#probably in like sacred stones or path of radiance??

[silent-partner-412]

It’s wild thinking back that during my first playthrough of FE7, I was pretty close to soft iron manning it. I don’t think I reset more than once or twice, or maybe even at all, which is kinda wild cuz I’m the kind of player who gets super anxious over losing units for good. Like I just let myself lose my favorites like Lucius, or have complete massacres in chapters like Battle Before Dawn and just. Move on??? I don’t even know how I did that, I usually lose a unit and just freak out.

Honestly I probably should play more FE games like this cuz that’s literally how they’re meant to be played but it’s so hard to get past the baggage of a lost unit, especially on blind playthroughs where I don’t know what’s coming. I guess I let myself make an exception for FE7 since it was an especially easy game and they threw overpowered units at me all the time (hi Pent and Hawkeye!) but it’s still crazy to think about since I’m playing FE4 now and abusing the shit out of the battle saves.

[queenlua]

what would you recommend as a first Fire Emblem game to play? do i just pick up the latest one, or does an older one capture the True Fire Emblem Experience(tm) better? sorta like Super Metroid still being my absolute favorite of that series…

iiiiiinteresting question, huh! it probably depends somewhat on what you think you'll like / care about the most in a Fire Emblem game?

my personal first FE game was Sacred Stones & i think that's still a really good place to start. the spritework is *gorgeous*; i personally think it's the visual peak of the series. it's got the core "old-school" FE gameplay but with lots of nice quality-of-life improvements (as compared to e.g. something like FE4 or FE7), and the story is my second-favorite in the series after the Tellius games—just a good core emotional core with really well-drawn characters and support conversations.

the drawback is that it's on GBA, so if you don't have one of those lying around (or some other handheld to play it on), you're stuck playing it on an emulator on a computer, which i think hampers the enjoyment somewhat—like, i played a lot of that game in "in-between" moments, while on the bus, etc, and it was really excellent for that. also: it's on the easier side! which i didn't mind; i find the FE game loop enjoyable both when i'm just cruising through baddies AND when i'm having to tightly & rigorously strategize every move. but i know a couple people who stopped playing because they found it too easy & got bored

i do think the Gamecube/Wii FEs (Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, aka the Tellius games) hold up really well. obviously i am a little insane about them *stares at fanfiction output* and thus clearly biased, but the character writing is shockingly good & rich (sometimes despite itself, lol), and the gameplay's real fun! reasonably challenging while not making you want to throw your controller across the room (unless you opt into lunatic you mad lad!). i do think they're a little ugly though lol. rip. also, if you like PoR enough to play RD, you'll find RD... uneven. it's uneven in ways that mostly delight me, but like, yeah it's suffering a little from "we're telling like four different storylines with a HUGE cast & jerking you around between them a bit" so it interrupts the usual "smooth progression of your carefully-curated army" gameflow for something more like "wow, hope you're looking forward to saying BYE FELICIA to all your old dudes & putting down a random rebellion in Crimea for exactly five chapters & then doing something else entirely."

those games are my personal faves though and. i will always tell people to start with them. in principle. but you should decide if you trust me lol

a WHOLE lot lot of people got started with Awakening, and the core gameplay in that one is VERY fun. about halfway through, if you're sufficiently clever at assigning abilities, the game becomes a little too easy to "break," but it's an enjoyable ride the whole time. it also introduced a LOT of the quality-of-life improvements people now take for granted in modern FEs (you can choose to disable permadeath; UX is much nicer; etc). so if dealing with some old-school cruft is unpalatable to you, you'll definitely want Awakening or newer.

unfortunately the writing in Awakening is, uh, not great, lol. there's two generations of characters you're playing as, and the first generation is just... not very interesting! very one-note and tropey! storyline is nonsense! the second-generation characters are a little more fun but overall i found the main plot's incoherence + the plethora of dull characters meant that i found the story very forgettable.

i think the writing in Conquest/Birthright is similarly weak but i do have to say, if you want to powergame and optimize stats and get REALLY SWEATY GAMEPLAY NERD about it, Conquest can't be beat. best map design in the series, extremely challenging, etc

and then there's the massive fandom juggernaut known as Three Houses lol. of the "modern" FEs, this game contains the most Stuff I Like About Fire Emblem. the storyline's a lil jankier than e.g. the Tellius storyline, but still has plenty of fun stuff to chew on, and even if you don't some of the 3-4 storylines offered, there's a pretty strong chance you'll resonate with at least one of them. and the gameplay is *fun*, lots of QoL improvements, reasonably snappy...

...but it does have a somewhat bloated, "AAA-gamification" feel. visiting the monastery between EVERY SINGLE FUCKING CHAPTER to do "home base"-y stuff gets old fast. and also, the gameplay starts to drag some as you go along... a campaign takes like 40-50hrs iirc, and near the end, i usually find myself going like "jfc i don't WANT to do these three skirmish battles before i go onto the next one... but i need to because it's the Objectively Optimal Thing To Do... why is this game making playing it so annoying," lol. also, the writing, while reasonably solid... could've been reduced by like 50% and probably been *stronger*? most "old-school" FE games only had 3-5 support conversations per unit, and that was generally enough to give a good sense of the character without Overwhelming With Pointless Chatter. but so many characters in Three Houses have *so much more* text than that and it just starts feeling like.. a chore... to go through... especially when in practice i won't even like all those conversations... so yeah idk

tl;dr if you have slightly old-school sensibilities, get Sacred Stones; if you want a "modern" feel, get Awakening or Three Houses; if you want to make Lua Internetperson happy, personally, you should grab Path of Radiance :P

[cinnamon-galaxies]

