#FE16 and Nopes are just a treasure trove of missed opportunities

[randomnameless]

i’ve sent u anon asks

I agree with Lorenz in Nopes making interesting points about Claut - I mean, Clout’s bonker plans, but bar some “huffs and puffs” the poor lad is completely ignored.

Seeing this, Hopes Lorenz gives up and just goes with it because he’s too smart for the dumb ppl to listen to. :(

I agree, but there is giving up and this...

“They were the cause of this war, since they refused to die when Supreme Leader and her army marched and destroyed their home and politely asked them to!”

Like, no, I had more faith in you Lorenz, but I guess this route is just like mold, it spreads. But I guess Fodlan and victim blaming are like bread and butter, they go so well together so here he goes...

NOW THEN, on to the VW issues!

Yay main dish!

Having anyone else say something about it would mean someone else disagreed with Claude, which was out of character for all GDs except Lorenz (and maybe Lysithea at most. Leonie doesn’t care as long as she can show off her Captain Jeralt skills)

Hilda.

Hilda, would perfectly fit the bill.

Claude wants to open borders and get along with people of different faiths, origins and all? Hilda could spat her racist almyran tirade to him (instead of throwing them to Cyril... who used to be a “servant” of her very own house!) - not knowing Claude is Almyran, of course, but just raising doubts about his dream, mentionning how her family has been fighting “barbarians” for ages and opening up to them would only endanger the people of Fodlan, on top of, idk, spatting on everyone who died up to today to defend the border (i’m trying to think of an argument here lol).

Which, in turn, would made Claude have the big reaction we (I) was waiting for in the game - you cannot want to defend Almyra’s good name by rekting pirates pretending to be Almyrans (in Alois’s paralogue) but turn a blind eye to the weekly wednesday “raids for funsies”.

And I think it would have been a good dichotomy between Claude “sort of” getting along with Hilda on a personal level, they are friends (she dies to protect him, against their own reservations about people dying for others in CF!) - but this person he gets along with would (he’d believe it) turn on him/hate him if he revealed he was from Almyra...

(that could maybe lead to another Rhea/Nabatean parallel, no matter how good they get along with humans, there’s the fear that the second humans know they’re walking shinies to be looted, they might kill them)

I know I’ve mentioned this (Almyra being an apparently shitty place with shitty people) before on my blog at some point because I know I’ve talked about how fucking racist it all is, but… if you go plainly from what we know about Almyra and take out the fact that the writing for it was racist, we do know it’s not the best place ever and even Claude has only really had negative experiences there (including the weekly Sunday assassination attempts against him)

In Nopes -

Even if the localisation kind of eluded it, in his Mercedes support, in the jp version, Cyril explicitely says he was always hungry before being taken in by the evil church lady, let it be in PAlmyra or in Fodlan.

So ignoring the “they raid for fun and then throw big feasts and party like no tomorrow!” borderline traits that are, very... uh, reminiscent of how someone in the 1800s would describe “The Orient”, we know, per Cyril, that there’s no one there to take care of kids, and war orphans are starving.

Also kind of (read: very extremely) gross how Almyra treats Claude as being evil and disgusting for being half blood of another land when that’s literally exactly what Byleth is and Byleth is the white person who is viewed by any and all as amazing, stupendous, wonderful and unironically godly.

In a certain route, Billy’s mixed blood goes “poof” and they become “human” again (even if they never were since their mother was not a human), to the delight of a certain lord!

All jokes aside, that could be tied to the earlier Hilda point and in the general “racism” theme that - despite ending as we know - was depicted in Tellius with the Brandeds, neither Laguz not Beorcs actually like them. Almyra, through Claude’s bg, has, uh, “less than positive” views about Fodlan people thus shit on Claude, but Fodlan (especially Leicester and Goneril) have the same “less than positive” views about Almyran people, thus would shit on Claude if they knew he was Almyran.

And it could have been a bit cliché, but having Claude trying to protect people, stop the war and maybe rekt the mole people, to finally have people discover he’s neither from Fodlan nor Almyra but from both, and accept him, regardless of his origins, but because he is Claude, the person who saved the continent from the mole people and stopped the war led by Supreme Leader.

But... no.

Because that damn Hresvelg Tea needs to be sold!

I will say I think the urgency about the Opera company is valid since they’re immediately in an area of Edelgard’s reach. If they turned against her, she’d have them slaughtered pretty quickly because they’d have no time to escape

Okay, sorry to bring Nopes again, but I think it’s sort of relevant - in the Nopes Mittelfrank paralogue, in the jp speaking/understanding fandom there was a certain shitstorm (@renisfan correct me plz if I’m sprouting nonsense!), because in the jp text, the blurb to pick the paralogue mentions the Opera company is going to comfort the Imperial Army. Given irl history between Japan and people forced to “comfort” imperial soldiers, I’d say this shitstorm was very well deserved - but bar IS (KT) speedrunning Nopes to be the worst game received in the extended franchise, we know through Doro, Manu and Yuri that Mittelfrank Opera artists sometimes engage in sex work with imperial nobles...

