#let's play fe4

[by-your-leave]

Despite only having one snow map Genealogy of the Holy War is actually a winter game

[festivalofthe12]

Very important announcement for exactly none of you!!

After over a year of delay (!!!), I have finally completed the next part of my Fire Emblem Genealogy of the Holy War text-based Let's Play on AO3, covering Chapter 7!!!

What I lack in punctuality I have at least a little bit made up for in length, as this caps out at almost 9,000 words!!

So if you'd like to read some slightly delusional rambling by a not-very-blind-actually first-time player, with copious asides for dumb jokes, pretentiously overly-long theme analyses, and unironic crack shipping, please go ahead and check it out!! <3

[emblemxeno]

Fire Emblem Heroes-CYL Bonus Quotes + My Ideas for the Ones Who Don't Have Them

Choose Your Legends Winners have bonus quotes when they are on a team you enter a map with and playing with English voices (only the English voices have these quotes actually)! These are popular or funny quotes from their home games or other appearances, like Smash Bros.

CYL1

"The future is *not* written."-Lucina's victory quote in Smash Bros.

"Roy's our boy!"-Roy's crowd chant in Smash Bros.

"I'll be your peerless warrior!"-Lyn's promising words to Mark at the end of FE7 prologue

"You... like Ike?"-Ike's crowd chant in Smash Bros.

CYL2

"Take me with you!"-Veronica... I think she says this once to Bruno, but I can't find where specificailly

"Together, we will always stay."-Ephraim's A Support with Eirika

"Nothing will ever come between us."-Celica to Alm as kids during Echoes' opening movie

"I just gotta be me, y'know?"-Hector's A Support with Lyn

CYL5

"Let's go rescue my brother!"-Eirika to her troops at the end of FE8 chapter 6

"Caeda, what's wrong!?"-Marth to Caeda in FE1 chapter 1

"Please forgive me, Goddess..."-A constant sentiment of Marianne's character, and said verbatim once she slays her first enemy in FE16 chapter 2

"There was something to report, wasn't there?"-A staple of Gatekeeper's dialogue, said verbatim in FE16 chapter 5

CYL6

"I am *no* chatterbox."-Reference to Hapi's nickname for Byleth

"There is more than one truth."-What Sigurd's ghost says to Seliph, after Seliph lands the finishing blow on Arvis and waits next to the beach in FE4 chapter 10

"My... autograph?"-Tiki's C Support with Anna

"You are yourself."-Chrom's consoling words to Robin in FE13 chapter 13

CYL8

"Now... what was so damned important?"-F!Robin's B Support with Chrom

"You must be joking."-Felix during his Goddess Tower event in FE16 chapter 9

"One day... I'll be left alone."-A reference to the correct response to one of her advice box questions during FE16's war phase (this one I'm not 100% on, if anyone has corrections let me know in the replies)

"I'm going to kill you, too."-Alfonse to Letizia during Book 6, Chapter 5, Part 5: I Killed Him

However, the winners of CYL3 (2019), CYL4 (2020), and CYL7 (2023) don't have these bonus quotes. The reasons, if the directors or higher ups of the localization team forgot or they weren't too high priority for the time, are unknown. So I thought I'd take a stab at what I think they'd be for those winners.

CYL3

"I'll have their heads on a platter!"-Camilla at the of FE14 chapter 3

"I'm proud I took your hand."-Eliwood's A support with Hector

"I have finally found my purpose."-Micaiah at the end of FE10 chapter 3-F

"This isn't where things end for us!"-Alm to Celica before returning to face Duma together in Echoes Act 5

CYL4

"You think I'm special?"-Lysithea's A support with Claude

"We'll scale the walls between us!"-Claude during Verdant Wind's final cutscene

"Take your first step!"-Edelgard to the Black Eagles after escaping the Holy Tomb

"I am finally home again..."-Dimitri at the end of Azure Moon chapter 18

CYL7

"Remember where you came from."-Mikoto to Corrin at the end of FE14 Revelation chapter 24

"My only wish was to see you again."-Soren to Ike in their base conversation in FE10 Endgame 5

"A gift of revelation..."-Seiðr to the Summoner, Book 7, Chapter 5, Part 1: Goddess's Descent

"Get eaten by a bear. I don't give a damn."-M!Robin's B support with Aversa

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

I saw that take about Leif being kind of hard to use in Engage and started writing up my thoughts in the replies (because I have a ton of thoughts that are long and probably annoying to others) but figured it’d be better as a take!

Leif is definitely the most undercooked Emblem; of course, I think, unfairly. His Emblem is kind of more based on his FE4 playstyle than how he is in his actual game, and it sucks to see how shafted Thracia is even in the place where he is meant to be THE representative of his game! Of course they call him the Emblem of Genealogy, but honestly that’s fitting for his own story and Emblem of Thracia doesn’t exactly have the same ring to it (get it?).

