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kitchfit · 11 months ago

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Year in Review: Games Pt 3

My penultimate list of games contains a rather random grabbag of obsessions I bounced between over the summer and into the fall. And for this list I do mean obsession. Most of these titles took over my brain for at least a week until I was able to stave it off with something else.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Randomizer

I don't often think too much about the structure of traditional Zelda games when I look back on them. Recently, in an interview, Eiji Aonuma expressed a lack of interest to return to the traditional styled Zelda games, stating "Why do you want to go back to a type of game where you're more limited or more restricted in the types of things or ways you can play?" I understand that sentiment, but I believe the restrictive structure of older Zeldas actively curate the gameplay experience rather than hinder it. There's something to be said about how linearity in a game can be in service to a better story, but in Zelda, the linearity turns the entire map into something of a puzzlebox. There's a reason this franchise inspired Metroid.

These are the thoughts I had while figuring out exactly how Zelda randomizers worked and actually getting one to function properly. A Link to the Past, the game the solidified the Zelda formula. Compared to Zelda I, this game is considerably more linear, each mark of your progression hindered by a Key Item that progressively unlocks more of the world around you until you have free reign of the map. The OG makes this progression path relatively intuitive, but in a randomizer the path still exists, but its been altered. All of the keys are behind new locks, and the experience of finding those locks is almost like playing Alttp for the first time.

Familiar items from the beginning may be moved towards the end. I didn't even find the sword until around the halfway point, and had to get creative when dealing with bosses, but near the end, when I had everything, the game was identical to its original counterpart. In this way, the restrictive nature of the game made it more compelling than if I had free reign of the map from the get go. But I guess the Zelda team just isn't interested in that type of gameplay anymore.

Super Mario Odyssey

This is foreshadowing a much more psychotic stage of this review, which I'll save as the last update to this Year in Review project. The is my first time playing this! Can you believe! I'm apparently something of a "gamer," but one of the most beloved Mario games of modern times remained unplayed and alone... I had to rectify this. And damn, yea. This is the perfect advancement in 3D Mario since the time of Mario Galaxy. The controls are a perfect mix of freedom and control; I was never agitated with Mario's movement. The Moons allowing simple exploration and puzzle solving to be rewarded without booting the player out of the level. Finally, after all this time, Mario has reached the heights of the first Banjo Kazooie game.

This is a lot easier to qualify with hindsight, since well... You'll see! But during my time with the game, what I was most impressed with were the environments. You're exploring entire communities! New sections of the Mario world that we've never seen before that fit perfectly with everything we've seen before. Classic themes with a twist. The Sand Kingdom is a normal dessert level that has been frozen over with an icy curse. The Wooded Kingdom seems at first to be a standard grass theme, but is actually a defunct industrial zone upkept by robots who like to garden! Even New Donk City with its hyper realistic Business People, which seems a wild setting for a Mario game, hearkens back to the older games like Donkey Kong 94. For the first time in a long time, this game got me interested in the lore of the Mario universe, and that would have dire consequences...

Fire Emblem: Awakening

This is one of those franchises I have a lot of love for despite the fact almost every entry has something that makes me stretch my face into a comical frown, like Wile E. Coyote realizing he's been thoroughly duped by the funny bird that goes fast. The Fire Emblem games are already thoroughly difficult tactical rpgs, which are hard enough to invest yourself into without tearing your hair out. Awakening is the game that brought the franchise back from the brink of death, at least in the west, and part of that, I believe, was because of the reintroduction of a mechanic from FE4 I affectionately refer to as "the breeding mechanic."

By slamming your anime chess pieces against each other like action figures to make them kiss, they can get married and have a kid. That child can then be recruited into your army after some goofy time travel antics, and their stats, class options, and abilities are decided based on those of their parent units. This means breeding your units like livestock to create the best child units is the most effective way to play the game, which, I won't lie, is just simulated eugenics. This grossed me out as a teenager when I bought this game, and combined with how hard the game was for me at the time, I put the game down for an indefinite hiatus.

Returning to it after all these years, I am sad to say abusing the breeding mechanic is fun as all hell. Okay, maybe equating romance options in a video game to actual eugenics is a bit harsh. It's not like the game encourages playing like that, it really is just letting you ship your favorite characters together, which is present in every FE game these days. Pairing the units up based not only on chemistry but on available skills allowed me to have a nice time with a pretty fun cast and absolutely WRECK HOUSE through the chapters to the point that difficulty became something of a joke. There's also a story in this game. It's fine. Time travel is in it.

Fire Emblem: Binding Blade

This is lauded as one of the most difficult FE games to ever exist, but it isn't usually said with a happy face. Every map is a "seize map" meaning the primary objective is always to kill the boss and bring the Lord (in this case, Roy) to the place the boss was sitting. Roy stagnates at level 20 around the midpoint of the game, and will not promote until the second to last chapter, meaning he's basically useless in the latter half of the game but still required to use in every chapter. Reinforcements appear to a genuinely goofy degree, and will sometimes capsize your run without any warning. You cannot get the true ending of the game without keeping certain fragile ass characters alive (sometimes on the ENEMY TEAM) that unlock hidden chapters with even more bullshit difficulty. Full disclosure, I had to use a guide + a hack that removed fog to get through this game.

Despite ALL OF THIS, Binding Blade has been one of the most engaging and thought provoking Fire Emblem experiences I've ever had. The plot follows a World War esque scenario. On the relatively peaceful continent of Elibe, the country with the strongest military, Bern, has suddenly broke treaty and attempts to conquer all neighboring states. Roy, a 14 year old noble boy on a quest to deliver reinforcements, is suddenly thrust into the role of general after the commander of Lycia falls in battle against Bern troops. And THAT is why the game's difficulty feels so appropriate! It's an uphill climb from day one, Roy is in no way prepared for this, he's FOURTEEN. He should be playing Animal Crossing on his Nintendo 3DS, consarnit! There's also an interesting twist at the end that calls into question our celebration of history and responsibility of the past, which I might get into if I replay it. And I probably will! There's a very lovingly made hack that remakes all of Binding Blade in FE8 with qol features that made me excited to come back to it in the future.

Pikmin 4 pt 1

I'm still having a hard time believing this game exists. I feel like I'm taking it for granted. Just last year I remember cynically telling my friend this title would probably be in development hell for another half a decade at least. But it's here! And damn what a fantastic return. Similar to Pikmin 2, 4 foregoes time limits and resource management in favor of exploration and isolated challenges, without turning to the bullshit difficulty 2 would occasionally throw your way. There's just so much stuff in this game! Caves are back! Piklopedia is huge! Two new types of Pikmin! Like 6 enormous maps to explore!

I do have a few reservations on it. Instead of following the previously established continuity, Pikmin 4 reboots the series, repeating Pikmin 1's plot with the caveat that Olimar never made it off of PNF-404, and it's your job to save him. Along with sixty other tiny alien people that are apparently also prone to crash land in dangerous areas like Olimar before them. It's hilarious, really, the only reason your (custom made) character is in charge is because they're the only one who made it through the atmosphere without shitting themselves.

The caves overall have stronger themes than Pikmin 2 ever managed, and are extremely well designed in their layouts, and the plot and characters are super charming as well. Louie is back and bastardly as ever. He is such an asshole in this title, I love him so much. This is marked as part 1, not only because I'm excited to jump back into the extensive postgame content, but also because of the amount of detail put into the Piklopedia that I want to read EVERYTHING, but due to circumstances I wasn't able to at the time. I know these lists may come off as unemployed behavior, but astonishingly I do have a job that holds back my GAMING POWER just a little bit.

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

I took a slight gaming break after Pikmin 4, but it wasn't long before the gaming urge enveloped me like a holy fire. I considered replaying Zero Mission, but if I start one Metroid game I will play through all of them into Dread, which I didn't want to start. And then I remembered there are like 10 Metroids that I've never played, and they have vampires in them! I guess, rather than a Metroid, you could call them a Vania. I've only really played Castlevania 1 and 3 on the NES before, but it's a series I hold pretty close to my heart, and this game works as a good introduction to the series, if you'd like.

The plot follows Juste Belmont, the fruity grandson of Simon who follows his boyfriend into Dracula's Castle to find their girlfriend. Juste has the typical whip finesse of a Belmont, but his direct lineage to Sypha Belnades from Dracula's Curse gives him skills in elemental magic that he slowly unlocks throughout the game. The element Juste is equipped with pairs with his secondary weapon that each unleash a different spell type, which are super fun to experiment with. Dracula's Castle is also split between to dimensions, like the Light and Dark world from alttp, and while it's always fun to explore old areas with new differences, I don't think it adds too much to the aesthetics. Both versions of the castle are nearly identical in terms of artstyle, with the "B Castle" taking on a slightly darker palette.

