#my experience with the fire emblem franchise

[starclast]

FIRE EMBLEM: AWAKENING ✨✨

hey there! So...as you can guess, I've been playing Fire Emblem Awakening in these last few months. It may seem unbelievable but I never had the opportunity to play this game until now. My very first Fire Emblem was Sacred Stones, and it was not only my first experience with the franchise, but also my very first experience playing a tactical rpg. I didn't know anything about how to play so everything that happened within the first minutes of gameplay was a completely new experience for me. I still remember when I got my first support *conversation* between Eirika and Seth...my mind was simply BLOWN away by the fact that characters could interact and build stronger bonds in the middle of the battlefield 😮 Since then, I've been tryin to play any Fire Emblem I can get my hands on...and finally, thanks to my friends friend (Mr. Mystery ☝), I got the opportunity to try this one out.

I've always been curious about Awakening because a friend of another friend of mine had a 3ds with it. he showed me a little bit about it one day we visited him but because we had better things to do and a time limit for it, I couldn't catch a proper look to it. Still, I really wanted to try it out, so once I talked a little about it wit my best friend, I immediately asked her to ask Mr. Mystery if he could get it for me...and as you can see, he did it!!! 🤗 I'm still in my first playthrough but I already can see why people love this game so much. It is beautifully made, the new mechanics are polished and very enjoyable, and the characters are just SO good!! 😆😆😆

To be honest, my favorite part of all the Fire Emblem games I have played so far, has always been the supports. And every since I learned that in Awakening the support pairs can have their own children I was simply EXCITED to see it!! 🤩 I'm already in the part of the story were the child units appear and so I'm tryin to reunite them all before proceeding.

I think my favorite pair so far is Donnel and Lissa. Their support was just so really, really sweet that it made me tear up. I know that the child unit is always predetermined by the mother but still, I cant help but feel like Owain makes sense as a child of these two. (And also, its just too funny to let it slide 😆🤣) I don't know yet what other combination I may do in a future second playthrough...but I already feel like it will be hard for me to pair Donny and Lissa with someone else 😢 (Seriously now, why so few people like this pairing!?? 😭)

P.S: Mini Owain turned out really good for a first try 🤭 ...Although I'm a bit unsure if I put his mark in the right place 🤔

[moe-broey]

ALSO when it comes to Takumi concepts I'm just posting this like I'm writing on the fridge for later but --

Something I DEF wanna explore more and maybe invent my own canon about is how, (depending on when you downloaded FEH), Takumi IS the first Hero from another world to arrive (not counting the summoner themselves).

And depending on how long it takes for the summoner to like, have the resources/get the hang of yanking Heroes to Askr, Takumi may have been the only other Hero there For A While. Which I think WOULD put him in a really unique position, where he becomes familiar with Alfonse, Sharena and the summoner, in a way most Heroes after him don't get the opportunity to.

In my head, I like to consider Takumi to be like. An honorary fourth (fifth?) member of the OG Heroes.

And it IS really disappointing for me that he hasn't really had much connection or relevancy in the broader story (esp in Book 1 where mainline characters would play big roles, like Xander) -- but also that aspect I acknowledge like. The ORIGINAL original first Hero was Virion LMFAOOOOO so it wouldn't have made much sense there anyway (IMAGINING. A world where Virion plays a major role in Book 1. Maybe that would have saved him popularity-wise, kind of Reinhart-core KSKSLKSKSK)

[solidandsound]

Oops! All Hours of the Day Spent on Fire Emblem: Three Houses

[musicfranchisetournament]

propaganda under the cut !!

ensemble stars :

what can I say. it's the no.1 highest earning joseimuke of recent times for a reason. i wouldn't say it was the founding father of male idol franchises but it's undoubtedly important for them and the popularization of them. the characters are enjoyable and the story writing is (sometimes) done pretty nicely. when the songs hit well they hit GOOD. with a cast of over 50 characters you're pretty bound to find someone you'll enjoy, you know. there's a nice variation on unit archetypes that is great for music variation :]

There's just soo much happening in this goddamn idol thing I hope it loses bleehh

Idol game except the plot is NOT what you would expect of an idol game. Notably : murder, the War, vampires, and a guy who lives in the vents.

"oh it's just a silly little idol game" and then the silly little idol game has some of the craziest lore you've seen

milgram :

it's very cool and interesting !! idk !

SUCH a unique concept. I love it so much. Delivering insight into characters crimes and psyches through music?! Genius. And the music all slaps too. The VAs are all super talented, the voices all sound different from one another, and even when a character's music style switches between T1 and T2 to reflect their mental state, there are still things making it obvious it's the same character. Also the VA for Haruka (best character in MILGRAM) is the guy who voiced Linhardt (best character in hit turn-based strategy RPG Fire Emblem: Three Houses for the Nintendo Switch) in the JP soooo. Awesome and based, Fire Emblem fans vote for this one. (Also I think there's other overlap of VAs with Fire Emblem but like Natsuki Hanae has been in everything so of course there is)

genuinely so sooo interesting to me from a standpoint. not only is a franchise that runs and happens in direct response to what the fans decide to do with it but also the songs and mvs are sooo good and it's such a nice thing to see coming off of deco, feeling like a passion project with all the different song style and experimentation going on in them. ive been there since the beginnings and its a great feeling to see just how much everyone involved in the project be it art, music etc has improved. the moral experiment point of it is something very curious to follow for me and see people discussing their votes or takes on things as to why they voted for x thing or another is nice! the deco song remixes that always come with the characters album release are (mostly) fire too. milgram my best friend milgram

The songs are absolute bangers!! And each character is so compelling and it's really interesting to see how the audience's votes impact the story and the characters!

