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oh-boy-me · 4 years

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:0 could I have a beel,asmo,belphie,lucifer,mammon, satan (not including levi) and diavolo playing videogames? I thought it would be kinda funny since they're all really old- except for levi of course haha

Ohhh this should be fun!

Decided to do individual HCs for this one instead of a group thing so they wouldn’t be limited to multiplayer games.

Most of them, save for a certain prince, have been exposed to games a fair amount by proximity to Levi.

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Lucifer:

Lucifer has a Mononoke Land account so that he’ll get the email notifications for events and can therefore keep track of Levi’s whereabouts. He’s never played the game, though, nor downloaded the app, and he has no intention of doing so.

In general, he’s not much of a gamer. The most gaming he gets done is minesweeper on Windows XP. He doesn’t have the time, and it was never something he could get into.

That isn’t to say that he owns zero games, though. His favorite genre is turn-based strategy, because he can afford to look away from them, and they make him think and plan.

He doesn’t like the hyper-realistic ones, though. Things like Civilization and Here Be Dragons are up his alley, Hearts of Iron not so much.

He doesn’t care too much about the story, but a good soundtrack is mandatory.

Also he’s an old man so the controls also have to be intuitive or he just won’t be able to play. Why is he jumping when he presses A he thought that was the attack button.

The type of player who needs to get every achievement. A completionist.

When the group gets together for the rare multiplayer night, he has no idea what he’s doing and yet still manages to do well. It’s kind of infuriating.

He won’t make alliances with anyone, no, it’s every man for himself. He also actively targets Mammon no matter what game they’re playing.

The fact that he doesn’t really get it protects his pride when Levi inevitably wipes the floor with him.

Mammon:

Mammon actually does game a little bit in his spare time, mostly with Levi. He’s got a couple consoles and is more open to different genres than Lucifer is.

He thrives in any game where the main goal is to rack up as many points or as much profit as possible. He’s undefeated in tycoons and pinball. (Tetris is an exception; he’s terrible at Tetris. Stupid spacial recognition.)

The RNG elements boil down to his insane luck, but he’s actually very smart when it comes to investments and stuff, so it’s not like he’s only using his luck to get by.

If the games have multiplayer, even better! Nothing like kicking Levi, MC and Belphie’s asses in a game of Fortune Street!

He also tends to like the action-focused games that Levi plays. Not so much into turn-based RPGs, but he enjoys stuff where the enemies spawn, like in Zelda or Rune Factory. And he’s great at button mashing in fighting games, although Levi, who actually knows how to play them, always beats him.

Mammon uses items as soon as he gets them, and is too busy rushing a boss to care about learning its patterns and strategizing.

Skips cutscenes even on his first run. Levi and Satan hate him for it.

Like mentioned before, he gets an unfair disadvantage in game nights because everyone targets him. Especially in those games with RNG, because otherwise he WILL win.

He’s banned from PTW games because he will indeed PTW.

Satan:

Satan is another one who doesn’t play too many games, and that might be for the best because he’s a nightmare to play with.

The sorest loser, and a pretty nasty winner too. He insists on the hardest difficulty and then rage quits at the slightest inconvenience.

He will play when prompted, though; he’s not above hanging out with his brothers. His favorite sorts of games are ones with a good story and/or good puzzles. His planning is more on the tactics side, as opposed to Lucifer’s strategy, so he would love Fire Emblem.

He WILL drop a game if the story isn’t holding his attention, and he’s done so in the past.

Overly cautious and hoards resources. He takes the safe route every time.

Also another completionist.

Beel would often ask Satan to help him find out which art pieces were originals and safe to buy in Animal Crossing, and Satan got a little bit interested and ended up making a resident on Beel’s cartridge so the donations could be in his name. He went on a mini-campaign to drive out the residents he didn’t like, but one of them turned out to be Beel's favorite and he felt terrible about it for weeks.

During family game nights, everyone is always torn between appeasing Satan and telling him to deal with it when he loses.

He also gets angry if he catches on to the fact that they’re letting him win, though.

Probably a genwunner.

Asmodeus:

Asmo enjoys video games. They don’t fit into his aesthetic so he’s never really tried to understand them, but he doesn’t dislike them by any means.

Gaming is becoming more mainstream though, right? That’s a whole new audience that could appreciate him. Maybe, just maybe, he can let himself be a bit of a geek.

Unsurprisingly, he’s got a penchant for games with customization options. Surprisingly, he also really enjoys FPS games. If he and Levi ever played at the same time, it would be chaos in the House of Lamentation.

As opposed to his in-your-face attitude, he likes to play sniper units.

He said he wants to tap into the gaming community, but he’s not very good at most of the games he plays so he’s too embarrassed to actually do so. He does, however, play the Sims on livestream. He does his best to make the steamiest and most dramatic scenarios happen, and he’ll hold strawpolls to let his viewers make some choices.

Asmo also plays Animal Crossing like a few other brothers, but his island is so well groomed and with just the right residents, it feels like you’re touring an uncanny dystopia and Asmo is the dictator.

When the group gets together, he usually ends up doing the worst. He’s more interested in executing perfect combos than actually dealing damage, so he’s not aggressive enough to get anything done against players like Levi and Satan.

He’s also not very good at teamwork; he starts yelling at his partner very quickly.

Beelzebub:

Beel doesn’t have a lot of “gamer” in him, but some of his brothers seem to like it so he decided to give it a go. Turns out his hands are too big, but he makes do. Kind of.

You’d expect a sports game to be the best for him, since he’s so athletic. However, it’s BECAUSE he’s so athletic that this sort of game isn’t in his library. He gets too antsy and bored tapping buttons instead of actually playing the sport.

Beel’s also not an aggressive player in any sense of the word. He feels guilty even hurting the most basic of slimes.

No, no games are better for Beel than the stress-free, casual life simulators. Animal Crossing is no surprise his favorite one right now. Satan handles the museum for him while Beel gets to do whatever he feels like in a world where the biggest threat is a wasp.

He’ll also play other low stakes games where living your life is the main goal, like Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley. His big heart can never choose who to marry in those games.

Horror is also ok for him, because while aggression is hard for him, self-defense is not.

He got the Cooking Mama app on his D.D.D. and bit the device in half, so he’s not allowed to touch that franchise anymore.

When the gang meets up, his non-aggressive side sticks around. In fighting games, he’s more likely to dodge and steer clear of the others, and in other versus games he’s so open to compromise you’d think you were on the same team.

Satan did get him his favorite resident back.

Belphegor:

Belphie probably games the second most after Levi; it’s something that keeps him entertained but doesn’t require him to move very much at all.

I actually have no idea how to describe his preferred genres, but League of Legends and Dark Souls is basically all you need to know.

League lets him socialize a bit, and it’s the game that he and Levi play together most often. As for Dark Souls, he loves the sort of game where learning your opponent’s every move and outsmarting/outmaneuvering them is the only path to victory.

I guess that would be described as “really hard action-adventure” games? He’d also like Sekiro.

He also has his own copy of Animal Crossing to visit and play with Beel, but his island is so underdeveloped you’d think he started that same week.

Belphie is the true wild card of family game nights; sometimes he sleeps through the whole thing, while other times he can take down even Levi.

He has everyone’s habits down to a T--Mammon charges in, Asmo does too much setup, Levi’s overconfident--and he knows how to counter each and every one of them.

For someone who’s so much of a cunning player, though, he also misclicks a lot.

He’s the most likely out of his brothers to make alliances. He’s also the most likely to break alliances.

If he doesn’t think he can win, he’ll choose a player and start sabotaging the game in their favor.

Diavolo:

Lord Diavolo had read about like, Mario? The little blue hedgehog guy? But he’d never owned a gaming console before. He probably thought Neopets was peak gaming.

Levi swore to fix this grievous error, and this was also a mistake, because now Diavolo keeps trying to get Lucifer to play all these hack and slash games with him.

He has legitimately told Lucifer that “if you don’t play Devil May Cry with me THIS devil may cry!”

The games need to always have something happening in them or he’ll get bored, kind of like Satan’s need for a good story, except with action.

It’s also worth mentioning that “play a game with Diavolo” actually means “sit in the same room as Diavolo while he plays.”

And oh boy… is he terrible at these games.

He just button mashes until either he dies or all the enemies die.

Never uses any of the items he gets because he’s sure he’ll need them more later on. When, Diavolo? During the staff roll?

Will bomb a door before trying the knob.

Since he’s usually only around Lucifer, who doesn’t want to get sucked into this, and Barbatos, who honestly couldn’t care less about this, he’s been left alone and free to develop these terrible gaming habits.

It’s rare that he comes to family gaming night. Legend has it that Lucifer’s piercing glare is somehow connected to the fact that his brothers always let Diavolo win.

Masterlist

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argent-vulpine · 3 years

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Growing Closer

Fandom: Fire Emblem Three Houses

Rating: g

Characters: Seteth/Byleth

Read it on AO3!

Despite the rather abrupt start to their relationship, Seteth knew there was a war on, and that Byleth would be called to lead. She was a tactical genius, after all, and despite the presence of others who were nearly as competent as she, she remained the premier general of the armies in the war against the Adrestian Empire. As such, he had insisted that they keep their relationship… not necessarily a secret, but certainly more restricted.

They took moments together when they could, but she was busy being both general and Archbishop. He did his best to help whenever he could, be it on the field or - more commonly - at the monastery, dealing with paperwork for the church, while still maintaining the search for Rhea. He had strongly suspected that she was being held in Enbarr, and when finally the day came to rescue her, it was of little surprise how she had been kept, though his heart ached for her.

It was only after she had been returned to them that he discovered the truth of Byleth’s existence. He had suspected for quite some time that Rhea had done something to the professor; even had Byleth not told him of the lack of heartbeat, he would eventually have discovered it on his own, he was certain. And when the truth came to light, the puzzle pieces slotting together, he knew that Rhea had done something terribly, terribly wrong.

He had missed Sothis, too, but it was not worth sacrificing the life of another to return her to them. That Byleth carried Sothis’ heart in her chest, her crest pulsing in her blood, and the goddess’ spine in her hands for battle was a cacophony of macabre machinations by the goddess’ own daughter. He wondered, too, if Byleth had suspected at least the origin of the Sword of the Creator, for she rarely wielded it unless she felt there was a great need, and even then he could see her lips twisting in distaste.

She was like family to him. In more ways than one. Even Flayn had taken to her as more than just the professor. She treated her like a sister, or perhaps something a little more. Not quite mother, but not… not a mother, either.

And still, by the time the war against the empire had ended, he had not yet told her the truth about himself or Flayn. Oh, she knew that he was really Flayn’s father; that had happened long ago, before the war. Before her fall.

No, it was time to let her know the truth.

Rhea had left for Zanado, a self-imposed exile perhaps as penance for the sin she had committed upon Byleth, and the knowledge that her mother was truly gone, merged with the professor to save her. He knew that she had revealed herself to be Seiros to Byleth, that much he had been told before she had departed. But she had left the decision to him what he would tell the new Archbishop.

He paced in the main room of her - their? - suite, hands clasped behind his back and brow furrowed in thought as he awaited Byleth’s arrival. She’d had some things to see to, documents regarding Fódlan’s future alongside that of the church itself.

Reform was coming, and while he didn’t disagree with much of it, he wondered if perhaps they weren’t moving too quickly…

The door creaked open, allowing Byleth to slip into the room, puffing out an audible sigh as she removed the ornate headdress of her station and set it down on a nearby table. Gently, he noticed, though he could tell she rather wanted to throw it across the room instead.

“Oh, Seteth, you’re here already,” she said, eyes widening slightly in surprise before a small smile bloomed on her face.

“I found that I could not wait,” he replied, moving to meet her as she approached and wrapping her into a tight hug. He rested his chin atop her head, eyes closing and enjoying how she fit against him, small and warm.

“Excited?” she asked, her ear pressed against his chest and listening to his heartbeat. “Or nervous?”

“Perhaps a bit of both.” He sighed, steeling himself, and pulled away. “There is something I… feel that I must tell you. I had wished to before, however…”

“There wasn’t a lot of time during the war for complicated conversations.” She nodded understanding, lifting on her toes to press a soft kiss to his lips. “I can’t imagine there would be much that you could say that would surprise me, though,” she added with a small grin.

“Ah, well… there may yet be.” He coughed slightly, clearing his throat, and looked more nervous than he had since their first night together.

She lifted an eyebrow, curious and waiting.

Seteth never fidgeted… except for right now, when he was unsure how to really begin. “You are aware that Rhea is, in fact, Saint Seiros,” he finally began, straightening up as if it could shield him from what he was about to reveal.

She nodded, gesturing for him to continue, though nothing in her features changed to give away her thoughts.

“Rhea - Seiros - is not… the only one who remains. Seteth is not the name I have always gone by, nor is Flayn her true name. I am-”

“Cichol. And she’s Cethleann. I know, Seteth,” she interrupted, sparing him and reaching up to press a hand to his cheek, her thumb gently stroking his skin. “I suspected something was amiss even before the war, but it wasn’t until our run-in with Macuil that I knew for certain.”

He blinked, startled, lips parted in shock before he finally found his voice again. “What… how… how did you know?”

She gave a soft snort, pressing a quick kiss to his other cheek before stepping away to remove the Archbishop’s gown he knew she disliked so much. “Flayn wasn’t the most subtle, to be honest, even before she joined my class. She’d made comments about her childhood being ‘so long ago’. Her manner of speech is even more stilted than yours. Your birthdays align with those of the saints, and you carry their crests.” She gave him a mock glare, shaking her head. “I’m not a master tactician for nothing, Seteth. But I suspected you had reasons for keeping it quiet.”

There was a pause, and then she shook her head, laughing softly. “I might not have put the entire puzzle together, except that when you and Flayn joined us on our little expedition to that oasis… well. Macuil was not exactly quiet, and even though Flayn kept shushing him, some of the things I heard him say to you and to her settled it all for me.”

She glanced over her shoulder at him in the middle of tugging off the overdress. “Were you concerned that I would take it poorly?” she asked, curious.

He seemed to deflate in his relief, striding over to her and helping her to remove the offending garments. “It had crossed my mind that you might not look kindly on it, yes.”

“Hm.” Overdress removed, she turned to face him, cupping his face between her hands. “Seteth, I had a goddess in my head nattering on at me for almost my entire time as a professor. Before that, I spent most of my life not remembering a great deal of things, except for fighting and staying alive. If it weren’t for my father’s journal, I wouldn’t even know my real birthday, much less birth year. I know that you weren’t here for what Rhea did, and I know that you didn’t approve of it once you found out, but it was far too late to reverse it.” She smiled wryly. “Well, not without killing me, I suppose.”

She took a deep breath, catching his gaze and holding it. “I love you. I want to be with you. The little matter of you being Saint Cichol doesn’t change any of that for me.”

It took a moment before her words hit him, and he found himself breaking into a broad smile, crushing her to him in a firm hug, pressing kisses wherever he could reach. Only when the tension fully drained did he step back, attempting to smooth down his coat and her hair, returning some sense of decorum. “I… yes. I hope you know how much I care for you, too, Byleth.”

“Seteth,” she said, giving him a pointed gaze. “You can just say it, you know.”

“… I love you.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead, huffing out a soft sigh. “I have loved you for quite some time. Of course I was going to be… concerned.”

There was a long pause, and then he pulled back, brows furrowing as he considered something she’d said. “How did you know that was Macuil? … and what did he say?”

Laughing, she pulled away and explained everything she’d heard, down to Flayn shushing the great beast and calling him ‘uncle’.

#Seteth #Byleth Eisner #Setleth #Seteth Birthday Bash 2020 #Seteth BB Week 2020 #Fire Emblem #Fire Emblem Three Houses #FE3H #day 5: family #Lettuce Fam #mentions of Macuil #look that whole paralogue contained some SHIT if you took Seteth and Flayn #way to keep it under wraps you great horned dingus

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chupacabrahhh · 3 years

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*~{ Garden of Golden Deer }~* a Fire Emblem: Three Houses Part 1 drabble

okayyy this is kinda brazy, I've never written fanfic for a video game before but man fe3h really got my imagination juices goin, and it's all thanks to my wonderful Golden Deers Q v Q

[ set during the aftermath of ch5 when Miklan is defeated & you rescue the Lance of Ruin. I recruited Sylvain the previous chapter and he replaces Lorenz in my house. The professor tells her students a story her father Jeralt once told her long ago. ]

It was nearing late afternoon, and the end of the Golden Deer’s lesson for the day. Byleth had everyone practicing combat moves they had drafted earlier, the sounds of weapons clashing ringing throughout the training grounds. The professor herself was locked in special dedication with Sylvain, the Sword of the Creator parried against his newly acquired Lance of Ruin. This was the first time he was allowed a feel for the relic in combat, but his clammy grip and furrowed brow gave insight to inner turmoil unlike Byleth had ever seen on her student’s face, especially when wielding a lance with which he was already very proficient.