Juste also collects random shit he finds in the castle to decorate an empty room he found, which is tied to the true ending for some reason. I have a friend who picks up random trash off the streets and brings it back to his house as "trinkets" that he shows off to people when he has visitors, which I found myself reminded of when Juste picks up what must have been Alucard's childhood teddybear to hoard back in little nest.

Digimon Survive

This is a fascinating game. If you have any love for digimon as a series, or if you love visual novel horror games, this is a fantastic deal. From what I remember it faced some backlash when it was revealed it wasn't just a digimon tactical rpg, and even more criticism when players found out how involved the visual novel aspect was. For me, this game perfectly marries the two genres. Your choices in the visual novel structure and treatment of your units during these sections decide not only how your digimon evolve and grow, but which units Survive to the end of the game. There are also four branching paths the story can take that genuinely feel influenced by the choices you made, even though they mostly come down to a rather straightforward morality system.

The plot is similar to season one of the Digimon anime, but with a more mature feel. Eight kids at summer camp are whisked away to the digital world, where the laws of physics are altered, a vague facsimile of human culture can be found, and tons of wacky creatures show up to either aide or harm our protagonists. Except in this version some of them may actually die. I made it through the game with losing only two characters, but they're absence was felt all the way to the end of the game. You don't have to know anything about digimon to appreciate this, but it is a fun new way to enjoy these classic creatures, or be terrified of them, in a certain Bunny's case...

Final Fantasy VII

I don't mod a lot of games. I do look for fan games and improvement patches for older games, but I got a hankering to seek out some stuff a bit more high tech. On Nexus it turned out there were a lot of cool HD graphic mods for an rpg I hadn't picked up in eight years: FF7, baby! I originally got a quarter of the way through this game on steam and put it down for a bit, and then never picked it back up. I remembered being annoyed and confused at the plot and the setting, but going back to it now (with clearer visuals, lol) I enjoyed the hell out of this complicated mess of a story! Honestly, it's not as convoluted as people made it out to be, but maybe my brain has been fundamentally altered by Kingdom Hearts. There's a central mystery present around the six hour mark surrounding a memory Cloud has that doesn't make any sense, and the truth behind that memory slowly unveils itself in a fascinating way.

I was surprised how much I liked Cloud as a character. He never really impressed me in Smash or KH, but in his original game he's this goofy, anxious dork who tries too hard to be cool in front of pretty girls. I can relate to that. AND he has motion sickness. I can relate to that even more.

There are a lot of playable characters in this game, but only 3 of them are allowed in your party, who naturally will level up a lot faster than the benched boys. This is good for replayability, I guess, but if I go back to it anytime soon, I'll have a hard time not picking Barret, Aerith and Tifa as Cloud's best buddies. The other characters are cool (Yuffie is still more of a KH character to me), but I got so damn attached to those three. I also went to the effort of Chocobo breeding for the busted endgame materia, which was a surprisingly fun sidequest, despite its esoteric nature. I did this totally legitimately too! EVERYONE CONGRATULATE ME FOR BEING SO COOL!

Final Fantasy IX

I think this is the easiest Final Fantasy game to recommend to someone. All of the FF games I've played have this compelling found family aspect present, but it's executed in the best way in this one. The characters seem to have this genuine affection for each other that gets more and more real as the game progress and they develop as people. It's also hilarious in a very Shakespearean way. The main character, Zidane, was raised by theater kids, so the goofy, dramatic irony stage gags are very appropriate. All the characters were super compelling with great designs as well, and I had a hard time deciding which three would be in the final party. I settled on Vivi, Freya, and Dagger, but I used Quina and Steiner quite a bit.

The story pulled out tears from me towards the end. This is a tale about grief, identity, and the acceptance of death, and it handles those themes with depth and grace. Zidane and Vivi are unsure of who they are, where they come from. While Zidane looks normal enough, by FF9 standards, Vivi is forced to confront the fact he is probably not human almost immediately upon encountering his puppet brethren, and his reflective journey on accepting this and the fact he does not have long to live is the strongest emotional through-line of the game. But what moved me to tears was (SPOILERS FOR THE REST OF THIS PARAGRAPH) Zidane's drive to reach Kuja before his unavoidable fate. To reach out to his brother and risk life and limb just so he could offer this man comfort in his last moments, to have the last emotion he felt be the tenderness he never got to feel during his long life. Idk it got to me.

(SPOILERS OVER) The Chocobo mission in this game is a lot more fun and intuitive than it was in 7. Instead of breeding, you play a hot and cold mini game that's frustrating as hell at first, but gradually gets faster and more fun. The games lore makes a lot of references to earlier titles, though I really only recognized the call backs to 7 and 4. This inspired me to make a Libre office spreadsheet of all Final Fantasy games lore, plot and recurring elements in an obsessive and ultimately futile attempt to tie the first nine games together in a neat timeline. I'm filling it out as I go through them, so I may never actually release my findings, but it's still been a fun project, similar to these Year in Reviews!

Final Fantasy

This is the GBA version. After 9, I wanted to go through all the FF games I hadn't played, starting of course with 1. According to Legend, the team that worked on this were about to go out of business went all out on one Final product to make or break the company, thus "Final" Fantasy. I think it may also be named so for the amount of cliche fantasy tropes played out through the story. There are elves who's prince has been put under a sleeping curse, dwarves that love to mine and forge, mermaids imprisoned by a sea monster, there's even a floating dead civilization inspired by Castle in the Sky complete with still functional robots. All of this makes for a pretty fun setting, and seeing where most of the recurring aspects of the FF series originated was delightful! A few of them even threw me for a loop; Bahamut lives underground and gives you a class upgrade, I didn't even expect him to be here!

The combat is simple. The gba version reduced the amount of random encounters, and the world design is relatively intuitive (except for the airship, which is hiding underneath a super esoteric sidequest the game barely tells you about), so the challenge was mostly limited to the boss encounters, who can be cheesed with elemental magic from a decent mage. I played with a Black Mage, a Monk, a Fighter, and a Red Mage, so my healing options were pretty limiting. I didn't realize until near the end of the game that monks are strongest without weapons, so at the last moment my little Monkey boy was FUCKING SHIT UP while he had been dragging his feet for most of the game. The final boss fucked me up in return, however, and I almost grinded (ground doesn't sound right) levels for the first time in this game before discovering the Titan Gloves.

The final boss is (spoilies) the first boss from the opening of the game, who has been transported 1,000 years into the past to manipulate the conflict of the game, including his own initial defeat. This means defeating him for the 2nd time breaks this loop, stops him from creating conflict in the first place and retcons the entire events of the game, allowing your actions to fall into obscure legend in the cultural consciousness. This provides a nice explanation for the main cast's lack of identity. This story is being told second hand as a legend. These people are only remembered for their actions in a myth and thus their true names have never been known...

Final Fantasy II: Dawn of Souls

Before playing this game I had it beaten into my head from video essayists and game journalists that this is the worst Final Fantasy with dogshit mechanics. Maybe that's true, I haven't played all of them yet. These mechanics were cool as hell to me, though. Your stats are decided by usage instead of building up through leveling up, meaning your magic stat is trained by using more magic, attack is trained by attacking, etc. In the og NES game, this also applied to HP, which was trained by getting hit, but that was changed to a more steady leveling curve in the GBA version, and thank God for that. There are also several weapon types like swords, axes, and spears you can train your party members with, though you're forced to specialize early on, lest you be under-leveled later in the game. I think this system is incredibly ahead of its time, inelegant as it may be, as it lets you customize your characters' stat builds in a way that's now standard for modern rpgs.

The story kind of rakes you across the coals. It follows a group of children who have joined a rebellion against an empire dead set on taking over the world. Almost every victory is met with an equal degree of tragedy. You might defeat the enemy commander only to be too late to prevent a city being wiped from the face of the earth, you might find one of the game's macguffins from a tough dungeon only for a party member to be brutally killed off at the last moment. Even defeating the emperor comes with a slap in the face, as his death only leads to a portal to ACTUAL HELL where the emperor has seized control of the afterlife. It makes the ending very satisfying in my eyes, though there are some story developments (like Leon) that feel pretty undercooked. There's also a bonus story featuring all the dead characters exploring hell! Cool! I didn't play this, since it drops everyone back at level one, but I may return to it as a separate game someday. I just gotta know what happened to all the dead guys! They died??? Oh shit!!

Fatum Betula

I discovered this game watching Any Austin talk about games you can get on the Switch for $2, and can you believe my luck? It was only $1 on sale packaged with Paratropics! After playing it, I think this game is worth more than $2, though it is pretty short. The opening of the game is unsettling. Through hints in the menu, you learn to stare out into an abyss until a face with too many teeth tells you to fill a vial with liquid to feed to a birch tree.