Dernière Danse

Pairings: Obi-Wan x (opera singer) reader Warnings/Tags: song fic, romance, affection, deep conversation, both characters kiss Summary: You are an opera singer and Obi-Wan accompanies you to your home planet to protect you from the bounty hunters pursuing you. When you both visit a place that not only brings back beautiful memories in you, but also has a special influence on you, you both find yourself captured in an enchanting melancholy that feeds the secret affection you hold for each other. In the embrace of the atmosphere, you do what you cherish the most: sing a beautiful song, that unexpectedly leads to a fervent waltz. Song: "Dernière Danse" by Indila https://youtu.be/sCNbRElkSw8?si=92fJyU9U7k13UrMO Words: 1.9k A/n: It took me so long to finish the story and I will probably start a series with short stories about the romance between Obi-Wan and the opera singer.

~~~~~~

The soft glow of the moon bathed the ancient ruins, perched on a hidden cliff, in a silver radiance. Abandoned for millennia, this sacred place had been a sanctuary since your earliest memories. The magic of the ruins revealed itself most profoundly under the cloak of the night, an enchanted aura that drew you in like a long-lost friend. Although your visits had become infrequent since relocating to Coruscant, each return to your family home beckoned you to this hallowed ground.

The weathered murals that adorned the ruins told tales of dramas and ancient fairy tales, capturing your imagination since childhood. Tonight, however, your solitude was interrupted. Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi and a dear friend, accompanied you on this nocturnal pilgrimage. Duty bound him to protect you from the bounty hunters that pursued you, yet it was your idea to share this special place, a testament to the bond you shared.

Your voice, filled with a hint of melancholy, carried the weight of memories as you spoke to Obi-Wan. "As a child, my mother and I spent countless hours here. She told me stories of the ancient civilization that once thrived in these ruins." A fond smile graced your lips, and Obi-Wan observed the light in your eyes with keen interest. The beauty and tranquility of this place seemed to touch a chord within him.

"The Vaarhi, that's what they were called, right?" Obi-Wan recalled, his hand exploring the weathered surface of a stone brick as you nodded in agreement.

"Yes, they are my ancestors."

"Really?" Obi-Wan settled onto a worn brick, his touch absorbing the essence of the aged stone. "The spiritual legacy of the Vaarhi is evident in you."

You chuckled softly, remembering how Obi-Wan had remarked on your spiritual aura when you first met him after a performance. Closing your eyes, you inhaled the night air, momentarily lost in shared memories. In that quiet moment, your mind wandered to the unexpected connection that had grown between you and Obi-Wan. Fate seemed to intertwine your paths at every turn, leading you to a profound understanding. The camaraderie, the shared ideals, and the uncanny similarities in your personalities forged a bond that transcended duty. Despite your growing affection for him, a bitter-sweet realization hung in the air—the Jedi Code forbade the reciprocation of such feelings. But all of your encounters were not mere coincidence, but forget a connection that runs deeper than duty demands. It felt like fate and fate had a curious way of guiding, even when least expected.

The nocturnal symphony of the ruins seemed to echo the complexity of your emotions. The forbidden affections tugged at your heart, yet the night held a quiet reassurance that, for now, you could revel in the shared warmth of the ruins and the profound connection that had woven itself into the fabric of your intertwined destinies.

Your eyes fluttered open, determined to cast aside the intrusive thought that threatened to permeate your mind. Instead, you immersed yourself in the delicate perfume of countless flowers wafting through the air. A symphony of joyful colors and tender emotions enveloped you. "Indeed, Master Kenobi, spirituality courses through my veins. Historical tales, superstitions, and fairy tales evoke a melancholy that eludes verbal expression. It's this connection that allows me to empathize so deeply with my roles in the opera," you explained, turning to face him. His gentle gaze lingered on your silhouette, absorbing the details of your face and the flowing dress that cascaded around your legs like a waterfall.

As your melancholy brushed against him, his aura softened, and you studied his countenance with keen interest. Something stirred in his eyes, and your heart quickened. In the night's gentle illumination, his irises mirrored the bluish hues of the flowers adorning the ruins. A flutter danced in your stomach, prompting you to turn away, wary of revealing too much about yourself and the burgeoning feelings for him. The awareness that he could sense your emotional state added an extra layer of complexity.

With purposeful steps, you reached the cliff's edge. Crooked trees, aged companions of the ruins, lined the slope, guardians of the former temple complex that loomed above the evergreen grassland. In the absence of urban lights, a tapestry of stars unfolded in myriad colors, a celestial display unparalleled in many corners of the planet.

"This place is where my passion for singing was kindled," you shared, turning back to Obi-Wan, who remained a silent observer. A tingling sensation traversed your body, and once again, your stomach fluttered. These were the moments that hinted at a connection beyond what he was willing to acknowledge. The stolen glances, the lingering stares—could he truly believe you were oblivious?

"I can imagine this place has been a wellspring of inspiration for you," Obi-Wan replied, briefly diverting his gaze to the surroundings. "It's a rare beauty, unlike many places I've visited."

"It's profoundly special to me. A haven of tranquility, seldom frequented by others. Being here grounds me and brings me closer to my roots," you explained, moving away from the cliff to settle on a stone opposite Obi-Wan. His eyes followed your every movement. Yes, it was a sanctuary for you, and that's precisely why you had brought him here.

You drew in another deep breath, and began to sing, the haunting melody weaving through the quiet night. The song, a familiar refrain that echoed through these ancient ruins ever before, held lyrics filled with sadness and heartbreak—but at the same time, was equally beautiful.

"Ô ma douce souffrance. Pourquoi s'acharner? Tu r'commences. Je n'suis qu'un être sans importance. Sans lui, je suis un peu paro. Je déambule seule dans l'métro."

Obi-Wan, captivated by the ethereal sound, held his breath as your voice painted the air. It was a sound he had heard many times before, yet each rendition enthralled him anew. Your voice, incomparably beautiful, possessed an unforgettable and haunting quality that silenced his thoughts like a siren's song. Unable to tear his gaze away, he found himself entirely entranced.

"Une dernière danse. Pour oublier ma peine immense. Je veux m'enfuir que tout r'commence. Ô ma douce souffrance."

The lyrics, tinged with emotions that reached deep within, were a poignant declaration of your romantic feelings for Obi-Wan. While you had sung for him before, subliminally during an opera performance, this time was different. It was an intimate moment meant solely for him, and the weight of it hung in the air.

You shifted your gaze, peering beyond the ancient trees to the horizon where the sea of stars unfolded. As the refrain left your lips, your voice reached its zenith, yet still withholding a fraction of its full potential.

"J'remue le ciel, le jour, la nuit. Je danse avec le vent, la pluie. Un peu d'amour, un brin de miel. Et je danse, danse, danse, danse, danse, danse, danse."

Enchanted by the spellbinding melody, Obi-Wan gracefully rose from his seat and approached you. A gentle smile adorned his face as he extended his hand, seamlessly intertwining with yours. In a fluid motion, he drew you to your feet, one hand securely holding yours, while the other rested on your waist, eliciting a delightful shiver of excitement.

"Et dans le bruit, je cours et j'ai peur. Est-ce mon tour? Revient la douleur. Dans tout Paris, je m’abandonne. Et je m'envole, vole, vole, vole, vole, vole, vole."

Obi-Wan's eyes locked onto yours, and with the onset of the next verse, he initiated a dance, pulling you into a surprising rhythm. You followed his lead, visibly taken aback; it was the first time witnessing his dance, a revelation that defied your expectations. You never imagined he would, let alone possess the skill you were now witnessing.

"Que d���espérance. Sur ce chemin en ton absence. J'ai beau trimer, sans toi ma vie n'est qu'un décor qui brille, vide de sens."

Lost in the depths of each other's eyes, you both shared a profound gaze. As if ensnared by an unseen force, you found it impossible to look away, losing yourself in the infinite galaxies reflected in his gaze. The gentle and loving smile on Obi-Wan's lips conveyed a message that transcended mere friendship, echoing the depth of emotions that unfolded in the dance of the night.

With each note of the ensuing chorus, your steps took on a newfound extravagance. Across the ancient stones, you and the Jedi glided seamlessly, your voice ascending to meet the night's gentle breeze. The moonlit waltz evolved into a dance of emotions, a symphony of harmonious steps, weaving an unspoken narrative as the hem of your long dress swirled through the air, lightly brushing against both your and Obi-Wan's legs.

"J'remue le ciel, le jour, la nuit. Je danse avec le vent, la pluie. Un peu d'amour, un brin de miel. Et je danse, danse, danse, danse, danse, danse, danse. Et dans le noise, je cours et j'ai peur. Est-ce mon tour? Revient la douleur. Dans tout Paris, je m’abandonne. Et je m'envole, vole, vole, vole, vole, vole, vole."

In an instant, Obi-Wan cast aside all pretenses. Locking his gaze onto your beautiful visage, he guided you into a graceful spin, disregarding everything—reality, his duties, and the Jedi code. All he desired was to be near you and savor the present moment. It wasn't just your enchanting voice; it was the fervor in your dance that wholly captivated him.

As the third verse echoed in the night, you began to toy with your voice, releasing notes that resonated heavenly, traversing the ruins, the cliff, and far beyond. Gathering all your emotions and the love you harbored for Obi-Wan, you expressed them through your high, soaring tones. It was an unmistakable message, one reflected in his eyes. He comprehended every nuance of your expression, the declaration of love entwined with the ache simmering within you, intensified by the realization that your love was forbidden in this world.

"Dans sette douce souffrance. Dont j'ai payé toutes les offenses. Écoute comme mon cœur is immense. Je suis une enfant du monde."

As your message resonated with Obi-Wan, his grasp on your hand and hips tightened, his gaze conveying a myriad of emotions. It spoke volumes about your significance to him, the emotions you stirred within him, and the profound desires hidden beneath the surface.

