil army that wants to destroy the world. There’s DLC gating. There’s a lot of DLC gating.

It’s not a bad game, persay, but… well, there’s a lot to talk about. Let’s dive in.

Disclaimer: All images in this long pile of salt are either pulled from official Nintendo press releases or official art, from Miiverse posts, or from other sources. Every image is a legitimate image from the localization, at least as far as I can tell. There’s exactly one image I ‘capped myself, and it’s because I wanted a good shot of a booty. Otherwise, I didn’t screencap them. Please excuse my laziness.

So before we get into my gripes with the writing, let’s talk mechanics. Fates is split into two versions, Birthright and Conquest, with a third route titled Revelations available as DLC. Each of the versions sports a different plotline, with different units and different maps. However, rather than each game being their own separate thing, the three routes actually branch from a single choice point a couple chapters into the game, after which point you’re locked into one version’s storyline.

The three versions offer different gameplay experiences – Birthright has you supporting Hoshido and is most similar to Fates’ predecessor, with access to skirmishes to level your units and a generally easier experience; Conquest has you supporting Nohr and is a fairly traditional Fire Emblem experience, so resource management is the name of the game; and Revelations has you rejecting both countries and running off with the intended blue-haired waifu, and features several unique map mechanics and access to almost all units from both games, opening up strategies and marriage options that aren’t available in the other two versions.

This is basically foreplay for these two.

These are all pretty ambitious ideas, so it’s a shame that they all just… don’t really work. For starters, unit types are largely divided by kingdom, which creates some weird balance issues. The majority of the units you get while playing with Hoshido are samurai, ninjas, and mages – speedy foot units with low defense –while the majority of your mounted units are Pegasus knights – low defense, low HP flying units who are vulnerable to archers, which Nohr has in spades. Which is a problem, because the majority of the Nohr units… are slower, hard-hitting mounted units who can tank hits way better than you can. When playing on Birthright, you have to work for your mounted and tanky units, as for a long time the only non-flier mounted unit is Silas, a defector from Nohr who brings along the precious Cavalier class, which can reclass into the tankier Great Knight class. It’s a helpful move, but it’s just not enough a lot of the time.

In a move that’s clearly meant to balance them, Nohr’s units tend to have low resistance, making them more vulnerable to magic. This makes Conquest an exercise in frustration all on its own because the enemy AI on Conquest can afford to throw endless mages and ninjas at you to carve through your resistance and lower your stats with their throwing knives. And, of course, there’s the occasional Spear Fighter with a Beast Killer spear there specifically to fuck up all of your mounted units’ days,

Only on Revelations do you have access to units to both types, since you get every recruitable unit between both games, save for a few specific plot units who you could only support off with the Avatar anyways. Besides the absolute pile of warm bodies you’re suddenly given, it opens up a larger experience with the game and better strategies you can now put into place… so it’s a damn shame that the route’s only available as paid DLC, and not as the base game.

Unfortunately, all three routes (but especially Birthright and Conquest) have a particularly damning, unfun issue: their map design sucks. It’s awful. The maps are almost entirely designed around the quality of “how can we make it easy for everyone ever to get swarmed by everything” and it makes everything an exercise in frustration. There’s one particular map in Birthright where you’re storming a fort, and the lead up to the fort is a large, open field, and the moment you move into one enemy’s range, you’ve basically moved into every enemy’s range, and whoever you send up there is about to get swarmed by everything. Which is an issue, because your tankier units are in short supply, and there’s only so much that Pair Up can do to fix everyone’s defensive issues.

This map’s probably the most extreme case, but it’s far from the only one; several of the maps can more or less be described in qualities of either “big open rectangles” or “awful mazes of corridors”. There’s also a surprising dearth of interesting terrain – I think I can count the number of maps with actual forest tiles on one hand, and since the final chapters on both Birthright and Conquest are all indoors, the terrain’s even more limited.

Making things a bit more interesting is the Dragon Vein mechanic – every map has special tiles that can be activated by any members of royalty you have in your team due to their draconic heritage, causing different effects depending on the map you’re on. These can be used against you or to your benefit, since there are more than a few maps involving you fighting the opposite kingdom’s royalty too. Honestly, it’s probably the shining feature of the game, aside from the rebalanced Pair Up mechanics, and I’d like to see something like it return in later games.