And honestly before I get into it, his story relevance in Engage is so sad to me because he has some really fun similarities to Ivy that they don’t play off of at ALL, a country lost to an evil dragon cult that needs to be reclaimed by them, a sister that opposes them until they appear to tell them the truth, then she joins, so on…

But, let me get into it: Leif has a ton of proficiencies in his kit, Sword, Lance, Axe, Staff, and for whatever reason, Knife Precision. This, apart from the Engage devs saying “Well, they’ve gotta go somewhere” is a reference to his Master Knight class. Let’s save ourselves some time and name everything that’s also a reference to his FE4 self: Adaptable and Arms Shield, reference to him using any weapon in the Master Knight class (maybe also the fact that the weapon triangle in Thracia isn’t as punishing as other games? Just being hopeful). Quadruple Shot? Master Knight, baby!

Vantage is an odd choice for him, I don’t think I recall him having anything of the sort, but it has been a month or two since my last Genealogy playthrough. Leif’s starting skill is Adept, which is more like Alacrity, and the Master Knight class skill is Pursuit, which is also just like Alacrity. Killer Axe is also out there and *super* generic.

As for what in his kit actually originates from his game… Build, Master Lance and the Light Brand! I guess the Light Brand doesn’t originate from Thracia like the other two, sure, but it’s 100% iconic to him as a character (which is why I hope when he gets into FEH as his Emblem self, he gets to use it, it was a gift from his mom, too!!). So really, Build and the Master Lance are the only two Thracia Originals in his entire kit. Man.

Anywho, that’s my two cents. Everyone Stand with me in hoping that Thracia gets remade and people can see Leif isn’t as boring as his Emblem made him out to be!

.

[randomnameless]

Hey! For the character ask game: 2 and 3 for FE4's Julia and 20 for Rhea?

Julia first!

Favorite canon thing about this character?

That's a hard question lol, because canon!Julia is... well, Kaga put it in words better than anything I could, but to him, she was designed as a Falchion with legs... Make of that what you want :/

Favourite thing would be... the line she has with not!Julius, asking Loptry why the fuck is he ruining her life - sure it's not much, but through this line, we see some anger and backbone for a character who was fridged by the plot, and cannot even have a line about her Father's death when she earlier called him the "kindest man" she ever knew.

Sure, it can feel like "sad uwus" for Oldvis, but in a game where family feuds are at the forefront of the plot, Julia lashing out at Loptyr for ruining her life should, at least, have had a line about her dad's demise.

So yeah, favorite thing from canon is "wow Julia can be angry and emote!".

I know, it's not much, but I'm willing to take everything at this point lol

Least favorite canon thing about this character?

Everything!

More seriously, from the amnesia convenient subplot (which is completely stupid because, much like Deedee, Julia isn't killed before Chapter 10, when her unit dies she's "caught" by the big boss of the map and returns to you at the end of the chapter iirc, so if, say, Blume, Danan or even Travant "caught" her, that plot would have been lifted because you can't make me believe those three never knew who she was, especially since she's, looks wise, a carbon copy of Deedee and shares the same name as the imperial princess who went 'missing') to the lack of lines regarding her dad's death - sure it's played as some "she knows what's most important in this current situation, it's to rekt Loptry" but the epilogue??? Nothing???

Seliph even hammering that only Azelle's children have a bond and duty to Velthomer???

Granted, the most egregious thing in canon would be the fact that she can be killed - and the game can still be beaten bcs fuck the narration and the "only the book of naga can defeat loptyr" I guess, Seliph must be able to save the world single handedly, even if it runs contrary to his characterisation that basically amounts to "I feel like fraud".

---

For Rhea !

Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn’t matter?

I would say... Surprisingly or not, Manuela!

Not only because Manu is a Nabatean friend (which makes her Supreme Bullshit exclusivity in Nopes completely weird) but because I think Manu's deeply anchored in that "mundane life" Rhea aspires to, but avoids due to her function, let it be eating or just chatting with friends, etc etc.

In a verse where the cat is out of the bag and Manu knows Rhea's ears are pointy, I feel like they could still be able to talk about random things, from children in the monastery to fashion, food and maybe songs - Manuela singing what is basically Sothis' lullaby meant for Rhea is just something Rhea would feel especially emotional about, because it's still sharing a song from her mother, from Nabatea, to a human who in turn, can share it around and make that memory live on!

Manu wouldn't be a "best friend" as in a friend with whom Rhea would have a lot in common, but a "best friend" in the way that, thanks to Manu, Rhea will finally be able to "live" in the Fodlan she's protecting even if it means going out for a drink or sharing soup recipes, and I believe she would value a relationship like that.

[pryings]

TOA Anniversary Munday

thank you neffi for this template!!!

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: ruaidhrí (said pretty much like the english name rory and if you want to spell it that way that's fine too, ik irish names throw people off)

Pronouns: he/him

Birthday (no year): 25th of october!

Where are you from? What is your time zone? i live in colorado and my timezone is MST

How long is your roleplay experience? i don't know exactly how many years since i sometimes have years where h don't rp but i've been rping on and off since i was 11-12.

How were you introduced to roleplaying as a whole? oh gosh, so ff.net used to have (maybe still has, i literally have not been on that site in ages) these like... forums? and i joined one for elder scrolls rp a little after oblivion came out. i was far and away the youngest one there but everyone was so nice in helping me turn my character into a proper oc with like... backstory, a real personality, etc. after that, i spent a lot of time using it to try and grow my creative writing skills.