So yeah, idk if she was going to slaughter them, take them hostage or have them “comfort” the Imperial army, but given what the Opera Company might have been used for in Nopes, there definitely was a sense of urgency!

Back to the point - maybe we can blame it on FE16′s lack of villages to save or random NPCs - but when Doro and Manu can go in the Enbarr map to the Opera company, there are no special lines or pseudo events or even NPCs to showcase the reality of Gloucester’s occupation and/or the reason why Erwin is siding with the Empire (I’m not asking for a paralogue that is basically Xavier’s recruitment in FE5 lol, who would want that - but in FE5, when Dorias is raving about Xavier being a traitor, there is an old man who tells him that no, Xavier didn’t betray, he’s just siding with the Freege occupation because he wants to protect his soldiers and their families. Why no old man like this for Erwin/Lorenz in FE16, with Lorenz talking to them or something like this?)

But indeed, it was less urgent to protect Gloucester’s random - since they were already under Erwin’s protection and Supreme Leader had no reason to target them (granted, sometimes, she targets people who don’t do anything to her so... and the demonic beasts won’t be created from scratch! Maybe some people in Gloucester were “volunteered” to become new war assets?) - than a bunch of civilians who have no one to protect them...

Yeah, it’s really annoying the way they spin everything to be “well maybe Edelgard is in the right after all” at every possible chance they can

That’s what I also hold against VW - even if it’s a BE recycled route, as sad as it is - we lit have Lysithea, iirc, saying they have to destroy Nemesis and the Shambala loyalists because...

We must obliterate them in the next battle. It's the only recompense for Edelgard's death.

What a joke.

(in jp it’s clearer she means she wants to avenge her death)

Imagine someone says they have to defeath Ashera/Lehran and ends with “It’s to avenge Lekain’s death”. Like, wtf. Seriously. This happens in the explore section before fighting Nemesis, after Rhea’s final infodump about how her people were massacred as things to be looted, but the game, instead of, idk, saying something like “it’s the only thing we can do to settle the wrongs made to Nabateans” reminds you that, uh, Rhea might be a genocide survivor, but Supreme Leader was experimented upon (by the same people she later sides with) and died (tons of sad uwus) and was used by those evil people (and yet she still aided and abaited them with their crazed experiments by foddering her own civilians to be used as guinea pigs, in Remire, and later on, using their demonic beasts as regular members of her army!), so, uh, for 1 step of “Rhea maybe not BaD?” we have to be reminded that, “Supreme Leader GoOd”.

This is essentially an example of Edelgard giving a non-answer.

There’s a reason why I came up with the “Supreme Replies (tm)” concept lol, remember the “no u”?

She often does this with Rhea, in SB when Rhea asks her why she is breaking Fodlan’s peace and attacking them, she gives a Supreme Reply in the lines of if you don’t understand then I can’t do anything for you or something like that. Even if CF, when Rhea is more or less telling her she doesn’t want to kill her because she was really fond of Willy, instead of asking why Rhea is saying this - because in her mind, Nabateans are creatures with no regard for human lives - she goes “don’t presume too much I won’t die today”.

And the devs let her sprout her flat one-liners (maybe thinking they’re very cool) and the discussion always ends here. Dimitri cannot give a meaningful reply to the “no u” and the Zahras chapters... well.

So the moral of the story is basically that Lorenz can be used to act ooc at any time it’s needed and used as the guy we can get mad at (and the dialogue makes a point of saying we should do that), but Edelgard must always stay in character because she is always correct about anything and everything, and if she were ooc then something she says wouldn’t be correct anymore.

Lorenz was a better character than what they gave him to work with in Houses, and in Hopes, when he was given that chance to work with what he really was, they had the characters just ignore him for the sake of fulfilling the Edelgard-is-right centric plot of GW’s second half. Which like… really fucking sucks that half of Claude’s route is literally just a second route of Edelgard-is-right-centric.

Hahaha, that’s basically my issue with the entire (minus the non recruitable characters) cast of FE16/Nopes, and why I warmed up to the BL after AG - everyone’s characterisation must be blown away at one point to give a small “Rhea/Church BaD” jab while, at the same time, be able to praise Supreme Leader (and even join her).