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

To the anon who is worried they're a fake fan:

I've only played one Fire Emblem game to completion. It's Three Houses. I play on casual mode so my units won't die. I can't remember anything about weapons triangles. I keep making my units the preferred classes they ask me to make them. I only ship Byleth ships. I main Byleth in Smash. I don't want to play games that won't let me turn off permadeath.

I have a best friend who can't play most of the older titles or even Engage because the graphics cause their migraines to be exhaserbated. They listen to me reading Engage over discord.

I'm the most basic bitch in this entire fandom.

You're just as vital to the lifeblood of this fandom as anyone else. Which games you've played does not determine your fandom cred. Your enjoyment of the franchise and how you share that joy with others is what makes you a fan.

I do definitely suggest getting a switch and Houses and Engage for your shelf simply because I think it's good to have on hand before the new console comes out and switch games go the way of Path of Radiance. But only after you make a list of other games you'd want to own for that console.

In the meantime, if you can find plenty of amazing let's plays on youtube or pirate the games for your PC if you really want to experience the switch games but not invest money.

I suggest finding friends who own the games that'd be willing to play with you via discord though. That way you can have fun taking turns to make choices and create memes and in jokes.

.

[balanceoflightanddark]

As requested by @cobra-diamond. I hope this makes you happy.

If you know me, then you probably know that I have a habit of talking about problematic characters like Azula. You know, the ones who have to have an inordinate amount of hatred attached to them that boggles the mind. It's just Azula is one of the most notorious of this...I guess you can say club.

The thing is...she's not the only one out there.

Spoilers for Fire Emblem: Three Houses below.

This is Edelgard von Hresvelg. Crown Princess to the Adrestrian Empire. Leader of the Black Eagles House in Garreg Mach. And quite possibly the most controversial character in the entire Fire Emblem franchise. She's been called a lot of things over the years. A fascist. A tyrant. The old "worse than Hitler" comparison. Needless to say, she's had it rough.

And to be fair, there is a reason for that. Traditionally, she's the "villain" of the story. She's the face of the enemy faction, the one you encounter the most if you don't side with her, and she ends up the final boss on the most traditional of the Fire Emblem routes. Her design is crimson red with devil horns, and she turns into a literal monster at the end of one of her routes. So by all accounts, she's the bad guy.

Except...she isn't. Not really. Let's back up a bit.

Three Houses takes place on the continent of Fodlan, which is broken up into three distinctive factions. We have the Adrestrian Empire that Edelgard is from who used to rule all of Fodlan. We have the Leicester Alliance which is ruled by a class of nobles who are only loosely united. And then we have Faerghus, a proud people with armies of knights and ruled by a king. Above them all are the Knights of Seiros who basically run things in Fodlan, keeping stability and maintaining the balance of power between all three factions from their monastery of Garreg Mach. Here, noble children from all across the continent are enrolled to learn combat and how to be a faithful servant of the Church and its Archbishop, Rhea.

Fodlan also has a strict caste system dictated by Crests. Think of them as bloodlines that grant users special abilities and the power to wield divine weapons. Those who inherit Crests are practically seen as chosen by the Goddess and enforce her will on the earth and are on top. Everyone else essentially gets trampled on, with families doing pretty underhanded things and constantly squabbling in order to make sure their family has Crests.

Enter a mysterious faction lead by their enigmatic leader, the Flame Emperor. For most of the game's first half, they serve as the ultimate bad guy. They're the face of Those Who Slither In The Dark, (TWSITD), they're the ones who hired the mercenaries who attempted to kill the student heads at the beginning of the game, and their identity is one of the driving questions at the start.

Turns out...the Flame Emperor is actually Edelgard.

Before now, Edelgard had been one of the class leaders and one of your students should you choose to teach the Black Eagles. She's...not exactly the most open person, but she's also dutiful and dedicated to succeeding her elderly father, the Emperor of Adrestria. So it comes off as a shock to many that she's revealed to effectively be the bad guy for the first half of the game. An indeed, there are people in-universe who genuinely want her head and blame her for absolutely everything that TWSITD pulled.

The thing is though...Edelgard's position within TWSITD is less of leadership and more of a weapon. You remember those Crests I mentioned earlier? Well it turns out, Edelgard actually possesses TWO which is unnatural in Fodlan. The reason for that is...well, it was the result of torturous experiments that left her in a disgusting prison and was forced to watch the rest of her siblings die. Leaving her the sole survivor. And going back to my Azula comparison, she too was conditioned to effectively serve TWSITD to bring down the Church and tear Fodlan apart.

AKA: she was set up in-universe to be the villain.

The thing is though at the end of the day...she ultimately isn't.

Her trauma isn't brushed away. It's treated with as much respect as it deserves. And she's not treated as some monster either since all of her traits established before the reveal are still present after the timeskip where the war starts if you decide to defend her from being executed by Archbishop Rhea. Mainly, she cares a lot about her allies and forces. Even giving them an out of what is certain to be a bloody path she embarks on.

And it IS a bloody path. Edelgard's ultimate goal is to dismantle the Church which seems villainous...until you realize that the Church was responsible for the oppressive Crest system that resulted in her experimentation and a ton of backstabbing and suffering in Fodlan. As bad as TWSITD are, they wouldn't have gotten as far if the Knights of Seiros practically didn't create every opportunity for them to cause chaos and destruction. She doesn't even like TWSITD too much, and only allies with them cause they're the lesser evil in the grand scheme of things, and she needs their support to stand a chance against the dominant Church. And she already HAS plans to bring them down the moment the war is over. That seen of her in the of the routes where she turns into a monster? That's her choosing to become a monster when her back is to the wall and her last ditch effort to secure a better future for Fodlan.

