#ill probably rewrite this when the chapter comes out in Japan or make a new post

[anima-ghosting]

.

[queenmendes]

new life chapter |s. mendes|

Summary: Y/N is a young actress; already one of the most known in the industry, She started out on Marvel, playing Feuer (Foi yer) Stark, the adopted daughter of Tony Stark; now with that coming to an end, she is ready to start a new chapter in her life. Who knew it would all begin with a livestream?

Word Count: 1.2k

Masterlist

A/N: Okay so I pulled this little snippet out of my ass after having a dream about this basically lol. Please don't judge, I am not a writer and am doing my best, especially since the original post deleted and I had to rewrite this. Anyway, I think it may be a little series and part social media too so let me know what y’all think!

“Hey guys! It’s Y/N!” You said into your phone as the livestream on Instagram began. Immediately people began commenting and hearting. “So, I am currently getting ready for the Endgame premiere right now and decided to do a livestream and just talk to you guys and let y’all ask questions.” You spoke, the camera catching your makeup team pampering your face. You went silent as you began reading the rapid questions being asked by the fans; the only sound is the music softly playing in the background. 

“Alright, one question asked: “How are you feeling about tonight?”” You read back. “I am really excited for tonight. So many hours of hard work have gone into the film and I am ready to see all the cast and crews hard work pay off and see the final product. But I am super nervous for the fans reacts!” You answered, giving a little suspense with your final words.

“What are you wearing tonight?” Your hairstylist, Chris, read off the screen from behind you.

“Something red.” You cheekily smiled. The crew laughed as the continued their work.

“What are you going to do now that you are done with Marvel?” You read out loud. “Uh, I am not too sure. I have photoshoots lined up over the next year, but I haven’t thought about what’s next in my acting career.” Before you could continue, there was a knock on the door of the hotel room you were in. Stacy, your stylist, answers the door and walks back in with a cute bouquet of soft pink roses. You smile as she placed them in your arms.

“Oh, my goodness, y’all, look!” You said and showed the roses to your camera. You took the note and began reading ““Dear Feuer, you are going to rock this premiere tonight, you play a Stark for a reason, love RDJ” Robert, I love you so much!” You said before placing them neatly on the vanity in front of you. For the next few minutes, you answered the questions at random until one caught your eye.

“What do you think of Shawn Mendes?” You read. “I think he is incredibly talented. I remember listening to him after he finally began to release music and thought it was cool that someone my age was making a name for himself outside of YouTube and Vine. Also, I really love his new album. Lost in Japan or Mutual are probably my favorites. Plus, he looks like a Greek God. I mean, have you seen those curls?” You finished with a slight blush; not believing that you just relieved your crush on a livestream. Before you could continue, Stacy spoke up first.

“Alright girl, we got to get you dressed and out the door.” She said, getting your dress out and ready as Chris finished spraying hairspray on your head.

“Okay guys, its time! Thank you so much for entertaining me and ill see you later. Bye!” You blew a kiss before ending the stream and putting your phone down before standing and walking over to your dress. The whole team assisted you into the dress, making sure your hair and makeup stay perfect. After making sure it was adjusted, you began placing the gold accessories on your neck, ears, and hands. You looked in the mirror and took a deep breath, taking in your appearance. It’s time. 

           +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The flashes and screams became more frequent as you step out of the car at the begin of the dark purple carpet. Right in front of you was Elizabeth, giving a big smile to camera in her gorgeous green dress. You took a deep breath in preparation before smiling, stepping out to the first mark on the carpet. Directions were shouted from all around, wanting the best picture possible. You continued making your way down the carpet, taking pictures with cast mates and by yourself. Next, you made your way to the interview part of the event. The last reporter you were to see was from E!News.

“Hello.” You greeted as you stopped in front of them.

“Hello, Y/N. Wow, you look beautiful!” The reporter complimented you, causing a bashful smile across your lips. “Alright, let’s get right into it. It’s a big night for this cast. How are you feeling?” She asked, holding the mic out for your answer.

“I’m so excited. I can’t wait to see the final product after months of hard work from this amazing cast and crew” You answered.

“Are you sad that you are saying goodbye to a character that you’ve played since the first Iron Man?” She said.

“Definitely. She really has become apart of me and I have had the best time playing Feuer, but all good things do end, and I was very pleased with how everything was done for her final scene in the MCU.” You answer, hopefully not spoiling anything. The reported seemed satisfied with your answer and moved on.

