#GoS doesn’t count I see that game as canon as Fire Emblem Heroes is to Fire Emblem (Aka not and I don’t like it)

[chibishortdeath]

did you know Dissonance also has the Simon wraith.

Yes! And if I remember correctly they are found in the Wailing Way and the Shrine of the Apostates (also known as Heretic’s Grave) both in castle B, which is near where the Smiling Statue (which looks a lot like Carmilla) can be found. :3

Also, the Energy Circle being found here, over a particular seemingly important marble coffin no less, is interesting considering it’s the whip upgrade that lets Juste spin the whip like Simon can in CV4 (albeit in way more neat of a circle lol).

Also on the topic of items, there’s a lot of interesting furniture descriptions too.

The Hero Statue and the Tall Clock seem pretty obvious. Simon would’ve been the most recent hero of the time and really the first of his family to get very much respect for it. The clock just directly mentions Juste’s ‘granddad’ so like yeah.

The Smiling Statue just straight up looks like Carmilla’s mask and is probably a Jojo reference since Carmilla is one lmao anyway but I’m not sure why she’s called a Goddess here, pretty interesting. These other two just had some weird descriptions of a presence in general.

The only thing I can’t figure out is who the Sage Statue is even supposed to be. The other two seem to have a pattern, so I’d expect like a Skull Statue or something to be Death/Dracula (as he was a skeleton ghost in Simon’s Quest) or something, but no it’s just some old guy. Maybe he’s looking so smug because he knows he’s out of place and messing with us lol. And the names of the statues also have some kind of relation to who they are (Carmilla smiles, Simon is regarded as a legendary hero) but the word ‘Sage’ just kinda doesn’t relate to any character I can think of other than like idk one of the random old guy towns people, but why would he get a statue? It’s odd, hopefully I’ll figure it out eventually tho.

Harmony of Dissonance has a lot of really interesting details in it, especially Simon’s Quest references, that make sense considering it takes place right after it and revolves around the plot of Maxim trying to recreate the glory of that last Dracula battle from it while not knowing the context behind why Simon did that, so they’re pretty intertwined in that way, it’s really cool :D!!!

I should probably make more general long analysis posts about these kinds of things sometime if I can actually gather everything into one place, cause this kind of random detail gathering stuff is really fun hehe >:3c. This also kinda just ended up a rant that left the topic and went to others so whoopsie (XwX)

[furry-emblem]

You know what, after talking about how biases and stuff mess with 3H discourse, I'm going to go over my biases and personal experiences with each major faction leader because I feel like it. I don’t really want people arguing with me on these, but I would like to hear other people describing their experiences with these characters because that’s always interesting to read about. I'm listing the characters in order of how much I liked them.

Byleth

Also known as erotica, keyboard smash, Sothis, another keyboard smash, BoobBoob, and Boobama. I really dislike them. I’ve never been particularly fond of silent or self-insert protagonists. At best, they signal to me that the game isn’t going to bother with its story or character writing (and that’s fine when that’s the case), while at worst, it’s the writers taking the most important character in the story and then throwing their hands up and saying “we don’t need to write this one.” Byleth feels like the ladder and it’s to the detriment of pretty much everyone around them. Like, even considering that silent protagonists are supposed to be characters that the player projects onto, Byleth doesn’t do a good job at this because there’s enough canonical descriptions of them that you can’t really roleplay, but there’s so little going on that they don’t stand on their own two feet. So it’s like having a piece of cardboard dictate the fate of the country. They also primarily function as a wall for characters to exposition dump their backstories onto, which isn’t very interesting to watch. Like, 3H would have been better off without Byleth in it. 0/10.

Rhea

I just haven't had the chance to see a lot of her stuff, so I think I'm missing some of the stuff that makes people like her (and I'd prefer to not have that spoiled for me). Haven't seen her supports or the Church Route, but she just hasn't left me with a good impression. I don't like how possessive she gets of Byleth. Like, it creeps me out a little. I'm also a bit disappointed that you never get to play as her. I want the pope to bitch slap people (except not my people). I remember her being an antagonist in CF felt kind of forced to me when I first played because her reactions felt a bit silly. The problem wasn't whether they were justified or not, the problem was lack of context given and the fact that she was saying stuff like "You will BURN in the PITS OF HELL" while standing perfectly still and making this face >:(. And I just couldn't take that seriously for whatever reason because it felt cheesy and I didn't really understand what was going on. It also soured any endearment Rhea showed towards Byleth to me on future routes because her actions in CF gave me the impression of her being obsessive and controlling of Byleth. Like, she acted entitled to their loyalty, expected them to be something they never asked for, and flipped the fuck out when they rejected. It reminded me a lot of some abuse I've gone through and it made me dislike the character. Now that I have more context on the character, I get why she reacted so suddenly and violently because CF kinda threw all of her triggers at her. It feels like she dug her grave in that route, but she dug it in a way that resembles a Greek Tragedy more than anything else. My second route was Claude's route, which thoroughly disappointed me in terms of its writing. When Rhea was exposition dumping her backstory, I was like "I'm boooored," so that really didn't help my opinion of the character. I also don't really like how she gets damsels in three out of four routes. I still don't actively like the character very much because she left a really sour taste in my mouth, but I understand that I'm missing information and that there are reasons to like her. I'm open to learning more about her, but she just really rubs me the wrong way.

Yuri

I never finished Cindered Shadows and I have no real opinion on Yuri. I thought he was a girl when I first saw him and I think he's fun to play as in gameplay, so I guess there's that. I don't really see myself replaying Cindered Shadows if I even finish it because it lacks a lot of the major things I liked from 3H.

Seteth

Does he even get to count? Like, he's not in charge and Rhea should've probably been the leader of Silver Snow. Haven't played that route yet. I like Seteth. He's got good dad energy and also he's my wife (specifically in Verdent Wind). He's got good vibes. Also, if you kill Flayn in Crimson Flower, his English voice acting when he's like "Flayn Noooo" gets to me. I still really like Seteth. A solid 8/10 for me.

Dmitri

I wasn't following Three Houses advertising at all, so I didn't know anything about anyone going in. I was originally just going to skip him entirely because he looked boring and had shitty hair. So I did his route last. Partially out if curiosity for the character, partially because I might as well do every major route since I'd already done Claude and Edelgard, partially to get to know some of the Blue Lions, and partially because some of Edelgard's backstory is only revealed in this route and I was curious about that. Dmitri's route definitely has the best writing out of any of the routes. I really like how personal the route is and how much it focuses on how one specific event impacted all of the characters in it. There are some big problems I have with the route and Dmitri, like how the game uses psychosis to represent Dmitri being murdery and how him changing his mind felt more like Byleth's decision than his own due to their conversation being pretty bad. But overall, he has the best writing. I'd strongly recommend playing through his route if you haven't just because the writing's rather good there. The reason why he's ranked below Claude and Edelgard, however, is pretty simple: I just don't vibe with him. Like, the hero archetype bores the hell out of me, even when it is subverted like it is here. I also just didn't relate to the character on really any level while I did with Claude and Edelgard. The amount of Edelgard slander in his name also annoys me, but I don't think it really impacts how much I like Dmitri. He's a well written character that I just don't vibe with. I also remember his death in Verdant Wind and being like “wtf was that??” Like, the writers killed him offscreen.. twice. In the same route.

Claude 

I really enjoyed Claude as a character. He left a good first impression on me and I almost picked him for my first playthrough because he’s hot and sassy. Two good traits for any character. I ended up picking Edelgard, though, and he left a good impression on me during CF. I like that he held the alliance together and had a contingency plan for if he lost that battle. When I played his route, I ended up going Hard Mode NG+ Casual and I stuck everyone on a dragon. I did find it funny that throughout the school phase, Claude learns bow stuff repeatedly, then in one of the last months, he went up to me and was like “hey, can you start teaching me in axe and flying?” Which he had nothing in either. Then timeskip happens and he comes waltzing in on a dragon. Claude is where all the good memes in the fandom go. That said, I really disliked his route because Claude felt like an afterthought in it (because he literally was). I don’t like that I got out of the route and it felt like I didn’t know as much more about the character going out than I did going in. Some of that is because I didn’t see a ton of his supports, which is where pretty much all of the character work is. I like how Claude is open minded and actively tries to seek out the truth. So, overall, I found his route a bit disappoint but I still really like him because he’s a fun character.

Edelgard

I fucking love Edelgard. She was my first pick and therefore the character that introduced me to the game, and by extension, the series of Fire Emblem. I picked her because she’s pretty, she looked ready to fistfight god from the word go, and she seemed like the mascot of the game so I figured the writers might put a bit extra effort into her route (they didn’t, rip). My very first playthrough was actually a Normal/Classic run, but I had to abandon the run because literally everyone died four hours into the save (I swapped to Normal/Casual). Edelgard ended up carrying me through my first playthrough. I stuck her on a dragon and she killed literally everyone and everything. In my most recent playthrough of the game, I did CF and made her an archer mage dancer for the memes and that was also a ton of fun to play with. Her gameplay feel had a role in me liking her (like, Dmitri is also very powerful, but it was my third playthrough and I knew what I was doing better by then, so him being just as OP as Edelgard didn’t really influence my opinion on him as much as it did her). 