And that's all you need to do! Find several different liquids hidden in the beautifully rendered polygonal environments and give to the birch to change the fate of the world. I only figured this out through a lot of trial and error. There are several endings depending on which liquid you choose, around 9 in total if I remember right, including poison, blood, liquid bone. Some of them are received as rewards for exploration and experimentation, while the true ending is done through a series of bizarre tasks that I honestly had to use a guide for.

The endings have a good range of philosophical to comedic, my favorite one being liquid bone, which transforms everyone in the world into funny dancing skeletons. There are so many characters in this world that delight and intrigue, and the writing blows my mind at a few points. It's a game you want to dig into and dissect its many angles, while still hitting you with occasional dialogue that makes you laugh pretty hard.

AND DONE! This list is a bit longer than usual, since I wanted everything on the final Games list to be homogenized. Dang I played a lot of viddy games this year. Next time I will be covering Shows. I was going to do a comics list but I haven't finished enough comics this year to merit one, maybe at the end as a bonus!

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orcelito · 2 years ago

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oh i also talked a lot about fire emblem today. specifically whether i was planning to buy Engage or not. verdict is: Probably, considering reviews say the tactics gameplay is really rich & that's like 80% of why i enjoy playing fire emblem. so yes i am not a fan of the character designs. but i will probably buy it. at some point.

i went to gamestop after work to see if i could find it but didnt see it and INSTEAD i saw 2 games for relatively cheap. so i got those instead.

#speculation nation #it's uhhh horizon zero dawn. which ive heard good things about. and tales of arise. which ive known i'd b getting eventually #considering how ive enjoyed every tales of games. & xillia 2 Still is the only game that's made me cry like a baby Twice #reviews seem pretty positive for tales of arise too so tbh more likely i'll play that first.#character designs of party members seem pretty solid too #i also got two sets of dice for a total of $4 so like that's pretty rad. im up to 82 sets now. Woo #i. need to go to sleep lskdjflskdjf #but ya me chatting with my coworkers who dont know fire emblem about different games #mentioning that my fav is still fe echoes bc it is superior in character design. story. map tactics. and ESPECIALLY the music.#but also i'll enjoy a slightly trashy fire emblem game which i KNOW bc i loved fates. genuinely.#it gets a lot of hate & god Knows i can complain about its faults endlessly #but i have a lot of fun with it and i love a lot of characters. So.#tbh so many ppl love three houses but i honestly enjoy fates more. there's a reason ive completed like 4 games of fates #and im still struggling through my 3rd of 4 playthroughs of three houses lmao #the maps are fun but there's too much downtime. & i feel like i Have to use the downtime bc otherwise im losing out on skill grinding #but i dont like fire emblem for wandering around and talking to people. i like fire emblem for playing complex tactical maps #and sure yea i could up the difficulty. probably will have to for my next three houses game to keep it interesting (it is WAY too easy)#but. yeah. back to back battles is probably Also a lot of why i like echoes #no wasting time just puttering around. we're on a WAR PATH. why would we go back to the castle between every fucking mission?#it makes no sense. genuinely.#anyeays uhm. fire emblem. i'll get it eventually.

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nincompoopmicrowave · 2 years ago

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he is being sold.

#all 4 reviews are felix #fire emblem sylvain #fe3h sylvain

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kitsaystransrights · 3 months ago

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It'sa me, Kit!

Woah, hey, you can make pinned posts! I totally didn't forget about this feature. I should probably do that, huh?

Weeeeell anyway, howdy! I'm Maddie, I go by Kit online sometimes, you can call me whichever you prefer. She/Her pronouns only, please. I'm a 22 year-old trans furry who is chronically online and geeky, so if you have a problem with that, I'm putting you in a box and then launching that box into the sun. I'm a YouTuber, Twitch streamer, filmmaker, and game dev, so I'm basically every stereotypical geeky trans-girl thing except for an artist. Can't draw to save my life.

On my YouTube, I usually make reviews or video essays about games I like, though I occasionally do stuff on other media as well. Currently, my big long-term projects are the "Splatoon 3 vs Splatoon 2" series, which is AAAAALMOST finished at the time of writing this, and my series on Leilani Wilson's Elancia Chronicles novels, (which are REALLY FREAKING GOOD and you should check them out!) I've linked a few of the videos I'm proudest of down below :)

youtube

I also stream pretty frequently on Twitch! I have a PNGtuber of my fursona, Stormy, with art done by EmmalemmaMewmew on Twitter. Stills of her will also start showing up in my YouTube videos eventually, hehe. Currently, the schedule is every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday, with each day being a different game. These streams always start at 7 PM Mountain Time (that's 9 PM Eastern and 6 PM Pacific) and go for around 4 hours. Sundays are Splatoon Sundays, currently the Anarchy Challenge, where I attempt to win an Anarchy Series with EVERY SINGLE WEAPON in Splatoon 3. It's hell lol. Then there's Triple-A Tuesdays, where I'm currently marathoning the Zelda series, and Indie Thursdays, where I work through my back catalog of indie games! There are also occasional bonus streams, usually around the releases of new games I'm interested in or events in ones I already play (like Splatfests!) Below is a link to my Twitch channel and my current stream schedule. I'll try to update this post as often as I can, but uh, no promises haha.

Last but not least, here's some of the other stuff I'm into/working on! Currently working on a Secret Game Project that I can't tell you about yet >:) But if you know, you know.

I'm a big fan of video games and animation (clearly), with some of my favorite stuff being, in no particular order... Sonic the Hedgehog, The Legend of Zelda, Persona, Fire Emblem, Pokemon, Elancia Chronicles, Super Lesbian Animal RPG, Splatoon, Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss, The Owl House, Gravity Falls, Amphibia, Steven Universe, Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Spider-Verse films, Dreamworks animation, Pixar animation, Insomniac's Spider-Man gams, Ratchet and Clank, aaaaaaaaaand that's all I could think of off the top of my head but I'm sure there's more junk buried in there somewhere lol.

Anyway, thanks for reading all the way to the bottom! You must really have nothing better to do with your life XD. Here's some links to my other socials, if you wanna follow me there. Here I'm mostly just be posting random rambling and updates for my YouTube and Twitch. See ya around!

https://www.instagram.com/kitthegoddess/

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synergysilhouette · 10 months ago

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Guide to my Rewrites (and other content)

I post a lot of things, and some of those things are rewrites. As such, I thought this would be a nice guide for fans of my rewrites in particular. I'm still adding new things! Lemme know what you think.

Alternate Takes (Disney)

These are projects that have the same characters and settings (for the most part), but different plot points. These particular alternate takes suggest ideas that would've made me enjoy the movie more (or at all) and aren't a fanfic so much as bullet points with pictures.

Aida

Pocahontas

Hercules

The Princess and the Frog

Tangled

Frozen

Big Hero 6

Moana

Frozen 2

Raya and the Last Dragon

Encanto

Strange World

Wish (Note: working on a full-length rewrite unrelated to the ideas used here)

I also did rewrites for two Dreamworks movies:

The Road to El Dorado

Sinbad

Reimagining Disney Movies

These are projects that take Disney's framework (ie a fairy tale) and create my own characters, plot, setting, and song titles for it.

The Snow Queen

Kingdom of the Sun

Rapunzel

Reimagining Disney eras

These posts are designed based on what if Disney eras made different decisions (either based on my own ideas or rejected concepts) for their films. Note: I made the revival post before the renaissance and post-renaissance posts, so they kind of flow in different continuities. I also wanted to include future ideas for Disney's next era. These posts also work independent of my "Alternate Take" posts.

Reimagining the Renaissance

Reimagining the Post-renaissance

Reimagining the Revival era

Plotting out the Reinvention era

Marvel

Not quite as detailed as my other rewrites, but I thought I'd include them.

Dr. Strange: Multiverse of Madness

Thor: Love and Thunder

X-Men (Because they have more content than my other Marvel things)

This pretty much just includes my rewrites.

X-Men: Evolution--New roster, Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, Roster (Timeskip), Season 4, and Season 5 (I did a poll months ago, and maybe I'll do a post brainstorming a Marauders spinoff).

Wolverine & the X-Men--New Roster, Season 1

Fox's X-Men films (I may remake this)--Part I (First 3 films) and Part II (Phoenix, NM, and Dark Phoenix)

Extensive rewrites

TV shows that I've remade episode-for--episode, perhaps removing and adding some as I see fit.

Miraculous Ladybug--Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, Season 4 (currently working on Season 5; been dragging my feet with that!)

Anime as comic books

Yes, this is a topic. I remember when I was in this headspace, and it was really fun. I basically reimagined what if popular anime had been created as superhero comic books that golden or silver age.

Dragon Ball

Naruto

Anime rewrites

Black Butler

Naruto: Part I

High Card: Season 1

Video Game Rewrites

These aren't quite as detailed as my usual rewrites.