With the final rendition of the chorus, you infused the last ounce of emotion and power into your voice. Your wide eyes locked onto Obi-Wan as he gracefully twirled you through one pirouette after another.

"J'remue le ciel, le jour, la nuit. Je danse avec le vent, la pluie. Un peu d'amour, un brin de miel. Et je danse, danse, danse, danse, danse, danse, danse. Et dans le bruit, je cours et j'ai peur. Est-ce mon tour? Revient la douleur. Dans tout Paris, je m’abandonne. Et je m'envole, vole, vole, vole, vole, vole, vole."

With the final note resonating in the air, Obi-Wan orchestrated a concluding twirl. Your dress cascaded like a radiant veil, exuding an elegance surpassing that of a billion moons and stars. In the midst of the dance, you felt the sense of freedom coursing through your limbs, all while under the careful watch of the Jedi. There was also a sense of relief, because of the secret you have now unveiled.

As the momentum waned, Obi-Wan guided you back with deliberate ease. In one seamless motion, he drew you closer, releasing his hand from your hip. At the last syllable escaping your lips, his now-free hand cradled the back of your head, initiating a kiss.

Without hesitation, you leaned into the tender yet passionate exchange. A cosmic explosion of sensations surged within you as the long-awaited dream became true. Your hands traced over his tunica, threading through his hair, drawing him nearer. In that moment, all you yearned for was the eternity of this embrace.

[princessmacedon]

{ happy anniversary!

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 courtesy of Neffi! 💕

Name: Red, more commonly nicknamed Reddo

Pronouns: they/them preferred, she/he OK!

Birthday (no year): December 28th

Where are you from? What is your time zone? moved to kentucky when I was young, and for sake of ease i use EST (TOAST)! i live near a timezone line, so i get to be flexible like that >vo)v HAHA

How long is your roleplay experience? with a few on and off breaks, roughly 15 years? i forgot about a period of my life where i 'moderated' (read: was the most active user on) a warrior cats RP site; my first foray into rp proper was in pokemon rp on tumblr, my first muse was lyra but i didnt have an internet name until i picked up and settled into writing (you'll never guess who)

How were you introduced to roleplaying as a whole? kind of half answered this above oops, but with warrior cats i genuinely dont remember? i probably just googled warrior cats and wound up there HAHA. for pokemon...... honestly probably the same thing

How were you introduced to TOA? key had mentioned it to me in passing a few times, so i knew she was there, but it wasn't until my friend zyra mentioned it to me and suggested we write macedon siblings together again that i actually joined, hahaha

Do you have any pets? i do! i adopted a ?? year old dog from the shelter about six years ago, so now he's x+6 years old :] pretty sure he's some kind of border collie mix, but not certain! his name is tobin, but he'll answer as long as you say 'ob'. he's a sillyhead

What is your favorite time of year and why? (Season, holiday, general period) it used to be winter because i love the snow! but as i get older and more harrowed by weather conditions, i appreciate how normal and not-trying-to-kill-me autum is HAHA

What is your IRL occupation? (finger guns) figuring it out

Some interests and things you like/enjoy? drawing was my first love! i like reading, especially comics, and writing; i like video games and immersing myself in stories, and have passing interests in things that i don't commit to trying out (like resin, charms, etc etc)

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? FFXIV, mainly; genshin impact and hsr; various farming-ish sims (story of seasons + old harvest moon, stardew valley, rune factory, currently fields of mistria); to a lesser extent dragon age, ace attorney, various VNs / otome / rhythm games, pokemon until roughly scarlet/violet era and then my wallet couldnt keep up with it HSDFSGVSD

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: as a kid it waffled between fire / dark, but not sure i have a dead set favorite type anymore. favorite pokemon still lucario and appletun for sure though!

Tell us some funfacts and trivia about yourself! (Optional bonus challenge: if you filled this out last year, try not to repeat what you said back then!) - i love christmas and thinking about gift giving! when i was in school my christmas spreadsheet hit like, 50 names HAHA nooooo way do i have that energy anymore, though - i'm reasonably fond of baking and also reasonably terrible at it! something always goes wrong but usually (usually) stuff comes out pretty tasty in the end. except for that time i set my oven on fire

How did you get into Fire Emblem? my friends were talking about how much fun they were having with the new game at the time, awakening! it looked fun so i decided to try it out

What Fire Emblem games have you played? - Beaten: Genealogy, Blazing Blade (FE7 if youre like me and still cant remember which one is which), Shadow Dragon & New Mystery, Awakening, Fates (Conquest + Birthright), Three Houses (Blue Lions) - Started: Binding Blade (FE6), Sacred Stones, Path of Radiance (FE9), Fates (Revelation), Shadows of Valentia, Three Houses (Black Eagles & Golden Deer), Engage

First & Favorite Fire Emblem games: Awakening -- still Awakening! possibly tied with 3H, though. i really enjoy games where i can peacefully level grind

List your 5 favorite Fire Emblem characters across the series! vaguely ordered, it's: Wolf, Maria, Cordelia, Seliph, Katarina...? if you think you're seeing a trend you're probably right, hahaha ^^ writing a character is an expression of love for me, so inevitably my muses climb higher and higher on my list over time

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! the clearest one i can remember is wolf, because when i was playing fe11 i was passively using him because he was pretty, and then he got 7 crits in a row and i was like :pika:

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳i'm weak toward green haired women AHSJASFDSF but actual game crushes, hmm... not sure!

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 -> still chrom! - Fates: takumi -> hmm... silas or flora? - Three Houses: dimitri -> still dimitri, except now he's duking it out with yuri - Engage: i have the ring in my pocket as we speak, suffering from the burden of choice... probably diamant though?

Favorite Fire Emblem class? whatever class my blorbos thrive in

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class and stats? Would you be playable? in all likelihood i'm a villager with just absolutely baffling AI. not entirely stupid, but you cant in good conscience say it's smart either HAHA as a playable unit though, i might be a recruit-type? i could do well if you help me grow, otherwise i'm just this scruffy shitty thing tucked into your pocket. middling-high skill growth, paper defense, and you wish you knew what my speed growth was because i don't (probably fast as a mage but realistically NOT as anything physical)

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) my heart says blue lions, but if i'm just some guy (unaffiliated civilian) i won't be surprised

If you were an Officers Academy student, what would be your boons, banes and potential budding talent? - Boons: Reason - Banes: Authority, Gauntlets - Budding Talent: 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) hmm... probably either Firene or Lythos! i'm too much of a weenie to be from brodia HAHA

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔(separate letters, to-ah, other?) toah, like noah! to all my xiv gamers out there this definitely applies to job shorthands too. durg. dirk. whum blum sidge. rurpur and rogg...

Current TOA muses: Maria & Katarina

Past TOA muses? Cordelia my beloved

Who was your first TOA muse? If you no longer have them, can you see yourself picking them up again? Maria! unless something unprecedented happens, i don't see that changing. writing her, her want and determination to love and find wonder in the world, to spread and be joy -- it just puts me in a good place! it's really, genuinely helped me a lot, even if her extroversion is exhausting to my introvert ass sometimes HAHA

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?) uhhh... i definitely tend toward characters who are in some regard defined by a form of love or strong emotion, romantic though it need not be -- people who have some sort of powerful, aching tenderness in their heart. i've not really done as much as i've wanted in terms of bringing that out of them, but it's definitely something that draws me in to a character in the first place!

Do you have characters or types of characters you don’t think you can handle writing, but wish you could? ooh, there are lots of characters i like who have a brusque edge or manner, who might be harsh or cold... i wish i could do that! i'd like to try, i think. and also the funny, energetic, boisterous types -- i love to see them and be around them, but i definitely can't pull it off hahaha

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?) it's been a while since i've gone all in on this kind of scene, but i love emotional scenes and heart-to-hearts -- the sort of thing where you're communicating your feelings with everything you have and trying to reach someone else! i usually rein myself in well shy of that though, hahaha. i worry a lot about getting too lost in the sauce and derailing a conversation/thread, or making it all about what my muse/what they want to communicate.

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 katarina, i'd love for her to make some friends! she's her own worst enemy in this regard, separating herself from friends/friendships whether consciously or subconsciously. for maria... well, i'd love for her to have a real heart to heart with someone!

Favorite TOA-related memories? to this day i miss and adore annie's frederick! his dynamic with my cordelia at the time was so much fun to write and to talk about and we had such thoughts for how their relationship would evolve -- it's one of the most interesting and endearing relationships i've had the pleasure of writing! on a sillier note, i often think about leif hauling ass after kanoesa's lewyn HAHA

Present or past tense? it used to be past tense, but i think toa's successfully converted me to defaulting to present hahaha ^^;; consciously at least, i try to match whatever my partner does!

Normal size text, small text, no preference? it doesn't matter to me, but i do hate fighting tumblr to keep all of the small text small.

Got any potential muse delusions to share? 😉 the wolf app/blog i've been refining on and off for the better part of three years is no secret HAHA, but i've seriously contemplated writing a few other characters! radd and boucheron, to name a couple. i get super attached to my characters though, so it's a bit tricky

[ostianshadow]

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: vicky (aka key or wkey)