How were you introduced to TOA? honestly i just stumbled across it randomly! i had just replayed a few fe games and was looking through some tags and thought it might be fun to try fire emblem rp (i'd done some on indie tumblr back in the day, as well as in an mfrp a little bit, but never fire emblem exclusive rp) so i sent arden to check it out and, well, here we still are.

Do you have any pets? simon (mini poodle), john hancock (tabby cat), and tim & geeb (fluffy black cats)

What is your favorite time of year and why? (Season, holiday, general period) early spring! i also like late fall for its temperature, but i dislike snow/sleet/wet socks so spring is preferable because it's not very snowy here!

What is your IRL occupation? blessedly unemployed (health issues have prevented me from working aha)... i used to work IT though!

Some interests and things you like/enjoy? i like birdwatching, reading academic articles about ancient civilizations, and making espresso drinks

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? currently enjoying bg3 + doing a dragon age replay (in preparation for veilguard). outside current, i really like most single-player rpg type games (esp. with customizable character), stealth games (dishonored favorite), and Identity V is the first asymmetrical horror mobile game developed by NetEase for

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: my favorite pokemon ever is alakazam (and its whole line) i've loved alakazam foreverrrrr! favorite type is steel, though! apart from my psychic baby most of my other favs tend to be steel types

Tell us some funfacts and trivia about yourself! oh gosh i'm so bad at fun facts...

- i can put both my feet behind my head but i can't touch my toes - my favorite non-ancient empire to read about is austria-hungary - my cat tim was rescued from Outside

How did you get into Fire Emblem? friend's cool older brother was playing a bunch of the games in a seemingly random order. when i'd hang out at that friend's house sometimes we'd sit and watch. i asked him to lend me some and he did!

What Fire Emblem games have you played? i have now played all of them! (last year when i answered this i hadn't technically played them all, but i'd seen playthroughs and watched let's plays of all of them at the very least)

First & Favorite Fire Emblem games: a bad translation of fe4 was first, por is still my favorite—but tbh there's not really one i dislike

List your 5 favorite Fire Emblem characters across the series! - KNOLL (promoted to number one he's my special guy) - reyson - canas - ashnard - pandreo

Who was the first character ever to make you go “ooh I like this one in particular” and why? Can be any context and reason! QUAN—i have such a distinct memory of seeing him come in but i don't remember my initial thought, only that he would have my heart forever

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳 vander. duessel. hardin.

If you’ve played (or are familiar with) the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays? - Awakening: first was sumia! i don't have a set nowadays because i've done a different one on each playthrough - Fates: first was xander, would probably still do xander if i were to replay - Three Houses: first was seteth, if i replay i'll go for hanneman - Engage: first was pandreo! next time i plan to do ivy though

Favorite Fire Emblem class? i like shapeshifter classes! beasts, dragons, laguz, etc. i just think they're fun to play with

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class and stats? Would you be playable? oh gosh, i'd be an infantry axe unit probably. middling starting stats but high growths if you really work at making me good (there would be heated debates over whether the necessary time investment would be worth it)

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? black eagles!

If you were an Officers Academy student, what would be your boons, banes and potential budding talent? axe boon, heavy armor bane, budding talent in faith magic (could be classed into an fe:a style war cleric and it would be my suggested goal)

If you were an Engage character, which nation would you originate from? i want to say brodia!

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔 toh-ah

Current TOA muses: just knoll <3

Past TOA muses? robin, niles, almedha, reyson, hardin, iago, perceval, lachesis (i think that's all?)

Who was your first TOA muse? If you no longer have them, can you see yourself picking them up again? my first muse was m!robin and thankfully i am spared any temptation on picking him up as he is currently being written.

Do you believe you have a type of character you gravitate towards writing? (If you filled this out last year, has this changed in any way?) i'm kind of all over the place, aren't i? i like characters where i can poke at hidden depths but ones who aren't too closely guarded. i like characters who are shy, withdrawn, standoffish, guarded, etc. in some way but who open up when spoken to. i don't think this has changed since last year, i've been writing for a long time and kind of know my comfort zone.

Do you have characters or types of characters you don’t think you can handle writing, but wish you could? boisterous/loud and over the top characters always challenge me, but i've never really managed to make them work, which is a shame because i tend to enjoy lively characters!

What kind of scenes, situations etc do you believe you enjoy writing the most? (If you filled this out last year, has this changed in any way?) -i love writing threads where setting/scenery is a focus, where i get to sort of use the landscape as a bit more than set-dressing - i enjoy throwing my muse at characters who mistrust him for whatever reason, and like to explore the kind of slow, mutual understanding that comes from two people getting to know one another - i really just like putting him in situations in general, forcing him to socialize—he's a very withdrawn character so any excuse to have him meet new people is very enjoyable

Do you have any scenario in mind for your muse(s) that gets you thinking “man I hope I get to write this one day”? nothing specific! i have kind of an arc for him but it's loosely-defined right now

Favorite TOA-related memories? HAPPYLAND WAS SO MUCH FUN. sincerely i loved the interactions he had there <3

Present or past tense? i default to present, but adapt to what my partner prefers on this!