Bayonetta

Fire Emblem: Awakening

Fire Emblem: Fates

Fire Emblem: 3 Houses

Kingdom Hearts

Hogwarts Mystery (MAYBE; ongoing internal discussion)

My OCs

This section covers my original characters for a few fandoms. Thinking of making OCs for books/anime/comics, but I do not have the confidence that I know the universe(s) well enough.

Fictif

The Arcana

Hogwarts Legacy

Baldur's Gate 3

Mood Boards

Just something I've made for fun to inspire others! Not an expert on making them, but it was still something I wanted to do.

My Wish rewrite (temporary)

Disney's Swan Lake

Disney's Hansel & Gretel

Disney's Rumpelstiltskin

Disney's Red Riding Hood

Sub-Saharan Disney musical

Disney Superhero Film

Japanese Disney musical

Actors who could play Disney villains

Choices: Stories You Play

REALLY into this game for a period--but it started to get awful when "Witness" came into play. Here's a list of reviews (which I've stopped doing) as well as concepts for new books (originally on Reddit before I got banned).

"Before I Say I Do"

"Celebrity Status"

"Summoned to Court"

"Arkikara"

"Fairy Godparent"

"Hierarchy: Scheming University"

"Willow Falls"

"Late at Night"

"Spellcaster"

"Four"

"America's Most Eligible" (Review)

"Desire & Decorum" (Review)

"High School Story" (Review)

"Rules of Engagement" (Review)

"The Freshman" (Review)

"Queen B" (Review)

Winx Club Content

Rewriting the Winx

Rewriting the Specialists

Rewriting the Villains

Monster High Content

Plotting out Gen 4

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mannatea · 15 days ago

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going back through old fire emblem fics and mY GOD i really just wrote any stupid thought that came to mind didn't i 😭 my folders are just a giant manna cringe compilation

highlights:

there are 3 or 4 novelization attempts (that i've found so far)

the ouiaboo fic titles make me want to die

WHY DID SOMEONE PROMPT ME "LACTOSE INTOLERANT" FOR THE LETTER L and more importantly WHY DID I WRITE IT

the original lyn-gets-poisoned fic was titled "shades of grey" and while this was WAY before that book came out i still want to die and be dead.

let's not talk about the original lyn-marries-erik fic title. i'm cringing down to my tOES

i was forced to remember i started a fic from the perspective of the animals in the army god

the multiple aus and/or chaptered fics that i never finished...i'm haunted.

also the stuff that was never posted at all lol. you're welcome. i saved you.

who the fuck prompted "rainbow unicorn attack" "fe7" and also why did i write 5 pages of it and then leave it to rot? i want to die for titling this "always" hahahahahhahahaha

most of this stuff i didn't even want to remember. or like, i'm ashamed to remember. there was one story where i saw the title and instantly thought, "oh yeah that was the ghost!kent/just like heaven-inspired story wasn't it."

the utter chaos of the fe100 challenge 😔

the song fic titles 😔

the fact that some of the stories i have literally ZERO MEMORY OF EVER HAVING WRITTEN. like what do you MEAN i wrote some modern day AU where Kent was trying to propose to Lyn??? a prologue and most of a first chapter??? (i don't think i ever posted this.)

the fact that most of my fic collections were posted as multichaptered fics makes me writhe with rage. like the alphabet meme/fe100 is fine in concept but my GOD until i actually pull up and read each story i have NO CLUE who any of the stories are even about! don't make me read the cringe to find out!!!

this comment in a review someone left for a godawful story i wrote: "Ah, another KentLyn huh? Well, I guess that is to be expected of you." i know i 100% deserved this😂

all these fics for all FEs are also all mixed in together with zero separation because for years fire emblem was just fire emblem!!! remember, on ffnet it was just all lumped in together! i should actually make more folders and sort it better...even though i'd argue my fanfic is pretty well sorted compared to most people

there are hundreds of fics and frankly it's overwhelming. i wonder if even half of these are ever worth looking at again.

#screaming crying throwing up!!!#ficbabble

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hopeymchope · 1 year ago

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I almost always seem to have the minority opinion on media. And I'm really sick of it now.

I've been on a Fire Emblem kick again lately. But unfortunately, as much as I love all of the Fire Emblem games on 3DS? That's approximately how much I hate Fire Emblem: Three Houses on Switch. ....which is, of course, the most popular/successful game in the series to date.

Okay, look: In Fire Emblem, I really like the strategy-combat stuff and the storylines + support conversations. THAT'S the tasty meat. Anything else? Is irritating busywork to me. So if I spend between 2/3-3/4 of a supposed Fire Emblem game doing the other shit? You've crafted a great recipe to make me feel like I'm MOSTLY doing stuff I hate, and thusly I shall hate your game. And that's the START of the issue with Three Houses. (I must resist getting into the protagonist being a mute cipher OR how multiple side activities require blind luck or a guide to succeed OR bitching about the weak battle map design... oh shit oh SHIT I'M OUTING MYSELF, RUN FOR IT MARTY!)

By comparison, this year's Fire Emblem Engage feels like a step back in the right direction! I'm playing it a lot right now, and I'm mostly having a good time! Still more busywork than I want in these games, but it's at least back on the side of "more good than bad." So of course, if I look this game up and read any fan reviews or watch any videos... they're all about how disapppointing and sucky it is in comparison.

God. Of COURSE they are.

I really don't know why the advances they made with Fire Emblem Echoes haven't carried into the newer games. 3D dungeons you can explore for items and enemy encounters in a Persona-like fashion? Genius! Make it the template going forward! ..... What's that? Not even most fans bothered to buy or play that game??? So no one fucking cares about that feature?

.........fucking hell. Of COURSE they don't.

See, this is how it always goes for me. If I fall in love with a movie, I'll later learn it's either hated or ignored by its own fandom or by the masses at large. If I get emotionally invested in some weird game and its characters? There's a high probability that almost no one played it. And those who did? They didn't like it as much as me. If I think a game is really annoying and full of boring shit? Great reviews, huge fandom, etc.

I could make an utterly wild fucking list of things I like/love that other people hate. And the same is true in reverse. Sometimes, even when I agree with the hate on something, I don't agree with ANY of the reasons for WHY other people hate it!

Before you ask: It doesn't matter whether I know the "majority opinion" in advance of seeing/experiencing something, or I have no clue wht people think of something until I look it up later. I've gone to many midnight premieres of movies that weren't yet screened for critics, and I typically always wind up on the wrong side of the majority. I've played obscure games just because the premise sounded good, fallen in love with them, gone looking for a fandom... and found out that everybody thinks said game is utter shit.

So I'm not just being contrarian; this shit comes NATURALLY.

However, I should make some caveats about this weirdness clear:

Sometimes I feel like I'm on the wrong side of JUST the outspoken part of the audience... but there's evidence to support that my own stance maybe ISN'T so weird. For example: My family and I have always loved 2009's Avatar. We never were dressing up like the goddamn Na'vi or anything so fanatical, but we've rewatched it many times over the years. We regularly quote it to each other around the house. And the massive success of that movie (and its recent sequel) seems to back up that this admiration/enjoyment isn't THAT crazy or esoteric, RIGHT? It's just that the Internet is extremely outspoken about Avatar supposedly being lame and totally unmemorable. Remember how people in 2022 kept being like "You can't remember even three character names from that movie! Nobody quotes it!" and shit like that? I was one of the people going "I will list you NINE characters and spew DOZENS of quotes at you."

My "minority opinion" thing only stretches so far. It's not like I thought The Room was the best movie I'd ever seen or angrily felt Tears of the Kingdom was the worst game I ever played. That would be beyond "minority" and more "MADNESS." There's a limit to this weirdness; it has to be within a certain degree of reason, you know? Some things just aren't POSSIBLE to totally flip the script on. Birdemic will always be embarrassingly terrible, and I refuse to believe anyone would legitimately feel otherwise. OK?

This isn't completely universal, either. There are always exceptions where I actually wind up on the right side of the majority. They're just... rarer than the other thing, honestly.

It gets exhausting to always feel like I'm on the defensive or at worst, utterly alone in how I think among the larger community. I don't want this anymore.

But I don't get a say, clearly. I'm just going to keep doing this. I'm going to go see a movie on opening weekend and think "Wow, what an awful piece of shit" only to find that DECADES LATER, people still cite it as one of the best movies in its genre. I'm going to adore a modern revival of a classic comic book, then I'll go online and find that it's widely considered an abomination before god. This is who I am. It's just REALLY tiring to be here.