Besides the gameplay, Edelgard’s probably the major character that I relate to the most. Every character on this list (except maybe Byleth or Yuri, I know literally nothing about Yuri tho) has experience with trauma and is coping with it in some way. Edelgard copes by villainizing herself and shutting off her emotions, but despite that, she’s still a low-empathy person who’s still very compassionate person who cares about others and is trying to do the right thing. She also generally tries to express some amount of compassion to her enemies, even if it’s little more than saying “it sucks that Dmitri had to die.” She’s not as open-minded or as truth-seeking as Claude is, but she still tries to keep herself open to other viewpoints and will readily accept any she deems as valid at a moment’s notice. I just really like that about her because I share a lot of those traits in common with her. I also like the idea of her being someone who’s willing to do evil things to bring good to the world. That’s not something you normally get in a protagonist and I think that’s a cool idea. 

I still found her route to be very awkward, especially with no context. Like, I missed the line where Edelgard’s like “yeah, btw, I’m the Flame Emperor,” so I was just wondering what happened there. It’s an anticlimactic way to end the main plot of the first half of the game. I also didn’t really get Rhea’s angle at all. So the route just felt a lot like “I guess I’m doing this now??” In other routes, I found her deaths to be very hard hitting. The death in Verdant Wind only really got me because I really liked Edelgard and she was my original student and I could feel how much she wanted to make her future a reality and how her failing meant all of those sacrifices she made and the evils she’d done would now all be for nothing. I get that impression with Azure Moon’s ending too. 

Most of my appreciation for the character does come from her support conversations. I like how her chain with Bernie has her trying to learn how to not scare her off. Her interactions with Dorothea in their support chain are kind of sad because Dorothea is trying to show her admiration and love for Edelgard in a way that makes sense to her but then Edelgard’s low view of herself causes her to reject the offer. I really liked her Manuela support too (haven’t seen Hanneman’s but I’ve heard that it’s good). I like how with Manuela, Edelgard learns why people are religious and she that being religious doesn’t make you weak. I like her Linhart support where he calls her out for trying to dictate his life and she responds by trying to overhaul some of her own systems and assumptions about him, which leads to her giving him a role to the empire that also properly accommodates for his needs. I like how with Ferdinand’s supports, he has to learn to let go of their rivalry, but once that does happen, Edelgard takes into account his ideas and roles with them. I think it’s funny that she and Hubert flirt with each other by sending each other credible death threats. Edelgard just has a lot of very good supports. Don’t get me wrong, Claude and Dmitri also have supports that are good (I thought Claude’s support chain with Petra was cute and I really like Dmitri’s support chain with Flayn), but Edelgard’s supports go a long way to paint her as someone who is flawed but still really admirable.

Edelgard is definitely one of my favorite fictional characters, and I’d love to see more characters like her in the future.

[windstormwielding]

{ ooc } Can I just say “thank you guys” for all the positive feedback I got from you all on Yumiko there-? Because seeing some of you getting smitten with her so fast got me feeling all warm and fuzzy in my inside parts.

As thanks, how about a not so teensy bit of trivia behind my creation process for her? Because guess what I am not done rambling about Kōta’s feral but doting mom. Dropping it all under the cut for length!

Goroawase! The Japanese language has an entire pun system dedicated to matching certain numbers together to create phrases, and you can find them in everything from phone numbers and advertisements to dates on the calendar. For Yumiko’s birthday, June 26 was not chosen at random, because with a minor tweak, the date itself can be read as “rotenburo-no-hi.” Translation? Open-air bath day. What was her zanpakutō’s special ability again? Steam!  

Yūgiri! The zanpakutō shares its name with a few Japanese warships down to the Kanji, but relevantly I named it after a Fire Emblem Fates character. Hailing from Hoshido, Reina is a Kinshi Knight who serves Queen Mikoto. She is a bloodthirsty warrior who’s eager to indulge in the morbid pleasures of the battlefield, but in sharp contrast to her sadistic side, she also happens to be quite the motherly sort towards her allies! Reina was her English-localized name, but in the original Japanese release? It’s Yūgiri.  

Steam! Reading Yūgiri as “Evening Mist,” I figured it would be fun if Yumiko had a zanpakutō power that leaned on the meaning, so I went hard with the steam concept since I don’t think there’s a Bleach character that works with such a power to an explicit extent? As for her ultimate attack, Jyōki Bakusatsu (蒸汽爆炸), the Chinese characters are pulled from the mythical Steam Pokémon Volcanion’s signature move “Steam Eruption” – while it works serviceably enough as Kanji, turns out Pokémon moves tend to use Katakana more over Kanji or Hiragana for their naming, in this case reading as “Steam Burst.” Who knew! I wonder if her own Pokémon team would consist of Fire and Water types...  

Sukeban! I’m quite fond of delinquent/boss girl-type characters and realized Bleach had a distinct lack of exactly that sort of archetype amidst its cast of badass ladies, and the only real “delinquent” presence in the series were all the nameless banchō bullies Ichigo put up with. From there, my brain turned to the 11th Division and its own distinct lack of ladies; aside from Yachiru Kusajishi who is too adorable for words, and Retsu/Yachiru Unohana as Division founder and first Kenpachi, it’s a bit of a sausage fest. Isn’t that the kind of squad where a delinquent girl would be a perfect fit though? So, looking at Kōtarō’s mom who raised him a dangerous place like Kusajishi and taught him how to fight with a sword, I thought “Hey, but what if...” until I settled on Yumiko’s physical appearance!  

Bleach itself! Regardless of however one may feel about some elements of the novels, I just plain love world-building (because it’s not like we’ve got much else to gush or theorize about since the series proper ended). I welcome further attempts to bring in elements from anime filler and other media into the main canon with Kubo’s seal of approval, because god damn I love me some added cohesion towards a bigger and more developed world. I’ve actually got full-on written notes with my own ideas at doing the same; including the premise of the Sealed Sword Frenzy OVA (plus elements of Spirits Are Always With You) as part of Yumiko’s own backstory, and headcanoning the OVA’s villain Baishin as a former Captain and Kenpachi, is just the tippy top of the iceberg of expanded concepts I jotted down for my own personal pleasure and use!  

Undertale! To add to the above, one of my big inspirations in creating her was Undyne the Undying, the boss fight from the game’s Genocide route, hence Yumiko’s character theme being “Battle Against a True Hero.” Just as the Determination-fuelled Undyne defied her own death to take on the murder-happy player character in order to protect the world, leading to the hardest boss battle in Undertale shy of Sans himself, I like to play out a similar battle in my head between Yumiko and Baishin after he turned into a crazed shinigami-zanpakutō fusion. She would’ve been 64th to his kill count of seated officers, but—at the cost of her own powers—she would be the one to succeed in pushing him back and forcing him to flee to the world of the living. Yumiko doesn’t just got it going on; she’s a genuine, fiercely determined badass, and a true hero... though she’s one of Kōta’s biggest heroes above all else. Sidenote, I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I listened to BAaTH on loop for the past week, from the original to remixes and covers with lyrics, just to get a proper feel for Yumiko’s past self-  

Kōtarō himself! I wanted to expand his own backstory a bit and really build on the woman who raised him, but going full ham in drawing more parallels between him and Yumiko than I initially counted on was so much fun. Similar doting and goofy personas towards those they care about! Parallels in their zanpakutō elements! Her teaching him how to fight like she used to! Wholesomeness just warms my heart so friggin’ much.

[irandrura]

Third and final post: what were my other thoughts?

 Let’s talk about the game’s mechanics first.

I am overall very pleased with the battle gameplay. On the battlefield itself the gameplay is more-or-less unchanged from the past, but the character advancement and customisation system is significantly improved. Moving to a single overall character level and giving every character the ability to change classes at will is a much more fluid and elegant system than in the past, and the ability to choose the specific combat arts and abilities each character takes looks like it adds a lot of depth. It’s probably appropriate for the overall ‘teacher’ theme of the game that you have much more power to mould each character’s skills and talents, but I’d like to see it in other games as well. There’s an important balance to strike: on the one hand, characters should not be infinitely malleable, and should all have their personal strengths and weaknesses. On the other, so much of the fun of the game is in developing characters and watching them grow that it’s really good to be able to specialise them.