Normal size text, small text, no preference? small text, bolded dialogue. just easier for my eyes to take it in that way.

Got any potential muse delusions to share? 😉 oh gosh. i recently had to go down to just one muse because my health is not so good, but i will admit i already have a few delusions. if i can get myself back to a spot where i feel like i can write a second, someone may return.

[celice-13]

B G N for the asks?

Thanks for the ask!!!

B. A pairing - platonic, romantic or sexual- that you didn't initially consider, but someone changed your mind

I actually have a lot, I'm so easily influenced lmao

I'd say the first one was Arthur/Scáthach (fe4), thanks to @yeyayeya. I'd never thought about it before, but their dynamic would be very adorable and wholesome, especially if Arthur is Azelle's kid and Scáthach is Lex's. Also Scáthach deserves more love, hes not just Larcei but worse people i swear

Then it's gotta be kishiyuki (iego), @gabriele-starr im blaming you for this one (kidding). Idk how I hadnt thought about it myself bc it just... makes sense??? I love pairings where characters don't interract in canon but have so many parallels its impossible to ignore, and Kishibe and Yukimura def bonded over having a coach from a legendary team that became their parental figure

G. Have you ever had an OTP? If so, do you remember your first one? Who was in it?

I have... so many???? I think the first one was Zelink. Yeah, pretty basic, but hey, gotta start somewhere. Then im gonna give my OTPs for my two main fandoms

FE... ouch this is hard... I think Shannan/Oifey takes the crown? Had to raise six kids together while dealing with grief, eventually became Seliph's adoptive dads... I refuse to accept that at the end of the game they have to part ways to gouvern their respective homes. Let the dads retire and live happily together, theyve had it hard enough.

IE is a no brainer tho, kyouten 100%. I cant even begin to explain my love for them, theyre just perfect and adorable and they deserve each other and you can't convince me otherwise

N. Name three things you wish you saw more of in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice)

IE: More love and appreciation for the female characters, the managers especially. Just bc level-5 hates them doesnt mean we should

FE: More people playing Fe5 and screaming about it. Actually, just more people playing older games and commenting their runs. Always hilarious to see people questionning Kaga's sanity

- Also more fanmade supports. I absolutely love reading those

[unmeiokaemasu]

fe4 matchmaking update

WE DID IT

I was going to have all my pairs just grind out 50 turns of speed-dating before seizing Thove castle, but then I learned about passive love point growth, which I didn't know about - I have no idea how close Sylvia and Lewyn were to tying the knot, but it was between 0 and like 60 points (I had assuemd the Sylvia/Erinys conversation got Sylvia to full points, but now I know it could've happened a couple turns after that through passive growth), so 50 turns of 1 point a turn might've gotten them there before they could marry anyone else.

So I rushed Thove for the expressed purpose of getting the Claud/Sylvia 100-point conversation...and it worked immediately! and on top of that, it was really sweet! I was a little dubious when it opened with him saying she must've had her clothes stolen because of how little she's wearing, but once she's like "uh...no, this is what I wear” he just accepts it and is very sweet and talks to her about dancing… Shoot, I may have finally found another ship I care about for more reasons than gameplay utility...

anyway NOW I don't have to worry about how long it takes Lewyn to get hitched, since I know he's not going to elope behind my back.

Also, in getting this done, I really breezed past the parts of the chapter I had already played once, which was a good feeling.

Oh yeah, and Dew going "gg ez" when unlocking the bridge was really funny.

(Side note, I do want to see the Lewyn/Erinys conversation sometime, since it's semi-canon and they have the most story together, but it'll be a while before I beat this game, let alone decide if I want to play it again)

anyway now all I have to do is the rest of the chapter! 8)

[ultrakatua]

I don't know if these takes come from people who've actually played the game, if it's word of mouth or just wiki readers...

Fire Emblem 4 is NOT that dark of a game.

Nothing is ever shown on screen and no, not just because of technical limitations.

No one's out there arguing Engage is dark when it arguably has the most fucked up things in all the games bare maybe 3H and Tellius.

No, unless they willingly decide turn it into GoT, FE4 is not getting M rated because horrible stuff happens off screen.

Remember Xenoblade never got M rated despite the swearing, the cannibalism, the toddler murdering, the nudity, the teenager point blank shooting herself in the head etc. etc. The intro sequence of Xenoblade 3 by itself has more on-screen violence and nudity than all 17 FE games combined.

Meanwhile Nintendo won't even let Alm say "bastard".

They'll either make FE4 gratuitously edgy à la FFXVI (please no) or it will be faithful, in which case, see above.

[tallgreenlady]

Fire Emblem Fates drives me insane because the gameplay is good. The map design ranges between interesting to insanely good (so long as you don’t chain playthroughs together and get tired of a reused gimmick map). The music and visual direction is soooo good. But the plot and dating sim elements are sooooo bad.

like, on one hand, Fire Emblem’s last game was supposed to be Awakening (this is why they crammed in everything from FE9-10’s beastfolk to the FE4 parent-child system and set it in FE1-3’s setting). They were very, very unexpectedly successful and were obviously SUPER anxious to replicate that success, so shoehorning in the dating and kids again was dumb but at least understandable.

but otoh I swear to god they didn’t let any of the writers talk to each other, so you get this ridiculous mess where the two main routes are constantly playing coy and teasing that ~everything will be revealed in the DLC!! only for the DLC’s shoddy plot to make things even MESSIER.