#minority opinions #navel gazing #fire emblem #fire emblem engage #fire emblem: engage #memes #fire emblem memes #just bitching #sorry

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miyakuli · 1 year ago

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Triangle Strategy

My obsession since a month. I finished all the routes and played so many hours, I'm finally ready to present it to you and I hope my review will pique your interest and that you'll join me in this then xD (because I LOVE IT TOO MUCH).

Triangle Strategy is a tactical rpg that also flirts with the narrative genre, in which you juggle between fights, cut scenes and choice phases that will influence the fate of Lord Serenor and the future of the continent of Norzelia. Let's say it right away, I devoured the game; I haven't enjoyed a tactical game this much since Fire Emblem 3H! The game has a lot going for it, both in terms of gameplay and narrative, but there are a few disappointing points that could have been better executed by Square Enix.

❤ The story is excellent, very well written and very engaging. The geopolitical conflict is coherent, and we don't just see everything through the eyes of the MC, there are also side moments to follow the plot from other points of view. It's easy to see that the game isn't at all Manichean; each character has their own vision of the continent's prosperity, and as a result, nobody really embodies evil or good. There's a real maturity of writing here, making TS not at all predictable or cliché. ❤ This feeling is reinforced by the choice system, since in wartime, no choice is fair to all, and concessions have to be made. This makes it almost heartbreaking to decide. The game offers us 2 forms of choice. First, dialogue choices to reinforce your character's convictions, revolving around 3 main themes: Morality, Liberty, and Utility. Then, scenario choices that will influence your game, based on a debate with your group; in fact, the convictions you've strengthened will help you win debates. It's an essential part of the story, and adds a lot of spice, if I may say so, as well as replayability (4 endings, including a "true end"). ❤ Let's talk about combat. The tactical aspect is fairly basic and easy to learn. On the other hand, it offers real diversity in terms of combinations. Each recruit has their own combat specialities (2 archers will not have the same attack and defense characteristics, and will have very different skills too). As a result, you really get caught up in studying the field, weather and enemies to come up with the best possible strategy. What's more, the game offers a fair amount of challenge in certain battles, so you'll sometimes have to start them all over again, which really pushes you to persevere and find the best possible combinations; it was extremely addictive for me. ❤ In terms of artistic direction, the 2d-hd pixel art is really beautiful, with superb lighting effects and depth of field. ❤ For the audio, the game is already fully dubbed (Japanese or English), which greatly strengthens our attachment to the characters and our immersion in the story. I played it in Japanese and recognized some big names in dubbing, so it really is a top-quality cast. Now I'd like to turn to the thing that most amazed me about this game: the music. Composed by Akira Senju, whose music for FMA Brotherhood I already greatly admire, he created here an absolutely incredible soundtrack! All the themes are memorable and effectively accompany the atmosphere of every moment in the game. I can say without hesitation that this soundtrack has immediately become one of my must-haves <3

+/- The group's main characters are very likeable and pretty well developed over the course of the game. It's a pity that this is not the case for the other units in our group. Their recruitment is done in a very expeditious way (the characters are accessible as soon as you've increased your convictions enough) based on a short scene like, "Hi, I've come to fight by your side". And then you unlock 2 extra stages if you raise their stats enough, and that's it…at least in Fire Emblem, the appearance of secondary units was done through combat, which allowed us to learn and test their skills, it was much more useful. +/- NG+ is really cool if you want to keep playing and unlock new characters or scenarios. On the other hand, why doesn't the option just appear in the menu, it's pretty confusing to launch (because yes, I relaunched another day and had forgotten about the little explanatory window, but come on!).

✖ Some combat animations are quite slow, and you can't really get past them even when speeding up. ✖ The exploration phases are not very interesting (only 2 phases have a real impact on the scenario, otherwise it's just to recover items). ✖ The game's OST is neither sold on Steam, nor accessible on Spotify or anything else, I want to tear my hair out in frustration. PLEASE SQUARE ENIX, LET ME OWN THIS MUSIC!!!! (;;)

As you can see, after 80 hours of play, Triangle Strategy is for me an excellent game in its genre, thanks to its narrative and strategic qualities, and I can say that I felt a great sadness to have finished it x') However, I'd recommend it to those who like to read, because yes, the dialogues are rich and abundant, and I think that might put off a lot of people expecting more combat and less blah-blah.

As far as I'm concerned, it's this balance between narrative and combat that gives this game its charm and strength, and which I'm sure will convince other lovers of the genre. I'm convinced of it.

youtube

➡ My Steam page

#triangle strategy #I knew this review was going to be SO LONG x')))#thank you to those who took the time to read it (and congrats XD)#I MISSED THE CHARACTERS SO MUCH ALREADY #what to do now.....jk I have plenty of games to try lol #personal #Lola plays games

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claristhegirl · 11 months ago

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Personal speedrunning year in review:

Fire Emblem Engage - As a big fan of Fire Emblem and having run Three Houses prior, I really hoped Engage would be fun to run. And it was! I even got to run it at SGDQ!

Pikmin 4 - As a big fan of Pikmin and having run Pikmin 2 and 3 prior, I really hoped Pikmin 4 would be fun to run. And it was not! Seriously I cannot express how much I dislike the forced auto-lock on, ugh.

That has been a personal speedrunning year in review. (...I really hope I have more desire to do runs next year)

#speedrunning #fire emblem #pikmin

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itsbenedict · 11 months ago

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Games I Played In 2023 And Whether Or Not I Thought They Were Good- Roundup

Alright I just finished reviewing every game I played in 2023. Here's a list of everything I covered, plus... scores, why not? I'll do an experimental thing- the ✅ score is how good the good parts are, and the ❌ score is how bad the bad parts are. 5's around average, and if ✅>❌ then I feel overall positive about it.

link to Part 1

Potionomics (✅ 8/10, ❌ 2/10)

Horizon: Forbidden West (✅ 7/10, ❌9/10)

Disco Elysium (✅9/10, ❌0/10)

Tunic (✅10/10, ❌1/10)

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (✅7/10, ❌4/10)

link to Part 2

Trails into Reverie (✅6/10, ❌10/10)

DREDGE (✅6/10, ❌3/10)

Wildfrost (✅5/10, ❌3/10)

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (✅4/10, ❌4/10)

Touhou: Lost Branch of Legend (✅7/10, ❌2/10)

Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk (✅3/10, ❌8/10)

PowerWash Simulator (✅8/10, ❌3/10)

link to Part 3

Pikmin 4 (✅8/10, ❌1/10)

Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE (✅7/10, ❌6/10)

Ori and the Blind Forest (✅6/10, ❌3/10)

Raft (✅5/10, ❌4/10)

Grounded (✅8/10, ❌5/10)

Pokémon: Too Many Types (✅7/10, ❌3/10)

Super Mario Bros. Wonder (✅5/10, ❌4/10)

Cuisineer (✅6/10, ❌5/10)

Cavern of Dreams (✅7/10, ❌1/10)

link to Part 4 (haven't finished these games yet)

Fire Emblem Vision Quest (✅6/10, ❌3/10)

Void Stranger (✅3 + ???/10, ❌6/10)

Pokémon Infinity (✅4/10, ❌2/10)

Unnamed Space Idle (✅8/10, ❌Pure Evil/10)

Fate/Hollow Ataraxia (✅8/10, ❌2/10)

The Sekimeiya: Spun Glass (✅9/10, ❌4/10)

#game rec

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silverjojo08 · 2 years ago

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On video games and writing and Fire Emblem Engage

Mainly just me musing about how I don't think the story is bad. Sorry for being annoying tbh. This is meant for my personal circle of mutuals, but maybe other people can get something out of it. Please be nice to me; I am not a professional reviewer and don't claim to be writing anything objective or anything lol. I'm also not really editing heavily for grammar or anything (if anything I try to keep a bit of order structurally but I love a comma splice idk lol).

This piece has gone through many versions in my head as I try to nail down exactly what puzzles me about the perception of the writing as being "bad".

Initially I think I was going to do a full plot breakdown and point out how logically every moment fits together and how foreshadowing + late reveals enhances certain previous moments. As I write this down, I don't think that I'll be doing that here. I almost considered a deep dive into the themes of motherhood and found family presented in the game. Not sure I'm going to do that either. At one point I also considered fully getting into common complaints (particularly some brought up from one of my folks who I deeply respect, Mr. Forte himself), but also I don't think I'll really do that.

So, what am I writing here? Maybe it's a mix of all of the above. Maybe it is none of the above. I don't really know. But I do want to talk about how this game just really vibes for me; and while I don't intend on necessarily changing anyone's mind, I want to at least provide some perspective on why I personally enjoy it so that others can understand my perspective at the very least.

Perhaps I will succeed in that. Perhaps I will fail. Let's find out together. (Again I'm doing like very minimal editing. Please excuse grammatical errors/typos. If anything is unclear, ask and I'll try to clarify. But I'm bad at tumblr so either tweet at me or send it through an ask please.)