“Of course he must still feel some type of way over Miklan. I bet he hasn’t laid a hand on the relic that stole his brother’s humanity since the day it was handed over to him. This must be very difficult for him..” she thought empathetically. Next to Claude, Sylvain was her most cocky and skilled student with their weapon of choice. She had never seen him mishandle a lance or without a confident smile on his face, but in front of her now he kept changing grip position and shifting the weight of the Lance of Ruin away from him, his body language screaming that he still wanted nothing to do with the thing. Byleth wished she could ease her student’s troubles, but she didn’t know what to say to comfort him about wielding this Hero’s Relic when she herself still wasn’t all that acquainted with the Sword of the Creator. And her past experience as a mercenary made her nothing if not numb to the taking and end of life, either around her or by her own hand. Suddenly, a memory from years past flickered back into her consciousness from a time when she was very small and had questioned death for the first time, before it became a daily part of her existence.

“Sylvain, that’s enough for today,” she nodded at him with eyes as kind as she could emote, and sheathed her sword. “Everyone, wrap up your sparring and meet me underneath the oak tree outside of the training grounds.”

She turned her back to the sounds of her students exclaiming victories over the others or getting into teasing squabbles. Byleth grabbed her water canteen on the way out and took a few gulps, knowing she would need the hydration for what she planned next. A part of her felt nervous at the coming prospect but an even greater part was assured in the comfort she hoped to bring her Golden Deer. Taking a seat on a large rock underneath the shade of the great tree, Byleth closed her eyes and tried transporting herself years back in her memories of being a small girl in her father’s arms. She could recall the feeling of his fur coat’s neckline as she gripped it, could smell the crisp air of winter’s final gusts as spring made its grand appearance across the land. At this time the mountains were still capped white but the valleys were turning lush and verdant, and buds of the bravest flowers were starting to stand tall, yet withheld the magnificence of their blooms.

Opening her eyes now, she gazed upon seven colorful and expectant faces all looking up at her with mixed expressions, her own little garden she was tasked with tending. Sigh, but the face of their biggest problem plant- er, child, was not among them.

“Claude, get your golden butt over here and sit down with the others. I haven't dismissed you yet.”

“Augh Teach, I was just a few steps away from making it home free, if only you had stayed in your trance a moment longer,” the house leader lamented teasingly but obediently plopped down in the back of the bunch beside Leonie and the Lance of Ruin, which Sylvain had expectantly distanced farthest from him as he sat towards the front of the bunch.

“Professor, are you going to make us meditate because that’s really not my thing and I already promised to meet someone for tea so,” Hilda piped up next and smiled sweetly as she twirled the ends of her pink hair, hoping to be obliged to leave as well.

“No, Hilda, we are not going to meditate and I promise this won’t be long. I’d like to share a quick little story with you all.”

“A story?” Lyisthea spoke next with a twinge of annoyance coloring her tone, but her doe eyes gave away her true excitement.

“Yes, this is a story my father told me back when I was a young child, and it’s stuck with me ever since. As we continue receiving missions that send us onto the battlefield, you’re all going to have to become very acquainted with death, which still might be a difficult or painful concept for you to grasp, understandably.” The mood had shifted from playful to pensive as she brought up death, and the change had caused that prickle of anxiety to return. Lecturing about battle tactics was something she had been forced to get used to by now, impersonal, automatic and well within her wheelhouse, but storytelling with colorful language and emotional sentiment was definitely leagues outside of her comfort zone. She gulped back the fear quickly and cleared her throat to begin, not wanting the silence to stretch any longer than it had.

“This is a story about what becomes of those who die on the battlefield.” Her opening statement grabbed the attention of all her students, with Leonie leaning in the most, obviously setting her expectations high as she hungrily awaited the words of Jeralt. “It was around the end of the Lone moon and I was small enough to be carried by my father but had already seen the handiwork of what he and his fellow mercenaries were hired to do. The image of bodies lying facedown on the land had been imprinted into my mind, and as we walked among the melting snow and coming flowers, I asked him what would become of those who died fighting? Accomplished nobles had grand sendoffs, and villagers were lovingly prepared by the hands of their families, but what was to become of those violent strangers who met their end in a random battlefield? Without missing a beat, he said…”

Byleth took a moment to appreciate the looks on her deer’s faces, with Sylvain’s amber eyes gleaming the brightest of the bunch.

“They become flowers.”

“Flowers!?” Raphael booming incredulous tone contrasted the professor’s soft spokenness.

“Yes, the fighters become flowers. As their blood and life force seeped out of their bodies and into the land, the great exchange was transmuted by the goddess into the most delicate and lovely creation, flowers. What’s more, he explained, was that the soul of each warrior who had taken life as their means of living would spend their next reincarnation as a flower, to learn the lessons of fragility, powerlessness, and surrender. A brief moment in their soul’s journey back to the goddess where they embody what it means to be defenseless. A child could come running along to pick it, a deer grazing and eat it, or at the end of the year it withers to the natural cycle of the seasons, never once harming another soul in its lifetime. He says that is how balance is restored and how all warriors learn the lesson of gentleness.” Byleth concluded her storytelling with a breath and leaned back with a tiny amused expression watching the unexpected existential and poetic tale turn over in their minds.

Leonie was the first to speak up. “Pardon me, Professor, but I have trouble believing Captain Jeralt the Blade Breaker came up with a story so… uh, flowery.”

“Very perceptive, Leonie, you do know him well. You’re right that that tale didn’t originate from his thoughts. My mother told it to him. But I can assure you he does believe in its message.” Leonie blushed and huffed embarrassedly at being praised by her one-sided rival but nodded once in acknowledgement.

“So Teach, do you believe in that myth? That you and he and all of us will reincarnate as flowers in the next life?” Of course she was expecting that from Claude, a languid smirk on his face as he awaited her answer with interest.

Byleth pondered her inner self for just a moment then nodded slightly. “Yes, I do.”

“Oh, I knew that to be true, Professor! I always noticed that wherever you walk, you always take care to never step on flowers. It’s something I always admired about you..” Marianne was softly glowing with a rare joy then remembered she was in the company of all her classmates and immediately wiped the smile from her face and looked downwards.

Ignatz spoke next, the stars of inspiration lighting his whole body language. “Professor, thank you for sharing such a moving tale! I believe it must be true, as it aligns with all that I believe the goddess values as well! A-and if I may, Professor, I believe that in your next life, you will be a grand and magnificent tree, just like the one we’re all gathered under.”

“Ignatz, so bold! I’m impressed with you!” Sylvain smiled teasingly and ruffled his peer’s olive bowlcut, causing the boy to blush an even deeper shade than his proclamation had him before. “And I have to say, I agree with you. The Professor has to be a majestic and wise tree,” he said, turning his smile towards her. Byleth noticed most of the darkness had left his amber eyes and his inner light was shining through once again, so even though the storytime was a bit embarrassing and uncomfortable, seeing him embody a bit of his old self again made it all worth it, as much as the wonder in the rest of her Golden Deer’s faces. Yes, she felt herself smile genuinely, they were indeed a vibrant garden of individuals.

#WHEW UM YEAH #STAN GOLDEN DEER #fe3h #fire emblem three houses #fe16 #fe3h fanfic #golden deer #fear the deer #moomoo ramblings #sylvain jose gautier #claude von riegan #Byleth eisner #Leonie pinelli #Ignatz victor #raphael kirsten #lysithea von ordelia #jeralt eisner #marianne von edmund #hilda valentine goneril

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incorrectcatfacestudios · 5 years

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Headcanons + Making this to replace my old headcanons post.

Disclaimer: JUST GOING TO SAY NOT EVERYTHING I GIVE THEM IS SOMETHING I AGREE WITH! like Some characters will have a headcanon that’s more because I can ACTUALLY SEE Them enjoying an activity but even if they do I DON’T their are things that these characters would do that I DON’T think anyone else should do EVER!

Asch

Has a safe space in his room where he can be himself. It’s a place where He gets to let his guard down. that is his earth room

Has a tendency to be more attracted to those with a darker tone then him. then again its not really hard to have a darker complexion then him. (Regardless of race someone could have a tan or something, or just be a bit darker than him.) He himself hasn’t noticed this and probably never will.

Mirage sleeps in his room

If Rhys somehow got really sad and mopey he’d locate that ice cream truck and angrily threaten the ice cream man to give him all of the ice cream or DIE. Or he’d just want the entire truck, & if no one stopped him then he’d throw it through Ava’s window into her apartment.

Sometimes late at night when everyone’s sleeping & Asch can’t, he summons Rhys to his room and forces him to read him a bedtime story. Rhys used to do this when Asch was younger as well. He really likes Rhys’s voice.

If he was a human he’d probably be some NEET gamer who spends all his time roleplaying on World of Warcraft or something and he’d always rage about bad plot points or game mechanics in Anime & Video games.

The most likely to dirty talk

He sneezes like a kitten and when he does fire comes out.

Would be god awful at pole dancing

He doesn’t know what to do when it comes to love and isn’t used to physical affection. Its.....very pleasant whenever he gets it...but it also feels too comfortable for him. He’s scared of comfort, despite loving it.

Later on once he embraces affection he becomes absolutely addicted to it and is by far the most passionate of them. Though that angry scowl never leaves unfortunately . His passion rages on like a burning flame, like....an intense RUSH of desire. It can be overwhelming at times.

In fact he DEMANDS the affection.

In battle he’s more brutish than the others by far. A giant barrage of flames being sent EVERYWHERE .

One time he read a fanfiction & thought it was 100% Canon. & when anyone said otherwise He screamed angrily and shot fire balls at them; Even when they weren’t physically there. Of course since they weren’t there he just ended up burning the phone Ava got for him, but you know, whatever.

Loves curry

Really likes chocolate and caramel for whatever reason, but he can’t stand other sweets. he also likes strawberries

He enjoys the video game Indivisible, & some war military tactic games. He also likes rage games for some reason too even though he hates them, its complicated but he can’t stop playing, he gets too into it and too angry. He also enjoys racing games & MARIO PARTY, Especially when he wins.

His favorite animal is the bull

Dhaur is his husbando

His sin is wrath

Used to hate Steven Universe at first then grew....to like it. then love it. It seemed so dumb to him at first but as he watched it he came to understand it more.

Asch trusts Rhys more than the other daemos. He’s known him the longest and believes in his judgement he doesn’t think Rhys would EVER lie to him or deceive him. Because of this Rhys is the only person Asch is ever fully open with. He wouldn’t leave anyone else he was this open with back on daemos. He is quite FOOLISH to believe this however. :) after all Rhys is working with Lady Grandma.

He once dared Leif to eat a cactus after getting particularly angry in a game of truth or dare

Him and Rhal never get along ever. They always yell it eachother, and get into arguments.

Rhal has far more Knights than Asch

As for Lady Bish. Asch is completely indifferent towards her.

He doesn’t know why but he keeps on sniffing Ava’s bra for reasons obvious to the rest of us. Regardless he destroys them just the same

Smell/sweat Kink bitches

Probably into S&M.

He sometimes rehearses villainous Dialogues with himself in the mirror when no one’s around.

He also does this with Rhys on occasion...if he’s feeling particularly BRAVE that day

Holds up a lot of pent up emotions and hides it pretty well. He prefers to let them out as anger instead..but when he gets drunk it all just POURS out of him. He just sobs and cries and hugs and kisses and laughs. just...everything. ALL OF THE EMOTIONS BESIDES ANGER he expresses openly. He doesn’t become a completely different person he just becomes far more open. He compliments a lot as well.

He got drunk once and decided from that day NEVER AGAIN!

Though when he first got drunk he really liked it. Despite the flavor. and downed like 3.

That was a #Mistake

His favorite Crystal gem is Garnet, or Sapphire? Its hard for him to choose between them.

Rhys

The thiccest of the daemos on earth. By that I mean he has the biggest butt

What I mean by that is he does a lot of squats, & Glute exercises. He also has a magic that makes all the fat he gains go to his butt but that’s not important. Its not always in affect only for emergencies.

Would be VERY interested in science if he knew what it was

He would eat pizza with a fork

Gluttonous in any task he enjoys. When he eats he eats ALOT, sex would last a long time with him Though not many people know this about him because he takes his time.

The common one is Research, reading, observing, & ESPECIALLY LEARNING.

He also adores validation give him it.. Wears a long trench coat to hide his big butt from the world well not hide but-.

specifically daemos since some uncultured daemos tend to be quite handsy.

It doesn’t always work but whatever trench coats are cool.

has frequent discussions with Asch in his room. He’s the only one Asch is completely honest with. Asch trusts Rhys with EVERYTHING.

If he was a human he would be a college student studying to be a scientist of some kind.

He would also work volunteer jobs at the retirement homes.

If he was a human he’d probably meet Asch by working as his grandmothers nanny. I don’t think Asch would live by himself.

has a tad bit more fat on him than the others. but his muscle can distract from that. Plus his fat isn’t even noticeable outside of his ass His lover would nickname him sunrise, because his smile can chase the night away, cause his face is what brightens their day, because he is the beginning of something new bright and beautiful.

loves Rubix Cubes If he romanced Ava it wouldn’t be because he likes her it would be because he wants to use her. mostly for her nonexistent power ((magical and political))

Loves sweets more than the rest of them

I think I had enough for him last time.

His mother and Asch’s were close.

Spends waaayyyy too much time trying to over analyse tv shows he watches

Is a big fan of Pheonix wright, Fran Bow, Gravity falls, Danganronpa, Dr. Stone, Dr. Who, Fnaf, & pretty much any other game or TV show that either gives you a lot to think about after the episodes/playthrough, is chock full of thousands of possibilities and theories, or requires a lot of thought and problem solving to play. He also likes strategy games like Fire Emblem, & Final Fantasy Tactics. OH! And Pokemon but not for the normal gameplay for the competitive scene.

Due to having the element of water he is usually cool calm and collected. but he also is able to flow with a situation if needed. He’s passive

Often reads to Asch because Asch has a harder time reading. Him and Asch went to school together when they were younger and thus have a closer bond than the others. ((Lady grandma forced Asch to go))

Once asked Ava if she had any more of those porn magazines. Was pleased to find that Ava had an entire closets worth. Though not all of it was the fighting techniques he was looking for.

He has no fucking idea how a vagina works in the slightest. or what vagina’s even look like? Despite his extensive knowledge sex is one of the places where he knows the least. Because he has no idea what lesbian sex is he is completely oblivious to the fact that he’s been staring at 2 girls fucking it on in those magazines he’s found underneath Ava’s bed.

He once had to help Leif out with the creation of the Furby organ. It was incredibly difficult for him but also very insightful

The Furbies terrify him though. That STARE its..just...ugh

The best at pole dancing.

Is far more elegant on the battle field than the others. His attacks are more precise and careful than theirs are.

He’s also the best at dancing...well fancy dancing. like ballet, and slowdancing.

Sleeps in Ava’s fridge sometimes.

Starting teaching Noi how to read a bit more after they went to the mall. The shops are cataloged after all

Is cold resistant to a point. I mean ice magic CAN still hurt him but like...less. I’d liken it to a Pokemon.

His favorite crystal gem is garnet. If your talking singular gems then I’d say Ruby. But...like Garnets amazing why would you want to choose just ONE of them as your favorite when..

Likes classical music, R & B, Soft...indie songs, Soft pop, Trap music & Bossa Nova

If Ava did marry him she’d probably get locked into a loveless marriage for power that doesn’t exist

If he found out about Ava’s lies he might have a fucking meltdown. :D like everything he was working towards EVERYTHING would have been for nothing.

That is until the prospect of watching how the human world continues to function without magic...he’d realize they have TECHNOLOGY and how...amazing it is.

Leif

The more he likes you the more he’ll want to stab you. Just how it is

The more he’s attracted to someone the more he’ll want to stab their guts out. he’s weird like that.