What's more, she actually shows more clemency and mercy to her enemies than her rivals. Imperial troops are said to be more accommodating to citizens and captured soldiers than Faerghus who have been known to torture their captives. Edelgard is willing to show mercy and is perfectly willing to let Rhea stand down, showing the same mercy that her enemies don't since Rhea was willing to execute heretics over their rebellious attitudes (practically justifying the war). And the less said about Dimitri, the King of Faerghus, the better...

So while Edelgard is coded as a villain...she doesn't really act too villainous. She shows regret over her actions. She isn't as brutal as a lot of people make her out to be. Hell, her ending where she wins the war is arguably the best for Fodlan since the oppressive Crest system is dismantled with the only resistance coming from nobles who their claims to power are challenged. Not to mention she IS willing to let territories like Brigid peacefully secede and is going to step down from her position as Emperor once things are stabilized and she finds a successor.

Sadly like Azula, because she's seen as the villain in-universe a LOT of people think she's some power-hungry monster. Even when a closer examination of her actions and character show that it is NOT the case. Which...honestly makes her special to me and a lot of people. She's the kind of character who would be demonized elsewhere, but is given a chance to tell her side of the story and NOT be the monster everyone makes her out to be. And ultimately if you play your cards right, she does get that happy ending denied to so many characters like her.

It makes it all the sweeter that after so many years of being conditioned to be the villain, presenting herself as the villain, Edelgard gets recognized as the hero and person she actually is.

[centrally-unplanned]

👀 are you interested in fire emblem and would you tell us your opinions of the franchise, I’d be very interested

I do like Fire Emblem! I have played FE6-8, smatterings of 9-10 (never owned them, played with friends), and all the games past Awakening/13. I did also play a bit of FE1, no shade on the limitations of the time of course but it sucks, not worth playing. So I am not a grand FE master but I have a lot of exposure to it.

I admire Fire Emblem for its simplicity of design & stakes - the combat system is "hit enemy, deal damage based on attack power - defense" kind of stuff, how everything works is super clear. All the complexity emerges on top of that. Your army is all individual people, permadeath means you need to pursue strategies with a lot of care such that difficulty doesn't get trivialized even if it is still easy (there is a big gap between "my odds of losing are 5% - exciting, I'm doing well!" and "my odds of losing are 0% - boring, why can't I skip this"). When it is doing its best you have a squad of guys with clear stakes and challenges that are overcome via smart kiting and tanking, it is rarely "did you equip the White Hooded Cat Ears to a unit with the Lapis Pendant to double proc a high initiative archer with Glacial Rain for opening gambit AOE freeze spam to prevent Featherknight Magic Guard from activating?" Which to be clear can also be a ton of fun, each game should just be its own thing - FE is just often best-in-class at its niche.

Fire Emblem also has great aesthetics, it aims for that "classy" style of fantasy typically and everyone authentically buys into all that nobility medieval stuff, which for a video game story can be fun vibes. I love their character designs, normally it is a game series with the right level of fanservice (Camilia -_-), and as someone who enjoys romance sideplots in video games FE typically gives you fun sidequests along those lines that sometimes has gameplay implications to boot - I loved the "eugenics simulator" of FE Awakening, as the fans affectionately called its system of child units inheriting traits from parent units. Tharja you are gonna torture Gaius for eternity via marriage because your faildaughter Noire needs Galeforce, I don't wanna hear any god damn objections okay?

As a series it is far from perfect, as anything running this long must be. The plots are normally "meh", in particular the series just doesn't care about logic that much? People do dumb shit alllll the time; FE7's plot is an absolute mess, Three House's story is hung together by macguffins and asspulls, and so on. It is better when it is simpler - in FE6, our boy Roy has gotta beat a bad guy, he conquering the world with dragons, oh no - great, no notes. More modern games need more involved plots due to market demand, but FE has not yet mastered it imo.

More modern games have also stacked complexity on the combat system - skills that proc, squads that attach to units, most recently "Engage rings" that buff and give spells. These can be good! The thing is the simplicity of say FE6 gets boring over so many hours, what works for a 10 hour game gets stale over 40, you need to grow. Sometimes they do that well - I thought Three Houses generally was smart on this front, the skills are more passive, the squads and gambits were (generally, they fucked up on movement buffs) flexible and didn't break things while giving you toys to play with. But Engage, while a good game, did get too complicated by half with many of its systems, and Awakening literally broke itself with pair-up & stacked skill procs, you can easily trivialize the whole game. And meanwhile to spike difficulty they would give every random enemy fighter different lethal skill procs that you would have to triple check every turn, a problems-beget-problems moment. But! I like that they are experimenting. Would have been real easy to capitalize on the success of Three Houses and just repeat it with Engage, but they didn't.

Also while permadeath is conceptually good, restarting a whole map because of a cheese crit is fucking awful, and I am glad modern games have time reset systems to obviate that. I do not play the older games without an emulator that can save state.

Tier listing the games I have played, lets see:

S Tier: Sacred Stones, Shadows of Valentia

A Tier: Three Houses, Blazing Sword

B Tier: Awakening, Engage, Binding Blade

C Tier: Fates

Edelgard best girl, and I think that covers it!