It’s fairly obvious from how the routes were designed and the various balance issues that appear that the decision to split the game into three full games worth of content meant nothing was really properly balanced. Admittedly, difficulty is subjective, but for me, Birthright, when played on Normal, was disgustingly easy. When played on Hard, it was a ball-raking experience in frustration and bullshit deaths. Conquest remains frustrating for the entire experience, especially if you’re playing on Classic, but it never feels frustrating in a fun way – it always feels like you’re clawing against the game, desperately trying to find a foothold while you’re being relentlessly carved apart by a million ninjas. And for all of their difficulty, Fire Emblem games do generally feel fair about it. It never feels unwinnable unless you’re on, like, Lunatic or some shit. But god, there were legitimately moments in Fates where I felt like snapping my 3DS in half because it felt flat out unfair.

You can change the difficulty mid-game, but you can only turn it down – Hard to Normal to Easy, Classic to Casual to Phoenix, where units, upon dying, come back the next turn. There’s basically no middle ground when it comes to difficulty – either you’re coasting through with absolutely no challenge whatsoever, or the game actually has your testicles in a vicegrip. Doesn’t help that the game gives you a few really good units in the form of your royal siblings, some of which come pre-promoted, and others with their own unique weapons. In fact, Ryoma’s weapons and stats are so good that people have actually soloed Birthright with him.

Beware the lobster man, for his lust for destruction is endless.

On the subject of weapons, Fates does away with something that’s been a series standard for decades – weapon durability. Instead, the game gives you several weapons with several differing effects – for example, the Sunrise Katana gives the wielder an insane dodge rate, but has a lower strength. Extra weapons can be forged into one another, letting you steadily improve their stats and, over time, make a weapon far superior to the one you started with. This is a pretty contentious subject in the fandom, but honestly? I don’t have any problems with it. Healing staves still have durability, and it means I don’t feel afraid to use my cool weapons like I always do in other Fire Emblems.

It also carries over the Pair Up mechanic Awakening introduced, with some new balancing to it – now, units can only aid in attacks if they’re standing to the side of the units in question, and only defend if they’re paired up with (on the same space as) another unit. Enemy units can also pair up, which leads to a lot of frustrating moments when you’ve got two heavily defensive units bottlenecking an area and you’ve got to get past them to make progress. Still, it’s an improvement, and I’d like to see it come back in a game with more unit variety, so I could fully take advantage of it.

Another thing Fates introduces is unique skills for every character – some get bonuses depending on the type of terrain they’re on, or the characters they’re around. Others have conditional bonuses or abilities, like Orochi and Niles being able to “capture” units that can be convinced to join your army, or Sophie being able to strip enemy units every now and then. This is actually a pretty cool thing overall and it really makes me think more about who to use beyond just stats and if I like them or not.

There’s also been several changes to how supports work, specifically through the addition of the A+ rank and the new class change seals that have been added. While S-rank is still exclusive to units of different sexes (symbolizing them getting married), A+ notes a “best friend” unit of the same sex, and like S-rank, every unit can only A+ rank once. The new Marriage and Friend seals allow a unit access to classes of their maxed out ranks, giving greater variety in the skills and classes they can earn. It’s a nice change. Master Seals are still in, as are a new variant that allows a child unit to upgrade to a promoted class immediately after recruitment if they’re recruited after a certain point in the game.

…but we’ll get to that later.

There’s also the My Castle, which is an expansion of Awakening’s barracks, and is honestly such a weird part of the game that it barely garners mentioning. It’s where your shops are, and over time you can add more facilities, gather materials to use to upgrade your items and make stat boosting food with, and participate in some faux-multiplayer matches to get points for other upgrades. It’s interesting, but its existence is… odd, especially since the plot explanation for it has to deal with Fates’ weird flirtation with alternate universe bullshit.

…but we’ll get to that later.

Overall, the mechanical changes are for the better, it’s just they’re marred by a lot of other dumb shit. Like the map design, the terrible balancing, and Jesus Christ, can I just have a knight, please, so I can stop getting punched in the face???

This is all without getting into the story, writing, and aesthetic, which is some of the most contentious in the franchise for a good reason. It’s, to be frank, kind of bad. It’s weird and anime in ways that Fire Emblem hasn’t really been in the past, and it feels more like I’m playing a not-so-great light novel adaptation than a fantasy war simulator. And it’s not like Fire Emblem isn’t tropey – for how much people love it, Sacred Stones’ plot sure wasn’t winning too many writing awards, and a good chunk of Awakening’s characters are better described by what anime tropes they adhere to – but Fates really goes all in, complete with some of my least favorite tropes: people being prideful about dumb shit, and sibling fetishism, because no light novel style plot is complete without siblings who want to bang the protagonist.