Prologue: Who? What? Why?

To start, I'm in my early 30s. The video game that made me love video games was Super Mario RPG, and my earliest gaming memories include me watching my dad beat up the robot evil Santa at the end (also him playing some NBA game on SNES). FE games I have played start to finish: 8 (Ephraim), 11, 12, 13, 14 (all 3), 15, 16 (all routes), and 17. FE games I have played a bit of but didn't finish for various reasons (mainly I got distracted and forgor 💀): 1, 4, 5, 7, and 9. None of this actually matters that much, but maybe there's a generational and/or fandom divide of some sort and this provides useful context.

I am not a writer by trade nor hobby. Writing is actually one of my least favorite things to do (this is potentially related to OCD brain "just right" stuff), to the point where I chose my college major specifically based on which had the least amount of classes that I could actually complete without having to write essays. I am a math person. I do like consuming and dissecting written fiction though.

This piece is meant to be mostly explanatory. I want to give my perspective as best I can. I decided other writing styles would be too combative for what amounts to something we're consume for enjoyment. I just want to pass on some understanding of how I feel.

I think the best way to do this is generally avoid spoilers, but I will include a specifically marked section where I discuss all spoilery things that come to mind (anything that I intend to come back to in this spoiler section will be marked with a *). Any non-FE games mentioned will not be spoiled beyond kind of a general "a reveal happened in a way that bugged me" type of stuff, if even that is a concern here's a list of the games vaguely mentioned so you can crtl+f: Tales of Zestiria, AI The Somnium Files: Nirvana Initiative, Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies. It all happens within two paragraphs, so you can just skip them if needed.

(Also I may accidentally use he/him pronouns for Alear because M Alear was the one I played with first, but I do generally think of FE avatars as the same being regardless of gender and try to use they/them when speaking to things both versions experience, which is like everything besides the hair colors being flipped and class options?)

Chapter I: What Is "Bad Writing" To Me?

Ok if you're reading this I assume you are at least in high school, and for that reason I'm not going to walk anyone through that level of analysis. In no way is this meant to be a lecture and I'm not trying to give any particularly deep literary analysis. That feels kind of like a pretentious thing to do in this situation.

So, bad writing? To me the biggest thing I consider bad writing is when an idea is not communicated well. This could be contradictory messaging, poor delivery, puzzling execution, etc. Obviously this can happen to various degrees of "bad", but I will not consider a story to have bad writing unless the writing breaks the experience in some way.

A broken experience is not the same to me as a negative one. To me a negative experience is just a matter of taste in the end and not a matter of "bad writing". Boring writing is not the same as bad writing even if it makes the experience painful. A broken experience has to be bad to the point where you just do not understand what they were attempting at all.

One game that comes to mind on this is Tales of Zestiria. I loved the characters in that game, and the main story itself is largely logical. But it was written so messily that there's a point where it becomes truly incoherent. To this day I have no idea what was going on with Dezel and Rose's personal histories despite a major climax of that game being built around the moment things get revealed for them. Again, it was overall a fun game, but it was definitely one I would claim had some bad writing.

Another situation that comes to mind that can be a spark for bad writing is when a reveal sours previous experiences. Misleading an audience can work really well in some ways. Ace Attorney 5 (Dual Destinies) has a reveal that has made me not want to replay it at all, but I don't believe the reveal is poorly done. Conversely, Somnium Files 2 (Nirvana Initiative) had one reveal that invalidates a significant part of the playing experience in a way that's hard to describe without going any further, but I think playing with audience expectations can only go so far until you make the audience feel like you've stolen part of the joy of the playing experience by severing an emotional connection.

I've been trying to describe this all in objective terms, but obviously it is very subjective. It's totally a "I know it when I see it" thing in the end. This section might be pointless. I don't know.

(There were too many blocks of text so look at Alfred; he's so nice and funny and good. I will give him the pact ring every time I play as M Alear lol.)

Chapter II: What about Fire Emblem Engage?

I guess this is kind of my point. I don't understand how any of this is applicable to it. The plot is fairly simple especially to start. You go from point A to point B with plenty of easy to follow narrative. Characters behave in logical and understandable ways. There's nothing functionally "wrong" with the story.

I think there are some pacing issues with the last stretch of chapters in that things happen too quickly for the player to properly respond even though the concepts are cool*. There's a lot of infodumps in these last chapters too that feel a little misplaced*. I agree that the tea supports (and shared gimmicks in general among certain groups of characters) are a bit overwhelming to unlock in succession. The DLC sucks* and only small parts of it truly add to the main story's narrative. There's the usual Fire Emblem incest and pedophilia grossness trying to peek its head through*. It's not a perfect game by any means.

I think I need to break up overall story discussion and character usage discussion, so I'm going to do that right now. If you've read to this point you generally get my point maybe on why the writing works fine for me and can stop here if you don't want a full peek into the deepest and most illogical recesses of my mind?

If you're not stopping here, together we ride or something idk did the title for this song come from Smash? Whatever.

Chapter III: The Story

***SPOILER WARNING, SKIP TO THE NEXT PART IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS***

Alright so I lied when I said I wouldn't go into this fully dissecting the plot or other people's criticisms. I'll do that a little bit here.

The biggest moment of "controversy" I think that happens early on is the loss of Lumera. What I've seen is that many people feel it didn't land well with them due to the game having not built up the relationship all that well. And I intellectually get that perspective. If a story beat doesn't land well to you then I can't tell anyone they're wrong for feeling a particular way about things. But while I understand people may feel this way, I truly do not understand that viewpoint. That we don't know Lumera is kind of the point. Alear also doesn't know her well at that moment. You're supposed to feel like it came too suddenly and is weird for it. The full gravity of the moment is not clear until later on in the game, and I think it was executed very well because the entire game revolves around this specific concept of chosen motherhood and family.

But maybe I'm moving too quickly. Backing up a bit, another criticism of this early game situation is I've seen people say they don't "have reason to care" how Alear is feeling this early on. And like, I truly don't know how to help you with that. When I start a game I generally don't start at 0 waiting for the game to make me care about the main character. I am already on their side and hoping for the best for them? I went in mainly thinking Alear looked goofy but like a nice kid who deserved nice things and the game did build well on it for me.

I think there are some questions on the nature of the emblems and the rings that go somewhat unanswered. There's a lack of clarity on how the rings function, and how stealing the rings after winning a battle works. Given that we see them levitate at numerous times, I suspect that is mostly the answer. But I do understand if that's a point of contention for some since it's not directly clarified.

The emblems are similarly somewhat explained as kind of heroic essence put to form, which genuinely is enough of an answer to me. But I do understand some may find that lacking. There are also many issues with the writing of the emblems which I sympathize with especially as a comic book fan who hates it when my faves are misrepresented in other titles. That's a genuine flaw that could have been corrected by having people working on the script who cared more about accuracy.

The pacing absolutely becomes an issue in the later chapters of the game. The Zephia and Griss death scene is extremely touching and well-written, but to have a scene that long and that complex in that moment of the game is very awkward. It would have been better suited as a Memory Prism type of bonus scene like FE15 had (for several characters there were scenes that added context but did not exactly fit in the main story such as a flashback discussion with Emperor Rudolf). It is necessary to understand the characters, but there's not a truly comfortable place to put it that doesn't seem insane especially given the length. This deeply ties into how I feel about the DLC as well, which is that Good!Zephia/Zelestia gives crucial insight to the effects of positive nurturing and actively choosing to build bonds, which is perhaps the strongest and most important theme of the game. Every instance of chosen family in this game is framed and shown to be a truly critical event for the individuals, as are the instances of chosen neglect. The usage and execution of this theme to me was extremely powerful in execution and just worked without feeling too cringe or forced. It's good stuff. I love love love what they did here, and I say this as a person who has never wanted to be a mother of any sort.

To go on a bit more about this: Griss (and by extension Gregory, but focusing on Griss here for simplicity) and Alear are such strong reflections of one another. There's some obvious aspects like how Griss is visually edgy and Alear is visually bright, Griss is rude and confident while Alear is kind and doubtful, etc. But the strongest comparisons and contrasts between them involve their mothers, and I think it's just incredibly well done. Comparisons include both of them get their sense of fashion from their moms, get their unit classing from their moms, somewhat blindly follow the words of their moms, had terrible upbringings and cling to their moms as their first emotional support, etc. But the contrasts? Oh baby. Zephia adopts Griss because he's a standout while Lumera adopts Alear because they're a failure (by Sombron's measure, not literally). Griss spends years by Zephia's side learning from her while Alear has to mostly guess at what Lumera had planned for them. And perhaps most starkingly: Griss gets to die alongside Zephia while Alear and Lumera are always mourning one another. Griss is such an incredibly well done rival character. It's no wonder he's the one who gets the special cutscene where he reveals the truth to Alear. Forever my GOAT!