[twilightprince101]

FIRE EMBLEM CONQUEST REWRITTEN IS COMPLETE

After over a year of editing, re-formatting and fighting against Google Docs, my developmental editing project "Fire Emblem Conquest Rewritten" is finally done!

For those who don't know, this project is my love letter to the game and to the franchise as a whole. Taking the story of Fire Emblem Conquest, I put it under a microscope to analyze the pieces of story left on the cutting room floor from its rushed development cycle, and help improve the story without changing any of its core story beats. Rather than changing plot events entirely such as Lilith's death, I include her in more scenes beforehand to give her death a stronger impact. The outcome stays the same, the buildup and framing is brand new!

If you're interested, check out the link below! Not convinced yet? Take a look under the "Read More" to get a rundown of everything new!

STREAMLINED PAGE LAYOUTS

I've spent an entire week re-formatting all of the google docs to make them more cohesive. The reading experience is now much more streamlined for fans of Fire Emblem, or those who may be unfamiliar with the story entirely.

FULL ISOLATED ORIGINAL SCRIPTS

Frustrated in getting the scripts from a wiki? Not interested in the rewrites? No problem! This project provides full scripts of the original Conquest storyline in one consistent format, free to use!

A CONSTRUCTIVE DISSECTION OF THE CONQUEST STORYLINE

Do you wish that Lilith had a more significant role in the story? That the Nohrian royals could all have unique dialogue against Garon in Chapter 27? That Garon was less blatantly evil and more of an abusive father? This project builds upon all of these things and more! Including but not limited to:

-Camilla learning basic empathy and becoming the older sister that her family needs -The Kitsune Tribe's massacre gaining genuine story significance and not being forgotten after the chapter ends -Characters like Katarina and Arete, though still off screen, gaining more prominent significance in the story as late mothers -The protagonist realizing that her paragon mentality of "no murder" isn't healthy, developing into a responsible leader for Nohr -Complete removal of "Revelation-Bait," which causes Conquest's storyline to be deliberately unsatisfying so people will pay twenty dollars for other routes, allowing Conquest to stand on its own as a wholly satisfying story.

Still interested? Great! Here's another link to the project here so you don't need to scroll all the way back up. Thanks for reading this far, I hope you have a lovely day!

[fell-contract]

Best Fire Emblem game?

God what a question. While I like that the developers are always willing to try new things with the formula, I do think historically a less is more approach has served the series best. I adore the storytelling of Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn but after I replayed most of the entries a couple years ago, The Binding Blade emerged as the flawed masterpiece of the franchise for me. While Blazing Sword (Fire Emblem US) was my entry point, the difficulty isn't quite as satisfying on repeat plays. The Binding Blade by comparison is hard, unfairly so at times: new enemies will spawn on enemy phase, hits miss constantly and almost every character has unbalanced growth rates.

However, this difficulty creates a degree of immersion I rarely experience. It really does feel like the world is at war and as Roy, you're only able to rally those left from the results of it: the roster is largely made up of civilians and trainees with little true war experience but the sheer force of will to persevere. I never run the same team and find new quirks and strategies every time I play, and that's before getting into the branching paths with unique characters and the secret final two chapters that unlock the good/'true' ending! There are faults too, like the mostly basic support conversations, the cumbersomely large maps, limited promotional items (no promotable thieves when this game has the best??) and the initial difficulty curve. However, all of the care to the experience overall renders these things irrelevant to me. I came to adore this cast because I felt like we were fighting against all odds together. Every win was deeply earned, and every time I watch that final brief exchange in Nabata Desert I get emotional. It isn't refinement that makes the best art endure, it's the passion and reverence given to a work that creates a legacy.

All that + Thany aka Shanna is the best girl forever, fuck a 30% strength growth!

This is legitimately my favorite ask I've ever gotten, thank you for giving me the opportunity to express my fervent obsession with this franchise.

[arval-larva]

"My students are waiting for me."

Happy 5 years to Fire Emblem: Three Houses! I wanted to partake in making art for the occasion.

I only tried out the series at the start of this year, but I intend to stay with Fire Emblem for years to come. This entry kickstarted my obsession with FE.

I tried to include all of the houses. (I'm sorry about the Ashen Wolves, I'm staying away from spoilers until I play their story. The purple path represents them regardless.)

I'll talk a little about my experience with this game, and the franchise as a whole, below.

I'd known about the series in passing for a while, but I never had the means to play any of the games. I didn't get into homebrewing until around 2023, and I hadn't emulated games actively.

Come Christmas of 2022, I'd finally gotten a Switch. I didn't even think I would ever get or have one, but my sister bought an OLED for me.

Around the start of this year, I thought I should look into more games to play, and FE caught my eye. I began with Birthright, the game I was most familiar with, and have been avidly playing entries since.

Had it not been for a Discord server I'd talk in on occasion, I would likely have not had much of a curiosity for Three Houses.

When I bought the game after a bit of tentative thought, I found myself immediately obsessed. Crimson Flower was my first route, and is still my favorite out of all that I've played thus far.

I admittedly did flunk a little, having little experience with the gameplay, but enough to think I could tackle Hard/Classic. I did reach the last map, though I couldn't complete it on the difficulty.

The Black Eagles were all diverse, but I couldn't really pick a favorite, I adored all of them. I also love the way they handled Edelgard, she is a wonderfully written character. Every character in this game has something I like.

I'm still working through each route, but I have already put nearly 200 hours into the game. I want to 100% it as well, so I'll likely have much more time into it in the future.

This game has somewhat changed my life, even. It's introduced me to some of the loveliest people I've had the pleasure of befriending. I will always be grateful for that, and everything else Three Houses introduced me to.