Some, more blatantly than others.

So here’s the basic outline of the start of the plot: the player Avatar (default name Corrin) is one of Nohr’s princes/princesses, and have been raised in seclusion in a castle distant from Nohr’s capital. Your siblings, who are also children of the king, Garon, have visited you over the years to keep you company and have grown very close to you. After a series of events, Corrin is captured by Hoshido, the neighboring kingdom, it’s revealed that the protagonist was actually born a prince/princess of Hoshido and was kidnapped by Garon in a previous war. In retaliation, Hoshido kidnapped a Nohrian princess, Azura, and raised her among their royalty. A rapid series of events take place following these reveals, with the Hoshidan queen being assassinated through a curse on your sword and the sudden attack of half-invisible soldiers, Corrin suddenly turning into a dragon, and Nohr invading Hoshido, all leading up to the moral choice that marks the version split: do you stay with Hoshido, the family you were born with; do you return to Nohr, the family you were raised by; or do you seek a third path?

So let’s talk about something that becomes very, very obvious when you start off: Nohr is evil. Nohr is hilariously evil. One of the literal first things that happen after you meet Garon is him ordering you to execute a pair of prisoners who were captured in a recent skirmish. When you don’t execute them, and your brother Leo pretends to execute them for you so you can let them go later, you find out that your siblings have to do this shit all the time and spend a lot of time only really following the letter of the order under ol’ Dad. One of the next things that happens is you walking in on Garon literally praying to an evil dragon skull. Basically every Nohrian army executive you meet who isn’t one of your siblings or their retainers is also some degree of evil and/or stupidly bloodthirsty. When you get to Hoshido, you find out that Nohrian mages have been sending literal animated corpses over to Hoshido to fuck shit up and just letting them do whatever they want, because Hoshido has a magic barrier keeping Nohr from directly invading it around it (in fact, this is why the queen had to be assassinated in such a roundabout way).

So when the route choice is presented, it’s supposed to be less “I want to be with this family” and more “I want to stop Nohr” and “I want to change Nohr from within”. Or at least that’s the intent. And while much ado has been made about Treehouse’s various translation changes (which I will not be getting into here, because that’s a can of worms I ain’t touchin’), the changes made at the route split were absolutely for the better. In Japan, when you choose to go with your Hoshidan family, it’s explicitly because they’re your birth family. In the NA version, it’s because you can’t reconcile your own morals with what Nohr’s done.

The weird part is, it really would not have been that hard to present Nohr in a sympathetic light – it’s stated that due to their perpetual night and poor weather, they have always had poor crop yields and had to invade other countries to support themselves, and ultimately it’s Garon’s dickishness that’s perpetuating the war. Previous Fire Emblems have also had antagonistic, but sympathetic enemy armies, including the Plegians from Awakening, who go to war in the first place because their mad tyrant wants revenge for the previous slights of Ylisse. So Nohr’s levels of cartoonish evil aren’t because it’s not a thing the franchise does… it’s because they just didn’t want to put the effort in to make it actually nuanced.

From the choice point onward, the plots follow three different paths. Birthright’s path is a fairly standard trudge through a Fire Emblem plot. I’ve heard it called the best “plot” out of the two starting routes, but I think that’s more because its plot is actually paced out well and doesn’t spend the first 15 chapters fucking around making you do Garon’s dirty work and complaining about it ad nauseum. What makes Birthright annoying is in the individual plot beats. There’s two distinct instances of characters killing themselves for no goddamn reason that occur during the story, and while the writers clearly want you to feel something during them, the actual reasons and circumstances are so contrived it’s hard to feel anything about it.

*muffled Rihanna plays in the background*

Furthermore, the further you get into Birthright, the more contrived the reasons for your Nohrian siblings to not ally with you get – Elise is blatantly on your side (and gets a storyline death for it), Camilla is clearly considering defecting before some contrived plot bullshit happens to make her want your friends dead again, and Xander and Leo just keep fighting you for reasons. Reasons that are never adequately explained beyond “Me Nohr, you Hoshido, you traitor, blaaaaaaugh”.