Pronouns: she/her

Birthday (no year): jan 6

Where are you from? What is your time zone? french canadian. west coast best coast. pst.

Roleplay experience: idk since i was like 7? running around the neighbourhood w the boyz and gming our own little world of makebelieve… writing/online-wise, since around the age of 10-11 when we got a puter in the living room.

Got any pets? black kitty called cabbage i fostered and then adopted. she's no thoughts head empty and that's why she won over my other 16 foster cats. /hj

Favorite time of year: autumn-ish or spring. don't do well in the heat but sad makes winter bad.

Some interests and things you like: comics&webtoons, puzzle games (picross, sudoku, etc), ultimate frisbee, tennis, hiking, traveling

Some funfacts & trivia about you:

-prefer crepes to pancakes

-don't leave me alone with a box of ice cream sandwiches for the love of-

-past key has cumulatively drawn 500+ comic pages over the years (and misses it dearly)

-used to play ice hockey, played for bout 12 years. stopped due to injuries.

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? ffxiv, zelda, tales of, undertale

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: ghost, haunter

How did you get into Fire Emblem? smash bros /j i think my bro acquired a copy of fe7 and the rest is history

What Fire Emblem games have you played? 6 through current

First Fire Emblem game: 7

Favorite Fire Emblem game: hrkkk probably 7 but super fond of sacred stones n path of radiance too

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳

lmao

If you’ve played the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays?

- Awakening: mightve been chrom by accident n woulda been pissed about it. henry & gaius beloveds

- Fates: conquest- niles, birthright- azama, revelations- kaze

- Three Houses: was it claude or felix? idk but claude is def why i started w deer haha

- Engage: louis and lapis i married both that's my story and im sticking to it

Favorite Fire Emblem class: thief or mage

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class? probably an archer, or mage. miss me w close combat

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? hmm… i wanna say deer but probably beagles

If you were an Engage character, which Emblem would you Engage with? lyn. long distance pew pew goes brrrrr

How did you find TOA? kept seeing it on twitter from ol ferp mutuals and eventually caved

Current TOA muses: hector, matthew, azama

Who was your first TOA muse? If you don’t have them anymore, could you see yourself picking them up again? ewan. some days i think i could.

Have you had any other TOA muses? florina, henry

Do you think you have a type of character you gravitate towards? prickly, maybe. in general muses that allow me to explore… ewan is more outgoing than i will ever be, but lets himself feel petty or jealous. hector is brash, but struggling with an uncomfortable and unexpected weight on his shoulders. azama invites conflict like he needs it to breathe, while ive typically been averse to conflict. florina is timid but trying to grow stronger for her friends (and herself, she comes to realize). henry is… an oddball, idk how to describe what draws me to writing him. change of pace maybe? requires thinking outside the box with his unique worldview. i dont tend toward angst but matthew is a good output for it if im feelin it haha.

What do you believe you enjoy writing the most? i think i like. when threads start to come together. yknow in stories when you can start referring to things that have happened? and you're like "woah wait i know what that's referring to!!"

when you manage to reach a shared history ig? i know im p slow re. writing but i cherish the bonds and overarching/intertwined stories my muses wind up with. people you meet touch your life in ways you might not immediately fathom…

Favorite TOA-related memory: lots of lock & key justice shenanigans… bunker … enjoyed unscripted a whole heck of a lot as well

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔 T-O-A. sounds fancier to spell it out haha

Got any delusions that didn’t see the light of day that you’d like to share? 😉 felix, ike, kaze, serra, sain, naesala, ingrid, eldigan, bramimond, lethe, shinon, kliff… not so much delusions as "might be fun to explore…" – and i wouldn't trade our current reps of the above for the world ✌️

[arcaeda]

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: leon!

Pronouns: he/him mainly but they/them? also sick

Birthday (no year): aug 30th whats up my fellow virgos

Where are you from? What is your time zone?: i'm from good old virginia but ive lived in a few different state. i currently live in illinois (insert peace sign hand emoji here) i'm also central time! midwesterners make some noise

Roleplay experience: my first experience rping was when i was like 12 or so. i started off doing cringe ass rp in deviantart group chats (if anyone remembers those). i didn't start doing (cringey attempts) @ legit para rp until i was 15 or 16 where i used deviantart and tumblr interchangeably. i experimented with panfandom rp for a bit and then a little while after that i found toa!

Got any pets?: my two chihuahuas who are brothers bae and skippy! i post them in gen media sometimes (bae is the white one and skippy is the one that looks like a frito)

Favorite time of year: autumun girlies rise up

Some interests and things you like: video games and animanga, mostly. i like (mostly j)rpgs, visual novels/otome games and rogue-lites. i used to bingewatch 30 episode animes in one day when i was younger LMAO. nowadays i mostly just stick to reading manga with my favorite genres being shoujo & josei. i don't stick to the new anime seasons anymore so these are some oldies, but my favorite anime of the past would probably be kaitou saint tail and nana. the newest anime i've probably enjoyed and actually remember is akatsuki no yona.

Some funfacts & trivia about you: im gonna be real with you all im terrible @ sharing fun facts about myself. uhhhh idk i guess i've swallowed whole pennies and dimes before as a child. i also ate a whole tube of toothpaste on christmas day and puked it up later..... i ate a lot of weird shit as a kid apparently

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play?: uhhh most of my main interest in vidja games is fire emblem, but actively rn i play like mobage and rhythm games on the side. other big interest games for me would probably be the botw series (not neccesarily zelda overall but), persona 5, ffxiv a LOT in the past, hades…. i cannot think of anything else off the top of my head LOL

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: blaziken you are my favorite little guy. my favorite type is probably electric or ice though.

How did you get into Fire Emblem?: i saw fire emblem awakening at gamestop and remembering marth from smash bros decided to buy it

What Fire Emblem games have you played?: there are some i've only read the script for, but for actual games that i've played : geneaology, shadows of valentia, blazing blade, some of sacred stones, path of radiance and some of radiant dawn, awakening, conquest, three houses and engage!

First Fire Emblem game: awakening

Favorite Fire Emblem game: geneaology will stick with me in my heart until i die, but like i also really did enjoy engage. she's climbing up there boys

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳: SIGURD FIRE EMBLEM I AM BEGGING YOU I WILL BE YOUR DOG BARK BARK WOOF WOOF

If you’ve played the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays?

Awakening: chrom bc i didnt realize how s supports worked (though i did already like him when we married). my first marriage by choice was with lon'qu. i usually play f!robin, but if i do m!robin i marry cherche teehee

Three Houses: claude my beloved

Engage: alfred. hrk

Favorite Fire Emblem class: i fucking love mage knights so much. so glad engage brought them back

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class?: villager LMAOOOO but nah for real i think i would probably be a cleric, not by choice but because it would be the only thing i excel @ in universe. (my ass weak as hell)

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation?: golden deer rePRESENT WOOOOOO

If you were an Engage character, which Emblem would you Engage with?: sigurd for completely totally normal reasons. marth if you forced me to choose someone else

How did you find TOA?: on twitter! and i am so glad i decided to apply hehe

Current TOA muses: veyle and caeda!

Who was your first TOA muse?: sigurd! i wrote him here for around two years i think, but i also had prior experience writing him before toa teehee

Do you think you have a type of character you gravitate towards?: i definitely think i gravitate towards the parental figure therapist type.

What do you believe you enjoy writing the most?: i love writing idiots who mean well the most i think (looks at sigurd and my very old tormod muse)

Favorite TOA-related memory: everyone swapping and trading letters of their mun name in the discord server. also anything 0 days since our last food discourse related

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔: toe-uh! since the day i was born

Got any delusions that didn’t see the light of day that you’d like to share? 😉: (barking and growling at you) i am thinking of bringing back timerra after i recover from top surg tho.

[aimlessarchery]

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.

tagging: anybody/everybody!

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Name: Maddie

Pronouns: they/she

Birthday (no year): January 12

Where are you from? What is your time zone? US East Coast, EST

Roleplay experience: probably about ~10 years on-and-off between forums, chat rp, and tumblr

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Got any pets? two dogs! Seamus is an Australian Shepherd, and Keegan is a rescue mutt. I love them both very dearly

Favorite time of year: Fall

Some interests and things you like: drawing/painting, RPGS, video game music (listening to, finding notation of + transcribing for piano)

Some funfacts & trivia about you: i'm left-handed and an eldest sibling, which means i accidentally taught my younger sister how to play guitar hero backwards

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? oh man. childhood favorites that stick with me are Pokemon, Kingdom Hearts, and Final Fantasy. I've dipped into Tales of, though the only one I've completed is Vesperia (beloved game). Octopath Traveler 1 and 2 are both amazing. Splatoon is my favorite shooter. I've gotten lost in Pillars of Eternity for hundreds of hours. I think my fav Elder Scrolls game has become Oblivion for some reason. Sometimes I dive into sim games like Planet Zoo or Two Point Hospital for a bit. I like video games!!

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: hard to pick a type, but some of my favs are Ampharos, Ivysaur, and Furret!

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How did you get into Fire Emblem? downloaded the Awakening demo and played it like 10 times in a row. decided that buying myself the game was going to be my first "treat yourself" purchase when i moved out for college