The community has been wonderful and a great pleasure to interact with, and I hope in the coming years, I will be able to improve my art skills, and enjoy this wonderful game and franchise.

Here's to another five years! Thank you, if you read all of this.

[sorenblr]

Now that you've completed the SMT V stream, I (and I'm sure some other folks, too) would love to hear what you think of it compared with the other main Megaten games you've played on stream. I think you've done SMT 1, SMT IV and SMT IV:A so far. Include Persona 1 too if you'd like.

And that dreadful Tokyo Mirage Sessions: pound sign Fire Emblem, too

SMTV is hard for me to discuss because there's very little about it that compels me to deeper thought. It really, genuinely bores me to think about, and anything I do have to say about it only evinces an incredibly cynical read of the series. I'll just put whatever I have left to say here, so that I don't feel the need to revisit.

It's just, you know, this bloodless cultivation of recycled semiotics from Nocturne. We ragged on IV for being overly invested in derivation and homage, but it looks almost daring coming off of V. The only really original idea that it brings to the table, the notion of Nahobino as the 'true' form of these divided and depreciated myth images, is almost offensive in the way it reframes designs that at least try to approximate real cultural attitudes towards religion as lesser, enervated reflections of yet more Tokusatsu tripe. Apart from that, it's a very inert piece of storytelling. I feel like a joke is being played on me whenever the game presumes an emotional investment in characters like Tao or Yuzuru.

I generally think highly of all the little design wrinkles that were implemented under Komori's stewardship, and that owe to his experience directing the more balance-intensive affairs of Etrian Odyssey. The new utility of consumables, dampeners as a limited means of addressing weakness in party structure, the need to attend to enemy and player Magatsuhi gauges etc. All necessary supplements to a battle system that was beginning to wear thin by 2016. Only my opinion of everything that enfolds it, the exploration, was diminished on this second playthrough. The layouts are still compelling, with a novel emphasis on managing layers of verticality, but they're populated with so much idiot open-world cruft. Vending machines, chests, glory crystals, health orbs, Miman. An overabundance of piddling incentive to keep you in a state of compulsion, and which I believe contributes to the exhaustion that many players feel come Taito. I still like the Miman, but they essentially exist in a continuum with the fucking feather collectables in Assassin's Creed.

(All the colored orbs littered around the sands are the perfect wedge to that design sensibility. They're almost totally inconsequential and only worth pursuing for the feeling of having absorbed more bright bobbles into yourself. They whisper to your lizard brain so that you don't feel too unstimulated navigating the space, which is never deigned to be worth the doing for its own sake. I'm out here picking up orbs and I can't even use them to extend the duration of Spartan Rage. Videogames are fucking stupid.)

It also made me more conscious of the ways the game fails to leverage art direction against what were probably non-ideal production conditions. It's never easy to forget that you're in a world of economically distributed UE4 assets, with no less than four brilliant hues of sparkling sand and ruined structures that have largely forfeited the Tokyoite specificity of previous games in favor of the same vending machines and multi-floor apartments and office buildings repeated ad nauseam. Daat never feels more like a hostile environment than a self-conscious playground. The concept art backdrops and rudimentary 3D textures of IV/IVA, and the claustrophobic interiors of I- all more lively by far. Pretty good skyboxes, though. No complaints there.

I think the series has moved into the sort of tired self-pastiche that every franchise turns to after decades of iteration. Time and chance happened, and now it's Angus Young crawling out of his mansion and into his boy-clothes to duckwalk across the stage while his grapefruit-sized prostate wages war against him from within.

If I were to rank just the main series from what we've streamed thus far, it would be something like I > IV > V > IVA. The only sense in which TMS has it at a disadvantage is that it emulates more cleanly. I'm glad that we're done with the latter half of the series and can finally move on, but I'll never forget that big huge enormous ass...

[amitieos]

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? UK, GMT (or BST but don't get me started on daylight savings I'll explode)

How long is your roleplay experience? Does playing A Bug's Life on the playground when I was 5 count? If not, I started with rping HP characters with my friends when I was like 11-12 over MSN after school and whilst there have been breaks it's something I've always found myself coming back to.

How were you introduced to roleplaying as a whole? As above, I made a couple of friends on (unrelated) forums and we all just thought it'd be fun.

How were you introduced to TOA? I thought I missed rp and looked for an FE based rp.

Do you have any pets? Yes, all hail Catcat the Great.

What is your favorite time of year and why? (Season, holiday, general period) Summer. I hate the heat and humiditiy but once there's no daylight the seasonal affective disorder bass boosts my chronic mental health issues and it's just a bad time really.

What is your IRL occupation? I've gone back to uni to study Law :)

Some interests and things you like/enjoy? I love reading, I'm fascinated by linguistics and astrophysics, enjoy DnD and playing video games in my spare time. I'm a particular sucker for the Sims franchise.

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? Recently I've been playing BG3, Stardew Valley, The Sims & Fields of Mistria but I'm a big fan of the Persona series and really, really excited about Dragon Age The Veilguard

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: I don't really play Pokemon much anymore but I'll just say Sylveon I guess

Tell us some funfacts and trivia about yourself! I met the fourth Doctor when I was 11 and he complemented my vocabulary lmao. I once got published in a poetry anthology with a poem about Shadow the Hedgehog and my parents we so proud of me.

How did you get into Fire Emblem? I think I saw a review on TV

What Fire Emblem games have you played? I've attempted to play every game except 1/2/3/5/11, although I've really wanted to play Thracia I just *need* some QoL updates and controls. I haven't finished every single one because of lost/deleted saves and stuff but I've watched playthroughs and read up on scripts on everything I haven't actually played myself.