“Contrivance” is the name of the game with Conquest, too, which sounds like it’s going to have a sneaky storyline about you trying to pull a coup on Garon and change Nohr that way, but is actually about you putting down rebellions for him and fucking up Hoshido because you found out that he’s secretly a monster, and the only way to convince your siblings that he’s a monster is to sit him on Hoshido’s magic throne, because the plot device that Azura pulled out of her ass to reveal this to you with was a one-time use. And your character complains about this a lot. A lot. Half of the dialogue between them and any members of the Nohrian army boils down to “BUT WHY—“ and then your siblings rushing in and saying that yes, you’ll do the evil thing, don’t worry about a thing, and then your character resuming complaints. By the end of the game, you succeed on putting Garon on the throne, revealing that he’s a gross monster, kill said gross monster, and then have a surprise boss fight with a possessed Takumi, who had previously appeared to kill himself for inadequately explained reasons.

No matter which route you finish first (because let’s be real, you have to pay extra for Revelations, so you’re definitely not playing it first), you’re going to be left with a lot of unanswered questions, first and foremost being “Who were those semi-invisible enemies I fought all the time? What was up with that alternate dimension I fell into with Azura that one time in Conquest? Why were Takumi and Garon possessed by weird gross monsters? Why did Azura just suddenly die at the end for no real reason?” Good news: these are all explained if you buy Revelations. Bad news: You have to buy Revelations to even get so much of a semblance of an explanation, because otherwise these plot things are all left completely unexplained. The plot for Revelations barely has anything to do with the plot for the other two versions, too – while Birthright and Conquest are about the war between the two countries, Revelations is about a dragon that went mad, an alternate dimension kingdom, and how basically every problem in the game was because of these two things.

All routes manage to hit on one of my bigger pet peeves about Fates, though, and that’s that for all the plot tries to be about this moral quandary of the war, it ends up being more of a soap opera about how much it’s tearing you apart to have to fight your siblings, with a lot of very anime bullshit along the way, and by the time you get to Revelations, it’s gone so full anime that it’s not even pretending to be about a war anymore. The weirdest bits of the writing are in the alternate universe stuff, which you’re first introduced to early in the game when they introduce the My Castle, a pocket dimension only the Avatar can access where time doesn’t pass and the army can just hang around and chill. This alternate universe stuff then proceeds to go wholly unreferenced until a brief visit to Valm that takes place in Conquest, and Revelations, where it’s suddenly the crux the plot spins around.

Or unless you have a kid.

…but we’ll get to that later.

There’s a myriad number of other things that make the plot feel weirdly anime and amateurish for such a huge production. Azura is pretty much just “Plot Device: The Character”, with the song she sings through the game basically just being “Plot Device: The Song” with how many different things it gets used for (its actual effects, naturally, are unexplained unless you play Revelations). Azura being a songstress in the first place is a very tropey move – singers and divas are frequently very important characters in Japanese media, and having their songs have magical effects is one of those very common tropes that always feels contrived when it shows up. She’s extremely obtuse with her intentions, which turns out to be because of a literal curse that keeps people from talking about Valm (the alternate universe kingdom) without being in Valm (so again, you want explanations for stuff, better buy Revelations).

Similarly, Corrin tends to basically stumble onto new powers and weapons as the plot demands, giving the feeling that they’re meant to be a self-insert wish fulfilment character of some sort. In order, Corrin is a member of all three courts of royalty (yes, including Valm’s), is part-dragon, can turn into a dragon, suddenly has a magic weapon reveal itself to them that’s actually the key to saving the world, and spends a large portion of the plot seeking out a massive power boost so they can go fight Garon on his terms. And while there’s definitely something to be said about a character you can customize being meant to be something of a self-insert, since Corrin’s appearance is fully customizable, and since they can support with everyone, have the most versatility class-wise out of anyone, there’s an amount of wish fulfilment fantasy I can take, and we crossed it a while ago here.

Oh, and while we’re on the subject of Revelations and things that come out there, one of the big plot points is that your birth parents actually aren’t the same as your Hoshidan siblings’ birth parents, and your dad’s actually a dragon. This is something that’s also told to you when you S-rank one of your Hoshidan siblings, in the form of a secret letter your mom left for them, but up until that point on Birthright? You just think you’re partaking in some incest of the highest degree. So if you want to get that explanation without thinking you’re banging your biological siblings? Better buy Revelations.

Not that any of this makes any of the sibling fetishism in Fates any less creepy. Since the Avatar, like in Fates’ predecessor, Awakening, can marry any character in the game, all of your Hoshidan and Nohrian siblings are fully marriageable. However, a few things are made immediately obvious when you’re interacting with these characters. The first is that both families consider you to be their family, which raises a ton of awful, creepy questions about power dynamics and the morality of fucking the people who raised you. The second is that the developers absolutely wanted you to fuck your siblings anyways, because Elise and Camilla exist.