Big sadist I mean we already know this but like in all the ways? ya know?Like he literally gets an orgasmic feeling in his veins when he slices someone open kind of sadistic.

If he was a human he would probably be a doctor or surgeon who only has his job because it allows him to legally cut people open.

would’ve probably been one of those school bullies who only bullies someone because he’s in love with them if he was a human

You could literally get him to do anything by being like “ I bet you couldn’t do that. “ or saying “ ____ go get the ____ for me” He makes everything into a competition.

Broke EVERYTHING when he was a child.

Tried to eat a cactus, because Asch dared him to.

Asch didn’t think he’d actually do it.

His sin is PRIDE of course, which is why he feels like he has to prove everything and lives to have his ego STROKED.

Later he tried to shove a cactus up his ass because a stranger on the internet said that only cowards don’t use cacti as dildo’s

He had to go to the doctor many times.

He really liked the large amount of sharp objects in the hospital room

He may or may not be banned from that hospital

The nurse had to file a restraining order it was a sad day. But they got the pricks out!! and that’s all that matters! PLUS Leif got a new thumb to add to his collection!

He really likes it because its a special decorated one. With PAINT on the tips. its weird and shiny. The nurse probably won’t need it anyways.

He has a rotting placenta in his bedroom no one knows where he got it!(AND NOBODY ASKS) but it still has the umbilical cord attached no baby though :(

He isn’t allowed outside anymore for obvious reasons

He found out what Furbies where and fell in love with them instantly . He stole 20

He made a Furby organ. why? Because its infinitely stupider and more terrifying than a regular one. He forced Rhys to help cause Rhys is smart. It still took like 90 tries and costed Ava alot of money, and Furbies.

He keeps it in his room and he plays it constantly. Mostly to annoy Asch, Ava, and everyone else around him. He also loves the fact that its called an organ.

He was dared to eat a jar of nails and he fucking did it.

He obviously had to use healing magic on himself

He’s really hot for Noi. Like...a bit too much no one notices though.

A bit hotter for Ava than Noi though, That’s why he keeps wanting to penetrate her with his knife. The more he threatens to do this the more he likes you.

His element is Life, or earth. Mostly life which is why he’s so vigorous and excited.

This is also the reason why he’s so obsessed with killing things. when you live your ALWAYS killing, every move you make you end thousands of lives just like that! Daemos of the life element seem to want to enjoy life to the fullest and never look back. EVER

As such he’s also good at cultivating life, weather it be a plant or an animal. Everyones always surprised by this

Back on Daemos before his snap he’d actually be alot kinder to Noi, ((IN the first 4 episodes whenever Noi got hurt he was the only one to ever show any concern. I find that interesting in contrast to how he threw that out in some of the later ones. )) He’d often be the one that consoles noi or talks things out with him.

Leif is more aggressive, energetic and far more cruel in more docile environments. He becomes much more empathetic, & Calm in hostile ones. ((Like that time where he actually got on Rhys’s case for being too hard on Asch, or the times when he was like “Hey are we actually going to let Noi die” and offering to heal Noi when he was writhing in pain when they came to earth. ))

He’s actually more perceptive then he seems, he cares about those around him NORMALLY its just going this long without killing anything is maddening for him. HE NEEDS TO KILL. to let it all out, once he does he’ll act as he normally does.

He was the only one even remotely kind to Noi back on daemos, that changed when they got to earth. (besides Pierce. )

Though due to his normal lack of empathy in a world where he’s human he’d probably be one of those people who just don’t care about how what they say affects those around them. Doing and saying whatever he wants regardless of how others may interpret that.

He LOVES Skullgirls. He really likes the character designs and the fact that double always has organs or something hanging out.

He also loves all horror movies and video games where he gets to cause mayhem; Like Saints Row, or Grand Theft Auto!

He’d be the only one of the daemos that is fully accepting of the weird side of the internet. You know the WEIRD side. He’d be into all of the bizar kinky fetishes you’d find on Furraffinity you just know it.

He doesn’t actually like Ava he more-so see’s her as a trophy? I mean well he DOES but he’s mostly in the whole fight for her thing to win a prize. And she’s the prize. ((Well at least before the newest episode))

Pierce

The most Physically affectionate of the daemos even more so than Noi

Big buff bara man. LIKE BY FAR THE BUFFEST

Would probably run an animal shelter or something if he could

Would be running an animal shelter or something if he was human

Likes….fluffy. waayyy too much

He’s by far the most empathetic of the daemos. Yes even Noi then again Noi isn’t very empathetic.

Very tired 24/7 needs coffee to sustain himself.

Often by himself in the quiet. sometimes while alone with his thoughts they spiral out of control, Regret, Doubt, Despair, Uncertainty, Fear, Insecurity. All at once. Does he cry not at all. He suffers as he stands Silent. ultimately its impossible to tell when he’s having one of these moments as he doesn’t show it on his face.

Big PP

He is very loyal but his loyalty isn’t...friendship. He doesn’t really like Asch very much, but he does trust his judgement and follow his orders. He’s a knight after all, besides he appears to have some connection to one of Asches family members ((The daemos in that Flashback had a crown on their horn)

He likes standing because when he stands theirs no threat of getting too comfortable, no chance of falling asleep and drifting away, no chance of drifting into sleep and deciding to never wake up again, no chance of getting lost in the comforts of the object beneath him.

He is the one that cares for Ava the most

Doesn’t really care about the cultural norms on daemos. he flows free like the wind and accepts any new and sudden changes.

Heavyish sleeper, gets grumpy when woken up. Like if your trying to kill him his instincts will kick in and he will wake up but otherwise he’ll just stay asleep. LIKE THROUGH EVERYTHING

Though while he is the most empathetic of the Daemos he’s also prone to intense levels of apathy, where he just shuts down silent lost in his thoughts unable to be disturbed. these are only momentary

His element is air. Because of this he’s mostly just free and flowing.

Sometimes gives Ava Piggy Back rides to make her feel tall

Potentially one of the only one of the Daemos that genuinely care about Ava.

But also potentially only see’s Ava as a cute pet to love on rather than a person in and of herself. But ultimately he does also care about her feelings, and her opinion on things.

I prefer to think the latter rather than the former.

one time he accidentally befriended a large swarm of bee’s and they followed him to Ava’s house.

Gives Ava piggy back rides

Out of the Daemos he’s the one who Ava is closest to. The others have yet to even notice this.

One time the boys found porn on the phone and just gathered around the phone looking at it confused all bug eyed. Pierce saw the filth on the screen and made the executive decision to yeet it out the window.

Ava had to buy a new phone

Has a rough yet gentle touch. he takes care and caution when dealing with life.

because of the above him and Leif have an impossibly hard time cooperating when its just them.

The best with animals.

When not caught up in apathy he is the exact opposite. He becomes far too

Noi

He would enjoy fortnight if he played it

Would thrive off of old memes

If he was human he would be that one friend you wouldn’t want to hang out with because he fortnight dances, dabs, uses outdated memes, rick rolls people, and everything unironically.

The least muscular & Thicc by far. he doesn’t have any meat on his bones, unlike the other 4. Flat boney ass.

He’d probably be some sort of social media icon or a street performer if he was human. He thrives off of validation. Though because he’s a clumsy fuck street preforming wouldn’t be the best gig for him.

Likes music the most

Would probably be the first of the Daemos to watch and enjoy Steven Universe. ((Though I’d bet the others would come around. They always come around))

He Rick Rolled Rhys one time.

His sin is Envy, he often feels insecure about himself, and he looks up to everyone else seeing how “Cool” or great they are. ALWAYS saying “GOOD JOB ____” whenever they do something cool, he’s always excited but with that excitement comes the thoughts...Why can’t I do things like that? I wish I COULD BE STRONG LIKE PIERCE, I wish I COULD BE SMART LIKE RHYS, I wish I could be PAMPERED LIKE ASCH, I wish I COULD BE HANDSOME LIKE LEIF. That’s why he’s so focused on being better than everyone else. I wanna try! Let me see it! LET ME TRY FOR ONCE. that comes from not only desire but ENVY. he just channels this envy in a much healthier way than most would. *Cough* Leif *Cough*

He has EXTREME insecurity problems and longs more than anything to be better than the others.

After he found out what breakdancing was he dedicated SO MUCH of his time trying to learn how to do it.

He may or may not be obsessed with that

He also really likes Ava. But he’s moreso in love with the idea of her? He doesn’t really listen to much of what she says due to the fact that he’s so scatterbrained and spacey. He just likes when she talks. He mostly fell in love with Ava because she was the first person to present themselves towards him as an option. back on Daemos he was relatively low class. Thus he was viewed as unmarriageable, worthless, dumb, WEAK, & Poor, So trying to enter a relationship with ANYONE was out of the question. The boy thought he would die without finding love.

He thought Ava was actually GENUINELY interested in romancing him and because of that it excited him. NO ONE HAD EVER actually wanted to romance him. Back at home NO ONE liked him, no one was ever kind to him. Well Leif sometimes was pierce would show some kind of a...paternal affection rarely. But Leif also treated him cruelly and insulted him like the others.

Due to how loving and compassionate he is he was kicked out of his household.

Despite this Noi isn’t exactly empathetic. He doesn’t pay attention to the emotions of others he’s far too caught up in himself.

In the first 2 days on Earth He & Leif would shit talk Asch behind his back. Mostly talking about how they didn’t really like this plan and just vent their frustrations out at eachother

Starting on episode 5 him and Leif just kinda. He became too scared of Leif to even approach him as much and thus he kinda grew apart from him. thus causing him to latch more onto Ava. AVA likes him, unlike them. HE HAS PROOF after all.

He’s also far too stuck up in the idea of a powerful princess loving him a lowly peasant a low ranking knight someone who.....who wouldn’t be worth anything to her.

If they were to find out about ALL of Ava’s lies he’d take it the 2nd hardest. Asch would be the first, Rhys the 3rd. Leif the 4th, & Pierce the 5th.

Mostly because the only reason why she chose him, the only reason why they went on a date wasn’t because she was interested in him but because she didn’t want her cover blown. He thought she actually loved him not to say she doesn’t care for him but-...he thought she WANTED him you know?

She wouldn’t be a powerful princess, she wouldn’t be a cool sorceress, she wouldn’t be this big thing that he wanted so much she’d just be herself and then Noi’s fantasy would crumble.

Its the dream the fantasy that someone so powerful so strong would set aside their time and pay attention to him take him out in hopes of COURTING him that he fell in love with. Not ava herself.

That being said he does like Ava and even prefer spending time with her to half of the main cast.

Ava

Has to take Prescription drugs

Ate cat food once when she was five

Probably into pet play

Really likes collars

One time she went to some bitch in her high schools Quinceañera to release a box of 4000 angry bees upon it and run

Greedy

Spends alot of her time watching Anime when not with the Daemos

Her favorite Crystal Gem is Amethyst because god damn

No where NEAR as thick as Aphmau is. She’s alot more twiggy.

Would totally do the WEED if her dads weren’t hovering around her 24/7

Has a lot of Girl on girl porn in her room. Specif under her bed and in her closet.

133 notes · View notes

yuuchre-moved · 5 years

Text

Love Me in Spite

Sylvain x Felix (Fire Emblem Three Houses)

Summary: With the Garreg Mach Ball fast approaching and all the girls at the monastery giving him the cold shoulder, Sylvain realizes that he's going to have to get creative if he wants to maintain his dignity and snag a date for the occasion. Enter Felix: hostile, unamused, and utterly confused, he's somehow dragged into becoming Sylvain's fake boyfriend for the better part of a month. During their time together, the two might just learn to separate love from lies and turn hopes they didn't know they had into realities.

Ao3 Link

chapter one under the cut

“Hey, pretty lady. Want to go to the ball with me?” Sylvain smiled, silently praying that the girl he’d approached at one of the courtyard tables would accept and he could finally stop this day-long activity of begging girls to go out with him. Ever since he’d cut ties with a disgruntled caramel-haired girl, he’d been hearing snippets of rumours about himself and suspected that she was the one who’d started them as revenge.

Some of the stories were, unfortunately, true—damn Ingrid for yelling about that incident where he hit on her grandmother they were kids—and others were wild, unflattering exaggerations that caused girls to stare and giggle at him when he walked by. It seemed the entire female population was against him, and he looked like a moron for bragging that he was going to bring the cutest girl in the school to the ball to everyone he came across. It was terrible—every girl he turned to rejected him, usually while laughing or glaring at him.

His grin slipped for a moment when she rolled her eyes and giggled. “Uh, no thanks. Aren’t you into older women, anyway? Much, much older?”

Sylvain had to actively sustain his smile to keep his disappointment from showing. “That’s just a dumb rumour.” He gestured to the whole table and amped up his smile. “Come on, don't one of you ladies want to be the lucky girl on my arm at the Garreg Mach Ball? Anyone up for it?”

The table of girls exchanged glances. He knew he’d screwed up again when the first girl cleared her throat. “Did you really just ask my friends out just seconds after I rejected you? Really? People really are right when they call you desperate.”

“Well, I see you ladies aren’t interested. But know that I’ll be waiting if you change your mind.” He made eye contact with each of them and winked before he turned away, only then allowing his face to fall.

This sucked. He’d asked over two dozen girls around the monastery to the ball, but it seemed that his reputation had been tarnished because not a single one accepted. There was some hardcore girl teamwork going on here, which would’ve been impressive if it wasn’t working against him to make his life miserable. Showing up without a date wasn’t an option, especially after all that bragging he’d done. He’d look pathetic. There was hardly a point in going if he didn’t have someone with him, but who would still be willing at this point?

As climbed the stairs leading to his room, he was suddenly struck with an idea. Maybe it was true that no one wanted to date him, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t ask someone to pretend to be his date. If he could beg or bribe a girl to pose as his girlfriend, he’d keep his dignity and maybe even eliminate some of those weird rumours floating around. All he needed was a girl to agree to the plan.

Sylvain ran back down the hall until he reached Ingrid’s room. He knocked rapidly, mentally filing through all the tactics he knew to girls over. When Ingrid opened the door and saw who was standing there, her expression soured.

"Sylvain. What a pleasure. What do I have to get you out of now?" she asked flatly.

"I have a huge favour to ask. Will you pretend to date me so I can act like we're going to the ball together?"

Ingrid's eyes went wide. "Excuse me? Date you? No thanks. Anyway, were you not aware that I’m already going to the ball with Mercedes?"

She tried to shut the door, but Sylvain stuck his foot inside before she could. "Really? Sorry, I didn’t know. Do you happen to know anyone who would be willing to fake being my date so I don’t get laughed at the entire night of the ball?"

"No. Solve your own problems, Sylvain. You’re going to end up hurting someone if you play with people’s feelings like that."

“Not if I find the right girl for the job. Which I really need help with…” He frowned and gave Ingrid his best puppy dog eyes.

“Oh look! There’s Felix. Go bother him instead of me.” Ingrid crushed his foot with the door until he drew it back and shut the door on him.

"The hell was that about?"

Sylvain turned around to see Felix staring at him, a hand on his hip and familiar annoyance glinting in his eyes.

And suddenly, Sylvain had an option he hadn’t considered before. He smiled and shook his head. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

"Whatever." Felix stared at him for a moment, then frowned and brushed past him as if it wasn’t worth his time.

Sylvain let his gaze drift after him as he disappeared into the stairwell, wondering if he’d actually be able to pull this plan off. Sure, things might get a little weird, but it would be worth it in the end. It might just be ridiculous enough to work.

✿ ✿ ✿

Sylvain strutted into the dining hall, a bouquet of anemone clutched in one hand and a grin plastered on his face. Nervousness had crept under his skin in the time before dinner, sowing tiny seeds of doubt in his mind and telling him that maybe this was a completely idiotic and terrible idea and he should turn around before he did something he'd regret. But he took a deep breath and shook his head, shoving those thoughts away for now.

"Felix!"

As Felix turned around in his seat at the dining table, Sylvain leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. Felix recoiled, eyes wide and lips slightly parted, but Sylvain handed him the bouquet and started to talk before he could say anything.

"Tomorrow, let's do something together. I know a great place in town where we can have lunch, or I can just watch you train if you want. Hit me up, babe." He winked and leaned in, his lips brushing against the curve of Felix’s ear as he whispered, “Sorry. I’ll explain later.” He leaned back and turned without waiting for an answer, ignoring the whispers and stares he'd attracted from people at various tables as he left the room.