We can’t know what the fuck is happening in Gloucester or with Lorenz’s random people, because it’s a territory under imperial supervision and if it’s bad it will reflect poorly on Supreme Leader. SS is supposed to be her most critical route (it’s here we have the Ferdie’n’Lys paralogue, revealing that while Ludwig might be a douchebag, Supreme Leader is letting “Uncle Arry” run Hrym dry, in Ludwig’s supposed name while the guy is under house arrest).

Lorenz could have been so much, and I think he can be interesting in fanfics that explore his character more than IS/KT who ended up with making him a Supreme Leader mouthpiece or “the guy who has to disagree because the plot commends him to”.

It's still wild to me that people will go to bat for the nothing characters that are Randolph and Fleche as proof of Dimitri being bad; we know next to nothing about them, they have miniscule screentime, what little we do know of Randolph paints him as human scum who'd do horrific things if it meant a chance at a promotion, and Fleche illogically only ever holds a grudge against someone for killing her brother if that someone is AM!Dimitri, with her completely vanishing from the game in every other route.

Eh,

I'd say they play the same purpose than this random child in TS in Roland's story - at this point, both lords want vengeance, and they have to face someone who also wants (misdirected!) vengeance at them, smth smthg like war sucks because people die.

But it's completely wasted in FE16, because, as you said, Randy isn't a random or a civilian or a war orphan, he is a general leading an attack on refugees/civilians/randoms to gain more fame, and dies in the process.

Now, can we say Flèche's anger and death are ultimately directed at Randolph, who died for nothing and took his sister down with him in his quest for "muhrit" ? Or are we supposed to think that this scene is important because Dimitri, the Blue Lord, isn't supposed to fall as low as the Imperial Army - something he comes close to (apparently?) ?

And yet again, it completely fails.

Because for one Randolph - who also had a family and loved ones - we have 50 Waldos and Baldis, whose lives aren't given any fuck about.

We don't see a war prisoner, or an Adrestian civilian accusing Supreme Leader of having sent her/his wife/husband/daughter/son to death with a conquest they never asked and trying to off her.

Only Dimitri receives this backlash from - invaders who wanted to invade and suddenly remember they have loved ones so are very sad when their loved ones dies - Flèche, but not Claude nor Billy, as you rightfully pointed out.

And Supreme Leader never receives any backlash - or wake up call - from a real third party/civilian/casualty who could have done the exact same thing.

Emile mentions how, during her attack, the Holy Grounds near Garreg Mach were turned in a slaughterhouse, why don't we have any civilian who survived from that try to take a jab at Supreme Leader? Waldi's best friend? Baldo's mother? A war captive from Leicester/Faerghus or a conscripted Adrestian?

I laughed about it with friends earlier, and again with the teatime paralogue, but it truly feels as if only 1/3rd (since the church doesn't count) of the cast will face consequences for the war and suffers backlash from the constant fighting (they didn't even start!).

Whenever you have to deal with serious stuff in Fodlan, it'll be for the BL members.

The rest? Will sip tea, talk nonsense, try to solve "mysteries" and live as if nothing is happening in the background.

Just imagine how both deer routes could have been much more impactful and interesting - instead of being a recycled Billy route with a different infodump at the end - if Raphael's sister popped up to a War Council, asking Claude to stop coddling the Empire because their lands were invaded, her grandfather put to Aymr and her inn destroyed by the Imperial Army, or how Ignatz's older brother discovers how Adrestia is burning pieces of art and history and every material related to Leicester and Faerghus history because they want to push an "Adrestia Eternal" narrative. Heck, Claude could even discover more "lore" by picking a Leif route, sort of rescuing the people "handpicked" to become new Baldos and Waldis, discovering the secret of the artificial crest stones and maybe having an infiltration map where, lo, instead of receiving an info dump, they maybe witness Rhea being turned in a relic or used to "produce" artificial crest stones.

War BaD, but only when we can make the BL suffer for it, for the rest, it's just a bgm.

And even then, it can't be too critical of Supreme Leader, because she was made to sell alts in FE heroes or dubious Cipher Cards.

"Supreme Leader", "cute girls" and "I want to see how Faerghus and its knights will deal with the aftermath of the Tragedy while defending against the invading forces".

Tl; dr : Flèche and Randolph are named, which is a cheap way to make people care for them despite their role in the plot, but the demonic beasts and the civilians dying aren't mentionned nor talked about.

Hell, why do you think I gave names to the artificial demonic beasts? The game doesn't want you to think too much about them, but if I talk about Baldo and Waldi, maybe the fandom will?

[randomnameless]

Something pretty interesting I missed in my earlier Supreme Bullshit reading.

When Supreme Leader is upset at Lonato, she wonders if going to help him would be feasible, which leads to this convo with Hubert :

You want to save the man, Your Majesty? If I may, we would march all that way for...what, exactly?