Speaking of battle gameplay, divine pulse is great. The Fire Emblem series has always struggled a bit with accessibility, and while casual mode definitely made the series easier, it also felt to me like missing the point. Casual mode is too easy, and by removing any risk of permanent death, it felt like it removed a lot of the game’s tension. Divine pulse is a much better way to make the gameplay a bit easier and less frustrating while still keeping the same feel as classic FE gameplay. It gives you just enough room to survive a lucky enemy crit, or a small misjudgement on your part, without totally removing the need to be careful. I approve. That said, I did feel that by late-game you probably had access to too many pulses and it removed the need to conserve them. With a dozen pulses, there isn’t much risk any more, whereas if it stayed capped around three to five, each individual pulse might have felt more precious.

 (Apparently Mila’s Turnwheel in Shadows of Valentia actually did the mechanic first, and I totally forgot about it. Oh dear…)

Other gameplay innovations were more hit-and-miss, for me. Battalions were fine, but I don’t think I would have missed them if they weren’t there. They helped make the battlefield seem busier and more populated, but they don’t seem to have had a massive impact on the game. Similarly, monsters were mostly fine (Cindered Shadows boss notwithstanding), but again, I don’t think I’d mind very much if they didn’t come back. They rarely actually felt like the most dangerous enemies on the battlefield, and just required a slightly different strategy, and… well, maybe it’s just me, but it feels weird for FE to have boss monsters like that. I suppose arguably it’s been a tension in the series going all the way back to the original game? Marth was supposed to fight monstrous dragons, but his entire game was about enemy soldiers, and dragons didn’t stand out as the terrifying beasts they ought to have been. Still, I’m not sure I’m sold on them here.

When I started playing I complained that exploring the monastery was tedious. You can get into a routine later on, but for the most part, I did think it could have been streamlined more. Having lunch with students or going for special training or browsing the marketplace are all fun things to do, but a bit less sprinting all over the map to talk to everyone and return lost items would have been appreciated. The lost item mechanic in particular feels like busywork. A bit of exploring is nice, but only as long as it doesn’t get tedious. It might have been lovely to explore other locations as well – Enbarr, Fhirdiad, the army camp outside Gronder, etc. – but I can understand that the amount of work required would not be practical.

Speaking of tedium, though… I really could have done with a few more maps. Maybe this is my fault for constantly choosing battles, but I found myself replaying the same forest, plains, beach, or volcano map too many times for comfort.

I might also have liked for crests to be a bit more mechanically impactful, given their important to the world and the plot. I regularly forgot which of my units have crests, and what any of the crests do, since most of them have so little effect as to not matter. The only one I did usually remember was Felix’s Crest of Fraldarius, and that was mainly because it makes him do more damage and sometimes made him kill people I’d hoped to leave on one or two HP. I don’t think crests should have been overpowering, but a little more power would still have been nice. It should not have been so easy to forget that they exist.

Similarly, by the time I finished the game I realised that I had never used a Hero’s Relic, even once. I would like to say that this was a principled decision on my part, given that they turn people into monsters (and it looks like I was right about them being made from bone?), but it was mostly just the BUT-WHAT-IF-I-NEED-IT-LATER effect. They all have quite low durability, and while I understand that infinite durability, as with relics in previous games, was not an option due to breaking how combat arts work, it was still enough to discourage me from using them. Perhaps on a higher difficulty they would become necessary? I always feel a bit sad when for mechanical reasons I never let characters use their most iconic weapons.

 Moving on from mechanics…

There is technically a shipping mechanic, with an S support for the protagonist, but it really felt like an afterthought to me. I don’t think the game would lose anything significant if you just removed all the S supports. Compared to a game like Awakening or Fates, where the second generation makes it mechanically important and the plot seems like it works best with a bit of romantic drama (f!Robin/Chrom and m!Robin/Lucina looking particularly intended), Three Houses is surprisingly chaste. I suppose picking a character to be your waifu might be part of the culture now, perhaps looking also at the growing influence of waifu gacha games, but for me it felt tacked on. I can imagine potentially rewriting the game to make romance a more important theme – perhaps talking about Jeralt and Sitri a bit more? – but to be honest I think that that would have been worse for the game overall.

In particular, it stands out to me as sitting a touch oddly alongside the teacher concept. One of the things that stands out to me about Byleth as a protagonist is the way that Byleth is in a superior position relative to the other units. You are a professor, in a position of authority, and you have more life experience. Your job is to teach and mentor these younger characters. This contrasts strongly with Robin, who I think was presented as the equal of the other Shepherds (your relationship with Chrom is that of comrade and friend), and with Corrin, who was presented as an inferior or junior (your siblings are older than you, and they start off with higher status). Because of that superior position, then, I found the game suggesting a feeling of responsibility towards them, and a feeling of pride in their accomplishments.

This might be a bizarre comparison, but in some ways a game that Three Houses reminded me of while playing was Princess Maker 2, a weird little DOS game from 1993 about raising a girl. The core loop of choosing activities to raise the stats of a character in your care, punctuated with occasional outings to fight monsters and get loot, felt quite similar. Similarly, the emotions that seemed to be evoked, to me, were emotions of care and pride: perhaps not paternal as such, since Byleth isn’t that old, but certainly the satisfaction that comes from nurturing a younger and less experienced person.

For the most part that actually worked, and I certainly applaud it for feeling less icky than Fates. If I compare tea parties to that weird Fates mechanic where you could invite characters to your room and touch their face, it is vastly less creepy. So I’m glad that the romance has been toned down.

And speaking of things that I’m glad aren’t prominent…

I’m deliberately burying this part in the middle of a long post. Tumblr is famously ruthless on issues like this, but fortunately I have a very low follower count and you’re all nice people. Basically, one of my worries going into the game was that Three Houses might be the ‘woke’ Fire Emblem game. I am glad to find that concern averted, at least so far. A person could perhaps make some pretty cringeworthy interpretations of Duscur to do with racial politics, but the game itself does not push you in that direction. Tumblr and AO3 love slash shipping, but as far as I can tell that remains as canonically unsupported as ever. Interestingly, while Three Houses has a small handful of same-sex romantic S supports and endings, as far as I can tell they’re all for Byleth and they’re all simply copy-pastes of the opposite-sex versions. It��s enough for me to genuinely wonder whether they’re in the original Japanese at all, or if they were added. I know translations of FE games have played around with character sexualities before, so it’s possible. At any rate, part of me was concerned that this might be the Dragon Age: Inquisition of Fire Emblem, and fortunately it isn’t. (I mean, I did actually enjoy Dragon Age: Inquisition, but at times it did get to be a bit much.) I’ll take this as a valuable lesson when it comes to not believing posts I see on Tumblr. You’d think I would have learned from previous games: popular fan interpretations of a character are often completely wrong. Three Houses seems for the most part to be a very traditional Fire Emblem game.

In terms of the overall series trajectory, I take Three Houses to be an overall positive sign. Awakening and Fates seemed to be taking the series in a direction that I didn’t care for as much, with heavy use of player avatar characters, much more fan service, and more trope-driven plots. Three Houses seems like a return to deeper worldbuilding and characterisation. The cast of characters overall has definitely been a high point: in Fates I sometimes struggled to build a team of characters that I felt truly fond of, but in Three Houses there were usually more characters I wanted to use than I had space for, and there were no recruitable characters that I truly disliked.

Really, the biggest disconnect between me and Three Houses, in the end, is the fact that Three Houses is built for replayability, and I don’t like replaying games very much. However, I don’t think I can in good faith call that a flaw or poor design: obviously there are a lot of people who love replayability, and considering that I got a good eighty hours of gameplay out of my first playthrough (DLC included) and enjoyed it, I’m not really in a position to complain.

So in the end, then, I think that while Three Houses is not my favourite Fire Emblem and does have some places where it could be improved, for the most part I think it’s quite a good outing and a significant improvement on the last few. It is not designed entirely to my tastes, but what is here is mostly good. Three Houses leaves me feeling much more optimistic for the future of the franchise than Fates did.

[crystalelemental]

Character Analysis - Faye

I’m basically writing this as I go with the asks, so let’s compile.  Faye!  She’s a really, really disliked character in Fire Emblem!  I get it.  A lot of her dialogue is obnoxiously Alm-centric, and her support conversations are...oh boy are they not doing her any favors.  Despite all this, I still like Faye!  Because I guess it’s just some personal affectation that I must always like the generally disliked characters.  I will say though, that a lot of this is personal interpretation of Faye as a character.  None of this is inherently written into the canon, but I do think the game offers evidence that can substantiate what I’ll be saying.  Hopefully, you too can come away from this having at least a different outlook on Faye as a character.  But...well, I’m not gonna hold my breath.