[rosecelebi]

Now that Fire Emblem Heroes has opened it's yearly Choose Your Legends voting period.... I am kindly asking you to consider sparing a vote (or two!) to two of my favorites in the series: F!Robin and Sigurd!

Why?

Well let's start with Robin,

Robin fans won out last year when their Male counterpart won the male division of CYL 7 alongside Soren and I'm sure many F!Robin fans (myself included) helped him reach that victory by voting, just as we did in previous years with Chrom and A!Tiki. F!Robin has waited for her time to shine and has supported her competition for several years now. It's time for her to receive the Awakening vote love!

If that wasn't enough to sway you, let's look at F!Robin's legacy in FEH.

1. Her base version was a year 1 grail unit with a mediocre (affectionate) refine that takes max investment to work around

2. Her summer alt is a year one seasonal with a bad weapon and book 1 era stats (but she sure is cute!)

3. Her legendary alt isn't even her- it's Grima. Grima took away her chance at being a legendary unit

4. Her Halloween alt is another Grima alt. She didn't even get to participate in Halloween because Grima took the spot :(

5. Her Valentine's alt is adorable but still a seasonal locked unit

6. Her rearmed version is yet another Grima.

HALF of all F!Robin's in FEH are Grima alts. There is no F!Robin available to summon in the normal 4/5 star pool. Getting a brave alt would be a big deal for her and her fans.

Please, spare a vote to the best tactician around, F!Robin!

~

Now, let's talk about Sigurd

Sigurd comes from FE4, Genealogy of the Holy War, a game I know many of you may not have played yet. That's okay though! I get it! It's a bit old and jank to play and you need to emulate it with a translation patch if you don't understand Japanese. So I'm gonna explain who this man is to you....

Sigurd is the heir to house Chalphy and a descent of the crusader Baldr in Judgral, which makes him kind of a big deal. Throughout his game, he makes allies with many people throughout Judgral in an attempt to unify and fight back against the rising corruption.

Along his journey, he meets Deirdre and the two fall in love and end up having a son together, Seliph. Sigurd is devoted to his family and loves Deirdre more than anything in the world. Sigurd is a family man. Look at this Cipher art if you need more explanation:

(*SPOILERS ahead for FE4, but FEH and Engage already spoiled this so if you somehow don't know what happens to Sigurd, maybe stop reading here*)

Tragedy befalls the couple not long after their son is born... Deirdre is kidnapped and her memories are wiped clean as she is needed for a sinister plot... Her holy blood is needed to help the Loptous cult resurrect their dark God so they use Deirdre as a pawn and marry her off to Arvis.

Sigurd is distraught with his wife gone and searches and searches for her but ultimately must continue through on his plans. He returns to his home and is met by Arvis, the Duke of Velthomer, and the descendant of the imperial family. He welcomes them in as a deceitful trick and declares Sigurd a traitor and calls for his execution. Before he issues the order, Arvis lets Sigurd meet his new wife- Deirdre as a sick and twisted punishment. With that, Arvis calls down Valflame and kills Sigurd and many of his army members.

Sigurd's legacy is carried by his son, Seliph, who will free Judgral from the horrors that the dark cult inflicted many years later.

~

So that was heavy. But do you understand why he's such a compelling character??? He has such an unfortunate heroes tale, but FEH let's us see him again and be able to reunite him with his love and his son.

Seliph got his own brave alt two years ago in CYL 6 and it feels right for it to be his father's time to step up and shine as a brave hero.

Let's look at Sigurd's legacy in FEH:

1. His base version is a year 1 sword cavalier who's a bit outdated but not unusable by any means with proper skill investment

2. His duo dancer alt is Deirdre is one of the best arts in the game and I won't let anyone convince me otherwise

3. His Legendary alt was a meta threat at one point in time and the art is gorgeous

4. Lastly, this year he got his second seasonal alt, a tea time Butler alt that just cute. He definitely is serving tea for Deirdre and making sure she's happy.

A brave alt just seems perfectly fitting for him at this point!

~

In conclusion, these are two characters who are ready for their moment to shine in FEH with a brave alt. They've waited for their friends or family members to get there first and now it's (potentially) their time for the brave win. Thank you for reading all this and may the CYL odds be in our favor!

TLDR: Vote for F!Robin and Sigurd in CYL 8!

[overtsexting]

Hi! I want to ask you since you seem to know well about Fire emblem: is there real, blood-related canon incest? I read Camileo is semi-canon and they're half-siblings, is there someone else?