Hubert, imo, thinks Lonato as basically already done and dead, Supreme Leader earlier was pissed at Lonato not following their plans, he acted on personal enemity and will most likely have to fight both the KoS and the Kingdom so...

Imagine the consequences of leaving him to die.

Here we have an example of the Supreme Leader who made this route, so interesting : it's not Hubert who has all the dastardry in their duo, Supreme Leader too, participates.

When KT forgets that they gave her a sailor fuku to be "more free", they write her to be in a similar vein as the other red Emperors like Arvis, or, Gustadolph from TS.

It's not "we must save him" or "we can't let him die", but Supreme Leader directly evacuates all that pathos, and thinks, rationally, about the consequences of leaving Lonato reap what he sowed.

We need our vassals to believe the Empire will always come to their aid. Always.

It's PR!

Going to save Lonato is not about Lonato himself, she can't give a fig about the dude, but it's all about public relationships and keeping a façade for her war of conquest : her vassals need to believe the Empire will always come to their aid.

Whether they actually do, or not, is irrelevant - they need to believe Adrestia is "trustworthy enough" to come to their help when called.

And the sheer "we need them to believe" coming from Supreme Leader herself? It's really neat, she's lying/manipulating the events to build a perfect image for her vassals, or the ones who will become her vassals (by choice).

Compare this to the Kingdom/Church "we need to help the ones who need help!" and here, instead, we have "we need to make people believe we're going to help them".

Lonato doesn't act following the plan ? It doesn't matter, Supreme Leader will seize this new opportunity to advance her own goals : aka, making people believe the Empire is "trustworthy" and "reliable".

Good. Now make our plans known to the others. I'm counting on you, Hubert.

What plans? The "we must rescue Lonato because he is our ally" or the true "we must pretend to rescue Lonato to make other nobles join our cause and believe in us"?

And what is intereting is how this exchange, of course, only happens when she is alone with Hubert.

In the following event, where Barney is here and they talk about their powers :

Ah, you should see the look on your face! Did Hubert threaten you? Don't let it get to you. Yes, he's quite good at that kind of thing, but it comes from a place of caution.

Hm... Sure. It's Hubert's way of caring I guess.

But then comes the manifesto :

I want to transform the world into a place where no one has to feel trapped by where they came from.

What's that about the place they come from? Aren't we later in this route trashtalking Annette and the Kingdom peeps because they believe in outdated values like chivalry and sacrifices to protect their loved ones?

When I am done, it won't matter where you are born, whose blood you have, or what powers course through you—everyone will be treated as equals.

When she means equals, she means people will "believe" everyone will be treated as equals, just like Lonato was supposed to "believe" Adrestia was coming to back him up and not just, play minimal part to guarantee their PR but not much more?

That's what we're fighting for, and that is what this war is going to achieve.

But Hubert said this war is a war of conquest ?

So believe me when I say this—I don't care who you are.

And yet Barney is still a nobody commoner, even if pal with the Emperor, when Linhardt is a general?

I only care about what you have done and what you have yet to do.

And what Barney can do with that power you said you don't give a crap about right? But what if Barney's abilities are basically the result of their weird powers, can we still say their power/abilities are irrelevant ?

And, hm, maybe someone can translate this for me ?

人の力に拠る未来を創るため、 すべての犠牲を私は負って立つ！

She says this when she defeats 1k peons, and Googl'd it gives... "To create a future based on the power of people, I will bear all the sacrifices!" - so what this line about not giving figs about "what powers course through you everyone will be treated as an equal"? Could Amelie the lady from Mittelfrank who couldn't end up as a diva be treated like Leopold, or what?

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Supreme Leader's words being treated as gospel is always imo hilarious, because Supreme Leader has some instances where, when KT's not busy dressing her up with some "Scarlet Blaze Power! Make Up!", she plays the role Arvis already played before her, the dastardly red emperor who manipulates and seizes every opportunity to reach her goals.

In Tru Piss we got the Javelins - but in Nopes? We get those "heart to heart" moments with Hubert that lampshade even more how much of an unreliable narrator Supreme Leader is - she still maintains care to have a level of PR and only confides to trusted people (yay Hubert!) or, in FE16, when, curiously, she has her mask on (Flamey doesn't need PR).

That's why we still have so many pretzels over Rhea's fate in Tru Piss, yes, Supreme Leader claims she wants to spare her when she adresses her in Firdhiad, in front of her allies and the people she has to lie to about her War.

But when she was with Billy? Nah, she can safely tell them that path lead to the death of Rhea and her people, something she rejoices about in their S support.

Too bad Nopes doubled down on "Sailor Adrestia" instead of giving us more of that "Arvis with a skirt" they teased us with (seriously that power move of betraying Rhea in the third chapter was just, that awesome from her part).