“Now, I watched your livestream earlier, and saw that Robert Downey Jr. sent you flowers.” She stated, waiting for you to add on.

“Yes, well I remember my first premiere, the Iron Man one, I was so nervous I didn’t want to go. Like, no one could get me out of the bathroom to calm me down, but Robert came and brought me a small bouquet of orange roses and every time I got nervous during the night, I would sniff them.” You explained, smiling at the memory of your 11 year-old self. “Ever since that premiere, any premiere I have had, weather he would be there or not, he would send me a bouquet of roses to help calm me down.”  

“Wow, so you really do have father-daughter relationship with him?” She asked.

“Oh yes, we’ve been with each other since day one on this journey and he has taught me so much and has been there for me when my own parents couldn’t be.” You answered.

“Alright one last question before you have to leave. How much do you really like Shawn Mendes?” She asked with a cheeky smile. Immediately, a blush hits your cheeks.

“I mean, I don’t know him personally, but I do love his music and he seem like a great guy; very down to earth. I would love to meet him one, of course.” You simply said, hoping it would be enough.

“And he looks like a Greek god, right?” She teased. You laugh and nodded in agreement with your earlier words. “Well thank you for talking with us, and congratulations on another amazing movie.” She said as you bid a goodbye to her, before making you way over to the fans that are waiting. At least it was only one interview.

           +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The next day, you spent lounging around your hotel room, the effects of last night causing a pounding in your head. That the last time you let Hemsworth talk you into taking shots, you thought. Mindlessly scrolling through Instagram, liking pictures from last night and reading all the fan theories for Endgame. You switch over to Twitter after you make yourself a nice cup of tea to help with your headache. Once again, simply scrolling through and randomly liking posts. However, you froze to see that you have been tagged in a post by a certain singer. Well shit. 

Social Media Part 1

Chapter 2

[postgamecontent]

Fire Emblem Chronicles Vol. 1: Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

Original Release Date: September 1, 1999

Original Hardware: Nintendo Super Famicom

Although Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War wasn't quite the success that Mystery of the Emblem had been, it did well enough to keep the series going. With the Nintendo 64 releasing only a few months after the release of Genealogy, it was logical for the next installment to go there. Indeed, work was started on Fire Emblem 64, first mentioned in the summer of 1997 and officially announced in September of that year. While fans were waiting for that one, Shouzou Kaga decided to get a few stories out of his system via the BS-X Satellaview add-on for the Super Famicom. BS Fire Emblem: Archanea War Chronicles was a series of four mini-episodes set in Marth's corner of the world that fleshed out some of the side characters. Like other Satellaview titles, these episodes were broadcasted at specific times and dates, and if you didn't tune in, you missed out on them forever. An odd bit of technology, and not the last time Fire Emblem would flirt with Nintendo's odder delivery methods.

It was believed that Fire Emblem 64 was going to be released on the Nintendo 64DD, the ill-fated Nintendo 64 disk drive that only saw release in Japan. That hardware add-on was released in December of 1999 and fared quite poorly in the market. To be fair, selling an expansion to a system that wasn't exactly flying off the shelves itself was probably never going to work out all that well. The 64DD only saw 10 games completed and released in the year or so it was available. It's hard to say if the 64DD's poor market performance caused problems for Fire Emblem 64, but it probably didn't help. Even before it was released, however, there were signs the game was in trouble. In January of 1999, Kaga stated that the game he was planning was too ambitious for the Nintendo 64 hardware. While the team figured out what to do with that situation, the Super Famicom Fire Emblem engine would get one last kick at the can. The Nintendo 64 game would never see release, but that final Super Famicom game would end up one of the most well-regarded games of the series, albeit one of the worst-selling.

There are lots of potential reasons why Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 didn't pull in the sales numbers of its predecessors. To start with, this was a Super Famicom game that released in late 1999. The SEGA Dreamcast was nearly a year old in Japan by then, and the PlayStation 2 was only a handful of months away. Asking players to dig out a system that was nearly two generations old to play a new game was probably a little much to ask, even assuming they had hung onto their old hardware. If that wasn't enough, the game wasn't even initially available as a packaged release. Instead, players had to buy a rewritable cartridge to use with a kiosk distribution system called Nintendo Power. You would bring this cartridge to a participating retailer, pay a fee, and download the game onto your cartridge. If you wanted a new game, you could overwrite the old one. Suffice it to say, this was a niche within a niche.