The air was cool on his skin as he made his way through the courtyard, but it did nothing to quell his growing embarrassment. This felt weirder than he’d expected. Much weirder. He didn’t think it would be easy, of course, but still… that look on Felix’s face after the kiss… Sylvain pressed his lips together, suppressing a sigh. It had to be done. All would be well after this plan played out. Felix wasn’t his first choice in this scenario, but he didn’t really have any other options. Sylvain had known him for years, so it wasn’t like their ‘relationship’ would be totally out of the blue. Maybe pretending to date a guy would even turn out to be a fun change. It would be a learning experience, at the very least. And it wasn’t like this was a permanent arrangement. Things would be fine.

All that was left to do was explain the plan to Felix and beg him to agree, the latter of which much easier said than done. He’d probably have to do a lot of grovelling and pleading, but he was pretty sure that he could get Felix to say yes somehow. And he’d be sure to make it up to him—he could find a gift in town or buy him a meal or two sometime.

For now, Sylvain retreated to his room, too ashamed to go back to the dining hall for dinner. Hopefully, things would look brighter in the morning.

✿ ✿ ✿

The first thing Sylvain thought when he woke up was how glad he was that it was Saturday. The second thing he thought was oh shit.

He'd actually done that, huh? Sashayed up to Felix and kissed his cheek, given him flowers, the whole shebang. Felix was going to be so pissed. Sylvain hoped he wouldn’t be angry enough to refuse even considering faking a relationship with him.

He rolled out of bed and got dressed, last night’s doubts evaporating in the air of a new day. He had nothing to worry about—he was just going out with one more person, and not even for real. So there were obviously no problems. It would be over soon enough.

Though, it occurred to him that if he wanted people to believe that he was interested in Felix for now, he probably shouldn't be flirting with girls like he usually did. He wouldn't be taken seriously if he split his attention like that. So as much as it pained him, he supposed he had to try and resist.

When he opened his door, something caught in the bottom from the outside. He stepped out and laughed aloud when he saw a bouquet of abused and dying flowers lying on the ground, the same ones he’d given Felix yesterday. He picked them up and gently removed the paper bound to the stems by the ribbon.

Fuck off was all it said, in Felix's delicate handwriting that never failed to surprise him no matter how often he saw it. He didn’t seem the type to have such charming penmanship with that hostile demeanour of his.

"No can do," Sylvain said in response to the note as he ducked into his room for a moment to toss the flowers in the trash. He chuckled again and started to make his way to the dining hall, relishing the idea of a meal after going to bed hungry.

He almost sprinted to the dining hall and pushed open the door with a relieved sigh, looking around and letting out a little breath of relief when he didn't see Felix. Curious glances seemed to follow him as he got his breakfast, but he pretended not to notice. He took his seat and smiled at Annette and Mercedes across the table, about to compliment them before he remembered his promise to himself not to flirt with girls. It wasn’t like they’d respond well, anyway… plus, Mercedes was taken already. It just wasn’t his day.

"Hey. Have you girls seen Felix today, by any chance?"

Annette glanced worriedly at her friend before responding. "Not today, no. Um, not that it's any of my business, but—"

"Annie! You shouldn't," Mercedes scolded, glancing between her and Sylvain, eyebrows furrowed.

"I just want to know what's going on between him and Felix! You have to admit that incident last night was kind of… unexpected."

Sylvain chuckled and waved his hand dismissively. "It's fine, I get it. I guess the feeling sort of snuck up on me, you know? With the ball coming up, I realized that he's the one I want to go with. As much of a shocker for me as it probably is for everyone else."

The girls exchanged a glance, their expressions unsure.

"So you aren't trying to trick everyone? And you’re not getting desperate because you can’t find a girl who wants to go with you?" Mercedes was playing with the ribbon in her hair, her eyes worried.

"Yeah, I thought maybe you were just messing with Felix or leading him on or something. Sorry, I guess it was kind of mean to assume that, but we couldn’t figure out why you suddenly showed so much interest in him."

Well, this was certainly less than a positive interaction. Sylvain hadn't expected to be accused like that, especially not by two of the nicest people in the class. Yeah, it might seem a little strange that he came onto Felix so suddenly, but it wasn’t the weirdest thing to ever happen at the monastery by a long shot.

"Come on, I’m not that horrible," he said, trying to keep his tone light and teasing. Were the girls were worried about him or worried about what they thought he was capable of? He couldn't think of anything to follow up with after a few moments, so he distanced himself by picking at his food and trying to keep his smile from slipping.

✿ ✿ ✿

"Felix, baby!"

As Sylvain approached from behind him, Felix visibly stiffened. He dropped his mock sword and spun around, storming up to him with such a dark expression that Sylvain stopped in his tracks and was tempted to back up. Well, at least Dimitri and Dedue were right across the grounds, right there if he needed someone to save him from Felix’s wrath.

"You!" Felix grabbed Sylvain's collar and jerked his head down so their eyes were level. Yeah, he might just need that backup. "You jackass. What the hell was that in the dining hall? What were you trying to accomplish by making me look like a fool?"

His amber eyes burned with fiery anger as he searched Sylvain's face, lips drawn tight as he waited.

"Look, I’m really sorry about that. The thing is…” He glanced up to make sure no one was eavesdropping. “I need a favour.”

“No.”

"Felix, my sweet." Sylvain lifted one of Felix’s hands and kissed his knuckles, causing him to rip both his hands away and hold them stiffly at his side. "You’re my only hope. I haven’t even told you what the favour is."

“I don’t want to hear it. My answer is no.”

“Just hear me out. I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend and go to the ball with me so I can win back the hearts of all the misguided girls of this school.”

Felix’s face went through half a dozen indistinguishable expressions before he settled on one with narrowed eyes and a tight jaw. “Are you joking?”

“I’m being completely serious. I need your help.”

“I don’t even know where to start with that. How—why me? What the ever-loving fuck possessed you to think asking me that would end well?”

Sylvain realized that maybe it was in his best interest to leave out the part where Felix was essentially his last resort. “Because I trust you, Felix. I’m scared to ask anyone else because they’ll laugh in my face, and I can’t take any more of that. I know that even though you might want to punch me or strangle me for asking, you won’t laugh. Not like them.” Slightly dramatized, but true nonetheless.

Felix stared at him for a long moment, his face going almost blank aside from the way he dropped his gaze for the briefest moment, giving away his uncertainty.

“Well, I don’t trust you. Leave me alone.”

He still sounded just as angry, but Sylvain could tell by his slip that there was a tiny crack in his foundation. All he had to do was find a way to keep breaking that down. “Come on, you’re not scared, are you? Think of it as a little competition—or, hey, I’ll pay you back. I’ll scout out the market every weekend, looking for merchants selling swords you’re interested in—anything you want.”

“I’m not going to be bribed like that.”

Wrong tactic. “Think of it as payment for doing me a favour. Please help me out? Hey, this way, you won’t have to deal with people bothering you to go with them to the ball because you’ll be taken.”

Felix stared sceptically at him, silent.

“By the Goddess—Felix, please. I’m begging you to do this one thing for me. I can’t bear the idea of going to the ball alone. Please go with me.” Sylvain bit his lip, holding his gaze and trying to plead with just his eyes.

Felix groaned and rolled his eyes. “I despise you. How long would I have to do it?”

Sylvain tried not to break into a relieved laugh. “Only about three weeks, until the ball—then we can stage a break-up and the girls will flock to comfort me.”

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to stand this. Don’t forget about buying me that sword. I deserve compensation for going through with this idiocy.”

“Of course. Now, let’s do this for real.” Sylvain got down on one knee and smiled up at him. “Will you go to the ball with me, Felix Hugo Fraldarius?”

“What are you—yes, I will, now get up! You’re going to attract unwanted attention. I’m regretting this already, stupid bastard.”

Sylvain jumped to his feet and took Felix’s hands in his. “Thank you.”

Felix stared at him for a long moment before tugging his hands away and shoving them in his pockets. “Yeah, whatever. Now can I finally get back to my training?”

Sylvain smirked. “Only if I’m allowed to stay and watch, babe.”

✿ ✿ ✿

Felix's head spun as he made his way up to his room after a day of rage-fueled training, feeling hot all over in the worst way. He couldn't believe Sylvain—what kind of horrible, oblivious, insensitive asshole did someone have to be to act like that? Felix shouldn’t have said yes. That, he could admit, was a huge mistake on his part, but Sylvain had been looking at him with those soft, pleading eyes and he’d lost it. How was he supposed to say no? Stupid fucking Sylvain.

The night before, when Sylvain had embarrassed him in the dining hall, Felix had wondered for just a moment what it would be like if Sylvain actually did have feelings for him—but he knew better than to dwell on such ludicrous thoughts. He knew there had been something fishy about that dinner scene and now his suspicions had been confirmed. Sylvain was just using him to get girls. It was just as he expected, which should have made him relieved and glad. So why… why did he feel so crushed by the realization?

He tried to push the thought away but kept coming back to it, unable to face the feelings blossoming in his chest but also unable to ignore them. Okay, so he could admit that he felt a pinprick of hurt because Sylvain expected him to act like he was in love with him just to win back some girls. Honestly, did he even consider for one second how Felix felt? How badly it would hurt when Sylvain inevitably dropped him for a girl? Then again, why should he consider them? Felix knew Sylvain had never felt like he had to consider if Felix liked him or not. The unknown part of the equation was how Felix himself felt.

He was no fool. He saw the pesky signs: how his chest felt tight every time he saw Sylvain flirting with a girl, how his heart jumped whenever he gave Felix that caring, knockout smile of his, the one that appeared when he dropped his playboy front, and even how some nights his mind refused to let him sleep, instead keeping him up and sickening him as his thoughts orbited around one stupid redhead that refused to leave his mind. It wasn’t a new feeling. He’d been acquainted with it for years, at this point. But he’d never had a reason to address it until that dumbass opened the floodgates with a bouquet of flowers and a kiss on the cheek.

By the Goddess—he took it back, he really was a fool. He didn’t have time or energy for this ridiculousness. He felt… something for Sylvain. Unfortunately. But it wasn't like it mattered. It would never go anywhere—as if he would ever choose Felix over the dozens of girls lined up in front of him. It wasn't worth thinking about.

Felix fell back onto his bed as soon as he entered the room, his head aching. This was fine. In three weeks, he’d confirm that he couldn’t stand dating Sylvain and things would go back to normal. Just like he wanted.

✿ ✿ ✿

See you at breakfast, buttercup. p.s. I'll clean up the petals so don't freak out too much :)

Sylvain’s note ricocheted in Felix's mind even though he'd trashed it right after he read it. He almost couldn't believe Sylvain would decide to sneak into his room while he was sleeping and scatter snow-white rose petals over literally every open surface. The only thing that kept him from strangling the idiot was the fact that he promised to clean it up, though his room would probably still smell like perfume for a day or two. And Felix wasn't sure he wanted him traipsing around his room unsupervised. Again. He grimaced at the thought of Sylvain being in his room when he was asleep and defenceless. Yes, they were supposed to act like they were dating, but this was going too far. No one was going to see the petals, so it wasn’t like they were cementing the lie. He probably just did it to get on Felix’s nerves.

As he angrily pushed his breakfast around on his plate, someone touched the back of Felix's neck and, to his horror, planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Don't do that!" he spat, whipping his head around to shoot Sylvain an unamused glare.

Sylvain gave him a relaxed grin and slid his hand under Felix's chin, pushing it up a bit and running his thumb along the skin just below his bottom lip. Felix felt his face heat up almost immediately, suddenly finding it hard to look Sylvain in the eye.

"Get off." He swatted his hand away and turned back to his food, ignoring the looks he was getting from the other students at the table. "Don't touch me."

"You're cute when you're mad. Hey, what did you think of the rose petals? And do you always keep your room unlocked, or were you just expecting me?" Sylvain took the seat beside him and bumped him with his elbow.

Felix lowered his voice to a low hiss. "No, I was just distracted and forgot to lock it. What you did was completely unnecessary. Honestly, what were you thinking? Let’s just keep it to mildly affectionate public interactions, okay? Don’t cover my damn room in flowers again, dumbass."

Sylvain whistled and raised his eyebrows. "Not a fan of roses, then? I was just trying to set the mood. White flowers are a good look for you, though. They give you a splash of purity, you know? Innocence. It’s almost cute.” He cleared his throat and gave a short laugh, like he was nervous. “What's your favourite flower?"

“Don’t ignore me when I talk to you.”

“Don’t ignore me when I ask you a question. But fine, I’ll find other ways to show you my affection. He reached out to touch his face again, but Felix shoved his hand away.

"Stop that." He shifted uncomfortably and looked down at his plate. He couldn’t do this. He really couldn’t do this. His chest was tight as he took a deep breath, fingers clenched tight around his fork.

“Felix.” He looked over at Sylvain, then down at his hand as the fork was gently eased out of hand and placed on the plate. Sylvain placed his hand over Felix’s and rubbed his knuckles with his thumb. “You know, you don’t… you don’t have to do this. Don’t force yourself.”

Felix squeezed his hand, hesitantly looking up. And there it was: that soft, exposed smile that he could lose himself in if he stared for too long. The smile he both hated and cherished. He blinked and shook his head. “I keep my promises.”

#fire emblem three houses #fe3h #fe16 #felix x sylvain #sylvix #felvain #felix hugo fraldarius #sylvain jose gautier #fake dating #writing #fanfiction #bell writes

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jaydesims · 4 years

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top 5 video games!!

Oooooh this one is gonna be tough! I won’t include sims since that would be too easy hehe. ;)

1. Dragon Age series

One of my favorite video game series ever! I technically played them out of order cause I started with Inquisition first, but I have played every game in the series and love them to pieces. Each game is just so uniquely and honestly I can’t compare them cause they are different in every way. :)

2. Fire Emblem series

Another one of my favorite video game series! I definitely haven’t played every game in the series, but my favorite game(s) would definitely be Radiant Dawn/Path of Radiance! Ike is one of my favorite FE lords and the storyline in those two are off the charts good! Plus I really love how tactical the games are and even though they can be MEGA frustrating at times I always love playing it.

3. Silent Hill series

Yup, played pretty much every game in the series and I absolutely love them all! Silent Hill 2 holds a special place in my heart just cause the ending broke me and had me bawling like a baby. The soundtrack for that game is also amazing. While I do agree with the sentiment that the games went downhill after Silent Hill 4 The Room, I still think each one is worth playing.

4. Overwatch

This is like the one game I can always consistently play! I first got it a couple weeks after it came out and I legit haven’t stopped playing since. Not sure how I feel about Overwatch 2 but I’m pretty excited since it sounds like the game itself isn’t changing to much, just improving in certain ways.

5. Deadly Premonition

THEY’RE MAKING A SEQUEL AND I AM PUMPED!! I cannot tell y’all how much I LOVE this game! Yes it’s weird and tbh when I first played it I was very meh about it but I played it through until the end and enjoyed it so much. So yeah it’s so unique and fun and quirky so please please PLEASE play this if you haven’t! Also the music is so cool tbh.

Thanks so much for the ask!

#anon #ask meme

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phoenixalmighty · 5 years

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Shaping Two Futures

@girlgeniusevents

This was written for Girl Genius Event Week 2019, Day 7: Niche Crossover/AU Day. The crossover in this case is the Geneforge games.

—

General Alwan gazes upon the dormant portal. “And you’re sure it will open into somewhere in Terrestia?”

Next to him, Baron Klaus Wulfenbach shrugs. “I can’t be sure of anything until I’ve seen it working with my own eyes. The only previous work we could base the technology on was from the English Sparks who have been working on higher-dimensional travel; we’re lucky that the energy readings we got from you in the aftermath of your passage inspired some of the Sparks who saw them to use the unique signature as a homing beacon, and it still took two years. I’ve looked over the design, though, and I believe it should work.”

Alwan nods and resists the urge to sigh. “I’ve felt this before, this uncertainty about whether a new technology or magic will work the way its creator says it will. I hate it — more so when the course of the future could hinge on it.”

The Baron looks pensive. “I must confess that I find it a refreshing change from the challenge of running a continental empire, if only because the new thing is occasionally something that will help me instead of making yet another mess that I have to send someone to clean up.”