Yes, actually! Not as much canon bio incest in the more recent games (unless you count… whatever is going on with Rhea, but that’s its own can of worms), but very much so in some of the older games. The most notorious is fe4 (genealogy of the holy war). I’ve only played the beginning of it so my synopses may be a little inaccurate. And i’m putting all this under a cut because i rambled for too long :)

FE4 has:

eldigan and lachesis, where lachesis is stated IN the game to be in love with her brother and love him more than other men. his feelings on the matter are never addressed, but in the official manga, he returns her feelings and they very nearly have sex — the only reason he decides not to is that he knows he’s likely going to die soon and doesn’t want her to live with that sin alone. She has two children eventually, with fathers who are implied to be two specific men, but it seems she never really gets over her brother’s death. there’s a rumor that she was initially meant to be married to him, but the source of it is extremely suspect lol. since timing-wise her first son had to have been conceived sometime pretty close to eldigan’s death, i personally like to think he’s actually eldigan’s son ☺️

arvis and deirdre. this is like… the Plot of the game. arvis is born to a cursed bloodline where iirc they’re only allowed to have one child. deirdre has grown up secluded in a forest, separate from society. at the start of the game she marries sigurd, the protagonist of the first half, and they have a child. but she’s later kidnapped and has her memory wiped, so that she can marry arvis (who was not aware of that happening). they have twins, and then eventually it’s revealed that they are half siblings; the group that kidnapped her did so because of the cursed bloodline, and had her marry arvis with the hopes that their children would have the blood necessary to revive their ancient god. the whole thing is extremely tragic.

seliph and julia. this one’s a bit Less, but seliph is sigurd’s kid with deirdre and julia is arvis’s with deirdre. due to them starting at nearly maximum love points, there’s an exploit that lets you have them get married despite negative growths to their love :)

There’s more too: loooots of cousins you can have get married in the second half, as well as a pair who are kind of heavily implied to be long lost siblings but are “just distant relatives”

there’s also frejya in fire emblem heroes book 4 who only cares for her brother (because he was the only one kind to her as a child) and is jealous that he loves humans. so she decides to try and end humanity. the whole plot is her being a brocon. and in book 6, otr goes to GREAT lengths to prevent his adoptive brother from learning about his true past (that he came from another world where he has a family iirc) because he doesn’t want his brother to leave him.

not to mention in fates, corrin can marry all of the royal siblings. four of whom (xander, camilla, leo, elise) they grew up alongside and believed were their biological siblings until the start of the game. I think all four of them believed corrin was their bio sibling too, but that’s never made 100% clear. At the start, corrin learns they were kidnapped and are actually a half sibling of the hoshidan royal family (ryoma, hinoka, takumi, sakura) and that their real mother is the others’ stepmother. but corrin can also marry those 4. Turns out their father ISN’T corrin’s father, but only one of the routes actually talks about this in the plot. In the other route where these characters are an option, corrin does not know unless you choose to marry them. Ryoma has always known, but was told not to share that information with you, while the other three find out at the same time as corrin (from a letter from their late step mother). Basically, corrin can marry any of their adopted siblings OR step siblings, all of whom they thought for an extended period of time were bio siblings.

they play the “it’s pseudo incest so it’s ok” card but all of these S-supports involve some level of “i wish we were actually related” or “it’s ok, we can make it work…. wait we’re not related??” AND they generally still refer to you as their sibling after marriage, so it’s pretttttty incesty. tbh this is the best non-modded marriage for leo imo, all his s supports with women besides corrin feel so awkward and stilted and fake. he’s a siscon through and through <3 Then of course the other most prominent character, Azura, whom a lot of people marry just to avoid the incest, is revealed in the third route to be corrin’s first cousin.

so: yes, lots of canon incest :) there’s definitely more that i’ve missed

[festivalofthe12]

People are liking/reblogging my Yukeru posts again and I'm just nghaaaAA noooooo I can't get back into Fruits Basket yet I'm saving that hyperfixation for at least after my Candy Hearts fic is done and preferably after the American holiday I have coming up ;___;

plus if I get obsessed with Furuba again when am I going to play the next FE4 map?????? I still haven't let myself get into THAT fandom properly either wtf

[emblemxeno]

The weirdest thing about this you can't change the future message of 3H bonds is we literally have Awakening. Where the whole message is how it IS possible to change the future and the future is not written etc etc, it's just as mess but we can't say Edel is the issue so I guess you can't change the future at all oh darn

Exactly! She is the only reason why there's hesitation on touching this subject with FEH forging bonds. As you said, it's not a problem with Awakening. Fates doesn't have the problem either, with clear route references and characters dealing with that. FE8 with Lyon, discussion of Hector's death in FE6, Tellius with stuff like the Black Knight, and god knows FEH never bothers to keep the fates of FE4's first generation a secret, especially Sigurd.

Meanwhile 3H (and Hopes as well now) has an entire half of its narrative as a de facto taboo to even bother writing on or playing with. The ONLY time that this wasn't the case was the CYL4 Forging Bonds, and that's literally because they had to considering it was all the house leaders who won.

But every other instance shows that IS clearly only ever wants to use pre-timeskip versions of characters. Any exceptions are written around to avoid these discussions (Fallen Edel and Dimitri don't interact with anyone from 3H; Hopes!Hilda, Dorothea, and Annette all have character traits that let them avoid war conversations; CYL Bernadetta and Felix are a weird jumble of pre-war and post-war traits). This hesitancy isn't new, since they couldn't even be bothered to have Rhea talk to her fucking mother in this inconsequential spin-off game where the main appeal is fanfic-y story scenarios with your favs. Consistency I guess.