What Fire Emblem games have you played? completed: Sacred Stones, Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, Awakening, Shadows of Valentia, Three Houses (VW, CF, most of AM) actively in progress: Blazing Blade, Three Hopes, Silver Snow route of 3H started, but only barely: Gaiden, Genealogy, Shadow Dragon (DS), New Mystery of the Emblem

First Fire Emblem game: Awakening

Favorite Fire Emblem game: Tellius Duology (hard to separate them for me haha), with SOV as a strong contender as well

Any Fire Emblem crushes? ...and if I was also a little aquiver with python from lukas's performance in the SOV DLC what of it

If you’ve played the following games, who was your first S support? - Awakening: Stahl - Fates: Azama - Three Houses: Shamir

Favorite Fire Emblem class: hmm...archers and mages, maybe. it's always satisfying when the chip damage is enough to save a front liner from retaliation, and even more satisfying when a crit or adept procs and the ranged unit is like "nah dw i got this"

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class? my gut says wind mage. idk why tho besides the lack of athleticism needed for a physical class lol

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

If you were an Engage character, which Emblem would you Engage with? I have not played engage but i want a ghost ike to be my bestie...

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How did you find TOA? Lucius was over at my house and pitched it to me one night while we were reminiscing about FERP on tumblr. pulled up the rank chart on my computer to explain it to me and everything lmao

Current TOA muses: Python and Caspar

Who was your first TOA muse? If you don’t have them anymore, could you see yourself picking them up again? Python was my first! He's definitely the one I'm most confident in, and I see him as kind of my "bedrock muse" for now.

Have you had any other TOA muses? I had Reyson for a short-ish time!

Do you think you have a type of character you gravitate towards? I think I'm still feeling out the difference between "types of characters i gravitate toward liking" and "types of characters I gravitate toward writing". I do think I feel most comfortable writing supporting characters with enough backstory for me to tease out and build up from there!

What do you believe you enjoy writing the most? I love character connection. Whether it's spoken aloud or not, I like little moments where I can have my muse compare a character to someone else they know, or see each other in a different way. I also love when characters have conflicting views and motivations and have to deal with that in one way or another!

Favorite TOA-related memory: KKE Team Guard coming together for that crazy rapid-fire chat that Ree sprung on us for the finale is definitely a strong one! It was so fun seeing different characters shine throughout the conversations, and on my own end I loved having an opportunity to let Python lose his cool for once >:3

How do you pronounce TOA? each letter pronounced individually: tee-oh-ay

Got any delusions that didn’t see the light of day in TOA that you’d like to share? I've only got fleeting thoughts that I would have to let simmer longer, especially when I would have to let someone go to fill the slot (I have accepted that 2 is my personal limit). That said, I've got a few guys hidden behind my back on the off-chance that I feel like it's time for a change ;0

[joey-wheeler-official]

What's your top and bottom Fire Emblem game?

Well I haven't played every single game but I'd have to probably put some basic bitch answer like path of radiance or radiant dawn as the best one, though that might change one I get around to playing geneaology. Fates Revalations and Birthright are probably the worst ones, Conquest is marginally better but it's still fuckin dogwater, shoutout to fe2 also. Sacred Stones is the most mid one.

[goddessalexissara]

Predicting What The DLC Emblems Will Do

[Image Taken from https://twitter.com/FeEngage ]

Hey. so today I wanted to go over characters that were datamined to be the remaining DLC Emblems in Fire Emblem Engage. Talk about what they might bring to the table and what I think of them. Overall, I think this is a bit of a let down of a showing that both could have been bigger but also simply had more interesting roster choices. That said this is also by far not the most boring list, many many people speculating were like "it's obviously gonna be my favorite sword lord they didn't include" and obviously, they were wrong. I think overall, the DLC Emblems could be a lot better and I do hope there is at least some kind of surprise awaiting us to improve this showing like skins or something.

That said, I am still excited for the story expansion and these, well I don't think any of them would get me to play the game again, I do think I'd consider using all of them in a fun to play the DLC story, although we'll have to see what they bring to the table.

Veronica

Veronica is the hero who really brings the widest net of possibility to the table. Even in terms of looks she has 3 very possible looks that simply could happen to be the look they chose for her. I believe Veronica: Princess Rising is the most likely version we'll see given she was the app icon for quite a while, they marked the shit out of her, and it seems to be her new default form and it is her form when she joins the heroes.

Her main gimmick likely focuses on summoning heroes while her top end weapon is probably Enclosing Dark, the tome from her most recent weapon with her earlier weapon probably being Élivágar, and Ífingr. How these weapons translate into FEH I am not sure but I imagine them being very flashy and aggressive tomes, emulating dropping specials on foes in Fire Emblem Heroes. She will probably give proficiency for Staves and Tomes.

Summoning Heroes is such a wide pool of possibility though, it could work like the summoner class from Sacred Stones, like Tanith's signature ability on Path Of Radiance, like Duplicate in Fates. For this, I think we'll likely see it summon 2 heroes that are random, simulating a gacha. I think they work in 3 tiers. 3 Star - Embla/Asker Solider, generic weak units, probably die in one hit, scaled to the emblem wearers level. 4 Star - Asker Trio, fairly weak but more useful, able to take a hit. 5 Star - summons more popular OCs Leagjarn, Fjorn, Lief, and Thrasir who will all have little signature abilities. Perhaps her Emblem attack will lock in for sure generating a rare 5 star or maybe even multiple.

As much as there is to be critical of heroes about in terms of a DLC emblem ring Veronica is honestly loaded to the brim with potential on what she could bring to the table, a lot of emblems I'll be staining to find out what they do over already existing rings but Veronica I could pitch like, 12 different ways she works.

Camilla

With no flying characters at all being represented in the emblem rings, it's easy to bet that Camilla will be very focused on providing fliers what they need. Camilla was a power house in her own game and with a huge fan base behind her I am sure they will want her to stand out and feel like a power house in the game. I think she is likely to add splash damage to the game as well, with her Savage Blow Skill and her personal skill allowing her to be a support unit will likely be reflected.

Camilla could bring in the Fates exclusive magic to the game. While most of that is on t he Hosido side she could be based in post game Revelations or in her Brave Alts alternative universe. In her core class she can't reach a high weapon rank of any weapon I think liberties will be taken here. Perhaps she provides Sanngriðr as an aggressive staff, Bölverk her fathers Axe, and her most basic weapon being something like Dragon Spirit. She will likely give a proficiency in Tomes, Axes and Staves.

I think the design ethos for Camilla is going to end up being duel natured where she is both an offensive and support unit with no defensive offerings outside of what she provides for others. I think her passive will be twofold, buffs nearby allies and also when the person using Camilla attacks, enemies with in two spaces of attack target are dealt splash damage. I think her Engage attack with be a reference to her Musou attack from Fire Emblem Warriors much like Marth and Corrin both taking from Super Smash bros. It'll be big damage with huge splash damage, potentially even dealing damage to every non boss enemy on the map.

Soren

Soren is a weird choice, a character I really like but not nearly as stand out as any Laguz or Elenica in terms of what mechanics he can bring to the table. We can assume the Adept skill he gets would be carried in allowing any attack, maybe locked with tomes or maybe after passing a skill or speed check like in his games would get brave hits. This would allow Soren to be a hyper aggressive emblem, perhaps that wanted the unit to be alone given Soren is a bit more of a loner then most of the other emblems.

Soren being a master of wind tomes could likely bring in powerful wind magic like Tornado and Rexcalibur. As a reference to Ashnard he could give Gurgurant. In that spirit he could also negate criticals like Ashnards abilities and weapon both do. There could be things to do with Soren being a tactician or being part of Griels mercs, calling on other characters or allowing for some tactical shifts. Perhaps Soren could have a radius that allows people to shove each other inside of as a reference to PoR and RDs mechanic. Soren could also provide "drive' effects that provide passive buffs for allies with in two spaces depending on what type of unit is engaged with Soren.

Overall, I think that this gay tactician will be a great emblem ring for Mage units and a mostly aggressive ring with any support it might provide not being the focus. While there is potential for a more support oriented role and despite Soren being a tactician, Soren is more of a selfish character and I do think that will be reflected in his kit.

Hector

I'm more then willing to bet that Hector brings in more support for Armors and Axes, alongside what became his Fire Emblem Heroes staple, Distant Counter. I believe the big selling point of Hector will be the ability to counter ranged attacks, I am not sure if it will be "any range" only one space away attacks, any range but has to pass some kind of check like Lyn's speed check for Vantage or just a roll with a perfect chance if on an armor unit. Regardless this passive alone if it happens would basically lock in Hector as one of the best emblems even in it's weakest form being able to simply counter attack mages and archers is a massive boon for so many units and lets them avoid using weaker 2 range physical weapons.

If any ring was going to be a purely selfish ring it be Hector. The armor lord is a brawler through and through and I think Hector will make any unit a mixed phase power house given you aggressive tools in both phases of combat. I wouldn't be shocked if at higher bound level Hector gave Unbreakable as well as "Reduces Effective Damage" abilities. Given that Hector is an armor unit It makes sense for Hector to give you all the tools to enemy phase wipe out with no worries about what tools your foe is packing, mage, archer, armor slayer, weapon triangle, fuck you, I'm Hector.