“Even if it does work, you shouldn’t start celebrating just yet,” Alwan warns. “The Shapers may have great power, but the rebels stole some of it for themselves and spent years building up forces in secret, and with the element of surprise on their side, they were able to take much of eastern Terrestia. Given the chaos and general unpredictability of the strategic situation last I knew of it, I can make no guarantees about the state of any part of the continent.”

The Baron opens his mouth to reply, but whatever he is about to say is cut off by a shout from one of the technicians near the portal’s control panel. “Herr Baron! The portal is ready to be turned on!”

“Then what are you waiting for? Do it!”

Alwan looks over his shoulder to check the hundred soldier clanks behind him. All seem ready. They will come through alongside him and the Baron in case they come across any rebels or other unsavory characters.

In most cases, Alwan would be reluctant to have the leader of the nation he wants to ally with come into a potentially dangerous situation such as this. However, he has seen the rebels fight, and he has seen the Baron fight, so he is not concerned for the Baron.

The edges of the portal glow blue. The area inside flickers the same color before resolving into a forest where beings — some human, some not — dart between the trees, casting spells, breathing fire, spitting acid, swinging swords, and generally trying to kill each other. The combatants of one side wear no emblem; those of the other wear the distinctive three-part circle that the Shapers use as a sigil.

The Shapers still fight. Good. Alwan will render aid to ensure they win.

Without waiting for the Baron’s signal — they have already agreed that Alwan, as the one with experience in this land’s methods of war, shall have military command of the Baron’s forces unless the Baron overrides him — Alwan barks, “Clanks! Forward! Aid the Shapers!” As the clanks raise their rifles and charge, aiming for the rebel soldiers, Alwan scans the battlefield for any high-value targets. He finds one in the form of a drayk, a twenty-foot-long creation that a Europan might call a dragon if its wings were large enough to allow it to fly. Though creations of both sides almost never bear any sigil to declare their allegiance, Alwan knows that any drayk on a battlefield will be allied with the rebels; their existence is illegal under Shaper law, and any Shaper finding one is duty-bound to destroy it, though this is easier said than done.

On his own, Alwan would find it difficult but doable. With the Baron at his side, killing the drayk will be a nearly-assured success.

With the Baron close on his heels, Alwan sprints for the drayk, drawing his sword. While on the way, he observes that the Shaper forces, while as surprised as the rebel ones, are beginning to work with their new allies with admirable quickness. Excellent. He gets close to the drayk and strikes at its eye, but it jerks its head back and breathes a gout of flame at him and the Baron. Alwan rolls to the right, the Baron to the left, and they move to flank the beast. It turns to face Alwan, lashing at the Baron with its tail.

Alwan can see the logic in choosing to face the Shaper rather than the unknown, but that was the wrong move; the drayk should have gotten out of the flank as quickly as possible, as turning its back on the Baron is at least as certain a death sentence as turning its back on Alwan himself. The Baron proves it by leaping over the swiping tail and driving his sword into the drayk’s back. It roars in pain, thrashing about to try to dislodge the Baron, but he is gripping the drayk’s wing joints to avoid being thrown, and the distraction gives Alwan an opening to ram his sword through the roof of the drayk’s mouth. Alwan shoves the head off his blade and searches for the next target. As luck would have it, the target finds him.

Alwan’s magical senses warn him of the incoming spell just in time for him to duck and let it fly over his head. He spins to face its source: a woman with a cold, angry, arrogant sneer on her face, clothed in a robe that imitates those worn by the Shapers themselves. A rebel lifecrafter, whose waxy, cracked, glowing skin shows that she has been illegally Shaped again and again, past the point where the well-known mental effects become more trouble than they are worth.

The lifecrafter waves a hand, and a flash of light heralds her creation of a battle alpha: a large, strong, red-furred, moderately-intelligent humanoid that is often used as a shock trooper. Alwan has no time to make any creations of his own before the lifecrafter is casting another spell at him, this one a bolt of ice. He darts to the side to dodge it and calls to the Baron, “You handle the battle alpha! I’ll take the lifecrafter!”

He has told the Baron enough about Terrestia during the years he has spent in Europa that the Baron already knows which is which, as if it weren’t obvious enough from context. Battle alphas are strong, fast, and tough, but the Baron has taken on more dangerous foes in single combat and prevailed. He will have no problems defeating the creature.

Alwan closes range with the lifecrafter. He could draw the sidearm at his hip and shoot at her from a distance, but she will be used to fighting at range, and he does not know if the armor she undoubtedly wears beneath her robe will stop a bullet. Getting close will, hopefully, push her to start making mistakes. Three more dodged spells, and Alwan is upon her. A slice across her torso is deflected by what feels like chitin armor. She makes her panic evident with a sloppy blast of fire that Alwan barely even has to dodge before stabbing his sword through her armor and into her stomach.

He considers it a minor personal failure that he lets his guard down enough for her to punch him in the face, shove herself off his sword, and cast a healing spell on herself, but it matters little. She could have augmented that punch with magic; that she did not think to shows just how rattled she is. Alwan will kill her without much more trouble.

The lifecrafter thrusts out her hand, and acid mist sprays from her palm at Alwan. He aborts his lunge in favor of getting out of its way; an ice bolt he might have been willing to take, but acid he is much less sanguine about. Instead, he tosses his sword to his left hand and draws his sidearm. Now that he knows her armor is chitin, he knows it will not stop bullets, and her look of shock when he puts three rounds into her center mass is his cue to finish her off by decapitating her.

He looks around. The Baron has long since killed the battle alpha, and the Wulfenbach clanks are helping the Shaper forces mop up the last of the rebels. There is little left for him to do other than make contact with the Shaper commander so that the diplomacy can begin.

—

“Ah, Greta. Is that the report on Baron Wulfenbach’s excursion into Terrestia? I’ve already read it, but I was wondering if you had any insights I was missing.”

Greta sips at her coffee before she answers Prince Tarvek. “To give you insights you’re missing, I need to know which ones you have.”

“General Alwan’s belief that a Shaper-Wulfenbach alliance will crush the lifecrafter rebellion seems a little optimistic to me, considering that he knows Wulfenbach has enemies who would love to ally with the rebels.”

Greta smiles. “Ah, but he doesn’t know that those enemies know where he went or that they can get there themselves, and I’m almost certain he doesn’t know that I’m here. After all, I didn’t learn of his presence in Europa until we’d been here for two months, and I’ve taken pains to stay beneath the empire’s notice. Given what he knows, his conclusion is fairly reasonable.”

Tarvek nods. “Though no less wrong for it. What little Alwan saw of Terrestian tactics seems to be about the same as you remember from two years ago. Not much to talk about there, except that the presence of a human lifecrafter means the rebellion hasn’t been completely taken over by the drakons —” Tarvek breaks off as Greta shakes her head. “— no? Why not?”

“From Alwan’s description, that woman had overShaped herself in search of ever more power, which is exactly the kind of thing that the drakons would encourage... not that it was uncommon among lifecrafters who had no contact with the drakons.”

Tarvek frowns. “How do you come to that conclusion? I was under the impression that self-Shaping had no drawbacks.”

Greta gives Tarvek a look. The rest of the conspiracy hasn’t been sharing everything with you, has it? Dangerous, to keep one of the two people their whole plan rests on out of the loop. “Oh, it has several, and that’s why I only did it sparingly when I was in Terrestia.

“There are two types of device that are used to Shape a person in the way that rebels do and Shapers forbid: Geneforges and canisters. A Geneforge is a pool of charged, distilled essence and various equipment and machinery to keep it functional. When used, it grants some basic abilities, such as the ability to shoot fire from one’s hands or heal minor wounds, and lays the groundwork for future changes. Canisters are, well, glass canisters that contain essence of a similar type to Geneforges, but most only grant a single ability, though what that ability is varies. Unlike a Geneforge, a canister is single-use and portable, so people have to keep making them, but they can go to their users instead of the other way around.

“Both Geneforges and canisters work by rewriting part of the user’s being, although which part I’ve never been entirely clear on. However, if you overuse them, the side effects include arrogance, shortened temper, loss of empathy, and megalomania, and they’re addictive to boot. Use few enough, or space them out far enough, and you can avoid most of it.” This is what Greta did, and it is why she retained enough of her faculties to rise as far in the rebellion’s ranks as she had before coming to Europa.

Tarvek hums as he takes in the information. “I see. And you said that the drakons would encourage using too many of these?”

“They would. They care only for their own power, but they use the reason I joined the rebellion, which is to make Terrestia a place where creations would have more rights than the Shapers give them now, as a smokescreen to get more people to fight for them. If they get more lifecrafters to overuse canisters, that would allow them to take those who believe as I do about Shaper tyranny and make them forget those beliefs in favor of their own quest for ever-greater power. Hopefully the human rebels retain enough influence within the greater rebellion to have kept that from happening so that a rebel victory doesn’t result in a state as tyrannical as the Shaper government but headed by the drakons.”

Tarvek is silent for a moment. Greta waits for him to marshal his thoughts until he says, “I see. Moving on to the strategic situation on Terrestia, it looks like the rebels hold the eastern part of the continent and the Shapers the western part, but the rebels are making a push from Burwood Province into the Okavano Fens. That seems like an ideal place to send military aid to the rebels.”

The continent of Terrestia is shaped roughly like a square with the middle taken out and peninsulas jutting east from the top and bottom of the eastern side. Burwood Province and the Okavano Fens border the inland sea on the north; on the southern shore, the rebels hold most of Illya Province in the east, and the Shapers hold the Storm Plains in the west. Greta nods at Tarvek’s assessment. “It does, though we would need to ensure that the source of that aid doesn’t leak to anyone who shouldn’t know it.”

“Obviously. We’d also need to keep it from Wulfenbach that we were moving troops to parts unknown.”

Greta absently nods at Tarvek’s words, but her mind has been taken elsewhere by the shift to the topic of a Valois-rebel alliance. Like the rebellion, the Storm King conspiracy could usher in an era of peace and a better government than the one that already exists; also like the rebellion, the conspiracy has many who would rather simply place themselves at the top of the new order without doing anything to make the lives of the common folk better. She had been trying to maneuver the human rebels into a position of greater power than the drakon rebels before coming to Europa, but with a Valois-rebel alliance, the complexity of ensuring that the best parts of both groups come out on top will likely put it beyond her ability.

But Tarvek wants to help people, and he just might be able to pull it off.

And so, as the conversation shifts to the nearly-complete portal device through which Greta will soon travel to Terrestia, she is already considering how to persuade the young prince to help her ensure that both revolutions succeed without coming full circle.

#girl genius event week #girl genius #crossover

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packetdancer · 5 years

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So, is Fire Emblem any good? And if I'm just starting out, which one should I play first?

I’m pretty fond of the series, but I love tactical RPGs and I admit we get few enough good ones that I’m perhaps not as discerning as I might be within that particular genre.

(Mind you, no tactical RPG I’ve played has yet truly supplanted the Sakura Taisen series; it’s just so hard to find a good steampunk spec-ops opera tactical dating sim RPG these days. And you’d think it would be such a crowded genre…)

Anyway. With a few (somewhat tangled, and unfortunately relevant to my answer) exceptions, there is no common timeline or shared continuity between the Fire Emblem games; for the most part you can hop in anywhere. But, two of the three most recent ones are those ‘common timeline/shared continuity exceptions. Yay?

There are three games I’d recommend and—spoiler—they are the three most recent ones. But the one I would probably recommend starting with is, actually, not technically my favorite.

Warning: verbosity ahead.

Fire Emblem Awakening

So, my favorite Fire Emblem has a story just complex enough to be engrossing without being as mind-twistingly odd as some JRPGs get. It’s got great tactical combat. There are time-travel shenanigans, which I’m always a sucker for. There’s enough options for ways to set up your units to keep the game varied, without crossing my “this is complex enough to become tedious” threshold. It is, in short, the perfect blend of features, for me.

It is also the game that saved the Fire Emblem series; the series was looking likely to be cancelled, but they put out one last game to bid it farewell… and it was a huge success.

However, since it was meant to be a farewell, it takes place back in the same setting as the original three Fire Emblem games from back in the early 1990′s. It takes place on the same continent as the third game (a side-story), albeit 2000 years later, and references as ancient history some events from the first two games (a two-part saga).

It’s perfectly playable without knowing those three games, mind you; Awakening was the first Fire Emblem I played, so I certainly didn’t get the references until I wiki’d them later, However, if you’re a story completionist, there’s references you won’t quite get.

It is also one of only a few Fire Emblem games (so far) where you can customize an “Avatar” character; name, gender, appearance. It’s worth noting your avatar is not the main character of the story, but you are the deuteragonist and play a very large role in the storyline.

Fire Emblem Fates

My second-favorite is a very close second; arguably Awakening only wins because it was my first and thus has sentimental value, as Fates really does have the better story. Fates is also, blessedly, a standalone game. It is the one I probably would recommend starting with.

Fates is also another of the handful of games where you have an Avatar character who you can customize. It is also the first (and so far, only released) Fire Emblem where the Avatar is also the main protagonist.

For another first, Fates is also the first (and so far, only) Fire Emblem to feature branching story paths. The first where you have to make choices that impact the storyline in a genuinely significant fashion instead of just changing some color/flavor of the game; in at least one notable place, the different choices will literally leave you playing an entirely different game storyline. (It’s worth noting that there’s also a DLC available—Fates: Revelation—which introduces an additional choice to that key decision point, and thus a yet another fairly significantly different story path.)This is the Fire Emblem game which presented a major decision I thought I’d made already before playing and found I had to stop playing and seriously think about.

Plus, you get to turn into a dragon; I feel like this is rarely a bad thing in a combat-heavy RPG. (Rawr. stomp stomp stomp)

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

So. Echoes… yeah.

Echoes is the most recent Fire Emblem released, and it is technically wonderful. It does a lot of things that pretty much no other Fire Emblem does. It’s fully voiced! You have complete freedom on the world map! You can freely explore towns! There are dungeons you can explore! It’s packed full of so many unusual and unique features for a Fire Emblem game, just like the original side-story game I mentioned earlier!

But it is a remake of that original side story, with all that implies. There is no customizable Avatar character, no branching story, and after Fates that felt like a step back. Plus, at least to me, the story felt a little dated; it is a very polished version of an RPG from 1992, but… it is also a very polished version of a game from 1992. It is nice because it’s kind of a prequel to Awakening, and I still enjoyed it, but it’s definitely not a neck-and-neck like Awakening and Fates.

There’s my rankings, and my explanations for such. I hope that helps!

#fire emblem #video games #valiantlydecadentsuit

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theultimateegghead-blog · 5 years

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Gaming history and releases in 1990.

Welcome to a new series of mine, a celebration of video games over the last few decades. In this series I will be looking over some major events and releases based off of the year. We will start with 1990 and end with 2012. The reason behind this is because this series is not only meant to celebrate gaming, but also some of my friends as well. Thusly every year is dedicated to all my friends and readers born in that year. I am ending at 2012 because that was the year my sisters were born. If you were born before 1990, you are still an awesome person! Consider this prologue in dedication to all my pre-1990 readers. If you were born after 2012, then how did you get here? Regardless, without further ado, lets take a look at some gaming history!

Some major events include...

The first Nintendo World Championships is held.

The first Nintendo World Championships begins on March 8th, 1990. One of the first ever video game competitions, the world championship would make a nationwide run across the united states. (Somewhat defeating the world title.) Contenders would compete with various games that were made for the tournament and would win various prizes such as trophies, money and Nintendo products. The cartridges made for this tournament are considered to be some of the rarest, if not the rarest, video games. The cartridges were given to winners of a Nintendo power contest and they are estimated to be worth 150 grand!

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THQ is founded.

The video game company THQ is founded in April of 1990. Originally a toy company that occasionally dabbled in video game production, it eventually became a full-fledged game development company. The company lasted until 2016, where it filed for bankruptcy and sold its brand to Nordic Games, now called THQ Nordic. THQ makes licensed games based off animated movies and cartoons, but also has their own original games. Some of there most famous original IPs include Darksiders, Destroy All Humans and Red Faction.

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The Sega Game Gear Launches in Japan

The Game Gear was Sega’s response to the success of the Nintendo Gameboy. It was released on October 6th, in Japan, seeing a release in America in the next year. While it did support full color graphics and had a technical edge compared to the Gameboy, it also sported a cumbersome size, poor battery life, small library and minimal support from Sega. It was rushed in production and was not able to surpass, let alone match the success of the game boy. It would be discontinued in 97, having sold over 10 million copies in those 7 years.