Faye Sucks Okay, let’s get this out of the way: Faye seems like one of the most universally disliked characters in the series, and with damn good reason.  She’s the third in a line of characters born from IS not understanding Awakening’s success.  I’m serious, even as recent as the Three Houses interviews, they’ve stated they still do not know how Awakening did so well.  A lot of tropes established in Awakening carried over to subsequent games as a result, and one such trope is the “overwhelming devotion” character.  Tharja started the trend and was one of the most popular Awakening characters.  Camilla followed suit, and while she’s one of the most divisive characters in recent memory, she’s also got a huge fanbase, and won CYL3 in Heroes, so clearly doing something right.

Faye was the third use of the trope, and yet somehow, everyone hates her.  What the hell changed?  I’m gonna cut straight to the point: her supports did it.  It’s 100% because of her supports.  She only gets two, and they do not paint her in a flattering light at all.  Tharja had some fantastic supports, like the serious tone and getting to see positive sides of her with Libra, or the comedy with Frederick.  Camilla similarly has great supports, like her verbal smackdown to Niles, and her sweet interactions with Elise.  Camilla also benefits from being a prominent character in Conquest, giving her a lot more of the plot spotlight to develop.

By comparison, Faye gets exactly two support lines in the entire game - Alm and Silque - and has no story relevance at all after the party leaves Ram village.  Faye is given dramatically less time to explore her character, and it really, really hurts her.  So the next time someone says “Support conversations aren’t important,” just remember: they’re the difference between a Tharja or Camilla, and a Faye.  But hey, quality over quantity right?  Surely a few really good supports can salvage a character!

Faye does not have good supports.  In Silque’s, C and B support are entirely Faye rejecting Silque’s offers of friendship, largely pushing the narrative of disliking gossip and preferring to be near Alm to just talking about Alm.  She apologizes and tries to make up in the A-support, but damage already done.

In Alm’s supports, it’s arguably worse.  The first two are Faye pretty flippantly declaring that she’s ready to kill in Alm’s name, and it’s at a point where even Alm acknowledges that something’s off.  And Alm is a dense, dense boy.  If even he’s noticing, it’s bad.  Again, her A-support tries to tilt thing back, but for many, damage already done.

Based on these two being just about the only real dialogue or development that Faye gets the entire game, it’s not unfair to say that people’s dislike is well-founded.  There are tremendous problems with Faye’s character that largely come about as the result of limited supports and the writing not working in her favor.  That said, I wouldn’t be writing this if I were just going to say “They’re right, Faye sucks, moving on.”  I’m here to argue that Faye’s A-supports, and one particularly well-hidden piece of dialogue that I only found out about recently, do make the case for Faye being more compelling than she initially seems.

The A-Supports Let’s start with Alm’s.  In Alm’s A-support, Faye approaches him and tells him about her dream.  Faye dreams often that, when the war is over, Alm will return with her to Ram village, and they’ll live a quiet life never having to fight another battle ever again.  For the first time, Alm finally comes forward and says no, that’s not going to happen.  He’s very direct about acknowledging how Faye feels about him, and that he doesn’t feel that way toward her.

Surprisingly, she takes it.  Faye’s a bit self-depreciating here, stating that she had hoped that something would change if she continued to fight by his side, but should’ve known better.  She states that she’ll be able to move on, but while they’re adventuring, wants to keep her feelings for him, “at least until we part ways.”  Which I think is fair.  You don’t just snap to getting over someone, especially while they’re still close.  Faye takes the rejection really well, which is something I really don’t think she gets enough credit for.  “It’s because the ending card-” no.  All of those are stupid and non-canon.  If you honestly expect me to believe that Mathilda gave up being the best knight to be just Clive’s wife, or that Sonya went off and became a witch despite witches being the direct product of Duma’s power and Duma being dead by the point she goes off, you’re crazy.  The ending cards have no basis in canon, in this or any other game.  Canas died to a blizzard my ass...

Anyway, the other important part of this is that Faye’s dream is specifically going back to the village and never fighting.  Fighting is not something she enjoys.  Despite her apparent zeal during the C and B-supports with Alm, she wants nothing more than to stop fighting altogether and live quietly.  This seems contradictory now, but hopefully I’ll be able to make sense of it later after exploring the remainder of her dialogue.

For Silque’s A-support, Faye apologizes to Silque and states that she missed her company when Silque finally backed off.  They start to hit it off, and Faye expresses that she’s still not interested in gossip, but she would like to know more about Silque herself.

This is small, but I think very informative for what Faye values.  She likes people.  Not initially, mind.  She’s very hesitant to get to know Silque, for reasons I’ll get into later, but once Silque’s been established as just a part of the group, Faye warms up and wants to get to know her better as a person.  Silque’s offers of “talk not meant for the ears of men” and talking about Faye’s interest in Alm aren’t important, and never were.  That’s not what Faye’s about.  She just wants to get to know Silque personally, once she’s comfortable with her.  Which I think is telling.  Faye’s reserved around people, but once comfortable, is really driven by those personal bonds she has.  She cares about the people in her life as people, but is very hesitant to established new bonds.  I think, for two reasons.

Faye and Celica But first, we need to talk about the hidden dialogue I mentioned.  Did you know that Alm can reject Faye’s offer to join his army, and that you can talk to her with Celica?  Yeah, me either until like three days ago.  Never would’ve crossed my mind to try this.  I didn’t even think about having Celica go back through Alm’s areas, but yeah, of course you can.  You learn some good stuff if you do, too, but we’re focusing on Faye right now.

So, with everything you know about Faye, and all the negative perceptions around her, let’s play a guessing game for those who don’t know the answer already.  Alm and Celica are basically the destined pairing.  Even as kids, Alm started playing more with Celica than his friends.  Faye has a crush on Alm, and even as a child, recognized Celica as a romantic rival.  And Faye, who is often labeled a yandere because of the “killing in your name” bit, is now brought face to face with Celia, who has returned after years of being away.  How does Faye react to seeing Celica again?  My guess was terrible.  I actually dreaded any Faye/Celica interactions in canon, because despite my own interpretations of Faye, it seems obvious they’d play up the jealous yandere aspect.

“Oh, Celica!  You’re back!  Gosh, how long has it been?  I’ve missed you so much!”  That...is not the reaction of a yandere.  Yes, I’m saying Faye doesn’t really count as a yandere.  Yandere comes with the specifics of active violence and harm toward romantic rivals as well, and Faye’s downright happy to see Celica.

This dialogue made me so happy, because I feel like it’s stronger evidence for what I’ve been saying: Faye is people-driven.  Even though she loves Alm, and Celica is a rival for that affection, she holds absolutely no animosity toward Celica at all and treats her like a close, personal friend.  Because they are friends.  They were friends years ago and that still holds true now.

Faye goes on to talk about how Alm left her behind and went off with the Deliverance, and how at first, she thought about chasing after him but decided against, expressing she’d probably be killed if she adventured on her own.  But when she realizes Celica is also on a journey, she excitedly asks to go with.

Now, much like Alm, Celica has a choice at the end of their dialogue.  Recruit Faye?  If you recruit her, that’s it.  That is the last thing you will ever hear from Faye.  Yes, it bothers me a lot too.  No hidden support conversations, IS?  Come on.  This would’ve been perfect.  It is worth noting that Faye is willing to go with Celica at all.  If Faye’s motivation is solely on following or being with Alm, why would she agree to go with Celica?  I’d argue it’s because she’s not fighting for just Alm.  That becomes a centerpiece of her fixation when she’s with him, but Faye fights for more than just him.  More on that later.

The interesting thing is when Celica rejects Faye too.  See, when Alm does it, Faye’s response is almost playful, as if she doesn’t expect him to stick to that answer.  “I guess I’ll just...stay here and be...sad...forever.”  Not exactly the heavy dialogue you’d expect from rejection.  It’s almost like she disbelieves.  But then he does leave, and Celica finds her in the village instead.  If Celica also rejects Faye’s aid?  “R-really?  Oh.  I suppose it was foolish of me to ask something like that.”  She’s completely defeated.  Unlike the first time, this response carries a lot of sorrow in her voice.  Faye’s downright heartbroken over the second rejection, even though Alm’s should’ve stung worse.  Why?

Faye’s Motives I argue that Faye is a character whose primary motivation is in proving herself.  Both in Alm’s A-support and Celica’s rejection dialogue, Faye gets really harsh on herself, claiming she should know better than to expect that Alm would love her back, or that Celica would want her along on the journey.  Faye’s incredibly self-depreciating, and doesn’t seem to find much worth in her own abilities at all.  Hell, when it comes to combat, she’s so unsure of her ability that she’s not even sure she’d survive trying to chase after Alm.

Let’s run through some scenarios.  Suppose you’re Faye, someone whose entire focus is on your bonds with others.  Suddenly, everyone talks about leaving the village to go fight in a resistance army.  Everyone’s leaving.  All your friends, and the person you love.  They’re all just...going off, away from the quiet, happy life you’ve been living.  Now you make a choice: stay with your quiet life as the others leave, or go with to protect the people closest to you.