Hector will likely provide a Brave Axe for multi attacks even if your slow, Wolf Beil to be effective against Cav and Armor units and Armades to bolster your defense and provide you with effective damage against dragons [maybe corrupted instead]. I believe these weapons are the most likely since two are signature Hector only weapons and the other is a weapon he has in Binding Blade.

Chrom and Robin

I had no idea what Chrom brings to do this duo given he is in fact, made totally redundant by his daughter, Ike and Marth all existing in the game already, yet he was here. That's when it hit me, this unit has the potential to be the ultimate support unit, representing the boyfriends love for one another that was so strong it defied fate.

Unlike Erika and Ephraim or Edelgard (With Dimitri and Claude) I belive Chrom and Robin will always be working together and not have a mechanic where you switch between them. I think they will provide a Support boost where units equipped with them gain support levels faster. I think in addition to that they are likely to provide the Liberation boost to nearby allies helping others engage faster but perhaps only when your actually engaged with this unit. Pairing well with that maybe boosting damage done with back up attacks which would have them pair well with Lucina could also be a factor. They could also give the ability to hit the weaker of defense or res as a passive ability letting them make any unit a threat to more or less every unit in the game given how rare it is to be good at Res and Def. That way this unit does offer something offensively outside of passive support.

I think we'll see Falchion [Sealed], Thoron, and Destiny's Bow. We'll see the weakest version of the Falchion in the game as a basic weapon, good against dragons, maybe heals you a bit after combat. Thorn is the spell most commonly associated with Robin being part of their kit in smash bros and in their appearance in Fates is their default weapon. Destiny's Bow comes from Fire Emblem Heroes on the Robin and Chrom V-day alt, I think it will be some kind of special bow so I figured, why not throw out that one. If it is Destiny's bow it probably boosts damage they deal by amount of allies near by and effective against armors in addition to fliers.

That's just what I think these units will do, what do you think? Do you have different ideas for these characters, do you think the Datamines are wrong, do you hope there is more secret Emblem Rings we don't know about or do you like the roster?

[sukimas]

Have you played every single FE game, and if so, what would a tier list of all FE games look like for you?

i have! for better or for worse.

favorite to least favorite (note: this is not objectively best to objectively worst) by all factors combined (i can make separate gameplay, story, etc lists)

1. fe4. it is the fucking video game. does it have flaws? most certainly. does it scratch the itches of BIGNUMBERS, interesting politics, and grounded but neat characters, all while taking place on maps the size of jupiter? most definitely. almost every quirk this game has is something that actively improves it in my personal opinion.

2. fe5. certainly a Rough game to play blind. but in terms of story, gameplay, and the integration of the two, probably the most seamless. fun to snap in two or to play fairly normally. suffers a little bit in my ranking from being a bastard for blind play and lifting most of its large scale story elements straight from fe4.

3. radiant dawn. almost entirely a gameplay choice; the story is not bad but on normal this game is the most fun to fuck around on of any in the series for me, thanks to bexp abuse and the variety of units you can use. i wish mages were better and the part 3 plot is kind of a wet fart, but overall it’s really fun to play. we don’t talk talk about hard mode. or the changes to laguz gauges.

4. surprise! it’s mystery of the fucking emblem. tis an extremely, extremely silly game gameplaywise, but silly in a way that is very enjoyable. the plot is the template for essentially all femblemembles that follow; fe1 is a rough draft but this is the quintessential FE. VERY done, team. has some of the better music in the series despite being very snes

5. path of radiance. honestly, just extremely solidly done all around. not much that makes it UNIQUE beyond superficially (the laguz can be seen in plenty of other factions in various ways) but it puts everything together so well and world builds excellently. unfortunately gameplay is a total snoozefest even if you actively try to make it more difficult for yourself. not bad by any means but just boring to me.

6. three houses. mostly gets this spot thanks to first playthrough gameplay and story alone; on repeats it really falls off hard. but the worldbuilding and characters remain fairly good (though still number 3 in the series, imho) throughout; despite being unfinished, most of the stories are very compelling and the monastery is very fun on a first playthrough. suffers severely from a case of wanting to fuck rhea. like she’s not even a bad character but the way the game goes out of its way to go You Should Fuck Rhea is something special. edelgard is somewhat different because in the routes where you don’t pick her it is essentially onesided. but anyway despite all that good game. love to play it again someday.

7. echoes: shadows of valentia. they have absolutely shot themselves all the way in the foot with the story on this one. gaiden was limited by the nes’s hardware limitations, so that it managed to have a better story is exceedingly significant; fucking power of love stab in the gut. no dracozombies. the game MECHANICS of this one are quite good (in particular i’m very fond of hp-cast magic) but they do not get to shine because of The map design. the presentation however is top notch. mostly gets this low of a spot because of stupid map design and celica route, but is still a very very beloved game to me; the games here and above are essentially my really liked games tier. below here is Good.

8. first Good game: fe8/sacred stones. does not have much unique going for it i will be totally honest. however, it executes pretty much everything it does pretty well, much like PoR; the problem is it simply is not as ambitious as the former, so it doesn’t get points for, say, fantastic worldbuilding. has an engaging plot, good characters, fun classes, and is an enjoyable game to play if you ignore seth.

9. second Good game: awakening. it may be balanced like shit. its story may be full of holes. it may be full of anime tropes galore. but god fucking dammit it is Fun and this is what matters. got me into the series and i can still toss afternoons into its gaping maw without question. stupid game. it’s great sometimes.

10. third Good game: fe7. there is not much going on here story wise i am not gonna lie. the maps are also fairly poorly put together in much of the game. however the cast dynamics are quite good, and the characters you get are fairly well balanced; it’s a fun game to play even if i don’t think about it often.

11. [deep sigh] fe11 technically counts as a Good game i guess. i deeply enjoy the story of fe1, as it’s not as generic as one might think, and putting the pieces from the manual into the actual game is neat. unfortunately the presentation is shit and the gameplay is less fun than fe3 book 1 in every conceivable way. can someone please make a fun marth game.

12. fates (all routes). irredeemable light novel story. complete garbage. i am also not a huge fan of conquest’s gameplay and map design! i do not like skill memorization; i much prefer interesting weapons and terrible enemy staves to fuck you poison strike. however, this game is quite good at giving you unit customization without the stupidly large ranges of customizability that awakening/3h/marth remakes do. it can be a lot of fun sometimes. but only sometimes.

13. fe6. mystery of the emblem again! but actually, it’s worse in every conceivable way. despite the support system, characters are less compelling; gaiden chapters with no well-telegraphed requirements needed for the true ending, instead of being explicitly told to get the star shards (and getting them being fairly trivial); bland ass protagonist who literally talks to the convoy because he has no other friends; underbaked dragon lore that tries to get you to feel something; overly tanky enemies for no good reason; frankly childishly written antagonists, even compared to the likes of fucking medeus and hardin; and just no fun allowed in general.

14. new mystery of the emblem. have you ever wanted mystery, but with no fun allowed? have i got a video game for you.

15. gaiden. has a better story than echoes. otherwise lol three thousand year animations.

16. fe1. i love the mechanics here! it is unfortunate that they are on a game on the NES from 33 years ago. the story is also pretty good. but generally some weird choices here, good and bad. aged significantly worse than for example famicom wars. RIP. some day, see you again!

[patricia-von-arundel]

I was a bit bummed out by Engage but with all your post on it I tried the older FE games, and it's really great so far! Do you have any recommendations or favorite characters? :D

Nice! I'm loving Engage, but that's very related to (1) nostalgia, and (2) liking a game more battle-focused after Three Houses' story-focus. (It's nice to have best of both worlds on one system!) What have you started playing?

If you're just looking to learn the ropes of FE gameplay, both FE7 (just "Fire Emblem" outside of Japan, the first released elsewhere) and Awakening are decent starting points for the general structure. Both also have really solid characters and simple-but-fun plots (which are handled without the over-the-top dramatics of Engage). FE7 outside of Japan has added intro chapters to help players get used to the genre (where your "lord" is Lyn, before Eliwood and Hector are introduced as the lords for the original game). The translation is a little uneven sometimes (and sloppy at others), but it's a very solid introduction if you have access to a GBA/DS/DSLite (or want to emulate).

Awakening is easier to get access to (since it's more recent and on 3DS), and is also a nice, solid intro to FE gameplay. It also has more bonus maps/DLC that extend gameplay and let you nab extra characters (both from older games and from Awakening itself). Honestly, Awakening seems likely to remain my favorite game in the series: it's just all-around fun. Good plot (if not a complex one), great characters (and DLC to flesh them out more), fun gameplay, multiple difficulty options, and some DLC that lets you obtain ways to boost levels/supports/money/weapons/classes, if you're into that. I've put in close to 1,000 hours in Awakening - due to the support system, there are all sorts of ways to mess around with how you play the game and use certain characters.