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The Super Famicom Launches in Japan.

The Super Famicom, known in America as the Super NES, was one of the most well known and renowned consoles in gaming history. Taking gaming to the next level per se, it had new advanced hardware that allowed it to process games far better than the original NES. Some of the greatest games of all time, such as A Link to the Past and Super Mario World was released on this system. It sold nearly 50 million units and was available in retail until 2003.

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Some of the most critically acclaimed and important released of this year are…

Super Mario Bros 3

Super Mario 3 would be released to critical acclaim in February 1990. This platforming adventure boast colorful levels and plenty of new things that would become long standing tropes in the Mario franchise. It was one of the best-selling games of all time and had heavy promotion both before and after its release. It was featured in the video game themed move “The Wizard” and then afterwards it spawned a cartoon series that has amassed a cult following in recent years. It is considered by many to be the best Mario game.

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F-Zero

This Super Famicon/SNES game would see its initial Japanese release in November of 1990. While it was not the first racing game, it was in a way Nintendo bringing racing to home console and it was praised by many for pushing the graphical expectation of games to a new level and for spawning the F-Zero IP, which unfortunately has been left neglected for several years now. While it may not have been the first, it has been cited to be the game that set the standard for racing games to come.

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Dr. Mario

Dr. Mario was Nintendo’s attempt to create their own puzzle game. While they owned the rights to Tetris at the time, Tetris was not their original creation. Dr. Mario was released for the Gameboy and super Famicon in July 1990. It received generally favorable reviews and would establish Mario as a doctor as well as a plumber. While the series itself has not seen much flare since the 90s, Dr. Mario is playable in several Smash titles.

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Metal Gear II Solid Snake

Metal Gear II Solid Snake is the second instalment of the Metal Gear franchise and was initially released in July of 1990 for the MSX2. This game would not see an official English release until over a decade later. This game is praised for not only improving on the original Metal Gear game in almost every way, but also establishing the stealth genre. It is considered to be one of the most innovative and advance games of its era, and it was also praised for its more mature theme and story when compared to other titles of that year.

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Smash TV

Smash TV is an arcade game that came out in April of 1990. This game was one of the first twin stick multidirectional shooter and featured cooperative play as well. It was a game that pushed boundaries with its violence but would not spark as much outcry when compared to future arcade games such as Mortal Kombat. Nevertheless, this game did establish a genre that appeals to those looking for classic arcade fun, games like hotline Miami and Call of Duty Dead Ops could owe a part of their creation to Smash TV.

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The Secret of Monkey Island

Monkey Island is one of the most revered point and click series gaming has to offer. With various sequels and remakes this game defined a genre. It was initially released in October of 1990. One of the first major games with an emphasis on character and story, this took gaming narrative into a new spotlight, while it was not the only contributor, it was a major contributor to story driven games. It wasn’t half bad graphically either.

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Railroad Tycoon

The first game in the Tycoon series. This game was a simple railroad business simulator, where you built a railroad empire and try to maintain it. While the concept might sound boring to some, it did herald the beginning of a long running series and could be considered one of the origins of the simulator genre. While I cannot say it is solely responsible for later simulator games like the sims, it could be considered the grandfather of business simulators.

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Alpha Waves

This game is relatively unknown, but it does hold some importance. Released in August of 1990, Alpha Waves is one of the first ever full 3D games. This game was somewhat of an art project and is rather abstract and artistic in design. While it does hold significant importance in the evolution of graphics, it is more of an experience than an actual full fledged game.

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Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light

The Fire Emblem series is a long-lasting series of tactical RPGs that remained primarily in Japan until the 2000s. This is the first Fire Emblem game and it was released exclusive in Japan in April of 1990. This game was deep for its time, featuring a story and characters who could die permanently. While America never saw this title, they eventually got a remaster nearly 15 years later. This game stabilized the tactical rpg as a genre and is considered to be one of Nintendo’s greatest series.

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This concludes my analysis on some gaming events and releases of the year 1990. If you were born in 1990, then happy birth year to you! See you in 91!

#gaming history #video games #Video Game History #1990 #90s #nintendo #nintendo world championships #thq #game gear #super famicom #super mario bros #f zero #dr mario #metal gear #smash tv #the secret of monkey island #railroad tycoon #alpha waves #fire emblem

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bishojosenshiaquaria · 6 years

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Song Summoner: An Unsung Treat by Square Enix

When I first got my iPod Touch, it was a 2nd Gen, and I roamed the app store for interesting looking games. At the time, I was still a complete Square Enix fangirl, and that's all it took for me to invest. Thus, I discovered Song Summoner.

I'll add here I'm not normally a fan of tactics games. They're interesting, and there are special ones-I'm finally starting to get into Fire Emblem, the original GBA port. But something about Song Summoner appealed.

It had a pretty basic quest line, at least at first glance. A dystopian fantasy world ruled by machines. The main character becomes a "Conductor", able to summon tune troopers, to combat the threat.

This is where it got special.

"Tune Troopers" are constructed based on songs found on the player's iPod. As you play through, you can unlock more possible troopers, as well as a few 'Superstars' of each type. 50 Characters sorted into 5 different job classes. Each of the characters had unique art-beautiful art.

There were different bonuses for each attack in the tactics map-either by color of trooper, or job class. And honestly there was something personal about knowing the people fighting the battles were born of your taste in music.

Obviously the game had a good soundtrack, because otherwise why focus so much on music?

It was a singularly unique game, which I suppose makes sense. IOS took it off the market a few years back, which makes me sad, but it's still worth talking about. Especially since Square Enix likes reissuing it-and maybe we could see an Android Port one of these days.

Gameplay: 1.5 of 2. It is a tactics games, originally designed for click wheel, later released for a touch screen, and probably the only reason an old ipod Touch is charging under my desk.

Story: 1.5 of 2. There is a tiny bit of predictability in one 'twist' that I called from the beginning of the game. However, asides from that, the story is a surprisingly touching adventure, with unexpected surprises when you replay levels later on in the game.

Graphics: 2 of 2, though it's almost unfair to deliver this score. Square Enix has a lot of reputations in gaming circles, but graphics have always been something they excelled at.

Music: 1 of 2. It's a fair soundtrack, but compared to previous Square Enix entries, nothing that will stick with you.

Bonus: 1 of 2. Did I mention how cool it is to pick one of your favorite songs and get a badass playable character? The inverse is also true. Sometimes your favorite songs get a character completely unfairly designated and leveled.

1.5+1.5+2+1+2=7 of 10.

#Gaming Adventures #Square Enix #Spryte Bytes #Song Summoner

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capitainecorbeau · 6 years

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Game recs : Yggdra Union

And we’re back for another one, and this time, it’s an rpg, like I promised ! More specificly it’s a pretty unique tactical rpg, Yggdra Union : We’ll Never Fight Alone.

Yggdra union came out for the GBA in 2006, and a HD remake came out for the PSP in 2008. It was developped by sting, and distributed by atlus. It’s the second entry in Sting’s Dept Heaven series, which currently has four games and two spin-offs. It’s been on hiatus since 2012, however.

The story starts out pretty classic : you follow Yggdra, the princess of Fantasinia, who had to flee after her country was invaded and her family killed. While on the run, she meets with Milanor, a young thief, who offers to help defeating the invading empire in exchange for Yggdra’s castle. And along the way, they of course assemble a buch of quirky characters (including but not limited to : a royal knight, a kid mermaid named after a german philosopher (?), a magician, a somewhat incompetent freedom fighter) to fight with them.

The writing is overall pretty good. There are some issues with it (like some dramatic moments or difficult desicions that fall flat because it feels like we don’t have enough information), but otherwise it’s fairly solid. What I really liked was that the writers didn’t shy away from giving the main characters difficult and morally ambiguous choices (which not everyone agree on, and that’s a really nice touch). The protagonist aren’t pure and perfect, and people who disagree with them aren’t all portrayed as evil. They’re all people put in difficult situations who try to act as they see best, and actions that are morally ambiguous are treated as such. It mostly avoids protagonist-centered-morality, and it’s really refreshing.

And your enemies also come with a wide array of personnalities and moral compasses ! Some are irreedemably evil, some have sympathetic motivations, and some are just plainly good people. Like I said, there are a few times the writing can be hit or miss, but for the most part it knows what story it wants to tell and how to tell it. And they manage to give all your characters clear motivations and personnality, despite most of them not getting much screen time (one of the pitfalls of tactical rpgs that the game doesn’t manage to avoid).

But the part where the game really shine is the gameplay ! As I said, it’s a tactical rpg, and a fairly unique one at that. The core of the game is rather close to a Fire Emblem game (you move on a grid, there’s some terrain bonuses, a weapon triangle, the enemy and your units are the same classes, etc), but there lots of elements that add themselves onto that.

The biggest one (so big it made it into the title) is the ability to form “unions”, aka pulling surrounding units into the fight. Instead of picking one enemy at at time, you can pull all your army and the enemy’s into one huge battle (though units still fight one on one). If you play your cards (litterally) right, you can take out huge chunks of the opposing army in one go. This is the meat and bones of the game, and it’s really fun. It makes fights feel much more intense and important.

The second biggest mechanics is cards (see what I did earlier). Cards determine your range of movement, how much damage you’ll deal (though it’s influenced by other things also), and also serve as special attacks. There are a lot of them, and they’re all pretty different from one another (some boost your stats, some nerf the enemies, some do flat damage, some inflict status effects, some nullify damage etc).

What I really like about the gameplay as a whole is that it’s very complex, yet very well held together. There are a few gimmicks here and there, but for the most part, every element is important to consider. As a result, there are lots of different strategies you can try, and you can get pretty creative (for example, you can completely nullify a character’s disadvantage against another unit with the right combination of skiils and items). It makes the game pretty fun to replay because there’s lots of new tactics you can try out ! The the game does an excellent job at easing you into it, they don’t dump every single gameplay element on you in one go.

Another thing that really stands out about this game is the general presentation. The art style is really original, and personnaly I love it. There’s this sense of slightly chaotic energy emanating from it, and while the designs can get a bit busy, there’s still readable (though I will say the the menus can be pretty messy and cluttured, and that it can be a problem). The art (by Satoko Kiyuduki) was what initially caught my attention and made me want to play the game, actually. The spritework is also pretty smooth (especially in the psp remake). Also there is this design :

Look at that badass armor. Look at it.

The music is nice too ! Some of the map themes can get a bit repetitive or blend into each other, but the battle music is memorable (and the nice touch is, every player unit gets their very own leitmotif ! Important enemies do, too).

Difficulty wise, the game is pretty tough. It’s not too unfair however, there is an option to lower a map’s difficulty if you’re struggling, and the psp remake added diffuculty levels and rebalanced things out. Speaking of which, I highly recommand the psp version over the gba one : it’s got better graphics, music, more balanced gameplay, new maps and characters. And voice acting ! Both in japanese and in english. (but the gba version is still fun, and worth checking out !)

And well, there you go ! This game is still a favorite of mine even after all this time, and I heartily recommend you try it out ! It’s a fun experience. And if you enjoy the gaplay, you can check out the two spinoff, Blaze Union and Gloria Union ! (I can’t speak for the story of these two however because they were never released outside of japan and I don’t speak japanese.)

#game recs #yggdra union #game babbles #holy shit this has been sitting in my drafts for months

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sazorak · 6 years

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What I Thought Of Every Single Game I Played In 2017

2017 was a weird year for me. In terms of my personal life, it's been something of a holding pattern; I'm a year older, but I've not accomplished nearly as much as I'd liked to. I've had a lot of good times, and I've done my best, but I probably haven't made an entirely meaningful use of my lingering youth.

But on the other hand: I got to play a whole bunch of video games! 2017 was a good year for video games. It had to be a good year for something, I suppose, and if the rest of the world was going to be getting it nasty this year, video games might as well be the thing that gets its due.

This write-up is an overview of what I thought about every single game I played this year. Only games that released this year qualified for a numbered “place”, as interpreted through my own rules. Here we go!

[2015] | [2016]

19. Fire Emblem Heroes – Android – ★★ – 2017

As a latecomer to the Fire Emblem games, this did nothing for me. I don't have a great amount of affection for the characters in the abstract, three lines of dialog and a couple cut-ins of them stabbing a guy don't even qualify as “fanservice”, and the narrative that is there is just plain bad. It's admirable that they managed to reduce their permadeath-driven tactical RPG to an experience that works on phones, but I have zero interest in throwing myself into gachapon hell in the hopes of a “dream team.” Besides, the second orb I cracked open had a five-star Camilla in it, so my experience was guaranteed to be a down-hill one.

18. Pictopix – Steam – ★★ – 2017

Pictopix is a fascinating lesson that not all Picross games are alike. It's not just a matter of creating puzzles that are secretly pixelized art: there is a flow to good nonogram design that is apparently quite hard to achieve. Where I get a lot of enjoyment from the Picross E- and Picross S- titles, I didn't care for this one, despite being on a platform well suited for a picross-a-like experience. I'm not sure I can even articulate just what rubbed me wrong about it (though the shoddy controls didn't help); the puzzles just felt clunky in a way that other takes on this style of puzzle did not.

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero – Steam – ★★ – 2016

I accidentally backed this game on Kickstarter a few years ago. I thought an artist I was a fan of was attached to this project, when they just did some contracted promotional material for the Kickstarter. It's on me for reading into that, I suppose. In any case, I backed this game, it came out last year, and I couldn't honestly be bothered to actually play it until this year.

After having finally done so: I'm not sure why people like these games? They feel like baby's first platformer; it's well-produced, but threadbare in terms of mechanical complexity. There's a vague Metroidvania-aspect to re-exploring levels you've already completed, but it lacks the simple mechanical joy that the best of those have. The characters don't really do anything for me either; I presume if you've been following these since the mid-90s you get something from their interactions, because personally I just find it kind of lame? The art is fantastic, and the game looks good in motion, but overall, it's just not for me.

17. For Honor – Steam – ★★★ – 2017

Until I started making this list, I had completely forgot that For Honor even existed. Remember this game? It's the one where you play as an assortment of medieval warriors assembled from across the globe to stab each other in 4-vs-4 3 rd person capture-the-point combat. It was OK, but the experience overall fell flat— largely because of an abundance of flaws peripheral to the core gameplay.

The basic combat and mechanics felt and worked well; the simple axis-based block-or-attack combat system enabled some truly awesome duels that really felt like you were in a melee. But while the combat worked quite well, there wasn't a whole lot going on around it to justify the overall experience. The campaign was functional, but it was clearly an afterthought, bereft of even characters. The multiplayer was fun, but severely hampered by a poor progression / unlock system, as well as bad matchmaking and server issues.

In another year, perhaps For Honor would have stood out more. If the game had received post-release support in the way Ubisoft's more Clancyesque titles, perhaps it'd have had longer legs. As is, I spent enough time with it to know that it was maybe worth coming back to once they had hammered out their online issues— something that never really happened. And then the rest of 2017 happened and put it in its proper place. Oops!

16. Picross S – Switch – ★★★ – 2017

Where Pictopix disappointed, Picross S is functional, acceptable Picross. It's far from the best Picross offering in this line (I think I had the most fun with Picross E3, and not just because of its dumb name), but it is Picross on the Nintendo Switch, which is basically all I was really wanting out of it. The loss of touch screen interactions from the 3DS release is bizarre (the Switch has a touch-screen my dudes!), but I can live with it.

15. Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment – Switch – ★★★ – 2017

It's been interesting to watch Yacht Club take the baseline premise of Shovel Knight— a retro-styled platformer shouting its Mega Man inspirations via megaphone to anyone who'll listen— and alter their execution with these different DLCs. Where the original Shovel Knight was a relatively straight-forward platformer (with Ducktales-inspired down-stab action), and Plague of Shadows was something of an odd build-your-own-shooter, Specter of Torment focuses instead on aerial combo-attacks. These changes really alter the gameplay; where the others could be a bit mindless at times (particularly Plague of Shadows, which was fairly easy given the number of projectiles you could throw across the whole screen), Specter of Torment is considerably more demanding of one's attention; you have to be more deliberate with your actions relying than relying on flow to get you through.