[arkus-rhapsode]

Rambling about my anxieties about a potential FE4 Remake

So recently an interview with the developers of FE Engage had come out and it shed some interesting facts about the development like how it was meant for the 30th anniversary, it was being made at the same time as 3H and that the game was delayed for greater polish.

Now that might not seem at all extraordinary after all, if you were like me, the OG leaker for Engage basically said that all. But here’s the thing, not only is this behind the scenes look legitimizing more of the leaker’s insights, but that means there is an even higher potential of their claim that an FE4 remake is more believable. 

Now its no secret that FE Genealogy of the Holy War is one of the most anticipated Fire Emblems to receive a remake treatment like Echoes and why wouldn’t it be? After all, its still the most popular FE in Japan and is considered to be Kaga’s magnum opus and the best of the Famicom era FE. It was also never brought over to the West legally so this’ll be FE fans chances to see it in its full glory. Hell, Im excited as all hell to see FE4 remade on modern consoles, but then I sorta stopped and began to think about it for a bit. Namely, could an FE4 remake ever live up to the hype?

Now look, any old FE getting remade should happen. Especially those never officially translated. It gives others in the fandom the chance to experience the game with modern convince and not be scared off by emulation. But just for a moment I thought what a remade FE4 would even look like. 

Now Im sure anyone who played Echoes knows it is possibly one of the best produced FE’s ever. Its in game art was amazing, the sprites actually resembled people more than Awakening or Fates, fully voice acted, it was amazing. It was amazing by the standards of a 3DS. Its no secret FE has gone through a transitional period from the 3DS to the Switch. The flat 2D sprites are now 3D models and convos that took place on map painting backgrounds with character art laid onto of it, is now 3D models speaking in an open space. I think what every FE fan genuinely wants is for Fire Emblem to look the best it can on the console its on. Now Engage clearly has shown FE can look better than it ever has on switch, but it still leaves a lot to be desired. This is a console that’s 1st and 2nd parties can achieve visuals like breath of the wild, Kirby Lost World, and Xenoblade. So I don’t think its impossible to make pretty games on a switch. But FE and Insys really haven’t gone all the way to where is feels quite like its a next gen FE visually. And not to put all the blame on InSys, but I understand that even fans are split. Some will never be happy if we don’t get back to the old pixel art style and found it more visually appealing while others want to put the capabilities of FE on a home console. Any creative director is not gonna manage to appeal to both these sides and that’s honestly going to suck. 

Now, this isn’t just about graphics but lets also talk about mechanics. Its no doubt that FE4 has some legendary map design, as well as the precursor to the support system we have now. But it was a clearly unbalanced FE, cavalry has always been OP but this is the game where literally cavalry is the best. The map design is also pretty different. I know GBA era fans probably are used to the concept of an FE plot unfolding on a battlefield as opposed to more chapter long encounter then story cutscene as more modern FE, but if people forget, the maps in FE4 were huge with multiple narrative events occurring in a single map. So how do translate that? Do you get rid of the huge maps and make FE4 more like modern FE and break into smaller maps with cutscene driven stories? Engage has shown a willingness to use more cinematics than ever before, would that help moments like Sigurd’s father dying or the feeling of Quan arriving only to be ambushed? Personally, I don’t think so as moments like that make FE4 so remembered. The immersive moments of in real time plot elements playing out. Once again we arrive at some where I can’t really see how you’d do this without disappointing one end of the spectrum.

And then we have the support system. I feel pretty confident in saying that an FE4 remake will use the modernized FE support system. But as we’ve seen in Echoes, just because it may use the same system, doesn’t mean it’ll be like Awakening, Fates, or 3H level deep. Echoes support system was incredibly limited despite coming off of the more robust Fates. And As I’m sure you all recall, scaling back social sim elements are never really met with positivity like FE Engage walking back things from 3H. Im sure they’ll still let you pick who you end up with Seliph, after all he isn’t locked into an ending like Sigurd or Alm, but I am unsure if we’ll get the modernized support system we are so accused to getting retrofitted into an older game. 

Oh my god are they even going to do turn wheel?

Okay okay moving away from the gameplay portion, the last thing that worries the fact any remake of FE4 has to live up to a near monolithic reputation. FE4 is an FE that never made it the states and the only way to experience it forever was through emulation and a fan translation. This lack of availability that seemed to only be accessed by die hard FE fans willing to play the Famicom era games while also being told to other western fans that this is Japan’s favorite FE coupled with things that more modern fans would recognize like FE4 serving as the inspiration for a lot of 3H has essentially mythologized FE4 as “The Greatest Fire Emblem Game”. Now this is my personal opinion but FE4 isn’t my favorite FE, nor is it one I consider the best written, but it is certainly an operatic entry that goes beyond what FE had ever done up to the point with moments that deserve to be apart of FE history. And do you see what I’m getting at here? Any remake of FE4 has sky high expectations to clear. It was a meme forever that FF7 Remake was taking forever, but we all know that if it was nothing less than beyond perfect, then FF7R would never live up to the hype. FE4 is very likely going to be in that situation and Im not 100% sure InSys can deliver if that’s the case. 