From left to right: Three potential routes in the mythical bisexual anime dating sim that only exists in my dreams.

All of the Nohrian and Hoshidan royalty characters are written around specific anime tropes and honestly feel like they could have been plucked from an otome game, or at the very least, a passably written light novel, but Camilla and Elise specifically play into a particular incesty trope-set that’s very common in Japanese media: the sister who wants a more-than-sisterly relationship with the protagonist. Half of Camilla’s dialogue is basically just throwing innuendo at you while simultaneously implying she wants to mother you, leading to a frankly disconcerting combo of MILF-femme fatale-big sister tropes. And just in case you hadn’t gotten the memo yet, Camilla gets an entire CG scene dedicated to showing off her tits and ass on Birthright, while on Conquest, a large part of the ending CG scene is dedicated to the protagonist running headlong into her titties. Subtle.

Elise, on the other hand, is a cute little gothic Lolita little sister who’s always cheering you on and calling you “Big brother!” or “Big sister!” – grating, but standard enough little sister tropes in Japanese media. The problem is that she’s marriageable, and unlike Awakening, where it was implied that the debatably legal characters all had their kids at least a few years into the future from when the game takes place, the children in Fates are all born not too long after characters get married. So either Elise is supposed to be a legal loli (which is creepy), or you’re banging your underage adoptive sister (EVEN CREEPIER).

All of the siblings in Fates have these problems, but Elise and Camilla really get it the worst, because they’re so overt about it. They’re characters whose entire identities are wrapped up in being your sibling, and you can fuck them. Even with them not being your blood sibling, there was a conscious decision to write them in this faux-incesty manner that adds a real creepy sheen to the whole thing. All of the other members of the royalty? They’re dating sim tropes. Ryoma and Xander are dependable, kind of dorky older guys, Leo and Takumi are supposed to be the standoffish, full of themselves ones, Sakura’s the cute, shy one; and Hinoka’s the hot blooded genki girl. And then there’s Elise and Camilla, who fall into two varieties of incest trope, with a double dose of lolicon on Elise’s end.

But hey, while we’re talking marriage options, let’s talk about the other characters in Fates. So a big thing about Fates is that since it’s technically two separate campaigns, both Birthright and Conquest have complete casts and full armies to take with you, with the characters you get determined by which route you’re on. This isn’t inherently a problem (at least until you get to Revelations and you get both casts, minus a few pre-promotes, giving you a massive pile of units you’ll probably never use), but something about the cast feels very incomplete. There’s a lot of character tropes that are reused from Awakening – for example, Subaki is a Pegasus riding retainer for the crown who’s well known for being absolutely perfect at everything, much like Awakening’s Cordelia; while Hayato is a child-like mage who wants to be taken seriously and has been trying to prove himself, much like Awakening’s Ricken.

It doesn’t stop with just tropes though – a few of the characters are wholesale lifted from Awakening, too. Did you like Cordelia, Tharja, and Gaius? Well, I hope you did, because they’re child units on Birthright. This is actually one point where Conquest has a definite leg up on Birthright, because Conquest’s Awakening cameos, Odin, Laslow, and Selena (Owain, Inigo, and Severa, respectively) actually came to Fates’ world using an actual plot mechanic from Awakening, and get a set of DLC dedicated to explaining their presence in the world in more detail. So that’s another paywall on massive plot material, because that’s the name of the game with Fates, but at least the effort’s been put in.

And something that doesn’t really help is a lot of characters seem to be written very differently depending on route and whether you’re in the main story or the supports. For example, Takumi, if you’ve only played Conquest, is a raging asshole. There is nothing good about him, definitely nothing that seems to suggest the popularity he apparently has in the fandom. If you play Birthright, he’s cold and standoffish and jealous, but there’s depth there. But then there’re his supports, and he’s awkward and prideful and somewhat endearing about it. It literally feels like three different characters.

Top: Takumi in Conquest. Bottom: Takumi in Birthright and his supports.

Overwhelmingly, the various Support chains feel better written than the majority of the game. Even with how tropey a lot of the characters are and how sick I grew of them in the main story, I still enjoyed the support chains a lot. Anything involving Mozu pretty much immediately became a feel good, good time, even with the less personable characters. Raging asshole Takumi became likeable through his supports. It legitimately felt like I was reading a completely different story when I got to the supports, and I genuinely wonder if they were written by a completely different writing team.