The design of the levels doesn't feel entirely there; while they certainly have been more redesigned than Plague of Shadows' were to fit the different style of movement, it just wasn't that fun to play through. Rooms were either too easy or too frustrating, with little in the way of a middle ground. The boss fights were trivially easy (which is dire in a game aping a series that largely relied on the quality of its emblematic show-downs). The plot was… fine? It certainly was a Shovel Knight prequel alright, that's for sure. At this point, I must imagine Yacht Club and I are both on the page on wanting see them work on something else at this point. They've proven themselves to be extremely competent developers, but it's time to put Shovel Knight to rest; they've gotten about as much blood as they can out of that particular stone.

14. Mario Kart 8 DX – Switch – ★★★★ – 2017-ish

OK, seriously Nintendo— when are you going to make a new F-Zero? Don't you give me this bullshit about “Why would you want a new F-Zero when we've already done it before!” when you keep making new Mario Karts with little different beyond the platform you put it on. All Mario Kart 8 DX did was pack-in all the DLC and add a true battle mode— which is great and all, don't get me wrong. It's just a sign that your excuses suck and you need to fund a new Captain Falcon vehicle-vehicle ASAP.

13. Player Unknown's Battlegrounds – Steam – ★★★★ –– 2017

I want to like Plunkbat more than I do, but I don't. What's there that's good is great; the open-world mix of random-luck and skill-based shooting (especially with friends!) is a real hoot, particularly when one is either taking it entirely too seriously or entirely not seriously at all.

But something about the game just feels… incomplete? Despite leaving early access, it really has a lot of work that it should be still getting. The physics is jank (the vehicles annoy me to no end), there's still absolutely 0 tutorializing for new players, and the problem with persistent hacking and aimbotting has been dire as of late. There's also something to the notion that a lot of the skill in the game comes down less to polished learning of the mechanics and their interactions and more a sort of base memorization of Plunkbat Best Practices. That's not innately a bad thing, but I personally find these sorts of experiences better when they're focused more towards tactical mastery than strategic mastery. Both are important in Plunkbat, but I prefer mastering the former over the latter. The game seems to disagree. I feel like the quality of my gear should be less important than how good I am at using what I find. That is not the case. Oh well.

I'm looking forward to putting more time into this with buds in the future, but I've fallen off the wagon as far as general enthusiasm goes. Eh!

Prison Architect – Steam – ★★★★ – 2015

Prison Architect is sort of a highly-specialized, more accessible Dwarf Fortress. Much of the appeal of Dwarf Fortress is the immersive unpredictability of managing emergent personalities trying to go about their tasks, and ultimately, it's so complex that an ASCII-based rendering is the only way to handle it all. Prison Architect constrains the variability by its very nature (the things people do in a prison are typically well-regulated, and there's not a lot of agency within those bounds), resulting in an experience that is nowhere as impenetrable as Dwarf Fortress— but also nowhere as appealing.

There's just not as much going on when you get down to it; while there's certainly variability in prisoner personality and actions, there are just so fewer variables in terms of what someone can do and interact with. Plus, given your funding regimen and in-take are totally under your control, the actual form your prison takes doesn't need to vary; you're not incentivized to innovate beyond a desire to keep things interesting. You can just your layouts entirely towards efficiency and nothing else, and even then, there's no real end-game to it beyond making numbers get bigger.

Mini Metro – Android – ★★★★– 2015

Mini Metro is a slight mobile puzzle experience, but it is quite engrossing while it lasts. The pairing of simple mechanics and style works very well on the phone. You make subway lines connecting points. It looks like a subway map. It's pretty good.

Total War: Warhammer – Steam – ★★★★ – 2016

I've always been vaguely interested in the Total War games— just never enough to go out of my way to actually, y'know, play them. Warhammer Fantasy has never been my thing, but I like fantasy things in general, and the idea of applying battle tactics to lines of zombies was appealing enough for me to give this a look. Overall, it turns out I enjoy the tactical depth of Total War!

I'm not sure how I feel about the strategic-layer in the few factions I played—it's a bit micromanage-y, and any faction managing to sneak its way to the back-end of your empire becomes a real chore-- but the tactical level is very good. The interplay of artillery, cavalry, and troops-of-the-line is realistic enough to where you can apply real-world know-how and be rewarded for it. The types of troops are massively varied, both inside and outside of the factions. I was mostly drawn to this game by the monster-y factions, so those were the ones I played most.

I'm looking forward to checking out Total War: Warhammer II... eventually?

12. Sonic Mania – Switch – ★★★★ – 2017

Sonic is bad. If you add up the total of what Sonic has been over the last two decades and average it out over the amount of games he has had the misfortune to appear in, the average Sonic is hardly deserving of the fawning devotion he receives. Those first few mainline Sonics were good, no question—but that was over two decades ago. SEGA has never succeeded in recreating the feel of those games—even when they have ostensibly tried.

Thankfully for them (and us), there are those that can succeed. Sonic Mania, created by long-time Sonic fans and hackers, perfectly captures the feel of those first three games almost too well. It's basically Sonic 1-3+K+CD, warts and all. The Sonic CD-based stages in particular carry on Sonic CD's design of being too long and really fucking annoying, which is rather indicative of the ethos of Whitehead towards recreating the feel of the older titles. I'm very curious to see if they'll be given permission to do a Sonic Mania II, where they'll perhaps have a chance to innovate more and burn off those warts. I'm not sure if they would, but I certainly hope they do. Sonic deserves better than, well, Sonic.

Stellaris: Utopia & Stellaris: Synthetic Dawn – Steam – ★★★★– 2017

This is technically a 2017 release, but it's so miniscule an addition to the existing Stellaris that it's not worthy of a numbered ranking. Stellaris in 2017 is a lot like Stellaris in 2016, but better. The addition of end-game specializations, new government-types, and the ability to play as both hive minds and robots are extremely good, but there's still a lot of room for improvement. That's the Paradox model, I suppose; they'll continue iterating and adding onto Stellaris over the next half decade until it finally achieves some near-ideal state—or the engine buckles under all they're trying to do with it. One of the two.

My favorite Stellaris moment this year must be the creation of "The Borth Problem". The Borth are a race of space Hyper-Platypuses, whose traits were specially selected by their creator (me) to be absolutely trash. They're short-lived, xenophobic pacifists who hate being around each other almost as much as they hate being around everyone else. I force them to spawn as one of the empires in every game I play-- not because they're particularly threatening, but because watching them repeatedly balkanize every two months under the strain of their own ineptitude and malfeasance is extremely good. Occasionally some fool attempts to annex Borth planets, which is a tragedy in and of itself.

11. Tekken 7 – Steam – ★★★★ – 2017

God am I terrible at fighting games. I've just never put in the time to get any good, and I'm way too prone to mashing out moves I think are cool than learning combos or hit-strings. God do I love fighting games though— and Tekken 7 is a good one. It is a Tekken game through-and-through, but the additions they've made to the cast have been good, and the limb-specific combat system continues to hold up after all these years.

To be completely honest? I've been playing mostly as Eliza—whose special strings are just Street Fighter entry strings. She's basically Ryu if he was in a bustier (and a sleepy Dracula). It's allowed me to get past the hump of learning how to pull-off her specials, though it's done little to actually get me good at stringing combos together. It's still a lot of fun though.

10. Puyo-Puyo Tetris – Switch – ★★★★ – 2017

IT'S PUYO PUYO AND TETRIS, WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT FROM ME?

Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions – PSP – ★★★★ – 2007

Coming to Final Fantasy Tactics two decades on from its initial release on the PlayStation, one can still understand the appeal. The tactical RPG system has phenomenal mechanical depth, supporting wide-ranging customization and gameplay specialization. There's lots of weird systems to learn and exploit. The setting is austere and grounded in a way that few RPGs are; the story it tells is ultimately yet another Japanese tale of man-killing-god, but the way that it's presented is more about fighting back again the abuse of systems by society, and the futility of one man trying to change the world.

At the same time, two decades have passed since Final Fantastic Tactics came out, and it honestly has not aged superbly well. The controls are bizarre, its job system is rather annoying in practice, it suffers from the usual problem games with permadeath carry where the second a character joins the party and becomes non-essential, their relevance to the story ends. The story which was apparently once so astounding seems almost quaint now; “Organized religion… may be bad!” is far from a hot take in these days, and there have since been hundreds of other games (JRPGs, even) playing in the same sandbox.

As someone introduced to the Ivalice setting of Final Fantasy through Final Fantasy XII, it's also somewhat strange looking back at this series and trying to conceive of them as some connected timeline. A lot of what I liked about Final Fantasy XII was its diverse races and their cosmopolitan associations and interactions. Tactics has even less than none of that. It goes out of its way say with a ringing finality “AND EVERYTHING NOT HUMAN OR DEMON WENT EXTINCT, THE END.” Pour one out for my Ban'gaa homies, I guess??

I had fun with Final Fantasy Tactics, but I suspect I may have had a miserable time if I didn't have a friend warning me of points-of-no-return and making sure I didn't build myself into an unwinnable state. Also: exposing me to the utterly broken arithmetic / mathematics magic system, good lord.

9. Splatoon 2 – Switch – ★★★★ – 2017

Splatoon was a good game; Splatoon 2 is that same game, on a different platform.

The additions made to Splatoon 2 are really quite minor; there's some slightly different weapons, and the campaign is denser, but all in all it's just the same good game. The only meaningful addition to Splatoon 2 is Salmon Run, Nintendo's take on the cooperative Horde mode. And you know what? Salmon Run fucking rules. My best multiplayer experiences this year were playing Salmon Run with my boys on Discord. If it were more reliably available, I'd probably have played it more!

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8. What Remains of Edith Finch – Steam – ★★★★ – 2017

The latest in the Walking Simulator genre, What Remains of Edith Finch is low on the interactivity, but high on the graphical fidelity, atmosphere, and emotional heft. Sometimes that emotional heft veers into the realm to over-sentimental schmaltz (the ending engendered some real roll-eye), but it doesn't diminish the overall experience. What interactivity that is there is quite good, and it all-in-all made for a great evening experience. I like these sorts of evening-games where you can plop down for 4 hours and just have a nice, self-contained emotional experience.

7. Metroid: Samus Returns – 3DS – ★★★★ – 2017

Maaan, it's good to see Samus in a properly ass good video game again. Other M was bullshit that I wasn't down with at all; this is some proper Metroid-ass Metroid. While there's perhaps still a bit too much Metroid 2 in there (the game is remarkably linear for a “Metroidvania” and the area design is a bit one-note – befitting its Gameboy origins), Metroid: Samus Returns is a very excellent proof of concept that yes, you can make a good Metroid in 2017.

It's also proof that even if we can no longer trust the franchise to Sakamoto's hands without him ruining everything and throwing a tantrum about Prime, others are capable of doing what's necessary to ensure that Samus remains a galactic badass and not Sakamoto's weaponized nadeshiko. Uugh.

As an aside: The references back to the Prime Trilogy, as well as the REALLY WELL-HIDDEN sequel-hook, are extremely good and appreciated. I am pumped to see what Mercury Stream (or someone else!) does with Metroid moving forward. Is that sequel hook actually a Metroid Prime 4 hook? That'd be cool as hell.

6. SteamWorld Dig 2 – Switch – ★★★★ – 2017

SteamWorld Dig was a relaxing, though ultimately rather forgettable take of what would happen if you crossed Metroidvania with Mr. Driller. SteamWorld Dig 2 would be the same, if it wasn't for the fact that it's just so god damned well-polished. Everything about it from the core gameplay feel, the movement, the digging speed, the music— they're just so damn well executed. The game world is just a delight to be in.

The story and ending are disappointing (as legally required of every SteamWorld game) but that's not really the point; this is absolutely a game where it's absolutely about the journey rather than the destination. When your journey revolves around such a fundamentally satisfying gameplay loop, the greatest sin it has is ending in the first place.

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HITMAN – Steam – ★★★★★ – 2016

HITMAN is good! IO Interactive has created the ultimate encapsulation of the Hitman formula. The game is built to encourage replay and iteration on the game's limited number of maps. This is great, because replaying missions to achieve the perfect murder is a real joy. HITMAN is a game about perfecting the art of playing it: learning the systems, the maps, and the routines of people to the point where you see the clockwork that everyone else is beholden to— so that you can slide between the cogs like a bald, sardonic time-ghost. The game is grimly hilarious and cool in equal measures. I can't wait to see what they do with Season 2.

Stardew Valley – Steam – ★★★★★ – 2016

Stardew Valley is a celebration of the routine. While so many games are about providing novel experiences and spectacles to keep our interest, Stardew Valley enables you to a build a routine, iterating and adapting as the world twists and turns around it. It's about riding a slowly swelling wave while maintaining flow; your farm and experience gets more and more complicated as the seasons go on, but it's always at your own pace; there's no real stakes beyond a desire to prosper and discover. It's charming and addicting in equal measures.

I'm glad they stopped development on it to focus on porting it to new platforms, because I'm pretty sure they'd have honest to god killed people with it. It turns out the cup-and-ball game from that Next Generation episode is actually a game about pleasing your peepaws' ghost by growing corn and hooking up with the goth chick down the lane. You're welcome, peepaw.

Valkyria Chronicles – Steam – ★★★★★ – 2016

Man, SEGA used to make brilliant RPGs back in the day, huh? I really liked Skies of Arcadia, and this is another RPG in that vein from that era. You wouldn't think “fantasy World War II European Front through the lens of Japanese RPG developers” would work, but… it does! They manage to evoke some genuine ethos, and their depiction of the brutality and horror of war, the in-grained senselessness of inherited discriminatory beliefs, are actually pretty OK. You'd think “We're going to depict ANIME FANTASY HOLOCAUST” would be the Worst Thing Ever, but they manage to thread that line enough to make it work… mostly.

Perhaps the craziest thing about Valkyria Chronicles though is that they somehow managed to make a tactical JRPG about trench / tank warfare not only work, but work well. While it's kind of breakable in areas and has balance issues, it managed to hold my interest through the dozens of hours without getting bored. I wasn't invested enough to do much in the way of the extra / repeatable missions, but I thoroughly enjoyed the combat for what I played.

That all said, Valkyria Chronicles could have done with less anime all around. If you turned that anime dial down a good 20%, this would have been a vastly superior work— perhaps even an all-time great. Unfortunately, its tendency towards Anime-ass composition and design, and some frankly juvenile characterization means it will forever carry that stigma of “it is very anime” that prevents it from penetrating into less anime-immune audiences. Still, for those willing to give it a shot and endure some really ham-fisted anime-as-all-hell ruminations on peace, Valkyria Chronicles is a real gem.

5. Super Mario Odyssey – Switch – ★★★★★ – 2017

The single thing that has defined Mario since the halcyon ape-threatening days to his hat-tossing present has been his movement. Over the years, the movements available to “Jump Man” have become more varied and complex, but they still harken back to what set him apart in the beginning: it's all about the jump. Mario Odyssey, while ostensibly about his more obvious hat-trick, is in reality just another stage of the gradual, ever-evolving repertoire of Mario's jump. He just… jumps so damn good y'all. It feels real damn good to run around and jump on shit as Mario. The hat even makes it so he can basically jump in the air, it's ridiculous.

Mario's new ups are made even better Mario Odyssey's excellent collections of worlds for him to mark with his kicks. The sheer variety and volume of unique platforming experiences is great, and it's ultimately up to you how deep you're willing to take it. Mario is something of a casual completionist's nightmare, given just how many stars there are to find. But for those willing to take a step back, the game allows you to engage it just as much you'd want. You could work on polishing your platforming skills to where you easily master the Darker Side of the Moon, you could just play enough of the game after “beating” it to get your fill, or you could just play what's needed to get to the credits. If you're a complete mad-person, you could try even collecting all those stars. All are valid end-points, and no matter what the experience is a complete and quality one.

Some one-off thoughts:

The new enemy designs in the game are so good. A particular shout-out to the Oni Thwomp!

THERE IS A BOSS WHOSE NAME IS “Brigadier Mollosque-Lanceur III, Dauphin of Bubblaine”, FUCK

Steam Garden's God Hand surf rock theme music is so good

The entire end-game sequence leading into the post-game zone was one of the most surreal things ever

NEW DONK CITY

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4. Cuphead – Steam – ★★★★★ – 2017

Cuphead is a magic trick. At first glance, it seems impossible, like an actual sorcerer has walked in and done something impossible. “There's no way anyone could recreate the style of Fleischer-era cartoons and make a genuinely good video game!” Like any magic trick, once you look at it long enough the magic goes away, and you see it for what it is. You see the sleight of hand, the smoke and mirrors required to resurrect a nearly century-old style and make it work in what should be a wholly incompatible medium. But the skills required to pull that trick off, and that such a small studio accomplished it, is itself a feat worthy of a wizard with a sizeable beard. It's not perfect, but it's as damn close as any person could ever expect to see, really. The game looks, sounds, and plays damn good.