First & Favorite Fire Emblem games: My first was Fates but Jugdral, Magvel and 3 Houses are my favourite

List your 5 favorite Fire Emblem characters across the series! Elincia, Mercedes, Franz, Myrrh and ughhhh I can't choose between Chole/Yunaka/Sylvain so I'm cheating

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! I saw Ryoma in all that red armour and it grabbed my attention.

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳 Miss Mercedes if you're free Thursday night

If you’ve played (or are familiar with) the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays? - Awakening: Chrom, originally be accident but now on purpose :D - Fates: My first was Takumi and I didn't know what an S support was and was very confused. Nowadays usually Kaze or Laslow if playing F!Corrin and Orochi, Nyx or Charlotte if playing M!Corrin. Niles for either. - Three Houses: Mercedes. She's still my go to ofc but I'm also fond of Dorothea, Dimitri and Sylvain. If I'm playing M!Byleth Yuri or Ingrid - Engage: Yunaka was my first and now it's either Yunaka, Diamant or Chloe. Or Mauvier maybe hahfsdgfsd

Favorite Fire Emblem class? I love Pegasus Knights!!!!!!!

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class and stats? Would you be playable? Probably a reluctant recruit who accidentally gets involved. Weirdly magic based armoured character.

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? (Black Eagles, Blue Lions, Golden Deer, Church of Seiros, Those Who Slither in the Dark, unaffiliated civilian, other - for example Almyran) Either unaffiliated civilian or Blue Lions probably

If you were an Officers Academy student, what would be your boons, banes and potential budding talent? Boons: Lance, Reason, Heavy Armour Banes: Bow, Faith Budding Talent: idk Axes or Flying?

If you were an Engage character, which nation would you originate from? (Firene, the Kingdom of Abundance; Brodia, the Kingdom of Might; Elusia, the Kingdom of Knowledge; Solm, the Queendom of Freedom; Lythos, the holy land of the Divine Dragon; Gradlon, the desolate land of the Fell Dragon) No idea! Probably Elusia or Firene. The Solm heat would literally kill me.

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔(separate letters, to-ah, other?) TOA ;) (like Noah)

Current TOA muses: Elincia & Mercedes

Past TOA muses? A lot but most memorable to me are Sylvain and Julia, though I'm so excited to see Sylvain in good hands <3

Who was your first TOA muse? If you no longer have them, can you see yourself picking them up again? Elincia and I still have her.

Do you believe you have a type of character you gravitate towards writing? White magic girlies though I'm trying to change things up.

Do you have characters or types of characters you don’t think you can handle writing, but wish you could? Hm, I wish I felt I could write more of the male characters I enjoy effectively. In most other fandoms I've written in most of my muses have been men but it's just not so in FE. I'd also love to write a villain okay I once genuinely considered Hilda FE4 lmao

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 like writing dialogue and characters bonding but I'm starting to like more action oriented scenes too.

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”? For Mercedes in particular I get excited to write her steel and strength, especially when it's combined with her gentleness rather than opposed to it.

Favorite TOA-related memories? Every thread I've writen with Elincia and Rua's Byleth <3

Present or past tense? I tend to default to present in TOA but usually past tense. I'm flexible though and will try and match my partner.

Normal size text, small text, no preference? I actually find small text easier to focus in on and read (I can find normal a bit too cluttered and it can send my eyes wandering lmao) but I'm perfectly happy to use normal text, it just takes me a bit longer to comb through.

Got any potential muse delusions to share? 😉 I can't see a shake up happening soon but... Zephia or Chloe are probably forerunners. I've thought about Palla and Astrid too but I'm not sure if I can see the longevity. Also Neimi, Myrrh and Rodrigue have sparked.... ideas. For muses I've written before, Julia is the most likely but I think she's having a nice break right now :)

[deathsdue]

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. template credit: thanks neffi!!

Name: Lailah

Pronouns: She/Her, They/Them

Birthday (no year): 9/12

Where are you from? What is your time zone? West Coast, USA

How long is your roleplay experience? Almost 20 years

How were you introduced to roleplaying as a whole? My first RP experience was in high school where we had a binder we passed around in the hallway between class lol I went on to forums, docs, email, mmos, and at some point tumblr and discord.

How were you introduced to TOA? I'd been missing the Tumblr RP experience and decided to search for an FE group and bam

Do you have any pets? I do! My black kitty, my baby boy who drools and meows a lot, Binx

What is your favorite time of year and why? Autumn when it's cooler but not too freezing and the leaves are pretty

What is your IRL occupation? QA tester for a video game company

Some interests and things you like/enjoy? Besides writing, playing games, reading, occasionally drawing, music, comics, collecting figures and such

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? Tales of, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Zelda, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Persona, Harvest Moon, farm sims in general, Metal Gear Solid, the list honestly just goes on and on and on

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon? ahahaha ok the list doesn't actually go that far. I didn't get that into pokemon. I do think they're cute but I just didn't get into the franchise. That said, I have plushies of chimchar, vulpix, and eevee so that probably says something

Tell us some funfacts and trivia about yourself! - When I worked at a dental office, I almost set the place on fire. The dentist was really nice about it tho and eventually he even wanted me to stay and get trained as a dental assistant - I have a low spicy tolerance but I'm really good with cajun spices (likely from growing up in Texas) - I'm in the credits of games that you've heard about (I won't say what) - I have a horrible sense of smell

How did you get into Fire Emblem? My friend was actually really into PoR but I didn't get into it until Awakening came out.