Fates also does something no other Fire Emblem has allowed before: there’s gay marriage options. There was much ado made about how stupid it is that they’re version locked, as well as the tropes that go into them, but I’ll give Intelligent Designs credit for trying. However, I won’t give them credit for the fact that the options suck ass. The gay marriage options are Niles, an innuendo spouting Nohrian thief with a thing for bondage and enough angsty backstory and hidden darkness to make him a stereotypical yaoi “top” character; and Rhajat, who is literally just Awakening’s Tharja, a creepy Dark Mage with a penchant for curses and is the Avatar’s stalker. These characters weren’t written to actually make them appealing to gay people – they’re written to fit yaoi and yuri archetypes to make them appealing to straight people.

Go away.

And it’s not like I didn’t give them a chance on my own playthroughs – both my Birthright and Conquest avatars were actually genders that matched the gay options for those routes – but as I got through their support chains, I found out pretty quickly that I didn’t want anything to do with either of them. I’m not interested in marrying someone whose only interesting character traits are his love for innuendo and his angsty backstory, or a creeper who wants my vagina because she’s convinced that I’m her fated lover, and is willing to curse everyone to make it happen.

Legitimately, there’s other characters that would have made more interesting gay options, like Silas, the Avatar’s childhood friend who’s dedicated enough to them to defect to Hoshido; and Soleil, Laslow’s daughter who loves girls so much that her personal skill is all about powering her up when she’s around other girls. Why she’s not the gay option, and Discount Tharja is, is beyond me.

There’s something that’s really jarringly apparent about the Fates cast the further you get into it, though. The game really wanted no business with any party members who weren’t conventionally pretty and young. And nowhere is this more exemplified than with certain pre-promotes you can get, the character of Nyx, and the non-recruitable boss character, Zola.

So in Fates and Awakening, pre-promoted units (units who come to you already as an upgraded class) generally can’t be supported with any party members besides the Avatar. Both games have exceptions (specifically, Frederick and Anna in Awakening and the royal family members in Fates can all be supported with other units besides the Avatar), but that’s generally the rule. It was odd in Awakening, because in previous Fire Emblems pre-promotes usually could still support with other party members.

But something Fates does that Awakening didn’t is that all of the pre-promoted units who can only support with the Avatar are also old. From Reina, a Kishin Knight with visible wrinkles and a lust for murder; to Shura, a vagrant from a Hoshidan border nation who defected to Nohr; to Gunter, an old man who is one of the Avatar’s retainers. It seems like anyone over the age of 20-something is shoved into the “Avatar-only” category of supportable characters, regardless of their apparent depth of character. Some of these characters are also among the few who don’t come back for Revelations – Scarlet, a Wyvern Lord Resistance leader who joins you in Birthright, gets a particularly undignified death when you first go to Valm to justify her lack of involvement.

It’s the kind of thing that really feeds into Fates’ weird, creepy light novel feeling, because that’s not something other Fire Emblems really have done. Awakening had a good amount of visibly older characters who were still fully supportable (Frederick and Gregor come to mind), and previous Fire Emblems had multiple older characters per game and never really called attention to them the way Fates does. But here, every character (save, say, Benny on Conquest) has to be in the age of conventional attractability and look appropriately, and god forbid they don’t, especially if they’re a woman.

The most egregious instance of this is quite possibly Nyx, a child-like Nohrian mage who’s actually old enough to be an old woman. She falls into a long-standing Fire Emblem tradition of “characters who look like little girls but are actually super old”, which are usually among the various Manakete characters of Fire Emblem. These generally range from “wise despite their appearance” (Myrrh from Sacred Stones) to “uncomfortably childlike” (Nowi from Awakening).

Nyx is a rare exception in that she’s fully human, and looks the way she does because of a curse… and she’s also a Dark Mage, so she wears a bikini everywhere. It really does feel like they wanted an excuse to put a kid in a bikini, and used the “she’s really like a hundred years old!” excuse to justify it (which they also did in Awakening, and it was just as uncomfortable there). And yes, you can marry her as a male Avatar, and yes, she will give you a kid. Have fun with that mental image.

And then there’s Zola.

Who wouldn’t want to give this little creeper a hug?