Sacred Stones (FE8, the second released outside of Japan for GBA) is a lot of fun, and has a brief route split if you like to play more than once, but if you want to try a GBA game, FE7 is probably the better starting point, for the Lyn chapters. (Especially because managing the convoy and items is clunky in the GBA games compared to later ones, so the intro chapters help before you have to figure out inventory management and gameplay!)

Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn (on Gamecube and Wii, respectively) had the most complex plot since Genealogy of the Holy War (which was not released outside of Japan). The problem with them is that they are all but impossible to track down for a reasonable price - both bombed spectacularly at release, so copies are scarce. Emulation is usually the way newcomers to the series go if they want to tackle the Radiant games.

Shadow Dragon is a remake of the very first game, but it hardly added anything beyond updated portraits and battlefield grids so you don't accidentally wander somewhere where you'll get your butt kicked if you mathed wrong. 😅 It's on DS, and I'm honestly not sure how easy it is to find now. It sold so poorly that FE12 (a remake of FE3, Mystery of the Emblem) once again was Japan-only. Which sucks, because FE12 actually beefed up characters and plot! Shadow Dragon would be a good place to get the hang of gameplay, but its story is more Final Fantasy 1 than Final Fantasy 6. 🤷‍♀️

If you can't find (or emulate) FE7, Awakening is a solid place to start. It eases you into gameplay, lets you grind (either for free, especially if you play on Normal, or with paid DLC), lets you choose Casual (no permadeath - characters come back next chapter if "killed") or Classic (permadeath - pick a god and pray) and has, in purely mathematical terms, an epic buttload of characters to choose from if some *cough*Vaike*cough* aren't to your liking. Just, uh... listen to Severa. Trust me. Listen. To. Severa. You can thank me later.

Fates has fuuuuuun battles and some really amusing joke weapons (it's Azura with the broom! But wait - wait! She's out, she's out, Jakob came in from the side with pebbles! Victory! Victory to the angry butler!!! 😱), but the plot and some other stuff is... well. The monkeys with typewriters were going to manage Shakespeare, but then they ate too many pot brownies and we got Fates instead. Have fun killing goo daddy with your flaming chainsaw sword! Fates also has three different routes, which can be a bit confusing if you don't know how they differ. (Birthright is the "easy" route, Conquest will kick your ass six ways from Sunday and add a seventh kick at chapter 10, and Revelation was written frantically after the monkeys demanded a union and walked out of the job.)

Shadows of Valentia is the last of the 3DS games, and a remake of the second game (Gaiden, never released outside of Japan). It's... weird. Fully voiced, which is very cool (especially since the cast is solid), and has some interesting twists on the FE formula (like dungeons and Mila's Turnwheel, which lets you go back a number of turns without having to restart the whole map), but the plot remains pretty early-90s-JRPG, and they opted to keep in a fuckton of water maps and desert maps that are insanely tedious. Reclassing also feels a bit clunky after the relative freedom of Awakening and Fates. It's definitely well done, but I wouldn't recommend it as an intro to the series.

Same goes for Three Houses: except for the way the battlefield functions, it is very different from the other games. It is darker, attempts more complexity than it should have (at the expense of some plotpoints left dangling in all routes), and has four different routes that, with one exception, force you to choose the route after a single battle and barebones intro to the characters. It also has a loooooot of stuff you can micromanage and/or waste time on and a weird (by FE standards) recruitment system. Great game, all four routes, but a little more than Intelligent Systems could juggle. (This is especially obvious if you pick the Black Eagles.) It's also quite easy, by FE standards, outside of some paralogues (side battles) and the DLC (which was very, very simple compared to Awakening, Fates, and Shadows of Valentia, though a lot of fun if you like a challenge!).

Awakening, Fates, Shadows of Valentia, and Three Houses (like Engage) all give you a choice of male or female avatar, and Casual or Classic mode. (Fates also has Phoenix mode, but ew. No. Bad.) All also have DLC. With DLC in mind, remember that the 3DS eShop goes down for new purchases as of the end of March of this year. If you get Awakening, Fates, or Shadows of Valentia, buy the DLC now if you think you'll want it! (It adds new characters, new weapons, some additional lore and/or character development, and some silly stuff like beach chapters. 🤣)

Honestly, if Engage is all you've tried, I'd say go with Awakening (the game Lucina is from) or FE7 (where, as mentioned above, Lyn is from). Your call! Both are good intros without so much management and bloat they get overwhelming. And none of the choices you make will drastically alter the rest of the game! Awakening should also still be easy to find, compared to what came before.

Favorite characters? Pegasus knight has been my favorite class since I started playing, and my all-time favorite character is Cordelia. I also love Ninian, Rebecca, Lyn, Serra (all from FE7), Eirika, Seth, L'arachel, Lute (all from FE7), the Whitewings (Palla, Catria, and Est, who are in FE1, 2, 3, 11, 12, and 15), Caeda (FE1, 3, 11, and 12), Nephenee (FE9, 10) Olivia, Inigo, Severa, Lucina (FE13), Laslow, Selena, Soleil, Reina, Flora, Jakob (FE14), Mathilda, Clair, Mae, Boey (FE15), Edelgard, Dimitri, Hapi, Lysithea, Constance, Ingrid, Seteth, FERDINAND VON AEGIR (FE16), and I'm still deciding on the new game, but Chloé and Etie are great thus far in what I've played. If I had to pick top three of all time, I'd probably go with Cordelia, Inigo/Laslow, and Edelgard.

There are a handful of spin-off games (Fire Emblem Heroes, two Warriors games, and Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE), but they're all very different from the core of Fire Emblem proper. Fun, but not a good intro to the series (and like Engage, they rely on knowledge of past games/characters).

Longest answer ever, but I hope it helps you figure out which way you'd like to go next! You may enjoy Engage more when you know the Emblems better. 😁

Happy strategizing!

[fireemblems24]

Who are your top 5 FE characters?

Top 10 if you're up for it?

Top 5 is -

Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd (Three Houses and Hopes)

Lucius (Blazing Blade)

Elincia Ridell Crimea (Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn)

Eirika (Sacred Stones)

Ares (Genealogy of the Holy Wars)

I don't know if I could do a top 10 😭. My top 5 is just works so well for me because, coincidently, those are my top 5 favorite FE games too. And then I've also got nearly balanced gender wise too. I actually spent a long time figuring my top 5 out forever ago lol.

There's also just too many characters who I like on the same level after that. I think I can only choose a top 5 because it worked out so well. I couldn't choose between say Naesala or Ingrid, Raven or Sanaki, Seth or Titania, Innes or Lene, and on and on. There's just too many I like. The vast majority of my favorites from from the above 5 titles (hence why they're my favorites, they have my favorite stories), so if it's a character from one of the above (well, for Three Houses, heavy emphasis on the Blue Lions) then I probably like them.

[thoughts-about-robots]

okay so I played the first hour

initial thoughts:

the music is great, the graphics are great, the JP voice work is great. the English script has probably gotten the same treatment as Odin Sphere's in that everything has been rendered into High Fantasy lite gobbledygook and some of it works and some of it doesn't imo

the gameplay is fun, no surprise there, this is Vanillaware :v

the character designs are uhhhh not bad? I bought the Monarch Edition on the eshop for the art book and. lmao I appreciate the pretty men in the cast but some of the big booba ladies are just too damn much. 13 Sentinels felt like such a radical step in spite of the fan service in that game, there was just the one actual fan service character and most of the female characters were handled tastefully imo, then again Hirai and Kida were helming the character designs in that one and they're both women, so what can ya do. female artists > male artists 99% of the time. Scarlett's boobs are distracting and so far the lack of female character input doesn't balance this out. but we shall see

the plot is hhhhh yeah pretty corny so far lmao but it's only the first hour! reminds me a bit of Path of Radiance and Sacred Stones, which are my favorite FE games, so no hate lmao

I'm not expecting it to knock my socks off, then again I didn't expect 13 Sentinels to knock my socks off and it ended up becoming one of my favorite games Ever. on the other hand that one had Kamitani at the helm the entire time and the man just has the golden touch

I'm not sure when this SRPG renaissance will die out but I'm guessing this won't be one of the more memorable entries, for me that will always be DioField Chronicle, but then again you can't compete with a game that has Waltaquin in it

anyway also wanting to replay Valkyria Chronicles and time is a finite resource so this may be the only bit I play of UO this month, alas

[katofvalentia]

I realized I don't have a pinned post for this sideblog. Anyway...

Hello good people! My name is Kat! To me, Fire Emblem is an illness that has been plaguing me since 2013. This small sideblog is dedicated to my ups and downs with this long running franchise, be it through rambles or whatever art I cook up. Below is a mini report on my current status with each of the games!

Games played: 18 out of 22

❎️Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light (FE1) - haven't played, no plans to play through it at the moment, did read its manga adaptations

❎️Fire Emblem Gaiden (FE2) - haven't played, no plans to play through it at the moment, did read its manga adaptation

❎️Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (FE3) - haven't played, planning to do so at some point in the future

✅️Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War (FE4) - played it and enjoyed it! read its various manga adaptations and novels

❎️BS Fire Emblem - have not played it, nor can I play it, have looked into its translated script

✅️Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 (FE5)- played it and enjoyed it! read its novel adaptation

✅️Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade (FE6) - played it and i thought it was ok, read its spin off manga "Hasha no Tsurugi"

✅️Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade (FE7) - played it and enjoyed it! have not read its novel adaptation, read a lot of fanfictions though

✅️Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (FE8) - played it and enjoyed it! have not read its novel adaptation