Scenario 1: you go with.  Alm accepts the invitation, and you’ve now joined up for constant military engagement, in order to protect your friends.  Along the way, the person you love, who’s always been close with your group of friends, starts taking up a leadership role and has no time for you anymore.  You never get to see him on a personal level, and all you ever do is fight.  Your motivation is attention and connection, and that’s being taken away amidst war.  How do you get that back?

Performance.  Those who do well in battle get recognition, and rise up the ranks the same way.  But you have no confidence in your own ability as a fighter.  You’re not sure you can win that recognition in battle.  So you follow up with the next best thing.  You literally beg to be acknowledged.  Watch me in battle, Alm.  I’m ready to fight for you, Alm.  You may not be able to succeed overall, but you can still get that recognition from the person who means the most.  But, what you want most hasn’t been addressed, and it’s not coming up.  After a while, you’re tired of fighting, and approaching the end of the journey.  It’s now or never, so you share your dream with him.  And he rejects it.  You knew it was coming.  You’ve been here this entire time, watching him drift further and further from you and your home, and you knew full well there was never any going back.  But you had to try.

Meanwhile, all through the campaign, more and more new faces get added in.  The first is Silque, who’s a bit chatty and gossipy, but seems nice and wants to talk to you.  But, your main ambition has been to go back to the village, and return to the life you once led.  Every step through this war sees that dream drift further and further away, as Alm takes up leadership, and even your friends become invested in the military life.  The more people added into this group, the more likely your inner circle gets pulled away.  So you push anyone new back.  You don’t want to make friends.  You don’t want them in your life, drawing everyone away, and ruining what should be your happy ending after the fighting.  You do your best to keep people away, but she’s also...the only one paying any attention to you.  She’s kind, and even in spite of your attempts to act stand-offish, she keeps coming back to check on you, to talk to you.  That’s more than anyone else is doing.  So when this person finally gives up, you realize...it’s lonely, not having anyone to talk to.  In spite of your efforts, your friends are already drifting apart, and you pushed away your chance at meeting someone new.  Now you’re going back to them, apologetic for being dismissive, and trying to get to know them because they’re right, you do need a friend.

Suddenly, all of Faye’s disconnected actions start to make sense.  Faye is someone marked by insecurity, and trying to compensate by making herself valuable.  She’s not even sure that’s working.  She doesn’t like to fight, and doesn’t think she’s all that good at it either.  But she tries, and frankly, probably fails.  She doesn’t excel at combat like Kliff would, and doesn’t have the same outgoing personality as Gray.  So she gets left behind, and is desperately trying to cling to the person who meant the most, to have hold of some kind of stability.

Scenario 2: Alm refuses to let Faye go with, and instead she’s recruited by Celica.  There isn’t much dialogue, in large part because this isn’t your friend group.  Your main desire of preserving the status quo is already ruined, and there’s no one left for you.  Suddenly, an old friend shows up, and is willing to take you along.  Same as before, you want to be useful.

But this time, Celica goes straight to where Alm is.  This is a perfect chance to meet up with Alm again, to demand joining his party, or even just refusing to continue to adventure with Celica at all.  But that doesn’t happen.  Celica and Alm leave on bad terms, but let’s be honest, Alm gave you an answer.  He doesn’t feel the same way, and may not even think you’d have practical use in a war.  Celica, though?  Celica brought you along.  She acknowledged you, and even though it’s been a while, she’s still your friend.  You can’t just leave her.

If Faye’s devotion were only to Alm, she’d likely ditch Celica in a heartbeat.  But as we’ve seen in her A-support, Faye is willing to take a clear rejection, even if it hurts.  When that rejection is delivered early, she stays in the village, until Celica recruits her.  And when Celica recruits her, now she’s wholly devoted to Celica’s cause instead.  She had the perfect opportunity to prove herself solely focused on Alm, and instead, she sticks with Celica.  That’s not the choice of someone only motivated by self-interest, and the love of one specific person.  Faye does love Alm, but at the end of the day, she’s just as attached to any of her other friends.  The intensity she has in her supports with Alm are a mixture of proximity to the object of her affections, and feeling like she’s getting left completely behind.  She wants nothing more than to stand out, to be important to other people the way they’re important to her, but in war, there’s no time for personal relationships, and she’s not an experienced fighter like the others.  She’s watching everything she wants crumble in front of her, and is downright desperate to preserve that sense of connection to her old life.  She joined this war to keep those bonds, and is keenly, uncomfortably aware that killing is part and parcel to the job she’s being asked to do.  She doesn’t want to be fighting, but this is the choice she’s had to make, and she’s going to carry it out.

Conclusions As I’ve stated many times before, all of this is me reading between the lines, and crafting the character in lieu of the support conversations she should’ve had.  I think the evidence is there to back me, though, and looking at her character through this lens, there’s an edge of tragedy to her character.  All she wants is to keep her peaceful life, and everything is working against her.  Her friends are scattering apart, risking their lives, and what she wants most is to see them safe and to come back home.  She’s willing to risk her own life for that goal, even though it’s something that cannot come to pass.

If you’ve read this far, hopefully it’s helped you appreciate Faye just a bit more, or at least got you thinking about your own interpretations of her actions and motives.  Thank you for reading, hopefully this kind of post doesn’t become a thing with me because oh god am I tired...

[the-blue-double]

For the Fire Emblem Lords Ask... all of 'em! If you want. You can pick n' choose, I don't mind.

Oh wow, that’s a lot! I’m happy to do it though, it will be a good way to kill the time between classes today.

Marth: Which Fire Emblem continent is your favorite?

Gotta be Elibe. I love the variety of the setting, how each country you visit in Binding Blade feels completely distinct, how the geography just looks like a place I can imagine existing in real life. It’s really great.

Alm: Favorite male Lord?

It’s a tossup between the longtime favorite Ike, and my newcomer Claude. They both take on very similar themes, and they’re both really complex characters. I think Claude wins in terms of having a stronger backstory and circumstances that made him who he is, but Ike’s character development over the course of the game is stronger (because Claude is actually a pretty realized character before the game starts. His journey is more about learning to trust others enough to include them in his dreams).

Celica: Favorite female Lord?

Eirika! I love her, she’s a realistically flawed character who suffers for it, but her mistakes are totally understandable in the context of her point of view and her established personality. I hate seeing people call her dumb for messing up, because that’s the point! She made a pretty reasonable mistake because she’s not perfect! It doesn’t make her stupid or poorly written! I also love a character who sees the good in everyone, and believes in humanity wholeheartedly.

Sigurd: Favorite class?

Shaman/Dark mage. I find dark magic super interesting to dig into, there’s a lot of pre-Awakening dark magic lore. The concept is just interesting to me. And lets be real, it’s just flat out cool.

Seliph: Favorite skill(s)?

Favorite skills, hmm, maybe lethality? Is it practical? No absolutely not. But it’s really really cool and feels good to activate and isn’t that what really matters?

Leif: Which character(s) do you most want to see added to FEH?

I stopped playing feh so this question has very little bearing on me now, but for the sake of an answer, I guess maybe someone from Sacred Stones? There’s a lot of great characters there who still aren’t in.

Roy: Favorite legendary weapon?

I don’t remember what I’ve said to this in the past, it’s always a tough question. Definitely a tome though because the animations are top tier and magic is my favorite weapon type. Does naglfar count?

Eliwood: Least favorite recurring character archetype?

Please IS we don’t need a woman who’s obsessed with the avatar/protagonist every game. Tharja, Camilla and Faye all come to mind, although I can tolerate Faye as long as I heavily apply my own canon to her over the official one. Thankfully, 3H doesn’t seem to have anyone who’s quite as bad as them. I was afraid Manuela would fall into it, but I actually ended up liking her even though she was used as clear fanservice in that regard on a few occasions. She’s definitely not as bad.

Hector: Do you prefer units that focus on defense/resistance or strength/magic?

Strength/Magic, don’t need to defend if you kill things in one hit anyways. To give a more serious answer, I do lean strength/magic, but I wouldn’t say I hugely prefer one over the other, they both have their applications and usefulness. It depends on the game a little too, you can get away with just focusing on offensive stats in some games, but other games will kill you if you don’t have a solid defensive core too.

Lyn: Do you prefer units that focus on speed or on strength/magic?

Ideally I’d like a balance, but I’ll take strength/magic with no speed over speed with no strength/magic. If you can’t do damage in the first place your doubles and dodgetanking are as good as useless.

Eirika: Which game would you most like to see a sequel (or prequel) to?

I was going to give a few half hearted answers, but then I thought of Archanea and the potential for a game about the first Exalt, and I think I’ve got to give it to that.

Ephraim: Favorite sibling relationship?

Hector and Uther is a really good one.

Ike: Favorite FE character in Smash Bros?