Zola is a character with… very contentious writing, and another character where, in order to get any perspective on him, you have to play Birthright first. In all three routes, Zola is a minor boss who impersonates the Duke of Izumo, a neutral kingdom in the war, and uses this as a chance to try and execute the Hoshidan royal family before getting killed by Leo for his dishonorable behavior. It’s pretty standard Fire Emblem boss fare, and he’s pretty forgettable there.

But on Birthright, Zola lives past that chapter as a prisoner of the Hoshidan army, and this allows him to gain more depth as a character, revealing that despite his cowardly nature, he does have loyalty toward the Avatar and there’s something sympathetic about him. In any other Fire Emblem game, it’s entirely possible he would be recruitable. In fact, he factors into the Hoshidan army’s plans to fight Garon during the theater episode in Chapter 12.

However, by this point, keen-eyed Fire Emblem players have probably already noticed that Zola did not join the army after his “recruitment”, and the plot summarily executes him after taking three chapters to humanize him, and he’s completely forgotten from that point on. The thing is, more morally ambiguous characters are recruited to the Avatar’s team in Fates alone (cough cough Niles cough Rhajat cough), and they’re allowed to stick around. But Zola is executed despite the game clearly showing he’s loyal to the Avatar (he even pleads to Garon to spare the Avatar after he betrays the party) and him having a fully fleshed out character.

As far as I can tell, the only reason Zola is not recruitable is because he is not pretty. He’s a coward whose looks match his personality, and so he was always intended to be cannon fodder. It creates some legitimate questions about the equating of beauty and goodness in Fates, because there’s legitimately no reason why that plot development needed to occur in Birthright considering how that event is handled in Conquest and Revelations. It would have been easier to leave it all out.

So that’s three distinct cases of characters who are over the hump as far as “acceptable age” and appearance goes, and how they’re treated. It’s another thing that feeds back into Fates’ “big budget light novel” feel – you’re not going to see a ton of those with main characters who aren’t conventionally attractive young people, and the characters are generally designed in a way that they’re appealing to younger players and their aesthetics.

And boy oh boy, does this show in Fates’ character design.

While Fates borrows a lot from Awakening, one thing it does not borrow are Awakening’s class designs. Awakening’s designs were generally fairly simplistic, and aside from a few specific things (flying classes’ baffling lack of armor, those… shoulder things on knights, cavaliers wearing toilet seats for neckpieces), they were fairly reasonable fantasy armor. In fact, most female characters, including the prissy aristocrat troubadour Maribelle, wore pants. The downside there was that a lot of classes were gender-locked; Pegasus knights and troubadours were female only, but even so, they didn’t have particularly egregious designs.

Fates removes gender locking for all classes, but the female only designs are often… egregious. By which I mean, everyone wears panties. Everyone wears panties into battle.

Can you please put on some goddamn pants before you chafe your thighs into oblivion?

Hoshido classes, thankfully, generally wear loincloths over their panties, but the egregious lack of pants tends to be really blatant. But Nohr classes tend to be more than willing to let it all hang out there, even if (or especially if) they’re a horse-riding class. Nothing was worse than upgrading my daughter to a Great Knight, only to find out that she was now riding her horse into battle pantsless. I may have explicitly decided to go with a male Avatar for my Conquest run because I found out that the upgraded Nohr noble class just bares her panties everywhere for female Avatars.

Fates has a lot of really weird fanservice in it. The explicit focus on Camilla’s everything, the panty-baring female class designs, the access to a hot spring that doesn’t seem to have any real purpose beyond being there, and being able to strip enemy units with certain weapons all just gives it a really weird atmosphere for a game that’s supposed to be a serious war drama. It’s the same incongruity I get from a lot of recent anime, such as Re:ZERO, which is apparently a serious story, but also gives its generic main character a harem of pretty anime girls who all want to get with him.

A lot of Fates feels like it’s trying to appeal to the most common denominator by emulating what other games and anime are doing, like the dynamics between characters and the related character design, as well as things they felt were the most popular elements of its predecessor, which was the best-selling Fire Emblem game in a long, long time and possibly saved the franchise. So it gives you a massive cast of characters and a dynamic world-saving plot makes pairing them all up a major mechanic, and even includes previous games’ characters as a throwback to people who liked Awakening. And, most bafflingly, it includes Awakening’s child mechanic.

IT’S TIME.