By the standards of the Nintendo Power system, Thracia 776 was a big success. The game fared so well that Nintendo gave it a full boxed release in January of 2000. That version would end up selling just over 100,000 copies, making it the lowest-selling installment in the Fire Emblem series. That shouldn't be taken as an indictment of its quality, mind you. While this was Shouzou Kaga's final Fire Emblem game, he didn't do a half-job on it by any means. It rolls back a few things from Genealogy, adds a bunch of new features, and tells an interesting story along the way. But it is perhaps guilty of focusing on the hardcore fanbase to a fault, resulting in a game that is probably a little too involved and strict for the average player. At least as far as I'm concerned, Thracia 776 is the most difficult Fire Emblem game on default difficulty. That difficulty is attractive to some fans, but if you came to the series through the recent 3DS games, you'll probably get bounced like a pinball.

Thracia 776 wasn't originally intended to be a full-length title. Its story follows Leif, one of the characters from Genealogy, giving more information on his history and motivations prior to joining the plot of that game. Kaga had felt like he had focused too much on the story in Genealogy at the expense of the gameplay, so Thracia was meant to be a tighter design with a greater emphasis on the gameplay mechanics. The game certainly feels smaller than Genealogy, but the template it established would be used for years to come. Some mechanics introduced in Thracia still persist in the series, and its refinements on mechanics from earlier titles would prove quite durable. In that regard, I would say that Thracia is probably more influential to the series on the whole than its predecessor, a handy feat for a side-story that barely cracked six digits in sales.

The large stages from Genealogy are gone in favor of a more traditional selection of smaller stages. Each map has only one main goal, and the romance/multi-generation mechanic has been cut. The skill system has been retained, but the skills that enable critical hits and double attacks have been removed in favor of a more traditional stat-based system. Mounted units can dismount like they could in Mystery of the Emblem, so your riders will have to go on foot indoors once again. Weapon proficiency finally reaches its familiar form here, with each unit starting with set ranks that determines which weapons they're able to equip. Those ranks can be increased through use of the weapon in question, giving the player a little bit of agency in how their units develop. Inventory management works similarly to the pre-Genealogy games, addressing my biggest problem with the previous game.

This is the Fire Emblem game that finally implements a Fog of War system. In certain stages you can't see very far without using a torch item, making for some terribly unpleasant surprises. When combined with the permadeath mechanic, it's almost a little too cruel, which might explain why the idea was largely discarded in subsequent games. Thracia 776 is also the first game in the series with optional stages that open up under certain conditions, known alternatively in English as Gaiden stages or Paralogues depending on which game you're playing. Due to the way these stages work, it's impossible to recruit every character on any given playthrough. You'll have to make some hard choices along the way.

The game also introduces some new stats and a few mechanics that draw from them. The fatigue system is yet another attempt to make players make full use of their roster. As characters take actions, their fatigue stat will build. When it exceeds their HP, they'll have to sit out a stage to recover. This mechanic was not seen again until the recently-released Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. It's not a bad idea in a vacuum, but Thracia often has you relying on a small group of units, making it difficult at times to avoid over-exerting characters. The newly-introduced constitution stat governs a few different things, but the most obvious are in the two new actions available to players. Units are now able to rescue other units provided their constitution is high enough, giving you the chance to yank them out of harm's way. Rescuing would be a regular part of the series going forward.

Similarly, units can capture enemy units, robbing them of their weapons and, in some specific cases, recruiting them to the player's cause. If you've played Fire Emblem Fates, you've probably messed around with the similar mechanic that appears there. In Thracia, any unit can attempt a capture. You can't bring generic units to your side, but certain named units will join if you're able to capture them. The trick is that enemies are able to capture your units if you give them the opportunity. If you are unable to recover the unit before the enemy slips away, you'll lose that unit until late in the game, where a Gaiden chapter offers a final chance to rescue them. Mind your mages and healers, as they're highly vulnerable to this.