Like as a character or as a fighter? As a fighter Robin is my main, I love playing him, he was my most wanted character for smash 4 before he was announced and I watched his trailer live and it was an amazing thrill when he showed up. As a character probably Ike.

Micaiah: Favorite healer class?

I’d feel wrong saying a magic class that just gets staves on promotion like druid so I’m going to give it to Valkyries, particularly GBA ones.

Kris: Favorite avatar (includes Kiran and Mark)?

Robin I guess? Don’t have strong feelings about any of them, but I don’t mind Robin and I’ve got some attachment to them because of their status as my main in smash and the fact that M!Robin was my first 5 star in Heroes while I still played it

Chrom: Favorite FE ship(s)?

Raven/Lucius Raven/Lucius Raven/Lucius

Uhhh aside from them, I really like both Ike/Soren and Ike/Ranulf, Ignatz/Marianne has become a favorite from three houses, I don’t post it so much but I’m actually pretty attached to Edward/Leonardo (though I platonically ship them more than romantically, I love them as a couple but I also just love them as like, platonic soulmates). I could probably think of a lot more favorites too if I sat down and focused on it for a while, but I’ll spare you. If anyone wants to ask about my feelings on any particular ships feel free though!

Robin (M): Magic or physical weapons?

Magic! I used six mages in a single file in my first FE12 run.

Robin (F): Melee or ranged weapons?

Melee is the basis of the battle, but you have to have ranged weapons to make any strategy work and they open up a lot of options, so I’ll give it to ranged.

Lucina: Favorite child unit(s) from any FE game?

I really like Laurent, although most of the child units in Awakening are really good. I want to say Seliph and Leif too because I love them but I haven’t actually played FE4 gen 2 or Thracia 776 yet so I probably can’t say that yet.

Corrin (M): Favorite type of transformer class?

Beast tribe laguz! Kitties!

Corrin (F): Favorite dancer (or variation)?

Ninian probably. She’s a great character and I liked having the dancer integrated into the story as much as her. I liked Azura for the story integration too but... Fates was Fates, Ninian’s the stronger character by a longshot.

[teefa85]

Second Section of this little scavenger hunt.  Same rules...I can use a picture from any show or game, as long as I can identify them, even if I haven’t seen it personally.  Since it’s a hunt more than a “I want a pic of this chara”

Character Situations

Main Character The main character of any show or game.  If there are two characters counted as the lead, you can use either of them! FOUND...Sword and Shield Male and Female protagonists with Lillie

Main Antagonist Now, as Anime sometimes shift who the Main Antagonist is (due to subordinates taking over after a main villain dies, or even just new antagonists every arc) and games do this from time to time too, as long as the person spends some time as the major threat in the heroes’ eyes, it will count. FOUND...Shigaraki with Himiko (Hero Aca)

Two Cosplayers as a Canon Couple Now, I know “canon” can sometimes be debatable when it comes to a series.  Therefore, we’re only going for 100% verified couples who get together by the ending, between a show/game and a sequel series, or they’ve been stated to be romantically involved by the creators themselves.  So for characters who appear to be canon but don’t officially get together (such as Ark and Ivy from CIMA...I know you don’t know who they are but that means nobody is going to complain about me using them as an example), they wouldn’t count. FOUND...Alm and Celica (Fire Emblem Echoes)

Two Cosplayers as a Non-Canon Couple This is for any couple that 100% DOESN’T get together (usually because one or more of them are involved with someone else, or the show/game isn’t romantic in nature).  Again, that means you can’t use people (like, again, Ark and Ivy) who seem to be canon but aren’t 100% confirmed, as they exist in a gray zone between canon and non-canon.  However, if the character is from a Harem that doesn’t answer who the MC canonically got with, any of the characters would be fair game (unless one is heavily implied to be the canonical love interest, but then you could use any of the other characters).  You should probably try to choose a pair that is clearly playing them as a couple.  However, if you can’t find any, feel free to choose any pic of two people you ship together, or possibly just make finding a duo acting romantic as bonus points.  But...nothing with any extra characters in it (unless you’re playing it off as an OT3, OT4, etc.). FOUND...Ophilia and Therion (Octopath Traveler).  Hey!  I’m in one of these!  The non-canon couples were pretty dry this year and this is my favorite ship for her.  Even if we didn’t take the pic as a shipping pic.

Cosplaying Family Sometimes, the parents who cosplay will do a family cosplay with their kids.  This must contain at least one adult and one child or teenager, and they must be in costumes from the same game or show!  Not a family where one parent went as Kagome, one child went as Deku, and the second child went as a Pokemon Trainer. FOUND...Robin, Tharja, and Morgan (Fire Emblem Awakening)

Guy With a Giant Weapon It can be wide.  It can be tall.  It can even be both!  As long as the damn thing is nearly as large or larger than you (or at least as large as your convention rules will allow) it can work! FOUND...Breath of the Wild Link with a Lynel Sword (Legend of Zelda)

Character With Lots of Weapons He doesn’t have to naturally carry them all on him in the game/show.  Or even be a dude!  But as long as you see someone running around with at least 3 weapons, you can use it! FOUND...a Cloud getting weapons ready for a fake duel (FF7)

Superhero I don’t care if it’s an American Comic Book hero, a Magical Girl, or a Japanese take on the American Super Hero!  If the character can be classified as a Super Hero, you can use them! FOUND...Tsu (Hero Aca)

Magic User Tomes, Staves, Scrolls.  Healing or Destruction.  Human or Non-Human!  If the character’s power is over mystical forces, they fit! FOUND...Flonne, Fallen Angel Version (Disgaea)

Deity Character They can be a god or goddess who shaped and created the world.  Someone with limitless power.  Or even along the lines of “nigh immortal and doesn’t consider themselves divine but is considered a god.”  Just as long as they’re seen as divine by someone within the universe.  Demon or Youkai Gods do count if that’s all you can find. FOUND...A Konosuba Group, so that means Aqua was there (Konosuba)

Dragon Character They can be in a full dragon suit, use body paint, look human but have some draconic features such as wings or a tail.  Or even just be fully transformed into their human form.  If the game or show classifies them as a Dragon, they work! FOUND...a hilarious pic of Corrin and Azura doing Jojo Poses due to a botched FEH summoning ritual (Fire Emblem Fates)

Demon Character Good Demons or Evil Demons, it doesn’t matter.  I’d even count Youkai in this mix if you manage to find someone from a series that focuses on it (there are usually a few Touhou characters running around).   Just as long as their series of origin classifies them as a Demon in some way. FOUND...Rin, actually in full Demon Mode (Blue Exorcist)

A “How Do They Battle Evil in This?” outfit Sometimes...games and anime make no sense!  Too skimpy!  Dress too long!  Complete fashion disaster where their only victories should be due to making the enemy laugh so hard!  It all can count as long as you or other people ask this question about them. FOUND...Judith (Tales of Vesperia) although she was also with Flynn who definitely does not count on this!

Pokémon Trainer They can be an actual character in the games or anime, a representation of one of the Trainer Classes in the games, or even just someone wearing normal clothes but running around with Pokeballs and at least one plushie!  Although, you can choose to only go for actual characters or classes, or make getting one of them a bonus point. FOUND...Red with a Pikachu and Charmander

Any Pokémon Design Reinterpreted as Clothing Seriously!  I’ve seen some creative things, such as the Hoenn Weather Trio being reinterpreted as a Kimono (Kyogre), a Samurai (Groudon), and a Ninja (Rayquaza).  People who cosplay actual Pokemon usually do an amazing job at capturing their chosen ‘mon in human outfits. FOUND...Schoolgirl Scorbunny

Animal Companion Any animal that might assist the heroes, regardless of whether or not they are the game or show’s mascot.  Even if that character is only around for minimal time, if they appeared and helped out, they count! FOUND...Rubble, Sky, Marshall, Chase (Paw Patrol...no, really, they even helped cheer up a crying baby at one point)

Mascot Character The opposite of above!  It’s a mascot, regardless of whether said mascot is an animal, a mechanical lifeform, or even a mecha!  As long as it’s very synonymous with the series of origin, it works! FOUND...Detective Pikachu (Pokemon)

Fursuit Whether they’re portraying an actual animal character or their own furry avatar, it doesn’t really matter.  As long as they’re in a full on fursuit that you have to hand it to them for wearing even in the summer! FOUND...Susie (Delta Rune)

Group of Bishonen Doesn’t all have to be from the same series.  As long as a group of friends are portraying a bunch of hot guys, it fits.  Also, they don’t have to be the only people in the group, like if you got lucky and managed to find the entirety of a Reverse Harem’s cast which included the female lead they were all going crazy over.  As long as most of the people are playing guys, it’s cool. FOUND...Fire Emblem Lord Group (that also had Lucina and Celica)

Character From a Game That’s Not Out Yet As long as you took the picture before the game is out, it’s fine.  Even if said game is going to be coming out within a few days! FOUND...Kris and Ralsei (Delta Rune), though if you don’t think it counts due to Toby Fox’s vagueness on when the game will come out, I also did find Sonia from Pokemon Sword and Shield (because this fandom works crazy fast...there was also a Milo and two Wooloo running around but I didn’t get pics).