It's been funny following the discourse around Cuphead's gameplay, particularly the reaction to its difficulty. It's nowhere near as hard as people make it out to be; it's got a lot in common with bullet-hell shooters like the Touhou games, to be sure, but the difficulty about those games, like Cuphead, are more about learning how to play them right than anything particular crazy about most of the challenges they put in front of you. Once you learn how to precisely move the character, you can basically relinquish yourself to the flow state and soldier through pretty much everything (within reason). Cuphead's real trick in this regard is that the types of things going on screen look so fucking cool that it can pull you out of the flow through sheer wow-factor. It's a game that is harder because it looks so good. Unreal.

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3. Pyre – Steam – ★★★★★ – 2017

The cruel hands of mother nature have evolved Supergiant Games into the perfect predator of my species. Their approach to writing characters, stories, and music is such that whenever they release one of their games, they burrow a tendril into my brain and maneuver my zombified body into a hole so they can lay eggs in my chest cavity. I'd feel more broken up about how they play me like an acoustic guitar if they weren't so, y'know, good at playing acoustic guitars.

Ostensibly, Pyre is NBA Jam meets Oregon Trail meets a Visual Novel, but it's so much more than that. It's the archeology of uncovering the history of a world through half-heard conversations and vaguely-written reminiscences. It's the trepidation of holding the fate of friends in your hands and knowing that you can't save them all in the end, and still having to choose. It's the struggle for glorious revolution, even though the odds of a bloodless one is low. It's all these things. You plot the end of an empire with a pipe-smoking treeman in between games of mystic slamball with a mustachioed dog. Everything about how it carries itself and presents its world resonated deeply with me and held me enraptured to the very end.

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2. NieR: Automata – Steam – ★★★★★ – 2017

I've spent a lot of the last year thinking about Nier: Automata. At this point, I'm not even sure what to say about it. Do I talk about the questions it raises about humanity and what we may leave behind? Do I talk about its astounding visual and audio design? Do I go on a long aside on Yoko Taro's writing and directorial style? They're all valid things to talk about, but they're also all meaningless. They're only important in how they made me feel over the course of my journey with Nier. Intrigued, lost, depressed, uplifted. Nier: Automata invoked all these emotions in me in turn.

In the end, I'm left somewhat in awe of the experience. Not because Nier is a perfect game; it's a very flawed one. But it's a game that's really made me feel and think. Yoko Taro weaves the threads of narrative, emotion, and atmosphere with the deftest of hands. So what if the loom he was forced to work with wasn't a particularly good one? Nier: Automata is one of the most complete explorations of the nature of humanity and how impossible it is to grasp. I imagine I will carry thoughts of it with me forever.

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1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Switch – ★★★★★★ – 2017

Breath of the Wild is my favorite video game of all time. Thanks, Nintendo.

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#game of the year #2017 #nonfiction #think piece #breath of the wild #nier #pyre #cuphead #mario odyssey #valkyria chronicles #final fantasy tactics #hitman #steamworld dig 2 #stardew valley #Stellaris

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bmaxwell · 4 years

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Number 2: Final Fantasy Tactics

Playing games has been a lifelong hobby of mine. During the periods where I have been less into them, it’s usually been because of other games - D&D, Magic the Gathering, or board games. With anything more than a couple of years old, each game (or song, book, or movie) brings back that time in my life. These things can act as mile markers throughout my 42 years.

It’s easy for me to read something like that and think “Wow, that’s sad. ‘I look back and think of all the media I’ve consumed!’ “

But each of these was created by people with a story to tell, whether through song, written word, game mechanisms, or 1′s and 0′s. And these have captured my imagination and passion, and acted as a backdrop for my life.

Whenever I hear anything from Primus’ Sailing the Seas of Cheese I think of playing Super MarioKart in my room with my buddy Tom. Okami reminds me of my firstborn child, this is the first video game he really got into. He quit for a couple of weeks after he discovered Granny Tongue-Cutter in the game, and I had to play that part for him. Batman will first and foremost always remind of the 6th grade. It was the summer of Batman that year, and I went to the old theater downtown (which is a dance studio now) with my friend Mike to see Keaton and Nicholson on the big screen. We saw Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure the same year. That was around the time I got Metallica’s ...And Justice for All on cassette and started finding my own music tastes. I can’t think of Diablo or Age of Empires without thinking of the friends I shared those games with. Whenever I hear music from Firewatch, I remember getting my PS4, PSVR, and my youngest staring down at her hands in amazement the first time she put it on.

Final Fantasy Tactics is the game that I have consistently come back to and replayed again and again throughout the years. And I’m not a person who goes back and replays games. This means that, apart from going with my mom to the KMart in Richmond after a doctor visit, buying the game, and playing it on the couch in my parents’ living room, I have no specific memories tied to FFT. It is woven throughout my life. Its soundtrack is as much a part of me as any musical work.

It’s a game that is, for me, far greater than the sum of its parts. The thing that has made it endure more than any other is its customizability. There are 20 job classes in the game, each with their own unique visual style, abilities, and gear. You’ll find the standard stuff like knights, archers, and wizards, but you’ll also find unusual classes like dancer, oracle, calculator, and mime. That by itself is enough to make me buy and play a game, but what really sets FFT apart is the ability to customize your characters’ using skills from other job classes.

I REFERENCED THE MOVIE YOU KNOW THIS MOVIE WE ARE FRIENDS NOW RIGHT

This means that you can, for example, have a character become a ninja, learn the two swords skill, then become a knight and keep that skill equipped so you can wield two knight class swords instead of a sword and shield. You can have a priest who uses time magic, a samurai who uses bard skills, or a lancer who can throw fire magic. Anytime a game allows this much flexibility without completely collapsing is impressive. And there ARE ways to break the game, if you try. And that’s fun too!

I was hoping for a little taste of this with last year’s Fire Emblem” Three Houses, but for all of its variety in classes, they didn’t do much do distinguish from one another aesthetically or functionally. I’ve been chasing the dragon since this game came out; but even its sequels haven’t lived up to the original’s cocktail of gameplay systems, visuals, music, and overall charm. One of the the creators kickstarted a spiritual successor called Unsung Story, which became a Kickstarter cautionary tale.

Its story felt grown up in a way that wasn’t as common in 1997 as it is today. One of the first scenes in FFT shows a knight punching a princess in the gut and saying to her would-be rescuers “Blame yourself or god” before tossing her prone body over his shoulder and riding away. It’s a story of a war around a dead king and the power vacuum that follows. It eventually becomes incoherent when ancient zodiac stones are introduced and the corrupt church enters the scene.

The murky story isn’t helped by the laughable translation. Ice breath inexplicably became ice bracelet, the text that accompanies the frog spell is "Know, live, become a frog. Frog!" and I don’t even know. The system for acquiring skill points can be abused in the dumbest ways, keeping a weak enemy alive and spending rounds with your characters attacking each other to gain more skill points.

I don’t care. The deep customization, melodramatic story, clumsy translation, and fantastic music has kept me coming back for 20+ years now. There are so many missable side stories and characters, and tough optional challenges that there’s always some new goal to chase or challenge to give myself. I have the strategy guide, and it is literally falling apart because I drag it out every time I replay the game. It’s one of those weird relics that isn’t worth anything to anyone else, but worth a lot to me.

Final Fantasy Tactics is familiar to me in a way that very few works of any kind are.

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gascon-en-exil · 7 years

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The Top Ten Women of Fire Emblem (As Written by a Gay Man)

#1 - Micaiah

When we were separated during the war, you changed, Sothe. And I changed too. I want to protect Daein more than anything. Our people must be saved, and if I can help in that effort, I will.

Let it not be said that this was an obvious pick simply because Micaiah happens to be a lord, and one from my favorite game in the series moreover. Although I thought it appropriate to end this ranking with a lord I’m well aware that all the women who’ve fulfilled that role in FE (excluding Avatars for obvious reasons) have had to work against writers determined to screw them over in one way or another. There’s not much point therefore in me rehashing the many criticisms, valid or not, that have been leveled against Micaiah over the years. I’m instead going to be breaking down just why I think she works for me as well as she does, and how thoroughly she earns the distinction of being the least narratively compromised female lord in the franchise...for whatever that’s worth.

Revenge of the Jugdral Waifs

Parts of Tellius’s worldbuilding borrow extensively from Jugdral, some in more subtle ways than others. Micaiah is one of its more obvious allusions, as both her look and class design owe much to a group of female light magic users from those games who also exist outside the framework of the traditional clerical classes (some - or all? - of them even share their starting class name with the Japanese name of Micaiah’s third tier class). Deirdre, Julia, Linoan, and Sara are all women of high standing, and three of them are linked by blood to the dark Loptyrian cult not unlike Micaiah’s association with the “dark” goddess Yune. In spite of circumstances that ought to grant them significant plot relevance however all four of these characters are diminished by the narratives of the two games, either kept on the political sidelines in preference to a man or turned into barely-characterized damsels in distress. To paraphrase Markoftheasphodel, Deirdre and Julia in particular encapsulate the whole of Jugdral’s particular brand of misogyny - some of the most important and powerful characters in the setting reduced to tormented plot devices devoid of personality.

It’s probably a stretch to suggest that Micaiah was intentionally written as a means of redeeming these characters after the fact merely because she owes so much of her design to them. Still, that reading is certainly there. Micaiah assumes Julia’s role during Part 4, becoming the human vessel for Yune as Julia is inhabited by the spirit of Naga during the last chapter of FE4. While there’s no arguing that Micaiah drew the short straw when it came to gameplay power-ups from her resident deity, in return she is allowed substantially more screentime and agency even when she’s sharing her body with someone else. Certain characterization threads relative to Micaiah and not Yune, like vengeance against Numida and Lekain and the back story of Micaiah’s relationship with Sothe, are followed through to their conclusions only during Part 4. Also, while it’s Yune calling the shots as the army ascends the Tower of Guidance Micaiah is still an active participant, taking responsibility for awakening Yune before Dheghinsea and saving Lehran among other things.

It’s a common criticism that Ike takes over the plot of Radiant Dawn from Micaiah, but the truth is that he’s sharing the endgame spotlight with Micaiah and Yune together. Ike is still the saga hero of Tellius - the Seliph equivalent - but Micaiah displays none of Julia’s blankness and passivity at any point. She’s unquestionably closer to being the deuterotagonist of Tellius than any Leif equivalent (Elincia, perhaps?). What’s more, while Linoan must cede her political relevance to Leif and Julia’s epilogue has her being little more than a support to her emperor brother, Micaiah gets to rule the kingdom she’s spent the game trying to save - while not invalidating the rule of her recently-discovered younger sister over her own country, incidentally - whereas Ike leaves the continent to have adventures and gay sex. In Jugdral the best most women can hope to be is support for their ruling husbands; in Tellius all three beorc nations have women ruling them by the end. Indeed, even compared with the other non-Avatar female lords that’s a huge step forward.

Conquest Needs to Take Notes: FE10′s Villain Campaign

This should really be a more controversial statement than it actually is: the Dawn Brigade chapters of FE10, especially those in Part 3, make for a better villain campaign than the entirety of FE14′s Conquest route.

It’s sad how that it isn’t really an exaggeration at all, and even more sad that FE10 doesn’t rely on narrative shortcuts to convey the idea that you’re temporarily playing as the bad guys like Conquest does. Daein isn’t draped entirely in black, and its antagonistic history as a nation saddled with a legacy of racism and Ashnard’s goals of conquest isn’t swept under the rug or left to be inferred only from Path of Radiance. The Daein of Radiant Dawn still displays its anti-laguz prejudice from the previous game, and there’s no indication that that prejudice doesn’t extend to members of the playable cast or that it’s something that will be quickly and cleanly done away with after the credits roll. Micaiah herself plays to the wishes of her racist followers when she has to in Part 3, and though she’s not rabidly bigoted like Jill is in FE9 before her character development she does have a personal interest in not making waves.

I’m not only talking about her ambivalence toward laguz as a Branded, either. One of Micaiah’s most defining traits is her patriotism. It’s a curious element of her character, based in her feelings toward her adopted homeland and willfully unconcerned with Daein’s racism even as it forces her to hide her Brand. It’s rather amusing that probably the most common criticism leveled against Micaiah is that she’s a Mary Sue blindingly adored in-universe, not just because the same could be said for Ike but because that’s exactly what she’s built up to be. If anything the mounting conflict between Ike’s loyal followers - technically the Gallian army and later Crimea and Sanaki’s forces, but they all join together under him - and the cult-ish adherents of “the Maiden of Dawn” deconstructs this accusation. Everyone in Daein may adore her and may have rallied around the Dawn Brigade in a bid to remove the Begnion occupation, but by Part 3 that fervor is shown to be clearly unhealthy and something that Lekain is able to manipulate to his advantage.

It’s not just the alliance with Begnion that places the Dawn Brigade chapters in villain campaign territory, as Micaiah is forced to resort to increasingly underhanded tactics to satisfy the demands of the senate, from ambushes in the dark to outright war crimes. All the while she’s being ironically proclaimed by her soldiers a symbol of light and divine will, a stark contrast to Nohr’s shadowy branding. It’s a matter of opinion whether Lekain’s blood pact is more or less contrived than the various plot devices that keep Conquest Corrin in line during the invasion of Hoshido, but Micaiah is actually allowed to be genuinely antagonistic toward the armies she’s opposing, in large part because of her pronounced nationalism and the atmosphere of blind worship she’s allowed to grow around her. One of the most important elements of a well-written villain story is that the characters involved shouldn’t think of themselves as the villains unless they’re fully evil and are committed as such (which usually isn’t that interesting anyway). Conquest focuses too much on Corrin’s angst over the ruin of Hoshido and leaves the motivations of the Nohrians vague, whereas Daein in Part 3 carries both its legacy of bigotry and militarism from FE9 and the memory of its glorious uprising against foreign oppression from Part 1. It’s not hard at all to imagine the members of the Dawn Brigade and even the Daein military thinking themselves heroes of their own story, bolstered by a leader determined to do whatever is necessary to save her people.

The Token(-ish) Het of Tellius

I would be remiss though if I didn’t talk about queer content at some point, because Tellius pretty much runs off the stuff. In that regard Micaiah is admittedly lacking; she has her auto-A support with Sothe and almost nothing else, and while exposition on their early relationship reveals that their bond is a quasi-incestuous one riddled with age issues it’s not in the same league as Nailah/Rafiel totally inverting gender roles, Haar/Jill almost literally robbing the cradle, or Elincia’s complex feelings for her two closest retainers. One can appreciate though that Micaiah/Sothe displays a certain symmetry with Ike/Soren, from parallels in their first meetings to the experiences of one member of each pairing being Branded to their roles at the heads of their respective armies (from a gameplay perspective note that Soren and Sothe stand beside their partners when faced as enemies in 3-13 and 3-E respectively). I might go so far as to say that these symmetries provide additional legitimacy to Ike/Soren as a paired ending, especially since they get their own exposition-laden base conversation in endgame.

Ooh, Shiny!

And ok, my bias in favor of light magic users is on display here too. I was hyped for Micaiah as soon as she appeared in promotional materials as a caster lord, the first and so far only purely magical unit to hold that title. Even notwithstanding the fact that Radiant Dawn is arguably the worst game in the series in which to be a magic user Micaiah has some serious issues as a unit, but at least when she sucks in-game she does so in manner completely distinguishable from the likes of Leif and Roy. She can be a staffbot (she can use Physic as soon as she promotes), she can nuke stuff with Thani and/or Wrath crits thanks to her nonexistent defenses, she can riskily play around her late promotions with Resolve (Easy only, please), and even at the end of the game when she’s probably still frail and will never be fast enough to double everything she’s still the best candidate for Rexaura just because the saints are even worse. I appreciate too that light magic got some much-needed statistical buffs compared to Path of Radiance, and we most likely have Micaiah to thank for that. Even if the game hates her she can make for a fun if challenging unit to use to her greatest potential.

...Now I want to play FE10 again.

#Fire Emblem #Micaiah #Radiant Dawn #FE10

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