✅️Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (FE9)- played it and enjoyed it!

✅️Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (FE10)- played it and enjoyed it!

✅️Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (FE11) - played it, it was ok, have not read its adaptations

✅️Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem: Heroes of Light & Shadow (FE12) - played it, it was ok

✅️Fire Emblem Awakening (FE13) - my introduction to the series, played it multiple times and enjoyed it! experienced its various supplementary media and fan content

✅️Fire Emblem Fates (FE14) - played through Conquest multiple times, only seen playthroughs of Birthright and Revelation. overall I can say I liked it. experienced its various supplementary media and fan content

✅️Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE - played through the original as well as its rerelease and enjoyed it.

✅️Fire Emblem Heroes - played it for almost 2 years before dropping it for reasons, still keeping up with banners for the art as all as popularity polls and general story beats

✅️Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (FE15) - my favorite entry, played it multiple times and loved it every single time! experienced its various supplementary media and fan content

✅️Fire Emblem Warriors - have played it purely for certain characters and interactions, probably the most OK musou spin off there is

✅️Fire Emblem Three Houses (FE16) - played through all of its routes and enjoyed it! experienced its various supplementary media

✅️Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes - played through Golden Wildfire only, did watch playthroughs of the other two routes

✅️Fire Emblem Engage (FE17) - played it and enjoyed it, still experiencing its manga adaptation

[saficswrites]

5, 12, 21?

Thank you so much for the ask!

5. Which titles have I played?

I have actually had the pleasure of playing every single mainline title in the series, including the nes originals and their remakes!

Though the list of games I have fully completed is: Blazing Blade, Sacred Stones, Shadow Dragon (DS), Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, Awakening, All three Fates routes, Shadows of Valentia, All four Three Houses routes, and Engage.

I’m actually currently in the process of playing through Genealogy and Binding Blade, with FE3 and Thracia next on my list to complete after that!

12. What's my favorite class?

Honestly a hard one I have a lot of classes I’m absolutely in love with, as well as class “concepts” I really like (I don’t know the right word to use since it’s Heroes but the bat beast units are the coolest thing ever and I NEED to see Bat Laguz in a future mainline entry).

But if I had to pick one it would probably be the General, those gba animations got me hooked real young and I always make a point of using the armor knights (even if they’re not the best). Also General Mia SLAYED in my Path of Radiance randomizer and I just love that for her.

Yes she was absolutely busted.

21. Characters from different fe games I would like to see interact? How do I think it would go?

I want to see Heather, Soleil, Severa, and Merrin all in a bar together trying to pick up chicks. 

Heather would be the only one with game of course but oh my god an interaction like that would be a TREAT.

Soleil and Merrin spending more time flirting with each other than actually trying to pick up a date, Severa being too enamored with Heather to really function properly, oh it would be a beautiful mess.

[unmeiokaemasu]

I FINALLY beat Sacred Stones! :D

The "finally" is bcs the first time I played I literally set it down in the final chapter and just. never didn't pick it back up for like a year, at which point I was better fire emblem player so the idea of picking up a year-old savefile was abhorrent.

THEN, in the past year I've had two different software difficulties with it that led to losing save files. So yeah, the difficulty of finishing was not game difficulty, but software, including my own brainpower.

I'd been bashing my head against several maddening mode runs of Three Houses - since there are so many save slots I've got a run going for each of the four paths, and I'm not far on any of them - and finally got fed up and decided to see what I could salvage of my SS savedata.

The answer was not nothing, and...I honestly can't tell if this is an easier game than Blazing Blade or not; it might just seem that way because this time I was extremely cavalier (lol) about sending my units into danger...and I found out they could handle it. I think I used to just assume a magic unit had a more-than-50% chance of getting hit by a physical attacker and that a physical attack would shave off at least a third of their health, and the reality is very much not that. If you've trained your units, they're pretty tanky.

The first time I played through, I lots Vanessa in an early map and wasn't willing to restart it for her, and then didn't recruit Amelia when she threw herself into battle against one of my units and died before I could recruit her...so this time I was determined to not let any unit die, that's just my playstyle that's what I like, that and getting the supports I want adds a layer of challenge to some otherwise easier games.

And BOY HOWDY was Vanessa my MVP this time around. I think I did the same thing with Florina in my most recent Blazing Blade playthrough, insisted I'd make a good pegasus knight and damn, they do get good...although Vanessa promoted to a wyvern knight so not sure if that's a point in favor of pegasi? Anyway. Talk about a tank, I feel I really redeemed myself for letting her die the first time.

I went in the first time interested in the relationship between Ephraim and Lyon, knowing little about Eirika and kind of resenting that I had to start with her...and then by the time it got to picking a twin to follow I picked her instantly, even knowing Ephraim apparently accomplishes more story-wise in his route. I find Ephraim kinda boring, which I think is a consequence of splitting the protagonists like that, and Lyon...Lyon is honestly the second purple-haired softboi I thought was going to be my favorite and then was just kinda...idk. too soft. underbaked. Radiant Dawn fans @me if you know where I'm going with this.

(My real purple-haired softboi love is Knoll, idk why and I don't care, he's extremely disillusioned and sad and tired and resigned and I love him)

Anyway Eirika is in my top 3 favorite FE protagonists list, she's just probably my favorite version of a standard FE protagonist alongside Eliwood. I might like Eirika even a little more personality-wise but Eliwood's in my favorite game and I love him a lot so eh, I don't have to pick a winner.

So yeah, Sacred Stones is going to slot in very solidly at #4 for my favorite FE game ever. Blazing Blade just hit the exact right balance of gameplay and story for me, and Path of Radiance and Three Houses I think managed to both tell good and complex stories with excellent writing while also being fun to play (I'm so sorry Genealogy fans I'm a weak baby scrublord and I can't finish that game I know it has good writing but also it is more cynical I k n o w it's good I'm not arguing that I just cAN'T--)

Ahem. Anyway...oh yeah also the reason I was trying so hard at 3H maddening is...I finally have a hardmode-classic cleared savefile on 3H! :D

I think I may have beating Verdant Wind on that mode, but I don't have that savedata anymore so I can't check. Anyway I cleared hard/classic Azure Moon with these rules: no new game+ (so no bonus statue restoration, I think that was mechanic that let you buy things like support and weapons and professor levels so none of that either), no items from sources other than base-level gameplay (with possible exceptions, we'll get to that) so no under-the-bed items, nothing from amiibo gazebo, and no spirits of the fallen (I just played with online turned off), and no abyss resources other than the students (so no exchanging renown for items that the statue...honestly I don't even know what else is down there, I never used any of it even on easy mode, but yeah I defo didn't use it this time).

So the things I did allow myself were recruiting the Ashen Wolves (Yuri is basically always my dancer now and I always train up Constance so they can pass that paralogue and get Yuri's relic), and then stuff like Constance's quest to get the roster that allows you to to redo an answer once per teaparty, Aelfric's flower quest, the two Ashen Wolves paralogues, etc, all those things were allowed. Pouring exp into other students, esp the Ashen Wolves since they're available so early on, means sacrificing exp for your house's students, which means a harder Hunting by Daybreak, so I figured it was a fair tradeoff.

So yeah that was really fun. Glad to have both a hard/classic 3H and Sacred Stones savefile finally under my belt. What's next?

I honestly tried to start New Mystery and uh. ran into trouble getting it to. work. Will work on that more. Hilariously I saw there was a mod to minimize Kris's involvement, but I shan't be using that, bcs literally my main mission statement is to find out how annoying Kris actually is. I haven't beaten Shadow Dragon yet (the version of Marth's story that I've actually played), but I've gotten quite a ways in, and that really is the danger zone for me. I really do enjoy the early parts of Fire Emblem games more, when all the level-ups and unit potential and support-conversations-if-that's-a-thing haven't been decided yet. But I also like actually finishing!

So yeah I wanna start New Mystery, and finish Shadow Dragon. Then I've got a Binding Blade run that's like 2 years old at this point that I'll probably return to since that games...less fun to slog through...Shadows of Valentia I never finish, idk if I'd restart that or pick up my now like...three or four year old run of that...might fuck around and start Thracia...and might take another stab and Genealogy chapter 4 and see how I do. I won't ever get back to Radiant Dawn unless I can successfully transfer savedata from Path of Radiance, and at this point for me that means actually getting through Path of Radiance from the start again...which as I'm saying it actually sounds like a lot of fun. I might...I might actually do that. We'll see.

SO YEAH that's my Fire Emblem diary for today. I truly adore this franchise. I think there might be a lot of other jrpgs I might like for their story, but this mix of story and turn-based strategy is just absolutely perfect for me. I've noticed I've done well in irl board games in the past couple years, and it's definintely bcs of these games. I thought I'd be bad at strategy to the point of never enjoying these games unless they were on easiest-possible mode, but now I love the challenge! And yeah the fact that even tho in broad strokes the endings will always be the same, I adore the little things you can affect along the way (mostly who your best units are and which pairs make it to A-support). I may not have loved Engage, but there're still a bunch of great FE games in the back-catalogue for me to experience for the first time or have a new fun run of. Excited!