Jesus! No, really!  I’ve seen people cosplaying Jesus at many a convention! FOUND...I found him!

ACQUIRED POINTS...21

[em-exceeds-change-zearu]

These are the obvious choices but! Logi or Roy for the ask uwu

uwu

Logi

how i feel about this character: the plot needs to stop bullying this poor child pronto but i also want it to bully him more. he deserves none of this suffering but god if it doesn’t make him all the stronger for it

all the people i ship romantically with this character: edgar. full stop.

my non-romantic OTP for this character: sabareta! he was such a good foil/mentor to logi in chapter one, such a good mirror to show how even a good idealistic boy can be twisted into what he was. the fact that logi was able to revive his old idealism but he was still able to be the practical, battle-hardened rebel in the end was great.

also this makes me cry every time the first time i noticed timeskip!logi’s bandanna was similar to sabareta’s and then his J+ story came out and flat out confirmed it’s there to help him keep the same resolve and i just…cries. cries forever.

my unpopular opinion about this character: logi wasn’t an idiot in chapter 1! he was just really naive! naive  =/= idiocy ok. and he had his requisite character development in chapter 1 after facing his own powerlessness and while you think that would result in the typical Shonen Protag Triumphs it does not. instead it ruins everything because he isn’t able to recognize dias’ slipping into the darkness until too late and then he has to retreat into hiding after being unjustly branded a traitor and has to genuinely confront his own weakness and inability to make hard decisions to achieve the peace he sorely wants, etc. he wasn’t stupid but his naivety cost him greatly in the end and that was something he had to face. and he does and comes out all the stronger for it.

however the general opinion that he becomes a more well-rounded and nuanced character in chapter 2 onwards is one that i accept wholeheartedly i’m so proud of him

one thing i wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: i want more of Logi & Edgar’s Fantastic Adventures. please. they bounce off each other so great. but also i want to know more about the one and a half year timeskip and what he did. because while he was severely depressed in his J+ event by the end of it he seems to be able to look forward to the future somewhat optimistically and hasn’t lost all of his naviete. But when he shows up again in Chapter 2 he’s somehow managed to revive the Blue Flame Guard as a voluntary corps and has also become quite the negative nancy.

this hurt my heart so badly the first time i read it my poor baby i’m so glad he’s regained the will to fight for those naive ideals again. seriously child what happened to you how did you accomplish all this and got so sad as a result I WANT TO KNOW WE’VE GOT AT LEAST THREE MORE CHAPTERS OF STORY TO GO THROUGH WILL I EVER FIND OUT??? I DON’T KNOW  !!!! !1 WHY AM I SO INVESTED IN THIS GATCHA GAME WHEN THE STORY CHAPTERS ARE RELEASED AT THE SPEED OF MOLASSESS I’M SO MAD

my OTP: you can guess at this point. look. looooook. they just mesh so well with each other and i love their interactions and they’re really cute and edgar’s one of the few people that timeskip!logi laughs around and they have a combination attack and it’s super cute 

look at the casual teamwork and how well edgar’s spontenaity and mind for improvisation balances with logi’s steadiness and power and and and cries

my cross-over ship: funnily enough despite all the crossovers tagatame has had so far, edgar and dias have had crossover storylines before logi does. i wanna see a crossover storyyyyy whiiineeesss. does he get the radiant historia one. i hope so. i wanna see him interact with stocke and co. pleeeaaase . .  . . 

a headcanon fact: i want to believe so many things about logi having leviathan in his possession but i don’t know how many of them have been/will be jossed by canon. really what the big point is what did leviathan dooooo. did it revive him after he was straight up killed by dias. did it save his life instead. will it exact a price from him later. has it bound itself to him. i don’t know i don’t knowwwww. hhHHH I HAVE. SO MANY IDEAS AND NONE OF THEM WILL BE TRUE BUT UNTIL THEN THEY REMAIN HEADCANON FACTS TO ME

Roy

how i feel about this character: GOOD SON BOY! THAT’S OUR BOY RIGHT THERE!!!! OUR BOY ! ! !!! !!

all the people i ship romantically with this character: okay look. there’s lilina of course, but also i ship him a little with sophia because shared dragon ancestry. my Heroes ship for him is with Julia though because in my Heroes roster they’ve been together since almost day one and they’ve grown stronger together and you all know about the shitpost joke i’ve made with them so

my non-romantic OTP for this character: guinivere. i’ve already made a longass post about this but look. Look. meeting her on a chance routing to pick up some mercenaries is what led to their parties meeting and both of them wanting to stop this war was what led to him taking her on as part of his party despite her clearly being part of the enemy faction - not only that, but the literal Actual princess of the enemy country and just. watching them both grow into people who can lead an army and a country over the course of the war is just real fucking good and you know they share a real strong intergenerational friendship because of it all okay? okay.

my unpopular opinion about this character: i actually don’t have a problem with roy’s Shitty Stats? i’ve always seen fire emblem as a kind of chess-like map game: he’s the king piece you have to get to the end. he’s not necessarily meant to go around killing things and getting stronk, that’s what you have the other characters around him for. his even stat growths contribute to that and they also make sense plotwise too: he’s a Baby, only fifteen. even compared to other young Lords he’s absurdly young and still in the middle of his studies. so the trend growing to Strong Lords in more recent games, while it’s not something i’m super pressed about, it’s not something i care for much either? weak chesspiece lords are also valid

i do have a problem with his absurdly late in-game promotion though urgh. either give him another promotion halfway through the game OR MAKE IT EARLIER, OR SOMETHING??? GOD. plotwise it makes sense BUT GAMEPLAYWISE IT’S STUPID

one thing i wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: [SLAMS HANDS ON TABLE] CONFIRM. THE DRAGON. HERITAGE. I DON’T CARE IF BEING A QUARTER-DRAGON IS TOO LITTLE TO HAVE ANY VISIBLE EFFECT ON HIM I JUST REALLY LIKE THE FACT THAT BLAZING BLAZE GIVES THE OPPORTUNITY TO RETCON ROY’S ACHIEVEMENTS IN BINDING BLADE INTO AN INCREDIBLE SHOW OF IRONY, OKAY

my OTP: lilina. first girl is best girl. 

my crossover ship:  does the ship with julia count? yes? no? it’s technically crossing games over. 

a headcanon fact: this child spends millions of years in any library he can get his hands on and you will pry that truth from my cold dead hands

[your-lady-star]

Revealing the Star: Triumphant Takumi

Takumi has got to be one of the most interesting, thought provoking, complex and well designed characters to come out of Fates. Much like many of the best characters in the game, Takumi is one that you need to invest your time into in order to truly understand him. Judging based on face value alone might put off a lot of people towards him. After all, he doesn’t exactly make the best first impression. But once you’re willing to look past it and give him the time to grow on you, you’ll find that there is a lot to unpack in him and that there is something truly depressing to his overall theme. And I find all that connects to his unfortunate title of being Fire Emblem Fates’

#1 most damaged character.

Once upon a time, I would have easily given that title to Camilla. There really is a lot of damage on her (if you want to see the full scoop, I recommend checking out Ghast Stations support science video on Camilla), but even with that, we see clear moments of respite and enjoyment in her life regardless of what she’s dealing with.

In the case of Takumi, however, there are no moments of respite or enjoyment.

Unlike Leo, whose inferiority complex only affects how he interacts with his siblings, Takumi’s is so severe it affects how he interacts with everything. It’s not just the sense of inadequacy within his family, it’s the sense that he just doesn’t belong in the world, that he won’t ever be able to make a name for himself regardless of what he does and that he simply isn’t capable of even trying.

In fact, after doing some research on this, I found that Takumi might be going through something even more dangerous. Not only is he dealing with an intense inferiority complex, but I’ve actually seen some signs of possible schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that affects the way one thinks, acts and behaves. And after looking through the signs one shows when suffering from it, I’ve seen that a lot of them are extremely similar to how Takumi acts in some moments through the games. His standoff attitude, the words and actions he does without wanting to, the belief that others are always talking about him behind his back and the fact that the archives label him as the character that has the worst nightmares all point to signs that Takumi might be suffering more than any of us initially thought.

And because none of the characters or the audience seems to be aware of this, it’s what’s caused so many to just assume Takumi to be just a jerk and just ignore him, which is only making the whole thing worse. Takumi already believes that no one loves him, so people avoiding him because they just think he’s rude and can’t be reasoned with will only allow him to sink further into his disease. People who are suffering from any form of mental illness need to be treated. Ignoring the problem in hopes that it will go away will only make it steadily worse. And with people like Takumi, you need to let them know that not only do you love them, but that you’re always there for them.