Sadly though it's time to switch gears and talk about the DLC: it truly sucks. I said it on twitter after beating it, but I really think that they messed up on anticipating what would be a compelling scenario for the players to play through while also coaxing themselves into a snafu regarding spoilers. There's some good stuff there, but it's almost directly undercut by necessitating that it can be played early in a playthrough before the player has gotten to the revelations about Alear's biological parentage.

The DLC does attempt to carry over the themes of the main game, but without being able to openly acknowledge that these are some of the last of Alear's siblings (even if not by blood exactly) it becomes hollow. The only real payoff on the theming is the Nel and Veyle support chain where even if they aren't sisters in the traditional sense, Veyle is desperate for that kinship as she is so young and has spent so much time alone. It's very touching and something that could have been touched on with Alear as well if only the writers weren't forced to write a detached arc to avoid spoilers.

Yes this is probably where I should get into the alt Alear being the "twin" of the main one. They needed to either go all in with that and have Alear confirmed as sort of a multiversal set of twins or back up off it and confirm that they're only narrative parallels because doing literally all of this and then having Nel have feelings for the other Alear is gross. They did so well avoiding weirdness with Veyle in the main game, and then completely blew it in regards to Nel. It makes no sense you can romantically S support her and invalidates all the themes about family presented to that point if characters who literally share a father and share similar traumas don't find healthy kinship with one another.

But beyond all that, we don't really get to see enough of Nel and "Nil" to be convinced by their dedication to one another especially in comparison to other familial relationships like between the recruitable royals, Four Hounds, and Four Winds. It feels like things are just happening to happen without feeling the gravity of terror that we are told Sombron caused them. Again, the obvious parallel to Alear being forced to fight Veyle purely due to their father's machinations isn't allowed to be explored due to the spoilers thing. Subtlety can be a structurally clever thing, but this doesn't even feel like the DLC writers were aware of that basic fact. This is the only aspect of the whole game that I feel truly misses the mark for me. It feels like a bland copycat of the main game written by someone who only skimmed a wiki article of the main story. I truly really believe they would have been better served making it a proper postgame arc because then maybe the emotional connections could have been fully explored.

I also almost feel as though they'd have been better served writing a story set in the past around red Alear. I understand that would have made it difficult to have playable units from the DLC in the main campaign, but I would have gladly missed out on them if that meant adding to the main universe instead of mostly meaning nothing in the end besides an edgy boy (and I genuinely like Rafal, he's funny) realizing he isn't as edgy as he thought he was.

Back to the main game though. Alear becoming Corrupted and begging their sister to not give up was extremely cool and dangerous and insane in a GOOD way (though again, the cutscenes were somewhat long but long for the sake of the main characters is different than long for side villains). Then you play the actual chapter and nothing truly significant is happening that makes the experience feel noteworthy. I think the design and gameplay are more of a problem with this than the specifics of the writing itself, but both of those generally work to the benefit of storytelling in this game so to have an obviously contradictory moment like that undercuts the drama of the scenario. It's a great idea done in kind of a "just ok" way. Would have been better off omitting that chapter entirely and just jumping to the emblem-izing of Alear immediately. Maybe the writers were just too ambitious with the idea of using the Corrupted for a good reason, and couldn't bear to cut it out? I don't dislike indulgent writing, but I dislike when I can tell the writers are just doing something because they thought it was cool and no one felt like being the one to say "ok this doesn't quite fit".

Another gameplay and storytelling problem is the final boss fight. Bringing back the other final bosses as evil emblems was brilliant, but to not bring them back as recognizable models, not give them their portraits, and not give them their voice lines (and correct me if I'm wrong, but they all have voice actors from their own games or Heroes) made it difficult to identify who was who without looking up their classes online. That really undercut most of the drama in them being used in that battle. I understand this may have all added costs to the game that they maybe didn't want to pay, but that lack of detail made a very cool inclusion feel kind of middling.

And the boss himself? Sombron is actually an interesting dude to me. But again, all his backstory and evil plans probably should have been dumped in a monologue separate from the final battle. I think this is yet another case, similar to the Zephia and Griss scene, that would have worked better as a memory prism than as just a character telling the audience directly in what sort of feels like an inappropriately detailed explanation. I appreciate that they did not force this into being another story centered around multiversal crossovers in a media landscape that is currently overwhelmed by such stories, especially if the "Zero Emblem" hook has no intention of being followed up on. Though arguably that's yet another thing the DLC needlessly complicated. Is there just an infinite number of Sombrons looking for an infinite number of Zero Emblems? Even more proof that the DLC should not have happened as it did.

Last thing worth addressing in detail is the pedophilia that has been sadly very prevalent in the series and arguably emboldened by the introduction of the S support system. Even if one wants to disregard the internal age data, characters like Anna, Jean, and Hortensia should not have been romanceable in any language. I thank the English localization team for scrubbing out most of this and making them as platonic as possible.

Ok I think that's basically everything about the plot I can think of right now to address directly. Solm royals could have gotten more, but whatever. I thought they were fine as the hyper-competent Batman-like country that's like 5 steps ahead of everyone. I don't have any other things to speak about on the main story events.

*** THE SPOILERS ARE DONE, CONTINUE READING HERE ***

(Your reward for reading all those paragraphs is a nice picture of my daughter Veyle, who is precious and good. I was so worried they would be weird about her and barefeet aside they thankfully were not.)

Chapter IV: The Other Characters

There's a couple of obvious social groups of characters who have largely overlapping gimmicks. Tea time enthusiasts (Celine, Louis, Jean), aesthetic obsessives (Goldmary, Rosado, Hortensia), gym rats (Alfred, Etie, Boucheron sort of). Firene has perhaps the biggest problem of having so many gimmicks done so close together. There is still a lot of depth in those supports still (notably in the A levels after many might have given up, such as Alfred-Etie, Alfred-Celine, Celine-Alear, etc). I don't really have a defense for this, but I do understand why especially early on it would cause people to write off the cast of the game. It didn't bother me much maybe because I benched everyone but Alfred and Louis right away (I needed to keep Clanne and Framme around, they're really funny lol).

But overall I didn't mind any of the characters for their gimmicks besides Seadall (his disordered eating being treated as a joke was just extremely offputting and it was really 50/50 on whether a support might focus on it) and Goldmary (she is just an asshole and to me it wasn't funny, not every joke will land for everyone I suppose).

The cast felt extremely likeable and well-rounded. I will sound like a broken record here, but again they really reminded me of what I enjoyed about the FE8 cast. Just pretty much all likeable and good characters.

Chapter V: Everything Else

Here's like everything else that comes to mind but I don't have enough in my brain to properly write sentences on them and I kind of want to be done with this lmao:

Yes, I think it's a little silly how some characters manage to get away without the game directly stating how. Alear and co are nice and not brutal so you can assume they allowed the escape, but it's still weird at times. Poorly choreographed.

I will never unironically use the term "ludonarrative" (no shade if you do, but it's not me). However the introduction of the Lucina ring bringing back hope to the crew while being a supportive ring for gameplay purposes and all is just really special stuff. It's good. Similarly, the ring you get at the end of chapter 17 is an amazing moment.

I'm not particularly bothered by the rings being former characters. I don't feel they were used poorly or anything. They're wise old heroes helping the new gen, and they serve that purpose well. Only Marth has a bit more to him than that due to his history with Alear, and I think it plays out well without being reliant on prior knowledge. Again very sorry to Eirika fans, I've seen the essays there on the inaccuracies and you're all valid.

The time travel is very clean and properly defined imo. Much more limited than in Three Houses in-universe which is good, however the best explanation for the rewinds will continue to be Mila's Turnwheel (in that there is no time travel, just some premonitions that allow the characters to evade danger).

I love Pandreo and Zelkov so much. Oh my god. They're so funny and just good men. Excellent dudes. Amber, Rosado, YUNAKA. The cast is just lovely. I love them.

Sommie is so cute for real. Just brilliant idea to include a nice pet for your home base. If anything, they should have given it more wigs for the main royals or some of the emblems. Also Sommie is totally the Zero Emblem.

Chapter VI: Conclusion

Let me get TMI here. I do understand that personally I experience and perceive emotions in an unusual way compared to most people. I've not been diagnosed with anything specific to that level of wiring (just OCD and anxiety), and as far as I feel it doesn't seem necessary. But it is what it is, and I am who I am. Maybe all of this is pointless to write and it truly is just a matter of taste and personal emotional expectations. I don't know. I just know I liked the game, and what worked on me really worked. Hope this was fun to read even if it doesn't give any particular insight.