When two characters of opposite sex reach an S-rank support with each other, they get married, and their child can then join your army after completing a side mission. Awakening reconciled the fact that the parents and children could fight alongside one another through the use of a time travel plot – no one actually has any children over the course of Awakening’s story (besides Chrom, which is part of the set-up for this element); rather, their future children travel through time to help prevent the horrible future that happened in their own world. It’s a major part of Awakening’s plot, and while none of the child characters have major plot relevance outside of Lucina, the fact that they go out of the way to weave the explanation for why they exist into the plot helps ground them, and several of the children’s Supports involve them trying to connect with their younger, past parents now that they’re in a world where their parents are alive again.

Fates, however, doesn’t use this explanation. Instead, after your first marriage scene, you’re treated to a cutscene explaining that the parents didn’t waste any time getting knocked up, and after the child was born, it was determined it was too dangerous for any kids to be kept around with the war going on, and so the children were sent off to their own alternate pocket universes (or “Deeprealms”) to grow up safely. Because time passes differently there, the children almost instantly grow to adulthood from the people in the army’s perspective, and by the time they’re recruited they’re fully trained, fully capable soldiers ready to go stab the shit out of some enemy soldiers.

Just shove ‘em riiiiight in. Don’t worry about any consequences, it’s fiiiiiiine.

There’re a lot of stupid holes and questions that pop up as a result of this, first and foremost being the very obvious question of “When did anyone have time to have children?” All of the female characters in Fates are also combatants, so unless they’re all badasses on the same tier as Metal Gear Solid’s the Boss, they probably weren’t fighting at the same time they were pregnant. Also, Fates isn’t very clear about the time frame the game takes place during, but since no one ages significantly, it can’t be more than a couple of years. Since time doesn’t pass while the characters are in their My Castle, theoretically they could have stayed there for the duration of their pregnancy, but unless the gestational period in Fates’ world is significantly shorter than real life human gestational time, that would mean individual characters having to stay in My Castle for periods approaching upon months, at which point they would have their children, and then shove them in the puberty void to keep them safe while the parents go right back to fighting in a war.

Which brings it around to the next unsettling implication -- the neglect in the children’s upbringing. Fates’ children only aged quickly from the perspective of their parents outside the pocket dimension – inside their Deeprealm, time moved for them at a normal rate, and the occasional visits the parents gave (as indicated in their Supports with their children) were separated by periods of years. Fates does not shy away from showing how this kind of upbringing affected their children – many of them have major gripes with their parents for essentially abandoning them for their own good, and a few of them have developed some odd quirks and delinquent behavior as a result. Several of their recruitment events are about guilting their parents into bringing them along for the war, and it’s a constant subject in their Supports, as well. No one is particularly happy with how the situation worked out in-story.

The constant statements that it was done for the children’s own good in their Supports and recruitment events really pushes to the forefront how baffling the explanation is, because the game makes it more than clear that it was this distant upbringing that messed the children up so badly. It goes into absurdity if you’re playing Conquest, which features three returning child characters from Awakening as potential parents, who should know what it’s like to grow up with no parents (all of Awakening’s parent units are dead by the time their children travel back to the past) and would probably not want to subject their children to the same upbringing.

It’s the inclusion of the child mechanic that pushes Fates from a passable, if flawed, game, right into “basically unplayable”. It’s blatantly obvious that Fates was not written with a child mechanic in mind, and that it was added because Awakening’s shipping mechanics went over very well, and they wanted to capitalize upon that. And it’s not like any of the child characters are bad characters--

Well, most of them aren’t, anyways.

You are not my children. You are a disgrace.

But ultimately, all they do is serve to give you more units in a game that’s already swimming with units, and end up being a massive distracting bit of bad writing in a game whose writing is already only passable at best. They literally could have been left out of the game entirely, and nothing of real importance would have been lost.

(Also, it would have forced them to make a lesbian option that wasn’t just “Discount Tharja”. Or at least tried to make it less obvious that they were recycling everyone’s favorite stalker waifu.)

Fire Emblem Fates is, ultimately, not a bad game. For all of my griping about the map design and unit distribution, there was clearly a lot of thought put into the new mechanics. Forging weapons to make them stronger feels more rewarding than the old durability system, which always ended up boiling down to “Iron swords for everyone!” so you didn’t waste your cool super weapon. And if you can look past the writing, you’ll definitely have a good time with it, or at least end up frustrated in the kind of fun way only Fire Emblem players do. But the obvious DLC gating, the poor writing, and the nonsensical puberty void bullshit make it a very hard game for me to like, and I don’t think I’ll ever get around to playing the third route as a result.

#fire emblem fates #fe14 #fire emblem #review #opinion #a massive pile of salt

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