#because my “standard” ones don't apply to Petra

[mmorpg-escapism]

I'm replaying ShB on Petra and I just... am going to have Thoughts, and they are going to be Posted.

You've been warned.

[burr-ell]

its been what? two years? and ppl still have the most bad faith cynicism towards Claude and Byleth's S-support/paired ending🤦‍♀️

like my only actual criticism towards Claude's S-support is the same one i have for Rhea's which is that there's some critical information that should've been presented to Byleth/the Player regardless of S-support. in Rhea's case she expresses regret over revising history and deceiving her followers, as well as trying to revive her mother. imo this part of the conversation should've happened in game no matter what. the writing already puts Rhea in a bad light by making her suspicious and then not dedicating the same amount of time in dispelling all that like they do with Claude(and unlike Claude, she doesn't have other Supports and is benched until the very end of SS/VW/doesn't even show up again in AM). and considering how easy it is to just. miss her Support convos entirely as well as her S-support being completely optional, she isn't really being endeared to the players like she deserved. in Claude's case, there are three conversations happening in one for the player:

Byleth is going to be made the Ruler of Fodlan (note that Byleth already seems to know that she's gonna be Queen)

Claude is leaving Fodlan he must go his people need him-

Claude wants to spend his life with Byleth and asks her to wait for him with a promise to return💍

so. its a lot to process in one conversation...to be fair, the game does drop hints about the former two before the end: with an NPC being like "either you[Byleth] or Claude will become king" during the explore portion about who's gonna Rule. and in Claude's A-support with Lorenz about Claude leaving in the end. buut therein lies the problem which is that those two former points should've been presented in a direct in-game convo before the final boss. instead the most prep a player has about this information are those hints and Jeralt narrating "Afterward, Claude left Fódlan, leaving Byleth to ascend the throne as the first leader of the United Kingdom of Fódlan" after Nemesis which uh. yeah lol

but even so, Claude isn't cruelly chaining Byleth to the throne against their will. I mean call me crazy, but maybe juuust maybe Byleth might have a vested interest in seeing peace restored in Fodlan? bc maybe Byleth might actually give a shit??🤷‍♀️ as for the S-support convo itself I thought it was perfectly fine (aside from aforementioned criticism) and in-character for Claude as well as a nice way to top-off the ending of VW.

maybe this is just me but I always took Byleth's reaction to Claude's leaving as her being insecure in her capabilities, which is something Byleth has been shown to express before. so her "I can't be a ruler" dialogue meaning "I can't be a ruler without you", which is why Claude tries to reassure her that, yes, she can do it without him. and in spite of fandom acting like Byleth's too stoopid to breathe, Byleth doesn't run Fodlan to the ground. quite the opposite actually lol

also the bad faith takes that Claude only marries Byleth for political gain, or that because the "i love you" is only in the eng version he no love Byleth🙄 as if Claude himself doesn't have the most rosy-eyed view of his parents' love story and might want that for himself (he's either gonna marry for love or not at all I will die on this hill). never mind that nobody accuses Claude of trying to leverage any political gain in his marriages with Hilda or Marianne or Petra... or that not every romantic S-support has an "i love you" line, english or not🙄 Or that because Claude doesn't throw it all away to reside in some liddol cottage in Bumfuck Nowhere with Byleth he must not truly love her, as if A) that isn't a shitty ultimatum (note how the other two lords don't have this standard applied to them🤔) or B) that it wouldn't be a complete betrayal of his character(no offense but I'm looking at you Lysithea/Shamir ending) also it'd be really cool if ppl would stop acting like them being in a temporary LDR is somehow a strike against their relationship like rip to y'all but I'm built different I guess.

BASED ANON BASED ANON BASED ANON

also it'd be really cool if ppl would stop acting like them being in a temporary LDR is somehow a strike against their relationship like rip to y'all but I'm built different I guess.

You did it! You broke shippers down to their bare essentials!

I mean, look, I snark and all, but for real, everyone has their preferences. If you don't like Claudeleth or their S-support, if you like Dimileth or Edeleth better, that's your taste, and as long as you stay in your lane and I stay in mine, we're good. But the criticism leveled at Claudeleth from those two camps is—for all the reasons you stated—overdone and tiresome. Claudeleth obviously isn't unpopular, so it's not like we're. idk oppressed or something dfkjghlskdfjg but it's the least popular lord/avatar ship and often gets overlooked by comparison. So yeah, its shippers are tired of hearing about how much it sucks because the ending isn't a beautiful rosy sparkly fairy tale, especially from supporters of two ships that are, in my opinion, absolutely choked with annoying dating sim player pandering.

plus their S-support still is the best in the game, argue with the wall