Now look, maybe this is all just pointless lizard brain fear. I would love nothing more than to see and FE4 that flawlessly captured the spirt of the original while looking great, playing great, and living up to the bar of social simulation. I think that’s all any fan genuinely wants out of any FE game. But it just fills me with dread knowing the near herculean task the FE development team may be tasked with, and that even more fans who have never experienced FE4 are going to now have to see how “The Best FE” holds up to modern standards. 

The potential of this remake ever happening is still not set in hard stone as of the writing. So there really is no point worrying about something before it even has a chance to materialize. But I do believe that any FE4 remake will now be facing a lot of up hill battles and while I’m not using that to protect poor game design (If the game plays or looks like ass I will call it out) I do hope that people think about what an FE4 remake really does mean. 

[randomnameless]

tbh, I stopped caring about houses that much when I found out that it's an otome/dating sim game with srpg gameplay sprinkled on top. In other FE games, you either gather supports by pair ups or by having units standing against one another. And mechanics like cooking in Fates were done to get some more stat boosts. And even if the avatarization of the game started with New Mystery, Robin and Corrin feel more like customizable characters than an avatar for the player.

In houses, Byleth is like every typical dating sim protag, that does not speak and the few times they do is by having the player choose options that may raise heart points with a character or lower them, you have to find lost items and when you give them back you gain heart points, you have to give them gifts to gain heart points and cooking now doesn't give you any beneficts in battle and only works for, you've guessed it, getting heart points. And let's not kid ourselves, tea time is like the "dates" in otome games, in which you can spam gifts till you raise the affection to the max. The only thing that distincts those points from the otome ones, is that those are necessary for proficency and for unit classes.

Heck, we even have a ring to give to the chosen blorbo in order to get a special custom made cutscene, when in pasts games getting an S support gave you a broken unit to deploy and a little blurb of text during the credits. And of course, calendar/day systems are also common in these tipes of games too.

People complained about awakening and fates for turning the franchise into a dating sim, but 3Houses is literally one in and of itself, and yet is praised as peack FE experience and as peack srpg.

(I could also argue that is because of this otome nature why the characters are "tell don't show" with their given trauma, unlike in pasts games when it was "show don't tell" (Nino, Reison, Camilla, Leif, Soren...))

Well,

When you put it like that, it becomes obvious that the other games (FEH, Engage) mentionning Fodlan are stuck on the uwu monastery part of the part 1 and not the, y'know, events happening that will lead to part 2 because as you said, the SRPG aspect is just "sprinkled on top" lol

However, the "pair up your units and build their relationships!" has been a non gameplay mechanics for decades now (FE4's was a gameplay mechanic, it had no support convos - FE6 added the support convos and gave a small gameplay boost but it didn't commit and we had no endings, FE7/8 had endings, FE9 had convos but FE10 removed them and yet had endings depending on the pairs, etc etc) even without avatars.

Then we entered the avatar era and if it added the "my waifu and my bae" shenanigans, FE13/14 were still more centered on the story aspect that on the "dating sim" aspect, as in, even if you could raise affinity with a character by doing X or Y, it wasn't really coded in a minigame - came FE16 which you analysed perfectly : tea time, gifts, eating, S-support CG, etc etc.

That being said, FE is a RPG, meaning it has characters : you play FE for the solid gameplay but you also build characters, and imo the best way to develop and write characters is to interconnect them with other characters, and/or with the plot/lore.

Sure, Arden functions as a wall/tank. But through the 5 lines he has, you learn that he is part of a group of knights, has friends who often tease him but is relied upon by those people and takes pride in that, he'd also like to find a wife someday and has self-esteem issues.

Is he as developped as, say, Xillia's Alvin? Hell no! But they're characters from two different genres, Arden has those 5 lines that puts him above any "generic" armor.

(I find it interesting how UO and in a way, FE11, gives you the opportunity to play with generics instead of playing with named characters, in UO generics will turn out to be better since you can change their growths, but they're generics. Do you want the RPG of the Tactics/Strategy aspect?)

So, I'd say that support conversations are important, I love Saias and Ralf to bits, but I'm sure I'd love them more if they had more lines. And since support through battle can be a chore (hello FE GBA and trying to get Bartre and Karla's supports when she joins 2 chapters before the end!), I initially welcome any way to grind those supports faster lol.

However, it can quickly spiral in, well, the otome mechanics we have in FE16 - if you want to build support then why not have an entire mini-game for that, and meals and chorals and whatever else?

It's all about finding balance between developping your characters without turning your game in a dating sim or what I'd call "playing the sims and pairing those dolls with those other dolls you like".

Still, let's not kid ourselves, nowadays the "dating sim" aspect of the series is, while decried by some, very popular - and FE is first and foremost, a series that has to sell.

3H is not peak SRPG not peak gaming experience or even in FE gameplay that'd be FE5 but I can't ignore the fact that its dating sim aspects might be part of the reason why it's still very popular.