I did not intend to compare any other FEs in this piece mainly because it's not about them. Legit sorry if I inadvertently cause some sort of discourse.

tl;dr It's Peak Fiction™

#fe17 #fe engage #fire emblem #essay

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nagargent · 1 year ago

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toa anniversary munday!

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is.

Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing!

Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

Name: Nic

Pronouns: they/them

Birthday (no year): 14th July

Where are you from? What is your time zone? The UK (BST)

Roleplay experience: I started around like '06 via msn or stuff doing Harry Potter or Naruto rp with my friends.

Got any pets?: Catcat!

Favorite time of year: Summer - I hate the heat but like, I need the sunlight to keep myself together

Some interests and things you like: Reading, writing, languages and linguistics, astrophysics, mythology, history, animals uh... I find almost everything interesting and it definitely keeps me awake a lot.

Some funfacts & trivia about you: I fell asleep at a scout camp once in the toilets and didn't hear the tannoy that was sent out for me. My grandfather taught me how to stroke bees. I love water/the oceans/seas/rivers but never learned how to swim. Peas scare me. I'm pretty good at -- and rather competitive about trivia games and quizzes.

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play?: The Sims! Dragon Age, Persona, Story of Seasons, Rune Factory, Stardew Valley, Wildermyth

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: Fire or Fairy and I just think Dreepy is very endearing.

How did you get into Fire Emblem?: I saw a review of it on a news channel and decided to try it out. Then I became obsessed and haven't looked back since.

What Fire Emblem games have you played? I've watched playthroughs and read scripts for all but I played about half of fe5, fe7 (lyn and eliwood modes only though), fe8, 3/4 of fe9 before my emulator crashed, fe10 and everything post Awakening.

First Fire Emblem game: Fates

Favorite Fire Emblem game: Either Genealogy, Radiant Dawn or Three Houses

Any Fire Emblem crushes?: Ayra, Mercedes, Camilla, Lucia, Diamant, Jeorge, Sonya and oh my god I hate myself for this but Sylvain.

If you’ve played the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays? - Awakening: Chrom but now I'd probably opt for Libra or Henry? - Fates: Takumi before I knew what an S support was. Kaze as a neutral pick, Subaki for Hoshido and Niles for Nohr - Three Houses: Dimitri or Mercedes ? - Engage: Yunaka was my first!

Favorite Fire Emblem class: DARK FLIER. but also any pegasus class is so chefs kiss for me

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class? I'd want to be a pegasus knight or a mage but I could see myself being an armoured unit tbh

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? LION PRIDE LETSSSSSGOOOOOO

If you were an Engage character, which Emblem would you Engage with? Micaiah :D

How did you find TOA? I just searched the fire emblem rp tags on a whim one day and found the group. Had a nosy around and was really impressed and excited to join :)

Current TOA muses: Elincia, Goldmary and Julia

Who was your first TOA muse? If you don’t have them anymore, could you see yourself picking them up again? Lincie! :D

Have you had any other TOA muses? I've had quite a lot um... Eirika, Ares, Orochi, Mercedes, Mae, Manuela, f!Shez, Macuil, Lana, Forrest, Constance, Tana & Celine

Do you think you have a type of character you gravitate towards? I do feel a big pull to healers usually? Or pegasus knights.

What do you believe you enjoy writing the most? Character's bonding and forming relationships.

Favorite TOA-related memory: Unlocked 2021 Cha Cha Slide

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔 Usually like noah but with a t but sometimes i call it twaaah just to be silly.

Got any delusions that didn’t see the light of day that you’d like to share? 😉 Tatiana, Safy, Rodrigue, Altena and Yunaka all have either blogs or partial apps. Of them Tatiana and Rodrigue whilst still outliers could potentially hit me with a steel chair at some point in the future.

#ooc

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thaleiathorne · 1 year ago

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Dimileth + Fluff Prompt: Nap

summary: Modern AU Officer workers. Byleth has a terrible day at work, Dimitri makes it better with a surprise. More domestic fluff

(Check out on ao3 part of my dimileth drabble collection:)

Byleth’s day had been agonizingly slow, like no matter how long she ignored the sound of the clock ticking, time refused to move.

The day has already began as a list of unforeseen circumstances: rolling out of bed at the ungodly hour of 4:00 am, elbowing her partner awake on accident, stubbing her toe in the shower, and spending a total of 13 minutes scrambling to find her set of keys before rushing to get to work.

She attends meeting after meeting, without little reprieve. She stumbles out of her last one of the day, delirious and starving. She grumbles as she slams her office door shut, and tries to will away the building headache forming at the base of her skull.

Byleth is finally able to find a moment of solace in the confines of her office, even if there is still so much to do.

Her list of tasks so far: responding to vendor emails, reviewing the content for new hire training, calling back the candidates she interviewed, crossing checking employment references, calling the contractor back to see—

A knock at her office door interrupts her thoughts.

“Yeah?”

“Hey, By?”

A familiar voice calls from the opened door. A head of blonde hair pops out from the opening, and Byleth is blissfully greeted by Dimitri’s grinning face.

He wedges the door open, so he can lean against the frame, eyes sparkling and clearly elated to see her. He is dressed impeccably: with a two piece linen suit, perfectly tailored, paired with solid platinum cufflinks (gifted by her, of course), and onyx leather loafers.

He stands with a brown paper bag, speckled with grease, in one hand and a steaming cup of something suspiciously smelling like coffee in the other. Dimitri enters her office, and clicks the door shut behind him.

She cannot raise a brow at how he locks the door as well.

“I knew you rushed out this morning in a frenzy, and I figured you haven’t eaten.”

Her stomach comically answers for her, growling at intermingling smells of grease and coffee.

She peers up at him, clutching her stomach, unable to keep the blush from rising in her cheeks.

“Sounds like I was right.” Dimitri sets the food on her desk, and moves to kiss her on the cheek. The kiss is quick, but it leaves her heart racing. His flashes a 1000-kilowatt smile, and affection blossoms in her chest.

Dimitri Blayyaid is too handsome, too generous, too rich, and entirely and wholly hers.

Food long forgotten, Byleth launches herself into his arms, face nuzzling against his chest. She snakes her arms around his waist, and soaks in his spicy cologne.

“Thanks, Dima. You have no idea how much I needed this.” How much I needed you, Her heart longs to correct.

“Beloved,” the baritone of his voice vibrates against his chest, echoing in her senses. When he chuckles, she wants to swallow the sound and somehow have it live inside her. Muscled arms lock around her, and even though she is hungry, she is completely overtaken by the sense of safety that settles over her.

Dimitri presses his lips to the crown of her hair, and hums contently.

“Can… we just stay like this? I think… I just need a recharge.” She hopes her voice doesn’t sound as small as she feels.

One of his large hands moves from their place at her waist, to snake up and cup her chin. He tilts her head so she can peer up at his sapphire eyes. “I can do you one better. If you eat the food I brought you, then I can show you the surprise.”

“Surprise? Dimitri, if you bought me something—-“

A slender finger presses against her lips, silencing her complaints. “No, I didn’t buy you anything. But, sweetheart, you should know you cannot keep me from spoiling you.”

With a final kiss against her temple, and Dimitri’s thumb that brushes against the contour of her cheek; he regretfully breaks their embrace. He maneuvers her back to her desk, and plants her back in her office chair. He even pats her head for good measure.

Byleth has never met a man who enjoys babying her as much as he does.

She resists the urge to pout, as she finally decides to devour the fried food and black coffee he bought for her.

Dimitri steps to the storage closet, where she keeps extra files and her winter accessories, and pulls out a bundle of blankets and pillows. He then flicks out the lights, and walks back to the couch on the far side of the wall.

“Are we… taking a nap?” Byleth stares in wonder at how he lays the blanket against the couch, and removes the stiff cushions. He neatly removes his shoes and unbuttons his suit jacket.

She swallows, as he unbuttons the first few buttons of his button up revealing inches of his sculpted neck, and pale collarbones. When he is finished, he matches her gaze, full of adoration and understanding, and he gestures for her to come to him.

Byleth is not as graceful as her husband-to-be, she rips off her cardigan, undoes the clasp to her bra, and kicks off her pumps haphazardly. With deft fingers, she pulls her nude bra out of her blouse, and breathes a sound of relief as she settles onto his lap.

Dimitri pulls her against his chest, tucking her body into his. They both fall against the feathered pillows, arms intertwined like tree branches. She tosses her thigh over his muscled one, to fuse them even closer, and they let out a mutual sigh of bliss.

Before she can even ask he says: “I canceled the rest of our meetings for the next 2 hours. You should be able to rest for a bit.”

She is already drowsy, but she is able to tilt up to kiss him slowly. Nothing too hot or demanding, but slow, everlasting, comfortable, and tender. His hold on her tightens, and the world falls away.

She dreams sweetly, only of him.

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