What Fire Emblem games have you played? (Note: I have not beaten all of these) Genealogy, Sacred Stones, Awakening, Fates, Three Houses, Engage, TMS, Heroes

First & Favorite Fire Emblem games? Awakening & Sacred Stones

List your 5 favorite Fire Emblem characters across the series! Frederick, Eirika, Ephraim, Gerome, Seteth

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! Frederick lol I'm such a Frederick simp. I love how caring and protective he is, that he knits, isn't afraid of showing affection, just generally wholesome imo

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳 Frederick 😳

If you’ve played (or are familiar with) the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays? - Awakening: Frederick (are you noticing a trend) and still Frederick - Fates: Yukimura, but probably Shura if I did it again - Three Houses: Hanneman haha I'd try a different one if I went back but Hanneman is my favorite - Engage: Mauvier, and still him

Favorite Fire Emblem class? rogues!

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class and stats? Would you be playable? Some kind of archer probably

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? Golden Deer all the way!

If you were an Officers Academy student, what would be your boons, banes and potential budding talent?

If you were an Engage character, which nation would you originate from? Firene probably

How do you pronounce TOA? To-ah

Current TOA muses? Gerome & Mikoto!

Past TOA muses? none right now

Who was your first TOA muse? Best boy Gerome

Do you believe you have a type of character you gravitate towards writing? It seems like…tsundere types tend to get me, or the ones that have lived a long time and have complicated pasts. but I have others that don't fit those trends too

Do you have characters or types of characters you don’t think you can handle writing, but wish you could? tbh my indie has a wide range of character types and I try to not write characters that are too similar. However, I guess I tend to not write types that are Too extroverted

What kind of scenes, situations etc do you believe you enjoy writing the most? I enjoy all types but I suppose very emotional scenes are fun for me, whether it's angst or positive emotions

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”? for Mikoto, I just want to write her with her children and also, tbh, finding a new love haha I'm in no rush for it but it'd fun if it happened. I'd also love to see her on the battlefield protecting others

Favorite TOA-related memories? Happyland was a blast to write with everyone and I adore the connections it brought so much. I can't wait to throw Mikoto into an event, she deserves it

Present or past tense? I think my habit is past but I try to match others so I go for present. if you see my flipping tenses I'm so sorry haha

Normal size text, small text, no preference? I default to small text but I'll match my writing partner, or use regular in case I'm concerned about readability for others

Got any potential muse delusions to share? 😉  ahahaha uhmmmmm if I can, Eirika, but if not then probably Peony or maybe even Rhys or Mozu. I write so many FE characters that I will never run out of ones to pick lol I've also written all of these characters at some point so I love to see how others write them too

[mha-grievances]

So with the way that I talk about Katsuki and MHA, you’d think that I see myself as some sort of armchair critic, someone who constantly has to pick apart everything about whatever media I consume. Oddly enough, that’s not really true. I know how to turn my brain off and enjoy something. I know how to get so wrapped up in something that I don’t notice any inconsistencies. I know how to simply allow suspension of disbelief to take over and let myself have fun. So why do I struggle with MHA?

Let me describe a Video Game I love: Fire Emblem Awakening. Awakening’s perhaps the most popular Fire Emblem game in the series alongside 3 Houses. Despite this, Awakening does have some glaring flaws. The gameplay isn’t as polished as some of the previous and newer games, parts of the story do drag on, and some lore related stuff are just glossed over. What makes Awakening such a beloved game? Well, despite the flaws of the gameplay, they aren’t enough to hinder the overall experience unless you’re an elitist. The world and most of the characters are all super charming, fun, and deceptively well written. Though the game does take a lighter tone most of the time, when it wants to take itself seriously, it will without making it seem awkward. For those who aren’t aware of Awakening, it was meant to be the last Fire Emblem title and it was meant to serve as a celebration of the Fire Emblem franchise. It does all of this fantastically. Despite a basic story and some hiccups in the gameplay, Awakening’s strong points have such a big presence that it makes the game great to play and even to this day it has a big fandom for a game that was released 10+ years ago.

MHA struggles with its tone. It doesn’t know when it wants to be good ol’ superhero fun or if it wants to be this philosophical discussion about heroics and heroes. Moments that shouldn’t be played for laughs are and vice versa. So much things are introduced into the world that when something becomes big, it feels smaller than it should be. Things that should’ve happened a long time ago only happen now and things that shouldn’t have happened persist in the story with no real reason as to why they should happen. Characters come and go, playing no real role, especially those who should have a bigger role, while characters who should’ve taken the backseat a while ago are hogging the spotlight. Some people might say that due to us following MHA in real time, the pacing may seem slower than it actually is and it’ll make a lot more sense once everything’s published and read in one sitting. This excuse doesn’t sit right with me cause I’ve read Webtoons that have weekly updates and were still able to maintain the pace of their story, where I actively looked forwards to reading the next update and seeing how all the pieces fit together. Sure, they may have had slower parts where the story’s just playing with its side characters, but even then, the story is consistently written well to the point where I’ve eagerly kept up with the journey even when my favorite characters weren’t front and center.