And, surprisingly, despite Takumi seeming to try and isolate himself from others in order to avoid getting hurt, he has managed to subconsciously surround himself with quite the large group of people who want to help him. And none more so than his  

2 loyal retainers.

Even though we don’t know much on the history between Takumi and his retainers or just how long they’ve been together, one thing has been made clear from watching the way these two interact with their lord: they help to bring out the best in him.

It seems like, more so than anyone, Oboro and Hinata know who the real Takumi is. They have seen what he’s like when he’s truly happy and not worrying about his presence to the world. And it seems like they want to make that side of him more well known. They want others to see the Takumi that is more caring, supportive and lighthearted. And even if they aren’t able to do so, they enjoy the time they spend with him and the connections they formed with him. And what I like most about their bond is how both of them bring out different sides to Takumi.

Hinata’s supports with him show him trying to get Takumi to lighten up and just enjoy his time, and throughout the whole ordeal, it’s not his enjoyment he’s focused on, it’s Takumi’s. How he turns out isn’t what’s important; what’s important is knowing that Takumi had fun during the whole thing and all his effort didn’t go to waste.

Oboro’s is the one I find more interesting, for one big reason. This support showed a new and vastly unseen part of Takumi. Rather than being the one doted on and needing comfort, he’s the one comforting someone else and helping to ease their pain. In this moment, Takumi realizes that he isn’t the only one dealing with deep mentally scarring issues and he puts aside his own pain for the sake of another. It’s what helps to make the bond feel genuine, and unlike a certain pairing in Awakening that demands that we treat it as canon despite them having less chemistry than a rock and a tree, Takumi and Oboro’s relationship seems believable and understandable.

And it’s not just their bond that he has to show for, there’s also the bond he shares with his

3 siblings.

Though, in all fairness, his bond with them isn’t the greatest.

Not to say that they don’t love or care for him, they definitely do and are trying their best to slowly help him, but there is one big obstacle that holds it back.

They’re not really all that good at expressing it.

Ryoma’s bad habit of preferring an easy short term solution, Hinoka being so determined to maintain her tomboy image that I’m pretty sure if she even glances at a dress she’ll explode, and Sakura being so timid and unsure of herself that I’m surprised she isn’t scared of her own shadow don’t really help much in that matter. And considering their complete focus on trying to get back Corrin; let’s just say that it doesn’t surprise me that, even after all these years, Takumi is still suffering.

His siblings have some serious faults in how they handle themselves that they really need to fix if they want to get Takumi any closer to feeling better.

Especially considering that I counted

4 times he fell victim to the world.

Having his mind manipulated by both Anankos and Iago. Nearly succumbing to a fatal illness. Being held hostage by a disguised Zola. And nearly falling into the bottomless void of Valla.

I can’t blame Takumi for thinking that the world is out to get him, since he does seem to somehow have worse luck than Arthur. He has unfortunately painted a giant target on him by showing just how vulnerable he is and how easy it is to manipulate him. I can definitely see why Anankos made him his primary puppet.

Because of the constant hesitations, doubts and emotional turmoil he suffers on an hourly basis, Takumi has made himself very vulnerable and prone to be put into dangerous situations. And I find that it comes from two distinct traits to him. For one, because he can be a bit blunt and careless with his words and actions, it was easy for no one to realize that he was being manipulated and slowly corrupted. And second, aside from Ryoma, Takumi is easily the strongest member or the Hoshidan army, if not all the Fates characters. When you manage to get rid of the strongest person in an army, you almost immediately get the advantage over your foe. And if you can get that person on your side, you pretty much secure an instant victory for you. With this, it’s no wonder why Takumi is both desired and dreaded. And it’s pretty clear which side Takumi listens to more.

Yet in spite of all the turmoil he deals with on a daily basis, not only does he remain one of the most popular characters in Fates, he still remains the most desired

5 star hero.

I know that so long as new heroes get added, this statement is going to become less and less credible, but I still believe that even with all the new characters we’ve gotten, Takumi is still one of the most sought after units. I still see post from people who lament how they have yet to get him or celebrating how joyful they are to have him. And while it’s easy to hate on him because of how overpowered he is and how much it can pain people to have to face him in the arena, especially with recent updates, but that’s more down to the people that abuse him rather than the actual character.

And I know I might seem pretty biased, since I am guilty of using him on my main team. But allow me state why not only I, but many others like me, use him. Not because of his strength, but his character.

I stand by the belief that most if not all the Fates characters in Heroes are of a post Revelations universe. And if that is the case, it does explain Takumi’s personality in this. He seems to have mellowed out from his previous persona and is less harsh on himself. Granted, yes, he still has doubts and issues and he does still think that others look down on him, but it feels like he is slowly growing more confident in himself and is working to stand tall more often.

And that’s easily the best part about Takumi.

He’s easily the character we cheer for the most. The one we want to see grow and better himself. The one we want to see come out happy. We want to see him succeed and earn the peace he so truly deserves.

And with how things are going for him, I think it’s safe to say that he just might be on the right path.

Links: http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1100832-fire-emblem

https://www.paigeeworld.com/post/587881282cedaabf0e48f6a5/fanartfriday-takumi-fireemblem-fireemblemfates-hoshido-drawing-by-theoresama

http://akimiya.deviantart.com/art/FE-Fates-Hoshido-608000947

http://shintokiame.deviantart.com/art/Blame-Takumi-595157360 

[light-wolf]

Breath of the Wild comes out in just a few days and I’m so incredibly hyped and I don’t know just HOW will I be able to wait until the 14th when I’ll finally be able to play it. This last year I’ve (kinda) replayed lots of Zelda games and I’ve been trying to get 100% completion in them for the first time (I never bothered with it before). So here’s a summary:

First, I played Twilight Princess HD as soon as it came out and I had a blast. I love that game so fucking much and it means so much to me. It wasn’t just a very good reason to play this fantastic game again, but also a really good remake, with many subtle but welcomed improvements. It’s funny to me because I played the (mirrored) Wii version many times, and with this version having the canon, not mirrored Hyrule, I was confused all the time, lol. I got everything in this one (except playing in Hero Mode because I’m a wimp). Also worth noting is that it came with what I find to be the best looking amiibo so far (and once I play BotW, probably the best functionality too). It probably doesn’t count but I also played (and completed) that My Nintendo Picross game based on TP, lol.

Then, Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages on the 3DS Virtual Console. I played them to death on the GBA when they were first released and it felt so good to go back to the games that introduced me to this fantastic franchise (yep, OoS was my first Zelda game). I got everything but a few rings in my linked game of Seasons > Ages. I might try to get absolutely everything if/when I play them in reverse order eventually.

Then I played Majora’s Mask 3D. @friki-encubierta got it for me during her trip to the U.S. when it was first released (alongside the New 3DS XL) but I hadn’t played it until now, and maaaaan this is another great remake. It’s a lot more… playable, I guess, but the original feel of the game is still there. I’d only played it before in that Collector’s Edition disc for the GameCube, and that version was kinda glitchy and not very well emulated so I’m glad I could finally experience this amazing game properly. I got EVERYTHING. Man, this game has LOTS of sidequests. And they’re all great.

And finally I played Wind Waker HD. I bought it when it first came out (alongside that nice Ganondorf figure). I didn’t even have a Wii U back then, lol. I had postponed playing it for too long so I finally did it and it was great to experience again my first 3D Zelda. For some reason I didn’t like this one as much as TPHD. There was something about the graphics in this remake that felt weird to me, something about the color pallete or the lighting or whatever, and I actually prefer the original in that regard. But the gameplay was very refined and the game itself is awesome so I enjoyed playing this a lot anyway. And I also got 100% completion. I started playing on Hero Mode (because in this game you can turn it on/off at any time) to see how I managed and I actually beat the whole game that way, lol. The hardest part was the beginning, with so little health, but once you got access to bottles it wasn’t so bad.

But wait there’s more. I thought that’d be enough Zelda, and I still want to finish a few other games from my backlog before I play BotW, but the hype is too much and it’s so hard to think of anything that isn’t Zelda!!!!! AAAAARRRRGG!!!!!!! So I ended up replaying Minish Cap, lol (I started it today and just finished the second dungeon). I’m not sure if I’ll want to get 100% in this one, but we’ll see.

I still have to beat Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest because I’m so close!!! (I got to the final chapter but I was fucking destroyed). I also have Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga unfinished (I guess I’m around halfway through it?). And I really want to play The Last of Us because a friend has been talking non-stop about it and it’s been sitting on my backlog for a while (then I’ll probably box my PS3 for a while to make space for my Switch, since I barely play on it anyway). I have roughly two weeks to do all of this before I’m absorbed by BotW, so hopefully I can focus on it instead of wasting all my time on Tumblr and risk being spoiled.