While the capture mechanic could conceivably be ignored in Fire Emblem Fates, it's absolutely essential to take advantage of it in Thracia 776. The story puts your team on the move right from the start. Generally speaking, you won't have access to many resources unless you loot them from the enemies. If you don't capture enemy units, you'll likely run out of weapons by the fourth or fifth stage. Neglecting capturing is one of the things that makes Thracia so hard for newcomers. You have to fully embrace it and constantly be on guard about enemy capturing if you don't want to end up ridiculously short-handed and low on weapons. Once you get the hang of the capture and rescue mechanics, Thracia gets a little bit easier to manage.

Only a little, mind you. You still have to contend with the challenging map designs, the difficulty of certain stage goals, and the fact that Leif isn't terribly strong as Fire Emblem lords go. Certain maps require you to escape the map to win. This goal has been seen in other Fire Emblem games, but Thracia has one key difference. Once Leif leaves the map, the stage is finished, and any other units who did not escape ahead of him will be considered captured. You have to leave Leif out until everyone else is clear, and he's not the most robust of fellows. Thracia also makes use of frequent, endless reinforcements during these escape stages. A careful, well-prepared player can use these levels to build up some experience, but it's certainly a level of pressure that few other Fire Emblem games match.

There are other little details that add to the difficulty as well. Healing staves can actually miss their targets. There are random warp tiles in some stages in unexpected locations. A mechanic that randomly allows a unit to take an extra turn is certainly welcome when it happens to the player but devastating when it happens to an enemy unit, and you can probably guess which of the two sides it tends to advantage. This game loves enemy ballista units and it cannot lie. Throne bonuses are obscene, making it harder than it should be to dislodge bosses. There are status ailments that are permanent if you don't have a means of restoring them, which can actually make particular maps unwinnable if your luck is poor. Certain crucial recruits are nearly impossible to pick up without knowing what to do beforehand, adding yet another hurdle for first-time players to overcome. It's really easy in general to paint yourself into a corner with no escape in Thracia 776, and that's a quality that is going to irritate as many people as it pleases. 

It all adds up to a game that will delightfully roast veterans but isn't very fun for anyone else. As with Genealogy, I believe Thracia 776 is only a few tweaks away from vastly widening its appeal, and hopefully it will get a chance to do that in a remake one day. In its original form, it's exercise best left to the hardcore strategists out there. It's a bit better on a replay than on the initial run, but if I never see stage 24x of Thracia again in my life, it will be too soon. Still, you've got to hand it to Kaga. He may have been on his way out the door, but he left the team a pretty good blueprint to follow while they found their own footing.

It's interesting that Kaga made a point of putting the gameplay ahead of the story here, because I think Thracia's story is one of the best in the series. Given that it's tucked in the middle of the two parts of Genealogy, the plot of Thracia by necessity has to be smaller and more personal than most Fire Emblem games. Leif might be weak in gameplay terms, but in his story, he's forced to be stronger than just about any other Fire Emblem lord. The development team did a nice job of weaving the story into the map designs, as well. Fire Emblem usually likes to tell its stories off of the battlefield, but some of the stages in Thracia nicely tie-in with the on-going plot. It's a story worth experiencing, even if you have to do it through a Let's Play due to the ridiculous difficulty level.

Like all of Kaga's Fire Emblem games, Thracia 776 has never received an official English release. The game is readily available on the Japanese Virtual Console for Wii, Wii U, and 3DS, which is a nice alternative to paying the relatively high price for one of the scarce cartridges. I think Thracia would make a nice candidate for a remake, but it's hard to say whether or not Nintendo will get around to it and in what form they would pursue it if they did do it. It's meant to be enjoyed alongside Genealogy, so I'd assume that if that game gets a remake, this one would, too. There are some incomplete English patches out there made by fans if you don't feel like waiting around. I can't speak to their quality, but if you can't read Japanese, it's probably the best you're going to get.

After wrapping up Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, Shouzou Kaga would leave Intelligent Systems and Nintendo behind to start his own development studio. That studio produced two games, one of which was close enough to Fire Emblem to attract a lawsuit. The other was different enough to avoid such measures. After that, he stayed out of the public eye until a few years ago, when he announced he was making a new SRPG for PCs using an RPG Maker-like tool built for SRPGs. He has never explained why he left Intelligent Systems, as far as I could find. It doesn't seem like it was a particularly amicable split given what he got up to after that. Fire Emblem would go on without him, of course. Although the Nintendo 64 version was canceled, many of its ideas ended up in the Game Boy Advance title Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. But that game, and its successors, are a story for another time.

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