To look at an example of MHA’s awkward focus and pacing, let’s look at the most recent chapter. Katsuki’s alive now, and while you might think I’d focus on this, I already knew he was coming back so I’m not going to rant about that. I wanna turn my focus to AFO. AFO’s someone who shouldn’t have this much influence on the story anymore. Reason why? The series was building Tomura up to be the new big bad. Whereas Izuku was going to become All Might’s successor, Tomura was becoming AFO’s successor. Suddenly though, Hori introduces the idea that AFO can just possess people and Tomura suddenly becomes a puppet. Yeah, Tomura was being manipulated by AFO before, but he was finally developing beyond AFO’s influence to become his own villain. All that character development thrown down the drain. Sure, Tomura eventually becomes free from the possession and is fighting Izuku for his own reasons now, but AFO’s hogged up enough of the spotlight doing nothing of importance that I don’t really care for Tomura vs Izuku anymore. Keep in mind that after a ton of chapters we still know Jack shit about AFO except that he’s a power hungry person and had a brother. At this point going over his backstory would be an info dump.

There’s also the issue of AFO’s character in general, and that’s being a physical obstacle for the heroes. Now, there’s nothing wrong with a character existing solely to be a physical obstacle, but you have to pace them well or else they end up like AFO, a character who somehow not only knows everything that someone can and will do, but also whip bullshit out of his ass that keeps him around longer than he needs to be. There’s nothing wrong with an OP character but AFO’s an example on why OP characters have a bad rep. It only gets worse when you remember that he should’ve stayed down so many times but for some reason he refuses to exit the story. All Might beats him and he’s still plotting. Tomura rejects him, he acts like it doesn’t matter. All Might tries to take out AFO with him, somehow AFO was able to counter that. AFO should’ve handed the spotlight to Tomura, but he instead persists on stealing it all for himself.

Anyways, I just wanted to rant some more on MHA’s pacing. Thank you all for reading 😂.

[hopeymchope]

Just me loving all over Fire Emblem: Engage

Years after being so thoroughly disappointed and even angered by Fire Emblem: Three Houses — which, it must be said, is deeply popular and incredibly successful because that's how it goes for me — I've found myself loving Fire Emblem: Engage. I put off playing it because the online reception was so "meh," but I needn't have been so worried. My deep affection for the series is back.

Play as Aquafresh OR Pepsi!

The two biggest reasons I'm happy? Well, FIRST, my biggest complaint about Three Houses has been... not cured, unfortunately, but still significantly alleviated. If you want to remain adequately leveled/competitive in taking on strategic battles, you still need to do a bunch of side chores that amount to "running around your home base doing boring shit" between each fight. BUT. 1) The sheer amount of those chores is significantly less now, and 2) all the blind guesswork has been removed from increasing Support levels. You'll never be trying to helplessly guess what to say at some fucking teatime or in some classroom conversation where every response seems valid, nor will be you making your best guess on what food to serve people. Because the game just fucking tells you the kind of gifts or food each person likes! (And tea events/random interstitial convos are blessedly absent.)

SECOND, however? It's the quality of the writing. Yes, I know people have complained a ton about the writing in "Engage," but in my experience, they're primarily complaining because they felt the story is so simplistic. And, sure — I get that. There's so much emotional drama built into the setups of the last three games (Three Houses, Echoes, and Fates) that this tale seems rather bog-standard by comparison. The overarching story of Engage can be boiled down to a tale as old as the franchise itself — essentially "Evil Dragon gonna Do Evil." There are also some aspects of the worldbuilding/subtextual implications that don't quite make sense. But I'm not talking about the overarching plot when I praise the writing here — I'm talking about how the characters possess more detail/facets than usual, and the dialogue/banter between characters is so damn fun.

A woman I feel completely normal about.

I don't even quite know how to explain it. Maybe the humor is just more to my taste, but I've laughed so much more at this one. And by the same token, maybe I'm just digging deeper into these characters because their dialogue is endearing them to me. But after playing the past four games before this one (yes, I started with "Awakening" like some Filthy Casual, I'M SORRY), I don't recall any other game featuring characters with so much detail to them. In Engage, many chracters possess more than the usual "two noteworthy personality traits/talents" that are typically found in FE's enormous casts. I'm talking about people like Citrinne, Lindon, Yunaka, Clanne, Ivy, Gregory... I can easily say like FIVE things about each of them. And yes, I consider this to be an important step forward.

Okay, so: I like the dialogue, I like the characters, I don't like all the side busywork, the overall story is bland. (The Fell Xenalogue's story is kinda sick though?) But hold up, what about the actual MEAT of the game — the core gameplay of having strategic battles? That's not usually a problem, mind you. But how'd it go this time around?

WELL. I'd argue we've got some of the best maps and best ways to optimize characters that we've ever had. There are still some lame straightforward corridors in here, but by and large? You get a lot more freedom in how you lure enemies to you, how you can split up and flank them while simultaneously attacking from the front, how you can now disarm (or "Break") them during one turn so other allies can attack more easily/do more damage — it's pretty rad!

One of the earliest maps to make me go "Oh cool."

There's even a main theme with lyrics, and although it's never gonna be the inescapable earworm that "You are the ocean's gray waves" became, it's not shabby either.

I've put over 80 hours into Engage so far, and although I'm finished with the main story, I'm not yet finished unlocking stuff. There's a lot to love here. I'm just happy to be back.

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

Here a take that closer that just romhack propaganda :

Drums of War is a top three FE experience. Honestly I think I rank it first. Just raw strategic gameplay with no skill system and some very creative map, tight ressource management (what if a whole game was constructed around a Shura choice each chapter ?), and without revealing anything the story is really, really fucking good. It is with no hesitation that I said that the protagonist would genuinely be the best written character in the franchise if the game was official

The game is hard without being impossible, Evander and Connacht are my goat, and one the character theme is battle on the big bridge, go play it

(If the admin could add a link to feuniverse thread, it would be greatly appreciated, can't add link in the prompt)

seems cool :)